ad. but it back fires. in 2010 mike huckabee complains his past romney criticism is being used out of context. a new report says ron paul personally signed off on racist newsletters back in the 1990s. congressman paul gets testy responding to us. former mississippi governor halee barbour, new information about his final hours pardon and we'll get a take on the gop presidential race. >> it's been a long hard week for all the candidates in florida. perhaps especially newt gingrich. his showing in last night's debate was mostly panned. gingrich now trying everything he can to slow mitt romney's florida momentum. but just four days from the state's big primary the former speaker appears low on energy, some say running out of gas. today even his attacks to romney seemed to lack their usual zing. this is about an hour ago. >> the longer we campaign, the clearer we are about governor romney's record in massachusetts, the more people realize the degree to which he governed essentially is by what republicans would consider a liberal. >> also today the gingrich campaign launched a scathing new attack ad aimed at romney but only created some new troubles. >> if a man's dishonest to obtain a job he'll be dishonest on the job. >> what kind of man misleads, distorts and dereceives just to win an election? this man would. mitt romney. >> that clip at the top there was governor mike huckabee from 2008. this afternoon huckabee said its use was taken out of context and "not authorized, approved or known in advance by me." cnn senior correspondent joe johns, it appears newt gingrich energy is down. the wear and tear of the campaign beginning to show here? >> reporter: i think so, john. he looked tired today. everybody associated with the campaign did on that schlep from jacksonville after the debate here to the south florida area. not only that, he's up against organizations issues here. romney's been organizing in florida especially south florida for years, quite frankly. he's up against a money deficit, he's up against an ad war that is far superior being waged on the romney side. and generally it's just a tough row to hoe here for newt gingrich. even if he hadn't lost his debate mojo, if you will. a lot of challenges for newt gingrich who's going to try to pick up the pace with his travel schedule over the weekend, john. >> joe, as you know, speaker gingrich runs his own campaign. he's the top strategist, scheduler and so forth. two very energetic, passionate debates in south carolina. how do they explain two definitely flatter and less combative performances that may have hurt him in florida? >> reporter: i've asked the campaign that. they don't have much of an answer for that. in fact the answer i got from them was that in their view romney was untruthful on several occasions during this debate, and newt gingrich felt as though if he addressed some of these things he would have appeared as if he had been nitpicking during the debate. they did put out an ad to try to address some of the things they think were untruthful. but it's quite clear that yesterday during the day newt gingrich was very energetic, very much on the attack, and then when he hit the debate he seemed just a little bit flat, john. >> joe johns tracking the gingrich campaign tonight live in florida. republican presidential candidate ron paul has repeatedly denied any role in writing racist newsletters published in his name in the 1990s. the "new york post" quoted several ron paul associates who said he did sign off. i asked congressman paul about this. >> they quote your former secretary about these newsletters that went out in your name in the 1990s, some racially tinted. this is your form secretary. she says "it was his newsletter and it was under his name so he always got to seat final product. he would proof it." you have said in the past, sir, that you didn't always see what was in that newsletter. what's the truth? >> she's made that story up. she also said that i was in and out of the office every single day. the office wasn't even in the town that i live so that's a completely false reporting. and they should have verified that. because i think somebody from my staff answered it but that's completely false. >> completely false. i just want to follow up on this point. she said you reviewed every newsletter. there are some other people in the article saying you were too busy to do that. others say they recall you sitting at your desk and proofing then. one said you met with ed crane head of the cato institute. you acknowledged how out there these statements would be you'd be more likely to get subscribers. >> i don't know what he's talking about. >> i don't recall that conversation. i just think that you're talk about something i didn't write 20 years ago or so. and i don't know how you want to beat a dead horse. you always get the same answers from me. i didn't review them. i didn't endorse them. and i've condemned them. and if you want me to talk about race and that's what you're trying to imply from these questions, some type of a negative attitude about me, if you want me to talk about race go look at my record and look at my answer to stefan op husband in the debates and you might get something worth reporting other than trying to demagogue this issue. >> much more of that conversation with congressman paul later including where he currently cease his campaign matching up in this tight gop contest. tonight a new poll dramatically shows how speaker gingrich is losing the momentum. romney leads 38 to 29% from likely florida republican voters. on sunday and monday gingrich had a 40% to 34% lead over governor romney. gloria borger is here. that's a quick turn around. takes something to change a campaign that fast. what was it? >> it could be a few things. first of all you had the stories about marianne gingrich. that came out. and it didn't affect south carolina but it now could be sinking in in florida. because what this poll also shows is that mitt romney's winning back men but he's also really winning women, 40 to 30. so that's very big. also, romney's favorabilities have gone up. and that's kind of interesting to me. maybe people are getting more comfortable with him as he feels a little bit more comfortable with himself. his favorability is up to 61%. gingrich is only at 50%. and rick santorum had a very good debate is at 53%. >> rick santorum not only had a good debate today, he picked up an endorsement from latino builders in the miami area. romz any, gingrich and santorum all spoke to that group in may. he hasn't spent a dime on tv in florida. can he be a strong enough for people to say he's heading on. >> what he wants to be when you talk to his campaign, he wants to be the conservative alternative to newt gingrich. we saw that in the debate where he sort of said, okay, you -- on the issue of healthcare, healthcare mandate's a key issue with tea party voters. so he would like to be seen as the alternative to newt gingrich. but he doesn't have the money, he's not spending money in the state. he does have a superpac sugar daddy, which could help him heading on to other states. but it seems unlikely that he's going to catch fire. >> they need somebody to stumble to give him a break. gloria will be back with us when we map out the road in the republican campaign. three weeks ago mississippi governor halee barbour -- a hearing scheduled for next week. before the furor died down, authorities revealed they can't find some of the freed inmates, including a convicted murderer. and now they can't find the paperwork on some of the pardons either, they say. here's mississippi's attorney general jim hood. >> we have a list of about 20 files that are missing. the vast majority of which are murder, manslaughter, several murders. and we have made a request of the governor's office and received correspondence indicating that they do not have these files. >> you'll you're going to hear from the former governor halee barbour. our reporter is in mississippi tonight. ed just heard the attorney general mr. hood there saying they're missing records. what's the significance? >> reporter: well, there's a couple of different things going on here, john. one of them and what the a.g. here in mississippi is trying to convince a judge of is that these pardons didn't follow the constitution of this state, and that is that these pardons needed to have been announced in various newspapers or wherever for 30 days leading up to the pardons. the a.g. says that did not happen in the vast majority of these cases. perhaps there is some information in the paperwork that would help bolster the a.g.'s case. the other thing too here and is what many victims' families want to know is to get a better understanding of what governor halee barbour was thinking. were some of these people turned down for parole? was he advised against releasing some of these people? some of that background information that many people feel they want to see to help them understand the decision process in releasing many of these people, four of which included murderers that worked as trustees on the governor's mansion grounds. >> and the state has located three of the four pardoned murderers. what's the latest on the search for the fourth, joseph osmond? >> reporter: well that's what brings us to the town of hernando, mississippi to the south of memphis along the state line with tennessee. it's believed that mr. osmond still has several family members in this area. the attorney general's office here in mississippi says that they have made contact over the last few weeks with several family members of joseph osmond, but they haven't had any luck getting them to cooperate in having them point them toward where mr. osmond might be at this point. that's why we're up here and that's why this search has really intensified and been focused on for the several last few days. >> former mississippi governor halee barbour joins us next to talk about the firestorm he started with these pardon and whether he's having second thoughts and we'll will ask him about a very contentious republican presidential race. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. this was the gulf's best tourism season in years. all because so many people came to louisiana... they came to see us in florida... make that alabama... make that mississippi. the best part of the gulf is wherever you choose... and now is a great time to discover it. this year millions of people did. we set all kinds of records. next year we're out to do even better. so come on down to louisiana... florida... alabama... mississippi. we can't wait to see you. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up $600 when you open an account. former mississippi governor halee barbour stirred up a firestorm after he pardoned several convict before he left office. governor, in the previous segment the attorney general said files are missing. he said the files were sent to your office when you were going through these decisions and now they're missing. >> what the attorney general won't admit and we have told him repeatedly, there are no files for the mansion inmates. there's no reason for them to have a file. they don't apply. they lived in the mansion. that's been the -- or on the mansion grounds. for decades our governor's mansion has been served primarily by inmates from the state penal system. almost all murderers because the experts say people who committed one crime of passion in their life, after they've served 20 years and these have served on average 20 years, are the least likely to ever commit another crime. that's why they have always been the people who served. i have pardoned 15 or so over eight years. every one of them was a murderer except one. and we've sent seven back. they didn't get pardons because they didn't play by the rules, they don't do what they were supposed. to but there is no file for them because their file is working around the governor, around the security at the mansion. let's just make this plain for the attorney general. they are classified as minimum security prisoners. they can't come to the mansion until they've been minimum security prisoners for years. so the idea that these are people out who the public ought to be afraid of. and john, you said that we pardoned 200 something inmates. well, 189 were people who were out of jail, most of them had been released years and years ago. some of them have been out since the 70s. so ten people were pardoned and released. we have 21,342 inmates in mississippi. pardoned and released, less than 1 out of every 2,000. so i don't get what the big issue is about. >> of the four murderers who were pardoned, one of them has not identified himself to the state. as you know you disagree with this they're going through this process, want to see if they can reverse this even though you think you have the authority. you disagree with the democratic attorney general. mr. osmond has not identified himself and checked in for the hearings. does that give you any pause? >> not at all. he has no obligation to do anything. he has been pardoned, he's a free machblt these others, the attorney general sent somebody out and served them with process in a civil hearing. let's make that plain. this is not a criminal case. this is a civil case saying the department of corrections shouldn't have released these people because or shouldn't be able to release future ones because of the pardon not being -- the applications not being published in advance. the department of corrections took responsibility for that publication. you know who did it? the special assistant of attorney general who reports to jim hood, wrote my office. and it's been published in the paper. we'll take care of the publication. so jim hood's guy failed to do the publication on time, which by the way doesn't matter under our constitution. and now jim hood is suing to take these people's liberty away because his guy didn't do what he said he was going to do. >> now, you in the case of mr. hood think this is all politics. he's the senior democrat in the state of mississippi. you think he's got future ambitions. i want to give you a chance, then. as this is played out and maybe he's stoking it in your view. but some of the victims' families say they wish they had some time with you. i want you to listen to this right here. >> he's in jail for 18 years. she was 20 years old when she died. and had her child laying in her arms when he shot her in her head. and he's pardoned? >> is governor barbour going to pardon us for our aches and pains and heartache that we have to suffer? is he going to pardon a child that had to grow up without a mother? >> what do you say to those people who have come forward? >> that family actually came and met with my lawyers two years ago. because they understood that if any of these men, including that one, successfully served at the mansion, they've been serving almost 20 years on average they served 20 years, and that if they successfully completed they would be pardoned. i pardoned all of them at the end of my first term. it's very unpopular to pardon people. i was roundly criticized for that. but the power of pardon in the state is to give people a second chance who have repented, been rehabilitated and redeemed themselves. in mississippi's correctional system only 28% come back. our recidivism rate is 24%. nationally it's 50%. i am comfortable every one of the mansion inmates are rehabilitated and have redeemed themselves and they deserve a second chance. that's what we as christians believe. my wife and i are christians. our state constitution is based on the christian idea. and for some people, it's hard to forgive. and i don't blame them. i understand them. i'm not mad at them. i respect the fact that if you lost a loved one or a friend, that it's very hard to forgive. but the state doesn't take that position. we spend $350 million a year, john, on rehabilitation. and we don't rehabilitate everybody. i wish we did. but when we have people who get rehabilitated and after 20 years of service and they deserve a second chance, it's the governor's job and the governor's job alone to let them have a second chance. that's why i'm very comfortable with this. comfortable we're going to win on the law. but i'm comfortable that these people are no more a threat, and certainly the 189 that have been out of jail are no more a threat the week after i pardoned them than the week before i pardoned them. >> during the presidential politics, you and i knew each other when you why chairman of the national republican committee in the mid 1990s when the republicans took the house you were chairman. speaker gingrich talks about his role in that. you see leaders now who were leaders back then, bob dole issuing a statement, a lot of the establishment saying if newt is the nominee of the republican party john boehner will lose the speakership, we'll be devastated in the house races. we won't get the senate back. when you look at speaker gingrich do you see that risk? >> look, every one of these guys have got strengths. newt is doing really well because the debate format suits him. he's a historian, he's a professor. he is really really bright. >> do you worry about him at the top of the ticket? is he a drag? >> right now both of our principal candidates but also rick santorum who i believe is still in it and also ron paul, they all have got to improve their game. the thing i don't like about what's going on, i hope it doesn't become so personal -- >> it may be too late for that. >> i don't think so but that's a president bush. but the b -- that's a problem. we need to be talking about obama's terrible record. g.d.p. went up 2.8% in the fourth quarter. it went up 1.7% of all of last year. that is so anemic that the federal reserve board said this week, we don't think the recession or the anemic economy is going to end until 2014. now, that speaks volumes about the real shape of the economy. i came out of the reagan white house. in november and december 1983, we created 759,000 new jobs in america. november and december of last year, president obama's been pounding on his chest about, we created 300,000 new jobs. less than half. we've still got a long way to go. and that's what this election will be about for most americans. >> once you get a nominee perhaps. at the moment they're going back and forth. one of the things, i agree with you this might be a little silly given the consequences in the country, who's the legitimate heir to ronald reagan. you just mentioned you cut your teeth in the reagan white house. newt gingrich likes to say he's that person. what did ronald reagan think of newt gingrich? >> as far as i know it was a friendly relationship. but i have nothing to the contrary to that. i think mitt romney has a lot of things about president reagan. i mean, mitt romney's a guy who goes out and says, we have an entitlement society. that takes courage. ronald reagan had that kind of courage. that's why we did social security reform under ronald reagan, by the way with a democrat house. here is barack obama because he's got a republican house acts like he can't get anything done. he won't lead. ronald reagan never felt that way. and thank goodness bill clinton never felt that way. just because the other party's got one or both houses, t