it's also a mitch daniels or jeb bush person but the republican party is void of a conservative alternative in the selection and that's all there is to it you had bachmann who was inadequate perry who was not prepared cain who had his big huge and that simply is a simple explanation to the rise and fall of the candidates. who are an alternative to governor romney who the electorate is just not enthused about what do you think either of the voters flip flopping i don't think so i think this is a very normal situation where you know they're looking at the candidates deciding you know who they like and who they like more or less i mean it you know it's there it's our prerogative really to kind of you know be for one person this week and for a different person next week but i will tell you that the republicans will unite behind whoever the candidate is because we are all united in our desire to see obama gone let's take a look at some of the things. as we know there have been so many debates and so i want to take a look at some of the things the candidates have said and i want to start with som

mitch daniels on

where's mitch daniels? these republicans that have money and name recognition.obama is such a bad guy and easy to beat and he's a communist they've been calling him for years, you'd think all the good candidates would be jumping at this thing because it would be easy to unseat president obama. don't you find it interesting? i do. they've spent so much time hating this man, they haven't come up with a real solid candidate that has conviction of his or her principles. they're always waffling, aren't they? let's bring in "huffington post" political reporter sam stein and joan walsh. always a pleasure to have you with us. just -- where's all the beef so to speak? joan, why is it that there are so many, i guess you could say good republicans in the eyes of republicans that did not jump into this? here we are a week out and they still haven't decided no one can point their finger on who's going to be the winner in iowa or the winner of the nomination. what do you think? >> well, i just think you're right. this is a party that has one thing in common. it's they hate ba

the mainstream conservative candidates that could win, mitch daniels, not running.bour. >> paul ryan, i don't think he wanted his family to go through it. chris christie -- >> most of them were personal. normally when a party's trying to win back the white house, they look for a presidential candidate to define the party. part of why there's dissatisfaction with romney and gingrich is because a lot of republicans say i may like them or not, but i don't want them to represent the brand of the republican party. the people who didn't run, i think a lot of republicans would've loved to have chris christie as the face of the brand. >> the minute he steps into that limelight, then the turning inside out begins. then it's going to be the nitpicking at every little thing he says. his position on immigration, on abortion, his position on these issues that are litmus tests almost. the last year at the rnc, we had certain members talking about -- i made it clear, not on my watch is this going to happen, this going to become a litmus test party. >> a good friend of mine, thomas

>> mitch daniels has said he's going to decide by june. >> laura bush called a couple of weeks ago to try to push him into the race. >> mitch daniels is officially out of the race for the president. >> haley barbour was the favorite son who pulled out. >> mississippi governor haley barbour is out. >> this, you know what that is? the brain power. i've never taken it seriously like this. >> trunp stands for taking reintroduction understanding massive power. >> steve forbes stated that i was one of the greatest entrepreneurs in the history of free trade. i will not be running for president, as much as i'd like to. >> dog gone it, trump is out? >> people are getting a little tired of the teasing. >> no savior is going to rise from these streets. >> huckabee's out, too. >> tim pawlenty, officially announcing -- >> i'm not running for entertainer in chief. >> pawlenty, the name itself is like polenta. >> president obama said that he designed obama care after romney care. and basically made it owe bombny care. >> there were some missed opportunities by him. >> the question, governor was by b

mitch daniels is here. he's a great communicator. so of course he can get through this reform. he is the ability to communicate reforms. if you don't explain what you do them or some governors right now pushing really hard that i'm explaining the context behind it. they are not talking about the result. they are talking about the situation now, but not what the outcome will be. and they will face a problem. you can do great things as you've done in louisiana and mississippi, but you guys are sitting between two of the best communicators the governors have. they're a peep in the square here that haven't explained to voters that they are doing and why and they're not going to get credit for it. >> i think frankly you in a to each other in the 90s, a lot of times it sounded like cannons. we tend to talk about that. you need to tell people what you are for, why you are for it and how it will help their families and communities. if you just keep that little simple thing in mind, usually you can get to the point if it's the right policy. but you are right and bobby is right. my exper

i think mitch daniel kos have caused major problems for obama. i think christie could have. >> don't you think the key question as all of them looked at the same electoral map, all of the people you mentioned looked at the unemployment employment, the economic figures, and something made them shake their head and say i don't like what i'm looking at. you know t seems like it should be a good year for a republican challenger. >> one of the things they -- >> they said no. >> say about gingrich is one of the things i may have missed it, but no one has quite explained to me, so how did he go from 0 t 60. and speaking from the commentators, there's been a lot of people just reminding us how awful he is. but i feel like we haven't really fully explained. >> i feel like we ought to ask that question, absolutely. >> and there's a little bit of-- what i have been just listening to the debate last night and i'm trying to think, i'm trying to think about it what is it appeal being this guy, in the current context. and there's two things that come across to

if newt gingrich was on the debate stage as he has been throughout, and mitch daniels, the governor of indiana was there, haley barbour, governor of mississippi, john thune, senator from south dakota was there, chris christie, governor of new jersey -- gwen: how do we know they wouldn't have blown up? >> what they would have had is something that gingrich didn't possess which is contrary political experience. -- contemporary political experience. and attachment to contemporary political challenges within their states and within the republican party at large. but they're not there. and this field, gingrich understood, even during the time his campaign was imploding in june and july, wasn't strong enough, and that there would be someone who would become the ultimate respository of the we can't stand mitt romney coalition of the republican party. gingrich always believed that romney was misaligned with the way the republican party as a nominating party is. he's northeastern. they're southern and western. he's ideological flexible, they're ideological rigid. he is christian, yes, but of th

what i love mitch daniels who should run so you're talking about newt gingrich so let's keep it as i think it's important he's been he's showing a considerable lead in the polls right now. there are people who are looking at those people who are worried i don't know if you're one of them a lot of people consider themselves conservative because of their religious values and there are people that worry if newt gingrich becomes the republican nominee this could mean the death of christian conservatism and newt has been divorced twice married three times has committed adultery as to it and there are some groups who are very aware of this i was coming up i want to play something that the iowans for christian leaders in government put together. we don't always see eye to eye doing you know but we do agree our country must take action to address climate change and sitting on the couch with nancy pelosi is the dumbest single thing i've done. commercial about her again. ok so sort of showing gingrich as a flip flopper which is certainly romney has been accused of being but but what about this

first, we saw trump and mitch daniels and some of the non-candidates fall down. then we saw michele bachmann rise and fall. rick perry rise and fall. herman cain rise and fall and the new has slipped a bit, about 10 points in the national polling. it's because when you get all of that scrutiny. when you are the front-runner and you get all that scrutiny and everybody is unleogdz you, you drop. gingrich's case, he doesn't have the organization to fall back on or the financial means to answer $10 million of negative ads for getting dumped on his head. there is a saving grace. he may be bailed out by ron paul. these polls show ron paul very strong. the ppp paul shows him leading and another poll show i am right up there. he would be horrific. he is a screwball. he would dismantle our patriot act. doesn't mind if crein gets the bomb. they are saying what are we about to do, so they will start dumping on paul. i think some of the candidates will shift their fire to paul which should be redemption for newt. the stealth thing is doing great. romney sits back and everybo

mitch daniels is doing a lot of the toll rose turning it over to the corporation negative smaller basishat it is run more properly and the fish in me and the state you live there is 11,000 state agencies it is designed for political patronage 100 years ago but it is not necessary to have that many state agencies. long island come each has a different water district in set of rules. i would consolidate a lot of it and consolidate education. it is tough because people have attachments in pride and the system that will consolidate and change and reform is the system that is reported by the way it exists now. >> we had on the stage now, glad well, the founder of

mitch daniels on fbn, there and only there. see you then. captioned by closed captioning services, inc >> eric: hello, i'm eric bolling with kimberly guilfoyle, bob beckel, dana perino, greg gutfeld. it's 5:00 in our old studio in new york city. "the five." a lot going on today. first, we're less than a month away from iowa. candidates look to pick up major endorsements. trump, palin, mccain. what are the biggest and why? we analyze. trump making headlines again. see what some g.o.p. candidates and karl rove had to say about the donald. tiger woods gets his first win in over two years. conservative christians, tim tebow makes it 6-1. take that bill maher. "the five" starts right now. ♪ ♪ >> eric: our top story today, the big endorsement each candidate looking to score one or more. there are many still out there to be had. herman cain, sarah palin and donnel trump amongst many others virgin islands my own idea of the most coveted endorsement. i'll save it for last. who is the big kahuna as far as endorsements go? who will land them? >> bob: t

indiana governor mitch daniels on fox business network.st in, former vice president dan quayle will be endorsing mitt romney tomorrow for the presidency of the united states. mitt romney will be here talking about that and so much more. pick apart a campaign that little more tn

and have a brokered convention and the delegates can nominate anyone and you have jeb bush and mitch danielshristie. those names come back into play. and the system is set up to prevent that from happening. this is unlike any field in terms of how fluid and fractured it is. >> we'll go the distance over the next several months before we know who will play a winner in all of this? >> that is absolutely the case . the odds of this getting wrapped up quickly are low. and the odds of it going into april and may, certainly past super tuesday is high looks like a long slog for the candidates. >> it will be an exciting campaign. thank you very much for joining us and merry christmas to you. >> merry christmas uma. outgoing president of yemen said he will be coming to the u.s. in the coming days. he agreed in november to step down amid unrest in the war torn country. he is coming to the u.s. to calm the atmosphere in his homeland. and recently forces opened fire on more than 100,000 protestors and killing 8 people it is unclear how long saleh would be in the u.s. at this time. >> pope benedict xvi i

imagine if you had a race with mitch daniels, and paul ryan and chris christie. jindal and others.ely different complexion. with some of tem barosing candidates like cain and others along the way, it made the president who is by, by whom he is, presidential. look better. that explains the reason his numbers are up. he has been a path of conservativeship. republicans in congress and in this race have not actually distinguished themselves. >> shannon: talk about how much power iowa has. even if 120,000 people showed few for caucus, which would be a record, that is 4% of the iowa residents putting their stamp on one person. is that too much power for one state? >> no, it's great. it's fantastic. first, you have to start from the premise to make that argument that midwestern voices are overrepresented of the national political discourse. it strenuously object to that thought. from wisconsin -- i am from the midwest. we have common sense there. nice to have common sense coming from iowa. where we have people, especially if ron paul wins, complain about the process. you have to remember

. >> greg: if he took off a massing and he was mitch daniels. >> bob: a problem with the third candidaten this race, rarely do you have three candidates. unless you have somebody like, you had huckabee the last time. who had a religious base in south carolina. jesse jack sovereign, because he had a black face. i don't see someone moving up if they come in third or fourth because they won't have the money to compete. now the polls are solidifying. usually polls the jump all around when you are four months, three months out. you can count on the poll. they are similar. they're fairly accurate. question for mitt romney, two of them. one, does he attack newt gingrich? how hard and when? does he run a stealth campaign to save himself in iowa and come in second? >> greg: we haven't talk about the quayle bump. the effect of quayle. talk about it for ten minutes. >> bob: okay, good. >> greg: i got nothing. >> dana: yesterday bob didn't remember who dan quayle was. >> andrea: neil cavuto asked romney about punching back at newt gingrich. you are not fired up enough. you are running at the front r

i got a call from the governor of indiana that the next morning that he was going to announce, mitch daniels, that he was not going to run for president. >> cokie? >> for me political disapointment is not partisan. as a reporter, it's somebody fun doesn't run. i have no disappointments along those lines. this has been great. >> what was the biggest surprise for you? >> the republican field's up and down nature as we saw in jon's piece. >> it's not usually that way. >> it's not usually that way at all. >> so, what is then for you, ed gillespie, taking what cokie said about the republican party the biggest failure of the year would you say? >> i'm not sure about failure, but i would agree with george in terms of disappointment that daniels didn't run. and barbour, too. so, i think there's a sense of disappointment amongst republicans those two opted out. >> do you think mitt romney, the sort of the target is actually going to be the nominee? >> i don't know. it's been very fluid. the question right now is, is it a ceiling that he's facing? or is it at the end of the day, people are going to gr

do claim in my home state of mississippi is haley barbour, i sit there in tears going, where's mitch daniels> where's jeb bush, where's paul ryan, where are these conservatives -- >> smart guys. >> yeah, that don't insult your intelligence. i'm glad you said that, because i turned off the tv last night and i rarely get down about the state of american politics. i'm an optimistic guy. i'm serious. i'm an optimistic guy. but after last night's debate, i just -- i turned off the tv and i was like is that it? >> i know, it's like the peggy lee song. "is that all there is?" people aren't committing to anybody yet because they keep thinking somebody's going to ride in, haley's going to come in on a horse, somebody. >> there are no haley barbours or jeb bushes, or paul ryans, or mitch daniels. >> i want to ask you a question -- >> why don't you direct it to michael steele. >> michael, i don't mean this glibly. >> of course not. >> i don't. why is it -- explain to me from the political landscape, to a behavioral model, and please don't defend any of these candidates, why a strong, competent human be

the person i think he has a good shot with would be mitch daniels.ington insider, in the sense he was director of op mb, but he's laid on the sentible policies, in september talking about how everybody needs to sacrifice, we do need to change medicare and the educational system, but it's not so extreme when he goes on a platform toe to toe with let 'say someone like biden, he sounds reasonable and will help galvanize -- >> a sure sign he's getting ready to run, a book is out. joe, who will be is the one you think mr. willard romney might put on the ticket if he's the nominee? >> i believe it's going to be a southern senator who is strong in the evangelical bloc voting group. the biggest problem mitt romney's going to have is the south with that evangelical. that's the 800-pound gorilla in the room in a nobody wants to talk about. they really have problems with him, and i'll say it, being a mormon. and turning out that base. i think it will be a southern senator. who? honestly i don't know. pick one, but it's got to be somebody from the south who is w

>> i favored mitch daniels, the governor of indiana. >> that's well done. he says no. >> i understand. but nevertheless, i think woe have been a great president. >> let me move you on because so much has happened. first of all, the death of kim jong-il. president of north korea. what does that mean for the u.s.? make that important to a viewer. >> it means that we're going to have a different relationship, probably, with china. it all depends. and the chinese will have to make a determination whether they are going to treat north korea as a province of china or whether as a matter of fact they're going to be be concerned about the drain upon their own resources, the potential really of north koreans crossing the border. the same with the south koreans. the chinese policy has been to keep two koreas. but at the same time, if this doesn't work out for them, we may have a difference in which north koreans want to come into south korea. in any event, north korea is a dramatically difficult state because of the deficit, the economy, quite a part of the transitio

of evidence shows at least in the last decade this upward mobility in this country has stalled, mitch daniel said upward mobility from the bottom is the crux of the problem. should they allow upward mobility? >> big government inevitable xab ra rates the problem of inequality. it's the e servant of the strong. the tax code has been changed 4500 times in the last decade. every one of those times, at the service of a group strong enough and atentative enough to hire a washington lawyer to represent them to gain the tax code. the welfare state exists to transfer wealth from the working young and retired elderly. the elderly are, according to the cbo study, the net worth of a family of a household on average, household headed by someone age 65 or older is 40 times larger than the net worth of a household of someone 45 or lower. big government is responsive to big muscular interest groups. >> go ahead. >> well, i -- let's just be clear about the facts, right now, the top 1% is claiming in terms of their pay, a larger share of total income. than has been at any time since before the great depressi

. >> imagine if you had had a race with mitch daniels, with a ron -- with a paul ryan, christie, ç jindal others, senator bethune. we would have had a completely different complexion. and i think with some of the sort of embarrassing candidates like cain and others along the way, it has made the president, who is by -- by who he is presidential look better. >> joining me now from iowa, aol "huffington post" editorial director and political analyst howard fineman. also from iowa, national fairs editor for new york magazine and msnbc political analyst, john heilemann. thank you both for joining me tonight. >> good evening, lawrence. >> howard, you 2003ed on this issue of the santorum surge. you tweeted in des moines romney circle says it's okay if santorum surges a little. they'd rather have him as the cultural right foe than newt or rick. why? >> yes. well, i suppose maybe they should be careful what they wish for. >> yeah. >> but their reasoning was was this. their reasoning was this, that south carolina's the place where mitt romney's almost certainly going to lose. that's the third leg