would you support newt gingerich if he ends up being the republican nominee? i really need to hear more about what newt has to say about the economy. he's made some comments that concern me with respect to his support for the free enterprise system but i could be persuaded. >> neil: in other words, wait a minute, wait a minute. no, no, what you're saying is that given a choice between obama and gingrich, you're not so sure that you wouldn't support barack obama? >> it would be difficult for me not to support the republican candidate, but like i said, newt has made me nervous and we have a great candidate. every time i see the polls and newt's up, i'm surprised. we have a great candidate that would reduce the regulatory burden and we need that desperately. not another government -- >> neil: from your speculative, we -- we have talked to a number of c.e.o.s, including t.j. rogers and he said what he would like to see out of washington was little, if any, interference out of washington. it's different in the food industry but do you concur? what do you want to se

do not underestimate newt gingerich.man brings it. >> i've known newt since 1978, a friend, ally and been on the opposite side of him. never underestimate him. when he was telling people we're going to have a republican majority when he kicked me in the tail to make us work hard, you got to the top of the mountain. >> shepard: he went after mitt romney on bain capital. mitt romney worked for the company and they went in and in some cases people were laid off and feared but those companies were going to crumble. he tried to make something out of those businesses. when newt gingerich went after him on that front, i wonder if that wouldn't turn the volume up. >> the volume is up and you'll see it more. i hope they don't damage each other so the extent we do the job for obama. if mitt goes low road, gingrich will nail him. i saw the book on romney -- >> give us a nugget. >> you can -- most people don't know he's missing 300 days last year at governor. he left the state to be president. >> for 300 days. >> over 300 days. thos

we begin with the republican politics and the surging popularity of newt gingerich. he is now leading hits gop rival necessary most polls and says he'll challenge president obama in every state. republican caucus goers in iowa think gingerich has the best chance of defeating the president according to a new cbs news/"new york times" poll out this morning. gingerich campaigned here in new york yesterday and dean reynolds has the details. >> reporter: to those surprised by newt gingerich's rapid rise in the gop field, you can apparently add donald trump. >> it's amazing how will he's doing and how it's resinated with people. >> reporter: surging in the polls, gingerich used his time in new york to meet with trump, who he called a great showman and raised money. but also to explain another one of the former speaker's debatable ideas. last week, gingerich said the nation's child labor laws were truly stupid, unquote, and that at-risk youngsters could learn the value of work by taking on janitorial jobs at schools. ed the, though, he tried to refine that view. >> i do not

it's a less than subtle jab at newt gingerich and his marital history. >> steve, anytime you've got theht join in on the newt bashing beyond romney? >> you might want to look at ron paul. he's not gotten the greatest amount of national media exposure but he's been getting a lot of attention and caught the eye of a lot of operatives in iowa who believe his organization has been doing the hard work, grassroots work for months and they're beginning to see fruit. in the summertime it was thought his upper level, the ceiling on him, was 10%. he's almost doubled that according to polls which suggest the conventional wisdom about ron paul may not be true. >> how about rick santorum, he has his own zip code and visited all 99 counties in iowa and picked up an endorsement yesterday. talk to us about that. >> matt schults, secretary of state in iowa was one of those folks that was sought-after. he's not the highest profile but won a statewide election and there have been a series of lesser-known folks that do matter here. lesser-known from the national profile, that do matter in iowa that have go

at the head of the pack for newt gingerich. what can we expect from the former speaker of the house and the rest of the g.o.p. field in tonight's debate? after his sudden rise to frontrunner status. >> cries of election fraud brings tens of thousands to the streets of russia. >> the protest in moscow and what it could mean for vladimir putin. >> 'tis the season for spending but we'll tell you why experts say take some trimmings off your holiday gift budge. >> a major debate for the g.o.p. presidential field but all eyes are on newt gingerich, heading to the debate as a frontrunner for the first time. nearly every major candidate is taking part in the debate on the federal deficit but after long weeks and high profile attacks between the candidates, the deficit may not be the only thing on people's minds. steve brown is live in des moines with more on this. will we get the gingrich-romney showdown tonight? >> a lot of people hope for that to be honest. here's the thing in favor of newt gingerich. number one, not only does he lea

thank you so much, bonnie. >>> newt gingerich, you know, is riding high in the polls. at means he has a big tugging on his back. coming up, they're ready to talk about newt and how his fellow candidates are planning to knock him down. [ male announcer ] you never know when a moment might turn into something more. and when it does men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. cialis for daily use is a clinically proven low-dose tablet you take every day, so you can be ready anytime the moment's right. ♪ [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity. don't take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. [ man ] do not drink alcohol in excess with cialis. side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than 4 hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in

in new york yesterday and dean reynolds has the details. >> reporter: to those surprised by newt gingerich's rapid rise in the gop field, you can apparently add donald trump. >> it's amazing how will he's doing and how it's resinated with people. >> reporter: surging in the polls, gingerich used his time in new york to meet with trump, who he called a great showman and raised money. but also to explain another one of the former speaker's debatable ideas. last week, gingerich said the nation's child labor laws were truly stupid, unquote, and that at-risk youngsters could learn the value of work by taking on janitorial jobs at schools. ed the, though, he tried to refine that view. >> i do not suggest that children up through 13, 14 years of age do heavy dangerous janitorial work, all right? >> reporter: or his denunsation of a republican budget plan as right wing social engineering was a are minder that gingerich can be a little too spontaneous for his own good. >> working together, we can and will rebuild the america that we love. >> reporter: he unveiled his first state-wide television ad th

again, newt gingerich is somebody who -- it all depends on what he does with his surge and it all dependsn which newt we see. is it good newt, new newt, is it bad newt, what's the -- >> what had what's bad newt? >> undisciplined. and frankly we have seen, thus far, the newt that thinks he's better than anybody else. he's already talked about himself, about being the inevitable nominee. we saw him a couple of dates ago talking about how really poor children only -- you know, don't know what it is like to have an honest day's work. yeah. so those are the things that are going to get him into trouble. >> is that a bad newt, necessarily? will that play well for the voters he's going after right now, the conservative voters? >> in a sound bite, it is bad news. in the full context, it's not as bad. and it is his to lose. we've gone through the iterations of other candidates. right now, it's not going to be paul. it's not going to be san toreum. it is gingerich's to lose. if he loses largely and this 30-point lead all of a sudden becomes a 12-point lead within the next couple of weeks, that's wh

newt gingerich getting some bad news on christmas eve. bad news out of virginia could have an impact on whether or not he could get the gop nomination. >>> this is not just your holiday last minute rush. they are rushing for a particular pair of shoes. we'll explain and the violence that went along with it. from the cnn center in atlanta, georgia, this is your cnn saturday morning for christmas eve. i'm t.j. holmes. thanks for spending a part of your day with us. are you going to be one of those? are you going to be out there, the day before christmas, with you last-minute shoppers, it never fails. that retail rush is on. allison, they opened three hours ago, that mall where you are. things have steadily started to pick up. what are you seeing now, a rush to ship? >> it's -- you know, the rush is slowly moving forward here. you can see it's getting more crowded here now. a lot of procrastinators out. but they're also bargain hunting. this is a great time to find a really good deal. although it's been a relatively strong shopping season so

mergener, thank you. >>> the iowa caucus is only two weeks away, and it is a dead heat between newt gingerich and mitt romney. a new cbs news national poll shows both gingerich and romney with 20%. ron paul is third with 10% followed by the rick perry. mitt romney went on bill o'reiley's program last night. he ignored his republican rivals and went right after president obama. >> i consider him a big government liberal democrat. i think if you look at his policies, you conclude that he thinks europe got it right and we got it wrong. i think europe got it wrong. i think europe is not working on europe. and i'll battle him on that day in and day out. but i'm probably not going to be calling him names so much as calling him a failure. >> romney then went on the late show with david letter man where he read the top ten pick. the topic, romney's number one thing to tell americans. take a listen. >> number ten -- >> isn't it time for a president who looks like a 1970s game show host. >> yes. yes, it is. yes. number nine. >> what's up, gangsters? it's the m-i double tizzle. >> number two. >> newt gi

let's listen to what newt gingerich had to say. his campaign called virginia's system a failed system, said voters deserve the right to vote for any top contender, especially leading candidates, and they say they're going to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign. that's interesting, of course, because the latest poll shows gingerich is in the lead in virginia with a five-point lead over romney. but if you're not on the ballot, then you can't really compete, can you, t.j.? >> you can't. and, again, we're talking to our folks, trying to understand how big of a deal this is. it's embarrassing, yes, gingerich lives in virginia, but also, it just shows -- and turns some people off about wait a minute, you can't get your act together to get on the ballot? >> exactly. it's interesting because, you know, the deadline was thursday. gingerich was speaking at a breakfast in virginia to a bunch of republicans saying, we'll have the signatures we need. clearly they thought they had met other requirements of virginia. it's a pretty stringent st

of their anger, the prime minister vladimir putin and his party. >>> controversial words from newt gingerich today. he says palestinians are -- and i'm quoting here -- an invented people. gingerich made the remarks in an interview on the jewish channel. here it is. >> well, i believe that the jewish people have the right to have a state. and i believe the commitments that were made at a time -- remember, there were -- there was no palestine as a state as part of the ottoman empire. i think that we've had an invented palestinian people who were historically part of the arab community. >> gingerich went on to say it's tragic that palestinians didn't leave the area when they had the chance, rather, a war against israel. and he called the middle east peace process, quote, delusional. saed harab shot back. >> i believe this is a very, very low statement. this is a racist statement. and we condemn it with the strongest possible terms. and such statement is really inciting for bloodshed of mus m muslims, christians and jus in the region and we don't need such low level of particular statement. >> n

people were surprised, especially about newt gingerich. but we have gotten a statement from each of these campaigns. the perry campaign says in part, they're going to closely review the facts and law to determine whether an appeal and challenge is warranted. now, gingerich's campaign called the whole way virginia handles its ballot requirement process, they said it's a failed system and they said they're going to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to make sure all the voters of virginia are able to vote for the candidate of their choice. this is interesting because, you know, gingerich lives in virginia. he lives in the d.c. suburb. he also is on top of the polls in the latest poll showed him five points ahead of mitt romney. but none of that matters if you can't get on the ballot. and it's interesting, even though he talks about his write-in campaign, people say, if you didn't have the organization and the ground game to make sure you're on the ballot in your home state, how are you going to moint this ridin campaign? >> who is feelin

newt gingerich is still standing after his republican rivals pile on to personalize his personal and political past. but mitt romney may have tripped himself up at the worst possible times. the latest polls show on gingerich ahead in the first four presidential contests. and making headway in the fourth. trace good morning to you. >> republicans and democrats are criticizing mitt romney for the $10,000 comment. in terms of the polls, the one to watch seems to be newt gingrich. gingrich is widening his lead and republicans are going after him. on conservative views. >> there is not a dime's worth of difference. >> and personal attacks. >> if you will cheat on your wife you will cheat on business partners. >> people have to render judgment. in my case i have said that i made mistakes at times. i have had to go god for forgiveness. >> but romney took the harshest criticism. >> $10,000 bet. >> i'm not in the betting business. >> of all the things you do well, betting is not one of them. >> that's what democrats are saying, too. the $200 million candidate betting what amounts to about two

heating up. >> they saw herman cain as an outsider. >> politico.com reports cain is leaning towards newt gingerich. gingerich already had a strong lead in iowa. 26%. well ahead of mitt romney and ron paul. and gingerich edges up to 28% with cain out of the picture. while cain is out, he says he still wants to be a voice. >> he might have a big impact, but, you know, you have to have the money and the campaign and the ability to get your voice out. >> reporter: cain's fall already reshaping the 2012 race for the white house. brian moore, nbc news, washington. >>> as many as a dozen people are recuperating after rev alary turn theed into instructace at the football game between oklahoma state and its rival, the university of oklahoma. francis koe reports. >> reporter: on saturday, the rival football game between the university of oklahoma and oklahoma state turned into just that, bedlam. thousands of osu fans poured on to the field to celebrate the win that guaranteed the cowboy tess big 12 championship. >> all the event staff tried to line up and stop us. there was no way they were going to. >> i'v

the new poll provides more good reasons for newt gingerich to be happy and more reasons for mitt romney to be worried. the new poll found 31% of republican caucus goers now believe gingerich has the best chance to defeat president obama next year. compared to 29% who say that about mitt romney. in new york on monday, gingerich met with and apparently impressed donald trump. >> it's amazie ining how well h doing and how it's resinated well people. >> reporter: the new survey showing gingerich in a good position plus his attempt to campaign in all 50 states if nominated kept the former speaker in the news. here in iowa, he released his first television feel-good appeal. >> we can rebuild the america we love. >> gingerich appears to have benefited the most from the end of herman cain's campaign. his popularity increasing in direct proportion to cain's decreasing. that's left mitt romney a little short on political oxygen, a condition that may or may not be relieved when he's endorsed later today by dan quayle. former democratic speaker nancy pelosi is suggesting there's a lot of unflaterin

where are you able to attack newt gingerich and show people that you are the conservative candidate? >> well, my point in all of this is to bring clarity. it's important for people to know where we stand on the issues, who we are and what we've done. it's both newt gingerich and mitt romney, both of them have significant flaws that don't represent where the people of iowa are, particularly on the life issue. pro life is very important for eyans. mitt romney has been on the side of abortion, he has been on the side of same-sex marriage. newt gim gingerich came out this week and said he would not protect life from -- >> donald trump is going to be moderating this next debate in december. a number of people have stepped forward and said it could turn out to be a circus. what do you think? >> i like donald trump. i think he's a wonderful guy. so far, i think newt gingerich is the only one who has accepted the invitation for that. >> will you? >> we're still in the process of looking at it. but i have great respect for donald trump. >> do you find it bizarre that he's going to mot moderat

we've seen newt gingerich's numbers kind of collapse here. he was the front-runner, but that's not the case any more. he's telling voters, don't count me out. >> i would ask you to go tuesday night, take all your friends and help us win. i do think this is wide open, no matter what the news media does to try to create some stampede. newt beginning rip's numbers have been going down and rick santorum's numbers have been going up. he's out with a new television commercial and in it, he explains why he thinks he is the best candidate to take on president barack obama in the 2012 election. another candidate on the trail today, texas governor rick perry. we thought he was the front-runner when he jumped into the race back in august. but after slip-ups in the debate, he's seen his numbers drop. he will be across the state today trying to make those final pitches. michele bachmann is going on be campaigning today, the congresswoman from neighboring minnesota. e.d. >> you mentioned a lot of people. two candidates apparently have not made appearances

newt gingerich is still standing after his republican rivals pile on to personalize his personal and political past. but mitt romney may have tripped himself up at the worst possible times. the latest polls show on gingerich ahead in the first four presidential contests. >> reporter: mitt romney is paying for a humerus bet he made. sgldz 10,000 bet? >> it was a joke that fell flat in iowa. >> i'm pretty sure i didn't drive by a house that anyone in iowa would even think about that a $10,000 bet was possible. so a little out of touch with the normal iowa citizen. >> newt gingerich, in his first debate as front-runner, shrugged off attacks on everything from his politics to his three marriages. >> i've made mistakes at times, i've had to go to god for forgiveness. >> reporter: and as mitt and romney battle it out, the other candidates are waiting to be heard. >> there's not a dime's worth of difference between the two of them. >> reporter: voters seem to disagree. gingerich is surging in the polls, romney isn't. >> he cannot afford to lose iowa and new hampshire going into south caroli

mitt romney squabbled over money they've made outside of politics. >> reporter: mitt romney and newt gingerich got personal monday while campaigning in new hampshire. the top contenders for the republican presidential nomination challenged each other to return millions made outside of politics. romney first called on gingerich to give back the an estimate dollars $1.6 million that he made to provide advice to freddie mac. that drew a quick response from gingerich. if governor romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees, i'll be glad to listen to him. and i'll bet you $10, not $10,000, that he won't take the offer. >> romney and gingerich are increasingly targeting each other three weeks before the new hampshire primary. it's a must-win state for romney, but gingerich is now at the top of national polls and has cut into romney's lead in new hampshire. gingerich remained in new hampshire monday night for an event in windham spending more time he visited in a state infrequently this year. romney head south to new jersey with his fir

newt gingerich has dropped to fourth place. he's pulling at 14%. but in an interview with nbc's chuck todd, he says he's already looking ahead to south carolina. >> what do you have to do here in iowa. you have to be in the top three or four. >> you have to win either iowa or mf nevada, don't you? >> everyone who has won south carolina has been nominated, every single won. >> rounding out the list, rick perry and michele bachmann are in fifth and sixth place with neither in double digits. bombman's struggling campaign suffered a huge blow in iowa, defect thing to john ron paul's staff. kent sorenson gave his endorsement to paul hours after appearing at an event with bachmann. sorensen says ron paul is the most conservative candidate. bachmann says politics have nothing to do with the move. she lashed out saying he only joined paul because paul is paying him more. >>> members of the movement say they don't want to do anything that would jeopardize iowa's status as the first state to go to the polls. despite no plans to cause problems on election day

michele bachmann, herman cain, rick perry, newt gingerich. but all those have gone up and down. >> john, you mentioned michellebamichellee bachma bachmann. last winter, she was the straw poll winner and now she's losing campaign staffers, her showing in the polls not great. any chance of redemption for michele bachmann? and what happens after iowa for her? >> it's hard to see michele bachmann doing well on caucus night or continuing beyond iowa. this is something who has been plagued with internal distension in her organization. she's had credibility issues on the stump. she was the first flavor of the month with that straw poll victory, but she hasn't shown the staying power, the stature, the credibility as president of the united states to hold that support and build on it. >> and we should mention newt gingerich showing an emotional side yesterday. does this have any impact with voters? he had that surge, now seems to be losing a lot of traction. does this make a difference? >> i think, amy, anytime a candidate can show the human side and

newt gingerich is in virginia there to sign a book signing for his wife's new children's book. so they all have a shot in iowa and we'll break all this down with maria cardona and lenny mccall sister. it's about 25 minutes from now they'll be with us. >>> also in the philippines today, thousands of soldiers have joined the search and rescue efforts. the country got hit by a major tropical storm. the nebs keep going up this morning. more than 430 people dead. that is according to the red cro cross. i did talk to one of our reporters on the ground, journalist maria ressa. she is in manila. >> the storm is supposed to exit this evening, but it's no longer really the storm itself, but its aftermath. we're turning to the aid and rescue workers who are looking for the hundreds missing. they're trying to supply drinking water. they're asking for volunteers to try to get food and clothes. friday night, the flood waters rose alarmingly fast reaching roof level while residents were sleeping. >> and we bring in reynolds wolf on that story. it's that flooding. ironic, too, one of the first

this morning, republican presidential hopeful newt gingerich will headline a breakfast in richmond. last night, gingerich held a rally in northern virginia. he said his campaign will turn in more than enough signatures today to get on the primary ballot in the commonwealth. today is the deadline to submit those signatures. and gingerich is once again calling on rival mitt romney to stop running negative attack ads in iowa. romney says if the former house speaker can't handle the negative tv ads from his republican rivals, he will wilt going up against the president next fall. >>> we're going to challenge our friends to take down the negative ads and follow the ronald reagan 11th commandment and let's spend the last days in iowa on positive messages. >> the speaker would like to say, look, we shouldn't have any negativity. but look, if you can't handle the heat in this little kitchen, the heat that's going to come from oh ba ma's house kitchen is going to be a lot hotter. the iowa caucuses are on the 3rd of january. >>> and another republican presidential hopeful jon huntsman gets his

it tells you maybe newt gingerich didn't have the money, didn't have the resources. rick perry, on the other hand, had resources early on. he could have been organized to do this. this is a lack of foresight and planning. to be fair, we saw a lack of foresight and planning even for a candidate named hillary clinton. so it's possible for people to trip up, but virginia is not a small state. these should be should have been organized and that speaks to the strength of people like mitt romney, who has been more than capable of getting his name on the ballot. >> i wish we had a nickel for every time we've said front-runner in the gop race. ron paul suddenly leads in iowa. has this truly been a slow and steady rise for him and not a surprise? >> he's had a very consistent level of support, which is now bumped up as newt gingerich has declined. he's been organized on the ground. he competed there last time in iowa. the problem for ron paul is sustaining it. there have been other people who have won in iowa and have not managed to capitalize in the later states. ask mike hu

has been going after the speaker with some the of the harshest attack ads of the campaign. >> newt gingerich, this guy hasn't got skeletons in his closets, he has a whole graveyard in there. >> it's about serial hip okaysy. >> reporter: gingerich is sending a letter to his top staffers and supporters today reiterating his intense to stay positive. he says he doesn't want any negative ads, so he reserves the right to fight back when he gets hit first, like he was yesterday. >> is that his way out? he says he'll stay positive, but if romney stays negative there, it seems hard to believe that he wouldn't engage. >> right. and as you can see, these fights end up going on and on and on and after a while it gets hard to say who threw the first punch and who threw the second punch. plus, you have so many outside groups, you can outsource the negative campaigning. >> outsourcing the negative campaigning. nancy cordes, thank you very much. we'll see you soon. >>> on monday, secretary of state hillary clinton called it reassuring that russia's president promises to investigate charges of election frau

scheduled debate before the iowa caucuses. >>> romney is stepping up his attack on front-runner newt gingerich. he attacked gingerich's character in an interview with the "new york times." >> zany is great in a campaign. it's great on talk radio. it's great in the print. it makes for fun reading. but in terms of a president, we need a leader. >> and mitt romney said he would exhibit sobriety, stability and patience as a leader. >> they may live in the most prestigious address in america, but the first family reveals that it likes to sit down and watch tv like most other families. mrs. obama and sasha say their favorite tv show is the comedy, "manner family" and the president watches darker diagram maes, border and homeland. the family says despite the white house's technological marvels, they only recently got a dvr. >> what would we do? we couldn't watch tv without one. >> i never watch tv at night. >>> time anyhow for weather and traffic on the ones. tom, good morning to you. >> good morning. that's not a misprint on your screen. that is 46 gles here predawn on this mid-december morning. we'

newt gingerich needs a second act starting today, starting this weekend to get a strong finish or you may, before he knows it, be eliminated with everybody else by mitt romney. >> it was interesting. he didn't really fight back. >> well, it's ironic. gingerich rose to power by being one of the best negative campaigners and attack politicians in the country. he's now basically saying, come hit me all you want. i'm not going to hit back. he hit mitt romney last week and now says he regrets it. it's an interesting strategy for any politician, particularly someone like newt gingerich with his history. >> mark, as always, thank you. once again, here is lester. >>> now to the war in iraq which the u.s. declared officially over this past thursday after nearly nine years, $800 billion, and some 4,500 american lives lost. now, with the last of the u.s. troops are heading home to their families just in time for the holidays. we'll get more now from nbc's chief foreign correspondent, richard engle. >> a last roll call before going home. the u.s. military command closed last week in baghdad, but