that will treat them like adults. >> great to have you with us tonight. that's the "the ed show." the "the rachel maddow show" starts now. good evening. not a ton of suspense. it will be interesting to look at the exits and the regional results to see where it came down. thanks for staying with us for the next hour. we have results from illinois. tonight is the illinois republican primary. polls just closed an hour ago. nbc news is declaring that mitt romney has won the state of illinois. mitt romney is projected winner in that state. latest results are 19% in mitt romney with 54% of the vote. rick santorum 28% of the vote. only 19% in right now. this is enough to project mr. romney as the winner. we'll be watching the percentages and the rankings of the other candidates as the percent of the vote increases.

this is exciting. this is election night. republicans of the great state of illinois making big decision about whether to punch their ballot for newt gingrich or rick santorum or mitt romney. that's not the way it's worked at all. have you seen the ballot? have you seen what the ballot looks like that republicans were using today in illinois? it's different in every county but this is representative. let's put up the macon county ballot. if you're going vote in illinois, if you want mitt romney to be president, you can i understand indicate that mitt romney is your preference for president of the united states right here on this part of the ballot. whether or not you do that, doesn't really mean anything. it doesn't get totalled for any official purpose. we will tell you tonight what the final results are. that's essentially as important as it is, that's the end of it. those results don't go toward

any other purpose. if you want to commit an act of furtherance toward mitt romney getting the nomination, it does not matter whether or not you vote for mitt romney today in illinois. it's true. what you have to do, if you want to help mitt romney become the republican party's nominee for president is today in illinois, you would have had to vote for habib habib and january miller and david newberg. it does not matter who you vote for for president. it matters which individual delegate you vote for. let's say you hate this guy jimmy john or you hate one of

these other people. you can't bring yourself to vote for one of these delegates because you had a dispute over the height of a fence. i don't know. you have some random personal dispute with one of the delegates. you do not have to vote for that delegate. you can pick all of the other people that are listed but not the guy you don't like. let's say maybe you're other delegate choice is jim hendrix. this is all hypothetical. he's for newt gingrich. you know this guy is a really nice guy even though you're thot for newt gingrich. that's okay. you can pick him as a delegate. if you did that, how would your vote be counted? should that be seen as a vote mostly mitt romney but a little for newt gingrich. your expression of what you want to happen in the no, ma'minatio president who have some relationship if who might be

nominated it's an esoteric thing voting in illinois. macon county is in one of the four congressional districts where your ballot is different. there's a whole swath of illinois that has a different ballot in one important way. say you live in macon county and you're not a rmitt romney. you want rick santorum to be president. pr that reason it felt awesome and you made your mark and punched that ballot. you indicated your vote for the republican party's presidential nominee is for rick santorum. he's your guy. in some place like macon county, that means nothing at all. you stated your preference and nbc and the other news agencies will report how many people kmilted that feeling, but if you

don't just want to feel like you're president, if you turned out to vote because you want to secure the gnome nation, your were out of luck. there's nothing you could do on your ballot. even though you can express that you want him to be your party's nominee, there are no delegates to vote for that have rick santorum's name next to them. in macon county and other parts of the state, three guys there for romney and three alternates. three for ron paul, three alternates. three guys for gingrich and three alternates. there's no way that your vote mattered if you're santorum supporter. even in some counties where rick santorum did get some dell delegate, he didn't get enough of them. each candidate is supposed to have four.

ron paul only has two. rick santorum only has one. what are you going to do if those are your candidates. you're going to split your delegates around. how should the rest of us interpret the importance of what you do. if you're a republican voting in illinois today, you were quite within your rights to vote for buddy roemer for president and vote for one delegate from each of the four campaigns that have delegates. kbrou could ha you would split them all up. how should a vote like that be consideringed. as i mentioned at the top, nbc news has declared mitt romney the projected winner of illinois. that means he's been chosen by people who expressed a nonbinding preference unrelated to delegates in terms of who

ought to win the republican party's nomination in illinois. ultimately what will have been achieved in illinois heightens whether the republican nominated contest is understandable. whether the results reflect the will of the voters who make the membership of the party. that will be one result tonight. the other result is for voters trying to figure out a ballot that looks like this. you turn out today thinking all i want to do is vote for ron paul, aim and shoot. at this point with a ballot this complicated, what are you going to do. macon county is one of the counties where the ballot didn't fit into the tallying machine. the ballot was too wide and they could not be put through the machines. good luck trying to vote on this puppy without any mechanical

assistance. just aim . the illinois primary is impenetrable. this is one of the bad ones this week. [ boo ] >> that's illegal. that's illegal. >> this is what happened in the previous republican presidential contest this week. this was a republican kcaucus i missouri. missouri state law required republicans there to hold a primary on february 7th because that would earn them a punishment. they tried to change the date until later. they couldn't get it together to

change that state law despite controlling the entire legislature. they decided to spend $7 million taxpayer dollars holding that primary even though the primary did not count for anything. rick santorum was very proud to have won that missouri contest. he went to the republican stronghold of st. charles county. he gave them a big speech thanking for the fake win that meant nothing. this is what it looked like in that same st. charles county. >> remove the chair. remove the chair. remove the chair. remove the chair. remove the chair. >> st. charles, missouri is just outside of st. louis. it's a republican stronghold in the state, so much so this county has more delegates to allocate than any other place in the hole state. they have so far allocated none

because their process was this. it was shut down by police over the weekend before they thought it was going to turn into a r t riot. they called the police and had them shut down their caucus without voting on any delegates. one republican official told the st. louis dispatch nupd, saying i don't know what's going to happen because i don't think this has happened before. another local republican said i think we embarrassed the party. remember, this is the place that has the most delegates that there are to give in that entire state. this was the state's republican stronghold. missouri republicans can't even figure out how they're going to figure it out. they can't figure out how the delegates will be allocated and please stop asking. thank you very much. it wasn't just st. charles county where the republicans unravelled. this was the seen in clay county mo oh on the other side of the state. >> the chaos inside the caucus started before the pledge of

allegiance. >> sir, have a seat. >> ron paul supporters tried to take control by electing their own chairman and ousting the lay county gop leader. he sometimes lost control of the meeting and threatened to people out. >> clay county missouri did threw that process pick some delegates. the chaos among missouri is not over yet. they are expected to go on for weeks. this is just what it's like in the republican contest. there's opinion crazy kau issueses but there's never been this much chaos in state after state in modern times. from the iowa caucus results being reversed to republicans announcing before a swath been reported. this has been an absolute mess. remember when you read that

wyoming voted back this february. they have still only allocated half their delegates. today they decided to take one of the rick santorum delegates away and give it to rom instead. i sprain something trying to figure it out. i still don't understand how ron paul won the u.s. virgin islandss vote. he got the most votes. mitt romney got 26 prs. despite ron paul having won the vote in the u.s. virgin i lands, it was mitt romney who was given seven of the nine delegates there. illinois tonight, huge deal? maybe. we can tell you what the latest results are. that is that nbc news projects that mitt romney has won the state of illinois. at this point the total number

percentage of the vote in is 27% of the vote. rick santorum with 30% of the vote. the closer you look at this thing, i have to say on a night look this looking at ballots like those, looking at delegate allocation it does sort of give you a little sympathy for people in the campaigns who say frankly, if you're only reading the headlines here, you don't have any idea how this race is going. people that you think have a shot night not and people who you think don't have a shot, might. it's possible that none of us know what's going on in delegates are the real game. i don't think the republican party has any idea either. mitt romney and rick santorum are expected to speak shortly to their supporters. we're going to bring it to you. stay with us.

we're looking at a live picture here of mitt romney and his wife speaking to their supporters in illinois, which is west chicago. mr. romney has been projected the winner of tonight's republican primary in the great state of illinois. the polls closed at 8:00. it was not yet 9:00, not even an hour been nbc news was able to project that result tonight. usually as these things go in terms of election night speeches, mrs. romney will do the heavy lifting in terms of thanks the state based volunteers and staff for the campaign as well as some of the national staffers. she will name the names and mr. romney will step up and make a prepared speech. as mr. romney is about to start speaking to his supporters, we're expecting rick santorum to be addressing his supporters tonight. he's not giving a victory speech

but we can expect mr. santorum to be focusing on the next campaign, the next contest which is this upcoming saturday in louisiana. right now the polling heading into louisiana shows mr. santorum having a good chance there. mr. romney has not faired well so far in deep south contests and next one of those whether it's going to be good news for mr. gingrich or good news for mr. santorum is likely to be louisiana. as we're waiting for mr. romney to take the podium, we're joined by john harwood and steve schmidt is with us. he's now a political analyst for msnbc. as we wait for mr. romney's remarks, thanks for being with us. >> you bet. >> this looked to be a relatively easy win for mr. romney. the this an opportunity to make a nationally televised address?

what should he aim for? >> they have an opportunity to get out there and talk to millions of americans across a multi-network policemlatform. we have seen the candidates have some good nights where they hit the mark on these speeches and other nights where they have been out of it. every tuesday is a big night. we'll see how he does tonight. >> steve, thank you. if you can stick with us. i'd love to get your comments on mr. romney's remarks when he's done. we're joining mitt romney live. >> in this room and across illinois. what a night. thank you, illinois. what a night. and, of course, i'd like to congratulate my fellow candidates on a hard fought

contest. i'd like to thank volunteers and our friends across the state. i appreciate their unwaving support through good times and bad. tonight we thank the fepeople o illinois for their vote and this extraordinary victory. thank you so much. you know elections are about choices. today hundreds of thousands of people in illinois have joined millions of people across the country to join our cause. this movement began on a small farm in new hampshire on a sunny june day. we were surrounded by a small group of our friends and supp t supporters and family. we shared a conviction that the america we loved was the trouble and adrift without strong leadership. three years of barack obama have brought us fewer jobs and

shrinking fa checks that many of us believe we were in danger of losing something more than the values out of our homes and 401 ks after years of many apologies and not enough jobs, history drops in income and history highs in gas prices, a president who doesn't hesitate to use the means necessary to force through obama care on the public be leads from behind in the world. it's time to say these words, this word, enough. we've had enough. we know our future. we know our future is brighter than these troubled times. we still believe in america. we deserve a president who believes in us. i believe in the american people.

you know that yesterday i was giving speech at the university of chicago. not very far from here, not very far from where professor barack obama taught law. it was a speech on economic freedom and as i was writing the speech i thought to my lifetime of experiences. i've had a lot of opportunity to learn about the unique genius of america's free enterprise system. it started with my dad. he didn't graduate from college and he would tell me about his dad who was a contractor. you know about construction, up and down years. he never quite made it, but he never gave up and raised great kids. i helped start companies and those began with just an idea and somehow they made it through the difficult times and were able to create a good run for

investors and thousands of jobs. those jobs helped families by their first homes. those jobs put kids through school. those jobs helped people live better lives, dream a little bigger. for 25 years i lived and breathed business and the economy and jobs. i had successes and failures. each step of the way i learned a bit more about what it is that makes our american system so powerful. you can't learn that teaching constitution law at university of chicago. [ applause ] >> you can't even learn that as a community organizer. the simple truth is that this president doesn't understand the genius of america's economy or the secret of the american

economic success story. the american economy is fueled by freedom. [ applause ] >> the history of the world has shown that economic freedom is the only force that's consistently listed people out of proverty. it's the only principle that has been able to sustain prosperity. over the last three years this administration has been engaged in an all out assault on our freedom. bureaucrats prevent drilling rigs tr going to work in the gulf of. they keep coal from being mined. they tell farmers what they're kids are able to do on their farms. this administration's assault on freedom has kept this so called recovery from meeting their

projections let alone their expectations. the president is trying to erase his record with some new rhetorics. he said we are inventors, we are builders, we are makers of thing. we are thomas edison, we're the wright brothers, we're bill gates. we're still jobs. i missed that. we're steve jobs. the problem is, he's still barack obama. >> rick, rick, rick, rick, rick, rick. >> you see under barack obama those pioneers he mentioned would have faced a very difficult time trying to innovate and invent and invest and build jobs.

under d dd frank thai would have thought it impossible to get a loan from their community bank. the regulators would have shut down the wright brothers for dust pollution. the government would have banned thomas edison's lightbulb. by the way, they just didn't, didn't they? [ applause ] >> now you know that the real cost of these misguided policies, these attacks on economic freedom, this intrusion of the government into our freedom, the cost of that are the ideas that are not pursued and the dreams that aren't realized and the little businesses that don't get started and the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of workers that don't get hired.

the american dream has met opportunity to build something new. some of america's greatest success stories are people that started out with nothing but a good idea and a corner in their garage. too often today americans who want to start a business or launch a new venture, they don't see promise and opportunity. they see government standing in the way. i'm going to change that. we're going to get government out of the way. we once built an interstate highway system and the hoover dam. now we can't even build a pipeline. we once led the world in manufacturing and exports, investment. today we lead the world in lawsuits. when we replace a law professor with a conservative businessman as president, that's going to

end. i think you know this. every great innovation, every world changing business breakthrough begins with a dream and nothing is more fragile than a dream. the genius of america is that we nurture those dreams and the dreamers. we honor them and yes, we reward them. that's part of what's uniquely brilliant about america. day by day, job killing regulation by job killing regulation, bureaucrat by bureaucrat this president is crushing the dream and the dreamers and i will make sure that finally ends. the proof of the president's failure is seeing how tepid this

economic recovery is. this administration thinks that the economy struggling because the stimulus wasn't large enough. the truth is the economy is struggling because the government is too big. you and i know something the president still hasn't learned even after three years and hundreds of billions of dollars of spending and borrowing. it's not the government that creates the prosperity. the prosperity is the product of free market and free people and they must be protected and nurtured. [ applause ] >> tonight was a primary but november is the general election. we're going to face a defining decision as a people. our choice will not be about

party or even personality. this election will be about principle. our economic freedom will be on the ballot. i'm offering a real choice and a new beginning. i'm running for president because i have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess. we don't -- [ applause ] >> look, we know what barack obama's vision is. we've been living it these last three years. my vision is very, very different than what his is. you see, i see an america where the prospects for our children will be better than even those we enjoyed during our lives. where the pursuit of success by all of us wiunite us, not divid

us. where a government finally understands -- i see a time where we will have a government that understands it's better for more people to pay less in taxes than for a very few to pay a lot more. i see an america where the values we pass onto our children are greater than the debts we leave them. i see an america where poverty is defeated by opportunity not enabled by a government check. i see an america that is humbled, excuse me, i see an america that is humbled, but it is never humble that leads but

is never led. i see an america that is so unquestionably strong that no one in the world would ever think of testing the might of mi our military. [ applause ] >> today we took an important step towards that america. tomorrow we'll take another. each day we move closer not just to victory, but to a better america. join us. join us. together we're going to ensure that america's greatest days are still ahead. thanks you guys. thank you so much, and god bless the united states of america. thank you. >> former massachusetts governor mitt romney addressing his supporters in illinois tonight having won the illinois primary.

nbc projecting mr. romney as the winner in illinois. we are awaiting remarks from senator rick santorum who looks like right now in the results we have is running second in illinois. mr. santorum is not in illinois. he's in pennsylvania. it's a very large crowd turned out to see mr. santorum, at least what they were expecting. he's addressed the overflow room at his venue. we'll be speaking from the podium in the main room shortly. we'll bring that to you live. still with us, steve schmidt and new york times john harwood. john, in terms of the speech there from mr. romney, i've not been listening to his stump speech every day, but i've been listening closely enough to follow its evolution over time.

is this what we should expect in terms of putting bane at the very, very center of what his appeal is for why he should be president? >> i think so. bane in the way that mitt romney wants to explain it is part of a step by step education process for him and what makes the american economy tick. i think it was significant, he had some new lines in here. some great republican plaz line. made fun of law professor and he had a whole rift about his vision for the country. plainly a general election speech. i think there's a reason for this because i think this win even though it was expected is a big deal. we found out that rick santorum simply is not capable of turning over the table in the way he needs to to stop mitt romney from getting this nomination. i think this primary race while mitt romney doesn't have anywhere close to 1144 delegate s over because rick santorum was not able to move from his victories in the deep south to a victory in the midwestern state.

>> you fell like if rick santorum pulls off a large win in louisiana that's not enough to change romney momentum at this point? >> there's not enough states in the deep south for rick santorum to do what he needs to do to defly mitt romney the nomination or win it himself. this is going after louisiana, to maryland, to wisconsin, to a bunch of states. yes, rick santorum's pennsylvania but also new york and connecticut, new jersey, states in the northeast. i think we found out tonight that rick santorum just can't damage mitt romney enough to stop him. >> steve, let me bring you in on this. just had a statement released from the newt gingrich campaign. newt gingrich's speech response begins to defeat, barack obama republicans can't nominate a candidate who relies on out ste spending his opponents seven to one. mr. romney has so wildly out

spent his opponents to get victories like this in illinois. do you think that matters the sort of cost per vote these guys are spending? >> no, i think it's a ridiculous argument, rachel. in 2008, the john mccain campaign was out spent by $250 million. it's almost impossible to win a presidential wlex when you're talking about that type of fund raising disparity. if mitt romney goes onto win the nominee, republicans will p not be faced with that type of fund raising disparity this time. rick santorum able to come back and do it, they will be faced with that type of fund raising disparity. it's a huge strategic problem if you're on the republican side of the aisle and you want to see a republican president. >> thank you, gentlemen. i have a feel we'll be checking back in with you. we're expecting to hear from rick santorum shortly. we are live here on msnbc covering the results.

nbc has projected the winner is mitt romney. we'll be watching for complete results. right now mitt romney the projected winner. rick santorum due to speak any moment. stay with us.

in the illinois republican primary nbc has projected that mitt romney is the winner with 42% of the vote in. mr. romney at 49% of the vote. ron paul and newt gingrich both distant third and fourth in single digits right now. that's less than half it have vote in but enough to project mr. romney as the winner. we heard mr. romney speaking high pressu. here is rick santorum addressing his supporters in pennsylvania. this is live. >> thank you. thank you. thank you. it is great to be back in pennsylvania. thank you for joining us. let me thank all of you for being here. i know they're not going to be hearing me but i feel so bad, we have about 1000, 1500 people

that couldn't get in here. we were just overwhelmed by the response. i feel welcome back home to pennsylvania. thank you very much. first, i want to congratulate governor romney. i gave him call earlier and congratulated him him on winning the state of illinois. i also want to stay i want to thank all the ol fofolks in ill. we're going to win down state. we're going to win central illinois. we're going to win western illinois. we won the area that republicans and conservatives populate we're happy about that. we're happy about the delegates we're going to get too. [ applause ] >> we wanted to come here tonight back to pennsylvania, back to a favorite place of mine in ma pa. the city and town of gettysburg.

it's so many memories come to mind when we walk here in the town and across the street where abraham lincoln finished the gege gettysburg around. i've said this is the most important election in our lifetimes and i think it's the most important election since the election of 1860. the election of 1860 was about whether these united states which is what it was mostly referred to prior to the election of 1860 would become the united states where there would be union, a country bound together to build a great and prosperous nation. nation based on a concept. a concept that we were birthed with. a concept birthed in our

founding document of the declaration of independence. i've said throughout the course of this campaign that while other issues are certainly important, economy, joblessness, national security concerns, the family, the issue of life. all of these issues are important. the foundational issue in this race, the one that is the cause of the other mallties that we are feeling whether it's in the economy or whether it's in the budget crisis that we're dealing with all boils down to one word and that's what's at stake in this election and it's right behind me on that banner and that's the word freedom. i was pleased to hear before i came out that governor romney is now adopting that theme as his

speech tonight. i am glad we're moving the debate here in the republican party. i've been focused on this because i've been out talking to people across this country doing over a thousand town hall meetings. i know the anxiety and the concerns that people have in this country about an ever expanding government. a government that is trying to dictate how we're going to live our lives and trying to order us around, trample our freedoms whether it's our economic freedoms or our religious liberty. in addition to trampling that freedom, building a dependence, a dependency on government as we see it expand and grow. now almost half the people in this country depend on some form of federal payment to help make ends meet. after obama care is implemented,

every single american will depend upon the federal government for something that is critical, they're health and their life. that's why this election is so important. this is election about fundamental things. this is an election about not who is the best person to manage washington or manage the economy. we don't need manager. we need someone that will pull up government by the roots and tloup it out and do something to liberate the private sector in america. that's what we need. it's great to have wall street experience. i don't have wall street experience. i have experience growing up in small town in western pennsylvania. growing up in a steel town,

growing up in public housing and apartments and seeing how many men and women of this country scraped and clawed because they had the opportunity to climb the ladder of success in america. a lot of those folks the out there today feel like nobody in washington and no one in this debate is really talking about them. that's why this is a wonderful movement as i travel afternoon this country and everywhere i go, i see people, people in work clothes, folks with children who are maybe not getting the educational opportunities that they hoped for so they could climb that ladder of success. looking for someone to voice their concerns about how this economy will turn around for them, not just the top at the income level.

someone that believes that if we create opportunities by cutting taxes but reducing the oppressive regulatory burden that this administration have put on business people and people that want to drill for energy. you need someone that has a strong and clear record that can appeal to voters all across this country and someone who you can trust. someone that you know when they say they're going to do something, they're not saying it because well that happens to be the popular theme of the moment. someone who has a long track record of deep convictions. someone who is going to go out and stand and fight because it's not just what the pollster tells them to say or what's on their teleprompter. i don't happen to have one here tonight. [ applause ]

>> because they know in their gut from their life experiences, from living in america, that this is what america needs and america wants. they want someone who is not going to go to washington, d.c. because they want to be the most powerful person in the world to manage washington. they want who will take that power and give it back to the people of this country. [ applause ] >> there's one candidate in this race who can go out and make that contrast with the current occupant of the white house. someone who has a track record of being for you, being for limited government, being for

solution that empower people on the biggest issues of the day whether it's obama care, romney care, their intthey're interchangeable. we need someone that understands that the solution to the problem with almost 1/17th of the economy is not government control over the economy, but you're control over that sector of the economy. we need someone that understands that we need to grow our energy supplies here in this country. we need someone you can trust who when in good times and in bad when times were tough and people thought, well, all this oil and gas and coal in the ground is all asource of carbon

dioxide and we want take it out of the ground because there's a finite supply and it could damage our environment and cause global warming. when the climate, when those who professed manmade global warming and climate convinced many men including two who are running for president on the republican ticket, but there was one who said i know this isn't climate science, this is political science. [ applause ] >> this was another attempt of those who want to take power away from you and control your access to energy, you're

utilization energy, utilization, whether it's in your car or home of energy because they are better to make these decisions about how you use energy than you do. that's what they believe. and, unfortunately, just like in health care, governor romney and speaker gingrich went along with the ride. and guess what? when the climate changed, they changed their position. and now they're all for drilling and they're all for oil and gas and coal. i was for it because it was the right thing to do thenment i'll be for it tomorrow and the next day and the next day. i'm not going to change with the climate. ladies and gentlemen, i grew up in this great state and this is the first day since the launch that we wanted to come to pennsylvania to launch our campaign here in pennsylvania, we got five weeks. five weeks to a big win and a

big delegate sweep in pennsylvania. i come as a son of pennsylvania. everyone knows the story of my grandfather and my dad coming to pennsylvania to work in those coal mines. i learned everything, everything about freedom and opportunity and hard work from growing up with folks who worked in the mills and the mines in western pennsylvania. so when i speak, and i speak from the heart in, the back of my mind are the pictures of those men and women who worked in cloth so their children and grandchildren would have a better quality of life, yes maybe even go to college and not

have to work tough manual labor. but most importantly, they fought for the things that the people in this battlefield just down the road fought for. they fought for big things. things that america always stood for. that ronald reagan referred to shining city on the hill. it's things that i'm fighting for here today. the reason karen and i decided in the face of having seven children ages 20 to 3, not exactly the best time to run for president of the united states when you have children 20 to 3, but karen and i felt compelled. we felt compelled because as ronald reagan said in one of his great speeches, we didn't want to have to sit down some day and look at the eyes of our children and our children's children and

describe to them an america where once men were free. we don't want to be that generation that lost the torch of freedom. that's why karen and the kids behind me all of whom born in pennsylvania, all of those folks who understand the great -- the greatness of our state and the greatness of the values of this state, all of us understand what was sacrificed in the mills and on the battle fields. and that's why we must go out and fight this fight. that's why we must go out and nominate someone who understands not because some pollster tells them, because they know in their gut just like you do all across this country, you know in your gut big things are adrift and at stake in this election.

so i ask each and every one of you to join us, to saddle up like reagan did in the cowboy movies, to saddle up, take on that responsibility over the next five weeks. we're going to head to louisiana from here. we're feeling very, very good about winning louisiana on saturday, i might add. we're heading to louisiana forrest of the week and then we're going to be back here in pennsylvania and we're going to pick up a whole boat load of delegates and close this gap and on to victory. thank you all very much. god bless you. thank you. >> rick santorum in his home state in gettysburg, pennsylvania, with his family

addressing his supporters having it looks like come in second in the illinois primary tonight expressing he was looking forward to a five-week-long campaign to win as many delegates and a big win as many delegates as possible saying he felt confident about the prospect of winning in louisiana this coming saturday. the host of andrea mitchell reports is andrea mitchell. she joins us now along with the senior strategist for the mccain-palin campaign in 2008. i want to ask you about the interesting contrast we saw between mr. romney and mr. santorum tonight. mr. romney campaigning against barack obama and barack obama only. mr. santorum campaigning not just against mitt romney but also a little against newt gingrich, too, almost no mention of barack obama at all. i wonder what that says to you about what happens from here on out. >> i think it sthaez rick says santorum is an underdog. illinois was a big long shot for

him. they are organized well enough to have delegates in all of the congressional districts. i think we lost even the chance in four congressional districts. but if he had been more kpetive in illinois, that really would have slowed any momentum that mitt romney has. i think romney going into this next -- this next part of the calendar with the exception of louisiana where he really cannot compete, i don't think he can with rick santorum and the supporters he has there. i think now in the northeast mitt romney has a very good chance not to seal the deal in terms of the delegate count but certainly to build the momentum and try to regain that inestability. >> steve schmitt, listening to mr. santorum tonight attack plg romney as a manager who just does what he is told, who has no core, who believes what the climate at the political climate at the moment tells him to believe. he is building an effective rebuttal to the mitt romney centered campaign? >> i think one of the things

that you heard rick santorum talk about tonight which i think is intended to insulate him from calls to get out of the race or to step aside is that he's looking forward to the pennsylvania primary five weeks from now, giving no indication that he's planning to get out of the race. the gloves are off. he's going to continue to make a tough case. he's going to continue to make an ideological case attacking mitt romney from his right. his strategy is to deny mitt romney the requisite number of delegates he needs to be nominated under the hope that rick santorum in his mind the more conservative the two can come up with a strategy at the convention. f. there's not enough delegates to nominate. >> andrea mitchell and steve schmitt, senior strategist for the mccain-palin campaign in '08. thank you for your time.

mr. romney below the total vote of 48%. rick santorum at 35%. neutral begin rgi newt gingrich pal in single digits. >> we don't expect to hear from mr. paul or gingrich. neither of them is planning on giving a speech. interesting though, mitt romney putting bane capital right back at the center of his campaign. rick santorum, not apparently working from notes. certainly not working from a te