reporter rick pearson with it results.eed republican campaign pounding accounting accounting about less government different with these numbers bamut constant drumbeat from republicans government is too big over regulation rather than asking simple question we would check to see and find answers are much more nuanced than you would imagine looking at the fact republicans complain about government intervention stimulus and economy government too far trying to help the economy or not far enough? 44 percent of voters said it not he not only 29 percent say government going to far >> possible some are looking at for example general motors best profit ever they say if this needs to happen in government needs to step in and it can work? >> also very high unemployment in illinois nearly 10 percent until the unemployment comes down closer to what the nation has seen, the percent people will demand more and more help from government to get the economy moving again >> we pulled people in illinois this might be regional calling outsid

watching with us political reporter chicagotribune.com rick pearson obviously mich. the big one if mitt romney loses that home state would have been critical >> you heard and the chatter in the days looking like rick santorum moving ahead about if he does lose throwing held mary pass to get somebody like chris christie or mitch daniels into the race? >> still awfully close rick santorum has to have fuel 36 percent of the state says mitt romney father executive governor and he grew up there >> one thing to remember unlike arizona with 29 delegates winner-take-all contest mitt romney gets those michigan divided how well candidates to and the 14th congressional district rick santorum will get delegates that self-fulfilling prophecy if mitt romney needed to win how big is the margin? consistent and of moving it to super tuesday? a very interesting result talk about the dirty tricks played rick santorum encouraged democrats to turn out almost 10 percent of voters and republican caucus towards democrat half of those voting for rick santorum >> arizona not as significant sti

yes 20th debate republican presidential candidates joining us with highlights chicagotribune.com rick pearsonbiggest one last one before primary supposed to be the one that makes a difference did it make a difference? >> pulgas and a race between the two front-runners mitt romney and rick santorum right now these guys back and neck next week vote in michigan mitt romney slight advantage arizona nice tonight's debate help you could sense and the crowd in number of * rick santorum would give an answer not a good crowd reception >> more of the two frontrunners going back and forth down but entitlements of the cold word for spending santorum hit by a barrage of advertisements from romney and super pak alleging not the fiscal conservative he professes to be romney shoots back wants federal money from olympics >> your marks voted half of the money that wed to those games governor mitt romney ask for that year mark we came to the federal government asking to help on transportation and security fighting for those things the game is successful fighting to save the olympics you were fighting to save a

a lot of insight on the numbers of political reporter rick pearson. right down the middle not quite but pretty close at this time in the election cycle what should president obama make up these numbers and the public? >> president obama should be happy the overall job approval roughly where he was before the midterm elections showing slight improvement but had to let the economy the illinois economy what it has been through since the fall of 2010 there is actually an nine. swing it was 42 percent approved and 47 percent disapprove this time and december 2010 now over the 50 percent mark solid numbers and give it everything that we have been through >> what do the republicans make of this? >> a guy that wants the state with over 60 percent of the boat and the general election but never the last show signs of optimism among illinois voters and when you look at just illinois granted eight months away from the general election could lead to good things for democrats do not forget all barbara has coattails of democrats running in brand new congressional di

increasing taxes for the rich and cutting government services chicagotribune.com political reporter rick pearsonty even for obama and the others for republicans. >> first whether you think federal income-tax code favors the wealthy the middle income or low income and the results were the high income people 59% of the voters think the high income is favored at 8% middle income and low income 17%. president playing this out. the issue of fairness and the tax code another issue the president has talked about. whether the wealthy should pay more. the warren buffet rule as it is called anyone making more than $1 million a year should pay at least 30 percent income-tax rate. score for obama. you have a really strong majorities in all demographic areas even those making over $100,000 a year support the idea of paying more. >> the next questions you asked me the favor the republican side of things? >> when you start asking and digging deeper federal tax increase necessary to reduce the federal deficit? president today says cannot cut your way through this. when you ask the voters 42 percent say it is ne

rick. financials under fire. the nation's biggest banks getting slapped with a new lawsuit over their foreclosure practices. our hampton pearsons in washington with the details and the fallout of it. hi, hampton. >> reporter: hello, sue. this time it's the new york state attorney general suing bank of america, jpmorgan chase and wells fargo alleging fraud when it comes to use of the national electronic system. it was created by the banks as a private registry to make it frankly easier to track all that paperwork. now, from the lawsuit we're told there's something like 70 million mortgages that have been registered, 30 million are active. mers continues to be active in 60% of the origination of all mortgage loans in the u.s. the lawsuit says employees and agents of the bank of america, jpmorgan and wells fargo used the registry as "an end run around the property recording system so they could securetize those loans" mers has been under fire for about two years, however it's a small portion of the foreclosure nightmare of course facing the banks. as we all know a universal settlement involving all 50 states attorney general have

rick santelli. the euro competence numbers were better than expected. one more dose of breaking news. out with the earnings report, hampt hampton pearsonore on that. >> the number of problem banks, to 319 billion. there are 18 outright bank failures in the fourth quarter. perhaps the best news, banks earning a 20% increase from a year ago. the key factor is lower loan loss provisions. two out of three banks reporting higher earnings income from a year ago. however, overall revenues continue to show weakness. in the fourth quarter we have net operating revenue of 3.8 billion. that actually was a 2.3% decline from a year ago. the biggest factor is a 7.4% drop in noninterest income. summing up the overall report from acting fdic chairman, martin greenburg. the industry is now in a much better position to support the economy through expanded lending but the level of troubled assets at problem banks are still high. carl? >> hampton, thanks for that. >>> not just adding up for google plus as it struggles for a foot hold. it catches up to facebook. we look at the mounting minuses. >> rising gas prices taking a bite out of discretionary income