Ron Paul to run as third-party candidate?

>>> hampshire vote 3 f1 tomorrow and with this primary season now under way, we thought we would take a moment to see where we are at an electorate invited a very wise man to help us with that. peter hart measures such things for a living, and along with his republican counterpart, he conducts polling for us here at nbc news. thank you for making the trip up from washington.

>> delighted. and who are we in terms of the electorate into the election?

>> we're a very unhappy electorate. it's an electorate where people are saying things aren't working. they're not working in the congress. they're not working in the economy. they're not working in general. both parties have the worst ratings ever. very negative in terms of where we are in the congress. very unhappy as a country. it's a very combustible atmosphere out there.

>> what would normally be bad news for the incumbent president, we have seen an up uptick in some of the economy numbers. do you feel better about the president's chances?

>> i think better against the republican, but if look at these numbers where you get 1 in 5 saying the country is headed in the right direction, if it's up or down on the president, you say he's the underdog at this stage of the game.

>> do you view mitt romney as to use the coin of the rome phrase a block for the gop nomination?

>> too early. it certainly is a natural to say that. you wouldn't want to bet against him, but at this stage of the game long way to go. the one thing we know is in every field whoever is first, biggest, best and most has ended up in terrible shape. it doesn't make any difference if it's gingrich, if it's cain, if it's perry, all of them have turned upside-down. this thing has a long way to run. we look at tomorrow, and we'll feel differently by tomorrow night.

>> you have a great vantage point looking out over the country, and the last time we spoke you believed we were headed right for a third party, and you believe that candidate might very well be the only physician in the race, ron paul . do you still believe those two things?

>> i definitely think we're headed towards a third party, and i definitely believe that ron paul is the natural choice. i would tell you he's probably a little bit different than our last third party major candidate, which was ross perot . ross perot was he can seven trick and was endearing in his own way. i don't think that. i think ron paul is a little more irritating and exas operating and a little more erratic.

>> with your prediction we're in for a surprise tomorrow night, that's where i'm headed tomorrow morning . you to come back and keep us honest on this election season. goes without