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CNN Saturday Morning News

GOP Presidential Candidates Court Latino Voters in Florida; Analysts Anticipate Raising Gas Prices; Political Analysts Examine GOP Presidential Race; CNN Hero Removes Worms from Haitian Children; Program Provides Pizzas for Soldiers Overseas During Super Bowl; Japanese Man Remains in Town Evacuated After Nuclear Incident

Aired January 28, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: From CNN's World Headquarters, bringing you news and analysis from across the nation and around the globe, live from studio seven, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Doesn't Saturday morning feel good? I hope you're getting a little time to breathe, some R and R this morning, don't have to go to work. Let me get to my job and let you know what's happening in the world right now. Latino voters are considered a big key to the success in the upcoming Florida primary. So what issues are they basing their decision on?

And President Obama had to make a big decision when he made the call to go after Osama bin Laden. Vice president Joe Biden reveals behind- the-scenes details of how that decision was made.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is CNN Saturday Morning. I'm Christi Paul. So glad to have your company.

Let's start together here with the Republican presidential race and the battle between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in Florida. Take a look at this poll from Quinnipiac University showing Mitt Romney with a nine-point lead with just three days to go before this primary. Here's the significant thing with these numbers. Just days earlier the numbers were virtually reversed, Gingrich was on top. The two candidates are spending the day with voters in Florida today, trying to reach as many people as they can before Tuesday's Republican primary. Let's bring in CNN's political reporter Peter Hamby live from Miami. So Peter, in your opinion based on what you know down there, has this turned into a two-man race down in Florida?

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It absolutely has, Christie, and partly because Ron Paul and Rick Santorum have basically admitted they're not going to win here. Ron Paul is up in Maine campaigning before the February 4 caucuses up there. This is absolutely a two-man race.

The emerging consensus here is that Mitt Romney, especially after our CNN debate the other night, is the prohibitive favorite to win here on Tuesday. Certainly this is a volatile race. Things could change. But most Republican insiders here in Florida think Mitt Romney is the guy. He's in northwest Florida today over in the conservative panhandle scrounging for votes, and Newt Gingrich is down in the Orlando and Port St. Lucy areas, another Republican rich area. So these guys are in a dog fight to the end. So they're flying around the state ahead of Tuesday, Christi.

PAUL: I understand there is famous backer who is coming to the defense of Newt Gingrich. Do you know who that is?

HAMBY: Kind of famous -- Sarah Palin. You might have heard of her. She is official neutral in the race, but Todd Palin, her husband, has endorsed Newt Gingrich. And just last night she put a note on her Facebook page defending Newt Gingrich from this onslaught of conservative attacks. Magazines like "The National Review" have criticized Newt Gingrich, talk radio. Basically she's saying the establishment is attacking Newt Gingrich who is a Tea Party hero. She's saying he's not perfect, but we have to let this process play out. She says stop the GOP cannibalism, basically, you know, sort of criticizing the GOP establishment and Mitt Romney for going so hard at Newt Gingrich. Again, she's not officially endorsing Newt Gingrich but she's coming very, very close, Christi.

PAUL: People will remember that. What do these two candidates need to do in your opinion, Peter, to entice people in Florida to vote for them?

HAMBY: Well, Mitt Romney has to keep doing what he's doing, quite frankly, is project an air of inevitability and electability. He's projecting sort of an air of steadiness, competency, leadership. Remember, Florida is a swing state in the general election. A new poll came out showing Mitt Romney is the most electable compared to Newt Gingrich here in Florida. He's essentially tied with Barack Obama here in the general election, whereas Obama beats Gingrich by about 10 points here in Florida.

So Romney is trying to paint Gingrich as erratic, undisciplined, not a capable leader in the country. In smaller states like Ohio, New Hampshire, South Carolina, you can jazz up and fire up the grassroots and really turn them out to the polls. Florida is a huge state, don't forget. There's going to be about two million voters in this primary. So there's a silent Republican majority here that Mitt Romney is trying to tap into, Christi.

PAUL: You know, the numbers have been seesawing so much during this GOP race for nominee. First you've got Romney seeming to win, we think, Iowa, and he keeps winning. Then South Carolina, no, it's Gingrich. You think he won Iowa. No, it was Santorum. How does that kind of back-and-forth play in the game? At this point people might be looking at this saying we need to get a nominee so we know who we're backing.

HAMBY: Yes. It's interesting, the race has moved into a new phase, like you said. The earlier smaller states, it's kind of a grab bag, a wild card. After Florida, you know, which is an expensive state with a lot of o TV ads you need to run here and you need to have a big get- out-the-vote program. The race moves on nationwide, and Mitt Romney, quite frankly, is the only candidate in the race that has the organizational capacity and the financial resources to compete in Nevada, in Colorado, Missouri, Arizona, Michigan. You know, the Gingrich campaign has been left scrambling as he surged in the polls late here. They only got on television a couple days ago. That's pretty bad. You need to be on TV heavy for a good couple weeks running up to the primary. If Gingrich loses here, I bet he'll stay in, but it's got to be tough for him to carry on from a financial perspective.

PAUL: Peter Hamby, thank you so much for your perspective and the latest down there. We appreciate it.

HAMBY: Sure.

PAUL: Here's a quick programming note we want to let you know. Be sure to tune in for an encore of the CNN Florida Republican presidential debate. It comes your way today at 5:00 p.m. eastern.

Now, behind the scenes at the White House at a Democratic retreat yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden offered this rare glimpse inside President Obama's decision to kill Osama bin Laden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I said, we owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is don't go. We have to do two more things to see if he's there. He walked out and said "I'll give you my decision." The next morning he came down to the diplomatic entrance, got in a helicopter, I believe, to go to Michigan. I'm not positive with that. He turned to Tom Donilon and said, "Go," knowing that as loyal as everyone is around that table, when pressed and when books were written later, would have said, "I didn't tell him to do that." I hope no one would have done that. But not knowing that people around that table said, yes, Mr. President, go, and he knew what was at stake, not just the lives of those brave warriors, but literally the presidency. And he pulled the trigger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Democrats had gathered at the retreat to talk about the state of the party and the president's reelection efforts.

Well, the Justice Department released more details last night in the failed operation that left hundreds of untracked weapons in the hands of potentially dangerous criminals in Mexico. The documents show top officials approved of the plan. It was called Fast and Furious. Attorney General Eric Holder will testify about it and he'll do that as a congressional hearing next week.

Have you heard that Jerry Sandusky wants a Pennsylvania judge to modify his bail so he can spend more time with his grandchildren? The former Penn State assistant coach is accused of sexually abusing young boys. The judge has forbidden him from having unsupervised visits with his grandkids or having them at his house overnight. A hearing is scheduled on this issue in about two weeks.

London police have made several arrests this morning in a tabloid phone tapping scandal. Among those arrested is a police officer, and now we've learned several past and present employees of "The Sun" newspaper.

And lawsuits are being filed against the cruise company that owned the Costa Concordia. You could see this coming, couldn't you? At least 16 people died when the ship hit rocks near a Italian western island and then rolled over. This happened two weeks ago. The company has offered just $14,000 to each of the survivors, but a new lawsuit, as we mentioned, is seeking we now know more than $450 million.

Well, NASA says its Kepler space telescope mission has discovered 22 different planets. At least two planets, we understand, are the size of earth. So far it's identified more than 60 planets and more than 2,300 potential planets. Reynolds Wolf, our meteorologist, of course, looking at the weather. I imagine Pluto's pretty ticked off right about now.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I would think so. But the university is a huge space. We need a bit more, otherwise it's a tremendous amount of space, no question about it.

PAUL: What's it look like outside?

WOLF: We are going to go from up in space to back down to earth where we may be grounded in some places, especially some of the airports around the nation. Strong winds may keep you grounded at your airports at LAX and parts of the Ohio valley and Great Lakes could have problems there due to snow. We'll give you the full details coming up in a few moments.

PAUL: Thank you.

I want to give you a heads-up what we're talking about this hour. First of all, gas prices may be headed for record highs, but what are you really paying for when you pull up to the pump?

Also, Latino voters are an important target for candidates to try to win Florida right now. A lot of assumptions about these voters may be wrong, though. We're going to show you why.

And nearly one year after the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan, with go back to the center of the crisis zone. Meet the last man living in this devastated community.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It's 11 minutes after 10:00 on the east, just 7:11 on the west.

(WEATHER BREAK)

PAUL: Four bucks for a gallon of gas. That's not such a great number, is it? That could soon become a reality when you stop to fill up. We're looking at why gas prices are skyrocketing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, get ready to shell out even more at the gas pump. And please don't hurt me because I'm telling you what it says. I'm not doing it on purpose. Gas prices may spike to an all-time high. I know you're cringing. I'm cringing. Analysts say it could top $4 a gallon. That's the average. Josh Levs to talk us through. So what the heck is going on?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Always the bearer of good news. We talked earlier that analysts are saying Chicago and other places could potentially see $5. It's unbelievable what we're talking about. So here's the basic idea. You know what's spiking gas prices? Think of gas prices as like a dartboard. It catches a lot of the stories.

In 2011 we had the highest average for the year ever. Let's break this down, what's happening to your money. This is what determines gas prices here. The biggest factor by far is crude oil, just how much of this dollar goes to crude ferries. Next, you have refining. That's where the oil companies make a lot of their money. And then distribution and marketing, that includes what the gas stations make. Finally, taxes. Those vary by state. That's where the dollar goes now.

What's driving prices up? You've about got a bunch of factors that come together to make that happen. Some, of it is increasing demand from many countries with growing populations and middle class, or where economy has been recovering.

Also instability in oil producing nations places like Libya, Yemen, Syria, that led to less oil production. So you've got supply and demand playing out. There are other values playing out, the value of the dollar and speculation where people are buying up oil futures. Those can affect the prices.

The government says 2012 could be even more eventful. And one big reason there is Iran. Many countries are embargoing its oil. Iran is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz. About a fifth of the oil today worldwide goes through there. So if U.S. and other countries keep seeing economic growth, more people driving on the streets, we'll need more gas lines. I'll have more on my Facebook page. So we're talking about a perfect storm that could come together.

PAUL: Just hit us with it. I mean give us a number so we know what to expect. And I know that it's hard to do that because you're prognosticating, but what are you hearing?

LEVS: I will say some analysts are a little more hopeful that prices could actually come down, but when you look at what the national average is expected to be, we have analysts telling us to get ready for national average around $4.25. That's spring. Summer, that's when it could go higher, $5 could happen in some cities.

PAUL: I think I'm staying home this summer.

LEVS: More people might do it.

PAUL: Thank you, Josh, so much.

LEVS: Always the bearer of good news around here.

PAUL: Josh and I will still be here this summer.

From Hollywood to Haiti, one actor is joining forces with a CNN hero to help these kids. You're going to meet them both next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Inspiring stories that touch a nerve. Actor Rainn Wilson is known for his work on the TV show "The Office," but he may be more proud about his work with one of our CNN heroes. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAINN WILSON, ACTOR: I was literally sitting in my trailer at "The Office," and I was looking at the CNN Web site and it had the CNN heroes. I think it was the first year. I saw this story on a guy Aaron Jackson. This is a young kid from Florida who grew up on a golf course, didn't really have much direction in his life. Then he went traveling in the third world and he saw poverty, and he decided to just devote his life to making world a better place.

AARON JACKSON, CNN HERO: Today we've dewormed an estimated over a hundred people.

WILSON: It's been great to be able to help out Aaron Jackson by doing some fund-raisers. I've introduced him to peep, raise money and help his organization get moving. He's the amazing guy doing all the hard work. I give him the cash and let him go do what he does best.

They have four or five orphanages in Haiti. And they also went out when they distributed the deworming medication in the rural villages and towns. You're distributing food, aid all around the country. So many kids, you know, can be eating their fill, but because they're so filled with worms they're unable to digest and process that food, so it's really just kind of a waste.

JACKSON: You deworm the kid and the worms shoot out in 24 to 48 hours, it's amazing. You see a kid highly anemic, not alert at all. And once you rid them of worms, they come back to life.

Since the hero segment in 2007 we've raised enough money with Rainn's help to deworm every child in Haiti, all 3.2. million kids.

WILSON: Anyone can be a hero. It just takes a little bit of work.

If there was one thing I could take away from my experience with CNN Heroes, these stories are incredibly inspiring. They inspired me to step up my game and try to do more to help the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: That gave me chills, didn't you, to hear what they can do and they have raised enough money to take care of this problem? Remember all of our CNN heroes come from you. So if there's someone who inspires you just go to CNNheroes.com. We would love to hear their story. Ahead, courting the Latino vote. We'll find which of these Republican candidates have the upper hand as we edge toward the critical Florida primary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right, sleepy head. If you're just getting up on this Saturday, it's 26 minutes past the hour at 10:00 right now. Welcome back. I'm Christi Paul. Thank you so much for starting your day with us here.

I want to get you informed of the top stories right now. London police have arrested several people in connection with a tabloid bribery investigation. Four current and former employees of Britain's "Sun" newspaper and one police officer were taken into custody today for corruption and bribery.

An 18-year-old student in Utah is free on bond. He's accused of trying to bomb his school. Authorities got tipped off by a series of text messages, apparently, to an allegedly Columbine inspired plot. Todd Morgan is charged with use of weapons of mass destruction, and a 16-year-old could also face charges.

And former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is asking a judge now to let him see his grandkids. Sandusky is currently barred from doing that as part of his bail on charges of sexually assaulting young boys. A hearing is scheduled on that issue in about two weeks.

Let's talk politics, shall we? Just jump into this arena together. A new poll shows Mitt Romney is back on top in Florida, three days, of course, now away from the Republican primary. Look at this poll from Quinnipiac University. It shows him with a nine-point lead over Newt Gingrich.

At Thursday night's CNN debate a big topic was illegal immigration, as you know. Romney showed off some of his skills he picked up, some assume, from his new debate coach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Is he still the most anti-immigrant candidate?

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think of the four of us, yes.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Speaker, I'm not anti- immigrant. My father was born in Mexico. My wife's father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that I'm anti- immigrant is repulsive.

GINGRICH: All I want to do is allow the grandmother to be here legally with some rights to have residency but not citizenship so he or she can finish their life with dignity within the law.

(APPLAUSE) ROMNEY: Our problem is not 11 million grandmothers. Our problem is -- all right.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Some people are calling that the money line of the night. Joining me now to talk about the battle is CNN political contributor and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican strategist Lenny McAllister. Thank you both so much. How is Romney's strong stand against illegal immigrants playing out in Florida, Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Among the general Hispanic population, it's not playing out very well. In fact, none of the stances of the Republican candidates are playing out very well.

But among the Republican Hispanics, and that's about 30 percent among the overall Latino voters, which is 13 percent of the overall vote, there's a split. There's actually the Republican, what we would call the elite, the leadership. A lot of the members of Congress are supporting Romney. Then you have Latino groups are supporting Gingrich who leaves Gingrich has the more humane policy on immigration. It's going to be interesting to see. The Latino vote in Florida has changed. The hardcore Cuban vote is not as strong or as decisive this year as it was, let's say, even five years ago.

PAUL: All right, and we're going break that down a little more with you, Maria, in just a few minutes when we bring you back to get more perspective on that.

Let's move on though, Lenny, to something that's affected Florida so badly, the housing crisis. It's a big deal in that state. Always heard about so much is who's making money from Freddie Mac or who's stock holdings have caused more foreclosures. But I'm wondering are we hearing any solutions from anyone that vote reverse going to be happy with?

LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: We're not hearing as much about solutions as we should be. And I think one of the tactical mistakes that Newt Gingrich has made over these last two debates, particularly in the debate Thursday night is the fact he never really brought up the fact that Mitt Romney back earlier in the campaign said we should let these mortgages fail, let the forecloses go through the process, and then clean up afterward, which would have affected a whole lot of Floridians to be able to stay in their home or be on the street and lose their home. He never tied Mitt Romney to that. He tied Mitt Romney to how much stock he had. That was a tactical mistake.

Going back to this, people are not talking about solutions, how to keep people in their homes, get them back to work and move forward, particularly when it comes to the housing market. This is big opportunity that the Republicans are missing that President Obama has been speaking to it for several years now. If it comes up in the swing state in the fall, this will probably lean towards President Obama's advantage.

PAUL: All right, speaking of President Obama, he tried to capitalize on his state of the union address by taking his campaign on the road this week, we know. Is anything he's saying, Maria, breaking through with voters?

CARDONA: I think it absolutely is, especially when you compare it to -- and I completely agree with Lenny, with the Republicans who are now so focused on destroying each other, that that they are not talking to the overall American electorate about what they would do to solve their problems. And housing is a great example. President Obama has talked about housing. In fact, the policies that he's put in place have helped over three million home own ores be able to save their homes from foreclosure, as well as education. Education is a key ingredient in order to try to have a better life here in this country, and it's key for immigrants and for Latinos.

Republicans are saying nothing about education, and you had President Obama yesterday announce what he was going to do to make college more affordable. So I think that you are already seeing the defining issues of the general election, and right now President Obama is definitely winning that battle.

PAUL: Well, you know, one of the other things that I'm wondering if it's a detriment is this GOP race has been such a seesaw. You go to Iowa, you think it's Romney. Wait a minute, it wasn't Romney. It was Santorum. You go to South Carolina, it's Romney -- no, it's not. It's Gingrich. We keep hearing, we know, you've about got to keep it interesting, it's good for the momentum for people not to know who it is yet and to keep pushing forward. At what point do you have to have a nominee so you can solidify this race for them? Lenny, let me go back to you.

MCALLISTER: You have to get a candidate that people believe in. One of the things that came out of the fighting from 2008, and Maria was a veteran of this, you had two candidates who went after each other like cats and dogs, but the people behind them really, really believed in them. So whoever won, you had this huge strong base of folks who believed in them and it was just a matter of getting other folks behind this candidate.

We haven't seen this huge surge of folks that really believe in one candidate. The grassroots for the most part has been split between Santorum, Gingrich. Ron Paul has his folks and the establishment is going up behind Romney. It has to get to a point in time where people get energized behind one person. That can still happen in April, if you will. That will be plenty of time for November, but it has to start happening fairly soon where people are energized about a candidate and not just energized against a president.

PAUL: Very good point. Thank you both so much. Good to have you here and always good to get your perspective.

MCALLISTER: God bless you all. Take care.

PAUL: Thank you. You too. Quick programming vote -- be sure to tune in for an encore presentation of the Florida's Republican presidential debate. It comes your way at 5:00 p.m. eastern in case you want to check it out again.

One man says he's completely contaminated by nuclear waste and he is he's still sticking in his hometown. He says is worth of saving. A glimpse of life inside Japan's Fukushima exclusion zone, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Living in a ghost town. One man refuses to leave his toxic town still quarantined nearly a year after Japan's Fukushima disaster. Our Kyung Lah paid a visit to see why he won't go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In the shadow of the Fukushima nuclear plant, one man's quiet defiance echoes through these contaminated empty streets, 10 miles away from disaster. It is inside a government mandated evacuation zone, but that hasn't stopped Naoto Matsumura from refusing to heed the evacuation order in place since the nuclear meltdown.

(on camera) Since then you've been living inside the exclusion zone?

(voice-over) "Yes," he says, "I remained. It began with a simple decision to remain to feed the animals on his farm. The government evacuated 78,000 residents around the exploding plant last March without a plan to rescue pets and valuable livestock. Weeks turned to months and now a year. Matsumura's captured pictures of a solitary life, his dying cattle and untended farm. Defiance grew into fury.

(on camera) Are you angry at the government, a year after the disaster?

(voice-over) "I'm full of rage," he says. That's why I'm still here. I refuse to leave and let go of this anger and grief. I weep when I see my hometown. The government of Tokyo don't really know what's happening her here."

(on camera): Do you feel the people of your town are the ones paying the price?

(voice-over) "We're the victims," he says, "The government and TEPCO, they're the perpetrators, but they don't treat us as victims." The clean-up he says has been painfully slow, only small signs of progress, like this park where the contaminated soil is under blue tarps. So he continues to keep tabs and needle Japan's government as the sole citizen.

Matsumura has actually taken on a neighbor's pet, this little dog, trying to keep this dog alive. Inside this house there is no electricity. There's very little access to water. And the reason why he would live in this way is because he says this is home.

(on camera) Are you worried about your health living there?

(Voice-over) "I'm completely contaminated" he says.

(On camera) Why take your personal health at risk for this?

(Voice-over) We have to decontaminate this area or else this town will die. I will stay to make sure it's done, he says. I want to die in my hometown.

Matsumura's determination has turned him into a local legend. Money has come in after he posted a YouTube video asking for donations. He survived on canned food, which he grabs outside of the exclusion zone. The local township looks the other way as he continues to break the law, but the pressure from authorities is growing. Matsumura said he would do this interview only outside the mandated evacuation zone.

(On camera) What is it you want the international community to know one year after the disaster?

(Voice-over) "You see what can happen? The U.S., Russia, and Japan, this is the third nuclear accident, the third time something we created ended up hurting us. We haven't learned our lesson yet.

Kyung Lah, CNN, inside the exclusion zone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: It will be interesting to keep up with him, won't it?

Meanwhile, they are far away from home, but one group wants to make sure our troops, our men and women who are keeping us safe, that they can watch next week's big game in true American style. We're going to fill you in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: All right, let's talk scores with HLN's Joe Carter. And he found this great organization that is taking care of our men and women who are serving overseas. We have to remind them every day we think of them, we are grateful for what they do, and we want to make sure that we celebrate the Super Bowl with them in style. I think that's great program.

JOE CARTER, HLN SPORTS ANCHOR: It is. The program is called "Pizzas for Patriots." They're going to ship 10,000 pizzas over to Afghanistan so 30,000 troops can enjoy a slice or two if they're big eaters. They're Chicago-style deep pizzas. They do not spoil because they half bake the pizzas in Chicago and then freeze the pizza so when they arrive at the bases in Afghanistan, they pop them in the oven and they come out fresh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPC JESSICA WRIGHT, EXPLOSIVE DISPOSAL TEAM: I think it's a great opportunity. People in the United States send them to us. It's such a nice change from the normal food. It's just awesome to know that people back in the States care about us being over here and want to provide us with a little something extra.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: So speaking of the Super Bowl, this is one of the hottest attractions at this year's Super Bowl in Indianapolis. It's a zip line that runs through downtown's super bowl village. It seven stories high, 800 feet long. This one is the biggest temporary zip line ever built, and so, of course, a local reporter decided to try it.

PAUL: Of course, they did.

CARTER: Of course. Listen to how he enjoyed his ride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, baby! Oh, baby! Oh, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: He sounds terrible. A zip line, it's not at that terrifying. It's very fun. You feel secure. If you're in town, you can try this for ten bucks. It runs through next sat.

So let's finish with the X Games in Aspen, Colorado. Love this camera shot.

PAUL: I love this camera angle. Don't you feel like you're right behind it?

CARTER: Right on the track. This is Canadian Mark McMorris. He lands.

PAUL: That's hard to say as it is to do, I bet.

(LAUGHTER)

CARTER: He ended up winning this event, so he won X Games Gold. His father, who happens to be a Canadian politician, must be so proud his son did so well and walks away safe. I wonder how do they never crash? They do sometimes crash.

PAUL: They're brave. So are the camera people. They're talented too. That can't be easy to do with the camera.

CARTER: They have cameras in the snow, high on lines, and that was an actual skier holding the camera at his chest.

PAUL: That's amazing and it helps give us a great perspective of what's going on to experience it without having to do it. Thank you, Joe Carter.

You know, Florida's primary is just three days away now. The state's Latino vote is going to be critical for the Republican presidential hopefuls. See what may weigh heavily on their decision when they go to the polls. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, the Florida primary is just three days away now, and one group could hold the key to picking the Republican winner. We're talking Latino voters. Our John Zarrella reports the Latin community may be evolving as voters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miami's Little Havana, here you'll always find someone sipping an espresso. And when there's an election, you'll always find Republican candidates. This is a fertile field of votes, and there has been for half a century one singular issue trumping all others. As the soon on the building reads, "For Cuba, Freedom." No serious candidate comes here without preaching a hardline stand against the Castro regime.

GINGRICH: They're worrying about an Arab spring. I don't think it's ever occurred to a single person in the White House to look south and propose a Cuban spring.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: It is time for us to strike for freedom in Cuba, and I will do so as president.

(APPLAUSE)

ZARRELLA: For Republican candidates, the Cuban-American vote is critical. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 60 percent of the Hispanic Republican registered voters are in Miami-Dade County alone, more than a quarter million, and most of those are Cuban- Americans.

For decades Ninoska Perez has been an influential voice both on radio and in Cuban-American politics. Although a nearly 50-year embargo against Cuba has not brought the Castro government to its knees, Perez says any talk of lifting sanctions is the kiss of death.

NINOSKA PEREZ, CUBAN-AMERICAN RADIO HOST: If a candidate so much as mentions any type of lifting of sanctions or any type of appeasement or closeness to the Cuban regime, I'm telling you that election is lost.

ZARRELLA: But times may be changing. Tony Jiminez is co-founder of "Roots of Hope," a movement trying to connect young Cuban-Americans with their counterparts on the island. Freedom for Cuba is important to Jimenez. But he doesn't see himself or other young Cubans as single issue voters.

More and more each day people are more concerned with the economy and are more concerned with domestic policy. And the Cuban issue is as important as it is to Cubans, I don't think is dictating who they're going to vote for.

ZARRELLA: But for Republican candidates, at least for now, it's the one issue that guarantees them votes.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: For more perspective on the Florida Latino vote, let's bring in CNN contributor and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. Maria, thank you, always good to get your perspective, obviously, here, especially with this. I know that John Zarrella was talking about the Cuban community most likely. But the Latino community as a whole is not a monolith. Cuban-Americans do not necessarily vote the same as other Latinos in the state, do they?

CARDONA: That is exactly right. And I think that is the issue that the Republicans are going to have the biggest challenge with in terms of the biggest election in terms of Florida.

And John talked a little bit about this in his piece. The influence of the hardcore Cuban American vote is diminishing. And, in fact, just a few short years ago it was at 60 percent. If you look at the breakdown of the Hispanic vote in Florida, the Cuban-American vote is only at 38 percent. The Puerto Rican vote is at 30 percent, and the Central and South American vote have risen to 21 percent.

And if you combine the Puerto Rican and South and Central American vote, they're much more leaning Democratic and independent. They want to talk about jobs. They want to talk about the economy. They want to talk about education. So I agree with the piece in terms of it is very important for Republican candidates to continue to court that hardcore Cuban vote because they are also the most intense voters and they have a propensity to come out and vote, but they also need to be talking more broadly to the bigger Latino electorate, because, to your point, it is not monolithic, and if they don't do that, then they can kiss Florida goodbye in the general election.

PAUL: When we talk about the different voices in the Latino community that contribute here, it was interesting to hear you call the Latino moms basically new soccer moms. How important is their voice? How loud?

CARDONA: It's very loud. One of the things that came to life with a study called mommyverse.com. It's an online hug for Latina mothers. So any of you Latina mother out there, I would urge you to check it out, www.mommyverse.com. As with all mothers, what we care about is economy, jobs, education for our children.

And one critical issue that I think that none of the candidates are really addressing, and we talked about it in our piece earlier with Lenny, is the housing crisis, because who is really affected by the housing crisis in terms of the leaders of the family? And that's Latina mothers, we're worried about if we're not able to keep our home, what are we going to do to take care of euro family, put a roof other our children's heads?

And so I think the Latina mother holds the sway. A third of Latina mothers have not made a decision on which candidate to support. But in a poll in Florida which was also conducted by mommyverse.com, it showed that over 76 percent of Latina mothers didn't think any of the GOP presidential candidates were talking to them about their issues. So, again, the Republican candidates really need to focus on Latina mothers and on Latinos as a whole and really talk to them about much broader issues than just Cuba.

PAUL: It's interesting because President Obama had strong support in the Latino community back in '08. Has he been able to hold onto that?

CARDONA: He actually has. That's another reason why Republicans really need to be concerned. You know, there's been a lot of discontent among Latinos in terms of the immigration issue, but President Obama has really been able to underscore fact that he's been trying to work on immigration, but the Republicans have been the ones who have been opposing him every step of the way.

And to your point about not being monolithic, we're also not monolithic about jobs we care about. It's been President Obama who has really been the one talking to Latino voters about what he's been trying to do to get more votes. Republicans need to focus on Latinos or they've never going to reach the White House.

PAUL: Great information, Maria Cardona, great perspective. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

CARDONA: My pleasure.

PAUL: Have a great day, and stick close. We have more on the vote coming up in just a little bit.