crushed by mike huckabee. >> crushed by mike huckabee. that was the key to mike huckabee's success. evangelicals agreed on one candidate. that was mike huckabee. and that gave him the iowa caucuses. it gave him his victory. didn't give him the nomination as we pointed out tonight. but so important to his win and so important to romney's loss. he cannot count on evangelicals this time around. >> now, okay. when you look at this, one thing you can say if you look back at 2008, mitt romney did very well with people who didn't identify themselves as evangelicals as indeed he appears to be doing this time around. >> exactly. >> but -- >> he is a mormon. remember that. that's a problem. >> maybe he is playing that a little bit differently this time. >> well, i mean, take a look at this field. you see that the support of evangelical christians, santorum does very well. he's been endorsed by two leading evangelicals. but they don't have one horse this time. there is no mike huckabee. and that's good for mitt romney. so they're split. santorum does very well. paul, surprisingly, i think, doe

not as hot as mike huckabee was, not as good a candidate was mike huckabee was four years ago, but the guy that's basically got this solid organization, the best organization by far is ron paul. and in spite of getting beat up a little last week, his people are not going to go away. now, it depends on voters turnouts and he could easily, in the second place today and those are the three that really are players, gingrich and bachmann are all behind and at this point in time one of those three will come in first and the other two will be very close i'm sure. >> joe, we kept hearing that this year would be different and you could win in iowa just with the national debate and tv commercials and yet we see rick santorum making this late surge and he's been living in iowa and travelling around the state in a pickup truck, 350 plus events. does this prove that the way to win iowa is the old-fashioned way of politics? >> it's been the way a lot of people have done it. jimmy carter won the state that way back in '76. dick gephardt another candidate i worked for won iowa by living there and movi

not as hot as mike huckabee was, not as good a candidate was mike huckabee was four years ago, but the guy that's basically got this solid organization, the best organization by far is ron paul. and in spite of getting beat up a little last week, his people are not going to go away. now, it depends on voters turnouts and he could easily, in the second place today and those are the three that really are players, gingrich and bachmann are all behind and at this point in time one of those three will come in first and the other two will be very close i'm sure. >> joe, we kept hearing that this year would be different and you could win in iowa just with the national debate and tv commercials and yet we see rick santorum making this late surge and he's been living in iowa and travelling around the state in a pickup truck, 350 plus events. does this prove that the way to win iowa is the old-fashioned way of politics? >> it's been the way a lot of people have done it. jimmy carter won the state that way back in '76. dick gephardt another candidate i worked for won iowa by living there and movi

let's think about mike huckabee. we had mike huckabee. if there ever were a ready-made evangelical candidate -- >> but he had no money. >> right. he had an electability problem. >> and he did an awesome job with the two cents he had. >> can i ask you a really good question? i'm very much for religious tolerance and i don't like this conversation. i had to do it. it's my job. did jack kennedy being catholic have anything to do with what he did? did richard nixon being a quaker have anything to do with being president? does religion guide, your particular affiliation, you really to your policies? >> yeah. >> you say yeah. yes or no? >> when we do the research, partisanship -- after 1972 and into reagan years partisanship matters more than religious affiliation. >> thank you, dr. jones. i remember that name from indiana jones. and melinda, thank you. >>> up next, oops. rick perry has done it again. this is really unbelievable. it's only three. it's only three, and he can't get it straight. wait until you catch him doing it again. this is unb

crushed by mike huckabee. >> crushed by mike huckabee. that was the key to mike huckabee's success. evangelicals agreed on one candidate. that was mike huckabee. and that gave him the iowa caucuses. it gave him his victory. didn't give him the nomination as we pointed out tonight. but so important to his win and so important to romney's loss. he cannot count on evangelicals this time around. >> now, okay. when you look at this, one thing you can say if you look back at 2008, mitt romney did very well with people who didn't identify themselves as evangelicals as indeed he appears to be doing this time around. >> exactly. >> but -- >> he is a mormon. remember that. that's a problem. >> maybe he is playing that a little bit differently this time. >> well, i mean, take a look at this field. you see that the support of evangelical christians, santorum does very well. he's been endorsed by two leading evangelicals. but they don't have one horse this time. there is no mike huckabee. and that's good for mitt romney. so they're split. santorum does very well. paul, surprisingly, i think, doe

now, back to huckabee. [applause] >> and the foundation awards mortgage-free homes to wounded heroes who have severe or unique circumstances due to their injuries received while serving our country. soldiers like retired sergeant nate and his wife crystal who moved into a home they were given, given to them in middle berg, florida after nate's hunks were chemically burned following an ied attack in iraq. and a sergeant suffered permanent disabilities in iraq and his son austin and their family awarded a home in jacksonville, florida in the process of moving into that home. and then retired sergeant thomas toomey served in the marines and later in the army before having his shoulder crushed in iraq and thomas and his wife and their children are living with her mother and they've applied, depending on the outcome of the application. i want to meet first of all, the man who made all of this possible. he's ceo of the military warriors support foundation and three star general, general leroy sisco, general, what

can they match huckabee. huckabee surged early. we knew at this point four years ago that mike huckabee was a major player and the potential winner in iowa. this race has broken late. the polling in iowa tracked the national debates. the debates were so dominant in this race, the iowa polling tracked the national polls until just the last ten days or so. once the debates ended, iowa has gone back to the old-fashioned way. rick santorum has worked this state really hard. less money, but worth watching. >> stand by, john. we're going to be coming back to you. a lot to digest now. candy crowley is standing by. she's in demine on the ground in iowa. she's joining us. looks a litling bit different this time around for mitt romney. looks like a cold night in des moines as well, candy. set the scene for us as far as romney is concerned. >> reporter: you know, wolf, i had a brief but interesting conversation with the romneys the other night. we shared an elevator in the hotel going up together. and i said, well, you seem pretty laid back.

he does not spend 18 hours on his la-z-boy. >> the difference between huckabee and gingrich, is huckabee makes more sense as the conservative, voters' other choice. gingrich is not the match for that. newt gingrich? i mean, mike huckabee has that sort of southern appeal, yes, newt gingrich has southern background, but it's not -- he feels d.c., he doesn't feel georgia. and the way he's playing what this sort of conservative narrative is is brand new. in the sense that this form of conservatism has been exactly what he's been battled on and he's been insufficiently conservative on in much of his career. >> what newt gingrich was picking up on and this was not an issue in this primary, and this is not what mike huckabee is, honestly or not to the extent that gingrich is. this is all about strength. this primary is about nominating someone who can take the fight to barack obama. think about the times we heard that and think about why donald trump was a factor early on. he's somewhat -- well, going back -- >> there's so much to say. >> the problem that mitt romney has had in the past week ha

four years ago huckabee won in polk county. it was his biggest margin in raw vote over mitt romney was in polk county there. and it's paul that's leading but i want to emphasize we're missing a ton of vote in polk county. we have places like dubuque county all the way on the mississippi river where we have yet to get any returns in but i can also tell you this. i told you about our modeling that the boiler room is doing first and third based on different models. there is a precinct model we do. there is a county model we do. based on those models, throwing out the entrance polls at this point, actually using the data that we have, 1.1% separates first and third. so unless something dramatic happens with some of this un -- this vote that we haven't seen come in, but in the way it's coming in it feels like it's a representative sample, we're going to be here a while, rachel. >> 1.1% between 1, 2, and 3. i will say in terms of those of us whose job it is to just make sense of what all of this means rather than just count it, i'm v

i think you would have to say mike huckabee. wouldn't you say mike huckabee brought out the evangelical voters. now they're not a solid block. call. keys have endorsed rick santorum. they're the kind of wind at his back. but we don't know wlor they're going to eventually say thank you, we have one horse to ride. and that's what rick santorum wants but so far that hasn't been the case. >> and you do have i'll call him an older guard, not country club but a traditional chamber of commerce moderate pragmatic conservative republican. that was the romney vote. he had the edges in the last election. romney could get this number and win the state. >> that's a lot like the number he seem to be getting in the national polls. that's been his number. 25%, 27%. cannot seem to get above it. doesn't go much below it. i think they are counting on getting those voters. again, the question is, will that number be enough to win? here's what we dope know. the darker the green is where you have a higher level of people in that part of the state. th

huckabee only got 11. so you figure santorum can get the 11 of huckabee's. how much of what the former -- the conservative vote that was with romney last time that didn't go with him, wouldn't go with him this time. does he need 25 total, does he need to get to 30. what would be a, oh, wow, look at him, he's building momentum. >> that's the channel ellenge f santor santorum. you're going to have mum reget his votes from the center right and then you're going to have newt and santorum going after movement conservatives and there are conservatives in new hampshire, we know that. but are they movement conservatives who are passionate about issues like abortion, those kinds of things. they are there, it's just not a huge universal vote. >> blue collar populism. >> but that didn't work well for huckabee. here's why santorum can do better, northeastern catholic. >>> john mccain, this was his waterloo in 2000. it became essentially his crowning achievement in 2008. mitt romney almost wants to replicate that. look at these results from 2008. mccain won it with 33%.

now, back to huckabee. [applause] >> and the foundation awards mortgage-free homes to wounded heroes who have severe or unique circumstances due to their injuries received while serving our country. soldiers like retired sergeant nate and his wife crystal who moved into a home they were given, given to them in middle berg, florida after nate's hunks were chemically burned following an ied attack in iraq. and a sergeant suffered permanent disabilities in iraq and his son austin and their family awarded a home in jacksonville, florida in the process of moving into that home. and then retired sergeant thomas toomey served in the marines and later in the army before having his shoulder crushed in iraq and thomas and his wife and their children are living with her mother and they've applied, depending on the outcome of the application. i want to meet first of all, the man who made all of this possible. he's ceo of the military warriors support foundation and three star general, general leroy sisco, general, what

ladies and gentlemen, governor mike huckabee. [applaus [applause] >> good evening, everyone, i'm mike huckabee coming to you from the beautiful theater at the college of charleston. the theater is filled with undecided voters from south carolina. now, the palmetto states primary are weeks away and polls showing a significant number of voters here in south carolina are undecided on which republican candidate they're going to vote for. i want to say how grateful we are today to receive the hospitality of all the people of south carolina, and especially to people of this lovely city, charleston. if you've never been to charleston, it is one of the most beautiful, charming, historic and hospitable places you'll experience. we're here today largely because we needed an excuse because we needed to come to charleston and envoy this lovely city and beautiful campus. i want to introduce a special guest. honored to have the governor of south carolina, nicky haley with us, governor haley? welcome, thank you so much for being here today. [ap

center part of the state, huckabee dominated. this is only area in the center part of the state where mitt romney won four years ago. a different story last night. again the western section that he did so well in four years ago was really cut into this year by rick santorum. likewise on the east side, not just santorum over here but also by ron paul. i want to bring in steve hays who hasn't gone to bed yet. he is live in des moines. how do you see it? >> do i look that bad? bill: no you look great by the way. good morning to you. what do you see? >> fascinating. what an unbelievable story rick santorum has had. two or three weeks ago this is somebody who was in single digits and roared to a comeback. look at entrance polls last night, 65% of those who sided in the last week or actual caucus day, 65% broke for rick santorum. that tells you everything you need to know about the kind of momentum he was generating here in iowa and the kind of momentum he hopes to carry forward into new hampshire, south carol -- carolina and florida.

mike huckabee. it's the iowa caucuses. >> with mike huckabee don't some people end up taking the politics and at least making a play? >> i think the issue positions of the paul base are not reconcilable with main stream republican orthodoxy and there is no way to reconcile them. i think the danger for republicans is that ron paul would run as an independent candidate. i think the reason he won't do that is because of his son senator rand paul. and i think that if he were to run as an independent, hand the election to president obama, there would be devastating political consequences and retribution on senator rand paul. i don't think he would do that to his son. >> so he wins iowa tonight and the republican response is everybody who voted for ron paul for the majority winner tonight in iowa go vote for obama? >> i think that there is a view, conventional wisdom view that a national security issues that the republican party is monolithic. i think ron paul points out after a decade of twar is not. the

we will ask mike huckabee because he knows about the republican establishment. and rick santorum this he just wanted to get back to the issues. >> there is no doubt that this has been a very nasty campaign. between governor romney and congressman newt gingrich and there is no doubt that governor romney threw the first blow and it now is a back-and-forth but unfortunately for both those candidates they both have gotten down and gotten dirty and why either of them are better for it. i believe that what we need is to get back to talking about the substance. >> san torn is headed back to pennsylvania because he does not have a distraction and his taxes are a distraction is he is going back to pennsylvania to get it off his home computer and complete them and get them out there. and he will come right back to florida and others are wondering is rick santorum cashing in? is he done? and he says, no, no. >>dave: it is clear he is not getting out. she going nowhere. the debate performances have been spectacular and the best was thursday united. people felt he may have h

and you flipped back over to see huckabee's candidates forum, cordial. not allowed to talk about the her candidates and criticize them and 800 people in the room, undecided voters, but newt gingrich managed to somehow get booed over his criticism of mitt romney and bain capital once again. watch this moment and huckabee to correct him a little bit. >> georgetown has a steel mill which was closed. capital wasn't put at risk, capital was drained out of that company. governor romney ran saying he created 100,000 jobs in the private sector and let me just say. >> mr. speaker we've said we will not allow comment on the other candidates. >> and i'm trying to answer the question. let me answer it differently. >> okay. >> i believe that it's fair to ask that the records be clear and that people reveal what happened. >> dave: now, the speaker went on to give a thorough, thoughtful response as to why this is an issue, he says, if democrats are going to make an issue of this in the general election, we should make an issue of it and clear it all up right now. and i

show plus you can tweet by using the hash tag huckabee forum. our special host south carolina congressman tim scott. tell us why south carolina is so important to the process? >> they love their congressman here in charleston. congressman, tell us why south carolina is so important in this process? >> governor, you know in 2008 you were my mnom me, by the way. i want everybody to know that. the south is so important in this process because since 1980 we have not chosen the wrong candidate. we have 48 percent still willing to change their minds because we have very good candidates running this year. we need to make the best choice. i believe america follows south carolina. >> congressman tim scott an honor to be in this tradition. the first candidate in today's forum is former massachusetts governor mitt romney. please welcome governor romney to the stage. >> great to have you here. >> great to be here. thank you very much>> so let's go to congressman tim scott out in the audience. he has the first question of the day. >> governor the first quest

huckabee wins them all. if you go deep into these counties, this is where fred thompson did his best. 12% here, 20% here. and then he did very well out oh here. 20% again. 21%. 17%. 14%. taking votes in the christian bible belt from mike huckabee cost mike huckabee. if mike huckabee won south carolina in 2008, most likely john mccain would not have been the nominee. >> all right. thank you very much, john. we're just hearing that the gingrich ton hall is wrapping up and we've been showing live pictures of that. when you look at this election, gingrich, santorum, we can look at history and it shows us something. but this election really is a bit different, especially with the tea party influence and with the evangelical different. economy, jobs, what have you. >> no question about that. john mccain got beat pretty badly in the last election. the republican party is trying to figure out not just who do we want but who do we want to be? there's the mainline pragmatic conservative wing of the republican party. t

can they match huckabee. huckabee surged early. we knew at this point four years ago that mike huckabee was a major player and the potential winner in iowa. this race has broken late. the polling in iowa tracked the national debates. the debates were so dominant in this race, the iowa polling tracked the national polls until just the last ten days or so. once the debates ended, iowa has gone back to the old-fashioned way. rick santorum has worked this state really hard. less money, but worth watching. >> stand by, john. we're going to be coming back to you. a lot to digest now. candy crowley is standing by. she's in demine on the ground in iowa. she's joining us. looks a litling bit different this time around for mitt romney. looks like a cold night in des moines as well, candy. set the scene for us as far as romney is concerned. >> reporter: you know, wolf, i had a brief but interesting conversation with the romneys the other night. we shared an elevator in the hotel going up together. and i said, well, you seem pretty laid back.

back to huckabee. welcome back to a huckabee special 2011. there are some stories so big you remember what you were doing and where you were. we had one of those this year. on sunday night first of may. remember where you were when you heard osama bin laden was killed by seal team six. you can bet geraldo rivera does. >> thank you. it the greatest night of the my professional life and words trickled in from internet and various sources on capitol hill and white house. that we had taken out the terrorist mastermind . confirmed and urgeent . bin laden is dead. multiple sources and osama bin laden is dead. and happy days, hope days, everybody. this is the greatest. this is the greatest night of my career. the bum is dead. the savage who hurt us . so grevously. and i am so blessed and privileged to be at this desk at this moment, his continued existence on this earth, osama bin laden's existence on this earth represented a continued humiliationn to the united states of america. the man responsible for the mass murder of so many innocent men and w

and huckabee. he will win home state of georgia and alabama and mississippi and paul obviously getting his people. we bring back former governor of south carolina mark sanford. we want your thoughts on the results. >> i think it is amazing begin the fact that mitt romney stepped in the race here in south carolina with a 16-point lead two weeks ago. and newt gingrich, 13 million was spent in south rolina over the last two weeks. i think it is a significant win . what ed said a moment ago. conservatives didn't feel comfortable with romney. it will always go for the conservative candidate and always has. it goes for the establishment candidate and many believe that is why they choose the guy who is nominee for the party. your thoughts on that. i would say probably one of the reasons. we are an independent lot and historically the historic side is splintered up therefore what you are suggesting is true. in many cases the tabement candidate would win. what you saw here begin the focus on income issues a

mike huckabee was orange in iowa. if rick santorum is the christian conservative, you don't find evangelicals in the state of new hampshire. ind pent independents can vote. rick santorum very smart tonight. focused on blue collar economics, not so much the cultural issues. can he make an end road on the economy? newt gingrich also has a lot to prove. he has one week to prove he has staying power if he comes in behind ron paul and behind mitt romney and conceivably, behind rick santorum. so gingrich has a lot to prove here. santorum has a lot to prove here. ron paul had 10% in iowa four years ago. he built it up over 20%. 8% in new hampshire for ron paul, four years ago, a big test to see whether he can grow. and then state number three in the republican process is a state that is decisive. delegates matter if this goes on for weeks and weeks. sometimes, momentum decides the nomination. if somebody can win two out of the first three or three out of the first three, it can end quickly. you get into south carolina by the