-- and republican party. then we preview president obama's remarks of the israel public affairs committee and later, newt gingrich talks about his campaign and take your calls. "washington journal" is next. ♪a host: good morning. been saturday's caucuses, mitt romney winning. each one of five delegates. this is a preview to the voting in 10 states on tuesday. it is called "super tuesday.

live coverage on the c-span networks this morning back. vladimir putin is expected to return to the presidency in russia. later, the former house speaker, newt the rich. we did -- newt gingrich. she outlined some of the reasons buried she said that the senate today is not what they envisioned. the number to call for our independent line is 202-628- 0205. the number to call for our republican line is 202-737-0002. the number to call for our democrat line is 202-737-0001. we will get your comments via facebook and printer -- twitter.

let's take a quick look at some of the headlines in washington state. mitt romney winning big. he won nearly 30% of the vote. newt gingrich coming in fourth with just over 10%. meanwhile, the focus on super tuesday, the columbus dispatch on the trail. the atlanta journal constitution has "battled for the top spot." we will have more on all this

coming up over the course of the program, but we want to share with you the comments of senator olympia snowe. further into her piece, she says, before the federal election, they voted for the opposing party. that number has dropped to just 25 senators in 2012.

that is our question. we want to hear from you on this saturday morning. -- on this sunday morning. the phone lines are open. you can join the conversation online and on facebook. on twitter. first up is tim joining us on the democrats' line from gainesville, florida. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? i was calling in because i saw your question.

i wanted to call c-span on top of that. i am sorry, i cannot hear you. >> we can hear you. go ahead. caller: i wanted to say that people like newt gingrich, specifically, who you will have on later, i think he could benefit from learning something about barack obama's political understanding if he understood and watched c-span himself. if you watched the book fair. the black way of seeing, he could show that the political philosophy of barack obama goes all the back to kennedy and johnson. the founding fathers would tell him that dr. king is a founding father. i hope you talk that with him when he comes on. as far as barack obama being a

food stamp president, should he let people starve? those are questions of like to hear answered. host: thank you for your call. brad joining us from ohio. will you be voting on tuesday? caller: i will be voting. i have a question. what is your opinion regarding the question you want answered -- what is your opinion on reservation indians? ont: we're not focusing indians. we're focusing on the u.s. senate. caller: i know, but it would make it easier to give you my answer. host: the great part about this program is we want to hear from you. my opinion doesn't really matter. we want to hear from you. caller: to understand the reservation indians and how the senate deals with them through

the governor of arizona and senator john mccain, it kind of goes hand-in-hand. host: ok, we will go on to a the other caller from a super tuesday states. caller: well, as far as i am concerned, she does not have any gravitas speaking about that. the government should submit to the will of the governing. she is one of those probes are kidding phony progresses. she has been -- our income for

years. host: thank you for the call. "how the public could save the senate " e." next is michael from arlington,

texas. good morning. democrats line. caller: thank you for this very important topic that senator snowe has made a very significant contribution to our political process. by her statements and her service and her attempts to be -- in my opinion. i am a democrat. the ethical approach she has. what i believe has happened in the course of our evolution as a now-very large country, my point of view is this. the decision that was made to

amend the constitution so the two senators from each state were not selected by the representatives and so on. a more democratic process has been beneficial. now i think we need to do, what to me is implied by the senator, and that is to make our electoral process -- change it significantly and have a popular votes. just look at what has happened in the last several years. the senators individually can block appointments that are very appropriate by an elected president to important positions in the cabinet and agencies. we are hamstrung by that. i am not going to try to make a

complete indictment of those who have political power and influence. but, to me, what has been in the past shadowy and a group that has manipulated the process, nowadays, we cannot have that. i think the most significant change is to change the process to its popular votes -- to a popular vote. host: i will stop you there. you made some important points. but these is available online at

bostonglobe.com. let me go back to michael's earlier point. congress is becoming more like a parliamentary system, she writes. again, the comments of senator olympia snowe. seven cisco onom the republican line.

caller: 4 give me, the democrat line, but that is all right. i think one has to speak about the country in general. can you hear me? host: we sure can. go ahead. caller: we were meant to be participatory government where the public did more than simply vote. i think what has happened is we have a lack of civility. there is the rudeness and brutality about our political process. it is overwhelming to me. i'm about to be 60. i used to be a news correspondent. politics has changed so dramatically. i do not rue the day i left tv news. i do not know i could bear to cover it. host: were you on a national level? caller: it was for nbc national

news. i covered jesse jackson. i think, for starters, it is distressing to the extent to which, let's take the office of president has been at the mean in the senate and the halls of congress. from the shouting of, " ," -- "you lie." when people step forth proudly to say the number one goal was to defeat this president. if your number one goal is to defeat the president, then your number one goal is to defeat the party. if you allow -- it is not a question of whether you like or do not like president obama. the office of president itself has to retain a certain dignity.

a certain common respect or it loses its power. not just in our eyes, but in the eyes of the world. inside "the new york times" with a map of the u.s. senate. it is titled snowe's sad retreat.

inside "the new york times." her comments this morning about what the senate looks like today. we're joined from florida on the independent line. caller: good morning "washington journal" and america. the red party and the blue party has basically come together and formed the yellow party which tries to protect our borders, protect our jobs and become a monetary system. when the international banking cartel called the federal reserve, as far as the senate goes, good riddance. she has tried to destroy the constitution and the oath she is taken. however, a think the amendment

which made them pick the state legislature, was intended by our founding fathers. the 17th amendment changed all that. the election of senators became a popular vote we go right back to the corporations and whoever has the most money. they represent, like the general election, whoever has the most money. host: thank you for the call. joseph has a similar point.

you can join the composition online at twitter.com/cspanwj. caller: caller: my point is that olympia snowe, in this commentary, is trying to make a better decision. the calls their coming in -- what i am saying is we need to form a more perfect union. president obama's biggest fault is he constantly tries to compromise. i think another point is that ms. snowe should be more directed her criticism.

the republican logic that is dominating all politics. they held our nation hostage. she should be more direct in criticizing. you see that public response. host: thank you for that call. this is available at npr.org.

some scholars say her retirement is discouraging, but not surprising. is this what the founding fathers envisioned? olympia snowe says, no. next is the republican line, texas. caller: good morning. i think the founding fathers intended if the house of representatives are three of the ball -- the bathwater, the baby should not be in the water. they should be the coming influence. today, everyone wants to be in everyone's business.

the whole country was founded when people did their thing. people simply lived their lives. tried to make money to support themselves. make friendships, what ever. i am a republican, but i do not feel it is my business to tell any other republican, democrat, or anybody else how to live. it is my business when they want me to support their lives out. host: thank you for the call. we have this comment on our twitter page. sequestration will take effect on some of these automatic budget cuts in january next year. our guest at 10:00 eastern time is republican congressman from

california. he is the chair of the house armed services committee. we asked him about that issue [video clip] -- [video clip] people are just coming to terms with how serious this is. you add another $500 to $600 billion on top of that, it is just across the board cuts with no thought, no planning, no nothing. when we had the secretary of the navy in a week before last, i asked him. i said, what are you doing to plan for sequestration? he said, we were ordered to not even think about it. it is totally irresponsible. >> mr. panetta did say that come summer, he would consider

planning. >> somebody better. in the meantime, i am. host: senator but mickey on " newsmakers. from "the boston globe," she wrote in "the washington post t."te welcome to the program. caller: good morning. i disagree with her. i do not think she has -- i do not think she knows her sister. the only way to better ideas is

to come up with things when people do not agree. you cannot agree just to get along to go along. you not get along to go along. i agree with a few of the other calls that came in. 40 years is too long. the 17th amendment should be appealed. it is more a responsibility to the house of representatives. if you wanted to fix the seine, that would be one way. the main problem is our congress. all the bureaucrats that are in all these different -- that are running everything. taking their boats. knowing what they're talking about. host: thank you for your call. coming up, we will turn our attention to super tuesday, including some of the key states including ohio and tennessee.

a pivot point for this republican primary. later, the president speaking at the apec conference. newt gingrich, who was in a hired yesterday, virginia today. we have this, on our tour page with regards to comments. from "the main morning sentinel" there is this.

next is the beverly, joining us from phoenix. good morning. welcome to the program. caller: thank you. i agree with the woman from california. we have had such hatred coming out of the republican party since clinton. their main objective is to have total control of the house, the senate, and the presidency. it happened during george w. bush for the first six years.

they had total control. not believe that, i saw this in germany. it was a democracy. their party was the only party. the hate that played out in germany. but you know, united we stand, divided we fall. to say that your job is to defeat the president, when you do that, you defeat america. host: thank you for call. a comment on twitter.

rush limbaugh yesterday, apologizing. he said, "sorry i said you were a slut." he refused to back them on the birth control issue. the radio host called sandra fluke a prostitute for having so much sex. inside "the new york times."

again, russia lamotte apologize for his comments last week -- rush limbaugh apologized for his comments last week. good morning. caller: nobody is irreplaceable. i don't know why we insist on a lead to the same people over and over. her and another senator in may voted not to increase the drilling. now we have higher gas prices. regardless of what people say, it will have a positive affect. may gas prices would not be this high week to open the spigot. in cases where the oil prices go

up high, i was wondering. why is it that whenever, it is always the big draw on the far right. it is never the vitriol on the far left. now, all of a sudden, you're a big democratic president you cannot say anything about wanting to defeat him. that is mean-spirited. the of the way to get stuff on tv. or one of the senate panels, the congressional panels, another thing should be paid for by contraceptives but if he cannot afford it. she goes to georgetown law school. many people are claiming that the government owes them more, and more, and more. there is less responsibility in life. if you just think that is what happened in greece, if he not think it is important to lay down something, you cannot go

that far. you are uglier and mean-spirited if you do not do it. there is something really wrong. if you cannot even make those comments, if mrs. snowe can handle the heat, then leave the kitchen. did not act like she's irreplaceable. what you are doing is that if she leaves, you're just going far left or far right. host: ok. i will stop you there. thank you for adding your voice to the conversation this morning. we're talking about senator snowe. she concludes by saying i look forward to help the country. cnn also writing about this on

their website at cnn.com. how partisan politics drove olympia snowe away. this comment on our twitter. next, on the democrats' line, key in from michigan. caller: good morning. i believe strongly it was the filibuster rule that led to our demise of not being able to get legislation through like we should. we elected president obama not for the digital, the for the platform that he stood on. what we have seen over the last three years has been appalling to watch. host: more on the debate over

the contraceptive care. and that is from inside "the new york post quotest." caller: i am just a little bit surprised of a senator would

refer to our form of government as a constitutional democracy. as a former teacher, i wish people were better informed. we have a constitutional republic. people may think this is a distinction of little notoriety, but it is a distinction that makes us unique. i think people should become more aware of what type of government we have. as a because every morning. i guess i am just a little saddened at this stage in my life that people cannot understand what form of government we have. host: what level -- do you teach elementary? college? caller: i do. i have seen over the course of the years, the education of the children being replaced by things that are nowhere near as important.

i think it is happening in the world today. and our country. to know ahead of country we have. host: do you think students understand the federalist papers of the constitution? caller: i do not think it is taught. host: laura saying -- and that malcolm with this e- mail,.

again, our question this morning is about olympia snowe as an institution. good morning to you from michigan. caller: thank you for letting me share my views. i am glad to follow the last caller that you had. that was going to be my offering this morning. people should take a look. the midnight ride of paul revere -- it could help to remind us what we are doing here. we should have a better understanding of where our country was. until we began to look at different focuses as our goal.

until my generation, or maybe the one right after mine, people participated in their citizenship and their country. they had their eye on making it better for the next generation. it seems like, during the 1980's, we turned the focus on ourselves. in all different ways. we gave up that focus of perpetuating not only the republic, but the environment and the rest of the country to the people coming after us as people have who came before us. i am hoping that people will find a copy of "the landlord's detail." it might spark an idea. host: thank you for the call. you could find a song facebook and submit questions for future segments. many of you have posted 4 newt gingrich.

you'll be joining us. an e-mail -- john in virginia, republican line. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. you guys are doing a great job. as an immigrant who came to this country in 1980, people do not appreciate the have in this country. baobab back but i do remember in 1982 the senators.

they argued every way, every possible that the end of the day, they go to lunch together. it is amazing to me that the congress never say one word to each other. i will say to every american, go and travel around the world and see where you have in this country. you do not appreciate your own country. please, americans, a travel. understands -- this is the greatest country in the world. you will appreciate when you come back. host: where are you from originally? caller: i am from somalia are originally. i have five children who have grown up in this country and i

do not know what is going to happen. host: saying, we were not supposed to be an empire. in obituary, we want to point out, stanley stearns passed away. that famous photograph of john kennedy jr. at his father's .uneral again, he has been battling lung cancer. he died in maryland on friday. next, we are joined from atlanta. caller: good morning. i believe that date one, the constitution was signed.

and when black people could not vote and they were slaves, that is the first time the constitution was flawed. it has not been flawed ever since. he should not have to ratify every right every part that says we are all equal and right to vote. to me, it has been a flawed piece of document from day one that they did not follow through with what they wrote. this country cannot just be about white america. black people were excluded. indians were excluded. immigrants were excluded. this is the chickens coming home to roost. host: from the list, new york -- #one is "american sniper."

darrow, democrats line, alabama. caller: in keeping with olympia position, i cannot think the founding fathers could never imagine a character like grover norquist coercing carter's people to give up a tool of the government and say, in advance, of any condition of the country, you're going to give of taxation. this is a symptom of what she is talking about. it is very subversive of how the republican party has attempted to coerce the government in

terms of how it operates. host: thank you for the call. the debate over the 17th of them is causing quite a debate on our twitter page. scott has this point. buddy has this point. .

our standards are not up to be effective. we're joined from florida on the republican line, good morning. caller: in '65 and i've always had an interest in current events. i can tell you that the press today is different. it really reflects what we have in our legislative branch. the press is either blue or red right now. there is no skeptical search for the truth. it is lacking in our society today. when i was growing up, i guess you could say, the press would destroy both sides. they would say, this is not sure about that. the result of this will be this.

it is not with this person is saying. and you heard about it. today, i'd like the press takes sides and they do not dig for the truth, no matter what it is. people are hearing one side at a time. where are these people in the press? they used to show leadership by digging for the truth and saying, wait a minute. that is not true. instead of kind of like a mumble in the background. host: thank you for the call. one last point on our twitter page. let me just conclude with these words from olympia snowe. if you're just tuning in, we're asking questions of thoughts. she says, the great challenge is

to create a system that gives our elected officials reasons to look past differences and find common ground if their initial party position fails to garner support. again, your calls and comments. you can continue to come decision on our twitter or on facebook. coming up in a couple of minutes, we will turn our attention to super tuesday. yesterday, mitt romney winning. he will pick up 30 delegates. it is, after all, all of the delegates. in virginia, and effectively only two candidates competing. newt gingrich and rick santorum campaigning in georgia and ohio. we will have that in a few minutes. in shreveport, louisiana, all

weekend we are featuring the history and culture -- the literary culture of shreveport, louisiana. it is louisiana's third largest city. our local content video travel to different parts of the country to showcase arts and literature. this weekend, shreveport, louisiana. >>[video clip] >> we got a phone call. an editor of mine said we needed to go to new york because the plane crashed. i don't and there was a time in history that the space was as important a life of this nation as it was on that day. all 68 years. this plane was there when the president of united states needed it. it was a safe place to be kids who were attacked again.

this was a central point. they're planning missions and deciding where they would have out. we now know it is a global war on terror. >> who could we win with? >> and none of them. >> obama just changed the entire dynamic. >> look inside the new hbo movie, "game change." >> i love those hockey moss. this is the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull -- lipstick. >> their extrication coming out of that speech, for the week or 10 days after that, she was. on the democratic side, there was a lot of concern. as the mccain/palin ticket came

out, people on the democratic side work freaking out. >> we talk about "game change" today. or any time at c-span.org. >> if you had set in 2006 that the world a baking for the nine states use force again in the united states within 3.5 years, everyone would have said you are crazy. >> robert kagan is only an adviser to the romney campaign, he serves on the clinton aboard. >> i learned there was a lot of continuity in american foreign policy. a broad consensus. i think you are seeing here is the kind of consensus for foreign paul. morph robert -- more with robert

kagan tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span's "q&a." "washington journal" continues. host: we want to edit -- we want to welcome andrew baumann. what can we expect? guest: i think the one thing, it will be a continuation of what we saw last week. it will put its stamp on newt gingrich that he is not only on the side, he is not really in this race. it to a comes down to a two person race. focusing on irani, one who -- focusing on romney, he is beginning to roll up some enthusiasm. centaur, why think he will do rather well in some states. -- santorum, who i think will do

rather well in some states. the one thing i have always said is he could have me on the ballot versus barack obama and what this group of voters, the republican voters, they would be enthusiastic because i am not barack obama. that is where the enthusiasm will come in this campaign. that is where it traditionally becomes. it wasn't that ronald reagan was generating a great deal of enthusiasm. what he was doing is taking a campaign to jimmy carter. host: on the front page of "the new york times."

they're for it to what barack obama did so effectively in to douse it against hillary clinton. >> right. there were some differences. i agree with it that tuesday is the beginning of the end. it will narrow the campaign down to romney and santorum. i think santorum had a good chance going to michigan and i think he blew it. if romney went to ohio, i think it is basically done, although santorum will stick around for a while. i think romney has the momentum. he is in a position to serve. but it is going to take a long time to acquire all the delegates for the nomination. the nominating process plays out for a long time. that is how joe

scarborough refers to it this morning. guest: i think that is true. rick santorum is a candidate who will never be elected president of the united states. i think for a while, he had a chance to be the republican nominee. he has strong beliefs and he says what he believes. but his most import issues are centered on very cultural issues. contraception for instance. he got into the back-and-forth about college. voters want to hear about the economy right now. especially the republican primary voters. a candidate whose main points of the stop is about protecting the view that the rest of

the country has moved beyond will not do well. guest: i would not betray santorum as having imploded out there. -- portray santorum as having imploded out there. no one is paying attention to the rules this year. if you could be counted through february, you lost half of your delegates. if you win in march, you have to do it proportionally. a full've got get to attribution of the delegates. it was geared that direction. i think what santorum, i watched him on tv last night doing a thing with mike huckabee. he was talking about the economy.

he has a blue collar approach. i think the problem was santorum is he does sometimes talk off of the cough. as he became the front-runner in the race, he was emerging in little comments here and there. not the press' fault, santorum is fall. the priority that he had on the campaign trail. guest: i think you are right that is how it got to the point where he was on the verge of becoming the republican front runner. i think michigan was the tipping point for him. i think if he had one chance, he would seem that the day after michigan would have been a real swing date for the party. that is what it was not about delegates. it was about momentum and winning or not. host: you are right.

a win is a win. in 20008, mitt romney won michigan by nine percentage points. this time, it was really very close. guest: a lot of democrats argue that with a disappointing day, is all but expectations. the firm got to the point where he was the favorite in michigan. and then what is going to happen? he came back to when it. sort of like bill clinton, the comeback kid. he won, and i guess he will still be the nominee. >> you pointed out -- host: mike huckabee talking about the issue of jobs in the economy. [video clip] >> i am for appealing dodd

frank. i was never for the wall street bailouts. i came from southwestern pennsylvania. it was hard for 20, 30 years. i won't say it was not. but pittsburgh is a strong community right now. that is what has to happen when cabalism fails. is allow a default and come back up again stronger. host: is he back on message? guest: he certainly was here. i think he has learned from the lessons in the last several weeks. not only inside the republican party, but the democratic party. they are looking at everything through an economic plans. if they're talking to that same economic lines from your trouble. host: "the washington post." the battle of delegates at

stake. the party rules of very different. objection mitt romney will probably get about 30 delegates. as a ticket these rules, will something changed in 2020? guest: i think, perhaps. i would say, but two things i wish i hope, it has nothing to do with the rules in terms of the convention. it has to do with the 20 debates. i think it has not necessarily been good. they did not good in terms of the message to the electorate. quite frankly, i think there has been a lot talk of the ugliness of this campaign. i hope something is done about super pacs out there.

you're talking about an uncontrolled message machine out there. just thinking about how can we push the elector in one direction. those of the two big things that i think i have a negativeness to the campaign and is to go away. host: from "the seattle times." "romney wins big, super tuesday next." "the columbus dispatch," "ground zero for the campaign." news is probably going to win georgia on tuesday. it comes down to santorum and romney. romney will win of vermont and massachusetts easily. santorum will take oklahoma pretty easily.

it comes down to ohio. that is the one place where he has a chance to win. the press a narrative on wednesday will be largely about who will win. santorum bluet. -- blew it. that means even if he wins ohio, he will, with fewer delegates than romney. caller: i think these two clowns of the top of made fools for themselves and i don't think we have seen our candid a job yet. do you have a comment? host: let's say rex santorum wins ohio by pre%. what is that do for the prospect of someone else jump in? guest: i still that is a long shot. there is a reason why we have

had not had a brokered convention since the 1950's. i don't see it happening. if i were to call the race today, i think it leans more toward mitt romney winning on tuesday. he is in much the same position he was last week with michigan and will do what he needs to take the wind. . i would probably disagree with tennessee. they might become kind of a question if romney has the opportunity to win there. he needs to perform well there and there is an opportunity to perform well there if you look at the undercurrents on the data but that will play a big role in terms of next week in mississippi and alabama in terms of mitt romney being able to get votes in the south. tennessee becomes a much more important state. that if mitt romney is

lucky, he will win georgia. host: democrats line -- caller: this is right where i want to hit the conversation. i see a problem with republican leadership. i don't think they believed romney is electable. i see the big money people, come in and they are bringing their money in and out of campaigns and keeping new gingrich in play. you could use that same thought for rick santorum. i think you will see somebody like chris christie finally crossed the line if they are willing to give him enough where

he feels comfortable to run. i want your opinion on that. and good morning and thanks. host: we appreciate the call. guest: watching the analysis of mitt romney through this campaign, i have been close to haley barbour and had a long- term friendship with mitch daniels and indiana and many of these people have talked about coming into the race later. i think a great deal of all of them and we hope that there would be a chance. what i have seen from mitt romney from the very beginning is republican voters had come to the conclusion right or wrong that they had gone withi an excellent candidate in 2008 with john mccain so they will not go with the next best one this time.

they keep talking about whether he is conservative or exciting enough but it is more that he will meet the bar. the one thing i would disagree with is the electability. we asked who was most delectable, and 58% of the republican electorate says mitt romney. if you looked at the romney/% from being even in terms of the national vote, over 2/3 of the santorum vote takes romney as a second choice. this is not a primary that has been i like my guy and i hate the other guy. it has been this week this is who i am for ended may change next week. -- and it may change next week.

where will you get people moving closer and closer to the 58% of the electorate for mitt romney? the national polls have him moving toward 40% which is something that was elusive before. host: this is from "of the washington examiner" -- the story focuses on what the democrats have been doing an ohio -- every republican has had to win ohio to win the presidency. guest: yes, that will be imported.

ant. and we look at the map of 2012 and ohio is where obama will of the most difficulty holding that the state. the romney team have been looking at ohio, michigan, may be wisconsin in the midwest because those states have been hit so hard economic downturn but now you see the reverse effect going on which is those states are coming back a little bit more quickly than some of the rest of the country. one of the reasons is the very quick recovery of the automobile industry. just this last month, we saw a huge surge in orders cells which is an important leading economic indicator. that is a reason where michigan is off the table for mitt romney in 2012. because of his position on the automobile rescue and letting detrick go bankrupt, the obama team was on the air during the primary and allies were hammering him on that. a recent nbc poll had a obama up

18 points over mitt romney. ohio is a much tougher nut for obama to crack. i think the automobile rescue will be an issue they play on heavily their. there are blue-collar voters that are heavily concentrated in ohio. they have started to move back in michigan, indiana, wisconsin, and ohio and are back to the same levels giving mitt romney a three or four point lead over obama. that was level obama was asked in 2008. if he can keep that margin to five points, you have a good shot to maintain ohio but it will be a tough race. host: unemployment in ohio is about 7% so it is below the national average. the president can point to that as things turning around. guest: republicans have 300

electoral votes. in every one of the states where the states are doing better economically, states where there has been republican governors and republican policies have made the economy better since 2010. host: wisconsin and florida? guest: wisconsin and ohio and michigan have been doing better because of the local policies put in in 2010. host: look at wisconsin and florida. a wisconsin recall is in place for the governor and the florida governor has a low approval rating, so low he did not endorse anyone for the presidency. guest: a good governor will make a decision to do all the things he needs to do in the first year with the understanding to do it

early, do the right thing, and then grow the state based on the right thing. the best example and the country is mitch daniels who went to the states, did the right things, made the necessary changes, turn around the economy, dropped into the 30's as far as his favorability and it grew out as people saw the policies were correct. whether you look at wisconsin or florida or john kasich in ohio, you are looking at them as they begin to dig out because their policies are working. michigan drives me nuts in terms of the polling. the very same nbc pullout was out there, when we do polls and i look at the ones you have done and when we have done -- the state is maybe five points democrat. that poll was 18. net democrat in terms of the sample.

surprisingly, there's an 18- point lead. it is being portrayed as huge movement terms of the numbers. guest: some of these public polls are not necessarily where they need to be. i would strongly disagree with the assertion that the reason the economy is coming back is because of the republican governors. i don't think they have and have had time for their policies to have an impact. i think this president has a much stronger argument to make on the automobile rescue. the voters agree that you could make a credible claim. in terms of the governors and their impact on 2012, i am excited as a democrat when you look at ohio and the governors have numbers that are radioactive. last year it, you saw democrats

have won in jacksonville. the governors and those states into a lesser extent walker and snyder in minsk -- in wisconsin and michigan, that will be a negative instead of a positive. guest: in terms of the bail outs, one of the best examples i can talk to in terms of governors is in ohio. ford motor company which did not take bailout money, closed a plant in mexico and is moving all those workers back to a plant they are opening in ohio. they are doing better than the other two because they did not take the bailout money. they did the right thing in terms of their company and they're not bringing -- and they are bringing jobs back from overseas. that is with the republican governor. they did not go there because obama was in ohio. it went there because john kasich was in ohio. guest: they benefited from the bailout because there would be

no suppliers left for ford. host: you are both doing an excellent job. the president was at the uaw here in washington this past week. this is what the president had to say about the automobile bail out and the u.s. economy. [video clip] >> i got my start standing with working folks who lost their jobs, folks web lost their hope because the steel plants have closed down. i did not like the idea that they did not have anybody fighting for them. the same reason i got into this business is the same reason i am here today. i am driven by that same belief that everybody should deserve a chance. [applause] i promise you this -- as long as you've got an ounce of fight

left in you, i will have a ton of fight left in me. [cheers and applause] we will keep on fighting to make our economy stronger, but our friends and neighbors back to work faster, to give our children even more opportunity, to make sure that the united states of america remains the greatest nation on earth. thank you, uaw. i love you. host: the president is traveling around the country but republicans are criticizing him by saying he has been campaigning nonstop and is not serving the people of the country. guest: i think he is capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time possibly on like our previous president of that is my opinion. this is a nation we live in now. it is a constant campaign and he is being attacked every day by republicans and he should be campaigning.

i think it is doing it at the right level. he is giving some speeches and talking to the people that matter and he is focusing on the issues that matter and trying to make sure we get the payroll tax cut extension and working on alternative energy to bring gas prices down. president obama is a very good campaigner and he well -- and he will have a lot of money but the most important number is the unemployment rate. in november. we have seen a drop from 9.1% to 8.3%. no president has been reelected with an unemployment rate higher than 7.5%. we saw that with ronald reagan. if we see that continue for president obama and jobs continued to trickle down, i think he will win handily.

if we see a reversal of that increase or europe blows up and gas prices go higher and that causes the recovery to stumble, that will make it harder for president obama. there is a lot he does not control. host: mitt romney was campaigning in southwest ohio. most of the other candidates are returning to ohio. last night, newt gingrich and rick santorum were in the toledo area. this is from "the columbus dispatch." guest: thanks for having made. host: what can we expect on tuesday? guest: ohians are used to seeing this more in a local election instead of a general election. the candidate not named ron may perhaps goes out to take a lead and the money starts heading and

the candidate named to run a has ruromney closes the gap. the only question is will he edged ahead by the end of tuesday or not. host: how much have you seen on columbus airwaves and in terms of santorum and gingrich has compared to run a. romney? >> nothing for gingrich. rick santorum and self has nothing. his red white and blue super pac has very little. mitt romney is over the million- dollar level. host: this goes to the issue of the super-pacs. what is the issue here? what about the invitations that went on friday?

guest: i am not familiar with that story because i was out on the campaign trail. i apologize on that. host: let me ask about super- pacs in general and what you have seen across the state. guest: again, it has been much of the campaign -- you have presents for the candidate. the candidate running has significant spending. but the supertax what about everything the candidates say. mitt romney has the most money either himself or the super-pac. it is all the sent to the voters. it is very pointedly anti-the santorum. host: we heard from our roundtable that there are two

candidates going for the general election but in terms of the obama campaign toward this day, what are you hearing? guest: the obama people are not sitting on the sidelines. they are opening offices left and right. in 2008, we saw the most extraordinary presidential campaign we have seen in the history of this state on the part of the obama folks. we are seeing the beginnings of that again in 2012. he does not have the primary this time but if he has close to $1 billion to spend, ohio will be ground zero. host: thanks very much for being with us. let's get to some of our tweets -- guest: i spent no time watching that at all. guest: it is an interesting idea

and i thank you will have very minimal impact. i have a hard time figuring they will put somebody on the ballot that has a real impact. guest: it was about money. host: the challenges he faces getting on the budget, the voters will have a place holder. guest: no one will know about them. it is not having any impact out there. this is where the republicans need to be. they have basically been so focused on each other, they have not -- they have given obama a little bit of an opportunity to get flooded in terms of messaging. hopefully what we see coming out of super tuesday and the two front runners will understand

that what the republican a leper it needs to do is what campaign message to -- or republican electorate needs to do is to take a campaign message to obama. host: santa fe, texas, good morning -- caller: obama is not one of the greatest people as far as the president goes. the way mitt romney and rick santorum and their tax policy and the way they talk about taxes for big companies, it bothers me. the bush tax cuts did the same cotton picking thing. and look where we are at. they were losing 750,000 jobs per month when bush was president. obama has got this effort toward getting back to a standard of living for people.

the way that things -- that these things go, the republicans don't want people in the upper echelon, the 1%, to pay any tax because it is bad for the government. these people on the republican side just flat scare the devil out of me. host: thanks for the call. guest: i could go on forever. obama right now is calling for the corporate rate to be dropped from 35% to 28%. i have argued for years with republicans is coming to the defense of big business as opposed to small business. there's even talk of mitt romney manufacturing tax is lower than that. the complicated thing as of last

year, 49.5% of americans did not pay any income tax. it gets easy to play class warfare. whether you look at the top 1% or the top two percent or the top 5%, you have a belief that 60% of the new jobs coming in the next 10 years will come from small-business. most small businesses file as an s-corp so people making more than two water to keep thousand dollars per year, over half of them are small businesses and they are not paying. they do not have the same loopholes but we will lower taxes on big business, increase taxes on small businesses that i think it will do the opposite of what the caller said it is doing. host: the republican campaign --

guest: i would like to respond to taxes. i thank the tax issue that the caller just mentioned is a big issue and a good issue for democrats and obama. i don't believe the rhetoric on small business is the exact route -- is exactly factual. i would like to see republicans make that argument going into election day because you have 70% of voters that want to see higher taxes on millionaires. voters thought that the rest did not pay enough and big corporations paid not enough and the middle-class paid too much.

the republicans voted for a tax increase on middle class voters. it is a great issue for democrats because for years, we lost on taxes but you have the latest "washington post" poll. democrats are up on taxes which is not the traditional strong points. . for a long time, obama has been attacked as an anti-business candidate and now he has a sensible lower tax rate and he is getting attacked for that. guest: i will not defend corporations. there are tax loopholes out there. the lobbyists in this town are here for lobbying for big

business and unions and lobbying for the big groups out there for tax loopholes. we need to close all those tax loopholes and bring them down. at some point, there needs to be recognition that the overwhelming of small business who we rely on to bring the economy back in this country, not big business, bringing back the economy in this country, they are being taxed at a higher rate and being proposed to be taxed at an even higher rates while we are mucking around of lowering taxes on big business. if we truly want to be pro- business and create a pro-growth economy, we need to look at small business and big business and say let's get your rates the same perio. host: john mccconnell says there is no perfect candidate. this is the most recent gallup poll among republican leader

s. what does this tell you? guest: there was a poll but showed a reversal of the enthusiasm of parties is about even. there is no enthusiasm for mitt romney and that is not what will get republican voters enthusiastic and some will vote for obama. -- against obama, i mean cu. in 2010, it was quite the reverse. guest: some of the enthusiasm got dropped. one need to get on the example of the tax debate. you cannot be a white house legislatively on a debate. we have to get onto having a nominee taking the campaign to obama. you are looking at the campaign

at the worst period of time. the incumbent can be strong on messaging. it will be much different campaign in may and june. host: mitt romney also appeared on the mike huckabee program. this exchange generated some headlines. [video clip] >> we need to recognize that those who served this country and are uniform have a special -- in our uniform have a special place the money to care for that -- for them and the american people feel that. they recognize we have a huge obligation to those who served our country. i certainly feel that way. one thing i cannot understand is the president cutting back on spending. he is on the cutting back on tri-care. why is it we go after military families? why isn't he going after

government workers that are represented by the big government unions? we care for our soldiers and their families first. that is our responsibility to the nation. host: this is the headline from "the washington post" this morning -- guest: i have only seen the headline this morning and i don't know the crux of the issue. supporting the troops is a bipartisan feeling in this country. i think president obama has had a strong record of supporting veterans and benefits and helping the troops coming home to find jobs. i know the traumatic brain injury is an issue that candidates and president obama

as part of the forefront. i don't know the specifics but i don't think this is something president obama has put on the back burner burdr. host: thanks for waiting, republican line -- caller: i am a moderate republican, an endangered species, but i have been concerned about how the platform as change. changed. the religious right has taken over the party along with jack abramoff. if you think women vote the way their churches tell them to, you are wrongthe super-pacs and the citizens united, i don't know what they're doing to the country. we get to see how these candidates respond under pressure.

we also get to see a little bit more of what they are about. we are just not finding out that rick santorum is a religious right kind of guy. labor is not to be destroyed before world war two, my dad said he had grass growing up his legs before there was a union. not everyone in the not everybody hates labor. i hate to see the republican candidates using this. we are really happy with what they have in the service. what barack obama has done is help them have jobs when they come home. i may not be a republican that much longer because the platform has changed from the religious right and it has really gotten

under my skin. guest: i'm sorry she deals that way, but that's not the reaction we're getting from the bulk of the american public. we had a question on our survey about who closely shared their values. it has been a driving question in how people are voting and it goes further than the social issue. one thing i have seen at their role -- in there has been a monolithic group of women. there have been leased monolithic in their support. when you ask the groups of women which group they share their values, it is 50-41

republican. with republicans is 46-27 republican. it is 3-93 democratic in terms of what party you think shares your values. you see similar gaps between married and single women. it just depends. the interesting thing is that in our polling, we have not asked the links. we ask if you are very conservative, conservative, liberal, very liberal. and in 21 years of polling, we have never had 20% a comeback from the electorate using the term "moderate." from a polling and ideological perspective, it's more of a safe

haven. do not ask them tough questions or to go from one extreme or the other. host: is olympia snowe and moderate do? guest: i would call her and independents maine republican. host: so when she writes about the polarization in the senate and that's where she's leaving, some are cheering the fact that she was never the really republican, but that this could hurt the republican chances for taking back the senate. guest: i. the problem with the senate is that they do not have a 50% plus one. there's a reason why we have not had a budget passed for 1000 days. i think the problem is there

rules, not really what is there in terms of the public. we basically find that there is basic. between the two parties nationwide. it's about 40% republican, 43% democratic, so for all this talk of polarization, it's fairly evenly divided and it plays out in terms of the politics in washington. host: randy krehble, reporter for "tulsa world." there is an early indication that wrecks santorum was doing well in your state. what does this tell you before super tuesday? guest: there is not a lot of public polling in this state. it appears that santorum is really in the rise. host: yet there was an

endorsement yesterday for romney by home? -- by whom? guest: ann coulter. she has some before that she is for mitt romney. she came to the state to speak for randall perry, an anti- abortion activist running as a president. in the course of her appearance, she took a lot of questions about why she was supporting that romney. -- mitt romney. it really turned it into an appearance on behalf of mitt romney. much activity have you seen? guest: santorum is here today.

j.c. waats is coming in tomorrow. rosario, a former u.s. treasurer. we normally do not get a lot of candidates or even their surrogates here this close to the election because of some larger states that normally of primaries on the same day. for oklahoma, it's quite a bit, but it's nothing like, say, ohio. >> what is it like for you following this story and what can we expect in terms of turnout on tuesday? guest: it has been interesting. i did this before in 2008.

we had a few people, although as i said not like this. the turnout is kind of strange and hard to predict. the state republican party chairman thinks we will have a big turnout for the republican primary. there's also a democratic primary with five names on the ballot. i mentioned randall terry. he has worked the state pretty hard trying to get enough votes basically to embarrass barack obama and perhaps pick up enough votes to get a delegate somewhere. host: how would that happen? do you think the democrats would except randall terry in charlotte, north carolina?

guest: they would try to not accept it. let me say that it's unlikely that he would do that, but you never know. the with the delegates are allocated is that some of them are in a state basis allocated proportionately with at least 15% statewide to get a delegate. some are allocated by congressional district, so you have 15% in one congressional district, you qualify for a delegate. host: randy krehble from tulsa, oklahoma. one of 10 states with 400 delegates in state for dissipating in super tuesday. we appreciate your time. joining us in studio is andrew baumann and ed goeas.

republican line. welcome to the program. caller: rick santorum said that he wanted to thank the men and women that sign the constitution of the united states of america. "men and women." women did not even have the right to vote so how did the women signed the constitution of the united states of america? host: thank you for that call. do you want quickly comment dock? guest: you have these types of things on the campaign trail. it just happens out there. i wanted to come back to oklahoma for a second, mainly because that is where i consider home originally. fallin is the most popular

politician and she has not gotten involved in terms of endorsements. what is going on is very fluid. the sooner poll, which was reported on in "tulsa world" is a solid one as opposed to some of the public ones that we see. it showed santorum strong and romney beginning to move. i think the real question is that ron paul has had a very strong organization in this state and it is being under reported in this case. you may very well see newt coming in fourth in oklahoma. that is a story that will be there in terms of the state of him playing this as something he would put in his win column and i think it will work against him.

host: santorum is getting the lion's share of the delegates in yesterday's caucus. inside the jump page, it focus on santorum called, "a religious journey from nominal catholic to a clarity in faith." it is about his religious journey and the role of is wife and family in his catholic faith. it's also available online on nytimes.com. from virginia, good morning. there is a primary in virginia. caller: i get phone calls from time to time of people doing polling, but if you get out and

walk around the street, you will hear more people talking about things that you're not even aware of. the negativity of these ads is just so bad. you wonder. a lawyer for member body is bad things. people here would vote for ross perot if he was running because we're sick of all of these guys up here and there's nothing going on that was in different in the last 12 years. the only thing i can see is three or four years down the road people will be walking down the streets with guns tried to take the government back. have a good morning. guest: that those back to what i sang about the super pacs having no governance. this was no more hard-fought than the presidential nomination in 2008, on but there was a

governor on that race. there were not super pacs otu but you had an obama campaign that did not want to look sexist about anything is said about clinton and clinton's campaign did not want to look racist about the obama campaign, so this was a bar that they had to meet. the problem with these super pacs is that there is no accountability. they have been extremely negative. it is not just for romney but also santorum and gingrich. it's not good for the process. what it has done is, again, focus that much more inwardly on the candidates instead of saying here is the campaign that we will take to barack obama. host: in "the new york times"

rush limbaugh yesterday saying he was sorry for lambasting a georgetown university law student as a prostitute who spoke in favor of obama as contraception.s republicans have a huge problem with women. guest: i could not agree more. in the last week or two, it has been a really bad one for the republican party on a lot of fronts. they made a really difficult for themselves with independent urban women in places like suburban virginia and, suburban detroit, suburban denver, the main issue here is jobs. they do not want candidates focusing on things like contraception. when you have the mouthpiece of the republican party going out

there and calling a college student and prostitute, or worse, because she wants birth control coverage and their passing an amendment in the senate that allows any employer to ban any health procedure any moral reason, it really hurts them with independent women. very quickly, we worked on the colorado senate race where michael bennett won by 1%. the issue that onwon was contraception. every single one of the republican candidates had endorsed that position and it's a bad position to take. host: yet in long island, from a speech yesterday, this is a headline yesterday. same roman catholics will stand up and fight this guideline. guest: i would put this whole discussion in terms of, yes, democrats have been out there

very aggressively. republicans do not have a nominee. we need one. for many republicans, many independents, and a lot of democrats, they understand this debate has been about separation of church and state and infringing on the rights of the church as opposed to being a contraceptive debate. it has been a rather one-sided argument presented. if you look at what is here in suburban women come and dependent -- independents tied. single women 22-71 senate democrats best represents their values. married women, 54-37. deasy republicans' best represent their values. -- married republicans say republicans best represent their values. there is no internal data that

says this debate is not being seen exactly the way it should be. in catholics, there is no difference in the two parties. active catholics to go to church every week, which is about 10% of the populist, 52% republicans. active catholics are responding the same way to this issue as a non-active catholics which goes back to the point that the bishop and cardinal made. this will be an issue that is seen as a religious rights issue, not as contraception. guest: i need to respond because i think that's off the mark. he is referring to the poll they did two or three weeks ago now. a lot has happened. they are anxious to see were the comments were after the "slut"

comments. guest: ok. the "slut" comment. you have a long list of people, the media, on your side. someone sent me a note today saying i needed to slap rush limbaugh on the days. we put media people on both we would the diaaisle, spend the rest of the time going after them. guest: i think you're coming up with a false equivalent here. nobody has power like russia limbaugh does. he has a lead broadcast news for three days in a row with this type of comment. i think it's had a really big impact. it is agree with your numbers. they asked very specifically about this issue in but they be religious and a non-religious context. the amendment to the republicans

voted on takes it out of a religious context. by a 63-33 margin, the voters thought it was democrats. republicans or independents, even some republican women, exploded on this issue. i hope this debate continues all the way through november. host: from "the cincinnati enquirer," romney deserves ohio's support. gaffeing his way to victory. michael cass is following all this for "the tennessean"

newspaper. another key state on to tuesday. what's happening? guest: it's been pretty busy. newt gingrich and rick santorum just came through in the past week. mitt romney will be here in minoxidil this afternoon. -- in knoxville this afternoon. all four campaigns including ron paul hoping to be active. host:in this poll, how accurate is this? has there been other polling in this state? guest: vanderbilt did one that we worry media partner ron that showed santorum with about a two to one lead over romney. middle tennessee state university, which is near here in murfreesboro, tenn., had a

poll with santorum having a two to one margin. santorum seems to be in a very strong position. it came through here wednesday night and in the knoxville area trying to solidify that position. i spoke to governor pawlenty on friday and he was headed to an event for mitt romney. he said you should see the polls closing. he believes romney is making up ground quickly. we will see. host: the headline from "the tennessean." michael cass posting about the final arguments. what is their pitch? guest: when santorum came through the other night, really heat steered clear of his social issues. he was talking a lot more about

obama's health care plans and how terrible he deals that would be for the country. he pulled out his piece of shale he introduced in michigan. like i said, we have not seen romney it yet in the state, but they are making the pitch that he is the one who knows how to create jobs. it can manage the economy, balanced budgets. a congressman from near here came out and endorsed him on friday siding that was the reason -- citing that was the reason for it. host: final question. in michigan and was a relatively open primary. in ohio and is a closed primary.

what are the rules in tennessee? guest: it's open. democrats can cross over a want to. i do not know how much is happening, but that's something that can happen. the tennessee democratic party had a conference call with reporters on thursday. i believe they're doing another one today ahead of romney's visit to attack his economic policies. they're treating him like he is already the general election nominee. they say they are not, but some people are trying -- say they are trying to help someone else get an advantage. host: michael cass, thank you. any regret from tim pawlenty's campaign that he dropped out when he did? guest: i do not think so. there are so many ups and downs.

there was a question whether or not he would have the funds to keep going when he dropped out. i do not think so. i do not think we will not see him back, quite frankly. it was very interesting that he endorsed michele bachmann for congress the other day which raised eyebrows. i thought it was a good move on his part. in tennessee, let me mention a few things. in a republican primary, you have three very distinct sections. you have the eastern three congressional districts, the real swing vote in the republican primary. you have the central three districts which are the traditional vote. then the other three are more populous. one of the things to look out for opportunity, whether there is an opportunity for one candidate or another is how much time they are spending in that eastern tennessee, chattanooga, knox bill coming area.

the story is newt gingrich and his laying out a strategy that will be based on super tuesday. if he is not being discussed as someone that has a chance of winning in tennessee, which brings him down to if he can even win georgia. host: from alabama on the independent line. good morning. caller: i have lived both in alabama and tennessee. basically, i'm an independent leaning republican. the citizens are talking about who will win and there is not that much difference between the two parties. 26% support republicans. the libertarian and dependents will not support another john mccain. the neo-con's might as well forget it.

obama will probably take the election again this year. host: n/a comments? guest: i hope he's right. when you actually vote on the congressional ballot, the numbers are closer than that and it will be a hard-fought race. i wish i could just say that independent voters will not vote for another mccain or a libertarian. libertarians do not make up that much of the population. it will be hard-fought. guest: i think there's a real opportunity and the president double down the in his policy in trying to move to the middle. i have watched, really since ronald reagan, the feeling that when republicans were democrat lite, and the other way around, there may be a discussion about where the parties are in the

direction of the country. i have always said about democrats that the problem with democrats is not that they do not have good intentions but they think intentions as opposed to solutions is what matter. republicans get so focused on solutions that they never discussed their intentions. in this case, we may have a legitimate debate going into november about what our intentions and solutions are, which would be good for the country. host: from washington state, running up 38% of the vote. 25% of the vote for ron paul. just over 12,000 for rick santorum, so essentially a tie between the two. newt gingrich getting about 10% of the vote. a very small turnout. guest: it is a caucus, so usually a very small turnout. it's a different format in washington than before. it seems like most of the

caucuses and primaries that turnout has been down since 2008. not matching the amount we saw in the democratic turnout which is an indication that maybe enthusiasm is as high. i do not know how that will translate in the general election. host: andrew baumann and ed goaes, thanks things for joining us. we will take a short break. when we come back, we turn our attention to of voting in russia and the president's speech to the aipac conference in washington and his meeting with benjamin netanyahu. at the bottom of the our, our conversation with presidential candidate newt gingrich. as a "washington journal" continues this sunday, march 4th.

>> who have week that it? who can we win with? >> none of them. obama just changed the dynamic. >> a look inside the best- selling book and the hbo movie. >> i love those hockey moms. they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull -- lipstick. >> today with the authors. >> their expectations was that she was an asset to the campaign. for the next 10 days, she was. on the democratic side, there was a lot of concern as the mccain-palin ticket can of the

convention. as much as five or six points -- before freaking out. >> we will talk about "game change" today at 6:30 p.m. on c- span. >> this crazy world of ours. the question is not how to use them, the question is how you restrain yourself from using them. that is the ticket of the commander in chief. anyone can get this country into trouble. it takes a man to get it out. >> we look back at 14 men who ran for the office and lost. go to our website, c-span.org /thecontenders. see of videos of "the contenders" who had a lasting impact on politics. >> shouldn't our leaders be an example? ask yourself that question,

please. shouldn't his life make him a role model for your future children? shouldn't anyone you elect to this office always keep his promises? >> c-span.org/thecontenders. "washington journal" continues. host: kathy lally is turning as on the phone. thank you for being with us. it is mid-afternoon in russia. when can we expect the results to come in and the ongoing story about the claims that the ballots may be in favor of a vladimir putin? guest: there are not any real clear figures yet. i went to several polling places and they seemed quite busy.

there are constant lines of people, which surprised me a little because there have been widespread reports in the news media here that vladimir putin would win overwhelmingly on the first round. before today, i thought, perhaps. but they seem to be taking the election very seriously. there are thinking hard about who they are going to vote for. host: is there a system to ensure credibility today? guest: that is difficult to say because there were widespread complaints and street protests over the december 4 parliamentary election. the government has spent over the equivalent of $400 million to put what cameras -- web

cameras into the precincts across russia. the problem is that they are aimed at the ballot boxes. they also made in the ballot boxes clear, a heavy-duty plastic this time instead of wooden ones. but the critics of the web cams say that much of the qualification, if there is any, would occur outside of the cameras. host: i realize this is anecdotal about what you'd be able to see, but can you give us a sense of the mood of the electorate and what is important to them? guest: there is kind of tw different kind of streams. among some people, particularly

the less educated people, they are very concerned about stability. they see putin as a guarantor of stability. they tended to vote for him. then there is another group that tend to be younger, but not entirely. they are the users of the internet where they can get unfiltered information. they want a country that will be more european. it's a lot more job opportunities. more social equality. more freedom to express yourself. although, they do not have candidate't it -- that attracts them. that is because putin has been

successful in determining who runs for office. host: is there any chance that those concerns, those allegations, could, in essence, the to the very core of vladimir putin's power in russia? guest: because there were some complaints about the last election that were not addressed, the complaints were kind of dismissed legally as not having proper documentation. the problem is that now many people are not going to be sure whether this election is fair or not. that damages his credibility, his legitimacy. we will see how that plays out. whether that weakens him in some way -- many suspect it will. host: kathy lally the moscow

"theau chief for th washington post." thank you for being with us. we want to welcome back. guest: thank you. host: what can we expect from the president? guest: when he speaks publicly this morning, i think he will address a few things. he gave an interview where he made clear that the issue of iran is a world issue. it is in the american national interest. that iran would not be able to get a weapon as it will trigger a nuclear arms race.

this is an american interest and a world problem. i think he will stress that. i think he will say the u.s. does have israel's back. i assume that will be well received. maybe more explicit, but he has in the past. including a military component. sanctions are the toughest ever against iran. that this is not the cold war with the soviet union. in the case of iran, there are just too much conflict. there are no red phones that there were between washington and moscow. it is a very different situation between the u.s. and iran then there was between the

u.s. and the soviet union in the cold war. as americans, the pace of the nuclear program. he knows these are themes and israel bashares a lot of them. we will probably hear that more. the difference is, perhaps, inside of the room. we can expect to hear some differences. the presidency's renewed diplomacy as an opportunity. trap.ee it as thaa the big difference between the u.s. and israel is the lack of -- israel is not a superpower.

they do not have a long timetable for action. the u.s., because we are a superpower, we can see if this thing can be resolved peacefully. how'd you synchronize that? israel fears that its window to act is shutting down. perhaps, this year. frankly, they believe once that happens, it is a now-or-never kind of approach. i think the obama relationship here will be tested like never before. this is a big meeting. host: let me go back to your point. this is from jeffrey goldberg. habib the president saying that israel needs to postpone whatever plans it has.

let sanctions work. guest: right. this is the gut-wrenching decision. their windows shut down much earlier. they trust us. we have your back. we know your concerns. we want to give diplomacy and sanctions more time to play out. that will require a leap of trust for the prime minister who is had a rocky relationship with this president. my window is shutting down, but i am happy to show up this issue. host: 2 sanctions ever work? have they worked in cuba? guest: there have been time for sanctions have worked. that is a fair question. i really expect the president and the prime minister tomorrow will really discuss these

issues of the synchronized clock. how long do we give diplomacy? , and to what extent? -- and to what extent? at what point does the threshold of the iranian program have to trespass, so to speak, before it would trigger an american response? i think israel's first choice in the issue of how this goes away. its second choice would be that it could have bought this issue. if it can reach common understandings with the united states. its third choice is that it believes those common understandings are not possible and then it is forced to act. there is no privilege made, so to speak. generals over there. this is an issue that is a very serious one.

it will be resolved peacefully, if possible. it cannot reach a common understanding with united states. host: our guest is a writer from columbia and harvard university. david makovsky is here at the table. mark is joining us from boston. good morning. caller: good morning. i am looking at a map of iran right now. we have iraq, afghanistan, pakistan, saudi arabia, complete surrounding iran. every single one of those countries the united states has a military presence. we have many military bases. you have hundreds of nuclear weapons which at any point iran made attempt, the benefit would be wiped off the face of the earth.

there is a strong argument. their concern is a joke. guest: i respectfully disagree with the caller. iran is not the only country that calls for wiping a country of the state of the earth. the key talking about the supreme leader, their president. the issue is not whether they push a button or not. it is with the present @ united states said in an interview in the atlantic. which is that iran with a weapon could trigger a nuclear arms race. there is a persian bomb, both the saudis have a relationship. what the egyptians want to bomb? you take the most dangerous region and to make it so much more dangerous. there is the prospect of proliferation. i was sitting with an arab who spoke to me and said, david, if

they get a nuclear bomb, it will dominate the gulf. you do not want to be under their influence. the price of oil will shoot to $200. the key here is that there are some real feelers about the profound change of power where extremism would be emboldened and moderates will be intimidated. that balance of power is very significant for the united states. it goes on -- it goes beyond whether iran pushes a button or not. clearly, you do not want to take that chance. host: one of our viewers saying they know -- the president knows a war with iran would be devastating. i mention that because the front story in the "the washington post." this is according to the "the washington post."

guest: right. that was the lead story in today's "the washington post." the're talking about iranian revolutionaries. putting in weaponry, money, electronic surveillance. intel officials and also helping with questions of defense. let's be clear. for iran, syria is their number 1 ally in the arab world. most of the arabs are very nervous about the iran presents. if you back to the iraq war that went on for eight years, the only country that helped iran in that war was syria. it would be a devastating blow for iran. host: next caller is from

dallas, texas. caller: a tenement with the apac think tank. host: i will stop right there because you are a repeat collar. we do ask that our viewers wait 30 days. good morning. caller: your guest mansion the regarding israel's window, i disagree. i think israel, a lot times in world affairs, acts like the kid who pays the big bully to back it up. guest: i said it has an open window. that means it has to make a closer calculation that it could be now-or-never for them. the defense minister said so in an interview. just a few months ago, saying there is about a nine-month

window. why? because iran is building a nuclear enrichment facility which is outside of the iranian holy city. it is like 250 meters underground. there is a belief that it will be impossible to hit a sigh like that. he has called it an iranian the zone of immunity. therefore, he believes that israel's window is posing. i did not say they don't have the capability. i think that the closing window. that is putting drama into the current situation because if they had thought this issue to the united states, before going, they will hit an existential threat. it is a big deal for a country that was founded in the ashes of the holocaust.

they have to make a very big decision. that is why the meeting with the president is so important. host: vdot a -- the apac conference getting underway in about two hours' time. good morning. caller: promotes the interests of israel. they get so much time on c-span. the second question is if you attack another country without a united nations resolution, you are war criminals. how do you square this conundrum? thank you. guest: the people who are these critics tend not to read anything wheat right.

president obama's top middle east adviser for the last several years, read some of his stuff. look up his position on these issues. they have veered from what's aipac would say anyway. a group that would say the -- we testified on capitol hill calling for continuing use support for the palestinian authority despite differences over their move to the u.n. we have been very clear against settlement activity of a two state solution. these critics who, unfortunately, the mainstream liberal groups. and other mainstream conservative group, these people coming from the fringes. they do not read what we right. if they did, there would have a much more clear position. host: our guest is david

makovsky. the good thing about this hour is that everything is available online at c-span.org. all of our guests, our toppers, our issues. you can check it out. c-span.org and click on "video library coty from nebraska. good morning. go ahead. we will try one more time. caller: ok. president carter had that solved until he assassinated the guy. harry truman set up the state of israel because who knows what the truth was. they're not supposed to build any base like that.

the way we have treated iran over the years, it is just disgusting. ron paul is the only guy who could possibly stop it. host: going back to 1948 with the creation of the state of israel, why was that a mistake? caller: because the oil companies could go over and get that oil out. they were not to bill that in there. sherman went ahead and done it anyway. host: from your standpoint, do the israeli people deserve a homeland? caller: no. i do not know. it sure was not legal the way we went around all these countries. the way they act, i wonder if they really deserve to be there. caller: keep in mind, this is

following the holocaust and the israeli people are looking for a homeland. that stupid war. host: i will stop you there. guest: let's go back to this whole issue. if you discuss it. this has been an issue that did not start with truman. support really came back as far as woodrow wilson for determination. when truman did recognize it, it came six months after the united nations general assembly. this was the u.n. acts -- one of the first acts since being founded. also, when truman recognized israel, he imposed an embargo of arms. the united states gave no arms to help israel be established in

1948. in 1963 when john f. kennedy gave hawk, surface to air missiles. it was truman, certainly, that was important. but it was not decisive in any way. you talked to arab colleagues of mine, they say that war was won on the ground. i think, respectively, i would have to disagree with the caller. host: continue to go back, let's look ahead. is that a viable option in the middle east? guest: you need a two state solution that gives dignity to both sides. the president laid out some ideas. i think, while the president has been preoccupied with other

issues as of late, i think that ultimately there will come around back to the two state solution. there is no one way. there has been some good news about palestinian-israeli cooperation under the radar screen. efforts of security cooperation. you had an excellent palestinian prime minister. you're a 10% growth in the world bank last year. in 2010 at the time of a worldwide recession. that is to be a solution that gives dignity for both sides. without that, it will only be digging. host: we're joined from baltimore on the independent line. caller: good morning. i believe the main problem, iran, would have with united states, is we continue to support israel even though they

built settlements into the palestinian area. if the palestinians obviously have a problem with that. we don't want sanctions on israel when they are told not to build these sediments and they do anyway, by force. the nation sees us supporting israel and not stopping them. guest: the caller is right. the settlement issue is a real irritant. the question is, is it the only issue? each side has a narrative. israel thinks it is about existence. they got out of lebanon. all they have gotten for the areas they vacated. personally, i think they're both true. this conference will -- this conflict will not be resolved until both sides reach a historic threshold. you have these, you know, a land

exchange on both sides. which, 80% of the settlers live and 5% of the land. that is a doable proposition. palestinians see that baseline as very important. on the other hand, the palestinians also have to make a move as well. there has to be a mutual recognition. a palestinian authority for palestinians and israel. i think that they have to cross those thresholds together. i do not minimize the issue. i think if people look to the map, they would sue the president's ideas are unworkable in terms of these land exchanges. i have spent one year working on three different maps.

there are solutions here. this terrible chatted gt has gone for too long could go on indefinitely. there is a way out, but the parties have to wanted. host: david makovsky. a preview of the meeting that will take space between the president. thank you. guest: thank you very much. host: super tuesday on a tuesday. more than 400 delegates at stake. former house speaker newt gingrich when "washington journal" continues. [video clip] if you had said in 2006 that the world would be bain -- beijing to go to war with the millies, you'd be crazy. >> robert kagan is not only an

adviser to the romney campaign, he serves on the advisory board. >> there is a lot of continuity in foreign policy, more than you expect. i think you are seeing the kind of consensus that exist. probably, there is a lot of overlap between the two parties. more of with him and his latest on "the world america made." "washington journal" continues. host: joining us from virginia, republican candidate newt gingrich. guest: it is always good to be on c-span. host: let me begin with your news. your former co-chairs supporting rick santorum after originally supporting you. what does that say by your campaign in tennessee?

guest: it was unfortunate because we had agreed to yesterday with herman cain and my daughter. we won a straw poll at a conservative caucus meeting. we want a little bit earlier in the week the national business council poll beating out both romney and santorum. we have some significant momentum there. he suisse sides, and i think that is important -- that is unfortunate. i will be in knoxville and chattanooga on monday. i'm excited to be there. host: we welcome your calls and comments here on c-span. our phones are at the bottom of the screen. mr. speaker, what do you need to do on tuesday? guest: well, the first he was to

make sure we one georgia. i think each of the three kennetts have to carry their home state. romney struggle to carry michigan, but did so. georgia is the biggest delegate count in a super tuesday. we're competing in ohio, tennessee. we also have some effort under way. north dakota. vermont. massachusetts. in addition, i am continuing to develop the idea of $2.50 a gallon for gasoline and a national policy that no future american president would ever about to a saudi king. i went to the lincoln day dinner which is one of the largest in ohio. i had a terrific response for a

national american energy policy that would get us back to $2 and did the cents per gallon. -- $2.50 per gallon. host: we have a lot of comments from our facebook page. guest: he raises a couple of good points. governor romney's technique has been to dramatically outspend his opponents. if he outspent me five to one in florida. he will not do that with obama, so that more work. he told me down for love and iowa -- florida and i will. he will not be able to out negative obama. his candidacy is sort of a dead

end. the key to beating obama will be who can debate him in october. and force the president into a position of defending a record that is not very defendable. i think most people believe i would be a better debater, a better explanation of conservative values. i can carry our message against obama. my hope is to continue to gather delegates. next we, we will go to mississippi and alabama. on to kansas. our hope is to continue to gather delegates. governor perry in texas has told me he thinks we can sweep texas with 100 of the five delegates in may. then we would go one week later into california. there are 17 hispanic co-chairs across the state. they're working hard to organize the whole state. if we have momentum coming out of may and early june, i think that a lot of these delegates are soft. you could see a surprising convention by the time this is

over. host: are you prepared to stay in this race to the convention? guest: 0, sure. i have said all along, the key is georgia. frankly, with santorum, the key will be pennsylvania, which is not automatic. he lost by the largest margin in the history of pennsylvania by any senator. all this have to make sure we can carry our home state. the one thing that would not fly is losing georgia. we are back campaigning again tomorrow night. and then we will go to hans fell during the day. host: on the line with newt gingrich, good new evening. caller: good morning, mr. speaker. i voted for you in the florida primary. i just wanted to alert the rest

of america it to your wonderful series of books. i just want to tell you that just finished reading "the battle of the crater cot." "the red badge of courage" i believe is one of the three great books about the civil war. i wish you well on tuesday. i encourage anyone who wants to know about your, shall i say, feelings or thoughts about race, to read "the battle of the crater cot." the other thing i wanted to say is that i believe -- should not

be made into a movie but an opera. i wish you well on tuesday. guest: [laughter] all right. well, this is my wife's birthday. i will tell our for a birthday present you suggested that it's become an opera. she will find that fascinating. she has had a new york times best-seller in which an elephant introduces great advance in american history. she and i are a mutual author. thank you for your very kind words. part of my passion for running for president is illustrated in these books. i have such a deep hatred believe that america and in the importance of american history. in particular, learning the lessons of our founding fathers. host: our next call, a democratic line, good morning. caller: in a first-time caller.

i am a democrat, but i consider it a real honor to speak to former senator speaker. two quick questions that i have. it is a very inspiring talk on the need to improve education in port inter-city areas which you call an issue of national security. he said that otherwise kids in these areas would be assessed -- success -- susceptible to al qaeda. you gave a speech by former democratic senator and praised kennedy for his work on education. so here are my two questions. given that we are still at war in afghanistan and the americans are dying over there, do you still believe improving inter- city education is an issue of national security for the reasons of that speech? and my second question is, if you do, as president, how do you

see the federal government's role in implementing that issue of national security? guest: well, it is a great question. it goes all the way to a report in the reagan administration in 1983. it said that a foreign government was doing as much as damage to our children as we are, we would consider it an act of war. for almost 30 years now, we've had a report telling us that our children are in really bad shape. we spent three years looking at american and national security. we said the greatest threat to the u.s. was a weapon of national -- a weapon of mass destruction. we said the second greatest threat was the failure to invest in math, science, education, and

basic research. we said the greatest threat in any conceivable war. the president tried to convince people to be for very bold, very dramatic reform in schools. i actually favor a pell grant so the money goes to the parent and child and they decide where to spend it. i would dramatically shrink the federal bureaucracy and give power back to the states. i challenge the state departments of education to strength. give the power back to local school boards, local parents. recognize that the teachers' union, any moral authority has to put the children of first and not protect bad teachers. i think that is a powerful moment in american history. we say that we are in doubt by our creator with certain unalienable rights which are

life, liberty, -- the pursuit of happiness. i believe that applies to every background in every single neighborhood. i want to change a safety net, as it is called, into a springboard to give every person a chance to join the middle class by getting a job, getting an education, having a chance to rise and earn their way into their pursuit of happiness. host: this question and comment on our facebook page. if you do not win the nomination, which considered a vp position? i believe to be a great asset to the republican campaign in the general election. guest: no responsible citizen can turn down a request from a potential president. but it is not something i think will happen. if i'm not the leader, i will help the leader in defeating

barack obama. that is essential for the future of this country. i'll do everything i can to defeat barack obama. i think i can do a better job at debating him. when you look at how much money he will raise, is is pretty clear that the traditional raw meat strategy of out raising his opponents will not work against obama. obama will be more negative with more money. the only way to beat him is to have a very big solutions and be able to articulate. that is why i have the idea of $2.50 a gasoline. the obama strategy is going to $9 or $10 a gallon. my strategy of $2.50 or less a gallon. i think we can win that debate in october. we could win the general election. host: if you were the republican nominee, which to consider mitt romney as your running mate?

guest: i would certainly consider a number of people. i could not imagine governor romney would want to be on the list, but he would be. host: in north carolina, good morning, to wear for waiting. caller: speaker gingrich, what an honor to speak to the master debater. your popcorn machine is an idea that love. i love science and exploration. the moon base idea caught my attention. we are paying $50 million per astronaut for a taxi ride up to the space station. that is about to a 38,000 loss from the moon. if john kennedy had planned, he is the republican antithesis. he had not had his brain -- if

he had not had his brains a shot out in dallas until the day, there would have been no apocalypse in southeast asia with ever but still paying for. no continual robbing of the trust funds by the republicans. abdulla host: -- we will stop you on those notes and get a response from gingrich. guest: the tragedy of kennedy being killed is one that affect all of us. i still remember where i was weller about it. i was shopping. the whole nation watched for 24 hours. it was the first time in a very long time we had seen someone like that happen to a president. he was so young and so vital, his wife was so beautiful. it is a moment that is unforgettable for our generation. i do share his passion for going into space.

the differences that i want to use lots of private-sector incentives. i want different entrepreneur rules trying different techniques. you know, the wright brothers spent five summers tried to learn how to fly. it costs about an average of $1 per flight. this is that when money was more difficult. there were a private enterprise. bicycle mechanics. did not have much money. they camped out every summer. they've managed to learn how to fly for about $500 over five summers. the smithsonian had $50,000 from congress to invent an airplane and failed. i give you that example because we spend $181 billion on nasa and the last 10 years. if we had saved a fair amount of that and put into private money

and incentives for the private sector for entrepreneurs, for people just want to do it, i think we would have generated four or five private-sector dollars for every $1 be put up. and you have almost one trillion dollars in the last decade. when i talk about this bold, exciting new thing, i'm talking about getting bureaucracies out of the way. i know governor romney said he would a firestorm with a big a deal like that. that is sort of like saying he would have fired christopher columbus to proposing to discover the new world. or fired the wright brothers for inventing the airplane. or fired henry ford. for that matter, steve jobs and build dates for their wild ideas about computing and icons and ipads. i am a visionary. i believe in a bigger, better,

more interesting american institution. jeff and i believe we can use signs of technology to create new things for our children and grandchildren. i believe we can do it largely in the private sector by using government incentives and intelligent way and getting bureaucracy out of the way. host: an exact your earlier point. here's a question ryder to dr. to cents per gallon of gasoline. are you talking to are regulating businesses? what is your plan? guest: if you go bato newt.org you'll see a speech i gave rice said how to incentivize the system. yet new technology producing what they now believe beat 2500% more oil. in natural gas today, because of

new technology, we have got from seven-year supply to a wonder 25-year supply. the price of natural gas has dropped. if you applied that to oil, you would have gasoline down at around $1.20, $1.30 per gallon. we have historic examples right now. if the president would sign the keystone pipeline, that would bring $700,000 a day of canadian oil to houston to open up the gulf of mexico. and open that designated alaskan areas that we know about. that is breeze groves of depends to get 2,000,003 a thousand extra barrels of oil. -- that is the two strokes of the pen to get 230,000 barrels

of oil. the obama policy, which can see in his two speeches in miami and new hampshire last week where he is against the drilling for oil. he talks by using algae as a solution. i am for bio fuels, research, science. the idea that algae is a replacement for drilling, it is a little like being told that if only we inflated our tires to save enough gasoline not to drill. these are fantasies. drilling works. we have proof and natural gas that drilling works. only the president posey left- wing ideology is blocking some pushing us towards $9 or $10 a gallon gasoline. host: if your joining us on c-

span radio, our guest is newt gingrich. mr. speaker, let me get to some of the news of the weekend. on friday, the president calling sandra sleep because of the comments made by conservative radio talk show rush limbaugh. guest: i think rush correctly apologize. it is interesting. the apology that i worry about is that barack obama, as commander in chief, apologizes to religious fanatics when they are killing americans. i think that is a much bigger news story and bigger problem than a radio commentator. i find it fascinating, it's the news media has honed in on rush limbaugh and avoided barack obama. as commander-in-chief, i think

he made a much bigger mistake and one with very long-term implications. now you have the united nations secretary general for trying american troops. these had already been defaced by muslim extremists who work in prison. yet, but nobody has -- the prisoners who were defacing the koran. i think it is one of the most politically exploited mammas. if you want to talk about apologies, i suspect president obama's apology in a time of religious fanatics are killing americans is a much bigger -- term issue than a radio commentator. host: let me follow up on that point. the president said his apology defused the situation and may have saved lives in afghanistan. guest: the president's apology communicate a sense of american guild which is very dangerous.

you have the u.n. high commissioner suggesting that we try our troops. i think our troops have been very bravely and courageously tried to find a way to help the afghans achieve freedom. if we're going to be faced with religious fanatics to believe they have the right to kill young americans a over books, we may have to seriously consider drive for afghanistan society. this is not a society we are capable of helping modernize at the present time. host: the republican debate focused more on social issues than economic issues in the last couple weeks. guest: i think it has. candidly, we had a great forum with mike huckabee on fox. it ran two hours on jobs. if you look, advertising, if you lots newt.org you'll see of stuff on to got to do cents a gallon of gasoline. we have a new #.

i've been talking up the economy. the importance of coming into the middle east. i am very happy to talk about jobs and energy. host: we're joined from the bronx in new york on the republican line. good morning. caller: it is an honor and pleasure to speak to the next president of the united states. i want to thank you for being in this race. all my questions have been answered from mr. newt gingrich. he has answers for everything. a big ideas and great answers to the questions that we need. in this time, which is so terrible right now, we need somebody with his experience. we do not need another inexperienced president, republican or democrat, sitting at the white house.

please keep going. stay in there. you'll be the next president. thank you. guest: thank you. i will need to help in york. that was a very nice statement. host: how do you get to that point in terms of delegates? at the end of the day, you need more than 1100 to become the republican nominee. you expect to win georgia. where else do you win? guest: habib lester with georgia which is the largest state -- let's start with georgia which is the largest in terms of delegates. oklahoma, idaho, ohio, alaska, maybe north dakota. possibly in massachusetts where the conservative wing did not like governor romney. we then go to mississippi and alabama which we hope to win in one week. from there, to kansas.

we hope to be very competitive there. our goal is to keep picking up delegates and keep talking about $2.50 a gallon of gasoline. people who are attracted, we have is based on newt.org where people can give one newt gallon of gas for $2.50. 95% of our voters are under $250. we have a huge base people give more. we hope by the time we get to texas, governor perry has said he things -- 155 delegates. that sets the stage one week later for the biggest aid in california. we have a number of key republican leaders.

chinese-americans, tie- americans. -- thai-americans. if it is clear in the one candidate, i think frankly, these delegates are legally bound. you can easily see all summer towards a big idea, big solution gingrich candidacy. the fighting there is a real chance of us taking the nomination. in the end, people recognize that governor romney's entire strategy has been to raise a much money on wall street and rent some of negative ads that it is basically a scorcher candidacy. that does not work against obama. that will not get him the presidency. his record shows an inability to offer a big program. host: quick note about the debates. as you know, the have been occasions who opted out of any

debates. any concerns if you are the nominee that the president may say that he does not need to debate you and won't? guest: well, he can try to say that, but we live in an age where it is almost impossible to sustain that. i will fall abraham lincoln's policy. when he announced the incumbent senator to challenge debates, he said no. everywhere he went, lincoln with the following day and answer him. his rebuttals got more press coverage than speeches. he agreed to a three-hour debate. i have said as the republican nominee in tampa that the president has not agreed to 73- hour debate by the time i'm the nominee, i will announce that night that the white house will do my scheduler. given the nature of modern news media, wherever he speaks, i will answer him for hours later.

-- four hours later. his energy speeches were absurd. it would be great fun to have rebuttals him within hours. he -- it is impossible to hide in the modern era. frankly, people deserve to have a debate. host: george gets the last question in a new juror -- in virginia. good morning. caller: it is a pleasure to talk to you. i've been falling ever since your in the house. i have been in two wars. i went into the service at 15 years old. i agree with everything you say. i'm a conservative. we have to get this man after the white house because he has ruined this country from day one that he went into office. host: we will give the speaker

the last word. guest: i agree with him. i think this is the most important election of our lifetime. i think if he is present, it will be so radical. it to be very different country. i think a country that believes in the declaration of independence, believes in the constitution, believes in defending america, i think this may well be the most important election of our lifetime. i agree with that. host: we support the eventual nominee if it is not newt gingrich? guest: sure. i believe barack obama is a disaster for my children and my grandchildren. i think you'll find all the support the nominee because all of us are in agreement on our side that reelecting obama is a disaster for our country and a disaster for our children and grandchildren. host: as always, we appreciate time ticking our viewers' calls,

e-mail, and questions. thank you for being with us. guest: thank you. host: republican newt gingrich joining us from virginia. we will continue the conversation tomorrow morning every day at 7:00 a.m. among our guests, bruce bartlett is the author of "the benefit and the burden -- tax reform, why we needed, and what it will take also, todd m. jacobson. we will have a conversation. tomorrow morning, "washington journal." enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great day. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] baby >> a look at the race in

washington yesterday. mitt romney won the state caucuses with about 20,000 votes. he received 30%. ron paul and rick santorum of finished second and third respectively with 25% and 24%. the state results are not binding. looking ahead to super tuesday, more than all the states to date of delegates are up for grabs. among the races, caucuses in alaska, idaho, and primaries and oklahoma,, tenn., and vermont. president obama from the campaign trail. campaign trail.