Mitt Romney Third News Today

Last night. he says the frontrunner status in the campaign needs to be updated. >> we did it again. [cheers and applause] we will compete everywhere. we will compete everywhere. the time is now. for conservatives to pull together. the time is now to ke sure, to make sure that we have the best chance to win this election and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against barack obama who can take him on every issue. [applause] bill: where are we this morning? ...

Gingrich is saying that he and santorum together can get 50%, or more than 50% and tro u.n. ce romney. is there way that these two team up somehow? >> i dont see that as very smart. i think at the end of the day people vote for a candidate that they are inclined to think is the best president. they dont vote for two. so i think the reality here is, you know, its gingrichs prerogative to stay in as long as he wants, and he will he doesnt quit. i think it makes it harder for santorum to get to the...

Alisyn: gearing up now for the next big g.o.p. battle in the land of lincoln. mitt romney and rick santorum both campaigning hard in illinois right now. 54 delegates are at stake when voters head to the polls on tuesday making the prayer restate a major player in what could become a two-man race. steve brown is live in washington. steve, we understand that up until now mitt romneys illinois operation was being run out of a living room, true? >> reporter: well, in a sense it was. as of a week ago...

Ppro romney super pack has run almost a million dollars worth of ads. the romney campaign itself is running ads. we expect a lot more as the days wind down until tufplts. alisyn: why is illinois tricky territory for rick santorum? >> reporter: this isnt mississippi and this isnt alabama, no disrespect intended to those states. illinois is a lot more like ohio. >> its turned in to another battleground. as you look at illinois it really ought to favor romney. the demographics of the republican vot...

For one day. im alisyn camerota in today. santorum did not gain any in the delegate fight. romney has 495, santorum has 252. newt gingrich 131 and ron paul 48. the magic number is 1,144. but santorum says hes not focused on numbers. >> people have said, you know, youre being out spent, and everybody is talking about all the math and all the things that this race is inevitable. well for someone who thinks this race is inevitable he spent a whole lot of money against me for being inevitable. [appl...

Puerto rico, which he hopes to return into puertoricko. bill: what about newt gingrich? what is he saying about his campaign? >> reporter: the rational is to stay in. he wants to stay in all the way to the end feeling he can provoke a dialog within the republican party, and that 60 days between the end of the campaign and the beginning of the convention the dialogue he heaps could propel him to the nomination. if he stays in he takes delegates away from mitt romney, prevents him from becoming th...

One-on-one. alisyn: lets look at his side. lets show you what happened last night. in mississippi, yes, he didnt win but he got as many delegates, 12, as romney did. you can see there that santorum got 13. newt gingrich got 12, romney got 12, that is hardly, you know, a runaway win by santorum. in alabama the same thin. let me tell the viewers for a second. santorum got 18 there gingrich came in second with 12 to romneys 11. >> the dynamics if he wasnt in the race if either candidate got 50% the...

The numbers weve been seeing. bill: is this a shell game sold to the american people? tucker, when you look back at this right now, some project a 2 trillion dollar price tag over the last 10 years. or 20 years? >> think about this. youre looking at wreckage of the 2008 financial collapse. youre president obama. 2009. first thing comes to mind lets have a massive new federal entitlement. thats what this country needs. the whole thing was out of hand from literally from day one. that is why it wa...

Two-man race everything changes. bill: next stop illinois. stephen hayes. >> thanks, bill. bill:. alisyn: mitt romney may have been third in the south but had a commanding performance in the hawaii caucuses getting 45% of the vote in hawaii. santorum came in second there. romney getting all nine delegates at the caucuses in american samoa. bill: as steve was pointing out although santorum got both states in the south he did not gain much ground in the race for delegates. romney leading the count...

Still 350,000 people homeless from that tsunami and quake last year. 5,000 still missing, bill. bill: that is remarkable. trace gallagher stay on it. when there are more headlines ill bring you back. trace in l.a. that is one big story this morning. here is another, rick santorum sweeps the deep south in the political picture in this campaign is muddied once again. [cheering] there he is entering the room with his wife and kids behind him. he notched primary victories in alabama and mississippi....