but trump is now something phenomenal indeed. he s the ringmaster of the republican clown show. also tonight, mitt versus newt. with herman cain s exit, the republican race comes down to this. on one side, the perfectly presented if not sufficiently conservative mitt romney. on the other, the gladitorial former speaker of the house. newt s surging in iowa right now and closing the gap in new hampshire, and that s got romney sweating, if he could sweat. and that leads to this, which candidate, newt or mitt, does president obama and his people want to run against? would the obama campaign rather face a flame thrower like newt, who has a ton of baggage, or the genteel romney who has trouble with consistency and connection with people. and later, the penn state scandal, the sex scandal has come back. jerry sandusky, the former assistant football coach accused of sex crimes against young boys speaks out, again. in another incredible interview, sandusky says he was a father
the counterpunch is. the thing about newt, he ll think up something in realtime from that counterpunch, how to do a rebuttal, a slammer right back at him, whereas mitt romney will be like one of those english spiders, like chuck webb, they ve got one punch in their entire arsenal and they just fall on their face. they re lead-footed. isn t romney more lead-footed than mitt? mitt can move around that floor much faster. i think there s a pretty decent amount of consensus and i think it s appropriate that there s been a consensus that mitt romney has actually emerged as a pretty good debater and he s done a nice job. i think he s been the class of the field by far, that may not be saying much, but class of the field so far in this republican field on every debate stage he s been on. newt gingrich is no doubt a more nimble intellect, or at least a more gumby-like intellect than mitt romney s, but that can be a strength and it can be a weakness. and you never know what you re going to get
stephen colbert took to the stage ready to do anything but spare the republican clown show. see if you can figure out who he was jabbing with this one. good evening, mr. president. mrs. obama. distinguished honorees. unregistered lobbyists. newt gingrich, anyone? anyway, newt s been taking heat in recent weeks for raking in over $1 million from freddie mac and framing his role as a, quote, historian. and yes, he was in attendance for the shout-out from colbert. president obama also spoke yesterday at a reception for the star-studded event. and in addition to shining a light on each of the honorees for their accomplishments, he pointed out one who might have something to offer to the political scene, specifically, the gridlock on capitol hill. let s take a look at this one. couldn t see this one coming. maybe the most amazing thing about yoyo mah is everybody likes him. you ve got to give me some tips. it s remarkable.
of the banging himself, but he s going to have a pretty powerful ally in rick perry. they ve got the same motive right now, and that s to bring newt gingrich down. let me ask michael how do you see perry? do you see him alive enough to be even an attack dog? even if he can t win it, can he make noise and bring down newt? not effectively. i was going to see in response to the governor s point, the only way that strategy works is if perry doesn t engage directly himself. i think the fact of the matter is there s been so much that s already been placed in the minds of voters with respect to perry, not just on the issues, but how he has come across, you know, in terms of being presidential, that that may not necessarily be a helpful spot for mitt. but you may be right. if he can just run the ads and not do the personal appearances or any more debates, that may have a way to zing him. but i think in the end, those commercials with pelosi and gingrich were national commercials.
welcome back to hardball. it s been a busy day in republican presidential politics as candidates scramble to pick up the pieces from the fallout of herman cain s suspended campaign. thanks to a new nbc marist poll, we re getting some indication of where cain s supporters may likely go in the early primary states. the nbc/marist poll also shows just how dramatically newt gingrich has surged into frontrunner status. he now leads the pack in iowa and is catching up to mitt romney, even in new hampshire. newt certainly has a lot of detractors among prominent conservatives, but right now he also has the momentum in the race, while mitt romney s support continues to flatline. michael steele s the former chair of the republican national committee, and ed rendell is the former democratic national chair, and of course, the former governor of pennsylvania. both gentlemen are msnbc political analysts. let s look at some of these new numbers from the nbc/marist poll. in iowa, newt gingrich, the