Do or die strategy in South Carolina

>>> show. tonight's play book do or die in south carolina , the strategy is everything, if republicans hope to take down mitt romney . even tea party hero south carolina senator jim demint predicts a romney victory.

>> i think romney 's gonna win here and i think some of the others who might have had some advantage here have really crossed paths or crossed ways with republicans they criticized free enterprise concepts. i think you might see mitt romney win here, but it's possible that gingrich or santorum might make another run at it here. i just don't know. i know perry has been spending time here but he doesn't seem to be getting a lot of traction and i think after iowa and new hampshire it will be tough.

>> newt gingrich 's only hope for conservatives to rally around him. this was gingrich in spartanburg, south carolina today.

>> now, the fact is we have to console i date conservatives to beat governor romney . we keep getting told by the establishment you ought to nominate a moderate because they appeal to people in the mid dechl these were folks against reagan in the 80s.

>> is it wearing thin with americans, i'm joined by joy- ann reid, managing editor of thegrio, jonathan alter and richard wolffe , political analyst with us tonight. newt gingrich , this guy is attacking romney on multiple fronts, but let's take for instance what he's doing going after him on the bain capital issue. gingrich 's super pac has a documentary out there, getting blow back from some republicans. jonathan, will this strategy backfire? will it work?

>> i don't think it will work, for the critics of mitt romney , but two very good things for barack obama . the first is that it starts to implant in the minds of the american people that bain capital and what you call vulture capitalism is a legitimate campaign issue moving forward. it's an important debate for the country to have, and newt gingrich and his sugar daddies are kick it off so that is great. the other thing, very quickly, the other thing didn't get much attention is that the backlash against it by the romney people, they are going and they're trying to tell adelson's casino, public company that he runs that it's improper use of money to get behind this kind of thing. if that then becomes a model moving forward, it gives progressives a way to resist the super pacs an power of big money . when other sugar daddies start to come up with the money, then progressives can go to shareholders and say oh no you don't, there is a price to be paid for you in the court of public opinion and before your shareholders, if you go down this super pac road. that is very important.

>> you're counting on people paying attention where the money is coming from. it's important but when you look, joy- ann , about mitt romney in new hampshire , he continued to slide, then he had a big showing with over 39% of the vote. how do you think this is going to go in south carolina ? you got high unemployment down there, different dichotomy, how do you think it will play there?

>>> so far, mitt romney has won, i don't think 39% is an overwhelming personally when he was the governor next door. ron paul came close to him. they go to south carolina where unemployment is considerably higher. i don't think it's liberals and democrats and occupy wall street people who believe a camp, a company, a corporation can do bad things. you don't have to be anti-capitalist to believe this company, exporting jobs and this company, laying off workers, is a negative -- a bad thing and bad for the american workers. i think republicans agree with that, too. i think the narrative that mitt romney 's company was a vul deture capitalist, and forced him to this position where it's parroting rush limbaugh , don't hate me because i'm rich, don't think it stops him from winning among republican voters in south carolina .

>> richard, 60% of the voters in south carolina are evangelical christians , and gingrich is hitting them hard on the abortion issue. the ad is brutal. we have two definitely contrasting comments from mitt romney on his position on this. is this going to have a big effect on the electorate?

>> south carolina is a different place. i have to tell you i was with george w. bush in 2000 when he went down from new hampshire , went to bob jones university and of course he took apart john mccain right there, yes evangelical voters are huge force in republican politics. there is a reason mike huckabee was so successful across that sweep of the old south and that is because he struck some of the same tones that a lot of these candidates are. rick perry talked about vulture capitalism, not just people on the left. there is a strain of southern republican politics that does speak to those issues. the problem, as it has been through the early states, evangelical vote, economic populous vote, will be split. anti- romney vote is split. until one of the head-strong, ego driven conservatives drops out, they will kill each other.

>> joy- ann reid, richard, jonathan, we