this is the 2008 south carolina primary. john mccain down here along the coast, the low country especially places like this, orrey county, where myrtle beach is, 5% of the state's population, more moderate, important to john mccain four years ago. this was mick huckabee, greenvil greenville, spartanburg, a lot of evangelical and tea party voters critical tonight. >> the state a little more diverse than people know. we go over to anderson cooper to help us preern some of tappreci early numbers. >> we're here with our analysts, republican strategists, democratic strategists, james carville what are you expecting tonight? >> i expect uncertain, that's generally what it is and if one is to believe the final polls taken last night, speaker gingrich is in good shape. we were in the green room talking about ever this and this has been a roller coaster ride unlike any other and i suspect it will provide us -- >> you're thrilled by that fact. >> if the last polls are correct, if last night's polls are correct, yeah, i think yes, i wo

a big day in south carolina. we'll see who wins this thing tonight when the polls close at 7:00. >> do you have your ear plugs? it's going to get really cloud loud when newt gingrich exits. you won't be able to hear me. ron mott, thanks for that in greenville. let's look at the voters in south carolina and what they're saying as they head to the polls for today's crucial primary. nbc's craig melvin is joining me from columbia, south carolina. voter turnout, how large is that so far today? >> reporter: you know what, alex witt, it is at this point remarkably low. in fact, i just talked to one of our campaign embeds. she spent some time at a precinct here in columbia that is one of the largest precincts in the area when it comes to republican primaries. 35 voters in two hours, if that gives you any idea what we're look at how. upstate south carolina -- this is crucial, going to be particularly crucial for newt gingrich -- spartanburg county, greenville county, 40% of all the primary voters generally tend to come fr

but much of the political focus has moved south to south carolina. this week on "newsmakers," chad connelly of the south carolina republican party. we're also joined by two political reporters. could the nomination be wrapped up in south carolina? >> we have been the eventual predictor of the republican nominee since 1980. i think this will be decided in south carolina once again. >> given your governor's endorsement of mitt romney and her current approval ratings, what has been the effect of that endorsement? >> mitt romney had the biggest turnout that he has had when governor niki haley went with him. based on the response he has already, it will be a big thing. >> let's turn the questioning over to jeff of "the new york times." >> the contests in iowa has already happened. the primary in new hampshire will has happened. do you believe the race, once it arrives there, will ratify decision from -- the decision from iowa and new hampshire? >> we are looking forward to having you down to south carolina and we are looking over to seeing you at the moto

for south carolina? i'm joined by michael smerconish. iowa conservative radio host. plus democratic strategist jimmy williams a native of south carolina. and it's been a wild week to say the least. and let us not forget romney's problems answering questions about his money and what he pays in taxes. but i ask you this, who had the worst week of them all? i'm going to tell you how to cast your vote in a special news nation text poll. ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... [ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa.

he had been a major jon huntsman supporter in south carolina and was previously mike huckabee south carolina chairman in 2008, but as of today, he is for newt. shortly after that endorsement, mr. gingrich got word that 100 tea party leaders, what is a tea party leader anyway? 100 tea party leaders, whatever that means, from 25 different states are reportedly about to come forward to also endorse newt gingrich. the group will reportedly form a coalition called "tea partiers with newt":. all he had to do was google news search the name mitt romney today and he'd feel even better about how his day is going. there are still a few hours left in the day, so his fortunes could turn around, but mitt romney is about to wrap up what has been a horrific day for him in this race. after creating 48 straight hours of news coverage for himself by acknowledging he is one of the really, really rich people in this country that only pays a 15% mini tax rate and suggesting the $375,000 he made in speaking in a year wasn't enough money, after all that, here was the headline that mitt romney woke up to today, "ro

hello, south carolina! >> on this night, four years ago, mitt romney said he had won another silver, after having placed second in iowa and second in new hampshire. he's won both iowa and new hampshire this time around. let's go back to chris matthews in manchester. chris? >> thank you, rachel. i'm here with debbie wasserman schultz, the u.s. congresswoman from florida, but also, of course, the chair of the democratic national committee. here we feel a fairly, i guess, expected set of results, although there were questions early on, even today, about who would come in second. it's clear now that ron paul has taken the excitement away from the huntsman campaign by grabbing second place, making no other credible democrat have that opportunity to say i'm second to mitt. now it looks like going into your part of the country, two elections from now, they'll be in florida, my question is, it looks like romney, is this the guy you were planning to face? >> well, we've been focused on trying to build our campaign t

what it sounds like is the people from gaffney, south carolina or georgetown, south carolina who lost their jobs. the fact is you can create jobs without destroying a company. and that's what i'm talking about is i think americans are really tired of these wall streeters that take advantage of americans. >> an interesting ten days ahead in south carolina. governor rick perry of texas, appreciate your time tonight. >> thank you, john. so long. >>> governor perry isn't the only one complaining republican establishments pressuring candidates to tone down the attacks on governor romney. in a few minutes we'll ask the party's chairman if it's true and if he's eager for things to be settled quickly. but next check this out. a veteran pilot will explain to us why landing in a cross wind may look scary but he insists it really isn't so bad. n i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe

i'll be back with updates on the south carolina primary. for all of us at cbs news all around the world, i'm scott pelley, see you again soon. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> on to south carolina, diane, with a great big target on him on to south carolina. thanks to diane and george. >>> we want to turn now to abc news anchor, david muir. he's live at romney headquarters in the campaign. he bought a house in new hampshire. he was running there in 2008. he ran there this year. and finally tonight, victory. it must be awful sweet for him. >> reporter: so sweet, terry. make no mistake about it. this was a huge night for the romney campaign. they needed this night. they had that win in iowa. the sliver-thin victory of eight votes. then they came to new hampshire next where they were ahead in the polls. as you mentioned, he was the governor of massachusetts. this is his backyard in new hampshire. they have a summer home here, where they helped to raise the five boys you saw on the stage there behind governor romney with his wife ann. there was huge expectation that he would do well here. you saw what happened in the last 24 hours. the campaign telling me, it was the, quote, frenzy of being the front-runner. but he had ill-chosen words. you h

even before the south carolina result, gingrich expected the same movement towards gingrich in south carolina in florida. now romney still has a lot of advantages. it's an expensive state. momentum matters a lot in presidential primary contests. it is like bill lards. each shot changes each subsequent shot. 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 e

south carolina. that is the john mccain vote. mccain got 33 in south carolina in 2008. and the issue is, and it's not complicated, it happened in '08, the socially conservative vote split allowing mccain to shoot the gap. do gingrich and santorum and perry do the same thing? >> romney seals it in south carolina even before florida? i think that romney will have to defend against an air attack. we have to see how that plays out before you can make predictions. >> whether he has a glass jaw. >> that is right. >> up next, the romney campaign with romney adviser kevin madden and now are democrats going to counter the republican's message in south carolina. this is "andrea mitchell reports" live in new hampshire. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if you took the top down on a crossover? if there were buttons for this? wouldn't it be cool if your car could handle the kids... ♪ ...and the nurburgring? or what if you built a car in tennessee that could change the world? yeah, that would be cool. nissa

and newt in south carolina. and as we go forward in the states to come it is a even playing field. >> senator, folks who say, in order to beat mitt romney, you have to consolidate at some point. conservatives have to get together at some point if they want to stop mitt romney who arguably has a lott of support in the so-called tabement as people say. what do you say to those folks? >> wait a minute. mitt romney lost two out of three races. the only race he won was in his own back yard. look at the ceiling, 25%. i mean, this is the idea that romney is the obstacle here is that -- that narrative is not working anymore and not true. i don't know if it was ever true. the idea now, is that we have a strong principle conservative who was a leader in congress and moderate massachusetts depov gov and moderate who was an erratic conservative when he was inned wellership. they have to look and decide who they want to go up against barack obama in the fall. he won heavly democratic districts and appeal to the reagan. and o

this is getting very, very interesting in south carolina. bill: news is breaking in south carolina. earlier news is breaking to iowa. want to get back to carl cameron right now. we can now confirm what perry will say in about an hour and 19 minutes, carl, what's happening? what do you have? >> reporter: he will confirm it and say he is out of the race. in a move that is sure to fully roil the south carolina campaign trail texas governor rick perry will with draw from the race and endorse newt gingrich. this is development. the support newt gingrich gotten in south carolina in wake of the myrtle beach fox news debate. endorsement by rick perry, a southern governor who cast himself as outsider, railed against washington will decide the former speaker newt gingrich is best suited to be the republican party nominee to go up against barack obama. gingrich has been closing in the polls behind mitt romney in last few days. he did pick up some momentum after the last debate. it has shown at events. the romney campaign where we are now at his headquarters in suburban charleston has been taki

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now he's in south carolina. he's ahead in some polls, all the polls in south carolina. some of them are close but he can afford even to lose south carolina beck's got this momentum, organization, money, he's headed for florida where he's way ahead, and no one heals the ability to go the distance. one final point. all the people who might beat him have been wounded or cut or bleeding or damaged in one way or another. >> the bigger polls have a wider margin for romney being ahead of the next in line. >> yeah, but you've got gingrich and perry attacking romney. they've backed off a little because the party elders and the talk show showmen in the party have basically leaned on them not to wound romney any further, but you've got them with all this negative advertising there that's likely to damage romney somewhat, but it also damages the perpetrators, gingrich and perry. so there's an opening here for santorum, rick san tore rum, and there are a lot of evangelicals in south carolina. social issues are big. they seem to be resistant to the charges about beg capital, but they

and he could win south carolina. it has a reputation of being the state that eventually comes around to the establishment. mainstream republican and sends him to the nomination. it used to be that way. come down here and make a deal with strom thurman in the '60s, '70s and '80s. they got spooked by john mccain and rallied to george bush's side. in recent years, i don't think this has been very much an establishment state. nikki haley won the governor ship without the establishment and just a staff of interns, quite frankly, and a message. so you don't necessarily need the establishment. rick perry and jon huntsman have the establishment support in the state. look where that got them in the polls. if rick perry wins it will be because there's a divided republican field and the conservatives have dif vied up e vote. if mitt romney wins the state, it's hard to see him not being the nominee. he can totally blanket and saturate the air waves after this, fredricka. >> appreciate that. thursday, january 19th, just days befo

campaigning in south carolina? >> they have barbecue in south carolina. >> greta: are you say they have better food? >> i don't know. >> our family has been able to experience nothing like new hampshire. saying they have to shake his hand several times whether they decide whether they'll vote for you. it's true. we have people who have gotten their vote. but it means something. we realize that. >> we're really excited. >> we realize it's a great primary because all of the people get to meet the families and shake their hands. most don't get the opportunity to do that. we're lucky to have the primary like new hampshire. >> so if we do well tonight i think going into south carolina. >> so this allows the candidate to meet the people and to go into the system. and it does make a difference for them. i don't mean to tell you that the system is not perfect in the sense of giving up everything. >> if we leave here with momentum, people will get behind your message and excited about it. and in 24 hours more are coming in.

john house man came to south carolina then he left. rick perry came to south carolina and he left. rick santorum, who lost in iowa seems now to have won there, and newt gingrich, who finished out of the top tier in both iowa and new hampshire is staging a remarkable comeback. i spoke to him yesterday. if mitt romney wins on saturday, you stand by your statement if a that if he wins in south carolina the republicans will nominate a moderate who will lose to democratic barack obama in the fall? >> i think it becomes harder but he's not doing well enough to be very convincing. if you add the conservative vote together between santorum and me we would betemit mitt by 60-40. gwen: rick santorum pushed back later that night. >> grandiosity has never been a problem with newt gingrich. a month ago he was saying that it's inevitable that i'm going to win the election. i don't want a nominee that i have to worry about going out and looking at the paper the next day and worrying about what he's going to say next. gwen: that was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the fights we've bee

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carolina, the south carolina showdown. mitt romney and newt gingrich face off. they were both scheduled to arrive at tommy's country ham house in greenville, south carolina, at the same time, but somebody got their early. we're taking you there live in just moments. on my journey acro, i've learned that when you ask someone in texas if they want "big" savings on car insurance, it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. and during the four course feast, there's so much to choose from. [ male announcer ] the four course seafood feast is back at red lobster. still just $15. get soup, salad, unlimited cheddar bay biscuits, dessert, and your choice of 7 entrées, like new honey bbq shrimp skewers or shrimp and scallops alfredo. all four courses, just $15. [ jody ] it's really good value. all my guests love it. i'm jody gonzalez, red lobster general manager. and

icket moves farther south after a massive gingrich win in south carolina shakes up this race. this is "special report." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> bret: good evening. i'm bret baier. electoral tide a week ago that seemed to be carrying mitt romney to the presidential nomination shifted to newt gingrich as the candidates turn their attention from south carolina to florida. the next primary battleground. chief political correspondent carl cameron begins our coverage in panel the. >> reporter: buoyed by the south carolina victory over mitt romney, newt gingrich rallied a sparse crowd in tampa and urged conservatives to unite around the candidacy and reject tort of romney attacks. >> we moved from romney is pious to romney is -- [ inaudible ] >> reporter: since the south carolina win, russell poll on sunday shows gingrich leading romney 41 to to 32. rick santorum 11. ron paul 8%. when asked who will win the nomination romney blows away gingrich 52 to 35%. real clear politics average of polls shows it closer between gingrich and romney but most surveys were taken before the speaker south c

we hav we have a team of correspondents covering the south carolina primary. first, dean reynolds with the gingrich campaign. dean. we're expecting the former speaker to be taking that platform any moment now. you know, his campaign sort of saw this thing shifting right after the debate on monday when they detected a tonal shift in their opponent. mitt romney began attacking them, and not president obama. and that told them that they had a nervous opponent. then, of course, there were those debates when-- the debate on thursday just augmented the debate on monday, and gingrich took on the-- what he calls the elites and the news media, two lines of attack that resonate deeply with conservatives in this state. and now it's on to florida and believe it or not, after this roller coaster of a ride that we've had, gingrich believes he has a very good shot in florida and thinks he can put this race to an end much quicker than anyone else imagined possible. >> pelley: dean, he may like his chances in florida, but he's been running this campaign on a shoe string. what'

on the other hand, john mccain won south carolina. so there is room for a center right candidate to win south carolina. he has to play hard. that's why he was down there today. >> that's right. and john mccain was down there. i want to play a sound bite of something that happened in new hampshire regarding rick santorum. it could be very interesting when it comes to south carolina. this is a conversation with a student in new hampshire, crucial, because we know in social issues very different than south carolina talking about gay marriage. >> if your point is people should ab loud to do whatever makes them happy. right? is that what you just said? >> as longs they don't harm other people. >> okay. so if they're not harming other people, who determines whether they're harming people or not? >> anybody who understand. >> if there's -- so everybody can understand it. everybody can -- so we're not going to have courts. so there is some objective standard? >> two men should have the same rights as a man and woman. >> what about three men?

newt gingrich takes south carolina. >> we proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money, and with your help, we're going to prove it again in florida. >> the former house speaker says he may not have the money, but he can take on mitt romney. we'll take you live to south carolina for the post-primary analysis. >>> despite false reports swirling on social media, former penn state coach joe paterno is alive, but in serious condition. students lit candles in his support. we will take you live to penn state. >>> and search and rescue teams continue working on the italian cruise ship this morning. they stopped briefly overnight for safety issues. we've got the latest in the investigation. plus, new audiotape from the ship's captain. >>> hello, and good morning to everybody. we start with the runaway victory for newt gingrich. in the south carolina republican primary. look at the numbers. it was a double digit win for the former house speaker. easily beating mitt romney. and then there's rick santorum and ron paul. we've had three contests and three diffe

in fact, how much of a factor is he in south carolina? >> not in south carolina. he just has to try to get through this and has opportunities with caucuses out west and i think he'll rebound and stay in it for the long term. >> south carolina is perhaps -- and i don't say this critically, the most delicose state and his brand is american foreign and defense policy falls on deaf ears even when rick perry stood up and said south carolina's at war with washington. it showed a great sense of history. 150 years ago. there is a sense that south carolina really does prefer the military option and i think it's not receptive at all to the paulage message. >> president obama started running ads in the swing states. look at part of the ads the president's campaign is run. >> america's clean energy industry, 2.7 million jobs and expanding rapidly. our dependance on foreign oil is below 40% and strengthened america's energy economy. >> what does that tell you the obama campaign is thinking about. >> they're not doing a lot of fact checking because that includebus drivers and i

this is south carolina. he better get ready for it because we are here to question his motives and his actions. >> well, i agree with you, and it is not envy. it's injury. that's what it is. congressman, stand by one second. i want to bring in david corn, msnbc political analyst and washington bureau chief for mother jones. david, thank you for joining us. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> tell me, david, as mr. romney, when you look at the fact that citizens for tax justice says his tax plan is a complete handout to the top 1%, while the poorest suffer, the bottom 20% would only get a 1% tax cut while the top 1% would get a 38% tax cut. that's the analysis on the citizens for tax justice. is that why mr. willard wants us to only talk about this in quiet rooms, maybe so we're so quiet no one knows what he's really proposing? >> well, you know, this is an old and classic tactic that we've seen from conservatives and people in business community for decades. i think actually the notion, the term politics of

they blocked the south carolina law. do you think the voter id law will be on the books officially by the november election? >> i don't. unless they are willing to make some real series changes, i really don't see how this bill could go forward. it's a blatant violation of the voting rights act. it stands for all the things that our country stands against. this is a country that believes in one person, one vote. that believes in free and fair voting and the reality is this law puts in place the first financial barriers to voting since we got rid of the poll tax. what's worst is the justification, which is the so called voter fraud problem in this country is really doesn't exist in any significant numbers. the republican lawyers association came out with this big release. they found 352 cases in 15 years. that's less than two dozen cases per year across 15 years. we have prosecutors to handle problems that are that small. you're much more likely too find somebody who thinks they saw a ufo last year than think they saw som

your home state, has south carolina become your alamo? >> i don't think so. but we get out every day and take our message of job creation and, you know, we're the most consistent fiscal conservative and social conservative in the race and that's our message, both on the air waves. the retail politics in south carolina has been awesome. >> governor, that big group of social conservatives meeting in texas yesterday, decided that you're not the conservative alternative to mitt romney. they want rick santorum to have that. you didn't make the final ballot. >> that's what they said about ronald reagan as well. that, you know, he was unelectable. but south carolina citizens said, you know what, he is. we'll wait and see saturday what the people of south carolina say. >> what is your message this final week? >> well, it's all about jobs and getting this country back working again. in 11 years with executive governing experience, i have created a million jobs in my home state. i keep the taxes low. the regulatory climate fair and predictable. and

peter alexander on the ground in south carolina. thanks for joining us this morning. >>> to win south carolina, gingrich not only has to beat romney, but also win over social conservatives whose leaders are throwing their weight behind rick santorum. former oklahoma congressman j.c. watts, national co-chair of the ning ri gingrich campaign joins me now. >> happy new year. >> to you as well. i want to play an exchange between rick santorum and newt gingrich about sort of the idea of electability from the social conservative base. let's take a listen to that. >> any conservative who votes for anyone but me helps elect a moderate as a nominee and therefore -- if every conservative votes for me, we will win on saturday by a huge margin. >> i look at it this way. we've had two contemptscontempt contempts. congressman gingrich is the most electable, why did he finish behind me, if he was so electedable. we run better against anybody, i think, against barack obama than anyone in the field. not a matter of coalescing, behind a conservative

look at south carolina. we will do this at the end of the program with cammeron and rosen as well. that obviously coming up on the 21st of january. rick santorum even though he raised a lot of money after iowa he has got money problems, correct? >> and gingrich doesn't. >> bill: gingrich has enough money because gambling guy adelson came in with 5 million. that puts gingrich in good position to just rip up romney and he has already started. tomorrow we are going to have gingrich's new ad. he didn't do the ad but the people supporting him did. just like iowa. i'm not complaining because romney's people brutalized gingrich in iowa. what's goose good for the goose and all of that. >> i'm a little worried that newt is so mad at romney that he would rather beat up romney than get elected himself. >> bill: listen, i don't know what the speaker is doing. we put in a request to talk to him. i hope he comes on either tomorrow or friday. you are absolutely right. the negativity that he brought to new hampshire certain

i think he has to do well in south carolina. i think between gingrich and santorum we will emerge in the next couple states as a knock-out going. there will be conservatives running against, self-proclaimed con seventive, i won't say they are or aren't conservative against romney staying in the race. one thing that a lot of people like me should want it to happen. if he doesn't stay in the race. charles is right, what will happen in the next 46 states? romney will win the majority of them and ron paul will get 30, 35, 40% of the vote. there is always an anti-vote. it will go to paul and make paul much more formidable figure in the republican party. if you think gingrich, romney or a santorum-romney race is discomforting, don't pressure one of those guys to get out. you are going to end up with ron paul as a major senior. >> conservatives voting for santorum will go for paul. >> who is pressuring here? there is a different between advocacy and analysis. you want a certain outcome and you imply any other analysis is a way to press

south carolina, and we're getting ready for all of that. exciting night in new hampshire, and mitt romney an impressive win and ron paul is second. jon huntsman third. our flea jury reporting and piers morgan picks up our coverage right now. >>> thanks, wolf, i'm "piers morgan tonight" and a love special edition. tonight, mitt romney wins the nation's first primary in new hampshire and ron paul came sucked and jon huntsman came third in a state where he concentrated all his resources. newt gingrich and rick santorum are in fourth and rick perry goes to south carolina where the new battleground will start late tonight. we'll talk about mitt romney's lead. first, the big winner new hampshire, mitt romney, he lost no time taking on the man he cease as his biggest challenger. president obama, one of the biggest applause lines from the frontrunner's speech. >> the president has run out of ideas. now he's running out of excuses. >> i'm going to be joined by somebody who was a candidate himself, tim pawlenty. has he sealed the deal yet? >> well, t

this is so typical of south carolina, as you know. he came to south carolina and it was open warfare on john mccain for the following week. at that point, george bush had the support of the south carolina governor. and they went to the mattresses over the state. what is so interesting to me having spent time down there is the social conservative issues have not resonated in the same way. i just like to roll a part of an interview i did with ernie siegers, county administrator in the middle part of the state. it is the buckle of the bible belt. here's what he had to say about the impact of all of that on this race. how much are the religious social issues important to the voters on a saturday? >> i think very important. i grew up here, i go to church here. it's a strong moral issues are certainly important. but i still think the folks that i see and talk to, jobs are the key issue right now. and i think when the economy is better and things are improved and certainly those items are important and from what i see, the jobs and the econo

thank all the folks here in south carolina. i karen and i decided to take on this challenge to run for president not because i wanted to be the most powerful person in america, because i wanted to return the power to the people of america. that is what this campaign is all about. we have a big decision. i don't care how old you are, this is the most important election of your lifetime. what i would say to the people of south carolina you have an in creedible opportunity to speak loudly as to what america needs and you know what america needs. america needs someone who respects and reflects the values of the people of america. south carolina has good strong traditional conservative values. the values that made this country great. the founders' values that is south carolina. i would ask the people of south carolina to reflect those values this this election. vote for someone. be strong, be bold and lead this country. you voted for ronald reagan in 1981. everyone else said pick one who can win. you said know because you saw someth

>> you are taking me out of south carolina. i'll let you figure it out. >> gregg: you are a political pro, beyond south carolina. >> what i would say is, big night is tonight given the predictive quality of south carolina votes. what i would say that using consolidation, you seen a look to the right. heaviness on economic issue that is great predictor with what comes next on high unemployment state like florida or other high unemployment states to come. 9.9% unemployment in this state which is almost double that of iowa or new hampshire. it's a substantial increase and that has much to change with the election tenure that we'll see tonight. >> gregg: yours is an open primary, democrats and independents are allowed to vote here. does it give an advantage to guy like mitt romney that may be regarded by those folks as a moderate and more acceptable to them? >> i don't think so. i had three races my first run for congress and race after that and race after. that three races in my first run for governor. so i have a long string of r

is he campaigning in south carolina or florida? >> he hasn't gotten to south carolina yet. he seems to be taking a break, which he did after iowa. i wouldn't say he's ruled out florida but he said he would spend limited money there because unless he can win, he doesn't get any delegates so he wants to play in states where he knows he can come in second or third and walk away with a handful of delegates and keep going. gwen: so far, one third, and one second, and we can expect to see him giving a speech at the convention. the president has not been taking this lightly. as he prepares for the fall campaign, he's been raising big money, announcing plans to shrink government, and replacing senior advisers. william daley had been white house chief of staff for only a year before abruptly announcing this week that he is heading back to chicago. what really happened there, alexis? >> it's an interesting story in that the president is heading into his third chief of staff in one term. not unusual, but in this particular case, the president hired bill daley from the famous daley pol