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 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

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

if romney win ohio, is it over? if santorum wins ohio does this go to the convention floor or something in between? >> i think something in between at this point. mitt romney has won certain states and it's never been a complete victory that locks it down for him, but if he wins ohio remember i think he'll make the case that he's the presumptive nominee and momentum. if you'll recall earlier in the race, winning one state didn't mean anything over wing the next. if he could win michigan and go on to win ohio, i think he'll start to make that case. he doesn't win ohio, i think where he has been previously in this race will be that people just don't like him, but at this point it looks like he has a slight advantage right now or certainly working hard there and we'll see him in ohio a lot over the next couple of days. >> i want to ask you relative to newt gingrich, ann makes the point that if you win one state you don't necessarily win the next one. if he does not win that, is he done? >> probably. he's having trouble

appreciate it. >>> so talking about ohio, ohio, ohio. and right now, the ce between mitt romney and rick santorum, too close to call, how the buckeye state could decide the presidential nomination. >>> and gingrich has georgia on his mind. he's counting on a win in his home state. >>> and these battleground states aren't just for republicans. president obama has an eye on them, too. oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not that we'd ever brag about it. [ chuckles ] turn right. come on -- nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh. how'd that get there? [ male announcer ] we can't hide how proud we are to have nine 2012 iihs top safety picks, so we're celebrating with our safety in numbers event. that's the power of german engineerin

we see is at 51% in virginia. 45% in ohio. he's not doing as well in ohio yet. the numbers are being supported by the fact that people are feeling a little better about the economy. we ask if the worst is behind us. people are saying we have turned the economic corner right now and things are getting better. the worst is behind us. not that the worst is yet to come. that shifts the context. republicans have to bring this to a close. then they start closing the gap as we move through the conventions and into the fall. then we'll be seeing whether it's a different picture than it is now. right now, it's not a pretty picture for republicans. >> always great to see you. thank you. >> let me bring in tom davis, who is a mitt romney supporter. good morning, congressman. >> good morning. >> there are more a few strategists who said ohio could clinch the nomination for mitt romney. it's hard to see how rick santorum moves ahead if he doesn't win. do you buy that? is this make or break? >> no. i think it's going to go on for awhile. >> does that hurt the republican party

way too close to call. >> ohio. >> ohio. >> ohio. >> apparently ohio was important. when the votes were counted late into the night and early this morning from the buckeye state mitt romney won it by a hair. in fact, in his column ohio and five other states from alaska to virginia, rick santorum, a close second in ohio, he won three states over all and newt gingrich did win his adopted home state of georgia. this may be information you already have. but to answer the question dionne warwick posed to us this afternoon, what's it all about? we have two top political names in america. politico's editor-in-chief john harris and michael hirsch chief national correspondent at "the national journal." first off from a political perspective, john, did anything change with the super tuesday results as far -- in other words in terms of the trend and/or expectations around any of these candidates? >> no. i think nothing did change. i think there had been an expectation. certainly on governor romney's part. a hope that super tuesday would represent a change. that is sort of a dec

the eyes on ohio tomorrow. we'll break all that down with our crew when we come back here we'll huddle up to watch snl get a little creepy with mitt romney's sons. we'll be right back. progresso. it fits! fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. why? i thought jill was your soul mate. no, no it's her dad. the general's your soul mate? dude what? no, no, no. he's, he's on my back about providing for his little girl. hey don't worry. e-trade's got a totally new investing dashboard. everything is on one page, your investments, quotes, research... it's like the buffet last night. whatever helps you understand man. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him. [ male announcer ] try the new 360 investing dashboard at e-trade. >>> the top of the show about the hotly contested race in ohio. polling shows romney and santorum

does rick santorum have to win ohio or an ohio loss the beginning of the end for your candidate? >> i don't think so. there were new numbers that came out today that showed that between mitt romney and his super pac that they have spent over $11 million in ohio. rick santorum's campaign and his super pac have spent approximately $1 million. so we're being outspent there. yet the polls show it's dead even. in light of that, the bigger question is what's wrong with mitt romney that he can spend all that type of money and can't do better? everybody said if you don't do well in iowa, you're done. the truth of the matter is, this is still the first quarter. i'm sure that the romney people would love to call the game after the first quarter just like a lot of teams would like to have done that in the super bowl. but this has a long way to go. frankly, there's a lot of big states that should have their say in this thing. one is including pennsylvania, rick santorum's home state. we went to mitt romney's home state of michigan and got outspent by 6 to 1 and romney eked out a victory in h

let's talk about possible outcomes, zero in in ohio, mitt romney ends ohio in his back pocket means what for the race? >> i think it means he's in a position to start convincingly making the argument the nomination fight is over especially if he puts one of the southern states or western state in his column in addition to the ones that everyone expects him to win, massachusetts, vermont, and virginia a convincing argument it's time to shut the sucker down. >> another scenario, rick santorum running neck-in-neck, he wins ohio, what does that mean? >> we go on and march on to illinois and rick santorum points to michigan and says that was a home state fluke for mitt romney and that he is demonstrating, rick santorum is demonstrating strength in states that will be important battle grounds in the general election, he takes the fight to illinois as long as foster friese keeps writing checks. >> there is no knock out punch but rick santorum will carry on? >> in a fight where you need to get to a certain number of delegates not a knock out punch until you say you have the delegates locked up.

i was in columbus, ohio last week. i drove from columbus, ohio, to cincinnati. you know what there is between columbus and cincinnati snst nothing. i saw maybe 40 farms. it's a two-hour drive. if you look at that the map, did our guy, mitt romney win those areas? no, that's the point. he has virtually nothing in common with anyone that doesn't make under $100,000 a year. isn't college educated and actually works 9:00 to 5:00 fle single day and probably makes just above minimum wage. >> a. b., mitt romney made the case before super tuesday, let's get this done so that i can focus in on president obama. we know for the republicans, that is the common enemy as they see it. what is there out there to make me believe that these people will not fall in line if they are so angry? it's not as if they will vote for president obama. would they stay at home? >> well, i think you just heard steve why he thinks many people like him are going to stay home. that's really the challenge for mitt romney. when he started this, look, republicans four months ago were convinced they

and 13 seed ohio bobcats playing the north carolina. and north carolina state takes on the kansas jayhawks. >>> and last night red sox-yankees tied 4-4 in spring training. coming up at the top of the morning in "morning joe," rick santorum said republicans might be better off with president obama than mitt romney. not his finest moment. when we come back we'll huddle around the water cooler for a man who really wants president obama to read his book. tries to get the commander-in-chief's attention during his speech. that clip, when "way too early" comes right back. this at&t 4g network is fast. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, down by two, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. hi. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with a

mitt romney taking six states, including the big prize, ohio. and, of course, he's winning the delegate count, but he can't seem to shift the perception game to send the message that he's a winner. and so the race goes on. >> tonight we're doing some counting. we're counting up the delegates for the convention and it looks good, and we're counting down the days until november and that looks even better. >> romney is winning the numbers game, but rick santorum captured tennessee, oklahoma and north dakota. and what's key, came in second in ohio by just 1%. >> we're going to get at least a couple gold medals and a whole passel full of silver medals. when they thought, okay, he's finally finished, we keep coming back. >> and don't forget, newt gingrich, who launched what he wants to be, his own comeback, winning his home state of georgia, although he couldn't manage even second in any other state. >> you just can't quite get across to them, it's all right. there are lots of bunny rabbits that run through. i'm the tortoise. >> joining me, david and

ohio will help answer that question. i think whether hay wins or not, the nomination process is far from over. but a win would certainly sort of solidify that sense of inevitability the romney cam subpoena looking for. >> let's talk about newt gingrich who focussing now on heavily on how he would lower gas prices. let's take a listen to what he is saying here. >> we will be able to deal directly with the saudis and iranians and others without worrying about energy supply. in the process, we would bring the price of oil down. so that -- we set as -- said as a goal gasoline between $2 and $2.50 a gallon. >> i think he's getting traction on the message, yes. now, in terms of how he will perform in ohio, he hasn't been here much. he was here just this weekend. but he has been largely absent. he was in ohio when mitt romney and rick santorum were campaigning earlier in february for colorado and missouri and minnesota. and so newt gingrich got buzz then but this past week, he has been basically camped out in georgia, hoping to

you mentioned ohio. when you look at the map, mitt romney has to win ohio. he's going to win massachusetts and vermont, that's his country, he's going to win virginia, because two guys aren't on the ballot. >> but we'll discount that, because it doesn't matter. >> right. but if he doesn't win any of the southern states that are evangelical, that sort of leaves ohio and north dakota, he's got to win ohio, doesn't he? >> translato >> he's got to win this, he's got to win this, he's got to win this. >> ohio's big because rick santorum has that connection to blue-collar voters that romney doesn't and it pulls away from romney and he's got to grab it back. >> he needs one of these. after the break, at least he's consistent. ron paul takes a break from the campaign trail to focus on his day job, being a congressman. we'll examine paul's stick it to itness, next. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business, it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the imp

ohio, the cinderella if there is one in the tournament won 62-56 so ohio, ohio state, xavier and cincinnati all move on, first time four schools from one state have made it to the sweet 16. big win as i said for north carolina against creighton but came at a price. carolina's point guard kendall marshall goes down hard landing on his write wrist breaking a bone in his right hand and shoots with his left hand and went to the locker room. played eight more minutes but then the game when the game was out of reach. sources close to the team say he will have surgery on his hand today. likely to miss we're told friday's game against 13 seed ohio, only saving grace, only potential it was his right hand and he's a levity. >>> n.c. state taking on george of town. final second, georgetown needs a three to tie. jason clark puts up a shot at the buzzer. it is off the mark. wolfpack win, 66-63. n.c. state gets kansas on friday. a couple of cinderella teams that came up with huge upsets didn't play so well yesterday. 15th seat norfolk state pulled off the win against missouri, lost badly to florida, 84-5

you know, rick santorum did not win ohio, and ohio was a rematch like michigan, and in many ways ohio is like pennsylvania, where he lost by 18 points in a must-win state of course look, he could drop out too. but i'm not for that. look, i'm for, my current prediction is we will go to the convention and we will not have someone with enough delegates to take the nomination. and then we will have a good old fashion floor fight. >> then a good old fashion floor fight. let's open this up to the panel. santorum had a strong showing in georgia, but he did not do well in tennessee and oklahoma, he came in third. john, you want to get something out? >> he is from georgia. i mean, it's the -- you know, it's good. that is good for newt gingrich, he won his home state. he has not demonstrated strength in other places, he won south carolina, panhandle of florida and georgia, now the question is, whether that strength through the deep south continues to alabama and mississippi or whether as the questions we were talking about hogan gidley, gidley hogan earlier, if santorum can duplicate the streng

in ohio. the auto industry politics, the bashing that mitt romney is doing of labor was very significant here in michigan. those same dynamics are at play in ohio. i agree with the analysis you heard earlier, but rick santorum on the ground that day was actually ahead of governor romney. he won by the vote. you have a lot of the same dynamics that play in ohio. >> one of the thing i want to bring up. the college student who was barred from testifying in a committee hearing about birth control. she had a virtue question answered by rush limbaugh pretty rudely. >> the first day of women's history month, on that day a woman is being called these names in an attempt to silence all of us from speak about the health care that we need. >> your reaction first. a well-spoken woman. is she being used as a political football? >> what was said about her was absolutely inappropriate. i cannot believe we are still listening to this type of fight and a group of males would not allow a woman to testify in an

are now closing he was leading in ohio. ohio is the kind of state he should win. if you cannot just win the states, what is he doing? >> let's talk about the latest poll has santorum at 35% and romney at 31%. romney is up two after michigan. >> maybe it's all the snobs that went to college. >> snobby college people. if we talk about romney though, it's weird, right? like santorum needs to win it and romney needs to win it also in a weird way in terms of delegates and so forth. it's not that romney has to drop out after ohio, but it's all about a vote of confidence, right? and if we look at, you know, the sort of enthusiasm gap with romney, i want to show you two visuals, there was of course if ford field event where he introduced his economic plan, and i'm not good enough at fractions, there was like -- and then there was an -- >> much too generous. >> again, in ohio, a rally at a high school gym, sorry, idaho a high school gym, which was sort of constructed in way to make it look crowded by really actually was not crowded.

i just talked a bit about ohio. yesterday on the show we talked about youngstown, ohio. youngstown being a place where there's been a stunning economic recovery. this time a situation where obviously, the republicans are gathering together in a place where there has been and continues to be a lot of economic pain. i want to show you one last thing before i bring you guys in. the ohio primary, nbc news marist poll shows that santorum and romney are neck and neck in ohio. rick santorum at 34, mitt romney at 32. newt gingrich and ron paul falling off considerably. robert traynham. what's happening in ohio? >> it shows me two things. mitt romney is a formidable candidate. however, he can't seal the deal with conservatives. remember, these republican primaries are about two conversations. number one, do i want the republican party to go hard right, like a tea party or a moderate candidate. when you look at the polls, the cross tabs, mitt romney is a beautiful candidate in the general electric. he has the best chance to beat barack obama in the fall. the question is whether or

and coming to ohio. the other thing is traditionally ohio has been a big player in the fall. it's not normally had a meaningful say. >> do you think that's the only window? it's a short window but they knew the candidates were coming. this is not a surprise party. it's super tuesday. >> until december we didn't know if oh would have two primaries or one primary. >> okay. that is our third technical glitch of the day. i apologize. we'll get it together. we're going to go to a quick break. >>> tennessee congresswoman marsha blackburn joins me. we're talking about the southern strategy. will the prize of tennessee go to mitt romney or rick santorum? we'll be right back. hey dad. see how the carrots i grow make that new stouffer's steam meal so tasty. actually, the milk from my farm makes it so creamy, right dad. ah, but my carrots have that crunch. it's my milk in the rich sauce coating the chicken and the pasta. boys! don't you think stouffer's steam perfect bag should get some credit? my carrots. my milk.

we'll see if it helps him out in ohio. thank you. greatly appreciate it. >> thanks. >>> coming up. >> sandra fluke is having so much sex, she can't pay for it. >> that was rush limbaugh not yesterday but today. an hour ago. doubling down on his attack of georgetown student sandra fluke after he called her a prostitute for having insurance cover birth control for women. he's calling birth control welfare. how the so-called war on women has helped democrats raise a million dollars in just one week. >>> first, one step at a time for the first time since the deadly shooting at on ohio high school. students return to class. we'll have a live report. join our conversation on twitter. you can find my twitter page at tamron hall. juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for excellent fruit and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. could've had a v8. v8 v-fusion, also refreshing plus tea. oh dear... oh dear! ohh dear... i'm not sure exactly what happened here last night. i was ou

the stakes are especially high in ohio where the race between mitt romney and rick santorum has been incredibly close. nbc's tracie potts joins us, good morning. >> reporter: lynn, good morning. we're in columbus, where they will certify the primary results. this is the place to be. the place to watch today because no republican has ever been elected president without winning this state. so today's primary is a key proving ground for november. both top candidates, mitt romney and rick santorum, spent their last full day of campaigning in ohio. >> we have been all over the state, from a to z, all right? akron to zainesville. >> reporter: despite a poll showing an unthenthusiastic candidate, romney insists he is winning voters. >> it's gut check time. who wants it the most. what do you say? >> reporter: rick santorum has a two point edge. a virtual tie. he focused on the flip-flop on contraception coverage. >> he will be the weakest candidate we could possibly put forward on the most important issue of today. >> reporter: santorum is also leading polls in tennessee. newt gingrich hopes

he's an ohio truck driver. how did this happen? >> you're asking the wrong person that, alex, but as best i can -- as best i can sort out, the william h. smith filed his petitions and entered this race against david kerkorian within the time limits and the laws of ohio. i thought it was curious, you know, after the petitions were filed that he didn't make contact with myself and any of the other chairs across the southern part of ohio, but we heard absolutely nothing from him and to say the least on the evening of march 6th when we were counting the ballots and we were both surprised and a bit perplexed that he'd won without campaigning or making contact without any of the parties across the southern part of the district. >> do you know what he looks like? have you met him? >> well, you know, as of the 7th of march i never heard his voice or seen a picture, but on the day after the primary election john london with the nbc affiliate here in cincinnati did track him down by telephone so i can now associate a voice with mr. smeth, an

ohio state moves on, 81-66. florida and marquette, a lot of people had marquette winning, and a lot of people were wrong. brandon bale scored a game-high 21. finally the beggest comeback of the night in the nba, pacers down 22 against the wizards when they started chipping away at the lead. paul george knocked down the three in the final minute and india was on top. last chance for the whiz, john wall the floater, didn't get it up in time, the pacers stun the wizards, 85-83. >>> now for another look at the weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. you are all about march madness, aren't you? >> a little too much. it was a late night last night, yes, a happy syracuse fan. lost a couple seconds of my life, it was so stressful. high temperatures will not be quite as warm as yesterday. mid 80s in some areas of new england yesterday. overnight a cold front has dropped down from the north, not that cold, but the air mass is very dry, it will be breezy in new england. your tempera

both of them in ohio. long-time cleveland congressman dennis kucinich lost a democratic primary showdown made necessarily by newly redrawn district maps to 15-term congresswoman marcy captor of toledo. she'll face the republican primary winner, that guy, the man known as joe the plumber. samuel joe wurzelbacher gained his name in 2008 by expressing his concerns to barack obama. >>> filmmaker michael moore told rachel maddow for all intents and purposes, he thinks the presidential race is over, thanks to policies made by the republican party, what he calls the christian conservative party. >> this is just -- why are we even here talking about this? this is the biggest clown show. isn't the election over already? i mean, half the republicans spent the last couple of weeks sinking their own ship. isn't this -- i mean, haven't they -- after these last two weeks with whatever strategy they come up with -- who sat down and told them that, hey, what we've got to do is come out against birth control. we have to co

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

nixon did not appear on the ballot as the state was considered a lock for the then ohio governor. romney is said to be trailing by the university of cincinnati poll by 11 points. that poll was taken before the results came in from michigan. >>> enough of the real news, let's hear an unlikely source discussing fedora-wearing hipsters. yesterday senator hatch accused president obama of being a hipster for favoring urban elitists over blue collar workers. >> the decision by the president to kill the keystone pipeline put environmental interest groups ahead of the needs of workers, commuters and families. president obama has traded in the hardhat and lunch bucket category of the democratic party for a hipster fedora and a double-skim lot latte. >>> at yesterday's town hall meeting in beckley, ohio, mitt romney attempted to clarify any misconceptions he talked in the past about using guns. here he is yesterday talking about that issue. >> i believe in the second amendment, i'll protect the second amendment. i have guns myself. i'm not going to tell you where they are. don't have them o

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

mitt romney pulls off the upset in ohio. "the cincinnati enquirer" nailed it saying "romney takes ohio barely," it's like the fight of the century, but if we take a look at this map, santorum taking nearly every ohio county, what does this do to the perception that he can't close the deal? >> well, i think what's happened is that rick santorum has solidified his standing as chief alternative to romney. in doing so highlighted the main issue romney has had throughout the past year which is he just can't seem to consolidate the conservative base. as we move forward, this is romney's big challenge. he can't win in the south, can't consolidate the conservative base. when was the last time there was a gop nominee who couldn't win in the geographical base of his own party? that's his challenge going forward. how does he overcome that? >> bob, let's look at exit polls together. mitt romney continuing to struggle with core conservatives. 38% of ohio republicans, 49% of tennessee republicans say he's not conservative enough for them.

the real winner in ohio was president barack obama. that's right. steve bennett from maddow blog reports the president received more votes than any of the gop candidates. that's thanks to democrats voting in statewide elections. among the republicans willard mitt romney just barely pulled it out squeaking by rick santorum in a race that left him just as damaged as before. the national review calls him the candidate of eh. the right wing blog says willard is underwhelming. the red state says simply, what a mess. it's not going to get any easier for him. he's about to enter hostile territory. over the next week, the gop race heads to kansas, mississippi and right here to alabama. some of the most conservative states in the country. so while the republicans duke it out, last night's real winner continues to drive home his message as he did today in north carolina. >> we decide what that next chapter is going to be. and i'm confident working with folks like you, we can pull together and remind everybody around the world just why it is that the united st

mitt romney seeps to be somewhat of a slight surge in ohio. what is your pulse in ohio? >> i think romney at the end of the day will take it. won't be a big advantage, probably split the delegates, but the big winner will be barack obama, they are running around ohio saying the same insane kind of comments they were saying in michigan about the auto industry, someone asked romney about how he will help him go to college, don't count on the government to help you, join the military, those phrases in ohio where people are trying to get a hand up, not a hand aren't helpful, barack obama will be the big winner in the ohio primary tomorrow. >> tim ryan, good to have you with us tonight. >> always a pleasure, ed. >>> when we come back, the republican sex pledge in south carolina, this is a brand new way to vet candidates. you won't want to miss it, stay with us. [ male announcer ] that. right there -- reminds you why you fell in love with her in the first place. and why you still feel the same. but your erectile dysfunction -- that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for

position in ohio. i want to know what she thought and congressman tim ryan also joins us. >>> later, the republican war on women continues. i'll talk to the president of emily's list to the opposition of violence against women act. [ male announcer ] fighting pepperoni heartburn and pepperoni breath? fight both fast with new tums freshers! concentrated relief that goes to work in seconds and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack. >>> coming up, tim ryan and teacher maureen reety join me. mitt romney flip-flops on his planned parenthood comments, joan walsh of salon.com on the gop three-ring circus. share your thoughts on twitter. we're right back. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female annou

those will test the candidates organization and the grass roots support. >> santorum leading in ohio and tennessee. it's going to be an interesting day. obviously people keep asking me how long this is going to go on. let's look beyond super tuesday. what are the other critical must win states? >> after super tuesday there are a series of states in march. depending on how the candidates come out of super tuesday, who has the momentum, those other states are very important. and then we get into several clusters of states in april, may and even into early june. >> one of the things i love about these things and as i travelled on various campaigns no republican has ever won the presidency without winning ohio. let's look at the president, barack obama general election. what are the must win states for him. there are places he has to win. >> the president has actually a very broad battlefield for november. we're looking add the upper south where you have virginia and north carolina. you have the west and southwest where there are several states in play. and then, of course, the midwest.

position in ohio. i want to know what she thought and congressman tim ryan also joins us. >>> later, the republican war on women continues. i'll talk to the president of emily's list to the opposition of violence against women act. what makes the sleep number store different? the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. wow! that feels really good. in less than a minute i can get more support. if you change your mind once you get home you can adjust it. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. at our semi-annual sleep sale, save $400 to $700 on our most popular bed sets. plus, free standard shipping - but only through march 18th! ly at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699 >>> coming up, tim ryan and teacher maureen reety join me. mitt romney flip-flops on his planned parenthood comments, joan walsh of salon.com on the gop three-ring circus. share your thoughts o

look at ohio, if you break ohio voters down, when it comes to voters making under $30,000 a year, mitt romney tied rick santorum in that group. they both got the same percentage of the vote. voters making between 30-50,000 dollars, mitt romney loses to santorum. 50,000 to 100,000, mitt romney lose sz to santorum. how do you tie at best or lose every single income bracket in the state and still win the state? mitt romney clean rick santorum clock aohio voters making more than $100,000 a year. mitt romney tied or lost every other income group in ohio, but when it came to the wealthiest sliver of the electorate, he won big and that is hohe won. in michigan, same thing, voters making under $30,000 a year, mitt romney loses. 30-50,000 a year, mitt romney loses. 50-100,000, mitt romney loses. how do you win a state when you loose every single income bracket in the state? oh, again, mitt romney wins among the wealthiest sliver of the electorate. that is the only group that mitt romney won that is the only group of voters mitt romney won in michigan or in ohio. he lost the primary or at best t

have to do in ohio. clearly, that person is rick santorum. governor romney -- just not having the appeal. there's just no appeal. >> respond to that a little bit, congressman, because it's clear the romney campaign has outspent santorum anywhere from 3-1, to 4-1, depending how you measure it over the past two weeks. romney can't win the popular vote. can't win the popular vote. doesn't that underscore the main problem some republicans argue he has on the electability front? >> it's interesting, because, you know, just last friday i introduced governor romney at an event in cleveland. i took some blue collar union people there who really had never met him before, and it's amazing when you get to meet the gentleman how much they said, wow. what a likable guy. so it's part of the process, and for me it's really about washington being broken. i'm really supporting a guy who is not part of the washington establishment. when i ran for congress, i said, we need people down here who are not part of washington. w

we have thunderstorms heading through areas of ohio. in pittsburgh, eastern ohio, cleveland area, be prepared for a little period of heavy rain early today. today's forecast, definitely cooler. up in new england, all through new york city, not like yesterday. still this time of year where we should be. the rest of the country still going to be very warm. mid 70s in chicago. kansas city looks great. the west coast, less than ideal. you're going to be rainy and cool and definitely dealing with the wet weather. willie, hot off the presses, the perfect weather man bracket. >> final four is. >> florida state, kentucky, north carolina, missouri. missouri. >> i like the pick because if you're right, you're going to win. nobody else will have missouri. well played, bill karins. let's turn to sports. the knicks mired in a six game losing streak. the lin-sanity feels like a lifetime ago. carmelo bradley wanted out of town because of friction with coach d'antoni. mike d'antoni resigning unexpectedly after three plus seasons with the knicks shockin

he has to win ohio. i was thinking about my thought this morning that maybe we now know he's eeked it out but the truth is ohio is apocalypse 2. carrying vermont and massachusetts won't help him. this guy as he goes through the process is setting himself up for a general election where he's upside down in favorable, unfavorables with independents, falling behind the president on policy and persona, on the effect he has. on his ability to talk to people. i think he's in deep trouble. >> bob shrum, ezra klein, great to have you. >>> rick santorum is using a chunk of north dakota oil to fearmonger. bernie sanders joins us to tell us what is driving up the price. >>> scott walker has done every conservative talk show on the face of the earth, raised millions of outside dollars. the rookie governor is spinning his wheels, new polling out of the bad jet state. >>> we're buzzing about it. >>> we know that republicans never lie, and they never stretch the truth, and of course they never blame anybody, either, do

this in ohio? >> i think romney at end of the day he takes it, it won't be a big advantage, probably end up splitting the delegates with you the big winner will be barack obama, they are running around ohio saying the same insane kind of comments they were saying in michigan about the autd toe industry and someone asked romney about he will help them go to college he said don't count on the government do help you join the military. those kind of phrases in ohio where people are trying to get a hand up, not a hand out aren't helpful so barack obama will be the big winner in the ohio primary tomorrow. >> congressman tim ryan of ohio, good to have you with us. >> always a pleasure, ed. >>> when we come back, the republican sex pledge in laurens county, south carolina. a brand new way to vet candidates you won't want to miss it, stay with us. [ amy ] ? mr. greene? yeah? want my downy unstopables? laundry smells good for a long time. nmm mmn. really, you can have it! take it joe. ♪ downy unstopables [

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

no prize bigger than ohio with 66 delegates, the bragging rights of electability from ohio. now this new twist, this just in that donald trump will stump for romney in ohio. is that a smart move? >> well, you certainly roll the dice, so to speak, when you have donald trump doing your work for you. it's not clear that that is the man you need to appeal to the ohio factory worker. it shows that romney is still very nervous about sort of the tea party base of the party which is why he is continuing to embrace donald trump. if he were more confident of his prospects of reaching the general election he wouldn't want to be doing that right now. it makes since that ohio is a difficult place for him. you can see romney would be anxious there. it seems likely after his wins in michigan and arizona that that polls should begin to sift in his direction again. >> i missed the conversations about what is taking place with the gop primary. jeb bush's name keeps popping up saying democrats continue to cast a weary eye on a guy they see as more dangerous and capable of connecting with middl

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. more results now. in tennessee, rick santorum is the projected winner of the tennessee republican primary, and rick santorum also the 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 addition to the bottom line where it looks like santorum had a good night winning three of this coming in where it looked like impressive wins and close loss up there in ohio, what else happened tonight? >> well, what happened tonight, chris, is that the notion

position in ohio. i want to know what she thought and congressman tim ryan also joins us. >>> later, the republican war on women continues. i'll talk to the president of emily's list to the opposition of violence against women act. ♪ oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions... [ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ >>> coming up, tim ryan and teacher maureen reedy join me. mitt romney flip-flops on his planned parenthood comments, joan walsh of salon.co

everything he did, until ohio, ohio was the big point. we should say what happened, is that mitt romney won the night. >> he won the night. and again at 11:00 last night, when most americans were going to sleep it looked bleak. but you know, through the night, people say how long does it take for you to prep for the show? not long at all. it's 24 hours. alarm goes off at 12:30. i see the breaking news that he has won ohio. then the alarm goes off. at 2:00 in the morning he wins idaho. at 3:30 he wins alaska. mitt romney is a late night creature. right? what's the line? i crawl through these suburban streets. win votes. a guy who is less of a late night creature. but last night he was. >> if people watching last night, what we were seeing last night, they say you were saying that things were terrible. they were. this guy had a great -- my mom always said, she always said, willie. nothing good ever happens after midnight. that's just not the case for mitt romney. >> no. i will disagree. >> it's not the case for me either. >> i'm not sure i

but could it be if he wins ohio? >> i think it's not enough, but if he wins massachusetts and vermont and virginia and ohio tennessee. >> that is a lot. >> if he does that and a western state as well, the conretentional wisdom in terms of momentum, delegate total will make it all about over, if he loses ohio, i think we go on to illinois in a couple of weeks. and either way, whatever happens, worse case/best case, he is the odds on favorite to be the nominee and he probably will be. >> i'm going to bring in ryan here. we look at the polls, the ohio poll romney is at 34%, a 5% gain and santorum is at 31%, a 5% loss. how did this happen for santorum? i mean, the electorate, economically in terms of the demographics favors santorum, but he seemed to have gone down in the lead and not done a good job of messaging. >> let's look at this for a second. santorum has no right to be in the position he is in. i mean, he does not have a national campaign. he does not -- he does not have a devoted staffer counting delegates. this

first is he doesn't have a home state advantage in ohio. and the second is on the whole, ohio was 4% to 5% more evangelical christian and that hopes santorum. i think romney will pull it out but a tougher battle than michigan was. >> how about the republican nomination? how is the important of the state of ohio for whomever wins it? >> it's become the headline for super tuesday. it was inevitable because it is the key super swing state for november. romney very much wants it, obviously, in order to cement the idea that he finally, at last, has some real momentum toward the nomination. santorum wants to deny romney that and that is why it's become the big battle that it has. >> how about the southern states? how much do they matter for the romney campaign? >> well, romney is going to lose oklahoma for sure, probably tennessee. i've been wondering if he would make a play for tennessee, but i haven't seen it yet. georgia will almost certainly go to gingrich and then the following week, i think mississippi and alabama probably go to santorum or

most were in kentucky and the ohio river and indiana and ohio. what are we dealing with today? the areas that dealt with the tornados, like henryville, now two inches of snow on the ground. temperatures got cold after the tornado went through. west liberty, kentucky with snow right now. it is now over west virginia. it will head into virginia. again, only an inch or two. just enough to make the roads slippery. it's cold in the northern plains. minneapolis, 18, chicago, all through new england. this may be the last cold shot for some areas of the country. we have a good warmup this week. as we start off cold, by the middle of the week, high pressure pushes off the coast and a nice warm flow comes out of the deep south where all the eastern half of the country, the northern plains will remain on the cool side. keep that in mind today. it will be one of the chillier days of the week. 36 in chicago. cold in boston too. minneapolis. but here's the warmth beginning from dallas to san antonio. today a high of 36. then you jump to 54 on tuesday. so that warm air will arrive on the east