i won in florida. i'm really going to speak as the guy who doesn't even have to so much acknowledge my internal opposition. he tried to speak as the guy who was already the nominee. i thought what was wrong with his speech, his basic argument, if you are listening to the argument, i'm a businessman. i know how to create jobs. trust me. i know how to start a business. i'll strengthen the american economy. that is not a terribly strong argument. in the absence -- he didn't make a conservative case. he didn't have an argument on exactly what he is going to do. you aren't going to have that happen in a victory speech but he has to give a people out there somehow. >> if he gave one like mitch daniels which is concise and smart and i thought elegant the defense of the conservative critique of obama. conservative agenda for fixing america, if romney could memorize that speech, he would be president of the united states. he just hasn't been able to do that. he is basically selling himself. gingrich i thought i

the florida primary. newt gingrich's best hope tonight was to keep it under double digits. he did not succeed. now with 53% of the vote in 47% for romney, 31% for gingrich. and you can see that mitt romney has taken over the tampa convention center. his supporters there waiting for him to show. cheering the news as they see it on their tv screens. joining us now currentingly running to get his seat back again, we'll give him all of the help we can, the good alan graceson. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> what does this mean for the republican party that mitt romney could come in with such a stunning win. >> if you want to see what a president look and sounds like you saw it during the state of the union address the other night. they both think they are liars, and maybe they are both right. >> seniors in florida went overwhelmingly for mitt romney. 46% to 32%. congressman you know this is a party that -- and mitt romney supported it -- that voted for the paul ryan plan to clearly end medicare as we

couldn't deliver in florida. i think they're going to be looking for a different conservative as an alternative to mitt romney now. >> reporter: that's what he's looking for. santorum talking to dana bash last night. and ron paul is looking ahead to the caucus states as well. here's what he said. >> we will spend our time in the caucus states because, if you have an irate, tireless minority, you do very well in the caucus states. there's something else the caucus states lends itself to because, if you have an energized group of people that are working in the campaign and actually believe in something, it's better to work in the caucus states. >> the candidates are moving on, and we're packing our bags and heading to neve "newsnighada. >> i know ron paul has a strong presence in that state as well. thank you for that. >> good chance to bring in christine romans looking at the exit polling data, which really tells the deeper story of the win. the question would be what were the florida republican voters looking for

in florida looking to leave. florida's long been the retirement community for so much of the u.s., and baby boomers will still be retiring and now that homes are more affordable in florida, some of those baby boomers who thought they'd have to look for cheaper locations in the south can now consider florida again for their retirement. >> brown: jed kolko, arian campo-flores, thank you both very much. >> my pleasure. >> ifill: now, final thoughts on the florida g.o.p. primary, and back to mark shields and david brooks. mitt romney swept to victory over newt girich. romney scored 47 percent to 32 percent for gingrich. rick santorum was a distant third at 13 percent. ron paul came in last at 7 percent of the vote. now back to mark shields and david brooks. we have two stories tonight. one is how mitt romney won and how newt gingrich lost. how did mit win? >> electability. people not excited but he looks like a president. seems plausible. a few down sides, weak in south carolina but they referred to he looks plausibl

anybody want to come to florida? come to florida. it's great weather. tonight the attention turns to nevada which holds caucuses this coming saturday. newt gingrich will make a strong play for the first western state of the primary season. and a former senate candidate in nevada and a gingrich supporter. i want to go to sue out of favoritism here, john. excuse me for a minute. let me ask you about gingrich here. he lost here. totally negative campaign against him. just relentless carpet bombing at this guy. no positives for mitt romney. just all negative on this guy. 92% of the ads here. can they do it in nevada? can they do it again against your candidate? >> they're already doing it. he's being bombarded already, which is bad news for newt gingrich, but good news for the economy, which is so bad that we have all the new tv commercials. >> you probably say as a former tv star that you like the advertising. what if it's all negative against newt and so he's remove ed from the face of the earth. pulverize until he quits the race. >> i agree. that's what

in florida, mitt romney did well in the two debates in florida. he won decisively in florida. i have covered these elections for a long time. four years ago, i moderated five presidential debates including the last one between hillary clinton and barack obama. as important as all of the debates were then, in this particular contest these have been so much more important. and the exit poll numbers show so many people were influenced by those debates. >> no doubt about it. >> i think this was romney's first really clean win. this wasn't a tie in iowa. it wasn't in his backyard of new hampshire. it was in a big, diverse state that required a lot of organization, a lot of money. the thing to keep in mind, though, as you head forward is the difficult task that mitt romney has. which is he has to keep up the pressure on newt gingrich but he also has to take a turn to barack obama. so he's got to do two things in one. >> this is the most important contest of the season so far. coming out of south carolina, mitt romney faced a mortal threat, and he turned that back and did so decisive

florida has huge solar resources. i'm curious as to whether any of the republican candidates talked about that sector? i'm guessing they probably didn't because nobody believes in climate change anymore. but to me that's a good general election issue for florida isn't it? >> yes, and investing in r&d and national resources, you don't hear any plan of how we rebuild that intellectual capital and become the leader in the world for research and development. all i heard was freddie mac, and all i heard was you were a failed speaker of the house. i didn't hear any policies that would move floridians or the country forward. >> are you a member of the mayor's -- the national [ inaudible ] of mayors. >> yeah conference of mayors i sure am. >> the national conference of mayors has been very strong about advocating for federal policy that would allow for a partnership with mayors with cities across the country for those investments, knowing the cities alone don't have the resources to be able to do it themselves. that partnersh

could you end up supporting him given the votes in florida? >> i have stayed out of the endorsement game right now, but i think you're right in your interview. there's an overwhelming amount of support that's going his way, but i don't foresee myself in engaging in the endorsement process. >> one of the things coming up later today, around 5:00, 5:30, is this congressional pay freeze. tell me what this bill that you've sponsored is all about. >> yes. so i introduced this bill to freeze the pay of federal employees. currently the democrats two years ago had introduced a bill that would freeze federal employee pay for two years. all i do is extend it for an additional year. the only difference for my bill compared to the current bill that's in place is that we carve in congressmen and women. so congressmen and women also have their pay frozen as well. to be clear, though, our military is another included in either of the bills. but you might have heard about this, your viewers may have as well. the cbo came out with a report that shows that 16 -

florida's choice. a win that helped him look like the front runner again. >> a competitive primary does not divide us. it prepares us and we will win. >> a new setback for newt gingrich and his roller coaster campaign. >> we're going to contest every place and we're going to win, and we will be in tampa as the nominee. >> four candidates with four contests behind hem, with the fight to the nomination is just beginning. the votes are in. florida has spoken, and now the campaign goes west. >> the campaign does head west, but the story tonight is what happened in the east in florida. if you're just joining us, welcome to our "ac 360" special primary coverage. live until midnight. after wild swings in the polls, withering attack ads, million s spent by the campaigns and super pacs as well, romney has beaten gingrich. romney claimed victory and looked ahead to the fall. a lot to talk about in the hour ahead with our panel and special guests. let's bring you a quick look at what the candidates said tonight.

gwen over to you. >> we will recap the vote tonight in florida. romney won big with 46 percent of the vote, 32 percent for newt gingrich, rick santorum form came in a distant third followed by ron paul in single digits. some closing thoughts now from mark shields and david brooks. ron paul, fourth now in south carolina, fourth in florida, he is still campaigning and in nevada this week. what happens with him? >> i think caucus states are ron paul's hope. caucus states, the premium is upon ideological conviction and organizational excellence, and that is sort of an intense coalition of support can really reflect and almost magnify. i think ron paul in nevada and, maine looks to be fairly tough territory for him but i think that is the root for him at this point. >> let's look at this map, because as you look at the root, we are looking at a root that takes us through some interesting states but not a clear path through any one except for mitt romney except for whatever measures we have at hand. >> if we assume gingrich does better at the south, the

i won in florida. i'm really going to speak as the guy who doesn't even have to so much acknowledge my internal opposition. he tried to speak as the guy who was already the nominee. i thought what was wrong with his speech, his basic argument, if you are listening to the argument, i'm a businessman. i know how to create jobs. trust me. i know how to start a business. i'll strengthen the american economy. that is not a terribly strong argument. in the absence -- he didn't make a conservative case. he didn't have an argument on exactly what he is going to do. you aren't going to have that happen in a victory speech but he has to give a people out there somehow. >> if he gave one like mitch daniels which is concise and smart and i thought elegant the defense of the conservative critique of obama. conservative agenda for fixing america, if romney could memorize that speech, he would be president of the united states. he just hasn't been able to do that. he is basically selling himself. gingrich i thought i

with voting for the florida primary just hours away, gingrich hopes to have better luck with florida's fourth and largest divorcee demo. the ex-wife clearly gunning for her own reality show demo. >> i'm going to throw up. really? do i want to meet you and your bitch at (beep)? are you kidding? i'm going to puke. >> jon: jason jones. we'll be right >> jon: welcome back. my guest tonight is the host of the fox business channel's lou dobbs tonight. please welcome back to the program, lou dobbs. ( applause ) what's up, man? nice to see you. how's things going businesswise? >> great. going absolutely great at fox business. >> jon: but not the economy. >> well, i start there and then i work my way out. for the rest of the country i think it's starting to do better. >> jon: it is. >> i believe we have reached the turning point last october. i think we're seeing things improve slowly, gradually not as much as we'd like. >> jon: how will fox business news blame that on obama? >> it would be difficult. the fact is that president obama has all his causal relationships already established. we just

, soy josé díaz-balart, los republicanos de la florida eligieron hoy a su candidato, y telemundo proyecta como ganador en ese estado al ex ganador romney, tenemos los resultados hasta el momento, romney 46% del voto, gingrich un 32% del voto. santorum 13% y el congresistas de texas, paul con un 7%, de inmediato nos vamos a tampa en la florida, sitio donde romney tenía su centro de campaña, ahí nos acomipaña vanesa. >>> muy buenas noches a ustedes, definitivamente una victoria rotunda para romney en el estado de la florida, hoy en su cede se vivio gran jubilo y celebración. horas antes ya se vivía este ambiente una vez el candidato salió a agradecer, pues, basicamente poco y nada. más bien, en su discurso, enfoco toda su fuerza en atacar al presidente barack obama, diciendo que si no podia solucionar de la crisis, que se retire del camino, escuchamos algunos de los puntos más importantes de su discurso >>> cuando nos reunamos de nuevo aquí en tampas en 7 meses, nuestro partido tendrá unido y tendrá una formula ganadora para estados unidos un recién elegido presidente barack ob

>>> so back to florida. anchored by a thriving cuban community, and lead by a popular senator, florida's latino voters certainly gave the gop candidates a warm reception. this despite months of anti-immigrant rhetoric that candidates wore as badges of honor in places like iowa and new hampshire. and will the rhetoric heat up again in states like nevada. joining me now is the director of immigration policy at the warren institute at the university of california berkeley. thank you so much for coming. welcome to "the war room." >> thanks for having me. >> you bet. let's talk about a growing latino demographic. can you describe what that is and put it in context. >> from the year 2000 to 2012 the latino population grew 42% and white 1%. so it's the fastest-growing population we have, and it's reflected in the electorate. >> when you think about that in terms of election politics. february is going to be a month where three of the states colorado arizona, and nevada all have fairly sizable latino populations, an

florida primary coverage? well, this florida race has been incredibly ugly. normally, according to some republican strategists, it's a 60-40 breakdown. 40% are negative, that's a tough campaign. in this campaign, the ads have been 92% negative. that is stunningly high. they're doing serious damage to one another. >> let me point out between january 23 and january 29, mitt romney ran 3,276 ads 99% were negative. >> wow. amazing. >> 99%, yeah. >> look, the reason romney did it is because a lot of the republican strategists say newt gingrich is kind of like the blob on the wall street journal reagan was the teflon president gingrich is the blob that keeps on attacking. he absorbs the hits but just keeps coming at you. the way to put him down was with a ton of ads. the amount of ads romney ran $15.3 million worth in florida alone with, gingrich 3 million. john mccain in the entire primary which he won only spent $11 million in ads. mitt romney has crushed that amount in florida alone. that's amazing. >> and all of the romney ads all of the romney -- 99% of mitt r

but newt gingrich is also thanking florida. why? he said florida made it clear this will be a two-person race. mario diaz is supporting governor romney and he joins us. good evening, sir. >> nice to see you. >> no contest. there is a lot of negative ads. am curious if there is a risk that the negative ads are turning on the swing voters and if it will backfire as we go down the path. >> i was happy he was hit and hit hard. if you can't deal with what you are getting hit with now in this primary season, wait until the billion-dollar obama machinery opens up and hits you with only negative campaigns. >> i don't think he got hit. dollar for dollar, it wasn't a level playing field in florida. he didn't get hit as hard. >> it was more of what his side spent. it is not like he got a full scale assault on him. there was an effort. >> you have to remember that he has been the front runner since the beginning and then there was five and then four. equally as important he has continued to be the target from the white house. you know, the whit

the state of florida -- to say that somehow romney didn't win in the state of florida with the heart and soul of the party is just not true. the people who voted yesterday and in this primary, they are the heart and soul of the republican party in the state of florida. and i think what you saw was a clear advantage to mitt romney, because he understands that jobs are created in the private sector, not in government, and the issue of housing is so big in florida, i think speaker gingrich failed the opportunity to answer the question about his relationship with freddie mac. if he had done so it would have been much better for him but instead he kept ignoring that issue and so many people in florida have lost their homes. >> were you surprised that 38% of republicans that showed up to the polls, showed up to the polls, told our exit pollsters they weren't satisfied with this field. it seemed like a strikingly large number for people that actually took the time to vote. >> no, it's not shocking because i think what you're seeing is, there's so much energy in the republican party to beat

debates were key in florida. they got newt momentum in south carolina and really hurt him in florida. i talked to a very senior newt gingrich official shortly before the south carolina debate cnn did and said newt gingrich's strategy, he was not joking was tune the world out, take a nap, relax and think himself as opposed to doing the traditional debate. if that's what he was telling me and he was serious newt has to rethink his debate strategy. >> reporter: the problem was he expected the mitt romney to come who was the same mitt romney. mitt romney finally decided in florida to play to win and not lose. stop being so conservative, not a bad word here, stop being so conservative and all laid back, he finally got far more aggressive and clearly the voters responded. the question is can mitt romney stay aggressive in the next few states, especially on super tuesday. >> that will drive up negatives for him as it did for gingrich. >> he has no choice because he has to win the nomination. >> let's go back to our tabl

as you know, the florida -- florida has just voted in the presidential primary. you heard a lot about the candidates, and as we know, all of them have solid plans for injuring american businesses are in the best position to succeed so they can hire american workers. many of you may differ on who your choice is for president, but i think there is one thing we can all agree on. any of these candidates have a superior plan to turn our economy around and would do a far better job than the current occupant of the white house. [applause] that is why i'm excited about our chances this year. we all should be. the american economy is in trouble. the world economy is teetering on the edge of a cliff. we need to remember how this great country was built. our president wants to grow the federal government. he has called for the creation of a gaggle of new federal agencies. there is no plan to reduce federal regulation, no plan to balance the federal budget, no plan to cut federal spending -- >> this is florida governor rick scott speaking earlier. we were having audio proble

debates were key in florida. they got newt momentum in south carolina and really hurt him in florida. i talked to a very senior newt gingrich official shortly before the south carolina debate cnn did and said newt gingrich's strategy, he was not joking was tune the world out, take a nap, relax and think himself as opposed to doing the traditional debate. if that's what he was telling me and he was serious newt has to rethink his debate strategy. >> reporter: the problem was he expected the mitt romney to come who was the same mitt romney. mitt romney finally decided in florida to play to win and not lose. stop being so conservative, not a bad word here, stop being so conservative and all laid back, he finally got far more aggressive and clearly the voters responded. the question is can mitt romney stay aggressive in the next few states, especially on super tuesday. >> that will drive up negatives for him as it did for gingrich. >> he has no choice because he has to win the nomination. >> let's go back to our tabl

that didn't happen in florida. mitt romney had double-digit victory, and newt gingrich did not concede a thing. first he refused to mention romney by name. >> it is now clear that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader, newt gingrich, and the massachusetts moderate. voters of florida really made that clear. >> and it's clear, newt that you are steamed at romney. i get it. according to an independent analysis, they ran 13,000 ad against you, and they election. so it's understandable you would be infuriated. but you refused to even make a phone call to romney. the call just between the two of you where you acknowledge the voters had spoken. romney was bewillered. >> newt didn't call after ohio or nam sure. i called him after south carolina. he didn't call last night. i guess speaker gingrich doesn't have our phone number. >> your campaign had the numbers of hundreds of thousands of florida voters. you couldn't be bothered to call ramny, and yet you bothered many voters. communities by deliveri

>>it's really big, really big in florida. it's bad. i know today wasn't easy, but if you put in a couple days, you can definitely get medication. they just hand it out like it's nothing. i go to the emergency room cause i broke my rib when i was drinking, and i told them what i was on, and they were like, "i wouldn't give that to you if your arm was amputated." but people want them; it's supply and demand. people want them, and there's going to be a doctor writing for them. (mariana) in florida, some pain clinics are known to dispense pain medication more easily than others. so, we came here to check out this pain clinic because a lot of law enforcement and doctors told us that a lot of the prescriptions are actually coming from this one pain clinic. and, they've actually just closed this office, and there's a guy out front sitting in a car handing out maps for the new location, and they have a new office that opened a few miles up the road, so we're gonna check it out. wow, look at that. the parking lot is completely full. there's eve

to florida. newt may contest the idea of whether or not there should be proportional distribution of delegates. >> yeah. >> the rnc said that was going to be the case until april 1st what was your underring in do you think newt is right? what do you think? >> look, what i was told when we went down to florida was that it was winner-take-all unless someone contested it at the convention. and the rule is that april 1st you don't have winner-take-all. >> prior to april 1st? >> prior to april 1st and that someone could contest. the idea was it's winner-take-all unless there's an open convention. in other words, we don't have someone with the majority of the delegates to win and then you can petition to have this state aportioned. i think that's the case with florida and it should be the case with arizona and others who claim to be winner-take-all before april 1st. >> you, for the most part, have stayed out of the big battle that's going on between gov romney and speaker beginning. >> yeah. >> althoug

he did well in florida. he clearly won florida. but i think we'll see as we go forth into the next phase. as i talked to dad after the speech, i said terrific speech. it really resonated with people. i've had so many e-mails and facebooks and people saying it was an incredible speech. dad said you know what? welcome to the next phase of the campaign. this is where we focus and where we're going. it's going to resonate with the american people. people want to know what they're getting and what to look forward to. they're going to get that with newt gingrich. >> you're both very polite young ladies. i know that, because i've spoken to you a few times now. you're always very polite to me. your father wasn't very polite tonight. he didn't congratulate mitt romney. he hasn't phoned him as far as we're aware. didn't even mention him in his speech. little bit graceless, wouldn't you think? >> i'm not really sure i'd say that was graceless. i think what that is is the reality he's moved on and we're looking on to the next 46 states. i thin

the florida voters

florida obviously very important. it was the first really humongous state in the nation to hold a caucus or primary. in this state, unlike new hampshire and iowa, south carolina, the candidates couldn't meet everybody door to door. florida is too large. great ethnicity and much more reflective of the nation. this truly was a national reflection for the candidates. mitt romney rolls to victory. >> thanks so much for the early start. we'll check back with you later on this morning. in the meantime, both the candidates decided to turn their attacks to obama again and his health care law. specifically over a part of the law that has come to the forefront in the last couple of weeks. and that has to do with the catholic church. and being forced to administer contraceptives and other things that may be against the tenets of their faith. >> absolutely against them. >> mitt romney and newt gingrich had this to say about it. >> president obama orders religious organizations to violate their conscience. i will defend religious

if in history who won florida has gone on to win the g.o.p. nomination. >> now, steve harrigan is live in orlando. >> there were silence here when results were read behind me seemed like many people were expecting a defeat but perhaps not such a dramatic one here tonight. throughout the day newt gingrich remained defiant speaking with supporters outside of a polling station saying this is a fight that will go on no matter what results in florida. he expected it to go on five, six months from now. today, he made the case that now, it's a two-person race in florida and he said it's a question of people power versus money power, money power being romney campaign. as far as reasons for the dramatic turn around, in the gingrich campaign, many people are pointing at different reasons. they're saying he was out debated. others saying he was outorganized but one thing is clear. he was outspent in this campaign by the romney campaign. one detail stands out. that is the amount of advertisements run by both sides, by wednesday of last week, the romney ca

i think his demeanor hurt him in florida. what say you? >> well, with colmes, the president has to get out there. [ laughter ] >> i mean, where has he been? is he a monk or something? you don't see him or hear him? he is the president. let's get back to newt here what he needs to do is last night. whole different demeanor, no whining, no playing the victim. he had one line about big money. that's okay. he is allowed that after sustaining the millions in negative ads. he played the populist card anti-washington, anti-wall street and all of that. there was this other part about it where he went ahead and started talking about all the executive orders he is going to pass in his first hours as president. the guy had just taken a she lacking, 15 points in florida. it was as if it had never happened or as if he had won. one hand near delusional, other hand it had kind of a charm to it. >> bill: if is he going to stay in, you have to have that confident pose. >> exactly and that doggedness. >> bill: here is the interesting thing about gingrich, s

coverage of the florida primary. we will be right back. we're going to have guests that are very smart and very interesting, so i hope you'll tune in become part of this war room family. ah, claim trouble. [ dennis ] you should just switch to allstate, and get their new claim satisfaction guarantee. hey, he's right man. [ dennis ] only allstate puts their money where their mouth is. yup. [ dennis ] claim service so good, it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can always count on them. unlike randy over there. that's one dumb dude. ♪ ♪ the new claim satisfaction guarantee. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. cc >> welcome back to "countdown". for mitt romney, a 15 point lead over newt gingrich. news editor, steve kornacki. short on time tonight but let me just ask you: in florida, romney out-spent newt gingrich by 5 to 1. was that what made the big difference? >> you know, i think it's a critical part of it, but i don't think it's the only part of it. i think it would be a mistake to chalk this up to

what shaped the win in florida? nbc polls showed he won the support of 62% of voters considered moderate. 60% of people who made more than $200,000 and 59% of cuban americans. also 57% of republicans who don't support the tea party. romney won 52% of female voters, compared to 28% of women who went for newt gingrich. among male voters, romney won 41-36. romney is struggling with the conservative wing, 41% believe he is not conservative enough to be the republican nominee for president. 41%. 38% of voters would still like to see somebody else get in the race. >>> mark halperin will look in the number and tell us how much longer newt gingrich will stick around. for now, mitt romney is headed west kicking off the campaign push in nevada and minnesota after the decisive win over newt gingrich in the florida primary. with 50 more delegates in his column, the former massachusetts governor cemented his status as the front-runner. 30 minutes after the polls closed, he thanked the crowd in tampa before turning his attention

hola qué tal buenas noches, telemundo proyecta como ganador de las primarias en la florida, a mitt romney, salió hace pocos minuto a reconocer su victoria su más cercano rival el ex presidente de la cámara de representantes, gingrich ubicado en un segundo lugar lejano y en tercer y cuarto lugar el ex senador de pennsylvania santorum y el congresista de texas ron paul, romney reconoció su victoria, y la necesidad de trabajar en las contiendas que vienen también, en ganarle al presidente barack obama tenemos una amplia cobertura, angie sandoval está en orlando con la campaña de gingrich, y en tampa con la campaña de mitt rromney, vanessa hauc nos cuenta cómo recibió romney la noticia esta noche adelante? >>> gracias josé un triunfo rotundo para romney en la florida esta noche, aquí en la sede de su campaña política en tampa, se vivió un ambiente en festivo incluso horas antes que se cerraron los puestos de votación se respiraba el ambiente de celebración. minutos después que se anunciaron los resultaruresulta decisiresultados de decisión, romney dio las gracias y atacó a

truly we see many more people from outside of florida searching for homes in florida than people in florida looking to leave. florida's long been the retirement community for so much of the u.s., and baby boomer s will still be retiring and now that homes are more affordable in florida, some of those baby boomers who thought they'd have to look for cheaper locations in the south can now consider florida again for their retirement. >> brown: jed kolko, arian campo-flores, thank you both very much. >> my pleasure. >> ifill: and more on florida, with the analysis of shields and brooks: syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. mark, are you surprised that we haven't heard more about this housing question in the florida campaign? >> i am. but i think within the discussion itself. that is republicans are not comfortable talking about major national federal policy. particularly in a primary that's been a debate on the right hand side of the, even the republican divide. >> ifill: it seems like most of the discussion about housing has been pointing the finger at