O'REILLY: Earlier this week you heard Ann Coulter smash Newt Gingrich on this broadcast; she believes he is not committed to the conservative cause and would get hammered by President Obama in the general election.

Many prominent conservatives are siding with Coulter, but it is the independent vote that will win the election and it's hard to say whether Gingrich could win over independents who think President Obama is not up to the job.

They just want performance, particularly in the economy, and at this point it looks like America will improve economically in the next nine months. If the Republican candidate is a controversial person that might also help the President, and certainly Newt Gingrich is explosive.

However, there's no doubt that some conservative voters see Gingrich as an avenger, someone who will not take any guff from the President or the media. Right now that is the Speaker's main attraction, and I must say I am surprised by the right wing.

I've known the Speaker for about ten years and to me he's a bona fide conservative. He may wander off the reservation sometimes, but that simply shows he's not a zombie. If a year ago somebody told me that the committed right would be attacking Newt Gingrich on ideology, I would have laughed scornfully. But that is what is happening today.

Ohio's top election official says state lawmakers should repeal and replace a controversial new elections law rather than allowing voters to weigh in on it in November.

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted told a gathering of election officials Wednesday that he believes Ohio should start over on the process after the 2012 presidential election. He made the call despite the legislation containing many of his own ideas.

The new election law shortened Ohio's early voting period, among other changes to the state's election procedures.

O'REILLY: Nothing the President said last night surprised me; he is convinced the federal government can unleash economic justice that will bring prosperity to the USA. There's no question the President really believes that, but I don't.

Let's start with the capital gains deal. The President is making a big issue out of Warren Buffett's secretary paying at a higher tax rate than the billionaire, but he did not tell the folks the difference between income tax and the tax on capital gains. If the capital gains tax goes to 30%, or even 25%, I'm not going to buy stocks.

Remember, I've already paid taxes on the money I'm invested in stocks and bonds. And any cash I make on the stock sale, if I'm lucky enough to get a winner, gets taxed again. But if I lose in the market I can only deduct $3,000 a year. There's no question America needs money, but instead of reforming the tax code and entitlement spending and closing loopholes, the President wants to tax the wealthy as much as he can.

The other sound bite that caught my ear last night was when President Obama said 'America is back.' How can American power be back when you have massive debt, a chaotic government in Washington, and no entitlement reform?

Medicare spending stands at $566 billion this year alone. If you take Medicare off the table we might begin to get some control of the budget. How would you do that? You factor in wealth, raise the age a little bit, and then you add a 3% national sales tax. That would pay most Medicare expenditures.

That's the kind of creative thinking we need in the country - isolate the problem and come up with the solution. Class warfare is not a solution!

O'REILLY: President Obama is about to deliver his third State of the Union address. We can expect the President to be in full campaign mode, painting an optimistic picture of America filled with forward-looking promises for middle class Americans.

From the beginning I have opined that President Obama is not a bad person; I believe he genuinely wants to do good for Americans. But policy is another matter, so let's look at the facts. When President Obama took office the national debt was $10.62 trillion; today it is $15.32 trillion, an increase of 43%. In January of '09 a gallon of gas cost $1.84; now it is $3.39, a whopping 84% increase.

Average family health insurance premiums have risen by 12.6% and unemployment has gone from 7.6% to 8.5%. We all know President Obama inherited a bad situation, but on paper he's made it worse. Tonight Mr. Obama is going to call for the federal government to do more to insure 'fairness for all.'

What he fails to understand is that it is impossible to be fair to all - life doesn't work that way, especially in a competitive capitalist system. So this pie in the sky stuff actually hurts the President, who continues to believe that his vision can be imposed on the country. It can't!

Colorado Republicans are reloading previous attempts to expand gun rights, bringing back legislation that would allow concealed weapons in schools and let businesses use deadly force against intruders.

A proposal running simultaneously in the House and Senate would allow concealed weapons on school grounds and college campuses if a person has a permit and another bill would let business owners and employees use deadly force against intruders.

O'REILLY: Talking Points congratulates Newt Gingrich for his victory in South Carolina and we suggest that he send candy and flowers to ABC News and CNN. They tried to use the Speaker's former wife against him and, in a brilliant political move, Mr. Gingrich turned what could have been an embarrassing situation into a major victory.

Many conservative Americans believe the news media demeans them, which is why Fox News is now the dominant prime time news agency in America. We don't demean traditional Americans; we respect them. So when Gingrich went out at John King of CNN for opening last week's debate with a tabloid question, voters in South Carolina cheered.

Now Mr. Gingrich sees another ripe issue, what he calls 'the anti-religious bigotry of our elites.' The Speaker's line of attack presents a huge problem for Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney - they are much more contained, and conservative disenchantment with President Obama is so high that many voters are looking for an avenger who will take the fight to the President. If Newt Gingrich wins big in Florida, Mitt Romney will be in dire trouble.

On his financial disclosure statement filed last month, Romney reported owning between $250,000 and $500,000 in a mutual fund that invests in debt notes of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, among other government entities.

Over the previous year, he had reported earning between $15,000 and $50,000 in interest from those investments.

And unlike most of Romney's financial holdings, which are held in a blind trust that is overseen by a trustee and not known to Romney, this particular investment was among those that would have been known to Romney.

O'REILLY: Because of the media, the perception is if you don't release [your tax returns], you're trying to hide something. Look, Romney doesn't want his tax returns in the hands of The New York Times because they're going to cherry-pick it and make him look like a greedhead and he doesn't want to give them any more ammo. You know what this is all about.

HUCKABEE: Absolutely. And the thing is you get zero credit from the media for releasing them and then you buy yourselves a lot of grief. The question is, why would you help load a gun that's pointed at your own head?

O'REILLY: Because the people, the folks, most of them, want you to. I think that's the answer to your question.

HUCKABEE: Well, but he has to forcefully tell it why he's not going to, why it's irrelevant, say, "Look, I've disclosed more than I need to." Let him make this challenge: "I'll release my tax returns when Barack Obama releases his college transcripts and the copy of his admission records to show whether he got any loans as a foreign student. When he releases that, talk to me about my tax returns."

CARLSON: Does he have a point? Do you agree with him?

WALLACE: No. I don't agree with him at all. You know, I've got to say, I was thinking to myself last night -- I mean, that's how sad my life is, I sit there even in debates I'm not a part of it, and think, what would I do? And I would have asked that as the first question.

WALLACE: I think it's the news. It's the big development that's out there -- and look, we're judging a president. And how he answers it, and look, it got a -- it got a terrific answer from him.

Our job isn't to be popular. Our job is to ask what's on people's minds. I mean, we've asked about the economy, and we've asked about foreign policy a million times.

We're going to get to it in the course of a two-hour debate. I thought it was a legitimate first question to ask.