can, front runner, mitt romney is encouraging voters to ensure a victory. >> exciting people behind me. talking about winning this. hope that spirit follows me to south carolina. >> chip away at romney's lead. >> physical until you slow romney down, there's a real choice. >> gingrich, rick santorum, and john huntsman are for a battle in the top tier. 40% of voters are independent. ron paul is hoping to push him to a solid second place finish. >> looks like we are pretty solidly in second place. >> for the majority of those headed to cast ballots, the economy is the top issue. 60% consider it the most important issue. another 25% say the deficit. a third of new hampshire primary voters said they were looking for a candidate who could beat president obama.

having the right experience and a strong character were also important. patrick supports mitt romney, but doesn't expect a landslide. >> it will be closer than people expect. ron paul has a strong showing up here. >> if romney does come out on top, he'll be the first republican who isn't a sitting president to win both iowa and new hampshire. >> and looking ahead to south carolina, the gop chair says he expects the candidate's attacks to get even nastier. he also says that as much as $25 million will likely be spent on advertising. that's the latest live in manchester, i'm manuel, now back to you. >> thanks. so while these final results are yet to be known, we can talk about what is at stake tonight with martin. he's a nationally syndicated columnist and a noted presidential political expert. we just heard about the fact that mitt romney will become the first or may very well

become the first candidate who wasn't a sitting president to win both iowa and new hampshire. why isn't this over yet? >> well, it's not over yet because new hampshire, first of all, is mitt romney's home away from home. he owns a house there. he was the governor next door in massachusetts and from day one, he was always expected to win there by a comfortable margin. he won in iowa, where he wasn't campaigning until the final couple of weeks. >> newt gingrich trying to say romney has to get 50%. how right is that? >> well, retired the cup for expectations with that one. and not surprisingly. you know, bad blood is the charitable way to say it. it's real anger and real deep for newt gingrich, because mitt romney pals who have independent, allegedly pack had

run attack ads against him in iowa. so newt is responding in time. >> who has to come in second or third to claim some sort of victory? how many tickets are there out of new hampshire? >> everyone is going to go from new hampshire down to south carolina. it's not a ticket on an exclusive jet. the real question, i think, derek, is john huntsman. if he doesn't finish a respectable third, if not second, this is where he put all his hopes, he'll be gone and then the most moderate challenger to romney on that side will be gone. so it will be romney against a number of people trying to divide the conservative bracket and ron paul with the libertarian populous. >> we have to talk about ron paul. if he keeps coming in second or third, is he a power broker?

>> i don't think he'll be the next nominee. but he will be a force. he will be a power broker and it's going to be about time that our colleagues in the media start asking him the tough questions about all the newsletters and the fact that he opposed the 1964 civil rights act and things like that. he says, well, i didn't write those things. for decades, he let him go out. >> very quickly, rick santorum says this is going to be a long, drawn out contest. how likely is that? >> it will be drawn out through south carolina if he doesn't do well down there. he's a big conservative in the race. it's a conservative state. but mitt romney, for reasons not yet clear has a significant lead at this point in south carolina. >> so this thing could get locked down quickly in the next few weeks? >> maybe not.

it's not winner take all in all these early states except for one. florida. and when florida comes at the end of this month, the winner there has the whole thing. >> we appreciate your time. >> thanks for being here with us. >> we get to an update on the lawsuit over the republican primary ballot in salve. attorney general is asking a federal appeals court to reverse a judge's order that blocked the state from mailing out the absentee ballots. yesterday, a u.s. district judge told virginia not to print or mail out the ballots until he rules on the lawsuit. but he argues if those ballots aren't sent to the printer right now, virginia will not meet the legal deadlines for the ballots. the hearing is set for friday. plans for a memorial on the national mall to honor president dwight eisenhower could be on hold. his family sent a letter to the national capital planning commission objects to that memorial's design. they want the commission to delay the memorial until someone meets their concern. the family says this particular

design over emphasizes ike's roots and down plays his accomplishments in world war ii and in the presidency. frank gary was picked for the project. he proposed a statue of young ike eisenhower. >> a former ups worker who remains accused as the mother, daughter slayer was sentenced to 100 years in prison today for terrorizing in a series of other crimes. prosecutors say 28-year-old jason t. scott is responsible for nearly 60 violent home invasions and burglaries and they released video of scott's tools of the trade. check him out. large arsenal of assault style weapons. >> he was a one man crime wave. he referred to him as a tsunami of crimes. >> lots of things that i just don't do. >> despite today's 100 year sentence, prince georges county prosecutors are poised to take a second crack out scott. they have charged him with the

murder of ebony, two sisters found in their burned out car after a home invasion. scott lives right nearby. >> the naacp is focused on maryland as the next state in which he will try to bring an end to the death penalty. the head of the civil rights organization joined several state lawmakers in annapolis today. >> people care deeply about this everyone. the notion in this country that people are put to death, not because they are guilty, necessarily. they are virtually always because they are poor. person of color, for the person that they killed was richer or different color. >> a group of maryland lawmakers say they will seek to end capital punishment. maryland's death penalty has been on hold since 2006 when an appeals court said lawmakers have not approved the protocalls for the lethal injections. >> another issue the maryland general assembly will be

looking at, fantasy sports. a delegate introduced a bill to clarify the state law which makes it legal to take part in play leagues. not eligible to collect cash prizes. the state never prosecuted a player, but the delegate thinks the current law is just a little too vague. >> coming up, more churches in northern virginia have been robbed. and now, police are out there looking for who done it, but first, metro proposing another round of fare hikes. how much could you pay and when will it happen? we'll tell you up next. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all.

♪ the cost to ride the metro could soon be on the way up. the transit agency is proposing fare hikes. overall, smart trip and bus fares would increase by 5%. and folks who use those paper fare cards would pay a flat rate, $4 for a one way trip. that would go up to $6 during the rush hour. parking rates would increase 25 cents a day. the transit agency says the changes are needed. they have a $116 budget short fall. >> metro did not have adequate investment for many, many years. and it all -- it's very evident today with escalators and maintenance issues both from an

infrastructure perspective, from a car on rail. and we're playing catchup. >> metro will support its proposal on thursday. it will hold a series of public hearings before making a decision. if approved, most of those changes would take effect on july 1. stafford county detectives are on the hunt for the people they believe burglarized three churches. all three robberies happened in the last ten days. flat screen tv's, computers, cash, all stolen. just this morning, a safe with thousands of dollars worth of gift cards was taken. >> doors were open. drawers had contents spilled out on the floor. it was obvious someone had gone through the place. >> this is breaking and entering. this is vandalism. this is theft. they are facing serious jail time if they are caught and convicted. >> stolen gift cards have been canceled and they had been supposed to help the church and people in need. the criminals, as was just mentioned, could face multiple

charges. clear and pretty chilly tonight, but once again, weather is about to change. topper tells us when the rain will get here. his full forecast is coming up. but first, indecent si on your television. too strict or should everybody be like cable? the arguments are coming up. stay with us.

the state of texas can now enforce its controversial abortion law while opponents

challenge it in court. lifted the temporary ban on that law today. the measure requires doctors to show sonograms to women. today's ruling overturns an injunction issued by the district court judge, sam sparks, back in august. texas has not said when it will start enforcing that law, but the case does go back to sparks for a final ruling. >> mixed messages today from the supreme court justices on whether the government can punish tv broadcasters, like tv 9, for airing a fleeting live obscenity. abc and fox are appealing fines from the fcc after celebrities lake cher and bonno cursed on the ear. he said he got an earful down at the court. >> strange fellows at the supreme court. occupy protesters defending the rights of multibillion dollar media corporations. >> free speech covers dirty words, too.

and conservative groups calling for more government regulation. >> the question is, is that type of activity going to be the norm when we know millions of kids are watching? >> the broadcasters are asking the supreme court to take away the federal communication commission's right to fine them for the fleeting use of expletives. >> really, really -- >> and the r rated airing of body parts. >> the time has come to treat broadcast tv on an equal footing with the rest of the media. >> some justices are troubled that the fcc fine broadcasters for airing obscenities in some contexts. >> not in others. other justices suggested parents should be able to put their kids in front of the tv without fear that they will be bombarded with vulgarity that has been banned since comedian george karlyn used it on the

air in the 1970s. >> for broadcasters, perhaps the worst forecast came from justice samuel who suggested the whole issue may go away because that is what is going to happen to tv broadcasters like channel 9, he says. we will go the way of vinyl records and 8 track tapes. >> bruce, i have some vinyl records. so what do you think? should broadcasters with an over the air signal be held to a different standard to the cable channels? or is tv just tv these days? the channel number doesn't make much difference. weigh in, mcginty's mail bag is the place to do that. the address is mailbag@wusa9.com. when you lose a bet, you know you have to pay up and that is what the mayor of pitt pittsburgh today.

he placed a friendly wage on the outcome of the broncos, steelers game. pittsburgh's mayor had to wear a broncos jersey and strike the tim tebow pose for a picture. now had things gone differently, denver's mayor would have been waving a terrible towel. i would have thought the steelers were going to take that. i was as shocked as anybody when that overtime win happened. i just got off the phone saying i can't wait. game is over. >> wait a minute. all right, 54 today. i mean, it snowed yesterday and 54 today. >> what is going on? >> it's crazy. the big storm now is down to the south. it's going to roll in tomorrow. not going to be wet in the morning, but it will be by lunchtime. let's start with our weather cam. a shot at the white house. temperature downtown now finally under 50. 47 officially. looking at dew point of 31. humidity 54%. wind light out of the south at 5. now across the area, temperatures have been in the 40s for a while and some areas

in the low 40s. 41 in bethesda. 44 in rockville. even 37 out toward leesburg and gaithersburg. to the east, sprinkling of 30s. 39 in college park. 39 in beltsville and 41 in laurel. here's the deal. rain is on the way. chilly tonight, a dry morning commute. so grab your umbrella and raincoat before you leave. don't be fooled. it's coming. the wet commute will be interesting. in fact, we'll see moderate to heavy rain this time tomorrow. here's a lock at our future cast. by 6:00 in the morning, clouds roll back in quickly with rain as close to us as stanton. we'll put this into motion. by 2:00, rain reaches the maryland, pa border. around the immediate metro area, fairfax, it's pretty much the time start of the rain. moderate rain through the evening and then we get heavier rain. by 8:00 tomorrow night, look at the oranges and yellows showing

up. that will roll through most of our suburbs tomorrow night. good news is, it rolls out quickly. maybe an early morning shower on thursday. and salvage a nice day. in fact, it will be mild on thursday. the cold air will be delayed until friday. clear skies, just chilly tonight. maybe one blanket. low temperatures in the 30s. and by morning, clouds roll in quickly. temperatures in the 30s and 40s and winds easterly at 10. now by afternoon, winds pick up. cloudy, breezy and cold. winds now easterly at 10 to 20 and occasionally gusty. we'll break it down for you. 6:00, chilly by dry. rain by noon. 40 to 45. and rain everywhere by evening, 43 to 48. you'll need the raincoat and umbrella. next three days, after the snow goes by, we'll be mild on thursday. 55. arctic air comes in, maybe a

flurry. temperatures in the upper 30s, but steady or falling all day friday. next seven days. we stay cold through the weekend. in fact, we threw a snow flake in there on sunday. temperatures in the 30s. and next week, actually nice day on martin luther king day. next storm comes in here on tuesday, derek, looks more like rain with temperatures also in the mid 40s. >> can't get a break, can you? >> looking at long range stuff, it's depressing. >> which means good for the rest of us. we'll be back. we want to hear what you think. send your e-mails to mcginty's mail bag. the address, mailbag@wusa9.com. 9news now will be right back.

in the mail bag tonight, more politics. yesterday, we had a viewer who said it is a great idea for every voter to participate in the primaries regardless of party. the idea that person said, pick the best person for the job. but craig from king george, virginia, says that is not the primaries primary goal. primaries are so political parties can pick the candidate that best pick their goals, not the best person. then in the national election, we choose the person we feel will best serve us, not necessarily the best person. virginia needs to register

voters by a political party or as an independent and then there would be no need for loyalty oaths or lawsuits over the problems. craig, i'm not exactly sure how that would solve problems we talk about, but we move on to another virginia issue. that is, how can you raise more money for transportation? some say raise the tax on gasoline. that's a nonstarter for governor bob mcdonnell, but the roads in virginia are crumbling. the most direct way is to increase the gas tax, which when adjusted has declined for the past 26 years. the gas tax should be raised, but the chance of that happening is a long shot. and may take virginia losing jobs to states with better highways before our legislators wake up and smell the asphalt. you know what, steve, that would be interesting. a showdown, is the virginia gop

more antitax or more projob? up until now, they have been arguing those two are the same. comments, questions, criticism all welcome. the address here is mailbag@wusa9.com. that is our report. i'll be back here at 11:00 along with anita brikman. we'll have the latest on the new hampshire primary. log on any time to wusa9.com. we'll be back later. we'll see you then. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. why katy perry is hiding. ♪ >> what sources say was the one thing that broke up her marriage. >> and our take on why she backed out of the people's choice awards. then, new information on beyonce's new baby girl and her miscarriage. plus, other stars who lost a pregnancy. >> it was really tough. the race for white house. hollywood takes side. >> i root for the president of the united states. >> george backed obama. but who's on the republican side and how much money is hollywood raising for the candidates? >> are the stars afraid of what golden globes host ricky gervais will say? >> you want an empty chair? no. why not? because it's not 1975.