nbc's peter alexander in hilton head, south carolina, tonight. good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. these candidates try to dash around the state, mitt romney nearly missed his event here in hilton head tonight because he was stuck in paralyzing traffic so bad that he ultimately needed a police escort. he actually called in by cell phone to the room filled with veterans. the crowd gave him a groan, but ultimately cheers when he arrived. campaigning across south carolina today, front-runner mitt romney tried to present himself as a sympathetic conservative. >> i want to get jobs for americans. by the way, i'm concerned about our poor in this country. >> reporter: at the same time, romney launched a new ad responding to his opponents' accusations he callously killed jobs while running bain capital. >> this is a business mitt romney helped start. and this one. and this steel mill. >> reporter: newt gingrich continued to challenge romney for mischaracterizing his record at bain. >> he claims he created 100,000 jobs. "the washington

i told him that hilton head was a place they had to go. know you will be a little bit busy this year, but how cool when it be if president romney came for the heritage next year? [applause] thank you very much. god bless you. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] thank you so much. please. it is an honor to be here. and to be on this stage with these military veterans. their service is greatly appreciated by the entire nation. the chance to be with you. i appreciate the chance to be introduced by your governor. one of the great conservative leaders in our country. [applause] to be here with senator john mccain, a national hero. [applause] one of the conservative leaders in our country to stand up for american ideals, that is ambassador john bolton. [applause] with michael here, i thought i might describe my experience with the national guard in my state. the kind of patriotism that exists. whether active duty or reservists or national guard, i've always been inspired by the passion of the people who serve this country. i happen to be in afgh

biggest comeback victory of the year last year on tour coming from six back to end up winning down at hilton headater on off of a birdie-birdie start. snedeker had a good go of it too. it was five. trimmed down to three. kind of stayed right around that time. brandt bogeyed 17. recovered the shot with a beautiful wedge into the 72nd. now he is in the bunker. i don't know how difficult it will be. what do you see, peter? >> he has 267, two yards farther than he had in regulation. i imagine he has a clean lie. it could be an 8-iron or something. make sure you just find the fairway. nick: probably a 70 or 80-yard shot. jim: big question is what will stanley do after ripping a big tee shot here. nick: he has 241 yards, jim. you have to go. nick: you have to go. >> you have to go. nick: yeah. >> that will be fine. nick: that is perfect. jim: oh, divot. nick: it is. that is straight in a divot. up against one. oh, my. is that a loose divot? jim: i think it is a loose divot. if not someone should be fined for leaving one like that. >> here is the thing. he has either a 1-iron or a 3-wood. the right club

biggest comeback victory of the year last year on tour coming from six back to end up winning down at hilton headater on off of a birdie-birdie start. snedeker had a good go of it too. it was five. trimmed down to three. kind of stayed right around that time. brandt bogeyed 17. recovered the shot with a beautiful wedge into the 72nd. now he is in the bunker. i don't know how difficult it will be. what do you see, peter? >> he has 267, two yards farther than he had in regulation. i imagine he has a clean lie. it could be an 8-iron or something. make sure you just find the fairway. nick: probably a 70 or 80-yard shot. jim: big question is what will stanley do after ripping a big tee shot here. nick: he has 241 yards, jim. you have to go. nick: you have to go. >> you have to go. nick: yeah. >> that will be fine. nick: that is perfect. jim: oh, divot. nick: it is. that is straight in a divot. up against one. oh, my. is that a loose divot? jim: i think it is a loose divot. if not someone should be fined for leaving one like that. >> here is the thing. he has either a 1-iron or a 3-wood. the right club

also expected to speak tonight in hilton head, south carolina, is south carolina's governor. this is all from the ballroom of the hilton oceanfront resort there. earlier today, -- it is important that the -- have the veterans today because the former massachusetts governor received the support of a number of retired or non-active duty veterans, including the support of the former president of the citadel. we will wait here with the veterans for mr. romney's our rival, who was expected about 10 minutes ago. he is scheduled to be arriving shortly. -- we will wait here with the veterans for mr. rodney's a rival -- for mr. romney's arrival. >> you are here in hilton head, south carolina, still waiting for mitt romney to show up to this campaign event with veterans at the hilton oceanfront resort. in the meantime, we are going to look at a gallop poll, showing that there has been a pretty big increase in the number of people who say they are politically independent. we will show you as much as we can before coming back to the mitt romney campaign when he arrives. host: the top line

mitt romney and rick perry also keeping busy with events in hilton head. a federal judge will hear arguments today on rick perry's fight to get on the virginia primary ballot. he filed a lawsuit after failing to qualify for the march 5 primary. the lawsuit claims the provision in the law is unconstitutional. several other presidential hopefuls have joined in on his lawsuit. abc 7 will have a crew in south carolina on election night. count on us as your election station for instant updates in every newscast as well as on our web site, wjla.com. coming up on abc 7 news at noon -- >> i am very relieved. we were pretty confined and had no idea what was going on. >> a 73-year-old grandmother and her husband share their amazing story after being part of a fake bomb extortion plot. then searching for a sperm donor, the extreme lengths some couples are taking try to have a baby. and a startling new report links america's favorite food to cancer. winter is back with a vengeance. >> this was an ugly scene outside and apple store in beijing. customers became violent

charleston area, retirees, second home, hilton head, down 14% from the peak in housing prices. 10% in the center of the state, 2% in the piedmont, unchanged up at myrtle beach and pee dee. nationally, 24% in housing crisis compared to the united states. no matter where you go in south carolina' better than that and that's a little bit of a sign of hope for the state. >> good news there. erin we'll continue to check in with you. back to our analysts over here. how much are you watching turnout, and who will, if there is low turnout because of the weather or lower turnout who might that help in. >> obama. >> it would be indicative, matching the 2008 numbers in iowa and in new hampshire in the republican, they're supposed to be gassed up, they have to exceed those numbers. i guess if you would take conventional wisdom it would hurt romney because his supporters are believed to be less passionate than the others of other people but i it every to my republican colleagues about that. >> you see more men than women which is not often the case. gingrich is stronger with men. romney has been s

he will be at a meet-and-greet in hilton head, south carolina. that is nice place to stop on the campaign trail. arthel: i think so. bill: perry along with rick santorum and mitt romney making several stops across south carolina today. as you see on the map on the southeast and the north, along the border with north carolina. john roberts, myrtle beach now. we hear mitt romney is releasing an ad in south carolina. what's in it? what is the message? >> reporter: good morning, to you, bill. the ad is touting what his campaign says are successes at time with bain capital. companies like staples and sports authority. clear that the merciless attacks against him about some factories were closed is taking a real to. we started in south carolina where one of the factories was. we stopped by daddy joe's barbecue for lunch. we ran into jim koch. he is the executive director of local economic board. he had done research what happened when that photo album factory closed back in the early 1990s. here's what he found. >> the overall economic impact to cherok

then mitt romney at a town hall with a midget with the veterans at hilton head. -- with veterans at hiltone it is great to have this memorial to his memory, and it is great to have a national holiday, and it is great to have streets and schools and hospitals named in his honor all over our nation and world, it is also important to not place too much emphasis on martin luther king, the idle, but not enough emphasis on the ideals of martin luther king jr.. >> take political life and legacy of martin luther king, jr., the civil-rights leader, and racial relations today online at the c-span video library. search, watch, clip, and share. watch what you want when you want. >> now newt gingrich and rick santorum take part in a republican presidential candidates forum in duncan, south carolina. this is just eight days before the presidential primary. it runs about an hour and 15 minutes. >> how are you? we have a 90-second break and we will be back. we will be good to go. >> good evening once again, ladies and gentlemen. we are broadcasting live from our gop 2012 presidential candidate forum. we a

they spoke near hilton head for about 40 minutes. >> i would like to thank all of you for coming. for those of you that do not know, i am ahead of newt gingrich's campaign in this area. it is a very exciting time for us here in the low country. we're all brimming from his debate performance the other night, and i think it has put a new wind in everyone's sale. we are honored to have the presence of his daughters here today, but i will leave that honor to barbara nelson, former secretary of education, to introduce them. i would like to thank all of you for coming once again. thank you. [applause] >> this is a great day. thank you for coming out. there is some of going on today. thank you for giving us a place and everything. he is so is the best in doing that. james volunteers his time to organize this county and put everything together, as many people do. thank you very much. the former legislature here. the you for coming. our county chair was here last night, and they're laughing at me because i wanted to make sure which grow i got so i could share allowed. dennis and i both und

live this hour rick perry meeting with voters over breakfast at a diner in hilton head. he's one of the candidates coming under fire by some big names in the gop. they have the same message to rick perry, newt gingrich, any other presidential contender attacking mitt romney's time at bain capital. >> both newt and rick are good friends of mine. they are two people that i would have a kind of inclination to support. i think their positions are closer to mine than even mitt romney's. same thing with rick santorum. but i think the attack that they are leveling against romney is not only an unfair attack, i think it's an attack that hurts what republicans stand for, which is a free market economy. >> it sounds as if you're attacking capitalism and a free-market system. that's not what we're about. to attack that to me is inconsistent with who we are, what we are about. >> even the president of the chamber of commerce is chiming in calling the attacks foolish. cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live in d.c. paul, we're just about a week away until south carolina votes.

mitt romney will be joined by senator mccain in hilton head for an event with veterans at 5:00 eastern. at 6:20 eastern on the other side of the state, local republicans in greenville and spartanburg counties will hold a presidential candidate forum and we will have live coverage from duncan, south carolina. the u.s. supreme court took up a texas redistricted case this week. we will talk about some of the possible political implications. 22 states have

rick santorum has family at hilton head.andidates. >> all right. well, south carolina republican congressman joe wilson, good to see you. thank you. >> thank you so much. >>> new alarming reports on iran and u.s. concerns that israel is preparing to take military action against iran and the pentagon has released video of three iranian boats approaching american ships in the strait of hormuz. it is warning israel do not attack iran. joining us for more perspective is p.j. crowley. nice to see you. >> hello. >> it feels like we could be reaching some sort of a tipping point any day now. how are you reading all of these reports? >> i'm not sure we are yet at a tipping point. i think on both sides they believe their strategies are working for the u.s. and the west imposing sanctions on iran and clearly those sanctions are having an effect. iran, by the same token, has recently just doubled down on its nuclear program and it opened a second facility and stepped up its enrichment of u ra uranium to get to a level it desires. >> it

after that, another look at mitt romney at hilton head, south carolina. host: in this episode, we will look at rick perry's climate change. >> the truthfulness of political figures and others. >> if a politician says the same thing over and over again, even when it has been pointed out that it is untrue, but they know that they're saying something untrue and they will say it anyway. >> glenn kessler sunday night at 8:00 p.m. on c-span's "q&a." >> charles clark, senior editor of government magazine. then craig gilbert looks at

and look at the people who were over at hilton head. they are forgotten.o those of us who go over there, our hearts bleed because we know what we had in common with them. same thing if you go down to jackal island or you go down to fernandina beach, we all know. though pinpoint mattered to us, though, there were few others who either knew or cared about this place. in fact, there are very few who knew about it. as i've indicated earlier. and i watched painfully as places like hilton head simply disappeared. or evaporated into progress. and were soon, as i said, forgotten. but some worked to make sure that this did not happen here. and as i mentioned before, the pinpoint betterment association has dedicated itself to preserving the best of what has happened on pinpoint. so that it is not forgotten. and my hat is off to them. again, as i said to them and i felt horrible when they asked me what could i do and my answer was uniformly, there's nothing i can do. but pray and hope that someone comes along. and as my cousin said, the hope that there would be a mir

here's a live look from hilton head. it's a diner. he's chatting with some of the folks in there. he is holding a meet and greet with supporters. he was practically a no show in new hampshire, with less than 1% of the vote. if he don't do well in south carolina, chances are he will likely drop out after this primary. we shall see. eight days away. >> trying to play the "southern card." >>> there may be one more candidate. steven colbert on the comedy central show last night said he was launching a run for president in his home state of south carolina. he said he plans to form an exploratory committee for the nation's top job. apparently the stunt is part of his effort to expose the absurdity of u.s. election laws. >>> funny guy. >>> a boycott of girl scout cookies is prompting a debate on whether the organization should include transgendered kids. a video from a california group called honest girl scouts was posted online and in that video it urges people not to buy the cookies because of a colorado troop which accepted a 7-year- old boy as a member. >> i ask all fellow girl scout

state capital and columbia, a lot of academic, small town chamber of commerce and myrtle beach, hilton head, a lot of retirees from the midwest and mid atlantic region in particular, so you have a distinctly electorate. think about this, for example, in 2008, if you add together the vote that was received by john mccain and mitt romney and rudy guiliani, you have a big majority of the republican vote in the south carolina pre primary, moderate conservatives to moderates and took majority and that's been pretty much the tradition in south carolina since the primaries began there in 1988. but, and the other thing that's going to matter here, this is going to be the first primary held in south carolina after the new hampshire pre primary where there's a truncated period, 19 days and now it's less than that, about 10 or 11 days and as a result, it's going to be really tight, and those next few days matter and finally, we're going to have at least, romney, paul, perry, santorum, and through a super pac, gingrich with adequate funds to fight on television, nobody is going to dominate the airwaves

perry, the texas governor, did not repeat his vulture capitalism line during a morning stop in hilton head. he did say his opponents all speak for wall street or washington. >> we need an outsider who has consistently cut spending, not these insiders who increase deficits. >> woodruff: and for the second day in a row texas congressman ron paul held no public campaign events. but the obama re-election team did wade into the bain debate, with a memo that said: meanwhile, as the republican contenders gauged how to blunt romney's momentum, social conservative leaders planned to meet in texas this weekend to talk about uniting behind someone other than romney. late today, a federal judge in virginia refused to add four of the republicans-- perry, gingrich, santorum and huntsman- - to the primary ballot in virginia. he ruled they did not submit the required number of signatures on petitions. >> suarez: still to come on the "newshour": new presidential authority; fighting fatal cancers; inside the fed and shields and brooks. but first, the other news of the day. here's kwame holman. >> holman: th

get to south carolina, and you go down state, particularly charleston, down through myrtle beach, hilton headrees, near retirees, remember, john, this is a very different state demographically, socioeconomically than it was when bush and mccain went mono a mono in 2000. the suburbs around greenville and spartanburg look more like atlanta than they did 12 years ago. >> that's up here. >> look for romney to do extremely well here, look for santorum and perry to do well up here and the election's won in the center speen of tine of the >> perry says i'm reassessing. he wakes up this morning and goes for a jog and says, i'm going to stay in this. skip new hampshire, come here. south carolina's now rick perry's alamo. the question is, if santorum stumble a bit, if gingrich comes in fourth again, is there a chance for perry to reassert himself here, or is he likely to end up being fred tompson, a spoiler role, taking some of the vote up here and denying santorum or a newt comeback. >> a lot of it, as you indicate, depends what santorum does in new hampshire. i think if he were to finnish the top thr

actually he has family at hilton head, dan and missy santorum. we're proud of them.at focus for senator santorum. the bottom line, we can't wait for all of the candidates to come. people of south carolina have truly been looking forward to this. and you've pointed out, this is the super bowl. this is the state. this is the primary. with over 500,000 people likely participating. it's a huge turnout that does pick the nominee of the republican party. >> political junkies, get your doritos ready. congressman joe wilson, thank you. nbc's david gregory will moderate the final presidential debate before tuesday's new hampshire primary. nbc news facebook debate airs sunday on nbc, special edition of "meet the press" and here on msnbc starts at 9:00 a.m. eastern. post debate analysis with chris matthews. you have a question for the candidates, logon to our facebook page to join the conversation. back with more after this. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita

then we get to hilton head. on c-span two, 95% of the people voting in the primary will be transplants with about half of the people being from ohio. so we feel like we're a composite america and we should have nearly half a million people participate on saturday. host: congressman wilson what do you think about the fact that the state is going to be penalized for having an early primary? >> well, i regret that. guest: because actually -- and we love florida. but it was florida that forced this armyy vote. i wish it were later. because it's been difficult, particularly during the holiday season to organize campaigns but the bottom line is they are organized. the people of south carolina are engaged. we are so engaged that we want to nominate someone who can be victorious in november. host: i want to give you one more opportunity to endorse a candidate before we go to calls. guest: on primary day i'm really looking forward to mr. peter the ambassador from the slow vac republic visiting south carolina to observe t

mitt romney very nearly missed his campaign last night in hilton head. he was stuck in paralyzing traffic so bad he needed a police escort. he called in with an event filled with veterans. that was met by a groan when he said he was running late and ultimately cheers when he arrived. >> peter alexander, in charleston, south carolina. thanks, peter. >>> john harwood is cnbc's chief washington correspondent. good morning, john. >> good morning, amy. >> when he talking about creating jobs, destroying jobs, does this continue to dog him if he makes it into the general election, or does he have to get more specific at this point to quiet his critics? >> he's going to be hearing about this all the way to november should he be the republican nominee. a democratic pollster once told me many in this economy as fearful and anxious as voters are, the one mortal sin for voters evaluating candidates is somebody who's going to shift jobs overseas. that doesn't mean he can't answer and he will. he's going to explain why he believes that the private equity industry in g

he will be in aiken around midday and travels to hilton head late this afternoon for a veterans event. rick perry stops this afternoon in bluffton and travels to charleston for event at a crab house. rick santorum started at a town meeting in rock hill, south carolina, and then travels to york for a meet-and-greet and cookout. newt gingrich is in florida for the morning. he open as state campaign headquarters in orlando. this afternoon he returns to south carolina for the candidates forum. jon huntsman doesn't have any scheduled campaign stops today but he will also be participating in the candidates forum in duncan, south carolina, 6:30 eastern. you can see that live on c-span. ron paul has no public appearances scheduled for today. as we mentioned, former massachusetts governor mitt romney is meeting with veterans in hilton head, south carolina and you can see that live coverage at 5:05 eastern on c-span. several of the republican presidential candidates will be participating in that candidates forum tonight in duncan, south carolina. it is hosted by republican groups in greenville

and down on hilton head island. 44% went for newt gingrich. they liked his debate performanceses and the fire he showed. and energized and two thirds of the people say the debates mattered and they like what newt gingrich had to say. he had something to say last night. >> people completely misunderstand. it is not that i am a good debater. i articulate the deepest felt values of the american people. >> reporter: now when you look at all the groups he won. he won among republicans and evangelicals and independents. and women and he came up very close second among moderates. that is a formula for a candidate not to just win a state like south carolina. but a formula to win a lot of contest that is are still coming up. now, mitt romney is ahead. by 18-point insist florida. and early ballots have been cast there. more than 2,000. and romney is up in the polls and may go to him. dynamic could change in the next 10 days and all the 46 other contest that is lie ahead. this contest, this is for the republican nomination and over at the end of january.

i told him that hilton head was a place they had to go.now you will be a little bit busy this year, but how cool when it be if president romney came for the heritage next year? [applause] thank you very much. god bless you. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] thank you so much. please. it is an honor to be here. and to be on this stage with these military veterans. their service is greatly appreciated by the entire nation. the chance to be with you. i appreciate the chance to be introduced by your governor. one of the great conservative leaders in our country. [applause] to be here with senator john mccain, a national hero. [applause] one of the conservative leaders in our country to stand up for american ideals, that is ambassador john bolton. [applause] with michael here, i thought i might describe my experience with the national guard in my state. the kind of patriotism that exists. whether active duty or reservists or national guard, i've always been inspired by the passion of the people who serve this country. i happen to be in afghan

brian todd is joining us from hilton head, south carolina. >> rick santorum score d big in iowa withd other social conservatives. that block is also crucial here in south carolina, where a lot of attention is now focused on a candidate whose faith has truly shaped him. politically and personally. literally minutes after stunning the political world in iowa, rick santorum said game on. paid tribute to his wife. then -- >> i've survived the challenges so far. by the daily grace that comes from god. >> santorum called his relationship with god a sacred friendship. a friendship forged over a lifetime. >> you literally had to be on your death bed not to go to church and -- >> did you guys ever try to get out of it? >> we tried to get out of it, but it never worked. >> dan santorum, rick's younger brother, told us that he, rick and their older sister might have missed church twice in their lives. growing up in the small house on the grounds of a va hospital, rick was an alter boy. dan brought wheelchair bound patients to services. >> position of honor to be up there and to be with the prie

rick perry in orangeburg, south carolina, you've got rick santorum in hilton head, south carolina, newtoe johns. this is a turning point in this campaign because this could be a political brawl. it is getting pretty darn ugly there. tell us why. >> reporter: well, a lot of reasons why. because there are some questions as to whether candidates are going to have to get out of the race because they don't have a good showing here, quite frankly, suzanne. this is the lawn of the state capitol in columbia. we're waiting for former newt gingrich to get here along with j.c. watts. the big controversial here in south carolina is about the questions that newt gingrich continues to raise about mitt romney and his days at bain capital, where he was laying off officials and gutting companies and a venture capitalist. it's a proxy debate over the merits of free market capitolism. capital lichl. newt gingrich defended himself with piers morgan. >> then concede every effort that i made to stay positive, every effort that i made to talk romney out of this failed. you can't disarm him unless you get him

i also want to point out just in this community, hilton head that i represent, aiken, lexington that of the people that i represent and who will be voting on saturday are largely transplants largely from the midwest and northeast. south carolina is a composite of america. we truly with half a million people voting this will be a very significant primary, a great indicator of who can appeal to the public. martha: that is very interesting. it takes on a florida-almost quality in that regard in some of those areas in south carolina. thank you representative. good to see you today. >> hey, thank you so much. martha: keep it here on fox for the best election coverage. we have it all throughout the day and tonight the gop presidential debate from south carolina is going to be very interesting. one fewer person up there on the stage this evening on fox news channel. then you can get our special coverage of the primary day, that is saturday, january the 21st. it starts at 6:00pm eastern. bill and i will be here filling knew on all the exit polls andnl the realtime analysis. bill: that's righ

he has an event in buford, south carolina, near hilton head.ick perry will hold a news conference 11:00 a.m. eastern time. will they be together? we'll see if the reports are true that he will endorse gingrich. before we go, i want to bring in carl cameron talking to folks in south carolina. good morning. what have you gathered? >> reporter: rick perry will take a decisive test, some suspend canada sis for legal reasons and financial reasons closing out the account. rick perry will say he is done. there is no suspension here. he is quitting. it is a full on and full out from the texas governor. he will do it 11:00. there is a news conference at hyatt a few blocks from where we are in charleston. mitt romney has a event at his local headquarters. definitely adds to the intrigue what is surely to be crucial if not desigh sieve south carolina primary. runing into this with newt gingrich catching up to mitt romney but still a little bit off the pace, still trailing. for rick perry to pull out does raise questions where his supporters might go. star

of south carolina you have the coastal area, lowcountry where we are here in charleston and the hilton head to be republicans, fiscal conservatives and more moderate than further up state and you have midmidlands, the area of columbia and the swath of conservative voters to the east of that and the top, where your evangelicals and social conservatives are centered, your bible belt. now, i talked to a lot of undecided voters here in charleston over the last little while and they've looked for an alternative to mitt romney, over the last few months and seem to have found it inu newt gingrich and, electability was the big issue with them and, he came into today's primary with a huge head of steam, leading among several critical electoral dream graphics and republican party members an evangelicals, tea party members and women and if he had any weakness going in today, and we don't know at this point, 35% of people said, come election day, i may change my mind. we talked about what newt gingrich needed to do, he needs to rack up votes along the lowcountry and the coast and then needs go after th