robert traynham. what's happening in ohio? >> it shows me two things.ey is a formidable candidate. however, he can't seal the deal with conservatives. remember, these republican primaries are about two conversations. number one, do i want the republican party to go hard right, like a tea party or a moderate candidate. when you look at the polls, the cross tabs, mitt romney is a beautiful candidate in the general electric. he has the best chance to beat barack obama in the fall. the question is whether or not mitt romney is the type of republican that speaks on behalf of tea partier folks and we're seeing poll after poll after poll that he can't seal a deal. that's why rick santorum is a strong number two. >> this is a standard problem, right? this issue of those who are good in the generals are not necessarily great primary candidate. >> right. we've seen this before. you know, the thing that i find most interesting about this is what we saw on the democratic side. four years ago we were talking about whether or not barack obama could seal the deal. i t

. >> tony, to your point, this is robert traynham, do you see any conceivable way that rick santorum forces himself on the ticket as a vice presidential nominee? >> you know, i don't know. you know, he's -- i think he's avoided that talk. he said that's not even something he's considering. i don't know. the long they are goes on i think the two camps become more entrenched if their positions and i think feelings even become harder to resolve going forward. so it's going to take somebody like that. if mitt romney is to get the nomination, if he does get the nomination and if he's to have any type of success in taking on barack obama, he's going to have to somehow close the gap with evangelicals. he certainly can't speak the language. he tried four years ago, it didn't work. he adopted a new model this time around. it hasn't been talking to them at all. >> tony perkins from the family resource council, thanks as always for joining the program, sir. >> you're welcome, alex. good to be with you. >> coming up, santorum won tonight but is his campaign now showing signs it is unraveling? yo