with jon huntsman. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. the first primary beghaj at midnight in new hampshire. most polls close three hours from now. we ll have complete coverage. here is what we re watching for. first, mitt romney s margin of victory. final polls show him with a nearly 20-point lead. if romney wins big he may see almost invincible heading into south carolina. if he doesn t win big, he may seem beatable, at least some experts predict. second, who comes in second, jon huntsman gambled on a good showing in new hampshire. he has the chance to show he s a viable candidate. they play very well among many in new hampshire, and could help him emerge as the anti-romney candidate. finally, independenting can stroh in this open primary, so how will they vote? they may decide the winner, who will that signal for next november? we re watching all of this unfold. new hampshire state officials are expecting a record turnout of a quarter million prima
iowa. welcome back to morning joe. we re live at java joes. mark haleprin is still with us. and joining the set, we have national affairs editor for new york magazine and jon heilemann. there s too much profanity in television, that s the problem. the national republican national committee michael steele is with us. michael, let s get your take as a republican. how do you see iowa shaping up right now? after the register poll, which is usually dead on. yeah, you still have a significant undecided vote out there. which means tomorrow s going to be anybody s bet who walks through the finish line. yeah, mitt romney s in the best position, but you have santorum and paul. i think really given the organization and the grass roots on the ground touch with the people can really pull through romney who hasn t campaigned hard here this year, what if mitt romney wins?
person. that can help romney. what candidate really could actually do what you re talking about? well, at one point people said romney camp, but huntsman was another one. the reality of it is, huntsman hasn t caught on the fire, he s putting his eggs in the new hampshire basket. he s still in single digits in the polling up there. this is romney s moment. here s the problem, you re at 24%, bro. i mean how do you get he cannot crack that. amazing. there s a contrarian point about this. the reason romney s so strong as a potential general electorate candidate, he doesn t scare anybody. and it s not a question of his ability to attract some of these voting blocks, he won t scare any away. this is a theory among republicans. we can make this race about barack obama, just a referendum
welcome back to morning joe. we re live at java joes. mark haleprin is still with us. and joining the set, we have national affairs editor for new york magazine and jon heilemann. there s too much profanity in television, that s the problem. the national republican national committee michael steele is with us. michael, let s get your take as a republican. how do you see iowa shaping up right now? after the register poll, which is usually dead on. yeah, you still have a significant undecided vote out there. which means tomorrow s going to be anybody s bet who walks through the finish line. yeah, mitt romney s in the best position, but you have santorum and paul. i think really given the organization and the grass roots on the ground touch with the people can really pull through romney who hasn t campaigned hard here this year, what if mitt romney wins?
that can help romney. what candidate really could actually do what you re talking about? well, at one point people said romney camp, but huntsman was another one. the reality of it is, huntsman hasn t caught on the fire, he s putting his eggs in the new hampshire basket. he s still in single digits in the polling up there. this is romney s moment. here s the problem, you re at 24%, bro. i mean how do you get he cannot crack that. amazing. there s a contrarian point about this. the reason romney s so strong as a potential general electorate candidate, he doesn t scare anybody. and it s not a question of his ability to attract some of these voting blocks, he won t scare any away. this is a theory among republicans. we can make this race about barack obama, just a referendum on barack obama, that s how we