rick santorrum three-state sweep on the g.o.p. again. can he build on his momentum in the states ahead? what is mitt romney's comeback strategy. plus, the furor over president obama's policy. and growing trouble in the middle east, as syria sinks deeper into chaos and america's pro democracy workers, how should the u.s. respond? respond? >> one of the great gifts i've had in my political career is that no one ever thinks that i could ever win anything (laughter) >> the gift of being underestimated is a wonderful gift and i think we might have seen a little bit of that last night. >> paul: welcome to the journal editorial report, i'm paul gigot. that was republican candidate rick santorum after his stunning sweep of missouri, minnesota and colorado the former pennsylvania senator upended the republican race once again and highlighted the weakness of the presumed front runner, mitt romney. but can santorum build on his momentum in the weeks ahead. let's ask, wall street journal columnist, and dorothy rabinowicz, and dan, how big of a threa

do i like rick santorrum? yes, can rick santorrum defeat barack obama, no. can mitt romney, yes. and i believe that he will be our nominee. >> jamie: all right on some of those issues, chris is agreeing with you. chris, what does the president do now? is this accommodation enough? do you think it will withstand the overall constitutional challenge that the government should or should not be telling us what we have it buy for health insurance, and when and who has to pay for it? >> well, you know, the debate over whether or not the government should or shouldn't tell you to buy health insurance is a completely different debate than what the catholic church's employees or the catholic charities and hospitals and colleges and employees should have in their plans. that's a different topic. what i will say, this cannot be making mitt romney comfortable. it's not a conversation he wants to have and-- >> before we go, president obama, where-- you get the final word, chris, about president obama. talk to us. >> well, listen, i am not happy the way this whole thing unfolded, but i think t

i think a lot of folks were taken by surprise, that a social conservative like rick santorrum would do a full three-state sweep. >> why can't the media remember, oh, about four years ago, a little known senator from illinois came out to sweep the rug out from hillary clinton? >> and evangelical minister, mike huckabee, won iowa. there's a blind spot in the media on social issues. they can't believe that the people in the heartland can believe this stuff and doesn't get through their heads and i think that santorum is attractive in the sense that he's new and fresh and keeps the reporters from going back to the dredgery assignment. he's unattractive and they don't like him in terms of what he stands for and work it through. >> jon: are they going to be digging for-- >> certainly, a santorum rise in the polls and fall the way that others have, and kirsten is right, romney will probably get the nomination, but it's much more fun for us. >> jon: the media touted romney as the eventual nominee. i think he's the likely nominee, but he has a different race on his hands and the media are surpr

the romney campaign strategy and the idea that they are going to be more aggressive toward senator santorrum and very soon, on the other side of this >> this was a good night for rick santorum, want to congratulate senator santorum, wish him the very best. we will keep on campaigning down the road. but i expect to become our nominee with your help. [cheers and applause] >> so i want to congratulate all of my fellow republicans, particularly senator santorum. and i look forward to the contest to come. but we are going to take our message of liberty and prosperity to every corner of the country. and when this primary season is over, we are going to stand united, as a party behind our nominee, to defeat barack obama and to restore the values that have made america the greatest nation in the history of the earth. now, three years ago, you may remember, barack obama came to rol caddo to accept his party's nomination for the presidency. and he rented out a huge stadium. he got some of those styrofoam greek columns and two giant tv screens that set the mood. and on this big stage here in denver, he

. >> both santorrum and romney are spending a lot of television on money in michigan. romney for a longer period of time. but both are shouting at a vowel volume that's hard to ignore. >> what did you think about the question, candidates were asked for a one-word description? someone said consistent. someone said confident. but speaker gingrich said cheerful. >> i thought it was the best answer. it was honest and ridiculed the question: i mean, what's your favorite color, gratia? >> it's a question, i thought, boy, this is a stupid question, but i couldn't wait to hear the answers. so there must be something wrong with me. >> gingrich gave the best answer. i hate to pick on santorum. courage, that's so self serving. but cheerful was like, he had been cheerful all evening and he sort of gave everybody a chance to have a good gafaw at john king's expense. >> is speaker gingrich, if he gets the money in the super pac. we hear $10 million, $100 million as a possibility. is he a player? >> it depends. does he break 10% in scpairz michigan on tuesday. if so, by how much? the

. >>> well, rick santorrum is working to distance himself from a controversial comment about contraceptionfrom one of his big financial backers. danielle nottingham reports for wjz, despite the flak, santorum is still leading in the polls. >> reporter: rick santorum began friday on the defensive. >> it was a bad joke, it was a stupid joke. it's not reflective of me or my record on this issue. >> reporter: he was referring to controversial comments from one of his wealthy donors, foster freeze, who suggested thursday that women use aspirin for birth control. >> back in my days, they used bayer aspirin for contraceptive. they put it between their knees and it wasn't that costly. >> santorum is a devout catholic. he is campaigning and surging ahead in the polls. he hopes to pull off the upset in the primary, february 28th. >> reporter: but santorum's surge may also say something about his opponent. political analysts say voters are not sold on romney for a nominee and are having trouble looking for an alternative. >> reporter: romney is having trouble connecting with voters. he was against th

the romney campaign strategy and the idea that they are going to be more aggressive toward senator santorrumnd very soon, on the other side of this >> this was a good night for rick santorum, want to congratulate senator santorum, wish him the very best. we will keep on campaigning down the road. but i expect to become our nominee with your help. [cheers and applause] >> so i want to congratulate all of my fellow republicans, particularly senator santorum. and i look forward to the contest to come. but we are going to take our message of liberty and prosperity to every corner of the country. and when this primary season is over, we are going to stand united, as a party behind our nominee, to defeat barack obama and to restore the values that have made america the greatest nation in the history of the earth. now, three years ago, you may remember, barack obama came to rol caddo to accept his party's nomination for the presidency. and he rented out a huge stadium. he got some of those styrofoam greek columns and two giant tv screens that set the mood. and on this big stage here in denver, he m

mitt romney, rick santorrum and newt gingrich all made appearance appearances.will have their say at the straw poll saturday. >>> it is a free college education for dozens of baltimore county school workers. for some, it is a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity in a sluggish economy. one of the first graduating classes is celebrating tonight. >> reporter: the day starts early for kai price. she runs four baltimore county school cafeterias. >> i wake up at 4:00 every morning. i'm here by 6:00, 6:30 every morning. >> reporter: two years ago, price decided to go to college on the school district's dime. she worked two jobs and went to school part time. but last week, she and 55 other school workers received their business certificates through a partnership program with the community college of baltimore county. and the 30-hour course work was free. >> it's made me independent. and i know, whatever i put my mind to, i can do. >> we do this for our teachers all the time. >> reporter: baltimore county superintendent dr. joe hairston says it only made sense to offer a free

. >> i want to congratulate senator santorrum, wish him the very best. we'll continue running down the road. but i expect to be your nominee with your help. >> reporter: santorum could hurt newt gingrich the most. he has been campaigning as the conservative to mitt romney. >> reporter: gingrich stayed out of sight tuesday night. he is in ohio for the second day in a row. >> i wanted to come see how you manufacturer, remind the news media and others that manufacturing in america can be the dominant system in the world. >> reporter: ron paul was pleased with his showing tuesday. the texas congressman finished second in minnesota. but he is the only candidate still left in the race without one caucus or primary win. in washington, susan mcginnis, wjz eyewitness news. >>> rick santorum will need money to stay competitive with mitt romney. santorum says in the last two weeks, his campaign has had its best fundraising so far. last night, they received more than a quarter million dollars in donations. >>> high school seniors score highest in the nation in the a

. >> it got ugly between santorrum and romney at the end, conservatives -- romney calling santorum an economic lightweight and santorum responding that romney is a conservative lightweight. but tonight, there was a cordial moment between the two men, before rick santorum took to the stage. tell us? >> reporter: there has been a lot of back and forth about who calls who to concede. this time, rick santorum did call mitt romney. romney took the call. it has been described by santorum's eldest daughter as a cordial conservation but brief. it was literally seconds before santorum took the stage to make his remarks. he made it very clear that santorum is not backing down at all. super tuesday for him is an opportunity for him to rise again. mitt romney didn't mention any of his rivals tonight. there are only a few plays in the romney playbook. >> he has been incessantly disciplined disciplined in sticking with them. tonight was a victory, and he talked about barack obama, not his republican rivals. that's likely to continue, but where it is close and romney has to do well next week, don't

the romney campaign strategy and the idea that they are going to be more aggressive toward senator santorrumnd very soon, on the other side of this break. >> this was a good night for rick santorum, want to congratulate senator santorum, wish him the very best. we will keep on campaigning down the road. but i expect to become our nominee with your help. [cheers and applause] >> so i want to congratulate all of my fellow republicans, particularly senator santorum. and i look forward to the contest to come. but we are going to take our message of liberty and prosperity to every corner of the country. and when this primary season is over, we are going to stand united, as a party behind our nominee, to defeat barack obama and to restore the values that have made america the greatest nation in the history of the earth. now, three years ago, you may remember, barack obama came to rol caddo to accept his party's nomination for the presidency. and he rented out a huge stadium. he got some of those styrofoam greek columns and two giant tv screens that set the mood. and on this big stage here in denve

it doesn't squash the insurgents of rick santorrum, but a big weekend. >> clayton: a look at actual numbersown. marco rubio. >> alisyn: they asked about v p's, who they wanted for vp. >> dave: no surprise. >> clayton: take a look at this, this is marco rubio with 34% now and that's who would have, who most of the folks in that audience would like to see as vp. chris christie also with 9%, governor mcdonnell, 9% a romney supporter and representative paul ryan with 8%. >> dave: no matter how many times marco rubio says i'm not taking the vp slot, everybody wants him, even more than chris christie, who i think is emerging as more of a possibility. >> alisyn: interesting. so, sarah palin is a crowd favorite, a darling of cpac and she fired up the crowd yesterday by going after president obama. let's listen. >> we are red americans, we're not blue americans, we're red, white and blue and president obama, we are through with you. 135,000 dollars per taxpayer just in the new decade. 3 million dollars more a minute and no plans to stop it. no plans. no budget. on a thousand and some odd days and st