a tightening race heading in to south carolina's republican primary one week from today. a new american research group poll of likely primary voters in that state puts mitt romney on top but, but in a statistical tie with newt gingrich who is just ahead of ron paul. the texas congressman has surged in south carolina from 9% just a week ago while rick santorum has taken the biggest hit down from 24% last week to 7%. joe johns is joining us in south carolina right now following that increasingly bitter battle in the state. joe, what's going on right now, look ahead a little bit. this will be a tough week. >> reporter: that's true, wolf. the 30,000-foot view here is all about independent expenditures being made by so-called super p.a.c.s breathing fresh new life into campaigns that may be on life support. the other story line playing into is that attacks on the front-runner, mitt romney and his business practices when he was at bain capital. the question whether he was a layoff specialist both newt gingrich and rick perry going after him on that. top of the dismay, i might say, of the republican establishment. people who feel they have to defend free market capitalism. now, though, mitt romney is going much more aggressive, defending himself and his business record. listen. >> every time that we invested in a business it was to try to encourage that business to have ongoing life. the idea of making a short term profit actually doesn't exist in business because no one wants to buy something or buy stock in a company that's just going short term success. >> i believe that the next ten days are as important as any ten days we have seen in modern american politics. i believe that south carolinians are either going to center in and pick one conservative or by default we'll send a moderate on to the nomination. >> reporter: newt gingrich clearly making a play here for those value voters, those conservative voters here in the state of south carolina who are so important. the latest poll suggesting, wolf, those voters may be listening to newt gingrich. back to you. >> the focus will be all in south carolina. are any of the major candidates really going to detour at least this coming week and go off to florida already because that's the contest that follows south carolina. >> reporter: that's right. we've seen a lot of these candidates going off to florida. realizing that they have to sort of do a balancing act right now because both of these states play so importantly into the whole delicate structure as we look forward and down the road to the convention. yes those candidates are dipping in and out of florida. we expect them to continue to do so, wolf. >> lively down in florida as well. joe, thank you. let's dig deeper. joining us right now our chief political analysts. gloria, let's start with you. we're digging deeper into these numbers. this poll, first poll since the new hampshire primary. and we see, the most dramatic thing i guess romney is consistent, 31-29. gingrich consistent, 24-25. but ron paul a nice jump. 9% to 20%. perry has a little jump 2% to 9%. look at santorum, 24% to 7%. now this is a snapshot, we're going to be getting more polls. but it does show south carolina very much in play. >> well very interesting. first of all, i think that romney's numbers really show the people want somebody who is electable. he tends to do better on the lectability front. south carolina voters are no different. ron paul, the economic message is clearly getting through. smaller government. less debt. that resonates with south carolina voters and the santorum thing is very interesting to me because, of course, he's trying to appeal to those value voters, 60% of the voters in south carolina, evangelicals, you think his cultural message would have an appeal but, again, the electability argument might be hurting rick santorum and evangelical voters are not single issue voters. they care about the economy as well. >> gingrich is from neighboring georgia. it shows he has strength there. i mean he could be a factor. i'm surprised by santorum. i thought he would have been more of a factor. remember this is just a snapshot. >> the caveat is this shows how much each event changes the one that follows. rick santorum went to new hampshire, got in an announcement the first day with a college student and equated gay marriage with polygamy. not the economic message he wanted to get to. won in the exit poll. 6% of new hampshire voters don't consider themselves evangelicals. you look inside these numbers you see the same pattern. mitt romney is consolidating the more moderate part of the party more than anyone is consolidating the conservative part of the party. in this example, newt gingrich is winning 47% of the evangelicals. not enough. mitt romney is winning 48% of the nonevangelicals. they don't seem to consolidate. >> perry has essentially staked his entire campaign on south carolina. he's gotten a bump up but not enough. i mean from two to nine. >> perry, you add up perry, santorum and gingrich you have the challenge to romney but not getting that one on one race. romney can potentially do what john mccain. john mccain won only 31% of republicans. >> our poll is doing relatively well. >> the economic message. 9.9% unemployment. >> there's a gingrich ad that's making fun of mitt romney. he's not backing off at all on newt gingrich. i'll play this because it's very cute. >> romney posed the contract with america. raised taxes. and authored government mandated health care with taxpayer funded abortions. but now he tells me trust me i'm a conservative. massachusetts moderate mitt romney, he'll say anything to win. anything. and just like john kerry. he speaks french too. but he's still a massachusetts moderate and a massachusetts moderate cannot beat barack obama. >> i was on the web. >> it's a web ad. >> very cute. makes fun. >> well, it makes a point which is that he's a moderate just like john kerry was a massachusetts moderate. that's a theme that gingrich is clearly talking about which is he's a moderate and rick santorum is saying you can't trust him. he's a moderate. he's a flipfloper trying to remind you where he was. >> do you think republicans are impressed he can speak french. >> there's another gingrich ad up romney leaving the dog. the underlying message is this is someone you can't trust. you don't know who so. it doesn't directly raise tissue of his religion but it stems me it goes the otherness of him. the other point of that ad. that's the argument that the opponents need to be stressing in south carolina. conservative republican electorate, much more conservative than new hampshire. the idea he's a mood elevate a more effective one than the bain. it's forced conservatives to rally around him. >> who thought conservatives would rally around mitt romney. guess what? newt gingrich has managed to promote that. >> ron has a terrific column in the new issue of the national journal. >> obama versus romney imagine what this race would be like. i argue three central dynamics. the state of the economy which shows some sign of improvement. and how do voters interpret mitt romney's bain experience. >> ron and gloria, guys thanks very much. please be sure to stay with us thursday night for our southern republican presidential debate, the candidates will square off just days before the south carolina primary. our debate thursday night 8:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn, the primary the following saturday. >> president obama moves into full campaign mode. he's rallying democrats in a series of speeches while loyalists load up his war chest with cash. and mitt romney moves into the bible belt. will america elect a morn president. and a rare, inside look at the desperation, the violence of the crackdown in syria. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist 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going to do about it. which direction will this country move towards? the republicans in congress, the presidential candidates who are running, they got a very specific idea but where they want to take this country. they said it. they said they want to reduce the deficit by gutting our investments in education, and gutting our investments in research and technology. letting our infrastructure further deteriorate. the republicans in congress and on the campaign trail they want to make medicare a form of private insurance. where seniors have to shop with a voucher and it may not cover all their costs. i think we can lower the cost of medicare but still guarantee the dignified retirement that our seniors have earned. they earned it. they earned it. [ applause ] right here some talk about this is just an entitlement. these folks earned it. they worked hard. they paid into it. this crowd they think the best way for america to compete for new jobs and businesses is to follow other countries in a race to the bottom. they figure well since china pays low wages let's roll back the minimum wage here and bust unions. some of these other countries allow corporations to pollute as much as they want. let's get rid of protections to make sure our air and water is clean. i've said before, i'm not a perfect man. i'm not a perfect president. but i promise you this. and i kept this promise. i will always tell you what i believe, i will always tell you where i stand, i will wake up every single day thinking about how i can make this country better and i will spend every one of energy that i have fighting for you. [ applause ] so if you still got that energy, if you're still fired up, if you are not weary, if you're ready to put on your walking shoes and get to work, and knock on some doors, and make some phone calls, and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors and push through all the obstacles and keep reaching for that vision that you hold in your hearts, i promise you change will come. if you're willing to work even harder in this election than you did in the last election i promise you change will come. if you stick with me we're going to finish what we started in 2008. we will remind this country and we will remind the world just why we are the greatest nation on earth. god bless you, chicago. i love you. god bless the united states of america. thank you. >> our chief white house correspondent. he's good when he's out on the campaign stump. if i'm a republican watching him i get nervous right now knowing about what's to happen. >> we know he's an effective campaigner. that's a friendly crowd at a fundraiser in his home town of chicago. >> he's raising a lot of money. how much money has he raise sod far without even a democratic challenge to his getting the party's nomination. >> they just released those numbers. in the last three months of 2011 alone, wolf the obama campaign and their victory fundraising raised $68 million for a whopping total for the year of $224 million. some notes within that. they raised they say $200,000 from people who are first time donors never gave to him in 2008 or earlier in this year and 98% of their donors gave $250 or less. why is any of that relevant? they argue they still have enthusiasm and that a lot of their donors aren't so-called fat cats. >> how does this compare with the republican presidential candidates who are all fiercely fighting amongst themselves? >> not all republicans have announced how much they raised. president obama raised $224 million. mitt romney he's raised $56 million. ron paul 26 million and newt gingrich 12 million. now it's not unusual for an incumbent president to raise more money than the challenger, but that is a healthy difference. >> seems like he's raised more than all of them combined if we add up those numbers. doesn't include what the republican party, rnc or democratic party has raised that's separate fund. he's doing really well. they haven't told us how much cash on hand the president has, how much he spent so far, how much he's saving up for the big general election. >> they are emphasizing certain themes. one of the things they keep hitting is that this is not a quote billion dollar campaign. the message they are trying to drive home is that they are a grassroots operation, that they are sort of, if you will, the david in the face of a goliath that's coming their way in a video they released at the end of the week they said quickly that they are going to have to compete against a quote onslaught of special interest cash on the other side. you can see the message. >> this doesn't include super p.a.c. money on either side. >> which announces january 31st. >> a possible break through moment for mormons in america. is the country ready to elect its first mormon president? plus the first lady firing back at a new book trying to set the record straight and dispel a stereotype about her. with mitt romney a mormon emerging as the republican front-runner in the battle for the white house there's a new spotlight on mormonism in the united states. a new poll is highlighting feelings of discrimination and anticipation within the religion. here's cnn's mary snow. >> reporter: with mitt romney and jon huntsman two republican presidential hopefuls who are morn there's increased attention on a religion seen by many on the outside that's mysterious. outside of politics the faith has been thrust into the spotlight with the broadway musical satire. polygamy was banned in 1890. but a findings avenue poll are correct, mormons see themselves on the cusp of a significant moment in the united states but it comes with a mixed picture. >> if you're discriminated against, they feel they are not necessarily accepted as part of mainstream society. at the same time mormons think acceptance of mormonism may be on the rise and they tell us they do think the public may be ready to elect a mormon president. >> reporter: almost all of those questioned in a survey identified their religion as christians but it's a source of tension. 50% say evangelicals are unfriendly towards them. separately pugh found white van fwel cals don't view mormonism as a christian religion. 57% of caucus goers in iowa were van fwel cals or born again christians but only 14% support romney. it's a stark contrafrt to the 76% support he has moaning mormons. half have a favorable view of jon hauntsman. a mormon church leader in new york doesn't mind to questions. >> presidential candidates generally draw a lot more scrutiny, a lot more questioning. i know when-on kennedy ran, even when richard nixon as a quaker, those are good questions. those are questions that i do believe are elevating an inquiring an audience. >> why the mystery? >> i don't think we're very good as an open people inviting in. >> reporter: all told mormons make up less than 2% of the u.s. population. researchers found very similar to evangelicals 2009 ways. religious commitment and political leanings. the survey found that two-thirds of mormons describe themselves as politically conservative. mary snow, cnn, new york. syria's death and destruction up close. our nic robertson is there with an exclusive and rare look. gop front-runner mitt romney under fierce attack in south carolina. how true are those blistering allegations being made against him? we'll have a fact check. and the first lady of the united states, michele obama says she's not the stereotype of quote some angry black woman. her reaction to a controversial new book about the white house. . ...or a big steak... ...or big hair... i think we have our answer. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. out for drinks, eats. i have very well fitting dentures. i like to eat a lot of fruits. love them all. the seal i get with the super poligrip free keeps the seeds from getting up underneath. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. a lot of things going on in my life and the last thing i want to be thinking about is my dentures. 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[ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. personally i don't think we should vote for a republican or democrat. he need to vote for a person. >> we need a plan for running the country. >> it's time to stop spending. >> will social security be around when i'm 65. >> i believe presidency is a position. >> over 15 million unemployed americans that are suffering. >> i have twice been laid off. i'm ready to go back to work. the deadly month long uprising in syria has claimed the life of the first western journalist. this is graphic video showing a horrific scene moments after a famous french reporter was killed during a mortar strike. he was part of a group of international journalists on a rare government authorized trip into the country. our senior international correspondent nic robertson is also on that trip and managed to capture and exclusive glimpse of bitter desspar ration and heartbreak we hardly ever get to see. >> reporter: a body carried high. sister uncontrollable with grief. this is an anti-government rally barely 15 minutes from syria's capital. they've come to bury a 32-year-old man they say was killed by pro government gunmen. the level of anger and passion here is absolutely powerful. we're a few miles from the central of damascus. the crowd here -- this is a crowd here of perhaps several thousand people. they took over this whole area. it is a rare opportunity to meet the people who want to overthrow syrian president bashar all assad. >> we want to be like you. like western people. we want freedom. we want to be free. look at him. >> reporter: who killed him? who is responsible? >> the government is responsible. bashar is responsible. bashar is killing us because we have dreams like you. >> i'm afraid when i'm talk towing right now. why. i got this scarf and going to my home i'm not 100% i'm is going to be safe. because if not today, if not tomorrow, they will arrest me. >> reporter: the defiance possible because two orange jacketed arab league monitors are here. >> if you're here without them you don't, you will never going to see any protester. >> reporter: even so protesters told us they didn't trust the arab league mission. the monitors tell us this is one of the most difficult and dangerous situations for them. people are angry. the crowd is volatile. everybody wants to talk. the monitors say the most important thing they can do at this time is be neutral, is to take down all the information, and ensure they are completely impartial. everyone here has something to say. many push forward to show injuries they say reflected by government forces. absolutely desperate to show us the level of suffering. they can't go the hospitals because if they do they are afraid of arrests. some are not being treated as well as they could be. >> nic is joining us now from damascus. look ahead a little bit. you've been there for a few days. does it seem to be getting more violent every day. is it easing up? what's going on. >> reporter: the divisions between the two sides pro and anti-government sides at a level in the population take away the sort of, the president and politics of it all at the people level. the people are becoming more divided between the pro and anti-government factions. we're seeing the death toll climbing up. i was speaking to a general in charge of a military hospital where the french are journalist was killed. he said he's seeing more army casualties coming in there, over the past few weeks sponsorship it does seem that the situation is ratcheting up. we're now seeing a tying up between the free syrian army and the syrian national council, tying up between opposition army and opposition sort of civilian council, if you will and this tells you as well that everyone is preparing for the long haul here. it's settling into a stalemate as a siege between the two sides and you get a sense now that people are digging in and making allian alliances. >> i can't tell you how many senior officials told me privately they think bashar all assad will wind up like gadhafi in libya or mubarak in egypt. it's only a matter of time and they suspect the time is running out for him. but he's giving no indication that he's ready either to leave the country or give up. is he? >> he's not giving any indication at all, wolf. the opposite is said by his two hour live public speech on national television by his appearance publicly at a rally in the city. he's giving the impression that he's here for a long time. it bolsters the morale of his supporters. the lock is tick. the opposition is getting better organized. what the opposition doesn't have is the momentum to sort of take control of areas of the country as the opposition did in libya, for example, where they took the east of the country. here the opposition only has a few small footprints in cities and what we see is they are heavily under siege of an army still loyal to bashar all assad. while the clock is ticking there's more time to run on it. >> nic robertson on the scene for us in damascus. we'll stay in close touch. be careful. newt gingrich are unleashing a blistering attack on republican presidential front-runner mitt romney. how much it is true. we'll have a fact check. plus you can tell a lot by list enning to the candidates laugh. jeanne moos is breaking them down. that's coming up. an accident doesn't have to slow you down... with better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual insurance, if your car is totaled, we give you the money to buy a car that's one model-year newer... with 15,000 fewer miles on it. there's no other auto insurance product like it. better car replacement, available only from liberty mutual. it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? turning now the intense republican race in south carolina where a scathiecretary state -- slatting documentary on mitt romney. you've watched this about 27 1/2 minutes. >> we have. wolf, this is the most detailed and really merciless attack on mitt romney. we took a look at some of the video's key claims and how they stack up. >> for tens of thousands of americans the suffering began when mitt romney came to town. >> it's 28 minutes of daunting music, dark narrow ration and stories of hardship that are hard to watch. >> there's time, you know, you skip a meal so your kids can have something to eat. >> a new web video just released in its entirety depicting mitt romney and his former company bain capital as predatory corporate raiders buying up respected companies, stripping them of asset, killing off jobs, making monstrous profits. it's distributed by a group called winning our future a so-called super p.a.c. supporting newt gingrich. the gingrich campaign technically had nothing to do with it. one of the key claims is about a florida laundry equipment manufacturer bain purchased which eventually shut down. workers give testimony als about losing their jobs. >> they met with everybody. got everybody together and told us we were being sold to raytheon which turned out to be bain. >> back at his massachusetts headquarters romney had found his target. bain took control of the company. >> but it was only raytheo that bought the company at the time and they didn't sell it to bain until four years ago. >> romney and bain upended the company. >> not true, says a fortune editor that's covered bain for more than a decade. he said bain held on to the company until 2004 and sold to it a canadian pension fund. >> the real gutting of the workforce in florida is when it got shut down done by the pension fund up in canada. >> contacted by cnn, the documentary is thoroughly researched and they stand by the material. there are other claims in the video that's in dispute including a bain deal that went very badly. that was bain's purchase of kb toys. the company shut down. >> romney and bain bought the company in 2000. loaded kb toys with millions in debt. >> this is a poor deal but romney wasn't at bain any more. he left at the end of 1999 to run the salt lake city olympic games. >> an official at winning our future points out even after leaving bain romney benefitted from those bad deals, that he still has holdings in bain that generate him a share of bain's profits from those deals. and to be fair, part of the documentary that deals with another bain deal the purchase and gutting of a paper company is mostly accurate. romney's campaign points out he's been successful at job turn arounds. wolf, we have just heard that newt gingrich is calling on winning our future to either edit the inaccuracies out of this video or pull it entirely. he's calling on noirm make a similar call for the super p.a.c. which edits videos supporting romney and have been attacking gingrich. >> going to get ugly. already is. brian, thanks very much. the latest polling suggests rick santorum lost ground in the state. i spoke with former senator santorum this week about the next battleground and what comes next. >> newt gingrich says if romney wins in south carolina in his words he's probably going to be the nominee. you agree with the former speaker? >> no, i don't agree with him. you know, i feel like we need to get this race down to two people. and, i should say three because ron paul i don't think will dropout. we need to get it down to two people who can be the nominee. i'm hopeful after south carolina we can finish strongly here and show conservatives they can rally behind somebody that can take on mitt romney and take on barack obama and win this election with a principled conservative who can make the changes that are necessary in this country after we beat barack obama. so to me, you know, a win without the kind of change that we need in this country is not the win we need. we need to have someone who has the record of being somebody who can make big changes in washington and i've done that. >> you don't think mitt romney is that man? >> well, you look at his record as governor of massachusetts it's not someone who was able to lead and make the changes. he governed over doing more of what the left wanted to do. we've been doing that for a long time. we don't need anybody else to come in and do that. we can put anybody in there. we need somebody that has a record of repealing entitlements not adding entitlements. we need someone who has a record of standing up and fighting for the family not someone who has not been successful in doing that. there's a lot of dumpses between the two of us as this race gets down two people we'll be able to highlight and hopefully they will see we're the stronger candidate, we can make this race about barack obama and his failure as opposed to the problems that mitt romney had as he was governor that look a lot like barack obama's policies. >> ron paul has a new ad that he's put out in south carolina, i don't know if you've seen it but it directly goes after you. he has a lot of money as you well know, ron paul's campaign. listen to this. >> santorum promised to stand with workers then sided with big money union bosses and opposed the right network act. santorum promised to fight the special interests, then took the most lobbyist cash in washington and was named one of the most corrupt members in congress. >> wow. one of the most corrupt members in congress. go ahead and respond to congressman paul. >> i said this at the debate the other night. the organization that named me the most corrupt congressman is george soros that names every republican as the most corrupt. he starts citing these radical left wing organizations as his source for this is pretty bizarre. as far as the right to work issue, i've admitted it. when i represented the state of pennsylvania it wasn't a right to work state. i wasn't going to change the law for pennsylvania. i represent the country. i believe and asaid i would sign a right network law. one thing as a member of congress when you represent a state and you don't want to change that story, another one when you're leading the country and doing what you think is best for the country. >> you know, i don't know if you've read how ugly it will get over the next ten days between now and the primary in south carolina. even rick perry, the governor of texas, he's going after mitt romney, his record as a venture capitalist. he's saying he was a vulture capitalist and he said this. listen to rick perry. >> they are just vultures. they are vultures that are sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick. and then they swoop in. they eat the carcass. they leave with that. and leave the the skeleton. >> you comfortable with that kind of language? >> no. you know, this is, you know, you have capitalism where you have companies that are takeover opportunities because the management hasn't done a good job in managing the company and someone who can come in and tries to save that company and turn it around and sometimes you're successful and sometimes you're not. >> rick santorum speaking with me this week. just ahead michele obama pushes back against a controversial new book about the white house. you can tell a lot by listening to the candidates laugh. our jeanne moos has been doing a lot of listening. daddy, come in the water! somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! 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[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. the first lady is responding to allegations about a new book about the obama white house and trying to clarify her image. what is going on here? >> it is a fascinating read. michelle obama spoke to cbs's gail king. the book portrays her as a loving mom and a confidant to the president. michelle obama knows there is a stereo type that shadowed her but she says it is not true. >> i guess it is more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here and a strong woman and a -- but that's been an image that people have tried to paint of me since the day barack announced i'm an angry black woman. >> reporter: she sat down to talk about a new book. it describes tensions in the administration and the first family. she writes that she saw the president's dejection and repeated the criticism to overs in the white house with an air of indignation. the first lady said there wasn't tension between her and emanuel. >> you have never? >> we have never had cross word. i don't have conversations with my husband's staff. i don't know go to the meetings. our staffs work together really well. if there is communication that needs to happen it happens between staff. >> reporter: another rift? this one between mrs. obama and press secretary robert gibbs. it was reported that she told the french first lady that living in the white house was hell. she denied that conversation happened. she felt neglected by him. it reached a boiling point this a staff meeting that included white house senior advisors. gibbs exploded in anger. f this that's not right. i've been killing myself on this where is this coming from? you shouldn't talk that way, jarrett said. gibbs you don't know what the f you're talking about. scla wirt, the first lady would not believe you're speaking this way. >> mrs. obama brushed it off. >> gibbs is a trusted adviser. >> and remains so? >> and remains so. and i'm sure we could go day-to-day and find things that people wish they didn't say to each other. people stumble and make mistakes. michelle is described as a warm first lady. she said there was a learning curve growing into the job but one that she embraced. >> i love this job. it is -- it has been a privilege from day one. now there are challenges. >> yeah. >> with being a mother and trying to keep your kids sane and i worry a lot about that. this if there is anxiety that i feel it's because i want to make sure that my girls come out on the other end of this whole. >> after the book was released robert gibbs issued an apology saying he regrets speaking in anger and regrets that the disagreement became public. >> appreciate it, lisa. the republican presidential candidates and their laughs. jeanne moos is coming up. welcome. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. r-really? absolutely, and we guarantee results, you know, for a small fee, of course. such are the benefits of having a professional on your side. [whistles, chuckles] why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. we're out of toner. [circus music plays] sign it. come on. sign it. [honks horn] ...homes around the country. every single day, saving homes. we will talk it over... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at... will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. we've all done it and laughed at something that wasn't that funny. candidates are no exception. >> reporter: the candidates have been exhibiting two types of laughter. one is genuine. [ laughter ] >> the other is forced. >> brett i don't know how many hundreds of times i have said this too. this is an unusual interview. let's go it again. [ laughter ] >> they do it when they are under attack. >> you have been running since at least the 1990s. >> pasting on a smile laughter can be a wonderful weapon. take this 1968 ad mocking richard nixon's running mate spiro aknew but it is defensive laughter that tends not to ring too. >> i was in the private sector and doing things in the private sector. >> okay. okay. >> someone looped newt's laugh on youtube. >> okay. okay. >> leading to comparisons with elmo. >> one false laugh and you become the laughing stock. >> the height of hypocrisy. >> [ laughter ]. >> for mitt romney defensive laughter is like a nervous tick. >> why did you bail out? the bottom line is -- >> the only reason you didn't become a career politician is use lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> [ laughter ] but it's hard to laugh off the comedians laughing at your laugh. >> the rule is you stop grilling romney after he gives you the laugh. >> [ laughter ] that's his safe word. >> [ laughter ]. >> but even the president resorts to pre-emptive laughter. >> they say that you have been moving -- >> [ laughter ] does it disturb you that so many people hate you? >> [ laughter ] and remember when hillary clinton's laugh was labeled a cackle? >> [ laughter ] take heart, mitt. hillary got the last cackle. jeanne moos, cnn. >> do i really laugh like that? >> well, yeah. >> new yo.