michelle bernard is the president of the bernard center for women politics and public policy and an msnbce kornacki covers politics for salon.com. here's what newt gingrich said last night, in iowa, about poor children. let's watch. >> really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working, and have nobody around them who works. so they literally -- they have no habit of showing up on monday. they have no habit of staying all day. they have no habit of, i do this and you give me cash, unless it's illegal. what if you paid them part-time in the afternoon to sit at the clerical office and greet people when they came in? what if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? what if -- and i pay them as early as is reasonable and is practical. >> michelle, this is a big subject of conversation in my lily white suburban household, okay? because i am forever telling our three sons about all the jobs, everything from mcdonald's to delivering flowers, to painting street address numbers on curbs. i mean, i did it all. i did magic acts when i was 12 years old. why wasn't t

michelle bernard is an msnbc political analyst. steve covers politics for salon.com. here is what newt gingrich said in iowa about poor children. let's watch. >> really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works. so they literally have no habit of showing up on monday. they have no habit of staying all day. they have no habit of i do this and you give me cash, unless it's illegal. what if you paid them part time in the afternoon to sit at the clerical office and greet people when they came in? what if you pay them to work as the assistant librarian? i pay them as early as reasonable and practical. >> this is a topic in our lily white house. we talk about working at mcdonalds, painting street addresses on curbs. i did magic acts at 12 years old. why isn't the message for all children, because we have all gotten off track in this regard. >> i don't understand the reason why newt made the statement the way he did. it's a very, very important and powerful message for all parents and all children. i think newt

michelle bernard, steve mcmahon and steven cher.w, doesn't have enough money. getting outspent 9.2:1 by romn y romney/perry. >> the story of the last two weeks is the effectives in of negative ads. a in iowa you've seen this cratering, because everybody is up with ads against him in iowa. it does matter in the end. negative ads still work. everybody says they don't like them, but they work. >> they continue to run them for one reason, right? steve, i want to go to you on what rick son tomorrow had to say this morning. >> what i have been saying to the people of iowa, as we head down the stretch and people are making their decisions and stepping forward, that is don't defer your judgment to all of these national polls or the pundits. when i say to the folks of iowa, it's to lead. you've asked for the responsibility to be first, don't defer your judgment, lead. >> first, i like santorum and am pro-sweater vest. thises to mike's point, it shows gingrich ahead. is there a path -- he doesn't have the expectations of winning, but let's sa

joining me is former democratic texas congressman martin frost and msnbc political analyst michelle bernard. nice to see both of you. congressman, this new gallup poll shows that newt gingrich is right now doing so well. what does it mean to you when we look at these numbers with gingrich at 62%, mitt romney at 54%? are these only the two candidates that republicans say would be acceptable nominees? >> well, of course, i was elected, thomas, the same year newt was in 1978. so i've followed his career. he has benefited from the weakness of the field. people like herman cain, michele bachmann, rick perry demonstrated they didn't know very much about national issues. newt's problem is that he will go along on a straight line for a while. then he'll veer off suddenly into space. and that could happen this time. he talked about the ryan plan for the budget being right wing social engineering. he's now talked about changing our child labor law, putting kids to work in schools. newt has some interesting ideas. but he also has very peculiar idea. we'll see if he has staying power. but he's benefite

michelle bernard is the president of the bernard center for women politics and public policy and an msnbcitical analyst. steve kornacki covers politics for salon.com. here's what newt gingrich said last night, in iowa, about poor children. let's watch. >> really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working, and have nobody around them who works. so they literally -- they have no habit of showing up on monday. they have no habit of staying all day. they have no habit of, i do this and you give me cash, unless it's illegal. what if you paid them part-time in the afternoon to sit at the clerical office and greet people when they came in? what if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? what if -- and i pay them as early as is reasonable and is practical. >> michelle, this is a big subject of conversation in my lily white suburban household, okay? because i am forever telling our three sons about the jobs, everything from mcdonald's to delivering flowers to painting street address numbers on curbs. i did it all. i did magic acts when i was 12 years old. why w

msnbc political analyst michelle bernard is president of the bernard center for women.policy. ruth and alissa the naleid itor of the associated press. we'll do a split panel, get our friend alan kruger in and come back. so newt versus mitt. you heard mitt romney was on this morning on fox. every day this week there's been the distraction, the shiny metal object that is herman cain but every day this week newt and romney have just turned up the volume a little bit on starting to engage. >> they've turned up the volume and it's really frankly quite interesting to watch the differences between the two of them. i actually afwrgree with newt gingrich when he says he doesn't have to focus on distinguishing himself. we know him. whether you like his policy or not there is something charismatic about newt gingrich particularly in comparison to mitt romney. i think right now mitt romney is in for the fight of his life because we constantly keep hearing from the electorate anybody but mitt romney. >> but, ruth, i get this and if all of the primaries were in the next 60 days i wou