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 time. but the santorum folks say they will obviously fight on. their next stop is in kansas where they have a weekend contest coming up. they like their chances very much in the southern states of alabama and mississippi. back to you in new york. >> how, steve, will the santorum camp use the wins they did have tonight on super tuesday going forward into those states? many of which do carry substantial number of delegates. >> their argument is they have won all over the place and mitt romney doesn't have favorable footing in places like alabama, places like mississippi, places like texas where you have a great -- a greater number of social conservatives and a greater number of evangelicals and you have just a greater number of folks that would have more natural con stiff wean -- con stiff wean sees. they believe those #r* places they can go and compete and win and win handily. they like thei

and mitt romney has won ten states and if you look at the map, 11 is filled in romney red, because he is leading. and governor romney has ten states at the moment coming into the night, and he would like to add ohio and he believes he can add idaho and a chance in north dakota and the question is can he get tennessee? there is no question that we will look at governor romney winning more states. where will oklahoma go? gingrich ahead a month ago and santorum ahead late in the polls, and we fully expect massachusetts to become a romney state. >> and looking at georgia is the biggest delegate prize of the night, and georgia we project will go to newt gingrich, and how is it filling in, because we have 3% of the overall vote in. >> you see gingrich and santorum and typical in the states of a purple fill-in, and a tiny, tiny count, and alex mentioned that you have the 20% threshold and the proportionality kicks in and we can sew you later in it maerts when the states fill in, and mitt romney winning one tiny county over here by a handful of votes right there. as you watch it fill in, newt

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 mandate as he did pretty much in that "u.s.a. today" piece from 2009? nevertheless, you talk to folks and i have been speaking to listeners across the country last two weeks you do sense people are getting weary of this process. do you sense people are saying the perfect is the enemy of the good. we have got to kind of figure this out soon. >> megyn: what of that in the polls showing the folks who decided in the past few days are siding with

so he's going after romney where as romney is going after obama. >> if you're mitt romney, you just want to talk about economy, jobs, your track record, bring back the olympics that you saved for the nation. you want to keep hitting the stuff that you're good at, don't you? >> i want to make up the point that it's really easy, especially if you're considered the moderate republican in the primary. it's really easy to be super confident in a state like illinois. you don't get conservative until you go pretty far south in illinois and maybe closer to the metro east. it's really easy to be confident in a state like illinois. women voters, especially after south carolina with the fluff with his wife, they were going to santorum, but i'm noticing that some more and more conservatives and more and more women are starting to at least, with the past couple of contests, colessing a little bit about romney. i'm not certain if that's a huge trend just yet. but, yeah, it's definitely the fat lady is warming up. i know a lot of people have said it. i think we're down to a two-man race now. >> carol,

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

romney. just hours ago, romney said santorum's campaign was running on fwooirms. fumes. >> the reagan tradition of visionary conservatism was based on proverbs and the deep belief that without vision, the people perish. and i believe we need a visionary leader who is prepared to talk about a dramatically better future withdraw matally more joebs and dramaticallimore more energy and a safer and stronger america. that's the key to win. as i went around talking about $2.50 gas all folks in the media saying, that's not possible. and on saturday, a piece entitled "newt gingrich's right about gasoline." and he walked through step by step why it was possible. and then the fact is, it is very possible. these numbers are amazing. the fact that i'm willing to talk about substance is what makes this campaign different from other campaigns and that's the reason we'll go all the way to tampa to compete. we need at a time of great solutions require substance, and substance requires actually knowing somethi

romney and there is franklin county romney winning there, again. and we pointed out romney's strategy rivals these numbers where there are big cities. and you did that. and dayton ohio as well, as a matter of fact in montgomery county leading romney to 12,000 votes and there is 96%. >> and coming back to ohio. >> and where is that map? >> where is sne. >> down at the reach. >> and north carolina. >> she's up right now. and there is fox news contributor who had his own prediction about ohio an hour, hour and a half ago. looks like it's turning out to be true. what are your thoughts? >> two things i thought watching from space -- washington state a surprise victory for romney should have been a precurseor for what happened today. instead, reverse happened. and today, there is rom fee saved by last minute voting on election day this, time went for santorum and happened by the way not the only place it happened in tennessee santorum, romney is gained 5% in the voting today, opening up a margin owe almost double digit. it seems every week someone is goi

governor christie is on team romney. let's give this back to romney. romney is close to the finish line. okay. but let's do this other scenario. first i want to come back to today. then i want to bring this. if gingrich gets out -- if gingrich gets out -- >> okay. >> if gingrich gets out with -- now, these went to santorum tonight. make these purple. do that. now we're going to move on. i'm going through these. if gingrich gets out, now santorum gets that. i've decide we're generous to santorum. that's our scenario. let's keep going move quickly. he gets louisiana. let's say santorum he's doing well in the midwest. we're going to give him wisconsin. all right? let's keep coming through. he wins pennsylvania. i'm going to generous. santorum. gingrich is now out of the race. you watch this delegate map. as santorum starts marching and wins all of these, okay? now look what's happening? he's getting closer. he's closing the gap. can we win all these? he would like the two-man race. that's how you catch mitt romney if santorum's not in the race. let's say

and romney. governor romney among those who say he's not conservative enough is struggling, one of the things that might work to his advantage getting deep tore counting the votes, in the areas where governor romney is struggling, no one candidate, you have a split between gingrich and santorum, that is helping governor romney and you go through issue after issue. three in 10 describe themselves as moderate or liberal and 27% somewhat conservative. among very liberal voters in mississippi, romney struggles a little bit. competitive but third behind the two candidates. if you come to somewhat conservative voters, you see a romney string, heating 38%. one reason we can't call these races and seeing different leaders in different subsets and a fascinating tug-of-war. >> a very tight three-man race, i think it's fair to say, in both of those states. we're watching very closely and about to get official numbers coming in as well. if romney were to win at least one of these states, it would be a huge,

i don't think romney has that. the other thing that you notice, it's so much harder to run for president than it was to run for senator or governor. everyone learns along the way. remember when clinton said she talked about getting off the plane and getting shot at by sniper fire and you can't get away with saying that. barack oba barack -- mitt romney and rick santorum have had their problems too. it's all stepping up to the presidential level. >> so you're saying he's grown on the issues? he hasn't really shifted? >> look, i'm not go -- i'm not going get into romney and positions because they change. but when you look -- but going into the point gloria made earlier, romney is winning on the electability argument. not sure candidates need to be selected on the electability issue. the grounds on which you're elected shift. but what i'm struck by what gloria said earlier tonight, santorum is winning with people who feel he connected with them. and romney is having hard time with the base of the republican party conn

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

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 doesn't get totalled for any official purpose. we will tell you tonight what the final results are. that's essentially as important as it is, that's the end of it. thos

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,

they had new rules and it went to romney. that had to do with the way the delegates were awarded he claims a victory in virginia, where only ron paul was the other one who met the requirements to be on the ballot. out west, he takes idaho. a large mormon population, predicted to turn out for the candidate and where in 2008, interestingly, ron paul took 23% of the vote. >> gregg: rick santorum has won the state of oklahoma, 40 delegates there. but they're split up proportionally, as well as tennessee, 55 delegate, split up. but he won there handily, 37% to 28%. north dakota, rick santorum, 40%, ron paul 28%. quite a super tuesday. now stretching into super wednesday. even ohio, only 1%. we are waiting for alaska. >> but the problem for rick santorum is he may have only lost by 1 percent, he loses big time on the delegates because he didn't qualify for several congressional districts, 18 delegates, he wasn't even eligible for in ohio. >> jamie: we we will break it down. newt gingrich won his home state of georgia. he had said a

can romney win down there? >> i think romney can. i think mississippi could be a good playground for romney. it's a fairly new political environment for them in terms of, you know, the way their primary is set up. so you still have romney tied to the barber clan. has the opportunity to use that network to get that vote out. but this is, you know, one of those situations if romney wins mississippi tonight and newt or santorum takes the other, it doesn't change really the dynamics in terms of that march towards 1,144 votes. the reality for romney remains the fact that give him all the outstanding winner take all state, the rest are proportional. he's not going to pull the majority of the vote. but as chuck has pointed out, that's not been the trend line here. so i think we're going to see a little more status quo ante coming out of tonight that a lot of people anticipate. >> i'm watching romney. you can't see this, michael. here's romney doing his local shaking hands. he reminds me of prince charles in new guinea. you have the elite br

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

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

mitt romney and rick santorum will be in that state. romney heads to maryland. and president obama will be heading to the southwest. he has stops in nevada, new mexico and oklahoma before traveling to ohio. thanks so much for tuning into this special hour of the race for the white house. join us every sunday at 4:00 eastern for this very same look. now state here for the latest news right here in "the newsroom." >>> this afternoon, new details are emerging about robert bales, the army staff sergeant suspected of leaving his base, killing 16 afghans. this week, the suspect in solitary confinement in the u.s. may be formally charged. >>> the bobby i knew is not the bobby that could have done this. >>> and spring starts in two

can romney win down there? >> i think romney can. i think mississippi could be a good playground for romney, quite frankly. it's a fairly new political environment for them in terms of, you know, the way their primary is set up. so you still have romney tied to the barbour clan. has the opportunity to use that network to get that vote out. but this is, you know, one of those situations where i think even if romney wins mississippi tonight and newt or santorum takes the other, it doesn't change really the dynamics in terms of that march towards 1,144 votes. the reality for romney remains the fact that give him all the outstanding winner-take-all state, the rest are proportional. he's not going to pull 50 to 60% of that vote. but as chuck has pointed out, that's not been the trend line here. so i think we're going to see a little more status quo ante coming out of tonight than a lot of people anticipate. >> i'm watching romney. you can't see this, michael. here's romney doing his local shaking hands. he reminds me of prince charles in

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,

not such a good night for mitt romney. you're a romney supporter. what does he need to do in these next days. next tuesday is the primary in illinois. what does he need to do to make sure he wins in illinois? >> i think he'll do very well in illinois. he didn't have a terrible night. he picked up a third of the delegates. he's got more delegates than the rest of them combined. it wasn't a bad night. he'll do well in illinois. he'll run as a fiscal conservative and do like mark did. he'll win big here. >> the most recent poll i saw there, this was before tonight, had mitt romney at 35%, santorum at 31%. is that too close for comfort right now? >> you got to remember. this is a delegate hunt right now. senator santorum's not on the ballot in four of the congressional districts. he's only eligible for 44 of the delegates on tuesday. we give out 69. 15 are considered super delegates. i think governor romney is in good shape. the air war's already started. he's got a ground game going. i think he'll have a good night. he's going to campaign hard. but he'

romney's winning by five points. that's good news for the romney campaign. the other constituency i'm looking at tonight is evangelicals. which is going to be 41% of the vote. that's identical to what it was four years ago. and santorum is maintaining his advantage tonight, but he's doing so with a smaller margin. winning nine points. >> i'm curious, ralph. this is david gergen. about what the overlap is between evangelicals and tea party. are there many who are both? and which way do they lean? >> it's a great question, david. we've looked at that in some earlier polling. and about 2/3 of self-identified tea party members are social conservatives. that doesn't mean they're involved in the tea party movement for those reasons. they're involve primarily because of spending, deficits, government overreach, and obama care. but they are social conservatives. and among self-identified evangelic evangelical, about half identify themes as members or activists. there's a huge amount of overlap. >> and do they tend to be -- with the overlap, do they tend to be moved

. >> 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. >>

romney has attended fund-raisers hosted by woody johnson and dolphins owner, one of romney's top fund-raisers and frequently travels to romney for campaign events. for santorum or gingrich, a sweep would provide the needed momentum they need and quiet critics who wonder if this has been over for a while. neither shows any sign of planning to get out no matter what happens tonight. >> we've been running a marathon breathing through a swizzle stick. but that's what it's felt like. i mean we're just -- we're just sucking hard on that swizzle stick trying to get as much air as we can in to keep ourselves alive. >> we stay in the race for two reasons. i do not believe the other two candidates can beat obama and i believe this race is the most important in our lifetime, and i will not believe the field. >> boy, swizzle sticks. but gingrich, who says he's going all the way to tampa did do his best to lower expectations. >> what does it mean tomorrow night if you win by just a point or two or lose by a point or two? >> well, in either case it would be so close that we'd be moving forward. everybody w

and romney with a lead there. and again, still some of the vote is out, and down here in the southwestern part of the state this is down around hamilton county, butler county, home of miami university. this is where george bush won his sek term in 2004. it was in these counties late into the night on that election night back in 2004 when hamilton county and butler county, claremont, and warren, they all checked in because it was rough weather that night. and the voters came out and stood in line in the rain. and they were wound down around the street and corner. they put bush over kerry in the end by 118,000 votes. this is butler county this, just checked in a moment ago. romney up eight points throughout the east here this is a growing county. coming out of cincinnati down south and up in the surrounding areas so we're going to watch this area to see whether or not it changes but still, 8% of the vote out. what is santorum doing here in ohio? he's doing really well. he expected to do well, frankly. driving these

romney's way in ohio. now romney went zero in the red south. zero for the south. he lost tennessee, oklahoma, santorum? he lost georgia to gingrich. santorum beat them by double digits. 37-28. newt gingrich pulled in 20% of the vote. romney lost in georgia. gingrich picked up the only victory of the night in his home state. he spent four times as much campaigning there as his rivals did. gingrich pulled off a decisive victory 47% of the vote. he placed third behind rick santorum and ron paul. and in a testament to romney's organization, he nearly won conservative alaska. he beat santorum by 33-29 margin. the only candidate to campaign in alaska, though, ron paul. he finished third. and by the way, ron paul has now gone 0 for 23. even newt gingrich has won some states. ron paul has not. 20% of the party's delegates were at stake last night. in all, romney picked up at least 212 delegates. he may get up to 219. that will half of the total number at stake. santorum won 91. we think he gets up to 97. he won't crack 100. we think gingrich will get up to 82. and nbc is

louisiana, a loss for romney. kansas, possibly a loss for romney. he's got some tough -- >> the narrative. although it's only about the two southern states. it's going to be bumpy. he has a bit better chance than mississippi. kansas will be hard. alabama, really hard. and the question, do they do anything decides different tactics? the message they they're pointing out is choices and illusion. it doesn't help the narrative battle. and i think they got to step back. and say what are we going to do to change up the recipe here? >> and what sector of voters are they losing along the way as the battle draws on? >> not only did he look at the the exit polls from ohio, he cannot reach out, he cannot be embraced by evangelicals and real conservatives, by the religious right, as well as blue collar voters. but he's losing independents, losing the very people he's going to need in the fall. i think he is grinding it out. the persona is not someone that is really easily accessible. . it's not someone that is respected by voters. that he has not taken the oppo

he had been down by double digits but the romney campaign points out romney has now won five states in a row and has the benefit of momentum. a victory in ohio in the popular vote and delegate count for romney would be significant. it's not his native state like it was in michigan and it is an important rust belt state adjacent to pennsylvania where rick santorum runs strong. it has a lot of meaning for both of these candidates. >> shepard: speaking of a lot of meaning the state of tennessee tonight may tell a story as well, carl. >> well, it's a southern battleground and tennessee is going to be one of the closer ones. this is another state where rick santorum has been running strong. he had a lead for quite some time. santorum is expected to do very well in oklahoma tonight. but, in tennessee over the course of the last 10 days or so, newt gingrich campaigned pretty aggressively pointing out he is he a southerner from nearby georgia and ought to be able to connect well with voters in the volunteer state. romney came in talking about the fact that he was riding a national momentum wav

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 was halting. he locked eyes on this father and even later, he had another question from the same small business owner and man who choked up

romney, this whole year, can romney do this, and this defined by a lot of things. can he do that? >> we will leave it there. thank you very much. we invite you to visit our facebook timeline that we compiled together, 64 years. savannah saw it this morning. and i sat down with a couple guys, and that's online. on tuesday night, complete kults and analysis. that's all for today. we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. ♪ [ male announcer ] you'd be shocked how much data you use in a month. e-mail, status updates, finding your way, uploading photos, downloading an app, an app, and another app. kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes... all stacking up until you reach your limit. and what happens if you go over? with sprint, you don't

romney. >> people have said, you know, you're being outspent and, you know, everybody's talking about all the math and all the things that this race is inevitable. well, for someone who thinks this race is inevitable, he spent a whole lot of money against me for being inevitable. >> joining me tonight are chris matthews, host of" hardball," also with us on a special edition of "the ed show," reverend al sharpton of "politics nation" and rachel maddow, host of "the rachel maddow show." rachel, this is the night rick santorum needed a eed and it's e got. this is a northern who lost by 18 points in his last senate race, going down south deep in the heart of dixie and picking up two big wins over a guy who won georgia and south carolina. how big is it? >> that's right. this whole, i think, beseen sort of in the beltway or at first glance is a big defeat of rick santorum over mitt romney. this is a big defeat of newt gingrich by rick santorum. going down south, theying this is your strategy, your

romney was 38 percent. one point higher than rick santorum. >> another call coming in while you were sleeping alaska. romney won with 33 percent with santorum coming in second. we have all of the details about super tuesday. >> morning. >> hi there. it was a super night for mitt romney no question. he secured the most states picked up the most delegates. is very much ahead in the delegate lead still far short of the more than 11,000 needed to secure the nomination. he was celebrating victory in a number of states including his home state of massachusetts as well as virginia, vermont. idaho, alaska and as you mentioned the big prize of the night ohio where he really pulled out a nail biter of the win. for rick santorum it was also a very good night. he was extremely competitive in ohio making that a very, very tight race. he secured wins as well in three other states including north dakota, oklahoma and tennessee. he points out it is a particularly big victory because he was so seriously out spent by his top

romney voted in the town of belmont, outside boss opinion, the romneys own a condo there, but newt gingrich did not go to virginia today where he is registered to vote. did he not go to virginia to presumably vote for himself because that would be impossible. newt gingrich is not on the ballot in virginia, which is where he lives. neither is rick santorum, who was born in virginia and who lived there for years while he was in congress. mitt romney and ron paul are the only two candidates on the ballot in virginia competing for virginia's 46 delegates because neither the gingrich nor santorum camp pains, nor anybody else, were able to connect -- collect enough signatures to qualify to get on the ballot in november and for any virginia yap voter who wants to cast a write-in vote gingrich or santorum or anybody else, the virginia state board of elections put up this warning on their website today. virginia election law does not permit write-in votes for primary elections. and so, not even newt gingrich can vote for newt gingrich today in the great state of virginia. mr. gingrich spent the day

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

a 180-vote difference separating romney and sarsantorum. >> romney, 4,969. romney, 4,969. santorum, 4,789. again, santorum, 4,789. newt gingrich, 3,993. 3,993. ron paul, 780. wolf? >> those are the numbers you're getting right now. i think we're getting ready for major news. let's pause right now. >> all right, look at this, rin santorum, we now project, is the winner in mississippi. earlier, we projected he winsdo. he wins both of the southern states tonight. rick santorum, a huge, huge development. a lot of people thought romney could win in mississippi. some thought newt gingrich would win in one of the two states. it's rick santorum who captures the popular vote in both states. now, having said all that, john, the key thing is delegates right now. it's proportional. in both of the states, not winner take all, and we're getting some estimates. there are two running narratives and two running conversations that is the competition. one is winning in momentum. santorum will make the argument, i'm winning. the other is, you're winering but, but being new rules, what happene

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

. >> 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

romney? he told the michigan press how wrong mitt romney was on the auto bailout on one of the biggest issues in his state. early on in the race he got the endorcement of republican congressman joe heck out of nevada. how does mr. heck express his enthusiasm for mitt romney? he informed the nevada press core that mr. romney was dead wrong on the biggest issue in his state, housing. down in arizona mitt romney gets the endorsement of randy pullen. how does randy pullen express his enthusiasm? he said, my guy has a hard time connecting with people. yes, sir, and you're not helping. former republican governor jon huntsman of utah drops out himself. he endorses mitt romney and how does he express his enthusiasm for mitt romney? >> gone are the days when the republican party used to put forward big bold visionary stuff. we're going to have problems politically until we get some sort of third party movement or some alternative voice out there that can put forward new ideas. >> by the way, vote for

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 was halting. he locked eyes on this father and even later, he had another question from the same small business owner and man who choked up

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 where the race to the 1,144 delegates stands. mitt romney leads with 419. rick santorum swek 184. newt gingrich third 136. ron paul is way behind with 34. the romney campaign political director rich beesen distributed a memo saying santorum and gingrich trail by margin that's cannot mathematically make up. rick santorum did not try to fight math with math today. >> pretty sad when all you have is to do math trying to go out there and win it on substance and on what americans want to hear about. we're a long, long way from over and you know what i suspect if we keep winning state after state after state we'll be the nominee. >> according to nbc mitt romney needs to win 48% of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination and rick santorum needs to win 63%. the only thing

mitt romney in the lead. mitt romney had been favored heading into this race, in part because of its proximity to the his home state of massachusetts and its relatively moderate republican voting population. but at this point, too early to call in vermont. newt gingrich has won georgia and mitt romney has won virginia. let's go to chuck todd, nbc's political director, ahead of what we will hear from ohio. what are you watching for? >> i want to make a couple of delegates points on georgia and virginia for everybody. if mitt romney, watch percentage numbers here, mitt romney gets over 50% state-wide, he gets all the at-large delegates. if he carries every congressional district, even if he doesn't get 50, he gets the rest of them, he is likely to get all 46 tonight, we will see. maybe ron paul can sneak in a delegate or somehow hold him under 50. we called it, two men on the race, not under 50. the question does he win one congressional district? the other thing is in georgia, 20% is threshold to get a delegat

romney and romney care we have the anniversary of obamacare which was a blueprint of romney care, that designed obamacare and he stands by, the amazing thing, he stands by government-run health care in massachusetts, and he stands by the imposition of an individual mandate requiring everyone to purchase insurance, something that 75 percent of americans are against. and that is why i stood up and said we need someone who can draw the starker contrast on the things that are crushing this economy. driving up unemployment rate. exploding the size of the federal government. and someone who has strong and clear track record. >>neil: you can see why they are confused, right, senator? >>guest: no, no, no, no i can't. >>neil: you said we might as well stay with what we have rather than take a risk. >>guest: i said we, meaning we the people. i would never, i have always said i would never vote for president obama. are you kidding me? what do you think i am doing this before because i like rebound? it is so absurd it is not even worth printing but you folks are wound up because, well, "we" meanin

are you with romney? >> i am not. my leanings are certainly towards governor romney. when i was listening to your intro piece it was good and accurate, there was one other candidate that aside from mr. mckenna, our state party chairman, a businessman from chicago and myself that i think factored in and that's the former attorney general of illinois jim ryun. if you combine the votes of all three of us, you know, we clearly would have had many, many, many more votes than bill brady, my colleague, who's a state senator. >> interesting, sort of the following illinois republican primary sometimes the u.s. senate, sometimes for governor. it seems as if unlike other states, that there's more of a hard ceiling for a conservative candidate that really is more in the 30s or 40s if it were a two-way race rather than the ability to get over 50. you still see that as the case in today's version of the illinois republican party? >> yes. you know, you can never completely generalize, but clearly, mr. santorum will do very well in down states, illinois, really south of the metropoli