rick santorum, a very happy rick santorum. i'm a little worried about his 93-year-old mother standing all that time. i hope she's going to be okay. i've met her. she's a very very spry 93-year-old woman. rick santorum, he's doing really well in ohio right now. take a look at this. 38% of the actual vote in ohio is in. he's got 39% to 35% for mitt romney. he's almost 16,000 votes ahead of mitt romney with 38% of the vote in. gingrich and paul are way way behind in third and fourth place. rick santorum doing well. some key county is in ohio have not yet reported, counties where mitt romney presumably will do well. john king is taking a closer look. we will take a close look at that. we're also waiting to hear from mitt romney. keep watching the bottom of your screens. we have ohio, result s coming i. much more right after this. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. [ male

rick santorum certainly was. reaching across to evangelicals, catholics, and that may very well have been the difference in louisiana. back to you, don, we'll come back and talk about it a little later. >> joe johns, thank you very much. cnn following breaking news from louisiana. cnn projects rick santorum has won the louisiana primary. we're going to get more on his victory coming up next, right after a quick break. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. at legalzoom we'll help you incorporate your business, file a patent, make a will and more. you can complete our online questions in minutes. then we'll prepare your legal documents and deliver them directly to you. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. launch your dreams. 11 years playing the outfield, and i got no plans to retire. [ female announcer ] aging may slow a dog down, but iams helps keep dogs pla

but rick santorum, one thing republicans have got to look to rick santorum and say can you solve this problem? is his problem with women. if he is to stand for republicans, he's going to have to address that. that gender gap is big. >> didn't he do well with married women in alabama? >> he did well with women women. not just married. singles alike. i'm talking about the general election. this is an issue rick santorum has got to prove -- >> how does he do that with the women voters? women ushlgly vote in these national elections than men. >> i think rick santorum has a problem because of the issue of contraception even though he's kind of back tracked a bit on that. i think mitt romney would have an easier time turning around a gender gap which is now a gender gulch. he does well with married women and with suburban republican women. so i think mitt romney would have a much easier time. >> it would help governor romney is there was public polling that showed romney competitive against obama and santorum tanking against obama. the problem for romney is the polls don't show that right n

rick santorum, the lead is shrinking. rick santorum with 78% of the vote in. he has 336,000 votes. just 6,856 votes ahead of mitt romney, who has 37%. newt gingrich at 15%, ron paul at 9%. a very tightening of the race, but again, it's too close to call at this point. jim acosta threw a question to rick santorum just moments ago on the rope line, asking him what a win in ohio would mean for rick santorum. here's the answer. >> senator santorum, what happened if you win ohio, what happens to the race, do you think? >> we feel great. that's all i can say, we feel great. we're in this race. and we're in it to stay. >> and that means all the way to the convention if necessary? >> to our panel here, contributors and analysts. what do you make of this? if you were in the romney camp tonight, donna brazile, how do you look at the numbers so far? >> i think the biggest issue for romney is he can't seal the deal. he can't seal the deal with self-described conservatives. he's having trouble with independents. and of course, he's still uninspiring to young people. mitt romney's problem is he

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

early on, rick santorum was ahead. then romney, then santorum, then romney, then santorum. in the end, governor romney winning. how did he do it? you can see, if you look at the map of the state of ohio, a lot of counties for rick santorum. motor vehicle of these counties smaller, rural counties. yes, senator santorum winning by a decent margin, but look at the vote count. romney won down here, southeast of the state, hamilton county, always important. look at this margin, 20 points, and about 16,000 votes in this hamilton county here. key to governor romney's victory. go to the northeast corner of the state, cuyahoga county, where cleveland is, nearly a 20-point victory for governor romney over senator santorum. add other key urban and suburban areas. romney wins in akron and the suburbs. youngstown and the suburbs, romney wins by a smaller margin but still a victory. franklin county, 10% of the population, not as big a margin as in the corners, but romney wins again. his wins in urban and suburban areas offset huge santorum gains in the rural area. so a state where santor

we're expecting to hear rick santorum in a bit. andrea from the mitt romney candidate is here with us. do you know when your candidate will be speaking? >> i hope it's within the next hour. i haven't spoken with the campaign since i've been sitting here, but i would assume between 9:00 or 9:30 you'll see him speaking. >> this is a very good win for governor romney tonight. once again, it looks like a majority of working class voters supported senator santorum. i know the governor said he had a problem reaching these voters that he needed to work on this approach. what's gone wrong in terms of reaching those voters? >> i think what you also see is governor romney won around people who says he understands american's problems the most. working class people, his policies will help them the most. what we've seen is that governor romney has done so well in many of these contests against a large swath of voters. >> but why do you think he's not reaching out to those voters in the way he would like? or what can you do about that? >> well,

it is rick santorum's night. the candidate who began as a virtual unknown for many americans now can say his appeal stretches from middle america all the way down to the deep south. a big part of what we heard from his communications director tonight. jim acosta is live at rick santorum's headquarters right now in lafayette. jim acosta, what was the -- i guess, the celebration there. there was a bit of surprise. they seemed to have down played expectations coming into this. >> you're right about that, erin. when rick santorum said we did it again. cheers went up in this room. then later on in his speech he talked about how he did not see one poll in mississippi that showed him winning this contest tonight. and so i think this results in the deep south even surprised the santorum campaign. hi a chance to catch up with the former pennsylvania senator after his speech here for just a few moments. if anybody noticed rick santorum sounding hoarse tonight, that's because he's recovering from a cold. the next question f

did rick santorum close the deal? >> everybody knows full well my passion about defeating barack obama. >>> enough is enough! >> the killing of trayvon martin. >> no more! >> outrage intensifies across the country. the latest, a call for vigilante justice. >> we want justice! >>> science and justice. a new law offering new hope for crime victims. >> this is truly amazing. science doesn't lie. >> all that and more, right here, right now on cnn. >>> hello, everyone, i'm don lemon. thank you for joining us. i would like to welcome our viewers from around the world tonight. we're starting with breaking political news. the republican race for the white house. cnn projects rick santorum has won the louisiana presidential primary, giving the former pennsylvania senator another victory in the south. our tom forman is in washington. joe johns is in new orleans. crystal wright is in d.c. and monitoring rick santorum in green bay, wisconsin, to see if he speaks live in a moment. let's get straight to tom forman, who has been tra

it is rick santorum's night. the candidate began as a virtual unknown and counted out by many said his appeal stretches from middle america to the deep south. that is a very important thing for him and a big part of what we heard for his communications director. jim acosta is live at rick santorum's headquarters right now in lafayette. jim acosta, what was the celebration there? there was a little surprise. they seemed to have downplayed expectations. >> you are right about that. when ick santorum said we did it again, cheers went up and later on in the speech, we talked about how he did not see one poll showing him winning this contest and this results in the deep south even surprised the santorum campaign. i caught up with him for a few moments and if anyone noticed, he was hoarse tonight. he is recovering for a cold. the next big question is what happens to newt gingrich. if gingrich was not in the race tonight, santorum might have had him wire margins over mitt romney. i asked rick santorum do you think speak

rick santorum, 3,340. again, rick santorum, 3,340. newt gingrich, 2,852. 2,852. and ron paul at 539. wolf? >> so you see mitt romney still ahead in jackson county, but obviously, i don't think it's going to be enough to make a major difference state-wide. >> he's losing ground from a moment ago where he needs to be gaining ground. shannon is here in jackson county. this area along the gulf coast is critical to romney. as we're getting the numbers from having reporters on the scene, i'm going to zoom out, turn this off, the numbers will shrink as i pull out. you need to have romney pad his totals here, pad them here, and we're stale witting for greenville. the question is in a low turnout election, santorum gaining here, even though romney is still ahead. santorum is closing the gap. what happens in places like this. this is hines county, a large county, with 90% of the vote is in. not enough. >> let's check out alabama right now because dana bash is standing by over there. and she is in birmingham. what have you got? >> about 60 perce%, a little mon 60% of the vo

give santorum pennsylvania. rick santorum is still not gaining ground. and in's the problem he's got. >> and if he doesn't win pennsylvania, if santorum doesn't win pennsylvania his home state, by the way, that's a real problem for him. at that point, on the 24th, i think then it would certainly be a real issue for him if he couldn't carry pennsylvania. >> if he were to lose pennsylvania, that's curtains. i think he'd withdraw at that point. but i think ari's analysis is right if you look at the states. >> thank you, everyone. coming up, the latest in the case of 17-year-old trayvon martin. shot to death in a florida gated community. live report from sanford, florida. i'm speaking to two eyewitnesss who have startling things to say about how police responded to the shooting and what they saw with their own eyes. that goes to work in secondsf and freshens breath. new tums freshers. ♪ tum...tum...tum...tum... tums! ♪ [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, all in a pocket sized pack. [ male announcer ] fast relief, fresh breath, fore! no matter w

so very big night for rick santorum. no matter how you cut that cookie, that is the headline tonight, and not a great night for mitt romney. hope joins us now. he's the communications director for santorum. let me start off by asking you this question. we just listened to newt gingrich. he's unapologetic, heetzler staying in the race. how does it make you feel? >> he has every right to do so. we would never call on anyone to get out of any race. we didn't call for gingrich to get in the race. we're sure not going to call on him to get out of the race. the fact of the matter is if he wasn't in the race right now, not only would we be beating romney in the states, we would be beating his badly, but this is a democracy, he has every right to be in the race, but it's a good night for us and it shows rick santorum is not just a regional candidate. he can win in the south, in the midwest, in the west. and that's what he has been able to do so far. >> hogan, john and i want to walk through the math. i set this up with saying it

it says, rick santorum has a consistent core. and he showed that when he went to puerto rico and took an unpopular stance about english being the language of american. and we all know that mitt romney will say and do anything to get votes. this is another example of that. you can imagine, the romney campaign doesn't agree with this. and they say that romney has not flip-flopped at all on this issue. and they disagree with the santorum campaign. a slice of the nastiness you can see between the two campaigns. >> let's move forward to illinois now. santorum says if he wins that, he's got the nomination. romney says, he's ahead. >> we said michigan was a must-win for romney. the next week, ohio. this week, you can say, yes, it's illinois. a moderate state. a different feel than what we saw in mississippi and alabama. you saw mitt romney change his strategy. he wasn't supposed to be campaigning there until today. sundays are usually a slow day for mitt romney. spent the whole day there. you can see, illinois is a crucial state for mit

and i think rick santorum is that candidate. >> let's have some one-on-one debates between rick santorum and romney. i think that is the right process. >> i want to play you a clip of yesterday dropping a little bit of a gap. let's watch this and discuss it afterwards. >> we need a candidate who's going to be a fighter for freedom. who's 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 rate is going to be. it doesn't matter to me. my campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. >> now, whichever way you spin that, i guess that bold statement, i don't care what unemployment rate is going to be was a clumsy use of phrase. it also followed a few other clumsy phrases that have come out. the implication be from some people who like your man. he's getting a bit tired of campaign and he's losing that slight edge that you need at the crucial edge that we're now at. what do you say to that? >> i think what it really is is rick is an authentic candidate who doesn't use a tell prompter and

and rick santorum handily wins that. the truth is this was natural territory for rick santorum. let me show you why. always hear people talk about the bible belt. this is a map of evangelicals in the united states. the dark brown is most of them. when they talk about the bible belt it is that area right there. if we take it to louisiana, you can see why this is rick santorum territory. this section down here is where you will get the bigger part of the catholic part of the state. if you visit new orleans or something like that you may have the impression that catholics dominate the state. they are the largest christian group in the state but if you add up protestants they are close to the same level. the simple truth is by having this going, rick santorum was able to get a very important state here, you know why it is important? because this bridges him to may. in april he will go to a series of states where theo religious influence doesn't play the same as it does in louisiana that is strongly religious. if you get through may in to april, then he gets places like arkansas, ken

mitt romney is way ahead, but don't count rick santorum out. cnn's john king explains how the numbers could shake out. >> i'm going to go to the end of the process. look what we have given santorum. we give him kentucky, west virginia, north carolina, indiana, wisconsin, even if he won all of those states, with gingrich in the race getting some delegates, romney coming in second or coming in third and getting some delegates, look what happens? romney still clinches the nomination, still clinches the nomination, maybe, maybe if santorum could take away california, romney still clinches the nomination. santorum would also have to win some place like new jersey to deny him and romney would have a big lead. that's one scenario. even if you take gingrich out on the theory that maybe he exits the race, say after a santorum victory in louisiana, the proportional delegate rules in most states suggest again even being extraordinarily generous to senator santorum that romney will be difficult to beat. let me show you that scenario. i'll change the map a

it was rick santorum. my question to you, penny, where do newt's voters go if, in fact, newt wasn't maybe telling the entire truth that he's going to stay in all of the way to the convention and what if he does pull away from this fight, where do his supporters end up, do you think? >> well, and also i should say that i texted early this morning with rick santorum and he has already touched down in puerto ri rico. so he's not drinking southern comfort, if anything, probably rum. >> wow, at 6:30 in the morning. i want to party with that guy. >> i don't think he goes there. >> i'm going to quote you on this one. >> please. anyway, clearly, clearly for conservative voters, for women, for pro lifers, for people who are pro family, social conservatives, rick is the top choice. and certainly newt gingrich was able to get some of those votes. but if he's out of the race they clearly will go to santorum and make him a front runner. >> you're so sure about that? >> yes, i am so sure about that. let me just tell you

but for rick santorum -- >> are you serious? >> i think that rick santorum, he looking at tennessee's exit polls, he won the men by nine points, women by five points. he has a problem with women because of the way he talked about this issue. he has to address it if he -- >> but the point that he made is the point. he doesn't even believe mitt romney's positions himself. mitt romney has said on immigration he's as conservative as rick santorum. on contraception he's as conservative as rick santorum, but nobody believes him. >> but there's a way that you communicate that makes people attractive to you or pushed away from you. that's part of rick santorum's problem. i don't think romney has that. the other thing that you notice, it's so much harder to run for president than it was to run for senator or governor. everyone learns along the way. remember when clinton said she talked about getting off the plane and getting shot at by sniper fire and you can't get away with saying that. mitt romney and rick santorum have had their probl

is the a big win for rick santorum. he had to do well here, and oklahoma, the two big delegate prices. -- prizes. he's won a lot of caucuses but this is a good 2001 have at his belt. >> newt gingrich is getting ready to talk. his supporters all excited he has won the state of georgia. you see him there with his wife, newt gingrich getting ready to speak. maybe calista, his wife will speak first. we'll watch and see what happens, an important win for gingrich, important win in georgia. in tennessee, apparently did not do that well in tennessee. georgia, he wins. let's watch a little bit of this and see what's going on. we'll listen to calista and gingrich. >> thank you for that warm welcome. it's great to be back in atlanta. what an exciting evening. we are so proud of our many volunteers who have worked hard here and throughout the state of georgia. thank you from the bottom of our hearts. you have made this evening possible and we are very grateful. we have truly enjoyed being back in georgia throughout this campaign a

rick santorum, he did the best he could. i think it was a blunder on his part to go off to puerto rico for two days. he could have been spending those days in illinois doing a bit better. not sure it would have been much of a difference in terms of the final vote. his problem in illinois was he was not able to get on the ballot in four of these 19 congressional districts in illinois. so he's at a disadvantage in the delegate count even if he were to have gotten more votes in illinois and he's not going to. he's going to do more poorly than romney. he's not getting near the delegates in illinois. but it's not over for rick santorum by any means. louisiana is coming up as you point out on saturday. more contests in april. he's waiting for some of the other states in may and even june to come in. so he's in this. certainly shaping up to be a two-man race. mitt romney and rick santorum. >> and john king, tell me exactly where we are tonight. how many votes have come in? how are you seeing the night progressing? >> well, if you'r

rick santorum though can't be counted out. he took oklahoma, tennessee, and he also really smoked them in north dakota, too. newt gingrich no, surprise here, he took his home state of georgia by a massive margin. so brand new delegate estimate, including alaska. thank you to the wonderful and talented robert yun who does the math for us. 404 delegates for mitt romney. 165 for rick san santorum. and 106 for newt gingrich and 66 for ron paul. mitt romney telling supporters, though, i am so into that math. have a listen. >> tonight we're doing some counting. we're counting up the delegates for the convention. it looks good. we're counting down the days until november, and that looks even pbetter. >> how did he get into good at the man smiling at the mike. catholics, catholics really helped mitt romney squeak by in ohio. 44% of the catholics chose mitt romney. only 31% chose the catholic, rick santorum. our political editor paul steinhauser is in columbus, ohio, live for us this morning. it ain't the first time i heard that story,

that's from rick santorum. similar statements were said by all the republican candidates about this case. do you see this as a political issue? >> i think it says something for rick santorum that he would make that remark. clearly for me it does not overshadow some of the other things that he stands for, but i'm happy he would make a remark like this, but i would hope, though i'm not necessarily encouraged by some of the other things he's done that if for example he were to be elected by the president of the united states, his justice didn't would pursue these cases, but based on what we've seen from republican administrations in the past, the justice department has looked beyond some of these case snas and i want to add that mitt romney and newt gingrich had similar things to say. i want to thank both of you reverend calvin butts and pastor ch charley hames. we thank you. >> thank you. >> for more, be sure to watch my exclusive interview with florida governor rick scott on "state of the union" on sunday at k9d

rick santorum second, 261. 1144 are needed to secure the nomination. >>> rick santorum came out of the weekend with another win under his belt. he easily won louisiana primary on saturday adding to his southern state winning streak, but was it as big of a win as it sounds? let's take it over to our political reporter joining me from washington. santorum got 49% of the vote in louisiana. did that translate into a big delegate advantage? five delegates. he won ten out of the louisiana primary to romney's five. only 20 delegates were at stake. louisiana is a complicated formula for awarding delegates. the santorum tried to bill this win as another seismic change in the republican race but the romney campaign was really lowering expectations. romney only appeared in the state two times ahead of the primary. you know, most people this weekend were probably watching requesting the hunger games or basketball. so this didn't get the attention the santorum campaign probably wanted. not a huge win and delegatewise, no the a huge win for him on saturday. >> what is mitt romney's campaign saying?

but for rick santorum -- >> are you serious? >> i think that rick santorum, he looking at tennessee's exit polls, he won the men by nine points, women by five points. he has a problem with women because of the way he talked about this issue. he has to address it if he -- >> but the point that he made is the point. he doesn't even believe mitt romney's positions himself. mitt romney has said on immigration he's as conservative as rick santorum. on contraception he's as conservative as rick santorum, but nobody believes him. >> but there's a way that you communicate that makes people attractive to you or pushed away from you. that's part of rick santorum's problem. i don't think romney has that. the other thing that you notice, it's so much harder to run for president than it was to run for senator or governor. everyone learns along the way. remember when clinton said she talked about getting off the plane and getting shot at by sniper fire and you can't get away with saying that. barack oba barack -- mitt romney and rick santorum

rick santorum up against mitt romney. rick santorum won by 30 points and won every county in missouri when that happened. >> finally, john, can we assume we will not see rick santorum uttering the word snob in regard to college education and will resist from saying john f. kennedy made him throw up. >> this the first campaign in history of presidential politics in recent history that we don't have a pollsters and wordsmiths telling the candidate what to do. you will have words you wish you could pull back after you said it. if you have a genuine candidate not being told what to say but speaking from his heart, people see that genuine nature. it's endearing over time and people see he's a real candidate and not somebody with a pollster telling him what to say. >> i'll look for rick santorum talking from his heart to me tomorrow night. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you for having me. a pleasure being here with you. >> always for me as well. thank you very much. >>> coming up a woman who knows more than most about bat

and i will use yellow for rick santorum. and remember, down here, in this area bordering pennsylvania, critical and toledo as well and why he has been targeting the blue collar voters in this economy and he is better candidate for them. i want to do a history lesson and go back in time saying why is he doing this? well, i want to go back to the democratic primary in 2008, and you see hillary clinton winning here, and blue collars youngstown, and akron and toledo and barack obama in suburban columbus, and columbus, and cleveland and african-american population as well, but president obama out in the suburbs. so tonight in terms of the turnout, you have the same dynamic, and more upscale suburban voters were critical for barack obama, and they are critical for mitt romney, and the blue collar voters were huge for hillary clinton and they are huge tonight for senator santorum, wolf. >> okay. john, a lot of information to digest, and certainly so far, newt gingrich wins georgia and mitt romney winning virginia. but guess what? w

santorum's super pac, the pro rick santorum's super pac plasting h -- blasting him saying that he left a $1 billion of debt when he left the governorship of massachusetts. but that is what happens in politics. >> well, from the analyst you have done -- >> well, it could be desperate end for newt gingrich on the other hand if he does not win one of the two southern states tonight with the campaign presumably in a lot of trouble. santorum will go on, because next tuesday, they are in illinois and advertising to be ready for a huge primary in illinois. >> i was looking at the numbers and as usual mitt romney with the super pac millions of dollars. and he predicted he would win one-third of the delegates tonight. >> he will probably given the proportional nature of distributing the delegates. >> is that enough? >> well, way ahead, and he has double of the delegates of santorum, and more than gingrich and ron paul is way, way behind and yet to win any of the primaries or caucuses. so methodically, that will keep mitt romney going, and obviously he would like the win them all, but the drepub

rick santorum, mitt romney. so we're going to be able to hopefully get a better sense of where we're going down the road. not only louisiana next weekend, but eventually in wisconsin, maryland. we've got big states. new york, california, texas. we've got a lot of states coming up. >> john king, this is as close to a two-man competition that rick santorum has been able to have. newt gingrich and ron paul not competitive in the state of illinois. >> so a big romney win would undermine the santorum argument say give me a one-on-one shot and i'll win. if he goes after winning puerto rico. say are the map scenarios unlikely. >> the polls are about to close. back to wolf blitzer. >> thanks very much. all the polls will be closed in only a few seconds.

rick santorum was a senator when you were a governor. what's wrong with rick santorum? >> it's not what's wrong with rick it's what's right with mitt. last week was interesting, john. both member had pretty good weeks, i think mitt ended up having the better week. my advocacy for mitt romney has what i believe everything to do with having led a private sector, demonstrated his leadership in the government sector and leadership at the olympics. i know all four candidates left in the race. i just prefer mitt romney to the other three. >> i want to ask you a question. you navigated your state. you won a house district. i covered you back then and a democratic district. then you became governor in a democratic state. democrats -- republicans having carried pennsylvania in republican mix for a very long time as you well know. are a lot of people making the argument now the longer this race goes on governor romney is being pulled to the right by candidates like senator santorum. i want you to listen here. this is governor romney giving an interview yesterday to a local statio

rick santorum pulled off a much needed win in the kansas caucuses today. rick santorum has 51%. romney was a distant second 21%. i bring in our chief political correspondent candy crowley from washington. candy santorum has a win under his belt but tuesday's contests are looming large. >> they could be a springboard. there's been momentum in some of the races but if you look back we saw big wins, mitt romney in new hampshire, went to south carolina, and got pummeled by newt gingrich and newt gingrich won and he went to florida and got pummeled, so momentum hasn't always come through for these candidates but listen, if you look at alabama and you look at mississippi, there's two states that are ahead on tuesday. you pretty much do see territory fought over by newt gingrich and rick santorum. the south has not been friendly to mitt romney. he still expects to pick up delegates there, and there are some places in alabama where it looks as though mitt romney might make a run for it. the fact of the matter is that this is rick santorum's time, if you will, to get rid of newt gingrich

rick santorum, couple of examples from him. wants to triple the deduction for children and bring a corporate flat tax of 17.5%. there is no way to memorize that. but these candidates have given us some specific examples of what they say they would do and a really good time for you to take a look at that. there is also this website that we linked to from cnnpolitics.com. they look at these measure issues, look at what the candidates have said on the issues, what the promises are, and they dig in and say, okay, how would this play out. now is a good time to think through all of this. hopefully people get a sense of the specifics. >> a good resource. people need that information before making a very important vote. >> and the truth is ultimately as we know, not every promise turns out to be what a president does in office, however, one of the gop candidates or president obama will be the president, we'll be holding their feet to the fire saying this is what you promised. before you place your vote, it makes sense to say, hey, this

but for rick santorum -- >> are you serious? >> i think that rick santorum, he looking at tennessee's exit polls, he won the men by nine points, women by five points. he has a problem with women because of the way he talked about this issue. he has to address it if he -- >> but the point that he made is the point. he doesn't even believe mitt romney's positions himself. mitt romney has said on immigration he's as conservative as rick santorum. on contraception he's as conservative as rick santorum, but nobody believes him. >> but there's a way that you communicate that makes people attractive to you or pushed away from you. that's part of rick santorum's problem. i don't think romney has that. the other thing that you notice, it's so much harder to run for president than it was to run for senator or governor. everyone learns along the way. remember when clinton said she talked about getting off the plane and getting shot at by sniper fire and you can't get away with saying that. mitt romney and rick santorum have had their probl

rick santorum, okay. i'm still alive. >> thank goodness. >> reporter: look at the vote total from georgia. as the lights almost fall down on me. look at that. 21-point victory for gingrich in georgia. he said i have to win georgia to keep going. he did. he didn't do so well in the other states. for newt gingrich a win in georgia was enough. take a listen to what his daughter said after his victory. >> well, the reality is, if mitt romney was the candidate that people wanted, he would have had the nomination by now. that's the way it should have worked according to them. that's the way it would have worked. that's not who the conservatives want. >> reporter: and what about ron paul? let's give him a little time as well. he deserves it. he did not win a state. he thought he was going to win north dakota. he did not. he got delegates. that's what he needs to carry on. everybody came away a winner in some way, shape or form on super tuesday and here's another thing you can bank on, this race is going on at le

a big win for rick santorum in the race for the white house. cnn projects that he has won the louisiana presidential primary giving him another victory in the south. these are the latest numbers in the emergency count. those numbers will continue to update overnight. look at this map. it shows how santorum swept every parish but one, it seems. since tom foreman has been crunching the numbers. so, tom, what with are the numbers showing you? >> oh, man. they show us what's behind that map are some real trends they have to pay attention to. number one is the economy. look at this. that was the big issue that everyone was voting on. 51% of the people that we surveyed said that was the big issue for them there. look at what happened there. we break it down by how much money they make. various categories. the biggest group is here. look n all of these groups, rick santorum won every one except for the people who make more than $200,000 a year. and he won big. if you look at this group, 30 to 50,000, he won 49% to romney's 21%. newt gingrich did bette

that rick santorum, if you're rick santorum tonight and you're newt gingrich, there's nothing that happened tonight thereat ts you to go home, and that's critical. and the other thing was what we were talking about earlier. the places that mitt romney is weak is places that a republican nominee are going to have to win come november. because barack obama is going to win those urban areas, he's going to win significant states, and if you look at some of the states where romney is losing, that doesn't spell enthusiasm for a republican nominee in november. >> i'm going to bring in jessica yellin. from the white house perspective, they have to be happy. >> the longer this goes on, the happier they are they get to stay out of it. one of the, you know, developing storylines we see is that as much as romney remains the toughest challenger in the general election, they still expect romney to be the challenger, there is this emerging idea that if santorum, you know, were to ultimately challenge him, he has certain attributes that could cause more problems for the president because he does play bette

rick santorum is standing by. tom, what do you know? >> reporter: well, we know that one of the things that made a difference tonight was the religious vote. if we look at the turnout here, you look at the voters who came i'll ask what it will take for mitt romney to nail down the nomination as rick santorum continues to challenge. and the woman behind the campaign surge, karen santorum. what she thinks of charges that her husband is anti-women. >> it makes me really sad that the media tries to do that to him. they try to make it look like he's something that he's not. rick is a great guy. he's completely supportive of women. he's surrounded by a lot of very strong women. and i think women have nothing to fear when it comes to contraceptives. he will do nothing on that issue. >> we begin tonight with our big story, an exclusive interview with anne romney. and the candidate's wife joins me now. tell me this. it's been a rough old campaign. everyone accepts that. i always think most of them are anyway. but it's been especially rough. and

i'm torn between rick santorum and mitt romney. rick santorum she felt doesn't have as much experience as she would like in terms ever handling the economy but speaks with passion. she said about mitt romney that he has the experience, the business experience that she believes will help right the economy, but that she believes that she doesn't quite know who he is. so a lot of undecided voters. there was emblematic of a lot of people i spoke with. also earlier today, ron paul was the only candidate here actively campaigning on caucus day. and i had a chance to catch up with him and talk to him about, again, his strategy of amassing delegates. take a listen, don. >> well, it's everybody's race to win. i'm sure even though romney the not here he's hoping always for the best. i think we dual that. but i nerve are think it's do or die for anything. everybody's still in the race. there's no declared winner. so i think we're all going to keep doing what we're doing, as maximizing our chances to get more delegates and we feel good about t

do you want mitt romney or rick santorum? eric fern strom at romney advisers said rick santorum would be like cement shoes for republicans also on that ticket. it's all part of the romney message they're the only campaign ready for primetime in this campaign. >> jim across ta live for us on the trail. thanks so much. let's take a closer look at the stakes. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. the states filled in are the states we've already had. you see more romney red than anything else. santorum purple in the middle. romney expects to win massachusetts and vermont, he expects to win virginia. he thinks he'll win out here in idaho, question mark about this one, maybe ron paul, maybe mitt romney and here's the biggest battleground tomorrow, the state of ohio. if romney wins, as he says today, i'm the nominee. do you buy that? >> i think if he wins ohio, it's sort of the beginning of the end if you will. you can make the case that he's won five going into this. if he wins ohio, bellwether in a general election n

we haven't yet heard from rick santorum. the house budget committee is willing to take it up with the full house voting for it next week, but again, wolf, it has no chance in the senate. >> we'll see what happens on the road and in november. that's when all of the action presumably will take place, kate. thank you. >> we are standing by with the first exit poll information coming from illinois right now. it's another big primary night for the republican presidential candidates. michele bachmann, she tells me there's a reason why she hasn't yet endorsed any of the candidates. my interview with michele bachmann coming up. sarah palin's daughter bristol issues a letter to president obama wondering why he hasn't called her yet. stand by.e? 've been paying in all these years... years washington's been talking at us, but they never really listen... listen...it's not just some line item on a budget; it's what i'll have to live on... i live on branson street, and i have something to say... [ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the con

what about rick santorum? he was tied in the polls with governor romney heading into the poll in ohio. slightly more. 61% of ohio republicans say yes, i'd be satisfied if rick santorum wins the nomination. as you see this you know a tough battle between santorum and romney for conservative voters and some sense of hesitation and reservation. it will be very important as we watch all ten contests tonight and pitch forward after super tuesday if the republicans finally settle on a candidate then big challenge will be healing their wounds. we have a long way to go tonight before we know we can answer that settle question. >> john, thanks very much. we have correspondents covering all the campaigns tonight. first candy crowly is covering mitt romney's campaign. he wrapped up a little informal q&a candy with reporters out there. what's the message he and his folks are trying to project tonight? >> listen. the same message that they've been trying to project for the last ten days, 12 days. they want to get back to j

rick santorum 7%. newt gingrich 1%. ron paul 1%, again, this is 7% of the results are in right now, we're going to continue to update you on this. romney was endorsed by puerto rico's governor, and romney and santorum both campaigned last week. if no one gets 50% of the delegates, they'll be awarded proportionately. we'll continue to update these results as they come in. they're coming in moment by moment. don't go anywhere. man, this is going down to the convention and still we don't know what is going to happen. exciting. and nothing gets americans riled up more than talking about politics than gas prices. but who's really to blame? let's talk about gas price politics in the white house rice. with with will cane and a senior writer for espn.com. we'll have to get you a shorter intro i'm going to start with will just for that. is it really fair to blame the president, any president i'm talking about, george bush, president obama, clinton, whomever about gas prices, about high gas prices? >> simple answer. that's it. >>

rick santorum did well in other categories. that said, you have to bear in mind, is there good news for this in mitt romney? there maybe in this regard, look at this, for all of the overwhelming vote you say who's most likely to defeat obama, all polls indicate 44% mitt romney is the one by this big margin. the simple truth there is a silver lining to all of this for mitt romney that may be it. don? >> very cool numbers crunching. love the magic wall. bit jealous. tom foreman joining us. thank you, tom. i'm don lemon at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. more piers morgan after the break. i heard they found energy here. it's good. we need the jobs. [customer:] we need to protect the environment. [worker:] we could do both. is that possible? [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs. less emissions. a good answer for everyone. well, if it's cleaner and affordable. as long as we keep these safe. there you go. thanks. [announcer:] conocophillips. is mo

. >>> tonight rick santorum's secret weapon. his wife karen. last time they were here, she made the case for her candidate. >> he's a man of conviction and deep faith. he's a man who has the courage to lead. >> tonight she speaks out for the first time on her own. my exclusive interview with karen santorum. plus massachusetts senator scott brown. >> newt gingrich and rick santorum now have secret service with them. in santorum's case, i think it's the first time he's ever used protection. >> a rising republican star is a rare thing, a moderate. and only in america. the '80s obsession. this is "piers morgan tonight." >>> good evening. our big story tonight, the santorum surge continues. and there's a woman as always behind the man and the surge. karen santorum. i'll ask her about tough talk like this from her husband today. >> let's just be brutally honest about it. there's one candidate in this race that can never make this race about freedom. because he simply abandoned freedom when he was governor of massachusetts and he abandoned it when he

. >> paul, for rick santorum, for everybody in louisiana and that could be good news for rick santorum. >> it could be. i'll let her speak about the interesting divide there and why i think you'll see the catholics running hardest and strongest in a very protestant, north louisiana area. but the most striking thing to me, and if i was santorum, i would cling to this, 40% of republican primary voters today said they had reservations about the candidate they voted for. not about another candidate. but when four out of ten still say that they're not happy with the candidate voted for, of course many of them may have said that about santorum himself, that's something politicians sometimes use to fuel a dying candidacy. >> what about louisiana? north louisiana is really home of the self described christian evangelical movement. and, also, rick santorum has a hard problem, really, solidifying a catholic vote. so i think rick santorum can covery well in weekend in louisiana. but, you know, i already said something very important. that's the last southern state. that's the last south state. bu