ron mott at gingrich headquarters in orlando. ron, thanks. we already have a lot of numbers in, and we already know a lot at this hour about what motivated florida republican voters tonight. tamron hall in our studios. standing by with that. tamron, good evening. >> good evening. our nbc news exit poll finds mitt romney dominated newt gingrich amongst most voter groups in florida, quite a reversal to what happened in south carolina. in south carolina, he got equal votes with men and women as he easily beat mitt romney in that primary. but take a look, romney is wallops gingrich among women, with a 22% lead over gingrich, and romney has a five-point edge over gingrich among men. and another big factor, electability swung back in mitt romney's favor in florida. take a look. tonight, romney is winning voters who think the ability to beat president obama is most important by 25 points. in south carolina, gingrich won that group by 14 points. so much better performance among women, and being seen as the most electable were among the keys to romney

>> ron mott starting us off from columbus tonight. ron, thanks. >>> in a development that could have big political ramifications, gas prices are at the highest levels ever for this time of year. up 25 cents a gallon on average since the beginning of 2012. >>> the white house pushed back on gop criticism that environmental rules are at fault noting the u.s. oil and gas production is surging. nbc's miguel almaguer is with us from l.a. tonight where prices are surging right now. miguel, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. it's usually memorial day, not presidents' day when we see a spike like this at this station. we are edging toward $5 a gallon, $4.93 for regular unleaded. while it is not the norm, it is a bellwether. pain at the pump. >> it's probably $10 more a tank than it was last week. >> reporter: the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline now tops $4 a gallon. this station getting close to $5. commuters have never seen prices so high so early in the year. patience is running on empty. >> i'm going to start rid

nbc's ron mott is on the trail for us in detroit. ron, good evening. >> reporter: hey, lester, good evening to you. at every opportunity on the campaign trail today, mitt romney and rick santorum got after each other and that seems to be the strategy here in michigan three days before this primary. come out swinging hard and look for the knockout punch and that's what they did. >> thank you. >> reporter: in trying to bring mitt romney to his knees in front of a largely conservative crowd near detroit, rick santorum flung a hay maker toward president obama and higher education. >> president obama said he wants everybody in america to go to college. what a snob. >> reporter: and he wasn't done. >> well, i understand why he wants you to go to college. he wants to remake you in his image. >> reporter: those were two of the jabz the former pennsylvania senator and penn state grad threw today. mostly in the direction of mitt romney, attacking his conservative record as inconsistent. >> what you have with me is what you see is what you get.

ron mott is live in detroit this morning. ron, how critical is this endorsement that we're expected to hear from the governor in the next hour and how is santorum fighting back? >> well, good morning, thomas. for mitt romney he's got to hope that this endorsement is going to give him a pop because right now in the polls he is polling second in this new boel poll out by the detroit news. rick santorum obviously coming off that big surge last week where he shut out all three of his opponents in those three victories last week. up in the polls here. 34% to mitt romney's 30.4%. it's within the margin of error but it's significant that rick santorum is leading at this point 12 days to go in race. in endorsing mitt romney, here's a little bit of what governor schneider had to say in his op-ed this morning. the american economy as a whole remains in difficult straits. he writes. our next president must understand how markets work and how to get our nation back on track. mitt romney is the man for the job. he has deep ties to our stat

>> ron mott, thank you. >>> let's bring in david gregory, moderator of "meet the press."n is ten days away. that's romney's home state. he's behind in the polls there. how critical is it that he holds that ground? >> i think how critical it is is underscored by the question of what if romney loses? there are a lot of republicans saying it would completely turn the race upside down. bring in more calls for somebody to come in as a savior into the race. so you could have another person jumping into the race or a lot of enthusiasm behind that idea. so much volatility. a real question about whether anybody can get the requisite number of delegates to finish this off. >> we have to turn to the caucuses up in maine, romney was declared the winner, but lo and behold all the votes weren't in. they're still counting the votes. could this thing swing away from him? >> it's possible. we are down to less than a hundred votes separating ron paul and mitt romney. we saw what happened in iowa and the caucuses were under fire as well. it actually switched to the winner, it was actually s

ron mott, nbc news, washington. >>> we turn overseas to the deepening crisis in syria. today, bombs killed at least 28 people in aleppo, which has been largely untouched by this violence until now. in homes under siege for days from mortar and artillery bombardment, there are reports of thousands of troops amassing for a possible ground assault, perhaps as early as this weekend. tonight from our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell, we have an unusual window into what's going on inside syria from an american who held out as long as he could. >> reporter: throughout the uprising and crackdown, ambassador robert ford has been america's soft spoken but tough man in syria. last september he faced down an angry mob in damascus. now escalating violence forced a wrenching decision, closing the u.s. embassy. he talked about that today from paris. >> very frankly, it was very hard to take down the american flag for the last time from the american embassy. it is a symbol of our presence. it is a symbol of our engagement in a country like syria. >> reporter: ambassa

our report from ron mott. >> here in michigan, you've been through a lot of tough times. >> reporter: at a business luncheon today, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum defends his spending record as millions in attack ads are spent against him. >> you folks in michigan have been hearing things on the television from one of my opponents that i am a big spender. i was the most conservative senator by far based on the state i represented. >> reporter: santorum told the audience he proposes $5 trillion in cuts over five years. >> mitt romney's negative attack machine is back on full throttle. this time, romney is firing his mind at rick santorum. >> reporter: though he's being outspent 3-1 on the air, surging santorum leveled the playing field on what was thought to be solid home turf for romney. a new poll shows santorum ahead of the former massachusetts governor by four points, in a state where romney grew up and his dad george was a popular governor. notions that the path to victory should have been clearer for romney are overstated says another former governor. >> i think the ro

nbc's ron mott has the new developments. >> it's not about your jobs.t's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. >> reporter: after saying the president's energy philosophy was based on a phony theology saturday -- >> i wasn't suggesting the president's urbannot a christia. >> reporter: rick santorum had a real challenge, separating religion from theology, no less on a sunday. >> so senator, i've got to ask you, what in the world were you talking about, sir? >> well, i was talking about the -- the radical environmentalists. that's why i was talking about energy. >> your use of the word "theolo "theology" or do you wonder that that might lead some people to suggest that you were questioning the president's faith? >> well, no. because i've repeatedly said i don't question the president's faith. i've repeatedly said i believe the president's a christian. he says he's a christian. but i am talking about his worldview. >> reporter: each of the republican candidates has voiced disapproval of the president's stance on energy and the environment. only sant

. >> reporter: this is ron mott tracking newt gingrich in central florida, where today the former speaker comfort in plant city. pressing ahead for votes, despite what appeared to be long odds for victory here. >> it doesn't look good for romney because of the absentees where he spent millions of dollars before we got here. but we'll see adds the evening goes on how it goes. >> reporter: the going has been particularly difficult going since his win ten days ago in south carolina. >> gingrich resigned from congress in disgrace. >> reporter: nonstop ads hit him around the clock. two less than stellar debate performances, and late this afternoon, confirmation that the campaign did robocall voters. >> romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. still, gingrich managed to work in a bit of comedy on the trail. >> how close is this to being over, mr. speaker? >> i would say probably six months. >> six months? >> unless romney drops out earlier. >> reporter: humor aside, february may not be all that much fun. the next round of states, colorado, nevada, michigan among

ron mott in detroit with the santorum campaign.ks very much. >>> president obama's policy in china has been criticized by republicans, but has the president's position turned out to be more of a balanced approach? with me now is zachary ka rar a. it was a big part of that cover story in the atlantic who at the time was the atlantic almost beijing bureau chief for a while, so he watched it up close. and he's said it was one of the big foreign policy successes. do you see it that way, as well? >> i do. there's been kind of bipartisan reality approaches to china. and the last years of president bush's administration were not markedly different in the way that the republicans dealt with china than obama. in a weird way, this was where official america has probably gotten it more right than american sentiment and attitudes. and clearly during the campaign, the republicans are going to try to paint this as a negative. and mitt romney had an editorial this morning in the "wall street journal" where he decries obama's policy toward china a

nbc's ron mott has the latest. >> reporter: with the race for michigan zooming toward the finish line on tuesday, today presidential politics moved to the fast track. mitt romney and rick santorum both showed up at the daytona 500. >> i'm voting for you. >> thank you. >> upstate new york. >> all right. we need your help. >> reporter: romney in person in nascar red. santorum's red and blue logo on the number 26 race car, which romney sized up. it was a sporting moment in an increasingly heated campaign, with firely barbs flying in both directions in recent years and toward president obama. >> and this president apieces. >> reporter: sand tomorrow made the sunday talk show rounds this morning hitting on romney's concerns. >> comes out and tries to say he is the conservative in the race. it's a joke. >> reporter: defending his snob remark suggest is all american give college a try, the famed 1960 speech by john f. kennedy to protestant ministers. >> i believe in a president whose views on religion are his own private affair. >> reporter: a speech about separation of church and state. >>

joining us live is nbc correspondent ron mott. i'm a little surprised he's still in the state. i look at senator santorum who hayes already moved on to colorado. part of me is surprised politically speak that the former speaker hasn't done likewise. >> reporter: a lot of other folks might be surprised as well. i think what this trip has largely been is, one, to try to raise some money. the campaign has made no bones they're not on the level playing field. they claim they are out spent 4:1 in florida. so i think the speaker came here bomb mr. adelson, who owns this hotel behind us. this is a long dry month in terms of debates, which is what the gingrich campaign had used so successfully in south carolina. this is only one debate, and we have seven contests here. they're trying to raise some money to get through this month. >>> there is a statement that he's not on tv, a few reenes, small staff and tiny office. from your vantage point, accurate? >> reporter: yes, i think especially when compared to the romney campaign. the gingrich -- organizationally, that's what it takes in pri

. >> nbc's ron mott is joining me from troy, michigan. ron, good day to you. what kind of reception is romney getting from the michigan voters today? >> reporter: hey there, alex. good day to you. he's hoping not to get a frosty reception much like it is out here. we do need heat here in detroit and compliment of these two candidates. big fight for votes in michigan and the primary for tuesday. rick santorum hasec intoen and left this venue and lit a fire under this crowd, a mostly conservative crowd. this is a crowd that mitt romney has had a hard time attracting, the sharpest language we've seen from rick santorum about mitt romney saying why would this party put up a candidate that the party is not excited about amp camping for. one day he'll tell you one thing and the very next day something else and the crowd seemed to response to that. mitt romney will come here and he has to wiggle through the fact that he did not support the auto bailouts while supporting, as rick santorum pointed out, the bailout of wall street. that's a message that is not sitting we

ron mott has a look. >> it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. >> reporter: after saying the president's energy philosophy was based on a phony theology. >> i wasn't suggesting the president wasn't a christian. >> reporter: he had a challenge, separating religion from the theology none the less on sunday. >> what were you talking about, sir? >> i was talking about the radical environmentalists. that's what i was talking about energy. >> your use of the word theology. do you wonder that might lead people to suggest that you were questioning the president's faith? >> well, no. because i have repeatedly said i don't question the president's faith. i believe the president is a christian. he says he is christian but i am talking about his world view. >> each of the republican candidates have expressed disagreement on the president's stance. only santorum linked them to theology. the former pennsylvania senator not only explained his use of the word this morning but answered to critics questioning his theory that prenatal care leads to more abortion. >> the bottom line that is that

let's go to ron mott. i look at the calendar ahead. if not tonight, when?hey look to a particular state and see pre-super tuesday, that's a state we can circle. >> i'm not sure they're looking beyond. there's six other states that are going in february. i think michael steele pointed out pretty well they're counting on super tuesday, march 6th, to really turn this thing around for them. month is an object, they have to start picking their spots. i think you'll see on super tuesday, he's got georgia, obviously his home state, he should do well there. neighboring tennessee, you might see the speaker spend a lot of time in ohio, and if he's able to put out a victory that could turn everything around. the risk to that kind of strategy if they're not going to ignore the six states caucuses in primary races here, but the risk is the narrative changes every day. conceivably going into march 6th we could see gingrich sitting on the one victory, and if if he runs the table romney may have nine victories. who knows what voters will think about the electable of speake

. >> ron mott is at his event. how is he dealing with the frontrunner status? >> i think the senator is realizing the more popular he is with voters, more popular he is with the media, and the questions get a bit tougher. he is obviously very popular with voters and voters to be in stub enville. this room is set for 300, standing room only. we are close to 500 people here. one of the things republicans and conservatives are saying, imploring with the candidates is to get them talking jobs. rick santorum said on the stump jobs are certainly important, but he believes to restore the economy, to rebuild vie tality in the economy, you have to rebuild families. it is unlikely he is going to abandon his message of social conservatism and restoring the family in particular. you look at the sign here, made in america, empower american families, it is clear that's his message. it helped propel him to frontrunner status. a lot of folks are taking a harder look at rick santorum, mitt romney in particular. kris? >> any advantage of the money, mitt romney had cash early on

nbc's ron mott has the details on the trail for us tonight in ohio. >> it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. >> reporter: after saying the president's energy philosophy was based on a phony theology saturday -- >> i wasn't suggesting the president is not a christian. >> reporter: rick santorum had a real challenge, separating religion from theology, no less on a sunday. >> senator, what in the world were you talking about, sir? >> i was talking about the radical environmentalists. >> your use of the word "theology" do you wonder that might lead some people to suggest that you were questioning the president's faith? >> well, no, because i've repeatedly said i don't question the president's faith. i've repeatedly said that i believe the president is christian. he says he's a christian. but i am talking about his world view. >> reporter: each of the republican candidates has voiced disapproval of the president's stance on energy and the environment. only santorum who serves in the polls after winning an election trifecta has linked him to theology. >> a different theology. >> re

ron mott has the details on the trail for us tonight in steubenville, ohio. ron, good evening. >> reporter: hey, lester, good evening to you. rick santorum has planned a campaign stop here in steubenville for tomorrow morning. meantime today he stopped just long enough to try to clarify some comments he made that some interpreted as a knock on president obama's faith. >> it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. >> reporter: after saying the president's energy philosophy was based on a phony theology saturday -- >> i wasn't suggesting the president is not a christian. >> reporter: rick santorum had a real challenge, separating religion from theology, no less on a sunday. >> so, senator, i've got to ask you, what in the world were you talking about, sir? >> well, i was talking about the radical environmentalists. that's why i was talking about energy. >> your use of the word "theology" or do you wonder that that might lead some people to suggest that you were questioning the president's faith? >> well, no, because i've repeatedly said i don't question t

nbc's ron mott is in las vegas with the latest on today's contest. ron, good morning. >> reporter: hey, lester, good morning to you. voters will fan out to caucus sites around this state later this morning one day after getting good news on the nation's employment front and at least two gop presidential candidates try to turn that to their advantage. with the nation's worst u unemployme unemployment, nevada would seem the best place in the country to celebrate friday's dip in the national jobless rate. down 0.2%. instead mitt romney attacked the white house at a round table in nevada. >> i believe the economy will come back. it always does. it has taken a lot longer than it should have to come back in part because the policies of this administration have not been helpful. they, in fact, have been harmful, and for that the president deserves the blame that he'll receive in this campaign. >> reporter: romney's chief opponent, former house speaker newt gingrich also placed blame with the president saying in a statement anemic growth is not growth. i beli

we get our report tonight from nbc's ron mott. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: rick santorum took at the president's energy agenda today and got some heat in exchange. >> it's not about you. it's not about you. it's not about your quality of life. it's not about your jobs. it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. oh, not a theology based on the bible. a different theology. but no less a theology. >> reporter: the obama re-election campaign quickly fired back, calling it quote, just the latest low in a republican campaign that has been fuelled by distortions, ugliness and searing pessimism and negativity. santorum and romney are grappling with each other over who gave out money. >> he bailed out the salt lake city olympic games by going to congress to ask them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the salt lake city olympic games. >> reporter: something the democratic national committee has also weaponized in a new ad. >> that bill to american taxpayers is estimated to be $1.3 billion. that's outrageous. >> reporter: today, in ohio -- >> will you join me? i'll take t

nbc's ron mott has our report. >> reporter: with the race for michigan zooming toward the finish linen tuesday, today, presidential politics moved to the fast track. mitt romney and rick santorum both showed up at the daytona 500. >> i'll vote for you. >> thank you. i need that. >> upstate new york. >> all right, we need your help. >> reporter: romney in person, in nascar red. santorum's red and blue logo on the number 26 race car, which romney sized up. it was a sporting moment in an increasingly heated campaign, with fiery barbs flying in both directions in recent days and toward president obama. >> this president appeases. >> reporter: and though this race was postponed by rain, the other continued. santorum made the sunday talk show rounds this morning, hitting on romney's conservative claims. >> comes out here in these debates and tries to say he's the conservative in the race. it is a joke. >> reporter: defending his snob remark about the president, suggesting all americans give college a try, even going after in graphic detail the famed 1960 speech by john f. kennedy to protest

nbc's ron mott is in las vegas with us.here of the faux canal behind you, how are things going right now? >> reporter: hey, alex. good morning. we at the media love a good horse race, but here in nevada we may not actually get one. this could be a runaway victory for mitt romney. he won here four years ago, most expectations are that he'll win again, largely because there is such a large mormon population here. 87% of those surveyed said they'll caucus for mitt romney. two key issues on the caucusgoers on their minds, housing market and the jobs, both in crisis in nevada. nevada has the nation's worst unemployment. yesterday we got a down-tick in the unemployment rate down to 8.3%, not anything to celebrate according to romney and gingrich. both punch president obama hard on the economy and gingrich put in a shot or two at mitt romney. listen to this. >> this recovery has been slower than it should have been. people have been suffering longer than they should have had to suffer. will it get better? i think it will get bette

ron mott is with gingrich at his he headquarters as well. ron? >> reporter: good evening, chris. one of the things that speaker gingrich has to do is raise the money, which is it looks like this las vegas trip was about to try to get more cash into this campaign. but while he does that, he's also got to campaign that's just four weeks from this tuesday. the race that we have left here in february, they seem to concede those candidates aand if he does not do well on super tuesday, one of the rifts and taking the strategy and focusing on march 6th, by super tuesday and voters, a lot of time perception is reality. they may think it's over for the gingrich campaign. >> ron, what happens, i guess we can't think through the entire strategy. but what does he do if he sees romney spending a ton of money or his super pac people spending a lot of money on super tuesday states demolishing him as they did in iowa and then again in florida? >> reporter: you know, what i think he was hoping that he's not going to get, there's only one debate. he used those two debates in south carolina brillia

ron motte, you've been covering if santorum campaign, they think they have won either way. >> hey thereay to you. briefly on the bailouts, as you mentioned santorum has said he is against any sort of bailouts, and what he has been trying sell to the folks in michigan, is mitt romney, while against the detroit bailout was for the wall street bailout, so playing into the class warfare issue. what they are trying do here with this campaign is to say that this is an us versus them battle. not just republicans against democrats but conservatives against the republican establishment if you will, and santorum even over the past few days doesn't seem to operate as if he believes that style of rhetoric is hurting his chances here. i think that come tomorrow, we will see one of two narratives with respect to to rick santorum. if he happens to come to romney's backyard, for what seemed like an impossible thing, and win here, it will send an earthquake across the republican establishment that he was able to do that. and despite the fact that people are scratching their heads about the things he sai

neighbors's ron mott has an update on the race. >> great to be in ohio.torum took a swipe at the president's energy agenda today and got some heat in exchange. >> it's not about you. it's not about you. it's not about your quality of life. it's not about your jobs. it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology, oh, not a theology based on the bible, a different theology, but no less a theology. >> reporter: the obama re-election campaign quickly fired back calling it, quote, just the latest low in a republican campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness and searing pessimism and negativity. santorum and mitt romney are now openly grappling with each other by name over who handed out government money and who had their hand out to take it. >> he heroically bailed out the salt lake city olympic games by heroically going to congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the salt lake olympic games. >> reporter: something the democratic national committee has also weaponized in a new ad. >> that bill to american taxpayers is

ron mott join us live.auge more of a warm reception to rick santorum with this audience. santorum seemed to focus on rmit romney where mitt romney was trying to put his focus on the president. >> reporter: it seems a much warmer reception for the senator from pennsylvania. mitt romney seemed to be in full sales mode. saying at one point he was quote, a severely conservative governor while he was governor of massachusetts. here is what rick santorum had to say anything to hitting the president hard on the contraception issue. here is what he had so say about mitt romney but not by name. >> if you mean going negative against one. we need someone that is willing to go out on these big issues of the day and draw contrast. we're not going to win this election, ladies and gentlemen, because the republican candidate has the most money to beat up their opponent and win the election. >> reporter: now, a little later this afternoon we expect to hear from newt gingrich. he speaks a little after 4:00 p.m. eastern. we'l

ron mott in grand rapids. thank you, sir. up next, michiganer who knows a thing or two about running for president. thaddeus conner. we talk to him about whether romney's roots can help him pull out a win. mischievous primaries in the past where history proves anything can happen in the wolverine state. first a look ahead at the president's schedule. as you can see today, he has a busy one. speaking to the uaw. wonder what he'll have to say about the auto bailout. man: 1939 -- my parents ran across an ad for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this econo

nbc's ron mott is with us now. from rick santorum headquarters in grand rapids, michigan. we have been hearing a lot tonight from the romney campaign complaining that the reason that rick santorum has been competitive in michigan is because he got democrats and independents to support him, that he doesn't reflect his support among republicans. what are you hearing from the santorum campaign itself tonight? >> well, hey there, rachel. the santorum campaign is saying, look, we provided a message that we hope that democrats and republicans can respond to and that's why he made that pitch in those robo calls to get democrats, if they were so persuaded by his message here, his campaigning here to come on over and throw support their way. the numbers, as of right now, are not in the favor of these folks behind me would like to see it. the campaign said, look, we have already won. no matter the results, because we forced mitt romney to defend his home turf, his home state, made him come and spend time here, made him spend some money here that perhaps he won't have down the schedu