michael dukakis, not so tall. so they lifted the space right behind the podium michael dukakis wouldn't look as short compared to george h. w. bush. all of that was negotiated. one of the candidates, some of these candidates slept a lot more than passion sweat a lot more than others. we all know that. the people who sweat always want the temperature to be 30 degrees. >> host: and negotiate the temperature. >> guest: and negotiate the temperature. and it's all in the formats. bob dole, i remember the bob dole negotiation. bob dole is a man who talks in versus. one-liners, and he never talks more than two and have many. so his negotiators were willing to give up anything in order for those answers to be only, never more than two and a half minutes long. and, of course, against bill clinton, bill clinton could talk for two and a half hours on any given question. so in order to get at, clinton also wanted a town hall thing. so they swapped. they are negotiators. they swapped. dole got what he one of which was short an

his smear campaign skills, people hooked up to justifier calls and turning a murderer into michael dukakis' running mate? what makes this state for everybody that wants to be president the messiest place of all? and they want more than anything to beat obama. is this why evangelicals say they will be solid for mitt romney? does the desire for victory in november trump their dislike of his religion? i'm chris matthews. welcome to the show. with us today, "time" magazine's michael duffy. the christian scientist monitor's liz marlantes. nbc's kelly o'donnell. and politico's john harris. first up, mitt romney is on the march and could wrap it up next week in south carolina. in his 40% victory up in new hampshire he urged his rivals to cut out their chorus of criticism. >> we've seen some desperate republicans join forces with him. this is such a mistake for our party. chris: impressed by the romney roll, those who once were romney detractors from john mccain to rush limbaugh, have appealed to romney's tormentors to please stop helping the democrats. the newt pack. got an idea for you guys. rec

. >> smith: with the, the bush -nd dukakis. >> lehrer: buss and dukakis.ú >> smith: and going up throughhrer: obama. >> lehrer: absolutely. >> smith: right, and you mentionnd you talked to uu in this ook except for >> ehrer: that's right. >> smith: let's, let's start therr.& people who could not or would ot ttlk to you for >> lehrer::well first lloyd bbnstten•. >> smith: rightt3 >> lehrer: •who had suffered a stroke and was unable to >> smith: rig me. he wanted o very much but cooll not. >> smiih: ight >> lehrerr heewas juss not up tt it.3 >> smith: and at the center of one of the grrat moments3 ii debates•. >> lehrer::oh, you bet. ú& you bet. ú& >> smith: •over these years the journo jack kennedy -oment wouldn't it have been that? >> lehrer: eeaccly. >> smith: yeah. >> lehrer: i, i regree that very much. >> smith: yeah. >> lehrer: the other was rosssperot, wo was very somm time ago, and and he jjst also, just didn't want tootalk about it. >> smith: well let's say specificalll what t is. to, this is a great story. he figures as character. >> lehrer: exaatly. ú& >> lehrrr: the novel ii ca

. >> good evening from new hampshire where michael dukakis and paul tsongas before him mitt romney has the commanding lead in the first in the nation presidential primary. romney was his own worst enemy today. >> i like being able to fire people that provide services to me. >> governor romney enjoys firing people. it may than he is slightly under pressure from the economic reality we have in america now. that's a dangerous place. >> the rick perry campaign has a new ring tone for the over 70% of republicans who support a presidential candidate other than mitt romney. >> i like being able to fire people. i like being able to fire people. i like being able to fire people. >> romney tried to provide context to his comment later in the day. >> oh, you saw i was talking about insurance companies. yeah, we like to be able to get rid of insurance companies that don't give us the service that we need. i believe in setting, as described this morning, where people are able to choose their own doctor and insurance company. if they don't like their insurance company or provider, they can get rid o

in further perspective, michael dukakis won 40% of the suburbs. we talk about a coalition that noted the end of 2010 have been put right back where they started from to the point where the women senators about the same rate michael dukakis won, but they don't have the strength michael dukakis had an grader alicia. it's not a good place for democrats to find themselves. among white catholics, democratic votes trump from 47% in 2008 to 39% in 2010. quite possibly democrats are showing among the group since 1920s. way voters without college degrees we can broadly generalize to be the white working class spawned from a 40% above the group in 2008 to 33% democratic group in 2010. suburbanites appealed away from the democratic coalition in 2010. and skipping in the interest of time, but i do have to share one of my favorite quotes. rusty for the come, southeastern oklahoma running for seats his seat in the state legislature in the curtain county spent $170 on a state for the oklahoma state house against the longtime incumbent. this is a district radio 1

he is much closer to dukakis and kerry than ronald reagan. frankly you just proved the point of putting that in, it was funny, and more people -- that web ad has gone viral because people think it's funny, and i rest the case as cain used to say, it's nice to have a sense of humor. and that whole ad is about having a sense of humor and getting people to show it, as you just did. >> just to be clear, as somebody who lived two years in france as you did, you don't have a problem with anybody speaking french especially when they were a missionary in france, which is what romney was. >> i lived in france as a child. i did my dissertation in belgium. but you have to confess when you look at the whole ad, it does work. and comes together perfectly and ties romney back to dukakis and kerry and that's the whole point of the ad. >> speaker gingrich, good luck on the trail and we'll be watching you. >> thank you. >>> coming up, six days before south carolina, is it the last stand for republicans if they want to stop romney from becoming the nominee? we

he is much closer to dukakis and kerry then he is to ronald reagan. >> let's talk about the big political news. jon huntsman pulls out tonight. i am surprised by this. you would have thought he would new pulled out after hampshire. endorsement today. >> he finished a distant third hampshire primaries. prospects in south carolina very strong. he did get a single newspaper but he wanted to leave with some dignity. why stick around if you know you in the? going to stay >> would it be any surprise that he will endorse mitt romney? that a surprise? >> they fit a similar profile. jon huntsman was one of the leading critics of mitt romney months.ral it shows geopolitics makes for strange bedfellows. >> jon huntsman put all of his eggs and the new hampshire basket. out of their race. where does that leave their race? >> it may not be far off. if you look at the other alternatives, newt gingrich, perry, rick santorum, none to be gaining sell of attraction in south carolina. newt gingrich is close to mitt romney in the polls. he does not have the resources down to florida and beyond. this is a pret

dukakis, go at it with no rules, nothing. and i was stunned. and i got very self-righteous, all of that, i said, oh, peter, we can't do that. we're honor-bound, we agreed to do this and this and this and whatever. i didn't know what we were going to do. fortunately, annie and john agreed with me, and so anyhow, we had, we outvoted him. we didn't really vote, but we -- there were, the majority, majority ruled, and peter went on and all of that. but we, and we followed the rules and all that. but i must say, it was spooky for me and scary, and can it's been scary ever since. >> host: mr. lehrer, you've become the singular moderator for several of the most recent debates. how did that come about? >> guest: well, in many cases it was simply they couldn't agree on anybody else. and in one case, in fact, it was 1992, i had agreed to do the first clinton debate, and then they were going to have some other moderators do the other ones. and i got a call, i was then at williams burg doing something else. i'd already agreed to do the first one, and i got

dukakis-style? >>> romney was referring to the infamous ad showing michael dukakis riding.gned to portray him as tough. his opponents used it to mock him. i remember that well. >>> be sure to read the ticker on cnnpolitics.com, and check out my blog post today. i write about the president of the united states in null campaign mode now. send me a tweet. >>> a stroke of a pen frees convicted killers and leaves a victim's family stunned. new developments. those victims are afraid. >> i think he's a barbaric individual that can just senselessly cold-bloodedly shoot someone like that, especially holding his child, his own child. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] >>> official in mississippi say bluntly they have no idea where four convicted killers are after being pardoned or freed by the outgoing governor haley barber. we have more on the outrage, the fear the reaction. martin, what's the very latest? >> reporter: wolf, all of that continues to grow over the nearly 200 pardons that were granted, bu

. >> the first question to governor dukakis. if kitty were raped and murdered, were you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer. >> as president, would you be submissive to your husband? >> in campaigns, questions like this get asked. they even sometimes get asked in a competent way. so, listen, maybe cnn face planted on the way they asked the question. remember the specific question fought mr. gingrich was, "would you like to respond to that" the answer was no, duh! seriously, that is how you put it to him? someone will ask him the competent about his arch arch c. i hope this campaign never ends, finds a way to disrupt the space-time continium and go on forever and ever. joining us fresh off the plan from south carolina is gail cullins. you want this to go on forever? >> i sort of want this moment in the south carolina contest to go on forever. i feel like somebody were either in hyper speed or time has stopped, because so much is happening all at once and each thing feels like it's epic, each thing tells a major stor

>> i tnk the moon base was newt jumping the shark or it could have been his d dukakis in the tank moment, because it was kind of a caricature of him. romney used it cleverly toay that newt had been going out around to every state promising x, y , and z. the momentum has shifted, and what is remarkable is that with an audience where you thought it would have been digging which moment -- the ggrich moment, it was romney. it could have been the advance team. it was obviously a romney crowd from the beginning. whatever it was romney won the bate decisively. >> colby? >> no question. gingrich was way off his game on thursday, not only because the audience was not with him, but because he was h hard by romney wita very good sizingers, and he seems un prepared. he seemed f flat and struggled at timeand his comebacks were weak. >> evan why does the replican establishment hate him? >> he alleges the truth. the republican establishment including my cololleague at mr. krauthammer are here, have come down hard on him. these debates -- on the money debate, they were slamming each other -- what they s

. >> the first question to governor dukakis. you have two minutes to respond. governor, if kitty decaucus were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? >> what you would say if your daughter was ever in a position where she might need an abortion? >> as president, would you be submissive to your husband? >> in presidential campaigns, questions like get asked, they even sometimes get asked in a competent way. so, listen, maybe cnn face planted on the way they asked the question last night. remember, the specific question put to mr. gingrich was, "would you like to respond to that" the answer was, no. duh! seriously, that is how you put it to him? someone will ask him the competent about his arch arch moralistic hypocracy. i hope this campaign never ends, it just finds a way to disrupt the space-time con continuum and goes on forever and ever and ever. joining us fresh off the plan from south carolina is gail collins. you want this to go on forever? >> i sort of want this moment in the south carolina contest to go on foreve

do you think politicians have learned anything from dukakis' emotional answer there? >> it's still painful to watch that. he just said your wife was raped and murdered and gives this legal-ese. he lost the debate in that moment. gingrich is good at deflecting the emotion. one of the things that newt did last night was shift the focus from his own admitted misconduct to the news media for dredging this up. that was played very well with the crowd which cheered him. it may play well in south carolina. he did not commit the dukakis mistake. let's put it that way. >> thank you, howard kurtz. brian ross will join him on "reliable sources" right here on cnn. >>> the road to the republican nomination for president stops next in south carolina. watch cnn saturday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern with the south carolina primary results. >>> and these are live pictures taking place in south carolina. we'll keep an eye on this and if it gets interesting we'll bring it to you. >>> also coming up, an ex cop is fighting for his life. >> i was convicted of second-degree murder with depraf

web ad, he blasts mitt romney comparing him to former massachusetts presidential candidates michael dukakis and john kerry. >> just like john kerry, he speaks french too. >> with south carolina's primary only about a week away, gingrich is zeroing in on the gop front-runner. at campaign stops thursday, romney focused his attacks on president obama. >> we are going to see the change we're looking for. it's not barack obama. i believe it's going to be mitt romney. >> this weekend social conservative leaders from across the nation will meet in texas to try to agree on a romney alternative. >> it grieves me that washington, d.c. seems to be so removed. >> texas governor rick perry has been fighting for the social conservative vote with newt gingrich and rick santorum. >> i understand how faith plus family equals freedom. >> but jon huntsman, who many view as more moderate, says his record in utah speaks for itself. >> i think you'll find that i've been a consistent conservative. >> their campaign blitz may be working. new polls show romney's lead shrinking in south carolina. however, a number o

he's much closer to dukakis and kerry than ronald reagan. >> reporter: the conservative vote appears to be split. if the gop candidates can't stop romney there's always stephen colbert. >> you know, i'm exploring right now. i'm a one-man lewis and clark. >> as he makes up his mind, the real candidates get a chance to go after romney tonight. >> thank you for that report. >>> now for a developing story overseas this morning, word that the leader of the taliban in pakistan may have been killed in a u.s. drone strike. pakistani officials say they have interpreted some messages indicating that hakimullah mehsud is now dead. the taliban base in pakistan has been a grave threat to u.s. troops in afghanistan stan. >>> tributes take place across the country today for dr. martin luther king jr. a ceremony at the mlk memorial in washington got under way yesterday on king's actual birthday. dr. king's oldest son, martin luther king iii was among the speakers. and president obama and the rest of the first family also observed what would have been dr. king's 83rd birthday. they attended a worship

web ad, he blasts mitt romney comparing him to former massachusetts presidential candidates michael dukakis and john kerry. >> he speaks french too. >> reporter: with south carolina's primary only about a week away, gingrich is zeroing in on the gop front runner. but at campaign stops thursday, romney focused his attacks on president obama. >> we are going to see the change we're looking for and it's not barack obama. i believe it's going to be mitt romney. [ cheering and applause ] >> reporter: this weekend social conservative lead fresh across the nation will meet in texas to try to agree on a romney alternative and stop the former massachusetts governor from getting to the white house. >> it grieves me that washington, d.c. seems to be so removed. >> reporter: texas governor rick perry has been fighting for the social conservative vote with gingrich and rick santorum. >> i understand how faith plus family equals freedom. >> reporter: but jon huntsman says his record in utah speaks for itself. >> i think you'll find that i've been a very consistent conservative there in utah. >> reporter:

up a fight with dan rather, remember, in the beginning of the '88 campaign, as a warmup to go of a dukakis, and it really worked for him and this may really work for newt, what do you think? >> well, it certainly is going to work for him in south carolina. i think and contrast that, chris, with mitt romney's episode from yesterday when he confronted the occupy protesters. and i thought tried to have that sort of moment. to, you know, put them in their place and put them down. and it was awkward. it didn't work that way. gingrich is good at this sort of thing, mitt romney really isn't. and that contrast was pretty stark. >> thank you, howard and gene, we'll see you tomorrow night for the coverage of the results in south carolina. what a night it's going to be. >>> coming up, as prepared as newt gingrich was for that question about his ex-wife mitt romney wasn't all prepared, he was flat-footed, when he was asked once again will you release his tax returns? and his nonanswer of maybe suggests there's something there, something that could hurt his campaign. because when in doubt you put it ou

>> i think the moon base was newt jumping the shark, or it could have been his a dukakis in that tank moment. it was kind of a caricature of him. romney used it cleverly to say that newt is going are out to every state promising x, y, and z. i think the momentum has shifted, and what was remarkable was it with the audience at there, he would have thought it would have been the gingrich moment. it was romney. it could have and the advance team. it was obviously a romney crowd from the beginning. whenever it was, romney won and that debate decisively. >> colby? >> no question. newt gingrich was way off his game on a thursday, not only because the audience was not with them, but because he got hit hard by romney with a very good zingers and he seemed un prepared, seemed flat and startled at times. his comments were very weak. >> evan, why is the republican establishment coming down on and gingrich? that is what he alleges, and why. >> he alleges the truth. my colleague, mr. krauthammer here, and others have come down hard on him. these debates -- you can score in them because they are ci

think the moon base was newt jumping at the shark, or to use another analogy, it could have been his dukakis in the tank moment, because it was a caricature of him. romney used it cleverly to say that newt was going out around every state promising x, y, and iz. the momentum has shifted, and what was remarkable was that with the audience at there, you would have thought it would have been at the gingrich moment like in south carolina. it was romney. it could act in the advance team. it was obviously -- a cut have been at the advance team. it was obviously a romney crowd from the beginning. whenever it was, romney won the debate decisively. >> colby? >> no question. gingrich was very off his game on thursday. he was really hit hard by romney with some very good zingers, and he seemed unprepared, flat and startled at times. his contacts were very weak. >> evan, white does the republican -- what is the republican establishment coming down on the rich? that is what he alleges. >> he alleges the truth. the republican establishment, like my colleague mr. krauthammer, and have come down hard on him

it came up in the democratic primary with michael dukakis as he was being challenged in that primary. what we have been hearing from the romney and the gingrich campaigns -- do you have any reservations about what will be brought up in the fall. >> i would rather our candidates not attack each other. what pains me the most about these attacks that have gone both ways are attacks on the free market system, how someone are as their income and how they are successful. president obama and his reelection committee will use that against us. he will have dug it up and come up with some kind of spin on it. most importantly, we need to make a compelling case for the free market. we need to go out and talk to people who are middle-class and below middle-class about how jobs at the free enterprise system will lead to them and their children out of their station in life. we know that the obama demonstration delays in government programs. they get a check every month or every week. they are there. people are stuck in what they believe is their lot in life. we need to communicate that on an individ

the last two to be nominated dukakis and kerry, didn't have a good general election. >> reporter: back to our poll. one of the most important things new hampshire voters say they have taken into account are the debates. the final debate takes place this sunday on "meet the press." brian? >> all right. chuck todd, thanks. 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 anythi

the first time i heard that term marathon on a sprint, it came out of the one michael due cakes -- dukakis. he did get the nomination. thank you all so much for riding this roller coaster with me this week in south carolina. it has been amazing and thank you also for watching. also, special thanks to our hosts here at south carolina educational tv. for more insight into what's going on here in south carolina, check out our website for a terrific feature on the primary and the presidential election, produced by students here at the university of south carolina. they ask what issues are most important to young voters and we think you'll find their answers revealing. it's all there along with our wiki webcast extra. join us for the latest results and ages next week on "washington week." good night. >> funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> one line helps communities turn plans boo reality. helps shippers forge a path to prosperity. helps workers get back to work. one line is than engine -- an engine for the economy and the future. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities

i remember michael dukakis, just a reminder that governors of massachusetts don't make good candidates. >> reporter: ron paul took in a diner. and jon huntsman, focused his whole campaign here. >> there's something exciting happening. >> reporter: he's stuck at 9% in the polls and has not budged. david with so little time left and clock ticking, a lot of candidates relying on tonight's debate to speak to the voters of new hampshire. david. >>> jake tapper on the campaign trail. jake, thank you, we'll see you in the debate hall shortly. the stakes could not be higher. front-runner, looking to keep the lead and others this is the primetime shot to catch them. who has the most to gain, who has the most to lose? jon carl is here, what is a hint their of their strategy? >> tonight is mitt romney's biggest task. he's out to prove that he is the one who can stay on top. mitt romney tonight, the moment of truth. a narrow win in iowa and big lead here in new hampshire. he's the one in the hot seat, everybody will be gunning for him. you can't be thin-skinned and no more wagers. >> 10,000 bucks.

. >> bush and dukakis on crime. bush supports the death penalty for first-degree murderers.opposes the death penalty, he allowed first-degree murderers to have weekend passes from prison. one was willie horton, who murdered a boy in a robbery, stabbing him 19 times. >> well, that was a pretty effective ad, wasn't it, mike isikoff? and that's why one of the producers is the guy who's bringing us this set of adds for romney. >> right, there is something coming full circle here. but, look, the willie horton ads is one of those iconic moments in american politics that everybody remembers because it was so effective. and i think that this, you know, the newt gingrich ads, the attack ads, run just over the last month, may rank right up there. showing, vindicating the power of negative ads. i want to just pick up on something you were talking about before with john, about, you know, accountability for these things. the super pacs are supposed to be independent, they don't coordinate, but, look, the restore our future is founded by three former romney political aides. one of the chi

. >> he's much closer to dukakis and kerry than he is to ronald reagan. >> reporter: one of those so-called super pacs is targeting rick santorum and running ads tonight in sauk. as for romney himself he feels confident enough to take the day off from the campaign trail, just five days left of campaigning in south carolina. >> we are all counting. i want to bring in rick klein and, rick, we can't underscore how important south carolina is. social conservatives very powerful there. and for what, the last 30 years or so no republican has won the nomination without this state? >> that's right, south carolina is absolutely critical. this year is no exception. the state held the first in the primary since 1980 and the winner in south carolina has gone on to win the republican nomination in every one of those elections. >> so everyone since reagan has needed this state to get the nomination. if romney does win in south carolina, rick, is this nomination fight all but over. >> it's not the republicans have given up. two-thirds still want someone else to be president. but when it comes to who that