mitt romney. people are looking for someone who's an alternative to mitt romney. one of santorum's senior aides told me this is a place they feel they have credibility and viability against mitt romney. so, that's why they're here. i'm saying this because, of course, newt gingrich is not on the ballance ballot here. he's not even a factor. they realize this is a glorified public opinion poll but they say, so what? that matters in items of what they're trying to achieve which is getting momentum and getting off the ground and finding a path to stay in this race for a long time, which they hope to do this month. let me show, we're in the show me state, let me show you also what they're doing here that is different from what we've seen just even last week, wolf. i was at their headquarters in nevada, santorum headquarters. it was a shoe string. they opened it a couple days before. barely turned the lights on. look at where we are here. this is a big ball room, looks much more official, like an official campaign, not so much of a shoe string like campaign. they haven't spent a lot of m

then i can't imagine rick santorum and mitt romney. but i can imagine rick santorum and -- and he's a mid-western guy and a working man's guy. thing that could be good. >> in 2008 john mccain became a boring candidate. he went to vietnam. the point is when he picked up senator palin, it was a sensational pick, probably most dramatic we ever scene. he went from 8 points down to five points ahead and layman's brothers -- the point is you got to unite the party if romney gets elected he's got to ignite the base. the best one for that if rubio is out is chris christie. >> what does rubio bring with him? he brings several things. he's tea party endorsed and he has a lot of people that are not tea party. he's a cuban-american. >> he brings in the latino vote. is that big? >> he has the potential of being the hispanic president obama. >> he's quite -- >> what do you mean? >> way he has conducted himself in washington is impressive. he's never gotten out in front of himself and he's given a series of wonderful speeches. >> he gets the cuban vot

so it gave rick santorum a one-on-one shot against mitt romney. a pure conservative against a pure moderate. what would happen? rick santorum ended up winning by about 25 to 30 points over mitt romney. that's pretty spectacular. the other thing about missouri was, there weren't negative ads by anybody. what it meant is the campaign came down to not who could run the most tv advertising but the candidates themselves, their message and their record. and rick santorum succeeded very well when that became the critical factor in determining votes. so i think people will start at this and saying, rick santorum is clearly the one who should be up against mitt romney. second of all, people are starting to get a very big comfort level that rick santorum very well is the best and strongest candidate to take on barack obama. >> he certainly has the clearest point of difference, i would say. both with mitt romney and with barack obama. despite all newt gingrich's attempts to put himself in that position. you look at the way he spoke tonight, for example, your

only 230 votes separate rick santorum from mitt romney. 40% for santorum with 15,275 with 39% for mitt5,045. ron paul and newt gingrich, way way behind. look how close it is between rick santorum and mitt romney, even in romney's home state of michigan. we're going to be hearing from these candidates, all these candidates tonight. ron paul is getting ready to speak to his supporters. the numbers have just changed a little bit. it's getting even closer right now. only 151 votes separate rick santorum and mitt romney. rick santorum slightly, slightly ahead of mitt romney, 4% of the vote is now in. they'll be coming in quickly. pretty soon 10%, then 20%. don't go away, our coverage continues from the cnn "election center" right after this. this at&t 4g network is fast. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, down by two, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. hi. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them

can rick santorum outpace mitt romney? >> senator santorum is getting his moment in the spotlight now. which is a good thing. i hope people take a very close look at his record. if you want a fiscal conservative, you can't vote for rick santorum because he's not. he's not a deficit hawk. gwen: while in washington, congress grudgingly extends the payroll tax holiday. >> the only reason we're even talking about a payroll tax break or an extension of unemployment benefits is because of the president's economic policies have failed. >> this is make or break moment

santorum. >> what's the reason? >> i think he's by far the weakest candidate. mitt romney done a lot of harm writing his editorial letting michigan go bankrupt. we want mitt romney to go bankrupt. >> rick santorum winning is the best strategy for your candidate winning, barack obama. >> absolutely. >> when it comes to the issues i'm guessing rick santorum isn't necessarily along the lines of where you zblooef absolutely not. rick santorum is so far to the right, if he were to be elected by some fluke he would take this country back to the 18th century. >> people look at this and say, some people even democrats i talked to say give me a break. it is just wrong for a democrat to go and vote for somebody that they vehemently disagree with. >> that's their opinion. and they're welcome to have their opinion. but i think it's the right thing to do strategically. i think it's perfectly fine for democrats. they're charging the taxpayers of the state of michigan $10 million for this primary and we're entitled to take part in it and vote for who we think will be the weakest candidat

mitt romney was smiling as he paid a visit to his campaign headquarters on it this primary dash day but his grin disappeared after he started to talk about rick santorum. romney scored santorum over the automated phone calls urging democrats to vote against romney's in today's republican primary. we begin with some of the comments of mitt romney in michigan. >> is michigan proving a little bit more difficult than you expect? >> about ten days or ago or two weeks aago i was down 13 points in michigan. right for you it looks like too close to call. i don't think the pollster know what will happen. we can't be 100% sure what will happen. the fact we made up 15 points in two weeks is really extraordinary. i'm also pleased that our debate went very well, i think, when senator santorum said he's taking one for the team. that pointed out that the practices of washington are very different than the kind of rhetoric you hear on a campaign. i think the american people want someone that will do something that's right for america, not just taking one for the team. i think the hardest thing about predicting what will happen today is whether senator santorum's effo

santorum goes from beating mitt romney by 11 points to trouncing him by 21 points. santorum gets all of newt gingrich's supporters there if newt quits. here is the latest out of michigan. right now rick santorum leads mitt romney in michigan 37-3 p. ron paul, 15, newt gingrich 10. take newt gingrich out of the equation and watch what happens. boing, santorum takes a 4 point lead and blows it open in a 9 point lead. newt gingrich dropping out kills mitt romney in michigan. now let's go to arizona. finally a little bit of good news for mitt romney in arizona, mitt romney has a small lead in arizona right now, beating rick santorum 36 to 33. watch what happens if you take newt gingrich out of the picture. watch. oop, hey that is a reversal. rick santorum goes to losing to beating by 2 points. the next three contests on the republican side are michigan, arizona and washington. the latest polling shows if newt gingrich gets out of the race before those contests, rick santorum wins all three. the tipped presence of newt gingrich in the race is the only thing keeping the wo

former senator from pennsylvania leading in the state where romney grew up and where his father was governor. >> if rick santorum beats mitt romney in michigan, we're looking at a wholly different race. >> now he's going to get the full force of the mitt romney attacks. >> desperate people do desperate things. >> the romney campaign better be careful. if you go negative and it backfires on you, it's over. >> a defeat there would not just be embarrassing, it would be a, quote, mortal blow to romney's campaign. >> rick santorum is real and romney ain't. >> who are you willing to stake the future of this country on winning? that is mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. mitt romney. if you don't run chris christie, romney will be the nominee and we'll lose. >> america, what the hell?

mitt romney. gingrich and santorum are looking to drum up so conservative support and slow the momentum of mitt romney. >> we have a candidate who is now seen by the media as the are prohibitive favorite. he is the worst possible person in this field. third >> as santorum mitt romney on health care. in colorado, new gingrich piled on. scott costs >>darya: to teachers are under investigation for abusing children. parents rallied last night demanding changes. now, the district superintendent says the entire staff at mare mont the elementary school is going to be replaced. half >>mark: another batch of rain headed our way. heavy rain is now started to extend out through highway 4. heavy rain right in the heart of the morning commute. >>erica: i have been searching for the viral video of the day. a snowbomb order caught on tape writing out an avalanche. is pretty amazing video. she really seems to keep her cool. if you would like to watch this video aired reaction from the snow border, have the lead on my facebook fan page. >>darya: he has become the most famous x has been in the world but he wants to put

mitt romney. that is how santorum got into the race. mney has still not come up with an adequate position to inoculate himself for the criticism he did in massachusetts. >> paul: romney care and cap and trade are much bugger problems philosophically than earmarks and right to work. >> i was going to say, the romney organization has not come up with much. opposition research department, if they decided the way to try to make this work is say mitt romney is the economic conservative versus santorum, clearly the romney care and other policies are huge government intervention. >> paul: how much trouble is romney in if he loses michigan? >> he is in big trouble because santorum goes in the super tuesday with a lot of momentum. >> paul: we have to take one more break and hits and misses of the week. . which shirt feels more expensive? oooh, ooh la la. 'm feeling their muscles. yup, yup. that one. that one's softer. [ female announcer ] actually, it's the same t-shirt. really? [ female announcer ] but this one was washed in downy. that's why it

this time, romney's firing his mud at rick santorum. and in the end, mitt romney's ugly attacks are going to backfire. >> wow, steve. what do you think? >> it's interesting because there's a basic difference between santorum and, say, newt gingrich or rick perry or any of the others who have been the main challenger for romney. santorum actually knows what he's doing. newt gingrich got hit over and over with ads like that in florida. did you ever see a response ad from newt gingrich like this? when mitt romney came after newt gingrich in the debates, did gingrich ever turn to him and fire back with anything that meant anything to anybody? rick santorum has basic competency in terms of responding in debates and in responding to attack ads. is competence all it takes in the republican primary to beat mitt romney? >> i want to bring in the man behind that ad. john is a top strategist for rick santorum's campaign. good morning. >> good morning. thank you for having me this morning. >> fess up. who got the idea for mitt romney with the machine gun? >> i'll tell

mitt romney >> indeed. julian, you filthy disgusting snob, showering romney in mud, has rick santorum basically fired a preemptivee knowing that's what's coming to him are mitt romney's millions in the form of negative advertising? >> yeah, it's true. and in the meantime, all of the brand of the republican party is sinking while that of obama continues to climb. if -- it seems that jeremy lin is the only person having a better year than barack obama right now. you know, the idea, however, that rick santorum would call obama out of the mainstream, that's like donald trump accusing somebody of having an oversized ego. the fact of the matter here is that the republican voters are, according to all the polls are running away from romney relatively quickly for religious conservatives, these have to be the most promiscuous voters i think we have ever seen. they keep having all of these fairs with folks who are just unelectable. to karen's last point, we could give you a dozen reasons on this show why rick santorum could not be elected, his comments about women and contraception, his comments been man on dog, on down th

mitt romney needs to win in michigan to avoid an embarrassing defeat in his home state. the polls open in three hours and rick santorum and mitt romney have made their final pitches to voters and taken their final jabs at each other. mitt romney brought out a hometown superstar as he made his final pitch for votes in royal oak, michigan, monday night. kid rock sang the song romney's been using on the campaign trail, and hours before the polls opened romney sounded confident. >> i'm going to win in michigan, and i'm going to win across the country. >> reporter: but he's in a virtual tie with rick santorum in michigan, the state where romney grew up. the two traded jabs monday. >> i think to create jobs it help a guy as president who's had a job, and i have. >> reporter: santorum says romney can't defeat the president. >> governor romney uniquely disqualifies himself in this biggest nish this general election, the ability go after barack obama on the government takeover of health care. >> reporter: rick santorum's campaign is using automated messages or robocalls to get so-called reagan democrats to show up. >> on tuesd

. >> the latest national polls show that mitt romney and rick santorum are tied. newt gingrich is dismissing calls by conservatives to drop out of the race to set up direct contact between mitt romney and rick santorum. mitt romney says his experience running businesses and the 2002 olympics makes him best qualified to become president. 38 degrees. >> coming up next nikki manaj feeling the heat for her controversial performance at the grammys. >> another check on traffic and the weather every 10 minutes. the roads are looking [ male announcer ] in her natural habitat the tissue monster was quite mild. achoo! [ male announcer ] but when she used tissues, she went crazy wild. tissue after tissue, she always took a ton. until mom explained with puffs ultra soft & strong you only need one. two times stronger than the leading value brand they always win this test. soft non-lotion pillows, they're sure to impress. now the tissue monster had gone away, and puffs ultra soft & strong saved the day. a nose in need deserves puffs ultra soft & strong indeed. for those who pref

it has santorum with an eight point lead over mitt romney. michigan is a week away now, and obviously we have one debate coming up on wednesday, but here is what newt gingrich had to say about michigan, and the race in general yesterday. >> if any of the three of us lose our home state, if santorum loses pennsylvania, romney loses michigan or i lose georgia, you have a very badly weakened candidacy for any of the three of us. >> here we are getting closer. mitt romney if he loses michigan, what happens? >> that would be a huge loss for him, family history in michigan. he said himself i'm not going to lose michigan. that's setting expectations to a win. anything short of a win doesn't knock him out, too much money and contest for him to drop out after michigan, but this is a near death moment for him. he has to win michigan. >> i agree. i hate predictions, but -- >> except when you're right. >> which is most of the time. i really feel like this is setting the table for broker convention. i said this a couple of weeks. mitt romney has a lot of

candidates gear up for tonight's debate as new polls show a tight race between front-runners mitt romney and rick santorumstates of michigan and arizona. meanwhile, mitt romney joins the chorus of republican voices accusing president obama of wagging war on religion. the question is which candidates will stoop to the lowest common denominator to win primary votes. >>> and more good news for the economy. yesterday the dow surged briefly past the symbolic 13,000 mark, the highest since 2008, when unemployment was at a meager 5.4% and lehman brothers was still a respectable organization. the question is, if wall street is making a comeback, why does it

little ugly between the two candidates, santorum and romney at the end, and romney calling santorum an economic light weight, and then santorum responding that mitt romney is a conservative light weight. but tonight there was a chord daily moment between these two men before rick santorum took to the stage. tell us. >> well, there's been a lot of back and forth about what calls who and does the courtesy calls to concede. this time it did happen. rick santorum did call mitt romney. romney took the call. it's been described by santorum's eldest daughterrer as a cordial conversation but brief. it happens minutes before he took to the stage to make his remarks. he made it clear that although it didn't go his way, he's not backing down and super tuesday is an opportunity for him to rise again. mitt romney didn't mention any of thinks republican rivals tonight. there are only a few plays in the romney playbook, and he has been disciplined in sticking with them. tonight was a victory and he talk about barack obama, not about his republican rivals. that's likely to continue but in ohio and the states where it's close and romney has to do well next week,

mitt romney's belt. michigan is close. it is his home state, and while it was the stage for a brutal battle with rick santorum, mitt romney may have another politician on his mind, al gore. remember, al gore lost his home state of tennessee and the election. >> mitt romney supported the bailouts for his wall street billionaire buddies but oppose the auto bailouts. that was a slap in the face to every michigan worker and we are not going to let it run the get away with it. >> road-calls, courtesy of santorum reminding democrats they legally can and should vote today. >> there is a real effort to kidnap our primary process. i need republicans to get out and vote and say no to the dirty tricks of a desperate campaign. >> desperate or not, the moves are frantic. there romney cashed in favor last night to have kid rock perform at a rally and he called rick santorum unqualified. >> i am predicting we are going to surprise a lot of people in michigan tonight. >> if so, mitt romney has an alibi ready. >> it is easy to incite the base with incendiary comments. i am not willing to let my hair on fire. i am who i am. >> in arizona al

-- from conservatives to hear mitt romney attacking rick santorum on these social issues. so it's a really interesting inflection point in the republican primary, where i think that you have a very, very weak front-runner in mitt romney but after those santorum comments, he's the only possible elected republican -- electable republican who's in the race right now but republican voters may not have focused on that yet. >> are you available to be drafted if they ask, steve? no, absolutely not. >> i had to ask. steve schmidt, republican strategist and msnbc contributor, good to see you. >> thank you, rachel. >> i thinking that when i walked past one story tall poster for the game change movie, that is coming out, somebody put a one story tall poster by my house, there is woody harrelson as steve schmidt, why didn't they ask steve? >>> today the most predictable and unlikely day in the recent history of the cheney family, that's coming up. plus, best new thing in the world. stay with us. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... well that'

but mitt romney and rick santorum, repeatedly showed it to each other. mitt romney mocked rick santorum's past senate votes. >> my team is the people of michigan and america. and i'm going to fight for you. >> reporter: rick santorum mocked mitt romney's convictions and that he is resolute. >> maybe he doesn't know what the term resolute means. it's supposed to be you have a resolve of a consistent patterns or beliefs. >> reporter: but for romney, the bigger problem might be the pinky. the kind that elitists raise when they drink their tea. it was during this fight in michigan, where this private equity giant, revealed what his wife drives. not one but -- >> ann drives a couple of cadillacs, actually. >> reporter: and when asked if he follows nascar -- >> not as much as some of the ardent fans. but i have friends that are nascar team owners. >> reporter: despite his impressive come from behind victory to lead number one, some say mitt romney may be leaving with the mantle of being out of touch with common americans, the kind that romney will need in a gen

to hear mitt romney attacking rick santorum on these social issues. so it's a really interesting point in the republican primary, where i think you have a very, very weak front runner mitt romney but after the santorum comments, he's the only possibly lengthed republican electable republican but voters may not have focused on that. >> are you available to be drafted if they ask, steve? >> no, absolutely not. >> i had to ask. steve schmidt republican strat at t at the gist, good to see you. >> i thinking that when i walked past one story tall poster for the game change movie, that is coming out, somebody put a one story tall poster by my house, there is woody harrelson as steve schmidt, why didn't they ask steve? >>> today the most predictable and unlikely day in the resen history of the cheney family, that is coming up, plus, best new thing in the world, stay with us. plip plip one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your

mitt romney. catholics backed romney. the mormon, over santorum, the catholic who, has been very outspoken about his catholic faith, especially in the later terms of this race. women favored mitt romney by 5. beating obama in the fall is their number-1 issue and romney is their guy with 61% of that group. the top issue continues to be the economy. those who care the most about fixing the economy more than anything else in that race, they went for romney in a big way. those who had the top issue as the deficit, romney bested santor num that group. so how about experience? and what better prepares somebody to become president? most voters think the business experience has given mitt romney the better preparation to serve as president. they picked him. santorum's last-ditch effort to win michigan, over the course of this week. that was to woo the democrat and it is independents to show up and to vote for him in the republican primary. that effort pretty much failed. he won half of the democrats. they made up 9% of the vote. and as for the independent

romney still trying to prove his conservative bona fides. >> i can contest to someone who will endorse me in the 2012 campaign. >> reporter: he's talking about this, santorum's endorsement a few years ago. >> mitt romney is hitting you in stride. >> they say mitt romney. >> reporter: running to the right is primary partisan politics. but establishment republicans are starting to worry. santorum who leads some national polls have spent a week talking about social issues instead of jobs. everything from abortion, prenatal testing to contraception. >> i've always been very public, as president of the united states, i will defund planted parenthood. >> reporter: in the past 24 hours, the conservative page of the "wall street journal" ran two pieces on santorum asking is he a moralizer in chief? conservatives including radio host rush limbaugh aren't buying it. >> the republican stabt is essentially saying the conservatives are making a mess of this. >> reporter: all of this talk on issues, this move to the right apparently is not happying any candidate on that important vote of voters. mitt romney, abc news poll shows him with a gap of 14 points and rick santorum is seeing his infavorability up as

>> well, it's shaping up as a race between mitt romney and rick santorum. at romney may have pulled a little ahead and maybe the governor formed some the establishment, but you never know who is going to vote in the primary. >> henry, there seems to be a battle between the conservatives who may have a problem with mitt romney and have shifted to santorum and it seemed in recent days that perhaps romney made some headway getting people to come his way. >> i think it's smart on santorum's behalf. romney is a local boy, well-known here, entrepreneur, fits michigan's business culture and santorum, i think has done effectively, he's come into the tea party base and the tea party here is very strong and he's talked relentlessly about romney care and that's where the tea party base mistrusts romney. >> bill, your thoughts? >> well, i think everything has been said so far is absolutely true. santorum was shown in polls a week ago to have a huge lead among tea party supporters, compared to romney. what romney had to do was peel those away and get back in the game wit

mitt romney did a little. rick santorum with 26% of the vote in terms of the -- if he's the guy to turn around the economy. >> one of the things that factored in, perhaps, in mitt romney and the rick santorum race in michigan was what about those robo calls that rick santorum made appealing to democrats to vote? well, they were able, according to the exit polls to figure out that about 10% of the people who voted yesterday were democrats. they're suggesting that, perhaps, three to six points for mr. santorum could have been because of democrats. what's interesting as well is the irony that while rick santorum said, you know, nothing wrong with appealing two democrats to vote in an open primary, it was just a couple of weeks ago in minnesota during a teletown hall, he said i believe that states should only allow republicans to vote in republican primaries but at the 11th hour, rick santorum himself essentially flip-flopped and said, come on, i'll take all the comers i can get. >> they all do. if you look at new hampshire, 53

mitt romney still got crushed there by rick santorum. in minnesota mitt romney not only lost to rick santorum but as you saw he's losing to ron paul as well he's way back in third. he won minnesota four years ago. in colorado a state mitt romney won in a landslide last time with 60% of the vote, it appears to be out of the question tonight he'll get another landslide. he's just looking for a win. mr. romney said he hoped to peculiar in first or second in colorado. the romney campaign said he called rick santorum earlier tonight to congratulate him on his victories. apparently mr. romney could only leave a message for mr. santorum. here was rick santorum addressing his supporters earlier foent in missouri. >> kwefconservatism is alive an well in missouri and minnesota. your votes today were not just heard loud and wide across the state of missouri and minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder all across this country, and particularly in a play i suspect may be in massachusetts. they were heard particularly loud tonight. >> if ever it

both went after each other by name and mitt romney singling out rick santorum. mitt romney said he's late to that party. >> i'm glad he ridiculoecognize is a campaign about the economy. it's time for him to focus on the economy and for you to all say okay, if the economy is going to be the issue we focus who has the experience to actually get this economy going again? senator santorum is a nice guy, but he's never had a job in the private sector. >> but, of course, rick santorum makes the argument that it's not only about economic issues. social issues especially those conservative christians in the western and northern parts of this state are key targets for him and so he makes a much broader, tack on mitt romney for his health care plan and imp implications for social issues. >> it's about government control of economic lives and regulating you, taxing you, forcing you to buy things and forcing their values on you and your religion. which, by the way, romney did to catholic hospitals in massachusetts by forcing them to distribute the morning-after pill. why wou