fundamental misdiagnose is. between 2007 and 2010, we lost 8 million jobs. we re starting to get some back. we didn t have an explosion of regulation, so i don t think his plan addresses the fundamental plan in the economy. that problem, not enough consumer and government spending and romney has been hit with criticism from the other side, by conservatives who argue his plan doesn t do enough to slash the federal budget. conservatives would like romney to go a lot further on tax reform. he has not outlined specific changes to the current brackets and he is the only gop candidate not to do so. thanks very much. good report. we re going to be speaking with herman cain coming up this hour. also, the president of the chairman s council of economic advisers. a lot more on that front. a lot more on politics coming up. also, other news including a week into the new year, are you
i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. we begin with a stunning turnd around in south carolina where mitt romney has nearly downed his support in the past month to take a solid lead. in our latest cnn orc poll, 37% of likely voters are now backing romney in south carolina. santorum and gingrich are battling for second and 18% respectly. but santorum is soaring. while gingrich has dropped 25 points. paul has jumped up to 12%. perry has slipped to only 5% in south carolina. jon huntsman stands at 1%. with a look at what s behind romney s south carolina surge, let s go to joe johns. wolf, taking a detour from new hampshire, mitt romney decided to go somewhere he thought he could use some help, hoping a little extra attention to the palmetto state would pay off. looking stronger than expected in south carolina, mitt romney wrapped up his brief swing with a rally in conway. it s a state where the candidate came in fourth in the last presidential primary, but this ti