in. santorum ahead in north dakota. i want to focus in on ohio right now. you know, if romney loses the popular vote in ohio, he might still win the delegate count because santorum didn't get on the ballots in some of the congressional districts. bad performance on his staff's part, but as he luoses the race in ohio, this race is going on and on and on. >> the race is going on anyway. it's the on and on part that gets interesting if that stays purple. santorum is purple. romney is the deeper red. newt gingrich has won georgia. georgia and south dakota. we don't expect gingrich to win anywhere else tonight. the question is is he a regional southern candidate? when you look at this, look at the state. after winning michigan, governor romney thought i can come back in ohio. this is an incredibly close race. 10,764 votes. can romney make it up? yes, but the window is very tight. why is the answer yes? look up here, the biggest county in the state, only 41% of the precinct's in, and that's a 7,000 vote lead. as the vote grows, if the margin stays the same, there'

what's going on. >> it might be an indication of where the night is heading for santorum in ohio. ampaign. he said the santorums are getting ready to leave their war om here in steubenville, ohio. it was the high school weight room, as the campaign told us earlier this evening. but they were in that war room earlier tonight, watching the returns come in. alice stewart, the press secretary tweeted out a picture of santorum watching the votes come in. earlier, not too long before the announcement, we were told by alice stewart, that santorum, there was a possibility he could come out here later tonight and talk about what is happening here in ohio. they advised us to keep the camera focused on the podium behind me just in case, but now they're telling me that's not going to happen. rick santorum will not be making another speech here. they're heading home to get some rests. >> jim acosta in steubenville, ohio. looks like the santorums are leaving the high school over there. let's go back to john king, talk more about ohio. let's talk also about the delegates because it's delegates, d

santorum in the last few weeks. and what they've been telling people throughout the evening is that he expected santorum to do really west in western ohio look what happened. santorum doing exceptionally well. he expected santorum to do well in eastern ohio because here is a former senator from pennsylvania. right along the border here with pennsylvania. and part of that is true but again, part is not true here when looking at romney now cutting into his lead and there is mahonning where youngstown is located. it's 11:32 at night. 91% of the vote in. romney has a lead now of about 5,000 votes. give or take, in ohio you don't give or take anything at this point. back to you. >> carl cameron just reporting that romney campaign were counties now coming in and pushing romney ahaechld taking a look at the map, are you seeing the same thing? that those are the numbers, those counties in which -- romney is gain something. >> you're dead on. this is hamilton county this, has been a republican strong hold for decades. they went with barack obama in 2008 for the first time voting for a democrat on the ticket since 1964. this is where you find the

they're cheering at santorum headquarters in ohio getting ready to speak. hear what he has to say. i think he's getting ready to walk in now. they're getting ready. finish your thought before we go to santorum. >> this is the battleground. still a lot of votes. hamilton county, hardly any vote in, romney with a big lead. you come back to the statewide numbers. santorum is leading at the moment. there is plenty of time and plenty of room to see a romney comeback. you just saw the numbers change, 24% statewide, three percentage point literally 6,000 vote gap. it is not a big number when you're looking at so much of the vote out. why is ohio so important? santorum leading at the moment. he won tennessee, oklahoma, these are his previous victories. romney is taking new england, ohio is the one they will wait for. >> he's speaking to an enthusiastic group in ohio right now. let's listen in. >> thank you! well, thank you for coming out stu b stubenville, ohio. god bless you, thank you for being here. for the folks listening at home, we're in stubenville, ohio. not

in ohio one cliffhanger went into the early hours. cnn projecting ohio will go to mitt romney. the state up on the map in romney red, massachusetts, vermont, virginia, and idaho. rick santorum in purple scoring victories in north dakota, oak ok a oklahoma and still up for grabs at this hour. we begin with ohio and john king on the magic wall following the count all night. let's take a look at the state. took us a while, governor romney has won ohio. you see the lead there in the ballpark of 12,000 votes statewide. this is the cincinnati area. pivotal. a swing county. come november, 20-point margin over santorum there. big turnout in hamilton county. romney organization doing the job there. southwest corner of the state northeast. cuyahoga county, cleveland, important suburb as long the lake up here. summit county where akron is a big win for governor romney there. move down again, stark county not as big a margin. statewide. romney wins in the urban areas, suburbs offsetting a santorum sweep. what it gives you anderson. gives you that. romney red in the middle of the country. big battleground state of ohio. it is important for delegates and anderson, important for the romne

and steve hayes. >> and one other thing in the exit polling in ohio tonight. 5% of the vote in the exit poling came from democrats, rick santorumby 22 points. mitt romney, it appears won the republican vote in ohio by six percentage point, which means that if this comes down to a single percentage point twon't be unfair to say that democrats put rick santorum over the top in ohio. >> megyn: mischief? >> well, we don't know. we don't know the motivation. maybe it's his great blue-collar appeal, charmed by his message n. michigan, we know an effort was made to get the democrats to vote to beat mitt romney, which is -- you know, to keep this race going and i think, you know, we can assume that some of this vote would be mischief. but it's an interesting fact. and what could be the decisive factor in this race? interesting. >> bret: by the way, more with the panel after a quick break. we have word from the santorum campaign, the senior staff there in ohio, they near a holding room, right now and say, former senator rick santorum may come out and talk to the cameras. don't pull your head on cameras, we are being told. they are feeli

in ohio one cliffhanger went into the early hours. cnn projecting ohio will go to mitt romney. the state up on the map in romney red, massachusetts, vermont, virginia, and idaho. rick santorum in purple scoring victories in north dakota, oak ok a oklahoma and still up for grabs at this hour. we begin with ohio and john king on the magic wall following the count all night. let's take a look at the state. took us a while, governor romney has won ohio. you see the lead there in the ballpark of 12,000 votes statewide. this is the cincinnati area. pivotal. a swing county. come november, 20-point margin over santorum there. big turnout in hamilton county. romney organization doing the job there. southwest corner of the state northeast. cuyahoga county, cleveland, important suburb as long the lake up here. summit county where akron is a big win for governor romney there. move down again, stark county not as big a margin. statewide. romney wins in the urban areas, suburbs offsetting a santorum sweep. what it gives you anderson. gives you that. romney red in the middle of the country. big battleground state of ohio. it is important for delegates and anderson, important for the romne

in that race is winding down, because these opponents gingrich and santorum just couldn't take advantage of what was right in front of them. in particular, santorum in ohio, in measure be michigan now illinois, he had the opportunity to prove

in ohio. the projection experts, things are pointing in the direction of mitt romney rather than santorum. if that holds, if he manages to win ohio, there but are other reports that he may be winning in idaho, not a bad night for mitt romney. however, the early states that were called were the santorum states. there was this question mark hanging over ohio. and these things matter. it matters in the press. the big story that the american press will run with tomorrow is continued trouble that romney has had. they will focus on the voter groups he has been unable to rally. the focus will be on why spend four to one, he was not able to blow him out. >> delegate numbers make it look like mitt romney will be the nominee. the struggle is going to be to unite the party behind him. does this bruising primary process suggested that will be hard? >> tonight, the evidence -- when we started tonight, i said, just because things are closely divided does not mean the party is deeply divided. the figures are deeper than we thought. sure and a religious fishe a class fissure. on the cost divide, as you go

in ohio. he beat former senator rick santorum by about 12,000 votes. that means romney will win about 35 of ohio's delegates. santorum will win 22. in the total delegate count after super tuesday, romney expanded his lead. he now has 407 delegates, more than all of his rivals combined. rick santorum is in second place with 169. newt gingrich has 102 delegates. and ron paul has 41. >>> overnight, nbc news declared mitt romney the winner in alaska. that was the sixth state he won on super tuesday. rick santorum won three. both candidates, though, celebrated what they called big nights for their campaigns last night. >> thank you. to the millions of americans who look around and can only see jobs they can't get and bills that they can't pay, i have a message -- you have not failed. you have a president that's failed you, and that's going to change. [ cheers ] >> we've won races all over this country against the odds, when they tht

santorum in michigan. he's heavily outspending santorum in ohio now. and as much as we want to cover what they're talking about in the speeches and all that, those negative ads are very, very effective. >> i had one interesting split in the exit polls in michigan that i thought was interesting. michigan was the first contest where we had one representative from the establishment of the party, mitt romney, and a single representative from the insurgent populaceing. if you look at the exit polls, those who wanted somebody to beat barack obama, they went for romney 61% to 24% over santorum. gwen: electability was the key. >> right. then people who wanted strong moral character, they went for santorum by 4130eu7b9s and people who wanted a true conservative, a 40-point margin for santorum. so you have two parties within -- >> totally. and that's the fight, i mean, that's the fight. which republican party is it going to be? voters 50 and over, mitt romney. 100,000 and over, income $100,000 and over, mitt romney. and, again, electability, mitt romney. moral c

won several counties in the area, and oklahoma is an area where the late deciders went with rick santorum which is exactly a little bit of an opposite to what you have seen in ohio, where you have seen santorum has a big lead at first or slowly slowly declined and in oklahoma they were going for him at the last minute and just this battle for second place, also san form won basically every region in oklahoma, and these places where gingrich won, very close there so it is really an interesting pattern. >> newt gingrich did well tonight in one state and that was the state he represented in congress for two decades, georgia. so that means he gets new life too? >> i don't think so. look, give him credit, he won, it was a home turf win, he won solidly among many demographic groups in all parts of the state, so a win is a win, the problem for the former speaker is if you look at the rest of the state that had contests today, oklahoma third, tennessee third, ohio third, massachusetts fourth, vermont fourth, he wasn't on the ballot in virginia, now he can certainly say a lot of those states i didn't play, that's part of the point you have to play across the country, and

we learn the results of a nail-biter in ohio only minutes >> tonight, mitt romney and rick santorum divide the super tuesday spoils. romney scoring wins in vermont, virginia, massachusetts, idaho and the night's biggest battleground, ohio. >> we're going to take your vote and take that victory all the way to the white house. >> santorum claiming victory in tennessee, oklahoma and north dakota. >> this was a big night. we have won in the west, the midwest and the south. and we're ready to win across this country. >> republicans in ten states have their say. hundreds of delegates are being awarded tonight. will the gop field change in any big way once the super tuesday dust settles? this campaign isn't over. more than half the states still haven't voted and no one has the gop nomination locked up yet. >>> and welcome to the special edition of "ac 360." in ohio, win colossal cliffhanger. went to the early hours but cnn is now projecting ohio will go to mitt romney. the state now up on the map in romney red along with massachusetts, vermont, virginia, and idaho. rick santorum in purple scoring

in the state of ohio right now. romney winning in the county. not enough votes there for santorumack. >> all right, john, stand by for a moment because we have got some news. we're going to report right now. >>> all right, cnn you makes the projection in ohio. look at this, mitt romney wins the ohio republican presidential primary. we have just made this projection based on all the voting that's coming in, where the outstanding voting remains, based on everything we have seen. mitt romney the former massachusetts governor wins ohio. it's a big, big win for mitt romney. if he would have lost ohio, would have been a disaster for him. it would have raised questions about his electability. there's no doubt this is a real, real important win for mitt romney. rick santorum to his credit he got very, very close. a lot of people are go to be second guessing should he have spent more money or more time in ohio today and in recent days fighting to get this win? presumably he didn't because he wasn't even on the ballot in some congressional districts and he wasn't eligible for some of the de

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. >> there you go. 68% of ohio voters said the same thing. mitt romney gets more than delegates and yet most analysts, pundits are saying you hear a lot of asterisks. of course he won massachusetts and vermont, that's his territory. he was one of only two people on the ballot in virginia, idaho, the second most mormons in all of the country. can

but rick santorum's close second in ohio showed romney possible vulnerability with court conservatives. >> we've won in the blast, the midwest and the south and we are ready to win across this country. >> santorum came out on top in tennessee, oklahoma and north dakota. newt gingrich won his home state of georgia. >> we are not going to allow the elite to decide who we are allowed to nominate. >> but gingrich battle with ron paul for third or fourth place in most other states. mitt romney is still the man to beat, even after a squeaker of a super tuesday. >> with the gop nomination far from over, md.'s upcoming primary could play a key role in shaping the course of the campaign. as candidates slug it out on the campaign trail, md.'s delegates could go a long way in crowning a nominee. >> its still a very close race. every vote counts, as it always does. with 37 delegates in play for the state of maryland, that could be important in a tightly contested primary process. >> maryland's primary is tuesday, april 3. early voting runs from march 23 through the 29th at 46 polling centers acros

in my view. but every time he gets counted out. santorum is raging ahead in ohio, gingrich is going to surge from south carolina. every time he's been down, he has a good organization, he has a smart campaign team. he gets up, he recovers, and he chalks up some wins. there's nothing better in a long-term campaign than somebody who can recover and win. you know, that's going to make november -- we're going to take this right down to the end. >> it's going to be a long haul. another thing you said last night that you wanted to talk about. you said internal democratic polling asked women about the race. you said that women were not paying attention before and now they are paying attention. why and what effect is that having? >> that's a really great question because not a lot of discussion about women in this campaign. virtually nothing about women from the republican candidates until we had -- >> except for the contraception issue. >> until all of a sudden we find ways to discriminate against women in their health care coverage yet again. do you ever notice how, whe

in ohio only minutes ago. >> are the results tonight to ease doubts about mitt romney as this republican race moves forward? >> tonight, mitt romney and rick santorum divide the super tuesday spoils. romney scoring wins in vermont, virginia, massachusetts, idaho and the night's biggest battleground, ohio. >> we're going to take your vote and take that victory all the way to the white house. >> santorum claiming victory in tennessee, oklahoma and north dakota. >> this was a big night. we have won in the west, the midwest and the south. and we're ready to win across this country. >> republicans in ten states have their say. hundreds of delegates are being awarded tonight. will the gop field change in any big way once the super tuesday dust settles? this campaign isn't over. more than half the states still haven't voted and no one has the gop nomination locked up yet. >>> and welcome to the special edition of "ac 360." in ohio, win colossal cliffhanger. went to the early hours but cnn is now projecting ohio will go to mitt romney. the state now up on the map in romney red along with massachusetts, vermont, virginia, and idaho. rick santorum in purple

eastern with gop candidate rick santorum in ohio. alf hour, we will talk with republican senator james inhofe of oklahoma about global climate change. at 8:20 a.m. eastern, we will focus on proposals by some states that will

in 2012 we got to make sure he's out of office. >> rick santorum also campaigned in ohio today at a rally in miamisburg. he said he is someone with a different vision for america than mitt romney. >> someone who is willing to go out and talk about all the issues that are confronting this country. all of the issues, not just how we'll manage the economy better. this country is more than just the economy. >> a new poll shows mitt romney has gained momentum over rick santorum in ohio. mitt romney leads rick santorum 34% to 31%. it does represent a ten-point shift from last week when rick santorum had a comfortable lead. >>> a total of 419 delegates are up for grabs in ten states tomorrow. the lion's share is in georgia with 76. ohio has 63. tennessee has 55, virginia 46, oklahoma 40. massachusetts has 38. idaho has 32. north dakota 28, alaska 24, and vermont has 17. >>> president barack obama today welcomed the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to the white house. both leaders vowed to block iran's development of nuclear arms even if it means the use of force. >> even as we will cont

and when we learned today and over the weekend that rick santorum is indelible for up to 18 delegates in ohio and, of course, we all knew he wasn't on the ballot in virginia what does that say about his ability to be an executive, to manage? >> i think rick santorum was as surprised as anyone in his surge, the fact his 15 minutes of fame has listed into several weeks. so i think he wasn't ready for that level of scrutiny or that level of organization. and on the one hand, you call him frugal and smart, he wasn't wasting money on a lot of unnecessary organization. on the other hand, chris is right, the organization comes in handy when its a close race. the organization makes a difference when you have -- it counts more than the poll in some ways. you have to have the momentum and you have to be able to pull out the votes. >> and the money, too. >> particularly when you get knocked down. romney has been knocked down and he holds back endorsements and the resources to go on television. these are basic things you need to do because campaign, you dust yourself off and get up again. >> and gets kno

similar problems for the santorum campaign in ohio. m is not eligible to win every delegate in ohio no matter how successful he is during today's primary voting. >> newt gingrich has said that he pretty much said he has to win georgia in order to move forward from today or else he is going to lose too much momentum, right? >> right. he is also looking at tennessee thinking he has some mitt romney there and recent polls just out show that he is actually gaining some strength here. gaining in popularity. is it enough to beat rick santorum? we'll find out. but there is word that the gingrich team is planning on moving ahead with an advertising campaign. his only win in south carolina came in january and it's clear that speaker gingrich has strength in the south. >> tyler suiters live in arlington, virginia, thank you. >>> president obama will make a statement this morning, take some questions from the press at the white house this morning at 10:00 our time for his news conference. he is expecting to speak on economic recovery and the presi

presidential candidate mitt romney pulled off a narrow victory in the key delegate rich state of ohio but he lost several other states to rival rick santorum. romney was the apparent winner of ohio with 38% p that is just 1% more than santorum. in virginia, it was a two-man race because santorum and newt gingrich didn't make it onto the ballot. romney is the projected winner there with 60%. with 72%, romney also won massachusetts, the state where he was governor. romney is the projected winner in vermont with 40%. in the idaho caucuses, romney won a decisive victory with 62%. he also picked up four delegates in wyoming while ron paul picks up one. rick santorum the projected winner in tennessee with 77% and the projected winner in oklahoma with 30% and san torpum is the winner of the north dakota caucuses with 40%. not surprisingly, newt gingrich took his home state of georgia with 47%. his first win since south carolina. just this morning, nbc news has called mitt romney the proneljed winner in alaska. let's get more on super tuesday and the race in ohio. nbc's tracie potts joins us from the state capital, columbus. good morning to you. >

if we rewound the tape or so ago, santorum would be well ahead in ohio and tennessee and oklahoma. in a dead heat in tennessee and ohio. happened? >> well, first of all, some of the polls also show rick santorum ahead in ohio and some ahead any tennessee. i think what you've got to factor in the bigger question i have is mitt romney came out today between his campaign and his super pac has spent $12 million in ohio alone. we've spent about $565,000 in ohio. how does someone spend $12 million and right now in the polls your poll, only be at 32%, almost 70% of ohioans say they're not ready to vote for romney despite him spending $12 million. so same thing happened in michigan last week. we got outspent 6 to 1 but left with the same number of delegates as mitt rom 234i in his home state. how does someone spend that much money and get that few delegates. >> i find it interesting he's struggling as much as he is with all that spending going on. >> he is struggling. he is spending much more. no doubt about that. however, he's won five states in a row regardless of how he's done it, he's

he needed to beat rick santorum in ohio. d to do that, and santorum needed to win in ohio to get the mo going. romney got what he needed but it wasn't the kind of knockout punch that he had before. i want to put it in some perspective for you. based on his performance last night, in that super tuesday, it was a better super tuesday for him on paper than it was for john mccain in super tuesday 2008. bill: really? based on the vote tally. >> reporter: based on the share of the popular vote. the number of states won, the percentage of the delegates won. it was the smaller super tuesday. the republicans have shr u.n. k their super tuesday. out of the ten states he wins six, he gets all the ones he's supposed to win. he wins alaska which was a little surprising and he overcame about a 10 or 15 minute santorum lead in ohio and did it. so mitt romney did enough. he hued out a win. bill: had he lost ohio the mainstream media would be saying, no republicans, romney lost ohio, therefore his campaign is dead in the water. >> reporter: a

in ohio. the latest polls show a dead heat. santorumaigning largely on social issues while romney is focusing on the economy. >> other people in this race have debated about the economy. they've read about the economy. they've talked about it in subcommittee meetings, but i've been in it. i've worked in business. i understand what it takes to get a business successful and to thrive. i understand how it is government gets in the way. >> someone who's got a principled record. someone who's willing to go out and talk about all the issues that are confronting this country. all of the issues, not just how we're going to manage the economy better. this country is more than just the economy. >> rick santorum will not be eligible for at least nine of  ohio's delegates because his campaign did not meet filing requirements in some districts. >>> mitt romney expected to cruise to an easy victory in virginia's presidential primary. that's because he and ron

in ohio it's too close to call, rick santorum is having a big, big night. but his own organizational difficulties preventing him from capitalizing on that even in terms of the delegates. >> well, if he hangs on in ohio, he has the early lead in north carolina, there is a lot of territory being taken up by rick santorum -- >> north dakota. >> there is a lot of taken up by him tonight. and surprisingly considering all the issues that he has had with the media, we were talking earlier about the political s f self-inflicted wounds and the road he travelled, as far as women's issues, but it looks like he's recovering somewhat from it. and if you look at the maps where he's win, i mean rural america is coming out to work for this guy. they are going with rick santorum. all across in every state that he has won, he has beaten mitt romney in the rural areas. and even when there is low voter turnout in some of the states, he still does it. he was qui he was to point out, i said this is a long speech. >> you take the free stuff when you don't have money. >> he's not o

that is what you are going to hear. >> and gingrich had not been in today, santorum would have won georgia and ohio, which is the biggest catch of the night. >> you are not convincing me. >> if gingrich was not in there. >> and the fellow we had on the night, did he look like a campaign manager and chief strategist? >> well, you know, chris, this is why it is interesting. if he can get this close to ohio with no infrastructure and -- this guy has more -- >> and until. >> -- and up to 2:00 in the morning to win. >> and i am saying they could meet somewhere and that is the santorum campaign. >> well, the chief strategist there, he is a low profile in washington, but he is a talented guy. he has won a lot of races. he is the santorum guy, and i they he has done a great job on the wits without a lot of resources running it. but as you look ahead, it is rick santorum not going to pass mitt romney on the delegate count. there's no scenario where mitt romney is going to go into the con vengs even if he does not have the delegates necessary to be nominated where they nominate the person with less delegates

in ohio as well. >> c >>. >> candy, stand by. jim acosta, the polls show it was very close between santorum and romney in ohio. but i don't understand why the santorum folks were spending only a minimal amount of money in paid advertising in ohio. >> reporter: that's right. if you look at the ad tracker cantor media, they will tell you that rick santorum is not spending a whole lot of money in ohio on ads in broadcast tv markets. and the santorum campaign responds to that essentially mitt romney is the establishment candidate. they say they are not. but wolf, i have to tell you, we ever picking up on some super tuesday defines from the santorum campaign. a spokesman for rick santorum had a chance to catch up with him a few minutes ago. he started to lower expectations a little bit. he said yeah, we'll be comfortable if we come out of ohio in a strong second place position in the popular vote. yes, it wasn't that great that we did not file the necessary paperwork to get those delegates in every corner of the state. for example where we are tonight, steubenville, ohio, rick santorum is on the ballot but he can't

that is what you are going to hear. >> and gingrich had not been in today, santorum would have won georgia and ohio, which is the biggest catch of the night. >> you are not convincing me. >> if gingrich was not in there. >> and the fellow we had on the night, did he look like a campaign manager and chief strategist? >> well, you know, chris, this is why it is interesting. if he can get this close to ohio with no infrastructure and -- this guy has more -- >> and until. >> -- and up to 2:00 in the morning to win. >> and i am saying they could meet somewhere and that is the santorum campaign. >> well, the chief strategist there, he is a low profile in washington, but he is a talented guy. he has won a lot of races. he is the santorum guy, and i they he has done a great job on the wits without a lot of resources running it. but as you look ahead, it is rick santorum not going to pass mitt romney on the delegate count. there's no scenario where mitt romney is going to go into the convention even if he does not have the delegates necessary to be nominated where they nominate the person with less delegate

that is what you are going to hear. >> and gingrich had not been in today, santorum would have won georgia and ohio, which is the biggest catch of the night. >> you are not convincing me. >> if gingrich was not in there. >> and the fellow we had on the night, did he look like a campaign manager and chief strategist? >> well, you know, chris, this is why it is interesting. if he can get this close to ohio with no infrastructure and -- this guy has more -- >> and until. >> -- and up to 2:00 in the morning to win. >> and i am saying they could meet somewhere and that is the santorum campaign. >> well, the chief strategist there, he is a low profile in washington, but he is a talented guy. he has won a lot of races. he is the santorum guy, and i they he has done a great job on the wits without a lot of resources running it. but as you look ahead, it is rick santorum not going to pass mitt romney on the delegate count. there's no scenario where mitt romney is going to go into the kcon vengs even if he does not have the delegates necessary to be nominated where they nominate the person with less delegate

in the key delegate rich state of ohio. but lost several other states to rival rick santorum. here's a breakdown. romney was the apparent winner of ohio with 38%. just 1% more than santorum. in virginia, it was a two-man race because santorum and newt gingrich didn't make it on to the ballot. romney the projected winner with 60%. with 72%, romney also won massachusetts. that of course the state where he was governor. romney is the projected winner in vermont with 40%. in the idaho caucuses, romney won a decisive victory with 62%. he also picks up four delegates in wyoming. while ron paul picks up one. meanwhile, rick santorum is the projected winner in tennessee with 37%. he's also the projected winner in oklahoma with 34%. and with 40%, santorum is the projected winner of the caucuses in north dakota. not surprising i, newt gingrich took home his -- took his home state of georgia with 47%. that's his first win since south carolina. as just this past hour, nbc news has called mitt romney the projected winner in alaska with 33%. all right. we'll get more on super tuesday and race in ohio with nbc's

in the ohio primary. it was hardly a landslide. he beat rick santorum by about 12,000 votes. romney won six of the ten states in play yesterday. santorum won three. both candidates, though, celebrated what they call big nights for their campaigns. >> to the millions of americans who look around and can only see jobs they can't get and bills that they can't pay, i have a message. you have not failed. you is a president that's failed you, and that's going to change. [ cheers ] >> we've won races all over this country against the odds, when they thought, okay, he's finally finished. we keep coming back. >> romney won about half of the 419 delegates up for grabs yesterday. he won at least 204 delegates, and that's more than his three competitors combined. rick santorum won at least 77 delegates. newt gingrich won at least 69, and ron paul won at least 16. >>> in battleground virginia, a fairly light turnout this super tuesday. we have a breakdown of the vote in our area. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, with two candidates on the billion on the, many voters expressed their

in this contest. advertising dollars helped. they vastly outspent the santorum campaign here in ohio. let's talk about santorum. s. let's take a look at tennessee. he had a big lead there in tennessee at one time. things tightened up. in the win, he won by nine percentage points, a pretty convincing victory there. he also took oklahoma, as we thought he would, and north dakota. that was a big surprise for him. newt gingrich did what he said he needed to do and did it convincingly. look at the vote totals in georgia. it was a very, very big win for newt gingrich there. so they all came away a winner in one aspect. and ron paul won more delegates. he didn't take a state. he would have liked to have done that, but he did get more delegates. >> now we're headed south. we're talking about the conservative vote there. what can we expect? >> reporter: the calendar ahead at least for the next couple of weeks is not so favorable to mitt romney. he did what he needed to do by winning a lot of delegates. look what's next? kansas, those caucuses on saturday. rick santorum will be in kansas today. a very conservative state,