Four weeks to Iowa…can he go the distance? A slew of new polls show Newt Gingrich leading the GOP field in Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida. But how long can he keep it up against Mitt Romney’s well-oiled, well-funded campaign machine? Plus, the new kingmakers: We’ll get into the fight for endorsements from Palin, Cain, Trump, and Huckabee with Washington Post Political Columnist Dana Milbank and msnbc Political Analyst Steve Schmidt.
President Obama spoke today from Osawatomie, Kansas—the same town where Former President Teddy Roosevelt made his New Nationalism speech more than a century ago. President Obama spoke about rebuilding the middle class… but the middle class is fired up over his seventeen-day Christmas vacation to Hawaii. How will his vacation affect his message and his approval rating? We’re asking the Washington Post’s Nia-Malika Henderson and author and political commentator Ron Reagan.
Next up: Newt v. Mitt! It’s a two-man race at the moment… and Romney’s supporters want him to use the campaign’s money and power to hit Newt harder! Chris Christie is in Romney’s corner and he’s traveling to Iowa tomorrow. Can he bring the one-two punch the state needs to knock Newt out of the lead, or is Iowa a lost cause for Romney? We’ll talk it over with msnbc Political Analyst Chris Cillizza and Politico’s Maggie Haberman.
Plus: We’ll talk with presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin about President Obama’s invocation of Teddy Roosevelt today. What was Obama aiming for, and did he get it right? Would Teddy Roosevelt even be considered a Republican in today’s GOP? Tune in to hear her verdict!