obama beating newt gingrich but in a tie with mitt romney. >>> and on the campaign trail today, republican frontrunner newt gingrich was shouted down by protesters. >> -- >> mrwt gingrich we're here to protest you today. >> mr. newt gingrich was attending an event at the university of iowa, but here you can see he had a hard time of getting his message out. they said he had a bad attitude towards the poor, the protesters were led out eventually. >>> and texas governor rick perry tried to convince people in iowa he should be the choice. he made a stop there where he told a town hall meeting he is an outsider who wants to change things in washington, d.c. >> it is this young man's future we're talking about over here, not just those of us who are working today and paying the taxes. it is the next generation, and probably they're children if we don't make changes in this election cycle. >> most polls of iowa voters put rick perry in fourth place among the republican candidates. >>> starting today, drivers in at least one san francisco neighborhood can stop pulling for coins and pay for parking with their cell phones. a cap is all it takes, visitors here no long

mr. gingrich 29 points ahead of the closest competition when it comes to support from self-identified tea party voters. here's an idea why mr. newte the new tea party darling. take a look at this. in polling out last week, the folks at public policy polling noted mr. gingrich's strength in florida, for example, quote, points to his appeal to senior citizens. as public policy polling notes in handy chart form, mr. gingrich is polling better with older voters than he is overall in at least five states and nationally. newt gingrich has disproportionate support from old people. and here's an underappreciated thing about the tea party movement. it tends to be made up of old people. we know it's conservative people, right? we know it's not the most racially diverse thing in the world. but in a pronounced way it's also senior. in the new book "the tea party and the remaking of republican conservatism," harvard government and sociology team who studied the tea party movement found active participants in the broader circles of tea party supporters come from similar social backgrounds. although not every active tea partyer is a senior citi

mr. gingrich. this is historically he is right. it is very much write. that is what we can count on for newt gingrich to do. he lacks organization. he serves a purpose for a lot of conservatives. this is a primary. and he-- you will be interested in what happened in tonight's debate. it is the first time. and gloves will come off tonight. the question is mitt rom no and which mitt will show up and guy that takes off the. he is in a predicament . we have seen newt gingrich throwing the kitchen sink whether it is on flip flopping and immigration. all policiless that romney himself have been with, with newt . with respect to flip flop. you got to appeal to your base. >> and it is clear. foreign policy is consistent. and he is steady eddy. and those attacks . there are those who want to come out swinging earlier. again. he's consistent. and they go up and down. it is expected. do you think they see -- he is a front runner. this is a decision of the republican party goers . we'll be prepared for any nominee. it was mitt romney. and we'll be prepared for newt gingrich should the gop decide who that is what they want going forward. and

mr. newt gingrich. a short time ago the king of bling arrived at trump tower to kiss the ring of the donald. just down the road in newt's favorite jewel store, tiffany. gingrich arrived in new york as the first candidate to sign on for trump's debate on december 27th. there's some concern about whether the venue will have enough space for just these two egos. >> it's amazing how well he's doing and how it's really resonated with so many people. >> tondonald trump is a great showman and dpraet businea grea. he's a genuine american icon in his own right. why wouldn't you want to come and hank out with mihm? >> in dween the love fest they found time to work on a self-promoting effort to help new york city's poorest children. from the knld of child labor, a new program. ten lucky children could find themselves tapped to join the young janitors of america mentored by mr. trump. >> we call it apprenticeship, and we know about the apresence adverti apprentice. we pick ten young children and we are going to do i

mr. newt gingrich.kly been the terrible performance by some of the other candidates. candidates like rick perry. >> i would do away with the education, the, um the -- >> commerce. >> commerce. and let's see. i can't. the third one, i can't. i'm sorry. oops. >> poor old mr. perry. but the main reason for why newt gingrich seems to flourish is because he is never lost for words. gingrich has a quick answer for almost anything. but if you go back over what he actually says, it's usually a lump of ill-informed garbage wrapped up in the superficial ribbon of words like "fundamental," "basic," and his all-time favorite, "literally." for example, take a look at what he said yesterday when he was invited to discuss brain science, but quickly moved from neuroscience to offering his thoughts on the subject of obesity. and as you listen, listen for the overwhelming authority with the way he delivers his lines. >> i actually don't think obesity is a problem of money, obesity is a problem of culture. obesity is a pr

mr. confidence. newt gingrich tells abc news he's going to be the gop nominee. >>> and defying death. 3,000 feet up, an inch-wide rope and no safety net. >>> good morning. i'm sunny hostin. >> and i'm rob nelson. we begin, now, with a developing story. that american aide worker kidnapped from his pakistani home back in august is now an al qaeda hostage. >> that's the claim of the terror group's leader who says they won't release aaron weinstein until demands are met. good morning, sunny. aaron weinstein is the first american kidnapped in pakistan since danny pearl was executed in 2002. it's come as a shock to people here. weinstein was a development expert over 70 years old. his work was uncontroversial. he worked with people like furniture sellers and dairy farmers, which makes al qaeda's demands all that more extraordinary. ayman al zawahiri, listing nine demands, including nato end air strikes in pakistan and afghanistan. and release of taliban prisoners from everywhere, including guantanamo bay. u.s. officials

now newt gingrich is beating mitt romney in almost every poll across the country. did i mention the 53-point marge margin in georgia? so mr. romney has decided to go after newt gingrich who initially said something against the paul ryan plan before changing his mind. but in order to appear unflip floppy in contrast to mr. gingrich mitt romney has now stopped hedging on this issue. and in no uncertain terms he has declared, he has put it in print, we'll just show you on his website. "as president, mitt romney would sign the paul ryan plan." that sound you hear is spontaneous applause throughout blue america. greg sargent of the "washington post" compiled some of that glee today. bill clinton's former chief strategist paul begala saying, "the fact that mitt romney would call for essentially ending medicare should disqualify him from the presidency in the eyes of millions of middle-class voters." a democratic operative e-mailed a one word response to greg sargent. the one word? "rejoicing." steve bennett at "washington monthly" added, "this is the line democrats have waited eight months for romney to take." i think we will l

mr. santorum. newt gingrich had problems, questions about ron paul's long-term viability as a nominee are very real. in fact, even in iowa, amongst some of his supporters, folks are concerned that ron paul will not have the capacity to continue to win and stay in first, second or third place in subsequent states after iowa. he's got the money. he's got the base of support. it's a real niche audience in the ron paul wing of the republican party. it's there and it's real. but whether or not it can be sustained in the long haul perhaps not so much. and let's be realistic, there has been a year of dissatisfaction expressed among republicans looking for the conservative alternative to mitt romney. they've looked at four. they've sort of taken a pass on the first four. rick santorum is the fifth. it may well be that he'll get that look. >> eric: and carl, let me just jump in here, even though it's good for romney, he's leading at 25%. for me, i'm a numbers guy, he hasn't really gotten off the 25% mark. that means 75%

that senior aide to newt gingrich we learned this week was newt gingrich, himself. newt gingrich senior aide to newt gingrich. mr. gingrich's spokesman telling "the new york times" mr. gingrich did not want to be identified as himself to avoid the impression that he was getting into a fight with the romney camp. which, of course, he was. you wouldn't want to sound negative. at least not with your own name attached to it. better to lob the bomb anonymously. the other reason for the collapse of the smiles everyone, smiles, idea, is the entry of mr. gingrich himself into the top tier of the presidential race is bringing out the best i negativity from all over the right wing. the newt gingrich pile-on is already a who's who of the republican establishment. "the new york times" conservative columnist david brooks calling gingrich out for narcissism, self-righteousness, intemperance. peggy noonan saying people who know newt gingrich, quote, are mostly not for him. karl rove writing of mr. gingrich, quote, when a man of his self-confidence begins to feel on top of the world, bad things often happen. former republican s

mr. newt gingrich is behind, he's in second-place, but 10 points behind. mitt romney at 34, newt at 24, which is almost within the margin of error. of course there is potential momentum for a win here if gingrich takes iowa, which i said is a week before. in south carolina, mr. gingrich is 33 points ahead, well rather 33 points he's got, mitt romney has 22 points behind him. that could be a big victory should those numbers hold up. in florida the numbers also very good for newt gingrich for now. doudoug schoen is a former pollster for bill clinton. he's also a fox news contributor. doug, you say there is one real conclusion from those numbers, and what is it? >> that conclusion is that the definitive and clear frontrunner for the republican nomination is newt gingrich, and i think the polls that you cited points that out, and the activities of the ron paul and mitt romney campaigns supports that conclusion. megyn: does that mean anything, that he's the frontrunner right now? because we've of course perry was the frontrunner, cain was the frontrunner, romne

he'll have to go through newt gingrich, first, which is astonishing giving how newt gingrich has been barely bothering to run what looks like a campaign. last week it was revealed mr. gingrich failed to file the required number of state delegates in new hampshire. you submit a list of 40 supporters to the new hampshire secretary of state's office. newt gingrich could not come up with 40, only managed to list 27. if he wins the state, he conceivably can only pick up 27 delegates. mr. gingrich will not appear on the ballot for the missouri primary in the beginning of february. his explanation, he said he didn't want to qualify for the missouri ballot anyway. despite his campaign still apparently knocking the rust off, newt gingrich leads mitt romney by nine points in the key early voting state of iowa. mr. gingrich has opened up a big lead there, even though he only ran his first iowa tv ad today. and even though he did not get around to opening up a campaign headquarters in iowa until last week. this is the new normal in running for president in the republican party. good-bye, herman cain. hello, apprenti. joining us now is a man who knows what it takes to win iowa

asked him to respond to attacks from newt gingrich just last night. mr. ugh on you. he said you had no idea what you were making money on in our newsletter, that it was racist, antisemitic. what do you say to that? the texas congressman's rise to the top tier in the polls here in iowa has made him a target. check out gingrich's ferocious attack in "the situation room" starting with paul's claim that he did not write and never read racially charged newsletters printed under paul's name. >> as people get to know more about ron paul, who disowns ten years of his own new s lsletter didn't really xwr, had no idea that it was racest, antisemitic, calling for the destruction of israel, all of this is a shock to ron paul? there will come a morning people won't take him as a serious person. >> mitt romney joined in, slamming him for his foreign policies, specifically his position on iran. >> the greatest threat that israel faces and that the world faces is a nuclear iran. and i -- we have different views on this. some of the people, actually one of the people runni

mr. newt gingrich said, quote, i'm going to be the nominee. mitt romney, he takes issue with that.riends. >> there is this funny any this america, it's called the election. you have to w*eupbt election and to w*eupbt election you have to earn it. you have to get out and campaign, see the seem, shake hands. stefl a grand dicing statements about polls is not going to win elections. we will be battling up to the final moment to make sure we are successful. i hope i'm the nominee. i wish newt gingrich the best, he'll run his campaign, i'll run mine and may the best person win. martha: newt gingrich has been surging in the polls. we'll show you some of the latest numbers. juan williams is with us fox news police cal analyst. as tell as steven hayes of the weekly standard, he is a fox news contributor. good morning. >> good morning, martha. martha: your reaction to mitt romney's reaction to the whole gingrich issue. >> i think it wasn't a smart thing for newt gingrich to say. what is interesting to me mitt romney has generally been run a general election campaign for months now. there wa

newt gingrich. the newt gingrich bubble began around october 27th. from that point on mr. gingrich's polling numbers just took off. seven weeks from october 27th would be today. which means that newt gingrich would appear to have fully gestated and right on cue the polls are beginning to reflect that. nate silver at "the new york times" reporting tonight, "the polling data i've seen over the last two or three days suggests that newt gingrich's momentum has stopped and has probably reversed itself." not only has newt gingrich now lost his lead in iowa to mitt romney according to one new poll out today from rasmussen but look at this national gallup tracking poll between mitt romney and mr. gingrich. gingrich jumped out to an enormous lead as his bubble inflated. but look at the very end there. newt gingrich crumbling and mitt romney gaining. it appears to be baby fed fox time for knute newt gingrich. he has fully jess taited as a non-mitt romney candidate. and now it's out into the cold hard reality of life. mom! there are two things. one since there isn't enough time for a

mr. ç gingrich dragging around in rick santorum land in iowa which santorum surely is delighted with but i'm sure newttake the other part of what mr. gingrich was saying on the bus, not the typically grandiose thing about the mortal threat, but the reagan supply side model and how that's a fundamental political fight to have in the country. there he may be on to something. a few months after taking office in 1981 in the middle of a tremendous recession, president reagan announced his plan for saving the economy. his plan was tax cuts. big tax cuts, even for the very highest income brackets. be brave, he told america. drop the reins and let wealthy people getting even wealthier pull the country back to prosperity. the year he was elected, the wealthiest 1% of americans earned about $110,000 a year. by 1990, after a decade of reaganomics, good times for the rich. wages for the top 1% rising by 80%. let's check on the others, shall we? the ample wages at the bottom of the economic ladder at the time that ronald reagan was elected after a decade, that same decade of trickle down supplyside economics, yeah

newt gingrich. but if you happen to be within shouting distance of mr. ngrich today and mentioned today's date, december 6th, you may see his brain perk up a little bit. you may see him thinking, i know that date and not in an "oh that's somebody's birthday kind of way." on this date 16 years ago the house select committee on ethics voted to initiate a preliminary inquiry into the allegations concerning representative newt gingrich and the misuse of tax exempt organizations. december 6th was the start of newt gingrich's collapse in political life in 1995. >> the commander of the republican revolution, speaker newt gingrich, faces new ethics problems with democrats and some republicans now calling for an independent investigation. the speaker's style and fund-raising activities are big targets for his enemies. here's nbc's lisa myers. >> reporter: the house ethics committee is poised to do what it tried hard to resist. appoint an independent investigator to look into the speaker's conduct. the scope may be limited to one issue. did gingrich improperly fund