brianna keilar in las vegas at newt gingrich's headquarters. jim, i'll start with you. how confident is the mitt romney campaign right now? they are looking good when it comes to poll numbers. >> that's right. mitt romney is feeling very confident about tonight. he'll be watching returns coming in at a casino here in las vegas with his family. just consider where mitt romney is right now. he is not in nevada. he's in colorado springs working ahead towards that caucus battle coming up on tuesday. that is what his campaign has been doing all day long today. talking about these upcoming caucuses in colorado, minnesota. the campaign is touting the endorsement romney picked up earlier today from the "denver post." he's got surrogates in maine which had its caucuses starting today. results won't come out until a week from now. this is a race for second place between newt gingrich and ron paul. mitt romney will get good news if ron paul somehow beats newt gingrich in this state. that will go once again to this air of inevitability for mitt romney. ron paul is not seen as a via

cnn's white house correspondent brianna keilar has more. >> reporter: it's vice president joe biden who is formally hosting vice president xi of china here in washington. president obama and a number of senior administration officials will also meet with the incoming chairman of the chinese communist party and the president's interactions with xi are seen as key since he will be in power for years to come and this meeting could set the tone. it also comes at a time when president obama has tried to shift the focus of u.s. foreign policy from the middle east to asia. >> he has sought to rebalance our focus and our national security approach as well as our economic approach. international economic approach to reflect the important role that the region is playing economically. and the important role that our relations with china and with countries all around the region will play in the 21st century. >> reporter: xi's visit here to washington does not come without controversy. there were protests at the white house monday, also at the chinese embassy here in washington. and not far from the

as brianna keilar reports... the issue is about contraception. contraception.--reporter pkg-as folloos -- catholic leaders took to theii pulpits ... railing against a new governmeet policy. it áforcess employers, including religiously affiliated schools and hospitals, to cover all fda-approved contraceptives. "ourr atholic institutions which serve this nation well, are being ttld you, who find these ffnd these things offensive, you should pay for them, in fact you must pay for them."some connregants are firmly against the new rule."iidon't believe we should ave to provide, abortificants and contraception and abortions..." wwile many catholics do not oppose the use f coonraception ... church leaders like cardinal archdioccse of washington say t freedom."we're never experieeced this in the history of our country before. this is a violltton of the basic rights of conscience and religious liberty. so you to begin to speak up." ttat argument may be working. steve &pcatholic university and has advised the obama administration in the past. he calls the contraception d

brianna keilar and jim acosta joining us from vegas.rage throughout the evening. >>> after getting a lot of criticism, the susan g. komen foundation says it will continue to fund grants for planned parenthood. susan candiotti is in new york with details on this one. >> reporter: hi, fred. it may be some time before susan g. komen for the cure can cure the hard feelings that were generated this very week. the controversy arose when word got out that komen was pulling back breast cancer funding to planned parenthood. that is an organization that provides health care to women, and also performs abortions. after a huge uproar, komen reversed its decision. groups on the left and right are weighing in. national right to life, which opposes abortion is coming down hard on komen, urging its supporters to stop writing checks to the breast cancer group. >> people and women want to run in races and donate to cancer research organizations. they want to support the work they are doing, but they want to make sure their donations, their hard-earned mo

brianna keilar has been looking through the budget. sure you've read all 323 pages of it by now. republicans say it's more about the president's re-election campaign than the budget. where do we go? >> well, i think you can bet the house that obviously, it's not getting through congress. you're watching political theater play out here. the president unveiling this budget proposal that speaks very much to these populist priorities that he's been laying out for months now and with republicans hitting had i as not being serious about the fiscal situation of the nation. what you'll see play out in the coming weeks is that house republicans will unveil their budget and it's expected to have an overhaul of medicare and medicaid, big drivers in the debt. then you can cue cue democrats in the white house hammering republicans as trying to dismantle a safety net for the elderly and the poor. you're really seeing is, john, these two competing messages being laid out in an election year and essentially in november, which one really wins. >> and s

in nevada, jim acosta, brianna keilar at the gingrich headquarters. what is happening where you are, jim? >> romney is on his way back to nevada. he was at an event in colorado springs, colorado. just a sign that the romney campaign is looking past nevada into these upcoming caucus states. newt gingrich went after president obama. >> the president thinks that america is in decline. i don't. i think he reaches out to the world's worst actors and i think he thinks somehow if he apieces them and accommodates them, it will be better. in my view, it's always the best way to deal with tyrants and autocrtats. >> reporter: now, mitt romney used that speech to go off the president's stimulus package. unfortunate timing. democrats in colorado were pointing out that the facility where mitt romney was giving that speech actually received stimulus money. mitt romney was trying to address that in his comments to voters saying he's talked to the owner of that company and according to that owner the stimulus program did not help very much in terms of hiring people ou

brianna keilar shows us where she goes unwind. >> i cover the white house for cnn and one of my favoritehe d.c. area is old old town alexandria, virginia. 7 1/2 miles south of the white house. this is a place where you can come and get a great meal, do a little shopping, and even get a history lesson. this is after all the hometown of george washington. here at the old presbyterian meeting house you can find the gravesite of his personal physician james craig. it's spooky, one of the stops on the ghost tour in town, but i say question go find some other spirits. this is one of my favorite places in old town to end the evening. this is the px speak easy. it's completely unmarked. the blue light means they're open. you can knock on the door and come on in. when you get upstairs you might be lucky enough to show up on a night where todd thrasher the owner and bartender here. >> nice to see you. >> here to mix you a drink. what are we having tonight? >> what are in the mood for, rum, vodka, gin? >> let's try gin. >> this is the fortified wine from france. little dash of gin to give it a back

let's bring in our white house correspondent brianna keilar. she's got more on what's going on, what apparently seems to have changed today, brianna. what's going on? >> more than anything it seems like a softening of a tone and reaching out an olive branch to certain catholic voters who may be concerned. about 2 1/2 weeks ago they put in place a rule that will go in effect this summer, a rule saying employers just provide birth control, the employers must provide that by this summer. there was an exception for churches to provide that but the sticky issue had to go with charities, universities, hospitals, there was a delay put in this ruling for them, they had an extra year to comply, but it still created quite a firestorm, particularly with catholic leaders who were very upset. the development today is the white house kind of softening its stance, signaling it's open to working with the religiously affiliated employers in this amount of time. lit -- >> the president's interest at a policy level is in making sure this coverage is extended to al

brianna keilar joins us with more. brianna, what's the latest on this -- well, actually you're at the white house. sorry. what's going on? >> reporter: well, the white house feels like they've been able to make their case, candy, and president obama has been largely been able to win over what you might call middle of the road catholic leaders with this china to this contraceptive coverage policy, but now this is becoming a big partisan debate on capitol hill. you have republicans saying that the obama administration is infringing on religious freedom, democrats are saying that republicans are assaulting women's access to health care. welcome to the culture wars 2.0. 6 for crap ception, like the birth control pill, the morning-after pill, and intrauterine devices. the administration recently provided what it called an accommodation for religiously affiliated employers like cath ling churches and hospitals, so workers can receive contraceptive coverage directly from an insurer rather than their employer. >> now, obviously

let's go over to the white house, our correspondent brianna keilar has more. >> reporter: wolf this isall street journal" reported. michelle obama has been on the road for a couple of days promoting her let's move initiative on its anniversary. she said my approach to campaigning is this is the time that i have to give to the campaign, and whatever you do with that time is up to you, but when it's over, don't even look at me. don't look this direction. no calls, no anything. so very interesting, wolf. she's drawing the line there, of course. it's been reported before, michelle obama is someone who definitely guards her time with her daughters for sure, but she's also one of the president's best surrogates. she's very popular, much more popular, her approval rating is much more higher than president obama's, of course, wolf, but she's saying she's going to be drawing the line. that said on the anniversary of this initiative we've been seeing a whole lot of her lately, she's been on "ellen" jay leno, jimmy fallon and talking to cnn.com, answering viewer questions that will appear on our

brianna keilar is at the white house. right now the unemployment rate is at 13% of veterans of the war. that's higher than the national average that took a dip. what is the plan? >> reporter: yeah, fred, it is significantly higher than the national average, particularly when you're looking at post 9/11 veterans. the plan the president will unveil today includes grants for communities and departments that hire first responders. so, you know, firefighters, medics, also police. so putting some grant money toward programs that already exist and essentially allowing veterans, post 9/11 veterans, people who signed up to fight after 9/11 to kind of get in the front of the line and be a priority for getting some of those jobs. one of the things the president wants to do is to create a veterans jobs corps. the plan he will say is to create 20,000 jobs over five years for veterans putting them to work, for instance, on federal lands, like national parks, local lands, tribal lands, improving levies, roads, all kinds of different sor

. >> brianna keilar at the white house, thanks very, very much. >>> we're only minutes away from getting the results out of the maine caucuses. stay with cnn cnn, our special coverage continues right now. >>> the president has been done by ronald reagan. >> too close to call. >> george w. bush reelected. >> barack obama president-elect of the united states. >> this is cnn. >> special cover annual of the maine caucuses, we're standing by to learn the results this hour. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. we're counting down to the results in maine and we could learn those results within minutes. our reporters are standing by, shannon travis is over at gop headquarters in maine, where we will see the results announced. mary snow is over at ron paul's headquarters in maine tonight. we also have members of the best political team, glornlgia borger, donna brazile, david frum and of course john king at the magic wall to map out all the numbers for us, where we're going from

our white house correspondent brianna keilar is joining us with more.hat is the white house doing to try to bridge this really, really sensitive divide? >> wolf, white house press secretary jay carney says the discussions are going on. not many details, though. it appears those discussions are largely internal administration discussions, because there are a number of progressive catholics who have told cnn they have not been consulted thus far on any possible compromise. we do know that the white house is looking for support, trying to shore up support among women's groups and women's health advocacy groups, as this political battle over this heats up. the obama's decision to make employer including religiously affiliated ones to provide coverage for contraception has spawned a game of tug of war. they're looking at the policy that would apply to employers like catholic universities, hospitals and charities. >> look at what obamacare is already spawning. >> it's a violation of conscience. >> white house press secretary jay carney fired back at the a man

brianna keilar at the white house. thanks so much. >>> we're expecting a ruling today on california's prop a but could the decision mean guys could marry each other in the state. >>> the florida ever glades are being overrun with pythons. that's just when they thought it couldn't get any worse. >> reporter: here's one of the problems with trying to completely eradicate the python. you probably don't even see it. it's right here, a six footer. >> a look at how these snakes are destroying a delicate hab by tate right after the break. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our l

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brianna keilar is in vegas. gary tuckman is with rick tantorium's campaign. they are in colorado.ary, tell us what is going on. >> that's right, wolf. rick santorum is moving on. he will be coming to this huge ballroom at the university of northern california in the city of greely an hour north of denver making a speech at an annual event. there are about 600 people expected to be here. this is the kickoff of the western caucus season. the roses are in a vase or a vase depending on how you pronounce it in a boot. to honor the beginning of the western caucus season. alum dropped the roses. one thing that rick santorum is dealing with. an endorsement by the denver post. they endorsed mitt romney saying that santorum is short on real world experience. but he thinks he can do well in colorado and minnesota, missouri which all have their caucuses and primary on tuesday. while santorum is on the stump he says he is a serious man dealing with serious issues when he's president. >> i know it's not a rally speech. but this is not a rally time. this is a time for big things. this is a time