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Supporters. hes not like a lot of other republicans who rise and fall, fizzle, michele bachmann, herman cain, people try them on like a suit, decide they dont fit well. the people who love ron paul, they are there through thick and thin by and large. the number may waiver, but there is a core team that is there for the duration. he can raise money. hes demonstrated that he can raise a lot of money through thick and thin. i think the issue is will he hang on through the primaries for a duration o...

>> reporter: well, it is, but i think youd have to say that this review has been going on for at least eight months. so eventually this was going to come out, but that said, you know, it is a rare visit by the president to the pentagon really. a lot of people over there saying they do not remember when the last time a president came over and did a major briefing. you know, you talk about the political ramifications, if you want to get into that. i think you can say the president has three opport...

Will definitely be an issue for republican candidates this fall, absolutely. >> robert? >> well, certainly the republican candidate is going to try to make this an issue this year. mitt romneys advocating keeping troops in iraq. hes advocated zeroing out our foreign aid to countries like israel. the reason it wont get any traction is because the presidents policies in terms of military strategy have gotten -- have achieved great success, therefore, its got broad appeal. for example, his relentle...

In an earlier issue the question was, why dont you like me? were talking about that with michael crowley. hes "time magazines" deputy bureau chief in washington. michael, something that struck me, one of the articles. a series of articles, obviously. the headline that said how obama saved romney. romney is on campaign trail ripping apart the president, your headline is saying the president is saving romney. >> what romney wants more than anything right now is for this to feel like a romney versu...

But does he really have any oom of anywhere else. does he have organization? does he have appeal in new hampshire, swi most important right now and in south carolina. i think its a bit of an open question. im skeptical. i would say the one big thing to look at is the super pacs, the groups that can support a candidate and take unlimited donations. if santorum had one donor come in and give a 5 or $10 million donation, boom, suddenly hes shooting some very heavy artillery at mitt romney. so i thi...

There are many reasons why mitt romney should not be elected president, but i hope religious discrimination is not one of them. >> ron? >> there were polls out in the 2008 campaign on president obama and on electing an african-american president. we saw that that was not a problem at all. i think that with mitt romney s hes going to have to overcome that. he has to make sure people know who he is, that hes a competent leader. once people identify with the actual candidate, those other problems u...

He got two big risks. one is that it really concerns our allies who may be wondering if theyre still going to be supported in the same way that theyre used to. on the flip side, theres also a concern that it could em bolden some of our adversaries to try to take advantage to what they see as a pullback by the united states. of course, you have to look at everything in the context of money. the pentagon in the middle of cutting half a trillion dollars from its budget. you cant do everything, you ...

surging along with his poll numbers, i understand. tell me more about that. >> thats right, they raised a million dollars in 24 hours after those iowa caucuses and he is fighting hard for votes here in new hampshire. you know, the conventional wisdom was, kyra, that he would spend more time in south carolina because thats where a lot of social conservatives are, not so much up here in new hampshire. but keep in mind, rick santorum has a rust belt republican approach to how he wants to ...

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