. >> the microscope is on rick santorum.

i would say it's rick santorum. i say it's a longshot but if you're a democrat you would much rather run against santorum than mitt romney. if i was -- you know, if i was a democratic operative two weeks ago i would have been excited about the prospect of newt gingrich. i look at gingrich and i say, maybe this guy has legs. not necessarily the same about santorum, but he's probably your most viable non-romney option at this point. >> santorum -- look, i talked to santorum -- i talked to santorum's people yesterday and they're really, really excited about new hampshire. they say that they have the second most endorsements -- >> they've never been there before. >> forget new hampshire. that's not the game anymore. >> let me finish. they say they have the second most endorsements of any contender, second to romney in new hampshire. 82 county captains spread through all new hampshire counties. i don't believe he has a ground game in new hampshire. >> i don't either. >> he doesn't have a chance in new hampshire. but they

rick santorum did it. of course he lost in '06, but a lot of republicans in '06. >> they lost by 18 points in '06. one of the worst senate losses in the history -- >> and in 2006, after six years of iraq. listen, i am not -- i am not making a case for rick santorum's electability. all i'm saying is a lot of great republican candidates have tried to get reelected in pennsylvania and they have failed. i don't think you're going to find a lot of dirt in santorum's record because he represented a swing state like pennsylvania. >> and there are no signs of social issues are going to be decisive this time. >> he's extremely vocal about them and i think it is troubling. >> it wasn't last night, though, was it? >> his biggest problem with conservatives when people start to look at the spending record. that's what perry was hitting him on here. the earmarks, the pork, erick erickson's point. is that santorum has on spending and domestic policy, not social policy, but spending and economics has a very big government

rick santorum at this hour leading. if you think about where he has been, he was leading with 46% iowa caucuses reporting this hour. >> megyn: it's remarkable. since we have come to iowa, see how they do it. go out and how to persuade iowans. i was at romney event, 50 people. that is how they do it. one at a time. now, you see why. every vote matters. it could come down to 50 that we talked to this morning. >> brett: think of people the surrogates and made this final pitch. some of them were high profile surrogates, like anne romney and some of the candidates made the pitch. you put your campaign in the hands of some guy who some county and he makes a bad pitch, it could cost you few votes. >> megyn: they talked about, does anybody want to speak on behalf of michelle bachmann. there was an awkward pause. one guy stood up and said i'll do it. she came in last. the lack of enthusiasm can undermine you in the caucus sites. it's still too close to call. gingrich, perry, bachmann at the bottom of the board. that is all we ca

whatever you think of rick santorum, he gives you rick santorum. he is not mitt romney! >> but the problem is that bad luck isn't ideologically convenient for republicans. >> no. this time he needs to make up ground and he's not making it up this day. thank you, howard fineman. thank you, joe klein. >>> coming up, my interview with newt gingrich. he's taken on mitt romney and it's getting personal. you're watching "hardball" from manchester, just four days before the new hampshire primary. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion. could've had a v8. >>> welcome back to "hardball." newt gingrich is campaigning hard in new hampshire, following a dramatic fall in the polls, due in large part to a barrage of negative ads run by a pro-romney super pac called restore our future. i caught up with the former speaker in meredith, new hampshire, late last night and i got his criticism of his two chief rivals now, mitt romney and rick santorum

. >> rick santorum is a former senator. you know what it's like to serve in the senate, you know what it's like to serve in the congress. why wouldn't he be a very good republican nominee? >> he's very liberal. >> rick santorum is liberal? >> have you looked at his record? look at his record. spends too much money. he wasn't leading the charge to slash the budgets and vote against big government. >> paul, you ran campaigns against him. is he your kind of liberal? >> i don't want to tank him, but no he's not my kind of liberal. a real commentary on iowa caucus committee. they are fully committed. they would be if we had a fully funded mental health system. freezing cold sitting through a long meeting. >> that's what democracy is about. >> i love it. >> we're standing out in the freezing cold. >> but it's the most intense partisans that come out for this in my party and the other party. maybe for them maybe even rick santorum is not conservative enough. i remember newt gingrich talking about what he called the perfectionist c

and after last night, rick santorum could be their man. i'm joined tonight by john nichols, washington correspondent of "the nation" magazine. i know you're still doing work in iowa deciphering through all this. i want to focus now, as i said, moving forward, and this attitude that newt gingrich, i mean, he's the new pit bull. is newt gingrich, is he ready to go after mitt romney point by point? what do you think? >> oh, there's simply no question he's ready to go after him. newt gingrich in addition to buying a full-page ad in the "manchester union leader," the biggest circulation newspaper in new hampshire, detailing his differences with romney, did a round of all the conservative talk radio shows, hannity and others, today, to do exactly what we're talking about here. going out there, reinforcing his attacks, not backing off in any way. and the interesting thing is that he probably said the most important thing last night, that in his concession, he spent a huge portion of that speech talking about what a great guy rick santorum is. >>

rick santorum also got a huge boost. he's in second place now down there with 19, followed very closely by newt gingrich in third. so we have that one. we also have the latest suffolk university tracking poll from up here. it shows romney remains in the lead at 40% in new hampshire. he's followed by ron paul at 17. rick santorum is in double digits at 11, and moving up, but slowly. the latest national gallup tracking poll out today, mitt romney leads nationally at 29, but followed by rick santorum with 21. so joe klein, it looks like rick santorum is slowly edging up to be the number one challenger to romney. >> the south carolina number is really interesting. i mean, i don't want to break any news here, but this new hampshire primary isn't all that interesting this time. you know, the next really big deal is south carolina. except for the two debates here this weekend, i might add. >> doesn't what happens this weekend set up what happens on tuesday? that sets up what's happens in south carolina. it's dynamic. >> but in

that was my time with rick santorum. asked whether the country would be better off with less contraception use. mr. santorum as you saw sort of ran out the clock talking about things other than contraception use. fortunately, we do know what rick santorum thinks about contraception. he's on the record on the matter. back when nobody took him all that seriously, in terms of his presidential prospects, rick santorum made his position on contraception, very, very clear. >> one of the things i will talk about that no president has talked about before i think the dangers of contraception in this country. the whole sexual liberty idea, many in the christian faith said well that is okay, contraception is okay, it's not okay. it's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to what how things are supposed to be. >> president santorum's america, birth control is a sexual libertine idea. the moderators tried to nail the contraception issue down. that effort was mostly derailed by mitt romney purporting not to understa

whatever you think of rick santorum, he gives you rick santorum. he is not mitt romney! >> but the problem is that bad luck isn't ideologically convenient for republicans. >> no. this time he needs to make up ground and he's not making it up this day. thank you, howard fineman. thank you, joe klein. >>> coming up, my interview with newt gingrich. he's taken on mitt romney and it's getting personal. you're watching "hardball" from manchester, just four days before the new hampshire primary. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. and hello to "whoa, yum." use campbell's cream of chicken soup to make easy enchiladas, cheesy chicken & rice, and other chicken dishes that are oh...so...whoa. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. flavored with real honey. powerful cold

who is rick santorum? is he the guy conservatives can rally around to defeat mitt romney, who again last night was rejected by three quarters of iowa republicans or a one-hit wonder, you see this year's mike huckabee? romney has money, the organization and the patience to outrun santorum, but does his side have the passion? also, the right-wing empire is about to strike back. michele bachmann dropped out today. her voters are a lot more likely to stick a santorum sign on their yards than a romney one. jon huntsman is all about knocking off romney personally, and for newt gingrich, it's not business, it's strictly personal. get ready, mitt. the right's coming at you. plus, will the republicans sign an abm treaty, anybody but mitt? can a coalition of santorum, gingrich and perry voters be formed to stop romney? and is team obama happy right now? not as happy as you would think. they love that romney didn't win big out there in iowa, but worry that santorum will be just the latest anti-romney whose bubble is

rick santorum won, not mitt romney. i've got the best political team on television with me right now. we're going to start with wolf blitzer on the phone along with our peter hamby, who broke the story about rick perry, mark preston, paul steinhauser also on the ground in charleston. we'll talk more about our debate tonight. then we've got shannon travis live in des moines talking about rick santorum actually winning iowa. all right, wolf, let's start with you. the biggest news, rick perry in about an hour going to step up to the mike and announce that he is out. are you surprised? >> i'm sort of surprised. i thought he would do it after -- he was almost certainly going to finish last on saturday. i thought he would drop out after that. but to save himself humiliation of coming in last, they took a lot of his terms. he'll have this news conference at 11:00, make a statement, i assume answer some questions. we'll see if he endorses anyone. he's following in the footsteps of jon huntsman, who did the same thing earlier th

waste, pillaging, raping, doing whatever he has to do, and rick santorum of all people, rick santorum could be the conservative consensus candidate who knocks mitt romney out. >> stephen: that would be wonderful. i mean, that would be enjoyable is what i meant, to report on. >> it would be and, you know, it would... to see rick santorum at the top of the ticket would be, the republican ticket, he would be at the top of the ticket and we'd speculate about who is going to be on the bottom. >> stephen: i see him as a top. >> this may be the moment for you to answer a call to service. >> stephen: again, i'll close my eyes. thank you so much. john heilemann. we'll beigig

ron paul is ahead with 24%. 148 votes ahead of rick santorum with 23%. 4,292 for rick santorum. also at 23%, just below rick santorum is mitt romney with 4,183 votes. newt gingrich is distant 13%. 2400 votes or so. rick perry only 10%, 1800 votes. michele bachmann a disappointing 6% withh1,000 votes. only 126 votes for jon huntsman. he didn't even campaign in iowa. 15% of the caucus precincts have reported right now. soledad o'brien is in clive outside of des moines. they're counting votes over there, soledad. >> yeah, there are two precincts that they're counting votes for here in clive. over here i'm looking at precinct two votes being counted. they're starting to sort them. so first they've got to divide them by candidate. after that they count those piles. once they count them for the first time, they'll switch, count those piles for the second time to make sure they're getting a consistent number. after that they'll start writing on a white board. they're going to write on the white board who has done, who has done well. there are speakers here talking as well. i'm going to

rick santorum doesn't. can he perform well in new hampshire, come up a little bit, then go to south carolina, go to florida? he's going to have to make a lot of decisions very quickly if he comes out on top of this tonight but he's going to have to scale up very quickly and have the challenge. he is going to have to be drinking water out of a fire hydra hydrant. >> are there enough people that can help him scale up? everybody is sort of committed aren't they? >> i think he's done it with a skeleton staff, a lot of his kids are working on the campaign. they don't have a lot of people who have done this professionally. so i think that he is going to have a lot of challenges over the days ahead. but he may well emerge after tonight as the chief alternative to governor romney. if you look back four years ago, in south carolina, the single most important thing that happened to john mccain in terms of winning the nomination was the fact that fred thompson didn't get out of the race after a disappointing finnish i

could it be a rick santorum? >> well, i mean, it's going to be whoever wins the republican nomination and you know, to sell rick santorum short now would be committing the same error twice. here are a couple of things. first is, it looks like two candidates are about to get out. rick perry and michele bachmann. if you take their 15 points and put them on either rick santorum or newt gingrich, they become the front-runner in this thing again. i don't know if those 15 points go to one place, but that's the play here for both newt gingrich and rick santorum. they both want to become the single, lone alternative to mitt romney. that's how mitt romney gets defeated. and it's probably the only way he gets defeated. the field needs to get winnowed, the fracturing needs to stop, conservatives need to unite behind one candidate or mitt romney will be the nominee. 3 out of 4 voters in iowa last night went in to vote for somebody other than mitt romney in every single alternative was flawed in some way. so the conservatives

forgot rick perry. then we went to rick santorum. will they actually -- will rick santorum now stay on top or will he just be a fleeting moment at the top? >> right. when you go -- >> from the papers today in philadelphia, some of the people in the philadelphia daily news who don't like him on the editorial page already vetting him and that's something that hasn't really happened to rick santorum because he was the last person to surge. now, this morning, as people wake up and he's got 25% of the vote, they're going to go through his record and start talking and it will begin with how he lost his re-election by 18 points. >> right. let's talk about what the democrats are going. the president of the united states is being ignored because there's no one to fight against and therefore, yesterday, he did a web conference where he had some questions and talked about iowa and all his accomplishments and his -- and another one of his minions, you want to hear that right now? let's hear a little bit from the president. >> because of those ca

he rick santorum. >> a message, rachel. none of them have come out with any message that will resonate against president obama. >> rick perry a great message, but then let it go his message was going to be job, js, jobs, jobs. >> he forgot it. >> he forgot it. oops. >> you need to talk about somebody defeating an incumbent president, i have got to say this is my plan to america. they make it look like occupy 99% that never happened. they are running in an alternate universe. they are not running in the united states of america in 2012 and as long as they keep this horse race going and not deal with the real needs of people it won't even be a contest. >> rick santorum anticipated your question yesterday, i will true i do get this word for word. rick santorum said, the best isn't always great, but it's the best. we will get his words, it is word for word something like that. and he was describing himself. >> wow. there was a moment like that in "16 candles" with anthony michael hall, hoe was king of. we will talk about that l

what is rick santorum's appeal? >> what -- we literally sang in the choir together, after church services rick would knock on doors after church and be at it seven days a week. all along rick's approach was talk policy and bring people together. he talked about freedom but tied that with personal responsibility. the district that he ran in, which is now the district i have, the 18th district appealed to blue color voters, reagan democrats, and he had to do that by pulling people together. i expect that he has the same tenacity and relentless necessary in iowa. going everywhere and talking to as many people as he could about the issues and being positive about america and that's where you see his message coming through. bill: this is a guy who ran for the senate in pennsylvania and lost in his home state. how did he come back from that? >> pennsylvania lost five congressional seats that year, lost the governor's race that year by record proportions. it really was a year that was a low point for republicans really acr

rick santorum had rick perry's money or perry had santorum's momentum. >>-- >> on the bus tour and spending time with people, rick santorum has been camped out in iowa and accounts for support he has and perry has been running an ad dawr where you need to be on the ground more and running a relationship. >> perry has, baggage is probably not the right word, but he's made mistakes and people have concerns about his debating style, can he debate barack obama in a one-on-one. and they don't have those with rick santorum. nothing is stopping rick santorum for the caucus. >> ron paul, on the other hand is doing well, but the momentum seems to be going in the wrong direction going into the iowa caucuses. does he have a chance to come out first? >> absolutely, a chance to come out first and a chance for top two. if there are three tickets out of iowa he's definitely going to get one of the tickets. he's got a lot of support. and you've got to remember, four years ago, he got 10% of the iowa caucus and this year's he going to get 20% and a lot of that is because not just because the country has com

we saw with rick santorum. what killed rick santorum the fact he got nailed from the right by michele bachmann right away. i think that was the first thing that really hurt the perry then, of course, the debate debacles but on the hpv vaccine and attacked right away. if you're working for romney right now you're pulling research that will go to santorum from the right. how vulnerable do you think he is and do you think that's the first thing we'll see the attack on him be in the next week? >> if you compare santorum to the earlier not romney candidates, on paper he has less positive, not been a successful governor like huntsman or perry. he can speak knowledgeably and fluently about the issues in a way that bachmann and cain and perry repeatedly failed to do. the chief obstacle people didn't think others would vote for him. once he started taking off in the polls they had permission to start voting for him. that dynamic is not over so i think it's going to be actually quite difficult for romney to attack santor

rick santorum, 25%. mitt romney, 25%. ron paul, 21%, newt gingrich, 13%, rick perry at 10% who again we just heard is reassessing his campaign and heading home to texas and michele bachmann placing sixth at 5%, michele bachmann not announcing tonight that she would be suspending or reassessing or doing anything else with her campaign except heading on to the next contest. listening to rick perry there tonight, i'm not sure 50s a foregone conclusion that he would be reassessing his campaign and heading back to texas if he -- if he placed at this -- placed this far down in the standings, but it was not a surprise. the question is what the implications are of this with rick perry out does anything else move. >> well, something has to move. he has votes that have to move but i think more interestingly, the money, there is a lot of rick perry money out there and he has the capacity to raise a lot. a lot of fund-raiser interest. where do those people go, those that wanted to pump money into rick perry go. >> it's an open questi

and i felt like rick santorum -- >> but he is the same person. >> but rick santorum wasn't in the race four years ago, and things have changed in our country. i was really looking for somebody that is a really strong conservative who also didn't shy away from family values. those things are important to me. >> do you think that mitt romney's religion is an issue and going to continue to be an issue in this race? >> you know, who knows? i think that at least in iowa, i don't think it is an issue. i was elected in a very competitive primary being a mormon. and i think iowans look at issues and what people stand for, look at their track record. and they judge them accordingly. there are always people who are going to judge people based on race, religion, and creed. but i think there's a very, very small minority. i don't think it will have an impact. i think they are really looking at the individual. >> you talk about a small percentage. the percentage of mormons in the state is very, very small. was your religion as a mormon an issue in any way, shape, or form during your election? >> it

santorum form spent $1.65 for vote and romney 200 bucks a vote for rick santorum 800 bucks a vote, so, you know, you can spend a lot of money but if you don't have the candidate or e aience there it doesn't really matter the second thing is the that the electorate in iowa, it was very different than the electorate last time, it is a mixture, a much angrier, much more dour and pessimistic so the candidates have to be ayn from i and optimistic at the same time and that is sort of a tough challenge and then the final thing i think i have learned is there is a paucity of political talent out there on the republican side there is some talent maybe waiting in the wings but t necessarily on the stage, on the democratic side i was with a bunch of journalists at one of these dinners and all saying, if obama wins in time or who is lily to be the democratic mom knee four years from now? and it is actually hard to think of a lot of superstarsmerging, maybe hillary clinton, maybe cuomo, but besides from obama right now i don't think there is a huge talent pple i think a lot of good people are bein

jim mentioned rick santorum. he lost by eight votes in eye but declare that a huge, moral victory for a candidate who had little money, written off in the polls for months, as a long shot who wouldn't last past iowa. rick santorum, from the strong performance in iowa joins us manchest manchester, new hampshire. good to see you. first, congratulations. welcome to the fray in new hampshire. >> thank you very much. it's great to be here. in fact, back here. this is trip number 31 for me to new hampshire. i've done over 100 town hall meetings here. we're excited to get back on the ground here and surprise a few people, just like we did last time around. >> well, let's go through that. you now emerge, you are at least for this week, the conservative alternative,ed leading conservative al teternative to t romney. when you were way down in the polls, you started to surge in iowa, you say you can make the case you are the most consistent conservative in this race. i want you to listen here. texas rick perry will see you

>> he hasn't been anticipating a rick santorum victory. and jon huntsman, as you are correct in pointing out, is playing to a more libertarian, more moderate republican electorate in new hampshire where in a contest as you know, independents will be able to vote. that is a contest that rick santorum is not well positioned for. he is well positioned for south carolina. jon huntsman is conservative on several issues. he has an unquestionable pro-life and pro gun record. and he touts himself as a fiscal conservative in his time as governor in utah with balanced budgets, et cetera. he will have to take that case to the voters of new hampshire and south carolina and say that he is as conservative fiscally at least, and on a life and gun issue as rick santorum. i don't think he was ready for the victory last night but he'll be his speeches in the days to come. >> politico is reporting exclusively that there has been an invitation sent out to conservatives to meet in texas, a part of it says you and your spouse are cordially inslighted to a priva

santorum, mitt romney, ron paul -- >> you think rick santorum. >> right, as of now, rick santorum, newt king and rick perry. here's what rick perry made, what i thought was a surprising announcement. >> i decided to return to texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race. i believe that this is the greatest nation on the faith of the earth. you've made every minute of this worth it for ourselves. and with a little prayer and reflection, i'm going to decide the best path forward. but i want to tell you, there has been no greater joy in my life than to be able to share with the people of iowa and of this country that there is a model to take this country forward. and it is in the great state of texas. >> all right, we're getting -- we're getting word that an announcement of the actual definitive winner is very, very eminent, actually, in the next few minutes. but what i thought was so great about that rick perry speech was the long pause at one moment where you thought, uh-oh, is he doing the thing again where he forgot wh

rick santorum has a shot. he needs to do well in new hampshire to keep some momentum going for south carolina and some of the polls show him moving up in south carolina. that's where he's putting all of his money, token buy up here in new hampshire and doesn't have enough to go heavily in both places. but a shot that isn't all that promising for him because it's a long road. mitt romney's prepared for those other states. >> does mitt romney's victory, i guess eight votes is still a victory if we're not still counting in iowa. is that translated at all in new hampshire or do they go, iowa's nothing to us? >> no republican has won both iowa and new hampshire in a contested nomination race. so he's in a position thrullly make history by doing this. you would say for almost any other kind of candidate there might be that kind of reverse backlash or reverse bounce that new hampshire's julianna said likes to go in a different direction. he's planted a lot of roots in this state and has worked have i diligently to ho

rick santorum is, if you peel off the skin, deep, deep down, he'd be rick santorum. he's not like romney, who could speak french but wouldn't show it in the daylight. right? he isn't some other guy hiding somewhere. he is rick santorum. >> let's say one thing about that ad. it would have been better if he had done it without the brokeback mountain jacket on. that's the first thing. but the second -- >> you are making connections i never would have thought of. >> but the second thing is, this is true, what mark just said is really true, he has spent all of his money on television -- >> was that a secret code that we missed? >> he has not had a consistent message. so all the money that he's spent on tv has not rebounded as much to his benefit as it might have because he's been on jobs sometimes, culture sometimes. he's been all over the place. >> but santorum never talks about the economy, or hardly ever. >> he does -- look, he's gotten no scrutiny. there's been -- perry's gone after him in the last 48 hours a little bit, but the rick santorum record is not going to be

rick santorum very smart tonight. focused on blue collar economics, not so much the cultural issues. can he make an end road on the economy? newt gingrich also has a lot to prove. he has one week to prove he has staying power if he comes in behind ron paul and behind mitt romney and conceivably, behind rick santorum. so gingrich has a lot to prove here. santorum has a lot to prove here. ron paul had 10% in iowa four years ago. he built it up over 20%. 8% in new hampshire for ron paul, four years ago, a big test to see whether he can grow. and then state number three in the republican process is a state that is decisive. delegates matter if this goes on for weeks and weeks. sometimes, momentum decides the nomination. if somebody can win two out of the first three or three out of the first three, it can end quickly. you get into south carolina by the orange, the huckabee vote, much more hospitable to a christian conservative candidate. governor perry's decision to go home and reassess could be a benefit to rick santorum

look at rick santorum. he's statistically tied for the lead which explains why romney is now going after him as a creature of washington. >> he has a very different background than i have. >> reporter: sensing he's in a battle for two number santorum is taking on ron paul instead. >> like the president said when he was campaigning, i predict that if president obama has four years where he's not looking for re-election, his foreign policy will not be any different than ron paul's foreign policy. >> reporter: the texas congressman's response? my crowds are bigger than yours. >> why are the crowds getting bigger and bigger? why is it 77 million people want us to get out of afghanistan? i would say i'm pretty mainstream. >> reporter: don't count out rick perry and michele bachmann. in the 2012 field of drama in iowa. gingrich says no matter what happens here in iowa, he is headed straight to new hampshire after the caucuses to rip into mitt romney. and it appears the former speaker's supporters like what they'r

straight up front, rick santorum and race. rick santorum and race, he says you've known him for a long time when you were mayor of new orleans at the urban league. he says he's on your side, he's a champion for equal rights for everybody. is he? >> what's important here is what rick santorum said on sunday, i believe it was in iowa that shocked and surprised me. and because he and i have had a relationship of respect, even though we don't agree on issues, i was really shocked at what he said. and what he said was not only insensitive, it was pandering i think to the worst interest in the american people and divisive. he's auditioning to be the leader of the nation. the leader of the nation has to represent and respect all people. and i think what he did was deliberate. i think it was divisive, and i wish what senator santorum had said was, i said it, i didn't mean it, i regret it, and moved on. i think what he's done is he's compounded the criticism by sort of, you know, creating some confusion about whether he said it or not.

rick santorum had their levels. >> mark just brought up a great point, and that is that rick santorum has a very heavy foreign policy position. he's very anti-iran. at some point i wonder if i'll hear him invoke the words of senator mccain, bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb iran. i don't know if that's going to play over well or if he'll stick with his evangelical message as he goes into new hampshire, what do you think? >> i think the foreign policy santorum hit is very popular with republican volters and a good chunk of democratic voters as well. certainly after 9/11, a lot of people in the power corridors of washington and new york have begun to take foreign policy seriously and a dangerous world very seriously. there's a lot of reasons i think to go after santorum, but i think when he goes on the foreign policy thing, he's on firm ground with a lot of those vote voters, particularly republican voters. mark is right, there was a turning point with that particular speech where people were eating and not paying attention and all of a sudden they started listening to him. he had this ability

brown is rick santorum. pins a picture of how expansive as well as space that santorum is taking, romney is the red. paul is blue. perry is, two counties down here in orange. and there, you can see it. we're waiting for more counties to come n but you can get a good breakdown of the exact vote total as it happens. just keep on refleshing. so let's take a look. and this is taking a look at the perry campaign. we're waiting for texas governor come out and speak to his folks at the perry campaign headquarters. that is michelle bachmann's campaign, i believe. there we go. he's finishing fifth in this race. and the question is... he told me today and i think he told you he's fighting in south carolina. that is going to be a big race. he says he's going on. >> and there are suggestions that he's decided he will sleep on it. and this is just coming in. there may be some confusion that each is waiting for a call from the another that will decide when rick santorum will come out. we'll see. one would wonder why one w

but i clearly like rick santorum a lot and i think rick santorum will tell you he likes me a lot. we are personally very good friends and have known each other for many, many years. in fact it goes back 20 plus years. >> back in april, you had said the citizens united case and the work that david bossi did there is an extraordinarily important case and landmark. obviously you were the victim of one would argue the unintended consequences of citizens united. any second thoughts? >> no. no, i'm not the victim of that. i'm the victim of one personal person, mitt romney, whose staff decided to run a deliberately negative and dishonest campaign. that's the fact. remember the swift vote model existed in 527s long before citizens united. and in fact this particular approach i think has nothing to do with the citizens united case, it has to do with a bunch of millionaires getting together to run a negative campaign and governor romney refusing to call them off and refusing to be hahn bes it. >> all right. >> so i think this is a matter of political responsibility. >> speaker newt gingrich

rick santorum's surge is a big story this morning. he's making five stops in the hawkeye state today and earlier defended his support for mitt romney the last time around in '08. take a look. >> you said governor romney is it the candidate who will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear. >> well, i was saying it relative to john mccain, and that's what i meant then. >> does he have conservative values? principles? >> of course. everybody on that stage that is in these debates has conservative values. the question is, are those values ones that you can trust when they become president of the united states? >> nearly two dozen cities will see a presidential candidate drop by today. iowa's current front-runner is also already on the road trying to lock up votes with a clear message, electability. >> i understand how the economy works. and i want to use that expertise to get this country going again. i know that those good times are still out there and we can reclaim them, as long as we have a president who believes in

rick santorum. romney campaign says they're not waiting to talk to the santorum campaign they're just waiting for results like the rest of america. >>> welcome to america's election headquarters. it's too cross to -- close to you call. rick santorum over mitt romney. we're still waiting on votes, actual from story county. that is the university of iowa. sorry, iowa state. ing forrive me. and ames, don't e mail. associate td press just report that had quote, some guy is driving the vote tallies in his truck to the reporting centers and we're waiting on that guy from that guy n that truck. probably to determine this race as you look at the differential there, it's so close. you're talking about hundreds of votes from a place like story county. right now it's 113 separating rick santorum and rit mom knee. >> just comes down to that guy. and what about that guy? do they know that guy? are they waiting for that guy? is there any idea how fast that guy is driving? >> it's iowa. there are some highways wit

you hear over and over that i like rick rick santorum but i'm not sure he's big enough to run for president. and that's what newt gingrich argued last night. he embraced the santorum suggestion that he has grandiose views. he said i do have grandiose views and he basically called him too small to be president. gwen: i don't think santorum saw that coming. >> but i wouldn't count santorum out. he got the big boost from the evangelical leaders in the weekend meeting in texas. james dobson, that's a big deal. >> i heard he did get that endorsement from that group in texas, but there's no real obvious surge that he got from it. some people said he needed a stronger infrastructure. if he had a greater organization within south carolina churches on short notice he might have been able to do more. >> actually, there was some brushback on that. in part because of some of gingrich's top supporters who remember at the meeting came back the next day and at least in an interview with me, told me that the organizer of the evangelical meeting said that should not be construed as an endorsement. >> why is

the last bet, rick santorum. but does newt gingrich or santorum have a chance or could this race be noefr south carolina this saturday? also, republicans insist they are looking for a president that will turn around the job losses, bounce back from depression, cripple al qaeda, and keep health care private. in other words, president obama. the writer andrew sullivan makes a great case for the president's record so far. so how come the president and his people never do the same. and think this is over the top? let's watch. >> if mitt romney really believes -- >> corporations are people, my friend. >> -- then mitt romney is a serial killer. he's mitt the ripper. >> wow. that is from steven colbert's new superpac, which in theory, has nothing to do with him. and in practice has everything to do with steve colbert. ted koppel joins us tonight. and if the jon huntsman campaign tells us anything, it's that the republican party has not much use for a thoughtful campaign of ideas that tries to positively build bridges an