some are calling new hampshire. here a view from the ground in granite state is new hampshire senator my very own senator and romney campaign supporter kelly. great to have you you with us. >> thank you, mark. >> mark: you have been on a bus tour with mitt romney, what is with him? >> he had overflow crowds and enthusiasm for his candidacy. he is really resonating with new hampshire voters. he is working very hard and he is having the traditional townhall meetings. when you see the broad support here, he is doing very well. >> the phrase he used this morning on fox and friends about the soul of america, that is what a lot of the base wants. it wants a fighter who understands the primal nature of the election in november. there has been an enthusiasm gap in terms of his numbers. they stayed around 22-25% but you think that has changed in granite state? >> i saw the enthusiasm there. our country can't take four more years of barack obama. the governor's message is resonating with new hampshire voters. they are talking

you will be in new hampshire.be there and any other candidates that survive, like michele bachmann. they have been outsized compared to what you and i have seen. >> the candidates sometimes get fueled by what happened on tuesday night. others will begin to take on some water. and then there's candidates like ron paul who i think we look at and say, it doesn't matter what he does. he may do quite well, according to our poll, but he's going to go on. >> he's going to go on. he may go all the way to the convention. you know, i was watching you with all of these tossed events but we didn't see ron paul. he's back home in texas spending the weekend with his wife. >> applaudable. we applaud that. you know, the thing i think about with ron paul, i've covered him over the years. you have a lot. his followers are so enthusiastic that they will come out here, whether he's in a cave or anywhere. i think you can count on that. whereas some of the other supporters may not be as ferver. >> i'm going to ask you what i've asked o

she is the leader in new hampshire of new hampshire department of peace. so i think we have cleared the air. he knows what we're up to end our shirts are not electioneering. we can walk around polling places with them. we think all of what we want. we have established the ground rules. but getting some of the moderator's like in rockingham, the moderator said been contacted, what are we going to have? so we want to follow through. >> anybody else that has something to say? we have covered the ballot for 10 minutes. we have four weather days. anyone with questions our success -- for other days. >> i am still trying to understand this. is it highly tactical or philosophical? in other words, if i am favor of collective bargaining rights for all american workers or i am in favor, i am opposed to new venture being a right to work state. i'll say that that is tactical on the other is philosophical. is it both, any, or all? >> this is going to be decided by the groups coming. what they want to ask. >> i hope it is more tactical. >> any other things that people wa

do you expect to see him back in new hampshire?een exposed to a lot of presidential candidates up there. did this feel to you like his last trip to new hampshire and probably his last week as a candidate? >> it did. i would expect sometime between sunday and tuesday that the gop will probably be down one candidate. >> he told you that this is the weekend where he goes back to atlanta, and he's going to be sitting down with the wife. and did he give you any indication of how he expects that conversation to go? >> no, he didn't. but i think he's going to have a lot of interesting explaining to do. you know, when we asked him, you know, i asked him, you know, this is kind of a nightmare for a prominent businessman, you know, a prominent man to have a woman começ forward and make these allegations. how did your paths cross? and he explained that he had met her at a conference in louisville, kentucky. and since he didn't have an entourage at that time way back then, that this woman got his cell phone number. and that's where things beg

you will be in new hampshire.nd any other candidates that survive, like michele bachmann. they have been outsized compared to what you and i have seen. >> the candidates sometimes get fueled by what happened on tuesday night. others will begin to take on some water. and then there's candidates like ron paul who i think we look at and say, it doesn't matter what he does. he may do quite well, according to our poll, but he's going to go on. >> he's going to go on. he may go all the way to the convention. you know, i was watching you with all of these tossed events but we didn't see ron paul. he's back home in texas spending the weekend with his wife. >> applaudable. we applaud that. you know, the thing i think about with ron paul, i've covered him over the years. you have a lot. his followers are so enthusiastic that they will come out here, whether he's in a cave or anywhere. i think you can count on that. whereas some of the other supporters may not be as ferver. >> i'm going to ask you what i've asked other peopl

new hampshire 40%. not as if your numbers are great in some of the other swing states, but at least they're in the national conversation. new hampshire, you consistently underperformed for a couple years, why? >> let me just skip by that question for a second and speak to the general premise that snow these numbers are determinative and we haven't gone through a normal period in our history and the most important numbers to watch are the head-to-heads and the most important events to watch right now are the republican contests and i don't think the republican party is gaining through this debate that they're having. i'm confident that we'll press our message for economic renewal and they're going to keep pressing their message to go back to the policies that led to this disaster. i think part of it is that you have a whole bunch of republican candidates tromping through there delivering messages against us day after day. >> why are you the only ones attacking mitt romney and not the republicans. why do

someone's polling on jeb bush in new hampshire. who is funding those calls in new hampshire? or as i asked on the show last night -- who's funding those call in new hampshire? right. turns out tonight we have an answer. we know who has been polling new hampshire on jeb bush as a potential presidential candidate. we know where else they have been doing it. we know who they are. and in just a moment, i'm hoping they're going to tell us why they're doing it. >>> late last month a woman went into the city hall building in iowa, city, awith and paid her water bill. then she paid the water bills for 17 other people in iowa city. according to the iowa city "press citizen," that one anonymous donor forked over $1,640 to pay off delinquent balances for 17 other local water accounts. 17 families who hadn't been able to pay their water bill who were facing having no running water for the thanksgiving holiday if they hadn't lost it already. 11 of those accounts already had had their water turned off. remaining six were scheduled to be shut down by the end of that day. last week in san jo

she is the leader in new hampshire of new hampshire department of peace. so i think we have cleared the air. he knows what we're up to end our shirts are not electioneering. we can walk around polling places with them. we think all of what we want. we have established the ground rules. but getting some of the moderator's like in rockingham, the moderator said been contacted, what are we going to have? so we want to follow through. >> anybody else that has something to say? we have covered the ballot for 10 minutes. we have four weather days. anyone with questions our success -- for other days. >> i am still trying to understand this. is it highly tactical or philosophical? in other words, if i am favor of collective bargaining rights for all american workers or i am in favor, i am opposed to new venture being a right to work state. i'll say that that is tactical on the other is philosophical. is it both, any, or all? >> this is going to be decided by the groups coming. what they want to ask. >> i hope it is more tactical. >> any other things that people wa

that will tarnish romney to then drop him in new hampshire. new hampshire is huntsman one place. predicting paul would be the surgeer in new hampshire. this iowa surge goes hand in hand with that. i went to several events in new hampshire in the fall. he has a lot of support there. his message plays well with the voters. and so i think huntsman sees okay. i can't let ron paul come in second if i want to make any stand at all. so i'm going to take him down. >> ron paul does have some problems. i want to read to what what they said. they said about ron paul. ron paul is a dangerous man. while his domestic libertarian views are quite attractive to some voters fed up with politicç as usual, it's paul's position on issues of national security that are truly dangerous. it's about time new hampshire voters showed him the door. it seems to me that the new hampshire ron paul supporter may be at the fringe. appealable to some other camps. but who is the most likely beneficiary of defections from ron paul's camp? i think you have to say huntsman or really anybody. let's not forget the new h

back to new hampshire.play iowa and what happens there? >> well, look, i think the idea is that unlike other candidates he doesn't have to win iowa. but he does want to compete across all these early primary states. that's the most important thing, that this is a campaign that was built from the beginning to be a hunt for delegates all the way through a large part of the calendar versus just one momentum-building win and then let's see what else happens to the other domino of states that come after. >> and tad, quickly, do you buy that? does mitt romney need to win iowa or not? quickly. >> no. he doesn't need to win iowa. he needs to win new hampshire. and if he doesn't it's going to be over fast for him. >> i totally agree. tad devine, kevin madden, thank you both. we continue to follow the breaking news that democratic senator ben nelson of nebraska announcing he will not seek re-election in 2012. what that means for the balance of power in the senate, next on "andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. ♪ l

in new hampshire takes this seriously. thousands and thousands of people call these other people in arkansas collect. and then, with our volunteers that were already there, jason remembers this. we bagged 100,0001992 equivalent eight of max or something i do not know. vhs. we put them on the doors of the voters that right? five. so, we came back and said that we stopped going down at some point below 28%. the rest is history. i am very grateful to the people of the state. [applause] the second thing is that having in narrative is very important. if one side does and the other does not, it is not a good deal be according the policy, it would be about leaving and this man right here is responsible for that theme song. stand up. a little-known fact in american history. when he was practically an infant, i flew to california to give a speech that was not particularly political. he said that this song to be my theme song if i ever run for president. i had never met him before. he was like 12 years old. true story. [laughter] he

someone's polling on jeb bush in new hampshire. who is funding those calls in new hampshire?ow last night -- who's funding those call in new hampshire? right. turns out tonight we have an answer. we know who has been polling new hampshire on jeb bush as a potential presidential candidate. we know where else they have been doing it. we know who they are. and in just a moment, i'm hoping they're going to tell us why they're doing it. [ male announcer ] if you're intrigued by the hand-selected wood trim... the 38 1/2 inches of legroom... and the reclinable, heated napa leather seats inside the jeep grand cherokee, just wait until we tell you about the heated and ventilated front seats. ♪ ♪ a body at rest tends to stay at rest... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammati

and we have lowered the unemployment rate in new hampshire. so, this is under the auspices of bill o'brien. we can't thank him enough. back in the 1970's i saw a quote from ronald reagan -- saying now is not the time for pastel colors but time for bald, primary colors. we have a bold leader in speaker o'brien. please join me in welcoming him on the stage. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. good afternoon. there are many standards to judge a presidential candidate. one of the best is past performance. by that measure, only one candidate this year has achieved the meaningful change in washington that we need, and that candidate is newt gingrich. while president obama promised both hope and change, the results have been a disastrous failure that accomplished only one objective -- a massive growth in government. growth of finance at the expense of liberty and our children's and our grandchildren's future. as someone who believes in limited government, who believes in new hampshire's motto of live free or died, and believes my three chil

i would like to come in second in new hampshire.think it's very hard to beat romney in new hampshire. although it will be fun.ç it will be a much more exciting week than he thinks. >> don't you still have to get top three. >> top three or four depends on whether they're all bunched -- what if you have four people tied. what if you have ron paul win? at that point i think you have -- people shake their head and go to the next topic. >> reporter: first thing about the setting there, we had two parts of the interview. the first part we were essentially having a casual conversation talking about the campaign, talking a little bit about history. and, you know, they were fine with the cameras being on. that's where the conversation went on iowa and south carolina, the more formal part as you saw in the first clip. i think the two most important things i took out of that was, one, is obviously they think south carolina is the be all, end all, and historically it is, and that's why, boy, nobody wants rick perry to bomb here more in iowa th

this is how we're going to win new hampshire.eople understand that we have two deficits and we have to deal with in this country. one is an economic deficit that we're going to have to hit hard. i'm the only one on that stage of republicans who embraced the ryan plan. we have another deficit called the trust deficit. i'm going to keep talking about term limits for congress 'til i'm blue in the face. i'm going to call for the closing down of that revolving door that allows members of congress to file right on through to become lobbyists. we'll have to have somebody who can take on the banks on wall street because we've got banks that are too big to fail and we're setting ourselves up for another bailout. we've been there, done that. we're not doing it again. we've got it have a president who doesn't come from the same old establishment status quo mold. i'm not going to be that kind of person. people in new hampshire get that part. that's why they're rallying toward our cause. we've gone from zero to double digits. >> eric: governo

what about iowa and new hampshire? >> he's not doing as well in new hampshire.ird or fourth place. it looks like mitt romney should win pretty handedly. half of the ads on the air in iowa is negative against newt gingrich. he doesn't look like he's in a good position to win here. he's still doing well in south carolina and florida. those are bigger primaries where if he can win there, then he can start to rise again. >> let's talk about ron paul for a second. spending the weekend in texas instead of iowa. what do you make of this? >> well, it's looked in the past few weeks like ron paul could win iowa. mitt romney has overtaken him. as it's started to look like he could win, he's far out side the mainstream and as more as those attacks come, he's starting to take a hit, too. get out of the way and try to stave off the attacks. that's what he's doing this weekend. >> santorum is in third. he's been rising in the polls after lacking at the back of the pack for most of the year. he's been kriss-crossing the state. is this proof that politics lives and this is proba

what do you have in new hampshire? >> well, i'm in new hampshire.e have been focusing on new hampshire. i did a ten-county tower last weekend, done a whole trip up to the north country today and back down here to map chester. i did a couple of editorial boards. we worked very hard in new hampshire. we planted the flag here 30 trips to the state, over hundred town hall meetings. no one other than the two guys living up here, huntsman and romney, has been here more than i have and we have 20 state legislators, state senators and county officials. we have a great team, and when we do well in iowa, i always say, iowa provides the spark, and new hampshire will provide the flame. >> well, of course, we're watching, and it is a fascinating race, senator sanitorium, thank you, sir. >> thank you very much, greta. appreciate it. >> coming up, journalist move over. donald trump is about to take over, at least for one night. he's going to moderate a presidential debate. donald trump is here to tell you why his debate is must-see tv. >> and giant economic news.

in new hampshire poll has romney at 46%. ron paul at 13% among republicans, he is 26% in new hampshire. still doesn't look like he will win or play second. south carolina is next and south carolina not ron paul territory. he is not polling well. he is a distant third there. same thing in florida. so it doesn't look like he has any big winning opportunity after iowa. >> shannon: i want to ask you about the new lawsuit filed by the rick perry campaign. he failed to make it on the primary ballot in virginia. have they filed a legal challenge? did they have any success with that? >> there are new rules in virginia, but everybody is looking at this and saying 2008, fred thompson campaign, they managed to get on the ballot. gingrich and perry haven't. there not a lot sympathy right now. >> shannon: a lot of campaigns didn't try. did it make perry and gingrich like they are disorganized to some extent? >> it does. the we to iowa is having a lot of organization. many people are asking questions about their performance or readiness i

i think what romney has to do is go to new hampshire as the firewall. to win -- if you are a romney supporter he has to win big in new hampshire. he had a huge lead, 30 points or more. right now it's about 16. anything less of 10 or 15 is seen as a defeat. that is where he stops momentum. otherwise he could collapse unlike any other front runner in that position. >> bret: mara, new hampshire has its own history of turning front-runner aceway. when mitt romney goes in with a big lead in the polls in new hampshire, there well could be surprise there as well. never know. >> it shows how hard is it to play the expectations game. romney has been cagey about iowa, didn't want to try too hard so if he didn't win there it wouldn't look like a defeat. now he faces possibility of coming in third there, which is bad for him. in terms of new hampshire, they do have a record of surprising -- surprises. he has a deep, deep organization there. for him to not do as well as expected in new hampshire, which is the equivalent of his home state would be devastating. >> bre

a beautiful, new hampshire summer day.poke about america in peril under a president who disappointed even his own supporters and was clearly failing. since then, the unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high. more americans have lost their homes and more americans have slipped from the middle class into a world of poverty they never imagined they would see. our soldiers returned from war unable to find a decent job. over the last six months, i have traveled up and down new hampshire and across the country. i have listened to anxious voices in town meetings, visit with students who are frightened by the magnitude of their college loans. even more frightened by the lack of jobs. from breakthroughs to back -- from break rooms to backe offices, i have heard stories of the great obama recession. families getting by on less. long planned retirements replaced by two jobs at minimum wage. it is a long litany. dreams deferred. economic stress that quickly becomes family stress. i have heard stories that break my heart. let me

>> he could not win new hampshire. >> there you go. he's trying to keep the man down. >> trying to keep the man down. >> jim buildaberg vandehei. >> happy holidays. >> would you believe this man has gone as far as tearing stickers off the bumpers of cars? and he voted for george mcgovern for president. >> i'm sure that's true. >> merry christmas to you, mika. joe, you have a good holiday. >> on easy rider, i'm a faithful follower. >> okay. >> i don't even have a garage. >> and carry drones to sunday school. >> jim vandiheho. >> okay. so let me just say, for those of you who don't know, that was the worst out of control -- >> do yourself a favor, download charlie daniels bands uneasy rider on itunes now. you remember -- i guess you're the only one who remembers this song. >> i love this song. >> oh, it is unbelievable. >> i'll be quiet. >> yet i live in 1972. >> i know. >> it's a sad, sad -- >> one of your nice qualities. >> i worked for bill clinton back in 1992, playing the sax o saxophone on the air. we'll be right back. everyone bel

a very different electorate in new hampshire. in new hampshire independents play a big role in the primary, get to vote either side. very different electorate. last two primaries on the republican side. four years ago mike huck, the former arkansas governor won here. he did not win in new hampshire. that was john mccain who went on to win the nomination. in 2000, texas governor george w. bush won here. john mccain won in new hampshire but of course bush went on to win the nomination and presidency. different states no doubt about that, fred. >> paul, you say maybe one, maybe two contestants drop out after iowa. mark, one has to wonder when you kind of read the tea leaves whose destiny really does rely on this iowa caucus. who might be dropping out potentially. >> let's talk about who is most likely to move on. mitt romney will move on. ron paul will move on. rick santorum will very, very likely move on. newt gingrich will likely move on. then it just leaves us from here in iowa, leaves us michele bachmann and rick perry. if they