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.
economic message. he said he was the candidate of change, but you still have 25 million people out of work. you still have almost 10% unemployment here in florida. you still have home values down and continuing to go down. you still have record number of foreclosures in florida. you still have median incomes suffering, middle income families suffering. florida is an epicenter of the housing crisis that put us into the great recession of 2008 and 2009. cnn senior political analyst david gergen joins us from jacksonville. david, mitt romney is not only focused on president obama, he s got newt gingrich to deal with as well. florida was one of the states that was hardest hit by the housing crisis. its unemployment rate remains above the national average. so is tuesday s primary going to end up as a referendum on whether voters who are focused on the economy can get behind mitt romney as the man to best fix it? reporter: probably so, ali, but i must tell you this has become
villaraigosa and former commerce secretary carlos gutierrez. i m candy crowley. and this is state of the union. there are more delegates at stake in florida than any of the previous contests. so major momentum will come out of this winner-take-all state. naturally ron paul, a road less traveled kind of guy, spent the week in maine. what am i doing in maine? why am i not in florida? to get delegates. that s what we re doing here. truth is, ron paul doesn t need to be in florida to have a presence. the debt is certainly an important issue. you can hear it from the ron paulites who are here cheering tonight. that s the intrigue of the paul campaign. maximum commitment by voters in the face of minimal chances. his support now is too small to be a threat to romney or gingrich in the short run, but large enough to be a factor in the long run. and if ron paul shouldn t win, what s the price for his support? the texas congressman joins me now from his home state. thank you,
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