the possibilities are mitt romney, mike huckabee, sarah palin, newt gingrich, tim pawlenty, haley barbourjohn thune, mitch daniels, john huntsman and rick santorem. many say it's up to sarah palin. if she's in, that steals the oxygen from others, john thune and rick santorem. palin has threatened several others but many would hang in and chief among them, mitt romney. romney is considered the leader based on having run last time, raising money. john, you've been out there, you're writing a book for the next presidential campaign already. mitt romney, is he in the best spot right now in terms of palin's possible in or out and everything else considered? >> i don't think anything palin does will affect romney. chris: why not? >> he'll be running in the establishment bracket and he'll be competing with whoever emerges from the populace bracket. you said a lot of the right things, chris. he's raised a ton of money, given out a ton of money, he's been out there for two years quietly talking to local officials and business people building support in the republican establishment leading up to th

huckabee won iowa. believe the president's secret weapon may be the republican nominating electorate because there is one person high in the polls, sarah palin, who cannot be elected because she cannot compete where elections are decided in the color counties around chicago, montgomery county outside philadelphia, just can't compete there. the person that wins the white house usually wins a majority of the electoral votes in the mississippi valley. to me that says pawlenty, thune, mitch daniels certainly. >> governor of indiana. >> yes. >> major. >> it will start later but last longer, and there's a significant development in the republican party as the way it's going to apportion delegates that's going to make this process last longer and make it much more difficult for sarah palin to have any chance of securing the nomination and here's why. it 2008 mike huckabee won 270 delegates. he won 24% of the caucus vote, 20% of the primary vote but only got 12% of the delegates. romney, 38% of the caucus vote,

you have people like huckabee, palin, potentially, mike pence and some other folks that will compete for the evangelical vote and then you'll have the businessman primary where you'll have romney and pawlenty and beginning rich. the republicans -- and newt gingrich. the republicans are vulnerable. i think it remnants to where the president may have -- relates to where the president may have misstepped here. most people will agree that this is a center-right nation. i don't know that there are too many people that would disagree with that. but you have a center-right nation and you have a president who went ahead and passed partisan legislation as it relates to health care. so my point simply is he was trying to shoehorn something and i think it woke up people, getting back to the tea party for a moment. it woke up the tea party folks sitting on their couch watching "oprah" and going to get a hot pocket. all right. they were watching "almy children." but to my point. tavis: oprah was about to tweet you. they are not watching me. david brody! [applause] >> david, you're also wrong abou

, and perhaps huckabee ought to think about getting in the race and announcing sooner, rather than later. chris: you were right, by the way. the ones closer in the competition are the ones more likely to hit her. the establishment types don't gain anything, because they want those votes from the general. >> there were 15,000 deaths in mexico relating to the war on the drug cartels, and i believe that in 2012 the key foreign policy issue isn't goi g tobe iraq or afghanistan or iran, it's going to be mexico and the way that violence there is spilling here. chris: in the presidential campaign. >> yes. chris: when we come back, the big question of the eekrfo us, the president is distancing himself from the left these days. how will the left react? chris: welcome back. in his speech this week in tucson and in his deals with republicans in december, president obama disengaged, some say, trining lated from the left, which brings us to our big question this week -- how is the left wing of the democratic party going to react to the president distancing himself from them? andrew? >> with any luck

mike huckabee is going to be competing with her as the spokesperson for christian conservatives, butry republican running for president wants a piece of that vote, becse it is sh anmporta vote in the republican primaries, and that's going to start right now. it's already started, before the show went on the air. >> and i think something worth watching there is mitt romney, who is at the front of a lot of these polls, these straw polls, whether or not he tries to make the case about his mormon faith again with the evangelical base. a lot of people say, you know, he did that. he doesn't need to do it again. other people say that he's never going to win them over. there's a certain amount of the base that's just never going to accept a morm candidate. so thinit wl be interesting to watch how he navigates the mormon question. >> and meanwhile, e.j., every pundit worth his salt is giving obama advice about what he needs to do, how he needs to change himself, how he needs to change his language. talk about that. >> well, the range of advice goes from you must be nicer to the republicans an

our new abc news/"washington post" poll. 21% of republicans favor former arkansas governor, mike huckabee for their party's nomination. he's followed by sarah palin, former massachusetts governor, mitt romney, and former house speaker, newt gingrich. as always, name requisition counts a lot in early polls. the three, leading candidates had plenty of exposure in the 2008 race. >>> republican lawmakers in the house have made good on a campaign promise to repeal health care reform. the 245-189 vote was largely along party lines. gop senators have argued the law would cut american jobs. >> this new law is a fiscal house of cards. and it is a health care house of cards. >> republicans are not offering a single solution to this problem. it's part of the harry houdini health care strategy. now, you have health care. now, you don't. >> debate on the issue was, for the most part, pretty civil. that's until democrat steven cohen of tennessee compared republicans to nazis. >> they say it's a government takeover of health care. a big lie. you say it enough. you repeat the lie. you repeat the lie. you

huckabee probably probably -- you know, they said huckabee's support had gone to the birds, but now theirds have gone. so i don't know. bad sign. >> they say maybe lightning, maybe fireworks related, because it all happened right on new year's. >> i think we all need to tune into the premiere episode of "v" on abc tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m., and i think those aliens will provide the answers for us. >> i was offended, because one of the actors on "v" said he modeled himself after me, he played the cheesy reporter. i was like, really, thanks, i appreciate that. >> did he say "cheesy"? listen, i oppose that, i'm sorry he said that, cnn, you know, get -- let anderson do his job and get piers morgan out of taco bell and on this network. >> you're starting a twitter war with piers morgan. i can see it tomorrow. michael moore, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thanks, anderson. >>> still ahead on this special edition of "360," the things you need to know about piers morgan. he starts in two weeks. he calls himself the pig guy, his words. he explains. >>> coming up, joe johns with the "360

look at mike huckabee last time.e started out at 2% and ended up winning it. >> chris: governor pawlenty, thank you for coming in. i though you're not ready to announce today but chances are we'll see you on the campaign trail. >> pleasure to talk to you. >> chris: up next, congress prepares to go to work in the wake of the tragedy in tucson. will things change in washington? our sunday panel offers their thoughts when we come right back. rate boxes working out? how are those flat fabulous! they gave me this great idea. yea? we mail documents all over the country, so, what if there were priority mail flat rate... envelopes? yes! you could ship to any state... for a low flat rate? yes! a really low flat rate. like $4.95? yes! and it could look like a flat rate box... only flatter? like this? you...me...genius. genius. priority mail flat rate envelopes. just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship. >>> when this resumes, i look forward to working together in the same spirit of common cause with membe

romney and did not go to huckabee.financial market bet right now. >> you said he's giving the image of moving to the center. the question is how much of this is perception and how much of this is actual policies that he's going to implement. the regulations and announcement of review of regulations and his administration is writing new ones to implement health care and financial reform. >> talk about republicans and what's happening in the republican field now. >> first of all, you have the republican party's coalition being transformed in a mirror image of the democratic party's coalition. they are moving upscale and been doing better in upper middle class white collar suburbs with people who are liberal on foreign policy and republican party are more blue collar than there used to be. you'll see a class divide in 2012 particularly if sarah palin runs. mitt romney does well in that professional republican new you. i call them managers. you have people like palin and mike huckabee and maybe rick perry if he wants to co

mike huckabee is the second most popular. she is ahead of him in net positives. chris: hillary clinton. >> according to a poll in early december. chris: she can improve? >> she has gotten there by being loyal, looking loyal, not looking political, staying away from anything that looked like that she has designs beyond doing -- chris: stay the course. >> when someone says we would like you to come to iowa and become chancellor of the university of iowa. turn it down. some democrats say you should challenge obama, laugh. chris: a great question. >> how about a resolution for sarah palin, kelly? >> when people talk about her not knowing enough on big issues, instead of reaching all the way to that she looks worldly, demonstrate confidence on smaller issues, things where she doesn't have wheelhouse. not energy, but issues not reached too much, build a base. chris: a tough question, i want to single her out, but do you think she is the kind of person that can put her head in books every day? bill clinton told me recently he spends an hour every day studying economics,

newt gingrich, and mitch daniels and huckabee.eantime the white house is gearing up for the campaign and staff changes, the president chose a new campaign manager. he is currently the deputy white house chief of staff. and senior presidential adviser david axle rod is moving to the chicago based campaign operation. fox news. >>> one bay area city is saying no to cash. discovery bay residents will not be able to pay with cash. officials say the new policy will ensure the safety for town clarks. critics con tend it's a way to stop requests for public report. >>> apple's apps store is celebrating the person that downloaded the 10 billionth app. they will get a gift card. they launched in 2008, they sell applications for apple products. >>> the first waste collection drive was held. the electronics will have the lead removed and keep that out of state landfills. >>> a pet can be a friend to those in need or ill. a group that helps care for such animals celebrated a mile tonight. if it was a grand opening celebration for paws organizat

they have a different way of communicating their stories and their lines whether it's mike huckabee and his show or sarah palin with her alaska wild series. there lots of different ways being experimented here. whether it's a good thing or not, it's unclear. >> one thing that does appear possible is that the republican primary has been this orderly door nation of the next guys standing in line. this time around it's likely to be a lot longer, a lot messier, and there may be some openings in here for people that we're not thinking. >> that good for obama or not? >> it depends on whether the problem for him two years from now, which is what it is now, bringing back independence. the republican primary process may push the party to the right in ways that would make it more difficult. certainly that's what the white house is hoping. >> does that leave obama with a fairly clear prance to the democratic nomination without any democratic challenges? >> i don't think he'll get any serious challenge from the left. he's really done -- in "the american president" there's a great line where michael

other big names in republican party politics in the single digits, people like newt gingrich, mike huckabee, rudy giuliani. two of them were on the ballot in 2008. >> we'll know tim pawlenty's name now. sarah palin at 7%. is that a surprise? >> it is somewhat surprising yet not that surprising. voters in this state really do take their primary seriously and they want the candidates to take their state seriously. sarah palin hasn't been to the state. a lot of these other candidates have. i think there's still some hesitation by a lot of these primary voters to put her in the mix until they get a chance to see her for themselves. >> we'll have to see if she books a ticket to new hampshire now. thanks so much. >>> one of the last links to the kennedy white house, sargent shriver was remembered today. first lady michelle obama and former president bill clinton joined mourners at a church in maryland to honor shriver, who helped launch the peace corps. shriver died last week at the age of 95. >>> cracking one of the coldest of cold cases. did this woman kidnap a newborn 23 years ago and raise he

. >>> former governor of arkansas, mike huckabee is sticking up for sarah palin. he said it's wrong to link her political rhetoric to the shooting in tucson. >> you can say when barack obama made the comment if we get in a fight, if they bring a knife, we ing a gun. i don't pleam him. that would be ridiculous to blame him for that or blame sarah palin for some metaphor that she's used. >> here in the bay area an artist has created a poster. the posters, showing up around san francisco, were created by eddie colla and show a picture of palin with the words -- enraged and fear. >>> a man has been arrested in southern california accused of make threatening and obscene phone call tools members of congress. he threatened to kill congressman jim mcdermott of washington state because mcdermott opposes extending tax cuts for the wealthy. he said he made the calls but never intended to hurt anyone. he could face 10 years. >>> at&t said someone is cutting phone service to hundreds of customers in walnut creek. they're offering a $10,000 reward to catch the person. the lines

moving more towards a new guy you're not necessarily saying that it's going to be you know mike huckabee or a mitt romney or perhaps a newt gingrich around here i sense is it's going to have to be somebody who really excites the base and that is going to be somebody who has a new level of interest and that's why folks like rahm you're going to have a tough time because they couldn't do it no way now with the emergence of the tea party movement you really are looking for somebody who's going to be so we can excite the grassroots base and that's going to be both economic and social conservatives well unfortunately sarah palin really excites a lot of people but. i don't know if you know her video address the she made in response to a lot of attacks after the tucson shooting really kind of squash that for her because i think a lot of people thought that that was a complete and utter embarrassment and really a horrible response to that but but she excites people of all the g.o.p. establishment actually let her go through will see i mean she excites some people you're right there are many in t

mike huckabee? come on. they're going to out-jesus each other? >> biggest winners. the republicans with a massive sweep of seats to take control of the house. hey, don't cry about it. you won. >> in terms of momentary electoral success, they had a knockout punch for november of 2010 and now we're going to have to see how it plays outgoing forward. >> biggest loser, bipartisanship. voters still want it. the parties, not so much. >> they didn't even run on pretending that they would work together. >> the sentimentment around the failure of our two-party system is well-founded i think. >> best tongue in cheek, jon stewart and stephen colbert's rally to restore sanity and/or fear. best never-say-die spirit. the write-in candidacy of senator lisa murkowski. >> every year you have to wonder which state will count deep into november. alaska, you're it this year. congratulations. >> best nonpolitical political story, chelsea clinton's wedding to whoever that guy is. best double play t. two president bushes throwing a pitch at the world series. worst lack of diversity, elena

so huckabee urbanized and how can we industrialized well as we continue to develop the economy, but can also control the emission -- this is a very big issue and challenge faced by china. because currently our industrial structure is really not too balanced. and so, we need to develop an economy. also reducing imation, we really need to do other better options. we need to develop even faster the clean coal energy and also the low emission coal and technology so that as we develop this new energy. ultimately will be able to develop a sustainable development. we need to work -- speed up our pace on changing our development model. so this has become the topic. as we say on climate change and develop a new energy, we must also do so based on the science. so the development in china is i will take clean energy to be our top priority. we have proposed the per capita or unit gdp lower 20% by 2020, so we will have a better system to regulate these energy emissions. and some of us have already been implemented quite affect to believe. in the efficiency standard are being issued and they'll are t

mike huckabee is on fox. sarah palin is on fox. now are they journalists? no. but they live in an environment in which news is a part of a structure that at the end of the day composes the public policy of the country. and news is an extremely important part of that. it's the -- it's the glue really that's smoothed out the edges and makes these things happen. we're right in the middle. the journalists are right in the middle of things. i was noticing p.j. crowley was speaking about in answer to a question over here and he said that the state department does something and the media if it devoted a lot more attention to a problem would put the heat on a lead tore do something and then the leader and congress -- blah blah but the media's part of that circle of a making of a public policy. and i cannot -- i cannot alter the facts. the facts are that right now in my judgment we're in a down time of american journalism. can it come back strong? god, i hope so. i hope so for all our sake. but at the moment, i don't think we're there. and i really don't see the incenti

to do that on the right where you have people who are the kind of sarah palin elements, the mike huckabee elements, has shown it can impact what happens in these. i am hoping they nominate christina o'donnell. >> you just mentioned office. the president was running on of the campaign's, fired up and ready to go. a lot of the public grab hold of that. looking up president's speech last week, what i heard his he sounded defeated. it is different from campaigning for the job. i am not sure if that is being competed or the public is perceiving that in ways that natural progress of what the president is trying to do or he is just getting in and compromising, bending over and losing that steam. do you think he will do more compromising? he is being levelheaded or do you think the president will be defeated? the republicans seem they don't want a compromise. >> ultimately democrats do not have control of the house of representatives. that is what it is. the position that clinton found himself in in 94. even with history as a guide, activist forces on the right pushing the republican party in the

mike huckabee? mitt romney? tonight we ask you who do you think will be the republican nominee? who do you think should be the nominee? can any of them beat president obama? we've already heard from many of you tonight but please join the conversation. tell us what you think at the "nightline" facebook page or on the "nightline" page at abcnews.com. that is our report for tonight. from all of us at abc news, good night, america. have a great weekend. >>> tonight on "jimmy kimmel live." >> on the inside he's full of an artist. >> all done. >> oh. >> the only reasonable thing anybody has ever done on that show. >> my god, i needed to hear that. >> you have apologized. >> josh groban, the best tweets of kanye west. ♪ her pillow are hard to actually sleep on ♪ >> boom, boom, boom and they were blowing things out of the sky? that's exactly what happened -- >> really? >> jimmy: i got a trained killer in my house. he might write a memoir. if he does i think i have a good title. "i'll be book." ♪ "! mi kimmel live" back in two minutes. "mi kimmel live" back in two minutes. jmi kimmel li

. >> mike huckabee still rocks out a little bit. >> not exactly rocking out. >> i have a different attitude about rocking out. i support alec and i support everybody who pursues it. let the people decide. if there's content and positive upgrade in their message, bingo. >> i think you're right. >> would you vote for alec baldwin? >> i definitely would because he is so handsome. he is so smart too. i agree with everything that guy says. >> and then you can sing the national anthem at his inauguration. >> absolutely, and they you can shoot a little baby pig. >> i could, two of them. >> yeah. >> here's the problem. alec's got to be crazy because you know what, the moment he says he's going to run for office, personal friends of mine are going to spend their next couple of weeks digging through his past and bring up all the crap -- >> isn't that a shame? >> it is. that's the way politics is played. truth of the matter is he's got a great job -- >> you think people care about that sort of stuff? really? back in the gary hart days, yes, it derailed a lot of careers. >> negative politics works. it

one person to look at mike huckabee, former arkansas governor, someone who will be very strong amongocial conservatives. romney is vulnerable to his right. people getting in to his right, more conservative candidates like huckabee, particularly with socially conservative voters in places like iowa and south carolina, that will be a key question, and then, of course, there'ses palin factor. the question is whether palin is really in this for fund and profit. she's make ago lot of money, she seems to be enjoying herself. will she actually different in, make herself a candidate, put herself on the firing line? life will get more difficult for her if she does run. he's going to be taking a lot of questions from the media, direct access. other republicans attacking her. she can't say media elite, it will be other kaejts. i think it will be harder for her and really key question is what does she decide to do. >> it goes without saying the president also will be kicking off his re-election campaign as well. in 2008 his message was hope and change. what are we going to hear from the presiden

huckabee have 64 channels and nothing good is on. now we have 300 and is remarkable. it will keep on increasing and getting bigger but the effect of all this is so much television down there that you can select exactly the television channels that are going to speak exactly to your interests and you can't show and everything else. so if you just want to watch sports and avoid the news you can do it really effectively. if you want to watch the news now you can go to c-span and brought some serious programming or you could say i want to watch conservative news. or liberal news. you can select the type of news that best suits your own interest and as a result. we are moving away from having a common news experience on tv. the internet destroyed everything and a good way sometimes. the internet is so fast that it is hard to gauge it serious effect because it is so enormous. politicians and news sites have varying ways of using the internet for their own purposes. politicians have their own web sites and their supporters will set up opposing websites for people they don't

huckabee, palin, romney, haley barbour who is my own favorite all have their pros and cons but none standst there someone out there who is obama's equal in or er to charisma and ability to draw votes who could run as a republican? why, yes there is. barack obama his own self. yes, think about it. since the election of 2010 he's clearly moving in the direction of the republican party. he's completely signed on to the republican's position on tax cuts and kicking the deficit can down the road. long since he signed on to the bush position on the war in afghanistan. he's now swearing he'll do something about government spending even if it angers his most basic con sti yensy, the government employee union. his speech in tucson was a master piece of restrained eloquence. >> it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we're talking with each other in a way that heals. not in a way that wounds. >> reporter: now admittedly he has a lot to learn in the right to life world and about the environment. but he's a fast learner. there's been loud murmuring from the democratic left that

you have people like pukka be -- huckabee, mike pence, and some other folks who will compete for the evangelical vote. they knew the businessman primary. -- have the businessman primary. i think as it relates to where the president may have missed that, most people will agree that this is a center-right nation. i do not know too many people who would disagree with that. you have a center-righ nation and you have a president who went ahead and pass legislation related to health care. he was trying to shoehorn something. i think it woke up people -- it will cut these tea party peop who were sitting on their couch watching oprah and going to get a hot pocket. they were watching "all my children." [laughter] >> i am glad you said that. oprah was about to tweet you in about 30 seconds. [laughter] [applause] >> you are wrong about one other thing which is the center-right country. that is what i mean. the conventional wisdom kind of congeals and people ben to believe it. this country has been on a journey for a more perfect union from the moment the constitution was written. every bit of p

mike huckabee has 16%. sarah palin comes next with 13%.grich, 10%. >> they are front-runners based on the fact that they are better known than the other people in the race. but there is a feeling out there that almost anybody could win this nomination. >> reporter: when you factor in the all-important campaign war chest, romney's still at the top banking almost $7.5 million over the last two years. but who would present the greatest challenge to president obama? once again, polls show mitt romney with that distinction right now. the only republican besting the president in a close race, 46% to 44%. romney's likely to make his intentions known in the next month or so. sarah palin seems inclined to wait. >> other folks can jump in and that kind of helps you get that lay of the land. but my decision won't be made for some months still. >> reporter: her numbers against president obama right now aren't good. but the power of her media empire, her tv show, her contract with fox news, and her facebook and twitter reach, make her prowess unpredict

mike huckabee, sarah palin, mitt romney, between 17% and 21%.ewt gingrich, the former speaker, right in the middle there. huntsman is looking at this race. what does the white house really think about it? >> reporter: well, president obama's response, having covered him for several years, i can tell you was probably about 75% meant to be funny. and about 25%, a savvy, undercutting of any potential huntsman presidential bid, pointing out how well he has worked with the obama administration, which, of course, will not go over well with primary voters. >> our producer, john garcia, caught up with huntsman as he was leaving the event, right? >> reporter: that's right. garcia asked him about a run. and huntsman didn't specifically answer the question. he said we are loyal to the president. and loyal to the country. of course, you can run for president and run against the president, and be loyal to the country. we'll see what happens. >> jake, thanks very much. >> all right, gentlemen. >>> politics, as you know, was put on hold in washington, in the a

the reasons that some of them may not want to get in so quickly, by my count, at least four, mike huckabee, newt gingrich, sarah palin all have contracts at fox news. they might want to keep that going. >> again, exposure is key right now. you don't want to start raising a lot of money, george, declare your kancandidacy, and then spe your money early. that's a lesson that some learned years ago when they were out there before. >> thanks very much. >>> now, to sam with the weather. hey, sam. >> happy new year, george. i haven't had a chance to say that, by the way. what is going on with the weather? we'll start out of l.a. county with snow in the area. it happens one one in 20 years. higher than that, they're used to snow. very odd pattern there. now about a quarter inch of rain. anywhere above 4,000 feet will pick up 14 inches of snow out of there. it 15s into the phoenix area with rain. could even in vegas see a mixture of snow and rain out of that. colder temperatures out of the northeast today. it was nice and mild over the weekend to melt the snow. now 36 in new york. 39 in boston. col

mitt romney, mike huckabee, sarah palin.y are the people that republicans have nationally heard of. there is a chance for someone who is not part of the national landscape to become familiar. that person might be the governor of indiana. they have got to start moving in the next couple of months. caller: this social security thing, we can fix it. maybe if we started to take out taxes, let that grow before you go to college. the jobs in this country, are we driving american made vehicles? we used to be a country of patriotism and i am afraid that we have become a country of greed. guest: shutting off competition from other countries and making it more expensive for people to purchase consumer products, like cars, clothes, and food, is not the way to go to make this a richer country. that is a strategy that has been tried many places and does not have a particularly good track record. for the other idea, making it harder for people to start families and making it more expensive to raise children is going to be a long-term solu

so huckabee urbanized and how can we industrialized well as we continue to develop the economy, but can also control the emission -- this is a very big issue and challenge faced by china. because currently our industrial structure is really not too balanced. and so, we need to develop an economy. also reducing imation, we really need to do other better options. we need to develop even faster the clean coal energy and also the low emission coal and technology so that as we develop this new energy. ultimately will be able to develop a sustainable development. we need to work -- speed up our pace on changing our development model. so this has become the topic. as we say on climate change and develop a new energy, we must also do so based on the science. so the development in china is i will take clean energy to be our top priority. we have proposed the per capita or unit gdp lower 20% by 2020, so we will have a better system to regulate these energy emissions. and some of us have already been implemented quite affect to believe. in the efficiency standard are being issued and they'll are t

mitt romney, mike huckabee, sarah palin. they are the people that republicans have nationally heard of. there is a chance for someone who is not part of the national landscape to become familiar. that person might be the governor of indiana. they have got to start moving in the next couple of months. caller: this social security thing, we can fix it. maybe if we started to take out taxes, let that grow before you go to college. the jobs in this country, are we driving american made vehicles? we used to be a country of patriotism and i am afraid that we have become a country of greed. guest: shutting off competition from other countries and making it more expensive for people to purchase consumer products, like cars, clothes, and food, is not the way to go to make this a richer country. that is a strategy that has been tried many places and does not have a particularly good track record. for the other idea, making it harder for people to start families and making it more expensive to raise children is going to be a long-term

caller: i think that mike huckabee would be a good example.e follows the example of our father, god, as martin luther king also did. host: thank you for the call. gainesville, florida. caller: thank you for having me on. host: who in your mind most embodies the legacy of martin luther king? caller: i think that it is dr. west. i saw him on a c-span program with tavis smiley. he really hit upon the ideals so well. why are we still in afghanistan? why is there no agenda for urban people and for poor people? when you make things better for black america, you make things better for all america. we are a better country for dr. king. we are a better country for reaching out to the gay community. we are a better country for including women. for upholding the ideals of peace and democracy. host: thank you for the call. the lead editorial from "the new york daily news." host: they have exurbs of the letter, if you want to read that you can go to the editorial of "the new york daily news." georgia, republican line. caller: barack obama, without a doubt.

you have people like pukka be -- huckabee, mike pence, and some other compete for the evangelical vote. they knew at the businessman primary. will have the businessman primary. i do not know too many people who would disagree with that. you have a center-right nation and you have a president who went ahead and pass legislation related to health care. he was trying to shoehorn something. i t it will cut these tea party people who were sitting on their couch watching oprah and going to get a hot pocket. they were watching "all my children." [laughter] >> i am glad you said that. oprah was about to tweet you in about 30 seconds. [laughter] [applause] >> you are wrong about one other thing which is the center-right country. that is what i mean. the conventional wisdom kind of congeals and people begin to believe it. this country has been on a journey for a more perfect union from the moment the constitution was written. every bit of progress we have made, they were all left-wing in his it is in a center-right nation? -- they were all left-wing ideas in a center-right nation? you are giving

you have people like pukka be -- huckabee, mike pence, and some other folks who will compete for the evangelical vote. they knew at the businessman primary. -- then you will have the businessman primary. i think as it relates to where the president may have missed that, most people will agree that this is a center-right nation. i do not know too many people who would disagree with that. you have a center-right nation and you have a president who went ahead and pass legislation related to health care. he was trying to shoehorn something. i think it woke up people -- it will cut these tea party people who were sitting on their couch watching oprah and going to get a hot pocket. they were watching "all my children." [laughter] >> i am glad you said that. oprah was about to tweet you in about 30 seconds. [laughter] [applause] >> you are wrong about one other thing which is the center-right country. that is what i mean. the conventional wisdom kind of congeals and people begin to believe it. this country has been on a journey for a more perfect union from the moment the constitution was w

you have people like pukka be -- huckabee, mike pence, and some other folks who will compete for the evangelical vote. they knew at the businessman primary. -- then you will have the businessman primary. i think as it relates to where the president may have missed that, most people will agree that this is a center-right nation. i do not know too many people who would disagree with that. you have a center-right nation and you have a president who went ahead and pass legislation related to health care. he was trying to shoehorn something. i think it woke up people -- it will cut these tea party people who were sitting on their couch watching oprah and going to get a hot pocket. they were watching "all my children." [laughter] >> i am glad you said that. oprah was about to tweet you in about 30 seconds. [laughter] [applause] >> you are wrong about one other thing which is the center-right country. that is what i mean. the conventional wisdom kind of congeals and people begin to believe it. this country has been on a journey for a more perfect union from the moment the constitution was w

say mike huckabee would need to win. the expectations game. the presidential primary process as you know is all about the expectations game. did you exceed or meet or disappoint on them. mitt romney is expected to do very well. the last time john mccain was in the race and he was something of a favorite son in the state. he won so well in 2000, he won again in 2008. with mccain out of the way, mitt romney is something of a front runner. not only does he have large name recognition, new hampshire is in the boston television market. but he owns a house in new hampshire as a vacation house. he spends a lot of time here and polls have shown consistently that he is by far the front runner in our state. so he's going to have a pretty strong polling in the straw poll or she going to have answer a lot of question wls his strong or not. host: is sara palin on this list? >> of course she is. in terms of the early primary states, if you include iowa and south carolina, i'm not sure how much we're going to include nevada this year although they will have

campaign planes once or twice, i was on the flight from des moines, iowa, to manchester with mike huckabee after he won the 2008 caucus and i have never seen more people fit into two rows as we tried to interview him. as somebody who has been on the planes, not a lot of news happens on the planes. you might as well just have somebody on the ground watching as the guy gets off and gets on the plane. but, you know, you bring up a point. the media has a lot of writers that have a sort of a predisposition toward president obama. that is not to say everyone. are a lot of folks who have a predisposition against him. just read the washington times any day. from around the country, the mainstream media as everybody calls it, i think they are undergoing a change right now. we are undergoing a change in the industry and it is a -- it is fascinating to watch. we have c-span, which everybody gets to call in to which is fantastic. but then you look at two of the cable networks. at fox news it is clearly biased to the right and msnbc which is pretty clearly biased to the le left. and this becomes news.

huckabee, palin. plus, the a tons of gornors. moderated a panel of the republican governor association. mitch daniels, bobby jindal. chris christie. rick perry. they are very impressive. i also lked at people like ryan. the rules have changed and barack obama had something to do with that in terms of how long someone has to serve to throw your hat in the ring. here is the point about ryan -- and i'm not predicted. it is just that he is in some ways the man of the moment given the issues and as chairman of the budget committee. will -- whether he runs or not it is worth talking about him some because i think candidates will cite him either critically if they are opposed because of the serious proposals he has recommended, or they will cite him in support of what he is doing because he's leading the charge. he is the architect or will be the architect of the republican budget. and this is issue number one, two and three. host: we e talking politics and policy. looking at 2010 and ahead to 2011 with bill bennett radio talk show host

say mike huckabee would need to win. the expectations game. the presidential primary process as you know is all about the expectations game. did you exceed or meet or disappoint on them. mitt romney is expected to do very well. the last time john mccain was in the race and he was something of a favorite son in the state. he won so well in 2000, he won again in 2008. with mccain out of the way, mitt romney is something of a front runner. not only does he have large name recognition, new hampshire is in the boston television market. but he owns a house in new hampshire as a vacation house. he spends a lot of time here and polls have shown consistently that he is by far the front runner in our state. so he's going to have a pretty strong polling in the straw poll or she going to have answer a lot of question wls his strong or not. host: is sara palin on this list? >> of course she is. in terms of the early primary states, if you include iowa and south carolina, i'm not sure how much we're going to include nevada this year although they will have