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Cain Endorses Gingrich; Debates Place in Campaigns; Latest from the Campaigns in Florida

Aired January 29, 2012 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're going to look at the 2012 presidential contenders in this political hour.

But first, an update on some of today's top stories. An ugly scene in Oakland, California, more than a hundred people were arrested after police and Occupy protesters clashed yesterday. Police say the demonstrators tried to take over a vacant convention center and then later broke into city hall. Protesters say they just walked in because the doors were open.

In northern Florida, interstate 75 is closed after a string of crashes overnight that killed at least nine people. Officials tell us the highway will be closed in that area for most of today. The sheriff's office says visibility was poor because of smoke from a nearby brushfire.

All right. In just two days, Florida's primary, the most delegate rich contest so far. And candidate Newt Gingrich is heading into it with a new endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse Newt Gingrich for president of the United States!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Will Herman Cain's backing influence primary voters in the sunshine state? A live report straight ahead.

And now to the campaign trail, extending beyond Florida. Ron Paul spent the weekend in Maine where several towns are holding caucuses over the next several weeks. Rick Santorum did some fund raising in Washington, D.C., yesterday, but skipped appearances today in Florida to be with his young daughter who is being hospitalized in Philadelphia.

And Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, they're both campaigning all over the state of Florida.

All right. A new poll just released this morning shows Romney with a sizable lead in the sunshine state. 15 points ahead of Gingrich. Santorum is in third place with 16 percent. And Paul has 11 percent of the vote. The poll was taken Wednesday through Friday before and after CNN's Thursday presidential debate.

Today, Ron Paul isn't on the trail, but he was on CNN's "State of the Union" this morning. He says while there have been ups and downs in his campaign, he intends to stay in the race through the Republican convention in August.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I think we'll continue and it is a rough road, but the rough road isn't, you know, presenting our case. The rough road is competing with, you know, establishment money, the big money, you know. You talk about not a billion - a million or two, and we can raise those millions, but we can't compete with tens of millions of dollars for each individual state and that's what, you know, came up in Florida. You need a lot of money. So it is a money game. And think that's one of the things that frustrated a lot of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Leading the fund-raising race in Florida, Mitt Romney. Today he campaigned in Naples, Florida, a wealthy community where people over the age of 65 make up 42 percent of the population. Romney went after Newt Gingrich saying it is time the former House Speaker, "looks in the mirror to realize why he's not ahead in the Florida polls." Romney reserved his harshest comments for President Barack Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we se a president who wants to make America into a European-style social welfare state. I don't want to go that direction. I think he believes that fundamentally government is a better source of direction for the nation than free people choose their own course in life. I disagree with him. I believe that America should hold fast to the principles that made us the greatest nation in the history of the earth. I want to restore those principles.

I mean, he looks - he looks at the national debt, think of this, he looked at the national debt of $15 trillion and says, "Can I add a trillion more?" I mean, can you imagine? He will, by the end of his first term, and his only term, by the way -

He will - he will have amassed as much debt, as much public debt as almost as all the prior presidents of our country combined. And he keeps on adding and adding. And then he had the "State of the Union" address the other day, do you think he mentioned the deficit or the massive overhang of debt on our nation? Of course not. It doesn't even rise to his psyche that we could hit a Greek-like wall. My view is very different than his. I take a different course. The right course for America is to cut federal spending, to cap federal spending and to finally balance the budget. And I'll get it done.

This is - this is a president who looks and thinks that the government can do a better job than the free market at picking successful enterprises.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Newt Gingrich is fighting hard to gain ground in Florida. And pull off the same dramatic come from behind victory he accomplished in South Carolina. The former House Speaker attended Sunday services at a Baptist church in Lutes, Florida, just outside Tampa. Well, last night, however, in West Palm Beach, Gingrich got this sought after endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAIN: I hereby officially and enthusiastically endorse Newt Gingrich for president of the United States.

One of the biggest reasons is the fact that I know that Speaker Gingrich is a patriot, Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Gingrich is representing - or presenting rather his ideas today to Florida seniors in the villages retirement community.

CNN's Joe Johns is joining us live right now. So Joe, before, you know, talking to you about the residents there, let's talk more about this endorsement that he got from Herman Cain and how hard did Gingrich work for that endorsement? How important is it to him?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it is important to him, Fredricka, but, look, the bottom line is these are two men who have known each other for a long time. And, frankly, I was just a little surprised that Herman Cain didn't endorse him before now, you know. They both have ties to the state of Georgia. And, in fact, first time I ever met Herman Cain, it was at the United States capital when Newt Gingrich was the speaker of the House. He introduced me to Herman Cain. So I always suspected this was going to happen. Now what does that mean as far as the people who have been so supportive? Hard to say. It probably would have been a lot more valuable had it come a few weeks ago, if you will. Nonetheless, there are a lot of people who think very highly of Herman Cain so it can help. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Really do bring up a very important question and so why did it take so long given their history together?

JOHNS: Yes, your guess is as good as mine. We do know that Herman Cain has really tried to just sort of string things out a lot of times on his campaign. It even took him a really long time to go ahead and say he was suspending his campaign, even after all the swirl and all the allegations involving various women. So Herman Cain has been sort of a guy who likes to slow walk things in politics. And that was probably something he was trying to do here, you know, frankly just slow walking it to see as much mileage as he can get out of it. Because at the end of the day, Herman Cain's in it to push Herman Cain's views and that's what he's doing. Fred.

WHITFIELD: And so, Joe, here you are at the villages, a retirement community, many of the candidates are there in Florida, which is very rich in retirees but a lot of the candidates are being accused of not being very specific about Medicare and social security and that is certainly not sitting well with a lot of the seniors there. What are some of the people telling you?

JOHNS: Yes. Well, honestly, this crowd, a very large crowd here at the villages, which is, what, about an hour outside of Orlando, very Republican crowd, and these are people who, while they're interested in Medicare, they're interested in social security, what have you, the fact of the matter is they're also very interested in their nest egg. They're interested in what is going to happen to the economy, jobs for their children, and their grandchildren.

So that's a kind of thing that people were talking about here. Here the speech by Newt Gingrich, for example, was a speech that very much played into those Republican values. We didn't hear a whole lot about Medicare and social security, but you're right on the other side of the equation there are a lot of people very concerned about what is going to happen, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Joe Johns, from the villages, Florida.

All right. So Florida very diverse, it is not expected that the electorate is voting as a monolith so we're going to break down for you a look at Florida.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to this special hour of the "CNN Newsroom." We're taking this time out every Sunday to let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders in their words out on the campaign trail. And among those out on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney there in Hialeah, Florida. That's a city right in south Florida in Dade County. It is actually the sixth largest city in the state of Florida, mostly made up of Cubans and Cuban-Americans. Right now he's appealing to that sector of south Florida there in Hialeah. We'll have more on Mitt Romney's campaign.

So his lead, Mitt Romney's lead in Florida voter polls is on the rise after last week's CNN debate. And in a winner take all state, that's pretty big. The Florida voting population is very diverse and candidates must work hard to appeal to different electorates relative to different parts of the state. John King breaks down the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Here is where we go next, Wolf. You look at Florida, an incredibly diverse state, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, St. Pete, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, much more conservative up here, more moderate in here. The Miami population, the Latinos, you just heard Gingrich's daughters talking about let's go back in time to look what the we're talking about here. If you come back to '08, John McCain - Mitt Romney is the dark red, John McCain is the lighter red, Mike Huckabee up here. There you see the diversity. Much more conservative in the panhandle. Mitt Romney does have a base of support from last time up in here. You come down the population centers, big populations here, here and here. A lot of conservative voters up here. A bigger state, a more diverse state, and wow a challenging and an expensive state.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: As all of us know, the northern part of Florida is like the south and the southern part of Florida is like the north because of all of the people who have moved to the south.

KING: That's right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Mitt Romney was on the offensive. Newt Gingrich on the defensive. Ron Paul seemed indifferent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: That subject really doesn't interest me a whole lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Wolf Blitzer was the moderator of that CNN Florida Republican debate and he's going to be joining us, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We continue to delve into the issues on the presidential campaign. Every Sunday we're spending this hour in the "CNN Newsroom" to allow you to hear from the contenders as they spell out their ideas for the future of the United States. Mitt Romney took Newt Gingrich head on at the CNN debate last week. The two GOP candidates went back and forth on who profited from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Remember?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Speaker Gingrich was hired by Freddie Mac to promote them, to influence other people throughout Washington, encouraging them to not to dismantle these two entities. I think that was an enormous mistake. I think instead we should have had a whistle-blower and not a horn tooter. He should have stood up and said, "Look these things are a disaster. This is a crisis." He should have been anxiously telling the American people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause a collapse that we have seen here in Florida and around the country. And are they a problem today? Absolutely. They're offering mortgages, again, to people who can't possibly repay them. We're creating another housing bubble which will hurt the American people.

The right course for our housing industry is to get people back to work so they can buy homes again. We have 9.9 percent unemployment in Florida. It is unthinkable, 18 percent real unemployment here. Get people back to work, we'll get people into homes, get the foreclosures out of the system. Let people get into homes, rent properties if necessary, and get America's housing industry growing again.

BLITZER: Speaker Gingrich?

GINGRICH: Let me start by saying, Florida's one of the two or three most hard hit states on foreclosures. How many of you know somebody who had a house foreclosed? Just raise your hand. Raise your hand. OK. The governor has cheerfully been attacking me inaccurately and he knows it. The contracts we released from Freddie Mac said I would do no consulting, I mean no lobbying, none.

There is a more interesting story. We began digging in after Monday night because frankly I had about enough of this. We discovered to our shock, Governor Romney owns shares of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Governor Romney made a million dollars off of selling some of that. Governor Romney owned shares - has an investment in Golden Sachs which is today foreclosing on Floridians. So maybe Governor Romney in the spirit of openness should tell us how much money he has made off of how many households that had been foreclosed by his investments. But let's be clear about that.

ROMNEY: This is fun. First of all, my investments are not made by me. My investments for the last 10 years have been the blind trust, managed by a trustee. Secondly, the investments that they made, we have learned about this, as we made our financial disclosure, have been in mutual funds and bonds. I don't own stock in either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. There are bonds that the investor has held through mutual funds and Mr. Speaker, I know that sounds like an enormous revelation, but if you check your own investments, you also have investments or mutual funds that also invest in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Debate performances have the power to make or break a campaign. And Romney's strong showing at CNN's presidential debate in Florida Thursday night may have helped the former Massachusetts governor hold on to his lead in the polls. Here is the latest poll information taken before and after the debate. It shows Romney with a sizable lead in Florida, capturing 42 percent of the vote compared to Gingrich with 27 percent.

A turning point in the CNN debate came when moderator Wolf Blitzer asked Gingrich if he was satisfied with the level of transparency regarding Romney's personal finances. Here is how Gingrich responded then.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: Well, Wolf, you and I have a great relationship, goes back a long way. I'm with him. This is a nonsense question.

Look, how about if the four of us agree for the rest of the evening, we'll actually talk about -

BLITZER: Mr. Speaker, you made an issue of this, this week, when you said that he lives in a world of Swiss bank and Cayman Island bank accounts. I didn't say that. You did.

ROMNEY: Wouldn't it be nice if people didn't make accusations somewhere else that they weren't willing to defend here?

GINGRICH: OK. All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining us by phone, CNN's Wolf Blitzer. So, Wolf, you know, it seems that that was a turning point in the debate. Gingrich trying to have it both ways, denounce and deflect. How telling a moment was that to you?

BLITZER (ON THE PHONE): I thought it was very significant because if you make an accusation out there on the campaign trail, and you're reluctant to make the same accusation face to face with the rival candidate, it says something. And obviously Newt Gingrich didn't want to do that in front of the other candidates, the specific case that Romney earlier, Rick Santorum said let's move beyond this and these two guys are just fighting each other.

Newt Gingrich, you know, had been successful in several earlier debates in deflecting a tough question by simply attacking the questioner. Whether it was on Williams or our own John King or Maria Bartiromo from CNBC or some of the others, Brett Bear. He was making an issue out of it. And so I suspect that he might try to do that in my debate and as a result I wanted to go in and make - and I had al the background and justification for it in case he did. I wasn't going to let him go through with it. And that's what happened in this particular case.

And in the end, he had to back down, especially after Mitt Romney did not back down. The irony, of course, Fred, as you know - he's very good in these debates, but the last two debates this past week, you know, he real didn't show his real strength on the offensive and Mitt Romney had a better - had a new debate coach and he went in fully prepared. He didn't back down at all and I think that's part of being reflected out in the polls right now.

WHITFIELD: So I wonder if what we're really underscoring is this is Gingrich's style in which to find it advantageous in his view to kind of, you know, turn the question on the moderator just as you laid out the most recent examples, or is this something that is catching on with other candidates? Are they feeling empowered, you know, when debating to take on those who are asking the questions and also win some support from the audience?

BLITZER: You know, it is not a new technique by any means. You know, going after - or some conservatives call it the lame stream media or whatever they call it, that's - it is sort of popular with some conservatives out there, to take the messenger and go to the reporters and try to criticize them and deflect attention. And sometimes it is justified. Sometimes, you know, the journalists are simply trying to stoke some sort of fire or whatever.

But, you know, Newt Gingrich tried it successfully several times. In this particular case it didn't really work out the way I suspected he had planned. And as he himself noted, I've known hi for a long time. I covered him for a long time, and, you know, we have always had a good relationship and he pointed that out even in his decision to go after and say this was a dumb question or whatever. Whatever he said. But, look, it is part of the game, you deal with it and move on.

Right now these last two debates I suspect were not very helpful. Much more helpful to Mitt Romney.

WHITFIELD: So Wolf, you covered, you know, decades of campaigns, you moderated many debates. However, are you noticing, as, you know, Mitt Romney pointed out, he said some of the candidates, namely in his view, Gingrich is kind of pandering to the voters specific to which state a primary is actually unfolding. Was it simply the technique that all candidates take no matter what the political season?

BLITZER: You know, they come into these debates and there are a lot of debates. I think there have been 19 or 20 debates among the Republicans in this cycle, which is a lot. A lot more than usual. And the debates are always important. I moderated five debates four years ago. And they're always important including the last debate four years ago that I moderated when there were two democratic candidates left standing, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That was at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. That was important.

But my own sense is that these debates in this cycle among the Republicans have been much more significant in affecting people's attitudes. And by and large, Newt Gingrich was really doing well in almost all of these debates. And I don't know what happened. I'll try to speak to Newt Gingrich this week and press him "What happened in the last two debates?" You know why didn't you really show up with, you know, New Gingrich feisty, aggressive Newt Gingrich that we've all known, covered all these years. It's just a good question to pose.

WHITFIELD: Yes. That's a good question.

BLITZER: I'm not exactly sure what happened.

WHITFIELD: Yes, we can't wait to hear that answer that you'll get out of him. Wolf Blitzer, thanks so much. Of course, we'll continue to watch you this week with the Florida primary, just two days away, Tuesday night, our coverage being led by our Wolf Blitzer. Thanks so much, Wolf.

All right. Ron Paul says he thinks we should be trading with Cuba, but first his response to Gingrich's idea of colonizing the moon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Well, I don't think we should go to the moon. I think we maybe should send some politicians up there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back to this special hour of the "CNN Newsroom." We're focusing on politics, allowing you to hear from the 2012 presidential contenders. Absent from the campaign trail today, GOP candidate Rick Santorum. He canceled his events today in Florida to be with his three-year-old daughter who was in a Philadelphia hospital right now. She suffers from a chromosomal condition that can cause serious medical problems.

A spokesman says Santorum intends to return to Florida and resume campaigning as soon as possible. At Thursday night's debate, he talked about an issue near and dear to Floridians' hearts, America's space program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the big problems we have in our country today is that young people are not getting involved in math and science and not dreaming big dreams. So NASA or the space program or space is important, but NASA is one component, our space defense is another area, I think both of which are very, very important. I agree that we need to bring good minds in the private sector much more involved in NASA than the government bureaucracy we have.

Let's just be honest. We're on a $1.2 trillion deficit right now. We're borrowing 40 cents of every dollar and to go out there and promise new programs and big ideas, that's a great thing to maybe get votes, but it is not a responsible thing when you have to go out and say we have to start cutting programs, not talking about how to grow them. We're going to cut programs.

We're going to spend - under my administration we're going spend less money every year, every year. Year to year to year, the federal government, the amount of spending will go down for four years until we get a balanced budget and you can't do that by grand schemes, whether it is the space program or, frankly, whether it is the speaker's social security program which will create a brand-new social security entitlement. Those are things that sound good and maybe make big promises to people but we've got to be responsible on the way we allocate our resources.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Ron Paul campaigned in Maine over the weekend. The New England state is holding caucuses over the next several weeks and Paul is hoping to pick up delegates there. The Texas congressman is also talking about free trade and U.S. relations with Cuba.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think free trade is the answer. Free trade is an answer to a lot of conflicts around the world, so I'm always promoting free trade. You might add Cuba too. I think we would be a lot better off with Cuba trading with Cuba. So I think the more you can do to promote this free trade, the better off we'll be.

But as far as us having an obligation, a military or financial obligation to go down and dictate to them what government they should have, I don't like that idea. I would work with the people and encourage free trade and try to set a standard here where countries in Central America or South America or anyplace in the world would want to emulate us and set the standards that we have. Unfortunately sometimes we slip up on our standards and we go around the world and we try to force ourselves on others.

I don't think the nations in South America and Central America necessarily want us to come down there and dictate which government they should have. And yet I believe with friendship and trade you can have a lot of influence and I strongly believe that it is time we have friendship and trade with Cuba.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney rather, spar over immigration. It is a big issue in Florida. Home to more than 1million Hispanics. But are the candidates getting their messages across?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. CNN brings you politics each Sunday. During this hour, we're letting you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders in their own words. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney got heated in their debate over immigration. The former house speaker was asked why he stopped airing a campaign ad calling Governor Romney the most anti-immigrant candidate. Gingrich defended his description and explained that his immigration policy would keep families together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going to walk in there and grab a grandmother out and kick them out. We're not going to -- I think you have to be realistic in your indignation. I want to control the border. I want English to be the official language of government. I want us to have a lot of changes.

(Applause)

I am prepared to be very tough and very bold, but I'm also prepared to be realistic because I've actually had to pass legislation in Washington and I don't believe an unrealistic promise is going to get through. But I do believe if there is some level of humanity for people who have been here for a long time, we can pass legislation that will decisively reduce illegality, decisively control the border and will once again mean the people who are here in America are here legally.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM:" I just want to make sure I understand is he the most anti-immigrant candidate?

GINGRICH: I think of the four of us, yes.

BLITZER: Go ahead Governor.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's inexcusable. And actually Senator Marco Rubio came to my defense and said that ad was inexcusable and inflammatory and inappropriate. Mr. Speaker I'm not anti-immigrant. My father was born in Mexico, my wife's father was born in Whales, and they came to this country. The idea that I'm anti- immigrant is repulsive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So let's talk more about Florida and a variety of voter concerns. Joining us live from Plantation, Florida, CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. Good to see you. Boy, it looks kind of dark there already. OK.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

WHITFIELD: OK. So two prominent leaders in Florida, particularly to a Latino community, really as a whole from Florida, Marco Rubio, who we heard Romney mention and Jeb Bush, they have not endorsed anyone there officially. Why not?

BROWNSTEIN: Well I think a lot of states, you know when you have a closely divided primary any prominent elective official finds that they have supporters on both sides of that line and they're reluctant to kind of cast their lot with one or the other. For example Rubio is someone who is really elevated by the Tea Party in his primary challenge to the sitting Governor Charlie Crist and the senate nomination. Rubio might seem a little closer to Romney personally, but his base is probably more enthusiastic about Gingrich. So those kinds of calculations always often inhibit elected officials from putting their chips down and emphatically with one side or the other.

WHITFIELD: So what is the strategy here? How do the candidates try appeal to such a broad range of views? Particularly as it pertains to immigration? Romney spoke about self-deportation versus Gingrich who, you're right, in your latest article, you know, had more flexible and lenient approach to immigration and then we just saw that sparring that we all witnessed Thursday night during the debate. How do those two, all four even differ?

BROWNSTEIN: The politics of immigration in Florida, particularly in a Republican primary, are probably different than they are anywhere else in the country, as I write, as you note, on ournationaljournal.com. Look in Florida about 12 percent of the vote in the 2002 primary were Hispanics but a majority, probably almost two-thirds of that were Cuban-Americans. Now Cuban-Americans are not affected by illegal immigration because they benefit from what is called the Wet Foot/Dry Foot Policy.

Which says as soon as someone gets here to dry land in the U.S., they're accepted and brought, you know, given asylum and in most cases put on a path to citizenship. So when Gingrich is in effect to the left of Romney in immigration and talking about a more lenient or flexible policy, even though I was at a Hispanic Republican event here in Miami on Thursday and Friday there was a lot of skepticism about Romney's answer about self-deportation.

But it isn't as pressing of an issue. Same thing by the way with the Puerto Rican community, which is another big block of Hispanic voters here. They're U.S. citizens. Now obviously they're unaffected by this issue. It is very different than when you get to states where the predominant Hispanic population is Mexican-American and they are more likely to have someone in their broad family network for which this is an immediate issue. Cuban-Americans and Puerto Ricans are basically sympathetic to the idea that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay but it is just not an immediate driving and personal an issue for them.

WHITFIELD: So are they -- you really paint the picture of how different the thinking is. There is no monolith of Latino thinking. In Florida, you have Caribbean Latinos, South Americans, Cubans, and Mexicans as you mentioned. So as it pertains to other issues that are, you know, driving a wedge between the electorate and a candidate, we're talking about, you know, taxes, business, health care, are these candidates targeting these messages to anyone or a number of these communities?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, you know, Florida is fascinating because it really is kind of much more coalition politics than we have seen anywhere else. In South Carolina, it is a very diverse state, but 98 percent of the voters in the Republican primary there last weekend were white. I spent the day, part of the day Friday with Newt Gingrich talking Hispanic politics and Cuba and immigration in the morning and he is talking Israel and the Middle East to a Jewish audience in the afternoon. It is like that good old-fashioned coalition ethnic politics that you don't see so much in this modern media age.

But I do think that, you know, this immigration thing is a big, I think, kind of a surprise for Gingrich it is not developing the way they hoped in terms of moving voters toward them. Romney leads in most polls among Hispanics. There was a telling moment though, Marco Rubio spoke at a Hispanic network event and he was interrupted by two protesters on the Dream Act, which I thought was a vivid and emotional reminder that when you get past a Republican primary, these issues may play very differently in a general election.

WHITFIELD: Wow, fascinating. All right. Thanks so much, Ron Brownstein, appreciate that.

As you know Mitt Romney is actually in Hialeah, Florida, not far from where Ron Brownstein is there in Plantation, south of Plantation he is meeting voters there today. This is a pretty significant community, not just in Dade County, but really as it pertains to the entire nation. It is the second largest Cuban-American population in the entire U.S. there in Hialeah, which is the sixth largest city in Florida. Peter Hamby is there. So Peter, how is Mitt Romney crafting his message for the community there in Hialeah?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, he's got a lot of support from the establishment Cuban community here in Hialeah, Fred. He just did a rally here and it is a Cuban restaurant that is usually closed on Sunday. They opened it especially for this event and really jammed it here. There is probably 500 people. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen the Cuban American congresswoman, the first Hispanic member of Congress was on stage with him. Mario Lincoln Diaz-Balart, the two congressmen from the Miami area who are very popular among the Cuban communities spoke for him.

Craig Romney, Romney's son, spoke Spanish here and introduced his father. He said in Spanish, you know, my father doesn't speak Spanish but he can talk about the economy. Look, Ron talked about how immigration may not be as big of an issue among the Cuban-American set here in Florida, but Castro is and Romney took a hard line against Fidel Castro as he has been this is his closing argument really to the Hispanic community, this is his last push in the Cuban-American community before Tuesday. He heads here to kind of -- to Pompano Beach to visit with some elderly voters and then back through the I-4 corridor which holds a lot of Republican votes as well until Tuesday.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. And is he changing his message depending on what community he was going to? Because he was awfully critical of Newt Gingrich for what he called pandering, Newt Gingrich was, Romney alleged, for changing the message depending which community he was speaking.

HAMBY: Yes, he doesn't really. His message is pretty much spot on one. It is about the economy, you know. We talked about the Hispanic vote. It is not a monolithic vote. And people here care about the economy and they care about jobs and Romney, that's always his wheel house, he likes to talk about that.

Speaking of Speaker Gingrich, he said today, again, this guy worked for Freddie Mac and Freddie Mac helped usher in the mortgage crisis in this country. He's been really hammering him stop after stop. But the real messaging here is playing out on the television airwaves. Democratic media tracking source, Fred, just e-mailed me numbers of the ad spending and Romney and Romney allies are out spending Newt Gingrich and his allies almost 5 to 1here, total through Tuesday. That's pretty amazing. That's driving Romney's good poll numbers in this state, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Peter Hamby in Hialeah thanks so much. Say hello to my friends there in south Florida. Another one of my old stomping grounds. All right. Thanks so much.

HAMBY: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right, Peter.

All right. The hospital in Joplin, Missouri, it took a direct hit by a tornado last year. Well, today, it is being demolished. Coming up in the next hour, I'll talk to someone who knows firsthand about the town's healing process. More politics after this.

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WHITFIELD: All right, 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 ideas for the future of the United States.

President Barack Obama meantime is busy delivering his message to the American people. After his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, he went on the road visiting five states in three days in an ABC News interview last week, the president was asked about the Republican presidential field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Watching the debates?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't watch the debates, I got to say. Now I read the reports. And what I get a sense of is that, you know, whoever wins the Republican primary is going to be a standard bearer for a vision of the country that I don't think reflects who we are. The proposal we're seeing for the Republicans is they would actually cut taxes for those at the very top, even further, but if we are not raising any additional revenue, then we start cutting into the bone of things like basic research or education or caring for our veterans that are critical to who we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: One of the president's stops this past week, the state of Michigan. During a speech in Ann Arbor, he talked about his plan to boost the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, in the State of the Union on Tuesday I laid out a blueprint that gets us there. Blueprint, it is blue. That's no coincidence. I planned it that way, Michigan. A blueprint for an economy that is built to last. It is an economy built on new American manufacturing, because Michigan's all about making stuff. If there is anybody in America who can teach us how to bring back manufacturing, it is the great state of Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The president will deliver another speech on the economy in Virginia Wednesday. He speaks at the National Prayer break fast Thursday.

All right. Later this week, the Republican candidates will be in Nevada. That state's caucus is Saturday. So what do voters want to hear from the candidates? We'll explore the issues next.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back to this special hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. We're taking this time out every Sunday to let you hear from the 2012 presidential contenders in their words out on the campaign trail.

Mitt Romney got a big boost in Nevada today. The state's largest newspaper, the "Las Vegas Review Journal" endorsed him ahead of next Saturday's caucus. Nevada also has a 26 percent Hispanic population. So what do the voters want to hear from the candidates?

Let's bring in Steve Sebelius in Las Vegas. He's the political columnist for the "Las Vegas Review Journal." Good to see you. And Ray Hager in Reno, the political reporter for the "Reno Gazette Journal." Good to see you as well.

All right, so, Steve, let me put you on the spot first. Why did your paper endorse Romney?

STEVE SEBELIUS, POLITICAL COLUMNIST, "LAS VEGAS REVIEW:" Well, you know, they don't ask me before they do these things.

WHITFIELD: I knew you would hate the question.

SEBELIUS: I keep trying to get them to do it. I keep trying to get them to do it, but they just don't. But I think the reasons that they articulated in the editorial were that the social issues that are championed by Rick Santorum are just not as critical as the economic issues and they believe that Mitt Romney has the chops to beat Barack Obama on the economy, and to fix the economy. So I think that's really why they gave him the nod.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well let's talk gentlemen about this, three of the biggest issues according to a number of Nevadans and all of it really does have to do with the economy. We're talking foreclosures, problems on the strip, and maintaining or at least increasing business of conventions. And so if you had to, I guess, coach any of the candidates to kind of prioritize these items based on what the voters want, what would you tell them, Ray?

RAY HAGER, "POLITICAL REPORTER, "RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL:" Well, first of all, from a northern Nevada perspective, I really don't think that those are the key issues. I think the key issues are jobs, foreclosures, and bankruptcies because Nevada, we lead the nation in all of those. And if candidates do come to northern Nevada, they have to be respectful that this is a community that has undergone a lot of tragedy lately. We had two wildfires that wiped out about 60 homes. We had a senseless shooting at an iHop Restaurant in Carson City. We literally had a train wreck outside of Fearnley, just 30 miles from Reno, and just one thing after another.

And I think that the candidates need to show a little empathy and maybe a little bit of encouragement to the people of Reno. And the key thing about those wildfires, if you look at voter registration maps in northern Nevada, those wildfires and those homes were burned in heavily dominated Republican areas so people that go to the caucus or people who know someone is going to the caucus, they're going to have some issue about home loss because of wildfires and I think that's a topic that I think the candidates should pick up on when they come to northern Nevada.

WHITFIELD: So, Steve, the Las Vegas readership is very similar or dissimilar from, you know the readership there in the Reno area. SEBELIUS: I think the Las Vegas readership is pretty dissimilar. The issue down here, you hit on it earlier, it is foreclosures. Nevada leads the nation in foreclosures. Mitt Romney came to town before he spoke to the "Review Journal" editorial board, the meeting that formed the basis of that endorsement today and he gave that famous quote that the market has to hit bottom before it can start to rebound.

Now, President Obama in the State of the Union speech laid out a proposal for a program that would save about $3,000 for the average homeowner if they refinance at lower rates. So you have two different visions as to how to deal with this problem. Foreclosure is probably number one and then Ray mentioned jobs. That's number two. Nevada leads the nation in unemployment and these candidates have got to come and say something about that. Mitt Romney said, look, if you elect me, we'll get more jobs. So that's something that I think voters will want to hear. But the economic issues really do dominate the discussion more than anything else.

WHITFIELD: All right. Steve Sebelius and Ray Hager, thanks so much, gentlemen. Thanks for your time.

SEBELIUS: Thanks. Glad to be here.

WHITFIELD: All right.

All the best as we lead up to Saturday's caucuses there in Nevada. So there are a lot of delegates at stake in Florida. And, of course, beyond. We'll tell you what all of it means after this.

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WHITFIELD: In each primary and caucus, the candidates pick up delegates. Our John King tells us what's at stake in this week ahead.

JOHN KING, ANCHOR, "JOHN KING USA:" Three contests so far, 25 delegates in Iowa, 12 in New Hampshire, 25 in South Carolina, the biggest prize is Florida. It votes on Tuesday, 50 delegates at stake there. If you look at the polling, the latest polling shows Governor Romney opening a decent lead over Speaker Gingrich. We'll see if that holds up in the final days.

Then after Florida, well where do we go from here? Where we go next is Nevada, 28 delegates at stake when Nevada holds its caucus on February 4. Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri are next, that's on February 7th. The asterisk here because Missouri has a primary on this day. The delegates will actually be awarded a bit later in the process. You see what's at stake. Then Maine, Ron Paul was up in Maine today, 21 delegates at stake when Maine holds its caucus on February 11.

Two big primaries in the month, Arizona and Michigan, you see 59 delegates at stake there. This gets you through the end of February. If the race is then going on, wow March is a huge month. Seventeen states, plus some U.S. territories, 755 delegates total in -- at play in the month of March.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, John King. Here is a look at where the 2012 contenders will be this week. On Monday, Gingrich, Romney and Santorum will all be in Florida. On Tuesday, Ron Paul heads to Colorado and Nevada. And the other candidates will join Paul in Nevada later on this week. And be sure of course to watch the results of the Florida primaries Tuesday night right here on CNN.