>> reporter: anne moos, cnn, new york. >> i love that little dog as well. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. situation room. the news continues next on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com tonight a dramatic reshuffling of the republican presidential race. can rick santorum sustain his sudden surge? plus the white house tries to find a contraception compromise hoping it will quiet a backlash among catholics. the pentagon has a new secret weapon. a robotic twist on an age-old helper. good evening, everyone. three states in one night. rick santorum surprising surge in missouri, minnesota and colorado is at the very least shaking up the republican race. it's placed a new lens on the frontrunner, mitt romney's campaign. santorum wins raising questions now about why can't just romney close out the nomination battle? the former pennsylvania senator

says there's something to be said about being the underdog. >> one of the great gift that is i've had in my political career is that no one ever think that is i could ever win anything. [ laughter ] >> the gift of being underestimated is a wonderful gift. [ laughter ] >> and i think we might have seen a little bit of that last night. >> last night santorum's trifecta reshuffles the republican race. the question tonight is can he sustain it? dana bash is back in washington with us live tonight. dana, he's off to texas today to raise money. is that priority number one now that everybody's suddenly paying attention again? >> it is priority number one. and i just got off the phone, john, with the senior santorum source who said that on their web site today they raised twice as much -- excuse me, had twice as much traffic as they had after he won iowa and raised three times as much in donations on his web site as he did after

iowa. he said they're not sure exactly how much that is yet, but it is a lot. so much that their web site actually crashed at one point today because of the traffic. and this is about dollars. santorum himself said on cnn this morning that just at midnight last night they raised about a quarter of a million dollars. what did he do today? he went to texas not just to campaign but primarily, i was told by a couple of his aides, to raise money because there were donors there who had money, they wanted to give it to him and wanted to see him face-to-face so that's where he went. >> dana, let's take a look ahead to the next contest. the next primaries, there's a caucus in maine this weekend. rick santorum, let's start there. any hope at all playing in maine? a lot of the voting is already done. or is he giving up? >> i have not heard the word "maine" pass the lips of anybody in santorum world. >> then we go to michigan and arizona. if you look at the endorsements, the organization, you would say advantage romney. your sources are saying look for santorum to focus much more in

michigan. that's where mitt romney was born. his dad george george romney was the governor. why michigan? >> because it looks better for the santorum campaign than arizona. arizona is winner take all when it comes to the delegates, michigan is not. the demographics. they understand full well it is mitt romney's backyard, the fact his father was go. but they also believe that there are voters there who are potential santorum voters, blue-collar voters, reagan democrats, social conservatives who might be able to -- they might be able to get. >> stay with me one second because i'm going to switch maps. i'm going to go ahead now. we close out the month here. in the end you mention he's in michigan in part because it's about delegates. let's say for the sake of argument that ron paul gets the victory there. i'll get it. ron paul wins maine. then as we know michigan and arizona. for the sake of this conversation i'm going to give these to governor romney. we'll see if this one plays out. then we get to washington state

on march 3rd, another caucus state. for the is sake of the hypothetical giving that to ron paul. but you say rick santorum wants to go there. >> he says they feel they can do quite well in washington state and expect to see him out there. i don't know how well he could do but that's another area where if they can get a couple of delegates it's very important than zero. >> very important republican base and social can i haves in washington state. this is -- if he looks at the subpoena tuesday map speaker gingrich's hoke state of georgia, he believes that's an advantage. i understand speaker gingrich is leading in oklahoma. but rick santorum likes oklahoma. is ohio another super tuesday target? >> yes. and north dakota another target and also tennessee. those are all targets for him because of the christian conservative population that he clearly did well last night in his trifecta. but also because again those are states that are not winner take

all. those are states where he can try to come in there and get a few delegates to add to his roster which is absolutely critically important for him as he moves forward. the bottom line he said to me last night and he keeps saying that his reach is beyond the christian conservative base. we'll see if that happens. because as you well know, we didn't have good exit polls last night to really tell us exactly who voted. but if you look at the states that he won and the areas in those states where he won, it looks like that is still primarily what was driving his win. >> no question it was a lot of evangelicals and tea party last night. if he's going to win as the map expands to super tuesday he'll have to prove himself among blue-collar republicans as well. after last night it's no surprise, mitt romney today going after errafter rick santo in addition to newt gingrich. who went to washington as conservatives but ended up supporting billions in deficit spending and those pork barrel earmarks. here's what the massachusetts governor had to say a short time after landing in atlanta. >> senator santorum and speaker

gingrich, they are the very republicans who acted like democrats. and when republicans act like democrats they lose. and newt gingrich's case he had to resign. and rick santorum's case he lost by the biggest margin of any senate incumbent since 1980. >> more aggressive governor romney today. turning to the white house, the house speaker john boehner slamming a rule that would require religious charities to provide birth control. he says it cannot and will not stand. three female senators backed the president accusing the republicans of launching "an aggressive and misleading campaign to deny this benefit to women." then the resurgent rick santorum coming off his big tuesday wins. >> a small group of people, just catholics in the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ]

>> who were told, you have a right to healthcare. but you will have the healthcare that we tell you you have to give your people. [ audience boos ] >> whether it is against the teachings of your church or not. >> bring in our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. jess with all this up roar is the white house looking for a compromise? >> reporter: i've been on the phone all day, john. sources tell me the administration is working on a way to thread the needle so that women will get free contraception coverage but without forcing religious, especially catholic charities, hospitals, institutions, to pay for it. the truth is, the administration had never finalized their rule on this issue, but they sure botched the press announcement around it. it ignited this firestorm of criticism from the church. so now they're working backwards to figure out the right policy that will be sensitive to the church while giving women this coverage, john. >> and it is an incredibly delicate political balance. it's a big policy question, but it's a big political balance. how's it playing out? >> reporter: so according to a new ppri poll, a majority of

americans, 55%, agree that employers should offer women free contraception coverage. but when it comes to this touchy question, should catholic or religious hospitals, universities, institutions, be required to offer contraception coverage, only 45% of catholic voters agree. that's the previous graphic we had up. so that's where the president finds his opposition. but a majority of women support the move, and almost 60% of young voters, ages 18 to 29, support the move. so women and youth very important constituencies for the president. it's a bit of a split move there. >> important politics and very important policy. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. jess, thanks. moving overseas now, snipers, mail bombs and constant shellings. activists say at least 60 people have died today alone in the bee sieged syrian city of homs. they say not even infants, hospital patients or doctors now are safe from these attacks.

chris lawrence joins me now live. chris, one activist calls this a huge crime against humanity. you've been reporting the pentagon now drawing up contingency plans. how detailed are these plans? how serious is this? is the pentagon really thinking about military options or is this designed to presht regime? >> reporter: john, the plans are very serious but they're also very preliminary and would need the president to call for them and authorize them. two administration officials confirmed to us that these plans have quietly been in the works for a couple weeks now. military official looking at options. and what that means is, they look at the other military commitments in the region and then they see what assets are available, what sort of missions they might be able to accomplish, and perhaps most importantly, what would the risks be to those troops, those ships, those planes? these are very early preliminary options. normally a document like this wouldn't even get to the president's desk unless he

specifically asked for it. and at that point they would flesh it out. >> and what does your reporting tell you as we're in this preliminary phase about the specific options that are being proposed and kicked around? >> reporter: there's been several options put forward. all of them have significant risks. humanitarian aid for one. one official said there's almost no way that without the syrian government's okay that you could deliver any sort of humanitarian aid without a sizeable military presence to guard those convoys and delivery systems. another option that's been talked about is arming some of the rebels or the opposition. the problem there is that russia is a serious ally of syria. and there are questions if the west heavily invests in arms to some of these opposition groups that russia doesn't step in on the other side then you're got a much more well-armed conflict. finally the least likely option is actual military strikes in syria. people have made comparisons to what we did in libya. but syria has 30 times the population density of libya.

that means civilian casualty rates would be much higher. syria's army is five times the size of libya. it's got a much more robust air defense system, meaning those jets and those ships on offshore would be in much greater danger, john. >> all very difficult options being weighed by the pentagon. chris lawrence, thanks for your help reporting that. you may love your iphone but the wireless carriers? not so much. we'll explain a bit ahead. but first what will having john mccain on mitt romney's side mean in arizona? >> i hope it has some effect. but i do also think that endorsements are very much overrated. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol.

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we've been watching the brutal crackdown in syria for months as it climbed into the thousands of casuals as the regime of bashar al assad tries to snuff out the opposition. with more bloodshed, more cries for outside help. >> we're not animals. we're human beings that are asking for help. we're asking for your help.

they've been shelling us for four hours now. they're going to kill us all. up to millions. >> as we reported a few moments ago, cnn has learned the pentagon is compiling contingency plans for humanitarian assistance and possible military options but the u.s. ambassador to the united nations tells cnn in her words the aim is to resolve this through peaceful means. is there more the white house could and should do? arizona senator john mccain is the ranking republican on the armed services committee. senator, should the obama white house, the administration be doing more on a unilateral basis? >> i think we can do a lot more on a multinational basis, john. by the way, i think the time for "peaceful means" has long ago been exhausted, in awe all due respect to our ambassador to the u.n. we could do things by providing them with intelligence information, satellite information, information on the movements of the syrian armed forces, bashar al assad's arms

forces. we could provide medical help. we could provide as the turks have said that they welcome any refugee into turkey and they'll make them safe. we should consider no movement zones. we can consider a wide range of options, including provision of weapons to the syrian national army. but the rebellion -- rebellious ones, the ones that are trying to overthrow assad. >> do you see any scenario that should be on the table that would put u.s. boots on the ground inside syria, whether they be covert operatives or outright military action? >> i do not at this time, john. i think that there's sufficient number of other nations personnel that probably would blend in better and also might do the work that needs to be done. but i think there's a lot of technical help that none of them have except us that we could be of great assistance. but no, i don't see american boots on the ground.

but i do see looking for ways to provide them with any assistance possible. the estimates are 6,000 syrians have been killed. >> senator, i want to shift your attention to presidential politics. you were the republican nominee in the last cycle. you won florida. that essentially wrapped up the nomination. you got butmped up a few times after that but you were on the path of to the nomination. governor romney lost minnesota, missouri and colorado. what does the conservative base say to the man who many thought was the inevitably nominee? >> i think in florida the conservative base was very active in on behalf of mitt romney. i think this was really very small numbers of people that turned out. and i respect their views. but i don't believe that they are representative of the broad majority of republican voters. >> is it a problem, senator? is it a problem governor romney won minnesota four years ago. he went to that state and says

i'm the conservative alternative to a guy named john mccain. he won colorado four years ago with a same message we need a conservative alternative to john mccain. you say not that many people turned out. is that the problem, governor romney is not exciting people? >> i think when most voters felt that it really didn't have any significant direct impact on the selection of the nominee it mattered. look, i'm not saying that mitt romney has a smooth and easy path. i lost 19 states when i was competing for and successfully for the nomination. and i'm sure that there'll be some bumps in the road. but i'm confident that in arizona that he will do well. and i'm sure that in michigan he will do well. and a number of these other states, ohio, and that he will be our nominee. but look, it's never easy, nor should it be easy. and i think he'll be a much better candidate against president obama once he emerges victorious, which i'm confident he will. >> what's your sense of what's happening? i think sometimes the

grassroots, sometimes they follow the leaders if you will, institutional politicians, but sometimes they rebel against them. for example, governor pawlenty was with governor romney in minnesota and it meant zip forgive me. what will having john mccain on his side in arizona mean? >> probably zip. i hope it has some effect. but i do also think that endorsements are very much overrated. they give certain legitimacy to a candidate, but i'm not sure that they help make up a voter's mind. so i really believe that when you have one or two percent of the registered voters turning out that that's not a very good indicator. but i do congratulate senator santorum on his victory, and certainly the romney campaign knows we have a challenge. >> a challenge ahead for a man who knows that challenge quite well. john mccain, senator, appreciate your help tonight. once again, congress nears deadline precipice. deja vu over extending the

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welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know right now. hi there. same city. >> reporter: he's back. it's a good night when you're here. >> maybe for a decent stretch here. >> reporter: like 24 hours at looft? >> maybe 48. >> reporter: awesome. breaking news.

john's in town. a little deja vu for you, congress has until the end of the month to extend the payroll tax cut. but there's no deal in sight and time is running out. sound familiar? republicans and democrats are accusing each other of standing in the way for a political reason ahead of the november election. and if they don't compromise your paycheck could be smaller starting march 1st. i'm definitely backing that for you. we may love our iphones but it's proving to be more of a burden for wireless carriers. as many of you know, apples iphone has heavily discounted, subsidized by the carriers but that is single-handedly eating away at a big chunk of their profit margins for verizon, at&t and sprint. we're talking anywhere from 3 to nearly 10% of their profits. that's pretty serious. and you've got to see this to believe it. you're looking at the ls 3. looks like a mule, maybe? yeah, it is. the defense department's research arm is developing this robo mule to carry heavy military equipment for troops.

and get this. it will be able to interact with them like a trained animal. the producers have told knee downstairs it will carry up to 400 pounds. that's pretty major. >> can you guys play that just for two more seconds? here's my question. >> okay. >> so you're the enemy on the other side of the hill? hello. we need to quiet the engine maybe? >> reporter: that's the next version. that's the 2.0 version, john. you're asking too much. >> i guess maybe i am. a faster way to get through airport security. the tradeoff between convenience versus your privacy. and in about ten minutes, former gop presidential hopeful michele bachmann. what she's saying about senator santorum's insurgent her home state of minnesota. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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in this half hour, tonight's truth about rick santorum's stunning trifecta. what it says about mitt romney and the game of politics. why do evangelicals and tea party activists have doubts about the frontrunner? former gop candidate michele bachmann weighs in. plus standoff two weeks before thousands of tourists are expected to flood brazil's streets. if you're frequent traveler you know the headaches at airport security screening checkpoints. now transportation security administration is hoping to speed up the process forpassengers. you give them more personal

information and you get faster service. cnn's aviation and regulation correspondent lizzy o'leery has more. >> reporter: keep your shoes on? check. belt, too? check. even a jacket? check. this is precheck. >> if you're in a hurry the benefit is that you get through security a lot faster. and you don't have to take your computer out of the bag or your liquids or your shoes off. that saves some time. >> reporter: it's a fast track route complete with a dedicated security lane that will be in 35 of the busiest u.s. airports by the end of the year. the idea is that travelers who give the government more personal information, your name, birthday and gender, and are well-known to the airlines, like frequent flyers, are less of a security threat. tsa administration john pistol calls it reducing the haystack of risk. >> how big a deeg is that? >> a significant paradigm shift

for tsa and the traveling public in way we work in a partnership to say let's work together to say if you're willing to share some informations about yourselves then we can work with you perhaps to have expedited screenings so we can focus on those we know less about and can focus on those higher risks that we assess. >> reporter: to join precheck you either sign up for a special customs program or be a frequent flyer and get invited by your airline. but we found no shortage of people who'd like to move faster and more fully clothed. >> it would make my line shorter. and if i got out of the line it would make everybody else's line shorter. it seems to me it's a win-win situation. haven't we seen this before? the program clear, private company, right? >> reporter: private company went through bankruptcy. the big difference here, if you get invited by the airline this is free. the reason behind that is sort of twofold. one the tsa is trying to change the way it looks at who's risky. and that dovetails very nicely with the interest of the

airlines. they would like to see their business travelers who are their economic backbone, go through expedited security. still get pulled every now and then for a random search. but the idea it would reduce wait times for everybody and be more as they like to say risk-based screening. >> traveling a lot this campaign, maybe i'll get to give it a try. haven't gotten my invitation, though. liz, nice to see you. welcome aboard. last night's sweep by rick santorum just proved that the race for the republican nomination still open. our chief political correspondent gloria borger has more of what each candidate has to do going forward to stay in the race. gloria will be with us in just a moment i'm told. as he celebrated his victories last night, rick santorum said it was proof. congresswoman michele bachmann came in earlier. >> as he celebrated his victories last night, rick santorum said it was proof tea party supporters and evangelicals will not settle for

mitt romney as the nominee. >> the conservatives and tea party party people who are out there every single day in the vineyards building the conservative movement in this country, building the base of the republican party and building a voice for freedom in this land. thank you! [ cheers and applause ] >> minnesota's one of the states senator santorum carried last night. that of course the home state of congresswoman michele bachmann who had hoped her presidential campaign would catch fire with those groups now behind santorum's surge. congresswoman bachmann, good to see you. wau! what happened last night. and how serious should the fire alarm be in the romney campaign? >> last night was a shot across the bow. i think what we saw is the voters haven't made up their mind yet on who the republican nominee should be. but really the biggest signal that was sent is that barack obama is in big trouble. this is why. it's because of his radical policy on forcing the catholic church and other religious organizations to pay for contra

accept tiff against church doctrine. so again, the catholic church would have to subsidize people's contraception when that isn't what the church teaches. because of that, you saw this unbelievable reaction. because i think you'd have to say, john, quite fairly this was the first social issue election that we've had so far. that's what you saw in minnesota. that's what you saw in missouri and colorado. you saw social conservatives weigh in in a big way for the first time. and i think it's because of barack obama's policies. >> and so if the race has changed then it's not about i'm a businessman you can trust me with the economy. it's about who do you want to send to washington to stand up to president obama might disagree with how you characterize that but to stand up with president obama on social issues. does that mean advantage santorum going forward in your view? >> this was a big advantage for rick santorum tonight. >> without arizona and washington state on supertuesday? >> what we're seeing is the issues of the date also really drive these elections. so the republican party has always been a three-legged

stool. we're a party that fwlooefs strong national security, defense. we believe in strong fiscal conservative policy but also strong social policy. what you saw last night was the social conservative wing of our party saying, we are very concerned about this issue. plus also we saw the ninth circuit court of appeals make the decision to strike down the people's will on the definition of marriage as one man one woman. all of that came together. i think you saw the results last night. >> why don't those voters trust governor romney? >> well, i think they wanted to make a sound last night. and i think that the candidate that they've been hearing talking about this issue, that's the candidate that they got behind. but i think this race is far from being settled. every single state has had a very different issue set. we're not done. michigan will be different from oklahoma and the states going forward. they'll all be very different. and i think that we'll continue to see multiple results going forward all the way to tampa. >> how worried are you that the turnout is down so much? >> well, i think each of these

candidates represents part of our party. that's why we have to come together and have unity. we are seeing tremendous faxalization. once we pull everyone together it will be more than just the party, disaffected democrats. we haven't seen that critical mass yet. that's where we need to go. >> congresswoman bachmann appreciate your time tonight. good to see you. last night's triple win by rick santorum if it proved anything it proved this. the republican race now wide open. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here with some advice, perhaps, talking points for what the candidates might need to do going forward. gloria you think rick santorum has a choice to make. what do you mean by that? >> reporter: he's got a couple of things he can do. he can continue to run a tactical campaign which he has been doing, or he can adopt a broader strategy. by a tactical campaign i mean he continues to go state by state, try and win in the states he knows he's doing well in like arizona or michigan. but in talking to some

republican strategists today, john, they're talking about perhaps he ought to change the narrative a bit. i know how campaigns love getting advice from people who aren't in the campaign. but one republican strategist suggests, how about taking on washington directly? tapping into the anger that's out there about washington? not saying i'm a businessman, i know how to fix problems, but i'm a businessman, i know how to dismantle washington in the way it needs to be taken apart. and here are the ten things i would do to fix it. they think that would have some resonance with the tea party voters who are skeptical about him, and could get voters more enthusiastic about his candidacy. >> and so rick santorum is getting a second look now from the fundraising community and from voters as well. you think he needs to do two things. position himself as a credible alternative to president obama, and this one i think we both agree on, get ready for a barrage of attacks.

>> reporter: well, and i think he's starting to do both. we heard in his speech last night, john, we listened to it. it was a very good speech. and he talked about barack obama and started to take him on. i think he's got to position himself as a plausible presidential contender. because so far a lot of people, including independent voters, haven't really looked at him that way. a lot of republicans haven't looked at him that way. but he's going to get carpet bombed by mitt romney. he's got to figure out how to respond to those attacks while remaining optimistic and positive and likable. because republican voters like him. and that's the key to his success. so he can't go too negative. because he doesn't want to lose that kind of appeal that he has right now. >> our chief political analyst gloria borger. fascinating race going forward. gloria thanks. coming up here, the truth about how that big tuesday loss for mitt romney has changed the gop race. and later, why brazil is taking on twitter. ny. so, how much do we owe you?

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yes, you would still have to say advantage romney when stacking the republican presidential race. but it is an advantage built largely on a deep bank account, an impressive organizational letterhead. last night governor romney was reminded of an important truth, politics at its best is a passion sport. this is a fascinating moment and experience. methodical frontrunner again knocked on his tail boy an

upstart insurgents, someone written off as interesting but not a threat. >> one of the great gifts i've had in my political career is that no one ever thinks that i could win anything. [ laughter ] >> the gift of being underestimated is a wonderful gift. >> well, tonight rick santorum is a threat just as newt gingrich was a threat the morning after south carolina. to borrow a tennis metaphor, the fragile frontrunner has now twice lost serve at a moment he could have put the match away. in baseball, he's twice now blown a critical save opportunity. governor romney still lead the delegate chase, but senator santorum has the most wins, four states to romney's three. the pennsylvania upstart gets a second look from the voters and from governor romney. >> he voted to raise the debt ceiling i believe five different times to a tune of about an additional $3.5 trillion. i believe that while senator santorum was serving in

congress, and the senate, government spending increased by some 80%. republicans spent too much money, borrowed too much money, earmarked too much, and rick santorum and newt gingrich have to be held accountable. >> truth is, there's nothing like losing to bring things into sharper focus. we know governor romney was able to recover after the south carolina bruising. and on paper on the map the race is heading to places that should favor romney. maine is up next, a bit dicey because it's another unpredictable caucuses state. but governor romney is in strong positions in the big primary that is close the month, michigan and arizona. but the pressure on him is extraordinary. february was supposed to be the romney firewall month. now it is the romney fire alarm month. let's talk truth to -- a republican who supports romney, a reporter and -- john bray burn, congratulations. you won three states last night.

you have changed the republican race for president. when that happens one of the things that's going to happen is that your candidate is going to get another look, whether it's a second look or a third look. and one of the things rick santorum does not apologize for is his faith. i want you to listen here and watch here. he was in texas today raising money. but he also had a visit at a conservative church. listen to your candidate. >> i have seen the interaction with faith and public life. and to me, the bounds there are not boundaries at all. i can't and i won't check my faith at the door. because it motivates me to do things that i believe are best for our country. >> also some remarkably powerful images, john, of some of tchurc coming to meet with senator santorum after that event. with the evangelical base of the party, with most people of faith in the country, they think this

is a beautiful scene. those images you're seeing right there. you also know and especially senator santorum ran in a tough state of pennsylvania, there are some who get nervous here. they want a clearer line, a separation if you will between faith and policy, church and state. how does the candidate handle that going forward? >> i think what rick santorum is saying is that each individual should have the right to practice the faith that they believe in and have that freedom. we already saw this week that the obama administration, once again, was trying to disregard for the freedoms that our founders gave us and try to take those away. he's done that time and time again. rick santorum is somebody, as i like to say, who not only talks a good conservative game but lives a conservative life. and i think that that's important to other conservatives. you look at a state like colorado where everybody thought that mitt romney was going to win in a landslide i think yesterday. i think even the romney people. and rick santorum did quite well, winning by about 6 points over romney. i think there's a lot of people who understand the sincerity of the senator's faith.

there's a lot of people who can relate to that. even of different faiths they feel that they should have that freedom. and i think they appreciate that somebody is not afraid to do, just like our founders did, to talk very openly and publicly about that. >> what's the secret, tori? some candidates pull it off quite well. some candidates are very uncomfortable bringing their faith into the public sphere. others senator santorum, george w. bush was someone who was very open about it and it was a political asset when some people said are you sure you want to go there. >> reporter: i think it's something you apply very skillfully and carefully. i think you see this with senator santorum, you're very respectful of others, saying i'm not imposing this on everyone else, this is not for everyone else. this is who i am and you're pretty straightforward and consistent about it it may help you. certainly in this primary. >> what happened to your guy last night? he won minnesota handily four years ago. he won colorado with 60% of the vote four years ago. he ran in those states saying he

was the conservative alternative to john mccain back then. >> rick santorum had a good night. but i think once the sunlight gets focused on rick santorum's record of more spending, more earmarks, the raising of the debt ceiling that's when these candidates start to fade. he has no electoral experience. he endorsed -- rejected him by beating him by 18 percentage points. he did not support pat toomey for instance who was by far the more conservative person in the race. and when that gets a little bit more exposed, a little bit more sunshine on it, i think you'll start to see people gravitate back towards what is the strength for mitt romney, which is jobs, the economy, and his conservative outside washington, d.c. experience that's going to compel him to the nomination and becoming the president of the united states. >> john, congressman chavetz isn't going to be the only one saying that. or governor romney. you're about to see probably two

to four to six to $8 million of ads dumped on your congressman's head. he's said you bet i supported earmarks. >> this is more telling about governor romney. they put out a press release yesterday saying that the reason they're still going to be the nominee and the best candidate is because they have more money than anybody else. certainly an inspiring message for all of america, she should have bumper stickers printed up that says romney for president because i have more money than you do. the truth of the matter is, i will put rick santorum's fiscal responsibility record up against the governor anytime of the day. let's not forget that the governor was the chief architect of what ultimately became obama care. let's not forget that the governor came out and supported the wall street bailouts which was the largest earmark in american history, something that certainly motivated the tea party yesterday to vote against the governor. and let's not forget that the governor is supportive of radical environmental issues like cap-and-trade that would kill american jobs and help other countries. so rick santorum on the other hand is the one who did reform

welfare. rick santorum in one year introduced more bills cutting the deficit than anybody else. and so this is what happens with governor romney. when he has a bad night what they do is they send out their attack dogs and put their attack team targeting towards rick santorum. and i think this is one of the reason that is rick santorum's favorables are the reasons rick santorum's favorables are so much higher and i think people are going to find this offensi e offensive. >> not your first rodeo. you were 5 or 6. is this healthy or hurtful to the party? now we have santorum, romney. sounds like romney, gingrich of a couple of weeks ago. >> the first one, i have this visual image of romney in a tank and firing gingrich and in half a day, it has just turned and he is going to put withry fire power on santorum. in '92, pat buchanan pounding on george bush didn't make a difference. it did because it went on for months and the president went

into the general election wounded. we're getting close to that point where the republican party is going to have to get behind a candidate. >> a couple of seconds. the tory right? >> i don't think so as governor romney said. this prepares us for the fall. if we think this is difficult fire, just wait until the fail when there's a billion dollars of barack obama tryinging to rain down on you. one of the strengths of mitt romney is he's been able to with stand that pressure and that bombardment. that's his strength. >> is this good for the party? >> i think it depends who the nominee is. if governor romney is the nominee, he probably will not get the same type of attacks because he seems to agree with the president, so there's not as much to attack him on. they seem to be quite similar on those issues. >> clear after a big night, we've got a contentious

campaign. appreciate your insights. it's a fascinating race and all the more fascinate iing because what happened last night. up next, the terror of watching a home go up in flames with two young boys inside. you'll hear it in the voice of the social worker who called 911 on josh powell and exclusive details from powell's in-laws about the warning signs. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves.

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kate bolduan back with more news you need to know. >> this is a story that i know

we've been watching. it's so painful to talk about still. a social worker's chilling call to 911 outside josh powell's home. she had just brought powell's sons and minutes later, the home explodes. >> two little boys in the house and they're 5 and 7 and there's an adult man. he has supervised visitation, he blew up the house and the kids. >> investigators say the explosion was part of powell's premeditated murder-suicide. powell was a suspect in his wife's disappearance in 2009. susan's parents, chuck and judy cox, spoke with nancy grace about josh. >> tell me this. all the way back at the beginning when susan first started with josh, what was he like then? >> he, he was still the same.

he was a person that people talked to and you'd get a feeling that he was strange, different. a problem. but you didn't think he was dangerous. it's the type of thing, okay, yeah, that's not right, but you know, he's harmless. and most people would after 20 minutes, want to get away from him and basically not associate with him any more. but still, that was him. i mean, it was just josh. kind of overbearing type of person. >> what is this business of making susan wear long sleeves, forcing her to garden and grow food rather than give her money for groceries? i mean, she was working full time and taking care of the boys and she had to garden and grow her own food as well? >> and we learned about that afterwards, after she was missing, that the reason she gardened is he would not allow her to buy anything in the store.

because josh was controlling all their money. he took everything she was making supporting the family and was not allowed to have anything or provide for the children. >> chuck, do you have any doubt that he murdered susan? >> no. my only doubt -- i -- and before this, i wasn't sure how he would have done it, but i know he's responsible. >> other news we are following, carnival, the brazilian celebration of decadence may not happen this year. 3,500 troops are deploying to the city to stop the violence that erupted when police officers went on strike next week. carnival starts in less than two weeks. also in brazil, the government is suing twitter because it doesn't want users tipping off drivers about police roadblocks and radar traps.

recently, twitter said it would sensor users if countries ask for it. this could be a first case of that. and it's news that could make larry byrd want to lace up his high tops again. paul pierce is now the celtic's second highest scorer of all time. he knocked byrd down to second. jo did i say that -- 26,000 points? >> stole the ball, one of the most famous radio calls in history. >> i told you about that. in my vast nba knowledge -- eight titles, but pierce, only one. thank you, control room. >> very good. i'm old enough to have seen all of them play. finally, the moment you may have missed. chances are, you didn't get an