a big win for romney. what now. joining us supporters from the romney and newt gingrich campaigns. all that right here on "andrea mitchell reports." perience dual, with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. building whiter, stronger teeth. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. what do you get when you combine the home depot with this weekend? the cure for cabin fever. because with... get-it-done savings on everything we need... ...we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... ...or an updated bathroom... ...or a brand new look. so let's hit those orange aisles - and make today the day - we make a big difference - no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get more project for your money - like this valencia vanity, now just 199 bucks. mitchell reports," a big victory for mitt romney. but fresh from that victory lap, the front-runner showed an empathy deficit. >> i'm in this r

i think who likes mitt romney? who thinks mitt romney. that's my guy. >> well you are talking about an enthusiasm gap. there's an enthuse am gap that i'm sure you haven't seen play out in the primaries. will he be able to mobile nice enthusiasm? >> you will see two of his sons were pretty enthusiastic. >> and like three hedge fund managers on wall street. so we have so much more to talk about here. what is going to happen in february as this thing unfolds. we'll hear the winner's speech. we'll get to rick santorum the loser's speech. a lot of telling moments right now, come right back. >> in the state of the union address the president said these words. let's remember how we got here. don't worry, mr. president, we know exactly how we got here, you won the election. a great tasting mint core, frosted in powerful cooling crystals. ice breakers frost. feel the frost. [[vo]]...we're the idea nobody wants to hear. ...until the truth reveals itself. boat-rockers. and above all... and there's only one place you'll find us. weeknights on current

crucial one for mitt romney. they are both going to speak before this important conservative crowded cpac. the pressure has been showing on romney, who not so long ago had newt gingrich in his sights and switched his target to santorum. >> some of the things in his record are troubling. the fact he voted five times to raise the debt ceiling without compensating reductions in federal spending. that's a problem. the fact that while he was in washington government spending went up 80%. he's a fan of earmarks. >> the c-pac audience doesn't love him. this is rick santorum's real house. he needs to wow. he's rising because he had to go nuclear against gingrich. something santorum said this morning he won't do. >> i'm going to talk about the issues. i'm going to talk about my record and my vision for the country. i'm going to talk about governor romney's record and barack obama's record and his vision for the country. >> i'm going to bring back robert and michael joining the conversation. yesterday, it's reported mitt r

romney. you are seeing the populist wing and the vanguard conservative wing of the party, whether it is rush limbaugh or sale apparent -- sarah palin or herman cain at rallying around him. tavis: why would anybody believe that mitt romney could actually beat barack obama. and i'm not suggesting that he cannot, but i'm asking why anybody believes that he can given that he has had difficulty rallying his face behind him? >> in some ways, the most important thing happening for republicans in the past few weeks is seen the limitations for mitt romney as a candidate. he has struggled to answer the questions about his background, his personal wealth, his ability to relate to average americans, which are somewhat muted in a republican primary much more so than in a general election. on the other hand, there is one solid bandage to romney as a general election candidate, which is a lot of the upper middle class, socially moderate, slightly right of center and voters who have been so important since 1

>> so donald trump solidified the billionaire vote for romney. >> look, romney's problem is that he is late to his ideology. if you are conservative, you don't want to play on the grounds of liberals, which is class distinctions and, if you like, pitting one class against another. the conservative idea of economics, the moral defense of the free-market, is that it helps everybody. if you have economic expansion, it will increase creation of jobs and allow people to rise. conservatives are the ones who argue that if you take away the fetters, it will help everybody, including tehhe poor. he accepted the premise of liberals that what you do with the poor is stick them in a safety net and leave them there. he is not fluent yet in the ideology of conservatism. >> mark mckinnon, a former bush and mccain adviser, says that romney is reinforcing the image of the republican party, out of touch, and that is why he is having problems with independent voters. how does he get past that? >> he is maladroit, but there is an inner toughness to him. his family history has been constant persecution. hi

but if you don't discrimination mitt romney . i think that romney is so focused on i am a ceo turn around the economy environment that he hasn't painted a broader picture of the choices. >> i think santorum did a good job on that. >> chris: let me bring you into one of the things i admired about obama was ability to hut a big speech and the speech on race over the controversy about reverend wright. does mitt romney need it make a speech addressing the wealth and gaffes and his can daysy. >> one . problems and issues that bill just cited. he is badly positioned on. obama care is a potent issue for republicans and a motivating factor for tea party supporters and romney is the worst candidate to be out front. the case that santorum is making is strong and ironically even though romney came in first in nevada and florida and had these little gaffes. santorum had sort of a good week . we'll see what happens for him in missouri and colorado. we have seen the issues that the economy has gotten better and a candidate like santorum is str

this is where romney is from. 47% for romney. but look all the way west here. grand rapids kent county that's only 2% reporting, but it looks like it's going to santorum. look to ottawa county. this is the most conservative county in the state of michigan 53% for santorum. if you look way up north, up here this is a fairly conservative area 75% of the precincts reporting, you can see it's a small number of people 41%. same thing here, marquette 53%. kind of interesting to me here that these northern counties are going for romney. so we'll see how this comes in but as i said we only have 10% of the precincts reporting. now let us go straight to novi michigan for the latest from romney headquarters. david shuster are you with us? >> we are with you. sense of nervousness to be frank at the romney watch party tonight. they are very nervous about the way the media is handling this. every media reporting this is mitt romney's home state, a state he state he won by 10 points in 2008. rick santorum will somehow try to do dirty tricks by encouraging democrats to cross o

voters, gingrich beat romney by 11 points. and another weakness to talk about, many republican primary voters question romney's conservative credentials, while about 6 in 10 voters are satisfied with the republican field so far, 38% said they'd still like someone else to run the nomination. chris, that includes 38% of romney's own voters. here's another reason newt gingrich is forging ahead, mitt romney has only won 10% of the delegates needed to seal the deal. if he won every delegate moving forward, chris, he would not clinch until late april. >> 60% -- even if he wins 60% of the delegates it won't be until june. so that is what newt gingrich is hanging his hat on, right? >> yes, he should stay in. the idea this is bad for the republican party or newt should somehow step out, why should he step out? he's performed well in basically three of the four, he has money, he raised $5 million himself. he's got this rich guy, rich casino magnet pushing tons of money into a super pac to help his campaign. you have the very conservativ

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

going in romney had 87. tonight depending how the results shaped up proportionally it will be less than 10 percent the delegates decided. >> less than 20 percent by the end of this month. it is a longer battle. the expectations momentum contest has begun. we people have gone through the contest voters are making up their minds. romney one late breakers they decided he is a winner. he looks like a winner to that. this goes through february when the contest comes in the weeks to come. he makes up his mind in the last minute. other important findings were that true conservatives only 5 percent of them thought that he was a true conservative. true conservatives group with him. he is 21 percent gingrich 24. that says a lot about what they are looking for in a candidate. >> they are getting ready for governor romney to speak at some point this hour. we will bring it to you live. nevada, it is a state that seems to line up not only for ron paul there is a big libertarian streak there the tea party was active in 201

people in north florida that you mentioned everywhere else romney did well, ideologically, romney did well among almost a third of the voters who are self described moderates or liberals, he beat gingrich by 39 points among that group and while romney beat gingrich very narrowly among conservatives, and as i said, gingrich did very well among strong conservatives when you look at voters who said they were somewhat conservative, a little bit more than a third of the sample, 19-point victory for mitt romney, so romney is making some inroads among conservatives, not the most conservative voters, but people who said they were somewhat conservative, and on religion is a variable, 60 percent of florida voters here said they were not white born again christians or evangelicals and mitt romney won them by 26 points. gingrich won those who were evangelicals but just by three points, a narrow win and in terms of electability, the question was asked who is most likely to defeat barack obama, mitt romney won that by 26 points. and i think it is really interesting that when you look at i'd lodge,

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 sort of my or you know there are a lot of 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 if the young people are disillusioned and they stay home

does he really have a chance to knock off romney? tom tan credo and former presidential candidate recently endorsed rick santorum for president. mr. tan cred dough, thanks for joining us tonight. recently endorsed rick santorum for president. thanks for joining us tonight. i have to wonder why you're jumps in the race. give me the case. we talk politics on this show. how does he win? >> yeah. the primary or the general? >> how does he win the primaries? >> he's going to win the primary because he now has the momentum behind him. this is the right time to have it. others have had it in the past. i think it's now occurring. i think he's going to win tonight in minnesota and he's going to win in missouri. he'll come out in colorado at least second. if that happens here, where romney had 60% the last time, it will be a win for santorum. the wind is at his back now. there is every reason to believe that it will only get better as time goes on. certainly, there's going to be a lot. the race is not over. look. you need 1,140-some delegates.

going in romney had 87. tonight depending how the results shaped up proportionally it will be less than 10 percent the delegates decided. >> less than 20 percent by the end of this month. it is a longer battle. the expectations momentum contest has begun. we people have gone through the contest voters are making up their minds. romney one late breakers they decided he is a winner. he looks like a winner to that. this goes through february when the contest comes in the weeks to come. he makes up his mind in the last minute. other important findings were that true conservatives only 5 percent of them thought that he was a true conservative. true conservatives group with him. he is 21 percent gingrich 24. that says a lot about what they are looking for in a candidate. >> they are getting ready for governor romney to speak at some point this hour. we will bring it to you live. nevada, it is a state that seems to line up not only for ron paul there is a big libertarian streak there the tea party was active in 201

and the chance of candidate republican candidate mitt romney. from the white house state. lonely and welcome across a computable cause the us presidential campaign become a horse race pitting incumbent barack obama against republican mitt romney if this is really the case what are romney's chances in november obama may not be a president of substance but few doubt his ability to campaign and maybe even wind . to cross out the u.s. presidential race i'm joined by john mchenry in washington he's a partner and vice president of ayres mchenry and associates also in washington we have doug there now is a senior vice president at s k d knickerbocker and in dallas we cross the katrina pierson she is the executive director at watch the vote dot org and a board member at the dallas tea party or at crosstalk rules in effect folks that means you can jump in anytime you want between if i go to you first i mean after florida we have mitt romney again for the fourth time seen as the frontrunner for the republican nomination is going to stay that way. i don't think it's going to stay tha

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

maybe because quail and mitt romney are republicans and romney gets the quail rule and not obama. >> jon: what about the fairness they used. >> i think it's unfair the conservatives immediately beat up on him. for saying he intended to repair the safety net. i thought the statement was, forgive me fair and balanced and managed to allow conservative pundits and the liberals. it was kind of an astonishing display. >> some pundits thought it was out of touch. were they wrote? >> no, they weren't out of touch. what he should have said, look, the war on poverty has been going on 40-some years and just as many poor people as when we started maybe we ought to try something else. there's a template here. the media believes that big government is good and can fix everything, and giving people who are poor checks, and if they can portray republicans as something on the opposite. they're going to do it. >> and the media, it's the immediate kra this, the media that and a poor little victim of the media. >> we'll talk about what he said. if we back up the tape a few notches, he said i believe in

now mitt romney is the candidate against president obama, that's a $60 million gift to mitt romney. now, do you see why he goes to all their events? because they keep giving him millions of dollars through his pack through fighting president obama, whatever. whenever they ask him to come, like a little dog, daddy, daddy, wait for me, i can't wait. he's a businessman. they're not going to put in money and not get anything back. mitt romney just announced he has a new tax plan lowering taxes even more than he suggested before. corporate taxes would go from 35 to 25. if that happens and they're making $100 billion in revenue well and let's just size they only made 10% profit which is really conservative. that is $10 billion. let's say because the taxes go from 35 to 25, they save a billion dollars in soap rhett taxes. that doesn't even count their own in come tax return which mitt romney would drop the top rate from 35 to 28. there they would save more untold millions of dollars. even if all that is big, mitt romney said he is going to eliminate the estate tax. how would that affect th

governor romney has about 89. something like that. it's a long way from the finish line. >> is he willing to knock the guy's block off? i have a feeling that your new flavor of the month, rick santorum, is running for vp. and therefore, he really isn't running against mitt romney in any serious way, the way that newt is. he's willing to throw the frying pan at him. but your guy says i have to be nice enough they will consider me for vp. >> i don't think so. i don't think that's it. i think what he's doing is trying his best to avoid the kind of campaign that was waged up to this point in time by the exspeaker. and certainly, by romney. that has not helped anybody. it's not going to help going into the general election no matter who is the nominee, except for santorum, who has stayed above that fray. that has given him a lot of get up and go. he hasn't been a part of that ugly aspect of the primary. >> romney did a lot of ugly himself. it was done by those super pacs that did the dirty work for him. you know what the word cute means. h

it's politics. >> governor romney's wife, ann romney, earlier tonight. with candy crowley who has been covering the romney campaign for us all night long, joins us from the empty romney headquarters at this hour. the campaign already, has governor romney already left for nevada. we're told gingrich is leaving tonight? >> no, he's actually going to minnesota. and you know, as you know, these come quickly. there are also three states that are up next tuesday. so he's up in minnesota, he'll hook up there with tim pawlenty who dropped out of inrace and has endorsed romney. you will see him in nevada and colorado, which is also next tuesday. >> it was interesting to hear ann romney talk about her husband as a turn around guy. is that a theme they're going to try to hit. the notion he's har turned around companies, he can turn around the country? >> that was always their theme. the romney campaign went into this venture saying this is the percht time for business credentials. we have seen the type of credentials he has been questioned as vulture c capitalism,

i'm with governor romney. one of the things people know about me is that when i make up my mind it pretty much stays made. is there a possibility if governor romney were to lose michigan for a contested election, a contested convention? sure. that's a possibility. i don't think it's a likelihood. i think he's going to win michigan. after that i think he'll continue to establish momentum but this is going to go up and down, bob. we've seen this race. herman cain was a frontrunner. michele bachmann was a frontrunner. they're out of the race now. rick perry was a frontrunner. i think we have to be patient as republicans and take a deep breath and let this process work its way out. but i think governor romney will be the nominee at the end. >> schieffer: let me make sure i heard what you said. you said, sure, there is a possibility that if the governor romney loses michigan, we might go all the way to the convention. and have a contested convention. were you saying in there, if that should happen, you might rethin

romney is trying to hide from his big government romney care and his support for job-killing cap and trade. it's going to backfire. >> that is the nature of politics that you accuse the other guys of what you have done yourself. my campaign hasn't run negative ads against rick santorum. >> give him points for creativity. >> john: let's talk about michigan. an important state for him. wrote he was born. rick santorum is outpolling in the latest survey. what is your take on what might happen? can santorum beat him? >> yeah, he could. he is making the argument with christian conservatives there. if i am romney i'd do something unconventional here going to the final weeks before michigan. i'm embrace my opposition to the bail-out. we should have opposed a bail-out. it's smart and here is why. i'm a businessman and turn-around artist. this created moral hazards where there weren't some before. it would allow romney from embracing what republicans should embrace broadly, one he is not conservative enough. it would be conservative argument. he is too calculating because this would be a big

romney campaign wants to shrink everybody else as opposed to growing romney. i believe positive campaigning work n south carolina we had a huge increase in voter turnout. >> but doesn't negative campaigning work? doesn't negative campaigning work. >> the only place romney is winning the turnout went down. i think, for example, the $2.50-gallon gasoline, an american energy policy, drill here, drill now, pay less, i think that will bring people out to vote. it's not going to discourage them. and i helped design the 1994 campaign where a positive contract with america led to the largest one-party increase in the american history. 9 million additional votes came out over 1990. that's the coined of campaign i like, you offer positive solutions, people get enthusiastic and they are excite today turn out and vote. >> this is the last debate before super tuesday. obviously i assume you want more debates. are you concerned it may be the last debate. >> we are going to find ways to communicate with the american people. i like debates. it gives us a chance to community w

a lot of what romney is true. that happened in the final years of his term as he got closer to the vote. >> paul: they would say that is cynical. that is politics as usual, that is not what i want. >> 2006 his election year which is the worst from a free market perspective, he has 20% rating from the afl/cio. he is voting against big labor 80% of the time. this is not the union as man in washington. what he has said he is not hostile to private sector unions. he has made the case that the help workers. >> paul: kim, get in here? >> i disagree. union issue is a big issue with boeing and he has been on the wrong side of this. regardless of whether election politics, as the cynical view. the problem he faces that one a lot of voters, is he organizations like that simply to get re-elected and that the kind of guy we want. >> paul: i'm going to a santorum ad that is running against romney. >> mitt romney's negative attack machine is back on full throttle. he is firing at rick santorum, romney and super pac spent $20 mi

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

romney has received over two hundred forty one contributions. actual campaign of over twenty five hundred dollars obama's only got twenty it sure looks to me like oh and and on top of that romney had this to say this week about poor people. in this race because i care about americans i'm not concerned about the very poor we have a safety net there it needs repair i'll fix it. yeah so you know and that's a little out of context because you said it and said i will fix the safety net if it's more complex there that most people would ignore that and i mean deserves free but given his work track record with well and with and and his idea of fixing the safety net is paul ryan's thing of let's let's privatized medicare says it as we know in turn turn into a voucher program but here's the question i mean obviously poor people are don't need to his campaign too but here's the question isn't the whole romney campaign just a facade for wall street isn't the. the. gingrich campaign just a facade for sholay i mean has the supreme court turned this into dueli

a new gallup poll shows romney and santorum are in a statistical dead heat romney has 32%, santorum has 30. joining me is former clinton advisor, dick morris. what you what do you think that is happening? it seems that sarah palin when she was speaking this weekend was asked the question about governor romney. she some not certain he is a conservative. >> i heard a great jock. liberal and moderate and conservative walks into bar and they bartender says hi, mitt. >> sean: are you done? >> but i do believe that the vote that has always been by second between santorum and gingrich is now tipped to santorum. what i find significant on the cpac results was not that the romney won. i think that is okay. that santorum had twice gingrich's vote. so at some point newt gingrich has to get it that his staying in the race is actually helping romney. >> sean: you think there is any chance -- we've seen so much flip-flopping and back and forth in this race. one debate, one event can change it again? >> it could. it certainly could. there is one on march 22nd right before the michigan primary. i think

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