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

who is rick santorum? is he the guy conservatives can rally around to defeat mitt romney who again was rejected by three-quarters of iowa republicans or a one-hit wonder, this year's mike huckabee? romney hats 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 would you 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 going to burst. and

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

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

the problem with rick santorum is the same problem that everybody else with the exception that rick perry has h.they are underfinanced and underorganized. this is the most peek yar republican primary i've ever seen because you've had a new front-runner every couple of weeks. none of whom have had organizations and rick perry had a big bunch of money and he fell on his face so santorum has to catch up for -- somehow he's got to catch up after romney's been out there organized for six years running. that's going to be a tall order, but i do think that rick santorum can give romney -- probably the only one who can give romney a run for his money and he'll have to win tonight to do it. >> what about this strategy? let's say rick santorum wins tonight and goes right to south carolina and cashes in on all the disgruntled conservatives who will never buy a mormon and never buy mitt romney as their nominee. this is a very unique opening here for rick santorum and can he put it together fast enough in south carolina? >> here's -- not that rick santorum were to listen to me tonight. if i were to wi

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

and rick santorum is one of those candidates. but i think conservatives, whether it be rick perry, rick santorum, or newt gingrich were to capture the nomination, the people think it's time to replace barack obama as president and that can and must be done. >> will that be the element if mitt romney is the nominee? >> i think he has a harder time of rallying conservatives to that call, but i think the three strong true conservatives in the race could do that. mitt romney is going to have to work at it. >> i believe you have been consistent on that point. thank you. tony perkins, thank you. thank you pastor jim. i can't wait to get down to that building down in tampa come the end of august when it's 100 degrees. and you guys have to start being prayerful for mitt romney. just kidding. coming up, we go inside the shell game that is the super pac system. what the big moneymen hope to gain by pouring millions into the campaigns? you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take

rick santorum? how well will santorum have to do in new hampshire next tuesday to become a real challenger? the warhead. could he become the warhead of the abm crowd? the good news for santorum is he's peaked at just the right time, before he could be hit by his rivals, vetted by the media. the bad news, there's time now. just who is this deeply conservative republican who won twice in blue state pennsylvania before getting clobbered by 18 points? plus, when president obama appointed richard cordray as head of the new consumer financial protection bureau, he essentially had five words for congressional republicans. like it or lump it. the president's feisty new attitude has as much to do with politics as anything else. he'd love a fight. >>> and what two republican presidential candidates have managed to get themselveses into a silly twitter war? that's in the "hardball sideshow" tonight. let me finish tonight with the conservative church tent of the far right opening its flaps to catholics. >>> we

flyer left on the windshield of cars denigrating rick santorum's wife. fake cnn e-mail denigrating newt gingrich. suffice to say, nasty allegations related to the issue of abortion. so the dirty tricksters believe abortion is important enough to sway the race. further evidence the con 'tis the anti-abortion primary, the next contest is in florida the republicans in the florida lecture last year filed 18 different pieces of anti-abortion legislation for their state. by our count they took some sort of sacks on nine of those bills and five anti-abortion measures were signed in law. they have started a new legislative session, there is an anti-abortion cue. three bills on the docket tomorrow. florida is not alone. on the occasion of roe versus wa defrn the anti-abortion move is crowing about what a great year they had. the president of americans united for life saying "the headlines were about the changing command in the house of representatives, what we were seeing was a tidal wave in state houses "wt when we saw the wave come in we ran the ball and ran wi

on his own terms, i gave it to rick santorum. rick santorum did a tremendous amount for himself last night. as susan says, it may not matter in the end, but i thought he was excellent. if he was trying out for the role of vice presidential candidate and attack dog designate ithought he did a very good job. >> that's another way of trying out. i've been thinking he's been going for that job for a couple of weeks now. i agree with your thinking. it looks like this is a battle of two guys against one right now. santorum running for vp because every vote he grabs is probably a newt gingrich wannabe vote. there's going to be a lot more of this between now and tuesday. howard fineman and susan page, we're looking forward to the florida fight down here tuesday night. coming up, it wasn't all good for mitt romney. he had a problem with stretching the truth, finding the truth, telling the truth. we'll get to that when we return. you're watching "hardball" on msnbc. i find the omega choices overwhelming. then i found new pronutrients omega

not rick perry, not rick santorum. >> how do you explain that? he's not a conservative. >> what it is, you explain it where they're getting comfortable, they are okay with him. look, i talked to plenty of iowans over the last -- john and i have both been out here a week, three or four days longer than most of the crowd that has come in. when you see some of them, you say, i guess i'm for romney, i'll be okay with that. no. >> what's that tell you? >> that tells me that he might not win tonight. the casual voter doesn't remember to come at the assigned time, and show up there. if this were a primary, it would be over. okay? romney would win by ten points if this were a primary. because over a 13-hour period during the day, the, i guess i'm for romney voter would show up. >> so you agree that romney's kind of catching on, acceptable now, not in love with him? >> i think it's gradually happening, and it's actually -- he's also doing surprisingly well with evangelicals here in the state. i think he's second or third among evangelical voters. >> maybe

and now it's rick santorum's turn, and just at the right time. three recent polls have all said the same thing. romney's on top, paul has stalled, and santorum is surging, and most important, perhaps, if you're romney, gingrich is toast. and isn't that just what mitt romney ordered? plus, mitt happens historically. if republicans lose a presidential race with a moderate like john mccain, they come back with a conservative. but the republican right is terrified its support divided among so many conservatives the moderate mitt romney could sneak in the back door and win the nomination. and while no one was looking, president obama's surrogates out here have slipped into iowa and begun hitting romney in ways that his republican opponents haven't. it's pretty clear who team obama thinks is going to be the nominee. finally, let me finish with the victory of dollars over democracy. >>> i've got some great people with us, all msnbc political analysts. howard fineman is "the huffington post" media group editorial director. eugene robinson is a "washingto

here's rick santorum blasting away at romney for the attack ads that a pro-romney super pac has been airing about santorum. they say it distorted his own record on voting rights for felons. we know once you have been declared a fellen in many states, country vote. let's watch. >> i would ask governor romney, do you believe people who are felons and served their time and exhausted their parole and probation, should they be given the right to vote? >> governor romney? >> first of all, as you know, the pacs that run ads on various candidates -- >> i'm looking for an answer to the question first. [ applause ] >> we have plenty of time. we'll get there. i will do in the order i want to do. >> this is martin luther king day. a human deal in the african-american community. >> i don't think people who committed violent crimes should be allowed to vote again. that's my own view. >> and the state of massachusetts when you were governor, the law was that not only could violent felons vote after they exhausted their sentences, but they could vote while they were on probation and parole. >> this

a recount in iowa showed rick santorum got more votes than mitt romney. newt's second ex-wife told abc news he asked for an open marriage long after he had begun his affair with calista. newt unleashed an ad calling mitt desperate and dishonest, and newt has passed mitt in several polls in south carolina. we'll put it all together at the top of the show. plus, has mitt's air of inevitablity gotten thin? rick perry supporters are likely to go to newt. his shares at bain capital pay hurt him. and mitt can't get out of his own way when it comes to talking about taxes and his own wealth. if mitt didn't win iowa and doesn't win south carolina, he will not be 3-0, but 1-2. also a new poll shows how much trouble president obama may have with independent voters who aren't sold on the republicans either. that may explain why the president is up with his first ad of the campaign. and we mentioned that newt gingrich's second ex-wife said he wanted an open marriage. the ex-wife of mark sanford joins us tonight. she says she's lived this story and it will count politi

rick santorum and ron paul are running out of the western. and in the eastern conference, it's mitt romney and newt gingrich. romney and gingrich, santorum and paul. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] feeling like a shadow of your former self? c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey! mid gradere you? dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male ann

rick santorum has not done that either. if they do well here, they need to take advantage of it to go to florida and have a chance. >> let's take a look at sarah palin. it's always newsworthy. the game changer herself said on fox last night where she works that if she lived in south carolina, she'd want this primary fight to continue. let's listen to her reasoning here. sarah palin's. >> if i had to vote in south carolina, in order to keep this thing going, i'd vote for newt and i would want this to continue more debates, more vetting of candidates, because we know the mistake made in our country four years ago was having a candidate that was not vetted to the degree that he should have been so we know -- knew what his associations and pals represented and what went into his thinking, the shaping of who our president today is. that vetting did not take place. i want to see that taking place this time because america is on that precipice. it's that important. we need this process to continue. >> she wants to see if newt ging

then rick santorum nipping at him, too. they think that south carolina could put this away from them but it could be a tough state for them. >> let's get to the point of what the ad said. here's another excerpt of that video going after romney from a pro-gingrich super pac. let's watch it. >> they fire people, they cut benefits. they sell assets. what did he do when he was the ceo of this holding company? >> a group of corporate raiders led by mitt romney. more ruthless than wall street. for tens of thousands of americans, the suffering began when mitt romney came to town. >> i just want to suggest something. maybe i just thought this up, but i think it's right. the president has been running a sharp campaign saying it's okay to make money if you are building something and creating jobs, like steve jobs or steven spielberg or iacocca. anybody that makes things and puts people to work is a good thing. the people that make money off of money are not good people. i don't particularly like this. we all try to make interest on o

the convert of newt gingrich or the long-time catholic rick santorum. and these are a protestant organization. >> is that going to be a problem for them? >> it obviously is. >> how much of it is mor mom? >> that's a good question here. we have seen that mitt romney has failed to sew it up time and time again. candidates up and down and up and down. certainly on the issues -- >> when does he come down? >> romney? he's been pretty steady, but he hasn't been able to lock down the other candidates surging to the top. the other reasons he had so many ad other reasons he had so many reservations. the other thing is that half of evangelicals say they don't consider the christian religion. half of them say they could be uncomfortable with a mormon president. >> two-thirds believe the church of jesus christ is christian. it's only the evangelicals single out the lds church as not being part of the christian faith. >> if you look at how they say they'll vote, they'll say they will vote in equal numbers with other republicans. i think -- >> even when it comes to a