let's begin there and a conversation with our conservative contributor, eric erickson redstate.com.servative activist becky beach and jim curtainback, a former iowa state chairman. neither becky or jim has a candidate this time around. erick, the simple question if you talk to the people on the ground here, they do tell you they get a sense that gingrich has plateaued. and in part because of the attacks. if romney's the chief attacker, is he the schechief beneficiary? >> i'm not sure he is. i'm not a big romney fan, but i feel sorry for him on the attacks because they need to be made but when he makes them at newt gingrich, the gingrich response is to say, that's what they say about you, too. they're hurting gingrich but they're not helping romney about -- the only crazier thing, only zhangnier thing romney can do is try out john sununu and blame gingrich for the tax increase in the '90s, but they did that, too. >> that will take us back to the '90s. i was there. i don't think anyone of us want to go back there. a press conference this came up, attacks on him as a faux conservative.

we're going to talk to eric erickson about that, that's important. the tea party is driving this season. we're going to talk too eric erickson about that. maybe it's jon huntsman time. who knows. >>> president obama, talk about his a second, a push to extend the tax cut on the road. the president was in kansas stressing ow vital a deal is to your paycheck and emphasizing the widening inequalitiy between the rich and the middle class in america. >> this is a make or break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class because what's at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement. >> the white house has even place add countdown clock on its website to pressure congress. republicans and democrats can't agree on how to pay for the tax break. the democratic plan on the table now calls for a 1.9% surtax for millionaires to get the cash and many millionaires own businesses that create jobs and should n

. >> one of our contributors eric erickson writes this, what's so tragic about the huntsman race, he has the boldest recovery plan and best jobs creation record of anyone in the race with the exception much rick perry and he has run away from that to be the guy who doesn't defend the women of the "the view." george will who has been around the track a few times wrote this this past sunday. jon huntsman chose to debut as the republican for people who rather dislike republicans but his program is the most conservative. do you second guess your strategy? >> what is happening in the marketplace, a lot of people who didn't give us a first look are coming around to look at my record and years of service and saying he's exactly what we're looking for. they overlooked us at the beginning because they said he crossed a partisan line and served as united states ambassador to china in a democratic administration. i say i always put my country first. >> did you encourage that a bit by saying i'm going to be civil and be mr. nice guy and not stressing the more conservative parts of your record. i

eric erickson and james carville as well. if you can hit the rewind button, should he say i bet you $50 but not $10,000? >> maybe bet a big mac or something. a bit of the silly season. seriously. if that's what they're talking about, i guess when you're followed on every word and every movement. i just happen to think mitt romney is the best guy for the economy. the best guy for jobs and the best guy to beat barack obama come the fall. >> eric, what is the fallout after this debate? anybody out there in the conservative grassroots think he can move the numbers? or one of our republicans was saying, this is a little like reality tv. >> i don't know that it moved the numbers other than maybe for michele bachmann and rick perry. newt gingrich held his own. mitt romney did himself no favors. i would say that lindsay lohan had her purse stolen day with $10,000 and she should call governor romney. he might be able to help her. >> it's the silly season. and now leading in several states, you have to be careful that you're talk b you

conservative blogger eric erickson tweeted this morning, paul ryan's retreat renders newt criticisms of the ryan plan moot. national review's nut attack makes nut an outsider. it's closer to what he wants to do with medicare. it makes it more inconvenient for obama campaign who want to run on this idea that republicans and wall ryan wants to end medicare and voucherize it. makes it more difficult with that talking point this morning because ron wyden is there saying he wouldn't join up with paul ryan if he wasn't sure he was protecting medicare in the current frame work of medicare. interesting to see how this evolves. newt gingrich can say see, paul ryan is changing the way and moving closer to me. like i said, a wedge issue that confuses all sides in the political world. >>> just a few hours ago, the nearly nine-year 800 billion dollar year in iraq came to an end in iraq with casing of the colors. tribute paid to americans that sacrificed the most. >> to all of the men and women in uniform today, your nation is deeply indebted to you. your dedication, your commitment to this missio

our cnn contributor, eric erickson is with us tonight, with me in washington, perry adviser, liz mayerer tara wall. er eric, he's drawing sharper contrast. that is the right strategy in iowa? >> i think he has to. he's had the luxury of sitting back and letting the other candidates fight it out, let them implode on their own. four weeks left -- less than four weeks before the iowa caucuses. we've got christmas and new year's, so there aren't a lot of people paying attention. he's got to step up the attacks. gingrich is the only guy in sharp enough leads in iowa, south carolina, florida, now michigan, which shoulding romney home turf, and he's closing in new hampshire, no one else has ever done that. he's got to start throwing some punches. >> it's not just romney himself, ladies. restore america, superpac supports him. they seem to always mirror exactly what the campaign wants the message to be, the superpac has this ad up hitting newt pretty hard. >> why? newt has a ton of baggage like the fact that gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations or that he took at least $1.6 millio

with us tonight, republican strategist mary matalin, eric erickson of redstate.com and cornell belcherthe obama 2012 campaign. mary, these ads are new and different. the super pac especially, since you were doing presidential campaigns, you know, nothing we can do about it, right? gingrich can complain all he wants but these are doing him in in iowa right now? >> you know what? no one but the editorial pages of "the new york times" gives jack about campaign finance reform. so you just need to stop complaining about it. newt's doing everything he can do. but these town hall meetings and whatnot, quit whining. how he ascended was by taking on obama in what romney says is spot-on, cornell's team and they're so good at this are going to unleash the furies. if newt thinks this is bothersome, he's going to spend the whole general election being upset. that's what campaigns are. they're not being -- they're ugly but voters are sophisticate enough to distinguish between false negatives and problematic facts. and that's just the nature of the business. it is what it is, we're not going to perfe

. >> joining us now along with ari fleischer and eric erickson. gloria, looked like quite an interview there. as the congressman said, it's not the first time he's faced questions about all of this, but when you spoke to him today, he still doesn't seem quite ready to answer them obviously, did he? >> well, there seems to be a bit after conflict. on the one hand he says that he read them on occasion. and then on the other hand he said that he did not read the most incendiary ones. so it's really unclear what kind of editorial relationship, if any, ron paul had with this report that beared his name. he says that it's irrelevant. that was 22 years ago. he clearly doesn't want to talk about it. honestly, that's the kind of scrutiny you have to ex inspect if you're the front runner in a presidential race. >> it's politics, no question. eric to that point some people are hearing about this for the first time, these questions are not new. they don't seem to have much on his presidential hopes until now. why not previously? >> well, because no one took h

red states eric erickson, george will, "the wall street journal" agree.untsman has the best plan to fix the economy. jon huntsman's record is more conservative than newt gingrich and mitt romney combined, has better foreign policy experience. it more pro-life and huntsman would be a more conservative president. jon huntsman, consistent conservative who can win. destiny pac is spom for the content of this advertising. >> our coverage of the g.o.p. presidential candidates continues with a look at a local newscast. this is courtesy of kcci-tv. >> we're now just four days away from caucus night. by the looks of it, it may shape up to be one of the most unpredictable iowa caucuses ever. >> a new nbc-marist shows romney is neck and neck with ron paul, rick santorum not far behind. we spoke about the caucus frenzy. >> if there's one thing everybody is buzzing about this caucus season, it's the roller coaster presidential candidates have been on. >> can't quite figure out why candidates rise and fall so much. it just seems to change a lot, i guess. >> it's a pret

eric erickson saying he's got the most conservative record. he's got the best conservative economic plan. you've got all of the most important media outlets all talking about this guy jon huntsman. he's going up in the polls now. but, my gosh, time's running out. >> and the facts bear out that he is a consistent conservative, much more so than anybody else in the field. you can go down the checklist, whether you're talking about gay marriage, abortion, immigration, or anything else. and i think he and his campaign regret how they rolled out playing the moderate card a little bit too much. he appeared too much like mitt romney somewhere in the mushy middle when actually he's a strong conservative who won by an 80% margin in a very conservative state to become governor. so now it looks like he's pushing the other direction. we're seeing movement in the polls. >> and actually, the really interesting thing for me about this editorial is actually the fact that it's an editorial in the first place about this. people are taking the gingrich candidacy

it also is what worries conservatives like red states' eric erickson who say conserve stills have notgiven other candidates a fair chance. we want to hear from you, do the republicans dislike obama so much they have lost their focus? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. >>> thank you. here are some of the stories ahead, first former penn state former football coach jerry sandusky waives his chance to a preliminary hearing. >>> then the woman who anguished her screams out to aleft the word. she is talking to us. i have an exclusive interview with imam coming up. >>> plus, the party is over for mull millionaires on food stamps. >>> plus, plans for a high-rise in south korea for some are bringing back angry and painful memories. >>> and the battle might be over in iraq, but a few struggles begin for many female veterans. >> i doe notice when i'm stressing out, then i start having dreams about what i saw in the fear and just the all-around experience, it does come back as if to haunt you. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save mone

coming from red state from eric erickson this morning as he summed up how everyone is doing.ck in new hampshire. he believes jon huntsman is more conservative than mitt romney and newt gingrich combined. what do you bu hear about that one. >> i'm kind of shocked. that's not what i hear on the trails. republican voters don't understand why hunts man is in the race. they question his conservative credentials. i'm for the moment surprised aert i can son's statement. what i'm looking at is only about 35% of republican voters have said they made up their minds. why we see the numbers go up and down the one thing that stays is that romney seems to be sinking out of the way and it's just look for somebody else. it's the somebody else that is consistent. martha: is it still open? real quick, steve, what do you think about that? >> we 0 would have said newt gingrich was done. some of us said newt gingrich was done last summer an wasn't. if rick santorum over performs in ey iowa that's possible. in jon huntsman performs in new hampshire, it's way too early to say it's over. martha: tha

you have eric erickson who is taking a second look.ake a look at the person they glossed over. bill: is that an endorsement that jon huntsman would put on a television commercial. >> if the president wants to take a ride with me as being prolive, prosecond amendment, as being protax cut, provouchers, as being no mandate for healthcare reform i'm glad to have him absolutely. what do you think is happening in new hampshire? why is the polling going up. >> we finished public event 128. we are working that state like everybody else. this is a state who want you to earn it. they love an under dou underdog to come from behind and earn it. they are buying the message that i have to offer and it's from my heart and soul. it's about an economic deficit and trust deficit in this country. the american people no longer trust their political institutions now. no executive leadership. simpson-bowles was a slam dunk for the president and he threw it in the garbage can. if he had put this on capitol hill and said this is the roadway forward, we are go

. >> let me read you what eric erickson wrote. here's the funny thing about jon huntsman. his record as a governor is more conservative than newt gingrich and mitt romney combined. he is more pro-life than either of them. he is more economically wedded to the free market than either of them. he has better foreign policy experience than either of them. huntsman should be a conservative hero in this race. yet i look at the polling and you are way, way down in the pack. what's the problem? >> we are moving up in new hampshire. >> 30 points behind the front runner. >> new hampshire always up-ends conventional wisdom every sipping el time. the reality is people are giving us a second look, a first look in some cases. largest tax cut in the history of my state. i'm running against a conservative flip-flopper. i'm running against a grandiose conservative. people are coming around to the reality that i'm a consistent conservative. >> so you have people right where you want them? if you look at the course of this race so far the conservatives have looked for an alternative to mitt

i want to show you a little piece written by eric, erickson.nt that came out on friday. it says what is so tragic about the huntsman race is he has the boldest free market economic recovery plan, the most prolive record of anyone in the race other than rick perry and the best jobs creation record of anyone in the race with the possible exception of rick perry, and he has runaway from that to be the guy who doesn't offend the women on the view. what do you think? >> that is one person's point of view. we are moving up in new hampshire and i think that says everything you need to know. our message is resonating with the voters in that very important early primary state. people are coming around and giving us a second look, and i think that is important. they may not have seen the first go around, they dismissed us because we put country first. i served as u.s. ambassador to china at a time when people probably thought you shouldn't cross party lines. i said i'm an american first and foremost, i'll always put my country first. martha: do you think

red states eric erickson, george will, "the wall street journal" agree. huntsman has the best plan to fix the economy. jon huntsman's record is more conservative than newt gingrich and mitt romney combined, has better foreign policy experience, is more pro life and huntsman would be a more conservative president. jon huntsman, the consistent conservative who can win. our destiny pac is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> good morning. welcome to "morning joe." look at times square. it's tuesday, december 20th. we're counting down. with us onset we have msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin and also visiting professor at nyu former democratic congressman harold ford jr. >> good morning. >> and a cranky and -- >> i love it. >> -- just what is that? >> look how well he is dressed. >> no, you're cranky. >> and he pulled it together. >> matching holes in his socks. tube socks. >> seriously, you act like you want to go back to sleep. why don't you? >> we have a lot going on. i want to talk to you about the huntsman ad.

you have a conservative -- a person that george will and eric erickson called the most conservative inl election. >> and he's been doing the rounds. on "the view" yesterday and on several other networks doing interviews as if he's not missed a beat, and not looking at the polls, keeping his head down and moving forward. let's look into those numbers willie was talking about, the tightening in iowa comes as new nbc news/"wall street journal" polling suggests mitt romney's main obstacle lies with his party's primary voters while gingrich faces hurdles with the general election. gingrich is topping the republican presidential field with 40% support. the highest percentage any republican candidate has received in the race so far. mitt romney is 17 points behind with 23% support. however, the polling shows romney has a better chance against president obama in a general election matchup, head-to-head mitt romney and barack obama are in a statistical tie while gingrich trails the president by 11 points. when president obama is up against a generic republican candida candidate, he loses the ma