to reaffirm the need to reinvent michigan let's briefly look back at the last. michigan had been in decline for several decades with the last decade being particularly difficult. we were essentially tired and broken. in 2011, we made large strides to make michigan a great state again. we came together and worked with relentless positive passion at a dog year's pace. while we should be proud of the progress, much remains to be done, so with that, let me get started. first, let's review a number of key measures on the state dashboard. there are 25 measures in five different areas. don't panic, i won't do all 25 of them, but i did want to highlight five of them. and for those at home, you can find the entire dashboard at www.michigan.gov/midashboard. number one is an exciting one. our unemployment in the last 12 months has dropped from 11.1% to 9.3%. [ cheers and applause ] in november we dropped below 10% for the first time in three years. in fact, we added nearly 80,000 private sector jobs during 2011. we've shown faster improvement than the united states average.

thank you, colonel, and the michigan state police. now, i want to share the two most frequent pieces of advice i received before i took office. the first one was to be bold. simply fixing michigan was not good enough. the second often came moments after the first which was don't set expectations too high. now, i accepted the first and rejected the second. we are being bold and reinventing michigan but it requires setting high expectations. you can only build a brighter future by setting a higher standard. in 2011, we set that standard and accomplished many things that many thought were impossible. 2011 was the year of building the foundation for good government. 2012 needs to be the year of implementing good government. i want to conclude tonight with a topic i have been talking about for years. it's our greatest opportunity. it's more important than any law or regulation. it's fundamental to the reinvention of michigan and having us become a great state again. simply put, we must reinvent our culture. we are still too negative. too di

that has been the defining story in michigan. rick santorum in recent days not hesitating to talk about some of the other and very sensitive issues from religion to contraception. help him tonight or will it backfire? the state of michigan owes a lot to american taxpayers. we're going to look at the politics of the detroit auto bailout in this campaign. stay with us. the 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 a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. at&t. ♪ at&t. imagine if you could always see life [music] in the best light. every time of day. outdoors, or in. transitions® lenses automatically filter

the auto industry is a huge deal here in michigan. op two frontrunners, rick santorum and mitt romney, and santorum is making a blue collar pitch, revitalization of manufacturers, how that pitch sells in a place like warren could make a big with the capital one cash rewards card you get a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more cash -- well, except her. no! but, i'm about to change that. ♪ every little baby wants 50% more cash... ♪ phhht! fine, you try. [ strings breaking, wood splintering ] ha ha. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. ♪ what's in your wallet? ♪ what's in your...your... >> welcome back to birmingham, michigan, ahead of tuesday's presidential primary. another big election tomorrow, it's out west and the strategy in arizona has been different. correspondent alicia acuna has that story from phoenix. >> reporter: as far as the campaign battlement winner take all 29 delegates is relatively quiet. the candidates are not spending much in this. >> all four conte

the map folks. so this is my little map of michigan. what i just wanted to quickly show you was the west side of the state is usually conservative republicans. those are social conservatives often. the east side of the state detroit, this is lancing in the middle, but this whole corridor right here is around the i-75 corridor. that's the economic conservatives. that's where romney will probably do well. up here and in the upper peninsula of michigan, again more conservative. this is where santorum is going to do well. you recall that michigan's primary is going to be based upon congressional districts. it's not a winner take all but every congressional district has two delegates. the one who wins the most con congressional districts will be the one who wins the area. david joins us from downtown of detroit woodward and jefferson. thank you for joining us. what are you hearing what is the sense on the ground. >> well, governor granholm, there is a sense from the romney campaign that they're going to have their get out the photo operation

we know what that means in the state of michigan. interesting details coming out already regarding those people, we'll keep an eye and bring you the latest information on the numbers, rachel. >> tamryn, thank you. >> 14% of the electoral being union members, a lot of union members are are republicans, but michigan i the state where anybody can vote in the republican primary, and there has been some noise about the prospect of cross-over vote mg michigan, happened in other years, we'll look closer at the overall results and the exit polls to find out whether that union members number and some of the other numbers might mean that democratic identified voters were crossing over to vote strategically in the republican primary, not necessarily for who they want to be president but who they want president obama to go up in the general. msnbc has embedded reporters, one of the best jobs in the news, garrett, what are you hearing from the romney campaign? >> reporter: i have been doing this a while since july, as you know, this is the first t

that is kind of the republicans in michigan. so i think that both romney and santorum are going to -- i think tomorrow will continue to see what we have seen in all the other states, less republicans voting than four years ago, but honestly the people have to understand this and please understand this as coming from us michiganers, if romney does not win tomorrow or he wins by a small margin, in other words he's lost, you can't overstate the importance in the state of michigan. the romney name, the romney legacy in michigan, would be like voting against a kennedy in massachusetts. they are well loved in the state, his brother scott is a well-known attorney in suburban detroit, for romney to lose michigan i know they think this, they must think this is the death knell for their campaign. >> when you look at how well mitt romney did in 2008, in michigan, won the state, won handily and look at four years later how he is struggling against rick santorum do you think that is driven by national winds or is there anything in michigan sp

the fact is he lost michigan. -- the delegates are split exactly evenly or one party gets a couple more than the other is unimportant. the fact is this was his shot. in the same way his elections he won three weeks ago, missouri, colorado and minnesota, had no delegates at stake and yet it was important. the momentum that was at stake before he got it, and tonight he lost it. >> charles, as always, thanks for the analysis. >> a pleasure. >> see you in washington. >> mitt romney winning both arizona and michigan. tonight, coming up, chris wall, karl rove and joe trippi on the races this evening. keep it right here on america's election headquarters. >> one thing we can't afford is four years of barack obama nothing to answer to so we will get him out of that office and get him back home where he belongs. >> now you saw his budget. [chanting mitt, mitt, mitt] >> now we will head back to washington where fox news sunday anchor chris wallace is with his guests. we have been told -- oh, my goodness. what is that? >> it

two of the most cherished institutions of michigan tr the university of michigan and michigan state. good reason. they're world class educational institutions. and my guess is that 99.9% of the residents in michigan would like their child to go to one of those schools. a better issue would have been affirmative action, which is now back in play. and the last time it came out in the university of michigan. >> i know when you go to the rest of the republican party they say he's not a real conservative. we were having this conversation about the fear factor he seems to have about challenging anything that might alienate a conservative voter. and here is david brooks. whatever you want to call that. it's almosts if he didn't expect romney to have the guts to do it. >> i think it's a big issue. it's troubling to a lot of the establishment republicans who are looking at the possible of a santorum nomination and thinking that it could be very disruptive to the party for a long time. but mitt romney has not risen to the occasion. fit whatever metaphor you want. doesn't rock 'n' roll, doesn't

the auto industry is a huge deal here in michigan. e top two frontrunners, rick santorum and mitt romney, and santorum is making a blue collar pitch, revitalization of manufacturers, how that pitch sells in a place like warren could make a big difference tuesday night. we'll be back after this. whee! whee! wheeeeeeeee! ah heads up. wheeeeeeeeeeee! everything you love about geico, now mobile. download the new geico app today. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living th joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to helrelieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you

most of the polls have closed in michigan right now but all of the polls in michigan will close at thethe hour, presumably at that point, we'll be able to have some more substantive information. these are very early numbers, the first raw votes coming in on this very very pivotal night, in the race for the white house. michigan, arizona, the polls have closed at arizona, at the top of the hour as well. what's going to happen in arizona? what's going to happen in michigan? if romney were to lose the state where he was born, where his father served as governor, would be a huge setback for mitt romney. we're watching this very closely. you can see right now, 1% in, rick santorum slightly ahead. stay with us, our coverage only just beginning. ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with

when you look from outside michigan, at what is going on in the state of michigan right now, there is a huge elephant in the room, right? there is an obvious huge deal, there is the return of the american auto industry written off as dead, before the obama administration decided to save it. the turn around, the boom in the auto in distrducstry is not jus in michigan it's huge for the country. >> two years after almost going bankrupt, record profits are being announced tonight for an iconic american brand. >> general motors stock up 9% after it posted its highest profits in history. >> general motors has reclaimed the title of world's largest automaker from toyota. >> for dave gray who works the new third shift in flint, michigan the record earnings not only mean job security but he and every other auto worker at gm will get bonus checks up to $7000. >> it's great, right? the detroit comeback is a huge success story for the whole country. but in a republican primary, it is a very awkward thing at the height of the financial crisis which when the auto in distree on the brink of death, r

tonight special election coverage of the gop primaries in michigan and arizona. will have the latest results as soon as they come into the war room. this is really important night for mitt romney and rick santorum. you are in the war room. join me. ♪ >>> okay. so first we're going to go to the big board for the latest results from michigan. we have 10% of the precincts reporting. the red is santorum. the purple is for romney. look over here for example, in wayne county only 3% reporting. in that case it's 51% for romney. if you look above wayne county it's oakland county. this is where romney is from. 47% for romney. but look all the way west here. grand rapids kent county that's only 2% reporting, but it looks like it's going to santorum. look to ottawa county. this is the most conservative county in the state of michigan 53% for santorum. if you look way up north, up here this is a fairly conservative area 75% of the precincts reporting, you can see it's a small number of people 41%. same thing here, marquette 53%. kind of interesting to me here that these nort

so the overall result, mccain won michigan. i think santorum would like to see that happen again today. the only difference is really when you stop and think about it philosophically there's no reason democrats would really be attracted to rick santorum. >> ifill: how much has mitt romney staked on this win in michigan, his native state and how much hassan tore up spent relatively in terms of time and treasure? >> it looks like romney has outspent santorum about 2-to-1. that sounds like a lot. but guess what. it's not as much as 10-to-1 and 20-to-1 which is about the margin in spending superiority romney had over santorum in all these previous states. santorum kept himself in the race by being able to spend enough to make himself competitive. and then he's relying on the tea partys and the ground game he's mustered to try and put it altogether in one big package today and win the election. >> ifill: it's fair to say there is a very conservative electorate in michigan to make a difference for rick santorum at this point? >> i thi

the latest polls have santorum with a slim edge right now of 38% to 37% in michigan. that's how close they are dancing on the edge of the cliff right now. romney could lose tonight. >> he could lose. and even if he wins tonight, what does he win? next week, we have super tuesday, which isn't looking that terrific for him now. he's going to have a tough road in probably the most important state, which is ohio. it's going to be near impossible for him down south. he has two little blocks, that block in new england with massachusetts next week and the mormon stripe in the west. idaho has a lot of mormons. >> well, one of the most interesting things tonight, howard, is rick santorum, as many people have said are unacceptable, you pointed them out, he is still running head to head with this guy in the guy's native state. that's the most devastating shot at mitt romney. he can't beat a guy who has stuck his chin out on so many cultural issues, including after going after jfk, the state jfk carried back in '60 and has a lot of catholic followers to this day. and making these

the party. and that means he is weaker. even in michigan, if he comes in and wins by a hair, that's not really a win. it still reinforces the idea haste not valvizing galvanizing the republican party. he needs to win big and he's not going to do that tonight. >> is it just a numbers game? if he wins by two points or one point, does it matter? he just has to win? >> in some sense michigan has already damaged mitt romney. you know, before a single vote was cast, we had been talking about for a week, maybe even two, how uncertain his fate is in his home state. if you rewind a little bit and look back to new hampshire, south carolina, florida, one imagines that after florida, mitt romney looked ahead to the primary schedule and thought, smooth sailing, right? >> we looked ahead to the primary schedule and said, he'll go to michigan and win there because -- >> we assumed he would win in colorado. >> he won it four years ago. >> he did really well in colorado in 2008. so it has been a rocky road. and i think michigan, not breaking news here, is a

so he's working on rebuilding the city which will create jobs not only in michigan but throughout the country. >> we're taking phone calls, e-mails and tweets here for congressman from michigan. we have a line set michigan residents 202-628-0184. david in englewood, new jersey, you're up next for congressman clark. go ahead. >> caller: yes. i just wanted to make two points. i just think the congressman is living in a dream world. my first point and please don't cut me off, i'll be quick. my first point is democrats have controlled the state of michigan and the city of detroit for how many decades? two democratic senators, a democratic governor, the congressional delegation is majority democrat. the mayor of detroit has been a democrat. so when you blame the economy, don't you have to look in the mirror? and my second point is because no one helped destroy michigan and detroit more so than the democratic party and unions that demanded too much. my second point is everybody keeps saying what obama inherited. people forget obama was in the u.s. senate for four years. he has supported pol

the michigan sub text the battle of the unforced errors. romney again remembers something that didn't happen. >> i voted against ted kennedy, tip o'neal, and bill clinton. >> they were never on the same ballot together. >> we went into a recession in 2008 because of gasoline prices. >> no. and david shuster in michigan steve kornacki, and sam seeder. $20 million off of women's healthcare. not off of the price. off of the care. pushing to deny more women more alabama and virginia have to back off some of their preabortion transvaginal ultrasound demands. and where fox news gets it's quote, news. >> this could be the intent of the obama administration. >> and the latest from michigan too close to call and arizona, romney in a breeze. and the quote of the day. >> i'm not willing to light my hair on fire to try to get support. >> i'm sorry about that. that i would have paid to see. all of that and more now on "countdown." ♪ >> good evening, this is tuesday february 28th 253 days until the 2012 presidential election. republicans voting tonight e

we asked voters about the auto bailouts, hugely sensitive in the state of michigan. four candidates said they were opposed to the auto bailouts. that's not going to hurt them today because half of the voters that we're seeing, 51% also disapproved of the auto bailouts for the companies in michigan, so that isn't hurting these folks in this election this evening. let's swing over to arizona and get a little bit of a handle for you on how the exit polls are looking in arizona. considered all along a very good state for mitt romney and we're clearly seeing that, so far in the exit poll numbers and he struggles with some groups in arizona and they're important to the republican base of course, for example, santorum has the edge in arizona as well among those who say that they are strongly conservative. and this has been a sort of hiccup group for mitt romney and wearing out in arizona. how about the issue of immigration? obviously a big story in the state of arizona, we're seeing a change in views, 34% of voters say that illegal immigrants should be deported and that's do

the polls closing, and we'll have more on them in michigan and arizona. m comments on right wing the polls in the central time zone about to close in michigan. first because these people are bullies, and this is where we get to call them out. here is "countdown's" nominees for the worst person in the world. one of the cohosts on the political whore house that is fox news? he has now devealed his sources. >> this is what we choose respect that. >> i read on a conservative blog last night that this could be the intent of the obama administration. they just want the catholic institutions to close. >> i read the same thing, and the hundreds of people that write into these blogs, they say that is the point of what is going on. >> i read it on a conservative blog he says? and the other guy goes on to say the read the same thing. i always assumed they were slow witted witted propagandaist, but they may be the victims of profound psychological abuse. and now darrell issa his problem appears to be he doesn't pay at attention to the details. he was spoke about the p

it's like the michigan state spartans getting to choose the starting lineup for the michigan wolverines, it's just wrong. what le -- what will he do next? we out to let the republicans choose the republican nominee. >> are you setting up a situation, that you will blame this on the democrats playing chaos, if you lose? >> we do not expect to lose, but i'll say, no matter what happens in michigan, we expect to win, but no matter what happens, tomorrow, mitt romney will gain the most delegates and increase his lead over the field. and keep in mind, this is a multi-month process that is unfou unfolding, the name of the game is getting 1,144 delegates that is the only must-do. >> eric, if mitt romney loses his home state today, tonight, tomorrow, if it turns out that he has not won michigan, will he end up having to satisfy his donors and himself perhaps by firing everyone? shaking up the organization? >> are you suggesting this is my last appearance your show? >> i hope not in any context. i hope and trust -- is everything on the line for the organization? >> no. one thing about mitt romne

all eyes now on the midwest battleground, michigan, the big question, will it be a decisive tipping point in this race? mitt romney and rick santorum neck and neck right now. and senator santorum is our headliner this morning. from marquette, michigan, good morning, senator. >> good morning, george, how are you? >> i'm okay. it looks like the tough week is taking a toll. the latest gallup poll, you started the week plus-ten, yesterday it was a dead heat. the same kind of trend in michigan, what's happening out there? >> oh, you know, look, this is going to be a long race and there are going to be some ups and downs. what happens when you get that position to be out in front, we just stay focused, we stayed focus here in michigan in particular talking about manufacturing jobs. particularly about energy and trying to get energy prices lower and the response that we have gotten has been absolutely great. we have had great crowds. we're focused on building this economy and particulary focused on making sure that lower-income people, folks who don't have the skill set have been rewarded a lot

willie, remember florida, the tie breaker. michigan would be the tie breaker. now it's ohio. even though there's no big republican unit to talk to who will think the nominee is going to beat anyone other than mitt romney, then it's going to be ugly and expensive, very expensive. there's already been $5 million spent in ohio and the candidates are just starting there. >> what does this race look like this morning? we had talked about if rick santorum won michigan the whole thing would be turned on its head. there would be new calls for a new candidate to get into the race. that didn't happen. mitt romney hung on. won a blowout victory in arizona. how do we look at this? >> the romney campaign is showing it bends but doesn't break. it's always been the survivor campaign. what santorum now doesn't have anything to give him a big shot. they could split the super tuesday states and newt gingrich is going to stay in there, which helps romney because it splits up that conservative vote. it could go on at least until april. could go on past that because, willie, none of the other can

michigan. romney picked up another 38 delegates including all 28 -- 29, i should say, from arizona. the delegates in michigan, however, are broken up by congressional district, meaning santorum will ultimately leave the state with about the same number of delegates as romney will. how did romney fend off his challenge? 48% of voters who supported romney said beating president obama was the issue that mattered most. 31% said having the right experience was the most important factor. 61% of michigan republicans say romney has the best chance of winning in november. only 24% see santorum as the strongest challenger to the president. economic issues were key to romney's win in michigan where the state's 9.3% unemployment rate is well above the national average. concern over the economy and deficit outpaced social issues. the ones santorum has been talking about quite a bit on the trail. romney won 47% of republican voters who said the economy was the most important issue compared to 30% who supported rick santorum. still, romney's three point margin of victory, less than commanding in his h

the top two or three issues that matter the most to voters in michigan. ephen, take that question first. >> i think jobs obviously. we lost more jobs than almost any other state in the union during the recession. in fact, we were in a recession nine years before the rest of the state was in a recession. and we never came out of it. and so people here have lost -- a lot of people have lost everything. the idea that people need to get back to work, of course, they're doing that now with the auto industry, which is not helping mitt romney who is trashing the bailouts. so that's got to be issue number one. obviously the federal budget deficit, and the prioritization of spending, is that going to go for entitlements and things like that, those resonate here too. really it is -- this is an economic election for people in michigan. >> and, dave, economic issues certainly, but are you saying there is other parts of the state where social issues matter perhaps as much if not more? >> absolutely. it is almost an underlying issue that is not spoken as much out here.

the polls close in michigan at 8:00 and 9:00 eastern time. there's two times there, because there are four upper peninsula counties that report a little later. the understanding is that the ap and probably the networks won't call that race before 9:00 p.m., which is the poll closing time for the four western counties there. it will probably be sometime after that. >> charles matisse, thanks for being with us. your work is available online at politi polititic politico.com. our live coverage will get under way this evening with speeches by ron paul and newt gingrich and also sometime after 9:00 eastern time when the results come in from michigan, we expect to hear from rick santorum and mitt romney. live coverage streamed on the waebt c-span.org, and here on sp span radio. the detroit free press discussing another story today writing about the president's appearance here in washington before the uaw, the united auto workers with its national community action program. the conference is here in our nation's capital. the detroit free press says the

you look at the upper peninsula of michigan. there are a lot of very conservative people with conservative social values. rick santorum has been talking about those. those are the voters with passion and they turn out. he has appealed to them and many of the things they believe in. what really struck me more than anything in the past few days was the nra which has come out not only very strongly for senator santorum, strongest mesi have ever seen the nra do anti- romney. if he is the candidate, the message is not going to be something that they want to live with. tavis: democrats are being asked to go consider voting against gov. romney in the michigan primary. i can see that both ways. >> i absolutely agree with you. i am somebody that believes that democrats should nominate democrats and republicans should nominate republicans. i think we would change the presidential nominating system. you see what happens when the national media focuses on issues that matters to your state. everyone knows i have had this position for a long t

the fact is, he lost michigan. so whether they get the delegates split exactly evenly or one party gets a couple more than the other is utterly unimportant. the fact is, this was his shot in the same way that the elections he won 3 weeks ago, the missouri, colorado and minnesota, had no delegates at stake. and yet, it was important and the momentum, what was at stake before, he got it and tonight, he lost. >> charles, as always, thanks for the analysis. see nuwashington. >> mitt romney, wing both arizona and michigan, tonight, coming up, chris wallace and karl rove and joe trip pyon the races. keep it right here on america's election headquarters. >> one thing we can't afford, it's 4 years of barack obama with nothing to answer to. so we are going to get him out of that office and get him back home where he belongs. >> now you saw his b now, you saw his budget. laura ] maine is known for its lighthouses, rocky shore, and most importantly, its lobster. it's the tastiest, the sweetest, the freshest. nobody can ever ge