gloria borger is standing by with david gergen, donna brazile, and ari fleischer. >> governor romney, what kind of debate did you think you had tonight? >> i thought it was terrific, and i was delighted with the debate. it was a big night for me and for the people who support me. you saw the response of the audience. it's a big step forward and it's going to give me the boost i need going into the last couple days before the primary. >> you were pretty aggressive, i couldn't help but notice, in taking on newt gingrich. you seemed to turn every attack he made on you into an attack on him. particularly the attacks he made on the campaign trail about your finances. >> when i'm shot at, i'll return fire. i'm no shrinking violet. thanks. >> back to you, anderson. >> it certainly was perhaps a more energized mitt romney than we have seen in privious deba s debates. earlier this week in florida, he appeared to be energized. he has a new debate coach. how much of a role that played, unclear. he and speaker gingrich went back and forth on a number of issues. immigration, what was said in vario

and in new hampshire, democratic strategist, donna brazile. welcome, matt, donna.s mitt romney the prohibitive front-runner? >> he is the prohibitive front-runner. when you end up with 39%, 40% of the vote you end up with, he's going to get a bump out of this. he's won two in a row. that hasn't happened in a long time. the last time that happened, gerald ford won two in a row, iowa and new hampshire. there's a lot of lessons we can't apply to south carolina. 60% of the vote is evangelical. that's one issue he has to confront that he hasn't had to dealt with. last time, he got 15% of the vote in south carolina. he has to deal with that. i think for all intents and purpose, when you look at this, his three likely opponents he thought he would have to battle with, rick perry, rick santorum and newt gingrich, together, got less votes than ron paul. i think the fact he will have to deal with is the long slog that ron paul is going to put him through. ron paul, no matter how soon mitt romney sews this thing up, it's going to make him have to keep an infrastructure until

donna brazile and mary matalin. can romney stop gingrich's going into florida? >> he can. i don't think it's the best approach, it's necessary but insufficient. newt doesn't have to answer personal attacks. what is he going to say? i'm going to debate an october surprise? where romney made a good hit on newt was on the attacking the free enterprise and attacking bain and capitalism and his fannie mae and freddie mac stuff. it's more less about newt and his continued inability to make conservatism independents who are obsessed with fiscal conservatism confident in his message. he did a much better job saturday night and yesterday on television but he's got to do both the right hits on newt and be more convincing in his conservatism. >> donna, later in the day newt gingrich responded to the new and much more assertive mitt romney by saying this -- >> i've been told by a variety of people that governor romney has been saying unkind things. i'd prefer, personally, not to believe it. but on the other hand, if you've been campaigning for six years and you begin to see it slip aw

george will, laura ingraham, donna brazile and austan goolsbee. >>> good morning, everyone. george stephanopoulos has a well-deserved morning off. with just two days until tuesday's critical florida primary, it has been a wild weekend of campaigning in the sunshine state. two pieces of breaking news for you overnight from florida, first an endorsement from key party favorite herman cain. >> i hereby, officially and enthusiast enthusiastically endorse newt gingrich for president of the united states. >> speaker gingrich is running for president. and going through this sausage grinder. i know what this sausage grinder is all about. >> the pizza man knows about the sausage grinder. the tampa bay times released a new poll of the race. romney has opened up his lead over gingrich. 42% to 31%. rick santorum trails at 14%. this intensely competitive race is where we begin the show this morning. former speaker newt gingrich joins us from the tampa area. mr. speaker, thank you for being here. >> thank you, jake zmrmplt as we pointed out last night, you received that rally you received

george will, jake tapper, matthew dowd and donna brazile. >>> reporting from manchester, new hampshire, george stephanopoulos. [ applause ] >>> good morning, everyone. great to be back with you on sunday mornings. great to be here with this live audience right here in manchester. we got a terrific lineup this morning. right here on the same stage where all of the candidates debated last night. closing in on his first primary the stakes were high. mitt romney, way ahead in this state, he took some early heat from his rivals. zeroing in on romney's corporate background. as investor in bain capital. >> you got to lead and inspire. >> i'm not really enmored as a wall street model where you can flip companies, go in and have leverage buyouts. take out the money and leaving behind the workers. >> no one amounted a sustained attack. romney kept to his script. it was battle for second place finish here. including this one between ron paul and the man he's called a chicken hawk, newt gingrich. >> i think people who don't serve when they could and they get three or four or even five deferments a

another candidate's wife, and john king who moderated the debate, david gergen, ari fleischer, donna braziled gloria borger, and eric erickson, who i believe is in the audience. i got to start with the start of this debate, john king, you asked the question when has been in all of the headlines all over statements made by newt gingrich's ex-wife. he blasted you, blasted the media. did ultimately answer the question. i want to play what he actually said. >> the story is false. every personal friend i have who knew us in that period said it was false, we offered them to abc to prove that the story was false. they weren't interested because they want to attack any republican, they attacked the governor, me, they'll get around to senator santorum and congressman paul. >> speaker gingrich got a standing ovation in the auditorium for saying it was a completely inappropriate question. >> and he also scored points in the monday night debate by attacking the questions. i had a question with the speaker after he moderated the debates. this is a damned if you do, damned if you don't. it's a story makin

donna brazile, erick erickson, mary matalin. >>> we're on google plus. add us to your circles. on twitter @andersoncooper. i'll try to tweet tonight though my hands are frozen. mitt romney said, we're going to win this thing. but just exactly what thing was he talking about? and a surprising admission from newt gingrich talking about his own chances tomorrow later rick santorum takes pride in his staunch conservative views. he's under fire for some of what he said but taking heat from ron paul who calls him too liberal. for sore muscles use new ] bengay cold therapy, it's pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse who cuddle up with your soreness >>> let's also check in with isha sesay. new bengay cold the. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a $3 coupon. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce the same technology used by physical therapists. and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. tr

donna brazile and mary matalin are standing by in new mexico.nding by to speak live with ron paul. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the personal attention tdd# 1-800-345-2550 you and your money deserve. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, that means taking a close look at you tdd# 1-800-345-2550 as well as your portfolio. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 we ask the right questions, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 then we actually listen to the answers tdd# 1-800-345-2550 before giving you practical ideas you can act on. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck online, on the phone, tdd# 1-800-345-2550 or come in and pull up a chair. glue all right. let's guess more on the surprise debate all of a sudden over capitalism unfolding in new hampshire. congressman ron paul is joining us live from new hampshire. congressman, always good to have you here in "the situation room." >> thank you. >> i want to play the clip, the full context of what mitt romney said yesterday, causing some of your republican colleagues out there to condemn him for what he said. i'll play the whol

the republican strategist, mary matalin and donna brazil. first to you quarterback donna.hief of staff caught me by surprise. what do you make of this? >> reporter: i think bill decided after christmas and spending time with his family in chicago and came back to the white house and he informed the president that this was a good opportunity for him to pass the baton on to somebody lijack lew. he knows the white house and he knows the budget. so it's a great time if you're going to depart and this was a personal decision and this is a good time because jack will have the entire year to make sure that the president priorities are taken care of. >> mary, whenever they say they want to spend more time with their family you know there's something else going on. that sound good but there's really a lot more. >> it doesn't necessarily mean he was pushed out. with disclosure, i love bill daley. he helped my brother in chicago through a health crisis literally, he saved his life. but the change ng of this chief of staff is pretty common, as we've often said, 18 months was the limit

. >> and our candy crowley is standing by with donna brazile and also mary matalin. candy, you've talked to gingrich throughout this campaign. he, certainly, if he does come in fourth, as of right now he's in fourth, would continue. >> reporter: i think gingrich is in for another couple of weeks, at least if you listen to him. let me just first say, between the two of you, we've decided we've got six decades of experience here in iowa. you know what it's like to be sitting in that room with a winner or a possible loser and trying to make that calculation. what goes into this? should we move forward or should we stop here? >> there's no question, it's money. if you come out of the caucuses tonight and one of the first top three places, clearly, you want the candidate to go on. you're already looking ahead. and in my case, and i'm sure like mary, my role was to deploy staff to the next two, three states and, if you can't succeed tonight, you're bringing them to tennessee, you're bringing them to south carolina, but if you do poorly tonight, you're going to bring them b

cnn contributors donna brazil, ari fleischer and -- let me start with you on the end.ou've worked in a lot of campaigns. too many debates, not enough debates? about right? >> yeah, it's too many debates. >> no, it's not. [ laughter ] >> but on the other hand, it's kind of like music, the crescendos. each debates get more important the fewer the candidates are. these are now the singular events that drive voter behavior. if you thought a guy with no money could win iowa, that debates were influencing voters more than ads it's pretty good for democracy. >> now you're down to four in a big state. how much debates in south carolina are very important, the debates in florida were very important. in big state like this, some tv ads, how factor in the debates. >> i think these debates tonight is huge. this is the biggest one yet of the campaign. as a matter of fact, may be the biggest one at the end. because tonight is romney versus gingrich. it's the last two men standing really for the nomination. and if mitt romney can tie tonight, the tie will probably go to him. because

once the democratic strategist donna brazile along with will cain of the blaze.com.pretty good campaigner for any challenger, don't you think? >> he's a hell of a campaigner, wolf. what we heard was a repurposing. many people have said this of harry truman's 1948 reelection campaign, where he ran against a do-nothing congress. he incomped some kind of pop you list inequal elements into that as well. i will say that worked, but barely we know the famous image that said dewey defeats truman. listening to that speech you just played, wolf, what the republican responsibility will be is we want to cut out the failure. you say we want to cut out education investment, but we want to point out spending has tripled to very little atanment. you want to invest in companies in our future, you fail in investing in companies like solyndra. i say people take out 400, the theme will be we have to cut out the failure, and president obama will be painted as one of those failures. >> donna, you just got a flavor of what we can expect in the months to come. what do you think? >> well, i

donna brazile and ari fleischer are here with me, standing by for our strategy session.il (stuffy): hey, tylenol. you know we're kinda like twins. tylenol: we are? nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. not quite knowing what the next phase was going to be, you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be, and i get the chance to spend more time with my wife and my kids. it's my world. that's my world. ♪ can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. >>> joining us our cnn contributors, donna brazile an

donna brazile and leslie sanchez, they're standing by live. coming up in our next hour, herman cain, he's here in "the situation room" live as well. the former candidate gives us his take on the race. who will he endorse? stay with us. you're in "the situation room." ♪ [ male announcer ] talking a big game about your engine is one thing. having a proven history that can back it all up is a whole other story. unsurpassed torque. incredible towing. legendary cummins engines. which engine do you want powering your truck? guts. glory. ram. ♪ >>> let's get right to our strategy session. joining us now, the democratic strategist, donna brazile and the republican strategist, leslie sanchez. ladies, thanks very much for coming in. we just heard from jon huntsman. does he have a realistic chance of winning the republican nomination? does he have a path to that, you believe? >> i've talked to some of his people and they feel cautiously optimistic, putting it nicely. they want to look at the opportunities in new hampshire. he has to perform well. he has

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erick erickson, and democratic strategist donna brazile.the old days you win a state, you win the state and get all the delegates. nou now winner gets most. if you're ron paul, you're coming in a strong second and a strong third. there is every incentive to stay in the race to get to the convention in tampa and to be for the republicans maybe what jesse jackson was for the democrats back in the '80s. if you're the nominee, that word would be nuisance. no? >> i think that's right. if you're ron paul, you want to speak at the republican convention. you want that national audience. you want some influence on the platform and the party the republican candidate are going to carry to the general election. you hang in there a long time. if you're michele bachmann or rick perry, even if you lose to santorum in iowa, you want to wait and see if he collapses in two weeks like rick perry and newt gingrich did. you might stay in. so i think there is an incentive to happening around a while. >> let me bring the democrat into the conversation. this is th

. >> mary matalin, donna brazile, we'll be back with you later tonight. >> you can see the believe inca romney banner right behind him. he'll be presumably giving a speech. we see the teleprompter going up there already, candy, thank you very much. >>> we've been asking iowa voters what's important to them as they consider their choice for the republican nominee for president. when you have tough pain, do you want fast relief? try bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream fast and rushes relief to the site of your tough pain. it's proven to relieve pain twice as fast as before. bayer advanced aspirin. gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain. >>> we are nearing 8

. >> donna brazile, mary mat tin, paul begala. go in and get warm. we'll have all the results and abnalysis here on cnn. 7:00 p.m. tomorrow. see us again at 10:00 eastern tonight. another edition of "360" from des moines. piers morgan starts right now. >>> tonight, make or break on the eve of iowa. >> i don't think i'm going to win. look at the numbers. that volume of negativity has done enough damage. >> newt gingrich giving up already? tonight i'll ask him. plus taking their case to the voters. >> get out there and vote tomorrow. i need every vote. >> we are not looking for a chief executive officer for this country. we're looking for a commander in chief. >> we have to change things today and bring back the traditions of america, which means liberty, peace and prosperity. >> how important is iowa really? and who will drop out? will negative campaigning make a difference? i'll talk to a man who knows a lot about that, herman cain, a force to be reckoned with. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. while most of americans are celebrating the

. >> good debate about what to do, donna brazile, and david frum.eautiful night out here on the balcony. >> and you can forget what is going on inside. >> and erin is coming up at the top of the hour, and you have been digging into mitt romney's tax returns and what have you uncovered? >> well, this is insane, john. look. the guy made a lot of money. with know that, but we had 500 pages here and we put together a strike team of seven irs experts, and tax experts to go through it to find out some things that stood out, and we did, ale though it does appear that mitt romney paid everything that he is supposed to pay, and there are a coupleel of interesting things in here, and his use of blind trusts, and he has talked about that before and perhaps not in a way he wants us to bring up tonight, but we got to the bottom of it, and also we will be ready for the state of the union. good thing that the weather is good there, otherwise, john, you would not be pleasant. >> i like the cold. i wish it were snowing, but if the it is a night nig, i will l it. you

. >> donna brazile, mary matalin, thank you so much. >> they are still counting votes, tabulating votes, from two counties. that is the hold-up at this point. two counties still tabulating votes. two precincts i should say. as soon as we get that information, obviously we will give it to you. a winner will be declared. our coverage continues after a short moment. this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you! oh, facecake! there's some leftover cake. [ male announcer ] the new htc vivid. stay a step ahead with at&t 4g lte, with speeds up to 10x faster than 3g. ♪ [ male announcer ] why do we grow quaker oats? because there are mountains to climb. ♪ dreams to be realized. ♪ new worlds to be explored and hearts to be won. q

joining us our cnn political contributor and democratic strategist donna brazile as well as republicantrategist alice stewart. listen to what chris christie, a strong supporter of mitt romney said on "today" this morning about the governor releasing his tax returns. >> if you have tax returns to put out, you know, you should put them out and put them out sooner rather than later. it's always better in my view to have complete disclosure, especially when you're the front-runner. >> that got us from one ofs clips from one of the most ardent supporters. >> you agree with chris christie? >> given this has been dragging on for so long, i think the best absolute is to get it out there, get it over with and move on to the more pressing issues, having been all over this country, never did the electorate ask about income tax records or that type of information, but if the other candidates want to make an sure of it, get it out there and get it over with. this is something that's unfortunate that they're using this to try to leverage some point their way for this. simply they're basically giving

joining us donna brazile and the republican strategist alex castellanos.y powerful figure, he was on cnn with soledad o'brien earlier today. listen to what he said. >> i'm not going to speculate who will win, but here's what i'm comfortable in saying. i think the winner of florida will in all likelihood be the nominee for our party. as you said, florida is a mini-america. it's. so we'll wait for the results. i don't know what they'll be, but let's see. we have an election week in florida. people have been voting for more than a week with the absentee ballots. >> um-hmm. >> early voting and absentee ballots, alex, you agree with marco rubio, in all likelihood the winner will be the republican nominee? >> i would say in all likelihood, but not in all certitude. when you look at other states mitt romney is winning tactical victorie victories, because he does negative ads, kills opponents, has more money, but hasn't won at the message level. that's why it hasn't translated nationally. yes, mitt romney should win, but rubio could be wrong. he hasn't heard mitt