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Previewing Tuesday GOP Debate; Rick Santorum's Economic Plan; Super Committee Deadline Looms; Values Voters and the GOP; Cain's Gaffe on Libya; Defending President Obama

Aired November 20, 2011 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TED ROWLANDS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Ted Rowlands, in for Fredricka Whitfield. We are going to take a look at the 2012 presidential contenders in this political hour.

But first, an update on some of today's top stories.

Time is running out for the 12-member congressional super committee that was supposed to come up with a debt compromise. Aides say that instead of working out a deal, they're now focusing on how to announce their failure to reach a deal. If there is no deal before Thanksgiving, it will trigger $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts starting in 2013.

A massive crowd today in Damascus, Syria. Thousands of people loyal to President Bashar al Assad rallied in the streets. The Syrian news agency says the protesters are angry over an Arab League plan to send international observers into Syria. Also this weekend, at least 24 people were killed in the street clashes around the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take responsibility. Take responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And protesters were back at it overnight at the University of California at Davis. They pitched tents on campus to protests rising tuition costs. They were back in place a day after pepper spraying - a pepper spraying incident. The school's chancellor has ordered an investigation that pepper spraying has also prompted calls for the chancellor of the University of Davis to resign, which she says she will not.

And Tiger Woods found his putting groove to help clinch the seventh president's cup. The competition in Melbourne, Australia, pits top American golfers with their counterparts from around the world, except Europe. The U.S. retained the cup after beating the internationals 19-15. Woods scored the winning point for the U.S. team.

Well, with the Iowa caucuses now just a month and a half away, Republican presidential candidates are spending more and more time there. Six of them, all of them major candidates, except Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, attended a forum in Des Moines last night. Here is some of what they said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (r), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our foreign policy budgets need to start at zero for every, every country out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Including Israel?

PERRY: Including Israel.

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Those of us that are people of faith and strong faith have allowed the nonfaith element to intimidate us into not fighting that. I believe we have been too passive.

REP. RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Why in the world have we ever drifted the point where we allow this casualness to ignore the constitution. They say it is a federal function. We don't need the Department of Education, we need those things taken care of at the state level.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Gay marriage is wrong. As Abraham Lincoln said, the states do not have the right to do wrong. And so there are folks here who said that states can do this, and I won't get involved in that. I will get involved in that, because states, as a president, I will get involved because the states do not have the right to undermine the basic fundamental values that hold this country together.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today we have for first time in the history of our country taxpayer subsidized abortion because of Obama care. And the new playground of the left is in Obama care.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe we should not go to war if we can avoid it. And when we have to go to war, we should go - do so decisively, with overwhelming power, to seek the quickest possible victory. And we should, in fact, be quite prepared to do whatever it takes to win once we begin an engagement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: CNN political reporter Shannon Travis is live in Des Moines. Shannon, last night's event was sponsored by an evangelical Christian group. Value voters make up a critical bloc in the Republican Party. How important are they to winning the nomination?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: It is one of the most important voting blocs here in Iowa, Ted. What you heard from those candidates and some of those sound bites just last night and the fuller program itself definitely they were talking a lot about faith and values and morality, but what you heard were direct appeals to this crucial voting bloc. This voting bloc, they're the ones that will come out on caucus night, whether it is cold like it is now, much colder on caucus night, whether it is snowing or what have you, these are the devoted conservatives who will go out and support their candidates. The problem is, a lot of them are undecided about who to support, whether it be Michele Bachmann or Rick Santorum or Rick Perry. What you heard last night from these candidates were direct appeals in terms of wrap around faith and family and values, but direct appeals to try and lock up that vote. As you just mentioned a few minutes ago, we're only six weeks away from the caucuses, Ted.

ROWLANDS: All right. Huntsman was on "Saturday Night Live." Mitt Romney was not at that Thanksgiving table type forum. A lot of people missing him. Why did he decide to go to New Hampshire instead?

TRAVIS: Yes, I mean, Mitt Romney has been staking a lot of his candidacy on the first of the nation primary, which is in New Hampshire, this is the first (INAUDIBLE) caucus. He was holding an event in New Hampshire at pretty much the same time that this event was going on here. Not really clear why he didn't come here. But he hasn't been spending a lot of time in Iowa, up against his other rivals anyway. But that is not making some of the organizers happy.

I spoke with Bob Vander Plaats, he is the CEO and organizer of last night's event. Take a listen at how he summed up Romney's absence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB VANDER PLAATS, PRES., THE FAMILY LEADER: Romney was the only one who stiffed us. And I think that's gone with his persona in how he's treating Iowa, which happens to be a swing state. He wants to win the presidency, which tells me he lacks judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS: One last thing, Ted, Mitt Romney, we just found out, opened his first Iowa campaign headquarters here in the state. He opened it very quietly last week to little fanfare. Ted?

ROWLANDS: All right. Shannon Travis for us on the ground in Iowa. Thanks, Shannon.

It seems every week or two there's a new front runner in the race for the Republican nomination. This year, CNN opinion research polls show just how fluid and unsettled this race has been.

CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein is with us now from Washington. He is also the editorial director of "The National Journal." Ron, you wrote a great piece tracking the polls over the year. And the rotating other than Romney front-runner. What do you make of what you've seen so far and what do you expect to happen as we move closer and closer to Iowa?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, the race actually has a pattern in its unsettledness if that is not a contradiction in terms. What you've got is basically two wings of the republican party. Roughly half the party does not identify with the Tea Party. Is more moderate, somewhat more pragmatic, more secular. The other half of the party, more ideological, higher percentage of those evangelical Christians of the sort who gathered in Iowa yesterday and they're moving down different tracks as you look at the table.

Among those who don't identify with the Tea Party, Mitt Romney has now moved out to a lead. He's been ahead in the last three surveys. Among those who do identify with the Tea Party, it is really kind of revolving door or some people described it as a whackamole. You know, earlier in the year, there was interest in Huckabee and Donald Trump. Michele Bachmann had a moment in the sun, but more recently, Rick Perry rose and fall quickly. Herman Cain rose and fell quickly and now that vote settled on Newt Gingrich. Not clear he can hold it any longer than the others did either, because he has some views in his long political career that goes all the way back to the 1970s and that is going to be difficult for some of the voters to swallow.

ROWLANDS: So do you think, depending on Newt's ability to keep his numbers, that will Huntsman and/or Santorum get a turn at this, do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, Huntsman if he rises will be on the Romney side of the party. His appeal is more to those managerial Republican voters who tend to be less ideological, more focused on finding an economic manager than finding someone to really come in and turn over Washington. Santorum is really someone who is out there on the other side. I don't know if he - he has been somewhat surprising that he hasn't been able to rise a little more with those voters.

You know, if you ask the questions of why Mitt Romney wasn't there in Iowa, it's because that side of the party has shown it is very resistant to him. In your polling all year, except for one survey which may be an anomaly, he hasn't gone above 18 percent, among that side of the party, the Tea Party supporters. Last year in Iowa, evangelical Christians were 16 percent of the total vote. Mitt Romney only got about 20 percent. They're resistant to him now. His path to victory is more consolidating his half of the party. And hoping that this other side that really is resistant to him fragments and doesn't unify behind one candidate. And so far that's what is happening.

You know, look at Iowa, look at that polling that came out in Iowa last week with four different candidates around 20 percent. The risk for Iowa conservatives is that they don't unify behind one candidate. Mitt Romney might be able to sneak through with a very low overall number and if he does, it can be very tough for anybody else to get back in the game against him.

ROWLANDS: All right. Don't go anywhere, Ron. We'll check in with you throughout the hour. This Tuesday night on CNN, the Republicans running for president will gather just steps away from the White House. It is the presidential debate on national security and the economy. Co-sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. You can watch it right here on CNN, 8:00 Eastern time on Tuesday.

Well, they're on their campaign trail every day, talking, shaking hands and getting very little sleep. So why are eyebrows raised every time a politician gets emotional? We'll have that coming up after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: Welcome back to this special hour of "CNN Newsroom." We're taking this time out every Sunday to hear, let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders uninterrupted, out on the campaign trail. There were some emotional moments during last night's Thanksgiving family forum in Des Moines, Iowa. Six of the Republican candidates were there to talk about faith and their values with the conservative crowd.

Herman Cain got choked up when he was very emotional about talking about the moment that he and his wife found out five years ago that he had stage four colon cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAIN: I will never forget - walking out of -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will come back to you. I want to hear this story.

CAIN: Let me try. Walking out of that surgeon's office, after he had just told us, stage four -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take your time.

CAIN: I said I wasn't going to do this. It's as bad as it gets. I will never forget before my wife and I were about to get in the car, I said, "I can do this. She said, we can do this."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Rick Santorum also stirred the crowd when he described how his youngest daughter struggled for life after she was born with a genetic disorder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANTORUM: I decided that the best thing I could do was to treat her differently, to not love her like I did, because it wouldn't hurt as much if I lost her. I remember holding that finger and looking at her and realizing what I had done. I had been exactly what I had said that I had fought against at the partial-birth abortion. I had seen her as less of a person because of her disability. And I prayed that moment, please, please let her live. I promise I'll do everything to commit to her and not just her, but to every child like her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Now, looking back four years ago, remember when then democratic candidate Hillary Clinton showed how stressful a presidential campaign can be? She was in a coffee shop just before the New Hampshire primary when she talked about how the campaign had affected her. Here's what she said at the time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, I have so many opportunities from this country. I just don't want to see us fall backwards. So - you know, this is very personal for me. It is not just political. It is not just public. I see what's happening. And we have to reverse it. And some people think elections are a game. They think it is like who's up or who's down. It is about our country. It is about our kids' futures. It is really about all of us together. Some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein is here with us again from Washington. He is also the director of the "National Journal."

Ron, we just heard Herman Cain and Rick Santorum choking up, getting emotional. It was a defining moment for Hillary four years ago as well. Do men and women candidates get treated differently when they open up and show that they're human beings and they show emotion?

BROWNSTEIN: I think so, Ted. First of all, we have come a very long way since 1972 when Edmund Muskie, the democratic front-runner in that race, had his candidacy crumble after he appeared to cry while defending his wife in New Hampshire from some accusations. Now I think it is such more acceptable for men to show emotion. It seems to open up a kind of a view of them as being sensitive.

Traditionally we thought, I think most people in the political world, most politicians believe it is tougher for women to show emotion because they can seem weak. Hillary Clinton was a big exception to that in 2008 because in some ways it humanized her in the same way that it did some of the male candidates that we have seen because she had been so tough, so strong, this was a moment in which she seemed to become much more human for voters and following that Saturday night debate when Barack Obama made probably his biggest gaffe of the debate and said Hillary was likable enough, it helped her come back and win New Hampshire when he appeared to have it and the race possibly sewed up that early in 2008.

ROWLANDS: Yes, do you think it is going to help either one of these two, Cain or Santorum or not get the play, but, you know -

BROWNSTEIN: I don't think - I don't think it is as big a moment as it was for Hillary Clinton. Because it was so out of type for her and I think it really did kind of make her a much less distant figure for many voters. I think watching Santorum and Cain is really, to me, more interesting to see how politics itself has changed and that it really is acceptable for candidates to show that kind of emotions. I think still tougher for women. I think women candidates worry more about showing emotion than male candidates do because they worry some voters will view them as not strong. Whereas male candidates kind of get it easier a ride and see this kind of sensitive, the strength is almost assumed by gender.

ROWLANDS: All right. Ron, we'll have more from you later in the hour.

Will tensions and emotions run high as the Republican contenders discuss the economy and national security? Tune in Tuesday night for the CNN debate co-sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. Watch it here, 8:00 Eastern on Tuesday.

The foreign policy stumble of the week, Herman Cain and Libya when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: We continue to delve into the issues on the presidential campaign every Sunday. We're spending this hour of the "CNN Newsroom" to allow you to hear from the contenders as they spell out their future for the United States.

Well, Herman Cain started this week off with a huge stumble or pause. Here is the exchange. I know you've seen it a thousand times now, but this is the entire exchange between the candidate and the editors of "The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel" newspaper. The panel had just asked Cain about Libya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you agree with President Obama on Libya or not?

CAIN: OK, Libya. President Obama supported the uprising, correct? President Obama called for the removal of Gadhafi. Just want to make sure we're talking about the same thing before I say yes I agree or no, I didn't agree. I do not agree with the way he handled it for the following reason. No, that's a different one. I got to go back and see. I got all this stuff twirling around in my head. Specifically what are you asking me did I agree or not agree with President Obama?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was asking if you agree with the Bush foreign policy, I was taking a specific example from the Obama administration that was controversial within his own administration on what he should have done or not done. I was wondering if you agreed with what he did or would you have responded differently. It is an issue that has come up since you started running for office and I was wondering how (INAUDIBLE) -

CAIN: Here's what I would have - I would have done a better job of determining who the opposition is. And I'm sure that our intelligence people had that - had some of that information. Based upon who made up that opposition, okay, based upon who made up that opposition, might have caused me to make some different decisions about how we participated. Secondly, no, I did not agree with Gadhafi killing its citizens, absolutely not. So something would have had to have been - I would have supported many of the things that they did in order to help stop that.

It is not a simple yes or no because there are different pieces and I would have gone about assessing the situation differently, which might have caused us to end up with the same place. But what I think more could have been done was what is the nature of the opposition?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And then at an event the next day, Cain defended that answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAIN: Libya comment was a pause to gather my thoughts. I'm not going to back down from that. People want to make a big deal out of it. Remember, if you're being asked seven or eight different questions on seven or eight different topics and then somebody switches to Libya and they're not clear with the question, before I shoot from the lip, I gather my thoughts. That's all that was. But whatever people want to think of it, I can't change that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Well, Democrats are lining up with the president's talking points for 2012. Obama's former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was on the stage in Iowa last night. Why the dems are seeing blue skies next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: Welcome back to this special hour of "CNN Newsroom." We're focusing on politics, allowing you to hear from the 2012 presidential contenders unedited and uninterrupted.

We're hearing what President Obama's likely talking points will be in the campaign year ahead. And they're coming from his former chief of staff, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, speaking last night in Des Moines, Iowa, Emanuel defended President Obama's handling of the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO: The president did not make choices based on politics. He made them because of principles. He did not make choices for the next election, but for the next generation. Trust me, I know this firsthand. He didn't make decisions based on whether they were quick or politically convenient, because I was the one giving the advice to go with the quick and the politically convenient, and I didn't win any of those fights.

President Obama never tailored what he believed in to the moment. I want you to compare that for a second to Mitt Romney. Who was once pro choice, now he's not. Who was pro gay rights, now he's not. He supported gun control, now he doesn't. He supported efforts to deal with greenhouse gases and climate change, now he doesn't. He supported immigration reform, now he doesn't. He supported national health care reform with a mandate, now he doesn't. Mitt Romney says he's a man of steadiness and consistency. And if that's true, then I'm a linebacker for the Chicago Bears.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROWLANDS: Let's bring back senior political analyst Ron Brownstein in Washington. He is also the editor director of "The National Journal." First, Ron, what do you make of the comments from Rahm Emanuel last night?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think if you want a preview of what next year is going to sound and look like should Mitt Romney win the Republican nomination, that was the most revealing thing that happened this week. Because in Rahm Emanuel's speech is the core, I think, of one of the arguments Democrats want to make against Romney, should he win. And it should be familiar to people because in many ways it is an echo of the case that George W. Bush made in 2004 against Democrat John Kerry.

In 2012, Democrats want to say, look, you may not agree with all the decisions President Obama made, but he stood in there on the battlefield and in crises time for the country and he made tough calls one after the other.

And stands by them where as his other guy, Mitt Romney, he's someone who puts a finger up to the wind and you can't trust him to really make the tough calls when times are tough. That's exactly the case that President Bush made against John Kerry, remember the famous windsurfer ad where they showed Kerry seemingly arguing he was flip- flopping back and forth on issues. I think it is a very similar case to one the Democrats are going to make against Mitt Romney if he wins the nomination in 2012.

ROWLANDS: OK, three surveys out this week showing President Obama, opening up substantial lead over Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in several of the so-called blue wall states. They voted Democrat in at least the past five presidential elections. What is your take on that and what does Romney have to do to change that?

BROWNSTEIN: Well I think it is a reminder of how deeply cut the lines are in American politics these days. The blue wall, which we coined in "National Journal" in 2009 are 18 states that voted Democratic and at least the past five presidential elections. The most states they have won that often since Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. What happened this week were the polls came out in California and New York and New Jersey showing Obama with a solid lead in New Jersey and really wide leads in California and New York. These are very Democratic states.

It is not surprising in one sense that he's ahead in them, but it is a reminder that even though his national approval rating is pretty weak and gives Republicans a lot of hope that the electoral map may not be as big -- there may not be as many opportunities out there for Republicans as they hope. It is also probably a sign that as this race goes on, this primary race and Republicans get more identified with some of the conservative causes, some of those more blue states drift out of reach.

Now, there are plenty of states out there that allow Republicans to get to 270 and there are probably 12 states that will decide this election, six in the rust belt, six in the sun belt, but the polls this week I think are reassuring to Democrats that at the core of this blue wall, some of those bricks are beginning to firm up.

ROWLANDS: All right, thank you, Ron.

Mitt Romney is the man the Obama administration is targeting and he is firing right back. His plan to create jobs and get Americans growing coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON SEDAKIS: Hi there, America. You know me. I'm Mitt Romney. Candidate for president and the current leader in the polls for the Republican nomination. But you don't hear much about me in the news because the other candidates like Herman Cain and Rick Perry are hogging all the headlines with sex scandals and whoops a daisy. That's why my staff and I decided that I was too boring and therefore I should become 15 to 17 percent more edgy.

Tonight, Mitt Romney is going to really let loose. Get ready for Mitt Romney, raw and unleashed. Now, Rick Perry and Herman Cain are also getting attention for flubbing some straightforward policy questions. So I planned my own embarrassing mistake. Here it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Governor Romney, what would be your first act as president?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if elected president, my first act would be to repeal Obama hair. Oops. I mean Obama care. What an endearing flub.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: That was Jason Sedakis playing Mitt Romney obviously on NBC's "Saturday Night Live." While the real Mitt Romney is in New Hampshire this weekend, in Peterborough yesterday and he talked about job creation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I intend to make America the job creating machine it has always been and make sure it is good being middle class America again. I believe middle income America should have the highest standard of living in the world. How am I going to do that?

There are two things; I'm going to focus on the one up there, spending. But there is two. One I want to make America once again the most attractive place in the world, inventors, entrepreneurs, small business, big business, so they begin to grow and hire people. Growth is an extraordinary lubricant, encouragement to growth of families and individuals and good jobs and higher incomes. I'm going to go to work to make America the best place again for enterprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Well today, Romney remains in Nashua, New Hampshire. So is political producer Rachael Streitfeld. She is also in New Hampshire and Rachael I understand Romney won a huge endorsement today.

RACHAEL STREITFELD, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: He did, this was a big move for Mitt Romney. He was endorsed today by New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayott. Ayott is a freshman senator; she's very popular in the state. This decision has been closely watched here. She's known as a fiscal conservative. She actually voted against that debt ceiling deal made by Congress.

And in her speech today, she said that Mitt Romney gave the GOP the best chance at beating Barack Obama next fall. So, again, we're hearing that elect ability argument from Romney supporters, looking forward to the general election.

ROWLANDS: Of course, Mitt Romney chose to be in New Hampshire rather than Iowa yesterday. He's the only candidate in New Hampshire today. What about the other candidates? Are they on their way?

STREITFELD: Sure. The primary is less than two months out. So we're expecting a lot of action. Newt Gingrich will be here tomorrow. He's been hiring up a lot of campaign staff and opened a headquarters here last week. Texas Congressman Ron Paul will be here. And then later in the week, former Senator Rick Santorum will be in town, just like he did in Iowa, he's planning to visit all of the counties in the state.

However, in Iowa, there were 99. Here in New Hampshire, only ten. So it is doable, I think. And then I don't want to leave out President Barack Obama will be here on Tuesday. The White House says he's not talking about -- is not a campaign stop, but he'll be stumping, talking about his jobs plan here in Manchester on Tuesday, so a busy week.

ROWLANDS: All right. I'm sure you too will be there and not only for this week, but for the long haul. Rachael, thanks, appreciate it.

Well, Governor Romney and former Governor Romney and other Republican contenders will gather just steps away from the White House this Tuesday night. It is the presidential debate on national security and the economy. Co-sponsored by the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. You can watch it right here on CNN 8:00 Eastern on Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: We have heard a lot on the presidential campaign trail this week about the super committee that is the congressional panel that is suppose to work out a deficit deal this week. But Democrats and Republicans are deadlocked over the issue of tax increases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PATTY MURRAY: If a family's in trouble and somebody is seriously injured or sick and the family has to come around the table and say how are we going to deal with this, everybody says what can I do? They don't say well we're going to let our older brother off who has done really well, he's not going to contribute, the rest of us who are working really hard and had a tougher time, we're going to contribute. Our country gets that philosophy. That big brother has to be at the table too. That's what's missing today. That's what America wants.

REP. JEB HENSARLING, (R) SUPER COMMITTEE CO-CHAIR: What I want to do is I'm not trying to tax the wealthy into oblivion. I would like to take away the bailouts. I'd like to take away the subsidies. I'd like to take away the special interest deductions, but most importantly I want to create jobs for the American people. I don't understand the economics that says that if I raise taxes on my employer or my boss that they're going to go out and hire my unemployed brother-in-law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: Well just so, how bad are things going with these super committees? So bad, aides say committee members are no longer focusing on making a deal, they're focused on how to announce their failure to make a deal. Let's bring back senior CNN's political analyst Ron Brownstein. Ron does this surprise you that they didn't come up with anything?

BROWNSTEIN: Unfortunately it doesn't. We talked a few minutes ago about how the Electoral College reflects how deep the divisions are in the country. This is a legislative equivalent. We have the level of party voting in Congress now, Republicans are voting with Republicans, Democrats with Democrats. Since reconstruction there is an enormous gulf between the parties. It is very difficult to overcome in the best of circumstances. And the election, the 2012 election really looms over this and makes it even tougher.

On the one hand, the Republicans look at the difficulties in the economy, they look at the difficulties for President Obama's approval rating and they say we have a reasonable shot in 2013 of having unified control of the House, the Senate and the White House and they think they can then impose their solution, which is mostly cuts, without having to compromise with Democrats and accept taxes.

On the other side, those congressional Democrats say we have republicans out on a limb, they voted earlier this year for a budget that would convert Medicare from its existing form into something like a voucher or premium support system and we don't want to let them off the hook by agreeing to a set of entitlement reforms.

So the immediate politics compounds the longer term polarization and leave us in a position where the country has made clear it wants the two sides to compromise and yet the centrifugal force of both parties makes it almost impossible for them to do so.

ROWLANDS: Don't Republicans, though, take a chance here, Ron, in that this is another colossal disappointment in their job performance and democrats. I think a lot of times Americans just say, oh, they're all horrible, both sides. But the longer this goes on, and the way you're articulating it, is though it may have even been calculated by one party, is it a risk that they may be held accountable at the polls and not see what they're hoping to transpire in 2012?

BROWNSTEIN: I think there are two separate gambles here. One as you point out, the approval rating for Congress in some polls is down 9 percent. When you think you can get more of that from just immediate friends and family. When it gets down that low, it is very unpredictable. We don't really have a president in American history for a true throw the buns out, elections in which a president one party and a congressional majority of the other were both unseated a t the same time. But you can't entirely rule out anything when you have the level of discontent that all our polls are showing us.

The other gamble here that I think Republicans are making is this assumption that even if they do have unified control of the House, the Senate and the White House, that they could pass an agenda on a party line basis that made fundamental changes in entitlement programs, like Social Security and Medicare, without any bipartisan cover.

You know in 1981, on Social Security, 1995 on Medicare, and 2005 on Social Security, Republicans tried exactly that and each case they failed and suffered at the polls in the next election. Even when President Obama expanded entitlement on a party line basis in 2009 without any bipartisan support with health care he suffered a backlash.

It is more difficult to change these programs by one party alone, and I think many are calculating. I think Republicans are undervaluing how valuable it would be to them to have a Democratic president signing off on big changes in entitlements and providing a heat shield from the evitable backlash from some voters.

ROWLANDS: Thirty seconds left Ron. Does President Obama take a hit because of this, it is under his watch, wasn't his -- he wasn't intimately part of it, but does he take a hit because of this?

BROWNSTEIN: My guess is yes. I mean not probably as bad as the debt ceiling, which was a shattering event in undermining public confidence in both the president and the congress. He's kept his distance from this so he may not be as directly implicated. But I got to think if this fails the American public will have the reaction that you said that all the leadership class in Washington, for that matter the entire public and private leadership class is failing them at a moment of probably the greatest economic distress since the great depression. I think that is an indictment that no leader in Washington is going to completely escape.

ROWLANDS: All right, Ron Brownstein, thanks for joining us for the hour as always.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

ROWLANDS: Very insightful. Appreciate it.

Just ahead, Republican Rick Santorum unveils his economic plan, made in America. You'll hear it uninterrupted. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROWLANDS: Welcome back to this special hour of CNN NEWSROOM. We're taking this time out every Sunday to let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders uninterrupted out on the campaign trail. Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum is out with his economic plan. He calls it the plan made in America or the made in America plan. And he says it would revitalize the economy, one of its key components, a simpler tax code.

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RICK SANTORUM, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's just be simple; let's just be straightforward about it. Create a two rate tax system, get rid of all of the complexity of the coding, and go back to five deductions. The five for personal taxes are charities, children, pensions, health care and housing. Leave those five in place. Simplify the -- get rid of the rest of the code and that includes, by the way, the deduction for state and local taxes. And I know that's not -- that's not among the most popular things to get rid of, but it is a huge subsidy of high tax states.

You have lower tax states subsidizing higher tax states with federal dollars. I don't think we should encourage that at the federal level, we shouldn't encourage states who put an extra tax burden on their people. That's one reason I don't have that deduction, but we can go through and talk about the others. But the area of simplicity is importance. That's one. I think it will lower taxes and create simplicity and be a very powerful economic engine in total to get this economy -- this economy going.

The other thing I've done, though, is I've focused on a sector of the economy which I think is important for a variety of reasons. It is important for people who are frankly being left behind by the economy of today. And that is blue collar workers. We have seen in this country manufacturing employment go from 21 percent of the workforce to 9 percent of the workforce. Twenty one percent when I was a kid, it is now 9.

We have also seen something that is very troubling and that is income mobility. Here they occupy Wall Street folks talk about income inequality. There is income equality, there has always been income equality, and there have been people who make more and people who make less. So the issue is not income inequality, Americans that's never the issue. The issue in America is the word that we all find central to what we believe America is about. And that word is everybody thinks freedom, yes, what is the other word that usually comes with freedom? Opportunity. Right.

That's where income mobility comes into play. In other words, can people rise up the ladder? And what we're finding is there have been several studies shown that Europe actually does a better job, most European countries do a better job than America in people rising up and being able to come up through income. That, I would think, would disturb all of us.

As a conservative Republican, I know the general consensus is I'll just cut rates, simplify things, lower government, everything will be fine. Well that's not necessarily the case. And so one of the things that I thought we needed to do was focus in on how we can create that income mobility. Of course, it comes back to what I just mentioned before, which is manufacturing jobs. The average manufacturing job in America pays $20,000 more than the rest of the jobs -- than other jobs in the country. And so the ability for lower skilled workers to be able to get higher quality jobs and rise with attainment of more skills has been limited as the number of manufacturing jobs has decreased.

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ROWLANDS: Tuesday night on CNN, the Republicans running for president will gather just steps away from the White House. It is the presidential debate on national security and the economy. Co-sponsored by The Heritage Foundation and The America Enterprise Institute. Watch it 8:00, Eastern, Tuesday night on CNN.

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ROWLANDS: Every week there are ups and downs for the 2012 presidential candidates. Chief political correspondent Candy Crowley has this week's trail mix.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ted. From the Department of Brain Freezes, Herman Cain's response to a question on Libya during an interview with the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

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HERMAN CAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: OK, Libya.

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CROWLEY: It is up to you to decide whether it is a coincidence that Cain first demanded no TV coverage and then canceled his next editorial board meeting with a New Hampshire paper. Cain says the paper canceled on him, whatever, it didn't happen.

It may all be adding up to a minus for Cain whose numbers are down, making room for the next not Romney candidate, Newt Gingrich has moved from barely noticed most of the year to top tier in November. With the numbers come the colleague lights and new look at Newt's old baggage along with the new. The list is long enough to require a 16 chapter website response from Gingrich including a description of the state of his third marriage, very strong, he says. Gingrich's post Capitol Hill baggage includes a lucrative consulting job with Freddie Mac, his tie to the health care industry, and an ad he cut a few years back.

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NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We do agree our country must take action to address climate change.

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CROWLEY: Gingrich now calls that ad probably the dumbest single thing I've ever done. Can we all at least agree it is the weirdest? FYI, amid Iowa polls showing he has a shot there, Mitt Romney has quietly opened his first campaign headquarters in Des Moines. If he can pull off an Iowa surprise and a New Hampshire landslide, it would pretty much bury all but the hardiest of not Romney's.

And looking into this week, Ted, while Republicans hold a national security debate in Washington, D.C., Tuesday President Obama will be campaigning in New Hampshire. In the TV business, we call that counter programming.

Ted.

ROWLANDS: Thanks, Candy. As Candy just mentioned, the Republican contenders will take part in a debate on Tuesday sponsored by CNN, The Heritage Foundation and The American Enterprise Institute.

Here is what else -- where else they'll be campaigning this week. Mitt Romney remains in New Hampshire. Newt Gingrich will hold events there on Monday. On Tuesday, Rick Santorum will be in Iowa. Several candidates are taking time off for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Thanks for tuning into this special hour on politics. Join us every Sunday, 4:00 Eastern. Now stay right here for the latest news here in the CNN NEWSROOM.