Newt Gingrich Rising; Anonymous Cyber Attack
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: Happening now: With voting less than a day away, Mitt Romney says it's neck and neck in South Carolina. And a key adviser says he could lose. Newt Gingrich is gaining strength, despite or because of the latest allegations about his personal life. Mitt Romney is daring her to defend President Obama, so the Democratic chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, joins me this hour to take up the challenge. Amateur night over at the Apollo Theater. President Obama thrills the audience by channeling in soul singer Al Green. And that's not the only singer he's copied. We have got the video. Plus, Herman Cain also singing at a bizarre and rather hilarious campaign rally. He's no longer in the race, but the comedian Stephen Colbert is trying to drum up votes anyway, sort of. You have got to see this. I'm Wolf Blitzer in the CNN Election Center. You're is THE SITUATION ROOM. It's the final push in the South Carolina. The candidates have tried to squeeze in every minute of campaigning into this, the last day before the primary. As Mitt Romney tries to hold onto a lead, Newt Gingrich is using what could have been a very damaging spotlight on his personal life. But he's trying to turn it around to his advantage. Let's go live to CNN's Joe Johns. He's in South Carolina. He has got the very latest -- Joe.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Newt Gingrich just wrapping up an appearance here in Orangeburg, South Carolina. A huge, high-energy crowd essentially ending what had been a very tumultuous race for South Carolina.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): The picture of the day was Gingrich's wife, Callista, well-positioned in front of the cameras reading her children's book to kids. It was a jarring contrast with Gingrich's ex-wife Marianne, whose interview with ABC News had roiled the final days of campaigning with her assertion, strongly denied by the former speaker, claiming he wanted an open marriage between himself, Marianne and Callista, with whom he was having an affair at the time.</s>MARIANNE GINGRICH, FORMER WIFE OF NEWT GINGRICH: He always called me at night. He was always ended with "I love you" while she was there listening.</s>JOHNS: John King got the reaction of the night when he asked the former speaker about his ex-wife's allegations.</s>NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.</s>N. GINGRICH: Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.</s>JOHNS: The former speaker has gotten a long way blasting the media, though this will surely go down as one of his most memorable moments. The Gingrich method, attacked the premise and the questioner, show indignance and finish strong, effectively changing the subject.</s>HOWARD KURTZ, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Newt Gingrich won that presidential debate and maybe the South Carolina primary by turning John King's question on its head, going after the vicious negative news media, deflecting attention from his own admitted personal past marital misconduct, and making the press, which is not very popular in Republican circles in a state like South Carolina, the issue.</s>JOHNS: The allegation by Marianne Gingrich only added to an otherwise disjointed final day of campaigning before the South Carolina primary. The former speaker had to cancel one appearance at a Southern Republican Leadership Conference event in this huge empty space at the College of Charleston because of lack of attendance, though at the very next event he was overheard telling a man with him on this hospital tour in Charleston that he could feel the momentum of the race.</s>JOHNS: The former speaker again just wrapping up an event here in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He's been unusually tight-lipped here on the campaign trail on last day, as if he has said everything he needed to say last night in the debate -- Wolf, back to you.</s>BLITZER: All right, Joe, thank you. Coming out of his win in New Hampshire, there was some talk that Mitt Romney could steal -- seal the deal, I should say, becoming unstoppable with a victory in South Carolina, but now, on the eve of the primary, his own advisers say the race is -- quote -- "real tight" and a key Romney strategist said he could even lose South Carolina. Romney himself speaks carefully about his chances. Listen to this.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, we have a long process ahead of us, 1,150 delegates to get. I sure would like to win South Carolina, but I know that if those polls were right, regardless of who gets the final number, we're both going to get a lot of delegates. I want as many delegates as I can get. I want the most delegates coming out of South Carolina, but I don't know what the numbers will be. I'm pretty confident, cautiously optimistic.</s>BLITZER: Romney says the race still looks like it's neck and neck, but he calls that a pretty good spot to be in. Sometimes, the best defense is to attack. We told you how Newt Gingrich went on the offensive in last night's GOP debate, lashing out when he was asked about an embarrassing allegation from his ex-wife. Now here's the entire, unedited exchange with the moderator, CNN's John King.</s>JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: As you know, your ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News and another interview with "The Washington Post." And this story has now gone viral on the Internet. In it, she says that you came to her in 1999, at a time when you were having an affair. She says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?</s>N. GINGRICH: No, but I will.</s>N. GINGRICH: I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.</s>KING: Is that all you want to say, sir?</s>N. GINGRICH: Let me finish.</s>KING: Please.</s>N. GINGRICH: Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things.</s>N. GINGRICH: To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.</s>KING: As you noted, Mr. Speaker, this story did not come from our network. As you also know, it is a subject of conversation on the campaign. I'm not -- I get your point. I take your point.</s>N. GINGRICH: John -- John, it was repeated by your network. You chose to start the debate with it. Don't try to blame somebody else. You and your staff chose to start this debate with it.</s>BLITZER: He certainly had the crowd there. John is here with me in THE SITUATION ROOM. John, I can't tell you how many people have said to me last night and today, what was John thinking as he was being berated like that by the former speaker?</s>KING: Look, it's a tough spot to be in, and I understand the former speaker's role. He is a politician. He was playing to that audience. He was answering the question. He said we brought this into the race. I would make the point his ex-wife brought this into the race. She chose to come forward at this time. Look, Wolf, this was not an easy decision. We wrestled with this. Number one, the timing was curious. Why did she come forward right before the South Carolina primary? Number two, the speaker has a history. You have moderated debates. You know this. He's done this to you. He's done this to Anderson. He's done this to Chris Wallace. He's done this to the NBC team. He doesn't like a question, he turns it into an attack on the media. And with the crowds in the debate this year, that applause, it's a good political moment for him. We understood that that was a possibility as well. In the end, we wrestled with all of this, and we just came down to the simple thing, our jobs as reporters is to ask the about the news. It was the biggest story of the day. We decided -- I decided that we were going to do it. And then we decided don't try to be cute. Don't try to hide it as part of any other discussion. Just ask the speaker. Look, in this business, you know this, you have to take your lumps. I stand by the decision. I had my job to do. He's a politician. He had his job to do.</s>BLITZER: You did have a little exchange with the speaker after the debate. You spoke to him privately. Is that right?</s>KING: He came up to me during the first break. And he said, this is a great debate. And I leaned in and laughed, and I said, "I thought I was despicable." And he said, "You know how this works." And then after the debate, he and Callista both came over to me and said hi. And it was a pleasant conversation. And we revisited a little bit of the back and forth. And, look, he didn't appreciate the question. I understand that. I completely understand that. He did what he thought he needed to do in the room there. If you listen to what he said, again, we bringing it forward, his ex-wife came forward. Do you and I like wandering -- do any of us like wandering through these kinds of stories? We don't. It was the story of the day. We made the decision. I completely understand and respect anyone who disagrees, saying it doesn't belong in a debate. We wrestled with it. In the end, I think it was the right decision.</s>BLITZER: And a very embarrassing story for him, but he managed to turn it into a potential political gain for him only a couple days before the South Carolina primary, potentially.</s>KING: There is no question that it's a proven, time-proven, he's done it this debate season over the years, a red meat Republican line, attack the media, say they're trying to protect the Democratic Party, it's a liberal media elite. He won a lot of applause in that room even from people who are not Newt Gingrich supporters. He had momentum in South Carolina anyway. A lot of people think that this moment helps him in South Carolina. I wasn't trying to help him. I wasn't trying to hurt him. I was trying to ask a question on news of the day. We will watch this all play out. I had some breakfast with some voters this morning. One of them is a Gingrich supporter. She said she's processed all this, the character questions, and she believes he's the best candidate. Two other undecided voters said they were wrestling with this, and that in the end, he did answer in the end. He said these allegations are false. He called his ex-wife a liar. Earlier in the day, he did not answer that part of the question. And He did answer her question there. And two undecided voters I talked to this morning said they need to wrestle with that.</s>BLITZER: And, quickly, Were you surprised that the other three candidates ran away from that story, especially Mitt Romney?</s>KING: Senator Santorum touched on it briefly, saying character should be an issue in the campaign. He didn't do it directly. No, given the reaction of the audience in the room, the candidates, and we have seen this in these debates -- the debates have been remarkable to give the candidates time to breathe. With the audience -- we have also seen playing off the audience has become part of the cycle, part of the politics.</s>BLITZER: John King moderating an excellent debate last night for CNN, thanks very much.</s>KING: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: The Republican candidates are hammering at President Obama. Newt Gingrich is talking about his -- quote -- "level of radicalism." We will talk about that and more with the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, the Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She is standing by to join us live. Plus, a cyber-attack on the Justice Department. Experts believe it was retaliation for a dot-com crackdown.