i want to bring in had chief political analyst gloria borger.ust begin with the comments he was making with regard to leader pelosi. i was trying to make out the question. i know it's tough to had hear with the flashes, et cetera, in that small room. but pretty damning comments it sounded like toward her and the house ethics committee. can you put that in context? >> well, he did go up against the house ethics committee when with he was a member, and it had something to do with a book he wrote and the royalties he got for the book. he clearly -- what he was saying today was, okay, nancy pelosi, you say you have an awful lot to say about the ethics charges, i'm going to give it right back to you. and if you want to raise that, i'm going to make you the issue. and i think what newt gingrich is gambling on here, quite frankly, is that if it's a race in the republican party between newt gingrich's word and nancy pelosi's word that he's going to win that and that, in fact, it would benefit him and the republican party, as we saw in the primaries, to

gloria borger, i look forward to talking to you over the next few days. thank you.his -- >> stood over top with a gauge and shot in the chest and when he explained shooting in the chest he said he no longer heard anything out of her, that she was dead. >> an absolutely horrendous crime shocked one of the country's most famous college towns. a student body president on her way home from studying, kidnapped and murdered. eve carson, next. ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ but the second that she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪ ♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪ but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ m

." >>> gloria borger's out on the campaign trail in iowa. from tonight, 14 days before that state's kick-off caucuses. gloria, you met with the state's veteran republican governor, terry brandstad. what he had to say about expectations for the first contest. >> i will just say that we've always said there are three tickets out of iowa. it's all about expectations. who beats expectations? it's not just about ron paul. it's about who else beats expectations. does somebody else beat expectations? does, let's say, santorum come in a surprising second or third? that could be significant. or does romney come back and come in a strong second, let's say? that could be helpful to him in new hampshire. >> interesting, gloria, he mentioned potential of rick santorum surge. we'll speak to senator santorum in a moment. first thing he mentioned, it's not just about ron paul. is governor brandstad a bit on the defensive? >> you think so. you think i was being spun a little bit, john? look, they -- clearly hearing what republicans are saying in states other

gloria borger, it's a decision time for mr. cain.him at his word that the most important calculation is his family. but he knows, as he sits down with that conversation, that he is sliding precipitously in the polls everyy. >> first of all, i have to say i'm astounded he hasn't had that conversation before this moment since these charges came out on monday. but i do think that there is a decision that's got to be made on the personal side and also on the cal pain side. if he's running out of money, one, he can't continue. if he's losing support among women, which he wasn't strong to begin with, he can't continue. he's got his family and his wife. he could continue in this race to be some kind of a spoiler. but it's clear to me he's not going to get the nomination and that's also something else he has to take into consideration. >> this was on again, off again, mr. cain didn't want to do it he wanted to do in 20 minutes. i want to give him credit, he came in at a tough time in the campaign, sat down with the editorial board and report

your answering the questions and you understand it's our job to ask them. >> thank you. >> our gloria borger joins us now along with ari fleischer and redstate.com's erick erickson. gloria, looked like quite an interview there. you know, as the congressman said not the first time he faced questions about 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 of a conflict. on the one hand he said 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 it's irrelevant. that's 22 years ago, clearly doesn't want to talk about it but honestly that's the kind of scrutiny you have to expect if you're the front runner a presidential race. >> yeah, i mean it's politics, no question. and, eric, to that point, some people are hearing about this for the first time but these questions are not new. they don't seem to have had much of an imp

you understand it's our job. >> thank you. >> gloria borger joins us now, along with former press second for george w. bush, ari fleischer and redstate.com's 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 of a 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 bears 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 expect if you're the front-runner in a presidential race. >> it's politics, no question. erick, 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 ho

gloria borger, let me jump over to you.rative, mom born in kansas and also the speech that he injoked president clinton in that top tax rate when he raised taxes back in the '90s. >> well, first of all, president clinton is probably the most popular politician in america's history and so any time you can harken back to a time when there was no deficit and jobs were created and he's your friend and wife is secretary of state, that's probably not a bad political move. but i agree with jess. i think that he is really trying to define the campaign. the first thing you do in a presidential campaign is you try and define your opponents before they get to define who you are. and what he is saying is -- >> do you think he did that successfully? >> i think he -- well, see, what republicans have to say about it but i do think this was a good speech in this sense. that he tried to sort of simplify the republican philosophical position on tacks and tax cuts and the economy. and his sim

gloria borger spoke with ron paul just a little while ago. little contentious. we've been asking about some news -- we had seen and been asking about some newsletters that appeared under his name in the '80s and '90s. today, you had a chance to press him on whether he was aware of the issues like race. what did he tell you? >> well, wolf, i know you've asked him about these news will thors and today, i perezed him about whether he had actually read any. listen to what he said. >> not all the time. well, on occasion, yes. >> and did you ever object? >> we talked about this twice yesterday at cnn. why don't you go back and look at what i said yesterday on cnn and what i've said for 20 something years. 22 years ago. i didn't write them, i disavow them, that's it. >> but you made money off them. >> i was still practicing medicine. i had to make a living. >> there are reports you made almost a million dollars off of them in 1993. >> i'd like to see that money. i never read that stuff. i was probably aware of it ten years after twfs written and it'

. >> gloria borger was there at that event and joins us from davenport, iowa. let's start with the former speaker. telephone conferences with supporters or potential supporters. he said he won't go negative. the rule of politics tell you, that won't work. how worried are they inside camp gingrich? perhaps beyond the candidate that their strategy sonl contributing to the slide. >> reporter: they're very worried. as you said earlier, they added an availability today. he is trying to get his message out. look, they don't have the money to put up the ads that would allow them to go negative against the other candidates. so they're trying to make a virtue out of it. and say, you know, we're really going to be positive here so don't pay attention to those other folks. and they're holding these teleconferences, essentially, asking people to join their caucuses. asking people to join their campaign. the place where we just had this event, davenport, iowa. i talked to the two guys who set up the event. they got a call from the gingrich campaign at 10:30 last friday morn

but gloria borger is not usually that -- well, she was asking questions. they legitimate questions, governor, about what was published under his name in a newsletter that many years ago, 20 years ago? >> any time you get to be the front-runner, you're running for president of the united states, you better be ready for a lot of scrutiny. that's just the way it goes. politics is tough. you call this "hardball," that's what it's all about. it's hardball, especially when you're running for president of the united states. people have a right to know what stands you've taken and even though it might be over 20 years ago. >> i think you're rooting for romney. that's my hunch. but you don't have to respond. my hunch is you want a winner -- you think the best bet is romney. right? that's what i think. >> well, listen, i think that iowa voters are the best ones to decide. i have confidence in them. i've tried to be a good host to all the candidates, i want to treat them all fairly. i want to see a great turnout for the iowa caucuses. and we can't afford four more ye

in fact, he walked away from an interview with gloria borger earlier today. stay on the story tonight, keeping him honest. >>> science versus bioterrorism. should the methods and results be released of an experiment that if recreated could unleash a virus capable of killing 60% of those infected. those stories and more at the top of the hour. >> i know you saw the results of the bird flu firsthand in southeast asia. as a doctor, what are your thoughts on it, how damaging, how destructive, how serious? >> this is very serious. at the time we talked a lot about bird flu. in the end there were about 600 people who died from this. people thought the numbers would be much worse. now we're talking about this virus becoming more airborne and more easily transmissible. the information is going to get out there. scientists probably need to know so we can better protect countries and really the entire world from this. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, erin. >> more on that in a moment as well. >>> a little garl in maine has vanished. today police expanded their search

. >> joining me gloria borger, mary matalin and matt kitty, president of freedom works. ks to all of you. gloria, you look the chilliest, we'll go to you first. you talked to newt gingrich today about this, why his polls seem headed south in iowa. take a listen so what he had to say. >> watch tv here for two days. you've had all sorts of people and all sorts of these super-pacs that have consistently been running negative ads. you get enough negative ads before you start answering them, your numbers go down for a while. >> he's blaming it, gloria, on the negative ads. he was doing well before the debates. is he right about this? and if he is, what can he do about it? >> sure. well he was right about it. it was interesting he was so honest. i said you're going down. he said, yeah, he is going down. he gets it. he doesn't have enough money to fight back in the ad wars. and so what he's trying to do, sanjay, is make a virtue out of necessity, and that is go positive. because ads are expensive, negative ads are something that people use after they've introduced themselves and

gloria borger spoke with congressman paul in mt. pleasant, iowa, today. gloria, what is he saying by now, 13 days out, and his ads have been pretty tough. are they going to stay that way? >> they are, yeah. he said they will. first of all, he's very, very happy about his poll numbers, his poll numbers are terrific. but when i asked him about those negative ads, john, what he said to me, i said are you going to take down your negative ads? he's accused newt gingrich of serial hypocrisy and he said to me, no, i am not going to take down those ads because somebody has to show that certain candidates are flip-floppers on the issues and if you and the media won't do it, i'm going to do it. >> so -- >> on occasion, yes. >> did you ever object when you read them? >> we talked about this twice yesterday, cnn has. go back and look at what i said yesterday on cnn and what i've said for 20-some years, 22 years ago, i didn't write them. i disavow them. that's it. >> but you made money off of them? >> i was still practicing medicine. that's why i wasn't a very good pub

. >> joining me gloria borger, mary matalin and matt kibbe, president of freedom works. thanks to all of you. gloria, you look the chilliest, we'll go to you first. you talked to newt gingrich today about this, why his polls seem headed south in iowa. take a listen so what he had to say. >> watch tv here for two days. you've had all sorts of people and all sorts of these super-pacs that have consistently been running negative ads. you get enough negative ads before you start answering them, your numbers go down for a while. >> he's blaming it, gloria, on the negative ads. he was doing well before the debates. is he right about this? and if he is, what can he do about it? >> sure. well he was right about it. it was interesting he was so honest. i said you're going down. he said, yeah, he is going down. he gets it. he doesn't have enough money to fight back in the ad wars. and so what he's trying to do, sanjay, is make a virtue out of necessity, and that is go positive. because ads are expensive, negative ads are something that people use after they've introduced themselves

. >> joining me gloria borger, mary matalin and matt kibbe, president of freedom works. of you. gloria, you look the chilliest, we'll go to you first. you talked to newt gingrich today about this, why his polls seem headed south in iowa. take a listen so what he had to say. >> watch tv here for two days. you've had all sorts of people and all sorts of these super-pacs that have consistently been running negative ads. you get enough negative ads before you start answering them, your numbers go down for a while. >> he's blaming it, gloria, on the negative ads. he was doing well before the debates. is he right about this? and if he is, what can he do about it? >> sure. well, he is right about it, and it's interesting he was so honest when i asked him the question. i said you're going down. he said, yeah, he is going down. he gets it. he doesn't have enough money to fight back in the ad wars. and so what he's trying to do, sanjay, is make a virtue out of necessity, and that is go positive. because ads are expensive, negative ads are something that people use after they've int

that's him taking off his microphone cutting short the questioning from gloria borger. they have to do with racially inflammatory writings to paid subscribers during the '80s and '90s. they were written in the first person in random publications such as the ron paul political report and the ron paul survival report. now this all flared up about three years ago when the liberal new republic did the story. more recently, though, the same reporter writing are for the conservative weekly standard flushed out even more details as have new york organizations from "the new york times" to cnn. what we've all uncovered are e items like this from a 1992 newsletter shortly after the l.a. riots titled "special issue on racial terrorism." listen to this one line reads, order was only restored in los angeles when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks. in fact, order was restored when the national guard moved in. two years earlier in another ron paul publication an article criticized president reagan for signing legislation approving the creation of the federal m

gloria borger, thanks. >>> more to tell you about on the campaign trail today. another poll showing that newt gingrich is clearly the republican front-runner when you look at national numbers. 40% of those surveyed by nbc news with the "wall street journal" prefer gingrich as the republican nominee. mitt romney is coming in second at 23%. take a look when the same poll asked how the top republican candidates stack up against president obama. romney statistically tied with the president. but compare that to obama versus gingrich. the president leads 51% to 40%. ramping up his attacks on gingrich today, governor romney released a web video tying the former speaker to another former speaker that, well, republicans love to hate, the democrat, nancy pelosi. >> if enough of us demand action from our leaders -- >> together we can do this. >> another dond watcandidate to ron paul, numbers are rising in iowa and new hampshire. >> a whole lot for the campaign that means momentum is building up. a lot of the candidates so far in this past year would come and go. they'd sho

. >> well, if he did, gloria borger joins us next.newsroom." first, out of the penn state case, form arer penn state coach jerry sandusky arrested again following more charges. more victims have come forward claiming that sandusky sexually abused them on several occasions. he was arrested and handcuffed and brought to court. he is expected to be arraigned this afternoon. he may or may not be released following that arraignment. >>> also, in chicago, illinois, former illinois governor rod blagojevich has been sentenced for corruption charges for 14 years in prison. he was charged with selling barack obama's seat in the senate. ted rowlands was there and before the sentencing he said he wanted to give a final apology to his family. his life is ruined and political career is over. the judge said that that apology came too late. >>> gloria borger is not one to minutes words. she asks, is the gop race turning into a circus? in her article she says, mitt romney had better start answering somebody's questions and do it soon. it's not enough

ron paul and cnn's gloria borger. talking about newsletters from the 1990's with racially charged comments. this comes back to haunt you if you don't take care of them in advance. >> ron paul has always been out on the edge, and to attract people who say crazy things, and it is going to come back to haunt you. we would not be paying attention to ron paul except that it is a presidential year and nobody really likes mitt romney. >> look, the reason he is under attack is because he can actually win in iowa. he is not going to win the nomination, but he is sort of our front-running candidate. that has never happened before. before, he would not want to waste ammunition on him. these newsletters are really incriminating. it has his name on it. he can say he did not read it, but he is responsible. incendiary, racist, anti-semitic stuff that is quite verizon. -- quite hair-raising. >> what ron paul has is a certain authenticity. we can all drink raw milk thanks to ron paul when he is president of his handling of this takes

. >> let's bring in gloria borger. cnn's chief political an lift. what do you make of what senator paul had to say? all the rhetoric of the order in which you do things, but it seems there are compromises to get this done. >> sure. look, i think tonight what we saw is that republicans had to find a way to get to yes on this payroll tax cut because they know very well that they were handing the democrats an issue. if you're for tax cuts for the wealthy, why aren't you for tax cuts for the middle class? the speaker of the house understood that very well. so they throw in the pipeline, which is an interesting issue to debate because there is a political point to be made that the president put off a decision on this because it is a very tough decision. so he put it off until after the election. they want to force the decision. they think it is a job creator. the question that i have, that you are getting at with the senator is, how relevant is the pipeline to the payroll tax cut. you know, you can put anything on a bill and say it is relevant because it

i'm gloria borger of cnn. me is the executive editor of the news hour, jim lehrer who has just written a fabulous book called "tension city" which will be on your bookstands on september 3rd seemed. it is all about the presidential debates. we all watched the presidential debates. some of those cover the presidential debates. you're the only person i know who has moderated presidential debates. how many of them? >> eleven. >> you are the man, as you say, in the middle seat, at the center of the stage. you have written fiction about these debates. you have never really told us what it is like to be in the middle of it. why did you decide to write a nonfiction book about the rates? >> well, i thought it was time to do it. i felt that 2008, i did one of the obama mccain debates, i knew that this was probably going to be my last presence debate. and so i decided that was the case, so i started collecting my thoughts. i had taken a lot of notes through all these of the previous ten. and realized i had some things i