captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: former massachusetts governor mitt romney has won florida's winner-take-all primary tonight. good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff in tampa, florida. on the newshour tonight, we'll have the latest results and analysis on this special edition of the pbs newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: for mitt romney, it's a night to celebrate. he scored a resounding victory in florida, sweeping all 50 delegates and regaining the mantle of republican presidential front-runner.

with more than three-quarters of the precincts counted, romney had a wide lead over newt gingrich, 47% to 32%. it came just ten days after gingrich had trounced him in south carolina. romney claimed his victory this evening, before supporters at the tampa convention center. >> primary contests are not easy. they're not suppose to be. as this primary unfolds our opponents and other party are watching. they hraoeub to comfort themselves with the fact a competitive campaign will leave us divided and weak. i have news for them. a competitive primary does not divide us. it prepares us and we will win. >> and when we gather back here in tampa, 7 months from now for our convention --

[cheers and applause] >> -- ours will be a united party with a winning ticket for america! [cheers and applause] >> we still believe in the america that is the land of opportunity, and a beacon of freedom. we believe in the america that challenges each of us to be bigger and better than ourselves. this election let's fight for the america we love. we believe in america. thank you, so much! [cheers and applause] >> florida, you're the best. god bless the united states of america. thank you. >> and we turn to the analysis of she's and brooks. mark she's and new york times columnist david brooks. david, it's not a surprise mitt romney won. is there anything that caught your eye? >> yes. people said he had all of this money and ran negative ads.

40 percent of the voters decided in 2011, last month. he trownsed gingrich. they are more of his kind of voters. south carolina is more of a outliner. florida is more of a representative of the country. they're main street republicans. they like romney no matter what the ads say. it's good news for him going down the road. >> what do you think, mark? >> think the world of david. without the debates and ads he doesn't come back. i think the chemistry changed. i agree with david in the absentee and early ballots he did very well. it was once said that people told me that voters didn't like negative ads. i didn't use any and i lost. 92 percent of the ads used in florida were negative. i don't think it's any question. you look at the voters attitude

towards newt gingrich coming out of the exit polls tonight. they were very cruel to him a lot crueler then coming out of south carolina. i agree with david, demographically he was a good fit. he won there four years ago, mitt romney did. no question. >> february 7th, 2008, mitt romney dropped out of the race. >> that's right. >> he said the competitive primary does not divide it prepares. >> i have heard a lot of people in and around washington say it's good. in the long run it's good. two things going for him. one, he's a better candidate. second, in the last couple of weeks, he talked about money. >> his wealth. >> his waoelgt. wealth. he's getting better. the down side is he's hurt by the independents. they have been clearly hurt but

there is -- a general like ability and the skills are stronger. i think that's somewhat true. >> to the degree of this becoming a two man race with santorum and paul to move elsewhere. to what degree did mitt romney paint gingrich as being unstable, unready to be president? >> it had a ring to it that they used against john mccain in 2000. i remember rat i can ierratic ir and over. newt beginning rush makes sweeping categorical statements, sometimes contradictory. he tried to present himself as the second son that ronald reagan never had, the third son i guess. michael and ron jr. you know, just a lot of

contradictions. when he compared ronald reagan's meeting to mic mikal gorbachev. there was a lot of problems with beginning rush. >> newt gingrich and the highlight of his, most important of his campaign gave a statement on us statehood. we saw the effects. >> statehood, a colony -- >> i think he said statehood. shooting for the primary. >> there is going to be a contest. i think that's true. i think new newt gingrich is an enormously talented guy. he's his own campaign manager and policy expert. i think you saw fatigues in the closing days in florida.

in both debates he was more pass tiff and submissive more so than in south carolina. >> there are two other events in the race. rick santorum is in nevada tonight. we heard what he had to say about the results coming in. let's listen. >> the american public does not want to see two or three candidates get into a mud wrestling match where everyone walks away dirty, and not in a position to represent our party proudly. we will have differences on the issues. we need to talk about the differences on the issues. what we saw the last few weeks in the state of florida is not going to help us win the election. >> this is not ending tonight, is it. not exactly, at least by delegate counts. >> not by any means, delegate counts any sorts. we saw mitt romney win the upset in washington. we saw him win resoundingly in

new hampshire. then newt gingrich come back and romney lose iowa in a recount. this is not a straight away race. >> some of the smaller caucus states it will help santorum and paul. who knows he might as well hang in there. you don't know what can happen with rom. >> thank you, we will be back with a wrap up at the end of the program. >> now for a closer look at the primary results we're joined by stuart rothenberg of the rothenberg political report and columnist for "roll call" and christina bellantoni. hello, to you both. we know now tree quarters of the vote of the precincts in florida the margin is about 47 percent for mitt romney. christina, you're looking at this county by county.

what do you see. >> you see newt gingrich performing well in the panhandle part of the state. a more conservative area and more to the south. it's more like the south than florida and places move there to retire.e. you see gingrich performing well among the conservatives. they're arguing he's doing better with conservatives then mitt romney. this is a battleground state, and it's not like those voters are picking barack obama in a general election. another thing about the geography of the state is the i-4 corridor from south beach to tampa. the majority of the votes are, where the candidates spent a lot of their time. they're really, really taking a look at this area. romney performed very well here. that bodes well for him. it also sort of suggests this will be fertile ground for a

general election. one other thing the romney campaign had a strong early vote, absentee vote program where a lot of people turned in votes early. which florida loves to do. 600,000 people did that. that's why many of the early returns showed a strong margin for romney, it showed his organization. which i think if this stretches out over multiple contests he has an advantage there organizationally. >> now stu, you're looking at the exit polls. primary states with voters leaving the primaries. what do you see there. >> interesting stuff, judy. ideology newt gingrich clobbered romney. romney won by 39 points among those groups. conservatives split rather evenly among romney and gingrich. romney won by 4 points. i think there is a more

important nugget here. when you look at the exits and break out conservative voters and somewhat conservative voters gingrich won very conservative by 14 percentage points and romney won 19 points. it shows that romney is getting traction among conservatives but not eating into the most conservative voters. the kind of republicans that want to outlaw abortion entirely. those voters are sticking with newt gingrich. for religion gingrich won born again christians narrowly by 3 points. romney won those that are not evangelical, born again christians. and in terms of electability there were a couple of questions. romney did well who wanted a winner against barack obama.

two other quick categories. romney won 5 points but won women over 22 points. whether this goes to the question of newt gingrich's marriages i will let others speculate. it's hard not to wonder. ethnicity is really, really interesting. this is a state with a substantial latino population. 14 percent of primary voters are latinos. romney won them by 23 points. there is a question who has the best policy towards illegal immigrants? there are three opposites. apply for citizenship. stay of temporary workers, or deport people. three alternatives here. there was no difference in the votes for mitt romney in each of these three positions. which tells me immigration was not a decisive figure in this election. >> i noticed also, stu, one

group where newt gingrich split the vote was among married men. i think we want to ask questions about that later. christina, you have taken a look at this interesting data on the news hour election map. tell us about that. some had to do with the economy and unemployment. >> yes. unemployment you can look at. romney did strongly in the portion of the state as i mentioned not the panhandle. gingrich did well in the panhandle. we have unemployment data on the website breaking down the strongest areas of unemployment is, and we were just informed i was there over the weekend covering the campaign. really the signs of economic distress is everywhere. they're disappointed in barack obama. every person we talked to they voted for him in 200 2008 and they're not happy or they're considering the republicans because it's a difficult time.

also the state interesting in florida is the older population of voters. we have a map outlining the percentage of voters on social security, social security income. that's all over the map. romney did well with these older voters as well. finally take a look at the maps and see the differen distributif hispanic voters. there was a bigger turn out than we expected. they said one in every eleven voters would be his pan and i can it was higher. that says a lot about the interesting in the campaign. >> alright. stu rothenberg, christina bellantoni. thank you, both. we're told new newt gingrich is speaking to his supporters in orlando. let's dip into that and what he has to say. >> it is now clear this will be a two person race between the conservative leader newt gingrich and the massachusets

moderate. [cheers and applause] >> the voters of florida really made that clear. you will notice a number of folks are holding up a sign "about 47 states to go." we did this in part for the elite media 46 states to go the same people who said i was dead in june and july and were totally quiet the night of the south carolina victory now will be back saying what will he do, what will he do. i want to reassure them we will contest every place. we will win. we will be in tampa as the nominee in august. [cheers and applause] >> there is more to come on the news hour including more analysis from shields and brooks. first with other news of the day. >> the latest estimate of the

federal deficit puts it at $1.1 trillion for this fiscal years. the congressional office the congressional budget office released the new number today. it's less than last year's deficit of $1.3 trillion, but up from an estimate last summer. republicans, such as senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, said it's more evidence the president's policies have failed. >> c.b.o. has indicated that we will run a trillion dollar at least deficit again, making it every single year of this administration we've had at least a trillion-dollar-a-year deficit. it's important to remember the president got everything he wanted the first two years. we're living in the obama economy. >> holman: at the white house, spokesman jay carney argued the president has done his part to cut spending. he said the real problem is the other side steadfastly rules out tax hikes. >> what has been lacking thus far is the way to deal with revenue in any meaningful way by the republicans.

that is just not the approach that the broad base of the american public feels is the right way to go. >> holman: the congressional budget office study said if the bush-era tax cuts were allowed to lapse, the deficits would drop sharply. consumer nfidence fell in january, after two months of gains. the conference board, a business research group, blamed worries about higher gasoline prices and overall business conditions. that was enough to slow wall street some. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 20 points to close below 12,633. the nasdaq rose about two points to close above 2813. overall, the dow and the s&p 500 had their best january in 15 years. the nasdaq was up by the most in 11 years. the president moved to revive a small business tax break plan today. he said he wants congress to eliminate capital gains taxes for investments in small businesses and to grant deductions that help smaller firms grow.

at a cabinet meeting, mr. obama said it was a priority for him, and one democrats and republicans have endorsed. >> my expectation and hope is that they will get a bill together quickly, that they will pass it and get it on my desk. i would like to see that bill signed this year. >> holman: the small business ideas are part of the president's budget package, to be unveiled next month. the death toll neared 60 today in a sub-zero cold wave across central and eastern europe. temperatures plunged to minus 17 degrees fahrenheit in some places. ukraine was among the hardest hit. heating centers inside tents were set up across kiev for homeless people. the number of people being treated for frostbite also was on the rise. in poland, five people died of hypothermia in the last 24 hours alone. for the first time, americans who suffer from cystic fibrosis will have access to a drug that treats the root cause. the food and drug administration

approved kalydeco today for use by 1,200 patients with a rare form of the disease. in all, about 30,000 americans have cystic fibrosis. it causes mucus buildup in the lungs and other organs and generally causes death by young adulthood. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> european leaders attempt to tackle their fiscal woes, margaret warner is examining repercussions on the ground. tonight, she reports from stuttgart, germany. i spoke with her a short time ago. you were in belgium for us last night. tonight you're in germany meeting with those or covering the meeting of those european leaders. what did they agree to in the end? >> warner: the one concrete thing they did agree to was a new kind of budgetary or fiscal pact they're calling it. some call it a treaty. 25 of the 27 members of the

european union agreed in principle to this. and the idea is that they're going to have a tighter mechanism to ensure fiscal discipline on its member countries and punish those in some fashion who don't meet their obligations. so as angela merkel, the chancellor of germany, explained it to us last night, it sounded very tough. if any country exceeds more than half a percentage of g.d.p. and an annual deficit, it can be referred by the european commission to some sort of european court of justice and some automatic fines will go into effect. but today as people have looked at it more closely, there are a lot of caveats. it's not clear how airtight the mechanism is. the final language hasn't been written or finalized and won't be signed until march. secondly, even though these e.u. leaders, most of them agreed to it last night, even if most of them come back in march and sign it, it has to be ratified by at least 12 e.u. member parliaments. so there's a lot to be done between what happened last night and this coming into effect.

>> ifill: angela merkel, as you mentioned was the driving force behind this agreement. you're now in germany tonight. how is it being received away from these inner sanctums where the leaders meet? >> warner: gwen, we came here to germany and we're going to italy next week to try to understand why this euro crisis is so hard to resolve when we have a flavor of that today. first of all, the opposition parties, all the opposition parties immediately were critical, saying as they have throughout this crisis that she's trying to drive europe into the kind of austerity measures that will just starve europe of growth. then we went down, we were actually south of stuttgart going to this very, very productive manufacturing area, and the few kind of ordinary germans we talked to, they liked her tough talk because she is expressing their values, german values. which is you don't take on debt you can't pay. so, for instance, we were at this factory that makes gigantic tunnel-boring equipment.

i was talking to the work site manager, a man with a 10th grade education. he was pointing to this big piece of machinery they were about to ship to spain. he said the euro has been very good for us. but he said, "greece, that's a problem." i said, "do you think that germany is the wealthiest country in the e.u. and other wealthy countries need to rescue the countries that have a hard time?" he said, "no, but what can we do? if we don't and if greece goes," as he said, meaning default, he said, "then will spain and portugal fall?" he got the whole connection. he said that would be very bad for us. he said, "we in europe need to have a strong, united europe to compete against the united states," he said, "and china." he said, so we really can't afford to have the euro come apart. but he did say about merkel, he said he liked the way she talked.

he said, i think that the other leaders respect her. her personal popularity ratings are in fact off the charts, higher than her party's. >> ifill: margaret, you mentioned the big elephant in the room is greece, and who will be able to fix that or turn that around, which was not resolved in brussels. i wonder whether it even matters because there have been rules in place against what happens in greece saying that the debt limit has to be enforced but nobody has ever done anything about those rules in the past. >> warner: that's right, gwen. as one commentator said to me tonight, one noted television commentator here in germany, he said, you know, it is really hard for germans to believe that this time they really mean it. some of the same budget limits that are in this new compact were in the original treaty. as he said, those were violated early and regularly by many countries, he said, including germany. >> ifill: margaret, safe travels to you and thank you for your report. >> warner: thanks, gwen.

>> woodruff: next tonight, mounting violence in syria and a new diplomatic push to oust the government of president bashar al assad. ray suarez has the story. >> suarez: since the weekend syrian tanks and troops have been blasting rebel fighters in the suburbs of damascus itself. at least 100 people were killed monday alone. and by today, protestors were left to pick up the wounded since the military regained control. farther north in homs, more deaths with activists reporting heavy shelling and machine gun fire by the syrian army. all of which means the u.n.'s most recent estimate, more than 5,400 syrians killed since march, is already out of date. >> what's going on in syria is an absolute scandal. i've been saying it for weeks, not to say months. >> suarez: french foreign

minister voiced the west's mounting frustration on french radio today. >> the butchering continues despite the presence of observers who the arab league who have just left. there are dozens or hundreds of deaths every week. this is not acceptable. this president has blood on his hands. it's not possible for him to continue to assume responsibility for his country. >> suarez: he took that message to new york and the united nations where western and arab diplomats launched their own offensive. it's aimed at ousting syrian president assad and ending the violence. this afternoon, the 15-nation u.n. security council took up an arab league proposal that's won strong support from the u.s., britain and france. arab league secretary general nabil. >> arab states aim at taking us as the syrian crisis in an arab context.

we are attempting to avoid any foreign intervention. particularly military intervention. >> suarez: the draft resolution demands an end to the syrian government crackdown on the opposition. the plan would also require assad to hand over power to his vice president. that, in turn, is supposed to set the stage for a new unity government. the resolution before the security council says if assad fails to comply within 15 days, he could face unspecified further measures. despite the threat that syrians showed no signs of giving ground. >> the syrian people were always capable of solving its crises and internal problems alone. it has never accepted any form of foreign intervention in its internal affairs and affairs of its homeland syria. >> suarez: but it may never come to that. russia, a key syrian ally, has veto power in the council and

foreign minister sergei visiting australia today called the resolution a path to civil war. >> i hope that knowledgeable people, reasonable people understand what this is about. and who opt in favor of dialogue and engagement of everyone, not in favor of isolating. isolation doesn't work. >> suarez: back in the security council u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton tried to allay russian and chinese fears about u.n. military action. >> now, i know that some members here may be concerned that the security council could be headed toward another libya. that is a false analogy. syria is a unique situation that requires its own approach, tailored to the specific circumstances occurring there. >> suarez: the security council was expected to continue

discussing the resolution tomorrow. it remains unclear when a final vote might come. and joining me now from the united nations is the u.s. ambassador, susan rice. she's been involved in today's security council sessions with secretary of state clinton. madam ambassador, russian diplomats have called the current u.n. resolution a path to civil war. they got the veto. is that the end of this resolution? >> no, not necessarily, ray. we'll see as we get deeper into negotiations where, in fact, the russians are. they have a fundamental choice to make. they can stand with the syrian people and the countries in the region in the arab league in support of a peaceful plan to transfer power and have democratic elections or they can be on the wrong side of history and as secretary clinton said today complicit in the consequences for the syrian people. we hope they'll make the right choice. but there's no assurance of

that. in fact, we will get into negotiations and we'll see whether a resolution that itself imposes no sanctions, has no threats or authorization for the use of military force but simply condemns the violence, condemns the syrian regime for the atrocities against its people and calls for supporting in toto the arab league plan to pursue this peaceful transition can garner their support. it will be an important indication of their intention. >> suarez: earlier we saw your boss, the secretary of state, speaking to reassure china and russia. given the wording which is what the russians have objected to, and they say it leaves open the possibility of armed intervention, can they be reassured? can this be rewritten? >> ray, there is absolutely nothing, zero, nada in this resolution that calls for, allows or contemplates the possibility of the use of

military force. that is simply false. and the secretary said that that... in the council today when she said the analogy to libya is a false analogy. so there's nothing to fix in this resolution. it is not under chapter 7 of the charter which is the provision for the use of force or sanctions or self-defense. it is nothing along those lines. so that is an argument that the opponents of action in syria have been using to delay and deflect meaningful council response. there are other aspects of the resolution that they may legitimately object to such as supporting the arab league plan about which they have some reservations but there's nothing in this resolution that threatens or authorizes the use of force. there's nothing that imposes sanctions. there's nothing that false under chapter 7, the enforcement provision of the charter. >> suarez: often a vote is held up until an outcome is more

certain. is the u.s. ready to go ahead with the vote even if it looks like a veto is coming? >> we'll see where the sides line up in the context of the negotiations. too soon to make that judgment, ray. we're not interested in a divided council as the secretary said today. indeed almost every member of the council today including russia and china, we seek a unified consensual decision out of the security council that supports our interests, the arab league's interest and the syrian people's interest in a peaceful political transition that ends the killing and ends the crisis. that may prove not to be possible. and if that's the case, then morocco, which has sponsored this resolution, the arab league which has sought council action and we and others will have to take a decision about how to proceed but that's premature at this stage.

>> suarez: as diplomacy takes its steady course in new york at the united nations, there's no hesitation in syria. the army is moving strongly against what is called the free syrian army. and the people, two dozen a day, who are being killed day in, day out wait for diplomacy to work. >> we have taken the view from the very beginning, ray, that one death is too many. this has been going on for 11 months. the united states has been very clear that assad's policies are absolutely reprehensible. and need to end immediately. we have imposed very tough sanctions on the syrian regime as have members of the european union. the arab league has called for sanctions. many others have come and the economic pressure on assad is very intense. we're proceeding with a great degree of urgency because we are deeply concerned that assad is now stepping up his violence. he is taking advantage of the absence of the arab league

monitors to do even more damage. so this is quite urgent. but, as i said earlier and as the secretary of state said in the security council member- states have a choice to make. are they going to be on the side of the syrian people and the right side of history and the values that we hold dear, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom to chart one's own political future or are they going to side with a dictator whose days are very numbered. >> suarez: away from the cameras, members of the arab league delegation briefed members of security council delegations today in new york. any signs that that helped soften the resistance to the arab league-backed resolution? >> well, i think it certainly clarified some misconceptions for those who are listening and have an open mind. there are many who have tried to suggest, those who are supportive of the assad regime that somehow this resolution entails regime change.

that is false. and indeed the arab league secretary general, the prime minister of qatar representing the arab league member-states made that point very clearly. it calls for a process consistent with syria's constitution for assad to hand over delegates, responsibility for negotiating the parameters of a peaceful political transition to his vice president. that is what the arab league plan entails. that is what the council is being asked to endorse among other elements of the arab league plan. and so that misconception, which has fueled some concern in various quarters, was certainly directly addressed by our arab partners in their meetings today and yesterday. and i hope that it has brought some clarity to those that are paying attention. >> suarez: the united states ambassador to the united nations, susan rice, thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me, ray.

>> woodruff: now, we look at one of the major economic problems on the minds of voters this year, including in florida: housing. jeffrey brown has the story. >> brown: florida may be known as the sunshine state, but like much of the country, conditions remain poor when it comes to the housing market. a national report out today, the so-called index shows u.s. home prices fell for a third straight month in major metropolitan markets including miami and tampa. in florida, home values have dropped by 40% or more in some areas since the housing bust. nationwide prices have dropped by more than a third. and the foreclosure crisis continues with nearly 2.7

million foreclosure filings last year. several states have been particularly hard-hit including california, nevada, arizona, and indeed the site of today's primary election florida. some voters in tampa today said they wanted the candidates to offer more solutions to the problem. >> i'm not thrilled with the reactions from them talking about it. i think they've kind of just gone past it. i really don't think they want to talk about it. >> brown: a map from the newshour's "vote 2012" center helps tell the story. the tampa area is one of nearly 30 counties in the state where foreclosure rates have risen substantially in some cases doubling, tripling or quadrupling since 2007. the darker the color, the worse shape the county is in. to date republican presidential candidates have largely avoided spelling out specific policies on housing, mainly arguing that fixing the broader economy is the most logical solution. in october, mitt romney said in an interview in las vegas that it was best to, quote, let the

foreclosure process run its course and hit the bottom. more recently in florida, he's talked generally about taking measures to turn around the problem. most of the focus of the last week, though, has been on the government-owned mortgage giants fannie mae and freddie mac. last week's debate in jacksonville, romney took aim at newt gingrich's consultant work with freddie mac. >> he should have stood up and said these things are a disaster. this is a crisis. he should have been anxiously telling the american people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause the collapse we've seen here in florida and around the country. >> governor romney owns shares of both fannie mae and freddie mac. governor romney made a million dollars off selling some of that. governor romney has an investment in goldman sachs which is today foreclosing on floridians. >> brown: in that same debate texas representative ron paul and former senator rick santorum both said fannie and freddie should be phased out.

for his part, the president used his state of the union address to call for new legislation aimed at helping those unable to make their mortgage payments. >> responsible homeowners shouldn't have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief. and that's why i'm sending this congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage by refinancing at historically low rates. >> brown: the president's principal program for working with lenders has far helped more than 900,000 homeowners get a permanent modification on their mortgage. that's far short of the original goals of the program. tomorrow the president is expected to spell out further details of his newest plan. more now on housing and the campaign from jed kolko, chief economist with trulia, an online residential real estate site that provides information for buyers, sellers, renters, and agents. and arian campo-flores is a

reporter for the "wall street journal" who's been reporting on housing in florida. he joins us from miami. jed kolko, before we get to florida and the campaign, fill in the national picture for us a bit. what do today's numbers tell us? >> the housing market is still struggling in most parts of the country. even though we have seen some good news in the past few months, both sales and construction appear to be picking up a bit, but home prices are still falling. not as much as they did at the worst part of the housing bust but they are still falling. a lot of people have wondered how can that be? we thought that if you fixed the economy, the housing market would follow and we've seen employment growing each month for more than the last year. but the problem is even with more jobs and growing housing demand, there's so much inventory, so much supply, so many vacancies that it's hanging over the housing market that makes it hard for prices to rise. you may have more people who are demanding housing and are looking to buy, but there are so

many homes that are available and could come to market if prices started to rise that there's nothing to push prices upward until we get rid of some of this inventory. >> brown: take that national picture and translate it to what you've been seeing in counties in florida. give us a little flavor of the current state of the market there. >> well, i spent some time reporting in the county in central florida, the eastern end of the i-4 corridor. the western part of that county in particular cities like deltaa, de berry and deland have been especially hard hit. the price theirs have come down 54% from their peak. i saw blocks with four or five, six homes that were in foreclosure. for sale signs all over the place. i spoke to a lot of people who either faced foreclosure or went through it. they just uniformly described

this incredibly excruciating maddening process that takes years of negotiating with banks. and in the course ruins their credit and just creates immense frustration. also spoke to those who were their neighbors and feel trapped in their homes because they've seen the property values plummet in their areas and they just don't really have a way out. >> brown: just to stay with you. there you were all week while the campaign was going on. how did this issue play out? what did people tell you they wanted from the candidates and what were they hearing from the candidates? >> well, what they said they want is more help for homeowners who are underwater. folks want the principals on their loans to be written down. they would like these refinancing programs and loan modification programs to reach them. you know, figures were cited earlier that the administration has put out and it's true.

in fact, more than 900,000 people have had permanent modifications but none of the people that i spoke to had been able to benefit from any of those programs. so there's this sense that those, you know, folks in washington who have put forth solutions, those have not worked thus far. what they're hearing so far from the candidates on the campaign trail, on the g.o.p. side are a lot of generalities but no specific proposals that, you know, would suggest a way out. >> brown: it sort of presents an interesting dilemma, jed kolko, for some of the republican candidates because for the most part on economic issues, they're pushing for free-market policies. how does that translate into the particulars of the housing market? >> i think the republican candidates are in a tough position when it comes to housing policy. when it comes to voters, housing really is a bipartisan issue. we truly did a survey of

consumers, and we found that even a majority of republicans want the government to support home ownership. they're actually in favor of most of the types of proposals that are on the table. the problems for the candidates though is almost any policy that you might come up with, such as refinancing or reducing principal, loan modification, will either cost somebody some money and that somebody is probably going to be the government or the banks or both, and it's very hard to separate people who are underwater or might lose their homes and it's entirely not their fault from people who might have taken risks or made bad decisions that maybe they shouldn't be bailed out for. democrats are a lot more willing to accept that some people who may be less deserving to be helped than republicans are. republicans are a lot less willing to burden either the government or banks with more money. it means even though republican voters want to hear from their

candidates some kinds of policies that might help the housing market, republican candidates face these land mines of the challenge of spending more money and the reluctance among lots of republicans to help undeserving homeowners. >> brown: at the same time, jed kolko, the obama administration with a more interventionist approach, is still finding this a very tough nut to crack, right? still a big problem. >> that's right. what obama proposed in the state of the union address probably needs congressional approval. we know how that usually goes. but another irony of the whole debate over housing policy is that some of the most innovative and daring ideas have actually come from advisors and economists and other policy wonks who traditionally advise republicans. so the ideas are there. it's just that current politics make it hard for the sgochlt to spend money and have to deal

with this question of separating the deserving from the undeserving homeowners and makes it very hard for the republican candidates to talk about these policies in the campaign. >> brown: arian campo-flores, bringing it back to florida, i wonder if you see any bright spots there. florida still being a very desirable destination for so many people around the country. is there some hope of morning people coming in, picking up some of these houses? are there some signs that people point to? >> there are some. i mean, you know, in the miami area, for instance, there's been a lot of international buyers that have come in that are scooping up properties that were and all these condominiums that were overbuilt during the boom period and paying all cash. they're starting to eat up some of that inventory. in the county where i spent time reporting, you're seeing again people taking advantage of the really low prices, buying up properties that they're then renting out or using sort of as investments so that is starting to happen. it is helping. i spoke to the property prayer

in the county who felt that the market was probably pretty much at the bottom, but there is just still so much inventory left that it will just take a long time for that to really have a noticeable impact in these neighborhoods. >> brown: jed kolko, just 30 seconds or so here. does that fit into any part of the national picture? >> yes. at trulia we see many more people from outside of florida searching for homes in florida than people in florida looking to leave. florida's long been the retirement community for so much of the u.s., and baby boomers will still be retiring and now that homes are more affordable in florida, some of those baby boomers who thought they'd have to look for cheaper locations in the south can now consider florida again for their retirement. >> brown: jed kolko, arian campo-flores, thank you both very much. >> my pleasure.

>> ifill: now, final thoughts on the florida g.o.p. primary, and back to mark shields and david brooks. mitt romney swept to victory over newt gingrich. romney scored 47 percent to 32 percent for gingrich. rick santorum was a distant third at 13 percent. ron paul came in last at 7 percent of the vote. now back to mark shields and david brooks. we have two stories tonight. one is how mitt romney won and how newt gingrich lost. how did mit win? >> electability. people not excited but he looks like a president. seems plausible. a few down sides, weak in south carolina but they referred to he looks plausible. i think that's the rule along the way. as long as mitt romney looks plausible and can run against barack obama he will do fine. >> how much was it plausibility and how much was it tens of

millions of dollars of taking each other down. >> i think in a state as big as florida and as diverse as florida, a nation state. a incredibly important state. ten media markets, paid television advertising does play a role. i think the debates played a large role as well. mitt romney did very well to answer your question. where he did well and gingrich did poorly was among married women. i think this is both a tribute to romney's strength and appeal. a plausibility. it's also a mark against newt gingrich. 52 to 30 he lost married women. that's a decisive margin. >> that's interesting. one of the things we took from south carolina is newt beginninh did well against married women.

>> in south carolina there was more of a other issues truplting it. they vanning let cal and tea party passion. in florida the tea party passion is less. >> it's interesting this week looking at conservatives, do we know tonight whether the conservatives or most conservative voters want gingrich or romney. >> the south ideological voters, very conservative is the only group newt gingrich did carry over mitt romney. over somewhat conservatives and other conservatives and moderate liberals romney ran the score. >> in his remarkable concession speech, victory speech he gave tonight he didn't talk about big ideas. >> gingrich. >> yes. gingrich. he's not talking about big

ideas but the concept of big ideas with an angry tone. >> in his speech he laid out what he would do becoming president on a night he lost by 15 points. grandious is the word that comes to mind. does that mean he has a plan or mark that we can't see? >> he certainly has a track record of having to come back with minimal resources. no question, this is a man of great resilince and great resourcefulness and enormous self confidence. what i found missing in his remarks was the south confidence. it was more about my hours as president. i agree there is an anger and lack of graciousness and congratulating your opponent. >> which he didn't do t-flt. >> he didn'do it.>> he didn't de

the fire. >> i think i saw it differently. i think his emotional registerrery is mayor oh, he seemed angry and contemptuous in his speech. people are angry and want change but if you only offer them the same emotional register people will say enough, even if they sort of agree with you. >> if you're the democrats watching in the white house, presumably secretly watching in chicago. is this a good night or wad night for the president. >> i don't think it's a bad night for the president to to se the republicans continue in the civil war. the wounds on mitt romney are already negative numbers of independent voters has skyrocketed. the alternative of mitt romney

or newt gingrich it's a far different race. i mean he's a plausibility, the adjective to use with mitt romney you can't use with newt gingrich. >> they have fairly settling on president obama and talking about his failed presidency in more of an a pock li apocolytti. >> i think you have to say mitt romney is a better candidate now than four years ago. i'm sure the obama people are not underestimating mitt romney. >> they shouldn't underestimate him. i mean, if you're -- president runs for election you have a referendum on your self. you want to make it a choice. it's easier to make it a choice with newt gingrich who is being

dissed from republicans. he served with 350 republicans in the house and he has a grand total of 11 supporting him. romney has been embraced by a lot of republicans. >> okay. mark shields, david brooks, another election night. thank you, both, very much. >> ifill: again, the other major developments of the day. the u.n. security council took up an arab league peace plan for syria, while syrian government forces routed rebel fighters from the outskirts of damascus. and the congressional budget office estimated the federal deficit will top $1 trillion for the fourth year in a row. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll follow the g.o.p. presidential hopefuls as they move on to colorado and nevada. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff in tampa.

we'll see you online, where you can follow the county-by-county returns on our interactive map and watch the candidates' victory and concession speeches tonight. plus you can view all our programming on your mobile device. just download the pbs newshour iphone and ipad app. and we'll be here for a special report on the results of the florida primary at 11:00 p.m. eastern time, and again tomorrow evening. thanks for watching. good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting.

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