romney. >> romney drops out tomorrow and it's between gingrich and santorum. [ laughter ] >> all right. thank you everybody. >> which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow? singing in the sunshine state. ♪ america america. god shed his grace on thee. ♪ >> romney serenades supporters while he is ahead by a wide margin but newt gingrich whistles a different tune. >> six months. unless romney drops out. >> the polls are closed and the results are rolling in with analysis from elliott spitse and live from florida with craig crawford, countdown's david shuster, coverage of the 2012 florida primary begins now! ♪ from sea to shining sea ♪ >> good evening. it's an exciting night. good to have you with us. thanks for joining us tuesday january 31st 281 days until the 2012 presidential election. i am bill press sitting in for keith olbermann. this is our "countdown" coverage of the 2012 g.o.p. florida primary and what you want to know at this hour. cnn, fox and msnbc have all called the florida primary for mitt romney. no surprise there. maybe the only surprise is they call

>> romney. the counties that are coming in for santorum, like hoden, delta, chippewa, marquette, more of that vote is? >> smaller counties -- the. >> the smaller counties come in quicker. and a grand total after couple hundred votes in one county. so the smaller counties are in and santorum is tend to go win them, 29-48. 29 for romney and 48 for santorum. but the bigger counties where romney is coming in, they are coming in much slower. macomb county, he has a lead of 1,000 votes there. only 3% of the vote is in. he will probably come out of that county with a 30,000 vote lead. oakland county, 12% of the vote in. an 8,000 count lead. >> suburbs north of detroit. >> and near the center of the state near the state capital, 2% of the vote is in and romney has 1,000 vote lead in the county. looking at these bigger county that is are tend to go vote for romney are coming in slowly, and they have a lot more votes to come. as a result, they are going to come in with bigger numbers. >> this is a three p

the names against romney changed, anybody but romney. electorate different, more mormons in arizona. >> right. >> but in terms of his conservativism, it looks loo a lot like florida, see the same kind of pattern emerging and romney a double-digit lead like he ended up with in florida. >> we should also point out that on advertising, basically the only people advertising are folks on behalf of romney in arizona, a much more even split in michigan. also might explain the poll numbers. finally, let's talk about satisfaction with the field. i still think it's pretty striking that 41% of republicans in michigan and 48% of republicans in arizona are not satisfied with this field. that's not good this late in the process. >> no. no. this reflect the division that's been going on since day one on the republican side, as there's been this weak front-runner in mitt romney and somebody else every week sort of emerging as the challenger. and the republican reasons, the big names stayed on the sidelines, they weren't into this. and at one point or an

romney people. if you look at these exit polls tonight, what's really interesting, is he does not get -- mitt romney, huge win, accolades all around, he does not get the base of the base. he still doesn't get the people who consider themselves very conservative. he won with overall conservatives but not the most conservative. he didn't win with the people who strongly support the tea party movement. overall tea partiers, yes, but not the base of the base. i think that will continue to dog him. the gingrich campaign says, you know what, maybe these are enough people to win us some states. >> we have something that's going to happen tonight. up to 11:59, it's going to be really important to see who has staying power. that is the super pacs restore our future for mitt romney, winning our future for newt gingrich and report how much money they raised in the year and they haven't had a report since last summer. we have had six months these guys have been raising money. we don't know who's been giving the

: romney and romney saw what happened in south carolina and romney went to work. romney prepared for those debates. he went after newt gingrich in very aggressive way, in a way he knew he had to step up. >>> he took gingrich off his game. up to that point he had not gone negative. gingrich was singing kumbayah and it all caged. >> one thing, it was compressed schedule between new hampshire and south carolina. so the debates which were right at the bookend two of them, they had much greater impact on much smaller state. had you two debates in smaller period of time. >> i don't think it had the kind of potential to be a game changer in florida which is really five states when you think about it. >> sean: here is what happened, we keep hearing the romney campaign spent a lot in debate prep. they hired a debate coach. newt gingrich i think he did the interview to michael barone he said his prep for debate show up he has a great debate. >>. >> sean: i want somebody to clobber obama in the debate. >> at the end of the day. that would be great. but you want someone who c

mitt romney, mitt romney, mitt romney. i think this is the reason why he's having so much trouble getting anyone excited about him. he doesn't like this thing, this campaigning, this asking people to vote for him. he wants to be back in the board room to talk away he normally talks about having a couple cadillacs, liking being able to fire people who don't deliver for him or rib somebody for wearing a cheap rain coat when he sports something just right. this is a teaching moment, teaching all of us the way candidates look at things, the ray one paul doesn't believe in government. newt gingrich calls himself cheerful if he basks in world calamity. rick santorum sees religion over the state. romney sees everything from a comfortable seat. politics isn't for everyone. some learn to lead, some learn to be led. romney learns not how to lead the voter but get by him that made all the difference. why president obama, who led this country through difficult times and taken the heat for tough decisions, will

the people that voted for romney and higher education voted for romney. the rural people with a lot less money. but there's a passion deficit here. it's so apparent. and i wonder. am i right? are we watching a totally different race right now that we're going to see in november? the race now is who turns you on. the race in november is going to be how do we beat obama, if you're a republican. it doesn't matter who's running against him. how do we beat him? >> i think electability, absent passion, is a transaction. and i think that's what's occurring in the republican process right now. the voters are engaged in a transaction with mitt romney coming to accept him as the nominee, not necessarily being passionate about him. when you move into a general election, i don't think enthusiasm is going to drive the outcome. >> they've got enthusiasm. it's getting rid of obama. >> i think that republican voters will unify around the nominee on the question of getting rid of the president, denying him a second term. now, in a perfect world, you'd rather have passion

mitt romney might get one. but the big battlegrounds are ohio, tennessee, oklahoma, and the question mark of whether gingrich can come back for a fourth or fifth life, whatever the count is right now, by winning his home state of georgia. >> gloria, how damaging -- it seemed to me there were three damaging hits on rick santorum. he went for this great position. he had a bad debate. i felt he was very weak that night. secondly, that ridiculous statement that president kennedy made him puke. come on, that seems to be bad politics. >> i think he needs to grow up. >> we call him puke in britain. it's the same thing. it's the excretion of vomit or something. president jfk. come on. and the last thing that i thought reamly was completely wrong, badly timed, inappropriate, and damaging, was this thing about the president being a snob for wanting people to go to college. i couldn't fathom what political damage he could do in the state. >> he was going for the voters he actually got, which were the most conservative vot

romney, romney, romney! romney, romney, romney! >> our mission -- our mission is to increase the freedom and opportunity of the american people and our blueprint is the constitution of the united states. we're going to build an america where hope is a new job with a paycheck, not a faded word on an old bumper sticker. and i will not attempt to bribe the voters with promises of new programs and new subsidies ander increasing checks from government. if this election is a bidding war of who can promise the most benefits, then i'm not your president. you have that president today. but if you want to make this about restoring american greatness, then i hope you'll join with us. if you believe the disappointments of the last few years are a detour and not our destiny, then i'm asking for your vote. i'm asking each of you to remember how special it is to be an american. i want you to remember why it was that you or your ancestors who sacrificed to come to america and to overcome the challenges of life in a new coun

but romney has, too. what would you like to see romney do differently with how he's dealt with the santorum challenge? >> i think governor romney is trying to stay focused on the economy. that is the number one issue. if mr. romney wins michigan, which i believe he will. they'll say it was the intense focus on the economy that got them the delegate this is that he he required. it's a volatile electorate, as you no from following it and covering it. that's not going to change as we head into november. the american people are taking their time, making sure they do the best they can to make the right decision. and they'll do the same thing in november that they're doing now. >> thaddeus mccotter, thanks for coming on this morning. >> thanks, chuck. >> all right. is it an unlucky 13,000? wall street can't seem to get over that hump. the market rundown is next. plus, the international community is trying to mobilize to help syrian people. explosions continue to pound the city. we're giving you a second chance

romney is in second with 28%. again in second. and in the gallup poll, 32% for romney. santorum is right behind him at 30%. look at that. you have three things going on now, steve. santorum seems to be moving ahead in the polls. he's quickly getting the momentum here. so romney is not only falling behind, but he's beginning to fall behind significantly and he has to win february 28th in michigan or arizona. he best well win in michigan. if he loses there and continues to fall in the polls, he may be dead meat. how do you do to turn that around if you're him now? >> one of the things, chris, when you look inside those numbers, he's losing ground with conservatives. he's losing ground with evangelicals and he's losing ground with independent voters. if you're the romney campaign, you're looking at data that says you have to disqualify rick santorum, which i think is easier said than done as you look ahead to michigan. but they are in a tough spot. the three losses had a huge impact in this race. i think the race is more wide open at this moment than it is at any time sinc

>> yes. >> most likely mitt romney. >> mitt romney. >> amy? >> oh, boy, i predicted hillary clinton in 2008 so i'm not sure my prediction is worth much. p mitt romney. >> carol? >> i'm going to say do great next week and go on and be in the race to do it. he can't just -- >> you have to be in it to win it. panel thank you all very much, we will reconvene on super tuesday. it will be a fascinating evening. my guess,we'll end up none the wiser on super tuesday, but we shall see. >>> when we come back, did he lose his job? if i have any soreness, i'm not going to be able to do my job. but once i take advil, i'm able to finish out strong. it really works! [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] make the switch. take action. take advil. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to tal

but romney defended it. wrote a letter to the gao saying this is all entirely appropriate to promote peace was his words and he stepped up the acceleration of lobbying for federal funds, hired five lobbying firms, spent $3.5 million, and then boasted about how much more federal funds he was able to get for the olympics. >> let's be realistic. the taint was so bad. there was some talk that, you know, is it possible salt lake would have to give up the games where they were so embarrassed but it was more on an embarrassment scale and this is how -- this threat of having to lose the games it became sort of an american reputation protector. is that how they ended up -- >> absolutely. there is debate about whether the games were ever really in jeopardy and there are people saying no they weren't, you know. so i mean, it's hard to sort that out. what is clear is romney became the face of the games. in fact, so much so that there were official olympic pins bearing his image. >> let's talk about the pins. >> right. >

this time, rick santorum did call mitt romney. romney took the call. it has been described by santorum's eldest daughter as a cordial conservation but brief. it was literally seconds before santorum took the stage to make his remarks. he made it very clear that santorum is not backing down at all. super tuesday for him is an opportunity for him to rise again. mitt romney didn't mention any of his rivals tonight. there are only a few plays in the romney playbook. >> he has been incessantly disciplined disciplined in sticking with them. tonight was a victory, and he talked about barack obama, not his republican rivals. that's likely to continue, but where it is close and romney has to do well next week, don't expect any letup. mitt romney has made it very clear, he knows how to throw a punch and take a punch there. will be plenty between mitt romney and rick santorum in the days ahead. >> over at the touch screen tonight, bill, mitt romney did win a greater hair of the vote in michigan, interesting ruths in michigan and arizona. >> certainly is. to carl'

they never go to romney. they might stay home. two things about romney. people think he's flat and they don't think he's a fighter. when i interviewed voters in iowa and florida, they all said we need a fighter. electability is good. we don't think romney can fight. >> bill, you're a veteran of the '08 campaign. there's something about that primary electorate that is hungry for a win. wants a little more red meat. was an effective strategy of obama versus hillary? you portrayed senator clinton as somebody not ready to take on the fight. >> i think chairman steele makes a great point. this election is about the economy. even though there's all this energy the the media around the theology comments, santorum is mostly talking about the economy. republican primary votes when nair listening to romney and santorum, what they hear is a message a lot more compelling from santorum than romney. after months and months they're looking at his economic message and there's nothing there. >> is instruction right, then? it's the media focusing on all his conservative co

that is mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. if you don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. >> america, what the hell? >>> with 266 days left before the presidential election, everything but everything seems to be breaking president obama's way. the job market is looking better, the stock market is up. congressional republicans have surrendered to the president today on extending the payroll tax cut. and at the very same time, congressional republicans have decided to offer american women yet another reason to vote for president obama. all of that is happening. all of that. while the republican candidates continue to savage each other, leaving the president to concentrate on the job of governing the united states of america. first tonight, there is suddenly a new front-runner for the republican presidential nomination in the national polls and so like clockwork, the romney super pac did this tonight. >> how did rick santorum actually vote? santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times and for bil

barack obama wasn't matched up against mitt romney there and i think mitt romney you know many of the you know the way in which he has been very hostile i think to the hispanic community perceived hostility towards them you know he has no real immigration reform plan that has that will play a role in the general election the republicans being against the dream act opposing sotomayor you know there are a lot number of issues that are important to this man a community that when they're pitted when he's pitted against a living breathing human being you know those numbers will i think dissipate he may not do as well as he did in no way as long as they any republican is going to do to well. john you well as if we look back at two thousand and four george w. bush won forty four percent of hispanics now a lot of change since then but part of the problem for president obama it's not just enough to say well look at me compared to new look at me compared to romney. those people just might stay home and that's a key problem for him a few young people are disillusioned and they stay home and span

barack obama or mitt romney? >> suddenly i feel like i'm christina aguilera on the voice or something. >> hold your verdict. we have a break. really think about this. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious. ♪ i so in love with you ♪ america america ♪ god shed his grace on thee >>> there you have it. proof that america's got talent. well, at least parts of america have got talent. i'm back with frank brunei. it's unfair because obama has a better singing voice. >> if this selection on pitch, obama's got it on a landslide. >> what does it say about the men's character? if you're the president of the united states and you've got al green in an a

that is mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. if you don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. >> america, what the hell?

well, first romney says yeah. massachusetts is about 85% democrats so he couldn't get all he wanted but that is going to be a problem for him. appealing to republicans and tough for him in primaries because massachusetts clearly one of the liberal states in the country. and mitt romney's record there is that newt gingrich might say as a moderate. i think that will work better for him in general election. >> greta: speaker gingrich said people power will defeat money power, that might be optimistic. we've seen the power of money in politics. >> i think that with newt gingrich we need to come back in a week or two and see how things look then. tonight he's vowing to go on. he doesn't have a lot of chances to make much impact until super tuesday, march 6th nl. what is he going to do six weeks? is he going to compete in contests between now and then? not clear what he's going to do with his major financial backer continues to back him? right now he's saying he's going to go on. >> greta: i want to note the ambient noi

romney has been missing in action. he hasn't done a damn thing. >> as recently as last week, he was still lying about the possibility that he would actually run for president. >> maybe i should listen, what does that mean? >> a lot of people want me to run. i'm getting it all the time. you saw the poll that came out recently where it said i was the number one independent candidate. i am concerned if i run as an independent, that i'll take a lot of votes away from the republicans and obama will walk in. that does concern me a lot. >> that is now greta's submission segment for best actress in a primetime cable news show, keeping a straight face while donald was talking about running for president, last week, last week, is something no other woman in cable news could do. but there's a guy who could do it -- >> you said yesterday on your twitter account that ivanka, your daughter, would want you to run for president. >> she actually said on her account -- i have a daughter that loves me, a beautiful daughter and a wonderfu

romney got 52% four years ago. much more of our coverage of the maine caucuses and we're looking ahead to arizona and michigan, when we come back. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. we want to protect the house. right. but... home security systems can be really expensive. to save money, we actually just adopted a rescue panther. i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. >>> mitt romney the winner of the maine caucuses but narrowly, 39% to ron paul's 36%. john king is over there at the magic wall. john, your romney sources thought he would win and guess what? they were right, but it wasn't overwhelming by any means. >> not at all but "we needed today" was the three-word e-mail i got from one of the sources i was talking to earlier to

this was romney four years ago, this was romney four years ago. the romney campaign tonight would like to say we did not compete here. we didn't put money into the organization, not put money into turnout, into tv, because it doesn't matter, but it's a symbolic, moral boost for a guy arguing that the race would come his way. so senator santorum leads tonight. he's going to be able to make the argument that he is at least equal of speaker gingrich who is trying to fight to be the alt n alternative republican. >> a lot of people voted in the missouri primary than either of the caucuses in colorado or minnesota. so it may not be binding as far as delegates, but a lot of people in missouri are saying what they want to do. >> a point about the irony. this is how minnesota is filling in. we want to be careful, but santorum is leading right now. if you go back four years ago, when romney carried the state, what did he tell the people of minnesota four years ago? he campaigned as the conservative alternative to john mccain. now you have rick santorum sayi

under romney's plan, 25.9. to get that out of percents and in dollars, your taxes will be $160,000 lower than under obama. $160,000. tax cuts of that size cost a lot of money. trillions of dollars. romney is promised he won't pay for that by cutting defense. he promise the he won't raise taxes elsewhere. to make the numbers work to make the taxes and spending balance out he will have to cut almost twice as deep in spending as paul ryan's budget does. he will have to cut every single domestic program including social security, medicare and medicaid all of them by 36%. 36%. you know who relies on domestic programs like those? seniors and the poor. think all the seniors voting republican want a 36% cut to social security and medicare in order to pay for romney's tax cuts for the wealthy? i sort of doubt it. the budget doesn't show us where the two parties disagree, shows us where they do agree. taxes are lower under both obama and romney than if we let the bush tax cuts expire and turned to clinton era rates. taxe

romney, be careful what you wish for. >> mitt romney is a small business guy if you think about it. he was a hedge fund. he walked away with some good money for a company that he didn't create. he didn't create. >> he did create companies? >> he buy company, close companies, get rid of jobs. >> let's kick off with our triple panel this thursday afternoon. david corn, washington bureau chief of mother jones magazine. joining us is krystal ball along with dr. james peterson. thank you, sir. david, i have to go to you. yesterday we were being briefed by sources close to trump that he was going to endorse newt. i guess many of us felt that made sense particularly because they could spend some time comparing third wives. now it appears that romney has stolen the endorsement. what happened? >> these guys just don't have any fidelity, do they? you never know who they will end up in bed with. i'm sorry. i'm sorry. i just couldn't resist. the interesting thing to me is not why trump is doing this. trump is doing this because we're giving him the attention. what's happening with mitt romney,

should romney win the nomination. a number of possible candidates to be vice president you aren't being coy about it, you say it would be interesting. >> what i said was i think anybody who got a call from their nominee and said, hey, you can help the country you can help our siticket would you joi us? of course he would consider that. i have the best job in the world being governor of virginia. i will let everybody else talk about that and we will see what happens. >> let me just ask you brief. i know you are not auditioning for the job, but make the case. why would bob mcdonald be a plus for a republican national ticket? >> i am not interviewing, i am not waiting for that phone to ring. i want to help mitt romney because i believe our country is in trouble and we have crushing debt deficit and no plans for jobs and energy. that's why i am behind mitt romney. people say it's a swing state we balance budget without raising taxes lowest unemployment rate in the southeast. we are pleased with things we have been able to

and he in effect reminded people of that romney gem, the romney strategy for the housing market. the romney idea, to let the housing market simply hit bottom. >> it is wrong for anybody toing suggest that the only option for struggling responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom. i refuse to accept that, and so do the american people. >> in ft. worth texas, last night, joe biden raised two points in president obama's favor in his re-election, that will be impossible for mitt romney to counter, especially since mitt romney opposed the action president obama took to save general motors. the vice president quoted a line he had heard elsewhere. osama bin ladin is dead and general motors is alive. joining me now is former vermont governor howard dean and howard fineman. thank you both, howards, for joining me tonight. governor dean, very to say, i don't think every one of the 279 campaign days left is going to be fun for the obama campaign. but i don't see what they couldn't -- what they didn't take pleasure in today in the republican campaign. every

whereas romney does not. i think -- >> even though of course he's a native son of the great state of michigan and his father was the governor of the state of michigan and there are deep local romney roots that should help him. >> the margin over mccain for romney in 2008 was about five points. the other thing that michigan forgets is western michigan has a pretty sizeable evangelical community. you marry the blue collar santorum voters with the evangelicals, that could be trouble for mitt romney. >> i didn't want to imply that every person in jackman is a meth head. >> thank you for correcting that. >> i want to say is that the republican race is kind of an anti-power ranger. every person in the race exposes the other person's weaknesses. it's in a way, you know, we've seen that romney doesn't do well in the south because gingrich did well there. he can't do well with blue collar voters, he can't do well with tea partiyers and radicals, ron paul is doing well with them. >> it's less than the sum of its parts

he focused on mitt romney. in fact, a republican friend of mine emailed he and he was like, instead of contract with america, it's contract against mitt romney. he was charming to the elite media that he hates. he was sucking up to them. >> john avolon is at romney headquarters. do you think this is mitt romney's worst nightmare? >> look, the more newt gingrich goes on, that does create a problem. there's still that majority of the republican party that wants someone other than mitt romney to be their nominee. one of the things newt gingrich does very well is give loud voice to their frustrations. there's another trend as well. turnout is down in every state except south carolina. that does speak to an enthusiasm gap. that's a real problem for republicans, as well. >> i'm going to come over here. it's interesting to see that in some ways it feels like mitt romney wasn't able to close the deal and now he's reaping that, as well. because he couldn't close the deal, he's got santorum, who gave a pretty good speech

. >> mitt romney. >> mitt romney. >> romney. romney. >> i'm leaning toward that ron paul guy you are so wise. >> bill: jesse watters goes to a conference in washington, d.c. >> you can name one good thing president obama has done? >> bill: watters world on the segment tonight. >> i think we should send him out to take a piece out of president obama. >> bill: dennis miller has advice for governor romney as he needs it as he continues to sink in the polls. >> don't blink or you are going to miss my part. >> bill: caution, you are about to enter the no spin zone. the factor begins right now. captions by closed captioning services >> bill: i'm bill o'reilly. thanks for watching us tonight. another amazing example of government intrusion into other lives. that is the subject of this evening's talking points memo. in north carolina 85 miles south of raleigh 4-year-old recently brought her lunch to school. the meal consisting of a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, apple juice and chips. that's the kind of lunch i eat. a school offi

having said that, i guarantee you we will see some serious attacks from the romney campaign and the romney super pac, targeting rick santorum. i think that their they're going to try to make him look like a consummate d.c. insider, much the way they tried with newt gingrich. they will try to wear away the idea that he is in principled conservative who can take on barack obama, he being rick santorum. i think they will try to make him look like the inventer of earmarks. they are going on hang that around his neck and try to make him look like he himself is an earmark. [laughter] >> i remember when santorum was here a couple of months ago, he defended, to us, his role in earmarking. he said, i was a prodigious earmarker and i am not ashamed of it. he owns the earmarking argument and makes what i think is a reasonable case -- i don't like earmarks, but he goes on to make a reasonable case diswlaiz what matters more is entitlement reform in the big questions. but the earmark comments can be taken. they are not popular with the conservative base. he has already said he is not a fan of the liber

romney, little bit of an android there. >> there is no hangover to voting for romney, though. you don't wake up and think i voted for romney, i feel guilty. there is nothing -- >> wouldn't that be like a bad date or a nondate? wasn't quite a date. >> i think you're right. with rick santorum, there is high positives and high negatives. for mitt romney, there is not much of anything. >> i get back to the basic feeling. i think a lot of people go back to church on sunday, next week, i voted for santorum, i feel okay, i feel okay about myself. >> i think he's right. i think that is good and bad because you have the negative. but i think the positive you don't have on romney there is nothing energizing around a romney vote. there is nobody -- >> you feel like you just voted. you did your civil duty and i just chose this guy. not that i'm going out there to make a statement. and you don't wake up the next morning thinking you did anything right or wrong. you may not remember you did because that's how romney is. >> president obama had that going for him big time last time around. ho

in romney's home state. today, romney accused santorum of trying kidnap the primary process. >> i understand that santorum said that senator -- i understand it was said that santorum is a big labor republican, he has proved that by taking one for their team and trying get them to vote against me so that they can have someone who think is easier to beat in the fall. >> hogan is joining us. great to see you, your response to the accusation that it's a dirty trick? >> that is just simply ridiculous. i think, andrea, we all know that one of the things that santorum has been open and honest about even in the early debates, he said look, the republicans can beat barack but we have to have two things happen, an energized conservative base and we have to pull reagan democrats. and the bottom line is that mitt romney does not excite the conservative base as evidenced by his poor performance so far. and he is not going after any of the reagan democrats and rick santorum has been strong in showing that we have to show

bill, romney's win was certainly expected. combined with a big win earlier in the week in florida and what looks like a string of strong states for him in february, how commanding is his position right now? >> it is pretty commanding. but i think the key question is what you just said. the string of the apparently strong states coming ahead. i think tuesday night is important. you asked rick santorum is this make or break for you. he said it is a long campaign plenty of time. but tuesday night for santorum will be an important moment to try to surpass gingrich and take on romney especially in missouri. romney if he could win all three on tuesday night then suddenly five in a row and that would be impressive strength. >> chris: in fairness, liz marlantes, in 2008 barack obama won a string of victories in caucuses in february and it didn't stop hillary clinton and she was able to come back strong in march. even if you do well in one month it doesn't exclude the others from staying in and prospering. >> if they can survive financ

>> yes. >> most likely mitt romney. >> mitt romney. >> amy? >> oh, boy, i predicted hillary clinton in 2008 so i'm not sure my prediction is worth much. carol? >> i'm going to say do great next week and go on and be in the race to do it. >> panel, thank you very much. we will reconvene on super tuesday. it's going to be a fascinated evening. my guess is we'll end up none the wiser on super tuesday but we shall see. >>> when we come back, did he lose his job? my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it without missing a beat. fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. [♪...] >> announcer: with nothing but his computer, an identity thief is able to use your information to open a bank account in order to make your money his money. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock, the only identity theft protection company that now monitors bank accou

the state where romney was born and raised. >> it's laughable that governor romney suggests that i am not a conservative. >> romney is waging a fierce battle, in two states that should have been shoes in. >> senator santorum hasn't been as carefully viewed by the american public as have the others. >> the two leaders struggling to erase voters' doubts, fighting each other and underdogs who are ready to pounce. >> those others who are at the top now doesn't mean they're going to stay there. >> this is the wildest, strange est primary process. >> will there be a split decision or will one candidate take it all? >> who's authentic? who's believable? >> my team is the people of michigan and of america and i'm going to fight for you. >> the momentum keeps shifting. controversies keep coming. and tonight kicks off a blockbuster round of contest that is could change everything. >>> welcome to the cnn election center this special edition of "john king usa." a watershed night in the presidential campaign. voting under way right now in michigan and arizona. 59 delegates are at stake in two stat

why not do that with mitt romney? the media would love that to say -- just to follow mitt romney around and say why wouldn't you debate me? so i think he has to get create creative, but has to be disciplined. >> it's a tough road. as you said, the next debate not until february 22nd in arizona, about 2 1/2 weeks away. >> and willie, one more thing, by the way, how telling is it about this presidential election that when jon huntsman endorsed mitt romney, mitt romney did not go to that endorsement face-to-face, but when donald trump endorses him, mitt romney gets on a plane to go to nevada and make sure to -- that is, i think, about as much as you need to know about this primary season. >> little tone deaf. >> and every network cut to it immediately. >> i mean, we're part of it. we're absolutely right. just lapped up, lathered in it. >> enablers. >> what's the cat's name one more time? >> the cat's name. there's three of them, willie. duluth, shorty, and buzz. >> you have three now? >> i hope the four of you have a won

we got mitt romney on the show today! >> sounds like -->> we got al capone's niece. >> we've never had both of those on the same show before. >> i don't recall. it's a birthday one little girl will never, ever forget. >> dad! how did you make it? >> more on this heartwarming father and daughter reunion straight ahead. >> the head of the national intelligence says iran is ready to attack on our soil? that's new. details of that coming up next. [♪...] >> announcer: bank robbery certainly is a frightening crime. after all, bank robbers stole $43 million in one year. but identity thieves? try 37 billion! and guess how identity thieves are getting some of that money. by taking over our bank accounts. they may not even need your social security number anymore. all an identity thief may need are a couple of simple pieces of information, like your mother's maiden name or the city you were born in, and they could add their name onto your bank accounts in order to make your money their money. you need help. [whoosh, clang] you ne

>> mitt romney. there's no question he made a fortune from businesses he helped destroy. >> bankrupt, bankrupt. >> romney pocketed huge fees shortly before companies collapse. >> bankrupt, bankrupt. >> even when the businesses failed, romney came out ahead. are those the values we want in an american president? >> bankrupt, bankrupt. >> well, steve, you have really done the country a service here working for president obama. i want to ask you a little secret. maybe you can't tell me. what gave you the -- you remember after world war ii, you don't remember but you know from history how all that you had to do was reopen the trading zones in europe. that's what the marshall plan was about. get those countries that had gone through world war ii, get them trading again. re-create what's already there. the strong financial structure. and economic trading structure of europe. get it back on its feet. how did you know there were still fundamentals there in the american auto industry that could compete? >> we