in northern florida, interstate 75 is closed after a string of crashes overnight that killed at least nine people. officials tell us the highway will be closed in that area for most of today. the sheriff s office says visibility was poor because of smoke from a nearby brushfire. all right, in just two days, florida s primary, most delegate rich contest so far. and candidate newt gingrich is heading into it with a new endorsement. i hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse newt gingrich for president of the united states! will herman cain s backing influence primary voters in the sunshine state? a live report straight ahead. and now to the campaign trail, extending beyond florida. ron paul spent the weekend in maine where several towns are holding caucuses over the next several weeks. rick santorum did some fund raising in washington, d.c. yesterday, but skipped appearances today in florida to be with his young daughter who is being hospitalized in philadelphia.
meet in texas, and they say the guy is rick santorum. but you heard speaker gingrich who said i don t think he s going anywhere. what is the impact of their vote over the weekend? well the evangelical vote will be huge, and there will be a strong turnout, but you have to consider you have three people going after the evangelical vote strongly. that works to the romney campaign s benefit. it s hard to find a single candidate that rallies all of the christian voters in south carolina, and therefore that splintered approach will probably have a major impact on saturday. what is driving the vote? you go to your district, and you are talking to people in the state, and what is really going to drive the vote in south carolina? well, our unemployment rate in south carolina is almost 10%, so the thing that i think voters are heading into, whether you are evangelical or whether you are a liberal or libertarian, you are looking at who helped to create jobs in this economy.
we ll get to. if he has supporters that need to go to a second choice and romney is the second choice or gingrich, that can really change those numbers. iowa is difficult to poll. kimberly: i want to talk about romney a about it. romney is focusing on obama, showing how they differ in their view of america in terms of the policies he would like to put forward. he is has a super pack doing dirty work of attacking the candidate. do you think this strategy is working? it seems to have paid off. certainly he was not leading in iowa a few months allege and he kept the amount steady. he is starting to build more support in iowans. so, yeah, he was definitely able to turn gingrich a little bit about. these are people romney supporters but it s not a romney group. then i also have the fact he has been acting as if he the nominee
we ll get to. if he has supporters that need to go to a second choice and romney is the second choice or gingrich, that can really change those numbers. iowa is difficult to poll. kimberly: i want to talk about romney a about it. romney is focusing on obama, showing how they differ in their view of america in terms of the policies he would like to put forward. he is has a super pack doing dirty work of attacking the candidate. do you think this strategy is working? it seems to have paid off. certainly he was not leading in iowa a few months allege and he kept the amount steady. he is starting to build more support in iowans. so, yeah, he was definitely able to turn gingrich a little bit about. these are people romney supporters but it s not a romney group. then i also have the fact he has been acting as if he the nominee
third place with 16. gingrich who led iowa earlier this month has dropped to 14%. followed by rick perry and michele bachmann. in new hampshire the new poll shows romney leading at 44%. paul at 17 and newt is at 16%. the rest are in single digits. what do the results mean? to sort it all out. thanks for being with us tonight. mitt romney s strategy in iowa, so far he is holding at 25%. can he hold on to the lead and perhaps gain more points? probably. he is definitely continue to spend money in iowa. he is advertising on television. he has organization on the ground. it s also a matter you don t need that many points to win. this is such a small game of numbers here where particularly, let s talk about santorum which