you see "big hits: broken dreams." >> that's my documentary, next sunday, the 29th, at 8:00 p.m. only on cnn. thanks for being with us today. time to get you back in the cnn newsroom for a check of your top stories making news right now. from cnn's world headquarters, bringing you news and analysis from across the nation and around the globe, live from studio 7, this is "cnn sunday morning." from cnn center, this is "cnn sunday morning." it's january 22nd, 2012. good morning, everybody. i'm gary tuchman. newt gingrich is celebrating a big win in south carolina. >> the biggest thing i take from the campaign in south carolina is that it is very humbling and

very sobering to have so many people who so deeply want their country to get back on the right track. >> speaking of the right track, mitt romney is hoping to find it in florida. we'll get voter reactions from the next big campaign contest about what happened in south carolina. despite some immediate ra reports to the contrary, joe paterno is alive but in serious condition this morning. we'll get an update from state college, pennsylvania. we start with what was a runaway victory for newt gingrich in the south carolina republican presidential primary. look at these numbers. it was a double digit win. 12 percentage points for the former house speaker. easily beating mitt romney. rick santorum came in third place. ron paul in fourth. now, check out this cnn exit poll. there were many that thought newt gingrich's past would hurt

him with women voters. especially after his second wife came out last week talking about newt. but that wasn't the case in south carolina. let's bring in cnn political editor paul steinhauser who's live in the state capital of south carolina, columbia. paul, what does the south carolina vote tell us about the future of this race? >> reporter: it tells us, gary, that this race is far from over. it's not going to be ending any time soon. this is not a sprint. it's probably going to be a marathon. our exit polls also indicate that a lot of people, about two-thirds of the voters here, made up their mindses just in the last few days. a lot of people are also saying those two debates were pretty important to their vote. of those people, romney was behind gingrich by a 2 to 1 margin. gary, that tells me that debates really matter. >> thank you to everyone in south carolina who decided to be with us in changing washington. >> reporter: another comeback for newt gingrich. down in the polls just a week

ago, the former house speaker stormed back to take south carolina's crucial republican primary by double digits over mitt romney. gingrich praised the former massachusetts governor, but he also got in a dig. >> we don't have the kind of money at least one of the candidates has. but we do have ideas and we do have people. and we proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money, and with your help, we're going to prove it again in florida. >> reporter: but with the expensive fight for florida ahead, gingrich put out an online plea for campaign cash. >> for romney, a setback. >> we've still got a long way to go and a lot of work to do. tomorrow we're going to move on to florida. >> reporter: and a little taste of what we'll hear in florida. >> president obama has no experience running a business and no experience running a state. our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never run a state. >> reporter: rick santorum

finished third. but the former senator from pennsylvania vowed to keep going. >> let me assure you, we will go to florida and then we're going to arizona and colorado and everywhere else across this country! >> reporter: ron paul came in last. but the texas congressman was still encouraged. >> it looks like tonight we will get four to five times more votes than we did four years ago. >> reporter: we're here on the campus of the university of south carolina. i got the cnn election expressway behind me. gary, we're packing up, we're heading to florida. we've got a cnn debate in jacksonville thursday night. this race far from over. gary? >> paul, rick santorum won the iowa caucuses. not exactly a landslide, but he did end up winning. didn't do too well in new hampshire. came in third place here in south carolina. what's he saying about this third place finish? >> reporter: well, last night he was very optimistic saying he was going to be moving on to florida. his campaign is already up with ads there. they're also looking ahead to some of the contests after.

but remember, santorum/gingrich pretty much going after the same crowd, that conservative crowd, trying to be the conservative alternative to romney. sooner or later one of these two gentlemen is going to have to drop out of this race. gary? >> paul, you actually go on that bus driving on the bus to florida? >> reporter: i am not, unfortunately. i've driven on it a lot. i've got to go to d.c. for a day. i've got a 1-year-old daughter, i've got to get back for at least one day. >> paul steinhauser, everybody, reports from south carolina. let's take a moment to look ahead to the next contest, florida. the sunshine state primary is on january 31st, a week from this tuesday. the latest cnn/orc poll shows mitt romney with a large lead, 24 percentage points. the poll was conducted before the south carolina primary. so what did florida voters think about last night's results? here's cnn's tom foreman. >> hey, gary, we gathered all these voters here in florida, all republicans and all

undecided when the night began. and look at this. how many of you feel closer to making up your minds now? look at that. that's the prize that these candidates have been after. i want to point out something that happened. when we had them do these dial tests where they told us minute by minute how they felt about the speeches of the candidates, one thing that was clear. many people here are hungry for a positive message of hope, of things getting better. and newt gingrich tapped into that. watch. >> you sort of just now captured the heart of this campaign. the fact is, we want to run not a republican campaign. we want to run an american campaign. >> reporter: what is it that you like about newt gingrich's message? >> there's two reasons. one is his debate performances over the last two debates where he was the first conservative

candidate to really bring out the media bias over the last two campaigns. the other was the speech he gave tonight. and he was the most eloquent i've ever heard. >> i really liked that he kind of included the aspects of the other candidates' campaigns, you know, the positives of ron paul with his financial, rick santorum with family, and then the business savvy of mitt romney. >> reporter: mitt romney also seemed to hit on a key here. one of the strongest reactions from our group last night was when he defended his income and the idea that that's what america's about. >> ours is the party of free enterprise and free markets and consumer choice. [ applause ] the republican party doesn't demonize prosperity, we celebrate success in our party. >> reporter: all in all, a fascinating evening seeing what the voters here in florida

think. again, i want you to see those hands one more time, gary. how many of you are now closer to making up your minds? that's what this contest is about now, gary. that's what it's going to be about as the campaigns steam into florida. >> everyone likes talking to tom because he's such a nice guy. remember, you can see all the candidates face off in florida. they'll all be at the cnn debate this thursday, jacksonville, florida. watch it. begins at 8:00 eastern time. coming up in less than an hour on "state of the union with candy crowley," newt gingrich and rick santorum. candy will get gingrich and santorum's reactions to south carolina and look ahead to florida. is there a two-man race between mitt romney and newt gingrich? that and a whole lot more when "state of the union" airs 9:00 eastern time. well, it's now eight minutes past the hour. more severe weather could be on tap for parts of the country today. meteorologist reynolds wolf joins me now.

reynolds? reynolds microphone -- there we go. >> a chance of severe weather in part of the nation's heartland. especially along parts of the gulf coast into the mid-atlantic states. this video an ireport contribution sent in from a viewer in sycamore, illinois. the mess they have today, at least this was a couple days ago, now what they're going to be dealing with is rain drops and warmer conditions. snow long gone. a bit farther to the north, the overhead of minnesota, snow back in business. plus heavy snowfall through parts of the central rockies on the sierra nevada and again that chance of severe weather across parts of the nation's heartland. more on that coming up in just a few moments. >> reynolds microphone wasn't working in the very fbeginning, but it came back. >> strong. >> he has a booming voice. e even with that booming voice we couldn't hear him at the

beginning. joe paterno is in serious condition. his family says he's inspired by scenes like this. more on the legendary coach's condition just ahead. plus, a look at the nfl playoffs. and a dolphin. not a miami dolphin. a real dolphin. who is picking the winners. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays]

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joe paterno's family says he's in serious condition. the legendary football coach remains hospitalized this morning. several websites reported last night that the former penn state football coach had actually died. it spread across social media sites like facebook and twitter. but he's alive in serious condition. joining me now is our national correspondent susan candiotti. what's the reaction of the news of his condition on the penn state campus? >> reporter: good morning, gary. you can imagine, people here love joe paterno. he's known as joe pa, a fatherly figure here. known as the heart and soul of penn state. and that is why dozens and

dozens of people were here throughout the night setting up more or less a candle light vigil around the iconic statue of joe paterno. you can see it. he has his hand outstretched with a number one sign. it's a tradition for people to come by and take hold of this hand as a show of support for him. they were doing that again last night. also leaving behind flowers and candles, pulling for him to come through. these conditions that are described as serious by the family. certainly the family is buoyed by the support and things like this that people here are say i ing. you know, when you think joe paterno, what comes to mind. >> just greatness and honor. >> people think of him more than just a coach. they think of him as a leader and they think of him as someone who devoted his life to the community. >> everything that joe stands for academically and everything off the football field and all the good things that he and susan have done for this university and the library and

everything else, it just means so much to me that i just felt compelled to be here. >> reporter: in fact, jay paterno, one of the joe paterno's sons, drove by here last night and tweeted about it, telling people that he was thrilled with the support. went back and told his father about it and said that the support was inspiring. in fact, our cnn contributor sarah ganam reports that joe paterno is able to communicate. certainly -- the terrible scandal that has surrounded penn state since last fall. joe paterno was fired from his position as head coach here, but people here continue to rally, many unhappy about how penn state has treated him over how he handled allegations about children being sexually abused here, or at least one child, and what he did about that. joe paterno himself last heard

from fairly recently after an interview in the "washington post." his raspy voice was heard on some vaud owe tape posted to their website where he talked about a feeling of possible inadequacy about how he handled the situation and wishing, perhaps, that things had turned out differently. but certainly this day everyone here is rallying behind, fully behind joe paterno, praying for his recovery. in fact, one of the signs here, gary, says, "you are our hero." gary? >> susan, do we have any idea, how serious, how dire his condition is right now? >> reporter: the family really is only putting out statements through a spokesperson. we haven't heard any updates from him since last night. >> susan candiotti, thank you very much for that report. we appreciate it. well, speaking of sports, it is a huge, huge day in the sports world. hln's sports anchor and reporter carlos diaz joins me now.

carlos, nice to see you, first of all. >> good to see you as well. >> i understand we have some very unusual security arrangements for the playoffs today. >> the san francisco 49ers are playing in their first -- hosting their first nfc championship game in 14 years. you have a lot of san francisco 49ers fans excited about being at candlestick park. but they don't want this to happen at candle stick which happened in the preseason. fans getting too excited, too fired up for their team, so there's a lot of extra security in place today. there's a text messages service called bad fan. the chief of security and the head of police in san francisco says he just wants fans to have a good time at the game. >> we'll have officers on the route into and out of candlestick on motorcycles, bicycles. the parking lot will be patrolled. we really, really want it to be safe. and we want the niner fans to know that, you know, it's for everybody. so be as classy a fan as we are

classy a team and a city. >> basically, you know, you have a lot of fans, you know, wanting their team to win. in fact, the san francisco 49ers on their website, they have this big video called rock the stick. meaning rock candlestig park. but it's that fine line of come, support your team, do what you can, but know where you can draw the line. that's going to be a very, very touchy subject today because, as i said, the niners have not hosted an nfc championship game in 14 years. there's going to be a lot of emotions today at candlestick park. >> on a lighter note, you did something that was so cool. you found these dolphins who have this unusual intelligence ability to predict winner of nfl playoff games. >> it's not difficult to be more intelligent than i am. it's not difficult at all. >> i didn't say that. >> these dolphins at the georgia aquarium are amazing. i had them pick the afc and nfc championship games. here's a portion. >> reporter: now time to pick the nfc championship game here at the georgia aquarium.

i've got my friend lily to help me. is it going to be the san francisco 49ers this weekend? no? they're not going to win? what do you think about the new york giants? yes! geez! apparently, she's a big eli manning fan. lily went for the giants. and then shoka, another dolphin, picked the patriots. our flippered friends at the georgia aquarium think it's going to be the patriots and the dolphins in the super bowl. >> not the dolphins. the giants. >> yeah. >> i would think the dolphins would pick the dolphins. >> honestly we had them pick the super bowl winner p. they picked the dolphins. crazy. giants and patriots from the georgia aquarium. a really great shoot. it took more than one take to do that. but it wasn't their fault, it was mine. they hit their mark every time. i flubed up a few times. >> you're being very self-deprecating today, carl.

>> you can only make fun of yourself. it was a great shoot. i appreciate the dolphins' help. >> if you're in atlanta, the georgia aquarium, world's largest aquarium, great place to visit. >> it was amazing to see them on cue every time. once again, giants and patriots. if you have complaints don't hit us up. we didn't make those picks. blame the dolphins. >> always blame the dolphins. much easier. thanks very much. that was great. in about one minute we'll take a look at how today's weather could impact the games. plus, a midwest snowstorm grounds hundreds of flights and many roads aren't much better. find out if more bad weather son tap today. forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover.

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and take care of what you have to take care of. two games today. two nfl games. cnn on one television set, the nfc and the afc playoffs on the other television set. what we want to know about it weatherwise is how will the weather be at both these stadiums today? >> in both places it's going to be interesting. i got to tell you, gary, between the two of them probably the game on the west coast is going to be interesting. a real mudder. candlestick park right below sea level. very low. a lot of mud expected. ravens and patriots kick off at 3:00 p.m. 29 degree. wind northeast at 5 or 10 miles an hour. i don't know who you like but the game itself, all going to be winners. out to the west coast, situation is going to be different. giants and 49ers kick off at 6:30. yes, we expect the rain. we also expect temperatures

around 50 degrees, wind out of the south-southeast at 10 to 15. we've got video to share with you. first and foremost let's take the first pile-up we have. this happened to be in pennsylvania. certainly not the first one we have. my gosh. what a mess it is nonetheless. a little icy glaze on the road. we're expecting temperatures to warm up a little bit by the afternoon. ice will be gone. still some treacherous conditions may remain on the roadways. please be careful out there. it was fun and games in parts of massachusetts. 3 to 5 inches of snowfall meant a good opportunity for kids to get out and about. even the dogs liked it. you've got to like that. we are a far cry from the dog days of summer. another issue could be in terms of travel. look at the back-ups that are expected today. all but a certainty we'll have back-ups in denver where we could have delays around an hour. delays in atlanta, chicago, minneapolis, san francisco, low clouds and rain could be tough. if you're trying to get there in time for the game, you may have back-ups. oaklands on the other side of the bay, rough there as well.

what might get very interesting, by this afternoon we've got a potential for some severe weather in parts of the southern half and central half of the mid-mississippi valley. severe storms by the late afternoon. even into the early evening hours. then by tomorrow there's also going to be that chance of dealing with tornadoes, strong thunderstorms, flash flooding from cape gerardo through memphis. rockies, not rain but snow. some places up to a foot with temperatures in denver 42. 32 in billings. 40 in salt lake city. 31 minneapolis. 42 in chicago. 52 in atlanta. 36 in washington, d.c. that is a quick snapshot of your forecast. we've got a whole lot more coming up straight ahead. gary, right back to you. next football forecast you'll be giving us two weeks from today. super bowl sunday. mitt romney did finish first in one thing in south carolina last night. he spent the most money on commercials. so how do the candidates match

up in florida? i'll give you a hint. one person is running away with the title.

the south carolina primary is history. and newt gingrich is the clear winner. he scored a double digit victory in the primary, easily beats mitt romney who came in second. florida's next. that's romney territory so far. but this poll that you're seeing where he has 43% compared to santorum's 19% could all change based on the south carolina momentum. romney, though, has been spending big to move his message. how big? here's cnn's erin burnett. >> south carolina all in, you

saw the numbers. mitt romney by far spending the most money. this is mitt romney including all the superpac spending on his behalf on television ads. to buy 30 seconds of advertising in south carolina is $300. a very different story when you look at the state of florida. here are our four candidates. all of them as you have been saying going on to florida. mitt romney's campaign has already spent $2.4 million on television ads in florida. and when you add in his super pac, $4.9 million. that's more than he spent obviously in the entire state of south carolina he's already spent in florida. that's going to buy him a lot of ads. now, some of his ads are already playing in florida. he's got an ad airing in spanish to try to win over some hispanic voters. the real question, newt.org tonight. i was there a couple minutes ago. wolf, what does it say? we want a million dollar money bomb to try to get more money to buy advertising in the state of florida. but right now mitt romney is the

only one with a television presence in that state. >> i'd like to remind you, you can see a lot more of erin on "out front with erin burnett" that's her show weeknights 7:00 p.m. eastern time. faith and politics. they go hand in hand in some places. did that translate into votes in south carolina? we'll tell you, next. ♪

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welcome back. it's 30 minutes past the hour. now it's time to check top stories. in a stunning comeback, newt gingrich easily won south carolina's primary with about 40% of the vote. he topped mitt romney's 28% second place finish. third, rick santorum. gingrich is now eyeing florida's primary, and he says he can win there, too. several websites erroneously reported last night former penn state coach joe paterno had died and are apologizing. paterno is in serious condition at a pennsylvania hospital. he's suffering from lung cancer and a broken pelvis. an italian cruise have now resumed search and rescue efforts on the partially submerged cruise ship. divers had to stop overnight because the ship shifted again. the death toll is now at 12 and 20 people remain missing. crews are also preparing to

offload 2,400 tons of fuel to prevent an environmental disaster. we've now had three different winners in the first three contests for the republican nomination. joining me now from florida is patricia murphy. she's the founder and editor of "citizen jane politics" and also contributor to "the daily beast." thanks for joining us. what's the first thought that comes to your mind when you look at these results in south carolina? >> the first thought you have is what a huge win for newt gingrich. just a week ago, he was down about ten points in the poll. he won by 12 points. this huge 22-point swing. nobody really expected him to win by that much. but he just kept getting stronger and stronger all week. and the other thing you have to think about, especially if you're a mitt romney, is who it was who was voting for newt gingrich. people who said the economy was most important to them voted for newt gingrich. people who said electability was

most important also voted for newt gingrich. newt gingrich dominated this state, won almost every county. the most decisive win i think he could have put up. >> it really was something else and stunning because last weekend when we were talking, we would not have expected this. especially by the huge amount that he won by. i want you to listen to what -- something that newt gingrich said last night. what sounds kind about rick santorum. listen. >> rick santorum showed enormous courage in iowa when he had no money, nobody covered him, and he just kept campaigning. and here's a guy who articulates the values of social conservatism, who articulates the importance of manufacturing and who may have been as right about the dangers of iran as anybody in this country in the last ten years. >> patricia, that sounds like to me that what newt gingrich would like most out of what he said is for rick santorum to say, you know what? i quit. and i'm endorsing you, newt gingrich. thanks for saying such nice

things about me. is that why newt gingrich said what he said? >> he was a lot less subtle last week when he said rick santorum needs to get out of this race. last night he sure did change his tune. not only is he trying to win over rick santorum, he's trying to win over evangelicals that support rick santorum. he wants those voters to start to think, am i really wasting my vote by voting for rick santorum or should i go behind a conservative like gingrich? that's is the message he's sending to those voters by just putting his arms around santorum last night and giving him the big hug. >> yes. that was a figurative putting his arms around him, that's for sure. now for equal time, let's hear for a second, patricia, from rick santorum. >> this is a long race. and this is one of the things that i think people have to understand. as a result of what happened here tonight, this race isn't going to be over next week or the week after. this race is going to be -- is going to be a long one and it's going to be the best thing that can happen for whoever the

eventual republican nominee is. >> so, patricia, is it really going to be good for the eventual nominee like santorum says? >> you know, it really depends on who the nominee is going to be. the reason rick santorum believes that time is on his side is that he believes -- it's something a lot of republicans believe but just aren't saying as clearly as rick santorum, he believes newt gingrich is going to have a meltdown. he believes newt gingrich is going to implode. the more time this goes on, rick santorum believes he can still be there, he can still be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. but, you know, you start to reach diminishing returns if you're in the republican party leadership, you want this to go on. you want your candidates to get stronger. you want them to hone their messages for the general election. but you don't want them to kill themselves or the party in the process. time can be the best thing they've got going for them and eventually the worst thing they've got going for them. >> how much do you think mitt romney is scrambling right now? i know he and his people really expected to win in south carolina and in a best case scenario hoped the race would be

over. is he scrambling? >> he is scrambling. you can see it. you can see it really in the last two days before the election. he started to take a much tougher tone with newt gingrich. he had been pretty hands off with newt gingrich. but people in south carolina are saying, you need to go on the offense. you need to start attacking gingrich. he has as a rule neblts. why aren't you going after them? he really started to do that in the last couple of days. people, you know, the conventional wisdom is that florida looks really good for mitt romney because he has so much money and that nevada looks really good for him because there's a large mormon population there. but look at what those states did in 2010? they picked republican nominees, somebody like marco rubio way outside the establishment. they were tea party candidates. so you have to be worried if you're mitt romney going into these next places. he's strong on paper. he's got a lot of money. but he's looking at a very unsettled republican base that wants a lot of change and they've met mitt romney before and rejected him once before. i think he's absolutely scrambling. he needs to tighten it up and needs to get a lot more focused on his issues, more focused on

his tax answers going into the debate, which he's got another debate tomorrow night. we know he needs to put up a great performance. >> patricia, speaking of florida, i said at the beginning that you were in florida. i believe you're still in south carolina, correct? >> i believe i'm still in south carolina. i'm starting to lose track. >> unless florida is the next south carolina. that would be the next big story. i really want to get my geography very accurate. i really enjoyed talking to you today, patricia. thank you so much for your analysis. >> thanks, gary. coming up in about 23 minutes, the top of the hour on "state of the union with candy crowley," newt gingrich and rick santorum. candy will get gingrich and santorum's reaction to south carolina. looking next to the next south carolina -- just kidding, florida. is there a two-man race between newt gingrich and mitt romney? that coming up at 9:00 eastern

time. i want to show you one of our exit polls from last night's south carolina primary. it's so interesting. these are voters who said that the religious beliefs of the candidates matter a great deal. you can see that the two men battling for the christian conservative vote came out as the favorites among those voters. not so much for mitt romney. he surely wants that vote, but it's gingrich and santorum who've campaigned the most for that vote. we open our mikes to hear what those voters were saying about faith and politics. >> i'm a christian. and i think that our government was founded on christian values. i mean, my preacher said to pray for obama. i've prayed for the government. and i -- i have a hard time praying for you, because you're not a christian. it's apparent in everything you do. >> well, i believe in god very

much. and i believe that's what our country's lacking to start off with. i pray for the right leadership. i pray that we keep -- quit borrowing so much money and start paying our debts. >> the most important issue is what america does with god. we may fix the economy in the short term, but unless america turns back to god, our economy repairs will be wasted. >> i think faith and politics is something that used to be huge, but it's just not anymore. some schools are taking the pledge of allegiance out, not praying, taking the word "god" out from the pledge. i think that religion should be a big thing, but it's just not anymore. >> a person's faith or belief in a god or divine entity is not a big issue for me from the standpoint of who i would support. i think they all need to try to compromise a little better. >> faith is an important part of my life, but when voting it's

not something that i necessarily focus on as the primary reason for voting for a candidate. i kind of lean more towards moderate candidates. >> joining me now, that's fascinating, cnn.com video producer jared balini. he sets up the mike and he puts together these great pieces for us. jared, were those responses typical for the people you saw there in that part of south carolina? >> it was typical for the people at least in that restaurant. i don't think they necessarily speak for everybody in the town. at this restaurant it's sort of an upscale restaurant for lancaster. i don't know that, you know, everybody's hurting there. but jobs wasn't the only thing on their minds. faith and social issues were important to many of the people we spoke to at charlie's. >> tell us more about that town. >> this town used to have one of the world's largest cotton mills. this is cotton town. the mill is now in brazil. the jobs are gone. and they're really hurting there. we were on main street on a friday afternoon. and i looked left, and i looked

right, and it's empty. the guy who owned the restaurant actually said that the place closes down at 9:00. there's nothing happening in this town. so you can feel there's a little bit of desperation and there's no life. >> is there a difference between the younger people and the older people? >> i was actually surprised. there wasn't that much of a difference. the people that we spoke to, faith was important to everybody. i spoke to a youth pastor who was about my age. he echoed a lot of what the older residents were saying. god is important. faith is important. i also don't want people to think that, you know, that they're not forgiving of other people and that they're very hard on their stances. because they were forgiving of other people and they were accepting. >> that's an important part of their faith. >> it is an important part of their faith. i would encourage viewers to go to cnn.com and check out an article about the town. it gives a much deeper understanding of the people who live there. >> that's jared bellini from cnn.com. how did the people of lancaster vote? you may be curious.

it's not a big sur prize. they went for newt gingrich, 43%. santorum, 23%. mitt romney, 22%. a 2 to 1 margin newt gingrich won that county. for more on issues of faith, go to our belief blog at cnn.com/belief. you can also share your thoughts. after newt gingrich's big win in south carolina, mitt romney is likely to be thinking his campaign strategy. our candy crowley dives right into that, next. this is an rc robotic claw.

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the gop candidates are gearing up for the next big face-off which will be in florida. that primary is a week from this tuesday, january 31st. first they'll all be at the cnn debate in jacksonville, florida, this thursday night. you can watch it live right here on cnn beginning at 8:00 eastern time. "state of the union" with candy crowley is coming up at the top of the program. newt gingrich is on the program today. after newt gingrich's win in south carolina you can bet mitt romney is rethinking his strategy. instead of focusing on president obama romney must win his party's nomination first, of course. here's how candy broke it down last night at romney's headquarters. >> so they have sort of a

two-pronged approach here as they move into florida. and that was pretty evident when mitt romney came out here to thank the people of south carolina. take a listen. >> in recent weeks, the choice within our party has also come into star focus. president obama has no experience running a business and no experience running a state. our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never run a state. [ applause ] >> so, obviously, probably with a name attached, you are going to see mitt romney going after newt gingrich. it's what you do when someone -- to try to kind of slow that momentum. they went for a quick change of scenery here even before mitt romney came out here tonight to say thank you. his supporters here were shouting, florida, florida. they do have high hopes in the campaign for the outcome in florida. they keep talking about this is going to be a big week. mitt romney will come out in

advance of the president's state of the union speech tuesday night. tuesday morning mitt romney will give what was billed to me as a major speech on the economy and differentiating himself not just from the president, but from newt gingrich as well. he will give a similar speech the next day after the president's state of the union address. they point out that mitt romney has lots of resources. that means money. that he has a lot of staff on the ground. and he has the wherewithal to go the long haul. so you are going to see him playing the kind of hardball that he started to play here tonight, and you will also hear them talk a lot about how they are going to be in state after state after state collecting delegates. because, after all, we tend to forget as we think, oh, maybe it's going to be wrapped up in south carolina or maybe it'll wrap up in florida, this is, after all, a state by state battle for delegates. >> delegates are the name of the game. we told you candy will have newt gingrich today. also rick santorum. she'll get their reaction to south carolina and look ahead to

florida. "state of the union" airs at the top of the hour 12 minutes from now. president obama thrilling the crowd at the legendary apollo theater in new york city. ♪ i >> now somebody else is speaking out about the president's musical skills. and says it could help him win the election in november. find out who, next. [ female announcer ] goodnight gluttony,

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while the republican presidential hopefuls were on the trail in south carolina this week, president barack obama was at the legendary apollo theater in harlem for a fundraising event. and the commander in chief became the crooner in chief. listen. >> and then to know that reverend al green was here. ♪ i so in love with you >> civil rights activist al sharpton is a big fan of the president's singing. he says it humanizes mr. obama to voters. and he had some advice about newt gingrich, too. >> i thought the president has skills. he showed real skills. he sung an almost perfect falsetto. the fact that he was able to do

it and no one say stick to your day job means he's a winner. but i got a little recommendation for him. >> yeah? >> if newt gingrich wins, he needs to get gladys knight to get out and sing midnight train to georgia to newt. >> maybe bring the pips along. al green was in the audience for president obama's tuneful tribute to him. he reportedly says the president nailed it. and that his songing was terrific. high praise from a man who sang "let's stay together." inside the numbers game in south carolina. what groups really pushed newt gingrich to his big win? we'll find out next.

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it's time to check top stories. former penn state football coach joe paterno is in serious condition at a pennsylvania hospital. he's been suffering from lung cancer, and a family spokesman says he's had further health complications in recent days. several websites that erroneo erroneously reported last night paterno had died are apologi apologizing. divers are resuming a search. the partially submerged ship shifted again. there are 12 people confirmed dead. 20 still remain missing. after making a stunning comeback in south carolina, newt gingrich is setting his sights on the sunshine state of florida and says he thinks he can win there, too. the republican presidential hopeful easily topped mitt romney in south carolina's primary. the winner of the south carolina primary has gone on to win the republican nomination in every election since 1980. so what fueled newt gingrich's strong showing in south carolina? there were actually many factors

across a wide range of voters. our wolf blitzer and john king break down the exit poll. >> we're studying all these numbers, john. we're learning a lot about what happened in south carolina and what it means down the road. >> that's right. we're trying to look at the south carolina exit polls and the results and project forward, what does newt gingrich have to gain? what should he be focusing on? mostly what does mitt romney have to worry about. when gingrich is winning so big, you know he's winning across. huge support among tea party. a lot of tea party in florida. governor romney needs to fix this number. has to close that gap. that's one lesson there. evangelical v evangelical christians not as big a factor. 64% in south carolina. smaller number in florida. in the panhandle those voters matter. romney would like to improve that number in florida if he wants to be competitive. wolf, here's what i think are the biggest game changers tonight. reinforced not just by south carolina results. you can say this is a more conservative electrate. if you listen to undecided

voters with tom foreman, who has the right experience? 49% of south carolina voters said newt gingrich has the right experience. mitt romney has been saying you want a governor, not a guy who's been in congress. someone with business experience, not somebody who spent their life in washington. newt gingrich has convinced at least south carolina republicans he has the right experience to be president by the commanding margin over mitt romney. this is a big gap. a 14-point gap. these are the only two candidates. if you see santorum and paul, these are the only two candidates a large number of republicans think. this has been an entire underpinning of the romney campaign. you might not love me, but i can beat barack obama. if this psychology of the race that newt gingrich can beat barack obama and newt gingrich has a right experience, if that carries over into florida, mitt romney has a problem. >> those electability questions, that's going to be key presumably in florida in ten

days. >> he has to change that and change it fast. >> wolf and john, thank you very much. meteorologist reynolds wolf joins us now for our last look at the morning's weather. how is it looking for the football games? how is it looking for the rest of the weekend. >> all things considered football games might be a little damp, especially on the west coast. the big trouble we're going to have is the game we'll see weatherwise across parts of the mid-mississippi valley and deep south. a moderate risk for severe thunderstorms. isolated tornadoes especially this afternoon, late tonight and tomorrow morning. primary concern places like jackson, mississippi into spots like memphis. maybe little rock before the day is out. a lot of this will be driving towards the east. certainly a big area of concern for us. quickly what we can expect as you mentioned scattered showers along parts of the deep south. of course, we have the severe weather threat. also look for some snow developing in the western great lakes. partly cloudy to mostly cloudy into the northeast and scattered showers for the big game tonight. two big games. the one on the west c