that's not the way most money managers think, and i just try to tell you how they think. i always say there's a bull market somewhere. i promise to find it for you here on "mad money." see you tomorrow! hey, larry, what do you have on this super tuesday? >> it's the midnight hour for mitt in michigan. i'm larry kudlow and this is "the kudlow report." it's the midnight hour for mitt, if he wins he rolls to the nomination, but if he loses it could be devastating. santorum's culture war versus mitt's check plan. that seems to be the dividing line. we'll have extensive coverage throughout the evening. sizzle number two, the market melts up as the dow finally passes 13,000 and investor jimmy rogers joins our market panel and plus we have an exclusive interview with house leader eric cantor on his new job's bill that president obama may be endorsing. first up, it's just under an hour before polls close in

michigan, arizona later. cnbc's john harwood joins us live from detroit. good evening, john? >> reporter: larry, there are some polls that will be open until 9:00 in michigan, as well so we'll have to wait a bit for those results, but we already know this is a very, very close race in michigan. pretty high stakes for the norm nation. my take is that mitt romney wins michigan in arizona he'll be the nominee, and i think he'll be the nominee even if he loses michigan, but it will take longer and much rougher. both went after each other by name and mitt romney singling out rick santorum. mitt romney said he's late to that party. >> i'm glad he ridiculoecognize is a campaign about the economy. it's time for him to focus on the economy and for you to all say okay, if the economy is going to be the issue we focus who has the experience to actually get this economy going again? senator santorum is a nice guy, but he's never had a job in the private sector.

>> but, of course, rick santorum makes the argument that it's not only about economic issues. social issues especially those conservative christians in the western and northern parts of this state are key targets for him and so he makes a much broader, tack on mitt romney for his health care plan and imp implications for social issues. >> it's about government control of economic lives and regulating you, taxing you, forcing you to buy things and forcing their values on you and your religion. which, by the way, romney did to catholic hospitals in massachusetts by forcing them to distribute the morning-after pill. why would we give those issues away in this general election? at the core of what's at stake in this country, why would we put someone out there who is uniquely unqualified to make that case? >> so we've still got a turnout operation going on. mitt romney, larry, is at the

superior organization here as in other states and what rick santorum hopes is that some of those inflammatory comments he's made may comp state by stirring up some of those conserve tich christians, evangelicals or tvangelicals. many that cross over from the tea party. >> thanks for this. now let's turn to republican senior strategist steve schmitt. he was top dog in the mccain campaign in 2008. steve, welcome back to the show. >> you're welcome, larry. >> i want to ask you about president obama a minute. president obama talking to the uaw says this, my bailouts of the car business saved detroit, saved michigan and saved the economy and steve, we are getting better consumer confidence and we are getting better jobs. the dow is over 13,000. let me just ask you, can obama really be beaten in a better economy? >> well, larry, it's a

closely-divided nation. it continues to be, this has been a terrible stretch for the republican candidates and a lot of good things are happening for the president and the real clear politics average has him up about five points over mitt romney and six points over rec santorum. it's a close election, but boy do republicans have some work to do. we are talking about things that are irrelevant to the lives of average americans. we are ceding economic arguments to the president talking about 52-year-old speech that president kennedy did in houston and talking about contraception, making from senator santorum's perspective and i think ludicrous charges about the president wanting people to go to college so they can be indoctrinated and so republicans will have to offer to win this election a pro-growth opportunity message that explains and defines what opportunity looks like to the american people in the 21st century. we need an update in a modern,

conservative argument. steve, did mitt romney get that done. that's still obama's area of vulnerability and i presume the budget deficit and the debt also. no doubt. did mitt romney get that done in his economics club of detroit's speech. was he able to sell it and will he be able to sell it? no, i don't think he got it done and i don't think he'll be able to make the pivot until he gets into a general election contact. the season has been disappointing for a lot of reason, but i think it's on the course that it is right now. we've not yet had the candidates looking over the horizon, explaining to the american people what a 21st-century vision of conservatism is. how do you create prosperity? how do you create opportunity. how do you resuscitate the manufacturing base in the country? you know, this race has been about small things and it's been about personal attacks and one of the consequences of it, larry is we have a fractured conservative base in the republican party, but

independents who had soured on the president just a few months ago are going back to them and they're going back to them in a big way. so we're going to be starting this general election whoever the nominee is in a pretty good sized hole of our own making. >> steve, extremism in the culture war doesn't sound like a winning issue to me. is that going to play a role tonight. did santorum lose the lkt lkt ability argument because he's gone too far on contraception, on prenatal care, on the jfk speech on four-year colleges and so forth. will that hurt santorum tonight? >> well, it should hurt santorum if republican voters are focused on beating president bush. let's look at one state, larry, virginia. republicans have to win back virginia. northern virginia is a moderate swing state area. there is no market for these issues in the american electorate that rick santorum is talking about. this is the antithesis of limited government conservatism.

i believe it was a mistake for the congress to intervene in a family court decision in florida with the terry schiavo decision, but you now see rick santorum out there on a daily basis talking about these issues which are mainstreaming schiavoism into all manner of different areas in the party and then he spent a paragraph or two paragraphs or three paragraphs explaining and that's a recipe for disaster? >> apparently he reneged on the jfk thing so he's coming and going. >> absolutely. >> you were great to give us your time tonight. i know you're busy. thank you ever so much. >> thank you, larry. >> let's bring in two more experts to make the case for romney and santorum. we have gop chairman and current romney backer saul onassis and former colorado republican congressman tom tancredo. >> tom tancredo, you heard steve schmitt.

he had harsh words for your man and saying this was is the antithesis of limited government conservatism on jfk and contraception. what is your response to what steve schmitt said. >> most of the stuff will not be relevant come the general election. what both of those candidates are trying to do today, what four of them are trying to do and the two really and truly at the top of the heap are trying to win a primary and in the a primary election and in the republican primary you're going to talk to conservatives and you'll be more conservative than you would otherwise be. we've seen that happen a hundred times. in this case i think santorum really is the conservative and mitt romney is trying to be because you're going after republican primary voters. after the primary's over with we enter into a brand new phase, but let's talk about the issue that came up in terms of the economy. i am concerned. i think we all should be that bill clinton's admonition to his

campaign, remember, it's the economy, stupid. >> the economy's being looking better. >> if it looks better, that's right -- >> it's even -- >> romney loses his main issue, right? that's his thing. >> if the economy is better than you'll fight it out over ideas. >> saul, let me ask you. steve schmitt did not think that mitt romney got the job done with the 20% tax cut and his overall economic plan to the detroit economics club, and i presume that that's one of the reasons this race is too close to call, saul. what's your take on that criticism? >> well, look, first of all, mitt romney's argument is going over well in michigan. >> i'm cautiously optimist take he's going win tonight. i think he's doing extremely well in the messaging. i've been traveling around the state and yesterday i was

listening to his pitch. they want to make sure we have jobs and we have a lot of midwestern states that are hurting economically. tom tancredo, democrats may be very important to this race today. michael moore is out on the tape some place saying all his friends are going vote for santorum because he's the weaker candidate and they want to cause mischief. what about the democrat turnout, tom? how will that impact things? >> i don't know. i understand that's an interesting thing because i know the democratic party has done a robocall for that purpose to encourage people to vote for santorum and santorum has done a robocall to democrats asking them to vote for him. so one of the two -- i mean, the democrats are hoping that if santorum is the weaker candidate, but i'm telling you

you better be careful what you ask for, democrats. here's the thing, honest to goodness, here's what gives santorum an edge and perhaps in a different election with a different candidate or incumbent things would be different. against a clinton, probably santorum would not have much of a chance. this is not a bill clinton. this is barack obama. he is the most left-wing candidate that -- i mean, candidate for re-election we have ever had. you don't have a right wing candidate against a moderate and i'll tell you, barack obama is far more left wing than santorum is right wing and when you get those two together america votes, i think -- more to the right. >> i understand, but saul, i'll give you the last word. basically, do you believe that mitt romney's economic growth message, not only the 20% tax cut, but reforming entitlements, slashing spending, getting deficits and debt down, do you

think that trumps the extreme culture war and is the best way to beat obama? that seems to be the issue this evening. >> absolutely. i think when mitt romney is talking about the economy and he's talking about jobs he's winning. when rick santorum has to bring in democrats, and labor to vote in his favor, republicans all over the country i think will reject santorum's campaign tactics here. this is about the economy. if we focus barack obama and his message, if we can focus on the economy, gas prices, unemployment mitt romney's going to win. i think that rick santorum is basically doing a disservice to the party right now. i think that he's being a little bit hypocritical being the washington insider and trying to run as an outsider. if you want to draw contrast between obama and a republican candidate, mitt romney is coming from the outside and run a business and can run a state and make a difference. >> saul, thank you very much. tom tancredo, thank you again.

>> coming up on kudlow, eric cantor reveals his jobs act to jump-start small business start-ups. next up, live and exclusive, turns out obama may agree with cantor. free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity. i think it's a pretty good campaign message, too, on kudlow, we'll issue right back.

>> house majority leader eric cannotor and republicans unveiled their jobs act today. it's a new plan designed to jump-start brand new business start ups. actually, it received a positive response from team obama. joining us now exclusively is house majority leader cantor from virginia. good evening. welcome back to the show. now, as i understand it it, this bill among other things will make it easier to raise capital by these new start ups and it will remove some regulatory red tape. what are the key bullets here? >> the key bullets are exactly that. it's too hard right now for small business people to start up. it's too hard for them to keep the lights on and to start hiring again. that was the purpose for the jobs act. this is a comp ligz of the

measure, and some ideas that have been taken from the president's jobs counsel itself. what the bills do is, one, they get rid of some of the sec regulations that are impeding small businesses from starting up. we have something called an ipo onramp that makes it easier for small businesses to seek access to capital going public. there are other provisions that allow for a carveout on the sarbanes-oxley issue so we can give small businesses a fighting chance to get off the ground. larry, we know small businesses are a job engine of this company and over the last three years it's been a 23% decrease in the number of start-ups. that's what this package is trying to get at. >> that's the thing. i want to distinguish even from a small business, start-ups are literally start ups. this is the absolute seed corn of the business world. you have to make it easier for them to make money and register. as i understand it, democrats in the house have voted in favor of

most of these provisions and lo and behold, i believe with my own eyes president obama praised a plan today. is such a thing possible, sir? we'll wait and see and in addition to that, we have majority leader reid in the senate indicating he will move on comparable package in the senate so it might seem to me that the stars are beginning to align and aligning on the one thing that we need to be focusing on and the one thing america wants to see happen which is economic growth and we know that that happens in the private sector and happens through small start-ups. it happens through entrepreneurs going to work and putting their capital to work so that we can see jobs created. >> all right. >> let me move on to a related subject and that is corporate tax reform. president obama put out his plan. it was not well received by the business community for a variety of reasons including taxing overseas profits. but let me bring you back on the small business theme. corporate tax reform does help

small business. they pay the personal tax rate which is going up to 44%, 45% or some such thing. can you help small business, the ones that are already established, they're llcs, they're ccorps and s corps, and do you have something up your sleeve to reduce the tax burden on those small businesses? >> we do. we do, and we're working on a bill coming down the pike around tax day which will give small business owners a 20% tax cut. and as you rightly say, larry, most small businesses in this country are sub chapter s and llcs. we don't care if you're in pass-through or a c-corp. what we want to do is make it easier for you to operate and make it easier for you to keep more of your capital so you can hire and grow. this is a pro-growth measure and because it's such a divide on overall tax reform which all of us want to see happen, larry. we're trying to say at least

give small business owners a break and so our bill will provide for 20% tax cut for small businesses. >> and is this sort of on the way to tax reform? in other words f you can't get a big bang tax reform package you'll pass this 20% small business tax cut and is there any help on the other side of the aisle for that. >> we sure hope so. just so we're seeing indications and help for the jobs act. we do think we can give bipartisan support to give small business owners a tax cut. you're right, larry. we need to talk about comprehensive tax reform, bring down the rates and broaden the base and get rid of the preferences and get washington out of the business of picking winners and losers and allocating capital so we can grow the economy, but we've seen over the last year there's difficult ney bringing the two sides together. so what we're trying to do is find commonality on growth-oriented measures to the

start-ups and businesses that are the backbone of growth in this economy. >> the whole tax code kind of blows up around the first of the year in january 2013. the bush tax cuts expire. the thai roll tax cut expires. all of the business tax credits expire. i mean, it's like you will have to do a thorough re-write of the tax code. will you and the leadership be proposing tax reform ideas between now and then as we move into a very delicate season that could be discouraging for the economy and the stock market. >> david means of the house and ways committee is hard at work. he's put out a paper having to do with the multinationals being based in america and assigning them territorial advantage so they can be competitive as they operate abroad. we continue in the overall theme of tax reform so that when we get to the point in which everything will change and we'll have the largest tax hike on businesses and individuals in

american history that we can afford it. in the meantime, what we want to do is bring people together. maybe we can get some wings under our belt. let's pass this jobs act and help start ups. let's pass the small business tax cut bill giving individuals and businesses a 20% tax cut if they're involved in a small business. that would be a simple step forward so we can't be affecting a real tax reform. >> house majority loader, eric cantor. a programming tonight for tomorrow night on kudlow. i have an exclusive live through with kevin wart will be your first interview since -- and the fda has staten drugs and we'll check the news headlines when we come back after the break. [ male announcer ] let's level the playing field.

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and we'll throw in up to $600 when you open an account. mber the day my doctor-free for 60 days, told me i have an irregular heartbeat, and that it put me at 5-times greater risk of a stroke. i was worried. i worried about my wife, and my family. bill has the most common type of atrial fibrillation, or afib. it's not caused by a heart valve problem. he was taking warfarin, but i've put him on pradaxa instead. in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mgs reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin without the need for regular blood tests. i sure was glad to hear that. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have a bleeding condition like stomach ulcers, or take aspirin, nsaids, or bloodthinners, or if you have kidney problems, especially if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures,

and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. pradaxa is progress. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if you can reduce your risk of stroke with pradaxa. >> a big warning by the fda about cholesterol-fighting medicine uses by mill combroons. jonathan dienst with that and other headlines into the cnbc newsroom. good evening, jonathan. >> good evening, larry. the fda has raised safety concerns about statens. they a small risk those could raise small sugar levels and could lead to people being diagnosed with diabetes. drugs like lipitor and crestor have been taken for years by tens of millions of people. shares of first solar were

halted after the company released much lower than expected earnings. first solar has the revenue forecast below estimates. >> olympia snowe says she will not run for re-election. she says she has been frustrated by washington. snowe has served 33 years in congress. house speaker john boehner turned up the heat on president obama's energy policies. boehner says gas prices will come down as the keystone xl pipeline was completed and the speaker was forceful about it. >> we have a handful of radical environmental groups who stood in the way of having a national energy policy all of these years and it's just about damn time that we ought to have a natural energy policy and do something that the american people wants us to do. >> j.p. morgan chase ceo jamie dimon says breaking up the bank will not unlock any values speaking at the investors'

conference. dimon says the company's focus will be to navigate regulations and capital requirements. apple is now a half trillion dollar company. it is the sixth stock to ever cross that threshold. next week uponael's expected to unveil its next-generation ipad. it is expected to have a quad-core processor with the latest 4g technology and we've crunched the numbers. if apple were a country, larry, it would be the 20th largest economy. back to you. >> and a rather efficient one, at that. many thanks, w nbc's jonathan dienst. coming up on kudlow, a market milestone, dow 13,000 and holding up pretty well. first time we've hit it since may 2008. we'll talk about a market momentum. we have jimmy rogers and mike holland and steve grasso. stay with us, please.

>> welcome back to "the kudlow report." i'm larry kudlow. at the top of this half hour let's do some stock market work. good day for the markets. dow settled above 13,000. that's the first time since may 2008. s&p 500 above the t-1370 level

thank to a consumer confidence reading. we'll get to it in a minute, but let's talk to investing legend jimmy rogers, chairman of rogers holding. we have mike holland, chairman of holland and company, and steve grasso, director of institutional sales. you're all mark ledge e egendle. the bulls continue to stampede over the doubters, jimmy. what's your stock market position? are you long here? it doesn't look like this is going stop. >> larry, this is 2012. there's an election in november. there's an election in france. there are 40 elections this year. the germans are having an election a year from now. you will see a lot of good news and a lot of money being spent. a lot of money being sprinted. yes, this year's fine. worry about 2013. be panicked about 2014, but this year, a lot of good news is coming out. >> jimmy, you didn't exactly, my old friend, answer the question. are you long stocks and if so, where? and if not, why.

>> my way to play, there's more than one way to skin a cat, larry. i'm skinning this cat with commodities. you see what's happening to gold. you see what's happening and oil went down today, but yes, oil's been going through the roof. there are other ways to play. they're printing a lot of money, larry, when they print money, you have to protect yourself with real assets in the end. >> mike holland, let me go to you on this story because the big headline story was the unexpected jump in consumer confidence. we'll put it up on the full screen. it seems to me that's about the better jobs numbers, mike and that's about the better economic numbers and it's about the better manufacturing numbers and it's about growth and stocks. do you frommed that way or am i too ebulent? >> no, you're not too ebullient, even. i would have to say that the jobs numbers are beginning to make people feel a little bit better and there's still a lot of pain out there, but the world did not come to an end last august, september, october. people are now looking at things in europe and saying the world looks a little bit less awful

over there and as jim points out there are plenty of things going on that bring a tailwind to this market and the market itself is making people feel better. >> i think this is about resilient, free market capitalist american businesses which themselves are a global business and they're doing pretty darn well. their sales are doing well. their profits are doing well and their multiples in the market are relatively low on a historic basis so i plead with you, are you bullish? is this meltup going continue? >> i'm going to agree with your question and i'll answer your question directly, but the other two gentlemen hit on key stats. it is an election cycle and there is a lot of money being thrown in the marketplace. what money is being thrown at the market? the fed stopped qe-2 and there is no qe-3. i don't see any bouncing. i see bank loans to businesses going up which is healthy. there's operation twist. there's plenty of ways --

there's plenty of ways to skin a cat. there are other ways and programs that are out there. there's incentivizing and people to come into the marketplace. there are giveaways still out there. it is an election-year cycle. he is friendly to unions and there is a lot of money that we're not seeing. >> what do unions have to do with this market rally? 7% of american labor is private unions. in other words, jimmy rogers, i agree with your conclusions about gold and silver and commodities and it's the reasonings that i don't agree and brother grasso just confused me even more. now he's got unions out there. this isn't about unions. this is about the recovery of american business, jimmy rogers. >> larry, larry, you speak about the employment numbers. look at the employment numbers. they're jigging those employment numbers, larry. >> no, they're not. >> how do you know what people roll off the ranks? they're not included anymore. i hate to sound like a conspiracy guy. i know bureau of labor statistics bureaucrats from my

experience in the government. those poor guys do the best they can. >> all right, larry. >> one thing you have to look at as well is look at one you've seen. you've seen utilities lag and there's still money going into utilities. they're hunting for yields, still. >> you better warm up on your labor unions. >> jimmy rogers, i'm not saying you're wrong, my friend. >> hold on. >> okay. let's go back to the federal reserve. >> larry, get out their balance sheet. you will see first of all, that unadjusted m-2 has been going through the roof, but more important, look at the balance sheet, larry. all sort of things have suddenly appeared on the balance sheet in the last year. the tooth fairy didn't put that in the balance sheet. the federal reserve bought that stuff. >> what about this other point? i like your m-2 point because to me that shows the economy is growing and i want to say again, cni loans are rising at 12% year on year. that's a sign of help for the economy which i think translates

into the better stock market. mike holland, help me out. i'm drowning here. i'm absolutely drowning and i can barely keep my nose above water. businesses are doing better not only in the u.s. and they're degree better all over the world. china, jimmy, you know better than anybody and you and i have been going over there for a quarter of a century and all of asia is looking better than you and i have seen it in a long time as a whole sector of the world. so i think that the u.s. companies who are in any way exposed to that are actually feeling a lift right now that people weren't expecting. we were talking about a hard landing versus soft landing. >> and latin america and canada. jimmy rogers, okay. i found's central bank that's pumping. this is a serious question. they're going to announce new emergency loans to banks and that is a big source of liquidity. on that score, i would totally agree with you, jimmy. and the japanese central banks.

>> yes, i stand corrected. and japan, yes. >> larry, look, the numbers are getting better because obama's spending huge amounts of money. their friends are better off, but larry, there's an election and they do this every time there's an election. it doesn't always work. it didn't work in 2008, but they do it every time. be serious. you've been around a long time and you went to an ivy league school. >> please, don't pin that on me. >> where was the confidence that you were so excited about. q)e is that when you looked at oil at $110. i know there is a risk premium put into oil from iran and it's $120, but just say that lingers around. >> you know why it fell today? because the keystone pipeline will be built in the lower half. it's congestion because it can't get to the refineries. the guy was on last night. he ran, and -- there were a couple of stories yesterday. for you to say it was about one

story, it's not. it was about the cme. >> do you think the labor unions are pumping money? >> there's money flooding into the marketplace. >> it's the shell game. >> i'm not is on the obama team, but there are some people that can rightly say this is the obama bull market and let's face it, intrade has obama at a 60% chance of becoming president again. does that hurt you? does that make you sell or buy stocks or do you care? >> think people are banking on the market rallying based on obama not getting reelected and forget about end trade. you cannot look at an election without a debate. we want to see two of them sitting in a table. >> it's way too early. >> i actually agree with it. the first thing you've said that i actually agree with. >> you can give me a hug after this. >> i will. >> but if he does get reelected you want to be selling coal names and you want to be buying the safety bets. >> jimmy rogers, give me some of your investment wisdom, please

some. >> i would tell you that obama is going to win. i don't want him to win. it's not good for america, but larry, it's hard to defeat a sitting president and he's spending a lot of money. things will feel good this year just because he's throwing money into the market and into the economy. >> why don't you jump all over jimmy about spending money? >> i think right now obama is the odds-on favorite and i think you're right. they pumped up this phony temporary payroll tax cut. that's important and i don't know if people are spending the money or investing the money or whatever, but it all runs out at the end of 2012. do you buy now and sell them later this year or what? >> in the fall, you better start worrying very badly in the fall because if obama wins, everybody's going say, oh, my god, and if he loses then you guys will have to cut back hard because obama is going to try to win the election in 2012. be very careful. >> i have to hear more from you on the investment strategy

because dow 13,000 is not nothing and it doesn't look like it's over, mike. >> no. the market in the u.s. and around the world is still priced at a level where i don't think theria a great deal of risk and potential for a great reward. i disagree with a lot of different things from two very smart guys. jimmy i've known forever and i actually believe we'll not have a problem in washington, because presuming there is a democrat in the white house and there will be republicans in the senate and in the house. i think we're going get changes in energy if we get a republican in the white house that will have lots of things to do with growing jobs. in the meantime, the market doesn't really care. the market is saying that as will rogers said many years ago, we'll get through this and businesses are doing well despite the politicians. >> that is the key point. businesses, 10, politicians, 0. jimmy rogers, always great to see you. mike holland, as always, and steve grasso, labor union.

i'll work on that. >> can somebody walk me out to the car? >> gentlemen, you are all terrific for different reasons. >> that's the deal, folks. business is rising and that's driving the stock market higher. anyway, a programming note for tomorrow evening, exclusive live interview. i'll talk to former fed governor kevin warsh. coming up this evening, we've got more. tonight's race in michigan has very big implications of mitt romney's campaign. can he hold on to the front-runner stat us? can he win. cnbc's john harwood up next.

>> with just an hour before all of the polls close in michigan it is make or break for governor mitt rom no. so let's get an update with cnbc's john harwood who joins us live again from detroit. good evening, again, john. john, let me ask a question. what is the role of democrats in this republican primary and my democrats make the difference? >> it's possible. what i've been hearing from people who watch this state's primaries in the past is that democrats and pure independents will make up 15% of the vote. the independents tend to be a

ron paul constituency. those pure independents, but the democrats could make a difference and rick santorum's been seeking their votes and there could be mischief-making democrats who purposely go into the republican primary because it is an open primary and they don't have open party registration to vote with rick santorum. remember, mitt romney said he did that when me lived in massachusetts. he tried to vote for the weaker candidate like paul over bill clinton in 1992. >> michael moore, the famous left wing michael moore was quoted today as saying that his pals are voting for santorum in order to hurt romney because they think santorum is the weaker candidate. >> that's the mischief making i'm talking about and certainly the combination of a forward-leaning attempt by santorum to appeal for those working-class voters, the reagan democrats as you and i remember

them and it could make a difference and remember, rick santorum's been making the attack on mitt romney, a disingenuous attack, attacking romney for opposing the romney bailout without mentioning of course, in that ad and rick santorum opposed the auto bailout. one of many mischief making by santorum. john harwood, thank you ever so much. we appreciate it. john will have coverage throughout the night right here on cnbc. now next up, we have the political panel. we have phil muster, ed rogers, tony perkins and santorum and romney. who will win? can mitt survive michigan?

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>> welcome back to "the kudlow report." we're moment away before the critical michigan primary polls close. let's go talk to our distinguished panel, former adviser and presidential campaign, the republican strategist ed rogers and tony perkins, president of the family research council. thank you, gentlemen. why has mitt romney had so much trouble closing the deal in his home state? i don't get it. you should have waltzed through this. if you looked at where mitt was, it was down 12. he's had a good debate and rolled out a good economic plan that won rave reviews and he's

got a good chance to win in michigan tonight. if there's anything that you should point to will be the democratic turnout and i think there will be more independents and democrats voting. my sources on the ground tell me it could be 8% to 10%. it's an eight or nine-point margin. so when the story of this race is told i suspect mitt will do well with republicans and the high jefrngs with the democrats voting in the republican primary will prove to be one of the huge strategic mistakes year to date. >> ed rogers, it would be right. a strategic mistake. if democrats electric santorum. rick santorum will say i don't accept the victory, if that happens how damaging, how dire is it for mitt romney. that's the question everybody's asking. republicans in washington, and the media beltway and the rest of it. can mitt escape it if he loses

tonight? it's very damaging, but nobody dies tonight and there will not be an as terrific by rick santorum's win if some component of his voter share was with democrats. it doesn't go that way. it's bad for romney, but little fatal for anybody. tony perkins, i am told, i didn't hear it, but i am told that rick santorum said on laura ingram's radio show that he shouldn't have done his krit okay or attack on the jfk church and state speech and tony, i read the speech. i googled it up. jfk never said he wasn't going to talk to religious leaders. he said he wouldn't let them dictate to him and of course, that was what? 50 years ago, 60 years ago. is this a big mistake for santorum? now he's backtracking on it. he may be backtracking on his whole cultural conservatism. >> i think he backtracked on the language. he shouldn't have used the word

make them throw up. he had concerns about the first part of the speech and he was right when he talked about the institutional separation of church and state and he talks about how he will not allow his religious teaching and moral beliefs to affect or impact his decisions and that was the part that rick had issue with and he said, you know, we cannot separate morality and truth from government and descriptive verbs were too much. >> let me just talk about what toby just said because i think a lot of people are worried that president rick santorum just might impose his religious and moral beliefs. he's had a lot of loose-lipped talking about things like contraception and prenatal care and so forth and so on. people are worried that, in fact, he'll be a moralistic guy, too much so and we had steve schmitt at the top of the hour saying it was damaging to the republican party. what do you think? is it damaging to the republican

party? you have to look back to santorum's re-election race especially with women and that's a good question, and that's the reason a lot of republicans have senator santorum's lech ral appeal across the spectrum and certainly with independent women voters. i respect his position as a conservative leader and he's been consistent and strong on them, but if you look at the last week he's been all over the map on a lot of different statements. he's been one after the next after the next and he said some crazy stuff. >> he said some wacky things, but he's in the lead and it's bewildering. it is what it is. >> pick that up. pick that up, ed rogers. is that's very important. >> certainly santorum is each. >> we can't deny santorum is where he is and the republican party right now is a movement and not a well-organized party and the movement is angry. rick santorum has a foothold in

there. >> let me -- maybe the cultural conservatism is playing better than folks think. okay? did maybe his reach out to blue-collar workers. go ahead, tony. i'm sorry. >> not only that, but rick santorum seemed authentic and i talked to a number of people across this country, that say i may not agree with him on everything, but he doesn't have the baggage that other candidates have. let's go back on the democratic vote. mitt romney won new hampshire with the independent vote. so to say that you're going to have democrats vote actually is the same type of movement that ronald reagan had that brought disenfranchised democrats who retired in the liberal party into the republican party and barack obama and nancy pelosi are driving hundreds of thousands of conservative democrats out of that party and rick santorum is the type of candidate that attracts them on

those social issues. >> i don't want to spend the whole thing on the social issues. >> ed romney, who has the better economic growth plan? >> at the end of the day, bread and butter issues will be key. >> santorum's got a plan in the wall street journal. before that, mitt romney and they both spoke with the economics club. >> if it's an economic plan, if it's an economic election it's mitt romney. he's got the experience. he's got the plan and the reality check on what works and what doesn't work. if it's about the economy, then mitt romney has a huge tailwind. >> phil muster, do you agree with that? >> i do agree with that. i think ed's spot on. as it relates to this race, though, larry, if republicans watching this program will buckle their seat belts this thing will go to may. there are more delegates at stake tonight than at any point in the contest yet. romney will win at least 59 delegates and he'll take a commanding lead out of this even if he loses the race in michigan. to make the case that mitt has

not been performing in winning across the board where he clobbered in new hampshire is just wrong. >> that was a year ago. >> tone perkins -- i want to ask you this though. >> yeah? >> most economists don't agree with santorum's tax subsidies for manufacturing, but let me ask you, tony, maybe the people that do agree with santorum are the blue-collar workers that will be voting tonight. i'll give you the last word. >> well, i just want to say, larry, on this issue of romney's economic plan, if it was so convincing with the president drove the issue to the forefront, here we are going into super tuesday and we are no closer to a nominee and he's raised what santorum has. he can't close the deal and it's not a problem. there isn't going to be a jeb

bush and a mitch daniels. that's just a lot of media speculations and it will never happen. we're looking what the we've got. that's it. >> twocandidates. tony perkins, i'm most grateful. don't forget, folks we'll break into programming on the michigan and arizona primaries. we'll have them for you the moment they're called. tomorrow night i have form fed head kevin warsh. i'm larry kudlow. i'll see you then. carfirmation.

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