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the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> i saw a very upbeat newt gingrich this week. i spent time with him behind the scenes here in washington. before we sat down for our indepth interview. this is a man experienced big highs and big lows in his political career. and he's not ready at least publicly to presume he's got the republican presidential nomination all wrapped up. listen to our conversation here in washington. >> mr. speaker, thanks very much for joining us. we have new polls and i know you've seen those numbers and you're doing remarkably well. double digit leads in south carolina, florida, and iowa. you're moving up even in new hampshire. but your critics say you, newt gingrich, are fully capable of imploding if you will, making a mistake, a blunder that can turn things around. are you worried about that? >> sure. that will be a bad thing to do. i mean is it possible? i guess. on the other hand, i have had a very long career. i have a very public record. i think people are coming to decide they like substance and somebody who actually has balanced the budget, reformed welfare, cut taxes, got it done for real. so i think there is a little more resilience in my support than in some of the other folks who made a run at this. >> i've been surprised. i don't know if you have been. some of the republican congressmen who work with new the '9 o's, contract with america, republican revolution. you know these guys like joe scarborough or peter king of new york. tom coburn. they've suggested and used words like erratic, undisciplined, a train wreck. and they know you well, these guys. why are think sayiey saying tha? >> i think if you're a very aggressive leader and drive to get things done. i mean we drove for welfare reform. we drove to balance the budget for four straight years. i think in a legislative body that is sort of a go along to get along attitude, i wasn't there as a collegial job. i was there as the leader. my job was to drive through change on a scale that washington wasn't comfortable with. if you're a genuine outsider forcing change, you're going to leave bruised feelings. i don't apologize for that. i think i probably learned some more. i think i'll be more effective this time. we switched the fiscal condition in the united states by $5 trillion in a four-year period. >> you worked with bill clinton closely on that. >> i was able to negotiate with the president. >> you couldn't have done it without him. >> oh, no. if i didn't pass it, he couldn't sign it. if he didn't sign it, it didn't matter that i passed it. we had a balance. this is what the constitution is supposed to do. i think there were times when the pressure of getting things done or, you know, frankly making a compromise to get bill clinton's signature. there were some guys further to the right that said don't compromise. well, then you wouldn't get welfare. >> why would tom coburn say something, i'm parra phrasing, when newt gingrich was the leader. he had a standard for himself and another standard for others. >> i don't know. you have to ask tom coburn. i wish everybody this loved me. but i'd rather be effective representing people than popular inside washington. >> can you taste this republican nomination right now? >> i think it's -- look, remember, i was way down here and now i'm up here. i know can you go way back down here. we still have a lot of work to do. with the next four weeks in iowa, then a real rush in new hampshire then on to south carolina. and then on to florida and nevada. i mean all those are in about a month. i think if we have an interview right after nevada, we'll have a better sense of what is actually ahead. >> is it too early to say that it's yours to lose? >> well, it's either romney or mine. we're the two in the sense the two frontrunners. we're the two frontrunners. i think it's a fair thing to say without deminute r minuiminishi. we have different kinds of strengths. but romney is a very foremidable opponent. >> when obama supporters, democrats, white house officials and obama campaign officials, they say they look forward to running against you. they're nervous about mitt romney. they think he might be electable, independence might go to him a little bit more than you. but you they look forward to fighting. what goes through your mind when you hear that? >> you know, this is probably sign of my age. i remember in 1966 governor pat brown, jerry brown's father, was really concerned about moderate mayor of san francisco named george christopher. and he was really wanted to find some right-wing actor that he could beat easily. and they were thrilled that ronald reagan was running. reagan beat him by a million votes. i'm happy for the obama people to decide they want to beat up on romney. it's tough on romney. that's fine with me. when we get to the election, if i'm the nominee, after the president has the three seven hour debates, we'll see how they are. >> i'm old enough to remember jimmy carter. they were doing high fiving at that time. you have to be careful what you wish for. i want to get to foreign policy issues. we have some questions from facebook. we asked our viewers to send us some questions for you. let me go through a few of them, get your answers. you've said on occasion that it is okay for politicians to change their view if new information is available. can you recall the most important position you've changed and why you decided to make the change? >> that's a really good question without getting hung up on most important. i'll give you an example that is a little awkward nowadays, trent lott and i used to kid that we were the last two decisive votes for the department of education. it was a mistake. i think it is way too bureaucratic. we voted in 1979 to create it. i think that was an error. it hasn't worked. so that is an example. >> what else? >> i think -- for force. >> you've been criticized for the health care mandates. you supported them. >> that will be a good example in the sense that when heritage foundation and virtually every conservative tried to stop hillary care, we used mandates to block her. we thought they were less damaging. in retrospect, we were wrong. because what happens, once you go to a mandate, you turned so much power over to the government that politicians rather than the doctors end up defining health care. >> let me ask you the question i asked ron paul at that debate i moderated in tampa with the tea party express. you're a 30-year-old healthy young man. you know what, you're making a living. you have a good job. you decide not to buy health insurance. you would rather go to ball games or whatever but then you get critically ill for whatever reason. you're in intensive care. you have no health insurance. who should take care of you? >> john goodman came up with the best answer to that in a book called "patient power." we out to have a refundable tax credit to have people buy insurance. your share of tax credit goes into a charity pool. something happens you to, you're taken care of fwha charity pool so that you're taken care of. >> charity pool is taxpayer money? >> it is the tax credit you would have used to buy the health insurance. the result is that you may not get a private room. you may not get everything you want. but you are taken care of. and i think it's important to look at that and to try to figure out are there practical ways we can help people that don't insure themselves without automatically making them eligible for something everybody else gets wloshgs is paying the price, writing the check every month. >> but you know, you're a 30-year-old. they're going to take care of you. i could be in intensive care in a year. they'll take care of you. what's the insentive to buy the insurance? >> the fact is we do that. >> is it -- is that appropriate? you supported the one point mandates. >> i don't think it's appropriate. i that i it's frankly cheating all of your friends and neighbors. but i also think that the price we get into a mandate is too great and the constitutional liberty to do it. >> the state mandate was wrong and the federal government is wrong. you oppose it all. >> it politicizes the system. >> mitt romney stands by his decision in massachusetts. >> yeah. i think he was wrong. the difference between mitt and i is i think i was wrong and changed. i think he thinks he's wrong but he's being stubborn. >> complete analysis of my interview newt gingrich. that's coming up. also, what he needs to do to stay at the front of the pack. plus, a rare inside glimpse of u.s. combat in afghanistan. also coming up, dramatic new video as u.s. marines battle the taliban. and a stunning reversal of fortune for a former political and financial power house. j jon corzine says he is coolest about what happened to millions and millions of missing dollars. you're in the situation room. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. the first droid that becomes self-aware. it remembers what you do and does it faster. create shortcuts like automatically syncing while you sleep. instinctively shape-shifting from a music stream for your workout to newsfeed during breakfast, then a gps for your morning commute. powered by verizon 4g lte, this droid is too powerful to fall into the wrong hands. forty years ago, he wasn't worried about retirement. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa. newt gingrich has double digit leads in several key early voting states. let's talk about that and more with our cnn chief political correspondent candy crowley and ron brownstein. thanks very much for coming in. it's an amazing come back if you will from nowhere last summer. we all basically run amok. i think it's fair to say, in our latest poll. if you take a look at the numbers, iowa, gingrich had 33. romney, 20. ron paul, 17. new hampshire, look at this. romney still ahead, 35. gingrich is moving up. he's got 26% in new hampshire. that's pretty good. go to south carolina. gingrich way ahead there, 43% to 20% over romney. everybody else in single digits in south carolina. i'm very impressed, candy, florida. 48% for newt gingrich. romney, 25%. everybody else in the low single digits. newt gingrich, who would have thought? >> yeah, without a candidate setting foot in florida we should add. it is interesting. it reflects certainly the headlines. it reflects republicans. i think in some ways newt gingrich's personality matches the mood, certainly of the tea party part of the republican party. they want someone who can just take it to the president. and he has been the one who in debates and on the stump has been out there. i think mitt romney has been too cautious. he may be true to form and do something to implode himself. but mitt romney, if he wants this thing, has got to get out there and get it. >> you know this, candy knows it, who know a lot of the washington-based establishment republicans. they want mitt romney. >> and they're concerned about gingrich as a nominee. his history is he's been a volatile, political figure and often his moments of greatest triumph is when he falls deepest into the ditch. but having said that, if you look at the polls, what is really striking is the consistency across the states with the exception of new hampshire, oon when you look down at the subgroups. it's a reminder of how much this race is being shaped by national factors rather than local factors. and the dynamic really inverts what we saw earlier in the fall. through the fall, romney had a very favorable correlation of forces. the center was coalescing around him. the right was dividing among several candidates, perry, bachmann, mccain and gingrich. now the reverse is happening. tea party activists, christians are uniting around gingrich to a greater extent than we saw around any candidate. it's the center now divided. gingrich is proving kpet tlif with romney there as well. >> mitt romney surrogates are beginning to go after newt gingrich. mitt romney himself not so much. this ad came out. i'll play a little clip of it. it implied -- i use that word directly, it implied criticism of newt gingrich. >> i get in trouble, for 42 years. i've been in the same church my entire life. i worked at one company, bank for 25 years. i left that to go off and help save the olympic games. if i'm president of the united states, i will be true to my family, to my faith, and to our country. and i will never apologize for the united states of america. i'm mitt romney and approve this message. >> i'm sure he did. 42 years on the other hand, newt gingrich has been married three times. >> yeah. >> i belong to the same church my entire life. >> i am steady. i am sure. i am reliable. i am not material. i don't have three wives. i mean, you know, we get the subtext. and clearly -- and then they're putting and romney's wife is out there talking about the mitt romney she knows. they're doing what they need to do. as i say, he has been too buttoned up in this campaign waiting for everyone else to fall away. >> clearly, one of gingrich's greatest vulnerabilities is he is not steady and reliable. he was more effective as the gorilla outside leader as he was the king of the heap as speaker only two years after he was speaker he had a serious re-election fight, renomination fight as speaker that he barely won. two years after that, he was out. on the other hand, for mitt romney to center his campaign on the argument i am a man of con consistency is tough. in fact, the super pact associated with him is on the air in iowa criticizing begin begin on three issues, immigration, climate change and individual mandate on an all of them, romney at least once had the same position that they're criticizing gingrich about. >> this particular ad was about temperament. >> is it enough? in the next three and a half weeks, is it enough? in the next three and a half weeks, does mitt romney personally have to go on the offensive? there are going to be a couple debates? does he have to go on the offense sniff. >> sure. i think he has to be aggressive. absolutely. you can't expect that it's going to come to you. and he needs to be out there. i mean i don't think you're going to see wildly personal attacks if that's what you mean. but he has got to -- >> is it too late? >>, no it's not too late. i think we've seen the debates with enormous impact in the race. we've seen candidates rise and fall before. all of the republicans are willing to make up their mind, chachg their mind. the biggest concern for romney has to be that his number is actually quite steady. i mean, you know, it's not really going down tremendously in this gingrich surge. it's not going up either. what you're seeing is to a greater extent than before, the voters have always been there and are dubious of romney and are consolidating around gingrich than any other single candidate earlier in the process. >> remember that romney will have a lot of help in those debates. what we know is three tickets out of iowa. so some of those people on that stage this is getting to be their last time. so they can be very aggressive, too. >> so you think rick perry or -- >> we know that ron paul does not like newt gingrich. that we know. we have a history of that. >> we'll discuss that later, guys. don't go too far away. also, a fierce u.s. counterattack on the taliban ahead. the dramatic video we're getting captured by u.s. marines in the line of fire. plus, donald trump, he's in "the situation room." what he's calling tragic about the u.s. troop withdrawal in iraq. ohhhh.... will you marry me? 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[ male announcer ] it has an hd webcam, killer audio, and lids that switch to start every semester fresh. but mostly it helps me try new moves on and off the court. ♪ [ male announcer ] featuring windows 7 and windows 7 live messenger. get this loaded inspiron 15r at dell.com or visit one of our retail partners today. now a remarkable you are there video from the battlefield in afghanistan. it's as close as most americans will ever get to combat. a u.s. marine corps cameraman turns the lens on a fierce counterattack against taliban forces. watch this. >> i'm in a sleeping bag still. all of a sudden you hear the flair going off and rpg and fire started going off. >> just to the northwest of us across the river, there is a ridge line up there. there are caves in the ridge line that they'll crawl into and they engage us from there. >> they're using ammo. by the time after a couple hours, we probably had 100 left and that was it. it got really bad real quick. >> grenades hit inside the compound, getting close, real close. we took a casualty. took a couple casualties. you hear about people being battle tested. >> we have to get him on the bird as fast as possible. >> one hell of a day. i mean you're thinking, yeah, regular patrol. any other day. it ain't happening that way. everyone has to be ready from now on. you never know what's going to happen from now on. we lost one person, injuries. i mean who knows what's going to happen next. >> another day, man. another day. >> hopefully whoever sees this will know this is actually happening. at the end of the day, we're the ones out here. >> these are the men of first battalion sixth marine regiment in southern afghanistan. we checked in, wolf, all of the marines wounded in this fire fight are recovering. wolf? >> what an amazing video. all right. barbara, thanks very much. barbara starr is our pentagon correspondent. coming up, donald trump in "the situation room." he unleashes some of his sharpest criticism yet of president obama. we'll get analysis of the interview. candy crowley and ron brownstein are standing by. to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. [ ding ] oh, that's helpful! well, our company does that, too. actually, we invented that. it's like a sauna in here. helping you save, even if it's not with us -- now, that's progressive! call or click today. no mas pantalones! for better or worse, donald trump is positioning himself as a potential king maker in the republican presidential race and as a possible, possible independent third party candidate. trump's political influence is under renewed scrutiny. twoint trump's office in new york city to talk about politics and foreign policy. iraq, all u.s. troops will be out by the end of this month. are you happy about that? >> tragic waste of money. tragic -- >> more than $1 trillion. >> $1.5 trillion to be exact. tragic, tragic waste of lives and money. and that we left there without taking the oil is unbelievable. iraq is second largest -- like hell it is. they have the second largest oil fields in the world. oil reserves. second largest after saudi arabia. we spent $1.5 trillion, thousands of lives and i'm not even talking about the wounded. i see them all the timement i love them. no legs, no arms, their face gets blown to pieces. and my attitude is much different. what's going to happen is iran will go and take over the oil fields. and the reserves more importantly because they're backward. they have the largest reserves after saudi arabia. now -- and the u.s. should have taken over those oil fields? >> absolutely. every soldier's family that was killed, $5 million. you know