cnn's joe johns has more on the final rush for support. >> susan, as the race for nevada caucuses entered the home stretch, the mitt romney campaign was hoping their candidate was well positioned to score a victory here just like he did four years ago. it was a bizarre week in politics, though, with donald trump stirring up a publicity firestorm before finally publicly endorsing romney for president. romney did not help his own case with his comments on cnn that he was not concerned about the poor because there's a safety net for them. he later said he misspoke. meanwhile, newt gingrich, the former speaker of the house tried to capitalize on the romney misstep promoting his own plan to create jobs and improve the economy. texas congressman ron paul was attracted large crowds in the state of nevada. he placed second here four years ago behind romney. former senator rick santorum was not about to be counted ow out, having already demonstrated his prowess in the caucus environment, if you will, by a big win in the state of iowa. but for now, i

jim acosta, joe johns. jim, let's start with you. you're in denver tonight. is that governor romney think colorado's his best hope? >> well, we'll see, john. not everything has gone mitt romney's way today. there was a morning snowstorm that made romney late for his one and only event of the day. he was actually forced to skype from his campaign bus to the crowd waiting inside the event. but once he was able to get onstage he sounded pretty confident he'll win colorado tonight. >> don't be late to the caucuses tonight. that's the important thing. you guys make sure and be there and we're going to have a celebration also together tonight at -- is that sarah palin? look at that. there she is right there. [ cheers and applause ] >> there are a lot of sarah palin look alikes out here. they want to be. anyway we're going to have a little celebration tonight in denver i guess at the hyatt. i really appreciate the warm welcome we're getting on such a cold and snowy morning. i guess it took a long time to get the snow off the windshield of the bus. so it slowed it dow

i'm joe johns in las vegas. back to you, susan. >> joe, thanks so much. be sure to stay with us throughout the day for updates from nevada. and tonight our expanded coverage starts at 6:00 p.m. with a special edition of "the situation room." don't miss it. then join the best political team on tv with wolf blitzer, john king, anderson cooper -- you name it -- for all the results. >>> you could say it's a ray of sunshine on unemployment with nearly 250,000 private secotor jobs added last month. the unemployment rate has dropped to 8.3%. that is down from 8.5%. at this rate all 4.6 million jobs lost during the obama a administration could be recovered by election day. here is the president. >> these numbers will go up and down in the coming months and there are still far too many americans who need a job or need a job that pays better than the one they have now. but the economy is growing stronger. the recovery is speeding up. and we've got to do everything in our power to keep it going. >> here is a breakdown for you. the group that saw the biggest gains, a

i'm joe johns in las vegas. back to you, susan. >> thank you. to stay with us throughout the day for updates from nevada. tonight our expanded coverage starts at 6:00 p.m. with the special edition of "the situation room." join wolf blitzer, anderson cooper and the gang for all the results. don't miss that. >>> nothing in life is free, right? well, maybe some things are. one arkansas mayor is giving away land if you want to start a business. we'll speak to him in a minute and see how it works. [ dad ] i'm usually checking up on my kids, but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian, and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to help keep bones strong and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. and our great taste is guaranteed or your money back. learn more at boost.com. [ dad ] i choose great ta

okay, joe johns, thank you so much. speaking of debates, tune into cnn at 5:00 p.m. eastern for an encore presentation of the republican presidential debate from mesa, arizona. people love those debates. >>> you're about to get frightening close look inside the deadly battles in syria. keep watching. a freelance cameraman goes to work inside the fighting in homs. his footage shows the street battles up close and very personal. in the works package, we change the oil we change the filter... tire rotation, suspension, we make suspension checks... what we have here is the multi-point inspection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change, tire rotation and more: $29.95 or less after rebate - at your ford dealer. you're a doctor... you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor... can you enjoy vege

a real challenge for him and obviously for some of the others too. >> okay, joe johns from troy, michiganjoe, thank you. >>> a program note as well. join me tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 eastern for a special hour dedicated to the presidential contenders in the 2012 election. uh-oh. [ male announcer ] when diarrhea hits, kaopectate stops it fast. powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. fast. [ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ >>> welcome back. we're in an economic recovery so why aren't you feeling it? in this week's "smart is the new rich" christine romans looks at the growing divide between winners and losers in this economy and what you can do to take control an speed up your own recovery. >> your job,

joe johns, thank you.o more opportunities for one of the republican presidential candidates to separate from the competition. our coverage of the arizona and michigan primaries begins at 6:00 eastern with a special edition of "john king usa" followed by live coverage of the results starting at 7:00 eastern. >>> you know, the oscars are this weekend and one nominee could become the first african-american ever to win best documentary. that's next. ring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. building whiter, stronger teeth. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. >>> welcome back. exciting stuff here. a young african-american film maker is making his first appearance at the oscars this sunday. his documentary about a high school football team that went from all losing seasons to

joe johns, thank you. tuesday, two more opportunities for one of the republican presidential candidates to separate from the competition. our coverage of the arizona and michigan primaries begins at 6:00 eastern with a special edition of "john king usa" followed by live coverage of the results starting at 7:00 eastern. >>> you know, the oscars are this weekend and one nominee could become the first african-american ever to win best documentary. that's next. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do ev

joe johns in michigan. thank you. >>> in tuesday two more opportunities for the candidates to separate from their competition. our coverage begins at 6:00 eastern with john king, usa followed by complete live coverage of the results starting at 7:00 eastern. >>> there are 45 drivers competing in the daytona 500 but one is grabbing the bulk of the headlines, danica patrick. she is bringing a lot of extra attention to the race. but is that causing jealousy here? we are live from daytona in less than three minutes. ew. seriously? so gross. ew. seriously? that is so gross. ew. seriously? dude that is so totally gross. so gross...i know. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. >>> in a reversal compared to other major sports, the nascar season starts with the most cel

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our correspondent joe johns in nevada. this state not expected to be all that favorable to speaker gingrich. what are they saying they need to come back there? >> reporter: they're all saying they've got to focus on the state with proportional delegates as opposed to winner take all. and a lot of people, though, are going a little bit beyond that newt gingrich notion of just uniting the conservatives. they're looking back doing a little bit of monday morning quarterbacking and saying, what he needs to do is talk more about what newt gingrich is for. one thing i've heard from the gingrich circles is they want him to not get stuck down in the mud. i think that was the exact quote i heard with mitt romney. rather talk about what he was for, talk about what mitt romney is for, or get mitt romney to talk about that. so there's a lot of concern that down in florida he did too much of the negative stuff, and romney's very good at it and has a lot of money to do it in the television ads. i think that's probably the lesson they're

joe johns is standing by for us live. he's next. curity line.ake an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. some aerosols may just mix with them. can febreze really remove it. we asked real people what they thought. [ moderator ] take a deep breath for me. describe the smell. it's very pleasant. fresh. some kind of flower maybe? [ moderator ] remove the blindfold... awww, oh yuck! i didn't smell any of that! [ male announcer ] febreze air effects doesn't mix, it actually removes odors. [ laughs ] wow, that's incredible. [ male announcer ] so you can breathe happy. guaranteed. >>> if you are a political junkie, you're kind of excited about march 6. why? because of the super tuesday. less than three weeks away, ten primaries and caucuses all in one single day, but out of all of those contests, ohio is probab

cnn's senior correspondent joe john's is in michigan.s it seem like mitt romney simply stuck is in neutral especially in a state that technically should or could be a slam dunk? >> reporter: you know, deb, that is what everybody has been asking around this state over the last several days and i think you can say mitt romney had some trouble with conservatives, with evangelicals, and that in large part has been the margin, the big difference in the polls, evangelicals and conservatives going heavily so far for rick santorum. both of those guys appearing here in try to, michigan, a big grass roots gathering of conservative activists, held by americans for prosperity, rick santorum appearing just a little while ago before this pretty healthy crowd, over 1000 people in the room, hitting mitt romney very hard on a variety of issues, just listen to this, he talked a little bit about romney's positions on emissions and global warming. listen. >> i don't -- i don't go out and crow that i imposed the first carbon cap on power plants. as governor

senior correspondent joe johns is there. e, you hear the confidence in arizona after the debate they will win michigan, the romney people. do you feel that on the ground? >> reporter: you know, john, frankly you do know, this predictions in politics can be very dangerous things. and you have a guy in the spin room in arizona saying, we will win michigan. well, today i reached out to the campaign to try to get somebody some of the message people to sort of back that up or expand on that. and i pretty much got radio silence throughout the day. nonetheless, i can tell you that the romney people do feel as though santorum's performance in the debate last night actually helped the romney case. they do like the way he tried to defend his votes on capitol hill. they very much liked the notion that this is a guy who would actually go out and say he took one for the team because they think that plays into the story they've been telling about santorum, which is that he is a washington insider. so they've been hoping to expand on that.

he's in ohio with an eye on super tuesday and joe johns joins us from columbus. >> anderson, newt gingrichight have been in an alternate universe tonight. he did post a telephone call we're told and didn't get him but tried to reach rick santorum. as you said, newt gingrich is not in colorado. he's not in minnesota. he's here in ohio. he's been here all -- basically all day long. he started out in cincinnati. went to dayton. ended up here in columbus, ohio. going out to cleveland in the morning. as far as newt gingrich is concerned, ohio is state that's getting ready for early voting even though ohio doesn't officially vote until super tuesday on march 6. he thinks it he's a good idea to spend some time team here and his whole strategy is to work through the southern states and on to texas hoping at the end of the day he's somewhere near parity with mitt romney. so that's the story on newt gingrich. back to you, anderson. >> joe johns, appreciate that. >>> political earthquake you could say, rick santorum winning two contests. it would be an earthquake if colorado goes to santorum. we'll h

joe johns, thank you. tuesday, two more opportunities for one of the republican presidential candidates to separate from the competition. our coverage of the arizona and michigan primaries begins at 6:00 eastern with a special edition of "john king usa" followed by live coverage of the results starting at 7:00 eastern. >>> you know, the oscars are this weekend and one nominee could become the first african-american ever to win best documentary. his film about a high school football team rose to the top of the pack. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these

joe johns is in detroit for us. joe, did the governor reveal anything new?> reporter: well, you know, i think -- yeah. first you said it was a big speech and that's the way the campaign certainly saw it. it was a huge speech when you consider the venue. the venue where he gave this was the ford field, the 65,000-seat football field where the detroit lions play. now, obviously campaigns try not to put their candidate in gigantic rooms like that because the crowd looks to be swallowed up. and that's sort of what happened, but the campaign really didn't have any choice on that. the detroit economic club helped us, and as you know, they basically had a smaller room, then they had to move to a larger room because they sold out, and that's where they end up. mitt romney thought this was a huge deal, and he said so during the speech. listen. >> what i described, i believe, are economic plans that will strengthen america and strengthen michigan by making bold cuts in spending and common sense reforms. we're going to make our government simpler, smaller and smarter.

the one that says original joe's -- john is here. there is also a coca-cola one. i want to see them put the old phrase in their "the real thing." i missed that. we are also doing some restoration. it is all about making sure we pay attention to the uptown tenderloin historic district. we have done this for some years now. ever since the fire that occurred here -- unfortunately, there was a fire here a few years ago. my predecessor gavin newsom asked me to come down here to work with the arts community, come up with every idea that we could, to work with the office of economic development to please key dollars here. we are working with so many organizations working our way up this great street, finding out that there was a lot of history to showcase. we wanted to make sure that we used our artistic ability, the ability to forge artistic programs, and that is why we invested in this foundation. they are taking over the old theater. now these murals. i want to thank the people who got our two artists here. their work is presented here, in this unveiling of these adve

>>> joe johns, what about the protest? >> okay.couple blocks down the street from here, the united auto workers on the top floor of a parking garage. i was over there a couple minutes ago, 100 people, maybe a couple hundred, the crowd continues to grow, set up a bunch of american made cars and they have letters on top of the cars that spell out "let detroit go bankrupt" this was the very famous headline of the op-ed in the new york times that rom me wrote in 2008 that has democrats and some independents upset in do it all about the auto industry bail out at that time which mitt romney opposed. they will be protesting for a while, we'll take our cameras down there and take a look when we get off the air. >> joe, we'll check in with you then, thanks so much. >>> just in case you thought winter was on vacation, giant storm from north dakota to chicago, o'hare cancelled more than 350 flights, that could have a ripple effect across the country. hartford, connecticut, system isn't just about snow, blew the wind. rob marciano has been wat

joe johns is with the romney campaign, we'll go to him shortly. paul steinhouser joins us what is santorum saying about the president? >> reporter: a lot of things, he's talking alot about the president, that is to change. if you go back a couple weeks ago, he was talk morgue about his -- talking more about his rivals. since he surged in the polls, he's directing fire power at the president. here is what he has said over the last couple days. >> yeah, he's a nice guy. it won't be near as bad as what we think. this will be okay. oh, yeah, maybe he's not the best guy after a while you found out things about this guy over in europe he's not so good of a guy after all. >> not about your jobs, it's about some phony ideal. some phony theology. not a theology based on the bible, different theology, no less a theology. >> i referred to global warming as political science. >> kyra, here is what happens when you rise to front-runner status, everything comes under the microscope. rick santorum has to explain a lot of what he has said and the comments there,

our joe johns is in detroit. is trying to make up some ground and score some points with the auto industry there and it's really gonna hurt if he doesn't do well in the state in which he was born. >> that's for sure, frederica. it will be very tough for him. this is a state where he was born, also where his father was governor, that was about 40 years ago. some question as to how many people actually remember the romneys. a lot of republicans suggesting that they do. however a lot of the talk, at least the last 24 hours or so, what have been about bailouts whether they were a good idea, obviously because the auto industry got a big bailout and gm reporting record profits but interesting how the candidates talk about them. rick santorum, for example, on the campaign trail here in this state saying yesterday that as far as he is concerned, bailouts are not a good idea, period. listen. >> this is a president who is disarming america economically. robbing us of our freedom. controlling more and more power in washingto

joe johns is in troy, michigan. a lot of focus on michigan.o the press on romney is obviously because this is his home state. so how is his team handling the pressure? >> reporter: well, he's handling it i think as well as he could. he's been around the state talking about that, playing up the fact that he is from this area, that he grew up in michigan. both he and his wife just finished here on the stage in troy, michigan. his wife spoke as well to the crowd. and when romney got an opportunity to talk, he really sort of zeroed in once again on rick santorum, his principal competitor for this nomination. and he talked among other things about the fact that rick santorum actually endorsed him four years ago when he, romney, was running for president. listen. >> and i'm a conservative. i can attest for my conservative credentials by quoting someone who endorsed me in my 2008 campaign. senator santorum was kind enough to say, he said mitt romney, this is a guy who is really conservative and who we can trust. and he said he is the clear conservati

here if you are now you are so spotlight we have someone in mind you think i fit into the next time joe johns milan algren up ads. are used and let's keep the show interactive we'll be back with more first and comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take care. of. me. the generals refused to step down as the egyptian capital braces itself for a day of massive public protest against military rule exactly a year after the former president was ousted. divisions and the armed way of the syrian opposition over claims of responsibility for the deadly bombing at the security service have waters in the country's second largest city. and these threats to national security america's growing obesity problem is expanding waistlines and corporate bank accounts is big business is harvest big profits from fattening the people. coming to life from moscow now a year after president mubarak stepped down the egyptian capital is bracing itself for a massive campaign of civil disobedience calling for a new revolution thousands of protesters want the ruling military council to

our correspondents are certainly out in force, including jim acosta and joe johns. how are they feeling at obama headquarters looking at there's three contests? >> reporter: wolf, mitt romney is sounding very confident. he will score a victory here in colorado. team romney is not predicting a trifecta. instead, talk of a long haul to the nomination. >> joe johns at newt gingrich headquarters on this night in ohio. doesn't have a contest there until super tuesday, march 6th. but what's your sense? how are people in ohio republicans assessing the former speaker? >> reporter: honestly, wolf, much smaller crowds. we're seeing with the speaker, former speaker of the house here in ohio, certainly than just about three weeks ago when he was in south carolina, where he won it all. very interesting today, though, up in dayton, ohio, we got to see the former speaker being the historian and giving a history lesson to the crowd that was well received. >> we'll check back with you. i'll be speaking live with the speaker, the former speaker, in columbus, ohio. that's coming up ve

joe johns is working that part of the stories. joe, some of these ads are pretty amazing. >> that's for sure, candidate, heating up again as the schedule compresses with more contests sort of bunched together in a short space of the calendar, including february 28th, arizona and michigan, and super tuesday, march 6th. the contenders really just need to compete in a whole bunch of places at one time. >> there they go again. comes out of the block with a negative ad whose surge in the polls suggest he's the guy to beat. >> rick santorum, big spender, washington insider. >> the santorum compare returned fire with a humorous ad depicting a guy that looks a lot like romney. >> romney and his super pac, with a staggering -- >> reporter: it's funny all right. even mitt romney laughed about it in an interview. still from a political perspective, what matters is whether the ad works. bret o'donnell is an independent strategist who just finished a stint with the romney campaign. >> i think it's a different strategy to try to rebuff the attac

joe johns is in cincinnati for us right now. mitt romney is scheduled to be there in 30 minutes or so. how it romney dealing with this tough showing by santorum in the polls? >>. >> quite frankly, randi, i have to tell you, it looks like business as usual for mitt romney. this, in fact, is a small business event. the candidate is expected to appear, with, among others, senator rob portman, the senator from ohio who has been managed and once the republicans figure out who their nominee is going to be. not a lot of drama here on the campaign trail. however, i can tell you probably the most dramatic action we're seeing is in the ad wars, the romney campaign spending just an extra ordinary amount, $2 million over the next week. that is obviously in anticipation of super tuesday. and then in the state of michigan where they all vote on the 28th of february. we are talking about something like $870,000 there. clearly it's putting on the heat because in a state where he ought to win, he grew up there as well and his father was governor

. >> joe johns, thanks for the scoop. >>> and thank you so much for watching. now "the situation room," jessica ilen, starts now. >>> thanks, brooke. happening now, new poll numbers are just coming in. they rereel a dramatically altered republican race. also the high-stakes meeting that could set the tone for u.s. relations with china for years to come. >>> plus details released about whitney houston's funeral, as ex-husband bobby brown speaks out about her sudden shocking death. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm jessica yellin, you're in "the situation room." just into "the situation room," brand-new poll numbers confirming a new lineup in the fight for the gop presidential nomination. the cnn/orc survey has just been released and shows a two-man contest at this point. the poll shows 34% of republicans asked say santorum is their choice. 32% say romney. with a sampling error, that means it's a statistic cal tie. ron paul and newt gingrich are far behind at 16 and 15%. first big picture, ron, what do you make of santorum's rise? >> i think this continues the extra

cnn's senior correspondent joe johns is in detroit for us. joe, what is the feeling there? what are you seeing? >> it's interesting. mitt romney rolled in today. he was met by a very warm and receptive crowd. he is really playing up, candy, the notion he is a native son of michigan, which is fascinating some some ways. as you know, mitt romney's father was certainly governor of this stay. mitt romney grew up here. he sort of got his dr the start of his life, if you will. on the other hand it was more than 40 years ago when mitt romney was leer in michigan, and so, you know, when you look at this thing and the totality of it, quite frankly, candidate, today was a situation where both campaigns rolled into the metropolitan detroit area. it was all about momentum today. >> the battle for the industrial heartland squaring off in michigan. it was pretty clear who he was talking about. >> working as a lobbyist and elected official is great, but in my view it's more important to also have private sector experience us. >> reporter: apparently a reference to rick santorum. who is sl