we re in mesa, arizona, tonight s cnn arizona republican presidential debate. it s been about a among since they last faced off and since then even more upheaval. rick santorum is now the surging candidates and the one for mitt romney to beat tonight. both men we are campaigning down to the wire and may have given each other press ammunition. he s here with us, going through the details. what s the latest? for the top two candidates, the devil is in the debails. two potential flash points. tonight mitt romney s new tax plan and rick santorum s faith-based brand of politics. he made what could be a risky move, a plan that could come under fire. i m going to lower rates across the board for all americans by 20%. it will last setting the top bracket for the wealthier earners at 28%, and cut the corporate tax rate to 25%, lower than the 28% proposed by the president, but higher than his gop rivals. romney would offset some of those cuts by limiting popular deductions for th
mitt romney. santorum and romney are still close in romney s home state of michigan. now a veteran gop senator told politico if romney can t win michigan we need a new candidate. an advisor to mitch daniels said the knocks on his door have been fist pounding. let s turn to howard fineman, nbc analyst and editorial director of the huffington post media group. two weeks tomorrow since the minnesota, missouri and colorado, rick santorum had the lead in the polls for a couple weeks, now this for romney, sort it out. what does it mean, who has the problems here? let s start with arizona. i think that is a close race, i think mitt romney by all rights should win it because there is a strong mormon population there. he s got ties in that part of the country. but the fact it s close as it is is significant and while the people in the santorum campaign
santorum and romney are still close in romney s home state of michigan. now, a veteran gop senator told politico if romney can t win michigan, we need a new candidate. have become fist pounding. let s turn to howard fineman, editorial director of the huffington post media group. it s been two weeks tomorrow since the minnesota, missouri and colorado, rick santorum had the lead in the polls for a couple weeks. now this for romney, sort it out, what does it mean? who has the problems here? well, let s start with arizona. i think that is a close race, i think mitt romney by all rights should win it in part because there is a strong mormon population there. and he has ties in that part of the country. but the fact that it s close as it is is significant. while the people in the santorum
close in romney s home state of michigan. now, a veteran gop senator told politico if romney can t win michigan, we need a new candidate. mitch daniels door have become fist pounding. let s turn to howard fineman, editorial director of the huffington post media group. it s been two weeks tomorrow since the minnesota, missouri and colorado, rick santorum had the lead in the polls for a couple weeks. now this for romney, sort it out, what does it mean? who has the problems here? well, let s start with arizona. i think that is a close race, i think mitt romney by all rights should win it in part because there is a strong mormon population there. and he has ties in that part of the country. but the fact that it s close as it is is significant.
at the moment. are democrats underestimating what the force of santorum might be? there s the potential appeal because santorum s identity is middle class. he has a middle class background. he can resonate in a way that romney can t. the problem is there s so much baggage there from the culture assistance a stance. you would say he s benefitting from some in the republican primary polls. he hasn t been attacked until this point. it s allowed him toll get these inflated republicans. we ll see what happens when $10 million is spent against him. let s see what happens when hundreds of millions of dollars are spent against him. karen, you got a quick one. in a general election it would be not that hard to keep him in the corner from birthers