. >>> mark halperin will look in the number and tell us how much longer newt gingrich will stick around. for now, mitt romney is headed west kicking off the campaign push in nevada and minnesota after the decisive win over newt gingrich in the florida primary. with 50 more delegates in his column, the former massachusetts governor cemented his status as the front-runner. 30 minutes after the polls closed, he thanked the crowd in tampa before turning his attention toward the general election. >> in a state of the union address the president actually said these words, he says let's remember now how we got here. don't worry, mr. press ent, we remember exactly how we got here, you won the election. leadership is about taking responsibility, not making excuses. another era of american crisis, thomas payne is reported to have said lead, follow or get out of the way. well, mr. president you were elected to lead. you chose to follow and now it's time for you to get out of the way. >> romney responded to suggestions the bitter fight with gingrich could hurt the party chances in november. 92% of

thank you, mark halperin for your great analysis. thank you, david corn. >>> up next, just like "the artist," the movie that won last night after about five or six hours, mitt romney might be better off seen but not heard. we have a great satire. this is worthy of the old days. this guy is "the artist." he can't talk, but he looks good. right after the side show, we have bill maher, our star coming on tonight. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. ♪ [ female announcer ] introducing new nature valley protein bars. 100% natural ingredients like roasted peanuts... ♪ ...creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark chocolate flavor. plus, 10 grams of great tasting protein in every bar. so it's energy straight from nature to you. new nature valley protein bars. find them in the granola bar aisle. >>> back to "hardball." now for a big sideshow tonight. first up, the sound of silence. this just premiered on this weekend's the chris matthews show. it's a political version of "the artist." the movie which won best picture last night. here's the

mark halperin and susan million here with me. she writed for u.s. news and world report. here's rick santorum speaking at the christian alliance luncheon in ohio on saturday. certainly he knew his audience there. he criticized prenatal testing and the public education system in this country. let's listen. >> they require free prenatal testing in every insurance policy in america. why? because it saves money. why? because free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and, therefore, less care that has to be done. because we cull the ranks of the disabled in our society. where did they come up with public education and education bureaucracies? it was the rule in america. the idea the federal government should be running schools, much less that the state government should be running schools is anachronistic. >> you know, mark halperin, they say the media is shifting the attention away from the economy to these crazy questions. there he is, rick santorum, you could argue is the front runner for the nomination of the republican party pushing these issues sharp as nails. he w

that's what we just heard mark halperin say.he president being up and moving above 50%, up to 53% now, why do you think it will be different in november? >> well, one reason is because of this issue of money. because obama had a giant money advantage last time because the most anybody could give was $2,3 $2,300. now adelson talks about giving $100 million. the game has changed from small contributions to large contributions in the millions. the many millions. he's going to have, i think, a tremendous financial disadvantage. the other reason is because this kwo country is divided. i talk about the republican bubble, but there's a liberal bubble too. they hear rick santorum talking about the father of lies and how college is bad and they think these people are nuts. but half the country doesn't think it's nuts. on election night, i bet you it will be a tight race. >> you do have a bigger world view than a lot of people on left, right, or center. is it going on the road, do you feel it? you're pretty liberal. i have been on your sh

thank you, mark halperin for your great analysis. you, david corn. >>> up next, just like "the artist," the movie that won last night after about five or six hours, mitt romney might be better off seen but not heard. we have a great satire. this is worthy of the old days. this guy is "the artist." he can't talk, but he looks good. right after the side show, we have bill maher, our star coming on tonight. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. [ kareem ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ mike ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we

church is proper and needs capitalized so say mark halperin. >> so says both google and bing.sador is being recalled from syria as governments loyal to assad ramp up the assault. human rights observers say another 43 people were killed yesterday. the u.s. embassy is closed. the regime is not bowing to international pressure after russia and china vetoed a security resolution. syria makes up 7% of russia's $10 billion in annual arms sales. what happens next, what can the united states do? >> we're in a dangerous spot because the president of the united states has been so out front i think rightly so saying that assad has to go. when you combine that with the fact that the recognition in the region that assad syria is tehran's closest strategic ally. only access point to the mediterranean, only access point for funding hezbollah. but the president is out will saying assad has to go and there's a extra strategic case for assad going.will saying assad has to go and there's a extra strategic case for assad going. so i think you'll see some funding for opposition forces and a no-dri

mark halperin was in the middle of it all.the washington bureau chief and a political analyst here for msnbc as well. gentlemen, let's look at the polling. this is from fox news. it has some fascinating findings. the poll was conducted from monday through thursday of this week. in the first two days of this week, romney has a big league. his closest opponent it gingrich. santorum, a distant third. look at the numbers for the last two days. wednesday of thursday of this week shows santorum surging, doubling his vote practically, and gingrich collapsing. look at the numbers on the right. santorum is now tied at 30% with mitt romney and gingrich is, again, a distant third. david corn, this is stunning. it shows -- what a boring word -- volatility. this guy wins three primaries and the entire people of the country are like lemmings. they say, is that the word from the big boys? we're all now for santorum. >> it's a shiny object. >> why are they doing it? >> if you look at the numbers, mitt romney dropped 5 points, but newt dropped

. >> you know, mark halperin the they say the media is shifting the attention to these crazy questions. there he is, rick santorum, you could argue is the front runner for the nomination of the republican party pushing these issues sharp as nails. he wants a fight. >> chris, when he does that, the media thinks three things about him. he's unelectable, extreme and out of touch, and incompetent. those things are going to hurt him with the national media narrative. at the same time, he's talking about issues that make the impossible for mitt romney to attack him. and emphasizes the passion he has on the issues he cares about. i talked to one of his senior aids. they are not backing off any of it. he means it all. the press is the only one who cares. they may be right or wrong. >> susan, this is an argument. we know he believe it is. but the fact he home schools his kids, fair enough. he doesn't think public schools are any good. public schools as an institution he thinks are wrong. prenatal testing, it's a controversial question. there are people who choose abortions after the prenatal te

mark halperin, thank you. and john heilemann, thank you. >>> up next, which failed candidate might try again? you won't believe it. this guy is coming back for another beating. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ other merv ] welcome back to the cleaning games. let's get a recap, merv. [ merv ] thanks, other merv. mr. clean magic eraser extra power was three times faster on permanent marker. elsewhere against dirt, it was a sweep, with scuffed sports equipment... had it coming. grungy phones... oh! super dirty! and grimy car rims... wow! that really works! ...all taking losses. it looks like mr. clean has won everything. the cleaning games are finished? and so are we. okay, but i just took a mortgage out on the cabinet. [ male announcer ] clean more, work less, with the mr. clean magic eraser extra power. >>> back to "hardball." now for the sideshow. first up, go all the way. when president obama took to the podium earlier today to discuss the payroll tax cut, there was another order of business that t

we have mike barnicle, mark halperin, john heilemann.e editor of the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson and the host of "andrea mitchell reports" every day at 1:00, andrea mitchell. it should be pointed to right off the bat -- ♪ a story of a lovely lady ♪ >> fox news has the five, fox, we see your five and raise you eight. eight people on television right now. >> let's start talking at once. >> thanksgiving at the barnicle house. >> this is an awful lot of punditry this morning. good to see all you guys. gene, he want to start with you to set off our conversation. we were just listening to rick santorum. you're conveniently writing about senator santorum this morning. saying santorum could take republicans down with him. gene rights in gop circles there is more than a whiff of panic in the air, unemployment still painfully high. americans remain dissatisfied with the country's direction. even the most favorable polls show president obama's approval at barely 50%. and yet -- there is a sense that the republican

mayor dane walling is the democratic mayor from flint and mark halperin writes for time magazine.s your thoughts about this? romney is throwing around the term "dirty tricks." it seems to me under michigan law you're perfectly within your rights to pick up a republican ballot if you choose so. is that a dirty trick for a democrat to vote in the primary today? >> no. this is how it's been in michigan for a long time. and governor romney knows that well. there are democrats and independents and vice versa in the primaries. and i think he's just trying to prepare for a shock tonight and find someone to blame. >> what do you think of that? is that a fair assessment? maybe it was a clean trick. >> i'm going to do my best. who cares. what does it matter? if romney loses, that's all that's going to matter. some are going to vote because they are reagan democrats and they like his message. some will be mischief makers. it doesn't matter. the robo calls are fine. if you want to become president of the united states, you want democratic votes because you're going to need them if you're goin

i know mark halperin i said this three weeks awe negotiation i wa -- ago. but given the ups and downs you can't make any argument other than mark recal romney. >> it's a bad month for him because there are six con tests which favor romney. only one debate. he's going to rest and go back to try to talk about what he talk board of director this speech tuesday night after he was declad a second place finisher which is a contract of ideas rather than grievance against romney and against the dia. he won't be able to do anything in february that will makeim the front runner for sure. i don't think he can n any of these contests at this point. but i think it is still bunlt -- incumbent upon romney to do well on super tuesday southern states. so begin rich is not going to quit. we've seen a lot of unpredictable things. i think al is right in the main, clearly romney, every scenario leads to romney. by the middle of march but it could go to the convention if romney does well and picks up places like ohio and il illinoi. >> charlie: katty kay what do you think of ton

mark halperin, a political analyst for msnbc, and john heilemann, also an analyst.et me start with a question for both of you. is the white house believing now they might have to face santorum? >> they still think there's a better chance to face romney, but they see weakness in romney. they are fully prepared to face santorum. i heard earlier about shifting their focus to santorum. they are well prepared. they are sitting on a bunch of stuff about santorum i'm certain that will be tough for him to handle. they are prepared to deal with him. they think he may be a stronger opponent than romney. >> one of my favorite movies, but my list changes a bit. lawrence of a rab ya. can santorum be the arabs coming in from the desert? would he do it? >> i don't know if he would be able to beat barack obama, i don't think he'd be in a better position, but i don't think he'd be in a worse position. the national polls are meaningless because it's fair to say the obama campaign has been attacking romney steadily for months. but that said, the national polls show them basically runn

david plouffe salivates over that every day. >> thank you, mark halperin, who even does know these guysr dayne walling from flint, michigan. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get free one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. our machines help identify early stages of cancer and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see someone who is saved because of this technology, you know that the things that you do in your life, matter. if i did have an opportunity to meet a cancer survivor, i'm sure i could take something positive away from that. [ jocelyn ] my name is jocelyn, and i'm a cancer survivor. [ mimi ] i had cancer. i have no evidence of disease now. [ erica ] i would love to meet the people that made the machines. i ha

mark halperin, thank you.nd john heilemann, thank you. >>> up next, which failed candidate might try again? you won't believe it. this guy is coming back for another beating. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. i had enough of feeling embarrassed about my skin. [ designer ] enough of just covering up my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i decided enough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain funga

mark halperin was in the middle of it all.e's msnbc's senior political analyst and a "time" magazine editor at large. david corn is the washington bureau chief for "mother jeans" and a political analyst here for msnbc as well. gentlemen, let's look at the polling. this is from fox news. it has some fascinating findings. the poll was conducted from monday through thursday of this week. that's through last night. in the first two days of this week, romney has a big lead. his closest opponent is gingrich. santorum, a distant third. look at the numbers for the last two days. wednesday and thursday of this week shows santorum surging, doubling his vote practically, and gingrich collapsing. look at the numbers on the right. santorum is now tied at 30% with mitt romney and gingrich is, again, a distant third. david corn, this is stunning. it shows -- what a boring word -- volatility. this is a national poll by fox and it shows what happened. this guy wins three primaries and all of a sudden, the entire people in the country, the repu

us on the phone from washington, right now, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin co-author of the book "game change," actually he wrote the whole thing. john heilemann didn't do much at all in ha book but get a copy for halperin. these results last night, thank you very much for getting up to join us. we appreciate it. >> mike, all good. i'll keep my voice low. >> thank you very much. you know the situation here. thank you. last night's results, what does this say? mitt romney, is he actually in some trouble do you think going forward? >> he is now potentially in trouble. if he had a better night last night, i would think not just the perception, but the reality is he would move forward. his campaign is right. he did not compete in these states very hard, didn't campaign in them, didn't run tv, didn't use their methods to go negative on santorum. all of that will happen in the upcoming states. but this gives santorum a chance. i'll tell you, everybody had made mistakes in writing people off. i made a mistake in not seeing santorum's possibilities on these three co

mark halperin and john heilemann.c news chief political director chuck todd. and "washington post" editor eugene robinson. >> snob. >> not just snob. >> i hear he went to college. >> are you educated? my goodness, apparently that's a bad thing. >> i bet he encouraged his kids to go to school, too. >> i don't get it, he blames the recession on gas prices. he thinks the president is a snob for wanting kids to go to college. so we need to go down the list of why rick santorum is spinning out. >> jfk makes him throw up? where did he come from? >> jfk, him saying that makes him want to throw up. can you imagine a democrat -- the right wing blogosphere, can you imagine if a democrat, chuck todd, said ronald reagan makes me want to throw up? there would be such a hue and cry. this is just, this is just not how you appeal to voters that help you win presidential elections in the fall. >> especially because the reagan democrats, the kennedy catholics? this is the same voting group. it's the same group of older, of older, somet

mark halperin? >> dr.e yesterday about a discussion about the administration's thinking about china, you and others invoked this during the cold war being big strategic thinkers not tactical day-to-day operators on how to deal with the soviet uni union. do you see this administration as economy as secretary clinton and secretary panetta are, do you see big strategic thinking about how to deal with china, and if so, who? >> i don't think there's big strategic thinking going on in terms of china, but these are very bright people, with very good experience. moreover, i think our politic on china is on a whole correct. we're trying to institutionalize, normalize, a balanced partnership in which the benefits are mutual and not one sided. there is a problem of tactics, how do we do that. sometimes we're i think a little bit too one sided in our own criticism of the chinese, which runs the risk about demonizing them and they demonizing us in return. but i think on balance towards china, the administration has bee