ron paul and gingrich a distant third and fourth. we're waiting on mitt romney to speak now and second place rick santorum will also be speaking. we'll look ahead to the next stop on the primary sale. louisiana on saturday. and maryland, wisconsin, and d.c. on april 3rd. cnn's top team, wolf blitzer and john king. and gloria borger and david gergen. promoted to new york tonight. >> happy to be here. >> let's start with wolf. looks like a big win for mitt romney. how significant is illinois to his general campaign? >> if he stays above 50% in this vote in illinois, it'll be very significant. illinois being a very important state because of its population, the diversity. it's a big state. a lot of delegates at stake. he's going to do really well in illinois. clearly come out with the most delegates. rick santorum, he did the best he could. i think it was a blunder on his part to go off to puerto rico for two days. he could have been spending those days in illinois doing a bit better. not sure it would have been much of a difference in terms of the final vote. his problem in illinois was he was not able to get on the ballot in four of these 19 congressional districts in illinois. so he's at a disadvantage in the delegate count even if he were to have gotten more votes in illinois and he's not going to. he's going to do more poorly than romney. he's not getting near the delegates in illinois. but it's not over for rick santorum by any means. louisiana is coming up as you point out on saturday. more contests in april. he's waiting for some of the other states in may and even june to come in. so he's in this. certainly shaping up to be a two-man race. mitt romney and rick santorum. >> and john king, tell me exactly where we are tonight. how many votes have come in? how are you seeing the night progressing? >> well, if you're looking in terms of the raw vote, you see 20% of the vote is almost counted in illinois. romney is doing what he has to do. which is win up here where half of the state's population is up here in chicago and the suburbs around it. governor romney doing very well. we expect as the night go on, most of them to fill in santorum purple. the rural areas where he's doing well. governor romney, if you come to the cook county suburbs, these are the critical suburbs right around chicago. governor romney getting 57% of the vote. you see the big margin. he's running it up here. it appears that the calculation is this. this is what will happen tonight. this will be romney red. santorum's been winning in this part of the country. now romney can say i'm competitive in the heartland as well. this is the math that will matter tomorrow. we expect romney to get most of those 54 delegates at stake tonight. so what happens? he will get the state of illinois. he will add to his delegate total. he's closing in on halfway to the magic number. santorum is a second. we expect louisiana to go for senator santorum. romney will still pick up some delegates. you look at this and say number one, where can santorum if he's going to catch governor romney, can't just beat him in louisiana. got to start beating him up here where romney is favored. a lot of people will say romney's not there yet. no one else is close to governor romney though. the math hill for the other candidates gets much steeper after tonight. >> let's just put this in a proper perspective. every time we have one of these primaries now, it's like is anyone going to drop out? is anybody actually the front runner? on the pure stats alone, mitt romney is surging ahead. and yet no one is yet saying he's definitely won. why is that? what happens next? >> he hasn't definitely won. but in a campaign that has had many, many unexpected twists and turns, i think we may look back and say tonight was the final big turning point. here in a big state, newt gingrich has faded as candidate. rick santorum had a chance to go one-on-one with romney. i'm not sure if this is romney winning or santorum is losing. >> santorum has made a mistake. there was that terrible week. then he had the jfk slur. then the snob remark. even today he's making a comment about he doesn't care about the unemployment. it's unlike the santorum we saw surging away through january. what's gone wrong with his campaign? >> i think he doesn't have a message. i think what he does is going down these rabbit holes. when you travel with rick santorum and he gets asked a tough question, a question that's not on his message, he actually answers it and continues to answer it instead of saying, that's nice but let's talk about the economy. he doesn't know how to stay on message. that's not good when you're a presidential candidate. i think the question we have now is when the romney campaign will publicly come out, privately some folks have said it to me -- but publicly come out and call him a spoiler, an obstructionist. >> what happens with newt gingrich though? looking at tonight's result, he wasn't really competing. but there is a moment surely where newt gingrich probably has to stand aside. he's a proud man. this may be his last chance nomination. he's not going to go unless he has to. what is the tipping point for newt gingrich? >> the tipping point came when the debates ended. for him. he could get his message out. but then, you know, newt gingrich has a lot of internal problems anyway. but once he became a regional candidate and couldn't win in alabama, couldn't win in louisiana -- mississippi. i just think his campaign has faded. >> should he stand down now? >> well, he could. but, you know, i believe maybe it's not relevant whether he stands down or stays in at 6%. what's the big deal? >> what if he stood down and said i'm putting all my support behind rick santorum? >> here's the interesting thing. people don't necessarily have to follow him, number one. we know electability is the most important thing to republican voters. republican voters may think that mitt romney is more electable as we've seen in all the primaries. and now the romney people believe that actually newt's votes would be split evenly. and it used to be they didn't want newt gingrich to get out because they wanted him to keep splitting that vote. now they don't care. because they need delegates. and with gingrich out of the race, they get to 1144 faster. >> on the pure financial statistics, it's almost ridiculous now. mitt romney has raised a total of $63 million. $11.5 million in february alone. rick santorum, $6.5 million raised in total. those figures aren't quite right. but he's being dwarfed. mitt romney is dwarfing everybody. at what point does his machinery, his financial fire power just overwhelm everyone and the others say okay. it's you. >> well, number one, the amount of money is candidate raises to run for office, it's about how much public support they have. i don't look at it as machinery as it is popularity. the fact is money flows to the people who have the most support. and mitt romney has been able to prove that. many say i was outspent. you know what? stop complaining. you got outspent because you weren't able to muster as much support financially as the other guy. that's life. that's political life. but you know, i try to step back from these primaries and not just take it one race at a time. say what's the bigger trend? if you go back to the iowa caucus where this all began in january, mitt romney keeps taking two steps forward and one step back ward. he lost of course mississippi and alabama last week. maybe the same pattern happens. he could lose louisiana saturday. i think we're also realistically heading into a step of the race now where mitt romney's going to be able to take three steps forward and one step back. >> ari, i have to take one step back now. we have to go to a break. we'll be back on this. we're waiting for both candidates to speak. we'll be back after this break. if they're not speaking yet, we'll turn to our expert panel. 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[announcer:] conocophillips says, you're right. find out how natural gas answers both at powerincooperation.com. waiting for speeches from mitt romney and rick santorum. back with me now in washington, wolf blitzer and john king. here with me in new york gloria borger and david gergen. i've got to read this out. david gergen is so smart. but since you're so smart, imagine you're rick santorum tonight. you're looking at where this campaign's gone wrong. i spoke to his wife last night as she tried to almost single handedly rein him back in from this arch right wing rhetoric on social issues. because clearly that is not working anymore. and actually mitt romney moves it back to the economy, playing to his strengths is beginning to gather more momentum away from santorum. what could santorum do, if anything, to get back on track? >> he has to get back to his original message. he was the guy from the steel town and his dad worked hard. he associated with the working class and the blue collar guy. and talked about manufacturing and restoring manufacturing. and the social issues were secondary. gloria's point, i think he's tired. i think he's fundamentally wiped out. and he's lost his discipline so that he keeps talking about the social issues which are just sort -- >> gloria, isn't it a tiring thing if you haven't got the infrastructure behind you like mitt romney. they all bleed about mitt romney spending more money. he's got a better campaign. i heard you say it earlier. when they come up against barack obama, he's got a billion dollars waiting to sling him over the nominees. >> rick santorum was at 1% in the polls, 2% in the polls. came out of nowhere. that's why he didn't end up with a bunch of delegates in illinois. >> let me stop you there. we just got mitt romney and romney's marching to the podium. let's see what he has to say. ♪ >> wow. thank you, illinois. thank you so much. you know, tomorrow is our anniversary. and we will have been married 43 years, so happy anniversary, sweet heart. a very big special for dan weatherford who was just out here. we appreciate him. he has been a great state chairman for our effort here. and he was as well four years ago. so we appreciate dan weatherford. senator mark kirk who you know is not doing well, we love him and think about him. mitch has spoke with him. we all spend our prayers to mark kirk. congressman aaron schock. he's in the audience. right back there. congress woman judy bigart. we knew he flew around with dan. so we're appreciative. oh. i forgot congressman don bold. >> bob dole. >> bob dole. >> close. >> let's see. house speaker tom cross. senate president. our entire state of illinois delegates. and you know what i have to do? i have to tonight because i didn't get a chance to do this properly. i have to thank our friends in puerto rico. we were treated so warmly, so graciously, so loving. it was a great experience. but governor luis fortuno. his first lady. we so love her. committee woman zori fanadas, ron coffman, james garcia and all elected leaders. there were so many that helped us there. especially the delegates' volunteers. and the people of puerto rico for their support. thank you, puerto rico. now i get to sort of just say what's in my heart. you know, mitt and i have been in a lot of states. we've gone through every part of this country. and i am so moved by the people of this country that are counting on someone to go to washington and to take things in their hands and fix it. [ chanting mitt ] >> i sense everything that you're experiencing right here tonight 37 this sense we want to take this country back. that we are feeling as though that strong strangling arm of government is invading every corner of our life. let me tell you something else that's happening. women are coming to me saying will you please talk about deficit spending and budgets. i'm loving that. loving that. women are angry. they're angry about the legacy we're going to leave their children and their grandchildren. and i'm going to tell them something. i've got somebody here that can fix it. so we're going to turn the time over to the guy that can go and fix it. >> thank you. oh, thank you. thank you. thanks, you guys. so many great friends in this room and across illinois. what a night. thank you, illinois. what a night. and of course i'd like to congratulate my fellow candidates on a hard-fought contest here. i'd like to thank in particular the volunteers and our friends across the state. and frankly in other states who have been working hard. i appreciate their unwavering support through good times and bad. and tonight we thank the people of illinois for their vote and for this extraordinary victory. thank you so much. you know elections are about choices. and today hundreds of thousands of people in illinois have joined millions of people across the country to join our cause. and this movement began on a small farm in new hampshire on a sunny june day. we were surrounded by a small group of our friends and supporters and family. we shared a conviction that the america we loved was in trouble and adrift without strong leadership. and three years of barack obama have brought us fewer jobs, and shrinking paychecks. many of us feel we're in danger of losing something more than the value of our homes and 401(k)s. after years of too many apologies and not enough jobs, historic drops in income and historic highs in gas prices, a president who doesn't hesitate to use all the means necessary to force through obama care on the american public but leads from behind on the world. it's time to say these words. this word. enough. we've had enough. we know our future. we know our future is brighter than these troubled times. we still believe in america. and we deserve a president who believes in us. and i believe in the american people. now, you know that yesterday i was giving a speech at the university of chicago. not far from here. not far from where president barack obama taught. it was a speech of economic freedom. and as i was writing the speech, i thought to my lifetime of experiences. i've had a lot of opportunity to learn about the unique genius of america's free enterprise system. it started, of course, with my dad. he didn't graduate from college. and he would tell me about his dad who was a contractor. and you know about construction. up and down years. he never quite made it, but he never gave up. and raised great kids. later i helped start companies. and those began with just an idea and somehow they made it through the difficult times and were able to create a good return for investors and thousands of jobs. and those jobs helped families buy their first homes. those jobs put kids through school. those jobs helped people live better lives, dream a little bigger. for 25 years i lived and breathed business and the economy and jobs. i had successes and failures. each step of the way i learned more about what it is that makes our american system so powerful. you can't learn that teaching constitution law at university of chicago. you can't even learn that as a community organizer. but the truth is this president doesn't understand the genius of america's economy or the secret of the american economic success story. the american economy is fueled by freedom. the history of the world has shown that economic freedom is the only force that has consistently lifted people out of poverty. it's the only principal that has -- prosperity. over the past three years this administration has been engaged in an all-out assault on our freedom. under this president, bureaucrats keep coal from being mined. they impede the supply of natural gas. they tell farmers what their kids are able to do on their farms. this administration's assault on freedom has kept this so-called recovery from meeting their projections let alone our expectations. and now, by the way, the president is trying to erase his record with some new rhetoric. the other day he said this. he said we are inventors, we are builders, we are makers of things. we're the wright brothers. we're bill gates. we are bill jobs. wait i missed that. we are steve jobs. that's true. but the problem is, he's still barack obama. >> and, you see, under barack obama, those pioneers he mentioned would have faced a very difficult time trying to invent and invest and create. under dodd frank, they would have found it impossible to get a loan through their community bank. and the regulators would have shut down the wright brothers for dust pollution. and of course the government would have banned thomas edison's lightbulb. by the way, they just did, didn't they? now, you know that the real cost of these misguided policies, these attacks on economic freedom, this intrusion of the government into our freedom. the cost of that are the ideas that are not pursued. and the dreams that aren't realized. and therefore all the little businesses that don't get started. and the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of workers who don't get hired. for centuries the american dream has met the opportunity to build something new. some of america's greatest success stories are people who started out with nothing but a good idea. and a corner of their garage. but too often today americans who want to start a business or launch a new venture, they don't see promise and opportunity. they see government standing in the way. and i'm going to change that. we're going to get government out of the way. you know, we once built an interstate highway system and the hoover dam. now we can't even build a pipeline. i mean, we once led the world in manufacturing and exports, investment. today we lead the world in lawsuits. you know, when we replace a law professor with a conservative businessman as president, that's going to end. i think -- i think you know this. every great innovation, every great breakthrough begins with a dream. and nothing is more fragile than a dream. the genius of america is that we nurture those dreams and the dreamers. we honor them. and yes we reward them. that's part of what's uniquely brilliant about america. but day by day, job killing regulation by job killing regulation. bureaucrat by bureaucrat, this president is crushing the dream and the dreamers and i will make sure that finally ends. you know, the proof of the president's failure is seeing how tepid this economic recovery is. i mean, this administration thinks that the economy's struggling because the stimulus wasn't large enough. the truth is the economy is struggling because the government is too big. you and i know something the president still hasn't learned. even after three years and hundreds of billions of dollars of spending and borrowing. it is not the government that creates our prosperity. the prosperity of america is the product of free markets and free people. and they must be protected and nurtured. so tonight was a primary. but november is the general election. and we're going to face a def