here in florida, if you are part of the housing crisis, the people in florida said we're not going to get behind newt gingrich and we're going to get behind mitt romney. >> the crowds are pretty intense. the latest romney event. we tried to get an interview with governor romney before we wrapped up here. couldn't do it. judging by the crowds here, the enthusiasm for the romney campaign has sunk in across florida. right now the polls are different but it's double digits in lot of polls. averages, they liked what he had to say and newt gingrich was flailing in his address. 30 seconds speaker gingrich was flailing in this campaign. we didn't get a chance to talk to governor romney here. but we did go to a gingrich event where we caught up with speaker gingrich. >> listen, there is still a cans. polls are polls. you don't know until election day. >> no matter what happens here. you are moving on. you say you are going to go to the convention? >> the conservative movement is not going to sit by and let a massachusetts liberal who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase, whose ro

his supporters here were shouting "florida, florida," and they do have high hopes and florida, they keep talking about this is going to be a big week. mitt romney will come out in advance of the president's state of the union speech tuesday night. tuesday morning, mitt romney will give a major speech on the economy and differentiating himself not just from the president but newt gingrich, as well. he will give a similar speech the next day after the president's state of the union address. they point out that mitt romney has lots of resources. that means money. that he has a lot of staff on the ground, and he has the wherewithal to go the long haul. you will see him playing the hardball that he started to play here tonight. you will hear them talk a lot about how they're going to be in state after state after state collecting delegates, because after all, we tend to forget as we think maybe it's going to be wrapped up in south carolina or wrapped up in florida. this is, after all, a state by state battle for delegates. >> and it seems tonight that it is going to be a very, very long haul

my old buddy used to say florida, florida, florida. he was absolutely right. whoever it turns out to be, if it's romney or gingrich or santorum or paul, whoever it is, they will be spend ag lot of time and money in florida. great news for all those tv stations in florida. they'll be getting millions and millions of dollars in paid advertising, so we'll be watching that. >> mitt romney, as you know, he's not only got the money, he's got the organizational power, and i was talking to candy crowley a couple minutes ago off camera and she was talking about maybe the bruises after the loss in south carolina was a good thing in the end for mitt romney. we're seeing a more aggressive mitt romney but also more relaxed. i don't know if you saw him tossing cheetos to employers, blowing out candles and also singing. ♪ beautiful for spacious skies ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ for purple mountains majesty ♪ above the fruited plains >> okay, so in a competition between wolf blitzer and mitt romney -- >> he crushes me. he crushes me. i'm pretty good playing keyboards

florida is not a winner take all state. florida's proportional. florida violated the april 1st rule of the rnc, rule 15, and there's delegates, whatever number's apportioned to them will be proportional for the candidates. that's why newt and rick and paul fill very good coming out of florida. winning or not winning. they will all get some of these delegates. i have confirmation talking with some of the leadership yesterday at the rnc. the committee, members of the committee agreed this is proportional. california, michigan and ohio just a few of the 35 states that changed their rules to comport to this requirement who will not be very happy if florida gets away with having a winner take all at this time. so that's a factor here that is very real. it changes the dynamics on the ground for sure. mitt will have a big night tonight, but coming out of florida, there's stilt a ll a l more room ahead. the candidates know it and will take advantage of every inch of that space. >> you're telling me florida is not winner take all? >> it is not. it is pro p

now let's look at florida. very, very different. 18% in the last few days just 9% on the day of the election. 27%. about half deciding late in florida as opposed to south carolina. look at this. 42% in florida decided before this month. not even this month. because you had absentee and early voting in florida. much more important dynamic. let's take a little bit closer again. you heard this from john zarrella again voters changing their mind as they went into the polling place. their number one issue can their candidate defeat barack obama in the fall. florida will be among the biggest battle ground. 45% of republican voters today say that is the most important qualityi quality, beating barack obama. 57% of republicans say they're satisfied with gop candidates. in the fourth con test. 4 in 10 republicans today, anderson, say no, we'd like some other candidates. >> alex, what does that tell you? >> the easiest thing to do in politics is to did qualify your opponent negative ads. the hardest thing to do is be mos

i got to tell you, florida is tomorrow night, florida is tuesday, but in my mind, honestly in politics, it's nevada week. it is florida week, too, right? but really, it's sort of nevada week. we're getting blanket coverage about what is happening in the florida primary. this is a good argument to be made nevada ought to be as important as florida is. this is a week with two tent poles, florida and nevada both. even though florida will have as many republicans voting in their primary as the number who voted in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina combined and then some, a win in florida this year is worth precisely half as much as a win in florida has been worth in previous years. because florida wanted to be seen as really important in this year's presidential race, they intentionally broke the republican party's rules, when they moved up their primary date to make it early, to make it happen in january. florida moved the primary so early they lost half of their delegates. so tomorrow, in florida, instead of being 99 delegates up for grabs, it's only going to be 50. in their rush

what happened in florida? >> looks to me like the spending advantage that romney had allowed him to get his message across a lot better than newt was able. >> lenny, why don't you answer both of those? what happened to newt gingrich and how much of that correlates to the amounts of money that romney shhas spent? >> what i've been saying all week is whichever candidate connects with the voting public in all demographics, makes the case for free enterprise and how families can basically have a better lot in life for their families in the next generation would win the primary. if i were to guess, i would say romney is make that case right now and connecting. who knows what will happen on the campaign trail today. look, i can't take sides. >> you always say that. >> i can't -- >> i know. i know. we know. we know. >> but i have -- i have to be able to rally all of our troops around our nominee regardless of who that is when we get to the convention. >> when you look, there's an article today in the "new york times"

and northeast florida. we have a lot of northern transplants down there. that could help governor romney. the conservative vote will get split up, though, by rick santorum and newt gingrich. as we harvard from mr. gingrich in his speech last night, he was conciliatory toward mr. santorum and mr. paul trying to get some of those voters to come to his side. rick santorum could be mitt romney's ace in the hole to break up that conservative vote in florida. >> we're going to talk to three reporters who covered the state of florida. we'll talk exactly about that, how that state is really split up into three very different thirds that we're going to be expanding on. thanks so much, mark preston. good to see you. we'll see you next in florida. >> thursday night. >> i know. racking up the frequent flier miles. all right, thanks so much, mark. >>> tough talk from mitt romney. he says his rivals are trying to demonize a core conservative principal. romney in his own words next. one chance to hunt down the right insur

as you know, you can vote early here in florida, you can vote absentee in florida. scott's put a lot of money into that, same way that romney did. gingrich organizationally just could not do that so on election day today, gingrich already starts out in the hole because of the early votes. >> it's amazing, it's my understanding rick scott sent direct mails to snowbirds in cincinnati. anyway, that's how much he was trying to win that back in that september primary. jeff zeleny, jonathan martin, our now regular super tuesday duo. thank you both. >> thanks, chuck. >> we'll be more. wall street is feeling optimistic. we'll tell you why. "the market rundown" is next. plus, the democratic strike. they're not waiting for the race to shake out in florida. they're in miami today. we'll get the story on their action and their plans to hold on to the critically important hispanic vote in that state. question, who was the only governor of florida to become president? the winner will get a follow-up super tuesday for us. more is coming up on "the daily rundown." we'll be right ba

the florida fight coming to a very bitter end with just 24 hours to go before the florida polls close. mitt romney has pulled away in many of the polls and is leading newt gingrich by double digits. romney is not letting up. the make newt mad and mitt meaner strategy was on full display this weekend. >> the first debate of course the audience was quiet and speaker gingrich said that threw him off. he can't debate before a quiet audience. the next audience was very loud. he said that threw him off. he can't debate before a really loud audience. it's like goldilocks. can't have it this way. has to be just so. >> echoing ads playing on repeat around around the state. romney railed on gingrich's work for freddie mac. >> he's now finding excuses everywhere he can. he's on tv this morning going from station to station complaining about what he thinks were the reasons he's had difficulty here in florida. your problem in florida is you worked for freddie mac at a time that freddie mac was not doing the right thing for the american people and you're selling influence in washington. >> the less

and no place more so than here in florida. construction drives everything here and the jobless rate is at 9.9%, well above the national average of 8.5%. all of this playing out in the campaign here. romney and gingrich attacking each other for profit frg the crisis. >> while florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, newt gingrich cashed in. he was paid over $1.6 million by the agency that helped to create the crisis. >> this guy owns freddie mac and fannie mae stock. this guy owns gold man stax. this guy's surrounded by lobbyists and he's running an ad? >> stewart miller is the ceo of one of the largest homebuilders in the united states, the le nar corporation in miami. his company has a major presence here, california and nevada. those are the top three states hit hard by the crisis. and he's on our out front strike team, a group of entrepreneurs and investors we check in with regularly. thank you so much for coming here. i know you're based in miami. coming up here to jacksonville. we get the data today. the pa

his supporters here were shouting, florida, florida. they do have high hopes in the campaign for the outcome in florida. they keep talking about this is going to be a big week. mitt romney will come out in advance of the president's state of the union speech tuesday night. tuesday morning mitt romney will give what was billed to me as a major speech on the economy and differentiating himself not just from the president, but from newt gingrich as well. he will give a similar speech the next day after the president's state of the union address. they point out that mitt romney has lots of resources. that means money. that he has a lot of staff on the ground. and he has the wherewithal to go the long haul. so you are going to see him playing the kind of hardball that he started to play here tonight, and you will also hear them talk a lot about how they are going to be in state after state after state collecting delegates. because, after all, we tend to forget as we think, oh, maybe it's going to be wrapped up in south carolina or maybe it'l

la florida. >> la gran pregunta ¿quÉ pasa ahora despuÉs de primarias en la florida para hablar de eso, carlos rajo, nuestro analista polÍtico. >> lo que estamos viendo esta noche en la florida ¿va a tener repercusiones en otros estados dentro de la comunidad votantes hispana?. >> sin duda que sÍ josÉ, este sÁbado hay el primer que sigue es nevada, deberÍa ganar romney porque ganÓ en el 2008 y hay una poblaciÓn mormona importante en este lugar. >> de la poblaciÓn latina no creo que tenga incidencia, la mayorÍa de gente ahi en nevada votan por el partido demÓcrata pero sin embargo, es importante. >> ahora el tema de la reforma migratoria no se discutiÓ mucho aquÍ, en cuÁnto a una propuesta concreta que tendrÍa aparte el seÑor newt gingrich. >> piensa que eso va a cobrar mÁs importancia cuando los estados que tengan una poblaciÓn hispana mÁs grande empiecen a votar. >> sin duda, aquÍ el tema inmigraciÓn no causa mucho, lo habÍamos dicho para cubanos no es el problema, pero en el resto del estado va a ser importante, a medida que avanza la elecciÓn se va hablar mÁs

yes, florida has carl hiassen. he wrote a column about pythons, enthusiasm with which pythons fall in love with each other and reproduce in the everglades. with the exception of him, nevada's columnists, the whole state is amazing in terms of political coverage. how can you beat this. this is jane ann morrison in the las vegas review journal. the start of the column today. "doesn't that guy sticking a needle in that cat's butt look familiar? it's former senator john ensign who went back to work as a veterinarian. >> remember john ensign? part of the reason nobody has any what is going do happen with nevada's caucuses, and that state's 28 delegates. his sex and ethics scandal is part of the reason the nevada republican party disintegrated over the past few years. mr. ensign admitted to his affair, section and ethics scandal for two years before he resigned in 2011. it's not like the republican party was evolving from a previous position of strength. in 2008 before the john ensign scandal broke, the nevada republican

florida primary. so before the south carolina contest, they were on the groundment they were running advertising. they were organizing. they have a topnotch team here led by a former aide to governor jeb bush. and they had all the pieces in place to run a successful effort, particularly when you're tested. i think they have been by gingrich. >> we have a comment on twitter. romney's been running since 2008. anyone who doesn't know him has been living under a rock. >> let's hear from port richy, florida. andy on our democrats line. hi, how are you? >> good, thanks. >> caller: you know, my grandfather cooked for 12 presidents of the united states. he was a chef at the white house. and he took my sister there one time. she was like 6 years old. and jacqueline kennedy came down in a bathrobe. she said she didn't want him to cook for the president. she wanted to do the cooking. now these are lovely people. but what we're dealing with now in florida is people that are very dedicated, firemen, police men, an

joins us live from florida. for you, why did newt gingrich line up for you and why have you endorsed him and now working to see that he becomes the nominee? >> i have known newt gingrich a long time. i served in the regan era. i was in republican leadership with him before we took control in 1994. i know we wouldn't have taken control or had the contract with america without his leadership and wouldn't have passed welfare reform and so on. i also believe that he has the leadership skills, he has the knowledge and he has the vision to be a great president of the united states and he think he is better at articulating conservative issues than his opponents are. a true regan conservative. has a vision of where the country ought to go. i believe that in the long haul he he is going prevail in this race because of that very fact. >> shannon: how do you respond to those that make the accusation, those that served with him as you did are familiar with how he operates and they generally aren't endorsing him. you certain

>> not that goes through florida or a strong showing in florida. he might have had a path if gingrich had imploded but gingrich is holding on to that challenge to mitt romney position. what voters have said in various states -- in new hampshire i tarlted to pick this up and then in south carolina and now in florida is rick santorum does very well in these debates and says things that people feel in their hearts but they don't see him crossing that threshold to elect able. he makes a very strong case of why he is uniquely suited to do that, particularly on health care. he's not selling that argument and in florida right now, it's really a gingrich and romney race. gwen: is it a gingrich-romney race going forward as well? because we have michigan and nevada coming up. >> so much depends on every week's outcome. we've created how many two-person races in this race with romney in the one slot and somebody else? i think john is right. i think at this point it is romney and gingrich but who knows what might happen if, in fact, gingrich does implode and t

here comes florida. the. >>> an arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords going to one of her last events as a congresswoman today. it has been a year since she was shot in the head in an event in tucson. what a road this has been. there is mark kelly by her side when she was in the hospital holding her hand. we all remember those moments. she said she will resign. she needs to focus her energy on continuing what has been a remarkable recovery for this woman. >> i will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. martha: what an inspiration that woman is. gabby giffords, my goodness. steve centanni joins us now with some details on all this from washington. how she is wrapping up her time as a congresswoman. we will figure out what she will do next from there. steve, good morning. >> reporter: martha, today in tucson the congresswoman will finish the meet and greet event that was interrupted by gunfire, by her shooting one year ago

. >> las primarias son maÑana, pero ya mÁs de medio millÓn de personas han votado aquÍ en la florida para darles una idea, este es casi el nÚmero total de personas que participaron en las primarias de carolina del sur. >> la florida es un estado electoralmente gigantesco con mÁs de 4 millones de republicanos registrados para votar, un premio mayor que romney se lo pudiera ganar. >> (♪). >> ante centenares de simpatizantes en jacksonville florida. >> (en inglÉs). >> mitt romney continuÓ golpeando a su principal contrincante donde le duele. >> (en inglÉs). >> newt gingrich no ha logrado conectarse con electores floridanos porque lo han visto debatiendo y se han enterado que recibiÓ 1 millon 600 mil dÓlares por ser combil der. >> esta tÁctica parece estarle funcionando, prefieren a romney sobre gingrich. >> el desempleo en la comunidad hispana, es por mÁs de 10%. entonces ellos estÁn sufriendo lo mismo que estÁn sufriendo las otras comunidades y quieren a alguien que primeramente les va a buscar empleo. >> newt gingrich ganador de primarias en carolina de sur atribuyÓ el �

if not in florida. the fact of the matter is that he has yet to convince the american people, he has yet to convince his own party that he's the right guy for the job, and i think this thing is wide open. i think that romney suffers from a couple of problems in florida that money can't fix. number one, you know, florida is a place where when you go south, you go north, when you go north, you go south. in the north part of the state, i think romney -- i don't think he connects with people well. in the south part of the state, i think romney tonight changed his view on the dream act from what he was talkinging about when he was in iowa and new hampshire. he started talking to the audience differently, and i think gingrich has somewhat trapped him there. florida is where it is today in part because of the great history that immigration has played in the success of our state. i think romney is not getting the same audience down there that he thought he was going to get. >> romney clearly appears to be in th

we're live on collins avenue, miami beach, florida. just a day away from the florida prima primary. my how things have changed in the nine days since newt gingrich's overwhelming victory in south carolina. mitt romney's money and organization combined with a strong debate performance last week put him in the driver's seat. new polls show romney pulling away from speaker gingrich and the rest of the field. according to an nbc/maris poll released yesterday, romney leads newt by 15 points in miami, florida. romney's lead is deep and wide, a breakdown shows romney cleaning up in just about every subgroup of voters. he beat speaker gingrich by 21 points among women, 9 points among men, 6 points among christians and he's within the margin of error also among tea partiers. romney holds a commanding lead among hispanics, a large florida voting bloc. 72% of registered republicans in miami-dade county are hispanic. romney leads gingrich by 24 points vong those voters. between campaign spending and superpac, romney is outspending gingrich by a ratio of four to one. romney spent $15.7 million o

in florida. to give you a sense of what's going on, the televisions there, here are political ads by both mitt romney and newt gingrich. >> florida families lost everything in the housing crisis. newt gingrich cashed in. gingrich was paid over $1.6 million by the agency that helped create the crisis. >> and my advice -- >> a historian? really? sanctions, gingrich resigned from congress and then cashed in as a d.c. insider. if newt wins, this guy would be very happy. host: >> he'll be dishonest on the job. what kind of man would mislead, distort and deceive just to win an election? this man would. mitt romney. romney said he has always voted republican when he had the opportunity. but in the 1992 massachusetts primary, romney had the chance to vote for george h.w. bush or pat buchanan but he voted for a liberal democrat instead. romney said his investments in fannie or freddie were in a blind trust but as reported in the national journal, romney erneds tens of thousands not in a blind trust. romne

his supporters here were shouting "florida, florida," and they do have high hopes and florida, they keep talking about this is going to be a big week. mitt romney will come out in advance of the president's state of the union speech tuesday night. tuesday morning, mitt romney will give a major speech on the economy and differentiating himself not just from the president but newt gingrich, as well. he will give a similar speech the next day after the president's state of the union address. they point out that mitt romney has lots of resources. that means money. that he has a lot of staff on the ground, and he has the wherewithal to go the long haul. you will see him playing the hardball that he started to play here tonight. you will hear them talk a lot about how they're going to be in state after state after state collecting delegates, because after all, we tend to forget as we think maybe it's going to be wrapped up in south carolina or wrapped up in florida. this is, after all, a state by state battle for delegates. >> and it seems tonight that it was going on in south carolina, but th

voters in florida are very pragmatic. they will be looking for who they think can defeat president obama in the general election. >> herman cane has endorsed newt gingrich. even sarah palin came out. >> annoy a liberal, vote newt. keep this process going. keep the debate going. >> does any of this help gingrich? is there anything that can at this point? >> well, the thing is, the election in florida starts so early. people have been voting by mail and voting early for weeks now that romney had an advantage even before gingrich won in south carolina. there's so many absentee ballots that had been sent in. he had been sending campaign flyers and up on television way before gingrich. gingrich has been very active on spanish language radio and trying to reach the hispanic voters here in miami-dade county, but it might be too little, too late. >> we do appreciate your time, patricia. one day to go until the primaries. >>> romney and gingrich have been targeting the hispanic community hard. the miami poll shows romney is the fa

florida? any place in florida where that means most of the -- most of the votes are banked or something that's sort of a statewide phenomenon? >> the more banked voters should be, as far as romney supporter, all our polling and other polling, romney does better early voters, either the wealthier people, people may not be there, may travel more, they have more disposable -- you start going through, they are your snowbird, if you will. and so, they are more likely, that's why i think we have seen he does well in these other primaries, done well upper income republicans and that's majority of those early votes are going to be coming from them, so, that's why we expect him to do well. the question how well with the early vote? what's been interesting this time, rachel. as you know, a lot i have a tempts by a lot of these republican lemon slach dmurs different parts to get rid of early voting, shorten the early voting period, do some things as far as election day voting concerned and this time, the

>> florida, florida, florida. and that, you would think, is tailor maid for mitt romney. florida has an awful lot of early voting, and romney has been organizing early voters in that state. >> ari fleischer, you yesterday you pointed out that 30% of votes are already in absentee? >> 30% of those have cast their ballot already. >> there were some counties voting today. you see the momentum going towards newt gingrich where those people are following the momentum and will vote newt gingrich. the other big question about florida is jeb bush. everybody kind of understands that jeb bush likes mitt romney. but he hasn't actually come out and endorsed mitt romney. and the question i have is, is mitt romney -- you guys were saying is jeb bush getting into the race? my question is, is general bush going to endorse mitt romney and how much would that help? >> yeah, the bush family bears no love for newt gingrich, going back to the father and what happened to them and how they felt that newt gingrich undermined his presidency and cost him his re-election. so there's a lot of bad blo

this is not just florida. there are many, many more states out there. >> and final question, ladies, where is the party tonight? because i can get the last flight out of here and join you. >> that's exactly right. we're at the hilton in columbia. we've got people very excited, they worked very hard in social and we're so thankful for the people in south carolina that once again picked the right man for the nominee. >> go and have a good celebration, ladies. >> thank you. >> has tonight's big win for newt gingrich reset the republican race? welcome back to you guys. it was after new hampshire i was with you in atlanta there at the mother ship as we call it. and it seemed then like this race was over, this was mitt romney, 2 for 2, ahead in all the polls in south carolina. and we really thought this might be the beginning of a very, very quick end to the raise. now mitt romney is not even 2 for 2. he's now 1-3. we now see gingrich not just winning tonight but absolutely thumping romney. everything has changed, h

thanks again. >> thank you siege. >>> the president's campaign could come down to florida, florida, florida. i'm going to talk with the state's lieutenant governor coming up next. plus the republicans are not the only ones focusing on florida. the president's re-election campaign is as well. the challenge is that -- what they're facing trying to keep florida in the blue collar. we'll explore that after this.f . [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! >>> i think the real reason he hasn't done so well connecting with the people of florida, is the people actually saw him in those debates and listened to his background, his experience and learned, for instance, that he was paid $1.6 million to be a lobbyist for freddie mac and said that's not what we want in the white house. >> what a pathetic situation to be running for the president o

certainly florida moved hard to the right since 2008. jon: john mccain won florida. mitt romney came in second. romney seems to have support of some of those conservatives. >> he has the support of so many of those conservatives. the goal for him, the hope, he can recreate what he was last time. remember when he was in florida against john mccain and came in second he was chasing mccain as conservative alternative. he was running to the right of mccain in florida and trying to say conservatives voters go with me, not the establishment pick. the shoe is on other foot. those voters will remember him from 2008. jon: florida is winner-take-all state. that doesn't matter who comes in second. >> that makes voters to weigh their choices carol live. when voters think about they go with their heart that would be good news for rick santorum. jon: chris stirewalt, thank you. >> you bet. jon: catch more of chris's "power play" at the bottom of the hour, foxnews.com. thank you. >> secretary of state hillary clinton is calling on the syrian government to end the violent crackdown

registered to vote in florida. that's lower than the number that are registered as democrats but, none the less, florida has one of the largest republican hispanic populations in the united states. >> so this new survey in florida though showing, mark, mitt romney with a wide lead right now over newt gingrich, 15 points among florida's hispanic voters. some florida republicans voice concerns over the romney stance on immigration. so could that cause trouble for him in a general election fight? >> it may. remains to be seen though how that will play out, particularly because there have been a number of -- we've done a number of surveys in a few reports about latinos in on immigration. we found that hispanics overwhelmingly support the dream act but we find hispanics disapprove of the way the obama administration is handling deportations. what's interesting about that finding is that even among those latinos nationally who disapprove of the way the obama administration is handling deportations, we see that in a head

>>> titulares, apuestan a mitt romney en la florida. los republicanos votan en ing s inglÉs, y espaÑol. arrestado en los Ángeles, un maestro que tomaba fotos pornogrÁficas al alumnos, la hispana que no puede ser concejal por su nivel de inglÉs, demandarÁ la decisiÓn, con final final, la historia de una madre hispana que impidiÓ que le robarÁn a su hijo. >>> este es su "noticiero univisiÓn" con jorge ramos, y marÍa elena salinas. >>> muy buenas noches, el podere del voto latino, demuestra en elecciones del partido republicano en la florida, es posible que tambiÉn gane la nominaciÓn del partido, es un estado clave para aspiraciÓn, rmitt romney que iba adelante, no gingrich, votantes hispanos influyen en la contienda de hoy. >>> parece estar cantando victoria. mitt romney apunta como el ganador de la primaria de la florida, por amplio margen, en principales encuestas, en la primera contienda de amplia poblaciÓn hispana. >>> recordÓ que casi 18% de la gente en la florida no tiene trabajo, o trabaja menos, atacando al preside

can he take florida? and how does he keep on hammering away not just at romney, but president obama? >> newt won because he showed republican voters that he could be a fighter, and that's what they are look for. the word for the newt is offense. he played it against ron williams and king. and republican voters were galvanized about that. he shown the most when he didn't attack fellow republicans and seemed to be the good newt. romney on the other hand has to take the lesson to ditch this defensive playbook he has used constantly since new hampshire and actually engage newt directly. there is only so much his super pack is going to be able to do. it has to be mitt romney who closes the deal among voters who don't think he has what it takes to playoff fence against the more important competetor which is president obama. if he can't do it against newt, the narrative will be he can't do it against obama. republicans don't want to hear that. >> tony, nine days until january 31st, 18 points separate them. can n

that's a city right in south florida in dade county. it is actually the sixth largest city in the state of florida, mostly made up of cubans and cuban-americans. now he's appealing to that sector of south florida there in hiyalea. we'll have more on mitt romney's campaign. >>> so his lead, mitt romney's lead in florida voter polls is on the rise after last week's cnn debate. and in a winner take all state, that's pretty big. the florida voting population is very diverse and candidates must work hard to appeal to different electorates relative to different parts of the state. john king breaks down the numbers. >> here is where we go next, wolf. you look at florida, an incredibly diverse state, much more conservative up here, more moderate in here, miami population, latinos, you heard gingrich daughters talking about let's go back in time to look what the we're talking about here. come back to '08, john mccain is the lighter red, mike huckabee up here. you see the diversity. much more conservative in the panhandle. mitt romney does have a

where does gingrich go from here if he doesn't win in florida? >> there are downplays in nevada but also michigan. central to his political biography. he was born there, obviously. they say arizona is one place they can really try to make a stand in february. a strong tea party state, gingrich is carving out that grassroots conservative space in the republican party. but it's still tough for him. remember, he's taken the position for tmitt romney on immigration, and i am gra immigration, and immigration is a huge debate in arizona. they'll take on some of these caucus states like colorado and minnesota. but in terms of the big delegate states, arizona is where gingrich hopes to make a stand in february. >> we'll see how it all turns out this evening. our thanks to peter hamby there in tampa for us. peter, thank you. thank you, everyone, for watching today, as always. i'd love to know what you think of the program. you can continue the conversation with me on line any time. you can find me on facebook or twitter at randikaye@cnn. we meet with broo

you're from south florida. this is a little different -- >> my niece went to the university of north florida. go ospreys! >> let's talk about what the candidates are saying about the man you want to see reelected. mitt romney reacting to the president's state of the union address. i know you were there tuesday. listen to this. >> he said he was the candidate of change, but you still have 25 million people out of work, still almost 10% unemployment here in florida, still home values down and continuing to go down, you still have a record number of foreclosures in florida. >>> huge percentage of all of the foreclosures in the united states right here in florida. he's appealing to fox who are upset, nervous and concerned. >> talking about forclosures and not the foreclosure hit bottom and have investors come in and school up the properties. he's proposed absolutely nothing in his entire economic plan to do anything, and president obama has been in there swinging, fighting for the middle class, has proposed state o

our friend tim russert famously called florida, florida, florida. >> reporter: at the florida's classic car show, you'd be forgiven for thinking this cozy city of 25,000 is stuck in the past. but don't be fooled. because come november, folks around here may be the ones with the keys to the future. the people who pick our next president. and the biggest issue they see -- the economy. >> i don't think president obama has done anything to remedy it at all. >> reporter: you're not willing to give him a second chance. >> he ain't getting any slack. >> reporter: on a sunny sunday afternoon in deland, we met with them. >> i'll vote for obama again. but he better get it in gear. >> reporter: deland is an et on the busy interstate 4 corridor. it cuts from east to west right through the center of florida. it's cliche to say i-4 is the road to the white house, but it just might be true. greg fox is a political reporter for nbc affiliate in orlando. >> if you ignore the voters on that, you're in a detour and it could send you to a dead end. >> reporter: that's because voters in the counties along i