-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, everyone. i'm don lemon. breaking news. cnn projects that rick santorum has won the louisiana primary, giving the former pennsylvania senator another win in the south. we're going to go straight to our tom foreman, who has keen insight into louisiana voters. he's been tracking the exit poll data all evening. tom, how can we make this call at closing time for the polls? >> well, you said the exit poll data, don. really that's it. this is a case where all you have to do is the math because it is overwhelming. look at this. the number one issue to all of the voters today was the economy. and not by a little bit. a massive amount. this is just one of the indicators here. look at who voted today. the biggest single group in this was people who made $50,000 to $100,000 a year. but if you look at everybody from $200,000 on down in income,

down here we have $200,000 or more, look at who won in these categories. rick santorum, at least in terms of what we heard from the exit polls, everybody in each of these categories said they wanted him and they're the ones that they voted for. and look at how massively, particularly we look at the numbers down here. in this case santorum, 48%. gingrich got the sikd number. romney comes in here at 22%, tied with gingrich. but still a massive lead for santorum. even bigger when you go down here to the under 30,000. look at that. santorum, 64%. romney tied with ron paul at 12%. the only area in which mitt romney won was in people who made $200,000 or more. and look at this. even in that area he has a substantial lead, but only 45% to 31%. that's simply not enough to overcome what santorum did in all the other categories, especially if you look at the state over here in terms of

median income. i'm going to pull this out. the darker parishes here are the ones where people make more money. and here's the problem. even if mitt romney's winning there, look at the size of these. here's assumption parish. less than half a percent. this is the biggest one. 2.3% of the population. right next to it st. helena parish, less than .2%. you can find another big one. monroe, less than .3%. this is the reason we're able to make this projection, don, but not just this factor but many others. when you lk at the economy alone, you can see the numbers simply stack up very badly in one of the states with the lowest income in the country, you simply can't win by winning the people who make over $200,000. so we'll watch the numbers come in. but the exit polls say this is a big, big win for santorum. >> tom, you're bringing me back to my youth hearing all the names of those parishes as i

grew up in louisiana. >> my time living there, too. we both had a good time. >> absolutely. we'll check back in. tom foreman. and more on rick santorum's big win in louisiana and what that means for a divisive battleground for the republican presidential nomination in just a moment. our joe johns is on the ground there. we'll speak to him. but first we're also following another breaking story here. former vice president dick cheney has undergone heart transplant surgery. mark preston standing by in washington. mark, what do we know right now? >> reporter: well, don, we've been told the former vice president is recovering in a suburban washington, d.c. hospital after undergoing that heart transplant. the former vice president's heart problems have been very well documented and his office says that he has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months. now, right now dick cheney is in intensive care, and his office tells us that we do not know the identity of the donor, but the family will be forever grateful for this life-saving gift. don, vice president cheney, 71 years old. we'll have more on this developing story throughout the night. >> all right.

vice president cheney gets a heart transplant. our breaking news. as well as rick santorum. cnn projects has won the louisiana primary. next, we're going to go to cnn's joe johns, who's standing by on the ground in new orleans. hey, joe. what do you know? you're talking to voters there. you've been hearing from them. what do they make of this? what are they saying? >> reporter: well, we have been talking to voters here in louisiana. actually been here on the ground all week, don. and it's very interesting for a number of reasons. louisiana is one of those many states that just for decades really has not been involved in the republican primary process the way they've been involved this year. so it was sort of a novelty for these four candidates to descend on this state at this time and start asking them for their vote. so we would see events two dozen seats set up or whatever and just a row of tv cameras. very unusual. one of the things that was pretty par for the court with

some of the other primary states, though, was the robocalls, tons and tons of robocalls. we're told most of them that people heard from were actually santorum. possibly one of the most interesting ones was a robocall that was put out there by hank williams on behalf of rick santorum. hank williams being the well-known recording artist. so you look at that. perhaps that was a little bit of an issue. another issue i think here was turnout today across the state of louisiana. there were expectations that turnout would just not be that good. i know at the polling place where we were the turnout certainly wasn't that good. all day long. why? well, for one thing, there wasn't the kind of retail politicking that you've seen in some of the other states because this is all a very new process for people in louisiana and they just didn't, some said, have the connection with these kands candidates you that might have seen in new hampshire. connection perhaps the key.

again, in a southern state mitt romney, who is the leader according to the national polls, was not able to connect with the voters here in louisiana. rick santorum certainly was. reaching across to evangelicals, catholics, and that may very well have been the difference in louisiana. back to you, don, we'll come back and talk about it a little later. >> joe johns, thank you very much. cnn following breaking news from louisiana. cnn projects rick santorum has won the louisiana primary. we're going to get more on his victory coming up next, right after a quick break. i'm robert shapiro. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. at legalzoom we'll help you incorporate your business, file a patent, make a will and more. you can complete our online questions in minutes. then we'll prepare your legal documents and deliver them directly to you. so start your business,

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with the incredible deals you'll find... ...you're gonna want to hurry in for this one. ♪ [ male announcer ] the great savings won't last long. don't miss out. [ mwill be giving away great passafree copiesst long. of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. breaking political news. cnn projects that rick santorum has won the louisiana primary, giving the former pennsylvania senator another win down south. with our political team of experts here. you all know them. cnn's tom foreman and our political director mark preston in washington and senior correspondent joe johns standing by in new orleans. tom, i want to get to you. you showed us some metrics by which people went in to vote what was on their minds. you were talking about the economy and really a very

wealthy guy just didn't seem to relate to the people of louisiana in a state that you said is among the poorest, couldn't relate to a wealthy guy. i'm wondering, though, in a state like louisiana is there any appeal for rick santorum among moderates or liberals? >> well, that's an interesting question because when you talk about the metrics here that's another one you have to consider. one of the things that rick santorum has done very well with is the very conservative voters. they showed up in the biggest numbers today. this is a conservative state in many ways. look at the win he had here. 52% to 24% for romney. better than 2-1 among very conservative voters. that's no big surprise. but if you look at what he had next year, the somewhat conservative voters, again he pulled out a win by 10% here. and here's the one that really makes a difference. in the moderate or liberal voters he even edges it out there by 8% there. that's pretty substantial. so once again he gets a sweep of all three. however, i wanted to put a caution in here, don, that you will understand particularly, being from louisiana as i have

been. there's no real litmus test of what makes somebody moderate or liberal or somewhat conservative or very conservative. that can change somewhat state to state. i would theorize that to a degree the moderates or liberals in louisiana, particularly the moderates, may be a bit more conservative than they are in many other states. i think they probably are. so does this mean that rick santorum has somehow ufrn locked the rosetta stone, he's figured out how to get into this moderate or liberal base mitt romney has been able to rely on elsewhere? i'm going to say probably not. i think what it means is he was in a state where it was really well primed for him to come in as a very conservative candidate and do well and indeed he did, don. >> earlier you spoke about what was on voters' minds. number one, the economy. and just speaking to my mother and other people who still live there, education also very important because louisiana ranks at the bottom too as well for education. >> absolutely. those are big, big, big factors here for an awful lot of people

in the state. and there's no question that a lot of people vote that way. again, you have to think of those in the context of the state. this is something that works well to what rick santorum has been selling out there. mitt romney tends to do better with people who are better educated and overall, if you look at bachelor's degrees and higher degrees and that sort of thing, louisiana doesn't have as many of those as some other states, so again, friendly territory for rick santorum, not so friendly for mitt romney. >> all right, tom foreman, thank you. very interesting. we're following another breaking news story as well. it iflsz politics. former vice president dick cheney has undergone a heart transplant surgery. mark preston stoond standing by. mark, give us the very latest. >> reporter: well, don, what we've learned today from the office of dick cheney is he is recovering in a suburban washington, d.c. hospital after undergoing a heart transplant. the former vice president's heart problems really well have been documented, don. we've known so much about them over the years. he has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20

months. well, right now the former vice president is in intensive care. he is recovering. and his office tells us that they do not know the identity of the donor. but of course they are very, very grateful for the donation. don, we should say vice president cheney is only 71 years old. and of course as we hear more about his condition throughout the night we'll update you on it. >> all right. thank you very much, mark preston. joe johns, our senior correspondent, standing by in louisiana to follow up on rick santorum's big win down there. you heard me talking to tom foreman. he says education -- that mitt romney doesn't do well with the folks down in louisiana. obviously, you see he didn't win. rick santorum doing very well among conservatives. among moderates. and even liberal voters as louisiana sees them. >> reporter: that's really fascinating. that's just a fascinating development. but rick santorum really continues to surprise in a lot of ways. you know, earlier in this race

in some other states he was having problems getting catholic voters to vote for him, and that seemed very unusual. it was sort of defying expectations. well, now all of a sudden apparently a connection with some of those more liberal voters. it's almost, you know, inexplicab inexplicable, i would say, because rick santorum talks such tough talk on the campaign trail and in many ways he is more conservative than the other true conservative in the race who would be newt gingrich. so considering all of that, it'll be interesting to see how he does going forward. but the one thing i think we also have to point out, don, is the delegate count, which is a work in progress this evening. nonetheless, i want to just sort of run through for you how this thing is supposed to work because the delegates are what all of this is about. you know? each of these candidates is racing around the country trying to amass as many delegates as

possible to the republican national convention in hopes of getting that magic number, 1,144 to go to the convention as a winner. rick santorum certainly is running in second place. mitt romney running in first place. but the way it works here in this state is tonight, 20 delegates are supposed to be assigned to a candidate. yes? >> and joe, we've -- >> reporter: you have a question? >> yeah, we've got to run. thank you, sir. we also have a delegate update. we'll go back to mark preston. this just in. you heard joe explaining a little bit there. you have more on this. what do you have? >> joe is right. there were-20 delegates on the table in louisiana and cnn now projects that rick santorum will get at least 8 of those delegates. very complex rules down there, as joe was again explaining. we can also project right now that mitt romney will come in second place in the louisiana primary. he too will get some delegates. we're still trying to figure out the math on that right now to see what he will come in at.

newt gingrich, ron paul will walk away with goose eggs. they will have nothing to show for the louisiana primary, don, which raises a whole lot of questions about how much longer newt gingrich can really stay in the race. and of course ron paul has really made it clear that he has no plans of leaving. >> mark, we have about 15 seconds left here. when we're talking about the delegates, if you do the math, is it mathematically possible for anyone else besides mitt romney at this point? >> it is mathematically impossible. it is probably improbable right now for anyone except mitt romney to get 1,144 heading into august into the rnc cop vention, don. however, mitt romney still has a long way ahead of him to get to 1,144. >> mark preston, thank you very much. mark preston, joe johns, tom foreman as well. make sure you join me tonight 10:00 p.m. eastern for complete coverage of the louisiana primary right here in the cnn newsroom. i'm don lemon. piers morgan right after this. so easy, you just need campbell's cream of mushroom soup to make them

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tonight, mitt romney's real running mate, the woman who knows him better than anybody else. also tonight, massachusetts senator scott brown. i'll ask what it will take for mitt romney to nail down the nomination as rick santorum continues to challenge. and the woman behind the campaign surge, karen santorum. what she thinks of charges that her husband is anti-women. >> it makes me really sad that the media tries to do that to him. they try to make it look like he's something that he's not. rick is a great guy. he's completely supportive of women. he's surrounded by a lot of very strong women. and i think women have nothing to fear when it comes to contraceptives. he will do nothing on that issue. >> we begin tonight with our big

story, an exclusive interview with anne romney. and the candidate's wife joins me now. tell me this. it's been a rough old campaign. everyone accepts that. i always think most of them are anyway. but it's been especially rough. and i suppose one of the things that's leveled against your husband a lot is he's not very lovable. people don't seem to fall for him in the way that they did with barack obama, for instance, when he got elected. you obviously have been in love with him for 43 years. what do you think the public aren't seeing about your husband that they should be seeing? >> well, to begin with, i don't accept the premise. so that's, you know, that's one thing. and once people do see him, it's a totally different thing. at so many of the rallies we go to, the most common refrain is he's so great. you know? and that's -- unfortunately, everyone wants to portray you in

a certain way, put you in that box. and so it's my job, it's a great job that i have right now, of making sure that people see the other side of mitt, the fun side of mitt, and the loving father, husband, grandfather and what a just super guy he is. >> what has been the most offended you felt as his wife on the campaign so far? >> you know, i think sometimes -- you know, what happened -- i will tell you, piers, what happened to me last time, four years ago, is the misrepresentations about records and different things like that where they make you feel as though you're not being honest or you're not true to yourself, which could not be further from the truth. and that was why after, you know, four years ago after we got out and dropped out of the race i did turn to mitt and said, look, i'm never doing this again. just so you know, i've had it. and that's the sentiment you had. you were very fed up with it. going into it this time, i of course went in completely committed to doing this again

because i really believe our country's in trouble and i really believe mitt is the right guy. but i went in with a different attitude this time and recognize that this is what happens in the campaign and these things happen. and it's hard to do, and i have to remind myself all the time, but to not take things personally. and it is a hard thing to do and to remind yourself, i have to remind myself all the time, not to take things personally. and recognize that is just part of what's involved in running. but if you believe in your message, i believe in my husband, i believe he can turn things around, i believe he has the right skill set, the right experience to be able to really be an effective president, then you just keep putting your head down and going forward. i totally believe in him and was the one pushing him this time to say i know i said that, but i hate to tell you, honey, but you've got to do this again because the country needs you. >> you're certainly emerging as a secret weapon for him. i want to play a little clip of that back to you and then talk to you afterwards. >> let me tell you something else that's happening. women are coming to me and

saying, will you please talk about deficit spending and budgets? i'm loving that. loving that. women are angry. they're angry about the legacy we're going to leave their children and grandchildren. and i'm going to tell them something. i've got somebody here that can fix it. >> feisty stuff there from anne romney. what's been interesting about the debate is it's been very skewed toward social issues and there's been this kind of rising sense that the republican candidates en masse have been slightly anti-women's rights. what do you think about the way that debate's been framed? >> well, you know, again, i really meant what i said last night because i have been in every -- practically every state of this nation and i've been speaking to hundreds of people every single day and seeing people. and this is what women are coming up to me and speaking about, their frustration with government right now, the frustration with the size of

government, the frustration that, you know, that women are just generally generous. i think they're just generous and they want to leave something much better for their children. and they're very frustrated that they're thinking that this is not going to be the case for them, that their children are not going to be better off. and it's because of the overspending that we're doing now and we're not taking responsibility for our actions. and they're extremely frustrated. and so for me when i hear all the other talk about social issues, i'm going that's not what i hear when i'm out on the trail. this is what i'm hearing. it's an economic message that i'm hearing. it's a frustration about government spending too much and not balancing budgets. and they say very common sense things to me. they say, look, i know how to balance my budget. i know, you know, my husband's business or my business or whatever i'm doing, we have to balance our budgets. why is this going on, this irresponsible behavior? and so i think what they're

sensing is that it is, again, it's the legacy we're going to leave our children and grandchildren. we don't want to have to feel like they're underwater before they even start out. and we know how that's going to impact their lives. >> and how important has been the endorsement of jeb bush? he's been keeping his powder dry and he's finally come out. many have said, look, big win in illinois, then the jeb bush endorsement. this has been a very significant, maybe even the game-changing moment. >> i thought it was a very significant thing to do. we didn't know he was going to endorse. we didn't have any heads-up at all. the phone rang, and it was jeb. and you know, i didn't hear jeb's side of the conversation, but i could sort of tell what was going on. and i was -- i was delighted. you know, he's a very important voice in our party. i respect him enormously. but i will tell you barbara bush is also, you know, out there fighting for us, too.

so that's been great. to have jeb's endorsement i think is a huge, huge day for us. >> and on a slightly more slippery note, how is your etching and sketching going? have you been having words with mitt's senior aides about their little gaffe today? >> you know, this is the distractions -- these are what -- this is exactly what happens in a campaign, where you get these distractions. and obviously he was talking about how we're going to change focus and we're going to change, you know what we're going to do, the organizational sense of changing, not mitt changing positions. and so these are just the frustrations you have to deal with in a campaign. and, of course, it makes for great media. it's a distraction. it's a distraction because what we're talking about is an economic message. it's a jobs message. it's talking about, you know, capping spending, balancing budgets. >> are you going to make eric write out -- are you going to make eric write out 100 times on an etch and sketch "i'm very sorry"? >> i think that's a great idea, pete. great idea, piers.

we'll have him do that tomorrow. >> let me ask you this. robert de niro's apologized today because he made this joke about all the wives of the republican candidates. and saying america isn't ready for a white first lady. which seems to have upset everybody. what was your view of that? >> i laughed. you know what? i took it for what it was, a joke. and you know, again, we take everything so seriously, we have to be so correct and everyone has to apologize. and i can say, you know what? i can laugh at it. that's just let's take it for what it is. we're all overreacting to so many things and making things so difficult, which means we have to watch every single word that comes out of our mouth. we can't be spontaneous. we can't be funny. i will tell you in politics the fastest way to get in trouble is to make a joke. so i think robert de niro has just learned that. >> robert de niro in the clear. anne romney, it's been a real pleasure. and again, i wish a very happy anniversary to you and mitt. >> oh, thanks so much.

>> coming up next, karen santorum answers charges that her husband is anti-women. caca. we've got to protect the environment. the economists make some good points. we need safer energy. [announcer:] who's right? they all are. visit powerincooperation.com. powered by a second gen intel® core™ i5 or i7 processor. everything. and more. ♪

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my exclusive interview with karen santorum, who joins me now. mrs. santorum, how are you? >> hi, piers. it's so good to be with you. >> well, last time i spoke to your husband he basically said the key strategy going forward was less rick, more karen. >> how funny. >> tell me how your husband's getting on. last time i spoke to you was a very personal interview with you and your family. and if the full rigors of this campaign were beginning to kick in. how do you think he's faring?

>> piers, rick is amazing. he is so optimistic. he's a guy who stays strong. and he just amazes me. i've known him a very long time. and he's not the kind of guy who gets down and out or loses his energy. and he's staying strong and i just love that about him. he's a really neat guy that way. >> he looks -- a rather british phrase. but he looks like he's got his gander up. which is a sort of euphemism for he's beginning to beat his chest with the expectation that he's gone from being this rank outsider to somebody who now wakes up and thinks you know what? i could actually win this. >> it's so exciting, piers. because he's -- you know, he did the hundreds of town hall meetings. and when no one believed in him, he kept at it. he kept at the message. and he loves grassroots. he loves going and meeting with people and talking to them about the issues and hearing about what's on their minds and sharing his ideas and hearing other people's ideas.

and that fortified him and kept him going. and he draws strength from things like that. so now, it's very exciting to watch this unfold and see what's happening. and, you know, it's been a wonderful journey. >> one of the big things that's gripping i guess the whole race at the moment is this question of women's rights and women's issues. and john mccain was pretty strong on "meet the press." i'll read you what he said. he said, quit think there's a perception out there because of the way this whole contraception issue has played out, we need to get off that issue in my view. we ought to respect the rights of women to make choices in their lives." what did you think of that? >> exactly. i completely agree. and the unfortunate thing is when rick was asked the when rick was asked the question he said these are my personal beliefs. and the press kept asking him the issue about it again and again. rick is brilliant with national security and jobs and health care. and the economy. and for some reason the press kept wanting to go back to it. and really what it is, continuities an issue about contraception.

it's an issue about personal freedoms. and the fact that the government should not be making people go against their conscience. we all have -- i think most people in america respect freedom of religion. and i think the real issue is not forcing people to go against their conscience and do things that they really don't think is right. >> when you say you agree with everything john mccain said, do you agree with him when he says we ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives? because that's a pretty fundamental step away i would say from what rick has been saying. >> abs- -- well, it depends on what you're referring to. absolutely. with jobs. contraceptives we feel differently. but with contraceptives -- with women wanting to be in the workforce or women wanting to be at home, with how they choose to live their lives, get married,

be single. you know, there are so many different decisions. so i don't know what john mccain was referring to. but i would agree with him with that. >> i think he was specifically talking about the issue of contraception which has been so dominant. i know that because of your catholic faith you have a strong position on this. you've also got young daughters, of course. people will say how do you feel about changing times? i mean, they're going to grow up. they're going to grow up in an era which is -- you know, contraception is widely prevalent amongst young women in this country. and many of them are thinking if rick santorum becomes president what does it mean for me? is he anti-women? is he anti-us having contraception? >> not at all. >> what is his view? >> not at all. he's not anti-woman. and i can tell you, i'm a registered nurse. i'm a lawyer. i'm an author of two books. when i was doing my book tours, piers, rick was the one who was home changing diapers and making

meals and cleaning the kitchen. he's been 100% supportive of me and my dreams and my career. it was my decision to stay home and be a mom at home. and someday when i go back to work, rick will be 100% behind me. so it makes me really sad that the media tries to do that to him. they try to make it look like he is something that he's not. rick is a great guy. he's completely supportive of women. he's surrounded by a lot of very strong women. and i think women have nothing to fear when it comes to contraceptives. he will do nothing on that issue. i think the issue was what i had said about the religious freedom issue and not allowing the government to be intrusive in our lives and force us to do something against our conscience. >> when you say he'll do nothing on the contraceptions issue, do you mean that if he was to become president that he would basically respect a woman's right to have contraception if that's what she chose to do? >> absolutely. and he has said that.

>> i mean, that seems to me to be a pretty fundamental conclusion to this debate. because that's what people have been saying. would rick santorum bring his personal religious beliefs to play as president? and from what you've just said i would imagine the answer is not necessarily. >> not in that area -- no, absolutely not. and again, i think the issue is the government forcing people to go against their conscience. that's really the issue here that we're referring to. >> now, let's move on to what he told me when he last appeared on my show. because i like this. he basically said that after he came out with his snobbery jibe against president obama you rang him up and gave him a right earful, karen. let's watch this. >> i can get pretty wrapped up about, you know, how important this country is to not just providing a great future for our children but also for the world. and sometimes i get a little -- you know, say the wrong word. and as you know, you know my

bride very, very well. usually the phone rings very quickly if she isn't there in person to say, you know, rick, you went -- you shouldn't have said that. >> so come on. how often do you pick that phone up and say rick, you shouldn't have said that? >> well, we talk a lot throughout the day, piers. we talk many times about the campaign and what's happening. and i'm a news junkie. so i like to know what's going on. i'm either on the trail with rick now or i'm at home taking care of the kids. it's a big juggling act right now. but you know, we do that. i think it's part of the joy of being married. you know, where you're always talking things over and correcting each other or talking about how you could have done better or what you should have said or what you may should not have said. >> you've had to put up as a family with some really tough times. and i've discussed this with you in person when we met. and i found it profoundly moving. how is your little girl at the moment? because it must be an agonizing conflict on a daily basis, putting the campaign one side, the health of your daughter on the other. >> bella is doing great.

thank you for asking, piers. i appreciate you asking. she is such a beautiful, sweet girl. and she's healthy. it's funny reading articles. when people would actually write about my little girl and they really aren't accurate at all with what they're saying. people are saying she has a terminal illness, and she doesn't. her life is fragile, but bella's doing great. she's strong. she's healthy right now. and i thank god for that. we have so many people praying for her. but someday i want you to meet her. someday i'm going to bring her to you. >> i would love to. >> she's a very joyful child and she has taught us so much about what's most important in life. and it is a juggling act. i mean, definitely a big juggling act right now with trying to juggle family life and taking care of a special needs child. i'm her caregiver. rick and i take care of her. we didn't get a night nurse until much later. and it's -- you know, we had to get some sleep. when i'm there during the day, i

love taking care of bella. and she's just a sweet, sweet angel. and i feel blessed, truly blessed to be her mom. >> and you should. and she's very lucky to have you too, i think. >> thank you. >> let me ask you this. we discussed earlier about rick's reputation. maybe portrayed by the media as being maybe slightly anti-women's rights. you obviously love him very much. if he becomes president of the united states, and there's going to be a chance now this could happen, if he does why should american women also love your husband? >> well, because he's a man who cares deeply about the heart and soul of america. and he cares deeply about all people. 100% of people. the rich, the poor, the in between. men, women, children. people with disabilities. we've got a real passion for that at the santorum house. but women, rick has done so much legislatively to support women. and you know, he's a man of deep

faith, a man of conviction. and he's a man of courage. he's consistent. a lot of people say, you know, rick, i don't agree with everything you say, but i like you and i'm going to vote for you because you're consistent. you say the same thing everywhere you go. and i know that i can trust you. and that means a lot to a lot of people. >> i think that's a very valid point. i've got another guest coming out in a moment. senator scott brown who came out with this little joke at your expense. in rick santorum's case the first time he's ever actually used protection, he said about his secret service. did you find that funny? >> he's -- sometimes you just have to laugh. i've reached a point now where i shout out a lot of things because i know it can be pretty nasty. i continue to pray, and i ask my children to pray for the other families out there who are also in this campaign because it's hard for everyone. you know, i thought that was sort of funny. sometimes you have to just laugh. and other times you just sort of shut it out and ignore it. >> well, i'm going to bring him out now. we'll confront him with his own humorous demons.

>> thank you. >> karen santorum, thank you so much for joining me. i really enjoyed it. good luck with the campaign. it's tough on all the families and you do a terrific job for your husband. and i think everybody respects that. so thank you very much for joining me. >> thank you so much, piers. good to be with you. coming up, a man who has caused a bit of a stir this weekend with his joke at rick santorum's expense. let's bring him out here for a public flogging. [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of.

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hello, everyone. i'm don lemon live at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. we have some breaking news. as we reported at the top of the hour, cnn projects rick santorum has won the louisiana primary, giving the former pennsylvania senator another win in the south. take a look at the numbers now. 46% for rick santorum as we speak. mitt romney 28%. newt gingrich 18%. and 6% for ron paul. of course, it's only 19% of the entire electorate and everyone who's voted. hey, listen, i want to bring in our political director now, mark preston in washington. give us some analysis of this, mark. >> well, don, of course as you see rick santorum has got a big win in regards to momentum for this race for the republican presidential nomination. cnn can also estimate right now that rick santorum will get at least eight delegates from this win in louisiana, don.

we can also project at this point that mitt romney will come in second place. third place will go to newt gingrich. fourth place will go to ron paul. we also do know at this time that newt gingrich and ron paul will received no delegates from tonight's contest, don. >> no delegates. interesting stuff here. so listen, i want to go to another break and pivot here to another story. breaking news we're following tonight involving the former vice president of the united states, dick cheney, mark. >> yes, don. a story we've been following for the last couple of hours now. we've learned that dick cheney is recovering in a suburban washington, d.c. hospital after undergoing a heart transplant. the former vice president's heart problems 4 been very well documented. and his office tells us that he has been on the cardiac transplant list for more than 20 months. right now, don, dick cheney is in an intensive care unit and his office does tell us as well that they don't know the identity of the donor. don, dick cheney is 71 years old. we'll have more on this story next hour. >> i was going to say, 71 years old, i mean, that's fairly young

now, especially today's standards of living and that and what have you. did he have four or five -- he survived four or five heart attacks before? >> yeah. he's had them since such a young, young age. as you said, 71 very young, but this has been ongoing for the vice president throughout very much of his adult life. but as we've heard right now from his office, he seems to be recovering fairly well right now in a washington hospital. >> two breaking political news stories we're following along with my colleague here, mark preston. rick santorum has won the louisiana primary and also dick cheney recovering from a heart transplant right now. i'm don lemon. we'll see you back here at the top of the hour, when we follow up on both of these developing stories including the latest on the trayvon martin case. more "piers morgan" in just a moment. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security

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what better person to talk about keeping america great. before we go further, a tweet here, please ask senator brown when he will run for president. >> you actually want me to comment on that? >> yes. >> i'm running for re-election. if he wants to help me, he can go to scottbrown.com. >> when you tell that whole story of massachusetts and winning that seat, finally from the democrats after teddy kennedy left the stage, against all the odds.

i've watched your progress since and you read your positioning with mitt romney, you start to think this guy is getting serious. he's thinking in his mind this may be the time coming up now, next two or three years, decision time. >> listen, the only thing i'm deciding is what we're going to have after the show to drink. >> you're buying. >> of course. you didn't expect anything less. i'm trying to get re-elected. i think it's important to have me in the senate right now. i'm the second most bipartisan senator there. by me working across party lines, things are getting done. the freed trade agreements, the fact that we did the 3% anti-trading bill. we just passed the highway bill. by me moving forward and doing those important things, i'm doing my job. >> massachusetts is one of the states that approved gay

marriage. how do you personally feel about that? >> it's settled law in massachusetts. everybody has moved on. >> do people care that much? those who argue against it say this is like the end of civilization. >> some people care and others have moved on, but they're concerned how they're going to pay their mortgage. people are wondering how they're going to pay their mortgage. are they kids going to come home safe. it's deficit, taxes, spending, national security. we've moved on. it should be decided state by state, and i'm focusing on those other things. >> the republicans don't want to be in position if it is mitt romney that wins the nomination, you don't want to be squabbling about social issues with barack obama. >> that's what the president would like to do, to take away from the fact that we are at record high debt and deficit, borrowing 42 cents on every

dollar, there are so many things that are happening that are coming to fruition, and we need to move very quickly. by the end of this year, this country is going to be in very difficult shape. so me and others, people of good will are trying to push our leaders and trying to push the administration to start to focus on these important things. >> if barack obama gets to say october and says look, i told you i would rescue us from the terrible mess the republicans put us in, and guess what? the jobless figures are now the best they've been since maybe two or three years before i came along, he will have maybe said gas prices may have come back to normal, house prices. say the economy generally -- >> that would be wonderful. >> would you say that is wonderful, mr. president, or would you say you're still a disaster? >> i've commended the president when he's done well and respectfully disagree when i disagree with him. i try to make sure we don't have

the rush limbaughs and the bill mahers creates the rhetoric and the discourse. i'm not going to hammer the president one day and ask him for help the next day. we need to work together right now. >> i agree. >> gas prices, they're rising. home ownership is -- the home prices are falling. the other issues you were talking about, we're in deep trouble. if we do nothing, we're going to be like europe and greece. >> how do you keep america great? >> we need to get our debt and deficit under control. >> what else do you do to maintain america's greatness in the world? >> create jobs and create an environment for jobs. i have a crowd funding bill where you can get people to give up to $1,000, a million total of avoiding the s.e.c. filings and using that as seed money to create a new set of financing for start-up businesses.

that's where the jobs are. >> what about my constant nagging problem with a company like apple who sells 3 million of the new ipads in one day apparently last week, so they're making billions, yet still employ larger sums of people in china than they do in america. my argument is, why don't they just bring 10% of that workforce from china back to america, take the hit. what is wrong with that? >> have the president from apple on -- >> what do you think of that argument? >> i think you need to make america competitive again. there's a lot of -- >> shouldn't it be the successful companies -- >> there's a lack of certain instability. people in business don't know what's next. there's this wet blanket over people. there's so much indecision, the high cost of health care and it's draining businesses. in massachusetts, the medical device companies are getting

crushed by the taxes as part of obama care. that's why i voted to repeal it. it's crushing massachusetts. >> couldn't be nice if a successful company would say we are taking the lead here. >> it would be great. >> i don't like the fact that they employ so many more people outside of america. >> it would be great if they would come back, but you need to create an environment to hire and grow, not only in massachusetts, but throughout this country. and when you're paying a 35% corporate tax rate, compared to ireland which is 12% and you're in the lower cost of health care and energy, they have an obligation to their stockholders and they -- i would love for them to come back. amen, bring them. >> come back, apple. we are in agreement. i would like you to come back again. >> that's it? >> that's it. come back again soon. >> that was easy. >> that was easy? don't say .