the former governor haley barbour. before leaving office he gave 14 pardons including a murderer. in an exclusive interview with cnn, eps he's sorry and has found god and changed his life. he worked in the governor's office as part of a prison program for three years and talked with the governor he said every day. >> reporter: your pardon, as you probably know by now, has triggered a lot of outrage. not just yours, of course. but the pardons of other prisoners. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: what do you think about that? >> well, you know, if the lord lay it on the governor's heart, the inmates who work at the government around the world who have been working at the governor's mansion, be they, whatever they been doing their chores at the governor's mansion, yes, i think they should be pardoned. everybody deserved a second chance in life. >> martin savidge tracked him down and conducted that exclusive interview. martin, explain more on how he described his relationship with the governor and how important he thinks it was to his release. >> reporter: you know, he said it was really significant to his release. he describes the trustee program where he gets to be in the governor's mansion as pretty much a given. once you get into the program, it is known you will get a pardon. look at the cozy relationship he has with the state of mississippi. the man who has his fate in his hands. he gets to talk to him on an average basis. the average mississippi citizen has no access like that. but a man who murdered his own wife, shooting her in the back apparently gets to talk to the governor every day and make a point about how changed a man he is. >> martin, we were last night. the state was trying to find and track down these guys who had been pardoned and released. now there is a question about whether or not they'll be rounded up and returned to prison. you were able to find hill. how is the state of mississippi doing finding the others? >> reporter: they're doing better than they had been in the last couple days. of the four murders that were pardoned and then released, three are now back in custody. at least they've been served the orders that they have to now appear in court. one is still missing. his whereabouts are unknown. another one of those murderers was found out of state of neighboring alabama. but this is the one they're worried about. they're asking for the public, if anybody knows or has seen him, please notify the authorities. as for those pardons, the several hundred of them, the attorney general's office says most of them now they believe did not meet the criteria of the constitution of the state of mississippi. many could be going back to jail. >> a fascinating story. wonderful reporting on the ground. this afternoon, u.s. military officials confirmed this is dicey, navy and coast guard ships have been hawassed by high speed iranian boats in the straits of hormuz. look at this video. the u.s. navy and the coast guard ships, two close encounters with the smaller high speed iranian boats you see there just last week. the iranian boats did not respond to initial warnings creating some tense moments when the small iranian boats got pretty close. in the end, cooler heads prevailed in what is a transit point. let's map this out for you. increasing security stakes in the straits of hormuz. 17 million barrels a day. roughly 1/5 of the daily oil trade goes right through here, through the straits of hormuz. you see iran here. the united arab emirates, the persian gulf. this is what we're worried about here. see the red lines? this is what is known to be the range of surface to ship missiles. from iran, it could come out into the water. the blue line is the end of the barrier. the maritime waters boundaries and these yellow lines, these are the key shipping lanes. another concern especially, you just saw the small boats buzzing. the navy and coast guard vessels, the united states and others know iran has been working on its ability to use mines, to drop mines in here. you could disrupt shipping and u.s. military exercises, u.s. military ships in the area. high stakes here. the cnn correspondent joins us now. if iran does something more provocative and what we just saw was pretty provocative, what is the united states big to do? >> the defense secretary said he is big to do to keep the, that he is willing to do whatever it takes to he said kite open. they are keeping aircraft and troops in the region. the president would have to order them into action but the military clearly has the ability on the high seas from the skies to take that military action to keep the strait open. but you know, when you look at that video, you see an equal concern. what if one of those speedboats comes right for a coast guard ship? that's plenty prof o >> the escalates in his words, could be dangerous. the iran crisis surfaced on the presidential campaign. it was the very first thing mitt romney brought up when he started criticizing president obama this morning at a stop in south carolina. >> internationally, the greatest threat this nation will face over the coming decade is a threat of a nuclear iran. and he failed to put in place crippling sanctions against iran. he failed to speak up for the people in iran when they were in the streets, asking for freedom. he was silent. he failed to put in place a series of military option that's would convince iran that the course they're following is not one that will be acceptable to the world or to us. >> another campaign, governor romney is not responding to his opponents' campaign on his business record. in florida, newt gingrich kept hammering away, challenging romney to prove his claim that while the ceo, he created 100,000 jobs. >> to question a presidential candidate's claim that he created jobs is not to attack capital i. it is to question a candidate. and the idea that some candidate can make a claim and then yell foul the minute you ask him to prove it is just silly. i mean, if he can't stand up today and defend his claim, how is he going to stand up to obama in the fall? >> getting a little testy as you can see. south carolina's presidential primary eight days away. a brand new poll indicates the race is tightening. governor romney is leading gingrich 29% to 25%. ron paul in the hunt. a strong third at 20%. a new cnn/orc poll nationwide shows romney with a more comfortable lead. 34% to given's 18. the national polls showing a boot. our cheat political analyst gloria borger is here. you look at this on the ground in south carolina. the romney campaign shows it is not that tight but tightening. we'll have a pretty interesting week. >> it shows that first of all, the negative ads against romney are probably having some effect. if you believe this poll. and don't forget, south carolina, 9.9% unemployment. newt gingrich is saying that romney is essentially a corporate raider. he did not create 100,000 jobs. in fact, he killed jobs. and he is trying to put romney on the defensive there and in fact romney went up with ads talking about bain capital and how bain capital created jobs. >> we're watching this race. momentum matters. gingrich went down a lot when he was hit with the ads in iowa and you see it showing up in the poll. we asked favorable or unfavorable. look at this. look at this right here. just romney and gingrich. now governor romney has a 67% favorable rating. 67%. two-thirds of all republicans rate him favorably, up from 55% in november. and look at speaker gingrich. the flip side. only 49 give him a favorable rating. 61%, unfavorable. number one, romney is getting a bounce from winning and number two, speaker gingrich is seeing a definite toll from the attacks. >> it's interesting. gingrich tried to have it both ways and it didn't work for him either way. when he was positive in iowa, it didn't work for him. when he was negative in new hampshire, it didn't work for him. now it may be working for him a little more in south carolina, but it's funny because gingrich branded himself and then rebranded himself. and people did not like this sort of negative newt gingrich that they saw, although it may in fact be having an impact in south carolina. so very hard to tell right now. >> we'll watch. it will be interesting to see if our new national numbers change at all. our national results show that governor romney is benefiting. again from winning, people like to support a winner. big issues. the economy and the budget deficit. those matter most to republicans. what you would think might be governor romney's greatest vulnerability, herring. he has romney care, the individual mandate in massachusetts. if you look at the polling, who can best handle the economy? governor romney wins that one quite handily. if you look at the polling, who can best handle the budget deficit, romney followed by ron paul followed by newt gingrich. here's the one that surprised me. who can best handle health care? a poll of republicans, remember. 30% say romney, 20% say gingrich. so it's been a while since they've been sharply critical of romney on health care. at the beginning of the season, that's what it is all about. >> if you would have asked me a year ago whether mitt romney would be attacked on capitalism or health care, i would have said to you, are you crazy? of course he'll be attacked -- >> a capitalist. >> he'll be attacked on health care. now if you look at the poll, mitt romney has supported mandates. newt gingrich is second in that survey and he at one point in his career supported health care mandates. what do tea partiers hate the most? health care mandates. this shows that romney is successful and that people are beginning to trust him a little bit more on the issues. and that they believe him when he says, what i did at the state level, i wouldn't have done at the federal level. >> perhaps we'll learn. let's let a few more states vote this year than the 2010 cycle. you have a great weekend. a federal judge rejected an effort by four of the republican candidates to get on virginia's march 6. the primary ballot. only the mitt romney and ron paul campaign had enough signatures to qualify. the others knew the rules months ago in essence, played the game, lost and are now complaining the rules were unfair. the pentagon warns iran not to cross the line. next, the dangerous stakes. plus, monday is martin luther king day. in washington, the celebration began today. >> i have a dream this nation will lies up and live out the true meaning of its creed. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up $600 when you open an account. during a funeral for a nuclear scientist during a bombing, the israelis admit nothing. leon panetta said the united states was not involved in that killing. but secretary panetta gave the iranians a very clear warning. >> that means we have to keep all options on the table. all options on the table. and clearly there are those areas that for us are red lines. number one, we cannot allow them to develop a nuclear weapon. that's one. number two, we cannot tolerate iran blocking the straits of hormuz. >> let's check in now with fareed zakaria. this has gone on for some time. when you draw red lines, that means you better be ready to enforce them. especially when it comes to the immediate talk over the straits of hormuz. where is this headed? >> there is no question we are seeing an escalation that could be dangerous. there's an old saying in international relations. there are two things that are very expensive. threats when they fail and promise when's they succeed. and what you're doing with a red line, you're doing a bit of both. you're saying if you cross this red line, we guarantee there will be an american reaction. i think that the feeling on the straits of hormuz is that we would be able to reopen the straits but at considerable cost and with a considerable amount of not national tension. so oil prices would go up to $200, $250 a barrel. it would be a very, very complicated thing. now i think that the iranians understand that and they are backing down and they understand that they're closing the straits of hormuz would be madness for them because it would shut down effectively all of iran's imports and exports. it would make it impossible, any kind of iranian trade them would be the country most hurt by it. but we are also ratcheting up the pressure in a way where it isn't clear what the end game is here. iran is not going to cry uncle and simply say, all right, we surrender. >> and when the administration talks more tough on this side, we know we have a president of the united states and defense secretary. we have one voice of the government. in iran, there is always the question. mahmoud ahmadinejad have the full support of the ayatollahs and vice versa. when you have a warning and a blunt warning from the united states, is there a risk that it could play out differently within the competing factions inside iran? >> for precisely the reason that you describe, john, it is very unlikely that you will see some kind of major concession. the minute one of these actors makes a concession in iran, let's say mahmoud ahmadinejad says maybe we should talk to the americans. maybe we should negotiate. maybe we should freeze. his opponents within the system will say that's appeasement. that's selling out. the system is too fractured. too divided to imagine them making a big strategic decision like that. that we are going to make major concessions. i think there is a desire to find some way out within the iranian system. and we have to see if we can find an effective and clever diplomatic way to meet with that desire. in other words, keep the pressure on but try to chart some path out. otherwise you're just building up pressure and the whole thing could explode because of one miscalculation, a ship in the gulf in the straits of hormuz that somebody stops either ad vertently or inadvertently. the price of gas at the pump could go up to $5 or $6 a barrel very easily. >> it is that economic reason, is that the lever here? because both sides have the interest. there is no love lost between the two governments. no senior level communication between the two governments. you do have these two pretty cold facts. 35% of all seaborne traded oil passes through the strait. 1.1 million comes to the united states. 14 crude oil tankers through the strait. do both sides try to find a quiet way to step back? both sides know their economies would be crushed if this escalates. >> i think so. that's what you have to hope. this is a kind of version of mutual assured destruction. were they to try to block the strait, every buyer of that oil, there is something that means that these were. >> reporter: now unforeseen circumstances in which we do not have to pay you any more money. and that would be a huge blow to the iranian economy. it would also obviously be a crippling blow to the xhern economy. >> a complicated and consequential mess you might say. thank you. >> a pleasure. this was supposed to be day apple's latest iphone went on sale in china. but things didn't go the way anyone planned. >> security are running down here now. the mob continuing to follow them. >> we'll tell you why everyone is so angry. >> plus, candidates often talk about their roots. what about where they live now. ahead, how does your home match up? 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[ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. here's the latest news you need to know right now. >> happy friday. news to tell you about. a cnn investigation finds radiology students have been cheating on exams for years. here's how it works. students split up test questions to memorize. then share the answers with the next round of test takers. some argue it isn't cheating because they still learn the information. 139 doctors were suspended for sharing test questions in 2010. a lesson learned right there for all of you. other news, monday is martin luther king day. he would have been 83 this year. >> with this faith he will go to the mountain of despair, a stun of hope. with this faith -- >> today's fifth grade students from one of the schools recited the speech on the stems of the memorial where king himself delivered the speech in 1963. how wonderful is that? and for some of the republican presidential candidates, that white mansion at 1600 pennsylvania avenue here in washington, that one, of course, not that one but another one, it might not seem like such a move up. what i am a talking about here? in about ten minutes we'll show you the homes the candidates currently live in now. see how yours compares to theirs. what do you think? >> i'm dying to look. you know, politicians are just like us. >> the common man. they're just like us, john. >> all right. looking forward to that. you may have noticed we haven't shown you any of ron paul's campaign stops today. that's because there weren't any. coming up, where and what he's up to. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life, or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life, so get the insurance responsible drivers like you deserve. call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? the truth about president obama's new plan to streamline the federal government. let's just say timing is everything. >> also, ohm oprah explains why we won't be seeing her on the campaign trail with the president. and you've ever forgotten your change at the airport check point, the tsa says thank you. it all adds up to big bucks. first a rare black eye for apple. today's launch of an iphone in china turned into a riot. we see what happened and why. >> reporter: it wasn't supposed to be like this. eggs pelted at the apple store. people furious. tempers reaching boiling point. [ yelling ] angry potential apple customers viciously attacking security. security are running down here now. the mob are continuing to follow them. this is what happened when they didn't open the apple store. the crowd are getting angrier and angrier. punches have already been thrown. they're still following security. look over here. this story in a popular beijing shopping center was supposed to be open at 7:00 a.m. as the time ticked past, the mood turned south. then an announcement. the phone would not be sold here today. as people refused to leave, police moved in. we're here in the middle of the crowd. the police have been putting them out slowly. as you can see here now, they're moving in. they're shouting on the mega phone for people to leave. if you look over here, they're trying to force people away right now. >> reporter: those who wouldn't leave peacefully were hauled away by force. some people here blamed apple. others even holding the united states to account. but anger also directed at china itself. a country, they say, too quick to attack the own people, too ready to use force to impose order. what should have been a day of celebration has back fired for apple. its customs, even the state itself. stan grant, cnn, beijing. >> great reporting by stan grant. 160 conservative leaders gathered at a texas ranch to discuss the republican race and whether they can agree to back just one candidate. tony perkins tells cnn, this is definitely not a meeting about stopping one particular front-runner. >> this is not an anti-mitt romney weekend. it is not a bash mitt weekend. having said that, it is clear that this meeting wouldn't be taking place if conservatives, social conservatives were comfortable with mitt romney. >> cnn is all this. if it is not a bashing mitt romney weekend, it is a can we find somebody we all agree on week? >> you get that sense, right? clearly you get the sense this meeting wouldn't be taking place if everyone was on board and ecstatic about a mitt romney nomination. so what we've been told is that many of these people, more than 150 people gathering at this ranch just outside of britainham, texas. they will be talking about who to support. we've been told not to expect any kind of clear consensus but that some of these people might be coming out and issuing their personal endorsements. >> it's fascinating to watch. we talked to ed about this meeting. we know that there are some evangelical leaders who don't trust him. is there a credibility issue? he seem to have considerable momentum. if all came out and said we want somebody else, then romney goes on to win the nomination, wouldn't their credibility which some say is in decline any way. >> you would suspect that's something they're personally, each individual is taking into account. and it is not exactly clear if, who, if some of these guys were to come out and make these endorsements, how much influence that will particularly have at this point in the campaign. some have turned down the invitation to come down to this meeting this weekend. so we'll see. one of the other things we've been told to expect is maybe some of these folks coming out, not endorsing someone but maybe pushing other candidates out of the race. so that might be something interesting to look out for in the coming days. >> thanks. the latest polls show the texas governor ron paul in third place nationally and in south carolina. if you're looking for him on the campaign trail today or tomorrow, you won't find him. our correspondent dana bash is covering the campaign. where is he? >> he's not in south carolina, john. he happen been on the campaign trail since a quick stop in south carolina on wednesday. he won't go back there until sunday. you may think a candidate hoping to capitalize on that big second place finish in new hampshire would basically move into south carolina until the primary. that's the next contest on january 21st. but he is home in texas. his campaign says that he is raising money and getting ready to what are they say will be six hard days on the trail starting sun. but john paul certainly is a big presence in south carolina right now. check this out. the spending in the palmetto state. romney leads with more than $500,000. but ron paul's campaign is spending about $200,000. a lot of money for a state that doesn't cost very much to advertise. and also, his campaign says in fact, his chairman told me a couple days ago, that they intend to spend total about $1 million in that state. >> it's an interesting sub plot. ron paul said he still has a shot at the nomination. he is often on the trail with his son, the freshman senator. you hear more and more about rand paul in higher office. >> absolutely. i talk to people who know the paul movement and they tell me that it is not a question of whether rand paul runs for president. it is when he does it. yesterday senator paul was back home in the state of kentucky. a reporter asked him if he would consider running as the vice presidential running mate. he didn't shut it down. he did say he wants to push for conservative principles. right now that means fighting for his father's campaign. he did spend time on the trail with his father in iowa and new hampshire watching them, at least from my perms it was clear. there was a lot of grooming going on there. it wasn't just him as a surrogate. ron paul is 76 years old. he suggested he will retire from congress after this presidential run and he spent decades creating this movement that is obviously really gaining steam this year. and people who know him say he learned from his father's mistakes. he is a more vivacious and savvy politician. both of us whether or not he would run for a third material. one of the reasons why it is very unlikely is because if he does, it could take votes away from the republican nominee and potentially help electricity barack obama. that would mean anyone named paul would be a pariah in the republican party. >> establishment doesn't like them but they are a fascinating party in this campaign and perhaps in the future. you see this in every campaign. candidates for every office try to portray the image of being an average joe just like you. you see they will on the campaign trail. blue jeans. their bank accounts very often tell us a different story. sometime when they are asked to explain their wealth, they stumble. case in point, john mccain in 2008. >> how many houses do you and mrs. mccain have? >> i think, i'll have my staff get to you. i can't tell you. >> so how would this year's republican presidential candidates answer that question? some of them have luxury home. now looking at the real estate primary. >> you know that then candidate obama, he really jumped on john mccain trying to jump on that statement. trying to say that he is out of touch with the common man. thanks to our friends at cnn money, we were able to look at the current crop and the home behind the current crop of republican candidates. >> i just don't think that president obama understands manager. >> candidates often talk about their roots, saying where they came from tells you a lot about who they are. >> i grew up in a house that had no indoor plumbing. i didn't know about what i didn't have. but i did know what i had. >> reporter: while they try to relate to the common man on the campaign trail, what they go home to may not seem so common. multimillionaire mitt romney owns several properties, including this beachfront home in la jolla, california. zilliono values it at just under $10 million. jon huntsman purchased his d.c. townhouse for over $3.5 million while he was still living in beijing serving as the u.s. ambassador. >> everything i have is paid off. my home, my cars, everything. >> reporter: and that everything for former speaker newt gingrich includes this four bedroom pad in mclean, virginia, kly valued at $1.3 million. 30% above purchase price. >> we have one rental house in wisconsin. a very modest mortgage. >> reporter: sharing a virginia address, rick santorum purchased this home with a heated pool in great falls, virginia, for $2 million in 2007. >> i told people, i was the original conservationist. in the wintertime we didn't spend a lot of time in the water. we didn't waste too much water with the number two wash tub on that back porch. rick perry hangs his hat in a recommend property in austin while the texas governor's mansion is undergoing $20 million in renovations. you will find a very different set-up for congressman ron paul in lake jackson, texas. he is currently selling his four bedroom house for $325,000. though zillow values it $65,000 less. of course we don't want to leave president obama out of the fun. the obamas purchased their home, their chicago home in 2005 for about $1.6 million. it is he is made to be worth $1.3 million now, of course, thanks again to cnn money for helping us compile that. of course you're wondering, what about the house they want to upgrade to? zillow even tracked that. if you want to purchase the, the estimated value is over $261 million. but as one of my favorite producers pointed out, you can also rent it for $1.6 million a month. >> it has an occupant at the mole. he hopes to keep it four more years. >> but he's not paying that. thanks very much. ahead, president obama wants to streamline government. we'll put that promise to the truth test. plus, tonight's moment you may have missed. >> if you could be any animal, which one would you be? >> if i could be any animal? probably an elephant. >> you heard that right. newt gingrich wants to be an elephant. but his reason, trust me, might surprise you. on my journey acro, i've learned that when you ask someone in texas if they want "big" savings on car insurance, it's a bit like asking if they want a big hat... ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you want a firm bed you can lie on one of those, if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to the sleep number year-end closeout event. not just ordinary beds on sale, but the bed that can change your life on sale. the sleep number bed. it calibrates precisely to your body and your comfort zone. now you can feel what happens as we raise your sleep number setting and allow the bed to contour to your individual shape. oh yeah. it's really shaping to my body. it's the final days to save up to $800 on selected 2011 bed sets. plus, free standard shipping on all beds. you can adjust it however you want so you don't have to worry about buying the wrong mattress. once they get our bed, they're like, "why didn't i do this sooner?" hurry in to the final days of the year-end closeout event and save on the bed that can change your life. the sleep number bed. only at the sleep number store, where queen bed sets now start at just $899. it is a daily applause line on the republican campaign trail. >> this president is making the federal government bigger, burdensome and bloated. i will make the federal government simpler, smaller and smarter. >> the idea of shrinking the government unfortunately for one candidate has been the biggest laugh line of the republican debates. >> no doubt about that. >> you can't name the third one? >> the third agency of government, i would do away with education, the -- uh -- commerce and, let's see. i can't. the third one, i can't. sorry. >> today the government made a surprise comment. they want congress to give him the power to shrink and merge federal agencies. >> let me be clear. i will only use this authority for reform that result in more efficiency, better service, and a leaner government. >> well, here's tonight's truth. this president is more than a little late to the leaner, meaner government game. but make no mistake. this is smart politics. if some of the president's rhetoric sounds familiar, that's because it is. just a year ago his state of the union speech included this bow to the big tea party, shrink washington, mid-term election surge. >> my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive america. i will submit that proposal to congress for a vote and we will push to get it passed. >> sounded promising. never happened. and these numbers don't lie. 4.2 million federal workers the year before president obama took office. more than 4.4 million at the mid point of his term. federal spending, $2.9 trillion. so republicans have plenty of evidence to support their skepticism the president means it this time. the truth is, this is a deft political move and a reminder of power of incumbency. the republican challengers can only promise to do something about the size and cost government. president obama if he follows through, can actually do something about it. cynics can rightly ask, why did you wait three years, mr. president? but his political team believes putting it front and center in year four, that would be the campaign year, is perfect timing. let's assess the president's initiative in the big campaign moments. never see president obama say i'll streamline the government. does he have standing credibility on the issue or does that matter? >> let's see that he delivers. let's see if the republican congress will ask for it. i would add president clinton high served and you covered reduced the federal work force in absolute terms to the smallest null of federal workers since eisenhower was president. so if you want something said about streamlining said, vote republican. if you want something done, vote democrat. >> bill clinton is not running. >> i wish he were. we have president obama. i just got back from four days hunting in south texas. nobody came up to me and said i really hope we streamline how trade authority is done. it's fine, it's good but it is not where voters are now. 2010 was about cutting government. 12 is about fighter for the middle class. that's where president obama has made the smartest pivot possible. he is focused on the middle class. >> if you're any republican running for president, if you're mitt romney, you think he will get the nomination. a remind where the president has this big event, he gets covered on live television. he is talking about what most think is paubl idea. the president says i have the bully pulpit. >> you said it was deft politics. i think it is very obvious politics. i think the public is still going to remain skeptical. what they're judging president obama on is his performance and whether or not he really believes this. i think his performance has been at odds with the american public's wishes. and ultimately, the american public will ask themselves, not even so much the metrics and numbers about cutting government jobs. but is the government working efficiently? are they doing what they're expected to do in washington? and i think that is a bigger problem. i don't think any republicans will run on government efficiency. but i do think that the problem that the president has is that washington doesn't seem to be working and that is the malfunction that he tends to own. that's something that we'll continue to draw a contrast with. whoever the nominee is. >> we may find out who the prohibitive favorite is. if your candidate can win in south carolina, most people think he is pretty hard to stop. you can tell he's gotten under the skin of speaker gingrich. this is a web video put up by the campaign. speaker gingrich said he would be positive but he doesn't mind if those outside political action groups get a little nasty. this is directly from the gingrich campaign. >> mitt romney will say anything to win. anything. and just like john kerry -- he speaks french, too. >> but he is still a massachusetts moderate. and a massachusetts moderate cannot beat barack obama. >> it's funny, to a degree. but it is also getting personal. and it is no idea that gingrich campaign is trying trying to as governor romney with kerry. >> it is personal, but i think more than anything, it's silly. and the problems and the anxious people have are serious. the number one issue they care about is the economy. that doesn't speak to anything of that. >> is he right in the sense that you see a lot of republicans though who are saying you know, i'm torn between gingrich and romney, but i think romney's more electable? if you make him into john kerry, do you undercut the electability? >> i guess, but it would be smarter if he stuck to issues. some of our greatest presidents spoke french. both roosevelts. hoover spoke mandarin. we used to kind of like it if presidents were educated. this ignorance that a professor like gingrich is running on, it's embarrassing. he could point out spending one up in massachusetts under romney, taxes went up. fees went up. these are things that would really bother republican primary voters. >> you look at the metrics of all the polls and there's just a rash of polling out there. like 55% of the public says their number one issue is the economy. everything else is in single digits. i guarantee you that many having a problem with a candidate speaking french is 0.0.07 somewhere. >> governor romney was leading in our new national poll with a decent margin. also on health care. in a republican primary, if there's one vulnerability you thought they would be hammering at, it would be mandate. >> it does not and we could go back to the tape here. i said health care will be an issue. not the issue. what people care about is they want to know what the future of health care is going to look like under romney and he's made clear what he would do to fix the ills. he's made that relentlessly clear and i think that's why voters are responds and he's talked with command and control. >> you like attack politics. if you were advising one of these republicans and had a choice, go after romney on health care or bain? >> actually, the bain hurting him with republicans. it's going to kill him with independents in the general election. i promise. i'm advising a pro obama pac. you can write it down. among republican voters, how troubled they are, what rick perry even called vulture capitalism. this is not just some lefty thing. if you make romney, not just a country club republican but a yacht club republican, he's through. >> eight days to see how this gets litigated. have a great weekend. erin burnett coming up. you just finished an interview with speaker gingrich. i understand you got him to make a correction on some jobs numbers. >> absolutely. today in versailles, florida, where he's going to campaign, he said he created a part with reagan, of creating 1.3 million jobs in the united states in one month. it didn't happen and you're going to hear exactly what went wrong there. also, that you all are talking about bain capital and it was sbresing, talking about whether you were country club to a yacht club. there's an ad newt gingrich is running in south carolina that has john kerry speaking french, then mitt romney speaking french, trying to draw those comparisons. and we had a little bit of a back and forth about this particular issue. also talking about the polls and why mitt romney is polling very well among women. newt gingrich is struggling with that group and he has a theory. >> thanks. still ahead here in 2008, oprah was one of senator obama's biggest champions. now, she says there's no reason for her to endorse the president. we'll tell you why. plus, at airports, you know the drill. turns out the tsa is making a killing off all the loose change we're leaving at the airport. kate bolduan will be back with with the details. ♪ [ male announcer ] when kelley blue book's kbb.com gave the 2012 camry a best resale value award, we were delighted. ♪ when it received a 5-star overall safety rating, we were ecstatic. and when camry became the number-one selling car in america 10 years running, we blushed. ♪ the reinvented 2012 camry. from toyota. ♪ 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? 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exactly, thank you, john. the transportation security administration reports in 2010, it collected $409,000 in change including $32,000 in currency from other countries. why would you walk away without your change? >> the college fund. ever had someone ask you if you were a tree or what kind of animal would you like to be? piers morgan tried it on newt gingrich. >> if you could be any animal, which would you be? >> probably an elephant. >> why? >> have 105,000 muscles in their