, ohio, ohio. [laughter] >> jon: so you're saying ohio. with a 12-foot digital clock behind you and repeating the word ohio. now watch closely as this enormous balloon that has been inflated before our very eyes turns out to be a whoopi cushion. >> ohio, ohio, ohio, the key battleground state. >> and as expected, we cannot make a projection in ohio right now. [laughter] [cheering and applause] >> jon: are you not... are you not under-tained? there goes my whole night. sorry, kids, daddy can't read you a bed time story. he has to watch john kick [bleeped] ohio on a screen to find how differently catholics voted in adams county this time versus '08. and get your thing off cuyahoga. you're welcome. blitzer's enthusiasm is so pure, it must be real. it's like they keep even him in the dark about what's really going on so his on-screen emotions seem like they're actually happening. it's kind of like what they did with the dog in "bolt." but believe me, at a certain point, other personalities on cnn... >>

the state of ohio here. the stakes there cannot be understated i want to tablet viewers that mitt romney's political director called ohio a gif fight in a phone booth and said in the romney camp, it is a must win for santorum, suggesting it will be very hard for rick santorum to get money and momentum, to continue on for much longer if he doesn't win ohio. look at the number there is. it is way too close to call. that's too close to call -- way too close to call, according to the decision desk. those are my words, but that's essentially what they were telling me. bill has been tracking the billboard. bill, why can't we come close? >> it's a browns/bengals game. this is like waaaay. 81% reporting, santorum with a 1.-point lead, 38-37%. you can look at the state based on the country of ohio, the countryside of ohio and the city and the big-city votes here. this is franklin county, capitol city, columbus located here. have you a little more than half the vote in. this is where mitt romney really wanted to run u

but ted strickland former governor of ohio is going to join us to talk ohio. plus will it end where it all began? newt makes his last stand in georgia. the latest f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f [[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 tv. pure friendship. pure delicious chocolate. pure hershey's. maybe you can change too? you're a dreamer annie. the streets are all i know. i'll never get out of here. streets! [ female announcer ] new starburst flavor morph. changes flavors as you chew. protect medicare and rebuild the middle class. >> steve israel runs the dccc, appreciate. >> thank you. >>> we are back in the war room with political strategist susan kennedy, a senior advisor and chris lehane. thank you for coming back in. let's talk rush limbaugh. have we made too much of it? >> yes. >> well, it depends. if you want to try to use it as a weapon, you haven't but i think it's pretty irrelevant

let's start with ohio. all eyes have been on ohio tonigh tonight. nbc news is declaring the race in ohio too close to call in ohio. the polling heading into ohio couldn't have been closer and so far, too close to call in that state. in north dakota, we will no have the a characterization until later in the night. the caucuses there. in vermont, too early to call but we can report that mitt romney has a lead in vermont. right now, too early to call in ohio, chris. >> ohio is the big enchilada tonight, all going to learn a lot. i think the headline will be tomorrow morning in the paper who won ohio? because it is, no matter what anybody says, the end of the rick santorum campaign. he has no more rationale if he loses in ohio, right next to pittsburgh, where he is from, it is the classic blue collar statement i was looking at the results from the polling tonight. people are scared about the economic future there. blue collar people worried about their own lives, worried, concerned about the federal government and its misdirection as they see t these ar

in ohio? >> i think we're seeing in ohio a vivid way and s.what we've seen in earlier states. there is the greatest strength from the afluent suburbs and neighborhoods of central cities for people with high education levels and relatively high incomes, is not something the romney campaign wanted to brag about about what appears to be happening is when those urban counties come in, that vote put mitt romney over the top. looks like he's probably going stay there to get a victory narrower than one in michigan. i think that for the general election, as well there is a lot of talk about republicans and rick santorum doing better despite working class voters, if you take a look, republican john mccain did well. and carried by a wide margin. republicans have been losing ground since mid 90s in the afluent suburbs moving towards democrats and have been attracted by their stands on cultural issues like abortion. and we've come to take it for granted that some of the areas like mitt romney's native cou

half as many in ohio. there are two correctional districts in idaho yet romney gets all 32 because he got more than 50% of the vote. virginia neither gingrich nor santorum on the ballot took 43 of 46. you start piling them up, you're going end an evening above this and there is close to that. >> you've been doing this as an olympic competition. >> you know, there is five if he took off ohio. and there is oklahoma and tennessee and georgia. santorum won three. and there is taking a look in massachusetts right now. and might be going into second in ohio. and this is why he really needs to win ohio. there is because of the delegates he needs something to knock romney off the gain z now if he does come in second he's got to go in to alabama, mississippi and illinois. and sort of run on the scene here. >> it's about become an old story. we're seeing the flaws and weaknesses in terms of the reach to the party that we've seen. romney can't capture the most conservative base of the party. and santorum can't reach

but let's go to ohio first. in ohio right now, 93% of the vote is now in. mitt romney slightly ahead of rick santorum. but it's going to be difficult for rick santorum to catch up by all accounts. 38% for romney. 37% for santorum. it's a significant lead right now. we'll see what's going on. let's take a look and see what happened in oklahoma. earlier in the night 99% of the vote is in. rick santorum wins in oklahoma with 34%. romney coming in second, 28%. gingrich, third. ron paul with only 10%. tennessee, another important win for rick santorum tonight. 37% going for santorum, 28% for romney. 24% for gingrich. only 9% for ron paul. let's take a look at alaska though. within the past few seconds the caucuses were winding down in alaska. there's no votes officially counted yet in alaska. we're going to be updating you right now -- we'll be uprighting you on what's going on in alaska. 24 delegates at stake in alaska. you get a sense of what's happening, the winners and the losers. look at this. ten states, romney so far has won four. in virginia, vermont, ma

ohio can make the difference. this is a game of survival. >> i have to win georgia, i think, to be credible in the race. >> i need your help. georgia could be a huge, huge state on election day. >> boy, i'll tell you, georgia turns out for free pancakes, oh, my goodness. >> i believed in you. i placed my bet on the american worker. and i'll make that bet any day of the week. >> every time i hear mr. romney talk about this, i think his daddy must be turning over in his grave. >> i'm here today to tell you that i'm endorsing mitt romney in his candidacy for the presidency of the united states. >> moderates do not have the best chance of winning because they don't inspire with conviction. >> rick santorum is a nice guy but he's an economic lightweight. >> i'm the one candidate on our side who runs on really big ideas. romney was the kind of guy who would have fired christopher columbus. >> what do you feel like when you hear 4,000 people chanting your name? >> i almost feel embarrassed. i wonder why they come. >> goo

let me sneak over here, grab the ohio map. this is ohio divided. it's hard to see the districts in the cleveland area. but if you look at the other black lines within, this is ohio divided by all its congressional dwiths. a bunch of them are umhere in the cleveland, akron area, filled in in romney red. you see the exclamation points. these are places where santorum had defish aenlss. he does not have any delegates in those congressional districts or he can't get all of the delegates in the dwiths because they didn't meet the filing deadlines. the santorum campaign said we were struggling, we didn't have the organization money, the resources. he won tennessee, perhaps he could have won in virginia. leaving delegates on the table. and even if he wins in ohio, santorum will leave delegates on the table because you see him doing well in this district. he won't get all of the delegates because of his filing defish aenciencie deficiencies. santorum doing well in this district, carrying all of the counties at this point. and in this district up here, whic

ohio or to relocate here. as the job picture improves, the governor, a republican, is taking credit, which runs parallel to president obama and democrats in the state taking credit as well. it points out the fact that we know through the years, just based on political history, as an economy improves, the incumbent gets credit. in ohio, both parties get something from it. the governor tax credit and the president this fall could also get credit. host: green bay, wisconsin. independent line. caller: good morning. what i want to talk about -- first of all, as far as birth control, senator santorum was talking about his private views, not anything he is going to put into law. that is the first mistake. the media has taken off on this. u2, understand. that is the biggest pelosi that is going on in this primary. the second thing is the tax cuts for the richest people in this country, the richest 5% -- that money that they get in tax cuts is being invested in developing markets. they are not going to invest that mone

the ohio country consisted of parts of what is today the state of pennsylvania as well as ohio. in fact, the most strategic region at the time was in western pennsylvania, particularly at the forks which make the beginning and mark the beginning of the ohio river where the allegheny and the monongahela rivers meet to form the ohio. and there the french established a fort in 1754 called ft. duquesne, and the british colonials in virginia were very concerned about that. they would not easily tolerate that. virginia claimed boundaries stretching to the south sea based on its charter from the crown back in 1609. the virginians were very much expansionists. and leading men of virginia had already formed a land company which got british permission to colonize this area. and if a certain number of colonists could be situated there, let's say 100 families, that company, by right from the king, could receive a grant of up to 500,000 acres. so there was much at stake. it was not only in the interests of ordinary british colonials in colonies such as virginia that were at stake, but also t

idaho is not ohio. sam seder, from ring of fire and the program report, joins us this evening. >> good evening. >> not a good evening for mitt romney. there are many other different ways to say that. what does this mean going forward? how do you see this further handicapping in the other sense of the word the republican race? >> well, you know, i think actually we had an insight into in this weekend. this weekend, george will came out and grover norquist both came out and said we should focused on the house and senate races. tonight, i was struck in mitt romney's speech, early on, he said, i'm going to win this nomination. it's a weird thing to say when you're running for president, because this is not about winning the nomination, it's supposed to be about winning the presidency, and i had a real sense tonight that mitt romney was, like, i don't know if i'm going to get out of this thing alive. he'll come out with more delegates, but i think he realizes by the time this is over, even if he comes out of

in steubenville, ohio. we're in a high school gymnas m gymnasium. i just came from our war room which doubles as the weight room for the high school. was pumping a little iran to get myself sike for coming out here. >> apparently he was. his campaign tweeted this photograph of the candidate pumping some iran before the speech with a suit and tie on. there was juan fellow on stage who could have used a little extra iron pumping. santorum's young son peter. he yawned at least 13 times during his father's 20-minute victory speech there in steubenville, ohio. cute little kid there. this does remind us of 7-year-old andrew giuliani. who could forget. we're going to let this roll, baby. just let it roll. that's andrew giuliani at 7 years old, acting up, falling asleep on the podium, yelling at people, pointing at people during his dad's first mayoral victory speech. that's rudolph giuliani, november 3rd, 199. 7-year-old andrew giuliani barking at people and sleeping. this spawned, you might remember, one of the g

ohio primary. there's a lot of green counties where there's vote to be counted. in every instance so far, every time i think we're going to see a romney uptick, santorum overperforms. these exit polls, all undercounted santorum all across the country ton. >> the what does that typically mean? if people come out of the polling place, an exit poll you're supposed to be telling someone what you just did. in this case people who voted for santorum are not talking to pollsters or not telling them what they good? >> i'm going to throw a phrase, silent majority. we've seen this before where conservatives, particularly conservative republicans -- don't forget what the exit poll says, it knows they're talking to the media, and when you look at this pattern, and this has been a pattern in the last couple months where i noticed santorum just a couple points, everywhere seems to be a little underreported in these initial ex exits. it could be the conservative base of the party, they're going to keep it to them

ohio, ohio, ohio. the key battleground state. and as expected we cannot make a projection in ohio right now. it is close. the exit poll results though are in. let's share with you what the voters were telling us after they emerged from the polling booths in ohio these are the results from the cnn exit poll. 40% for mitt romney. 36% for rick santorum. 12% for newt gingrich, and 11% for ron paul, and you see a four-point spread. these are early numbers in the exit poll and they could change, but right now, these are the exit poll questions, and we are being transparent with you, with a slight advantage for mitt romney over "situation room" in the key battleground state of ohio. let's go to candy crowley who is covering the romney campaign in boston right now. and candy, this is is a moment that i am sure that mitt romney would love to say, i won ohio. >> absolutely. that would be the major headline and here are the three reasons they believe they will do well there tonight. and they are hoping for a victory and here are the signs p

but ted strickland, former governor of ohio is going to join us to talk ohio. plus will it end where it all began? newt makes his last stand in georgia. the latest from atlanta. all that and much more just ahead on the war room. [[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 tv. what makes sam adams boston lager great is as simple as abc. a, the appearance. amber. [ jim ] b, balance. sam adams has malt sweetness hoppy bitterness. [ jim ] c, complexity. pine notes grapefruit notes. only believe your own pallet. go taste them. protect medicare and rebuild the middle class. >> steve israel runs the dccc, appreciate. >> thank you. >>this is outrageous! [[vo]]cenk uygur calls out the mainstream media. >>the rest of the media seems like, "ho-hum, no big deal." we've have no choice, we've lost our democracy here. just refreshing to hear. no other television show does that. we're keeping it real. >>> we are back in the war room with politica

rick santorum led in ohio. even if he wins the state's popular vote, he didn't make the ballot in a number of congressional districts. that is going to hurt him in the hunt of delegates. les we spend too much time talking ohio let's take a look at the overall map. 10 states today with contests from one end of the country to the other. the east coast west to alaska. newt gingrich says he has to win in alaska a state he represented in congress. he may do that. ron paul on the other hand may not win any of the states outright but he is expected to pile up delegates in a number of contests. everything seems to come back to ohio and not just for the primary. >>> there has been no republican president not one who has won the white house without winning ohio. this is an absolutely critical stage for mitt romney or rick santorum or whoever takes away this nomination. >> in order to be that candidate who wins ohio wins. >> virginia is another state that more and more plays a pivotal role. rick santorum and newt gingrich

. >> one of the night's biggest prizes, ohio, remained too close to call, with santorum and romney in a virtual tie. romney spent this election night in massachusetts and addressed his support in other words boston, here is some of what he said. >> this, it is wonderful to be able to go home tonight for the first time in two months. [ cheers and applause ] >> and what cash ann said it right. what a great night. we are so excited to be in the bay state tonight, celebrating with family, with friends who have worked just tirelessly on this campaign. and of course it is such an on or to have the citizens that i served as governor as part of our cause. your support really means affirming to ann and me and i am not going to let you down. i am going to get this nomination. >> tonight, we are doing some counting, we are counting up the delegates for the convention and it looks good and counting down the days until november and that looks even better. [ cheers and applause ] >> we are going to take your vote, a huge vote tonight in massachusetts and take that victory all the way to the white h

that's why virginia and ohio are so important. in virginia tonight, romney is likely to win of the 46 delegates who are up for grabs 41 of them and in ohio even if he has a narrow loss, in all likelihood because of santorum's failure to get on the ballot, get delegate slates on the ballot and three congressional districts in full slates in a number of others, romney is likely to win a majority of delegates. >> chris: enough good news for all three of these guys? i know paul is -- all three of them to stay in the race. >> gingrich is going to win his home state and santorum is going to probably win one or two of the southern states. >> chris: he has already won oklahoma. >> and perform well in ohio and everybody is going to find something to go on. but the key is how many delegates at the end of the night and does romney win a majority and, if so, that begins to bear down on the future contests. >> chris: what we are looking at, bret, is a long night as precursor to a continued and long delegate fight, back to you. >> bret: juan go

we have been busy in ohio. we have been in columbus, martin's ferry, athens, jackson, several stops here in and around cincinnati. we will take you along for our ride across the state throughout this program. of course, there has been plenty said on the campaign trail about president obama's policy for religious based employers to provide contraceptive coverage even if it's against their faith. chief washington correspondent james rosen tells us there is more high-level pressure today from the church. >> visiting a catholic prep school in new rochelle, new york's cardinal timothy dolan called on president obama to exempt catholic affiliated institution from the administration recent mandate on female contraception. >> we keep insisting on religious freedom and hope it will be worked out. >> they announced that the employers must provide female contraception with insurers picking up the tabs. >> most of us are self-insured so when you pass on the expenses to tin surer, guess who is still paying? >> on sunday, th

it really comes down to ohio. win ohio, it's not even a question if it's over. i think, though, he'll get more delegates 'cause santorum is missing three districts there. this race, believe me when these things start to move ahead like this, we're about to move into the winner take all phase, april 1. at that stage of the game, there is 126 super delegates for the republicans. they'll start to fall. the momentum picks up and the money drives up for the other -- dries up for the other people. >> bret: i think it's nine districts that santorum does not qualify for. what does that mean? >> it means romney -- it's got to be a close race. but it means romney will more than likely win the delegate count and he'll get a big chunk of the delegates out of virginia. there is 400 and some odd delegates available there. he will have a lead in delegates that will be almost insurmountable. ed rollins, you go into proportional representations. winner take all made more sense. >> bret: ed, this has been a complicated process, has it not? >> it has been by a combination of thing

he did win ohio last night. had he lost ohio -- or i should say had he lost ohio just a couple of hours ago, we would now be talking about how mitt romney would be in trouble for this republican nomination. however, we're talking about how mitt romney is going to try to go on and try to collect delegates and close out this very, very divisive fight for the republican nomination. >> divisive fight, but if you look at the delegate count, romney is a shade below 400. 396 delegate. rick santorum is a long way behind with 158, and then you've got newt and you've got ron paul. to the average guy who doesn't know the arcane and fine points of how the election works, that sort of looks like he's got all the momentum and he's on the move, and it's a fait accompli, but it isn't, is it? >> no. because you need 1,400 delegates to secure the nomination. while super tuesday is important, we're looking ahead to kansas, who is already holding caucuses, and on to next tuesday where mississippi and alabama will be holding primari

run up the score in southern ohio. eastern edge of ohio near home state of pennsylvania. some back in ohio also believe that santorum can do very well here along the western edge toward indiana. mitt romney expects to do well in cuyahoga county. that's cleveland. franklin county, which is columbus. hamilton county which is cincinnati. and interstate 71 connects all three of these major cities in ohio. we will see whether or not the map fills in that way. we do expect these colors to change moment tearily as the information starts to trickle in from various counties here. we will restate the board here and give you a better idea right now about what we are seeing about results in other states. you made a call in vermont, shepard. you made a call in virginia. down here in the state of virginia, making a call on gingrich. it starts to trickle in now. only 2% of the vote in right now and gingrich's home state. what's coming up next? the poll closings on the board at 8:00. you are about 22 minutes away. three states will clock in then. the home state for romney in massachusett

have to come back to ohio. you can't pivot too sharply. this tuesday mitt romney has to win. if he is going to retain the last shred of inevitability he has lests. for romney, ohio is the superest of all super tuesday states. and ohio is pretty much up for grabs with only four points separating romney and rick santorum in the quinnipiac poll released on friday. so if you were a candidate like romney, what do you do with a problem like ohio? do you talk about the economy and try to argue that the recovery isn't really much of a recovery, that, yeah, things are better but not as good as they should be? or maybe you try to revive a culture war, one that just might have worked eight years ago. remember in 2004 had when ballot initiatives to boon same-sex marriage in states including ohio were supposed to drive up conservative turnout. the former manager of george w. bush's former election campaign is now reflecting on the wedge issue. and this is what he told salon.com on friday. quote, at a personal level, i wish

ohio, ohio, ohio. we have been talking about it all night. the biggest prize so far tonight, ten states on this super tuesday. take a look at the official numbers. 86% of the vote in ohio in. you see santorum is ahead by votes, but they don't have the official numbers we received from our own dana bash in hamilton county. that's cincinnati. it shows a 6,000 vote lead for romney right now. we haven't included those in the official numbers yet. they haven't been reported to the republican party headquarters. by our estimate, romney slightly ahead of santorum in ohio, but still, plenty of time for stuff to happen. we're watching ohio very, very closely. you can see how close it is right there, by our estimate, once again, mitt romney slightly ahead of rick santorum. let's take a look at idaho right now. we have not projected a winner in idaho even though romney is way ahead of everybody else with 12% of the vote in. romney with 78%, 11% for ron paul, 8% for rick santorum, 3% for newt gingrich. let's go to john king and talk ability ohio. the num

it really comes down to ohio. win ohio, it's not even a question if it's over. i think, though, he'll get more delegates 'cause santorum is missing three districts there. this race, believe me when these things start to move ahead like this, we're about to move into the winner take all phase, april 1. at that stage of the game, there is 126 super delegates for the republicans. they'll start to fall. the momentum picks up and the money drives up for the other -- dries up for the other people. >> bret: i think it's nine districts that santorum does not qualify for. what does that mean? >> it means romney -- it's got to be a close race. but it means romney will more than likely win the delegate count and he'll get a big chunk of the delegates out of virginia. there is 400 and some odd delegates available there. he will have a lead in delegates that will be almost insurmountable. ed rollins, you go into proportional representations. winner take all made more sense. >> bret: ed, this has been a complicated process, has it not? >> it has been by a combination of thing

what did we see in ohio? i am hugely impressed that over a half a million people in ohio went out and said, i'm going to cast a vote for president obama, even though i know he doesn't need any votes at all. >> right. >> there's some real energy out there. >> it's a continuation of what we've been seeing in other primaries so far, not just with the turnout for obama, but the high turnout for obama but low turnout for the republican race. >> this is the low turnout, in the year of the tea party rage against the president. >> right. >> this tea party needs to change america, bring back america, all those slogans, they're not sure -- >> literally what the republicans are left with out of this process, there's going to be no energy for that nominee. they really are banking on all the energy being opposition to obama. >> these guys are flirting with, roughly a third, a little more than a third of the electorate in the states, that's what they call a win. and when you're campaigning in ohio in a primary like this, y

ohio, ohio, ohio. the key battleground state. and as expected we cannot make a projection in ohio right now. it is close. the exit poll results though are in. let's share with you what the voters were telling us after they emerged from the polling booths in ohio these are the results from the cnn exit poll. 40% for mitt romney. 36% for rick santorum. 12% for newt gingrich, and 11% for ron paul, and you see a four-point spread. these are early numbers in the exit poll and they could change, but right now, these are the exit poll questions, and we are being transparent with you, with a slight advantage for mitt romney over "situation room" in the key battleground state of ohio. let's go to candy crowley who is covering the romney campaign in boston right now. and candy, this is is a moment that i am sure that mitt romney would love to say, i won ohio. >> absolutely. that would be the major headline and here are the three reasons they believe they will do well there tonight. and they are hoping for a victory and here are the signs p

joseph, ohio. you have a breakdown of states for us and then i have some questions for you. >> why don't we start with ohio. we beat everybody. we beat the rush here. we're at a polling station in hamilton county, west of cincinnati. this is pretty conservative country. polls open a little later. it's just me and my camera man and the engineer. it will get more crowded later. yes, ohio, so important. it's a battleground state. why? because of the blue collar vote, the catholic vote. it's open primary, which means republicans can vote in the gop contest. so can democrats. so can independents. rick santorum has been trying to appeal to blue collar voters. he's from pennsylvania. but there are other important states as well. tennessee. crucial southern state. 55 delegates up for stake there. a lot of conservative voters. polls indicate santorum with a slight edge. his big lead seems to have disappeared. also let's talk about georgia with the most of all. 76. that's an important state for whom newt gin

para los precandidatos republicanos, que quieren postularse contra obama el prÓximo noviembre, y en ohio, en estos momentoss miren esto, diferencia de 12 mil votos, entre santorum y mitt romney con 33% de los votos contados. >>> este es un estado fundamental, especialmente para el ex senador de pennsylvania santorum, todo indica que este sÚper martes en la contienda republicana se podrÍa convertir en un sÚper triunfo para mitt romney si gana ohio, rogelio mora estÁ con nosotros al tanto de lo que ocurre en estos estados, una noche que parece puede ser larga 6789. >>> buenas noches, y les parece vamos a repasar resultado que se han dado sÓlo en los estados donde se proyecta un ganador pero aÚn faltan delgados por decidir, romney que hoy ha ganado massachusetts, vermont y virginia el ex gobernador, asÍ pinta en el mapa tiene hoy 81 gel gadz g nadz, santorum que ha ganado tennessee, y tambiÉn el de oklahoma con esto en el mapa aparece asÍ. apuntando se un nÚmero de delgados que es de 25, ahÍ los tienen y finalmente cerramos con el ex-presidente de la camara de representantes newt

i will do back to ohio right now. it's very very close in ohio. this could be a long night. >> the last time we looked at it, it might have been romney red, now santorum purple. welcome to super tuesday and the roller coaster battleground. about 7,000 votes, a little shy of that. 39-36%. only 24% of the vote in. when you look at the state again, we have seen this in other states, you're seeing a lot of purple and think, wow, rick santorum is winning in an a lot of states. to hit a tiny county, small rural counties, tea party evangelical voters. you see that. where is governor romney doing well, the largest county in the state, largely democratic when we get to november. a big romney lead, almost none of the vote counted yet. when you see that santorum statewide vote. hardly any of the vote counted and up along the lake, romney with a decent lead there. 22%. >> i need to interrupt you a second. they're cheering at santorum headquarters in ohio getting ready to speak. we'll hear what he has to say. i think he's getting ready to walk in now. they're

why is ohio so close, antfy? >> well, scott, no republican has ever won the white house without winning the state of ohio in the general election. so so who is the most electable republican candidate? well, overwhelmingly ohio voters told us they think it's mitt romney by a 51% to 24% margin. but ask the same voters who they think best understands the problems of average americans and rick santorum comes out on top by a 33% to 22% margin. that division between electability and relatability, if you will, is one reason why the race in ohio remains so close. scott? >> pelley: anthony, thanks very much. bob schieffer, the anchor of "face the nation" the joining us, along with john dickerson, our political director in ohio. bob, what do you see in this super tuesday so far? >> i think if we were at the horse races we'd be feeling pretty good right now because we'd have a good chance to win the big six. everything is coming out the way the polls suggested they were going to come out. newt gingrich won georgia, he knew

, ohio is too close to call. senator santorum has won in oklahoma and won in tennessee, where he spoke from in that high school auditorium in ohio is a place from which he cannot win delegates tonight even if he does very, very well in ohio. senator santorum's campaign having organizational difficulties, did not file a full slate of delegates and that gives you a sense of the crazy narratives that created the strange, long primary process on the republican side. in ohio it's too close to call, rick santorum is having a big, big night. but his own organizational difficulties preventing him from capitalizing on that even in terms of the delegates. >> well, if he hangs on in ohio, he has the early lead in north carolina, there is a lot of territory being taken up by rick santorum -- >> north dakota. >> there is a lot of taken up by him tonight. and surprisingly considering all the issues that he has had with the media, we were talking earlier about the political s f self-inflicted wounds and the road he travelled, a

in the east and the race in ohio is over. mitt romney an apparent winner after a close race that has taken all night. that is the race that we will be tracking throughout the night. romney winning a slim victory over rick santorum in ohio. in tennessee, rick santorum is the projected winner of the tennessee republican primary, and rick santorum also the projected winner oklahoma, and also the projected winner the north dakota caucuses. in the idaho caucuses, mitt romney won a decisive victory. in massachusetts, mitt romney is the winner. nbc news has allocated all of that state's delegates to romney, the former governor. newt gingrich is the projected winner in his home state of georgia and the two man race by the way, romney is the projected winner over ron paul, and newt gingrich and rick santorum did not make it on to the ballot. and timely in the green mountain state, mitt romney is the projected winner. and howard fineman, i love to get this from you, because you are a bottom line guy, and reporting all night. in additio