twitter. my handle is @alivelshi. you know i read every single one of your tweets. have a great weekend. hello, thanks so much for joini ining us. i'm fredricka whitfield. a look at the top stories. we're awaiting results from puerto rico's republican presidential primary. polls have just closed and a projected winner could be announced at any minute. our chief political correspondent candy crowley will be joining us live as soon as those results are in. the lawyers representing army staff sergeant robert bales say they intend to meet with him this week. bales is the soldier accused of killing 16 civilian men, women

and children last weekend in kandahar, afghanistan. today he remains in solitary confinement at ft. leavenworth. he's not yet been formally charged. gas prices go up for the ninth straight day. it is now on average close to $3.84 a gallon, but if you live in some big cities, you're already seeing gas prices average more than $4 a gallon. the record high was $4.11 back in july of 2008. a colorado dad is going the extra mile to stop his children from texting while driving. and he's getting an early start. his triplets are just 8 years old. he's already created a special cell phone app that blocks calls, texts and e-mails while users are driving. it is called the life before text app. and get this, it sends parents an e-mail if someone tries to disable the app.

rick santorum, this guy, he announced today puerto ricans need to speak english before they can become a state. you can't be a state if you don't speak english. we are so screwed here in california, oh, my god. we are so skewescrewed. oh, my god, we are so screwed. >> jay leno having late night fun about rick santorum. santorum and his gop rivals are dead serious about today's battle in puerto rico, a contest with 20 delegates up for grabs. a winner could be announced momentarily and as you just saw, santorum made headlines and landed in the monologues of late night tv when he said puerto rico should be required to make english its official language before gaining statehood. >> have to speak english, that would be a requirement. it is a requirement we put on other states. it is a condition for entering the union. >> joining us now, live, cnn

political reporter shannon travis. so, shannon, you're in illinois for that state's primary, set for tuesday. we'll talk about this in a minute. first, let's start with santorum's campaign and his comments on the english language requirement in puerto rico, so, shannon, this is one of those hot button issues in conservative circles, but latinos also feel very strongly about it. has santorum alienated himself as it pertains to the latino electorate in general? >> yeah, i mean, santorum is standing by his comments. let me just say off the top also, we're actually at a mitt romney event waiting for him to come in. but to your point about rick santorum and those comments about english only, it is something that enflames passions on both sides. in terms of conservative circles, fred, conservatives feel like english should be the language of the land. it is just one of the enduring conservative ideals, right? and when he said that in puerto rico, he was then asked about it a little later and he stood by it, didn't really back down from it too much, but a lot of people

in puerto rico and beyond, latinos back here in the u.s., it raised a lot of eyebrows. one puerto rican official said that it was a very limiting and narrow view and when you couple that, fred, couple that with some people who feel like republicans have been taking some very hard line anti-latino -- a hard line against issues that latinos care about, take illegal immigration, a lot of republicans say they want to deport illegal aliens or people who have been living here in the u.s. for a while, sonia sotomayor, the supreme court justice, mitt romney has been critical of her. she's obviously a puerto rican -- inspires pride among a lot of puerto ricans. couple this issue, this english only issue with the other issues that people feel like republicans are taking hard lines against issues that latinos care about, and it could be a problem in terms of attracting or maintaining latino

voters in a general election. fred? >> shannon, something else santorum has been spending a whole lot of time on social issues like pornography, he spoke about it on his website, and contraception. so while that may help him or at least resonate in the primaries, how will those same issues play in the general election regardless of who the nominee is? >> yeah, i mean, fred, rick santorum may have a problem keeping independent voters if he plays up those kinds of issues. we have seen numerous polling that show that those kinds of issues, those kind of hot button red meat issues turn to turn independents off. it plays very well in a primary. you mentioned pornography. the recent brouhaha over that is there is basically a statement on rick santorum's website where he's talking about the obscenity laws and pornography is a pandemic to the united states, the obama administration is soft on it. i'm going to read you one quote that raised a lot of eyebrows. addiction to pornography is now common for adults and even for

some children. pornography is toxic to marriages and relationships, it contributes to misogyny and iolence against women, it is a prostitution and sex trafficking. but, again, remember this is rick santorum's wheel house this is what curries a lot of favor among christian evangelicals, among a lot of conservatives, and probably why, talking about these issues, why he shot up in popularity in so many contests. fred? >> shannon travis, thanks so much. appreciate that. while santorum faces an uphill battle in the delegate hunt, his campaign has staged a remarkable turn around in the past few months. joining us live from washington, republican strategist ron bongene and neleh mali malika henderson. neleh, let me begin with you. you wrote in "the washington post," i'm going to quote now, four short months ago rick santorum had hardly registered in national or presidential

polls or made a blip in candidate debates. that came from your article. neleh, what happened? what has santorum managed to do to attract the attention and some real traction? >> yeah, i think in a lot of ways he's managed to tap into what this real anti-obama feeling among lots of grassroots conservatives. you saw him in iowa early on, he was the only one out there in that pickup truck going through those 99 counties, sometimes talking to as few as one, two, three people and really honing his message. i think along the way you saw certain people shoot up, people like herman cain, michele bachmann, rick perry, came and went. but rick santorum very much has been able to sustain his surge and in some ways he's surged at right time. people obviously still not comfortable in conservative circles with mitt romney, so he's been able to capitalize on that. and has really rattled off a string of victories. and in a way, really resurrected his career. he had lost in 2006 by 18 points

in pennsylvania. he was very much in the political hinterlands and now he has re-emerged in some ways as the kingmaker or the top of the conservative wing of this party. the republican party. >> so, ron, how do you see it? he's gone from, talk about santorum, from that little engine that could, even dubbed his own campaign that, to the little engine that is right now. how and why? >> well, i think he became the last conservative -- the anti-mitt -- the anti-mitt romney faction, the last conservative standing, meaning you had bachmann and then rick perry, newt gingrich, all these guys, all these people have imploded, and the last person standing was rick santorum and he's been able to fire up the hard-line right conservative base, the evangelicals with his social conservative issues. and he's tried to pivot into more populous issues and i think that worked well for him in places like michigan and ohio, where he started saying, hey,

i'm just like you, you know, i come from a blue collar middle class family. but he's been really, you know, lately, over the last couple of weeks, been really revving up the social issues to keep the campaign going. >> perhaps you saw him this morning, santorum appeared on cnn's "state of the union" with candy crowley, underscoring how he best represents the conservative base, just take a listen. >> if governor romney thinks that he is the ceo of america, and can run and manage the economy, he doesn't understand what conservatives believe in. we don't want someone in washington, d.c. to manage the economy. we want someone to get washington out of our lives to reduce the mandates, get rid of things like romney care at the federal level, which we call obama care, and do some things to get this economy going by believing in the private sector something that governor romney has shown no indication he's in favor of. >> he seems to have become the king of conservatives. even when you hear his dialogue, does he always seem to kind of get it right, get his facts

right, get his references to even history correct? >> well, i think in some ways, what is important here is that he's been able to really frame romney in a way that has ginned up a lot of support among conservatives. he's talking about health care and that's a turn he's made, post ohio, really zeroing in on health care, tying romney to health care, tying him to obama and that's one of the reasons why i think he's been an effective debater against romney and he's framing his candidacy as he could be the foil against obama. he's not even so much the anti-romney, he's the anti-obama and that's really what people want to hear. yes, he has gotten into some trouble as you said with some of the facts and talking about puerto rico and statehood and all those sorts of things and in calling obama a snob and saying that jfk speech made him want to throw up, but he's reined in that a bit but he's cognizant that some of that stuff has gotten him where he is in terms of really ginning up support

among the base. >> and, ron, 20 seconds left on that, you know, on that kind of anti-romney, you know, crusade that santorum was just on, just with "state of the union," he talked about the private sector and mitt romney having a real disconnect with it, except that wasn't most of his wealth, you know, gathered and his success in the private sector? so, you know, can some of what santorum say kind of back fire for him? >> well, it is interesting, santorum's trying to make mitt romney the ceo while santorum is trying to portray himself as the main street shop owner instead of wall street ceo. i think, you know, mitt romney's strength is the economy. he has created a lot of jobs in the private sector and, sure, it definitely could back fire on santorum down the road. right now he's just trying to score points against romney, keep, you know, keep the enthusiasm up, and, you know, kind of throwing mud against the wall to see what sticks. >> ron and nia, thanks so much.

i'll see you again in a little bit and talk about the successes of mitt romney and newt gingrich and why he continues to stay in the race. so the man who wants santorum out of the race is still in, newt gingrich. he's count is on an open convention to show he's the right man for the republican party. and polls in puerto rico closed just a short time ago. our chief political correspondent candy crowley is keeping a cleeose eye on the results. when cnn has a projection, we'll bring that to you live next.

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2012 presidential contenders in their own words, out on the campaign trail. gas prices are up again today. the ninth straight day. the average price for a gallon of gas is nearly $3.84 and president obama says there is no quick fix for rising gas prices, but newt gingrich, well, he claims to have a plan. >> the leading person in developing north dakota was quoted about a month ago as saying if we open up offshore, and we open up the federal lands and, remember, we own 69% of alaska, that's 1 1/2 times the size of texas, and his estimate is that over the next generation, we will raise between 16 and $18 trillion in royalties to the federal government. now, that's about the size of the u.s. national debt. so if we could go back to what i

was doing when i left washington, which is balancing the budget, and this is a major reason that i'm still in this race because the truth is, while i was speaker, we balanced the budget for four years and while santorum was in leadership, they borrowed $1.7 billion. there is a difference here. i would like to set it up with your help because we'll have time pose this. this will not be voluntary. i would like to set it up so we balance the operating budget of the federal government, we take all the royalty money, we put it in a debt repayment fund, and over the life of the younger people here today, we pay off the entire federal debt. [ applause ] now, notice what we just created. we just created an ability to say in one policy we create american jobs, we lower the price of gasoline to $2.50 or

less, we create security in the united states, we no longer worry about the saudis and we no longer worry about the chinese, all in one policy. that's what a visionary leadership is all about. [ applause ] so let me close this summary, because i really want to drive this home and over the next couple of days, this will become a very big issue, barack obama is for saudi oil and against american oil. barack obama is for jobs and in saudi arabia and against jobs in the united states. barack obama is for sending money to the saudi government, and against sending money to american companies on american soil producing american services. barack obama is for the highest oil price he can get away with, while still getting re-elected. let's not kid each other. the day after the election, they're going right back to who they are. i think the choice will be really simple. i think the american people

would prefer an american president who favored american oil and american president who favored american jobs and an american president who favored american national security and an american president who favored royalties for the american government and that's how big the gap is going to be this fall. with your help, if you'll help us in the primary, you'll help us in the general election, we're going to win a decisive victory for america and we're going to repudiate the policy of crippling the united states while propping up the saudis. >> so lowering gas prices is gingrich's big message right now. joining us again from washington, ron bonjean and nia malika-henderson with "the washington post." is the gas price issue enough to keep his campaign going? >> you know, it is a real good question. he has only i believe around 151 delegates versus mitt romney's, what, 452, 456, i can't

remember. but it is going to be very difficult for him to have a sustainable campaign. and it is basically revolving around gas prices. i think the reason why is he's getting away from being completely critical of mitt romney and trying to portray himself as a politician who has answers to the number one problem that is on americans' minds, which is that, you know, rising prices at the pump. i think that gingrich will have a tough time sustaining momentum or getting any type of delegates to amass a majority but what he's doing right now is just staying alive and trying to stay part of the conversation. >> so, nia, what do you suppose is behind his new strategy, that he's made this modification that i'm now going to be the candidate who is going to talk about an issue that is hitting every americans' pocket? >> he's looking at the gas prices like everyone else and seeing as they go up, barack obama's approval ratings go down. i think they're about 41% at

this point, they were 47, 48, two or three weeks ago. when i look at that clip of newt gingrich standing there and talking about gas prices, it is apparent to me he is having fun out there on the campaign trail, and as long as he's having fun and enjoying himself, sure, he can promise $2.50 a gallon gas, he can promise a trip to the moon as well, but that's not really going to be able to sustain -- >> let's revisit that in a while, however. >> i want to talk about this lunar colony. but he's in this thing. and part of what is going on now is both santorum and newt gingrich, their strategy is just to deny this thing to mitt romney, to forbid him from giving those 1100 or so delegates that he needs, to go into the convention with a clear victory. >> 1144 the magic number. we know gingrich had fun when he won south carolina and georgia. he is staying in the race and his daughter appeared on cnn earlier today and she underscored that very message.

the race is far from over. >> i think we can call it up in the media about who should do what and the reality is until a candidate pulls out, they're in the race. i think it is not just about winning the delegates if you're newt gingrich. if mitt romney or senator santorum can get the 1144 that you mentioned, then that means the convention is wide open. and so you have a contested convention where anything can happen. >> so, ron, you know, when you try to dissect this, why really is gingrich in this race? why is he staying in the race if he has so few delegates, he's won so few contests? what is driving, you know, his goal here? >> well, his daughter just proved everyone's theory which was he's been on a revenge tour against mitt romney to prevent him from getting 1144 delegates necessary and he's going to keep this going until the convention. he's going to really try to secure a high profile speaking role and some more involvement in the republican policy

platform at the convention. that's what this is all about. he knows he's not going to win, but he doesn't want to -- >> quickly, nia, real quickly, nia, you agree with that, this is a revenge tour, not a tour to clinch the nomination? >> i don't know if it is a revenge tour. i don't think he has a realistic shot of winning this thing. he knows that. he's staying in the conversation and exact a little revenge, i guess, on mitt romney. >> okay. all right. nia, ron, thanks so much. stick around with this. we'll talk about the other candidates in this race. mitt romney, how he wins delegates, but he doesn't win the support from the republican base. he traveled to puerto rico and is now back in illinois. more on him in a moment. and remember to tune in tuesday night as we wait for the results of the illinois primary. coverage begins at 7:00 eastern time with erin burnett followed by cnn's complete live coverage of the illinois primary results at 8:00 p.m. with wolf blitzer, anderson cooper and the rest of the cnn political team.

tune in tuesday night right here on cnn. so it is caucus time, by the way. also in missouri, this weekend, but one ended in mass confusion and arrests. >> they just went out, right out over their heads and forced us to have a broken caucus. >> we'll tell you what happened that has upset so many voters there. ng to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

we continue to delve into the issues on the presidential campaign. every sunday we're spending this hour of the "cnn newsroom" to allow you to hear from the contenders as they spell out their future, their ideas for the future of the u.s. missouri is holding its caucuses all this month. >> liberty and justice for all! >> but one gathering in a small town turned na a shouting match. police were called in and two people were arrested. rick santorum supporters blamed mitt romney's and ron paul's people. and, of course, they blamed each other. >> the santorum people were controlling, that was the chairman, and they got nervous because they saw the ron paul people and the mitt romney people, you know, getting together, and say we want freedom of press, we want freedom of speech, we don't want no cameras, we want transparency. and so it really became bedlam. >> the ron paul people came up and told everybody, we just worked out a deal with the

romney people, we're going to do this together so everybody stay here and follow the directs of the people up in front here and then they threw -- they kept on jumping up and screaming. >> the event was finally adjourned before delegates could be chosen. ron paul is forging head with his campaign despite having won no contests. earlier in the week he spoke in missouri. paul is pushing his own ideas rather than attacking his opponents. >> so great to see such an enthusiastic crowd. you give me a lot of encouragement, thank you very much. we're sick and tired of what we had for the last many, many years. and we have to restore confidence in ourselves, confidence in liberty, and hold everybody to defending and obeying the constitution. we have to reject this notion that freedom doesn't work, freedom really is efficient, freedom is popular and it brings

us all together. >> polls in puerto rico closed and we are standing by to get results. mitt romney was there yesterday before flying to illinois to stump for tuesday's primary. and we're checking in on the front-runner when we come right back. >> i wish my patients could see what i see. that over time, having high cholesterol, plus diabetes or high blood pressure or family history of early heart disease, can put them at increased risk for plaque buildup. and they'd see that it's more important to get their cholesterol where their doctor wants. and why for these patients, when diet and exercise alone aren't enough, i prescribe crestor. adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol by up to 52%. and is also proven to slow plaque buildup. >> announcer: crestor is not right for everyone. like people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. simple blood tests will check for liver problems. tell your doctor about other medicines you're taking or if you have muscle pain or weakness.

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president obama, kentucky,

ohio state, missouri and north carolina, and rimitt romney announced his final four, goldman sachs, exxon and the cayman islands. >> that's jay leno poking fun at the perception a lot of people have that mitt romney is out of touch with america's middle class. welcome back to the special hour of the "cnn newsroom," we're focusing on politics allowing you to hear from the 2012 presidential contenders. first, let's take a look at rockford, illinois, in this diner, soon to make a scheduled appearance there, candidate mitt romney. he's stumping there, two days ahead of the illinois primary. here to weigh in on romney's biggest challenges ahead, republican strategist ron bonjean and nia malikia henderson with "the washington post" back with us. nia, you first. romney's biggest challenge, is it coming from santorum or gingrich or himself? >> you know, it is all three. i think in a lot of ways it is

romney himself over these last couple of weeks. they never planned on this primary going on and on and on. here is a candidate with a lot of money, a lot of infrastructure, a sleek campaign operation they have there. but in his fundamental argument, he's an economic heavyweight and he's inevitable and he's the likely nominee and the most electable against barack obama, but guess what, he's run up against rick santorum and i think he's starting -- republicans are starting to feel like here is a guy whose argument is that he can beat barack obama but he's having problems putting away rick santorum. he had struggles here. a big week for him. now he's turning up the rhetoric in terms of the economy, gas prices, in this illinois contest will be important, but i think the good news for the romney campaign and his supporters is that this map that is coming up. two dozen states, this thing closes on june 26th, it looks good for him. there is some southern states but mostly big moderate states and he's got the campaign

infrastructure to play really well over these next many weeks. >> so, ron, how do you see it? what is the problem or what are the problems? why can't he cement the republican base support, even though he does relatively well or has done relatively well in the ten contests thus far? >> well, that's a great question and it is a question we have been trying -- we have been trying to figure out since last august when the anti-romney contingent really popped up. he hasn't been able to break over a real percentage of a majority in order to sweep the nomination. however, i do think that he is going to be our republican nominee and that they have been working on a plan since last summer and all these primary states to have organizations in effect to help him get that delegate math going. >> so they do not see a brokered convention? you do not see an open convention in the making? >> i don't want to make a prediction, though i do think that he's going to be close to

the 1144 delegates and that he may need a santorum in the end -- >> close? don't you to have it? you have to have 1144. nia, do you see an open convention, likely to happen? >> you know, i'm out of the prediction business, but i will predict that some -- >> let me tell you what, i do think that romney -- >> isn't that what politics is all about? the race is all about predictions. >> mitt romney will have to pick up the phone at some point and say what do you want, rick santorum, before he's able to wrap this thing up and really be the nominee in charge of the general? >> if rick santorum were to say i want a partnership on that ticket, i want to be, you know, vp nominee, how in the world could these two work together after all this? >> i don't necessarily see that. i don't think in talking to republicans they don't necessarily see that either. maybe sort of roll out some sort of cabinet position for him and float that idea. but i think a lot of folks aren't looking necessarily at santorum for the vp slot because they feel like he's going to alienate independents.

>> nia, ron, good to see both of you. thanks so much for sticking around this hour. >> thanks, fred. >> as we mentioned, mitt romney is campaigning in illinois today. he spoke in moline, seeking to appeal to struggling americans there. >> you got moms, that are driving their kids to school and practice after school and other appointments and wonder how they can afford putting gasoline in the car at the same time putting food on the table night after night. the american people are struggling. this president doesn't understand the economy. he's an economic lightweight. and he's made decisions that have hurt the american people. it is time to put in place an economic heavyweight and i am and i'll get that job done. >> rachel streitfeld was at that event in moline and now in rockford where i think i'm hearing behind you some cheering crowds. does that mean mitt romney has arrived? >> reporter: he's just walked into the restaurant. we're expecting to hear him focus more on this, all the messages about the economy and

energy. talked a lot about gas prices this morning, been talking about it all hour and mitt romney is no different, dialing up his rhetoric on high gas prices. he said he feels his voters' pain. he said it is harder on small businesses, harder on families when gas prices are high. he's really directing that anger against president obama, he's calling for the ouster of three top obama officials because they haven't been able to keep gas prices down. as we heard, he likes to call himself the economic heavyweight. we have been hearing him say a lot of that now. obama is a lightweight in that area. >> does it appear as though he's having greater success, kind of connecting with people there who want to hear about any empathy that he may have for their struggle? >> he is certainly working on it. as we said, we heard him talking about families -- >> is it resonating? are people talking about whether it is working, whatever they're hearing from him this go-round? >> he had a very friendly

audience today. something we hear from all voters is they want president obama out of office and we hear that people think that romney, you know, a lot of people say romney is the best chance to do that. keepsing a punishing schedule here in illinois, from the top of the state down to the bottom, early events, late events, really pushing for a win here against rick santorum on tuesday. >> rachel streitfeld, thanks so much, rockford, illinois, the backdrop there, the restaurant and cafe where mitt romney is right now, talking to supporters. you can tune in tuesday night as we await the results of the illinois primary. coverage begins 7:00 eastern time with erin burnett followed by cnn's complete live coverage of the illinois primary results, 8:00 eastern blitzer, anderson cooper and the cnn political team. tune in tuesday night here on cnn. it is all in the math to get the delegates or is it? our john king breaks it down. to watch it for us. wes thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back.

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cnn brings you politics each sunday during this hour. we're bringing you the 2012 presidential contenders in their own words. 1,144, the magic number of

delegates a gop candidate needs to win the nomination. mitt romney is way ahead, but don't count rick santorum out. cnn's john king explains how the numbers could shake out. >> i'm going to go to the end of the process. look what we have given santorum. we give him kentucky, west virginia, north carolina, indiana, wisconsin, even if he won all of those states, with gingrich in the race getting some delegates, romney coming in second or coming in third and getting some delegates, look what happens? romney still clinches the nomination, still clinches the nomination, maybe, maybe if santorum could take away california, romney still clinches the nomination. santorum would also have to win some place like new jersey to deny him and romney would have a big lead. that's one scenario. even if you take gingrich out on the theory that maybe he exits the race, say after a santorum victory in louisiana, the proportional delegate rules in most states suggest again even being extraordinarily generous to senator santorum that romney will be difficult to beat. let me show you that scenario. i'll change the map a little bit.

go back to where we are today. even if you take speaker gingrich out, and then let's just say again santorum wins wisconsin, wins indiana, switch that one, let's say he wins west virginia, we'll switch that one, he wins kentucky, we'll switch that one and he wins north carolina, we switch that one, being very generous to senator santorum, romney still wins, this is with gingrich out of the race and romney and santorum splitting the delegates depending if they come in first or second. santorum would have to win california somehow. even if he did that, romney would win with gingrich out of the race. so notice i said, though, extremely difficult. it is not impossible because all of these scenarios are based on estimates. and, yes, in some ways informed guesstimates of how things will turn out down the road. want to be clear, our team that works on this stuff is cautious, meticulous, i would say they're the best in the business. >> and so are you, john king, for keeping all that in line. remember to tune in tuesday night as we await the results of the illinois primary. coverage begins at 7:00 eastern with erin burnett followed by

cnn's complete live coverage of the illinois primary results 8:00 p.m. eastern with wolf blitzer, anderson cooper and the best political team on television. tune in tuesday night on cnn. we are watching the delegate count very closely. and are starting to get results from the puerto rican primary. we'll check in with our candy crowley coming up next. also, the top of the hour, more than 100 miles of interstate are closed because of ice and snow. unbelievable images there. travelers, as you see the big rigs, stranded. we'll have much more in the next hour of the "cnn newsroom" at 5:00 eastern time. [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan was designed with near-perfect weight balance from front to back...

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polling closed in puerto rico just about 40 minutes ago and we are actually getting some results in. let's go straight to chief political correspondent candy crowley in washington. 20 delegates at stake. how does it look so far? >> well it really is too early to tell. we have a minuscule number of votes here. this may be slow. i can tell you this -- we have long believed that puerto rico is romney territory. i think we would -- i know we would have said that a week ago. then we had rick santorum go down to puerto rico and talk about, well, if you want to become a state, you're going to need to have english as your official language and that kind of, you know, really -- >> canceled him out. >> caused some resentment down there. so i think it still looks pretty much like mitt romney territory. add to that he has done very well in the american territories. he did very well in american samoa, he did very well in guam. he's expected to do very well in puerto rico, but, remember, this

is a portion. so folks are given delegates according to their percentage of the vote. mitt romney can do really well if he can be above 50%, then he gets to take them all home. and it is about -- it is 20 delegates and as you know, this is now less about the states or the territories, but it is more about the delegates yeah. >> so so far he has done well in the u.s. territories. i'm sure for mitt romney's camp, anything helps maintain the momentum. it is not necessarily a shoo-in for him come illinois in two days, right? >> not necessarily. and, but i would tell you the -- it would be a huge blow if mitt romney did not win illinois. it looks like his territory, yes. there is a sizable contingent of voters who self-identify as evangelicals, a very strong suit for rick santorum, but by and large, illinois is the kind of state that mitt romney has been

doing well. i mean, what they dearly love here is to have such an overwhelming victory in illinois that they can then go out and continue to sell the look, nobody can catch me at this point. that hasn't seemed to stop anybody and certainly we know that newt gingrich seems now aimed at blocking romney from getting the number of delegates he needs, 1,144, to secure the nomination. so that gingrich can go and fight for it on the convention floor in august because it just mathematically doesn't look as though there is any road in the primary season for newt gingrich to win this. so, you know, we'll see. >> we will indeed. candy crowley, thanks so much. we'll check back with you when we have more numbers coming out of puerto rico. president obama targets gasoline, oil and biofuels. he's talking about ways to save money and energy next.

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55 miles a gallon. so, you know, the young people here who were driving those beaters that, you know, get five miles per gallon or -- we're going to get you to 55. and that will save the average family more than $8,000 over the life of a car. $8,000. that will help pay some bills. that means you'll be able to fill up every two weeks instead of every week. and those are the cars we need to keep building here in the united states. we can do that. all right, so now to fuel the cars and trucks, obviously if they're using less gas, that's great, that saves us, we're using less oil, but we also want

to invest in clean advanced biofuels that can replace some of the oil that we're currently using. that's important. already we're using these biofuels to power everything from city buses to u.p.s. trucks to navy ships. i want to see more of these fuels in american cars, home grown fuels because that means we're buying less oil from foreign countries and we're creating jobs here in the united states. including -- [ applause ] including big parts of rural america, big parts of rural maryland where the economy oftentimes is struggling, you have a real opportunity to create an entire new industry and put people to work. and it is happening all across the country. so all of these steps have put us on a path of greater energy independence. >> a look at where the candidates will be in a moment

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here is a look at where the 2012 contenders will this be week, ahead of the illinois primary. 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