Sizing up Romney, Santorum Campaigns in Arizona, Michigan

With no other debates scheduled before Super Tuesday, Wednesday offers the last chance for each of the four remaining Republican presidential hopefuls to make a final impression to a national audience before voters in more than a dozen states cast their ballots.

Mitt Romney was matter of fact when he dismissed the prospect of losing his native state of Michigan in next Tuesday's GOP primary, saying, "That won't happen." But now his aides seem to be downplaying expectations.

A nationwide Gallup poll showed presidential hopeful Rick Santorum leading the GOP field with 36 percent of Republican voters. The new frontrunner, who is leading rival Mitt Romney by eight points, drew crowds and criticism Monday after he said global warming is "not climate science but political science." Jeffrey Brown reports.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn recently sat down with NewsHour correspondent Ray Suarez to outline his plan for building a stronger, more competitive state economy. Quinn delivers his annual budget address on Wednesday.

Cash and fawning crowds aren't the only things that accompany a surge in national momentum. Rick Santorum is getting plenty of those, but also he is also seeing increased scrutiny on every front.

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson discuss the week's top news including Congress' bipartisan payroll tax cut extension deal, GOP hopeful Rick Santorum's lack of public support among his former colleagues in Washington and Mitt Romney's chances of winning his home state of Michigan.

In other news Friday, Congress voted to extend a payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans two weeks before the cuts were due to expire. Also, a 29-year-old Moroccan man was arrested after allegedly planning to detonate a suicide bomb near the U.S. Capitol building.

President Obama's poll numbers have been looking up, and Friday morning brought a fresh reminder of his campaign's financial strength. The Obama re-election team, along with a joint Democratic Party fundraising committee, hauled in more than $29 million in January.

Black History Month originated in 1925 when the second week of February was made Negro History Week since it contained the birthdays of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Abraham Lincoln. Hari Sreenivasan reports on how some African-Americans now oppose the idea of dedicating a special month to black history.

While it seems like everything can be done online these days, that's not actually the case when it comes to elections. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien explores the security, logistical and secrecy challenges of Internet voting.