the other followed the course of the illinois river and the third along the illinois river out of st. louis but oftentimes moved well away from the river to remote underground railroad outposts. the fourth escape route, the so-called quincy line, carried freedom seekers through western illinois from quincy to galesburg to princeton, but along this line, there were numerous satellite stations on farms and in rural hamlets, in and close to places like menden, mccomb, farmington, canton, tulon. the quincy line possessed ideal conditions that helped runaway slaves escape within the region, each of four rivers, the less moinz, spoon, edwards and green, provided natural water courses for fugitives to follow. if escapes slaves stayed close to the river or tributaries, all freedom seekers needed to do was move against the current of the water and they'd ultimately be heading in a northerly direction. a second geographical feature of much of northern illinois and iowa was the existence of tall prairie grass, the tallest prairie grass in the world grew there, still does in our backyard, a littl

in schaumburg, illinois. how is the romney camp feeling about his chances tonight? >> reporter: listen, they feel pretty good. but as always, when you hear the expectations that are out there, oh, he's leading by double digits, that's whether -- whether their ears begin to perk up. in ohio or michigan where romney's won, the complaint is he hasn't won by enough. they want a very big win here. they think a big win here in imill and certainly it looks like a state where romney can pull that off, at least on the face of it, would begibb to send that signal that the romney camp has been trying to send for past couple of weeks, which is time for us all to get together now, what they would like is to hear from some of those mainstream republicans, some of those folks out there with sway going, you know what? it's time for us republicans to all gather around, find our nominee, and then move into where it really counts which is the fall election. they would like a big enough vote that would begin to send that signal

the illinois republican primary is impentrable, frankly. illinois is one of the good ones. this was one of the bad ones this week. >>> vote! vote! vote! >> point of order! point of order! >> this is what happened in the previous nomination this week. this was the republican caucus in the great state of missouri this past weekend. it kind of makes illinois look great today, doesn't it? i know what you're thinking. missouri? i thought missouri voted weeks ago. sort of. missouri state law required republicans there to hold a primary on february 7. but because that would earn them a punishment from the national republican party, missouri republicans tried to change that date until later. but they couldn't get it together to change that state law despite controlling the entire legislature, so they decided to spend 7 million taxpayer dollars holding that primary as required by state law on february 7 even though that primary did not count for anything. rick santorum was very proud to have won that missouri contest. he went to the republican stronghold of st. charles county. he ga

we have results from illinois. tonight is the illinois republican primary. polls just closed an hour ago. nbc news is declaring that mitt romney has won the state of illinois. mitt romney is projected winner in that state. latest results are 19% in mitt romney with 54% of the vote. rick santorum 28% of the vote. only 19% in right now. this is enough to project mr. romney as the winner. we'll be watching the percentages and the rankings of the other candidates as the percent of the vote increases. this is exciting. this is election night. republicans of the great state of illinois making big decision about whether to punch their ballot for newt gingrich or rick santorum or mitt romney. that's not the way it's worked at all. have you seen the ballot? have you seen what the ballot looks like that republicans were using today in illinois? it's different in every county but this is representative. let's put up the macon county ballot. if you're going vote in illinois, if you want mitt romney to be president, you can i understand indicate that mitt romney is your

this route split apart in chester, illinois. it usually swept east through woodferred counties and eventually turned towards chicago. the other leg of the cairo line after separating at chester ushered fugitives towards alton and then followed the course of the illinois river northwards. a third route followed the course out of st. louis bupt often times moved well away from the river to remote outposts. the fourth escape route, the so-called quincy line carried freedom seekers from quincy to galesburg to princeton. but along this line there were numerous satellite stations on farms and rural hamlets in and close to places like mccomb, farmington. the quincy line through western illinois possessed ideal conditions to help run away slaves escape. each of four rivers provided natural water courses for fuge tchbs to follow. if escaping slaves stayed close to the river or their tributaries all freedom seekers needed to do was move against the current of the water and they would ultimately be heading in a northern direction. a second

in 24 illinois counties and in the illinois' second largest city. the stiff aurora at least some of the ballots were a 16th of an inch too wide. that meant after they filled in the ovals they didn't fit into the optical scanning machines. as problems go for election officials that was a new one on them. >> i have never had that happen before. we have run smooth voting machine here when we open doors. but this morning just that much, curled up on the edges in the ballot box would not take them. >> we're told that some election officials trimmed the edges to make them fit. some are hand counting them. some are reconstructing ballots it all means that vote totals will probably be a bit delayed. shep? >> shepard: sounds like it. steve brown live nape perville, illinois tonight. much more to come in this evening. heck in live at rick santorum's headquarters which is not even in illinois. plus, lawmakers getting a chance to question the top commander in afghanistan for the first time since a u.s. soldier was accused of going door-to-door killing women and

almost 50% of the people in illinois, the voters in illinois are in that chicago and the suburban chicago area. >> and again, within this hour we may be very able to call this race. we'll obviously bring that to you as soon as we can. we also anticipate to hear from rick santorum possibly within this hour. also waiting to hear from governor romney as well. there's other news to tell you about. i want to bring in donna brazil as well as paul begalla, and ralph reed. also here in new york gloria borger and david gergen. say electability is the number one issue, they all go for mitt romney. you haven't been a fan of mitt romney. but that's a pretty telling argument and a hard thing for rick santorum supporters to fight against. >> very much. he's been fighting it around the nation. my caution has been if you look at the exits in 2004, a lot went for john kerry because they thought he was the most electable. rick santorum hasn't sold himself to republican independents who lean republican. he hasn't done a very good job. david gergen was right when he said he's had a bad week and can't control

my dad grew up in iowa, my mom grew up in illinois, he used to say illinois is not the real midwest, iowa is the real midwest, it's nothing more than junior new york with that big city chicago in it, it was sort of half of a joke, so with all due respect to illinois, and there's, obviously, lots of it that are very much rural and midwest, agricultural communities and all that, but wisconsin will be a, you know, if santorum can't be romney in wisconsin, where is he going to beat him in a non-southern area? where is it going to happen? look at his win map here, right, santorum is in purple, romney's in green. wisconsin is sort of halfway, you know, sitting in between where he's done well as you sort of go into this, in your neck of woods there, the dakotas and more of the agricultural midwest while romney has eked out these wins in the industrial west, so wisconsin's got a little bit of both in it. >> chuck todd, great to have you with us, thanks so much. >>> now let's turn to howard fineman, nbc news political analyst and editorial director of "the huffington post" and steve schmidt,

in illinois. clearly come out with the most delegates. rick santorum, he did the best he could. i think it was a blunder on his part to go off to puerto rico for two days. he could have been spending those days in illinois doing a bit better. not sure it would have been much of a difference in terms of the final vote. his problem in illinois was he was not able to get on the ballot in four of these 19 congressional districts in illinois. so he's at a disadvantage in the delegate count even if he were to have gotten more votes in illinois and he's not going to. he's going to do more poorly than romney. he's not getting near the delegates in illinois. but it's not over for rick santorum by any means. louisiana is coming up as you point out on saturday. more contests in april. he's waiting for some of the other states in may and even june to come in. so he's in this. certainly shaping up to be a two-man race. mitt romney and rick santorum. >> and john king, tell me exactly where we are tonight. how m

. >> romney wins big in puerto rico and heads to illinois. it's time for gingrich and santorum to step aside. >> we have believe the the convention will nominate a conservative. >> we all know who he means. what a fraud. the jobs act heads to the senate but don't be fooled by the catchy acronym. it's just another ploy to deregulate wall street again because it worked out so well the first time. >> the latest front on the war in women. a bill that could force women who under go an abortion. >>> new york city councilmember congressman rodriguez on occupy and nypd's brutal response. >> good evening this, is monday march 19th. 233 days until the 2012 presidential election. i'm eliot spitzer sitting in for keith olbermann. mitt romney winning in puerto rico and looking for more in illinois' primary. our fifth story in the "countdown." mitt romney pulling ahead in the g.o.p. presidential race hoping for more delegates and campaigning in springfield illinois. this is what he said. >> i need only one thing from you, no, two. number one i need some of

illinois has 54 delegates up for grabs tomorrow. but even if he wins the state, the most that rick santorum could get -- the maximum is 44. why? >> well, illinois had a very early filing deadline for presidential candidates and their delegate slates came shortly after the iowa caucuses. and, truly, the santorum effort in illinois for filing was very much a pure volunteer effort. so just to get him on the ballot, in fact, most of these delegates, you know, could have been challenged because they didn't make enough signatures to appear on the ballot. but eventually a gentlemen's agreement was struck that none of the republicans would challenge each other's slates of delegates. still, he's missing delegates in four congressional districts unlike the states that have proportional representation for delegates. ours are direct ll lly elected. they run as candidates. it's nonbinding on the delegates. the voter has to take the next step, go down to the next level of the ballot and vote for delegate candidates for them to zblount we're talki

illinois was a must win for both romney and santorum. despite romney taking illinois, santorum and for that matter all of the candidates, show no sign of giving up. mitt romney thanked supporters in illinois for his double-digit win over rick santorum. & >> what a night. wow. >> reporter: and immediately turned his focus to defeating president obama in november. >> it's time to say these words -- this word -- enough. we've had enough. >> reporter: exit polls showed the economy was the most important issue among voters in illinois. mitt romney says it's his number one priority. >> i'm running for president because i have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess. >> reporter: cbs news estimates romney will take 41 of illinois's 54 delegates, widening his overall lead. >> at some point romney gets to be able to say, these other guys are spoilers. i'm going to get there. why are we dragging this out? why aren't we talking about president obama? >> reporter: rick santorum is downplaying his second place finish. >> we did what

>> i think that illinois is generally aware that illinois is a fiscal basket case at the state level so, anybody who presents a business background is attractive to many of the voters. the situation in illinois is grim, and a recent significant tax increase hasn't righted the ship as yet. so illinoisafs are pretty sour about the state fiscal situation. >> t: seemingly with argue for candidate romney tonight versus santorum, wouldn't it? >> it certainly would. i predict that romney will take about 2/3 to 3 / 4 of the 54 delegate at stake. santorum is only listed for 44 delegate total. so he can't, he's at a disadvantage going into the election. >> tom: of course we're talking about these federal politicians trying to tackle state issues. the man in the white house comes from the state of illinois. has president obama been able to help or hurt those state finances that you say are playing a role tonight in the g.o.p. contest? >> i think the president has been responsive where he can be, but the federal government can't really do much to resolve the state's problems. the state and many

illinois is one and has a serious shot at the nomination. on the trail in illinois, the candidates are making closing arguments. >> this is not something i learned about in a subcommittee of congress. i'm not about economic lightweight. president obama is. we're not going to be successful in replacing an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight. >> why do you vote differently from what you know is best? those going to washington, oh, they compromise, don't stand up. don't have convictions. well, how about you? >> those 11th hour appeals were overshadowed by this sound bite. a challenge to the argument that republicans should pick a nominee with the credentials to fix the economy. >> the candidate who's going to be a fighter for freedom. who's going to get up and make that the central theme in this ray, because it is the central theme in this race. i don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. doesn't matter to me. my campaign doesn't hinge. something more foundational is going on here. >> the romney campaign pounced o

primary in illinois right here. we'll be back at 10:00 with a live update on that, as well and current.com/theyoungturks. >> oops. >> i don't care what the unemployment rate's going to be. doesn't matter to me. >> or? >> of course i care about the unemployment rate. i want it to go down, but my candidacy doesn't hinge on whether it goes up or down. >> as the primary vote comes in, romney agrees with santorum on the freedom thing. >> i'm wondering where you suggest that the millions of women who receive their health services such as mammograms, the h.p.v. vaccines go? >> they can go wherever they'd like to go. this is a free society. >> here is the dumbest idea from newt gingrich. we ought to debate on pay per view and charge $10 and it should go to a charity of choice. >> yeah, maybe lincoln will coffer the primary in his land. and the republicans hell bent to phase out medicare and fed cade in their new budget for mini america. >> the penalty's budget is putting us on a path of a debt crisis, of decline, and these

that's why illinois is so important tomorrow. >> do you know why else illinois is important? >> tell me more. >> that's where zoraida sambolin is from. >> i didn't know that. i learn a new thing every day. >> just want to remind you. thank you very much. good to see you, paul. >> six minutes past the hour. >>> happening right now, a last blast of winter. parts of arizona -- >> the last. >> -- had more than a foot of snow. kids in flagstaff enjoying a snow day today, not a spring break day. closure of interstate 40 for nearly 200 miles from kingman east to winslow. our reynolds wolf is watching the winter storm and unusual warm weather across the country as well as severe weather. lots to talk about. >> really, full plate today in terms of weather. as tough as it is for travelers to deal in northern arizona, people across the rockies were thrilled to see the snow at all. it started off as a slow snow season but they're finishing up in grand fashion. some of the heavy spots, its arizona snowball, 36 inches of snow, big bear added 27, well over a foot in bellemont, 22 inches, fl

>> illinois is typically very moderate republican base at least in illinois. obviously it's going to go blue. no hope of that state going to republicans at all. santorum not being on the ballot for congressional districts, i don't know if that will have that much of an impact. i expect illinois to go to mitt romney. i expect missouri to go to santorum. we had a primary and we have a caucus at stake. rick santorum did well the last primary even though he was not on the ballot. newt will be on the ballot for the caucus, i don't think he will do well it. tends to go to rick santorum and i take it back to prop c. people don't like health care in any form. we saw it with prop c in 2010's election. illinois will go to romney, but missouri will go to santorum. >> we have a lot of big states earlier. texas, california, new york, this could go as the democrats had that experience years ago, all the way through june. >> absolutely. i remember it well. i remember the arguments being that similar arguments if winning the state is meaningful in the general election. for ex

goes through illinois. that's not going to happen. >> pat brady, thanks very much for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >>> coming up next, we'll have more on rick santorum's southern sweep tonight. what it means for conservatives. [ woman ] dear cat, your hair mixes with pollen and dust. i get congested. but now, with zyrtec-d®, i have the proven allergy relief of zyrtec®, plus a powerful decongestant. zyrtec-d® lets me breath freer, so i can love the air. [ male announcer ] zyrtec-d®. behind the pharmacy counter. no prescription needed. i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. get this free travel bag when you join oh de

first we'll go to jan crawford with the romney campaign in illinois. jan? >> reporter: well, scott, here at romney's election night party the band is playing, the crowd you can hear is cheering, they're expecting some very good results from illinois. now, romney not only wanted to win illinois but win it decisively to try to erase any doubt about whether or not he can clinch the nomination. >> i need you to go vote! >> earlier this month polls had romney with a slight lead. he expanded it in the past week with an aggressive campaign. >> how are you this morning? >> reporter: he and the outside groups supporting him poured more than $3 million into television ads, most of them targeting rick santorum. >> santorum co-sponsored 51 bills to increase spending. >> reporter: they outspent santorum and his supporters 18-1. romney campaigned across the state, shaking hands in rockford and today in chicago talking in an online chat about the rigors of campaign life. >> i had to wash my shirt out in the sink and then i thought how am i going to get this thing dried fa

lovejoy had moved across the river to illinois from st. louis in 1836, believing that he would be safer as expressing his anti-slavery views in the free state of illinois, rather than the slave state of missouri, but alton was a pro-slavery community in a free state. its character was much different than the yankees owen lovejoy had grown up with and his brother elijah p. lovejoy had grown up with, in maine. lovejoy soon came to recognize, however, that there was real danger and he was courting very real problems for himself even in alton. he had written a letter earlier to his mother saying "it is harder to fight valiantly for the truth when i risk not only my own comfort, ease and reputation, and even life, but that of a beloved one as well. i have a family that is dependent upon me, and this is the bitterest ingredient to the cup of sorrow i am called to drink." lovejoy's abolitionist stance so outraged the majority of alton citizens that mobs had on three previous occasions stormed his newspaper office and destroyed his presses. on thi

goes through illinois. that's not going to happen. >> pat brady, thanks very much for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >>> coming up next, we'll have more on rick santorum's southern sweep tonight. what it means for conservatives. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. [♪...] >> announcer: bank robbery certainly is a frightening crime. after all, bank robbers stole $43 million in one year. but identity thieves? try 37 billion! and guess how identity thieves are getting some of that money. by taking over our bank accounts. they may not even need your social security number anymore. all an identity thief may need are a couple simple pieces of information, like your mother's maiden name or the city you were born in, and they could add thei

romney loses illinois, it's clear how he can come back. if santorum loses, i think it puts him in a tough position. he'll have lost another big state and a state where he had a chance to have effectively that one-on-one matchup that everybody said he wanted with gingrich fading so thoroughly. >> haven't we come to the point, though, mark where we've learned from florida and from other states that's really no such thing as a make or break state anymore, that is to say, rick santorum can carry on with the mitt romney will never get to the 1144 threshold of delegates as long as rin rik santorum has money behind him had, can he continue to march on despite losses? >> he can, but if romney has a big win in illinois can actually start to convince people that in fact he can get to the majority of delegates. and so that would put him in a stronger position and i think it also will be the case that people realize, again, if romney has a big win in illinois, that santorum can't get there. once you have those two pieces in play, as talking points, i

polls just closed in illinois. the race is characterized as too early to call with mitt romney leading. this is "the ed show" let's get to work. >> each of these people running for president have given their ideas. >> it's election night in illinois and paul ryan says the candidates like his radical plan. >> you believe they will accept your budget? >> absolutely. >> republicans strategist steve smith and eugene robinson on the ryan budget's impact on the election. >>> plus, full election night coverage with stephanie cutter of the obama campaign. karen finney and richard wolf. >>> in the trayvon martin case, the fbi and a grand jury are now involved. now we know trayvon martin was on the phone with his girlfriend while he was being stalked. >> he said the man is watching him. he put his hoodie on. >> the reverend al sharpton and charles blow on the new evidence that could lead to the arrest of george zimmerman. >> good to have you with us tonight. thanks for watching. the republican party is still trying to do a w

he won in michigan he now wins in illinois now is i not going to win in illinois general election. obama got that weak in the south but only in the republic race. he is going to win the south in the general election. look the logic is. this he is the moderate. santorum is the guy on the right. if he wins these states, who is the more likely to win the independents in the general election? just logical. >> bill: if you were romney, who would you pick as your v.p.? >> rubio without a question. marco rubio of florida. >> bill: rubio would be -- all the republic analysts -- >> -- he brings youth, he brings energy, he brings intelligence and he brings a lot of hispanic votes. >> bill: he says he is not going to do it. assume he doesn't do it, then where do you go? >> he will do it. nobody says no. everybody says no now, nobody will say no when the nominee asks you so much is at stake, you have got a chance for the big time, of course you will do it. >> bill: would christie be a viable number two? >> christie is flammable, you know, he is a bit risky. i'm not sure being -- is he a modera

. >> porque segÚn el sondeo se saliÓ esta noche en illinois, casi la mitad de electores

so, shannon, you're in illinois for that state's primary, set for tuesday. we'll talk about this in a minute. first, let's start with santorum's campaign and his comments on the english language requirement in puerto rico, so, shannon, this is one of those hot button issues in conservative circles, but latinos also feel very strongly about it. has santorum alienated himself as it pertains to the latino electorate in general? >> yeah, i mean, santorum is standing by his comments. let me just say off the top also, we're actually at a mitt romney event waiting for him to come in. but to your point about rick santorum and those comments about english only, it is something that enflames passions on both sides. in terms of conservative circles, fred, conservatives feel like english should be the language of the land. it is just one of the enduring conservative ideals, right? and when he said that in puerto rico, he was then asked about it a little later and he stood by it, didn't really back down from it too much, but a lot of people in puerto rico and beyond, lat

i want to talk about illinois for just a second. chris, there's a lot of guys that go to work with lunch buckets in illinois. if rick santorum ever had a chance to make a play for that wage earner, this is the perfect time to do it, is it not? i mean, if he can wrestle those away from mitt romney, could he make some waves in illinois? >> it's when you talk about what i talk about. it's this concern for the middle class. although, you know, you can talk about progressive politics being all in the democratic party, but there is a populist element within the republican party we're going to hear from. they're the people that make less than $50,000 a year and vote republican. the cloth-coat republicans we used to call them. these people do go to work in the morning. some of them are union members, as you know better than i. some are in organized labor, some identify with cultural issues, they're more conservative. they get to vote late. they get to work early, catch the early bus or the early subway or the "l" and come home around 5:00.

jim acosta, the center is not in illinois. he's home in pennsylvania, that's the battleground next month. what is the expectation? just the other day if you give me an upset in illinois that changes everything. >> reporter: i think john that the fact that the santorum campaign is holding its primary night party in gettysburg, pennsylvania s a sign they don't feel particularly good about illinois. they probably would be in the state if they thought they would be doing well tonight and as we know illinois is sort of an upstate/downstate equation and it just doesn't seem like there's going to be enough support for senator santorum to put him over the top. there's another sign that things aren't going to be going well tonight for the santorum campaign. they held a conference call on the delegate math earlier today. we've seen the romney campaign do that when that particular primary day might not have been going in the direction and we're seeing the same thing from the santorum camp today and frankly, john, they said on the confere