presidential candidate newt gingrich is tonight's told time when. our guys it's time for a happy hour and joining me tonight is lauren lyster host of the capital account here on r.t.e. and comedian lafayette right hey guys thanks for joining me as well why i welcome to the show but. we're going to start this evening off with reminding us ourselves what it's like when obama likes to sing a song. the was. loose was. now let's compare that with what happens when mitt romney tries to sing a song. oh beautiful for spacious skies for. i mean. there are ads i just don't get any better or worse i guess i gotta give it a bit of press about obama going to he's black and over for the next turn. around but i'll hear the obama was impressed me he says saying. they're now being oppressed some even flow. saying it just like you know this recited the lyrics you know why it's a good life again that kind of thing but when the south al green was cheating well whatever i want to see mitt romney does and al green that yeah you know ok yeah bring it on guys. i think i sh

from speaker gingrich. we came to florida and gingrich didn't have two good debates. i did. we responded. we responded to the attack that were coming from us. if you're attacked, i'm going to fight back and fight back hard. did note that in the suffolk university poll they asked the people in florida who has run the most negative campaign in florida, they said newt gingrich. he can't whine about negative campaigning when he launched a negative campaign in south carolina. >> mitt romney speaking to reporters about the tones of the ads in florida. next will be nevada, a key caucus state for the candidates. rick santorum already in nevada. ron paul campaigning in that state as well. again, most states have the por portional delegate count, if you come in second or third you'll still garner some of the delegates leading up to the convention in august. the florida primary is a winner take all. the votes will go to mitt romney or newt gingrich. >> nevada families lost everything in the housing crisis, newt gingrich cashed in. gingrich was paid over $1.6 million by the agency that

. >> angie sandoval val con la campaÑa de newt gingrich y el pulso de una primera contienda donde el voto latino ha sido corto jaed, comenzamos con angie sandov sandoval. >> buenas tardes josÉ despues de tres consultas que dieron a tres ganadores completamente diferente, la florida podrÍa llevar la nominaciÓn republicana. >> hablamos con muchos votantes que nos dijeron que acudieron a las urnas no por obligaciÓn patriÓtica. >> (♪). >> o votaron en primarias le hizo casi llorar. >> una compaÑÍa de construcciÓn Éramos ricos y estamos en el suelo. >> como esta residente de orlando, casi un millÓn de hispanos republicanos pudieran acudir a las urnas pensando en sus bolsillos. >> tiene que echar palante y el presidente obama estÁ entrando ahora no sirve. >> muchos como juan cortÉz. >> espero que romney combagane. >> el ex gobernador de massachusetts quiÉn invirtiÓ 7 millones de dÓlares solamente en comerciales en este estado, y se perfila como el favorito parecÍa hoy casi saborear la victoria. >> (en inglÉs). >> tanto asÍ que ya cambiÓ su tÁctica. >> hasta ayer ataca

mitt romney and newt gingrich pullout all the stops in hopes of winning the biggest republican prize yet. and their goal was to grow into the record books. instead, this crew fell 500 miles short of their trans- atlantic journey. we will have their harrowing tale. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. western allies have brought in some of their heaviest hitters to the united nations to demand that action be taken against syria. after 10 months of the deadly crackdown, more than 5400 people have been killed, and now, the assad regime is coming under increasing pressure, but will the security council be able to overcome raises resistance to sign on to the draft? >> syria's anguish has come to the streets of new york and to the united nations. syrian exiles, including victims of the assad regime, are demanding united nations support. it seeks to strip president assad of power within two months. william hague is one of the key foreign ministers who have come to new york to back arab league ministers. he deliberately stresses that it is the arab world, not the we

gingrich dijo que tiene un camino al triunfo. >>> unificando a conservadores, puedes ganar delegados, y la nominaciÓn, hay mÁs de 450 mil votantes hispanos inscriptos como republicanos, el 11% de electores del partido, 368 mil cubano-americanos, desde el 2006 aumenta el nÚmero en filas demÓcratas, cubanos americanos, y puertorriqueÑos el 60% en la flori florida, el tema migratorio no les toca de cerca. >>> vote a mitt romney, el mejor, y mÁs preparado para narle al presidente. >>> 47% aproyarÍa a mitt romney. Él no revelÓ su voto, pero le gustÓ que apoyarÁ la estabilidad de puerto rico. >>> no todos queremos lo mismo, depende el origen de uno. >>> esta venezolana lo votÓ a gingrich. >>> lo que dijo del comunismo, y cÓmo lucharÁ contra monstruos dictadores. >>> votÓ por santorum. >>> me atrajo sus principios, y su fe. >>> ni santorum, ni paul estÁn en la florida. >>> mitt romney parece que estÁ en camino a recuperarse de cuando fue derrotado aquÍ en la florida, en el 2008, m cain me ganÓ en la primaria, y mccain apoya a mitt romney en la contienda, el ganador se llev

almost all of it attacking newt gingrich. and now consider this fact -- in the last week, the romney campaign has aired only a single fox news tif ad that was featuring romney's son in spanish. heavily favored tonight a confident mitt romney made his final appeal to voters in tampa, trying to shore up support in a state he lost four years ago. >> anne and christine, this is mitt romney calling. i'm sorry to have missed you, but it's actually me calling. >> on the campaign trail monday night -- ♪ ♪ oh beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain ♪ >> reporter: romney led the crowd in singing "america the beautiful." >>. ♪ america, america >> reporter: but despite strong poll number, ro. knee has yet to show he can convince the conservative party base that he's the best choice. romney says his surge here is the campaign's decision for negative ads against newt gingrich. >> we stood back and spoke about president obama and suffered the consequence of that. >> reporter: still recent polls show that his strategy i

will gingrich fight on? >>> growing threat, america warns that iran is willing to launch a terrorist strike inside the u.s. we'll tell you his evidence? >> cheaters but not students. and a let college caught lying about s.a.t. scores to hike their ranking on one of their top college lists. >>> and muscling in. meet the waitress who became an ironworker. the new wave of women changing their bodies to double their salary. >>> good evening, a moment of truth tonight for the republican candidates who have bruised and battled their way to the florida primary, the biggest state to vote so far. and here are some of our florida neighbors filing into the voting booths today. the latest poll has mitt romney with a double-digit lead over his closest rival newt gingrich who is still hoping to deny those odds and the abc news political team has been out in force all day taking us behind the scenes talking to the candidates and abc's david muir starts us off from romney headquarters tonight, david? >> reporter: good eveni

gingrich spent about $4 million. i mean, this thing has gotten so nasty down here that dave berry, the columnist in for the miami "herald" said today florida should have prepared for it like they prepare for a hurricane. but he said "instead of nailing plywood over your windows they should have nailed it on the front of their television sets." >> pelley: the candidates have gone at each other so hard. somebody in the newsroom today said the winner of the florida primary might be president obama. >> well, he hasn't won yet, but i'll tell you this, this is going to cost the republicans. an abc poll the other day said among independents nationally, mitt romney's favorability ratings have gone from the mid-40s down to 23%. so they're going to have some stuff to do to correct this. >> pelley: bob, thank you very much. stay with cbs news for the latest on the florida primary. we'll have updates for you throughout the evening. we got new information today on one of the big issues in the election and that's the federal defic

sorry guys it's time for tonight's tool time award and tonight we're giving it to crotchety old newt gingrich yet again it's one of his stops along the campaign trail in florida who decided to set his moon colony and his child labor proposals aside to talk about religion but not all religion just the one that new follows if he tried to share a very sweet tale about how he and his third wife calista attended a catholic mass and how the church was speaking out against the obama administration's stance that insurance companies should have to cover birth control for women and all steps from his attack on mitt romney yesterday when he accused the former governor of engaging in a war on religion while he was head honcho in massachusetts but then new took his accusations a step further then he explained how obama's moved.

>> no, ruling gingrich out, can't rule gingrich out, but santorum could rise again and gingrich is seen as faltering bad youly here, so. >> bret: what about ron paul, rich? he's spent time in maine and he's organized in the caucus states and's not going anywhere. >> yeah, well, he made a shrewd calculation in florida and wasn't going to get delegates and why waste money there and there are people in maine who think that ron paul could pull out a surprise there and they're working hard and finished close third. and in '08, so, while we're all distracted by florida, watch maine, bret. they use today say as maine goes. >> and steve, with 95% of the delegates still up for grabs, we forget this whole map to getting 1144. >> no, it's a long process, if these guys are genuinely commit today staying in the race and seems that they are, and newt's people were telling me this, and santorum's people i talked to said we're going to the convention and ron paul had a plan to go to the convention from the very beginning so i think if they want to drag this out. they can drag it out and it can go to th

>> if gingrich goes down, yes. i mean there is terror, panic i think it's fair to say on the republican side about the prospect of newt gingrich being at the top of the ticket in november. i mean, the republicans will tell you some even on the record but not all but they really fear they'll lose both the house and the senate if newt gingrich is there. >> ifill: and yet expectations for mitt romney now sky high. >> a lot of that is not because he's had a good week or two but it's also just who is in the electorate. in south carolina you had a lot of high school educated social conservatives. that's traditionally gingrich's people. romney does much better with the college educated republicans. there are just a lot more of them in florida the way there won't be in some other states they're going to. one of the big things i saw this cnn poll which is representative of a lot, where they ask people, would you have problems enthusiastically supporting these other candidates if your guy doesn't win? 74% would have problems

gingrich, of course. he said that in almost these blunt terms he said he wants rick santorum to get out of the race. he said after tonight, it is hard to see rick santorum going forward. do you think rick santorum should drop out? >> i think rick obviously has to make that decision for himself. i do believe that rick and newt gingrich are splitting a conservative vote and if those votes were bound together, we would have a clear distinct choice between a conservative southern georgian legislator, newt gingrich, against a massachusetts, i'll use moderate, mitt romney. i think that would be a much clearer distinction. i think the mistake that was made here in florida is we allowed ourselves to get -- mitt romney to drag us into the swamp. i'm hopeful we'll head toward the high ground and once again show newt's record -- or legislative conservative record of achievement, when he was speaker, balanced budgets, $500 billion of debt paid off, 11 million jobs created, stock market up 130%, and we will pound away

. >> romney and newt gingrich spent the last week trading bitter jazz. predict the gop nomination fight will go on for another six months. >> it's going to come down to a conservative versus massachusetts moderate. >> with unemployment at nearly 10% and a high foreclosure rate, a record number of florida republicans are expected to vote in the biggest primary contest so far. many people casting a ballot say they want a candidate who can turn the economy around. linda cook voted for mitt romney. >> it takes somebody from the private sector to be able to get this economy going again. >> others want a candidate they believe has the best shot at winning the white house. francis thinks that is newt gingrich. >> i really like what he stands for. i think what we need now is someone who is a pit bull. >> 50 delegates are at stake tonight. the winner takes all of them and the momentum headed into the next round. gop officials expect more than two million voters to cast ballots. the last polls in the state close in less than two hours. live in tampa, florida, dani

gingrich talking about the tones of the ads in florida. the negative ades and taking aim at the romney campaign. >> mr. speaker, do you still see a path to the nomination after florida? >> of course. unify the conservativconservati. you win the delegates and yo have the nomination. >> did you let your guard down to mitt romney would you say? >> when you're outspent in adds it's tough. >> responding to some of those negative attacks be i the romney campaign. more than $20 million spent in the florida primaries. the next round of primaries as we move into february, including nevada this weekend, also key primaries in michigan, colorado and arizona. super tuesday is in early march. mitt romney campaigning in florida trying to get out the vote today. responding to all of this. in ask sblg we were vagsly outspent with negative ads attacking me. also, i think some

. >> it's been a challenge. >> we them plenty of voters influenced by the ads attacking newt gingrich convinced romney is the better man. >> all-around i liked his values. >> not all of them were won over. >> he has been on one side or the other. i need someone i can trust and believe in. >> the polls closed in florida at 7:00, but the panhandle is on central standard time, so it will not be until 8:00 until we hear any results. that is when we will be at the mitt romney election night headquarters to bring all the latest tonight at 11:00. live in tampa, rebecca cooper, abc 7 news. >> in addition to the coverage at 11, you can check in with our sister station, news channel 8 at 6:30 p.m. >> stephen colbert's super pac raised a considerable amount of money. americans for a better tomorrow, tomorrow, raised a beit more than $1 million. among the donors? farmers and princess tours -- former san francisco mayor. >> 60 degree temperatures, perfect for golfers. bob ryan joins us with a first look for what is in store tonight. >> next the pools will be opening up. in the belfort furniture we

en las primarias republicanas compiten mitt romney, newt gingrich, rick santorum y ron paul. en peru un nino de una etnia amazonica de tres anos de edad que acudio a un hospital con dolor andominal fue operado con exito para extraerle un gemelo parasito en el abdomen que detectaron los medicos luego de diversos examenes... los cirujanos que examinaron al menor de la etnia aguaruna diagnosticaron que tenia un feto de 25 centimetros de largo y 700 gramos en el abadomen... los medicos aseguran que el menor podra ahora desarrollar una vida normal... en bolivia, casi mil indigenas y cultivadores de coca afines al presidente, evo morales, estan en la paz tras marchar mas de un mes para demandar la ejecucion del proyecto carretero... quieren que morales anule una ley, promulgada por el mandatario, que veta la construccion de un tramo de la carretera por la reserva natural del tipnis... varios dirigentes argumentan que necesitan la infraestruct ura vial para promover su desarrollo y combatir la pobreza en esa region.. en cuba, la presidenta de brasil, dilma rousseff, comenzo una visi

newt gingrich only $716,000. now add in their superpacs, mitt romney and newt gingrich it's become more dramatic. you can see the split here. a lot of the tracking things we look at, cmag which tracks ad spending only tracks broadcast ad spending. a lot of people who care about local politics are watching cable and local television, those numbers get bigger. it has been mitt romney's state in terms of spending and in terms of negativity plenty to go around. when you look at florida, very interesting to see we've seen more than $2 million spent by democratic groups. unions, democratic national committee and president obama's re-election superpac have all spent money in florida against the republicans. >> so the democrats involved already. but that is mind-numbing. >> 13 million to 2.4 million. we know romney is ahead in the polls. there's one reason why, anderson, going to compete in florida or florida voters about to get a little break, respite from all these ads. 93%. but you know, they get a respite until septe

francis dragnut thinks that's newt gingrich. >> i really like what he stands for. i think what we need now is somebody who is kind of like a pit bull. >> reporter: 50 delegates are at stake tonight. the winner takes all of them. and the momentum heading into the next round. in tampa, florida, danielle nottingham, wjz eyewitness news. >> rick santorum and ron paul planned speeches from nevada tonight. dramatically outspent in florida, they're focusing on the next caucus states. >>> it feels a little like florida today here in maryland. 60-degree temperatures seemed to bring everyone outside today. wjz found these parents in rogers forge, treating their little ones to a midwinter trip to the playground. >> taking a live look outside right now. the sun has set. but we've still enjoying mild temperatures. how long can we enjoy this break from winter? meteorologist bernadette woods and bob turk are updating this weather. >> it was extremely mild. take a look at readings right now, as of 6:00, it's still 60 degrees. the coolest spots down by the water, ocean city at 49.

newt gingrich is over in orlando tonight. the latest polls have given romney a 13 point lead. the sunshine state win is a huge prize, a 50 delegate haul, and is winner-take-all. mitt romney worked the phones at the tampa headquarters. he attributes his lead in florida in part to a more aggressive campaign style, telling reporters he was outgunned in south carolina. >> i will not stand by and let another candidate define me. the candidate recently attacking me has been quite sad and painfully revealing about the speaker. >> newt gingrich has seen his momentum evaporate over the past few days, but he says he sees a path to the nomination. >> romney is not getting anywhere near majority here. >> some florida republican voters believe he should fight it out, all the way to the convention. >> i think it is good for the parties to have opposition with each other. in homes and their skills. >> other republicans say a protracted fight would hurt the party. >> i look at the overall candidates and think it would be the most delectable in the general election. -- the most electable in th

>> and that does not look good for newt gingrich. if mitt romney closes the door on the month of january with a victor in florida tonight, he opens up four weeks of trouble. from here, they go to nevada where romney is to do well, to maine, the neighboring area of new england where romney has done strong. it's not until you get to tuesday, march 6th, supertuesday, which will include georgia, where you see an area of -- where newt gingrich will pick up delegates. the next few weeks are not looking good for newt gingrich and romney's going to put himself in a good position with a big win in florida. >> and that is all about momentum from there. thank you for the update. >>> president obama used a washington auto show to time out his efforts to save the u.s. auto industry. the president checked out some electric hybrids ands toed up the rescue of gm and chrysler, which saved about a million jobs and he said that some people didn't want to save the industry. >>> just ahead on the news edge at 6, gay marriage supporters going for round 2

gingrich. >> reporter: you voted early? >> yes. >> reporter: for newt gingrich? >> yes. >> reporter: because? >> because a conservative. >> today is primary day, i hope you get out a chance to get out and vote. >> reporter: mitt romney worked the polls. romney is looking past florida to a fight with president obama who yesterday told about an unemployed engineer, called it interesting he can't find work. >> i think this underscores the fact that the president is out of touch with what's happening in america, and what's happening here in florida, almost 18% of the people in florida are out of work or significantly underemployed. >> reporter: if newt gingrich is worried florida may end his presidential bid, he gave no hint. >> it's not over if you lose big here? >> you watch tonight, the conservatives are going to outpoll romney. >> reporter: newt says he will not quit. >> there's no clear path for romney to get to a majority. >> reporter: yes, there is. >> we have the time and the calendar, and the team and the organization to be able to, i believe, get the delega

super pacs the pro romney group restore our future has spent seventeen million dollars alone the pro gingrich group. winning our future i know these names are eerily similar aren't they well they have spent nine million dollars and of course there are always those super pacs out there that don't support a specific candidate so the two biggest conservative ones american crossroads and americans for prosperity they've spent eight point eight million on ads around the country so far that a lot of money that's being thrown around you guys it just reminds you that even in times of recession the battle to get your interest represented is still going very strong problem of course with this kind of spending is that we don't always know where it's coming from and other cases where we do know we see the insane amount of influence of just one person can have let's not forget gingrich's super daddy sheldon adelson who single handedly has given two donations of five million dollars apiece and today we also found out who was for the most part bankrolling jon huntsman supporting super pac it was his daddy t

remember, newt gingrich was coming off a huge upset in south carolina. it was a dead heat in the polls between romney and gingrich. rm ni recently took back the lead. if he can win, he will regain that front-runner status. for mitt romney the sunshine state is starting to feel a lot like the granite state. >> thank you, number. >> reporter: the former massachusetts governor is poised to capture his second primary win. >> i would like to spend more of our time focusing on president obama. >> reporter: standing in his way is newt gingrich. >> ads that are dishonest, it's a challenge. >> reporter: the latest polls have him trailing by double digits. you unify the conservatives and you have the nomination. >> reporter: rounding it out is rick santorum and ron paw. neither will win and neither are in the state. >> in a week's time, we'll send a message. >> reporter: for gingrich and romney, a win means 50 much needed del gas. a loss mean has hit to your momentum,e1xd wary campaign dons and for gingrich,Ñi a disappointing follow-up to hisr >> they leavexd flo

. >> fighting in and out in florida, mitt romney and newt gingrich pulled out all of the stops in the hopes of winning the biggest republican prize yet. their goal was to row into the record books. instead, they fell 500 miles short of their goal. we have their harrowing tale. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. right now, at the united nations, western allies have brought in some of their heaviest hitters to demand action be taken against syria. after 10 months of a deadly crackdown, more than 5400 people have been killed. now, the assad regime is coming under pressure. will the security council be able to overcome russia's resistance to sign the draft? joining us is our u.n. correspondent. what is the latest? >> this session has opened and two senior arab league officials have spoken. one was the prime minister of qatar and one was the secretary general of the arab league. the minister was quite harsh. he laid out that the process that they had been engaged with the syrian government. also how the process had come to the point where they were coming to the

i agree with mitt romney. >> a chance to associate mitt romney with obama and remind voters of new gingrich was a political scandals, florida tv stations are full of attack ads. this house in boca raton is home to a man with millions of dollars at his disposal to spend on expenses smear campaigns. is the director of americans for prosperity, a super political action committee founded by wealthy donors to promote their political aims, often by using tv commercials. >> again, we have sort of a narrow focus, that being limited government. that is what we want to focus on. if we could get candidates to adopt those positions, we will be successful in moving things ahead. >> others are dedicated to a specific candidate. mitt romney profits the most. in the last week alone, $6 million worth of tv commercials ran in his support. it seems to be paying off. he now has a wide margin in the opinion polls. >> i support romney. i believe in a lot of things he represents. i like the way he presents himself. >> i think this country need someone that is going to know his business, and i think he is a very e

>> inouye gingrich has had a difficult week. -- a new to gingrich has had a did a good week. he has been kind of lethargic on the stump. this has been arguably the most unsettled primary race for either party in the modern era. in 2011, there were more people had in the voting in the national polls than any previous at a year's election. we have never had a race where different people one of iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina in the republican race. this could reestablish mitt romney as the front runner if he wins, but it does not feel like the last act of this play. tavis: if i say to you that mitt romney is going to win and you say, so what, newt gingrich has already said he is going to win. if mitt romney wins in florida, what of it? >> money and organization do matter. they have pulverized gingrich in florida on television, outspend -- outspending him in some instances of 5 to 1. what has really been a pretty miserable for gingrich is that there is an action and reaction foundation in the party. you have seen more establishment republicans like john mccain and bob do

two candidates competing for winner take all mitt romney and newt gingrich, rick santorum looking at nevada and other caucuses as well as congressman ron paul of the nevada caucuses taking place this weekend. meanwhile a note about politics and a republican super political committee and its nonprofit arm saying it has raised $51 million this year in an effort to defeat the president, super pac among the first group whose finances are reported today. super pac a product of that 2010 supreme court ruling on citizens united that removed restrictions on corporations and union spending in federal elections. at the bottom of the hour we'll have more on the isn't of state as she goes to work to talk about sanctions to try to bring down the assad regime. as many as 450 killed in the last month. the president holding a cabinet meeting talking about jobs and economy. let's begin with this announcement of the budget office predicting the deficit will rise to just over a trillion dollars in 2012. the office also projected that the jobless rate will increase to about 8.9%. currently across the co

newt gingrich has spent less, about $3 million on television ads. of course, he also has been campaigning in this area. mitt romney is in tampa right now. a light day of campaigning. he'll watch the results from the tampa convention center hoping that he is the, the party's pick to represent the republican party when the convention takes place, and that is going to take place in this summer. newt gingrich will watch the results tonight in orlando, tom. >> you know, doug, each one of the primary caucus dates is giving us a view of the voter there. just in south carolina, a couple of days ago, we saw how strong the evangelicals were. who is the florida republican voter and how do they, the candidates, howha have they been spoking to what is a broad- based party in the sunshine state? >> you have such a large state that it's difficult. they have tried to taylor their message wherever they're at and that is going to be different here han in miami-dade county. pinellas county, the most populated, an older demographic and more moderate. you're going to ta

they say the romney adds one their vote citing gingrich as unethical. >> it is definitely shady. you should at least the kind of ethical. >> they were eager to an alternative for obama. >> who are you voting today? >> the candidate with the best character. >> the voters spoke to today are clearly sick of the attack ads, but the polling shows they are working. this will end up being the most negative election ever, more than 90% of the ads have been negative. live in tampa rebecca cooper, abc7 news. >> you can watch the votes counted live with the analysis from our partners at politico on it news channel 8. >> let's get to our weather. a terrific tuesday. plenty of people were outside in georgetown this afternoon. we are not used temperatures in the 60's. this will not last long, so you should enjoy it while you can. two reports on tonight's weather. suzanne kennedy is live in georgetown but first bomb brian has a look at how warm it got. -- but bob ryan has a look. >> we did set a record in one area. wrapping and january 2012. believe it or not, this was not even in the top 10 mi

when you have an angry newt gingrich he did cheat on his wife. he's angry and don't like to hear his tone and angry ads about gingrich than romney and think-- >> and the other thing is, and looks do matter. the last time they got elected president as heavy as i am is william harris taft. >> i was reminded about the line in top gun where they said to tom cruise your ego is writing checks that your body can't cash. in newt's case, he's writing checks his campaign can't cash, he's running out of money. can you imagine women being forced push newt along, no. >> i think that some of the best campaign workers are women, organized and women who support gingrich and the strong tea party and conservatives that i said that romney loses, i think some of those women, will keep it going. >> an increasingly small percentage. >> i'm going to stand up for the florida female g.o.p. electorate and say, i think you're smarter than that, you're not going to vote for one or the other. >> did one of them send you that continue. >> grandmother did. >> well, huh. >> yea

but newt gingrich is still fighting hard on the campaign trail. danielle nottingham reports for wjz with details. >> hi. mile -- i'm mitt romney. how are you? >> reporter: mittmittmitt romney picked up the phones last night to try to get last- minute votes. romney reached primary day with momentum and a commanding lead, after he and his supporters spent more than $14 million on tv ads. the former massachusetts governor says he'll leave florida with some lessons learned. >> if you're attacked, i'm not just going to sit back and relax. i'm going to fight back and fight back hard. >> reporter: critics predict the gop fight will go on for months. >> i think ultimately, it will come down to conservative versus massachusetts moderate. >> reporter: with a high foreclosure rate, a record number of florida republicans are expected to vote in the biggest primary so far. >> reporter: many people casting a ballot say they want a candidate who can turn the economy around. linda cook voted for mitt romney. >> it takes somebody from the private sector to be able

but no, i'm not counting newt gingrich out. look. this guy has risen from the dead twice and there's nothing to suggest he's lost the ability to do that. he has not had much money. he has not had much organization. he has done it all with his skills. one thing that is in his favor is that the elections from here on the caucuses and primaries, they are all proportional. he will pick up some delegates. the person who wins won't necessarily win all the delegates. this is the lance of the winner take all primaries, i think. so there's a wide divide, lesli, in the republican party. there's a large part of it. these tea party folks who just don't warm to mitt romney. and so as long as that exists and as long as the gingrich stays in there, i think he has a chance to go into this convention, if not with more delegates than mitt romney, in a position where he could challenge him at the convention. this may not be decided until we get to the convention. i suspect it probably will, but i think that's still a possibility. >> you said it, it is

here's gingrich. listen to newt on the trail just yesterday. >> why would anybody in the establishment think that a massachusetts moderate, which is a liberal by republican standards, pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase, pro-gay rights. why would they think he's going to be able to debate barack obama? >> that's a stingy thing. here's romney. he's been ridiculing the former speaker. listen to him on the trail. >> i know the speaker is not real happy. he's not feeling very excited these days. i know. it's sad. he's been flailing try iing to after me for one thing or the other. it's been painfully revealing. >> he's now telling his fans now to shake their heads in unison. they ought to be dog trained like he is. >> that's the pity tone. this is the broader point. >> does he want gingrich to hate him? >> maybe. but the next beat of the story, what we have seen this week is the former sarah palin, herman cain, rush limbaugh, a lot of talk radio people in the conservative world, they have ralli

and eventually that made it up the chain and leadership members of newt gingrich's team, newt gingrich's lieutenants started to embrace the idea and the plot was hatched to topple newt gingrich. host: you report that leadership has flipped with gingrich a month before the coup about how to handle a disaster relief bill. talk about the buildup and you mentioned the style of then speebling speaker gingrich but were there also policies debates at play? guest: yeah, there was. that was the problem. most of the problem was policy-oriented, that kind of -- in a similar way with republicans now in congress, they're frustrated that they've had to compromise so much with president obama on a range of stuff. well back then they were they were frustrated that the republican congress had to find common ground with bill clinton and so there were these small bills that started to show that gingrich's hold on leadership was starting to crack, it started in the spring with a legislative branch bill that funded the government. that's when the rank and file members bolted and took that bill down and then

gingrich. >> you verdict early for newt gingrich -- you voted early for newt gingrich. >> because he is a conservative. >> mitt romney worked the phones. every poll points to win, and he is looking past florida to a fight with president obama, who yesterday told about an unemployed engineer and called it interesting that he cannot find work. >> the president is really out of touch with what is happening in america and what is happening here in florida. almost 18% of the people in florida are out of work or significantly unemployed. >> if newt gingrich was worried, he gave no hint. >> it is not over. >> he says he will not quit. >> there is no clear path yet for romney. >> yes there is, say most delegate counters, and romney. >> we have the team and the organization to get the delegates necessary to become the nominee. >> for mitt romney and newt gingrich, the key thing on the campaign calendar is today. the 50 delegates that the winner gets in florida are both of them and it -- more than both of them have earned so far this year. >> there are 32 days left until super tuesday. check o

. >> how much staying power does newt gingrich have? >> the guy's risen and fallen twice now, three times, i guess this is his third fall. he's had two rises. if you were him, what incentive is there to get out? you see how this race has gone. every time he's been counted out, he's been resurrected. for him, it's all about trying to gloss past february, and somehow get to march super tuesdays and those primaries that are all over in this month of march. that's something he hopes to do. the problem you point out is money. he hasn't raised a lot of money for his own campaign and he's been backed by one wealthy household in nevada. the question,will they keep writing $500 million checks to a super pac. that's the big unknown going into an odd month for newt gingrich where he may not have one place he can win. >> signing day in the sunshine state. chuck todd, thanks so much. chuck and the rest of the nbc news political team will have all the latest developments tonight on nbc nightly news with brian williams right avenues 4 at 6:00. doreen

gingrich. >> reporter: you voted early. >> yes. >> reporter: for newt gingrich? >> yes. >> reporter: because? >> he's a conservative. >> reporter: mitt romney worked the phones. every prevote poll points to a win. and romney is looking past florida to a fight with president obama who yesterday told about an unemployed engineer, called it interesting he can't find work. >> i think this underscores the fact that the president is really out of touch with what's happening in america, what's happening in florida. almost 18% of the people in florida are out of work or significantly underemployed. >> reporter: if newt gingrich is worried florida may end his presidential bid. he gave no hint. >> it's not over if you lose big here? >> you watch tonight, the conservatives are going to outpoll romney. >> reporter: newt says he will not quit. >> there is no clear path -- >> reporter: yes, there is. >> we have the time and the calendar and the team and the organization to be able to get the delegates necessary to become the nominee. >> reporter: for mitt romney. >> you have m

no comment from newt gingrich just yet. i think it was newt who was stomping on the guy's feet, i think it was a supporter who w was, newt apologizes for one of his guys stomping on his feet. and you have to be a heel if he didn't. and toe hold on that. all right. oh, relax. fair and balanced, it wasn't just the new england patriots taking notice of our primary coverage on fbn. >> he's done an outstanding job. we knew him as an excellent athlete. a guy who comes very well prepared. very energetic and exceptional weight room worker, mondays, tuesdays he's out there running and doing extra conditioni conditioning. >> you have to do do what i do. you just have to. i'm going to need that extra conditioning tonight. and because our primary coverage 7:55 eastern time. why 7:55, you ask? why not? but we're not only watching the the political fallout we're also keeping tabs on the financial, and the only network on the planet doing both. early market reaction over here, early trading overseas as the asian markets open, that fast, a

over here is the newt gingrich booth. you can see there's a rick santorum sign, so folks there as well. i was going to ask you, concerned about what the polls have been showing? >> absolutely not. we're hanging strong. it's big money again grassroots. we are keeping the faith. look what happened. we believe newt can win. >> they're convinced. we'll have to see whether the folks here are right or whether the polls are right. john zarrella, cnn, lithia, florida. >> cnn is covering the florida presidential primary from all angles, you do not want to miss a minute as we follow the balloting. stwu with us starting because another big story right now we're watching, where is jessica buchanan? she's the u.s. aid worker rescued last week. she boarded a flight yesterday in italy. cnn's brian todd is joining us from buchanan's college campus in pennsylvania. what do we know, brian? >> reporter: wolf, we know jessica buchanan is finally back on u.s. soil, but for now she and her family are not offering many clues on her where abouts

we know sheldon adelson is funding gingrich. you have a casino billionaire decide he's going to fund newt gingrich and just basically hijack the whole apparatus to that end. we just found out that huntsman's money from his father, which is gossip to covort about huntsman. when it comes to the actual spending right now, when do we find out about the money that's being spent in florida today by romney in nevada tomorrow by gingrich and down the line? when do we get current data? >> we'll find it out at the end of february. >> is there any sort of value politically in the delayed disclosures? >> in all fairness, the process is for all federal candidates who are also following the same rules. >> no, they are not, susan. >> they disclose after the fact that they have taken contributions. >> in terms of nothing rapid report on disclosing a federal candidate's campaign filings. >> but the level of disclosure, this is part of the supreme court decision. what we're really getting is actually just a snapshot. part of the problem with the