>> 11:00 on the east coast. welcome back to america's election headquarters. >> we have got all the race calls in for you now at this late hour here on the east coast. not so late on the west. mitt romney has won the state of arizona. he will collect all of that state's delegates, winning that state rather handily and it goes romney, santorum, coming in third -- we'll put it up for you there, newt gingrich, ron paul. gingrich with a third-place finish in arizona, but it does not necessarily matter because that's a winner-take-all state. >> michigan, now. mitt romney the big winner.

not so big in the spread, but as far as momentum. rick santorum will be second. in third, ron paul and newt gingrich will be fourth. the interesting part about michigan is that the congressional districts were 8 were too close to call. so the split in delegates could be very tight. santorum could pick up relatively the same number, maybe even mdepending how it goes in congressional districts. >> turning now carl cameron, with the mitt romney campaign in michigan. >> reporter: big relief, obviously for mitt romney to pull off the victory here in michigan. but there is not a lot of doubt in the romney camp that he does on some measure remain a fractured and fragile frontrunner. folks recognize it's going to be a long campaign trail ahead. when you compare the victory, he has backslid from 20 very 8. back then, he beat john mccain by 9.2%. he is running at 3 or 4% so hoe

lost half of the margin of victory from four years ago w. that said, romney recognizes there are a lot of conservatives he has skepticism problems with. they doubt the quality of his conservativism. the romney campaign, i have asked them day after day after day, what do you do to deal with the base conservatives in the republican party? the answer from the top down, from the candidate to the junior staffers is simple, we have to win. as you look forward to super tuesday. they know where the action's going to be. he is going there tomorrow. romney will have a morning event in toledo and an afternoon event in columbus, ohio. that's where he knows he has to do well and he has to get conservatives to coalesce around him. there was a real scare for the romney camp last week, where the former ohious senator and attorney general revoked and withdrew his endorsement of romney and went to santor up. there was a concern that that

could have been the beginning of an erosion of the romney firewall. that didn't happen. today's victory is a come back upance because he has clawed back. but in the overall year and-a-half, in which this is a state he was expected to have a cakewalk in, rick santorum made mitt romney spend a lot of money, defend his home turf. talk about how he liked the perfect height of the trees and his family and relatives who live across michigan was very, very important for him. when he goes to ohio and super tuesday, mitt romney won't have the benefit of his native state to play on. he will be on fresh territory, where rick santorum leads the polls in ohio and elsewhere. newt gingrich looking to do very strongly in the south. so tonight was a bullet dodged. he was in danger of losing his birth state. he didn't do that. but it cost him a lot of time and effort. he goes forward, clearly leading in the delegate raitt race and in the states and back in the

national polls. we have seen it happen. a candidate wins on primary night and the national polls shift. but each time that's happened, it's been important to recognize that another candidate's won the next tuesday night primary. so romney has momentum tonight. >> we'll see how long it lasts. >> it got ugly between santorrum and romney at the end, conservatives -- romney calling santorum an economic lightweight and santorum responding that romney is a conservative lightweight. but tonight, there was a cordial moment between the two men, before rick santorum took to the stage. tell us? >> reporter: there has been a lot of back and forth about who calls who to concede. this time, rick santorum did call mitt romney. romney took the call. it has been described by santorum's eldest daughter as a cordial conservation but brief. it was literally seconds before santorum took the stage to make his remarks. he made it very clear that

santorum is not backing down at all. super tuesday for him is an opportunity for him to rise again. mitt romney didn't mention any of his rivals tonight. there are only a few plays in the romney playbook. >> he has been incessantly disciplined disciplined in sticking with them. tonight was a victory, and he talked about barack obama, not his republican rivals. that's likely to continue, but where it is close and romney has to do well next week, don't expect any letup. mitt romney has made it very clear, he knows how to throw a punch and take a punch there. will be plenty between mitt romney and rick santorum in the days ahead. >> over at the touch screen tonight, bill, mitt romney did win a greater hair of the vote in michigan, interesting ruths in michigan and arizona. >> certainly is. to carl's point on the results map here in the touchscreen billboard, if you examine michigan for the results so far this year in 2012 and compare it

with 2008, it goes to the point that carl was makeing there. here's santorum in red and romney in orange, with 84% of the vote. santorum is doing very well in the upper peninsula. in the western half of the state, southwestern part of the state, santorum is taking all of these counties. if this holds, and it likely will, santorum will likely win more counties than romney, but overall, romney could take the overall vote total and will increase his vote total over four years ago. we will examine from 2008, between romny and mccain, just a reminder, romney won four years ago by 9 points. but look at the era romney demdominated. in central part lansing, all of this orange area was romney. now you look in 2012, you see where santorum has picked selected counties and bitten into his lead and we will watch and see as this rolls on, further in the super tuesday, to the folks in arizona, we have

not ignored you tonight. it is that early on, we were given an indication that mitt romney was rolling through the state. this pretty much tells you the story. there is 76% of the vote counted, every county is checking in for mitt romney, especially here in the center. maricopa, where phoenix is located. mitt romney did well here four years ago, look where he romped this time around. 26 points in maricopa county alone of the that was a state that he finished second in to john mccain 4 years ago. but a very impressive showing for mitt romney. he is the only one who campaigned hard in the state of arizona this time around. a week from tonight, 10 different states doll battle. you will hear about virginia and georgia, tennessee and oklahoma. but the critical state will be the 63 delegates on the map in the state of ohio and this is our economic landscape map. the deeper the red, the tougher trouble over the past four years. if you are in green, well, you

are doing all right. you have a surplus of jobs since barack obama has taken the white house. but here, in ohio with republican governor john kasich, who brags about recruiting more jobs and more companies to the buckeye state, the unemployment rate is 8.1%, slight lie below the national average. but jobs and the economy, taxes, deficit spending will be a priority in ohio as we go there 7 days from now. back to you as we look toward super tuesday in a week. >> no one can work that board like bill. it's easy. you move from place to place. >> he's almost as at home as he is in good old cincinnati, his native city, where the candidates are going to be very soon. >> that would be my native state. my home state. but it's my home here in new york city. >> thru go. >> now you are a new yorker. >> three-way. >> martha has not been shy about telling the world her home state

is the great state of new jersey. >> you bech a. but she's looking at michigan to figure out how romney won. as we are a week out tmay tell us the trends in terms of groups of voters. >> let's break down how mitt romney did this in michigan tonight. it's truly a broad story. he won with women, seniors, college graduate, high-income voters. republicans, moderates, conserve thifs -- conservatives, those who are worry abouted about the economy and who want to beat barack obama. seniors were a quarter of the voters, almost half went to mitt romney. catholics backed romney. the mormon, over santorum, the catholic who, has been very outspoken about his catholic faith, especially in the later terms of this race. women favored mitt romney by 5. beating obama in the fall is their number-1 issue and romney is their guy with 61% of that

group. the top issue continues to be the economy. those who care the most about fixing the economy more than anything else in that race, they went for romney in a big way. those who had the top issue as the deficit, romney bested santor num that group. so how about experience? and what better prepares somebody to become president? most voters think the business experience has given mitt romney the better preparation to serve as president. they picked him. santorum's last-ditch effort to win michigan, over the course of this week. that was to woo the democrat and it is independents to show up and to vote for him in the republican primary. that effort pretty much failed. he won half of the democrats. they made up 9% of the vote. and as for the independents, he flipped them with mitt romney and ron paul, victory looked elusive heading into the early going and he closed the deal

tonight in a very broadway in michigan, you guys. >> martha, thank you. >> yeah. >> let's bring in syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer with his thoughts. charles, your thoughts? >> i'm here in my adopted washington, not my native new york. i think the storyline is the same. the storyline is romney -- slow, steady, unspectacular, rather jaunty tonight with a win in michigan. the other story is that there have been six challengers, they rise, they fall, they swing, they u-turn and the only one who remains after all of this is romney. i think that santorum really had his shot here. he got the slingshot coming out of that three win two weeks ago, three weeks ago. he came really close, which would have been a tremendous upset. but he fell short. and like the others, i think they were mostly self-inflicted.

the story is romney's luck in his choice of opponents. santorum, if you look at exit polls, he had a 7% of those who decide in the last few days. but among those who decide in the last few weeks, he had been up 20, which means the momentum really slowed in the end. that had to do, i think, with self-inflicted errors. there was kennedy, college and contraception. the attack on the kennedy speech he made in 1960 on religion and santorum said it made him want to throw up. he talked about college and the fact that he said that obama was trying to push it for everyone that reflected elitism, snobbery and indoctrination. there is a point about liberal higher education, but it was extreme and overstated. and on contraception, an issue which has been settle in the country a half century ago, he is on the wrong side of that. you saw that in the women's

vote. santorum came dead even on the men vote. and the women's vote, he lost by 5% and that's what cost hirple the election -- what cost him the election. that was reflected in the speech he made. he talked about his mother, his wife and his daughter. he spoke about them as independent and professional, trying to undo the damage he had done in the gender gap. so i think that remains the story, santorum had a shot. he will have one more shot, i think, in ojaio. but again, romney slow, steady, unspectacular is the one who remains standing, but all the wind blows away and the sand disappears. >> charles, a lot of republican voters have been uncomfortable watching this primary contest so far with the barbs being exchanged. in michigan as we have seen in the earlier state, it got ugly in the end. your take at this point in the process on whether this extended primary process that was a choice by the g.o.p., is working

to the g.o.p.'s advantage? >> no. i think it's hurting them terribly. you are right about the fact that it is a republican choice. i think it was a really stupid choice. they decided that in 2008, they had gotten the candidate too early, a weak candidate in mccain and they got slaughtered. they were going to undo that and have a long, drawn-out process, almost all the contests would be proportional and let the voters decide over time. the flaw in the reasoning -- and it was pretty obvious -- they would be running against an incumbent president. unlike 2008. the democrats would not have any early contests or negativity or all of this expenditure, trying to decide who will be the nominee. so they should have had a shorter race, but they designed it for a longer race. in a year in which the democrats have no race at all and therefore have an advantage.

nonetheless, i think the way obama has performed as president is so disappointing and is now, i think, it's an even contest between democrats and republicans as to the general election t. shouldn't be. republicans should be way ahead, given how badly obama has done and how weak the economy is. but this process has certainly hurt all the republican candidates and diminished the brand, unfortunately. >> charles, one last thing, from a santorum campaign perspective, in michigan, rick santorum has outspent roughly 5 to 1 in michigan. he will probably finish 3 points behind in that state, the native state for mitt romney. the campaign is saying that they think they could win more delegates in the end. we are going to see, by congressional district here, soon. i just got an email from the campaign saying, don't forget, hillary clinton won nevada, got the new cycle and senator obama got the delegates.

what about the reason from this santorum folks? >> well, that's a pretty -- that's a pretty jesuitical interpretation of of the result. if santorum comes out ahead it will be 2 delegates. there will be 2,000 at the convention. it will be utterly insignificant. the fact is, he lost michigan. so whether they get the delegates split exactly evenly or one party gets a couple more than the other is utterly unimportant. the fact is, this was his shot in the same way that the elections he won 3 weeks ago, the missouri, colorado and minnesota, had no delegates at stake. and yet, it was important and the momentum, what was at stake before, he got it and tonight, he lost. >> charles, as always, thanks for the analysis. see nuwashington. >> mitt romney, wing both arizona and michigan, tonight, coming up, chris wallace and karl rove and joe trip pyon the

races. keep it right here on america's election headquarters. >> one thing we can't afford, it's 4 years of barack obama with nothing to answer to. so we are going to get him out of that office and get him back home where he belongs. >> now you saw his b now, you saw his budget. laura ] maine is known for its lighthouses, rocky shore, and most importantly, its lobster. it's the tastiest, the sweetest, the freshest. nobody can ever get enough [ male announcer ] it's lobsterfest at red lobster, the one time of year you can savor 12 exciting lobster entrees like lobster lover's dream

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>> now, we will head back to washington, where chris wallace is with his guest. we have been told, the special special -- oh, my goodness -- what is that? >> it has been a big night for the space cowboys, bret. a little while, but karl and joe, and please take a shot of them because i don't want to go down in my career by myself here. >> no, no, no. >> 9:15 for mitt romney in michigan.

>> we have serious things to talk about. >> what? >> we've jumped to shark. it's official. >> no, this is like, you know, the red hour like you used to wear the victory scarf. the space cowboys called the race and we will put on our bandanas from now to the rest of the primary season. it seems to me, karl -- i know nobody is paying attention to what we are saying. but it seems to me mitt romney, and the tax plan, it gives him something to talk about, something to sink his teeth into. >> gave him a topic for the end of the which, which is good. he could have done better had he not had his speech to the detroit economic club where he rolled it out, the 300 people in a 65,000 seat stadium. but it was good to have a tax and a spending cut plan to roll out and talk about. >> let's talk about rack san. what is his play now?

does he double down on the social conservative? it was the one area he could beat romney, or does he downplay that and play more the idea i have an answer for the economy too? >> i think it's too late for him 20 do that. i think he will have to double down on social conservative. and the reason is it's the one easy play that gets you 25% across the board in all those states. he has to go -- he has to go park himself in ohio and somehow wage a campaign out there across the rest of the states. romney's got surrogates, he has all kinds of people, donald trump and other people he can send out to the other state and other elected officials that can roll out there. santorum just doesn't have that kind of an army. he has to do it by putting more red meat out there for the social conservatives. >> meanwhile, ron paul, newt gingrich basically ignored arizona and michigan and they have been laying in wait. paul in some of the caucus

states around the western part of the country, and the north central. and gingrich in georgia in the south. is there a third act potential for gingrich here? karl, what's his play? does he go after romney or santorum? what does he do? >> there's a potential third act and it starts in georgia wishes has a big block of delegates and it's not his birth state, it's his adopted state. >> i should point out he didn't grow up -- karl, tell us. >> he was born in pennsylvania. he didn't grow up in georgia. he went and caught college in georgia and entered politics there and now lives in virginia. he's not going to be on the ballot in the state where he now lives. he's going to be on the ballot in georgia, the state where he had his political career, and he will do well there. the question is how well does he do in the other southern states, tennessee and oklahoma that are on that day, and then mississippi and alabama. >> and also arkansas. >> no, alaska. alaska. >> oh, yeah. i knew it was "a" something. >> and ron paul will be active

and also in north dakota which is a caucus state, and he will try to make a play in idaho, although i think that's a beginning camp. but for gingrich it's how well he does the south and his opponent there is a santorum. that's why he went after him as a big union republican in georgia recently because he has to get past santorum in order to get at romney. >> i think it's going to be divide and conquer. santorum has to hope gingrich catches fire because there's no way gingrich can fight in all those places. the only way it will work anymore is to have ron paul score in washington state, newt go down in georgia and tennessee and some places like that, and you pick off ohio. if you can do that, you stop romney. >> isn't it likely the picture on super tuesday is going to be very mud he would? each one will win a pocket? >> i think so. but there's a chance romney will

win virginia, and massachusetts, his adopted state, vermont, and i suspect idaho, which has a substantial mormon population. and if he wins one more, ohio gives him five out of ten con tests or five out of eleven, and wyoming, and you have a majority of he will delegates. >> that's it from the space cowboys. >> chris, patty brown tweeted in this is not a great moment in tv journalism. >> we were talking beforehand as to whether or not we were going to do this, and trippi keep looking at each other, are we really going to wear these? i said you do other things. this is it for me. if i get a note from the boss tomorrow, this could be my final appearance on the fox news channel. >> oh, my. >> this is your moment right now. >> thank you, gentlemen. >> if we get a big spike in the ratings at like 11:20 -- >> we will all wear them. >> don't you guys feel so boring over there right now? >> just sitting here. >> first santorum brings a prop, now those guys felt like they

had to one-up him. now our all-star panel in new york. we have a break. but you have to up the game, that's all i am saying. and you can also, folks, get the latest on the race calls on our website. >> go to foxnews.com/ad. and foxnews.com/michigan for the latest on the race in michigan. and foxnews.com, your front row seat to politics and costumes. my name is robin. i'm a wife, i'm a mom... and chantix worked for me. it's a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantiis proven to help people quit smoking. it reduthe urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking orood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these, stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression

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now, that's progressive. call or click today. >> it's the bottom of the hour. thing about winner in michigan, mitt romney. winner momentum-wise. the spread is pretty tight, actually. rick santorum will come in second. in third, ron paul. and in fourth in michigan, newt gingrich. >> similar results in arizona where fox news is projecting that mitt romney is the winner. rick santorum came in second there. a healthy margin of victory for mitt romney. in third place in arizona, newt gingrich. ron paul finishing fourth. that does not necessarily matter, however, because it's a winner-take-all state, and governor romney will get all 29 of that state's delegates. >> time now to bring back our panel here in new york. >> wait for it. wait for it. >> no costume, no costume. >> and juan williams, columnist for the hill. and the new york correspondent

for the washington examiner. and also pat. pat, your thoughts on tonight and the big picture. >> pat, did you hear a word that that panel in washington said? >> not a word. [laughter] >> who could tell? once you saw those neckties. >> how did they have cocktails and we didn't? that's got to explain it, right? >> it's our studio down to washington there. an open bar? i never had that for a special report. >> look, several things. one, romney dodged a big bullet tonight. what is interesting is how he did it. santorum had this thing lined up and lost it, and he lost it today with people who voted today. 19%, he was winning. and 7% for romney today. it broke down. but here's the more important thing. romney for a three point victory, i've never seen an exit

poll like this. we are seeing things we've never seen so far this season. romney won people -- excuse me, lost only people who make less than $30,000 or less than $50,000 by a few points. usually he loses them by a lot. same with college. 30% of the people in michigan have been laid off that voted today voted for romney by plus 6. those are down-scale voters. you think they would be voting for santorum, but, no, they aren't. and donald trump particularly went out to campaign for him to help him identify with those voters but here's the real story. for 40 years no presidential incumbent since nixon, the 40th anniversary of watergate, and i take this very interestingly, seriously, it is for 40 years no incumbent party has attempted to influence the nomination of their opponent. tonight for the first time in polling we can see the evidence,

that that concerted effort paid off. let me give you a couple of examples of this. rick santorum lost somewhat conservative voters by 19 points. he won somewhat liberal voters, which he's never won, by 5 in that state. people who opposed the tea party, he won by four points. he lost by a point for those who support the. but anything people who strongly opposed the tea party, he won by 16 points. this is an effort to obviously influence the vote and it's the first time we've seen, quote, strategic voting. it's the first time you see that kind of broad-based effort by the incumbent on his party in modern history. >> we talked about this a moment ago. to what extent do you think santorum's comments this week and the past few days hurt him tonight? i think charles referred to it as kennedy, catholics and contraception. he made a remark about president

kennedy's speech, an absolutely separation of church and state and santorum said it made him want to throw up. and the controversy about contraception we know. he went on from there. what do you think -- how did that play into tonight's results? >> the john f. kennedy caused a problem for him. if there are people in michigan who remember the older romney, they remember john kennedy, as well. and i don't think the college remark was that big a gaffe for santorum. you have to remember just 25% of people in michigan have a bachelor's degree or higher 75% do not have a college degree. santorum won them narrowly. and they didn't vote as much as people who do have college degrees. but it all came down, all of it, to the economy. i mean, 55% of the people there said it was the most important issue for them. another 25% said the federal deficit so that's 80% of the people talking about the

economy, and federal spending. romney won strong among both. one thing we haven't talked about enough is romney's pitch, which pollsters asked which do you think is the best experienced to be president? a business background or a background in government? and by a big margin people -- >> two to one. >> people said business. look back at the list, we haven't won a lot of business people president but that's romney's pitch and it won tonight in michigan. >> it seemed like rick santorum was aiming toward ohio with his speech tonight and trying to get that message out to ohio, someplace that his campaign thinks he will do well there as well. is that what you heard, you know, holding up the shale, making the pitch on energy, a blue collar pitch that he has had on the trail? >> sure. and i think we've heard this since new hampshire when he gave a very nice speech, even though it was a concession, where he talked about his grandfather as

a coal minor. now he's again working toward, i think, gal van nicing the blue-collar vote. what i see is basically romney won people who went to college and santorum wins people who have high school education or less. i think romney winning people who make more than $100,000, and santorum winning people who make less than $50,000. santorum wins people who are in unions, romney wins people who are not in unions f you ask the voters in michigan who is the true conservative, it's overwhelming. rick santorum. who has morale character? rick santorum. but when it comes to who can defeat obama, it's mitt romney. who has experience, it's mitt romney. >> you are shaking your head, pat? >> no, i disagree with juan for this reason. let me just say this, romney's margin that he lost these lower income voters, he's been winning the rich people, the

well-educated. he's being slaughtered by the others. the question is how did he run so closely with some of these groups he has not run well with, and yet win the state by only three points? >> the answer, pat, this guy was outspent by more than four to one -- >> no, no, how did romney only win by three points? >> that's what i'm saying. romney blanketed the airways. and romney is successful at tearing down otherwise opponents. and i think he's been very successful at it but i think it's damaging to the brand ultimately. >> let me settle this for you. i think there actually might be an explanation, and i heard it repeatedly when i was talking to voters in michigan when i was there for several days at the end of last week. remember romney's argument here in this state, i'm the businessman, i'm the can-do, practice guy, i'm a problem solver, will have a special resonance in michigan because it's the same pitch that rick snyder made to voters when he con two years ago. it's what he's been doing, and by and large michigan republicans think he's done an effective job.

he's not been terribly ideological. he said i will come in and reduce the deficit. he's delivered on a lot of those promises. there's a model for what romney was arguing and i think that might explain some of the reasoning. >> how do you think that could translate if we see romney in a general election contest against president obama? here you have a large portion of the voters in both states saying they view experience in business as more important, more relevant than experience in government. in this contest that meant romney won over santorum. if you see a contest between mitt romney and barack obama, does that translate, even though this is a republican primary? juan, does it cause you concern that they place such a high value on experience in business which barack obama is light on, versus experience in government? >> no, i think the economy would -- should be the defining issue. if it comes to the economy then you would say mitt romney, in terms of his experience with business, would be someone that you could have confidence in. but the thing is, making that the economy is getting somewhat

better. consumer confidence is improving. so if the economy is not the defining issue, then, of course, you know you see the advantage diminished. the other thing to say is from the barack obama team's perspective, you can attack mitt romney. remember we heard job production i think what perry said in massachusetts was next-to-last. that dukakis proud more jobs from mitt romney. >> and the plan in the south, for super tuesday, for the washington caucuses on saturday, is there a newt gingrich plan that works in your mind? >> no. i think he has already been knocked out. he needed threes three weeks to establish himself, to redefine his campaign, and i don't think he's done it. >> do you agree? >> we should say one more thing, we haven't talked with the super-pacs tonight. each of these candidates,

santorum or gingrich, might at some point run out of money and drop out in the future, but now they don't have to because they have super-pacs, funded largely by individual supporters of them. foster freiz, if he's in the mood to keep giving money, he can keep airing ads. >> and sheldon with the newt gingrich campaign. >> thank you. we will be back in a minute. >> we will check in with those guys down in d.c. and see what on earth they are wearing now. don't go away. >> it is harder to make ends meet because we have a government that's crushing us every single day with more taxes, more regulation, and the idea that they know better than you how to run your life. that ultimately is about what this race is about. it comes down to the very nature of who we are as americans.

>> there are 30 delegates on the table. but each congressional district is a race in and of itself. and right now, there are a few that are too close to call. it is possible in this race that rick santorum comes out with more delegates out of the state of michigan than mitt romney, even though mitt romney won the state. that's what we are waiting on right now, the congressional district back and forth. >> wouldn't that be interesting in the wake of iowa, where mitt romney was said to have won and then, they said, in fact, rick santorum had really won. we will wait to see. we are going to go to

washington, where chris wallace clearly got a call from our boss. >> no, he said he liked it. but the bandanas make one appearance a night. >> we look forward to super tuesday. >> some would say once a night is overdoing it. a couple of pieces of business down here. we were talking about the robo-calls. i am talking specifically about the once santorum made, urging democrats to come out and they did and among the democrats who did, romney lost to santorum. but you are saying it was a backlash? >> if you made up your mind about who to vote for last year, you voted for romney, pist-17. if you made up your mind in february, after the february 7 victory, you voted for santorum, 54-32, if you vote in the last few days, 49-31, but if you made up your mind today, nearly 10%, you voted for romney, 38-31.

i heard on the ground from the people in the state, there was a visceral reaction to the robo-calls of santorum trying to get democrats to enter the republican primary t. shows up 38-31 for romney. >> another call that was made, that wasn't so controversial and may have actually, i am interested to hear that you think it helped romney, the robo-calls from donald trump. >> donald trump did a robo-call a few weeks ago. it started in michigan. i think it is really helping. trump has helped him twice nnevada and now in michigan. i think he is helping with the blue-collar republicans, tea-party republicans, blue-collar folks. he's appealing to them. he appeals to them and gets them to take another look at romney. it has happened and i think that robo-call really helped. >> they were talking to the panel about the fact that the unemployed voted for romney. i think trump may have helped with that. >> absolutely. he helps with him.

it opens that group up. i think that's -- particularly, as you go into super tuesday, having that -- you know, in your arsenal is really important to romney. >> final point. karl, we were talking and the panel in new york was as well, about the controversial things, some would say positive, some would say negative, that rick santorum said about college, catholics and contraception. you think the college remark may have been the one that really hurt u. how many people say, yeah, i don't want my kids to go to college? best thing for 'em, avoid going to college? most of us think higher education is the main spur for prosperity for our children. >> and the hot beds of liberal indoctrination. >> we send our kids to college and hope they come out sane. but we -- one thing that mitt romney hit in the last week was, he wanted to have an economy that -- in which people had an

opportunity to rise nwhich there was opportunity and prosperity in the future. i think this hurt santorum because it sounded like he really didn't get it that that was a way up for people. >> well, a lot that we have chewed over here tonight. and on to washington on saturday and super tuesday next week. that's it from washington. back to you. >> space cowboys, thank you very much. >> interesting conversation about donald trump. not only does he do the robo-call, but he did a lot of local radio interviews and that panel thinks he is making a difference. >> with all due respect to mr. trump, i think we may be underestimating kid rock. coming up, two wins for mitt romney tonight. we will be right back with final thoughts from our panel here in new york. stay with us. [ kyle ] my b.

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>> he likes to remind us he inherited an economy in crisis but doesn't like to remind us he inherited a democrat congress. he had majorities in the house and senate and free to pursue any policy he pleased. did he fix the economy? no. did he tackle the housing crisis? did he get americans back to work? >> mitt romney tonight the winner in michigan and arizona focusing his speech, as he has in the past to president obama time now to bring back our panel for final thoughts. steve, first you. >> i think mitt romney avoided a disaster, that is not going to be a disaster because he

won the popular vote. if sabt santorum ends up getting more delegates they're going to press the case very hard. and the feeling in romney's camp has to be of relief. i thought he gave a good speech. i suspect he'll go back to the economy and in what is interesting from his speech i thought is that he seem today. pand his criticism of president obama and included longer passage on entitlement reform in which he said the president hasn't had the courage to layout a plan for reforming entitlements in the way that i have. i think that is a critique of president obama's leadership. >> and we could remember tonight as the night that mitt romney really turned a corner and put all of the anti-romney to bed. if he is able to sustain going forward going into ohio. but into that southern area of

the country. the heart of the republican party and a party you're going to see more of a social conservative and evangelicals coming into play. will antimormanism come into play there? we don't know. spend sog much money in michigan and elsewhere trying to develop momentum he drained funds as he goes on. because especially if you throw in gingrich tonight there is a strong antiromney sentiment in the republican party. >> this is the first speech i heard mitt romney mention his web site and donations and people should contribute. >> this is a man dropping 30 plus million of his own money and doesn't want to do it again. i think the bottom line in this for rick santorum is that you can't escape your reputation. for decades he's built a reputation as leader in the social conservative movement. i think the bottom line is

that as much as he talked about the economy, the voters i talked to thought of him as a social conservative guy. most won with 76% was a group of people believing abortion should be illegal. >> i'm from the ohio coming up and we've heard and discussed this is a critical issue. he's not winning those voters now economically in the north as he needs to win and i think joe trippy was right. romney did better than he's done after two states and after the nascar statement. this is the real test. santorum, i think blew an opportunity. romney dodged a bullet. >> and thank you so much. that does it for us tonight. but the race for the republican presidential nomination is not over yet. the debate appear to be over but on saturday, 8:00 p.m. eastern governor huckabee has a forum and then, special

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