. >> gene robinson, does this put this issue finally to sleep for a while, anyway? >> it doesn't put it to sleep really, ed, but i think he did okay on that question. i don't think he really blew it. they didn't press him that much on it. really, the only people who laid a glove on romney in this debate were jerry of the "wall street journal" who asked him a pretty tough bain capital question and juan williams did ask him an immigration question that kind of put him in a spot. but i thought part of the story of tonight's debate was that the other candidates didn't really go for the jugular on romney, at least, the way they might have. they kind of went after each other. >> i think you're correct there. i agree with you. romney says he created 120,000 jobs. he's been asked to document the 100,000 jobs that he's created. now it's up to 120,000. here it is. >> four of the companies that we invested in, they weren't businesses i ran, but we invested in, ended up today having some 120,000 jobs. some of the businesses we invested in weren't successful and lost jobs. and i

. >> isn't that amazing, gene robinson? there is a conservative republican saying, this anything-goes campaigning, where citizens united rule that a guy with lots of money, the koch brothers or who else can spend zillions of dollars without putting their name on the ad. it's not like little league where you put the name on the back. and he's destroying newt. >> we need some regulation, so these millionaires don't take over! it's an amazing thing. >> and now here he is, the guy hosted on his own petard. they say things like corporations are people too, and dollars are votes. now he turns on the team, poor him and calista. it's sewage coming out of the tv set, constantly. he can give a million debate performances. and romney out there with his beautiful family reciting "american the beautiful." it's like that scene in "the godfather." do you remember? crying at the opera. >> romney's out there with the flags waving -- >> "america the beautiful." >> meanwhile, mitt romney's saying, i can't do modern politics. >> here it is. he

i just came from a newt gingrich event in orangeburg which is gene robinson's hometown. it was an overflow crowd, i'd say 1,200 people. these are your hard, your salt of the earth, conservative crowd. gene, you know who i'm talking about in orangeburg. they were all there. newt gingrich was singing their song and speaking their language and it's because of the debates. by my count, newt gingrich has now come back three times from the dead. and the way he did it here in south carolina is by using the debates to show that he's the kind of conservative combatant. tough, nasty, in your face, that south carolina conservatives definitely want. and the national numbers are affected by what goes on state by state. national republicans are looking at south carolina. it's not definitive. south carolina won't be definitive either. judging by that crowd today, chris, and i've seen surges in the past. newt was surgeoning. newt himself said today he was going to win the south carolina primary today. >> wow, he's actually propsing victory tomorrow. tell us about your home state, the fe

that is that he may have won in iowa but 75% of the republicans there didn't vote for him and gene robinson writes, i'm quoting, "the iowa campaign proved what pollsters have been telling us all along. republicans just don't like mitt romney very much." so, are you worried about a push to get someone else? >> you know what, i'm not. i do have to say kiki, i really don't think those guys in texas are huddling because they think barack obama has been such a great president. i think they look at the record and see, you know, record unemployment that is not going down and deficit spending that continues to rise and no leadership and they want to make sure there is a serious opponent to president obama. that being said, i think the fact that mitt romney a few weeks ago wasn't even playing in iowa and was able to come in with the momentum to allow him to win, albeit by eight vote we now go to new hampshire, going go to new hampshire, probably win overwhelmingly and south carolina that is going to be a split. what you see by super tuesday is mitt romney, a very strong, very credible, very formidab

and about newt gingrich and his campaign right now i would say he's toast. >> gene robinson. >> gene,going to rate more than tebow against the patriots. >> it probably will. we'll be back with more "morning joe" in just a moment. hey guys, breakfast! ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first on the side. from honey nut cheerios to cinnamon toast crunch to lucky charms, get more whole grain than any other ingredient... without question. just look for the white check. it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam al

go back to chris matthews who is inç manchester with michael steele and gene robinson. >> thank youh, rachel. the fascinating numbers i thought there, we have got with us, michael steele, the former chair of the republican national committee and gene robinson of the "washington post." the fascinating number struck me, actually, gentlemen, this idea that the republican parties know not all hard right. here we have a party now defining itself as 46%, almost half, michael, of your party as moderate or liberal. the word liberal, republican, is almost at throw if i had, here we have people admit it. >> noted a atrophied people would like it to be. the reality is, i harped on this as national chairman, the north southeast not the south, the south is not the midwest and the midwest is not the southwest. vufrmts met actually liberal republicans? >> absolutely. absolutely. >> where are they? >> but not big numbers. how do you define lib sflal it is more socialist. >> this electorate is independents though? how many independents are coming out of -- i suspect they are a huge chunk of this --

not a lot of enthusiasm as romney had before. >> thank you, gene robinson. republicans don't fall in love. they fall in line. i have gotten to like your analysis. i think you tell the truth. you win pulitzer prizes. that's even better. this is it from the late night special. msnbc's coverage of the primary will continue in a moment. >> newt gingrich fight for example fourth place. ron paul finishes second. jon huntsman finishing third. we will go back to mr. gingrich. >> in south carolina, we will kickoff tomorrow morning a campaign for jobs and economic growth. a campaign for a balanced budget and a campaign for returning power to the states through the tenth amendment. a campaign for a strong national security. a campaign for a stable, solid social security program both for people now on it and the young people who deserve a chance in their time to have a better program with an even greater return because if we are smart, we can do better things for people. the washington alternatives, how do we raise taxes and cut spending in a way that causes you pain on

. >> stephen colbert is here, jim clyburn, andrea mitchell, and gene robinson having a couple of irish charleston. [ male announcer ] new starbucks blonde roast is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. being blonde is nothing new but blonde roast is something new. something subtle. something soft. something with 40 years of roasting experience on its side. introducing delicious new starbucks blonde roast. the lighter roast perfected. ♪ so i'm glad it's with fidelity. they offer me one-on-one guidance to help me choose my investments. not just with my savings plan here at work. they help me with all of my financial goals. looking good, irene. thanks to fidelity, i can stay on top of my financial future, huh? good one. why, thank you. whether it's saving for retirement, college, or anything else, contact a fidelity investment professional today. it's got 10 speeds, my friend. ♪ is it fast? it's got a lightning bolt on it, doesn't it? ♪ is it fast? i don't even know if it's street-legal. ♪ is it safe? oh, yeah. it's a volkswagen

. >> i wonder, gene robinson, are we going to show some clips from these candidatesnd it's vacuous. a nation. if this is how we elect our presidents. i remember last year or four years ago, watching barack obama, this guy with very little experience, being swept to victory by talking about hope and change. and commented halfway through that campaign, it's like selling potato chips. it's about branding. i was jumping up and down saying -- this is all a big pr campaign for a guy that's really a glorified state senator. is that where we are as a nation? that this is somehow we elect our leaders? >> that's the way we run our elections now. and not where the nation is, because we've been in all of these states. we talk to people, they have concrete, real concerns. and, and they want them talked about and addressed and more than that. they want something done. they want movement. they want, they want an end to what they see as perpetual gridlock in washington. in which our fundamental problems don't get addressed. and they're not getting it. >> so you know what? i want to read from your c

. >> i learned gene robinson's plans to write the authorized chris christie biography, probably not going

eugene robinson. gene, is this the kind of day we live for, or am i overreacting? >> this is the kind of day we live for, rachel, best place you can possibly be, come down here, unless you want to go with me to like visit mitt's money in the cayman islands, i think that will be fun too. >> we can swim with the sting rays and mitt's millions. let me ask you, gene, because you and i were both together, completely wrong about rick perry. you and i both thought rick perry would be the real threat to mitt romney, he was going to be the real candidate, and today kaput, does that have any effect on the race at this point? >> it does have an effect on the race, yes, we were completely wrong. we saw he was really going to be a force in this race. look, he doesn't bring many voters with him, right, he's down in the single digits here in south carolina, so it's not as if he's bringing legions into the gingrich camp, but doing it today, it just reenforces this idea, this reality, of gingrich momentum in south carolina and i'll tell you, i've been here all week, and he's gainin

howard fineman, thank you so much and gene robinson, thank you. >>> up next, this wild week in south for romney and right for gingrich? that's a nice way of describing a wipeout. what an amazing night in american politics. you are watching a special edition of "hardball" here on msnbc. >>> well, there's no question the past few days have been very good forring inning in and bad for romney. but with gingrich's with big one tonight, we are watching the republican party, i think, move to the right but we'll see. the co-authors of "game change." both are msnbc political analysts and the top investigative reporter in the country. mike is joining us from d.c. i want the political guys first and the investigator. how do you see it, mark? how is this a plat point in this campaign? >> well, look, newt gingrich leaves here with a head of steam and romney has a ton of challenges if he is going to win florida. people say he is has been organized and spent money we start from scratch. right romney will have to figure out a way to attack gingrich from the right and get momentum back through the de

robinson. >> not quite as kind, gene. i would be remiss if i didn't start with you.flack for what you said about rick santorum yesterday and alan colme sze said the same thing and apologized. do you think you may have gone overboard a little bit in your criticisms of santorum? we haven't talked about it. i'm not setting you up for anything. i was taken aback by what you said. my wife works likes you very much, couldn't believe you said it. >> what did he say? >> well, gene, you said he -- rick santorum was kind of kooky for the way he behaved after his infant died. >> well, yeah. what i actually said was i thought some people would think that was weird. that was obviously not the right way to say what i was trying to express, but -- so i -- i certainly didn't mean to offend anybody, especially mr. santorum, but it was in a discussion of his views, and, you know, which i consider extreme, and santorum himself who is a cultural -- culture warrior extraordinaire, whose faith and we all appreciate someone of deep faith, but it is -- it is extremely deep, and it's a kind

robinson. firmly putting himself on the record as not a rick santorum for president supporter. we're going to have to kiron you that way every time you're on tv. thank you, gene, i appreciate it. >> okay, rachel. >>> among the not mitt romneys, rick santorum, whom i was very wrong, take him seriously, dude. he finished second. ron paul finished third. since they are republicans, their supporters will forget their differences and get in line when the time comes, right? right? that's the common wisdom. is it true? that's next with former rnc chairman michael steele. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could a luminous protein in jellyfish, impact life expectancy in the u.s., real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. with investment information, risks, fees and expenses ♪ more and more folks are trying out snaps