newt? i know. >> newt? i thought gingrich handled it really well. >> sean: two last questions and i talked to herman cain about this. michele bachmann saying newt newt/romneywt newt/romney. is that effective? and what about the gingrich line about ted kennedy versus him being. >> i thought romney was terrific in that comeback when she said i wanted to play in the n.f.l., too. >> sean: i thought it was good because a lot of humor. >> i think that, i don't think that romney-gingrich worked well. the tea party patriots the largest of the tea party grou groups. half of the people in that will have a telephone primary. they expect 160,000 people. each candidate will speak for ten minutes and listeners will vote. i think it's absolutely fascinating. >> sean: listen. >> why do we have to wait for iowa? >> sean: good point. dick morris, good to see you. coming up, tim tebow did it again! another stunning overtime victory on sunday. so will the broncos' big win finally silence the rookie quarterback critics? well, we'll talk about that and debate that question. first, more on debbie wasse wasserman-schultz's outrageous wasserman-schultz's outrageous comments about

newt romney. if you look at newt romney. ive. >> a lot out there. >> this newt gingrich thing, we have to get that out up. newt and romney thing, sorry. >> let's get right to it with our panel on this monday. joining me in the studio msnbc contributor and democratic strategist crystal ball. and with us from washington, msnbc contributor jonathon capehart, opinion writer for "the washington post." crystal, if i can start with you, with just -- you know, as you know, very few short weeks away from what will happen in iowa, michele bachmann, of course, won the iowa ames straw poll. rick perry's thrown huge sums of money into that. and yet, according to the polls, nights rer doing particularly well. is it too little too late for them now n. >> i think it is. things have been set there. this debate this past weekend, i think, was a really critical moment. and i really don't see any stopping newt gingrich. i mean, rick perry, as you pointeded out, has been spending a lot of money in iowa. it barely moved the needle. i would say if

newt and also as we. you could feel the helium filling his head and he'll explode. >> gillian, romney, newt? >> i think romney will come through in the end but without a lot of passion. >> helene? >> i'm going for newt. >> the smart money is on romney. >> before we break, newt was a favorite "saturday night live" target in his house speaker days. comedian chris farley really captured his bulldozer approach to legislating. >> let's go, let's go, let's go, mr. delay. >> motion massachusetts no longer be a state. >> aye! >> farley was so identified with newt that when the real newt was celebrating the first 100 days of his g.o.p. congress in 1995, his chief lieutenant had a big surprise for him. >> we'd like to introduce the speaker of the house, the gentleman from georgia, newt gingrich. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> all right. here we go. we're here today to help celebrate the first 100 days of the republican controlled congress! let's get to it. let's show america how many bills a republican congress with pass 10 minutes when we're not hampered by bizarre, weird democrats. let's go, let's go, let's go, we're burning daylight. 832, keep reporters away from my mother. what do you say? >> aye! >>

. >> newt romney, they were for obama care principals. newt romney. newt romney. >> also, rick perry gets personal. >> if you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partners. >> the abc news debate. a turning point in this roller-coaster campaign. this morning, complete coverage and our moderators, george stephanopoulos and diane sawyer. reaction from jon huntsman, the other republican in the race. our abc news political team is standing by in iowa to break down the spin. and our roundtable is standing by with the long view of this unpredictable race. >>> good morning, and welcome to the program. we'll have all of the highlights of last night's showdown in the hawkeye state. but some news from your morning papers. iran has announced that it won't return the american surveillance drone now in the hands of the country's military. the top commander of the revolutionary guard called the drone into iranian air space a hostile act and warned of a bigger response if it happens again. the spy plane was put on display earlier this week and it's consi

she came up with a catchy new term, that basically lumps newt gingrich and mitt romney and called them newt romney. listen: >> if you look at newt-trade and if you you can at newt-romney they were for the illegal immigration problem and look at newt-romney they were for the $700 billion bailout, you heard newt-romney is with obama on the issue of the payroll extension, so if you want a difference, michelle bachmann is' proven conservative, its not newt romney. >> clayton: you can tell in the debates, where the consultants came in sitting around in a room over coffee and we need a line tonight, right? and i don't see that from newt gingrich, those lines come out of it and that is why he has done well in the debates and it doesn't appear to be manufactured. it is a good line. does it resonate, if anything it shows that that could be the ticket in 2012. newt romney. >> dave: the approach, you want to package them and show people they are one and the same. but, you know, rick perry has solid debates in terms of his past debate experiences and of course prompted mitt romney to make the $10,000 bet gaffe, although some say he intended

newt romney. if you look at newt romney. if you look at newt romney. >> she elaborated on "face the nation." >> it's clear there's not a dime's worth of difference between the two of them. >> meanwhile candidates returned to the table, well aware that the time for traditional retail politicking is now or never, but the debates are not done. another is coming up on thursday in sioux city, iowa, and the pressure there will be intense. dean reynold, cbs news, des moines. >> a preliminary hearing is scheduled tuesday in the sex abuse case against former penn state assistant coach jerry sandusky. five of his accusers are expected to testify, and as anna werner reports, at least one other witness. >> former penn state assistant coach mike mcqueary is among those expected to testify tuesday. mcqueary told a grand jury that in 2002, he saw jerry sandusky in a locker room shower on the penn state campus sexually assaulting a young boy. >> mr. sandusky, any comment? >> according to the grand jury report, he saw a boy he estimated to be

newt romney. let's listen. >> if you look at newt romney, they were for obama care, principles. if you look at newt romney, they were for cap and trade. if you look at newt romney, they were for the illegal immigration problem. >> and of course this went on throughout the night. do you think michele bachmann gained any traction with this, rick? >> reporter: bachmann had her best debate in months. and if she can make this newt romney guy famous, you may see some late breaks against both front-runners among conservatives. if they're worried about both of those guys and still shopping, they might still look what they're seeing from michele bachmann. >> all right, rick klein on this day after, rick, as always, we thank you. >>> and when you're atop the field, the incoming fire grows and the attacks on newt gingrich are not confined to the campaign trail. gingrich is now taking heat from his former colleagues on capitol hill -- colleagues from the same party. here's abc's david kerley. >> reporter: with another decent debate performance, newt gingrich is now frightening some of his ow

newt. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews back in washington. nailing newt. newt gingrich is finding out what it means to be the front-runner. he's under siege. romney is for changing positions and religions. now, a pastor is calling newt the kim kardashian of the gop and attacking his serial marriages and conversion to catholicism. they are going ballistic. republican voters are falling for newt. he can counter punch. the supporters are betting he can survive the onslaught. are they right? there aren't many house republicans that endorse newt gingrich. we'll talk about his chances of winning iowa. jack kingston joins us tonight. jumping trump. huntsman, paul, romney, perry and bachmann all passed. only gingrich and santorum are in. did they lose a ring master? the defense against republican charges proves if you underestimate this president, do so at your peril. let me finish with a line that may be a guide to gingrich. we start with newt gingrich under siege. can he be stopped? chuck todd and john harris. we have the heavy hitters. her's the question. nationwide, gingrich is at 36, way ahead of where romney has been nationally. romney below that 2

romney's attacking newt for being rich and newt isn't that rich and newt's attacking romney for beingh, and romney is that rich. usually it's the democrats doing that stuff. >> he's absolutely right. republicans attacking each other for being rich. next one one will propose raising the top tax bracket. >> it's terrific for newt gingrich, who's brought in $100 million in revenue since he left the house to be attacking mitt romney with $264 million to his net worth. and enjoying this all is jon huntsman who put up the photo of all the money bills flying around mitt romney, posted that on a website and jon huntsman is only worth about $71 million. it is sort of the plutocratic club here. the problem is not just that they're rich but the accusation behind this is that one slik newt is getting rich by helping companies or institutions like freddie mac, playing on their government ties. so, it's not just the wealth but it's how that wealth was generated. and you can just imagine that the democrats are building up their files with all this stuff, having their work done for them. >> and we're

if you look at newt/romney, they were for obama care principles. if you look at newt/romney they were for cap and trade. if you look at newt/romney they were for illegal immigration problem. if you look at newtromney, they were for the $700 billion bailout. you just heard newt/romney is also with obama on the issue of the payroll extension. so, if you want a difference, michele bachmann is the proven conservative that's not newt/romney. >> you threw a lot out there. >> the debate moment grabbing a lot of headlines comes from a mitt romney exchange with rick perry over health care. >> i'm hearing you say all the right things but i read your first book and it said in there that your mandate in massachusetts, which should be the model for the country, i know it came out of the reprint of the book, but, you know, i'm just saying, you were for individual mandates, my friend. >> you know what, you've raised that before, rick. you're simply wrong. >> it was true then and it's true now. >> rick, i'll tell you what. 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business

>> i think he would rather run against romney than newt. i think newt is an example of a stark contrast. so he may be saying he would rather run against newt but i don't believe that i think he would rather run against romney. whoever positions himself as the most conservative candidate is more likely to win because then there is a stark difference. and newt may have some baggage but i think a lot of americans are going to forgive that because it's different in reagan's time. we were on the precipice of our republic having a fundamental change and our debt is at 15 trillion. newt is really based in founding principles and he has a deep solutions. i think they are going to forgive that baggage. i don't think obama really wants to be up against newt in the debate. face it, newt is smarter than obama. >> bill: what about the claim not only by the mitt romney team but other republicans as well that if it's newt gingrich running against obama, janine, that the president will be able to make it about gingrich? it's about gingrich. right now the election is ab

mitt romney common it newt gingrich, and rick perry all have new ads targeting iowa voters reject mitt romney, newt gingrich and rick perry all have new ads targeting iowa voters. a new era in baltimore city government began today. [applause] jack young began his first elected term as city council president. he had some fresh faces on the council this morning during a ceremony at city hall. new members include brandon scott, nick mosby and councilman william weld from the ninth district. -- william welch. the new council got right to work, starting its first meeting tonight. on the agenda items, resolution that requires collected officials to post their financial disclosure statements on line. coming up, new development about baltimore grand prix race and how owners racked up where than $12 million in debt. >> right now we are hiring one or two people a week. as we get closer to the time, there will be hundreds. >> what you should use to land a position at one of the state's newest gaming facilities. -- what you should do to land a position. >> why some birth control pills may soon contain new warn

if you look at newt, romney, they were for the illegal immigration problem. and if you look at newt, romney, they were for the $700 billion bailout. you just heard newt, romney is also with obama on the issue of the payroll extensions. so if you want a difference, michele bachmann is the proven conservative. it is not newt, romney. >> and then it was gingrich's turn. >> let's be candid. the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> now wait a second. now wait a second. that's -- >> i mean -- >> you'll get another response. >> do i get to -- >> please, please. >> i looked and i thought, i'm a citizen, i've served the country in many ways. you're a citizen, you served country in many ways. but it is a bit much. you have been a 17-year career politician now if you had won. >> when rick perry accused mitt romney of flip-flopping on health care reform, the stakes got high we are a free for all, punctuated by rhetorical or literal wager. you decide. >> i'm listening to you, mitt, and i'm hearing you say all the right things, but i read your

newt gingrich and mitt romney. newt gingrich hitting back your chief rival mitt romney over some new ads on the air in iowa accusing romney and his supporters of running a quote smear campaign after all these negative attacks newt gingrich is still hanging in there within the margin of error mitt romney good almost ten points behind newt gingrich newt gingrich keeps asking mitt romney to stop the negative attacks but mitt romney will not tell the super pacs to stop outside independent group campaign or ripping up gingrich criticism all of the negative attacks all the trouble that he's had in this campaign and the former speaker said he's not backing down. you guys are you know this stuff drives me absolutely crazy and most of the time it's the obsessive election coverage that talks about campaign strategy chuck todd style but while he specifically has a knack for random historical facts they don't really bear any significance in today's political environment this badmouthing thing is something that they love all the way around and it's not even the candidates calling each other out on their flip flops or their policies or the actions of the past it's mostly just mitt romney and newt gingrich going back and fort

romney attack newt gingrich? would mitt romney mix it up? but the stunning this that happened, newt gingrich did it first. >> starts very simply. >> reporter: newt gingrich promised that he would stay above the fray. but during this wruz bruising debate, he didn't stay above the fray, he made the fray. on mitt romney's claim that he's not a career politician. >> the only reason that you didn't become a career politician is because you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> now, wait a second. >> reporter: it was a blistering start. and if newt made a charge, mitt romney made a bet, which may have been the debate's most remarkable moment. in a heated exchange with rick perry over health care -- >> i read your first book and it said in there, that your mandate in massachusetts, which should be the model for the country, i know it came out of the reprint of the book, but you know, i'm just saying, you were for individual mandates, my friend. >> i'll tell you what, $10,000 bet, i'm not into the betting business -- >> reporter: perry seemed to misquote romney's book. but that $10,000 bet from

newt time. we're focused on mitt romney. rick perry has been the one going off on newt's marriages. here's an ad he goes off on both newt and romney. >> we don't want government-mandated health care. yet newt gingrich supports it. and mitt romney, he put it into law in massachusetts. worse, barack obama forced it on the entire nation. >> i won't let the big government liberals ruin this country. i'm rick perry. i will appeal obama care. >> but i have to play this one which his gingrich marriages. >> i made an oath to god when i married my wife. so yeah i think it's an important issue. but the american people will figure out these issues and work their way through them. >> jonathan martin, rick perry. who's he an ally of here? that's weird when we look at this. the anti-newt stuff, what was perry more effective on? hitting romney with the first ad or hitting newt with the marriage comment? >> i think his chief opponent is now newt. because to get to mitt, at least two weeks ago that's how it was. you have to go through newt. i think even know with newt in the lead, his opponent is still newt because of the conservative v

if you look at newt-romney, they were for the $700 billion bailout. newt-romney is also with obama on the issue of the payroll extension. if you want a difference, michele bachmann is the proven conservative. it's not newt-romney. >> you get a chance to respond. >> michelle, you know, a lot of what you said isn't true. i've never -- i oppose cap and trade, i testified against it, the same day that al gore testified for it. i hope defeat it in the senate. it is simply untrue. i fought against obamacare at every step of the way, i did -- i was actively opposed, we actively campaigned against it. i think it's important for you, and this is fair game and everybody gets to pick fights. it's important that you be accurate when we say these things. those are not true and most of the money i made, frankly, i made in ways that have nothing to do with anything you describe. i did no lobbying and represent ration. -- representation. my speech money and other things i did, which had nothing to do with that, was a much larger part of the book. i wrote 24 books, 13 best

you know, of betrayal. >> and bachmann had the effective portion was when she was calling them newt romney, newtght it was a rhetorical connection. >> his ego is so massive, and he projects so far forward, the bullets hit it and fall to the ground. it's like the scene in "star wars," these are not the droids you are looking for. gingrich has this force. he walked into arguments about his previous idealogical flip flops. >> he has weathered so much that he is somewhat bullet proof. the chin ks in mitt romney's armor started to show last night when he had not been subject to that level of back and forthwith newt gingrich. >> the iconic moment, which the dnc is very happy to talk about, is a very strange moment in which mitt romney had an exchange with rick perry about his previous support of the mandate that was part of the massachusetts health bill that was passed and romney decided to offer a bet to rick perry as to whether or not he was right or not. >> i read your first book and it said in there that your mandate in massachusetts, which should be the model for the country, and i know it came o

newt understands more about the process of government than this guy ever will. it's a strong debate. >> dana: i don't think that is fair. >> bob: who is not fair? >> dana: the newt versus romney thing, newtstandsgoning more than romney. governor of a state and speaker of the house. it's not -- coming up next one doesn't crash the other one in that. newt has to deal with the negatives coming his way. that is a sure. romney seems cleaner, squeakier cleaner guy. and another point is barack obama, his favorable, people like him. they talk about this all the time. they may not like his policy but there is a distinction whether people like him or a good family man. how he is with kids. he is turning up at 65% of what people think about him. >> bob: job aproven numbers going up and up. >> eric: whose? >> bob: obama. >> eric: carter was at 51% -- >> bob: i worked for him. >> eric: it was 51%. >> dana: stick to this race. >> eric: mitt romney, marco rubio or newt gingrich-paul ryan type of ticket, either one of those would beat obama. >> eric: that is a 40-state loss. >> dana: we talked about iowa. >> eric: you would know about that. >> dana: ohhh! >> kimberly: below the belt. >> dana: hold on. i

romney. >> newt. >> newt. >> newt. [laughter] >> here's the question. would any of you not vote for the republican nominee if it were newt new gingrich or mitt romney against barack obama? would any of you say i would not vote for the republican nominee if he were newt and gingrich or -- >> it's possible. >> very possible. >> if it's not romney -- if it's not newt or romney. >> i would hope enough republicans surrounded obama to have them compromise and move forward. >> okay. anybody else? so three people. but if it were newt, you might not coming to light. and deborah, if it were newt, would you vote or might vote -- >> i might vote for obama. >> and you would vote for obama because -- >> because he needs more time and i would hope that other republicans would surround him. >> final question. barack obama winds to the election. why would he when? why did he win? tina? >> because it wasn't strong enough. >> president obama wins re-election, toni, why did he win? >> we didn't get a strong opponent. >> sue? >> exactly. >> chris? >> the person isn't as char

romney. this is newt gingrich's game. i feel like i'm watching something where newt gingrich is the guy from the ultimate fighting, in the octagon and mitt romney looks like something out of a gilbert and sullivan play. he's got to bring in john and chris christie, like the entire linemen from the new york giants because mitt romney will not do it himself. >> they are trying to trying to go discover more adultery than they are of putting into law an individual mandate for law in massachusetts. >> a month ago newt said they have world view but what newt and romney share, which is the dirty little secret here and help to publicize like the individual mandate, like health care he can changes, like cap and trade, like the earned income tax credit, like responsibility in the inner cities. this was how newt defined himself 15 years ago and it's how romney came into politics at about that time felt most comfortable. and now you have a situation where the from front-runners in the republican party are running desperately away from who they are. >> howard, is this a matter of excitement? meaning the republican voters seem to have