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its own brutal crackdown, that's it's running out of money. i'm wolf blitzer. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it could get lonely being the front-runner especially if you're way out front in new hampshire as romney is now. the first in the nation primary is only five days away. that makes him the prime target of his rivals, but they're also squabbling among themselves and while romney can afford to look ahead to south carolina, some candidates can't afford to fall further behind. let's go to john king in new hampshire. john, y...

Standards of washington, this is certainly it. this has never been done before. we call the house historian. you go back to the administration of teddy roosevelt and even then, there is no direct comparison. what he's done is made a recess appointment when the congress is not in recess. and the president and his staff are perfectly willing to suffer the slings and arrows about technicalities and procedures and watch people wring their hands and portray him as standing up for the middle class. they think the polls are on their side. they think it is the right thing to do. every three days the h...

Which now they won't get. nothing will happen with the agency until a new president and congress. >> bret: not only did the recess appointment happen but the president installed three people to the national labor relations board that were also being blocked in this pro forma session by the republicans. charles, what about his this standoff? >> i think it's not about the appointee or even about the agency. i think this is a lawless action by the president. the end of a long string of lawless actions. it's banana republic style. the president saying i won't let congress stop me, actually. but it...

He stepped forward richard cordray but no go there as well. now the president has done something that has enraged republicans today, tamron. they're calling it an illegitimate abuse of power. but what they're calling it in democratic circles, or at least how they're portraying it, the president standing up for what he believes is right, procedure and nice at thises of the senate be damned. this is what we're talking about. this is a recess appointment. the trouble is the senate which is in charge of confirming these appointments, of course, is not technically in recess. they come in every thre...

Three people to the national labor relations board today while the senate was in pro forma session. the u.s. chamber of commerce may launch a legal challenge and senate republicans charge the moves are unconstitutiona unconstitutional. because president can't make recession appointments where the senate is not actually in recess. in fact, democratic leader harry reid previously used pro forma sessions to block such appointments by then president bush. >> nevertheless, constitutional scholar who served in the bush administration said mr. obama has the power. >> they're not -- [ inaudible ] i wo...