florida, 50 delegates in his column, and it gives romney a lead over santorum and paul. >> a competitive primary does not divide us. it prepares us, and we will win man who expects to win. >> a competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win. >> romney clearly has the momentum tonight, but this race is far from over. next up, nevada caucuses on saturday with 28 delegates at stake. just a handful of contests in february, and then super tuesday on march 6 with 400 delegates at stake. congratulations, team. another cracking night of political entertainment. where are we, wolf?

sum it up for me tonight. it looks on the face of it like a thumping victory for romney. his campaign back on track. had a great week of debates. seems to have got his mojo in a way he maybe lost it before. what's your overview? >> it's a big night for mitt romney. there's no doubt about that. he seems to be well positioned right now for february. most of these contests, whether in nevada or arizona or michigan, he's got major advantages, even in colorado, let's say. he's going to do well in february. you correctly point out, march 6, assuming all four of these candidat candidates, remain in this contest, march 6th, it's called super tuesday for a reason, it's going to be very significant. no indication from the other three people that they plan to drop out. newt gingrich in his speech tonight, he didn't even congratulate mitt romney, which is traditional. the other candidates did.

there was no phone call between the two of them. he's pushing on. he is determined to do what he can to get this nomination, even if it means going against some of the traditions in this kind of contest. >> john king, you are the greatest television number cruncher in political history. >> that's a setup for failure. here we go. >> put it in context for me, john. just on the face of it, as someone covering this campaign for the first time, i'm looking at the number of delegates allocated so far, and it seems pretty small beer, as we put it back home. how significant is romney's position now? >> after losing in south carolina and getting beat badly in south carolina, to win tonight and win convincingly is huge for mitt romney. florida is a huge state. it's a critical battleground. psychologically, it's huge for romney. he already has a lot of money in the bank, and guess what? this will help him raise even more. now he has to prove it. he's on his feet. he's the front-runner again, but now he has to prove it.

you need 1,144 to clinch the nomination, and he has 84 tonight. so do the math. we don't have a delegate count. we lose count because the candidate wraps it up early. with the obama-clinton battle fresh in our minds, the question is can romney win in minnesota, win in maine, then win arizona, those are big at the end of the month. does rick santorum say i haven't found a breakthrough. it's too to get out. they're at least through the month of february. gingrich is in through march and beyond. that could change if romney has a big month. but they're a little nervous about the caucus states. they look at maine, they look at nevada, they look at minnesota, they look at missouri, could be a surprise there. the bible belt, birth of pro

life. romney needs to take these to say, yes, i'm your prohibitive front-runner. >> after that thumping win in south carolina and the loss in florida, you're feeling pretty deflated, i would imagine. he was the new front-runner in many ways, but he behaved like he wasn't. what went wrong with gingrich this week, do you think? >> it's interesting because i don't think newt gingrich could decide who he was or what he was. was he still the insurgent, or was he the front-runner? i think he had a difficult time with that, particularly in the last cnn debate that wolf moderated. the interesting thing about newt gingrich is that he's so much more comfortable as the back bencher throwing the bombs at the establishment than he is as a leader and somebody who would be the front-runner.

i think we saw that play out very much in the state of florida. so the voters weren't quite clear who they were getting. i think the question that was raised in their mind was does he have the temperament to go the long haul and finally beat barack obama? because as our exit polls showed, electability was the key issue here to those voters tonight. >> finally, a much more important battle raging this weekend. i've got to ask you all for a one word answer. giants or patriots? wolf? >> i'm a buffalo bills fan. i've got to stay neutral on this one. >> gloria? >> i'm standing next to john king, so i have to say the patriots. >> john, i know your allegiance. >> excellent choice. >> i'm going to unequivocally lay my hat with the new york giants. >> piers, my friend, my friend, we can disagree without being disagreeable, but the patriots are going to win. >> thank you all very much. fantastic job tonight.

thanks, guys. joining me now is the gop power couple, representative connie mack of california. they both support mitt romney. >> hello. >> good night for mitt romney, in almost every sense. looks like his campaign is back on track and in some style >> you're right. it's in a big style. i think this week was a great week for mitt romney. i think there's no doubt he performed well in the debates. tonight was a great night. >> connie mack, it's clearly been a bit of a swings and round-abouts campaign with swings and troughs and different people winning in different places. i suppose we saw in romney this week, we saw the lion in him beginning to roar. was this a sign of his character that you were familiar with? are you surprised that he's now beginning to beat his chest a

bit? >> no, i'm not surprised at all. in fact, i think what we saw in the first debate here in florida was mitt romney saying america is worth fighting for, and he is going to put everything out there on the line to do it. and his message about jobs and the economy and the private sector know how to do it -- his professionalism, his character, his ethics, that's something we can believe in in the state of florida. >> congresswoman mack, these debates got testy, as i suppose they would be. 99% of his campaign ads were negative. he's going to metaphorically bury newt gingrich. gingrich says, i'm going to carry on to the convention, but that doesn't suit romney. he's going to throw the kitchen sink at him. >> if you contrast the two speeches we saw, one was a positive, uplifting message about taking the country

forward, and the other was pretty emotional about not accepting what happened here tonight in florida. there's no doubt -- i think tomorrow the smoke might clear a little bit more, perhaps for newt. but when you look at the state of florida, it's a very diverse electorate. i think it's a good example of what the country will bring to bear with the future elections. >> connie mack, let's talk about your own role in this. you've actually turned up at gingrich rallies and heckled him. you're clearly one of romney's attack dogs at the moment. are you going to tone this down or start baring your teeth in more places? >> now, piers, come on, we've done this dance before. i did what all other candidates or campaigns do, and that is called bracketing events. i went to the events quietly, stood in the back, and offered perspective to the press as newt was speaking. this is nothing new in campaigns. to try to paint me as an attack

dog or something like that is just misguided. what i did was make sure that mitt romney's message is being heard. what really the people in the state of florida are saying is we want a candidate who knows how jobs are created, who knows how this economy works, who has been in the real world, who has had successes. that's what we're looking for, and the people of the state of florida spoke loudly tonight that that is the message that they reacted to. >> piers, if i can just jump in here a little bit. there was no heckling whatsoever. connie made that very clear. it was bracketing. we made ourselves available to the press who were there in the back of the room, much like they're here tonight for the mitt romney event. what really happened was newt ran later and later and later to his own events. the press was, i think, rather bored and started asking questions of not only connie but a couple -- myself and jason chavitz as well. >> the one i wish you would bracket is mitt romney's singing

voice. we can't have much more of that. have you had a word with him? >> i thought it was fantastic. you should have heard the crowd singing along. i thought it was an amazing way to end this primary campaign in florida. mitt last night was very confident. he was relaxed. the crowd sang along. it was a beautiful moment. well, it wasn't "american idol." >> if i was still judging "america's got talent" and barack obama did his al green impression and mitt romney did what he did tonight, one of them would get through to the next round, and it wouldn't be your guy. >> our guy would have won the america's got courage competition for sure for singing in front of that many people. 6,000 people turned out. >> i give him credit. knowing he isn't one of the best of singers, to do what he did showed kurcourage. i agree with that. what is the biggest challenge going forward? if you believe newt gingrich that he's going to keep going, going, going, attacking,

attacking, attacking, ron paul certainly won't pull out either, and rick santorum may decide to hang in there, this could go on for months and months and months. what is the challenge for mitt romney, do you think? >> i think mitt romney needs to continue to put himself out there. show that he's got a plan for america moving forward, that he understands how jobs are created. that it's not government, it's the individual -- the risk takers, the people sitting at home watching, who are willing to take those risks every day to create a business and create jobs. he knows how that works. america is looking for work, and he knows how to deliver that. >> well, connie mack and mary bono mack, thank you very much for your time. i'm sorry, my bark is worse than my bite, i assure you. >> thank you very much. >> take care. all the best. tonight newt gingrich lost big in florida, but he's vowed to stay in the race, fighting the gop nomination to the bitter end through all 46 remaining states.

a few minutes ago, i spoke with the two biggest gingrich supporters, his daughters. ladies, it was a bit more cheerful last time i talked to you. you came off a thumping victory. there was a huge party erupting all around you. looks a little bit quieter there tonight. >> piers, it's a little quieter because our father has already left to go to nevada. there's a reason it's not quite as exciting. we're here. we have the american flag behind us. we're here to talk to you about what's important to the american people, and we appreciate your time tonight. >> let's cut to the quick, ladies. he took a hell of a shellacking, as some of my colleagues have been saying earlier. i would imagine, knowing him as i do, he wouldn't react to a big beating like this. how is his mood? >> oh, it's great. i don't know if you were able to watch the speech he gave tonight, but that is exactly how he feels. to be perfectly honest, we had the huge victory in south carolina.

we won by 12 points. governor romney endorsed this. herman cain endorsed us. we've got a lot of grass roots, people behind us. we knew that florida with the big media market, with all the money that's been spent here, we knew this wasn't our state, our town, our place, but we also know, as the sign said tonight, there are 46 more states to go. we have lots of delegates to get. and dad was really passionate in his speech tonight. he talked about the america that we could have together and the bright future we can work towards together. i think the people are very excited to hear that talk. >> tell me this, though. clearly, you've had the kitchen sink thrown at your father by mitt romney. he's been spending millions and millions of dollars pounding your dad into submission. 99% of romney's ads in florida were negative. 95% of your father's were negative. it's getting very nasty and very personal. on a human level, how do you as his daughters feel about the

bombardment that's coming his way? >> it's never actually fun to experience that. it's not a pleasant place to be. it does keep other people who would be good in public service out of the opportunity because they don't want to endure it. it also means we're not addressing the important issues about what we need from an american leader. what we need is someone like our father who has governed, who has done the things that even president barack obama has done. he's reached across the aisle. while he was speaker, he was able to cut taxes, cut spending, deal with the budget four times, deal with entitlement reform. they helped create 11 million jobs, and we were at 4.2% unemployment. that's the message you're going to be hearing more and more about as we go forward because that's what resonates with the american people. >> the other message is from your father about mitt romney. he keeps calling him a lie. he's dishonest, dishonest, dishonest. he's lying. do you ladies think that mitt

romney is a liar? is it helpful, if mitt romney ends up being a nominee, the message communicated so forcefully is that he's a liar. does that help the republican party? >> i think the process of the republican party is to go through the winnowing and the things you'll see in the general election. i'll give you an example. you talked about his position and what he's done. as governor, governor romney raised taxes and fees $700 million. that's not a conservative message. that's not a conservative action. dad has cut taxes, cut spending. he's worked on welfare reform and passed it. part of what we're seeing in florida, to your point of negative ads, mitt romney didn't rupp on his record of governor. he ran on his record against dad. he won florida, we'll clearly concede that. but i think what you'll see as we go forward to the next phase -- it really is entering the next phase. i talked to dad after the speech. terrific speech. it really resonated with people. i've had so many e-mails and

facebooks and people saying it's an incredible speech. dad said, you know what, welcome to the next phase of the campaign. this is where we're focusing. this is where we're going. it's going to really resonate with the american people. people want to know what they're getting and what to look forward to. they're going to get that with newt gingrich. >> you two are very polite young ladies. i know that. your father wasn't very polite tonight. he didn't congratulate mitt romney, didn't phone him, didn't even mention him in his speech. a little bit graceless, don't you think? >> i wouldn't say that's graceless. i think what it is is is a reality he's moved on, and we're looking forward to the next 46 states. that's an important message. everyone wants to know what's newt's doing next? i think he laid out what's going on next, and he wanted to make sure that everyone heard. >> finally, ladies, have you booked your tickets to the moon colony yet? >> not yet, but my two children, maggie and robert, are really

looking forward to it. >> i wouldn't mind coming myself. count me in. jackie gingrich cushman and kathy gingrich lubbers, thank you very much. appreciate it. when we come back, a man who knows what it takes to win in florida, state's governor rick scott. [ jennifer garner ] there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup.

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[ female announcer ] travelocity. get great deals on all kinds of beach vacations. if barack obama gets reelected, it will be a disaster for the united states of america. make no bones about it. if he can have a record this bad, unemployment this bad, deficits this bad, policies this bad, gasoline prices this high, and still get reelected, you can't imagine how radical he'll be in his second term. >> newt gingrich blasting president obama a little while ago. a man who knows how tough it can be to win in florida, governor rick scott. he's yet to endorse a republican presidential candidate. with mitt romney's giant victory tonight, will that change? a moment ago, i spoke with him. governor, why do you think mitt romney had such a thumping

victory tonight? >> it was a big night for florida. i think our voters voted based on what they thought was going to happen in the economy. this is the biggest issue we have. as you know, our unemployment has dropped 2.1%, the second fastest in the country, but we still have 900,000 people out of work. we're reducing taxes, reducing regulation, and floridians want somebody who's going to be in washington who's going to do the same thing and be a great federal partner. reduce taxes, reduce regulation. we want more jobs in america, and we clearly want more jobs in florida. >> why do you think they believe mitt romney is going to be the guy that's going to provide that for him because newt gingrich, until ten days ago, is suddenly ahead in florida. then this huge turnaround. it seemed to be based on mitt romney's better performance in the debates and this relentless negativity in the campaign ads. why mitt romney, why is he being seen as the savior economically, do you think?

>> i think what floridians looked at, they look at he's a business guy. i got elected a little over a year ago. i've been in business all my life. here's a business guy up there who believes he can do what we're doing in florida. turn our economy around by reducing taxes, reducing litigation risk. that's what they want. governor romney appears to have the message that floridians believed in because it's all about jobs. i think his background -- and i think you're right. his debate performance, he did a good job in the debates. >> mitt romney's campaign ran 3,276 ads in florida. 99% were negative. is that really healthy for the american political discourse that is so unrelentingly negative? wouldn't it be better for the party to have at least some positivity creeping in here? >> i think when people go to the polls, here's what they say. what's good for my family? each family in florida, they say

they want their kids to get a great education. they want to make sure they have the opportunity for a job. they want to keep the cost of living low. i think they look at this and say, we can't continue having a country with the second highest corporate tax rates in the world, more regulation at the federal level than anywhere else in the world. they're looking at this race and saying, we need a candidate that's going to help turn our economy around and do what we're doing in florida. we generate 141,000 private sector jobs. floridians believe in the private sector. they know that jobs are created by companies. so they want somebody in washington, and i think tonight they said they believe newt gingrich -- or mitt romney is the person that's going to do that. >> if the economy continues to improve in the way that it seems to be at the moment, wouldn't that play into barack obama's hands? if floridian's believe that the president is actually turning round the situation, that's good for him, isn't it? >> absolutely.

i think it's going to come down to who's got the right message this fall to turn the economy around. it's going to be just like today. it's going to be about jobs. it's going to be believing in the private sector. it's going to be who do americans say they're going to actually reduce taxes, reduce regulation, streamline the permitting process. americans are smart. they know you can't keep going down this path of trillion dollar deficits. so this fall is going to clearly be about jobs just like it was tonight. >> finally, governor, you haven't declared an endorsement for any candidate. following romney's big win tonight, it's all over in florida for now. are you prepared to back mr. romney? >> i'm going to support the republican nominee, and i believe the republican nominee will win in november because it will be about jobs, and americans will know that the party that believes in the free market, that supports the free market, that defends the premarket is going to be the party that's going to turn this

economy around. >> okay, governor. thank you very much indeed. coming up, why one candidate compared the race to mud wrestling. you have to get down and dirty to make it in politics these days.

the american public does not want to see two or three candidates get into a mud wrestling match where everybody walks away dirty and not in a position to represent our party proudly. what we saw in the last few weeks in the state of florida is not something that's going to help us win this election. >> rick santorum tonight. is he right? are americans tired of politics mud wrestling? joining me is blogger extraordinary andrew breitbart, catheri catherine cryer, who's fifth book is "patriot acts." that's got to be the longest introduction ever. this must be a very, very well-qualified panel. let me start with you, amy. this is a big win for mitt romney. whichever way you look at this or try to spin it, he was suffering, he was down in south carolina, he's roared back. a couple of great debates, big

thumping victory. he needs more of this, doesn't he? and the momentum will take him to the nomination. >> senator rubio said, if he wins florida, he wins the nomination. but newt gingrich said 46 states, and he's going to keep battling on. the big question for the gop and republican establishment, so to speak, is can newt still do damage to mitt romney even if romney gets the nomination? >> my gut feeling about this is of when barack obama took on hillary clinton. the longer it went on, the better obama became of the battle that was going to go on against his republican opponent. isn't that the same thing here? aren't we in a position where the longer this goes on, it's better for mitt romney to have this bruising encounter for gingrich for months on end? >> i think there could be a fine line. maybe it's not so fine because the damage being done is not really on issues. it is so personal that i think it might leave a lot of people

sitting at home on election day, which is something the republican party doesn't want to do. in fact, i think it certainly demonstrated, just in the last two, south carolina and florida, a different man debated newt gingrich, and i do think it's made him a better candidate. >> andrew breitbart, what it seems to be is a resounding rejection of the tea party in the sense that they have no really left in this race. what do you make of that? the phenomenon of the tea party bursting onto the scene and then disappearing almost as fast. >> it hasn't disappeared whatsoever. whenever the tea party is attacked nationally, it has a hard time defending itself because it's a series of small, organic, grass roots groups at a local level. so they don't have a national organization, they don't have a national structure. so they're really good at picking people in local primaries who they want to run and fighting from the grass roots level, but this is the first time they've ever tried to act on behalf of a national

candidate, and it goes state by state by state. with sarah palin out, there wasn't a true tea party candidate in there that they would have embraced at a massive level. >> carol roth, let me bring you in here. you're a pro romney business strategist. we established that last time we spoke. from a business point of view, he's getting more and more ruthless, isn't he? he's spending more and more money getting nastier and nastier. he wants to not just beat newt gingrich, he wants to destroy the guy. >> we talked about this last time, piers. he needed to bring it, and he absolutely did. he brought it in the debate. he brought it in terms of the dollars spent and in the time of adverts that he did. i think it's time he needs to evolve. i think people were waiting for him to bring it, but now they need to build a connection with him. he's sort of an outsider. he's this privileged wall street kind of guy, and i don't think they feel connected to him. so before, he needed to have a

debate coach. now i think he needs to have a story telling coach and connect emotionally with the audience. >> i would agree with that. the two people who have done it best, i think, would be rick santorum, who made this brilliant speech when, as it turns out, he won in iowa. and ron paul makes these regular speeches. nobody pays much interest to ron paul, but ron paul, in the way it plays out in somewhere like nevada, he could do surprising well over the next two or three caucuses and primaries. are they out of the equation? is santorum gone, done and dusted? what do you think of the other two candidates here? >> some watchers, they're speculating that perhaps rick santorum is staying in in the hopes of being vp on a romney ticket. if he does well in some of the upcoming states, he can show strength on the ticket and bring the conservatives home for mitt romney. i would say tonight listening to newt gingrich's speech it was gracious but also charging forward. here's what i would do on my

first day as president of the united states. i think newt gingrich is an emotional guy, and he does make emotional connections with voters. >> newt gingrich was dead on arrival in the summer, whole campaign quit, he went off on holiday, that seemed to be it. then he came steaming back. thep he went down again. then he came and won in south carolina. then he's come back again. i wouldn't rule out newt gingrich making another comeback. >> i've been covering newt gingrich since the late '80s. the man is his own worst enemy. you let him talk long enough, and he will talk himself out of what he's succeeded in. but listening to his speech tonight, is there any chance, any chance this man could take his people's campaign -- remember he said it's not a republican campaign. it's a people's campaign. to a third party. he does have the ego for good orred ba. he does talk in grandiose terms. >> but i don't know if he has

the organization. ron paul has the organization. >> i don't know that that would matter. >> i have another question to put to andrew breitbart after this short break. andrew, realistically, does anyone on the republican side right now, the economy improving, have a chance at beating barack obama? i think i know what your answer is going to be. let's get the suspense building up. erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover.

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there are many brush fires being lit across this country today. we don't even know where they are, there are so many. but it has been translated into great enthusiasm and change, the change that we need. >> you know what's enthusiastic? ron paul speaking a while ago. back with me now, andrew breitbart, catherine crier, and carol roth. can a republican beat barack obama -- and here's the question. if the economy continues to improve right up until november, he's going to get a home run, isn't he? >> well, it's a big if. i would also say that less than crappy is still crappy. the economy is not robust. i think the american people who voted for barack obama on a concept of hope and change, which was about uplift, have experienced occupy.

they've experienced wisconsin. they've experienced that community organizing isn't helping the little old lady across the street. it's the form of linsky war tactics against your own enemy, and people have gone against obama because hope and change is against the recognition of a tacit promise by this presidency. >> take the occupy movement, for example, andrew. you say it's that raging around america stuff. the reality is it isn't. most people in america are not protesting. 340 million of them may agree -- but i don't get a sense that people in america hate barack obama enough yet to want to really kick him out. >> okay. well, the thing is the mainstream media is not going to report to you the origins of the occupy movement. it was the biggest story of last year, according to "time"

magazine, but if you look at the origins, it's the exact same people that organized against bush and katrina, same exact people that organized the anti-war movement. it was even the same exact people that protested the republican national convention in 2008. where two members of these radical an anarchist and socialist groups that through molotov cocktails -- >> only you could bring molotov cocktails into this. let's cut to carol roth. my gut sense at the moment is that most republicans, even if they're conservatives, don't really warm to mitt romney. they're looking at the whole race thinking a romney-chris christie ticket might be the best way to beat barack obama. has mitt romney done enough -- it's interesting in florida, with all the problems they've

got there, the worse housing crisis in the whole of america, they decided of gingrich and romney, they preferred romney's view of the economy and how to revive it than newt gingrich's. that's an encouraging sign. it said to me they don't look upon romney as this very, very rich, out of touch guy anymore. would you agree with that? >> i think it all boils down to electability, piers, and i relate everything back to high school in america. and you have to remember that, when it comes down to it, people want to elect somebody who's cool, not necessarily the smartest kid. you've got barack obama, who's basically the prom king. you've got newt gingrich, who's head of the debate club. at least romney is going to the prom. so he has a chance against the prom king. i think everybody realizes that, if you put newt gingrich against barack obama, even if your head says it makes sense, your gut is going to go, yeah, i just can't

do this. >> the interesting thing a lot of conservatives -- i've spoken to them. they don't really want a mitt romney. they are going along with this reluctantly at the moment. this is why newt gingrich, i think, still says i'm staying in this until the better end because i think he thinks he can present himself as a genuine alternative to the conservative rather than a moderate, which mitt romney clearly believes he is. >> listening to his speech tonight, gingrich is the conservative in the race, and mitt romney is the massachusetts moderate. you ask the question, could mitt romney defeat barack obama? he certainly could. the country doesn't have to hate barack obama in order to tire of him, tire of his policies. you look at the exit polls, maybe we should be putting our country in the hands of someone else. it doesn't have to be extreme polarization. >> let's pull the curtain back chllin.

the conservative establishment is a business group, very different from the cultural, social group. right now gingrich is appealing to the cultural conservatives. when he went after mitt romney about capitalism and about how he made his money, and you saw -- i mean, you saw the establishment, talking heads, politicians on capitol hill going after him, you have got a business community who is supporting romney for business reasons. >> i'm not so sure about that. >> one thing i know about this -- >> he's the social conservative. >> they will go where they think success lies. >> absolutely. gingrich scares them. gingrich scares those guys. >> l inform tfollow the money. interestingly, rick santorum is still raising a lot of money. gingrich is raising a lot of money. in little places like nevada and michigan and so on could be significant in terms of their ability to carry on raising money. i think that may be where we get the indication of who stays in and who comes out. thank you all for now. i'd love to get you back in this

twilight hour. thank you very much. when we come back, a confident, aggressive mitt romney won florida. did we witness the birth of a new mitt? [ jennifer garner ] there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there. but one is so clever that your skin looks better even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics.

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president obama demonizes and denegrates almost every sector of our economy. i will make america the most attractive place in the world for entrepreneurs, for innovators, for job creators, and unlike the other people running for president, i know how to do that because i've done it before. >> mitt romney on the attack against president obama tonight. joining me a man never afraid to speck his mind, "new york times" op ed columnist frank bruni. it's been a bit of a rough road so far. has mitt romney made that tipping point move to where he's a genuine front-runner? >> absolutely. we've been talking about him as a front-runner for a long time, but he doesn't have the evidence at the polls to support that. now he's done that. he has a resounding victory tonight. >> he looks and sounds like the candidate. after the win and the speech tonight, he looks more presidential, doesn't he? it looks like he's found his mojo. >> he looks much more motivated. there's a moment in every

presidential campaign or primary process when you look for the candidate to find the proverbial fire in the belly. he found it this time. he also found it at some costment he went very, very negative. and when you look at polls, his favorability ratings with americans going into the general are going to be much worse as a result of this primary process. >> how damaging is it for the republicans that they're laying into each other with such relentless negativity. there were 11,000 ads in florida, and 97% were negative. it's fine if you're scrapping with each other, but if you're barack obama, you sit back and think, this is all quite useful. i can play it against them. >> it's useful because someone like mitt, if he gets the nomination, a lot of people are going to have negative feelings about him. they might see him as mean, as bitter, that sort of thing. that said, this happens in every primary process. a lot of voters aren't paying close attention. a lot of people aren't going to tune in the last couple of months. he can invent himself anew at that point if he's a good candidate. >> if you're obama, who do you

least want to take on? >> probably romney. >> you say probably. i've been wrestling with this myself. i'm not sure whether you're terrified of romney or not. you think, you know what, we could probably deal with someone like him. he's not the most charismatic person to go up against. >> i don't think they're terrified of him. of the people they might go up against, he's probably the fiercest opponent for a number of reasons, including if you look at the exit polls, he's seen as the most moderate candidate. that's going to help anymore in a general. he's a tougher candidate for obama than gingrich, who's seen as more conservative. the president has gotten very lucky with this field of republicans because in different ways all of them would be very, very flawed general election candidates. >> gingrich says i'm not giving up, 41 more states and so on. >> we'll see. >> common sense says, if he gets hammered in the next five or six, that might be it. he's got a slight point. this box standard conservative

in the republican party does not warm to mitt romney. we discussed this with the panel earlier. it may be tempting, if someone like gingrich gets his act together, they might be tempted to gravitate to him if they feel romney can't beat obama. >> the one thing this process has taught us is not to make assumptions. we have seen front-runner after front-runner. this has been a crazy primary process. any candidate going through it is going to say, i'm going to ride it out as long as i can because no one knows what the next twist it. >> ron paul and rick santorum, where do they stand in this? >> ron paul was not competing in florida. he's not going to get the whole thing anyway. >> he always leads the twitter, the spacebook stuff, which is extraordinary because of his age. >> it's a compliment to him in many ways, but he's not going to get the nomination. >> does it make him a valuable tool to whoever wants to be the nominee?

>> if he has a lot of delegates and public support, the nominee wants every single former opponent to line up behind him. sure, paul would be one of those people, but i don't think paul is really a factor when talking about who's going to get the nomination. >> santorum? >> santorum tries to stay in it for a while because there's clearly this bloc of voters who don't want romney, who are more conservative. if you're santorum, you're saying to yourself, something could happen with newt gingrich. if something happened and he became a nonfactor in a couple of weeks, maybe i become the conservative alternative, and i actually have some traction. >> i want to talk about the key issue. who is the better singer, barack obama or mitt romney? >> suddenly i feel like i'm christina aguilera on "the voice." >> you might be.

♪ i'm so in love with you ♪ america america god shed his grace on thee ♪ >> there you have it, proof that america's got talent -- well, at least part of america's got talent. i'm back with "the new york times" frank bruni. clearly unfair because barack obama has a better singing voice. >> if we're deciding this election on pitch, barack obama definitely has it. no offense to mitt romney. >> if you're president of the united states and you've got al

green sitting in the audience and you decide against the judgment of your aides, i'm going to sing al green, that takes guts. and i think it it took mitt romney even more guts to sing a whole song, an american anthem in front of an audience, knowing on youtube and everything else, people are going to see this. >> you have to have guts if you're running for president anyway. the amount of time you spend on the microphones, you've got to have a lot of guts. we learned about their voices, but i don't think we learned anything about their gumption. >> why would anyone want to be president, given the workload, the stress? >> we spend so much time tearing apart the candidates and being unjustly critical of them. it is really, really difficult and wearing to run for president. it guarantees we do not have people in the oval office who didn't really want the job. you've got to want it. >> i have great respect for all the candidates.

i've interviewed them all now. the workload, the incredible attention, the goldfish bowl they live in, exposure to their families. it's enormous. i think people are very quick to forget that and are very quick to judge them negatively. you've got to really want this, don't snu >> to go out on the trail and watch them, this is a very tedious exercise. it's a very, very difficult and humiliating exercise. those of us sitting at tables and writing about it, they're very brutal. >> we don't have a system like this in britain. it's much, much faster, much less trens i cforensic. i feel you really get to know these people, and you can make a proper judgment. at the end of the day, there's nothing about who the nominee is that you don't know. >> after you put away the pageantry and all of the noise and look at what's happened, we've learned an enormous amount about these men, and we can make a more informed decision th