winning and big time come out of this with fire power? up against the guy who s not in the race tomorrow, rick perry? i think tim pawlenty is hoping for the biggest heddline. even if he gets it, that headline will be a split screen with marperry. what about mitt romney that would draw him back to iowa and make him compete with rick perry. a lot of his supporters want him to do. if he doesn t go toe to toe, head to head with him begin ing from iowa they re afraid this steamroller may start and it might be hard for him to stop in new hampshire. watch how many people mitt romney gets. there s been a quiet campaign to sort of get some of his supporters into the straw poll and vote for him. i don t think he ll win, but he certainly would make a big headline. boy, that s learning from the kerry campaign. went out and met howard dean in iowa rather than waiting in new hampshire. beat him there and the rest of the way. same theory, right, jeff? exactly. got to be there. exact same th
that sounds a lot more like barack obama, if you asked me. well, jeff, there you have her, again, arguing basically that her words are what matters, not her effectiveness, and governor pawlenty saying she didn t get anything done. yeah, but i came out with the light bulb freedom of choice. she speaks out as if, with confidence, that that s a significant thing to say on this planet. and i think one thing that voters here in iowa, at least, have really been paying attention to this for quite a why. it wasn t last night they started hearing this distinctions, tim pawlenty has been struggling, small crowds. he hasn t attracted as much pop as she has, but the republican voters here who i talk to are beginning, i think, at least some are beginning to understand
beat him there and the rest of the way. same theory, right, jeff? exactly. got to be there. exact same them, and romney people are thinking about that. chuck, last word. you win them both, chris. if romney went in and took iowa, it would be over. wow. done. this race is finished, but, know, that s the rich reward of romney playing for real and doing what he s doing now. i love strategic questions. thanks so much, chuck todd. looks like a nice day out there. beautiful. thank you, jeff. coming up, the winner of last night s debate wasn t even onstage. we ll talk to him. the most interesting guy, rick perry, announcing tomorrow, he could about nightmare for romney, could get in the there and beat him s in iowa and challenge him up in new hampshire and take him in south carolina and win the whole thing. he could challenge the president, too. people wonder. if he could be it. that s next. you re watching hardball. only on msnbc.
we start with the republican debate, and for that we go to iowa. chuck todd is nbc s chief political director and our white house chief correspondent. he s at the iowa state fairgrounds. also the new york times political reporter jeff, in des moines. great coverage tonight. last night, i want you all to look at this. during the poll, during the fox news debate last night, moderator brent bair asked all candidates if they d turn down a deal that cuts 10 in spending for every $1 raced in taxes. look what happened. will you raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes you d walk away on the 10-1 deal. that s frightening. chuck, that shows i said today and i mean it, like one of those reverend young zun moon s wedding, everybody gets married at the same time. did anybody quibble? wait a minute. 10-1? would any member of congress or
party. social conservative, libertarians, isolationists, you name it. the one thing that keeps them together is taxes. chris, i ve told you this before. i ve had republican pollsters tell me it would break the republican party apart if they somehow split on taxes. let me go to jeff on that same point. this was the bicentennial moment yesterday. jeff, to make it, to follow on on what chuck said there. they make backtrack on that, some of them, in three, four months. but none of them asked for a clarification. they immediately, knee jerk response. they all put up their hands afraid not to be with the group. no question. i mean, but i think that sort of was a metaphor for the whole debate. they were really focused on at least most of candidates on the stage were focused on the here and now, which is the iowa straw poll.