romney loses. 50-100,000, mitt romney loses. how do you win a state when you loose every single income bracket in the state? oh, again, mitt romney wins among the wealthiest sliver of the electorate. that is the only group that mitt romney won that is the only group of voters mitt romney won in michigan or in ohio. he lost the primary or at best tied with voters in every single income bracket in both states, except for the wealthiest sliver of the electorate. how do you win a state when you were only winning the wealthiest sliver and losing everything else? ah-ha. mitt romney is not just appealing to the rich people in these states. he is inspiring the rich people in these states. turns out mitt romney's candidacy is driving up voter participation by the richest people in the country. this is amazing. in 2008 in the republican primary in ohio, the proportion of voters in that primary that year that were making over $100,000, 21%. that was 2008. 21%. this year, 30%. of the electorate is making over $100,000. those are mitt romney

mitt romney has won the state of illinois, mitt romney the projected winner in that state. the latest results we have right now are 19% in, mitt romney 54% of the vote, rick santorum, 28% of the vote, ron paul 9% of the vote, newt gingrich, 7% of the vote. we'll be watching those percentages in the rankings of the other candidates as the percentages of the vote increases. this is exciting. this is election night. republicans in the great state of illinois making big consequential decisions whether to punch their ballot for mitt romney, rick santorum, ron paul or newt gingrich. actually, that's not the way it has worked at all. have you seen what the ballot looks like that republicans were using tonight in illinois? it's different in every county, but this is representative. let's put up the macon county ballot. if you're going to vote in illinois and you're voting in macon county, which is right in the middle of the state, if you want mitt romney to be president, you can indicate you want mitt romney to be president of the united states, but whether or not you do that, it d

mitt romney with 36%. ron paul and rick santorum are tied for a second, virtually -- actually, exactly the same 24%. newt gingrich a distant fourth with 12%. only ron paul chose to be in washington state tonight. he's planning to address his supporters this hour. our reporters tracking the republican candidates have been busy all day as well as the washington state parties headquarters and the caucus sites. here with me tonight are chief political analyst, gloria bore ger, john king of cnn's john king usa. they're ready to assess and analyze the results. we'll get perspective from ari fleischer and hillary rosen. let start out with paul at state republican party headquarters in bellevue, washington. set the scene for us, paul. what's the latest? >> well, we just had three more counties trickle in. i'm going to bring in the gopwi. we have 26 of 39. >> 26 of 39. >> we should node the big counties not in yet. tell us what the last three counties were and what the count is in them. >> we had woodman and cal at

it has also been a good night for mitt romney. mitt romney winning in idaho. winning in virginia where only he and ron paul were on the ballot winning his home state of massachusetts in vermont and squeaking one out in ohio. these are the of all states won throughout the country up to and including tonight. you are seeing some streaky patterns there, and in terms of regional favorability for these candidates, but right now, it is still a good night for rick santorum. had mitt romney lost ohio to mr. santorum, i think that it would have been seen as a spectacular night for rick santorum. the states that he won the night included north dakota, tennessee and oklahoma, but in the end, not ohio despite having been close all night. this has been a heck of a night. super tuesday tonight, and we are waiting for some of the results from alaska. which, you never know, might end up being definitive at any point. >> and sarah palin voted for newt. >> did she? >> sarah palin voted for newt so anybody who tells newt to get out, she will be all worked up about that. >> well,

off mitt romney. something exstroud nair has to happen. >> yes, just going through that list of states, romney is going to win most of those. of course we're going to focus on pennsylvania. but think of the fact that new york state is not in play. connecticut is not in play. new jersey is probably not in play. those are all romney states. california doesn't seem to be in play. that's why i think you're right to say nobody wants to say right now, game over because it's been so unpredictable and so volatile. but we're darn close. >> let's talk love. >> any time. any time. >> you look like to me the first to have this conversation. let's just talk love. how does mitt romney, if he wins the nomination, make his own party and the vote that comes with it love him enough to drive barack obama out of the white house? >> i think it's about hate, not love. i think it's about hating bar obama. and i think the republican voters who are the least enthusiastic about mitt romney who don't love him, who are not passi

mitt romney though significant ahead in both virginia and vermont. standby, and we will be able to make a projection at some point. i want to go to mitt romney's headquarters in -- newt gingrich's headquarters in georgia, and some of them have not realized we have made a call. they are dancing there, and they will be fully excited when they know what is going on. let's share the exit poll information on the three states that have closed right now and put them up on the wall over he here. the georgia exit poll number, and here it will explain why we were able to make the projection that newt gingrich is the winner in his home state of georgia. take a look at this. according to the exit poll, e he got 45%, and nearly half of the republicans who voted in the primary in georgia. 26% for mitt romney, and 20% for rick santorum. only 8% for ron paul. a significant win, a significant win, we project, for newt gingrich. he needed the home state, and he gets the home state of georgia. take a look at vermont right now, and we have the exit poll numbers in vermo

he also took a shot at mitt romney. listen to this. >> one of the things tonight proved is that the elite media's effort to convince the nation that mitt romney is inevitable just collapsed. if you're the front runner and you keep coming in third, you're not much of a front runner. >> knocking romney on what turned out to be a bad night for newt gingrich himself. joining us now, two of newt gingrich's staunch and supporters. they happen to be his daughters. jackie gingrich kushman. thanks very much for coming in. how disappointed is your dad that he didn't win both of these southern states? >> well, you know, he's not disappointed at all. he's very happy to be here in alabama and mississippi. it was a photo finish. it was not a very big gap at all. so i think of course he would have liked to have won. the reality is he's going to walk away from tonight with more delegates that he had before tonight. i think he's got a great point. for months we have been hearing that mitt romney is the inevitable candidate. clearly he i

romney really is. >> karen, what happened to mitt romney tonight? >> well, he -- you know, i actually think he had a better night than most people do because nobody really thought he was going to win despite what he was saying. he needed to be able to show he could, you know, not come in about where ron paul came in. the argument he wants to be able to make is, it's about the math, the math is on my side. and i wouldn't be surprised if you don't start hearing rumblings of perhaps someone who would appeal to the south as a vp. >> here's rick santorum. here's what he had to say earlier this evening when he got the news. >> we will compete everywhere. the time is now for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to make sure, to make sure that we have the best chance to win this election, and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama, who can take him on on every issue. >> eugene robinson, what does this night mean for rick santorum? the math, as chuck todd told us in our last segment, really

here is mitt romney offer riinge analysis on himself. he told reporters the greatest lesson from his last campaign is he needed to sell his own image before his opponent put him on the defensive. i learned if you don't define yourself your opponent will define you. that was 2002. he has been struggling for a long time. >> yeah, i feel sorry for him because he did catch a radicalized republican primary right now. and if obama had a primary, some nuisance candidate would take 25% and we would be talking about that. half the republican primary wants to burn washington down. they don't want to fix a guy like mitt romne and that's his problem, he has rough terrain there. we have had a 40% swing in two years back and forth. and so you can't predict where some go, but given time and the right kind of attention, romney is the guy that can get that vote in the end. >> when you were here last, you said he has to talk about the auto bailout. he is hering you, and he is doing that. we know attitudes about the economy are improving. where are you wor

so santorum and mitt romney. the santorum folks definitely feel in a one-on-one match up based on how badly they have been out spent in michigan and ohio and still manage to just lose by a razor's edge in both states. they feel in a one-on-one match up collecting votes that might have also been for newt gingrich or ron paul that they could easily turn that around -- turn the losses back around into victories. what they specifically say is this is not a call for newt gingrich to get out of the race. but it is an appeal to those who might support newt gingrich, the tea party folks, the social conservatives other institutional conservatives in the party who coalesced around newt gingrich. they say, hey, if you come over here there is a possibility that we can do what it is a lot of folks in the republican primary so far this season have been wanting to do. it is finding the anti-romney candidate that can beat mitt romney. that person has not been found, at least not in a reliable quantity or for a reliable length of

mitt romney was known as a turnaround artist. and he is a turnaround artist in the battleground swing states. he has come from way behind to win in florida, michigan and now in ohio. does that make him a more capable candidate in november? >> i think that make it makes him our nominee. i don't see how santorum can do anything. he is pretty much done. i mean, it just is not going to happen. newt gingrich can go to kansas or anywhere he wants. but he is even in a worse position than santorum. and here's the difference between mitt romney and others. he has done this before. last time, super tuesdayened it. and now he's speaking to barack obama instead of the others, he is ignoring them and he can at this point. >> gregg: you know a lot about the women's issues, so i want to ask thuparticularly. rick santorum does not do well among women. we saw it in ohio. we have seen it in michigan and elsewhere. our own polling data overall shows he polls poorly among women. why? >> i think have you to look at some of the statements he has made

mitt romney was known as a turnaround artist. and he is a turnaround artist in the battleground swing states. he has come from way behind to win in florida, michigan and now in ohio. does that make him a more capable candidate in november? >> i think that make it makes him our nominee. i don't see how santorum can do anything. he is pretty much done. i mean, it just is not going to happen. newt gingrich can go to kansas or anywhere he wants. but he is even in a worse position than santorum. and here's the difference between mitt romney and others. he has done this before. last time, super tuesdayened it. and now he's speaking to barack obama instead of the others, he is ignoring them and he can at this point. >> gregg: you know a lot about the women's issues, so i want to ask thuparticularly. rick santorum does not do well among women. we saw it in ohio. we have seen it in michigan and elsewhere. our own polling data overall shows he polls poorly among women. why? >> i think have you to look at some of the statements he has made

gotten points better, romney has fallen back to the mccain level, that is not great news for mitt romney. >> as we wait to see what happens in idaho right now with i think it is 27 percent of the precincts reporting, 72 percent for romney and a big gap before you get to ron paul so romney is expected to do well, at least there, we look at the outcomes tonight, and wonder whether the trajectory is positive for what we see coming out of -- whether any, does anything change at all because of tonight. >> ron paul thought he might be able to win one of these caucus states, maybe he will, we are still waiting on alaska, we are waiting on a final call in idaho, looks like romney is going to win there, but you have got an area where what we were talking about in north dakota, romney campaigned in north dakota this isn't a state he ceded to santorum and ron paul, i think that is worth taking a look at tonight. >> well, i think the romney folks hope that they could really do something dramatic tonight to change the directory of the race, to establishment mitt romney is the nominee now let's move o

from mitt romney. he took a question from a small businessman in missouri who asked mitt romney about his son who had a brain injury. romney was choked up. it was a different kind of cadense for mitt romney and the way he answered it. he was not stilted or word about the worries. he just answered the question. he showed sincerity that he hasn't shown and that is the big rap on him and look at the way he answered both in terms of the substance and i want to help your son and people like him. and the way he answered the question was natural and it showed a side of mitt romney who critized him for being inauthentic. and he was genuine to me. the panelist all noted that, too. >> it was compelling. even mitt romney's critics agree that he is accomplished and he is capable. but he doesn't connect. he is a great debater and didn't used to do be. he's not good talking to voters. he gets nervous and not confident and he was right. it was as if he was talking to his wife and alone . it was smooth and he never wa

romney really is. >> karen, what happened to mitt romney tonight? >> well, he -- you know, i actually think he had a better night than most people do because nobody really thought he was going to win despite what he was saying. he needed to be able to show he could, you know, not come in about where ron paul came in. the argument he wants to be able to make is, it's about the math, the math is on my side. and i wouldn't be surprised if you don't start hearing rumblings of perhaps someone who would appeal to the south as a vp. >> here's rick santorum. here's what he had to say earlier this evening when he got the news. >> we will compete everywhere. the time is now for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to make sure, to make sure that we have the best chance to win this election, and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama, who can take him on on every issue. >> eugene robinson, what does this night mean for rick santorum? the math, as chuck todd told us in our last segment, really

if you had the impression that mitt romney is buying the election and all you see our mitt romney commercials or these super-pac ads, it may boomerang on him very you need to overwhelm them because of mitt romney does not have a conservative message that conservatives want to hear, he will have to attack on the airwaves. host: this is a political story about mitt romney approaching rick santorum and newt gingrich. he was the one that initiated the conversation and said it has to be one of us, no late entries into this race. guest: if we are still having this conversation in june, things could change. we still have 25 -- 24 states to go and things could change. we have plenty of time to look to another candidate who might be thinking of coming in. host: you even have buttons for 1976. guest: these guys are not liberals but when ronald reagan tried to win the nomination in 1976, he picked a liberal hoping that that would get the pennsylvania delegate on his side and that failed. host: this gives you a sense of what was like in 1976. this is the picture from "the new york times." this gives you

from mitt romney. he took a question from a small businessman in missouri who asked mitt romney about his son who had a brain injury. romney was choked up. it was a different kind of cadense for mitt romney and the way he answered it. he was not stilted or word about the worries. he just answered the question. he showed sincerity that he hasn't shown and that is the big rap on him and look at the way he answered both in terms of the substance and i want to help your son and people like him. and the way he answered the question was natural and it showed a side of mitt romney who critized him for being inauthentic. and he was genuine to me. the panelist all noted that, too. >> it was compelling. even mitt romney's critics agree that he is accomplished and he is capable. but he doesn't connect. he is a great debater and didn't used to do be. he's not good talking to voters. he gets nervous and not confident and he was right. it was as if he was talking to his wife and alone . it was smooth and he never wa

against mitt romney he's up 56 points. and against newt gingrich he's up 58 points against latino voters. this is not a problem that say a marco rubio pick for vice president can fix, is it? >> that is too big a problem. whoever the nominee will have to set about fixing it quick. those spreads make it impossible for a republican if they held on election day make it impossible for a republican to win the presidency. hispanic vote is that important and we have been saying for months, at least i have, the way the nomination fight has been fought had a huge danger of alienating key groups. if obama that is far ahead it's nearly impossible for a republican win if you're 50 points down with hispanics. >> john heileman, thanks so much. this saturday night, the game change movie premieres right there on hbo, that is based on the book written by john and our good friend mark halperin. >>> in news from overseas, a top nuclear official at united nations is raising serious concerns to iran's nuclear program, that is only intensifying

mitt romney would like them to think mitt romney right there behind him. paul ryan's budget has a big foreign policy problem, which is he's just accused all of the top u.s. generals of lying to congress. >> why did the committee choose to go against the advice of the generals? >> we don't think the generals are giving us their true advice. we don't think the generals believe that their budget is really the right budget. >> you don't believe the generals? this is not an obama defense budget. we saw all of the combatant commanders and service chiefs say this is what we need. this would not be first time. this would not be odd for a defense budget to decline after conflicts. >> i agree. what i believe is that this budget does hollow out defense. i believe it goes beyond where we ought to go to have a strong national defense to keep people safe. i think they are using budget gimmicks as well. i think there's a lot of budget smoke and mirrors in the pentagon's budget. which is not really a true, honest and accurate budget. >> it is not a true, honest and accura

mitt romney is projected winner in that state. latest results are 19% in mitt romney with 54% of the vote. rick santorum 28% of the vote. only 19% in right now. this is enough to project mr. romney as the winner. we'll be watching the percentages and the rankings of the other candidates as the percent of the vote increases. this is exciting. this is election night. republicans of the great state of illinois making big decision about whether to punch their ballot for newt gingrich or rick santorum or mitt romney. that's not the way it's worked at all. have you seen the ballot? have you seen what the ballot looks like that republicans were using today in illinois? it's different in every county but this is representative. let's put up the macon county ballot. if you're going vote in illinois, if you want mitt romney to be president, you can i understand indicate that mitt romney is your preference for president of the united states right here on this part of the ballot. whether or not you do that, doesn't really mean anything. it do

here is mitt romney offer riinge analysis on himself. he told reporters the greatest lesson from his last campaign is he needed to sell his own image before his opponent put him on the defensive. i learned if you don't define yourself your opponent will define you. that was 2002. he has been struggling for a long time. >> yeah, i feel sorry for him because he did catch a radicalized republican primary right now. and if obama had a primary, some nuisance candidate would take 25% and we would be talking about that. half the republican primary wants to burn washington down. they don't want to fix a guy like mitt romney. and that's his problem, he has rough terrain there. we have had a 40% swing in two years back and forth. and so you can't predict where some go, but given time and the right kind of attention, romney is the guy that can get that vote in the end. >> when you were here last, you said he has to talk about the auto bailout. he is hering you, and he is doing that. we know attitudes about the economy are improving. where are you w

. >> 37% of the people who turned out for mitt romney have reservations for mitt romney. i think the same is true in the sur gas bunch. >> i want to go to the man who has all the answers to the questions we've been asking. from the santorum campaign, the communications director for rick santorum. hogan, thanks for spending your saturday night with us. >> sure, thanks for the time. hogan, tell us about this win for your candidate, louisiana. a lot of folks thought he would win it. can this give you some of the big mo, momentum? >> i think so. we're very excited about the win. we think the people of louisiana of course. mitt romney went and spent more than a million dollars. i think this proves this thing has some legs and as we move into the states like pennsylvania and wisconsin, this is a huge stepping stone. one of the things we talked about before is who rick santorum resonates with. the exit polling shows among women he did better as well. i think the tide is turning. earlier this week when we heard his campaign person etch a sketch, that's going to have an effect. >>

and will that mitt romney -- one mitt romney connect? and mitt romney lost tonight to mitt romney. that's what happened tonight. and rick santorum was the beneficiary of that campaign going on. >> i have to put you in the democrat white house for a moment. imaginarily. they're looking at this and what do they say? >> they're enjoying this process very much. they're saying the longer this goes on, the bloodier it gets, the more fierce it comes out. and the better for them. you've seen them in the course of this process. mitt romney's unfavorable rating has gone up 15 points. counter that in 2008, when there was a tough fight between barack obama and hillary clinton. barack obama's favorable rating went up 20 points in the course of that race. they hope this keeps going until june. mitt romney ultimately wins this in a delegate math sort of way, without inspiring anybody. and without bringing the country together or the republican party together. and they have a weak front-runner they unload on, come july. >> and rick santorum, one of the things he's trying to do is connect with blue

buckeye state, mitt romney with 38% of the vote. rick santorum edging in right next door with 37% of the vote. newt gingrich getting completely trounced at 15%. and ron paul was doing what ron paul does best, he comes in last a lot, but he comes in with really good statements about it and sounds real positive going forward. >> he's always fun. christine romans is breaking down the exit polling for us. how did ohio play out the way that it did? >> ladies, there's three numbers about ohio that are important. 63 delegate thes at risk. 7.9 unemployment rate. and one-quarter of all homes under water. these are the exit polls. we asked more than 20 questions of people in ohio as they were leaving. you can see from the faces on the screen who was winning what. you see a lot of romney and a lot of santorum. talk about top candidate quality and who's the best to beat the president. we'll start with electability. who can be the president? of those who said that was the top quality, who can beat the president, 52% chose mitt romney. 27% went f

romney, 32 delegados se disputan en ese lugar, así que, mitt romney tendría 4 estados el ex gobernador de massachusetts, así se pinta el mapa, en esta noche, mitt romney con celeste, rick santorum en verde, y en color naranja newt gingrich, vamos a ver cuáles son los estados que han ganado cada uno de ellos, mitt romney ganó hoy, (información en pantalla), vamos a ver los 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

it has also been a good night for mitt romney. mitt romney winning in idaho. winning in virginia where only he and ron paul were on the ballot winning his home state of massachusetts in vermont and squeaking one out in ohio. these are the of all states won throughout the country up to and including tonight. you are seeing some streaky patterns there, and in terms of regional favorability for these candidates, but right now, it is still a good night for rick santorum. had mitt romney lost ohio to mr. santorum, i think that it would have been seen as a spectacular night for rick santorum. the states that he won the night included north dakota, tennessee and oklahoma, but in the end, not ohio despite having been close all night. this has been a heck of a night. super tuesday tonight, and we are waiting for some of the results from alaska. which, you never know, might end up being definitive at any point. >> and sarah palin voted for newt. >> did she? >> sarah palin voted for newt so anybody who tells newt to get out, she will be all worked up about that. >> well,

voters 50 and over, mitt romney. 100,000 and over, income $100,000 and over, mitt romney. and, again, electability, mitt romney. moral character. so the romney coalition is older, richer, more -- less risk taking. gwen: more pragmatic. >> and less strongly conservative. self-identified very conservative voters who strongly support the tea party are still generally going towards rick santorum. >> the thing to watch in michigan -- excuse me, in ohio that he did in michigan was that romney was able to eat into santorum's base, get more -- he won republicans. 60% of the folks who voted in michigan, he won them by 11 points. he was able to go into that territory. santorum, unable to get out of his territory of strong conservatives even lost catholics. as a catholic, lost catholics gwen: let's talk about santorum. they have a lot riding on next tuesday and ron paul is out there trying to scarf up delegates. newt gingrich is counting on a win in georgia, the state he represented in congress for two decades. >> unlike governor romney, i'm not going to washington to manage the deca

look at this. 35% for mitt romney. wow. 30% for newt gingrich, 29% for rick santorum, 5%, 5% only for ron paul. newt gingrich, at least according to the exit polls, not ahead in either mississippi or alabama. these are just the exit polls, these are not official numbers. we have no official significant numbers at least yet, john. a win for santorum, at least, according to the exit polls, a win for mitt romney, newt gingrich, not so much. >> if newt gingrich is 0 for two in the south, a lot of questions. why can't we call this campaign? you saw the numbers. that's why. you look deeper at the exit polling, we know 54% of voters said the economy was issue number one. governor romney has a healthy lead, gingrich second and santorum. in this lead, governor romney has a healthy lead. others said the budget deficit matters. romney lead upset among these voters, senator santorum with a slight lead. governor romney on the big issue and breaks about even on the deficit. and albany, 50% say the economy is issue number one. romney

. >> 37% of the people who turned out for mitt romney have reservations for mitt romney. i think the same is true in the sur gas bunch. >> i want to go to the man who has all the answers to the questions we've been asking. from the santorum campaign, the communications director for rick santorum. hogan, thanks for spending your saturday night with us. >> sure, thanks for the time. hogan, tell us about this win for your candidate, louisiana. a lot of folks thought he would win it. can this give you some of the big mo, momentum? >> i think so. we're very excited about the win. we think the people of louisiana of course. mitt romney went and spent more than a million dollars. i think this proves this thing has some legs and as we move into the states like pennsylvania and wisconsin, this is a huge stepping stone. one of the things we talked about before is who rick santorum resonates with. the exit polling shows among women he did better as well. i think the tide is turning. earlier this week when we heard his campaign person about etch a sketch, that's going to have an effe

that's something that's hurt mitt romney. let's not forgetting that president obama as well during his 2008 campaign received a ton of money from goldman sachs. they were among his top contributors. >> although they've run away from the president this time around. >> that's true. >> there is this delicious irony today, ken, because mitt romney is at this very moment at the waldorf astoria here in new york probably i'm guessing but there are probably people from goldman sachs chucking money into his satchel and here we have this op-ed today in the "new york times." it's amazingly coincidental. >> that's right. >> it's not just limited to goldman sachs. >> sorry, dr. peterson. >> and it's not just limited -- this is what citizens united is all about, the ability or capacity for small group of people really, really wealthy to have undue influence over the political process of the united states. and so as goldman sachs but also people who make that kind of money and you look at the attitude reflected in na op-ed, just imagine tha

not a home state for mitt romney. so tonight's victory gives him an opportunity to say that he can connect with blue-collar voters. ats one point, the romney campaign was pointing out with voters who made under $50,000, romney was exceedingly expect eggs and was leading santorum at one point with that block of ohio voters. romney has a big head of steam now, winning half of tonight's contests in the wake of five consecutive wins in the last five contests. romney has big momentum. so now, the battle moves on. when it does, it goes into southern states where romney is not said to be strong, alabama, mississippi and kansas, followed by alabama and mississippi on tuesday. there, watch for romney to thoroughly encourage a blood bath between santorrum and gingrich there. will be increased pressure by newt gingrich to get out of the race. the romney campaign loves the idea that gingrich and santorum continue to split the conservative part of the party and romney could over-achieve in the southern states, where gingrich expec

cnn projecting ohio will go to mitt romney. the state up on the map in romney red, massachusetts, vermont, virginia, and idaho. rick santorum in purple scoring victories in north dakota, oak ok a oklahoma and still up for grabs at this hour. we begin with ohio and john king on the magic wall following the count all night. let's take a look at the state. took us a while, governor romney has won ohio. you see the lead there in the ballpark of 12,000 votes statewide. this is the cincinnati area. pivotal. a swing county. come november, 20-point margin over santorum there. big turnout in hamilton county. romney organization doing the job there. southwest corner of the state northeast. cuyahoga county, cleveland, important suburb as long the lake up here. summit county where akron is a big win for governor romney there. move down again, stark county not as big a margin. statewide. romney wins in the urban areas, suburbs offsetting a santorum sweep. what it gives you anderson. gives you that. romney red in the middle of the country. b

i think, you know, mitt romney's strength is the economy. he has created a lot of jobs in the private sector and, sure, it definitely could back fire on santorum down the road. right now he's just trying to score points against romney, keep, you know, keep the enthusiasm up, and, you know, kind of throwing mud against the wall to see what sticks. >> ron and nia, thanks so much. i'll see you again in a little bit and talk about the successes of mitt romney and newt gingrich and why he continues to stay in the race. so the man who wants santorum out of the race is still in, newt gingrich. he's count is on an open convention to show he's the right man for the republican party. and polls in puerto rico closed just a short time ago. our chief political correspondent candy crowley is keeping a cleeose eye on the results. when cnn has a projection, we'll bring that to you live next. [ heart beating, monitor beeping ] woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all th

it has also been a good night for mitt romney. mitt romney winning in idaho. winning in virginia where only he and ron paul were on the ballot winning his home state of massachusetts in vermont and squeaking one out in ohio. these are the overall states won throughout the country up to and including tonight. you are seeing some streaky patterns there, and in terms of regional favorability for these candidates, but right now, it is still a good night for rick santorum. had mitt romney lost ohio to mr. santorum, i think that it would have been seen as a spectacular night for rick santorum. the states that he won the night included north dakota, tennessee and oklahoma, but in the end, not ohio despite having been close all night. this has been a heck of a night. super tuesday tonight, and we are waiting for some of the results from alaska. which, you never know, might end up being definitive at any point. >> and sarah palin voted for newt. >> did she? >> sarah palin voted for newt so anybody who tells newt to get out, she will be all worked up about that. >> well

overwomeningly turning out for mitt romney. split across the boards but romney has the highest percentage, 36%, 37%. look at someone like a santorum or a gingrich they get $30,000 or less. they show off much better in those categories. he still, mitt romney is garnering the support among the well off and the well-educated. what i think he needs to do turner wrote an interesting piece in the american spectacular territory today. romney care still seems to be hurdle for romney voters. he needs to do more especially as a new 2009 revelation came out in recent days. he needs to bridge that gap if he can. he needs to try to. at least look like is he willing to come to terms with romney care. >> rick santorum has talked about that a lot. on your show today and criticized romney openly. >> which he doesn't do all that often. indeed, megyn, i know you have been talking about, this rick santorum, that he believes is still his opening with romney. how you can run against barack obama when you yourself advocated on behalf of a national ma

now we move to alabama where mitt romney will lose. mississippi, where mitt romney will lose. louisiana where mitt romney will lose. you can go down the list. you look at next week's contests, he's got a chance to win in illinois. but chances are good, he's going to get bounced around really hard over the next several weeks. >> i guess the flip side is the hope is all of this makes him better. having said that, i was talking to people close to the romney campaign last night and they were, willie, sweating it. it was not pretty. they did not know which way it was going to go for quite some time. that was not the way they wanted that to go down. >> true, but it ended well for them. the unwillness of members of the press to grant him a win. massachusetts, of course, he win, vermont, of course he won, idaho, a lot of mormons out there, everything he did, until ohio. ohio was the big one. >> that was critical, wasn't it? i think what we should say happened last night, he won the night. >> and at 11:00 last night, when most americans were going to sleep, it looked bleak. but you kno

romney from becoming the nominee is mitt romney himself. gwen: and then there's out there.a still maybe he could bounce back and do better than he did last time he was on the ballot statewide in pennsylvania, i'm talking about santorum. last week, romney's campaign came into trouble when a top adviser suggested his primary season promises would be wiped clean, like an etch-a-sketch, come fall. this week, it was president obama's turn to get ahead of himself politically -- stepping on his own foreign policy story by confiding to the russian president at a meeting in south korea that he might be ready to compromise on arms control issues in his second term. trouble is, he said this in front of an open microphone. hate when that happens. this was his explanation the next day -- >> look, what i said yesterday, ben, is i think something that everybody in this room understands. arms control is extraordinarily complex, very technical, and the only way it gets done is if you can consult and build a strong basis of understanding, both between countr

will the real mitt romney please stand up? ♪ i repeat -- will the real mitt romney please stand up? ♪ we're going to have a problem here. you act like you haven't seen a mormon before. down on the floor, i'm not concerned about the very poor. got it wrong, sorry, those not whey meant. i want everybody american to be the top 1%. willard is my first name. i'm not looking for 00 colony on the moon, just for someone to blame. i like being able to fire people. you're fired, boom, boom. >> hugh at kin is the guy who put it together. check it out on youtube. >>> still ahead, "morning joe" just moments away. ok, guys-- what's next ? chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast speeds. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the veriz