youngstown, ohio, where you were just talking about frac'ing, part of what has brought youngstown back is a new company that makes the thin steel rods that does what? frac. it's great for and awful for them. and i think that is part of what the gop is relying on here. the idea that environmental issues are biblical, way out in, some future moment and that the pocket issues are today. >> the environmental issues are liberal clap trap, anything anybody is complaining about in terms of environmental impact of things that also have economic impact, if you look at anything other than the economic impact you should be doubt. would you might not be telling the truth, you are part of an economic conspiracy. i feel the global warming movement has formed every discussion about energy, with any environmental impact it's made the ascertaining of that as an impact of a policy to be a suspect thing. >> and part of it is that there's a great deal of simply untruth about the economic impact of these polluters. right? whether it's polluters that are polluting air or whether it's those who are creating

so we have a total renaissance going on in youngstown.at the same time, we have high levels of poverty, chronic poverty, concentrated poverty, that we need to address as we begin to move out of the recession, the great recession, and into the next recovery. we've got to make sure everybody is on board in towns like youngstown. >> mr. blackwell, let me turn to you on this sort of story of recovery coming out of youngstown. we have reverend sharpton saying before the break how critical talking about economic issues and jobs is going to be in ohio and obviously we've just come out of michigan where the president was there almost as much as the gop candidates, kind of touting his recovery in michigan. what is the ohio story for gop candidates in the next three days, and then whomever becomes the nominee as they face the president when youngstown is the kind of story the president can tell? >> i think the issue is economic growth and job creation. i think that is first and foremost in the thinking of anybody running for president or who happen

in youngstown, ohio. it's not exactly san francisco, not earthquake territory. all 12 of these earthquakes were clustered less than a mile around this. this is the north star one well. a class two deep injection well used for oil and gas fluid waste disposa disposal. remember the night of the primary when rick santorum pulled the rock out of the pocket and banging it on the podium. >> this is oil. oil. out of rock. shale. it leachs oil. >> the way you get oil out of rock like that is that you shoot water in a whole bunch of chemicals in the ground to crack open the rock to crack open the shale to get oil and gas out of it. pump enormous amount of fluid in the ground, but what do you do with all of that fluid that is now waste water once you're done? quoting from the associated press, municipal water treatment plants aren't designed to remove some of the contaminants found in the waste water including radioactive elements. so what do the oil and gas out of rock people do with this water then? they drive it

the youngstown area, 37% to 34%. if you pop up, romney winning in trumble county. another county, akron, summit county, where santorum wanted to do better. you see the edge here. one way to look at this. if you go back in time, the republican race, forgive me, republicans, is playing out like the democratic race did back in time. go back to the democratic primary, hillary clinton won ohio last time. look where senator obama did well. in columbus and in the suburbs, in cincinnati down here, and up here. hillary clinton won everywhere else. here, here senator clinton, not obama did well in akron and youngstown. now look at 2012, the republican race. this is an area where rick santorum who is the blue collar candidate like clinton needed to do well, and he did not. otherwise, his votes are tracking obama's. this is the count, you see very narrow. actually, for romney, has passed into the lead in our count at 86%. and we know it's bigger than that. >> let's put it on the big screen because for the first time in a while,

the romneys hat a campaign even in youngstown, ohio. >> i introduce to you the heavy weight championmy life. that didn't come out right. a great fighter is what i mean. >> if this goes on much longer i will be the heavyweight champion. things are getting a little tight. this is what happens if you are on the campaign trail, we have been on this a long time now and you don't always get to eat like you like or exercise like you like. >> he wanted that back the minute it left his lips. >>> stephen colbert began the countdown to minutes until conservatives must fall in love with mitt romney. here he is last night. >> looks like it will be mitt romney's night. he has strong leads in massachusetts, vermont, virginia, and idaho. no surprise, the potato state. and mitt is nothing if not pale and starchy. from a purely mathematical standpoint i and my fellow conservatives will eventually yield to the in evidence vicinityability of mitt romney. so jimmy, put the countdown to loving mitt clock up. oh, god. 23 hours, 58 minutes, jimmy, take it down, take it down! it's just bad luck for the bride

>> youngstown, ohio.ick santorum was on the trail hammering him again saying mitt romney is wrong on the central issue of our time. he can't win this conversation with president obama. john heilman, this may be a moot point at this point between santorum and romney, but how big does this loom in the general? >> well, look, i think, you know, conservatives are right when they say that it's going to be hard for mitt romney to prosecute an aggressive case against barack obama on obamacare given the similarities. that's always been the case, and this makes it even worse. but my question about this, it's been making me nuts, what's the date today? it's march -- >> march the 5th? >> 6th. >> how long has this race been going on? nine months? how can it be -- >> i know what you're saying. >> -- how can it be that it took nine months for the geniuses on the other campaigns to figure out how to use lexus nexus. >> it wasn't likely, willie, that he did this op-ed in the mass paper. he did it in the nation's largest

yesterday on the show we talked about youngstown, ohio.n being a place where there's been a stunning economic recovery. this time a situation where obviously, the republicans are gathering together in a place where there has been and continues to be a lot of economic pain. i want to show you one last thing before i bring you guys in. the ohio primary, nbc news marist poll shows that santorum and romney are neck and neck in ohio. rick santorum at 34, mitt romney at 32. newt gingrich and ron paul falling off considerably. robert traynham. what's happening in ohio? >> it shows me two things. mitt romney is a formidable candidate. however, he can't seal the deal with conservatives. remember, these republican primaries are about two conversations. number one, do i want the republican party to go hard right, like a tea party or a moderate candidate. when you look at the polls, the cross tabs, mitt romney is a beautiful candidate in the general electric. he has the best chance to beat barack obama in the fall. the question is whether or not mitt

just over 300 kilometers west, in youngstown ohio, this sense of optimism has been literally shaken.n 2011, there were 11 small earthquakes here. before, there were none. jeff dick is a geologist. to him the reason is obvious. a disposal well where fracking brine is injected deep into the earth. >> that belief is based on the proximity of the earthquakes to the injection, the timing of the earthquakes to the injections and recent seismic data that weave got that show that there is a left-lateral fault located about 3000 feet below the depth of injection for this particular well. >> fracking has brought jobs and tax revenues to the city. but the mayor had little choice. he called a halt to the fracking -- at least temporarily. >> you know, i wear two hats in affected, so myself i got scared when it happened so i know how everybody else felt. so again, i wanna be safe in my home just like everybody else wants to be safe in their home. these events have repercussions. each story of contaminated drinking water and earthquakes discredits the industry. kim windon counters. >> i think there

pittsburgh west toward youngstown and wheeling, we have showers there. thenton here come the showers. by midnight, some of those showers could be around tomorrow morning, especially south and east of town. then in the afternoon a chance for a few showers to pop, as well. we'll watch for the stray afternoon shower on tuesday today temperatures upper 60s, plus an increase in clouds in showers tonight. tomorrow a warm day, 77, chance of a stray shower in the afternoon. really nice wednesday and thursday. some of the rain unfortunately might be around for the big sun trust usa rock n roll marathon saturday mourn. temperatures in the low 70s. let's go to monika samtani. >>> a couple of notes, that is because we had a couple of early morning accidents. the triangles behind me an accident in southern maryland near wood yard road. that is good news for you folks inside the beltway. 66 no problems leaving manassas. inside the beltway in falls church on 66, all the way to the roosevelt bridge i think right now you should be fine as you can see. we'll go back over

along his home state of pennsylvania, mitt romney's leading in two of these counties, youngstown ande, to the north there. that would be a surprise, if that sticks with romney beating him in those two areas. so the big cities, the big counties, a big part of that vote is still out tonight. that's the reason why this is too close to call. in ohio, yet again. >> so interesting. i didn't get the browns/bengals thing, but i understand the red and the orange. >> that's the colors. [chuckles] >> by the way, i think the margin for an automatic recount in ohio, i think is 25%. i will check that -- the margin. all night long. we are watching the exit polls and we are looking at ohio. >> bret, this is getting very interesting tonight. here is why. let's take a look at the numbers here. romney's election mantra has been that his life in the private sector and also partly as a mr. fix-it of the olympics has been the major selling point and the ohio voters seem to agree with that. that counts for them a lot. they believe a president is better prepared if his background is in business and he wins

the youngstown area, 37% to 34%.ning in trumble county. another county, akron, summit county, where santorum wanted to do better. you see the edge here. one way to look at this. if you go back in time, the republican race, forgive me, republicans, is playing out like the democratic race did back in time. go back to the democratic primary, hillary clinton won ohio last time. look where senator obama did well. in columbus and in the suburbs, in cincinnati down here, and up here. hillary clinton won everywhere else. here, here senator clinton, not obama did well in akron and youngstown. now look at 2012, the republican race. this is an area where rick santorum who is the blue collar candidate like clinton needed to do well, and he did not. otherwise, his votes are tracking obama's. this is the count, you see very narrow. actually, for romney, has passed into the lead in our count at 86%. and we know it's bigger than that. >> let's put it on the big screen because for the first time in a while, this is official. let's go

mitt romney campaigned hard across ohio hours before the polls opened, asking voters in youngstown to carry him to victory on super tuesday. >> get out and vote. thank you so much. >> reporter: romney is locked in a dead heat there with rick santorum. the former pennsylvania senator had a lead there, but it started to fade after romney's three-state sweep last week. santorum admits a win in ohio is crucial. >> i would make the argument thal it may not be make or break. it's going to be a huge, huge deal. >> reporter: ohio is going to be considered the biggest prize because it's a battleground state to the general election. romney says he's the republican candidate who can win in november. >> what we need to do is get good jobs and scaling back the size of government and that's what i do. >> reporter: mitt romney and ron paul have a decided advantage here in virginia today. they are the only two republican presidential candidates who qualify to be on the state ballot. ron paul expects to do well in caucus states, especially, idaho. >> we certainly have a very good chance of winning, an

. >> reporter: and at a town hall in youngstown, romney faced unease even among supporters. >> i need an emphatic yes from you that you will repeal obamacare. >> why would i not? there's no -- [ applause ] >> reporter: in a campaign season consistent perhaps only for its inconsistency, with a string of different front-runners from michele bachmann to herman cain to rick perry, romney is arguing that he can finally focus on the general election with a victory in ohio. >> then we can start organizing our effort to make sure that we replace president obama. >> reporter: romney has tried to focus on mr. obama before, only to be tripped up by a reluctant republican electorate. >> i come to the people of ohio as a candidate who shouldn't be here. shouldn't be here if you looked at any political expert and you look at the money that's been spent, at the airtime that's been given, but we're here for a reason. >> reporter: and for his part, newt gingrich is counting on the south, including his home state of georgia to help him reinvigorate his stalled campaign. ron paul just returning from ala

the earthquakes in youngstown were probably caused by waste water being injected into a disposal well. that is the process known as fracking. officials want well operators to submit extensive data before they drill and track the drilling process electronically. >> a bay area coastguard cut ser back home after seizing millions of dollars of drug during its mission. it sailed into alameda today after seizing $4 million in drugs. that is what they were able to confiscated. another $65 million worth of drugs were tossed over board by drug runners. >> it's also very fun. you are going very fast. it's very serious but we're making it fun, its serious job but overall it's very rewarding. >> the crew has not been able to see their families sent they set sail a few days after christmas. welcome home. >> volvo cars have long been is taking it one st further.any they have developed air bags to protect pedestrians. they are callinge first external ba the cars have sensors that detect a collision with a person. they hope it will catch on with other automakers to drastically to reduce pedestrian de

is not true here when looking at romney now cutting into his lead and there is mahonning where youngstownted. 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 firgs congressional district in western ohio. you can find a lot of votes in hamilton county and a lot of republican votes there now, for years. and there is a bit of a difference complex in the north. you find a lot of numbers strong union vote with a long history z to make the point again this is where romney expected to do well to drive up numbers and

almost as if to prove he can't get out of his own way, here is mitt romney introducing his wife in youngstownyou the heavyweight champion of my life. wait, that didn't come out right. >> if i introduced my wife like that i'm not sure i would be in possession of any genitalia for that long. can we assume that mitt romney's worst is mitt romney? >> it looks that way. the old saturday night live where it looks like he has chocolate shoes because they keep ending up in his mouth. it's unbelievable how many gaffes he's able to make and still be the front-runner. there's got to be something going on. his handler have to be tearing their hair out. >> this has been going on for months. he spent $200 million on this campaign and every day says the most ridiculous thing imaginable. >> te spite all the money that they spent, the one thing they cannot change is mitt romney. no matter how much money they spent, he's still who he is. this is who he is. >> professor dyson, this is super tuesday. we're supposed to be focused on these caucuses and primaries. the president's press conference feels as though it

they're running in basically every ohio market, cleveland, columbus, cincinnati, youngstown, toledo andrginia markets. they're flooding the air waves with attack ads. interestingly a national group could politte to fact does fact checking, nonpartisan plays it straight and fair and repeatedly found given their lowest truth rating they call "pants on fire" over and over again in these ads, the station still runs them, a lot of money there and karl rove keeps writing them. it's the way it's played now. it's $5 million and unrelenting and will keep going. >> we have a long relationship with polito-fact we won't get into. do you try to raise more money yourself from small donors or basically try to get your own super pac. is there a friendly billionaire who owes you a favor you can call up and ask to come in and match that kind of spending? what is the next move when you're under assault in this way? >> one of the next moves is we will have the best grassroots operation in the country, in ohio working with the president -- on our own but working with some synergy with president obama's camp

i don't know how mitt romney can go to youngstown ohio where gm has made major investments where theruze is being built or to cleveland where ford is bringing back light truck production from mexico to the cleveland area or over to toledo where chrysler is making multiple millions of dollars investments in that area. the supply chain, your great state of michigan is a major producer of cars and trucks. ohio is of auto parts. how can mitt romney come into this state and boast to detroit about saying go bankrupt. santorum is the same way. neither of these candidates seem to have a clue about what's really important to the ordinary ohio voter. republicans and independent as well as democrats, so i think things are looking up for president obama in terms of winching in november in part because he's been a strong leader and i think he's done a wondeducational background job as president. on the flip side of the coin his opposition is so week and so flawed, governor, you know, i say that rick san, i believe is a man of principle and i believe he says what he truly believes and that really

mitt romney campaigned hard across ohio hours before the polls opened asking youngstown voters to carry him to victory on super tuesday. romney is locked in a dead heat there with rick santorum. >> thank you! >> reporter: the former pennsylvania senator had a lead there but started to fade after romney's three-state sweep last week. santorum admits a win in ohio is crucial. >> i would make the argument that it may not be make or break, but it will be a huge, huge deal. >> reporter: ohio is considered the biggest prize today because it's a battleground state in the general election. romney says he is the republican candidate who can win come november. >> what we need to talk about to defeat barack obama is getting good jobs and scaling back the size of government and that's what i do. >> reporter: mitt romney and ron paul have a decided advantage here in virginia today. they are the only two republican presidential candidates who qualified to be on the state ballot. ron paul expects to do well in caucus states, especially idaho. >> we certainly have a very good chance of winning and i ex

youngstown. slight lead right now, nothing doesn't represent 1% of the votes? . senator santorum needs to do better in this county than that. one of the things you watch for. toledo another to watch in lucas county. largedy democratic area, but in republican primary blue collar votes to go. if you're governor romney and see some red starting to fill in, you're encouraged. upscale voters, tends to do better with higher income voters. in the southwest corner of the state, this is a big republican area, very important in statewide elections, i will zoom in on hamilton county where senator rob portman is from, mentioned by many as a potential vice president candidate, very organized county and statewide elections they run up the numbers in hamilton county and very driven in a turnout in republican primary in the suburb, governor romney needs to do very well. you look at the votes, we say zero percent of hamilton county, tiny amount of votes, one or two precincts in, that's right now. we could use more votes in hamilton county. >> dan fla bash is over there. are you g

youngstown and the suburbs, romney wins by a smaller margin but still a victory.ounty, 10% of the population, not as big a margin as in the corners, but romney wins again. his wins in urban and suburban areas offset huge santorum gains in the rural area. so a state where santorum was ahead a few weeks ago, romney ekes out a narrow victory. it gives him the big prize on super tuesday, and most importantly, it gives him this. the moral argument he won a key battle ground state. romney had already won michigan. now he's won ohio. it helps him make this case. if this state were people, governor romney has a much harder time going forward saying i am your front-runner. ohio the biggest prize on super tuesday. >> i think john king should be able to go to sleep now. that's my official response. 4:40 on the east coast. what a night. >> a huge night for ohio. dennis kucinich losing his bid for re-election in the republican primary. he was defeated by veteran congresswoman margie captor. the two congressmen forced to face off because of new district lines. >> that's a huge

page one advertising in youngstown, ohio, said, quote, no woman, including ms. fluke, should ever be subject to the type of insults and vitriol broadcasting during the rush limbaugh show last week. and no individual or business should wish to be associated with this type of irresponsible behavior. he's also been dropped by two radio stations. the fire is red hot under rush. but he pretended today like everything was cool. >> no, we have not lost 28 sponsors. well, how can they say it? because they lie. folks, we have three brand new sponsors that will be starting in the next two weeks. now, obviously, i'm not going to tell you who they are today. that's like losing a couple of french fries in the container when it's delivered to you at the drive-through. you don't even notice it. if we lose 28 of those sponsors, the majority of them being in one city or another, that's a sad occurrence, but, folks, i would venture to say that this happens every day anyway in the course of doing business. >> you know, what i keep trying to tell mr. limbaugh, all of us have said t

youngstown, toledo, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been saved. jobs are being added. and i think people are feeling pretty good about what's happening in terms of the general economy. and i think the president is going to do well in ohio come november. >> all right. panel, standby. ohio is an important contest. the most important on super tuesday. these two polls that really highlight how close this race is. our nbc poll showing santorum inching ahead. but a new poll this morning have been the front runners flipped with romney inching ahead in the crucial battleground state. is it so crucial in november? john braybender joins us. it's great to have you here once again. let's get to it. your candidate came up short, but very close in michigan. mitt romney is on a roll. five-state it winning streak. the latest cover of "the new yorker", fst santorum in the dog house on the roof of mitt romney's car. talking about the family pet on the top of the car. does rick santorum have to win ohio or an ohio loss the beginning of the end for your candidate? >> i don't think so. the

it's opening its tenth office in youngstown in two days, says real clear politics.oming months. its volunteers have led 5,000 events and they've reached 650,000 voters in the process. now, in florida, we're seeing the same. a dozen offices opened there. 3,500 training and planning sessions held. and 5,000 interviews to recruit new volunteers there. another key state, north carolina, the ninth office just opened. this is the story that we're seeing across the country. they even opened a technology field office a stone's throw from facebook and twitter. behind all this, the 2008 obama dream team, michael slaby, is the chief geek. julianna smoot is in charge of fund-raising. and jennifer o'malley dillon is the field mar shl. the president was called the $25 million man. boy, has that changed since '08. its chicago operation, today it is big and tight-lipped. a ping-pong table is plain in sight. should the gop nominee be scared? well, as candidates close office and move state to state, obama is scooping some of them up and expanding his footing along the way. >> oh, thi

romney winning in the blue collar areas of youngstown and akron. senator santorum is winning big in smaller rural areas but a smaller percentage of voters there and all the counties are in. if you go through here. 100% of the vote in. 100% of the vote in. 100% of the vote in. i can go on and on. so a sweeping win for santorum in the rural counties of ohio, but the big victories by governor romney in the cities and the suburbs have him ahead. not a huge win. but romney will get the most dell gatds out of ohio, because senator santorum didn't qualify for all of them. this is what it's all about. looking at the map going forward, governor romney desperately wants this to be romney red coming out of super tuesday. if it is the case, he will have 13 wins on his side. seven for santorum, two for speaker gingrich. a lot of conversations why isn't it bigger, why can't you win in tennessee? prove yourself in the south. there will be a lot of question marks. a lot of question marks, a lot of talk about money, money. however, winning. winning. winning matters

you heard governor romney at an event in youngstown saying if he could win ohio, he feels he could win the gop nomination. that is not something you say on super tuesday unless you're feeling pretty good. why not in the they've erased a double digit lead from rick santorum in the last week. you'll appreciate this as somebody who crunches the numbers. they feel like they're going to win the lion's share on super tuesday. they have targeted some of these states by congressional district going into places in atlanta, knowing they won't win the state of georgia but feel they can pick up delegates by doing well in some of the suburban areas in that crucial state on super tuesday. and something else that the romney campaign has been saying, an adviser earlier today telling reporters they're telling members of congress, republican members of congress up on capitol hill, asking the question, who do you want on this ticket? do you want mitt romney or rick santorum? eric fern strom at romney advisers said rick santorum would be like cement shoes for republicans also on that ticket. it's all part