we will watch tennessee, oklahoma, massachusetts, get ready for this. another win for mitt romney. look at this. his home state of massachusetts, citizen now projects based on the exit polling information, mitt romney, the former governor of massachusetts, wins in massachusetts. massachusetts, 38 delegates at stake. we also project his win in massachusetts, his home state will be larger than newt gingrich's win in georgia. newt gingrich's home state. we are not yet able to make a projection in oklahoma. we are not yet able to make a projection in tennessee, but we can share with you the exit poll information we have on all three of these states. let's start in oklahoma. first, early exit polls in oklahoma, what people told us as they emerged from the polling booths. in oklahoma, a key state on this evening, these are the exit poll results, look at this. 38% for rick santorum, good news

for santorum, 25% for mitt romney, 24% for newt gingrich, 12% in the exit poll for ron paul. let's look at tennessee. these are the exit poll results in tennessee, important numbers, once again, santorum ahead in tennessee with 35%, according to the exit poll, romney, 28%, gingrich, 23%, 11% for ron paul. let's look at massachusetts. we do project romney the winner of his home state of massachusetts. here are the exit poll results. look at this. overwhelmingly voting for romney, 70% according to the massachusetts exit poll for romney, 12% for santorum, 9% for ron paul, only 4% for newt gingrich. let's take a look at the map. the third win so far for mitt romney. we project he wins in massachusetts, we project he wins in virginia and vermont. newt gingrich we projected wins in georgia. ohio, we have not yet been able

to make a projection. romney is winning, let's go to the headquarters and see how the crowd is reacting. we got a picture at romney headquarters. let's take a look and see. maybe they don't know. his margin of victory is very very significant in massachusetts, and he needed to win massachusetts and he won it decisively. the exit poll numbers impressive for romney but santorum is showing strength in those two other states, tennessee and oklahoma which has closed their voting. >> voubl, very important states, particul particularly, tennessee, ohio. as far as you're concerned, ohio the most important? >> ohio is the most important. bellwether state. if you're the republican to win the presidency, you become the nominee, you have to win ohio. it has all kinds of demographics you like to appeal to. >> blue collar voters? >> blue collar voters. >> the problem for romney in ohio is the same problem he's

been having all along in almost every primary except in this south, which is with people who strongly identify with the party, people who self-identify as very conservative and something we're seeing, particularly in the south, is people who believe religion matters a great deal to their vote. we see this in tennessee, see it in oklahoma. >> you're suggesting there's a mormon question? >> i think i'm beginning to see, at least particularly in the south, there really may be a mormon question or -- >> just as there was a catholic question for jack kennedy. >> or santorum appeals to evangelicals and born again because of his positions on the culture issues. i do think religion is something we ought to keep an eye on. >> there's no question the road to the white house goes through ohio. you really have to win there, i think, if you want to get to the white house on either side. if he were able to win -- if

romney were able to win and send a signal he can win in the rust belt. earlier on there seemed to be some indications he had a hard time in the rust belt. if he wins michigan and ohio he has a much more credible claim. >> his critics saying he was out of touch and several people own nascar teams but he's made an effort to appeal to blue collar voters by putting himself in the economy, even if it's not a relatability issue, he's run companies and knows how to create jobs. >> interesting, when candy thought why the romney people thoughthy were doing reasonably well tonight, she didn't talk about this, but i do think and we saw this last week, he's been better as a candidate, more disciplined, hasn't had any gaffes in a couple of weeks now. >> nice. >> you got to have progress where you can find it. i also think he's been doing a better job connect egg. that speech he gave last week, we talked about it afterwards, a

much better speech than he's giving, more effective on the stump. >> he's talking more about the economy, rejiggered his campaign to focus and kind of veered off a bit and now talking about the economy and jobs and the deficit. >> i want to bring in the republic others. do you agree romney is more focused. >> david is right, the speech he gave last week was focused on obama and the kind of thing obama wants to hear. his advertising hasn't been. he's still carpet bombing his opponents. still has to do it and winning tactically day-by-day. ohio republican primary is not primary america. 1% african-american, real ohio, 12. 46% female and 51% in real ohio. 96% white in this primary in ohio, only 81% white in the real ohio. almost twice as many senior

citize citizens. 26% and real ohio, 14%. even if he can win there, it's not represented. the republican parties getting older, whiter and more right wing not a good thing to build a future on. >> your question of connecting with voters, how do you do that? a lot of times we make a mistake in politics, you can connect to tell you they're like voters. you don't do that. the way you connect with voters, you elevate them. you tell them this election is not about you, it's about them and this election in this country's future -- >> are you quoting president barack obama? specifically saying that things speech. >> mitt romney suffers from the same disease barack obama does at times. tell you about them. i'm a businessman. i'm very bright, barack obama and tell us the differences between them. that's not the way you connecticut with voters. you look at a voter and say, look, this corinthians buntry i trouble. it's in your future and your hands and your life.

you have to get lower than the voter in a way. you have to be a servant lead tore connect with people. that's very hard for people who have been ceos. he's a ceo, manager, used to being the guy to push a button and turn a company one way or the other. what does he do? goes to voters and starts talking what he would do opposed to their role and their value in saving a country turning the country around. >> he's doing whatever it takes to win. he has closed a gap with rick santorum by spending millions of dollars in negative advertisement. 80% of ads in restore our future, negative advertisement. the only time he's capturing voters is when he's negative against president obama and -- that's terrible. >> and the republican candidates. >> he's winning by being negative, let's be honest. >> nobody ever ran negative ads

against them. >> people are starting to suffer political amnesia and forget what happened in 2008. in the middle of that election, that was quite divisive. hillary clinton attacked barack obama over ties to slumlord tony rezko and said he wasn't ready for a 3:00 phone call and said shame on you and said he was lying about her health care record. that race got tough. here's what democrats said about it. they will keep pounding there and pounding each other and bloodying each other and no one is winning. that's governor fill bled so of tennessee and dodd said back biting and sniping on an hourly basis is undermining our ability to win an election. >> you don't see this chipping away? >> i think you have to take a broader view at elections. here's what happened today, today's poll. nobody after the democratic primary was over remembered the divisiveness. it was divisive. i think it's equally possible nobody will remember the

divisiveness of the republican race particularly if the polls show it's still relatively close to barack obama as nominee. >> barack obama didn't move an inch to the left to ideologically defeat hillary. >> i think alex is right. >> he did not endorse single y payer heart attack, that that -- payer health care. he did not endorse exxonmobil some people on the right might have liked. watch, the dream act going to the right of rick perry on immigration, going to the right of rick santorum. >> they both have vulnerabilities. both candidates have vulnerabilitie vulnerabilities. >> in his first two years of office and did it regularly. >> the longer we have a party and the longer the democratic party went through the process, we kept picking up people and kept exciting people and doing voter registration campaigns. >> you think republicans are

turning people off? >> look at the latest "wall street journal" poll. most republicans, 4 in 10 unenthusiastic, depressed. >> gallup showed the exact same thing about the democratic primary in 2008. 56-35, democrats said the primary was doing more harm than good in march. in april -- >> that wasn't reality. >> that that's my point. >> it feels worse than it does after it was over. >> turnout wasn't down like in the republican system. >> let's check in with wolf. >> let's look at tennessee and oklahoma first. the votes are starting to come in. we have not made a projection in neither of these states, although santorum according to exit polls is ahead. with 1% of voters in, santorum is showing that lead, 48% to 23% for mitt romney, newt gingrich, 26%, 6% for ron paul. oklahoma, very early. you see only a handful of votes coming in. not able to make a projection in oklahoma or tennessee for that

matter. wait and see. both of the exit polls in both of those states showed santorum i had. let's look at ohio. real votes coming in. several,000 right now. mitt romney maintaining his lead at 40%. 10,578, with rick santorum at 9,770, newt gingrich, ron paul in fourth place. let's go to john king. in this kind of situation, even though our exit poll showed romney slightly ahead of santorum in ohio, we could wait until we actually get a lot more numbers before we can make a projection. >> just get a couple points like that, four points, it's an exit poll and there is a margin of error and you want to catch the votes. >> and now it's romney red and before, santorum purple. now romney red. it's just starting to fill in. 2% of votes officially counted. that's tiny and miniscule.

what i would expect is see if senator santorum can fill in. see the purple here and here. another one comes in, these are small rural counties where you find evangelicals and tea party voters where he's been stronger in other states like this. another key area for senator santorum. blue collar towns. youngstown. slight lead right now, nothing doesn't represent 1% of the votes? . senator santorum needs to do better in this county than that. one of the things you watch for. toledo another to watch in lucas county. largedy democratic area, but in republican primary blue collar votes to go. if you're governor romney and see some red starting to fill in, you're encouraged. upscale voters, tends to do better with higher income voters. in the southwest corner of the state, this is a big republican area, very important in

statewide elections, i will zoom in on hamilton county where senator rob portman is from, mentioned by many as a potential vice president candidate, very organized county and statewide elections they run up the numbers in hamilton county and very driven in a turnout in republican primary in the suburb, governor romney needs to do very well. you look at the votes, we say zero percent of hamilton county, tiny amount of votes, one or two precincts in, that's right now. we could use more votes in hamilton county. >> dan fla bash is over there. are you getting new numbers, dana? >> reporter: i am in hamilton county with the director of the board of elections, amy siearcy. they just finished counting the absentee voters.

what do you have so far? >> it's exciting, a little over 2% in. >> reporter: show us on the screen. mitt romney has a 12 percentage point lead. over 1,000 raw votes in hamilton county with just about 2.2, 4%. >> reporter: not a huge pers percentage. 2.2% is barely anything but gives us an early look how this county is going. as somebody who lives here, you understand how critical it is, john king was talking about how this could determine the whole outcome of the state for this primary. >> hamilton county is a pivotal county in this state of ohio. how hamilton goes is often how the state of ohio goes. we're a typically swing county and swing state. >> reporter: i want to show the numbers. mitt romney has 3,788 votes, rick santorum, 2,763 and newt gingrich and ron paul and on down. there you see at least for the early results, mitt romney is winning. i want to tell you something

interesting how this is going to work. we are currently waiting for 25 trucks to arrive here where we are, in downtown cincinnati and actually, we will hear them pulling up outside this window and probably hear the beep of the trucks soon. those trucks will be delivering all the ballots from around this very important county of hamilton county and once we get some results, we'll get it back to you. >> thanks. we will check in with you periodically to get the latest information of ohio. let's look at tennessee. 5% of the actual vote of tennessee is now in and santorum maintaining his lead, 42% to 31% and 18% for newt gingrich and 7% for ron paul. we have not projected a winner in times squa in tennessee but exit poll showed santorum ahead. we need more numbers to make a projection in tennessee. do we have updated numbers in

oklahoma? still small numbers. 40 delegates at stake, 39 for santorum, 27% for gingrich, 24% for romney, 8% for ron paul. our exit poll numbers showed santorum ahead in oklahoma and we don't have enough information yet to make a projection in oklahoma. we're watching ohio very closely. we have more information coming in from ohio. we'll take a quick break. more from the cnn "election center" after this. ♪

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there are caucuses in election. they don't close for another 3 1/2 hours. but we are up there in wasilla. we heard about it only a few years ago. standing by with a special guests, the former governor of that state. paul, talk to her. >> reporter: i will, wolf. why -- by the way, sarah palin says hello and just voted in wasilla. a lot of people are asking, who did you vote for tonight? who would you like to see emerge as the gop front-runner? >> i will not tell you who i voted for in the preference poll. i want to say hi to vote and thank you for being here in wasilla. every vote counties and every state matters and why i want to see this process continue and more people have a say in who the nominee should be. >> while you won't say who you're leaning for, is there

something you think is extremely important to the gop platform this year you want to see come to fruition? >> yeah. i want to see the process and more debate who it is that can bust through the obama pandering we see and bust through with facts and history and logic and common sense in order for american voters to understand we do have a choice. there is a contrast between the incumbent, barack obama and any of the four on the gop ticket, who best can bust through that rhetoric and express their ideas and solutions to get our economy on the right track, that's the nominee i want to see forerunner. >> reporter: is there any fear if this drags on for a long time, you will sap war chests and cause a situation where the party becomes too divided? >> i am not a believer in that not at this point. i believe the competition makes all our candidates better. remember, there are five men running for president and i think barack obama is the worst choice, is the last choice. so the four in front of him, as

they duke it out in the arena of ideas and solutions to propose, the more of that for better. >> sarah palin for president, 2016, is it possible? >> anything in this life, in this world is possible. anything is possible for an american. and i don't discount any idea or plan that at this point isn't in my control, anything's possible. >> reporter: but would you seriously consider a run? >> i would seriously consider whatever i can do to help our country, to put things back on the right track. our economy, the foreign policy, proposals we have to see put forward in order to secure our homeland, and the americans especially, our brave fighting men and women overseas right now in places perhaps we shouldn't be right now, anything i can do to help, i will be willing to help. >> reporter: this year for you, what's issue number one? >> issue number one is a combination of the economy and the military needs that i,

having a family member in the military, serving in a war zone right now, am intimately aware of. we do have some foreign policy proposals right now the gop is putting forth i believe will help strengthen the military, won't slash the military troops, the benefits they have earned. a lot of military issues are important to me. of course the economy, getting the job market back humming again and we do that by developing resources we have in alaska, oil, natural gas, all those things near and dear to alask alaskan's heart certainly are near and dare to america's heart and getting with the economy and military. >> reporter: onow, to wolf. >> there's a delay, but thank the former governor and political nominee for all of this. i'm curious how she's reacting to this controversy and there

were vial words uttered to sarah palin by liberal democrats and want to know if she wants to weigh in on this controversy. >> reporter: wolf wants to know if you want to weigh in on the transfers and vial words were used towards you and how about the controversy with rush limbaugh? >> i think he hypocrisy for rush limbaugh to have been called out and retract what he used in his first amendment rights and never is the same applied to the leftist radicals that say such horrible things about the handicapped, about women, the defenseless. i think that's the definition of h hypocrisy. that's my two cents worth.

>> reporter: and from john king, we apologize, sarah palin's husband is patiently waiting. >> we thought we would bust through and here you are. >> i would ask the governor about the possibility of an open convention. if there is an open convention and if someone said, i want to place your name in nomination, would she stop them? >> reporter: it's the open convention question, if we wind up with an open convention and someone wants to place your name in the hat, would you stop them? would you be open to that? >> as i say, anything is possible. i don't closeny doors that perhaps would be open out there, so, no, i wouldn't close that door. my plan is to be at that convention. >> reporter: i thank you profusely for stopping. >> you are a lucky dude that i did. thank you. >> reporter: thank you so much. i appreciate todd stopping as well and your family. >> appreciate you. thank you. thank you for being in wasilla.

>> reporter: you're welcome. we're glad to be here. as we said, not just sarah palin, but to expect that as many as 1,000 people will come through here as multiple districts vote in wasilla, alaska, of course, very exciting, a wild card, if you will. they're not really sure how this will go. you've got no political poll. sarah, let me ask you while i'm here, do you feel anybody has an advantage? >> there's a strong libertarian strength and i think ron paul will do well. romney won four years ago the caucus preferential poll. and newt gingrich is spot on with energy development and so important to alaskans and alaskan is a very conservative state so red rick santorum could do very well. kind of, i think, a microcosm of the rest of the country. things are up in the air. we don't know. >> if i might add, here in the valley, they say santorum has been running very well with evangelical christian. >> sir, of which i am one.

all four candidates are great and five men running for president and the four that you just mentioned are better than the incumbent, anybody but obama. >> thank you so much. thank you for taking time out. >> thanks. >> reporter: there you have it, the story from wasilla, wolf, john and the rest of you, back to the studio. >> we'll call him the lucky dude. appreciate it very much. we saw the first dude of alaska there as well. anderson, let's assess what we just heard right now from the former republican vice-presidential nominee. she's not closing any doors. if there's an open convention, 2016, she's got her options all open. >> paul begala, democrat, is smiling like a cheshire cat, thrilled. >> i bet a lot of republicans watched paul's interview with governor palin and said, why can't the boys running do great job and clarity. she did not do a great job in

interviews running with senator mccain. she did a great job there seriously. the knowin notion she's still holding out, if there's a brokered convention, she's still holding out. that may be the biggest news story of the night. >> alex. >> gulp. >> that got his tongue. >> when campaigns aren't about big things, small things become big. mitt romney has not been able to close town this race. what happened because of that? all of a sudden, doors stay open, campaigns stay in, and find funders to keep campaigns alive and sarah palin sticks her foot in the door for the convention saying i will be sitting in the stands in case you need me. she wasn't disavowing any interest in still being the republican nominee tonight. all of this starts with one candidate's inability to grab this election that's laid out in front of him and make it his and that has to be mitt romney. >> can you imagine a scenar

scenario -- >> no. i think the nominee is in the field and probably one of three and one of two and probably one of one. we'll see what the delegate count is. remember, it's not that last long lasting republican primary. huckabee dropped out march 4th 2008, do dole dropped out march 9th in 1988 and not until may against reagan in 19 80 for the other. >> do you think sarah palin has a role in the republican party as a candidate in this future? >> yes, indeed. >> if democrats have their way. >> i agree with former governor sarah palin when she said that, you know, we have so many states to go, so many voters who have not had a chance to take a look at these candidates. mitt romney was out of the race four years ago. is the an opportunity for him to

introduce himself, to continue to connect with those conservative voters. agree with her on that issue. >> sarah palin's negatives. remember where she was a few months ago when this process was starting and we were looking who was going to be in and out. her negatives even among ranges were substantial. she is a very polarizing figure politically on the ballot. she would give barack obama the election he wants,s which an election that's about the republican, not about obama and his economic record. sarah palin, to her credit, saw that and stepped back and realized that -- and very few politicians actually put country before self these days. she did. she stepped back and said, you know what, i can be the power behind the thousand thrones opposed to sitting one. if she rethinks that, we could be back where this whole thing started. i think she'd be polarizing again. >> okay. it's not happening. these candidates are not going to suddenly step out of the way and say, oh, sarah palin, right.

we forget about you. how about coming in and rescuing the republican party? the people who work for these candidates, these candidates themselves have fought a hard race. you don't walk in and rescue the part. it they won't do it for mitch daniels or chris christie. anybody who got in now would probably lose. if you wait until the convention, come on, don't think so. >> i don't think for a second she was seriously thinking she's going to be drafted at the convention. she's very artful and i respect her for it at keeping her name alive. this is about sarah palin ink. you want to keep that stock value very high and she's very good at it. >> do you see down the road a political campaign in her future. >> sure. >> or does sarah palin ink continue on? >> i think sarah palin ink rolls on. >> that's the business of the future. >> you know what, you never kno know. >> you disagree. >> i think she is an incredibly sincere political figure.

she loves her country. she's concerned about it. she steps back. there are other ways to be important in the republican party other than run for president. >> i have no doubt. that was my question. do you see her running for an office. >> anderson, we're having such a hard time predicting what's happening this week and this month, who knows in four years. >> we have six hours. >> considering the volatility of the electorate, she can raise money. she has 100% name recognition and there's a lot of negativity and commands media coverage. >> when is the next time she will be on our air, we have to make the most of it. >> the answer should have been -- >> she is a polarizing figure. as long as she remains that, she'll have the strength to be within the party but -- >> i will be voting for the republican for re-election, right? that would have been the political answer to give, right? >> three states have closed, voting in ohio, tennessee,

oklahoma, we have not yet been able to make projections in those states but we're working really really hard, based on exit poll information we got and the actual votes coming in. we'll see if we can make a projection very soon. stand by for that. we're also waiting to hear from the winner of the georgia primary, newt gingrich, getting ready to speak to his supporters in atlanta. stand by. our coverage continues right after this. [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac borrowed technology from ferrari to develop its suspension system? or what if we told you that ferrari borrowed technology from cadillac to develop its suspension system? magnetic ride control -- pioneered by cadillac,

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newt gingrich speaking to his supporters in atlanta, and he will start receiving secret service protection, just like two others, mitt romney and rick santorum, newt gingrich receiving secret service protection. and the polls are closed but no

projections in two states. 10% in, mitt romney 40% to rick santorum's 37%. mitt romney almost 3300 votes ahead of santorum. newt gingrich, only 14%, ron paul, 7%. it's very very close in ohio, according to the exit polls, we had mitt romney slightly ahead of rick santorum. we're waiting for actual vote count before we can make a projection. in tennessee, 15% in, rick santorum maintaining a significant lead. we have just project ed rick santorum will win. you saw that check go on as i was talking. rick santorum, cnn projects will carry tennessee. you can see based on the exit poll information, actual vote count with 15% of the vote in, rick santorum the pennsylvania

senator will win tennessee, the first win of the night for rick santorum, a very important win to give him a little bit of momentum on this day. peter hamby is on the scene for us in nashville. rick santorum needed a win and got a win in an important state. >> reporter: he really did. this is a state mitt romney hoped he could close with newt gingrich closing down and romney thought they could eke it out. a lot of early votes went santorum's way. we're watching davidson county in nashville, place where romney was supposed to do well. we actually got the news first before they heard it here in the tennessee war room where we are at the country music hall of fame in nashville, by far the coolest primary night location so far. is the a big win for rick santorum. he had to do well here, and oklahoma, the two big delegate

prices. -- prizes. he's won a lot of caucuses but this is a good 2001 have at his belt. >> newt gingrich is getting ready to talk. his supporters all excited he has won the state of georgia. you see him there with his wife, newt gingrich getting ready to speak. maybe calista, his wife will speak first. we'll watch and see what happens, an important win for gingrich, important win in georgia. in tennessee, apparently did not do that well in tennessee. georgia, he wins. let's watch a little bit of this and see what's going on. we'll listen to calista and gingrich. >> thank you for that warm welcome. it's great to be back in atlanta. what an exciting evening. we are so proud of our many volunteers who have worked hard

here and throughout the state of georgia. thank you from the bottom of our hearts. you have made this evening possible and we are very grateful. we have truly enjoyed being back in georgia throughout this campaign and are humbled by your overwhelming support and prayers. thank you. newt and i are engaged in this race because we believe america is at a crossroads and care deeply about the future of our country. there are only a few months left before the most important election in our lifetimes. our only opponent is barack obama. [ applause ] and we are committed to removing him from the white house. [ applause ] >> this campaign is far from over, and tomorrow will bring another chapter in the race for the nomination.

[ applause ] >> newt is the only candidate with the experience and knowledge necessary to rebuild the america we love. [ applause ] >> he has a successful national record of creating jobs, balancing the budget and reforming the government. today, we need a leader with bold solutions to create a better future for all americans. [ applause ]. >> i believe that leader is my husband. [ applause ] >> please welcome former speaker of the house and the next president of the united states, newt gingrich! f [ applause ]

>> newt gingrich newt gingrich newt gingrich newt gingrich newt gingrich newt >> you know, is the amazing. i hope the analysts in washington and new york, who spent june and july explaining

our campaign was dead will watch this tonight and learn a little bit from this crowd and from this place. [ applause ] we survived the national elite's effort to kill us in the summer because of you, because of people who said we are not going to allow the elite to decide who we are allowed to nominate. and so with your help, thousands and thousands of people came to newt.org, and with your help, we survived the two most difficult months of a career which goes back to august of 1958. and june and july were really

hard precisely because the national elite, especially in the republican party, had decided that a gingrich presidency was so frightening they had to kill it early. but you, you wouldn't let them do it. [ applause ] so with your help and the power of large solutions and big idea s, and clear communications in the debate, according to gallup, i was the front-runner by 15 points and according to rasmussen the front-runner by 21 points, because you believed in the power of ideas, you believed people can make a difference, in fact, wall street money can be beaten by main street work. [ applause ]

wall street money decided only a relentlessly negative $5 million campaign in iowa would work and they did reduce my support from 36 to 14% in three weeks of unrelenting negativity. once again, the media said, oh, i guess this is over finally. but you all said, no. at the very depths of the establishment rejecting it, thousands of more people came to newt.org and signed up. >> yes. >> the result was, like south carolina, we won a historic victory and carried 43 out of 46 counties. it was extraordinary. [ applause ] i'm pretty sure that tonight we have a number of the south

carolynians who helped us win who came over to help us celebrate this great victory. at that point, the forces of wall street figured out they were in real trouble. as the "new york times" reported later, they held a meeting on sunday morning after a saturday night primary and said, we have to destroy gingrich. one of them was quoted in the "new york times" as saying, we have to eviscerate him, which i thought was a fairly strong word in a republican primary. i would expect obama's people to do that. i thought it was a tad much having spent my entire career building the republican party. so they piled on $20 million in three weeks of negativity in florida and we were still standing. we carried all of north florida. interestingly, everywhere we were, when we won, the vote went up. when wall street won, the vote went down.

which i think is a pretty bad sign for this fall if we end up with a wall street candidate. at that point, they began to say, well, maybe he's gone. then, frankly, senator santorum did something very clever. he went to three states nobody else was in and he won them. the news media, disappoint to prove gingrich was gone said, now we have the person who will be the non-romney. calista and i looked at each other and jackie and jimmy and kathy and paul and my two debate coaches, maggie and robert -- [ applause ] >> by the way, i would say for the performance they get out of me, the most underpaid debate coaches in america. although they will probably talk to me about that later on. i probably shouldn't have said it. at any event, we looked at each

other and said, you know, remember when it was tim pawlenty who was going to crowd me out and remember then when it was michele bachmann and then it was our good friend, herman cain the first time and then for a brief moment, it was donald trump almost. then it was our good friend, rick perry, then herman cain the second time and now it's santorum. and you just can't quite get across to them, it's all right. there are lots of bunny rabbits that run through. i'm the tortoise, i just take one step at a time. [ applause ] >> i have always tried to be very candid. sometimes it gets me in trouble, on balance, i think it's how i want to live and how i want to do things.

so i said at the very peak of the santorum surge and all this stuff, if i can't carry my home state where people know me, i would have no credibility. and i knew the basic wall street technique, which was to come in and spend lots of -- how many of you have noticed negative ads? sn>> how many have noticed the reagan ad a total lie. that's what we're up against. it's one thing to have lots of money and another to lie with the money. i said, let's go home and i'll test it out. i'll go home. calista and i crisscro-crossed state and kathy and jackie. and i have to say governor deal did a tremendous job and worked very hard. [ applause ] herman cain stepped up to the plate and worked very very hard.

todd palin made phone calls and helped communicate there was a candidate who ought to be helped. in tennessee, fred thompson was tremendously helpful and in oklahoma, j.c. watts was extraordinary. [ applause ] so we basically put people power against money power. the very first race they called tonight, about 15 seconds after the polls closed. [ applause ] >> i'm here first of all, to say thank you to each and every one of you, because you are the reason we survived every effort of the establishment to stop us. [ applause ] >> newt newt newt newt newt newt

newt newt newt newt. >> now, being here, at the waverly brings back many memories. in 1994, this is where we learned that for the first time in 40 years there would be a republican speaker of the house. [ applause ] you know, for that entire campaign, all of the elites thought we were crazy. first of all, we ran a positive campaign. we had a contract with america. they just thought that was weird. why would you go to all that trouble? have all these ideas? we didn't spend our time on lots and lots of negative ads. we spent our time communicating hope to the american people.

the result was the largest one party increase in an off-year in american history because the american people want a chance to have hope again. >> so, as calista said, tomorrow will bring another chapter in the race for the nomination. it's more than a chapter in the race for the nomination. a chapter in a fight for the soul of the republican party, a chapter in the fight for the very nature of america, a chapter defining who we are as a people. let me be very clear. i believe that i am the one candidate who has the ability to debate barack obama decisive ly. [ applause ]

>> do it, do it, do it, do it. [ applause ] >> let me be straight. i don't believe the romney technique of outspending your opponent four or five to one with negative ads will work against barack obama because there is no possibility that any republican is going to out-raise the incumbent president of the united states, therefore you can't follow that strategy. what you have to have is somebody who knows what they believe, understands how to articulate it so it cuts through all the media, offsets the bias of them lit media disappoint to re-elect the president and has the guts to take the president head-on every single time he's wrong.

>> well, we run a very frugal campaign and we couldn't afford one. but i've already promised that if the president will agree to seven three hour debates in the lincoln-douglas tradition, he can use a teleprompter if he wants to. i'll get to that in just a second. but i want you to know that in the morning, we are going on to alaba alabama. we are going on to mississippi. we are going on to kansas.

that's just this week. i was actually in huntsville this afternoon, starting off our alabama effort. i want to say to all of you, any of you who have friends anywhere in the country, if you can e-mail them, paste on facebook something as simple as newt equals $2.50 a gallon gasoline and go to twitter and put in hashtag $2.50 gas. we run a very inexpensive straightforward inexpensive campaign. 29th give you one example how profoundly different we are both from the other candidates and from the president. one that i would love to debate this president about. that's the one that a number of you are holding signs for. i want us to have an american energy policy so no president will ever again but to a saudi

king. [ applause ] >> newt, newt, newt, newt, newt, newt. >> i want you to imagine the debate this fall. the president was right the other day. he's so nervous about gasoline prices and energy, that he's done two major speeches. i thought today, in one of the most shallow and self-serving comments by a president i've heard in a long time, he was candid in his press conference. he said, you know, i'm really worried about higher gas prices because it will make it harder for me to get re-elected. i did not make this up. it was just nice to know that the president once again has managed to take the pain of the

american people and turn it into his own personal problem. the fact is i'd love to debate this president because when you read these speeches, they are so deliciously incoherent, they are the perfect case study of liber liberalism run amuck. the president says, the republicans have three strategies. strategy number one is drilling, strategy number two is drilling, strategy number three is drilli drilling. i want to say to him, mr. president, is the one of the rare occasions when i can say you are right! [ applause ] >> but the president had an alternative to drilling. is the why debating him would be just one of those moments where

you could almost sell tickets for charity. the president said, we have to be practical, drilling won't solve it. and then he offered his practical solution. anybody here remember what it w was? algae. algae. i mean, i think this summer, as gas prices keep going up, one of our campaign techniques, should we have people go to gas stations with a jar of algae and say to people, would you rather have the gingrich solution of drilling and having more oil or would you like to try to put this in your gas tank? i'm amazed that "saturday night live" hasn't taken that speech and turned it into a skit. you can't make this stuff up.

it made it really intellectually totally incoherent, the president, literally two pages after he explains drilling doesn't work, the president explains, we had this great break through in natural gas, that we now have, thanks to new technology, over 100 years supply of natural gas. in fact we're going to create 600,000 new jobs the next decade out of natural gas and i am still waiting for one of the reporters at the white house to come out of their comatose re-elect obama stance and ask the following question, how does the president think we discovered the natural gas? because, of course, the answer is -- >> yelling. >> right? i came up with a specific proposal to make vivid there cod be a better future