mitt romney have been running neck in neck for the last week. rick santorum made a big push in ohio. he reached out to socially conservative voters here and in southern states. this morning, santorum told a proisrael lobbying group in washington he has been focusing on the super tuesday races. >> as you know, this is an important day in my life today. we have a whole lot of primaries going on all across the nation. >> newt gingrich needed a victory in georgia. he hasn't won a state since south carolina six weeks ago. he is sending the future of his campaign on the south. >> we are going to carry georgia by a big margin and do much better than people expected. >> ron paul is looking to caucus states like idaho, north dakota, and alaska to add to his delegate count. he has yet to win a single state. danielle nottingham, ohio. >> next door in virginia, only

two of the four candidates are on the ballot, which lowered the significance of the primary there. even though they live in fairfax county, neither was able to get together enough signatures needed to get on the ballot. the voters have to choose between mitt romney and ron paul, and several leaders say there's been an upsurge for paul. political analysts say it's unlikely he'll win virginia. >> winner take all 49, i think votes will go to the delegates. let's look at that in relationship to georgia, tennessee, the other southern states that are in play. maybe even oklahoma, which has a southern tinge in many ways. it needs to be seen in the bigger picture, that's for sure. >> turnout is expected to be light in virginia and consistenting mostly of party activists. however, today's primary has no bearing on the huge role in the general election, where it is expected to be a highly sought after swing state. so, what affect could the

outcomes have on the republican race? david hawkings is editor of the roll call daily briefing. here's here to give us insight. it's safe to say most eyes are on mitt romney and ohio tonight. >> that's the big ball game. not in terms of delegates, because they are spread out all over the 10 or 11 states. and they are all going to get some additional delegates. romney is going to get by far the most no matter what happens in ohio, but the big question in terms of momentum and rick santorum's viability is ohio, which is like in a nutshell, it's like michigan without having home field advantage. >> the key thing is, santorum was winning in polls and now he seems to have slipped to at best, running neck in neck. >> that's right. on the night of the michigan primary. santorum was ahead by double digits. now, it's a statistical dead heat. what that means is romney has had all the momentum.

>> associated press is calling georgia for gingrich. not exactly a surprise, but this was a must win for newt. >> absolutely. he said so himself. he said if he didn't win his home state, he couldn't go on. now he's hoping he can do really well in neighboring tennessee, maybe even win there. some of the polling suggests that gingrich, santorum, or romney could win tennessee. so that would be a big boost for him and keep him, again, it's really about delegate math and getting to that magic 1144 delegates. it's also about raising money and going on with momentum. >> you bring up the raising money question. you heard santorum saying i have been outspent 6-1 and i'm still in this. how much money does he need and how much does he have? >> he doesn't have much left. he seems to keep doing what he did back in iowa, where he spent every dime he had to win iowa. he won it by whatever it was, 17 votes. and then he was able to raise more money and he spends it and raises it and spends it. and he has 6 to 1 in somebody's

book is barely enough to be kind of viable. you fall much below a ratio like that and you can't keep up. >> we heard the former first lady say this is the worst campaign she has ever seen and compromise should not be a bad word. this is what we are seeing in the polls of independents. >> polling keeps showing the longer this goes on, the less the independents like any of them and it's one of the reasons why there is increasing pressure on romney to wrap this thing up and even if they don't like him, even if they don't fall in love with him, they are asking republicans to get behind him and win back those independents. >> i'm sure he would like nothing better, but he hasn't been able to do it. what's next? >> what is next? illinois, that's the next big contest on the 20th. and then it's just, there's never going to be another night like this. this was a biggy, as you said, this is a third of the

delegates you need. romney has 200 delegates, he could have 400 delegates by the end of the niesmght night. even though it's been a sleep in virginia, he and paul are the only ones on the race, he stands a chance to win all 49 of those delegates. >> 49. and all those delegates and he didn't have to campaign for them. >> he never lifted a finger. >> thank you for your time today. we'll keep you updated and you keep track on wusa9.com. click on campaign 2012. that is at the top of your page. president obama had a few choice words about his republican rivals today. he had a white house news conference that touched on several topics. one, how to keep iran from building a nuclear weapon. president obama criticized the republicans that talked too freely and casually about waging war with iran.

>> when i see some of these folks folks who have a lot of bluster and talk, but when you ask them what you would do, it turns out they repeat the things that we have been doing over the last three years. >> president obama said anybody who is beating the drums on war aught to explain to the american people what the cost of that would be. he also said at this point, the united states and isreali intelligence believe the situation can be resolved. >> its inspectors missed problems or failed to properly inspect them before that deadly 2010 explosion at the west virginia mine. the agency released its internal review of inspections today. and then those releases acknowledged failures of the agency's field staff, but concluded there's no evidence failures caused the disaster. 29 miners died when a spark ignited methane gas and told us, two former mine employees

have been charged or convicted in that disaster. >> prince georges county police issued another traffic ticket to council member, karen toles. she has been sited for reckless driving. that one carries a $500 fine, plus six points on her license. you might recall toles was stopped a couple weeks ago by going over 100 miles per hour. she was sited for an improper lane change. he didn't have a radar gun, nor was he able to pace her car to gauge her speed. all right, looking out the bin doe, it was gorgeous outside, but once it got outside, you needed that coat. >> it was only 49 today. average high is 53. let me show you the wind gust. winds are starting to pick up. the winds are from the south. arrows pointing north, so the wind direction from the direction of origin, so 20-mile an hour wind gusts, 17 miles an winchester, but they are from

the south. also on thursday. right now, 45 downtown. 43 in gaithersburg. low 40s in leesburg: low 40s in fredericksburg. for tonight then, we're looking at clear skies, breezy, but not as cold. 1 to 2 blanket night. lows in the 30s. winds south, southwest at 10 to 15. we will come back and talk about how mild it's going to get tomorrow. how warm it's going to get on thursday and when you're going to need your umbrella next. >> we have early results in. by early, we mean 1% reporting. as of now, mitt romney has 59% of the votes. again, those are the only two on the ballot and we have 1% of the votes reported in. coming up, paying the penalty. another maryland county votes to fine drivers for passing school buses. but first, commonwealth clash. virginia lawmakers continue to battle over the state budget, the latest on their progress is up next.

give us a budget. that was the message today from the virginia association of counties to state lawmakers. the group made up of county officials urged the state senate to end the gridlock and pass the budget. counties need to know what's in that state budget so they can pass their own spending plan. they threatened to kill a

third. and that has governor bob mcdonnell worried that virginia could be headed for a partial shutdown. >> we are about to make some unpleasant history and i'm going to do everything i can in talking to leaders in both houses and both parties to be able to try to get this budget done. >> the general assembly is set to adjourn on saturday, but senate democrats defended their actions in a statement to the washington post saying, and we quote, from 2001 to 2008, the general assembly missed its scheduled budget deadline five out of seven times. recent history proves local governments have been largely unaffected. lawmakers have to pass a budget to avoid the possibility of a shutdown. >> okay, one more chilly night to go and we get to midweek warmup. topper tells us how long the spring-like weather will stick around. that full forecast is up in a minute, but first, memorial mess. the controversy over the design over president eisenhower's

memorial has the congress getting involved. we'll tell you why.

back on 9news now with two faces from our past. you're looking at recreated faces of two crew member who's died at sea nearly 150 years ago. when the uss monitor sank in a storm. scientists reconstructed these faces from the skeletal remains found in the gun tour turrant.

all right, now to those plans for building memorial on the mall to president eisenhower. if you have been following this story, you know there are people not so happy about the proposed design, including the eisenhower family. congress plans to hold a hearing on it later this month. critics say the current design dwells on his boyhood, not much on his general and as president. if you are one of the thousand of people who ignore stop signs and flashing lights on stopped school buses, brace yourself for a big change. the montgomery county council voted unanimously to install traffic enforcement cameras on the school buses themselves. >> in the handful of other jurisdictions that have passed these school bus traffic camera bills, it is usually happened after a car has blown past a

stopped school bus, hit and killed a child and the law gets named after the child who was killed. in this case, the montgomery county council wanted to do something before anyone got hurt. >> i'm saying to myself, this car isn't going to stop. >> 21 years as a bus driver and through it all, bob has raged helplessly while drivers rip past his stopped bus. >> did you take the picture? >> threatening the children racing to get on and off. for six of those years, haren lobbied to install cameras on his bus to keep the kids safe. >> i had one september, 123 cars that i had recorded with tag numbers and turned it in. >> but now, the bus driver's dream of a way to stop the cheaters has finally come true. the montgomery county council has authorized new all the mated high depth cell connected

cameras that will shoot video of lawbreakers license tags, send the images to police who will send the car's owner a $250 fine, but no points. >> if you pass a school bus, you're going to be caught. you're going to be fined. >> when it comes to speed cameras and red light cameras, a lot of people have complained about a money hungry government. in this case, valerie, who sponsored this legislation says she has gotten very little pushback because it's about kids and school bus safety. they are hoping to get these cameras installed in time for the beginning of the next school year. in rockville, bruce leshan, 9news now. golfing and drinking. some may say the two go together like peanut butter and jelly, but want to let the hackers hit the bottle earlier.

introduced a bill which will allow county courses to sell beer at 6:30 in the morning. they can't buy the booze until 11:00 a.m. the bill is in the house economic matters committee. drinking, 6:30 in i mean, i know people say it's 5:00 somewhere, but come on, let's be real. does anybody want to chug a cocktail with their bagels? talk about that in mcginty's mail bag. come on, top. >> two things here. at 6:30, i can barely drink hot tea. golf is hard enough as it is. 6:30 in the morning, i can't see it. all right, 49 today. a little crisp. a little below average. but, it's going to get milder tomorrow. and it's going to get warmer on thursday. let's start with a live look outside our live weather cam brought to you by michael and son. very nice shot of the white house. and the winds are picking up. it's a mild win.

45 downtown. winds turn now to the south at 8. dew point is 27. so not as dry as it was last night. got down to 29 at national this morning. 21st day, or 21st night we went below freezing. 43 in bethesda. mid 40s in rockville. 43 in gaithersburg and 34 in sterling and 43 in leesburg. still 46 in college park and 44 up in beltsville. so, here's the deal. it will warm back up. not as cold tonight. it will still be chilly tomorrow at the bus stop, but a typical spring day. a chilly start and much warmer on thursday. some areas will be 70 on thursday. for tonight, clear skies, breezy, not as cold. a one to two blanket night. winds increasing southwest 10 to 15. but that's a warmer wind. a couple things, it will keep most of us above freezing and drive in much milder air. maybe 32 in rockville and 31 in

gaithersburg. 37 downtown. 33 in college park and in bowie. most folks stay above freezing. and looking at 33 in reston. you get out toward leesburg, 30. manassas 31. you will still be below freezing. now tomorrow morning, mostly sunny, breezy, chilly. you will need a coat. temperatures in the 30s and 40s. and we mentioned this earlier, even though it's a southwest wind, you have a wind 10 to 15 with temperatures in the 30s and 40s. so, keep that in mind. by afternoon, mostly sunny, breezy and milder. highs highs between 60 and 65. zone forecast, even oakland will be 55 tomorrow. 58 in cumberland. 60 in hagerstown. low 60s in warrenton. maybe 60 or 61 in leesburg. downtown, low 60s. low 60s into southern maryland. low to mid 60s by the bay and right now there's not a small craft advisory. not quite sure why, because

it's going to stay breezy to windy. we'll break it down. 30s to start. 55 to 60 by noon with sunshine and 59 to 64 evening. pretty nice evening. now the next three days, gets warmer. upper 60s on thursday. cooler temperatures into the upper 50s. not exactly a power packed system. next seven days, it will usher in colder air on saturday. saturday will be like today, temperatures will struggle to get to 50. bright, but brisk, but sunny. on sunday, milder, but showers possible late. highs around 60 and 60 on monday with a better chance of rain. you turn your clocks ahead one hour. >> feeling very springtimey out there. we'll be right 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.

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the associated press called the virginia primary for mitt romney, 19% reporting. romney at 59%.

ron paul at 41% and the ap called the georgia primary for newt gingrich. in the mail bag tonight, movie snacks. they are super pricey and yesterday we told you about a guy in michigan for violating consumer protection laws for keeping prices so high and banning youth from bringing in your own snacks. no sympathy for this guy. i don't think the snacks are over priced. though it does seem this way. they have to have overhead and make a profit. the same can be said for ball games. however, i'm not against someone who tries to sneak in their snacks either. you may not be against bringing in your own snacks, but the theater folks take a grim look at that. shame on them, i think it's wrong movie theaters charge outrageous prices for food. i have also made a choice not to go to the movie theater or a sports game for the fact i am not going to buy in to the overpricing of ticket prices and food f. you want to see the

latest and greatest, expect to pay big bucks and deal with it. if you don't like it, don't go. that's good advice, or you could go to the movies and eat before you get there. grabbing some sour patch kids, but that wouldn't be right. a better plan, write mcginty's mail bag. that's or report, i'll be back here tonight at 11:00 along with anita. we'll see you then. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. food network star paula deen and her brother sued. charges of sexual harassment and assault. >> inside the shocking claims made by a former employee. what paula's lawyer is saying today. then, the desperate housewives trial gets nasty, why marc cherry said that really killed off nicollette sheridan's character. inside oprah's kitchen. >> i basically do all of the cooking. >> a look at her private life with boyfriend stedman and a romantic lunch she whipped up. >> that's why we call it the love sandwich. >> i'm a lucky guy. johnny depp in london as a 200-year-old vampire. jon hamm spilling mad men secrets in new york. >> i think people will be surprised and shocked. plus, inside dcl