republican senator jeff sessions rejected what the president is doing as a legitimate way to offset the cost. he also said the president s plan for a nationwide high-speed rail system will not pass because it is simply too costly when the nation is running the highest decifits in history. jon. jon: jim angle, live in washington, keeping an eye on the money for us, thank you jim. you bet. jenna: this is one of our top stories today, we re getting brand new information regarding iran, the state-run television reporting that tehran is using advanced centrifuges and producing its own nuclear fuel rods, all this stoking fear as iran is getting closer to building nuclear weapons. managing director of the washington institute for near east policy, michael, it s wednesday, the day after valentine s day, pretty unremarkable for all intents and purposes, so why today, why this announcement today of all day? jenna, as we ve talked about before, iran is under tremendous pressure right now, the
a vote out of the conference and get the president to sign it after congress would possible it. we are still aeu are a lon a long ways from getting there. reporter: we exspec the language is being finalized and the conference committee he i will lewded the alluded to will get together and pass this deal if all goes well this afternoon. jon: the president won t be able to then blame congress for not passing this thing. reporter: this would be a sign of them doing something, yes. jon: mike emanuel, capitol hill. thanks, mike. martha jenna: rick santorum rurpblging in ohio with weeks to go until the march 6th primary. the polls are putting santorum out in front with 36%. you see romney, gingrich and paul falling behind him. the real clear politics ohio
already promised more than he delivered: now, the tragedy is that there was a great opportunity, as you alluded to, mr. chairman, to advance our highway system as part of the president s stimulus package. instead, nearly $1 trillion of borrowed money was fritted away on proposals that succeeded in syncing our nation deeper into debt. reporter: now even democratic chairman kento on kent conrad expressed doubt about using that war money that was never spent as savings for transportation, but the transportation secretary seemed to say he had no choice: the last two years that i ve appeared before congress, i have taken a heap of criticism for bringing proposals forward that aren t paid for. that s over. you know, the idea that the president didn t want to pay for these things over the last two years, we were criticized royally for that. reporter: but
analyst juan williams. juan, is it all about the economy, is that what is leading the president s number to pick upwards? absolutely jon. you know, you can look inside the poll and you see that independent voters in particular have shifted. about a month ago in the same poll, cbs- new york times poll, you had independent voters favoring romney and romney equal or even with president obama. now, those independent voters have swayed towards the president and that s the basis for the president s surge to a lead, that six-point lead ahead of romney, eight points ahead of santorum. jon: the white house supposedly is loving watching this republican race that has mitt romney, rick santorum and to a less er extent, paul and gingrich torn apart by negative advertising. is that at play here? it is. it s a large sense as republicans as indicated in the polls that they re not happy with this deal. you have 60 percent of republicans saying they d like more choices, they d
he is the only person who has actually put up victories in that state, statewide elections run for senate twice. and ultimately got beaten. but got beaten really by somebody who was almost more conservative in a lot of ways. jenna: we ll see if he can pick up the pace or keep the pace until super tuesday. that is the big question, charlie. thanks you so much. charlie hurt from the washington time. jon: continuing political talk now, new polls out on the race for president. we re going to talk with scott rasmussen about the republican candidates and who is now in front. also a guy accused of killing his wife on their moneyee moon in australia, he s defending himself in court. his lawyer said it was all an accident. we are looking forward to our system of justice, okay, the system of justice we have in the united states of america to work the way it s supposed to, and to find gabe innocent of any wrongdoing. [ male announcer ] juice drink too watery?