so then why is rick perry suing the state of virginia now. you see rick perry just like newt gingrich didn't get enough eligible signatures to have his name put on the ballot in virginia for the republican primary he needed ten thousand and actually got more than that but thanks to laws in virginia designed to kick voters off the rolls many of those signatures were declared invalid because the addresses didn't exactly match the addresses listed in the state's voter registration database so now rick perry suddenly has a problem with these restrictive voter id laws as perry's own communications director said regarding the lawsuit we believe that the virginia provisions unconstitutional they restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot and we hope to have these provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support you see rick perry is today's pastor name who watched thousands and thousands of people in germany be taken a

perry himself and rick perry superpacs. he's up on the air as strong as anyone. you can see a lot of things about retail politics in iowa, having money on the air, ads both positive and negative on the air, doing your work for you, is really important, especially in these closing days. and i think that is -- he's not gaining a lot of ground but he's also not falling and that's pretty important to the prospect that he might be able, i'm not sure he can consolidate the evangelical vote, which rick santorum has a chance to do. but he could keep rick santorum from consolidating the evangelical vote and that in the end is good for the top tier candidates like romney and ron paul, who would like to win this thing outright. >> let's talk about ron paul for a little bit. because john you suggested that he was slipping a little bit. 41% are saying that ron paul would be unacceptable as a republican presidential nominee. but there's a great story in "the new york times" today which talks about ron paul's support among active and reti

perry has participated in this far so it turns out that in the five presidential debates that rick perry participated in he's used the word texas eighty three times and that is more than four times than any other candidate has referred to their own state i mean is that is that a forgivable offense when it comes to the other candidates or is that just treasonous. so it's almost treasonous extrapolating way too broadly from the one cab driver i spoke to in iowa the last time i was there i would say that i would voters care tremendously about how many times people mention their states they're looking for at least thirty forty references of debate so rick perry is clearly well ahead in this particular metric here and i think that's going to pay major dividends in the caucuses now do this i'm not sure maybe you guys caught this did this study show how how often he mentioned iowa because that same cabdriver told me that he prefers iowa to be mentioned twice to every once for texas well i mean i think one of the things we constantly forget about the political system right when we decide that i

>> the appeal of rick perry? >> yeah. >> he seems to be a decent guy to the evangelicals, a decent guy with his heart in the right place, even if he doesn't have -- >> upstairs. >> the rest of it. >> okay. >> he's the nation's senior governor of a big state. >> texas. >> okay. thank you, howard fineman, just kidding. a lot of smart people in texas, i was going to say liberals but that would be pushing. thank you, susan page. how much these have you covered? >> my ninth caucuses. >> we are brigadoon characters, aren't we? we come out here every four years. coming up, why don't evangelical voters get in line behind one candidate? i don't know why we're encouraging this. if they get behind santorum rather than splitting their vote among perry, bachmann and gingrich and the rest of them, they won't have clout out here. we're teaching evangelicals how to have more political clout. we're out here at java joe's. i caught up with romney voters today. watch. how do you see the vote on tuesday in the caucuses? >> i don't n

of note in the rick perry campaign right now is a new rick perry stump speech. "the des moines register" reporting today the perry campaign revamped his stump speech in what they're billing as his closing argument to iowa voters. the new vamped speech "the register" observed, quote, ends with a religious flourish, from the biblical book of isaiah. this would be said religious pick perry flourish. >> when the lord asked the prophet isaiah, he said whom should i send and who will go for us? isaiah said, fear not, send me. this is your country. taking her back is your call. join me in this mission. echo the words of isaiah. here am i. send me. >> rick perry now very focused obviously on closing the deal ç with religious conservatives in iowa. another sign i think of rick perry banking hard for the evangelical social conservative vote, his announcement at a campaign event in iowa last night sort of striking announcement he's changed his mind on abortion. he said, seeing mike huckabee's dvd about abortion has caused him to change his stance on the issue. even thoug

rick sanatorium and michigan and rick perry. iowa is an expectations game. they are not expected to do well. if they are able to surprise the people that will be the story. if he doesn't win that is negative. it is heading in the vote and managing expectations . what does it take to make the grade. >> new hampshire is an open primary and independents will be a significant part of the voting block. mitt romney's lead has shunk. and his support seems to be soft . including john hunts man who placed all of his eggs in the basket. there is a lot of rumblings under the radar and having another person come in from the outside to step up the race and jeb bush and those who are sitting it out and saying they are not interested. what do you make of the talk at this point. and the fact that republicans are saying some are saying we want to think about person who is not they could throw their hands in the ring and how they are allocating it. they will not more of those deadline coming up quickly . the second scenario that is a long shot is talked about recently is brok

everybody's been sort of waiting for the big rick perry comeback. this morning there appeared to be some maybe glimmer that it was finally upon us. the underappreciated thing abou rick perry's candidacy, he has more money than you'd think looking at his polls. he has lots of money. on paper, rick perry was supposed to be competitive. he looked like a good candidate. again, on paper. so he did raise a lot of money right away. it was only when he started talking that things fell apart. can we actually just keep this -- can we keep this around as a little sound bite? >> oops. >> oops. because rick perry's candidacy turned out to be an oops candidacy, his poll numbers have just fallen off a cliff. he became very unviable very quickly. i mean, look the a this poll numbers over time. since mr. perry's campaign has money, they have not been giving up. the perry campaign appears to be pursuing a strategy of doing paid media and lots of it. paying for tv ads to blanket the airwaves in iowa leading up to the iowa caucuses. do some good ads, do some bad ads. h

i'm rick perry. what's that line again? i'm rick perry and i approve of this message. >> i like it. it's a good strategy. if you are not convinced he can poke fun at his own gaffe, there's the late-night comedians that can help him out. let's watch him on "the tonight show." >> thanks for coming you provided us with a lot of material. i appreciate you being here. >> it's what i do. >> what happened with the brain freeze. you had three things to remember. >> you know, one, two, and -- >> every now and then, i call my dogs by the wrong name. >> what happened in new hampshire. >> those of you who will be 21 by november 12 -- i was thinking drinking age maybe. >> that makes sense. you have to have an excuse, right? that's mine. i'm sticking to it. >> if that doesn't work, he can give it a go michele bachman style. remember how she confronted it a couple weeks ago? >> i haven't had a gaffe or something i have done to cause me to fall in the polls. >> there it is. the poll numbers speak for themselves, neither stranlg gi is working. vacation veto. president obama went with bill clinton fo

this night started with sketchy rumors of a rick perry resurgence, rumors rick perry ought to be taken seriously once again as a republican presidential candidate. rick perry the iowa x-factor was the headline today in the "washington post." the "post" reporting, quote, there's some chatter in republican political circles that perry's ads are finally starting to take hold in the hawk eye state and that his support is beginning to bump upward. "roll call's" political wire asking this morning, quote, is perry moving up in iowa? before themselves noting the sketchy nature of the reports on which their question was based. quote, no polling has picked up on that movement yet. everybody's been sort of waiting for the big rick perry comeback. this morning there appeared to be some maybe glimmer that it was finally upon us. the underappreciated thing about pi rick perry's candidacy, he has more money than you'd think looking at his polls. he has lots of money. on paper, rick perry was supposed to be competitive. he looked like a good candidate. again, on paper. so he did raise a lot of money r

>> the appeal of rick perry? that he seems to be a decent guy, to the evangelicals, he seems to be a decent guy with his heart in the right place, even if he doesn't have -- >> upstairs. >> the rest of it. >> he's a nation senior governor of a big state. >> but texas. just kidding! i was going to say liberals, but that would be pushing it. anyway, thank you susan. you know these -- how many of these have you covered? >> this is my ninth caucuses. >> we are brigadoon characters, aren't? >>> coming up, why don't evangelical voters get in line behind one candidate? i don't know why we're encouraging this, but if they get behind santorum instead of splitting their vote between perri, bachmann, gingrich and the rest of them, they won't have any clout. we're teaching evangelicals tonight how to have more political clout. we'll be back from java joe's in des moines. this is from that romney rally today. let's watch. >> tell me about your vote and how you see your vote next day in the caucuses. >> i feel like i don't nee

lots of questions tomorrow for rick perry and newt gingrich. if you want to weigh in or have a suggested question, send me a tweet at wolf blitzer at cnn. maybe i'll read one of your questions to those two candidates. beginning 4:00 p.m. eastern right here in the "the situation room." >>> president obama previewed his campaign themes in a major speech in kansas. he traveled to the same town where teddy roosevelt delivered a landmark speech of his presidency a century ago calling for greater economic equality. the president echoed those themes today calling on americans to unite to restore opportunity for everyone. >> this is the defining issue of our time. this is a make or break moment for the middle class and for all of those fighting to get into the middle class. because what's at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home and secure their retirement. now in the midst of this debate, there are some who seem to be suffering from a kind of collective amnesi

last night, you saw in the debate with that clip you played of rick perry, rick perry is really trying to capitalize on his connection to even gelcles. he practices a style of christianity himself and i went to church this morning here in iowa and saw rick perry there and trying to connect and kind of giving a confessional about his faith and it really hasn't worked yet. he hasn't broken through to even gelcles one of the reasons that is the case newt gingrich has and he seems to have a lot of those voters, even gelcle voters in iowa on his side which is surprising, but part of it is because he's apologized and apologized a lot, you know, in the last four or five years and continues to do so. >> how does this catholicism resonate, whether it be among evangelicals or anyone else who is trying to uphold some sort of standard of religion as it relates to a candidate for presidency? >> it's kind of ironic. you think someone like gingrich, himself an evangelical for 25 years, he converts to catholicism in 2009. his wife is a catholic and brought him into the church. you would think this mig

] rick uh -- perry. that's it. sorry -- rick -- i'm rick perry, and i'll be honest with you, that last debate, well -- it was a tough one. i thought i had a good point there about shutting down those three agencies, you know, the commerce, education, and the uh -- what's the third one there? [ light laughter ] that's right. commerce, education and the -- well, it's the one i forgot. [ light laughter ] see, i had it on a note card, but the letters went all squirrelly on me. they were written in -- uh -- [ light laughter ] whew! what's that language they got over there in china? [ laughter ] it's like a bunch of little pictures? well, whatever the language is, that's what the words on the note card looked like. i couldn't read them. oops! [ laughter ] but look, what happened at that last debate doesn't change the fact that i still want to be your -- uh -- you know, your guy in the white house. [ light laughter ] i want to be that guy. [ light laughter ] and just because i couldn't remember the name of some

his fight seems to be at this point with rick perry. when i asked him about "what about these earmark that is rick perry keeps bringing up that you supported when you were a senator in washington?" . and rick santorum said, wait a minute, rick perry has sent lobbyists up to washington to lobby on behalf of the state of texas. this is kind of a race for third place right now with rick santorum and rick perry, kind of the battle of the ricks. three tickets out of iowa, if rick santorum has one of those ticks, it's going to be very interesting to watch to see how he does in the coming weeks. >> it will because lots of times, i think when we look at these candidates and we think, you get a ticket out of iowa, but you have to have the money to back it up. and i think that's where the santorum campaign, if they believe they're going to get one of those three tickets, must be looking now saying, this is great, but moving ahead, certainly in a state like south carolina, certainly in florida, you've got to have some money to put down so that you

>> just look rick perry in the eye and say, "hey, rick, you know what i'm going to do to you? i'm going to buy up all the land around your family's house and then build factories that leak ether into your water supply. sure, the epa will fight it, rick, but i'll hire so many lawyers that they'll be forced to give up the case or go bankrupt. and then i'll walk into your poisoned house in front of your choking family who can't get up to help us because their genes are now mutating, their legs can't support their weight and i will strangle you to death. why will i do this? because i'm rich, rick. and this is the kind of (beep) that rich people can do." ( applause ) >> jon: embrace it? >> yeah. and then mitt romney's got to look straight into the camera and say to the american people, "vote for me. you have no (beep) idea what i'm capable of." >> jon: john oliver, everybody. we'll be right bac ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: welcome back to the show. as you know, last week just this past week i declared war on christmas. it's probably why we haven't heard so much about christmas r

i'm rick perry at -- what's that line again? i'm rick perry and i approve of this message. >> i like it. i think it's a good strategy. and if you're still not convinced that perry can poke fun at his own gaffe, there's always the late-night comedians to help him out, right? let's watch rick perry making light of it all on "the tonight show" last night. >> thanks for coming. you provides us with a lot of material, so i appreciate you being here. >> it's what i do. >> what happened with the brain freeze that night, with the -- you had the three things to remember. >> well, you know, one, two, and, uh, uh -- every now and then, i call my dogs by the wrong name. >> what happened in new hampshire here? >> those of you that will be 21 by november the 12th, i ask for your support and your vote. >> i was thinking drinking age, maybe. >> drinking age, drinking age. okay, all right. that makes sense. but how about -- >> you got to have an excuse, right? so that's mine, and i'm sticking to it. >> and of course, if that doesn't work, he can

today, let's watch rick perry, still in the fight. >> rick santorum is a friend. i mean, he is -- i've got great respect for him. but when he talks about fiscal conservatism, every now and then, it kind of leaves me scratching my head, because he was a prolific earmarker. you know, i love iowa pork, but i hate washington pork. and senator santorum, he loaded up his bills with pennsylvania pork. and he even voted for the alaska bridge to nowhere. >> so does that kind of cornpone going to work out here? >> no. >> he's obviously talking down to people. if it's possible for rick perry to talk down to someone, he's doing it. >> it's the conservatives in a circle particular firing squad and they're trashing each other. the real winners of this are mitt romney and probably barack obama. >> i will say this, though, having just come from a santorum event and having interviewed a bunqh of people there, the one thing they didn't like about santorum is that he sometimes lapsed into congressionalese. bob dole used to say, i passed this bill, or i passed that bill. >> mondale u

every day is just a bigger day for rick perry. you know, the sad part about it is he is the new voice and he is the new image of the tea party gop. >> no doubt. >> and they can't get away from him. >> what's so crazy, like, who is still supporting him? i mean, it's clear i think to everyone to america besides bobby jindal and a couple of racist ranchers in texas that this guy couldn't complete the tv guide cross word puzzle. he'd stare at it in a blank and go, blank gaga, help me. at this point i can't go home. >> a lot of folks are spoofing perry's war on religion ad attacking gays. here's one that caught our attention. here it is. >> i'm not ashamed to admit i'm ignorant, but you don't have to have my low i.q. to know something is wrong in the country when a guy can come out with a super anti-gay campaign ad only to find out on the interwebs he was wearing the jacket from "brokeback mountain." as president, i'll end obama's war on time travel, fight to stop my hilarious self-contradiction, find lady gaga and convince her to beco

so let's start with the rick should we replay the rick perry ad from yesterday before we go to the spoof or you know if you don't ok let's let's replay it first. there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate christmas or pray in school. all right so you got a lot of grief for that one and rightly so because it's just stupid but now somebody actually created this spoof making fun of him for it so they collect about one o'clock you know there's something wrong with this country when politicians think it's ok to hate on gays and nonbelievers and it's as if their magic spirit guide or whatever blessed them with special a whole privileges. and i go on to someone special a whole privileges that's why they won't turn on you so they can get more of it he later tells them to like i've seen your poll numbers and basically rick perry you may believe in god but he doesn't believe in you which i thought was a good line what do you say andrew. to. come on i don't know no i don't i don't know i mean i didn't know that kids couldn'

is a nightmare for rick perry. he cuts perry in south carolina, cuts into him in iowa and florida and suddenly not the southern conservative. >> hilarious personal element to this, which is gingrich, when perry wasn't running, his campaign manager went to work for newt good and they were a big part when newt looked like he was done and they went back to perry and now they're running the perry campaign. they knew gingrich intimately and saw him collapse and they have not been able to manage rick perry over newt gingrich. >> willie, those debate performances, unfortunately, for rick perry, just expose him. it's like he's up there alone and, i mean, you got a situation where people feel so, even his opponents feel sorry for him. he's so bad in the debates. >> we joke about there being two debates every week and it's ridiculous. they do serve a purpose and that is to expose the candidates to the american people about what they know and how they handle themselves in the spotlight. mark, a guy we know well, along the lin

rick perry -- rick perry didn't fair much better. when he was told about kim jong-il, he said, "i never heard of him, but then again, i don't listen to that rap music." [ laughter ] so i don't think -- i don't think he understood -- kim jong -- yeah. i don't know. [ cheers and applause ] you know, did you see this? you know, during the debates the other night, rick perry compared himself to tim tebow. you know what rick and tebow have in common? both their seasons will end before february. okay? that we know. we know both their seasons -- [ cheers and applause ] i know, i tell ya -- i am gonna miss rick perry 'cause he makes so many mistakes -- that his campaign -- what they've told him to do is get back to basics, and in his campaign ads, just talk about what you know. that's what they told perry. "just talk about what you know." well, here's his latest ad. ♪ >> it's almost 2012. i'm rick perry, and i approve this message. [ laughter and applause ] and "the new york post" is reporting that jets quarterback mark sanchez romanced tw

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 been spending a lot of money in iowa. it barely moved the needle. i would say if you are mitt romney, you are praying that those two candidates pick up at least a few points because the more that they increase their support, that directly takes away from newt gingrich. >> ron paul has been vocal in attacking the king of bling for receiving money from freddie mac. released an ad on that very topic today and had this to say on "meet the press." listen to this, john. >> many should he give the money back? should he apologize for receiving the money from freddie mac? >> well, legally he doesn't have to but i would think that morally he hadn't received this money, yeah, i

after the break, is rick perry still in this race. that's next on "now." [ male announcer ] notebooks, photo center prints and... two htc sensations from t-mobile. hey dad! hey son! i'm at study hall. that's great, you make me so proud. thanks dad. [ clatter, scream ] what's that? nothing... [ man ] game on! ♪ i gotta go! was that a chicken? [ male announcer ] get low prices on the latest 4g phones starting at $28.88. save money. live better. walmart. >>. >> you don't need to be in the pew every sunday to know when something's wrong in this country when gays can serve in the military but christians can't pray in school. >> you know there's something wrong in this country when politician politicians -- >> criticism of rick perry's campaign is piling up. some of it in the form of pair dislike that one posted on second city network.com. the campaign ad is reportedly driving a wedge between members of perry's own staff. joining the panel now is ""vanity fair" writer burrow whose article on rick perry is in the monday edition of the maga

rick perry has a more plausible argument. >> bill: if i'm rick perry, rain shower are a, i'm -- laura, i'm doing this ad and i will tell you why. he has got to get attention fast. he has already tried the economics. he has already tried a whole bunch of stuff. it wasn't worked. >> no. >> bill: this ad, in iowa, blanketing iowa, people will talk about this ad. they will respond as you just said, to this ad. so he is basically taking -- it's a hail mary pass, zoom, i'm going to get behind it, hope the juans say, you iowaians say i want a guy like that and that's the only chance i have. >> i think at the end of the day it's going to be about the statement about gays serving openly in the military. people it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. people won't forget that. >> bill: you think evangelicals want gays to serve openly in the military they don't. >> i'm not saying they do. >> bill: they are a big caucus. >> for him, what really matters is what is beyond the caucus. >> bill: if he gets wiped out in iowa he is through. >> i agree with that. >> bill: you are coming around to my point of

rick perry at a campaign event this morning. here is my question. if you are rick perry and you have a history of not saying the most intelligent things on the campaign trail, do you or do you not bring someone who you know is going to be a solid speaker? >> if only that were the worst thing about joe arpaio. >> yes. >> i think the problem for perry was the one thing he had going for him going into a general lex was he actually could harness the power of the hispanic vote, could potentially win some of those states in the southwest. and what does he do? he moves to the right on immigration. he gets persona non grata to be his campaign spokesperson totally abandoning the one pocket of support he had that mightç have made him viable. >> and perhaps burned from his comments about people not having a heart if they weren't sympathetic to the dream act. it's worth noting perry trotted out sheriff joe in new hampshire, which is also be a interesting choice. mark, i know you were with rick perry yesterday. tell us what the general moo