let's bring in lenny mccallister and danielle belton back.ch's record or history as we saw on display there during that debate help or hinder? >> i can't see it doing anything but hinder. the more you learn about newt gingrich, first of all, i can understand how people have forgotten the '90s. i know people have short attention spans but it is interesting to me of that class of '94 he was speaker of, it is very hard to find anyone that will vouch for them and back up all the claims of the hard work he said he did and all the accomplishments he had. it is hard to find people that go on the record, back him up who work with him. the other half are actively, you know, calling the guy scary or corrupt on television. joe scarborough with a whole rant against newt gingrich. i think the problem is his past. he's trying to run from the outside, he's a career politician. how outside can you be when you're the former speaker of the house? >> this is interesting, just underscoring what danielle is talking about, forgotten, it seems that maybe the electo

we want to get some thoughts from our political contributors maria cardona, lenny mccallister.se aren't just contributors, these are dear friends. they are in atlanta, in the house. stay with us for our conversation. what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. what's that? big piece of potato. when you're a sports photographer, things can get out of control pretty quickly. so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint. i can make a plan to pay off big stuff faster... or avoid interest on everyday things. that saves me money. with slate from chase, i'm always in control. financially, anyway. get slate with blueprint and save money. call 855-get-slate today. >>> good morning, washington, d.c. thinks just getting going in the nation's capital. a lovely picture of the white house this morning. wonder if the president's thi

our friends maria cardona and lenny mccallister, they're not just standing by somewhere in some studioe right here. look at them, trying to fake like they're having a real conversation. good job, guys. good to have you in studio. we'll talk to them in a second. ♪ ♪ it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present. thanks for the gift basket. you're welcome. you're welcome. did you see hr just sent out new... ...office rules? cause you're currently in violation of 6 of them. oh yeah, baby? ...and 7. did you guys hear that fred is leaving? so 30 seconds ago. [ noisemakers blow ] [ both ] we'll miss you!

>> lenny mccallister, merry christmas. >> lenny on christmas day? >> merry christmas!istmas, t.j., and congratulations. you know we love you, man. i appreciate being on with you. it's been since 2008 where you and i have had an opportunity to just talk about the political issues of the day. but i want to focus on something happy for you before i let you go. so first of all, merry christmas. congratulations. now you know this is how i roll. right? you know this is how i roll. right? >> yeah, we know. >> but for you, t.j. holmes, january 6th, 2012, because you're nye friend and i love you -- got to do it. whoa pig suey. go razor backs. >> that's huge. >> lenny? lenny? number one, t.j. tells me you're a very nice guy. because me and t.j. were together last night and i was killing you and he was defending you. so we -- he says charles, you're going to like lenny when you meet him because i was killing the right wing at dinner last night. i was killing you! >> you know what? charles, they deserve it. over the last several weeks they've just been turrible! you know this as m

radio host lenny mccallister is in chicago and maria cardona is in washington for us.as a good line from newt gingrich. how do you think he did overall? >> i think he did quite well. the interesting thing is that romney needed this debate to be a game changer because his strategy of laying low and of going into this process as the front-runner and then not wanting to rock the boat at all, that whole process has been a game changer for him and the exact opposite direction that he wants it to be. so this debate for him needed to be a game changer and it wasn't and the problem is, that momentum is now in newt gingrich's side and he is now the front-runner. mitt romney did absolutely nothing at all to change that. in fact, i think he hurt himself with some of the comments that he made last night. >> lenny, let's follow up on that. newt had to fend off tough questions, including one about his personal life. how do you think he did? >> they handled it very well. i think everybody tried to come after newt. he handled it well. he said, listen, i'm contrite. i went to god about

joining me today, democratic political consultant ed espinoza and republican analyst lenny mccallistery, newt gingrich didn't meet the requirements to get on the ballot for the virginia primary. what does that mean for him? >> well, what it means for him is this -- people are going to look at him and understand why they don't like him. people say that this was a situation where it was a lack of organization. to me, this is at the height of arrogance. he overlook this because he was so focused on catching back-up and he just took it for granted that he was going to be on this virginia ballot, that he basically stepped in it. what he has to do now, you're finding this -- the situations with his personal life as well. ep needs to step back and be more humble, come across as the hum gal newt all over again. that's what he was earlier in some of these debates when he came to people attacking him personally. he took it on the chin for the republican party. the republican candidates. he can go back to being that humble newt again, which other folks don't think he can do. if he does he can reb

republican analyst lenny mccallister in chicago. good morning. nice to see you both.iously the big story today is the death of kim jong-il and its just, of course, another reminder that the news cycle can shake up any political race at any time. up to now talking about the economy and who's strongest there. what about on foreign policy? lenny, let me ask you first. who do you think benefits the most from this news? >> well, it depends on what the republicans really want to do from a candidate standpoint on the gop side. if people are looking for the historian that gives a perspective what the reach han been like over the last 60 or 70 years how things are coming together, newt gingrich will be the guy giving more pe spective and put things together and be a mold breaker, like reagan was, set the agenda versus going with the status kboep somebody more of a caretaker what you're seeing from the established now, a caretaker, it's going to benefit romney. depends on what these primary voters actually want in their next president. very interesting to see what people decide