steven moore and john avalon, a cnn contribute to, and yeah? >> the blind trust issue is a big problem after what he said, no question. but you look at the 500-page document and what screams out from this, erin, is can we please have tax reform, and simplicity in the tax system, and by the way, this 500 page, and the one thing as an addendum to what you said, don't forget the companies that mitt romney owns, because you are right, he gets most of the income from the investments of companies and those companies pay taxes, and their tax forms are four-feet high, and don't forget they pay a 35% rate. that is what i object to in this discussion is that we leave out the fact that those companies paid a tax on the profit before mitt romney or warren buffett got a pepny of the nny of the m >> and john avalon, one thing i wanted to highlight with you, $7 million in charity in the past two years for mitt and ann romney is 16% of the income, and comparison of someone like joe biden gave 1%, and not compa comparison of what is to give, but by all accounts

john avalon joins us. gloria is also us with. first of all, south carolina wasn't positioned as such a must-win state for romney. now he's the one down there pushing it day as head of new hampshire. can he win? >> well, you know, if you look at history first of all, no republicans has ever won the nomination without south carolina. so if history is a guide, he ought to win it. can he win it? very good question, erin. it's not entirely clear because of rick santorum right now. i just spoke with somebody high up in the santorum campaign. they are about to make a very large ad buy in the state of south carolina. as you know from the wall the other night when flicking away there that strong moral character is the key to santorum's support. 40% of the people who were looking for strong moral character were santorum supporters and that is really important in south carolina. so mitt romney has a way to go there. >> it's interesting. you bring up the moral character going for santorum. john avalon, you were pointing at reverend brad atki

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john avalon joins us. gloria is also us with. first of all, south carolina wasn't positioned as such a must-win state for romney. now he's the one down there pushing it day as head of new hampshire. can he win? >> well, you know, if you look at history first of all, no republicans has ever won the nomination without south carolina. so if history is a guide, he ought to win it. can he win it? very good question, erin. it's not entirely clear because of rick santorum right now. i just spoke with somebody high up in the santorum campaign. they are about to make a very large ad buy in the state of south carolina. as you know from the wall the other night when flicking away there that strong moral character is the key to santorum's support. 40% of the people who were looking for strong moral character were santorum supporters and that is really important in south carolina. so mitt romney has a way to go there. >> it's interesting. you bring up the moral character going for santorum. john avalon, you were pointing at reverend brad atki

we'll taulk more about the timig of this with our cnn contributor, john avalon.e're just one week and one day until south carolina votes in the republican primary, and it's crunch time. many candidates making speeches, shaking hands, kissing babies, all across the state. but they're keeping the eye on the roeld ahead, too. a road that leads to florida and its january 31st primary. both states are covered this morning. let's start in miami are newt gingrich just missed with voters. and jim acosta had far too much cuban coffee. you had a chance to speak with the speaker. >> reporter: that's right. i had a chance to talk to a former speaker and i had cuban coffee. we caught up with newt gingrich here in little havana. it's a frequent stop for a lot of gop candidates when they're running for president. appealing to the miami cuban-american community is very important to winning the primary. it was no surprised newt gingrich stopped here. you would think gingrich after what has been a pretty serious line of attack. he went back too that line of attack earlier this mor

carolina primary and if you listen to pundits and washington insiders you might think to quote john avalon, south carolina is quote a swamp of sleazy politics an brutal attack ads and bible belt bashed in red necks and racism, but avalon would say you are dead wrong. he's out front to debunk the myths. >> this is that time of year, you know, the ugly stereotypes disfiguring a beautiful state. >> number one. >> this is the old one for back in strom thurmond days. it's had a 15% population growth in the last ten years. those counties along the coast, out of state immigrants, retirees looking for a better quality of life and then look at the -- >> a lot of those people coming from the north. >> a lot of jobs, manufacturing plants. we've got an indian american governor and then the new representative from charleston, tim scott. an african-american leader representing the first district. he beat thurmond's son in the primary. it's a great story and it's a sign of how the stereo e types don't hold. >> oh, they say, south carolina, it's all about evangelicals. is it? >> bob jones university seems

carolina primary and if you listen to pundits and washington insiders you might think to quote john avalon, south carolina is quote a swamp of sleazy politics an brutal attack ads and bible belt bashed in red necks and racism, but avalon would say you are dead wrong. he's out front to debunk the myths. >> this is that time of year, you know, the ugly stereotypes disfiguring a beautiful state. >> number one. >> this is the old one for back in strom thurmond days. it's had a 15% population growth in the last ten years. those counties along the coast, out of state immigrants, retirees looking for a better quality of life and then look at the -- >> a lot of those people coming from the north. >> a lot of jobs, manufacturing plants. we've got an indian american governor and then the new representative from charleston, tim scott. an african-american leader representing the first district. he beat thurmond's son in the primary. it's a great story and it's a sign of how the centstereo e ty don't hold. >> oh, they say, south carolina, it's all about evangelicals. is it? >> bob jones university seem

i like being able to fire people who provide services to me. >> john avalon is a cnn contributor and nior political columnist for "newsweek" and the "daily beast." kiki mclean and live from chicago, and lenny mcallister. thank you for joining us. let's begin with you, john. we just heard in that sound bite, you know, that was taken out of context, at least that's what romney is claiming. can that hurt him with the voter it is they don't understand where that -- how it fits in to the totality of what he was saying? >> short answer, yes. look, it was taken out of context. but again, this re-enforces, i think, some of the general election your going to see which is mitt romney, mr. 1%. not feeling the pain of folks still struggling through this great recession. that's the last thing that some voters went to bed with in their heads last night. that help frames how they vote on election day. and just like out of dixville notch, romney/huntsman tied. huntsman folks have seen a surge in the last couple of days who believe their candidate can have a shot. it's short-term bad news for romney a

john avalon has been reporting mitt romney's victory over santorum may not be a win. he said to me in the break, come on, why are you saying i'm obsessed? you are, and in a good way. you said the day after iowa, i think this isn't going to be this simple. tell me what you mean. what have you found? >> everyone remembers the eight-vote win, mitt romney over rick santorum. that led to this directly to the inevitability, that he's the only candidate to win iowa and new hampshire. not so fast. tomorrow, the certification comes in. in a county iowa -- apinoose county, southeastern county of iowa, a young guy named edward true attended the caucus and found that mitt romney was given 20 more votes than he actually received. he was tallied with 20 in the official total. initially, there were all sorts of attempts to deny and dismiss, saying don't worry about it. now, nobody is dismissing that fact. so if that number alone holds, that would give rick santorum a 12-point edge. >> i'm sorry, just have to take a pause to remind everyone. we're talking about 8, 12 people. it's ama

john avalon has been reporting mitt romney's victory over santorum may not be a win.e said to me in the break, come on, why are you saying i'm obsessed? you are, and in a good way. you said the day after iowa, i think this isn't going to be this simple. tell me what you mean. what have you found? >> everyone remembers the eight-vote win, mitt romney over rick santorum. that led to this directly to the inevitability, that he's the only candidate to win iowa and new hampshire. not so fast. tomorrow, the certification comes in. in a county iowa -- apinoose county, southeastern county of iowa, a young guy named edward true attended the caucus and found that mitt romney was given 20 more votes than he actually received. he was tallied with 20 in the official total. initially, there were all sorts of attempts to deny and dismiss, saying don't worry about it. now, nobody is dismissing that fact. so if that number alone holds, that would give rick santorum a 12-point edge. >> i'm sorry, just have to take a pause to remind everyone. we're talking about 8, 12 people. it's amazi

i have to admit by the way, john avalon bought this cigar, not me. maybe i will try it out.gh from those men in tomorrow's primary? this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brou

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john avalon is with us. and a columnist with "the daily" and co-author of "the grand new party." me start with you, and everyone should know who watches this show, but your background, you used to work for rudy giuliani, a pro-choice. >> ten years ago different story, but he's done a 180 on every social issue since he's started running for president. >> i want to play quickly an ad. this is from newt's pac running now in new hampshire stealing from a john mccain ad back in 2008, of course, on the day john mccain endorses mitt romney. here it is on the social issues with mitt romney. >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. i am pro-life and fab that legislation. >> you won't see me waivering. go back to youtube and see what i said in 1994. i never said i was pro-choice. my position was effectively pro-choice. i said that time and time again. >> yeah, those clips are going to be around a lot and they should be. look, hypocrisy is the unfor

john avalon is with us. and a columnist with "the daily" and co-author of "the grand new party."start with you, and everyone should know who watches this show, but your background, you used to work for rudy giuliani, a pro-choice. >> ten years ago different story, but he's done a 180 on every social issue since he's started running for president. >> i want to play quickly an ad. this is from newt's pac running now in new hampshire stealing from a john mccain ad back in 2008, of course, on the day john mccain endorses mitt romney. here it is on the social issues with mitt romney. >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. i am pro-life and fab that legislation. >> you won't see me waivering. go back to youtube and see what i said in 1994. i never said i was pro-choice. my position was effectively pro-choice. i said that time and time again. >> yeah, those clips are going to be around a lot and they should be. look, hypocrisy is the unforgiva

mark preston, john avalon i want to start first with this field. mitt romney, you say he defined himself, mark, in florida at the cnn debate. and he's turned the page. i want to listen real quickly to what he said that you think is a turning point. >> is he still the most ant anti-immigrant candidate? >> i think of the four of us, yes. >> go ahead, governor. >> that's simply inexcusable. senator mark arubio came to my defense and said that ad was inexcusable and inappropriate. mr. speaker, i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mexico. my wife's father was born in whales. the idea that i'm anti-immigrant was repulsive. >> was that the moment for him to take the upper hand again? >> the republican candidates have been distracted by issues such as immigration, legal immigration and mitt romney had taken heat from that. newt gingrich seemed to get an upper hand on him. what we saw this week was decisive. a lot of people thought newt gingrich would be the one who could be decisive and take on president obama. this last week, we saw that, in fact

but he got a blot of blowback it seemed from the reporting that we did here and that john avalon wast get it. why wouldn't have be trying to figure out if that was a mistake? that was enough to change the results yesterday. >> yeah, because there was a 20-point margin he was saying from the county where he is located. but the iowa gop at the time did say, listen, we're looking into that and, of course, a two-week process on the certification. unfortunately, now, according to the "des moines register" reporting, we'll never know because some of these precincts are incomplete. so, this is a question mark, i guess, for posparity. >> maybe what that does is make moot all these prognosticators who said if that is true, the momentum is lost. you know, romney doesn't get to have a place in history as having won the first two iowa and new hampshire. but i don't know if momentum is an issue if you have an unofficial draw. >> paul, if you hang on for a minute, i would like to bring in bernard whitman. he was with us earlier. and you're hearing all this wild craziness and what do you make now o

here to talk about that and more, political commentator margaret hoover and john avalon. they also happen to be married to one another. not usual for me to conduct a political cam interview with people who are holding hands. absolutely. right. especially in the tenure of the time these days. all right, how big of a deal is iowa. >> iowa is a very big deal, but not necessarily for the candidate who wins. it's important because, what the person who wins does to the momentum of the race and to the other candidates in the field, remember 2008, mitt romney was widely anticipated to run. he outspent huckabee 7 to 1. his loss to huckabee debilitated his momentum for the rest of the season. >> ron paul, the x factor here. >> it is the huge x factor. this is the wilder card. people have been competing for that conservative alternative to mitt romney's spot. ron paul's rising at the right time. ron paul's crucial difference, his supporters are deeply dedicated. caucuses are high intensity. their impact, it's about establishing the media. it's about figuring out which candidate is g

john avalon. thank you, john.e you. >> thank you. >>> so what is it like to be in control of a cruise ship that has just run aground? >> okay. that's it. we're aground. let's stop engines. snow, pull the checklist for ground. >> captain, we have the grounding checklist. >> i'm going to sound the general alarm. >> so this is only a simulation, but it is crucial practice for the captains who take the helm of the world's big ships. inside their training, up next. you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪ ♪ i've tried it. but nothing helped me beat my back pain. then i tried salonpas. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. >>> thousands of passenger scrambling for lifeboats as the cruise ship tilts closer and closer to the water. >> proceed to your stati

thanks so much. >>> let's talk with john avalon, calling in also on the phone, via new york. en talking about the fact that romney has made a lot of money. we mentioned in particular, these funds in the cayman islands and bermuda. but bottom line, he's a rich man, but these returns don't show that he did anything wrong? >> no. that's exactly right. everything is perfectly legal in these tax returns. the question i think is whether it ends up making sense in a common sense fair way to the american people, because you do have a guy who's among the ranks of the super rich, not talking about the 1%, we're talking about the .001%. and he pays a less than 15% rate. that is just a loophole that's been put in place. we have to figure out if it's purely cap gains or carried interest involved as well. but that -- when you view politics with such perspective that becomes a problem. bloomberg did an analysis that puts it in perspective. the 1% in america threshold is around $380,000 a year. that's how much the romneys made in a week. off investment income. you are talking about a time whe

conservative radio talk show host vince coakley and john avalon. congressman, good to see you. your friends with newt gingrich. >> hit it out the park. it changed the dynamics of the race. i would have said before yesterday there would have been a photo finish with romney cutting the tape first. i would say today, that is foot. still a tight race. i was at a gym saturday and the folks in the gym paused and said, newt. i was very surprised. i think the momentum has shifted because the backlash towards the timing of the story seems to be running the race. >> newt was talking to me today about a book that inspired him, about the waves in television and ride the wave. he was talking about just that. very open about it. what are you hearing? obviously, you've been talking to voters in south carolina all day. >> it's a mix of things. there are people very much upset about the cases of infidelity and we've always known this about newt gingrich, but what's significant is i think the people who are already opposed to newt gingrich, they're still aposed. the other, they're more supportiv

john avalon is a cnn contributor. what do you make of that? he's putting out one year to say yes, i know, sounds like lobbyist. is that going to be enough? >> i don't think so. people are going to be interesting, motive republican primary voters, and the american public in general. the nature of his activities. mr. gingrich is a long time washington insider. freddie mac was one of the people he worked for. i'm sure there are many more, and people are going to want a full disclosure of the nature of his activities. he was in the business of influencing public policy and the broad opinions toward those public policies and i think people want to know the nature of these activities. >> i think that's true and john, there were a lot of people who missed this. that's not necessarily the point. but when you are receiving money from a company that still owes $51 billion to taxpayers, you look not so good. >> this is not a crystal ball that looks good right now. this is an academic distinction p. people know historians don't get paid $1.6 million. othe

local conservative talk show host vince colclough, and john avalon. congressman g to see you. i know you're friends with newt gingrich, have been for a long time. you have not yet endorsed. how do you think it's going to go? >> last night, there was a softball thrown as newt gingrich, it was ugly, but he hit it out of the park. it changed the dynamic of the race. i would have said before yesterday, there would have been a photo finish with romney cuting the tape first, and i would say today it slipped. still a very tight race. i was in the gym this afternoon, and the folks in the gym paused and then they said, newt. i was very surprised. i think the momentum has shifted because the backlash towards the timing of the story seems to be running the tape. runing the race. >> that was actually, neat was talking to me about a book that inspired him about waves in television and ride to waves. he was talking about just that, very open about it. >> vince, what are you hearing? you were talking to voters in south carolina all day? >> it's a mix of things. there are the people who very

john avalon is a cnn contributor. good to have you with us. reuben, what do you think? of people were quick to dismiss this. you reverse the table. somebody comes to the united states, would seem to be mexican-american. >> when i was working with my editor, we said what kind of headline could we put on this to make erin burnett sit up and take notice? i'm glad it worked out. this was aly so. bill richardson, who ran for president, he was talked about as vying to become the first hispanic president. like mitt romney, has an american born parent and mexican born parent, so how is it that bill richardson is thought to be mexican, but we never make that conclusion about mitt romney? they're the same. >> it is a pretty interesting point. what do you think, as someone yourself, you describe yourself as mexican-american. what's your point of view coming from that background? >> i was born in the united states. both my parents were born in the united states and three of my four grandparents were born in the united states and texas. my fourth grandparent was in fact from chihuah

david from and john avalon. >> and the win over the segment? >> a cold one. >> so he showed the leg and said he would release the tax returns in april though? >> right, in april when the primaries will be over and now we know why he is resistant to turn over the tax returns, because this is what makes people so angry, because we are talking about overturning the bu bush tax cuts. and now we want to know why he does not support the buffett rule, and what we are learning which is an election liability, he is not paying the topper c t percentage, but 25%. >> they are in the active workforce earning income. if you are earnbing income, you pay income tax rates. mitt romney is retired from the earning income part of his life. he draws his money from the inv investments and there is a strong case for capital tax rate than earned income rate. we have a market control of assets whether it is land or corporate governance and we want to make sure that the transactions happen as seamlessly as possible. if you own a piece of land and somebody has a better i

david from and john avalon. >> and the win over the segment?> a cold one. >> so he showed the leg and said he would release the tax returns in april though? >> right, in april when the primaries will be over and now we know why he is resistant to turn over the tax returns, because this is what makes people so angry, because we are talking about overturning the bush tax cuts. and now we want to know why he does not support the buffett rule, and what we are learning which is an election liability, he is not paying the top percentage, but 25%. >> they are in the active workforce earning income. if you are earnbing income, you pay income tax rates. mitt romney is retired from the earning income part of his life. he draws his money from the investments and there is a strong case for capital tax rate than earned income rate. we have a market control of assets whether it is land or corporate governance and we want to make sure that the transactions happen as seamlessly as possible. if you own a piece of land and somebody has a better idea of what to d