>> the latest on romney. the latest conservative hero, the last man standing against mitt romney is newt gingrich. does newt have the stuff and the cash to carry the anti-romney fight to the end. in your heart, you know he's right. that was the goldwater slogan. this year, will conservatives turn away from romney? will their hearts convince them newt is one of them. and finally, may day, may day. 70 years ago, the sneak attack on pearl harbor, the day f.d.r. said would live in infamy. now is iran the biggest threat facing barack obama and the rest world. i'm andrea mitchell in for chris matthews today and welcome to the show. with us today, joe klein with "time magazine," gillian tett with the "financial times," the "new york times," helen cooper and john heilemann, "new york magazine." for weeks, we have witnessed the rise and fall of the un-romney, the bachmanns, the canes and the perrys and now, newt gingrich. no one predicted this. even though they've focused on beating barack obama, the g.o.p. far right

it just proves so says the romney campaign that the democrats are obsess with the mitt romney and romneys the most electable candidate. it may be a tough sale. it may not be a good thing that romney was engaging with rick perry in the first place there. it brings mitt romney down a little bit >> it's a good thing. jake s that right? just the democrats or other republicans who are now trying to capitalize on it? do you think too much attention being paid to that bet comment? >> well, probably in the scheme of all that matters of import that were debated last night, it's probably getting a little bit more than its fair share of attention. i agree with the romney's campaign argument that the democrats are most focused on him. because, they consider him the biggest threat to the re-election of president obama. there's no question about that fact. the democrats put out a web video today, attacking newt gingrich the only problem is, it basically -- it calls gingrich a three decade of tea party politics. it could help gingrich in the republican primary. the argument, of course, they would rathe

>> john, if ron paul wins, romney wins, if romney wins, romney wins. but if newt wins, romney has problems. >> that rasmussen poll is interesting because he was the first pollster in iowa to pick up the newt surge. he had newt popping up to 32 before anyone else so maybe he is picking up the -- newt's momentum. >> i'm going to put you in charge of watching the rasmussen poll! when we come back, the iraq war is officially over! [ female announcer ] more people are using wireless devices... in more ways than ever. and our networks are getting crowded. but if congress frees up more wireless spectrum... we can empower more people to innovate... putting momentum behind our economy. and we can reduce the deficit... with more than thirty billion dollars paid by america's wireless companies. it's simple -- more spectrum means more freedom. for everyone. >>> issue two, out of iraq! >> in the coming days, the last american soldiers will cross the border out of iraq, with honor and with their heads held high. after nearly nine years, our war in iraq ends this mon

in fact you called the two frontrunners romney and gingrich, you referred them at one point as newt romney. are you different from them? >> without a shadow of a doubt. i'm the only proven consistent constitutional conservative in this race on issue after issue. that's what i was pointing out last night. newt gingrich and mitt romney, it is very clear that there's not a dime's worth of difference between the two of them because both of them have advocated for the health care mandate. newt gingrich's case for 20 years. in mitt romney's case he's the only governor in the united states' history to put into place socialized medicine. they both agree with barack obama. this is the seminal piece of legislation of barack obama. it's the one issue that our candidate has to take president obama on with, and they won't be able to debate him on this issue because they're on the same side as the president. but also newt romney are on the same side of the president when it comes to cap-and-trade, the $700 billion bailout, illegal immigration, even the payroll tax this week which there isn't one shred o

i haven't seen romney yet, but i'm kind of leaning romney, but i want to go see him. go see him later tonight. so, you know, she was in that "i got to pick a president" mode. but when you go to a paul rally, his folks, this is about changing the course of the republican party, sending a message inside the republican party.ç this is a devotion, an intensity of support to paul, and even to santorum. and that's sort of the -- i think that's the unknown factor here. you know, the shocking thing about mitt romney is he's been at the top of the iowa polls now, i'd argue, internally, for a couple of weeks. we've known maybe seven to ten days. and yet when you look at what the other campaigns are doing, they're not attacking him. here's the guy who's the front-runner who's sort of sailing over this campaign right now, while all of the other folks trying to position themselves as the anti-romney ignore him for a while and beat the living daylights out of each other. i think they're going to look back on this moment and regret it, because mitt romney could steal iowa without r

for mitt romney, no anti-romney force has coalesced all the support of the anti-romney ç votes. could be a romney dream scenario where he might just eat this thing up. >> our partner here at nbc/marist and we have done all the transparency you want, everything, the entire way we conducted this poll is available both on our website, nbc politics.com and the marist website. lee, thanks very much. i think it's -- we're doing good work here. >> see you in new hampshire. >> see you next week. >>> secret ballots. precinct captains and arcane rules? the caucus process. can be confusing but you know what? we're going to give you a primer here how it works and what history tells us about the winners. my partner in crime in the political unit there is here. plus i'll have nat strong chairman of the iowa republican party pulling up a chair to tell us what he thinks of the 2012 field and how he thinks his party is fair. you're watching the daily rundown live from java joe's in des moines, iowa.ut step that we find so compelling? is it because taking a step represents hope? or triumph? at ge

the number one second choice among gingrich supporters was romney now. >> romney.part in all this. look at this and dice and slice the numbers and talk about what we're seeing in some of the patterns. bottom line, these are the well-known candidates and these are the ones where people say, well, what it translates into, if gingrich happens to falter, don't expect any of the others to suddenly surge. i think at this point it would just then transfer to romney because he's an acceptable second choice, even of the gingrich supporters. so, gingrich right now is the only pin standing in the anybody but romney crowd. if he were to falter, as some have suggested might happen at some point in the next month, then, in fact, romney may just have his day, his nomination in tact. >> might be the most underappreciated poll result in our poll is that second choice of newt. there's nobody left. after that, they'll finally settle for romney. director of marist poll, our partner in this project. next week, iowa and south carolina. >> florida and south carolina. >> i mean south caro

mitt romney spending a lot of that money, outspending newt gingrich 8-1 if you include the romney super pac. gingrich himself has only spent roughly $476,000 so far. also today, they're some of what some people refer to as the dirty politics that upsets a lot of people. nbc news can now report that earlier today, this morning some iowans received a text message that was essentially asking them to call a local phone number. when they called that phone number, it had articulated that it would be romney exposed. that phone number then revealed a recording of mitt romney's comments from 1994, where his convictions on the pro-life, the abortion debate have really been in question. he now of course indicates he's pro life. in 1994 during a massachusetts state senate debate he made it very clear that he was not in favor of abortion -- or he was, excuse me, in favor of abortion at the time. and that's one of the things going on today as many of these candidates really try to grab a hold of those conservative voters who will be heading to the polls exactly one week from today. chris? >> and you

mitt romney.i think it's unlikely because perry bachmann and gingrich, they are still all in that field and taking some of that vote, splintering enough that frankly mitt romney may wind up winning with 26% which is remarkable. >> that is the point susan page, you're in des moines, we'll join you there tomorrow. the whole point is that mitt romney is benefitting from this division of theç conservative libertarian evangelical wings of the party. >> he sure is. i interviewed mitt romney yesterday on his campaign bus. i have to say he is about as optimistic as i have seen him. i remember four years watching his campaign collapse at this point with the surge of huckabee, there's none of that sense now. i think the romney people are in this to win. we've never had someone who won the iowa caucuses and then the new hampshire primary and then failed to get the nomination. >> susan, also usa today and gallop have a poll an political ideology, this is your poll on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being very liber

more and more come to mitt romney.a voters more than anyone had a touch and feel and more attention than any other state. more and more are coming to mitt romney and the numbers are surging. there is an evangelical base that has gone from michele bachmann to newt gingrich and rick santorum. at the end of the day, mitt romney will finish strong in iowa and far above almost everyone's expectations. and on the flip side, do you think he would be more mot rate to reach consensus and washington and why would democrats who washed them stonewall nearly everything, why would they want to work with mitt romney? >> being a conservative does not mean they wouldn't go with the voters. one of the strongest presidents we had and an uncanny ability to work with the super majority democrat-controlled house to pass the tax cuts and theç reduction in spending and the economic reforms. this is a perfect example of someone who built consensus even among independent and democrat voters and lawmakers. people look at washington, d.c. and se

for romney.rtin from des moines. thank you. >>> the republican candidates are rolling through iowa hoping to make it through the caucuses without running out of gas. >>> plus, an elaborate sendoff for north korea's dear leader. >>> and a new threat from iran to block a critical oil supply route. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. i habe a cohd. yeah, i toog nyguil bud i'm stild stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't un-stuff your nose. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! yeah, our low prices are even lower. we need to teach her how to walk. she is taking up valuable cart space. aren't you, honey? [ male announcer ] it's our biggest clearance event of the year where our prices are even lower. save money. live better. walmart. there's a battery that's relied on to help bring children holiday joy. of course, children don't really th

suggests romney has.ere's another candidate running for president of the united states right now. that's president obama. he says he's proud to finally say two words to u.s. forces who are serving, who have served in iraq. welcome home. went to ft. bragg, north carolina today for another ceremony marking the end of america's eight-year war in iraq. cnn is covering the kit from iraq in depth. let's go to dan lothian. the president was pretty well received at ft. bragg. >> he was. a senior aide said the trip to ft. bragg today was really a turn the page moment for the country. the president during his remarks delivered a mix of triumphs and challenges. he saluted the troops and family members as well, and made the case that optimistic view as the final troops come home is not shared by everyone. president obama may not have supported the war in iraq, but speaking to some of the troops who fought in it, he embraced the outcome. >> all the fighting, all the dying, the bleeding and the building and the trainin

mitt romney and ron paul are

what about ann romney?he best. >> she -- her introduction to you, if you could just tell us what it means, on a cold, drizzly day in iowa, to have your partner, your wife, at your side? >> well, the funny thing is, she got me into this. i had decided after the last run that that was it. and actually she had decided the same thing. there was a camera that was near her after the last campaign was over, and she went over to it and she said i want this on the record, in case i forget, we'll never, ever run for office again. and then after the president had been in office for awhile, she came to me and she said, i've changed my mind. mitt, you've got to run. and -- and i held off for months and months as she continued to work with me and say, mitt, you've got to do this. you've got to get the country on track. you're the only guy that can do what has to be done. so i remind her, i saw this morning, we got up early in our room this morning and she said it's a fine mess i've gotten you into, isn't it? it's an old

romney needs electability. if he loses that, that is going to be even tougher for him, particularly when this fight moves to florida. finally, speaking of poll, rick perry is desperate to catch up in iowa, and he's now making a frankly desperate and direct appeal to evangelicals with this new ad. >> i'm not ashamed to admit that i'm a christian. but you don't need to be in the pew every sunday to know that there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate christmas or pray in school. as president, i'll end obama's war on religion. >> well, rick perry is just the latest republican to try and capture iowa's religious and social conservatives who have yet to coalesce behind one candidate. big reason for that, no endorsement from this man, steve scheffler. he's president of the iowa faith and freedom coalition and a powerful force among iowa conservatives politically for more than 20 years. mr. scheffler joins me now. good morning, sir. thanks for

the romney endorsement certainly big.raq war ending as we've covered throughout the hour, and this payroll tax cut which is a story that's going to play out today, and i think into the early part of the week. thank you both, as always. >> good to be with you. >> and happy holidays. >> before you go, be sure to watch our press pass conversation on our blog. this week, it's about the intersection between politics and the arts. i spoke with holland taylor, an actress familiar to many as she starred in major roles on the big and small between, "two and a half men" one of my personal favorites, "bosom buddies," but she's now starring in a new one-woman play as the late, legendary governor of texas, ann richards. you can see that on our blog, presspass.msnbc.com. we'll be back next week on christmas morning with a special discuss about the state of the country, and a look ahead to politics in the new year. tom brokaw, tom friedman, mark politics in the new year. tom brokaw, tom friedman, mark morial and kathleen i joined the na

mitt romney and ron paul. only doing well here, but they actually have organizations and money in other states. >> is newt running out of money as well? >> i think it's going to be difficult for newt to raise money if he's not in the top three heading out here. >> and his hope -- excuse me. his hope, liz, is to try to last long enough to get to the next debate, which is almost like his oasis. if he can get to a debate, right, jennifer, he's one guy that can live off the land. he's so successful in the debates. and one thing that killed him out here, right, is there haven't been many debates for while. >> and that's why perry is doing well. perry is best at retail campaigning, that one-on-one contact -- >> and advertising. >> right. more people are showing up to see rick perry, he's finally dedicating some time here, and he's not debating. >> let me ask you about the role of iowa. iowa made jimmy carter. in many ways i would argue it made president obama. winning out here sort of established him, almost the way

at newt romney, if you look at newt romney. >> if you look at newt romney.. michele bachmann is the proven conservative. >> 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. i

wolf blitzer talked to romney today and asked ann romney what we didn't know about mitt romney.d. >> i think people don't appreciate actually his sense of humor that he actually humor. that he actually plays a lot of tricks all the time and that he's actually he actually laughs most of the time. he will be telling a joke and will be laughing and sitting back and telling jokes. >> who knew? >> are they good jokes? >> that's right. >> who knew? >> i actually don't think that's -- because people say, oh, they can't relate to him and he's so stiff. i have this here ree that part theory that he's part of the campaign of sitting and watching people go up and go down. he's been completely cautious and very careful and people didn't see the fire. they are sort of dating everybody else but in the end they see him more presidential than anybody in the field. >> without question. and you do talk to voters here and other states and they say, i just want romney to have a little bit more energy. the romney campaign has been fairly smart about that. they decided to go out and find voters who m

cain was the anti-romney, bachmann was the anti-romney, governor perry was the anti-romney.he might get a second act. there's a "vanity fair" article about the perry collapse and it says this, quote, the most intriguing explanation for perry's collapse has been circulating in austin for weeks. the theory suggests that the governor's suffering from the aftereffects of effects of his low back surgery in july six week before he announced his candidacy. ever since, you saw this at the very first debate, he seemed to be uncomfortable, you know twisting his torso, observes the dean of political writers, his surgery, he had his spine fused. stem cell injected into him. and there is some buzz among conservatives this somehow is planting the seeds of a perry exit strategy? >> that's what we are hearing. that this is the beginning of the perry exit strategy. other candidates have come back from, you know at the very bottom of the well, but perry's situation is unique because he disqualified himself on ability, not on position on an issue. voters came to doubt that he was capable of do

. >> 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 going to keep moving forward. >> just wait and see. that's what i tell him. >> it is hard not to see that the romney campaign is at

they were going after mitt romney to try to bring romney down last week. after newt gingrich to try to build gingrich up. if you're the president and heavyweight champ, they make it more divisive -- >> they would rather face newt gingrich than mitt romney, is that what you're saying? sfl and they'd rather keep gingrich around as soon as possible. >> we would like to keep newt gingrich in arenarena. he's sound worthy. he's brilliant but as coburn said he's very divisive and represents the partisanship that the american people have been turned off by. >> who is a bigger threat potentially as the republican nominee to a second term for president obama? >> right now wolf, if you look at the polls, 50% of the republican voters are still in this dating phase. i would say that both romney and gingrich should be targeted by the obama -- >> a lot of republicans love the idea of newt gingrich debating barack obama. >> it's almost like, do you want to buy a ticket for that debate. republicans would vote for that. they need to remember when he was speaker and led repu

. >> mitt romney is not a true conservative. >> they don't view mitt romney as one of them. >> no one is getting a mitt romney tattoo for next summer. >> if you cheat on your wife, you'll cheat on your business partner. >> do you give someone you acknowledge is a bomb thrower a nuclear weapon? >> electromagnetic pulse. >> you don't want a president throwing grenades left and right. >> impacts would be so horrifying. >> i am not a bomb thrower, rhetorically or literally. >> 21% of republican voters say they believe the current field of candidates is a strong one. >> it is a disaster. complete disaster. a complete and total disaster. a complete and total disaster. >> president obama played to his political strength giving a speech at fort brag to mark the end of the war in iraq and highlight his administration's military accomplishments. >> around the globe as we draw down in iraq, we have gone after al qaeda so that terrorists that threaten america will have no safe haven, and osama bin laden will never again walk the face of this earth. >> according to the new nbc news and "the wall s

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 cons

mitt romney. yesterday on the trail in new hampshire, romney responded to those new nbc polls. >> various once of us have led in the polls at one time or another. i think people are taking a very careful look because we are very, very committed as a conservative group of voters that we want someone we can nominate who will both beat barack obama and fix the country. six candidates faced off in des moines saturday in one of the two iowa debates that will be later this week. if you want to understand why gingrich has dominated in the polls, i think the most instructive moment at the debate was the exchange with romney in israel. earlier gingrich had called the palestinians a, quote, inventive people. saturday night he doubled down on that and listen to the response. >> someone ought to have the courage to tell the truth. these people are terrorists. they teach terrorism in their schools. >> i will exercise sobriety, care, stability. i'm not a bomb thrower, rhetorically or literally. >> it's importan

everything you heard from the white house was romney, romney, romney.know, they're looking over their shoulder. could be newt. so let's, you know, make sure -- >> i'm one of those who believes the president pays strict attention to everything we do maybe not verbatim from this kind of program, but he knows what's going on politically. here's "60 minutes," steve kroft asking the president what he accomplished his first term. let's watch the president's very important answer here. >> not only saving this country from a great depression, not only saving the auto industry, but putting in place a system in which we're going to start lowering health care costs and you're never going to go bankrupt because you get sick or somebody in your family gets sick. making sure that we have reformed the financial system so we never again have taxpayer funded bailouts and the system is more stable and secure. ending dlt "don't ask, don't tell," decimating al qaeda, including bin laden being taken off the field. >> compelling argument for re-election yet, or not? >> i thi

it's still mitt romney.wt gingrich may be better on the issues and more substantive and speak like i think and speak like i speak, and romney can -- he is much more in the margin of error. >> karen, does this put a smile on your face? >> it's good news for the obama administration. obviously it means the administration has got to work very hard in both florida and south carolina in the african-american communities in particular, and they need to spend money and resources in the communities commensurate with the impact the voters can have. i don't see latino or african-american voters going for newt gingrich calling barack obama the food stamp president, and i think they can see through that rhetoric. those two communities, critical in both of the states. >>> jackie, what do you think of the president investing gingrich and romney? >> gingrich has done a lot of out reach even in his role in the private sector. he has something called the americacano, and has done work in those communities. however, you know,

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. 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 of mr. gingrich 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. he'll continue to lose to his number one longtime foe, newt gingrich. he is is a human hand grenade who walks around with his hand on the pin saying, watch this. quote, is he erratic and u

romney 35%. newt gingrich 26%. everybody else in single didn'ts but huntsman is doing 8% in new hampshire. he could take votes away from mitt romney in new hampshire. >> he could and that's not a very big lead giving where romney has been before. this is a troubling poll for romney. he has to go big here. certainly if he does not win in iowa, and he could come in in third if he moves in new hampshire. none the less, there is a very troubling poll for him. >> could you see huntsman's numbers going up and romney's going down at his expense? >> yes. i think romney is a little more fragile than it may appear. huntsman is going to go all out there. the super pack may be putting a lot of money on the air there and the voters are naturally to come from romney. romney could fall and huntsman rise. >> as important as iowa and new hampshire are, south carolina may be more important. take a look at these numbers. gingrich 43%, romney 20%, everybody else single digits. perry 8, bachmann 6, paul 6, santorum 4 and huntsman 15. t

been romney's problem. so which brings me back to the nikki haley endorsement. it is, on one hand, payback. mitt romney one of the first presidentials to endorse her before she was the clear front-runner. he did it before it was cool to get behind nikki haley, before sarah palin did it and all of those things back during those primaries in 2010. but it now does raise expectations in that state that he did not do well in four years ago and nobody thinks he's going to do well in this time. >> well, i don't think we quite know how he's going to do in south carolina. >> that's true. >> does somebody get steam out of iowa, or do you have such a mixed result, a romney victory or a ron paul victory that doesn't catapult anybody who we would see as a serious contender for the nomination? you know, it certainly provides with him some important endorsement in south carolina, and it makes it more of a game there for him. and of course, their real prize, florida, the next state down the line. that's where the romney pe

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if it hurts romney's candidacy in the short run, ron paul winning in iowa helps romney enormously. if you have to choose between the two of them, you're going to choose mitt romney. >> as far as gingrich is concerned, he's putting out positive ads like this. let's take a look. >> is there anything for inspiring than american towns and neighborhoods brightly lit for the holidays? >> reminds us of the fire of freedom that burns bright in the america we love. >> merry christmas. happy new year. i'm calista gingrich. >> i'm newt gingrich. i approve this message. >> doesn't get more all-american than that. does something like this work in this environment -- >> nope. >> -- where this super pac is beating the tar out of him? >> it doesn't work. this is the death spiral. i got into this with dick gephardt. i didn't know i was putting the ads in the air. it was my campaign that did it. apparently gephardt wanted to take us down because he needed to win. we apparently retaliated. that was the end of both of us. so, you know, this is a bad spiral to be in. romney's made the calculation he ca

romney lost that race. story once again and hopes it has the same effect. we're joined tonight by randy johnson, currently on the staff of the united steelworkers. good to have you with us tonight. you've seen this song and dance before. do you believe bain capital under mitt romney profited from putting people out of work? >> i think a lot of times that during the purchase of these companies, they learn that running up debt, developing stock, actually putting a ç company out there to make the best profit for its shareholders, but not the workers. and that's what they did. it's a scheme that kind of goes on. i think that's proved out by some of the board of directors from the ampad and some of the things i've heard since then. they actually go out -- >> romney -- >> uh-huh? >> they actually do what? >> they actually go out and look for these companies in distress. that's what ampad was. and then ampad bought my plant and when we kind of stood up and said, wait a minute, you're cutting our health care, you'

does and i think that's a big problem for romney. >> by the way, i think the romney people made that decision one week too soon. >> let's bottom line it, joe. are they eventually going to fall in love with mitt romney or overcome their problems and go for newt? >> problem with newt is, already, in interviews this week, he's referring to himself as 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 hou

>> john, if ron paul wins, romney wins, if romney wins, romney wins. but if newt wins, romney has problems. >> that rasmussen poll is interesting because he was the first pollster in iowa to pick up the newt surge. he had newt popping up to 32 before anyone else so maybe he is picking up the -- newt's momentum. >> i'm going to put you in charge o >>> issue two, out of iraq! >> in the coming days, the last american soldiers will cross the border out of iraq, with honor and with their heads held high. after nearly nine years, our war in iraq ends this month. >> political process established, democratic process, and adoption of the principles of elections and the peaceful transfer of authority. >> president barack obama this week hosted iraq's prime minister, the meeting took place to mark the end of the the war in iraq this. was in washington, on monday. here is the president on wednesday, in fort bragg, north carolina, 50 miles south of raleigh,tary back from iraq. >> so as your commander in chief, and on behalf of a greatful nation, i'm proud to finall

mitt romney, maybe?, romney was the one going after a democratic candidate for, get this, flip-flopping. here's what he said about john kerry back in 2004. let's listen. >> when you're running for office, you look at your opponent's record and you find some place where he or she has changed position and you say he's a flip-flopper, and that's a pretty standard thing. but in this case, this guy really is. i won't go through that whole list, but it's really kpoo extraordinary. i try to find why it is he finds it so difficult to come down on one side of an issue. instead, kind of floats between both issues. he's with an audience he wants to identify with and satisfy that audience and he says what he thinks they want to hear. we laugh and joke about that kind of inconsistency and vacillation. and yet as we look at the times that we face, it's really not a joking matter. >> wow, the pot calling the kettle black. lessons from an expert. sounds more like a personal reflection, doesn't it, about himself? >>> up