tradition of pomp, pageantry and pigskin. giant mistake. big blue jump it is gun. we are looking at giant jinx. we will take a look at that. good day to all of you and welcome to "weekends with alex witt." 1:00 on the nose in the east. beginning with presidential politics, republican candidates looking ahead to two big contests. colorado and minnesota this week. of course this after mitt romney's big win in nevada. newt gingrich took second. followed by ron paul, rick santorum. gingrich spoke about the future of his campaign on "meet the press" this morning. >> our goal is to get to super tuesday where we are in much more favorable territory as you will note even in florida where i was outspent 5-1 we carried panhandle area and carried more counties than he did. so we want to get to georgia, alabama, to tennessee, and we want to get to states texas and we believe by the time texas is over, we will be very, very competitive in delegate count. >> mitt romney celebrating his big win in nevada last night. thanking voters and wasting no time slamming president obama. >> america needs a president who can fix the economy because he understands the economy and i do and i will. >> let's check tout delegate count as it stands this morning. romney has a total of 83. gingrich has 28. santorum comes in with 13. paul's total stands at 11. who voted for romney in nevada? let's take a lack at the caucus entrance polls? 46% of voters that describe themselves as very conservative voted for romney. gingrich got 25% of those voters. among the tea party supporters, romney came out on top. beating gingrich 35% to 32%. among the white evangelicals in the born-again christians romney winning 43% compared to 28% for gingrich. on the issue of electability candidates seemed best to beat president obama in november, 43% said that quality mattered most so among them, 70% said they were ving for romney. we will bring in our big three panel to weigh in now. karen finney, msnbc analyst and former dnc communications director. good to have the three of you. thanks for being here. >> we are going to get with you in terms of all these numbers. how big is this a win for romney? or do we need to apply context here at all? >> well, it is obviously an unequivocal win for romney. i mean the numbers you just showed, winning in every category, including the categories that gingrich has hoped to lay claim to. >> but tea party? >> tea party are people that are mostly conservative and the religious right. gingrich said they would gough be part of his coalition. romney won -- by bigger margins with the more moderate voters. you are right about the context. this is a state that romney won four years ago. it also has a heavy mormon population. i think we always expected to see romney win here. big win is not all that surprising. we are seeing now all adding up for him. he had some of the numbers in florida and he had some in nevada. if he can continue to consolidate conservative support within the republican party, then he has a stronger case to make that he's the front runner and inevitable which was the original argument. >> okay. let's take listen to what gingrich had to say, weighing in last night after romney claimed victory. here it is. >> i'm pretty comfortable when you come down to it as we go state to state to state, pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase, george soros a approved, probably will not do very well. i'm happy to have that debate with governor romney. >> clearly, newt gingrich unleashing on romney. he says he's not going away. is that good or bad for the party? >> you know, i go back and forth on this question. at the end of the day, i kind of think it is irrelevant. gingrich, it is clearly the case the ongoing fight is causing gingrich's negatives to go up, causing them go up among independents and bruising him on the general election. we always knew that this is going to be a very negative fall campaign on both sides. and both sides are going to end up with high negatives anyway. i'm not sure it is going to make a huge difference in the friend karen, give me a big picture perspective on how all it happened in nevada, plays out with the democrats. >> couple of things. where romney is trying to make the argument, look, i have shown i can win out west and in the south among all different kinds of voters, what democrats are looking at is turnout. turnout numbers are very low. i think we need to keep that in perspective. when the democratic contests went on in 2008, it was a plus for the party overall because we saw record turnout which meant in the primaries, we were building our list, we were party building. in the general, we had a lot of our work already done for us. you are not seeing that on the republican side. you are seeing decreased turnout and seeing sort of more of an okay, i guess it is going to be romney attitude. the longer it goes on the more divided the party becomes and the harder it becomes for them to bring it all back together and for their nominee to then shift gears quickly against president obama. >> okay. all right. thank you so much. we are going to have you back later and talk about what we are looking forward to, the super side show. we will weigh in on the favorite super bowl ads. my favorite, what's up? is that too much coffee already? all right. on the campaign trail? rick santorum is the only gop candidate with scheduled event, pancake breakfast. rally and super bowl party today in minnesota. and the next contest in the race republican nominee, colorado this week. we check out the calendar. gop caucuses will be held in both states tuesday. maine holds its republican caucuses on saturday. it is time now for our fast five headlines. death toll from easternure p's coldest weather in decades has now killed more than 170 people. many homeless. three-foot snow in balkans. off the tuscan coast, crews began working removing a half a million gallons of fuel from the grounded concordia. back here in the states, outbreak of the norovirus sickened more than 200 passengers. prepare to pay at least 6% more this year if you are going to buy a new car. national automobile dealers association also puts the average price of a new car at around $30,000. over the n the uk, well-wishers greeted queen elizabeth as she left for church. her highness receiving flowers on her 60th anniversary on the throne. those are your fast five headlines. at this hohours from now, s xlvi starts. many people paying thousands for a ticket for the giants playing the patriots. others say they are steering clear. >> tickets are way too much. like $3,000, $4,000. we will stay at home and watch our boys in blue on the nice comfy confines of our coach. >> craig, what's the mantra for the fans today? citgo big or go home? were those the kind of fans you are finding? >> yeah. those are -- you know, that's -- it has become an event for the 1%. 300,000 people who came to indy for the super bowl. you have nearly 70,000 who can actually go inside and see the game because they have a ticket. because they are so expensive. average super bowl ticket costs this year $3800 and checked stub hub an hour two ago and you could find tickets $1,200. that's still a lot of money to watch a football game. a lot of folks just opt to watch it at home and have a party. you know, but -- a lot of folks don't even come for the game. the super bowl experience, if you will. it has been a non-stop street party here in indy the past few days. folks enjoyinging the sights and sounds. lot of free concerts, lot of things, not just for die-hard fans but kashiwa fans and families as well. there is -- a greet deal of excite many as you might imagine among fans. lot of that has to do with two teams that are playing today. new york giants and the patriots, those are teams that have not just followings in those particular cities sbrut nationwide followings as well. this is going to be a fun one to watch. >> fun one to watch. nbc has to be loving it. i think they are expecting 111 million people to be watching this. does anyone talk about madonna and the super bowl halftime show? are they looking forward to that? >> lot of folks are talking about that. not just madonna. you know. i mean -- madonna, of course, appeals to a large segment of the population. but the special guest she supposed to have with her, lfmao, excuse me, lmfao, don't send me any e-mails. she will do three of her golden oldies, hits. she will do a new song off of her latest album as well. that's all there is. that's something else folks don't talk about. back in 1967, when the super bowl -- the first football championship game, marching bands. they used marching bands for the first few years for the halftime shows. and now the halftime show year in and year out is the most viewed musical performance in the world. who is your favorite so far? >> well, of course the one you have to remember was the justin timberlake and janet jackson. you can't quite get over that one. i'm being told right now we don't want to go there. anyway, good to see you. you know nick. listen, have a great time. thanks for joining us. whether you are watching on wide screen or wireless, when it comes to pregame coverage nobody has more comprehensive roster than nbc. you can tune in at 2:00 p.m. eastern. that's when things are getting under way and see the latest online at nbc sports.com. straight ahead, billion and a half reasons mark zuckerberg could put a big old smile on uncle sam's face. uhh! 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"the times" says he assured romney he would back him even more generously if he capture it is gop nomination. what's gingrich think about that? >> the choices are obama and romney. there's no choice. i think that's how sheldon feels. >> the billionaire is still committed to keeping gingrich in the race but if he decides to drop out, that is when adelson would make the switch. one of the word's richest men is about to get richer. mark zuckerberg is preparing to take his company public which means shares of the company will soon be on sale. rick newman, "u.s. news & world report" is here. how much are the shares going to cost in this ipo? do you have an idea? >> we don't know yet. looks like they will go for about $40. that will be the offering price. then the thing that everybody is going to be watching for is where do they go from the offering price? are they going the shoot up the way we have seen happen with some shares of other prominent companies like google? are they going to hover around $40? what's interesting about this is what is the market going to think once it starts getting all the detailed information about this company? is it going say this is going to be a superstar company for years to come? will there be questions? that's going to be one of the most interest things to watch for. >> if people want to buy into this company they have to buy in the first day to get the $40 a share? exponentially go up. >> you and i don't get to buy at that offering price. then those shares -- yes, will go public on the market and we can decide those shares go to $50 or $80. do we still think facebook is a good buy. mostly, you know, as with most stocks, it is going to be big institutions and pension funds and things like that that are buying the majority of the shares. this will be the first time ordinary people can buy a few shares of facebook. >> this is a company that makes about 85% of its revenue in advertising. is that a safe bet? successful so far. is that a safe bet to have such a single stream source? >> yes. that's its business model. it is to advertise on this platforms that growing dramatically. so for now i think that's great business model. it is -- google's business model slightly differently. look how well google is doing and -- these companies are benefiting from a huge shift in advertising away from traditional sources like principle and broadcasting to these online websites. and i think as long as the growth rate for facebook in its user base keeps going up, yes, that will be a great business model. >> we know the government is not going to have any say on how this company is run. is that a good thing for investors to not have any government control in it? do they let a successful company like facebook thus far keep doing its thing? >> face book going to operate like a normal company. it will be -- have to abide by all rules public companies have to abide by. more disclosure about what the financial disclosure is than there have been before. but facebook is doing just fine. without any control. the fact is that we need a thousand more facebooks if we had more companies like facebook where a great idea gets started and a company degrees quickly, that's what -- that's the kind of thing that will actually take to get our economy turned around for real. >> talk about turning the economy around. this is a guy who thinks a $2 billion tax bill -- i mean, okay, how do you start to pay for that? a. b, is that the biggest tax bill in history potentially? >> i don't know. i wish i had that problem. zuckerberg will pay a high tax rate at that time beginning. what we saw with romney this luc will not be taxed at that low capital gain. of course, you know, year over year he will diversify and multibillionaire. he's also said he's going to give away a lot of his wealth. so -- probably get the charitable deductions at some point. what's a couple billion here and there for mark zuckerberg. >> you can let me know if you ever find out. good to see you. america's super spaert about to begin. hangover will be felt at work tomorrow. recent study finds 8% increase in work sick days after an event like the super bowl. 11% of workers go in late. super bowl xlvi. five hours away now. 67,000 or so fans will be packing lucas oil stadium in downtown indianapolis for the second super bowl showdown between the new england patriots and the new york giants. it is the seventh super bowl appearance for the new england patriots. the fifth for the new york giants. and of the 32 nfl teams, only four teams have never made it to the super bowl. those being the cleveland browns and houston texans. jacksonville jag sxwars detroit lions. jaguars. guys, maybe next year. everyone knows super bowl sunday is big in america but how big? last year 111 million people watched the game. a 30-second spot during the game is going to go for $3.5 million for the advertisers and that is where the numbers game begins. and regina lou sis joining because closer look at other key super bowl numbers and your pocketbook. good day to you, regina in nice to see. >> did you hi. thanks. >> how much do consumers spend on game day sf where do they put their money? >> men average $86 and women $56. a lot of it in food. it is, alex, the second largest consumption day on the eating side behind thanksgiving. it is one giant snack attack. in fact, during the actual broadcast, the average american will consume 1, 2shgs 00 calories in snacks alone. that does not count lunch, dinner, or what you are drinking. the number seven beer consumption day. >> wow. could have gone all day without hearing the calories i know we will consume. anyway, if you are in the snack food business then, regina, is this a make or break day for me? >> certain sly a big day for any manufacturer of chips, pretzels, that kind of thing and avocado industry will go through 71 million pounds of avocados in the form of guacamole today. interestingly, it is a sampling program. nine out of ten people will watch the game at home. often with friends and family. if i'm at your house, alex, serve a cracker and say these are terrific, where did you get them, that tees up future purchase >> how about pizza? mine, it has to be a huge day for the delivery guys. they do well on a day like today. >> it is the biggest day. domino's is expecting to deliver 11 million pizzas to put that in perspective, 80% increase over an average sunday. they will log in amazing 4 million miles on the road. >> wow. are there any surprises, though, as you look at all the numbers in terms of business that's go up or down on super bowl day m. >> i think this is my favorite stat of all. there's something called super monday. tomorrow nutri-system, terry bradshaw, famed quarterback, is the famed spokesman. one of the top ten diet decision days of the year. men will every 1.5 seconds tomorrow inquire about n nutri-system. if you head to the movies you will have the theater to yourself. not a lot of people going to the movies tonight. it is the least popular wed weekend of the year. >> wow. okay. those are all good stats. i'm not at all surprised about the nutri-system thing. the calorie stats you gave us, i'm just like -- >> perfect zblens gladsense. enjoy the game tonight. >> thank you. you, too. there is no shortage of opinion on who will win tonight's game? celebrities don't mind telling you who they think will capture the lombardi trophy. among those picking the patriots and there's dr. phil, mark ballas and faith hill calls the game with one word -- patriots! sure seems to be plenty of celebs picking the giants. actress kristin chenowith. snooki from new jersey. we thought we would mention alice cooper who can play one of his most memorable hits from way back in 1972. as we go to break. 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[ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. welcome back, everyone. a developing story in syria. bloody crackdown there continues after u.n. security council vote failed. wore going to be able to hear gunshots right now. they rang out this morning certainly in the city of holmes. activists say at least 200 people have been killed there this weekend. we are closely following the situation from cairo. good day to you. any updates? have you been able to hear gunfire as you have been in that region yourself? >> reporter: well, when we were inside syria a few weeks ago we had a chance to travel but most of the journalists inside the country are government escorted. you are usualfully the company of government minders and when you are there, they usually keep new areas that are considered to be very safe. you are not exposed to that kind of violence firsthand. but you get a chance to meet with a lot of eyewitnesses, residents in various cities, and they show you some of the damage in their homes. they show you a lot of the things they are exposed to on one trip we went to they laid out for us and arab league monitors, shells of ammunitions fired at their homes and cities. so -- you get a sense how dire the situation is from their perspective. >> yeah. that u.n. security council vote yesterday were it not for russia and china vetoing this, what would have happened? i mean, what would have been the effect of that? >> well, the united nations resolution was based on recommendations that came out of here in cairo from the arab league headquarters. it called for president assad to step down and hand over power to his deputy and begin a process of incorporate something of the opposition in the new government. now, russia and china view teed that believing it was too much foreign involvement in syrian domestic affairs, syrian government welcomed it but from the perspective of opposition and activists they needed that international intervention and needed that support from the international community that the only solution to this crisis would be president assad stepping down and incorporating the opposition figures in a new transitional process to dem sunny sky . >> do you expect more violence? >> according to whatwesaw in speaking to people, there is an increase military. leaving many people speculate will be the norm in many parts of the city. >> thank you so much. let's go now to politics as the republican presidential hopefuls look forward to text caucuses in colorado and minnesota this week. gingrich placing second in the silver state. gop caulkes followed by rick paul and rick santorum and here is what gingrich said when he addressed reporters. >> how can the country possibly expect to you lead as president? i frankly was stunned. you make no bones about this. in the second florida debate hi nothing to say. it was blatant and deliberate and he knew he was doing it. >> he took aim squarely at president obama. >> this week he has been trying to take a bough for 8.3% unemployment. not so fast, mr. president. this is the 36th straight month with unemployment above the red line, your own administration drew. if you take into account all of the people that are struggling for work, the real unemployment rate is over 15%. >> what's the reaction from the romney camp from yesterday? >> you had a very packed ballroom, proudest of any of the line i have been to so far. the broadway in which they won. one of the first things you heard off the bat, everybody talked about was going to be big here. even if you took the mormon vote out of the equation, romney would have won las vegas bay double digit or won without it by dibble digit margin last night. this morning, sthernthey are se clips of the newt gingrich speech you showed saying look, this guy is losing his mo-j zblo does anyone tell you that -- romney wishes that all three of his opponents, particularly newt gingrich, would drop out of the race and just -- you know, cruise on victory? you know they must think it. does anyone say it? >> nobody says it, alex. their official span has always been that competition makes them stronger. it has been interesting to watch over the course of the campaign. as different rivals have shown up you have seen their romney campaign have to get stronger just to survive. their argument is it strengthens them towards the general election. it is up to -- to the viewers out there to decide if they want to buy into that or not. you saw witness rick perry and newt gingrich when push comes to shove, then you see this giant machinery of the romney campaign. really come into focus and it is like oh, this is what they have behind the curtain that -- everyone talks about as this organizational strength may or may not have. >> newt gingrich is saying he is staying in it for the long haul. does anyone in the romney campaign address that, potential possibility? >> they have said all along that they expect this to be a national campaign that can run all the way through the finish. super tuesday will be interesting test for them. both gingrich campaign and romney campaign to have to compete in so many states at the same time. the romney campaign feels like they are built for that kind of thing. both in terms of money and organization whereas the gingrich folks may not be. and then as regards to the texas -- rick perry down there campaigning for newt gingrich, could be a very interesting state. >> okay. now the very latest on campaign contributions of "los angeles times" showing president obama with a war chest of almost $121 million. mitt rom with a total of $57 million. ron paul comes in third in the sweepstakes. has 25.5 million. in today's big three, unbeatable, is that the word for president obama? if the economy continues to come back. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. we are just hours away from the biggest sporting event in the country. giants and patriots in indianapolis. 11.5 million people are expected to watch it on tv and streamed live online. be sure to catch our pregame coverage that will start 20 minutes from now. switch over to nbc. the excitement is building. giants and patriots are getting ready for the kickoff of super bowl xlvi. the game starts in just a little less than five hours from now. teams are almost ready and so are their fans. they will be watching in person there in indianapolis as well as around the country on nbc as we have been saying. we have a special super bowl edition of "fact or fiction." joining me is don banks, senior writer for sportsillustrated.com who covers the nfl. good day to you, don. >> hi, alex. good to be with you. >> i'm curious about this. this first one up, game was not originally named the super bowl. is that a fact or fiction? >> that is a fact, alex. it was called -- super bowl only in the third year of the game. it was originally in the afl and nfl championship. kansas city chiefs owner lamar hunt saw his daughter, young daughter playing with the super bowl. and thought the super bowl would be a much catchier, quicker moniker for the game. >> okay. well, that's a good one. how about this fact or fiction? every super bowl game has been a sellout? >> no. that's fiction, alex. very first super bowl in los angeles between the packers and the kansas city chiefs only filled up about two-thirds of the l.a. coliseum. 94,000 capacity. and they had about 63,000 on hand. so believe it or not, there were tickets available. >> oh, yeah. i believe it. i'm from l.a. we have never been known as an nfl town. we need someone street-to-stick and stay there. we can get into that another time. anyway, how about this? first championship game broadcast on more than one network. >> that is pact. nbc and cbs both have the same feed but had different announcing crews at the game. and believe it or not, one of the networks, i believe it was cbs, missed the second half kickoff. they actually redid the second half kickoff because the -- cbs network was not back to their feed at that point. they would not get away with that today. >> wow. they sure wouldn't. that's interesting. how about this fact or fiction? super bowl's i through vi were blacked out in the television markets of the host cities. >> that sing fact. unbelievably the first -- early games didn't know if they would sell out so they applied the current -- the then current blackout rules restricts to that game. and they -- i think finally got a comfort zone the super bowl was always going to be a sellout each and every year and they lifted that rather archaic rule. >> i'm glad they did important the locals. how about this fact or fiction? winner of the super bowl would determine the winner of the presidential election. >> well, that's actually fiction. there is a theory that if the nfc team wins and in this case that would be the giants, it is good for the incumbent who is running which would obviously be president obama. and the other half of the theory is that if the afc, patriots prevail, that's good for the challenger in this case the republican party, probably mitt romney as the candidate but that really hasn't held historically through the years very consistently. just sometimes. so that's a fiction. we are going to put that under the fiction category. >> okay. i'm glad we have you. can you just give me a prediction who you think will win, don? >> well, hi to put my opinion on the line friday on si.com. i'm going with the patriots, 27-24. but i think it will be a great game and goes right down to the wire. i think they win by a field goal because that's the way new england always seems to win their super bowls. >> okay. well, we will see if you are right producing just a few hours from now. thanks for joining us. good to see you. thanks. here's fun fiction for you. giants accidently declared themselves winners on hair website. the trouble is the game hasn't been played yet. it has been fixed and redirects to the homepage. unfortunately fans of big blue are afraid the team may have jinxed themselves. come on, guys, you can make your own luck. whether you are watching on wide screens or wireless, nobody has more comprehensive roster than nbc. tune in at 2:00 p.m. eastern. that's when things get under way. about 15 minutes from now. you can also hit us up for the latest info online. we will have it for you at nbcsports.com. moving to politics, big three pan sell back. we will do a super bowl edge to things with our topics. superpower, how the improving economy could impact the race for president. super strategy, what will the romney/gingrich mean going forward? and super side show for some of the -- it is not the big game that's the attraction. so i will begin with you this time, we look at the new jobs numbers shown unemployment is down to 8.3%. is part of what appears to be a positive trend for the economy and president if this trend continues, does the gop then lose one of its biggest attack lines against president obama? >> well, i think that's right. if it continues and if it is something that -- a real recovery people don't just see in the unemployment sustains but feel in their own lives, they feel higher disposable income, better 401(k)s, absolutely lit make it tougher for the republicans. does p make the stimulus possible or health care law popular but makes people feel better about the incumbent. >> democrats while quick to highlight the numbers, i want to get your take on them because do you think people across this country really feel that it is getting better? >> i think they are certainly not at the pace that -- i mean, as the white house and president had said that we would like to see but remember, it has been 23 months of positive job growth, 3.7 million private sector jobs. as that continues, investors now are starting to reinvest and hire people. those things add to confidence. i think that adds to the argument that president obama can make in the general election which is let's keep going on this past and unlike, you know, this point in the bush administration in 2008 where we had our second month of job losses at 63,000 jobs. >> yes. do you think the white house is confident that this trend is something that will sustain itself over time? are they just looking at like check, we have another month at the economy going the right direction for us. >> i mean, everybody was surprised how about the numbers were this past friday. if they are confident, they are being very careful to hedge their optimism and every remark that comes out of the white house or surrogates is -- yeah, okay, this is good news. but there are still people hurting and it is not good enough yet. i think that -- in part because they don't want to be caught celebrating if there is a downturn in future but also don't want to give mitt romney or any republican an opening to saw that they forgotten about the people who are in that 8% who still are unemployed and for people who have been feeling all this uncertainty for the past couple of years, i think one month of good numbers isn't enough to convince them even if this incredible optimism across the board and unequivalently good report, i think people still feel a little shaky about how things are going in the white house -- they will pay close attention to that. >> we are going to move on to the next topic. super strategy and the fighting among the gop presidential candidates. let's listen to what gingrich said last night. >> i suspect this debate will con for a long time. our commitment is to seek to find series of victories by the end of the texas primary will lead us about parody with governor romney and then see if we can win the nomination. >> do you think this is plausible or is -- gingrich going off the reels here? >> i don't think it is the -- strangest or nuttiest thing gingrich has said recently. i do think that -- look, it is going to be a national campaign. from the very beginning, there has been only one campaign that has been prepared to run a national campaign. based on money and organization. that governor romney. it is very hard to see a plausible path for any of the other candidates. >> do you think that gingrich just didn't foresee being in this position? so they are just kind of -- figure thing out and making it up like we have to get to texas. they have h the momentum for a while. >> i think, you know, these campaigns that sort of have meltdowns and comebacks and so on and so forth, very hard when you are on the upswing of that to raise the money and convert it to organization rapidly as opposed to governor romney that followed a much more conventional path to the nomination. oh, that's been a much more long building campaign. >> yeah. been doing a it a couple of years now. this new wmur poll out of new hampshire, this shows president obama beating all the candidates in the matchups in the state. does new hampshire clearly suggest that gop candidates are damaging themselves? >> well, i think we are going to see in a lot of the numbers that obama is doing a little bit better than he had been previously and -- but i think you are right. there's also evidence that if fight that they have been having is drawing a lot of negative attention to the party and to the specific candidates i mean the real question is going to be over time how romney's numbers look. it is not surprising that you know, a few weeks after some of the most bruising battles and biggest insults and lot of things on the airwaves especially in new hampshire which actually had a primary fight, that people are remembering the most negative things about romney. we will have to see when we get to the end of the race and if newt gingrich stays in and continues doing it, if it gets worse or if he -- false by the wayside. >> what about the insiders in the white house? how are they reading the new hampshire poll? >> cautiously optimistic. they know -- they are smart enough to know not to take anything for granted. they think that's true at the white house and as anne was saying looking at the economic day a and any poll data, chicago, same thing. these are good numbers but again until we really have a head-to-head matchup where have you would campaign and two candidates going at it every day it is hard to -- have much faith in these numbers. one thing i will say, though, president obama won't have to let up on mitt romney the way the big donors clearly have forced newt gingrich to let up the bain critique. so i think -- you know in terms of economic critique, the president has a lot more to talk about in terms of romney of rom portraying himself as somebody who is looking out for the middleclass, although these also the guy protecting people's ability to have these secret accounts in switzerland and the cayman islands. >> all right, you guys, sit tight all you three. because next up with our big three, super bowl ads. the spots that hit the mark. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if you took the top down on a crossover? if there were buttons for this? wouldn't it be cool if your car could handle the kids... ♪ ...and the nurburgring? or what if you built a car in tennessee that could change the world? yeah, that would be cool. nissan. innovation for today. innovation for tomorrow. innovation for all. ♪ fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. okay is there a woman i can talk to? how's it going? good afternoon. don't feed that meter. this meter's on me. with all the hundreds i've saved at progressive, this meter's on me. thank you. de nada. with all the hundreds i've saved on car insurance this year, this meter's on me. there's a catch? there's no catch. nothing but savings. thank you very much. have a great day. you, too. you're sexy. [ laughs ] that is so twilight, right? we're back with the big 3 in the super bowl side show. karen, it's game day. but do you watch super bowl more for the game or the ads? >> a little bit of both. i do have my blue and white stripe adidas on. go giants! my favorite ad i have to say of all time was the ad last year that chrysler did with eminem. it was so well done. it made me as an american feel so proud of what was happening in our auto industry and it represented a comeback for eminem who is an incredibly talented artist. it was a perfect combination of hope and optimism manipulate. >> yeah. that's nice. you are so much more highbrow than me. i don't know if our director can pull the one i like. let's roll my favorite. ready? >> here we go. >> hello. >> what's up. >> watching the game. having a bud. what's up with you? >> nothing. watching the game. having a bud. >> true, true. >> what's up? >> it's ridiculous. anyway, okay. ann, i know you're not necessarily a sports expert. but i want to ask you if you're rooting for any particular team? if you're not going to be watching the game, what in the world are you going to be doing? >> i know. i think like most people i will be studying up for the colorado and minnesota caucuses on tuesday. >> good save, ann. >> i hate to do that. i'm not going to do that today. how about your turn on the game or the ads? what's your favorite? >> my favorite ad, i'm a sucker for that one with little darth vader luring about his awesome powers. >> yeah. that one is really awesome. that's a good one. okay, guys, quickly let's get to the must reads for those of us like ann who are not going to be watching the game. first up to you, ann, what's yours? >> in the "washington post" on our website today there's a great story by amy gardener about newt gingrich's upcoming strategy. his infrastructure will be adding some staff and consultants to try and pull this thing out. >> yeah. i had a good chat with her yesterday. what's your best read? >> a great column on how the media covers abortion and what it misses. >> okay. thank you for that. karen, what about yours? >> mine is a story from 2008 from the "new york times". it says employment falls for the second month reminding us how far we have come. george bush was trying to reassure that everybody had a plan, he had been prepared. not to worry. we had two months of job losses. sticking on the catholic theme. >> i want to thank all of you for joining me. good to see you all. that's a wrap, everyone. weekend with alex witt. breaking news at it happens. enjoy the game, because we know you're going to be watching it on nbc. ♪ [ woman ] i was ready for my trip, but my smile wasn't. 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