tim sparks is a richly from evansville, ill.. he works for congressional quarterly. >> one of reasons it has been difficult for congress to look at cutting homeland security grant is because police and firefighters and rescue personnel are powerful constituency in the image they present. the idea of saying no to them seems ridiculous at times. it seems like it would be bad for them politically. the wireless carriers have their own political weight to bring to bear. how much in this spectrum debate are they allies and how much are they the enemy? >> i think some of each. some of the major carriers are very supportive of our efforts because they have a vision where it would be beneficial to the public safety community and to their business interests for us to partner with them at some point to build out this nationwide network. those that have that vision, we are very pleased with that. unfortunately, there are some that commercial world that are looking at its were selfishly, to deal with their particular needs as a company. where

if mitt romney was looking for a spark to help his campaign, he may have gotten it this morning. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty has announced that he is getting behind the former massachusetts governor. so that is good news for mitt romney. but this debate comes this evening, kyra, as a new cnn/orc poll shows that there is a big lead for rick perry. the race is basically boiling down to rick perry and whoever can keep up. texas governor rick perry has ditched his cowboy boots for his running shoes, staying far ahead of the republican pack. the latest poll cnn/orc poll finds perry way in front with 30%. nearest rival mitt romney at 18%. with the rest of the field looking to play catchup, the tea party debate in florida could be crucial. >> it is a ponzi scheme to tell our kids that are 25 or 30 years old today you're paying into a program that's going to be there. >> reporter: after perry doubled down on his call for an overhaul of social security at the last debate, romney pounced. >> the governor says, look, states ought to be able to opt out of social security. our nominee has to be someone who isn'

. >> well, tim pawlenty who you just flashed on the screen, said after the fact that perhaps he should have had sparksgotten him more attention. i think for michele bachmann if she doesn't have the proverbial pyrotechnics tonight it's probably curtains for her. she's not been able to sustain that momentum. i don't think romney has to do that. i think he just has to stay looking like hi is the electable guy. the poll you put up isn't necessarily reflective of anything, because they're asking republicans who the most electable is. it's not up to them, it will be up to the independent voters who will be frightened when 24th see the sorts of things that rim perry has done. rick perry has said he couldn't get elected dogcatcher in california. that is probably also now true in florida and a lot of other places. so mitt romney needs to sit back. rick perry will try to temper this a bit, but i think he's constitutionally not ability to do that. he's just got this texas-sized mouth, and that's who he is, and he'll keep doing it. >> what needs to happen tonight, if you were vising rick perry. you're saying he o

sparks up my butt. >> i would vote for that! >> i think he even left stephen colbert speechless. maggie, this is a reminder, okay, back to timeporters, for four, five, over the last six years, who was just a delightful person behind the scenes. his personality, it never came out during the campaign. >> no. he seemed so constrained. so constricted. he was packaged. he was molded into something that he never quite fit for. that's exactly who we thought we were getting. this is who i remembered from -- >> somebody said he was sort of like the cool, dorky dad. >> that's right. >> a little dorky but a little cool. >> caught on camera with the insult dog or whatever his name is. this is not who showed up. and i think it's proof that when you run for president if you're not totally comfortable in your own skin it does show to voters. people see that you're not doing what you should be doing. >> that brings us to tonight. rick perry, mitt romney. mitt romney's been a guy that's been described as somebody that you're not sure if he's comfortable in his own skin. rick perry seems like, hey, i am who i am. >> one thing about mitt romne