. >> saul alinsky radicalism. to republicans who spew that kind of stuff have a clue who the guy was? do the voters? we've got the file on alinsky tonight. a man whose message has been admired by conservative icon william f. buckley, dick armey and, guess who. mitt romney's own dad. >>> plus, the more newt and mitt duke it out. he has a new spring in his step. one reason why is the fight we're all watching on the right. and newt gets an endorsement he can do without from prison from as we say, inside. and that's in the side show tonight. we begin with mitt romney's strong debate performance on cnn. howard fineman is a political analyst. and susan page is the washington bureau chief. howard, let's look at the polls out today that show the race in florida turning strongly for romney. take a look. both the latest sunshine state poll have romney ahead by 9%. one at 40%, the other at 38%. your sense of why newt is losing and mitt is winning? >> well, mitt romney came last night to do what he had to do. he was the new c

you're for european socialism and saul alinsky radicalism, you're with barack obama. >> saul alinskylives. he laid out this process in his most famous book as a pragmatic primmer. that was book's full title. it was published in 1971. why is he in the political bloodstream now? lynn sweet covers politics for the "chicago sun times." i have been wanting to get this straight. william buckley said alinsky is close to becoming a genius. the group gives the book to its top leadership members to study. a spokesman said his tactics are incredibly effective. this photo shows mitt's father two months after the detroit riots. george romney says "i think you ought to listen to alinsky." this is so fascinating. i thought of alinsky as not as left wing zealous, and just a guy that helped poor people organize so they could have voice. >> well, you know, i think he was a left. he was influenced by the father of italian communism. but his goals and everything he laid out in this book rules for radicals really were to take the power away from the haves and give it to the have notes. the reason you hea

megyn: this is from a saul alinsky biographer who came out and said that saul alinsky was not a bomb-throwingadical by any means. others have said he's not as controversial as people like newt gingrich would have you believe. there is a question of how closely barack obama read him or is affiliated with him. >> reporter: saul alinsky said the have notes should take away the power of the haves. it's that expression, take it away, it's that aggression that goes to the core of the argument. megyn: thank you, stu. it was lawmakers versus park rangers on capitol hill in a fight over the occupy washington protests. >> my job as a 35-year veteran of the national park service is to protect the individuals' rights under the first amendment. when each protest -- >> wait a second, to protect their rights under the first amendment, is it not also your job to enforce the law? megyn: up next we'll investigate worries about politics in the park service? and new developments in the investigation into how a new york city ad executive was killed in an elevator accident. new research suggesting these accidents

when people talk about saul alinsky being radical, the radicalism is really quite literal. means to the root, on the ground. >> by the '90s, the young barack obama had been schooled and had taught others alinsky's techniques, which is why newt gingrich made the name of the largely forgotten figure a daily mantra. >> the centerpiece of the campaign, i believe, is america exceptionalism, versus the radicalism of saul alinsky. >> president obama believes in saul alinsky's radicalism. we need somebody who is a conservative, and who can stand up to him in debates and who can clearly draw the contrast. between the declaration of independence and the writing of saul alinsky. >> but gingrich got a dose of his own rhetorical medicine after he attacked bain capital. >> what the hell are you doing, newt? you believe what i -- you, i expect this to from saul alinsky. >> alinsky's career was the subject of a senior thesis written by hillary clinton. in washington, james rosen, fox news. >> bret: still ahead, going after the cuban-american vote in florida. first, the president takes the

saul alinsky.erson in florida, for example, this week? >> i think probably the average person is not even familiar with saul alinsky and some of his community organizational tactics that are much like this president. and i have to say to you that i think it's pretty esoteric and most people it goes right over their head. >> why does he keep doing it? >> because i think he's correct and he wants us all to begin to think about how this president became president and how the american people really never knew where this president was on anything before we elected him. not to any real degree. i think now we do. >> okay. your thoughts on that, congressman davis. if it's not food stamps it's saul alinsky with that interest interesting trotsky-like sounding name. he was no comie. i know why the name is used to confuse the voter. this guy must be some far left dangerous alien that the president has been associated with. why would the speaker keep using this name? saul alinsky. it's part -- your interpretati

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the tactics of saul alinsky and barack obama are geared toward wealth redistribution. in service of that goal rather than in the free market goal. >> bill: alinsky didn't respect private property. >> remember, this is what occupy wall street is all about. this is the same revolution. >> bill: obama not embraced occupy wall street. >> sure he has. of course he has made a couple comments supportive. nancy pelosi have all embraced it. >> alinsky didn't believe in socialism. he would not define himself. >> bill: you can say he wasn't a communist or socialist. >> he was not. >> bill: when you say i don't believe in private property. human rights above property rights. >> belief not what barack obama does. >> bill: you pivoted. >> i never said he is embracing allen ski's belief system. >> bill: fair for gingrich to bring this up radical alinsky and try to tie him to obama? is that fair? >> absolute will you. you don't need to tie anything. you saw carney there. >> bill: i don't think carney knew who allen ski was. >> let's not be naive. >> bill: do you think is he a marxist?

president obama believes in saul alinsky's radicalism, a lot of strange ideas he learned at columbia and harvard, in a european socialist secular model. we are about as far apart as you can get. i believe the founding fathers were correct when they wrote, we hold these truths to be self-evident. it's very important. they didn't say ideology, philosophy, ideas. they were trying to understand the truth by which humans govern themselves. and the truth about human nature. they said all men are created equal, which at the time they wrote it was a very radical idea. it was a time of kings and emperors and czars. they said, no, no. we are all equal. and then they said, we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. this is what american exceptionalism is all about. we are just people. we are exceptional because we

the name is saul alinski.ican exceptionalism, versus the radicalism of saul alinski. i could debate obama head-to-head, that i could convey conservative values, and that i could in an articulate way explain what american exceptionalism was all about, and why the values that he believes in, the saul alinski radicalism that is at the heart of obama. i am going to represent the declaration of independence, the constitution, the federalist papers, and the great heroes of american history. he will represent saul alinski, european socialism, secular radicalism, and all the ideas he got at harvard and columbia. >> first of all, nothing wrong with getting ideas at harvard and columbia. but people listening are like, who is saul alinski? well, the speaker mentions him often especially when he is talking about president obama and what speaker gingrich believes to be his liberal beliefs. he was born in chicago in 1909. a community organizer, just like a young barack obama in chicago as well. spent his life helping minori

. >> if you have a former community organizer who was trained in the saul alinsky school of direct democracy, appointing the worst abuser, the worst abuser of crony capitalism, ge, who came in and begged for this bailout, to head his jobs council, when obviously ge's international corporation, they've been shifting jobs offshore for decades, then it becomes so obvious that we have a new kind of system, and that we have a real crisis. >> where is the shame? shouldn't these people have been at least a little ashamed of running the economy and the financial system into the ditch and then saying, "come lifte out?" >> yes. you know, i think that's part of the problem. i started on capitol hill in 1970s. and as i can vividly recall, corporate leaders then at least were consistent. they might've complained about big government, or they might've complained about the tax system. but there wasn't an entitlement expectation that if financial turmoil or upheaval came along, that the treasury, or the federal reserve, or the fdic or someone would be there to back them up. that would've been considered, yo

he draws his from saul alinsky, radical left wingers and people who don't like the classical america.e're going to address head-on. >> she would be a great first lady and with your help she will be a great first lady. one of the key issues and i'm prepared to take this straight at the president and frankly straight at the elite media. one of the key issues is the growing anti-bigotry issues of our growing elites, and if you go to newt.org, my campaign site there's a 54-page paper there on the balance of power, putting the judiciary back in its proper role in eliminating dictatodict big ats such as justice berry in san antonio who issued a ruling not only could the students not pray at their graduation, if they used the word "benediction" the word "invocation," the word "god," asked the audience to stand or a moment of silence he would put the superintendent in jail. [ boos ] now we don't have speech dictatorship in america by anti-religious bigots, period. the second big theme, frankly, is one that every south carolinian understands. it's jobs, economic growth, balancing the budget, h

. >> every time he says food stamps or the name saul alinsky which i'm convinced if you ask 99% of thosetheir fanny packs who -- they think trotski, some communistic -- >> a guy who was a communist, reads karl marx all day. he knows how to play to this crowd quite well. but i tell you -- >> i envy you guys. it's fun out there. jonathan martin and nia-malika henderson. let me finish with the joy i'm getting watching this fight from here between newt and mitt. you're watching "hardball." c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey! with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter

would he say saul alinsky and talk like that right to him? >> i don't know about the saul -- yes, i think newt would. >> would he get that direct and personal with these charges? >> if he was the nominee, i think he would. i would say, chris, i'm stunned and chuck and i have talked about this, but i am stunned to the extent at which the entire gingrich candidacy is premised on the idea that he's the better debater against barack obama as if the general election campaign, the only thing in the general election campaign which could go on for months and months are those three, what we expect to be three presidential debates. it's a remarkable thing that people are saying he is more electable because he is a better debater. my friend, chris, i do agree he is right on one thing in history. they will be the greatest debates in history that those two guys go at it because they both got i.q.s well high up there and they would be unbelievably literate against each other. thank you. >>> coming up we've seen watching newt gingrich surge in florida just l

at the washington examiner they turned it up to 11, newt gingrich is a saul alinsky republican. then the conservative ahere can spectator, they were headlining, newt's rubio rumble. a rising star, meaning mr. rubio, puts the drink rigingric candidacy in its place. tra transparent much, you guys? all killing gingrich, the newt push back in terms of his surrogates and people sticking up for him in the conservative media, they're trying but it's comparatively puny. >> look at newt gingrich, what is going on with him? via the establishment attacks, they are crucify this man, rewrite history and what he has stood for, not just ron paul, i believe it's also newt gingrich the establishment that the liberal media certainly the progressives and democrats don't like. >> i mean no disrespect governor palin, progressives and democrats really really like newt gingrich. not vote for him. if they could vote in the republican primaries, that is probably would they would vote for. have you seen the head-to-head numbers? barack obama beating all the main contenders in the head-to-head match-ups.

. >> if you are for american exceptionalism, you're us, if you're for american radicalism and saul alinskyu're for barack obama. if you are for a strong america in a dangerous world, you're with us. if you're for a weak america that tries to appease its enemies, you're with obama. i think that's what this whole campaign will be about. >> kind of interesting. so he thinks american exceptionalism stands in stark contrast to european socialism. american exceptionalism is a hot topic in the race for the white house but it's an idea that dates back all the way to the 1800. it's the idea that america has a unique identity and ideology. will, it's often interpreted to mean that the u.s. is superior in several ways to other countries. you're a conservative. i hear this more from conservatives than anyone else so tell me to you what american exceptionalism means. >> first i'll explain it from a romantic perspective. then talk about practical applications. last block i went back 2,000 years. this time one year. michael lewis wrote a book called "money ball" and the manager of the oakland a's says i

american who prefers a paycheck to food stamps, who prefers the declaration of independence to saul alinskyator -- i'll repeat the question for you. why do you think you're the best, most qualified person on this stage to beat president obama? >> i agree with the previous two speakers this is a big election. it's about fundamental freedom. it's about who the country is going to be. i just think i'm better than the previous two speakers to make that case to the mesh public. i'm not for a top down government run health care system or for the wall street bailouts. governor romney talks about the private sector. when the private sector was in trouble he voted for government to bail them out. cap and trade. both of them bought into the global warming hoax and top down control of the energy and manufacturing sector. if you look at president obama's speeches he led with manufacturing. he led with manufacturing why? because the base of his party, the one that are -- the swing vote in his party, the one that ronald reagan was able to get. we call them reagan democrats. those are the blue collar work

. >>> newt gingrich says voters have a choice in this election between a saul alinsky radical and americanow will that play with america? all that plus who is putting together the president's state of the union? is it the white house or is it his re-election team? see you top of the hour. jenna: now this story. a british couple made headlines a few years back after deciding to keep their child's gender a secret. is that the story we're going to next guys, or doing a different story? i have to wait from the control room to find out. jon: we're taking about my own hometown, fort collins. jenna: i guess we'll go there. do you want to take it, jon? jon: a new motor city in the rockies, fort collins. a college town fast becoming a hub of automotive innovation and cleaner green technologies. alicia acuna live from denver for us. alicia? >> reporter: jon the work being done in fort collins is university research on green technologies but what i cans it so different is they have taken a bunch of private companies, all working together in the same building so this research doesn't sit on the shelf

american who prefers a paycheck to food stamps, who prefers the declaration of independence to saul alinsky and who prefers a strong national security to trying to appease our enemies. [applause] blitzer: senator? [applause] i'll repeat the question for you. why do you think you're the best, most qualified person on this stage to beat president obama? santorum: i agree with the previous two speakers that this is a big election. this is an election about fundamental freedom. it's about who america is going to be. are we a country that's going to be built great from the bottom up, as our founders intended, or from the top down? i just think i'm a lot better than the previous two speakers to be able to make that case to the american people. i'm not for a top- down government-run health care system. i wasn't for the wall street bailouts like these two gentlemen were. governor romney talks about the private sector and how he's going to bring private sector. when the private sector was in trouble, he voted for government to come in and take over the private sector and be able to -- and to bail th