i want to talk about one of the guys who got this in race who seems like they shouldn t have gotten in, and then some of the guys who should have gotten in, but didn t. it looks like the wrong field to me. the bench looks better than the field. evan why did perry run? he looked so ill-prepared. i think he got talked into it by consultant, partly, who told him it was going to be easier than it was. let me go to mike. why did christie stay out? he was the smart one in here. he looked at what happened to rick perry. he looked at how ill-prepared rick perry was for the debates, and in the book, we learned that when he should have been preparing for debates, when he should have been studying, rick perry on his plane, according to a former aide who used to fly with him, he would tell jokes, fraternity-type jokes. he would play around on his ipad. he would look at family pictures. chris christie looked at that and realized that that could be him. realized that he was not ready to go out
and herman cain, rick perry, michele bachmann, which republican presidential candidate has been the butt of more jokes on late-night tv? well, someone actually tracks this stuff. we ve got the answer tonight in the sideshow. but let me finish tonight with some advice. be careful, progressives, for what you wish for. i m talking about those wishing for newt gingrich to be the republican candidate. we start with mitt romney on the attack. republican strategist steve schmidt worked on the bush/cheney 2004 campaign and ran the 2008 campaign. he s also an msnbc political analyst. and jennifer donohue is a senior fellow at the eisenhower institute and a huffington post contributor. both of you, thank you much for joining us. it s great to have two people on who really know the republican party well. let s talk about the numbers. another day, another new set of poll numbers showing newt gingrich gaining strength among registered republicans. take a look at the new quinnipiac data. in fl
also didn t beat around the bush in saying that she would be an obama supporter come 2012, regardless of who s topping the ticket on the republican side. and that brings us to tonight s big number. as the presidential race continues to the heat up, we all know who we can depend on to make light of it, late-night tv. so just as many of the republican candidates have had their day in the sun when it comes to poll numbers, michele bachmann, she s been at the top, rick perry, herman cain, you know the drill, have also held the spotlight when it comes to providing material for the likes of stewart, colbert, snl, and more. and there s one who s been leading the pack in that area so far. you won t be ready for it, but here it is, ready for it? mitt romney has been on top, getting over 19% of the late-night mentions since the start of 2011. newt s down at fifth. but also as his popularity starts to go up, i think he should be prepare for a firestorm of late-nights when the jokes are all on n
bit in terms of the crisis. so if this enthusiasm gap isn t there, republicans chances go way down. i guess the question is how far we re out of time. we re out of time, ron. i got the last word here. i had a great line here. now i ve got to use it. it s a question, gene, of how far you can push your finger in your mouth and still vote. anyway, they re really taking a look at these candidates. yeah, they re gagging on them. anyway, thank you, gene robinson and thank you, ron. more time next time, ron. up next, there have been a lot of laughable moments in this presidential campaign. so far, which candidate do you think has been the butt of more jokes on late-night? that s ahead in the sideshow. you re watching hardball, only on msnbc.
regardless of who s topping the ticket on the republican side. and that brings us to tonight s big number. as the presidential race continues to the heat up, we all know who we can depend on to make light of it, late-night tv. so just as many of the republican candidates have had their day in the sun when it comes to poll numbers, michele bachmann, she s been at the top, rick perry, herman cain, you know the drill, have also held the spotlight when it comes to providing material for the likes of stewart, colbert, snl, and more. and there s one who s been leading the pack in that area so far. you won t be ready for it, but here it is, ready for it? mitt romney has been on top, getting over 19% of the late-night mentions since the start of 2011. newt s down at fifth. but also as his popularity starts to go up, i think he should be prepare for a firestorm of late-nights when the jokes are all on newt. but just over 19% right now late-night mentions go to mittster, romney. that s tonight