when not if. president assad isn't listening, pressing a crackdown on the south keeping that city from south keeping that city from anti-government rebels. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com first some major international news tonight. a scary moment as the defense secretary leon panetta arrived to afghanistan. an afghan vehicle drove onto the runway area of a military base and set it afire. just as panetta's plane was landing. another major security breach but pentagon officials say no explosives were found in the vehicle and secretary panetta went on with his schedule, which includes a face-to-face promise to the afghan president hamid karzai for a thorough investigation of the shooting rampage blamed for the deaths of 16 afghan civilians this week. military officials confirm the suspected gunman, an army staff sergeant, was flown out of afghanistan tonight heading for another detention facility in kuwait, and that afghan officials were alerted to this transfer beforehand. this and other tensions have brought calls for a quicker withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan. but at the white house today after talks with the british prime minister david cameron, president obama insisted progress is being made and insisted the timetable in place which would bring all troops home by the end of 2014 was the right one. >> i don't anticipate at this stage that we're going to be making any sudden addition al changes to the plan that we currently have. we have already taken out 10,000 of our troops. we're slated to draw down an additional 23,000 by this summer. >> let's head straight now to the pentagon and our course didn't, chris lawrence. let's deal with the transfer of the suspect here from kuwait to afghanistan. what do we know about that? >> reporter: john, i was told by a defense official a couple hours ago it was for two reasons. one the legal advice of some of the advisers to general john allen there in afghanistan. and also because they felt they did not have anywhere adequate to detain this service member for any long length of time. remember, it's very likely that his legal proceedings will last well beyond his tour of duty. and at some point he'd probably be brought back to the united states. >> and help us out. how serious was this incident on the tarmac there in afghanistan that led secretary panetta's plane once on the ground at least to be diverted? >> reporter: it was an egregious breach of security. i mean, this was someone actually getting onto the runway. and you had this incredible d dichotomy. in washington you have the image of the president and prime minister talking about this enduring partnership with the afghans as we were getting word an afghan had tried to drive this stolen vehicle onto the runway as the secretary of defense was arriving. we're told the afghan worked on this base at camp bastion, stole this british vehicle, ran over a british soldier on the base and breached at least one layer of security before getting onto the runway and ending up in a ditch. some of the officials we spoke with say as he was getting out of the car he was on fire, ran to another truck, and that's when the security folks were able to apprehend him, put out the fire, although he was burned over probably more than half of his body. >> chris lawrence live fours tonight on the breaks news at the pentagon. thanks so much. at that same white house event, both president obama and prime minister cameron said they are talks included potential military continues in syria. president obama said he prefers a soft landing, a transition that did not involve a bloody military intervention or a civil war. >> assad will leave power. it's not a question of if but when. and to prepare for that day, we'll continue to support plans for a transition to support the legitimate aspirations of the syrian people. >> saudi arabia today became the latest country to close its damascus embassy and remove all diplomats from syria. with russia and china still blocking a global response it's clear the assad regime is unimpressed with what it here's from president obama and prime minister cameron. the day after retaking important ground in northern syria, the regime now target opposition strongholds in the south. >> reporter: well, john, according to activists more than half of the casualties on this day happening in the province of edlib where it seems the syrian military is now focusing its efforts. the free syrian army and the opposition enjoy a certain degree of freedom in this province, especially in the provincial capital of edlib. there were then four days of fierce fighting. now the syrian army saying it was forced to withdraw. they were also forced to withdraw from the town of bidnish activists say is repeatedly being shelled by government tanks because they say they were concerned for the population there. and also quite simply because they do not have the ammunition, the weapons that they need to actually adequately fight back. abbas, a global activist network, is reporting based on what it says are eyewitness accounts. there are also a number of instances where women, even children were being raped, massacred as they were trying to flee. and activists and residents of the province had been warning of this for quite some time now, saying that they believe that the government, once it got done clean out homs, the city of homs it was then going to set its sights on idlib provinces. now they're warning government forces are advancing toward the turkish border, john. >> arwa damon recording from beirut. presidential politics a moment of opportunity for rick santorum after his impressive sweep of two big southern presidential primaries, and mississippi and alabama. now he's in puerto rico where the massachusetts governor is the overwhelming favorite. >> we had a pretty good night last night. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> i can't think of a better way to celebrate than hopping on a plane and coming to puerto rico. >> governor rom if i is off the trail today raising some money. top strategist telling rotters they see no viable path for santorum to block romney from ultimately winning enough delegates to clinch the nomination. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. this narrative the romney people coming out saying he can't win. he can't win. i want you to listen here. a lot of people criticizing governor romney's message. all he's said in the past week is i can't lose. i can't lose. i have the delegates. saying he needs to have a more direct message on the economy. he didn't do any campaign events but did an interview with fox news today. listen here. >> some who are very conservative may not be in my camp. but they will be when i become the nominee. when i face barack obama. because again, what the nation wants is someone who understands the economy, not an if you will an economic light weight. i mean, senator santorum is a nice guy but he does not understand how the economy works. >> is that the new message he's a light weight, i'm not? >> i think that's part of it. i think he did a teletown hall this afternoon and he was also talking about his business experience. now, there's been a lot of conversations within the campaign about how do you reposition mitt romney? because the message of math, you know, be for me, i'm ahead. just doesn't really work. so they're saying, okay, what should mitt romney do? he needs to get back to talking about his economic message, to differentiate himself with rick santorum, show that he is in fact the business heavyweight. but the question really is, is that going to inspire the passion among the base? because those are the people he's really not getting to be with him. and to be fair to the santorum campaign, they're not saying they can get enough delegates. they're just saying that they can stop mitt romney from getting enough delegates. >> in the case of romney, though, is it the candidate or the campaign in the sense that the candidate speaks for the campaign. at 2:00 this morning i was e-mailing back and forth with a romney adviser after we got off the air. he said this. a senior strategist. "we've lapsed into process. this past week rick pounded us in earned media meaning television ipt views and the like and we essentially left him alone. we'll need to engage." engage with santorum, engage with the passion? that's what we haven't seen from governor romney on a consistent basis. sometimes he does it then he fades. >> here's what's interesting. in talking to somebody who is an ally of mitt romney, he made this point to me, which is that it's ironic but mitt romney's just uncomfortable. and he may be more comfortable running in a general election than he is in a republican primary process. because he's so afraid of making a mistake because he knows that the base is so skeptical about him. he knows evangelical voters are skeptical about him. he knows tea partiers are skeptical about him. so as a result, he boxes himself in as a candidate. and he looks as uncomfortable as he really is. >> in a bit of a box at the moment even though he has that big mathematical lead. >> but he needs to have an emotional lead at some point, right? >> exactly right. santorum campaign is pushing the narrative romney can't win the nomination and world struggle in the general election. what about the math and message for senator santorum? john braybender is a senior adviser to the santorum campaign and joins us from washington. john, first congratulations on last night. but it's pretty clear now that the romney campaign gets it, he's going to be a bit more aggressive. you just heard a little bit there. he called your candidate a light weight. listen to this. this is another interview with fox news where he tries to draw what i'll call a sharper contrast with senator santorum. >> i find it interesting that he continues to describe himself as the real conservative. this is the guy who voted against right to work. this is the guy who voted to fund planned parenthood. this is theperson who voted to raise the debt ceiling five times. >> is that your way of saying -- >> rick santorum is not a person who's an economic conservative to my right. >> if you've got the two-man race you've been looking for is this what we're going to hear for the next we're week or or two? >> white mitt romney was writing personal checks funding planned parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country, rick santorum was writing the law that ended partial birth abortions forever. while mitt romney was giving us big government mandated healthcare, romney care which became obama care a new entitlement if you will, rick santorum was the one who got rid of welfare and put a welfare to work program in place. you go right down the line. while rick santorums was fighting the bailouts, romney came out for them which gave birth to the tea party. so gloria said something very interesting. i think she's right. mitt romney seems uncomfortable in a republican primary. and the problem is his core values don't have don't have anything to do with republican primary dollars. >> let me ask you this. i want to ask you something about something your candidate said in puerto rico. if you could stun mitt romney in puerto rico that would begin to change this narrative and the math that says you're having good nights but can't catch governor romney. he said this in an interview with the newspaper down there. he said, if puerto rico wasn't to get statehood he said "like any other state there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law, and that is english has to be the principal language. there are other states with more than one language such as hawaii, but to be a state of the united states, english has to be the principal language." based on what? that's not in the constitution. congress hasn't passed any law saying english must be an official language. did the senator just misspeak or is that his personal opinion? >> he's said all along that english needs to be the official language of this country. that's something that he supports very much. another interesting thing, though, as you mentioned he is down in puerto rico today looking and talking to people for votes. i notice that governor romney i think he's in new york tonight for a big fundraiser with the former head of aig and goldman sachs, the same people that he supported the bailoutsnd now he's trying to get money from them. this is the contrast the american people keep seeing. a blue-collar, conservative like rick santorum and somebody who's there with the wall street buddies. and that's why in states like kansas where there's a lot of conservatives, rick santorum got more votes than romney, gingrich and paul combined. it's why i think he shocked the world in mississippi and alabama last night. there's an appetite for republicans to unify behind a conservative candidate to be our representative, and people understand that's our best way to beat obama. >> and answer your friends in the republican party and some of them are your close friends, john. you've worked with them on past campaigns nervous about your candidate being the nominee. they say his views on some social issues would hurt republicans with moderate women in the suburbs. they cite polls i'll show you the most recent one from bloomberg, obama versus romney is a 47-47 dead heat. obama versus santorum is obama at 50, santorum at 44. they say governor romney is a more competitive general election candidate and they make this case, and i want to give you a chance to rebutt them, that if santorum were at the top of the ticket, house candidates would suffer, senate candidates would suffer, maybe gubernatorial candidates would suffer. >> if romney becomes our nominee what we're taking off the table number one is obama care. it's romney care. we take that issue off. we stake the bailouts off. second of all, rick santorum has extensive foreign policy experience. romney has none. if you look at the exit polls yesterday, rick santorum actually i believe did better among women voters than mitt romney did. the truth of the matter is, for conservatives and the republican party to win, we need to unify tea party and conservatives. if we stick to our core principals we'll gain seats and beat barack obama. >> interesting stretch ahead, john braebender appreciate your help tonight. we'll keep in touch as we move from puerto rico and beyond. we have a lot more politics ahead. the former homeland security head ridge explains why he's supporting romney and not his home state senator. some say president obama is boxing himself in talking tough about iran and its nuclear program. 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[ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ new poll out today in pennsylvania shows rorz error leading in his home state bay double digits. governor romney is calling in reinforcements. picking up an endorsement today from the former pennsylvania go and homeland security secretary tomorrow ridge. you were a jon huntsman supporter, now supporting mitt romney. rick santorum was a senator when you were a governor. what's wrong with rick santorum? >> it's not what's wrong with rick it's what's right with mitt. last week was interesting, john. both member had pretty good weeks, i think mitt ended up having the better week. my advocacy for mitt romney has what i believe everything to do with having led a private sector, demonstrated his leadership in the government sector and leadership at the olympics. i know all four candidates left in the race. i just prefer mitt romney to the other three. >> i want to ask you a question. you navigated your state. you won a house district. i covered you back then and a democratic district. then you became governor in a democratic state. democrats -- republicans having carried pennsylvania in republican mix for a very long time as you well know. are a lot of people making the argument now the longer this race goes on governor romney is being pulled to the right by candidates like senator santorum. i want you to listen here. this is governor romney giving an interview yesterday to a local station in which he talks about killing planned parenthood. we know he meant ending federal funding for it. but listen and we'll talk on the other side. >> my test is pretty simple. is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? and that basis of course you get rid of obama care. that's the easy one. but there are others. planned parenthood. we're going to get rid of that. >> there are female democrats in congress and in local government all around the country, especially in swing states, putting out statements today slamming governor romney on this. do you think the longer this race goes on the less competitive governor romney if he is the nominee will be in a general election? >> no, john, i don't. i think frankly that really competitive nature of the campaign has frankly helped him sharpen the missage. i think all candidates, all four men remaining in the race would admit if you have single issue voters out there who are prepared to vote for the president on one issue then they all fall by the wayside. but i think at the end of the day in pennsylvania technically i have a lot of independent-thinking democrats. obviously the republicans are going to unify behind mitt once he gets the nomination in order to defeat president obama. so i'm not worried about that at all. >> you have a lot of friends in the party, sir. you served in the bush administration. you were a big state governor. you know the mum blings, some of it's public, a lot of it's private, a lot of people who like governor romney, support him say he's not quite getting there as a candidate, not connecting with blue-collar voters, not showing empathy. what's wrong with the romney message? what would your advice be to your friend? >> i think he needs to stay on the message. at the end of the day the message that i think is most appealing across the board and perhaps he needs to raise the decibel level and get into more specifics is that presidency requires a decisionmaker, a decisive person. someone who's led from the front. he led in the private sector. he led a state. he led the olympics. and i think that message of leadership, a decisionmaker, someone who's prepared to take the tough decisions. not that i'm even going to agree with him from time to time but somebody who's demonstrated the capacity to understand and then lead through tough decisions. against a president who frankly i think who has kicked the can down the road. a president who said we need to do something with the deficit but then he dissed his own deficit reductions committee. who said we need an energy policy but he pushed the decision on the transcanada pipeline down the road. john, at the end of the day i think mitt's with the right message, need to embellish it a little bit but it is about leadership, about decision making not about speech giving. >> at the end of an interview this conversation on a scale of 1 to 10, one being no, 10 being yes, how likely is it that mitt romney can come back and beat rick santorum in his home state? >> i give it a 50-50 chance. rick is popular among the republican primary voters. so is mitt. at the end of the day a pretty sophisticated group of voters. i know them i'm 8-0. they want somebody that can one win the general election. mitt romney can win the general election. >> good to seout. we'll be in touch with the days ahead. >> thanks. still ahead, growing praise for