michele bachmann -- is her problem, jeanne cummings, gender? >> no, it is not gender. michele bachmann has slipped in the polls across the country. this is not just an iowa think it basically, michele bachmann got in the race, did a good job in the june and today, her debut. she impressed a lot of people, so they said, ok, i will give her a look. part of the problem with the bachmann campaign is that her message never went further than that she came in, she was going to repeal obamacare, she hit all the right notes, and then just kept hitting the same notes. when a fresh face like rick perry entered the race in august, people figured they had consumed as much bachmann as they could get and took a look at perry. she was never able to solidify his support she got early. -- the support she got early. now we see that her campaign is unraveling. we saw two high-profile members of her iowa campaign machinery, which is all she has left -- she has nothing in new hampshire -- both of them quit, one of them defecting to ron paul. >> ron paul, colby king, is the antithesis of wha

jeanne cummings, what won't, self-inflicted or otherwise, mo led to gingrich's fall from grace? >> there is much chinenese backckground that was ing to come up --. his work up -- there was much in his background that was going to come up. his work with nanancy pelosi in that ad, his work witith freddie mac, an organization tt conservatives hate because of their role in the collapse of the housing market, and millionss in taxpayer money as it had to go to bail it out. but what really hurt him the st was when conservative opininion leaders, like charles here at the table, clan back -- glenn beck, formerly of fox, and others, one of those people started to come out and say whoa, ththis is a someat we cannot support. this is people that i what primary voters really -- list really.. tha -that iowa primary voters really listen to. that gave credence to the avalanche of attack ads against him. it is light at 2.5 million at versus his 2,000 in positive ads. he has been pummeled with ads that tell people about the baggage he carries. >> charles, have you been complicit in his downfall? >

and jeanne cummings is an editor at bloomberg news. we appreciate you both being with us. brody mullins, i'm going start with you on governor romney. the total income he released 2010-2011, $43 million almost. what was that income from? >> mainly from investments. the tax code in the u.s. is set up in a way that when wealthy people invest in various funds and take a capital gain or dividend from that, they pay a very low tax rate, a 15% tax rate. for not lifting a finger or doing any actual sweat equity he was able to get his lower 15% tax rate as opposed to a tax rate as high as 35%. >> woodruff: roughly what kind of investments? >> mainly through his former employer bain capital. which then set up... there is there are dozens of separate firms that bain invested in that he was taking dividends and capital gains from. >> woodruff: the tax rate around 14%. >> 14%. >> woodruff: which is pretty close to normal for this kind of income. is that right? >> right. the normal rate would be 15%. he was at 14% or a little bit lower than that. >> woodruff: and how was he able to do t

covering the week, jeanne cummings of bloomberg news, beth reinhard of "national journal," alexis simendinger of real clear politics, and pete williams of nbc news. >> award winning reporting and analysis covering history as it happens. live from our nation's capitol, this is "washington week" with gwen ifill, produced in association with "national journal. " corporate funding for washington week is provided by >> a line is a powerful thing. it connects the global economy to your living room, cleaner air to stronger markets, factory floors to less crowded roads. today's progress to tomorrow's promise. norfolk southern, one line, infinite possibilities. >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by prudential financial. additional funding is provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen:good evening 6789 after new hampshire and before south carolina, the battle lines are now well drawn in the republican primary race. the

john harwood, jeanne cummings, and fred yang. all right.president, john harwood, take on wall street, take on congress. let me ask you about the wall street portion. how upset will wall street react to some of what the president proposed last night, in particular that criminal justice subbureau if you will he wants to create in the justice department. >> the real problem wall street has with this president is psychological. that is to say, they think the president is condemning them publicly, making them look like villains, making them look like criminals, trying to make them feel gilley for the money they make, and that's caused a big estrangement from a lot of people who supported him in 2008, but in the election environment of 2012 he'll take that estrangement and wear it as a badge of honor with independents. >> jeanne, hitting congress, daring them to do reform bills. i thought it was funny he mentioned this insider trading bill, which is this ability to take congress and wall street and lump them together. >> clearly he's going to run