super bowl ads has everything talking today. >> was the clint eastwood car commercial a political message in disguise? i'm wolf blitzer at the cnn election center. you're in "the situation room." mitt romney may have notched another big win in nevada this weekend but the frontrunner is not resting easily right now. right now there are contests tomorrow in minnesota, colorado and missouri and topping the list of romney's new worries, a strong new challenge from back in the republican pack pac. our national political correspondent, jim acosta is taking a look, jim? >> reporter: mitt romney is finding out the big afterglow can fade quickly from a caucus or primary win. they are starting to focus on a candidate that's not newt gingrich. think sweater vest. rick santorum is out to show mitt romney what happened in vegas will stay there. hit penguin gop frontrunner once again on his health care plan in massachusetts. >> specifically, governor romney is absolutely incapable of making the case against obama care successfully. and, therefore, greatly damages our ability to be able to win this election. >> reporter: after toiling for weeks in obscurity, santorum is suddenly seen as the running mate any campaign's latest threat. santorum mostly skipped nevada to focus on minnesota, colorado and a nonbinding contest in missouri. >> his votes and his behavior in the congress reflected that drift away from fiscal discipline. >> reporter: in a sign that minnesota could be a tight race, romney is using the state's ex-governor, tim pawlenty to tear into him. >> for the record, governor romney was an advocate of earmarks, number burn and number two, this is typical rom. >> reporter: romney's other worry is a w0u7bded nlg who is out for blood. >> we nominated a moderate in 1996 and he lost. we nominated a moderate in 2008 and he lost. the elite media would love to talk us into nominating another moderate. >> but the former speaker has problems of his own with "saturday night live" turns his proposal of a planet on the moon into a bunchline. >> you found the idea silly back in 2012. >> reporter: but it's romney losing altitude in a head-to-head matchup with the president, trailing mr. obama by nine points in an abc news washington poll. >> this is the most anti--growth economy. >> and he boasted he helped put romney over the top and he won by double digits. >> a lot of people are giving me credit for that and i will accept that credit. >> after a huge victories in florida and nevada, mitt romney would like a clean sweep this week but if the current situation in both of these states coming up are any guide, this upcoming caucus battle here in colorado and in minnesota could be more like the super bowl, wolf, down to the wire for all the teams on the field, wolf. >> because as you say, santorum looks like he has a shot of actually winning the caucuses in minnesota. ron paul always does well in caucuses. newt gingrich isn't even on the ballot in new jersey. it's a nonbinding primary in missouri so there's a lot of wild cards. we could have major surprises tomorrow. >> that's right. >> and rick santorum might come out of the whole process looking like he pulled off a smart political play by basically skipping the nevada caucuses and focusing on minnesota and colorado he's set the table for potentially, a very big night tomorrow night and once again, putting the attention of the race back on his campaign, something he's needed for some time, wolf. >> a very badly-needed boost right now. not a cashy name like "super tuesday." but he's hoping to rename it santorum tuesday with a strong showing in colorado and missouri. i spoke to the republican candidate about hit strategy for tomorrow and beyond. >> i can't tell you how many people, so-called experts, pundits, analysts have said, the reason that rick santorum is staying in the race is in case newt gingrich were to drop out, he could then emerge as the nonmitt romney, the so-called "real conservative" and develop a real challenge to mitt romney. is that the way you're thinking? >> i think eventually as i said were, this ways will come towards us. this race will come towards us. we're the candidate that provides the best permanent of beating barack obama and that's going to become more and more evidence. it's opposite of what thought at the beginning of the race. it will become clear. >> what's going to happen on tuesday in colorado, minnesota and missouri? >> you know, i think, again, demographically, colorado is not the best state for us, but i think we can do well here. i think we'll do much better than we did in nevada and we can do better in minnesota and missouri is an interesting one because newt is not on the ballot and it presents an opportunity for a one-on-one matchup in a state that's a pretty key swing state for republicans. actually, a must-win state for republicans in this election cycle. so we're optimistic that we're going to perform very, very well in all there's of those states. >> despite losing four straight states rick santorum will always have iowa, ron paul, on the other hand, is yet to notch a victory in any state. i spoke to the congressman about his expectations forgetting the republican nomination. >> gives your feeling looking ahead to tuesday, you're already in minnesota. there will be caucuses in minnesota on tuesday. caucuses in colorado on tuesday, also. and a primary, although not binding, in missouri. what's your assessment? >> well, i'm feeling pretty good about it. we have some good roshts on what's happening in maine and the colorado reception was fantastic. and we get really good support here, you know, in minnesota. so i think we'll come out pretty good on the. but i don't usually make wild predictions or claim anything. but i have felt very good about it. the reception has been excellent. >> you're in this contest at least through super tuesday, if not much further, right? >> yeah, certainly. it would be pretty difficult, even if i had a personal desire not to continue, there would be a strong rebellion with my friends. but i think we're doing so well that there's no reason to even think about that. >> at some point you have to win a state, right? you have to win one state. give us your prediction. which state will you win in first? >> well, probably i'm not the best person because i don't look at the numbers carefully. i see myself as responsible for delivering a message and drying to motivate people so i don't think i'd be very good as saying that the very best state is going to be this state and this is the one we're going to win. so i'm going to defer because i don't have the numbers in front of me to make that prediction. >> cnn will cover tomorrow's three-state election night like no one else with the most reporters as well as the most cameras of anyone, a special edition of "john king usa" starts at 6:00 p.m. i'm anchor the complete coverage. minnesota, all that special coverage beginning at 7:00 p.m. eastern. there's a super bowl ad that wasn't widely seen last night but it certainly is being talked about today. a republican senate candidate in michigan, former u.s. congressman is being hammered from all sides for a campaign commercial that is being called at the very least "racially insensitive." our lisa sylvester has been looking into this. lisa, what's going on? >> reporter: well, certainly in the political world, this is the most talked about ad from last night. pete hoekstra is running against debbie and the ad is about jobs leaving the country and record government spending and the u.s. falling behind in the globalization race but some critics are calling the ad, blatantly racist. it's the ad mocking december that incumbent the senator that's got the internet buzzing. >> thank you michigan senator, w spend it now. w spends so much american money that you borrow more and more from us. your economy gets very weak. our gets very good. we take your jobs. thank you, w spend it now. >> the ad by former republican congressman pete hoekstra, who wants to take her seat in the fall, debuted during the super bowl and it companied by a website including chinese characters like the great wall of debt. the ad campaign is being lambasted and criticized as being ratist. >> i don't think there's any lent of that at all. the only stereotyping that we do here is of liberal democrats and their spending policies. >> reporter: republican strategist mike murphy tweeted, pete hoeksment tra's ad really, really dumb. i mean, really. a group of detroit baptist ministers are calling on him to apologize and pull the ad. >> if he would save these types of things and use these types of actions, using asians than we believe the same fear tactics will be presented this regards to african-americans. >> reporter: the ad was produced by fred davis of "strategic perception" the same one that did this one with christine o'donnell "i'm not a witch." davis goes for attention-getting ad ads and he has no attention of backing down. >> i'm not apologizing for the ad. if someone believes that we were insensitive, i'm sorry to them. but i'm no apologizing for this ad at all. i think it clearly drives the message. the problem is american public policy. american do emsic do mems polic. >> reporter: the campaign office referred us to the state democratic office which points to hoekstra js record to increase the debt ceiling and. >> i understand the act of the senate is an american. so, again, it's just hypocrisy after hi pop sick and it's so disengenuous and so insincere and that adds to his credibility problems. >> reporter: now, there's an interesting back story behind the ad. peechlt hoekstra in 2010 ran for governor and lost to a man named rick snider. he had a very successful ad campaign called "one tough nerd." and the person behind that ad was fred davis. so now, he says to his people, get me davis. i want him to do a hard-hitting ad for me and this is the result, wolf. will it have the same impact. >> we'll say that people are certainly talking about it, wolf. >> they talked about the "i am not a witch" ad of christine o'donnell in delaware. didn't work out too well for her. >> fred davis, a mixed record. one hand, a successful campaign in the michigan governor race. i don't know how this ad will play out. there's been a lot of criticism about this particular ad, wolf. >> i suspect that criticism is not going to go away. thank you very much. iran is flexing its military muscles with a new round of military exercises and israel's openly talking about military action. the frightening reality of what could happen after an israeli strike. and 19 americans including the son of a prominent member of president obama's cabinet, they will stand trial in egypt, a country that receives $1.5 billion a year in u.s. military and economic assistance. now the congress is pushing back. and more than 100 billion people saw this clint eastwood chrysler commercial. could it unintentionally help the president in his re-election battle? [ male announcer ] what if we told you that cadillac borrowed technology from ferrari to develop its suspension system? or what if we told you that ferrari borrowed technology from cadillac to develop its suspension system? magnetic ride control -- pioneered by cadillac, perfected in the 556-horsepower cts-v. we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. jack cafferty is here with the cafferty file. wolf, another deadly day of bloodshed as the world stands idly by and watches syria's government murdering its own people. more than 50 people were killed today and hundreds more reportedly killed in the city of hanz over the weekend and akilling in some cases, has turned into butchering. one syrian told "the new york times" of seeing the beheaded bodies of women and children, lying in the roads. the civilized world looks on, does nothing. china and russia vetoed a u.n. security council draft solution which would have had president assad stop the violence. the u.s. along with other western and arab nations are pushing back, calling for the international community to do more. the u.s. says it was disgusted by the veto. secretary of state hillary clinton said blocking the u.n. resolution is to, quote, bear responsibility for the horrors happening in syria. president obama has condemned syria's unspeakable assault against its people. france calls the recent massacre a crime against humanity and the british says the veto that will only encourage more killing in syria. and germany says the sandal would be failure to act. lots of words. no actions. the killing goes on. the u.n. says at least 5,000 people have died since the conflict in syria began. so here's our question -- why isn't anyone doing anything about the bloodshed in syria? go to cnn.com/cafferty file and post a comment or go to our post on "the situation room"'s facebook page. >> we'll check in with arwa damon later for more on this important story. meanwhile, the u.s. is warning that aid to egypt could suffer if egypt insists on prosecuting 19 aide workers. the americans, including the son of cabinet secretary ray la hood were caught up in raids in december. some have taken refuge in the united states members in cairo and the issue is sparking serious bipartisan anger in congress and that could cause serious fallout for egypt's military authorities. chris lawrence is standing by with a closer look. chris? >> reporter: some of those americans have been branded as fugitives by egyptian authorities because they left the country but they're actually in a better position now because the u.s. is unlikely to ever force them to go back to stand trial. at issue are those americans still in egypt. as you mentioned, some have taken sanctuary at tembassy and today. the state department told other americans to come to the embassy, meet with lawyers and start to prepare for what could be coming. egypt is pressing ahead with the prosecution of 19 meshes. civilian aide workers accused of using foreign funds to stir up descent. offices have been raided and equipment confiscated all while the u.s. sends egypt $1.4 billion, mostly to the military. >> we said clearly these actions could have consequences for our relationship including regarding our assistance programs. >> some demand more than mere threats. they want to cut the purse strings. 41 outraged members of congress signed a letter secretaries panetta and clinton and egypt's military leader and the republicans and democrats are calling on the u.s. to cut funding until egypt stops going after the aide groups. >> i don't think we should send them one thin dime until they release those americans that they're holding over there, that they're planning to try, it's just terrible. >> it's clear the military just trying to pick a fight with the united states because it does not have the support of its own people and is trying to play the american card. >> reporter: egypt was the first arab nation to buy american f-16s. it plans to add well over 1,000 abrams tanks to its arsenal. the two militaries have trained together. the official pentagon line is -- the relationship is strong, we just have to push lieu this crisis. privately, a senior defense official admits there's been frustration. that after all the years of building this partnership the pentagon has not been able to have greater influence. some analysts say the crisis has exposed a real rift and they expect the u.s. and egypt to still maintain some relationship. >> but the strategic alignment that they've enjoyed is clearly coming to an end. >> and again, today the state department issuing an opened invitation for those remaining americans charged to come to the u.s. embassy there in cairo. the senior defense official i spoke to said the u.s. has to keep giving military aid to egypt because he feels no matter what sort of government emerges from the upcoming elections, the egyptian military will remain a pillar of that country and he says that the u.s. has to maintain a relationship with that military. >> wolf? >> you know what's shocking to me is that not leon panetta, the defense secretary and the secretary of state, hillary clinton, the president of the united states, president obama, they've all personally spoken with general who is the head of the military regime over there in egypt that made the case. you got to stop this if you want u.s./egyptian relations to stay on track. 23u79 the u.s. congress to continue providing $1.5 billion a year in assistance to egypt and the general doesn't seem either capable or willing to do anything. i don't know what they're saying at the pentagon about it but it's pretty shocking when you think about it. >> that's right, wolf. publicly, at least, the egyptian officials are passing the buck to the judiciary saying we can't interfere with judicial apaiffa and it's a judicial matter but everyone knows the military exerts enormous influence over the interim government, so to speak, that's in power now. so the failure to do something on this issue, many people believe, is entirely in the hands of the egyptian military. >> all right, chris lawrence at the pentagon. thank you, an enormously important story. and president obama gets tough on iran and at the same time iran is flexing its muscles in a new series of military exercises and israel leaders are talking about a bombing campaign. and a circus stuntman makes a move that's not planned and it's captured on tape. you'll see what went wrong. was . a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ lisa sylvester is monitoring some other top stories in "the situation room." what sells going on? hi, wolf. mexico's conservative ruling party picked a woman as its presidential nominee. if elected she will become mexico's first female president. the former education secretary is running against two other candidates in the july election. mexico's current president, felipe calderon is at the end of his ex-year term limit. and brace yourself for this video showing a motorcycle stunt gone terribly wrong at a circus in michigan. a stuntman was trying to fly his cycle through the air when he collided with a cable and you see it there, he crashed 25 feet to the ground and the cable struck a clown sending both men to the hospital, the driver has several broken bones but fortunately both men are expected to be okay. pretty spectacular pictures there. you can call it the middle finger malfunction. rapper mia flipping the bird to the largest television audience in history. it happened so fast that you might have missed it. nbc tried to blur it out but was slow to the trigger and a source close to mia says the rapper was nervous and not thinking and apparently, adrenalin took over. that's what she's saying to explain that moment, wolf. >> i'm sure she is. i missed it myself watching. thanks, lisa. stepped-up concerns. israel is moving closer to attacking iran's sites. and also, one super bowl ad has everybody talking right now. was that clint eastwood car commercial really a political message? discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half! ♪ oh, it was the first time i fell in love ♪ ♪ the first time i felt my heart ♪ [ ma