CNN news 2012-02-03 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-03

CARL AZUZ, HOST, cnn STUDENT NEWS: Big thanks to the students at Broad Creek Middle School for getting us started today. Today`s headlines will take us to Asia and Africa, but we`re beginning in the state of Florida.

Florida is holding its presidential primary contest, and the leading Republican candidates are making a final push to win the 50 delegates that are up for grabs there.

Why are delegates important? Well, when a candidate wins one, it means the delegate will vote for that candidate to be the party`s presidential nominee.

AZUZ (voice-over): Candidates win most delegates during primaries and caucuses. Some states, like Florida, have a winner-take-all system, win the state, you get all of its delegates. Other states have a proportional system.

So, for example, a candidate who wins 40 percent of the vote in that state wins 40 percent of the state`s delegates. Win enough delegates, and you win your party`s nomination. The bar this year for the Republican Party is 1,144 delegates.

Here`s how things broke down, heading into Florida`s primary. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had 32 delegates; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 27; Representative Ron Paul had 10 and former Senator Rick Santorum had eight.

AZUZ: So you can see, we still have a long way to go as far as delegates are concerned. Candy Crowley looks at how today`s primary could impact the Republican field.

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, STATE OF THE UNION (voice-over): Florida will break the tie, but it won`t end the game. The four survivors of the Republican primary process intend to keep on keeping on. They can all see the White House from their campaign headquarters.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will beat Barack Obama.

CROWLEY (voice-over): Newt Gingrich thinks he can muddy up Mitt Romney`s prospects by doing well in states that divvy up delegates by percentages.

REP. RON PAUL (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you for coming.

CROWLEY (voice-over): Looking to caucus states where dedicated followers might produce outsized results, Ron Paul also depends on the law of political gravity.

PAUL: We`re going to stay in and see what comes of it. And who knows what will come of the other two candidates? You know, there`s been lots of ups and downs, so maybe there will be some downs and we might be able to pick up the pieces.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don`t come from, you know, a background of wealth.

CROWLEY (voice-over): Steady, sure and under-funded, Rick Santorum needs a miracle like Iowa, but on time and bigger. He needs a tumble from the top, leaving space for him to step in as Newt without the baggage.

SANTORUM: We`re doing great, and we -- but we`re in this for the long haul. We just weren`t going to go out and spend every dime in a huge state like Florida.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to get America working again by --

CROWLEY (voice-over): Ever the CEO, Romney is a numbers cruncher. Figuring in the highs and lows, he patiently awaits a return on his investment.

ROMNEY: This is a campaign that`s going to go the distance. I`m confident we`re going to get the delegates we need and that, despite all the ups and downs of a campaign, in the final analysis, if I do my job right and get our supporters motivated, well, we`ll be able to take the prize.

CROWLEY (voice-over): Even if the Florida results do not change the players, they will surely change the game.

SANTORUM: Game on.

(APPLAUSE)

CROWLEY (voice-over): Florida is not Rick Santorum`s Iowa, dismissed as too white, too rural, with a lousy record of choosing winners.

ROMNEY: Thank you, New Hampshire!

CROWLEY (voice-over): Nor is Florida Romney`s New Hampshire, discounted by critics as a hometown win.

And Florida is not Gingrich`s South Carolina, diluted by naysayers as an over-sampling of evangelicals.

Florida is nobody`s home state. It is populous, diverse, and hard hit by the economic downturn. There is a constituency for everyone. Florida is the no excuses state.

CROWLEY: A good win for Romney would reestablish him as the front- runner, the better for his bruises. And a nice win for Gingrich would make him more than a one-state wonder. Florida will change everything, even if we don`t notice at first -- Candy Crowley, cnn, Washington.

AZUZ: The city of Joplin, Missouri, is gradually moving forward after it took a direct hit from a massive tornado last May. One hundred and sixty-one people were killed. It was the deadliest twister on U.S. soil since officials started keeping records. St. John`s Mercy Hospital in Joplin was left standing, but severely damaged.

AZUZ (voice-over): On Sunday, a demolition crew started taking down the old building. But that was just the first ceremony in Joplin on Sunday. There was also a groundbreaking at St. John`s new site. The hospital`s president said it`s hard to say goodbye to the old building, but he`s glad to be moving ahead and looking to the future.