Transcripts For CNNW Starting Point 20120209

us, the presentations that will happen at cpac, nice to have you joining us. first and foremost this is the all star event, rick santorum will make a presentation, mitt romney will make a presentation, newt gingrich will be here making presentation, michele bachmann, sarah palin will wrap-up the entire night. what does it tell you about sort of the role of conservatives in this year's election? >> well, obviously, this has become an election that in my opinion will be decided by turnout, and whoever gets their base more passionately involved and out there to vote will win this election. the country divided 50-50 now, in terms of philosophical terms, conservatives are the base of the movement and the right, and progressives are the base of the other side and whoever thinks it's more at stake will get more enthusiastic will allow that candidate to win the election. >> when you look at statistics on turnout, ron and i talked about this yesterday, doesn't that bode badly for you, the turnout has been low in the last three races which rick santorum swept, very low. >> negativity in campaigns bring downturnouts, especially in primaries. they spent $30 million in florida, 92% in negative ads. when i see that happen in primaries, it has this suppressing effect on turnout and we're seeing it. frankly, obviously the concern has been over the last six weeks as these differences have become more personal, folks don't like to see in your own backyard that kind of mud-slinging, president's numbers go up, guys numbers go down, sooner that stops, the better. >> could there be a hold, do you expect a hold over to the general election? >> i don't think so, look, the passion out there, what unites everyone, the glue that binds us together is the quest to defeat president obama, and it's a quest more passionate than any i've seen in a long time. surpasses jimmy carter, bill clinton's, this is a real mission. you will see it here, live as you witness these three days. >> al, can i ask you, there has been a lot of questioning about why there isn't a candidate more kind of organically emerging from the conservative movement for this race. you look at the choices republicans are dealing with, republican governor of a blue state, record shaped by that. you have the newt gingrich, last won an election in 1998, rick santorum last won in 2000, where isn't there a candidate in the race as a viable candidate from more con tem important ear conservative movement? >> we started out with ten candidates, every ice cream flavor in the spectrum you want to have we're now narrowed down to four. people looked at different criteria, competence, who they like and values. you put it in the same pot and we have four finalists heading in the home stretch, ron paul, developed an interesting following that is growing cycle by cycle, they want to have a voice at the convention, i see him lasting through the process to have that voice in tampa, at our convention. but i think the three who lasted for whatever reasons, i'm a firm believer in competition and winner is the best. the field is set, no late entries, is this it or is there room at this point given the fragmentation we've seen, and the inability to sustain an advantage, there is room for someone else to make a late entry? >> i'll answer that on march 7th. >> i will take that as kind of a yes. i would have expected a strong no. but if he's not saying a strong no. probably there is a chance. >> what happens on march 7th? >> super tuesday is march 6th, if we have fragments, it will last a while, it will mean no one has the delegates to win the nomination. if they don't, then you're dealing, you will come up with a combination of two of the four in the race or outsider like jeb bush get in the race. mitt romney is hoping that he can get this thing done march 6th. i don't think anyone else has the resources that could accomplish that. if he doesn't and continues to be wide open race, things may get complicated. >> everyone claims they are the true conservative. let me play a clip of all the candidates say that and we'll talk on the other side. >> ladies and gentlemen, i don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama. >> it is now clear that this will be a two-person race, between the conservative leader, newt gingrich and the massachusetts moderate. >> this is a clear choice, i'm the only person in the race, republican or democrat, who has never served a day of time in washington. in the world i come from, leadership is about starting a business. not trying to get a bill out of committee. >> i love when everyone says it's a clear choice. it's a clear choice and then they say the opposite of what the other guy said. will the straw poll determine what the clear choice is on saturday night? >> it could. going back, we're in the empirical business of measuring these people. three of them served in congress, we do our congressional ratings. >> who is the true conservative? >> ron paul has a life time record of 83, rick santorum has a life time record of 88. and newt gingrich got a life time record of 90. we looked at mitt's website, assuming he would be for the things that he stand for, he would be a conservative. all four met our test and all four here. they can argue back and forth as to who is the best but empirically they make muster. >> explain to me why mitt romney is struggling to connect when he won the straw poll the last time around. >> i have 100% rating. >> i know, you do. i like mitt romney. i'm a mitt romney fan. the idea that he is some how the establishment candidate has been laughable to me. a person who is 64 years old, hasn't served a day in washington, dc, business leader, has to communicate the message. what is exciting about cpac, a very young crowd, when i came and spoke and i appreciate you having me, new blood from all over the country. that makes it exciting and people coming out to speak. >> is why he struggling with conservatives then? >> can i tell you something? i think in our country there is an optic bias when you come from certain states. if you're a massachusetts elected official, you have to overcome a huge optical bias in terms of how people feel folks think in that state. it's unfortunate but mitt's record in massachusetts given what head to deal with was pretty amazing. now, as you mentioned and i didn't answer your question about the straw poll, man, it will be interesting. we haven't had a real contested presidential race here at cpac in two decades, ron? we thought in 2008 we would, romney at this stage here stepped down. so straw ballot this year could well make an interesting statement as to how folks in the audience feel. >> we're here to watch that, thanks for being with us. al cardenas. other story, christine romans has those for us. developing news this morning to tell you about, one million under water homeowners could be eligible for up to $20,000 relief on the principal they owe on their mortgage. a deal between the states and banks could be announced as soon as this morning would amount to at least $25 billion from mortgage lenders and servicers including bank of america, jp morgan chase, citi group and al lied financial. this would be the largest rescue plan yet, largest settlement between the industry and the states, since the big toe back settlement in 1998. attorneys general for california, florida, new york are now all on board, we're told nearly all of the other states have agreed to the terms, still working out the details of who qualifies and how you find out. also making news, fierce fighting in syria has killed at least 12 civilians. government forces are bombarding the town of homs. the opposition says syrian forces are targeting homes and beating residents. "i should have killed you, we should talk tonight" that is the e-mail prosecutors entered in the trial of george huguely. accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, yeardley love. criminal defense lawyer said that e-mail could support prosecution claims of premeditation. >> a lot of people think premeditation thinks you have to plot and plan for months and days and hour but it's something that can occur within a split second, and usually what prosecutors do in trying to prove a murder case is they look at the actions, they look at what led up to that particular day and the relationship the defendant had with the person. >> in the opening statements yesterday, huguely's attorneys insisted their client was drunk the night love died, and was incapable of plotting to kill her. the 911 call center in pierce county, washington is launching an investigation to find out why it took dispatchers eight minutes to send a police car to the home of josh powell. once that police car was dispatched, it took 13 minutes to get to powell's home. too late to stop him from blowing up his house, killing himself and his two little boys. the founder of susan g. komen for the cure is speaking out for the first time since reversing a decision to stop funding planned parenthood. in a letter to the washington post. nancy brinker said "i mid mistakes, women's health organizations must be absolutely true to their core missions and avoid even the appearance of bias or judgment in our decisions" she apologized for disappointing supporters and pledged to work harder to restore their trust. the triple win tuesday night translated in a lot of cash for rick santorum today. his came ppaign said he raised million dollars after the wins. $800,000 from donations online, which then crashed the santorum website. i guess a good problem to have, soledad. yeah, the list of problems, having a website crash because people are giving you too much money is good. still ahead on "starting point" biggest names are here at cpac. joining us will be senator john mccain, congressman paul ryan, senator mike lee and senator jim demint. newt gingrich is focusing on winning the upcoming contests in the south, some people say that southern stralt at the gee might not work, we'll talk to gingrich's campaign chairman straight ahead. plus, this strange story, a woman alleges domestic dispute, a judge tells her she should go on a date with her husband. our get real is a question, did the judge make the right call. you're watching "starting point" we'll be back in a moment. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. 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>> we're doing well money-wise? >> like a number? >> i don't follow the numbers day-to-day, we have been doing well online, raising money online. even yesterday, now that the inevitability is broken, money is flowing to other candidates. we're seeing an upswing in our online contributions. >> the number i read is a million dollars is what newt has. mitt romney's number is around $19 million. outspent, outgunned. we saw that in florida. mitt romney spent in the vicinity of 15 or 25 million dollars in negative advertising. we talked about the fact --. >> let's play what al cardenas said. >> campaigns bring down turnouts. 92% of the florida ads were negative. every time i see them happen in primaries has a suppressing effect on turnout and we're seeing it. >> well, that is the problem. what we're doing is turning off our own base with this kind of campaigning. newt went in iowa with the idea that what he would do is run a positive campaign on big ideas. he got buried under negative advertising in iowa. we had to go to some negative advertising to defend ourselves in primaries that followed. we would like to get away from that. we would like to have a campaign around big ideas but already in ohio we have negative advertising being thrown up on the air. that is a problem for our base. >> congressman, as long as you and rick santorum, gingrich and santorum are dividing the voters most resistant to romney, can either of you overcome them? >> i think it will be be a case where one or the other will sort out, at tpresent time, rick has done well in the caucus states. we have done well in the one really big conservative primary, where real voters were out. i think it still has a way to sort itself out. >> what about florida? not real voters? it was a negative election. what happened was that the voter turnout was way down in the counties where mitt romney won, it was way up in the counties that newt gingrich won. the negative advertising is destructive for the republican party. >> when you say sorting out, either gingrich or santorum has to step aside in favor of the one of them to have a chance at beating romney, that is what you're suggesting? >> i'm suggesting this is an election that is going to the convention. i'm suggesting there will be a contest where mitt romney will not end up with the majority of votes headed in tampa and where we will have an election that will be settled at the convention. >> that is a very interesting prediction, thank you for joining us. appreciate your time. still ahead on "starting point" the pentagon is changing rules when it comes to women in combat. people say the change doesn't go far enough, we'll talk about that. a woman alleges domestic violence and heads to court, did the judge do the right thing? did the punishment fit the charge, we'll ask you the question in our get real, which is coming up next. hello, how can i deliver world-class service for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. so our "get real" this morning is a question for everybody. i'll give you the back story first. a florida couple got in a fight when joseph the husband, forgot to get his wife happy birthday and she said he shoved her and put his hand on her neck, this resulted in a domestic violence charge. fast forward to tuesday's court hearing. sonya tells the judge she wasn't hurt or scared, the ruling? the judge john hurley said the husband should pick up his wife, get dressed and take her out to her favorite restaurant, which is red lobster. after dinner he should take her out bowling that is what she said is one of the things she liked to do. the judge getting a lot of flack, he wouldn't have ordered such a whimsical ruling if the charge was more serious or if it looked like the wife was hurt, also first offense for the husband. the judge also ordered marriage counseling for the couple. so, how do we feel about this? did the judge give the right ruling? it is our "get real" this morning and a strange one, right? because domestic violence is one of those charges when you ask someone if they are afraid of their spouse in front of the spouse and if you ask them would you like to get back together, most of the time even in severe domestic violence cases they say yes, i'd like to get back together. did the judge do the right thing? >> talking about people's worse moments on national television, i would say cases like this you have to treat it seriously and whatever else, whatever else you're putting in the mix you have to make sure you're treating the threat of violence seriously. i don't know from what we've seen of the judge -- that has to be the threshold, you have to treat the threat of violence seriously. >> he wanted to come up with a creative solution that was a win-win for both. >> it must have been bad enough that the police were called. it wasn't just oh, i forgot -- i don't know if the police are called and the guy is arrested, the police on the scene made some sort of assessment it was serious enough, i don't know. >> i will be the contrarian. having been a lawyer for a number of years, seeing odd rulings, i would like to know if there were other facts that persuaded the judge on this. >> of course, i did 30 second story. >> it seems very odd for the judge to take the wife's word and having done spouseal abuse, i never had a judge question the spouse in front of the other that you're okay with the guy, so that makes sense but at the same time, i do wonder sometimes if even more and more people are too quick to call the cops or go to the court when you have a situation like this one as the facts are presented probably not. >> the question is what is the right thing to do that keeps everybody safe? and also helps them get to --. >> that has to be the first question. >> they are yelling at me i have to move on. strange case. still ahead on starting point rr how far should the united states go to stop the bloodshed in syria, should we put weapons in the hands of the rebels, we'll talk to senator john mccain straight ahead. president obama changed his mind he said yes he will use super pac money to get reelected. republicans are ripping in to him about this, saying this is a flip-flop, debbie wasserman-schultz. this is eric eric son's play list, martin hollow. welcome back to "starting point" to the headlines, christine romans has that. good morning again. >> good morning, soledad. a los angeles school at the center of a child abuse scandal reopens today. miramonte elementary has a new staff, two former teachers arrested. investigators also found more than 200 photos of students allegedly taken by one of those teachers. we're hearing from the victim of a brutal beating who was attacked for being gay. the assault took place over the weekend in atlanta. videotaped and posted online. brandon white says that is the reason he went to police. >> i was just going to be silent about it and let it ride over because that is just who i am. i deal with situations my way. but by them going ahead and wanting to release it and put it on the internet, i feel they wanted the attention themselves, they wanted to make themselves look like they were brave, they were strong, but in my opinion, i'm the brave one. >> mayor of atlanta is offering $10,000 reward for information about the attackers you see in the video. the fbi is also investigating brandon white will join soledad live coming up next hour. a few hours, mississippi supreme court will hear arguments that could lead to the reversal of 200 pardons, those pardons were granted by outgoing governor haley barbour. among the prisoners released, these four convicted killers. $80,000 in fines, that is how much the labor department of indiana says has to be paid for last summer's deadly stage collapse at the state fair. the largest fine, $63,000, was levied against the mid america sound corporation, the company that built the stage and leased it to the fair. seven people died in the collapse waiting for a sugarland concert to start. the pentagon will announce plans to expand combat roles for women. 14,000 new jobs could soon be available to female soldiers including support roles like radio operators, medics and tank mechanics. women will still be barred from fighting on the front lines. gary busey filed for bankruptcy. reporting assets up to $50,000 with debts between $500,000 and a million dollars. he listed he owes money to the irs, wells fargo bank and santa monica medical center. the white house is watching the gop nomination battle obviously, republican fractures should be making them happy but the president can't stay out of the fray. the gop is hitting hard on super pacs. look at the image they are accusing the president of flip-flopping on the issue, get it? debbie wass ewasserman-schultz us, you're at cpac, the lone democrat in a room of thousands of potentially --. >> that's okay. >> let's talk about the cpac, the super pac issue, the president has come out strongly against them and said i'll take super pac money, isn't this an obvious contradiction? he remains against the decision that resulted in the creation of the super pacs and create an opaque process in which you have hundreds of millions of dollars that are dumped in campaigns, with no transparency. yet, we still have not been able to get republicans to support the disclose act, to support legislation that would roll back some of the really terrible points of the decision. in an election year like this one the republicans on the super pac side have spent $40 million, mitt romney's pac, 30 million, we can't unilaterally disarm. we have to play by the rules at the end of the day we have to make sure we weren't in a lop-sided situation. >> isn't there something contradictory i'm against it but embrace it because the other guys are embracing it. >> because we can't operate in a situation where we have only the resou resources we can race by our limited rules the republicans will have several hundred million in super pac money dumped on president obama in the general election, the rules as they exist now are the rules we will play by, but when it comes to the future and if the republicans would step up right now, pass a disclose act, apply those new transparency rules and get rid of super pacs to the election, which we would love to see, we welcome them and urge them to do that. >> one of the concerns in this era, you're seeing people and institutions give larger sums to individuals and one of the concerns democrats raise the nominee will be beholden to those giving them money. do you feel confident you can say the president will not be beholden to certain interests or individuals in a way uncomfortable if he is reelected? >> i'm definitely saying that. >> why him and not them? >> because president obama has taken unprecedented steps from the very beginning to really reduce the influence of special interests contributions. he doesn't accept pac money, he doesn't accept money from federal lobbyists, the dnc doesn't accept lobbyist money. we have been the example in how to reduce special interests. >> now there will be interests very large sums to the super pac supporting him, does that not incur obligations for him the same sort you're worried about with the republicans? >> not at all. in fact president obama has also established some rules of the road neither he, unlike mitt romney and the other presidential candidates on the republican side. neither he nor the first ladies, vice president nor dr. biden will participate in the fundraising, will be surrogates that will be involved in that. so there is distance between the actual super pacs and the president. >> we will be watching it, nice to have you, thanks for being with us. still ahead, john mccain says we need to arm syrian rebels to help stop the violence there, the white house is disagreeing with him, how do you end the bloodshed? we'll talk to the senator straight ahead. you probably remember him as the teen heartthrob from "growing pains" he has a movie about america, he has solutions to fix it. you're listen to jason chaffetz play list "ready to go ". syria's government unleashing more attacks on its own people. the reports the syrian forces are firing on several neighborhoods in homs, more than 90 people reportedly killed just in yesterday. people on the ground are saying that not even infants or people patients in hospitals or doctors are safe. last night anderson cooper talked to an activist in homs who witnessed a friend die. here is what he said. >> we have no other choice, we are dying slightly and we tried to save each other, at least -- to keep somebody alive, because we believe we all will die here. the city, it's being under shelling and bombing and everything, and there is nothing to do. >> you believe you're all going to die? >> we do. >> this is a fifth day of dramatic pictures like this, republican senator john mccain of arizona joins us this morning, ranking republican on the senate armed services committee, nice to have you, sir, thanks for talking with us. fifth day, snipers killing civilians, the pictures are devastating. what should the international community be doing right now to bring an end to the violence? >> right now, we should be finding ways to help the people who are being slaughtered as we speak. the massacre goes on, artillery shelling, no legitimacy left in the assad regime. we can work with countries to provide assistance, by the way military equipment should not be an option that should not be -- is an option should be considered not directly but as happened in libya whether -- when other countries supplied that, we could give them communications, they need medical help badly, as you just saw, for us to sit by and watch this massacre and allow russia and china to their ever-lasting shame veto resolutions in the united nations security council is not acceptable. there are many things that we can achieve working with turkey, the arab league and other concerned nations we ought to get about it quickly to stop the massacre. >> you have suggested that arming the opposition might be a plan when we spoke to general wesley clark, he thought that plan had flaws. i want to play for you what he told me yesterday. >> it's a tough -- that is a very tough way to go. there is an opposition, it's not that well-organized, they have camps in turkey, they are already getting arms from some people and some support, when you add more weapons to it, you create more conflict but you don't necessarily resolve it. >> he seems to think that is not necessarily a doable strategy. why are you laughing? >> because i wish general clark had a chance to see what you just showed that is going on there, merciless slaughter of innocent people. some arms are getting through and i hope more arms get through but to say that when defenseless people are being slaughtered to give them weapons to defend themselves complicates things, i'm sorry, general, that is not the way i was brought up. >> let's turn, if we can and talk about the gop race, we're at cpac, and the straw poll here on saturday night, we had a chance to talk to a couple folks, the man running newt gingrich's campaign, you know bob walker, the former congressman. here what is he had to say that was interesting from this morning. >> i'm suggesting that there will be a contest where mitt romney will not end up with the majority of votes headed in tampa and where we will have an election that will be settled at the convention. you've endorsed mitt romney do you think what congressman walker is saying is true or likely? >> well, i found in the past that those who are losing candidates always predict a brokered convention. the fact is that mitt romney took a setback tuesday night, we know that. and we're going to reinvigorate and pursue the effort in the states that are actually picking delegates right away, but look, there's a lot of ups and downs in these campaigns, i'm confident at the end of the day it will be overwhelmingly a victory for mitt romney. do we have to work harder? yes. but i would also point out again that forest specially at cpac conference for newt gingrich or rick santorum to call themselves fiscal conservatives is simply defiance of the record. they were ear markers, pork barrelers, encouraged the k-street project, which led to corruption. members of the congress going to jail. and jack abramoff, that is not being a fiscal conservative and that is their record. >> so al cardenas does not have a candidate in the race, not a losing candidate making observations because it's politically expedient for him. here what is he had to say as well. >> if it lasts quite a while it may mean more likely mean that no one has the 1147 delegates to win the nomination, if they don't, then you're dealing and if you're dealing you will come up with a combination of two of the four that end the race or an outsider like a jeb bush get in the race. mitt romney is hoping that he can get the thing done march 6th, i don't think anyone else has the resources that accomplish that. if he doesn't and continues to be a wide open race, things may get complicated. >> complicated would be the under statement of the year, i should mention for those who don't know, cardenas is running the organization that runs cpac. wide open race would be a bad thing for mitt romney. >> well, to call it wide open i think it is a little bit inaccurate. the florida victory was important, new hampshire was important. we have resources and on the ground strength and the romney campaign is taking nothing for granted, but i don't think it's "wide open" but the fact is that we will, i believe, have the decision probably made on super tuesday. and i have not yet seen in my political career a brokered convention although i heard it predicted every single time. >> well, we will see how it goes. all right h, senator john mccain talking about syria of course, where the violence is spiraling out of control and also to talk politics with us, nice to see you sir, thank you. still ahead on "starting point" from teenage heart throb, i agree, now a conservative activist. kirk cameron will tell us about his new project. considered a young hot shot, paul ryan will join us taking on big spending in washington d.c., what his plan is. that is straight ahead, stay with us. ection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change, tire rotation and more: $29.95 or less after rebate - at your ford dealer. you're a doctor... you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor... sure. what flavor? 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[ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. it is so good. ♪ i wish that i had jessie's girl ♪ ♪ i wish that i had jessie's girl ♪ ♪ where can i find a woman like that ♪ i'm embarrassed. that would be congressman -- >> i thought we were supposed to have life's most embarrassing moments. >> this is on your play list. this is on your ipod. >> rookie mistake. those are my most embarrassing. >> everyone loved this song. >> let's go back to divo. >> not only politicians are speaking here, one of the speakers today is a very familiar face. take a look. >> i guess he couldn't get in the bathroom either. >> hey, mom, dad, i want to take karate. i want to split board. i want to break bricks. >> oh, you just put your hand over your face. kirk cameron became the star. he was mike seaver. now he's here presenting his new film which is called "monumental, in search of america's national treasure." >> is it embarrassing to see the shows from the '80s. >> you look back to see those gawky photos. most of us aren't on national tv. >> it's very nice to have you. you're here to talk about your new film. it's called "monumental." >> right. >> you've moved off of sitcoms and you've moved into doing movies that are centered around values, things like that, why? >> a few years ago i did a film called "fireproof" and it was a movie about marriage. it resonated so strongly in the hearts of so many people that i continued to want to be part of projects that really were about values that mattered for families, moms, dads, students. and so i'm here to present a brand new documentary film called "monumental." i took a year and a half personal journey to discover the people, places, principles that really founded and define america. and so i'm going to take audiences across europe and america to retrace the escape route of the pilgrims to discover who they were, why they went to holland for 12 years before they got on a boat and came to america, and hue it is that everything we've become famous for in america today were really ideas that were planted in the hearts and minds of those, that little band of courageous pilgrims 400 years ago. >> let me play a clip from the movie. >> yes. >> ideas that are being implemented and advanced in this capitol at this time is terribly frightening to people who are students of history. >> if you look at the 17 super powers in history, every single one of them has called themselves exceptional. >> when you look at the roman empire, it parallels to what is going on in america are absolutely frightening. >> your thesis is that america is broken or on the way to being broken if things don't change. >> well, i'm a father of six kids and i'm concerned about the world that they're growing up in, too. when i look at the fruit that's hanging on the tree of this nation, morally, economically, politically, spiritually, i see that it's rotting. and so i'm digging down to look at the root, the systemic problem, and try to find an answer. by talking to the men and women who built this country. that's why i went to retrace the escape route of the pilgrims, to learn from them, and hope to find the secret recipe. >> what's the secret recipe? >> you're going to have to see the movie. there is a monument that embodies the strategy and the answer, and most people have never heard of it. it's the largest granite monument in america, and we're going to reveal that and its strategy in "monumental." >> talk about the deep tease. it's nice to have you join us. the movie is called "monumental." >> ahead on "starting point", we're going to talk to congressman paul ryan. he's going to give a speech at c pack. we'll talk to him about what he means by bold reform. which candidate he thinks can carry that torch. plus a ship wreck found off the coast of massachusetts. you will not believe what was found inside. we'll bring you that straight ahead on "starting point." stay with us. 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"starting point" this morning is coming to you live from cpac in washington, d.c. it's a gathering of the nation's leading conservatives and activists. it will all end with the straw poll that ends on saturday night with the big kickoff. we had debby wasserman schultz here. also congressman paul ryan's going to be with us in a little bit. he's been talking about big, bold reform. he's targeting massive spending. we'll talk about some of his specifics straight ahead when he shares his plan with us. plus a $25 billion deal that could help nearly a million homeowners. we'll tell you what that deal could mean for individuals. "starting point" begins right now. ♪ >> congressman paul ryan's play list. a little led zeplin. he'll join us to talk about a budget and speech that he'll be delivering at cpac. we have our panel with us. utah congressman jason schafis, ron brown is back. let's talk about some of the news that's been broken on this show in the last hour. we'll start with listening to -- let's go first to congressman walker because i thought what he said about how this could all end up, he supports, of course, newt gingrich, so there's some spin to that. here's what he said. >> i'm suggesting that there will be a contest where mitt romney will not end up with the majority of votes headed into tampa and where we will have an election that will be settled at the convention. >> okay. so senator mccain when he heard that said isn't that funny that people who are losing positions often suddenly start predicting contested -- going to the convention as a big contest. what do you think of what the congressman said? >> well, you know, as john mccain pointed out there are a lot more predictions than actually achieving a multi-ballot or broken convention. we haven't seen one since 1952. as i've been listening, if there is not a decisive result on march 6th, there could be a multi-ballot convention, it's making eric say, yeah. the question i come away is could you see a formal division of responsibility between newt gingrich and rick santorum in which they stop focusing so much on each other and instead put energy into different places trying to deny mitt romney a first ballot victory. gingrich focusing on the south, santorum on some of the midwestern states. you could make an argument that they could move from opponents to allies of convenience. >> i'm not the political expert. that sounds so unlikely to me. >> it sounds unlikely to me, but the question is do they tip their hat on what do they do in virginia? only ron paul and mitt romney are on the ballot in virginia. do newt and santorum tell their constituents you should vote for -- >> when's virginia? >> super tuesday. you'll have georgia on super tuesday. newt is focused there. you have other southern states. we should keep perspective though. in 1980 you had the republican establishment largely aligned against ronald regan pushing either howard baker or george h.w. bush. reagan lost iowa by 2 percentage points. went into new hampshire and won and then he lost six races, including coming in third in one race kind of like mitt romney did in minnesota coming in behind ron paul and rick santorum. he still wanted to be the nominee. the difference was that reagan's support kept building and his favorables kept increasing through the primaries. mitt romney's favor rabls are increasing and he's having problems bringing con sers va tifs over. the base is not working. >> talk about turnout for me. i'm trying to figure out what the turnout message is. we've seen it going down, going down, going down. first of all, isn't that a dire problem if you're trying to really rally the bases and the time when they should be rallied. >> when the country starts focusing on jobs and the economy, they need a chief executive who understands the economy and capitol formation, that sunlight starts to go on those other candidates, mitt romney is the one that consistently comes out on top. 's done exceptionally well. he's won literally in every single category. got a big contest coming up in arizona and then going into super tuesday i think, again, the people who are running against mitt romney, when the sunlight gets shined on them, they don't look quite so conservative and quite so shiny as they'd like to portray themselves. that's what's happening. if you look at rick scrum had a good night. the person who had a really bad night was newt gingrich. he was absolutely nowhere in those contests. >> i'm sorry. i was going to say, on the other hand -- >> i was waiting for the on the other hand. >> if you're looking at it from the romney point of view, this week you've seen two different developments. you've seen trouble turning out the base. 1/3 as many people came out to vote for him as four years. 1/3 as many in missouri. in the national poll he's fallen back behind president obama in the abc poll among independence. he seems to be eroding from both sides at the same time not quelling the doubts among the base and seeding new doubts in the mid zbll translation is big problem for the person who's supposed to be the front-runner. >> no. >> hang on. let him answer first. >> no, i think clearly when people start to focus on jobs in the economy, they gravitate to mitt romney. now rick santorum will get back in the sunshine and he'll start to see all the problems he had with earmarks and everything did he in voting to raise the debt ceiling. rick santorum is somebody who thought that ar lynn spec tore should be the next president of the united states. that won't play too well at a crowd like cpac. >> when we talk about polls this early that are always falling behind barack obama. john kerry led george bush until the summer of 2004. >> you think polls are irrelevant? >> at this point the polls that you should focus on, i think, are the actual voting booths where in florida the counties that had lower turnout romney one. the counties that had higher turn out, he lost. same thing happened -- >> but he won by an overwhelming margin. >> yes. the problem, though, is when you look at northern florida, panhandle, he came in less there this time than he did last time. iowa he got less votes than he did in 2008. in minnesota he got less votes than he did in 2008. in colorado he sent out a press release and said ignore minnesota and missouri. >> there were no delegates. >> but ultimately -- >> there are no delegates at stake, that's why he didn't go there. if you look at the overall popular vote, can you combine rick santorum and newt gingrich and you still don't even come close to mitt romney. >> romney is the only one with the capacity to run a national campaign. i was suggesting a nod and a wink in which gingrich focuses on certain states and santorum on other states and between them they both try to deny romney enough vingt tris. >> that sounds like so much more coordination? are you laughing because -- >> i don't know. i think the electorate would be offended. >> i think you'll see santorum with minimal efforts in the south and gingrich with less efforts. >> let's get to christine romans. there's a big mortgage deal this morning. >> we're expecting a deal to be announced sometime today, soledad, a deal for 1 million underwater homeowners, where they'll be eligible for up to $20,000 relief on the principle they owe on their house. we're expecting that later this morning on a landmark deal between 9 states and the country's largest banks. it would amount to $26 billion for mortgage lenders and servicers. bank of america, jpmorgan chase, citigroup, wells fargo and ally financial. it's the largest, broadest housing rescue plan yet. the largest settlement between an industry and the states and the government since that big tlement in 1998. attorneys general for california, florida, new york are now on board. nooerlly all the other states have agreed to the terms. we're getting more details and we'll get to them as soon as we've got them. the 911 call center in pierce county washington is launching an investigation to find out why it took dispatchers eight minutes to send a pris car to the home of josh powell. once that police car was dispatched it took 13 minutes to get to powell's home. too late to stop him from blowing up his house an killing himself and his two little boys. the founder of susan g. komen for the cure is speaking out for the first time since reversing a controversial decision to stop funding planned parenthood. in a letter to the washington post she says, i made some mistakes. women's health organizations must be absolutely true to our core missions and avoid even the appearance of bias. she apologized for disappointing so many of their supporters. tough talk from iran's ambassador to russia. he is a telling reporters that iran is capable of attacking u.s. interests anywhere in the world and will do so if the u.s. attacks first. students from catholic universities will speak out this morning about a controversial new white house policy. it requires certain religious organizations and hospitals to offer contraceptives and other birth control services as part of their employee health care plans. critics charge this mandate is unconstitutional and the obama administration is signaling it is willing to consider making some compromises. and treasure hunters say they've discovered a sunken ship off the coast of cape cod with a fortune on board. it's the "s.s. port anything kol son" torpedos in 1942. that's during world war ii. the crew that found it says there's 71 tons of platinum on board along with gold ingets and uncut diamonds. total value could be $3 billion if they can get the ship to the surface. wow. soledad. >> yeah, that's the big if, right? >> if they can get that ship to the surface. christine, thank you very much. one of the biggest names speaking at the conference will be wisconsin republican congressman paul ryan. nice to see you, sir. we appreciate your time this morning. in your talk you're expected to call for bold ideas, a principle plan. i've seen some of the early drafts of it. what specifically are you going to call for as you speak to the thousands of people here at cpac. >> good morning, first of all, soledad. i just think we need to go bold in that if we don't agree with the direction that the president is taking the country, which we clearly don't, it's not just to oppose. it's not enough. we need to propose alternatives, a different path for the country based upon our core founding principles, and that way the country gets a legitimate choice of two futures. so what i'm trying to say is all of us need to give the country a choice of two futures because we shouldn't just run against president obama, we should offer the country a choice because we really believe that this precarious moment in our country's history where we're on the verge of a debt crisis, we need to show how we can fix these problems. we think the president's taking us in the wrong direction. we think he's applying the wrong philosophy. we think he's irresponsible in that he's not addressing the country's biggest problems that are right in front of us. we need to propose very specific alternatives so the country gets a legitimate choice in the next election. >> and you have specifically talked about the president's path to decline is how you put it. there's a column by bob kagan because a lot of people have been talking about it. he calls this the myth of american decline. he writes this in the new republic. in economic terms even despite the current years of recession and slow growth, america's position in the world has not changed. in other words, your position of decline is wrong. >> soledad, we have 20 million people still out of work. we have 6 million people that have gone on the poverty rolls since the president took office. our economy is not growing near the pace it needs to. but more to the point, our debt is literally getting out of our control. our gross debt has exceeded the size of our entire economy, and we're not doing anything about it. the president hasn't proposed a solution. the senate hasn't passed a budget since 2009. they're not going to do one this year. we have a debt crisis right in front of us. what brings down great empires past and future is debt. they're doing nothing to prevent it. europe is in the throws of a debt crisis. i would argue that european nations are in a state of managed decline right now. why on earth do we want to copy those policies and follow that direction? clearly that's the path we are on because that's the path the president has kept us on. not all of these problems were created by barack obama, but he's doing -- not only is he not doing anything to fix them, i would argue he's making them worse. if we disagree with that, which we clearly do, what i'm saying is we owe the country a legitimate choice of a different future and a different pathway so they can choose what kind of people they want us to be, what kind of country they want us to be in the 21st century. literally, soledad, the next couple of years in our country what we do, how we handle the situation, that's going to determine the kind of america we have for the 21st century. it's not ideological. >> that segues us nicely into the current political race. ron brown steeb, hop in here. >> ron brownstein from national journal. as you talk about your choice, the core choice on taxes that you offer is extending the tax cuts passed under president bush. 8 million more people went into poverty while bush was in office. there were fewer people working at the end of the eight years than when the tax cuts were passed. what in that record gives you confidence that extending those tax cuts will produce better economic growth in the future than they've contributed to so far in the past? >> fewer people were working now than before barack obama got started. we have a low employment rate, meaning not unemployment but employment. what i would say is we're not saying extend tax cuts, we're saying reform the system to make us more competitive. look, here's the problem. eight out of ten of our businesses in america, they file their taxes as individuals. so when the president keeps raising these tax rates, which are on individuals, they're on small businesses and we're taxing them at much higher rates than other countries. look overseas which in wisconsin means lake superior, canada is lowering their tax rates on their businesses at 15%. our top tax rate for small businesses is going to 45% in 2013. you can't compete. you can't create jobs that way. our businesses can't succeed in a global economy. what we're saying is not just extend tax cuts, we're saying reform the tax code. get rid of the loopholes. get rid of the deductions. lower the tax rates for everybody. when it comes to class warfare, look, what we're saying is let's not penalize people who are successful, let's set the conditions for economic growth so new people can become successful that haven't seen success yet in their lives. let's not preach envy and division, let's preach prosperity, hope and growth. when you're taking away the loopholes and deductions, it's the people in the higher ij come. >> congressman ryan, i'm going stop you. i don't know if you can hear me. >> i can hear you fine. >> if you can hear me my earpiece has died. i apologize. we thank you for joining us this morning. thanks for being with us. we've got to take a short break. still this morning ahead on starting point the u.n. secretary general is calling it appalling brutality in syria. overnight there was more shelling, more deaths. we'll take you live there with the very latest out of syria. plus y john mccain says arming the rebels is the right answer there. in less than 15 minutes new jobless numbers will come out. will it be another improvement? we'll take a closer look. we leave you with a track from congressman paul ryan's ipod. "wild night." ♪ wild night is calling ♪ all the girls walk by dressed up for each other ♪. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. the slaughter in syria is growing more and more intense by the day. overnight government troops were bombarding homs. at least 12 people were killed overnight in fact. it is the fourth straight day of shelling. u.n. secretary general said it is appalling brutality. that's a quote. earlier this morning on "starting point" we talked to senator john mccain who said there is a lot that this nation can do. we talked a little bit about what it would be like to arm the syrian opposition. here's what he said. >> work with other countries to provide assistance in a broad variety of ways. by the way, military equipment should not be an option -- it is an option that should be considered but maybe not directly but we could give them communications. they need equipment. they need medical help very badly. >> that was senator john mccain talking to us a little bit earlier about the situation in syria. this morning we're coming to you live from cpac. they put us in a conference room where later today there will be thousands of people listening to many of the various speeches that'll take place on the stage. as you can hear behind me, they're rehearsing the audio, which is nice to hear. lovely song. hopefully you guys at home can still hear me. we've got to get to what's happening though in syria. we want to check in with ivan watson. we have him live. 's in istanbul with us. ivan, what's the very latest from where you are? turkey's getting involved. >> reporter: we can go straight to that embattled besieged city of homs. it continues its deadly artillery barrage. theer are some live pictures. the homs skyline. we've been monitoring it hearing periodic explosions and gunfire during the call to prayer. a doctor we talked to there this morning said he had seen already today alone 40 bodies of victims as well as some 100 wounded people. among the people wounded there, soledad, is an activist who got international attention when he confronted observers from the arab league weeks ago, a few months ago. his name is halad ab alasala. he was wounded. he gave a defind statement to an activist camera. take a listen to what he had to say. >> reporter: of course, there he's talking to the syrian president bashar al-assad. defines even as residents there tell us that the army has encircled the city. they're not even allowing food in while continuing what appears to be the indiscriminate shelling of a city with a population of a little under a million people. hundreds of people, civilians, believed to have been killed in the last couple of days alone. soledad. >> that's ivan watson for us. oh, my goodness, those pictures out of syria look very, very awful. thank you, ivan, for that update. still ahead this morning on "starting point", the cpac panel topic today is government spending and how to reduce it. there's a panel that's called, it's the spending, stupid. senator mike lee is going to be delivering some part of that panel. we'll talk to him a little bit later this morning. also dr. sanjay gupta, last week we were talking about his documentary about concussions. he's back to talk about what one state is doing to take action to protect young people. short break. we're back in a moment. stay with us. ays later, i was saving big on car insurance. i was worried it would be hard to install. but it's really easy. the better i drive, the more i save. i wish our company had something this cool. yeah. you're not... filming this, are you? aw! camera shy. snapshot from progressive. plug into the savings you deserve with snapshot from progressive. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money ♪ so there's a change ♪ in your motions ♪ and all these memories come rushing back ♪ >> no disrespect, but that song is terrible. >> that's a good song. >> what's it called? "sometime around midnight." >> how come none of my music is getting on? nothing. >> i started strong. >> gospel. >> you were wiped out fast. i got nothing. i've had nothing today. that sounds like a garage band, honestly. >> it is. >> we brought you some information last week about how programs across the country are helping protect kids from concussions. sanjay gupta did his big documentary about it focused on -- in the documentary which was called "big hits, broken dreams," about the risks to kids. the georgia legislature is taking action. sanjay joins us live. 's in atlanta. sanjay, i guess congratulations are in order when you're able to do a documentary that's riveting and moves the needle in terms of legislation, too. >> yeah, it's great. i think it's part of the reason you and i do documentaries like this. it's nice enough people are watching, maybe even feel compelled to action. specifically in the state of georgia what they want to do is educate parents and players about concussions. that seems like a basic thing. there was no official mandate on that. they want to have coaches and athletic trainers at games who have been trained to recognize the signs of concussion. again, this is pretty low hanging fruit. they also want to make it -- medical clearance necessary before a player ever returns to the game. very important point, soledad. we talked about this last week, that someone can tell that someone's brain is healed before they let them back on the field. also something interesting, soledad, this idea that at the beginning of the season or as part of a routine physical exam players would also get a neurological exam so that that's a baseline and then if someone has a hit to the brain they can get that checked again. that's sort of what they're sort of putting forth here in georgia. >> so how does that compare what they're doing in georgia to what every other state is doing in the nation? >> well, you know, truth is, there's about 35 states and the district of columbia that do have some acts on the books now. georgia is a little late to the game. it's pretty similar. i should point out, a lot of this was named after zachary listed. when he was a middle school football player he had what was a concussion halfway through the game and then he had -- you can see him playing there. he was put-back in the game. in the fourth quarter had another concussion. left him neurologically very bad off. that prompted these whole series of laws around the country. remember again, soledad, just quickly, when a brain is hit and you get a concussion, that brain is swollen. it's a little bit inflamed. it's probably going to heal, but if it takes a second hit before it heals, that's when you take a bad situation and make it catastrophically worse. that's what this is designed to protect. >> good to see our legislators moving. you know the numbers for approval, very low. low right now. sanjay gupta for us. sorry i missed you in new york the other day. >> two trains, you and i. >> always. this is the story of our lives. two trains crossing here. ahead this morning on "starting point", the jobless numbers, we're expecting them, minutes away. looking to see if there will be another improvement there. senator mike lee will join us. he wants to talk about an issue which is near and dear to his heart. let's play a little bit from his play list. styx. eric, styx. that's music. i love styx ♪ you're kidding yourself ♪ why must you be such an angry young man? ♪ ♪ when your future looks quite bright to me ♪ okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! welcome back, everybody. lots to get to. let's start with headlines. christine romans has that for us. >> good morning to you, soledad. a bombshell revelation in the university of virginia lacrosse trial. huguely e-mailed yardly love before err had err death saying i should have killed you. he's on trial for fatally beating her to death. prosecutors say he killed her after a jealous rage after finding out she had been dating a rivalries lacrosse player from another college. egypt's prime minister won't stop its crackdown on ngos. the egyptians first raided ngo offices last year accusing them of improperly using foreign funds. they are going to try the son of transportation secretary ray lahood. the weekly jobless claims it says 358,000. it sounds lick a lot. we were expected 12,000 more claims. any time this number comes in less than 400,000, that seen as a sign the labor market is headed in the right direction. the obama administration will announce that ten states are getting wavers from the most burdensome mandates of no child left behind. in return, those states have agreed to raise standards for improving student achievement, provide more accountability, and make more reform to teacher effectiveness. critics say it labels too many schools as failing and it dictates unworkable remedies. soledad? >> all right, christine. thank you very much. back here at cpac if you're attending, there's lots to keep you businessy obviously. there is going to be a panel here in three hours that it's called, it's the spending, stupid. our next guest is going to be taking part in that panel. utah senator, mike lee. co-founder of the senate's tea party caucus. thanks for talking with us this morning. give me a little preview of what it's the spending, stupid. what does it mean? >>. >> i wonder, can you hear me, sir? >> yes. >> senator, let me try one more time. >> good morning. >> there you are. okay. i gotcha now. sorry about that. we were having a little aud audiodifficulties. i was asking you you're on this panel, it's the spending, stupid. it's a spin on it's the economy, stupid. what's this about? what are you going to contribute to the panel today? >> this is a discussion about our debt problem. the fact that our national debt is now over $15 trillion. it's larger than our gdp. that's a problem. this threatens to undermine our ability to fund everything from defense to entitlements. this is a discussion about that. its a about the need for a balanced budget amendment. a constitutional restriction to change structurally and permanently the way washington spends and borrows money. >> so let me ask you a little bit about the tea party. as i mentioned, you're with the tea party caucus. if you look at the track record, it is since iowa all over the place. iowa, the winner of tea party support, was santorum with 29%. in new hampshire it went to romney with 41%. in south carolina it was gingrich. that was 45%. then went on to florida and romney took that at 41%. then the state of nevada, it was also romney at 47%. i'm almost afraid to ask. who does the tea party support in this race? >> well, of course the tea party isn't a party. it's not any single organization. it's a spontaneous grassroots movement that stands for principles of constitutional conservatism. because there's no party structure there's no single entity to get behind a single candidate. but i can tell you that conservatives -- >> right, but the question is -- forgive me. let me just interrupt you. i'll reframe the question. maybe there's a better way to say it. who's the true conservative that the tea party in general would like to embrace? who is the true conservative? >> well, we've got four conservatives, four republicans running in this race. conservative republicans are going to be eager to get behind whichever man gets the republican nomination. and there's no real consensus choice at this point, but i have a feeling we'll have a candidate within just another month or two. >> senator, good morning. ron brownstein from "national journl." can i ask you about your spending ideas. you want to limit federal spending to a fixed share of gdp going forward. on the other hand, the number of seniors in the country are supposed to double in the next 30 years from 40 to 80 million. how can we limit that while we have that many more seniors who are going to be relying on social security and medicare? what are the implications of limiting that against that demographic back grop. >> unless we limit it, we'll continue to continue to accrue debt until that debt crushes our ability to fund everything from medicare and social security to defense. as i explain in my book "the freedom agenda," the only way to solve this problem is through a constitutional restriction. that restriction will actually protect the very programs that you're expressing concerns about. that's why this is an issue that's neither democratic nor republican, neither liberal nor conservative. it's american. we have to protect our ability to operate the government. >> did you just slide in a pro mow for your book on my show, senator? >> absolutely i did. >> i can't believe that. >> it's a beautiful book. >> shamelessly. >> america. >> shamelessly. let me ask you -- let me play a little bit of sound which we heard from cpac. here's what he said about the importance of super tuesday. listen. >> if it lasts quite a while, it may more likely mean that no one has those 1147 delegates to win the nomination. if they don't, then you're dealing. if you're dealing, you're going to come up with a combination of two of the four that are in the race or you'll have an outsider like how jeb bush got in the race. mitt romney is hoping he can get it done march 6th. i don't think anyone else has the resources. if he doesn't, it continues to be a wide open race, things may get complicated. >> do you agree, march 6th is the cutoff? >> i don't know whether it's the cutoff or not. i think march 6th is certainly a critical date. i hope that by that point we'll know who our nominee likely is. but i'm not ready to say that there is any specific date that represents the cutoff. >> all right. senator mike lee joining us this morning. nice to see you. thanks for being with us. can you believe he was pitching his book on my shoempt sir, we will get you back for that. still ahead, he has been called a tea party king maker. we'll talk to republican senator jim demint of south carolina. his speech will kick off in just about an hour. first though, we're going to chat with him about his thoughts on the gop race as well. then this morning the story of brandon white. you see these pictures, this video. oh, my gosh. horrific beating. anti-gay beating. it was caught on tape. he was saying he could have died that day. he's going to join us to talk about what happened and what he does now. straight ahead. stay with us. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ ♪ so why don't you turn me loose, turn me loose, turn me loose ♪ ♪ i've gotta do it my way >> guess whose choice that is. congressman jason chaffetz. it's taking me right back to the '80s. >> the awesome '80s. >> next time, better music, everybody. welcome back. the who's who of the republican party is here in washington, dc, of course for this year's conservative gathering. it's called cpac. rick santorum is hoping to keep his momentum going off of tuesday's win. romney is saying he could govern as a conservative. jim demint will be giving a kickoff speech in a little bit. literally a little bit. he'll leave here and run down to the podium. he's the co-founder of the senate tea party caucus. it's nice to have you, sir. we had a chance to talk before the race in south carolina. >> it was good to have you visit myrtle beach. >> very nice. very nice. you're going to give your talk in a little bit. are you going to read passages off your book or what are you going to say to the crowd? >> i'm going to try to avoid that. this is our big huddle as conservatives before the 2012 election. we're kind of reminding ourselves of our ideas, but also the importance of this election. >> what are your big worries as a conservative? you go in and i'm concerned about what? >> well, i want to make sure that we understand how important the election is and that we are reminded that a few people who get active in the 2010 elections, we saw it, can make a huge difference. i'm not sure we're going have another chance to turn things around if you look at where our country is and the kind of hole we are in with our debt and the fact that the current president and the majority in the senate will effectively double that debt over the next ten years, it's just time we get our people out and get them to recruit others because the key to this election is recruiting americans who are working, paying taxes, but they don't like politics. >> if you look at turnout, that would go against everything you're saying because the turnout in these races has been very low, especially the last three races where the turnout has been off by a lot. what does that say about the general election, that the republican base is not energized? >> i spoke to a number of conservative groups last night, their memberships are going up exponentially. a lot of these folks who are tea party protesters put down their picket signs and they're joining more formal organizations. they're getting organized at the local level. i think you're going to see a strong outpouring of not just conservatives but just everyday americans who are alarmed at where we're going as a country. >> but when you look at the actual numbers, right, you see that unemployment's down for the fifth straight month. you look at growth in manufacturing, growth in transportation, growth in retail. isn't that argument starting to dissipate? it's actually getting better. we had a graph the other day, not when we were talking, basically the numbers, unemployment were going down. that's a good thing if you're running on that record, right? >> we want the economy to come back, but if there's any improvement in the economy, we have to attribute that to the hard work by american workers and businesses. there's nothing this president has done that has changed policy to turn things around. >> if the economy is doing badly it's the prz's fault but if it's improving it's not his fault? >> so many people have dropped out of the work force. we have the smallest work force we've had in 30 years. to still say that 8.3 is an improvement, that means we've lowered our expectations. we obviously can't grow at less than 2% a year and say that's a good economy. but republicans have to remind americans, it's not just about unemployment numbers. it's about what we see at the central lieization of power in washington and the dependency and dysfunction, where we are with our debt. and this president has no plans to turn it around. he's put no plans to fix social security and medicare on the table. he's just been standing aloof criticizing and making speeches. so it's going to be a rhetorical battle in some ways, but what we have to do is call those americans out who know that this country is a bottom up country, decentralized, very dynamic and individualistic. this president and democratic party is taking us in a different position. >> if you can hear the noise behind us, they have opened the hall. thousands of people are going to listen to you in 14 minutes. >> no pressure. >> no pleasus pressure at all. >> the straw poll will wrap up everything. who will win the straw poll. give me a name? >> ron paul has won it a number of times because his folks are more organized. you really have to organize and get people to go to a particular place to vote. they don't pass around ballots of people who are sitting out here in the crowd. so i really have no idea who has worked that angle this year. >> so when we talk to al cardenis earlier, he said if you look to super tuesday, and if by super tuesday mitt romney has not wrapped this up, this could go to a brokered convention. >> that's probably true the way the -- it's set up this year with the divided delegates, could very well go to the convention. >> so you have a divided electorate, especially when you look at conservatives. this chart earlier, here, tea party. >> yeah. >> santorum, romney, gingrich. >> that's a good sign. >> how's that a good sign? >> we don't have a tea party candidate. the tea party is really very diverse. i don't think anyone has ever defined them properly. they're not radical right wing people. they are a lot of folks who are not even involved in politics. so they're very divided among these candidates, which i think means that any of them once we get a nominee can converge around them and we'll have energy. >> you seem calm for a man who has to give a speech. thanks for visiting with us. still ahead this morning on "starting point", the victim of what is -- have you seen these pictures? a vicious beating. a gang shouting anti-gay slurs as they beat up this young man. now he's come forward and he is demanding justice. his name is brandon white. we'll chat with him. 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[popping and spattering] it's the most comprehensive identity theft protection available. lifelock. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. you've seen some of this video today. the young man brutally attack ds for being gay is speaking out. we want to show you some of the videotape. i've got to warn you, it's a little bit hard to watch as they pummel this guy. he's 20 years old. he's from atlanta. his name is brandon white. he's being attacked as he walked outside of a store. he wasn't going to report the attack. can you believe that, was not going to go to the police to report this attack because he said he was embarrassed and humiliated when he saw it. but he decided since it had gone viral he thought he would report it to the police. we were going to talk to brandon this morning but we're having some technical problems with getting him on air. so what we're going to do is ask him to move his interview to tomorrow so we can sit down and talk to him without technical difficulties tomorrow. brandon white's going to join us to talk about that horrific attack. we'll chat with him tomorrow. turning back to politics now with our panel. lots to talk about as we have a little news going here this morning at cpac. brokered convention, yes or no, what do you think? >> no. i think super tuesday will provide clarity. i happen to think that mitt romney will come out ahead. >> because you're a romney supporter. >> because i want to beat the president. that's why i support him, yes. >> all right. >> not likely but not inconceivable if santorum and gingrich can win enough seats between them to deny romney the first ballot majority. >> john mccain said i have been to this rodeo before. >> it's been 60 years. it's been a while. >> which means it's time for one. i'm all on board the brokered convention. >> why? why? >> because i think any three of the candidates going against barack obama, they're the wrong three candidates to put against barack obama across the board. i think if the economy is improving and you've got the flare-up in syria and elsewhere where the president shrinks the national security, we have the wrong three guys. >> two words of caution. rick perry. no matter how good you look on paper, this is very difficult. the idea of someone coming in in may or june who hasn't been running and be ready to run in the primary or general election. >> you must have a short list in your head? >> looking at people who could come in. there's bobby genoa from louisiana. would any of those guys do it? probably not. i think we go against the president with the field we have and i'm not optimistic in november. >> no, i think mitt romney's in the best position to do that. you wanted an outsider. you want somebody who doesn't have that washington, d.c., you know, senate record. >> he has made some big stumbles, public stumbles. when he should have been doing his victory lap after florida. >> remember, when we did barack obama and hillary clinton, they went till june. we're still early in this process. as mitt romney has said, this makes us stronger. doesn't make us more divided. it prepares us for november. >> al said the opposite thing. he said spending money to bring down republicans separates the party. >> we were just about doing iowa at this point. >> keep in mind, in 2008 we had already had three times as many elections by now as right now. we've dragged this thing out. super tuesday was in february in 2008. it's now in march. here's another danger for the republicans. the longer this draws out and people are throwing money into the presidential races is less time for them to give money to senate races, house races, gubernatorial races. this can drag the republicans down. i am a firm believer primaries make people stronger. the problem is, we're not seeing that. we're starting to see the candidates hurting themselves. >> rick santorum looks like a stronger candidate. >> i agree. i want to go to the larger point. keep our eye on the big picture. two tail winds gave the republicans their historic victory in 2010, an eideologica back lash. it's not a majority of the country. you are seeing the trend lines move in the right direction. trajectory matters rather than level. a lot of people are unhappy with 8.3 unemployment, it's going down. >> it's that chart that goes like this. >> right. >> like my chart. >> he's got to hope that he has not peeked too early on unemployment and it doesn't begin to turn around. >> there will be new numbers coming out. j when we come back we'll ask our panelists to give us their "end point." we'll listen to arcade buyers, wake up. what is with the music. i was about to make fun of you. >> that's good. >> ron brownstein says it's good. it gets ugly. ♪ hold your stick up ♪ before they turn the summer . welcome back, everybody. our end point now in our final minute. give me an assessment of how the day goes. >> well, i think here at cpac you're going to see conservatives unite. get excited. i think they'll look to mitt romney and say that's a better, smarter way to go because we want to beat barack obama. mitt romney is an outsider and he has the best case to make against president obama and defeat him in november. >> ron

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