easy to attack. >> i want individuals to have their own insurance. that means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. i like being able to fire people who provide services to me. if someone doesn't give me good service, i want to say i'm going to get somebody else to provide that service to me. >> seven of those words, i like being able to fire people, knocked front-runner romney back on his heels. jim acosta joins from us bedford, new hampshire. i get the bigger context. not so controversial if you listen to it all and hear it out. isn't he supposed to know better? >> you would think so, john. i was in that room with governor romney when he made those comments. the people listening to him, it was granted a chamber of commerce audience. they didn't really notice this as any sort of gaffe or stumble. but in the context of the narrative that he has been in in the last 24 hours, these were not good comments. if you take a look at what he said, he said i like to be able to fire people who provide services to me. yes, he said that in the context of health insurance but the words themselves, it's really up to interpretation. you know, a viewer or listener could hear those comments and say, well, he's talking about providing services. what service is he talking about? is he talking about health insurance or could there be other services? >> so it is no surprise that the perry people have come out with a ring tone now that you can find on their website where you can hear those words repeated over and over again. the obama campaign, the dnc, they've all seized on these comments, john. it was becoming such a barrage by the end of the day, the romney campaign came out with an e-mail to reporters reminding us in the press, john, as to what mitt romney was talking about when he made those comments. john? >> and jim, what's their sense? obviously they're heavy favorites in new hampshire. this does play into the narrative, whether you're taking it out of context or not that he's affluent, he doesn't get, it doesn't understand our struggles. what do they see is the impact beyond tomorrow and the new hampshire vote? >> well, i mean, i think that's why he came out today and answered those questions even though there were only five or six questions. all of this is difficult for the campaign given the fact in the last 24 hours, he's made other ill advised comments. take what he said on sunday in rochester talking to a crowd unprompted by the audience when he talked about how he felt in times in his life he is worried about getting fired or getting a pink slip. let's play a little bit of that comment and i can give you context. >> i know what it's like to worry whether you're going to get fired. there were a couple of times when i worried whether i was going to get a pink slip. i care very deeply about the american people. it frightens me to see a president who has made so many mistakes when people are hurting so badly. >> so there you hear mitt romney talking about worrying about pink slips. the other campaigns have seized on this. he was asked about this at that media avail. he said i did start at the bottom at bain. when i started at the bottom, i was worried about my job. he had a meteoric rise. he didn't have to worry about being fired for very longing. >> we'll assess the impact in the next 24 hours. you need proof his rivals saw an opening there, huntsman was quick to pounce. >> i will always put my country first. it seems that governor romney believes in putting politics first. governor romney enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> also in new hampshire today, this bold prediction from former pennsylvania senator rick santorum. polls show him trailing by double digits. he predicts the race will boil down to one between himself and mitt romney. >> over time, it's not going to be this primary or the next, but we'll have several races down the road. this field will narrow. it will be a one-on-one race and it will be mitt romney against rick santorum and we'll win this race. >> we'll talk to santorum in a moment. call this the golden rule, politics edition. do unto others as they have done unto you. remember the group in iowa? now a pro gingrich group is making a buy in south carolina. the target of the nearly $3.5 million pro-gingrich add by, you guessed it, mitt romney. >> wall street's corporate raiders made billions of dollars. >> private equity leaders getting rich at the expense of american workers. >> their greed was only matched by their willingness to do anything to make millions in profits. nothing was spared, nothing mattered but greed. mitt romney became ceo of bain capital the day the company was formed. his mission, to reap millions for himself and his investors. >> speaker gingrich says he welcome the help. >> given the weight of negative activity that romney threw at us in iowa, you would be less than human if you weren't pretty happy you're going to see more of an even playing field. we'll see. >> cnn's peter joins from us south carolina. the speaker getting help from friends, getting more negative. being negative sometimes takes down the other guy. it doesn't help you though. what's the gingrich calculation in south carolina? >> well, i think the speaker learned his lesson in iowa. 49% of voters in south carolina, according to our most recent poll are undecided. romney's at 37%. a lot of republicans here think that's pretty high. so why not bring mitt romney down at this point. nothing to lose for newt gingrich. i just want to the put that total ad buy in perspective. $3.4 million will buy a ton tv buy here. half a million is a good heavy buy. you'll see stuff during morning shows and watching shorts. rick santorum has $200,000. i've been casually watching tv down here. i've seen that ad five or six times. with the newt gingrich superpac up with $3 million, south carolina voters are going to get swamped with that anti-romney message here in south carolina, john. >> and peter, the message being he can echoed by texas governor rick perry, no? >> he's seizing on the same theme that will huntsman and gingrich are hitting romney with. listen what he said earlier today talking about bain capital. >> i had to shake my head yesterday when one of the wealthiest men i suppose that's ever run for the presidency of the united states, the son of a multimillionaire, mitt romney, he said i nope what it's like to worry about whether you're going to get fired. there were a couple times when i wondered whether i was going to get a pink slip. i mean, he actually said this. >> john, rick perry is speaking right behind me in greenville at an event and really tore into romney in even harsher terms just now pointing to a factory in gaffney, south carolina, basically saying that mitt romney fired your friends and your neighbors. really personalizing this, localizing it here in south carolina in almost tougher terms than anything knight gingrich or jon huntsman said about bain capital. he's drilling this message home in south carolina where people have been affected by bain capital, john. >> peter hamby, thank you. ron paul's campaign is war gaming now how to keep the texas congressman in the race for the long haul. today he told dana bash that may mean putting money and resources into caucus states instead of focusing on big primaries like florida which companies first. >> we don't have plans for you know, like a $10 million, $20 million because we don't have the money in the bank. we'll have to wait and see, but it is planned that we at this moment, we don't have a big campaign planned there. but they'll know we're there, and we have the caucus states that we'll be paying for attention to. >> president obama's losing his right-hand man at the white house. bill daley who took over for rahm emanuel about a year ago will leave around the end of this month. >> obviously, this was not easy news to hear. and i didn't accept bill's decision right away. in fact, i asked him to take a couple of days to make sure that he was sure about this. but in the end, the pull of the hometown we both love, a city synonymous with the daley family for generations was too great. >> replacing daley will be the president's budget director, jack lew. here with the inside story, white house correspondent jessica yellin. the president says you want to spend time with your family. what really happened here? >> first of all, there are a lot of top insiders who have been with barack obama and now president obama since he was in the senate. a lot of chiefs, if you will, and it was hard for bill daley to break in because the president has so much advice from so many top people. so that was a challenge. the other thing, he was brought here to improve releases with the business community and with the hill. relations with the business community no longer a top priority given the president's campaign message, reaching out to working americans. you know how relations went with the hill. there you go, john. >> well, put, family friendly. he will advise the campaign. it strikes me as a fearful omen. remember bill daley was al gore's chairman in recount year. >> right, he is one of the co-chairs in the campaign. and you know, that's a bit of a ceremonial role. it's a lot of i think helping with fund-raising and counseling and advice. one point to point out is that this -- it makes three -- depending how you count possibly four chiefs of staff in one term for the president. some would say that seems like a lot of turnover. the white house bats an eyelash at that and says not at all, this is a very busy time to be chief of taf. and that explains all the many who have come and gone, john. >> chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. whatever happened to no drama na obama. rick santorum says voters, it isn't romney's turn to be the republican nominee. the former senator joins us live next. and later, what today's half foot of rain did to parts of houston. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? 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[ male announcer ] why do we grow quaker oats? because there are mountains to climb. ♪ dreams to be realized. ♪ new worlds to be explored and hearts to be won. quaker oats. energy to get you going, fiber to help fill you up and help keep your heart healthy. super people eat super grains. will be giving away passafree copieslthy. of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. today in new hampshire, rick santorum predicted the race for the republican nomination will boil down to a contest between himself and mitt romney, perhaps wishful thinking. but santorum used his final day pitch to give an anti romney history lesson of sorts. >> let's put up, you know, bob dole because it's his turn. let's put up john mccain because it's his turn. let's put up those moderates that can win, right? those moderates that can win, according to who? >> former senator taking a break from the campaign trail to join us live. thanks for your time on such an important evening. governor huntsman, speaker gingri gingrich, governor perry right now seizing on this comment, governor romney saying today, you know, i like being able to fire people provide services to me. you said earlier today, i'm not making it a liability. i believe in the private sector. not an opening? >> well, look, you know, let people judge what his comments are. i'm going to talk about his record. his record as governor is plenty of fodder for me to show someone who is not a limited conservative. someone who believes inch government solutions to the problems and not believing in free markets, free people and free enterprise. that's what the president -- the presidency is about in this electionet, getting this economy going. certainly every comment, everybody makes, is certainly fuel for fodder for voters to talk about. but i'm going to keep focused on our economic message of making sure that everybody in america prospers particularly as you've heard me talk about the manufacturing sector in small towns and blue collar workers having the chance to rise in society. >> you come from that blue collar background and talk about your grandfather in the coal mine and your work to try to bring back the steel plants that closed down. i know you think you have potential long-term in this race. the other guys are trying to say mitt is rich. he doesn't understand working class voters. when you look at the rest of the field, is that fair for them to make that argument or if not you, who would you pick? >> you know, i don't know. they all come from different backgrounds. rick perry has come from a humble background. newt came from a relatively humble background. this is a different republican party. i certainly can attest to that. my grandfather was a democrat. he was a union guy, a union coal miner. so the idea that the republican party is the party of you know what used to be called the rockefeller republicans, that party's long gone. this is a much more diverse party focused on small business, talking about the values that made this country great of limited government and believing in small community solutions and family solutions to the problems and that's what we know, would. that's what we know common sense values of america and that's what the republican party represents today. >> you're telling the voters of new hampshire make me the commander in chief? i have the most experience if you look at my time in the senate. you use sometimes provocative language to what a president santorum would do if we're in the dicey situation we're in right now, iran perhaps developing a nuclear weapon that can deliver a missile. listen to senator santorum campaigning earlier today. >> ultimately saying that you know, if none of this is working and we are concerned about this happening, then we set a deadline. and we say if you don't meet that deadline and open up this facility and begin 0 dismantle it, we're going to take it out for you. declare war? no, but take out with tactical strikes to take out this facility. >> would a president santorum do deadline strikes or deadline last ditch dialogue strikes. >> well, of course, i think you heard the beginning of that quote. i said ultimately. i had gone through a whole series of things we would do before we would hit that point. but i've made it very, very clear and made it repeatedly clear when a theocracy that has the same kind of vir ru lent jihadist ideology that the iranian government has that is similar almost identical except shiite versus sunni to al qaeda is in control of a nuclear weapon, the world is a fundamentally different place, a world the united states cannot let happen if we have the opportunity to stop it from happening. some have suggested by taking strikes, again if that is absolutely necessary, to stop them from getting a nuclear weapon will start a war. i disagree. it will stop a horrible war that will happen when iran will be funding terrorist organizations and other groups that will be waging jihad around the world and particularly here in the homeland of this country. so this is not a -- this is not something that i take lightly. i take it very seriously. we're going to give iran every opportunity to step away from the brink of being a nuclear power, but if they do not, we cannot let that happen. >> what we're going to be learning what the conversation will be inside your inner circle tomorrow night. you are the candidate who ran very close toes candidate romney. you come into new hampshire with moment momentum. if you can outperform speaker gingrich in new hampshire, if you outperform speaker gingrich, you know the calculation if we go to south carolina. it was bob dole's turn, john mccain's turn. if mitt romney hassan tore rum, perry, to his right he may win south carolina. if you can outperform the speaker again, would you turn to him and say we need him to get a clear shot at governor romney? i've beat you twice, you should step aside? >> i'm not going to ask anybody to get out of this race. i'm going to try to get the people of south carolina if we do well here in new hampshire to line up behind the strongest candidate here. obviously, we finished in a tie for first and speaker gingrich finished fourth in iowa. we're hopeful to do well here. obviously, you know, speaker gingrich got the union leader endorsement which some have said is worth ten points here in new hampshire. they've been working hard for him in the newspaper here. he's been spending money here. we haven't spent a of penny on broadcast television here in new hampshire. we've only spent five days campaigning here in the last month. we just came here starting at 2 or 3 points pretty much tied with rick perry in new hampshire. we've been working hard and now into the double digits. hopefully we can finish well. if we do better than these other twoer conservative alternatives, if you will, i'm hopeful that they'll take a look at making sure we don't keep dividing the vote and we can line up behind another candidate. but that's their decision to make. >> senator santorum, 24 hours from now, we'll see how all that shoe leather pays off for you. we'll see you tomorrow. >> thank you very much, john. >> thank you. next on the trail today, senior congressional correspondent dana bash caught up with ron paul. he's not ready to predict tomorrow's outcome but he knows how important it is. >> right now we're waiting to see how we do tomorrow night and see how the money comes in. teoa. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or serious allergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease and before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the latest you feed to know right now. >> good evening, everyone. a couple quick updates for you. today officials at the white house and state department condemned iran for ordering the execution of a captured american, amir hekmati is an ex-marine arrested in august while visiting his grandmother but iran's news agency says he's in the cia and caught red handed working for an enemy country. his family and the u.s. government deny that. also, severe storms left a mess around houston, texas today. at one point, an inch and a half of rain fell in about ten minutes. flash floods inundated highways and neighborhoods. 7,000 customers lost electricity. emergency crews needed boats to get around. crazy weather in houston. it was what, 60 degrees in d.c. last week, snowing today. >> i'm not sure you want to come home yet, buddy. >> the weather center is right off the election center. maybe i'll try to direct it from here. >> exactly. >> kate, we'll see you in a few minutes. still ahead, the truth about mitt romney's business record. he's telling voters he created 100,000 jobs when he was the ceo of bain. and ron paul's strategy could mean more attention to some other states and less attention on florida. to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. in this half hour, he may not be in first place but still running strong. now ron paul's campaign is making plans for the long haul. also the truth about mitt romney's business records. it's not as heartless as his opponents would like you to believe. plus, tonight's moment you missed is a debate all wet. at least it's not the u.s. congress. tracking a republican presidential primary process, right? but the key to winning in new hampshire tomorrow is capturing the support of independent voters. gloria borger is here for a closer look. this is the map from four years ago. let's go up to new hampshire. this is how it broke down in the general election. let's come 2012 when you look at the republican primary. here's our candidates, michele bachmann dropped out of the race. independents, why? >> independents really important because they're about 40% of the electorate in a republican primary. so you can walk in and say i'm an independent voter and vote in a republican primary. last time around 2008, there were two primaries. so independents could go either way. now they expect a larger number of independents to vote in this republican primary, and i would say that's good news for mitt romney. >> you say good news because john mccain benefited four years ago. a lot of the independents play on the democratic side. especially conservative independents. more people are registered as nondeclared or independent in new hampshire. most vote democrat than vote republican. but mccain benefited four years ago from this. when you come here, you say.rony. if i'm jon huntsman i'm thinking those are the voters i want. ron paul is saying those are some of my people, especially some of the students. >> i think what mitt romney has going for him as he makes the argument to independent voters and this counts if you look at some of the internal polls in new hampshire is the electability argument. and that appeals to independents because if they want to beat barack obama, they look the an mitt romney who says i'm more electable than ron paul and certainly more than jon huntsman who has been nowhere in the polls and ron paul he says cannot go the distance. vote for romney. >> his attacks on romney about bain capital, he doesn't care if you get laid off or lose your job. do we believe that has an impact in new hampshire or is the test there south carolina and beyond? >> i think it might have more of a test in new hampshire to i certain degree with some voters there. but also south carolina could be a big problem for him. you know, the issue is and rick santorum keeps making the argument that mitt romney is not the guy to make the middle class argument for the republican party. rick santorum says he's the person to make the middle class argument because of his roots. what this does is, it divides the republican candidates along class lines and i don't think that's something they really want to do. >> i brought this map up. this is clinton, obama. hillary clinton came back late in new hampshire four years ago. we'll be looking down here tomorrow night. manchester, nashua. you have small town voters down scale voters, the republican attacks are aimed at saying mitt doesn't understand you. we'll have fun with this one. >> i think it has resonance all the way. i think it's an argument they've glommed on to. obviously, mitt romney given his gaffes has had a lot of trouble dealing with it on the stump. >> we'll watch it play out in new hampshire tomorrow night. ron paul is gaming out how to keep him in the race for the long haul in new hampshire today, it was pure chaos. first, dana bash covering the paul campaign joins us from manchest manchester. what is congressman paul's take on the new hampshire primary tomorrow night and his chances beyond? >> it's critically important to him. as you well know, he's anything but traditional when it comes to the substance and issues. same goes for his strategy going forward. he's really banking on new hampshire to do better and raise money in the future, but in terms of another big state coming down the pike, don't look for him to compete there just yet. that's florida. >> going to compete in south carolina but skip florida and go onto the next caucus states. why is that? >> that's not exactly true. we'll be doing something in florida. we're waiting to see how weep do tomorrow night and see how the money comes in. but we're not forgetting about florida. but we don't have plans for like a $10 million, $20 million program because we don't have that money in the bank and we can't go to wall street to get this money. so we'll have to wait and see. but it is planned that we at this moment we don't have a big campaign planned there. but they'll know we're there, and we have the caucus states that we'll be paying more attention to. >> does that say anything about your efforts to secure the nomination? it's hard to do it without competing in a state like florida. >> i think it tells you that we are realistic. that's the way we approached iowa. we thought we did pretty well there. right now, polls are looking pretty good up here. i think we're being realistic and shouldn't be acting like the government and planning to spend money we don't have. we have to wait and see how things go. >> realistic, paul says new hampshire is a state where at least in the closing moments, you do a lot of retail politics. tell us about an incident earlier today that caused tempers flaring in the paul campaign? >> you have been to many an event here as have i where it's chaos because candidates come, they try to greet voter and especially in the closing hours, it is madness. there are a lot of reporters wanting to cover these candidates up in front. that happened this morning when ron paul went to mojo's, a restaurant in manchester trying to meet and greet. it got pretty insane when it ms came to the media. he was going to sit down and have breakfast and ended up leaving which made some voters there who wanted to meet him who say that this is really their right and they demand this here in new hampshire, they were very upset about that. later on, i asked ron paul about that and he didn't love the question. >> at the last stop where you were, it was madness. but there was a woman there who was a new hampshire voter. she voted for barack obama in the last primary. she said she told me that if she would have been able to just shake your hand and look you in the eye, you would have gotten her vote. now she's turned off because you left. >> it says something about the media. >> and so he blamed the media. it's our fault. >> anyway -- he blamed the mediaen it's our fault. basically what he said was that the problem was that it was unsafe. that was what his campaign said afterwards is unsafe for him and his wife to be there. but john, look, i think the first one i covered first primary i covered here was 1996. you have a few more gray hairs than i do. you have witnessed scenes like that, i've witnessed scenes like that. part of the thing the rotors were saying to me that i talked to at that event was look, we've seen this before. candidates kind of work through it and do what they can to press the flesh. they were disappointed he didn't do that. >> dana bash, we'll see you tomorrow on the big day. after tomorrow, the fight for the republican nomination heads south. perry among other counting tea party conservatives to unite. this is one of the factors, as you know. >> thanks for having me. >> is mitt romney acceptable to the tea party. >> i think the tea party movement is trying to find the best constitutional conservative that has the ideas and solutions to turn the economy around and get us back on track. i mean, this has been very volatile, fluid up and down, ebbs and flows. now that congresswoman bachmann is out and herman cain is out, we're starting to see a little bit of a shift. >> where? >> well, i mean, i am seeing a shift towards perry and gingrich. i mean, it's almost like the perry campaign and gingrich campaign have put out an e-mail that said you need to lobby tea party express because i've been uninundated since last week with messages from supporters, not the campaign but from supporters. ultimately the people are going to have to decide, john. it's going to be part of what gloria was talking about. electability. but you know, an individual has to make the decision what's more important to them, electability or standing on principles and values. >> if romney eight-win vote in iowa, if he wins in new hampshire, he's 2-0 coming into south carolina. if he wins south carolina, i don't know a seasoned republican strategist who doesn't think he is well on his way to the nomination. if he wins tomorrow night, will there be a conversation saying we need to pick one? >> i will tell you that tea party express, we will be endorsing by south carolina. i believe south carolina is going to be a game-changer. and going into florida. those two states have two of the strongest tea party networks in the country. that's evident in the election of governor nikki haley even though she's endorsed romney. marco rubio was up against an establishment candidate that had unlimited money. you know, and rick scott. so those are two of the tea -- two of the strongest networks. this is the time when the tea party is going to flex their muscle and we'll see how strong the movement is. >> if mitt romney wins south carolina, will amy cramer work the country, work the tea party and say, we need him? he's better than obama or will amy cramer and a lot of tea partiers say maybe sit it out? >> it depends on what happens. i mean, i think this is going to be a very long drawn-out process. i don't think we're going to know who the nominee is by south carolina, which is next week. but look, at the end of the day, i want to defeat barack obama barack obama. we can't afford another elena kagan or sotomayor on the supreme court. we can't. the power grab last week with the recess appointments, we can't go there. that's what i'm focused on. >> amy creer. >> up next, the truth behind mitt romney's claim he helped create 100,000 jobs. later, a high bridge, an alligator infested river and a very lucky bungee jumper. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. back a few campaigns, president george h.w. bush walked into an event with a short note scribbled on to an index card. message i care. well, history does repeat itself. >> i care very deeply about the country. and i care very deeply about the people who work in america. i'm very concerned that over the last three years, you've seen america experience a very difficult time. >> let's be honest. he will never be known as middle class mitt. willard mitt romney is a son of privilege and now a very wealthy man and prone to comments that make for rather priceless sound bites. >> i like being able to fire people who provide services to me into to be fair to governor romney, if you listen to the context it's hard to argue with the point. he's talking about the virtue of competition for your health insurance business. >> that means the insurance company will have have an incentive to keep you healthy. it also means if you don't like what they do, you can fire them. i like being able to fire people who provide services to me. >> sounds a little different there, right, in full context. but life, love and politics aren't always fair. his rivals for the nomination know they're running short of days to stop him. editing his sound bites a misdemeanor they're more than happy to commit. >> it seems that governor romney believes in putting politics first. governor romney enjoys firing people. i enjoy creating jobs. >> this conversation flows from a bigger issue, that romney's days as the ceo of bain capital. he acknowledges some of the investments they invested in failed. governor romney insists most of the projects he worked on have over the years have resulted in a net gain of some 100,000 jobs. these are tonight's truth. that number 100,000 is squishy. no independent fact check organization has been able to verify it. i never thought i would live to see the day the free market, capitalism is on trial in a republican primary. newt gingrich suggests the former massachusetts governor put his profits over your job. >> so i do draw a distinction between looting a company, leaving behind broken families and broken neighborhoods and leaving behind a factory that should be there. >> a pro-gingrich political group is also pushing romney's heartless ez message with a massive ad buy down in south carolina. >> a group of corporate raiders led by mitt romney, more ruthless than wall street. for tens of thousands of americans, the suffering began when mitt romney came to town. >> governor romney, well, today, shrugs it all off. >> i thought it was going to come from the president and the democrats from the left. but instead it's coming from speaker gingrich and apparently others. that's just part of the process. >> he's right. it is part of the process. peel away down scale working class whites, the orthgoes and maybe you can keep governor romney from a big win tomorrow night and maybe keep him outright down the road in south carolina. you can be certain this romney is greedy and heartless will be central to the obama strategy if he wins the nomination. will it work? truth be told, that's a tough one. there are giant success stories in romney's bain record. both sides would have good examples. remember this, politically, those down scale working class voters were a giant obama weakness back in 2008 and remain a big soft spot now. what about the republican attacks? truth is, nothing else has worked and the clock is ticking. so class warfare and bashing the free market has at least a temporary home in the gop. for more on this, let's turn to two guests following the story closely. in new hampshire, cnn's chief business correspondent ali velshi. nicolas, i called it squishy. romney says over time 100,000 net jobs created. it's pretty hard to prove or disprove that number, isn't it? >> that's right. first remember that a lot of the companies that bain an kir choired in the period when he was there are privately held and you can't just walk in the front door and say how many did you fire, how many did you hire. the 100,000, the study comes from jobs created over a pretty long period of time by three companies that bain had a roll in turning around. you have to decide if you want to credit bain for all the jobs they've created since bain owned that company. it's very hard to get a firm number on the job creation number of mitt romney or the job killing record in his time at bain. >> and ali, this one i'm scratching my head. i've never heard the free market system, capitalism put on trial in a republican primary. romney's opponents don't want him to open 3-0. they are going after what he believes would be his great yeng strength saying i'm a ceo from the business government. barack obama nice guy but doesn't understand it. >> what companies, many of them are troubled. they're inexpensive and there's some sense that some will succeed and some will fail. the failure rate of companies bain bought was fairly high, but not fairly high necessarily compared to that class of business. he's a gambler. the wins on those that succeeded were so great that investors made a lot of money investing the bain. nicholas makes two great points. how much do you credit him with and bain with. it's the same mugs game that the president claiming that x number of jobs were created or lost during his tenure. bain was doing what bain does. whether or not romney's argument that that's what i was supposed to be doing versus you're out of touch, you fire people and then on winners. unclear as to where that's going to go, but you're right. it is funny to have a targets within the republican campaign coming at him. >> that's what he's saying about that. bring it on. listen to speaker gingrich here. he claims this issue essentially is mitt romney on your side. will he stand up and fight for the middle class as a defining moment in the republican race. >> oh, i think anybody who believes that a republican candidate is going to get through september and october without axelrod and obama spending a billion dollars on them, if somebody's going to crumble, they better crumble before the nomination. you don't want to end up in september with a nominee who's been untested and can't stand it. >> that's essentially saying ronald reagan had the 11th xandment. gingrich is saying, let's test it out. you're on the ground in a state where there's no democratic contest. there are a lot of these blue collar towns and the like voters. any sense, is it too late to make an impact in new hampshire or r any sense that people are listening? >> it's hard because he's so far ahead in new hampshire. he has some running room. i'm looking ahead to south carolina because you have a couple of forces at play there. one, it's a more conservative state. it's southern. gingrich is southern, but more importantly, there is a lot of, you know, old mill towns in south carolina. a lot of laid off workers and a long tradition of distrust of northeast rn yankee e lights, so i can imagine this kind of attack finding some credence among voters in south carolina and that's really where the super pack that is going to back gingrich is going to put a lot of money in the next couple of days, running ads that take aim at romney's record. >> the guy benefitted from the attacks directly, when you look, you're a financial xwi, you see governor perry, senator santorum, speaker gingrich. does one stand out as more of the pop list if you will? more attuned to stepping in if there's an opening created? >> i think it's coming down to a line -- this almost feels like a gingrich attack that santorum benefitted from because -- although santorum was on a board and got paid he havely for that. you know, these are weird allegations because even if they're true, this is what these guys did. it's very -- it's strange, but if anybody gains from this, it's probably santorum more than gingrich. >> we're going to spend some time on this. appreciate your time today t. we'll keep digging. it's pretty hard to get some of this information, but we'll keep at it. when we come back, if you've ever thought of bun gee jumping, stick around for a story that might make you think more than twice. and tonight's moment isn't a high point for debate. [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan was designed with near-perfect weight balance from front to back... and back to front. ♪ giving you exceptional control from left to right... and right to left. ♪ the cadillac cts. ♪ we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs. welcome back. kate bolduan's back. >> sarah palin and her husband, you probably noticed, have kept a pretty low profile. well today, todd palin came out to endorse newt gingrich. palin didn't tell gingrich, but says he can relate to the criticisms gingrich faced because it's similar to what his wife went through and take a look at these unfortunate injuries as well as this unfortunate video. this is what happened to a young australian woman bungee jumping in africa when the cord broke. everyone's worst nightmare if you've considered it. she plumeted more than 300 feet into a crocodile infested river, but survived and is expected to fully recover. thank tli. and president obama celebrated his favorite sport today by hosting the dallas mavericks at the white house. they defeated the miami heat last year to win the nba championship, but one teammate wasn't at the white house. west told reporters he was quote banned from the white house. west had a high profile arrest with a weapons charge in 2009, but a spokesman for the secret service says he would have been allowed in if he had shown up. i have no idea how those signals could have been crossed. kind of an appearance you want to show up for. >> if you want to turn the page. talk about appearances. appearances matter. you don't bungee jump, do you? >> i do not and won't after that video. >> you cover the congress. everybody watching thinks what a bunch of misfits. like a day care center. don't think it can get any worse. here's today's moment you missed. israeli parliament. one lawmaker dumped a glass of water. another member stormed out. it started when