newt newt newt newt newt newt newt newt newt. >> now, being here, at the waverly brings back many memories. in 1994, this is where we learned that for the first time in 40 years there would be a republican speaker of the house. [ applause ] you know, for that entire campaign, all of the elites thought we were crazy. first of all, we ran a positive campaign. we had a contract with america. they just thought that was weird. why would you go to all that trouble? have all these ideas? we didn't spend our time on lots and lots of negative ads. we spent our time communicating hope to the american people. the result was the largest one party increase in an off-year in american history because the american people want a chance to have hope again. >> so, as calista said, tomorrow will bring another chapter in the race for the nomination. it's more than a chapter in the race for the nomination. a chapter in a fight for the soul of the republican party, a chapter in the fight for the very nature of america, a chapter defining who we are as a people. let me be very clear. i believe that i am the one c

again, newt gingrich, the winner in georgia. that is the second state he has won during this campaign. he also won south carolina. as of this hour, we are too early to call in both virginia and in vermont. newt gingrich lives to fight another day, chris. >> i think it's very important, he saved his dignity, i think that's what he had to do making clear, you got to carry your own state, he is not going any where he is finished. >> ed schultz, looking ahead at newt gingrich's future, what -- looking ahead at mitt romney's future? >> he has been furious since day one, hasn't been represented, doesn't have the money expect one guy bankroll it he is the biggest joke in the field right now. where it s okay, he is going to win georgia. he ought to. that's where he is from. i tell you what he will win georgia better than mitt won michigan. >> there is something to hang your hat on. >> lawrence, do you agree? >> i think the problem is for romney more than anyone, tested in tennessee in a serious way. if he can take tennessee, it says a l

newt gingrich tonight? >> well, he's running on newt gas, all the fumes thereof. you know, he's running, i think, to try and have some leverage, either at the convention or for that vp slot. as i mentioned a couple of hours ago. so, yes, he wants to be a thought leader and advance interesting ideas. more than that, you get leverage by hoping that mitt romney doesn't make it to the magic number in your delegates. even 100 here or there will make a difference and get you a better job in a romney administration. >> richard, do you think somebody would put newt gingrich on their ticket? he's one of the most unpopular politicians in america. wouldn't that be somewhat of a gamble? >> i think everything mitt romney does now is a gamble. he has to get to the magic number. you asked me what did newt think? why is he still in the race? not whether he's successfully read mitt romney's strategy. >> here's newt gingrich earlier tonight. here it is. >> the fact is, in both states, the conservative candidates got nearly 70% of the vote, and if you're the front-runner -- if you'r

with newt out, and if newt gets out -- >> i think that santorum can beat romney? >> well, i think that if newt gets out, it gives santorum a whole new momentum. >> but won't he blow it again. >> you think he will win the next five states? >> well, not only win the next five states, don't underestimate romney's ability to blow it. if you end up with a one-on-one race which the media will love, and conservatives will love, this guy can be the nominee. i am telling you that the real story tomorrow is will gingrich get out. that is what you are going to hear. >> and gingrich had not been in today, santorum would have won georgia and ohio, which is the biggest catch of the night. >> you are not convincing me. >> if gingrich was not in there. >> and the fellow we had on the night, did he look like a campaign manager and chief strategist? >> well, you know, chris, this is why it is interesting. if he can get this close to ohio with no infrastructure and -- this guy has more -- >> and until. >> -- and up to 2:00 in the morning to win. >> and i am saying they could meet so

is it's newt's? >> chris, i'm like you. i've never known newt gingrich to hold a grudge. i think he's in it because he believes he's the only one that can beat barack obama. i believe him. the other two have been about accommodating washington. certainly rick perry has been about accommodating washington. mitt romney does not have a jobs record. he's number 47th. he invented romney-care, which we now have obama-care. 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

with newt out, and if newt gets out -- >> i think that santorum can beat romney? >> well, i think that if newt gets out, it gives santorum a whole newin momentum. >> but won't he blow it again. >> you think he will win the next five states? >> well, not only win the next five states, don't underestimate romney's ability to blow it. if you end up with a one-on-one race which the media will love, and conservatives will love, this guy can be the nominee. i am telling you that the real story tomorrow is will gingrich get out. that is what you are going to hear. >> and gingrich had not been in today, santorum would have won georgia and ohio, which is the biggest catch of the night. >> you are not convincing me. >> if gingrich was not in there. >> and the fellow we had on the night, did he look like a campaign manager and chief strategist? >> well, you know, chris, this is why it is interesting. if he can get this close to ohio with no infrastructure and -- this guy has more -- >> and until. >> -- and up to 2:00 in the morning to win. >> and i am saying they could meet

de rick santorum porque el ex senador de pensilvania ganó (información en pantalla), vamos a ver a newt gingrich, pero en el tema de los delegados, va muy por delante mitt romney, y a ver qué pasa con ohio, vamos con los delegados ganados el día de hoy, mitt romney 117, newt gingrich 59, rick santorum 50, rick santorum con 3 estados ganados tiene menos delegados que newt gingrich. >>> está interesante, y el gordo de la noche es ohio, todavía están virtualmente empatados, pero parece que mitt romney lentamente itnee más votos. >>> así es, josé, tenemos más del 90% de los votos contados, y como proyectaras muy bien, creo que mitt romney tiene el triunfo en el estado. >>> es una larga noche para saber los resultados en ohio, vámonos a boston, massachusetts, donde el precandidato mitt romney, hace pocos minutos habló y ahí está angie sandoval con los detalles. >>> qué tal, josé, mitt romney prometió que esta noche se iría a su casa con una victoria más y lo logró, ganó idaho, todavía tiene que esperar por ohio, en su discurso dio gracias a quienes lo ayudaron en la cont

but your dad, newt gingrich, is not winning. winning is more important than driving the conversation, and especially in the assuccumulati of delegates. steve schmidt, our republican analyst, says that he sees a vote for newt gingrich at this point as a vote for romney. because as you see tonight, mitt romney can't manage more than about one-third of the vote at best in these southern states. >> well, i would say the exact same thing. a vote for senator santorum is a vote that could have gone to newt gingrich. and the fact is, let's just look at these two candidates. when you look at these two candidates' records, when my father was speaker, they balanced the budget for four straight years. they reformed welfare, cut taxes and spending. when senator santorum was in senate leadership, he was the third highest ranking senator. he lost very badly in his home state. and during that time, they left our government with $1.7 trillion in debt. there's a big contrast between the records of these gentlemen, and i think the american people

>> newt gingrich vowing to roll on to tampa. >> i emphasize going to tampa. >> newt vowed to take his fight to tampa in he made it clear he is not getting out. >> gingrich is in this thing until the end. >> what state do you think you can win. >> i don't know yet. >> newt gingrich is swimming in a sea of delusion. >> it is hard for us to get inside of the great man's mind. >> newt craves attention as many of us politics do. >> why is this guy in the race. >> he will have to say more outrageous things to draw attention to himself. >> newt wants to go to the convention come hell or high water. [ laughter ] >> republican voters can't seem to decide who the republican nominee for president should be, so that, of course, leaves republicans wondering, who does god want? after watching romney finish in third, erick erickson wris it is almost like god himself is toying with romney. maybe it is because the romney camp said it would take an act of god for santorum or gingrich to win. god seems like he wants to make it happen. all right. let's look at the big board. according to nbc news, here's

newt gingrich is saving him now. if newt gingrich were to get up and leave and none of us believe he will, that rick santorum could let him stop the nomination. i'm not saying and romney has more than double delegates pile rick santorum has tonight. not saying rick santorum can get to 1144 but i'm saying he's looking to stop romney. that no one will have the delegates and as lng as gingrich is in there, romney stay as live. >> 1144 magic number of delegates to get g.o.p. nomination? >> yes. the story of the night is that romney probably ends up, once adding in hawaii probably ends up winning the battle but this is not a good showing for him. newt gingrich and rick santorum will do better than he did there. it's what we've seen a cross the board if you look at very conservative voters. romney is pulling about a third of those. consistent of what he's gotten in other places. the most-interesting thing to me to look at going forward is whether there is a de facto pact between santorum and gingrich. if gingrich is gettin

let me go back to -- >> i think newt is number one. newt has beenone. he has been the blocking back as paul -- >> why is he running? he will never be nominated. >> he has been running, this was about fixing his image. i think this was a statesmanship play. a little about he was tired of being put on the fringes, this is getting back in to being a statesmen in the republican party. >> the question isn't why is he running, the question is why would he get out? he noohas no need. he'll get more delegates. >> it's earning power. >> he'll increase his earning power, increase calista's movies. and play a role at the convention, the more delegates he collects, more chips he has, by the way let's not overlook the fact if mitt romney wins one of these two states, he will say you guys were saying i didn't do anything in the south i am i've now done something in the south that will be important if he's able to pull that off. so that is a very important thing for mitt romney we shouldn't lose sight of, but still possible he won't end up at the end of june with 1144

that means zero wins in the deep south for newt gingrich tonight. and last we looked mitt romney was in third in both races. also in alabama, congress nan jo bonner, who represented his seat for five terms is likely to represent it for a sixth. he's won the republican primary in alabama's first congressional district in the southwest part of the state, fending off a right wing primary challenger tonight. since no democrats qualify to oppose him in november, things look really good for him in the general election. in alabama sixth's congressional district, the chairman of the house financial services committee spencer bachus was also facing a primary challenge tonight in the republican primary. he looks to be leading comfortably in his republican race. and this, another result from alabama, this is simply amazing. judge roy moore, do you remember roy moore? the alabama state judge who lost his job because he refused to remove a ten commandments monument from the grounds of the state courthouse in 2003? judge ray moore, the ten commandments judge, ton

and i think what newt's got to do, you know, i'm a newt supporter, newt has got to show he's more than a one trick pony in the south. he won south carolina, he's probably going to win georgia, but, you know, he's got to show he can be competitive in the swing states like ohio, and otherwise there is no -- if he can't do that, there is no path for newt to the nomination. i hate to say it, but truth be told, that's the reality. and it is kind of like survivor, you know. if he doesn't win georgia, newt has said he's done, he's going to have to get off the island. that's a reality. >> all right, paul, so all eggs in one basket or no? is he being a realist about that? if he doesn't win georgia, he's got to reconsider. >> he has said that. he was on the "state of the union" with candy crowley today and sounding optimistic he would do well in georgia. the polls indicate he could do well here and in tennessee and the polls indicate that as well. i think mitt romney would love to see newt gingrich stay in the race because then you have newt gingrich and rick santorum dividing up the conservativ

south carolina actually picked newt gingrich. who may or may not be a president one day but despite what mr. romney's campaign said, south carolina sure did not pick mitt romney. and here was mitt romney yesterday in mobile, alabama, predicting who was going to win the alabama republican primary today. >> thank you for your generosity and your warm reception and your hospitality and for your votes. we're going to win tomorrow and we need your help. >> mitt romney saying yesterday he would win alabama today. mr. romney did not win alabama today. 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

newt gingrich and ron paul rounding out the 4. keep in mind these are fluid numbers right now because some of these guys have won some states tonight and some of the delegate awards are proportional. we have to figure it out district by district. 1144 delegates are needed to secure the republic nomination. >> bret: these are projections. this is the associated press projection as well. that's what we use. we will be changing throughout the night. team fox coverage now. our team of reporters are spread across the country. mike emanuel live in nashville at a primary party there. john roberts in atlanta with the gingrich campaign. steve brown in steubenville, ohio with the santorum campaign. and chief political correspondent carl cammeron is live in boston with the romney campaign. carl, everyone said ohio is going to be very close. it looks like it is. what can you tell us? >> well, the romney campaign is very confident tonight. they are in boston for the big celebration. the crowd has been here for a couple of hours and they are pr

newt gingrich tonight? >> well, he's running on newt gas, all the fumes thereof. you know, he's running, i think, to try and have some leverage, either at the convention or for that vp slot. as i mentioned a couple of hours ago. so, yes, he wants to be a thought leader and advance interesting ideas. more than that, you get leverage by hoping that mitt romney doesn't make it to the magic number in your delegates. even 100 here or there will make a difference and get you a better job in a romney administration. >> richard, do you think somebody would put newt gingrich on their ticket? he's one of the most unpopular politicians in america. wouldn't that be somewhat of a gamble? >> i think everything mitt romney does now is a gamble. he has to get to the magic number. you asked me what did newt think? why is he still in the race? not whether he's successfully read mitt romney's strategy. >> here is gingrich earlier tonight. here it is. >> the fact is, in both states, the conservative candidates got nearly 70% of the vote, and if you're the front-runner -- if you're th

vp,vp. >> vp, vp newt gingrich basking this that idea. while newt gingrich used to enjoy sharing the ticket with rick santorum, mitt romney would not share his ticket with rick santorum. he was asked about potential running mate choses last night on the fox newschannel, here is what he said. >> do you think though the fact that people like sarah palin, just recently endorsed newt gingrich and other conservatives are still holding back on you that if you were to become the nominee of your party, circumstances you would almost have to put a conservative, a real i know you say you're conservative, to the right of you on your ticket. >> well, that would preclude rick santorum, because look at his record. i find it interesting he continues to describe himself as the real conservative. this is the guy who voted against right to work. this is the guy that voted to fund planned parenthood. >> mitt romney going out of his way bringing it up, going out of his way to say no way would he pick rick santorum as a running mate. why? he's not conservativ

in a head to head match-up, people will look at newt gingrich and rick santorum and newt gingriching is clearly going to outshine santorum on those comparisons. >> when you look at the exit polling from last night, even though people voted for santorum, they still believe romney, not gingrich has the best ability to beat president obama, not gingrich here. >> well, again, more scrutiny on santorum as a person who may be the nominee. rick santorum was a leader in the senate. he was the third most powerful person in the senate. it was the risk santorum republicans that led the republican party to the worst defeat in the 2006 they suffered since watergate. he was partially responsible for that. we lost the congress. nancy pelosi, harry reid were the result. it set the stage for the election of president obama. in 2012, he is basically asking the republican party for a mulligan on losing the congressional majorities. they took balanced budgets and didn't produce a single budget. they took a shrinking national debt and increased it. these are contrasts that will come out with new scrutiny

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[ applause ] ♪ i'm a real american [ applause ] newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt! >>> you know, this is amazing. [ laughter ] >> i hope the analysts in washington and new york who spent june and july explaining our campaign was dead will watch this tonight and learn a little bit from this crowd and from this place. [ applause ] we survived the national effort to kill us in the summer because of you. because people who said we are not going to allow the elite to decide who we are allowed to nominate, and so with your help -- [ applause ] -- thousands and thousands of people came to newt.org and with your help, we survived the two most difficult months of a career which goes back to august of 1958. in june and july were really hard and was precisely because the national elite, especially in the republican party, had decided that a gingrich presidency was so frightening that they had to kill it early. but you, you wouldn't let them do it. ms. ms. [ applause ] fur with your help and the power of large solutions and big ideas, and clear communications

with newt out, and if newt gets out -- >> i think that santorum can beat romney? >> well, i think that if newt gets out, it gives santorum a whole newin momentum. >> but won't he blow it again. >> you think he will win the next five states? >> well, not only win the next five states, don't underestimate romney's ability to blow it. if you end up with a one-on-one race which the media will love, and conservatives will love, this guy can be the nominee. i am telling you that the real story tomorrow is will gingrich get out. that is what you are going to hear. >> and gingrich had not been in today, santorum would have won georgia and ohio, which is the biggest catch of the night. >> you are not convincing me. >> if gingrich was not in there. >> and the fellow we had on the night, did he look like a campaign manager and chief strategist? >> well, you know, chris, this is why it is interesting. if he can get this close to ohio with no infrastructure and -- this guy has more -- >> and until. >> -- and up to 2:00 in the morning to win. >> and i am saying they could meet

even newt gingrich said this. he says, i think it's going to get substantially worse, not better and i think that we are ri risking -- we are risking young men and women in a mission that may frankly not be do-able. is it time to start getting out of afghanistan much more quickly than president obama has in mind, which is he wants everyone out by the end of 2014? >> it's certainly time on a regular basis to review our mission there and see what progress we're making and not to make decisions based upon some actions by a crazed gunman. we don't determine our foreign policy based on something of that nature. from time-to-time, we have to assess what the process is there. i'm very disappointed the president has not over the last year or two talked about what's happening in afghanistan, what progress is being made, described a timetable that makes sensor described why his timetable makes sensor not. my own view, we have to listen to our own commanders on the ground and will hear input from general allen in a few days.

this is a new newt gingrich. we saw a little bit of that earlier this afternoon here at georgetown, talking about some students here. he said at one point that he did not run a very good campaign in his mind communicating big ideas. there was no sign, no sound of newt gingrich going after rick santorum and mitt romney. this is certainly the leaner newt gingrich and not necessarily the meaner newt gingrich. those days are over. >> kinder and gentler, that's what we have for the speaker. let's dig deeper in the shifting campaign environment. gloria bore inju gloria borger is here. people's view of the economy goes up, the president goes up. the president's job approval now above 51%. why? how do you feel about the economy? those who say economic conditions are good. 31% say that now. 69% say poor. that is still kind of bleak. look at january, 18% say good. 80 purse s 80% say poor. if that numbers keeps progressing, the president is in much better shape. >> as you point out, 31% ain't great. when barack obama was in

and ron paul has 46 and newt gingrich has 39. now, there are 419 delegates at stake, and you need 1, 144 to win. and using the state-of-the-art technology we want to put tom foreman, and we are looking at erin burnett and seeing what the influence of money is in the battleground states. >> yes, it is better than average, and the national unemployment rate is 8.5%, and eight of the states have bert than average unemployment which is the crucial state of ohio which 7.9%, and that is impressive. and north dakota, 3.3, and i will talk about that later, but it is a fascinating story and when you look at the worst states with higher than average unemployment it is georgia where we will be getting results in a few moments, so better than average, and we will see if that will affect the tally the night. >> thank you, erin. as always we have gloria borger, and david gergen, and along with the political contributors we will put everything in perspective for you. and now let's check in with john king. >> in ohio, the biggest contested prize

newt gingrich wins in georgia. we will take a look at the map and show you what is going on right now. you see it. wins for mitt romney in vermont and virginia, and you see the win for newt gingrich in georgia. we are waiting for ohio. the polls in ohio have closed, but we have not been able to make a projection. we have other states closing at the top of the the hour at 8:00 massachusetts closing, and oklahoma closes, and tennessee closes. that is right at the top of the hour. we will see if we can make any projections in those three states, but it is a significant development and a win is a win. mitt romney has two wins tonight so far tonight. so it is a significant development. it was fully expected, but anderson cooper, i expect that the mitt romney is excited to win those states. >> well, a win is a win. and for you guys, what is important, ohio? >> ohio and delegate count though, because you can't separate the two. if you are inside of a presidential campaign at this point, you are looking more at the total d

, is newt gingrich still standing? newt gingrich, chuck norris and monty python, something completely different, coming up. >>> the main stream media which partly means me has missed the biggest story of the election cycle. yesterday whether rick santorum won alabama and mississippi, he not only beat mitt romney and newt gingrich, and ron paul, but he also beat the unbeatable man. ♪ in the eyes of a ranger, the unsuspecting stranger had better know the truth from wrong from right." >> he bested chuck norris, the man who can slam a revolving door, can divide a number by zero. who doesn't sleep, just waits. chuck norris endorsed newt gingrich. he recorded robo calls for him. the gingrich campaign put it on youtube saying chuck norris does not endorse, he makes reality. >> hello, this is chuck norris. as my wife gena and i watched the gop debate and went to their website, we were trying to decide which of the candidates would be best to do head-to-combat with president obama. i didn't say hand-to-hand combat even help t

and now supports newt gingrich. governor, yesterday newt gingrich was the first republic on the stump to react to this horrible news out of afghanistan. and like ron paul now, newt gingrich says look, this is the most recent incident that indicates that it's time for us to pack up and get out of afghanistan. your take on this situation? >> well, i think this is just further reflection flexion of a president who has a meandering and very soft approach to this entire issue of afghanistan and iraq as well i have been in afghanistan in particular. he doesn't want us to be there to begin with i don't think he has the courage to stand up and say we're going to withdraw the troops and it's not worth the fight. so, i think you have this very corrosive effect going on from the lack of leadership from this president. the fact of the matter is we do have an interest there. we need to be supporting that goal that fighting the terrorist element that are there we need to have 100,000 plus troops. could we do it in a way that has

"newt gingrich's presidential campaign has changed. in the past, the campaign was about winning, or trying to win, or at least claiming to be trying to win. now it's about keeping mitt romney from winning. well, gingrich no longer says he can capture the 1,144 delegated required to wrap up the republican nomination. instead he now speaks frankly about a new plan. keep romney from 1,144 by the end of the gop primary season in june, and then start what gingrich calls a conversation about who should be the republican nominee. that conversation the plan goes would lead to a brokered gop convention at which gingrich would emerge as the eventual nominee." and this delusion continues. let's watch. >> i believe after the primaries the over, it will be obvious that the so-called front-runner, in fact, didn't get there. and from that point on, we'll be in a whole new conversation. >> your argument is that if he stays and he divides the anti-romney vote, which is my thinking, and most normal, rational people's thinking, his is something about, if

newt gingrich is saving him now. if newt gingrich were to get up and leave and none of us believe he will, that rick santorum could let him stop the nomination. i'm not saying and romney has more than double delegates pile rick santorum has tonight. not saying rick santorum can get to 1144 but i'm saying he's looking to stop romney. that no one will have the delegates and as lng as gingrich is in there, romney stay as live. >> 1144 magic number of delegates to get g.o.p. nomination? >> yes. the story of the night is that romney probably ends up, once adding in hawaii probably ends up winning the battle but this is not a good showing for him. newt gingrich and rick santorum will do better than he did there. it's what we've seen a cross the board if you look at very conservative voters. romney is pulling about a third of those. consistent of what he's gotten in other places. the most-interesting thing to me to look at going forward is whether there is a de facto pact between santorum and gingrich. if gingrich is gettin

newt newt newt newt newt newt newt newt newt. >> now, being here, at the waverly brings back many memories. in 1994, this is where we learned that for the first time in 40 years there would be a republican speaker of the house. [ applause ] you know, for that entire campaign, all of the elites thought we were crazy. first of all, we ran a positive campaign. we had a contract with america. they just thought that was weird. why would you go to all that trouble? have all these ideas? we didn't spend our time on lots and lots of negative ads. we spent our time communicating hope to the american people. the result was the largest one party increase in an off-year in american history because the american people want a chance to have hope again. >> so, as calista said, tomorrow will bring another chapter in the race for the nomination. it's more than a chapter in the race for the nomination. a chapter in a fight for the soul of the republican party, a chapter in the fight for the very nature of america, a chapter defining who we are as a people. let me be very clear. i believe that i am the one c

newt has to figure it out for himself. he got in it, he has to figure when the right time to exit is. >> if he didn't have that one donor, from las vegas he wouldn't have won the two states. >> isn't it amazing how citizens united screwed it up. this would be over if shelley adelson wasn't writing checks. romney will get his butt kick in the fall because he will be associated with the birth control farce and anti-latino stuff he has been talking about. >> this is what mitt romney said about winning conservative voters. >> when you ask in the prior elections who has voted? i won the conservative vote, some very conservative may not be in my camp but they will be when i become the nominee. >> exit polling romney is probably correct, 91% of primary voters said they would definitely or probably vote for the eventual republican nominee but he has had a hard time locking this up. is this going to continue or do you see him peeling off the more conservative voters? >> oh it will continue for a while. i think core republican voter

that is good for newt gingrich, he won his home state. he has not demonstrated strength in other places, he won south carolina, panhandle of florida and georgia, now the question is, whether that strength through the deep south continues to alabama and mississippi or whether as the questions we were talking about hogan gidley, gidley hogan earlier, if santorum can duplicate the strength he had in his states. i think this voters are going to have spoken if those states vote for santorum. >> aside from winning georgia, if i'm not mistaken, he did not get second anywhere. rick, why doesn't that meet the test that you laid out. the voters have spoken and of the two conservative alternatives, they want santorum? >> well, i think there's a lot of unknown about santorum, he is in many ways an empty vest. because mitt romney had run all the ads against newt gingrich and people wanted to believe that santorum was a true conservative, it not that he was not a true conservative, he was a conservative, and had his record is now coming to light, which

newt gingrich coming in second. newt gingrich was an alabama. rick santorum is heading to puerto rico to campaign for delegates in a state. the next primary will be tuesday in illinois. primaries and caucuses going on in the story and louisiana as well. -- missouri and louisiana as well. lesley is on the fund. good evening to you. >> thank you for taking my call. i am very much for newt gingrich because he is the strongest voice against obamacare. i am very against obamacare because there is no cost containment and there is no guarantee of the quality of health care in obamacare. this money is going to be siphoned out of their paycheck just like social security trust funds to pay for deficits/debt and paying that off. reality and being in touch with the people will not matter much if we do not have money to take care of our households. it was once a abraham lincoln once said "the strength of a nation lies at home with the people." newt gingrich is the one candidate who i see that is most opposed to obamacare. i see there right now that is the fi

if rick santorum goes in to those southern states and beats newt gingrich, is there any message newt gingrich can get from that to say, you know what, i really am in the way, i should get out of the way so 24 can be the conservative against the moderate flip-flopper romney? >> well, that would be up to speaker gingrich. as you know, i would support speaker gingrich. if he wants to go to the convention, i will support whatever he wants to do. i believe we will win alabama and mississippi, and we'll have a new ball game. if he he believed that romney or rick santorum could actually beat obama and change washington, which neither their records reflect they would be able to do that, they would both accommodate washington, he would step aside. he doesn't see that in either of those candidates, why not give people in mississippi a chance to vote for another conservative? >> well, according to that formulation then, he'll never stop aside, because every poll shows president obama beating every one of these guys. rick, come on, you can't keep things going like this. >> things change. >> i wa

newt gingrich, he can run on fumes. he's going to have to get even more extreme in his rhetoric to get free media attention if he wants to stay in the mix. >> looking at the race next tuesday, how do you see it governor? without this guy we're looking at now having any role up there, i can't see anybody in the suburbs or anybody wasting their vote on this guy. i certainly wouldn't visit. how does the battle look between the two left standing? the more establishment businessman, that's what he is really, romney, or the sort of christian conservative crusader, your guy. you know santorum all your life. what does the race look like? >> illinois is a strange state. paul kirk won a republican primary for senate. but the extreme conservative candidate won the primary for governor. and, of course that, was the only reason that pat green got re-elected. i think it's going to be a close race. i think in illinois the money could make a difference. you could see romney do what he did in michigan and ohio, sort of a narrow victory.

. >> you talked about the l word with newt. let's be clear, there are two l words, lobbyist and liar. >> if newt beginning is a lobbyist and a liar, are you able to offer a similarly straightforward assessment of mr. romney? >> yes. mitt romney is a man who appears on the base i of a long effort to be a politician. he claims he doesn't want to be a politician. that's mostly because he's generally been unsuccessful in his efforts to be an elected official. mitt romney is a man totally devoid of any commitment to any principle except his own advancement. there is literally not a public policy which he has not advocated one side on one time and one side on the other. i've never seen a major political figure so absolutely unburdened by any commitment to any principle what so ever. >> so he has no convictions what so ever. the only conviction he has is his own personal advancement and presumably, personal success. >> he believes that he should be the leader. he has since 1994 been running for president. he told people in '94, he wou