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Gingrich And Romney In Dead Heat In Florida; Brewer Calls Obama "Thin Skinned"; Freed American Now At U.S. Base; Looking For Latino Votes; Disaster Training At U.S. Ports; Connecticut Mayor Sorry For "Tacos" Remark; Power Hub of Political Fund-Raising; Sajak's Shocking Admission; Big Hits, Broken Dreams; Mitt Romney Campaigns in Jacksonville, Florida

Aired January 26, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It is the top of the hour now. And thanks for staying with us.

Five days until Florida's Republican presidential primary, just hours from the CNN debate, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are locked in a dead heat in the polls and this debate could be a game-changer.

The votes of these candidates want right now - Latinos, and the ads prove it. Joe Johns is live in Mount Dora. Joe, Gingrich already taking heat for airing the Spanish language ad that Romney is calling the most anti-immigration candidate.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Immigration such a big deal here in Florida, particularly in South Florida. Interesting though, Romney seems to be doing better right now with a lot of Latinos.

Nonetheless, I have to mention this event here in Mount Dora, Florida, here just wrapping up, Newt Gingrich taking a completely different tack this morning, reaching out to the Tea Party crowd, the lower taxes, less government crowd.

Also, really going after Mitt Romney for his connections to big corporations, big lobbying, Wall Street and the Republican establishment. Listen to this sound bite from a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The message we should give Mitt Romney is, you know, we aren't that stupid and you aren't that clever. So he has lobbyists coming out to attack me and the press takes them seriously.

Why do you think this person is saying this, because they're against changing Washington because they don't want a real reformer? They want somebody who will preside over the decay as long as they get to make money out of the decay, but real change, really tearing the old order apart. Boy, that's scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JOHNS: So if that is not a precursor to what could come in tonight's CNN debate in Jacksonville, I don't know what is. Gingrich headed out to Jacksonville after this event in Mount Dora. Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Joe, thanks so much.

Peter Hamby is live for us in Jacksonville. You know, the candidates are facing off tonight for that debate right here on CNN. And Peter, this debate could be a real changer or a real change in the race.

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, it really could. The reason for that, Kyra, is that the voters in this election cycle, Republican voters have been so fickle. We have seen some wild swings in the polling just day to day.

Remember, a little over a week ago, Mitt Romney was in a tight race with Gingrich, but was still thought to be the comfortable favorite to win South Carolina and in the matter of 48 hours that turned into a blow win for Gingrich.

Our CNN poll with "Time" magazine and ORC that came out yesterday showed Gingrich getting a big bounce out of South Carolina on that Sunday after South Carolina leading Romney in Florida by six points.

And then the next two days, the momentum swung back to Romney here in Florida and Romney had an eight-point lead over the last couple of days of that poll that came out yesterday. So it will be really interesting tonight.

Debates, again, have the capacity to impact what voters are seeing in the state like Florida, where you don't have that real retail politics, that part of the campaign is over.

This is all about TV airwaves and voters are going to get their main impression of the candidates tonight here in Jacksonville -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Peter, there's been so much talk about Gingrich and Romney. So what are Ron Paul and Rick Santorum doing to get their messages out?

HAMBY: That's a real good question. First of all, both of those campaigns have less money than Gingrich and Romney. Romney, by far, has the most money, Gingrich doesn't have a lot of money, but he does have a lot of "Super PAC." Spending a lot money in support of him at this point.

Santorum and Paul have basically said they don't expect to win here. Ron Paul has all, but avoided the state. He's focusing on western caucus states where it's easier to organize the motivated supporters. This is a winner take all state.

So someone like Rick Santorum who doesn't have a chance to pick up any delegate in what could be a delegate fight, he's basically soft pedalled his expectations here.

He's leaving the state to go back home to do some fundraising. He won't commit to saying he'll be here on primary night. So we can safely say the battle for Florida is between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

It doesn't mean the entire race is, but here in Florida, where those delegates are at stake and it's a close race, Kyra. It's between those two guys at the top of the polls.

PHILLIPS: I'll say what, Peter, you know, you're the ones who broke the news that Huntsman was out then you break the news that Rick Perry was out. Do you have something up your sleeve for next week, any inside scoop?

HAMBY: Not yet. I can't reveal that yet, Kyra. I'm sorry about that. I'm just kidding. I don't have anything for you right now.

PHILLIPS: But I know you're working it. Peter, thanks.

Don't forget, just days before the Florida primary, CNN and the Republican Party of Florida teaming up to host our next presidential debate right there in Jacksonville. It's on CNN tonight, 8:00 Eastern.

Lawmakers greeting President Obama at the foot of Air Force one, well, typically they play nice, right? They shake hands and hug, you know, the drill.

But this wasn't your typical meeting. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer says she got an earful from President Obama when he landed near Phoenix yesterday, apparently, not a fan of her book.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: Bottom line is that I wanted to be there to welcome him, to come and see firsthand what Arizona has done in regards to our economic recovery. He wanted to talk about the book and I thought that he was pretty thin-skinned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian live at the White House. Dan, what's the White House saying about all this?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're saying that she gave the president a letter inviting the president to meet with her again, and the president said he very much would like to do that.

But then that's when things got a little testy when the conversation turned to that book that you talked about, it's a book she wrote last year. It's called "Scorpions for Breakfast."

And in the book, she has part where she describes a meeting that she had here at the White House in 2010 with the president where she says, quote, "We sat down and started with some chitchat, but after a few minutes the president's tone got serious and condescending."

"He proceeded to lecture me about everything he was going to do, promote comprehensive immigration reform, which was code for encouraging more illegal immigration by letting those in the country illegally jumped the line."

What's interesting though is we went back and took a looked at a tape after the meeting. She came out to a stakeout and spoke with the reports. She called the meeting cordial. Then shortly after that John King did a one-on-one interview with her and here's what she had to say about the meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREWER: I feel as I left today that I was further ahead before I met with him because I have no answers. He's told me that I would have information within two weeks that he would be sending out staff to Arizona to give me the details. So with that, I feel it was a successful meeting and I'm encouraged by that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: So she thought it was successful, but obviously the book said otherwise. The White House in a statement describing this conversation with her, the president told her, quote, "After the meeting it was a cordial discussion in the oval office."

The governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The president looks forward to continuing taking steps to help Arizona's economy grow. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian at the White House. Dan, thanks.

Well, this morning new developments in that daring rescue by U.S. Navy SEALs in Somalia. Just a couple of hours ago, American Jessica Buchanan arrived at a U.S. military base in Sicily along with her fellow aid worker from Denmark.

Foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, joining us from the State Department. So Jill, what happens now to these former hostages?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, number one, they get checked, Kyra, physically. Of course, you know, there was concern about Jessica's health and they will be checked out physically, psychologically.

They'll get good food and in general, be looked over and then we're also expecting that the father of Jessica Buchanan will be meeting with her and that will be obviously a very relieved and happy reunion. And Kyra, you know, some of the other things I have been trying to figure out and get some figures on, how many Americans are in Somalia and if you're interested, it is very difficult to pin that down.

One of the problems is exactly what these two hostages encountered. As you know, it's very dangerous and the numbers are incredibly small. In fact, when I contacted the State Department, they said they could not give a precise figure because the U.S. government, the State Department doesn't require Americans to register when you go to another country.

So of course, in countries like that they're encouraged to, to make sure that's some knowledge of where they are, but they don't have to. So the State Department can't say precisely. Aid organizations that I have talked to said there are very small numbers, sometimes as few in the dangerous areas as like 20, 25 people.

And one of the other problems is if they come from the outside, let's say they're from the United States and they're not African- American, they would be very obvious in that area and could be the target for kidnapping or something else. So that's one of the problems, complications of this very dangerous work.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Jill, thanks.

Four cops accused of abusing Latinos, their mayor later jokes about tacos. The remarks, yes, went viral. And it brought more attention to the town's problem. We'll have more on that coming up.

Also, we go beneath the surface off that cruise line disaster, off the coast of Italy. Live picture now from the port of Long Beach, California. We're going to show you how American divers train to save lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The race is so tight. One key to winning Florida may be its half million Republican Latino voters and the candidates are fighting hard to get those votes. In ads the Romney camp knocks Gingrich for calling Spanish the language of the ghetto.

And the Gingrich team actually pulled an ad that called Romney anti-immigrant. Roberto is a CNN contributor joins me now. So, Roberto, a new poll actually shows that Romney has a double digit lead with Latino Republicans in Florida.

But how are these heated words, shall we say, this rhetoric, going over with the community?

ROBERTO IZURIETA, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR: Well, yes, it will affect him because what we have seen in the polls, not only the Hispanic vote, but in general any vote, any voter right now, they're changing opinions every day. So when you have that kind of situation, you have to be very careful in your words and not offend any of the voters that you'll try to reach.

PHILLIPS: Are these voters truly of fended by this language? Is that what you're hearing?

IZURIETA: Yes. In general, the rhetoric that we hear in the Republican primary it is affecting the Hispanic vote in general. In particular also in Florida because just the fact that calling them illegal immigrants for example, in the debates, the Democrats on the other hand they call them undocumented immigrants.

When you say illegal immigrants you're referring to the person, the person is illegal so it's kind of offensive. Also, for -- remember the primaries, the primary debate, Michele Bachmann saying we need to build not only one wall, but two walls, and it's unrealistic and offensive.

So, yes, from the Bush campaign, where, you know, George Bush he got one of the biggest Hispanic vote not only in Florida, but everywhere, which was a very friendly rhetoric, and welcoming.

And Jeb Bush, his brother, was the governor, they were related to Hispanic. Some members of the families speak perfect Spanish. All that helped.

But here in the primary Republicans -- the primary, the Republican Party, this election, the last election, it's a rhetoric that's offending them.

PHILLIPS: So Roberto, let's talk about Florida and the Cubans. Gingrich and Romney both talking about Fidel Castro. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I'm fortunate enough to become the next president of the United States, it is my expectation that Fidel Castro will finally be taken off this planet.

GINGRICH: I don't think it's ever occurred to a single person in the White House to look south and propose a Cuban spring. I would argue if Mubarak was bad, Castro's worse. If Assad's bad, Castro's worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, Roberto, there are a lot of Cuban-Americans obviously in Florida, but the Latino community is much more diverse. Does it help or hurt to focus on Castro?

IZURIETA: Let's go to the rhetoric part first. You hear both the speeches clearly Gingrich's speech is more positive and welcoming. That's kind of the rhetoric that the Hispanics are looking for, not only the issues. And about the question that you just asked, yes, the graphic, the Hispanic vote in Florida is very different than the rest of the United States.

The rest of the United States is mostly immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Florida are Cubans. Then in the Cuban demography, you have two. The older Cubans are more interested to hear a clear message against Fidel Castro.

But the younger ones, they're interested in the same issues that any other American is interested in. There's a big difference there too.

PHILLIPS: Roberto Izurieta, CNN in Espanol, thanks so much.

IZURIETA: Thanks to you.

PHILLIPS: And don't forget tonight, CNN and the Republican Party of Florida teaming up to host our next presidential debate in Jacksonville at CNN tonight, 8:00 Eastern.

Let's go cross country. In Pennsylvania, public tribute to legendary Penn State Coach Joe Paterno. Thousands of people attending an on-campus memorial today. Paterno was buried yesterday at a private funeral. He died Sunday from lung cancer. Paterno was 85 years old.

Mississippi cops have no idea where this convicted murderer is. More than two weeks after he was pardoned by then-Governor Haley Barbour. Joseph Osmond didn't show up for a court hearing on Monday challenging his pardon. A reward is being offered for any information on his location.

And it's clean up time in parts of Texas after a hammering of severe storms, up to seven inches of rain, flooding a lot of roads and a suspected tornado hit Austin, Texas, damaging several homes and buildings and uprooting trees there.

Coming up, ripples from the cruise ship disaster in Italy. We're going to take you under water to show you how one American port trains to save lives. Casey Wian joining us right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Taking top stories now, an American aid worker rescued from kidnappers in Somalia arrived just a couple of hours ago at a U.S. military base in Sicily.

Jessica Buchanan and a Danish aid worker were rescued during a raid Tuesday night. Buchanan's father says that he hopes to reunite with his daughter today.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $750,000 to the Global Fund to fight aids, tuberculosis and malaria. The Microsoft cofounder made the announcement at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. He hopes that money will change the fortunes of the poorest countries in the world.

Take a look at this. The earth like you had never seen it before. This high-definition photo just released by NASA was taken aboard a new generation of satellites launched to observe our planet.

OK, take a deep breath. We are going under water. This is the search effort aboard the "Costa Concordia," the cruise liner that capsized off Italy.

So how do U.S. ports train for similar disasters? CNN's Casey Wian is about to show us. He's actually at a port there in Long Beach. And Casey, you're actually with rescue divers that are in training right now.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Kyra. We are at the port of Long Beach where we have asked what would happen if a disaster like the "Costa Concordia" happened here?

Well, the first thing that would happen is the U.S. Coast Guard would take control and they would bring in at least a dozen other agencies to respond. Here at the port of Long Beach, you have cargo container ships.

You have cruise vessels. You have smaller boats. You have military vessels so they have to be prepared for everything. Now we're with a group today the Long Beach Harbor Patrol. They're showing us how they train with their underwater dive teams to deal with one of these disasters under water.

So we're going to walk inside. We've got video that we can show you of how these dive teams actually work under water. They are actually using sort of a welding torch to cut into a piece of metal and this would be done if a ship was submerged, if the ship was run aground.

They might use this type of a technique to salvage a ship. They might use it to try to get a ship upright. They also might use it to cut through a ship to rescue people.

Now, this is the only port that has a team like that can actually have these tethered dives. These divers can stay under water for hours and hours at a time.

Unlike scuba divers which have a maximum amount of time of 30 or 40 minutes under water. We can actually talk to divers to see what they're doing. Can I just reach in here? Divers, this is CNN. Can you hear us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WIAN: Can you explain what you're doing under water?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Explain what we're doing here underwater. Right now, we're setting up, using the torch and making a cut of a piece of 3/8 inch steel. The torch -- uses the electricity to strike an arc and oxygen to keep the burn going burning that at 10,000 degrees, which can cut through any material underwater.

WIAN: This is obviously something they could not do if there was actually a fuel spill. They have other ways to cut through metal in that event. But this is just one of the agencies that is trained to respond to these type of disasters and coming up in the next hour we're going to show you a little bit more.

PHILLIPS: Fantastic, great access and great insight. Casey, thank you so much.

As Casey mentioned next hour, you're going to climb aboard a Long Beach police boat. We're going to be right there as a helicopter drops two divers into the water for their disaster training that's in the CNN NEWSROOM next hour.

Also coming up, we toss to our "Political Buzz" panel and questions about Herman Cain right into the ring. The former GOP presidential frontrunner was here just a few minutes ago. We'll see what our panel thinks about what he had to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The FBI calls four cops bullies with badges and the feds arrested four East Haven, Connecticut, police officers and charged them with racial profiling including harassment of Latinos.

Then the mayor made a comment that caused outrage. Our reporter asked him about the lack of Latinos on the police force. Here was his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing for the Latino community today?

MAYOR JOSEPH MATURO, EAST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: I might have tacos when I go home. I'm not quite sure yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Jason Carroll talked to the mayor after that comment that went viral by the way. Jason, what's the latest?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can imagine the outcry after that comment went viral from critics accusing Mayor Joseph Maturo of all sorts of things.

So obviously I went to the mayor to ask him what was going on with what he said. First of all, he told me, Kyra, that the stress of the situation got the better of him.

He had planned to read me a statement, apologizing for what he had said and he did do that. But when pressed, he went on to explain what he meant by the comment that got him in so much trouble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: In hindsight --

MATURO: In hindsight, I meant I don't feel bad going into any community. I didn't feel persecuted by what happened in our town. So by going into another section, that's all it meant.

I could go into the different section of a community to have a bite to eat. I didn't feel as though I was being -- or our town was being discriminatory or that I was, that I wasn't afraid to talk to or be in the company of anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: A bit of a further explanation there. Will that further explanation be enough for the mayor's critics? Well, those who we speak to in East Haven's Latino community said it will take more than just talk to mend a lot of hurt feelings. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's racist to talk about what people eat or what they look like or what they do because it's not fair. It's not fair at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know how to say it English. But Spanish is -- I don't know how to say it English.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you felt offended?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Offended that's the word, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're tired of the harassment and but you know people following us and it's not right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Connecticut's Governor called the Mayor's comments insensitive, showing a lack of judgment. When I asked Mayor Maturo about that, he said look, whatever the Governor said is correct, the Governor is right. He said all I want to do at this point Kyra is try to heal the community -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll follow that for sure. Jason thanks.

Straight ahead, our "Political Buzz" panel joins us. Hear what they have to say about our interview with Herman Cain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Time for "Political Buzz". Your rapid- fire look at the best political topics of the day; three questions; 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today: Democratic strategist, Robert Zimmerman; Patricia Murphy, founder and editor of Citizen Jane Politics; and CNN contributor Will Cain.

First question guys, Herman Cain stopped by the studio last hour, talking about the state of the GOP race. I asked Mr. 9-9-9 who needs his support the most? Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Do you think there's a candidate that could benefit from your endorsement?

HERMAN CAIN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Absolutely.

PHILLIPS: Who?

H. CAIN: Both Romney could benefit from my endorsement and both Speaker Gingrich could benefit from my endorsement. But see, I'm about the solutions. Now they are coming around.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: All right. Cryptic answer. But who should Herman Cain throw his weight behind and why -- Robert?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, props to you, Kyra, because you really had a very revealing interview with Herman Cain and really pinned him down on some key issues.

But ultimately I think political pundits make a mistake of often confusing quotability with credibility. Or "Political Buzz" with political clout. Ultimately, Herman Cain's endorsement is irrelevant. Because his campaign wasn't about solutions it was about sound bites. So he didn't bring people together and he can't deliver them.

PHILLIPS: Will?

WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know what? I'm going to disagree with Robert here. I give Herman Cain credit for saying I'm about solutions and not about candidates. And one thing you can say about Herman Cain is he has been floating an idea; 9-9-9 is an idea. Now let me tell you something, I met Herman in South Carolina on the morning show here on CNN. I talked him, the first thing I told him was, Herman, 9-9-9 is a bad idea. And that's coming from a conservative perspective.

And he laughed and you know what he did in five minutes? Had me won over to think he's one of the most charming guys I've ever met. Herman Cain wants to be likable. He will not endorse anybody because that fractures his likability.

PHILLIPS: Patricia?

PATRICIA MURPHY, FOUNDER/EDITOR, CITIZEN JANE POLITICS: Yes. Boy, has Herman Cain turned into a politician. He wouldn't answer any of your questions and it was driving me crazy. And that's what people used to love about Herman Cain. He would say what was on his mind.

But I think it is -- maybe not a bad sign for first time maybe in his life he's also trying not to get into too much trouble.

So I think, yes, your interview to me said maybe this guy wants to take another run at something. He's really, really trying hard to stay out of trouble this time around.

PHILLIPS: All right, guys big debate tonight as you know. And it's Gingrich versus Romney at the top of the polls. When they get up there on stage, what's Gingrich's biggest weakness and Romney's biggest weakness? Will?

W. CAIN: Well, let's set the stage.

So Mitt Romney came out on Monday night in that debate swinging. Landed some punches and it reflected in the polls. He's doing pretty well. Simultaneously Newt Gingrich kind of sat on his hands and played the non aggressive role and it hurt him in the polls. So what I would suggest tonight is you might see two very aggressive men going at each other. What that means is, Romney's biggest weakness is he just has to stay consistent and somewhat aggressive and hold the line. Don't do this "will you release your taxes maybe" stuff. Just be firm. Gingrich has to be aggressive without coming off as mean. That's going to be their challenges.

PHILLIPS: Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, Gingrich's greatest weakness is that his campaign is focused on everything against everything that his career has been about. Gingrich has been a career politician, an inside influence peddler in Washington, certainly he's not exactly a champion of family values or ethics having been fined by his own colleagues. You know, his campaign is focused on trying to create a whole other image. That's his weakness.

Romney is almost genetically incapable of connecting with working people and how he explains the paying of that tax rates and his Swiss bank account and his Cayman Island bank account, those are his weakness too.

MURPHY: Yes, I agree with both of the men today to a certain extent. I think for Romney, his biggest weakness is going to be how is he going to finally -- finally connect to anybody sitting in the audience, anybody watching from their homes. It's very hard to connect to somebody who has a bank account in the Cayman Islands and a Swiss bank account. He released his details since the last debate. We haven't had him in a debate stage having to defend himself on that.

And for Newt Gingrich listen, he has been pitch perfect so far in these debates but there's a very fine line between angry and dangerous. Every Republican in the world is waiting for him to cross the line to dangerous. He needs to keep it -- keep it to himself tonight again.

PHILLIPS: All right guys, your "Buzzer Beater" 20 seconds each on this one. Newt Gingrich, talking private space exploration to a space-loving crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Permanent base on the moon. There is a campaign promise you haven't heard before. Will it work? Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: You know, it's important to put in perspective that Newt Gingrich's speaking in front of many employees and former employees for NASA on the space coast in Florida who have been laid off because of the shuttle cut backs. Ultimately Newt Gingrich even advocated of making the moon the 51st state. There was nothing more than -- he did. He did. It's nothing more than just partisan pandering and of course he said we should pay for it with prize -- he said we should pay for it with prize money. That tells you how thoughtful his idea is.

PHILLIPS: Will?

W. CAIN: Let me correct Robert on something from an answer ago. A moment ago he said that Newt Gingrich's biggest weakness is his prior policies and positions which don't match his current image, it's right but it's not a weakness. It's right, but it's not a weakness. Newt Gingrich's image is a man of big ideas and colonizing the moon fits right in. It's going to help him out.

PHILLIPS: Patricia?

MURPHY: Yes, fun fact. This is not just a Newt Gingrich idea, this is the working policy of the Bush administration. There was a plan for a moon base of sorts, but unless there is $500 billion also on the moon this is never going to happen. The country is broke. Putting a moon base up there is not going to happen until somebody finds a whole lot more money under a rock.

W. CAIN: Patricia is right. Read George Friedman, "The Next 100 Years". It's necessary on the moon, it's not sci-fi.

ZIMMERMAN: Will -- Will.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead Robert.

ZIMMERMAN: Let's not confuse big ideas with cartoons. Ok, that's the important distinction there.

MURPHY: But remember Will said Patricia's right.

W. CAIN: I'm just telling you what's working, man. I'm just telling you what's working.

PHILLIPS: To be continued. See, look -- look at all the talk this has created. All right, don't forget tonight the CNN and Republican Party of Florida teaming up to host the next presidential debate in Jacksonville, Florida, on CNN tonight, 8:00 Eastern.

Next up, "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak makes a shocking confession. What he said, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, this week we have been going in depth showing you the power and reach of political fund-raising and today an unlikely nerve center. A bland office building that's also a cornerstone of political causes. John Zarrella explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nancy Watkins, straightforward, no nonsense. NANCY WATKINS, CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT: We don't hide these committees with the UPS store addresses all over the place. You would not be here today if I didn't want you to know.

ZARRELLA: Here is a nondescript white building on a corner at 610 South Boulevard in Tampa; a hugely important piece of real estate. From here, at any given time, Nancy Watkins, certified public accountant and GOP campaign consultant is handling the financial affairs for 100 different political entities.

WATKINS: The outside, the file copy, right?

ZARRELLA: From individual candidates to political action committees, PACs and party committees, groups with names like the "Super PAC for America" and the "We Love USA" PAC. Bottom line -- her job is to make sure none of them run afoul.

WATKINS: My job will be to make sure you play within those foul lines.

ZARRELLA: Of the minefield of state and federal election laws.

WATKINS: Anything that needs reporting, registration, I do it. Every dollar that will go in and out for your activity will go through this office. Just so I can monitor and make sure you remain in compliance.

ZARRELLA: Her first major foray into the field of campaign finance was for then-Republican senate candidate Connie Mack a quarter century ago. She hasn't stopped since. She's got the mementoes to prove it. A photo with President Ronald Reagan.

WATKINS: Look how I stand away. Can you see the reverence that I hold that man in?

ZARRELLA (on camera): Oh, yes.

(voice-over): A menu card from a White House Valentine's Day dinner she and her husband attended. Of course, there's the Hanging Chad paper weight.

WATKINS: November 7, 2000. If you'll recall --

ZARRELLA (on camera): Hanging Chads everywhere.

WATKINS: Those are Chads; those are actual Chads.

ZARRELLA: No, they're not. Really.

WATKINS: Yes, they are from Florida Voting Cards.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Watkins is certainly self-assured. While undergoing cancer treatments 18 months ago, a bald Watkins posed with Florida's bald governor, Rick Scott. This year, she was Michele Bachmann's campaign treasurer. WATKINS: My goal is when they put their head on the pillow at night they're not worried about anything that goes on under my purview.

ZARRELLA: She may fly under the public radar, but in Republican political circles Watkins is on many a speed dial.

John Zarrella, CNN, Tampa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Checking stories cross the country now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three.

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PHILLIPS: Near Charleston, North Carolina; a homecoming celebration for the destroyer, "USS Laffey". Nearly three years of work went into repairing its haul. The Laffey survived four bombings in World War II. Tours will begin in April.

In Arkansas, a woman is being sued over a million-dollar lotto ticket that she pulled from a trash can. The store owner says that the winnings are hers because there was a "do not take" sign on the trash can that day.

And which American city is the most literate? Washington, two years in a row. Seattle number two. Third place, Minneapolis. A study by the Central Connecticut State University looked at several factors including education levels and the number of bookstores and libraries.

Well, it was a pretty surprising confession from "Wheel of Fortune's" Pat Sajak. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" host, A.J. Hammer joining us live from New York. I guess he liked to tip that flask a little too often?

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, at least a salt- rimmed glass, Kyra. Pat Sajak just appeared on the ESPN show, "Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable". And he was asked if he has ever hosted "Wheel of Fortune" a little drunk. Now this may come as a shock to some of his long-time fans, but he said yes, they used to have a lot of down time between shows in its early years, so Pat and Vanna White would knock back a couple of margaritas during their dinner break.

Watch what he said.

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PAT SAJAK, HOST, "WHEEL OF FORTUNE": Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet. They're really good tapes to get hold of.

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HAMMER: Well, thank goodness those letters would light up, Kyra, so if Pat and Vanna were a little lit up, at least they could get through the show. And their dinner break was around 2.5 hours long at the time.

By the way, Kyra, any idea how long Pat Sajak has been hosting "Wheel of Fortune"?

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. I wouldn't even be able to take a good guess, A.J. How many years?

HAMMER: This year, this year marks 31 years he's hosting that show.

PHILLIPS: Holy Cow.

HAMMER: Since 1981.

PHILLIPS: Now, does that beat Bob Barker on "The Price is Right"?

HAMMER: You know, I'll have to check that. "Wheel of Fortune" has been on since 1975, though and it is the longest-running syndicated game show in history, so maybe.

PHILLIPS: Ok. Details to follow.

All right. Brad Pitt also revealing personal information in a new interview, right?

HAMMER: Yes. Really candid in this interview, too. He talked about everything: religion, politics, his family. To run through some of the highlights for you, Pitt says he was raised by religious parents, and now he moves personally between being an agnostic or an atheist.

He still is an Obama supporter, although he does say he's been glued to the Republican debates. He's been watching them very closely.

And he says that in the early 90s just when his career was taking off, he spent an awful lot of time depressed just hiding out in his apartment smoking pot. But he does say that that's well in the past now with his career and his family.

And as for his famous partner, he does say that he and Angelina Jolie might in fact tie the knot because it means so much to his kids. You probably remember they famously said they wouldn't get married until gay marriage is legal, but he's not sure they can hold out because the kids keep asking about it. However, that is something he still feels very, very strongly about. He made that clear.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll follow it. A.J. thanks. And if you want information, everything breaking in the entertainment word, A.J.'s always got it, every night. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" on HLN, 11:00 Eastern.

Our Sanjay Gupta joins me next. He's talking about concussions and sports and why girls are just as much at risk as boys.

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PHILLIPS: Well, all this week we have been talking with Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the risk of concussions for boys playing football, but girls in sports are also at risk. Sanjay joins us this morning.

Well, of course you've got three daughters, I would expect you to be balanced within this report.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I know. Got to be balanced -- but this caught my eye as well. No surprise that there are more girls playing sports than ever before. So the numbers have gone up. That's not surprising.

We also know -- we have known for some time that girls are more susceptible to concussions, smaller heads, the way the brain -- you know, just the anatomy. So they're more susceptible.

But at the end of all of that the headline really is that girls, high school girls actually have a higher incidents rate of concussions as compared to boys. We talk about this all the time with regard to football and boys, but this is really important. I think certainly for girls, high school girls and their parents out there to keep in mind. If you have girl playing soccer, boy playing soccer, the girl is 68 percent more likely to get a concussion from the same sport.

PHILLIPS: Why soccer?

GUPTA: Well, you can get concussions from soccer from heading the ball, which is a common one.

PHILLIPS: Oh, sure.

GUPTA: And you may not realize this. Heading the ball on average, when you head it -- it's about 20 Gs, 20 gravitation forces on your head.

PHILLIPS: Oh, wow.

GUPTA: In an average season, they may do this over a thousand times, typically in practice, just drills, doing it over and over again. So that's one of the areas where coaches are starting to talk. Do we need to just hammer the head so many times in practice? After they understand the concept, can we back off of that? That's where the trend is headed.

PHILLIPS: Do you think we understand the symptoms well enough?

GUPTA: I think it's still vague. And even a lot of doctors and trained professionals sometimes disagree on exactly what the symptoms are. With regard to girls and boys, we also know that the symptoms tend to be a little different. So with boys it tends to be more cognitive and memory loss. With girls, it can tend to be more sort of aversion to bright lights and loud sounds, but headaches seems to be the common symptom between both.

Also girls can get back to the game faster as well as compared to boys. So girls and boys are different. No surprise there, but the girls being more susceptible to concussions I thought was an interesting headline. They get concussions more than boys do.

PHILLIPS: Are you seeing more girls coming into your office?

GUPTA: We are seeing over the last couple of years more girls and we are also seeing because, I think, of the increased awareness. So what would have -- they have had the same thing happen to them two years and everyone blew it off, thinking --

PHILLIPS: Now they're paying attention.

GUPTA: Now, they're saying you know what, that's a concussion. Shine bright light, there's an aversion to that. There's all sorts of symptoms of concussion and they're paying more attention to it.

But again as you pointed out, you and I both have daughters, and we've got to be mindful of their sports as well.

PHILLIPS: And here I was thinking soccer is the safe sport. All right. We're going to go back to golf.

GUPTA: I'm like the Grim Reaper here.

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly.

GUPTA: But I love -- I'm a sports fan.

PHILLIPS: So am I.

GUPTA: We know so much in terms of keeping kids safe. We should do some of that.

PHILLIPS: Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, Sanjay will have soccer star, Brandy Chastain on "SANJAY GUPTA, MD" this weekend talking about this very topic. You can also catch Sanjay's new documentary "Big Hits, Broken Dreams", Sunday night 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

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PHILLIPS: Well, just about nine hours to go to the Republican presidential debate, right here on CNN. And Mitt Romney is gearing up for the big showdown by talking to voters in Jacksonville, Florida. Let's go ahead and listen in. (BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I'm fortunate enough to be president of this country, I will do some of the things a lot of the politicians in Washington have been talking about. There's a culture in Washington which is to say whatever people want to hear and to do whatever the heck your favored interests you want to do. That's what we have seen. Some people call that crony capitalism.

It's a culture in Washington where people are paid to say certain things and do certain things. But then what the Washington folks actually do is in the benefit of the people who help them out the most.

And we have watched President Obama. He gave the National Labor Relations Board the running room to do what the organized labor folks wanted and try and keep a plant out of South Carolina -- a Boeing plant that was a right to work state, because they're a right to work state.

He gave money to Solyndra and to Tesla and to Fisker. These people are some of his biggest donors. And of course, as we know, all those green jobs where are they exactly? We lost those jobs. By the way, the Fisker Automobile Company it's an electric car company, just like we badly need more car companies.

So he started a couple of car companies. Where's their manufacturing being done? Finland. In Finland. The President also takes General Motors through bankruptcy, which by the way was the right thing to do. It needed to go through bankruptcy. But he had his hand on the controls there. And made sure when it was all said and done that the people that end up owning General Motors are the UAW, his friends.

This kind of crony capitalism got to end. We have to return to free market, free individual capitalism that builds a stronger economy.

I will lower taxes for employers. I will eliminate the burden of regulations on our economy. Let me tell you, I will -- the President had a big program. Did you hear about this? Last summer, he said, we're going through every agency, every department. We're cutting out all the unnecessary regulations -- 84,000 pages of regulations in the federal register. We're cutting out all those that we don't need. They cut out one-tenth of one percent. That's talk without action.

If I'm president, I will put a cap -- I'll put a stop to all the Obama era regulations, all of them. And I'll get rid of all those that are killing jobs.

PHILLIPS: Mitt Romney live in Jacksonville, Florida there.

And don't forget the debate right here on CNN tonight, 8:00 Eastern.

That does it for us. We'll be back here tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

Now let's take it to Suzanne Malveaux who is out of Washington, D.C. at the top of the hour. Hi Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Kyra. Miss you already, but love D.C.

PHILLIPS: See you soon.

MALVEAUX: All right.