a new front in the battle for the republican presidential nomination, nevada, which holds its caucuses this coming saturday. mitt romney is there along with newt gingrich and ron paul. instead of relishing his victory, a huge victory in the florida primary last night, romney and his team are now in full damage control mode after something romney said right here on cnn. our senior congressional correspondent dana bash is in las vegas with us. she s watching what s going on. what s going on with mitt romney, dana? reporter: well, wolf, i think we ve auld had something like this happen to us. you say something, it doesn t quite come out like you mean it, but when you re the front-runner in a presidential campaign, you can t afford to be the one who trips yourself up. making the morning show rounds, mitt romney inadvertently handed opponents an eight-word give on cnn i m not concerned about the very poor reporter: to be clear that made for a bumper sticker line was only
including the same unit that killed osama bin laden, stage another daring raid, this time on mission to rescue hostages from pirates in somalia. tears on both sides of the aisle. congress bids an emotional farewell and gets an inspirational message. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. but first this just coming in. we re seeing a tight race, a very tight race here in florida. that makes tomorrow night s cnn republican presidential debate potentially all the more important as the candidates try to make an impact. the new cnn/ time /orcp poll shows a virtual tie. ging r. has near will you doubled his support here, while romney has slipped. but that big jump by gingrich may not snell tell the whole story. there s another trend developing, and there s lots to explore. let s getting right to our chief political analyst gloria borger and mike all crowley of time magazine. on the face of it, it looks like a tie, but there s other trends developing. right, i thi
saying bring it on. senator rand paul refusing a pat-down at an airport security checkpoint after setting off an alarm on a body scanner. he s joining us live this hour. he ll tell us what happened. also, a key u.s. supreme court ruling on electronic surveillance. the justices agree that police need a warrant to plant a gps device on a suspect s car but they don t agree on why. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. what a day in politics. mitt romney is going all out as he goes after newt gingrich with a series of very bitter attacks. the new national poll out today may show why. the two rivals are in a statistical tie. the gallup daily tracking poll shows romney at 29% nationwide, down nine points in just over a week. gingrich is at 28%, double his strength in the last poll a week ago. it s a dead heat, just a week and change before the florida primary. let s bring in cnn jim acosta. he s in tampa and watching the battle for florida. it shouldn t be.
middle-class families pay. we ll explain what s going on. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. dramatic new developments today in the cruise ship disaster off the coast of italy after blasting holes in the capsized costa philosopconcord the massive liner hits rocks and ripped open the hull friday night. it shows the dramatic escape as people clamor off the sinks vessel. the ship s captain is under house arrest, and he may face charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. now a stunning the transcript between outrages authorities on shore and the captain. matthew chance is faults this unfold. what s the latest, matthew? reporter: these transcripts and recordings that have emerged of astonishing. they show conversations that were taking place between the captain of the costa concordia. his name is francesco scampino. the coast guard asking about the situation. he sounds confused. then emerges much to the astonishment of is the coast guard that the captain
deadly string of assassinations. and the first lady of the united states reacting to a controversial new book about the obama white house, saying she s not the stereotype of, quote, some angry black woman. i m wolf blitzer, you re in the situation room. with back-to-back wins in iowa and new hampshire, mitt romney has now done what no other republican incumbent candidate has ever done, once again no republican candidate except, i should say, for a sitting president. romney, of course, wants to be sitting in the white house next year, but that road leads through south carolina. that s the next primary state in ten days. his opponents are digging trenches and putting up barricades there in an all-out effort to halt his momentum. south carolina has a representation for rough and tumble primary and for picking winners. jim accost ha has the latest. jim? reporter: if only the south carolina primary could be tomorrow for mitt romney, it s going to be potentially a brutal te