national poll. begging the question what in the world is going on with the republican base? case in point, have a look at mitt romney s christmas card. there s mitt and anne with the grandkids, coordinated outfits. look at them. can you imagine a more eye dillic perfect family? solid, church going, prosperous, they re a republican dream. now compare that to professor gingrich who has had as many religious nominational movements as he has wives. three of each. he trades them in every so often. right now he s a catholic. is it an issue of electability? i don t think so. our latest poll shows mitt neck in neck with obama while gingrich loses to the president by 11 points. so what is it then? what is the basis problem with mitt romney? for much more, let s bring in our political panel. columnist for the bloomberg view and msnbc contributor and democratic strategist, crystal ball. and i want to start with you, because we just got in a clip from a new york time interview. and mitt
is, 17 points behind newt gingrich in the latest nbc national poll. begging the question what in the world is going on with the republican base? case in point, have a look at mitt romney s christmas card. there s mitt and anne with the grandkids, coordinated outfits. look at them. can you imagine a more eye dillic perfect family? solid, church going, prosperous, they re a republican dream. now compare that to professor gingrich who has had as many religious nominational movements as he has wives. three of each. he trades them in every so often. right now he s a catholic. is it an issue of electability? i don t think so. our latest poll shows mitt neck in neck with obama while gingrich loses to the president by 11 points. so what is it then? what is the basis problem with mitt romney? for much more, let s bring in our political panel. columnist for the bloomberg view and msnbc contributor and democratic strategist, crystal ball. and i want to start with you, because we just go