years. historic drops in income and historic rise in gas prices. a president who doesn't hesitate to use all the means necessary to force through obama care, but leads from behind in the world. it's time to say these words. enough. >> rick santorum also spoke from gettysburg in his home state of pennsylvania. >> i said throughout the course of this campaign, while other issues are certainly important, economy, joblessness, national security concerns, the family, the issue of life, all of these issues are important. but the foundational issue in this race, if one that is, in fact, the cause of the other maladies that we are feeling, whether it's in the economy or whether it's in the budget crisis that we're dealing with. all boils down to one word. and that's what's at stake in this election. and it's right behind me on that banner. and that's the word freedom. >> rick santorum in gettysburg. let's check in with wolf and john with the latest numbers. >> all right, anderson. thanks very much. here are the latest numbers. 55% of the vote is now in. in the state of illinois. you can see a very impressive lead for mitt romney. 47% to 35% for santorum. ron paul, 9%. newt gingrich coming in fourth with only 8%. a very just think after louisi saturday, let's see how newt does. it's the last of the southern states to vote. and if newt can't make his case there, i just think his crowd has diminished, reportered stopped following him. that starts to hurt your feelings as a candidate when you start to say why am i here? nobody else is showing up. that's what starts to make people look twice and say should i be in. i think rick santorum has earned the right to go seven more rounds. his problem is that mitt romney is starting to expand and lead in every way, shape and measure. if rick santorum can't address that, his day will come and it not here yet. but he's going to have to face that day. >> paul, for rick santorum, for everybody in louisiana and that could be good news for rick santorum. >> it could be. i'll let her speak about the interesting divide there and why i think you'll see the catholics running hardest and strongest in a very protestant, north louisiana area. but the most striking thing to me, and if i was santorum, i would cling to this, 40% of republican primary voters today said they had reservations about the candidate they voted for. not about another candidate. but when four out of ten still say that they're not happy with the candidate voted for, of course many of them may have said that about santorum himself, that's something politicians sometimes use to fuel a dying candidacy. >> what about louisiana? north louisiana is really home of the self described christian evangelical movement. and, also, rick santorum has a hard problem, really, solidifying a catholic vote. so i think rick santorum can covery well in weekend in louisiana. but, you know, i already said something very important. that's the last southern state. that's the last south state. but you still have texas. you still have arkansas. i don't think he can pull together the math. we know that he has problems filling delegate's place in many of these states. but you know what, this race is still going to continue. and i still believe at the end of the day sometime in mid april, mitt romney will be able to get these two gentlemen out of the race and he can finally earn the right to, you know, start talking about president obama, i guess. >> you said earlier the handwriting is on the wall chatty what about santorum? >> santorum is going to stay in for a while. he's got louisiana. he's probably got texas. mathematical mathematically, considering his lack of delegates, even where he's winning, i don't see how rick can get to 11:44. if his strategy is to try to get to a cone fens and keep romney from getting to 1144, that becomes a fool's error. you're going to say wait a second, no one has gotten to a broker convention like this. you need to stand down. i don't see he can stay in for a while longer. i don't see him getting to 1144. >> everyone, stickaround. twitter at anderson cooper. coming up next, john king is going to break down the numbers just how mitt romney won. also, later on, the latest in a shooting. we'll be right back. 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exit polling tells a story. let's turn to john king and wolf for this. >> thanks very much. the polls do show a very impressive win tonight for mitt romney. and he won not only because he won in some of the bigger popular toy areas. but it's deeper. >> illinois is not mississippi or alabama or louisiana which is up next. but look at this. 65% of the electorate, two-thirds of the voters say they were conservative. mitt romney has had trouble. he won 43% of the vote to senator santorum's 39 among those who said they were conservative. this is evidence. the party is going around and santorum will say louisiana is a lot different. this is another good night for mitt romney with which he has struggled in the past. among this constituency, another 43 to 47% at 12%. and ron paul at 7%. but governor romney winning among tea party supporters. the biggest issue was the economy. this is the lopsided romney win here. so he holds his strength here. if you look at this one again, the romney campaign will cite this. his problem has been can he connect with blue collar voters. let's come over here by income. 50-100,000. you see him here tieing senator santorum 39%-39% in the middle of the income ranges in our exit poll. otherwise, we see those who make a hundred thousand or more. so the constituency, with which he's won in the past. but he did show some progress among tea party voters and among those who say he understands their concerns. again, illinois different from the south. but that's a good night. >> anderson, with 62% of the vote now in, 47% for romney, 35 for santorum, only 9% for ron paul, 8% for newt gingrich. a very good night, indeed, for mitt romney. >> yeah, let's get reaction with the panel. >> well, sure. i mean, first off, you want the race to be sort of to rewrite thomas hobbs. nasty, broodish and long. and it has been. but i thought romney did a good job for mitt romney. but he still doesn't make the emotional connection. frankly, i thought a lot of people thought al gore lacked that. mitt romney makes those two look warm and fuzzy. and he needs to find a way to open his heart a little bit. i think having ann romney speak is a great advantage. she's terrific. but she's not on the ballot. he did it in illinois by out spending santorum 21-1. and he won't be able to out spend barack obama 21-1. >> is all of this -- santorum, gingrich, they all make this argument about the delegate count. it's inevitable mitt romney is going to be the nominee, isn't it? >> i think so. unless he unexpectedly collapses. >> one of the reasons he's down below 10% is the sense that his candidacy is fading. there's an up and down in these things. i have to tell you. there are a lot of people in illinois who are not totally comfortable. there are a lot of people in barack obama's camp who are not totally comfortable, either. i still think barack obama is favored. i think he's moved from underdog to favorite. and with a better economy. but it's still winnable for the republicans. >> but that point, the four out of ten being uncomfortable, speaks to the question of enthusiasm. and bar obama may do more to bring out republican voters than mitt romney does. it looks like turn out is actually low in illinois. and we've seen that time and time again. and the big question is whether that's going to mean much come the general election. but when you have republicans who are unsure or not thrilled about their candidate but they sort of think that he's inevitable and maybe electable, will they turn out? >> you saw john king's exit poll. do you buy the earringment that republicans are starting? >> well, i think they are starting to coalesce. we've seen that pattern throughout the primary race. he had it in nevada, he had it in florida. he didn't have it in south carolina. he didn't have it in some of the states that senator santorum won. the big issue, as gloria was just talking about, what's going to happen if it eegs romney. and i think gloria nailed it. i think they are going to unite against barack obama. that's going to be the blue that holds them together. and that's going to be the gap that the democrats have. and it's going to be matched by the enthuse yack drop because they just can't match the magic of 2008. so they're going to have less turn out, less constituencies, young people and minorities turning out in record numbers they turned out in 2008. >> but i don't know if you can predict democratic turn out anymore than you can really predict republican turn out. >> on either side. >> let's look at turn out numbers, john king and jonathan, you have some of the figures. >> i just matched them up. if you add this up, 300,000, 218, 58 and 49, you have about 61% here. so you're a little above 600 with 71%. let's just go back in time with the republican primary. you get a little above 800,000. so you're more than 800, remember, this is the percentage of presingeds reporting. we're waiting for the rest of the vote to come in. >> he's not giving up. more from our panel. we'll have more on that next. as! 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>> i don't know? >> the numbers say it is a two-way race with a big advantage to mitt romney. you see the numbers here. that's our guesstimate. i understand santorum with 244. so where do we go from here? let's fast forward. louisiana is on saturday. let's assume santorum wins, he narrows the gap, but just slightly. maryland, wisconsin, the district of columbia. speaker gingrich talking about a conversation down the road. it's hard to stop romney unless santorum or somebody has to take away indiana, has to take away west virginia, has to take away north carolina. even here romney clinches a map that's overwhelmingingly tinted in his favor. as we have the conversation tonight, it's up for anybody but romney. >> i mean, will this be a different conversation if rick santorum wins and wins big in louisiana this weekend? >> i don't think so. this is a war of attrition. and while he may be able to pick up some of the louisiana delegates like illinois, again, many of our delegates will be selected by a congressional district. and you have to look and see if rick santorum is on the ballot or he's found enough delegates. i don't believe they have any incentive to leave the race. it's really up to mitt romney. i was reading just a while ago because i teach on wednesday. if i had to grade mitt romney, he'd get an a in math. . but in terms of chemistry, i think he gets a c +. >> what do you meek of donna's argue? >> you can see by the exit polling, there's a core group of conservatives. if you look along the border of ill now, he's not doing very well down there. he's not doing well with evangelicals. but he is doing well with the population. i do think he's going to be the nominee now. this is the first big race he's won where there wasn't a caveat to it. he did quite well. at the same time, we do have to keep in mind, there is a large number of evangelicals who they're not necessarily wedded to a party. hence, they don't particularly like mitt romney. you can say it's because of his positions on life issues over time. whatever. the fact is, they're not wedded to him. and they're not necessarily wedded to the republican party. and he's going to need those people to turn out for the november along with independents who -- which i think ari is right. >> the base of the base ultimately wants to be president obama. and we'll go with whoever is the candidate. >> yeah, i think that's right. and i think the base of the base hated mitt romney so much, he wouldn't have been in these primaries. they're not enthusiastic about him. that's the one that's really there. on the economic issues, he's comfortable enough. >> i think barack obama would probably get an f. let's look ahead to what's next. louisiana saturday, potentially, newt. and then where do you go from here? you go to april third and then we've got d.c., wisconsin and maryland. and then the race goes into a long lull. and when you're in second place, the last thing you need is a lull. and then you go to april 24th. the end of april. and everything basically shifts to pennsylvania and the northeast. the northeast goes for romney. rick santorum is still not gaining ground. if santorum doesn't win pennsylvania, his home state, that's a real problem for him. at that point, on the 24th, i think then it would certainly be a real issue for him. >> if he were to lose pennsylvania, i think he would withdraw at that point. i think ari's analysis is fundamentally right, if you look at the state. >> i thank you, everyone. thank you. coming up, the latest in the case of 17-year-old travon martin shot to death by a neighbor who watched in a florida gated community. live report from florida. i'm also speaking with two neighbors who have some startling things to say about how police responded to the shooting. they're also talking about what they saw with their own eyes. we'll be right back. whitestrips.cts it goes below he enamel surface to whiten as well as a five-hundred dollar professional treatment. wow, that's you? 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