with maryian gingrich, this momentum today seems to make a difference at least on the ground in south carolina very interesting, you re reporting they had been speaking newt gingrich and rick perry over past couple weeks. you love to be a fly on the wall of those conversations. i guess we know something of the outcome. rick perry will be seen taking one for the team. the team in this case being those out there on the conservative side who have been looking for a nonromney candidate and maybe that will preserve sort of his reputation as he moves forward in the republican party to a certain extent. that will remain to be seen. i think there was a risk for rick perry if he didn t do what he is doing today and he took in 5, 6, 7%. and someone like newt gingrich lost by 5, 6, 7% there would be roo repercussions. backlash perhaps. martha: give me a quick thought on iowa. half a minute left, bret. up to 3:00 in the morning and now we have slightly
vote that it was not an endorsement and it certainly was not anonymous. so there was a nine-vote difference in the first ballot. it s hardly an anonymous. but on the third ballot, there was a consensus, we re really happy that speaker gingrich went into that with a lot of support and came out of that with the same support. it does go to the sound bite, that there s still divided support among conservatives, but the nonromney vote is well above 16%. the question is whether south carolina voters are going to lean into this issue of electability or if they re going to go for ideas and bold reagan type solutions. i understand you re with governor perry, but is it in
perry this is the nonromney. no unity, no sense in which somebody has captured all of it. the truth is, with newt and rick even if one gets a significant vote, even 8%, from someone else could keep romney in the first place. that s very much what is beginning to look like. although, things can change dramatically in a week in south carolina politics. it is a full bore brass knuckles get out the chains and knives. it is fun to watch. not as much fun to be on the receiving end of the pummeling, as i can attest. for sure. governor always good to see you. fascinating forum last night. hope you do some more. i hope we do too. it was healthy that the candidates have to answer questions they get time, everybody gets the same amount of time. exciting race in is. we ll see what happens next saturday. governor, always good to see you. thank you.
getting some fuel. an american icebreaker helped a russian tanker get through the frozen barring see to deliver gas and oil. there is still a mile of ice between the tanker and the harbor. fuel will have to be piped in through a hose that is being laid out on top of the ice. on what would have been dr. martin luther king jr. s birthday, a wreath was laid at the new king memorial at the mall today. the interior department announced a correction will soon be made on an inscription there which paraphrases a quote from king. and now to the 2012 contenders and the race to the white house. a new cnn sfch/orc poll shows m romney as a clear front-runner, 34%, ahead of newt gingrich. another poll saids light on the possible reason a huge majority of republicans, 71%, said they would rather nominate a candidate that can beat barack obama in the fall than a candidate who agrees with them on the issues. romney s lead isn t set in stone. 56% of gop voters say they may change their min
that discussion further. are you going to be able to do this in time before the south carolina primary? well, of course, i didn t create the buzz. rick santorum created the buzz by tying romney in iowa and i think that the question will really be, this week the discussions are going to continue to try to get behind one candidate that is the most likely to be able to be a viable nonromney alternative if possible. i think this is partly out of remorse that we didn t get behind huckabee earlier when it may have made more of a difference. it may not be possible. one big thing will be what happens in south carolina? if south carolina voters give a strong preference to newt or a strong preference to rick or a strong preference to perry, that