The most interesting finding in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is that the Republican presidential candidates are in net-negative territory when it comes to favorability.

First Read: “Romney was exposed in two ways in the poll – (1) he has a conservative problem staring him right in the face. That hasn’t changed. Any time base conservatives — very conservative voters, Tea Partiers, Southerners, feels there’s a viable alternative to Romney, they rally around that person; we’ve seen this phenomenon for months. And (2) The primary has done damage to Romney. He cannot afford a long primary. If this thing goes to June, that would be very problematic.”

“He’s already in a bad position. George W. Bush, John McCain, and Bob Dole were all in primary fights and ALL were a net-POSITIVE at this time in the election cycle. In the past 20 years in the poll, no one who went on to be the major party nominee of either party with a net-negative at this point – except John Kerry, and we all know how that turned out. Clearly, Romney is looking like he’s getting his momentum back, but he has fundamental problems for the general. The primary has done him no good.”

“You know you’ve had a bad debate when your own spokesman can’t spin it as a win,” Jonathan Karl points out.

When Newt Gingrich’s spokesman R.C. Hammond was asked, “Who won?” he could only respond, “It was a push.”

“Texas taxpayers were billed almost $800,000 in travel costs for a security detail to travel with Gov. Rick Perry largely on out-of-state events tied to his presidential campaign from September through November,” the Austin American Statesman reports.

The latest Florida Insider Poll by the Tampa Bay Times found hat more than three-quarters of the state’s most experienced political hands think Mitt Romney ultimately will win the GOP presidential nomination, regardless of what happens in Florida. They also overwhelmingly think Romney would be the strongest general election candidate against President Obama.

However, in a sign of the toll the presidential primary has taken on the GOP field, more than 7 in 10 think Obama will be re-elected in November — including half of the Republican insiders and every Democrat.

A new Sunshine State News Poll in Florida finds Mitt Romney leading among likely GOP primary voters with 40%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 31%, Rick Santorum at 12% and Ron Paul at 9%.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Romney in front with 38%, followed by Gingrich at 29%, Paul at 14% and Santorum at 12%.

Meanwhile, Public Policy Polling will do nightly tracking polls from Saturday thru Monday but notes it “seems like that might not really be necessary.”

A new Suffolk University poll in Florida finds Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) leads all four potential Republican challengers in Florida’s closely watched U.S. Senate race.
 
Rep. Connie Mack polled closest, trailing by 10 points in a head-to-head matchup with Nelson, 42% to 32%, with a considerable undecided of 25 percent.

An aggressive Mitt Romney came out swinging at Newt Gingrich and didn’t stop until he had him wobbling against the ropes.  With the lead in most polls and just five days until the Florida primary, he very likely finished off his main rival. It was a superb performance by Romney. Gingrich was terrible.

That said, every moment Romney spends talking about blind trusts and his taxes is a win for Democrats. The longer the Republican primary continues, the worse his appeal is to swing voters. Romney knows this and needs to clinch the nomination as quickly as possible.

Rick Santorum had his best debate yet and scored many points against both Gingrich and Romney. Ron Paul was hilarious but largely irrelevant to the main conversation on the debate stage.

President Obama signaled an aggressive tack for his early re-election campaign in an ABC News interview.

“How much do you want it?” Diane Sawyer asked.

“Badly, because I think the country needs it,” Obama replied.

He added: “Whoever wins the Republican primary is going to be a standard bearer for a vision of the country that I don’t think reflects who we are. I’m going to fight as hard as I can with every fiber of my being to make sure that we continue on a path that I think will restore the American dream.”

Not many of Newt Gingrich’s former House GOP colleagues support his presidential bid, but the Voice of San Diego found one who does: Former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), who is in prison for conspiracy and tax evasion.

Cunningham sent a message to Gingrich: “Newt, a voice out of the past. Down but not out and
still fighting. First I do not want anything from you but have been
watching the debates. I have 80% of inmates that would vote for
you. They might not be able to but their extended families
will.”

With just 5 days to go until the Florida primary, the four remaining Republican presidential candidates face off in yet another debate tonight.

The action starts at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.

Ron Fournier: “Tonight’s is the last debate until Feb. 22, nearly a month from now,
which leaves Gingrich with one less tool in his toolbox to counter
Romney’s financial and organizational advantages. That is, unless he
wins Florida … which brings us back to the extraordinary importance of
tonight’s debate.”

Some investments listed in Mitt Romney’s 2010 tax returns — including a now-closed Swiss bank account and funds located in overseas tax havens — were not explicitly disclosed in the personal financial statement he filed last August, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The Romney campaign described the discrepancies as ‘trivial’ but acknowledged Thursday afternoon that they are undergoing an internal review of how the investments were reported and will make “some minor technical amendments” to Romney’s financial disclosure that will not alter the overall picture of his finances.”

MSNBC notes that while Romney’s tax returns “have produced no revelations about any improper dealings on Romneys’ part, they have continued to raise questions about how and why some of his multiple overseas investments were made in the first place, and why there were not more fully reported on Romney’s financial disclosure forms.”

National Review has the brutal statement from former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS):

“I have not been critical
of Newt Gingrich but it is now time to take a stand before it is too
late. If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on
Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices.
Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that
fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice.
It was his way or the highway.”

He adds: “In my run for the presidency in 1996 the Democrats greeted me with a number of negative TV ads and in every one of them Newt was in the ad. He was very unpopular and I am not only certain that this did not help me, but that it also cost House seats that year. Newt would show up at the campaign headquarters with an empty bucket in his hand — that was a symbol of some sort for him — and I never did know what he was doing or why he was doing it, and I’m not certain he knew either.”

The latest NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll shows most Americans agree on one thing: 56% of registered voters say they would vote out every member of Congress if there were a place on the ballot to do so.

Support is consistent across the ideological spectrum — with 55% of liberals, 55% of moderates, and 58% of conservatives all feeling the same way.

Said pollster Bill McInturff: “We found the one area in which all people in the country agree.”

Despite recent Florida polls which show Mitt Romney opening up a lead over Newt Gingrich in that state’s upcoming Republican primary, the latest Gallup tracking poll shows Romney continuing his fall.

Gingrich now leads Romney nationally by six points, 31% to 25%, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul both at 13%.