here is karen santorum's response.he gay activists have done out there. they vilify him him. rick does not hate anyone. he loves them. what he has simply said is marriage shouldn't happen, but as far as hating, it's very unfortunate that that has happened. a lot of it is backyard bullying. >> so karen santorum saying all he said marriage should be off the table. that's not really true when we talk about the fact that he has equated homosexuality to polygamy. can karen santorum be helpful in deflecting some of that criticism from those who would like to support him, but just can't? >> it's hard to see that she's going to be able to deflect that criticism because he has used up some very strident language. isn't that he just draws the line at marriage. he has talked about homo ssexua in pretty disparaging ways. but typically, that's what wives are out there to do. all of these candidates you saw mitt romney up there talking about his wife. he tell us that story almost at every stop and kcalistlista gi h gingrich, oftenti

but the very next day, karen santorum was facing scrutiny herself. d santorum she had a six-year live-in relationship with a pittsburgh abortion doctor 40 years her senior. >> it's ugly, cheap, tawdry. it has no relationship to the issues at hand in this race. >> reporter: but the wife attacks only intensified this week when gingrich's second wife went public, blaming his request to continue his affair with callista for the collapse of their marriage. >> no. no. that is not a marriage. >> let me be quite clear. the story is false. >> reporter: all this, political analysts say, is unusual even by the rough-and-tumble standards of southern politics. >> it's the nastiest race i've seen in south carolina in 25 years. it's never been this personal. >> reporter: with polls pointing to a close result tonight in south carolina, personal attacks show no signs of abating as the gop race continues. you know, alex, in just the last few hours it's gotten even nastier. south carolina republicans began receiving in their e-mail inboxes a fake cnn news alert reportin

today, we focus on karen santorum and the defense of her husband's stance on lgbt quality. >> thank youtown in iowa has a new mayor who is not only prepping an agenda, but prepare iing for high school graduation. he is 18. write-in votes got him elected to lead airdale, iowa, population, 73. jessica alba has a new baby. the actress and mommy launched honest.com, named after her 3-year-old daughter, honor. she'll see eco friendly baby products and household items and take a look at this baby polar bear. she weighed in at a pound when she was born, but she's getting bigger and her health is improving. nothing says talent like a painting squirrel. wink leheimer is becoming a youtube sensation. she now enjoys the domesticated life of fine art. she's better than i am. that wraps up this hour of. thomas roberts up next. i'll see you back here tomorrow. [ male announcer ] new starbucks blonde roast is another way to look at the bean. another way that reveals the lighter, mellower side of our roast. being blonde is nothing new but blonde roast is something new. something subtle. something soft.

. >>> in the newest issue of "people" magazine, they're talking to rick and karen santorum.ut their religion and the importance of rick being a husband and father besides just a politician. he cleans and he helps with the kids and he cooks. he tells "people," "i like to make sandwiches." >>> and conservatives have a new app designed for winning. it uses the gps to match volunteers to voters in their area. giving new meaning to the phrase campaign outreach. >>> new numbers that could help shape this year's presidential debate. a pew research poll finds 66% of all americans find a strong conflict between the rich and poor. the highest number in a quarter century. good morning. >> good morning, good to be with you. >> what's behind this big shift, do you think? >> well, we asked the same question two years ago, and we got fewer than half felt it then. my guesss that the occupy wall street movement, which is very much in the news around the country in the latter part of 2011 triggered a lot of coverage of the issue between the gap between the rich and poor. >> and there is a gap

we spoke to newt gingrich a few weeks ago, and today we have rick santorum and his wife, karen.hank you so much for joining us. [applause] >> you told me something very interesting just now, you have an insane schedule every day. it is event after event. and he just told me he drinks no caffeine. [laughter] how is that possible? >> i guess i'm not a good cafemom. maybe a decaf dad. [laughter] it actually gives me the jitters. i am high-energy enough. i've never liked it. i'm high energy enough and luckily it am able to go on. i feel very passionate about what i'm doing, and i have no trouble getting up in the morning and getting out there. fighting for things that i believe. what an awesome opportunity this is to go and get your ideas out there and paint a vision for the country and, hopefully, get people excited about what we want to do, the vision we have, and it keeps me going every day. >> what's the toughest moment in the campaign so far for both of you? is there any one thing where you just think, "i do not know why i'm doing this" or "how i can keep doing this?" >> it is

santorum, born with a genetic disorder called trisomy 18. the odds have been against her from the start and sometimes, with his wife, karen, weeping alongside s spoken of fighting for bella and children like her. >> she is the most able of all our children because she is pure love. she is a little girl who shouldn't be here. dan santorum, rick's younger brother, says the family often has to leave bella at home while on campaign travel. >> how challenging has it been for them to care for bella during the rigors of the campaign? >> as difficult as it is when bella's healthy, when she develops pneumonia, it's very difficult. to see your child just gasping for air is not present. it's heartbreaking. >> dan says karen santorum, a former nurse, often has to treat bella with a nebulizer. the can tomorrows have also had to defend their actions regarding another child they had in the mid '90s. a boy named gabriele, who died two hours after he was born. karen wrote in a book, they took the child home, slept with him and showed him to their other children, who were very young. a liberal pundit said voters wouldn't respond to that. >> once they get a lo

rick santorum and his wife karen will also be speaking at the event. we will have live coverage of the former pennsylvania senators comments, at 1:30 south carolina's primary is coming up on saturday, florida, 10 days later, followed by the bad and maine. road to the white house political coverage continues through all of those events. you could watch online at c- span.org/campaign2012, and you can also join in on facebook and twitter. we are going to listen to some viewers phone calls from this morning's washington journal -- "washington journal." host: romney is seen as a likely beneficiary. jon huntsman plans to withdraw from the broken the presidential race on monday. let's go to the phones to hear from patricia. democrat in bakersfield, california. caller: i watched the debate and i thought john hunt and it really good. one of the most decent candidates they have running. one of my other questions, i never hear them talk about what they have done lately. all the candidates talk about what they did in the past, but they have not said what they have

karen santorum who had given up here career to care for their family including their special needs daughter bella. as for calista gingrich, he added, just remember, she was his mistress for eight years. gingrich supporters were furious. >> it was completely and totally out of bounds and uncalled for. i was profoundly disappointed in dr. dobson. >> reporter: dobson said to the nbc news said his remarks withet not intended to be cruel or hurtful but just fachlkt but the very next day karen was under scrutiny herself. before she met santorum, she had a six-year relationship with a pittsburgh former abortion doctor. >> it's ugly and has no relation to the issues at hand. >> reporter: but the wife attacks only intensified when gingrich's second wife went public blaming them for the collapse of their marriage. >> no, no. >> let me be quite clear. the story is false. >> reporter: all this, political analysts say, is unusual, even by the rough and tumble standards of southern politics. >> this is the nas tiest race in south carolina i've seen in 25 years. it's never been this personal. >> reporter:

santorum. jonathan and karen said that rick santorum appears stupid enough to follow the lead to newt gives him. i was interested by what he said yesterday. when he criticized every culture as not holding up the value of every human life in the way that the american culture does. that's an incredible statement. that every other culture in the world doesn't value human life in the way this country does. >> i would be more reassured if i agreed that rick santorum is dumb. he has a bit of that howdy doody look going on. this man spent a lot of time thinking about these things. he is basically a big government conservative that believe that is the government can and should shape morality across the spectrum of our life. that is what he has done over 15 years in the united states congress. i think that he won't be taken seriously by the electorate, but this man views things differently than the way they are written in the constitution. >> i'm sorry i wish we had more time, but thank all of you for joining us. you can see chris matthews's full interview on "hardball" tonight at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. i c

karen and your family. best of luck tomorrow. >> the santorums. that's all we have time for tonight. "ac 360 starts now." >> thanks very much. good evening, it's 10:00 here on the east coast. we're coming to you live from the south carolina. i want to welcome the viewers to the college of charleston, an incredibly enthusiastic crowd here. everybody has welcomed us so warmly. we appreciate it. a thought of enthusiasm in the state of south carolina tonight, and we begin with raw paul tblgs. down to the bire. the primary, first in the south is tomorrow. newt gingrich is siurging. mitt romney is admitting that tomorrow end in defeat for him. speaker gingrich has come back, had a strong performance in a debate monday night and a strong performence last night. >> your ex-wife gave an interview with abc news. in it, she said you came to her in 1999, at a time where you were having an affair, she said you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take time to respond to that. >> no, but i will. i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news medi

. >> romney need the help based on santorum's sudden surge and win last night. abc's karen travers joins us live from des moines with the very latest. good morning, karen. >> reporter: we have been saying for days this race was going to go down to the wire but nobody could have predicted it would be this much of a nail biter. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag. >> across iowa, republicans gathered to pick their presidential nominee. and it went done to the wire. the final candidates battling it out with very few votes separating them. it's been a long journey. rick perry teared up when he introduced one of his supporters. a veteran who received a purple heart. this iowa voter delivered a passionate plea to mitt romney. >> we have no jobs. we have no health care. >> reporter: romney has grown increasingly confident. could a surging rick santorum get in his way. it's never a good sign if your closing argument is lashing out at your opponent. that's what newt gingrich did when it came to mitt romney. even president obama got in on the iowa action, addressing democratic caucus

santorum if that traumatized rick's other children? >> not at all. if you know rick's family, being as close as they already, very loving family, they needed that. rick and karen did the right thing. >> reporter: others who know rick santorum said those episodes give him strength on the trail and will help mhim wih other evangelicals in the primaries. he genuinely walks the walk of his pro-life convictions and that will earn the voter's respect. >> pretty compelling story he has. thanks. >>> they got out of bed in the middle of the month in iowa. now, they are famous. we will show you how they helped all of us clear up caucus confusion. >>> plus, outrageous amounts of campaign track. we're now on track for a billion dollar, with a b, a billion dollar race for the white house. when it comes to home insurance, surprises can be a little scary. and a little costly. that's why the best agents present their clients with a lot of options. because when it comes to what's covered and what's not, nobody likes surprises. [ click ] [ chuckles ] we totally thought -- [ all scream ] obscure space junk falling from the sky? we cover that. moving on. aah, aah, aah, aah. [ mal

what does that mean for romney and santorum's campaigns, karen?his gives mitt romney another headline. we're still going to be talking about iowa today, but this gives mitt romney a chance to pivot to new hampshire, a state where he has double-digit wins, where he expects to win on tuesday. this gives him another establishment republican behind him. gives him the inevitability, the aura of the front-runner that maybe got dinged tonight with this very close race. so it will be very interesting to see the two of them together, the 2008 nominee, and the likely front-runner and the person that could be heading into new hampshire with still some good momentum. >> that's positive territory for romney down in new hampshire. ron paul and jon huntsman, any predictions for those two? >> reporter: ron paul also is vowing to stay in this race, but he is going to take a little pit of downtime, too. he went home this weekend, went back to texas. that's not a big surprise that he's going to take a little downtime. he is in his upper 70s. we're allowed to give hi

karen and your family. best of luck tomorrow. >> the santorums. that's all we have time for tonight. "ac 360 starts now." >> thanks very much. the south carolina. i want to welcome the viewers to the college of charleston, an incredibly enthusiastic crowd here. everybody has welcomed us so warmly. we appreciate it. a thought of enthusiasm in the state of south carolina tonight, and we begin with raw paul tblgs. down to the bire. the primary, first in the south is tomorrow. newt gingrich is surging. mitt romney is admitting that tomorrow end in defeat for him. speaker gingrich has come back, had a strong performance in a debate monday night and a strong performence last night. >> your ex-wife gave an interview with abc news. in it, she said you came to her in 1999, at a time where you were having an affair, she said you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. would you like to take time to respond to that. >> no, but i will. i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run

it says, did you know rick santorum's wife karen had a six-year affair with an abortionist.08, fake christmas cards, supposingly from his wife and mitt romney, appeared reminding people of the mormon faith. they drew a parallel between obama's campaign and jesse jackson. and in 2000, as george w. bush battled john mccain, an anonymous rumor arose that mccain's adopted daughter was from an affair with a black woman. not true. why did things get so raw in the state? it's simple. those candidates who are leading want to knock everybody out of the race, and those who are trailing see it as the last chance to throw some punches no matter how dirty it gets. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> a lot of mud flying around south carolina. joining me, david gergen and gloria borger. it's harkable, the history of dirty politics. >> it's always been a contact sport in south carolina. we're see aglot of it this year, but overall, i have to tell you, i think we're seeing lisz this year. there's not as much race being ejected into the campaign as we have in the past. often, candidates have bee

. >> plus, for the first time rick santorum's wife karen and four of his children join us. >> my two younger boys said you can't run because you won't be able to coach baseball. >> this is the piers morgan interview. starts now. >>> good evening. i'm in charleston, south carolina, 24 hours to go before the crucial south carolina primary. who better to talk to than rick santorum, a man who has just discovered he won the iowa caucuses when everybody thought mitt romney had. he's edging third in south carolina to his advantage or disadvantage rick perry has pulled out leaving four contenders left. welcome. >> thank you very much. call me rick. i'm no longer in the senate. >> you should be thrilled with life, concerned with life or ready to throw in the towel? every one of these things that happened. >> in the last 24 hours. >> it's a crazy period. how do you feel? >> you know, i'm a slow and steady kind of guy. i don't try to get too high, too low. stay focused on why you're here. that's because you believe you can bring something the country is in need of. you go out and deliver the me

. >> so karen, is rick santorum the man around whom conservatives will now rally? bachmann is gone. perry is showing poorly. is santorum the man? >> i don't think so. one of the things we don't yet know, santorum obviously had a good showing last night in iowa. we're assuming that to a large degree that has to do with the fact that he did the hard work which is admirable. at the same time, what we don't know is, is he the latest not mitt guy and we happened to catch him on an upswing at the right time. the problem that the republicans will have, i think one of the lessons coming out of iowa is the professor is right. they are fragmented. that's not going away. i will say that as many of the republicans who maybe don't trust mitt, they can't stand newt gingrich. i don't think that making an enemy of newt gingrich will hurt them. i think you see the establishment conservatives, as politico has reported today, heading to texas this week. i assume they're going to try to figure out their game plan. they're going to ask themselves the question. could we live with mitt romney if we have t

tim murphy took a picture of the leaflet, it reads, quote, do you know that rick santorum's wife, karen, had a six-year affair with an abortionist? this story is now hitting the news, but you can hear for yourself, then it quotes the doctor, as saying that rick santorum was, quote, pro-choice and a humanist, which, of course, is a terrible, terrible thing for a republican in south carolina to be accused of. the flyer includes a link to a newspaper story in really long form, like you're going to run home and type that all in, right, yeah, here's a link, click it. oh, it's paper. oh, but it's on hot pink paper so you can tell this matter is urgent, run home and type in this crazy long link right now before the paper explodes. south carolina politics, where dirty pool is an art form, whisper campaigns is how to smallen the field. they brag about this, their politics are a blood sport, where republicans go to get tested. where they go to put hair on their chest, but the funny thing is, blood sport south carolina, where your smear artists -- once your smear artists get done putting pink flye

and karen testerman is a conservative acttivist in new hampshire who's supporting senator rick santorums very friendly when you guys are on opposing sides. i wanted to meet with speaker gingrich in dairy talking about why shewaited so long to go after mitt romney. >> initially we were really slow for prak kl reasons. i didn't want to get into a dance where romney would put up add number 1 and i would answer it. and then romney would put up ad number two and then i would answer. >> are you guys seeing anything here in new hampshire? i don't see three candidates operating on tv. mitt romney, ron paul and jon huntsman. >> the money in the polls has transcended the issues. i came up here two months ago and the first thing newt said to me is don't go negative. >> but speaker gingrich is now gone negative, do you blame him? >> i don't hear anything about any personal stuff. i'm hearing issues stuff and no, i don't blame him at all, he's been savaged in the media by mitt romney and he has a right to respond. >> karen, i would say senator santorum came out of iowa with a bunch of momentum, he h

it said, did you know rick santorum's wife karen had a six-year affair with an abortionist?s wife appeared reminding christian conservatives of the family's mormon faith. that same year bill clinton stepped into scandal by drawing a parallel between barack obama's campaign and that of another black politician -- jesse jackson. in 2000, as george w. bush battled john mccain, an anonymous rumor arose that mccain's adopted daughter was from an illicit affair with a black woman -- not true. so why do things get so rough in the palmetto state? political analysts say those candidates who are leading want to knock everybody else out and those trailing see it as a last chance to throw punches, no matter how dirty it gets. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >>> a lot of mud flying around south carolina over the years. joining me is david gergen and gloria borger. it's remarkable that in the history of dirty politics in this state. >> it is. politics has always been a contact sport in south carolina. we are seeing a lot of it this year. overall i have to tell you i think we are seeing less

straight ahead for you on msnbc, did mitt romney actually lose iowa to rick santorum? as karen was just telling us about. turns out the final vote count may be all wrong. she was stealing my ts. it's a good day for jon huntsman with a big endorsement with a major ad blitz coming up in south carolina. can the ultimate underdog become the rick santorum of new hampshire? we'll speak with one of the daughters of jon huntsman and will washington state get its own crack at legalizing same sex marriage? i'll speak with the governor who says that she is ready to introduce this bill personally. [ female announcer ] this is not a prescription. this is mary... who has a million things to pick up each month on top of her prescriptions. so she was thrilled that her walgreens pharmacist recommended a 3-month supply and would always be there to answer questions about her health. now mary gets 3 refills in one and for 3 months, she's done. more or less. ask your pharmacist about a 90 day supply today. walgreens. there's a way to stay well. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain

. >> santorum's wife, karen, teared up as he spoke during that moment. now, as mitt romney was raising expectations for tonight, newt gingrich was lowering them with his own version of the washington gaffe, saying what he likely believes to be true. >> i don't think i'm going to win. i think you look at the numbers, i think that volume of negativity has done enough damage. >> well, gingrich tried to take back those comments at another stop in davenport. >> i got chewed out a little bit by one of our precinct captains who said to me i should not under any circumstance expect to do anything except potentially win tomorrow night. we may pull off one of the great upsets in the history of the iowa caucuses. >> whatever happens tonight, newt made it clear what tomorrow is going to look like. he plans to unleash an attack on mitt romney and not let up. in fact moments ago on cbs, gingrich said romney has been lying during the campaign and will lie if he's elected. >> are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> you're calling mitt romney a liar? >> well, you