plus get this document shredder, free! act fast! call the number on your screen now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. >> 11:00 on the east coast. welcome back to america's election headquarters. i'm bret baier. >> and i'm megyn kelly. we have all the race calls in for you now on the late call on the east coast. not so late in the west. mitt romney has won arizona. he will collect all that state's delegates, winning rather handedly, and look at the leaderboard there, it goes romney, santorum, coming in third we will put it up for you there, newt gingrich and ron paul. gingrich winding up with a third place finish in arizona but it does not necessary matter because that is a winner-take-all state. >> now to michigan. the 30 delegates there. mitt romney the big winner. not so big in the spread , but a

big win as far as momentum. rick santorum will finish second. in third, ron paul, and newt gingrich will finish fourth. the interesting thing about michigan is the congressional districts were still -- 8 of them are two close to call. the split in delegates could be very tight. santorum could pick up relatively the same number, maybe even more, depending on how it goes congressional district. >> joining us now, chief political correspondent, mr. cam ran. hey, carl. >> hi, megyn. a big relieve for mitt romney to pull off the win in michigan. there's not a lot of doubt in the romney camp he remains a fractured and fragile frontrunner. when you compare tonight's victory in terms of percentages, romney has actually back slid from 2008. back then he beat john mccain by 9.2%, and based on 75% of the

precincts in he's running about 64% so half the victory he had four years ago w that said, romney recognizes that there are still a lot of could be conservative he has skepticism problems with. i asked the romney campaign what do you do to deal with the skepticism? and the answer from the top down from the candidates to his junior staffer is simple, we have to win. as you look forward to super tuesday. they know where the action is going to be. they know where romney has to prove himself and he's going there tomorrow. romney will have a morning event in toledo and afternoon event in ohio. he knows he has to do well there on super tuesday. there was a real square for the romney camp last week where mike, the former u.s. senator and attorney general revoked and withdrew his endorsement of romney and got behind santorum.

there was a worry that could be an erosion of the fire wall. it didn't happen but still could. tonight's victory for romney, he has clawed back. but in the context of the overall year and a half in which this was a state he was expected to have a cakewalk in, tonight santorum has plenty of things to boast about as well. he made mitt romney spend a lot of money to defend his home turf and talk about how he liked the perfect height of the trees and all of his family and relative members who live all across michigan, it was very, very important for him him. when he goes to ohio on tuesday, he will not have the benefit of his native state to play on. he will be on new fresh territory with rick santorum leads the polls in ohio and elsewhere and newt gingrich looking to do strongly in the south. so romney recognize that is tonight was a bullet dodged. he was in danger of losing his birth state. he didn't do that, but it cost him a lot of time and effort. he goes forward clearly leading in the delegate race, leading in the states, and leading perhaps in a couple of days back in the

national polls. we've seen it happen. a candidate wins on the primary night, the national polls shift. but each time that's happened, megyn, bret, it's been important to recognize another candidate has won the next tuesday night's primaries. romney has some momentum tonight. we will see how long it lasts. >> karl, it got a little ugly between the two candidates, santorum and romney at the end, and romney calling santorum an economic light weight, and then santorum responding that mitt romney is a conservative light weight. but tonight there was a chord daily moment between these two men before rick santorum took to the stage. tell us. >> well, there's been a lot of back and forth about what calls who and does the courtesy calls to concede. this time it did happen. rick santorum did call mitt romney. romney took the call. it's been described by santorum's eldest daughterrer as a cordial conversation but brief. it happens minutes before he took to the stage to make his

remarks. he made it clear that although it didn't go his way, he's not backing down and super tuesday is an opportunity for him to rise again. mitt romney didn't mention any of thinks republican rivals tonight. there are only a few plays in the romney playbook, and he has been disciplined in sticking with them. tonight was a victory and he talk about barack obama, not about his republican rivals. that's likely to continue but in ohio and the states where it's close and romney has to do well next week, don't expect any let-up. mitt romney has made it clear he knows how to throw a punch and he knows how to take a punch. there will be plenty of those exchanged between mitt romney and rick santorum in the days ahead. >> thank you. >> bill is at the touch screen tonight. bill, mitt romney did win a greater share of the vote in michigan. some interesting results both in michigan and arizona. >> certainly is. yet good evening to you again. and to carl's point on the results map here on the touch screen billboard, if you exam michigan for the results we are getting so far in 2012 and

compare it with 2008, it goes exactly to the point that carl was just making there. here is santorum in red and romney in orange, with 84 terse of --% of the vote. you see in the western half of the state. southwestern part, santorum is taking all these counties. if this holds, and it likely will at the moment, santorum will likely win more counties than romney, but overall romney could take the overall vote total and will increase his vote total over four years ago. we will examine this now from 2008 between romney and mccain. just a reminder romney won four years ago just by 9 points. but lock at the area romney dominated. in of the west, in grand rapids and center part, lansing. detroit, all this orange area was romney territory. you look in twelve and you see where santorum has picked selected counties and bitten into his lead. we will watch and see as had rolls on further in the super tuesday.

to the folks in arizona we have not ignored you tonight. it is just that early nonet night we were given indication that mitt romney was rolling through the state. and this pretty much tells you the story. there are 76% of the votes been counted. every county right now is checking in for mitt romney. especially here in the center. maricopa county where phoenix is located, mitt romney did well here four years ago. look where he romped this time around. 26 points in maricopa county alone. that was a state that he finished second in to john mccain four years ago. tonight a very impressive showing nor mitt romney. he's essentially the only one that truly campaigned hard in the state of arizona this time around. a week from tonight ten different states will do battle. you will hear a lot of talk about virginia and georgia, tennessee, and oklahoma. but the critical state will be the 63 delegates on the map in the state of ohio. this is our economic landscape map here. the deeper the red, the tougher trouble you have had over the past four years or so. if you are in green, well, you

are doing all right. you have a surplus of jobs since barack obama has taken the white house. but here in ohio with the republican governor, john caseic, who breaks continuously by getting more companies and jobs to the buckeye state, the unemployment is down to 8.1% which is slightly below the national average. but jobs and the economy, taxes, deficit spending will be a priority in ohio as we go threw seven days from now. back to you guys as we look toward super tuesday in a week. >> no one can work that board like bill. >> he's almost as at home there as he is in old senate, his native cities, where the candidates are going to be very soon. i think they will have a lot of skyline chili. >> that would be my native state and home state but i guess it's my home here in new york city. >> now you are a new yorker. >> a three way one. >> and martha is not shy about

telling people that her home state is the the great state of new jersey. >> you betcha. >> and we are a week out from super tuesday, it may tell us what the trends are in terms of groups of voters, martha. >> that's exactly right. let's break down exactly how mitt romney did it in michigan tonight. eats truly a broad story. he won with women, seniors, seniors, counter tis, moderates. those worried about the economy and those who want to beat barack obama in the fall. that's a broad group. let's break it down for you. seniors were one quarter of the voters tonight. almost half went to mitt romney and how about this? catholics backed romney. the mormon over santorum, the contact lick, who has been outspoken about his catholic faith, especially in the later courses of the rate. and women about by five. beating obama is the number one priority and romney is their guy with 61% of that group. also the top issue continues to

be the economy. and those who care the most about fixing the economy more than anything else in this race, they went for romney tonight in a big way as well. those was the top issue was the deficit, romney bested santorum among that group as well. so how about the question of experience? and what better prepares somebody to become president. most of the voters think the business experience gave mitt romney the better experience as a candidate to serve as president and they picked him as well. and santorum's sort of last ditch effort to win michigan over the scoring of the week was to woo the democrats and to show up tonight and vote for him in the primary that. effort failed. he won half of the democrats. he made up nine percent of the vote. and for the republicans, he -- independents, he split them. he closed the deal tonight in a

very broadway in michigan, guys. >> martha, thank you. >> let's bring in fox news contributor and syndicated columnist charles krauthammer with his thoughts. good evening. your thoughts on this night? >> i'm here in my adopted washington, and not in my native new york. look, i think the story line here remains the same. the story line is romney. slow, steady, unspectacular. as you pointed out, rather jaunty tonight with a win in michigan. the other story is there's been six challengers that come up against him, they rise, fall, swing, u-turn, and the only one that remains is romney. i think santorum really had his shot here. he got the slingshot coming out of that three-win two or three weeks ago. he came really close, which would have been a tremendous upset and victory, but he fell short. and like the others, i think it was mostly self-inflicted. the story here is romney's luck

in his choice of opponents. santorum, if you look at the exit polls, he had a seven percent edge on those who decided in the last few days. but among those who decided in the last few weeks, he had been up twenty, which means his momentum really slowed in the end. that had to do, i think, with self-inflicted errors. there was kennedy, college and contraception. you know that attack on kennedy, the speech he made in 1960 on religion, and santorum said it made him want to throw up. he talk about college, the fact that he said obama was trying to push it for everyone that reflected elitism, snobbery, and indoctrination. there's a point there about liberal higher education, but it was extreme and overstated and on contraception an issue which has been decided, settled in the country a half century ago, he's on the wrong side of that. and you saw that in the women's

vote. santorum came dead even on the men vote. and the women's vote he lost by 5% and that's what cost him the election. and i think you saw that reflected in the speech he made. what did he talk about? his mother, his wife, and his daughter, and he spoke about them as independent and professional trying to undo the damage he had done in the gender gap. so i think that remains the story. santorum had his shot. he will have one more shot i think in ohio. but again, romney, slow, steady, unspectacular, is the one who sort of remains standing when all the wind blows away and the sand disappears. >> charles, a lot of republican voters have been uncomfortable watching this primary contest so far with all the barbs being exchanged between the candidates and in michigan it got a little ugly in the end. your take now at this point in the process on whether this extended primary process that was a choice by the gop is

working to the gop's advantage? >> no. i think it's hurting them terribly. you are right about the fact that it is a republican choice. and i think it was a really stupid choice. they decided that in 2008 they had gotten a candidate too early. a weak candidate in mccain and they got slaughtered. so they were going to undo that and have a long, drawn out process. almost all the contests would be proportional, and let the voters decide over time. the flaw in the reasoning, and it was pretty obvious, they would be running against an incumbent president, unlike in 2008. the democrats would not have any early contests. they wouldn't have any negativity, they wouldn't have all this expenditure in trying to decide who is going to be the nominee. so they should have had a shorter raced but they designed it for a longer race in a year in which the democrats have no race at all and therefore have

an advantage. nonetheless, i think the way obama has performed as president is so disappointing that that will even out, and i think it is now an even contest between democrats and republicans as to the general election. it shouldn't be, republicans should be way ahead, given how badly obama has done and how week the economy is. but this process has certainly hurt all the republican candidates, and diminished the brand unfortunately. >> charles, one last thing. from a santorum campaign perspective, in michigan, rick santorum has outspent roughly 5-1 in michigan. he is probably going to finish three points behind in that state, the native state for mitt romney. the campaign is saying that they think they could win more delegates in the end. we are going to see by congressional district here soon. and i just got an e-mail from the campaign saying don't forget hillary clinton won nevada, got the news cycle, but then senator obama got the delegates.

what about that line of raining from raining -- of reasoning from the santorum folks? >> well, if santorum comes out ahead, it will be by two delegates. there will be 2,000 at the convention. it will be utterly ag significance. the fact is he lost michigan. so whether they get -- the delegates are split exactly evenly or one party gets a couple more than the other is unimportant. the fact is this was his shot. in the same way his elections he won three weeks ago, missouri, colorado and minnesota, had no delegates at stake and yet it was important. the momentum that was at stake before he got it, and tonight he lost it. >> charles, as always, thanks for the analysis. >> a pleasure. >> see you in washington. >> mitt romney winning both arizona and michigan. tonight, coming up, chris wall, karl rove and joe trippi on the

races this evening. keep it right here on america's election headquarters. >> one thing we can't afford is four years of barack obama nothing to answer to so we will get him out of that office and get him back home where he belongs. >> now you saw his budget. [chanting mitt, mitt, mitt] frank, instead of scratching your way to retirement, get on e-trade. set up a real plan. frank! oh wow, you didn't win? i wanna show you something... it's my shocked face. [ gasps ] [ male announcer ] get a retirement plan that works... at e-trade.

washington where fox news sunday anchor chris wallace is with his guests. we have been told -- oh, my goodness. what is that? >> it has been a big might for the space cowboys, bret. i know it took the decision desk a little while, but karl and joe, and please take a shot of them because i don't want to go down in my career by myself here. >> no, no, no. >> 9:15 for mitt romney in

michigan. >> we have serious things to talk about. >> what? >> we've jumped to shark. it's official. >> no, this is like, you know, the red hour like you used to wear the victory scarf. the space cowboys called the race and we will put on our bandanas from now to the rest of the primary season. it seems to me, karl -- i know nobody is paying attention to what we are saying. but it seems to me mitt romney, and the tax plan, it gives him something to talk about, something to sink his teeth into. >> gave him a topic for the end of the which, which is good. he could have done better had he not had his speech to the detroit economic club where he rolled it out, the 300 people in a 65,000 seat stadium. but it was good to have a tax and a spending cut plan to roll out and talk about. >> let's talk about rack san. what is his play now?

does he double down on the social conservative? it was the one area he could beat romney, or does he downplay that and play more the idea i have an answer for the economy too? >> i think it's too late for him 20 do that. i think he will have to double down on social conservative. and the reason is it's the one easy play that gets you 25% across the board in all those states. he has to go -- he has to go park himself in ohio and somehow wage a campaign out there across the rest of the states. romney's got surrogates, he has all kinds of people, donald trump and other people he can send out to the other state and other elected officials that can roll out there. santorum just doesn't have that kind of an army. he has to do it by putting more red meat out there for the social conservatives. >> meanwhile, ron paul, newt gingrich basically ignored arizona and michigan and they have been laying in wait.

paul in some of the caucus states around the western part of the country, and the north central. and gingrich in georgia in the south. is there a third act potential for gingrich here? karl, what's his play? does he go after romney or santorum? what does he do? >> there's a potential third act and it starts in georgia wishes has a big block of delegates and it's not his birth state, it's his adopted state. >> i should point out he didn't grow up -- karl, tell us. >> he was born in pennsylvania. he didn't grow up in georgia. he went and caught college in georgia and entered politics there and now lives in virginia. he's not going to be on the ballot in the state where he now lives. he's going to be on the ballot in georgia, the state where he had his political career, and he will do well there. the question is how well does he do in the other southern states, tennessee and oklahoma that are on that day, and then mississippi and alabama. >> and also arkansas. >> no, alaska. alaska. >> oh, yeah. i knew it was "a" something. >> and ron paul will be active

and also in north dakota which is a caucus state, and he will try to make a play in idaho, although i think that's a beginning camp. but for gingrich it's how well he does the south and his opponent there is a santorum. that's why he went after him as a big union republican in georgia recently because he has to get past santorum in order to get at romney. >> i think it's going to be divide and conquer. santorum has to hope gingrich catches fire because there's no way gingrich can fight in all those places. the only way it will work anymore is to have ron paul score in washington state, newt go down in georgia and tennessee and some places like that, and you pick off ohio. if you can do that, you stop romney. >> isn't it likely the picture on super tuesday is going to be very mud he would? each one will win a pocket? >> i think so. but there's a chance romney will

win virginia, and massachusetts, his adopted state, vermont, and i suspect idaho, which has a substantial mormon population. and if he wins one more, ohio gives him five out of ten con tests or five out of eleven, and wyoming, and you have a majority of he will delegates. >> that's it from the space cowboys. >> chris, patty brown tweeted in this is not a great moment in tv journalism. >> we were talking beforehand as to whether or not we were going to do this, and trippi keep looking at each other, are we really going to wear these? i said you do other things. this is it for me. if i get a note from the boss tomorrow, this could be my final appearance on the fox news channel. >> oh, my. >> this is your moment right now. >> thank you, gentlemen. >> if we get a big spike in the ratings at like 11:20 -- >> we will all wear them. >> don't you guys feel so boring over there right now? >> just sitting here. >> first santorum brings a prop,

now those guys felt like they had to one-up him. now our all-star panel in new york. we have a break. but you have to up the game, that's all i am saying. and you can also, folks, get the latest on the race calls on our website. >> go to foxnews.com/ad. and foxnews.com/michigan for the latest on the race in michigan. and foxnews.com, your front row seat to politics and costumes.

>> it's the bottom of the hour. thing about winner in michigan, mitt romney. winner momentum-wise. the spread is pretty tight, actually. rick santorum will come in second. in third, ron paul. and in fourth in michigan, newt gingrich. >> similar results in arizona where fox news is projecting that mitt romney is the winner. rick santorum came in second there. a healthy margin of victory for mitt romney. in third place in arizona, newt gingrich. ron paul finishing fourth. that does not necessarily matter, however, because it's a winner-take-all state, and governor romney will get all 29 of that state's delegates. >> time now to bring back our panel here in new york. >> wait for it. wait for it. >> no costume, no costume. >> and juan williams, columnist for the hill.

and the new york correspondent for the washington examiner. and also pat. pat, your thoughts on tonight and the big picture. >> pat, did you hear a word that that panel in washington said? >> not a word. [laughter] >> who could tell? once you saw those neckties. >> how did they have cocktails and we didn't? that's got to explain it, right? >> it's our studio down to washington there. an open bar? i never had that for a special report. >> look, several things. one, romney dodged a big bullet tonight. what is interesting is how he did it. santorum had this thing lined up and lost it, and he lost it today with people who voted today. 19%, he was winning. and 7% for romney today. it broke down. but here's the more important thing. romney for a three point victory, i've never seen an exit

poll like this. we are seeing things we've never seen so far this season. romney won people -- excuse me, lost only people who make less than $30,000 or less than $50,000 by a few points. usually he loses them by a lot. same with college. 30% of the people in michigan have been laid off that voted today voted for romney by plus 6. those are down-scale voters. you think they would be voting for santorum, but, no, they aren't. and donald trump particularly went out to campaign for him to help him identify with those voters but here's the real story. for 40 years no presidential incumbent since nixon, the 40th anniversary of watergate, and i take this very interestingly, seriously, it is for 40 years no incumbent party has attempted to influence the nomination of their opponent. tonight for the first time in

polling we can see the evidence, that that concerted effort paid off. let me give you a couple of examples of this. rick santorum lost somewhat conservative voters by 19 points. he won somewhat liberal voters, which he's never won, by 5 in that state. people who opposed the tea party, he won by four points. he lost by a point for those who support the. but anything people who strongly opposed the tea party, he won by 16 points. this is an effort to obviously influence the vote and it's the first time we've seen, quote, strategic voting. it's the first time you see that kind of broad-based effort by the incumbent on his party in modern history. >> we talked about this a moment ago. to what extent do you think santorum's comments this week and the past few days hurt him tonight? i think charles referred to it as kennedy, catholics and contraception. he made a remark about president

kennedy's speech, an absolutely separation of church and state and santorum said it made him want to throw up. and the controversy about contraception we know. he went on from there. what do you think -- how did that play into tonight's results? >> the john f. kennedy caused a problem for him. if there are people in michigan who remember the older romney, they remember john kennedy, as well. and i don't think the college remark was that big a gaffe for santorum. you have to remember just 25% of people in michigan have a bachelor's degree or higher 75% do not have a college degree. santorum won them narrowly. and they didn't vote as much as people who do have college degrees. but it all came down, all of it, to the economy. i mean, 55% of the people there said it was the most important issue for them. another 25% said the federal deficit so that's 80% of the

people talking about the economy, and federal spending. romney won strong among both. one thing we haven't talked about enough is romney's pitch, which pollsters asked which do you think is the best experienced to be president? a business background or a background in government? and by a big margin people -- >> two to one. >> people said business. look back at the list, we haven't won a lot of business people president but that's romney's pitch and it won tonight in michigan. >> it seemed like rick santorum was aiming toward ohio with his speech tonight and trying to get that message out to ohio, someplace that his campaign thinks he will do well there as well. is that what you heard, you know, holding up the shale, making the pitch on energy, a blue collar pitch that he has had on the trail? >> sure. and i think we've heard this since new hampshire when he gave a very nice speech, even though it was a concession, where he

talked about his grandfather as a coal minor. now he's again working toward, i think, gal van nicing the blue-collar vote. what i see is basically romney won people who went to college and santorum wins people who have high school education or less. i think romney winning people who make more than $100,000, and santorum winning people who make less than $50,000. santorum wins people who are in unions, romney wins people who are not in unions f you ask the voters in michigan who is the true conservative, it's overwhelming. rick santorum. who has morale character? rick santorum. but when it comes to who can defeat obama, it's mitt romney. who has experience, it's mitt romney. >> you are shaking your head, pat? >> no, i disagree with juan for this reason. let me just say this, romney's margin that he lost these lower income voters, he's been winning the rich people, the

well-educated. he's being slaughtered by the others. the question is how did he run so closely with some of these groups he has not run well with, and yet win the state by only three points? >> the answer, pat, this guy was outspent by more than four to one -- >> no, no, how did romney only win by three points? >> that's what i'm saying. romney blanketed the airways. and romney is successful at tearing down otherwise opponents. and i think he's been very successful at it but i think it's damaging to the brand ultimately. >> let me settle this for you. i think there actually might be an explanation, and i heard it repeatedly when i was talking to voters in michigan when i was there for several days at the end of last week. remember romney's argument here in this state, i'm the businessman, i'm the can-do, practice guy, i'm a problem solver, will have a special resonance in michigan because it's the same pitch that rick snyder made to voters when he con two years ago. it's what he's been doing, and by and large michigan republicans think he's done an effective job.

he's not been terribly ideological. he said i will come in and reduce the deficit. he's delivered on a lot of those promises. there's a model for what romney was arguing and i think that might explain some of the reasoning. >> how do you think that could translate if we see romney in a general election contest against president obama? here you have a large portion of the voters in both states saying they view experience in business as more important, more relevant than experience in government. in this contest that meant romney won over santorum. if you see a contest between mitt romney and barack obama, does that translate, even though this is a republican primary? juan, does it cause you concern that they place such a high value on experience in business which barack obama is light on, versus experience in government? >> no, i think the economy would -- should be the defining issue. if it comes to the economy then you would say mitt romney, in terms of his experience with business, would be someone that you could have confidence in. but the thing is, making that

the economy is getting somewhat better. consumer confidence is improving. so if the economy is not the defining issue, then, of course, you know you see the advantage diminished. the other thing to say is from the barack obama team's perspective, you can attack mitt romney. remember we heard job production i think what perry said in massachusetts was next-to-last. that dukakis proud more jobs from mitt romney. >> and the plan in the south, for super tuesday, for the washington caucuses on saturday, is there a newt gingrich plan that works in your mind? >> no. i think he has already been knocked out. he needed threes three weeks to establish himself, to redefine his campaign, and i don't think he's done it. >> do you agree? >> we should say one more thing, we haven't talked with the super-pacs tonight. each of these candidates,

santorum or gingrich, might at some point run out of money and drop out in the future, but now they don't have to because they have super-pacs, funded largely by individual supporters of them. foster freiz, if he's in the mood to keep giving money, he can keep airing ads. >> and sheldon with the newt gingrich campaign. >> thank you. we will be back in a minute. >> we will check in with those guys down in d.c. and see what on earth they are wearing now. don't go away. >> it is harder to make ends meet because we have a government that's crushing us every single day with more taxes, more regulation, and the idea that they know better than you how to run your life. that ultimately is about what this race is about. it comes down to the very nature of who we are as americans.

>> a couple pieces of business we want to take care of. we were talking about the robo calls and specifically the ones santorum made urging democrats to come out, and democrats did come out and among the democrats who did, romney lost to santorum but you think there's a backlash? >> if you made up your mind who to vote for last year you voted for romney 50-17. and earlier this month in february after the february 7th victories, you voted for santorum. 54-32. if you made up your mind in the last few days, voted for santorum, 49-31 but if you made up your mind today that was ten% of the voters you voted for

romney, 38-31. i heard on the ground from people in the state there was avis re-elected reaction to the robo calls, and santorum trying to get democrats to enter the primary, and it shows up in the exit policy, 38-31 romney. >> and let's talk about another robo called. and do you think the robo call from donald trump helped? >> he did a robo call a few weeks ago, started it through michigan. i think it's really helping. trump helped him twice, in nevada and now michigan. he's a force helping with the -- >> what does he connect with? >> tea party republicans, blue-collar folks. he's appealing to them. he appeals to them and gets them to take another look at romney. it's happened now, and i think the robo call helped. >> we were talking with the panel about the fact that the unemployed voted for romney. do you think trump may help with

that? >> absolutely. it opens the group up. and particularly as you go into super tuesday, having that in the -- you know, in your arsenal is really important to romney. >> the final point, karl, we were talking, and the panel in new york was, as well, about the controversial things, some would say positive, some would say negative that's correct rick santorum said about college, catholics and contraception. you think the college remark may have been the one that really hurt? >> i think it hurt more than what you might think. how many people say, yeah, i don't want my kid to go to college. darn it. the best thing for him is to avoid going to college. most of us believe in a higher education is a means for prosperity and opportunity for our children, and i think this remark hurt him among some people. >> and even though colleges are hotbeds of liberal indoctrination? >> even if we know that, we send them off to college and hope they come out sane. but one thing mitt romney hit the last week is he wanted to have an economy in which people

had an opportunity to rise, there was opportunity and prosperity in the future, and i think this hurt santorum because it sounded like he really didn't get it, that that was a way up for people. >> well, a lot that we've chewed over tonight. a lot of radio interviews and that panel thinks he was making a difference. >> with all due respect to trump, i think we may be underestimating the effect of kid rock. romney thanked him as well. coming up, two wins for mitt romney tonight. we will be right back with final thoughts from our panel in new york. stay with us. [ rosa ] i'm rosa and i quit smoking with chantix. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first wee.. i'm like...yeah, ok...

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>> he likes to remind us he inherited an economy in crisis but doesn't like to remind us he inherited a democrat congress. he had majorities in the house and senate and free to pursue any policy he pleased. did he fix the economy? no. did he tackle the housing crisis? did he get americans back to work? >> mitt romney tonight the winner in michigan and arizona focusing his speech, as he has in the past to president obama time now to bring back our panel for final thoughts. steve, first you. >> i think mitt romney avoided a disaster, that is not going to be a disaster because he

won the popular vote. if sabt santorum ends up getting more delegates they're going to press the case very hard. and the feeling in romney's camp has to be of relief. i thought he gave a good speech. i suspect he'll go back to the economy and in what is interesting from his speech i thought is that he seem today. pand his criticism of president obama and included longer passage on entitlement reform in which he said the president hasn't had the courage to layout a plan for reforming entitlements in the way that i have. i think that is a critique of president obama's leadership. >> and we could remember tonight as the night that mitt romney really turned a corner and put all of the anti-romney to bed. if he is able to sustain going forward going into ohio. but into that southern area of

the country. the heart of the republican party and a party you're going to see more of a social conservative and evangelicals coming into play. will antimormanism come into play there? we don't know. spend sog much money in michigan and elsewhere trying to develop momentum he drained funds as he goes on. because especially if you throw in gingrich tonight there is a strong antiromney sentiment in the republican party. >> this is the first speech i heard mitt romney mention his web site and donations and people should contribute. >> this is a man dropping 30 plus million of his own money and doesn't want to do it again. i think the bottom line in this for rick santorum is that you can't escape your reputation. for decades he's built a reputation as leader in the social conservative movement. i think the bottom line is

that as much as he talked about the economy, the voters i talked to thought of him as a social conservative guy. most won with 76% was a group of people believing abortion should be illegal. >> i'm from the ohio coming up and we've heard and discussed this is a critical issue. he's not winning those voters now economically in the north as he needs to win and i think joe trippy was right. romney did better than he's done after two states and after the nascar statement. this is the real test. santorum, i think blew an opportunity. romney dodged a bullet. >> and thank you so much. that does it for us tonight. but the race for the republican presidential nomination is not over yet. the debate appear to be over but on saturday, 8:00 p.m. eastern governor huckabee has a forum and then, special

coverage 10:00 p.m. out of washington. >> next tuesday, a super tuesday contest. coverage beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. 50 good night. glap

>> good morning, every one. it's wednesday, february 29th. mitt romney takes victories in arizona and michigan, in his home state, it wasn't pretty but he says a win is a win. >> we didn't win a lot but we won by enough. that's all that counts. >> how mitt proved the pundits wrong. we'll explore it. >> but rick santorum right at romney's heels. >> a month ago, they didn't know who we are but they do now! >> they do indeed. did santorum's call for democrats to get on the vote