momentum in his quest for the republican nomination. he s crossed the halfway point to 1144. he has 573 delegates and santorum has 212, newt gingrich and ron paul trail. some other interesting numbers, msnbc s richard lui has a closer look at the exit polls and what do they tell us about romney s path going forward? chris, if it s over, mitt romney would point to this, the gop baselining up behind him. nbc news exit polls, romney hoovering in 40s with evangelicals, he split that vote in one of his best you comes with religious conservatives, questions about the faith with the group could be moderating. very conservatives ran almost even with santorum yesterday, a strong performance not seen outside of new england. also, romney did very well with those who strongly support the tea party. he beat santorum, look at that, by up to 15 points. the fiscally conservative group outperformed compared to overall vote in wisconsin.
santorum and ron paul. and in a testament to romney s organization, he nearly won conservative alaska. he beat santorum by 33-29 margin. the only candidate to campaign in alaska, though, ron paul. he finished third. and by the way, ron paul has now gone 0 for 23. even newt gingrich has won some states. ron paul has not. 20% of the party s delegates were at stake last night. in all, romney picked up at least 212 delegates. he may get up to 219. that will half of the total number at stake. santorum won 91. we think he gets up to 97. he won t crack 100. we think gingrich will get up to 82. and nbc is projecting that romney will walk away with more than a majority of the delegates. 219, 97, 82. bottom line, romney hit his
with evangelicals. i don t like to talk about it, but it s real. and to ignore it i think is to ignore something that may have an impact on the general election as well. martha: it interesting to see how he does with catholics. he beat santorum with catholics in arizona. bill: as we gauge the returns, the romneys will be back in their state of massachusetts tonight. she was asked about her family s wealth, this is how she responded. we can be poor in spirit. and i don t look i don t even consider myself wealthy which is an interesting thing. it can be here today and gone tomorrow. how i measure riches is about it friends i have and the loved ones i have and the people that i care about in my life.
two candidates finish neck in neck in iowa. one candidate bows out of the campaign. now the focus shifts to new hampshire. first a look at at close results in the iowa caucuses. mitt romney beat rick santorum by just eight votes. each got 25% of the vote. ron paul was a close third followed by newt gingrich. rick perry is reassessing just this hour. michele bachmann announced that she is suspending her campaign. joining us to talk about all of this, larry sabato. he s director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. let s start with the breaking news here. michele bachmann finished next to last in iowa after she had a pretty strong showing over the summer. what do you think actually happened to make her campaign implode the way it did? you know, people complain
most of the republican candidates, it is bye-bye iowa, hello, new hampshire. mitt romney beat rick santorum by just eight, we re talking eight votes. each got about 25% of the vote. ron paul was a close third followed by newt gingrich. revved up santorum thanks his supporters for the late surge while romney took aim at president obama. he said three years ago after being inago gur rated, he was on the today show he said if i can t get this turned around i ll be looking for a one term presidency. we are here to collect. game on. by standing up and not compromising, by standing up and being bold and leading, leading with that burden and responsibility you have to be first you have taken the first