on attack. gingrich and romney let loose in a bitter fight. swinging away on the trail in florida. crackdown. we're on the ground with a rare look inside syria as the crisis there takes a dramatic turn. coupon healthcare. how some of the uninsured are getting help. doctor discounts part of an online craze. and heroes welcome. a remarkable turnout to honor our troops. thanks to two guys on a mission and the spirit of st. louis. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good evening. three days to go until florida

republicans have their say and while it is not officially a two-man race, it sure feels that way in the sunshine state. mitt romney and newt gingrich spent the day crisscrossing florida trading sharp attacks. meantime, ron paul ditched the sunshine for a snowstorm up in maine today looking ahead to that state's caucus vote next weekend. and rick santorum went back to washington, d.c. to raise some much-needed campaign cash. our political team is in place tonight. let's begin in panama city, florida. peter alexander is traveling with the romney campaign. peter? >> reporter: kate, good evening to you. the campaign officials believe what the campaign is doing is working. they say the candidate has a renewed focus after his loss in south carolina. and has done a better job being more aggressive, consistently against newt gingrich and emphasizing their belief that he is the best candidate to improve the american economy. mitt romney says he's feeling like the front-runner again. >> i just feel that things are

going in our direction. i'm hoping for a big turnout on tuesday. and i think we're being to win here. i sure hope so. >> reporter: in front of a packed crowd along pensacola's famed shores, romney focused on the president and mocked newt gingrich's complaints about the crowd participation in last debates. >> speaker gingrich said he didn't do so well because the audience was so loud. and the one before it was too quiet. it's like goldilocks you have to it right. >> reporter: and an all-out assault on gingrich, including john mccain who called him desperate. >> a desperate candidate is a candidate who attacks someone who succeeds in the free enterprise system. >> reporter: while romney may be leading in the polls he's still battling to win the support of the party's conservative base. ♪ on friday night, it was florida's influential hispanic

vote he was after. and the ad wars continue. the latest romney ad lifting a 1997 clip of "nbc nightly news," the day the former house speaker was found guilty of ethics violations. nbc news has asked the romney campaign for the removal of all nbc news material from their ads. tom brokaw responded saying, i'm extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad. i do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign. at a shipyard in panama city this afternoon, romney tried to convince voters that gingrich had his turn to run the republican party but failed. >> he was fined for ethics violations. he ultimately had to resign in disgrace. he can't rewrite history. we have to go back an look at history and he may by a great guy with a lot of great ideas but he's not the leader we need at a critical time. >> reporter: and as for that ad with the "nightly news" clip in

it, tonight the romney campaign tells me they have received the letter from nbc news and are eare viewing it. but that they believe they still have the right to air that clip and is skeldcheduled to air thr tuesday. which is primary day in florida. >> yes, it is. in the meantime, newt gingrich is not taking the attacks laying down, and he fired back at the romney campaign and its surrogates. nbc's ron mott joins us from orlando, florida, with that end of the story. ron, good evening. >> reporter: kate, good evening to you. newt gingrich has been angry about fighting the republican machine in addition to the other candidates in this field. this as one of the most powerful names in the party rushes to his defense. >> newt gingrich in the house! >> reporter: newt gingrich hit the links today in a good mood. >> what are callista and i doing up here when we could be on the golf course? >> reporter: but wasted little time teeing off on those who are

conspiring to take his campaign down. >> the people who oppose me, some in the democratic party and some in the republican party, under the elites we have become the america who couldn't. >> reporter: a potential blow as he seeks to regain the firmer footing he brought here after last week's surprising victory in the south carolina primary. ever the lightning rod for controversy, gingrich has attracted high voltage opposition. millions in attack ads. public mocking from insiders and establishment icons like john mccain. a mitt romney support. >> i think we ought to send newt gingrich to the moon and mitt romney to the white house. what do you think? >> reporter: friday, the former speaker got a shot in the arm from sarah palin. what we have seen in florida this week is beyond the pale she wrote on her facebook page. i have great concern about the gop establishment trying to anoint a candidate without the blessing of the grass roots. those grass roots gingrich says will keep him in the fight long

beyond florida even if he loses tuesday. counting on people power as he calls it to prevail over big money. >> i will go all the way to the convention. i expect to win the nomination. you just had two national polls that show me ahead. why don't you ask governor romney what he's going to do if he loses since he's behind in both national polls? >> reporter: newt gingrich says a conservative has the best shoot to beat president obama in the fall, calling mitt romney a massachusetts moderate and pointing out the last two conservatives -- last two moderates i should say in the republican party to win the nomination, bob dole and then john mccain four years ago. both lost the general election. >> ron mott, thanks so much. let's bring in david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." good evening. we just heard that newt gingrich is going all the way to the nomination. if he can't pull off a win on tuesday in florida, is that realistic? >> reporter: it becomes very difficult, but certainly not impossible.

it becomes difficult because after tuesday, not only a win in florida for romney puts him in a much more commanding position, but then you don't have a lot of contests until the end of february and you've got some contests in a primary calendar that favors romney. but this would give gingrich time to refuel. he has some money behind him at this point, so he could regroup. but he doesn't have any debates which is his real life's blood for this campaign. >> how concerned are republicans, the party, about the nomination fight? the longer it goes on, the more divisive things get. are they worried that the party damages the eventually nominee? >> who's the they, that's the question. among officer holders, congressmen, senator, governors, people who have been in the party a long time, i think they're worried. i think they'd like to see romney wrap this thing up, particularly because gingrich is coming at him with much more populist attacks, the same kind that president obama will come at romney with if he's the nominee. but i think ron mott's reporting

and some of that sound -- some of the information from sarah palin really says something. there was a grass roots in the republican party that does not want romney to sew this thing up yet. has real concerns about him as a conservative. that's going to keep things pretty interesting for a while. >> makes it interesting to watch. david gregory, we'll be watching tomorrow morning. john mccain and obama campaign senior strategist david axelrod's are david's guests tomorrow morning on "meet the press." overseas tonight, the crisis in syria has taken a dramatic turn for the worst. today the arab league which had been -- had observers inside syria monitoring the situation decided to withdraw those observers saying it was too dangerous to stay. government forces have killed at least 74 people since thursday. reportedly including women and children making the past 72 hours among the bloodiest in syria's ten-month uprising. nbc's aimen mohadin is back.

>> reporter: they were once in syria's snow-capped mountains and now they're scarred by war this woman shows us her home. for days she says that syrian army was entrenched here, laying siege to towns nearby. when they left, this is what they left behind. she cursed at syria's president bashar al assad. people here are angry with the international community for not doing more to protect them. the residents in this house have been showing us the damage that's been caused by the syrian soldiers. they also say that the syrian army set up a sniper's nest from which they were attacking the rez densidents down below. after intense fighting, a truce was reached between the syrian military and the free syrian army. a small, loose knit rebel force made up of military detecters and their anti- government

supporters. and they came to their first visit here since the truce. at every stop, they're showing them the ammunition shells fired at the towns and the damaged property. they give the names of the missing relatives takenably the syrian military. the free syrian army declares small parts liberated according to the local commander. we agreed not to show his face for his own security. where are the residents of this town, volunteers and defectors who refused to kill our neighbors? the arab league has failed us. we need intervention, he says. defiant and now emboldened, the anti-regime protesters once again returned to the streets, expressings freely and even more determined to continue their struggle.

staying overseas tonight, the embattled leader of yemen has arrived in the united states for medical treatment a week after leaving his country under a u.s.-backed plan to end his 30-year reign of power. he was injured during an attack and he'll be treated here in new york. in italy, the weather is causing significant delays for those trying to pump fuel out of the "costa concordia" and rough seas are hampering the efforts to save people still missing. we have the latest from the tuscan coast. >> reporter: divers tried to work today. entering cold, choppy water. immediately descending into darkness. along deck after deck of the c n concordia, down to the crushed edges, where the reef displays

an ugly tangle of what was inside. mattresses, furniture, and then a single shoe. in this deeply submerged back of the ship, this is where divers did find the body of a woman near an evacuation point. perhaps flooded too quickly that night, while thousands of people aboard scrambled for lifeboats. 17 victims have been recovered, but nearly that same number are still missing. searchers today wanted to use robotic cameras to help, but the rough seas wouldn't allow it. as if that were not enough, another task needs to happen out here at the same time. pumping out fuel before it leaks. salvage teens drilled through the hull into the tanks. but the waves stopped that too. they had to detach equipment and back off. likely now won't be able to start until the middle of next week. for the uninjured survivor, they offered roughly $14,000 and plus all travel expenses, though some

have chosen a legal route. this lawsuit filed yesterday in miami by six passengers seeks hundreds of millions of dollars, as punishment. saying passengers were left to fend for themselves. it will be a process, and this unwelcome view a reminder for months to come. michelle kaczynski, nbc news, giglio, italy. dr. discounts. the latest craze of coupons, helping people get the care they need. later, the crowd goes wild with a rousing welcome home.

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and the number of weight loss offers sky rocketed. but is it safe when it comes to your well-being? some fear people will look for deals without doing the research. >> we do not know -- at least i don't know what sort of credentials, what sort of vetting these groups have when they're recruiting a healthcare provider. >> reporter: living social and groupon, two popular discount websites, say they have procedures in place to screen all merchants including doctors before a deal reaches your in box. >> getting that e-mail was a second chance for me. >> reporter: for this woman who has no health insurance and a tight budget, the decision was simple. >> i was putting it off. there were medical issues that were starting to develop. i needed this to take myself to the next level. >> reporter: proof that next checkup could be well worth it in more ways than one. take a look at this spectacular light show,

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elaine's eccentric boss has died. he appeared in dozens of movies and tv shows in his nearly 50-year career. a lot of people know him as professor crumbs on the wizards of waverly place. he passed away on thursday in hollywood. he was 77 years old. there was a moving tribute last night at the winter x games in aspen, colorado, to remember freestyle skier sarah burke. the 29-year-old olympic hopeful who died earlier this month after a skiing accident. her friends and fellow competitors gathered silently for a candlelight vigil, wearing stickers and arm bands in her memory. there is more good news to report tonight about the homeless teen from new york's long island whose story inspired so many people after she was named a semifinalist in a prestigious science competition. well, tonight, samantha garvey and her family are homeless no more. today, they received the keys to a new home through a program that helps families move out of shelters. the family had been flooded with

an outpouring of support from folks all across the country. if you have ever found yourself sitting on the tarmac during a long delay like i was just last night, looking for someone to blame, you might want to remember this. the faa says one-third of all flight delays across the country caused by a ripple effect from delays at just four airports. new york's big three, jfk, laguardia and newark, plus the airport in philadelphia. perhaps the airline industry expert puts it best to "the new york times," says, when new york sneezes the rest of the national air space catches a cold. up next here tonight, the spirit of st. louis honoring america's heroes. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus! so you earn 50% more cash. according to research, everybody likes more cash. well, almost everybody... ♪ would you like 50% more cash? no! but it's more money.

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as the last american troops left iraq late last year, we saw a lot of heart warming gatherings at airports and military bases across the country. but what we didn't see were the big ticker tape parades like they used to do at the end of a war. but two friends from st. louis decided to change that. starting a grass roots campaign on facebook and it culminated today with a rousing welcome home. here's nbc's john yang. >> reporter: today america's heartland answered the call. st. louis held the nation's first parade to mark the end of the nine-year u.s. military mission in iraq. new york city said there won't be a parade any time soon like the one after the first gulf war in 1991. pentagon officials say it would

be premature with troops still in afghanistan. but in st. louis, friends tom appelbaum and craig schneider disagreed. >> there was this like national conversation in the media about should we or shouldn't we have a parade for the iraq vets, and that was like the first thing, like, well, that's silly. of course they deserve a parade. >> that was less than a month ago. they started a facebook page and harnessed the power of social media. >> we didn't do this. we put up a call for help. at first the city rallied and then the country rallied. >> reporter: tens of thousands lined the main thoroughfare to salute hundreds of thousands from across the country. it had a home spun feel. from the crowd, heart felt thanks. >> i think you need to say thank you to the people protecting our country. >> reporter: service members were grateful too. >> it's something we'd like to

see for everybody to remember the sacrifices. >> reporter: for those who lost loved ones it was a bittersweet day. edward forrest sr.'s son died during his third tour of duty in iraq. >> eddie's parade. that's what i call this. >> reporter: more than marking the service members' return organizers hope today will focus attention on the groups serving their need now that they're back home. this man lost both his legs when his army humvee hit an ied and he got a segue while in rehab. >> to take the trash out felt good. >> reporter: and rick radford has flown home after serving in iraq. >> you can drop me in any city in the united states, because i was home. >> reporter: today he was touched by the outpouring of his hometown. >> completely overwhelmed. >> reporter: john yang, nbc news, st. louis. that is "nbc nightly news"

for this saturday. i'm kate snow reporting from new york. e er -- lester holt will be back tomorrow evening. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com