. >> joining me now, joe klein, a columnist for "time" magazine, and howard fineman, aol "huffington post" editorial director and msnbc political analyst, both joining us from south carolina. gentleman, we've never seen the start of a debate like that before. explosive, right off the bat. to each of you, howard, first, how did you rate, how did you score round one? >> oh, well, round one went overwhelmingly to newt gingrich in that crowd. >> i can't -- >> there were 1,500 staunch republicans in there, the southern republican leadership group, tea party people. if newt gingrich was looking for a way to cement his comeback in south carolina, and to win the south carolina primary, that was the way to start out, by making the media the enemy, the crowd ate it up. i guarantee you that southern republicans and south carolina republicans will do the same. listen, if life and politics were only debates, newt would be king. they're not and he's not. but, certainly, that was a home run for newt at the beginning, with this crowd and with this constituency. >> joe klein, if you're having trouble

john heilemann, andrea mitchell, nia-malika henderson, and howard fineman. that's the show from new hampshire. thanks for watching. we'll see you again next week. [captioning made possible by nbc universal]

john heilemann, andrea mitchell, nia-malika henderson, and howard fineman. that's the show from new hampshire. thanks for watching. we'll see you again next week. [captioning made possible by nbc universal] okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fiber one.

howard fineman is "the huffington post" media group editorial director. eugene robinson is a "washington post" columnist, pulitzer prize winner, and michael steele is the former chairman of the republican national committee. yesterday at a gingrich event in marshalltown, iowa, gingrich said he'd been romney voted. so i asked the former speaker if this is the future of american politics. the lofty rhetoric on the trail by the candidate himself, meanwhile the nasty super pac anonymous ads from a front group. here's our exchange? >> no, no more than it has been in the past. >> but you've won all these debates, and you come in here, and all i watch on television are these restore our future ads, they're legal now, with no, i paid for that ad by mitt romney, and they go out, and he has a beautiful family, but his ads are trash, trashing you constantly. >> he is assuming american people are stupid. i don't think the american people are stupid. >> but the polls show they're responding. the polls are reacting to this. >> i'm sure within a few weeks, every america

works at e-trade. >>> and we're back with more of our debate coverage with wendy shiller and howard finemanhe first, i think in my notes, it says seven minutes. in the first seven minutes, mitt romney said that newt resigned in disgrace three times from the congress. that clearly was something mitt romney was trying to attach scandal to newt gingrich and his congressional career in this debate. >> sure. that was the main attack point that mitt romney wanted to make. he made it repeatedly. but as we've all said, newt gingrich's strategy coming in here was not to take the bait, to say, give such explanation as he could get away with and then say, read the rest on my website. and i think it was up to mitt romney to really try to force newt gingrich to say more, to try to take over the debate and do that. but just as newt gingrich didn't want to really challenge brian williams, i don't think mitt romney really wanted to either. but these are sort of desperate times for mitt romney that require desperate measures. and he's got to go at them frontally and has got to corner newt gingrich if he can

john heilemann, andrea mitchell, nia-malika henderson, and howard fineman.t's the show from new hampshire. thanks for watching. we'll see you again next week. [captioning made possible by nbc universal] it just got more frustrating and frustrating. a lot of times, the picture would break up. for the amount of money that i am paying, my cable company should take care of me. [ male announcer ] stop paying for second best. move up to verizon fios tv, internet and phone for our best price online -- just $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years. first time we saw tv on fios was amazing! i was just in a trance watching it. i'm discovering new channels every day. [ male announcer ] and here's a special bonus: sign up now and get $300 back with a two-year contract. fios internet -- the speed, you can't compare. i'm able to take care of things much faster now. [ male announcer ] start saving now. move up to fios for our best price online -- $89.99 a month guaranteed for two years and get $300 back with a two-year contract. or ask us about the option of no annual contr

. >> howard fineman, i just got off the phone with his national communication guy who claimed, at anyate, that they had raised $2 million in the santorum campaign within the last 2 1/2 days. they do have a tv ad here in new hampshire. i think it's the first. they are about to make a tv buy in south carolina, which shows what they are aiming at beyond new hampshire. they are going to try to slow the momentum here. with all due respect to politico, they do a lot of great stuff. a couple of people inside the newt gingrich campaign talking about an alliance with santorum, i don't think there's going to be one and i don't think gingrich wants one. he's not the alliance-making type guy. romney's not here right now. interestingly, he went down to south carolina. he's confident enough about his standing here in new hampshire that he took a day or two to dip down to south carolina. now, i went to a santorum event last night. a lot of undecideds. they like what he said but they don't know necessarily enough about his deep conservative catholicism. new hampshire is 60% catholic but. >> it's not

thank you, howard fineman. up next, comparing president obama to that italian cruise ship captain who jumped ship and left the passengers. is this disrespecting the president? you're watching "hardball" on nbc. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ yeah. it's his thing. i don't even participate. bo

>> we have eugene robinson, the "washington post" and howard fineman. howard, i'm looking that the number here, relentless stall that romney's been in now, a long time. >> 23 years. >> 23% thing is not to be ignored if this holds throughout the evening, the next several hours as the full count. we have 55% now and rick -- and mitt romney has a problem. that's three-quarters of the republican party gets a really good look at him and says, no. >> yeah. i agree with that, chris. i think that the romney people were trying to spin and the conventional wisdom of the other day was if he finishes a close second here if he is all bunched up at the top, then fine, iowa's neutered, it doesn't matter, let's go on. but just the sheer lack of lift in the romney candidacy going back four years now, he basically got all the same vote, the exact -- maybe many of the same people he got four years ago except for those who died in the meantime, that he got four years ago, so to me, it can't be, having gone to the rallies, seen how manufactured they are, how much effort gone

political signed wendy schiller and aol "huffington post" director and msnbc political analyst, howard fineman. thank you both for joining me. howard, we've seen an awful lot of politicians go down this road, discovering that they had to release their tax returns. romney now has more than a toe in the water, at least about his 2011 returns. how is this going to turn out? >> well, it's going to turn out, i think, the way you predicted, lawrence. i think on april 15th or thereabouts, maybe a little after, mitt romney will release the best possible version of this year's taxes that he can, politically, and just as you say, everybody will say, where are the rest? let's see the rest of it. i'm constantly amazed at how lucky barack obama is, as a politician, and now as a president. you could not find a more central casting person or a more central casting issue for a lot of what barack obama wants to say in the campaign, because one thing that mitt romney's going to have to explain is this whole business of why he only pays 15%. and the reason is that under the law, if you're in a partnership in an

okay, thank you howard fineman. just kidding! i was going to say liberals, but that would be pushing it. anyway, thank you susan. how many of these have you covered? >> this is my ninth caucuses. >> we are brigadoon characters, aren't we? we come out here -- >> she has me beat by one. >>> coming up, why don't evangelical voters get in line behind one candidate? i don't know why we're encouraging this, but if they get behind santorum instead of splitting their vote between perry, bachmann, gingrich and the rest of them, they're not going to have any clout out here. we're teaching evangelicals tonight how to have more political clout. we'll be back from java joe's in des moines. first my quote from voters at that romney rally today, let's watch. >> tell me about your vote and how you see your vote next day in the caucuses. >> i feel like i don't need my president to be my moral compass or my religious compass, i need him to take care of my paycheck and that's why i'm out here supporting romney. when you have tough pain, do you want

howard fineman is an analyst and editor for the huffing post. occasionally, jennifer and howard, why doesn't someone get the appointment? you find out months later he screwed him six months ago. it made them personal enemies. we know why he may be angry at mitt romney. out in iowa a week ago, 100 years ago he was destroyed by an advertising campaign that is saturated and destroyed he has reason to get the intramural thing with the lds member and both from that part of the country to keep it in. newt gingrich. he pulled in his horns and no personal attacks in his speech tonight. has authorized his friend who has tons of money to spent 3.something million to go after bane capital in the next week and a half. is he going after him personally and trying to destroy him or pulling back? >> he has been told by everybody publicly and have been told by former members of congress to cut it out because he will make himself a pariah in the party. newt gingrich is motivated on the personal level. i have never seen him covering for years and we are devastated

michael steele is former chairman of the republican national committee and howard fineman is an msnbcolitical analyst and editorial director for the huffington post media group. let's talk about this whole thing. this guy is loaded for bear. newt ain't going anywhere. >> i talked to a couple of his closest friends today who said they strongly advised him to go all the way to the convention. and they didn't have to do a lot of convincing. he wants to do it, but they also want to do it because they want to keep raising money and they want to raise money based on the idea that there is an ideological fight that needs to be waged for the good of the soul of the party and the conservative movement all the way to the convention. so they are going to position it like -- >> this is ted kennedy against carter. >> exactly. >> it's the georgetown speech. >> it's not about newt. of course it is about newt. it's not about newt. it's about we need to do this for the soul of the party because this is not a romney party. this is not a massachusetts moderate party. >> this is what ted kennedy said aga

david gregory, howard fineman. >>> coming up, newt gingrich is on a last chance mission to hit romney. you almost might call it like a kamikaze party. he's going right into this guy. he's going to hurt himself but he may blow up mean may possibly blow up what looks to be the insurmountable position of romney. here's a republican attacking republican for business. you're watching "hardball" from manchester on the eve of the big new hampshire primary. ♪ he was a 21st century global nomad ♪ ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name yo

chuck todd and howard fineman, thank you. you can watch the debate tonight at 9:00 eastern with brian wiiams. the big fight on nbc. coming up, the base is revolting. no one channels the right wing's hatred not just of barack obama better and that's ahead. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. with no vegetable nutrition? ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪ >>> today the campaign event here in florida, rick santorum was questioned by a woman who preferred to president obama as a muslim. listen to the question and then santorum

thank you, howard fineman. coming up. get red for the fireworks. newt gingrich is coming after mitt romney. this is like "the godfather," it is a business, it's personal. huntsman has built his whole career on beating romney and santorum has to. this is three-on-one going after mitt. let's see how he holds up here in his home turf. you're watching "hardball" from the armory in manchester, new hampshire, only on msnbc. that's why i recommend crest pro-health clinical gum protection. it helps eliminate plaque at the gum line, helping prevent gingivitis. it's even clinically proven to help reverse it in just 4 weeks. crest pro-health clinical gum protection. >>> welcome back to "hardball." newt gingrich starting with my exchange with him in iowa this past sunday has made it clear he's change strategy and now intends to go after romney in the coming days and hopes he can can recover some of the damage inflicted on him by the barrage of anti-gingrich advertising which was done by the pro-romney super pac out in iowa. the political director for wmur join

analyst, and author of "revival: the struggle for survival inside the obama white house," and howard fineman, msnbc political analyst and editorial director for aol/"huffington post." thank you both very much for joining me tonight. howard, everything i know about what happened in that airport in arizona, i have learned from the "huffington post." i've just been reading every dispatch. what explains this weird confrontation with the governor, shaking her hand, fist, almost, at the president? >> well, having talked to some white house people and some democrats familiar with it and having seen what jan brewer had to say, here's how i reconstruct the events. >> all right. >> the president comes off the plane, the governor hands him a letter and says, i -- this letter says i would like to have another meeting with you to discuss immigration and other important issues of the day. and the president says, well, governor, i happen to have read excerpts from the book that you wrote and the last time we had a meeting in the white house in 2010, i thought it was a pretty cordial meeting. we all said it

howard fineman, msnbc political analyst, and "the huffington post" media group editorial director, and the great joe klein. he's a columnist for "time" magazine. because he is the great, as you are, howard. let's take a look at these poll numbers. basically, the poll numbers out, let's take a look at the latest poll numbers out of both south carolina -- well, south carolina, let's start with that. mitt romney has jumped into a first down there with a dominant lead at 37%. that's up 17 points from early december. rick santorum also got a huge boost. he's in second place now down there with 19, followed very closely by newt gingrich in third. that one. we also have a poll from up here. romney is in the lead at 40%, followed by ron paul at 17. rick santorum is at 11. romney leads nationally at 29 b 21. so, joe klein, it looks like rick santorum is slowly edging up to be the number one challenger to romney. >> the south carolina number is interesting. i don't want to break any news here, but this new hampshire primary isn't all that interesting this time. you know, the next really big deal

howard fineman is an msnbc political analyst. i want you to watch something. i thought it was good from newt. there's a little good from everybody. i like this part. besides the brazenness. here's something he said last nig night. he spoke about how he asks people to be with him and not for him. let's listen. >> i tell audiences, i never ask anyone to be for me. they vote yes and say i sure hope newt does it. i ask people to be with me because i think this will be a very hard and difficult journey. >> people listen carefully to what i'm saying. that is politics. you don't tell people i'm going to be your big brother and look out for you. i'm going to go to washington and look out for you. i need you once i get there. i need you to lobby with me. i need you to root for me. be part of me and understand me. participate. >> chris, it's also consistent with what newt gingrich's message and his critique is. he's saying, he's portraying barack obama as a king. the king of the welfare state. newt is portraying himself as the man of the people and positioning himself a

howard fineman is a political analyst. and susan page is the washington bureau chief. howard, let's look at the polls out today that show the race in florida turning strongly for romney. take a look. both the latest sunshine state poll have romney ahead by 9%. one at 40%, the other at 38%. your sense of why newt is losing and mitt is winning? >> well, mitt romney came last night to do what he had to do. he was the new combat-ready mitt romney. and he gave newt gingrich's tactics right back at him. mitt romney was well prepared with attack lines and defense lines. he was in newt's space the whole time. it had the feel of a bully being confronted by a guy who was ready for it. but other things happened before that. newt gingrich saying he'd have sarah palin in his administration. scared the establishment types. marco rubio attacking newt gingrich for an ad he had on. newt gingrich talking about colonizing the moon, and romney had a great line ready for that saying if anybody in his administration had come to him with an idea like colonizing the moon, he would be fired. th

howard fineman, msnbc political analyst, and "the huffington post" media group editorial director, and the great joe klein. he's a columnist for "time" magazine. because he is the great, as you are, howard. let's take a look at these poll numbers. basically, the poll numbers out, let's take a look at the latest poll numbers out of both south carolina -- well, south carolina, let's start with that. mitt romney has jumped into a first down there with a dominant lead at 37%. that's up 17 points from early december. rick santorum also got a huge boost. he's in second place now down there with 19, followed very closely by newt gingrich in third. rick santorum is at 13, and newt gingrich and jon huntsman is trailing the feel. here it is. gallup poll is followed in second by rick santorum with 21. so, joe klein, it looks like rick santorum is slowly edging up to be the number one challenger to romney. >> the south carolina number is interesting. i don't want to break any news here, but this new hampshire primary isn't all that interesting this time. you know, the next really big deal is south

thank you, howard fineman. coming up. get red for the fireworks. newt gingrich is coming after mitt romney. this is like "the godfather," it is a business, it's personal. huntsman has built his whole career on beating romney and santorum has to. this is three-on-one going after mitt. let's see how he holds up here in his home turf. you're watching "hardball" from the armory in manchester, new hampshire, only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self? c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey! real, objective investing help? that's a little harder to find. but here'