jack kemp, the same thing. one thing to be careful of with newt gingrich have you noticed he gets in to this, he always created it. i did this at the start. he needs to use more modesty. >> dana: a debate between him and obama. >> eric: finish your thought. not close. >> bob: i don't think it's close between gingrich and romney. romney thinks he has a problem with healthcare. roll out what he said about abortion! >> eric: and immigration. >> greg: newt is so egotistical he compares him to newt gingrich. >> eric: registered republicans, 72% of them consider themselves conservative as opposed to moderates or liberals. so where has that vote gone? the herman cain conservative vote going? romney or gingrich? >> kimberly: somebody start up the romance music. newt has to get out and court and say he is the true conservative in the race. he is the one that can beat barack obama. he has good poll numbers on his side to show head-to-head on that regard. he has to tell them the comparisons with reagan, his answer is spot

jack kemp talk about empowerment zones, cities like detroit, unemployment rate like 26% in the inner city, horrible numbers. what would you actually do as a president to sort of lift those communities up? >> well, part of it is to create tax advantages for going into the city. when i was speaker of the house, we took steps to increase people moving back into d.c., to make it more desirable for businesses to go into d.c., and democrats like donna brazil will tell you i was probably the most folked on the district of columbia than any speaker in the lifetime because i wanted the capitol to prosper. i suggested that mackinaw island -- >> i've been there a million times. >> i was there and i said, we ought to consider, if you have a zone that's not paying any taxes, consider having a tax-free component that would encourage businesses businesses, and combine it with deregulating the city, reforming the schools through parental choice so the kid actually learn, take combining a training program component to unemployment compensation so if you get unemployment compensation you have to sign

. >> it's laughable to say that someone who has campaigned with ronald reagan and jack kemp is not a conservative. >> reporter: mitt romney tried to dispel the notion that he's a flip-flopper. >> protect the sang till of marriage -- sanctity of marriage and life. >> and jon huntsman summed up what most have been feeling. >> we have been kicked around. >> reporter: it's all about retail politics, looking these voters straight in the eye. i can tell you that's what they will be doing. >> always interesting when you can slip tim tebow into a debate. >>> december 2nd -- 22nd, our lobby will be filled with firefighters so they clan deliver toys to kids in need. we have more on the block party. >> reporter: it is never too late to give toys. coming up tom from 10 to 2 at the maryland fire division on tell moan yum road i think it's 1301 york road. it's from 10 to 2. you'll have lynette out there, charley. all these folk also take toys and doe nailings. free globetrotters tickets, lots and lots of fire trucks, something the kids like to see. i mean, look at our lobby. there's plenty of toys

i love jack kemp on hud policy. in, he democratically expanded hud policy. >> 2/3 of iowans four years ago wanted somebody else. obama, by the way, won with only 38% of the vote. >> there's a new "boston globe" poll out that shes mitt romney with 39% support in new hampshire. so right after iowa comes new hampshire and romney sort of staked his claim on that state. and the 39% has romney, you know, way above the next challenger, newt gingrich at 17%. the reason this is meaningful beyond hiss huge lead is because there's been so much complaining that romney can't break the mid 20s, he can't get support above 25%, and that means he's lukewarm, the support in the republican party just isn't there. is this a meaningful break through? >> only in that if he can't break 25% in new hampshire, he is done. >> yeah, right. >>s the helpful to him, but i don't think it says -- >> if he doesn't well in iowa, i think he'll crack maybe 40% or 50%. the other thing about polling in new hampshire, under new hampshire rules, npt indepe

i helped ronald reagan and jack kemp develop the supply side of economics. i helped defeat communism. i helped balance the federal budget for four straight years. reform entitlement and take conservatism is, there is places where i have done that stuff. >> joining the panel, mary oh grady and dan henninger and jane freeman. dan, what is behind the gingrich surge? >> one of the things that is behind it, paul, there was always structural weaknesses in the come any campaign. he was running a campaign that was going to put one foot in the center. he needed to win independent voters. part of his appeal has been for them and the other has been the conservative camp. the problem is he had to run an early primary, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and florida, these are conservative voters. he has been lucky so far, most of his opponents were basically pretty weak. i think we have the parable of the tortoise and the hare. romney is the hare. gingrich has been plodding along slowly making his case and finally the conservative problem for romney caught up with him.

in the next debate it was jack kemp and al gore. so everybody is send an every pundit in the world wrote that well, campbell ticket on. and so i immediately tried to get kent to say -- camp would not say. and he can in fact and said something to the effect of we are not here to talk about the character. we are here to talk about issues . >> but then he said he misunderstood the question. >> later. >> she got a lot of criticism. >> he took a lot of the for that but he also said the bulk of them said to me afterward, long afterward for interview for this book in documentary we did, they had no regrets about that. they both were the kind of politicians who were uncomfortable talking about this stuff. also, what i did not know them was that the "washington post" and other news organizations were working on a story about a illicit i guess is the word, affair that bob dole is having. he had not then, but he had for many years with this in a woman, and the dole camp knew that. they all knew that the postal worker in a story and all that. i

>> do you still believe in jack kemp's big tent? >> absolutely. >> what happens when you appoint rhinos to committee chairmen? >> that's a different question. i like every american who favors paychecks over food stamps to be with us. i am happy to bring people together to big -- to build the biggest possible majority. >> they don't vote for you when they get in. >> i had a pretty good track record a lot of stuff when i was speaker. >> ok. [no audio] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> i asked ander to come up so if there is any really hard questions -- >> mr. speaker, speaker o'brien has made a right to work law a major part of his agenda. the national right to work committee on its web site says the new speaker, you kept measures to repeal several [unintelligible] how can he trusts you to be an ally on that agenda? >> in terms of passing it here, i was totally in favor and i work with them on it. as president, i am prepared to end federalism. >> what ch

been broken, jack kemp played with reagan and said, you know mr. president, you have one. we hire these people, or at least most of them. save the country money, improve air safety and show mercy to it will be good. but reagan was not interested. in many ways, the more expensive, the more dangerous is busting a patco was, the more that act was bound to improve one audience that reagan was determined to impress, soviet leaders. and so came to pass that jack maher, so came to pass the moment that jack maher and so many others thought would never come, the mass firing of more than 11,000 skilled specialists and management not only from their jobs but from their careers. for there was no other employer, people of his training in the united states. in many ways i think we're still picking through the wreckage from that collision that occurred 30 years ago now. one of the last legacies of that fateful event, it turns out, was the rapid dissolution of all u.s. workers ability to use strikes as leverage in dealing with their employers. when reagan came int

. >> it is laughable but someone who campaigned with ronald reagan and jack kemp and has a 30-year recordf conservatism is not a conservative? >> the evidence says that speaker gingrich took $1.6 million. if you do not need to be under the technical definition of being a lobbyist to the influence peddling. >> i know what it takes to get this economy going. qwikster you have a sample of the debate on -- >> there you have an example of the debate on fox. >> newt gingrich look a little petulant. you could feel though weathervane shift a little bit. >> it is interesting. mitt romney did not have the target on his back. gingrich had the target on his back, and mitt romney benefit. should mitt romney get the nomination, a hit -- he will have a target on his back from barack obama, and every time he has said that target he has sort of choked and clutched. i think these debates are great for him, and if it goes on for a while it will be good for him because he has to get to the point where he can compete against the president of the united states and not look like a rich guy. >> what about ron pa

. >> it's sort of laughable to suggest that some one that campaigned with ronald reagan and jack kemp conservatism is somehow not a conservative. >> reporter: gingrich was the focus of attacks from second-tier candidates like michele bachmann. both would love to steal conservative support from gingrich. >> i have never once changed my positions because of any kind of payment. the truth is, i was a national figure who was doing just fine. >> reporter: for the second consecutive debate, mitt romney didn't aggressively go after gingrich but had help from the rest of the field. and that may wind up working out better for romney than if he had done the dirty work himself. the candidates now have to compete with the holidays to get voters' attention. that may be a good thing for newt gingrich who would like to ride front-runner momentum all the way through the caucuses. rob, sunny. >> interesting. our political director here at abc, amy walters, kind of said mitt romney came out the winner last night. had a very good debate. cool, calm, collected. didn't make any more bets. probably a smart

. >> sort of laughable to suggest that somebody who campaigned with ronald reagan and with jack kemp and had 30 year record of conservatism is now a conservative. >>reporter: avenues focus of continued attack like bachmann and santorum. both with love to steal away conservative support from gingrich. >> i have never once changed my positions because of any kind of payment. because the truth is i was a national figure who was doing just fine. >>reporter: for the second consecutive debate romney didn't aggressively go after gingrich but he certainly had help from the rest of the field. that may wind up working better for romney who did the dirty work himself. >> also in washington. congress reached a rare bipartisan agreement heading off potential government shut down tomorrow at midnight pro-posed 1 trillion dollar spending plan would keep washington running another 9 months or so. house votes tomorrow. lawmakers still debating an extension of payroll tax break for 160 million americans set to expire at the end of the year. >> 2 bay area charter schools are on a state wyatt wide hit l

. >> and jack kemp, there's a way out of it. read about how --. >> the way out of it. >> tax reform and grow this economy and grow the economy. >> how do you grow the economy? >> we talk about it all day. >> stimulus. >> well, not the type that you guys like or maybe not you, but maybe the president likes, spending money, which is an inefficient way of doing it, you need tax reform, you need it and need it tomorrow and by the way-- >> there is no clear data that lowering tax rates are going to make the economy really-- >> and we ever going. >> there's no clear data about it. >> and how about 1980. >> cut taxes in 81, raise them every year for the next-- >> there are margins. >> no, no, no, and dramatically lower than when he started owl of this and he raised them and-- >> so that's your-- >> than they were in 81. >> i keep bringing it up. we got rid of some the golden tax exemptions and-- >> they were great. >> you used to be able to write off your credit card interest. wouldn't you love that. >> every morning in the cavuto hous

i helped ronald reagan and jack kemp develop supply-side economics and helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the congress. people are saying i think we need newt gingrich because we need somebody who can debate obama. we need somebody with substantial big ideas. and so i think whereas i would have thought originally it was going to be mitt and not mitt. i think it's going to be it may turn out to be newt and not newt and that's a very different formula than frankly. i'm having to redesign our campaign strategy, because we're at least 60 days ahead of where i thought we'd be. >> we heard mitt romney going after gingrich in an interview on fox news, last night the attack on gingrich not coming from romney, but texas congressman ron paul. paul taking aim at what he says is gingrich's often-changing record and his ties to washington insiders. in a scathing web video, the paul campaign labels gingrich a quote serial hypocrite. >> beyond the words is a real question of policy. and a real question of values. and a real question of seriousness. the real question of policy. >> we don't a

so when rears sitting down with people like ronald reagan and stay in the home of jack kemp and with the bush family and talk to gerald ford and my mom would go swimming in the white house pool you did not even need a pass you could literally knocked on the gate just going to her neighbor's house and guards would say there is of crazy and 80 here and she would go swim laps. [laughter] the net result is diffuse fast forward to the present tense of budget people use the language of the pro-life movement to talk about death than those which is the way they describe health care reform or we have to define the of government because no one should have to pay taxes or we cannot regulate. global warming is a myth because it hurts business burglaries then they are empower is not on the basis of those issues but because people were exercised about roe v wade and gay-rights including integration because we had a large broad swath of the evangelical movement as well. it is very clever and symbiotic. one is the only have one political party would is a democrat see if there is a religious institut

conservative thing is sort of laughable to suggest somebody who can't win with ronald reagan and jack kemp is somehow not a conservative? >> for more we're joined by wtop political analyst mark plotkin. i only caught about the first 45 minutes before coming up here, but from what i saw newt gingrich got knocked down a rung or two tonight. >> they went after him. some candidates feel that they have to do well in the iowa caucus. michele bachmann was ferocious. she accused the former speaker of having his hand out and being an influence peddler. she realizes after winning the straw poll way back in august which seems like decades ago that she needs to do well in iowa and she feels the about a to do well in iowa -- the way to do well in iowa is to go after gingrich who is standing in the center of the stage because he's now perceived as the frontrunner. >> what is the game plan for these candidates because normally you try and set yourself apart by going after the issues and separating yourself from one or another. it seems like these are personality and private practice issues that people ar

my old buddy jack kemp or in some field movers and shakers who was so funny returns to abortion, but nevertheless was believe it or not saying, too. and so are people like my dad's good friend william f. buckley asserts the national review. disagree with politics like his friend corby pelleted, he said to new york greater who would've been completely different on all the issues, but after they run a firing time they go off and have a drink together. leave me today grouper or box news and not going off and having drinks with people that they are blasting as not real americans, dangerous, sympathize terrorist and all the other rhetoric you hear pouring out of the ranks. and to be fair from the left is because i write for a lot of left-wing locks like alternate and the "huffington post" where you can find my work pretty regularly. when you read the comments and some of the articles, it is a fiery confrontation taking place from both sides. the idea of any polite middle ground or even loyal opposition is totally out the window. so anyway, i tell that story. here's the third element i tol

. >> sort of laughable to suggest that somebody who campaigned with ronald reagan and with jack kemp and had 30 year record of conservatism is now a conservative. >>reporter: avenues focus of continued attack like bachmann and santorum. both with love to steal away conservative support from gingrich. >> i have never once changed my positions because of any kind of payment. because the truth just fine.national figure who >>reporter: for the second consecutive debate romney didn't aggressively go after gingrich but he certainly had help from the rest of the field. that may wind up working better for romney who did the dirty work himself. >> also in washington. congress reached a rare bipartisan agreement heading off potential government shut down tomorrow at midnight pro-posed 1 trillion dollar spending plan would keep washington running another 9 months or so. house votes tomorrow. lawmakers still debating an extension of payroll tax break for 160 million americans set to expire at the end of the year. >> 2 bay area charter schools are on a state wyatt wide hit list tonight. san franc

conservative thing, sort of laughable to suggest that somebody who campaigned with ronald reagan and with jack kemp and has had a 30-year record of conservatism is somehow not a conservative? gwen: and romney on the campaign trail if not on the debate stage boasted of having a steadier hand than gingrich. jeff zeleny asks romney if he thinks gingrich is too zany to be president. >> zany is not what we need in a president. zany is great in a campaign, it's great on talk radio, it's great in the print. it beats -- makes for fun reading. but in terms of a president, we need a leader. gwen: so let's start with last night, dan. what was everyone trying to prove on that stage? >> well, you have to think of last night as closing arguments. it is the last debate before the caucuses in iowa which are on january 3. and i think for gingrich, it was an effort to try to tell people yes, there may have been chaos while i was speaker of the house. but remember what i was able to accomplish. if you don't think i can lead, look at what we did while i was speaker. so it was an effort to push away from the criticism

the issue is the same of jack kemp for you the other in most of us were ten to thirteen year old today germany and france agree in principle at least that fiscal union in the euro zone is the only way to. well. science technology innovation all the list of elements from around russia we've got the future covered wealthy british style. markets why not scan.

were a jack kemp idea to create that opportunity. malae have a president for dhaka, saying the same kind of thing let's give businesses tax incentives to reinvest in our economy. i love the fact is we of programs to help small businesses i can tell small businesses over the last three plus years in the administration they've cut taxes 17 times he is now proposing things like giving businesses tax incentives to hire people giving businesses tax incentives to hire people coming home from iraq and afghanistan. ideas to increase buy here this ridiculousness coming out of congress people are interested in taking partisan fights the in doing what i know can help my community today. but yet we've still succeeded. we've succeeded in getting in my city as well as all across america payroll tax cuts and now i can't believe congress is fighting over it because i had a residence in line getting a thousand dollars more on average in their paychecks and people to struggle to provide for their family to make ends meet what do they do? they don't si

were a jack kemp idea to create that opportunity. malae have a president for dhaka, saying the same kind of thing let's give businesses tax incentives to reinvest in our economy. i love the fact is we of programs to help small businesses i can tell small businesses over the last three plus years in the administration they've cut taxes 17 times he is now proposing things like giving businesses tax incentives to hire people giving businesses tax incentives to hire people coming home from iraq and afghanistan. ideas to increase buy here this ridiculousness coming out of congress people are interested in taking partisan fights the in doing what i know can help my community today. but yet we've still succeeded. we've succeeded in getting in my city as well as all across america payroll tax cuts and now i can't believe congress is fighting over it because i had a residence in line getting a thousand dollars more on average in their paychecks and people to struggle to provide for their family to make ends meet what do they do? they don't si

ok i got to go to phil i want to tell you begin rich that i mean quote i helped ronald reagan and jack kemp develop supply side economics i helped lead the effort to defeat communism in congress i helped as speaker of the house balanced the budget for four years straight i mean none of those statements are true that patently obviously false. well they're not completely false he had a large role in balancing the budget he certainly supported ronald reagan but he claims to essentially that he did all these things more or less on his own he did not. he was part of the coalition between clinton and the republican congress they got a lot done welfare reform free trade balancing the budget. yes he did work with bill clinton and then he led the move to impeach bill clinton the problem with newt gingrich is from the very beginning when he burst on the national scene in the early one nine hundred ninety s. the public hasn't liked him they don't like him i looked at thirty five polls of how people think feel about newt gingrich and in thirty two of those thirty five poll polls taken in the last fifte

i helped ronald reagan and jack kemp develop the supply side of economics. i helped defeat communism. i helped balance the federal budget for four straight years. reform entitlement and take conservatism is, there is places where i have done that stuff. >> joining the panel, mary oh grady and dan henninger and jane freeman. dan, what is behind the gingrich surge? >> one of the things that is behind it, paul, there was always structural weaknesses in the come any campaign. he was running a campaign that was going to put one foot in the center. he needed to win independent voters. part of his appeal has been for them and the other has been the conservative camp. the problem is he had to run an early primary, iowa, new hampshire, south carolina and florida, these are conservative voters. he has been lucky so far, most of his opponents were basically pretty weak. i think we have the parable of the tortoise and the hare. romney is the hare. gingrich has been plodding along slowly making his case and finally the conservative problem for romney caught up with him.