santorum, should he get elected or get chosen as a republican nominee is going to be talking about that issue. and the president of the united states is going to do that, as well. >> we just had nassim taleb on, author of "the black swan," john, basically coming out with a full endorsement of ron paul. saying he's one -- the only of the four major candidates at this point to address the structural deficits, the real structural problems in the, not just the numbers, but the makeup of government. and i wonder if you think ron paul's influence in the race is moving ahead, or being constrained as we move on. >> well, ron paul has a structural, political problem in the primaries which is he's not winning anywhere. as long as he's got that problem, i think the idea that he's having an increasing influence is going to take a hit. ron paul's goal, and to some extent he's already realized this goal, is to bring the libertarian brand of politics he believes in more squarely into the mainstream, whether that's because of him, or because of developments in the united states over the last couple of

when we come back, we're going to talk everything from stress text to rick santorum. we'll head down to the new york stock exchange. "squawk box" will be right back. ♪ our machines help identify early stages of cancer and it's something that we're extremely proud of. you see someone who is saved because of this technology, you know that the things that you do in your life, matter. if i did have an opportunity to meet a cancer survivor, i'm sure i could take something positive away from that. [ jocelyn ] my name is jocelyn, and i'm a cancer survivor. [ mimi ] i had cancer. i have no evidence of disease now. [ erica ] i would love to meet the people that made the machines. i had such an amazing group of doctors and nurses, it would just make such a complete picture of why i'm sitting here today. ♪ [ herb ] from the moment we walked in the front door, just to see me -- not as a cancer patient, but as a person that had been helped by their work. i was just blown away. life's been good to me. i feel like one of the luckiest guys in the world. ♪ >>> welcome back to "s

santorum. what is happening to yourbation? i know your advisers are saying that the outpour in the rallies and the support among the youth vote is not translating at the polls. >> well, you have to read all the stories about how they count the votes, too, to be fair. because there's a lot of things going on. we can put 4,000 people in the precinct and come up with 2,000 votes and we actually know where our votes are. so, we have a lot of things to contend with, not only the philosophy and the challenge to the status quo, but we also have to challenge the system that can't bear the thought that we would get a lot of credit for what we're doing. >> congressman paul, listen, it's been a very serious interview. i want to leave you with good news on a friday, i don't know if you read this, congressman, there's a giant asteroid headed our way, 2040, it could be here, so all this stuff we may not have to worry about it. >> there you go. i don't worry about tomorrow, you know, tomorrow will take care o

rick santorum says mitt romney is flawed as a businessman and as a potential president. you'll hear from santorum next up. er the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any plan

then tell me neutrally how big a problem mitt romney has got with romneycare, which rick santorum is hanging around his neck every chance he gets, including the victory speech santorum gave last night or the election speech he gave last night. how big a problem is it, carly? >> well, let me talk for a moment what is going on in massachusetts, which is relevant. scott brown is pulling ahead of his democratic rival, principally because the majority of people in massachusetts agree with scott brown and with former senator ted kennedy that obamacare is an overreach in the role of the federal government, and they are disturbed, deeply disturbed by the violation of a conscience protection clause in the constitution. i think this is a huge issue. i think it's an issue for romney going forward. he has and will continue i'm sure to make the argument about states' rights versus the federal government. and i think that is an argument that many people resonate with. make mistake -- >> but it doesn't good away. >> i agree. i agree. >> and i want to ask you this. this is an analytic question more

mitt romney has been gaping on rick santorum there. romney has been focusing his message heavily on the economy. >> i'll be able to point out virtually everything the president has done has made it harder to this economy to come back. obama care didn't create jobs. dodd frank hasn't created jobs. cap and trade hasn't created jobs. this president's policies have hurt the economy. they have not helped it. >> and a quick programming note, of course, cnbc will have full coverage of super tuesday starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern time this evening so make sure you tune in. still to come on "worldwide exchange," israel has warned that time is running out for diplomacy to prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon. what an escalation in tensions would mean for the region. [ male announcer ] how can power consumption in china, impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75%

rick santorum could win that. there are not enough deep states to prevent romney from winning the election and then the primary turns to wisconsin, another midwestern state, maryland, and then to the northeast even if santorum wins pennsylvania, which is his home state, difficult to see him prevailing in new york, connecticut, new jersey. >> john, interesting. john harwood there in washington. >> i want to bring in larry kudlow to dissect everything from the keystone pipeline. it's a done deal. mitt romney is a done deal. >> it is a done deal. i was giving a drum roll on it. romney's speech last night and his speech a couple days earlier at the university of chicago really is emphasizing free enterprise, business, business creativity, business innovation, and economic freedom and for a free market guy like me, it disturbs my soul. i want him to stay on message. >> john harwood's message was spot on. i agree. and the jeb bush thing, it's almost like jeb bush crowning romney in a symbolic way because jeb has huge st

santorum. romney pads his delegate lead, although he's still far from the total lead to take the gop designation. a candidate's ability to beat president obama was most important. up next, of course, the louisiana primary is on saturday, so we'll be watching that very closely. and president obama kicks off a four-state tour today to promote his energy policies. he visits las vegas, nebraska, and carlsbad today. republicans have been highly critical of the white house in recent weeks for failing to provide consumers with some relief at the gas pump. chloe. >>> the chairman of petroleum industry says he welcomes the government's interest. it's said a bigger issue that one has to deal with sanctions proposed by the european union remains unresolved. japanese companies usually purchase local insurance for crude shipments, but a big chunk of such insurance is sold in european markets. if they cease buying, this will pose serious problems. >> coming up next on the show, we look ahead to the trading d

rick santorum could win louisiana. not enough deep south states to get to the nomination. we then go to maryland and wisconsin. which are the kind of places where we should expect based on the history of this campaign that mitt romney would win. then you go up to the northeast and, yes, pennsylvania is rick santorum's home state and he'll be strong in pennsylvania, but you have new york and connecticut and after that, you have new jersey. all states where mitt romney can be expected to rack up delegates. >> but we've known for a while that it was probably not going to happen in the math for any of the other candidates to actually get the number that they needed. is there a chance that they can keep mitt romney from getting 19144 he needs? >> yes. i doubt they can, but it's possible. i was talking yesterday to mike steel owing te and his view was santorum stays at it aggressively, that when we get to june 5th and california has voted, that's the last big primary, that mitt romney might be a few delegates short of 1144. and if that's the case, then you see haggling going on

his opponents jumped all over that remark including rick santorum who handed out etch-a-sketches to some supporters. market only around $8.5 million. just 800 shares being traded today. so that's why you get those big moves. >> been around forever. since i was a little kid. yes. ohio art. >> and was it slate back then? >> back then it was slate. and we made it work. it was the first level of technology, yes. >> triser top fossil -- were you hanging out in caves in france? >> i was indeed. >> here's a lesson we're learning. don't you dare dis apple. don't suggest it's overvalued or the ipad may get hot. if you do, you're going to get e-mails you suck, sully. basically. that's what you get. the tweets, whatever it is. >> it's got nothing to do with apple. >> yeah. we're going to meet back after this with the don't diss apple phenomena. >> we'll be back. any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven

every time newt gingrich and rick santorum don't get 69 or 70% of the vote, they fall into a hole. governor romney's been -- had support across every segment of the party. he has a very strong message. look, i fancy our chances of getting the nomination under any circumstances. but that isn't what we need to do. we neat to bead barack obama, and the longer we fight this out, every day that goes by does make that harder. >> i wanted to ask you about something that certainly made headlines, what governor romney said on the sunday morning talk shows, calling for a gas hike trio to resign saying that these three haven't done much given where gas prices are. now senator, we have seen the economy strengthen over time, and unemployment picture improve as well. this despite the rise that we've seen in gas prices. we're pretty close to the level that most analysts out there are telling us would be the level at which demand would be destroyed. demand destruction. and at which point gas prices would tip back lower anyway. what is the immediate term fix that the governor would be proposing at

rick santorum, susta17, ron pau. joining us is charlie cook, an nbc analyst, and it's great to have you here on super tuesday, charlie. just handicap it for us. is there any chance that romney doesn't take this and moves higher and the game's over? today's not a game-over, or is today a game-over? >> well, first of all, after everything that happened here, any chance, i'm not sure i want to go there. but the numbers you went through, you see, romney has as many votes -- as many delegates, excuse me, as santorum, gingr h gingrich, ron paul combined, if that happens again today, and i think it will happen again today, you can say, okay, we're in the mopping-up phase. that when you get to this point in march, this is a delegate fight, not a momentum fight. and it looks like romney is pretty much rolling it up at this point. >> if he mops it up, the next question is, what does he need to do and can he do it to energize his base and energize the party to really rally around him? you saw "the wall street journal" article o

question number two, how does rick santorum, as david corn suggested -- how does rick santorum sustain this thing if he gets whooped tonight? >> well, first of all, we would never call on speaker gingrich to get out, but we think that would help us greatly if he did. we're not pushing him, but the fact remains we think we would do well if he got out of the race, and we have a one-on-one with mitt romney. as far as sustaining this, look, the media is so quick to write an obituary or resurgence for any one candidate any one week. remember, last week mississippi and alabama, one candidate said that they were going to win both. the other candidate said they had to win both, and we were just saying, hey, we'll see you in illinois and we'll see you in louisiana, and so we've been pretty consistent. we don't get too high. we don't get too low. we know we've got a long campaign ahead, and that's the candidate we've got. he is ready for the fight. he has been a fighter his whole career. we're going to keep fighting until we get that 1,144. >> thank you very much from the santorum campaign. andy

rick santorum, his victories last night were very important, very significant. he pushed the reset button for his campaign. and i'm calling it a two-man race. romney, santorum. now, that gives the power of competition, and i'm saying competition may lead to the further education of mitt romney. that's right. follow this. santorum is pounding romney on health care. and mr. romney must -- and i repeat must. he's got to have a better explanation why romney care in massachusetts is truly different from obama care nationwide. that's where santorum is pounding, and just as mitt romney tailors his education with a good tax cut, he's got to tailor it for a much better explanation on romney care versus obama care. it's a must in order to win over conservatives in illinois and the other primary states ahead. that's my take. so let's talk. we have republican strategist terry holt, former senior adviser from the bush/cheney 2000 and '04 campaign, and we welcome back bill hennesy. terry, let me ask you. i want to make this as simple as possible. i think santorum had a good n

but he needs to definitively stop rick santorum's know men it item with a win in illinois. and if santorum can interest some how break through there, hugh there's a new poll showing mitt romney's only four points ahead of rick santorum in a state that has been thought of as a home game for mitt romney. he needs to win. and if he does, he's going to continue an strengthen his grip on the nomination. but if santorum can break through and get that win in a closely contested mid western state that he hasn't gotten in ohio, he didn't get in michigan, then we could have a little bit of a different ball game and some of the delegate math looks less compelling if santorum can really break through, consolidate that conservative vote. >> and there's a story in this morning's "washington post," headline obama struggles with big dodonors. when it comes on big donors, looks like obama has half the big donors that he had at the exact same time before he was president. he has only about 11,000 donors who paid more than $2,000. at this same time i guess we're talking five years ago, he had

plus, rick santorum, his strategies for super tuesday and the economy. john harwood goes one-on-one and it is first on "power lunch" at the top of the hour. coming up next, now back to scott on the halftime report. >> thank you. and time to make a pit stop, gold bouncing back slightly from yesterday's monster sell off. what is the trade off on gold considering the fed may not deliver qe3? got it covered with dan. going to hand it off to stephanie who has a good question on oil. >> deutsche bank made a good call yesterday based on demand because of the higher oil prices. what's your thought about where you want to be positioned right now? >> well, in the oil space, if you're talking about stocks and first of all, glad to see you on the desk. that's a good get for the show. i think the place to play is in those stocks that might be able to give a little bit back to the supply losses that you're going to get not only from iran, but from sudan and syria and in fact in libya, where you're down from the 1.4 million they were delivering before the war, so the o

i mean, if you were rick santorum, you would say the same thing. ultimately, the financial realities are going to close in when they close in. but you can't blame the guy for wanting to try hard. >> i don't blame him. in fact, i give him credit for being honest with republican voters. but what i'm saying is republican voters in alabama and mississippi and the rest of the country are going to understand that that's not how you beat obama. >> ed rogers -- >> yeah? >> i do want to say this. i think brother webber is onto something. now, i may be biassed. but, look, romney put out his 20% tax cut plan and kind of reset his entitlement reforms and his spending cuts. he comes from behind in michigan and wins. he comes from behind in ohio and wins. and, to some extent, he could come from behind in either or alabama or mississippi. is brother webber onto something? or, more importantly, is mitt romney onto an economic growth message? >> i think so. and i had been a larry kudlow cheer leader in calling for people to advocate a 5% national growth plan. that

>> mitt romney who is by far the republican nominee and rick santorum and the gop nominee. mitt romney's been hammering the economic issue. as you said, he has a much crisper economic plan and a much more expansive economic plan that he did a couple of months ago. i think the close race is that of the primary race and i can finish my point. >> and he'll bring out the tax plan and he's a much better kid now than he was two months ago. do you really think that by next september that people will care what happened to february and march. remember, after bin ladenen was kulled the approval ratings were exactly the same and not february. >> i do think they care, and one other things he was very problematic for the republicans is that the fact that turnout continues to go down. i think that's a very bad sign. >> dick armey, okay. turnout and social issues. >> let me make a point about the social issues, larry. >> yeah, please. >> well, but, the last round of discussions. we had the social issues was directly in response to this administration trying to impose on the catholic relig

as rick santorum continues to be a thorn in mitt romney's side. who will be the last man standing and can they pose a strnk ch strong challenge to obama? hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, down by two, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. hi. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. &t. ♪ >>> let's start in the united states. it ta take a look at the u.s. futures. dow could be higher by as much as 19. nasdaq by nearly 9. and s&p 500 up by 2 points at this point if we're looking at how we're setting up. of course stocks closed modestly higher on friday. the dow and s&p had a little bit of a rough week, but in term of the nasdaq, we saw its sixth straight winning week. seeing a lot of strength in

rick santorum has got to find a place to breakthrough against mitt romney. illinois is the test today. but for mitt romney, if he could turn back that challenge as he did in michigan and ohio, he could strengthen his grip on that republican nomination and get some momentum. look at these polls. he's got a ten-point lead in the real clear politics.com average. that suggests that he's been making headway at the end. he's outspending santorum. if he could get a win like that, then when we go south into louisiana where rick santorum's lead, you can see this also, is only four points, romney could get some momentum. if he can win in louisiana, he could get that away game victory that would help him shut this race down, guys, and begin the process of squaring off against obama, who i hung out at his campaign's headquarters yesterday. they're gearing up. 300 staffers working on voter targeting, building organizations at the state level. they're going to be formidable. mitt romney if he's the nominee needs to get to the task of confronts him. >> thank you. >>> mixed

here's rick santorum. >> that committee is not a nonpartisan group. it certainly has its ied logical bend. we've been very specific about the tax -- the changes we will make in the entitlement programs -- >> short-term increase in deficits? >> i don't think there will be a short-term. this is a group that believes the world is flat. when you change the tax code and the regulatory environment, the businesses won't react and produce more jobs and create more economic activity. i don't buy that. >> you said at the end of the day president obama wasn't just incompetent on economic policy but he actually wanted unemployment to be higher. that doesn't make sense to me. isn't it more likely that you and republicans want unemployment to be higher right now so it's easier to beat him? >> well, what we've seen is the president dramatically increase the scale of dependency in this country. >> do you think that's purposeful? >> we almost have half the people in this country on some kind of government dependent program. this is a reality that people who are depend

it's why rick santorum has entered these contests thinking that he has a chance really to step up and elevate himself into that one-on-one contest but newt gingrich is there and is polling pretty well and mitt romney is polling surprisingly well which shows some of the ways the southern electorate has changed but in both cases we have the three bunched up at the top and if newt gingrich can hang on, win one of the two, he has some gas to keep going to illinois and beyond. santorum is hoping to knock newt out of the race and get the one-on-one and if somehow mitt romney could win down there, win one state, i think that will help strengthen his credentials as the front-runner. >> it's going to be march, john, and we have time. >> march? >> it's march madness. we should know -- and he could win both. he's running surprisingly strong. gingrich and santorum are splitting. if they were united -- >> right. >> did you see some of newt's comments like the reason i ran was -- not the reason i'm running. he's been saying some things that sort of indicate that he's sort of, i think, knows that it

rick santorum, 146. newt gingrich, 112. ron paul bringing up the rear with just 31 delegates. at stake tonight we've got two big states and a couple of small things. the delegates in play this evening, as we watch throughout the night, alabama, 47, mississippi, 37 delegates at stake. we got hawaii with 17, and american samoa, which i think is too small to fit on our map over here has just nine delegates at stake tonight. so what does this mean going forward? well, it means that the math gets much trickier for some of the lower tier candidates than it does for mitt romney. take a look at the percentages that each of these men neat in order to win this nomination going forward. mitt romney only needs to win about 47.3% of the remaining delegates in order to win this thing. remember, they've got 1,618 delegates remaining here. rick santorum, it's a little bit of a steeper climb. 61.6%. newt gingrich, steeper still. 63.7%. for ron fall he would have to win to clinch this thing. 68.7% of all the delegates remaining from here on out. so, larry, you can tell that this thing gets tric

and if not, rick santorum because of the cultural conservatism. so in mississippi romney is ahead, according to rasmussen. 35, 27, 27. in alabama it's essentially a tie among the three of them. jennifer, is mitt about to have a big southern surprise that nobody's expecting? >> including his own campaign. i was talking to them and i don't think they believe these numbers. they were not expecting this. i don't think this is a case where they're trying to lower expectations. i don't think they had any expectations. they've been talking about guam and virgin islands, these other island primaries that are going on simultaneously. i think if he could pick off one of them that would be a huge shot in the arm. i think it would quell a lot of this talk that he's just building delegates, he doesn't really sell to the base. i think it would be huge. >> he's getting momentum. >> he's getting -- >> from ohio and super tuesday. and his tax cuts and his economic growth plan. i guess i want to know if he can win one out of two of these southern states does that w

this is where rick santorum is going to get a one-on-one match with mitt romney going forward. extending into the late spring and early summer even, if you look at the polls in ohio, follow the pattern that they followed many michigan the week before, that is, rick santorum had raced out to a lead in michigan, then mitt romney came and pounded him on television, diminished that lead, passed him by 3 percentage points. you see mitt romney has got a lead of just over a point when you average all of the polls. just above 39 -- or 39, rather. 37 for rick santorum and if mitt romney can hold that lead, we may be seeing the beginning of the end, guys. >> all right. thank you very: john harwood, a reminder, special coverage of super tuesday with john and maria bartiromo here on cnbc. in the meantime, lots of hot-button issues front and center. here is paul o'neill, the former treasury secretary. it's good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> i want to get your take on the overall economy. there is this debate on the street whether or not qe 3 is warranted, is necessary. president fis

that's where rick santorum has found his sweet spot, as you just described. i think that is problematic for mitt romney. he can't just be the candidate of the wealthy, the candidate of the old. he has to show that he has some capacity to broaden the appeal of the republican party. remember, his hard-line position on immigration might be a great position to have with conservatives. it's not a great position to have with the hispanic community, and so many important swing states. so he has a lot of baggage and a lot of liabilities he needs to show he can overcome to really broaden his appeal come the general election. i think that's why so many republicans like jeb bush and others are expressing concern about the tone of this campaign, about the issues that are being discussed at this campaign and the fact the parties seem so narrow. >> ohio and its 66 delegates available on tuesday are getting a lot of attention and more than $3 million in advertising spending from governor romney. the political action committee supporting him. this part of the country has bee

ahead of the pack, mitt romney and rick santorum. romney a lot riding on tomorrow's results, they determine whether he will emerge as the inevitable gop candidate versus his having to duke it out against santorum in fierce state by state battles. santorum leading the ohio polls recently. for his part, romney is taking staying on message about the economy and taking jabs at president obama in the process he sits down tonight with larry culled flow a cnbc news exclusive. >> we sure hope the economy gets better but this has been the loews recovery since here, this president has failed us, taken much longer for this economy to reboo 8% is not the new normal this president has a long way to go to be able to deliver other the promises that the american people expect. incomes have not risen, gasoline prices are high. the idea that everything's type out there in america comes from people who are detached in america. i have been campaigning across this country. people are hurting them want someone who can see rising incomes, rising jobs and a

i can't imagine electing another senator or former senator like rick santorum who has no experience equivalent to obama and hoping things work out. it has got to be mitt romney. >> governor, one question. if romney loses in ohio and then loses georgia, tennessee and alabama, that's what it looks like right now, how damaging is that going to be to his overall campaign? >> look. is this a game of delegation. what you look at coming out of super tuesday is who win the most delegates. you move on. you have to get 1143 or 1144 to win and every time i've come on this show and other shows i've said it's a long, long slog under the current rules so what you have to look at is who stands where with the delegates after super tuesday. i'm convinced mitt romney will be in great shape with delegates. >> governor richardson do you want to say anything? i saw a shot. you're standing there going like this. do you need to say anything? >> because he's such a good friend of mine he endorses everything i said. >> exactly. the republicans are doing the work for the democrats, right? >> well, i just think that gov

now the question is will he close down rick santorum or not? is he going to make the sale in virginia? ohio? tennessee? you'll see. our political panel will hash it out up next. [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business. like in a special ops mission? you'd spot movement, gather intelligence with minimal collateral damage. but rather than neutralizing enemies in their sleep, you'd be targeting stocks to trade. well, that's what trade architect's heat maps do. they make you a trading assassin. trade architect. td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose anoth

. >> and mitt romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich will all be in wisconsin today. romney looks poised to win. he's up by eight points in the latest poll. today house budget chair paul ryan is expected to endorse romney. no surprise. signaling conservatives are lining up behind him. wisconsin has 42 delegates at stake and it is winner take all. >> and you heard president george h.w. bush gave his -- >> kenny rogers got to know when to hold and when it fold and it's time for the other guys to fold is what he said. all the conjecture just shows you this could hurt romney, because more of the establishment republicans are now joining. but that's such -- when who could come up with that take on that, that having george h.w. bush endorse you could be a negative. >> newt gingrich. >> right. newt or left, or the media. >> we've been talking about hedge funds. would he have been talking ab t we've been talking about the pr prchlg answ performance of the dow. today the rankings of the 25 top earn earners. joining us to talk more about the results is michael p about e p peltz

but rick santorum and newt gingrich aren't buying it right now, carl. and they're going to have more money after tonight's results -- after last night's results than they did before. >> yeah, and from this point forward, john, does the sledding get tougher or easier for romney? >> well, in the near term, it's going to get tougher because kansas, which votes this weekend, alabama and mississippi are a territory that is favorable to rick santorum and newt gingrich. later, when we go to states like wisconsin and other big industrial states, rick santorum would have a chance. but that might be a little bit less favorable to him than michigan and ohio. you go to the state of maryland, which is a good romney target. and then you get to the northeast where there are lots of big romney targets. the bottom line is mitt romney's got to lead. and the structure of this process doesn't make it very easy for either of these guys, santorum or gingrich to wipe out that lead. you know, they have three-point shots in basketball, they don't have ten-point shots and that's

rick santorum has tried do that. everybody knows his identity about social issues and the following he's had. he's tried to combine that with a working-class appeal. he had some success with that in michigan and ohio, just not enough to beat mitt romney. things that the modern republican parties values, but it does indicate a clear split and you can see it up and down the income scale. the more money people make, the more they live in urban centers and well to do suburbs, the better r.i.m. does. when you get into the rural areas and the less affluent, that's rick santorum's territory. >> john, quick question for you. is there any evidence from these kind of races in the past how much impact there is on how convincing the presidential candidate wins the race to be the candidate to how he performs if the election ultimately or how he performs in maybe an incumbency as president in the future? >> well, it depending on the nature of the opposition you're running against. he's running against relatively weak opposition. w

>> reporter: well, tyler, rick santorum's trying to grow his vote going into super tuesday. ten states are on the ballot. he lost two states to mitt romney the other day. i sat down with him here at the atlanta airport where he had a rally. he went after mitt romney saying he practices class warfare in his economic plan, but he also defended his own economic plan, which is to give a zero tax rate for manufacturers. i asked him about the comments from a republican comment that said this is a terrible idea because you can't define what's a manufacture. he said not at all. >> i think markets work. but you have to understand there are different competitive marketplaces out there. and manufacturing is unique in that we have to compete against direct international competition. so it's not like you're creating a level playing field for, you know, for the airline industry. yeah, they have to compete, but they have to compete under the same rules here if they want to fly here or not fly here. so everybody's competing who's competing on the same ground. if you want to fly internationa

he's out there outspending rick santorum in some cases 10-1. and bottom line is, the base of the party hasn't bought it. they still know that this is a conversion of convenience for mitt romney rather than a conversion of conscience to conservativism. >> let's look at the numbers, though. it's going to be really interesting to see if romney just wins the chicago suburbs, that would go to your argument. but if santorum doesn't do well in the southern part of illinois, that's going to be worrisome because if he's not winning in the southern more rural parts of the state, his base may be evaporating. >> once again, i think we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see how we do. >> vin webber, at lunch today in washington, d.c., we had a lunch paul ryan, kind of a conservative lunch on his new budget and tax cut plan. i was talking to bill kristol who has just drawn a very tough note about mitt romney and mandates and how that's going to play in the general election. and i want to ask you, with so many people, santorum, of course, is hammering away on

we're going to ask him whether rick santorum should quit and drop out. your top story, the president with full election pomp and circumstance asking to fast-track the oil pipeline. this pipeline just goes from cushing, oklahoma, to refineries on the gulf coast in port arthur, texas, it was going to be built in june with or without the president. that didn't stop him from taking a left jab at republicans. take a listen. >> members of congress who decided this might be a fun political issue. decided to try to intervene and make it impossible for us to make an informed decision. >> going after the right, but is the president himself playing politics? and should he be taking any credit? we will drill down with sandridge oil and gas ceo, tom ward. >>> pressure is mounting for rick santorum to call it quits. mitt romney pays courtesy calls to the tea partiers telling them that he and not rick santorum is the conservative candidate to beat president obama. and story three, and another exclusive. ron paul will join us. we will speak with him about rick santorum,

both men along with rick santorum are trying their best to appeal to southern voters. >> looking forward to going out and hunting with you sometime. >> i feel relatively at home. this morning when i had grits i thought it was a very normal thing to do. >> john harwood is our chief washington correspondent. i moved -- i changed all my brackets this morning and i moved duke -- i took duke long. duke is surviving longer than i had before. i think they're going to -- >> how long? is. >> huh? >> how long. >> i can't remember who i had them losing to. someone good. >> i had them out in the second round. >> i have them winning three or four games and then they finally lose. >> this is a better conversation than eggs versus granola. >> you're made because i said maybe you didn't have parents or something. do you have a yellow tie on? we are so in sync on things. but, john, do you feel the romney thing sort of happening, the inevitability? people down in the south normally it would be slam dunk santorum. the whole electability thing is starting to seep its way even into the deepest south, i think

he's got a national lead over rick santorum, 38-32. he had been trailing santorum after santorum's breakthrough victories a couple of weeks ago. but on the other hand he's looking at barack obama, the president, who as the economy improves, is now up to 50% in his job approval rating. that's a critical number for a president seeking re-election. and in a head-to-head matchup with mitt romney, he's leading 50-44. a solid advantage, the best advantage that the president has had against romney in some time. but romney is not too focused on the general at this moment. he's got these ten states to worry about tomorrow. he's got a couple of slam-dunks in massachusetts where he served as governor. in virginia, where rick santorum and newt gingrich didn't even get on the ballot. the real state to watch is the state of ohio. where rick santorum has had a lead, it's been eroding and what mitt romney hopes to do is come from behind, beat rick santorum in ohio, the same way he did in michigan, his native state. if he can do that, he is rolling tow

and, of course, rick santorum. but when we have a nominee, we will come together because barack obama has organized a conservative community. let's put it that way. the community organizer has organized us in a big way. we're going to come together because we really believe he needs to be replaced. that he's over his head. that the debt he's amassed, the jobs he has not created suggest that this is a guy whose time has come for early retirement. >> what do you think the president and his people are going to say about you with that billion dollars they have, and how do you plan to count ter? >> they'll go after me on a personal basis and try to make me into something i'm not. we're going to talk about the president's record. we're going to ask people, your happy with what's happened in terms of job creation in this country, how long it's taken for us to recover. are you happy with the trillion dollars of additional debt every year? are you concerned about the size of government? your happy with the intrusiveness of

pressure mounting on rick santorum to quit and mitt courts the tea party. and is t

rick santorum has about half of that. and so this helps rick santorum, every delegate counts. because the state is proportional in terms of the amount of delegates and awards mitt romney is going to pick some up. it does keep rick santorum in the race and although everyone seems to be believing now that mitt romney is going to be the eventual nominee. >> the one name you did not mention is telling and that is newt gingrich. he is going to be watching the returns we understand probably from his home in virginia. if he does not win, clearly, the pressure is going to be on even more so for him to step out. how likely do you think that is? >> i don't think newt gingrich is going to step out. he's been really enjoying himself despite the lack of delegates he has been getting. in addition i think because he has been in this race for so long and because he has the national spotlight on him, i don't think anybody is going to tell, even if somebody told him to get out i doubt if he will do it. newt gingrich is his own man and his own force of nature so to speak and he enjoys the spotli

ternz has gone to rick santorum. that's one where mitt romney had hoped to come from behind and beat santorum, try to shut down the race a little more rapidly. ohio the state romney must win tonight to preserve his claim as the frontrunner remains too close to call. we'll keep you updated. >>> the bottom line for voters this super tuesday, economic issues. brian westbury is chief economist at first trust advisers. dan greenhouse is chief global strategist with bit and a senior contributor. brian let me kick this off with you. give us your sense of where we are in the economy. a tough day in the markets today. are we back to worrying about things like jobs and oil? or do you think things have turned a corner? >> yeah. i think things have turned a corner. if i were looking for a catalyst to why the market was down today, i would say the fact that the house passed this chinese tariff bill that the senate had passed. it's now on its way to the senate. we're starting or potentially starting a trade war with china right no

santorum. brings us to squawk on the beat. sales of toyota's prius up last month because of the hike at the pump and they are now releasing a new less expensive model. here's a look at what shares of toyota are doing today. phil lebeau live in chicago with more on this and whether or not this will sell, phil. >> i think it will sell in combination because it's at a lower entry point in terms of price. let's take a look at the new prius c. it's a small hatchback starting under $19,000. 53 in the city. 46 on the highway. as you take a look at the hybrid market, keep this in mind. prius dominates this market. always has. continues to do so. over the last three years it has steadily picked up market share according to truecar.com. hybrids overall in the u.s. are taking up a smaller percentage of overall vehicle sales. just 2.3% of the models sold last year in the u.s. were hybrids. that's because at the same time these are coming out, you have more fuel efficient models rolling into the market. loo

romney is in a dead heat with rick santorum in ohio. he picked up two endorsements from eric cantor and senator tom coburn. romney still faces challenges in the latest nbc, wall street journal poll. 28 positively. the ability gap is wider. if romney is the gop nominee he would lose to president barack obama by six points. cnbc has all your super tuesday coverage anchored by maria bartiromo and john harwood so make sure you tune in for that. bp puts a major part of its legal troubles over the gulf 0 oil spill behind it reaching a nearly $8 billion settlement in the civil case. now nearly two years after that accident bp and its rivals are stepping up efforts to drill in the deep waters of the gulf trying to feed the world's voracious appetite for oil. ♪ [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual fund

santorum, it's just his dream. he's come this far. you never say die. that's what we say, keep fighting, do it. pride wise. >> rick was really an excellent senator. i served with him for 12 years. he's speaking to a narrow constituency. it's big within the party. >> what does he want? >> to be a national player, which he obviously is already. >> and the problem, his problem is that where you get the nomination it's self-annihilation for our party. he can't get past that base. he cannot speak to independents. he has this i wear my social positions on my sleeve attitude and if you don't agree with me you're not christian enough. it's not viable and with independent voters it's viable within 0 our party because there are a lot of people who feel strongly on the social issues. most americans today are not wo worried about social issues. they're worried about their jobs, they're worried about tomorrow, for their children. they're worried about prosperity and concerned about international, they're worried about some terrorist coming in and attacking us and we

rick santorum is in in-gel for 10 of today's 54 delegates because he filed paperwork too late. john harwood will join us. he probably has a lot to say. >> and let's get a check on the markets this morning. dow would open up about 60 points off. and s&p 500 would also be off. i should say it would not open up down. recently i've been saying the dow would open up down so many points and i got an e-mail recently that said it couldn't open up down. it has to open down. so i want to make clear to -- >> the markets unfold to the down -- >> it would unfold to the down side or as mhe said yesterday, t would hug the flat line. let's tee a quick look at the ten year. >> this has been exciting. >> look at the yield withere. almost 2.35 for our radio listeners. kind of exciting. >> i love the yield curve. it's one of the most elegant and wonderful things out there. >> certainly more endo you remembering in the u.s. than emerging markets. it is a great way to watch and game what market participants think about growth and where we're headed. >> still trying to get over the elegant yield curv

>> oh, probably rick santorum. he spent a lot of time there and, of course, being from oklahoma it represents a very socially conservative state. >> you know, you made news almost the same time that house majority leader eric cantor came out and endorsed mitt romney. you came out and endorsed mitt romney, and it raised some speculation that some of the senior people in the republican party are now coalescing behind romney. is there any truth in that? >> well, it's the first time in my life i have ever been called an establishment republican. i find it rather hilarious that somebody would categorize me that way. no. what i told people in oklahoma for months is i'll make a decision when i make the decision, and i'll let you know, and i voted this past saturday in oklahoma's primary, and then i wrote an op ed on why i was supporting mitt romney. >> by the way, let me just interrupt, senator. i beg your pardon, but nbc news now declares mitt romney as the projected winner in the virginia republican primary. that's romn

rick santorum, on the other hand, has shown, as he showed last week, and he'll have another chance this weekend in louisiana, that he can really take mitt romney on when he can consolidate conservative votes. the question is, can he really punch through? we're going to find that out in illinois today. >> all right, john, see you a little later. john harr fwrood chicago. >>> let's head to chicago and rick santelli with the latest on the santelli exchange. good morning, rick. >> hi, simon! well, you know, yesterday and many days we have fed speak, and much of it's attributed to moving treasury rates higher, as much of the media reported yesterday. but let's keep this cause-effect pretty clear. on the 13th was a fed meeting and we went from the teens to the 30s and 10s, we went from the 0s and the 15s to close to 350 and 30s. why? because if there's a constant barrage of, we'll help you with this, we'll buy this, we'll manage this, of course the market's going to wait to see what goodies it can get, but there wasn't a lot of goodies in that statement. things change. but keep also the high

in this case, rick santorum's a good guy. he's running a good campaign. we have some differences in background and differences on some issues but basically a good guy. you know, i'm happy with him saying he'd like to be part of an administration with me. nothing wrong with that. if he's the vp, that's better. ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. >>> a little dale adele on a wednesday morning. coming back. apple is going to be e-mailing all buyers in australia to offer them a refund. i bought an ipad but i'm here in u.s. after an australian watchdog accused the tech giant of one aspect of the product. he wants apple to make consumers aware that the third generation ipad cannot connect to an i-4 ceremony app due to connectability. >> this is only a problem in australia. >> right. the ipad comes

so, it's really a numbers game in some respect and there's no way that either rick santorum or newt gingrich can get there. but by the way ron paul will stay in. he stayed in 2008. he has his own agenda. that's not so important. >> senator, you recently said mitt romney quote has not done as well as we had hoped, unquote. what do you mean by that? >> what i meant by that early on, you know, we carried new hampshire, big win in florida and i was talking about the electoral outfit. if you saw his speech last night i think it's very obvious that he's really improved as a candidate. he gave a very compelling argument for being president of the united states last night, i think in illinois. through all this back and forth and all the negatives i've told you about it's told him into a far superior candidate. >> wilbur ross has a question for you, senator. >> sure. >> yes i do. going back on this syria issue, let's assume we do go in, let's assume the rebels win. how sure are you we won't end up with an egypt type of situation where the wrong guys end up in control? >> first of all, i haven't given

rick santorum with 38%. mitt romney with 37%. mitt romney will appear on "squawk box ""this morning and we'll have continuing coverage on squawk box tonight. >>> i'm jim cramer. welcome to my world. you need to get in the game. >> firms are going to go out of business. he's nuts. they're nuts. they know nothing. i always like to say there's a bull market somewhere. mad money. you can't afford to miss it. hey, i'm cramer. welcome to mad money. welcome to cramerica. my job is not just to entertain you but to educate you about tough days. call me, 1-800-743-cnbc. one really horrible session and all of a sudden everybody starts playing pin the tail on the selloff. to explain the precipitous decline in the averages. they were precipitous with the dow jones pulling. s&p, no stopping. nasdaq sinking 1.36%. did president obama give israel the okay for an air strike on iran's nuclear facilities? did greece slip to being on the eventual of default? is gasoline going to skip over $4, maybe go to $5, how about $6? are earnings about to colla