within two points of romney who s on a downward slide. still one day after calling himself a severely conservative republicans, he did claim two wins this weekend. the conservative political action conference giving him 38% to rick santorum s 31%. just hours later, in the maine fla caucus. the hearts and roses are not exactly forthcoming. we are not convinced. but governor he s been running for five years. and spent millions and millions. is rick an storm suggesting pays for their ticket and they come in and vote and they leave. is the req santorum suggesting that romney bought the straw poll? no, he s far too nice for that, i m sure, but perhaps defending his territory? romney is clearingly making the case that he s not only a real conservative, he is a severe one. i ve never heard anyone saying they re severely conservative. i m just observing it. i ve never ahead it said. yeah, i m a severe conservative. i heard yesterday somebody compare it for a head wo
i think romney i don t think he connects with people well. in the south part of the state, i think romney tonight changed his view on the dream act from what he was talkinging about when he was in iowa and new hampshire. he started talking to the audience differently, and i think gingrich has somewhat trapped him there. florida is where it is today in part because of the great history that immigration has played in the success of our state. i think romney is not getting the same audience down there that he thought he was going to get. romney clearly appears to be in the wilderness bumpinging into trees wherever he turns. good to have you on, rod. i appreciate your time tonight. good to see you. let s turn to our panel, joann reed, jimmy williams with us tonight, former democratic senate staffer and democratic strategist, crystal ball. i can ask all of you who won tonight and who did well, but i have to say, how did mitt romney do as a political street fighter? he was supposed t
welcome back to the ed show. we continue talk about tonight s republican debate. i m joined by joann reed and jimmy williams and crystal ball. i want to stay on this housing story for a number of different reasons. first of all, it is a big story in florida, but it is also a big story coming up in nevada and the housing bubble, and this is where mitt romney has had a number of different positions and answers. here he is, romney, tonight on the housing how we should help these people. here he is. to help these homeowners or not? to help them, of course we help them. pam bonnie in florida is cracking down on people committing fraud, number one. number two, you have to get government out of the mess.
i appreciate your time tonight. good to see you. let s turn to our panel, joann reed, jimmy williams with us tonight, former democratic senate staffer and democratic strategist, crystal ball. i can ask all of you who won tonight and who did well, but i have to say, how did mitt romney do as a political street fighter? he was supposed to be the tough guy tonight. he came out and just banged away at newt gingrich. it really didn t turn out that way. he tried hard. he grew up on the mean streets of the gated communities of ann arbor. what mitt romney needed to do tonight was score a knockout punch against newt gingrich. he needed to do something to hurt gingrich and set him off his game. i think he did that in a sense. i think he had gingrich back on his heels on the question of freddie mac. i think he did a good job of going after him on the idea that he was a lobbyist and not just a historian. so i think he had some moments
we have responses from msnbc s eugene robertson from the newt gingrich pack and much more. this is the ed show. let s get to work. republican voters in florida will pick their presidential nominee one week from tomorrow. mitt romney trails newt gingrich in the latest florida polls and now he s on attack. romney tried to land the latest attack on gingrich for his association with freddie mac. beginni romney hammered him with his pay in the debate. you said you were paid $1.6 million as a historian. they weren t hiring you as a historian, and this contract proves you weren t a hiss tore yal. it doesn t say you provided historical experience, you were hired as a consultant. you were making over a million dollars at the same time people in florida were being hurt by millions of dollars. this is a good example. as a businessman, you know that the gross revenue wasn t your personal income. we had three offices, the company was being paid. my share annually was about $35,000 a