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

santorum. ezra klein. i'm ed schultz. that's "the ed show." listen to my radio show on sirius xm 127. follow me on twitter @edshow and @wegoted. you did a great job last night quarterbacking this whole thing. >> sitting next to you and thinking ahead this was going to the first night of the caucus fights the rest of the year, i had a great time. this is fun. >> we have a lot more entertainment on the way. >>> thanks for you at home for sticking with us the next hour. remember the john ensign sex scandal? every once in a while in the news business it pays to be a total darork and unabashedly obsessed with the story nobody else is talking about at the time. for example, the john ensign sex scandal. i confess, i found the john ensign sex scandal obsessively fascinating for a really long time even though it basically never made front page national news, at least until he resigned. sometimes, though, this i think is true in life as much as it is in the news. sometimes months and years later after yo

santorum. the letter said, "i am reaching out to you because i would like your help. i do know about you and your relationship with john ensign. i'm also aware of the man you profess to be and the positions you have taken publicly with regards to family, integrity and ethics. i am sending this note along to you because of your affiliation with fox news. what i have put in motion with the letter i have sent megyn kelly and fox news. i've tried for one year with john and others to resolve an unbelievable set of actions john initiated and perpetuated bringing great destruction to me and my family." doug hampton attached to the e-mail to rick santorum a letter he had sent to fox news to a host named megyn kelly at fox news. the letter explained senator ensign's affair. his pursuit of doug's wife, his affair with doug's wife, and it explained how senator ensign subsequently fired both doug and his wife. so all that is explained in this letter. and that letter is sent to rick santorum. rick santorum

i picked santorum, didn't i? liberals, why are you chewing me out when it comes to stumping for santorum? you know who the big winner was last night? president obama. today he was in ohio making moves that congressional republicans have been blocking for months. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> you think we can get more than an eight-vote margin here in new hampshire, i'm going to try. >> romney squeaked by santorum. the big winner in iowa last night was the president. today the president is kicking off his campaign with a big speech and some bold moves. >> today i'm appointing richard as america's consumer watchdog. >> msnbc's richard wolffe and katrina vanden heuvel of "the nation" magazine on the fallout from iowa and how it helps the president. >>> if you take, you know, santorum and perry and bachmann and gingrich, you get some sense of what a small minority romney really represents. >> the republican plan to stop mitt romney is beginning to unfold. and it's gaining momentum. bill burton of prior

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

>> everybody who thinks it's going to be santorum tomorrow, one, two, three. >> santorum! santorum! >> romney just won this thing. romney has just won the java joe's caucus. we'll be right back with morhardball. [ whistle blows ] oh! [ baby crying ] ben harper: ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned into a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. if you took the top

rick santorum hopes to be the guy to stop him, but santorum is learning that old ef hutton motto holds for presidential candidates too. when front-runners talk, people listen. and santorum is having a sticky time scoring points after his first-place tie in iowa. newt takes on mitt. in just a few weeks, newt gingrich has gone from undisputed front-runner to also ran. and he has mitt romney and his stealth ad campaign to thank for that. i sat down with newt last night after the program and he did not hold back. >> he ought to take those ads home and show them to his grandsons and said, grandpa did this, what do you think about this kind of trash on television? >> newt vows to be the last man in the fight with mitt. >>> plus, politico called it mitt's weekend from hell. the big debate weekend coming up with everyone looking down -- looking to take down romney. "meet the press" anchor and debate host david gregory looks ahead to what could be a make-or-break battle this sunday. >>> and speaking of republican debates, there was one today, a phony funny or die debate on yahoo!. in fact, some

rick santorum hopes to be the guy to stop him, but santorum is learning that old ef hutton motto holds for presidential candidates too. when front-runners talk, people listen. and santorum is having a sticky time scoring points after his first-place tie in iowa. newt takes on mitt. in just a few weeks, newt gingrich has gone from undisputed front-runner to also ran. and he has mitt romney and his stealth ad campaign to thank for that. i sat down with newt last night after the program and he did not hold back. >> he ought to take those ads home and show them to his grandsons and said, grandpa did this, what do you think about this kind of trash on television? >> newt vows to be the last man in the fight with mitt. >>> plus, politico called it mitt's weekend from hell. the big debate weekend coming up with everyone looking down -- looking to take down romney. "meet the press" anchor and debate host david gregory looks ahead to what could be a make-or-break battle this sunday. >>> and speaking of republican debates, there was one today, a phony funny or die debate on yahoo!. in fact, some

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

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

santorum. so this is the rick santorum event at the dublin school in dublin, new hampshire, web just drove to. it's packed. everybody is telling us we can't get in. so let's try. i went to this crowded, crowded rick santorum event at the dublin school today in southern new hampshire. it definitely was crowded. i couldn't get past the overflow room though i tried. interestingly, even from the overflow room, his speech did not have a single applause line. i did not talk to anyone who was there to see him speak who supported his candidacy or who liked what they were hearing. the aggressive questioning and criticizing of mr. santorum from the students and crowd at the event earned nasty headlines about yet another crowd confront, mr. santorum today. another santorum event in nearby kean, new hampshire, this morning had the same reaction. talking points memo was there describing shouting and booing at mr. santorum from the crowd. they quote the one woman at the event responding to mr. santorum expre

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

very strongly for santorum. to a lesser degrees, ron paul, but significant, but put a circle around 14%, only 14% of those born again christians, evangelicals voting for mitt romney, underscores his problem with social conservatives. the upside for mitt romney tonight, what is the most important issue for caucusgoers? who could beat president obama and there, elect ability being the issue that is where romney performs very, very well. what is second most important is who is the true conservative? there, again, advantage santorum. advantage, ron paul. and we keep talking about ron paul. isn't he really the wildcard here? mike huckabee, who won four years ago, said he can't be the republican nominee. so all the twist and turns in this race, chris, we could have another one if ron paul could end up winning this thing tonight. >> yeah i guess the question comes down in each party, what point in the nominating process do you go from picking the candidate of your heart or your gut to the picking of the candidate who y

>> mitt romney. >> i voted for mitt romney. >> tonight my choice is rick santorum. >> rick santorum. >> the biggest thing he is lektability. that is between santorum and mitt romney. i chose romney at the very end. >> what do you like about romney? >> i like the lektability. >> governor romney can raise $3 billion. i think he can match obama dollar for dollar. i believe he can definitely defeat mr. obama. >> what is it about mitt romney that attracted you? >> i think like his family values. i just feel like maybe he could be the one to beat obama. he might be the best at get along in washington. >> and he's the guy who can win? that seems to be the overarching argument tonight, right? >> right. >> if santorum come out and be the nominee, do you think he can beat president obama? >> i think. so. >> and santorum won in precinct two. >> i could live with rick santorum. >> do you believe he can defeat president obama? >> i hope he can. yes. yeah, i do. he is one of america's choices and his ideals and his beliefs. >> and is rick santorum a candidate you're happy with, somebody you can li

, the first result was for rick santorum. what exactly lifted santorum above the froth? >> it was fashion. >> the sweater vest was like, fear the vest. >> yes, fear the vest. in iowa, that look is fierce. plus, we all know throughout history, electoral power has hinged on clothing. remember eisenhower's cumber bun and theodore roosevelt's tube top.

rick santorum. >> yes. >> this of course brings in a different element to the whole deal. >> what if they all decide newt gingrich is their guy, that newt gingrich now roused from his i'm going to only be the positive guy is now going to go after not only barack obama but also mitt romney and that newt gingrich can be the guy who can win why couldn't he be the guy who coalesced them? >> personally i don't think newt can win the south as well as santorum could because of the conservative base and his track record. i mean, these ads we were talking about earlier, i mean sooner or later newt is going to do a newt. a lot of that stuff that was in the super pac ads, it's baggage stuff. but moving forward for santorum, this is great news for him tonight. now will the capitulation of a couple other conservatives help? would the old conservatives who hold a lot of money embrace rick santorum? they can't stand romney. he told me not mitt now or ever. >> there will be a constituency of people out there that r

>> everybody who thinks it's going to be santorum tomorrow, one, two, three. >> santorum! santorum! >> romney just won this thing. romney has just won the java joe's caucus. we'll be right back with more "hardball." >>> welcome back to "hardball." according to polls, on the eve of the iowa caucus, 25% support, kompb conservatives say the problem for that is they can't agree on who the alternative is. the result could be mitt romney sneaking through the pack and eking out a win. for some conservatives, that prospect reminds them of john mccain back in 2008, the moderate senator, who never won the love of the conservative base. could it happen two election cycles in a row? joe klein's a "time" magazine columnist and jonathan martin is senior political reporter for politico. john, you start here. usually parties correct themselves. they run a pragmatist, that doesn't work, the next time they run somebody with deep conviction. it looks like romney is still the favorite right now to follow john mccain, someone in the senator. >> that's why you see so many unhappy republicans these days.

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

santorum could be the nominee. because when they go to south carolina, santorum is a viable candidate. which he will be if he wins tomorrow. those conservatives, the 75% of the people in the republican party who just are much too far right for mitt romney are going to have somebody they can vote for it. he doesn't have a dime. he's just done this on shoe leather. it's fascinating. >> rick, what's your take on the details in your paper's poll? >> there are two things you have to remember here. first, santorum's numbers weren't moving at all the first two days of our polling last week. it was only after the initial polls came out that we started seeing a big rise from him on thursday night then an even bigger spike going into friday night. we got together on saturday morning, we saw the final numbers. his numbers just rocketed. here's something that's really important to remember, ed. his electability numbers where republicans are saying who offers the best shot at toppling the president next november are nowhere nea

but if it's santorum, if santorum can even survive this long and let's face it, your father didn't know or couldn't put together a coalition on the organization in 2000 to capitalize on the win in new hampshire, you know, getting out of one early state is not that easy. but if santorum can do it, then he has a pitch. >> it's on to south carolina. we'll be talking more about megan's father and perhaps the endorsements he may be making today later. will santorum and gingrich unite against romney? that's next on "now." so, this is delicious okay... is this where we're at now, we just eat whatever tastes good? like these sweet honey clusters... actually there's a half a day's worth of fiber in every ... why stop at cereal? bring on the pork chops and the hot fudge. fantastic. are you done sweetie? yea [ male announcer ] fiber beyond recognition. fiber one. hey, i love your cereal there-- it's got that sweet honey taste. but no way it's 80 calories, right? no way. lady, i just drive the truck. right, there's no way right, right? have a nice day. [ male announcer ] 80 delicious calories. fibe

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

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

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're excited. >> john heilemann, unfortunately, we have to say good-bye to you. i know you were shaking your head. i'll let have you the last two seconds of the segment. thank you for joining us. take it away. >> rick santorum will not be the republican nominee. have a wonderful caucus day, you guys. it will be a lovely night. >> that's right. >> thank you. >>> when we come back, santorum's time in the spotlight. can he handle it? an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replace

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

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

, 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 what he

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

rick santorum. a full spectrum conservative, rick santorum is ro solid on values issues. >> so you've beenmaking that contrast nsistently questioning governor romney. calling him a liberal massachusetts governor. arguing, infact, that he is a moderate. yet ck in 2008, when he was running for the presidency you were singing a different tune. this was your press release back then, you said governor romney is the candidate who will stan up for the conservative inciples that we hold dear. he has a deep understandingf e important issues confronting our country today, and he is the clearonservative candidate that can go into the general election with united rublican party. will stand up for the conservative principles that we hold dear. you even praised his work on fighting same-sex marriage. what changed? >> wl, wat changed was who he running again. at the time, that was five days or four days before super tuesday, it was after florida. it became clear to me that there werewo candidates in the race at th

in our intro, we played santorum discussing the issue of welfare. he seemed to use the word black, but then he went on to bill o'reilly's broadcast and seemed to want to correct himself. what did you make of his correction? >> i really honestly wanted to give rick santorum the benefit of the doubt and i listened a few times. it's hard to figure out what else he could have been saying. there is the fact that before he went on o'reilly he had a few different explanations of what it was and he was trying to justify the comment. his narrative on that shifted a bit. it's hard for me to explain it in any other way. >> was it blah or black. >> for sounded to me like black. >> you are an investigative reporter, he is up to third in new hampshire and a distance 30, but still are we going to see a closer examination of his history? everything from the money he made after the senate and his voting record to some of the more extreme things he said. i think of things like leak information to john ensign when he was about to be pursued? >> absolutely, martin. thi

that's the kind of scenario rick santorum would need. >> i want to talk about santorum. you brought up pat buchanan because this feels like '96. as david remembers, this is the lowest percentage for any iowa caucus winner. it broke the record in 1996 of bob dole when he got 26%. the surprise in iowa that might was a guy named pat buchanan. he took it and he surprised here in new hampshire. how much of buchanan do you see in santorum. >> you know, a good bit. working class roots, social conservative, roman catholic. all of those elements line up between santorum and pat buchanan. you know, key difference is mitt romney looks like a much stronger candidate. and there's no lamar alexander in this race. back in '96, that was the three-way battle and jon huntsman doesn't look to have the strength just yet. we'll see over the next six days, as lamar alexander. >> huntsman would be that guy if he somehow got the strength. david, i want to go back to you and the iowa entrance poll here. it was interesting, among people that said the most important thing to them is that somebody

low, good for santorum. shameless plug time, michael steele? >> real simple, i've got a great new year's resolution piece up on root.com where i talk about what our members of congress and lelgtors should be resoluting. >> kay, let's stee if you've figured this out. >> for the tea lovers, pick anything that has tea from apsalm in it. >> and i need caffeine, though. >> i have to plug the "des moines register's" iphone app, get all the updates. >> where do we get it? >> search in the store for gwinnett or "des moines register." >> shameless as it gets. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown," tomorrow is caucus day. coming up next, chris "jansing and company." don't miss at 1:00 live from jaa joe's, also live in iowa, the nexus of the political universe. bye xloom i'm jennifer hudson, and i believe. i was strong before weight watchers, but i'm stronger with it. i believe because it works. ♪ if you want it, you got it join for free. weight watchers points plus 2012. because it works. flavor, meet fo

, 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 what he

now, rick santorum said that, and you wrote a piece set with the headline, rick santorum is coming for your birth control. that headline was read to him by another denial, and that reporter said that denial is good enough for her. defend yourself against people that are saying that you overstated the case about whether rick santorum is or is not coming for your birth control. >> anyone of the praurngs of s his -- >> he will be showing up at your door and knocking on it presumably. >> it sets the bar, come on. i think he would like to see that world. but it's not an academic question. griswold? that's something that was said it was wrongly decided and that was enough to get him out in terms of the supreme court nominee. it's lawrence versus texas and -- >> of course, the sodomy case, yes. >> we know how rick santorum feels about saw feels about sodomy. >> that was awkward, yes. >> but they have to do for example, defunding planned parent hood, where rick santorum and mitt romney want to do that, and it's opposing the fact that the affordable care act has coverage for contraceptive, and

santorum going south. gingrich certainly is, and there's a lot of animosity and both gingrich and both huntsman have a lot to prove against mitt romney and they want to. >> thank you, andrea, appreciate it. nbc's michael isikoff more with mitt romney's plans for south carolina. mr. isikoff, what do you have for us? >> actually, just in the last couple of days, starting before tonight's returns, but continuing, the romney super pac has bought up nearly $6 million in ad buys in both south carolina and florida. that exceeds that $3.4 million that the gingrich super pac has bought up that we were talking about earlier. and what it really does underscore is the romney folks are trying to close the deal right now. below away their opponents by the end of the month, and they've got the financial muscle to do it. we've all been talking about sheldon adeleson, who gave that donation to the gingrich super pac. the romney super pac is flush with cash. it's become quite the financial juggernaut making a major differen

the beneficiary is santorum. and that's fascinating because that opens up the republican party like a cantaloupe then you have a situation where romney suffers from the fact that's been -- he'll be bleeding by then in the south on social issues like abortion and health care, meanwhile, santorum will be getting the boost unintentionally perhaps of this attack on him by gingrich. this could be a three-way fight in which santorum holes his own longer than anyone would have expected, perhaps long enough to get some money to fight this thing right to the end and that could be the best thing that ever happens to barack obama because then one of these two candidates will reach the finish line either as a far right cultural conservative who can't win a general or a really bloodied up mitt romney. this is a fascinating potential if it goes the way i think it's going right now as of right now. rachel. >> chris, let me ask your opinion on what's about to happen next in the dynamics of the race, of course, we have iowa -- we

santorum. so this is the rick santorum event at the dublin school in dublin, new hampshire, web just drove to. it's packed. everybody is telling us we can't get in. so let's try. i went to this crowded, crowded rick santorum event at the dublin school today in southern new hampshire. it definitely was crowded. i couldn't get past the overflow room, even though i tried. interestingly, even from the overflow room, his speech did not have a single applause line. i did not talk to anyone who was there to see him speak who supported his candidacy or who liked what they were hearing. the aggressive questioning and criticiing of mr. santorum from the students and crowd at the event earned nasty headlines about yet another crowd confront, mr. santorum today. another santorum event in nearby kean, new hampshire, this morning had the same reaction. talking points memo was there describing shouting and booing at mr. santorum from the crowd. they quote the one woman at the event responding to mr. santorum

rick santorum is a momentum candidate. he's a candidate who has supporters he's met in person, more than the others. he's been on the ground more than mitt romney and ron paul. i've been a skeptic of ron paul's ability to turn out his supporters. i thought of them are fervent in the moment but not the kind of people who go caucus. mitt romney has closed strong. he's not doing anything that daring or dramatic. he's closed strong. he's had big events, good crowds. that number may be misleading, as well. the kind of people that vote for mitt romney and caucus every four years no matter what. they end up with mitt romney because he's the only establish candidate here. >> you you'd be least surprised by a mitt romney win. what would you be most surprised most? >> if ron paul won, i would be surprised. right now, my gut is that ron paul has hit his ceiling and maybe be depressed by the pounding he's taken in the last few weeks. i think right now, those three will be the top three finishers in all likelihood. but i don't count ou

ground strategy for romney and santorum. we know that santorum spent all that time in iowa. i heard several times last night about many of the people on our air that basically, he was running for governor of iowa. what is his ground game in new hampshire and also for romney? >> trying to expand it very rapidly. he had made a significant number of visits to new hampshire as well as south carolina. but he didn't have much going here. he's been in single digits in the polls. he has to ramp up very quickly while simultaneously playing a game in south carolina which is a more auspicious target for him. so he has got to play in both places at one time. mitt romney has a greater institutional and financial capacity to do that. so this is why you know, mitt romney is built for the long run. and we've got to see whether santorum can turn this around very quickly. jon huntsman is barely into double digits. he has to see if he can somehow find a path through here in new hampshire. >> i want to play a clip from newt gingrich. he was on

santorum frankly is going to take votes away from newt first. that's -- because he's positioning himself as a stronger conservative candidate. so you know, that's really not going to help anyone. it may satisfy for the former speaker but i don't think it's really a very wise tactic. >> john sununu, come on up. >> we'll see you in a couple days. >>> mitt romney has an overwhelming lead in new hampshire, but so far he is benefitting from that divided conservative field now evangelicals are calling a texas summit trying to unify behind one challenger. will it be newt gingrich or rick perry? todd, it feels funny being here with you being up there. >> coming up soon. >> we'll see you sunday. you know new hampshire so well. we want to ask you how you see this thing shaping up and whether you think santorum can play well here in new hampshire? >> there are obviously conservative voters with whom he would have common ground and whom he could appeal. you really still do have to make governor romney not necessarily prohibitive but the strong favorite. it'

watch santorum there. if he does find a win, it's going to be on the strength of those counties up there. >> let's move ahead and look forward. we have the iowa caucus results and let's move to new hampshire. mitt romney, 31. we expect him to do well. the question is what kind of -- if santorum comes out of here with some momentum, either first or really close second, what does that mean in new hampshire? he's going to do this one state at a time. >> i think it means that mitt romney, depending on how he finishes here, and really either way, he has to fight for new hampshire. he can't do the barack obama of four years ago and waltz in, not take any questions, have this front runner strategy. they know that new hampshire feels a little bit neglected because all of the focus has been on iowa. but it's an interesting situation now because he's also splitting his time with south carolina. but they know that they have to hold on to their support in new hampshire, but it's hard to imagine a scenario where new ha

yesterday we saw the two santorums, the santorum who has a serious shot to challenge mitt romney for the party's nomination and the one that can be marginalized and thrown off message. like bill clinton and john edwards who had early primary success talking about their humble beginnings, santorum can talk about his roots with some authenticity >> i went to catholic grade school, and that was part of my formation as, you know, the nuns, you know, beating my hands and doing all that. i've still got some scars from the rulers, but that was sort of, you know, that -- that moral foundation, if you will, through the church and through school and through that -- that love of country. my grandfather is a very stern, tough guy. i mean, he was tough. i mean, you work in the mines until you're 72, he had a scoliosis in his back, and he was sort of hunched over, just a big strong man, but, you know, he smoked everything all day long. oh, my, pipes, is i gas, cigarettes, i mean, just, you know, his whiskey in the morning with his coffee, i mean, he was just a whole different breed of cat that --