an hour ago. we reached out to your campaign, and they said you would not release your tax returns. why? >> i haven't thought it through. i don't have an intention to do it. i would be embarrassed to put my financial statement against their income because i don't want to be embarrassed. >> back in 1967, your father set a groundbreaking standard in american politics, he released his tax returns. he released them not for one year but for 12 years. will you follow your father's example? >> maybe. i don't know how many years i'll release. i'll take a look at what our documents are. and i'll release them, multiple years, i don't know how many years, but i'll be happy to dathat. let me tell you, i know there are some who are anxious to see if they can't make it more difficult for a campaign to be difficult. i'm not going to apologize for being successful. and i want to make sure that i beat president obama. and every time we release things drip by drip, the democrats go out with another array of attacks. as has been done in the past, if i'm a nominee, i'll put them out at one time so we have one discussion. i pay all full taxes, i'm honest in my dealings with people, my taxes are carefully managed, and i pay a lot of taxes. i have been very successful, and when i have our taxes ready for this year, i'm release them. >> people in south carolina have to decide, but if there's anything in there that is going to help us lose the election, we should know it before the election. if there's nothing in there, why not release them? >> governor romney tells a very nice story about what his plan is now. it wasn't in his plan when was he in position to do a plan, when he was governor of mass s massachuset massachusetts, he put up romney care, a government run health care system that was the basis of obama care, and it's been an abjeblth failure, and he's stood by it. >> so much of what the senator said was wrong. first, the system in my state is not a government-run system. is it perfect, absolutely not. >> what he said was that he thought i would have a hard time debating barack obama over health care. i would be quite happy to have a three-hour lincoln douglas style debate with barack obama. i would like him to use a tell promper, i'll rely on knowledge. we'll do fine. >> and i'm joined by former house speaker newt gingrich. how do you think it went for you? >> it was a terrific debate for all of us. the audience was appreciative. i did a great job. it was direct, tough. you could see the differences. i felt good about it. i wanted to keep it at a big level, stay on big themes and really talk about what america needs to do. >> senator santorum said he's more stable. that you say things, you don't quo what you're going to say, and he's more reliable, you're too risky. that's his message. >> everybody has a message. i was speaker of the house for four years, we balanced the budget for four years. we reformed welfare. have been a senior teacher in the military for 24 years, wrote 24 books, i know what stability is. we need aggressive leadership to change washington, and that's what i'm going to offer. if you want an aggressive leader, i have the strength to do it. >> you released your tax returns during the debate. what do you make of governor romney's decision of when to release them? >> he has to make his own decision, but the voters have to make their decision. you don't want to end up in september with something boiling up, and then it's too late. we owe it to the people of south carolina. we got it out as quickly as we could. we promised it a couple days ago. i think he would be well advised to put it out tomorrow. i don't know how he's going to get through florida. in either case, there's nothing in there, and why isn't he releasing it, or he's going to go against barack obama and doesn't he owe it to the voters. >> if you don't come in first place in south carolina, you're still in this? >> karl rove had an impact on me because he said if you add up the conservative candidates that are going to be a majority over romney by a big margin, two of the candidates dropped out this week, you get down to a conservative versus a moderate or liberal, and i think the moderate has a hard time of winning the race. i hope to win saturday. the most recent polls are very encouraging. we have lot of momentum, general livingston just endorsed me, sheriff mets just endorsed me. we have a lot of momentum going. we can win on saturday. if we do, it's a whole new ball game in florida. i think there's no possibility that romney will get a big enough vote to be bigger than santorum and me combined. >> romney has spent a lot of money in florida. >> he does. >> what is your campaign like in florida? >> first of all, we have the -- the campaign manager from marco rubio is now running our campaign. he's a terrific leader. my daughter lives in key biscayne, we went down there for a day and a half. a terrific response from the hispanic community. great response in orlando. we have 5,000 or 6,000 volunteers. there's no question governor romney will have the most money. he's the wall street candidate, so he's always going to come in earlier. he came here with a lot more money. but we made adjustments after iowa, and i think we're in a position where we understand how to deal directly with governor romney's style of his campaign. he can outspend us two or three to one, and that's not enough, he would have to be six or eight to one to have an effect. >> thank you for your time. let's go to gloria borger with rick santorum. >> i am, anderson, and senator santorum, this is the toughest, i think i have ever heard you, in any of these debates. you did not leave anything in the locker room, particularly when it comes to your former colleague, newt gingrich, and you said it's worrisome, there's this worrisome moment that something is going to pop. with newt gingrich. what do you mean by that? >> look, i love newt. he's been a great intellectual leader. but the difference between being an idea guy is to be glib in debate and somebody who is going to be a steady hand, a disciplined campaigner, somebody who is going to go out and make president obama the issue instead of being the uncertainty of you being the issue in the campaign because of things you say today that may not necessarily be consistent with what you said the day before or the next day, and the other thing is, as i said before, we're looking for someone who can beat the chief executive officer, the commander in chief of the country. that means someone who can execute a plan. he was giving a leadership position in congress, and in three years, conservatives tried to throw him out, and in four years they did. when i was in congress, i was a conservative voice, i made things happen. i pushed the agenda, fought for the tough things and stood up for the things i believed in. that's a fundamental difference in effectiveness in doing a leadership that a president is required to do. >> do you think gingrich would be erratic as a president? as president of the united states? >> you saw the romney commercial on the air right now, and he interviewed the folks who had to work with him. he is a brilliant man, and he's constantly coming up with a lot of ideas. the problem is, he constantly comes up with a lot of ideas and he's not focused to be able to execute the ideas and surround himself with people disciplined to do that. that's why what happened happened in the house of representatives. that's why there was this revolution within the ranks from conservatives against newt. >> and do you think that mitt romney, even though he challenged newt gingrich tonight and said don't challenge my integrity on the issue of abortion, for example, do you think mitt romney could be trusted to be reliable? >> the problem with governor romney is not just the abortion issue. there's a pattern of a whole series of issues where romney was on one side, and when it became advantageous, he went to the other side. >> people are allowed to change their opinions and convictions. >> absolutely. i'm not questions his convictions on abortion. if that was the only thing he changed his mind on, that would be easy to understand, but we have a whole laundry list of things that governor romney has taken one position on in one race and another position in another race, depending on who he was running against. that leads to uncertainty and a lack of clear contrast between what we need in a presidential candidate, someone who has strong, bold convictions, the courage of the convictions to fight and lose the race because you stood up for what you believe in. i hear that from people, have you been willing to lose to do what is right? i have. i will do my best to bring the american people together and do big things. that's my objective. >> thanks so much for coming to us after the debate. we appreciate it. back to you. >> we have a full political panel to put things in perspective tonight. we'll focus through until the 11:00 hour. also rick perry's departure from the race and his endorsement of newt gingrich. we'll be right back. there is a platform built for the purpose of driving innovation. one that's transforming how companies from every industry-- and of every size-- are doing business. a platform built for now. and for what's next. this...is the cisco intelligent network. cisco. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays] we're back, south carolina's north charston call seem after a debate on a momentum political debate in the polls. one candidate's departure, allegations from another candidate's wife, and john king who moderated the debate, david gergen, ari fleischer, donna brazile, and gloria borger, and eric erickson, who i believe is in the audience. i got to start with the start of this debate, john king, you asked the question when has been in all of the headlines all over statements made by newt gingrich's ex-wife. he blasted you, blasted the media. did ultimately answer the question. i want to play what he actually said. >> the story is false. every personal friend i have who knew us in that period said it was false, we offered them to abc to prove that the story was false. they weren't interested because they want to attack any republican, they attacked the governor, me, they'll get around to senator santorum and congressman paul. >> speaker gingrich got a standing ovation in the auditorium for saying it was a completely inappropriate question. >> and he also scored points in the monday night debate by attacking the questions. i had a question with the speaker after he moderated the debates. this is a damned if you do, damned if you don't. it's a story making the rounds in the campaign. it's an issue that came up in the last 48 hours? of course not. is it an issue that volters are talking about, that he talked about in a very calm manner? >> he said it today earlier in a much different manner. you knew -- how much of this was debate theatrics on his part, do you know he was going to have this response? >> i knew he was going to challenge the question. i don't want to challenge the speaker's response. i have been covering policy for 25 years. i understood if i asked the question, he was not going to be happy and was going to turn on me. you make a judgment call, is it an issue in the debate? it's not a great issue, but it's an issue in the debate. candidates were talking about it, voters in the state. my judgment, my decision, and mine alone. we're going to deal with it, let's deal with it up front, not sneak it into the middle of the debate, and people at home agree or disagree. you make the decision, ask the question, and this is politics. he's trying to promote himself, he's going to attack. i don't take it personally. i had a long relationship with the speaker, we don't always get along, but i get how the business works. >> what do you think? >> it's one of the most explosive moments we have seen in debate history. >> history? >> also one of the harshest attacks on the press i can remember in a long, long time. very personal in the beginning. as a political matter, i think gingrich sought a fastball coming, and he smacked it out of the park. it was a reasonable chance, talking to the people here, that he could win south carolina based on the answer. >> heard a lot of people online saying that. >> as a journalistic matter, john had a duty to ask the question. it was the elephant in the room. after all, his wife is accusing him of hypocrisy, being a man of family values who had a private life that was in conflict with what he was preaching, and a man who went after bill clinton on similar issues. for a lot of voters, there is hypocrisy in there. and john king is known by most people here as one of the most serious people in country. he did the right thing. >> anderson, there's a short-term issue here which is that i do think that newt gingrich's answer, attacking john, attacking the media played well in the room. it might play well in south carolina, but there's a longer term issue and that's with women voters. he said his wife, the story is false. newt gingrich polls in this state twice as well with men as he does with women. i think in the long-term, say if he wins soug carolina, goes on to do well and continues, this could become an issue for women voters, obviously. >> i think it's not the elephant in the room. the elephant in the room is the economy. it's the same in the room as out of the room, stepping from economy, jobs. i think that's why the audience reacted to the first question off the bat. it's something that has to be aired. and newt did knock it out of the pa park, but what negloria said, s has a point. and even though people booed, it's about electability, and this is one of the factors that plays into it. >> rick santorum raised another question about is he too risky? he says things that are unpredictable. >> the question is he wasn't the only impossible candidate. mitt romney had an opportunity to finally answer questionles about the economy, about bain capital, about job reaction, and his own tax returns, and he decided to pivot by basically saying i don't want to release my taxes because the democrats might speak through it. i also felt that mitt romney wasn't clear. >> i was interested when john followed up on the ex-wife question and gingrich's response. santorum did try to say that it was a valid thing for people to think about. very interesting to see mitt romney's response, which played well in this crowd, which was let's move on. that's not what we should be talking about. >> when a room boos like that, you know it's time to move on. >> right. >> i wondered if that was going to be romney's response prior to the entire audience standing up and cheering. >> later on in the debate, it was interesting because romney challenged newt for challenging his integrity on the question of the abortion issue. so it was as if romney was giving it to him in a funny way. but not directly on the wife. >> are we all agreeing that it was the right question to ask and it had to be asked. >> of course. >> i don't -- i think there's a prioritization to the federal issues in a presidential campaign, and it is an issue. >> although, those are things that have been talked about. it's new, it's in the news, it's timely. >> look, this is a debatable question. everything we do in our lives is debatable. we're in the public. some people at home are outraged, we accept that when we take the jobs. it was the newest thing in the debate, something people were talking about. the lead of many news casters across the country, better or worse, and many people at home think for the worse, and i respect that. my opinion is this was dominating the campaign. let's deal with it first. if it's not an issue, we'll move on. i understand and respect those who disagree. we had conversation, and it was my judgment. let's deal with it. >> here is the bigger issue. it dominated the campaign today. true, but it dominated the political. and this is the separation between the people in the country and a lot of us who breathe this every day. the company doesn't care about what dominates today. >> the gingrich campaign put out a statement last night from his daughters. he talked about this earlier in the day. we had a conversation about this. again, i respect people who disagree. i have been at this for 26 years. you know me, you know me, democrat and republican, we don't always agree. you have kicked me from time to time, but i have tried in the 26 years to be fair, and including gingrich, with controversial times in his life, he knows that. we had a conversation after that. i understand how the process works. >> i would argue that newt would have responded that way whether it was the first question or the fifth question. >> at this moment t would be a losing issue for the republicans if he becomes a nominee. >> it's interesting, if he wins south carolina, it keeps the race going. >> and we're going to talk about that. we're going to lack at other key moments in the fascinating debate. another moment when senator santorum challenged gingrich's ability to focus on any one problem long enough to solve it. we'll be right back. >> announcer: with nothing but his computer, an identity thief is able to use your information to open a bank account... in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock-- the only identity protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock-- relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. welcome back to this special edition of "360." less than 36 hours before south carolina's primary. so many questions with allf othe candidates. we're here with our panel. also, eric erickson is here. eric, you weren't part of the previous conversation. your thoughts on tonight's debate. >> i was really surprised how forceful gingrich -- i guess i shouldn't have been. he was forceful in the beginning. he locked in all of the momentum of monday's debate with that first question. there are two questions that have been in the news all week. the one was his marriage. the other was romney's taxzs. romney flailed around tonight. he knew the attack was coming. newt gingrich knew the attack was coming and made it an attack on the media, had the crowd applauding, they booed romney on the tax issue. >> do you think that open, the fiery moment in the debate, maybe won it for gingrich in south carolina? >> every candidate had good points tonight. there were good peaks and good valleys for all of the candidates. rick santorum probably gave out the best attack on gingrich. it's the one every behind the scenes had been whispering around, but gingrich had a good comeback and closed well on romney ffs taxes. all people are going to talk about is taxes, immigration, and gingrich's open, and that's all going to benefit him. >> the question was about gingrich's stability or riskiness. let's play that. >> grandiosity has never been a problem with newt gingrich. he handles it very, very well. that's one of the issues here, folks. a month ago, he was saying, oh, it's inevitable i'm going to win the election and i'm destined to do it. i don't want a nominee where i have to worry about what he's going to say next. and that's what i think we're seeing here. for him to suggest that someone who was tied for first and eventually won the iowa caucuses and finished with twice as many votes as he did and finished ahead of him in new hampshire despite the fact he spent an enormous amount more money. and i was behind and finished him. i was 2-0 coming into south carolina and i should get out of the race. these are not cogent thoughts. >> i think grandiose thoughts, this is a grandiose country of big people doing big things, and we need leadership prepares to take on big projects. >> newt gingrich knows how to answer a question. and turn it his way, which is what he did with the first answer and what he did with that. but it's also true that rick santorum did exactly what eric said. he started giving voice to what is being whispered about. and the word you hear is a word that gloria used in her interview with santorum. are you saying he's erratic. erratic. that's the word, and in this, he said, yeah, basically. in this, it was the most important characteristic to defeat a candigate. if you thought he was erratic and was going to have his finger on the button, forget it. it was a loaded issue. >> gingrich is where he is in the debate because of a strong series of debates. it's his history and he's good at it. the debate about gingrich is he rose up, then slipped down and rose up. he's very, very gifted politically in the sense he handles it. he said, i did some things but, and he goes where he is. romney says i'm a reliable leader. they said newt was combustible, erratic, when he was a speaker of the house. there were a lot of his friends and deputies who sometimes scratched their heads about what he was doing and what he was up to, but he comes back with, we won that majority, we made bill clinton budget the balance, didn't we. he's a strong debater. this will continue. >> do you think he will win south carolina? >> this is moving too strongly in his direction. you could feel it coming earlier in the week. newt is a southern politician. the fact that romney is doing well is the fact that mitt has run a good campaign. >> donna, i think you were saying he could. >> this is a state where you don't need an organization. he could win the state by the momentum he's generated in the debate and the fact he's from a neighboring state. >> it's sort of interesting obthis sort of grandiosity, so in my blackberry like three minutes after rick santorum spoke about newt gingrich's grandiosity came an election saying a selection of his thoughts over the years, and the first quote was, of course, gingrich on gingrich, i think i am a transformational figure, which those of us who covered newt gingrich know that he always spoke of himself in the third person as a transformational figure, and that's what santorum was saying, that people tried to overthrow him when he was speaker of the house and throw him out. >> their candidate on this day, was this a bad night for him. >> >> think mitt romney is a double hitter, hit more doubles here. rick santorum had his best night yet, a triple. newt swings for the fences and he connected tonight. he could have spectacular whiffs, and we don't know from day to day if he's going to hit a home run or strike out. >> you saw the angry newt some time and the smiling, jovial newt, and it was interesting because you saw the whole range tonight in the debate, starting with the anger at john. >> we have to take another break. we'll hear more from the panel in a moment. a lot more amazing moments in this debate. stay tuned. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. 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[ male announcer ] another reason more people stay with state farm. get to a better state. ♪ let's take a closer look at some of the claims made on the stage tonight here in north charlstep. we're keeping them honest, starting with a statement from rick santorum. >> when they weren't picking each other apart, delay went after the white house, and one of the sharpest attacks kaem from rick santorum on president obama with his relation to the military. >> the president of the united states can't cut one penny out of the social welfare system and he wants to cut a trillion out of the military and hit the veterans, and that's disgusting. >> can't cut one penny. that's what he had to say. let's take a look at some of the facts involved. when you look at what the president has done, he had some circumstances where he has proposed $585 billion in cuts. including big cuts for medicare, medicaid, and other health programs. $42 billion from federal worker benefits. i guess that depends on what you're defining as welfare programs or social benefit programs. beyond that, let's go to the question of the military, which i think really matters in the case. if you look at the military, what we see is that the president has been talking about military cuts, but half of the cuts are automatic because the thing in the fall, if they couldn't come to a deem, they would have automatic cuts, they're due. it's on congress's plate. some related to a scale down in iraq and afghanistan. some of the cuts are there. and funding was up under bush and up under obama. if you look at all this, you have to say we would give if a rating of false. >> all right, tom, we'll continue to check in with you. there are a lot of riveting moments. the audience played a role in a number of them, including this one. a tough question on taxes for mitt romney. >> mr. speaker, you talk about all of the things to do with ronald reagan and reagan revolution and the jobs created in the reagan years. in the reagan diary, you're mentioned once, and in the dierary, he said you had an idea in a meeting of young congressman, and it wasn't a very good idea and he dismissed it. that's the entire mention. he mentioned george bush 100 times and even mentioned my dad once. there's a sense that george washington is pulling the strings in america, but the free people are pursuing their dreams and taking risks and work hard, those are the people who make america strong, not washington. >> you did very will under the rules that we created to make it easier for entrepreneurs to go out and do things. you would have been much poorer had jimmy carter remains president. >> let me just tell you, mr. speaker, you're a speaker four years. i was in business 25 years. so you're not going to get credit for my 25 years, number one. number two, i don't recall a single day saying, oh, thank heavens washington is there for me. thank heavens. i said, please get out of my way, let me start a business and get to work. >> obviously, that was not the correct exchange we're looking for. john, since you moderated, you can tell us what it was. you had an interesting question to governor romney about releasing his tax returns. and you used his father's quote about releasing his own taxzs. >> george romney was unprecedented at the time, if you read the clips from the 1960s, before in '67. before the campaign year, he was running in '68, hao was asked about his taxes. he waited a wihile, and then whn he released them, he released 12 years. he said, if he released one year, it could be for show. meaning, if you know you're going to release them, you could adjust them. the one year you're releasing may not be the same as the last 8 or ten of your life. >> we have the exchange. >> we mentioned the democratic attack. back in 1967, your father set a ground-breaking standard in american politics. he released his tax returns. he released them not for one year but for 12 years. when he did that, he said this, one year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show. when you release yours, will you follow your father's example? >> maybe. i don't know mau many years i'll release. i'll take a look at what our documents are. and i'll release them, multiple years, i don't know how many years. i'll be happy to that. i know there are some who are anxious to see if they can't make it more difficult for a campaign to be difficult. the democrats want to go after the fact i have been subsisful. i'm not going to apologize for being successful. and i'm not -- i'm not suggesting that these people are doing that, but i know the democrats will go after me on this basis. that's why i want to release these things all at the same time. >> a lot of the audience not happy with his answer, but high tried to pivot it basically and put it against the white house. >> well, look, newt gingg rf released his taxes, $3.1 million in income, $900,000 in taxes. mitt romney runs the risk of being mr. 1%. >> i think what is going on as a pr guy, if i were advising him, i would say don't put out a single piece of pamer until you can explain every line on every piece of paper. the worst thing you can do is say i don't have answers to every question. he needs to organize, get a team, look at everything, get the right tax attorneys look at every and make sure there's an answer to all of the questions. >> they're going to do it. and then we'll have this conversation. >> i agree and disagree. the remarkable thing is he has been a very steady performer in these debates. he almost uniformly has had a good debate, but in the last two debates, when it comes to his personal wealth and taxes, he keeps stumbling. he needs a firm sense of what he's planning to do. he keeps morphing. he kept morphing, maybe i'll release one, now i'll release one, now it's multiple. >> it's not a surprise this is an issue. he knew it in 2008, coming into the race this toom. it's the democrats and the white house and obama campaign that have been pushing the issue. his problem is some of the republican nominees have adopted it. so if you talk to any of the campaign, why has the polling changed, why is gingrich gaining momentum, romney coming down in the last three, five days, the answers on this question are a driving force in it. >> i'm sorry. >> when you talk to people in the romney campaign and say, why does he -- why can't he just give a straight answer to this? you get a couple things. one is he's uncomfortable talking about his personal wealth, and he doesn't do it very well because if he wants to represent the middle class, here i am, a child of wealth, who made even more money, he hasn't found the right way to talk about that. and the second reason, which i also think plays into the south, is that when you see his tax returns, you'll see he's given an awful lot of money to the mormon church. some people would think that's a great thing. you give money to your church. you're a wealthy man. >> re-enforces the religion issue. >> it does. >> is this an issue which is having an impact in south carolina, the tax issue? >> a huge issue. monday night, he had a bad stumble in the debate on this question that he should have know about since 2006. then a week of reports with one key phrase he's going to have a problem with, vcayman island. most americans don't have bank kaekts in the cayman islands. then he comes in tonight and his question is maybe to the question asked. that's jon huntsman level bad joke in the debate stage. i think newt gingrich is right, it's better to have it come out now than august. >> he also made fun the other day of earning $374,000 in speaker fees. now, i don't want to say, you know, but that's a lot of money. >> where is he going with this? >> he was saying it's not a lot of money. >> but something bigger is happening in the whole campaign conversation. this is a campaign about jobs and gradually it's been a question about equality in jobs and romney is tletting it slip away, and obama is driving it. and it's a big shift. >> very happy at the obama headquarters that this issue is a drip, drip, drip. some say take it away until november. they like it. >> is this race about to change depending on what happens in south carolina. is this about to become something else entirely. we'll talk about that, take a quick break. more of the question about how people perceive governor romney. we'll be right back. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understand what you really need. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 if you have painful, swollen joints, i've been in your shoes. one day i'm on top of the world... the next i'm saying... i have this thing called psoriatic arthritis. i had some intense pain. it progressively got worse. my rheumatologist told me about enbrel. i'm surprised how quickly my symptoms have been managed. 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[ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. no lwill be giving awayy rate. passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. going back to 1978, it is in my view a perfect example of why we need to send to washington someone who has not lived in washington but somebody who has lived in the real streets of america, living in the private sector who has started a business, who helped lead the olympics, who helped lead a state. we need someone outside of washington go to washington. >> that was governor romney talking about real world experience with questions being asked about how well he connects with real people. let's bring in john king, ari fleischer. eric, the debate over bain capital, is that one that is still resonating here in south carolina. >> i think it is to a degree, and the degree is even if the evangelical meeting in texas, a lot of people wanted to defend capitalism, but they understand, how do you make money when you lose and win at the same time? and the entry tonight, we want someone who grew up in the streets of america. i scratched my head and said which one of your five houses in the streets of america, martha's vineyard really the streets of america? >> eric is not a romney fan. >> not a romney fan. >> it leaves a lot of people with that question. he has been, the reason he stumbugs in the debate that is more surprising is he has been such a consistent debater or the course of the campaign and he's corrected mistakes. there's something about the last week, something about the tax question. we don't read minds, don't understand the strategy. when gingrich first serves, they were complaining, but they got back it in. and there's something. there's something going on in the campaign that has been a little off right now. >> he's having a hard time with the language he used. going back to the debate, the bet, taking $374,000 and saying, i earned this fee, but it wasn't very much. it's sort of disconnected from the middle class. so i think, you know, historically, as john pointed out earlier, we have elected a lot of rich people to office, but those are people who connected with the middle class, they had an emotional connection, and that's somehow -- >> let's look at where the race goes now, let's play this out here. there were a lot of talks twor weeks ago that it could be over after south carolina. does it feel that way tonight to you. >> to use a baseball expression, we're into the fourth inning with too many players on the field, maybe three. they thought maybe the game would be over after three races, three innings, and romney would win it. if he wins in south carolina, that's a vote. i don't think that's going to happen. >> gingrich and santorum want to be the last conservatives in the race. and they're both seem to be refusing to give up the idea. >> that's why santorum was going after newt gingrich tonight, to try and say, look, i'm a real conservative here. romney campaign believes that it is the only campaign with the staying power and the organization and the money to get the requisite number of delegates to go the long haul and finally get the nominations. so their feeling is if we go through a blitz in south carolina, ie, we lose, we will continue through and we are the only ones who are built that way and can do it. >> and they got on the air early in florida. >> the only ones. >> and even if gingrich wins here, he'll raise a little money. not enough to counter that. the last few years. not just the last few weeks, our politics in the country have been volatile. if he wins south carolina, he's a prohibitive favorite. gingrich will look for a one-on-one shot. that happened to mccain, huckabee, romney. the establishment if he keeps winning, will clamp the money down on the other candidates. >> the benefits of ron paul. >> we haven't talked about ron paul. he's in for the long haul. >> a week ago, we thought romney was going to wrap this up here in south carolina. this goes on as unpredictable, and gingrich does one better, he comes back from the dead twice. >> we have to take a quick break. here is a key, eric erickson tweeted, one day i hope to tell the story of what happened in the last three days, but not now. we're back with our panel, john king, gloria borger, donna brazile, and eric erickson. >> said, just spoke with gingrich who said my story is the truth, if he changed, he could have stepped up tonight and said he was sorry. do you think it continues beyond tonight, this story? >> i think it continues quietly for people who think what you do in private is a reflection of what you do in public. >> he said tonight she's lying, and she said, no, i'm not. that invites the press to pursue it, and it's going to have continuing repercussions. there are a lot of issues. >> so this truth you said about you would said day like to figure out what happened in the last three days? >> i'm wearing the same tie i wore a couple months ago when i announced rick perry's candidacy in charleston. and it somehow fell into a role of lots of people calling me the last few days. >> eric, in this race, what is going to happen on saturday? has your mind changed, what will happen? >> i think newt gingrich has strong momentum. he picked up the endorsement of the house of representatives. >> i have to wrap it up there. you're all going to be pleased i didn't ask for your predictions.