they bear the name of his predecessor. president obama is seizing the bush tax cutted and calling for them to be extend, but not for everyone. the president wants to let them expire for the wealthiest americans. that puts him at odds with congressional republicans, as well as his rival mitt romney and sets the stage for a very heated battle with less than four months to go before the election. our white house correspondent brianna keilar is covering this for us. first of all, why is the president doing this today? reporter: well, wolf, this is certainly part of his narrative that he s trying to put out there as he runs for re-election. this is very much happening through that political prism. he tried to portray himself as really the one fighting for the middle class. now he s trying to portray his opponent mitt romney and congressional republicans as being defenders of the wealthy. so what he s calling for is for an extension of the bush-era tax cuts only for american fami
i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. captions by vitac www.vitac.com wisconsin residents are voting right now on an extraordinary move to recall the governor scott walker and replace him with tom barrett. this election might be a sneak preview of the november press connection. the effort to get rid of walker was sparked by his move to get rid of collective bargaining rights for public employees. the state is split down the middle, the nasty battle against the tea party movement that has made vast amounts of money. dana bash reports. reporter: at a labor headquarters in madison, a frenzied final push to get out the vote. checking and re-checking lists, last-minute phone calls upon. the climax of a lengthy union effort of the republican governor scott walker. this is about mobilizing our people and the base and connecting with our voters. reporter: it s a similar scene in a walker war room. gop officials claim to have made 4 million calls and all of thi
arizona, you re in the situation room. this just coming in. on the eve of the new nuclear weapons showing that just how tight the race is. take a look 32% say rick san storm, but with the sampling eras that s constituentically a tie. ron paul coming in at 6%, let s go in depth right now with our chief political analyst gloria borger and depend can i washington bureau chief michael crowley. gloria, first you. arizona we all thought was supposed to be relatively easy for mitt rom in, but this a week before the primary is a horse race. nothing succeeds like success. rick santorum has had a lot of success, and we see him defining himself as the cultural conservative. as you point out, this was supposed to be an easy state for mitt romney. he could win, but there s a substantial number of mormons, he has moved way to the right and also has an organization dating back. show shows you that republican voters can to get their arrange. they were for pretty romney, but we know in mi
saying bring it on. senator rand paul refusing a pat-down at an airport security checkpoint after setting off an alarm on a body scanner. he s joining us live this hour. he ll tell us what happened. also, a key u.s. supreme court ruling on electronic surveillance. the justices agree that police need a warrant to plant a gps device on a suspect s car but they don t agree on why. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. what a day in politics. mitt romney is going all out as he goes after newt gingrich with a series of very bitter attacks. the new national poll out today may show why. the two rivals are in a statistical tie. the gallup daily tracking poll shows romney at 29% nationwide, down nine points in just over a week. gingrich is at 28%, double his strength in the last poll a week ago. it s a dead heat, just a week and change before the florida primary. let s bring in cnn jim acosta. he s in tampa and watching the battle for florida. it shouldn t be.
middle-class families pay. we ll explain what s going on. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. dramatic new developments today in the cruise ship disaster off the coast of italy after blasting holes in the capsized costa philosopconcord the massive liner hits rocks and ripped open the hull friday night. it shows the dramatic escape as people clamor off the sinks vessel. the ship s captain is under house arrest, and he may face charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. now a stunning the transcript between outrages authorities on shore and the captain. matthew chance is faults this unfold. what s the latest, matthew? reporter: these transcripts and recordings that have emerged of astonishing. they show conversations that were taking place between the captain of the costa concordia. his name is francesco scampino. the coast guard asking about the situation. he sounds confused. then emerges much to the astonishment of is the coast guard that the captain