nbc's tracie potts reports. >> ron paul! ron paul! >> reporter: this late in the game for many voters, it's not just about issues, it's about trust. >> and i trust him. i don't trust anybody else in politics. >> you heard it here first. ron paul is going to carry iowa. >> reporter: it's possible. paul is polling just two points behind front-runner mitt romney, who boldly predicted victory monday. >> we're going to win this thing with all of our passion and strength. >> reporter: rick santorum thinks he can win too, and iowa's biggest poll suggests he's moving in that direction. >> i didn't have the money to compete here, but we were able to do it. why? because money doesn't buy iowa. >> reporter: newt gingrich claims money, romney's negative ads, knocked him out of the top three. now he seems ci

tracie potts has more from new hampshire. good morning to you. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. all of these candidates now say they're moving on to south carolina. in fact, some are already there this morning but now only one can claim victory in two states. >> thank you, new hampshire. >> reporter: mitt romney scored a decisive victory. today he heads to south carolina, focused on president obama. >> we're asking the good people of south carolina to join the citizens of new hampshire and make 2012 the year he runs out of time. >> he certainly had a clear-cut victory but we're nibbling at his heels. >> reporter: ron paul ran strong among independents and young voters here. jon huntsman calls his third place finish a solid, comfortable position. >> we proved a point, that this state wants its candidates to earn it the old-fashioned way. that's on the ground, handshake by handshake. >> reporter: newt gingrich failed to break into the top

tracie potts live at nbc's election headquarters in manchester, new hampshire, live with latest. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. by the end of the day this could be the story of two candidates, mitt romney and perhaps john huntsman. huntsman pegged his chances on new hampshire and based on numbers, the poll numbers it looks like that might have been a smart move. >> reporter: this is bedford, new hampshire's largest polling place, statewide 250,000 people expected to vote in the republican primary. >> i think it was pretty clear who the upfront candidate is. >> reporter: it's mitt romney slipping, but stronger today than yesterday, according to suffolk university's overnight poll. >> i have strong faith and feeling that he'll turn this country around. >> reporter: he's double digits ahead of ron paul but moving up overnight, jon huntsman. he's doubled support in new hampshire in four days. focusing on romney and trust. >> whoever is our party's

tracie potts is in florida. >> mitt romney's campaign schedule a last minute lunch time event in tampa. >> if i am the nominee, i will go aggressively after president obama's failed record. >> we are desperate for someone who is qualified to be president. >> most early voters think that is romney. gingrich says he is in this race through summer, and supporters think he has something romney doesn't. >> i am looking for an old dog, somebody who can fight . newt is the guy i would like to have on my back. >> conservative candidates will get far more votes than romney. >> herman cain told nbc that he could switch. >> i am committed to supporting whoever is the nominee. >> we already know that early voting for this date is up 20% over four years ago, but there are some predictions that the overall turnout for today could end up in the war. from tampa, i am tracie potts, wbal tv 11 news. >> it seems as though we are putting winter on the back burner. it feels more like spring right now 59 degrees at b.w.i. marshall. we have the next few hours to warm up in the afternoon. winds southwest at 9

nbc's tracie potts is live from des moines. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. this was certainly a nail-biter. just hours ago we learned the results. mitt romney claiming victory here after what we believe to be the closest caucus in history, so close we had to wait until every last vote was counted. >> congratulations to governor mitt romney, winner of the 2012 iowa caucuses. >> reporter: hours after the candidates spoke, they call it, mitt romney wins by just eight votes. >> this is a campaign night where america wins. >> reporter: senator john mccain is expected to endorse romney in new hampshire. it's a big win for rick santorum, he got 25% after polling in single digits just a few weeks ago. >> we will be in new hampshire. we'll leave tomorrow. we'll spend our time there. with your help and god's grace, we'll have another fun night a week from now. >> reporter: ron paul came in third and thanked the enthusiastic crowd of supporters. >> we will go on, raise the money. >> reporter: romney's biggest challenge may come from newt gingrich attacked romney's reco

back to you, lynn. >> tracie potts for us in washington. tracie, thank you. and don't miss tonight's nbc's news republican presidential debate. it's moderated by brian williams live from the university of florida tampa bay and it begins at 9:00, 8:00 central time right here on this nbc station. >>> arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords is resigning from congress. she, of course, was wounded in the tucson shooting rampage a year ago that killed six people. since then giffords has been in rehab learning to speak and walk again, but that job is not complete, and she will step down to focus on her recovery. nbc's jay gray has the latest. >> reporter: it was just over a year ago that the gunshots rang out in tucson. six people killed, a dozen injured, including arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords shot in the head at point blank range. >> they don't remember much from that horrible day, but i will never forget the trust you leave in me to be your voice. >> reporter: a voice rarely heard since the attack, a voice that this weekend announced after five years

tracie potts reports from iowa. >> it confident mitt romney told iowa supporters he wants their help to make a barack obama a one-term president. >> i am here to collect. he is out. >> romney caucuses with a slim lead over ron paul and rick santorum in the latest poll. yesterday he predicted victory. today he was more cautious. >> i think i will be among the top group. i don't know if it is one, too, or three. >> romney spent a lot on tv ads but rick perry spent more. >> on to victory. >> this morning on cbs, newt gingrich accused romney of lying about who paid for some of the negative ads. >> are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> you are calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> will voters care? >> the rhetoric and policy positions and the campaign ads are not going to impact things as much on the final day of the caucus. >> for some of you is a real huge. [laughter] >> tonight, watch the exit polls. more evangelical voters could mean good news for santorum. here is something to keep in mind. last election, only one in six eligible voters participated in the caucuses. compare

all right, tracie potts for us in washington. tracie, thanks. >>> as president obama entered the capital for his speech, he was overheard congratulating defense secretary leon panetta, apparently for the success of a daring u.s. raid into somalia this morning to free two hostages, including an american woman. american navy s.e.a.l.s in helicopters flew into a pirate base in somalia. they exchanged gunfire with the kidnappers and rescued american jessica boou canna and co-worker from denmark. the two aid workers were taken hostage in october as they helped clear mines. the rescuers and the hostages are all out safely of somalia. >>> well, today is the first anniversary of the start of the revolution in egypt. protesters are back in ta rear square to express their dissatisfaction with current conditions. after the popular uprising toppled the government of hosni mubarak, demonstrators are still waiting for a civilian democratic government. egypt's military rulers, who are under increasing pressure, say they are partially lifting th

nbc's tracy potts joins us from washington with those details. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. it was tense depending how you look at it. when the president landed on air force once was greeted by jan brewer which is customary but on the tarmac there appeared to be a fairly heated exchange between the two. at one point, she was pointing her finger at the president. it appeared to be over, we found out later, her book, "scorpions for breakfast." in that book, she describes a one-on-one meeting with president obama over illegal immigration as she described the president a patronizing in that meeting. earlier, she had given the media more positive reports. now, the governor says that she hand him a handwritten letter inviting him to come talk about that. the white house said the president said he was disturbed by the way she characterized the last meeting, but that he would be willing and, in fact, they said he would be glad to meet with her again. >> interesting. tracy potts for us in washington, thank you. >>> president obama's new restructuring proposal for the u.s. military is

tracy potts joins us from washington with a preview of tonight's speech. good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: the argument for president obama second term and he previewed over the weekend in his weekly address some of what he'll talk about standing up for middle class families, rewarding hard work, and he is expected to chide congress for its inaction. the president reviewing his jobs plan and also national security, the end of the iraq war, the killing of osama bin laden, the arab spring, plus, we are told, new proposals for housing, manufacturing, and college and, yes, he will, again, call on the wealthy to pay more taxes. among those in attendance, look for congresswoman gabrielle giffords is expected to attend tonight after announcing over the weekend she is stepping down from congress. her last event yesterday in tucson finishing that meet and greet where she was shot just over a year ago. >> tracy potts, thank you very much. nbc news will have live coverage of the president's state of the union address tonight at 9:00 p.m. eastern time on thi

we get the latest from tracie potts in new hampshire. >> this is new hampshire's largest polling place. >> at the key was pretty clear who is the up front candidate. >> it is mitt romney, slipping, but stronger than yesterday. >> i have a strong faith and feeling that he will turn this country around. >> he is double digits as head of ron paul, but moving up overnight, jon huntsman. he has doubled support in new hampshire in jest four days, focusing on romney and trust. >> whoever is our party's nominee must be able to carry the banner of trust going into the election in november. >> i vote for the kennedy who i hope has that in mind. >> rick santorum is not discouraged by polls placing him fourth. >> we have not spent any on broadcast television and we are right in the mix. >> newt gingrich is spending plenty, but polls just ahead of rick perry, who did not campaign here this week at all. perry is in south carolina, where all of these candidates are headed once new hampshire voters choose a winner. tracie potts, wbal-tv 11 news. >> harford county sheriff's deputies confirmed they are

tracie potts joins us from washington with all of those details. good morning to you. >> good morning to you. this is interesting after getting the endorsement over the weekend and after placing third in new hampshire, the one race john huntsman got the voters to back him now in south carolina looks like before that primary this weekend, he is going to bow out later this morning and then after that we understand he will endorse mitt romney, who is still the front-runner in this race, even in conservative south carolina. he's got on average a seven-point lead. huntsman is expected to talk to romney today. no word what his immediate plans are after dropping out or how often we might see him on the campaign trail with mitt romney. romney certainly seems to be the focus now in south carolina. all of the other candidates for the most part, especially newt gingrich, have focused on him. and many of them also now focusing on their own electability. gingrich and perry saying they're the one to beat but also taking on president obama. >> tracie potts, thank

nbc's tracie potts is in des moines with more. good morning. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. at this point it's not so much what these candidates say, it's what they do. making a personal connection at the last minute before the voting begins tonight. >> ron paul! >> reporter: this late in the game for many voters is not just about issue, it's about trust. >> he's humble. i trust him. i don't trust anybody else in politics. >> you heard it here first, ron paul will carry iowa. >> reporter: it's possible, polling just two points behind front-runner mitt romney who boldly predicted victory money. >> we're going to win this thing with all our passion and strength. >> reporter: rick santorum thinks he can win, too, in iowa's biggest poll suggests he's moving in that direction. >> i didn't have the money to compete here. but we were able to do it. why? because money doesn't buy iowa. >> reporter: newt gingrich claims money romney's negative ads knocked him out of the top three. now he seems undecided about his own chances. >> i don't think i'm going to win. we may pull off one of

tracy potts has our commitment 2012 update from manchester. >> mitt romney is still the clear leader in new hampshire, but his support is waning. he has a double-digit lead in today's suffolk university tracking poll but it is down 10% since iowa. newt gingrich told supporters this morning that attacks on mitt romney's record are working. >> instead of being told he is inevitable, they say, who is he? the minute they say that, they say i am not sure i want to vote for that. >> at a chamber of commerce breakfast, drawing a contrast between his economic record and president obama's. >> if people want somebody to turn america into europe, bacon vote for the other guy. >> ron paul remains a solid second. jon huntsman, who put all his eggs in the tampa's basket, came in third. rick santorum, who came so close iowa virtually tied with newt gingrich. he focused on business, jobs, and obama. >> he does not trust free people, with small business doing things he may not be able to watch over. >> in contrast to send a positive 81 virtually everybody turned on mitt romney, today candidates makin

tracy potts has the latest developments in the commitment 2012 report. >> just after south carolina's biggest newspaper endorsed him, jon huntsman announced today he is dropping out of the presidential race and endorsing mitt romney. >> i believe it is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat barack obama. despite our differences and the space between us on some of the issues, i believe that candidate is governor mitt romney. >> jon huntsman was critical romney just last week, along with other candidates to lead in targeting the front runner. >> in south carolina, romney took $12 million and then laid off -- >> from have a seven-point lead in south carolina on average. he has been pummeled with a negative ads, his name comes up and nearly every event. and i am doing as well or has better as the governor romney against obama. >> one person with a realistic chance -- >> you don't have to have the popular media tell you who is best prepared to beat barack obama. >> in fact, ron paul is the only candidate focusing solely on his own i. >> did well hisowa

tracy potts is here in washington with all of the details. good morning, tracy. >> good morning, lynn. >> reporter: the millionare front-runner has a couple of financial problems down with the voters in south carolina. first of all, the $374,000 he got in speaking fees last year in an amount he describes not much before the actual amount was released. and also the 15% effective tax rate that he is paying romney in an interview said, he explained it's from an investment, not from wages that tax rates could be doubled. romney has promised to release his tax returns but not right away. he says he'll do it in april which, he says, it's traditionally when candidates tend to do that, after the most recent return is ready. but, yesterday, one of his strongest supporters chris christie called on him to release those tax returns sooner. sooner is better than later, christie said. in response, romney says he will wait until april to release those returns. expect this issue to come up tonight at the second debate in south carolina. that debate just days

tracie potts is in washington with those details. good morning, what's this all about? >> lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. this morning the "des moines register" in iowa is reporting all of the certified results that are going to be counted are in, and rick santorum is up by 34 votes. this has been going back and forth as they received the forms in the certifications from counties and precincts all over the state. and by noon yesterday the totals flipped and santorum was up. the final six precincts came in last night and the final certification shows santorum, according to "the register" up by 34 votes. what does this all mean? mitt romney issued a statement this morning again congratulating santorum saying this was a virtual tie. the iowa republican party is saying the same thing. there are eight precincts that won't be certified and we understand from reports that the form to certify the votes either never showed up or somehow was never counted. as a result they can't find the forms. they can't count the votes. and the votes that can be counted show santoru

veronica. >> tracie potts in washington. thank you. >>> egyptian prosecutors are calling for the execution of hosni mubarak by hanging. the 83-year-old mubarak who's been brought to court each day in a hospital gurney, is accused of ordering security forces to fire on protesters, killing 800 people. one prosecutor said, quote, retribution is the solution. but even if mubarak does receive the death penalty,there could be months of appeals and it's thought the egyptian army would likely intervene. defense attorneys for mubarak and ten others will make their case next week. >>> there are new and disturbing allegations of sexual assault among cadets at the air force academy in colorado. three cadets are accused going back to the spring of 2010. in some cases the alleged victims were fellow cadets. one of the suspects who runs the academy's honor system was charged with forcible rape after a pentagon report last week found a spike in assaults at all service academies and a 20% jump in the number of cadets who say they were sexual

tracie potts is live in des moines. good morning to you. >> veronica, good morning to you santorum seems to be the one to watch with a late surge. if you are used to casting a secret ballot. the caucus ballot is a whole different ball game. people here like to see their candidates, talk to them, shake their hand, and right now, more iowans are leaning toward rick santorum. >> trust your judgment, and lead, like that right decision. >> reporter: the "des moines register" puts santorum third, but virtually tied. >> rick santorum rock solid on values issues. >> reporter: that's the issue between these two. who is more conservative. >> you can't have a strong economy unless you have strong families and moral values. >> i'll let people make their own assessment of our respective records. i'm a conservative. >> reporter: the late surge prompted opponents to pounce. >> he has a spending problem, an earmark problem. >> reporter: 4-10 iowans could still change their mind. michele bachmann is hoping for a spot. and newt gingrich

tracie potts joins us from washington with the details. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. good morning, everyone. "the boston globe" said that jon huntsman is the best prepared candidate and, specifically, they said he would make a better president than mitt romney, even if mitt romney gets the nomination. "the globe" said it would make romney a better nominee. huntsman slammed romney yesterday for leaving the state and going to south carolina to campaign where he picked up the endorsements of both south carolina's governor, nicky haley and senator john mccain and also there romney slammed president obama for making recess appointments without senate confirmation. but back in new hampshire, focus also on rick santorum, who came out of iowa just eight votes shy of winning. he called that a tie, saying that he raised $1.5 million online since iowa. and santorum also saying he's not shying away from religion in this campaign. as he put it yesterday, we always need a jesus candidate. veronica? >> tracie potts in washington, thank

nbc's tracie potts is joining us now from washington with those details. >> lynn, grorpg good morning. you can see jap brewer with her finger in president obama's face. this exchange was over her book account scorpion for breakfast. in it she characterizes a meeting with president one-on-one on immigration saying he was patronizing on border issues. she's accusing the administration of ignoring immigration which is a big deal in her state. governor brewer delivered to the president a handwritten note that she says it included an invitation for them to meet again. apparently the president said he was disturbed by the way their meeting was characterized but the white house says they'll meet again. >> thank you, tracie potts there in washington. >>> president obama's new plan for the military will be outlined today. the .oregon plan will cut $260 billion in projected spending over the next five yores to make required reductions. the u.s. army would slash the number of combat brigades from 45 to as low as 32 cutting as many at 80,000 soldierses. >>> well, it was an unprecedent momentum on

live in des moines, i'm tracie potts, nbc news. >> thank you, tracie. president obama is wasting no time getting back in front of voters after a ten-day hawaiian vacation. mr. obama has a full schedule today, including a live web chat with supporters in iowa tonight. as the caucuses are unfolding. tomorrow, he will travel to ohio, a state expected to play a key role in the presidential campaign. >>> while the politicians fight for votes, a disabled east bay man is fighting to keep his home. he's facing foreclosure and was supposed to be evicted this morning. nbc bay area's christie smith is live in oakland with the homeowner who says he's not going anywhere. christie, good morning. >> good morning to you. the homeowner told me he got notice to be out at 6:01 am this morning. he is there and he's getting help to try to save the home where he has lived for 26 years. first as a renter and then he bought the home. he broke his neck and is disabled but was paying through social security. he says he thought his mortgage was a 30-year fixed. it wasn't. the pay

>> tracie potts in new hampshire. thank you. >>> the obama administration is rejecting claims by syria's president that the deadly violence in his country is the fault of demonstrators. after tuesday's speech by ba bar ad assad. meanwhile, a senior u.n. official told the security council tuesday the level of violence in syria actually went up since arab league monitors arrived last month. some 4 o people are believed to have been killed in just the last three weeks. >>> a scientist working on iran's nuclear program was killed in a bomb blast in tehran. an iranian news agency says a motorcyclist drove up and attached the bomb to the scientist's car using magnets. he worked at a uranium enrichment facility, the same type of attack that's killed two other iranian scientists and wounded a third over the last two years. iran has blamed the u.s. and israel for those bombings. both countries deny involvement. >>> exactly four months to the day after the september 1th attacks the u.s. started impresidentening what it called e

nbc bay area's tracy potts live from election headquarters. >> reporter: good morning. good morning. good afternoon, everyone. mitt romney is still the clear leader here, he's got a double-digit lead but he has been slipping. he's been dropping a bit since iowa and since he's been under attack by the other candidates. mitt romney is still the clear leader in new hampshire, but his support is waning. he's got a double-digit lead in the suffolk university tracking poll, but it's down ten percentage points since iowa. newt gingrich told supporters attacks on romney's record are working. >> people have said instead of being told he's inevitable, they say who is he? they said, i'm not sure i want to vote for that. >> reporter: romney courted business leaders at a breakfast this morning, drawing contrasts between his economic record and president obama's. >> if people want someone to turn america into europe, they can vote for the other guy. >> reporter: ron paul remains a solid second in today's poll. john huntsman, who put all of his eggs in new hampshire. 's basket came in

tracie potts reports from capitol hill with more on huntsman's decision and i former rivals he'll be endorsing now. >> reporter: after south carolina's biggest newspaper endorsed him, jon huntsman announced he's dropping out of the presidential race, and endorsing mitt romney. >> i believe it is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat barack. despite our differences and the space between us, on some of the issues, i believe that candidate is governor mitt romney. >> reporter: huntsman was critical of romney just last week, along with other candidates who have been targeting the front-runner. >> in south carolina, romney took 12 million and laid off hundreds. >> reporter: romney's got a seven-point lead in south carolina on average, that primary's saturday and he's being pummeled with nextive ads. his name comes. at every campaign event. >> i'm doing as well if not better than mitt romney against barack. >> i'm one person who has a realestic chance of defeating him. >> you don't have to let the popular media tell you who's best prepared to beat bar

tracie potts joins us now from washington with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. all of the candidates realize that south carolina is going to be a big prize for conservatives, but new hampshire comes first. and the front-runner there is taking heat from opponents for courting both. mitt romney starts the day again in south carolina after picking up endorsement there's from the state's governor and senator john mccain, and slamming president obama for making appointments without senate confirmation. >> instead of free enterprise, choosing the winners and losers, instead the government and the people in power will choose who they want to give special favors to. >> reporter: the boston globe endorsed jon huntsman calling him best prepared. hundredsman sl >> the people of new hampshire don't want a coronation, they want people to earn the vote as opposed to sitting tonight down in south carolina, so certain of a victory. >> reporter: huntsman backers have doubled their ad buys. newt gingrich promises to keep his ads positive but challenged romney's credentials. >> he

tracie potts in iowa, we always appreciate it. thank you. >>> last night during msnbc's special coverage of the iowa caucuses, lawrence o'donnell mixed it up over the legal technicalities over how much success a reporter can have. >> i know the candidate cannot specifically coordinate with the super pack. but any candidate can say and romney can say i want all of the negativitiesing to stop. what prevents him from saying that? >> well, what prevents him from saying that is the plain wording of the law. >> forget the law. i'm saying, if he can say, i don't want negativitiesing in this campaign. without any reference to that super pack, he avoids the technicality. >> lawrence, i'm sorry, but if he can say that, then he can also say i want you to buy 800 gross points worth of time in the northwest corner of the state that targets 18 to 28-year-olds and you would say that was illegal. >> you're distorting the law. >> i disagree. >> it doesn't prevent him from saying i don't want negativitiesinnegativitiee advertising. >> lawrence, we

tracie potts joins us from washington with a preview of tonight's speech. good morning. >> reporter: it's critical, perhaps more so than any other state of the union. the argument for president obama's second term. and he previewed over the weekend in his weekly address some of what he'll talk about fan standing up for middle class families, rewarding hard work, and he's expected to chide congress for its inaction. the president reviewing his jobs plan and also national security, the end of the iraq war, the killing of osama bin laden, the arab spring, plus, we are told, new proposals for housing, manufacturing, and college and, yes, he will, again, call on the wealthy to pay more taxes. among those in attendance, look for congresswoman gabrielle giffords, expected to attend tonight after announcing over the weekend she is stepping down from congress. her last event yesterday in tucson finishing that meet and greet where she was shot just over a year ago. >> tracie potts, thank you very much. don't miss our special coverage of the address beginning tonight

tracie potts is in des moines with more. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. at this point, it's not so much what these candidates say, it's what they do, making those personal connections at the last minute before the voting begins tonight. this late in the game for many voters, it's not just about issues. it's about trust. >> i trust him. i don't trust anybody else. >> he's going to carry iowa. >> reporter: it's possible, paul is polling two points behind mitt romney who boldly predicted victory monday. >> we're going to win this thing with all of our passion and strength. >> reporter: rick santorum thinks he can win, too, in iowa's biggest poll suggests he's moving in that direction. >> i didn't have the money to compete here. but we were able to do it, why? because money doesn't buy iowa. >> reporter: newt gingrich claim romney's ads knocked him out of the top three. now he seems undecided about his own chances. >> i don't think i'm going to win. >> we may pull off one of the great upsets in the history of the iowa caucuses. >> reporter: last-minute campai

here is tracie potts. >> i think it's a big deal you get the largest paper in the state to come out and endorse you. >> jon huntsman will drop out this morning and endorse mitt romney, a spokesperson says he doesn't want to stand in the way of the candidate best prepared to beat barack obama. >> in south carolina romney took $12 million and laid off hundreds. >> romney has a 7-point lead t primary sunday and he's pummeled with negative ads. his name comes up in nearly every campaign event. >> i'm doing as well if not better than mitt romney against barack obama. >> i'm the one person who has a chance of defeating him. >> you don't have to let the popular media tell you who's best prepared to beat barack obama. >> in fact, ron paul's the only candidate focusing solely on his own success. >> did well in iowa, did well in new hampshire. we're going to do well next saturday. right. >> candidates admit if romney wins conservative south carolina, it will be hard to stop him from winning the nomination. as of today, romney gets one more vote from huntsman. huntsman is supposed to talk with rom

tracie potts has the latest from manchester. >> the polls are open. >> after midnight mitt romney and jon huntsman died for first with two votes each. this morning the rest of new hampshire decides. >> i hope you're going to give me a bigger margin of victory than 8 votes i got in iowa. >> romney is the clear front-runner. will it be a big win? newt gingrich and others hammer away at his record. gingrich predicts he will do better than expected. >> mccain was ahead in 2000. we'll see. i sense a lot of momentum. >> ron paul is polling second. jon huntsman told a standing room only crowd she hoping for a strong finish. >> you feel momentum in the air. we're going to surprise a lot of people in this country tomorrow night. >> stick to the romney. >> his supporters predict success today. >> he's worked incredibly hard in new hampshire. that deserves to be rewarded. >> rick santorum is not expected to pull off an iowa surprise. rick perry focused on south carolina. >> new hampshire, they are a winowing process. south carolina picks presidents. that's what you do. >> in 60 years, no republi

tracie potts, nbc news, washington. >> he considered a run for president in south carolina but steven colbert has decided to throw his support by a former candidate. he is scheduled to hold a rally in charleston with former presidential candidate herman kachblt he wants his folks to vote for cain. unfortunately for colbert he missed the deadline to get his name on the ballot and write-ins are not allowed. >> maybe colbert 2016. we'll see. good news to report in a story we brought you on wednesday right here. an east san jose softball league dealing with a string of copper thefts will be able to start their season on time. great news. thieves recently ripped off equipment in the copper wire needed for the field lights. this morning the president of the league tells nbc bay area donations, they have been pouring in since the report went out to help fix this field. the copper wiring yes, has been in place and the season right back on schedule. >> good morning to you. 4:38. let's check the forecast. the rain that's falling with meteorologist christina loren. >> yeah, we've got a lot more

lynn. >> tracie potts for us in washington. thank you. >>> last night on the ed show, he talked with martin o'malley of maryland about mitt romney's record as a job creator and history of changing his mind on certain issues. >> mitt romney has big, big problems at a time when all of us as americans want to know what we can do as a country to create jobs. here's a guy who in the private sector had no success creating jobs. in fact he made money for wealthy investors by actually stripping companies of jobs. and if you look at his performance as governor of the state of massachusetts, the commonwealth of massachusetts, he actually had that state ranked 47th among 50 states in job creation when he was governor. so will this is not a man who can claim any success in creating jobs. in fact quite to the contrary. and his flip-flops, the waffling back and forth, i think the line that's going to stick with everyone is not that tepid endorsement by jon huntsman, but his rightful observation that mitt romney's not running for the white ho

nbc's tracie potts reports. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. analysts saying this was romney's strongest debate yet and he needs it. florida is a big prize. and with four days to go, this one is still a horse race. new polls put mitt romney seven or eight points ahead of newt gingrich last night. he came out swinging when gingrich described romney as anti-immigrant. >> that's inexcusable. my father was born in mexico. the idea that i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. don't use a term like that. >> reporter: romney accused gingrich of being a big spender after proposing big projects in key primary states. gingrich fought back. >> you don't have to be cheap everywhere. you can have priorities to get things done. >> reporter: gingrich said he wants to put a colony on the moon in eight years. everyone took issue with that. >> that's a great thing to get votes but it's not a responsible thing. >> if i had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to put a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, i would say, you're fired. >> i

and tracie potts joins us from washington with all of those details. good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. good morning, everyone. we don't see an immediate endorsement like this. it comes after huntsman was endorsed by south carolina's largest newspaper. >> any time you get the largest paper in the state to come out and endorse you, that's a big deal. >> reporter: but jon huntsman will drop out this morning and endorse mitt romney. a spokesperson says he doesn't want to stand in the way for the candidate best prepared to beat barack obama. >> in south carolina, romney took $12 million and laid off millions. >> reporter: he has a lead in south carolina and that primary sunday and he is being pummelled with neg-ads. his name comes up at every campaign event. >> i'm doing better if not better than governor romney against barack obama. >> i'm the one person with a realistic chance of defeating him here. >> you don't have to let the popular media tell you who's best prepared to beat barack obama. >> reporter: in fact, ron paul is the only candidat

nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington covering all those topics. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. good morning, everyone. that had an impact on what we saw last night. there were four candidates on the stage. the one person who was not there had the biggest influence on how this debate started. newt gingrich's wife of 18 years told abc he cheated on her while publicly promoting family values. >> he was asking to have an open marriage. i refused. >> reporter: gingrich admits being unfaithful but chided cnn for making it question number one. >> today an exwife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. let me be quite clear, the story is false. >> reporter: this hours after rick perry dropped out and endorsed gingrich. rick santorum questions whether his past can cause him the election. >> i love him. but he has that worrysome moment that something's going to pop and we can't afford that in a nominee. >> mitt romney says he'll wait until april