welcome everybody. the battle for new hampshire. the "boston globe" is backing jon huntsman. the former utah governor offers the country an opportunity to renew itself. talking with eric, who's worked with mitt romney nearly ten years. his senior campaign adviser, and he joins us live from boston this morning. nice to see you. thanks for talking with us. >> thank you. >> let's begin with this endorsement. what do you think the impact will be here in new hampshire? >> well, soledad, boston is a two newspaper town, and the "globe" has a liberal editorial page. the other newspaper is "the boston herald" a more conservative editorial page. pleased to get the endorsement of the "boston herald" and yesterday there were two newspapers in new hampshire that announced endorsement for mitt romney. one was the "national telegraph." pleased to get that. the other "the eagle tribune." there's a growing sense mitt romney is, one, the best person to lead in the white house on jobs and the economy, and, two, the best equipped candidate to take on barack obama and win in november. >> so that sounds like a really long way of saying, you don't care at all. it doesn't matter. i want to read you clips of this endorsement which was farrelil long. both supporters and attracters, talking about governor romney, suspect behind the conservative scaffolding is a data driven mod light will make compromises. by the way romney has run its campaign is, it's really impossible to tell. that cuts to the core of the flip-flopping tag that has really stuck to governor romney. how will you deal with that? >> new hampshire is a nice laboratory for this primary process and how people react to mitt romney, because new hampshire, or the people of new hampshire, were front row spectators to mitt romney's governorship. they know what he faced when he came into office in 2003. a state in recession. a broken budget out of balance by hundreds of millions of dollars, and by the time the governor left office four years later, he had completely turned that situation around. the economy was growing. jobs. not losing them. and balanced the budget four years in a row without raising taxes. >> another endorsement. represented by rick santorum and tea party activists represented by ron paul pushed romney in unwanted directions. new hampshire, republican independent voters have a chance through huntsman to show him to be a sturdier model. jon huntsman would be a better president. the part where they're talking about romney being pushed in unwanted directions. isn't it a fact what's happening in this race, you're seeing, to appeal to the tea party, or might potentially, in a general election, start losing more moderate voters? >> no. i think what this race is oriented around is jobs and the economy. that's the number one issue on the minds of the voters, and i think mitt romney, republican primary voters have a candidate who is perfectly credentialed to lead on jobs and to lead on the economy. you know, mitt has led in many different enterprises, turned around the olympic, the commonwealth of massachusetts, as i jut explained. he's been a businessman. in fact, that's where he spent the bulk of his career and i think these are the qualities of leadership republican voters are looking for in their next president. >> all right. let's talk about some of those economic figures you've raised. romney put up a figure of 100,000 jobs created. is that a number you're sticking with? >> well, when mitt romney was at bane capital, the company invested in about 100 companies. the three that mitt romney talks about most frequently on the campaign trail are some well-known names like staples. sports authority. >> right, but he adds them up and says that that adds up to 100,000? >> that's correct. if you add up the jobs, just those three enterprises alone, the amount exceeds 100,000. but, look, we're happy to have this -- >> let me stop you there. hang on one second, then i'll let you finish. and you know, we will have this discussion with barack obama. i can guarantee you that, but not this moment. >> sure. >> you say, you add up those three. that comes to around 100,000 jobs. the dilemma, of course, add up the other ones and it does come up to 100,000 jobs. what the "washington post" said. listen to this. the 100,000 figure stems from the growth in jobs from those three companies, you mentioned them, staple, 89,000, sports authority, dominoes. the tall sdi not include losses from other companies with which bane capital was involved, maybe most importantly, are based on current employment figures, not the period when romney worked at bane. >> well, let's take some of those -- >> saying, that's a -- >> -- you know, soledad -- >> go ahead, i'm sorry. >> the bane record has been examined over a period of many years. about four or five companies that critics focus on, which experienced job loss. that's not unusual in the private sector. those numbers add up to maybe 4,000 or 5,000in there are 25 million americans who are unemployed, stop looking for work or stuck in part-time work and want a full-time job. this is going to be a central -- a central message of mitt romney's campaign, and we -- we invite the comparison of the two records. >> it's ron brownstein, "the national journal." good morning. >> good morning. >> you know, tax policy center which does comprehensive analysis of candidates going back several years put out their assessment of mitt romney's tax plan yesterday and said 99% of million nears would receive a tax cut averaging about $150,000. people are lower, middle class, only one-third would receive any tax cut as all. maybe 1/6 or 1/5 would see their taxes increase. do you dispute this and if so will you release your own analysis with specifics how you think your plan will affect people at the different income ladder? >> thank you, ron. mitt romney's plan does not raise taxes. let's be clear about that point. he has proposed not only -- >> on anybody? >> not on anybody. he's proposed dramatic spending cuts that will reduce the deficit, of course, and he's put on the table some very pro-growth tax policies, permanently extend the bush tax cuts. dramatically cut the corporate tax. target relief to the middle class. i think what the tax policy center is focused on is temporary tax provisions of the stimulus that are due to expire anyway. under the terms of the legislation that was signed by president obama. to somehow attribute that to mitt romney is unfair, in my view. >> and in terms of kind of the magnitude of the tax savings, when you look at the tax savings, simply by extending the bush tax cuts and other provisions you have, they argue most of it is in fact going to the upper brackets. do you dispute that? >> well, what we tried to do with governor romney's tax plan is to target relief to the middle class. we had said specifically to those who make less than $200,000 a year, we will eliminate the tax on capital gain, interest income and dividends. this is meant to help out a class of people who have been most damaged by the obama economy. >> james from an affiliate tv station here in new hampshire. i think he's been to the station a few times. you know, eric, a pure political question for you today. as you look at the path of the nomination, what made you happier this jeek the win in iowa or the fact rick perry is still in this race? >> well, six weeks ago in iowa, nobody gave mitt romney a chance of winning the caucuses. in fact, i don't think mitt romney has been a front runner that state for the entire 2011 year. so we were thrilled with the outcome. we're hoping for a more comfortable victory in new hampshire, but we're not taking anything for granted. i know the polls are very favorable to mitt romney, but we're running as if mitt romney is three points behind. he understands that in new hampshire, you have to work hard to earn every vote, and that's exactly what he intends to do. >> you know -- the debate stage saturday night and sunday you have a situation where ron paul is in second place. everyone is talking about rick santorum. who's your biggest opponent on that debate stage? >> well, we take all of our opponents seriously. ron paul has a very passionate and committed base of supporters, but his foreign policy views are way outside the main stream. rick santorum is also a fine person, but his experience is different than mitt romney's. his experience is in washington's world. mitt romney's experience is in the real world. and i think that when voters make their choice, they're going to be looking for somebody who comes from outside washington. whose experience has been mainly in the private sector creating jobs. that's why we think at the end of the day they're going to choose mitt romney as their nominee. >> this is, i'm from the american center for progress in washington, d.c. one question i had, the "boston globe" this morning talk and the need to cow tail to the tea party. i wanted to ask you, at the beginning of this process, the governor, governor romney, seemed to try not to embrace the ryan budget then a few weeks ago attacked newt gingrich saying he wasn't embracing it then fully embraced the ryan budget. and just, i just want to make clear that you fully endorse the house republican budget proposed by ryan that had dramatic cuts and entitlements in reshaping of spending. right? >> no. i think the aversion of events is incorrect. when the ryan budget came out, and most of the focus was on the medicare reforms in that plan, governor romney applauded those changes. said he would have a plan of his own, but he thought that paul ryan was going in the right direction. scently, mitt romney did come out with his medicare reforms. by the way, the only candidate who have addressed that in parliament and what he has said is, to take that ryan plan one step further. he likes the idea of giving premium support to our seniors, but he would also keep in place the existing traditional medicare system as a choice, and then subsequent to that, paul ryan adopted the mitt romney temperatu template, blueprint for medicare, and that seems to be the discussion that's taking place now in washington. so we're happy to have contributed to that debate and we look forward to implementing the governor's reforms when he's elected president. >> thanks for talking with us this morning. appreciate your time. >> thank you, soledad. we're going to turn now to cnn's christine romans who is live for us at cnn headquarters with a look at the day's other stories. good morning. >> good morning to you, soledad. the air force academy this morning charging three of its cadets with sexual assault. charges may be filed here. officials say the cadets were involved in three unrelated cases at the academy in colorado springs over a period of 15 months. just last week the defense department report cite add charp increase in sex-related attacks at the nation's military academies. syrian state television this morning reports a suicide bomber set off an explosion that killed and wounded dozens of people near a school in a densely populated area of damascus. the obama administration reportedly set to announce new regulations that would allow certain undocumented immigrants to remain in the country while applying for citizenship. another story. designed to keep families intact. specifically families with legal residence. may have the advent of the president's support among latino voters. and has penn state found the man to succeed joe paterno as the school's head football coach? reports say new england patriots offensive coordinator, bill o'brien, interviewed with school officials yesterday in state college, pennsylvania, and said to be a significant step in the search for the nittany lions new head coach. and watching your money this morning. the government's big jobs report for december comes out at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. economists surveyed by cnn money expect 150,000 jobs were added to the economy in december, and the unemployment rate ticked up a bit to 8.7%. i want to show you, soledad, how that fits into the overall pictures. these are jobs now added in 2011. you can see, this would be six months of job creation over 100,000 a month. six months in a row. soledad, the first time that has happened since 2006. soledad? >> i know later this morning christine will take a close are look at exactly what kinds of jobs are being added, and the political implications of that as well. i want to hear from other voters this morning. going to talk to folks at the diner how they're feeling about where the country is going. and the people they want to lead it. and some calling south carolina's tea party kingmaker. hasn't endorsed anybody yet. we'll see if he's ready to do so. casey anthony resurfacing on a new video on youtube. how it got online and what she's saying. her family speaking out. that's when "starting point" continues. stay with us. you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? 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[ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. call or click today. nyquil (stuffy): just reading whatyour label.ing? wait! you relieve nasal congestion? tylenol: sure. don't you? tylenol (another bottle): hmmm...no... nyquil (stuffy): dude! anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. one of the best things about spending a morning inside a dine sir you have an opportunity to talk to people who come to have breakfast and pick their brains about what they're thinking about in new hampshire's upcoming primary. josh lund per bill is joining me. you're 21 years old. >> correct. >> where do you stand politically? >> right now i'm pretty muchen decided. i think i might know who i'm voting for. thinking probably ron paul. he seems to be consistent through his 30-year run through congress. >> something that's appealing to you about ron paul? >> he cares about my generation. i know that the young voters are uninspired. we don't know what to do. a lot of us are lost. >> how much is education playing a role or the cost of education? >> oh, my gosh, yeah. education, the cost of education is a huge thing. i know i left school. i'm a junior. i was forced to leave school because i can't afford it anymore m anymore. i had to come home, help me 235ur, my father's a veteran, almost four years unemploy. i feel we've lost everything. the dreev drive of what america means. >> carla, do you feel the same jay that lack of inspiration? >> at this point i'm undecided. i'm feeling very unsure exactly who i'm going to vote for. there's really not a candidate that's resonating with me. this time around it's very unusual. >> you're a mom? >> i am a mom. >> your big issue? >> my big issue is the economy, as well as i'm -- i would say i'm more generally looking for candidates that can get along, that are able to not polarize extremes. >> this campaign must be challenging. everybody's fighting every day. appreciate it. letting me interrupt your breakfast. over here, bill smith. this gentleman here. nice to see you. tell me a little about yourself. where you stand politically? >> politically conservative. voting in the primary as a strategic maneuver i'm not energized by anybody running. i decided to vote for governor romney recently because he gives the best chance of beating president obama in the fall. >> who will be the most inspirational? what would a candidate have to say to make you think, yes, i'm going to throw myself behind this person, because i love them so? >> that's a great question, because i've been waiting to hear that and unsure that anybody's going to say it. i think that things are so depressed out there for people economically, that right now they're just looking for anything. and i think that i probably am waiting for more because i've been such a political geek since i was about 10 years old. i think i want more than the average person. >> bill smith, thank you very much. some of the things you're hearing here this morning are the things we've been hearing over the last couple of days here in new hampshire. people are feeling disaffected and unirspired. frefti i interesting to see how it plays out in new hampshire in a few days. more on "starting point." ♪ where the sun never goes out ♪ ♪ and the sky is deep and blue ♪ ♪ won't you take me american flight 280 to miami is now ready for boarding. ♪ there with you fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself. nonstop. american airlines. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? 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we'll hear from her family'starian as well. and congressman tim scott known as a tea party kingmaker. the state of south carolina. he'll join us to talk about which republican candidate lead like to support and who could win with a big win in south carolina voters. that's straight ahead. tired eye relief with hydroblend™, only from visine®. just one drop instantly soothes and revives tired, overworked eyes. and comforts them for up to ten hours. visine® tired eye relief. try now and save $3. man on tv: ...rbis and 36 homers. swings at the first pitch and fouls it deep back into the stands. [ding] [fans whirring] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. good morning. welcome back to our show, "starting point." i'm soledad o'brien and you are looking at us live inside the airport diner in manchester, new hampshire. that's a very, very good menu, if you're here, find yourse