Newt Gingrich’s last dance in his GOP run?

>> let's get right to it this friday with our triple panel. all three of whom pound the beltway. you're all great. washington insiders, i want to start with newt gingrich . let's show you a picture of the historian teaching a class on the dance floor with the lovely wife busting some moves, showing he still has the seductive technique that renders some women weak at the knees. he says alabama and mississippi are must wins. will newt dance on or will tuesday be the day the music dies?

>> i think there's a chance next tuesday would wind down the gingrich campaign. rick santorum is close. we've seen some polls in alabama that show a close three-way race between romney , newt and santorum . santorum 's got the momentum and the sort of dynamic appeal in the race at this moment. newt gingrich has been a spent force except for georgia. i think it's possible that rick santorum could get the outcome he wants in those two states and really accelerate the end of the gingrich campaign.

>> i notice you were concentrating on that fabulous image of newt and his wife. what are your initial impressions because newt has got the moves.

>> she wants to cut in.

>> it's yours. go ahead.

>> it's a sign to me that newt gingrich is feeling good. he's calling his opponents bunny rabbits . this thing could take on a while even if he loses the two contests coming up on tuesday. there are some southern states down the road. he's got a sugar daddy to really help him stay in this race. as long as he's fun, we could see newt gingrich go on. i will say he was down in mississippi or alabama a couple of days ago and one of his surrogates did talk about him being tired. maybe he was tired because he stayed up with his wife dancing. that could cause some problems too.

>> i think you're right. we don't want him to overdance before tuesday. joe, let's put rick santorum in the scenario that he's been asking for. let's imagine it's head to head mitt romney . if he was out, that wouldn't speed up the process.

>> santorum is the guy who mitt isn't. he's not the kind of stiff cut upper lip guy that mitt romney seems to be on the campaign trail. it gives people a viable alternative that they will want to turn to and makes more problems for -- i'm so lost.

>> he was dancing late last night too.

>> apparently that's the problem. too many happy feet. it gives mitt romney some problems. it highlights what he's not. that's the bottom line.

>> john, thinking of the president and the jobs numbers today, you've got a certain kind of expertise on the economy as well as white house politics and general election politics, is it in the interest of the president for this nomination process to continue as a mud fight into a brokered convention or do you think it's in the president's interest to know that he's going to be facing off against one guy as soon as possible and then the battle can really commence?

>> he'd rather have the mud fest go on for a while. if he's not going to face rmitt romn romney , the president is confidence and will have a much easier time running against newt gingrich and rick santorum . toez two fight the fight.

>> we've noticed that santorum is finally come to his senses and decided that saying things like j.f.k.'s speech makes him throw up wasn't a good idea, insulting the president and others as snobs if they wish to have a college education , he's beginning to change his rhetoric and become sensible.

>> that's right. you saw the comments hurt him in some of these contests. it hurt him among catholics to be criticizing j.f.k. i think it's going to be tricky territory going down south. he's going to really talk to the choir down there and rev up his whole identity as somebody that is focused on social issues. that's going to play very well down there in places like mississippi and alabama and gives him an edge over newt gingrich who had his own personal problems there with the last two marriages. i think that's going to give him the edge. he has to be careful. if he does think he has a shot in the general he has to tiptoe around these more, i think, extreme social issues that he's been talking about.

>> if i can ask each of you, we know that newt gingrich would win dancing with the stars based on that paragraph but in terms of mississippi and alabama , who is going to win snp.

>> i'm going to forecast santorum . we have been surprised at every turn in this race. i think the signs are looking good for rick santorum in both places.

>> joe.

>> i would say that romney takes alabama . santorum takes alabama . romney takes mississippi . a very, very prominent backer in haley barbour .

>> no predictions for me. i think we have been wrong so many times the, so i am giving up.

>> taking the darrell issa approach and offering no opinion what so ever. thank you very much.

>> thank you.

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