as a candidate newt gingrich seems to have become a flavor of the month nominee among republican front runners with less than three weeks before the first nominating contest in iowa gingrich enjoys the strongest lead of any candidate this year commanding some forty percent support among likely g.o.p. voters an impressive advantage compared with twenty three percent for republican mitt romney gingrich a quirky politician who's perplexed a number of people during his campaign is not new to washington which is a fact he enjoys stressing i think at a time when we're hurting financially we're hurting in jobs we're hurting in the deficit we're hurting in foreign policy having somebody who is a serious developer of better solutions and somebody who has a track record of actually doing it in washington all a certain kind of job but it's his track record of making provocative and controversial statements that analysts say could alienate swing voters among gingrich's most notorious policy. and statements is his support for a death penalty for marijuana smugglers claims that child labor laws are

went to newt gingrich with a fine tooth comb they didn't find anything let's remember newt gingrich balanced the budget under bill clinton who wanted to spend about as badly as barack obama wanted to spend their reformed welfare. he's got a whole bunch of good credits and the myth that newt gingrich shut the government down no sorry about that it was bill clinton that shut the government down we're going back to the same battleaxe remember when it happened steve do you want to get in there because there's also the the freddie mac. money that gingrich got one point six million dollars i mean again all the way up to the he didn't he only needed to it when he was confronted with it i mean again he's the consummate insider how can this be something new how can he spin himself as something new. well you know the judge has got a difficult job there and i don't envy it all i mean there's gingrich always has an excuse for something here you know he didn't do anything wrong you know they dismissed eighty four out of eighty five charges well you know dozens of judson's an attorney he knows better than

mitt romney and newt gingrich. or as i keep saying newt romney and mitt gingrich. if i do that on air tonight, i'm sorry. i keep doing it in the office. it's embarrassing. the thing emerging as the biggest hurdle to newt gingrich getting the nomination is the establishment wing of the republican party. today this came out into the open. there are people in the republican establishment willing to voice concerns or out right opposition to mr. beginning risch in recent weeks. today the flood gates opened. conservative columnist david brooks at "the new york times," quote, he has every negative character trait conservatives associate with 1960s excess. narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance. he would severely damage conservatism in the republican party if nominated. former reagan speechwriter, peggy noonan, writing in "the wall street journal," quote, those who know him fear or hope he'll be true to form in one respect. you he'll continue to lose to his number one longtime foe, newt gingrich. he is is a human hand grenade who walks around with

newt gingrich sounded

last night's republican debate in iowa was a brawl, and newt gingrich took the hardest hit. michele bachmann gave the frontrunners a new name. >> if you look at "newt romney," they were for "obamacare"... >> he's been on different positions on so many issues. >> i've always kind of been of the opinion that if you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner. >> schieffer: gingrich did not take it lying down. >> the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> schieffer: mitt romney is betting big on himself, and left no doubt about it. >> i'll tell you what. $10,000? $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business. >> schieffer: in a time when many are out of work, will romney regret that? bet you the comics don't. they were already having a field day. >> that's what's so crazy. republicans are up newt creek without a paddle. >> schieffer: believe it or not, gingrich was already flexing his muscles for "newsweek". michele bachmann, who was on the stage last night, is up early this morning to tell us why she hopes it w

newt gingrich is a grad yea tor. romney doesn't like this stuff. >> romney can't win a barroom brawl. he won't win the nomination unless he proves he can do it. with respect to gingrich, he's under attack from the right on the ground in iowa. he's under attack from above the elite of the party, the commentary in washington and new york. under ordinary rules, no candidate could survive this kind of challenge. what gingrich has to bet is the conventional rules do not apply. this is not a conventional year or moment. an unconventional candidate can prevail. he's got a lot of what would ordinarily be fatal weaknesses. >> there used to be a phrase you don't hit below the belt. i'm not sure where the belt is anymore. the first attack on gingrich was religion in the romney ad highlighting his con sis ten si in his fate. look at this mistake venturing into the issue of religion. >> i think people understand i'm a man of steadiness. you are not going to find somebody with more of those attributes. i've been married to the same

obviously there's bad blood between ron paul and newt gingrich. d are you at the tone gingrich took in this interview? >> well, i was quite surprised, jessica, just in the sense of what you're saying. a guy pledging to run a positive campaign all the way through. while i was watching the interview, i e-mailed the gingrich campaign and said, is this a new strategy you have unloaded on ron paul here? and they said, no, no, no, gingrich has always said he's going to speak truth to these attacks and the truth is always more potent than the attacks themselves. gingrich is going negative on pall and it's a different calculation than mitt romney is making. mitt romney doesn't mind ron paul doing well because he thinks it only helps him going forward if someone is not seen as likely to be the nominee comes out of here with a lot of momentum. newt gingrich is trying to get out of iowa, his numbers have come down and he's taking a different tact to really try to peel away support from paul. jessica, you have to ask, why if somebody is not likely to be the no

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 se

would the republicans be gleeful to see newt gingrich rise over romney? the long run, yeah. newt is a proven fighter, gone toe to toe with democrats of all stripes in the past, worked with democrats. the idea of having the president and newt gingrich on the same stage, whether a three-hour lincoln douglas-style debate or what we've seen already about the future of the country, is something that excites a lot of people. i think newt is one of these guys who won't back down at the end of the day and all of the foibles and personal baggage that our friends on the left like to throw up, that's baked into the newt story for a lot of people. it's not resonating the way some folks would like it to, both inside the republican party and outside the republican party. and i think newt has right now an opportunity to move forward provided he doesn't step on his own message, which he has a history of doing. we'll see what happens. >> david, same question to you. would president obama and the democrats be gleeful to see newt rise to the top? >> well, actually yes. i thi

even newt gingrich would concede that. could it drag down the party if he got the nomination? >> there is that risk. newt has shown himself to be very, very strong in these debates. i think that's the foundation of the strength that he has in the polls. then you'll see some things come out that are just unpredictable. his statement on the palestinian question which i generally agree with by the way was surprise. it was unpredictable and probably unnecessary in the scope of this campaign. same with immigration. so you wonder what kind of discipline he might have, but he has clearly hands down the one who has got the most breadth, the most depth and the most understanding of policy and the most solutions to put forward. it's risky to go forward in the fashion that he has. when you're blazing a trail when you're on top of the polls, that tends to be a high liability. >> schieffer: do you think that somebody else might get into the race? in fact, would you want anyone else to get into the race at this point? >> if i knew who that was, i could answer that question a little better. b

some equate it with what they call obama care but five years ago newt gingrich in a newsletter called it an "exciting development." "the wall street journal" dug up the 2006 newsletter from gingrich's organization, the center for health transformation. the newt note does raise concerns about the massachusetts plan, but goes on to say, "we agree entirely with governor romney and massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100% insurance coverage for all americans." fast forward to 2011. here's gingrich taking aim at romney's health care plan at a cnn debate in october. >> your plan essentially is one more big government, bureaucratic, high cost system which candidly could not have been done by any other state because no other state had a medicaid program as lavish as yours and no other state got as much money from the federal government under the bush administration than this experiment. >> reporter: in contrast to the 2006 a campaign spokesman says "this is old news that has been covered already. newt previously supported a mandate for health insurance and changed his mind after

if newt gingrich wins iowa, newt gingrich wins south carolina, doesn't newt gingrich win florida?registered republicans. that electorate is going to be more conservative than maybe some people think a florida republican primary normally would be. and you have to say gingrich would be the heavy -- >> george lemieux, senator from florida, newt is running away with florida in a lot of polls. how does newt gingrich fare in your state that you represented in the united states senate? >> the numbers for newt in the polls are really amazing. he was in single digits and now he's at, you know, 38%, 40% of the polls. we'll see what happens. >> mark, ask him the question you asked off sound. >> senator, nice to see you. a lot of debate about general election electability. iowa caucus voters are shown to think gingrich would be a stronger candidate by a little bit over mitt romney. in your state you hope to be the general election candidate for senate. who do you think would be a stronger general election candidate -- mitt romney or newt gingrich in your state? >> the one political answer i'l

let's listen. >> i believe newt gingrich is a gingrichite. all he cares about is newt gingrich. i don't think newt gingrich cares about conservative principles. newt gingrich cares about newt gingrich. >> what's the firepower right now of 72-year-old john sununu, steve? >> well, i think he's laying the predicate for a broader argument about the difference between the things that newt gingrich says and the things that newt gingrich does. you know, for example, fannie and freddie mac, an excellent example of this, and how many other issues there are out there. you know, for example, in the weeks ahead, whether newt gingrich be compelled to release his client list? will he be compelled to disclose the amount of money he made in the private sector, working on issues that were opposite of what he advocated when he was speaker? and i think that he's laying the foundation for a pretty robust look at newt gingrich's character in front of republican primary voters. >> but, steve -- >> i would say one thing to jennifer in iowa -- jennifer, hold on a second. let me say one thing. in iowa,

the more gentle, softer newt gingrich. so how can you have the two things together, the conserve tisch want that fight -- conservatives want that fight and can it last? yeah. >> it's a great question. and gingrich may be able to pull it off. because one thing he does is when he is talking about the context of republicans, he says, let's don't -- let's don't beat up on each other. he said that several times in the debates. it always got a good applause. it resonates very well with republicans. but who he is really tough on is obama. the news media. the business as usual congress and these sort of things. and the question is can he maintain that -- gwen: he is not known for vrg the thickest skin in the business. >> or a lot of personal discipline. >> a very effective line while he is getting this flack from establishment conservative columnists and from mitt romney and others to say, i have one opponent, and it's barack obama. >> so far, he has shown a thick skin in the last couple of days. we got -- >> in iowa that's crucial

-- mattel gorbachev, congress nicking -- , newt gingrich says this is the most dangerous summit sincelf hitler. >> this week, it was written that gingrich has compare themselves to lincoln, margaret thatcher, ronald reagan, and for sheer perseverance, co-chairmen. >> his note and tivo. .tim tebowno >> let's look at the last debate before iowa. >> it is laughable to say someone who is a 30-year record of conservative as some is not a conservative. >> the evidence is speaker gingrich took $1.6 million. you do not need to be within the technical definition of being a lobbyist to the influence peddling. >> i know what it takes to get this economy going. qwikster you have a brief sense of the first in a debate >> there you have a quick sense of the thursday night to break -- debate the debate. >> newt gingrich look a little hesitant. >> mitt romney did not have the target on his back. newt gingrich had a target. mitt romney benefited by that. the other benefit is that should he get the nomination, he will have a target on his back from barack obama. any time he has had that target, he has

newt gingrich is finding out what it means to be the front-runner. newt's under siege from rivals like mitt romney and rick perry. perry's hitting him for his three marriages, believe it or not, and romney's hitting him for changing positions, and religions. and now a conservative pastor out in iowa who's backing santorum is running a video calling newt the kim kardashian of the gop, and also attacking his serial marriages and his conversion to catholicism. with two debates in the next seven days, the attacks against gingrich are going ballistic. but republican voters are falling for newt, because they see him as a gladiator. he can counterpunch, and his supporters are betting he can survive the onslaught. are they right? >>> then, there aren't that many house republicans who endorse newt gingrich, but we'll talk to one of them about his chances -- newt's chances of winning iowa. georgia congressman jack kingston. he joins us tonight. >>> and dumping trump. that debate donald trump wanted to host has been rejected by count them, five republican presid

newt gingrich. same with dana milbank, who's basically issue to issue but sort of a center or center left guy. then kathleen parker, even keeled from the center right, going after mr. gingrich today, too. also george will from the right right. met tor aphorically claiming i guess he wants to kill newt gingrich today, headlining his piece, newt gingrich commits a capital crime. the "washington post" editorial page, right, center, back to the right a sect time, all of them unanimously dismantling newt gingrich. the whole page. all year long there's been a vague sense of republican dissatisfaction with mitt romney, with mr. 22%. as republicans have hopscotched from one non-mitt romney candidate to another. mitt romney is still polling around, you know, 22%, 23%, can't seem to get any higher. but the vague sense of republican dissatisfaction with front-runner mitt romney is now being supplanted by a not at all vague blistering, black, white and red all over clear statement of worry and dislike from the

the nbc/marist poll also shows just how dramatically newt gingrich has surged into frontrunner status new hampshire. newt certainly has a lot of detractors among prominent conservatives, but right now he also has the momentum in the race, while mitt romney's support continues to flatline. michael steele's the former chair of the republican national committee, and ed rendell is the former democratic national chair, and of course, the former governor of pennsylvania. both gentlemen are msnbc political analysts. let's look at some of these new numbers from the nbc/marist poll. in iowa, newt gingrich, the clear frontrunner now. he's got 26% among likely republican caucusgoers. romney is eight points behind with 18%, followed closely by ron paul. in new hampshire, mitt romney still leads with 39%, but newt gingrich has 23% and is climbing rapidly. if you look at the trend lines in both iowa and new hampshire, newt gingrich has made major gains while romney has slipped. in iowa, gingrich is up 21%. in new hampshire, he's up 19%. romney, on the other hand, lost 8%. and 6% of those two states

when election time comes. >> holy fireworks, look at florida. >> is he now a person mature. >> if newt gingrichted president, he'd find a way to cheat on the country. >> i almost called him newt romney, which is be the ideal candidate. >> appeasement means lack of faith in america. >> osama bin laden and the 22 out of 30 top al qaeda leaders that have been taken out of the field whether i engage in appeasement for whoever is left out there. ask them about that. >> let's get right to our guests this friday. from minneapolis anna marie cox correspondent for "the guardian" and david from politico. good afternoon. we know it's been a good week for newt gingrich, but the president appears to be regaining some of his swagger as well. his landmark speech in kansas tuesday. his forceful defense of foreign policy in the briefing room yesterday, and he's winning or it would appear he's wing the message in terms of the payroll tax fight, is he not? >> he totally is winning the payroll tax fight message. i think that and the speech on tuesday showed this white house is really paying attention to the underc

all the polls show republican voters favor newt gingrich to lead them into battle. one poll broadened it, looking forward to the november election. it found gingrich running very close to romney in a head-to-head with the president. in ohio a must-win state for republicans, this is striking. obama now trails romney, but obama also trails gingrich, 42-43. very close between myth and newt in those hypothetical general election battles. in florida, not quite that close. obama trails romney by three, but he beats gingrich by just two points. in pennsylvania, better for obama. he beats romney there by three and beats gingrich by eight. kelly, these two guys, newt and mitt, look about the same. >> it is striking. the lying in wait period for mitt romney, where he's done all the right things in the traditional model has not paid off for him. his support has been so constant. i'm from ohio, so i have a sense of this from my own personal history. what people have wanted is something that they didn't expect with gingrich. he has been the guy down on the mat and came back. ther

newt gingrich is a life support system for bad ideas. his one awesome idea. >> president gingrich they're rebelling in the moon mines! >> let's see how rebellious they are when we shut it down. >> oh, my lord. 22 past the hour. he's just too nice sometimes. joining us now -- mitt. former campaign manager to mccain-palin steve schmidt joins auns in washington pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of "the washington post" and msnbc political analyst eugene robinson. gentlemen, good to have you onboard with tina mark. in the break you were saying mitt's in trouble. why? why? i don't understand. >> well, i think newt is now the clear front-run inner the race. he's ahead nationally, ahead in iowa, ahead in south carolina. if he wins iowa he'll come into new hampshire with a head of steam. romney will be back on his heels. that race will be closer than it would have seemed like it would have been a month ago. >> why is it happening? >> i think it's happening because of the point that tina made in the last segment, which is that

newt gingrich will be on his way back to the east coast where he'll be doing god knows what. >> let newt be newt. there's been some analysis saying maybe you don't need to be in iowa as search because they can get the message across through social media and fox news. at the end of the day, the iowa caucus is this weird thing. you have experience with this, where folks need to rally somewhere supporters. does newt's strategy of not being around work for him? >> look, it's worked so far. if you looked at the nbc poll out the other day. all of the intensity in the primary is behind newt gingrich. and he's in a commanding position in the race right now in iowa, south carolina, florida and in the national polls. now, some of the private polls suggest that his momentum is beginning to slow and iowa is important to him because if ron paul clips him in iowa, gingrich loses altitude and comes in second place and that's not a good o men going forward. we're starting to see the famous lack of discipline in newt gingrich. the head is swelling up. the rules don't apply. gravity doesn't matter. we'll

no, not newt gingrich. we've got elizabeth warren. >> let's go to newt versus romney. >> yeah. >> romney unloaded today. >> mitt romney has no time to lose. they are turning the fire hose on newt. >> in florida, gingrich also beat romney by 23 points. >> a lot of the tea party people are for mitt romney. >> gingrich has made the calculations so far that romney is still having a difficult time with tea party supporters. >> newt gingrich over obama in ohio in a head to head match up, 43-42. that is a heart attack. >> that is mind bending. >> conservatives like mitt romney. >> gingrich on top in iowa with 33% support among likely caucus goers. >> gingrich is not the only front-runner, he's eroded romney's electability. >> this is clearly a statement from the american people and has less to do with newt gingrich than it does with the state of american politics. >> newt gingrich has an argument against obama that is entirely based on hatred. >> i have one opponent, barack obama, and that's how my campaign is goin

, former house speaker newt gingrich is awesome. on the basis of that alone, we'd like to have mr. gingrich on the show and have extended the invitation. we're still waiting for him to get back to us, we are extremely excited tonight on this show to welcome his sister. candace gingrich is "the interview" tonight. ♪ and just let me be [ male announcer ] this is your moment. ♪ your ticket home [ male announcer ] this is zales, the diamond store. take an extra 10 percent off storewide now through sunday. it's 4g, so you can do more faster. so, kathryn, post more youtube videos of your baby acting adorable. baby. on it. matt, ignore me and keep updating your fantasy team. huh? jeff, play a game. turbo-boosting now, sir. dennis, check in everywhere you go on foursquare. that's mayor dennis... of the water cooler. you're the best. liz, rock out to pandora. oh, no i'm an only child. and nick, you shouldn't even be here, you can do everything from the golf course. good? good. [ male announcer ] on at&t, blackberry® torch moves at the speed o

as the frontrunner, newt gingrich was under attack last night in the debate. especially by michele bachmann who criticized him on abortion and taking money from freddie mac. we will deal with that a bit later on mr. gingrich offered robust on the issue. one of the issues may have landed him in big trouble. how gingrich would deal with federal judges. >> you have proposed a plan to subpoena judges to testify before congress about controversial decisions that they make. in certain cases you advocate impeaching judges or abolishing courts all together. two conservative former attorneys general criticized your plan saying it alters the checks and balances of the federal government. they used words like dangerous, outrageous and totally irresponsible. are they wrong? >> i testified in front of sitting supreme court justices at georgetown law school and i warned them. you keep attacking the core base of american exceptionalism and you are going to find an uprising against you which will rebalance the judiciary. i would be prepared to take on the judiciary if, in fact

iowa caucus is different. >> you have a pretty good relationship with newt gingrich? t relationship with newt. >> he wrote the introduction to your book? >> he did. >> do you think he can implode? >> by watching the last four of us at the top, it is possible for anyone. it is a very, very fluid race in iowa in particular. the evangelical christians are looking for the candidate that they think can win and has their values and i think i fit their mold quite well. >> let's go through issues. the payroll tax, 150, 1560 million americans could be affected if you are making $50,000 a year you could save $1,000 or $1500 a year. >> temporary tax cuts, long term tax hikes are bad for the economy. >> that would be a tax increase on the middle class. >> he needs to be working on getting rid of the things impeding job creation. that is the tax burdenen and the regulatory climate that we have got. if you want to get americans back working they don't mind paying a payroll tax if they have got a good job and that is what wi nehat we need to be focg on. over the decade i have been go