you shortly. let's put up on the screen right now the exit poll information for maryland. here is why we could make this projection that mitt romney is the winner in maryland. take a look at this. based on the exit polls, what people were telling us as they left the polling booths throughout the day, 49% in maryland said they were voting -- they already had voted in fact for mitt romney, 28% for rick santorum, 11% for newt gingrich, 10% for ron paul. based on those exit poll numbers, we are able to make the projection that mitt romney, the former governor of massachusetts, is the winner in maryland. not a huge surprise, but an important win for mitt romney. >> an important win also because of whom he won with, wolf. look at maryland over here, the state that tends to vote democratic. but look at what our exit polls showed in terms of how people responded to all of this. look at this. very conservative voters, somewhat conservative, moderate or liberal. look what they did in maryland over here. rick santorum 40%, 40% for mitt romney too. very conservative voters lining up with mitt romney. we have not seen that to this point. as you move to the somewhat conservative, there you see mitt romney 59% to santorum's 25%. that's one of the crushing numbers out of this certainly for the santorum people. they can't be happy about this. born again or evangelical christian voters, 63% of the people said they were not that in maryland and look what happened with them, 55% for mitt romney instead of santorum. as we move down a little further, most important issue in maryland, like everywhere else it's the economy. on the economy vote, 56% for mitt romney. that's crushing to santorum's 22% on the economy. that's been the biggest issue all over this country, every state we go to. time and again people say that's the issue. that's a better than two to one defeat on that. vote by income. this has dogged mitt romney. he has had trouble, trouble, trouble with lower-end voters. if you go to $100,000 or more, look at this, mitt romney wins 54% to 25%. there's no surprise on that. but now i want you to bring down to less than $50,000, less than $50,000 and mitt romney wins that 40% to rick santorum's 33%. that is something we really have almost not seen before. somehow he got traction with the lower end voters that santorum has been able to rely on. one last category because this is the one everybody keeps talking about on the republican side. the most important candidate quality. the number one thing people wanted in maryland who voted today was a candidate who could defeat barack obama. look at how they voted on that. 72% for mitt romney. only 12% thought that for rick santorum. wolf, this is an overwhelming bundle of numbers for mitt romney right now and why we can so easily say this is the way maryland voters went today in the republican primary. >> good numbers for mitt romney indeed. thanks very much, tom. we'll check back with you throughout the night. one quick note. by the end of the night on the democratic side it looks official. president obama will have enough delegates to ensure his renomination. he had no opposition, so that's not much of a surprise, obviously, as well. but let's bring in our panel. joining us, our political pan list gloria and donna. also ari fleischer. i want to get a quick initial thought from all of you. not a huge surprise that he wins in maryland, but you know what, maryland is on the border with pennsylvania, his home state was a crushing win for mitt romney today. >> that's right. and what rick santorum will say if he loses in wisconsin as well is that he's heading into pennsylvania. that's where he's going to be this evening. that's where his big win is going to be. it's his home state. then he believes he can carry on if he wins pennsylvania, take it through may to some states. >> may is a better month than april. >> states like texas, kentucky, arkansas. but i think you'd have to say, wolf, that after tonight mitt romney will have a commanding lead not only in delegates but also bragging rights saying, you know what, i have been able to beat rick santorum across a range of battleground states. i've proven myself as a candidate, let's get on with it. president obama attacked mitt romney today. republicans are thinking time to start getting in general election mode. >> rick santorum has won 11 states. that's nothing to sneeze at. >> he's won 11 more states than people thought he'd win. so you have to say he's run a very credible campaign and remains a credible candidate, but i think it's all but over. and if mitt romney wins all three tonight, then i think you'd have to say, wolf, that he's finally got his bandwagon rolling again. he was in the ditch for a while but i think he's got it rolling again and it will be very, very hard to stop. i don't care if it's may, june or august, he'll be very hard to stop. >> i listened to the president's speech today and he mentioned mitt romney by name, first time he's really done so in the course of this campaign. i didn't hear him say much about rick santorum. >> well, he understands that mitt romney has, you know, technically won the nomination, although we still have to go through a number of states before he will get to that magic number of 1,144. i voted for president obama today, so i guess three electoral votes in the fall, i'm proud of my vote and i can take this off now. but look, mitt romney is ready to pivot. he's ready to pivot to the gem election. he knows president obama is waiting for him. we've been waiting in the wings, we've known this for weeks. my thought right now is that mitt romney will at some point claim victory. the establishment want the race over with and we're ready to take on mitt romney. >> my own sense, ari, tell me if you agree, every time the president of the united states or one of his advisers mentions mitt romney by name, that helps mitt romney among republicans. >> well, it sends a signal to everybody that he is the one that the democrats are running against, creates inevitability. but let me step back and make a broader point about something interesting in my party. primaries draw you to the right if you're a republican and draw you to the left if you're a democrat except for republicans recently. mitt romney, who isn't the most conservative, john mccain isn't the most conservative and he won. george w. bush was not the most conservative in 2000 and he won. the fact is the party keeps nominating somebody other than the most conservative. you're going to make the point it pulled him to the right, et cetera. >> dragged him to the right. >> my point is somehow, the candidate who is not the most far right candidate keeps winning primaries. >> but in the process, mitt romney -- this process has not been great for him and dragged him to the right, particularly on the issue of immigration reform. that's why marco rubio in the senate wants to propose some kind of revision of the dream act so he can get some republicans to vote for it because he understands that this has been damaging. >> that's all true. remember, barack obama his first three years of president got drawn to the left as he governed. they both have done that and both have made mistakes. >> that's true. and president obama may have some real problems in the fall because of that, you and i agree with that. but i don't think mitt romney got dragged to the right, he got dragged to the far right. ari, just in the last few days republicans have been scrambling to figure out how do they appeal to women. how do we bring the women back. how do we appeal to hispanics. what do we do about the ryan plan? the president obviously saw the ryan plan being a vulnerability. >> how do you govern from the left if your policy is to bring the country back from the brink of a recession, to expand health care coverage for children, to restore equal pay for women with the lillie ledbetter act. how do you govern from one side. >> hold those thoughts. we have reporters at the romney and santorum headquarters. candy crowley is over at romney central, joe johns is over at the santorum campaign outside of pittsburgh. let's go to candy first. candy, give us a little sense of what's going on over there. >> reporter: not much at the moment, but i can tell you that for a couple of days now they do believe in the romney campaign that he's going to win wisconsin. it will then be a clean sweep for tonight. romney said during his campaigning here if i pull out a win here in wisconsin, i believe i will then go on to grab enough delegates, the 1,144 delegates i need before the convention, sort of trying to put an end to all that talk about a brokered convention or going there without having enough. so it is full steam ahead. you're still seeing mitt romney going after the president, responding to the president today and what the president had to say, so this is very much a general campaign wrapped inside the primary campaign. and the mitt romney folks certainly believe that he is now back on track, as david said, and moving along. so they'll gather here in wisconsin. they think they will look back at wisconsin, if not the day that he gets the actual number that he needs, but a day when there has been a big psychological pivot and they expect to see more people coming on board after tonight, should the win come in as they're hoping. >> i'll be curious to hear what he has to say, mitt romney, when he speaks to that crowd behind you later tonight. candy, thanks very much. joe johns is over at santorum's headquarters in mars, pennsylvania, not far from his hometown over there. set the scene for us, joe, over there. >> reporter: wolf, quite frankly, i think the santorum campaign is feeling just a little besieged these days with questions about the candidate's future. got on the phone with one top aide with the santorum campaign today. three times prefaced the conversation with we're not getting out, we're not getting out, we're not getting out. so the question, of course, is what is santorum up to right now. of course as far as his campaign is concerned, this event here in this room in mars, pennsylvania, as well as the candidate's travels across the state, starting tomorrow are considered to be the kickoff, if you will, of santorum's race for the state of pennsylvania, the primary of course on april 24th. he sees that as critical to him and he thinks he has to do well, of course, here in his home state of pennsylvania, the state that he represented in the united states congress for so many years. beyond that, they are looking forward to the state of texas and some of the other state primaries that occur in the month of may. so santorum showing no signs of getting out, even though this doesn't look like it's going to be a very good night for him. wolf. >> all right, joe, thanks very much. we'll be anxious to hear what he has to say. he'll be speaking behind you as well. let's show you the actual numbers coming in from the state of maryland. we've projected mitt romney is the winner in maryland, but right now they have only started coming in, 1% or so of the vote is in. romney way ahead. you can see 50%, 30% for santorum, 10% for gingrich, 8% for ron paul. similar to the exit poll numbers that we had, but these are the official numbers that are just coming in. let us know what you think about what's going on. remember, we're on facebook, we're on twitter, @ac360. follow me on twitter. as we mentioned at the top, there's other news we're following here on "ac 360" including the devastation, true devastation in the dallas-ft. worth area. we'll have the latest from ed lavandera. he's on the ground in texas. that's next. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality 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[ male announcer ] get it now at red lobster's lobsterfest. 12 tempting choices like lobster lover's dream or maine lobster and shrimp. but only for a short time. now at red lobster. i'm laura mclennan and i sea food differently. two breaking stories tonight, primary night and major tornado damage in the dallas-ft. worth area. some of the video is almost surreal. you can see a man standing in the doorway of what appears to be a totally intact bedroom but one thing is missing, the roof. or images of a funnel cloud cutting through a trucking depot, picking up trailers and cabs and tossing them hundreds of feet into the air. we've enhanced the video so we can better see what's going on. look at this, two massive trailers being swept up into the storm and a sea of sheet metal, lumber and other debris swirling all around it. tornados like this one forcing love field and dallas-ft. worth international airport to shut down for a time. scores of aircraft damaged, hundreds of flights cancelled. especially hard hit the cities of lancaster, kendale and arlington. so far no reported fatalities. just in today amateur video taken by someone named vincent tang, directly in harm's way as the storm touched down. >> look at the debris fly. oh, my god! please! oh, shoot! my god, look at that. holy, holy -- it's about a block or two away from my house. look at that. oh, shoot! oh, shoot! oh, holy shoot! look at that! oh, my god! holy moly. debris is flying. holy moly. oh, my god. oh, my god, rain coming. holy moly. oh, my god! >> the voice and the pictures of vincent tang. he probably should have taken cover. instead we went up on the roof to get a better shot. he's okay. we spoke with him earlier. let's go to ed lavandera. he's joining us as well. ed, what kind of damage are you seeing where you are? >> well, you know, wolf, today has been just simply an amazing day considering this is a part of the country used to seeing these types of storms, especially this time of year. but the video images you've been showing have really stunned people around here. the kind of damage we're seeing around here, wolf, is very similar to this. this is a neighborhood in lancaster. very hard hit. almost looks like a direct hit here in this area where the city of -- the mayor of the city of lancaster says some 300 homes and builds were destroyed or damaged because of the storm that ripped through here. this is a sight that caught my attention here, wolf. this is a ladder that takes people into their attics in their home. this ladder just strewn out here on the lawn, sucked out of these homes. that's what a lot of people who described who were inside their homes when this tornado struck is that force and that feeling that people got that the storm was essentially going to suck you and rip you right out of their home. we spoke with a woman by the name of gwen dabb. we talked to her. she wasn't able to make it to an interior room in her house in time before the tornado struck. she had to jump into the corner and cover herself with blankets and a small little ottoman to protect herself. as the tornado hit, all of those windows right there began to shatter and she described just how terrifying that whole experience was. >> oh, so scary. it was too scary. it just came so fast, quick. i couldn't move fast enough. i went to get my purse and my medicine to take in the bathroom and it hit before i could get it. and it's just right there. >> you ducked into the corner of the room over there. >> by the window. >> covered yourself in blankets? >> blankets and pillows and ottoman. the wind has pulling that cover back and i was trying to hold on to it. i just saw debris, debris, debris. glass flying, glass breaking, it was scary. it was so scary. it reminds you of the wizard of oz when the tornado hit and everything was going around and round. >> it was like the wizard of oz, wolf. she also went on to tell us that she thought at that very moment about to die. >> ed lavandera on the scene for us as he always is. let's get more from chad myers. what is the latest? what's happening right now, chad? >> wolf, the weather has moved off to the east rather significantly. kind of like a big broom that pushed all of the weather away. it's taking the humidity with it and taking the potential and pushing it into northeastern texas and northwestern louisiana and parts of arkansas. but let me back you up about, oh, i'll go five hours probably from now as we had two rotating supercell tornados, one in dallas county, one in tarrant county, one moving up i-35 and one -- w, and one moving up i-35 east. we had two tornados on the ground simultaneously about 30 miles, 40 miles away from each other. as they moved on up, the tornados were causing damage in here from cleburne back into burleson and even up toward arlington. pretty significant damage with this storm. the helicopters haven't got that far to the west because the weather was just bad most of the day but all the damage you've been seeing here is in the dallas county storm. i'll go ahead and move that out of the way. the storms did travel up to the north and northeast and they put down damage all the way through. now, wolf, as we move you ahead, the weather has come through. the line of weather has moved through dallas and about 60 miles to the east of dallas pushing all of that weather and all of that potential damage away, well off to the east, wolf. >> so is it fair to say texas is now in the clear? >> it is fair to say dallas-ft. worth metro is in the clear, but if you're anywhere from texarkana to just eat st of wac you still have some of these bigger cells to come, although we haven't seen anything rotating significantly in at last the past hour. i haven't seen a tornado on the ground. you can still get hail and still get wind. some of these storms today put down tennis ball-size hail. that will do damage even if it's not blowing around. >> chad, i want you to listen to this next interview. vincent tang is now joining us on the phone. he's the individual who shot that remarkable video from his rooftop. we showed it just a few moments ago. v vincent, can you take us through what it was like to be so close to the tornado? >> i don't know what to tell you, sir. it's kind of exciting or it's kind of scary. but at that moment when i was looking at tv -- i was watching tv and my xbox calling me from california, sacramento, california, he said vinny, you know that touchdown is going to touch down in your area. i said yeah. he's asking are you okay? yeah, i'm prepared. i've got a camera with me. and then he said are you okay? i said yeah. i don't see any tornado yet but the tornado warning, the weather alert, everybody -- i don't know any tornado hit down on the ground yet. then me and him, we hang up the phone probably about two minutes later and the light went out. no more light. it's black out. and then i ran out to the