. >> with mr. romney acknowledging he is facing opposition with the southern voters. he said they don't like me but they tolerate me. is that a fair comparison? >> not at all. i wouldn't get close to that. i think the fair comparison is ronald reagan. he came to mississippi from california and he had been a democrat and they listen to ronald reagan . they said he played in movies and was a governor and former president of a union . i can remember in those days, there was an idea of who is this ronald reagan guy and should we embrace him? they did and as they got to know ron aldreagan and they will get to know mitt romney and they will realize he is a great american and restore america to the shining city on the hill and make sure we bring down the four dollar gas prices that are killing the economy here mississippi and across the nation. i think he realize that the economy is rebounding because of the 29 republican governors that are rebuilding their economy even against the flood of controls that is coming through the obama administration. 29 republican governors tha

mr. romney offers little on the subject. he is timid about details. if he prevails the first half of his first term will be dominated about what to do about the war that never ends. there are 85,000 troops in combat, but they are treated as a ghost army by their commander-in-chief and the man who would succeed him. he is a seasoned war correspondent, writing in the new york magazine. it has a grim finale after 2,000 americans killed and 16,000 americans wounded and $400 billion spent on the war in afghanistan and it has come to this. the united states is leaving, mission not accomplished. there probably won't be helicopters to rescue the frantic mobs in the times to come. it is more likely we will slither out of afghanistan. as the poet says, not with a bang, but a whimperment. >> governor mitt romney now has his number two, but will the paul ryan pick be enough to take the white house? former alaska governor sara -- sara palin weighs in. >>> we are now just two weeks away from the first of the 2012 conventions and fox newschannel is clearly the place

i think a is going to be the crucial message for mr. romney moving forward. matt, you get the last word. >> i think we'll hear from mitt romney talk being growth. the only way we can get out of the crisis that barak obama policies have put us in is we have to grow out of those policies and grow into prosperity. barak obama cannot run against george bush. he's got to run against mitt romney and he's got to run against the poor record over the last 3 1/2 years. when he was elected president, people's gas was 1.75. remember those days? now it's almost $4? >> arthel: well, listen, it's going to be a very crucial next seven months. lots of messages out there. going to have to resonate with the people at the end of the day. matt, thank you. >> good to sigh. >> arthel: you take care. >> thanks. >> rick: very interesting. when we come back, an update. the latest on the tedly weather system in the middle part of the system. brand-new video just in of a tent that collapsed right at busch stadium in downtown st. louis. it was baseball day today. the cardinals were in to

romney taking part in the last fox news gop debate in january. election watchers say that mr. romney should take part in more debates or it could hurt his chances with voters. susans rich professor of law and political science joins us now. always good to see you. -- there's a conservative blogger who said it was mitt romney's debate performances that convinced a lot of people that this guy was legit that he could go head-to-head with president obama in a general election. maybe he needs to get back out there to seal the deal. what do you think? >>> well it is a risky strategy. good debates and he had some not so good debates. the usual calculus as you know, the front-runner the one who doesn't want to debate, the guy with money is the one who doesn't want to debate. it is usually the guys with less money, like santorum, fewer voters like a newt gingrich who want to push a debate so they get in the picture. >> rick: you talk about front-runners i think to a lot of people around the country, even though governor romney may have the mostuei÷ delegatee doesn't feel like a front

he could do serious damage to mr. romney . the other unknown quantity is ron paul. this is itate with a libitarian streak. he's been around the track and ran in 2008 and ron paul could come in second here. what that means with the republican party perhaps not much. there is not a lot of expectation that ron paul could take it further. and the undecided hold sway in the end. and there is newt gingrich scud missiles. all right, karl. thank you for much. tune in to see huckabee's interview with santorum on the fox channel. in today's primary. a lot of voters will not be republicans. in new hampshire undeclared voters will be voted in the primary. he's on the hunt for the independents for the granite state win. >> yeah, the secretary of state called them undeclared and they are referred to as independents and karl mentioned they are the dominant voting block in new hampshire. 40 percent are unaffiliated or independent voters . only 30 percent registered republican and 30 percent registered democrat. if they want to, they can impact the election. and certainly mitt romne

. >> romney will step it up. >> see you tomorrow night. >> well, what will mr. romney's victory mean coming forward? coming up, the founder of south carolina's tea party will be here to share her spots on the tea party's roll and what is next. jaime? >> well, three republican contests and three different winners. i don't even know if you could predict it is coming out this way, and now everyone is headed to florida. and in some counties, voting is already underway. leonard curry is a chairman for the republican party of florida. sir, it is great to have you here this morning. good morning. >> good morning. it is a pleasure to be here. >> do you have any reaction to south carolina and how it may impact florida voters. >> what we have been saying for a year is florida will be the voice and florida will matter. and now with speaker gingrich winning south carolina it is going to come down to florida. who ever takes florida i believe will go on to be our nominee. >> and historically who ever takes south carolina has gone on to be the party's nominee. are you putting

mitt romney, cutting short his campaign trip in puerto rico. that holds their primary today. mr. romney is focusing instead on what has become for him a much tougher contest in the midwest and illinois. i'm eric shaw, welcome to a brand-new hour of america's news headquarters. >> the state of illinois is critical for romney. recent polls show his lead in the land of lincoln is dwindling with rick santorum closing in. doug is here with more. >> reporter: good morning to you. we are approaching a huge week in the republican race with the puerto rico race happening today. illinois on tuesday. puerto rico unique in that its residents cannot vote in a general election, but they will award 20 delegates in the primary today. given up proportionally, unless one of the cappedidates win more than 50% of the vote. then, it turns to illinois, where romney has a lead over santorum, the polls have romney up by 6.4 points with 37.7% to santant's 33 opinion 3%, gingrich lagging far beyond. asked this morning about the mathematical possibilities of either candidate achieving the 1144 delegates to

mr. romney hasn't attempted to somehow tie this directly to the president. but the longer it goes and the messier it gets, the worse it is. i should add that the economic numbers were a little uncertain this week, so maybe it's better from the president's point of view. >> rick: a welcome distraction. >> discussing prostitutes and call girls than discussing when our friends are going to get jobs. >> rick: the number of people who are applying or unemployment benefits. let me ask you about about the secret service. i'm sure you've been around these guys over the years. by all accounts, most of them, the vast majority of them are very impresssive bunch. is that agency now tainted forever, do you think, or do they recover from this? >> well, the jury is still out. that's a really good question. they'll recover from it if it's not a cultural problem. if they stand up to it, if we don't start hearing about similar incidents in other cities and other parts of the world. if we do, if they start finding other similar instances, then the agency is sadly going to be t

events where mr. romney will be campaigning. welcome. >> thanks eric. >> what do you predict will happen tuesday? >> i predict voters will render their decision and you will know who has won and you will talk we it. >> do you think that will be mitt romney for whom they will render their decision? >> it a any type of contest all the candidates are going to work hard taking no vote for granted and not spending time projecting what may happen they are tying to make sure they win the nomination. >> you seem to be hedging a bit predicting that mitt romney can win. >> i don't predict the future i would rather to try to shape it. at the end of the day less time spent on speculation and more time working on articulation of the issues like the economy, so important, is going to win the nomination. >> in 2008, let's look at board he got 38.9% of the vote against john mccain, 30% of the vote. does he have to beat those numbers against santorum? if he doesn't, you know if he loses to santorum, man oh man. >> it is go to be a marathon in is

today, mr. beginning mitch -- mr. gingrich joined the obama campaign and democrats' call for mitt romney to release his tax returns. >> he's got to make his own decision. president obama is releasing his records. this coming thursday, i will release my income tax records. governor romney if he plans to stay in the race ought to plan to release his records. >> reporter: romney campaign points out they have released all kinds of financial records over the course of the last few months as required. they have not ruled out the possibility that mr. romney will release his personal income tax returns. they suggested as a general election nominee against president obama, when the president does it. another attempt by the romney campaign to push back criticisms from newt gingrich and stay away from too much financial disclosure. obviously he's a very wealthy man. he doesn't want to do it until absolutely necessary as the nominee. >> gingrich got the boot last night when he great it out how will that affect him and then santor

if mr. mitt romney attracts support in the south that will aid him. republicans will be working hard to project the image that they want to get the work done. it is difficult to do in an election year and you can look forward to a lame duck session. >> it is always great to have your insight. thank you for joining us today. >> you bet. my pleasure. >> six little numbers change one couple's lives forever. what the winners of the new york lottery are saying next. >> it is just crazy and we are excited and just relieved and happy. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. g this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maxi

so you see mr. gingrich today challenging romney to release his tax returns. saying he, gingrich, will release his. this is an attack that the obama administration, democrats have been waging against romney for several weeks. santorum suggesting romney's the super pac that supports romney are running ads that are i will lit mit and false. -- illegitimate and false. neither on voters' minds if in a campaign about spending the size of government, taxes repealing obamacare and things of that nature. south carolina has a long history of going after character and integrity issues that's what these arguments are about. >> heather: carl, you mentioned overtaking romney. >> the conservative vote divided, could romney win? >> reporter: absolutely. the low country which runs the coastline as well as into the lower southern central part of the state, as opposed to the upstate. upstate is very conservative it runs along the north border with north carolina to the western part of the state that's where the conservative votes are, greenville, spartanburg, et cetera where ne

romney and mr. gingrich. and the country is going to have to make a decision whether or not they are going to look to the substance of the candidates and their past records politically or if the ability to kind of drown the other candidates in negative advertising is going to win the day. i have to say to you before i make this next statement i will adopt whoever wins the republican primary because the worst nightmare america could have is a reelection of barack obama. it is very important for the romney campaign to focus on the real issues and not to count on negative false campaign ads. you know, in florida, which was a critical race, 92% of the romney ads were negative and they were also focused on suggesting somehow that newt gingrich was antiregan or that regan was antigingrich. nothing could be further from the truth. my first campaign ever being involved was in the regan first campaign and mr. gingrich was, indeed, a centerpiece of all that. here is what happens when we focus on negativity in our prima

they haven't been just one way, attacks on mr. romney's career in venture capitalism? >> we've also seen attacks on how newt earned a living when he left the house. so it's gone both ways. >> gregg: sure. >> in america, we stand for opportunity for people to use their skills to go out and live their dreams. that's what the republican party is supposed to stand for. >> gregg: yeah. there have been three state contests so far. three different winners. as we mentioned with a population of 18 million, florida is bigger than all three. do you think your state will most likely identify the strongest candidate? >> absolutely. the ability to compete in a state that has ten major media markets, as large and diverse as we are, but socioeconomic and ethnically, the strongest candidate will emerge from florida and edge will likely go on with a head of steam ahead in the super tuesday. >> gregg: i know you're not picking winners and losers here, so i'm not going to go there. but your stage has a lot of social security recipients. newt gingrich proposed letting the states take it ov

> that is unauthorized disapproved use that was never authorized for the newt gingrich campaign. >> mr. huckabee doesn't plann to enforce dorse a candidate. >> new race for the florida primary is down to the wire. only two campaigning in the sunshine state. the poll show that is mitt romney is anewt gingrich by sevenpoints and that is compared to a poll that has him up. and who seems to be having the most to gain or lose. joining us now is shell and christian. >> thank you for being here today. >> michele. i will begin with you. we are hearing about scorching attacks and challenging honesty and integrity. how concerned are you that this is hurting the gop when it comes time to go up against the president? >> i am not concerned as a lot of people seem to be these past couple of days. it is politicings. it has to play out in the open it is healthy and necessary and in the end strengthening the candidates as they head in the general. have a final four. who knows, anything might happen as we head to the brokered convention. i don't agree with the leading gop lights out there gashing their

why mr. gingrich and not governor romney? >> speaker gingrich has been consistent with his approach to latinos. he developed, he was a co-founder of a web site of conservative values called the americano. and he has the consistent outreach, reaping out to latinos. he was the first candidate, frankly, in this gop primary to step out on a ledge, if you will, and really address the big elephant in the room that frankly republican party has not done a good job of addressing and that's the undocumented immigrants. 11 million plus or minus. >> arthel: so, of course, as we know, immigration, it's complex, but if you could break it down to its essence in and tell me what are the top three concerns as they pertain to immigration? >> well, i think the biggest issue is what do we do with the 11 million people here that are undocumented? we know that these folks here, in many cases, were not illegal. they came and overextended their visas. what do we do with this population which is really an essential part in some cases of our economy?

what does this say when the president is basically neck in neck with mr. romney in florida? >> there is two things here. first, since rick santorum and newt gingrich have effectively conceded the race, a lot of their supporters who said they would never vote for mitt romney are saying something to the effect of, well, i'm not happy about it, but i still want to vote against president obama. so they're beginning to give a little bit of their support to governor romney. the other story in florida is there is a question of how much the president's health care law is going to hurt there. this is a state the president won by three points the last time around. seniors are more unhappy with the health care law than any other demographic. they're also obviously very influenced by the health care situation. it's a big part of their voting decision. this is a state that right now is it too close it call and as the health care issue becomes big news again in june, could have a huge swing. >> julie: let's look at virginia, it's similar there. romney is ahead of the president by only one

have been down playing their expectations, for mr. santorum keeping his argument going he's the only alternative to mitt romney is essential. he faces a particularly tough and steep climb as the romney campaign is making that argument virtuely every hour on the hour. he has the argument he can lose in that state and delegate count as well as the states and popular vote. for romney, there's the possibility of possibly overprfove overperforming. and he the romney's campaign's assertion, a statement by rick santorum amounts to santorum's willingness. at the romney campaign is taking offense to santorum's assertion, romney and obama are the same and the country might as well stay with what it has. romney has been trying to drive a wedge between the party regulars and santorum denies it and newt gingrich actually went to college at tulane in new orleans and played time trying to play a favorite neve knew role, but hasn't got a lot of money and momentum in the polls leading up to today's vote. so for newt gingrich this could be another defe

go all the way to the convention is mr. pall, planning to go all the way? >> we'll keep going until there is a clear winner. when someone wins 144 delegates. if it is dr. paul or not us. but when they aulate 144 delegates. >> less than three percent is allocate just getting started. we have 46 more states to vote . all of the territories need to vote and we have a crom prehensive plan. we are working hard and we'll keep going. and dr. palt can come out on top beed hads money and terms was connect being with votes what is the biggest road block going forward? perception in the media. we need strong showings in minnesota and colorado and maine to show we are here and we will run with the big boys . support will grow. >> thank you for joining us today. you have a loud and happy crowd out there. we appreciate it very much. thank you. >> the new york giants and that doesn't mean they don't have all of the perks of home. we'll tell you why their super bowl snack received a police escort. i couldn't concei this as a heart attack.

romney is the closest to president obama. 47.3 percent for the president, 44.9 percent for mr. romney. two points apart. you got the swiss bank the cayman islands the speaker fees a list that goes on and on and on that gingrich has used against him. isn't president obama going to pick that up? >> if you look at the numbers, the story is right there in the numbers. against mitt romney the president is under that critical number 50 percent. against newt gingrich, he is over 50 percent. now why is that? it's very simple. goes back to what he said the independents. i realize where he is coming from and i am not quite sure what poll you are referring to, but the reality is most of the polling we are seeing right now on mitt romney is the republican primary. >> nbc wall street journal poll. >> when you look at the public poll numbers and see the president under 50 percent you know as well as i do any incumbent under 50 percent is a vulnerable incumbent. romney can hold the president under 50 percent in the middle of a republican primary when he is getting attackd from all sides it's

i think i would give mr. romney a list of people who would suit better. >> romney/rubio trails obama/biden by 1. and candidate romney is further behind when portman is added. experts say that regardless, being picked as a runningmate is harder than being picked as the nominee. >> obama right now can say to mitt romney, release your taxes. mitt romney can say no. we vote for him one way or the other. if mitt romney says to his v.p. picks, i want to see 10 years of your taxes... you are going to have to give 'em to him to be vice-president. that's the difference. i mean, you can't stonewall the presidential nominee. >> and bill clinton and george w. bush were shown why being number 2 is harder than being voted for number 1. nobody on any vetting committee would have picked either man, knowing efers about their past that eventually came out. >> shannon: brand-new polls are shedding light on two crucial swing states. president obama and mitt romney are neck and neck in florida. but in ohio, the president appears

mr. romney, leading the delegate race so far, heading into a critical week of primaries on tuesday. but some party insiders this weekend continue to warn of a possible brokered convention, if they claim rivals rick santorum and newt gingrich continue to stay in the race. but both vowing they are not getting out, saying in effect, why should they? peter doocy live in washington with the latest. hi, peter. >> reporter: hi, eric. governor romney racked up a string of important endorsements. wednesday, senator marco rubio, thursday, former president george h.w. bush and then friday, paul ryan and today, one of the senator, ron johnson, gave his blessing. >> i never did intend to endorse anybody, but i have had the opportunity to meet with governor romney over the past couple of weeks and have long phone conversations. viequal away from those phone conversations, fully convinced that mitt romney is the person to lead our party, to lead our nation. >> reporter: nationally, the real clear politics average of polls shows romney with almost a double-digit lead over senator santorum, and spok

here was the mean attack dog mondale, saying thank you, mr. president. if romney had said, mr. president, you deserve great credit for this. pie the a, i think any american president, i would hope, would do the right thing. he would have gone up, don't you think, john? >> i think he would look more presidential if he would act like a pot this one, romney, i'm talking about. makes obama look small. -- >> we are trying to exploit -- >> this is the problem, gregg, we have discussed this before. the teams around the candidates, the president and mr. romney, they are so into one-ups-manship that they can't see a larger mosaic of a narrative here. >> gregg: hire's the one-ups-manship. i want to be fair to mitt romney. here's his remark this is week. >> americans have always been eternal optimists, but over the last three and-a-half years, we have seen hopes and dreams diminished by false promises and weak leadership. to all of you, i have a simple message: hold on a little longer. a better america begins tonight. it's still about the economy and we are not stupid. >> gregg: doug, som

>> mr. romney had an event at a large city outside of manchester which is the state's largest city. it was a packed capacity crowd. it was probably one of the most energized crowds that he's had. that's partly because they're on the band wagon of who they think is a winner. but when you kind of push some of his supporters as to how they feel about mitt romney, they're a little ambivalent. there sent the energy you would expect behind a front runner surging and that speaks to a lot of the misgivings that republicans have with his candidacy. six years ago he was considered a massachusetts moderate, he sometimes actually cast himself as to the left of ted kennedy. that gives the conservatives here in new hampshire even those who are supporting him, some degree of misgiving. they're behind him, they expect him to win, but it isn't as though they're charging ahead furiously. there's a sense of a ho-hum thing about the primary because the front runner is so far ahead and across the board, republicans aren't exactly crazed about this field. >> rick: what about the two in the back of the pa

for mitt romney it will be the fourth win. it is critecal despite only 5500 reg mr. #2: ered gop voters turned out in 2008. it is a maul - small turn out the next contest are not held until arizona and michigan. uma? >> we'll check back with you throughout the day . keep it here. i will be talking to congressman ron paul. he was hoping for the first caucaus win . could that happen and how long will he stay in if it doesn't. >> it is the third and final day of cpac. they will be wrapping up with a straw poll and address from former vice-president candidate sarah palin. many are wondering if she will endorse and if it matters at this point. >> hi, doug. >> uma. last day of cpac and things are getting energized in anticipation of the straw poll vote. yesterday, things got raucus with union protest and police had to be called in. no major ha was done. there is raucus behavior in the lobby as mitt romney supporters signs shouted mittt and square off with santorum supporters. each much them were shouting in good natured fun . to get

it's a very big deal and his attacks on mr. romney are not going to stop. listen to this from this morning. >> south carolina began to become really clear that if you want to beat barak obama, then newt newt gingrich is the only experience who has the ability to get on the stage and drive home a conservative message with authenticity. >> and mitt romney by contrast, now has to really get productive in his criticism of newt gingrich. he tried to avoid that. now romney will go aggressively after gingrich for his personal and public last, asking him to answer specific questions about some of the baggage that most folks already know newt gingrich has carried successfully to this big upset win. for romney, however, it was a very bad week not just in the case of the defeat last night, there was the question about his tax returns and now he's said he'll reveal them on tuesday to get what has been a tuning distraction out of the -- huge distraction out of the way. >> i will release my tax returns for 2010, which is the last returns that were completed. i'll do that

if mr. romney really wants to unite his party and rally a new america majority he needs a cause bigger than his business biography. americans will not follow him merely because he slav-- saved olympics or ran a privateic equity firm? does he loack the leadership tht inspires voters? >> i don't think so. if you look foels you are siting they consistently the number one issue on the minds of voters are jobs and the economy. that's what they are most concerned about. it's not going to be a referendum on romney it will be a referendum on obama and his handling of the economy. >> because of his business background and his plans -- let me offer one of his plans. governor romney's tax plan. let's put it up on the screen here. here are the five main components of the tax plan. it was studied closely by the tax policy center which concluded it doesn't really help the middle class, instead they said high income households would win big poor families would actually fair worse under president romney. if

if mr. romney needs to unite the party and rally an american majority he needs a cause bigger than his doctor >> gregg: what about that? is romney lacking a credible pl, something very specific that is inspiring to turn around the economy? >> well, you have to know, right now they are in middle of a primary nomination fight and he is appealing to the base and focusing on the anti-obama base. >> gregg: appealing or pandering? >> i would say they want barack obama out of office. but i would suspect as the race moves more and more in his direction, you would will see him identify his policies that are more general election focused, more focused on the economy, what government's role is or isn't going to be in his his administration in terms of keeping this economy going. >> gregg: so trey harden, doug schoen, thank you very much. so whatever. >> heather: that was fun. i like that. >> gregg: very enthusiastic. >> heather: massachusetts school cracking down on valentine's day candy. are they pote

mccain beat romney 37%-31%. was if mr. romney doesn't hit those numbers and doesn't beat expectations? >> well, that's like saying what if he didn't get the same percentage as reagan got in '76 or '80. it is not as relevant. we have the current field running. we don't have previous candidates for president running or former presidents running. he's going to be judged against this field. and he's going to be judged by republican activists based on choices they are presented with. the fact is, the choices in iowa showed that he got the most votes. >> finally, there's always been a mixed issue with him. look at the newspapers and endorsements, conservative standard-bearer in new hampshire the manchester union leader endorsed gingrich. mr. romney has five endorsements of newspapers, including the "boston herald". huntsman got the boston globe, four and paul got the new hampshire press. as he goes into south carolina how come there has been such a mixed reaction? will he be able to overcome that? >> it is the same thing every c

listen to the exchange with mr. santorum really questioning whether or not mitt romney can be believed. >> i think there is no question whether it is healthcare, whether it is cap and trade, whether it is bailouts, whether it is just the roll of government in your life governor romney has a very, very bad track record of being for government type solutions. >> now, romney counters that santorum very much has a similar record. that when was in the u.s. senate he south ear marks and brought home a lot of federal money, a lot of pork to pennsylvania and sort of a big government proconservative prounion rather type of republican. romney argues that in time all that, too, will come out. listen. >> i wasn't looking for ear marks. i was looking for money. every governor and every institution frankly goes to washington and talks with their needs and tries to encourage congress to appropriate funds in the normal process and that is how the system works. it is up to the government, it is up to the congress and the president t

>> well, the point i make there, he's not mr. right and the conventional sense, but the sense it seems to me is accurately to be the right of romney, again, why there's consolidation around gingrich and why from the beginning he was singling about a third of the vote or two-thirds of the south seemed to being looking for quote, mr. right. for a while flavor of the week or month, with cain and bachmann and perry and go down the list. now we're in the 11th hour, there seems to be consolidation around one person, seems to me gingrich and we'll see tonight, but i think when i say mr. right, i think to the right of romney and that's what i'm here with voters across the state. >> a quick one, i'm nearly out of time. when you and i talked a week ago you talked about how the gingrich sum pac negative ads attacking romney's stewardship of bain capital has back fired. has that abated? >> yeah, they quit talking about it, they knew it wasn't working and you don't see that attack line anymore, it didn't work, and the point that i also said a

but mr. santorum got a lot of heat for his that mitt romney and barack obama are alike in policy condition that we may should stay like we are like. newt gingrich said that is inappropriate statement and he tried to revise it aggressively. he is in pennsylvania and yesterday in new orleans he tried to stem the assertion that he might vote for obama if mitt romney was the nominee. >> everybody knows full well my passion about defeating obama. and yet we see the ridiculous canard that is perpetrated by the mitt romney that i would vote for obama. over my dead body would i vote for barack obama. mitt romney hasn't put in a lot of money and the super pac has been on the attack. santorum is dominating the air waves and it is a big win for him. if he falms short in louisiana it is a set back to the argument that he has the necessary 1144 delegates and santorum is staying on the race and putting pressure on newt gingrich to get out. newt gingrich campaigning here in louisiana actually said that he d

romney? >> good luck tonight. [chuckles] >> no, really. >> really. if some of these folks were around when columbus set sail... they must have been founding members of the flat earth society. >> gregg: let's bring in our campaign insiders. doug shown, pat caddell and former congressman. >> good to see you. >> gregg: pat, do you detect a discernible change in the president? if so, why? >> it's discernible. we have been laughing him off when he was 8 or 9 points ahead. and then a week later, his numbers have nosedived and we see the president going on and by the way, using rhetoric that in my experience, i don't think i have ever seen a president of the united states use on the opposition party. >> gregg: like what? >> well, i mean, attack the candidates directly. he's accusing them-- the flat-earth society. presidents don't do that in the spring while they are paik picking candidates. fall's a different thing. we have never had this rhetoric. >> gregg: has the president gone from confident to worried in nine days? >> he did. i think this happened last

romney won 38% of the straw poll votes, 3408 that gathered here for the convention. mr. santorum was second at 31%. newt gingrich was third. ron paul who won last year fourth with 12%. so there you have it. a bit of a surprise given the momentum that rick santorum had coming into the convention with three victories. mitt romney pulls off a victory at cpac gathering. gregg, back to you. >> gregg: 38% for romney, 31%, 13% nor newt gingrich, do i have those figures right. >> 38% for mitt romney, 31% for rick santorum, 13% for newt gingrich? >> that is correct. >> ron paul gets? >> 15% for gingrich and 12% for paul which may very well be mitigated by what paul does in maine this afternoon. >> gregg: how important is this, doug? >> reporter: it's hard to say. it's important to the people who are gathered in this hall. there have been something like 10,000 people that attended the three-day convention. whether it's translates into votes remains to be seen. best guesstimate might come from last year, ron paul won big here last year. he didn't bother to show up at the convention

which is it, mr. mor horowitz? did you only pick the quotes that was anti-romney? another quote, all envy about how he never got invited to the romney house, he never -- you know, i was 16, and i didn't have a car, implying that mitt romney had a car. well, another classmate says, wait a minute, he invited a lot of people to his house. not only that, he didn't have a car. so what it amounts to is what point duo owe these people are caught flat-out. the ombudsman concludes with saying, the accounts remain unchallenged. interesting, compelling and well documented. >> it's none of those things. i read the piece. >> of course not. hasn't mr. paxton any shame? >> isn't the point, not just that it is filled with some inaccuracies and falsehoods, but who among us truly wants to be judged by what we did in high school more than 45 years ago? i mean, what's next? >> true. >> are they going to do a front page expose' saying mitt romney was an incorrigible at age 7 and can't hold high office? it smacks of a bunch of political hacks, doesn't it? >> i think there's no question

i think on this one, mr. romney is really vulnerable. >> and it's not illegal. ellen is right. it's not illegal to own a foreign car but if you are president in the united states you don't drive a foreign car. >> get rid of the loopholes and do the buffet law. this is a fairness issue. >> nobody wants to get rid of the loopholes. >> so the guy says get rid of the loopholes. >> i know a lot of democrats don't want to get rid of the loopholes. >> it's a dirty little secret. >> democrats and republicans, newt gingrich his campaign millions of dollars in debt. a new report claiming that he is now loaning his campaign thousands of dollars to stay on the campaign trail. also atry beauties to the former speaker's money problems to lavish lifestyle, not willing to give that up. >> when i ran for the senate, after i lost, people offered to buy my donor list. that is what you do when you are really desperate. every one of those donors are so mad at you. >> heather: tell me, by renting out his donor list. he is giving the contact information, the e-mail list. someone who says i'm going to

with 100,000 jobs in the private sector. >> mr. speaker he said we will not allow comment -- >> let me answer his question. let me say it differently. i believe that it is fair to ask the records be clear. >> shannon: if you missed the huckabee forum it will replay tonight 8:00 eastern right here on fox. coming up, a live interview with gingrich supporter former oklahoma congressman j.c. watts. >> the christian vote has been a big question mark split between at least three. leaders of 150 christian groups met in texas yesterday and decided they would back santorum. what does it mean from other votes violating votes from the religious right? >> take a look at that in a second. first, what does it mean for rick santorum? it raises two questions, will these he van kell and conservative -- evangelical and conservative leaders support rick santorum and do they have enough time? according to the latest polls if he hopes to take second place from gingrich, santorum needs pints in the next week if he hopes to beat mitt romney he would have

one military official told the times if the attack occurred five minutes later, mr. panetta, would have been on the tarmac as the truck raced through. >> turning now to the race for the white house. voting in the missouri caucuses is now underway, but mitt romney shifting the focus to puerto rico says that shifting the u.s. commonwealth ahead of the primary. calling out rick santorum over comments that puerto rico adapted english as an official language. >> as you know, english has been an official language and for your governor, spanish is the language of your puerto rican heritage and english is the language of opportunity and hope that young people learn both languages. >> rick santorum is the only g.o.p. candidate campaigning across missouri and insisting that that race is still anybody's game. >> here we are, in a race, and we look at the the national polls and it's very, very close, between governor romney and myself and even president obama and the race is far, far from over, to the general elections or the primary election. >> the next big stop on the campaig

cast their vote and to have a choice and we shouldn't have a coronation, we should have a primary. >> mr. gingrich, of course, says he will continue now through the convention in tampa. if rick santorum and gingrich weren't battling it out for the conservative vote, what do you think the results would be in alabama? would romney be ahead? >> i think the conservative would be ahead. >> has it damaged the party since they have been having this dog fight that continues? >> i don't know that it damages. but it divides. it's always difficult to heal divisions. the party would, of course, be stronger. i am not sure that i agree with people who say that a bloody, bruising primary is good for november. i think it's good to have a choice. i don't think it's good when we nominate somebody because it's their turn. i think it's good when we nominate somebody because their values aline with our values. i wish we could see a spirited contest between somebody who has taken positions that people in alabama wouldn't be comfortable with somebody who was prochoice, they wouldn't be comfortable with somebod

mr. huntsman got a lot roo riding on this. if he fails to hit third place it could be end of candidacy and newt gingrich came hard against romney going after his record as attempted career politician. >> we want every day normal people to be able to run for office, not just millionaires. we want to build a system. i was an army brat. my family didn't have any money. i was able largely because of help of women's federation, i was able to run through three-times. >> reporter: gingrich pointing out his own efforts. he has only run in district in georgia. he has not run statewide in georgia but he is chief protagonist against mitt romney. he has made it clear he will go him consistently after his record. >> gregg: carl cameron, thanks very much. >> heather: candidates are working around the clock to get people to the polls stepping up their ground campaigns to win over any if voters. molly is live. molly, what are the candidates doing to get the final vote out in the final hours? >> molly: you mentioned the foot dragers, those und

mr. obama poked fun at himself, the media and the presumptive g.o.p. nominee, mitt romney. >> i guess governor romney is feeling pretty good about things because he took a few hours off the other day to see the hunger games. i'm sure this was a great change of pace for him. i have not seen the hunger games. not enough class warfare for me. >> the jokes didn't stop there. he took jabs at the secret service in the wake of the columbian prostitution scanneddal and several actors and actresses there in the room. we will show you more throughout the show. did he deliver? who was funnier? the president or jimmy kimmel? tweet us your answers. we will read them. get your votes in, later this hour. a sports celebration took a deadly turn because of wicked weather. one person killed more than a dozen others injured. we will take you to the scene, right after the break. the fast and furious scandal is far from over. some lawmakers are pushing to hoaltd attorney general in contempt. we will talk to one of them, after the break. more from the comedian in chief at w

staying on the moon, suggesting for mr. speaker to propose that, completely ignores the fact that the country has huge debts and can't afford that teach expanded government program. >> gregg: early vote not votingt ended in florida. how important is this in the primary? >> it's very, very important. over the years in florida where early voting and absentee ballots have been a big part of the process, they've been decisive in a couple of races. already about 11% of the florida vote has been cast. about 500,000 absentee ballots were considered. more than 270,000 have been returned. the early balloting which ends today is up to about 180,000 votes cast and it will president-elect obama be significantly -- probably be significantly larger. over the course of the weekend, getting all the ballot totals down. this is a state that's sensitive to arguments about ballot counting. the polls show romney has an advantage, between 5 and 10 percentage points. the romney campaign is saying when it comes to the absentee ballot and early vot

santorum's view of their relevance and puts the race as two-person contest, which is important for mr. santorum 'cause he argues that's the best way for him to continue, even though he face has steep climb in the delegate count for mitt romney, he's taking this day off. he did come and campaign in new orleans for one day, but his campaign didn't put any money on the air. the super pac that supports him has done so. but leading into this, every single poll, several in the last week and a half, in santorum with a comfortable lead and by most accounts, barring very, very surprising upset from mitt romney, santorum will pick up the lion's share of the delegates tonight. that's not to say mitt romney as well as newt gingrich may get a few of their own. 20 all in all up for grabs and the polls close at 7:00 o'clock local 8:00 o'clock eastern time. now back to new york. >> thank you very much. carl cameron reporting live from new orleans. keep it right here on fox and we will have the results for you as they come in throughout the evening. >> gregg: there are new calls from critics and activ

mr. mayor, welcome. thank you for coming in. >> nice to be with you. >> eric: first, let me start with what happened yesterday. two wins for mitt romney. within two hours. cpac, a surprise, and also maine, some thought paul would pull it out. your reaction? >> this is an example of how the race has gone up and down. gingrich wins, romney wins, santorum wins. now romney won several. i still think it's an open race. i think governor romney has the edge. there is no question about it. but rick santorum is definitely in there and still has a real chance to prove himself. i think newt who has nine lives, probably used up six of them already, maybe seven. he has a couple more to use up. we have to see. i think sarah palin is absolutely right. they should stop the negative campaigning against each other. we know distinction between them. most is about the prior record. it'd like to hear them talk about, you know, what they would do about iran, what they would do about north korea, and the economy, taxes. health