Video: Romney picks up key endorsement

>>> mitt romney is picking up a major endorsement in a key state. he was her pick after talking with every single candidate besides ron paul . governor haley considered a rising star in the party and said romney knows how to turn failing companies around and could do the same for the country. romney is the best choice in her opinion to be president.

>> governor romney is the one candidate that president obama consistently tries to hit and get out of the way. that lets me know he is scared of him and lets me know governor romney has a good fight in him and that's the one president obama doesn't want to go against.

>> do you buy anything nicky haley just said?

>> it's a good get for romney , i guess down in south carolina . the problem that romney continues to have though is he stuck in this 20 to 25% range in all the polls. it's because the anti-establishment wing of the party is not bought into him. having the sitting governor who --

>> with her own problems, i should point out. her record is not perfect.

>> i'm not sure that is going to get him over the hump in a state like his juice.

>> south carolina , gingrich is 42% and mitt romney is to your point hanging in that 23% range at least in that state. he is planning to go to south carolina and do campaigning. i want to bring you in before we have the developing news regarding the sec and civil fraud changes against freddie mac and fannie mae . hith newt gingrich on the association with the agencies you know a lot of them like to target. they lie to taxpayers and the government. when you say the two names, freddie and fanny, newt name follows at least these days. does this continue to get him in hot water.

>> almost certainly. if you saw in the debate he was trying to draw a distinction between lobbying and consulting and being a historian and bachman was relentless and you could hear in the crowd the response that conservatives were not buying it. it seems to be one of the greatest weaknesses and he didn't have an answer for it. you would think knowing this was one of the greatest vulner abilities and one that got off the topic faster. that's something he is going to have to work on.

>> when we hear time and time again when he is hit hard, she known to come back with quippy or punchy moments that get the heat off and to your point, he didn't do that last night. let me bring you in politico that had the headlines and the candidates are slumping forward. we have days left and the holiday mixed in the middle. they are trying to flop across the finish line .

>> they are trying to get across the finish line and not have anyone's candidacy implode. when you talk about the importance of south carolina , we have several weeks before we actually get to south carolina and in terms of newt gingrich land, that is a time. anything can happen between now and iowa and south carolina . quite frankly i would imagine for the romney camp. because the numbers are low, he has stayed. he has been flat. i would imagine they will use this time to take a keep breath and wait and see if the campaign or anyone else implodes between now and iowa .

>> let me bring up the money being spent. they put together ads in iowa . perry spent 1.3 million and supporters have spent several more million in the pro perry aads. mitt romney 500,000 and newt gingrich 200,000. i want to talk about ron paul . the supporters are passionate. when you criticize him, his supporters will go on twitter and facebook and let you have it. i want to talk about the debate moment. some say this will curb the enthusiasm if you will for paul. let's play it.

>> you and i really fear about what's happening here. it's another iraq coming. war propaganda going on. we are arguing the greatest danger that we will have a president that will overreact and we will soon bomb iran.

>> congresswoman bachman launched in on newt gingrich . does this hurt paul?

>> conventional wisdom said yes.

>> he got applause and that was an iowa audience.

>> exactly. in iowa in particular, the republican side has not been as hawkish.

>> i'm not sure it's as unpopula be.

>> i believe it was andrea mitchell who made the comment who were better suited to domestic issues. talking about the home front . he can put himself in a trick bag weather people agree or not. it brought in fire last night. i am curious about mitt romney . he continues with the appeasement line and regarding the president and trying to portray and the suddenlying of the mideast. instantly you had david axel rod send out a tweet as the words were coming out saying tell that or when you say appeasement, think about bin laden . why go down that road. it's like hitting a brick wall .

>> no, and that's a great question. when you are running against the incumbent, you want to go after their perceived weakness and not the strength. one area where the president is strong in all the polls is foreign policy . romney is just not adding any credibility. it's part of the problem that romney had all along. when you are stuck at 20 to 23% in the polls and all do is sit back and hope and watch while all of your opponents implode, at some point they are not going to. instead of playing the front-runner strategy, he ought to speak to the rest of the republican electorate that is not supporting him. that is not supporting him and trying to give them a reason to give him a second look.

>> i want to get michelle in real quick. last word here. was it a mistake for romney to not go in swinging. if you will, for a lack of a better description doing trash talking all week. he did seven different interviews going after newt gingrich and it was like a balloon seeping out of the room.

>> it was. the debate i hate to say it, but after coming off of last saturday, it was boring. we began to see a little bit of juice and fire. it was individual on the stage and didn't get any good jabs? . you have to think that some of the climb and the numbers we saw for newt gingrich were because he is such a good debater and puts a little bit of fire out there and i think that part of the electorate is in the belly of mitt romney .

>> we didn't see a lot of fire for newt and that may have balanced him out. have a great weekend,

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/45700996/

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