pretty lengthy process to get something like this mandated. now, as for privacy, the government says the data that is sent between the cars does not record personal information, so they say your privacy should not be compromised. wolf. >> rene marsh, fascinating material. thanks very much. we end on some sad news just coming in to "the situation room." cnn has learned that joan mondale, the wife of the former vice president, walter mondale, has died. this according to a statement released by the family's church in minneapolis, minnesota. walter mondale was vice president under president jimmy carter. he won the democratic presidential nomination in 1984. joan mondale was 83 years old. our deepest condolences to walter mondale and the entire mondale family. remember, you can always follow us here on twitter, tweet me @wolf blitzer, tweet the show at cnnsit room.

"crossfire" starts right now. tonight on "crossfire" -- is compromise good politics or a dirty word? in reaching across the aisle, are both parties selling out their most loyal supporters? on the left, van jones. on the right, s.e. cupp. in the "crossfire" -- maria cardona, a democratic strategist, and ralph reed, chairman of the faith and freedom coalition. when our leaders find the middle, will they lose their base? tonight on "crossfire." welcome to "crossfire." i'm s.e. cupp on the right. >> and i'm van jones on the left. in the "crossfire" tonight we've got strategists from both political parties. now a few hours ago, president obama met with the top democratic senators to start planning the strategy for the midterm elections. here's a little tip. think seattle not denver.

okay? these elections are about playing against. that means keep your base happy. here's my playbook. first, reject the keystone pipeline. you've got a brand new report out reveals it creates, get this, 35 permanent jobs. now seattle scored more points than that last night. next, the path to citizenship for immigration reform. don't let the republicans push you around like last night. stand your ground on thatp about and third, get rid of this terrible awful sellout deal, nobody in your base wants that. you're already polling, mr. president at 45%. if you want to get to 35%, abandon your base in the middle of the midterm election. >> you worked a lot of football into that. i liked it. >> i got skills. >> and i hope the president's listening. we know he watches "crossfire." in the "crossfire" tonight, democratic strategist maria cardona and faith coalition ralph reed. let's start with the democrats,

we'll get to the republicans. but for now let's focus on the democrats. maria, van clearly wants to push the president to the left. he wants the president to reach out to those progressives. but look at the president's approval ratings in the most competition states for the senate this year. he is not doing well. in red states where democrats are vulnerable. wouldn't it be suicide for the president to take van's advice, which is why i want him to. >> no, i don't think it would be suicide. and i think the reason is because a lot of the issueses that van mentioned and a lot of the issues that the president talked about when he was inaugurated for his second inauguration speech and how many people talked about it was such a lefty libbereral speech, immigration reform, climate change, minimum wage, even talking about income inequality right now. the majority of the american people, the mainstream of america are there, they're with

him. now, there's no question that it will be a tight rope because, as we know, in midterm elections, it is not a national electorate. you have to look at what's going on in the states. that's why you see these red state democrats are doing their own thing. >> they don't want to be seen with him in public. >> that's okay. because they know what they need to do in order to get elected. it actually means that the president can do all the things that van jones talked about. >> oh good, i feel better. >> and gives them an opportunity to show the difference. >> let's bring you in here. wouldn't you concede on some of this stuff. maybe you don't like everything i've said. but there's a lot of things that the president has led on, the nation is with him on. immigration, minimum wage, unemployment insurance, the debt ceiling, all these things were obama's stuck the pole in the ground and now republicans are moving his way. isn't that a vindication of his leadership? >> no. >> i am shocked. >> the problem is -- and s.e. showed the president's plummeting approval ratings in

the key red states where the key senate races will take place. but this is an approval rating that has plummeted from the high 50s to mid-50s down to the low 40s. and i really think, van, you're making it more complicated and more political than it really needs to be. this is really largely because of a policy failure. the central domestic legislative achievement of this president, the domestic legislative achievement that will define his presidency in the same way that the great society did for lbj and the new deal -- >> will you say obama care? the republican's talking about obama care. >> and even he has acknowledged that, the broken website, the 5 to 6 million people who had their policies canceled. all that catastrophe, to use senator baucus' term, a train wreck. instead of focusing on the politics, the key is to get the policy right. now, if you look at immigration

reform, for example, let's -- i know this is hard in washington, but let's set the politics aside for a minute and ask ourselves a simple question. is it a good idea, is it sound policy to tell millions of people who have been waiting in line for years to obey our laws, to play by the rules and to wait for a legal visa before they enter, to watch millions of people be given a green light to a special path to citizenship when they obeyed the law? and the answer is it's not. >> you can go ahead, maria. >> first of all, on obama care, ralph, you're just wrong on that because it's way too early to say one way or the other what his legacy will be. the numbers show now that the website is working that it actually will be on average very good for the american people. you have millions of people who could not get health care before, who are now getting it. and a lot of the people that you talk about whose plans were canceled are now able to get them perhaps at cheaper rates

and perhaps at different plans that are better for them. you talk about the coalition of voters that, a, any republican who wants to be in the white house any time soon, they have to look at women. they have to look at latinos, they have to look at african-americans. that coalition of voters, they are absolutely doing well by obama care. and will continue to do well because they're the ones who didn't have health care before. >> not if enough young people sign up to actually make obama care affordable and workable. i mean, you might have some good polling results right now from the folks who actually got obama care, but we don't have the numbers to actually support this system. doesn't that worry you? >> yes, and it is a worry, and that's why you see all of the groups that are allied with the president making sure that they go out and they sign up those young people. but even the early numbers are higher than what was expected. >> well, actually, actually, what the early -- what the early numbers show, marie qula, and this is both in a "new york

times" report and a "wall street journal" report in which they surveyed private insurers who were signing people up on the exchanges, between 80 and 85% of the people who were getting policies are people who had their policies canceled. obama care is not succeeding in covering the uninsured. all it's doing is churning through, canceling people's policy, then they're driven to the exchanges and now they're having to get a new policy. that's not what this obama care was supposed to do. >> i think in addition to obama care, which a lot of voters care about, they also care about jobs. and if we're serious about jobs, i think that the president has got to approve the keystone pipeline. you've got major labor union folks backing this. president clinton said we've got to embrace keystone. it just got a clean bill of health in this report. haven't the opponents to keytone already lost? i think the president approves this. you want to make a bet? >> absolutely not. i will bet you. >> okay, let's do it. >> i won't bet you my retirement. >> let's stay away from $10,000

bets. we'll just shake on it. >> good. if you look at the report, the report doesn't actually say that this is going to be good for the country. what the report actually says is that in and of itself you cannot make a determination on the impact of what this one project by itself without any other factor coming into play will have on carbon emissions. what it does say, though, is it plays out scenarios which are very feasible that will play out, for example, the price of oil goes down. everyone speculated the price of oil will go down. if that happens, then tar sands expands and carbon emissions will go up. and so i actually think taking that along with everything else a the president wants to do on climate change can give him a green light to say no. >> i really want to get your opinion on this. i don't understand why republicans have made this project the centerpiece of their entire economic philosophy.

>> i think that's overstated quite a bit. >> every time we have a show, somebody says something, somebody says something about keystone and somehow keystone is going to create all these jobs. the twl noboumbers are 3,900 temporary jobs in the construction sector and 35 permanent jobs. why is this obsession that you guys have when you have a foreign corporation, trans-canada, who is going to be seizing american farmland, putting a dangerous toxic chemical through so they can send it over to china and create 35 jobs. why is this your talking point? >> first of all, i don't think that's a fair reading of the report. 42,000 jobs created. >> 42,000 jobs direct, indirect and induced. >> that's a metric model that shows the spending of people that get jobs and so forth. it isn't fair to just limit it.

>> but 3,900 construction jobs. >> by definition, construction jobs are temporary. when you build a building, guess what? when the building's built, move on to next project. it's ridiculous to say you shouldn't build a pipeline for that reason. that's number one. number two, the main argument for why it should not have been green lighted is its potential effect on the environment. and what the report shows, van, and this is irrefutable, the science is clear, that the alternatives to the pipeline are worse. if you use primarily tanker trucks to transport this shale gas, climate emissions will be 28% higher than the pipeline. if you use primarily rail, they'll be 40 to 42% higher. protecting the environment, you should build the pipeline. >> all the reason to leave this toxic sludge in the ground. we'll talk about that later.

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welcome back in the "crossfire" tonight, maria cardona and ralph reed. today president obama huddled behind closed doors to plot strategy for 2014. immigration reform is sure to figure into that even though paul ryan now is clearly expressing some doubts. >> bottom line, can you put something on the president's desk this year that he can sign?

>> i really don't know the answer to that question. that is clearly in doubt. >> here's my question. are we having the wrong debate? when it comes to pathways to citizenship, does anyone bother to look at the numbers? according to a pew poll conducted in 2012, nearly two-thirds of the 5.4 million legal mexican immigrants who are eligible to become citizens of the united states have decided not to pursue that. why? many say they're simply not interested. so maria, i've got some more polling. this one from pew. when asked what's more important among hispanic legal immigrants they say legalization is more important, 36% say citizenship. so if the main priority is legalization, we've got a republican proposal on the table that allows for legal status, why are we obsessing over this pathway to citizenship that some immigrants don't even want? >> i think the reason why the pathway to citizenship is important, and it is important

to a lot of immigrants is because we don't want to have in this country a second class citizenry. it's one thing to give them the choice and if they choose not to become citizens, that's fine. there are a lot of legal immigrants right now that are not citizens and they continue to work and raise their families and that's fine. >> and send money home. >> and maybe intend on travel. >> that's exactly correct. if they want to, they've been here long enough, they can start the process and become citizens. >> i understand. but isn't that a political roadblock that's unnecessary? >> i don't think so. >> it's real immigration reform. >> i think it's more of a road block for republicans. the pathway to legalization is something that's real and is on the table for republican, democrat was have to really think long and hard about accepting that because, if you put that choice in front of an immigrant between a pathway to legalization and nothing, of course they're going to choose a pathway to legalization.

>> but guess what, s.e., there is nothing on the table right now. and in fact, paul ryan and raul labrador said to the whole community that he didn't think this was going to happen. >> and it might not. >> i'm curious about you on this one. you have actually been a big fighter, from my point of view, the good side of the immigration reform, trying to get families unified all that kind of stuff, yet it seems to be a very tough pill for the republican party to swallow. and for some people it seems like there may be an elephant in the room. there may be some ethnic or racial or cultural chauvinism here. you've got people saying stuff like this, steve king is famous for doing this to you guys, for every valedictorian there's a hundred other dreamer kids that weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert. doesn't that kind of rhetoric from the republican party offend

you or bother you and why don't you speak out more strongly against those kinds of almost intorer ens comments? >> i think the most important thing i can do in faith and freedom is talk about what we're for and not what we're against. the interesting thing about the debate is there are a lot of things we can agree on. >> aren't you against comments like that? >> that doesn't reflect my vi views. i've never said anything like that. steve king is a friend of mine, he's a great representative for the state of iowa -- >> you're a top political strategist. i'm asking you a tough question here. >> mm-hmm. >> you just said on the one hand we all know that you've been a good champion on some of this stuff, at the same time you say your friend says stuff like that. if i'm a regular party and trying to figure out what party should i be a part of. you have your heart in the right place but your friends says terrible stuff. doesn't that hurt the republican party? and why don't you do anything about it? >> there are bad actors and people who say things they shouldn't say that are inartful

and hurtful in both parties. it's not confined to one party. if this is not just a bunch of carnival barkers and this isn't just a reality show, if we're really going to try to arrival public policy that changes people's lives for the better, then focus on getting the policy right. and what caused this system to get broken with the 65 immigration reform under johnson was to move through chain migration. so now in our country, 80% of everybody who enters the country comes because they're related by blood or familial connection to somebody who is already here. so we can't get people based on their economic needs or anything like that. and spouses and children have no priority. so what i've said is i'm against amnesty, but i'm for fixing what's broke. >> no one's for amnesty. >> that's not true. >> there are plenty of people that are for amnesty. >> people that are serious about this position. >> prrepublicans love to say th we're for amnesty -- >> we did in '86, a bipartisan process.

>> but that's not what this is. >> you are also a top strategist. doesn't this perception problem for republicans -- for democrats we don't have a problem on this issue. republicans have a lot of dyspepsia on this issue. is this an issue for them and why do you think it's a case that they choke on it so hard? >> i think i want to commend people like you because you have led on this. i think the faith community, law enforcement community and the chamber of commerce, the business community that are mostly conservatives are republicans have led on this. so there are a lot of republican leaders in the right place. but i think they really need to push a little bit more like van was saying because there are still a lot of republicans in the house. let's face it, this is up to the house now in terms of what is going to be presented, whether those principles are going to be able to become a reality. and i think it is a huge issue from a perception standpoint and from a future political survival

standpoint, if you will. you guys have heard this. latinos are one of three in terms -- >> you are saying it is a problem for us. barack obama ran for president in 2008 and promised in his first term he would get this done. he controlled both chambers of congress, one of them by a margin large eeenough to pass a constitutional amendment. he did nothing. he didn't get it done. he has failed to lead. that is a reality. it didn't move at all. and then he did it by executive order before an election. >> i want to get one other question in here about chris christie because he has been in the news. i'm sure we can argue about him a little bit. it seems to me the giddiness are delighting in his troubles is having an unindended ca consequence. proof the latest proof is that c

pac which snubbed him for being too liberal has decided he is perfectly conservative enough. aren't democrats and the media risking suring up his support by overreaching on some of the stories and not just letting the investigation play out? >> i don't think so and here is why. i have a different theory or an alternate theory a. it wasn't because they are so in love with him. they do see he even with bridge gate that he has the potential path to become a big leader in the republican party and they don't want to be left out of it. >> they want to have a say in that. >> we are going to come back. we are going to talk about our biggest of the day. mine has to do with people who were offended by coke's super bowl commercial.

what is wrong with singing "america the beautiful" in different languages? do you find coca-cola's super bowl ad offensive? hey guys! sorry we're late.

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we're back. our outrages of the day. i am outraged over something that happened during the super bowl. legendary nfl quarterback joe

namath made an appearance in a very stylish fir coat. taking to twitter to post graphic images of dead rabbits meant to shame wearers out of their clothes. more offensive the tiny panty hose. thousands thousand -- what did you think of targeting broadway joe during super bowl? >> it went a little overboard. >> dead animals at the super bowl? >> the game was -- >> i was outraged by the crazy attacks on coca-cola's america the beautiful ad. for me it is powerful, america

is every color, every faith, every kind of human being that lives in the country. for the people who said it has to be sung in english, the only language, get over it. just get over it. american songs, patriotic songs are powerful in any language. >> it is not surprising when you have mark anthony singing the national anthem and haters saying you have a foreigner singing the national anthem, the man was born in the united states. >> i don't think that is where the heart of the country is. you can go into ethnic neighborhoods whether polish parts of chicago or hispanic parts of miami and l.a. i think people understand that. >> want to thank both of you. you can go to facebook or twitter to weigh in. did you find the coca-cola super bowl ad offensive? only 14% said yes. 86% said no. the debate can continue online.

from the left i'm van jones. >> i'm cs.e. cupp. >> erin burnett starts right now. breaking news breaking his silence seconds away from the new jersey governor chris christie answering questions about the bridge scandal on the heels of new allegations. you see him arriving to take the questions. what did he know skm when did he know it. stocks tank. new details surrounding the death of actor philip seymour hoffman.