lovejoy had moved across the river to illinois from st. louis in 1836 believing he would have been safer expressing his views in the free state of illinois rather than the slave state. alten was a pro slavery community in a free state. its character was much deserve than the yankees owen lovejoy had grown up with and his brother had grown up with in maine. lovejoy soon came to recognize, however, that there was real danger and he was courting very real problems for himself, even in alten. he had written a letter to his mother saying it is harder to fight for the truth when i risk not only my own comfort, ease and reputation and even life but that of a beloved one, as well. i have a family that is dependent upon me and this is the bitter ingredient to the cup of sorrow i am called to drink. lovejoy's abolitionist stance had so outraged the majority of citizens that mobs had on three previous occasions stormed his newspaper office and destroyed his presses. on this moon lit night, however, lovejoy and his friends including his brother, owen,

the other followed the course of the illinois river and the third along the illinois river out of st. louis but oftentimes moved well away from the river to remote underground railroad outposts. the fourth escape route, the so-called quincy line, carried freedom seekers through western illinois from quincy to galesburg to princeton, but along this line, there were numerous satellite stations on farms and in rural hamlets, in and close to places like menden, mccomb, farmington, canton, tulon, and geneceo. the quincy line possessed ideal conditions that helped runaway slaves escape within the region, each of four rivers, the lemoyne, spoon, edwards and green, provided natural water courses for fugitives to follow. if escaping slaves stayed close to the river or their tributaries, all freedom seekers needed to do was move against the current of the water and they'd ultimately be heading in a northerly direction. a second geographical feature of much of northern illinois and iowa was the existence of tall prairie grass, the tallest prairie grass in the world grew there, still does in our

romney as the winner in illinois. we are awaiting remarks from senator rick santorum who looks like in the results that we have is running second in illinois. mr. santorum is not in illinois. he's in his home state of pennsylvania in gettysburg, pennsylvania. it's a very large crowd turned out to see mr. santorum, at compared to what they were expecting. we're told he's already addressed the overflow room in his venue in gettysburg. we'll be speaking from the podium in the main room shortly. we'll bring that to you live. still with us, steve schmidt and "the new york times" and cnbc's john harwood. gentlemen, thank you for 76ing with me. john, in terms of the speech there from mr. romney, i've not been listening to his stump speech every day, but i've been listening closely enough to follow its evolution over time. is this what we should expect in terms of putting bane at the very, very center of what his appeal is for why he should be president? >> well, i think so. bane in the way that mitt romney wants to explain it

romney as the winner in illinois. we are awaiting remarks from senator rick santorum who looks like right now in the results we have is running second in illinois. mr. santorum is not in illinois. he's in pennsylvania. it's a very large crowd turned out to see mr. santorum, at least what they were expecting. he's addressed the overflow room at his venue. we'll be speaking from the podium in the main room shortly. we'll bring that to you live. still with us, steve schmidt and new york times john harwood. john, in terms of the speech there from mr. romney, i've not been listening to his stump speech every day, but i've been listening closely enough to follow its evolution over time. is this what we should expect in terms of putting bane at the very, very center of what his appeal is for why he should be president? >> i think so. bane in the way that mitt romney wants to explain it is part of a step by step education process for him and what makes the american economy tick. i think it was significant, he had some new line

we will have all the news from the illinois primary in just a moment. but we begin in washington, where the republicans' point man on money matters today unveiled his latest plan to try to make the federal books a little less unbalanced. jim angle shows us what's in it. >> reporter: paul ryan sponsored a sweeping return for the republican budget plan. he began with a guilt o.p. favorite. >> first, we propose that we repeal the president's disastrous health care law. it stops spending from threatening our fiscal house. >> reporter: he emphasized reigniting economic growth is the key goal, to reduce tax, which he dolled by collapsing 6 tax brackets into two, leaving a 10 and 25% rate and reducing the corporate rate to 25% as well, which he said is the international average. he argues that can be done without adding to the deficit by iewg the same techniques at the bowles-simpson administration. >> we can get faster economic growth, you can do that in a revenue-neutral way. >> reporter: deciding which tax breaks to jettison would be done by the house ways &

the best chance to do that. keepsing a punishing schedule here in illinois, from the top of the state down to the bottom, early eventslate events, really pushing for a win here against rick santorum on tuesday. >> rachel streitfeld, thanks so much, rockford, illinois, the backdrop there, the restaurant and cafe where mitt romney is right now, talking to supporters. >>> you can tune in tuesday night as we await the results of the illinois primary. coverage begins 7:00 eastern time with erin burnett followed by cnn's complete live coverage of the illinois primary results, 8:00 eastern blitzer, anderson cooper and the cnn political team. tune in tuesday night here on cnn. >>> it is all in the math to get the delegates or is it? our john king breaks it down. to watch it for us. wes thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? if your bank takes more money than a stranger, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. >>> cnn brings you politics each sunday during this hour. we're bringing you the 2012 presidentia

the polls are closed in illinois. the race is too early to call with mitt romney leading. nie, good to have you with us tonight. we'll get to illinois tonight. i want to talk about the ryan budget, if i may. i don't see any clamoring out there for the wealthiest americans to get 150,000 dollar tax cuts nor do i see any marches about changing medicare nor any clamoring about decreasing defense spending. isn't this budget the golden goose being handed to the obama campaign. what about this? >> a couple of things. we do have to decrease our deficit. we do have to strengthen medicare. we don't have to do it the way congressman ryan or mitt romney suggest we do it where the middle class and seniors bear all of the burdens and the millionaires and billionaires don't pay their fair share. it was wrong a year ago. i think the american people proved that. it's wrong today. there's a balanced way to achieve these goals. while protecting our seniors and strengthening the middle class. >> what does strengthening medicare mean? to the consumer strengthening medicare means you're going t

what about the rest of northern illinois? go suburbs and go west, senator santorum carries those areas, not by much but he's beating governor romney across the rest of illinois. this sen couraging e is encour santorum campaign. this has been a statistic we've looked at in every exit poll in every state. if you make less than $50,000, senator santorum tends to do best here, governor romney has always done best here. what about this chunk? 34% of the respect voters make between $50,000 and $100,000 a year. romney winning but just narrowly over senator santorum. will it be interesting to see how the other blocs turn out. another one, this one i found interesting. among catholics who attend is a catholic. identify themselves as catholics. governor romney with a slight lead over senator santorum. this is regular church-going catholics. what about church-going protestants? look at that. senator santorum leads among protestants that go to church regularly. it's fascinating in a diverse state. no surprise the economy has been the numb

welcome "the ed show" from new york. polls just closed in illinois. the race is characterized as too early to call with mitt romney leading. this is "the ed show" let's get to work. >> each of these people running for president have given their ideas. >> it's election night in illinois and paul ryan says the candidates like his radical plan. >> you believe they will accept your budget? >> absolutely. >> republicans strategist steve smith and eugene robinson on the ryan budget's impact on the election. >>> plus, full election night coverage with stephanie cutter of the obama campaign. karen finney and richard wolf. >>> in the trayvon martin case, the fbi and a grand jury are now involved. now we know trayvon martin was on the phone with his girlfriend while he was being stalked. >> he said the man is watching him. he put his hoodie on. >> the reverend al sharpton and charles blow on the new evidence that could lead to the arrest of george zimmerman. >> good to have you with us tonight. thanks for watching. the republican party is still trying to do a wa

almost 50% of the people in illinois, the voters in illinois are in that chicago and the suburban chicago area. >> and again, within this hour we may be very able to call this race. we'll obviously bring that to you as soon as we can. we also anticipate to hear from rick santorum possibly within this hour. also waiting to hear from governor romney as well. there's other news to tell you about. i want to bring in donna brazil as well as paul begalla, and ralph reed. also here in new york gloria borger and david gergen. say electability is the number one issue, they all go for mitt romney. you haven't been a fan of mitt romney. but that's a pretty telling argument and a hard thing for rick santorum supporters to fight against. >> very much. he's been fighting it around the nation. my caution has been if you look at the exits in 2004, a lot went for john kerry because they thought he was the most electable. rick santorum hasn't sold himself to republican independen who lean republican. he hasn't done a very good job. david gergen was right when he said he's had a bad week and can't control o

since the campaign's in illinois we'll hear from the president's top political strategist david axelroder. mitt romney shopping that decisive win in illinois will quiet talk the republican nomination fight could end in the first contested republican convention since 1976. rick santorum needs a victory somewhere that proves he can win a, an away game." illinois is one and has a serious shot at the nomination. on the trail in illinois, the candidates are making closing arguments. >> this is not something i learned about in a subcommittee of congress. i'm not about economic lightweight. president obama is. we're not going to be successful in replacing an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight. >> why do you vote differently from what you know is best? those going to washington, oh, they compromise, don't stand up. don't have convictions. well, how about you? >> those 11th hour appeals were overshadowed by this sound bite. a challenge to the argument that republicans should pick a nominee with the credentials to fix the economy. >> the candidate who's going to be a fighter f

>> the latest news and weather is always on cbs >> pelley: tonight, the battle for illinois. romney has the lead in the g.o.p. primary, but the votes are still being counted. jan crawford, dean reynolds and john dickerson are covering. i how did a shipment of fake cancer drugs get to to america from this al flee cairo. armen keteyian investigates. there's been a sharp turn today in the case of the neighborhood watch captain who killed a teenage boy. and in a neighborhood of gangs, fear, and mistrust, one man stands up to violence with a message. >> we can make a change. our communities are capable of more. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley reporting tonight from chicago. >> pelley: and this is a special western edition. good evening. the polls are closed here in illinois in the republican presidential primary. it's too soon to project a winner yet but cbs news estimates that mitt romney has the lead over rick santorum based on exit polls and an analysis of the early vote count so far. 56% of voters today told us that the economy was t

the state. in effingham, illinois, over the weekend. peoria, rockford. this event in dixon, illinois, with the shadow of a ronald reagan statue behind him. >> remember, when ronald reagan took the helm back in 1980 he had fought some battles. he'd been fighting battles for a couple of decades to revive conservatism in this country. he fought and insurgent campaign against no less a sitting incumbent republican. now, we don't have a sitting republican incumbent running for office this time. but we have someone that is certainly the -- the choice of the establishment republican. someone whose turn it was. we see that so often in republican politics for president. it's almost -- almost inevitable whose ever the next in line, that's who the republicans tend to put forward. and ronald reagan said, no, we don't need the next in line. we need something very different. what's going on and was going on in 1976 and, of course, even worse in 1980 was something that was corrosive of the american spirit. we were in a time in the '60s and the '70s that we stopped belie

later tonight to have the state of illinois with a fabulous hair cut. tonight there is maddigan. >> his the roller. . >> only thing his missing-i would like to see the top law- enforcement officers and the state of illinois sitting in his lap. and if the governor. >> she does not prosecute corruption and. >> i have one last cartoon it's called the a team, and that got me thinking of my version of the a team. . >> [laughter]. >>i pity the fool. >> thank you scott i appreciate. >> do we know which one is going to appear in tomorrow's paper?. >> to want to san now tomorrow morning... this has not ended and illinois. this is going to be and thatin marls chicago tribune. >> on to thank the staff and my family and my campaign manager and my wife of 22 years. 17 years ago we are still young and more graduates from the university of illinois in college of law. correct. she is the bus aldermen and the city of chicago. the be st. i have been elected and reelected 10 times now. this factory may be the most meaningful leftof fall. it's meaningful we are suburban an

the man in the white house comes from the state of illinois. has president obama been able to help or hurt those state finances that you say are playing a role tonight in the g.o.p. contest? >> i think the president has been responsive where he can be, but the federal government can't really do much to resolve the state's problems. the state and many local governments are suffering because of the economy, which began to worsen before the president came into office. and we still struggle. so illinois has to dig its way out of its own hole, which was created by years of spending more than we were taking in, plus failure to pay our pension obligations. >> tom: that brings up an interesting point. what's holding back the illinois economy? is it state regulations, state rules, state taxes? or is it something more on the federal level that really is at issue tonight? >> i think outsiders view illinois as having a poor business climate. we have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the nation, and the budget is unstable and businesses can't come in

>>> eye on the prize. illinois is up for grabs, and the results could shake up the republican presidential race. >>> rapid melt. time-lapse video captures the spring thaw of a lake in minnesota. >>> and center stage. one of the most high-profile women in the world makes her big debut. good morning, everyone. i'm lynn berry. those stories and more are straight ahead. this is "first look" on msnbc. >>> we're going to begin this morning with a big swing state. in the republican race for the white house, all eyes are on illinois. voters head to the polls in that state's primary today where a convincing victory for front-runner mitt romney would make it very difficult for his rivals to keep running. nbc's tracie potts joins us with more on that from washington. tracii, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. rick santorum is hoping to do well in illinois, but it's going to be an uphill battle for him. meantime, mitt romney, even though he is the front-runner at this point, is not taking the land of lincoln for granted.

ttvgeip tk d >> the first exits broken down by area, rural voters in illinois cnn exit polls santorum 44 romney 39. suburban romney 45 santorum 34. unless you have no idea of what's more or less, you can tell the suburban and urban voters are going to give mitt romney a probable victory in illinois, even though it is officially too early to call. >> when paul ryan released his budget proposal last year, it became the national economic platform for republicans. any republican who did not offer full support was as true astro sized. a new budget offers tax cuts to the rich. capitol hill was seemingly holding its collective breath for the release of ryan's latest budget proposal after his dramatic trailer. before ryan could make it onstage to receive is oscar, he was beat to the podium questioning the need for the proposal. >> those who say we do not have a budget have either failed to pay attention to what they voted on or deliberately trying to mislead the public. >> rather here to offer americans a chance to choose which future me want for themselves the president's path of debt and de

the romney campaign that spent more money in you chicago and illinois than a lot of people have seen in this state in a long time, including in general election for presidential election. the amount of negative ads, the cycle of the frequency was astounding to political observers here in illinois. even santorum supporters say there are some things you can't compete against. if we get 30-35% of the vote in the wake of these ads we'll be happy. it gets to the strategy of tearing down your opponents. >> david shuster in chicago many thanks, david. >> drilling a little deeper as the kids say into the primary race, we are joined by craig crawford. good evening. >> we got enough shovels to dig that deep. >> in choosing our shovel of choice, what are the demographic differences between what we saw in alabama mississippi and why those early numbers that you go romney should do 10 points or better than santorum tonight? >> we have half the percentage in these republican illinois primary voters, half the percentage saying they are very conservative or evangelicals that you had in alabama or mis

fox news is projecting mitt romney to be the winner of the illinois republican primary. the polls closed exactly one hour ago. for the latest on the mitt romney victory, we go to chicago where bret baier is standing by tonight. bret? apparently, we might have lost him. but mitt romney did have a big victory. we'll check in with bret and update you with all the latest on mitt romney and his speech and rick santorum's speeches. the republican national committee is turning up the pressure on the president over the bill maher donation from the super pac. the powerful rnc ad is touching on some controversial elements from a book by author, ron suskin. take a look at this. >> bill maher, host of "real time with bill maher" announcing he has donated $1 million to about the obama's super pac. >> bill maher, of course, had used the "c" word to refer to sarah palin. >> what is the evidence that i am a misogeeanist. >> every single thing you say about women. >> the blonde twink asking the question, i don't know who that is on fox, but she's not bright. >> if someone called me a cr "

this is always tough, though, illinois is not like the rest of the midwest. my dad grew up in iowa, my mom grew up in illinois, he used to say illinois is not the real midwest, iowa is the real midwest, it's nothing more than junior new york with that big city chicago in it, it was sort of half of a joke, so with all due respect to illinois, and there's, obviously, lots of it that are very much rural and midwest, agricultural communities and all that, but wisconsin will be a, you know, if santorum can't be romney in wisconsin, where is he going to beat him in a non-southern area? where is it going to happen? look at his win map here, right, santorum is in purple, romney's in green. wisconsin is sort of halfway, you know, sitting in between where he's done well as you sort of go into this, in your neck of woods there, the dakotas and more of the agricultural midwest while romney has eked out these wins in the industrial west, so wisconsin's got a little bit of both in it. >> chuck todd, great to have you with us, thanks so much. >>> now let's turn to howard fin

the road to the white house stops in illinois today ... president obama is in the loop right now and his opponents also target the chicago area good afternoon i'm dina bair >> and i'm steve sanders that story coming up but first it breaking news story from suburban carpentersville where a school is on what down. this we know: carpentersville police are confirming to us that the dundee crown high-school was placed on lockdown we don't know why we're getting in touch with the school district right now and will bring you more information as it transpires 9 >> president barack obama is in town for a noontime sfund- raiser looking for support in his home state ... >> the president and i made a bet ... a simple that ... we met on you ... american ingenuity and we want the a bomb on campaign has come out swinging with the vice president taking jabs at each of the republican presidential candidates ... in ohio yesterday he said that either candidate would bankrupt the u.s. economy mitt romney blamed the president for the condition of the u.s. econo

. >> shepard: the battle for illinois and beyond. new concerns about the mission in afghanistan. >> my question is why are we still there? >> this force is committed into a strategy that i think will work. >> shepard: the u.s. soldier accused of killing innocent men women and children. >> the investigation will be thorough. >> shepard: tonight, the latest on the exit strategy. plus, the pilot who gave his life to save five sky divers. and 75 years after amelia earhardt vanished over the south pacific. >> her legacy resonates today. >> shepard: secretary of state hillary clinton helped launch a new search for an american icon. but, first from fox this tuesday night. one hour to go until the polls close across the state of illinois. and we're watching the results from our fox news exit polls. and tonight they are showing. this mitt romney is winning among voters who say electability and the economy are their top priorities. and more than half of illinois voters tell us the economy is their number one issue. our exit polls show rick sant

stop weeds for months. >> in the race for the gop nomination, the focus is on illinois. rick santorum crisscross the state rally for votes. >> were on the took all 20 delegates in order rego buried would go live to washington for a look at how the illinois race is shaping up. >> the latest polling gives mitt romney the lead, but it is a lot closer than expected. >> the fight is on in illinois, and it is essentially a two-man race. >> i need your help. i want to make sure i can become your nominee. >> mitt romney met with voters in springfield. he kept his attack its aim at president obama. >> he has put us deeper in debt, slowed the recovery, and harmed the economy. >> rick santorum hosted rallies and dixon and rockford. >> this could be an amazing time in history. right here in illinois, you can assure that in and surprise the pundits. >> he supported the wall street bailout. >> the romney camp has a new video out highlighting santorum's support for romney in 2008. >> if you want a conservative as the nominee of this party, you must vote for mitt romney. >> polls give ro

then they found out that according to the illinois department of labor, they were breaking the law. come to a set. i don't know, i think he came to a set. he didn't come to a set, sir. poussaint: instead of getting paid the usual $10 a game, the labor department fired them for working in violation of child labor laws. next time what i want you to do is, i want you to come... kids were able to baby-sit when they were, like, 10, and 12-year-olds, and 13-year-olds got to caddy, and we couldn't even ump. i felt mad because other people, other, like, counties and states were doing it and for as long as we would and they didn't get in trouble. poussaint: catherine glennon's three sons, brian, danny, and tom, were all umpires, and she didn't see the harm in what the ks were doing. catherine: my older kids had umpired. brian was the third one of the boys that had taken the course. he's out! poussaint: according to the illinois department of labor, they had no choice but to enforce the law. when they receive a complaint, they are duty bound to investigate it. man: we don't have any choice in

he is the clear leader in the illinois polls. meantime, it is an uphill battle for rick santorum because he is not on the ballots in all illinois districts. still, he is making a monumental prediction. >> with a huge, surprise win. i guarantee, i guarantee that we will win this nomination. >> newt gingrich and ron paul are also in the illinois ballots, but gingrich admits the illinois primary would largely be a contest between romney and santorum. >>> sagging sales forcing chevy to halt production of its electric car. general motors says it will shut down assembly lines on the volt today, keeping them closed five weeks to reduce inventory. gm had been very aggressive setting target goals of selling 60,000 volts this year. through january and february, customers bought only 1600. the shut down will idle 1300 factory workers. >>> for all of you bay area fans hoping to see a super bowl champion and future hall of fame erin a uniform, it is over. he is set to sign with denver. reports say five year, $95 million contract with the bronc

today the gop candidates stepped up the battle for illinois. we have the very latest on tomorrow's primary from chicago. plus your right to free speech is coming under attack. and we'll tell you about new legislation aimed at restricting public protests in georgia. former assistant secretary of state, jamie reubin, will join us about the problem of ending the war in afghanistan. it's a political problem, a real problem. this is the "war room." come on inside! ♪ >>> so if you believe the latest polls mitt romney is going to easily win tomorrow's illinois gop primary. look at this. rasmussen, rommy at 41 santorum at 32. there's a lot of polls out. public policy polling. 15-point spread. romney 45 santorum 30. and arg has cut romney at 44 santorum at 30. gingrich and paul just really trailing. here is what it looks like in illinois. first of all the facts are that the unemployment rate is much higher than the national average, a full point. 54 delegates are up for grabs. santorum goofed up again in terms of getting on congressional districts. he di

the next battle illinois tomorrow and it's a big one. s the real clear politics average of polls. shows romney up 39.5% to 31%. two new polls have it at double digits. 14%, 15% lead. this is the average of polls as we look towards illinois back with the panel. steve, your thoughts? >> well, i think, you know, it's easy to say in hindsight but clearly the time rick santorum spent in puerto rico didn't do him any good and time he would have been able to spend more effectively spent in the outstate areas of illinois making sure he gets the delegates that he is expected to get there looking forward, you know, their campaign is trying to argue this is ♪ just about illinois at this point. this is about wisconsin. it's about louisiana, it's about down the road and this is a long fight. that's the argument i think that most effective for them to make at this point. because mitt romney is expected to do well in illinois tomorrow. >> bret: listen to the two candidates talk about puerto rico and the results. >> conservative principles are applying i