victim s family stunned and afraid. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. the republican candidates are scrambling to cover as much ground as they can. the south carolina primary only nine days away and early voting in florida starting at the same time. it s now make or break for the stragglers in the gop pack. some are trying to cut into mitt romney s lead by slamming his record as a financier. romney is mounting a counter-offensive in florida today. jim acosta is joining us from west palm beach with the latest. jim? reporter: wolf, don t let all the florida sunshine fool you. mitt romney is coming up a blizzard of attacks from the gop rivals over the issue of corporate layoffs, so the gop front-runner returned to a familiar theme of the campaign, and that is he understands the plight of the unemployed. mitt romney hopes he s found the message to remain his bain in the neck. being unemployed for a long period of time means families are having a hard time ma