i m struck how low santorum s number s he got such a boost out of iowa. the surprise dramatic win, tops of free media, people talking about how he gave this great speech afterwards. 8%, i mean, he may be up from where he was, but still pretty weak. these guys and newt, also, they have to rise a lot. also know that huntsman is not moving in that poll. great news for romney all around. terrible news for the other guys. assuming romney, the former governor of massachusetts, he owns a vacation home here, he campaigned here for six years, assuming he can stay above 40% or in this ballpark that has been a momentum race even though the iowa whip is eight votes. he doesn t win in new hampshire, moves to south carolina, the numbers are stunning, romney 37%, up from 20 in december. santorum a big bounce there, evangelicals rallying at his side, 14, up from a month ago. gingrich, a 25-point tumble, a 25-point tumble, down 18%, down
had sort of last stands. there was the last stand in wisconsin, with wesley clark on super tuesday and there was that week after super southern tuesday of virginia and tennessee and wesley clark needed to sweep those. i think we re going to have some last-stand moments. realistically if romney somehow sneaks out a win here in iowa, and don t forget, he s got two shots at winning. he either winning it or he s second to ron paul and beats everybody else. that s also a victory for mitt romney. because then he has no chief conservative alternative. but i do think south carolina, you know, what romney wants is this splintered field. he wants both he wants rick perry to play the role of fred thompson in holding huckabee down in order to allow john mccain to win south carolina with less than 40%. mitt romney can win south carolina if the number is in the 30s. and that only happens if a perry and some other people keep
it s not clear how much of this was staged. the pictures could only come direct from north korean state television so we haven t been able to verify how much of this was when gin genuine or, in fac. the candidates are putting on exhaustive bus tours to justify capturing enough votes to have stay in the race. we have a shot at the top three. i think we have a shot all the way to the top. i think this could be a late breaking race. jill lawrence is national journal s managing editor for politics. okay, jill, we always hear this, win, place, or show. three tickets out of the iowa. how much is at stake for the saner to rupps, basan t saner to santorums, bachmanns, rick perrys. who of that group maybe sneaks in and surprises us in a good
january. if he doesn t win iowa, as you said. it could be a different story, we noah with a influences new hampshire. stay tuned, i m excited. you have the sweater vest on, i m excited about that. jonathan capeheart the man. thank you. thanks. jonathan always checks out the fix blog. you can too, don t forget to follow me on twitter @thefix. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. andrea returns tomorrow, and then beginning friday she will anchor from des moines, iowa. now a look at what s next on news nation . we re following developing news in the battle for with a wash right now, mitt romney about to hold an event in the hawkeye state where new polls put him in a tight race with roç paul. newt gingrich s super pac goes negative. we ll have a response from
along that we d like to win everywhere. you know, governor romney from the beginning said he was going to participate in the iowa process, going to participate in the caucuses, would debate in iowa, and now it s the last week and we are on our bus tour and we hope to do well. we re not going to get into any kind of expectations game. i don t disagree you want to win everywhere, i m sure you do. but at the same time my home state of connecticut is a lot further along in the process than iowa. iowa tends to matter more and if past is prologue, suggesting it is an indicator of what s to come next. i have heard talk you would be fine if you finished in the top three in iowa. can you at least set the expectation that is a win, place, or show is necessary for the national front-runner in the first state? here chris, our expectation is this. that we re going to get to 1143 delegates by the end of this process. and be the nominee.