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One Student Killed in Ohio School Shooting; Gas Prices Climb, Small Businesses Hit; Signs Point to Economic Recovery; Push For Arizona And Michigan; Appealing To The "Common Man"; Politifact Fact Check
Aired February 27, 2012 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS: Thank you. Thank you. I -- when they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, oh, no. Come on, why her, again. You know? But whatever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Good for her. I like that. Meryl Streep joking about winning yet another Oscar and it's the third of her career she got last night for playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."
Top of the hour, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed.
We are following breaking news from Ohio right now. Five students were shot and wounded when a gunman opened fire in the cafeteria of a high school about 30 miles east of Cleveland. The FBI tells us that the suspected shooter, who they think is a student, is in custody.
I just talked to somebody from the hospital where two of the injured students are being treated, and she says one is in series condition, the other in stable condition. No word right now about how the other three are doing.
Students say it was chaotic when the shooting started. People basically running for their lives. The SWAT team let a few parents inside at the time to get kids and the parents were frantic. Just listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF TIM MCKENNA, CHARDON, OHIO POLICE: Our units responded, mutually responded with the sheriff's department, state patrol, a lot of other agencies that I can mention at a later time. But a tremendous arrival time. We got there and we were given notification by the dispatcher that one of the teachers happened to chase the shooting suspect out of the building immediately at that point.
Our officers entered the building. Went to the five injured students that were injured and got EMS in there right behind the door behind, and made sure the building was safe for the firemen and the paramedic to be going the door. With that was done, we started searching the areas and short thereafter we came up with the suspect. He is in custody. No name will be released because he hasn't been charged yet. He is a juvenile. The sad news is that I know from my people being downtown we have one deceased student right now. Five injured, recently just got called that the one student has passed away. That's the sad news for all of us today.
I want to ensure our community at Chardon that we are safe. All of the students at the high school and all of the school campuses have been reunited with their parents and that's all I have to say at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So four injured, one deceased?
MCKENNA: At this time we're going to introduce the superintendent for Chardon city schools. Joe?
JOE BERGANT, SUPERINTENDENT, CHARDON, OHIO SCHOOLS: Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Joe Bergant, the superintendent of Chardon local schools. At this time I would like to thank our law enforcement, first and foremost, for the quick response. As you may have been aware from a conversation this morning, we've had a number of disaster drills in the past. Thank god we've put those into place because our teaching staff did an excellent job in a very horrible, traumatic experience this morning.
Our prayers go out to the five victims and their families. First and foremost. And again, we shift our mode into looking at them. We feel so disheartened. This will take a moment for me to get back together here a minute. I certainly hope those family know that they are in our thoughts and our prayers.
We will be having a candlelight vigil service at St. Mary Church right across the street from our campus at 7:00 tomorrow night. We also have some grief counselors in place at our -- here at our middle school right next to us beginning at 3:00 until 7:00 tonight for anybody, teachers, students, community members, who have been impacted by this tragedy.
Once again, our students are safe because the remainder of our students are safe, home with their parents, 100 percent across the board to the district has been reported to me. Once again, it's a horrible tragedy. I just want to thank again, once again our law enforcement and especially want to thank our teaching staff who were well prepared to respond to a tragedy of this nature.
Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This time I want to give out the phone number again for all of the media. They definitely want to call 440-279- 2009. That would be the number where you would leave a name, phone number, and an e-mail address. As our press releases are brought up, we'll disseminate them from the sheriff's office. Our next get- together for an update will be at 4:00, same place. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: One gunman or more than one?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Reporting sad news here. An update about this Ohio school shooting. We heard from the police chief of Chardon, Tim McKenna, who now says that one of those five injured students has now died. That means one student killed and four injured in this school shooting that took place earlier this morning.
We also saw the superintendent of schools as well talking about how he thought that teachers and students handled themselves very well in this tragic situation that occurred earlier this morning, that there would be a vigil that will take place later for this community but obviously some very disappointing and sad news for that community. The fact that one of those students has now passed away.
The police chief also giving us an update saying that there is one suspect who is in custody four this shooting and that he is in juvenile detention. There had been some reports before, some speculation that the suspect was in fact a student. We can get some idea at least that this is a young person the fact that he is being held in juvenile detention at this time.
That's all we know about the shooter. Somebody did ask if it was more than one shooter. We didn't get a response from the police chief or the superintendent when they walked away. So there are still some questions as to how this came about but I do want to bring in somebody who knows a lot about what is taking place there and has been looking into this all morning, Mike Brooks. He is a law enforcement analyst for our sister network HLN and also law enforcement contributor "In Session"
And, Mike, we found out the sad news that you have this child who's now died. Give us a sense of what you know about what happened earlier today inside that building, inside that school?
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, the way law enforcement is talking, Suzanne, it is just one gunman that came into the school, apparently with a handgun because they do have a handgun also as evidence and opened fire. They are not saying what the motive for this shooter coming into school was. This particular high school does not have any kind of metal detectors as some high schools do. But we don't know any kind of motive.
But there was apparently a teacher who chased the gunman out of the school. And, you know, he could have saved many lives but the gunman was caught a short distance away. Police and canine officers tracked him down and that's where he was arrested.
But our affiliate, WEWS, Suzanne, is reporting on their Web site right now that FBI and local law enforcement, they're at the house of the suspected shooter and they're treating the house as a crime scene. But this is something that I would expect them to do early on in an investigation like this, go back, look at computers and cell phones, anything else, did he have any writings that this is going to happen. This is all part of their investigation.
MALVEAUX: And, Mike, I understand that one student told one of the local affiliates that this gunman may have actually posted threatening messages on Twitter or on Facebook. What do we know about his use of social media and whether or not there were other kids or people who might have picked up on this ahead of time?
BROOKS: Well, there was a -- this one student you're speaking off who spoke to our affiliate WWS, said that, you know, he talked about bringing a gun to school but everybody can kind of just blew it off as a joke but it's -- when you have an incident like this you can't blow things like that. Just say, they don't mean anything by it, it has to be looked into.
And that's -- and I just want to say if you're out there and you're a parent of a child, if -- tell your kid, if you see something, posted like that, say something to somebody. You know we looked -- remember the guy up at Times Square that time when there was this -- they were trying -- the guy was trying to blow up Times Square, if you see something, say something.
That is the key here, Suzanne, because could this have been prevented? Maybe, maybe not. But, still, if this guy, the shooter, posted something on Twitter, then somebody saw it and didn't say something, well, you have to nowadays, Suzanne. You just have to.
MALVEAUX: And do you know -- absolutely. Do you know anything more about this teacher who some consider a hero who actually ended up chasing this student, the gunman out of the school?
BROOKS: No, they are not giving the teacher's name. I'm sure a little bit later on we'll find out who this teacher was and what his actions were. I'm sure right now he's with law enforcement giving them a statement as to what he saw, what he heard, any actions he took, chasing this gunman out of the high school. But very heroic, and I tell you, I think he probably saved quite a few lives.
MALVEAUX: Mike Brooks, thank you very much. We appreciate it.
BROOKS: Thanks, Suzanne. Yes.
MALVEAUX: We're going to follow developments as well. The Ohio school shooting, a lot of details, a lot of questions still that are unanswered and of course the sad news now that one of those students has passed away. We're going to have much more after this very quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: We're following a breaking news story. I just want to recap this for you. It was originally an Ohio school shooting in which five were injured. We have now just learned from the police chief of Chardon, Ohio, that in fact one of those students has died. One student killed, four injured in Chardon, Ohio.
The school shooting that happened earlier this morning. It was just moments ago our affiliate, WEWS, sent us reaction from the students at the school. I want to play this for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Unbelievable morning. You think you'd never have to go through something like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all. I was -- I was in a classroom that was probably the farthest from the school. away from where it actually happened. I thought it was a drill, to be honest with you. But then they started giving, you know, we heard over the announcement that it was actually a serious deal. And so we were just hunkered down in a room, locked the door like we drilled over and over before. And then we got a knock on the door, we're evacuating, so it's just a freak, freak accident.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Everything run smoothly though when --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you drilled with these things before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, countless times.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Right. So this is your last year?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There wasn't any panic or anything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not at all.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Right. So what's the drill when you have a lockdown?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut the door, lock the door, put a black piece of paper over the window so they can't look in or out and then we both got on either side of the wall so even if they could see in, they couldn't see us. And we shut off the lights.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know of the people that were hurt?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not -- no, not personally. I just -- I know I'd recognize their names, but --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I mean what goes through your mind if you had a couple of words to say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just craziness. I heard they caught the kid on the run and it's just a wake-up call.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How glad are you it's over and nobody --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very relieved. Very relieved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Us, too.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: All right. Thank you. Get warm. Thank you for stopping.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: More details coming from that school and from students in particular. This is a school the students say that they had gone through these drills time and time again. They were much prepared for this.
We also learned from the police chief that the suspect is in custody. They believe he is a fellow student, a juvenile, who came into the school and who allegedly shot the other students and we also have reports of a teacher who is inside that school being called a hero today for chasing down the alleged gunman out of the school before that student -- that gunmen was apprehended.
We're going to have a lot more information, details. We're following that story very closely. The Ohio school shooting that happened earlier this morning.
We are also following, as well, things -- all things politics. We are just one day away from the crucial Republican primaries. We're talking about here in Arizona as well as Michigan. We're reporting from Phoenix because this is a state that is going to play an important role in who gets the Republican presidential nomination.
We're talking about 29 delegates that are at stake and we've talked to people here. And what do they worry about? They're worried about this kind of stuff. They're talking about losing their homes.
As of January, Arizona has the third worst foreclosure rate in the country. Also, we are talking about the Labor Department saying that unemployment rate in Arizona as of last December, 8.7 percent. There are only 15 other states that are in worse shape when it comes to the job front.
And we are finally talking about, before the Arizona primary, everybody is talking about gas prices. According to AAA, national average, $3.70 a gallon. That is up 29 cents from just a month ago. As expected, things are getting political. People are talking about it. Republican candidates blaming the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think if we go all out for energy independence to get free of the Middle East, that we can get to $2.50 a gallon gasoline.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The median income in America dropped by 10 percent in the last four years. Even as gas prices have doubled.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We now have $4 a gallon gasoline. Some are suggesting it's going to be $5 or maybe more this year. Why? Because the president's doing nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Yes, but the president says, there's not much he can do about it. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You know there are no quick fixes to this problem and you know we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices. If we're going to take control of our energy future and avoid these gas spikes down the line, then we need a sustained all of the above strategy that envelopes every available source of American energy. Oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, and more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So we talked to voters here about it, whether or not they believe the politicians are offering real solutions or if it's just a lot of hot air.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEVIN FLANAGAN, OWNER, 2FLYUS.COM: All right. Away we go. Welcome to my office.
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX (on camera): Beautiful.
FLANAGAN: You've got the best view in town.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): The view, Phoenix, Arizona. Small business owner, Kevin Flanagan.
(On camera): How long have you been doing this?
FLANAGAN: I've been flying hot air balloons for 28 years now. So I've been one of the luckiest guys around.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): But Kevin's luck is running out.
FLANAGAN: There's 105,000 cubic feet of just space above us. So the propane heats the air inside and that makes it fly. And it seems like whenever the gas prices go up, the propane prices shoot up as well. And just a few years ago we were less -- we're about $1.85 a gallon and now it's $2.99 a gallon. Just like overnight.
MALVEAUX (on camera): So the bottom line, how does that affect your profit?
FLANAGAN: It kind of takes any profit away. So right now I'd say most companies are operating at break even.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): So that's the view from 1,000 feet above. But what about on the ground?
(On camera): We decided to come here to the Desert's Edge RV camp. This is where folks travel across the country in their trailers, their RVs. These are the people who are really impacted by the rising price of gas.
This is home for now, yes?
DEAN BAKER, RV OWNER: This is our home. Our vacation home.
MALVEAUX: It's fantastic. I love it.
BAKER: Home away from home.
MALVEAUX: It's huge. It's really big. Tell me a little bit about -- what does it cost to fill the tank?
BAKER: Well, it's a 100-gallon tank and it will cost 12 -- $4 a gallon, $400 to fill the tank.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): For Dean Baker, that means cutting back on family vacations but the expense is still worth it.
BAKER: Being in this enclosed space with two little kids, a 5 and an 8-year-old, sometimes it will drive you crazy but it's great because, you know, you've got all, everything you need here. That family time of being together, real close. It's the close-knit time. It's the greatest part.
MALVEAUX (on camera): You can't beat that.
BAKER: Yes.
MALVEAUX (voice-over): At the local art fair we met chefs, Pam and Ron Maurer, who traveled all the way from Washington state.
We have the original flavor, heavy garlic and soy, with a little touch of cayenne.
MALVEAUX: They say higher gas prices mean lower sales.
RON MAURER, OWNER, MAURER'S FOODS: By midyear, if it's still as high or higher, it will translate into my product price and that means probably less sales that I will have as well.
MALVEAUX: And despite some big promises from the Republican candidates that they'll bring gas prices down, no one I talked to here was buying it.
(On camera): Is there anybody any of the Republican candidates who you think has a good idea to bring this place back?
FLANAGAN: You know, at this point I don't know. I'm kind of confused by politics because everybody is saying stuff and how it's all going to turn around. And you know the bottom result is at the pump.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: So a lot of folks say bottom line it's just at the pump.
But as a World War II veteran, he was carjacked. He crawled on his hands and knees to try to get help but nobody stopped. Today's "Talk Back," what would you do if you saw someone struggling for help?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's a chance to "Talk Back" on one of the stories of the day. This story really got us talking this morning. A World War II veteran is attacked. His car is stolen. He has to crawl on his hands and knees to get to a gas station. At first, nobody helps him. 86- year-old Aaron Brantley is on his way home from church. Somebody jumped him from behind, broke his leg, drove off in his car. It was all in broad daylight. As you can see from the video, people they just walked by as he is struggling for help.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON BRANTLEY, CARJACKING VICTIM: I opened the door and he proceeded to get in. And all I knew, I was on the ground. They don't care about you or anything. I was just saying, boy, it's a shame that things are like they are now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So when he finally makes it inside the station, he offered money to a man who helped him out, it's a good Samaritan, he did take him home but he didn't accept the money. So it brings us to today's "Talk Back" question. Because we're watching this video. It's hard, it's surprising to see but people just passed this by guy. So would you help somebody if you saw them and you passed them by and they're struggling for help?
Send us your thoughts, Facebook.com/suzanneCNN. We're going to read some of your responses at the end of the hour.
All right. Things looking up for the economy but not everybody is actually feeling the benefit. Christine Romans says that now more than ever spend and invest wisely.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, YOUR BOTTOM LINE: Your job, your home, your investments. On paper you're doing OK. Right? Unemployment is going down. But the long-term unemployed, those out of the workforce for 26 weeks or more are still struggling. Home prices are at the point in more than a decade. And while the payroll tax cut is putting an extra 40 bucks in your more than $40 in your pocket, that's likely going to pay for rising gas prices.
Rick Newman is the chief business correspondent for "U.S. News ad World Report." Rick, it's a two-speed recovery, right? Are we coming out of the recession in the financial crisis and there are winners and losers and it's harder to get from this group into this one?
RICK NEWMAN, CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT, U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: Yes, absolutely. I think of this as a bar-belly economy where some people are at the top. That's a big group up there. They're generally doing fine, getting back to their jobs, getting raises and promotions, their investments are picking up a little bit.
ROMANS: Coming back to normal for those people.
NEWMAN: Whatever they think normal is. Yes, and things are pretty group. But at the other end are people who may never get back to what they used to think of as normal and I think we certainly see this with regard to education. I mean if you don't have a college education, the statistics are very clear, it's anecdotally very clear. Those are -- the people who don't have the right education are basically going to be dropping out of the economy. I mean it's just crucially important these days to have the right skills right now.
ROMANS: What do you do to make sure that you're on the right side of this two-speed recovery? Constantly learning, you say.
NEWMAN: I think we have to think about ourselves the same way. So always ask yourselves, what new skills can I be developing? If you're in manufacturing, can you get technology skills to help you operate the latest machinery, and things like this. Everybody needs to learn a little bit about social media. The new technology, I mean technology is changing so fast and that's really becoming a differentiator so that people who are able to apply what's happening in technology to whtaever they do are the ones who are going to get ahead.. .
ROMANS: Rick Newman, thank you.
I'm Christine Romans with this week's "Smart is the New Rich".
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: All right. The site of our voters in Arizona right here are going to be picking their choice for Republican candidate for president. So we are looking at what is at stake, who is going to come out on top. We'll talk about that straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: He calls himself America's toughest sheriff -- caught up with Arizona's Joe Arpaio in Fountain Hills, Arizona this weekend.
He was signing this pink underwear. You might have seen this before. You remember he became famous for making prisoners where pink. He's got a lot of pull with Arizona voters.
And the Republican presidential candidates they are going after his endorsement big time ahead of tomorrow's primary. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Tell me a little bit about who you've seen later. I know you're a very popular person among the candidates.
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: And who I -- they all -- I guess a couple came to my office, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and of course Perry, I campaigned for him in Iowa. I've seen a lot of Iowan people.
Romney called me three or four months ago. I was his campaign three years ago. Newt called me last week and so we talk about immigration and they also want my endorsement.
MALVEAUX: Of course, they want your endorsement. Who are you going to give your endorsement to?
ARPAIO: I know I'm not tall, dark and handsome. So I haven't decided.
MALVEAUX: You haven't decided? Why not?
ARPAIO: Well, let's see what happens. They are all good people and let's see what happens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: He's being coy now. He says he's not going to make an announcement before the primary. We'll see. We've got have more of my conversation with Sheriff Joe Arpaio that is tomorrow. We're going to go head to head on immigration. That is tomorrow at CNN starting at 11:00 Eastern.
Back to politics as well, the last-minute push for Arizona right here and Michigan. The latest polls in Michigan showing Mitt Romney gaining a tiny lead over Rick Santorum. Santorum advisers say we have already won there.
Well, let's bring in Dana Bash and see how this is shaking out. It seems like Romney and Santorum battling it out to be the man of the people, right? Trying to make President Obama look like the elitist. Let's listen to something that Santorum said over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob. There are good, decent men and women who work very hard every day and put their skills to test that are not taught by some college professor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: All right. Dana, what do we think about this? He said the liberal college professor. Do you think this is working for his base?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you look at the fact that he's in a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney in Mitt Romney's home state, it looks like -- when it comes to the polls, I mean, this is classic, classic Rick Santorum and the kind of voters that he is going for.
Mostly blue collar voters, those who don't have an education, those who maybe historically could have voted -- been those Reagan Democrats, but aren't socially conservative and don't like Mitt Romney for various reasons.
Interestingly, our colleagues behind me pointed out that this is something that Rick Santorum has said before, called Barack Obama a snob. But the fact of the matter is, it's very different in terms of context. What he's talking about it in Michigan and when everybody is paying attention to every word he says.
MALVEAUX: Yes, sure. I mean, they also -- I guess they said that back in 2008, right? That he was an elitist in some way. We heard from Romney as well. He was trying to appear as the every man at the Daytona 500 over the weekend. What did he say?
BASH: Well, he did make a very, very specific pitch to go and try to appeal to those so-called NASCAR voters, but it may have backfired. I tell you, that Democrats are having a field day with something that Mitt Romney said when he was there.
Asked about the fact that, you know, is he a NASCAR fan and his response was effectively, I don't know so much about the sport, but I know some of the owners. That is not something that exactly appeals to those NASCAR voters and NASCAR workers, the people who are out there at the NASCAR events every day, I don't know that they have a lot of relationship with people who own the cars and so forth.
MALVEAUX: Right, probably not the best length there to make. And Dana, I understand that the candidates also took on President Obama for apologizing for the Koran burnings that happened in Afghanistan. This is what Romney said first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With regards to the apology, I think for a lot of people the statistics in their throat to the idea that we're there having lost thousands of individuals to casualty and death.
We've made an enormous contribution to help the people there achieve freedom and for us to be apologizing at a time like this is something, which is very difficult to the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, Dana, what do we make of this and the fact that you've got both of these candidates going after Obama?
BASH: That's right. Newt Gingrich was the first one to do this. Rick Santorum is now saying and you just played what Mitt Romney is saying. This is kind of easy pickings for the Republican candidates to go after the Democratic president.
And also to try to gin up their potential voters in these Republican primaries for tomorrow. I mean, what -- from their perspective enrages people who are kind of America first voters than the president of the United States apologizing for something like this.
But you know this because you and I covered the Bush White House together during Abu Ghraib. It is not unprecedented. Maybe to do this so soon, but not unprecedented in general for a U.S. president or administration to apologize for something that they clearly think was wrong and ignited some very real anti-American sentiment in the region.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely. And Dana, finally, I imagine they are looking at women voters, female voters as a really critical group there when you have the race so close, neck-and-neck.
BASH: Absolutely. You know, those voters in every race are important, but particularly when you're looking at some of these areas. I notice you picked the sunny state, not Michigan. Well done.
But, look, these voters -- these female voters are very important when Newt Gingrich was kind of higher in the polls and the Romney campaign and Democrats to some extent are really, really trying to paint Rick Santorum as anti-woman because of the things that he's talked about serving in the military and contraception and so on.
And what he has done, Rick Santorum, has pushed back and said, that's not true. It's my personal belief. Look at my wife. Karen Santorum, who he says is a strong woman and people who know them I could tell you. I say that she definitely has a very strong voice in that family.
But the female voter, no question, is going to be big here in the two contests as they have been in the past several contests.
MALVEAUX: Yes. Dana, I spoke to several female voters. They are undecided. They still don't know. You know, I mean, tomorrow's the big day. So we will see which side they actually fall on. We did pick sunny Arizona.
BASH: Yes, very smart.
MALVEAUX: All right, Dana, thank you so much.
Joining us tomorrow night for America's Choice 2012. We're following, of course, Arizona here, Michigan primaries. We're going to have a special edition of "JOHN KING USA" that is at 6:00 Eastern.
And then complete live coverage of the results starting at 7:00 Eastern with my friends and colleagues, Wolf Blitzer and the rest of the CNN's Political Team.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: GOP presidential race, coming to Arizona, that's right here tomorrow. That's why we are here. I want to bring in an expert on the local scene.
This is Bruce Merrill. He is with us, a political scientist from Arizona State University. Thank you for joining us. It's beautiful out here, a little windy.
BRUCE MERRILL, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: Well, it is. With the political rhetoric the way it is, I hate to use the term apologize, but it's only going to be 72 degrees here in Arizona.
MALVEAUX: You don't have to apologize for that. You were joking you were saying you were one of those professors that Santorum was talking about.
MERRILL: Well, I think CNN has a lot of courage to put a professor on after Santorum's comments so congratulations.
MALVEAUX: Tell me a little about -- We've been talking to some of the voters and what struck us is that people seem to be kind of apathetic here.
You talk about the candidates and they don't have a strong sense of who they want to vote for. A lot of people are still undecided and there's like this apathy factor here.
Does that help or hurt tomorrow when you look at Romney or Santorum or these other candidates?
MERRILL: Well, it's one reason that this race in Arizona is as close as it is. With Romney's support here, the race shouldn't be as close as it is.
But I think what we are seeing with Romney here, and across the country with the Republicans, is that there is -- first, there's not a lot of interest in the candidates because the right wing still has not connected with Romney.
They don't like Romney. They didn't like McCain here in Arizona four years ago and so the right wing of the Republican Party is still looking for someone that they can identify with. Romney's working with very hard to make that connection.
He should win Arizona, but it really gets back to your point. It depends on the turnout. The lower the turnout, the greater is the probability that there could be an upset. I don't expect that. I expect Romney to win, but it's not impossible Santorum could win if the turnout is very low.
MALVEAUX: When you talk to voters here, some of the things that really affect them, that make it very emotional, are not necessarily at the top of the list when it comes to issues and when we talk about politics in the election.
Because we're talking about gas prices and there's really little these candidates can do about gas prices, but that's what people are talking about here and they are very frustrated because they say they don't see any of these Republicans as being a viable option right now.
MERRILL: Well, and that's the controversy over the social issue focus of many of these candidates. In order to get the nomination, Republican candidates have to move so far to the right that they really are talking to a very small group of Republican voters.
And so the problem is that once they get the nomination, whoever gets the nomination, they are going to be pretty far out of the mainstream of American politics.
It still gets back, in my opinion, to the economy. Things are getting better. Obama's gone way up in the polls. But the great threat to Obama is $5, $6 gas in September.
MALVEAUX: That's what a lot of people are saying here.
MERRILL: As you said, Suzanne, what happened -- people think politics is rational. It isn't. It's emotional. And something like not being able to fill your gas tank, you're going to take that out on someone.
MALVEAUX: Or not fill your air balloon, your hot air balloon, as one of the businessmen took us on a ride.
MERRILL: There you go.
MALVEAUX: Thank you so much, Professor Merrill.
MERRILL: Oh, delighted to be here.
MALVEAUX: Really nice to see you.
But politicians sometimes say some pretty funny things, especially when they're under pressure. Well, that's where Politifact comes to the rescue. We're going to separate the fact from fiction, up next.
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MALVEAUX: You hear a lot of statements getting tossed around by politicians. Some of them can get pretty outrageous. We want to separate political fact from campaign fiction. To help us do that, want to bring in Bill Adair. He's Washington bureau chief of "The Tampa Bay Times."
And, Bill, great to see you.
I want to start off with this one. A claim from presidential -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. He says, during the last debate in Arizona, Romney said, "this president should have put in place crippling sanctions against Iran, he did not." True or false.
BILL ADAIR, POLITIFACT.COM & "THE TAMPA BAY TIMES": We rated that one mostly false. The reality is that Obama has not been able to do everything that he wanted or that the Republicans would have wanted, which is to get the United Nations to bank -- to back sanctions against Iran's central bank. But Obama has done a lot beyond that. What he can do in conjunction with Congress. So mostly false on that one.
MALVEAUX: All right. Now, this is from Rick Santorum. He was criticizing the president for going to France a year later to meet with French President Nicholas Sarkozy. He said, in the last 20 years, the French have not "stood by the United States on foreign policy." What do you make, true or false?
ADAIR: We give that one a pants on fire. You know, we all remember back before the Iraq War that France was not with the U.S. when it came to going to war with Iraq. That it had pushed for multilateral -- some multilateral efforts but -- which, of course, resulted in the famous freedom fries. They renamed french fries. But the reality is, since then, France has backed the U.S. on major international objectives like Afghanistan, Libya, the war against terrorism and so it's just ridiculously false to say France has not been with us. Pants on fire for that one.
MALVEAUX: All right. Pants on fire. That's the worst you could possibly get.
Bill Adair, thank you so much for keeping them honest. Appreciate it.
ADAIR: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: So, a World War II veteran is carjacked, injured, and then no one helps him as he crawls by. Today's "Talk Back," what would you do?
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MALVEAUX: Following a breaking news story out of Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio. That is where four students were injured and one killed when a gunman, an alleged fellow student, opened fire in the cafeteria of Chardon High School.
I want to go to Josh Sophacak. He is a student. He's a freshman at this high school. He is on the phone. He joins us now.
And if you can, tell us. I understand that you passed by the cafeteria where this shooting took place. Can you tell us what you heard or what you saw?
JOSH SOPHACAK, STUDENT OF SCHOOL DURING SHOOTING (via telephone): Yes. I was walking outside of the cafeteria after morning announcements, getting ready to go to one of my classes, and I heard a shot. It sounded like a firecracker or something. So I paused and everything went in like slow motion from there. I was -- I guess I was in shock, I could say. I heard about three or four more shots and I ran to the door and out to the elementary school adjacent to the building.
MALVEAUX: And, Josh, when you heard those shots fired, did you hear anyone scream? Did you hear anyone go down? Did you realize what was happening? SOPHACAK: I didn't -- I don't think I heard any screams because I was in such -- I was in slow motion. I just heard the shots and I was out. I didn't want anything to do with that.
MALVEAUX: Did you actually see the shooter?
SOPHACAK: No. I had my back turned to the cafeteria and I heard the shots and then I was -- ran out. But I know one of my friends, who saw the shooter, and just ran along with me.
MALVEAUX: And were you by yourself when you passed the cafeteria? Were there a lot of other students around you? Can you set the scene for us?
SOPHACAK: Yes. It was my health class. I think there's about like 23 of us. And when we ran outside of the door to the parking lot, I think there was about half of us there and a couple other kids that weren't from our class.
MALVEAUX: And, Josh, I understand that you know or perhaps are familiar with the story about that teacher who actually chased this gunman away. What can you tell us about that?
SOPHACAK: I know the teacher. I know he's a football coach and a study hall teacher. From my understanding, he's pretty cool. And that's all I heard.
MALVEAUX: Do you know his name, this football coach?
SOPHACAK: Yes. Frank Hall (ph).
MALVEAUX: Frank Hall?
SOPHACAK: Yes.
MALVEAUX: And what are students saying about what Mr. Hall did today?
SOPHACAK: I think it was heroic. I mean he risked his life to get a guy out of the school to save other students. It was --
MALVEAUX: And, Josh, where are you now? Do you -- go ahead. I'm sorry.
SOPHACAK: Oh, I just said it was a -- it was a risky move, but I think it paid off.
MALVEAUX: And you are in a safe place now? Are you with other students? Have you had a chance to talk to other students about what you've experienced today?
SOPHACAK: Yes. When we were in the parking lot, I think we were all -- we were all talking about it, trying to puzzle it together. And right now I am with my mom and dad and other friends at their house just recovering.
MALVEAUX: Josh, did you know any of the students who were shot or even that student who died earlier today? SOPHACAK: Yes, I recognized him, but I wasn't like friends with them.
MALVEAUX: Josh, we are so happy that you're safe, that you're OK, that you're with your mom. And we want you to take good care of yourselves and your friends as well, OK?
SOPHACAK: All right. Thank you. You too.
MALVEAUX: OK. Thank you, Josh.
We're going to have more about this breaking news story, this shooting that took place at a high school in Ohio.
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