>> reporter: there was no immediate confirmation of how those happened. a bit of new information is that one blast according to the moscow city prosecutor was a suicide bombing. we will get more on the latest on this developing story from our fox news correspondent in

moscow. for now, if you're just joining us two deadly explosions rocking two subway stations during morning rush hour. and seven million people on any given day are taking this subway station. during and so during rush hour, trains are packed with people and again, hearing one of the blasts according to the moscow city prosecutor... at least one of them was done by a sue sitd bombing. now, 37 total people killed. in each blasts. the first killing 25 and that second one killing 12 people. scores of ornlz are injured in both blasts. again, russia's top investigative body saying that terrorism -- terrorism is suspected in the blast. and though, again no, immediate confirmation of how these may have happened and now, we've got our fox news correspondent dana lewis joining us live on the phone from moscow. hi, danea. what is the latest there, right now?

>> latest is that we can give you immediate confirmation on terrorism. the russian press widely rofrting that there were two suicide bombers on both of those trains as they pulled into the stations. first one took place just after 8:00 this morning. they are initial reports saying there was a bomb on the second train pulling in. a very symbolic train station. it's close to the kremlin, next to lubianka, the former kgb headquarters. now, headquarters to the success for and that is a security service that is deeply involved in hunting down chechen terrorists. it took place in that train station. in sm numbers are all over the place. but, you said 25. there has been update by russian press, probably about 21 dead and dozens more injured. some of them killed on the platform. some killed inside of the car.

and then, a short time after that, we understand there was another explosion on the park metro station a couple miles away from lubianka. same sort of thing saying it took place in the third car of the subway, there are reports saying there was a suicide bomber. i saw a russian reporter had been heading home from work on the night shift just interviewed in the station at that time. and she said that she of course saw bloody victims being carried out what. she -- what she told was interesting is that she said she was being evacuated from that station. they were evacuating the station. it may be they had warning or simply because there had been two explosions they decided it was -- a good idea then to, shut down that other metro station. there were moving hundreds of passengers out of there. she was walking out of the station. and the escalator goesing into these deep stations nuclear

proof stations they're that deep, shut down according to that eyewitness so people were having a hard time getting out there, having to walk through long, long escalator autos we're just showing a map of what the system looks like there. is a blast happening at the central station there. and as you pointed out underneath former federal -- kgi -- kgb station. the way this is laid out, you've got a bunch of folks coming into the central station. tell whaus chaos that has created. >> the kremlin is the hub that. is where the president's office s then, red square. from there, stations head out like bicycle spokes from the hub of the wheel. it would be one of those last markings on the spokes moving close to the kremlin. it's very, very close. and obviously this city of

around 1 million, closer to 14 million people, 8:00 in the morning. height of rush hour. those trains are flooded with people. they're jam packed and standing room only so. the terrorists picked their places and times very strategicly to cause as much blood shed as they could. we understand they've not shut down the entire system now. it would cripple the city. apparently some trains are still running but those stations have been shut down now. numerous emergency vehicles there. and have tried to take the dead and wounded out. one russian reports indicating they've closed that station. trying to keep some people inside because they're worried about more explosions and about could there be more suicide bombers inside of there. again, the initial reports we have now is that one blast was a suicide bomber. perhaps the second as well. >> what can you tell us as far as any particular group that

might be claiming responsible for this? like the rebels mentioned earlier? >> unlike the middle east have you a bombing and five minutes later you have numerous pro claiming responsibility, they're slow to claim here but will pop up later on. this city is no stranger to terror. and they've had many incidents from -- planes being exploded to metros being bombed from the last one was in 2004. and in every case, it's led back to chechen separatists terrorists coming into the city striking in the heart of the capitol city. so no doubt they'll begin to look for that connection whether they're already calling it acts of terror and will be looking closely to see if all roads lead back to the separatist autos we're looking at pictures coming in from there. we're just shown a picture

from above of the traffic just lined up. i can't imagine what it must be like for people trying to get to work on the subway going through this and trying to get out of there and get to safety. and... all of those people... >> i'm stuck m that traffic now outside one metro station. outside of -- not far from the area and i don't see a lot of people there. i think, i don't see anyone going into the doors. it may be that that is closed down. you know, things move slowly here. and unfortunately for victims of the aattacks maybe too slosly. vehicles are slow to respond them don't have infrastructure we have in america and new york. it takes them a long time to get into the stations they're so very deep down. and if these escalators were shut down would it have hindered evacuations. i can tell you just on the streets, you can see an

ambulance with flashing lights, nobody tell pulls over to let them get through. traffic will, unfortunately when talking about people counting seconds to save lives, those will be a critical time loss. >> are you hearing anything about the he vag waigss from inside of the systems? since they're so far deep down into the ground. people obviously trying to get out as fast as they can. are you hearing anything about how those evacuations went? if people were able to get out of those stations quickly? >> well rng they're never tibl get out quickly. i can tell you they're often in the wake of these things people complain. that emergency services are slow. and they're chaotic and don't seem to work well. but this is a capitol of the city. if it'sing to work in russia, it will work best here. i think lubianka we're well into two hours. taking place just after 8:00. so that station has been

locked down. i think they're worried about a possible secondary blast in there so. be careful going through wreckage of the train. and we don't know how badly this was damaged but that many, 21 dead. and about half of those were killed on the platform. and the train was crippled and there were many wounded so they'd have to carry them up trying to get them out of there. they'll be looking for secondary blasts on that lichblt -- line. and the city is on high sek day lert now, flooded with police. and the army will move around. they'll be worried two stations have been attacked is there a third come something. >> what do you know with that blast happening last time? in 2004 what was it like then as far as trying to get people out of harm's way. for any potential subsequent attack? >> just very slow. they take a long time to get

there. and hospitals are under staffed. and getting through a place to get help, a lot of people die. so they do have plans. though. and in fairness to authorities because of this state after tack they've had on subways here and elsewhere, they have rehearsed these things over and over again. hopefully, some of that improved and they just had a warning shot fired. not a warning shot, another terrorist strike back in november of a high-speed train line running between moscow and st. petersburg halfway along that route a bomb go off on the track killing about 30 people. wounding more than 100. so fearing this is coming. so there have been warning and there is a ongoing conflict. and so they've been on high

alert z they've been worried about attacks whether they had warnings of these or not, we don't know. it's interesting in that second attack on the metro station this morning on -- not the first one, but the second one we understand from eye witnesses they started to evacuate fearing there would be an explosion in there. people were making their way out and that is when the blast went skpof a number of people were killed inside of the second station. >> are you able to tell ugs anything about some separatist groups? like a krechen that's could be behind this? and why they'd want to do this? >> this is a longstanding conflict. it goes back to stallion's time. recently in 95 there was a war in chechnya. the russians backed out of there after taking levy losses. gave them a form of independence. starting to deteriorate in

1999 again, the prime minister at that time was vladimir putin. there were a number of apartment bombings here in the center of the city. there were about 300 people killed and two very large bombings of apartments. they decided to send the army back. they waged a war that has not finished yet. russian authorities keep saying they've won in there. and that it's done. but over again they have attacks throughout the caucuses and things said to be burning there on a slow burn. there is a number of terrorist attacks almost on a monthly basis. it's rare to have them in the capitol city here. but as i've said there is a train tack in november and a moscow station attacked in 2004. we had two planes attacked here. they were bombed by female suicide bombers able to get on the planes. >> all right. dana lewis, thanks for joining us. live on the phone from moscow. thank you for that reporting. from moscow once again if

you're just joining us two explosions rocking two subway stations during rush hour. dual blasts killing 37 people. stay with fox news channel for more on this developing story. back to fox news sunday already in progress. agenda and doesn't that mean if you are elected, it is more partisan gridlock. >> well, first of all, partisan gridlock is not something i'm in favor of but the problem is, it depends on what you are a standing for and fighting for and i'd be happy to work across the aisle to lower the capital gains tax and corporate tax flatten the tax rate and all the taxes that make america increasingly an unfriendly place to do business and if the obama administration announces that is their agenda and i'll be more than happy, thrilled to work with them. but, what they are attempting to do is redefine the role of government in america and we cannot cooperate with that, we have to stop it from happening, because once we cross a certain point, we cannot turn back. >> chris: governor crist you say that the senators that you admire most are john mccain and

lindsey graham. and in your recent state of the state speech you said this: problem solvers recognize that important achievements often require consensus and consensus sometimes requires concession. what you seem to be saying is you'd look for areas to work with president obama, areas of consensus, and areas of concession. >> i would work to mack sure that i stand with people who will help the people of my state and my country. i am a pragmatic common sense conservative, always have have been and my political mentor was connie mack and a great senator and i look at every issue through the prism of less taxing, less spending, less government and more freedom and i understand we're in a tough economy and when you are in a tough economy sometimes you have to do the kinds of things that make sense in order to be able to keep people employed. and continue to have work happening in your state. to make sure your schools continue to be productive and that you fight for the teachers and the students, and fight for

the people of florida. and that is what i've always done as attorney general of the state as commissioner of education, and the state senator from tampa bay. these things matter and you can't be off on some limb, you know, rattling the cage and saying you'll do great things and stand on principle and politics above the people of your state, you have to do what is right and the race comes down to doing what is right. what it is all about and my opponent viewed public service as a way to have personal enrichment and we talked about him double billing flights and talked about it in terms of the $600,000 slush fund that he set up, ostensibly to help other candidates and all it helped was rubio, inc. and family members got hired and spent money on this minivan and got $135 haircut or whatever it was and that doesn't make sense to people and is not what they want. they want people to serve in publishing who want to serve. >> these are outrageous accusations. >> they are the truth. >> we're 11 months into the

debate and we are yet to hear a serious debate, and he talks about making sense and how does spending $787 billion of money we don't have money we're borrowing from chinese and japanese investors and money my children and their generation will have to work their whole life to pay the interest and principal on, how does it make sense for florida or our country and what would have made sense is meaningful tax reform. >> let me tell you what makes sense -- >> let me -- let me move on. >> chris: i want to talk about a specific issue and see where you agree or disagree and clearly one of the biggest issues of next senator from florida is going to have to confront, health care reform which by that point, will have been the law of the land for the better part of a year. governor crist, you said a month ago there may be parts that you don't have to scrap. so, if you become the u.s. senator from florida, what parts would you scrap and what parts would you keep and what can you do as long as barack obama is president. >> i think one thing that is

important and i think everybody agrees on this, chris, that preexisting instances should not be a discriminatory tool that is used by insurance companies to not give people insurance. i think what we need to do is go ahead and repeal it and start over, and take an opportunity to do what's right for the people and the problems with health care are, access and affordability. and we have approach those in florida. and in fact the speaker and i work together on a plan, cover florida health care, and cover florida health care.com and negotiated with the private sector and reduced the cost to those who were uninsured and were able to provide access and this average cost for health insurance in florida went from about $600 a month for an individual to about $150 a month. no tax dollars involved, no government mandates, i think washington could learn a lot from florida. >> let me ask you about that, cover florida, we looked into it and you signed it into law two years ago, stripped down insurance for stripped down prices, as you say, all voluntary, no subsidies and mandates and we looked at it and

one-tenth of 1% of florida's uninsured signed up for it in the last two years, 5,000 out of millions of people. >> let me talk about the 5,000 people. for every single one, of those 5,000, it is 6,000 now, but i will not quibble over the numbers, every individual, who now has the peace of mind, who doesn't have to worry about that your child having a catastrophic -- >> it is hardly covered florida. >> it is important it covered families and people who get it like it and they understand that it makes a difference in their lives, and gives them the peace of mind they deserve and i think is important to understand that. >> chris: mr. rubio, now that the health care reform bill is law, would you, if you go to washington, work to repeal it, how would you do it given the fact barack obama will still be president, and can veto a repeal and i want to ask you about an article that you wrote last december, up on the screen: any solution should ultimately seek to promote a vibrant private market where individuals can buy health insurance the way

we buy auto insurance, independent of our employer. with the kind of flexibility and coverage we need and at affordable prices. would you move away from an employer-based health insurance system. >> it is not about moving away, it is providing an alternative and let me tell about the bill. there are so many things wrong with it we don't have -- >> the health care bill. >> so much time, we don't have enough time to talk about whether it is tricky accounting, but the main one is we can't afford it, when the true numbers are applied to it, add to our debt and bring us closer to insolvency and we have to move away from it and the solution like those you pointed out, is about allowing individuals to have the same tax benefits as their employer when they try and buy insurance from the marketplace and about allowing small businesses to pool together to buy insurance coverage and to do so, across state lines, and about tort reform and loss an abuse reform to lower the cost of health insurance, the sorts of reforms we should be working on and i think the first step is repeal

it an win a few election before we can get there but we need to campaign... >> chris: when you talk about creating a private market independent of our employer, are you in some way saying you want to -- >> no the employer always has an option to continue to offer health insurance but congresswomen and congressmen get their insurance that way, you get a medical payment and use the money 72% of the plan, use it to go to an employer -- sorry insurance marketplace and buy the health insurance you want to buy and if we can give the consumer more control you'd have vibrancy and competition and health insurance could control costs and help improve quality. >> chris: gentlemen we have to step aside for a moment, when we come back we'll continue this debate and we'll turn to immigration, and taxes and piston rumors governor crist may run as an independent. more of the florida senate show down, in a moment.

>> chris: we're back to continue the florida senate show down between governor charlie crist and marco rubio, let's talk about immigration, and governor, you say you want all floridians counted in the census including illegals. you also in 2007 supported the mccain immigration reform plan which offered a path to citizenship with some amnesty, is marco rubio tougher on immigration than you are. >> i don't think so, we probably agree on this issue. he's the son of immigrants and i'm the grandson of immigrants. and, i think the first thing we need to realize about immigration, reform, is to make sure that we seal the border.

you know, everything else is an academic conversation unless and until we do that. i think steps have been made to try to enhance that and that is a good thing and secondarily we need to be sure we're enforcing the law, as a former attorney general, laws on the books don't mean anything and have no consequence if they are not enforced and thirdly, i think those who are already here, shouldn't be advantaged by the fact they got here illegally, if they had the opportunity to gain citizenship, they should go to the back of the line and go through the regular process, what the law requires, in order to attain their citizenship, just as my grandfather did, and the speaker's parents. >> chris: you think the immigration reform plans offered in 2007 by the president, and john mccain you still think are pretty good ideas. >> i don't think they are bad ideas, those principles need to be under scored, protecting the border and making you sure we enforce the law hope to books and those people who may have gotten here illegally are not advantaged by having done so and it is important to have legal immigration we have to stop

illegal immigration. as a grandson as i said of an immigrant it is important to me personally and i know to the speaker. >> chris: you say you are against amnesty for illegals and critics point out as speaker you didn't bring to the floor several bills that would have cracked down on illegals and on employers who hire them, and you voted for a bill that would have allowed the children of illegals to pay the same tuition as in-state residents, for college as instate residents, is governor crist tougher on immigration than you are. >> it is not an issue of tougher, to address the issues regarding florida, those bills think only place they got a hearing was in the florida shows and they didn't advancer the senate didn't want to advance them and the governor didn't have an interest in them at well and the bills, only place -- >> i had an interest in them, how can you say what my interests are. >> you never -- only place they got a hearing was in the florida house and never got a letter from the governor -- >> you didn't bring several of these bills to the flood.

>> they never got out of committee and never got a hearing. >> you could have done more -- >> we gave it a hearing and the support was not there and there were challenges in the 60 -- >> let me move on and answer the question about immigration, the republican party, i think, unfortunately has been capped as the anti-illegal immigration party. it is note anti-illegal immigration party, it is the pro legal immigration party and having a legal immigration system that works begins, as the governor says, with border security and that is not enough. about a third of the folks in the country illegally enter legally and overstay visas and we have to deal with that issue and deal with the moment aspect, because the vast majority of people who enter the country illegally do so in such of jobs and jobs are provided and we need a level of verification system so employers are required to verify the employment status and as far as amnesty, the governor and i disagree. he would have voted for the john mccain plan, i think that plan is wrong. and the reason why is that if you grant amnesty, as the

governor proposes we do and in any form, back to the line, you will destroy any chance we'll have of having illegal immigration -- a legal immigration system that works here in america. >> chris: let's turn to taxes and spending, you support a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. you also stay you would agrees federal discretionary spending except for security spending on homeland security and the pentagon. that is the same increase the president supports which covers 13% of the federal budget. >> the freeze is not enough and there is another plan, which i think is a good one and advanced by senator lemieux in florida and others but a freeze is not enough, we can freeze nonmilitary discretionary spending but ultimately tackling the issue of the federal debt will require significant entitlement reforms which means programs like medicare and softening and medicaid have to be reached, if we hope to save them so they exist from our generation and that means we'll call upon people my age, i turn

39 in may and people far from retirement to make difficult and important and necessary choices to ensure the run away growth in entitlement programs and federal spending doesn't diminish our future or bankrupt america and for those who doubt sovereign debt is a look, look at the p p european union and understand that could exist in america in the future. >> chris: we'll pick up on that and we'll get to the governor and your record on taxes, now that medicare spending is cut to help pay for health care reform the biggest issue and way to deal with the deficit is social security. in the "wall street journal" two weeks ago you wrote this: privatization of the accounts has come and gone. there are other alternatives, such as raising the retirement age, how you adjust payment in the future, need measures, et cetera it's, if elected to the center you'll consider benefit cuts as raising the retirement age and slowing down or adjusting cost of living adjustments. >> i think a great starting point for the conversation is

the ripe road map and i'm proud to have -- >> paul ryan of wisconsin. >> is a great starting point and he includes individual accounts as part of his plan. >> chris: i'm asking about your plan. >> but here's what i would say, first on the individual accounts, that debate happened a few years ago and every year it goes by is more difficult to accomplish that but, certainly if you are 55 or closer to retirement, the 55 number, the ryan plan uses, is off the table, we are not talking about, but folks like me, 39, and man years away from retirement, and social security was -- whether we want it to in its current form cannot survive and will not exist for us and this week we received the news, for the first time, social security is now paying out more in benefits than taking in, and that was something that was supposed to happen in 2016 and now -- >> direct question, would you raise the retirement age? >> i think that has to be on the table. it has to be part of the solution, the retirement age, gradually increases for people of my generation, i think has to be part of it. >> chris: would you change cost

of living adjustments for social security. >> i think all of that has to be on the table and including the way we index increases in cost of living, the issues have to be on the table and options i would be open to and included in the ryan road map. >> chris: governor crist we looked all over your web site and could not find a word about social security reform. >> i think it is important we understand, social security must be saved, must be protected. and the idea of having a higher age for people to be able to be eligible for social security really flies in the face of a lot of my fellow floridians and something i would not advocate. i think we node to take the fraud out of social security, waste, as it is in medicare as well. i'd like to get back to something you talked about with this speaker, taxes. >> chris: we'll get to taxes in a moment but i want your reaction -- >> i haven't had a chance to talk about it. >> chris: we'll get to it in a moment. the question i have, you are saying, even for peoplend this age of 55 you wouldn't raise the retirement age, you wouldn't change the cost of living

adjustment. >> no, i would not. >> chris: with all due respect, sir waste an fraud, people have been talking about for years and don't you have to make benefit changes if you deal with the debt issue. >> i think you might have to make some but i think what you want to do first is -- >> such as what. >> getting the waste and fraud out. i think you have to have strict enforcement, understand that you have to have u.s. attorneys that go after this with a serious approach and realize that in order for these programs to be able to survive, so my children and my grandchildren have an opportunity to be able to benefit from them we of have to spend less and by getting waste an fraud out of the systems. now as it relates to taxes, if i might i wanted to talk about the fact that somebody who believes we need to reduce the tax brackets, reduce the income tax in order to have private enterprise flourish, we have to do that because i think that we have an obligation to have the dream called america continue to be able to prosper. we have done that in florida. in fact i find -- signed into

law this largest single tax cut in the history of my state. we have also slashed spending in florida. by over $7.4 billion, since i have been governor. this is the kind of conservative fiscal leadership the cato institute said i was the most fiscally conservative governor in america, and let me talk about my opponent, he proposed the largest tax increase in the history of my state, about a $9 billion increase in taxes, that he said would be a swap and that justice it, but it would have hit sales tax which would have been the most regressive tax that you could imagine and people who can least afford it pay the same as those who can affo afford it. >> chris: when you ran for governor you made a flat pledge, you would not raise tax as long as you were governor and last year you sunnied a $66 billion -- signed a $66 billion budget with a $2.2 billion increase in taxes, new taxes and fees, didn't you break your promise to

florida voteers. >> no, i don't think and i'll tell you why. the only part that was a tax, and loosely defined as a tack was on cigarettes. and i would argue that is a user fee and if you don't use them you don't pay it and i think it is important to distinguish between my friend here, who opposed the largest tax increase in the history of the state and myself. >> chris: i'm going to get to him in a minute, but you also signed into law higher fees on drivers licenses and on motor vehicle registrations, that -- tax, you said these are not broad-based taxes, governor, 16 million people are drivers in florida and there are 18 million motor vehicles. >> i understand that. i understand that. >> chris: that a broad-based tax. >> i don't think it is a tax, it is a fee, if you don't drive you don't pay it and look by the pure common sense definition what the speaker wanted to do is have sales tax increase by $9 billion, which would have hit all 20 million of my fellow floridians. >> chris: and let's let him respond.

>> let me tell you about the exposed program to raise taxes he talks about, it was probably the largest tax increase in florida's history and would have eliminated property taxes for all sorts of people and was supported by no more or less than jeb bush and you ran as a jeb bush republican and he supported the plan and you supported a similar one that came out of the fax and budget reform commission. >> let me say, as i understand it, it would have eliminated the property tax and substituted a -- >> revenue neutral sales tax. >> it would have increased sales tax. >> revenue neutral sales tax and it couldn't have generate more money than property tax would have and 30% of our sales tax is paid for by nonfloridians and would have been a massive tax cut for floridians. >> to the contrary, a massive tax increase and with all due respect you have to tell the truth to poeople. >> here's the truth, if i may. >> he talked about it being a swap and it would be a swap because those who on their home wouldn't have to pay a tax any more, 40% of my fellow

floridians are renters. it would not have applied to them at all. all they would have enjoyed is his tax increase. >> chris: you have the last word. >> the renters would have been able to buy and i took a pledge when i became a state representative, to never raise taxes, and never broke that pledge and that's why the leader of the organization... supported my candidacy. >> chris: the governor -- >> the governor probing his pledge -- >> wait, wait we have to move on, let's -- >> he voted for tax increases when he was on the west miami city commission and said on the web site that he has never voted for a new tax and that's not the truth and ought to be truthful to the people of florida. before he asks for their vote. >> that is not accurate. >> chris: gentlemen, let's move on. the tea party movement, some activists say if elected you'd be the first tea party senator

and grover norquist, head of the americans for tax reform says that you they're most pro taxpayer legislative leader in the country. and we got a bunch of e-mails from tea party activists and one person said ask him why he refuses to be vetted by the florida tea parties, i want to hear from him or i won't vote from him and got it from a bunch of tea parties all over the e state. >> the tea party movement is recognized as some sort of an organization, it is where people go and do and not what they are, it's not an organization, it is a broad-based group of every day americans from all walks of life and if you go to a tea party you'll find people that have never -- >> why aren't you going -- >> if i may, you find people from all walks of life. at these tea parties who who are fed up at the direction of our country and can no longer stand by and do nothing and i've met

with them, and i'm not familiar with stleting process -- >> villages are not happy with you. >> whatever vetting process are, we under -- >> the villages are important in our state. >> and i have been there and spoke ton groups and if there is a formal process i have not been made aware of it but i'm proud of my association with the fee tea party folks and the fact we've attended multiple events throughout my candidacy. >> chris: and we got e-mails questions for you and they note this is your 5th race for statewide office in the last 12 years and james l. peoples asked this: why wouldn't someone feel mr. crist is putting his own interests ahead of those of us who voted for him, he has not completed his first term as governor, if elected will he just end up running for president in 2012. >> no. no. i'm running for the u.s. senate. and not running for reelection as governor because i know what americans know. our country needs help and i legislative my country and love my state and i feel i can be most effective by getting things

done in washington to reduce taxes and rein in spend like florida and you don't have to believe what i say, you can judge what i say by what i've done as governor as opposed to my opponent, we slashed more than 10% and -- >> okay. i'm going to break in and give you a chance for this statement at the end. i wanted you to respond to mr. peoples. >> may i comment as well, please? >> chris: on his political future? >> absolutely. >> chris: no, because i have time to ask governor crist just a question i want to ask, speaking of the question about your political future, there were persistent rumors in florida that you are so far behind at least currently, in the polls, double digits, to mr. rubio, that you may run instead as an independent. here's your chance to dispel all the rumors, are you willing to pledge right here, and now that you will run in the republican primary for the u.s. senate, and not run as an independent. >> i'm running as a republican. i'm very proud to be from the party of abraham lincoln and

teddy roosevelt and others that really stood up for the principles of our party, reagan and this is a great party and has a great future and we have a great opportunity to win in november. it is important we put a candidate up that... >> chris: are you ruling out that you will file as an independent by the april 30th deadline. >> that's right. that's right. i'm running as a republican. >> chris: you will run for senate and you will run in the republican primary. >> i'm running for the u.s. senate. i know our country needs help. i'm running as a republican. this man to my left is a friend but i hope to guite him on august 24 and d-defeat him on august 24 and urge every florida republican to get out and vote. >> chris: will you support the winner, whether or marco rubio. >> of course but before the decision is made -- >> i'll get -- give you an opportunity but you are saying you will run in the republican primary for the u.s. senate, and will not run on the no party affiliation. >> that's right. >> the governor likes to call himself a reagan republican and

i don't recall reagan being questioned about running as an independent. >> chris: that is an important question -- >> he was an -- >> mr. rubio. >> he had a great question asked during his campaign, are you better off today than four years ago and for floridians, there is a powerful answer to that. we have the highest unemployment record in our history and record foreclosures, record reductions in the people's property values and a governor that supported barack obama's stimulus package. that doesn't sound like a reagan record and i think it makes the answer to that question easy. floridians are not better off than four years ago, since you became governor -- >> under his plan -- i'm letting him finish and 30 seconds to close. >> -- take those ideas to washington, d.c. and will it be my last opportunity, let me tell you why oi'm running for the senate. >> chris: real quick. >> early on in the interview you said it is about trust and you're right, who do you trust to stand up to barack obama and offer a clear alternative, i'm running for the u.s. senate because if i get there i'll stand up to this, we can't trust

the governor to stand up to barack obama. >> chris: okay. governor crist you have the final 45 second, go ahead. >> thank you very much, appreciate it. this race is about trust. marco rubio earned $300,000 as a lobbyist lawyer with a firm in florida while he was in the house of representatives. whose interests was he looking out for? we have a fundamental different view about public service, i think it is to serve the public, why i took the stimulus money, because i put people above politics. in addition to that, he won't reveal his tax returns. why won't he -- >> that is not true. >> it is true. they are not out. mile-per-hour are. >> chris: his final -- >> mine are out there and yours haven't and we asked you to do it three days ago and you haven't done it, are you doctoring the books and the $34,000 raised, of the $600,000 and shows up, nobody knows where it is and the irs may have an issue with it. >> chris: time and because of the doctoring the books line, 15 second to respond. >> these are outrageous

allegations and the campaign is 11 months old and the debate 40 minutes old and we have yet to hear a single public policy proposal from charlie crist. >> yes, we have. >> chris: gentlemen, i thought 40 minutes would be plenty and i suspect it will continue, we'll continue to watch it, governor crist, mr. rubio, thanks for holding your first debate of many, i suspect, a pleasure. >> thank you very much. my pleasure. >> chris: coming up with health care reform in the books, what is next and where do republicans make their stand? we'll ask our band of sunday regulars when we come back.

>> president barack obama: if they want the fight we can have it... because i don't believe the american people are going to put the insurance industry back

in the driver's seat. >> repeal and replace. that's what americans really want. and that is something far beyond washington, d.c. will want to celebrate, the president and mitch mcconnell giving us a glimpse of the campaign battlefield as the just-passed health care reform bill becomes a rallying cry for both sides and it's time for our sunday group, brit hume, senior political analyst, and contributors mara liasson of national public radio, bill kristol of "the weekly standard" and juan williams also from national public radio. it has been minus a few hours, one week since the house passed health care reform, brit, which side do you think had the better side, better part of the argument so far about whether it's good or bad for the country. >> i don't think that argument has move. the polling suggests people's sentiments are where they were before the vote was taken, which

is polls have i guess -- all adults are registered voters indicate it is opposed by 3 or 4% margin. polls of likely voters have a much larger margin and i think as it is now and will be for some time a good issue for the republicans and they are smart to talk about repeal and replace and need to emphasize what they would replace is with. and i think it's also important tor republicans to stop talking about this being unpopular. it is okay for pundits on tv programs like this to talk about that but there is no point in the republicans telling people what the people think. what they need to be emphasizing is what they'd do. and i think the public is open to listening to them, and not only on that issue but on a lot of others and i think the republicans have an opportunity but have to stop talking about what the polls say. >> chris: one piece of bad news for democrats this week has been all over the major corporations around the country, that have announced huge write downs, against their earnings, because of the fact the government

subsidy they got for providing tax benefits, retiree benefits for drugs will no longer be tax deductible and let's put up on the screen, at&t, billion dollar charge, john deere, $150 million charge, caterpillar, $100 million. mar remarks we're seeing several areas, in which just in the first week the bill is not living up to the advanced billing. >> first of all, the white house fleedz needs to rally the businesses who will benefit and start talking about. though the polls haven't moved in a big way, there has been, this week, a slight narrowing of the difference between the positives and negative fields and there is more negative than positive but for the democrats what is really important for the mid terms is that finally the intensity among the democrat base and number of democrats who are strongly supportive of this has come way up and it is beginning at least, to balance out the strongly negative feelings the republicans have

been riding among their base and we don't know if it's the high water mark for the opposition, if it will grow but a problem the white house will have and they have to come up with an answer is that premiums are likely to go up and might even start going up in a lot of places before november, before all of the things that would keep premiums down kick in, long before and republicans will be able to say in the fall, aha! your premiums went up, like, aha there is 10% unemployment and the white house has a huge selling job ahead of it and the president started this week and has to keep at it. >> chris: let's talk about where both sides go from here. the white house and senate democrats say the next big push after they've come back from the two week break, the senate and congress does, will be on financial regulation reform, then they are talking about immigration reform and about energy reform though cap-and-trade seems out, what do you see as the democratic agenda between now and november, how much of it can they get passed

and how much is simply a campaign document. >> thigh cey can get financial regulation passed and should be somewhat bipartisan and with health care, the polling, today's "washington post" poll, and politicians -- he said we can report what they are saying and it never happened mine view in modern american history, huge piece of legislation passed and media celebrates it, historic, on the level of medicare and social security and the president says, 46%, to 50% of people disapprove it and he has not moved the numbers and it. >>ly generated more democratic enthusiasm but the public sentiment overall is negative and independents are negative and the congressional -- and among those who were asked, would you vote on the issue and be more likely to vote for congressional candidates who support or opposes, 26-32, that is really bad for the democrats. they couldn't get -- take advantage of momentum of passing the legislation and signing

ceremony and media and president traveling around when will they have a moment? they will not have one. >> chris: what about the democratic agenda going forward? and what do you expect the republican response to be, on a lot of the other issues. >> the republicans have to find a way to get back to the middle, that is their problem, on financial reform, issues, for example, the question is do you go with simple anger at wall street and that would play into the tea party anger, all leadership in the country, but if you do it you buy into the obama administration's agenda, of putting greater regulations in place in terms of wall street. and that would mean by partnership working with the obama white house, and that will anger those same tea party people when it comes to immigration, are they willing to alienate the growing hispanic vote or say we stand in opposition to immigration reform? i don't know what they do but i think when it comes back to the health care issue, i think it is a great issue for the democrats. i think right now, what you see is, an increasing number of americans focusing on the

benefits. and i think that will gro towards november. when you look at the insurance companies, now, you put up the numbers for the big companies in terms of tax breaks, they are looking for ways to pay lower taxes, when you look at the insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, their numbers are going up, people think they did well in this reform, and this is no radical agenda and i think that will be more apparent to the american people. >> chris: brit, going forward, i want to ask, though where the president may have been on the unpopular side of the issue, and democrats and health care reform on financial regulation aren't the democrats on the right side of the issue, at least in terms of public opinion because they'll crack down on wall street and republicans are more leery about that. >> perhaps. but, those second -- are second dairy issues, the primary issue today is the same thing that was the primary issue on election day and on obama's inauguration and that is the economy, the two

problems the health care reform bill faces are, one, people don't like the substance of the bill and, two, they don't think it's the right thing to focus on and to the extent that the continuing debate over that and over some of these other things, detracts from the administration's supposed pivot, remember the great pivot? we've never seen the focus on jobs? it isn't happening and i'm not sure there is much they could do, but at least they could talk about it and they are not doing that. that means trouble for them. >> chris: we have to go, panel, thank you very much, we'll continue our sdaugs discussiodik so much time, with the debate we'll have an extended panel plus and more on that and news about our blog, right after this.

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>> now a note about our blog. cheng out the special behind the scenes pictures from today's debate. you can find them on wallace watch and we're in the process of reworking our site so look for the site where you can offer suggestions about new content. don't forget to check out the expanded panel plus where our group here will discuss the iraqi election and the split between u.s. and israel on our website, fox news sunday.com and we'll post the video before eastern time. that's it for today, have great week and we'll see you next fox news sunday.