that is rick santorum country. so if you think about the religious thing that chris just talked about and the fact that santorum wins where 50% or more are evangelical where there are a lot of down scale and tea party voters, this is where santorum tends to do well. tonight huge tea party turnout in louisiana. almost no one not supporting the tea party in this primary. the exit polls, it only about 7% had don't somewhat or strongly support the tea party in is a function to some extent of a long primary. what was over long nomination fights, you look back historically, is that these guys by waging this fight over a period of time, they assemble coalitions. those coalitions are national coalitions. if you think back to the primary in 2008 between hillary clinton and barack obama, you could have said the same thing. state where there were a lot of rich, well educated suburban whites, african-americans and liberals, obama won those states. where working class whites and hispanics dominated, hillary clinton won those st

let's say you're a rick santorum fan. you want rick santorum to be president. for that reason it probably felt awesome to you when you went out in macon county today and you made your mark. you punched that ballot thing. for the president of the united states, your vote for the republican party presidential nomination is for rick santorum. he's your guy. in some place like macon county, that means nothing at all. nothing at all. you have made yourself by feeling good. you stated your preference and nbc and the other news agencies will report how many people felt that feeling, but if you don't just want to feel like you're president, if you turned out to vote because you want to secure the gnome nation, your were out of luck. there's nothing you could do on your ballot. even though you can express that you want him to be your party's nominee, there are no delegates to vote for that have rick santorum's name next to them. in macon county and other parts of the state you can see the macon county ballot. three alternates for mitt romney. and three alternates. three

it's not like rick santorum. until recently when you typed the word santorum into the google search box. the first result even more prominent than rick santorum's campaign website is a site called spreading santorum, it was a site started in 2003 for retaliating against rick santorum, that's why everyone calls him the man on dog guy. that's what he said it was like to be gay, man on dog. the website spreadingsantorum.com turned his name into a euphemism i will not say on television. so many people linked to spreadingsantorum.com it became the most prominent search on google for years. this with a first noticed by a twitter user, who asked, did google derank spreading santorum? first or second result for seven years and suddenly busted off the main page. and you know what? it's true, as the blog search engine land pointed out with screen caps that they posted, the first result used to be the site spreading santorum. last week, the first result change to his official campaign website and spreading santorum got bump

rick santorum endorsed the deciding vote. while romney invented obama-care, santorum gave us obama-care. >> thanks, chip, for being our nonpartisan expert. >>> up next, pot meet kettle. sarah palin says barack obama wasn't properly vetted. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. >>> back to "hardball." now for the side show. first up, the vetting game. if you've seen any previews of hbo's "game change" you know about the upheaval that ensued within the mccain campaign when the vetting of sarah palin fell through the cracks. now let's listen to what sarah palin to to say herself about how the gop race is shaping up. >> nothing is inevitable. i do appreciate that these men are continuing to duke it out in the arena of ideas and are allowing themselves to be vetted. so thank you, gentlemen, who are running on the gop ticket, staying in there, allowing yourselves to be vetted by the media because they didn't do it when barack obama ran. >> wow. two words, game change. don't miss it. what a movie. next up, dance the night away.

if rick santorum can drive that, he'll stay alive. i agree with what up in the last hour which is fundamentally, that mitt romney is probably going to be the republican nominee. one fascinating thing that emerged tonight is really the romney campaign is now saying, look, we're not sure we're going to wrap up and acquire the number of delegates we need for a majority by the end of the election season. that was a sort of admission that they floated out there earlier tonight, which is really kind of interesting news. they hadn't been saying that before. now they're trying to admit that in advance. they have a big event tomorrow in bott. the top romney people will sit down with reporters and go through the delegate numbers and go through them all to try to show that they, the romney campaign, is inevitable. but i don't think they're going to pound the table and say we're going to get the delegates we need by june. they probably aren't. >> howard, and by the way, i believe in the romney strategy as much as i don't like the way it works. it

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 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 that this is a long, long struggle was reinforced

and rick santorum is a great fit. if you have a christian conservative who is also a woman, and maybe you don't actually care for the other side of the rush limbaugh debate, and rick santorum is your family values guy. >> or if you're a woman who buys -- remember, this was all a plot from the democrats, ed. if you're a woman, a white working class woman in one of the states and you buy that, one thing i thought was interesting in santorum's speech, did you notice how many times he mentioned his wife? over and over and over. clearly he shifted his rhetoric a little bit. we don't know what he's been saying on the stump in smaller venues in alabama and mississippi. i'm sure his wife has been at his side try to make up for -- there was the whole thing about, oh, my wife told me i misspoked and that folksy stuff. that may a appealed to women and made them think he's not so bad. >> mitt romney alluded to early in the week he was playing on the road, he was a no show tonight. here's mitt romney in missouri earlier today. >>

rick santorum tried -- let me just play what rick santorum's answer to that was last night. >> we need a fighter. we need a fighter and someone who learned what america was about by growing up in communities just like this. understanding how american neighborhoods and families work. >> understanding how american families and neighborhoods work. there is this perception out there that mitt romney has a connection problem. that the average person out there, and the polls show it, the exit polls, the people under $100,000, don't connect with him. he won fewer of those voters last night than he had in the primaries up to this point. is that his biggest achilles heel? >> here's what happens in republican primaries. a large segment of the electorate wants to vote for the most conservative candidate, regardless of electability. that tends to be the people with lower incomes as opposed to higher incomes. but the neighborhoods and towns that rick santorum is talking about operate around jobs. mitt romney is the candidate who's going to supply more jobs, less debt, smaller government. and that m

rick santorum wins alabama. and republicans are having a three-way in mississippi. >> it is a deep pride primary day down in dixie. >> it's southern super tuesday. >> the battle for the deepest of the deep red southern states, mississippi and alabama. >> we thought super tuesday was going to give some finality to this race, and it didn't. >> this is a race that has been going on and on and on. >> this is going to go way, way, way into the spring. >> you can't win the nomination if you don't win the south. >> they can't get the folks going down there. >> mitt romney is still struggling with his blue-collar roots. >> my father never graduated from college. he apprenticed as a laugh-and-plaster carpenter. >> his blue-collar roots don't exist. >> he's been back and forth, back and forth. >> he flip-flops. >> he has been eating grits and saying y'all. >> i'm learning to say y'all. morning, y'all. i like grits. i got started right this morning with biscuits and cheesy grits. >> grits. >> cheesy grits strategy isn't wo

they outspent rick santorum maybe ten or 12 to 1. it is true. rick santorum and the people don't have the machinery. they don't have the money. but what they have is a finger on the pulse of the republican p party of today. which as michael moore said earlier tonight is a faith-based p party. it is really, i would not call it the gop anymore, but the american faith party. it is a party made up of conservative catholics and evangelical protestants and orthodox jews who look at israel as spiritual and geographical enti entity, and that is the heart of the party, and that is what rick santorum understands. that is why even though he talked about opposing contraception, and he said that college was for snobs, and even though he backtracked flippantly on some of the accusations that he made and even though he doesn't have the money, and even though he doesn't have the organization, he has fought mitt romney pretty much to a standstill in the quintessential republican swing state. in the end, i think that when you stand back, it is nothing short of re

if rick santorum had anywhere near equal money to mitt romney, would rick santorum be running away with this? >> well, no doubt, but the fact is, what we're seeing and the fact that we are so outspent and we're still doing so well is that people are recognizing it's about the message and about the man. money has been a tremendous boost for mitt romney, we're still doing well in many states and people are going to recognize they need to stand behind the conservative candida candidate. >> alice stewart, thank you for your time tonight on "the ed show." good luck to you, appreciate it. >>> next up, mitt romney was tonight's big winner in illinois, but he's losing favorability among more and more undecided voters. msnbc analyst michael steele and eugene robinson will join me. stay tuned. >>> and more politics tonight, msnbc news projecting mitt romney will win the illinois primary with 96% of the vote in. looks like he's picking up 69 delegates, at least that's what at stake. the numbers right now, he's at 408,289 with 47% of the vote out of 97% in with 69 delegates at stake. with this vici

rick santorum winning both those states? >> they're acknowledging they have to get ahead of them to get the delegates they need. it's going to be difficult. they think they can still win the state ohio. i just got off the phone with a romney strategist who said big vote in cuyahoga county. about half the vote in cuyahoga is in, romney leads by almost 9,000 votes in that county. he's got to do better if they're counting on cuyahoga to do it. this race is clearly going to go on, even if mitt romney manages to win ohio. i also talked to the santorum strategist tonight. they said they have a million dollars cash on hand, they're beginning to buy tv time tomorrow in kansas, alabama and mississippi. having won in the south, having competed on near even terms in ohio. maybe even winning ohio. they have an argument to keep this thing going. and one of the questions is going to be, does newt gingrich stay in having won georgia. he's hoping rick santorum may be able to beat romney. >> in terms of how it's better for romney when it's t

and rick santorum is a great fit. if you are a christian conservative who is also a woman, and maybe you don't actually care for the other side of the rush limbaugh debate, and rick santorum is your family values guy. >> or if you're a woman who buys -- remember, this was all a plot from the democrats, ed. so if you're a woman, a white working class woman in one of the states and you buy that, one thing i thought was interesting in santorum's speech, did you notice how many times he mentioned his wife? over and over and over. clearly he shifted his rhetoric a little bit. we don't know what he's been saying on the stump in smaller venues in alabama and mississippi. i'm sure his wife has been at his side trying to make up for -- there was the whole thing about, oh, my wife told me i misspoke and all that folksy stuff. that may a appealed to women and made them think he's not so bad. >> mitt romney alluded to early in the week he was playing on the road, he was a no show tonight. here's mitt romney in missouri earlier to

newt gingrich is losing really badly to rick santorum and he is the reason that rick santorum is losing to mitt romney. he is the reason that no, non-mitt romney candidate can win. newt gingrich is one of the huge stories in politics. we're getting this crazy outsized focus on him, on what this third place guy with no chance is doing. today news he's skipping kansas, who cares? nobody would otherwise care about that except for the fact that mr. gingrich staying in the race is effectively handing the race to mitt romney. just numerically who is not voting for mitt romney, that split in the not romney vote, that is one of the two big stories in this election this year. but the other big story in the race right now? is not who is voting against mitt romney in the republican primaries, but who is voting for mitt romney. how is mitt romney winning the states that he is win something i'm glad you asked because it's fascinating and i can't believe it's not getting more coverage. look at ohio, if you break ohio voters down, when it comes to voters making under $30,000 a year, mitt romney tied r

rick santorum endorsed the deciding vote. while romney invented obama-care, santorum gave us obama-care. >> thanks, chip, for being our nonpartisan expert. >>> up next, pot meet kettle. sarah palin says barack obama wasn't properly vetted. do you believe it? pot meet kettle. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. for the spender who needs a little help saving. for adding "& sons." for the dreamer, planning an early escape. for the mother of the bride. for whoever you are, for whatever you're trying to achieve, pnc has technology, guidance, and over 150 years of experience to help you get there. ♪ delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy the delicious, satisfying taste of gourmet gravy every day. fancy feast. the best ingredient is love. fancy feast. you can't argue with nutrition you can see. great grains. great grains cereal starts whole and stays whole. see the seam? more processed flakes look nothing like natural grains. i'm eating what i know is better nutrition. mmmm

so rick santorum win tonight with 26% of the vote recorded. 35% for rick santorum. newt gingrich in second place, and mitt romney in third place. of course, these numbers will firm up over the course of the evening as more of that vote comes in in alabama. but the important point there is the projection of the winner. we don't yet have a winner to project in mississippi which is still too close to call at this hour. it is a three-way race in mississippi right now. 33%, 32%, 30% is the divide between rick santorum, newt gingrich and mitt romney in that order with 78% of the vote in mississippi. i've asked gene robinson to join us once again just because we've had this call in alabama. gene, what's the most important implication of the rick santorum win in alabama now that nbc has projected that? >> there really are three, that santorum can win in the south which is the heartland of the republican party, that newt gingrich did not win the state next to his home state of georgia. it's a blow to his whole rationale for the -- for running. and it's also a blow to mitt ro

rick santorum did. which is the kind of thing that might not be as bad a blow to the romney campaign if mr. romney didn't keep predicting out loud that he would win these things he can't win. the website, buzzfeed, generalizing from the unearned declaration of confidence, quote, mitt romney always thinks he's going to win. mr. romney did not win tonight in alabama. he did not win tonight in mississippi. both those states being called by nbc news for rick santorum. in both cases at this hour, mitt romney is not even just losing to rick santorum, in both these states mitt romney is running third. joining us now at great pearl to his circadian rhythm. also eugene robinson with "washington post" and also is an msnbc political analyst. thank you for staying up and being here. i appreciate it. >> happy to do it. >> good to be here. >> john, you said earlier tonight a bad night for newt gingrich in alabama and/or mississippi might render him a nonfactor in the race after tonight. even if he didn't formally dro

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 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 that this is a long, long struggle was reinforced

rick santorum at 35%. neutral begin rgi newt gingrich pal in single digits. >> we don't expect to hear from mr. paul or gingrich. neither of them is planning on giving a speech. interesting though, mitt romney putting bane

ought to try to unite around rick santorum. and i was stunned frankly. i didn't think you could get that kind of consensus. we had to debate it and have a vote. we voted that it was a strong consensus. that's what the grass roots organizations went back and started fertilizing the soil and planting the seed. that's when rick won those three caucuses. >> wisdom is the romney campaign would like newt gingrich to stay in the race because, you know, obviously, they keep battling it out. then it gives him a clearer shot to win some of these primaries. on the other hand, let him get out. let us go head to head with santorum and we'll beat him. >> they can make the change either way, but the wisdom on this appears to be right that i speak to. they like newt gingrich in the race. he needles at rick santorum. he does divide that vote. as long as he's still there muddying up the field, they can win with 30-40%. it raises the bar significantly. they are happy to eke out the de delegates as long as the math works in their favor. >> what wo

rick santorum did. which is the kind of thing that might not be as bad a blow to the the romney campaign if mr. romney didn't keep predicting out loud he would win these things he cannot win. the website "buzz" mitt romney always thinks he's going to win. will romney did not win in alabama or mississippi. both stateses being called by nbc news for rick santorum. in both cases at this hour, mitt romney is not even just losing to rick santorum. in both of these states, mitt romney is running third. joining us now at great peril to hid e and eugene robinson, and our political analyst. thanks for staying up and being with me. i appreciate it. >> happy to do it. >> john, you said earlier a bad night for newt gingrich in alabama or mississippi might render him a nonfactor in the race after tonight, fine he didn't formally drop out. no that it looks like he came in second in both states, does that still seem true and what are you looking at to figure out if that's happening? >> what other conservative leaders

rick santorum for president. red, white, and blue fund is responsible for the content of this ad. >>> joining me now, bob vander plaats, president and ceo of the family leader who endorsed rick santorum before the iowa caucuses. bob, you were onboard early for the santorum surge. do you fear that rick santorum has already gone too far in a conservative direction when you hear these polling numbers about romney supporters that would abandon the party over rick santorum? >> no, i really don't. what it is, we're in the midst of a heated primary battle, and so people are lining up with their candidate and they're doing so vigorously. i think what people are finding out with rick santorum, why he's doing so well, is that they trust him, they like him. he's a great family man. he's experienced. he's knowledgeable. and i think he'll win in those tossup states of pennsylvania and ohio, and i think has why people are giving him that shot he needs to be the nominee of our party. >> now, everybody's saying you guys need gin

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 that this is a long, long struggle was reinforced rather than ended. this was yet another chance for mitt romney to say, look, this is effectively over. we can wrap it up fairly quickly now. but the results don't prove that. even though mitt romney had a very good night in terms of the delegates and the decent to very goo

>> it was very classic rick santorum here. he's trying to make the case he's the most electable candidate in the case and the best choice for republicans to make a contrast with president obama in the fall. but in doing that, he really stepped in it and made the opposite point which is that he's someone who cannot be relied on to stay on message and hit home this message to the gop electorate that he is someone who is reliable and will not be sort of stepping on his own message there. i think that ended up doing him more harm than good there. some prominent supporters have publicly criticized him for that. he walked it back on fox business network this week. but that interview was not one that ended up as a net positive for rick santorum. it's just the latest, i think, in the string of problematic comments that he has made where they were completely self-inflicted wounds he's delivered to himself and doesn't help him make the case against mitt romney in the broader battle. >> do you think rick santorum can walk back this state

but look, rick santorum is not without his challenges, too. you know, if you listen to the romney camp, they outline, you know, issues of big government that rick santorum voted for where he said he took one for the team. but at the end of the day, both of these guys understand that whether you go back to bob dole or gerald ford or any middle of the road candidate, they have not fared well in the general election. so they are both trying to sharpen up, harden up their conservative credentials across the board. >> well, a new poll shows rick santorum leads romney 2-is among evangelicals, but now 73%, 73% of republican primary voters think that romney will be the nominee regardless of whether you think he's the most conservative, is he going to win this on the electability issue? >> i think that's a strength he's going to play. look, this is a new game for the republican candidates with proportional delegation or allocation of delegates. so as a consequence, this is all about getting to that magic number of delegates. and they will, in fact, wor

it is rick santorum. i would be afraid of that. >> i'm going to enjoy watching you, mike dewine, you were for romney and then you went to santorum and some time around tampa time, i guess you will be back with romney s that gonna be a sweet reunion or what? >> i hope i'm not. i hope i'm with rick santorum. the race is long from over, we don't know what the results will be in ohio. i think we have a fundamentally flawed candidate in governor romney. look at the exit polls i saw a few minutes ago in virginia, those are not ron paul, pro-ron paul votes, all of them, some may be. a lot are anti-mitt romney. if we ever could get this race down to mitt romney and rick santorum, rick santorum would whip. >> mike dewine, the attorney general of the state of ohio, former seine to thank you for that none too subtle shove to mr. gingrich on the way out. nice to have you here. howard fineman also talking with the santorum campaign directly. howard what are you hearing from them in terms of their initial responses ton

., rick santorum won't even appear on the ballot. the funny thing about mitt romney's campaign, the strategy, model they are using, is people they want to be liked, their role models, the big brother they look up to is president obama and his campaign from four years ago. this is probably the only time when mitt romney will tell you at least maybe privately that him and his campaign are sitting there studying what barack obama did and trying to do the exact same thing with the exact same result. during the '08 race, there was a night dubbed super tuesday 2.0. on that night, hillary clinton not only won ohio, she won texas and rhode island, too, the only state barack obama one was vermont. listen what he said that night after losing in these crucial states. >> we do know that senator clinton has won rhode island and while there are a lot of votes to be counted in ohio, it looks like she won there, too. i want to congratulate senator clinton for running a hard-fought race in both ohio and rhode island. we also know that we have won the

can rick santorum really win this thing? if so, he'll have to start by taking tomorrow's illinois primary. romney is terrified of another upset loss and he spent the day referring to santorum as another economic lightweight. santorum said romney would be like tweeddlum versus tweedlede. should we stay in afghanistan? should we go? romney admitted yesterday he's not ready to take a stand. i guess it's easy to criticize president obama from the cheap seats until they come up with a coherent plan. plus oil consumption is up but it's actually down this year. make no mistake. the obama camp itself is very worried about gas prices and the potential fought this november. it was two years ago this week when president obama signed his health care into law, putting an exclamation point on the most controversial battle in congress. tonight we're talking about congress and brown do for you. i'm talking about scott brown, the senator from massachusetts and his dirty little joke about santorum and contraception. we begin with the battle i

. >> rick santorum does it again. >> rick santorum sweep of alabama and mississippi primaries. >> the best chance to win this is to nominate a conservative. >> rick santorum has all of the momentum now. >> senator santorum is at the desperate end of his campaign. >> romney finished third in both southern states. >> mitt romney forced to spend $2 million in mississippi and alabama. >> he said in alabama i'm going to win here. >> tell me what mitt romney needs to say. >> he's got a message problem and narrative problem? the messaging question. >> he's busy talking about cheesy grits and y'all and going around trying to be a regular guy. >> the vast number of the base does not want him. >> if you are the front runner and you come in third you are not much of a front runner. >> if i'm a weak front runner, what does that make newt gingrich. >> what happened to newt gingrich last night? >> newt gingrich vowing to roll on to tampa. >> i emphasize going to tampa. >> newt vowed to take his fight to tampa in he made it clear he is not getting out. >> gingrich is in this thing until the end. >>

to the flinstone era, that rick santorum represents. it's not only that rick santorum flames out but with this whole secment you had on rush limbaugh bvr the commercial break. what does mitt romney say at this point? >> if he's like any other republican, he'll say nothing. >> that is death for him. from a democrat's point of view that's a dream scenario in terms of ads for the fall. it's inexmy kabl when obama was at 38%, how they have managed to so superbly commit suicide here. i know the ides of march is the time for fratracide, but this is taking it too far. >> let me play you something else rick santorum said from the same event. >> you need to go to those caucuses, bring a few friends. all right, don't tell them where you're going, just say it's going to be fun. buy beer, whatever is necessary. >> i take that to mean the only way he can get people to vote for rick santorum is to get them drunk. my question so you is this, is there enough alcohol in the united states for rick santorum to win the nomination? >> absolutely not. there'

is rick santorum. >> rick santorum will win the state of alabama. >> rick santorum will win. mississippi. >> rick santorum we now project is the winner. >> we did it. >> mitt romney, the man of constant sorrow.

rick santorum hit back with these words on "morning joe." if i'm a lightweight, i agree, he's a heavyweight. is a big government heavyweight. that's what he said his record was. we need someone who understands that washington isn't the answer to our problems. >> nbc's peter alexander joins us live. mitt romney barn storming now in the last hours through the state of illinois today before they go out and vote tomorrow. is the campaign feeling confident or worried that they're going to have a squeaker similar to ohio and michigan? >> reporter: well, i think they feel confident. we've had several conversations with top aides and advisers and they want to address the conversation that this race could go all the way to the national convention, augment they said it's not going to happen. that conversation is irrelevant. we're going to win in illinois and we will win the 1,144 delegates necessary as they go forward. nonetheless, it does indicate a little bit about their concern here in the state that they anticipate and, frankly, most anticipated w

rick santorum's voters turned out. mitt romney had bad turnout in the places he needed to turn out voters. and there are two words that are the most important words are spring break. you've got a lot of people in mississippi, over $100,000, that's mitt romney's kcore constituency. those guys are down in the panhandle, taking the week off with their kids and those places where they have usually low turnout in mississippi, i think it hurt mitt romney. >> let's get one more story in here. looking toward november, president obama's reelection team is playing the underdog card. in an effort to boost fund raising, obama campaign manager jim messina sent a message last night titled "why the race is closer than you think." if a general election were held today, president obama would lose to mitt romney according to the latest poll from washington post and abc news. the poll shows the president and mitt romney in a statistical tie in a general election match-up. and the pro-obama super pac is also hitting up supporters for cash

newt gingrich is behind 60 delegates behind rick santorum. he could wipe out that difference in mississippi and alabama alone. there's 150 delegates -- >> what if he doesn't? let's just go to mississippi where you are right now, and it's gingrich's neighborhood. if rick santorum goes in to those southern states and beats newt gingrich, is there any message newt gingrich can get from that to say, you know what, i really am in the way, i should get out of the way so 24 can be the conservative against the moderate flip-flopper romney? >> well, that would be up to speaker gingrich. as you know, i would support speaker gingrich. if he wants to go to the convention, i will support whatever he wants to do. i believe we will win alabama and mississippi, and we'll have a new ball game. if he he believed that romney or rick santorum could actually beat obama and change washington, which neither their records reflect they would be able to do that, they would both accommodate washington, he would step aside. he doesn't see that in either of those candida

and now rick santorum. the notion that's always going to be this perfect conservative alternative to romney. and they've all fallen. and romney's had the rationals, those who look at him and see him as the most likely to be the nominee and the best republican available who is currently running to take on president obama in the fall. what needs to happen for romney tonight is in ohio and tennessee, the motionals to give up the notion of a perfect or even semiperfect alternative to romney and say, you know, the rational choice is romney. we're better off ending this sooner rather than later f. that happens, it will be the voters who will decide because they will have looked at santorum, they will have seen his momentum and said, you know what, that's nice, maybe inspires me to a certain level. but my rational mind is telling me we need to end this process. it's bleeding romney of support among independents right now the longer this goes on. and it's a subtextual dynamic of tonight, of super tuesday and of the

rick santorum did. which is the kind of thing that might not be as bad a blow to the the romney campaign if mr. romney didn't keep predicting out loud he would win these things he cannot win. the website "buzz" mitt romney always thinks he's going to win. will romney did not win in alabama or mississippi. both stateses being called by nbc news for rick santorum. in both cases at this hour, mitt romney is not even just losing to rick santorum. in both of these states, mitt romney is running third. joining us now at great peril to hid e and eugene robinson, and our political analyst. thanks for staying up and being with me. i appreciate it. >> happy to do it. >> john, you said earlier a bad night for newt gingrich in alabama or mississippi might render him a nonfactor in the race after tonight, fine he didn't formally drop out. no that it looks like he came in second in both states, does that still seem true and what are you looking at to figure out if that's happening? >> what other conservative leaders

rick santorum. economic lightweight. mitt romney ready to lead the nation to a new era with the boldest gop era since ronald reagan. >> how much is that, $100 million for advertising, and they're talking like, hey, you frigging lightweight. lightweight. is this when kids were mad at each other in school? is this how far we've gotten in civility, they call each other that stuff? >> yes, i think so. and we discussed this on the project yesterday. i will note that in bro. remember hillary clinton. shame on you, barack obama. when you're tired, you get mean and petty and that's where these guys are. >> let's take a look at rick santorum. he drew criticism last night for saying he doesn't care what the unemployment rate will be. it's about bigger stuff than that. but he got trouble, let's watch. >> we need a candidate who is going to be a fighter for freedom, who is going to get up and make that the central theme in this race, because it is the central theme in this race. i don't care what the unemployment right is going to b

rick santorum endorsed arlen specter. rick santorum gave us obama care. >> mitt romney -- let's end on a lighter moment. i've been too tough. mitt romney has been trying to win over southern voters. he calls it an away game. but this seems a little forced. let's listen to what he said about his southern talk just yesterday. and today again. >> he's now turning me into an unofficial southerner and i'm learning to say y'all and i like grits. things are -- strange things are happening to me. >> the governor said i had to say it right. morning y'all. i got started right this morning with a biscuit and some cheesy grits. >> let me ask you, chip is this working. this admission of being a chameleon? if you admit it is it okay? >> it's okay for him to come down south and do that. i think it sounded more texan than southern today. >> what did you make of that line, something seems to be happening to me. what is the guy, the fly? is something happening to his met morph sis? is he growing six-inch hairs on his back? isn't it a littl

mitt romney, rick santorum fighting for every last delegate. we'll handicap the race there. >>> when we come back here we'll huddle around the water cooler to watch president obama get in touch with his irish heritage. pounding a guinness on st st. patty's day. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] chicken broccoli alfredo. mushroom smothered beef burgers. hearty chicken and noodle casserole. so easy, you just need campbell's cream of mushroom soup to make them and a hungry family to love them. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. >>> we told you at the top of the show that mitt romney won a decisive victory in the puerto rico primary yesterday despite rick santorum's campaign trip down there. romney is using his win to tout his appeal to latino voters, a key demographic, of course, in the general election and one in which he and all other republicans are trailing miserably according to polls. want to sound smart tell your friends george w. bush won the largest percentage of the latino vote of any republican presidential candidate in 50

rick santorum rick santorum's tax plan is vastly -- $80,000 tax cut, rick santorum is $270,000 range. a huge gap in responsibility between the candidates. i did this look back a couple weeks ago where i went back to george bush 2000 platform remarkable how much further he was to the center. until he gets to a general election where the obama campaign will call these things out and independent analysts will be beginning to look at this stuff and get in the news stream, this will become a problem. the republican primary big tax cuts is an advantage, not a disadvantage. >> bob, let's say romney erases the deficit right now in the polls to santorum and wins ohio. isn't that big? >> it big. 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 t

they don't want a rick santorum conservative because they are not themselves a rick santorum conservative. the presentation around romney saying he is a little phoney and that's okay with us. they like that. >> but they don't mind the deceit in his campaign? >> i think they are sophisticated enough and a lot of voters that say it's all right that he is laning to the right, but he will come back to where i am which is closer to the center. >> thank you mark halperin. we will break down that president obama is personally and politically to blame that you're looking at those kind of numbers at the gas pump. you're watching "hardball" only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. monarch of marketing analysis. with the ability to improve roi through seo all by cob. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. you can even take a full-size or above, and still pay the mid-size price. i'm going b-i-g. [ male announcer ] good choice business pro. good choice. go national. go like a pro. >>> mitt romney won all 20 of puerto rico's

we have been seeing that rick santorum wants gingrich out of the race. >> rick santorum having to apologize very much so for things he said weeks ago. listen to what he said about college snob. >> usually the phone rings quickly. if she isn't there in person to say you shouldn't have said that, the snob comment did not go ever well. she reminded me it was snobbish but don't call them a snob. i said i made a mistake. >> rick santorum having to talk about that. he also had to talk about the jfk speech on religion that made him throw up. still an elex con on this race. how much does it hurt rick santorum to talk about these issues? >> i think it hurt him in the michigan race where it seemed like he had a lot of momentum to upset mitt romney and rick santorum was not able to win. the issues were all about social issues. they weren't talking about the economy. you see rick santorum. in a way he came across pretty well in that interview on cnn. he is admitting i went too far. my wife says put on the brakes a little bit on some of that rhetoric. we are talking about it but maybe not as much as sup

give this to rick santorum. they don't want to face me in the fall. they would rather face rick santorum, so they came in large numbers and voted for rick. you know, i think that was a huge mistake on his part. republicans saw right through that and saw that if barack obama wants rick santorum to ran against, we will not give him rick santorum. >> late last night mitt romney officially won wyoming's presidential caucuses. throughout february republicans in the state gathered to cast votes in straw polls in every county. romney finished with 39%, seven points ahead of rick santorum. ron paul was in third, followed by newt gingrich just at 8%. more than 2,000 people caucused in wyoming this year. romney came out against, at first, a key republican amendment on birth control coverage. the senate is expected today to take up a bill that will allow employers to opt out of health care coverage that includes contraception that they morally oppose. the republican push is part of an effort to confront the growing controv

rick santorum. economic lightweight. mitt romney ready to lead the nation to a new era with the boldest gop era since ronald reagan. >> i'm mitt romney and i approve this message. >> it sounds like street corner talk. >> how much is that, $100 million for advertising, and they're talking like, hey, you frigging lightweight. lightweight. the kind of the way they talk now. is this when kids were mad at each other in school? you lightweight. is this how far we've gotten in civility, they call each other that stuff? >> yes, i think so. and we discussed this on the program yesterday. neither one of them has a very positive message and they have resorted to tearing each other down. i will note that in. remember hillary clinton. shame on you, barack obama. that was her version of the same street corner talk. when you're tired, you get mean and petty and that's where these guys are. >> let's take a look at rick santorum. he drew criticism last night for saying he doesn't care what the unemployment rate will be. you know what he'

rick santorum, 217 delegates in his column. when we talk about the effect of newt gingrich in the campaign with 107 delegates himself, a third place for sure right now, but what are his chances or gingrich's campaign doing to your candidate's chances of taking the south? >> well, first of all, rick santorum won last week in tennessee and oklahoma. so rick santorum can prove that he can play almost anywhere. and, in fact, in both of the states, newt gingrich came in third place. so rick santorum shows he can geographically play everywhere. the real problem is today mitt romney is getting votes by the minority of our party. he can't seem to get above 35% to 40% in any state, and those are the moderates getting behind mitt romney. what we need are for all the conservatives to unify against the best person to symptom romney and clearly rick santorum has shown he can do that winning four times as many states as gingrich has. >> i'm just learning rick santorum did reach out to mitt romney to call to wish him a happy 65th birthday tod