only 1700 votes separates santorum and gingrich, 33% for santorum, 31% for gingrich and romney. vote. in alabama, dwell% of the vote is in. santorum seems to be building his lead slightly, 34% for santorum, 30% for newt gingrich, 28% for mitt romney, only 5% for ron paul. with 12% of the vote in alabama, doing a bit better than his two rivals. anderson, i think it's fair to say as we watch both of these states, it could still go when all the dust settles anyway. >> is rick santorum at the desperate end of his campaign as governor romney says? >> i think governor romney should probably hope he's not because he needs rick santorum and newt gingrich as you see in both these races. if it weren't for them splitting the very conservative, evangelical, tea party voters, mitt romney would not be within sort of a position to win in either mississippi or alabama. so the fact that they're splitting the vote, whether it's desperate or not, he ought to pay them both to stay in a little longer. >> we've had so many long nights, all the way back to iowa. >> you remember that? >> i try to forget

santorum 84. gingrich paul scored 2 -- gingrich 72, ron paul 22. 6 of those came from alaska. >> the magic number to secure the nomination. 1144. mitt romney is in the lead with 415, san tore raum 176 newt gingrich 105 and ron paul at 47. >>> now it's time for us to take a look at who's talking. gasoline prices, they are rising and american individuals want some answers. fox's own ed henry tried to get answers from president obama and said this is what he got. >> the critics will say on capitol hill you want gas prices to go higher you have said before that will wean the american people on to renewable fuels. how do you respond to that? >> from a political perspective do you think the president of the united states going into reelection wants gas prices to go higher? is there anybody here who thinks that makes a lot of sense? >> newt gingrich didn't miss a beat taking the opportunity to slam the president over this quote shallow response. >> i hope the analysts in washington and new york who spent june and

some romney, some santorum, some gingrich. population here, maybe slight edge santorum. ere, the population center in this district is here for gingrich, here for romney. have to count the votes. that looks like a competitive district, and this district on the top northeast corner of the state looks pretty much like a safe santorum dwiblth for me. again, the argument from santorum is i just won two southern states. where are you, speaker gingrich? you were supposed to be the southern candidate. where are you romney? the flipside, let me flip the map, is this was the contest coming into the night. this is where we were coming into the night. the race for 1,144. romney had a big lead. what happens tonight? something like this, santorum wins both of these, i'm assuming, we're going give for this hypothetical, romney hawaii. even though santorum wins two states, romney is still comfortably ahead. the argument for santorum is i'll see you in puerta rico, and everywhere else. >> he was outspend by the pro mitt romney super pac and others. a huge, huge night for rick santorum. >

with them dividing between santorum and gingrich, it lives romney a lot of room to move and possibility of continuing to win these states, not necessary whether i auto% of the vote but with pluralities because santorum and gingrich not necessarily canceling one another out but certainly taking away conservative votes that could be the anti-romney alternative. >> shepard: which brings us to mitt romney. carl, i have heard a lot of conservative pundits say today if mitt romney actually wins one of these two states today for all intents and purposes this race is over. >> well, you have got to talk a little bit about the strategy and tactics leading up to this. it has benefited mitt romney. he he has won the majority of the stakes has happened so far. momentum coming out of super tuesday. yes rick santorum pulled off a victory in kansas. romney is the candidate who leads in national polls. he is dominating the national news as a consequence of that romney pulled to a statistical dead heat in alabama and mississippi in the past with it days. momentum and the fact he has outspent his rivals o

majority would be satisfied with santorum, gingrich and romney but so far santorum and gingrich would the most voters. turning to alabama, a third of voters in alabama today describe themselves as very conservative. for the most part, those voters split between santorum and gingrich. romney wins among moderates. the candidates are essentially tied among those who say they are somewhat conservative. now mitt romney famously compared today's primaries to an away game. so who do the southern voters think best understands the problem of average americans? gingrich tops the list with 35%. followed by santorum at 32%. romney, 21%. ron paul, 10%. early exit poll data indicate gingrich is struggling to parlay those sentiment to actual votes. they may be splitting the vote of the tea party voters. >> bret: stay with us for live update on election. exit poll and real results and wrap it up for you tonight. with a special edition of "special report" at 11:00 p.m. eastern. special guests include former house speaker newt gingrich and extended all-star panel. check that out. four major banks faile

rick santorum with 33, newt gingrich 31, mitt romney at 30. in alabama, similarly a thr three-ray race. newt rick santorum at 34, gingrich with romney at 28%. >>> here is a reality check, we're not quite halfway through the republican primary season. what? yeah, there is still more than three months of primaries and caucuses on the republican nominating calendar. also, we have not yet even begun to kibitz on the question who will be chosen for the number two spot on the republican ticket. by whoever ends up in the number one spot on the republican ticket. people used to ask bob mcdonnell about his prospects all the time. then he got involved in forced ultrasound policy making and people mostly ask him about forced ultrasounds and vaginal probes. indiana governor mitch daniels used to be on everybody's short list, then his secretary of state the top election official in the state was convicted of six felonies including voter fraud and mitch daniels said he hoped to still be able to have that guy run the state's elections. what? so the veep stake

santorum needs gingrich to drop out. gingrich needs santorum to drop out. well, we're going to have a gingrich/santorum showdown tonight in the spotlight. and the exit poll question that should shock and shame america. >>> and, we have some extraordinary video of a young barack obama leading a student protest at harvard law school. video that fox news is already lying about. [ male announcer ] you've never tried miracle whip, but one thing's for sure -- you don't like it. but you've never tried it? see the problem here... ♪ not anymore. fiber one is bringing brownies back. at 90 calories, you can have brownies again. ♪ fiber one 90 calorie brownies. in the granola bar aisle. >>> it's like the superbowl of politics, if the superbowl was one team slowly destroying itself. and just like the superbowl, i painted my face with the team colors, white. ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about the typical financial consultation ttd# 1-800-345-2550 when companies try to sell you something off their menu ttd# 1-800-345-2550 instead of trying to understa

santorum needs gingrich to drop out. gingrich needs santorum to drop out. well, we're going to have a gingrich/santorum showdown tonight in the spotlight. and the exit poll question that should shock and shame america. >>> and, we have some extraordinary video of a young barack obama leading a student protest at harvard law school. video that fox news is already lying about. [ male announcer ] if you believe the mayan calendar, on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? >>> it's like the superbowl of politics, if the superbowl was one team slowly destroying itself. and just like the superbowl, i painted my face with the team colors, white. today is gonna be an important day fo

and start wrestling with santorum and gingrich going forward. conversely, if romney does get north of 400 delegates total by the end of this evening. he will begin to have a big big margin ahead of rick santorum and newt gingrich and questions will immediately result as to whether or not they have the capacity to catch up while concentrating on caucuses and not winning the big primary states. shep? >> shepard: makes sense, carl. those two different scenarios lend two different political relates. one is the republic candidates keep fighting with each other and leave each other battered and bruised as they have been over the last few weeks. the other is mitt romney gets the 200 to 215, maybe 220 delegates he is hoping to gather tonight to get over that 400 threshold and then he starts focusing singularly on barack obama. i'm guessing the republic establishment would prefer the latter. >> chris: yeah. but he can focus on barack obama but if santorum and gingrich are still in the race and they are focusing on mitt romney and what's wrong with him, th

speaker gingrich did not win either state neither did romney it was senator santorum. >> peter doocy in washington p. thanks. check in with you in the next hour. >> now it's time to brew on this. >> could a newt gingrich rick santorum ticket be on the horizon. if you linked to newt gingrich it almost seemed as if he was teaming up with santorum to knock mitt romney out of the race. take a look at this. >> every time we can jointly take votes away from him, the first goal has to be to get to a point where there's an alternative to romney, otherwise he becomes the nominee. >> did you hear that? he put we in the whole thing. our friends at special report took notice of that. listen to what steven hayes has to say about it? >> it is clear he wants to deny mitt romney 1144. that's his goal of the race. he will figure out the details later. he basically said that. i am almost paraphrasing what he told you. he made several arguments on behalf of the strategy. by having two conservatives in the race he split. if they attack romney he couldn't focus his money on one of the two candidates. he t

santorum needs gingrich to drop out. gingrich needs santorum to drop out. well, we're going to have a gingrich/santorum showdown tonight in the spotlight. and the exit poll question that should shock and shame america. >>> and, we have some extraordinary video of a young barack obama leading a student protest at harvard law school. video that fox news is already lying about. what makes us number one in motorcycle insurance? we love bikes. we love riders. and most of all, we love to ride. perfect hair every time. leading the pack in motorcycle insurance. now, that's progressive. call or click today. >>> it's like the superbowl of politics, if the superbowl was one team slowly destroying itself. and just like the superbowl, i painted my face with the team colors, white. 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 bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest g

increasing call for santorum folks to say gingrich should get out of the race. you think if he did get out of the royce rais that those voters would go to santorum? or would be split? >> polls, in this primary season have shown santorum, if santorum left the vote many votes, gingrich is hell, no. we won't go the mitt romney vote. it would be terrible for mitt romney if newt gingrich found out. we started saying ron paul is mitt romney's best friend. newt gingrich is saving him now. if newt gingrich were to get up and leave and none of us believe he will, that rick santorum could let him stop the nomination. i'm not saying and romney has more than double delegates pile rick santorum has tonight. not saying rick santorum can get to 1144 but i'm saying he's looking to stop romney. that no one will have the delegates and as lng as gingrich is in there, romney stay as live. >> 1144 magic number of delegates to get g.o.p. nomination? >> yes. the story of the night is that romney probably ends up, once adding in hawaii probably ends up winning the battle but this is no

we have 14% in rick santorum with 33%, newt gingrich with 30. mitt romney with 30. these guys barely within 90 votes of one another but rick santorum looking pretty good. in alabama it's only 4% in. in this case santorum again ahead. newt gingrich 29 and mitt romney 28. interesting in this. you've got, you know, a similar sort of thing with rick santorum doing better in these early stages than sot might have thought. some might have thought that gingrich would have been -- would have been doing better. so i am curious from your perspective if king rich doesn't end up doing what he thought, which was to win both or to win one, if he loses both, what happens to him tollmorrow? >> newt's awful stubborn and he has said repeatedly that he will not drop out. now, he will chase this thing all the way zoointo the convention and i take him at his word. i don't think there is a practical bone in his body when it comes to making sense of participating in the electoral process although you've got to know that if either one of the two people ahead of him turned to him and said, n

santorum. he spent time in that state. at one time newt gingrich was competing in oklahoma, a lot of social conservatives there. what about oklahoma? >> well, i think oklahoma is big roar rick santorum because it allows him to continue to make the argument that he is the conservative alternative to mitt romney. we don't know yet how the delegate breakdown will break out because of complicated delegate rules there because it's clear he dual well there and come away with the number of delegates. he looks like he will come away with a number of delegates in tennessee, ohio, some of these other places as well. rick santorum's goal tonight is to be able to continue to make the argument that he and not newt gingrich is the conservative alternative to mitt romney. >> megyn: we heard earlier some speck, brit, about the win for mitt romney and virginia. ron paul did rather well there and some were suggesting that could be an endorsement of ron paul maybe proving some momentum for ron paul. there is another theory as well. >> this is an interesting thing tha

increasing call for santorum folks to say gingrich should get out of the race. if he did get out of the royce rais that those voters would go to santorum? or would be split? >> polls, in this primary season have shown santorum, if santorum left the vote many votes, gingrich is hell, no. we won't go the mitt romney vote. it would be terrible for mitt romney if newt gingrich found out. we started saying ron paul is mitt romney's best friend. newt gingrich is saving him now. if newt gingrich were to get up and leave and none of us believe he will, that rick santorum could let him stop the nomination. i'm not saying and romney has more than double delegates pile rick santorum has tonight. not saying rick santorum can get to 1144 but i'm saying he's looking to stop romney. that no one will have the delegates and as lng as gingrich is in there, romney stay as live. >> 1144 magic number of delegates to get g.o.p. nomination? >> yes. the story of the night is that romney probably ends up, once adding in hawaii probably ends up winning the battle but this is not a good s

twice as many as rick santorum, and way more than newt gingrich. n big in louisiana, but he likely won't be able to catch up with romney. ron brownstein back with us now from washington. so, ron, how will what happened in louisiana potentially influence the races coming up? wisconsin, maryland, d.c.? >> one thing we have clearly learned over the last two months of this republican race is the d demography trumps numbers. it's whether they are tilt to the sort of voters consistently preferring mitt romney or those consistently preferring rick an sor um. santorum, the core of his support have been evangelical christian voters and other social conservatives. if we look at the calendar over the next few weeks, april is shaping up as a very good month for mitt romney. because it is tilted heavily towards states with the kinds of voters that have favored him. the one exception might be pennsylvania. santorum's home state. if santorum can keep his campaign viable when he gets to may, he's got a very good calendar with states where evangelical christians in

but that 30% would be enough. >> but santorum would also get -- if newt gingrich dropped out santorum would get more money in. he would be a more competitive candidate. it would be a bigger test of romney in the states ahead. >> conceivably as we count the votes tonight that's tomorrow's conversation. either gingrich or santorum have such a bad night, even though they insist they're going on -- >> if romney wins one or both of these states that's the other half of the conversation. >> that's an interesting night in republican politics. alabama's conservative republican governor made his preference known this morning. governor robert bentley says he was voting for rick santorum but he says that's not a formal endorsement. live tonight from montgomery, alabama. governor explain the distinction for me. i assume that means you didn't call your political organization and say get out there, turn out the vote, grab people by the ears and get them out for senator santorum. am i sfliet. >> that's exactly right. i was asked last evening who i was going to vote for. and i said i was going to vot

increasing call for santorum folks to say gingrich should get out of the race. you think if he did get out of the royce rais that those voters would go to santorum? or would be split? >> polls, in this primary season have shown santorum, if santorum left the vote many votes, gingrich is hell, no. we won't go the mitt romney vote. it would be terrible for mitt romney if newt gingrich found out. we started saying ron paul is mitt romney's best friend. newt gingrich is saving him now. if newt gingrich were to get up and leave and none of us believe he will, that rick santorum could let him stop the nomination. i'm not saying and romney has more than double delegates pile rick santorum has tonight. not saying rick santorum can get to 1144 but i'm saying he's looking to stop romney. that no one will have the delegates and as lng as gingrich is in there, romney stay as live. >> 1144 magic number of delegates to get g.o.p. nomination? >> yes. the story of the night is that romney probably ends up, once adding in hawaii probably ends up winning the battle but this is no

santorum and his supporters. they love the idea that gingrich and santorum continue to split the base of the party, and they would do so in the southern states with a possibility that romney could over -- over achieve where gingrich expects to win having pulled off the victory in the state where he began his political career, georgia. that's it for super tuesday. it is in the books. the next big, big delegate collausus is a super tuesday in april. there are a lot of states, but not many particularly favorable to romney, but now he has the wind in his sails and momentum of being a winner. >> carl cameron, your reporting on camera was magnificent. i wish people could appreciate fully what you also do off camera in providing us through our computer system all kinds of available insight and information. many thanks as always, carl cameron in boston. >> thanks. >> it is so true. >>> and steve brown is also doing a great job tonight. he is at santorum headquarters in ohio. how are the santorum folks feeling tonight, steve? >> they are not as gracious as the romney folks. we are hearing from the romney campaign. they sa

first, the notion that the santorum campaign is going to mount a big campaign to drive newt gingrich out of the race is silly, at least based on talking to the top santorum people in the last hour or so, they say it is not going the happen, partly, because it is unrealistic. newt gingrich is not going the get out of the race before the southern primaries next week, and he may not get out at all. but, butk that is sort of the bottom line at this moment. >> if you look at the numbers that mitt romney has been able to get in the deep south states starting in south carolina, and across to oklahoma and tennessee today, it looks like he never can get above 28%. does that ceiling on mitt romney's ability to do well, his performance in the south allow santorum to still be both of them, both he and newt gingrich, if gingrich stays in -- in other words, is there still an opportunity next week for rick santorum to win in alabama and mississippi even with newt still in the race? >> well, yes, i think so. i think that what it shows, chris, look, the modern republican party as you know was built ou

santorum with 35%. gingrich beating by 2,000 votes. o win hawaii with a 20-point win over santorum but santorum sense heg has the momentum. >> we're going to spend two days campaigning in puerto rico because we want to make sure everybody knows we're campaigning everywhere there are delegates because we're going to win this nomination before that convention. >> and here are the next three stops on the trail. missouri caucus saturday, 52 delegates. the puerto rico primary on sunday with 23 delegates and illinois's primary tuesday with 69 delegates. cnn's political editor paul stein houser is live in atlanta. what happened? >> he over perform. the former senator pr pennsylvania over performed with very conservative. he did really well for people who said they were born again christians. a lot of voters in mississippi and alabama. i was in a polling station yesterday outside of birmingham, alabama. that should be romney or gingrich territory. people said they voted for rick santorum. jim acosta caught up with santorum last night. asked ric

gets out, if he gets out -- >> okay, this is fun. >> if gingrich gets out, these went to santorumt, we need to make these purple. and we do that. and then now we're going to move on. i'm going to go quickly through these, if gingrich gets out, santorum gets that. we're going to be generous to santorum, that's our sunar you, let's keep going, move quickly. he gets louisiana, let's say, santorum is doing well in the midwest, we'll give him wisconsin. all right. let's keep coming through. he wins pennsylvania. i'm going to be hypergenerous. santorum, gingrich is out of the race. you watch the math, if he starts marching and wins all of these, okay, now look what's happening? he's getting closer. he's closing the gap. can he win all these? he would like the two-man race, but that's how you catch mitt romney. if santorum is not in the race, then you move on here. i'm going to give -- santorum can win nebraska, romney doing well out west, and gingrich is not in the race now, this is a two-way hypothetical scenario. he's winning in the south and the border states. kentucky and arkansas g

if gingrich gets out, santorum has a chance to get close. to get close. >> close but not there. >> hard to see in beating romney. but he can get close if gingrich gets out. if gingrich stays in, it's almost impossible. >> this is my favorite part of the night. john king map. we got to change the color rotation. we'll take a break. but we'll be back to talk more on this big night for rick santorum. [ laura ] maine is known for its lighthouses, rocky shore, and most importantly, its lobster. it's the tastiest, the sweetest, the freshest. nobody can ever get enough. [ male announcer ] it's lobsterfest at red lobster, the one time of year you can savor 12 exciting lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream or new maine lobster and shrimp trio. [ laura ] hot, right out of the shell. i love lobster. i'm laura mclennan from spruce head, maine, and i sea food differently. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it

voters with an economic focus backed romney by an eight-point margin over santorum. gingrich won 18% of voters who said the economy was number one. ron paul in single digits. romney struggled in some areas. nearly 40% of ohio republicans saying romney not conservative enough. santorum led the way in that demographic as the most conservative. as well as with evangelicals, 47% of whom backed santorum. this all in the state of ohio. relidgeth, an important factor in tennessee's primaries where 43% said it mattered a great deal that the candidate shared their beliefs. those voters went to rick santorum by a margin of 3-1. santorum's win in tennessee was critical, helping to offset romney's charge. it was a convincing win by santorum in tennessee, a state that romney thought he might be able to win. santorum winning tennessee by nine points. joining us on the phone, msnbc and "time" magazine senior political analyst mark halperin. he's the co-author of the book "game change." good morning. >> only reason i've agreed to join you, you share my beliefs and that's important to me. >>

all of my voters wouldn't necessarily go to santorum. gingrich says you need both of us in the race to keep a blockade in front of romney. newt gingrich is not going to get out at least until people close to him where he might assess louisiana. gwen: you said there are republicans are fine to let this thing fight out. but aren't there mainstream republicans saying how do we get rick perry to get gingrich out and get these people to consolidate and unify? >> establishment republicans want this thing over with, because they feel romney who is the odds-on favorite to be the nominee, needs to start consolidating his base and getting his message together to take on barack obama. and start pulling in some of those independents. gwen: and not so many of the issues be on social issues. >> as long as this goes on, the candidates all find themselves in this big fight over contraception which has the potential to alienate swing he voters and women voters in the fall. gwen: do we know this has happened? >> the polling suggests and everyone you talk to says i

santorum 37%. gingrich 15%, paul 7%. let's take a look at two other states that are just coming in now. tennessee and oklahoma. rick santorum is looking good right now in tennessee. in fact, rick santorum is just won tennessee with 44% of the vote to mitt romney's 28%. in oklahoma, with 40 delegates on the line, santorum is ahead with 36%, romney has 29%. paul has 9%, gingrich has 25%. so again the real battle no surprise is in ohio. if you're a political junkie, this is getting very interesting. we'll update this at 6:15. >>> and our election coverage also continues online at ktvu.com. we will have updated super tuesday results for you throughout the night on our politics page. >>> israeli president peres met with the most powerful corporations today. >> technologists in israel are extremely well trained, they're trained by their military and intelligence communities. and they are very aggressive with their technology and they're risk takers because of the enviral they live in. >> reporter: the israel -- environment they

santorum the conservative alternative. they're looking for this to happen. >> a split. >> gingrich wins here, maybe santorum wins one of them after winning kansas or gingrich wins both. if you had something like this happen romney would pick up some delegates along the way. even if gingrich wins the two southern states and santorum wins kansas, santorum would be in second place. but a two to one lead for romney, gingrich a distant third. is this even though you're losing three contests in a row is that the best scenario, won't call it the dream scenario for romney? >> they'd like to have kind of a split decision between those two guys. no matter how it works out. i mean, the romney campaign says that they're looking towards illinois, they're looking towards missouri, they're looking towards, john, what we call the yankee primary april 24th which has lots of states in which romney could do well. although pennsylvania is in that group, so santorum could do well there. but they want to give themselves enough time to get a larger lead than they already have. so they really need these two fellows to stay in it. and even ron paul