now the candidates are starting to shift focus to super tuesday, romney outspending santorum three to one. >> a case could decide for good whether corporations are considered people too. the justices will hear an appeal in a case about whether royal dutch petroleum and its shell oil subsidiary in the u.s. are immune from prosecution for aiding a former regime in nigeria that tortured, raped and executed minorities. the court ruled two years ago corporations share the same human rights to free speech as people. it could send a precedence. >> a cool start to the day. let's check with christina loren to tell us what's happening. >> hi, guys. we've got rain on the way. at this time tomorrow morning we'll be tracking heavy periods of rain in parts of the bay area. so, enjoy the relatively quiet start this morning. it is cold out there. you might find some frost and fog as we head throughout the morning hours. right now visibility is looking good, and temperatures are dropping off. you may find a little frost in napa and santa rosa. 37, colder, right here in san jose. throughout day an area

romney and santorum. and we figure out between the campaigns and the superpacs there's about a 10 to 1 difference that romney will outspendn the end. now, this is between now and the primary on tuesday. >> the big debate here tomorrow night. obviously the last big word for these candidates before tuesday's voting, where super tuesday. it's been almost a month since they've shared a stage. how high are the stakes? how high is the bar for the candidates tomorrow night? >> it's very high. if you look at this poll, more than 30% of the people we polled said that they could yet change their mind. and so it's clear to me they'll be watching you on that stage. they're going to be watching that debate. because they probably want to see how romney and santorum do up against each other and whether in fact newt gingrich is really still in this race heading into super tuesday. and you know, santorum i presume is going to be center stage this time. and he's going to be in a different position than he's been in the past. >> first debate as an equal, if not the frontrunner in the surge right now. we'll see. gloria will be with us throug

rick santorum's super pac is now on air with $17,000 in ads. but mitt romney's super pac will weigh outspendk santorum. and if past is prologue, it may be hard for rick santorum to weather that onslaught. >> and this is mitt romney, just now, giving a speech in michigan. >> i love the businesses of this state. i love the auto industry. i want to see it thrive and grow. i'm glad it went through a managed bankruptcy process, which i recommended from the very beginning, to shed unnecessary processes and get its footing again. i'm delighted it's profitable. >> that's mitt romney in an echo chamber, somewhere in michigan. >> this is part of mitt romney's problem. is that michigan -- you pointed this out. michigan is where he was born. it's where his father was the governor of the state. he cannot -- i mean, i really believe -- >> i believe from talking to republicans, he cannot lose. >> he cannot weather a loss here. i just can't see. and i said that the time is on mitt romney's side. he's got a few weeks here before michigan. time would not be on his side if he loses michigan. february 28th, the

romney. >> is outspending rick santorum 50-1 in michigan where voters goring to the polls in just 11 days andr pack weighed in. >> should they use funds to bail out general motors and chrysler? no. >> i said the auto industry needed to go through a bankruptcy process. >> and romney's rival is pushing that message, too. >> governor romney supported bailout of wall street and decided not to support the bailout of detroit. >> rick santorum said he did not support government bailouts, period. today, the democratic national committee released this video on a government bailout when he headed u.s. olympic games in utah. the federal government poned up $1.3 billion for those games, more than all other u.s. olympic games combined. >> that has got to sting a little. and our analyst says four years ago the campaign was all about hope and change and energizing those under 30 voters. this time, it's working class voters in swing states. and largely hillary clinton supporters this time around. >> 7 on your side has been investigating a long term care insurance company. >> now, the company is the targist a

rick santorum is leading mitt romney in michigan in all the recent polls. but mitt romney is also outspending rick santorum in michigan, 29-to-1. why mitt romney has to do that, coming up. ♪ round, round, get around, i get around ♪ [ female announcer ] new and improved swiffer dusters with dust lock adhesive can clean virtually every surface in your home. ♪ its thousands of fluffy fibers pick up dust here, there, pretty much everywhere. and swiffer dusters traps 3 times more dust than a feather duster. and locks it away. ♪ swiffer cleans better or your money back. ♪ get around introducing the perfect situp. invented by the u.s. navy seal who brought you the perfect pushup, the perfect situp re-invents the situp by combining the upper ab crunch with the lower ab leg lift. then the perfect situp adds an audible coach. you'll hear a click when you've done the exercise correctly. you hear it and you'll feel it. it's this one-two punch that gets you better faster results. traditional situps and crunches are hard to do, and only effectively work half your abs -- the upper half. but the perfect situ

rick santorum is leading mitt but mitt romney is also outspending rick santorum in michigan, 29-to-1. mitt romney has to do that, coming up. weight loss programs e expensive. so to save some money, i just got the popular girls from the local middle school to follow me around. ew. seriously? so gross. ew. seriously? that is so gross. ew. seriously? dude that is so totally gross. so gross...i know. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens, you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta

rick santorum is leading mitt romney in michigan in all the recent polls. but mitt romney is also outspendingum in michigan, 29-to-1. why mitt romney has to do that, coming up. >>> a few week s ago the c each of masterlock said it makes more business sense for him to bring jobs home. today, for the first time in 15 years, masterlock's unionized plant in milwaukee is running at full capacity. >> that was president obama at the state of the union address last month. here is president obama today in milwaukee at that unionized masterlock plant. the president taking a tour of the plant and delivering a speech in front of a stack of b boxes that said "made in the usa" hyping a company that chose to bring jobs back to the united states. speaking on the floor of the unionized plant. he's there in a state the governor has stripped union rights in the state last year. in this picture it's not just the president running a campaign to stay in office, governor scott walker, republican of wisconsin, is facing being recalled from office before the end of his first term, thanks to wisconsin voters angry wit

mitt romney is outspending rick santorum 10 times in terms of that kind of advertising.s is not that kind of campaign. so much is being condensed not only with what's happening in the last week with the last-minute appearances by these candidates, but also this debate tonight in mesa. >> woodruff: what about that debate, gwen it's been, what, four weeks almost since the last republican debate? what is the expectation at this point? what do people think is riding on this? >> reporter: judy, admit it. you've been missing these debates haven't you. >> woodruff: i have! >> reporter: you have been waking up at night shaking thinking why aren't they on my television set? they'ring if to be going to be there tonight. and it's going to be the four men on the stage. not only mitt romney and rick santorum in the center seats, but also ron paul and newt gingrich, neither of whom is doing well in arizona but as you know, this kind of debate tonight is not going to be just for the folks of arizona. it will be broadcast nationally. these candidates are really trying to aim beyond this

and that's pretty cool. ♪ >>> for those who like to follow the money, mitt romney and his allies have outspend rick santorum1 in michigan. the romney campaign and super pac have spent $4.1 million in that state versus $2.1 for the santorum campaign and super pac. not to be left out of the action, newt gingrich, who got another money infusion from sheldon adelson, newt is spending on tv ads in seven states. we'll be right back. lord of the carry-on. sovereign of the security line. you never take an upgrade for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do. go national. go like a pro. >>> welcome back to "hardball." in michigan, democrats are able to walk up to the polls and vote in the republican primary. listen to this robo call that went out to democrats today in hopes of getting them out to vote. >> michigan democrats can vote in the republican primary on tuesday. why is it so important? romney supported the bai

what if this is a one or two point mitt romney victory in his native state and after outspending santorumat that point i think that does a lot of damage to the romney formula that he has been using too. and i think that could help santorum too. >> but if only 1 in 7 look for the true conservative, if 33% is the low so far in the primary are considering electability it's almost as if that middle ground is giving you kind of an honest opinion and if they are split between romney and santorum with paul and gingrich in the back still, does that just suggest the republican base has no focus at this point, and they are going to go behind romney because nobody else can really stand up to fight him? >> if the voters are going behind romney he was always playing on -- and we saw this with that robo call -- he is also playing on class identity and class resentment toward rommy. playing himself up as a guy with middle class roots, and middle class image, and he is hoping that that resinates to the voters who aren't necessarily the most conservative members of the party. >> percentage quickly of a sl

and while romney is already heavily outspending santorum in michigan, romney's allies are focusing on the packed political calendar that lies ahead, investing more than $1.3 million in the airwaves in eight states, with this new ad targeting santorum. >> who has the right experience? mitt romney helped create thousands of jobs. >> rick santorum is called the ultimate washington insider. >> also today, mitt romney is hoping for a boost. he will get the endorsement of michigan's current governor, rick snyder. matt? >> peter alexander in detroit this morning, thanks very much. bill o'reilly is host of "the o'reilly factor" on fox news and the author of "killing lincoln." hey bill, welcome back, good to see you. >> good to see you. >> let's talk about politics. rick santorum surging to the lead in four national polls, neck and neck in one. what's driving the surge? is it his strength as a candidate? or mitt romney's weaknesses? >> it's neither. it's ideology. conservatives are bouncing from one to the next. and they don't trust mitt romney at this point. so it's purely an ideological vote

santorum pretending he is some type of outsider. finally, all right emerging breaux maps between ron paul and mitt romney provide backup for romney again tonight? romney and his super pac are outspendingm 2-1 in minnesota, note number shrinks if you look at advertising this week but an ad that romney's not running against santorum that's getting some attention this morning. >> is this dude serious? fiscal conservative? really? >> it is an a that sounds an awful lot like this one. >> senator santorum hasn't been as carefully viewed by the american public as have the others. i think a tea party would find it very interesting that rick santorum voted to raise the debt ceiling five times without getting compensating reductions in spending. i don't think rick santorum's track record is that of a fiscal conservative. >> and it is just the latest attack at ron paul aired against whoever was romney's chief rival at a key moment in the campaign. take a look at all of these examples. >> al gore found a cheerleader in texas named rick perry. now, america must decide who to trust, al gore's texas cheerleader or the one who stood with reagan? >> newt gingrich was a career politician. >> he went th

the most intense fight was in romney's home state of michigan where he outspend rick santorum by over a million dollars and the results show it did pay off with romney winning 41% but santorum not too far behind taking 38%. ron paul got 12%. in arizona, romney won 47%. santorum had 27% of the vote and newt gingrich won 16%. he is now focusing on super tuesday which will include his home state of georgia. >> the challenge for us is to present a clear and compelling alternative. >> they keep asking about winning particular states in this campaign but guess what? we're still winning a lot of delegates and that is what counts. >> washington state votes this saturday and that is followed by super tuesday next week. >>> new this morning, an update on a rio de janeiroing house fire that injured seven firefighters. the prince george's county fire chief is holding a news conference at 1:00 p.m. today. he will announce what sparked the fire on friday night and give an update on the two firefighters still in the hospital. >>> in virginia, the state senate passed a bill that requires any woman wh

santorum will be there today, romney is outspending him nearly three to one. >> drug sniffing dogs couldchools. the board to vote on a new policy f. passed dogs would inspect lockers while students are at class and check on the school lots. pleasanton came wake-up the plan after a rise in suspensions in all three high schools. >> the district will consider 5.5 million in cuts, plus schools may be forced to increase class size and indicate some counselors to balance the budget. elementary schools could lose some reading support. if the tax niftives are not passed in november more cuts could be needed. >> did school board will consider a bond measure to fund schools. the 99.9 million is the second to improve buildings and equipment. the board will vote on placing it on the june ballot. it will cost $29 a year if passed. >> a rocky road but sacramento is keeping the kings. the city and the nba team agreed on pieces of arena financing deal. it would keep the kings in sacramento for another 30 years. the deal follows 2 1/2 days of negotiations between mayor johnson and the team owners and nba

romney and his allies are outspending santorum on television and on radio by a 50-1 margin. rob and paula, back to you. >> the guy who made this aspirin joke is the guy throwing all the big money behind santorum's super pac here. and later santorum, kind of like you said, made a little distance, saying he's a good man or what have you but it was a stupid joke for his supporter to tell like that. >> i've heard that joke a lot. back in the day. what's the best form of contraception? just keep something between your legs. heard that -- >> saying that as a joke and in the presidential campaign very different things, though. >> a donor. >> here's a look at weather, everybody. showers in orlando, southern georgia, and mobile, alabama. some downpours and thunderstorms in much of texas and new orleans. snow in new mexico's mountains and in the northern rockies and cascades. flurries in minneapolis and michigan's upper peninsula. >> upers. 50s and mild in the northeast. 40s in chicago. fargo 37, 44 in colorado springs. and 67 in phoenix. >>> we don't like to admit this, but sometimes

santorum has a lead in the polls. rom romney has long roots and he can vastly outspend him. puts up $50,000 worth of ads. t up 1.3 million. the super pac supporting romney will add another $700,000 to that. super pac supporting santorum has 700 grand going in as well. it will be difficult for santorum to overcome romney's advantages. romney has disadvantages in the polls. evangelicals are going more towards santorum than romney. >> shepard: off script here. rick santorum's main spokes person today they were talking about contraception main spokesperson says people used to use contraception back in the day they used aspirin they kept it between their legs. it was very effective. >> you are talking about foster freeze, who is one of the benefactors for the pro-santorum super pac. and, of course, the santorum campaign says, look, while we may agree with mr. fries on a number of issues, we wouldn't necessarily use that type of language. when it comes to the super pacs, wonderful fire wall. whenever they are helpful they can appreciate. whenever they are not they say sorry we don't. >> shepard: aspirin between

santorum. the guy is being outspend 50-1 in michigan by romney and is still ahead in the polls. >> how are the publicans going to resolve this. if this march goes on -- rick santorum is up. but the message appears to be we are not comfortable with romney. this guy is like a salesman going door-to-door and getting turned down at half the places. >> considering the number of big endorsements he has here in california. meg whitman is one of the people -- >> he has the "establishment" but he doesn't have the rank and file. >> yes. we will see this in california, how it plays out. you are right. it will be romney, but how damaged is he by the time he get to the end of the road? >> well, i don't know if you are right about it will be romney. i think the republicans are actually looking for a competitive candidate. at that time moment none of the above are really competitive. romney being the only one that is possibly competitive. if it continues that way, between now and the time of the republican convention, almost anything could happen. >> that is why we love to watch this. >> politics. it is alway

i think mitt romney has been hurt by the super pac attack ads on gingrich in iowa in december and in florida before the primary down there. and if he outspends santorum 40-1 in the next week and it's all negative, i think it's going to hurt romney in the long run despite any victories he may have achieved in arizona and michigan. >> and the numbers boggle the mind. 40-1. let me put up, we talked about it, but here are gm's earnings. $7.6 billion in 2011. that's up 62% from 2010. the highest profit ever. can't hurt barack obama with certainly a certain segment of michigan voters. let me ask you this to skip ahead because you mentioned electability. james, let me start with you. who is the strongest candidate in michigan against barack obama? >> i would assume that mitt romney is in the long run the strongest candidate against barack obama but the longer this process goes on the weaker he and any other republican becomes for the general election race, in my view. >> do you agree with that, jim? >> i don't know. i'm a little -- i'm always nervous. i've been burned so many times by predictions. >> especially this year, right? >> it's been so hard. i do t

romney is locked in a heated battle with rick santorum. >> voting without getting reducks in spending. >> romney is not pounding on the stump. latest figures show he's outspending his rival by a huge barg yichbl $18 million. nearly three times over the same period. >> breaking down, you can see most went for television and radio advertising. >> and in order to bring newt gingrich down, he's had to spend a lot of money. >> he says romney's strategy is to spend now, knock out potential rivals. >> he can't hope for it to be a love fest or expect enthusiasm in 2008. that is not going to be his candidacy. it's going to be a begrudging admitting he's the only alternative left standing. >> but a look at the super pack numbers shows it might be a longer primary campaign. yes, his super pack raised $6 million but newt gingrich's raised $11 million. and he says he's staying in until the end. and if rick santorum can upset michigan's favorite son, a lot could change. >> the great opportunity we have to make a huge positive impact. >> on the democratic side the president raised just under $12 million in january. it's a little over $29 million. his own total just about a th

allies have outspend rick santorum 2 to 1 in michigan. the romneyign and super pac have spent $4.1 million in that state versus $2.1 for the santorum campaign and super pac. not to be left out of the action, newt gingrich, who got another money infusion from casino mogul sheldon adelson, newt's super pac is spending on tv ads in seven states. we'll be right back. if there was a pill to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bo

santorum, how disappointed would you really be? let me bring in mike allen. yes, mitt romney won, but to only scrape through in your own home state, when you outspend your main opponent five-to-one. rick santorum had a bit of a rough week, bad debate, and made what most people consider to be gaffes. you've got to be feeling reasonably confident that despite all that you're still really close to beating him. >> you're absolutely right. rick santorum essentially declared victory tonight. he even jumped out and spoke ahead of mitt romney. we're told from the romney folks that they weren't watching tv. he was with family and friends. they were kibbutzing. rick santorum called to concede even before it had been announced, before cnn, other networks had called it, and he jumped out and spoke. and a story you're going to see unfold unfolding in the next couple of hours, he may get almost as many delegates as mitt romney. they're split up by congressional district. the math is still being done right now. but the split in delegates may be even closer than the actual vote. >> how damaging do you think the triple whammy, as i put it earlier, was to rick santorum's chanc

romney has pulled out all the stops vastly outspending rick santorum.nding more time campaigning in michigan. laid it all on the line here. polls have tightened. looks as though he may have pulled ahead. the polls show it's a statistical dead heat. romney has the establishment and organization. the question is whether rick santorum with his grass roots momentum can overcome that it has in four states so far. michigan is the first industrial state 9.2% unemployment and the place where mitt romney was born. losing here would be a disaster. the romney campaign is confident that they are going to eke out a victory. not anywhere close to the 9.2% victory that romney had here four years ago, shep. >> shepard: the polls are showing it's dead even. now the santorum people even seem to be lowering expectations. >> well, they have been. a couple of weeks ago, after his three big wins, colorado, minnesota, and missouri, santorum had shut up to a double digit lead in michigan. over the course of the last ten days, romney hastedtly daily eroded that for santorum now

. >> and we see mitt romney outspending rick santorum in the other states almost 2-1. >> the margin,ngly not you saw in south carolina or florida, take a look at the ad spending by candidate. obviously, this was a mitt romney-rick santorum battle in michigan. you see that on the numbers. as of friday this is what the candidates had spent. $678,000 for mitt romney, $350,000 for rick santorum. that's just the campaigns, you're used to how i do this. you can see the super pacs change that math and make it spend more money than the candidates themselves. why does it say as of friday. what a weekend it was. as of friday, almost $2 million, $1.3 million for rick santorum. ready? >> wow. >> just over the weekend. over the weekend, mitt romney putting another $1.2 million in a couple days, three days. >> incredible. >> amazing. rick santorum putting in just under $1 million. that's the candidate and the super pac combined. it's pretty stunning. what kinds of ads? we'll play a couple. we thought this was pretty interesting, called rombo. let's listen to it. >> mitt romney's negative attack ma

romney and not newt gingrich. listen to what senator santorum said earlier today. >> governor romney's been able to bully his way through this primary, outspendingpponents on average about 5 to 1 and been able to win by outspending. but he's not inspiring. he's not painting a vision. >> reporter: now john, this whole idea of how important it is tonight, look, they say that everybody's been asking the santorum campaign, and the senator himself, what's the path to victory. they say that february, the month of february is about perception and momentum, and they are hoping that that starts for them tonight. >> they need at least one. we'll see if they can do more than that. dana bash, the santorum campaign in missouri tonight. over to congressman paul headquarters is in missouri tonight. shannon i spoke earlier to the congressman today. i tried to get him to say after a disappointment in nevada does he need a win tonight. he wouldn't go that far. take us inside the poll strategy. >> reporter: the paul strategy, i heard that interview you had with him, john, is delegates. he mentioned that to you is to rack them up and try to blaze a path to the nomi

close today in michigan and in arizona, rick santorum is switching his focus to super tuesday, he's headed to ohio where mitt romney is already outspending him three to one. >> a squeaker in michigan. thank you. >>> all day long, msnbc is the place to follow today's crucial republican primaries. we've got special prime time coverage beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern. hosted by chris matthew,s ed al sharpton, do not miss a minute of the special coverage. >>> at a tea party event, rick santorum calling president obama a snob for wanting every american to go to college. illinois congressman told al sharpton that santorum is wrong in several ways. >> i don't know what rick santorum is thinking about because clearly he is out of the mainstream, he's hypocritical and also just plain wrong when it comes to his facts when he talks about college, for example. but you know, if you want to talk about religion, let's talk about the values in every major religion in the world. things like love thigh neighbor and feed the hungry. because he's also taken off after food stamps. aren't these the kinds of things that ought to embody a religious person's view

and before the polls even close today guess where santorum is headed, to ohio, focusing on super tuesday. romney is outspendingmeantime, president obama getting a boost in the polls from female voters. women viewing the president with a positive outlook as the economy improves and social issues including birkt control dominated. i'm sure his crooning of al green didn't hurt. the poll suggests that more women than men are giving the president credit for turning the economy around since december the president's approval rating on how he handled the economy and unemployment has jumped 10 percentage points. >> 5:44. london counting down the days to opening ceremonies. this giant olympic rings late last night. the rings are 36 feet tall, 82 feet wide, they will be prominently displayed on the river thames until the end of the games in august. summer games start in 150 days. you can see it all here on nbc bay area. >> put a ring on it. >> several of them. >> it's 5:45. we check in with meteorologist christina loren. i love her because she laughs at my bad jokes. >> your excellent segways as i like to call that. it's

rick santorum leading mitt romney in all of the recent polls out of michigan but outspent by mr. romney by astonishing 29-1. then news yesterday that the san store r instead of outspending 29-1, it's like 3-s. mr. romney did drown newt gingrich in negative ads but a different thing to try to do that against rick santorum. when you're attacking a guy with negative ads as mitt romney is dw doing now, it's one thing to look at the ads and seem like strong enough attacks to achieve intended goal, by really hurting a guy. but even more important than the ad is the context. the context in which the ad is received and heard by the republican electorate. when mitt romney was tearing newt gingrich apart, mr. romney benefitted from the fact that the entire republican establishment, including most of the conservative opinion leaders in the country, all hate newt gingrich. anything mitt romney said against newt gingrich the whole establishment would say um-hmm, yep and reinforce it. mr. romney was attacking as ""the washington post" put it the most disliked politician in america. that phrase isn't an attack it's what the polling shows. newt gingrich enjoix a 16% favorability rating