tim pawlenty and his economic advisors know all that. they also know that his plan would never even get a hearing in congress. but it certainly is a lie worth telling to get elected. as you listen to tim pawlenty and other republicans lie about taxes in this campaign, you would never know that federal taxes are at their lowest level since 1950. federal taxes are taking just 14.8% of our national income, our gross national product. federal taxes have been hovering at below 15% of our income for the last few years. our taxes are lower than japan, lower than all european countries. and of course, lower than canada. but republican talk about taxes has always been a reality free zone. democratic talk about taxes unfortunately is usually only slightly more realistic than republican talk about taxes. democrats commonly suggest that the tax code can work all sorts of wonders that we have time and again proven it cannot do. targeted tax incentives commonly described as corporate tax loopholes for certain kinds of businesses have never created the

i want to know how minnesota's health plan keeps tim pawlenty alive without a spine. (laughter) o boomny care! obamneycare was perfect! you had romney on the ropes. you've got to finish him! you've got to sweep the leg. cnn's cornell belcher gets it. >> if someone occupy it is state that you and i occupy and they're ahead of you i'm sorry, you've got to cut that person and make them bleed. now, do you take a hatchet to them the first night in the debate? no, but you have to make them bleed because you're never going to get ahead of that person unless you cut them and you make them bleed. >> stephen: yeah! down him! down him! what, what? oh! make him bleed! by the way, someone needs to check this man's crawl space. (laughter) why didn't you stick it into romney and twist the handle? by the way, if romney won the debates, i'm a big supporter of his now. and all i can imagine is pawlenty is now running for romney's vice president. why else would he let mitt mount him like a silverback gorilla. (laughter) and, folks, there are a lot of good reasons for pawlenty to be vic

a missed opportunity for tim pawlenty? >> i was very surprised, anderson on this because tim pawlenty took a swipe at him yesterday and it seemed to be a setup for tonight. when he ducked and he gave romney an opportunity, mitt romney rose to the occasion and made a very good pivot out and helped himself. rick santorum i thought would take a swipe but he ducked. overall i think it was a very good night for mitt romney. nobody layed a on him and he had a consistent message about what he argued was the failure of president obama. i thought it was a good night for michele bachmann. >> and there was another key moment. newt gingrich talking about the ryan plan, something he got in -- made some missteps on early on and i'll show you that moment from earlier. >> your initial reaction to the ryan plan? radical, right wing social engineering. then you backtrack. why? >> first of all, there was a very narrow question which said -- should republicans impose an unpopular bill on the american people? i supported the ryan budget as a g

. >> i'm tim pawlenty, i'm a husband. my wife mary and i have been married for 23 years. i'm the father of two beautiful daughters. >> kara and i have r the parents of seven children. >> i've had five children and we are the proud foster parents of 23 great children. >> i delivered babies for a living. delivered 4,000 babies. (laughter) >> stephen: folks, i'm confident these candidates are going to connect with the american people since apparently they made most of them. (laughter) any way, the candidates cede lot of stuff. the audience was there. it was electrifying. but there is no doubting what the bombshell of the evening was. >> i just want to make an announcement here for you, john, on cnn tonight. i filed today my paperwork to seek the office of the president of the united states today. >> stephen: what the what? (laughter) someone in a presidential debate is running for president? (laughter) that's like going to a wedding and the couple announces they've applied for a marriage license! no one could have seen this coming! it's like the end of an. many night shyamal

tim pawlenty is this week's test case.ook sharp aim at mitt myth and the health care plan enacted when romney was governor of massachusetts. >> president obama said that he designed obama care after romney care, and made it obamny care. >> but monday night, pawlenty, much more timid. >> why would you choose those words? your rival is standing right there. if it was obanmcare on sunday, why not now? >> president obama is the person who i quoted in saying he looked to massachusetts for designing his program. he's the one who said it's a blue print and he merged the two programs, so using that term was a reflection of the president's comments that he designed obama care on the massachusetts health care plan. >> the post debate analysis is tim pawlenty blinked or worse. >> what was pawlenty thinking? he looked frozen and terrified and lousy. >> he wimped out. >> he made a tactical mistake. >>> he came across as weak or pathetic. >> we have an official term for that in politics, it's called weak sauce. >> on twitter, he concede

next up is governor tim pawlenty. thanks a lot. i appreciate it.rnor mitt romney of massachusetts. the former speaker of the house, newt gingrich of georgia. the congresswoman from minnesota, michelle bashman. bachmann. and the former senator from pennsylvania, rick san to her yum. say hello to the seven candidates here tonight. >> there's the formal introduction. the crowd is excited obviously. momentarily this debate will formally begin. the photo opes and the photographers are there taking pictures. all seven of these candidates. as we watch this, gloria and david is still here as well. i think the initial round, the first few questions will set the stage, gloria, for what could happen over the course of two hours. >> i have to guess that the first few questions are going to be about the economy and how these republicans are going to say they would manage the economy better than barack obama. and as david was saying earlier, we don't have a lot of detail on the plans, and the plans we do have some detail on don't seem to add up. >> the democrats

i know tim pawlenty is taking aim, right? >> he's the nominal frontrunner given this is so early it is hard to say he's the leader, but he's the one a lot of the candidates will be taking shots at. >> i love that you said it is way too early. >> yeah, what does that mean? because he proposed and passed the health care legislation, that is so much like the president's and so unpopular among republicans, everyone is taking aim at him. tim pawlenty is the guy to benefit the most at this point it seems if romney were to stumble. so there has been a little bit of a push by tim pawlenty to go after him on romneycare. he says he's only answering questions he's asked. >> for him, it will benefit him a little to be the one to go after him. >> tim pawlenty has the most to gain at this point if romney were to stumble, it seems. tim pawlenty is not being unwise in fairly pointing out there are similarities between rid romney's health care care and the president's. in his defense, he's only asking questions asked of him. but he is pointin

former minnesota governor tim pawlenty who's expected to hit romney hard on his controversial health care plan. newt gingri newt gingrich whose stunning campaign implosion threw his entire candidacy into question. ron paul, making his third presidentialed by. minnesota congressman michelle bachmann makes her debut tonight. she has yet to formally announce but all signs are pointing to a presidential run. former pennsylvania senator rick santorum among the least known of the seven. he's popular among social conservatives, opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. and herman cain is beginning to gain some traction. guys, thanks very much. i want you to listen to what tim pawlenty, the former minnesota governor said about mitt romney yesterday on tv. listen to this. >> you don't have to take my word for it. president obama said he drafted his obamacare after romney care. so now we have obamneycare. what i don't understand is they both continue to defend it. >> it wasn't exactly a slam, but for tim pawlenty, it was a biting comment. >> yeah. i think it was a slam. 59 mitt romney. it's cle

tim pawlenty is trying to catch up.conomic plan would eliminate the entire federal government and that puts him in psycho talk next. what do you got? restrained driver... sir, can you hear me? just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. >>> and in psycho talk tonight 2012 hopeful tim pawlenty says he has a better deal for the american economy. remember this is guite who left minnesota with a $6.2 billion budget deficit at the end of his tenure as governor. he has no credibility in the economy in my opinion. he took a crack at it today in chicago. he wants to slash taxes by $7.8 trillion over the next ten years. that's three times the cost of the bush tax cuts. pawlenty has a plan to make up for the lost revenue. >> we can start by what i call the google test. if you can find a service or good available on google or the internet then the federal government probably doesn't need to be pro

tim pawlenty is trying to catch up.would eliminate the entire federal government and that puts him in psycho talk next. what do you w) can i do for you today? ♪ [ female announcer ] need help keeping your digestive balance? align can help. only align has bifantis, a patented probiotic that naturally helps maintain your digestive balance. try align to help retain a balanced digestive system. try the #1 gastroenterologist recommended probiotic. align. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and talk to chuck about ttd# 1-800-345-2550 rolling over that old 401k. >>> and in psycho talk tonight 2012 hopeful tim pawlenty says he has a better deal for the american economy. remember this is guite who left minnesota with a $6.2 billion budget deficit at the end of his tenure as governor. he has no credibility in the economy in my opinion. he took a crack at it today in chicago. he wants to slash taxes by $7.8 trillion over the next ten years. that's three times the cost of the bush tax cuts. pawlenty has a pl

specifically with tim pawlenty, i think he had a problem this week. because he had foreshadowed an attack at the debate over health care, using the term -- sunday morning show on fox of obamneycare which suggested he would use the debate to make a fight over that issue when given the opportunity and given several opportunities to do it, he backed away. and they now believe and recognize that was a mistake. and so later this week, he did go after him. >> the other person who got a lot of oxygen this week coming out of the debate was michelle bachmann, the congresswoman from minnesota. tem us what you make of that phenomenon -- tell us what you make of that phenomenon and is that good for romney? possibly? >> well, let me take the first part first, mi chl bachmann has been steadily moving -- michelle bachman has been steadily moving toward a candidacy. she has been in the shadow of sarah palin but as sarah palin has been on the sideline michelle bachmann has come forward and what we saw at the debate on monday nightn new hampshire were the attributes of

i am tim pawlenti and i approved this message. host: the focus is on the former massachusetts governor. guest: this issue of blaming the media for making it run made the front runner, i reject that. he has shown he is a tough competitor. he can raise money which is critical. mitt romney has done this before. he ran for president four years ago. he is showing he learned some lessons and can really mount a credible campaign. i don'think it is the media doing this. as for ego, they all have big egos. you have to have a big ego to run for president. just because somebody believes in themselves and is willing to workery hard to become president es not mean they are in it for themselves or for the money, for heaven's sake. mr. romney does not make -- need the money. they have faith in themselves and they believe they can really do something for the country. i guess that's all i have. tweet --re is a tweed guest: mitt romney as a problem with his personal presentation. tim pawlenti gets a rapport being less than exciting and mitt romney

does tim pawlenty now have the momentum? is the force with pawlenty, yes or no?> he's got the big mo in iowa, which he has to win, and he could win it. >> eleanor? >> he doesn't have big mo! he may be the last man standing -- >> got some little mo, though! >> are you laughing at your own candidate? >> punitive front-runner. >> that's about as far as you can go. >> he has some mo. i think -- not big but some. >> he's in a better position >>> issue two, afghanistan exodus? >> these additional american and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to afghan forces and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of afghanistan in july of 2011. >> this was the president's statement at west point in december, 2009, a year and a half ago. and the transfer of power in afghanistan has begun. defense secretary robert gates, a veteran of 28 missions to afghanistan, elaborated on the commander in chief's decision. >> we're making substantial military progress on the ground. i also reiterated my belief that these gains could be threaten

former minnesota governor tim pawlenty was a big critic on the sunday talk shows calling romney's massachusettsw obamaney care. last night in new hampshire, pawlenty wasn't picking any fights. here's a listen. >> why would you choose those words in the comfort of the sunday studio, your rival is standing right there. if it was obamaney care on fox news sunday, why is not obamaney care standing with the governor there? >> president obama is the person i quoted in saying he looked to massachusetts for designing his program. he's the one who said it's a blueprint and he merged the two programs and so using the term obamaney care was a reflection of the president's comments that he designed obama care on the massachusetts health care plan. >>> joining us live from new hampshire this morning is republican presidential candidate tim pawlenty. thanks for being with us this morning. >> good morning. happy to be with you. >> i watched the debate last night and reading a lot of the articles and reaction this morning. a lot of people are wondering why you didn't take the chance to give some hard-hitting c

question, can pawlenty win iowa? tim?absolutely, and i'm very happy he began by going to iowa and attacking ethanol subsidies, especially because he used to favor them. that takes guts. his being from a border state is good. okay, michelle bachman could complicate it, but if the ethanol thing is a cue and he'll really battle the special interests like barack obama pretends do do, i think he can catch a lot of attention and win iowa. >> who is that lady? >> michelle bachman. >> the alpha female is. >> and she's too from minnesota and could -- >> born in iowa. >> born in waterloo, and she could tap into the evangelical base and tea party base better than they about. >> what about the problems she has, where places are located. >> oh, workplaces? -- [everyone talking at once] >> she had historical problems, said the founding fathers ended slavery. she's a very -- >> said something in maine and new hampshire that's not there? >> it was some r on -- for that. >> i think her sweetness and historical knowledge and history of the

today tim pawlenty said, "parts of the republican party now seem to be trying to outbid the democrats in appealing to isolationist sentiments." do you agree? >> yes, i do. i think there's been a tension with the republican party. one of my responses among many about our involvement in libya is after rwanda we said never again. gadhafi's forces were at the city of 700,000 people and he promised he would go house to house and kill anybody he thought opposed him. that's why, one of the reasons why we intervened. not to mention the blood of 90 some americans as a result of bombing of 103. the fact he has been involved in acts of terror and if he survived, he would again. that and other reasons clearly indicate it is in the united states' national security

contenders who perhaps needed a better showing, look at tim pawlenty. he's trying to establish himself as the alternative to mitt romney and he had a chance to make that distinction with the health care question, and betty, he chose to walk away from it. >> joel brown joining us live from washington. joel, thank you. >>> well, the economy dominated last night's debate and it is clearly an issue with american voters. today "the early show" will broadcast a town hall meeting with top republicans. here's a preview of what they had to say about fixing the economy and the political hurdles they face. >> we're more interested in political careers than we are fixing the very real and urgent problems in front of our country, so rather than come up here and do the job, and have the courage and the honor to go out and defend your votes, what we do is we just don't vote. >> how do you change that, though? how do you change -- >> you change it with leadership. >> -- actions -- >> but leadership -- >> we pass ideas in the house. we said here's how we think we balanc

tim pawlenty had a problem here. this debate he needed to go out and really establish himself as the alternative to mitt romney. a real contender. he needs to do that to raise money. he needs to do that to raise his profile. instead he chose to back down and de muir. it was not well received. it was a tough night for tim pawlenty. >> ifill: talking about alternatives michelle backman is presenting herself as an al alternative and a representative of the tea party caucus in congress but tea party sentiment around the country. let's listen to what she had to say trying to define what tea partyism is. >> i'm the chairman of the tea party caucus in the house of representatives. what i've seen is unlike how the media has tried to wrongly and grossly portray the tea party, the tea party is really made up of disaffected democrats, independents, people who have never been political a day in their lives, people who are libertarians, republicans. it's a wide swath of america coming together. that's why the left fears it so muc

tim pawlenty had a particularly bad week. michele bachmann doesn't seem as if she can get the nomination. you can see how she can get very, very strong, and in the end, the mitt romney folks love the idea of it being michele bachma bachmann. but the idea of the player to be named later, specifically rick perry. i think when you look at how this week played out, as good of a week as mitt romney had as being a front-runner, you're seeing it in our own poll, you're seeing it in other polls. rick perry had a pretty good week, too, because of two things -- one, the tim pawlenty flubs, and two, the fact that there does seem to be this vacuum here of the antiestablishment wing of the party who's not enthused about who they want. >> and tim pawlenty baggage in a bit, but paul gigot, let me ask you this. the buzz about rick perry. he spoke this weekend at a gathering of republicans down in new orleans. here's a portion of what he said. >> let's speak with pride about our morals and our values and redouble our effort to elect more cons

also not here is tim pawlenty, the minnesota governor.tsman was supposed to be here, called in sick, didn't make it. a lot of these candidates who aren't coming are saying they have scheduling conflicts. who was here? newt gingrich was pretty well received. yesterday you had a lot of pretty good receptions here to the speakers. we're talking about herman kaine, the former godfather's pizza ceo. he really wowed the crowd. four-times standing ovations for him. ron paul, he got a loud, loud, loud applause as well. rick santorum had a pretty good speech. but overall, probably the biggest star yesterday was michele bachmann, the congresswoman from minnesota. here's a little taste of how it went yesterday. >> get ready, 2012, the tea party will be bigger than ever! because the tea party and all of america has one goal, and it's this, that barack obama will be a one-term president! >> but it is up to us, it is up to the people, it is up to the congress, it is up to all of us, and it's up to us to get a president that won't put up with this nonse

tim pawlenty says the president is satisfied with a second rate economy. produced by third rate policies. more disturbing reports. about congressman anthony weiner. live from the studio in washington, this is "special report." i'm bret baier. president obama today said america is on a path to long-term economic growth, despite less than encouraging numbers recently. white house correspondent wendell goler reports the president is not saying how long that will take. >> in a news conference with german chancellor "good morninchance angela merkel,saidt doesn't signal recession but might not be a one-time occurrence. >> we don't know if this is a one-month episode or longer trend. we're experiencing head winds. gas prices being most prominent. >> reporter: monday he told a cleveland reporter the jobs report was a blip but he wasn't sure what caused it. on this day, a "washington post," abc news poll show americans disapprove of the handling of the economy by a wide margin, he lost the bounce the job approval received after barack obama was killed and most peop

rick santorum passed on criticizing tim pawlenty. >> they have passed oppressive regulation. >> tim pawlenty who blasted mitt romney's plan wouldn't repeat the word today. >> why would you choose those words? your rival is right there. if it was obomney care -- president obama is the person i quoted in saying he looked to massachusetts. >> reporter: republicans fired on one enemy. president obama. from tea party favorite michele bachmann -- >> i will not rest until i repeal obama care. >> reporter: to mitt romney. >> he failed at a time when the american people counted on him to get the economy going. >> reporter: republicans hammered president obama. >> we need a new president. >> this economy is stalled. it's like a train on the tracts with no engine. >> talking about opting out, why can't we opt out of the whole system. >> reporter: he says the candidate who can beat obama may be a governor who wasn't on stage. >> chris christie, rick pairy. >> reporter: she believes the key to winning is the economy. >> cut spending in washington, that i think requires cutting government relations. >> re

hour. >>> critics say he missed an opportunity during the republican presidential debate, but now tim pawlentynt mitt romney. mark preston, part of the best political team on television, live from the political desk in washington. hey, mark, what are we hearing from pawlenty now? >> suzanne, on sunday we heard tim pawlenty term a new term call called o eed obamney care. tim pawlenty decided to demyrrh. decided not to address it head on. it caught us by surprise. in fact he was widely panned for it. tim pawlenty last night on fox news came out and said, look, i made a mistake. i should have addressed it head on. in fact, tim pawlenty today, suzanne, has a fund-raising e-mail put out where he says that, again, he didn't take the right opportunity to go after mitt romney but he plans to do so going forward. while we saw in the cnn debate that there wasn't a whole lot of jostling or fighting amongst the candidates, perhaps we'll start seeing tim pawlenty and mitt romney arguing over the whole idea of health care. >> mark, we are certainly seeing a battle between romney and the president. there's a

and also on the campaign trail, the former governor of minnesota, tim pawlenty is going to be makingthe council on foreign relations on what his advisers are saying is a response to the president's flawed may 19th speech about the middle east. >> what's your sense -- talk about this for a second, the foreign policy stuff. we've got john huntsman in the race, who is somebody with a lot of foreign policy experience, obviously, he was the ambassador to china, he speaks chinese. tim pawlenty, while he's polling very low, he's being taken serious by many people on a policy front. so he's trying to beef up his idea of foreign policy and his strength in that area? >> exactly. he's trying to be taken much more seriously and get more attention. he's not exactly a charismatic individual. he's very serious, he's actually delivered more policy speeches than anybody else, but at this point he's hard to get noticed in a field that includes michele bachmann and her comments on john wayne gacy. >>> the senate talking about libya, the military action as it's been called by the secretary of defense an

tim pawlenty is one of the leading contenders and i was first of the nation caucuses. a contest that other candidates may skip. but if last month's court job growth and high unemployment figures continue, expect another republicans to quickly ratchet up their criticism of obama headed to the 2012 camp presidential campaign rick pearson. chicago tribune. . >> axelrod quickly fired back that plenty will run up deficits. he wants to replace the form of that got us into a jam in the first place. he left his own state with a $5 billion deficit and now he's counseling the rest of the company country on how to handle finances. i think he would bin world serve to take care of finances of its own state. . >> axelrod spoke after had net of benefit of four misericordia home his daughter lives that on the cares for 600 disabled children and adults. . >> and now the fallout congressman and the waiter spilled a lot yesterday. now the house ethics committee will investigate if there's more. yesterday the merit representative admitted he engaged in sexually charged communications onli

i am tim pawlenti and i approved this message. host: the focus is on the former massachusetts governor. guest: this issue of blaming the media for making it run made the front runner, i reject that. he has shown he is a tough competitor. he can raise money which is critical. mitt romney has done this before. he ran for president four years ago. he is showing he learned some lessons and can really mount a credible campaign. i don't think it is the media doing this. as for ego, they all have big egos. you have to have a big ego to run for president. just because somebody believes in themselves and is willing to work very hard to become president does not mean they are in it for themselves or for the money, for heaven's sake. mr. romney does not make -- need the money. they have faith in themselves and they believe they can really do something for the country. i guess that's all i have. tweet --re is a tweed guest: mitt romney as a problem with his personal presentation. tim pawlenti gets a rapport being less than exciting and mitt r

did tim pawlenty just wimp out there? >> he did wimp out. however, i think a lot of voters were looking at him and saying there's only two people who could really be nominated. mitt romney and the governor of minnesota, what's his name? pawlenty. so i differ with a lot of the pundi pundits. i don't think he destroyed himself. he looked like a wimp. there's no doubt about that moment. but a lot of people are not happy with romney. they're looking around. pawlenty is credible. he came across as intelligent, rational and thoughtful. he may not have helped himself as much as he could have. he didn't hurt his chances. >> some of them don't ultimately get the candidacy for president. some of them may have vice presidential nominations. maybe that's why they were playing nice last night. t.j. walker, thanks so much. >> thank you. >>> coming up next, if the spf is higher than 50, does it give you more protection? i kind have always wanted to know that answer. especially since i had this thing happen to my nose. a little skin cancer a couple months a

tim pawlenty comment &.ver in new hampshire, mitt romney currently has a pretty large a lead in that poll followed by ron paul, newt gingrich, rudy guiliani and tim pawlenty. this article, obama to end waiver approval. they announced on friday it is changing the way it approves waivers to part of the health care reform law. south pointe, ohio. our independent line. caller: right now i am just listening to the candidates. i believe herman cain might be the one i am interested in. i heard a fellow talking about texas and our economy doing so well. it seems like they took lyndon johnson and 10 years of vietnam and now the bush boys and 10 years of iraq. i guess from what i hear they're a lot of people from texas over there. i've come to the conclusion i like folks from texas. they seem like good folks. there ought to be a lot from people from texas running for president. especially bushes and lyndon johnson. thank you very much. host: fredericksburg, virginia. maxwell on our democrat line. caller: barack obama

think tomorrow night is introduction night, not decision night. >> i think it's an opportunity for tim pawlentyhimself into a one-on-one campaign with mitt romney. it's still early. no one has to bedazzle. but it's an opportunity for pawlenty to pull out of that pack a little bit and show that this has the potential to be a strong two-man race. >> senator sununu, governor sununu, thank you. sometime i'm coming for thanksgiving. >>> up next -- congressman anthony weiner's leave from absence, newt gingrich's campaign implosion and the rest of the news with our panel. coldwell banker. we never stop moving. down the hill? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it. working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual. let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. >>> we are at st. anselm's campus. i think you can hear the bells here. nobody's quite sure why they're ringing, but nonetheless they're gorgeous. tomorrow night here, a b

that's-- oh my god, i'm being told tim pawlenty just e-mailed us a picture-- oh my gosh.residential candidate tim pawlenty has just e-mailed me a picture of his erect penis you know -- (laughter) what just-- wow what happened. i was just-- last thing remember was i was looking at the world's most boring penis. (laughter) a guy can't win. look, i know congressman weiner. as of tuesday, he, i'm sure, would prefer this all go away. let's watch. >> -- return to, withouting on the things i care about. i have been in the story a couple of days now, have given comments on it, this is a distrack and i'm to the going to let it distract me. >> jon: distraction? no disrespect, a distraction is a cell phone going off in a meeting. this is like having an inflatable noodle man at a bris. you know what i mean, you know? (laughter) just saying. by the way, aunt doris, again, i can't apologise enough. so-- thought it would make the whole affair festive. anyway, the congressman's vow of abstinence from talking about the scandal-- (laughter) well, his abstinence talking about it lasted less

think tomorrow night sint ducks night, not decision night. >> i think it is an opportunity for tim pawlentyove himself into a one-on-one campaign with mitt romney. it is still early. no one has to bedazzle. but it is an opportunity for pawlenty to pull out of that pack a little bit and show that this has the potential to be a strong two-man race. >> senator sununu, governor sununu, thank you. some time i'm coming for thanksgiving. >>> up next, congressman anthony weiner's leave from absence, newt gingrich's campaign implosion and the rest of the news with our panel. thing under the gas cap, thing... do you even have a name? well, it doesn't matter. because it's about to change. there's a cheaper, cleaner way to fuel up now. the volt plugs into any socket, and fuels up at home. sure it could use gas, but for most commutes you won't need much, if any. so from now on, fuel tube... we'll just call you...plan b. the 2011 chevrolet volt. it's more car than electric. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] thanks to advanced natural gas turbine technology from ge, the power that will help make our nation more ener

. >> tim pawlenty spent a lot of time in iowa this spring and has only 6%. governor pawlenty will be here this morning. we'll ask him about his showing and what it means for his campaign. he spent 26 days there already and television, has spent considerable money in that state for little results at this point. >> we have seen other people go through this similar thing and actually pull ahead later in the game. we certainly will ask him about that. we begin with the latest on the midwest flooding. the situation starts to ease just a little in minot, north dakota. there are new worries for a pair of nuclear power plants along the flooded moss river. jamie yuccas of wcco-tv is in minot with the latest. >> reporter: good morning, rebecca. people getting welcomed news this morning that the river crested over the weekend and water levels are starting to go down. further south in nebraska, they're seeing water level rise on missouri river there, threatening two nuclear power plants near omaha. 20 miles north of omaha, the ft. calhoun power plant has been closed sin

does tim pawlenty suggests? >> that will be for the voters to decide.hink it's unconstitutional at the state level or at the federal lef. again, that's for the voters to decide >> i assume i will take that as a yes even though you don't want to say it as bluntly. he made a mistake >> i said what i said. you can't put words in my mouth. >> i'm not putting wors in your mouth. you are being diplomatic which is your right. let's get through a couple of social issues i want to clarify a couple of things. on the issue of abortion rights for women, do you agree with rick santorum, another candidate who not only opposes all abortion and explanations for abortions, but says doctors and nurse who is perform a borings should be criminally charged. >> wolf, i am pro and always have been proudly pro life. i have five biological children and we raised 23 foster children i am pro life. i will not answer for what a candidate says or doesn't say. i am pro life. this issue is about the 99% of cases where it's fairly early term abortions. i'm always going to come down on

i've seen tim pawlenty, the ex-governor, in action.ountry can look at the shape minnesota's in, billions in deficits and all this economic genius did was kick the deficit can down the road to the next governor and legislature to deal with. ken writes, 10% and 25% tax rates sound good but they don't solve the $63 trillion unfunded federal liabilities. getting elected and solving problems are two different things. if politicians want to solve the debt problem, they need to go after wall street. a simple 1% tax on the $700 trillion derivatives market, a penically tax on all stock transactions and a 90% tax on broker bonuses would be a good place to start. kevin writes, tim pawlenty just got a whole lot more interesting. you want to read more on his ideas, go to my blog, cnn.com/caffertyfile. >> i want our viewers to remember, monday night, the big cnn republican presidential debate. in new hampshire. standby for that. 8:00 p.m. eastern. a quick question, you're in new york, the whole anthony weiner story, we know how it's playing out nati