and while we're having -- we haven't always gotten our message across in terms of getting as many votes as we'd like, we clearly were changing the national dialogue all week. if you'll notice, the president's now made three speeches and a press conference on energy. the white house press secretary has attacked me twice on energy. and this afternoon, we were told that the secretary of anti-energy, dr. chu, announced -- >> good evening, this is msnbc's special coverage of the republican primary elections in both mississippi and alabama. here on a live edition of "the ed show" tonight on msnbc. nbc news projects rick santorum as the winner of the alabama republican primary. in mississippi, nbc news has now called the race for rick santorum. this is a major victory for rick santorum and a major defeat for newt gingrich and mitt romney. just hours ago, romney was saying santorum's campaign was running on fumes.

>> the reagan tradition of visionary conservatism is based on proverbs and the very deep belief that without vision the people perish. i believe we need a visionary leader who's prepared to talk about a dramatically better future with dramatically more jobs, dramatically more energy and a much safer and stronger america. i think that's the key to winning this fall. not all this petty baloney but the really big choices. as i went around both states talking about $2.50 gasoline, having all sorts of folks in elite media say, that's not possible, then finally on saturday in "the wall street journal" a piece was entitled, newt gingrich is right about gasoline. and he walked through step by step why it was possible. and the fact is it is very possible.

and then yesterday steven moore reported in "the wall street journal" -- these numbers are so amazing. i think the fact that i want to talk about substance is what makes this campaign different from other campaigns. it is the reason we're going to go all the way to tampa to compete for the nomination. we need at a time of great problems great solutions, and great solutions require substance, and substance requires actually knowing something. it's a very important part of this. unfortunately, virtually everything president obama knows is wrong. ronald reagan used to say, it isn't what they don't know that's so frightening, it's what they know that's wrong. and he's right. here's a case study. we were told by the u.s. geological survey in the 1990s that there was about 150 million barrels of recoverable oil in north dakota. and this was the period when the

liberals told us we're about to run out, we have peak oil, we're going to decay, we have no future. well, new drilling technology came along, and we are now told that, in fact, as of this last week, they believe there are 24 billion barrels of recoverable oil in north dakota, alone. now, that made me feel like i had to change my speech, because up until last week, i'd been saying there was 25 times as much oil as they thought. now turns out the current estimate is there are 160 times, 16,000%, more oil in north dakota than they thought there was in the 1990s. and some experts believe that number is off by a huge margin. that future technology will ultimately lead us to find about 500 billion barrels of oil. now, i'm not trying to fill you up with numbers. i'm trying to make a point about

a general direction. an american president who believed in energy and an american president who believed in science and technology would drive the price of gasoline below $2.50, eliminate our dependence on the middle east and never, ever again bow to a saudi king. so you have my promise. at a time when i hope this evening we have ended any news media talk of the inevitability of their hand-picked candidate, at a time when we can forget about trying to nominate a massachusetts moderate and start talking about when the primaries are over, and it's clear no one person has won, who would do a best job of representing

america, governing, and winning the election against barack obama. and let me just close with this observation that something senator wagner said earlier. really i hope all of you will take to heart, and i'm very grateful both in mississippi and alabama -- listen, i've had this wonderful relationships and friendships and my daughters cathie and jackie and jackie's husband, jimmy, we've all had a terrific time here. jimmy's already gotten out of it a commitment to go bass fishing. ray indicated he thought he could give jimmy a fairly good afternoon of bass. from jimmy's standpoint, this is already a great, successful evening. but we've all been out campaigning. we've all had a wonderful response and we're all very, very grateful. i want to tell you just a second what will become a challenge,

we'll now have three or four days of the news media and they'll say, why doesn't gingrich quit? these were people, by the way, who said last june i was dead. they recycle this every six weeks. the biggest challenge will be raising money because we came in second. we would have gotten delegates -- between santorum and myself, we'll get over two-thirds of the delegates and the so-called front-runner will get less than one-third of the delegates. they'll have all this talk. the person who gives me hope, and who makes me stay in this race and makes me committed to carrying ideas all the way to tampa is samuel samford. samuel samford is an unemployed person who decided after hearing my speech, either on c-span or on the internet, that he really liked what i was trying to do on gasoline. we talk about the fact you can go to newt.org and you can give one gallon of newt gas. that's $2.50.

and so samuel heard the speech the other day and he went online and gave $2.50. and he became number 175,000 donors. now, romney has all these wall street millionaires. many of whom frankly are using the much you sent them as a taxpayer to buy ads to attack people. he's got the money. we're got going to compete with romney for money. we have 175,000 donors, over 95% have given less than $250. i called samuel samford and it was a very humbling call. i got him in the afternoon, after he'd come home from his cancer treatment. he's currently unemployed. he took out of his savings the $2.50 because he wants to be part of helping save america. now, that, to me, was such a humbling conversation. the dedication he had to america. his commitment to a people's

campaign. his unwillingness to give up and let the millionaires roll over him. meant just an immense amount to callista and me. i want all of you to know that with your help, if you'll talk to your friends and neighbors, go back on facebook, twitter, use e-mail, we will continue to run a people's campaign. i believe after the primaries are over, it will be obvious that the so-called front-runner, in fact, didn't get there and from that point on, we'll be in a whole new conversation. thank you, good luck, and god bless you. ♪ when it comes crashing down >> that was newt gingrich addressing his supporters in birmingham, alabama. it looks like he will finish second in both primaries tonight. alabama and mississippi. no doubt a disappointing night for him. kind of shoots all kinds of holes in his southern strategy. it was also a disappointing night for mitt romney who will finish third in both of those races. as for rick santorum, he picks up delegates and a lot of real

estate tonight and earlier, within the last hour, he took some shots at mitt romney. >> people have said, you know, you're being outspent and, you know, everybody's talking about all the math and all the things that this race is inevitable. well, for someone who thinks this race is inevitable, he spent a whole lot of money against me for being inevitable. >> joining me tonight, are chris matthews, host of "hardball," also with us, on a special edition of "the ed show" tonight, reverend al sharpton, host of "politics nation" and rachel maddow, the host of "the rachel maddow show." rachel, this is the night that rick santorum needed and it's what he got. this is a northern senator who lost by 18 points in his last senate race going down south deep in the heart of dixie and picking up two big wins over a guy who won georgia and south carolina.

>> that's right. this whole, i think, will be seen in maybe the beltway or first glance is a big defeat of rick santorum over mitt romney. you're absolutely right, ed. this is a big defeat of newt gingrich by rick santorum. him going down south and saying this is your whole strategy, your justification for staying in the race is you can win in places like this and i can't. look where i just beat you. i beat you in the place you're supposed to be strongest. this makes it hard to understand how newt gingrich stays in the race. you saw that with his, i think, pitiful stretch in his speech tonight talking about how him and rick santorum together won a big majority and together one two-thirds of the delegates. >> is there a restaurant in tampa he wants to go visit? this is unbelievable. krit ma chris matthews with us. romney's spokesperson tonight said they're concerned with delegates, not with wins. >> yeah, well -- >> this has got to hurt tonight. i also think this really makes the case for santorum to go out to republican supporters and

say, you know what, romney can't win in the south, i can. what about that? >> well, the latest polling we've got shows that they to just about as well against president obama. there's not a big difference in they're both just about at the margin of error there. slight underdogs. both of them. you know, i just got an e-mail from jim messina from the obama camp, it's one of the mass mailings they put out, came out at 10:23 tonight saying, beware, we're running behind romney right now in the latest polling, send in your 3 bucks. at the very moment the obama campaign is paying attention to the fact that gas prices are at least at the moment endangering the re-election, the republicans are saying, oh, yeah, well, we don't really like this so-called front-runner. just quickly, these are the people that voted for santorum in alabama, and i believe in mississippi. women, college grads, people make under 50k, under 100k. people in young 20s.

people who say religion is important to who they vote for. strong antiabortion people. people who trust moral character of their candidates. people who believe romney is not conservative enough. >> yeah. >> i think this is getting -- i think he's getting a rejection from the conservative republicans. i think -- here's something really strange and sectorian i'll be watching. most conservative of the catholic archbishops, most conservative cardinal in the country, the most outspoken on the social issues we argue about on our programs is in chicago. archbishop cardinal george. watch him. he has been fiery on these issues of abortion rights and contraception. >> you think santorum has a shot in illinois? >> i think he might say something with his congregations and parishioners in the huge archdiocese of illinois this weekend to help santorum. i hope he hears me. i happy he doesn't do it, but i think he's thinking about it because he is hard right on these issues, santorum is hard right. this could be the final test for

the ability of the more sectarian people to voice themselves. it's going to be fascinating in chicago to watch the politics next tuesday. >> a lot of catholics in illinois, no doubt. let's get back to alabama. reverend, you have just spent time in alabama. these were the key voting groups for rick santorum. 49% of working women, 42% of under 40-year-olds. 41% who consider themselves very conservati conservative. 40% with income under $30,000. what do you make of mitt romney not being able to connect with any of these voters down there? i mean, does this really exclude him in many republican circles? >> i think it does. i think that he was very, very badly wounded tonight, mitt romney. i think that newt gingrich was devastated. i think that what rick santorum did tonight was give anybody that had a doubt he should be the conservative against romney

ammunition to just dismiss gingrich. gingrich is basically finished. romney has a serious problem. because the one thing that i think rachel referred to, the overreach by newt gingrich in saying he and santorum together has all these delegates, the fact is that an overwhelming majority of people voted against romney, and if you combine that gingrich vote and most of it would fall into santorum, this spells a slow walk toward the end of mitt romney if he keeps going this way. if he pulls out illinois, you're looking at a serious shot at a brokered convention. >> rachel, what is romney's best strategy right now? he goes home tonight with his tail between his legs. he's going to have both the candidates saying, you can't win in the south, and that's a big if issue with a lot of southern conservatives. they want a winner, somebody who can beat president obama. where does romney go from here rather than wall street? >> romney goes to his phone and

the "a" section in the contact list and dial sheldon adelson, and tell him whatever he needs to hear to keep newt gingrich fu funded and in the race. that's what romney has to count on right now. romney can win the nomination without the south because the south is going to vote for whoever the republican nominee is in the general election, no doubt about it. but he can't win the nomination necessarily if rick santorum keeps beating him places where romney's supposed to win. >> isn't that the best narrative for santorum right now? he can say, look, i don't think romney can beat president obama in florida, virginia, or maybe north carolina, we have to have a candidate who can go out and really win the south. romney can't do it. it would seem to me this is some whar of a turning point for santorum because he can develop the narrative working against mitt romney. >> nobody can look at rick santorum and say, you're an electable guy. big picture, really? rick santorum? >> we like doing that.

>> i know we did. >> i agree with rachel. i think santorum may be the guy to usher us into a brokered convention where somebody else that appears more electable can emerge. santorum may be the guy to clear the field for whoever it is. i don't think anybody -- plus, look at the last time santorum had a good night. he finds a way to mess it up. >> he does. he can't help himself. he's going to say something. chris matthews, al sharpton, rachel maddow, thanks for staying with us tonight. we'll be right back with a panel in just a moment. also, coming up, nbc's chuck todd will go inside the numbers coming out of alabama and mississippi. later, eugene robinson, karen finney and richard wolffe will be here on what's shaping up to be a great night for rick santorum and not a good night for mitt romney. you're watching live election coverage of "the ed show" on msnbc. stay with us.

you're watching special election coverage on msnbc. big night for rick santorum winning both alabama and mississippi.

it was an ugly night for newt gingrich and mitt romney. next, i'll ask chris matthews, rachel maddow, and also reverend al sharpton what this means for president obama. stay tuned. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc.

welcome back to special coverage of the mississippi and alabama primaries on "the ed show" on msnbc. rick santorum has won the alabama primary. according to nbc news. and nbc news also called mississippi for the former pennsylvania senator, rick santorum. i'm joined again by msnbc's chris matthews, reverend al sharpton, and rachel maddow. i want to talk about illinois for just a second.

chris, there's a lot of guys that go to work with lunch buckets in illinois. if rick santorum ever had a chance to make a play for that wage earner, this is the perfect time to do it, is it not? i mean, if he can wrestle those away from mitt romney, could he make some waves in yiillinois? >> it's when you talk about what i talk about. it's this concern for the middle class. although, you know, you can talk about progressive politics being all in the democratic party, but there is a populist element within the republican party we're going to hear from. they're the people that make less than $50,000 a year and vote republican. the cloth-coat republicans we used to call them. these people do go to work in the morning. some of them are union members, as you know better than i. some are in organized labor, some identify with cultural issues, they're more conservative. they get to vote late. they get to work early, catch the early bus or the early subway or the "l" and come home around 5:00. they're tired. key for democrats to get them to stop on the way home and vote. teddy white years ago in the

kennedy race said this country's republican until about 6:30 at night then it turns democrat if it does. sometime around 6:30 when the women come home more than they did in those days from workplaces, not just in the home, and vote democrat. if they vote populist republican next tuesday, we know what's going to happen. it's called in our business, the third wave, the third wave that comes in from the exit polls. my hunch is your hunch. there are so many working class suburbs, not rich suburbs, working class areas around chicago. and we just know the image of chicago. and there's a lot of people there that may vote republican. they don't like the old machine politics. there's a lot of reasons to be republican that aren't necessarily right wing. we're going to see whether santorum -- by the way, he has a good name. santorum's a good name if you're running with that crowd. >> rachel, santorum says he's going to win the nomination before the convention. how's that possible? >> i don't think that's possible, but i think it's possible that the nomination fight does go all the way to the convention. i mean, these were not -- big

picture, these were not must-win states for mitt romney. these were must-win states for newt ggingrich. the real question, the big important dynamic is not how mitt romney handles the lost. he has to explain how he predicted yesterday he was going to win alabama and outspent santorum by tons in alabama and mississippi and still lost. he was trying. he also had seeded some doubt ahead of time. saying it was an away game, making fun of himself for not knowing anything about the south and being a harvard educated boston guy. the mitt romney response is not as important as the newt gingrich response which will change the overall denapic. it's hard to see what newt gingrich is going to do. he's an unpredictable maverick character. i don't think there's a justifiable reason for him to stay. he might stay and that ruins everything for rick santorum. >> are any newt voters going to go to romney? >> i don't think many will. i think newt voters would go to large part to santorum. i think that the problem -- i

agree these were not must-wins for mitt romney, but he also did not need to lose and certainly didn't need to come in third place. i think his problem is that he is perceived as a rich detached guy. i was born and raised in brooklyn. my mother's from alabama. i learned before i was 6, you don't fake the grits. you don't fake the grits. when you go down south, if you're a northerner, don't fake. because they look at you like you're in some way looking down at them. >> he's trying so hard. >> trying too hard. >> that is it. the genuinalty of the whole thing. i hate to use this word, but it's phony. it's not the real deal on the stump off the cuff. it's one campaign stop after another. he can't help himself in that regard. on the other hand, santorum eventually will continue to trip himself up because he gets so extreme on issues. he's good on nights like this. he's pretty disciplined and winging it and knows he's winging it. he doesn't want to get too far outside of bounds. he has the cameras on him.

this is the interesting dynamic i think that's playing out for mitt romney, he's got some talking to do right now. mitt romney has got to make the narrative, i'm not as bad in the south as you think i am. you know, i can get somebody on the ticket that will carry the south and we can beat president obama there. i think romney has to start talking about beating president obama and how this is all going to work out. now, chris matthews, reverend al sharpton, and rachel maddow, we run out of time too fast. don't we? >> i know. >> great to have both of you with us tonight. all of you. thank you. coming up, chuck todd will tell us what went wrong with newt gingrich and mitt romney. and later, richard wolffe, eugene robinson and karen finney are here with their take on tonight's results. you're watching "the ed show," special coverage from alabama and mississippi, the primary coverage tonight here on msnbc.

welcome back to special republican primary election coverage here on "the ed show" on msnbc. rick santorum is the projected winner in alabama, despite newt gingrich's efforts to win another southern state. santorum is the projected winner in mississippi and he has, therefore, taken both of these southern states tonight. and where does this leave mitt romney? let's turn to nbc news political director chuck todd. chuck? the delegate count. where are we tonight? what does tonight mean? >> well, let's do that first. all right. i'll go there. that is simply -- i've been

doing back of the envelope math. we have two more contests tonight. we have american is a msamoya. the islands in the pacific, there are large mormon populations out there. if you watch college basketball, you know this if you watch games. there's mormons that have been helpful for romney. that's nine delegates. right now we're estimating 27 delegates out of alabama and mississippi total for santorum. we've got it looks like 21 out of alabama and mississippi for romney. throw in the nine there, then it's 37, 30. then hawaii. so anywhere, the best-case scenario for santorum is he will net all of five or six delegates total on mitt romney tonight. so he's got all of this perception victory, but on the delegate count, and you're going to hear a lot of this from the romney folks, because of what's going on in the pacific, he is actually going to -- the amount of delegates that santorum nets in trying to catch up -- and,

remember, we has to win some 65% of remaining delegates left in order to get to 1,144. he's going to net four or five. he doesn't really move his percenta percentage. that's the problem. this was about perception. i want to go over a few exit poll numbers. here's all you really need to know. this is the perception of romney on ideology. half the voters both in alabama and mississippi just believe mitt romney wasn't conservative enough. right? look at these. about right, 27%, what was mitt romney's percentage in alabama? 28%. 34 in mississippi, guess what, we know the exit poll numbers were a little bit tilted toward romney. when we reweight the actual vote, bet you that dials down a bit. look at santorum ideology, 53% essentially, 53 in alabama, 49% in mississippi. call him about right. and look at gingrich. 51% and 56% call him about right. so the bottom line is, guess what, we knew this before tonight, ed, and we knew it

going -- we now know it again which is mitt romney doesn't ideologically fit the south. what we don't understand is, you know, does the romney campaign regret sort of playing into the narrative of saying, okay, let's try to do this, let's see if we can win one state and instead they give santorum this perception victory out of a night where delegate-wise, it's close to a watch. here's another number you need to know. this is how much money team romney has already spent, put on the air in the state of illinois. add it up together. it's pretty'sy. $3.2 million. i can put up a number if you want for how much money santorum has in illinois. let me put it up here very carefully. there it is. zero. nothing yet. >> so we're going to find out what the image business out of the south means for rick santorum real soon. >> he's got zip on there. one thing to keep in mind on illinois, i want to jump in on that last section.

2010, in the gubernatorial primary there, bill brady bon with by being the conservative more tea party candidate. if you recall, there was a state senator named kirk dillard who was the establishment republican guy but he got dinged because he appeared in a television ad for a guy named barack obama and that ended up costing him in that primary. but there was a conservative boone, if you will, in the primary there. so that's something to watch for. it is a little more of a conservative electorate than the mark kirks of the world who's a moderate republican u.s. senator today. >> we're going to find out how much rick santorum knows about business. i had a business executive tell me one time, you can't beat pr, you can't eat pr, you have to make the numbers work sooner or later. what -- i want to ask you, chuck, what is going to be mitt romney's strategy when it comes to message in illinois? the numbers that you just put up, undeniable. he's all over the advertising. but what does he have to do in illinois to make sure he wins that state? >> well, i think, and what's

interesting, as you see, he's putting up some of his own money now. before they left it all to the super pac. the super pac does the negative ads, all of the santorum is not electable and santorum is not a real conservative, he's a washington guy, former lobbyist. they're going to continue on that messaging. what you're going to see romney do, they seem to need to have a positive message, talk about their plan, talk a little bit more about what they want to do on the tax front. try to do, frankly, what he did a little bit more of in michigan when he had some positive. i think we've learned, you can't be all negative here. >> yeah. >> in takes a toll on you. i think this has taken a toll on romney. >> chuck, i can't let you go, because i got to hear what you think of what newt gingrich said tonight. i mean, he just will not get out of this. and his strategy was to win another southern state and develop that southern strategy. it failed. he just won't go away. your thoughts on the way he's handling this? >> well, i have to show you something. i sort of love this. let me put up the newt gingrich

winners board map here. there it is. it's kind of cool we have this toy. i want to -- i like to show it off. there it is. those are the two states. let's see. florida, loss. that touches georgia. alabama, loss. that touches georgia. tennessee, loss. that touches georgia. he's won in three in states that touch georgia. we're not even talking about the rest of the deep south. so he is right now s, look, it tough. what are the different levels of -- when you're in mourning or in grief, or whatever it is? he's in the different stages at this point. obviously he's not at acceptance yet. >> there's some denial going on. no doubt. >> maybe that comes tomorrow morning when he wakes up and realizes that all of us have passed him by and we're all talking about santorum. here's one other thing, ed. santorum was outspent by gingrich in both mississippi and alabama. >> yep. chuck todd, great to have you with us tonight. thank you. >> all right. see you. when we return, karen

finney, eugene robinson, and richard wolffe on a big night for rick santorum. you're watching special election coverage here on msnbc.

welcome back to special republican primary election coverage here on msnbc tonight. this is a live edition of "the ed show." well, hurricane rick came in from the north and took alabama and mississippi tonight. by a storm. conservative voters came out in droves for this man who lost his last federal election and that, of course, was the senate race in pennsylvania. the reclamation project of rick santorum continues to pick up real estate, this time deep in the heart of dixie. i'm joined tonight by msnbc political analyst and former dnc communications director, karen finney, msnbc political analyst and "washington post" associate editor, eugene robinson, and

analyst for msnbc, richard wolffe. great to have you with us tonight. well, how damaging for the hurricane santorum winds to mitt romney's campaign tonight, richard, what do you think? >> well, really damaging. not just because obviously it's always bad to lose, but what it means moving forward, yes, we know it's going to be protracted. it was going to be protracted really from iowa onwards, but what mitt romney has to do now, not just to regain the initiative, but to clinch the magic number of delegates means an endless round of buying off conservative voters and probably conservative delegates. he's got to get these other candidates, not just to drop out of the race, but pull their delegates on his side. that's going to be more promises, more extremism and a short and shorter leash for the kind of politician we expect mitt romney really is. >> karen, what happened to mitt romney tonight? >> well, he -- you know, i actually think he had a better night than most people do because nobody really thought he was going to win despite what he was saying. he needed to be able to show he

could, you know, not come in about where ron paul came in. the argument he wants to be able to make is, it's about the math, the math is on my side. and i wouldn't be surprised if you don't start hearing rumblings of perhaps someone who would appeal to the south as a vp. >> here's rick santorum. here's what he had to say earlier this evening when he got the news. >> we will compete everywhere. the time is now for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to make sure, to make sure that we have the best chance to win this election, and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama, who can take him on on every issue. >> eugene robinson, what does this night mean for rick santorum? the math, as chuck todd told us in our last segment, really doesn't knock anything out of the park for santorum, but in the image business, he wins big. >> yeah, it's a great night for rick santorum. he, i mean, it would be an even better night if newt gingrich in

his speech had announced he was pulling out of the race. that would have been a really great night for rick santorum. he won in the south. he's not from the south. he's from pennsylvania. as you mentioned, lost his last election there. he -- and now clearly he is the alternative to mitt romney, who theoretically could actually beat mitt romney. i think newt gingrich, even if he continues his campaign, has become a kind of a cause candidate. his cause is vision, i guess, as he outlined it tonight. much like ron paul's cause is libertarianism and austrian economics. you saw what ron paul did tonight. he, you know, 4% in one state, 6% in the other. and i wonder if gingrich doesn't sort of bump down to those levels. >> richard, is he just in denial? newt gingrich tonight? >> well, he's running on newt gas, all the fumes thereof. you know, he's running, i think,

to try and have some leverage, either at the convention or for that vp slot. as i mentioned a couple of hours ago. so, yes, he wants to be a thought leader and advance interesting ideas. more than that, you get leverage by hoping that mitt romney doesn't make it to the magic number in your delegates. even 100 here or there will make a difference and get you a better job in a romney administration. >> richard, do you think somebody would put newt gingrich on their ticket? he's one of the most unpopular politicians in america. wouldn't that be somewhat of a gamble? >> i think everything mitt romney does now is a gamble. he has to get to the magic number. you asked me what did newt think? why is he still in the race? not whether he's successfully read mitt romney's strategy. >> here's newt gingrich earlier tonight. here it is. >> the fact is, in both states, the conservative candidates got nearly 70% of the vote, and if you're the front-runner -- if you're the front-runner and keep coming in third, you're not much of a front-runner. >> is he dreaming? >> he is dreaming, but, you

know, i'd like to visit that dreamland, because he has such a perfect sort of psychosis about who he is and what his role in the race is. i mean, here's the thing, as chuck pointed out so beautifully, he won georgia, okay, but he couldn't even win the states neighboring georgia, right? that was part of his whole argument about his southern strategy. >> gene robinson, what is rick santorum's strategy going forward here? i mean, does he have to be a major player? you saw chuck todd saying he hasn't spent any money in illinois yet. where's he go from here? >> i think he has to be competitive basically everywhere. he's got to go to illinois and he's got to give romney a run. as best he can. and he will have a certain amount of momentum. i mean, you know, santorum, boy, i remember when he was driving himself from state to state, because he had zero money. still doesn't have much money. but it is remarkable what he's managed to do with a shoe string campaign. >> the three of you, i ask you to stay with us.

karen finney, eugene robinson and also richard wolffe. here is a number for you from tonight's exit poll in mississippi. rick santorum took 49% of the working women vote. the panel weighs in on that number next. you're watching "the ed show" on msnbc.

you're watching special coverage of the alabama and mississippi primaries on msnbc. it was a big night for rick santorum and not so good night for mitt romney. up next, karen finney, eugene robinson and richard wolffe on rick santorum's big night with working women. stay tuned.

welcome back to special republican primary election coverage here on msnbc. "the ed show." rick santorum winning both alabama and mississippi tonight. and he wins with working women in alabama. i am joined again by msnbc political analysts karen finney, eugene robinson, and richard

wolffe. santorum did particularly well in alabama among working women. even after sending out a mailer with a quote from rush limbaugh. karen, you were in alabama. can you explain this one? >> you know, i'm stunned. the only explanation that i can come up with is, and i think this would be a question i'd want to go back and ask these women, for these women, did race or in other words conservative values, that's the code, right, trump gender? you know, it's still a very conservative state. the racial issues are alive and well in alabama and mississippi. remember those polls that we saw where large percentages don't believe in interracial marriage and think the president is a muslim. so clearly there is some sort of racial stuff in there, and i wonder if that ultimately for white working women trumped their own gender issues. >> eugene robinson, i'd be curious to know if rick santorum wants to use rush limbaugh anywhere else around the country

other than alabama and mississippi. what do you think? >> i kind of doubt it, ed. my theory i guess on why he did so well with working class women, those women might have decided that mitt romney was not a genuine conservative, right, because that's what alabamians and mississippians generally decided. >> but limbaugh? >> well, but -- but newt gingrich? is he the alternative? and he is deeply unpopular among many segments of the american population. and i wonder if women looking at his personal life, looking at him, decided, you know, this is not the guy we're going to vote for. >> you know, richard, i have to think that maybe a campaign staffer had made a mistake about putting that limbaugh quote in there. do you think santorum really signed off on that after all limbaugh's been through and been in the news with women? >> guys, this is a republican primary. >> that's true. i forgot.

doggone-it, where am i at? >> rush limbaugh has an audience though we think he should be losing it. democrats have a 15, 20-point advantage over republicans among women voters, that leaves 30% of women who are still with republicans in spite of all the public positions they're taking. santorum -- women voters, with all due respect, women voters don't just vote as women. they vote as conservatives. they vote as christians. and rick santorum is a great fit. if you have a christian conservative who is also a woman, and maybe you don't actually care for the other side of the rush limbaugh debate, and rick santorum is your family values guy. >> or if you're a woman who buys -- remember, this was all a plot from the democrats, ed. if you're a woman, a white working class woman in one of the states and you buy that, one thing i thought was interesting in santorum's speech, did you notice how many times he mentioned his wife? over and over and over. clearly he shifted his rhetoric a little bit. we don't know what he's been

saying on the stump in smaller venues in alabama and mississippi. i'm sure his wife has been at his side try to make up for -- there was the whole thing about, oh, my wife told me i misspoked and that folksy stuff. that may a appealed to women and made them think he's not so bad. >> mitt romney alluded to early in the week he was playing on the road, he was a no show tonight. here's mitt romney in missouri earlier today. >> of course you get rid of obama-care. that's the easy one. there are others. planned parenthood. we're going to get rid of that. >> eugene robinson, why didn't he show up tonight? what is the strategy not to be seen anywhere? >> well, because he must have worried that he was going to lose, and he didn't want to be in the position of being in one of those states and having to give a concession speech and having to stand up there, having finished third. i mean, he is supposed to be the presumptive nominee and it is kind of embarrassing to finish in third place in two states in

the heart, in the republican heartland. that clip was interesting, though, because, of course, you know, there's a clip of him donating to planned parenthood and he invented obama-care before obama did. but never mind. >> richard wolffe, i want to talk about illinois now. moving forward. if rick santorum had not had a rough week, talking about social issues, he probably would have done a better job in ohio. ohio and illinois, i think, demographically and structurally, politically, are very much the same. what does santorum have to do to get things going in illinois and could he take it away from romney? >> yeah, with a big downstate operation he could. downstate illinois is -- you know, it's huckleberry finn territory. the suburban votes around chicago versus the downstate vote. and right now rick santorum is heavily outspent. i don't think he's up on the air

right now. he's already getting beaten to a pulp. he has to get the enthusiasm going and hope that the romney vote just stays away in the suburbs around chicago and that kind of combination works for him. >> karen, what do you think about that? >> i think that's exactly right. it means illinois isn't going to tell us much more of anything. that's the pattern we've seen. that's where mitt romney's strength is. we're seeing the emerging strength of rick santorum which shows, again, this party very fractured, two polar opposites and the voters, themselves, in the republican party have not decided which way they want to go. >> karen, eugene, and richard, stay with us. please do that. we're right back with more coverage coming up. up next, my final thoughts on tonight's primaries in alabama and mississippi. you're watching special coverage here on msnbc. we're back.

you're watching live election coverage here on msnbc. rick santorum is the projected winner in both alabama and mississippi. i'll have my final thoughts on

tonight's results coming up. stay tuned.

welcome back to "the ed show." the hurricane called rick comes in from the north and wins mississippi and alabama tonight. we're only half way through. we have a long way to go, folks, in the republican primary season. citizens united basically has given us three things. big egos, big money, and campaigns that probably should have turned out the lights a

long time ago. if you love politics, you got to love it all. it's a long season. and with no money, just heart and desire and real soul, rick santorum is scaring the living bejesus out of mitt romney. romney in new york tonight raising more money hoping that he can turn this around for the umpteenth time in illinois in the coming week. but the bottom line is, there's something real about santorum that conservatives are gravitating to that's just not very real about mitt romney. as for the former speaker, newt gingrich, he's almost getting to the point where he's going to embarrass himself. and he refers to the media a lot who doesn't give him a chance. i'll get in that crowd. i don't think newt gingrich has a chance. after tonight, it's borderline embarrassing for him to stay in the race. it's going to be interesting, as we move forward. i still think santorum is going to have a big, big place in