fr for afor all witpfo of them yet. r >> tp >> the message is this that yop is thata not who will claim victory? r >> thp >> this race i interesting. >> r >> it p >> it is f. newt gingrip newt gingrich bar back back to the newt gingrip newt gingrich bar back back to th top p we have rwe have ran people. p >> a>> and mitt romney neg him p>> he is fr>> he erratic. >> it ir >> it is>> it br but whbut what makesh is at the core. >> no way to stop the momentum that we have started. >> who will return to florida this summer as the republican nominee? >> well, i will go all of the way to the convention and i expect to win the nomination. >> we will be in the race for a long time. >> forget everything that you thought you knew about the presidential field. >> in is a beginning of a long hard song. >> we are going to take back the white house and take back our country. >> the nomination is up for grabs. the conventional wisdom is out the window, and florida will change the game again. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. the last polls close in florida one hour from now. i'm wolf blitzer at the cnn election center. it is another critical night for the four remaining republican candidates, especially, especially for mitt romney and newt gingrich, and we have the most crews in the most locations, and our correspondents are out enforce including candy crowley and jim acosta, and first to you, candy, at romney headquarters set the scene. >> well, what is interesting, wolf, as you can see behind me, they are be gining to collect early and some of them believe that it is an early night. certainly the romney camp is looking for a strong showing and they would like a big gap between newt gingrich and mitt romney and perhaps in the double-digits, but more than that, they want a broad victory looking particularly at the conservatives and women, because they believe if they can win in those two groups, they will have selling point, as they move forward. wolf? >> and jim acosta over at the newt gingrich headquarters. set the scene over there, jim. >> well, wolf, this is not south carolina and not as celebratory as ten days ago, but newt gingrich says he will fight on to the convention later on in the year. he says he can win the nomination, and he told me earlier today something very interesting about the state of the race. he made the point that mitt romney has not closed the deal with conservatives and he has a point, wolf. >> standby, and of course, anderson cooper with us every step of the way. >> well, florida is unlike any state we have seen so far and most of the polling places across florida are closing right now, but voting continues in the panhandle for another hour until 8:00 p.m. eastern when we will get the first glichmpse of this important contest will fallout. the florida results might bring more results and clarity to the republican race, and john king will map out the magic wall and poll data and erin burnett will show us how money is influpsing the presidential race and a ton of money is being poured into ads, and we call it battleground florida. john, what are you looking at? >> the most diverse and ideologically diverse state to vote so far. jim acosta mentioned the conservatives and this panhandle area up here is mike huckabee in 2008, and this is the arena mitt romney needs to match tonight. this is a big popular down here in tampa and orlando and cuban population down here along the coast, and one of the key places that we will see is the retirees down here, but evangelicals mostly up here. we are getting some exit poll data today. if we bring this out, remember in south carolina, you had a conservative electorate, and in florida somewhat conservative. 37% of the florida republicans describe themselves as somewhat conservative and 34% very conservative, and this is going to be fascinating how this plays out the night. and what is the biggest issue? 9.9% unemployment in florida no surprise, and the economy. 6 in 10 voters say that the economy is the number one issue, and illegalle immigration, 30%, and 24% for the budget. and the most important quality, anderson, the florida republicans know that their state is in the thick of it in november, so as they voted today, they are looking for a candidate who can defeat obama and that is the number one issue for for them. and with the debate a factor, 8f% of the republicans say that the debates were a factor as they cast their votes today, but some of them, anderson, have voted early. >> we have seen it in state after state. erin, what are you looking at? >> well, the economy is the most important issue, and you see it again in the state. we will look at the counties and what the tale is. flagler county and sumter could be ti, ap why did i pick them? the biggest population growth in the states and in the entire country over the last decade almost doubling and unemployment in flagler is 14%, and in sumter it is 7.8%, and they are below the national average and i have an interesting story about the village where they have a close tie to mitt romney. >> and over the break it down is gloria borger and david gergen here in the political center and also our team out in the head quarters a at watch party in mia miami beach, and we will look at the focus group in nevada with a group who are going to be watching to thewatch ing to get the results and also to hear from the candidates. >> and we have official votes already coming in, and in most of the states the polls closed at the top of the the hour at 7:00 p.m. eastern. look at this very, very early with 1% of the precincts reporting, but mitt romney is ahead. and 22% for newt gingrich, and almost 6,000 votes ahead of newt gingrich, and 6,931, and rick santorum with 2800 votes around 1 %, an ron paul 1,600 with 7%, and very, very early. this is the very early, and they have been voting for ten days or so in florida. early balloting and absentee balloting and we are getting the early numbers and with 1% in, mitt romney is ad h. we go the candy crowley and jim acosta. candy, they are looking at the numbers and applauding at romney headquarters a these are the first official numbers coming n in. >> yeah, i may be only one 1%, but they are absolutely thrilled here obviously. i have to tell you that in fact, these folks are coming in pretty early. that is always a sign of anticipation. they expect a good night, and the romney people expect a good night, again, looking for kind of forward now, wolf, and where they go next and where the toughest states are going to be. this is a campaign that really got renewed life. they certainly weren't dead after south carolina, but they needed a huge influx of some helium to float the campaign again, and certainly, they expect to get it in florida. they'd like a good solid win and they would love double-digits and take any win, but they would like to have a big one. they intend to keep can going, and we have heard mitt romney say earlier if he is attacked, he will push back. they really want to keep their foot on the neck of newt gingrich as they move forward. >> big state florida and a lot of people voting and diverse state. candy, standby as jim acosta is over at newt gingrich headquarters. walk us through the strategy for newt gingrich's folks coming back assuming he does not win in florida and taking the nomination? >> well, newt gingrich told me earlier today, himself, that the national polls still show him out in the lead, so to all of the questions of dropping out of the race, he says he is not about to do that, but if you look to the gingrich campaign and internal e-mail that went out to the supporters earlier in the week, it shows that what essentially they feel is a path to the nomination, if you will, and essentially points out that florida, yes, it has 50 delegates and winner-take-all here in the state, but because florida was penalized for moving up the primary in the calendar, those 50 delegates are a smaller prize than say what is at stake in georgia with 76 delegates there, and that is is a state where newt gingrich was a congressman and rose to the office of speaker of the house of representatives. so, they see, you know, this race unfolding in a very long drawn out process, where super tuesday with the southern states may favor newt gingrich as opposed to perhaps nevada and michigan. newt gingrich, himself, said earlier in the week, well, nevada has a sizable mormon population and that may favor the former massachusetts governor, but at the same time, wolf, remember out in that race for the senate between sharron angle and harry reid two years ago there is a big tea party force out there in h nevadnevad that could work for newt gingrich. >> yes, it could, jim acosta. over to the gingrich headquarters in orlando, and we have more numbers and precincts report reporting. you can see 8% of the precincts reporting with 52% of the majority with 18% of the precincts reporting. 25% for newt gingrich, and 12% for rick santorum, and 8% for ron paul. and a 45,000 vote lead for mitt romney. it is a significant lead indeed. over the john king over at the magic wall. 8% of the precincts is a significant number coming in. >> and yes, quickly, because you mentioned the early voting and the absentee voting and you see that mitt romney is 52% with 8% in. this one of the questions with the romney total if he holds the lead and wins the state, will the romney total as conservatives coalesce and beat him? but when you add it up, that is assuming that governor romney keeps this lead. i want to go back to 2008, because remember, he was a competitor back in 2008 and i want to circle the areas where he did well. he won here and here and that lighter red is john mccain from four years ago and the orange is mike huckabee, and the strongholds and couple more, strong areas for romney here, as we come to 2012 he is starting to fill in some of the blocks. you expect him to start from the base from 2008 and how to expand it and deepen it. if you believe the late polls, governor romney went into the election day with a couple of leads. and so the couple of things, the early absentee votes are coming in quickly, and system of tl so here in the panhandle are still yet to close, so we are to be careful what we say about the exit polls, and that. but when you look at how much romney has grown from the 2008 experience, florida was tend of the line for governor romney in 2008, but he hopes it is a rebuilding springboard. >> yes, john, you are making a quick point that these are very, very early pointing. and 8% of the reporting complete, and mitt romney maintaining a significant lead and majority, and a lot of the people voted early voting and absentee ballt los and standing by with the new numbers coming in are very, very quickly. remember, all of the -- all of the polls will be closed at the top of the hour, and presumably we will share with you all of the exit poll numbers and see if we can make the projections an all of that is standing by. over the joe johns who is standing by at ron paul headquarters in henderson, nevada, outside of las vegas. isn't that right? the ron paul campaign decided they weren't going to compete effectively in florida and winner-take-all so they are looking to wen a prize in nevada? >> absolutely. that is is very true, wolf. when you think about it, it is a odd. if you listen to it, viewers, we are watching the florida results from nevada. this h is the ballroom of the green valley ranch casino resort in henderson, nevada, just outside of las vegas, and one of the big questions here of course is what kind of crowd is ron paul going to get here tonight, simply because they are not really voting, you know, to any great extent here. now, one thing i can tell you is this, if you look out of the door here, you will see ron paul supporters with signs getting ready to come into the room. these are people who a lot of them got to alert of a day and a half ago, the e-mails out and a blurb s blurbs in the newspaper that ron paul would have a rally here, and that is what they are going to see, and get an opportunity to see ron paul. so, why are they doing this? a variety of reasons. he is focusing on nevada, because it is a small state and caucus state, and tonight, he wants to stand up on the stage to give a speech to capitalize, wolf, on all of the media that happens on primary night even though he is not competing in florida, so he wants the cake and to eat it, too, and that is the name of the game, wolf. >> yes, the saturday caucuses, and we will cover that as well. dana bash is covering the rick santorum campaign. walk us through santorum's strategy, because he is not in florida either, and he is in las vegas. >> that is right. and just like ron paul, he feels that there is no reason for him to be in florida, because it is very clear that there is no way he will get the 50 wip winner t all delegates. so he is not far from where i am, and this is the headquarters and he will be here in an hour, hour and a half, the first town hall meeting which is the first real event here in the state at all. in fact, this headquarters is new. they got two paid staffers on the payroll and maybe three or four days ago and opened up the headquarters and shows you the kind of the fly by the seat of the pants shoestring campaign that they are running. they do have money. they reported today that they have over $1 million cash on hand which is not bad, but that is money that they are going to have to keep in the bank for the long haul if there is any, any chance for rick santorum the stay in and potentially, potentially because this race has been such a roller coaster to take on a surprise. this state is important to him, because it is not winner-take-all and even if he gets two or three delicates in the caucuses, that is something if he wants to add them up. >> his little 3-year-old daughter bella had pneumonia, but she is doing better now? >> yes, that is what he is saying. the senator of course came off of the campaign trail and he was supposed to be in florida over the weekend, but at home with his daughter in the hospital, but he is saying that thank god, she is doing much, much better and that is why she is on the trail. >> all of the viewers wish her the best. anderson, back to you. >> yes, in orlando, the members of the gingrich campaign are working the phones as we countdown the final poll closings as we look at the behind the scenes vote counting and take a look at the crucial economy and the influential battle for florida tonight. stay tuned. c'mon dad! i'm here to unleash my inner cowboy. instead i got heartburn. hold up partner. prilosec can take days to work. try alka-seltzer. it kills heartburn fast. yeehaw! they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it without missing a beat. fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. it's me? 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[ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. and welcome back to continuing coverage and all of the polls close about 40 minutes from now, and the republican race has been incredibly volatile in florida as it has been in other states. back in october, remember, mitt romney was the clear leader in the polls. newt gingrich jumped ahead of romney a couple of months later, and romney reclaimed the lead in florida in mid january while gingrich and rick santorum duked it out for second place. gingrich surged again after the south carolina win and running neck and neck with romney in florida after the cnn numbers last week, but the final poll today shows he has a sizable lead over newt gingrich. the national polls though tell a little different story. romney peaked after the win in new hampshire while gingrich way back in the rest of the pack. and romney lost ground while gingrich made steady gains and then gingrich shot up nationally after the south carolina win, but it has tighteneded up in recent days, so again, that is nationally, and he and romney are running neck and neck when you look across the nation. a lot the talk about. and the correspondents are all over the place, and we will go to them shortly over at gingrich headquarters. let's talk a little bit about what you are seeing so far, and in terms of the turnout and in terms of what people are looking at in florida. >> well, the bitterness of the contest is showing that the candidates don't like each other, but it is penetrating down to the grass roots and a huge majority of the people are voting for gingrich and exit polls say they are not happy at all if romney is the nominee. when it was the hillary and barack show, the elites hated each other, but the grass roots, it was i am not for brarack obama, but i can take either one. >> and what do you think about the paul -- >> well, i know that paul thinks it is christmas for the democrats to see the republicans fighting, and it is. but at first we say that the republicans don't have passion and don't like anybody, but we are having a election and liking the candidates and if you ask ask them, they say, no i don't like the other guy, and i like my guy. >> they are not loving gingrich or romney or anybody else, because it is negative ti. >> this is what happens in tough, contested primaries when it is a tough choice between the candidates and nobody has separated themselves. at the end of the day as soon as somebody wins and gets momentum, you will see the republicans come together, because in one way the leader of the republican party is barack obama. he is the guy that we all feel the same about. >> and that is not enough to simply beat president obama in the fall. you have to run a campaign about ideas and about issues and on that newt gingrich is absolutely right. >> well, that is what david axelrod said, right? >> well, i am not running hism campaign. >> he said what they want do is to run a campaign that is just a choice, not a reren dumb -- referendum on obama, and that is what republicans want to do, make it a referendum on obama. >> and there is a trend of obama's favorable and unfavorable ratings and down in 47 states compare td to one yea ago. he has dropped and in 47 of 50 states, so paul and donna want to do a dance now and i understand that the republicans have the ball and you are dancing as you watch us run with the ball and sometimes move backwards, but the fact of the matter is once it goes back to barack obama and the steward of the economy and the debt and the spending a on tnd the unemploym- >> you are looking at the metric wrongly. when you look at obama today and four years ago you are comparing him to the almighty and not the alternative. he is not theoretically perfection and compared to the hopes and dreams of the supporters he is not doing as well as 2008, but compared to the other side, and that is how these things are run, and they are a choice and a referendum, the republican brand is being damaged by this, and people are watching the the debates, and they are following this stuff, and the republican brand and all of the national polls are going way down, and the in the "wall street journal" it is showing they are going way down. >> and even in the battleground states, you have a vulnerable president in the battleground stat states. >> and we need more and more primaries like this. >> and paul and i have seen these and a lot of experience and we all know that it is like a playoff game, and what happens in one playoff