people have already watched it. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." rk vk -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> all that coming up, but now we get the latest on the kansas republican caucuses. >> i'm don lemon at the cnn newsroom. kansas takes the spotlight in the republican race today. cnn is projecting that rick santorum has won the kansas caucuses. here's the totals here, check them out with nearly all the caucus votes counted, santorum won easily there. he has 51%. romney has a distant second at 21%. kansas is a conservative state with a strong evangelical vote, both playing to santorum's strengths. we bring in chief political correspondent candy crowley joining us live from washington. big picture here, romney and gingrich pretty much let santorum have kansas so his luck holds here. is this an important win? >> you know, i hate to sound like everybody else but the fact of the matter is they're all important wins at this point. this is probably important for santorum. he does pick up, we think he'll pick up the bulk of the delegate and if the numbers you just showed hold, romney will be the only other one in the bunch if he stays 20% or above he'll be the only one that gets any delegates out of kansas. what this does is it sets rick santorum up for what he wants to do tuesday, and that is win alabama and mississippi. >> let's talk about the delegates at this point. where do they stack up, candy? >> at the moment, when you add in what we think is going to happen, you see that mitt romney at 454. remember you need 1,144 to win. mitt romney 454, rick santorum 203, newt gingrich 118 and ron paul with 67, so nobody's not even quite yet half there, but it is -- the romney campaign all week, don, has been pushing the notion it is improbable that anyone else can win but him. they're not buying that but it still a very -- if rick santorum wins kansas, which he will, as we've projected that he will, and then he goes on to win both southern states and that's not at all a certainty, he'll be kind of on another little mini roll but it still isn't going to be enough to get him to overtame mitt romney at this point and the big states, illinois, i think illinois in the end, if this turns out to be a santorum versus mitt romney race, i think we will all watch illinois which has a large cache of delegates and see what happens there. >> candy crowley, thank you very much. we appreciate it, and we're going to move on now and go to cnn's shannon travis, standing by. shannon, you've been standing by, talking to the people on the ground. what are they saying to you? >> reporter: well, a number of them obviously, remember this is a republican only caucus here today, don. a number of them, their number one priority is getting president obama out of office. so that was the number one concern. they also talked about government intrusion and private lives, but a few people that i spoke with, you might be surprised at this late stage in the game are still undecided about who they should caucus for. one woman summed up her angst in deciding between mitt romney and rick santorum, saying that rick santorum she thought spoke with passion but didn't necessarily in her eyes have the experience that she was looking for in handling the economy, and a flip for mitt romney, excuse me, that he has the experience that she was looking for, but not necessarily the passion that she feels that she wants to see in a potential presidential candidate, so those were some of the issues emblematic of a lot of voters i spoke with here in kansas today at a caucus earlier. i also, don, caught up with presidential candidate ron paul, he was the only candidate to actually be on the ground here today in kansas. take a listen at what he said. he hasn't won a rice yet but listen to what he talked about in terms of amassing delegates. >> it's everybody's race to win. i'm sure even though romney is not here he's hoping always for the best and i think we all do that but i never think it's do or die for anything. everybody's still in the race, no declared winner so i think we'll all keep doing what we're doing, maximizing our chances to get more delegates and we feel good about that. >> reporter: he feels good about that, as the other candidates do. obviously as candy was just talking about, the next races that are going to be really big to us tuesday, mississippi and alabama. don? >> i only have just a few seconds here left, shannon. where did the economy come into play? >> reporter: yes, a lot of the -- it's interesting you asked that question. a lot of the voters here didn't talk as much about the economy at least at the caucus site that i was at. >> all right, shannon. >> reporter: they talked more about social issues but the economy is key. >> that's going to have to be it. thank you very much. we'll have more on the caucuses on the half hour. back now to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." >> thanks very much. more politics right now. it has the look and feel of a hollywood blockbuster but actually a campaign film for president obama. it's called "the road we've traveled" a 17-minute look at the president's first term accomplishments. the film is directed by davis guggenheim and the trailer narrated by tom hanks. take a look at this. >> how do we understand this president and his time in office? do we look at the day's headlines or do we remember what we as a country have been through in? >> the president-elect is here in chicago and he's named the members of the economic team and they all fly in for the first big briefing on the economy. >> what was described in that meeting was an economic crisis beyond anything anybody had imagined. >> our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and butting off unpleasant decisions, that time has surely passed. >> his advisers would ask where to begin, which urgent need would he put first. >> which is one, which is two, which is three, which is four, which is five. where do you start? >> if we don't do this now, we'll be a generation before 30 million people have health insurance. >> if the auto industry goes down, what happens to america's manufacturing base? what happens to jobs in america? what happens to the whole midwest? >> the entire national security apparatus was in that room, and now we had to make a decision. go or not go. >> as he walked out the room, it dawned on me, he's all alone. this is his decision and nobody is standing there with him. >> let's discuss what's going on with brianna keilar. it jumps out at me, "do we look at the day's headlines or do we remember what we as a country have been through?" here's the question, is the campaign, the obama campaign worried that the day-to-day headlines might be dragging them down? >> reporter: no doubt, wolf. i think it's very clear the campaign does not want that to be the metric by which voters measure president obama and what they're really trying to do with this movie is build energy, build some excitement, which polls show is really lacking, compared to 2008. i asked white house press secretary jay carney about whether or not this day-to-day strategy of making the president's case is perhaps not working and he laughed off the suggestion. -- narrated by tom hanks, an oscar winning director. is the everyday defense of the president's record not getting through? >> are you suggesting that i'm no tom hanks? [ laughter ] i would refer you to the campaign. i think as a matter of broad principle, as someone in the communications business, as you are, that we take advantage of every opportunity we can to explain the president's policies, explain his positions, describe his vision for the country moving forward, and that would apply both as i discussed those matters of policy from here and i'm sure, not speaking for the campaign, but i'm just taking a wild guess here that i'm sure that's the approach they take. >> reporter: so he joked about this, wolf, but there are a lot of republicans who are not joking about it, and rnc spokeswoman saying voters don't eight need a movie trailer or a documentary by which to measure the president's record, blaming him for the unemployment rate, for the national debt, and for high gas prices. wolf? >> brianna this say major effort to target the base, the people that supported the president in the past to get them energized. >> reporter: exactly right and campaign officials say that this is a movie, the 17-minute movie is something that will be played for instance at house parties and at events across the country, once it is released next thursday. i'm pretty sure you'll be able to see it online as well but obviously the idea is to increase the excitement as the white house deals with some pretty tough headlines, high gas prices, concerns over iran, trying to refocus some of that energy on some of the iconic and historic moments of the obama presidency, the killing of osama bin laden, and some of the tough decisions that president obama has had to make, wolf. >> brianna, thank you. the republican battle for the south, primaries this coming tuesday in alabama and mississippi. mitt romney says it's an away game for him. also, her case is drawing national attention, a decision about a high school valedictorian facing deportation. a photojournalist accounts his escape as a nightmare unfolding from syria, an amazing journey out of the killing fields. zero-to-sixty in less time than a porsche panamera s. the 429 horsepower genesis r-spec. from hyundai. i think we should see other people. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. ♪ i would've appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide you with proactive updates on the status of your home loan. and our innovative online tools ensure that you're always in the loop. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. and hello to "whoa, yum." use campbell's cream of chicken soup to make easy enchiladas, cheesy chicken & rice, and other chicken dishes that are oh...so...whoa. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. introducing gold choice. the freedom you can only get from hertz to keep the car you reserved or simply choose another. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. the republican race for the white house has moved south to alabama and mississippi, holding their primaries this coming tuesday. let's go inside the battle with our chief political analyst glorn gloria borger and senior political analyst ron brownstein. here's mitt romney in pascagoula, mississippi. >> i'm learning to say y'all and i like grits and things are -- strange things are happening to me. >> also says alabama and mississippi are away games for him. what do you make of what's going to happen? let's look ahead to tuesday. >> i think just watching mitt romney there, you understand that he knows that he's not going to do well in those states, that he's saying it's an away game as in okay, newt gingrich from georgia, he's got the home field advantage but it's clear, lowering expectations, trying to warm up the crowd saying i'm becoming one of you, but these two states coming are a bit of an issue for him particularly if newt gingrich does well and resurrects himself and puts himself right back in the middle of the race. >> it's do or die for newt gingrich. he did really in south carolina and his home state of georgia but got to do well in the two states >> if newt gingrich resurrects himself i'm not sure if that's bad for romney. he'd prefer to be alive and dividing the conservative vote. the fact is that this is more likely to reaffirm the divide in the republican race than change the dynamic of the race. i use a different sports analogy. gingrich and santorum, holding serve. gingrich winning where he's supposed to win, until either beat romney where the electorate is not dominated by evangelicals and is conservative, the basic dynamic remains in place romney has an upper hand. >> gloria are you convinced if gingrich doesn't do well and drops out, most of the supporters would go to santorum? >> there are questions about that but i believe when you look at the vote that santorum and gingrich have been splitting the blue collar vote, strongly tea party, very conservative evangelicals so i would have to presume that it would go to santorum. this is not to say that romney couldn't peel off some of that. for example romney has been doing well with catholic voters, which is kind of surprising. >> the important thing i think, wolf, even if most of it did go to santorum, probably would, not all but most that is not enough for santorum. there is no state in which rick santorum has won more than 31% of voters who do not consider themselves evangelicals. when you get to the coastal states coming up in april, a new york or a connecticut, california, new jersey, down the road, he is ultimately appealing to two narrow a band width even without gingrich out of the race he can give romney black eyes and gingrich can as well. overcoming them they have to expand their appeal. >> it highlights the problem romney has with his own party, he doesn't attract the core of the base of the base. so it looks like he has he may win the math but he has this psychological hole right in the middle of the republican party saying we don't like you. >> after tuesday, march 20th, is illinois, and that illinois is a big state, a major state. what happens there? >> romney favored. only 41% in 2008 of the vote was evangelical. mitt romney has won all of the non-evangelic non-evangelicals. this other half of the party consistently resisting him looks like 2008 between hillary clinton and barack obama where you basically have deeply cut grooves and you go from state to state the issue isn't how the groups divide, it's how many people are there in the first place. >> and the question is whether when it's over, whether the party will unite as it did behind barack obama, after hillary dropped out, whether they will hold their nose and unite behind mitt romney and be enthusiastic. >> bitter words have been said. >> exactly not only bitter words but sharp divisions. and this goes back to 2008, mitt romney struggled with evangelical voters especially in the south, theological differences that reinforce the policy differences, that is real. he has difficulties connecting with blue collar voters even within a republican primary context, that is real. in the end republicans are hoping look, the desire to beat barack obama is enough to bring everybody together, but you know sometimes you need a little more fuel than that and romney isn't providing it yet. >> gloria, four years ago i moderated four democratic debates and the words exchanged between hillary clinton and barack obama i don't remember the two of them ever exchanging angry words like some of these republican candidates have done. >> it was interesting, because there were policy differences. they disagreed on health care mandates for example, if you want to go back to that. there were a couple of times i remember one debate in particular where barack obama said about hillary, you're likeable enough. remember that. >> cost him the state, cost him new hampshire. >> probably cost him new hampshire. but these people are -- >> the attack ads i don't remember negative super pack attack ads. >> there was the 3:00 a.m. ad famously before ohio and texas when she had her back against the wall. this does have a tone, in the end parties usually do come together. i think what's probably more revealing or more concerning for republicans is that in the course of trying to short circuit these opponents on the right, romney has taken some positions that could be a problem in november particularly with latinos. the polling in the last ten days about hispanic preferences in this election after the positions romney has taken, i think that has a lot of republicans concerns. >> santorum's major argument, how can you have mitt romney run against barack obama when barack obama's health care plan is essentially based on mitt romney's health care plan and that has been central to the tea party movement. >> romney argument against santorum, how can you have a guy who can't get on the virginia ballot run against barack obama in november? >> a little disorganized. >> we'll see what happens in alabama and mississippi. guys thank you very much. her story highlights the plight of undocumented students in the united states. this high school valedictorian is learning her fate. plus the controversy over a viral video about an african warlord, tens of millions of people around the world are watching it. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." weight loss programs can be expensive. so to save some money, i just got the popular girls from the local middle school to follow me around. ew. seriously? so gross. ew. seriously? that is so gross. ew. seriously? dude that is so totally gross. so gross...i know. there's an easier way to save. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. a major new development this week in the case of a high school value dicer toial facing deportation to a country she left as a 4-year-old. lisa sylvester has been following story. what is going on? >> daniella is making her first trip to washington, d.c., and her day included high level meetings with u.s. senators and congressional representatives. the valedictorian's case has made national headlines after an immigration judge said she had to leave the country by march 28th, missing her own graduation. but now things have turned around for her. daniella is valedictorian of her north miami high school. instead of getting her diploma she was on the verge of a deportation diploma. she's in the united states illegally. a last reprieve will allow her and her sister diana to stay for the time being. >> fabulous news, my attorney was able to get a two-year deferred action and we've waived deportation for two more years. >> reporter: why do you want to stay here in the united states? >> i've lived here since i was 4 years old and consider myself american. >> reporter: her high school rallied by her side. members of congress including senator bill nelson appealed to immigration authorities to give palaez a chance to stay. >> until we can pass the dream act. >> reporter: she is in washington, d.c., the new face in the fight for the dream act that would put undocumented students on a path to citizenship. but palaes' own future is far from settled. yes she can stay for two more years but what happens after that? she has applied to several ivy league colleges and hopes to go continue to medical school. >> we need to fix the problem. we need to somehow get a green card for them and for thousands of young people like them, that would like to stay here and give back to the community. >> reporter: palaes' case highlights the limbo of kids like her, brought to the united states illegally, caught between their birth country that they don't know and the united states, where they're not allowed to stay. >> i just want to get that message across, kids like me with grades as good as mine with families serving in the military like my brother,et, just to show them we're good citizens just like anybody else. >> immigration and customs enforcement in a statement said it exercises prosecutorial discret