susan -- this is professor susan macmanus.. thank you for your time today. guest: have a great weekend and thank you for having me, pedro. >> tomorrow on "washington journal" of political roundtable with carol lee aaron sharockman and. the role of super pac's and the political campaigns. david coleman talks about the release of presidential takes from the john f. kennedy presidential library and museum. aaron sharockman anne-marie slaughter -- -- anne-marie slaughter as well. live at 7 ams turn on c-span. >> former presidential candidate herman cain has endorsed newt gingrich in the republican primary. he made the announcement at the lincoln day dinner at the palm beach republican party. we will show you the entire event in about two hours. here is his announcement. [applause] [inaudible] >> sit down because you're going have to get up again but some big surprises. tonight, we have as a surprise -- >> here to endorse newt gingrich, everybody's favorite, herman cain! [cheers and applause] >> how are you? >> great, great. >> sur

but for romney's camp, coming off a humiliating loss in south carolina, it's a necessity, says susan macmanus, university of politics and media. >> it's still, ultimately, if you want to change people's opinion or you want to really push their buttons, you have to use television, and that's why we're inundated right now. the mute button is wearing thin. >> woodruff: the tactic seems to be working for romney. combining tv attacks on gingrich with a smooth, confident debate performance early in the week has helped the former massachusetts governor regain his footing in florida public opinion polls. >> i'm not going to apologize for having been successful. i did not inherit what my wife and i have, nor did she. what i have, what we have, we built the old fashion way-- by earning it, by working hard. >> woodruff: romney's belated decision to release his most recent tax returns, embrace the fact of his enormous wealth, and say he has nothing to apologize for appeals to many florida republican voters we talked to. >> he's... he's a self-made man. he already said in one of the debates he did not get

joining us now is susan macmanus political science professor from the university of south florida. in the days leading up to next week's primary what particularly are you looking at as far as signs about who will win and who will be victorious? guest: a lot of people do not like to talk about polls as being meaningful, but we are. and we have seen a shift in momentum since the campaign came to florida. romney is on the up right now. newt gingrich lost a little bit of ground. this week will be critical for the undecided voters, and of course the candidates are coming this state as fast and furious as they can. news coverage is at an all-time peak. there is plenty of opportunity for floridians to be swayed in these last days. our electric is going to be primarily over 45 on election day, and it is often the case that when you go to an event there is a candidate in person and you shake their hand, the chances you are going to turn out go up markedly. they are all trying to get the great photo op, stop at this restaurant, go to this little housing area, whatever, trying to get that per

. >> susan macmanus, dan balanz, thank you very much. >>> we will hear from the campaigns as the two candidates storm into the sunshine state. who has really got the advantage? >>> but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule. coming back overnight, because tomorrow is a pretty big speech. you are watching "the daily rundown," only on msnbc. the employee of the month is... spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. i was strong before weight watchers, but i'm st

. >> woodruff: but as the university of south florida's susan macmanus reminded us, florida republicans are divided, just like the country as a whole. >> some are very working class, and you have all the way up to the extremely wealthy. it's a little bit of everything- - racial diversity, religious diversity, ideological diversity, and candidate diversity, as we see. it's not an easy place to campaign in. it's very complex. it's like a giant jigsaw puzzle, even within the ranks of republicans. >> woodruff: it was to this giant jigsaw puzzle that the candidates brought their final statewide appeal in last night's debate. romney jumped at every chance he was given to hammer at gingrich- - for inconsistency and for what romney labeled "pandering." >> look, this idea of going state to state and promising what people want to hear, promising billions, hundreds of billions of dollars to make people happy, that's what got us into the trouble we're in now. we've got to say no to this kind of spending. ( cheers and applause ) >> woodruff: gingrich, who had seemed to feed off the audience in last

host: susan macmanus, support for the president in florida. go ahead. guest: this republican caller also reflects what republicans in florida are worried about, and some republicans look at the field, and think i really do not like either of them, and they like obama because they like him personally and think he has the concern of the country at heart. if they're willing to give him more time to get his agenda through. so, i think this simply reflects the divisiveness within the republican ranks, and that is a concern to republican leaders because any erosion of support among republicans who are not the majority party in the country, and are dependent upon making inroads into conservative democrats, and independent ranks becomes a bigger challenges. host: do you think the forum's the gop have had really qualify as debates? not really policy talk. guest: that is really frustrating, and whose fault is that? it is the host of the debates, and the questions that have been asked. that is why santorum, with his "let's bring it back to issues commentary" reall

. >> susan macmanus, university of south florida, thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thank you. >>> this is "need to know." >>> this week online, participate in our weekly poll. the question -- should we cut medicare and social security benefits for wealthy americans? tell us what you think and why. and visit us online anytime at pbs.org/needtoknow. >>> now, another in our "american voices" series. here, journalist, historian and pulitzer prize-winning author jon meacham asks -- what is our obligation to the elderly? >> i've been accused of being old before my time more than once. it's true that i've always felt an affinity for, and been comfortable around, older people. i attribute this to a childhood spent around my grandparents and even a great-grandparent or two. i wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. part of what i loved and love about being around older people is the tangible sense of history they embody. i'm interested in military history, for instance, because both my grandfathers fought in world war ii. i'm interested

tomorrow on "washington journal," susan macmanus previews the presidential primary and looks at issuesvoters care about her. and retired colonel cederic leighton on how they might impact counter-terrorism. "washington journal" on c-span. [applause] >> newt gingrich and mitt romney spoke at the hispanic leadership network, a group focused on engaging the hispanic community a conservative policy issues. jeb bush is a co-chair. the primary is next tuesday. we begin with former speaker gingrich. this is 25 minutes. >> thank you very much. we had a more modest group downstairs. i thought there would come up to see if the rest of you decide you would like to join us. we had folks from louisiana, texas, a number of other places for may council. i am thrilled. we have developed here in miami nine years ago. we have had a consistent effort to develop a nationwide approach to a center-right capability to talk about issues that matter to all of us. we have no boundaries. every ethnic group that comes to america has the right to pursue the american dream. it is very important -- i was thrilled whe

. >> tomorrow on the "washington journal," susan macmanus previews tuesday's gop presidential primaryand looks at issues florida voters care about. and of former training director cedric leighton discusses pentagon reductions announced by leon panetta and how they might impact policy, weapons, and counterterrorism. "washington journal" live every day it's 7:00 a.m. eastern on c- span. >> next vice-president biden and president obama's remarks at the house democrats' annual retreat. in speeches by newt gingrich, mitt romney, and rick santorum. >> april 15, 2010, i arrived in paris. i walked into the hotel lobby. i met him for the first time and he looked at me and said, so you're the rolling stone died. i do not care about the article. i just want to be on the cover. >> he wrote about the u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan in the june 2010 edition of rolling stone. >> it is between you and lady gaga. it was just a joke, not knowing she would actually be on the cover. >> just put me and her in a heart-shaped tub. >> i thought this would be a different kind of general. >> as a result of