right now on the nevada caucuses. >> mitt romney is hoping for a win so big that it start a chain reaction across the country. >> this campaign went down the hill. >> romney had his day in florida and wants to keep his momentum going. >> i will lead us on to prosperity. >> gingrich vows to fight on no matter how he does tonight. >> we will be in tampa as the nominee. >> the final four candidates in a marathon race for delegates. >> we're in third place when it comes to delegates and that's what really counts. >> the party's big prize. >> our will be a united party. >> will republicans rally behind a single candidate soon or will the infighting last for months? >> i don't believe the republican party is going to nominate a liberal. >> i think they are looking for an alternative to mitt romney. >> his stakes are high. every contest matters. >> we're going to beat money power with people power. >> in nevada, right now, all bets are off. from the cnn election center, i'm wolf blitzer. weapon want to welcome our viewers from the united states and around the world to a special "the situation room." we're going to find out the results of the florida primary. we have crews in positions across the state and across the country and with the candidates out there on the campaign trail. we have soledad o'brien with the best political team on television. first, we have the first votes actually coming in from nevada and let's tell you what's going on right now. just 1% of the vote is in. it's very, very early but it looks right now pretty good for mitt romney. 54%. 1,329 points. he's ahead of ron paul. there's a about the tell for second place from 459 to 448. rick santorum in fourth place with 9%. but this is very, very early. more official numbers are coming in very quickly. we're getting some entrance polling numbers coming in. cnn's john king is joining us. we're getting a little flavor of what people told us after they told us how they felt. >> in this case, before they voted because it was an entrance poll. we've had a few primary nights. remember the first night of the season, in a caucus, you poll them on the inside. we have 48% of the voters that describes themselves as very conservative. 35% said somewhat conservative. 17% said moderate to liberal. governor romney among the largest sliz of the electorate getting 51% of the vote. but, remember, it's early. speaker gingrich getting 24%. less than half among very conservative voters. that would be one way to look at it. let's slide over and take a little bit more look at the ee lk for rate. 53% men voting. 47% women. how does ron paul do in a state like this because he's in single digits yet look at this. ron paul has done very well with younger voters and you have an older older electorate. that will be interesting to look at as we look at ron paul. 12.6% unemployment in the state of nevada. it's been over 14%. foreclosure crisis out there. no surprise at all. 54% of our caucusgoers saying that the economy is issue number one and let's look at that. we don't have the numbers in yet. we'll see how it goes. candidate quality can defeat president obama is the number one. nevada will be a key swing state this november. george w. bush carried it twice. wolf, this one isn't filled in yet. obviously these voters voting today. they want somebody electable because they think their state will be very competitive. >> a lot more older people are voting than younger people which is normal in elections. >> in nevada there is a lot of retirees there. but we will see. in the month ahead we have caucuses in nevada, maine, early march caucuses in washington state. viewed as ron paul strength. >> we'll check in with our reporters covering what is going on. in nevada, jim acosta, brianna keilar at the gingrich headquarters. what is happening where you are, jim? >> romney is on his way back to nevada. he was at an event in colorado springs, colorado. just a sign that the romney campaign is looking past nevada into these upcoming caucus states. newt gingrich went after president obama. >> the president thinks that america is in decline. i don't. i think he reaches out to the world's worst actors and i think he thinks somehow if he apieces them and accommodates them, it will be better. in my view, it's always the best way to deal with tyrants and autocrtats. >> reporter: now, mitt romney used that speech to go off the president's stimulus package. unfortunate timing. democrats in colorado were pointing out that the facility where mitt romney was giving that speech actually received stimulus money. mitt romney was trying to address that in his comments to voters saying he's talked to the owner of that company and according to that owner the stimulus program did not help very much in terms of hiring people out there. but governor romney is on his way back to nevada as we speak. brianna keilar is over at the gingrich headquarters. what is he up to? >> reporter: no public events today. in fact, in a sign that perhaps newt gingrich has all but seeded nevada to romney, he will talk to reporters and it will be well after caucusgoers have had their say. no event for supporters. he's been focusing on 60 donors last night. the best case scenario for newt gingrich today is to have a second-place finish. make sure he doesn't lose ground to ron paul and conservative voters, voters that with the tea party voters. >> specifically target conservatives, brianna. >> reporter: he's really raising questions about mitt romney's credentials. he had two campaigns here yesterday in las vegas. one was at a church where he hit romney for comments that he made on cnn saying that he would patch holes in the safety net for the very poor. gingrich basically saying it's an endorsement of a welfare state. >> my good friend, the governor from massachusetts, said it was okay to not worry about the poor because after all they have a safety net. it's not a safety net. it's a spider net. it deprives them of independence. [ applause ] >> one of the reasons i am running is i want to replace the spider web with a trampoline that launches them into the middle class and gives them a future. >> reporter: so, wolf, newt gingrich not expecting to win here in nevada. what he's trying to do is stay relevant through this month until super tuesday in march when he's going to see voters in conservative states head to the polls, especially the southern states. >> march 6th will be a big, big day, brianna. thank you. i love it when mitt romney calls gingrich "my good friend." i'm not necessarily sure that they are such good friends. >> it's always a sign when they say my good friend. we have gloria borger and david gergen with us tonight. is it all about the race for number two? >> well, it really is about whether mitt romney can really start consolidating the conservative base? even though we had that big win in florida, he was still losing among people stronly identified with the tea party, strongly said they were very conservative, what i call the base of the base. and we'll have to see tonight whether those people are starting to rally 5r7bd mitt romney. you heard newt gingrich telling the voters, you know what, he's not a conservative. mitt romney doesn't even understand what the conservative economic message is. he said, we're all about the trampoline. not about the safety net, which is, of course, some conservative's way of thinking i'm the conservative alternative. >> he also said that he's trying to stay relevant through the month of february because to some degree he's conceded the race. >> you've been in the news. you've been driving the conversation. >> not me, sir. just my interviews. >> so i think the question transcend who owns the month of february. there are a series of caucuses and primaries in february, relatively small individually but taken together they are critically important. and we have three battle ground states up for grabs. come november they will be critical. a dozen battle ground states across the country. if mitt romney can beat all three, they don't have a plausible argument about why they should be a national candidate. what reason do we have to believe that they can win against obama in a general election in a battle ground state. i think nevada building on florida. if romney can run here tonight, if he's above 50%. >> i was going to say, is that the line, 50%? >> well, he was at 51% last time and he didn't get the nomination. >> but he's got these other guys out there. >> and we have to see if newt gingrich is number two or ron paul is number two, how close to romney -- >> and we have many, many hours to see all of that. >> yes, we do. thanks, guys. our chief political correspondent candy crowley is in washington, d.c. how are you? >> good evening. >> what are you looking for this evening? the 50% plus mark that david and gloria were talking about? >> i don't know if i would put a number on it but it's like pornography. you'll know it when you see it. i think this has to be part of the big role for romney. it reminds me a little bit of barack obama versus hillary clinton when he really began to -- iowa obviously was a great win for barack obama when he was a candidate. but it was these caucus states that -- people don't say, well, there's only four delegates here or only six delegates here. people say, oh, they won another one and so it was during this period that barack obama began to rack up victory after victory after victory that really made him look like he was on a role. if romney can do that and make it past super tuesday and say i won most of the important states, i agree with david, it's going to be really difficult for anybody else in the race to argue that they should be the nominee. >> candy crowley in d.c., thank you. wolf, back to you. we're getting ready for a significant number of votes to come in from nevada. get ready. we're about to report on the official vote count as it is coming in. a caucus is nothing like the privacy of a voting booth. they are very loud and can get passionate. into congressman ron spaul ready to fire up his supporters in minnesota. as soon as he starts speaking, you'll know it and hear it. live from the cnn election center. the nevada caucuses. we're only just beginning. 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[ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. we're watching for the next round of results from today's caucuses. we expect to get a lot more numbers coming in very, very soon. stand by. we'll update you as soon as they come in. let's go to john king looking at entrance polling data. we're getting more information on what folks are saying as they register their votes. >> not only what they voted for but what was on their mind at the time that they voted. look at this. nearly 6 in 10 of the caucusgoers made up their mind before january. a lot of these people made up their mind before the early voting. let's move over here as we decide here. this is interesting. among voters who wanted a k57 candidate to defeat president obama, can they win in november, among shows voters, an overwhelming win for romney. 74%. 3 out of every 4 voters thought mitt romney. they thought he was the right candidate. a very distant second for speaker gingrich. if you want to look at one weakness, it looks like he's on his way to a convincing win. as you see, most voters wanted him to defeat obama, that would suggest that he's going to win. ron paul is getting 45% of the votes. 31% for speaker gingrich. rick santorum, third. 17% of the electorate, governor romney comes in last. >> a weak point? >> a weak point as you go forward. it's potential that that could be exploited. 74% of those caucusing today in nevada say they support the tea party movement. the tea party was big in the state of nevada. 74% say, yes, i support the tea party. this has been a weakness of governor romney and he's getting half. speaker gingrich, if you look at what people said on the way in, issues on their mind, these numbers would suggest that governor romney is on his way to a very comfortable victory. as you noted, we're going to get actual results. >> we've got live pictures from carson city. they are counting the vote in carson city and elsewhere as well. take a look and listen. >> reporter: i'm paul steinhauser. there is a caucus going on here today. we're in the cafeteria and we have three precincts meeting. people are already starting to speak on behalf of their candidates. we're in our second speaker supporting mitt romney for the presidential nomination. after people give their preferences and speak, the voting begins. >> i'm peter hamby here in henderson, nevada. i want to give you a look at the scale. there are three precincts. at this one, there's 378 registered republicans but only 35, 40 people are showing up today. remember, there's not the political culture surrounding the caucuses in nevada as there is in iowa. this is only the second caucus that republicans have held here. the first one was in 2008. we're seeing a little bit of logistical confusion as people figure out the ballots and that sort of thing in hen der ton. >> reporter: i'm paul here in carson city. now, this area, 11,000 republicans, 10,000 democrats. they are dropping their votes off over here in the precinct offices. there are 24 of them. carson city went for john mccain in 2008 in a totally unscientific poll, talking to people around here, mitt romney is doing well. he's covered a lot of northwest nevada. i'm paul in carson city. >> we're going to go to carson city live as soon as they start counting the votes. more numbers are coming in right now. we're going to update you in a moment. let me go over to soledad once again. she has some excellent contributors. >> yes. the best. let me introduce you to the contributors. maria cardona, wearing the red jacket. >> absolutely. >> ted rowlands and will cain. >> shocking he has a tie on. >> you've been promoted to the big boy table. let's start with eric. is it all about momentum and who has it tonight? >> yes, momentum and you've got to remember looking at a lot of the polling that we've seen thus far, it takes a while to have news events catch up. romney will probably have momentum coming out of nevada as people speculated that it would happen a couple weeks ago. but also you will see, for example, the marion gingrich story, that happened three our four days before south carolina, it did in florida. the mitt romney interview with you came so soon to nevada it hasn't had time to percolate. >> roland martin, let me ask you about that. he was talking about the poor. when you look at the state of nevada, you're talking about a state where homes are in foreclosure as a higher rate than most of the country. let me play a clip. >> sure. >> i'm in this race because i care about americans. i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. if it needs repair, i'll fix it. i'm not concerned about the very rich. they are doing just fine. i'm concerned about the very heart of america. the 90, 95% of americans bho are struggling and i'll continue to take that message across the nation. >> i know i said last question but he said, i'm not going to care about the very poor because they have a safety net. there are americans who are poor and they are struggling who will say, that sounds odd. >> finish the sentence, soledad. i said i'm not concerned about the poor that have safety nets but if there are holes in them, i will repair them. >> they are hurting but a lot of people don't consider themselves to be poor. people who were retired, went there and had a second home. they say i'm middle class, i'm simply having a difficult time. it's a question of how the other candidates hit on that. you hear newt gingrich offering some comments that is speaking to that very issue. what will santorum do? what will happen when they go to states that you have a significant number of catholic voters? did you look at what they do? i think he's going to have to deal with this issue beyond thinking these are poor, unfortunate people. easygoing to states where there are the poorest people in the country. erick is right, it's going to catch up with us. >> let's talk about consolidation. >> that was problematic to conservatives and liberals but for different reasons. they heard it literally. mitt romney does not care about poor people. i don't think conservatives feel that way. it's not that you are picking groups to favor and disfavor, helping and helping more. >> maria cardona, we're going to go to you in a minute. but first, in minnesota, ron paul. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ we're about to get some more vote results coming in very, very soon. stand by for that. we're about to get a bunch of new votes coming in to the cnn election center. in the meantime, rick santorum and ron paul aren't in nevada tonight. they are looking ahead to the contest on tuesday, this coming tuesday. for the first time, voters in more than one state will weigh in on the same day. gary tuchman is in colorado. let's go to david mattingly first. why is ron paul in minnesota as opposed to las vegas? >> they are looking closely and they can start there looking at minnesota and the caucus is on tuesday to tell them how high that bounce is going to go. so they are already on the ground here. he's attracting on government and foreign affairs. listen. >> it's called mind our own business. >> reporter: now, again, ron paul is watching from the back room here, watching what is going on he's also feeling about where he's positioned in this state. minnesota has been known to embrace campaigns and he definitely fits that mold. they are very enthusiastic about participating in the democratic process. that's what he's counting on if he does well tonight in nevada. he needs something that he hasn't seen since november and that is momentum. wolf? >> hold on, david mattingly. i want to go to paul in carson city. paul, i know that they are counting the ballots in carson city. you have access to this with the only effort that is going to see how the folks in carson city are voting and gingrich 12 and santorum 15. and 19 for santorum and 20 for paul. as we whip around, let's get a look at our campaign. you can see that the ballots are pouring in. there's 24 precincts here in carson city, wolf. what you have is about 12,000 republicans in this area. about 10,000 democrats. this county did