Drudge broke the news/rumor and twitter went all a-flitter: Rubio to endorse tonight! And so tonight on the Sean Hannity show Marco Rubio made his 2012 endorsement official:

Marco Rubio stands with Mitt Romney!

The go-ahead nod from Marco Rubio is perhaps the biggest endorsement in this race since Chris Christie. It is a rally call to all conservatives that this race, though not ended, is essentially over.

Said Rubio of Romney, “he offers a stark contrast to the President’s record.”

This news is breaking… more quotes, and perhaps video, will be forth coming.

~Nate G.

VIDEO UPDATE:

FOX News’ Sean Hannity: “Up to this point, you had not jumped into the primary race. Are you endorsing Mitt Romney then?”

Senator Marco Rubio: “Well, I am going to endorse Mitt Romney and the reason why is not only because he is going to be the Republican nominee but he offers at this point, such a stark contrast to the President’s record. Look at the President’s record. This is someone who has run the country, not very well over the last three years, that has no experience beyond that doing that, at the same time, as he has no experience with the private sector or the free enterprise system. In Mitt Romney, we have a candidate, an alternative, that in addition to being successful as a governor, running an important state in this country, has also been successful in the private sector and offers a very clear alternative to the direction this president is going to take our country. I think all the candidates in this race have a lot to be proud of. They have offered a lot to the debate. But I just can’t buy into this idea that by their own admission, they are saying the only way they can win this race is by having a floor fight in Tampa in August. I think that’s a recipe to deliver four more years to Barack Obama and our country – forget about the Republican Party – our country cannot afford that. We have got to come together behind who I think has earned this nomination and that’s Mitt Romney.”

Mitt Romney:

“Marco Rubio is living proof that the American Dream is still very much alive. … From humble origins, he has risen to become one of the brightest lights in our political party. He has been a leading voice in the U.S. Senate and the country for the cause of restoring American greatness. He knows that the way forward is to end excessive regulations, shrink government, and get our economy growing. He understands that the way to strengthen our communities is to strengthen our families. He recognizes the dangers that will face America if we fail to maintain our military power. He understands how critical it is to bring new leadership to the White House. Senator Rubio’s endorsement is a major milestone in my effort to make Barack Obama a one-term president. Ann joins me in thanking him for the confidence he is placing in my leadership and for the great honor he has done me today.”

Mitt was endorsed by Ivanka Trump as well:

Romney and Leno discuss Rick Santorum, VP picks, delegate counts, “distracting issues”, tax code, Health Care, Obama’s open mic gaffe, Russia, Afghanistan and federal spending. (Just watched it myself. Way to go Governor – extremely well done!)

Part 1 of 3:

Parts 2 and 3 below the fold…
Read more…

From ForeignPolicy.com:

Bowing to the Kremlin

Why Obama’s “hot mic” diplomacy is endangering America.

BY MITT ROMNEY

Sometimes it’s the unguarded moments that are the most revealing of all. President Obama just had such a moment at the summit in South Korea. “This is my last election,” Obama told Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, in an exchange that was inadvertently picked up by microphones. “After my election I have more flexibility.”

But flexibility to do what? The president mentioned missile defense to Medvedev as one area where the Kremlin should expect more flexibility. This is alarming.

It is not an accident that Mr. Medvedev is now busy attacking me. The Russians clearly prefer to do business with the current incumbent of the White House.

And it is not hard to understand why. The record shows that President Obama has already been pliant on missile defense and other areas of nuclear security. Without extracting meaningful concessions from Russia, he abandoned our missile defense sites in Poland. He granted Russia new limits on our nuclear arsenal. He capitulated to Russia’s demand that a United Nations resolution on the Iranian nuclear-weapons program exclude crippling sanctions.

Moscow has rewarded these gifts with nothing but obstructionism at the United Nations on a whole raft of issues. It has continued to arm the regime of Syria’s vicious dictator and blocked multilateral efforts to stop the ongoing carnage there. Across the board, it has been a thorn in our side on questions vital to America’s national security. For three years, the sum total of President Obama’s policy toward Russia has been: “We give, Russia gets.”
[CONTINUE READING AT FOREIGNPOLICY.COM]

For complete coverage on the “live mic” story check out Jayde’s post from earlier today.

POLLS are now closed in Illinois and 54 delegates are up for grabs! Feel free to share updates and links in the chat below.

Update: Mitt wins! Only question is by how much and how many delegates will go to Mitt?

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Please register a name to chat. It’s very easy – no email required. Enter a name and then press the ‘profile’ button to register it.

Today is the last day to donate $5 at to be automatically entered for the chance to grab a bite with Mitt and Ann at Mitt’s favorite burger joint. All expenses paid!

Plus, watch Mitt’s Google+ Campaign Hangout from earlier today

Turnout has surpassed 2008 levels which once again exposes the media’s narrative about a lack of GOP voter intensity for the lie that it is.

Finally, check out the updated primary and delegate count and then watch Mitt’s Victory Speech here.

Tuesday follow-up:
The biggest news story coming out of Tuesday night’s elections is that Rick Santorum won both Alabama and Mississippi and is therefore projected on a path to somehow lock-up the nomination. If that is the only news you’ve heard from Tuesday, you might want to reconsider your news sources.

What has gone severely under reported is the fact that although Santorum won AL and MS, he actually lost the battle for delegates on Tuesday…to Mitt Romney. Yes, Romney’s triple-digit delegate lead is actually slightly larger after Tuesday. While all the media focus was on the two southern states, Hawaii and American Samoa quietly held their primary contests and awarded the lion’s share of their delegates to Romney.

The AP projected tally for delegates won in Tuesday’s contests: Romney 41, Santorum 35, Gingrich 24

Including Tuesday’s total CNN projects the delegate totals to be: Romney 498, Santorum 239, Gingrich 139, and Paul 69.

———————————————————————————————————-

Looking Forward; Delegate Math:
Rick Santorum on Monday:

The reality of the situation is that it’s going to be very difficult for anyone to get to the number of delegates that is necessary to win with the majority at the convention.

Rick Santorum on Tuesday:

We are going to win this nomination before that convention.

Ok, besides the glaring flip-flop, neither of these statements are true – the second one especially.

Rick Santorum does not want to be bothered with the math, but would rather deal with “reality”. Granted, “math” and numbers can manipulated in ways intended to warp reality, but in this case of delegate counting the math is nothing more than cold, hard facts – no spin. And I would contend that this “reality of the situation” that Santorum refers to is based more on the conjecture, opinions, perceptions and wild hopes of a very desperate campaign.

Let’s look at some “math” and you be the judge…
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MATH

BREAK OUT THE DRUDGE SIRENS! Put the sirens away…

Posted about one hour ago at Drudge:

5 PM ET: NETWORK EXITS SHOW ALABAMA TIGHT; ROMNEY TAKES MISSISSIPPI… DEVELOPING…

DRUDGE POLLING DATA:

AL
ROMNEY 32.07%
SANTORUM 25.24%
GINGRICH 23.6%

MS
ROMNEY 33.55%
GINGRICH 24.62%
SANTORUM 22.15%

Could it possibly be true? I don’t know. To be honest I think it is indeed possible, but I’m still a bit doubtful. It will be a coup if he takes either state. The news that will go completely unheralded today is that Romney will dominate in Hawaii.

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I can’t wait to update our Primary Results and Delegate Count tomorrow!

The “Cheerful One” puts his sights on Rick Santorum and joins the ranks of those seeking to vet the vest. My guess is Team Romney has to be thrilled to see this video and secretly wishing there were a way for they could give it more play – it clearly helps Mitt more than anyone else.

UNRAVELING…Unraveling…. unraveling….

~Nate G.

Both Rasmussen and Gallup released polls ending yesterday on Leap Day, and the results show a literal giant “leap” in support for Governor Romney. The swelling wave of momentum has come rather quickly since his dual victories in Michigan and Arizona just two days ago.

The Rasmussen poll, conducted entirely yesterday, gave Mitt a whopping +16 point advantage over Santorum, while the Gallup Poll, a five-day rolling average, puts him at a +11. (Expect that to climb higher in the next few days)

RealClearPolitics.com tallies and graphs the rolling average of the most recent national polls in the GOP primary – polls from the most recent week or two are typically included. With the release of the Rasmussen and Gallup polls today, combined with two older polls from last week that showed Santorum with a slight lead, the RCP average now has Romney taking the lead again – the sixth time in this race that has held top spot.

RCP National Poll Average as of 1-6-2012:

35.3	Romney +6.0	29.3	Santorum	14.8	Gingrich	11.3	Paul
–	Perry	–	Huntsman	–	Bachmann	–	Cain

RCP National Poll Average Chart:

Milestones
Romney has broken through the 40 point barrier for the first time this season, and he has become the candidate to receive the highest RCP average for any given day – sitting today at 35.3%. Again, I would expect this to go higher in the next few days when the Gallup poll results start to factor out numbers from before Romney’s wins on Tuesday.

Has the last mole been whacked?
As the candidates announced their campaigns last year Romney started out in the lead in nation polls, and he retained that lead until mid-August. Since that time we have seen the lead change from Romney, to Perry, to Romney, to Cain, to Romney, to Gingrich, to Romney, to Gingrich, to Romney, to Santorum and then back to Romney once again. Candidates have each, in turn, surged to become the official challenger to Romney, only to disappear just as quickly as they came. After all, by definition a surge is only temporary, though Newt was lucky enough to get “two rides on the roller coaster”.

So, has the last mole been whacked? I don’t know, but I’ve got a good feeling about it going into Super Tuesday next week!

~Nate G.

Addendum from Ross: Watch Rep. Paul Ryan say Romney well on his way to GOP nomination below the fold. Read more…

I thought the ad below was quite an intriguing plot of the DNC, til I heard at the end that it was actually paid for by Rick Santorum for President. It was an official ad?!?! I’m just baffled.

History lesson on “auto bailouts” as they are called: Two things happened – One, the companies received bailout funds from the federal government. That didn’t work so the companies went through – two, a structured bankruptcy. That did work. From the very beginning Romney knew that for the companies to be successful they would have to go through a structured bankruptcy, and that throwing bailout money was a huge waste of cash and would only deter the inevitable. Here is his op-ed from 2008.

As for Santorum – I think they should play this ad on national TV and see how how much love it gets him from the TeaParty and other conservative bonafides. I understand needing to win Democrat votes to win the general election, but teaming up with them to attack Romney from the left in a primary should be a automatic disqualifier in mind of any true conservative.

(H/T) Ross for story, Talking Points Memo for audio.

Comment by Jayde: The grand irony is that Mr.-blue-collar-hope-democrats-save-me-Santorum was also against the auto bailout. He may as well have HYPOCRITE tattooed on his forehead.

UPDATE by Jayde – From Freedom’s Lighthouse:

… [H]e [Santorum] really cannot argue that this robocall is a “very positive ad.” It is a totally negative appeal, seeking Democrat votes – not because they embrace Santorum’s agenda, but because they don’t like Romney not supporting the auto bailouts – which Santorum also opposed!

Please Check Out These Other “Threads” in the #UnravelTheSweater Series:

• Series Intro: Operation #UnravelTheSweater
• Rick Santorum’s Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Hypocrisy
• Rick Santorum – #1 Recipient of Lobby Money
• Santorum: Separation of Church and State “Makes Me Want to Throw Up”
• Colleague Support for Rick Santorum? Crickets…
• Rick Santorum’s Effusive Promotion of Mitt in 2008
• Rick Santorum’s Serious Electability Issues
• Romney SuperPAC Hits Santorum on Spending – Fact Check Verified
• Santorum’s Courage Betrayed by Willingness to Sacrifice Core Principles
• Rick Santorum vs. Protestant Christians
• Santorum’s Poor Record of Charitable Giving
• Rick Santorum – Unprepared and Unqualified
• Rick Santorum – Lots of Rhetoric… Little Action
• Fleshing Out the Truth About Rick Santorum
• Big Government Rick Santorum is NOT the One

…so obviously she must be some RINO schill.

Seriously, Ann’s typical candor and fearlessness are on full display as she goes to bat for Mitt in a big way in her article she posted yesterday entitled What’s Their Problem with Mitt? Her closing remarks of Romney being “the biggest outsider and most conservative candidate we’ve run for president since Reagan,” makes me recall when Jack Welsh said on CNN that “as a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney is the best I have ever seen in the last 50 years!”

Excerpt from Ann Coulter’s article: (Be sure to read the whole thing)

As governor of one of the most liberal states in the union, Mitt Romney did something even Ronald Reagan didn’t do as governor of California: He balanced the budget without raising taxes.

Romney became deeply pro-life as governor of the aforementioned liberal state and vetoed an embryonic stem cell bill. (Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich lobbied President George W. Bush to allow embryonic stem cell research.)

Romney’s approach to illegal immigration in Massachusetts resembled what Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona is doing today, making her a right-wing heroine.

Romney pushed the conservative alternative to national health care that, had it been adopted in the 49 other states, would have killed Obamacare in the crib by solving the health insurance problem at the state level.

Unlike actual Establishment candidates, Romney has never worked in Washington, much less spent his entire life as a professional politician. He’s had a Midas touch with every enterprise he has ever run, including Bain Capital, the Olympics and Massachusetts.

The chestnut about Mitt Romney being pushed on unsuspecting conservatives by “the Establishment” is the exact opposite of the truth. The Establishment, by any sensible definition, is virulently opposed to Romney — and for completely contradictory reasons.

The entire NFM (non-Fox media) hate Romney because he is the only candidate who stands a chance of beating Obama.
(Keep reading)