mississippi at this point is too close to call. it is a three-way race in mississippi. joining us now is steve schmidt who is senior strategist for the mccain/palin campaign in 2008. steve's joining us sort of short notice now that we know that we've got the call in alabama. right now, steve, we are looking at a race that is still too close to call with 79% of the vote in in mississippi, but alabama has been won by rick santorum. what do you think is the most important implication of that for the race? >> really bad news for newt gingrich. it's the end of his southern strategy. his campaign now, i think, has to start focusing on some tough decisions. great news for rick santorum. probably doesn't change the delegate count very much, but in terms of advancing the santorum argument that i'm not getting out of this race, i'm going all the way to the convention because mitt romney can't get enough delegates to get nominated through the voting process and i'm the better, stronger candidate to be nominated at the convention. winning these conservative southern states helps ad

polls in mississippi and alabama are closed. in mississippi it's too early to call.mney hoping to win one of these southern states tonight. in alabama, it's also still too early to call. rick santorum obviously wants to stay in the hunt. a victory in one of these primaries tonight could be crucial for the santorum campaign. for more on all that, let's turn to howard fineman, nbc political analyst and editorial director of the huffington post. have you checked in with the campaigns, what are you hearing? >> i have checked in with them. here is my sense of it, the romney campaign is weary but relieved because they think they will do pretty well especially in mississippi. i think the -- i know the santorum campaign is defiant and fef feisty, they think they will do well in alabama. the gingrich campaign is a little bit desperate and one might say self-delusional. they put out a big memo how newt can win the whole thing, they put it out in advance of what they were expecting to be less favorable results than they originally anticipated. >> how would newt gingrich move fo

mississippi. rick santorum has been declared the winner the mississippi republican primary in terms of the vote in mississippi. this is important to say. >>> this is, most of all, a bad night for newt gingrich. let's be honest. its within a great night for risks but mostly, a bad night for newt gingrich. i want you to hear from rick santorum addressing his supporters in lafayette, louisiana, a short time ago. >> we did it again! i just want to say first to the people of alabama, you made a great difference tonight, thank you very, very much for your support. we'll compete everywhere. the time is now for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to make sure, to make sure that we have the best chance to win this election and the best chance to win this election is to nominate conservative to go up against barack obama and take him on every issue. >> now as good a night as this was for rick santorum, it has been that bad a night for newt gingrich. newt gingrich, essentially staked his entire c

as well in terms of a vote that's in mississippi, 99% of the mississippi vote in. rick santorum projected to win with 33% of the vote. this has most of all, i think this is important to say, because i don't think it's the way it's being headlined right now, but this is most of all a bad night for newt gingrich. let's be honest. it has been a great night for rick santorum, but it's mostly been a bad night for newt gingrich. and as a courtesy to the winner tonight, i want you to hear first tonight from rick santorum, because he did win, addressing his supporters in lafayette, louisiana. this us just a short time ago. >> we did it again. i just want to say, first, to the people of alabama, you made a great difference tonight. thank you very, very much for your support. we will compete everywhere. the time is now for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to make sure, to make sure that we have the best chance to win this election and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama who can take him on on every i

winner in mississippi. nbc news now projects that rick santorum will win in mississippi. that makes two wins for rick santorum tonight. first alabama. now mississippi. we have 96% of the vote in at this point. rick santorum, the projected winner with 33% of the vote followed by newt gingrich with 31% of the vote. and then mitt romney at 30% of the vote. rick santorum's down at 4% of the vote, not a factor tonight. again, rick santorum, the winner, sweeping alabama and mississippi tonight. joining me now, "washington post" political columnist dana mi millbank and salon.com writer steve pornacky. steve, tell us what this means. this was not the outcome people were looking for tonight. >> no. the interesting thing is we can look at these results, and we say obviously it's moment us for santorum that he wins both of these, but imagine if newt gingrich hadn't been in this race tonight. not only would santorum have won these two states, he would have won them in runaways. i think now you're going to have obviousl

in mississippi is not yet determined, he is beating newt gingrich in mississippi among white evangelicals by one point in terms of the exits. even if -- no matter what happens tonight, the story looks like it's too complicated to generali generalize about for the night. >> steve had submittschmidt, yo vote for gingrich is a vote for romney. is that what we're seeing tonight, in effect? >> well, sure. i think newt gingrich is coming to the point in the campaign where after showing a lot of resiliency, getting very far in the process, there's some tough decisions ahead. he said his campaign is based on a southern strategy. he's already lost one of those southern states. he certainly has to win mississippi as a functional matter. his candidacy really depends on the largess of one very rich donor. if that rich donor pulls the plug, the campaign will be out of money and won't be able to go forward. but i think as a logical matter going forward, he's just at the point of the campaign where this is really now going to become a two-person race. >> john heilman, how can we really declare the large

there's real organization in mississippi and i think that gives us an advantage in mississippi to maybe pull an upset. >> is it the more establishment a businessman candidate can get out in mississippi. >> that traditionally has been true. that's right, chuck. >> henry barbour getting up early for me while on vacation. i appreciate it. go enjoy your family and my apologies for interrupting. >>> wall street is holding its breath as the fed gets ready to make an announcement on the country's economic outlook. the market outlook is next. >>> and a potential game changer. as voters go to the polls, new setbacks for two states in their very strict voter i.d. laws. >>> but first, today's trivia question. who was the first foreign leader to visit president reagan after his inauguration. tweet me the answer. the first correct answer gets a follow us tuesday. i love that my daughter's part fish. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have

mississippi and alabama. if they stay purple, you may want to call romney back tomorrow and see if he wants to talk about the desperate end. what it could be is the end of the gingrich campaign. he won south carolina, he won georgia. he desperately needed to win to head across the south. >> second place in both of these states, i think, would probably keep him in the race. >> it would keep him in the race, but does it make him a viable candidate? he'll get delegates, but bragging rights are at stake. you look at alabama, a state that borders georgia. this is the one that gingrich needed to win. this is counting much more slowly mslow ly than mississippi. 35% of the vote in. with that much out, things could change, but this has held steady. santorum at 35%, gingrich at 30%, romney at 28%. if romney was to spring a surprise here, wolf, he's winning in all of the places he would need to win to spring a surprise in alabama. he's winning in the major population centers and in the suburbs. the difference between th

mississippi, he he's some ties.mississippi run through stewart stevens, his wreed ya consultant, the best in the business on the republican side. he happens to be from jackson mississippi, cut his teeth on politics campaigns in mississippi, knows that state as well as everybody and i think he was probably helpful to mitt romney in the state of mississippi. >> yeah, i noticed that romney keeping his wife in the pictures. polls in mississippi and alabama will be closed at the top of this hour. we will be back with the first characterization of the races tonight. this is "hardball's" live coverage of the alabama/mississippi primaries, tonight, here on msnbc. oh! [ baby crying ] ♪ what started as a whisper ♪ every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. ♪ slowly turned to a scream ♪ there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? ♪ amen, omen omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national

and he lost to risk nz mississippi. he's not losing to mitt romney and mitt romney's money which have been mr. gingrich's excuse so far when he lost. he's losing to rick santorum. so the next big question is, when is newt gingrich going to get out? if mr. gingrich, his major funder in the race moves to keep him in the race, is that purely a move to help mitt romney at this point? to keep the conservative vote split so that rick santorum cannot cleanly beat mr. romney and mr. romney will win by hook or by crook? mr. gingrich addressed his supporters in alabama within the last hour and reiterated that he's not getting out and he's taking his campaign all the way to the rip convention in tampa. of course, they all say that before they get out. time will tell. >>> this may also be an appropriate time to take a step back and kwon seed one of mr. gingrich's points which is that, everybody has been wrong so far about the race to pick a republican nominee for president. the media, self included, has been wrong about who would s

80% in mississippi said they were republican. and now look at the number in alabama, only two-thirds identify themselves as republicans. so that is an interesting difference of neighboring states. 66% of alabamians say that they are republican. >> everybody has enthusiasm gap in the particular primary, but when you seethe independents coming out, what does that say? >> well, they do not trust anybody, and they want to call themselves independents, because they don't like the institutions. they don't like the banks or the political parties or us, as you know from covering the financial issues, so people are mad and identify themselves as independents, but they are conservative. 15 years ago there were no state organized parties in the county level in alabama and mississippi. at the state level it was mostly democrats and now republicans everywhere, the county sxhisher in and the congressional races, and governor romney has a lot of the local endorsements. hayes the governor of mississippi and does that help him organizationally wh

my dad was born in mississippi. talk much about politics. >> that says something to me about your gen tilt. all of us are struck by now this closing up in mississippi, santorum has drawn within striking distance in recent exit polls. if santorum were to win tonight, that would put a different cast on the evening. >> the very criticism of voters he's not conservative enough, that would play well in a general election among independents. >> it would. we have to remember, we are talking about the primaries. the chances these evangelical very conservative republicans are going to vote for barack obama instead of mitt romney were he to become the nominee are zero. so we're not talking about the fall here, we're just talking about right now. we did the same thing in ohio, we were talking earlier, talking about mitt romney winning the ci cities. the chances of mitt romney winning the cities in ohio are close to zero. >> in the suburbs. >> we need to at least say what we're talking about here, not that mitt romney will lose

not much has changed since the last time we looked in mississippi mississippi.e santorum is still number 1. gingrich number 2 and romney number 3. and in alabama again 6% of the results in. santorum at 35%. newt beginning rich at 29, romney at 28. still too close to call. i am going to jump back here to mississippi for a moment because we are also joined by donnie fowler of dogpatch strategies. donnie has worked on major campaigns. presidential level campaigns in both of these states. donnie what do you see in mississippi? what does it tell you from the way these countyies are could youming in? the red countyies, of course are santorum. the purple counties are romney and those orangeish counties are newt gingrich. >> two things from all of these elections. romney does well in cities and suburbs and the other candidates do well outside. so we haven't seen the real suburban beenurban areas come in yet in mississippi. in the far if a northwest corner is actually the suburbs of memphis, tennessee. >> up here. >> a big ascasino community, a big republican suburban co

and here's the most recent snapshot in mississippi. an american research poll shows gingrich leading there, but still in a statistical dead heat with romney. and in the overall delegate hunt, romney remains the clear front-runner. santorum is in second place with 203, followed by gingrich with 118 and paul trailing the back with 56 delegates. >>> mississippi voters are getting a lot of face time with the candidates. today rick santorum says that restaurants in -- newt gingrich attends a search service in the town of brandon followed by a campaign rally. both appeared on a sunday morning talk shows and asked about their chances come tuesday. >> we're looking of the a clean sweep you think on tuesday in the south ". >> it's a pretty tough battle ground down there, it's newt's background, we're out there running the insurgent campaign, and all the polls show us -- we'll be in alabama tomorrow and we're just going to hustle. >> we're going to get a lot of delegates from both mississippi and alabama and the odds are pretty good that we'll w

. >>> in mississippi, nbc news has now called the race for rick santorum. this is a major victory for rick santorum and a major defeat for newt gingrich and mitt romney. just hours ago, romney said santorum's campaign was running on fwooirms. fumes. >> the reagan tradition of visionary conservatism was based on proverbs and the deep belief that without vision, the people perish. and i believe we need a visionary leader who is prepared to talk about a dramatically better future withdraw matally more joebs and dramaticallimore more energy and a safer and stronger america. that's the key to win. as i went around talking about $2.50 gas all folks in the media saying, that's not possible. and on saturday, a piece entitled "newt gingrich's right about gasoline." and he walked through step by step why it was possible. and then the fact is, it is very possible. these numbers are amazing. the fact that i'm willing to talk about substance is what makes this campaign different from other campaigns and that's the reason we'll go all the way to tampa to compete. we need

in mississippi. we try to bring readers something that explains what is going on, but grounded in the reporting period that is the difference. it is a fine line. i say to reporters all the time, pick a horse and ride it. make it interesting. make it readable. put something out there and back up with reporting. that is what makes a successful story at politico. >> we had to make sure we figured out we had a character who looks exactly like an editor in a newsroom, you would be the guy. >> a couple of things we are getting. for one thing, we have a preview of what we can expect former senator santorum to say in his remarks tonight. he is going to say, again, we have been outspent, we're scrapping, we are the underdog and we are pushing hard and fast. he will portray himself as an insurgent. we heard else to words of the santorum campaign calling on gingrich to get out. you will not hear that from the mitt romney campaign. there is to be total silence on this question from the mitt romney campaign for a

in mississippi, nbc news has now called the race for rick santorum. this is a major victory for rick santorum and a major defeat for newt gingrich and mitt romney. just hours ago, romney was saying santorum's campaign was running on fumes. >> the reagan tradition of visionary conservatism is based on proverbs and the very deep belief that without vision the people perish. i believe we need a visionary leader who's prepared to talk about a dramatically better future with dramatically more jobs, dramatically more energy and a much safer and stronger america. i think that's the key to winning this fall. not all this petty baloney but the really big choices. as i went around both states talking about $2.50 gasoline, having all sorts of folks in elite media say, that's not possible, then finally on saturday in "the wall street journal" a piece was entitled, newt gingrich is right about gasoline. and he walked through step by step why it was possible. and the fact is it is very possible. and then yesterday steven moore reported in "the wall street journal"

28%. 34% in mississippi. guess what?e know these exit poll numbers were a little bit tilted toward romney. when we reweight the actual vote, bet you that dials down a little bit. look at santorum ideology, 53% essentially, 53% in alabama, 49% in mississippi call him about right. and look at gingrich. 51% and 56% call him about right. so the bottom line is, guess what, we knew this before tonight, ed, and we knew it going -- we now know it again which is mitt romney doesn't ideologically fit the south. what we don't understand is, you know, does the romney campaign regret sort of playing into the narrative of saying, okay, let's try to do this, let's see if we can win one state and instead they give santorum this perception victory out of a night where delegate-wise, it's going to be close to watch. here's another number you need to know. this is how much money team romney has already spent, put on the air in the state of illinois. add it up together. it's pretty easy here. $3.2 million. i can put up a number if you want

who wins tonight in mississippi?i think romney has a chance to win it. >> i think gingrich wins both. >> who wins alabama? >> that one is going to be closer with newt having a little edge. after all -- >> would you like to see newt gingrich president? >> i picked my candidate. >> if it was newt versus the president, who would you vote for? >> newt. >> not me. >> you're not faking your accent either. i can tell. senator john bro and trent lot. you're watching "hardball," only on msnbc. [ male announcer ] to the 5:00 a.m. scholar. the two trains and a bus rider. the "i'll sleep when it's done" academic. for 80 years, we've been inspired by you. and we've been honored to walk with you to help you get where you want to be. ♪ because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female annou

the republican presidential candidates look for votes in mississippi and alabama. two primaries that could tighten the race. >>> campus shooting. two people are dead after a gunman opens fire at the university of pittsburgh. >> this has never happened in our school and in this area. >> this has never happened in our school and in this area. i'm just like so worried. captioning funded by cbs >>> this is the "cbs morning news" for friday, march 9, 2012. well, good morning everybody. thanks for joining us on this friday. i'm betty nguyen. we begin with a debate over how to handle iran's nuclear ambitions. in washington this week, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was urged by the obama administration to hold off on any military action. netanyahu said yesterday he has no plans to attack iran in the coming days or weeks. the former head of israel's intelligence service meir dagan thinks that's a good idea. he told "60 minutes" correspondent lesley stahl that military action before all diplomatic actions are exhausted would be foolhardy. >> you have said publicly

in mississippi. and the state at this point is too close to call. but the breaking news and you see the numbers in mississippi. the breaking news that rick santorum is now the projected winnener alabama. ooh winnener alabama. winner in alabama. >> robert bentley is rejoining us. governor, should speaker gingrich get out? he got a sizable number of votes in your state and he says he wants to stay in all the way to the convention? >> well, you know, i do think that the conservative vote is being split. but, you know, i think that someone who has started a race, they certainly have a right to stay in to the end if they want to. i am not one to tell someone to get out of the race. but do i want to congratulate senator santorum because difeel like he was going to win. probably didn't have anything to do with the fact i said i was going to vote for him. but i want to congratulate him. >> why do you think governor romney came in third, 28%, from 35 at the first place, 30% being second. is that a huge loss o

mississippi. we can't wait to see you.ou by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. >>> a video about the alleged crimes of african warlord joseph kony has become the most viral video ever. it's been seen on you-tube more than 46 million times helped by tweets from celebrities. ben tracy takes a closer look at the fast rise of the video and the charity behind it. >> the night i met jacob, he told me what he and other children in northern uganda were living there. >> the online film shows a boy's fight for survival. >> my brother tried to escape. then they killed him. they cut his neck. >> the 30-minute story is designed to raise awareness of the war crimes of joseph kony, the leader of the resistance army or lra in uganda. he's accused of kidnapping 30,000 children in the past 26 years. >> turning the girls into sex slaves and the boys into child soldiers. and forces them to kill their own parents. >> a san diego-based charity called invisible children produced a video. it went online monday. the website asked viewers to

pope on the mississippi river. and so on. neither hallek nor curtis anticipated that a limited campaign, a campaign intended to neutralize price, to push price out of missouri, had, had would take that this campaign would take the army of the southwest out of missouri and into arkansas. sometimes happens with military operations or any kind of operation, the whole thing had taken on a life of its own. curtis -- was -- was exhilarated at the success of what was his first independent command. he was no spring chicken. he was in his late 50s by now. it had been a long time since west point. and now at last he was gaining the military recognition, the glory, if you will, that he had always dreamed of. and the last thing he wanted to do was simply say -- good enough. turn around. and return to missouri. when curtis learned that price and mcculluck were no longer in front of him, but in fact had retreated south into the distant boston mountains. curtis paused to k ed to consid altered situation. he now faced the two largest rebel a

mississippi. we can't wait to see you.ou by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. >>> grand juror and welcome to 9news now -- good morning and welcome to 9news now, today the friday, march 9th. budly check 9 day. wry mind your the -- remind your buddy to do an exam. i'm andrea roane. >> and i'm mike hydeck, here's monika samtani with traffic momentarily. hey mr. bernstein, it's friday, weekend time. >> the it is but the showers are just about out of here. some rain even on the south side of the metro area. but most of day is going to be dry once we get rid of this and the weekend is going to be dry but a little brit chilly for your saturday especially saturday. here's your day planner this friday morning. we'll need a jacket. temperatures are down in the low 50s. with some light showers. we're going to dip into the upper 40s and mid 40s here the next few hours and then back to 52 by noon and 54 at 5:00 with a high somewhere around 57, 58 degrees. yesterday we shot to 74 in the afternoon. in fact here's the rain this mor

in mississippi, believe it or not, it's even tighter. mitt romney and rick santorum are vying for first place and are only slightly ahead of newt gingrich. again with the modeling, exit pollings and raw total. romney hopes to build on his lead in wins and more importantly, delegates. the fact that gingrich is behind in both states is not good news for his campaign. but he told carl cameron, just minutes ago, he is not getting out of the race, tonight. he knew he had to finish strong in these two states, he's not getting out. very tight. ron paul will finish fourth. we will have the reaction all night, throughout the cut-ins here, fox news is projecting ron pall will finish fourth. but more coming up at the bottom of the hour. and a full hour at 11:00 p.m. eastern time. it might be a long time before we can call the races, sean. >> we'll be watching and your special at 11:00 tonight. we will watch this throughout the hour as developments happen on the ground and in mississippi and albottom a. with the eyes of the republican primary on the

and according to our exit polls in mississippi, he is not doing too well on that front in mississippi or alabama. alabama is a state that's tailor made for rick santorum. he has been doing very well in the polls there all along and tonight, our exit polls show rick santorum is being helped by voters who say they are looking for a true conservative. and a candidate with a strong moral character. newt gingrich it's candidate he basically stakedmpaign on sue south. newt gingrich is in but romney has already moved ahead to missouri looking to this weekend's caucuses. rick santorum is in louisiana which doesn't vote until a week from saturday. hawaii and american samoa are also holding caucuses today it all adds up to 107 delegates up for grabs in all four contests. we have team fox coverage tonight. james rosen is more on our exit polls, first to campaign carl cammeron. i mexico add lot at stake for former speaker tonight. i remember distinctly his campaign calling these two states must wins. >> and the speaker himself has said that he has to do well in the south in order for his campaign

i'm very grateful in mississippi and alabama. i have had just wonderful relationships and friendships and my daughters kathy and jackie, and jackie's husband jimmy had a terrific time here, jimmy has gotten a commitment to go bass fishing. ray indicated he thought he can give a good afternoon of bass. from jimmy's standpoint this is a great, successful evening. but we've been out campaigning and had a wonderful response and we're grateful. i want to tell you in just a moment what will be a challenge is that there will be three, four days in the news media. these are the people who said last june i was dead. i recycle this every six weeks. biggest challenge will be raising money. and we will have gotten delegates, we'll get between santorum and myself we'll get over two thirds of the delegates and so called front runner will get less than one third but there is all of this talk. the person that gives me hope and makes me stay in this race and makes me committed -- committed to carrying ideas to tampa is samuel sanford an unemploye

he denewted the upper trans mississippi. only in south louisiana and texas where he could not -- the tentacles of his command did not quite reach that far. only though portions of trans-mississippi were unaffected by this -- what do you call this anyway? this -- it's almost like a hit and run burglary except that van doran was burglarizing his own war effort. okay? no surprise a few months later when thomas heimann is named commander of arkansas. he arrives nlgts rock in may, and he looks around and sends this telegram to president davis. i found here, little rock, almost nothing, nothing. nearly everything of value was taken away by general van doran. what am i supposed to do? this is the legacy of van doran. not just the defeat at pea ridge, but the abandonment of the trans-mississippi to the mean. the federals and other officers could not believe it. they thought it was a ploy. finally in late spring it dawned on them that the confederates were gone, not only was there no more threat to st. louis. there was no threat no m

he won tight races in alabama and mississippi.grich was banking on victories in both states to keep his campaign competitive. >> despite the losses, the former speaker says he will continue on to the convention. >> mitt romney will earn delegates from both primaries but was unable to rally the conservative base in either state. >> reporter: rick santorum pulled off a southern sweep tuesday. >> we did it again. >> reporter: he told supporters in louisiana they'll keep his momentum going. >> next week we'll come back here and we expect a huge win. >> reporter: santorum won mississippi and alabama tuesday night with the help of very conservative voters and women. the former pennsylvania senator says the results will reshape the republican field [ inaudible ] >> reporter: santorum and newt gingrich continue to split the conservative vote. despite losing, the former speaker says he has no plans to drop out and this race is far from over. >> one of the things tonight proved is that the elite media's effort to convince the nation that mi

that name still political gold in a lot of areas of mississippi. the other thing that i think is that people in iowa and new hampshire are used to this kind of attention. mississippi has been traditionally a tarmac state where candidates hold a press conference on the airport tarmac and then get back on the plane and leave. this time they're getting a lot of attention. it's generating a significant amount of interest. >> woodruff: steve flowers, if it's the same way in alabama, does that mean people are more interested and more of them are likely to turn out and vote tomorrow? >> yes, i think so. i think the presidential race is the first time we've had any relevance in the presidential race. as the gentleman from mississippi mentioned, we are forgotten in the general election because it's a foregone conclusion who the republican nom res are that will carry our state. this is the first time in the republican race that we've had any candidates come to our state. there are signs and billboards and television ads. most of the ads are negative. but the