, but as it turns out, seems as if pawlenty's still stuck on the what if.e regrets putting so much campaign cash into his early campaign days in iowa, saying, "we were out of money. to go forward, you have to have money. hindsight's always 20/20." and then speaking about the decision to actually drop out of the race pawlenty said, quote, based on what we knew at the time, we thought it was the right call to drop out. pawlenty also pointed out that he would have remained a contender if he knew then what i know now. isn't that odd timing, don't you think? given pawlenty's new job as a national co-chair for romney's campaign and he's still talking about what he could have done, would've, could've, should've. and now for the big number. there may be a total of eight candidates in the gop roundtable debate tonight, but in reality, the field of candidates is a whole lot larger, on paper, anyway. according to the fec, the presidential findings are still coming in and show no signs of slowing down. what's the all-inclusive tally of the 2012 presidential candidates

quickly governor pawlenty, is this a huge lbility for governor perry as he moves forward?> well, the immigration issue is going to be a significant issue. it's not as important as the jobs issue. t it's a top tier issue. and governor perry's got some exposure, as we all know, on that issue. >> let's talk about the week ahead. a couple of interesting debates. tuesday another debate in nevada. will have the candidacies together. and on thursday, pay attention to this, romney returns to iowa. the question is, will he make a play there forits going to be v interesting to see. i want to thank you both, and speaking of upcoming campaign events, some news to share this morning about our upcoming new hampshi debate thate are co-hosting with facebook. we are pleased to add the new hampshire union leader as a local partner on the debate which will be held the sunday prior to the new hampshire primary. when is that going to be? we don't know. we're waiting to find out. and before we go, be sure to check out our special press pass conversation this week about why the debates matter. i

governor pawlenty, i have to ask you, any regrets about getting out of the republican race?o regrets. we took it as far as we could, and for me it meant we had to fold up the tent. but i'm really excited and honored to be supporting mitt romney. the number one issue in this race is going to be who can get this economy going and jobs going, and he is the best candidate to do that by far. >> you did say recently the decision you made after iowa was perhaps premature. did you look at the complexion of this race now, you think you could have stayed in and been a contender? >> that was in reference to some tactical decisions we had made during the campaign, not the decision to get out. certainly not the decision to support mitt. >> all right, let's talk about negatives on both sides. because these are negatives that have to be dealt with and overcome at this stage of the race. you heard from herman cain, who is now, according to our survey, on top of the polls at the moment. and for team romney, for governor romney, this issue of consistency. whether he's flip-flopped on views is

george will did go on record as saying that the next president of the united states would be tim pawlenty, mitch daniels, or barack obama. he is now in the position of backing barack obama. [laughter] >> i think he would probably argue that. >> none of us are pure in the prediction department. >> pawlenty would have been a good candidate, and he was the first to go. >> huntsman doesn't show up in nevada, explain that. >> he is betting everything on at new hampshire. nevada backed off. >> last word. nevada backs off. see you next week.

we know what the pawlenty path was, sort of trying to be the more establishment alternative to romney was right there. >> obviously, you have been able to see the different trajectory of candidates come in and out of this race. it has been unusually volatile. a lot of the early thinking was to be available to the electorate when the passions worked their way through. as lee mentioned in the poll, at the end of the day, most people haven't made up their mind and won't until the weeks leading up to the primary. >> all money. >> pure and simple. why not lay you guys off and try to do this as a one-man band. >> the governor made his decision. he brought a lot to the table and it wasn't for lack of wanting to go forward. i just think he didn't think he could put together the financial resources to compete. >> bill clinton in '92 was in the dumps in new hampshire. he stuck. john edwards in 2004 was in the dumps. he popped back. >> speaking of the guy who is popping. it is now herman cain, who had been relegated to the eighth or ninth spot at debates. now, he gets center stage, lois romano.

tim pawlenty was supposed to be the christian conservatives. was a flash inn the pan. now cain is at the top. if they can do iowa and new the race is probably over. the caucuses are on generate third in iowa. the bipartisan super committee make as than a month to decision. how close are they? >> they are no closer today than they were when they sat down summer to put this together. there are no closer than the biden group, no closer than the simpson decibels commission. whether they get anything done the sense and-bolts -- the simpson-bolles commission. >>> nato's expected to officially end its mission in libya tomorrow. after libyane week muammar liberation from gaddafi's government. the leading counsel had mission lastt the months in order to the country's border. >>> any statue of ronald be revealed on tuesday. it is a celebration that would commemorating what would have been his 100th birthday. the bronze statue was treated by chris fayed and who has also created three other states -- other statues of reagan. >>> tomorrow is how dewayne and are -- tomorrow is hallo

pawlenty and bachmann attacked each other in iowa. he goted knocked out and she got knocked down.his numbers went down and stayed down. santorum is basically in the debate attacked everybody, his numbers are low. what did gingrich do? he attacked the press. always helpful if you are a candidate and always popular. then he would step out of the frame of the debate and say i like everybody up here. everybody up here is better president than barack obama. cheering for whole republican party. it's a good tactic. only one who stayed out of the back and the forth. if he gets a rise in this and start to climb in party looking for non-romney he might have a chance of being non-romney. >> bret: quickly, jeff, you spent time on the trail. a lot of states. is it possible that this year is a different dynamic, that online, social media, it just, maybe you don't need as much as in the past on the ground? >> we'll find out. that is a big question in the campaign. perhaps it is the bridge between the old and new. if someone appears on fox news for example they reach the iowa caucus goers. caucus

[applause] [applause] -- 17, pawlenty first single occupancy sro in the chinatown development center. he also wrote a grant proposal to create a bilingual fire safety and emergency preparedness curriculum along with emergency kits for each participating sro unit. [applause] [applause] valerie clinker is a voice of community change in front and behind the camera. she was a guest youth analyst at the third anniversary women's pioneer awards ceremony and presented gina davis with the woman pioneer award. she was also named valedictorian of the changing program. [applause] last but not least, a nasalee, 18, spearheaded the 16th street bart installation about gender which infused her passion for art and activism. an asset is a second year career educator at the arid and engaging facilitator of the group trend magic rashid is committed to becoming a visible and zero allied to the transgender community. [applause] [applause] >> thank you, supervisor mirkarimi, kim, mayor. once again, we are all here to honor and the phenomenal accomplishments of these 15 new four years. it has been a blessin

tim pawlenty up, down, out. you were up, now you have come down a little bit. herman cain is surging right now. mit romney has pretty much been stable the whole time. rick perry up. he comes in strong and he goes down. how do you think people will interpret that? >> well, i think that the media is intent on what they try to do every four years which is to choose the candidate. but the debates are wonderful for the people to be able to vet the candidates and see who they are. i am very pleased with the debates. i think they have gone very welch we get a glimpse into the soul of each candidate. i'm encouraging everyone watching the show tonight to go to my website. i have the 11 point economic plan for recovery and job creation. they can't wait 14 more months. we need millions of jobs created now. i just came from the united states capital where i just voted to pass the free trade agreements. this will create thousandings of jobs in the united states. these were negotiated under president george bush. he wanted to pass these so we could see job creation. we could

pawlenty rises and fall, but the votes don't go to romney. rises and fall, but the votes don't go to romney. so 60 or 70% of the party that continues to look for the "not romney." i think it goes back to reagan and goldwater and the north eastern moderates and the rest of the party. mitt is a good guy. he would be a vastly better president than barack obama. i think the challenge he will face, whoever is in the final round, i hope it will be me, will be a philosophical distinction about where america needs to go. >> sean: mr. speaker, thanks for being with us. we will see you on the campaign trail. coming up, a shocking act of violence is alleged at an occupy wall street in ohio, while the anointed one insists their protests are not really different from the tea party. having triplets is such a blessing. not financially. so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. thanks, ho

. >> governor pawlenty refused to back up the phrase. >> why? >> let me first say to silvia, she put her finger on one of noes important issues facing the country. >> the question, governor, why obamneycare. >> this is another example of him breaking his practice and he has to be held accountable. >> your rival is standing right there. if it was obamney care on fox news sunday, why is it not obamney care with the governor standing right there. >> we also know what happens if the flip-flop label becomes chronic. >> i actually did vote for the $87 billion before i voted against it. >> let's dig deeper on the new numbers and the challenge facing governor romney with cnn contributors mary madeline and tom brownstein and michael crowley with us tonight. mary, we want to dig deep on the numbers in a minute because they tell us about your party and the race. first on this narrative, no question that governor romney leading in the first four states and he has the finances and he has the organizations. he could, emphasis on could lock it up in 100 days b

because we've seen pawlenty, bachmann, perry, you know, they all go up and down, now cain up and downn the polls. romney stays the same. 25%. >> it's a problem. >> i don't think so. >> he's been at the top from the beginning. he's been able to stay steady. he's had good strong performances in the debate burks here's my question. is he viewed as establishment versus the tea party looking for a more conservative candidate? >> no 1 is ever going to be conservative numb for some people, but today in the "wall street journal" they talked about how -- i actually disagree. i think while you would like to be able to increase in the polls, if you can hold steady throughout this, you're doing pretty well. in 2008 at this time in the campaign, barack obama was running third, and no one ever thought that he would actually ever become the nominee, so it's still very fluid. >> i agree with. you i think it's fluid. what republicans want is the most conservative candidate who can win. who is that? i don't know. probably romney, but i'm not going to throw my two cents into the ring on that basis. >> i

romney was accompanied for the first time by former presidential contender tim pawlenty, now the nationalchair of the romney campaign. the nevada campaign push comes as the state is currently under fire for what many call overcrowding in the january primary calendar. last night iowa republican party officials voted january 3rd as the new date for their state caucuses. they had originally been scheduled for february 6th. the chaos started in late september when florida moved its caucuses to january 31st. south carolina chose january 21st. nevada chose january 14th. nevada is the only state left. they are threatening to move the primary back to december. new hampshire state leaders are encouraging candidates to boycott candidate, especially mitt romney. jon huntsman is boycotting tonight's event. huntsman is spending all his time and effort in new hampshire telling cnn it's a vegas move to put all his chips on the granite state. >> i like where we're going in new hampshire. all the polls show we're moving up. we're now in low double digits this is exactly where we want to be. we want a stea

came from alexander pawlenty and made all the right moves in the air after a corner kick and points were secured with their very next attack brazil feel that my research they score a for the chechen side till the final score there and paramedic up with pride of lead is sent. to me. beats are still unanswered goals in this southern russia darby the heads took the lead in the dying minutes of the first how proved ganesh beaten and the brazilian midfielder sealed. result thirty minutes from time. for more games across russia sunday on cars surprisingly beats kabban in three once what's not to do with. one of the key game of the date sees former champions rubin techno spartak moscow in present and in the late game what can what if played its home in the russian capital. moving on to english football now where wolves and west brom clash in the first of sunday's fixtures it's turned to the hosts there with several minutes to go so arsenal take on sunderland at the emirates and already. robin van persie. and inform talk them travel to the castle are still under way from this season. it's taken

the first girl came from alexandre pawlenty and made all the right moves in the area after a cake and points was secured with their very next attack brazil feel that my research they score a for the trojan side to all the final score there and then a couple of points adrift of leaders suneet. in the meantime beats are still unanswered goals in this southern russia dobby the helps took the lead in the dying minutes of the first half for you ganesh a pizza and the brazilian midfielder sealed. result thirty minutes from time. for more games across russia and cost surprisingly beat in three once what to do with. one old game of the date sees former champions are being techno spartak moscow in concerned and in the latest game played tome in the russian capital. moving on to english football now where walls and west brom clash in the first of sunday's fixtures turn to the hosts there with several minutes to go are still take on sunderland at emirates and already took another robin van persie. and inform talk of them travel to the console are still under way from this season. it's taken sixt

to be other man i think to make it to nil but terek head back the first goal came from alexandre pawlenty and made all the right moves in the area and a point was secured with their very next attack brazilian midfielder maurice they score for the chechen side this time to all the final score there and sky remain a couple of points adrift of leaders in it. to an ounce of goals in the southern russia dobby the house took the lead in the dying minutes of the first half of damage it's in and matilda is using us. the final result thirty minutes from time. to sunday's program of game we turn to seven it started in time where i'm card defeated cuban by free goes to one we call in the elevator opened for the house printed since it was then you'll see if he said it and make it a berm mr extended the lead to bar the seventy six minutes this is not to the consolation last minute filmgoers the cool three points for the bottle for them to stay clear of the relegation for. three more games across russia on sundays but the big draw with. all the key game of the day ceased former champions are being take

but tara kid back that first girl came from alexander pawlenty who made all the right moves in the area after a corner kick and a point was secured the very next attack brazilian midfielder mauricio they score a for the chechen side this time to all the final spall there and say sky remain a couple of points adrift of leaders in the. past for sunday's program of game with twenty seven it started in cardiff it could bond by three girls to one nicola opened for the house it's a big game then you'll see it in a savage and make it a bit of mischief extended delay to freenode by the seven. to fifteen minutes is not a consolation go last minute but from gold book or three points one car vital for them to stay clear of the relegation zone. three more games across russia on sundays but to do with one i'll take a game of the day saw former champions rubin thrashing spot. and in the late match safe count playing tom in the russian capital three and neil had midway through this second. moving on to english football now where arsenal beat sunderland at emirates to one a double from robin van persie

. -- pawlenty. former minnesota. gwen: who is wondering why they got out. >> they have clearly hurt rick perry and helped herman cain clearly. and yet when we get through all this period the race is very similar to what we thought it was going into them. mitt romney is the person everyone else feel they have to beat. and the party is looking for a -- a good part of the party is still looking for somebody they can fall in love with who will be the alternative to romney. gwen: assuming that the horse race itself doesn't really change that much from the debate to debate, what is this kind of campaigning, this campaigning from a stage instead of door to door, how is that changing what we learn about these individuals? >> first of all, it's a very wholesale campaign rather than being retail right now. and i think it will turn to retail politics when we get to iowa and new hampshire. but these are candidates who are essentially on a job interview here. and what i think it tells us, it's so interesting, is that the tea part

. -- pawlenty. former minnesota. gwen: who is wondering why they got out. >> they have clearly hurt rick perry and helped herman cain clearly. and yet when we get through all this period the race is very similar to what we thought it was going into them. mitt romney is the person everyone else feel they have to beat. and the party is looking for a -- a good part of the party is still looking for somebody they can fall in love with who will be the alternative to romney. gwen: assuming that the horse race itself doesn't really change that much from the debate to debate, what is this kind of campaigning, this campaigning from a stage instead of door to door, how is that changing what we learn about these individuals? >> first of all, it's a very wholesale campaign rather than being retail right now. and i think it will turn to retail politics when we get to iowa and new hampshire. but these are candidates who are essentially on a job interview here. and what i think it tells us, it's so interesting, is that the tea part

this isn't like these are the flashy campaign ads that we've seen from rick santorum for and tim pawlenty you know for ron paul but the media today you know i mean you have to laugh about that right it's kind of funny but i feel like some of them. actually trying to take it seriously and i couldn't believe it the guy was smoking i definitely saw a christian thing on m.s.m. he sees a really smoking a cigarette we care is i think there's a lot of people in america that actually smoke cigarettes that might actually think it's like a school but he says like real americans that i like herman cain and i just might play to his base it's not creepy to smoke a cigarette yes no i mean i completely agree with you and i think that that was the whole point was that he's kind of bucking what everyone else is doing and they've got these flashy movie ask ads and his looks like it was shot outside the cosco. yeah but i mean nothing says america's future alike you know chain smoking and a hamburger mustache so really he's speaking of the core of america ok that's not the future america one but i still thin

for romney, minnesota governor tim pawlenty. for perry, louisiana governor bob jindall.obama's reelection strategy. it's all coming up this morning on "meet the press." be sure to stay tuned for a special press pass conversation with anchor of pbs news hour jim lehrer to discuss why presidential debates matter and the strategies behind winning only here on nbc 4. >> this building has been jumping with all the people here. >> i know. >> two great shows coming up today. i can't wait. >> it is west virginia's biggest festival. >> and it can also be one of the world's most extreme. more than 400 people took a leap of faith from the new river gorge bridge yesterday for the annual bridge day celebration. the more than 30-year-old celebration draws about 200,000 people a year to watch b.a.s.e. jumpers hurl themselves off the world's third longest steel arch bridge. it stands 876 feet above the whitewater rapids. >> whoo! >> it is one of the largest b.a.s.e. jumping events in the world. i guess to put this in perspective, washington monument, 550 feet. 876 feet. that's like jump

tim pawlenty never could be it. bachmann was the nonromney for a little while. perry, everyone wanted him to be that guy and when did not perform national debates, herman cain got the surge out of that even in the south where perry should be performing well. that is the surge to nominate whoever is next in line and move on toping th to to openina to somebody who is a bit less personned experienced. he has to be able to answer questions in depth about 99 and who his advisors are and will be and what the policies will be. he will get fire coming up because he is in the lead. >> bill: don't you think that barack obama would preterritories to run against herman cain than mitt romney? >> i think that herman cain probably has, a, because he is not known real well and b, because he is less moderate he has more of an uphill climb against independents but they are more conservative than they have been in the past. >> bill: they are looking for somebody to replace barack obama but faced with a moderate romney against a conservative, herman cain, the polls say that the ind

pawlenty opening up after his official portrait was unveiled last night in minnesota's state capital.e said he might have stayed in the race longer if he knew it would be this volatile. he says his campaign was out of money after the iowa straw poll. he's now endorsing mitt romney for president of the united states. >> convicts in connecticut who are being stripped of their porn, now they're ready to sue for it. they say the denial of their reading material is a violation of their first amendment rights. the department of corrections says pornography poisons its environment for the employees that might be exposed to it. the inmates are willing to negotiate. they'll settle for tv programs that offer similar material. >> meanwhile, if you think pregnancy is a marathon, try just giving birth after actually running a marathon. that's what amber miller did. she started to feel contractions shortly after crossing the finish line during the chicago marathon. but because she was so close to her due date, her doctor told her only to run half of the 26 miles. she ran all the way. >> i had ran a

pawlenty was up and down, and michele bachman man up and now down and perry up and now down.y can come back. i don't think ice settled. your fellow liberals have been brutally and at times vile in their comments about herman cain. more recently cornell west, more recently harry belafonte. but african-american conservative are called the worst names, and it's happening again. what do you think of that as a liberal? >> well, i mean, sean, know what i think about it. it's completely reprehensible. this is typical. this happens to african-american conservatives and happens to female conservatives. for some reason everybody feels they can come out and say these horrible things about them because they feel like they should be democrats. that african americans aren't allowed to be republicans, they around allowed to actually be independent thinkers and choose to be a republicans. they feel justified in saying these things and it's disgusting. >> kevin, against the issue, the question came up at the value voters summit this weekend, and i found it reprehensible, the attack on governo