we'll talk to mr. trump himself on why he can't convince more candidates to come. >>> so far the obama campaign has focused its efforts on mitt romney. will gingrich's surge change its tune? david axelrod joins us live this morning on set. it's monday, december 5th, 2011. this is "daily rundown." crunchtime, folks. i'm chuck todd. my first read of the morning, with just four weeks until the first votes are cast and one last candidate in the republican race, we're unveiling new polls in iowa and new hampshire. the three headlines. newt surge. mitt romney's decline and ron paul's surprising strength. gingrich has been the biggest beneficiary of the cain collapse. gingrich leads the field with 26% and herman cain was in fourth with 9%. when you redistribute cain vote tote total among second choicers, gingrich's lead grows, 28% and paul falls into a second-place tie with romney. but gingrich is also surging there. he's at 24% without cain, up nearly 20 points since october. with cain, he got 2%. gingrich had hal

mr. trump so relevant during this campaign? mr. trump, the donald, reality show star, rich real estate guy, republ republican kingmaker or so it seems? newt gingrich seemingly in an effort to cement his lead had a p 0 o with wwow with trump like bachmann, perry, romney and cain before him. >> donald trump is a great showman. he's also a great businessman f. we're trying to figure out how to create jobs, one of the differences between my party and the other party is we actually go to people who know how to create jobs to figure out how to create jobs. >> reporter: oh, but mr. trump creates buzz, too. back when he was testing the presidential waters he turned birther intimating president obama was not american born and wasn't so smart either. >> the word is, according to what i've read, that he was a terrible student. he gets to columbia. i heard at columbia, wasn't a very good student. he then gets to harvard. how do you get into harvard if you're not a good student? >> reporter: well, thanks to

and our relationship with mr. trump is very good. i just want to -- this has nothing to do with relationships or what we think about newsmax or anyone else. this just has to do with the fact whether or not it's a smart idea to have a moderator who is having the idea of running as an independent. that's all this is. >> seems like there might be some blood on the floor in the republican party in the next couple weeks because it's gotten quite rugged between a couple candidates. most recently it seems governor romney and his supporters are going pretty aggressively after supper gingrich for his permanent past. personal past. your thought on what is evolving between a rugged campaign between the two of them? >> i don't think primaries are anything unique. obviously the other parties have had plenty of them, bill clinton came through one and obviously hillary and barack obama nearly gouged each other's eyes out through the end of june and look what happened, he won and took a super majority in congress and 60 votes in the u.s. senate with

i thought he did pretty well. >> dana: mr. trumpstion you would have asked if you had been a part of the date last night? was there a you think wasn't asked that you would have like to hear the candidates answer? >> the thing i don't understand, i watched all of the debates. i don't hear the word "opec." i don't hear it and they are ripping us like no one has ripped us before, including china. i don't hear the word china to any great extent. nobody is doing a number on us like china. between the two of them and other countries they are staffing our wealth. taking wealth away from us like candy from a baby. unless we're going to do something about opec, unless we can do something and we can start drilling oil in our country, that will help with opec a lot. unless we are going to do something with opec or china in particular. this year, china is going to walk away with $350 billion call it profit off the united states. $350 billion. we can't do that. there are many, many countries that are walking away. we don't walk away with profit

. >> mr. trump joins me now by phone. those poll numbers which i think that you wanted to respond to -- >> you said donald trump wanted to respond to a poll. well, i didn't even know what poll you're talking about, number one, chuck. number two, i didn't call you, you called me. >> yes, i did. >> endorsement from donald trump could hurt a republican candidate. >> republicans will be less likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by trump. >> i know a lot about polls. >> karl rove, this is what he said this morning before your appearance on fox -- >> after my appearance. >> he was on -- okay. it was my understanding he was on before. >> get the facts straight. he was on after my appearance. not before my appearance. >> donald trump, i'll leave it there, mr. trump, always a pleasure. >> thank you very much, chuck. >>> the obama re-election campaign watched fleefully today as the republican party continued careening toward disaster. with the republican presidential debate scheduled that will be immoderately moderated by reality

now, i respect newsmax, and i respect mr. trump. we've done events together with mr. trump. so there's no issue there. but i would have a concern, and i do have a concern of a moderator who is talking about running as an independent still being moderator of a debate. >> that bothers you? >> right. i would have an issue with that. and i would understand why candidates would say, hey, look, i don't know if i want to avail myself to a forum where the moderator might be, although albeit very slight -- and again, we appreciate what mr. trump has done. but if you're still talking about potentially running as an independent candidate, then i think that's a problem. i mean, i think that would be malpractice for me as an rnc chairman not to believe that that is an issue. >> all right. let's cut to the chase. republicans know the donald debate is clownsville. they also know the republican front-runner is a dangerous general election candidate. but his momentum is not stalling. in the latest national polls newt gingrich is leading mitt romney by nine points. in iowa he has a 13-point l

he went on the debate and said i didn't meet with mr. trump like everybody else in the room. so, you know, i'm sure he'll tell the truth an that because he's a mormon. whether or not he was born here, you know, to me it means something, but i guess it doesn't mean a lot to a lot of people. but to me it happens to mean something. the fact they can't find any records in the hospital that his mother was ever in the hospital, that to me means something. >> at one point this year, donald trump was the front-runner for republican nomination for president. that was not just an aberration or weird glitch in this year's political history. we're now having round two of donald trump as a leading indicator in republican presidential politics. the presidential front-runner for the republican party, newt gingrich, has said he will happily participate in the debate that mr. trump is set to mod rate in iowa later this month. the sideshow has been moved inside the tent. the sideshow has been put in the main ring of the circus. if you thought michele bachmann was going to be the fringe in this

thank you so much for joining us, mr. trump. >> absolutely.it was official you would be moderating this debate december 27th. you're toing doing it, why? >> i was asked to do it by a number of people including some of my friends that are republicans and strong republicans. i thought it would certainly be a little change of pace for donald trump. so i'll do something that i've never done before. this is what you should be doing, not me. i'll do something that i've never done before and give it a shot. we'll see how it is. i think i have lot of good questions to ask. i feel very strongly about the country. we'll see how that turns out. it could be the last debate before the primary in iowa. >> ron paul, the only anti-war and anti-torture republican candidate is now the most eloquent anti-trump candidate. he issued this statement in response to the announcement that donald trump would moderate a republican presidential candidate's debate. "the selection of a reality television personality to host a presidential debate that voters nationwide will

is mr. trump going to ask the candidates whether they agree with him that barack obama was not born in the united states? is he going to ask them do they agree with him if we ought to tax chinese imports 25%, setting off a trade war? today he said a trade war would be a good thing. and does he need to tell the sawdies we're not paying the world oil price. do they grow with him george bush was evil, quote, ungoat, and nancy pelosi was great, quote, unquote? she's are views of mr. trump. let's see if he has wide agreement among the republicans. >> i don't know if he's going to be asking questions or not, i don't know if he's going to be moderating or not. >> he's moderating the debate. >> i mean whether he's moderating or going to ask question. i do think it's the american people are smart enough to know if it's a loaded question or not, like a question being loaded like do you agree with me on whatever it is. but i'm. >> that's not a loaded question. that's not a loaded question. that's him saying

mr. trump doesn't like it. >> we have a president that doesn't give a damn about inconveniencing people. he is having a fundraiser right near rockefeller center where thousands of people are coming to see the tree light up. isn't that a shame? the streets are going to be closed. he is a very inconsiderate guy. stop with the fundraisers and start running the country because you are doing one hell of a lousy job. >> bill: here now fox news correspondent juliet huddy. why is trump so angry about this, do you think? >> because he lives in new york like all of us. we are annoyed by. this. >> bill: it's gridlock. >> gridlock alert day. actual term here. it's the matinee day for broadway as you know. it's the tree lighting ceremony. all of this stuff is happening in midtown. the president's people knew this was the tree lighting day. >> bill: he wants money. >> he can have money tomorrow night. i'm sure donors will show up tomorrow night. >> bill: he is here right now as we speak. >> gridlock as we sp

mr. trumpas a lot of respect for jon huntsman, but he is the only one. why, i don't know. it certainly makes sense for newt to pay the visit up to trump tower. mr. trump is a very loyal friend -- if in fact he gets the endorsement of trump, it will certainly make his campaign election -- or run for presidency very easy. >> we have this debate on monday, and fox news is going to another debate on december 15th. do you think voters have debate fatigue? voters are saying let's get on with this already? i want to make a decision and cast a vote? >> not at all. the debates have been very entertaining and people look forward -- democrats and republicans alike are looking forward to the debates because it's keeping the issues out there and allowing them to make a decision. >> and it has nationalized the race earlier than we have seen in previous election years, please stand by. more with the great american panel right after the break. ♪ it's easy to see what subaru owners care about. that's why we cre

mr. trump offered up a couple excuses and decided not to do it. the sponsor of the debate said the debate would still go on tonight without donald trump. in the end they were forced to postpone its own debate to a date still uncertain. i don't know what ended up airing in place of the donald trump news max debate tonight. i don't have ion tv, so i can't tell you. had the republican party gone ahead with a debate moderated by donald trump, this race would have had a different dynamic with a week to go until iowa. i mean that seriously. the biggest strength of newt gingrich's strategy has been his performance at debates. gingrich has not had a debate to perform in for a couple of weeks now. and he will not have another debate to perform in between now and next week when the iowa caucus goers will be making their decisions on tuesday night. had that donald trump debate gone forward as scheduled as ridiculous that would have been, the dynamic maybe would have been different with a week to go. in so

this is mr. trumpe felt about michele bachmann's rejection. >> you know what i'm very disappointed, michele bachmann, she came up to see me four times, four times, she would call me, ask me for advice. she said i should be her vice presidential -- you know f. she wins, she would like to think about me for the vice presidency. >> that will work. >> and then after all of that, she just announced she's not going to do this debate. it's actually called loyalty. how do you do that? i mean, it's amazing to me. >> loyalty in politics. republican politics. >> after four visits, what kind of friendship did this man have? and he is so rude billion anybody that says no. didn't anyone teach him any manners. >> thank you for your time. have a great weekend. >> thanks, reverend. >>> ahead, we wrap up the week with a very special interview with congressman john lewis who nearly died marching for rights in 1965. >>> also, a group of republican lawyers prove my point about voter suppression. [ male announcer ] cranberr

mr. trump, i hope you're joking. implore to you make clear that was a joke and you didn't really mean it. >> neil: i got a sense from him, senator, if newt gingerich were the nominee, he wouldn't do that, if mitt romney were the nominee, he just might. >> that makes no sense. if mitt romney is our candidate he and other republicans should get behind him immediately. this is a man who fought to create jobs, understand economics and if he's our nominee i'll be happy to support him and mr. trump should too. he should get off the idea of a third party candidate. we don't need that. we need all the strength we can muster behind our republican nominee to prevent another four years of devastating job losses under president barack obama. >> neil: all right. senator, always good seeing you. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> we remind you ben bernanke was talking today saying that a slow as you go recovery is still going. how does that affect the fellas and lady, michele bachmann, when they gather to debate two nights from

the republican party is discouraging people for participating in the debate. >> we appreciate what mr. trumpif you are still talking about potentially running for an individual candidate, then i think that's a problem. it would be malpractice for me as an rnc chairman not to discourage it. >> trump stupidly dangles the possibility of running in front of a gullible media. >> people have expressed that and i don't want to give up that option because it certainly is an option if the republicans pick a wrong candidate. >> republican candidates are paying more attention to the chairman of their party than the woman who pretended was going to run for president but never fooled visit viewers of this program. >> i think candidates should not be afraid to debate in front of the nation no matter who the host of the debate is and consider the diverse audience that perhaps he can attract. i think romney could and should still change his mind and huntsman, too, and participate. >> and so we shall have a so-called debate and a former senator who couldn't win re-election in his own state and it will be mod