Newt Gringich has announced that he he will be dropping out the Republican Primary. We talk with Republican strategist Ron Christie to figure out how Newt has affected both Romney and Obama's chances in the general election, and the tradition of the meteoric candidate in American politics.       

Voters in Arizona and Michigan go to the polls today. It's no secret that Michigan,  the state where Mitt Romney grew up,  is a must-win for Romney. Add in the fact that any registered voter is allowed to vote in Michigan's open primary it sounds like Rick Santorum has caught the Democratic bug. In a robocall circulated in Michigan yesterday, Santorum tried to woo the Democrats.

Political die-hards know how to truly gauge the mood of the country this primary season. You have to keep one eye on the television and one eye on Twitter. Sure you can read the story in the paper the next day, but the excitement develops in real time through a stream-of-conscious and subconscious that comes right into our laptops and iPhones. Takeaway co-host John Hockenberry takes a look at how the story of Florida's GOP primary unfolded on the ubiquitous social media tool.  

Friday South Carolina will hold the "First in the South" primary. Since 1980 the victor of the South Carolina primary has gone on to win the presidential nomination. But the Palmetto State is sharing the limelight this morning with the Hawkeye State as the miscount in Iowa has skewed the results of the first GOP caucus. Rick Santorum is now declared the winner of the Iowa Caucus by a small margin of 34 votes. But in the end does it really matter?

In Iowa it was intense sincerity, in New Hampshire it was sophisticated ambivalence, what's the pulse of South Carolina voters. Anna Sale has been our non-scientific emissary to voters and voter sentiment in each of these GOP contests. Anna tell us about two events in the state yesterday that give us a snapshot of two important voting blocs in this all important conservative, southern, primary contest.

Mitt Romney's win in the New Hampshire primary, Newt Gingrich's ad campaign attacking Romney's past in private equity, a new book about Michelle Obama's role as first lady were — for better or worse — the stories that dominated the headlines for the last week. The Takeaway has assembled a panel of analysts to rundown, dissect, and wrap-up all the major stories of the week.

Newt Gingrich has seen a stunning reversal in his political fortunes in recent weeks. As the Republican base continues to seek an alternative to presumptive nominee Mitt Romney, Gingrich has soared in national polls. Gingrich's public schedule this week began in the battleground primary state of New Hampshire, where he continues to trail behind Romney in the polls by about ten points. The former speaker of the House and sometimes lobbyist pitched himself as an anti-Washington candidate and promised to run a positive campaign at a town hall in Windham. At a friendly Lincoln-Douglas debate with former ambassador and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman on Monday night, Gingrich showed off his foreign policy chops.

In South Carolina, Republican voters are trying to sort out the constant back-and-fourth between the leading GOP candidates. Mitt Romney is still floating in the background as the standby front-runner and presumptive nominee. Two weeks ago the big name on the trail was Rick Perry and last week all the hype was about Herman Cain. It is unclear whether each debate and the intense horse race we're watching is actually influencing voters. 

The New York police department arrested over 700 Occupy Wall Street protesters Saturday, for allegedly walking across the Brooklyn Bridge's roadway, instead of using the pedestrian path. Now in its third week, the movement has spread to other cities around the nation. Meanwhile, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to testify before Congress tomorrow on the economic outlook for the country, and unemployment figures are set to be released Friday, as President Obama continues to push his jobs bill. And Nevada has moved its caucus date back, ahead of Florida's, which will likely affect the race for the Republican nomination.

Lisa Murkowski, the Republican senator from Alaska, may have lost the bid for nomination in the Republican primary, but that fact hasn't seemed to dampen her plans to continue her campaign for November's general election. 

Last night's primary elections set the stage for the nation's general elections with seven states and the District of Columbia heading to the polls. Once again, the viability of the Tea Party was the central question in several races on the Eastern seaboard.. While several Republican insurgent candidates won big last night, their victories over establishment candidates muddle the G.O.P.'s chances of retaking the Senate in November.

Across the country, today’s primary elections are the final round before November’s general election. When the last seven states take to the polls, they will close this season's intra-party jockeying and complete the story of how the political narrative of “anti-incumbent anger” is really playing out in voting booths nationwide.  

Ahead of today's primary elections, politicians in Georgia tried to overcome voter apathy with increasingly pointed advertisements and anti-incumbent rhetoric.  

Today's primaries may feel local, but they are getting a national push. Sarah Palin visited South Carolina on behalf of gubernatorial candidate, Nikki Haley. Palin's appearance catapulted the candidate to the head of the polls. Nevada's Senate primary is also a Tea Party election, according to Takeaway Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich. There, Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle seems positioned to win the primary, which will pit her against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. This bodes well for Reid as Tea Party candidates have a hard time winning national elections.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) defeated incumbent Senator Arlen Specter in last Tuesday's Democratic primary race for one of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seats. Sestak's victory marks the end of Specter's 30-year Senate career, and has been used to demonstrate the strength of the anti-incumbent, anti-establishment sentiment among the electorate. We speak with Rep. Sestak about his victory and how he plans to campaign in the coming months to secure the Senate seat in November.

To many political strategists, pundits and observers, the results of yesterday’s primary elections may offer key insights to voter behavior in November’s midterm elections. Did yesterday’s results challenge the popular notion that the 2010 elections will be a correction to the Democratic majority in both the House and the Senate? Or was there even bigger surprises in the form of viable, Tea Party candidate?

Executive News Director at WHYY in Philadelphia, Chris Satullo, on the race; headlines.

We take a look at what's ahead this week, with Marcus Mabry, associate national editor of The New York Times, and Derrick Ashong, host of "The Derrick Ashong Experience" on Sirius XM's Oprah Radio.

In a high-profile Republican primary contest for governor, incumbent Rick Perry is being challenged by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Texans generally tends not to favor the incumbent, but in this race, Governor Perry has flipped the script and convinced some voters that his anti-Washington attitude differentiates him from Sen. Hutchison.