perry, rick perry, governor of texas, hot guy now. michele bachmann just won the first campaign event. the ames straw poll, and, of course, romney, front-runner in all the polls. one of the see there not a tea party person? >> there's a great influence by the tea party. remember, the tea party disaffected republicans, folks outside the party going back to the last days of bush. so now they've come back in with a strong message. the party's adopted that message. everyone wants to say they're one in the same. they are not. remember, these are the same folk whose would take out a republican in a primary assume -- >> i'm not reading it clearly. can romney still claim to be a tea party person? >> i think he can. in his romney-esque way, yeah. >> a position he's taken on in the tea party, he hasn't. >> we went through the neck decklogue, ten commandments they believed in, he signed on to pretty much all of them. >> yes, exactly. of course. >> and tea party, lose his job, anyway, thank you. >>> up next, warren buffett says tax the rich. he's

more insight rick perry. he's good buddies with fellow anti-union governor from wisconsin, scott walker. check this out, back in february perry cut a youtube video supporting radical agenda in attack of work men and women in wisconsin. take a look at how bad a political prognosticator rick perry is. >> you've got 13, 14 senators who instead of reporting the democratic process, they run off and somehow or another think that's going to be a productive. i don't think it is. i think that people -- they look at this like you know like the kid who takes his ball and goes home. i can't win. i can't play. then you know nobody else is going to. that is immature, it's juvenile, and at the end of the day, i'll bet you the folks of wisconsin, they punish those senators rather than heralding them as heroes. >> really? perry cropped out on that bet big time, didn't he? not a single member of the wisconsin 14 team was recalled this summer. still employed by the people and the only senators punished were two republicans. if

all those things are present in rick perry and not as pretty in mitt romney and they give perry a real advantage going into the race. chris: can you see this kind of hard right candidacy cock sure about i know the truth and i know the enemy, that's the president. can that run over the middle of the road over mitt romney? >> my first instinct is to say yeah, i think it can. can he beat romney? maybe. he might be able to. but i think what in the end will save mitt romney is that at the end of the day, republicans are going to have to be thinking about the general election and when i talk to people at the white house and the candidate they are still most worried about is mitt romney. chris: here we are, the tea party seems to be setting the terms. the language is tea party. don't believe in evolution or climate change. all the language will be harmed for romney to speak. >> it's political fizz six. when will the extreme is so far to -- physics. when the extreme is so far to one side it moves the middle as well. what you're going to have -- your analogy i think is not flawed. but the perso

that approximate big black cloud that hangs over america. >> that black cloud perry -- perry makes bush look like a moderate. he thinks that social security and medicare are unconstitutional. he doesn't like the 16th or the 17th amendment, and he suggested texas might want to see seed from the union. radical rock star ted nugent wore a confederate flag t-shirt at his inauguration. perry wants to bury those steers and he wants to bury them by pushing how great texas is. >> i'm proud what we've done in the state of texas over the last decade. over half of the jobs created in america during periods of time in that decade was in the state of texas. 40% of all of the jobs created in america from june of 2009 to the present were created in texas. i know how to create jobs. you let the private sector free them up from overtax nation, free them overregulation and late gags and the government get out of the pay and let the private sector do what the private sector know how to do. that's what we need to be all about. >> perry's right. he knows how to create jobs. really bad jobs. according to the

karl rove takes a shot at perry. is the bush administration trying to undermine a perry candidacy? james rosen has the scoop. later, president obama promises to reveal his jobs plan. but not until after vacation up in martha's vineyard. are americans getting frustrated with the president on this type of issue? coming up. my doctor told me calcium is besabsorbed in small continuous amounts. only one calcium supplement does that in one daily dose. new citracal slow release... continuously releases calcium plus d for the efficient absorption my body needs. citracal. [ male announcer ] this is our beach. ♪ this is our pool. ♪ our fireworks. ♪ and our slip and slide. you have your idea of summer fun, and we have ours. now during the summer event get an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz for an exceptional price. but hurry, this offer ends august 31st. sure, but let get a little information first. for toys, say two. toys ! the system can't process your response at this time. what ? please call back between 8 and 5 central standard time. he's in control. goodbye. even kids know

it is rick perry. >> rick perry has the evangelical support, conservative support. she has experience as a tax lawyer and congresswoman. he has experience for 26 years. >> 26 years in office. >> of course, the downside of that is that he has 26 years of consecutive office. unlike mitt romney, he can't say he has run a real business. and that is a very strong narrative right now, especially this year. >> steve king was pretty offended rick perry announced today. he said why not on friday or sunday. this is iowa. we do know iowa republicans are offended that rick perry stepped on this a little bit. >> there are. and this is the organizational strength that builds the caucus. it is basically 10% of the caucus. >> and a big fund-raiser for the party. >> that said, when you talk to others in the party, i think that if rick perry builds momentum and looks like a real serious candidate against barack obama, they will forgive very quickly. >> rick perry now says he'll make iowa -- he is putting equal focus on the early stage. pressure on mitt romney to play in iowa now? >>

, rick perry? >> oh, you bet. hey, we're from west texas. absolute. >> those cowboy boots actually go into stirrups, occasionally. unlike the first w. who was scared to death of horses as we know. this is really for both of you guys. wayne, you can start. rick perry would seem to have some real deficits when it comes to policy ideas. he wants to do away with social security. thinks it's unconstitutional. apparently wants to do away with the federal income tax. which provides 80% of federal income. how is this a winning platform for a presidential candidate from any party? >> you know, it's interesting. you pointed out his book. when that book came out less than a year ago, perry said, this is evidence that i am not going to run for president because anybody who wanted to run for president wouldn't be saying social security is a ponzi scheme. we ought to change medicare. medicaid is bad. the voting rights act has questions about it. the fed is a problem and we ought to get rid of the income tax and

perry? >> that will happen. no. [laughter] the reality... >> jon: answer this question as you would have when you were still rnc chair. i just want to hear the difference. just for a little bit, the difference. [applause] >> as rnc chairman i would have said, yeah, in someone else's lifetime. >> jon: okay. >> i mean, that's the truth of the matter. everyone knows and the history is welcome toed of the stress and strain between the bush-rove camp and the perry camp, even though bush encouraged then- democrat perry to switch parties. but it was matter of once he did, that once he got into camp, he's like, i got my own thing, i'm doing my own thing. that's true with a lot of these folks. and i think the reality is the party is changing and it's been changing going back not to the last two years or so, back to 2005, 2004 it's been changing. >> jon: back to the 1850s. >> back to the 1850s. >> jon: moves in a very different direction. >> very different party. then it was more about individuals. today it's more about insti

going right at perry's weak spot. for all his attributes, governor perry's already shown us the path towards taking him on. >> susan page, i'm hearing plenty of nervousness about perry, and yesterday we heard karl rove kind of voice, not necessarily nervousness about perry, they're not close, but nerveness about the direction of the republican primary. here's what he had to say. >> you don't want these moving so right it becomes impossible to win the general election because it will become a self-defeating message in the primary. they don't want to you go so far extremes of either party they lack a chance to carry off a victory in november. >> susan page, this is the concern. you hear this quietly among republicans thinking, while i'm not nuts about mitt romney, rick perry isn't necessarily the answer either. >> you know, when you think about karl rove, you have to remember between rick perry and george w. bush and consider rove's comments in that context. of course, it's a problem when all the candidates raise their

we'll show you what rove said about perry in a minute, but first, here's what perry said at a meet and greet session with voters in cedar rapids, iowa, last night when he was asked about the federal reserve. >> oh, the federal reserve, i'll take a pass on the federal reserve right at the moment to be real honest with you. i know there's a lot of talk and what have you about them. if this guy prints more money, between now and -- i don't know what you'd do to them in iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in texas. i mean, printing more money to play politics at this particular time in american history is almost treasonist in my opinion, because all it's going to be doing, all it's going to be doing. we already tried this. all it's going to be doing is devaluing the dollar in your pocket. >> all right. well, there are a lot of ways to unpack that. the first is that this is a built of ideological signaling in the farthest reaches of the right wing of the republican party, those who want us to return to the 19th century and gold standard. secondly, an interesting glimpse of what ki

. >> rick perry removes all doubt. perry's in. >> one of our darkest hours. >> sarah palin rushes to iowa. >> never fear, america, sarah palin has come. >> predictably sarah palin is back. >>tops of cameras and sarah palin showing up. that's so strange. >> heart land fights. >> tired of the inaviativasion privacy. >> this guy is nuts. i can call this napkin a paper towel, but it is a napkin. >> barack obama a one-term president. >> you got to love retail politics. >> the president blames congress. >> the only thing keeping us back is our politics. >> rooting for the president. >> what can the president do? >> extend the payroll tax cut. call people back early. >> people of the united states of america, your congress is bought. >>> good evening from new york. the top eight declared republican presidential candidates are in debate for saturday's ames straw poll. but texas governor rick perry is now doing all he can to divert attention from iowa. he allowed his spokesperson today to tell the associated press that perry wi

they had rick santorum and rick perry speak. they got there early and worked the crowds aggressively. ms. bachmann stayed away. she had a family reunion yesterday that and you some amount of her time. before her remarks she parked her bus down the road and waited and waited and waited. when she arrived, as always, she blasted the music and went in and made her speech, her speech was fairly typical for her and well-received. afterwards, unlike rick perry, she didn't take questions from the crowd. she did sign some autographs and shake some hands but then rather than interacting with iowa caucus goers and the republicans insistent on attention from the candidates she left the building and came out and held a press conference with the national media in front of her bus. afterwards there was a lot of con expressed by the organize organizers to me and other reporters it wasn't hard to hear them overtalking themselves these iowans that michele bachmann was effectively the host. her hometown. she didn't welcome rick perry into the race

perry. can carl robe bring governor perry down? >> he's going it try. he's not on the team. and he thinks perry's gone too far to the right. but you know, they -- >> wait a minute, karl rove thinks rick perry has gone too far to the right? >> yeah, yeah. because if you say the things rick perry is saying he is saying in the primary process and you get too far right, it is difficult for the main stream to embrace you. that's what karl is suggesting. but it is more than that. their love affair ended in the early 90s when there was an opening in the u.s. senate seat. >> oh, so this is person. what happened? >> rick wanted the senate seat and perry gave it to kay bailey hutchison. rick was in a tough race against john sharp and rick wanted to go negative but karl wouldn't let him because he wanted to run up the numbers to make bush look presidential. then what happened, the last thing that happened, is karl ran kay bailey hutchison's race against perry to unseat him in the primary. there is no love who there. karl likes to play under the big feel. if rick succeeds, karl is left

i have known rick perry for 25 years. i actually took rick perry's filing when i ran the tech as democratic part and he filed as a democrat for state reb from an lean, i took his filing. so i have known the guy and watched him over the last 25 years. this is a very, very, very talented politician. and very-- he's got a keen sense of what touches voters and message discipline. he at this point in my view is even better than george w. bush was at this point in entering the presidential race. he's got a much better sense of himself. he's got a much better discipline in how he campaigns and a much better actually message walking into this race, anti-washington, more states' rights, much more passionate obama than the other governors than had surfaced in this race. so i think mark's totally right on this. there are many expectations this guy. the proems that, some of the prlems that he has, he has a tendency to have a little bit of a thin skin that i've watched and noticed. if he is pressed too hard ere is too much of a pressu

perry is all about. although they're getting a lot of help with the way this guy's talking as of late. perry has not done a very good job in texas. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will rick perry be the gop presidential nominee in 2012? text a for yes b for no. you can go to our blog at msnbc.com. i'll bring you results later on in the show. >>> joining me now is jim moore, author of the upcoming book, adios. why rick perry will make america miss george w. bush. he's also a contribute iror to huffington post. i think our audience and the country may be intrigued about the bad blood between rove and rick perry. how bad a blood is it? and if perry does get the nomination, what would that do to rove's position? your thoughts. >> i think ed right now, what carl's trying to do is to destroy rick perry. he knows that if rick perry is the nominee, he's not going to be playing on the big football field. he's firing shots at him from the sidelines, hoping to derail him

we want you to vote for rick perry too. but not their rick perry, our rick perry. (laughter) on august 13th write in rick perry. that is perry with an a for america, with an a for iowa. -- (laughter) >> stephen: that's right. (cheers and applause) i'll join you. i'll join you. folks, i want everyone in the iowa nation to go to the ames straw poll, this saturday, going to be a beautiful day. there's food. there's booze and write in rick perry with an a. why a? because there's no "e" in team. and this evening-- (laughter) and this evening at 1700 hours we struck again with our second ad in the greater des moines metropolitan area. jimmy? >> iowa, a land of good people who can make up their own minds. but outside groups like jobs for iowa superpac are trying to panned err to iowans with pro perry ads feet oouring -- corn october fee that will-- just so you will vote for rick perry at the ames straw poll. but americans for a better tomorrow tomorrow believe that iowans deserve better. and we're going to give it to you. >> oh yeah. on august 13th, write in rick perry. t

out of texas about rick perry. please stay tuned. ♪ yes! ha ha! [ clicking ] ♪ what happened? power went out, want a hot dog? [ female announcer ] oscar mayer selects are made with 100% beef and have no artificial preservatives. oh, just booked a summer vaycay. ooo. sounds pricey? nah, with the hotels.com summer sale, you can find awesome deals for places nearby. interesting... wow, i'm blown away. you look great. hotels.com summer sale, save up to 30%. and get a free kindle. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. >>> the most interesting thing in presidential politics right now is governor rick perry of texas. the first presidential nominating process, is, of course, the iowa caucuses, they are set for february this time around, and the iowa caucuses are designed to capitalize, literally to capitalize -- iowa politics in order to capitalize to make money off the candidate's early attention to iowa, also hold the ames, iowa, straw poll. they encourage candidates to spend a ton of money to win, to give the kacandidat

leading off tonight, perry's in. hours before eight republicans gather for tonight's debate in iowa we got the word. nbc news confirmed rick perry of texas, the texas governor will formally announce his intention to run for president this saturday. that's, of course, the same day as the iowa straw poll and a perfect way to for perry to upstage the event and other candidates. sarah palin, too, is in iowa and she and perry are getting lots of buzz. could that be because republicans are simply unhappy with tonight's debate lineup? the big question, it's not winning the debate, when will the party emerge as dominant? traditional, whose turn is it? guys like romney and pawlenty or the tea party will triumph? the bachmann ring, surrender or treason? a bad showing tonight could spell the end of a couple of the candidacies. also, put together an unpopular dead deal, 30 american deaths in afghanistan, a terrible run on wall street and declining poll number, and what do you get? a bunch of democrats getting very nervous about

we want you to vote for rick perry, too, but not their rick perry. our rick perry. that's perry with an a, or america. with an a for iowa. >> i wonder if some know colbert is kidding with all this? >>> anyway, was wall street teetering? stuck below 50% democrats getting nervous about president obama's re-election chances. what should the president do right now to calm the jitters? >>> you're watching "hardball," thworld's best yogurts for activia selects in paris we discovered the inspiration for a totally new yogurt. activia selects french so silky and smooth with lots of juicy fruit. then our search took us to beautiful greece and this thick and creamy greek yogurt, so rich and full of flavor. it was a grueling trip! try new activia french and greek yogurt. a world of great new tastes. yeah. well we're the two active ingredients in zegerid otc. i'm omeprazole. and i'm sodium bicarbonate. just one pill a day ... gives you 24-hour relief. & one mission. two ingredients heartburn solved. >>> i'm saijal patel with your mountain. >> announcer: wrap-up. the dow jones in

harris perry. shameless plug to my latest book, "sister citizen" and a big hello to rachel maddow, whose show is up next. >> happy birthday to who, your niece and your mother-in-law? >> that's right. >> happy birthday from "the rachel maddow show" as well. and thank you to you at home for staying with us for the next hour as well. >>> in the last election, the 2010 election, the democratic party faced the prospect of seeing their leader in the senate going down to defeat. the top democrat in the u.s. senate, majority leader harry reid, faced an uphill climb to get re-elected, and that's putting it mildly. in addition to fighting through a bad state economy, harry reid also just faced a home state electorate in nevada that wanted him out. most of the polls out of nevada looked horrible for senator reid. nevada was just looking for somebody else to represent them. and all of the republican party nevada had o was pick somebody, and that republican was likely to win. everybody assumed that the person t

a lot of time with rick perry over the next couple of months. >> we know rick perry is michele bachmann's new challenger, but what do we know about rick perry? >> people are trying to figure out who exactly is rick perry. >> people are disconcerted about the religiousness of his campaign. >> he told me he had no interest in running for president. >> his big idea is almost everything the federal government does is unconstitutional. what he said was social security is a ponzi scheme. >> he's got to go out there and beat somebody in iowa. >> rick perry mitt romney's worst nightmare? >> i hope i'm not anybody's worst nightmare. >> mitt romney is campaigning in new hampshire. >> go up to new hampshire and knock off mitt romney. >> might as well with legos. >> i'm a real person. >> for bachmann it's all about iowa, iowa, iowa. >> here in waterloo, waterloo, waterloo. >> they have good hair. >> he's an attractive candidate. >> last word favorite tim pawlenty is out, lawrence o'donnell responds. >> the official position of this show is tim pawlenty will be the nominee. >> pawlenty's out. >> i'm f

try not to engage perry, try not to engage and make this story between barack obama and rick perry. what perry did was absolutely the right thing to do politically. make this a race already in the minds of the republican voters between obama and perry and that perry is the kind of guy who has the fire and the grit to take on the president. >> from what i've heard over the year, there's no great love between the george w. bush camp and rick perry's camp, is that right? >> that's absolutely right. >> that's right. look, this went back, it's gone back for years. there's a series of tensions and slights. but what it really is is this. for the george bush people and karl rove ran politics in austin texas, it's been rick perry and his people. who actually is the king of the mountain. it's the ball ton gang and the james gang. the james gang is running things for a while. it's really not been enough, i guess, the town of austin has not been big enough for both of them. >> only sof those bush types are suggesting other candidates like mitch daniels or paul ryan or chris christie. say what y

know about rick perry? >> he really believes in this stuff. >> unstoppable chuck norris-like figure. >> rick perry runs to the right and right away from the facts. >> governor perry is really big on miracles. >> rick perry does things rick perry's way. >> debunked the texas myth about job creation. >> not the high-paying jobs. >> jobs that got moved from one state to another. >> the tea party and the texasen. >> i don't think people in the tea party are going to be going for mitt romney. >> i welcome governor perry. >> rick perry also managed to offend carl rove. >> you know when you know you've gone too far? >> i got in trouble not talking about the federal reserve yesterday. >> you don't accuse the chairman of the federal reserve of being a traitor. >> cowboy from texas. >> we don't charge people with treason because we disagree with this. >> president obama kind of sort of should figure out if he loves america. >> i'll cut him some slack. >> you want a president in love with america. >> and michele bachm

also, perry's being perry. in the past 24 hours rick perry has said president b sbt biggest threat to the country. that the federal reserves policy is "almost treasonist" orç treasonist in my opinion, and also suggested fed chairman ben bernanke would get ugly treatment down in texas. this is why they love him on the right and why the white house might love to run against him. the case tonight against perry. >>> plus, when even karl rove worries that the republican party has gone too far, too far right, you know it's gone too far right. he's longing, he is, for someone to jump in and save the gop from itself. any chance? there's word today paul ryan and chris christie may yet reconsider running. that's the "hardball" strategist tonight. >>> plus, maybe the best story of the day. tea tax. two u.s. congressmen, believe it or not including paul ryan decided if their constituents want to ask them questions, they should pay for the privilege. that's one way for a brave tea party type to avoid tough questions. let'

perry and a texas think tank are pushing a plan spearheaded by a perry donor to overhaul the university system in a way that at least one dean warns will drive top students and faculty away. now, all of the members of the system's regents board are perry appointees, and among them, one of his top campaign donors, james dannenbaum. his engineering company has been awarded multiple state contracts, and he happens to be one of perry's biggest contributors, donating more than $320,000 to perry. and he certainly is not alone. with me now is mattia gold and a co-author of a revealing new piece on rick perry's biggest campaign donors. thank you for joining me tonight. >> thank you, melissa. >> your reporting found that of the $102 million of donations raised, $37 million were from the same donors, and almost half received tax breaks or were appointed to boards. who stuck out to you as the donors who enjoyed the best karma after sending checks to perry? >> to begin with, i think we were just struck by the enormous amount of money that perry raised, as you pointed out, from such a small cadre of

rick perry's biggest problem in getting the republican nomination is rick perry. they will play perry for goldwater. it's rick perry's race to lose. go take a cold shower. i say once a week as a matter of principles in terms of politics. is this true? talking about rick perry, mitt romney seems like the lost guy here for a minute. is this still his race to lose? >> out there saying, hey, guys. i'm here. i can hear you. you're talking about me. >> i'm right here. >> exactly. there are some people who -- but romney has run before. i think because of that there are a lot of skeptics about some of the things he did last time. trying very hard not to replay the same mistakes. yeah, it is mitt romney's race to lose. >> rick perry is clearly coming up on the rail. >> he's going right after romney. he isn't beating around the bush at all. >> if rick perry was running ghent a mitt romney of 2008, this would be rick perry's race. amazing, how disciplined mitt romney has been so far. >> yes. >> focus, he stays on. doesn't leave message and is better on the stump than last ti

>> perry, perry's conservative enough to win. his i think biggest challenge is going to be not only authenticity but it's going to be is he an echo of the last election. george bush, texas, same kind you have ideology. same texas boots and we lost. is he a sequel to the movie that nobody went to see last time? he's got to distinguish himself from that. >> ron paul was second. does he stand a chance? he's very popular here. you can't walk an inch without seeing a butcher sticker, a button, something, a t-shirt, a tattoo of him. but does he stand a chance? >> and sometimes the most intense campaigns are the least successful. george mcgovern, barry goldwater. he doesn't travel. he doesn't appeal to anything beyond a very narrow base. but it's funny. he's become almost an elder statesman. a lot of things he said about the economy and sound money, now everybody's saying. >> saying the same thing. so as we go before beat go to break here, that's your final advice for everyone? i'm going to let you put a stamp on it, if you will. >> the

he has to take on perry. at the same time his strength is his electability and when you look at president obama's poll numbers falling high 30's, federal reserve saying we're going to keep easing money going for a while and unemployment is probably going to be around where it is 15 months from now on election day. wow, maybe electability is the not enough to go with romney. >> paul: anyone who gets it is going to get the nomination. is it going to come down if the field is it is, bacmitan and perry, who is the main challenger to romney. >> i think you could get another challenger. >> paul: let's say-- >> assuming no one else gets in, i think that's basically your contest, for the but onservative, your basic republican primary voter is not comfortable with romney so that's the opener here. >> why is he the front runner? >> because he's got the name and he's been there, he's put a lot of money into it, he's got a lot of endorsements and better than anyone, he's gone around the country and built relationships wi

it looks like there's no love lost already between mitt romney and rick perry. >> the optics, rick perry did not look too rattled. as we say in texas, this ain't his first rodeo. but when you compare the jobs records, you're really comparing terrible to awful. mitt romney was 47th out of 50 states. rick perry took over, unemployment was 4.2% in texas. it's 8.2% now. huge percentage of the jobs created have been minimum wage jobs with no benefits. he leads america in the percentage of people uninsured, percentage of children uninsured. i hope they fight it out between terrible and awful. >> half the jobs of the whole country? >> there's been a huge increase in the price of oil, which always drives employment in texas. bad for the rest of america, but very good for my beloved home state. and it's had a huge increase in population, which is also for good thing for texas. but when economists take a look at it, they say these aren't jobs you raise a family on. that's going to be the future of jobs, not low-wage no benefit jobs you can't raise a family on. i think democrats have a very strong

>> stephen: tonight, rick perry becomes the republican front-runner. of course they're letting him run in front-- he's the one with the gun. [laughter] then, did adam and eve really exist? or have i been leaving out a plate of cookies every arbor day for nothing? [laughter] and my guest tonight is actor jeff bridges, performing music from his new album. it's all the songs they cut from "tron." [laughter] 152 people set the world record for biggest group shower. afterwards, they set another record for the longest awkward silence. [laughter] this is "the colbert report." [ captioning sponsored by comedy central "the colbert report" theme music playing] [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] thank you very much. [cheers and applause] welcome to the report. good to have you with us. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting stephen] [cheers and applause] thank you very much. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] thank you so much. i'eç gj t to say hi to everybodyphere, d all my cousins by the dozens. [laughter] nation, texas gover

. >> and perry's rebuttal? >> give him my love. >> and claim to have the job creation bragging rights. >> 40% of all the jobs created in america from june of 2009 until the present were created in texas. i know how to create jobs. >> a packed hour ahead, including putting that claim from governor perry to the truth test and showing you how the early 2012 map is so different from 2008. here to get us started are jessica yellin. and from austin texas tonight, mr. herman. to you first, my friend. governor perry is in the race. president obama is in the midwest. they're in the same state of iowa. suddenly today we have a campaign of contrast? >> yes. it took a while for him to say it officially. you saw it officially saturday in south carolina. now it has that full time campaign feel to it. >> when you see the president. he is in minnesota, then the bus rolls into iowa. then it's going to go into rural illinois. these are places that he carried easily last time. these are states that if you look back at the 2008 ma

out of texas about rick perry. please stay tuned >>> the most interesting thing in presidential politics right now is governor rick perry of texas. the first presidential nominating process, is, of course, the iowa caucuses, they are set for february this time around, and the iowa caucuses are designed to capitalize, literally to capitalize -- iowa politics in order to capitalize to make money off the candidate's early attention to iowa, also hold the ames, iowa, straw poll. they encourage candidates to spend a ton of money to win, to give the kand candidates momentum. it's a racket, frankly, particularly the straw poll, but even the whole idea of iowa's influence and whether or not their caucus is all that important. it's not that important most years, just ask president huckabee who won last time around or president romney, who won the straw poll last time around. in republican politics, iowa doesn't matter that much anymore, but the beltway thinks it does, so the beltway is all excited about the straw poll this

perry takes care of that. there are things to criticize about perry. liberals criticize him with an incredible passion and anger that george bush inspired and perry does, too. >> it helps him in the republican primary. there's nothing that lays a finger on him in the eyes of republican primary voters. so, this animosity and this belief that the size, the cost and the roll of the federal government is out of whack, you know, transcends things as a governor he may have accepted. >> reverend sharpton? >> i think she's right, the primary's don't hurt him. he would energize the democratic base and a lot of independents like no other candidate. he openly supported, at one point, succeeding from the union, preaching state's rights. it not only bothers those in civil rights but immigration rights and gay rights should not be decide id state-by-state. you couldn't have had a better candidate to energize the base than rick perry. i hope he does win the primaries and i hope he is there as the candidate. >> how would he be for liberal radio talk show host? >> we w

what do they see in this guy perry who to most of us is just a word, rick perry. >> i metric perry, i've seen him in action, he's great for texas. i don't know if he's going to play nationally. fist of all, we had george bush. most people still blame george bush for the economy, not barack obama. number two, rick perry hasn't answered questions nationally and is going to try to run away from the national press corps, i don't know if he can do it. there are questions about his record people haven't explored. some people, especially the bush people, think that rick perry is shallow. they say he's only in for the sound bites. you know, when proponents of george bush -- chris: when supporters of george w. bush accuse perry of being shallow, we've hit the mother load. >> i think democrats and the cast of "saturday night live" want to see perry as the nominee. chris: and a lot of focus on that guy. six months from now, david you pick this up here, who is going to be the hot hand in the republican fight? who will be the big name out of iowa? >> the big noise officially will be rick perry and th

governor, rick perry. who has had the courage today to call this time of fasting and prayer just as abraham lincoln did -- [ speaking in a foreign language ] -- in the darkest days of the civil war. >> hagee was not inspired to repeat his previous statements about hitler following god's wishes by killing jews or that catholicism is "a godless theology of hate." hagee explained why he likes to hang with a fake preacher like hagee. politico reports governor perry plans to admit he's running for perry at his speech in charleston, south carolina, this saturday, the same day america's political attention was supposed to be focussed on the ames straw poll in iowa. joining me now is howard fineman, editorial director for "the huffington post" and senior political analyst. is he running? >> i think so. >> is this official breaking news from howard fineman? >> no, this is howard fineman talking into a very plugged in senior republican. >> not the engines running, plane set to go to new hampshire and he decide he's

rick perry, rick perry, rick perry. this is perhaps the larger role of rick perry in our national politics today, to make stuff obvious. and maybe that is a metaphor for his broader role in the campaign. but is rick perry's being this blatant about this any different legally than anybody else going around and nudging and winking about their money laundering? mike isikoff is now joining us. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, rachel. >> you probably do not see this as money laundering. but in what ways is it not money laundering? >> one person's money laundering is another's free speech. and it happens in this case the other people who saw it that way was the supreme court, so that's the law. the problem is, you know, what you've really laid out pretty well is just how far back we've come from where we were nine years ago, 2002. mccain/feingold, which was the result of years of pushing and underscoring the role of special interest and big money in american politics. and let's not forget, it was the champion cause of

and i think, perry bacon, i saw you in south caroline why at the rick perry announcement. you can back this up or disagree as you winner. those of us who have seen perry in person knows that he is dead on. he is a veteran campaigner. extremely accomplished. works a room like nobody else. frankly, given that his reelection was last year, that campaign never stopped in many different ways. some of his team went to newt's team and came back but it is a well-honed machine on the rick perry side. >> josh, what about contrasting that to mitt romney? you have covered both. >> sure. >> are you saying mitt romney doesn't know how to work the room and that he doesn't like your fire? and that he's in real trouble here? >> i got to tell you, there are intangibles in politics as well, you know. but when it comes down to the, and i'm weary of using this word, but authenticity test, perry has it more than rom nooe and i think he wins that night. >> there you got it, bob, josh just gave meed a line. josh calls mitt romney, inauthentic. i think that probably nothing better could happen to

perry is not a uniter. he still does have a lot of momentum right no tow make things more interesting. andrea? >> kristen welker, thank you. >>> in new hampshire and iowa, two of our favorite states. that does it for us with at an dry yeah mitchell reports." more results coming up with chicago chotd. watch us every day at 1:00 p.m. send me your thought thoughts @mitchellreports. we are awaiting the critical results from the ames, iowa, straw poll. build a new app for the sales team in beijing. and convince the c.e.o. his email will find him... wherever he is. i need to see my family while they're still awake. [ male announcer ] with global services from dell, jim can address his company's i.t. needs through custom built applications, cloud solutions and ongoing support in over 100 countries. so his company sees results. and jim sees his family. dell. the power to do more. and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas