>> all right. way to start a weekend. >> absolutely. that's our broadcast. we'll see you at 11:00. have a good evening. on our broadcast tonight, getting personal. after another wild debate, gingrich and romney swing away in florida. also tonight, why so many of the big gop players seem to be breaking bad against newt gingrich. an nbc news exclusive tonight. we are on the water with a rare look the at strait of hormuz. right there at the center of the war of words between the u.s. and iran. everything must go. the police station, city hall, the cemetery, all for sale. it's the sad state of a once-great american city that shares its name with a great automobile and they're resorting to the unthinkable to stay alive. and the birds. a real-life scene straight out of hitchcock giving the folks in one small town a lot of sleepless nights. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by

captions paid for by nbc-universal television captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. the next contest in the wild run for the nomination in the gop is in florida. there have been two televised debates there. tonight there is fresh evidence voters are making up their minds. the trend lines are moving away from newt gingrich, who won the last primary, and toward mitt romney. romney is now getting a lot of help from members of the republican party who think newt gingrich as the nominee going up against president obama in the fall is a bad idea. it's getting rough once again in florida tonight. it's where we begin on this friday evening with nbc's peter alexander from the campaign trail. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. tonight mitt romney's campaign feels very strongly that they have the momentum back in this race ahead of florida's vote

four days from now. this is the biggest prize yet with both front runners crisscrossing the state trying to touch all four corners. >> i thought it was a delightful debate. i loved it. >> reporter: energized after his strong performance in last night's debate. mitt romney tried to assure florida's influential spanish population he's on their side, using his youngest son to warm up the crowd. [ speaking spanish ] >> reporter: earlier, newt gingrich argued he is the candidate most sympathetic to the immigrant community. >> i would like a cuban spring in 2013 to help the people of cuba liberate themselves. >> reporter: while he rarely mentioned romney by name today, gingrich unleashed this fiery new ad attacking his rival. >> what kind of man would mislead, distort and deceive just to win an election? >> reporter: last night romney was aggressive and relentless

trying to regain the momentum in the see-saw battle. rebuked gingrich. >> i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mexico. the idea that i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. >> reporter: gingrich who repeatedly denied attacks he lobbied for freddie mac, criticized romney for profiting from investments in the lender. >> maybe romney should tell us how much money he made off how many households have been foreclosed by his investments. let's be clear about that. >> first of all, my investments are not made by me. my investments for the last ten years have been the blind trust managed by a trustee. have you checked your own investments? you also have investments for mutual funds that invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> reporter: trying to make up ground, rick santorum who pressed romney on his state's health care plan. >> in massachusetts, everybody is mandated as a condition of breathing in massachusetts to

buy health insurance. if you don't, and if you don't, you have to pay a fine. what's happened in massachusetts is people are now paying the fine. >> reporter: also tonight, the romney campaign is touting the endorsement of puerto rico's governor as they try to shore up support within the state's his hispanic community. >> peter alexander starting us off from there. thanks. newt gingrich is facing a ton of incoming fire, not just from democrats or the romney campaign. from a lot of power players in the party who are throwing everything they can at him to derail his effort in florida. we get our report from our capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: when newt gingrich decisively won south carolina's primary -- >> newt can win! >> reporter: alarm bells, sirens went off. >> because of worries about newt's electability, there was almost a full-on panic at the top level of republican party.

>> i frankly don't care what the washington establishment thinks of me because i intend to change them. >> reporter: influential republicans are mobilized to stop him. >> i think we ought to send newt gingrich to the moon and mitt romney to the white house. >> reporter: in florida today, john mccain, the party's choice last time around canceled an overseas trip to keep fighting for romney. >> we've watched him become stronger and stronger and we think it's time to rally around him. >> reporter: this anti-gingrich bob dole urgedunched when elder republicans to act before it is too late. >> they look at newt gingrich and he's like a fun wild date in the primary, but in thelection, horse. >> reporter: this goes beyond the white house. worried republicans say gingrich could damage the party's chance to win control of the senate and hold the house because poll after poll shows most voters have a negative view of gingrich.

>> he loses the female vote by 2-1. when you lose by that margin, candidates flee. they do not want to be seen with him, and he kills the turnout. >> reporter: today speaking to house democrats, president obama gave that republican angst a name. >> soon to be once again speaker of the house nancy pelosi. >> reporter: republicans acknowledge this could backfire and actually help gingrich if enough voters recoil at the party telling them what to do. kelly o'donnell, nbc news, washington. one more item from the campaign trail here tonight. just a short time ago, nbc's ron mott sat down with newt gingrich to ask him about this barrage of attacks against him coming from inside his own party. ron is with us from delray beach, florida, tonight. good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you. newt gingrich says matter of factually that mitt romney is

the establishment's candidate, and to compete against him he knows he's going up against a powerful machine. we got the former speaker on the record about how he would broaden his base of appeal with voters. women where his poll numbers aren't that strong, to whether he might damage other republicans running in the fall if he becomes the nominee. some republicans are openly critical of you saying you're too polarizing and you're a threat to the gop brand itself if you end up on this ticket. how legitimate are those concerns and should voters think about that when they go to the polls? >> if you're an establishment republican and enjoying life in washington and you don't mind presiding over the decay, i'm a threat. you can tell who they are by how hysterical they get. the fact is ronald reagan had the same opposition, and in the end, he's the guy who created the majority. >> reporter: i asked him if he's learned anything that has surprised him while out here on the campaign trail. he says the scale and intensity of the romney attacks, but added

his campaign has weathered that storm pretty well. he also says about florida on tuesday, if he does not win, i asked him, will you continue? he says absolutely, we're going all the way to the republican convention. >> ron mott from delray beach, thanks. in other news around the country, a scary scene this morning at a construction site in cincinnati. workers were busy building the city's new casino when the second floor collapsed beneath them. more than a dozen people were hurt, but remarkably none seriously. mostly bruises, broken bones. fire chief says that's because the floor gave out from the middle in a v-shape, as you see there. the workers mostly slid 30 feet down to the ground. transportation officials in kentucky are trying to figure out how this happened. that's the eggner ferry bridge. that is a huge cargo ship that slammed into it last night. nobody was hurt, but at least one guy driving across it in the rain says he didn't realize a 20-foot section was missing

until he slammed on the brakes with five feet to spare. something else here, the barge was carrying atlas rocket components to a launch site. in a connecticut courtroom today, a formal death sentence for the second of two men convicted in that awful murder of a woman and her two daughters after a home break-in. the jury had earlier recommended death for joshua komisarjevsky who blamed his accomplice for most of the crime. addressing the court about his heartbreaking loss of his own wife and daughters, dr. william petit says evil does live among us and we need to rid the world of it. the company that owns the costa concordia is looking to cut a deal with passengers who were forced to abandon ship before it capsized off the coast of italy, looking to lessen the wave of class action lawsuits that are likely headed its way, the company is offering passengers a $14,000 settlement

right now, in addition to a refund plus travel expenses. as you can imagine, a lot of passengers decided to take a pass on accepting the deal. overseas tonight, a dramatic surge of violence in syria. government forces there have killed more than 70 people since thursday. reportedly including women and children, including what's being called the slaughter of at least one entire family. making the last 48 hours among the bloodiest in the ten-month uprising in syria. the death toll so far since last march, more than 5,400 people. no place in that part of the world has people more nervous than iran and this growing war of words over that country's nuclear program. it has all focused attention on a vital choke point. one-fifth of the world's oil passes right through the strait of hormuz, right in iran's backyard en route into the persian gulf. our tehran bureau chief ali

aruozi is one of the few western journalists operating in iran. he managed tonight to get an exclusive first hand look at those troubled waters. >> reporter: we were given a rare opportunity to get within a few miles of the strait. it's a busy place. not just a daily parade of oil tankers, but fishing boats, cargo ships and countless unmarked iranian speed boats, making clandestine crossings every day loaded with smuggled goods, everything from shoes made in china to japanese cars. warships are a regular sight. iran stages war games here threatens to close the strait, shutting off the flow of oil. 17 million barrels a day. the u.s. vowed to keep the straight open. the aircraft carrier "abraham lincoln" recently passed through and is now in the persian gulf. where merchants and politicians are concerned, this is the most significant waterway in the world.

it's here in the persian gulf america and iran's resolve will be tested if they can't come to some sort of compromise. iranians are worried about war and feeling the bite of economic sanctions. we met some in a fish market on the strait of hormuz. "everything is more expensive," this fish monger says, and people are buying less. this man saw the american fifth fleet looking like a floating city and it scared him to death. not everybody is scared. this merchant, a veteran of the iran/iraq war says iran dealt with this kind of pressure before and will do so again. the pressure is growing as the strait of hormuz becomes the focus of a dangerous international tug of war. ali arouzi, nbc news, the persian gulf. still ahead tonight as our broadcast continues, city hall, the library, even the cemetery for sale to the highest bidder. a once-thriving american city,

birth place of an iconic american brand taking extreme measures to stay afloat. later, it's a real-life scene out of a hitchcock movie. the invasion in one small town. the invasion in one small town. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪ then i found new pronutrients omega-3. it's from centrum. it's a smaller minigel. with two of the best omegas to support my heart, brain and eyes. new pronutrients from centrum.

this was the gulf's bestart, tourism season in years. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and the water's beautiful. you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. . . . make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi... florida... louisiana... alabama.

the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. we learned today the u.s. economy continuing to grow now, though it's a slower pace than expected. gross domestic product bumped up 2.8% in the final three months of 2011. that's disappointing some economists who have been looking for 3% growth. some worry that much of the growth came from companies building up inventories. when companies have large inventories, they produce less in the future, which could mean slower growth and fewer american jobs. the city of pontiac, michigan, used to stand for american manufacturing. so much so, it gave its name to a great line of automobiles. well, they don't make pontiacs any more, and tonight we'll show you what has become of pontiac, michigan, where the gm plants

there are gone and the city is taking extreme measures to stay afloat, selling everything down to and including the walls. we get our report from nbc's kevin tibbles. >> reporter: in a struggling city synonymous with the american car, a fire sale. >> this building is for sale, the parking lot. >> reporter: today in pontiac, michigan, you can buy the police station, library, golf course, cemetery, even city hall. >> so far, nothing's sold. >> nothing's sold so far. >> this is the great one. >> reporter: in its heyday, the city and the car that bore its name swaggered with the brawn and muscle of the post war boom in america. >> built for you by pontiac, of course. >> reporter: now, the fabled brand is gone and the city barely hanging on is forced to slash and downsize. they don't make things here any more. even the silver dome, home of the 1982 super bowl was

unloaded. and since vaicant save for the occasional tractor pull. >> we used to be a boom down. >> reporter: what are you now? >> getting close to be a ghost town. >> reporter: former auto workers gather at the avon donuts as the last of the plant falls to the wreckers. what happened to your city? >> gone. my city's gone. >> it's like tearing part of me down, too. >> reporter: in his garage near ann arbor, former gm vice chairman bob lutz shows part of his prized collection, including a solstice coupe, one of the last pontiacs ever made. >> the decline in industrial america is a tragic thing to see. i'm hoping that that trend is reversing. >> reporter: but will any turnaround come in time for places like pontiac? >> i know we have a of good assets here and a lot of good people and this place will come back.

>> reporter: the mayor will entertain any offer. back at avon donuts, the owner works seven days a week. he wants the american dream for 3-year-old daughter annabelle. >> what everybody hopes for, college, good job. education. >> reporter: will you find it here in pontiac? >> probably not. >> reporter: for the people in this company town, not many options, hoping anything or anyone can turn things around. kevin tibbles, nbc news, pontiac, michigan. more news when we come back in just a moment, including the spectacular light show that has so many folks mesmerized night after night. folks mesmerized night after night. [ gargling ] oo-ay-ow. savings. savings. savings? progressive was the first to offer online quoting. you can do better. first to show comparison rates. ding! the "name your price" tool. oh! gosh, don't mind if i do.

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i remember the day my doctor told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk.

other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. all is not quite ready for the summer's london olympic games, but it's getting there, as you can see in these new time lapse pictures. a whole lot of construction

going on, the stadium, the olympic village, the aquatic center, all expected to be up and running for the opening ceremonies when we get to hear that music again. opening ceremonies six months from today. robert hegyes has died. he was best known playing the jewish puerto rican student juan epstein alongside john travolta in the '70s in "welcome back kotter." he was later a regular in "cagney and lacy." he passed away thursday morning after suffering cardiac arrest. he was 60 years old. a photo circulating on the web this week is getting a lot of attention. we did some checking and found out the photo was taken a year ago, it's no less impactful and emotional when you consider the newborn infant's father was killed just a month earlier. he was killed in action in afghanistan. we want to make note of a history-making flight this week for the u.s. navy. the first all-female combat mission.

the five took off in an e-2-c hawkeye aircraft from the aircraft carrier uss carl vincent. there is your crew. the navy says this is a significant achievement given that the number of female pilots in the fleet, less than 5%. though the number of female officers is growing. the greatest show on earth taking place in the northern sky every night this week. this is what it looks like in norway. the aurora borealis, visible from europe on over to new england, canada, the northern u.s., all a result of the intense solar flare activity lately. this is the beautiful part of that solar storm. it has also, of course, impacted communications and aviation. just gorgeous. up next tonight, thousands of uninvited guests keeping the folks in one small town up all night.

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town along with everything birds bring with them. the stuff that comes out the back and the noise that comes out the front. nbc's kerry sanders bravely volunteered to tell their story. >> reporter: just as sun sets, the sky here in kentucky turned black. a plague of birds that arrived on thanksgiving and have returned here every night since. >> i was scared. i didn't know what was happening. >> reporter: they identified the flock of several hundred thousand birds as mostly european starlings. at first, residents say it was a simple wonder of nature, but now this is not a case of angry birds, rather angry victims because of what those birds drop. >> every day. i am held hostage in my house. >> reporter: held hostage like that seaside town in alfred hitchcock's "the birds." >> it's spooky, like something out of that movie. >> reporter: experts say there

is no reason to think this flock will attack. >> we had no snow cover this winter. it's been below freezing only a few times. the birds are probably right here this year because of mild weather. >> reporter: darlene arms is fighting back. >> beat my hands. i was furious with them. it didn't work. i went and i got a pan and i just started beating it. if it had worked, they would have left. my husband said if you used a hammer on that pole it would even be louder. but they were right back. >> reporter: so then you went to? >> the cannon. the cannon has not worked. >> reporter: there's no projectile in that cannon. it just makes noise. some hunters from texas offered to come here and kill the birds. the city and mayor have rejected that idea. for now, they'll rely on darlene and her cannon.

kerry sanders, nbc news, la grange, kentucky. enjoy your meal, everybody. that's our broadcast for this friday night and this week. thank you for being with us. i'm brian williams. lester holt is here with you this weekend. we, of course, hope to see you right back here monday night. in the meantime, have a good weekend. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com