rick santorum is already campaigning in missouri and tells us where he sees a chance to get back in the chase. and technology is changing. how candidates are raising money straight from your smartphone. we begin with the countdown to florida. most polling stations open in 13 hours. there's one important wildcard. florida allows early voting. as of this morning, some 600,000 ballots already have been cast. tonight the polls say it's a two-man race, newt gingrich trying to close a significant gap. through a last day of campaigning, neither candidate let up on his opponent. >> i know the speaker's not real happy. speaker gingrich is not feeling very excited these days. i know, it's sad. he's been flailing around a bit and you just watch it and shake your head. it's been kind of painfully revealing to watch, but i think the reason he isn't doing so well is because of those last

two debates. don't you think? >> for his part, speaker gingrich equated romney with president obama calling them the two twins of the establishment and accused romney of running a big lie campaign. >> we can't beat the money power romney himself. we can't beat the dishonest of his campaign by ourselves. we need witness who are prepared to go out and prepared to stand for conservatism and prepared to tell the truth and we need to run a big truth campaign that beats the big lie campaign. >> jim acosta is following the romney campaign. let's take a peek and share the video of mitt romney joking with reporters on the campaign flight this morning, throwing bags of chips around, carrying a birthday cake. the images of a confident man. what are his people saying he needs to do as we show the pictures now? can't hear his voice. i don't know if he can carry a tune or not. they're clearly confident. what do they need to accomplish tomorrow, how big a victory? >> reporter: you know, john, i

think if they got a double digit victory, they would be able to say back to newt, you got a double digit win in south carolina. now we have one here in florida. i think there is an air of conferred inside the romney campaign right now. mitt romney said at an event he's starting to feel like he may win this state. it was a pretty optimistic tone. no question, this has become a very ugh will i campaign when mitt romney was asked earlier today what do you think about newt gingrich's vow to fight all the way to the convention he said that's what losing candidates say. of course, you heard what newt gingrich had to say earlier today talking about the big lie of the romney campaign. we're getting to the two ls in politics, losers and liars you know it's gotten to an ugly tone. >> in part because of all the negative advertising. governor romney has used pretty tough ads to protect that lead about his career in congress and the ethics violation.

if he gets the win tomorrow, will they stick with what's working as you go forward? >> i think stick with what's working. eric was talking to reporters to reporters, senior adviser with the romney campaign. he said no way we're going into cruise control right now. they feel the strategy they've adopted in florida has worked for them. it has been a scorched earth campaign. the advertising has been heavily negative towards newt gingrich due to the kinds of the ads that romney super pack used to run. now the campaign is running those ads. listen to the rhetoric from the candidates out on the campaign trail. mitt romney again going after newt gingrich's ties to freddie mac. they feel like because of gingrich's ties to the mortgage giant in a state where the foreclosure crisis was very difficult for the people here, all of those things together has been a recipe for success, john. >> jim acosta on the final night of campaigning in florida. the latest polls in florida show a wide geep between romney and

gingrich. romney ahead 43% to 29%. paul and santorum both trailing at 11%. what you get on election night can be very different things. our chief political analyst gloria borg ser with us. let's look closely at the quinnipiac poll. some polls have romney up , some as much as 16. so he's up. if you look closely here among women, romney 44%, gingrich 28%. so one of the reasons governor romney is winning is a gender gap. >> right, you know, if you talk to people in the romney campaign, they'll say to you it took awhile for sort of the marianne gingrich charges to come into view for women and that by the time he got to florida, they're actually starting to think about it. also, generally newt gingrich has gender gap issues, always has has a politician. he's kind of bellicose. sometimes women don't like that, and romney, by the way, has always been popular with women. but he's also doing well with

men in this poll. that's very good news for him. >> we'll see if this holds up tomorrow. we'll see if he keeps his lead and how people vote. among self-described conservatives, a group where romney was thumped in south carolina, in this q poll, romney 40, gingrich 31. if he can win among self-defined conservatives -- >> anoth question we'll be looking for. is it because they like him because they believe he's electable or shares their ideology? there's a real tug of war going on in the republican party right now. do you want to vote your pure politics or do you want to be a little bit more pragmatic? what we might be seeing in these numbers is a little bit of pragmatism. newt is going around the state calling romney a liberal. >> and dirty word in republican politics. we'll see if it holds up. money matters in politics. this is the biggest state so far. tv and radio money to a lesser degree. romney's campaign and row-romney

super pac spending $5.38 million. that's as of this morning. there's more tonight obviously. pro-gingrich is, the pac that supports him, $1.8 million. so more than two to one there. >> right, absolutely more than two to one. some say it will go as high as four to one. there's another number that struck me. one is that mitt romney has so far run about 13,000 television ads compared to 200 for newt gingrich. >> why did gingrich not compete? he came out of south carolina with momentum. you would think you'd make an investment. >> well, the super pacs are actually spending all their money but a, it takes time to produce the ads and get on the air. they're spending an awful lot of money on radio also which is a cheaper way of getting out your message. when you look at those numbers, it's a big problem for newt gingrich. >> and not spending quickly out of south carolina would cost him

in the state of florida. >> planning, that takes organization and planning. >> be sure to tune in tomorrow night. our coverage will begin this hour, 6:00 eastern with a special edition of john king usa. moving overseas, secretary of state hillary clinton condemned the latest increase in violence against anti-government demonstrators in syria. one group reporting at least 100 deaths today. the demonstrations have spread to damascus. some protesters recently allowed arwa damon in. >> material hidden in a safehouse along with tiny printed leaflets ready to be scattered. demonstrators move in groups of two or three to avoid attracting attention. at the signal, the street erupts into activity. everyone has a duty. the leaflets rain down like confetti. every night they do this. their numbers are small.

their determination is not. >> about ten minutes after that started, syrian forces moved in. arwa made it out safely. tyke me back to that demonstration. you're in the middle of. what was that experience like? >> it's very intense because su realize all that is at stake and the fact that these demonstrators and a lot of them are fairly young, 15 to 30 years old risk their lives every time they go out. there is so much planning that goes into those ten minutes they have where they chant their lungs out and then them have to flee. but they say these small acts of defiance are critical because at the end of the day, it has been these types of street demonstrations, this type of relentless pressure by these activists that has been the driving force of this syrian uprising. and they realize just how critical of a role they're playing. >> and arwa, the fighting is now in the damascus suburbs. what does ta say for president

assad's grip on power? >> you know, john, we were in the damascus suburbs on friday, and it was quite startling because we drove in there not knowing what to expect. the first checkpoint we came across, about a minute off of the main highway was a free syrian army checkpoint. and back then, on friday, there were a number of neighborhoods in the suburbs that were not under the full control of the syrian authorities. we then saul this massive offensive that took place over the weekend. but some of these clashes, john, were taking place are a 15-minute drive from the heart of the capital itself. so it most certainly seems as if the free syrian army is gaining more ground. the syrian government slowly, ever so slowly beginning to lose control. but now area hearing that the syrian military has moved in and re-establish the its own authority. most certainly this could perhaps begin to sig fal a slight shift in dynamics on the

ground. >> fascinating reporting. arwa damon from beirut. thank you. rick santorum says his 3-year-old daughter is recovering now after a rough couple days. he joins us next to talk about her health scare and about his plans for florida and beyond. ? honey nut cheerios. so, how much do we owe you? that'll be... $973.42. you know, your rates and fees aren't exactly competitive. who do you think i am, quicken loans? [ spokesman ] when you refinance your mortgage with quicken loans, you'll find that our rates and fees are extremely competitive. because the last thing you want is to spend too much on your mortgage.

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in florida. the one-time republican senator from pennsylvania spent the weekend at the bedside of his 3-year-old daughter bella who was hospitalized are pneumonia. she's doing better and he headed today to missouri which holds the primary a week from now on february 7th. we spoke a little bit ago. thanks for being with us today. let me start by asking you how your daughter is doing. she was in intensive care. she's doing better? >> she's doing much better, thank you so much. if n fact, she had a very tough friday and saturday. i feel very, very blessed. i haven't been home since christmas day and the one day i was home, actually to get my taxes so we could kern those in turned out to be a day i needed to be home. she went through a very, very

tough time. yesterday afternoon, she really rallied and she's doing much better. and we feel things are good and that i can get back out on the road and that karen and the kids can now take it from here. i just want to thank you and everybody else for their prayers during this time. it meant the world to us. it helped bella a lot. >> we'll continue to pray for bella. you mentioned you went home to get your taxes. when will we see them? >> i've got four yes that we're putting together. i just want to make sure i've got all the right papers in place and i'm not missing something from my return. i want to have someone take a look before i release them. i haven't had a chance to do that yet. i just got out of the hospital with my daughter. give me a little bit of time so you don't say the you didn't release this form, we'll be okay. >> pressing news of the day. violence escalating in syria. the blood shed and killing in syria. would a president santorum on this day do anything different than president obama is doing?

>> this is a regime that is a puppet state of iran and is one that has to go in my opinion if we're going to see peace in the middle. so i would have been much more proactive in supporting the insurgency and would be doing all i can again not militarily but behind the scenes in supporting in any way possible the pro democracy movement taking place in syria today. >> it is the final day of campaigning in florida. and yet, you are in missouri. i understand why, governor romney has a big lead. speaker gingrich is behind him. you're trying to save resources. when you look at the calendar, do you say i have to have a victory in the early weeks of february or sometime in the month of february to go on? how do you assess viability? >> well, i look at it this way. this is a long process. this race isn't going to be over anytime soon. we've got good poll numbers in missouri that shows basically a three-way race between governor romney is, speaker gingrich and

myself. we're going to go to minnesota. polls show us in a competitive position there. and off to colorado and nevada, the next four states, one on saturday and the other three on tuesday a week from tomorrow. and we're just showing, this is a national campaign. we have resources deployed here. we're going to be spending money in all these states and we're hiring staff and have, in fact, hired staff in some of the other states coming up on super tuesday. this is a race that we believe will come to us at some point. and we'll be able to take advantage of it when it does. >> i want to listen to something you said on a conference call with supporters last night. speaker gingrich is making the case, don't elect a massachusetts moderate. you sound pretty similar in this remark. let's listen. >> that's one of the mistakes that republicans make when they look at independent voters. oh, we have to have someone more moderate. independents may be moderate, but moderates by definition

aren't driven by issues. they are driven by other things and vin feet in both camps. >> so you're making the case the republicans should turn conservati conservative. do you believe romney can win a general election? >> i'm hopeful that any of the republicans left can win a general election. i'll support whoever that nominee is and will work tirelessly because we have to defeat president obama. my point is that the idea that we need to elect a moderate in order to get moderate votes is simply a fallacy. john mccain would be president, bob dole would have been president. we need to elect someone who's a principled conservative that can motivate conservatives and republicans. i went on to say that in many cases moderate voters tend to vote for the person they believe has the qualities and characteristics of the leader that can govern this country and bring america together. i think on that score, we score very, very highly. i think even the polls are now suggesting that on that front,

we present the best opportunity for us to get those voters. >> senator santorum, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you very much. appreciate the opportunity. thanks again for the prayers. >> take care. still ahead, a new report says $2 billion are missing from the iraq war. but whose money just might surprise you. [ female announcer ] in the grip of arthritis, back, or back joint pain?

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welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the news you need to know right now. >> left me once again, john.

fine, i'll wait till you come home. all right. good evening, everyone. let's get you caught up on other news. president obama's just wrapping up a bit of hi-tech campaigning. he's been answering questions in a google plus hangout. kind of a hi-tech chat room where some questions were submitted through youtube and others came via live video. meanwhile, tech crunch reports the obama campaign has adopted another bit of technology called square which allows people to make donations directly to the campaign via and roid devices i phones and ipads. times are changing. a new report says billions of dollars are missing from the iraq war but here's the interesting twist. this time it's money the iraqis gave to the u.s. department of defense to cover reconstruction expenses. the iraqi inspector general's report says the pentagon can't find the correct records. but they are continuing to look. and officials at new york state's highly exclusive vasser college blame what they call a computing error for a mistake that caused 76 applicants to

think they had been offered admission to the school when they had not been actually admitted. the website error was corrected in about a half hour and the unlucky 76 got an e-mail apologizing, but they still do not get in, john. i can only imagine what those families were feeling like after getting that apology. >> oh, boy. not happy. and then some. >> and then some. >> family friendly program. we'll leave it right there. kate, we will see you in a few minutes. still ahead, the truthing about newt gingrich's promise to stay in the race till the republican convention. and later, fred thompson who is worried he says about some of mitt romney's campaign tactics. >> we've got members of congress going around to gingrich rallies and causing disruption and stuff. just while stuff. and so, you got to be concerned about the turnout and whether conservatives can come back together again.

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the truth about newt gingrich's promise to stay in the race till the summer's convention and what it might cost the republican party. former presidential candidate fred thompson is worried about republican unity and blames mitt romney's campaign tactics. he joins us live to explain. plus an update for one of the mississippi's pardons killers. he finally turned up a very long way from home.

this week, members of congress might do something to improve their image. the senate just voted overwhelmingly to consider a bill that would prevent members of congress from buying and selling stocks and other securities based on their access to special information. give credit to the program "60 minutes" for breathing new life into a once languishing piece of legislation. dana bash is with us. how is this not illegal already? >> it seems amazing, doesn't it in this is an issue that some lawmakers say is a gray area in the law. it is already the law that insider trading is illegal. but some are looking at it and saying well, it is really hard the way the law is written now for members of congress and aides to actually be prosecuted for it. so what this explicitly says is that lawmakers and their aides cannot use information they get just doing their job representing the people to stuff their personal bank accounts. effectively, they can't use their public position for

private gain. and given congress's dismal approval ratings, this is a no-brainer for members to vote for. in fact, there was just a procedural vote a few minutes ago and it was 93-2 that passed the senate. >> well, let's take a specific look so viewers know exactly what's in it. any member of congress or their staffer must report stock transactions in 30 days, make sure laws apply to members of congress. okay. and bars the use of nonpublic information for personal gain. as i mentioned at the top, this has been languishing for some time. president obama during the state of the union getting an earful from republican senator scott brown of massachusetts. >> my insider trading bill is on harry's desk right now. >> i'm going to tell him to get it done. how is your daughter? >> doing great. >> how is your daughter? >> doing great. >> harry is harry reid, senate majority leader. did it take a nudge from the president or is this about to move anyway?

>> it was about to move anyway. it is political gold for scott brown to have it out there looking like he's pushing the president. he is in a tight race with somebody who is a bit known for consumer advocacy, elizabeth warren in massachusetts. that is one example of the politics of this. the fact of the matter is as you said, it has been around for years and years. it had a handful of cosponsors. there's a stampede to support this here in congress because of the fact that people sort of the politics of the moment is to clean up washington. so it's very hard for members of congress to avoid this especially after that 60 minutes report you just talked about. there are a couple senators who said i don't buy this. one is tom coburn of oklahoma. he said this is simply just politics. the fact that members and aides have to report every 30 days he said is just not workable. privately a lot of people agree with that. >> dana bash, thank you. we'll watch this one play out. tomorrow's presidential primary

in florida is not only the first republican caucus in a big state, but here to help us break things down is the former executive director of the christian coalition. back at the map. iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. let's move onto the state of florida. i want to bring up some demographics. tea party strength, that's what you see here. the darker the county area, the stronger tea party. big impact, not so much? >> it's going to have a big impact. the challenge newt gingrich is going to have tomorrow is that this vote is not breaking as heavily his way as it did in south carolina. if you look at the tea party vote in south carolina, it broke two to one his way. it's also not as conservative. in iowa, which is a caucus state, 3% of all caucus attenders said they were conservative. in south carolina that, number was 70%. tomorrow in florida, it's going to be about 60%. >> you think about 60%?

>> yeah, maybe mid 60s, but not nearly as conservative. in terms of the evangelical vote. >> we'll up where you find them in the state. >> this is the bible belt of florida, so to speak. it bleeds down from south georgia and south alabama. down here, of course, you have miami-dade and broward. this is a real strong hold for romney. southwest will be a real strong hold. this is naples, collier county, fourth myers, lee county. newt's going to do well in tampa st. pete, very well with evangelicals. if you look at the evangelical vote in south carolina, it broke 45-22 newt's way. right now in the quinnipiac and maris poll, it's basically a three-way tie. all. >> has newt done something wrong or is it the more moderate electorate. >> it's a diverse and different electorate. south carolina is overwhelmingly

southern baptist. this mass more main line and latino evangelicals. >> the darker the orange, the higher the population. more democratic except for cuban-americans down here. >> you'll have a very strong puerto rican contingent in central florida, orlando, osceola county and those environs. that's a big strong element. here again, half of all florida hispanics are non-cuban. that's very different than the miami i grew up in the 1970s. even though newt has tried to play that card and tried to say that romney was anti-immigrant and newt has taken a more, we might say centrist position on immigration, it hasn't really caused this vote to break heavily his way. >> i want to clear the map and ask you one more question. i talked about this with gloria borger a bit earlier. candidate visits. they've been all around the place. why, why, why, why, why -- this

is not even the latest information. we have later information. this is just from the other day. why are we not seeing more gingrich ad spending? >> well, you only had ten days. and romney was ready and he threw everything in the kiln sink. the total amount, john, and we're still calculating the totals. it looks to be about $17 million for romney to about $4 million for newt all in on tv and radio. and this is a state, it doesn't matter how many airplanes you charter, it doesn't matter how many bus tours you go to, this is a big state. it's 67 counties. it's nine medium markets. there's only one way to win florida and that's on tv and radio. in addition to that, and this is a story that hasn't been extensively reported, the romney campaign has the best effort where they've id every one of their voters and they're contacting them by mail and phone and getting them to vote early. through yesterday, you already

had a half a million early votes. >> 600,000 as of this morning. the old fashioned way, god forbid. ralph, thanks, appreciate it. >> you bet you. >> nrg says he's staying in the race till the summer's convention. former senator fred thompson knows how the early primaries can whittle down the candidates. this time around, senator thompson is trying to help newt gingrich keep his campaign alive. we spoke a bit earlier. senator thompson was in washington. thanks for your time today. what happened to your friend, speaker gingrich? he came out of south carolina with a head of steam. he comes down to florida, depending on which poll you believe, he's down anywhere from 8 to maybe 16 points on the final day of campaigning. what happened. >> some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you in this business. after florida's over with, there have been 5% of the delegates won. i said 10 yesterday but it's actually five. so that gives you some idea where we are in the process.

i think newt will do better than what people think. i think that when you look at the national picture that shows him still leading romney in a couple of polls including a gallup poll and you look at the fact that in south carolina he was down double digits a few days before the election, you know this is a develop develop fluid situation. anything less than a double digit win for romney after outspending gingrich 6 or 7 to 1 when everything is counted would be a big, big disappointment for them i think. >> that's good for you to set the expectations there. i'll remember that one tomorrow night. look, you're an accomplished politician and also an accomplished actor. when you look at gingrich on the stump this week, what's he doing wrong? >> well, i haven't seen him on the stump this week. i've been reading what he said. i've been watching clips. i'm not sure he's doing anything wrong. in fact, he's drawing the biggest political crowds that i have ever seen. i mean, outside of presidential

race general election. so i'm not sure he's doing anything wrong. in fact, it's kind of a weird feeling. some people down there you know, say these crowds just don't match-up with what some of the people say is going to happen. so you know, we won't have long to wait to seep. >> part of those crowds could be part of an interesting dynamic in the race. i'm interested in your thoughts on it because you've been through this rodeo. some people say the longer the battle, whether gingrich wins in the end or romney wins at the end, the better candidate you get. there are others who say if it's governor romney, he may have to worry just because of a disconnect with the tea party evangelical grass-roots of the party. how do you see it? >> yeah, well, i think both of those things if i remember correctly, both of those things are accurate. i think that whoever comes out of it will be sharper. they're not going to say anything about each other that the democrats haven't already thought about. they're all getting better as the debates go on.

so i subscribe to that. if i was romney's campaign, i'd be a little bit concerned. i mean, they have engaged in one of the roughest campaigns i've ever seen in florida. everybody knows when mitt gets in trouble, he calls in the money bomb and they outspent gingrich 2 to 1 in south carolina. it didn't work. now it's 5 to 1 on television and 6 or 7 to 1 overall. the same thing that bothers me frankly, and i've seen a lot. what he continues to see thay t gingrich was run out of congress in disgrace. he knows that's not true. it bothers me, and i think he ought to be concerned about a lot of tea partiers out there and a lot of conservatives out there just don't like the way that he and the establishment are piling on. >> you ran back in 2008. i spent some time tracking your

campaign. every candidate gets in to win and every candidate thinks it's just around the corner to turn it around. when newt says he'll go all the way to the convention, is that feasible? >> no, i think he can go all the way. i think that, of course, after florida, there's a patch there when it's probably advantageous to romney, but then there's a patch when it's very advantageous to gingrich. and most of these contests will be proportional. so gingrich will be winning delegates all along the way. and as i say, only 5% tonight will have been won. so the you know, you'll never be able to battle gingrich, i mean battle romney's money, but as you get into something like super tuesday, even romney can't spend all that much money like what he's done in florida and iowa. and south carolina.

and those states simultaneously. so it will level the playing field somewhat. >> senator fred thompson, appreciate your time tonight, sir. >> thank you. gingrich says he's in the race for the long haul. next, the truth whether he's getting in the way of the republican party's plan. and the latest attempt to locate a convicted murder who was part of the pardons made by haley barbour. nsfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

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no one has ever accused newt gingrich of lacking confidence in himself. >> when we win on tuesday, i will become the republican nominee. and then we will defeat obama. thank you very, very much. >> but he isn't expected to win florida. that's tuesday. and so, there's a plan b. >> i will go all the way to the convention. i expect to win the nomination. you just had two national polls that show me ahead. >> the current issue of "the new yorker" suggests president obama would like nothing more than a protracted republican nomination battle believing he would be the ultimate winner. here's tonight's truth. there's no guarantee of that. in fact, being tested sometimes makes for a stronger candidate as then senator obama himself learned in the democratic race back in 2008. in fact, many republicans look now and see a scrappyer more effective romney in recent days.

a lesson learned from the thumping gingrich gave him in south carolina. truth is, there are deeper fissures in the republican party. so it's an open real question about whether the battle harms the nominee or steals him for the fall showdown. is the establishment is for romney and hoping florida is the launch for the win streak that takes the air out of a gingrich of a long delegate war. count many tea party leaders in this group. sarah palin, too. they are for whatever the establishment is against. and they see southern primaries in march as reason enough for gingrich to strap in for the long haul. if there's one lesson we should all follow it is this. don't make predictions. romney was inevitable. then he wasn't. the gingrich candidacy was dead and then it wasn't. voters will decide this. the question is, then what. former senator fred thompson is a newt guy. he predicts very hard feelings

if romney is the ultimate nominee. >> you got to be concerned about the turnout and whether conservatives can come back together again. >> would they? that's a question for another day. if and only if governor romney puts a win streak together but truth is, the tone of the campaign is getting rather personal and that does matter now. the more bad blood now, the more wounds to heal later. here to discuss florida and the road beyond, ralph reed is back with us, plus jenny beth martin and eric eriksson -- a cnn contributor. eric, willet me start with you. it is personal. you have governor romney almost taunting speaker gingrich for the debates last week. you're in touch with the base. is it bad blood or is this just standard fare? >> there is bad blood. this is something even 2008, there was blad bad blood in 2008 but it healed quickly.

people began to quickly move towards john mccain after south carolina. it's not happening for mitt romney. a lot of debates, you talk to activists whether a few weeks ago or some of the tea party meetings more recently, formula one expect them to build bridges back to them. they'll be surprised if he does, but none of them expect it. >> right now, mitt romney is talking about your issues. we had a florida town hall last night with tea party people. he said he wants to cut the current level, all the candidates did and he said he would repeal the government controlled health care. as long as he sticks to that, the country is in good shape. >> he's trying at least right now. >> he seems to be. he's been in both of our town halls for the candidates. >> ralph, i want to show the cover of "the new yorker" of president obama watching a football game as you see the battle between gingrich and romney here. this is the new yorker cover. but at the white house, should they be so happy at a protracted

battle or should obama think of his own experience? >> i wouldn't be happy if i were them. you alluded to the battle between obama and hillary clinton, two really just incredible stars in the democratic firmament, like two prizefighters in the middle of the ring just going at it for 12 rounds. no question about it. obama was a tougher, a better and a more disciplined candidate in the general because of her. the other thing john is, we've all seen this movie before. this is a recurrent drama within the republican party that goes all the way back to the eisenhower-taft battle in '52. it reaches a crescendo with goldwaterer, rockefeller and replayed again with reagan and forward in '76. they go all the way to the convention. the fact is, there's nothing but good out of a muscular competitive hard fought primary as long as you can reconcile at the convention.

>> that's a fascinating point. first listen to speaker gingrich complaining about why is he not doing better after the big south carolina win. >> nothing like $17.5 million of false ads to make a big difference. we did fine you know, you guys have counted me out three times so far this year. we'll do fine. romney managed to run more falsehoods. the debate's a good example. the reason i seemed flat in the second debate in florida is i have never seen a candidate for president that meth oddcally dishonest. >> so he's complaining about ad spending and there has been more against him than for him. he's complaining about the debate. he says governor romney was dishonest. to ralph's point, eric about this is what is primaries are about, especially for a party out of power. is it the conservative movement, is it more in the middle. is it about something or about two guys that don't like each other. >> it's about a republican base sitting back saying we're talking about mitt and newt not ironically as the potential

nominee and people aren't excited about those. you've got these underlying people aren't excited about either one, both of them trying toone. both try iing to get them excit about them and they don't particularly like each other either. he's outspending newt gingrich significantly in florida. south carolina was the first time any of the non romneys were moving into smaller markets after florida, so newt could have a comeback. >> our political reporter just sent a note. the gingrich campaign suggesting they'll cede nevada and michigan to romney. minnesota comes up in that. is there a place for newt in the next few weeks or is this more try not to get slaughtered and get to super tuesday? >> he's doing what hillary clinton had to do in '08. what she found out was that it was too little too late. in the case of reagan in '76, he

made his stand in north carolina. that gave him enough momentum to keep going. this is a very hard fought debate over principle, over issues like obamacare and whether or not romneycare resembled it. whether or not romney has a vision for the country. he'll not only be a better candidate, he'll be more wetted to the base and i am cautiously optimistic regardless of what ends up being the nominee. you've got to remember what's behind door number two. barack obama. that is going to cover a multitude of sins within the republican party. >> 2 million less republicans turns out for john mccain in 2008 and a lot of the strategists think it was the bitter primary season. >> if you have some saying romney's reaching out, burning bridges, i'm saying if.

this has been a crazy year. but if he is, do you sense you'll have to be on the phone and people like you around the country will be on the phone saying remember the alternative? >> no, i think we'll be reminding america of what we've had over the last four years and what is the direction for our country? it's not about a single person. it's about what direction our country is going in. the longer the primary goes out, the longer these candidates will do what we've been saying. that's a win for our country. >> first, we find out in florida, if the polls matter. florida sometimes surprises us. thank you. erin burnett coming up at the top of the hour. tomorrow, the florida primary, the attacks continue. what are you working on tonight? >> we're look aing at the super pacs. that means we're going to find out who are the million dollar donors to mitt romney.

we have not seen these numbers since last summer. we're going to find out new names. one thing we will not see is sheldon adelson's name. we're going to get to the bottom of these numbers. we found some pretty interesting donors, plus, the man proposing the buffett law in the senate. back to you. >> see you in a few minutes. still ahead here, newt gingrich wants to build a permanent colony on the moon and his dream is fully realized. the price tag is huge. plus, here on earth, we'll tell you which former president's house is on sale. it's on the 13th hole of the famous thunder bird country club. [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac

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kate balden's back. >> joseph osman, a convicted murderer pardoned this month, has been found in wyoming. that announcement came today from mississippi attorney general jim hood. he was served papers at a hotel in laramie, wyoming. the question is, what happens next. the late president gerald ford's california home is up for sale. it's 6,300 square feet.

has five bedrooms, bathrooms and a lap pool. it's on the 13th fairway of the famous thunder bird country club. almost 1$1.7 million. and newt gingrich has repeatedly defended his goal to establish a permanent lunar colony on the moon by the end of his second term of president if elected. so, how much would it cost? our colleagues at cnn money found out. the cost to set up and man a colony on the moon would amount between 250 and $550 billion, john. he took a little heat on that very topic at our latest debate. >> that's a lot of cash. he loves the space program. like him or not, he's always been big fan of the program. but the tea party didn't like that. don't go anywhere. finally tonight's moment you most likely missed unless you

happened to be online for president obama's hangout on google plus this evening. something asked what's the toughest thing about being president. going stir crazy in the white house. >> if i decide i just want to go to the corner store, i've got to alert secret service and the ambulance has to get in place and you know, crossing a bridge, suddenly, there's got to be sot boats in the water. at a certain point, you just say forget it. >> you know, michelle obama snuck out once or twice. hillary clinton used to sneak out. why can't a president put a cap on and go to the mall? >> i've heard him say that before. haven't you? he's talked about that before. isn't that a missed opportunity? one of the things would come to mind, hardest thing, oh, i don't know, finding osama bin laden. all the other things he's been doing. >> they all, the bubble they call it. their life