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Compromise Today In Birth Control Dustup; GOP Candidates Rally Conservatives; Santorum Speaks At CPAC
Aired February 10, 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: And it's the top of the hour. Thanks for joining us, everyone. A lot going on this hour.
Let's go ahead and start with the White House and the policy involving birth control. It's upset a lot of Catholics. We've learned the Obama administration could actually put out a compromise today. Dan Lothian is at the White House. Dan, what are you hearing?
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, the White House isn't using the term compromise. They like to call it accommodation, but in fact, it does appear now that the White House, according to sources, will be announcing a new policy sometime today.
And I can tell you CNN has learned that this morning, the White House held a conference call with religious activists in which they detail some aspects of this new plan. Basically, it boils down to the fact that insurance companies will pick up the cost for and provide contraceptive services to those who are seeking it.
And the religious organizations or affiliated organizations will not have to deal with that, will not pay for it, will not have to cover this. So that's a big key.
That has been the concern of these religious affiliated organizations, universities, and other schools did not want to pay for something that they believe went against their religious beliefs.
Now, one of these Catholic activists who took part in this call told CNN that they were quote, "encouraged by the compromise," but wondered why it took the administration so long to reach this compromise.
As you've been pointing out and others, the administration has been under intense pressure over the last couple of weeks not only from Catholic groups, but other religious organizations from Republicans on Capitol Hill and from Republicans out on the campaign trail.
And then yesterday, we saw some prominent Democrats as well step up, criticizing the administration calling for a compromise. We heard that from Senator John Kerry saying that there should be a balance.
A way to provide women with if health care needs that they have, but at the same time, respecting religious beliefs, pushing for this compromise and now, it appears that the White House does have something they'll be rolling out later today.
Unclear whether or not President Obama himself will be stepping before the mic, whether this will be in some sort of paper form, but an announcement expected today.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll follow it. Dan Lothian at the White House. Dan, thanks.
Now, the Republican road to the White House and a critical weigh station for those seeking the GOP nomination. This is CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, live pictures, the annual gathering of movers and shakers in the conservative movement.
And three of the four candidates are going to speak today trying to win that conservative support in the race that right now is too close to call. Rick Santorum fresh off three big victories this week, he's going to speak later this hour. We're going to carry that live.
Then Mitt Romney is trying to regain his momentum. One source close to the campaign telling us he's going to give a quote, "major speech" that's at 12:55 Eastern.
And then Newt Gingrich will speak just after that about 4:00 Eastern Time. We're going to take a closer look at what candidates need to say and what conservatives want to hear.
Wolf Blitzer is in our Washington Bureau, Jim Acosta is at the conference, Ron Bonnjean shares his expertise as a Republican strategist.
Wolf, why don't we go ahead and start with you and focus on Santorum, his speech coming up this hour. What do you expect him to say?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": I expect him to really try to explain why he would be a better president of the United States than the current president of the United States, President Obama.
I think he's going to focus in a lot on why he disagrees with the president on so many issues. He's going to try to differentiate where he stands with the president.
There will be I suspect also some effort on his part to show why he is a better Republican conservative than Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney for that matter.
Ron Paul is basically not even attending the CPAC conference. I spoke with him yesterday. He's not even here. I don't think there's going to be much attention on Ron Paul from Rick Santorum right now.
Probably will be some specific differences that he'll underscore between himself and Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, but I think most of the speech will focus some real red meat as to why he thinks the president should not get a second term and why he should be the Republican nominee.
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf, after his three big primary wins on Tuesday, more than a million bucks poured in donation wise. But that's still so small compared to Mitt Romney. What do you think? Can he survive this way?
BLITZER: Look, he didn't have much money in Iowa and he won in Iowa. He worked really hard and after Florida, Nevada, a lot of people were assuming that it was almost toast for Rick Santorum, but then again this week, he had three stunning wins.
A clean sweep on Tuesday including in Colorado, which the Mitt Romney folks thought that they would win pretty decisively. He did amazingly well there four years ago, so you've got to give Rick Santorum a lot of credit. He's fought back.
He's not giving up. He's not dropping out even when Newt Gingrich was doing really, really well after South Carolina. There was an enormous amount of pressure on Rick Santorum to drop out of this contest like Rick Perry did or Michele Bachmann did or Herman Cain did.
There was a lot of pressure on him to do so. He didn't so and he's done really well. He's in it. I suspect all four of these candidates are going to stay this race for some time. This could go on, Kyra, and on and on.
PHILLIPS: Yes, and something else that's going on and on and on, Republicans looking for a Romney alternative. We've talked so much about that. Is he it?
BLITZER: He might be. Newt Gingrich's numbers have gone down lately. He did well in the southern states, South Carolina as we all know. He's really not done well in other states, but he expects to do well on Super Tuesday, which is March 6th.
There will be about a dozen contests including several southern contests. He's really assuming he's going to do well so he'll be able to continue after March 6th. Later this month, this Saturday, tomorrow, we've got the main caucuses.
Either Romney will do well or Ron Paul. Ron paul has spent some time in Maine, so we'll see what happens tomorrow night in Maine. They've been doing these caucuses now for almost two weeks, but it all wraps up tomorrow night.
We'll get the results obtained and then later in the month at the end of the month, Arizona and Michigan. Everybody assumes Romney will do well in Arizona, which has a significant Mormon population.
He did well there four years ago. They assume he'll do well in Michigan. His father was the governor there. He was born there. Probably do well there.
But you know what, Rick Santorum in Michigan, if he surprises, if he surprises Mitt Romney in Michigan and if me were to do in Michigan what he did in Colorado, that would be a huge, huge upset and a major development.
PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, we'll see you in a little bit when Rick Santorum starts speaking.
All right, let's go ahead focus on Romney and Gingrich who also speak later today. Jim Acosta, you're there at CPAC. What are we expecting in Romney's so-called major speech that one source is touting?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, I think it's safe to say Rick Santorum probably ought to watch his back coming into CPAC. He's going to be speaking here in just a few moments because Mitt Romney is going right after the former Pennsylvania senator.
Just consider the e-mail that was just sent out this morning to reporters covering this campaign. It has a banner at the top that says Rick went to Washington and never came back.
This has been a steady message coming from the Romney campaign over the last several days going after his spending record in Washington, going after his support of congressional earmarks, pet projects in all of those different districts all over the country.
Rick Santorum has defended those earmarks. He did so yesterday down in the speech in Oklahoma and I expect he will do so again today. He'll probably defend that spending record as well. But I would think -- we're going to hear pretty aggressive tone coming from Mitt Romney.
In his speech around midday going after Rick Santorum's spending record, the pressure is on Mitt Romney at this point and I think they know that, Kyra. After what happened on Tuesday night, this was something they didn't expect.
That Santorum trifecta in all three of those contests and they have to try to get some sort of momentum back, but that, of course, means going after Senator Santorum.
That is the reason why the former Pennsylvania senator said yesterday in Oklahoma that he feels like Romney's attack dogs are coming after them and of course, they are -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And Gingrich hasn't had reason to celebrate since South Carolina. He needs to regain his footing. What's his strategy at CPAC and beyond?
ACOSTA: Well, you know these sorts of events are really, you know, Newt Gingrich's bread and butter. He thrives on this kind of audience. As we saw during the debates, when there's a loud, raucous conservative crowd, that really works for Newt Gingrich and I think he'll tap into that today, try to exploit some of that today.
Just in the way we heard from Mike Huckabee. He was just speaking to this crowd a few moments ago and it's interesting to listen to Mike Huckabee because he was sort of addressing some of the conservative angst over Mitt Romney in the state of this race right now.
Mike Huckabee telling this crowd, mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most conservative of them all? I talked to him just a moment ago before we did live check here and I asked him, are you concerned about the way this race is shaping up right now and how these candidates aren't really breaking through?
Nobody's really breaking through. He said, well, I think any of them will do a better job than Barack Obama. So there's a lot of conservative red meat being thrown at this audience today and I imagine that Newt Gingrich will be bringing plenty of it later on this afternoon -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jim Acosta, we'll be following it all.
CPAC is talking debt, taxes, religion, and second amendment rights too, but conservatives also want to have fun. Senator Mitch McConnell says so.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MINORITY LEADER: I always love coming to CPAC and you probably know why. Conservatives are just simply more fun than liberals. There's a reason for that, by the way. It's because we're always right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Ron Bonjean is a Republican strategist. Ron, Mitch McConnell says it's fun, but our contributor, Erick Erickson blogs that in his seventh trip to CPAC, the crowd this time is the least excited that he's seen. Why would that be?
RON BONJEAN, GOP STRATEGIST: Well, I think it's because we don't have a coalescing figure yet as a frontrunner in the race. They want to see someone step it up and to get the support they need that a candidate needs to take on Barack Obama and they feel like they have yet to see that.
That's why there's a lot of pressure on Rick Santorum and especially Mitt Romney to deliver today. Republicans want to see them fired up. They want to see who has the right stuff to take on President Obama.
Right now, people think it's probably going to be Mitt Romney, but they want to be convinced of that and this is the time for Romney to do that.
PHILLIPS: Well, Santorum though coming up this hour. Everybody's talking about his three three-state sweep. Is he the guy that can jazz it up there?
BONJEAN: Well, he certainly will jazz up the crowd. There's no question about that and he's going to remind voters why he was so successful in those states. I think that, you know, social conservatives like him already. I don't think there's a lot of work he has to do there. But he's just going to keep the momentum going, you know, by taking it to President Obama during his speech. At least that's what we've been told he's going to say.
Mitt Romney is going to really take it after Rick Santorum and I think that's probably a smart strategy at the same time though, he's going to have to remind voters why he's a conservative.
That's going to be huge for him. Everyone knows he can negative campaign, but it's going to be key that he says I'm a conservative and here's why.
PHILLIPS: Final question. What is it about Santorum that is resonating with voters right now the way it is?
BONJEAN: Well, there is a collection of events that have happened. I mean, you have this contraceptive decision on Catholics that have come out of the White House that really fuelled right into Santorum's social conservativism.
In addition, he showed up in states that other candidates didn't like Missouri and Minnesota and really got a lot of media coverage off of it when the others didn't really care about it because it didn't matter.
Now is the time for Santorum though to take advantage of that and figure out a strategy in going into these other states where they have plurality of delegates to try to amass those.
PHILLIPS: Ron Bonjean, thanks so much.
BONJEAN: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: And stay with us. Rick Santorum scheduled to speak 10:25 Eastern Time. We will bring it to you live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A live picture now of CPAC, the annual gathering of conservatives in Washington. Less than 20 minutes away, presidential candidate Rick Santorum is going to address the crowd. We're going to take that speech live.
And then later in the day, fellow candidates, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, they will speak as well. All right, Santorum's comments about women in combat could alienate him from some voters.
He's also said things that upset the black and gay communities. Newt gingrich, same thing. Remember, he called Obama the best food stamp president and then there's Mitt Romney's super wealth, you know, as a joke.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mitt Romney trying very hard to connect with voters. People say he's not connecting, you know, that he seems he's too affluent. In his campaign, Mitt Romney has started talking about his father's humble beginnings as a carpenter. Yes. He said I'll never forget the day my dad started building our fourth beach house. Good times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Yes, I know, we laugh, but for those who support President Obama, there is a feeling that these wealthy, conservative white guys just cannot connect. In fact, syndicated radio host, Michael Baisden says that the GOP is just playing crazy. Hello, Michael.
MICHAEL BAISDEN, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: It is what it is, right?
PHILLIPS: Crazy, explain that.
BAISDEN: Well, it's really great to be able to speak in an honest way. You said that before how great it is to be able to talk on radio. It is crazy. We know it's crazy and I think they're using the craziness to fund raise.
I mean, quite frankly, when you say crazy things like outlawing contraception, not taxing rich, white people, you know, rich people in general, to me, that is crazy.
And if you say crazy enough things, we know the people will start donating their money because some people are crazy.
PHILLIPS: Is there anything going on at CPAC? As you can see, this is dominating coverage this week. With candidates or issues, that it's resonating with you and your listeners?
BAISDEN: Of course not. Let's be real here, of course not. They're there to pander to their constituents. To the far right or whatever conservative Republicans and I understand that. It's a part of the game, right?
You try to fire them up so they will come out and vote. You try to fire them up also so you can fundraise. I really need by listeners to understand and all the people who are watching, not to get tricked into this. This is all about fundraising.
Getting your attention, this is February, Kyra. We're talking about another six, seven, eight months before we get to the election. You know how many more situations we're going to have like the whole church thing and contraception?
We're going to have a lot of different cases like that between now and then and people need to stay focused on what's important. Whatever happened to the job conversation? Did that argument just get thrown out the window now that the economy is getting better?
Now we're going to switch to contraception. Nobody's worried about gays anymore. Everybody has pretty much accepted that so that's no longer an issue. So now, we have to come up with contraception and I know Rick Santorum's going to be on pretty soon. What man is in his mind in 2012 is going to outlaw contraception? He said I will outlaw contraception.
That man will never get elected. The Republicans are in a tail spin and they're desperate and let's stand by and continue watch the show because that's what it is.
PHILLIPS: You still believe in President Obama?
BAISDEN: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: Why?
BAISDEN: Because he's smart and that's the one thing we need in this country. We somehow not valued intelligence. He's been very cool, which is what you want in a president, right? He's been very calculating. He's been very smart about the way he's presented things.
And I think he's been patient and he's learning on the job. You've been doing this for how many years? Many. I've been doing my job for over 20 years now and I'm still learning. This man has been on the job for three months.
You know, I want to say this, make sure I say it, to all my white family, Latinos. It's almost like we're living in an alternative universe. White, blacks, Latinos, we're all hanging out together.
We're building families together. We're fighting together. We're bowling together, ladies and gentlemen, so it's as if they're living in an alternative universe. We're already together and they're trying to separate us, which is exactly what we don't want to happen.
PHILLIPS: You know there's been so much criticism out there though against President Obama. Look at the state of the economy. Look at all the people that are out of work. There are a lot of people coming forward saying you know, I voted for him.
I was supporting him, but even though I'm not thrilled about any of the Republicans, I'm going to go Republican because of the disappointment I feel with regard to President Obama.
What do you say to those folks that are still kind on the fence, but they're kind of going the alternative route because of where we are right now.
BAISDEN: Did you see Beverly Hills Cop?
PHILLIPS: Of course.
BAISDEN: Don't fall for the banana in the tail pipe, ladies and gentlemen. This is the banana in the tail pipe. Give this man time. Jobs are already coming back, with 3 million jobs. All these numbers, we can go on and on about that.
We know who the best man for the job is. Most people have probably already decided who they're going to vote on and they need these crazy issues to change our minds. They're not changing our minds on anything substantive.
It's always something that is crazy. So I'll say it again. They're crazy and deranged, ladies and gentlemen.
PHILLIPS: And you know, we have to get to Rick Santorum, but I've got to get the plug in because I'm a big sister and have been for almost 20 years.
BAISDEN: And thank you for that.
PHILLIPS: Well, and thank you. That's why you're here. You're talking about mentoring. This is an incredible organization.
BAISDEN: Yes, big brothers and big sisters, I'm here today in Atlanta. We're going to be down at the Sheraton shortly. Please come down if you want to participate, the Sheraton on 165 Courtland.
I traveled around the country for one million mentors to 70 cities to promote and donated half a million dollars of my own money. Because we have to start investing in these children no matter what our complains is about the economy, about the president, about whatever else.
We're responsible for our children and I love working with African-American fraternities and big brothers and big sisters along with all the other organizations that have done a great job mentoring and we're going to make a difference as we have.
PHILLIPS: We need more presidential candidates.
BAISDEN: Please, we need more people to run. Thank you, Kyra. Great to see you again.
PHILLIPS: All right, stay with us. Rick Santorum scheduled to speak in about 5 minutes. We will bring that to you live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: This just in to CNN. The White House apparently just announced that President Obama is going to deliver a statement 12:15 Eastern Time on the contraception compromise. We will take that live when he steps up to the mic.
Well, they're making their pitches to the base. Three of the major GOP presidential candidates addressing the CPAC convention today. Wolf Blitzer, let's talk about the expectations. Where do we begin? We're expecting Santorum to step up to the mic any minute now.
BLITZER: Santorum goes first and then around 12:55, Mitt Romney goes second. About 4:10, Newt Gingrich goes third. We'll bring all of these speeches to our viewers.
This is an important conservative gathering here in Washington. One interesting note, we're also hearing, Kyra, that Callista Gingrich will introduce her husband later today just before he speaks.
She doesn't often do that, so we'll be anxious to hear what she has to say about Newt Gingrich as well. So that would be interesting if we hear from her. We've often heard Ann Romney, for example, introduce her husband, Mitt Romney.
I don't know if she's going to be doing that today, but we will soon be, I think we'll be hearing from Callista Gingrich later in the day today, so we'll take that live as well.
Look, all of these speeches are important because this is really a critical moment in this Republican contest. We've had a whole bunch of them. Romney has won. Newt Gingrich has won. Santorum has won.
Ron Paul still has not won a contest, but he could potentially win one tomorrow in Maine. He's done some campaigning up there. A lot of independent Republicans, moderates, up in Maine who might like what he has to say that libertarian streak if you will.
So this race, as I said before, is going to continue. This is an important speech for all three of these Republicans who will be addressing CPAC today because this is the base of the party there. And they're going to have to show these guys and gals there why they would be the best Republican presidential nominee.
PHILLIPS: All right, we've talked so much about Rick Santorum, his momentum. Everybody's looking to -- conservative wise, look into the speech coming up any minute now that we're going take live, Wolf.
At the same time, Mitt Romney and this quote/unquote, "major speech" that a source close to the campaign says he's going to give, trying to build up hype about this speech because as we can see it's becoming tense between these two as Santorum is picking up some momentum. Romney wants to be right up there in front.
BLITZER: Yes. This is important speech for Mitt Romney because a lot of these conservatives, he really has not energize them. He's got the establishment Republicans pretty much in his corner, but he really hasn't energized a lot of the conservatives who are going to be at the CPAC meeting here in Washington today.
So he really wants to go out and stress his conservative values, his conservative positions on the social issues also on the economic issues. So, this is an important speech for him to do so.
You know, the irony is four years ago, when he spoke at CPAC, Kyra, you probably remember he was the darling of CPAC because he then was seen as the conservative alternative to the establishment Republican who eventually got the Republican presidential nomination. That would be Senator John McCain.
So four years ago, he was the conservative alternative and now, he's got work to do to reassure these conservatives that he is what he says he is, a hard core conservative, the conservative alternative to the president of the United States.
So we'll see how well he does, but this is a very, very important speech for Mitt Romney later today as I think is scheduled for around 12:55. So if we hear from Santorum now, we'll hear from the president of the United States, 12:10 or 12:15, from the White House briefing room and then we'll hear from Mitt Romney a little bit later in the hour so a lot going on today.
PHILLIPS: We're going to hear from them all. We're going to take a quick break. Wolf, we'll keep talking as we watch these live pictures from CPAC, waiting for Rick Santorum to step up to the mic. We will take it live as soon as that speech begins. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf, we're looking at live pictures now from CPAC, the annual gathering of conservatives in Washington. We are waiting for presidential candidate Rick Santorum to address the crowd. We know he's close because his big money backer there, Foster Friess at the mike. Somebody who has definitely kept this candidate in the game -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, he's a very, very rich guy who lives in Colorado and he's given millions and millions of dollar to that pro-Rick Santorum Super PAC. And he can give unlimited amounts of money as you know Kyra to the Super PACs and Foster Friess has done that sort of he's been to Rick Santorum what Sheldon Adelson for example has been to Mitt Romney, the owner of the Venetian Hotel out in Las Vegas.
They can give millions -- and they do give millions and millions of dollars. Those Super PACs could go on the air, they can do negative attack ads. The only thing they can't do is they can't directly coordinate with the candidate or with the candidate's official campaign, but you see Foster Friess he's not shy about going out there and making the case for Rick Santorum.
He really loves the guy and he was there the other night in Missouri when Rick Santorum was speaking after he had the clean sweep in Missouri and Minnesota and Colorado. Foster Friess was stand right next to Santorum.
So I assume he's going to be giving him at least that pro Santorum Super PAC a lot more money to stay in this contest because he really want Santorum to get the nomination. And that is totally legal, totally above board and that's what the -- that's what a lot of these candidates have. These -- these enormously wealthy guys who are -- who are contributing huge amounts of money to these Super PACs.
PHILLIPS: And our Jim Acosta is there at CPAC. Jim Acosta, what's the buzz there on the floor? Waiting for Rick Santorum to talk. Obviously, he's been our headlines because of his big three- state sweep. But he was a bit of a wild card surprising everybody.
But Mitt Romney also expected to make this quote-unquote "major speech". Gingrich is going to be talking 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Who are conservatives there right now talking about when you look at these three candidates about to speak? ACOSTA: Well Kyra right now, they're talking about Rick Santorum. I don't know if Wolf just mentioned this, but Foster Friess was just speaking a few moments ago and the crowd just sort of burst into laughter when Mr. Friess told a joke.
A conservative, a moderate and a liberal walk into a bar and the bartender goes, "Hi, Mitt".
So that just gives you a sense as to -- that just gives you a sense as to how fiery this is going to be today and this really is shaping up as sort of a Romney-Santorum smack down.
Now I will tell you that there is a lot of pressure on Mitt Romney today because you know, no question about it. The conversation that is being had at the CPAC conference is whether or not Mitt Romney is now a viable conservative Republican candidate for the White House and that is why a lot of people in this crowd today are taking a hard look at Rick Santorum. And he'll be talking in just a few moments -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: That's right and as Jim Acosta said it's the Romney- Santorum smack down that we are set to follow right now as Rick Santorum is at the mike. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. You're eating into my time. Thank you. Thank you.
This is not the Von Trapp family and we're not going to sing.
But it's -- it's great to be here at CPAC. Another thing, I will not be telling any jokes. I think Foster cornered the market on that. But thank you so much for that wonderful reception for -- for not just me, but for most of my family that is here.
First, the folks that are walking in with me today and walking this journey with me are here with me today because this is who I am. And they are -- they are here with me. I want to introduce -- most of you probably have seen them before, but this is my wife, Karen, the rock of which I stand upon. Sarah Maria, Patrick, Daniel, Elizabeth, Peter and John. And -- and of course, the one that we just, that is not here with us, but is home and recuperating just well and doing amazingly well thanks to all of your prayers, our little girl, Bella.
I came here back in -- right after the 2008 election. I come to -- I've been coming to a lot of CPAC conventions over the years and after that election, I made this statement. I said conservatism did not fail our country. Conservatives failed conservatism. And that's what I really believed then and that we in fact lost heart. As conservatives we lost heart.
We listened to the voices who said that we had to abandon our principles and our values to get things done, to win. But we hear those same voices today that we have to learn our lesson. That we should no longer -- that we need to compromise. Do what's politically reasonable and go out and push someone forward who can win.
Well, I think we have learned our lesson and the lesson we've learned is that we will no longer abandon and apologize for the policies and principles that made this country great for a hollow victory in November.
The other thing we should recognize, as conservatives and Tea Party folks that we are not just wings of the Republican Party, we are the Republican Party.
Folks I've been here before. We know each other. We've worked together in the vineyards, we've taken on the tough battles that confront this country. I know you and you know me and that's important because we've worked together.
Some say experience is a bad thing on this election. I don't think so. I think knowing the people who are the conservative leaders, knowing the people who have worked in the vineyards for decades, knowing the people who bring the ideas and the breath and the wellspring of ideas to conservatism is important because as Richard Viguerie often says policies are personnel. Personnel is what makes it, knowing the people to bring and surround yourself with. Those voices that we've listened to in the past were all people that we brought in who told us, "Well no, we can't stand by those principles."
Ladies and gentlemen, as President of the United States, we will surround ourselves in this administration with people who share our values, who are committed to the principles that made this country great -- leaders of the conservative movement.
We know there's a lot of excitement here because this election is about very, very big things. This is not just about jobs although it is about jobs. And we obviously need to do something about jobs in this country and we've put forward an economic plan that "The Wall Street Journal" calls supply side economics for the working man. Why? Because we care to make sure that every American has the opportunity to rise that the ladder goes down, not just to those who might be voting for us. But yes, the very poor.
The people in this country who have been suffering and left behind, we want to create an opportunity for all of them. Blue collar Americans, the working force to rise in society. And we put together a plan that reinvigorates the manufacturing base of our economy that creates opportunities for people to be able to rise again in America. And that's important.
It's important that we tackle this huge monstrous debt that we have in our country. A dead that is crushing America and our children, an immoral debt. I've put forward another plan that says we're going to cut $5 trillion in five years, balance the budget in five years and in every year, we will spend less money than the year before. Year after year after year until the budget is balanced. No more cuts in the rate of growth.
We know it's about big things though -- really big things. More than just the economy. It's about foundational principles and we've seen that played out here just in the last few weeks. Every speech I've given from the 381 town hall meetings I did in Iowa, I talked about founding principles.
This campaign is going to be about a vision. This campaign's going to be about who we are as Americans because in essence, that's what's at stake.
This is the most important election in your lifetime. It's an election about what kind of country you're going to leave to the next generation. Are we going to be a country that believes as our founders did? That our rights don't come from the government, they come from a much higher authority.
Well, there are those in our country and those in the Oval Office who believe that's not the case. They believe that rights do in fact come from the government and that they have gone around convincing the American public that they can in fact give you rights.
The most important one that they've been able to shove down the throats of the American public was, of course, the right to health care. The right to health care in Obamacare.
And we see what happens when government gives you rights. When government gives you rights, government can take away those rights. When government gives you rights, government can coerce you into doing things in exercising the right that they gave you.
I've been traveling around this country talking about how Obamacare will crush economic freedom. Will make people dependent upon government for the most important things -- their very lives. And as a result, government will own you. Because you will have to pay tribute to Washington in order to get the care you need for your children.
One of the reasons I'm in this race -- in fact, a major reason I'm in this race is because I think Obamacare is a game changer for America. Margaret Thatcher said when she left the prime ministership of England, she was never able to accomplish what Reagan accomplished. She said the reason, the British national health care system. Once people have that dependency, they are never really ever free again.
Ladies and gentlemen, we've seen this play out on the stage in the last few weeks. We've seen the President of the United States not only tell you what insurance coverage you should have, how much you're going to pay, how much you'll be fined if you don't. But he's now telling the Catholic Church that they are forced to pay for things that are against their basic tenets and teachings, against their First Amendment right.
Now, interesting enough, here's what they're forcing them to do. In an insurance policy, they're forcing them to pay for something that costs just a few dollars. Is that what insurance is for? The foundational idea that we have the government telling you that you have to pay for everything as a business. Things that are r not really things that you need insurance for. And still forcing on something that is not a critical economic need. When you have an economic distress with which you would need insurance, but forcing them even the more to do it for minor expenses.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the kind of coercion that we can expect. It's not about contraception. It's about economic liberty. It's about freedom of speech. It's about freedom of religion. It's about government control of your lives and it's got to stop.
And this isn't the only place that President Obama's tried to control your lives. Of course, one of the favorite things of the left is to use your sentimentality, your proper understanding and belief that we are stewards of this earth. And that we have responsibility to hand off a beautiful earth to the next generation. And so, they use that and they've used it in the past to try to scare you into supporting radical ideas on the environment.
They tried it with this idea, this politicization of science called man-made global warming and President Obama you may remember, tried to pass cap and trade and tried to get control, not only of the health care system, but of the energy industry, the manufacturing industry -- another two big sectors of this economy. And using this facade of man-made global warming.
I stood up and fought against those things. Why? Because they will destroy the very foundation of prosperity in our country. You look at any country in the world and you look at their energy consumption, the cost of energy and their quality of life, their standard of living. The more energy consumption, the higher the standard of living. That's just the bottom line.
We need an America if we're going to fuel a great and vibrant economy, we need affordable energy. And this administration has gone out and not only has attacked us with cap and trade, and global warming, but now that that has been thrown on the dust bin of history, now, they're going after hydro fracking.
I come from Pennsylvania. We're doing a little bit of that in Pennsylvania, thank God. And -- and guess what? Of course now that we're doing hydro fracking near the population centers, the bogeyman comes out. Look at what it's going to do to you. You know how many wells have been hydro fracked in the United States? Oh, about 700,000 or 800,000. Where's been all the noise?
Ladies and gentlemen, they scare you to intimidate you to trust them and to give them more power. We need someone who's willing to go out on these big issues of the day and draw contrasts.
We're not going to win this election, ladies and gentlemen, because the Republican candidate has the most money to beat up their opponent and win the election. We're not going to win this election with over a lopsided money advantages. We won't have one in the fall. President Obama will have more money whoever our nominee is.
So just think about what it's going to take. It's going to take ideas, vision, contrast, a record of accomplishment that can go up against the failed policies of Barack Obama. That's the winner. Well, let's just take a look at that in the Republican field. Who has the boldest contrasts? Who has the record that they can run on? Who has the bold plans to turn this economy around? And to support the very institutions of our country that provide the foundation of our country, faith and family? Who has that strong track record and that contrast?
Ok. I guess I can quit now since you're all convinced of that, but let's look at it. On the issue of Obamacare, who has a record of supporting health savings accounts and tort reform and bottom up consumer-driven health care for 20 years. And who has supported, in fact the stepchild of Obamacare, the person in Massachusetts who built the largest government-run health care system in the United States. Someone who would simply give that issue away in the fall. Give the issue away of government control of your health.
Who would be the better person to go after the Obama administration on trying to control the energy and the manufacturing sector of our economy trying to dictate to you what lights to turn on and what cars to drive?
Would it be someone that bought into man-made global warming and imposed the first carbon cap in the state of Massachusetts, the first state to do so in the country? Would it be someone who would take on the other big issue of government control of our economy, which is the government control of the financial services sector?
We see a lot of -- we see everybody up on stage at the debates complaining about Dodd-Frank. But two of the three candidates supported the Wall Street bailout, which was the predecessor of which Dodd-Frank was based on.
So who would provide the clear contrast of believing in the conservative vision, of bottom up, free people, free markets. Not government dependency, government control. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not going to win with money; we're going to win with contrasts. We're going to win with ideas. We're going to win by making Barack Obama and his failed policies the issue in this race.
We won in 2010 because conservatives rallied. They were excited about the contrasts. They were excited about the candidates who were put forth in that election. That's why we won.
We always talk about how are we going to get the moderates? Why would an undecided voter vote for a candidate of a party who the party's not excited about? We need conservatives now to rally for a conservative to go into November to excite the conservative base. To pull with that excitement moderate voters and to defeat Barack Obama in the fall.
I close -- I'll just say this. When I restarted our speech, I referred to where our rights came from. And of course, that's in our declaration of independence. I know a lot of folks like to focus on the constitution. The constitution is obviously the operator's manual for America. It is the how of America and it's essential that we return our government to the constraints of that constitution. But, the why of America, who we are, is in the declaration. And these words "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all American are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights." That's who we are. A country that was built on the idea that rights come to us from God and that the government's job, the one thing the government's job is to do is to protect those rights so you can form families and churches and community organizations, civic groups, hospitals, schools and build a great and just society from the bottom up.
That's the conservative vision for America. That's who we are. At the end of that declaration, there was a phrase. And these signers signed this declaration with this pledge, they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
No one is asking you today to go out and pledge your life. Although, thank God men and women step forward every single day and put the uniform on of the military and do so.
And I -- and I am not asking for your fortune. Although if you go to ricksantorum.com, a piece of that fortune would be very helpful.
But I am asking for your honor, to put your honor on the line. Honor is a term that's not used very often in America anymore. But it's exactly what's at stake because this is our watch. We are stewards of a great inheritance. And it is our responsibility to shepherd that inheritance and to make it a greater and richer one for the next generation. And if we fail to do that, then we have failed our duty and our honor as Americans.
This is your opportunity. Many generations come and go in America and live in many respects inconsequential times. You are blessed to live in a time when America needs you. You are -- please, walk out of this gathering, choose the candidate that you believe is the right person to lead this country. Not just to victory, but to the changes that are necessary for that victory to be one that you can say I have done my duty. I have kept my honor.
Thank you and God bless.
(END LIVE SPEECH)
PHILLIPS: GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, the first of all the candidates who will speak at CPAC today. The conservative convention; all the movers and shakers within the conservative circle.
Wolf Blitzer was listening to this as well. Wolf, did he deliver?
BLITZER: Well, he really wanted to differentiate where he stands on these issues as opposed to Mitt Romney. He was mostly making the case that he would be a better Republican presidential nominee than Mitt Romney. He didn't really focus on Ron Paul or Newt Gingrich all that much at all.
He just was really trying to say, you know, forget about Mitt Romney. I'm your guy. I'm the real conservative in this race. I didn't go along with global warming on those issues. If you want health care to be an issue, the President's health care reform law, you can't trust Mitt Romney because he helped create the President's health care reform law. You take that issue off the table. This was a -- don't give that issue away, he kept saying.
He was trying to tell these conservatives at the CPAC conference go with me, don't go with Romney. And obviously, he went after the President himself, but mostly, it was designed to reassure them that he would be a better conservative candidate.
PHILLIPS: Mitt Romney, now at 12:55 Eastern time followed by Newt Gingrich at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time. Both speaking there at CPAC, Wolf.
In addition, the President of the United States now announcing at 12:15, he's going to come out with a statement from the White House as well. So we are going to hear from every contender in this battle for the White House.
BLITZER: Well, look forward to it, except for Ron Paul. He decided not to attend the CPAC conference.
PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, appreciate it so much.
We will be following both Romney and we -- ok, all right. Wolf, we got another minute before we kick of the next hour there of CNN NEWSROOM. Forgive me for that.
Ok, so why don't we talk about Mitt Romney coming up at 12:55 Eastern time. He has said this is a so-called "major speech". That's a quote from a source close to the campaign.
Is this because Rick Santorum has gained so much momentum with that three-state sweep that he feels he needs to build a little more extra hype around this speech that he's going to make?
BLITZER: Yes. The answer is yes. He's really got to deliver to these conservatives. And let's see if it's only a positive message. Here's why I should be the Republican presidential nominee. Here's where I stand on these economic issues, domestic issues, social issues, national security issues.
Let's see if he simply focuses on that or hew does what Rick Santorum did, trying to differentiate himself and say look, Rick Santorum like Newt Gingrich, they are products of Washington. They're Washington insiders. I never lived in Washington, D.C. I'm an outsider. I'm a business guy. I can really turn things around and be a much better candidate.
I suspect we're going to see a little bit of both.
PHILLIPS: Wolf Blitzer, thanks so much and thanks for rolling with me.
We are now going to take a quick break and coming up at the top of the hour, Don Lemon in for Suzanne Malveaux.
We'll be right back.
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