(Commentary) The 2012 campaign season has been good to Donald Trump. GOP nominees came to kiss his ring and he has boldly hinted every few months that he will jump into the ring to run against President Obama if the field of candidates doesn't meet his standard.

Of course, a presidential run cannot interfere with the new season of his "Celebrity Apprentice" reality TV show -- which kicks off on Feb. 12 -- with contestants including the star of "Real Housewives of New Jersey," Teresa Giudice, and the "Incredible Hulk" Lou Ferrigno -- and concludes in May.

On Thursday, Trump was in Las Vegas, at the Trump International Hotel of course, to endorse his fellow super-rich businessman, Mitt Romney, as the Republican candidate for president of the United States.

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After his major defeat in the Florida primary on Tuesday, Newt Gingrich said he still expects to be the nominee when the convention in Tampa rolls around in August.

If Gingrich didn't make that claim, even if he knows it's a long shot, he would be bowing out of the race for the GOP nomination.

At his concession speech in Orlando, a big sign behind him proclaimed "46 STATES TO GO." His next stop on the Newt 2012 march to the nomination is Nevada.

Speaking in Reno to a small crowd of supporters, Gingrich said he was delighted with the results of the Florida primary, despite losing to Romney by 14 points.

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As the Florida primary nears its conclusion, the White House is hoping that the intense battling, bickering and mud slinging between GOP presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich carries on throughout the next several weeks of campaigning. 

"The New Yorker" magazine for Feb.6 perfectly captures this idea in the cover illustrated by Barry Blitt. It shows President Obama laughing as he watches Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich on a TV screen, who are battling for the football in their own Super Bowl game.

Gingrich said he will fight for the nomination, going state-by-state, all the way to the Republican National Convention, regardless of whether he does badly in the Florida primary.

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The fight for the GOP nomination has become rough-and-tumble, with Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich throwing verbal jabs at each other on the campaign trail and debate stages. And when they aren't beating up each other, they are jabbing at President Obama, calling him a failure and a socialist.

It's part of the campaign circus - candidates and their surrogates slinging mud to sway voters. But Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus took the bashing to a new level in comparing Mr. Obama to the captain of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship, in speaking with Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation" Sunday.

"In the end, in a few months, this is all going to be ancient history and we're going to talk about our own little Captain Schettino, which is President Obama who is abandoning the ship here in the United States. He's more interested in campaigning than doing his job as President," Priebus said.

Democratic National Committee Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who also appeared on "Face the Nation," couldn't top that line of attack. The best she could do was call Mitt Romney "out-of-step" and "extreme."

"Mitt Romney is so out of step with the priorities of Floridians, I mean I've stood in line behind senior citizens in my district who had to leave one or two of their prescriptions at the counter because of the donut hole in the prescription drug program," Wasserman Schultz told Schieffer. "Mitt Romney would repeal the Affordable Care Act - any of the Republicans would - and that would mean we would reopen the donut hole and seniors would have less affordable prescription drugs again."

Sarah Palin hasn't jumped into the GOP race, but in her latest Facebook post the former running mate of John McCain and Tea Party icon stated that Newt Gingrich is being kneecapped by the Republican establishment.

"We need a fair primary that is not prematurely cut short by the GOP establishment using Alinsky tactics to kneecap Governor Romney's chief rival," she wrote in her post titled "Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left." 

The "Alinksy tactics" refer to Gingrich's the works of Saul Alinsky, a community organizer famous for his 1971 book "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals." In his victory speech following his win in the South Carolina primary, Gingrich described the centerpiece of his campaign as American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky, who is a proxy for President Obama in Gingrich's campaigning.

The Washington Examiner's Philip Klein contends that Gingrich is a practitioner of Alinsky's rules.

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The former Republican senator from Kansas and presidential candidate Bob Dole has thrown his support behind Mitt Romney and decisively against Newt Gingrich. Dole described Gingrich in a recent "CBS Sunday Morning" interview with Rita Braver as "very bright, "very articulate" and a "good debater," but said he found him "very difficult to work with."

When asked if he thought Gingrich had a chance to be president, he responded, "I hope not."

On Thursday the Romney campaign released a blunt critique of Gingrich by the 88-year-old Dole. He wrote that Gingrich as the nominee would "have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state and federal offices," and that he was a "one man band" set on "his way or the highway." Following is the full text:

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Updated 6:53 p.m. Eastern Time

As a candidate, Mitt Romney has long touted his business savvy and projected a kind of detached, intelligent calm, like President Obama, though one seeming to originate from different planet.

He avoided colorful or outrageous comments, preferring to maintain his image as a serious, sober leader and savvy negotiator whose career as a CEO prepared him to reform Washington and resolve the problems facing the U.S. economy and America abroad.

It's left Romney with what looks to many voters like a passion deficit, particularly when compared to a candidate like Newt Gingrich. Romney doesn't easily connect emotionally with voters, who choose candidates with their hearts as much as their heads. That's a big reason why the former Massachusetts governor went from the presumed GOP nominee to also-ran in the South Carolina primary.

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After the 18th debate, four candidates are left standing, hoping to make it to the next round. It's much like a reality TV show. Viewers of the debates are familiar with the genre, taking stock of the performers, gleaning an impression and casting their votes. 

Of course, the difference is that the typical reality show has little impact on the planet, while the debates help determine the leader of the free world.

In the GOP nomination reality show, the participants have to convince voters -- as well as donors, back room power brokers and pundits -- that they deserve to carry the Republican party into the 2012 presidential election versus the evil Democrat Barack Obama.

Every day the audience gets to play along as the polls give an indication of which candidates are gaining momentum or fading in the electoral horserace.

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Last updated: 11:13 AM ET

After taking heat in Thursday GOP debate in South Carolina over not releasing his tax returns and following a thrashing by Newt Gingrich in the primary vote Saturday, Mitt Romney announced that he will release his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday.

"I'll do them on Tuesday of this week. I'm also at the same time going to release an estimate for 2011 tax returns. So you'll have two years, people can take a good look at it," Romney told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.

"We made a mistake in holding off as long as we did," Romney said. "It was a distraction...we want to get back to the real issues of the campaign." The returns will be available on the Internet. 

Romney had previously said he would release his tax returns in April if he became the nominee. Continue »

This commentary was written by CBSNews.com Editor-in-Chief Dan Farber.

As the GOP field thins out, Newt Gingrich's powers are growing. He has become a kind of superhero for the anti-Mitt Romney branch of the Republican party, taking the fight to Romney -- who he paints as a faux conservative and "exploitive," "looter" businessman -- and fighting to save America from the "socialist" president and the evil press.

In superhero mode on the debate stage, Gingrich becomes a verbal machine-gun, vehemently defending his record in Washington, attacking the press for questioning his character, belittling his opponents' ideas, displaying his disdain for those who fail to grasp his brilliance and espousing what he calls his "aggressive leadership." 

It's not atypical of political campaigning, but Gingrich brings his inner fire-breathing dragon and precision targeting to the task. The more he is attacked, the stronger and more forceful he becomes.

Rick Perry dropped out of the race and succumbed to Gingrich's superpower. He recognized that his attempt to be the conservative alternative Mitt Romney (who Gingrich has labeled the "Massachusetts moderate") was failing and then gave his unbridled endorsement to the former House speaker.

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President Obama offered a preview of the foreign policy narrative that he will apply in the 2012 election debates versus his GOP opponent, who is likely to be Mitt Romney if he can win in South Carolina on Saturday. 

In an interview with Time's Fareed Zakaria, Mr. Obama defended his administration's foreign policy actions, calling Romney's attacks "primary posturing" that will wither under the glare of "a serious debate."

Romney has described Mr. Obama's foreign policy as an "an appeasement strategy" and has said the president "apologizes for America." In his New Hampshire primary victory speech earlier this month, Romney attacked the president's foreign policy: 

"Internationally, President Obama has adopted an appeasement strategy. He believes America's role as leader in the world is a thing of the past. I believe a strong America must - and will - lead the future."

"He doesn't see the need for overwhelming American military superiority. I will insist on a military so powerful no one would think of challenging it."

"He chastises friends like Israel; I'll stand with our friends."

"He apologizes for America; I will never apologize for the greatest nation in the history of the Earth."

"Overall, I think it's going to be pretty hard to argue that we have not executed a strategy over the last three years that has put America in a stronger position than it was than when I came into office," Mr. Obama told Time.

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Updated 5:23 p.m. Eastern Time

Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin are continuing their political romance as the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary approaches.

On Sunday, the former Alaska governor said she would vote for the former House Speaker in the South Carolina primary if she could, though she stopped short of a full endorsement. In the wake of that comment, Gringrich told CNN that he would ask Palin to take a major role in his administration if he is elected president.

"Certainly, she's one of the people I'd call on for advice," Gingrich told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Wednesday. "I would ask her to consider taking a major role in the next administration if I'm president, but nothing has been discussed of any kind. And it wouldn't be appropriate to discuss it at this time."

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Texas Gov. and presidential aspirant Rick Perry believes the Obama administration is using "over-the-top rhetoric" and shows "disdain for the military" in its handling of the Marines videotaped urinating on dead fighters in Afghanistan.

Speaking to CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley Sunday, Perry said, "What's really disturbing to me is the over-the-top rhetoric from this administration and their disdain for the military."

"When you're 18 or 19, you do dumb things. These kids made a mistake, there's not any doubt about it," Perry continued. 

He added that those involved in the incident should be "appropriately punished," but that charging the Marines with a criminal act is "over the top." He maintained that the soldiers were following in the tradition of Gen. George Patton, who he said acted similarly in war times.

Republican Sen. John McCain told "CBS This Morning" earlier this week that the video would do "great damage" and called for a complete investigation. He said that U.S. service members found guilty should be punished.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the incident.  "I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent," Panetta said in a statement.

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(Commentary) Newt Gingrich is now the man to beat. He has piled up double-digit leads in key primary states and survived a debate on Saturday that took him through the gauntlet of his past alleged and legitimate transgressions.

Mitt Romney, who has spent the last few months above the fray and prepping his nomination acceptance speech, admitted to Politico on Monday that Gingrich now leads the pack.

For now, the center court of the GOP nomination is inhabited by what fellow GOP presidential nominee candidate Michele Bachmann calls "Newt Romney."  It's the measured, risk-averse, $10,000 bet businessman who believes he can do what President Obama has not to revive the economy versus the former House speaker, business consultant and fountain of ideas who believes his force of personality and IQ can fix the country. 

Romney has been hesitant to put on the boxing gloves, but allowed that voters are hungry for the "red meat" that presumably Gingrich is offering with his combative style and barrage of ideas and statements--such as calling Palestinians an "invented people"--that swoop and pounce like angry birds. 

"I am what I am. I don't tend to say outrageous things about other people that I don't believe in order to win political points," Romney said in his interview with Politico.

However, Romney veered from his avoidance of red meat confrontations in suggesting that Gingrich give back the nearly $2 million he received in compensation from Freddie Mac for consulting services.

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