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GOP Candidates Prepare for Southern Primaries; February Jobs Numbers Sparking Optimism; U.S. Soldier Rampage in Kandahar; The Veepstakes

Aired March 11, 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, 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.

First in Afghanistan, an American soldier leaves his base and goes on a shooting rampage today. The soldier we're told is a U.S. Army staff sergeant allegedly going house to house in two villages near Kandahar killing as many as 16 civilians, most of them children. NATO officials confirmed the shooting soldier turned himself in.

The president of Syria and U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan spoke face to face again today in Damascus. Annan is the highest level diplomat to meet with President Bashar al-Assad since Syria's violent uprising started a year ago. The former U.N. secretary general asked for a ceasefire and wants Syria to allow relief agencies access to people caught in the fighting, but the violence goes on across Syria with at least 25 people killed today.

Hundreds are gathering in Japan today to mark the one-year anniversary of a devastating earthquake and tsunami. Nearly 16,000 people died in the disaster. Another 3,000 are still missing.

Right now to the next big battleground in the presidential race, the deep south, Alabama and Mississippi hold their primaries in just 48 hours. Newt Gingrich is hoping his southern roots will give him an edge over this closest rivals there Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney. The latest polling shows an extremely tight race between the three candidates in Alabama.

And here's the most recent snapshot of Mississippi. A new American Research poll shows Gingrich leading there with 35 percent of the vote, but still in a statistical dead heat with Romney. And in the overall delegate hunt, Romney remains the clear front-runner. He has 458 delegates. Santorum is in second place with 203, followed by Gingrich with 118 and Paul trailing the pack with 66 delegates.

All right. Mississippi voters are getting a lot of face time with the candidates. Today Rick Santorum held meet and greet at restaurants in Tupelo and (INAUDIBLE). Three hours from now, Newt Gingrich attends a church service in the town of Brandon followed by a campaign rally. Both candidates appeared on a Sunday morning talk shows and were asked about their chances come Tuesday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're looking at a clean sweep, you think, on Tuesday in the south.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it's a pretty tough battle ground down there, it's Newt's backyard. Of course, you know, they've got Mitt the establishment. We're out there running the insurgent campaign, and we feel good. I mean all the polls show us within striking distance and we're working here in Mississippi (INAUDIBLE) and I are here today and we'll be in Alabama tomorrow and we're just going to hustle.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to get a lot of delegates from both Mississippi and Alabama and the odds are pretty good that we'll win them, we're campaigning in both Alabama and Mississippi today and tomorrow. We have great reaction and great crowd response and we have good organization in both states. We're always playing catch up a little bit to Romney because of the scale of his money and how early he starts advertising. But the truth is, we have caught up pretty dramatically and I think we'll have a good day on Tuesday, but I'm committed to going all the way to Tampa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum in the South tomorrow, Mitt Romney. He will hold an event in Mobile, Alabama. Romney is claiming victory in caucuses held this weekend in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. But it was Rick Santorum who captured the biggest prize, the contest in Kansas.

Joining us now live from Overland Park, Kansas, CNN political reporter Shannon Travis. So Shannon, Santorum's win there quite decisive?

All right, Shannon, can you hear me? Looks like we're going to have to work on our audio there, with Shannon Travis there in Kansas. We'll try to reconnect with him.

All right. So what is at stake in the south for the GOP candidates? We'll talk with a southern political observer straight ahead.

But first, "Saturday Night Live" is having a little bit of fun with a comment Newt Gingrich made earlier in the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Despite only winning the super Tuesday primary in Georgia, Newt Gingrich vowed to continue his campaign saying "I'm the tortoise, I take it one step at a time, also if you roll me on to my back, I can never get up."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to this special hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. We're taking time out every Sunday to hear from the presidential contenders in their own words on the campaign trail.

So the battle is on in the deep south ahead of Tuesday's primary in Mississippi and Alabama. Mitt Romney must show he can win the support of evangelical Christians and conservative voters and he's trying to hard to show his southern appeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The governor said I had to say it right, good morning, y'all. Good to be with you. I got it sorted right this morning, with a biscuit and some cheesy grits, I'll tell you, delicious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: But his competitors think he may be trying a little too hard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: Unlike one of my competitors, I have had grits before. And that may explain if anything why everybody in Mississippi and Alabama ought to vote for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Newt Gingrich's campaign is struggling to survive and cannot afford a loss in either state. But Rick Santorum hopes the former speaker will pull out of the race leaving him as Romney's sole challenger from the right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANTORUM: The speaker can say it as long as he wants, but I think the better opportunity to make sure that we nominate a conservative is to give us an opportunity to go head to head with Governor Romney at some point and hopefully that will occur sooner rather than later, but we'll wait and see what the speaker decides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, here now to talk more about the GOP race in the south is southern political expert and columnist, Tom Baxter. Good to see you.

So Gingrich is not giving up. He's hoping that his southern roots will help him out. But can you be a little bit overly confident as he goes, as we head into Mississippi and Alabama?

TOM BAXTER, COLUMNIST: Well, this is the ball game for him. So he's got to try to be confident. And the polls that you cited a little bit earlier in the hour has some - maybe some grounds for optimism because the Rasmussen poll that came out on Friday had Romney up seven in Mississippi. So if Gingrich has made that kind of move, that's a good sign.

WHITFIELD: Optimism for Gingrich but at the same time maybe a little room for improvement or optimism for Romney too because other polls are showing that it's fairly close between he, Romney and Newt Gingrich whereas others show that Santorum just might be appealing to the Christian evangelicals in the southern states of Alabama and Mississippi. It's difficult to call, isn't it?

BAXTER: It is and if you're going to watch for any kind of a tipping point, it might be, you know, Santorum's win in Kansas, which is not unlikely states in a lot of ways. And also the fact that in Alabama, there's a state supreme court race which has drawn Judge Roy Moore, you remember the 10 commandments judge and another pretty strong conservative, Charlie (INAUDIBLE). That might help Santorum, too.

WHITFIELD: So this really is the fight about who is most conservative. Alabama, Mississippi, stronghold, conservative state, whoever whether it's one or more than one candidate to win those primaries, will that mean that the base will more likely kind of throw it's support behind that candidate? How important are these southern states?

BAXTER: Well, you know, if Mitt Romney doesn't win solidly in these states, it's not the end of the world for him. I mean this looks kind of awkward with him, talking about grits and biscuits and all that sort of stuff.

WHITFIELD: But it's kind of charming too, isn't it?

BAXTER: It's charming in its way, and really if he pulls the sort of vote that it looks like he might be able to do from the polls, maybe roughly a third of the vote in those two states, given the, you know, the things that he said to contend with, that's probably not so bad.

WHITFIELD: Well, if, say, Romney ends up being the nominee just because of his delegate count right now, people are feeling like he's in a pretty good position, if he doesn't do well in the southern states during the primaries, then what happens come the fall? Is it just by virtue of him being the Republican nominee if it comes to that, what those southern states would back him or would he have to change his strategy a little bit more to be more appealing in the fall than he was in the primary season?

BAXTER: You know, I think you can pretty comfortably put Alabama and Mississippi in the Republican column in the fall. I don't think there's any worry about carrying those states. But I guess the worry is that if you're not really rock solid there, there might be a problem in Georgia, there might be a problem in North Carolina, and so I think Republicans had to worry about their intensity factor in the south.

WHITFIELD: And quickly, if Newt Gingrich does do well, does not win in Alabama or Mississippi, is it time for him to reassess? Or do you see he and his camp reassessing? BAXTER: He said that he is going to go on to Tampa. He's been pretty adamant about that but there was sort of kind of a wistful quality to the campaign here in the last couple of days. So let's just say how he shows on Tuesday.

WHITFIELD: It's been written too that there's been some subliminal messages in Newt Gingrich's, you know, vernacular that he's been using a lot more past tense, I ran because of XYZ, as opposed to saying, you know, "I am running. I'm in the race." Is it worth reading into?

BAXTER: Maybe a little early to read too much but after Tuesday night, that past tense might become permanent.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tom Baxter, thanks so much. We're going to talk with you again later on this hour. Appreciate it.

All right. So as we have been telling you, Mitt Romney is claiming victory in caucuses held this weekend in Guam and Northern Mariana Islands but it was Rick Santorum who captured the biggest prize that being in Kansas.

So we're going to try this one more time to our guy in Overland Park, Kansas. CNN political reporter, Shannon Travis. OK. Yes. I'm seeing a big smile. That means you can hear us. So quite a decisive win for Rick Santorum, is he, you know, hoping to, I guess make more ground or gain more ground from this momentous victory for him?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I mean, Fred, a win is a win, right? He won pretty big here in Kansas yesterday in the caucuses. Let's take a look at the number, at the breakdown of the results. Rick Santorum 51 percent, Mitt Romney 21 percent, Gingrich 14 percent, Ron Paul 13 percent. So that means the Rick Santorum had a 30-point difference between him and Romney. Also Rick Santorum is - CNN estimates, he's going to claim 33 of the 40 delegates that were at stake here in Kansas.

But let's put this in perspective, Fred. Mitt Romney pretty much ceded the state to his rivals, right. He cancelled his plans to campaign here and left it pretty much to Ron Paul and Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney had a big day himself yesterday. He claimed, he estimated about 45 delegates by winning in different contests that we're also held in Wyoming, Northern Marianna Islands, Guam, the Virgin Islands.

So he did pretty well as well as picking up seven delegates, we estimate here, in Kansas. So that's why Mitt Romney's campaign is claiming, you know what? We had a big stay, (INAUDIBLE) a statement here from Andrea Saul, his communications director. Let me read part of it. She says, "In what was hyped as a big opportunity for Rick Santorum, he again fell short of making that dent in Mitt Romney's already large delegate lead" and as you mentioned, on top, we know that Mitt Romney is doing very well in the delegate lead. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. We're talking about 250 delegates. So is the Santorum camp saying that they think they can make up that ground in the near future?

TRAVIS: Yes, I mean it's going to be ground - it's going to be a steep a climb. But look at it like this, already, you know you need 1144 delegates to win the nomination. Mitt Romney has 40 percent of the delegates so far, again, based on our CNN estimation. Rick Santorum has 17 percent of them. So is it possible. It will be a very steep climb for these remaining contests for Rick Santorum to catch up to Mitt Romney.

Obviously, we know that Mitt Romney will continue to do well on a lot of these contests. He won't win them all, of course, but he'll play second, maybe even third in some but that still means of course d-day delegates, keep paying attention to that word, racking up delegates. Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Shannon Travis, thanks so much. Glad we were able to reconnect. Appreciate that.

All right. There's a new Republican VP list out. And it's got a lot of people talking. Our Josh Levs has that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST "CONAN": According to exit polls, Mitt Romney is struggling with voters who describe themselves as very conservative. Now however, Mitt is doing great with voters who describe themselves as totally freaked out by Rick Santorum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. That was late night comedian Conan O'Brien. We'll continue to delve into the issues on the presidential campaign right now. Every Sunday, we're spending this hour in the NEWSROOM to allow you to hear from the contenders as they spell out their ideas for the future of the United States.

So Mitt Romney heads into Tuesday's primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, leading the delegate count, and if he becomes the GOP nominee, he will have to take some key states, it will rather take some beating in some key states in order to beat President Obama.

CNN looks at John King at how the numbers should fall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, HOST "JOHN KING USA": It's a bit early for this but let's just say hypothetically that Mitt Romney is your nominee. This is the map from 2008. Based on the census results, President Obama with today's delegation of electoral college votes would have a bigger margin than he actually won in the last election.

But now let's go through them. Most people believe that New Hampshire will be a sing state this time, will take it away. Republicans hope to put Pennsylvania in play. That's for the sake of this hypothetical - Democrats at home, don't get nervous. We're going to take it away. Virginia and North Carolina, impressive wins for Obama last time. Let's make them swing states, Florida swing state, Ohio a swing state.

Most people think Indiana will go back to Republicans. Take it away for now. You have had some Republicans who say they can play here and here, I'll do it for the sake of argument. Ohio will be a swing state. Colorado will be a swing state. Nevada, he highest unemployment in the country, you have to make that a swing state.

Some democrats say, "hey, Arizona could be a swing state. Let's make that yellow. New Mexico, I'm going to leave that for President Obama's for now, some Republicans are already arguing with me in November.

Let's just start right here, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, right. There will be more. There will be more. People at home might think so. Let's say this. That gets Obama down to 207. The Republicans to 169. I think our chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin is listening to this as we go.

Let's just, Wolf, let's just say prove it to me Republicans. I'm going to keep these in the democratic column until you can prove otherwise, right? We were in Florida recently for a debate, even the Democrats down there think this is is very tough for President Obama. Let's give it to the Republicans. Let's, for the sake of argument, split the difference. Let Obama keep Virginia, and the president's camp there, give North Carolina to the Republicans. Where are we now? Well, the president's getting close. That was a pickup for the president. Let's get that one.

I'm convinced, at least for now that just as I say prove it to me Republicans here, prove it to me Democrats there. Look at this when we get here, now you have Nevada, Iowa, Indiana, most people are back to the Republican fold, for the sake of argument, watch this. That hasn't voted Republican for president for a long time. Prove it to me, if Ohio does swing, you could have a scenario, Wolf, look at that. Look at that right.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": You need 370.

KING: Three small states, Nevada - let's say the Latino vote right now convinces me, that one favors the Democrats, OK? Where did we start this campaign? That would be Iowa and New Hampshire. Is it going to come down to this? Probably not. It probably comes down to Ohio or Florida but you could have a scenario where you fight state by state and you come down to a tiny state, where, if the president wins Iowa, he gets to 268, and then we fight it out, Mitt Romney, can you win New Hampshire again or President Obama get New Hampshire?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: OK. Thanks a lot, John King on that.

So if Romney does get the nomination, who would be his vice president. Maybe a little early to talk about that. But it hasn't stopped some political watchers already and a new list is out that's getting a whole lot of buzz. Josh Levs has more on that. Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. I mean there's no nominee yet. So how can you know.

WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE). Somebody is.

LEVS: Exactly, but here's the thing. The talk that happens now about possible vice presidential candidates actually is part of the horserace. We saw the same thing four years ago. Part of what happens is that names get floated and then campaigns and party establishments watch to see how people react to those possibilities and sometimes the media starts looking into people, exposes certain things about possible VP candidates. So even what happens this early could ultimately have an impact on who the nominee will choose when he gets there.

So there's a new list out from the "National Journal," which is non-partisan. They operate something called hotline. They're giving their own assessment on who might right now be leading the pack in what they're calling the veepstakes. I haven't said that word in four years. Here it goes again.

Take a look. So this is interesting. In the new list that just came out. They're putting Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell at the top. They point to a couple of things. One thing they say is there's this controversial battle over an anti-abortion measure in this state that helped re-focus attention on his conservative background. That could potentially help someone like Mitt Romney shore up support among conservatives. Also potentially help him take Virginia, they're saying.

Now, next one, a familiar name to us, Senator Marco Rubio in Florida. Now, we've reported ourselves in December that at the time he was leading a survey and what people might want to see for the Republican vice president. They ranked him number one as well. He's very popular, but they question whether he's had adequate scrutiny by the media so far.

Let's (INAUDIBLE) for a few more here. Governor Chris Christie, fixture on CNN. You've seen him many times, very popular in New Jersey. But listen to what they say about him. This is a quote, "Two white guys from the northeast may not be the image that Romney's team is going for."

All right. A couple more here. Let's go to number four, Senator Rob Portman out of Ohio and they say that he (INAUDIBLE) as really confident and he has Washington credentials, which could potentially help Romney. They also say "he's never going to send chills down the spine of the Republican Party." They list two more here. Republican Bobby Jindal at number five, the governor in Louisiana. This is an interesting one. They say he brings in youth and diversity as those credentials. Also, however, he endorsed Rick Perry, early on before Rick Perry dropped out of the race for president. So might that have an effect.

And the final one we're seeing, interesting one Paul Ryan, who's the budget committee chairman. He openly supports Romney's tax plan. And so Romney would have a spokesman for his economic policies in him. However, Representative Ryan has said he does not want to run for the presidency this time, would he even be interested for the VP. Who knows? All right. All that said -

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: Let's show some video show. We really want to couch this in what little we know right now. If we look back four years ago, think about what happened then. President Obama went with a failed presidential contender, Joe Biden. And as we know, Senator John McCain went just completely off the grid and shows Sarah Palin, governor out of Alaska who was predicted by almost no one in the Washington establishment. So you cannot know early on, what you can see, what will be interesting, Fred, is now that these names are out there from "National Journal" hot line, (INAUDIBLE) in the coming days, the coming weeks, how will people react, that's what we'll watch for.

WHITFIELD: Yes. So in these veepstakes -

LEVS: Yes.

WHITFIELD: No women?

LEVS: Correct. In what has been listed so far, no women. However, I will tell you this, you will find it interesting. We're inviting you all to weigh in on Facebook and Twitter. And I got my screen up here and Fred, one of the first post I got today was from someone saying that he believes Condoleezza Rice should be considered for the vice presidency.

But as I said, last time Sarah Palin wasn't mentioned early on either. So, you know, it could turn out to be anybody but so far this is what is being put out there.

WHITFIELD: Interesting.

LEVS: And Fred, before I go, we're going to do a little 180 here. Something special is going to happen.

WHITFIELD: OK.

LEVS: Because this show is always so much fun, and one of the reasons we love it is our wonderful producer who is leaving us today.

WHITFIELD: I know.

LEVS: To whom we must now say goodbye. Pamela Westmond. P. West, the one and only is heading off to the bright light of another great city. We love her. We wish her the absolute best and we already miss her. She's brought you so much great television, folks.

WHITFIELD: She really has. And she worked so hard on this program and everything that she involves herself in. She takes it to the next level, all the time. Giant commitment, way far ahead of anybody else. So we wish you the best, and we're going to miss you, Pam. LEVS: We'll miss you, Pam. Bye.

WHITFIELD: But we'll be thinking about her all the time. Where's my hankie?

LEVS: I know. I better get out of there.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Thanks, Josh.

And Pam, thanks to you.

OK. So let's get back to the race for 2012, for the White House. What issues are at stake in Tuesday's primaries in Mississippi and Alabama. We'll talk more to our southern political observer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to the special hour of the "CNN Newsroom." We're focusing on politics, allowing you to hear from the 2012 presidential contenders and we've been talking this hour about how important Tuesday's Southern primaries are for the GOP presidential candidates but what are the voters looking for.

Southern political expert Tom Baxter back with me again. All right. Let's talk about the main issues that voters in Mississippi and Alabama want to hear and are these four Republican candidates addressing any or all of these issues.

BAXTER: You know, you would think in a state where in the middle of last year, a third of the people were on food stamps like Alabama that they would be talking about maybe disaster relief or what do we do about the tornadoes and stuff like that.

But I really do believe when you're talking about the Republican electorate in both these states, you're talking about people who are specifically concerned with the big national issues. They're concerned with too much government spending and any issues that might have arisen locally.

WHITFIELD: So in two states that share some commonality is whether it be the economy, joblessness that is fairly high and even the education departments all taking a hit in those two states. Are voters relying on these candidates to talk about these, local issues or do they want to hear more about these national issues to be part of that dialogue?

BAXTER: No, these are states that are not really haven't ever been in the real house of national politics very much with in the primary season. So it is refreshing to them to get this kind of attention. And I think that as I say, they really are thinking of the national story rather than their local story right now.

WHITFIELD: You talk about tornadoes, Mississippi, Alabama; they're part of that tornado alley. And most recently, we heard from candidate Ron Paul who said he would like to see that tornado or disaster ravaged state not be able to rely on federal funding. Does that kind of statement kind of cancel him out of contention in states like Alabama and Mississippi as it pertains to disaster relief, they're often hit by either tornadoes or even hurricanes.

BAXTER: Ron Paul's down in single digits in those states and the libertarian strain's not as strong in the Republican Party there as it is out west. I don't think it's going to really make a lot of difference although it will probably irate some voters over there.

WHITFIELD: How do these candidates appeal to the southern voter? The south does not vote in summon know lithic way. However when you had Newt Gingrich who claimed his most recent home in Georgia and said he really is the southern candidate. Is that enough to allow him to appeal to Alabama the neighboring state of Alabama or Mississippi?

BAXTER: Well as you just said it's not a monolithic region anymore. And in terms of the Paul campaign neither one of the candidates will approach it that way. It's not enough to just say oh I'm southern and I eat grits that is not going to do it. But for these conservative Republican voters it's whether they think the candidate is really consistent with the right wing of the Republican Party, what they see as the evolution of the more --

WHITFIELD: Earlier we talked about the beef steaks, we heard that from Josh Levs. And now I want to put you on the spot only because of what you told me the conversion break down. You actually called the shot in 2008, saying Sarah Palin just might be a good vice presidential candidate.

BAXTER: Very early on.

WHITFIELD: Are there any guesses for this race?

BAXTER: You know I guess it's not going to be Bob McDonald, because what's a party with a woman problem going to do?

WHITFIELD: And the party has a big woman problem.

BAXTER: I mean he's been -- he really has been a conservative standout and if your problem were that you were trying to bring back the conservative men, then you would bring back the VP. But I think you know a couple of these Republican, again Republican women governors, perhaps, many times think of a Carly Fiorina or somebody like that, but something other than two white guys.

WHITFIELD: All right, Tom Baxter thanks very much, always good to see you. Appreciate it.

BAXTER: You bet.

WHITFIELD: All right. How are GOP candidates addressing key social issues ahead of Tuesday's primaries, we'll be talking to a couple of newspaper reports from Alabama and Mississippi right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right. CNN brings you politics each Sunday during this hour. We're bringing you the 2012 presidential contenders in their words. We're covering the big of news in Mississippi and Alabama, primaries come Tuesday. Social issues are big in the southern states, so how are the candidates addressing them. I'm joined by -- I'm joined right now from Tupelo, Emily Le Cuz, from the "Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal" and George Talbot of the "Press Register Newspaper" in Mobile, Alabama. Good to see both of you.

All right, Emily, you first, so is it politics or policy that will get Mississippi's attention? Are they looking for the most conservative of the candidates or the one who's speaking of certain issues?

EMILY LE CUZ, NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI DAILY JOURNAL: It is both. I think issues are definitely important; we have one of the nation's highest unemployment rates, certainly that s a big deal. But conservatism, social issues are definitely important; we are one of the most contest state in the nation and also the most religious. So social values is key. I think if you've got the key to the other issues but you've not conservative and you're not a Christian, then that might be a problem.

WHITFIELD: George, any different in Alabama?

GEORGE TALBOT, PRESS REGISTER NEWSPAPER: Yes, maybe a little, one thing I'm seeing is they came into the state a week ago, these three guys, Gingrich, Romney and Santorum were really firing a lot of ammunition at each other, we were seeing them taking a lot of shots at one another, but as the weekend progressed and they were out there interacting with voters, they began to really shift that energy and focus to Barack Obama because I think they're playing to voters, conservative voters down here who just want a change in the White House.

So as the week has progressed and they really have gotten deep in these states, that's certainly a trend. They do have those super Pacs and surrogates to go out there and do some of the dirty work for them. But in the appearances the candidates make themselves, they really steered away from those direct shots.

WHITFIELD: So George, you write that a Gingrich win in Alabama will resurrect his campaign unlike his Georgia or South Carolina wins. Why do you say that?

TALBOT: Well, he's the guy that has the most at stake and of the three, he's the one that's poured the most energy, time and effort into Alabama, he's been here every day since Super Tuesday often doing multiple events from one end of the state to the other. He's got a lot of chips on the table on Tuesday. If Romney were to some how win and the polls all show it as a dead heat at this point, clearly Romney's sees something happening down here because they just announced three more events in Alabama tomorrow. But Gingrich has everything riding here, but if he can't win because of the investment he's made over the last week here, I think that's a knockout blow for his campaign. WHITFIELD: OK. And then Emily, you think Mississippi really could be incredibly influential nationally, is that in large part because you said it is the most conservative, most religious state that is voting?

LE CUZ: Yes, that's definitely a big reason, you know, like my colleague in Alabama said, the candidates are focusing a lot of time and a lot of energy here, and I think you know traditionally southern states have been incredibly important to presidential politics and we're at a point in the campaign now where it does make a big difference, likewise if Gingrich wins, it's going to be huge for his campaign, if Santorum wins, it's going to almost dealt him to the position of being inevitable antined and that is what he is hoping for.

WHITFIELD: And is there a feeling in about 20 seconds left with the two views that Romney is just not resonating in either state? George, you first. Has there been a turn around for him?

TALBOT: Yes, we'll see some new polling numbers tonight, but nobody's predicting a Romney win, if he were to somehow able to win Alabama, you could go ahead and give him the nomination. I think. But your conservative voters are split between Gingrich and Santorum.

WHITFIELD: And Emily real quick.

LE CRUZ: Like wise. Romney's obviously got the endorsement of the top GOP leaders here from the governor all the way down. It seems like at least here in north Mississippi, the voters are -- Gingrich and Santorum resonate more with them.

WHITFIELD: OK. Emily Le Cuz and George Talbot, thank so much for your time. We'll talk again post Tuesday. So we'll have more on the contenders 2012 in just a moment.

But first, we all probably know a child who's been bullied. Well now a man who was bullied as a child himself has made a movie about the subject, but he's worried not everyone will get to see it because it's rated r. My conversation with director Lee Hirsh coming up at 5:00 Eastern Time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We continue to delve into the issues of the campaign. We are spending this hour of the CNN NEWSROOM to allow you to hear from the contenders as they spell out their ideas of the future for the United States. The next big GOP presidential contests are just two days away and Mitt Romney remains the overall front runner but he's still far from having the number of delegates needed to win the nomination. Wolf Blitzer breaks down the numbers in this week's "Blitzer's Blog."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The prudence of the headlines says Mitt Romney is only lifting toward the delegates he needs. But when you look at the popular vote, the lines are more clearly drawn the mass seems to be in Romney's favor. So for since Iowa, more than 8 million Americans have voted in the Republican Presidential Primaries and caucuses. That is a lot of people. Of those 39 percent were three million plus have gone for Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum has come in second with 25 percent or roughly 2 million. Newt Gingrich is third with 22 percent or 1million 800,000 votes. And Ron Paul is fourth with 11 percent or just under a billion votes.

These numbers underscore Romney's clear plurality in the race for the party's nomination; the numbers are just for bragging rights. What's much more important right now is the race for delegates. As you know by now, 1,144 delegates are needed to clinch the nomination at the Republican nomination in Tampa at the end of August. By CNN's latest estimate Romney is certainly way ahead in this battle but still far from the goal line, that means the race still has a long way to go. So let the voting continue.

Wolf Blitzer CNN, Washington.

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WHITFIELD: And tune into "THE SITUATION ROOM" on weekdays at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time and Saturdays 6:00 p.m. and you can get more of Blitzer's blog by clicking on Situationroomblog.cnn.com.

All right, next, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul on the economy, Romney blames the president for unchecked spending, but Paul says his party shares blame too.

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

The U.S. added 227,000 jobs in February and that news has sparking some optimism about the economy. But for Mitt Romney, the recovery is happening to slowly and he blames President Obama.

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MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: From generation to generation in this country, Americans have always known that the future will be brighter and better, we have always believed in a tomorrow full of possibility and prosperity and security. That deep confidence in a better tomorrow is the basic promise of America. But today that promise is being threatened by a faltering economy and a failed presidency. To the millions of Americans, who look around and only see jobs they can't get, and bills that they can't pay, I have a message. You have not failed. You have a president that's failed you and that's going to change. President Obama --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA! USA! USA! USA!

ROMNEY: You know, when he was campaigning, President Obama said he would create jobs, but for 36 straight months, unemployment has been above 8 percent. And he's also said he would cut the deficit in half and he has doubled it. The debts today are too high, the opportunities are too few, and we have seen enough of this president over the last three years to know that we don't need another five with this president. .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need Mitt! We need Mitt! We need Mitt!

ROMNEY: This president has run out of ideas, he has run out of excuses and in 2012 we're going to get him out of the White House.

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WHITFIELD: It's something you hear the GOP candidates talking about a lot, cutting spending, but Ron Paul says the conservatives have been just as bad as the Democrats when it comes to increasing national debt.

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RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Guess what, our national debt is going up on the average $100 billion every month, and in February of this year, we just finished February, we went up $200 billion, it's totally out of control and it won't last and that is why fiscal conservatives have to come back into vogue, we as Republican conservatives have talked about it for a long time, but I don't think we have lived up to our promises, we have had our chances, but we have expanded the government, when we have been in charge the national deficit has gone up and we have doubled the size of Department of Education. I'm all for education, but to tell you what from my understanding there is no authority for the Department of Education, that's one of the ones I want to get rid of. Department of Education.

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WHITFIELD: And up next deja vu on the campaign trail. Have we heard this one before?

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NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know that gasoline prices are high. But I have a word for you, algae.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Give or take look at that light around us on the campaign trail, CNN's Candy Crowley.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, STATE OF THE UNION: Fred, deja vu is the feeling of familiarity -- that light-headed notion that you have already seen or experienced the exact same thing before on the campaign trail, they call that the stump speech. There are no stumps anymore but there is repetition, there is repetition, there is repetition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A man came up to me after the rally and he said I want you to tell Herman Cain that I know what the president's nine, nine, nine plan is. And I said, all right, what do you think Obama's nine, nine, nine plan is? He said President Obama's strategy is $9.99 a gallon, $9.99 a gallon.

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CROWLEY: Also a stable in the Gingrich repratrar one of President Obama's recent suggestions for an alternative energy source.

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GINGRICH: Does anybody here know what his solution was? Algae. This is a "Saturday Night Live" skit waiting to happen. I'm amazed "Saturday Night Live" has not taken that speech and turned it into a skit. You can't make this stuff up.

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CROWLEY: To see and hear the former governor of Massachusetts over and over again, means leaving behind his forum elective office and paying attention to his real world, real economy, real experience and don't you forget it.

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MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENITAL CANDIDATE: What I know is the economy. That's in my wheel house. I understand how the economy works.

The economy is what I do.

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CROWLEY: Businessman Romney says his fix will require some sacrifice, including the one brought to you by the letters P B and S.

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ROMNEY: I like PBS, I like big bird and Bert and Ernie for my grandkids to watch, we are not going to kill big bird, and big bird has to have advertisements. All right. Big bird is going to have to get used to Corn Flakes.

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