the house takes up the senate bill tomorrow. a major snowstorm is brewing in the southwest. travel will become dangerous if not impossible across much of the region tomorrow. texas and oklahoma are expecting up to 15 inches of snow. so we begin our political hour with some key endorsements for republican presidential candidate mitt romney. the latest comes from former gop presidential nominee bob dole. dole announced his choice in an advertisement in today's des moines register. he says he's the best candidate suited to beat president obama in 2012. dole's public backing comes a day after the des moines paper announced its support for romney. the state's largest newspaper says the former massachusetts governor is the most qualified candidate competing in the caucuses. the conservative christian group the family leader is expected to release its endorsement in the next 24 hours. cnn political reporter shannon travis joins us from des moines. any word on who the family leader will be supporting? >> reporter: yeah, fred. no firm word on who the family lead will endorse yet or whether it will endorse. it is important to note that sources tell me they're deadlocked now between four candidates essentially. michele bachmann, rick perry, rick santorum and newt gingrich. they have been that way for a few weeks now. we reported on this a few weeks ago. my sources tell me that's essentially still the same that they're not quite sure, the seven member board of this group, the family leader, has yet to firmly coalesce around one person. just a point of interest, this is one of the most coveted endorsements that all of these republican candidates here in iowa are seeking. it will be a big deal. we hope to hear something by tomorrow, but it may even be pushed to tuesday or early in the week, fred. >> i wonder how much does it matter there is this des moines register endorsement or perhaps a notion of winning the iowa caucuses altogether. how much weight do these things carry? >> it is an excellent question. let's talk about pros and cons of both. in terms of the des moines register endorsement, it is bragging rights. people are waking up this morning seeing the newspaper, saying, oh, mitt romney won the endorsement or what have you. there are a lot of undecides here, the polls are fluctuating. some people be with swayed before the caucuses. it is bragging rights and they're saying very strong positive things about the governor. at the same time, the paper itself hasn't had a good track record in terms of pick -- endorsing people who are going on to win. only three of its endorsees have gone on to win the caucus. only three have gone on to win the republican nomination and only one, that would be george w. bush in 2000, has gone on to win the white house. in terms of the iowa caucuses, there is a debate about how much the iowa caucuses matter at this point, fred. some people say, you know what, it still is very important in terms of momentum, absolutely. even if the winner isn't the eventual winner of the presidential race, but will win some press. other people say, you know what, maybe iowa is not as important, though you won't hear any of the caucus voters or many people here say that, fred. >> all right, thanks so much. shannon travis in des moines. mitt romney spent the weekend in south carolina. he campaigned there after picking up the endorsement of governor nikki haley. haley was elected by the tea party, a group that romney says shares many of his views. >> i line up with a smaller government, a less intrusive government, regulations being peared back, holding down the tax rates of the american people, maintaining a strong defense. many tea party folks will find me to be the ideal candidate. >> rachael streitfeld joins us from washington. you were with governors haley and romney on the campaign trail. did anyone see this endorsement coming? >> well, i think this did come as a surprise to a lot of people. many of those gop candidates would have loved to have gotten haley's support. as you said, she was backed by tea party groups and known for her conservative views, which could help mitt romney with conservative voters there in south carolina. the other thing to remember, though, she did endorse him in 2008. also romney was one of the first republicans to go down to south carolina and campaign for her when she was running for governor. there was that in his favor. >> this endorsement, is this more important locally in south carolina than it is nationally? >> you know, i have to say it is pretty important nationally. it helps romney with this narrative. he's trying toing to create the of inevitability. on the local level, i think the jury is still out. haley dropped a little in the polls in south carolina. i think we have to wait and see how much this endorsement helps romneys with voters there in south carolina. >> as we see a lot of the candidates we're also getting to know their spouses. newt gingrich, we have been seeing a lot of his spouse and more of mitt romney's as well. is this intentional to get the wives out in front to get their take on their husbands as candidates? >> yeah, i think it certainly is. we have seen a lot of ann romney. those two are like a couple of teenagers joking around with each other. so i think one reason she's there, just to support her husband, mitt romney. in a larger sense, yes, we're seeing more of ann romney, both campaigning with her husband and then campaigning by herself, often in iowa. so in iowa she can talk about their long marriage, their five children, their 16 grandchildren and that's a state where voters look to the values of the candidate. so, you know, it presents an interesting comparison to newt gingrich. >> yeah, we saw pictures of newt and calista, at her book signing yesterday, she authored a children's book. how does she, i guess, paint a different picture of the people, of who people think of when they think of newt gingrich. >> well, you know, newt gingrich said he has learned from his mistakes and turned his life around. he converted to catholicism, calista's religion. i think he's called her his rock. they seem very close and obviously he would like to present that image of his happy marriage. >> rachael streitfeld, thanks so much for joining us today. joining us, lenny mccallister and danielle belton. good to see both of you. okay, so let's talk about mitt romney and his endorsements that he's receiving in iowa with the des moines register and endorsements from south carolina, from the governor. lenny, you first, how meaningful and important is this when it seems as though mitt romney is having a hard time being embraced by the republican party, the conservative base, as a whole? >> well, i actually wrote a piece on this talking about him being the establishment guy in a nonestablishment era. i don't know if it means as much as it might ten or 20 years ago. you look at hillary clinton, she was the establishment candidate, it was her coronation. this young state senator by the name of barack obama became senator in 2004. by 2008, he overtook her and became the president of the use. mitt romney's kind of going after the same type of thing right now. he's going against a momentum where people don't want the establishment, they're frustrated with the establishment and here is this guy that keeps ringing up all the endorsements, but gingrich is still in the lead in florida, still in the lead in south carolina and still, barely, but still in the lead in iowa. so although it is good for him to get these endorsements, it still doesn't mean quite as much as it might have a couple of years ago. >> danielle, how do you see it? how much of the endorsements, particularly the des moines register, how much of that is a barometer for the kind of support he may get in the iowa caucuses, just two weeks away? >> i feel like the thing that mitt romney is struggling with is authenticity and people versus a good feeling about who he is and what he actually stands for and believes in. as wonderful as the endorsements are, like any candidate wants to get high quality endorsements, the bigger problem is voters connecting with him and relating with him and feeling more human and predictable in how his opinions will come across and his views on things. there is so much of this picturing of romney as the career politician, of this guy who is always on point, always on message, but that message is constantly evolving, that makes a lot of conservative voters nervous. that's more of the bigger issue for romney, a way to humanize himself so people can relate to him. >> i wonder in mitt romney's case, does it seem to prove best for him when he does not spend a lot of time some place and he gets endorsements, hence iowa and south carolina, yet he spent all this time in new hampshire and much of that support, at least according to local newspapers, has gone by way of newt gingrich, lenny? >> well, here is the thing with that. if it works out it a great strategy because if romney can come in second place in iowa and then start gaining momentum in south carolina, his campaign doesn't have to look at what they were facing a week ago, basically behind in iowa, losing a lead in new hampshire and really far behind in south carolina and florida. however, at the same time, you have to look at it from this perspective. the register's endorsement, they endorse john mccain who lost to huckabee, they endorsed hillary clinton, who lost to president obama, and hillary clinton came in third in the caucuses. you have some papers that have more of a reputation for being able to get their endorsement to mean something. if you look at what newt gingrich was saying in the sunday shows today, he was spinning it and saying, listen, this is a liberal paper, endorsing a moderate. i had a conservative paper in new hampshire endorsing me. i'm the true conservative in this race. that's how he's going to try to spin this latest endorsement. >> lenny and danielle, thank you. we'll talk with you again momentarily. we're talking about the two candidates who seem to be neck and neck. mitt romney and now front-runner newt gingrich. gingrich is focusing on the economy. his rivals are targeting him. michele bachmann is among them. we'll explain after this. welcome to idaho, where they grow america's favorite potatoes. everyone knows idaho potatoes taste great. but did you know they're good for you too? 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how boring are you if you think zany is newt gingrich? oh, he's just mad cap. what a wild, crazy guy that newt is. oh! >> welcome back to the special hour of the "cnn newsroom." we're taking this time out every sunday to let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders in their words out on the campaign trail. the political bickering, however, continues in washington, just a day after president obama praised a senate vote to extend the payroll tax cut. house speaker john boehner is expressing his opposition. the republican leader says the two-month extension is just, quote, kicking the can down the road, end quote. earlier this week, newt gingrich touted his own record on the economy. >> i think it is very, very important that we get the deficit under control. you can't run up multibillion dollar debt on the scale president obama has. it simply doesn't work. and the credential i offer you is that i have had four consecutive balanced budgets came out of the policies i developed. it is the only time in your lifetime that we had four consecutive balanced budgets. i think we can get back to it again and it requires increasing economic growth and controlling spending and reforming the government. i very much like the strong american effort to modernize the entire government. it would save $500 billion or more a year. i think it is well worth looking at as a way of approaching things. >> so despite that record, newt gingrich continues to be under fire for his dealings with freddie mac when he left capitol hill. he had an exchange with representative michele bachmann during thursday night's debate. >> there is many things governments do. i did no lobbying of any kind for any organization and that was a key part of every meeting we had. >> congresswoman bachmann you accused speaker gingrich of peddling his influence with congressional republicans to help the companies that paid him tens of millions of dollars since he's left office. given his denial over time and again tonight that he's denies ever having lobbied, what is your evidence, hard evidence that he engaged in influence battling? >> well, it is the fact that we know that he cashed paychecks from freddie mac. that's the best evidence that you can have. over $1.6 million. and frankly, i'm shocked, listening to the former speaker of the house, because he's defending the continuing practice of freddie mac and fannie mae. there is a big difference between a credit union and freddie mac and fannie mae and they were the epicenter of the mortgage financial meltdown. i was trying to see these two entities put into bankruptcy because they, frankly, need to go away. when the speaker had his hand out and he was taking $1.6 million to influence senior republicans to keep the scam going in washington, d.c. that's absolutely wrong. we can't have as our nominee for the republican party someone who continues to stand for freddie mac and fannie mae. they need to be shut down, not built up. >> speaker gingrich? >> well, easiest answer is that's just not true. what she just say is factually not true. i never lobbied under any circumstance. i never went in and suggested in any way that we do this. in fact, i tried to help defeat the housing act when the democrats were in charge of the house. if you go back and talk to rick lazio, he'll tell you when we were passing housing reform when i was speaker, i never at any time tried to slow down reform. in fact, i helped him pass the reform bill and i think some of those people ought to have facts before they make wild allegations. >> let me -- >> congresswoman? >> well, after the debate that we had last week, political fact came out and said everything i said was true. and evidence is is that speaker gingrich took $1.6 million. you don't need to be within the technical definition of being a lobbyist to still be influence peddling with senior republicans in washington, d.c. to get them to do your bidding. and the bidding was to keep this grandiose scam of freddie mac going. >> so while former speaker is out front, the margin between gingrich, romney and ron paul is shrinking. let's bring in lenny mccallister and danielle belton back. danielle, you first, will newt gingrich's record or history as we saw on display there during that debate help or hinder? >> i can't see it doing anything but hinder. the more you learn about newt gingrich, first of all, i can understand how people have forgotten the '90s. i know people have short attention spans but it is interesting to me of that class of '94 he was speaker of, it is very hard to find anyone that will vouch for them and back up all the claims of the hard work he said he did and all the accomplishments he had. it is hard to find people that go on the record, back him up who work with him. the other half are actively, you know, calling the guy scary or corrupt on television. joe scarborough with a whole rant against newt gingrich. i think the problem is his past. he's trying to run from the outside, he's a career politician. how outside can you be when you're the former speaker of the house? >> this is interesting, just underscoring what danielle is talking about, forgotten, it seems that maybe the electorate, some people have forgotten. it seems like many republicans, particularly those on the hill, those who worked alongside him, have not forgotten him and have made it very clear that they are not looking to back him. at least not public ly. >> well, there are people who are backing him publicly. one person advocating for him and giving him kudos is actually on the debate stage with him. there has been more than one instance where at the time, senator rick santorum, who worked with him not only as a congressman but also as a senator back and forth was able to sit there and acknowledge the good things that newt gingrich did. he said he looked up to him as a role model as well. there are definitely conservatives out there that advocate for him, but, yes, there was a harsh record. people don't forget the fact that he was being extremely hypocritical going after president clinton about the affair at monica lewinsky while at the same time courting his third wife while cheating on his second wife. that rub bed people the wrong way. he stepped on a lot of toes with that impeachment process and some other things he brought to the table when he came into the class in 1994. when we go back to the bachmann question, congresswoman bachmann has been known for taking subsidies from the federal government and then railing against the federal government. even though she was going after the former speaker in regards to the freddie mac and fannie mae issue there was a little bit of hypocrisy there from congresswoman bachmann when it comes to the issue. you saw how the former speaker took it. he sidestepped it, saying listen, factually this is not true and she has a tendency to get some of her facts wrong and she's looking hypocritical herself. >> newt gingrich has been rising in the polls. however as of late, maybe within the past week or two, we're seeing that the distance between he and romney and paul has been th shrinking a tad bit. is it his display of confidence or his toned down confidence in recent days? is that behind that? >> you know, i mean, i got to be honest, i don't think newt gingrich is that likable. i think initially because the fact he is so smart, because he is so aggressive and charismatic and does most certainly believe in himself and his abilities, if you're not paying that close attention, you know, he looks pretty interesting, looks pretty good. the more and more you watch gingrich, the more and more you start to see things you don't like. he's kind of smarmy. he can be very dismissive and condescending. just the exchange with bachmann, it was very awkward during the debates. he did not refer to her by name. he called everyone else by her name, and would refer to her as she. there is a lot of things that make people uncomfortable. >> okay. i missed that one. lenny, did you catch that one? >> listen, yes, but they say the same thing about now president obama where he was professorial and detached. they claim -- oh, they said the same exact thing about president obama. you know how he talked down to people that are lin