there's a fundamental disconnect between what newt gingrich says on the trail and what newt gingrich has actually done with his record. and it's amazing when you consider the scope of the intellectual dishonesty by the people who police the definition of conservatism today. >> you know, i have to go back to the picture we're watching. you guys can't see it on the screen, i don't think. but there's a picture of donald trump, sort of as the grand vizere here, overlooking his new pupil, or his new disciple, i should say, newt gingrich. it's amazing. look at this picture. if you had the to say a year ago or two years ago, or 15 minutes ago. what's happening here? here's newt gingrich standing behind the guy who's accepted as this grand marshal of the parade, but some kind of judge of who should be fired and who should be made one of donald trump's apprentices, in other words, a presidential candidate, dana. you can't make this up. >> no, you thinkn'can't. the republicans have the tea party to thank for this. they wanted someone that would be very opposite of barack obama, and by extensio

he's comfortable with newt gingrich as nominee. >> i like newt gingrich. i will work my heart out if newt gingrich is our nominee to elect him president of the united states. at the end of the day as a republican primary voter, i want to nominate the most conservative guy who can win and poll after poll shows that newt gingrich has a favorability rating below 30% among general americans. how do you win a general election fight if americans don't like you. the strongest candidate who can win and do the job is mitt romney. >> i think you most articulated well. we may see it tonight. congressman kingston, congressman shock, thank you both. >>> why super tuesday is about to get more super and tough times in america. new census numbers show how many of us are scraping by with less these days. tom brokaw will be here taking a hard, long look at the state of this country traveling around it the last couple years. first today's trivia question. it's a good one. congressman kingston not allowed to participate. newt gingrich's congressional opponent in 1994 was once

it's actually newt versus newt. and in this case, there will only ever be one winner, and it won't be newt gingrich. thank you very much, indeed, for watching. dylan ratigan's here to take us forward.

at newt romney, if you look at newt romney. >> if you look at newt romney. newt romney. if you look at newt romney. michele bachmann is the proven conservative. >> a lot out there. >> this newt gingrich thing, we have to get that out up. newt and romney thing, sorry. >> let's get right to it with our panel on this monday. joining me in the studio msnbc contributor and democratic strategist crystal ball. and with us from washington, msnbc contributor jonathon capehart, opinion writer for "the washington post." crystal, if i can start with you, with just -- you know, as you know, very few short weeks away from what will happen in iowa, michele bachmann, of course, won the iowa ames straw poll. rick perry's thrown huge sums of money into that. and yet, according to the polls, nights rer doing particularly well. is it too little too late for them now n. >> i think it is. things have been set there. this debate this past weekend, i think, was a really critical moment. and i really don't see any stopping newt gingrich. i mean, rick perry, as you pointeded out, has

that describes newt's current incarnation. especially since i remember newt from the 90s. i would describe romney as a wet noodle or a jelly fish. he wimped out. i wasn't going to vote for obama again but the republicans are leaving me no other choice except to stay home on election day. >>> gingrich speaks as if he is a relative and not responsible for your behavior. romney acts as if he's aware he is responsible for you but doesn't want to have anything to do with you. looks like uncle newt is solidifying his base. >> sounds like your average christian family. with lying, cheating grandfathers and absentee fathers and loony second cousins. >>> in many cases he was the boss who fired him. it doesn't matter what republicans think, the margin of victory will come from marginal voters. paul reminds them of his crazy grandfather. and dee writes i can see their point. you ask yourself who is this guy. he reminds yourself of someone in the family we haven't seen or heard from in years. newt appears at christmas time, tells stories, throws in history lessons and returns to his w

>> dana: the newt versus romney thing, newt understandsgoning more than romney. governor of a state and speaker of the house. it's not -- coming up next one doesn't crash the other one in that. newt has to deal with the negatives coming his way. that is a sure. romney seems cleaner, squeakier cleaner guy. and another point is barack obama, his favorable, people like him. they talk about this all the time. they may not like his policy but there is a distinction whether people like him or a good family man. how he is with kids. he is turning up at 65% of what people think about him. >> bob: job aproven numbers going up and up. >> eric: whose? >> bob: obama. >> eric: carter was at 51% -- >> bob: i worked for him. >> eric: it was 51%. >> dana: stick to this race. >> eric: mitt romney, marco rubio or newt gingrich-paul ryan type of ticket, either one of those would beat obama. >> eric: that is a 40-state loss. >> dana: we talked about iowa. >> eric: you would know about that. >> dana: ohhh! >> kimberly: below the belt. >> dana: hold on. i'll let you fight it out in th

>> problem with newt is, already, in interviews this week, he's referring to himself as newt and also as we. you could feel the helium filling his head and he'll explode. >> gillian, romney, newt? >> i think romney will come through in the end but without a lot of passion. >> helene? >> i'm going for newt. >> the smart money is on romney. >> before we break, newt was a favorite "saturday night live" target in his house speaker days. comedian chris farley really captured his bulldozer approach to legislating. >> let's go, let's go, let's go, mr. delay. >> motion massachusetts no longer be a state. >> aye! >> farley was so identified with newt that when the real newt was celebrating the first 100 days of his g.o.p. congress in 1995, his chief lieutenant had a big surprise for him. >> we'd like to introduce the speaker of the house, the gentleman from georgia, newt gingrich. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> all right. here we go. we're here today to help celebrate the first 100 days of the republican controlled congress! let's get to it. let's show america how many bills a republican

finally there's newt gingrich. newt gingrich started off as the grumpy profiteering also ran d.c. scam artist guy with all the offices on k. street. as a late surging front-runner now, mr. gingrich plays a useful role in the race. not just for republican voters making a decision on who to vote for for president, but the whole country trying to understand republican politics by watching the republican presidential race. newt gingrich i think is the jonathan swift character in the race. he's the eat the poor candidate. it was 1729 when irish satirist jonathan swift wrote a satirical essay called "a modest proposal." about how the wealthy should deal with the way too many poor people among them. "i think it's agreed by all party this prodigious number of children in the arms, on the backs or at the heels of their mothers and frequently of their fathers, is in the kingdom of very great additional grievance. whoever could make a fair, cheap and easy method of making the children sound and useful members of the common wealth would deserve so well of the public to have his statue set up

zooming way ahead. >> newt gingrich, people have been focused on newt inc. lately, the stuff he built in this town after he left congress to make a lot of money. newt inc. before that, go pac and his other organizations, he's done this for a long time. he knows how to build coalitions around his personality and ideas. as a chairman said, people may not care about some of these positions. and remember, he has some weird liberal stuff that he said and done, he's running against a guy who passed an individual mandate. >> well, well, even though newt gingrich in 2003 -- from 1993 to 2008 was a champion of individual mandate. that is the great irony of newt gingrich. >> that's -- >> when he wanted a federal one. >> newt wanted a federal individual mandate. like i said before, he bragged about being a rockefeller republican, he trashed paul ryan, and again, i can -- i can talk for the next 30 minutes about all of the moderate to liberal positions newt took while he was speaker of the house and how he trashed conservatives like myself to try to roll over us. it rea

could be newt. so let's, you know, make sure -- >> i'm one of those who believes the president pays strict attention to everything we do maybe not verbatim from this kind of program, but he knows what's going on politically. here's "60 minutes," steve kroft asking the president what he accomplished his first term. let's watch the president's very important answer here. >> not only saving this country from a great depression, not only saving the auto industry, but putting in place a system in which we're going to start lowering health care costs and you're never going to go bankrupt because you get sick or somebody in your family gets sick. making sure that we have reformed the financial system so we never again have taxpayer funded bailouts and the system is more stable and secure. ending dlt "don't ask, don't tell," decimating al qaeda, including bin laden being taken off the field. >> compelling argument for re-election yet, or not? >> i think -- obviously, i think it is. but, you know, i don't kn

>> newt doesn't need me. that's the whole point. i'm going to help newt. i will do everything to help newt, whether i will inside the campaign or outside the campaign. >> are all of you that were in the campaign walking around washington saying what can we do? this is the biggest mistake anybody has ever made? any campaign staff has ever made? >> i can't speak for others. i know what happened to me. we had an avalanche fall on us. most everybody thought so. including the press. they all abandoned newt. and i lost my perspective. the truth is when you work for a candidate like newt or any candidate, you serve them. when you lose your perspective, you can't serve them. so in retrospect, i lost my perspective, i couldn't serve him. i have my perspective back now. i see it clearly. he is pavarotti among rock stars. >> you spoke about main stream media of the campaign. >> i wouldn't say that. it didn't seem we were getting any traction or momentum. i had the short term perspective we were dead. newt had the long term perspective and he is now ask p ascending th

no, not newt gingrich. we've got elizabeth warren. >> let's go to newt versus romney. >> yeah. >> romney unloaded today. >> mitt romney has no time to lose. they are turning the fire hose on newt. >> in florida, gingrich also beat romney by 23 points. >> a lot of the tea party people are for mitt romney. >> gingrich has made the calculations so far that romney is still having a difficult time with tea party supporters. >> newt gingrich over obama in ohio in a head to head match up, 43-42. that is a heart attack. >> that is mind bending. >> conservatives like mitt romney. >> gingrich on top in iowa with 33% support among likely caucus goers. >> gingrich is not the only front-runner, easy roaded romney's ee electric ta built. >> this is clearly a statement from the american people and has less to do with newt gingrich than it does with the state of american politics. >> newt gingrich has an argument against obama that is entirely based on hatred. >> i have one opponent, barack obama, and that's how my campaig

went to newt gingrich with a fine tooth comb they didn't find anything let's remember newt gingrich balanced the budget under bill clinton who wanted to spend about as badly as barack obama wanted to spend their reformed welfare. he's got a whole bunch of good credits and the myth that newt gingrich shut the government down no sorry about that it was bill clinton that shut the government down we're going back to the same battleaxe remember when it happened steve do you want to get in there because there's also the the freddie mac. money that gingrich got one point six million dollars i mean again all the way up to the he didn't he only needed to it when he was confronted with it i mean again he's the consummate insider how can this be something new how can he spin himself as something new. well you know the judge has got a difficult job there and i don't envy it all i mean there's gingrich always has an excuse for something here you know he didn't do anything wrong you know they dismissed eighty four out of eighty five charges well you know dozens of judson's an attorney he knows better than

this was newt gingrich. he had this to say about the president in an interview with "national review" laugh year. when is obama is so outside our comprehension that only if you understand kenyan, anti-colonial behavior can you begin to piece together his actions. that is the most accurate predictive model for his behavior. this is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works works happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president. now, the president as we know, whatever we think of his politics, left, right or center, was not raised by his kenyan father. he never met him until he was an adult. what is this anti-colonial kenyan behavior that he ascribes to our president? >> i think what he's referring to is the fact that the president has been very much a president that has moved around the world apologizing for the united states. >> yeah. >> and he -- he believes at the bottom of that that we have acted too much like the british empire and that we ought

newt gingrich's case for 20 years. in mitt romney's case he's the only governor in the united states' history to put into place socialized medicine. they both agree with barack obama. this is the seminal piece of legislation of barack obama. it's the one issue that our candidate has to take president obama on with, and they won't be able to debate him on this issue because they're on the same side as the president. but also newt romney are on the same side of the president when it comes to cap-and-trade, the $700 billion bailout, illegal immigration, even the payroll tax this week which there isn't one shred of evidence that that has created a single job. when you take a look and people say this is a two-man race, i would agree. but the one man is newt romney and the other man is michele bachmann. the only proven consistent constitutional conservative. i'm the only one that can take the debate to barack obama and win be elected. >> schieffer: i'm going to separate newt romney into two people again just to ask you this

newt gingrich had a target. mitt romney benefited by that. the other benefit is that should he get the nomination, he will have a target on his back from barack obama. any time he has had that target, he has sort of choked and clutched. i think these debates are great for him. if it goes on for a while, it will be good for him because he has to get to the point where he can compete against the president of the united states, and not look at it like a rich guy. >> what about ron paul. >> he defined himself as a libertarian. his position on foreign policy is so far beyond pillar of the republican party -- the isolationist strain that he is talking about, that just does not sell beyond the libertarians. the person who lays the profile it is michele bachmann. >> first of all, by avoiding the bullying tactic used last saturday night, and that is what mitt romney did, you say the yankees won the world series, do you want to bet $10,000? the rich bully can do it. mitt romney avoided that. i thought michele bachmann did a formidable job on the influe

newt is the wizard of oz. >> let me ask you. >> newt is the one -- >> go ahead. >> newt, there's nothing there. when people focus on him as opposed to him being the not romney, this is a man who served as speaker, he was twice reprimanded by the house. by the way, i was reprimanded by the house. one of the reasons i wouldn't run to president. there's this problem with marriages. and criticizing chris dodd and me over freddie mac. we were in the minority. he was taking money from them to make sure nothing happened. i think he's an obvious weak candidate. >> but let me ask about the democratic campaign message. and the election message. you also said that the problem in politics is this, you don't get any credit for disaster averted. going to the voters, saying, things really suck if it wasn't for me, it would suck worse. that's not a platform on which anyone has gotten elected in the history of the world. so how do you think the obama campaign is going to get re-elected? >> well, that's true. that's our dilemma. we inherited this terrible economy, president obama did. clearly, the actions

mitt romney and newt gingrich. or as i keep saying newt romney and mitt gingrich. if i do that on air tonight, i'm sorry. it's embarrassing. the thing emerging as the biggest hurdle to newt gingrich getting the nomination is the establishment wing of the republican party. today this came out into the open. there are people in the republican establishment willing to voice concerns of mr. gingrich in recent weeks. today the flood gates opened. conservative columnist david brooks at "the new york times," quote, he has every negative character trait conservatives associate with 1960s excess. narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance. he would severely damage conservatism in the republican party if nominated. former reagan speechwriter, peggy noonan writing in "the wall street journal," quote, those who know him fear or hope he'll be true to form in one respect. he'll continue to lose to his number one longtime foe, newt gingrich. he is is a human hand grenade who walks around with his hand on the pin saying, watch this. quote, is he erratic and u

michele bachmann saying newt newt/romney, newt newt/romney. is that effective? and what about the gingrich line about ted kennedy versus him being. >> i thought romney was terrific in that comeback when she said i wanted to play in the n.f.l., too. >> sean: i thought it was good because a lot of humor. >> i think that, i don't think that romney-gingrich worked well. the tea party patriots the largest of the tea party grou groups. half of the people in that will have a telephone primary. they expect 160,000 people. each candidate will speak for ten minutes and listeners will vote. i think it's absolutely fascinating. >> sean: listen. >> why do we have to wait for iowa? >> sean: good point. dick morris, good to see you. coming up, tim tebow did it again! another stunning overtime victory on sunday. so will the broncos' big win finally silence the rookie quarterback critics? well, we'll talk about that and debate that question. first, more on debbie wasse wasserman-schultz's outrageous wasserman-schultz's outrageous comments about the♪ you want to save money on c

newt is very good at one thing. he's very good at being the voice of insurrection for angry white men. when it comes to governing, we know two things about him. one, is he can't govern and two is he loses support of his followers and the people closest to him. he's been on the national ballot twice. he was on the national ballot in 1996 when clinton ran for re-election. it was a very conscious effort by the clinton campaign to run against the dull gingrich congress and he they won. in 1998 during the midterms, the first time the party in the white house picked up five or six seats during the meelgdz of an impeachment. he was on the national ballot both times. he showed he could not win independents but lost a lot of closest supporters. that's why the elite see real problems here. >> gingrich was described yesterday by untrustworthy by john sununu. a romney supporter has a new ad out genz gingrich. take a look. >> newt has a ton of baggage, like the fact gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethnics violations or he took $

that's why people who don't know newt, conservatives who don't know newt like newt. >> well, maybe that explains some of the polls we're seeing. the gingrich campaign is ramping up its efforts right now in iowa as new polling there shows the former house speaker with a sizable lead in the early caucus state with less than a month to go if you can believe it before voting there. >> holy cow. >> can you believe it? it's common. >> are you serious? >> we're going to be there. abc news and "the washington post" poll shows gingrich with 33% support of likely republican caucus goers. that's 15 points ahead of mitt romney and ron paul who were tied for second. >> my gosh. >> the obama re-election team -- >> let's just soak these numbers in. by the way, we're talking the michele bachmann later. harold ford, 33%. timing is everything. >> meteoric rise here at the end. i think you all have touched on these points. you've touched on these points over the last few days and your op-ed does as well. he has -- he's been around so long that a lot of the negatives on him are out there. the narrative is

see newt fight with both barrels? >> i don't think newt can help it. i think there's going to be a great show tonight, al. this is a last chance saloon, okay? i really believe mitt romney can almost afford to ride it high and talk about the economy but for michele bachmann, rick santorum, rick perry, ron paul, this is their last chance on stage, maybe forever, and their last chance to bring newt down. newt's numbers are already slipping. i think you can see ron paul, as i said earlier, take over for him in iowa and michele bachmann, don't count her out either. they've got to do it tonight. >> now, newt has had an interesting strategy in the other debates. he has not gone after the other opponents. he's gone after the media. he has been able to use the media as his straw guy to get to audience behind him. watch this. >> how do you respond to people who say that your campaign has been a mess so far? >> i took seriously to put aside the talking points and i wish you would put aside the got you questions. i just want to p

they are furious that newt gingrich sat with nancy pelosi. newt gingrich did criticize paul ryan. we know the strength and weaknesss. romney had it, too. so did every other candidate. what is angering people the guys think this elite group of establishment type say they can tell the tea party and conservatives in this country that is conservative, real conservative can't win. they will be beaten up. is there a backlash to this? >> i think you are on to something. i think about this in the last two days. it is a black lash effect. the tea party folks, the regular conservatives in america. they are looking at the establishment republicans and saying wait a minute, if they like this guy, i shouldn't like this guy. or if they are criticizing an a person. the question of the entire election next year is what is the proper role of government. we have seen the answer to that. this election should be about barack obama and his record. i don't care if the republicans put up lassie. if they make this case, they can win with the dogs. >> sean: wow! >> sandra, can you top that. >> ann coulter

versus anti-newt. that he's the true conservative that he, newt, led the effort in congress to defeat communism. how could we have forgotten that one? and then the dow's nearly 5700- -- 500-point jump yesterday raises this question -- if the economy does pick up, is mitt romney really the best candidate for the republicans? a better economy neutralizes the one advantage romney has over the rest of the field. you know, if the car's running, who needs some guy tinkering under the hood? we're going to ask the "hardball" strategist about that. what happens when the old playbook gets thrown out the window? and herman cain won't make a decision about his stumbling campaign, he says, until he sits down face-to-face with his wife and as someone said today, when you have to have a meeting with your wife, you're already in trouble. >>> and the man who shot president reagan wants more freedom, can you believe it? but when the secret service ç found him, john hinckley, browsing books about presidential assassina

for newt, that will hurt. otherwise a lot of this hoopla starts to die down because it looks like mitt romney will win new hampshire, should win new hampshire and if it's ron paul or rick santorum or someone else winning in iowa, suddenly newt gingrich doesn't look like the front-runner he does today. the question is, did he peek too early? no you have mitt romney taking a very passive approach to being hyper aggressive, doing interviews and going after kark flaws and it seems to be working. there's some evidence that newt gingrich's numbers are starting to go down and the numbers are soft. he definitely it appears to be working and romney had to do that because romney's numbers in his own right are pretty soft. >> well, it's 19 days from now, we have 'debate tonight and it will be interesting to see whether mitt romney is as tough in this debate as recent interviews, he's taking gingrich seriously. >> there's no doubt. i bet you tonight he does go after him to draw the sharp contrast. romney clearly made the

we start with newt's surge nationwide. republican strategist steve schmidt worked on the bush-cheney 2004 campaign and ran the 2008 mccain campaign. steve is also an msnbc analyst. dana milbank is a politico columnist for the "washington post." gentlemen, i want you to consider this. let's start with the news breaking this afternoon. late this afternoon. on fox news, mitt romney said he would not be attending donald trump's circus debate later this month. let's listen to mitt. >> no, i'm not participating in that. we have two debates in december that i've agreed to participate in. the rest of the month is going to be spent campaigning, doing the political work you've got to do to get the support of people in iowa and new hampshire, south carolina, florida. so we'll be hitting the trail. i spoke with donald trump earlier today, indicated that we just can't make this debate. >> and what did he say? >> he understood my perspective and wished me well. >> well, there you go. let me go to steve schmidt for this active at least c

and i -- you know, i think newt gingrich, i know newt. i don't think he's a saint, and neither do i think mitt romney or michele bachmann or rick santorum or rick perry or any candidate that we have out there, that they're a saint. but i think we need somebody that's prepared to do the heavy lifting, to get us to where i think we all want to go. and i think when you look at newt's leadership in terms of what he did as speaker, we had balanced budgets, we paid down debt, we took on entitlement programs and reformed them. and we did those things with a democrat president. so i think his track record as speaker is pretty good. >> congressman, thank you. appreciate your time and also professor jonathan turley, we appreciate your being here. >> thank you. >>> up next, new information about what the officials at penn state knew, when they knew it, and why they did so little when confronted with evidence of child sexual abuse. you can follow me, by the way, on twitter, if you know how to spell smerconish. this is "hardball," only on msnbc. peopl

newt would undercut people around him. newt was not reliable. newt couldn't get things done. but, you know, the other point i would make is, though, that people are in such a foul mood about the congress and about washington and about the insiders that the republican establishment better be careful. and david made this point also. that if it looks like newt is the only alternative to business as usual, newt could still win. >> that's how he won the first time. >> exactly. exactly. >> people like lynn martin, moderate republicans from illinois said, rather than lose again, we'll go with him. i want you to comment on this. this is really pitchfork fighting. here's ron paul going after gingrich getting all those deferments from the military back in the '60s. now, when you go after people's military deferments, this is in the gut. let's listen to this. >> he's probably as aggressive with the military as anybody. he support always the wars in the middle east, a thousand times more than i would. but, you know, when -- in the 1960s, when i was drafted, you know, into the military, h

the good newt and evil newt. you have to focus on obama. yesterday he said the unemployment insurance would create more jobs than the pipeline, the keystone pipeline. that is like eating ice cream. they have to focus on jobs and how obama is failing. >> eric: you got that in geng. >> greg: it's right. >> bob: he asks john sonunu, the former governor, not the senator, the son. but the former governor. this guy loves government and gave you david suitor. a liberal member of the supreme court. he was a guy that took a plane to get his teeth fixed. >> andrea: but it doesn't matter. they use the surrogates. people like him. >> bob: you see him as a hard conservative? he doesn't have a hard conservative in his corner. >> andrea: that is why he is doing well. hoch and change mantra is up for grabs. whoever captures that will win this thing. bolling? >> eric: yeah, just telling me that hannity will not attend the news max website. it was on their website, news max website. apologize sean and everyone if it's confusing. >> bob: he doesn't mean it. >

here is what newt said in classic newt fashion in response. listen. >> so she is suggesting she is using material developed on the ethics committee. fundamental violation of the rules of the house and i hope the leaders file charges against her the second he does it. >> he called at it christmas gift, which it is. having worke worked in the housf representatives for years i know even the janitor knows you can't take advantage that you have from an investigation and use it publicly. >> bob: i want to mention that ladainian tomlinson swore off ham camera in the break. that is a first. >> andrea: can't tell you anything. >> bob: this is the thing i find amazing. if newt gingrich were to pray for one person to take him on, it would be nancy pelosi. i mean they have spent the republicans a fortune maligning her. she is the number one devil in the republican base. gingrich is right, it's privileged. newt has detractors among the republicans in the house. there is a lot of information. maybe not coming out from the house but it will get out. >> andre

newt's down at fifth. but also as his popularity starts to go up, i think he should be prepare for a firestorm of late-nights when the jokes are all on newt. but just over 19% right now late-night mentions go to mittster, romney. that's tonight's big number. and i bet it changes very soon. >>> up next, why do so many republicans who came to power under newt gingrich in '94 have a problem with him now? why is newt disliked by so many of his former colleagues? that's ahead. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. hey... there's mom! hey, let mom try. ready, go! ♪ yeah, rock on, mom! [ male announcer ] sometimes a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs. wait a minute...i... [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer for exclusive lease offers on the 2012 rx 350 and, as a gift from lexus, we'll make your first month's payment. at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country, from help

i think it was classic newt. he went in and with one set of talking points thinking points of what he wanted to get accomplishe accomplished and wolf, who by the way, had one equal in these one-on-one interviews and that was tim russert. nobody does it better than him. >> that's nice. >> but under the careful guidance of -- and fair questions -- newt completely got off message and started lashing out and that's the newt that they were trying to avoid. >> he did not intend to go negative? he intended to stay positive and got off track. >> his super pac goes out with ads tomorrow that are supposed to do the negative stuff so he could talk about jobs. >> maria, he said -- he acknowledged that he was trying to lower expectations. one point they thought it looked like he could win iowa. now he said if i come in third it's fine. >> yeah. i think he's got to do that now, jessica, i think he's seeing the writing on the wall. what was interesting is that when he was in the very back of the pack in the debates people were

newt's the wizard of oz. you think newt -- there's nothing there. i think he's ginned up this whole big thing. >> pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. anyway, now him. but to be fair to the wizard of oz, all those characters did have something redeeming in them, the movie characters. >>> up and next, newt gingrich's rising at just the time. he's leading in iowa and closing the gap in new hampshire. can newt keep up with mitt romney and take it all the way to the convention? i'm a big hunter. oh, what do you hunt? deer. fish. fantastic. ♪ this holiday, chevy's giving more. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on a 2011 chevy silverado. or 0% apr financing for 60 months plus no monthly payments until spring. ♪ really? 25 grams of protein. what do we have? all four of us, together? 24. he's low fat, too, and has 5 grams of sugars. i'll believe it when i--- [ both ] oooooh... what's shakin'? [ female announcer ] as you get older, protein is an important part of staying active and strong. new ensure high protein... fifty perce