i think senator rick santorum and governor ed rendell that his craziness, pal dino's craziness along with the witchcraft in delaware and the rest of it will blunt the overall enthusiasm for the tea party activists who might not otherwise be engaged in politics certainly in those two states and maybe others. what do you think? >> it certainly love an impact on the candidates doing the crazy talking. i don't understand what he is trying to accomplish through this. it has no place in this campaign. he should talk about the issues that people care about. there's enough to talk about with andrew cuomo and his record to convince the people in new york not to vote for him as governor. i would stick to that record if i were him. i am not too sure people in illinois are going to care about some candidate who happened to win a primary no one thought was going to be a competitive race anyway in new york. this is the media hype with a dan cat who obviously is having message problems i don't think is going to any seepage in another state. >> i think he has a character problem not a message proble

santorum, newt gingrich, sarah palin, and mike huckabee. talk about republican primary -- >> fox is the new virginia, the birthplace of presidents. [laughter] >> what a stable. >> washington, jefferson, madison, everybody except adams. >> and they give money to the republicans -- >> nevada, illinois, pennsylvania, colorado. >> tossups. colorado is a tossup. connecticut is a tossup illinois is a tossup, open seat. reid's seat in nevada, tossup at best. patty murray -- >> washington state. >> west virginia. >> in west virginia, the governor has a 70% approval rating, and is running for the senate and is suddenly seen as in trouble. this is weird. >> he is running on the administration's liabilities. that is what they have done, tied him to washington and a democratic administration. everything else being equal, when you are the candidate of an unpopular national administration, as republicans learned in 2006 and 2008, in a close race you'll probably lose. >> to my colleagues it looks weird. this is the result of two years of democratic govern

. >> let's talk about the -- >> there's four if you include rick santorum who really is -- [ talking over each other ] >> at most there is three, palin, huckabee, at most -- >> that's plenty. >> how many democrats? >> at least 15 republicans, seriously thinking about running. [ talking over each other ] >> i love newt gingrich. personally not politically. >> all right. let's talk about the delaware senate race. christine o'donnell came out with ad this week how did it play in the press? >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect. but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us. politicians who think spending, trading favors and backroom deals are the ways to stay in office. i'll go to washington and do what you'd do. i'm christine o'donnell and i approve this message. i'm you. >> and she is not a witch. she says the media was assassinating her character. judy? >> i think she has done enough of that herself for her various s. she's the gift that keeps -- various gaffes. she's the gift that keeps giving. you never know what bill maher is go

santorum snib liz, do you want to respond to that? >> i think that this notion that the tea party is too far right is wishful thinking or that the republican party is somehow on the fringe or the extreme of the the american electorate. again i think it's wishful thinking. all you have to do is look at somebody like marco rubio who, one, the... who won the republican primary in florida. when he did, a lot of the pundits said that's great. he won the primary. he clearly won be able to win the general election. he now has double-digit lead over charlie crist in that election. crist was supposed to be the moderate republican who was going to come in and demonstrate that he could capture this supposed mass number of people who are in the center. just not the case. what the tea party stands for is a set of conservative principles which are for limited government, low taxes, really individual rights, and those aren't fringe. i would say those are fundamental american values. i understand why governor dean may be wanting to try to portray thi

. >> reporter: sarah palin is the tea party favorite, and, she is not there today, and rick santorum attended today and ron paul, a favorite with small government conservatives, and got a great reception and told fox he has not ruled out a run for the white house and revved up the party, the tea party supporters today and here's some of what he said: >> this is very important what we believe in and i believe we come together with many, many beliefs we agree with. i am sure there are a few that there might be some disagreements on. but, i believe we can agree on the fact that the government we have in washington, d.c. is too big. [cheers and applause]. >> and you can hardly solve the problem of a government too big by making it bigger! >> reporter: a lot of talk about needing a smaller government, at the meeting in richmond and by the way, rick santorum on the stage a few moments ago, made a big move toward a presidential run on thursday by launching a political action committee in iowa. >> gregg: julie kirtz, interesting, live in washington, thanks and again we are awaiting the resul

allen and rick santorum and lou dobbs. former president clinton is going to help out with joe manchin's senate campaign. national security adviser jim jones is leaving his post. two people close to him tell cnn the retired marine general took the job with the understanding he'd only stay for two years. jones' top deputy, tom donlan, will become national security adviser. the post does not require senate confirmation, but it has a stamp of afrooufl defense secretary robert gates. >> i have thoroughly enjoyed working with general jones, and i have and have had a very productive and very good working relationship with tom donlan, contrary to what you may have read. >> you get the feeling general jones just didn't fit in. maybe he was too tall with all those little advisers scurrying around or something. >> one of the toughest jobs to watch because as national security advisor you're supposed to be essentially the gatekeeper for the president. everybody gives you ideas and ufen they disagree, as we saw in afghanistan, and some

santorum. don, happening tonight in san diego, california, former alaska governor, talking about sarah palin, she's teaming up with joe miller, the republican senate nominee in alaska. they're going to be in san diego at a combat vets for congress fund-raising dinner. this is interesting because palin, she endorsed miller and helped him upset the sitting republican senator in alaska. but there's been a little back and forth between the miller and palin camps lately. but they're teaming up tonight. that's the latest from the cnn political ticker. >> so i will run if the people want me to, that's what i hear sarah palin saying. will she or won't she? >> reporter: she made those comments to newsmax, a conservative news organization. she's made comments like this in the past. yeah, i think she's giving everybody a little bit of an appetizer, a little tease. we don't know if she will make a bid in 2012, but if she does, she's got a lot of devoted followers. >> thank you, paul. for the latest news, g

rick santorum joins us live. outside the state of alaska, the second thing whether it is factually correct? >> there are some points that the lowers for lisa murkowski say are not correct. they say she did not approach the libertarian party. the party said they weren't approached. there was a lot of speculation they would be approached. that may be a factual error. the station has a right to go to the tea party group and say back up, where is this information from? that's number one. the absentee ballot issue, again there's some question as to whether she was trying to manipulate the ballot. they need to back it up. i think everything else, there may be some hyperbole -- >> greta: they sort of covertly threatened the media, her lawyer talked about the license granted by the fcc. >> standard fare. >> greta: in the ad it says she did not earn it and an penned by daddy that is true. what is not in the ad is she later ran for office and was elected. >> that's right. they ed over that. >> greta: glossed over it! i don

rick santorum joins us live. good evening. it seems rather testy up here within the republican party. what is going on in your party? >> well, obviously i can understand why joe miller feels testy. he came in, won a primary and thought he was home free and all of a sudden, the person he advantage wished if the primary decides i'm going to -- i'm going to stick around. that wouldn't make me happy. lisa feels like i wasn't prepared for this. a small percentage of people i've heard her say decided this election and that wasn't fair to me both have a little chip on their shoulder and that's being expressed. >> greta: interesting, outside groups come in often times and contribute. she says an outside group came in and -- miller is mischaracterizing her votes on health care, mcadams joins her on her side. then miller says they are prying too deeply into my personal affairs. trying to find out whether my wife collected unemployment unfairly when i don't like unemployment. it is an incredible mess here. it is hot. >> yeah. i think in

. >> rick santorum, hypothetically, almost all except romney. so you actually have a network that really is promoting a political brand. >> you have people at a network promoting a political brand. or you're saying the entire fox news channel operation? >> well, these are -- these are signature personalities they cycle among the shows all the time. even on something like msnbc, which, let's face it, a network, but you don't have on staff actual presidential candidates appearing around the clock and -- >> but you do have some people who might have run for the senate -- chris matthews considered it, harold ford considered it. schulz was approached. >> right. but i think it's not quite the same as sarah palin and huck. >> you're kind of known, frank rich, as a liberal champion on the times op-ed page. do you ever worry about becoming predictable? >> sure. i think any opinion writer does. that's true in any job in opinion writing, whether you're covering politics or sports or the theater or anything else. and so, i mean, i try to hear the other side

. >>> finally, one interesting item, the former pennsylvania republican senator, rick santorum, opened up a formal pac, a political action committee in iowa, he has visited iowa several times it is fueling speculation that this former senator may be thinking of running for the republican presidential nomination. he has visited iowa several times already. you know, brooke, right after november 2nd there is november 3rd, when the presidential race begins it is only going to be about a year's sprint to iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, michigan and all of those other states. >> anyone who sticks their big toe in iowa, we have questions for them. wolf blitzer, thank you. >>> reminder to you, we will get another quick political update in half an hour and get your latest political ticker news, cnnpolitics.com or twitter at political ticker. >>> here we go top of the hour, want to welcome the men and the women watching us on american forces network all around the world right now. i'm going to hit you fast this hour. see if you can keep up. let's go. >>> a scare at the philadelphia internat

rick santorum, the conservative senator from pennsylvania opened up a pac in iowa and not well known, but he needs to make friends and needs to do it the old-fashioned way and spend money on governor candidates and senate candidates and make friends to help him. they all know who she is, but she came in late, and picked as the vice presidential nominee, and does she have a base of christian conservatives in iowa? yes. and base of tea party supporters? of course, she does, but as far as getting new friends and voters, she can start later than most, but she has to make the decision, and by 2011, you have to be in there. >> and in iowa, spend a lot of time there. >> it is a great place. why not. >> see you at the top of the hour, john. >>> and video dash cam emerging right now that may provide clues of a man that his wife says was killed by pirates. >>> and a new stock sting. to everyone who wants to go to college and everyone who started college but never finished... to late bloomers... full-time moms... and everyone who is good at something but wants to be great. welcome to kaplan univ

santorum, which is a neat trick. he has ties to all wings of the republican party, and he is very well connected. >> one of the reasons this race is so interesting is because it is a case test for the messaging that republicans are trying to put across in these types of districts they think are up for grabs. >> people on the street will come up to me and grab me by the hand and say you have to help me get a job. they are out of work, and they are worried about where am i going to find the next opportunity to get back? >> our things in the past 10 years has been focused on wealth. the stock market went through the roof, and a lot of people made a lot of money. there is nothing wrong with that, but there wasn't enough focus on jobs, and particularly jobs here. >> the 7th congressional district is unique in that it has been a republican stronghold since the civil war. it is like right outside the city of philadelphia, near suburbs. it includes ethnically diverse poor towns and the main lines, and the blue bloods, and th

santorum. he is very well connected. >> one of the reasons that this raises some interesting is because it is a taste test for the messaging that republicans are trying to put across in these types of districts that that think our left. -- you have to help me get a job. they are out of work and they worry about, we're i'm going to find the next opportunity -- where my going to find the next opportunity? >> the stock market went through the roof and a lot of people met a lot of money. but there was not enough focus on the jobs. at particularly jobs here. >> the seventh congressional district is unique in that it has been a republican strong loan -- stronghold since the civil war. delaware county is right outside philadelphia. it includes ethnically diverse old pork times -- old port towns. republicans have an engine the district but it is shrinking. -- at an age in the district but it is shrinking. delaware county which is 70% of the district has been voting for democrats in national and state r