tonight, gop death match. mitt romney says he's in it to win it. >> we're counting up the delegates for the convention. it looks good. we're counting down the days until november and that looks even better. >> rick santorum says he won't drop out. >> we're in this race to stay. >> what will it take for someone to nail this down? i'll ask campaign insiders how far they'll go to get the nomination. also a woman who knows exactly how tough it is to run for the white house. >> anything and everything can happen in a political race. having been there ourselves, don't count anybody out until the race is over. >> cindy mccain, her take on the race and her life outside of politics and a hot new movie "game change." only in america. nap time for newt gingrich. the long cam has taken its toll. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. the big story tonight why can't the gop make up its mind? mitt romney won the key state of ohio last night but barely. he took the top spot in the

total of six super tuesday states but he's quite a long way from sewing up the nomination. he put a positive spin as you would expect on this endless road to the nomination race on cnbc this morning. >> i was pleased with our success last night. obviously we have a very strong lead in delegates and very strong lead in terms of the number of people that voted for our campaign. we've organized a very effective team. >> joining me now is a top member of mitt romney's effective team. his press secretary. andrea, welcome. >> thank you for having me. >> by any normal yardstick, you've won six out of the ten states on super tuesday. you've got more delegates than the other three candidates put together. and yet you're still waking up to headlines going he's not really the front runner yet. he hasn't got it in the bag. are you a bit mystified that people aren't galvanized yet into mitt romney being the nominee?

>> we're focused on getting the delegates we need to get the nomination. governor romney had great night last night. as you said, he won six of the super tuesday states. last time senator mccain won 40% of the super tuesday states so to win 60% of them last night was a tremendous feat and we're walking away with over 50% of the delegates last night which is the true prize in this battle for delegates. if you look at the long fight ahead -- >> senator santorum will have to win 65% of the remaining delegates and speaker gingrich will need to win 70% of the remaining delegates. so far they've only won about 22%. it doesn't look like that's the trajectory they can change at that point.

>> you can see this dragging on for quite a while, several months. is that really helpful to either mitt romney or to the party itself. >> we always knew that this would be a long fight. the good thing is as we go to these states and you look, governor romney has won from maine to florida to alaska, literally every corner of the united states. and so as we go to these different states we're building organizations, we're reaching voters, we're being able to spread governor romney's message of getting americans back to work and as you see when you look at the exit polls from ohio, for example, people that think that the most important factor is the economy and budget and deficit, governor romney is the overwhelming pick for those people and voters that want obama out of the white house, he's the overwhelming pick for them. this is all just part of the process and the longer that governor romney is out there on the trail, he'll be talking about his message and why he's

the best candidate to beat president obama. he has been doing that and he'll continue to do that until november. >> it seems like one of his big problems is getting to that real kind of hardcore conservative voter if you like. the southern states, the rural voters, the evangelicals, what's he going to do about that? he's not really seen as a true conservative in the conventional sense which may not be what he needs to be when he takes on barack obama so again it's an interesting positioning time for you, isn't it? how far do you take on rick santorum in that kind of territory? >> well, at first we challenge the statement that he's not a true conservative. if you look again at where we've won voters, governor romney won among tea party voters. he's won among catholics. there are many factions to the republican party. when you look at some of the places he's won, it's the states we need to win in november and i think that we're going to win those rural areas.

we're going to consolidate the base. i'm not worried about winning in georgia in november. but governor romney can win in michigan and ohio and other important states that it will take to unseat president obama. >> the governor said last night, an interesting speech he made. he indicated he learned from mistakes. learned his lesson. what do you think the main things are he's learned so far on this campaign trail? >> getting his message out is the most important thing. he likes town halls where he can take questions from voters and explain his actual record. there's a misconception since he's from massachusetts, a blue state, that he's not conservative which is completely untrue. if you look at what he did, he balanced the budget. he took a budget deficit and turned it into a surplus without raising taxes. he came down on the side of life. he cracked down on illegal immigration. so these are all conservative values that he's out on the trail talking about and most importantly talking about his 25

years as a conservative businessman and entrepreneur and what he learned in the real world economy that can translate in washington and shake things up because he's made payroll, he's hired people. so he understands what it is going to take to get americans back to work. >> final question, andrea. do you think it's time that one of the contestants, maybe more than one, consider whether to pull out? >> you know, that's going to be up to all of the individual campaigns and i'll let their campaigns decide that. at some point you are going to see the only odds that are increasing as this goes on are for president obama. while we have a clear path to the nomination, and we're excited about the momentum that we're gaining, i think the other candidates are going to have to realistically evaluate if they have a path. >> i hope we can talk again soon. >> thanks so much.

>> the competition is taking is the victoies with a gain of salt. this is rick santorum having fun at the front runner's expense today. >> we've proven we can win out west, upper midwest, the heartland, the south and of course the areas of my own home state. mitt romney has about four or five home states. i guess it comes with certain privileges. >> joining me now is rick santorum's senior campaign adviser. a little bit of humor there i like to see creeping in. >> you sound surprised. rick santorum can be very funny when he wants to be. >> that's the least surprising aspects of the whole thing and also i think one of his key assault weapons against mitt romney is that again you see the humorous personal side of your man. he is a guy that is resonating i would say very well with the core voters. that's a problem for mitt

romney. >> i think what you're seeing is a great american story. you have somebody, mitt romney, supported by wall street, supported by washington lobbyists spending more money than anybody thought possible in a presidential campaign. you've got rick santorum who doesn't have that type of money. blue collar roots and so forth. and in state after state, rick santorum is beating or right there with mitt romney. i think that's a great story to tell that you can be a good messenger and have a good message in this country and not just lose because somebody else has more money than you. >> it's a classic david and goliath story. how are you going to go from this position right now where you are way behind on delegates, how are you actually going to win this? >> there's a couple things that romney people for some reason always seem to fail to tell anybody and that is that many delegates that are already there are not binding delegates. so for example, if you are a conservative who supported newt gingrich and you're a delegate,

in the end if you want, you can move that to rick santorum. but i will say this. what is critical is we're seeing that mitt romney cannot get over 40% in any state. that means even despite all of the money he's spending, the vast majority, 60% or more of our party do not want him as the nominee. what's happening is the tea party vote and the conservative vote have too many places they're going. i think we reached a point that rick santorum has proven particularly last night with three big wins and some photo finishes that he is the true conservative that can beat mitt romney and it's time for conservatives and tea party supporters to unite. if not, a minority part of the republican party particularly the moderate part of the republican party is going to pick the nominee and when that typically happens for republicans, we lose in november. >> what some conseratives are saying if newt gingrich was to step down and put your support behind your guy, that could be a serious threat to mitt romney

and could end up with rick santorum winning the nomination. is that a likely scenario? could you see newt gingrich doing that? >> newt gingrich is going to have to do what newt gingrich has to do. it's not for us to tell any candidate what to do. however, there's a lot of committed conservatives and tea party supporters out there that do not want mitt romney. they want to make sure that someone who shares their values and if they are serious about doing that, they need to ignite behind somebody. rick santorum has had six wins and photo finishes he could have beat mitt romney with. in the last six weeks, newt gingrich other than doing good in his only state, the next best he had was second to last in those states. rick santorum has a right to do this. he's earned. newt gingrich did not make it on the ballot in missouri. rick santorum up against mitt romney. rick santorum won by 30 points and won every county in missouri when that happened. >> finally, john, can we assume we will not see rick santorum uttering the word snob in regard

to college education and will resist from saying john f. kennedy made him throw up. >> this the first campaign in history of presidential politics in recent history that we don't have a pollsters and wordsmiths telling the candidate what to do. you will have words you wish you could pull back after you said it. if you have a genuine candidate not being told what to say but speaking from his heart, people see that genuine nature. it's endearing over time and people see he's a real candidate and not somebody with a pollster telling him what to say. >> i'll look for rick santorum talking from his heart to me tomorrow night. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you for having me. a pleasure being here with you. >> always for me as well. thank you very much. coming up a woman who knows more than most about battles and bruises of a campaign trail. cindy mccain.

sorry. sore knee. blast of cold feels nice. why don't you use bengay zero degrees? it's the one you store in the freezer. gives that instant cold sensation. that's chilly. same medicated pain reliever used by physical therapists. and it lasts for hours. [ sigh of relief ] [ short breath ] [ longer breath ] [ short breath ] [ male announcer ] new bengay zero degrees. freeze and move on. in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600.

how's that for common sense? fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less. okay is there a woman i can talk to? we want to protect the house. right. but... home security systems can be really expensive. so to save money, we actually just adopted a rescue panther. i think i'm goin-... shhh! we find that we don't need to sleep that much. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more.

>> sooner or later, assad will fall. i don't disagree with that. meantime, he's gaining momentum,

he's regained homs, the death count goes up and the atrocities continue and yet the president says a core national security interest of the united states is a prevention of mass atrocities. mass atrocities are going on. i would hope that america could lead and exercise the options necessary to stop these atrocities. >> testy exchanges with use of force in syria between senator john mccain and defense secretary leon panetta. senator mccain is calling for u.s. air strikes. what does his wife, cindy mccain, make of her husband's tough talk. you two often disagree, which i like. it's refreshing. >> nobody in our family agrees on anything. it's great. >> just like my family. air strikes on syria. i like that he's calling for action because at the moment there seems to be a general -- not ampthy but they don't say anything about ssi about syria.

you have been to rwanda and there's a growing sense of that in syria. >> is it humanitarian? how should we do this? it's always a humanitarian crisis when civilians are being killed, slaughtered, the way they are there. i agree with my husband on this. i think it's the right tenor and way to go about this. the one thing we have to remember with my husband is that he has experience in this arena. he's been there. like all of us, who like you said i was in rwanda during the genocide and watched what happened when we stood by and did nothing. we can't do that. we simply can't do that in this case. i completely agree with my husband. >> i watched "game change" this morning, which i know you will be dying to see like a lot of people.

it's a fascinating film. i really enjoyed it. a few things struck me. one was that the portrayal of sarah palin is harsh. i don't think she's as slow perhaps as they portray in the film. you don't get to be where she is by being slow as that. there's a vulnerability to her which is touching and you feel sorry for her. most glaring of all is portrayal of your husband because he comes over as -- well, he has a lot of bad language, which i think we wouldn't contest in the movie. let's move on from that to a very considerate side to him and caring side and the fact that he is a maverick. he's a risk taker. he took this huge gamble with sarah palin. it didn't work out. at the end there's a moving scene where he gives her a hug and thanks her and everything else. what was your memory of the whole process? >> first of all, let me say, i'm not going to see "game change." i lived this.

from everything i've read and heard, it doesn't even resemble what took place. i go to disneyland for fiction. secondly, i will say ed harris is not nearly as cute as my husband. but with that said, sarah palin is a remarkable individual and whether you agree or disagree with sarah palin, she's served our country loyally. i think any depiction of any woman particularly that's unfair in that way is just wrong. it's wrong. >> i think she's incredibly impressive character. whether you agree with what she says or not, i think the passion she brings to the political world, i think the energy, the enthusiasm and the courage that she had to have. it was a brutal rip of a woman in the end. a lot of her views are contentious. i don't subscribe to a lot of them. what comes out of the movie is how brutal modern day politics is particularly for women i

think. >> particularly for conservative women. if you will notice on the other side of the aisle, the harshness was not there. there was a female candidate on the other side of the aisle. i think what happened to her was totally unfair. with that said, i think she does have a group of people that follow her. they are loyal to this country and to what they do. i'm truly sorry if they depicted her in any fashion other than a strong independent woman. >> speaking of strong, independent women, mitt romney's wife, ann, is an old friend of yours. you better than anyone in the world know what she's going through now. what's it like at this stage of a long, bruising battle? what goes through the mind of a wife in this situation? >> it's day by day. with the 24-hour news cycle the way it is now, you're forced into a situation where you have to be absolutely on tap every

minute of the day. so not only do i understand how tiring this is for them but also how fun it can be. nowhere else do you get to be a legitimate contender for the highest office in the land and -- >> the prize is so great. >> it is great. and that's the beauty of this country is that we can rise from this and run for president. like my husband said, he was sixth from bottom of the class at naval academy and look what he got to do. >> amazing story. huge admirer of your husband. a classic american dream story himself. >> let me say about ann though. ann is a good friend of mine. i find her to be not only strong but well spoken. very genuine, loving and very, very courageous in terms of what she's had to overcome to get here. >> she sat where you did with mitt romney. i interviewed them a while ago. she struck me as a real lioness. you mess with her family or her

husband, she will hunt you down. >> i join her on that one. i will find you. >> reminded me of you. i imagine you get protective of your family. >> you're protective any way. placed in a situation where on an hourly basis they are criticizing somebody in your family, it's hard. it's hard because she's in the same position i was. i couldn't respond all of the time. it wasn't appropriate. it wasn't -- although i maybe would have liked to pluck someone's eyes out, i couldn't do it. it wasn't feasible. i admire her and i know that when i do talk to her and i do talk to her quite often, just juan day at a time we'll get through this. >> i was listening to john talking about maybe it is time for some of the other candidates to step aside, let mitt romney seek the nomination. you have supported mitt romney. do you think it's time that one or two candidates pulled out? >> let's step back just a little bit.

this political season is far different from '08 in this. at our convention, we rewarded states for pushing primaries further out. we had 22 on super tuesday. they had ten. this by nature and by devise is going to be a longer season for this. with that said, it will come down to money. those with romney being in the lead and i truly believe he's going to be our nominee, he'll have most of the money and it does take money. >> let's take a break and come back and talk about two people in the news this week for very different reasons. i think you'll have a strong view about both. kirk cameron and joseph coney. >> okay. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

that can help lower cholesterol? montgomery and abigail higgins had... ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but with their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

>> our political and religious leaders say they have no future. >> they can't get married. >> they can't donate our blood. >> they can't serve our country openly. >> cindy mccain taking on a big social issue of the day. gay rights, guy marriage. it all blue up on this show last friday with kirk cameron and comments he made. it's fast moving it seems to me. eight states now legalizing gay marriage. a real sea change in public opinion. and yet you can't leave behind respect for people's religious beliefs guide them in a certain way of thinking and have done so

for thousands of years. it's a difficult, tricky movement that's going on, i think. >> it's also a lesson in tolerance. what you are finding now are people like you just said, maybe not agreeing but realizing that this is the right thing to do for people. i got into this issue because of adoption. it was -- it seemed ludicrous to me that a gay couple could adopt and couldn't be married. i approached it differently than other people. i found that it was time. it was time. >> did you think he was being bigoted, kurt cameron? is it too harsh to say that? >> he has his views and his beliefs. i respect that. i strongly disagree with him. it's wonderful that we can agree to disagree and not go to jail. >> i felt strongly he should have his rights and opinions. what i don't like is the rhetoric he used against the gay community. whatever you believe about gay marriage, just don't use the

abusive rhetoric which dehumanizes. i find it ridiculous. >> abusive rhetoric with the gay issue, with regards to women that just occurred this week. >> what did you think of rush limbaugh's comments? >> i strongly disagree. i was horribly offended. >> thank goodness someone on the republican party said this. >> he does not speak for the republican party. let me say that. that's not what we believe. >> that's the sense that came through. no one would criticize rush limbaugh because he runs the party. >> he does not run the party. he does not run the party. he's an entertainer. he said that and obviously it's had a huge backlash. whether or not -- i know he sent an apology up. i think he was forced to. >> is it enough? should he stand down? should he be forced out?

should someone like him be on air after saying something so offensive? >> yes. with that, i think bill mawr with things he said, somehow the republican side of it gets all of the coverage. >> we got criticized a bit. why did you make a fuss about rush limbaugh when you didn't about bill mahr. i would have taken him to task over what he said. no one should talk about women in that way on the airwaves. >> not only full stop but how can you as a country be the beacon of hope and light around the world if we cannot respect our own. it starts, in my opinion, it starts at least in my house at home. i think my husband and i have done a good job on teaching tolerance to our children and they live it. i think that's -- whether you agree or disagree on the issue,

we can all be tolerant. >> another big issue blew up today on the internet involving joseph kony. you have done good work in the congo. it was extraordinary to me to see twitter, facebook, social networking deciding we're going to get this guy. >> wonderful. finally. i mean, obviously those of us that have been involved in this issue for so long, this guy is -- he's a criminal. he's the worst kind of human being. and finally we're getting the kind of coverage we need on this. he not only with the child soldier issue but two out of every three women in congo have been raped. >> shocking. >> it's directly related to this guy. i am so glad that this issue is taking off. >> is social media at its best.

it brought the world together today. this guy was getting hammered all around the world. most people were doing it had never heard of him. who is joseph kony? if anyone hasn't seen the video, just google joseph kony. look at it on youtube and watch this video they've done. kony 2012. you can find it. it's incredibly powerful. half hour long of your life but you won't regret watching it. >> remarkable. >> you have done this land mind campaign. tell me about it quickly. >> i started to watch in land mines experiencing it in the this video they've done. kony 2012. you can find it. it's incredibly powerful. half hour long of your life but you won't regret watching it. >> remarkable. >> you have done this land mind campaign. tell me about it quickly. >> i started to watch in land mines experiencing it in the first gulf war in kuwait. the iraqis had mined the playgrounds. we treated the children who were blown up by sitting on the teeter-totters.

a never ending job. such a beacon for us. >> she was an amazing woman. finally, i must clear something up. you clarified why you looked surprised in game change they have your husband swearing like a trooper. you say he doesn't use bad language at home. >> i'm really surprised with that. my kids are far worse at that than he is. we have a problem with that at home. >> at home the senator is well spoken. >> yes, he is. he gets after our kids. >> excellent. i'm glad we cleared that up. it's been a pleasure to meet you. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> thank you very much. keep up the good work that you do. cindy mccain. the video getting a lot of attention outside of the other one i just mentioned is a young barack obama at a protest rally at harvard. we'll show you what the fuss is about when we come back.

[ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check.

joining me now to talk politics, our political panel. welcome to you all. i want to start with a story getting a lot of attention tonight.

a tape of a young barack obama speaking at a harvard protest rally in 1991 demanding diversity at the law school. let's take a listen to what all of the fuss is. >> one of the persons that spoke at that orientation was professor bell. i remember him sauntering up to the front and not giving us a lecture but engaging us in a conversation and speaking the truth and telling us that he learned at this place that i carried with me ever since. >> tell me about the significance of this video clip of barack obama. it's all been built up for a long time. >> both of us did this video. it's an interesting video.

an incident that we have known about but video is revealing. it's a moment of obama soundsin exactly like himself while taking sides in this divisive fight at harvard. very much standing with professor bell who was very much on the left of that argument. >> you have an opinion about this. what do you think of this video clip? >> well, it's a very interesting video clip. i wish that buzz feed -- i don't know whether it was something they did or when they went to the boston network to license this footage, whether or not it was edited by buzzfeed or by the boston network, i wish they would have showed the actual full video footage because at the very end one of the things that ben smith does not get into at buzzfeed and was provoked into looking for this footage, what it doesn't get into is how barack obama when he finished his speech he went over and he hugged derrick bell.

derrick bell sounds as though everything that he stands for is a great thing and fights for civil rights and fighting for diverity at the college campus but this shows the president is aligning himself with a well known campus radical. derrick bell wrote this essay called space traders. it was based on his thought that civil rights movement was moderate and didn't go far enough. he thought what would happen if aliens came to the united states and they offered to absolve of our national debt if we sold them black americans as jews stood by and for selling them black americans as slaves they would give us gold and we would pay off our national debt and reagan was depicted as a slave trader, it sounds polarizing with me. >> what i would say to that is this is 17 years ago. he wasn't president at the time. he's a young -- like many students probably trying out all

sorts of radical thoughts and ideas and harvard is known like many universities for coming up with all sorts of crack pot hypotheticals. that's the point of harvard. why are we all making such a fuss about barack obama getting radical in college? who cares. >> law school. law school. >> law school, college, university, it's all the same thing. >> if i may jump in here, i was radical in college. i went to princeton. i was a vegetarian and animal rights activist. >> shameful. >> today i eat as much prime rib as i possibly can. >> you shameless hypocrite. >> in looking at this video, it's not an indictment of president obama because we really don't know enough about his transformation from then to now. what it is is an indictment of the media. why are we seeing in 2012? >> it's an indictment of ben. >> i agree with dana. we dug it up.

we were racing to get it up. when my reporter andrew had been digging for it and talking to the station in boston that had it, when we heard they were also looking for it, we moved faster. i think it's an interesting video for exactly the reason that dana says. >> i have to correct quick. we actually have had the footage the entire time. >> why didn't you air it? >> well, why didn't you show the full clip is what i'm curious about. >> i have to jump in here to be the voice of reason. >> let's leave squabbling to one side. you both got involved in this grubby process. let's turn to carol. what do you make of this? is it a valid thing to whack the president with or is it a lot of hot air about nothing, do you think? >> i am worried about it becoming a distraction. i don't think we need to become cher and turn back time because president obama has enough of a track record in the present that already indicts him so to speak.

we have 13 million people unemployed. millions more underemployed. people under water on their mortgages. a bunch of people whose net worth has gone down because neighbors are underwater on mortgages. the price of gas is going up. we have plenty of things to focus on. i just don't want this to become a distraction. his current track record speaks volumes and that's what we should stay focused on. >> americans are interested in where this guy comes from. it's a legitimate thing. it's remarkable this wasn't out before. i do think it's totally legitimate. >> i agree it's remarkable it has come out. it is interesting. it's not as explosive as we have been led to leave for a long period of time. it's not nearly as important -- carol is right. it's another one of those weird issues at the moment like the social issue debates and so on. contraception, gay marriage and so on. i suspect most americans right now are listening to these debates thinking what about jobs? that's what i care about.

>> i would agree with that and in terms of its impact on this election, it will confirm to people who are opposed to president obama that he's a left wing radical. he was a socialist in college. for those looking at the election with a broader perspective in terms of their choices, it's not going to weigh in. >> let's take a break and come back and see what it says for the mitt romney situation and is he going to be the front runner that wins the nomination? looks likely. will this help him? does it matter? who will win the election. let's discuss that after the break. i love chevy truck month. does feel good selling the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickups on the road. yeah, sure, what you said, tim. man: [ thinking ] just look at the chrome on that custom sport. makes you feel all good inside, doesn't it? mm. [ male announcer ] it's chevy truck month. now get 0% financing for 72 months

when you purchase a 2012 chevy silverado custom sport. plus trade in your eligible vehicle to get a total value of $6,000. we have to thank you for the advice on phillips' caplets. magnesium, right? you bet! phillips' caplets use magnesium. works more naturally than stimulant laxatives... for gentle relief of occasional constipation. can i get an autograph? [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories.

at meineke i have options... >> for this administration, the my money. my choice. my meineke. >> for this administration, the unemployment number is just another inconvenient statistic standing in the way of a second term but those numbers are more than data on a spreadsheet. they are worried families and anxious faces and tonight i would like to say to each of them, you are not forgotten. we will not leave you behind. our campaign is on the move and real change is finally on the way.

>> super tuesday where he won six out of ten primaries with a commanding lead in the delegate count too but will it hold and will he win? back with our panel now. let's start with you carol as you were last last time. what do you make of super tuesday? odd that a guy can win six out of ten primaries and be so far ahead on delegates that you can add all of the competitors together and he still dwarfs them and we're agonizing over whether he will win the mination. it would seem from it would seem from an outsider that romney will walk with this. >> it's not a question of if, it's a question of when, piers. that's the critical question. if you go down and do the math, most contests are proportional states so i think that mitt romney will keep limping around and keep picking up delegates and eventually he'll get to that magic number, but i think the thing that we need to be focused on is when does this happen? if this happens in june or july, it's perfect in terms of

momentum for him to start going after barack obama. if this goes on ungust or trousegh time to really focus on barack oba, get the money together, get the organization sort of refocused on this one-on-one race. >> that's a good point. that's a good point on timing. it's all about timing in modern day politics. they have to get this right, the republican party. they've got to work out the moment when they are going to press the button on the nominee, haven't they? >> i don't know if there's the moment. convention, it's been hurting mitt romney. if you look at the polling data, their view of the gop candidates is going down. they would like to have this over as soon as possible. but i would remind viewers that we saw this in the democratic proomary back in 2008, again, with the proportional delegates.

barack obama and hillary clinton vying and vying. neither was going to make it to the delegate count at the convention, someone would have to drop out or the super delegates would have to swoop in. >> the big debate is whether a protracting debates helps someone like mitt romney who hasn't been the best of campaigners. does it toughen him up against a good campaigner in barack obama, or does the constant mudslinger kill the brand? >> i agree with amy, it's doing enormous harm. there's another distraction. this is time he could be raising money, focusing on president obama. instead, he's getting dragged into issues, these women's issues that he doesn't want to talk about. he wants to talk about jobs. he said this is over. it's inevitable, and that's why independents are going to love us. >> the women's issue is something that hurt santorum. and romney got the vote over

santorum. >> the interesting thing about the strategy of the santorum campaign the to hammer the issues well. but you could see when he went too far on the college and snobbery remark, attacking john f. kennedy, if you take it too far, you move from galvanizing the conservative base to alienating quite a few of them. >> true, there's a point in taking certain thins too far, but santorum has spoken at length about his economic plan and foreign policy, but you say one thing about birth control, and he was speaking from a personal perspective. he said it's not something he would support legislation there of, that becomes the headline. and that headline tends to overshadow absolutely everything. it's a fascinaing way that the media plays a part in this. like with the tape, it's about the media, not about the president. i see this happening with a lot of the candidates as well. >> i'm doing to ask each one of

your for a one word answer to the question. which month is the nominee going to be selected? let me start with you, carol? >> july. >> july? okay. amy? >> the month when it is exactly right. >> that's not one. >> one word, okay. one month. may. >> may? dana? >> july. >> lock it up in may, confirm it in june. >> interesting, fascinating to see. my guess is somebody in the next couple weeks may pull out and then it gets interesting, but i don't know much about it. when we come back, only in america. newt on camera, mad, and what he said when he woke up. progresso. it fits!

fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to? [ male announcer ] progresso. 40 soups 100 calories or less.

okay is there a woman i can talk to? whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y.

tonight, only in america, just how exhausting is it being a presidential candidate. debates, press, speeches, rallies, briefing, super pacs, kissing babies. it's a relentless 18 hour day, seven days aweek.

and the republican nomination aren't exactly spring chickens. are the candidates trying to sneak crafty shutti whenever they get a chance. no shame in that. taking ten minute naps in the afternoon. the problem comes if someone has a camera trained on your dozing face as the time, as with newt gingrich who was caught napping this week, and the problem with falling asleep is it makes it harder to remember what on earth you're supposed to be doing. >> i look forward -- the panel, i look forward to sknae questions. >> mr. speaker, there is not a panel. >> that's why he woke with a start to take questions from a panel that sadly didn't exist. it was a moment of awkwardness

for everyone's concern. this is where 40 years of experience kicks in brilliantly and why newt gingrich shouldn't be underestimated, because he did what all politicians do when caught in the headlights. he thought of the first possibly relevant in in his head and pronounced on it with utter conviction. >> we need a fundamental reassessment of our entire understanding of the thread of radical islam. >> semi coma to slamming islam in a matter of seconds. no less than i expect from the comeback kid of american politics. and look on the bright side. at least he didn't doze off to an interview with me. that would be ten times worse and possibly irreparable damage. tomorrow night, excellent talk show host, montel williams on keeping america great. that's all for us tonight.