he did a rally here and it is a cuban restaurant, that is usually closed on sunday. they opened it especially for this event and jammed it here. there is probably 500 people. ileana ros-lehtinen was on stage with him. mario lincoln diaz-balart, a congressman from the miami area spoke for him. craig romney, romney's son, spoke spanish and introduced his father. he said in spanish, you know, my father doesn't speak spanish but can talk about the economy. look, ron talked about how immigration may not be as big of an issue among the cuban-american set here in florida, but castro is and romney took a hard line against fidel castro as he has been this is his closing argument to the community, his last push in the cuban-american community before tuesday. he heads here to kind of -- to pompano beach to visit with elderly voters and then back through the i-4 corridor which holds a lot of republican votes as well. >> is he changing his message depending on what community he was going to? he was critical of newt gingrich for what he called pandering, newt gingrich was, romney

mortgage than a quarter million, and most of those are cuban-americans. for decades she has been an influential voice both on radio and in cuban-american politics. although a nearly 50-year embargo has not brought the castro government to its knees, perez says any talk of lifting sanctions is the kiss of death. >> if a candidate so much as mentions any type of lifting of sanctions or any type of apeasement or closeness to the cuban regime, i'm telling you that election is lost. >> reporter: but times are changing. tony jiminez is co-founder of roots of hope, trying to move young cuban-americans. freedom is important to him but he doesn't see himself or other young cubans as single issue voters. >> they're more concerned with the economy and domestic policy, and the cuban issue is as important as it is to cubans, i don't think, is dictating who they're going to vote for. >> reporter: but for republican candidates, at least for now, it's the one issue that guarantees them votes. john zarrella, cnn, miami. >> for more, let's bring in cnn democratic strategis

cubans get. think republicans should engage the haitian community because it's important in florida. >> thanks for coming in. >> thank you so much. >> talking about this, it is the most diverse hispanic community maybe in the country. the state of florida. thank you very much. >>> a major status update coming for facebook. this is one we all want to be poked on. the market rundown is next. and cash infusion. our "the daily rundown" look at the billionaire backer the biggest financial force behind the gingrich campaign. first today's trivia question. what percentage of florida's population is 65 and older? tweet me the answer. the first correct googler will get follow mug from us. look! the phillips' lady! we have to thank you for the advice on phillips' caplets. magnesium, right? you bet! phillips' caplets use magnesium. works more naturally than stimulant laxatives... for gentle relief of occasional constipation. can i get an autograph? [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. [ ma

senator marco rubio cuban-american called it inflammatory and inaccurate.ubio says he is neutral in the race. >> sad for a candidate to resport to that epithet. i'm not apt immigrant i'm pro-immigrant. >> reporter: gingrich tried to silence the charge he was a lobbyist for freddie mac releasing contract stating neither the gingrich group nor newt gingrich will provide lobbying services of any kind, nor participating in lobbying activities on freddie mac's behalf. a wave of new polls show increasingly volatile race. the quinn payiac poll shows romney at 36, gingrich at 34, santorum at 13 and paul at 10%. american research group poll shows romney sightly more ahead. the real clear politics average on the other hand has gingrich on top. romney feared gingrich could be a serious long-term threat before iowa and he was right. the gallup poll shows gingrich nationally 31-28 over romney with santorum and paul tied at 12. the real clear politics national polling average gives gingrich a razor thin edge. undercutting he is tanking with the independents crucial in an

cuban church. stan jeter, cbn news. >>> thanks, stan. you can find daily reports >> and finally this week, cbn's operation blessing is giving typhoon victims in the philippines help in their time of need. >> they have been in desperate need. thousands in the philippines are homeless after a recent string of typhoons. 21-year-old ralph lost his home. his family has barely been able to make ends meet. cbn stepped to help get his family back on their feet. he was given a bike so he doesn't have to walk to school. his father was given a set of tools to help him rebuild his home as well as a fishing net to help him earn a living. >> i am so happy. i am grateful to cbn for everything they have done. i believe god sent them to help us. >> he said the relief was possible for him and his family to have a better future. >> philippines gets hit by these horrible disasters. we pray god's blessing.

it is actually the sixth largest city in the state of florida, mostly made up of cubans and cuban-americans. now he's appealing to that sector of south florida there in hiyalea. we'll have more on mitt romney's campaign. >>> so his lead, mitt romney's lead in florida voter polls is on the rise after last week's cnn debate. and in a winner take all state, that's pretty big. the florida voting population is very diverse and candidates must work hard to appeal to different electorates relative to different parts of the state. john king breaks down the numbers. >> here is where we go next, wolf. you look at florida, an incredibly diverse state, much more conservative up here, more moderate in here, miami population, latinos, you heard gingrich daughters talking about let's go back in time to look what the we're talking about here. come back to '08, john mccain is the lighter red, mike huckabee up here. you see the diversity. much more conservative in the panhandle. mitt romney does have a base of support from last time up in here. you come down the population centers, big populations here, here

they know cubans, cuban-americans care are predominantly in the past have been largely aligned with the republican party. but the mix of puerto ricans in the state as well as other central americans and south americans and mexicans is creating, i think, some confusion. i think we're see that played out in how they engage on immigrati immigration. it feels like they're struggling to really articulate a clear position on immigration. but what we're finding in florida is that the hispanic population cares not just about immigration, it's not the most important issue, although it is a stlesh hothreshold issue for . but the economy. i think the economy has hit florida hard and in particular the foreclosure crisis in hispanics were hit very hard by the foreclosure crisis nationally. but in florida we're seeing that is one of the biggest states that was effected by the crash in the market and in the reaction that we've seen or the impact we've seen in the hispanic community. so there are several issues of importance to the hispanic community but obviously immigration is surfacing as one of the

we need to do everything to support those cubans they want freedom. obama is infatuated with the arab spring. he is not able: 90 miles south of the united states to get cuban spring. i would put in place a very aggressive policy of reaching out to every single cuban to bring them together, reaching out to younger generation inside the dictatorship and indicating they do not have a future as a dictatorship. the gingrich presidency would not tolerate that. overt, covert? in gauging the u.s. military? >> every asset including appropriate covert operations. what ronald reagan, john paul the second, and margaret thatcher did to the soviet empire. we need to maximize the chance for freedom in cuba. >> congressman. >> i have work to do. [laughter] how do pretty much the opposite. i do not like the isolette some of not talking to people. -- isolationism of not talking to people. i was drafted at the height of the cold war ended is over. we prop up castro for 40 years because we put on the sanctions. he could always say, anything wrong with the united states -

have to stay in place because we need to have a a a very solid offer to come forward and help the cuban people. right so newt gingrich wants to aggressively overthrow the regime he wants us to fabricate a cuban spring santorum on thanks and stay in place forever artist has a living in the cold they're living your dark ages they're living in the dark ages of those came from havana and spent seven days there on their i was there in two thousand and seven i was there in two thousand and nine two thousand and twelve the changes are miraculous what's happening is the economy is slowly incrementally opening up it's it's opening up to market pressures and market dynamics people were beginning to talk i'd get in a taxi in a taxi driver would answer my questions and say i'm not being taped emma and then answer my questions i ate in restaurants that could be in buenos aires or in rio de janiero the cuban and they are idiots they haven't been to cuba they don't know what's happening they can't see what's in front of their face the forty year old technocrats in cuba are shaping the ground and raul

cuban americans no longer dominate. they are a half million strong. there are a million other latino voters, puerto ricos and others. >> bill: i'm going to bet you that the republicans carry florida this time around. >> i think the latinos will vote overwhelmingly for barack obama. >> bill: i have so many dinners piled up between miller and morris. >> romney wins tuesday but he loses in november in florida. >> bill: geraldo, directly ahead, bernie goldberg on how the cnn moderator handled the debate last night. lou dobbs on whether money will hurt mitt romney if he does >> bill: impact segment tonight only one time last night's debate did challenge wolf blitzer and it was over money. >> are you satisfied right now with the level of transparency as far as his personal finances? >> wolf, you and i have a great relationship, goes back a long way. i'm with him. this is a nonsense question. [ applause ] >> mr. speaker, you made an issue of in this week when you said that he lives in a world of swiss bank and cayman island bank accounts. i didn't say that y

as all from the cuban authorities. the news of the death came through earlier today. we have been waiting for some kind of reaction, but we have seen nothing official. what there has been is a lot of comments on pro-government blogs, blogs which are usually described here as official blogs. they are saying that this person was a violent man, a dangerous criminal. he had been convicted as such, and his death now after the long hunger strike is being used as a weapon against them. dissidents in cuba have a different opinion. they say he was arrested after a political protest in the serena province of santiago back in november. he began his hunger strike after he refused to wear prison clothing. he began his strike, stopped it a while, and started again when his demands were not met. he died after 56 days on a hunger strike in the prison there in santiago providence inls. >> in 2010 another dissident died after being on a hunger strike. the cuban government came under a lot of pressure then, and that did lead to the relea

and as both of them certainly know, the cuban vote here in florida, cuban/american vote here is usuallybrainer here for republicans in the state. are that community's political loyalties changing? are increasing numbers becoming democrats? >>> and a surprising tactic between two political rivals in one of the most heated u.s. senate races of the year. copd makes it hard to breathe, so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function. unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair.

he made a special appeal to cuban americans in florida. >> i would like a cuban spring in 2013 to help the people of cuba liberate themselves. >> then about an hour later mitt romney took the stage and focused on that same theme liberating cuba. >> there is a time coming soon where cuba will be free. that's going to happen, but we're going to have to get organized for it, recognize that the people there want freedom as people do all over the world and america can't sit back. >> the battle for the hispanic vote was evident during the debate. gingrich was asked about a spanish ad his campaign aired and pulled calling romney the most anti immigrant candidate. >> is he still the most anti-immigrant candidate. >> my father was born in mexico. that idea is repulsive. >> director of communications for latino decisions and a fellow at the center are politics and governance at the l.b.j. school of public affairs at the university of austin, dr. soto thanks for coming in this morning. i ran a few voting drives for latino community in california. do they slant mostly to democratic or republican?

cuban americans tend to be republican and in south florida. 75% say the economy, jobs, and taxes are more important. only 14% say moral or social issues are more important. in florida latino registered voters are shifting as well. in 2006 there were more latino republicans, but during the last presidential election, latino democrats took the lead, and that lead has grown. now over 560,000 in number. the candidates' choices now, not if they need the latino vote, chris, but how to get it. >> let's look deeper in this battle. thank you, richard. susan mcmanus is a professor at the university of south florida. good morning. >> good morning. >> is this as richard laid out essentially a battle between cuban american republicans and puerto rican democrats. >> it's not really quite that simple. certainly their leanings are quite different. you have to say that the hispanic republicans are largely dominated by cubans. they make up about 11%. hispanic republicans of the voters coming up in this primary. but generically we've seen that the puerto rican v

cuban americans no longer dominate. they are a half million strong. there are a million other latino voters, puerto ricos and others. >> bill: i'm going to bet you that the republicans carry florida this time around. >> i think the latinos will vote overwhelmingly for barack obama. >> bill: i have so many dinners piled up between miller and morris. >> romney wins tuesday but he loses in november in florida. >> bill: geraldo, directly ahead, bernie goldberg on how the cnn moderator handled the debate last night. lou dobbs on whether money will hurt mitt romney if he does ♪ [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] ow, ow! [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums i'm bidding on a 1979 dukes of hazzard lunchbox, but my auction ends in 15 seconds ! even worse, my buddy's bidding on the same lunchbox. it's airbrushed ! but i've got verizon 4g lte. it's so fast that i can outbid him at the last second. i got it ! yes, i won ! woo hoo ! i

he stayed at a cuban hotel. they knew where he was. his travels were well-known, as most trstles ar travels are to n government. then they arrested him. it is hard to say with a straight face that alan gross was some agent of a government trying to overthrow the cuban government. he languishes now over two years because of these accusations. they have taken away his shoes. he said at one point he couldn't have shoestrings because he might try to hang himself. it took him seven months to convince him to allow his wife to bring him dental floss. he uses the dental floss for shoestrings. they took away his ipod. his routine is one which i would find hard to imagine for any long period of tiesm gets up at 6:00, is in a room with two other prisoners. and he has mapped out a course on the floor that he's measured that he walks every morning back and forth and back and forth for an hour and a half. and he says, if i do that about 500 times, it is equivalent of five miles. so i walk that back and forth every morning when i get up. i get a litt

there are pockets of cuban american communities like here.atino registered voters in florida break down this way. 32% cuban, 28% puerto rican and 9% mexican. they don't all vote the same but immigration issues are big and politicians do try to attract that voting bloc. we'll be back after this. >> brett: one of the great things about taking special report on the road is getting a chance to talk to voters and follow the candidates around and listen to the speeches and how they interact with voters. we tried to track down both the major players in florida earlier today. >> it is my great honor to introduce you the next president of the united states, mitt romney. >> i think the reason on he has been doing so well is because of the last debates. they heard something they hadn't known, he made $1.6 million in his company, standing up and talking about freddie mac. the very institution that helped the housing crisis. here in florida, if you are part of the housing crisis, the people in florida said we're not going to get behind newt gingrich and w

should have a relationship with cubans. how do most cuban-americans feel about the issue. you are yourself cuban-american as well >> i am happy that santorum and mitt romney and newt gingrich share the same passion for freedom and human rights and free election and multiparty systems and fleedom for political prisoners which is the foundation. u.s. cuba-policy for many years. i think romney has a more straightforward and direct approach but all of them are good. every year the media said the young hispanic, this is changing. i have been in poliics many, many years and i hear this refrain about politics changing all of the time. the reality is, any republican candidate who wants the line's share has to be strong against the castro brothers and these candidates have shown it. they are all there for us. i was born there and one day nigh native homeland will be free >> all the best to you. >> thank you very much . >> critics are calling it honesty. his idea to build a colony on the moon is a butt of several jokes. newt gingrich said the u.s. should shed a image that is unfrien

true cuban heroes. the plan was to get them on the beach then at that time perhaps part of the assassination plot to overthrow the country. that something would magically create incredible tumbled and the middle-class would overthrow castro. that was the idea. of the problem is they kept teen jeans a landing-- so remote that would not hear about it and kennedy appointed to keep the noise level down. that was a mistake. so you in 1500 exiles on the beach, how many cuban troops to be there the first day? 25,000. once you know, that commando they will lose. 25,000 and trained defenders of the revolution and will be 21500 guise of then he was told they will escape into the mountains and he never asked, 80 miles of swamp separated the beach but nobody asked the critical question. he thought, the first time in his life he was not the boss. he was the boss of the skipper in the boat, i school, his girlfriend, the cia runs it own operation and he is just a part of it too. >> host: he is the commander in chief d

that of course is what you know was the cuban missile crisis. in the summer of 1963 and i'm almost through so i hope you survive a little longer. in the summer of 1962, the soviets began building pipelines across east germany from poll ant to the west german border. large pipelines to carry oil or gasoline for troops. they usually did this in conjunction with the other maneuvers and never went quite so far and had large pipes. there was a wonderful man at the cia, john nepal. i don't know if you know his name. he briefed me on this. so many troops began coming into east germany and going close to the west german border and close to berlin. there was something going on and we didn't know what. we found out later when kennedy revealed that there had been missiles in cuba and the soviets installed missiles in cuba. he felt that the cuban missiles would help him solve the crisis. he told the interior secretary who was visiting moscow at the time and who he called in much to our surprise that "we will put kennedy into a situation where it is necessar

a decaying residential building has collapsed in a densely packed neighborhood and the cuban capital city. killing three people and injuring six. the central of on that building was home to several families. rescuers are continue to serve to the rubble -- searched through the rubble. mr. obama said the deadline set by republicans did not give the government and of time to check the safety of the project known as the keys to x onl pipeline. -- the keystone xl pipeline. >> those who want this pipeline built state it would create thousands of jobs. they also argued it would help the u.s. to look after its own energy needs. those against worry about the impact on the environment, but that is not the reason the government has said no. it claims the hands were tied,

cuban-americans dominate that group.ciate director of the pugh hispanic center. it's great to have you here to talk about this and the gop presidential race is all about florida right now and your su va shows that most in the state are republican. while nationally there are 21 million registered hispanic voters. how are florida voters unique from other parts of the country, like nevada where the president is today? >> one of the things that makes florida unique compared to other places is that in florida we have a huge cuban and large port corick can population. those are actually the second and third largest populations of hispanic origin folks in the united states. by contrast, a place like nef m nevada is more than 30% mexica . also, when we talk about a state like florida you mentioned there were about 450,000 hispanic republicans registered to vote in florida. that's lower than the number that are registered as democrats but, none the less, florida has one of the largest republican hispanic populations in the united

for the cuban american community. only is newt gingrich appeal fog their vote this morning, mitt romney has a very important speech in downtown miami this afternoon with the u.s. cuba democracy pac and we'll be there covering that as well. jon: phil keating in breezy miami, thank you. jenna: that's a big story today. u.s. special ops teams facing off against somali kidnappers to rescue two hostages, including an american woman. next, we'll take a look at the coast of africa and look at how effective our foreign policy is addressing this particular part of the world. >>> also, why the mother of a man charged with starting dozens of fires in los angeles, set to face a judge just moments from now, where prosecutors say her role is in the arson and why she could be sent back to her native country. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. th

florida especially we have a mix of cubans, puerto ricans, mexicans, venezuelans, columbians. >> cubanse, galvanized by tough anti-castro policies. florida has seen a big influx of immigrants from puerto rico, american citizens that tend to support democrats. >> who do you like? >> i like obama. >> think you'll always vote democrat? >> yes, i think for now. >> president obama won the latino vote by 2-1, but then latino voters helped send marco rubio to the u.s. senate. >> the biggest priority now should be jobs. >> latinos also have a generational divide. adrian and his wife megan are republicans. daughter prefers democrats, and her sonny man well. >> republican, democrat, independent? >> independent. >> independent. right down the middle. not listen to your grandparents, not listen to your mother. >> no. >> some interesting chat around the dinner table in that household. you'll find families like that all over florida. and there are states like california and texas that have large latino populations, and many of those people are mexican americans, not cuban or puerto rican. they have a

some of the cuban community in the united states, the catholic cuban community one should say, are very uneasy about this. they would like a sort of harder push to get that regime out. so there have been some arguments over the years between our cuban community, particularly in south florida, and the vatican. it will be fascinating to see how exactly, what pope benedict says about alterations in that regime and religious freedom. castro himself, is a dictator, he also has had this kind of lifelong fascination with religion. he seems to be an atheist, but -- maybe the "but"'s getting bigger as the years go by. >> folks, our time is almost up and in the couple minutes remaining i want to ask you, in addition to what we've just been talking about, what else are you watching? what are you really keeping an eye on that you think is going to be happening in 2012? >> well, i'm looking in the campaign, i think it could be a very good campaign or a really terrible campaign. the good campaign, as i said, is because the parties will probably be as philosophically divided as they have been since 19

these were true cuban heroes. the plan was to get them on the beach somewhere in cuba and aroused at that time, perhaps seven assassination to overthrow the country, to create back in guatemala in the early part of the decade, some name that would magically create an incredible turmoil. others said in sudden the class would overthrow castro. that was the idea. the trouble was they kept changing the landing days. it was so remote they wouldn't hear about it and kennedy wanted to keep the noise level down. but he never asked the most profound question. you're living 1500 exiles on the beach. i'm a regular cuban troops will be there in the first step? affiliate to us. the answer, 25,000. you want to know that come you know they will lose. is 25,000 trained her defenders of their country and the revolution are well going to be 5000 guys. so then he was told and kennedy never asked. 80 miles of swamp separated that each. so kennedy never asked a critical question. i think what happened and this is not defending him. he