it's excongressman duke cunningham, who is serving time for a federal bribery case.s now reaching out to newt. quote, newt, a voice out of the past, down but not out and still fighting. first, i do not want anything from you, but have been watching the debates. i have 80% of inmates that would vote for you. they may not be able to, but their extended families will. of all the families, this takes the cake. i have no grudge against someone who's paying his debt to society. up next, amateur hour. that's right. at last night's debate, one subject was more comic relief than nasty back and forth. newt's promise to voters that by the second term in white house, there will be an american colony on the moon. let's hear what two of his rivals had to say about the plan. >> i spent 25 years in business. if i had a business executive come to me and said they wanted to spend a few hundred billion to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fired. >> well, i don't think we should go to the moon. i think we should send some politicians up there. >> well, by now, you'd think mitt ro

duke cunningham, speaking of mug shots, duke cunningham is still in prison for corruption in california, but duke cunningham now says that he's for newt gingrich too, from prison. but you know, that right there is kind of the pitiful counter counter-arsenal that newt gingrich has against the republican establishment. in a normal year, an imbalance like that, the whole establishment versus the guy in prison and the reverse mortgage guy and sarah palin, that would mean that mr. gingrich's campaign would pretty much be dead in the water. that imbalance would be fatal. but this year, do not underestimate the importance of the fact that newt gingrich has money on tap. $10 million in donations for his super pac so far from one couple in las vegas. a couple so rich that they could make that same $10 million donation 500 more times and they would still be billionaires. to mitt romney may be rolling out all of these surrogates and supporters, but newt gingrich doesn't need all of that. a, he's got all the money he wants, and b, he can take care of himself. in between contemplating be president o

up next, newt gingrich pix up the jailhouse endorsement of duke cunningham.you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. hey, aren't you supposed to be following that fidelity green line? well, yeah, but it keeps leading me back to my old office. i think it might be broken. or maybe it's trying to tell you something. yeah, but what could it be try-- oh, i left my 401(k) at my old job. and i left a jacket on the back of my door. but i think the line's talking about my 401(k). leave a 401(k) behind? roll it over with a company that's helping more people reach retirement than anyone else. call or come in for a free portfolio review today. when we were determined to see it through. here's an update on the progress. we're paying for all spill related clean-up costs. bp findings supports independent scientists studying the gulf's environment. thousands of environmental samples have been tested and all beaches and waters are open. and the tourists are back. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. ♪ we are young ♪ ♪ so let's set the world on fire ♪ ♪ we can burn brighte

it's ex-congressman duke cunningham, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for his involvementeing inside hasn't kept cunningham from keeping up with the debates. he's now reaching out to newt. "newt, a voice out of the past. down but not out and still fighting. first i do not want anything from you but have been watching the debates. i have 80% of inmates that would vote for you. they might not be able to but their extended families will." of all the former colleagues, this endorsement takes the cake. i personally don't hold a grudge against anyone who is paying his debt to society. next up, amateur hour. at last night's debate one subject was a moment of comic relief than nasty back and forth. the topic? newt's promise to voters that by the end of his second term in the white house, there will be an american colony on the moon. let's hear what two of his rivals had to say about the plan last night. >> i spent 25 years in business. if i had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, i'd say you're fir

caller: jack abramoff, getting away with really big scandal, with duke cunningham. supposedly doing 10 years in jail. that is a joke, too. if every person would do something like they did, we would still be behind bars. it is the same how corrupt this country has gotten and even the american people. they do not want to work. half the not even want to work. just give me, give me, and following see just like the big business. host: what is your prescription? caller: i think we should go back to the basics and have people honest. i call my congressman, i never talked to him. all i do is talk to the person at the desk. i get tired of calling. you can't even talk to him. i appreciate you listening to me, susan h. -- susan. host: after the abramoff scandal contras pass what they call sweeping ethics reforms. on his leadership and open government act of 2007. banned from lobbying, unless they were grandfathered. some of the tenets of the post- abramoff at this legislation. jack abramoff in his book and on his store has some thoughts about ethics reform. let's listen to som

duke cunningham, and abramoff, and all of this is because of the corruption that is bread by the outrageous obscene corruption earmark process. they went in his first year from $7.8 billion in earmarks to two years later to $14.5 billion in earmarks. i read up on the floor of the senate, 52 pages of earmarks. that kind of thing, they had the k street project, where there was a relationship with a lobbyist on k street. it was not the principles of abe lincoln and ronald reagan. finally, he criticized on march 21st, 1986 on the floor of the senate and said that ronald reagan was a failure in the war -- in the struggle against the soviet union. i want to emphasize, the reason why mitt has the electability is because of h experience as a governor and business person and saved the olympics in salt lake city, and i think people are looking at that as a reason for his electability. >> if you go to the negatives for gingrich, and can newt gingrich beat president obama? >> i think any of our candidates can. you just showed the numbers up there. we have to stop the debates. enough with the debates, b

that's why duke cunningham is in jail. why we hadmer abramoff.ed plan by newt gingrich and his friends to try to help freshman congressmen. before the old bulls had been able to put in a few -- some earmarks, they exploded under newt gingrich. and the k street project where they're worked hand in glove with the lobbiest was not the kind of government the american people deserve. so if that's establishment fighting against earmarks and pork barrel spending that exploded while he was speaker of the house, i would gladly accept that label. >> if he is in the nominee, gingrich, would you support him? >> surety. absolutely. i'm a loyal'ma. i'm loyal to my party and i certainly will. but in the meantime, i think that his electability, which is a factor -- not the most important factor but his electability is very poor, and i think it's understandable. >> what do you think of sarah palin and her husband, todd palin, endorsing newt gingrich. >> my feelings and affection for sarah and todd, but they did not -- in all due respect, they didn't know him when

you're not going to get drupe cunningham this way -- drew -- duke cunningham this way. >> can you walk us through -- presumably, there are some idealists who get elected to congress to go with some public interest in mind. can you walk us through how you go about correcting them? -- corrupting them? [laughter] what is the rhetoric of that conversation? how do real them in -- how do you reel them in? >> when any member of congress shows up in washington these days, the first thing they meet is not a lobbyist. the meet their leadership. and the leadership introduce them to their lobbyists. and they do it this way. you're a new member of congress. the most important thing for you is to get reelected. if we lose your seat, then we will have to fight to get back the time after that. so that is the most important thing. since most of them, 80%, come with the debt, the first thing you have to do is retired your debt. this is even before congress has convened. i am talking about december, after the november elections. here's a group of people who are very good at retiring your debt. meet the l