karen? the other thing is obviously he s young and they recognize, there have been a loet of stories about the challenges the republican party is having attracting younger voters, energizing younger voters. let s not forget, we re having this conversation the day after yet again we saw how much romney really is in and how fragile the support romney has with the core conservatives of this base. andrea saul s comment should not have created the kind of firestorm that it did. and it shows that that is such a fragile alliance. if they have to throw paul ryan s name out there and try to gin up some more support to say hey, we ll do something to make you happy, that just shows you there s a lot of opportunity between now and the election. i think democrats recognize this, this issue of honest and trustworthiness. it s not just do moderates and democrats trust him? but people of his own party don t trust he s a true conservative. are that i setting sthemss up
but paid a loet lower tax rate than many middle class familied. why done he release the 23 years of tax returns? your father set a ground breaking standard. one year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show. when you release yours, will you follow your father s example? maybe. congressman, those are the democratic ads that are airing today. how is mitt romney going to respo respond? why not put it all out there. he s dpooing what s prescrib by law. he s doing what mccain and kerry did as they ran for president. try to be a distraction from the president s failed policies. this will come and go swiftly. i don t think people much care. he s been very successful. we know that. he s been very blessed, we know that. again, i think we re just going to focus on what is most important to this country, and that is people s individual taxes and what s go on in their
of. . a federal judge is refusing to the judge ruled rick perry, newt gingrich, rick santorum and jon huntsman failed to get enough signatures in time to qualify for the march 6th primary. only mitt romney and ron paul will appear on the ballot in virginia. the republican presidential candidates are battling it out in south carolina for next saturday s primary, but meantime they are spending loet lodes of money on the crucial florida primary on january 31st, where the race could end for some of the contenders. the latestest poll in florida shows romney leading with 36%, followed by newt gingrich with 24%, rick santorum weighs in at 16%. joining me from tampa, a longtime political analyst on the ground there, susan mcmanis, a professor at the university of south florida. good morning, susan. good morning. how much do you think the race in florida could change between now and the primary day at the end of the month? well, you never say never in this state. polls have been al
thing is rick perry. of, of course, will get in this thing. he announced his campaign before you make that point, i want to talk to you about that. let me bring in jill lawrence, who joins us from ames, iowa. jill, tonight is going to be the republicans are all on stage. but as nia was saying, two republicans not on stage are really going to dominate a loet lot of the attention that you have, rick perry, who just happened to announce today, right on the day of the debate, that he is to upstage the debate and the strong poll, that s quite a coincidence? reporter: it is not a coincident at all. in fact, people in iowa are not happy about it. i was talking to the congressman
is making the distinction. people in this country as we all know and maybe eric cantor where he hangs out with his staff and doesn t know this, but there are a loet of people suffering in virginia and ohio and all over this country. and when they see the tax breaks for oil companies and tax breaks for corporate jets and see the huge bonuses and then they see the republicans saying that we need to cut pell grants for the middle class and turn medicare over to the insurance companies and subsidize the insurance companies and cut seniors benefits, i mean people are beginning to see we need the president to lead on this to make the contrast. that this stuff is just not fair. that the middle class and working families and unemployed people have sacrificed so much and lost so much in the last three years, it s time the richest 2 or 3 or 5% stepped up and did their part. that s really all the president is asking for. how do you see this ending, though? the republicans are defining taxpayer