joining us now for the interview is joel sawyer, joel was most recently governor jon huntsman's director in south carolina and the former executive director of the south carolina republican party. joel, it is very good to have you with us. thanks for being here. >> thank you, rachel. you're going to make everybody stop coming here with that intro. >> i was wondering how that sounds to you. are you one of the people that hears people talk about the dirty tricks of south carolina and think yeah, that's us, we're bad asses, or does that history trouble you? >> no, the things you refer to are absolutely despicable, but two things kind of get clouded together. one, south carolina has certainly been home to some really unspeakably dirty political tricks, but at the same time what that kind of combines with is by the time you get to south carolina, iowa's done, new hampshire's done, the field has been whittled a bit, so as much as there's been attacks we'd like to forget, the candidates attacks against each other become more focussed, so it's a lot more confrontational primary environment you h

at this point, my predictions will probably be that gingrich squeaks it out just barely. >> joel sawyerxecutive director of the state republican party, joel, thamps for being with us. nice to have you bank. >> thank you, rachel. appreciate it. >>> it is is a wh unsurpassed torq. incredible towing. legendary cummins engines. which engine do you want powering your truck? guts. glory. ram. ♪ guts. glory. ram. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are c

joining me now is joel sawyer. joel, thanks for your time. can you hear me? >> i can.hank you very much. >> who was the winner in your opinion? >> i think you have to say mitt romney was. he was very effective. in terms of the bar, we talked about beating expectations, he did that last night. i think that you had to walk away with a new opinion of romney's debating skills. >> gingrich's team say they are working on a new ad. they plan to unveil it soon in florida. participant of the ad will feature mike huckabee. let me a play a bit of the old ad that gingch wants to bring back to life. >> i'm mike huckabee because we have the right to know the truth about mitt romney's dishonest attack and even an american hero, john mccain. >> romney's record over $700 million in new taxes left office with a deficit, no executions, supported gun control and romney's mandated health plan provided a $50 copay for abortion. >> that ad was from four years ago with mike huckabee. we saw in the debate last night when mitt romney was put on the spot about an ad playing in florida, he said i

joel sawyer, thank you very much for being with us, appreciate it. >> yeah, sure thing. thank you.ew details on the shifting threat posed by al-qaeda and some new warnings about the growing danger by iran. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington with the latest on all of this. >> reporter: thank you, jenna, and good morning. at the policy center here in washington this morning, the discussion by current and former administration officials was defined by the affiliates of al-qaeda's officials in yemen and somalia. here's the former national security adviser to president obama. >> 2012 is announcing itself as the year that iran is going to have to be dealt with one way or the other. >> reporter: the alleged iranian-backed plant relying on ago arbabsiar to assassinate the saudi envoy to the u.s. was cited as an example of the growing connection between drug cartels and terrorist organizations. in addition to more evidence that iran will use terrorism as a tool for retaliation. >> hezbollah has not attacked american interests in recent years but has lo

joining us from the middle of the circus in south carolina is joel sawyer, you used to direct governor former director of the south carolina republican party. good to have you with us tonight. >> thank you rachel, very much. >> i'm not, there i'm not in south carolina, but what i'm seeing from here is a mix of unexpectedly low turn out for candidates event and also occasionally a giant crowd somewhere. can you give us a sense of the level of enthusiasm, is south carolina late blooming in terms of interest in the primary? >> yeah, and overall i think it's kind of high. one thing i would differentiate. there was a conference being held where organizers told all the campaign ts, i know because i was one of them at the time, they were expecting 800-1000 attendees. you all week, 50, 60 people. i don't know that is the best judge. the candidate forums and events they held themselves have been well attended. building a political event is an art form, we know how the media likes to talk about it always good to have standing room only. if i think there will be 1be 10 i'll get a room for 80. >>>