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

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

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 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

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

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

verizon. . >> juliet: iment rick santorum will win the state of alabama. >> project that rick santorum will win mississippi. >> abc news projects that rick santorum will win in mississippi. >> those were the results on mini super tuesday night and when rick santorum won it seemed to catch the media by price. >> i think it caught mitt romney by surprise and sometimes we're in this together no matter where our bias comes from. i thought that michael medved had a great piece, chronicled everything about romney and em pa sizing santorum, they don't like him either, his value as insurgent, worth noting. >> the thing though about being a bun dit. and i speak as one, this is why i don't do predictions, you can be wrong more than half of the time. almost all of the time and it's like a fortune teller, people keep coming back for more. the most amazing thing. bob beckel the co-host of "the five", i advised walter mondale and now i'm on television. >> jon: and part of the michael medved piece, people tend to beat on the front runner, whether it's santorum or romney at the moment. they feel he ca

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 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

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

win for rick santorum. we cannot call second or third in the state of alabama. let's check in now with carl cameron in alabama. good evening, carl, interesting things from speaker gingrich in our interview. you talked to him earlier. >> yeah. we have an opportunity to head up stairs to the suite while he's watching return was wife and staffers. and very, very calm, selected and. lots of laughing and phone calls going on. he was talking to his supporters around the country. we talked with him. he clearly said during the results before the races were call that had no matter outcome he intended to go to tampa. we talked about his firm belief there is no way romney can win a majority based on gingrich's estimation of the math. it boils down to gingrich camp assertion romney may one a plurality but there is no way he can win a majority. he'd gotten personal on a number of occasions nchl presidential campaigns candidates like to talk about policy differences and misrepresentations of the truth or inability to be

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, 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

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

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

mitt romney, rick santorum, they're in a dead heat in the critical fight for ohio. if santorum could pull off a win, he would turn the political terms on its head. he has won tennessee and oklahoma and north dakota. if he takes ohio, romney could be in jeopardy. he has won in virginia, massachusetts and vermont. but ohio is the one race that can change everything. and david muir is covering the romney campaign for us. so, david, mitt romney has got to be thinking, what have i got to do to shake this guy, santorum? it is really a test for him. >> reporter: yeah. and you really sense that within this campaign, terry. just 24 hours ago, one adviser told me, they really liked the numbers they were seeing. the momentum heading into super tuesday. particularly in ohio because they thought that a decisive win in ohio, would help them close the deal on this republican nomination. if they could start making the case, that the other candidates won't be able to catch up mathematically. but that argument becomes much more difficult, without the decisive victory that might still

gwen: chuck, you spent a lot of time with rick santorum. is that his strategy, saying i am the clear alternative? >> yes, we were talking about the electability problem that he's had and it is a problem. in state after state republicans have said it's very important for me to beat obama. they tend to go for mitt romney. santorum has been arguing with limited success the best way to beat obama is with a clear dramatic contrast in the fall. he says that mitt romney is too much like obama, especially on health care. that's his favorite point to make when he says the massachusetts plan was a model for what they call obama care. but i think there's so much else going on, and in some ways santorum detracts from his own message or augments it when he gets into the social issues like birth control and the catholic church and john f. kennedy's speech that he might be watering down -- gwen: on on election night he found himself having to backpedal and making an appeal to voters, talking about his mother, who was a working woman, and his wife, who was

ternz has gone to rick santorum. that's one where mitt romney had hoped to come from behind and beat santorum, try to shut down the race a little more rapidly. ohio the state romney must win tonight to preserve his claim as the frontrunner remains too close to call. we'll keep you updated. >>> the bottom line for voters this super tuesday, economic issues. brian westbury is chief economist at first trust advisers. dan greenhouse is chief global strategist with bit and a senior contributor. brian let me kick this off with you. give us your sense of where we are in the economy. a tough day in the markets today. are we back to worrying about things like jobs and oil? or do you think things have turned a corner? >> yeah. i think things have turned a corner. if i were looking for a catalyst to why the market was down today, i would say the fact that the house passed this chinese tariff bill that the senate had passed. it's now on its way to the senate. we're starting or potentially starting a trade war with china right no

rick santorum won fairly handily, 34-28%. let's move to tennessee, 55 delegates there, proportionately divided. and rick santorum 37 to mitt romney's 28%. north dakota's caucus, not a primary, 28 delegates there, and rick santorum 40% to ron paul's 28%. >> maybe there were some surprises, but one surprise i think we can agree on, gregg, is georgia. newt gingrich won his home state of georgia. he spent a lot of time there, meeting and greeting and hoping for a win there. he takes georgia tonight. and alaska, of course, has not yet been called. >> but it could be called fairly shortly. so we will wait and see. wait for that. let's go to carl cameron from mitt romney headquarters in boston. hi, carl. >> reporter: hi, gregg am once again, first in and last out. most of the romney celebrants took off a long time ago. for mitt romney, a big night. 10 contests and he won half of them. that's what the romney campaign hoped for. there were mosts in the last 12 hours that they were worried. there were moments in the last four or five h

and conservative rick santorum is giving the front-runner, mitt romney, a stunning run for the money. we'll tell you everything you need to know about the latest in this historic primary. >>> and game on. who can beat obama? while the republicans vote, president obama tried to steal the show. >> now, i understand there are some political contests going on tonight. >> what did tonight's results tell us about how a race against the president could go down? >>> plus, palin versus hbo. it's the game-changing tv movie that's got sarah palin fuming. and demanding this film about her swift rise be labeled fiction. we'll tell you why she's crying foul. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, this is a special edition of "nightline," super tuesday showdown. >>> good evening. i'm terry moran. tonight it was a rollicking super tuesday with ten states and 437 delegates up for grabs in what now seems like a marathon republican contest to take on president barack obama. tonight saw mitt romney and rick santorum locked i

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.

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

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

as rick santorum showed surprising strength. >> good evening, i am judy woodruff. >> a and i am again eiffel we will have the latest results and analysis on this pbs special report on today's voting from alaska to georgia .. >> mitt romney had hoped to over wellment his rivals tonight, instead he found himself in a fierce struggle with rick santorum. >> romney claimed wins in three states, massachusetts, where he was once governor, and vermont and virginia. but santa santa bested him in the north dakota caucuses and the oklahoma and tennessee primaries. >> and newt gingrich came up with a single win in his home state of georgia. >> one of the night's biggest prizes, ohio, remained too close to call, with santorum and romney in a virtual tie. romney spent this election night in massachusetts and addressed his support in other words boston, here is some of what he said. >> this, it is wonderful to be able to go home tonight for the first time in two months. [ cheers and applause ] >> and what cash ann said it right. what a great night. we are so excited to be in the bay state tonight, c

we called oklahoma for rick santorum. that is a big win for rick santorum. he spent time in that state. at one time newt gingrich was competing in oklahoma, a lot of social conservatives there. what about oklahoma? >> well, i think oklahoma is big roar rick santorum because it allows him to continue to make the argument that he is the conservative alternative to mitt romney. we don't know yet how the delegate breakdown will break out because of complicated delegate rules there because it's clear he dual well there and come away with the number of delegates. he looks like he will come away with a number of delegates in tennessee, ohio, some of these other places as well. rick santorum's goal tonight is to be able to continue to make the argument that he and not newt gingrich is the conservative alternative to mitt romney. >> megyn: we heard earlier some speck, brit, about the win for mitt romney and virginia. ron paul did rather well there and some were suggesting that could be an endorsement of ron paul maybe proving some momentum for ron paul. there is anot

we cannot count out rick santorum. he did particularly well in ohio managing to stay competitive there as well as winning tennessee, oklahoma and north dakota. here's what both men had to say after the votes had been counted. >> on november 6th, we are going to stand united not only having won an election but having save add future. >> this was a big night tonight. lots of states. we are going to win a few, we are going to lose a few, but as it looks right now we are going to get at least a couple of gold medals and a whole tassel full of silver metals. >> newt gingrich took georgia. that ended up paying off for him. it will win a lot of delegates. he has a strong showing in the south but he face as bit of an uphill battle. then there is ron paul. he was hoping to bupull off one victory. he came in second in a number of states. he says he still managed to get his message out there. it is a resounding one. nobody managed to stake the claim on the nomination yet. more than 1,000 delegates are needed to do that. we will c

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

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 capital right back at the center of his campaign. rick santorum, not apparently working from notes. certainly not working from a te

host: he can also be a kingmaker, rick santorum. guest: you don't get to 1140 quick enough and in that sense, newt gingrich could make a difference of it gets to tampa. if you look at the arithmetic, it looks like mitt romney could very well have these numbers in hand by the end of the primaries on june 5. host: let's go back to the party rules. there are some changes from 2008 on the republican national committee rules. guest: originally, they looked at what happened in 2008 and how exciting that was and hillary clinton and barack obama, they could not stop talking about it. the republicans looked at that and said that would not be so bad for us. they set the example of this thing would be more protracted than has been. i think there is a lot of regret by the republic is that this thing could be over by now but by their own design, they have it set up so it has allowed santorum and gingrich to pick up delegates along the way even though they are not winning all the states. it is retracted until we get into the winner-take-all and t

if you are rick santorum, you are looking to alabama and mississippi. >> great places for rick santorum. >> all the voting groups, a big evangelical population, low income of voters. they will be disastrous states for mitt romney. >> the white house has been watching these results. a good night for barack obama? >> this whole primary season has been good for barack obama. if he wins this election, we will look back in february and march as the point where it turned around. >> ok, this will be the time we see it starting to turn around. that is what the white house is hoping for. thank you for joining us. you have been watching our special super tuesday coverage. >> stay with us. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by -- the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu, newman's own foundation, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers use their expertise in global finance to guide you through the business strategies and opportunities of international commerce. we put our extended global network to work for a

and rick santorum is doing very well in tennessee. but the interesting thing i think about newt gingrich is that he continues to push his $2.50 a gallon policy plan to try to get voters. this is a poster they're putting out. you see the three numbers. the most important three numbers to a presidential campaign, if you will, since 9-9-9 and herman cain. he's pushing that very hard. he's got new ads out and some of the other southern states trying to get people angry about this. even though a lot of economists and others have said, presidents do not have the ability to affect world gas prices. but newt gingrich things he can do it with a variety of different proposals and he's banking on that to get him votes in the south. we'll see, wolf. back to you. >> critical for newt gingrich if he doesn't win his home state, he probably will drop out. i want to show you the numbers right now. 41% of the vote is in. 41% of the washington state caucuses. 37% for mitt romney, 24% for ron paul and 24% for rick santorum. they're virtually tied. senato