mr. santorum having a good chance there. mr. romney has not faired well so far in deep south contests and next one of those whether it's going to be good news for mr. gingrich or good news for mr. santorum is likely to be louisiana. as we're waiting for mr. romney to take the podium, we're joined by john harwood and steve schmidt is with us. he's now a political analyst for msnbc. as we wait for mr. romney's remarks, thanks for being with us. >> you bet. >> this looked to be a relatively easy win for mr. romney. the this an opportunity to make a nationally televised address? what should he aim for? >> they have an opportunity to get out there and talk to millions of americans across a multi-network policemlatform. we have seen the candidates have some good nights where they hit the mark on these speeches and other nights where they have been out of it. every tuesday is a big night. we'll see how he does tonight. >> steve, thank you. if you can stick with us. i'd love to get your comments on mr. romney's remarks when he's done. w

mr. santorum tonight, trashed mitt romney in his speech. mr. gingrich did not announce any plans to step aside. listen. >> i congratulate rick santorum on a great campaign. he's won a victory in both states and worked very hard to achieve. it i know how much he's put into this campaign, he and his entire family over the last year. and i congratulate him on a positive evening and positive result. because this is proportional representation, we're going to leave alabama and mississippi with a substantial number of delegates, increasing our total going toward tampa. we're very grateful to you because you made that outcome possible. and with your help, we're going to take a much bigger delegation than we had yesterday. so thank you very much for that. i emphasize going to tampa because one of the things tonight proved is that the elite media's effort to convince the nation that mitt romney is inevitable just collapsed. the fact is -- [ applause ] the fact is in both states, the conservative candidates got nearly 7 70% of the vote, and i you're the f

mr. santorum tonight. mr. romney campaigning against barack obama and barack obama only. mr. santorum campaigning not just against mitt romney but also a little against newt gingrich, too, almost no mention of barack obama at all. i wonder what that says to you about what happens from here on out. >> i think it says that rick santorum is very much now an underdog. he has not proved that he can win decisively outside of the south. illinois was a big long shot for him. he was outspent. he didn't organize well enough to have delegates in all of the congressional district, as you know, he lost even the chance in four congressional districts. but if he had been more competitive in illinois that really would have slowed any momentum that mitt romney has. i think romney going into this next -- this next part of the calendar with the exception of louisiana where he really cannot compete, i don't think he can with rick santorum and the evangelical support thaerps he has there, i think now in the northeast mitt romney has a very good chance not to seal the deal in terms of the delegate

mr. santorum are not on the ballot in virginia. in vermont which is immediately contiguous with massachusetts, mitt romney is the projected winner of the republican primary in the green mountain state. obviously, the anticipation for ohio, chris, it is the big story, and what is going to happen there. i am starting to feel like it does not matter what the ultimate result is, but the fact that it is this close is as big of a story as if rick santorum w wins. >> well, there is no major headline in the east coast papers tomorrow, because it is going to be wide open. there is no headline and i have been through races like this where it is not a squeaker, and nothing in the press. look at what happened with poor santorum, because he won the iowa caucuses, and he never got the headline, but days later, and missed the impact. if that thing had been reported in real time what the power might have been. >> well, it was reported that someone won an election by eight votes. i never once reported romney as winning that election, because i unde

mr. santorum does well there. oops. in addition to those three districts, there are six other districts in ohio where the santorum campaign has only submitted partial paperwork. that all means of the 63 delegates up for grab tomorrow night in ohio, more than a quarter of of them are are unwinnable for rick santorum even if he does great in the state. mr. santorum has the same problem in tennessee, he has an empty slate of delegates. he had this problem in new hampshire. looking ahead, mr. santorum will have the same problem in illinois, where his campaign has failed to submit the required amount of delegates in four of the congressional districts. frankly, rick santorum's campaign is lucky he is even on the ballot at all in the state of indiana. they had to contest the findings of the largest county in indiana because that county had initially said he had not turned in enough signatures to get on the ballot there. the rick santorum campaign is a mess. the rick santorum campaign is like a formula one race and everybody is

mr. santorum represented in the senate for 12 years, mr. santorum's stronger. terribly surprising. it's also worth noting that mr. obama carried pennsylvania by double digits in 2008. so that certainly mr. obama is in better shape against mr. romney than mr. santorum. but we have seven months to go. it's a long way. >> i'm getting tweets about the polls, especially concerning president obama and these wild mood swings, so to speak in people's ratings of the president. a new reuters poll showing his approval at 50% but yesterday we're talking about the new york times, the washington post polls that showed his approval rating dropping. how do you ex plplain the mixed results? >> it's a matter that all polls are not created equal. some have different methodologist. you're correct. we've seen a number of polls we've shown varying regards, amounts of approval for the president. one of the reasons why the president might be down a bit is two thichblgts one, gas prices are not good for his political health and they've gone up. number two, what's going on in afghanista

mr. romney did not win alabama today. rick santorum did. which is the kind of thing that might not be as bad a blow to the the romney campaign if mr. romney didn't keep predicting out loud he would win these things he cannot win. the website "buzz" mitt romney always thinks he's going to win. will romney did not win in alabama or mississippi. both stateses being called by nbc news for rick santorum. in both cases at this hour, mitt romney is not even just losing to rick santorum. in both of these states, mitt romney is running third. joining us now at great peril to hid e and eugene robinson, and our political analyst. thanks for staying up and being with me. i appreciate it. >> happy to do it. >> john, you said earlier a bad night for newt gingrich in alabama or mississippi might render him a nonfactor in the race after tonight, fine he didn't formally drop out. no that it looks like he came in second in both states, does that still seem true and what are you looking at to figure out if that's happening? >> what other conservative leaders s

mr. romney did not win alabama today. rick santorum did. which is the kind of thing that might not be as bad a blow to the the romney campaign if mr. romney didn't keep predicting out loud he would win these things he cannot win. the website "buzz" mitt romney always thinks he's going to win. will romney did not win in alabama or mississippi. both stateses being called by nbc news for rick santorum. in both cases at this hour, mitt romney is not even just losing to rick santorum. in both of these states, mitt romney is running third. joining us now at great peril to hid e and eugene robinson, and our political analyst. thanks for staying up and being with me. i appreciate it. >> happy to do it. >> john, you said earlier a bad night for newt gingrich in alabama or mississippi might render him a nonfactor in the race after tonight, fine he didn't formally drop out. no that it looks like he came in second in both states, does that still seem true and what are you looking at to figure out if that's happening? >> what other conservative leaders s

mr. santorum at 26%. -- and mr. romney at 26%. guest: it seems to me -- caller: it seems to me the elite media -- i think this was all started by george stephanopoulos. this whole thing of contraception seems irrelevant to what is going on in the country today. it seems to be a smokescreen that the obama administration along with its counterpart, the liberal media, has put out there to distract us from the real issues of the economy. nobody is talking about contraceptives. this is a perfect smokescreen for you guys to get us off point of the economy and how bad it is. i will hang up. host: is the economy still a big issue in ohio, or has the social issue undercut that? guest: we are in a primary contest. a lot of republican primary voters are evangelical, going again. there are issues key to those demographics in a primary that are very important. i would point out that in my interview with governor romney -- you have a limited time. the first question i asked him about was jobs. we had already discussed jobs, the economy, and hea

mr. santorum were not on the ballot in virginia. in vermont, mitt romney is the projected winner of the vermont republican primary. and i should tell you the caucuses are underway in north dakota. we have no characterization from north dakota, we don't expect one for some time. here is where the race stands right now. mitt romney's win in massachusetts is his tenth victory of the campaign. you can see his wins marked in green. mr. santorums in purple, mr. gingrich's in orange. those are the states that mitt romney has won, massachusetts, vermont, virginia, washington state, arizona, michigan, maine, nevada, florida and new hampshire. chris, too close to call right now in tennessee, too close to call right now in oklahoma. >> those are two states -- >> too early. >> it will keep him in the race if santorum wins. if he can't win in ohio he can't win the nomination but he can stay in it. >> a close race in ohio is not enough to keep rick santorum viable? >> it's close in ohio i'm guessing he'll win the other two states, that means he h

mr. santorum saying it should be english only before it's being a statehood. >> yeah, i think mr. santorum needs to do his homework because english is the official language of puerto rico as well as spanish, it's officially bilingual, and i think it really was an insult of the people of puerto rico to say they should speak english only where as a territory of this country they have been officially bilingual, english and spanish, for over 100 years. >> cumberland, maryland, judy, republican line. go ahead, please. >> caller: hi, there. mr. vargas, i've got several problems with your point of view. you seem to be representing mainly illegal aliens, and -- and let me remind you that illegal aliens in this country abuse our health care system through impala. they get free dialysis, free cancer care, free organ transplants, it's all been written up in the newspapers so don't tell me you don't know about it, and on top of that we never get to send them back to their own country so they can pay for them. and also all these illegal latinos and organizations like you are against laws like 2

mr. romney has sigh mutried to damp expectations he might have a shot. newt gingrich and rick santorum are scheduled to give a speech. victory or concession speeches or amalgam of neither. mr. romney on the other hand is not scheduled to give a speech tonight, not scheduled to be in any of the states that are voting tonight. mitt romney will not be speaking while he's in the great state of missouri tonight. missouri isn't voting today, it doesn't hold the caucuses until saturday. to be fair, rick santorum is also not going to be in alabama or mississippi tonight, he will make his speech from louisiana. louisiana votes in another week-and-a-half. that is not a clear signal of much except for the fact rick santorum intends to still be competing in the race a week-and-a-half from now. mr. santorum on a conservative radio show overtly called for newt gingrich to get out of the presidential race in order to set up a one-on-one contest between mitt romney and rick santorum. >> shown no ability to get votes outside of even around the state of georgia and that's really -- those primaries are a

mr. santorum is being outspent in wisconsin advertising roughly 10-1.en the romney campaign itself and the affiliated romney super pac, they're at over 3 million romney bucks in wisconsin advertising. that's versus a little over 300,000 santorum dollars. for his part, mr. santorum is starting to sound like he realizes that winning may not be the only option for him this year. >> if he for some reason asks you to be the vice presidential canned didate on his ticket, would you even consider it? would you consider it? >> look, i would do, in this race, as i always say, this is the most important race in our country's history. and so i'm going to do everything i can. >> so you're keeping your options open? >> i'll do whatever is necessary to help our country. >> see, usually you say i'm running for president, not vice president. he could be my vice president if that's what you mean. unless you're not in the running for president anymore. newt gingrich got the same question on fox news and gave a similar answer. those might be the strongest indicators yet th

mr. santorum's defense, he keeps pointing out that he's authentic.inst romney who he accuses of being inauthentic and manufactured, but doesn't the polling suggest that americans are more likely to support a disciplined and well-organized candidate as opposed to one who like santorum speaks off the cuff and hopes for the best? >> well, i think that's true. i think the polling shows overwhelmingly to your earlier question about the culture wars that never on every question whether it was contraception, whether gay marriage, or a whole host of issues that the republicans have touched on, choice that they lose almost every single one of the culture wars. santorum, as we said here before, has a very hard argument saying he would be electable in the general election. i think romney at the same time the authenticity question is a big drag on him. we've kind of made the jokes about him in the past using bill maher's line that he looks like a mannequin. he's not only authentic as his personal story is not authentic, but he doesn't seem to have a real authent

mr. santorum make reference to mr. reagan's 1976 run against gerald ford. at that time it was determined that ronald reagan couldn't win the nomination and he stayed in the race. santorum making the same argument that he'll remain on the campaign trail potentially until the convention because he believes that romney won't be able to get the 1144 delegates to win the majority and get the nomination, that he would get more than santorum and gingrich and ron paul perhaps, but not the majority. that's a clear indication that santorum will continue his quest in the campaign. tonight's victory gives him more wind in his sails, can compete aggressively and perhaps pull off a win in wisconsin, but that's on the same day that maryland and the district of columbia has their kansas conte. romney still has a very, very big advantage. more than double the delegates that rick santorum has. romney's won 21 states and territories. mr. santorum now 11. so it really is a 2-1 gap. it's large. santorum insists he's going to stay in. some of the romney folks have made the anythi

mr. santorum doesn't want freedom in the bedroom. he doesn't want people -- >> he wants liberty. you're getting confused here. >> so it is the etymology of the word i don't understand. >> funny thing is everything trice to be both. a social conservative talking about the opposite of populism. basically, puritanism in a way. and it gets confusing. he overlaps his message. he doesn't know what his true constituency is and it is part of the core of the republican party. people say just leave us alone. that's a grover norquist montra. leave us lube with you we won't leave you alone. if you want an portion, we'll stick something inside of you. if you are a man and you want to live with a man, we'll make it very hard for you. so they have this internal conflict. i think now it is just totally embodied in rick santorum. he is the gop. this is marvelous. >> that was a brilliant description. do you understand the phenomenon of santorum when he does as david say, talk about freedom. he only means freedom in very limited terms. >> well, on the economic side. i think what rick santorum was v

mr. santorum, but in tennessee i think santorum will gain. remember newt gingrich's campaign chairman in this state switched from gingrich to santorum. so i say romney comes out with delegates. santorum hangs in there and gingrich as they say in the movies to be continued. >> all right. let's talk about the democrats who are having great time watching this all unfold as president obama's numbers are going up and head to head now he's beating mitt romney. >> correct. from my standpoint i want this to go on forever. this is like a reality show. i have no idea from week to week who's going to win. i want to give those republicans the microphone. i think it's great. >> conservative columnist george will wrote over the weekend whether it's santorum or romney, they're both probably going to lose. either one of them is going to lose, so the republicans should count on model the house and gaining control of the senate instead. what do you think? >> to quote casey stengel, never make predictions, especially about the future. one does not know what the

mr. santorum at this point. almost.ept after their long season of dumb mistakes like this, the santorum campaign is blaming this one on a volunteer. they said the volunteer went to the elections office and accidentally overlooked the envelope that had the paperwork and did not file it before the deadline. a local elections official found said envelope in the trash which is how we know the volunteer got sent to the elections office with fewer than 50 signatures for rick santorum. >>> it is my responsibility to wrap up tonight's show, but i have to you when we see you tomorrow night, we are going to relept and bring you our long overdue oddly compelling creepy find. this is about our usual area, but when it's necessary, it's necessary. coming up next is the last word

mr. santorum. mr. santorum is also the projected winner in oklahoma.husetts, no surprise, mitt romney is patriot jeked winner in the state in which he was governor, his home state of massachusetts. as we mentioned in georgia, newt gingrich won the primary in his home state. in virginia there were only two people on the ballot, mitt romney and ron paul. mitt romney has won that two-man race over dr. paul. gingrich and santorum not on the ballot in virginia. in vermont, the green mountain state, mitt romney the projected winner. listening to newt gingrich i have to tell you my biggest impression how happy he is. he's giving the 2012 version of the drill baby drill thing from 2008 and he's never been more delighted by anything this his life makes me happy to see politicians happy with what they are doing even when he had a lot of -- >> his own drilling area is limited to contiguous territory. he has won south carolina, georgia and the panhandle of florida. as you know advertisis th notic going to to alabama. >> basically he's a cluster, i could throw a no

mr. santorum does well there. oops. in addition to those three districts, there are are six other districts in ohio where the santorum campaign has only submitted partial paperwork. that all means that of the 63 delegates up for grabs tomorrow night in ohio, more than a quarter of them are unwinnable for rick santorum even if he does great in the state. has the same problem in tennessee he has an empty slate of dielegates. will have the same problem in illinois where the campaign failed to submit the required amount of delegates in four of the state's congressional districts. his campaign is lucky he's on the ballot at all in indiana. they had to contest the findings of the largest because it initially said he had not turned in enough sigs. the campaign is a mess. the campaign is like a formula one race and everybody else is in a formula one car, rick santorum is in a pinewood derby car. whatever you think about him as a candidate his campaign cannot seem to put its pants on one leg at a time. they can't do the basic stu

mr. santorum. mr. santorum is also the projected winner in oklahoma. in massachusetts, no surprise, mitt romney is patriot jeked winner in the state in which he was governor, his home state of massachusetts. as we mentioned in georgia, newt gingrich won the primary in his home state. in virginia there were only two people on the ballot, mitt romney and ron paul. mitt romney has won that two-man race over dr. paul. gingrich and santorum not on the ballot in virginia. in vermont, the green mountain state, mitt romney the projected winner. listening to newt gingrich i have to tell you my biggest impression how happy he is. he's giving the 2012 version of the drill baby drill thing from 2008 and he's never been more delighted by anything this his life makes me happy to see politicians happy with what they are doing even when he had a lot of -- >> his own drilling area is limited to contiguous territory. he has won south carolina, georgia and the panhandle of florida. as you know advertisis th notic going to to alabama. >> basically he's a cluster, i could

mr. santorum doing very strong in the more rural and southern and western parts of the state. it looks like it could be a long night, however, as you point out, shep, there are some ballot problems in some places. they may have to hand count some of the votes. >> shepard: we will get to that rick santorum has been saying for a couple of weeks now that he could beat newt gingrich -- beat mitt romney if newt gingrich would get out of race. they haven't worked very hard in illinois is he getting that one-on-one matchup he he has been seeking. >> it's a case of getting what you ask for. he has been suggesting that it would be nice if he got out of race so he could the tea party voters around him. happening in illinois as it appears now. it may be that the man on man battle that rick santorum sought could be less of a victory. polls in recent weeks that would what would happen taking newt gingrich out of the surveys and measuring rick santorum against romney. it appears his absence would be negligible. this may not be the type of test of head-to-head battle mr. romney that mr. sant

mrs. santorum calling out rick santorum on the snob comment. interesting. today santorum heads to kansas, he'll make stops in topeka and wichita while he's there. >>> congressional republicans are blaming president obama this morning for urging the senate democrats to defeat legislation that would have sped up construction of the keystone oil pipeline that comes down from canada. republicans came within four votes of passing an amendment yesterday to green light the $7 billion project. supporters say the measure would have passed if president obama had not personally lobbied members of his own party to oppose it. >> frankly, it's hard to even comprehend how completely out of touch he is on this issue. i mean, think about it, at the moment when -- at a moment when millions are out of work, gas prices are literally skyrocketing, and the middle east is in turmoil, we've got a president who's up making phone calls trying to block a pipeline here at home. it's really almost unbelievable. >> i think the white house owes the american people an explanation. by pers

mr. santorum or mr. romney wins in november? >> well, i think -- you mean on health care? here's what i know assen accountant, a businessman and a physician. we're on an unsustainable course. we can say -- we can tell the political lie, don't worry about medicare, nobody's going to touch it, and then we're going to reach a bump in the road where the international financiers are not going to loan us money to fix it. most politicians are afraid to talk about medicare. when i talk to seniors in oklahoma and contrast their grandchildren with what they have today, most of them want to make sure that they do their part to make sure their grandchildren have a great future. and we can do both. doing nothing on medicare assures seniors they're going to have a terrible outcome in terms of medicare. if you want to save medicare, we have to fix it now. we can't wait ten years to fix it. we can't wait until we're in the middle of the baby boom cost explosion in medicare to fix it. simply because nobody in the world will loan us enough money nor will we be able to afford the interest co

mr. santorum this is a must-win. he's expected to have victory and essentially allowing expectations and the romney and gingrich campaigns have been down playing their expectations, for mr. santorum keeping his argument going he's the only alternative to mitt romney is essential. he faces a particularly tough and steep climb as the romney campaign is making that argument virtuely every hour on the hour. he has the argument he can lose in that state and delegate count as well as the states and popular vote. for romney, there's the possibility of possibly overprfove overperforming. and he the romney's campaign's assertion, a statement by rick santorum amounts to santorum's willingness. at the romney campaign is taking offense to santorum's assertion, romney and obama are the same and the country might as well stay with what it has. romney has been trying to drive a wedge between the party regulars and santorum denies it and newt gingrich actually went to college at tulane in new orleans and played time trying to play a

mr. santorum, taking a page from mr.s guide to public speaking, mistakes and other embarrassing episodes, gaffes like this are not going to help. >> i've never passed a statewide government-run health care system. whether he i was governor because well, i wasn't governor. >>, of course. mr. romney could not let that pass. so he fired back showing santorum who the king of the gaffe really is. >> this president's run out of ideas. he's run out of excuses and in 2012, we're going to get him out of the out -- out of the white house. >> out of the where in and what election night would be without a -- would be complete without a strange metaphor from one state winner, newt gingrich. >> there are lots of bunny rabbits that run through. i'm the tortoise. i just take one step at a time. >> that single victory in georgia prompted newt to give the night's longest speech, something his new secret service detail couldn't protect the audience from. but if there was any question as to the tortoise's desire to plod along from one book