seething sectarian discontent and hatred. >> schieffer: in this country, of course, nancy, and john dickerson, it was all about the congress and what the congress didn't do. i laughed one day and said, you know, it's a good thing congress hasn't done anything this year because if they had, we wouldn't have any place to put it with all the news that we had otherwise. but it was quite a year up there on the hill. wasn't it? >> it was. i think what we learned this year is that divided government which in the past has produced some really remarkable pieces of legislation, doesn't produce the same kind of results when you have two parties that are so far apart the way that these two are right now. you know, the modus operandi on the hill for so-years has been to leave legislation to the last minute, funding the government, this payroll tax cut it's worked in the past but it doesn't work anymore because you have a new crop of tea party house republicans who have no interest in political expediencey. that's not what they ran on. they're not just going to get along. when they don't like a piece of le

seething sectarian discontent ted hatred. >> schieffer: in this country, of course, nancy, and john dickerson, it was all about the congress and what the congress didn't do. i laughed one day and said, you know, it's a good thing congress hasn't done anything this year because if they had, we wouldn't have any place to put it with all the news that we had otherwise. but it was quite a year up there on the hill. wasn't it? >> it was. i think what we learned this year is that divided government which in the past has produced leme really remarkable pieces of legislation, doesn't produce the same kind of results when you have two parties that are so far e art the way that these two are right now. you know, the modus operandi on the hill for so-years has been to leave legislation to the last thnute, funding the government, this payroll tax cut it's worked in the past but it doesn't work anymore because you have a new crop of tea party house republicans who have no interest li political expediencey. that's not what they ran on. they're not just going to get oiong. iken they don't like a piece of le

for more on that endorsement and the rest of the republican race, we turn to john dickerson from washington. john, good evening to you. >> reporter: good evening, russ. >> mitchell: how important is this endorsement? >> reporter: it's a nice piece of news, but iowa republican insiders say it won't change many minds. the des moines register doesn't have the sway among conservativetives that the union leader does in new hampshire, but the paper does frame the choice between the two republican front-runners. it talks about romney's stability and criticizes newt gingrich for his lack of discipline. the paper is the latest to raise those issues about gingrich. iowa's governor, a popular republican, wondered whether gingrich had the temperament for the job, as did the national review. by itself the des moines register endorsement may not mean much to romney, but it adds to a flood of doubt. >> mitchell: newt gingrich continues to catch flack for consulting work he did for freddie mac in which he received between $1.6 million and $1.8 million. the "wall street journal" accused gingrich of a lack o

on the rapidly changing republican race, we are joined in washington by our political director john dickerson, john, good evening. >> good evening, muss. >> mitchell: newt gingrich started off slow in this race but is now catching fire. why is that happening? >> there are a few things. one is that the alternatives to mitt romney which republicans have been looking for, they've kind of dropped one by one, herman kane is out of the race. rick perry didn't turn out to be as great as advertised. michelle bashman has had trouble keeping her early fire so newt gingrich is in some ways the last person standing but he hiss has a lot of attributes republicans like. and in that des moines register poll they think he is a good debater. they think he can be president. they think he's-- knowledgeable. he has a lot of the attributes people look for in a president. >> mitchell: the iowa caw sus-- caucus is less than a month a way, crunch up time, rough-and-tumble time. what do you think we will see. >> the question of whether republican voters still have a chronic fatigue syndrome about mitt romney. this ha

for more on the likely impact of cain's withdrawal, we are joined by cbs news political analyst john dickerson. what does cain's withdrawal or suspension of his campaign do for the republican race? >> what it means for mr. cain is he used the specific language "suspend." the difference between that and ending your campaign is when you suspend you can still get the federal matching fund. if he ended it he wouldn't be able to get those. what it means for the larger race, though, is that it's romney versus gingrich race with ron paul always out there, somebody you have to look to. but this solidifies ever more that it's a two-man race. >> mitchell: cain lost a lot of support in the last few weeks. however, he still had a lot of supporters out there. where are those folks likely to go? >> the cain voters who had been leaving him looked like they were pretty much going to newt gingrich, but the hard-core supporters who were left, those will be interesting. they liked cain because he was not a washington politician, not a member of the establishment. newt gingrich is both of those things. the core s

analysis from cbs news chief white house correspondent norah o'donnell and political director john dickerson. then, we'll have an important announcement about "face the nation." it all starts now. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: good morning again. congresswoman michele bachmann who was on fire during the debate last night is joining us from des moines this morning. congresswoman, appreciate you getting up early. to come in and be with us. i want to ask you this question. it just struck me last night watching the debate. you're a social conservative, but when newt gingrich's three marriages came up, all the other candidates just jumped right on it. you did not make any direct criticism or reference to him about that. i just wonder why that was. >> well, i was asked a question about character and what that meant for the presidency of the united states. i went back to what the founders said, and the founders said we needed to focus on their character. that was my response. >> schieffer: so do you think that is an impo

cbs news political team-- jan crawford, norah o'donnell, nancy cordes, and political director john dickerson. this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: and good morning again and welcome to "face the nation." key players from both sides in the campaign with us this morning at the table. reince preibus, who is the republican national committee chairman, and then we will also be talking to robert gibbs, who is now a top consultant to the president's re-election campaign. mr. chairman, a brand new "des moines register" iowa poll is out. newt gingrich has now jumped into the lead with 25%. congressman ron paul is now running second. he has 18%. mitt romney follows with 16%, and congresswoman michele bachmann and former candidate herman cain got 8%, and the rest of the field is behind them. and that poll, mr. chairman, of course, was before herman cain announced yesterday that he was dropping out. i guess it showed what we all suspected. that is, his campaign was actually imploding. so now, he's gone. we

more on the hunt for votes in the hawkeye state we are joined by cbs news political director john dickerson, also in des moines. rick santorum was counted out not to go ago by a lot of people. now he's on a roll. what does that mean. >> every republican candidate has had a chance to be the surge candidate in the polls for republican looking for an alternative to mitt romney. for rick santorum, there are two challenges. he has to be better than newt gingrich who has been dropping but still has support, and he's got to challenge ron paul who is tied near the top of the polls with romney and has a very strong ground organization. the other challenge for santorum if he emerges strong from iowa how he, with his legislative experience, argues that he's a better challenger for barack obama than mitt romney who is running on his executive experience as a business man and governor. >> mitchell: earlier, mitt romney seemed to blow off iowa, didn't participate in the straw polls, didn't acontinued a couple of differences there. was all of this part of his strategy, do you think? >> it's a strategic bl

john dickerson focuses on politics as our political director and, john, i wonder, gingrich is leading in iowa. what does this mean? >> this is big news in republican politics in iowa. on the eve of the very last debate in sioux city right before the caucuses. governor terry branstad is very popular in republican circles. he's been elected five times. he said he wouldn't endorse any of the candidates, but the these remarks he essentially endorses the key critique of newt gingrich, that he lacks the discipline and temperament to be president. this comes on the heels, scott, of a very negative endorsement from the national review, an influential conservative publication which said that republicans will blow their golden opportunity to beat barack obama if they nominate newt gingrich. >> pelley: "national review" an influential conservative publication. john, thank you very much. medicare will be an election issue, of course, and so will unemployment and on that score there's some improvement to report tonight. the labor department said today the number of americans filing their first cla

john dickerson is our cbs news political director. he's in des moines tonight. and, john, i wonder, what do you see in these numbers? >> well, scott, on those two issues, it gives us a sense of just how strong gingrich's lead is here. ntose are two areas that are really romney's stronghold. for months he's been arguing he's the candidate who can beat barack obama. he's also argued his business experience means he's the one who can turn around the economy and in past polls voters have agreed with him. not anymore. so gingrich beats romney handily on questions like "who can handle a crisis," but on these two issues of the economy and electability, the heart of the romney candidacy, gingrich is also challenging him. >> pelley: now, ron paul comes in neck in neck with romney in we poll and i wonder, what do you see in that? >> he is tied for second. but in a poll where 66% of the respondents said they may change their mind, that's not true of the paul supporters where 30% said they thought romney... that was all of the time that he told the truth. paul gets 80% on th

. >> political director john dickerson is in iowa and he joins us along with "time" magazine columnist joe klein who wrote "time "cover on mitt romney this week. the cover of the magazine says "why don't they like me "why is romney not the nominee? >> i can't do that. most people in iowa will change their minds twice between now and january 3rd. it's hard to predict these things. what we know is the vast majority of republicans have been dissatisfied with mitt romney from the very start. he has been stuck at about 25% and he is getting lower now. it's going to be difficult for him to get over the top. >> john, joe won't bite so let me ask you the opposite of that first question. what are the chances that newt gingrich is the nominee? >> i'm not going to bite either, jeff. joe taught me that. gingrich is having his moment. he is having it at the right time because there is a month left before the iowa caucuses. and he is running strong here in iowa and he has a great deal of baggage, as jan mentioned, in her piece, but people are forgiving him that and a lot of that is a part of what jo

john dickerson, thanks.an crawford, nice to have you in the studio too. >>> trouble for florida a&m university. a hazing investigation has turned up more alleged wrongdoing. >> police are looking into a possible case of fraud. anna werner is live. >> reporter: the university won't comment on this but florida law enforcement officials tell cbs news the latest investigation is linked to financial irregularities and associated with a&m officials. the florida of law enforcement in a letter said its investigation into the death of drum major robert champion turned up new investigation. >> it's just a notification letter went out saying we are starting a second investigation. >> reporter: this marks the third investigation now under way into the school. on monday, tallahassee police charged three students in connection with the battery and hazing of a freshman band member. the drum's thigh bone was broken. >> she was beaten by hands, 50s, spatulas, metal rulers and book binders. >> reporter: bern stein says it was

. >>> we also want to bring in paul di john dickerson. as jan just laid out for us, the gloves have come off and romney on the offensive calling newt gingrich zany, but how is this tactic going to sit with voters? >> well, it's, it remains to be seen. the problem for mitt romney is that voters have not embraced him. there has been this tepid feeling about mitt romney all along and newt gingrich is taking these attacks in stride and kind of brushing them off saying he's trying to run a positive campaign. the key thing here is the time is drawing short before this iowa caucus. mitt romney is now saying that this is going to be a long nominating process, so, don't be concerned if things don't look great at the beginning. he's in it for the long hall. it looks like we'll also see tonight how many of these attacks he brings in this debate. >> it's not just mitt romney coming out hard against newt gingrich now. the national review coming out against him and other members of the republican establishment. did newt gingrich peak too early? >> well

. >> we're going to talk about that and more now with our political director john dickerson. good morning to you. >> good morning, jeff. >> let's talk herman cain first. how long does the campaign survive if it survives? >> well, it's a very, very tough hill here for him to climb. the big worry for the cain campaign is money. can they keep the lights on and that's what he is assessing to do well in iowa. cost money to keep that organization going. so, it looks like it's day-by-day for cain and also what is at stake here, if he is thinking about leaving the race, what is his exit narrative. you can see him talking there about being attacked by the establishment and by liberals so that if he does have to drop out of the race, he could have a future career saying i tried to tell the truth, but the establishment and the liberals just came after me. >> john, you mentioned iowa. mitt romney wasn't going to play there at all after it tripped up his bid in 2008. he has the first ad out there. the blitz for romney. >> a bit of an open secret that romney is trying to run in iowa, but s

. >> and with us is also john dickerson, along with jan, our jan, when we look at the debate pher e, therehe, the bets, the 10,00 wh ich whicmitth mitt romney said one thing he doesn't do very pwel l,well, this is really backfiri big-time for him. phow how is the campaign dealing with that fallout? >> reporter: you saw romney talking about his wife ann and tried to make light of that mo mentmoment but, of course, what happened is this is what all of mentmoment but, of course, what happened is this is what all of the what the other opponents are talking about, has gotten him off his message a little bit. pin in iowa, in these caucuses, with these republicans, i don't think it's going to make much difference at all. i mean, they know romney is a rich guy. pthe y kntheyow know he made a lot oy before he went into public service. this will come as no surprise to phim .him. we have elected rich presidents h.w. bush but the problem of him psay ingsaying that it came across a everybody is wanting to talk about. >> meanwhile, i'm sure newt g gingrich doesn't mind they are if he is continuing

. >> we will talk about that and more with our political director john dickerson. good morning to you. >> good morning, jeff. >> herman cain, how long does his campaign survive and does it survive? >> it's a tough hill for him to climb here. i think the big worry for the cain campaign is money. can they just keep the lights on and that is what he is assessing to do well in iowa. it costs money to keep that organization going. so it looks like it's day-by-day for cain and also part of what is at stake if he is thinking about leaving the race what is his exit narrative? you can see him there talk about being attacked by the establishment, by liberals so if he has to drop out of the race he can have a future career saying i tried to tell it the truth but the establishment and the liberals just came after me. >> john, you mentioned iowa. mitt romney wasn't going to play there at all after it tripped up its bid in 2008 but now he has his first ad out there. a start of a blitz there for romney in iowa? >> it is a bit of a secret romney is trying to run in iowa but under

. >> and with us now along with jan from washington this morning is john dickerson, our political director. i want to start -- jan, i want to start with you. when we look at the debate here, the bets, the $10,000 bet which mitt romney said his wife said that's one thing he doesn't do very well, this is really back firing big time for him. >> well -- >> how is the campaign dealing with that fallout? >> you saw romney talking about his wife, ann, and trying to make light of that moment. but of course what happened is this is what all the reporters are talking about, what the other opponents are talking about. it's gotten him off his message a little bit. in iowa, in these caucuses, with these republicans, i don't think it's going to have -- make much difference at all. they know romney is a rich guy. they know he made a lot of money before he went into the public service. this is going to come as no surprise to him. we have elected rich presidents before, like fdr, jfk, george h.w. bush. but the problem with his saying that, it kind of came across a little ham handed, and now that's what eve

. >> john dickerson is in des moines this morning, and he is joining us along with "time" magazine columnist joe klein, who wrote a cover story on mitt romney this week. good morning to both of you. joe, the cover story is called, why doesn't anybody like me, talking about mitt romney. at this point, 0 to 100, what are the chances mitt romney is not the nominee? >> oh, i can't do that. i mean, really. look, the campaign is just finally beginning now. most people in iowa are going to change their minds twice between now and january 3. it's really hard to predict these things. what we do know, though, is that the majority, the vast majority of republicans, have been dissatisfied with mitt romney from the very start. he's been stuck at about 25%. he's getting lower now. and it's going to be difficult for him to get over the top. >> john, joe won't bite. what are the chances newt gingrich ais the nominee? >> i'm not going to bite either, jeff. joe taught me that. [ laughter ] >> you know, gingrich is having his moment. he is having it at the right time, because there's a month left between -- be

people in politics were talking about this today and our political director jon dickerson was at the debate last night. john, at lot of attention to that comeback. but do you think it will make much difference if the long run here? >> reporter: well, michele bachmann was responding not just to the charge he had her facts wrong but to gingrich's repeated back hand treatment of her. remember, a week ago he said she was factually challenged. atedd been pressing him on whether he was sufficiently against abortion rights and his $1.6 million payout from freddie mac. one clearly got under his skin sand usually male politicians react with a little bit more delicacy when it comes to female opponents. they're worried about losing the women's vote and for gingrich that's a particular problem, polls show. >> schieffer: what do you think at this point now? no more debates until the caucuses. who do you think is in the best position now? >> well, we've seen in iowa that newt gingrich is at the top of the polls and after this debate he was probably... probably he had a bad moment at first, he certainly flaundered when ta