they may find him quite compelling. >> stephen: and peggy noonan is in touch with the kind of questions young voters ask. for instance, who is that lady? and why does she talk like she's giving elec can you tion lessons on a yacht. peggy is right. the kids love the newt. i have been a fan of newt since i was a kid. when i first moved to new york i used to go watch him being inflated for the thanksgiving day parade. (applause) >> stephen: but the real reason, the real reason newt is bound to be a winner is because he knows how to court corporate donors. see if you can spot his subtle fund-raising technique. >> and ibm has agreed to help solve it, american express has helped solve it, visa has agreed to help solve it. >> stephen: wow that is some world-class name dropping. the man is smooth. almost as smooth as bud light lime. hmmmm. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: he's going to fabrese into the white house. big newton gingrich 2012-- figure newton gingrich 2012. >> stephen: if only abraham lincoln had shown the leadership to name check corporations that baldly perhaps he could have ave

dionne, columnist for "the wall street journal" peggy noonan, senior analyst for "time" magazine, mark halperin, white house correspondent for "the new york times," helene cooper, and chief political writer for "the new york times" magazine, matt bai. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good morning. another turn in the republican presidential field. former arkansas governor mike huckabee announced on his fox news program last night that he would not be a candidate for president. >> all the factors say go, but my heart says no, and that's the decision that i have made. and in it, i finally found some resolution. >> one man who came to the opposite conclusion this week and has announced he is full steam ahead for 2012 is here with us exclusively this morning to kick off the return of our "meet the candidate" series, where throughout this primary season, we will once again bring you in-depth interviews with the candidates for president. joining us live this morning, the former speaker of the house, newt gingrich. welcome back. >> good to be with you, david. >> this is your

dionne, peggy noonan, "the new york times" helene cooper, senior political analyst for "time" magaziner for "the new york times magazine," matt bai. welcome to everybody. we've just heard the first of the "meet the candidate" series, mark halperin, with newt gingrich now a candidate. what did we learn? >> he knows what he has to do to win, and amongst it, he responded to your questions, he has to not be an analyst, has to not be a gad fly, as he said. he's got to be a leader, plal leader, and a politician. not talk like speaker of the house or a fox news analyst, talk like a potential president. i think he's in the field an underrated candidate in terms of his chances and he showed that with his strength. >> do you think he dialed back the reputation as not just an analyst, but as a flame-thrower? i mean, talking about obama and anticolonial views, about anti-americanism, talking about the left as, you know, that has to be saved, to akin to nazi germany and the soviet union. i mean, that's language. >> the animating force in the republican party today is be in barack obama's face, an a

i listened to peggy noonan on morning joe say she hopes it's transparent. i think it's the best way to move. we have to disguise the identities of the raiders, the navy s.e.a.l.s and the army aviators who took them into battle, but beyond that we ought to lay it all out. >> it's another incredible day. i'm sure to many people are at work or at home and still trying to absorb the reality of this incredible raid and what it has resulted in, which is the death of osama bin laden. thank you so much, general, for sticking around with me. this does it for this monday edition of "news nation." catch "news nation" week days at 2:00 p.m. on msnbc. martin bashir is up next. this does it for this monday ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort

we noticed that columnist peggy noonan has the same idea for her column. the headline is, it is off to the races, what voters are looking for in next year's presidential nominee. we will share what she thinks and we would like to hear from you. i think it is possible that this year because of the special nature of the times, we live through unprecedented and ongoing crises it the economy and foreign policy. the american people may be less interested in the personal stories and family situations of those running for president than in the past. they will be interested but they won't seem as serious or decisive as they sometimes have been. the kufrpbt air of crisis may make such things look like a luxury the country can ill afford. i think americans but particularly the current crisis will be generally inclined to give pretty much everyone a break as long as it is all mischief confined to the past. that is what did in skwrpb edwards. it -- john edwards. americans will come down on you hard for that. first the thought of what you might be looking for in a pres

and i read that and i read peggy noonan in the wall street journal recently recounting how pashtun tribesmen sometimes taunt american soldiers by saying you have the watches, we have the time. could you expand on this, maybe jack about this idea of strategic patience and the degree to which we may not have enough of it? >> yes, it is the a classic counterinsurgency problem first of all, that we from the outset it is not we are not going to be there forever and that downfall with regard to colonial powers like britain. but certainly from the perspective of the afghans who have been invaded repeatedly over the centuries, and eventually the invading armies have left and they know that we are leaving and they had a sense that we were going to leave relatively soon. but, we have been announced in november at the nato summit that we would be leaving the combat mission in a end to stand by the end of 2014. it was quickly caveat it to say we would continue in a supporting role for quite some time after that. the setting of the timeline is a double-edged sword. i can put asher on the government to im

. >> when we got online "wall street journal" we noticed columnist peggy noonan had same idea for the column which will appear inmn the papers tomorrow. it is off to the races what voters are looking for in next year's presidential nominee. we'll share with you what peggy noonan thinks is onwe your mind and we very much like to hear from you. here is what she writes.in i think it is possible this year because of the special s nature of the times, we live through unprecedent. and ongoing crises in the economy and foreign policy. the american people may be less interested in theer personal stories, foibles and family situations of those running for president than in the past. they will still bede interested but these things won't seem as serious or even decisive as theysi sometimes have been.e the current air of crisis may make such things look like a luxury the country can ill-afford. she goes on to say, i think americans right now, but particularly with the current crisis,t will bear generally inclined to give pretty much everyone a break as long as it's all mischieft confined to the