newt gingrich and rick santorum tied for third and fourth and rick perry moved on to south carolina. the new battleground will start late tonight. first the wig big winner, mitt romney taking on president obama and drew the biggest applause lines from the speech. >> the president has run out of ideas and now he is running out of excuses. >> i'm going to be joined by somebody who was a candidate himself, tim pawlenty. has he sealed the deal yet? >> well, that's an understatement, piers, to say good. he won iowa and be many people's accounts and now won new hampshire convincingly, he's the first nonincumbent candidate to win iowa and new hampshire in history so it was a spectacular night for mitt romney and his vision for america, restoring america, rather than barack obama's declinist view of america. >> i notice in his victory speech again he resisted the temptation to whack his opponents and focused on president obama and on improving america. is that going to be the consistent strategy going forward? >> well, he's been consistent in focusing on barack obama when other republicans have criticized him he certainly has responded. but for the most part, mitt romney has focused on barack obama. he's the real problem here. he's the person that needs to be removed from office. and when you look at barack obama's vision of america it's trying to incite class warfare and get people to fight about shrinking pieces of the paid rather than mitt romney's vision of growing the pie. those are two very different visions and i think america's will like mitt romney's view better. >> tell me about ron paul. he had a very good night finishing with 24% of the votes. are you taking him seriously as a possible threat to win the nomination? >> well, ron paul and mitt romney don't agree on many things. but you have to tip your cap to ron paul, at least in terms of the results that he was able to garner in iowa. he had a respectable, i think, believe third-place finish if i remember correctly and coming in second in new hampshire so those are significant milestones for his candidacy. there are sharp differences. he and governor romney have different views on important issues but you have to acknowledge what he's speaking to a slice of the conservative coalition. >> i have an interview with rick perry coming up, governor, where he slams your man and says he's a vulture capitalist for his activities when he ran bain. how do you answer the charge that mitt romney is a vulture? >> well, first of all, it's inaccurate and unfair. rick perry's campaign as you know, has had its share of challenges but the argument about free enterprise and economic freedom in this country is an important one. we shouldn't be having -- we shouldn't take barack obama's side on it. the democrats are the one who is criticized private enterprise and economic freedom. i'm disappointed newt gingrich and rick perry and others are criticizing a republican and using the democrats' arguments in a republican primary. it's really unfortunate and i think is a very, shall we say, desperate or hail mary pass, if this were a football game. >> newt gingrich has played "mr. nice guy" until this week but it looks like the gloves have come off. he apparently has $3 million to spend through a super pac which is clearly going to be an assault on mitt romney. are you concerned that one of your opponents now has the kind of financial muscle to play dirty in the way that you have? >> well, you're saying we had money. not that we played dirty. the point is the super pacs are not controlled by the candidates. they are independent and supposed to be independent. this is going to be a hard-fought campaign and there's no question about it. mitt romney's not taking anything for granted but obviously he has the momentum and the tail wind and when people see his vision for america and his experience in the private sector, not just the government sector i think you'll come to the same conclusions they came to in iowa and new hampshire and they're going to vote for mitt romney and i think you'll see it in the next few states. >> governor, congratulations on a very successful evening, thank you. >> thanks, piers. >> a good night for ron paul we finished second and a strong showing that energized his supporters tonight. >> i called governor romney a short while ago before he gave his talk and congratulated him because he certainly had a clear-cut victory. but we're nibbling at his heels! but there was another victory tonight. he had a victory but we have had a victory for the cause of liberty tonight! >> by ron paul man, jesse benson. a good night for you guys. you must be feeling pretty happy? >> we're ecstatic. what a victory for us tonight. we've consolidated this down to a two-man national race and now we're the conservative constitutional alternative to mitt romney and like dr. paul said, we're coming and we're nipping at his heels. >> what is fascinating about ron paul? he's the oldest guy in the race by a significant margin. but he appears to be attracting the most vibrant youth vote. especially on social media. how have you managed to pull this off? i mean, it seems an incongrous match. >> he has the youngest ideas in the race. he's beyond the ideas of freedom and liberty and personal sponsorsability and free enterprise and commerce. he tells young people the truth. he's honest with them and tells them about the mess they're inherit but he offers a solution. our constitution, liberty, getting our freedoms back band young people respond so well. >> mitt romney is running on this sense of him being electable. and the criticism at your man is that he's dangerous. tonight he kind of embraced the danger and said -- damn right i'm dangerous. an interesting strategy. can you move from dangerous to electable, do you think? >> well, we're dangerous to the status quo. we're dangerous to the establishment but we're the best choice for the american people. the people that want their freedoms back and want to obey the constitution and want prosperity back in the country, that's what ron paul is all about. danger to the establishment and the safe choice for the americans. >> he was a strange lone voice today supporting mitt romney as all the criticism heaped on him for his apparent comments he liked firing people. why did he stick his neck out like that? >> well, there are two things that should bring all republicans together and one is, realizing that the media will pull some "gotcha" statements from time to time and take things out of context. and two, we all rally behind free enterprise capitalism and we think it's unfortunate that some demagogue the language taken out of context. we want to have an adult conversation in this campaign. now that it's a two-man race we want to talk about the issues serious to the american people. and we're going to criticize governor romney on his record of supporting an individual health care mandate, supporting t.a.r.p. big spending. but we're going to engage on the issues have and have the adult conversation the american people deserve and not demagogue these personal things and not try to tear down the free enterprise system. >> you're on a great roll so far. south carolina will be tougher. the latest polls have ron paul 12%, fourth place. it's a bit of a battle you're facing now. how are you going to change the operation moving forward? it has to get more serious, doesn't it? >> it is. dr. paul hadn't campaigned yet in south carolina so we'll be rolling down there tomorrow and we'll have a great rally. we have a wonderful program and great mail. we'll pump in some great tv grassroots and carry the momentum we're carrying from new hampshire down to the palmetto state and we'll do well. as people coaless behind ron paul as the only serious alternative to the establishment mainstream candidate mitt romney, we'll see a surge in momentum. we can guarantee that. >> finally and quickly, where does he get his energy from? >> from the people. from the supporters. when we all start to feel a little bit tired we just like to connect with the supporters and the energy of the young people, especially. it's just -- it lifts everybody up. it's amazing and it's what fuels him and keeps him going. >> congratulate him from us, jesse, thank you very much. >> thanks, piers. so fascinating night, again. although not entirely unpredictable. wolf, what did you make of -- did romney do enough to claim a really big victory? because some people say he didn't get 40% it wouldn't be a big victory. what do you think we've ended up at? >> big victory for romney. 39, 40% very impressive in a crowded field like that and from his perspective, the two candidates he probably feared the most, rick santorum and newt gingrich, they did not do welcoming in fourth and fifth. so, it was a big, huge win for mitt romney tonight. >> john king, the big question, i guess, is of all the runners and writers, have any of them got it in them to actually challenge mitt romney in south carolina and going forward? >> almost forget the candidates for a minute. south carolina republicans have a big decision to make. do they embrace mitt romney who is 2-0? or do they say "not so fast." if their mood is "no so fast" do they stay around one person. that was a fascinating interview. a two-man national race. we're one-on-one with mitt romney. the whole republican race is defined by the question of who will emerge as the candidate to challenge romney. that ron paul can claim that mantel after two races is something else. think of what all the other candidates said. mitt romney is weak. ron paul is out of the mainstream, almost a freak show in the republican party. how can you claim you're stronger if you keep losing to the candidate you call "weak" or "glooirk?" it's hard to make that argument. >> we had a spirited debate about whether it was to the party's advantage, the republicans, to have an extended battle. i remember when barack obama and hillary clinton went for months on end and they were the only story in town. obama appeared to get better as a campaigner as the months went on and that seemed to play well for him against john mccain. couldn't we see the same thing happen here? it goes on and could romney not become a more formidable opponent? >> there are those that believe that. that he'll hone his skills. he was much better in his speech tonight than we've seen him in the past. i think that was the best speech he's given this year so there is that argument but with barack obama and hillary clinton, then largely, the same things. they believe largely the same thing. it got to be personal about which one you preferred. in this case, mitt romney has a fractured party on his hands with different camps. and so it's important for him to end this earlier so he can unite people behind him and have time to heal the divisions there so they go in together so on balance he's better off to shut it down soon. >> the latest poll, mitt romney, 37% in south carolina. rick santorum, 19%. newt gingrich, 18. ron paul, 12. rick perry, 5. and huntsman at 1%. we know newt gingrich will spend $3.5 billion. this is the first big financial assault on mitt romney and i'm interviewing newt gingrich for the hour tomorrow. it will be fascinating because he's got rid of a halo. the nice-guy stuff wasn't working. >> i'm not sure he ever wore the halo. he's going to go for it through the super pac? isn't he? >> well, there is that wall between them, right? look, i think newt gingrich never really wore the hey halo. he had no choice but to be positive and he didn't have the super pac money. now he has the super pac and he's been attacked by mitt romney's super pac mercilessly. talk about it getting personal! i think it is getting personal. early on in the debates, gingrich didn't really criticize mitt romney. he always kind of said, no, no, no, mitt romney is a good man. and i was thinking, maybe he wants to be in the cabinet at some point, who knows? now, now -- now he's the man leading the charge against mitt romney and by the way, leading the charge against the entire republican establishment who is appalled that there's a class warfare fight going on within the republican party. >> erin, let me ask you specifically about this bain issue. rick perry about to come on this show, it's pretty scathing. he called mitt romney a vulture capitalist and trying to use his time at bain as a weapon against him. my gut feeling is this may backfire. mitt romney is turning it into a back fire and saying i had a great record when we created a lot of jobs when a lot of people were out of work. not a bad message. who will win this argument? >> this is going to be very difficult. in theory the whole point is you buy companies that are in bad shape and you build them up and make money in doing so and you sell them off. now, sometimes jobs are lost when you do that and "wall street journal" did a fantastic analysis of whether mitt romney created jobs or not and it's almost impossible to tell. if bain bought and sold a company and then that company created jobs, do they count? that grey-area nuance will continue through the primary and the general election if he's the nomination. it's hard to say. >> if you buy a company that's in trouble and it goes bankrupt, did you cause the loss of jobs? that's hard to say. >> it's going to be incredibly hard to answer that question. but certainly, by every measure i've heard all the people that i've interviewed over the years who have known him and worked with him he's perceived to be a very capable manage near the question -- i don't think this is necessarily going to make newt rise. but will it make romney fall? i think that's the real question. >> if you can chip away and i think $3.5 million worth of advertising in a place like south carolina, that bias you a lot of airtime. if he chip away could somebody like jon huntsman come back in? could he take some of that time and voting away from mitt romney? >> here's the difference between iowa and south carolina. in iowa, we saw mitt romney's super pac. the pro mitt romney blasting away at newt gingrich. ron paul pac blasting away. he was running high. he collapsed almost completely because he didn't respond. the difference in south carolina is mitt romney, in the face of this newt gingrich barrage, he has the money to respond. he can do what newt gingrich didn't do in iowa. he learned that lesson. he'll fight back and not turn the other cheek and simply try to take the high road. they'll fight it out in south carolina and it's going to be brutal and it's going to be ugly and it's going to be tough. >> okay. one-word answer from all of you. you have the stellar a-team here. so i'll ask. if mitt romney wins in south carolina, is he basically the nominee? >> it isn't a done deal yet. i think he'll still have to win in florida. >> erin? >> i agree but i think the momentum would be so much behind him. >> gloria? >> i think as george bush used to say he has the big mo going into florida and he has the money for florida. >> 3 of 3, a done deal? >> done deal. >> final word. >> we have more unequivocal. can rick perry revive his campaign in south carolina? i'll ask the candidate himself when we come back. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the typical financial consultation ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understand what you really need. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 at charles schwab, we provide ttd# 1-800-345-2550 a full range of financial products, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 even if they're not ours. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 and we listen before making our recommendations, ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so we can offer practical ideas that make sense for you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 so talk to chuck, and see how we can help you, not sell you. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 rick perry threw in the towel in new hampshire to concentrate efforts on south carolina's primary on january 21st so no surprise he found himself in last place. i think that he has what it takes to keep his campaign afloat and he joins me now. governor, welcome. 1% isn't welcome, particularly at the moment. being in the 1% is the last place you want to find yourself, isn't it? >> well, we didn't compete in new hampshire so it doesn't surprise us that our score there was a bit on the low side. so that's the reason we came directly to south carolina. the message here and the people of south carolina, they'll really, excuse the pun, they cotton to the message of job creation and particularly, what this administration is doing to south carolina from the standpoint of going directly to war with them on the nrlb and telling boeing they can't come into the state. their justice department has taken on south carolina's immigration law. you're seeing an all-out war on this particular state. so having a southern governor, standing up for south carolina, job-creating governor that has an impeccable record on job creation. and talking about washington, d.c. and the corrupt insiders that we see between wall street and washington, a part-time congress that i've called for, i'm telling you all these places i stopped today and yesterday, there's a great reception to that message. >> let's get down to the reality of the political life here. you came fifth in iowa and sixth tonight in new hampshire and you're running fifth in the polls in south carolina. and you know as well as i do, you can't really afford to come fifth in south carolina on the 21st of january. what are you going to do to turn around your fortunes given the state they're in at the moment? >> well, the fact is that there's a lot going to happen in the next two weeks in south carolina. people are now just starting to focus on this and with mitt romney sitting where he is, i mean, there's a clear focus on a real conservative candidate. mitt's not going to fill that bill. i feel very comfortable that not only our message but the people of south carolina are looking for an individual who will talk about the real issues facing this country, which is the lack of focus on job creation and this administration is just abysmal record. when you look at $15 trillion worth of debt, i asked the people of south carolina, are you better off today than you were $4 trillion ago? they get it. they understand that this country is in trouble and we have a president that doesn't understand economics and that's even before we get into foreign policy and the $1 trillion he's talking about cutting out of our military budget. >> what is undeniable tonight is that mitt romney is on a roll and a roll that very, very few people in the history of caucuses and primaries have ever been on. the guy has won in iowa, and new hampshire. a win is a win. and it's going to be very tough, isn't it? for any candidate to actually seriously challenge him for the nomination, isn't it? >> well, i don't think so. one of the reasons is because south carolina is a winner take all state. winning here, i can promise you, wipes ought the caucus victory and huh hampshire. so if mitt's thinking he's got it in the bag i think he'll be in for a great surprise in south carolina when he shows up here. >> tell me, governor, i've been curious about you because this is the first time we've actually spoken on the show. and the curiosity is arisen by i've seen clips of you speaking at public events. you've been eloquent and intelligent and funny and engaging and grabbed the audience. and it's completely different to the rick perry that i see in the debate. why have you found the debates such a struggle? >> well, actually, the last three or four debates i think we performed at a rather high level. obviously, i think both from a humorous standpoint and a substantive standpoint some of the earlier debates i'll tell