mitt romney on the defense. we are just three weeks away from the first presidential contest of the 2012 campaign, and the attacks are in full force. let s be candid. the only reason you didn t become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. wait a second. now wait a second. that s wait a second. paul steinhauser is joining us from des moines. gingrich survived. how did he do it? exactly, kyra. listen, newt gingrich, the reason he jumped in the polls and surged the last couple of months is because he has been doing very well in these debates. we saw it again saturday night. as everybody suspected, newt gingrich now that he is a front-runner here in the first state to hold a contest in the caucus of primary calendars, we knew he would come under attack. he did. from mitt romney and from the others. but he seemed to have the measured response each time. now, this squabble that you just played over the debate saturday night has been continuing between
sexual relationship? absolutely. i can only imagine, i can t imagine him actually confirming. it s the name of the game, i guess. david bettingly is here to look at the atlanta businesswoman who is making the accusations and joe johns focuses on the beleaguered cain campaign. let s begin with you, joe, in washington. can this cain train really keep on rolling here? is this going to essentially kill his hopes of being president? hey, ted, i think you have to say, number one, other politicians have survived allegations of extra marital affairs. interesting to see what happens with herman cain because on top of that he has all this talk about allegations of sexual harassment. still, herman cain s polling had already been trending downward. this certainly does not help him, but he does say he s not getting out of the race. here s what he told wolf blitzer in the situation room. you re staying in this race, you re not dropping out. i m not dropping out of this race, no
wake-up call. i m christine romans in for carol costello. this morning race officials will begin deciding how they ll investigate a wreck that killed a two are-time indy 500 winner. 33-year-old dan wheldon was one of a record 34 cars on the las vegas track. on lap 12, the unthinkable. cars spinning out of control, bursting into flames, several actually going airborne. three drivers were treated for injuries, wheldon was airlifted to the hospital where he eventually died. the race was canceled. but the drivers did return to cirque tl track five times as a tribute, some of them in tears. dan wheldon s factr in law remembers one of the last times they spoke. i just told him that i just wanted one thing, dan, i told him, i said you need you to win. i didn t say i need you to win, but that would be the birthday present i d like to have from you. he said my car is kind of slow, they re working on it. so hopefully we ll do our best. i said have a safe race. he was supposed to go