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Santorum Drops Out; President Obama Delivers Speech on Buffett Rule; Breaking Down the Buffett Rule; Will Santorum Endorse Romney?; Bush 43 Speaks on Buffett Rule; Ashley Judd's Op-Ed
Aired April 10, 2012 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look what you're left with here, three states on the map, New Hampshire, Virginia and Iowa, and essentially a dead heat race here. It could come down.
Can President Obama keep Virginia in the Democratic column? If he does, you could have a race that comes down to tiny Iowa and tiny New Hampshire in terms of the Electoral College. This is just a hypothetical, Wolf. But you see this scenario here. I have it 266 to 262.
The winners of New Hampshire, that's Romney -- Romney thinks that's his stake. Let's make that red just for the sake of argument. I can give you 266 and an election night we're waiting -- maybe we have to call Carolyn Anitas (ph) in Iowa to help us out.
It's April. Right now, the polls show President Obama with a healthy lead. However, if you go state by state, you could get a map that looks like that, which is a tough battle from now until November.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Anyone who thinks, John, that this race is all sewn up in either direction, they are mistaken. It is wide open right now. It will be fierce. It will be intense. And it will be ugly.
I have no doubt about that. If you think some of the rhetoric for the Republican presidential nomination was intense, if you think some of those negative ads were intense and ugly among the Republicans, just wait. Between the Obama campaign and Romney campaign, what is about to go forward.
Ashleigh Banfield is joining us once again in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Ashleigh, I will get ready for "THE SITUATION ROOM" in an hour, but I know you're getting ready to hear from the president of the United States this hour.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: We are.
But before I go there, I just want to give you some breaking news as well on this announcement. I just got off the phone with Hogan Gidley, who is the national campaign spokesperson for Rick Santorum. He gave me some color to this. He said they all had a conference call last night, all the senior advisers and then just about 10 minutes before this news conference where Rick Santorum announced he was stepping down, they had a conference call with the rest of the staff.
So the rest of the staff wasn't even informed about the announcement until just about 10 minutes until making the announcement and that's about 1:50 this afternoon. And not only that, but Hogan Gidley told me they had a call from Mitt Romney about scheduling an official endorsement from Senator Santorum.
That call happened this afternoon and apparently they're trying to make some scheduling plans. Mitt Romney would says apparently he would like it to happen sooner rather than later. But they have not made those plans yet and they have not scheduled that meeting to discuss the possibility of a Santorum endorsement for Mitt Romney.
And when I said, but it's inevitable, isn't it, Hogan, he said I wouldn't say it's inevitable. I said, could you repeat that? Did you just say you wouldn't say that it's inevitable? And he did say, I wouldn't say that it's inevitable. We're in the discussion plans right now in terms of trying to schedule a meeting to discuss the possibility of that endorsement for Mitt Romney.
Some fascinating mechanics of how this all played out from the late night hours last night into the early hours of this afternoon and how the staff was informed. By the way, I asked about the plans for the staff, what happens with all of Rick Santorum's staff members. Have they been approached by any of the other campaigns at this point? He said they just found out. It's so early, nobody knows anything at this point.
But it is what it is, you close up a campaign he said and we will go through the mechanics of that as well.
Meantime, top of the hour now, time to reset. For anyone what is joining us, obviously some serious breaking news. Rick Santorum announcing officially he's suspending his campaign, dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination, saying, "We made a decision to get into this race at our kitchen table and against all the odds. And we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over, for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting."
Obviously very big news for the senator who picked up 275 delegates in this months-long battle, but could not come anywhere near the over double the delegate number Mitt Romney has picked up, which is 659 delegates. And by the way, leading into the campaign, and the race in his home state of Pennsylvania, he was leading in the polls there, and the latest Quinnipiac poll had him leading over Mitt Romney 41-35.
So whether that would have ended up the embarrassment some had said it might if there was a loss or not, he's out and it's all over but the crying at that point.
I want to take you live now to Jim Acosta, who is standing by live in Gettysburg. he's been following the campaign and had this news very early on.
My assumption is the mood is somewhat dismal and dim and certainly from the words of Hogan Gidley, a little confused for a lot of people who worked for the senator.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right.
I can tell you the mood right now is nonexistent. There is no mood. The Santorum people have all gone. They have left the building as it were here in Gettysburg. And we are under the impression that Rick Santorum will be going to a previously scheduled event later on this evening with the notion Christian conservative Dr. James Dobson.
But from here on forward, he's no longer essentially a presidential candidate at this point. He did say at this news conference just a little while ago that he is ending his presidential race and he talked about -- and, Ashleigh, you and I were talking about this close to the top of the last hour -- that the family considerations with his daughter Bella who was born with a rare genetic disorder did play a part in this decision that was basically made over the weekend and then finally made last night by Rick Santorum.
He talked at length during the speech about his daughter Bella and how she was an inspiration out on the campaign trail. He talked about how he saw signs that said, we're voting for Bella's dad. And that obviously you could tell meant a lot to the former Pennsylvania senator.
But keep in mind, there are some pretty big political reasons as to why he's getting out of the race right now. You mentioned one just a few moments ago, his home state of Pennsylvania. He does live in Northern Virginia right now. But he did represent this state. Had he lost the state, I think that would have been a fatal blow to any kind of future presidential ambitions for Rick Santorum.
Getting out now means that that doesn't happen, and he doesn't have to worry about that. He can think about that later so it preserves any future potential planning for a presidential run. As you were hearing just a few moments ago from Wolf Blitzer and others, this is also a big favor he's doing for the Republican Party and Mitt Romney, even though there may be some bad blood there, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: That's exactly what I wanted to ask because you were mentioning future plans and plans down the road. Obviously, that's something a lot of people are going to wonder about, mending those fences.
By the way, just as I continue on with this question, I want to draw the alert down to our viewers. At the bottom right-hand side of your screen is President Obama, who is getting ready to address a crowd in Boca Raton, Florida. He is down in Florida not only for fund-raiser, but also ironically enough the people who he's probably reaching out to for fund-raising he's also there to tell them he's supporting the Buffett rule which means more taxes for the wealthy.
I'm just watching to see. He's thanking the guests, and I will go to him in just a moment as soon as he gets into the heart of what he has to say this afternoon.
But, Jim Acosta, just quickly mending those fences. This is going to be a big issue, because some of the last big reporting on Santorum was that he was calling Mitt Romney the worst Republican to put up against -- Mitt Romney -- especially with regard to Obamacare. Those were strident comments and they made a lot of headlines. So what now in terms of trying to bridge those ugly fences?
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Ashleigh, it will take a lot of time and it will take a lot of effort on the part of both of these campaigns and on the part of both of these two men.
It was a hard-fought battle. I think it's safe to say at this point that Santorum was Mitt Romney's toughest candidate throughout this process. That started in Iowa. Santorum went through a period where he wasn't doing as well. Then we saw the rise of Newt Gingrich and then Gingrich fell by the wayside.
Keep minute mind, if Newt Gingrich had gotten out of this race before Michigan, Rick Santorum could won the Michigan primary. He could have gone on and won the Ohio primary. Getting back to the question why this was so difficult for Rick Santorum, I would imagine he was tasting it during certain moments of this campaign, that he was very close to being on the verge of knocking Mitt Romney out of this race.
And just he came ever so close every time he had that opportunity and he just never really got that point. I think that's part of the reason why this is so difficult. But to hear that long speech here in this room here in Gettysburg from Rick Santorum and to not hear the words I'm now getting behind Mitt Romney or I will do whatever I can to see Mitt Romney elected president of the United States, you can't really emphasize that enough.
That is a pretty big predicament for the Romney campaign. They want Santorum in his corner. He would be key in terms of lining up evangelical conservatives, Christian conservatives behind the Romney campaign. They need Rick Santorum, maybe more than Santorum needs Romney at this point.
It will take a lot of fence-mending, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Right. Also as you say that, I just got off the phone as I said with Hogan Gidley, the national campaign spokesman, who said it is not an inevitability that this endorsement is going to happen. We're scheduling meetings. We have to have meetings and we're not scheduling that meeting just yet. It's in progress. But it's not an inevitability, which I thought was fascinating.
Jim, just again as we're waiting to dip into the president for a moment, we just had some reaction from Ron Paul, a statement about Rick Santorum getting out of the race.
I want to read it for you: "Congratulations to Senator Santorum on running such a spirited campaign. Dr. Paul is now the last and real conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. We plan to continue running hard, secure delegates and press the fight for limited constitutional government in Tampa," referring of course to the convention. Also, this just in as well. They're coming in fast and furious, Newt Gingrich with his statement about Rick Santorum's exiting the race. He said -- quote -- "Rick has waged a remarkable campaign. His success is a testament to his tenacity and the power of conservative principles. I am committed to staying in this race all the way to Tampa so that the conservative movement has a real choice. I humbly ask Senator Santorum's supporters to visit Newt.org to review my conservative record and join us as we bring these values to Tampa. We know well that only a conservative can protect life, defend the Constitution, restore jobs and growth and return to a balanced budget."
So the race is on for the heart of conservative voters. And of course, that endorsement, if it does come from Rick Santorum will be key for Mitt Romney who has sputtered along, trying to harness the interest of a lot of those supporters.
Let me get you right down to the president who is speaking live, as I said, in Boca Raton, pushing for what you see on your screen, the Buffett rule, tax they call for the millionaires and billionaires, a tax increase to 30 percent across the board. Have a listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Or are we better off when everybody gets a fair shot and everybody does a fair share and everybody plays by the same set of rules?
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That's what the debate in America is about right now. This is not just another run-of-the-mill gab fest in Washington. This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and everybody who is aspiring to get into the middle class.
And we have got two very different visions of our future and the choice between them could not be clearer. Now, keep in mind, I start from the belief that government cannot and should not try to solve every single problem that we have got. Government is not the answer to everything.
My first job in Chicago, when I wasn't much older than most of you, was working with a group of Catholic Churches on the South Side of Chicago in low-income neighborhoods to try to figure out how could we improve the schools and how can could strengthen neighborhoods and strengthen families.
And I saw that the work that some of these churches did, did more good for people in their communities than any government community could. In those same communities, I saw that no education policy, no matter how well crafted it is, no matter how well funded it is, can take the place of a parent's love and attention.
And I also believe that since government is funded by you, that it has an obligation to be efficient and effective. And that is why we have eliminated dozens of programs that weren't working, announced hundreds of regulatory reforms to save businesses and taxpayers billions of dollars. We have put annual domestic spending on a path to become the smallest share of our economy since Eisenhower was in the White House, which is before I was born, much less you being born.
I believe the free market is the greatest force for economic progress in human history. But here's the thing. I also agree with our first Republican president, a guy from my home state, a guy with a beard named Abraham Lincoln.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And what Lincoln said was that through our government, we should do together what we cannot do as well for ourselves.
That's the definition of a smart government. And that's the reason why we have a strong military, to keep us safe, because I suppose each of us could just grab whatever is around the house and try to defend our country, but we do better when we do it together.
And we have got the best military in the history of the world with the greatest men and women in uniform. We pay for that. That's why we have public schools to educate our children. You know, if we didn't have public schools, there would still be some families who would do very well.
They could afford private schools or some would homeschool, but there would be a lot of kids who would fall through the cracks. So we do that together. It is one of the reasons that we have laid down railroads and highways. We can't build a highway for ourselves. We have got to get our neighbors and our friends to say let's go build a road.
That's why we supported the research and the technology that saved lives and created entire industries, the Internet, GPS. All those things were created by us together, not by ourselves. It's the reason why we contribute to programs like Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and unemployment insurance, because we understand that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, we know that, eventually, we're going to get older.
We know that, at any point, one of us might face hard times, or bad luck, or a crippling illness, or a layoff.
And the idea that together we build this safety net, this base of support, that allows all of us to take risks and to try new things, and maybe try -- get a new job because -- because we know that there's this base that we can rely on.
So these investments, in things like education and research and health care, they haven't been made as some grand scheme to redistribute wealth from one group to another. This is not some socialist dream. They have been made by Democrats and Republicans for generations. Because they benefit all of us. And they lead to strong and durable economic growth. That's why we've made these investments.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
If you're here at FAU because you got financial aid, or...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
... a student loan, a scholarship...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
... which, by the way, was how I was able to finance my college education; that's how Michelle got her college education.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That -- that doesn't just benefit you; it benefits whatever company might end up hiring you and profiting from your skills. If one of you goes on to become the next Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg, or -- or one of you discovers the next medical breakthrough, think about all the people whose lives will be changed for the better. We made an investment in you, we'll get an investment.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
When we guarantee basic security for the elderly or the sick or those who are actively looking for work, that doesn't make us weak. What makes us weak is when fewer Americans can afford to buy the products that businesses are selling, when fewer people are willing to take risks and start their new business, because if it doesn't work out, they worry about feeding their families.
What drags our entire economy down is when the benefits of economic growth and productivity go only to the few, which is what's been happening for over a decade now and the gap between those at the very, very top and everybody else keeps growing wider and wider and wider and wider.
In this country, prosperity has never trickled down from the wealthy few. Prosperity has always come from the bottom up, from a strong and growing middle class.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That's how a generation who went to college on the G. I. Bill, including my grandfather, helped build the most prosperous economy that the world has ever known. That's why a CEO, like Henry Ford, made a point to pay his workers enough money so that they could buy the cars that they were building.
Because he understood, look, there's no point in me having all this and then nobody can buy my cars; I have got to pay my workers enough so that they buy the cars and that in turn creates more business and more prosperity for everybody.
This is not about a few people doing well. We want people to do well. That's great. But it's about giving everybody the chance to do well.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
That's the essence of America. That's what the American dream's about. That's why immigrants have come to our shores because the idea was, you know what, I -- it doesn't matter what your name is, what you look like. You can be named Obama.
(LAUGHTER)
You can still make it if you try.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And yet, we keep on having the same argument with folks who don't seem to understand how it is that America got built. And let me just say, the folks we have political arguments with, they're -- they're Americans who love their country. I -- you know, Democrats, Republicans, independents, everybody -- we all love this country, but there is a fundamental difference in how we think we move this country forward.
These folks, they keep telling us that if we just weaken regulations that keep our air or our water clean, or protect our consumers, if we would just convert these investments that we're making to our government in education, in research, in health care, if we just turn those into tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, then somehow the economy's going to grow stronger. That's the theory.
And here's the news. We tried this for eight years before I took office.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
We tried it. It's -- it's not like we didn't -- we didn't try it. At the beginning of the last decade, the wealthiest Americans got two huge tax cuts, 2001, 2003. Meanwhile, insurance companies, financial institutions, they were all allowed to write their own rules or find their way around rules.
We were told the same thing we're being told now: This is going to lead to faster job growth, it's going to lead to greater prosperity for everybody.
Guess what? It didn't. Yes, the rich got much richer. Corporations made big profits. But we also had the slowest job growth in half a century. The typical American family actually saw their incomes fall by about 6 percent even though the economy was growing, because more and more of that growth was just going to a few and the average middle-class American wasn't seeing it in their paychecks.
Health care premiums skyrocketed. Financial institutions started making bets with other people's money that were reckless. And then our entire financial system almost collapsed. You remember that? It wasn't that long ago. I know you guys are young, but it was pretty recent.
Now, some of you may be science majors in here. Usually... (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
I like that. We need more scientists, need more engineers.
Now, I was not a science major myself, but I enjoyed -- I enjoyed science when I was young. And if I recall correctly, if experiment fails badly, you know, you learn from that. Right? I mean, the -- sometimes you can learn from failure. That's -- that's part of the data that teaches you stuff, that expands our knowledge, but you don't then just keep on doing the same thing over and over again. You go back to the drawing board. You try something different.
But that's not what's been happening with these folks in Washington. A lot of the folks who were peddling these trickle-down theories, including members of Congress and some people who are running for a certain office right now who shall not be named...
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
... they're doubling down on these old, broken down theories. Instead of moderating their views even slightly, instead of saying, "You know what, what we did really didn't work and we almost had a second Great Depression, and maybe we should try something different," they have doubled down.
they have proposed a budget that showers the wealthiest Americans with even more tax cuts and then pays for these tax cuts by gutting investments in education, in medical research, in clean energy, in health care.
(BOOING)
Now, now, these are the facts. If the cuts they're proposing are spread out evenly across the -- across the budget, then 10 million college students, including some of you, would see your financial aid cut by an average of more than $1,000 each.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Now, thousands of medical research grants for things like Alzheimer's and cancer and AIDS would be eliminated. Tens of thousands of researchers and students and teachers could lose their jobs.
Our investments in clean energy that are making us less dependent on imported oil would be cut by nearly a fifth.
By the time you retire, instead of being enrolled in Medicare like today's seniors are, you'd get a voucher to pay for your health care plan, but here's the problem. If health care costs rise faster than the amount of the voucher, like they have been for decades, the rest of it comes out of your pockets.
If the voucher isn't enough to buy a plan with the specific doctors and care that you need, you're out of luck. And by the middle of the next century -- by the middle of this century, excuse me, by about 2050, at a time when most of you will have families of your own, funding for most of the investments I have talked about today would have been almost completely eliminated altogether.
Now, this is not an exaggeration; this is math. And when I said this about a week ago, the Republicans objected; they said we didn't specify all these cuts. Well, right, you didn't because you knew that people wouldn't accept them. So you just gave a big number and so what we've done is we've just done the math. This is what it would mean.
They say, well, we didn't specifically propose to cut student loans. OK, if you don't cut student loans, than that means you've got to cut basic research even more, or you -- the money's got to come from somewhere. You can't give over $4 trillion worth of additional tax cuts, including the folks like me who don't need them and weren't asking for them. And it just comes from some magic tree somewhere.
So -- so don't -- if you hear them saying, well, the president's making this stuff up, no, we're -- we're doing the math. If they want to dispute anything that I have said right now, they should show us specifically where they would make those cuts.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
They should show us. They should show us. Because, by the way, they're not proposing to cut defense; they're actually proposing to increase defense spending. So it's not coming out of there. So -- so show me.
Look, America has always been a place where anybody who's willing to work and play by the rules can make it, a place where prosperity doesn't trickle down from the top; it grows from the bottom; it grows outward from the heart of -- of a vibrant middle class.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
And -- and I believe that we cannot stop investing in the things that help create that middle class, that create real, long-lasting, broad- based growth in this country. And we certainly shouldn't be doing it just so the richest Americans can get another tax cut.
We should be strengthening those investments. We should be making college more affordable.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
We should be expanding our investment in clean energy.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
Now, here's the other thing the Republicans will tell you. They'll say, well, we've got to make these -- all these drastic cuts because our deficit is too high. Our deficit is too high. And their argument might actually have a shred of credibility to it if you didn't find out that they wanted to spend $4.6 trillion on lower tax rates. I don't know how many of you are math majors, business majors. You -- you can't pay down a deficit by taking in $4.6 trillion of less money, especially when you're denying that you're going to be making all these cuts. It doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense.
And keep in mind, more than $1 trillion of the tax cuts they propose would be going to people who make more than $250,000 a year. That is an average of at least $150,000. Again, we're just -- we're just taking the numbers with the details they have given us. And you -- you spread it out, that averages to at least $150,000 for every millionaire, billionaire, in the country.
Each millionaire and billionaire on average would get $150,000. Some folks would get a lot more. So -- so we did some math of our own. We -- we added up all the investments $150,000 could pay for, all right?
So this -- this is -- let's say a tax break that I might get that I -- I really don't need.
You know, I have got treated pretty well in this life.
Right now, I'm going to be okay. Malia and Sasha are going to be able to go to college. Michelle is doing fine.
So understand what this means. Here's what $150,000 means. $150,000, this is what each millionaire and billionaire would get on average, this could pay for a tax credit that would make a year of college more affordable for students like you. Plus a year's worth of financial aid for students like you. Plus a year's worth of prescription drug savings for one of your grandparents. Plus a new computer lab for this school, plus a year of medical care for a veteran in your family who went to war and risked their lives fighting for this country. Plus a medical research grant for a chronic disease. Plus a year's salary for a firefighter or a police officer. $150,000 could play for all of these things combined. Think about that.
So let me ask you: what's the best way to make the economy stronger? Do we give $150,000 in tax breaks to every millionaire and billionaire in this country? Or do we make investments in research and education and health care and our veterans?
I just want to emphasize again: I want folks to get rich in this country. I think it's wonderful that people are successful. That's part of the American dream. You know, it is great that you make a product you create a service, you do it better than anybody else, that's what our system is all about. But understand the share of our national income going to the top 1 percent has climbed to levels we haven't seen since the 1920s. The folks who are benefiting from this are paying taxes at one of the lowest rates in 50 years. You might have heard of this, but Warren Buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary. Now that's wrong. That's not fair.
So we've got to choose which direction we want this country to go in. Do we want to keep giving those tax breaks to folks like me who don't need them? Or give them to Warren Buffett who definitely doesn't need them? Or Bill Gates who's already said "I don't need them"? Or do we want to keep investing in things that keep our economy growing and keep us secure? That's the choice. And Florida, I've told you where I stand.
So now it's time for members of Congress to tell you where they stand. In the next few weeks we're going to vote on something called the Buffett Rule. If you make more than $1 million a year - I'm not saying you have $1 million, right? I'm not saying you saved up all of your money and you made smart investments and now you've got your nest egg and you're preparing for retirement, I'm saying you're bringing in $1 million or more a year, then what the rule says is you should pay the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle class families do. You shouldn't get special tax breaks, you shouldn't be able to get special loopholes. And if we do that, then it makes it affordable for us to be able to say, for those people who make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families do, then your taxes don't go up. And we can still make those investments in things like student loans and college and science and infrastructure and all the things that make this country great.
This is where you come in. This is why I came to see you. I mean, it's nice to see you. The weather has been nice. You guys have been a wonderful audience. I learned about the burrowing owl. So there were all kinds of reasons for me to want to come down here. But one of the reasons I came was I want you to call your members of Congress, I want you to write them an e-mail, I want you to tweet them. Tell them, don't give tax breaks to folks like me who don't need them. Tell them to start investing in things that will help the economy grow. Tell them if we want to bring down our deficit sensibly, we've got to do it in a balanced way that's fair for everybody. Remind them who they work for. Tell them to do the right thing.
BANFIELD: We're listening to the president as he addresses supporters in Boca Raton, Florida. He's talking about the Warren Buffett rule and it is a big one, what some people are calling the campaign-ready tax proposal. I want to talk more about this in particular, we've got Poppy Harlow standing by in New York to discuss this and we also have standing by at the White House our chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin.
This rule seems to be doing pretty well for them in the polls, if anything else. I think a lot of people still have a lot to find out about it, but it sounds to be in their favor, doesn't it?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The polling shows that the majority of Americans do like the concept of this, as it shows 64 percent of Americans are in favor of the idea of this. Even 49 percent of Republicans say they like the basic concept, Ashleigh, which is that anybody who makes $1 million or more should pay a 30 percent tax rate so that everyone's paying about the same amount. It is pretty unusual to see anyone campaign on a tax increase for anyone. It shows what is an unusual environment we are in because of the wobbly state of the economy.
BANFIELD: Especially at a time when he's not only in Boca Raton to talk about the Warren Buffett rule but also to try to raise some money. Who is it exactly he's targeting in his fundraising today? It can't be the millionaires and billionaires can it? YELLIN: No. He's trying to fundraise from people who have no money. He is in some of the wealthiest parts of America right now. He was in a part of West Palm Beach. He's in Hollywood, Florida, Golden Beach, which I hadn't heard of before. But these are some of the wealthiest pockets of Florida to try to get big checks. I would point out that while we've paid a lot of attention to the Republican race, the Obama campaign has spent more than $100 million already on its efforts in organizing across the country. They're raising big bucks. The president's doing more of it today, Ashleigh.
BANFIELD: Just fascinating. Stand by if you will because CNN's Poppy Harlow is here in New York as well. You heard Jessica saying these are some of the wealthiest constituents of his and yet he has absolutely no problem hopscotching from one event where he's calling millionaires and billionaires, not saying fat cats. He reserves that for Wall Street. But he's suggesting they need to pay more, 30 percent across the board. Yet he's able to do the fundraising. I'm sort of at a loss for figuring that out.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's able to do it. Case in point with Warren Buffett, right? Warren Buffett, who this tax proposal is named after, is one of President Obama's biggest supporters both in spirit and financially. I talked to him about the Buffett Rule, asked him why this rule, why does this country need this right now? Of course, the White House did call Warren Buffett before naming this proposal after him. Here's his answer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN BUFFETT, CEO, BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY: In a time when we're asking 300 million people to tighten their belts and maybe give up some promises that they've heard from their government, maybe pay a little bit more in some way, to not have the ultra rich pay rates that is similar to what they pay I think is just plain wrong and we can solve it by a minimum tax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: This is the minimum tax he's talking about. We'll pull up the numbers for you. If you make $1 million plus, this is anything, your salary, dividends, capital gains, rental income -- this proposal means that is you would pay a minimum, at least 30 percent in taxes across the board on that. What the tax policy center is saying this would mean about 35 percent of the rich Americans would may higher taxes than they currently do today. Here's the issue, and you're going to hear a lot of talk about this: how much money does this actually raise? How much does this reduce the deficit in this country? Not that much. $47 billion over the next 10 years. Less than $5 billion a year. Let's talk about the big picture: we're $15.6 trillion as a nation in the hole right now, and over the next decade we're expected to add somewhere between $3 trillion and $11 trillion in deficits on top of the $15 trillion now. This is pennies on the dollar when you talk about it. But it is so political.
BANFIELD: That's exactly it. Maybe pennies on the dollar, but it is a pound up in Congress. They're going to vote on this proposal in the Senate?
HARLOW: On Monday.
BANFIELD: Those who vote against it?
HARLOW: Yes, as Jay Carney said today in a White House press briefing, they are going to have on record people who voted against this. And as my colleague Jessica Yellin pointed out, interesting if we would see campaign commercials using that as well.
I do want to point out one interesting thing we were talking about. You heard the president in his address just saying this is a make or break moment for the middle class. It's important to note that if this were to pass, which there's no expectation that it would get nearly the support it needs to pass, but it doesn't change the situation for the middle class, it changes the situation for the richest Americans, but it doesn't change big picture, the situation for the middle class. The White House is arguing, yes, it does. It goes towards closing that gap. But when you actually look at the numbers, this is a small step. This is not reducing taxes or adding benefits for the middle class or those struggling right now.
BANFIELD: If you ask conservatives, they'll say this is class warfare. By the way, the Dow was down 78 points. I think it was down around 200.
HARLOW: A lot of this has to do with the wobbly global economy. Europe right now. This isn't a reaction to what President Obama was talking about. We've known this has been out there for a long time. This is not expected to get any momentum in the Senate on Monday. This isn't a reaction, but of course, we're watching the market very closely. We've seen steep losses four days in a row now.
BANFIELD: As we see the president wrapping up, thanks to you. Always good to see you. My thanks to Jessica Yellin.
You've been watching, I've been watching, Wolf Blitzer, John King, Jessica Yellin and everyone else in Washington watching this major news. Rick Santorum bowing out of the race today officially making the news to not only us but just ten minutes prior to us, telling his entire staff, he's out, he's done. The race is over for me.
Coming up, a little more color and just what this means for Mitt Romney and oh, yeah, the other two candidates also vying for the Republican nomination. Do they have a chance now? We'll talk about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Welcome back to our CNN breaking news. It's official, Rick Santorum has told his staff, has told the public, has told the world that he's dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination. He has also been in contact with his chief rival, Mitt Romney, about the possibility of an endorsement, and the word is it's not an inevitability just yet. But officially saying that he started this conversation at his kitchen table about running for the nomination and he ended it within just about the last two hours.
Have a listen to how it played out just earlier this afternoon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANTORUM: We made the decision to get into this race at our kitchen table against all the odds. And we made the decision over the weekend that while this presidential race, for us, is over, for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting. We are going to fight for those voices. We're going to continue to fight for the Americans who stood up and gave us that air under our wings that allowed us to accomplish things that no political expert would have ever expected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: It was an emotional announcement and an emotional hour in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at what was supposed to be a campaign event, but soon turned into a news conference. And there you saw it, officially bowing out of the race.
This as Wolf Blitzer puts it, effectively seals the deal for Mitt Romney as the new campaign begins, the campaign for president instead of the campaign for the delegates. But you know what, 11 primaries. He won 11 primaries, he pulled in 275 delegates. So not half bad for the former senator from Pennsylvania.
I want to bring in Jim O'Toole, the politics editor for the "Pittsburgh Post Gazette." He's covered Rick Santorum since the start of his political career.
So quickly, if you could set the stage for me, Jim. Were you surprised that this happened now? And say the race didn't get at least to Pennsylvania because he was polling well in his home state.
JIM O'TOOLE, POLITICS EDITOR, PITTSBURGH POST GAZETTE (via telephone): I would have been surprised two weeks ago, (INAUDIBLE) Pennsylvania. But there have been a lot of signs in the last week that - totally aside from his family issues, which are genuine, the political argument was going against him staying here. He was clearly in danger of losing Pennsylvania, which would have put a sour end to a truly remarkable political story of how he revived his career after his 2006 defeat in the Senate race.
BANFIELD: I want to bring in -- sorry, go ahead, go ahead Jim.
O'TOOLE: Just to say that there was some suspense over when this was going to happen. Not on whether it was going to happen.
BANFIELD: I want to bring in David Gergen, who is our senior political analyst, as well into this conversation. He's live from Harvard.
And so, as Wolf Blitzer put it, this effectively is the official beginning to the presidential race and this seals the deal for Mitt Romney. I can't imagine that anyone disagrees and yet, David Gergen, we're not hearing from Santorum's campaign that an endorsement is an inevitability.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: It's a surprise and otherwise a wise departure from the race. I think Jim O'Toole's analysis is right on the mark. This is to avoid an embarrassment and to put a period at the end of the a remarkable rise in his career, a revival of his career. I do think he will embrace Romney before this is over. But I'm surprised he didn't do it today.
BANFIELD: And Newt Gingrich put out a -
GERGEN: Some people when they leave think I need my day, then I'll come and have his day.
BANFIELD: That's understandable. And Newt Gingrich putting out his statement saying he's still in the race, he's still going into Florida, and asking the supporters of Rick Santorum to visit his Web site. What are the odds, what are the chances, that Newt Gingrich is really going to get a conservative boost from Rick Santorum's supporters? Or do you think Rick Santorum's supporters will coalesce behind the leader?
GERGEN: I don't think so. I think this is basically over because many people are starting to coalesce behind Mitt Romney. And I must tell you, it was a surprise to me today, I talked to a very senior person who advises governor Romney. And from my perspective, Romney wrapped this up, but he is now an underdog to president Obama.
The senior adviser to is Romney sees it just the opposite way. He thinks Romney is not only going to win but win big. That the economy is much worse than people understand and that they're very, very in a very bullish mood.
BANFIELD: And is this going to be -- since Wolf said it, I'll bring it in, if we're in campaign mode now. Is this going to be the Republican campaign that brings up gas prices on every stump, as well as the current job situation and the current state of the economy? Is that really message number 1?
GERGEN: Well, I think that -- No, I don't think that gas prices, per se, is a message No. 1, just as the buffet rule wasn't message No. 1 with the Obama people but those are important pieces of their overall message. The message with the Romney campaign is going to be -- he's going to argue three years of economic failure that left us with fewer jobs than where we started. You know, a long, long way from our goals.
And president Obama essentially is going to argue, you know, we have two paths to the future. One that supports people who are blue collar and tries ensure fairness even as we regain our footing and he's going to argue that Mitt Romney's is a radical proposal and a radical path that is meant to hurt the rich and working people.
So that's going to be the essential -- the two arguments, I think at least as they're now shaping up.
BANFIELD: Just quickly, david, just to wrap things up. GERGEN: Sure.
BANFIELD: I say this in every campaign as it is buttoning up and as the polemics have been flying back and forth between candidates who clearly don't look like they get along, and then all of a sudden do. How quickly do you think these two candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, will take to mend fences and it's inevitable that at some point the other two candidates will join the force as well, but these two in particular?
GERGEN: I think fairly quickly. Rick Santorum did have the grace to call Mitt Romney today before he made the statement and did agree to get together at another time and that's probably where the endorsement will come. I think they'll button it up pretty quickly because there's a general agreement among Republicans that the main campaign is about trying to find a new president.
BANFIELD: Do you see Rick Santorum as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney?
GERGEN: Very, very doubtful. Mitt Romney will be looking for someone who can carry a key state, and with Santorum bowing out now, as Mr. O'Toole pointed out, bowing out now from Pennsylvania suggests he thought there was a good chance he will lose his own state. So I don't see how Santorum delivers Pennsylvania for Romney whereas say Rob Portman might well deliver Ohio or Marco Rubio might well make the difference in Florida.
BANFIELD: The last Quinnipiac poll had Santorum leading in Pennsylvania, I think 41 to 35 over Mitt Romney. But who knows --
GERGEN: Yes, but it was closing rapidly.
BANFIELD: Yes, the descent from the poll before, it was precipitous to say the least.
David Gergen, always a pleasure, thank you for coming in.
GERGEN: Thank you so much.
BANFIELD: We appreciate it. You, too.
Up next, former president George W. Bush rarely has spoken out since leaving the White House, but guess what? He did so today. He was in fine form and he stepped in a big-time fight, too. Back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: We're going to give you a rare glimpse right now of president Obama's predecessor in office George W. Bush, Bush 43, you might know him as. He's kept a really low profile since leaving office in January of 2009, but he was talking today. He was doing it in New York and talked about life as a private citizen. Have a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: When you get out of office it's kind of a daunting feeling. You've served, you've given it your all and all of a sudden you've got some years ahead of you. And I have decided to stay out of the limelight. I had plenty of the limelight. I don't think it's good, frankly, for our country to undermine our president, and I don't intend to do so, but I do intend to remain involved in areas that I'm interested in.
I -- I'm often asked if I miss the presidency, and I really don't. I enjoyed it, it was an unbelievably interesting experience -- it's inconvenient having to stop at stop lights coming over here, but I guess I miss that.
This July the Bush institute is publishing a book. It's got to be a staggering thing for some of the cynics up here. I publish a book and now the Bush institute is publishing a book.
They didn't think I could read, much less write a book.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: That's why I said fine form, he's funny. I like this George W. Bush, very much so. By the way, he stepped in to the Buffett rule as well, saying I wish they weren't called the bush tax cuts. And then he kind of stumbled and he said I wish they were called the everyone tax cuts.
But he clearly had something to say about what was being said about that current president, president Obama who is in Boca Raton, talking about the Buffett rule, boosting the taxes for the millionaires and billionaires.
All right, switching gears. Actress Ashley Judd, fed up with the media making a big deal about her appearance. While she's no stranger to headlines, one recent experience really crossed the line.
We'll speak live with model and actress Emme. Here she is, beautiful girl. We're back in 60 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Not sure if you saw this. It was something considered to be actress Ashley Judd's puffy face. Kind of a silly headline, but it sure got a lot of people talking, and in a new opinion piece Ashley Judd wrote for "the Daily Beast," she's firing back of those people who have been critical of her appearance.
We have the before and after picture. All started in March, when Ashley Judd was photographed with what appeared to be a slightly puffy face. Well, that was the beginning and people began to speculate that she'd had work done or that she'd gained a whole bunch of weight. Judd said it was the result of steroids that she'd been taking to treat an illness and she was steaming mad that media reports came to conclusions about her looks.
I am joined by actress and model Emme. Listen, this is not the first time, Emme, that we have seen this critique when someone looks a little bit different than they maybe did a year or five or eight years ago.
EMME, ACTRESS AND MODEL: That's right.
BANFIELD: Why are actresses and models and anybody else, for that matter, mostly women, such fair game for this kind of criticism?
EMME: Absolutely women. Well, it seems that the ones that are most physical are the best targets and it's not exactly fair.
BANFIELD: I wouldn't say that Ashley Judd has made her money based on her looks. She's a serious actress and has done some great work - globally, some great work in regard to the United Nations It's not like she's out on the swimsuit illustrated (sic) flaunting her body.
EMME: But even if she was, we shouldn't even do that as well. She's been involved in makeup campaigns and all of that and her point in "The Daily Beast" is we've got to stop picking women apart. It's not good for girls and it's not good for our self-esteem and absolutely abhorrent to know what's going on.
And to know that she's going through an illness and the speculation about her having cosmetic surgery, and all this --
BANFIELD: How about the doctors who show up on TV, saying well I can tell you this. I've never treated her, but she's had work done here and work done there.
(LAUGHTER)
EMME: It's really -- It is an injustice, it truly is, because she is a major, major voice for women and children beyond our boundaries. What a wonderful ambassador for the United States for the work she does and it's unfortunate.
BANFIELD: What about the criticism coming most heavily from other women?
EMME: I just wish that we could bridge that gap.
BANFIELD: It's getting worse.
EMME: It is getting worse and we don't have to have it be as bad as it is. Women want to get along with each other and forget about this competition for the men and everything. Every pot has its cover in my belief. We just need to take good care of ourselves and stop tearing other women down and get that hand down if you're in a position of power in the workplace and bring them up while you're pulling yourself up.
We have such little time to talk about this, we could be talking about this for an hour. BANFIELD: It could be two hours. In fact, believe it or not, someone told me many, many years ago, in this business, there's plenty of room at the top and somehow women think it's a peak, and it's just not.
EMME: There's so much. It's just a change in the way that we see things. If we want our sisters to do well we have to bring them up with us.
BANFIELD: Emme, it's always great to see you.
EMME: Kindness, remember kindness.
BANFIELD: P.S., you look amazing.
EMME: Thank you, girlfriend.
BANFIELD: You just don't age.
EMME: Oh, please.
(LAUGHTER)
EMME: Ashleigh, thank you.
BANFIELD: Thanks for being with us.
And that does it for me, and that does it for Emme. But you know what? There's another guy who's been hard at work all afternoon. His name is Wolf Blitzer, he's in "THE SITUATION ROOM," and he's going to take it from here.
Bye everybody.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: Thanks, Ashleigh.
