now let's look at florida.ery different. 18% in the last few days just 9% on the day of the election. 27%. about half deciding late in florida as opposed to south carolina. look at this. 42% in florida decided before this month. not even this month. because you had absentee and early voting in florida. much more important dynamic. let's take a little bit closer again. you heard this from john zarrella again voters changing their mind as they went into the polling place. their number one issue can their candidate defeat barack obama in the fall. florida will be among the biggest battle ground. 45% of republican voters today say that is the most important qualityi quality, beating barack obama. 57% of republicans say they're satisfied with gop candidates. in the fourth con test. 4 in 10 republicans today, anderson, say no, we'd like some other candidates. >> alex, what does that tell you? >> the easiest thing to do in politics is to did qualify your opponent negative ads. the hardest thing to do is be moses. that

thanks again. >> thank you siege. >>> the president's campaign could come down to florida, florida, florida next. plus the republicans are not the only ones focusing on florida. the president's re-election campaign is as well. the challenge is that -- what they're facing trying to keep florida in the blue collar. we'll explore that after this.f . [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath ] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! >>> i think the real reason he hasn't done so well connecting with the people of florida, is the people actually saw him in those debates and listened to his background, his experience and learned, for instance, that he was paid $1.6 million to be a lobbyist for freddie mac and said that's not what we want in the white house. >> what a pathetic situation to be running for the president of the united states with nothing positive to say. >> the most impo

my old buddy used to say florida, florida, florida. he was absolutely right. santorum or paul, whoever it is, they will be spend ag lot of time and money in florida. great news for all those tv stations in florida. they'll be getting millions and millions of dollars in paid advertising, so we'll be watching that. >> mitt romney, as you know, he's not only got the money, he's got the organizational power, and i was talking to candy crowley a couple minutes ago off camera and she was talking about maybe the bruises after the loss in south carolina was a good thing in the end for mitt romney. we're seeing a more aggressive mitt romney but also more relaxed. i don't know if you saw him tossing cheetos to employers, blowing out candles and also singing. ♪ beautiful for spacious skies ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ for purple mountains majesty ♪ above the fruited plains >> okay, so in a competition between wolf blitzer and mitt romney -- >> he crushes me. he crushes me. i'm pretty good playing keyboards, i can do a little bit of that. i can't sing at all. he knew all

his supporters here were shouting "florida, florida," and they do have high hopes and florida, they keep talking about this is going to be a big week. mitt romney will come out in advance of the president's state of the union speech tuesday night. tuesday morning, mitt romney will give a major speech on the economy and differentiating himself not just from the president but newt gingrich, as well. he will give a similar speech the next day after the president's state of the union address. they point out that mitt romney has lots of resources. that means money. that he has a lot of staff on the ground, and he has the wherewithal to go the long haul. you will see him playing the hardball that he started to play here tonight. you will hear them talk a lot about how they're going to be in state after state after state collecting delegates, because after all, we tend to forget as we think maybe it's going to be wrapped up in south carolina or wrapped up in florida. this is, after all, a state by state battle for delegates. >> and it seems tonight that it is going to be a very, very long haul

- need in tampa florida. -- meet in tampa, florida.ween the candidates? do you see that happening? guest: the idea of a brokered convention, where it is not settled, and the one hand it sounds exciting, but for others it sounds kay added. -- extremely chaotic. a lot of people think it might happen. i am not of that school. if no candidate gets a really large slice of the delicates -- delegates and that magic number it could go to a brokered convention, and that is why ron paul has that strategy, amassing enough delegates, and he would have a major influence over the selection of a nominee and the platform as well. host: this is dr. susan -- this is professor susan macmanus. the university of south florida political science professor. thank you for your time today. guest: have a great weekend and thank you for having me, pedro. >> tomorrow on "washington journal" of political roundtable with carol lee aaron sharockman and. the role of super pac's and the political campaigns. david coleman talks about the release of presidential takes fr

florida is not a winner take all state. florida's proportional.rida violated the april 1st rule of the rnc, rule 15, and there's delegates, whatever number's apportioned to them will be proportional for the candidates. that's why newt and rick and paul fill very good coming out of florida. winning or not winning. they will all get some of these delegates. i have confirmation talking with some of the leadership yesterday at the rnc. the committee, members of the committee agreed this is proportional. california, michigan and ohio just a few of the 35 states that changed their rules to comport to this requirement who will not be very happy if florida gets away with having a winner take all at this time. so that's a factor here that is very real. it changes the dynamics on the ground for sure. mitt will have a big night tonight, but coming out of florida, there's stilt a ll a l more room ahead. the candidates know it and will take advantage of every inch of that space. >> you're telling me florida is not winner take all? >> it is not. it is pro pogsa

his supporters here were shouting "florida, florida," and they do have high hopes and florida, they keep talking about this is going to be a big week. mitt romney will come out in advance of the president's state of the union speech tuesday night. tuesday morning, mitt romney will give a major speech on the economy and differentiating himself not just from the president but newt gingrich, as well. he will give a similar speech the next day after the president's state of the union address. they point out that mitt romney has lots of resources. that means money. that he has a lot of staff on the ground, and he has the wherewithal to go the long haul. you will see him playing the hardball that he started to play here tonight. you will hear them talk a lot about how they're going to be in state after state after state collecting delegates, because after all, we tend to forget as we think maybe it's going to be wrapped up in south carolina or wrapped up in florida. this is, after all, a state by state battle for delegates. >> and it seems tonight that it was going on in south carolina, but th

here in florida, if you are part of the housing crisis, the people in florida said we're not going toet behind newt gingrich and we're going to get behind mitt romney. >> the crowds are pretty intense. the latest romney event. we tried to get an interview with governor romney before we wrapped up here. couldn't do it. judging by the crowds here, the enthusiasm for the romney campaign has sunk in across florida. right now the polls are different but it's double digits in lot of polls. averages, they liked what he had to say and newt gingrich was flailing in his address. 30 seconds speaker gingrich was flailing in this campaign. we didn't get a chance to talk to governor romney here. but we did go to a gingrich event where we caught up with speaker gingrich. >> listen, there is still a cans. polls are polls. you don't know until election day. >> no matter what happens here. you are moving on. you say you are going to go to the convention? >> the conservative movement is not going to sit by and let a massachusetts liberal who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase, whose romn

i got to tell you, florida is tomorrow night, florida is tuesday, but in my mind, honestly in politics, it's nevada week. it is florida week, too, right? but really, it's sort of nevada week. we're getting blanket coverage about what is happening in the florida primary. this is a good argument to be made nevada ought to be as important as florida is. this is a week with two tent poles, florida and nevada both. even though florida will have as many republicans voting in their primary as the number who voted in iowa and new hampshire and south carolina combined and then some, a win in florida this year is worth precisely half as much as a win in florida has been worth in previous years. because florida wanted to be seen as really important in this year's presidential race, they intentionally broke the republican party's rules, when they moved up their primary date to make it early, to make it happen in january. florida moved the primary so early they lost half of their delegates. so tomorrow, in florida, instead of being 99 delegates up for grabs, it's only going to be 50. in their rush

florida?ny place in florida where that means most of the -- most of the votes are banked or something that's sort of a statewide phenomenon? >> the more banked voters should be, as far as romney supporter, all our polling and other polling, romney does better early voters, either the wealthier people, people may not be there, may travel more, they have more disposable -- you start going through, they are your snowbird, if you will. and so, they are more likely, that's why i think we have seen he does well in these other primaries, done well upper income republicans and that's majority of those early votes are going to be coming from them, so, that's why we expect him to do well. the question how well with the early vote? what's been interesting this time, rachel. as you know, a lot i have a tempts by a lot of these republican lemon slach dmurs different parts to get rid of early voting, shorten the early voting period, do some things as far as election day voting concerned and this time, the e

as you know, you can vote early here in florida, you can vote absentee in florida. a lot of money into that, same way that romney did. gingrich organizationally just could not do that so on election day today, gingrich already starts out in the hole because of the early votes. >> it's amazing, it's my understanding rick scott sent direct mails to snowbirds in cincinnati. anyway, that's how much he was trying to win that back in that september primary. jeff zeleny, jonathan martin, our now regular super tuesday duo. thank you both. >> thanks, chuck. >> we'll be more. wall street is feeling optimistic. we'll tell you why. "the market rundown" is next. plus, the democratic strike. they're not waiting for the race to shake out in florida. they're in miami today. we'll get the story on their action and their plans to hold on to the critically important hispanic vote in that state. question, who was the only governor of florida to become president? the winner will get a follow-up super tuesday for us. more is coming up on "the daily rundown." we'll be right back. for fast

florida, florida, florida. >> obama could win be present nomination without florida. i do not think the republican nominee can win without florida. voters are engaged and active. once we have a nominee, i will ask individuals who supported candidates of their choice who lost that, i understand you put your time and your money and your sweat into them, but this is serious. let's take 24 hours and do whatever we do to grieve and get over it and move forward for our nominee. seen $22 million spent on the air between them and their super pacs. isn't good for the process to see all of that money. -- is it good for the process to see all that money? is good for the tv stations, but is it good for the process? >> it is legal. just because it is legal does not mean it is right. i do not like the super pacs. with all of the media attention on the debate, it has given a chance to cut through the super pac ads. >> we do not have a nominee yet. there is a lot of buzz about marco rubio being one of the top candidates to be on the republican ticket. he gave a well-received speech o

what happened in florida?> looks to me like the spending advantage that romney had allowed him to get his message across a lot better than newt was able. >> lenny, why don't you answer both of those? what happened to newt gingrich and how much of that correlates to the amounts of money that romney shhas spent? >> what i've been saying all week is whichever candidate connects with the voting public in all demographics, makes the case for free enterprise and how families can basically have a better lot in life for their families in the next generation would win the primary. if i were to guess, i would say romney is make that case right now and connecting. who knows what will happen on the campaign trail today. look, i can't take sides. >> you always say that. >> i can't -- >> i know. i know. we know. we know. >> but i have -- i have to be able to rally all of our troops around our nominee regardless of who that is when we get to the convention. >> when you look, there's an article today in the "new york times" w

and northeast florida. we have a lot of northern transplants down there. that could help governor romney. the conservative vote will get split up, though, by rick santorum and newt gingrich. as we harvard from mr. gingrich in his speech last night, he was conciliatory toward mr. santorum and mr. paul trying to get some of those voters to come to his side. rick santorum could be mitt romney's ace in the hole to break up that conservative vote in florida. >> we're going to talk to three reporters who covered the state of florida. we'll talk exactly about that, how that state is really split up into three very different thirds that we're going to be expanding on. thanks so much, mark preston. good to see you. we'll see you next in florida. >> thursday night. >> i know. racking up the frequent flier miles. all right, thanks so much, mark. >>> tough talk from mitt romney. he says his rivals are trying to demonize a core conservative principal. romney in his own words next. one chance to hunt down the right insur

florida primary. so before the south carolina contest, they were on the groundment they were running advertising. they were organizing. they have a topnotch team here led by a former aide to governor jeb bush. and they had all the pieces in place to run a successful effort, particularly when you're tested. i think they have been by gingrich. >> we have a comment on twitter. romney's been running since 2008. anyone who doesn't know him has been living under a rock. >> let's hear from port richy, florida. andy on our democrats line. hi, how are you? >> good, thanks. >> caller: you know, my grandfather cooked for 12 presidents of the united states. he was a chef at the white house. and he took my sister there one time. she was like 6 years old. and jacqueline kennedy came down in a bathrobe. she said she didn't want him to cook for the president. she wanted to do the cooking. now these are lovely people. but what we're dealing with now in florida is people that are very dedicated, firemen, police men, an

host: if you want to talk with us about the florida primary or what is going on in florida especially leading up to the primary -- [3 recorded progra recorded earlier] "wall street journal this morning, talking about a little bit of the geography, they highlight jacksonville, fort myers and orlando as well. do you indicate that those areas are just as strong for mitt romney this time around or will newt gingrich managed to steal away from some of those sections? guest: i think always, there's inroads to be made, and you cannot quite compare 2008. i think there is a lot of difference because the economy is so much worse in florida than it was in 2008, even though there we had seen the beginnings of the recession. the truth of the matter is florida is a state that is used to leading the country out of the recession. now, we have been lagging behind in recovery, so what you see in some of those areas is a tremendous amount of anger at washington. for some people, they like gingrich because he basically screams at washington. he is basically their megaphone. in other places, they prefer r

and no place more so than here in florida. construction drives everything here and the jobless rate is at 9.9%, well above the national average of 8.5%. all of this playing out in the campaign here. romney and gingrich attacking each other for profit frg the crisis. >> while florida families lost everything in the housing crisis, newt gingrich cashed in. he was paid over $1.6 million by the agency that helped to create the crisis. >> this guy owns freddie mac and fannie mae stock. this guy owns gold man stax. this guy's surrounded by lobbyists and he's running an ad? >> stewart miller is the ceo of one of the largest homebuilders in the united states, the le nar corporation in miami. his company has a major presence here, california and nevada. those are the top three states hit hard by the crisis. and he's on our out front strike team, a group of entrepreneurs and investors we check in with regularly. thank you so much for coming here. i know you're based in miami. coming up here to jacksonville. we get the data today. the pa

that's a city right in south florida in dade county. it is actually the sixth largest city in the state of florida, mostly made up of cubans and cuban-americans. now he's appealing to that sector of south florida there in hiyalea. we'll have more on mitt romney's campaign. >>> so his lead, mitt romney's lead in florida voter polls is on the rise after last week's cnn debate. and in a winner take all state, that's pretty big. the florida voting population is very diverse and candidates must work hard to appeal to different electorates relative to different parts of the state. john king breaks down the numbers. >> here is where we go next, wolf. you look at florida, an incredibly diverse state, much more conservative up here, more moderate in here, miami population, latinos, you heard gingrich daughters talking about let's go back in time to look what the we're talking about here. come back to '08, john mccain is the lighter red, mike huckabee up here. you see the diversity. much more conservative in the panhandle. mitt romney does have a

his supporters here were shouting, florida, florida.high hopes in the campaign for the outcome in florida. they keep talking about this is going to be a big week. mitt romney will come out in advance of the president's state of the union speech tuesday night. tuesday morning mitt romney will give what was billed to me as a major speech on the economy and differentiating himself not just from the president, but from newt gingrich as well. he will give a similar speech the next day after the president's state of the union address. they point out that mitt romney has lots of resources. that means money. that he has a lot of staff on the ground. and he has the wherewithal to go the long haul. so you are going to see him playing the kind of hardball that he started to play here tonight, and you will also hear them talk a lot about how they are going to be in state after state after state collecting delegates. because, after all, we tend to forget as we think, oh, maybe it's going to be wrapped up in south carolina or maybe it'll wrap up in f

yes, florida has carl hiassen. he wrote a column about pythons, enthusiasm with which pythons fall in love with each other and reproduce in the everglades. with the exception of him, nevada's columnists, the whole state is amazing in terms of political coverage. how can you beat this. this is jane ann morrison in the las vegas review journal. the start of the column today. "doesn't that guy sticking a needle in that cat's butt look familiar? it's former senator john ensign who went back to work as a veterinarian. >> remember john ensign? part of the reason nobody has any what is going do happen with nevada's caucuses, and that state's 28 delegates. his sex and ethics scandal is part of the reason the nevada republican party disintegrated over the past few years. mr. ensign admitted to his affair, section and ethics scandal for two years before he resigned in 2011. it's not like the republican party was evolving from a previous position of strength. in 2008 before the john ensign scandal broke, the nevada republican

la florida. >> la gran pregunta ¿quÉ pasa ahora despuÉs de primarias en la florida para hablar de esoentro de la comunidad votantes hispana?. >> sin duda que sÍ josÉ, este sÁbado hay el primer que sigue es nevada, deberÍa ganar romney porque ganÓ en el 2008 y hay una poblaciÓn mormona importante en este lugar. >> de la poblaciÓn latina no creo que tenga incidencia, la mayorÍa de gente ahi en nevada votan por el partido demÓcrata pero sin embargo, es importante. >> ahora el tema de la reforma migratoria no se discutiÓ mucho aquÍ, en cuÁnto a una propuesta concreta que tendrÍa aparte el seÑor newt gingrich. >> piensa que eso va a cobrar mÁs importancia cuando los estados que tengan una poblaciÓn hispana mÁs grande empiecen a votar. >> sin duda, aquÍ el tema inmigraciÓn no causa mucho, lo habÍamos dicho para cubanos no es el problema, pero en el resto del estado va a ser importante, a medida que avanza la elecciÓn se va hablar mÁs del tema de inmigraciÓn. >> ni hablar, carlos rajo muchÍsimas gracias. >> quÉ piensan votantes republicanos de la florida sobre inmigraciÓn, aquÍ estÁn las res

the florida fight coming to a very bitter end with just 24 hours to go before the florida polls close. mitt romney has pulled away in many of the polls and is leading newt gingrich by double digits. romney is not letting up. the make newt mad and mitt meaner strategy was on full display this weekend. >> the first debate of course the audience was quiet and speaker gingrich said that threw him off. he can't debate before a quiet audience. the next audience was very loud. he said that threw him off. he can't debate before a really loud audience. it's like goldilocks. can't have it this way. has to be just so. >> echoing ads playing on repeat around around the state. romney railed on gingrich's work for freddie mac. >> he's now finding excuses everywhere he can. he's on tv this morning going from station to station complaining about what he thinks were the reasons he's had difficulty here in florida. your problem in florida is you worked for freddie mac at a time that freddie mac was not doing the right thing for the american people and you're selling influence in washington. >> the less

truly we see many more people from outside of florida searching for homes in florida than people in florida looking to leave. florida's long been the retirement community for so much of the u.s., and baby boomer s will still be retiring and now that homes are more affordable in florida, some of those baby boomers who thought they'd have to look for cheaper locations in the south can now consider florida again for their retirement. >> brown: jed kolko, arian campo-flores, thank you both very much. >> my pleasure. >> ifill: and more on florida, with the analysis of shields and brooks: syndicated columnist mark shields and "new york times" columnist david brooks. mark, are you surprised that we haven't heard more about this housing question in the florida campaign? >> i am. but i think within the discussion itself. that is republicans are not comfortable talking about major national federal policy. particularly in a primary that's been a debate on the right hand side of the, even the republican divide. >> ifill: it seems like most of the discussion about housing has been pointing the finger at

joins us live from florida. gingrich line up for you and why have you endorsed him and now working to see that he becomes the nominee? >> i have known newt gingrich a long time. i served in the regan era. i was in republican leadership with him before we took control in 1994. i know we wouldn't have taken control or had the contract with america without his leadership and wouldn't have passed welfare reform and so on. i also believe that he has the leadership skills, he has the knowledge and he has the vision to be a great president of the united states and he think he is better at articulating conservative issues than his opponents are. a true regan conservative. has a vision of where the country ought to go. i believe that in the long haul he he is going prevail in this race because of that very fact. >> shannon: how do you respond to those that make the accusation, those that served with him as you did are familiar with how he operates and they generally aren't endorsing him. you certainly break the mold when

>> florida primary.from our team of fox news political experts including charles krauthammer, karl rove. sarah palin and make huckabee, brit hume, kris, chris wallace. it begins right here at 8:00 p.m. here in new york. drop me a tweet at brett baier. that is it for this special report. always as fair and balanced and unafraid.

coming out of florida.candidate wants the momentum coming out of florida to rule into super tuesday which is a month from now. >> i know newt gingrich was hoping this was going to give him momentum yesterday when herman cain came out and gave him the endorsement. do you really think cain's endorsement is going to be a spring board for him? >> i think it could have been a spring board a week ago when floridians started voting. this comes a little late in the process. about half a million floridians have already requested their early and absentee ballots and have already voted. if there were going to be influenced by herman cain it's too late for them. newt gingrich wanted this endorsement. he's glad he got this endorsement. but getting it late on a saturday night two days before the florida primary is not exactly when he wanted it. he wanted it sooner. >> i know that the latino vote is blairing, obviously, on the radar in florida. >> yes. >> i'm wondering how you think that's going to play out. here's what c

here comes florida. the. >>> an arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords going to one of her last events as a congresswoman today. it has been a year since she was shot in the head in an event in tucson. what a road this has been. there is mark kelly by her side when she was in the hospital holding her hand. we all remember those moments. she said she will resign. she needs to focus her energy on continuing what has been a remarkable recovery for this woman. >> i will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. martha: what an inspiration that woman is. gabby giffords, my goodness. steve centanni joins us now with some details on all this from washington. how she is wrapping up her time as a congresswoman. we will figure out what she will do next from there. steve, good morning. >> reporter: martha, today in tucson the congresswoman will finish the meet and greet event that was interrupted by gunfire, by her shooting one year ago

it says, "today, florida decides."t: taking a look at how "the new york times" is covering the story on the front page, giving images of both mitt romney and newt gingrich out on the campaign trail. it says -- host: looking at how newt gingrich is seeing his campaign, how his supporters are dealing with their concerns about his decline in the polls. it says -- "newt gingrich and his aides insist they see a path to the republican presidential nomination." what do you think? let's hear from jerry on the line for democrats. good morning. caller: i'm wondering why more issue is not being made with romney and gingrich both. they keep saying obama is not doing anything. the republicans in the house -- since then, they have not let the president do anything. host: do you think the issue of congress is coming up on the campaign trail, that the criticisms americans have over congress? caller: i think the criticism should be on the congress. the stock markets are back up over 12,000. we were getting better. things were improving