in tampa jackie kucinich, political reporter for "usa today," and in new york jeff greenfield, co-anchor of pbs's "need to know" and a correspondent for cbs, abc, and cnn. jeff, did wolf blitzer by going up against gingrich and not just letting him walk all over him, did he put himself in the position of debating the candidate? >> no, i that wolf was perfectly the -- the tone was perfect, and i'm perfectly prepared to have been deeply crap of my former colleague had he screwed up, but he didn't. when you are a moderator, do you this and pose a question with both hands tied behind your back. you can't debate because you are not an advocate. what wolf did was to remind speaker gingrich of the context in which those remarks were made, and i think you saw that gingrich rapidly retreated and then no longer decided it was the right time to coin an old phrase beat the press. i think he went to the well once too often. he has had this very successful run of criticizing moderators, and i think it time it was like throwing a pitch that worked against a batter of five others times, only this batter

i'm jeff greenfield. for all of us at "need to know," thank you. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> "need to know" is made possible by -- bernard and irene schwartz. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. the miriam and ira d. wallach foundation. josh and judy weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual, and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> rose: welcome to our program, some interesting developments in republican politics the state of the union address by our president, we talk about all of that with david leone hart, greg ip, mark halperin and jeff greenfield of pbs. >> i think romney favored to win in florida, i'm not sure he will but i think people who think is over, the conservative movement, large portions are angry, they don't like the

and on tonight's broadcast of "need to know," jeff greenfield examines the political power of florida's senior population. here's an excerpt. >> it's been true for most of the last half century-- if you don't win florida, you don't win the white house. and if you want toin here, you have to do well with the state's most powerful voting block, seniors. more than one in three g.o.p. voters here are over 65, a that poses a special challenge to the republican presidential contenders. >> when it comes to social security and medicare and medicaid. >> why a special challenge? because for years, decadees, really, the conservative part of the republican party has been arguing that the programs that matter most to seniors-- social security and medicare-- are unsustainable, that the growing number of seniors will bankrupt the system unless big changes are made. >> sreenivasan: that's jeff greenfield from tonight's broadcast of "need to know," which appears on most pbs stations. check your local listings. there is a link to that story and a lot more on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. ray. >> suarez

joining us jeff greenfield.e were many. >> but i will tell you. mitt romney had a great night for mitt romney. >> no. >> i think he -- no, i think he had a great night. i think that'll probably propel him to a win in florida. that's my own gut right now being from florida. and knowing the type of people florida elects. that said, jeff, for we conservatives who question this -- what's at this man's core. the one thing i promise you would never hear out of my mouth would be one that paul ryan's medicare plan is right-wing social engineering from the newt side. you say how does anybody do that? and the other front-runner's saying, you know, individual mandates, the individual mandates that actually conservatives are praying that the united states supreme court will overturn as an unconstitutional violation of my civil rights as an american, that's nothing to get concerned about. >> right. >> that's a big -- big mistake. >> if you were judging this debate strictly on a kind of college score, santorum's critique was

by our president, we talk about all of that with david leone hart, greg ip, mark halperin and jeff greenfield of pbs. >> i think romney favored to win in florida, i'm not sure he will but i think people who think is over, the conservative movement, large portions are angry, they don't like the way gingrich has attacked this week and will have one pore gasp at saying do we really want mitt romney as our nominee. if gingrich can rise to the occasion he can be the vehicle for that and have a pretty big fight. >> we continue our look at economics with author nicholas-- his book is called cane, the clash that defined modern economics. >> and that tois the great division between the two of them. cane's always wanted to intervene. he always wanted to change the world and he merely wanted to tob and in see be the keynesian charges was always there, waking its finger saying it will all go terribly wrong. >> we conclude this evening with an appreciation of the life of mary duke-- a giant of a woman whowas a gre iend of mine who died in durham, north carolina on wednesday at age 91. >> her mother used t

i'm jeff greenfield.f all of us at "need to know", thanks. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> "need to know" is made possible by -- bernard and irene schwartz. the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. the miriam and ira d. wallach foundation. josh and judy weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual, and group retirement products. that's why we are your retirement company. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. ouanyk . y >>> little red riding hood was so busy. >> there were reports the wolf went right to grandma's house. >> a dead bolt lock could have kept the wolf out of her house. >> but he got in and there he found grandma resting on a bed worth between $6,000 and 80$8,0. >> there's more than one side to a story. >> rose: welcome to our program, tonig a special ededition. brain series year two in our third episode we focus on a

round of political debates seem to be taking place off stage so says our friend and contributor jeff greenfieldng and cheering yelling give it to 'em. you didn't hear that? that's because i'm not talking thursday night's debate, i'm talking about the lincoln- douglas debates in 1858. it's a reminder when we watch a network like cnn covering a debate like it's espn's college game day it's not that different from the days when parades and bands and audience participation were part and parcel of the debate experience. but there's still a question to ask here. just how demonstrative an audience do we want during the debate especially when it can have a real impact on how we judge potential presidents? >> you yourself said to khruschev you may be ahead of us in rocket.... >> reporter: the very first televised debates in 1960 didn't even have audiences. they were held inside television studios. >> i know it will come as a surprise to mr. mondale but i am in charge. >> reporter: in the debates audiences are always cautioned not to cheer or boo or applause. >> the last budget he led cut pell grants, cu

i have a question for chuck, and i noticed last night that jeff greenfield tweeted that if gingrich wereans starting to re-raise the question, can we get somebody else in this race because mitt romney might be too weak? not electable, not good enough candidate and gingrich is not -- chuck, do you think we're going to start if gingrich wins here, will we hear the republican establishment a cry go up for someone else to get in this race? and if that happens, is it possible? >> reporter: you know, i would say not yet. it would have to -- you would have to see romney collapse in florida too. i think ultimately the romney campaign has always seen florida as the real fire wall. they talked about new hampshire, that was the launch, but the real fire wall's always been florida. and you've got to be careful with florida because it's a closed primary, it'll be as conservative of a voter -- of an electora electorate, frankly, as south carolina will look, even though if you had independents come in, it would look a heck of a lot different in florida. but that will be a tricky place for romney if sud