but among the larger groups, gingrich, gingrich and gingrich. he keeps winning. here's one more. some thought there would be a gender gap. there was no gender gap. gingrich 38%, romney, 29%. he won among women. and the question, you can see here this is newt gingrich. that is a picture of a thumping. look at 2008 when john mccain barry carried the state. he won 33% to 30% over mike huckabee. tonight, newt gingrich winning convincingly. the question is, can he take the demographic support among tea party voters and evangelicals and bring it into a much more different state here. this is mccain the lighter red, mike huckabee the yellow. four years ago. romney got 31% last time but mccain won the state. again, a lot of lessons. you can discount because of the size of the gingrich victory or say governor romney has a problem as he moves on. >> we have ten days between now and january 31 when the florida primary takes place. you think how quickly things can change, only a week or so, not even a week or so ago, that cnn "time" magazine poll we did in florida showed mitt romney crushing

but among the larger groups, gingrich, gingrich and gingrich. you just go across, he keeps winning. here's one more. men and woman, it was evenly split. some thought there would be a gender gap. there was no gender gap. gingrich 38%, romney, 29%. he won among women. he won even more convincingly among men. and the question, you can see here this is newt gingrich. that is a picture of a thumping. look at 2008 when john mccain barley carried the state. he won 33% to 30% over mike huckabee. you see a split, the conservatives up here, the more moderate to conservative voters in this part of the state. tonight, newt gingrich winning convincingly. the question is, can he take the demographic support among tea party voters, and evangelicals and bring it into a much more different state here. this is mccain the lighter red, romney is the darker red. mike huckabee the yellow. that's four years ago. romney got 31% last time but mccain won the state. that was it. much more diverse place. again, a lot of lessons. you can discount because of the size of the gingrich victory or say governor romne

and unfortunately, newt gingrich unfortunately for mitt romney, newt gingrich has been on his game. especially he's uncomfortable with his wealth. a lot of people have pointed this out. when someone brings up your tax returns and how much you paid in taxes, you need to have an answer as to, you know, that you can use the next day that shows up on tv the next day. he hasn't been able to do that despite the fact he couldn't have been surprised those kinds of questions came up. he needs to have those answers. >> point two you say romney needs to disqualify newt. what do you mean? >> well, somehow -- and we've seen it start. we saw it with bob dole, a romney supporter, seen it start in some conservative outlets and some conservative columnists all says, whoa, he's crazy. he can't be trusted. we don't know. he's per mercurial. somehow mitt romney has to find a way to take that message and have it come from him without alienating newt gingrich's supporters. it's a really tricky business. but he's got to -- he's got himself to carry that disqualifying message. >> also tricky your final rom

>> why did gingrich not compete? he came out of south carolina with momentum. you would think you'd make an invent >> well, the super pacs are actually spending all their money but a, it takes time to produce the ads and get on the air. they're spending an awful lot of money on radio also which is a cheaper way of getting out your message. when you look at those numbers, it's a big problem for newt gingrich. >> and not spending quickly out of south carolina would cost him in the state of florida. >> planning, that takes organization and planning. >> be sure to tune in tomorrow night. our coverage will begin this hour, 6:00 eastern with a special edition of john king usa. moving overseas, secretary of state hillary clinton condemned the latest increase in violence against anti-government demonstrators in syria. one group reporting at least 100 deaths today. the demonstrations have spread to damascus. some protesters recently allowed arwa damon in. >> material hidden in a safehouse along with tiny printed leaflets read

gingrich had a huge amount of momentum. after monday, the polling shifted dramatically, and last night locked it in. this was also a proxy fight between the governor who endorsed mitt romney and the speaker who endorsed gingrich. he's fired it up to get grass roots activists to get to the polls tomorrow, and i think newt is going to win. >> if he does win, what do you think that means moving forward? >> the same thing we said on the night of the iowa caucus. this is going to be a fight to the end over a period of months. far too many journalist say he wins two, three, four, and it's over. absolutely not. perry drops out this week. what happened if santorum comes in fourth, will he stay in? ron paul is not going anywhere. this is going to go until april or may. >> ron paul is not leaving? >> at the end of the day, this is a race for delegates. this is not how many states you win. can you get to 1445. so mitt romney's focus should be on the long run. >> if santorum stays in, do you think he'll place fourth. is paul strong eno

gingrich on this topic but i have interviewed marianne gingrich. you know, she's pretty convincing, at least to me. as far as what's new from overnight. you know, the polls aren't in, but i assume that john king has dropped in the ratings. that's a joke obviously. >> he's not -- i realize that. he's into the running to be a candidate for president of the united states eventually. doesn't matter on his point. let me ask john a question because i do think there is a good question about timing. and newt gingrich brought it up last night in the comments that he said. let me play you a little bit of what newt gingrich said in response to john king's question and then we'll talk about timing on the other side of it. listen. >> the story is false. every personal friend i have who knew us in that period says the story was false. we offered several of them to abc to prove it was false. they weren't interested because they would like to attack any republican. they're attacking the governor, they're attacking me. i'm sure they'll get around to senator santoru

>> to go with the gingrich story? >> it ultimately would have been sherwood, the president of abc news, and the executive producer of "nightline" jean marie condan. >> you talked about trying to get her to come on camera since november. what kind of argument did you make as to why she should sit down in front of a camera and do this interview? >> well, she recognized that at some point people would be asking her her comments about her husband, and i started the process because we were interested in some of the investigations into gingrich's ethics and fbi investigation that ultimately fizzled out. that was a starting point for us in the abc news investigative unit. as we talked to her more and more, she said she wanted to answer those questions and also talk about what she thought was his inability and a moral level to serve as president. >> you know, in launching the nightline story, i felt that most of what she had to say and she had never done in a television setting, she's done before for print media, washington p

he said it was newt gingrich. let's take a listen. >> as i have contemplated the future of this campaign, i have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in this 2012 campaign. therefore, today, i am suspending my campaign and endorsing newt gingrich for president of the united states. >> so, rick perry putting his weight and his support, not a lot of numbers, not a lot of supporters out of south carolina, if you believe those polls, single digits, but perhaps a very critical group, evangelical christians. perhaps, he can persuade them to go to newt gingrich. another big political story today that we are following, and that was the reversal of the results out of the iowa caucuses. it was mitt romney who was believed to have won the iowa caucuses. well, now, today, iowa officials saying it was actually rick santorum. we'll see if that means he has more momentum leading into tonight's debate as well as the south carolina primary. that in two days, but the debate and cnn tonight. so, all thi

he took it to newt gingrich on several occasions. he did it in a cool manner, showing a bit of an alpha dog manner. and newt didn't have the commanding night he had in south carolina. and that hurt him because for him to close the gap here in florida, a close race, he needed another big, good night. rick santorum was strong. you have to give credit to rick santorum, and ron paul was funny. he had the best lines of the night. >> john king is with former senator santorum. >> i'm with santorum and his mother who is now famous in social media. good to see you. you introduced your mom at the beginning of the meeting, all over twitterverse. no way you're 93 years young. >> ari fleischer was talking, senator, that you had a strong performance. the last couple debates, you got great revies. the question sometimes comes down to resources. in a state like florida, you decided not to run tv ads, you decided not to stay here friday night because you're looking ahead. is this a missed opportunity? >> i have been here, i was the first person down

but among the larger groups, gingrich, gingrich and gingrich. he keeps winning. here's one more. some thought there would be a gender gap. there was no gender gap. gingrich 38%, romney, 29%. he won among women. and the question, you can see here this is newt gingrich. that is a picture of a thumping. look at 2008 when john mccain barry carried the state. he won 33% to 30% over mike huckabee. tonight, newt gingrich winning convincingly. the question is, can he take the demographic support among tea party voters and evangelicals and bring it into a much more different state here. this is mccain the lighter red, mike huckabee the yellow. four years ago. romney got 31% last time but mccain won the state. again, a lot of lessons. you can discount because of the size of the gingrich victory or say governor romney has a problem as he moves on. >> we have ten days between now and january 31 when the florida primary takes place. you think how quickly things can change, only a week or so, not even a week or so ago, that cnn "time" magazine poll we did in florida showed mitt romney crushing

newt gingrich will be my guest tomorrow night. we're going to talk about all of this the day before the crucial primary here in south carolina. all right, we are about 40 minutes away from a debate. as good and exciting as a debate could possibly be and ahead of that, the senior senator from south carolina, lindsey graham, going to come "outfront." i'm hopeful. senator? >> yeah. >> he's over there. i see you behind the lights. maybe he will have an endorsement. and what's the number one car company in the world? hint. guess what? made in the u.s.a. we'll be right back. >>> we are live from the north charleston coliseum in south carolina. the site of tonight's cnn debate. it's going to begin as you can see in just over 30 minutes time. tonight, exclusive interview with lindsey graham, who's endorsement has been highly coveted. >> unbelievable. >> is it going to come out tonight? >> it's been highly coveted for the people who want to win, for the other guy. >> why have you been reticent to endorse? >> i don't know who i'm going to v

. >>> how is newt gingrich doing it? jooef cafferty taking a closer look at newt gingrich's latest comeback. >>> and the president will have a huge audience for tomorrow night's state of the union address. how can he make the most of it? donna brazil and mary matalin are standing by live for a strategy session. >>> and today's gps technology has amazing capabilities but a u.s. supreme court ruling puts police on notice. >>> jack cafferty is here. >> wolf, newt gingrich has risen from the dead for the second time in this roller coaster ride that's become the republican nominating battle. with his decisive double-digit win in south carolina he heads to florida a proverbial juggernaut with a full head of steam and south carolina has the distinction of picking every republican nominee since ronald reagan in 1980 and what gingrich did is nothing short of amazing and also a bit puzzling. a piece in politico suggests that the surging gingrich has mastered the art of debate and disguise. no question about gingrich's debate perfo

then gingrich sturnlged in the polls. joining me to talk about what happened, a man who knows south carolina very well, spokesman for former governor mark sanford, currently the longer serving spokesman at the u.n. thanks for joining me. a big night in many ways. maybe not, though, the end of it the story for a long way because florida is looming large in every sense, isn't it? >> yeah. i think the beauty is that we have 50 state that's are very different. south carolina is a very interesting state. they usually go with the eventual gop nominee, but i think they got it wrong this time. i think for some reason there was a lot of pressure to support newt from the media. he did a great job in the debates. he gave to the media. people like that. south carolinians like that. there are a lot of retired folks and snowbirds in south carolina. >> my sense was this, don't americans just like a politician standing up going, no! and taking on his critics, his enemies, his ex-wives, whoever it may be? they like this pugnacious style t

newt gingrich had huge momentum after monday the polling shifted dramatically for newt gingrich. last night locked it in. there is another key detail. this is also a proxy fight between the governor who endorsed mitt romney and the speaker of the house who endorsed newt gingrich. the speaker has fired it up for newt gingrich to get grassroots activists for the polls tomorrow. we'll see it as a proxy fight and between newt and mitt. i think newt will win. >> what do you think that means moving forward if he does win? >> this is going to be a fight to the end over a period of months. far too many national journalists kept saying he wins two, three, four and it's over. absolutely not. you look at what happened. perry drops out this week. happens if santorum comes in fourth. will he stay in? ron paul's not going anywhere. this will go to april or may. >> you mean paul isn't leaving. >> he's not leaving the race. this is a race for delegates. not about how many states you win. can you get to 1445. mitt romney should be focused on the long haul. >> do you think santorum will place four

to him, newt gingrich directly. we stau a little bit of that tonight in his speech. what they're going to talk about is the fact that newt gingrich is a lobbyist and somebody who lobbied as they say for freddie mac. when you look at the value of housing and how it's declined in the state of florida, they oar going to have after him on that. they're going to say he's out of touch with the republican party, that he called the republican budget right wing social engineering. something that almost every house republican voted for. so they're going to also say that he's unreliable, that he's erratic. that you need somebody who is steadier at the helm and who can be depended upon to beat barack obama, because in the end, it's going to be a race about who is best able to beat the president of the united states and romney has to show in these debates coming up, including the one with wolf on thursday, that he can take it to barack obama and go the long haul with him. and win for the republican party. that's what they want.

this debate is pivotal for gingrich. he's got to capture the momentum he did after south carolina. >> tonight, this is the big debate tonight. it's all coming down to the wire. >>ened i guarantee you, thai woet going to be ready to fight it out tonight. it's too much at stake. romney in our poll, started doing better when he went on offense. i think he's going to continue. >> there's another issue for him with apparently the things that you file early on when you come to be a candidate in august. he filed some disclosures with the federal election commission. some things weren't in there like the swiss bank account. obviously, he's disclosed everything now, but he didn't want to until he won the nomination. they say these are minorer things. are they? >> the democrats and president obama's campaign are trying to make them into major things. when you release that paper, you're going to have a paper or two that's missing. at least it's not like a treasury secretary didn't pay his taxes. the swiss bank accounts, if they're

part of it is newt gingrich's fall. we heard him say on occasions comparing himself to reagen and margaret thatcher i done foe that goes over with well people in iowa the definition of iowa, nice, down to earth, midst western folks. if you look at the poll numbers as to who is identified as being kind of like regular iowans here it's rick santorum and i think he's been able to benefit from that. you know, by going to all of these towns, going to all 99 counties, doing 360 town halls. he's been able to connect with people on the ground here in iowa, throughout the course of this campaign. and i think that's paying off for him. newt gingrich, who also spent a lot of time here, packed a lot of people into town halls in recent weeks, we were in iowa a few weeks ago following from town hall to town hall, and he was packing, at the height, poll numbers were strong, he was leading in the state he was packing people into town halls. something happened to newt gingrich between three weeks ago and when this poll was starting to b

newt gingrich has five, and gri gingrich has some ground to make up. mitt romney has roughly a ten-point lead depending on which poll you're looking at. that's not good news for newt gingrich who was hoping for some big momentum after that florida primary. part of the reason why is the romney campaign has really gone after newt gingrich with a sort of scorched earth strategy, the ads have been tough, the rhetoric also has been tough. listen to what romney has had to say about gingrich's time as an adviser for freddie mac and all that money he made from the mortgage giant, and he has not let go of that issue the entire time he's been down here in florida. >> people recognize the policies that got us into this mess included the fact that we had something called freddie mac and fannie mae and they were guaranteed mortgages where they knew people couldn't possibly pay it back. a huge bubble erupted, people got hurt by it, and the fact that somebody is running for president at the time that was going on, $1.6 billion, that just irks people, and i think that

it's the gingrich. in this op rattic campaign of sell dug, he is the devil in a red dress, a tempt tres who would lead republicans to ruin. >> put me down there as undecided. yes, i city believe that. he has many great strengths, but he's barry goldwater. he's an expression of the party's principles, but he at the top of the ticket? he is such a polarizing force that his 21% with obama's favorable among independents. i think he would wipe out republicans for the house. we may not win the senate, lose the presidency. newt gingrich could very possibly bring back the first two we're when he ran everything, and boy, that is not something that -- did you see bob dole's statement today? very similar things. it looks like the republican establishment is really going after newt gingrich. ironically, as jim acosta pointed out, that could help him. >> that could absolutely, especially in this year that's very anti-washington, and i think the more they go after newt, the more it's going to hurt romney. it's that r

polls show newt gingrich surging. the one-time frontrunner mitt romney sees the state slipping away. today governor romney fought back by demanding speaker beginning rich release more details of the ethics investigation back when he was the house speaker in the late 1990s. >> i think over 80% of republican congressmen voted to reprimand the speaker of the house? first time in history. and nancy pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation. you know it's going to get out before the general election. sure, ought to get it out now. >> late this afternoon, a confident speaker gingrich fired back. >> he doesn't release anything. he doesn't answer anything. and he's even confused about whether or not he will ever release anything. and then he decided to pick a fight over releasing stuff? the report of the committee on ethics was like 900 pages. now, as soon as the governor reads the 900 pages, i'll be glad to chat with him. but in the interim, like he could have today released his tax records so the voters of sou

newt gingrich learned manage last night. if you have a witness, turn that into a strength and he did that last night. romney is more separate and detached from where people are. he was called a continue man and that gets at what you start to feel about mitt romney, that there's nothing inside him guiding him. >> crystal, you get the last word. >> i think romney or gingrich can beat president barack obama because president barack obama is probably one of the -- he's the most flawed candidate that -- in the 2012 race and what democrats really fear is gingrich gets the nomination. he will vericiat -- newt gingrich is grandiose. he worked with bill clinton. he balanced a budget. he brought republicans back in power after 40 years in siberia. and he reformed welfare. with newt gingrich, you know what you're getting. he's not afraid of the tough questions. he will hit obama head on and that's what democrats are most afraid of. romney is going to really pull this off, if he sales into the nomination, he's going to have to get a lot

gingrich spokesman r.c. hammond says the only people the campaign offered to abc were the speaker's two daughters from his first marriage." proof tonight speaker gingrich perhaps should worry more about mitt romney and florida. our new times cnnorc poll shows a statistical dead heat here. mitt romney has 36% of potential voters, speaker gingrich 34% support. close but the momentum is clearly with governor romney at the moment. speaker gingrich was leading in the first day of our polling, but romney significantly up in the final two days. our debate here tomorrow night is the last face-to-face showdown before tuesday's voting. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. gloria clearly the nbc debate helped governor romney stop the momentum. he now has it. the interesting thing there at the polling look at the gender gap. if you look at our polling among men, beginning rich 35, romney 31 slight advantage gingrich. among women, romney 40, gingrich 42. in a bigger, more diverse moderate state looks at the

some money >>> gingrich versus romney or romney versus gingrich. read about the republican presidential race the past 24 hours, most of the buzz is about this new dramatic two-man race between the winners of south carolina and the new hampshire primary. not so fast insists the guy who won the iowa caucus. rick santorum, it's good to see you. you understand the dynamic in the race. speaker gingrich is raising money based on his south carolina win. romney has a deeper financial network than santorum. even earlier today, you told this to reporters before an event at a manufacturing plant. sitting on the sidelines watching two people destroy each other creates an opportunity itself. is that what you're hoping for that maybe speaker gingrich takes out romney and all of a sudden, the party says whoa? >> well, you know, has been the narrative from actually the very beginning of this campaign. the media always tries to make this a two-person race. >> that's you said that, senator. you said sitting on the sidelines watching two people destroy each other cre

gingrich had a huge amount of momentum. after monday, the polling shifted dramatically, and last night locked it in. this was also a proxy fight between the governor who endorsed mitt romney and the speaker who endorsed gingrich. he's fired it up to get grass roots activists to get to the polls tomorrow, and i think newt is going to win. >> if he does win, what do you think that means moving forward? >> the same thing we said on the night of the iowa caucus. this is going to be a fight to the end over a period of months. far too many journalist say he wins two, three, four, and it's over. absolutely not. perry drops out this week. what happened if santorum comes in fourth, will he stay in? ron paul is not going anywhere. this is going to go until april or may. >> ron paul is not leaving? >> at the end of the day, this is a race for delegates. this is not how many states you win. can you get to 1445. so mitt romney's focus should be on the long run. >> if santorum stays in, do you think he'll place fourth. is paul strong eno

herman cain thinks that man is newt gingrich. >> speaker gingrich is a patriot, speaker gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas. >> cain and other conservatives say despite the decades in congress, his consultant work in d.c., he's more into change than candidate obama ever was. sarah palin put it this way on fox. >> we need somebody who's engaged in reform and isn't afraid to shake up that establishment. so if for no other reason, rage against the machine, vote for newt. annoy a liberal. vote newt. >> as politico contributor puts it, he, gingrich, has weird ideas. he's unpredictable. but conservative base figures, romney the establishment candidate, will do a modest job of reining in the budget, gingrich might just whack the thing until it begs for mercy and releases all its wasteful programs. how many times have you heard democrats wish hillary clinton had been elected president? could she, they wonder, as a washington insider, have more effectively dealt with a hostile congress? do we need an anti-establishment president? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. >

the contract is with the gingrich group, not with newt gingrich himself. that exhibit 2, as it's called, about what he was supposed to do for freddie mac is vague. it seems to me when you have a one sentence agreement for $300,000 a year contract seems to me he was probably hired to be some kind of senior counselor, to be available when they needed him, to offer advice, perhaps. but it's very unclear and in washington, lots of agencies, lots of firms, businesses hire people who were once very powerful in congress to kind of be available to them, if you will, for strategic advice. the question i have, what kind of strategic advice was he giving. we heard him in the clip you played. there's also a quote from him on freddie mac's website from 2007, in which he says, that i'd be very careful about changing the model for freddie mac and fannie mae. he's been a little inconsistent. i think this still leaves the opening for the romney campaign to go after him and say, exactly what did you do for freddie mac? >> also, earlier this month, the gingrich campaign said

newt gingrich on the defensive. ron paul seemed indifferent. >> that subject really doesn't interest me a whole lot. >> wolf blitzer was the moderator of that cnn florida republican debate and he'll join us next. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals. developed with dermatologists... it's clinically proven to remove 99% of dirt and toxins and purify pores. and with natural willowbark it contains no dyes, parabens or harsh sulfates. dirt and toxins do a vanishing act and my skin feels pure and healthy. [ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. secondhand smoke affects ] purieveryone's health.ser it's not just irritating. it can cause heart disease and even death. speak up about secondhand smoke. your health and the health of your family depend on it. >>> all right, we continue to delve into the issues on the presidential campaign. every sunday we're spending this hour in the

gingrich looked like he's fading. santorum is now beginning to contend for second, may not make second place, but i think santorum is going to come out of here with a ticket to super tuesday. this thing goes on. >> wow. all right. thanks, guys. thanks very much, alex and james. and as both of them certainly know, the cuban vote here in florida, cuban/american vote here is usually a no-brainer here for republicans in the state. are that community's political loyalties changing? are increasing numbers becoming democrats? >>> and a surprising tactic between two political rivals in one of the most heated u.s. senate races of the year. copd makes it hard to breathe, so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung f

good for gingrich or bad? >> i think it helps a little bit, but the person that gingrich really needs to endorse him, zarida, is rick santorum. as long as rick santorum is still in the race, it's going to be hard for gingrich to get into the 40s where you're seeing romney down in florida. he's going to have trouble putting to the the coalition that he needs. >> but rick santorum obviously still in. folks say he's staying in for the long haul. >> i think he will stay in for the long haul. that's going to divide the electorate. that plays right into romney's hands. >> jaime might have picked up cain. three polls say he's trailing romney. he is lashing out at romney putting the gloves back on. let's listen to this and talk about it. >> i am standing next to a guy who is the most blatantly dishonest answers i can remember in any presidential race in my lifetime. >> he was well coached. he came into the debate prepared to say things that are false. >> people say he uses his viciousness to get ahead, but it also mak

is going to go out and make the case for newt gingrich when newt gingrich isn't there. so looking down the road, they hope it's going to be a little bit different. we'll see, brooke. >> yeah, by the looks of these last couple of polls with mitt romney in the lead by double digits. we'll have to see how, if at all, newt gingrich changes his message and his narrative moving forward. joe johns, i appreciate it, with me in tampa, florida. next on reporter roulette i want to take you to washington where we have senior correspondent dana bash standing by on capitol hill. the senate is considering this bill where it would make it illegal for staff to make insider trades. this is something we talk about on the show, but i think a lot of americans are actually sitting there thinking, hello, how is this not illegal already? >> exactly. and you talk to some members of congress, they will tell you they believe it actually is technically illegal already, but the problem is there is a perception that members of congress are exempt from this insider trading law. what this effectively

gingrich is stronger with men. romney has been stronger with women. >> but in south carolina, men have clearly ruled in that particular state, but in 2,573,000 republicans paymented in the primary in 2008, it was about 450,000, so the weather hinders elderly people from voting, less enthusiastic people from voting and of course more passionate people tend to turn out if the weather is bad. so i think tonight you'll see a mix of perhaps the ron paul factor, because they're the most passionate but also the most organized campaign can typically turn out their voters as well. >> here is the trend you want to be on the lookout for. the democrats had record breaking turnout in 2008 all boards. they're not going to repeat that model. republican turnout and james and i differ about this but republican turnout was a record in 2008, got broken in 2012 in iowa. record in 2 240u 8 in new hampshire, broken in 2012 inment has ham. donna's right, 455,000 republicans voted in 2008. see if republicans get a record tonight that, mea

he knows newt gingrich. frankly newt gingrich was the only other guy on stage on monday who was talking about making washington as inconsequential as possible which has been rick perry's thing. he may be quitting but everybody is singing from rick perry's song book about washington. >> when he got in he shot up to the lead in the polls here in this state. he was a player in this state. a player in iowa. he had a couple of horrible debates and made some big gaffes and the voters, i think, because republicans are so hungry to beat president obama, they were less forgiving of those debate gaffes because they're thinking about october than perhaps they might have been earlier. >> no question. you take a look at his performance, one-on-one with 400 people, he's fantastic. 1,000, he's fantastic. put him on the stage and let him debate, he has not had the experience and it came across. romney's been running for four years. it shows. zpl it showed. if you go back four year, a loft people say this is where we are thi

on gingrich, i think i am a transformational figure, which those of us who covered newt gingrich know that he always spoke of himself in the third person as a transformational figure, and that's what santorum was saying, that people tried to overthrow him when he was speaker of the house and throw him out. >> their candidate on this day, was this a bad night for him. >> >> think mitt romney is a double hitter, hit more doubles here. rick santorum had his best night yet, a triple. newt swings for the fences and he connected tonight. he could have spectacular whiffs, and we don't know from day to day if he's going to hit a home run or strike out. >> you saw the angry newt some time and the smiling, jovial newt, and it was interesting because you saw the whole range tonight in the debate, starting with the anger at john. >> we have to take another break. we'll hear more from the panel in a moment. a lot more amazing moments in this debate. stay tuned. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel

there's gingrich now at 40%. romney at 26%. this is among people likely to vote right now in today's primary in south carolina. look at that earlier in the week. basically dead even. now, gary, this is probably the final poll. it's already primary day. people are voting and this is just one poll, so, you know, the polls may differ. all of the polls, and there have been a lot, indicate gingrich surge and romney's lead evaporating. >> gingrich's lead is weaker when it comes to fee mamale vot >> reporter: we saw the story line from the debate the other night, his ex-wife marian saying he asked for an open marriage. loot ak this on the poll numbers. it goes against the other polls. right here among women and men, look at that, gingrich's support among men, 38%, women, 42%. so at least from this one poll it indicates he's doing well with female voters likely to partake in today's primary. >> the numbers are stunning. you're an expert, so i'm going to ask you this expert question. if gingrich wins in south carolina, and we didn't exp

and newt gingrich held back. it looks like that was a mistake if you believe the trend in these three days of this poll. >> yeah, wolf, that's right. it seems like newt has been most successful when he's been on the attack, on the offensive. we've seen what happens when he's under attack. think back to iowa. they completely killed him in the 308s, drove limb out of contention. you might look to see gingrich go back on the offensive in the next debate. >> and gloria, it was obviously a misfor newt gingrich to take the high road in iowa. it looks like probably a mistake for him to hold back monday night in that debate here in florida. >> tried to be the front-runner, right? >> he was pulling a mitt romney, if you will. >> exactly. >> and that didn't necessarily work out so well for him, at least so far. we'll see what happens tomorrow night. it looks like a gender gap. >> there is a gender gap. in south korea south korea newt gingrich won handily, with both men and women. what we're seeing in florida is newt gingri

this is newt gingrich's strength. it's where he has pulled from and what has propelled him throughout most of this primary season. it has been his debate performances. i think there was a lot of pressure on mitt romney to put in a, quote, presidential kind of performance as well as a really strong performance because he didn't get that great a grade last time. it matters now. this is the last one before the south carolina primary. >> paul steinhauser, i'm hearing you might know when rick perry's announcement is going to happen, is that right? >> reporter: yeah. the perry campaign, which is still around for now, just put out a press release moments ago while you were talking to wolf, candy, roland. it's going to be at 11:00 eastern. only a few miles from here. just a few miles from here. steve rusk, he's making the move. we'll have the cameras there. >> once again, if you're just tuning in, here's the latest news. paul telling us 11:00 a.m. eastern time right here on cnn we are going to hear rick perry step up to the m

barack obama 50%, newt gingrich 39%. in that same poll, it showed governor romney in a dead even tie with president obama. how do you make that electability argument in the face of those numbers? >> the same way ronald reagan did. ronald reagan in december of '79 was 30 points behind jimmy carter. and he made the case that the candidate with ideas, the candidate with conservative values, the candidate who could articulate and defend his position was in the end going to be the best candidate. the country decided he was right. i think if you look at newt.org and you look at all the things we've developed, i can go toe to toe with president obama on big things. there are big differences. you know, romney care and obama care were this far apart. a pretty big debate. i'm for dramatically lower taxes. the president is for much higher taxes. i'm for less regulation. the president's for more regulation. i'm for strength overseas to defend israel and to defend the united states. the president's for weakness overseas. i think you

over here is the newt gingrich booth. you can see there's a rick santorum sign, so folks there as well. i was going to ask you, concerned about what the polls have been showing? >> absolutely not. we're hanging strong. it's big money again grassroots. we are keeping the faith. look what happened. we believe newt can win. >> they're convinced. we'll have to see whether the folks here are right or whether the polls are right. john zarrella, cnn, lithia, florida. >> cnn is covering the florida presidential primary from all angles, you do not want to miss a minute as we follow the balloting. stwu with us starting because another big story right now we're watching, where is jessica buchanan? she's the u.s. aid worker rescued last week. she boarded a flight yesterday in italy. cnn's brian todd is joining us from buchanan's college campus in pennsylvania. what do we know, brian? >> reporter: wolf, we know jessica buchanan is finally back on u.s. soil, but for now she and her family are not offering many clues on her where abouts

newt gingrich's ex-wife. here's conan's take. >> newt gingrich's second wife said, newt wanted to have an open marriage. yeah. i think it might be true. because at the last debate, newt turned down the lights and said, hey, fellow, let's just all be president. >> all right. seriously now. do you think the story which he says is false by the way will hurt gingrich in any way? maria. >> well, it's certainly not going to help him. and i think it all depends on what voters think when they go into the booth in south carolina tomorrow. and mainly i think he's got an issue clearly with women going into this. he was already at probably half the favor ability that he was with men. and then also depends on whether these women think that this is old news, that it's just baggage, that the media is regurgitating. he answered the first question from john king last night brilliantly and he really played to the crowd with that one. so we'll see what this means going into south carolina tomorrow. >> chris moody. >> the last t

gingrich said he paid taxes at a 31%ry. mitt romney said said he almost made $400,000 in speaking fees, to a guy who's worth something like $200 million, it doesn't seem like much. >> my goal is to let everybody pay mitt romney's rate. >> reporter: that may sound like a bill deal especially sin warren buffett argues rich people should pay more, but kevin hasset disagreed. >> he has a low rate, but really economists all disagree with warren. the fact is that everyone who studies it understands if you have low taxes on dividends and capital gains, then it attracts capital and increases economic growth. >> reporter: gingrich continues to make the claim that he is the conservative alternative to mitt romney, though at least two other candidates in the race, rick perry and rick santorum can make that claim as well. neither one is saying they're planning to get out of the race anytime soon. >> well, there's three days to go between now and saturday. thank you very much. joe johns report -- i give him a chance to respond to mitt r

newt gingrich only $716,000. now add in their superpacs, mitt romney and newt gingrich it's become more dramatic. you can see the split here. a lot of the tracking things we look at, cmag which tracks ad spending only tracks broadcast ad spending. a lot of people who care about local politics are watching cable and local television, those numbers get bigger. it has been mitt romney's state in terms of spending and in terms of negativity plenty to go around. when you look at florida, very interesting to see we've seen more than $2 million spent by democratic groups. unions, democratic national committee and president obama's re-election superpac have all spent money in florida against the republicans. >> so the democrats involved already. but that is mind-numbing. >> 13 million to 2.4 million. we know romney is ahead in the polls. there's one reason why, anderson, going to compete in florida or florida voters about to get a little break, respite from all these ads. 93%. but you know, they get a respite until septe

what if it's gingrich? >> i think gingrich would give obama a much larger margin for error where if you have a recession, then gingrich probably is a good enough politician to win under those conditions. if you had what the forecast says, slow growth, better, not great, i think gingrich's personal unfavorables are very high would be enough to make his job very challenging. >> mr. numbers man, nate silver, we'll see what ends up panning out. i hope you join us tonight watching the debate. five days out from the florida primary, cnn and the republican party of florida teaming up to host the next presidential debate in jacksonville. it's going to be huge, tonight, 8:00 eastern. join me in tweeting, #cnn elections. now this. just in here. shocking new video into cnn involving the man accused of shooting at the pentagon some damning evidence coming out in court in actual video of this man that he shot of himself actually the night of the shooting. brian todd joins me live from washington. what do you know? >> re

more on newt gingrich's strategy. and mitt romney making claims about his job record seems at odds with what his own campaign spokesperson has been saying. keeping them honest, here's what mitt romney said tuesday. >> i'm very happy in my former life we created over 100,000 new jobs. we createded more jobs in massachusetts than this president created in the entire country. if the president wants to talk about jobs, i hope he does, we'll compare my record with his record and he comes up very very short. >> that 100,000 record got a lot of attention. ron spokesman saying it came from three people, domino's, staples and the sports authority romney helped start while at bain capital. it does not include job loss, layoffs at other bain companies. those numbers include a dozen years worth of job growth after romney left bain. listen to governor romney just yesterday. >> in the business i had we invested in over 100 different businesses and netanyahu, ta ne out the ones we lost jobs and added, those businesseses added over10

if gingrich wins here his shot looks more attractive. >> gingrich has not won a race. if he does well and clinches south carolina or comes in a strong second, does this offer assurances that this primary season will be elongated a bit. some thought after florida the nomination would be clinched by january 31st. >> first of all, you often say watch what they do not what they say. the fact that mitt romney confirmed two debates for next week indicates that he's not confident about the results tonight. early they are week they thought they might be able to deliver a knock out blow in florida and basically at that point say we're turning our attention to president obama. i think if gingrich doesn't win in south carolina, it is difficult to mount a full scale campaign. he would argue even if he doesn't win if the combined vote for him and santorum exceeds romney it is well for him to consolidate that vote. he has limited resources and without the boost from south carolina it's hard for me to see how he gets past romney in florida. if he does get a boost out of here, does wi

newt gingrich seemed a little passive. and when romney pushed back on gingrich's investments that was a key moment. >> i believe that congressman david rivera is ready for us right now. i would guess that he's going to disagree with you because, of course, he is endorsing newt gingrich. am i right, congressman? >> you're absolutely correct. i thought newt gingrich did as well as he's done in previous debates when he's, of course, being congratulated for a lot of folks over the months. and certainly over the last few weeks during this primary campaign. and i think the voter os florida will recognize that coming next tuesday. >> one of the moments in the debate, and there was lots of focus on immigration, obviously. i thought there was tons of issues finally being discussed in this particular debate. i thought it was really good. here's what they talked about in terms of english language. this went on for a little bit in the debate. let's play it. >> and my point was, no one should be trapped in a linguistic situation where

newt gingrich. the story line out there about his ex-wife, that could be troublesome for them straight up through the primary on saturday. >> when will we see pollingwise whether or not that worked? >> we may not. listen, most -- i think we're going to find out on saturday night when we see the results from south carolina. >> all right. so short-term newt might get a boost from his answer. long-term, it might be a problem for women voters, specifically in south carolina. how do you think that women voters are going to respond to this concept of an open marriage? >> i don't think he can play very well. we saw it from our own cnn/time or poll this week, when you break down numbers, men and women, newt gingrich does better with men than down here in south carolina. iss issue, his answer, yes, throwing red meat to the audience. overall this could be a tough issue with newt gingrich and female voters here in south carolina and across the country. >> paul, hang tight there. we're going to bring you back i