imagine, the republican party nominates somebody who is deemed unelectable by the electorate. >> steve schmidt is vice chairman of public affairs of edelman which is a firm in addition to being global is also independent. steve, you pointed out there's been a glacial but unmistakable increase in the president's approval ratings, something else that matches that description is the economy. the economy is unquestionably getting slightly better. as you all know better than anyone, it's tough to feel. the statistics are pointing that way. does that remove a lot of the argument for mitt romney? >> when we sit up here and we talk about what's going to happen in elections, we often talk about them through the prism of events that have already occurred. and i think this election is fundamentally going to be shaped by events that have yet to occur. so, for example, the euro crisis will have a dramatic impact on whatever natient recovery the american economy is under way. there's also the question of how the american people feel, and if you look at the nbc/"wall street journal" poll, you have 74% of the

thank you, steve schmidt, and anita dunn. thank you for participating. >>> coming up, a summit looking at cyber security and overseas voting by members of the military. after that, several programs on the department of defense budget starting with a look at the automatic cuts set to take effect january 2, 2013. also a couple of briefings looking at the army and air force budgets. >>> next a summit exploring new technologies and ways of approaching problems in overseas and military voting. you'll hear first from the vice president and general manager of enterprise security at hewlett-packard. he spoke about cyber security challenges and ways to prevent voter fraud and the challenges facing military voter participation. and the implementation of the move act which protects them to vote, regardless of where they're stationed and other ways to ensure that overseas service members have easier access to voting. hosted by the pew charitable trust and the ovf, this is about 90 minutes. >> sorry about the dark video. especially at thi

fineman is an msnbc political analyst and "the huffington post" media group editorial director and steve schmidt worked on the bush/cheney 2004 campaign and ran the 2008 mccain campaign. steve's also an msnbc political analyst. gentlemen, last night was interesting. tonight begins the more interesting test. last night romney came out on top, though only by eight votes and that's not eight percentage points. that's eight individual voters' votes. rick santorum for all intents and purposes tied romney last night. ron paul came in third, and newt gingrich was a distant but important fourth. howard, i think it was important that gingrich grabbed that fourth. he's still in the running, in the top four. not in the money, as you would say. >> yeah. >> but let me ask you about this. let's talk really big now. if you're the president in the white house, you're david plouffe, if you're axelrod, all the big thinkers, valerie jarrett and the rest of them and you're mitt romney, are you worried that you might be seeing the beginning of the end on the right? that they are beginning to realize that one of the

steve schmidt, one of mccain's top advisor in 2008. if newt gingrich is able to win the florida primary, you will see a panic and meltdown of the republican establishment that is beyond my ability to articulate in the english language. >> you know, i know steve well. he came from my class in tulane and a pretty blunt guy. you will. if romney doesn't win florida, there will be enormous pressure on him to get out. these guys are not going to let this thing go to newt gingrich, i can tell you. i can assure you that conference calls are being arranged, memos being exchanged and somebody has a plan b going here. romney better -- he's go the to show these people something here tonight on our network thursday night, he's going to be in real trouble. >> bay, i know you think mitt romney's resources and infrastructure will give him the advantage in florida. he's had the same advantage in south carolina along with a lead in the polls and he still lost. >> south carolina was extraordinarily unusual. i was down there. the week before, things were

steve schmidt, senior adviser to that campaign, your response? >> there's an element of truth to t john mccain was never the favorite of the republican base, of the activist conservatives that do a lot of the volunteer work in the republican party. but that isn't the reason john mccain lost the race. john mccain lost the election fundamentally because we lost the middle of the electorate. and at the end of the day, if you look at the president's poll numbers right now in the mid-40s that middle of the elector vat up for grabs and i just think it denies lodgic that newt gingrich would be the person that would be able to appeal into the middle of the electorate, given his record, given his -- >> do you need the activists? don't the activists make a big difference? >> at the end of the day what will drive enthusiasm among those activists is -- is for a candidate that will defeat president obama and when john mccain stepped out onto the stage at the republican convention, he was greeted with enthusia enthusiastic, loud, robust applause, as will mitt

person to have ever run a successful presidential campaign against mitt romney, msnbc analyst steve schmidter strategist for the mccain/palin campaign. do you think this is a flash in the pan thing doesn't matter, in florida it's all over? >> george bush in 2000 was the inevitable republican nominee despite the loss in new hampshire as a function of his strength as a candidate. in 2012, mitt romney i think is the inevitable nominee of the party but i think it's a function of the weakness of the other candidates and their implausability to take the oath of office. >> so when you think about the strength of mitt romney as a candidate it's purely relative strength? i feel like he is melting down a little bit and not handling the stress very well. do you see it that way? >> i think all campaigns that go on to win survive some degree of near-death experience. and they get tested. new hampshire was a terrible period, obviously, for president bush in 2000. it made him stronger as a candidate. john kerry went through this in 2004. president obama went through this in 2008 during the primaries, so i

i'm rachel maddow, alongside our panel for the night, steve schmidt, a chief strategist with the mccain/palin campaign four years ago. he is now an msnbc political analyst. the host of "the ed show" on msnbc, the great ed schultz, lawrence o'donnell, host of the last word on msnbc. lawrence is a former senior senate staffer and the host of politics nation, reverend al sharpton, a former presidential candidate himself. you will be hearing from these fellas all in just a moment. tonight, the polls close in florida at 7 p.m. local time. now, florida is a big place. while most of florida is on eastern time, florida's panhandle is in the central time zone. so, polls there stay open until 7 p.m. central, that's 7 p.m. local time there, which is 8 p.m. eastern. and that is the earliest time we will be able to characterize the race tonight for the whole state of florida. our first sense of who's turning out in florida today and what's important to those voters comes courtesy, of course, of our exit polling from the state. for that, we turn to tamron hall what can you tell us? >> we talked to fl

he also cost his vote for obama four years ago and steve schmidt is the owner of the enchanted springs ranch in texas. he supported john mccain in the last election. thank you all for coming and joining in in the first of this series which i'm so excited about. i want to start with you, gene, because i do think in talking to small business owners, a lot is happening. we don't exactly know how it's going to affect us. so when you look at the issues that the candidates are talking about, or should be talking about, what are -- what are the two things that you think we as small business owners most need to pay attention to the vws from the candidates? >> there's really two big important things that i see. and by the way, when you say that i voted for president obama, just to be clear, i'm a registered republican, as well, who voted for george bush twice. and then voted for obama. and so i've kind of, you know, been on both sides of the table there. two things i think are really important for businesses looking forward. number one is the tax environment. overall, taxes represent, to most s

i think steve schmidt was right, it was a diffused speech, they go in different directions.sident, that is what he does every chance he gets. then you have paul, all over the place, like the world's greatest authority, professor irwin corey with the bromides, suggestions for changing the universe. then you have huntsman goingç against the afghanistan commitment, seems to be on-going forever. it's not like they are competing in the same marketplace of ideas, they each have niches they are going in, you have to wonder if they are all going for the republican nomination of the same party? that is what i find probably what is weird about covering this campaign. rachel, they're not campaigning for the same audience. >> two out of the three candidates, one in new hampshire tonight want to get out of afghanistan right now. not on the plan that the country has, they want to get out right now. this is something totally different than what we've seen from the republican party. >> the way that strategists talk about this, correct me if i'm wrong, the idea of fishing out of different p

republican strategist, steve schmidt, the chief strategist within the mccain campaign four years agond the host of "the he had show" on msnbc, ed schultz. >>> lawrence o'donnell, the host of the "last word" on msnbc. and the former presidential candidate, the reverend al sharpton. chris mauttthews is with us fro tampa, florida. >> i think everyone paying attention can see what this fight's about. mitt romney is the usual republican front-runner. the usual candidate positioned on snrt right to win the nomination and compete in the general election. he's polished, practiced, ready to serve. he is to put it succinctly, serviceable. but this is not the usual year. the quest this time is about passion, anger, it's about attitude, contempt, it's personal. it's to beat obama. beat him in the debate. beat him historically. it is to remove him from the scene of presidential politics. and this is the role for which newt gingrich is warming up for, with his rivals, news people, with anyone willing to stand up with him on a platform. to beat obama, to begin with by beating him on national televi

i would like to thank steve schmidt and anita dunn. a of a we will have more covers tomorrow when newt gingrich and ron paul participate in a forum at the seven republican leadership conference. that is one day before south carolina goes to the polls. live coverage is under way at 9:00 a.m. eastern on c-span2. later in the day, mitt romney will hold a campaign rally on jobs and the economy. each and see live coverage at 3:45 p.m. eastern. -- you can see live coverage at 3:35 p.m. eastern. >> we show you the candidates events leading up to saturday's south carolina primary. >> the obama administration came down with a policy that says she cannot teach abstinence. -- as a preferable way of avoiding out of wedlock birth. she cannot talk about marriage. did she cannot of about marriage as anything other than an alternative lifestyle that is no better or worse than any of their lifestyle. my question is why? >> when the president adopts a stimulus package of hundreds of billions of dollars that nobody has read thand then discovers to years

there is no way i could put this better than what republican strategist steve schmidt said on the air on saturday night when it became clear newt gingrich was running away with it in south carolina. i thought he might explode on camera. >> probably moving toward declaration of war on newt gingrich by the republican establishment. and if newt gingrich is able to win the florida primary, you will see a panic and a meltdown of the republican establishment that is beyond my ability to articulate in the english language. >> joining us with the newly released newt gingrich freddie mac contract in hand, is michael isikoff. mr. isikoff, thank you for joining us. >> great to be with you, rachel. >> first, give us a sense of what this document is. what it describes, and who has released it. >> center for health transformation, an arm of the gingrich group, which is the consulting firm founded by newt gingrich that had the contract with freddie mac released it today, tonight, just a couple hours before the nbc news debate and this is in response to the sort of mounting drumbeat from the romney c

there is no way i could put this better than what republican strategist steve schmidt said on the air on saturday night when it became clear newt gingrich was running away with it in south carolina. i thought he might explode on camera. >> probably moving toward declaration of war on newt gingrich by the republican establishment. and if newt gingrich is able to win the florida primary, you will see a panic and a meltdown of the republican establishment that is beyond my ability to articulate in the english language. >> joining us with the newly released newt gingrich freddie mac contract in hand, is michael isikoff. mr. isikoff, thank you for joining us. >> great to be with you, rachel. >> first, give us a sense of what this document is. what it describes, and who has released it. >> center for health transformation, an arm of the gingrich group, which is the consulting firm founded by newt gingrich that had the contract with freddie mac released it today, tonight, just a couple hours before the nbc news debate and this is in response to the sort of mounting drumbeat from the romney c

steve schmidt, why is washington frozen? what will change that?it is frozen fundamentally because of a continuing cycle of political violence where the intentions of the other political party in terms of trying to do right by the country are called into question constantly for bipartisan gain. when i was in the business of running campaigns, i have done my fair share of it. ronald reagan talked about the fact that in this country we do not have political enemies. we have political opponents. if you look back at a generation of americans -- maybe it is because they fought in a real war together against a real existential threat. a man like ronald reagan and tip o'neill, while fears partisan opponents, could never -- fierce partisan opponents, could never look at each other like enemies. the social mixing that used to occur in washington between the lives of democrat and republican members of congress, increasingly as we have more female members of congress, there is very little contact, very little mingling. everyone is gearing up to provide conten

joined here in new york by ed schultz and lawrence o'donnell, by the reverend al sharpton and by steve schmidtho ran the mccain/palin campaign in 2008. chris matthews will be hosting with us from des moines, iowa. and chris hayes will be anchoring late-night coverage of the iowa caucuses when we are all done and spent.

santorum, as steve schmidt who had been john mccain's chief of staff think the out of the park. it was sincere. it connect canned on almost every level. there were points at which it was almost reaganesque which is a strange thing to be saying about a guy named rick santorum who is dined of a doer, not likeable campaigner, but last night he was superb. mitt romney was awful. he gave a warmed over version of his stump speech, phoned in, mechanical, didn't connect. he seemed off his game. now it's not at all clear that that will continue, but if it does, if -- if somehow santorum kind of finds his voice now, and, remember, he's won twice statewide in pennsylvania. he lost by 18 points in 2006, but in -- in 2000 and 1994 he won in a blew state statewide, something that newt gingrich, for instance, has never done, so he is a pragmatic politician when he needs to be. he's not going to have any trouble moving over toward the center, sounding more economic themes. he already has some natural appeal to working class voters as grandson of a coal miner, so you're going to see rick santoru

join me, rachel maddow, al sharpton, lawrence o'donnell, ed schultz and republican strategist steve schmidts we watch the returns come in. polls close at 7:00 eastern. we'll go all night. please join us. [ thunder crashes ] the first and most important step toward accomplishing something is showing up. [ thunder crashes ] and with the most advanced all-wheel-drive system in its class that adapts to conditions as they change, now all you have to worry about is what you accomplish when you get there. ♪ [♪...] >> i wish my patients could see what i see. that over time, having high cholesterol, plus diabetes or high blood pressure or family history of early heart disease, can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup. and they'd see that it's more important to get their cholesterol where their doctor wants. and why for these patients, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and is also proven to slow plaque buildup. >> announcer: crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease or women who are nur

ed schultz and lawrence o'donnell, by the reverend al sharpton and by msnbc political analyst steve schmidt hosting with us from des moines, iowa. and chris hayes will be anchoring late-night coverage of the iowa caucuses when we are all done and spent. join us tomorrow starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern. i promise it will be a long, fun night. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." have a great night.

i'm here with al sharpton and lawrence o'donnell and ed schultz and steve schmidt here in new york.responding, listening to that newt gingrich sort of closing argument, the tone contrast with michelle bachmann sort of pounding the podium, going fire and brimstone and newt gingrich going full professor newt there is one distinct contrast, but also make the case that people ought to vote against people who run negative ads, vote against mitt romney because he's run negative ads against me. steve, how do you assess that? >> i think he has a couple of problems going forward. he's going to be campaigning in the future in states like south carolina and florida that have unemployment rates of nearly 10%, and i thinks formulation for the election is the biggest problem facing the country, someone is running negative ads against me newt gingrich, and i think it's a problem. voters, when you look at country as a whole, the tough times that people are in, are overly sympathetic to politicians complaining about negative ads. at the end of the day, the election is about the voters. that's not ab

i would like to thank steve schmidt and anita dunn. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> more from the new york mayor's conference now. this is one hour 15 minutes. >> i would like to introduce our next speaker,. tom friedman became the columnist in 1995. in 2002, he was awarded the pulitzer prize for distinguished commentary, his third pulitzer for "the new york times." he has written award winning books. many of you remember "the world is flat," "a brief history of the 21st century." and receive the business book of the year award. "hot, flat and crowded" was published in 2008. and his sixth and most recent book, i recommend it to everyone of you. it is called "that used to be us, how america fell behind in the world we invented and how we can come back." it was co-written with michael mandelbaum and released last september. i had no opportunity to see tom at a book signing and at a question and answer period. i told him he had to come to the co

thought i would do today is i know you're going to talk a lot of politics with anita dunn and steve schmidtrom the republican side and talk about the election specifically, but what i thought i'd do, and i think it links up well with what the mayor laid out today, what are some of the underlying attitudes that really shape the mindset of american voters and are going to shape the dialogue and the conversation that you're going to have throughout 2012? now, i will touch on politics, i promise you, and i certainly coming from queens in new york city i will take any questions and, certainly, any challenging questions. queens is a place where we like to say that a day without an argument is a lost opportunity. so we will certainly get to that. um, we've got a lot of technology here, so hopefully it'll work right. there we go. um, look, i think it's important that we start with understanding the context that we're in. the american people never believed that this was an ordinary recession. if you go back to data that was taken in december of 2008 and all the data i'm going to present today is fro

. >> al sharpton, steve schmidt, ed schultz, lawrence o'donnell, thank you, fellas. i'm rachel maddow. thanks for being with us tonight. chris matthews picks up msnbc's coverage of the new hampshire primary in just a moment with special live edition of "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in manchester, new hampshire. here's the headline tonight. mitt romney makes it two in a row. we project that mitt romney is the winner and ron paul is projected seconds followed by jon huntsman in third. newt gingrich and rick santorum in fourth with about 10% each. mitt romney is the first non-incumbent in the primary system to win iowa and then new hampshire. a move into south carolina in a strong position. can anyone, and that's the bottom line, can anyone stop romney from winning the nomination? the political director and michael steel is the former chairman and an msnbc contributor. the news man, chuck todd. when you look down this as an expert and look at the money in the hands of romney and the support for endorsements officially at this point and the money in th