talk about any topic. part of the romney campaign strategy is to project the inevitability. we know we have this contest, but really, i m the guy who can beat president obama. once you project it enough, the thought is that everybody comes along and the vote goes your way. tonight is a stumbling block to that. going back to the conversation we had before about the very poor comment. it got a lot of coverage. you said some things about the conservative point of view and what he should have said. how much do you think that moment hurt him? it hurt him in two ways, it was a tactical error after a huge win in the florida primary. this was going to be his week. then he steps in it in the first hour. he had to spend the whole week recovering and explaining it. so he frittered away what would have been a great advantage and it s a deeper problem. he s a businessman. he said, i came to my politics late. he gave a very honest answer
talk about any topic. part of the romney campaign strategy is to project the inevitability. we know we have this contest, but really, i m the guy who can beat president obama. once you project it enough, the thought is that everybody comes along and the vote goes your way. tonight is a stumbling block to that. going back to the conversation we had before about the very poor comment. it got a lot of coverage. you said some things about the conservative point of view and what he should have said. how much do you think that moment hurt him? it hurt him in two ways, it was a tactical error after a huge win in the florida primary. this was going to be his week. then he steps in it in the first hour. he had to spend the whole week recovering and explaining it. so he frittered away what would have been a great advantage and it s a deeper problem. he s a businessman. he said, i came to my politics late. he gave a very honest answer
promise to prosecute 19 americans. the white house today threatened to cut off billions in u.s. aid if they put 19 u.s. citizens on trial. those citizens include the son of transportation secretary ray lahood. their alleged crime? channeling money and offering support to human rights groups. in colorado this afternoon, the crisis was newt gingrich s first point of attack. this reminds me exactly of jimmy carter and the iranian hostage. we now have the obama hostage crisis to resemble the carter crisis. chris lawrence is working his sources tonight. what are they saying at the pentagon and the white house about threats to cut off funding for egypt? i spoke with a junior defense official who says he thinks the u.s. has to keep sending military aid to egypt. he said look, no matter what sort of government emerges from the upcoming elections, the egyptian military is going to still be a pillar of that country. he thinks the u.s. has to have a relationship with that military
campaign today that they re going to make a very large ad by in south carolina. they say it shows that the money is now coming in and that they will be ready to take on mitt romney in south carolina because they believe they have a really good shot at that state where the moral values issues are very dominant. five days from new hampshire, then the campaign goes on to south carolina. got to plan ahead. thanks for your help tonight. you do have to plan ahead. and as gloria noted, mitt romney s way ahead. one of the questions is, can he protect that lead with five days? let s take a moment now, inside the romney campaign strategy. we went by the headquarters today. many volunteers at the campaign, and he has the biggest organization, the deepest organization here. you see the volunteers on the phone. they re not calling as you often see saying i m calling mitt romney, do you support our guy? they re going through a republican voter list, calling up almost as if they re
to south america. tonight mitt romney s feeling so confident about his chances here in new hampshire, he isn t even here. romney started a quick trip to south carolina this afternoon leaving his rivals to snipe at each other. newt gingrich belittled rick santorum s record going all the way back to when they served together in the house, back in the 1990s. gingrich then was speaker. if you think of us as partners, he would clearly in the historical experience would have been the junior partner. he s not a bad person, i want to be clear about this. well, senator santorum took offense at being labeled a junior partner. i was no junior partner in that. newt was not involved in that revolution when it came to the corruption and scandal. he sat on the sidelines. cnn s jim acosta keeping up with the increasingly pointed back and forth. romney s in the lead here. i assume if gingrich and santorum are going after each other, they think they ve got to fight for second or thir