it's not that you are picking groups to favor and disfavor, helping and helping more. >> maria cardona you in a minute. but first, in minnesota, ron paul. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪ >>> we're about to get some more vote results coming in very, very soon. stand by for that. we're about to get a bunch of new votes coming in to the cnn election center. in the meantime, rick santorum and ron paul aren't in nevada tonight. they are looking ahead to the contest on tuesday, this coming tuesday. for the first time, voters in more than one state will weigh in on the same day. gary tuchman is in colorado. let's go to david mattingly first. why is ron paul in minnesota as opposed to las vegas? >> the

to talk about the campaign for president, democratic political strategist and cnn contributor maria cardonawashington. also republican strategist lenny mcallister in chicago. maria, aisle start with you. are you buying that that mitt romney said he spoke or do you think he's backpedaling here? >> he certainly is backpedaling. i'll tell you the problem. it's not the first time it's happened or second time or third time. he's made these kinds of gaffes time and time again, and what it does is reinforce in the minds of voters that this is somebody a millionaire 200 times over who, by the way, pays a tax rate much less than many middle-class and working-class americans do and there's no way he can even understand or relate to the struggles the middle-class families and working-class families are going through. he dunoesn't understand it. he doesn't even seem to care according to the gaffes he's making and that's going to be a real problem going into the general election. >> lenny, do you think that's why he was hesitant to release his tax returns because he didn't want the general public to kno

you're right, he is going after a certain base right now. >> maria cardona, if the numbers keep comingre you keeping a ledger? are you and the democrats taking a ledger of all these extraordinary statements and comments thinking this will play well to the independents when it comes time to the general election? >> there's no question about that, ashley. in fact, i would say most of the ads for the campaign have already been written, not by the democrats but by the candidates themselves using their own wrords. that i think is what should be so concerning to the republicans. i completely agree with everything that trey said. yes, we understand do have to right now serve this red meat to their gop base. but that's exactly the problem. the gop base has moved so extremely to the right that it's going to be almost impossible for any candidate to move back to the center -- >> maria, i feel like we say this every couple years, whether we're doing midterms or presidential elections. i keep hearing the same things over and over, it's never been dirtier, it's never been nastier, we've moved farth

maria cardona, lenny mccall sister, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you.eas. >>> what about the places where history was made? where it's taken decades to preserve civil rights landmarks. ♪ [ male announcer ] why do we grow quaker oats? because there are mountains to climb. ♪ dreams to be realized. ♪ new worlds to be explored and hearts to be won. quaker oats. energy to get you going, fiber to help fill you up and help keep your heart healthy. super people eat super grains. >>> two mep, coming together at the heht of the civil rights movement. two men risked their lives to help young african-americans during those often bloody and deadly days. they gathered at meridia fielder and brooks drugstore to talk strategy. today, these two men have come together again in a bid to preserve that drugstore and help keep martin luther king jr.'s dream alive. they're joining me now. let me start. welcome to both of you, first of all. let me start with you, mr. levy. how did you and roscoe jones meet? >> we met in 1964 at the freedom hool. i was the director and he was t

joining me now, cnn contributor, maria cardona, and republican analyst, lenny mcallister. let's start with you, maria. when the president's talking to the chinese heir apparent, what message does he need to send here? because when you look at the chinese economy, he's the one that's holding the chards. >> i think the message that he needs to send is the one he actually sent, which is the right one. that we need to continue working with china, they're an incredibly important ally in the world. we both need each other to move forward economically and for national security reasons. so he can be very diplomatic in terms of the issues that he wants to talk to china about, while at the same time, and he mentioned this in his public comments, making sure that voters here know that americans know that they will continue to push china on issues of national security, on issues of human rights, and on issues of fairness when it comes to trade. and he was very clear about that. i think that he has to be careful, but he can do both in terms of making sure that we continue to cooperate w

maria cardona is in washington to talk politics and anna navarro is in miami to do the same.d bite that reflects the leaderboard. listen. >> this resembles riding space mountain at disney. i've been the front-runner twice. i suspect i'll be the front-runner again in a few weeks. >> insert space punt. maria, go. >> look, this has certainly been what i like to call the contest when it comes to politics because the only constant in this has been the changing of the front-runner consistently throughout and i think what it underscores ashleigh is that the majority of republican voters are not happy with the republican candidates. they have said privately and publicly, and i don't know if my friend ana will agree with this, they don't have their a team out there. they have their b team and some have called it the c team. the enthusiasm gap is growing for republicans and that's going to be a big problem for them. >> the whack a mole has -- do you know something? >> listen, to that end, something may whack that mole right up to the top again. newt gingrich may have another shot becau

i spoke to cnn contributor maria cardona and lenny mcalester. >> it didn't seem he was prepared to receive to be the big target, going in this as the front-runner, nationally, he should have understood that he was going to be the one that was receiving all these attacks from all sides and should have been ready with a lot more pivot. seemed that romney was able to get under his skin, having said all that, i do think that he still performed well in terms of showing that he is the consistent conservative, that he is still the candidate that can be the anybody but romney, and what we've seen from romney especially this week in michigan, is that he still hasn't been able to seal the deal. so i think that santorum still has a chance here, still neck in neck in michigan and arizona and looking forward to super tuesday. so we'll see. >> lenny, mitt romney is from michigan, people have been talking about that, he tried to make the connection with the state that the trees are better, the streets are better, he drives their cars, but he still hasn't sold himself to voters there. why do you think? >>

joining me now, cnn contributor and democratic strategist maria cardona and ana navarro.e are going to have some fun, ladies, you ready? since those four aren't doing the trick for a lot of americans or at least gop voters, anyway, i have lined up a flip chart to take a looksy at some of the others that could swoop in. sarah palin as well as chris christie -- i wish i had a drum beat or something. indiana governor mitch daniels, much talked about. and also, former florida governor, jeb bush. all of them glossy, lovely, wonderful. people are begging for these people to enter the race. but i'm going to start with you, ana. they have worts too. the grass is not always greener. so what's everybody's freaking out over? >> well, it's worse than they have worts. they don't want to do it. i ran into jeb bush just a couple of days ago and he thinks all this talk is crazy. he's not open to it at all. so we just have to stop being wishful thinkers and get on to what we have on our plate. >> so not only him, but also marco rubio, right? i hear the way politicians answer those questio

. >> maria cardona, thanks so much. people can read more on your article at cnn.com. >>> all right.t ahead, more lin formation on the new york nix hot rookie, where he is crashing now at the all-star weekend and how he is changing betting lines. peppery poblano, sweet butternut. we're roasting, and grilling to create must-have meals with no preservatives. lean cuisine. be culinary chic. >>> some stories we are working on for you later today. 2:35 eastern time, president obama visits the boeing factory in everett, washington, he will talk about domestic manufacturing and american exports. 3:00 eastern, nasa celebrates 50 years of americans in orbit. the first two americans to circle the earth, john glen and scott carpenter, will be speaking at the kennedy space center. a couple hours later, nasa will try again to launch an atlas rocket, bad weather scrubbed yesterday's scheduled liftoff. and we are following developments in the next hour of the cnn newsroom, check in first with susan candiotti. susan? >> hi, fred. you know, today could be the last day that whitney houston fans can br

joining me now maria cardona and lenny mcallister who's in chicago.eek's results with rick santorum. a lot of momentum, but is this a blip or a c-change for conservative voters. lenny? >> well, he's no longer rick santorum. this is rocky santorum. he is the underdog that keeps fighting against all odds. i keep saying this. he needs to run down the streets of philadelphia in a sweater vest and sweat pants with his arms up in the air and run up to the rocky statue. he keeps coming from behind to show that a underdog can make it in america. if he takes a part from the playbook and say, listen,ky be the inspirational figure to win back the white house, he can take this momentum and move forward. we've seen his fund-raising numbers come up over the past week. i think he can continue to do well in the debates and the momentum moving into super tuesday, rocky santorum do a number in march. >> but can rocky santorum go all the way to the white house, maria? i would think he would be the candidate that the administration would love to go up against. >> there's

earlier i talked with maria cardona and republican analyst lenny mcallister. likes to draw a hollywood analogy. >> well, he's no longer rick santorum. this is rocky san tore rupp. he is the underdog that keeps fighting against all odds. he needs to -- i keep saying this. he needs to run down the streets of philadelphia in a sweater vest and sweat pants with his arms up in the air and run up to the rocky statue because he keeps coming from behind and showing that an underdog can do it in america. and if he takes part of the play book from 200078 from president obama and say, listen,ky be the inspirational figure to win back the white house, he can take this momentum and move forward. we've seen his fund-raising numbers come up over the past week. i think if he continues do well in the debates and continues to do well with momentum moving into super tuesday, rocky santorum can do a number in march. >> yeah, but can rocky santorum really go all the way to the white house, maria? i would think he would be the candidate that the administration would love to go up a

live in washington to talk about this is democratic strategist maria cardona.with roll call and executive director of public notice. guys, i could not believe it when i saw those numbers. i was trying to figure out what it was. was it the momomentum from what happened in those last three states? it couldn't have been and what in cpac. let me ask you, gretchen, what is at play with that latest poll number? >> you have to look back at the last election and michigan. romney didn't win it because it was his home state. he won it because he was the conservative alternative to then john mccain. now he's not the conservative alternative. he's the mid of the road guy. >> conservative alternative, even though he used the severe alternative phrase i would have thought that would have harnessed all of those conservatives right back up for him. >> unfortunately not. >> why not? why not? just finish that thought. why didn't that severely conservative phrase work? >> i think just because of the contrast that you're seeing play out in the primary right now. you have the contr

. >>> continuing our conversation about last night, rich galen, john feehery, maria cardona still withas a question from the audience and talking about as president how they should address this issue, listen to mitt romney calling the arizona law a model for the nation. >> you see a model here in arizona. they passed a law here that says that people who come here and try and find work, that the employer is required to look them up. you do that and just as arizona is finding out, you can stop illegal immigration. it's time we finally did it. >> now, you think as the democrat, and a latino democrat, people say essentially thank you, governor romney, if you win the nomination, we'll see you in november. why? >> because right now, the numbers say that republicans, this comes from matthew dowd, cannot win ad viner of president bush. cannot win the white house without at least 40% of the latino vote. that was according to numbers in 2004. that has got to have jumped at least to 45% with the growth in the latino vote. right now, mitt romney doesn't even get to 25% against president obama and

live from washington cnn political editor paul steinhauser joins us along with tray harden and maria cardonaary yarks i maria, i want to start with you. i couldn't ups how the numbers came in. because of the past. in '08 mitt romney did a whole lot better in minnesota and colorado. i think it was just massive wins, 60% he had over his opponents in colorado and 40% he got the vote in minnesota. this was just a mess. but there was something else that played here, maria. in minnesota he had the ex-governor tim pawlenty endorsing him, and senator norm coleman. he had everything he could want and still it was a disaster. is there a take away message for the republicans as we head towards the general election here? >> absolutely there, is ashleigh. here is the problem, not just with mitt romney but with the whole republican party. majorities of republican voters, and they said this in polls, would like to see somebody else run for president. they're not that satisfied with this current gop field. increasingly they're not satisfied as americans as a whole are not satisfied with the presumed front-r

joining me are maria cardona and mary matalin. mary, first to you.king back to november, the president had a 44% overall approval rating, now hit a magic 60% mark. is this something republicans have done wrong or something the president has down right? >> i think it's largely a function of the cycle obama has been out there campaigning nonstop, and he has a good campaign. he's been campaigning well. part of his good campaigning is attacking republicans, and part of the cycle for where the republicans are right now is they're attacking republicans, so there's no pushback on obama in this part of the season. he's running a good campaign, but he's running a good race on an empty track. i don't think they see numbers are sustainable, and they're also not present in the 14 most competitive states where the unemployment is higher and his numbers are lower. it does matter thousand you're doing in the battleground states. what do you think is behind the president's rise in approval numbers? >> i think what's behind it is he's talking every day what he'll do

that would mean that maria cardona is joining us from washington and gentry collins is also joining usheaded mitt romney's iowa campaign back in 2008. all right, you two. here we go. christine romans, 1 in 75 properties in nevada is in foreclosure and unemployment in that rate is 12.6%. so how is it that anybody in nevada, conservative or not, can connect with mitt romney when he says something about disclosures to this effect. have a listen. >> let it run its course, put renters in them, let it turn around and come back up. >> ouch. gentry collins, here's what i think. i know republicans and really strong conservatives like the free market economy but i'm not so sure they like it when it applies to their home and they are underwater. how is this going to play in nevada? >> the polling evidence shows that it's playing quite well. look, this president has not been honest with the american people. he said we can spend our way out of this and it's not worked. just 18% of the american people have an optimistic view about their economic future. this president has failed and american voters

. >>> right to our strategy session, joins us, democratic strategist maria cardona.tt lan, you know, for hours now, it's been leading the drudge report. among other things, he raise the whole issue. i'll play a little clip of what he said. >> this is not a political war ought all. this is a spiritual war. the father of lies has his sights on what you would think the father of a good, decent, country. if you were satan, who would you attack? >> how will this play for republican voters leer in arizona, in michigan a week later. >> you know, wolf, he's a devout catholic, using the language of the well-versed catholic at a catholic university. that was not a campaign event. i've known rick santorum for decades. i've campaigned with him. when he's a political event, he using language more familiar and connective with an audience larger than the catholic population, but there's also not particularly over the top to use that language right now. they're in the swing states, and obama has lost the support of those -- in the last go around. but this isn't necessarily a bat thi

three questions, 30 seconds on the clock, playing maria cardona, patricia murphy, and chris metzler oureorgetown. wish i had you for a class, we would have got into it. >> we would have. >> get in the first question. cnn op-ed contributor told me that he thinks obama could win by a landslide in november, all thanks to the latino vote. maria? >> i saw it and he's absolutely right, kyra. in 2008, obama won latino vote by 67%, helped him win the presidency, in 2010 the gop way did not reach them. in 2012 if republicans continue with their anti-immigrant rhetoric on immigration it will happen again. i got to tell you it's a filter issue, immigration, if latinos don't like what you're saying they won't listen to anything else. they continue on that road they will never see the inside of l.a. casa blanca, kyra. >> chris? >> i agree with maria. i think if you lookcontin -- latino vote, it will be decided by the swing states. the question is in those swing states, so you take for example, nevada, arizona, are the republicans able to get a message across to latinos that is an inclusive rather th

three questions, 30 seconds on the clock playing today, maria cardona, chris metzler, first question,imaries. what do you think, is it a game changer? maria. >> i think it could be for santorum because clearly he did a lot better than anybody expected. he can raise a lot of money now. and now really he's got to prove that he can be the one to consolidate social conservatives. it's red herring for the whole republican party and especially mitt romney who got less votes than he did in 2008 by a third. and clearly it continues to indicate that he cannot only not consolidate social conservatives, but the more americans hear about him, the less they like about him. that's not a quality you like in a general election with your candidate. >> yes, it is a game changer for the three ms. money, mojo and momentum. so at this point from santorum's standpoint, he's got the mojo. he's trying to get the money and he's got some momentum. i think, though, what this shows relative to romney in particular is romney has not sealed the deal. look, romney has been running on the fact that he is the inevita

i want to get a cnn contributor maria cardona and crystal wright to weigh in on this. heard the highlights here. we saw them kind of gang up on rick santorum at some point and cheerful newt gingrich that emerged there. maria, i want to start off with you here because you had this -- it was entertaining. it wasn't, i thought, particularly enlightening. you had the two front-runners going after each other, santorum and romney, over very specific aspects of their records. at some point it seemed confusing for, you know, everyday folks to follow. what do you think was the take-away? >> i think the take-away is you sort of hit the nail on the head, suzanne, there wasn't really anything new here. what was new was the savage way in which they both went at each other and what was also new was that santorum clearly did not wear well the tag of front-runner and, therefore, that big -- on his back, the big target he had on his back he really didn't practice, apparently, didn't know how to respond to all of romney's jabs. romney was very well prepared. but in general, i don't think

maria cardona, jason johnson, and chief political correspondent for 365, boris epstein, opinion columnistcnn poll for arizona showing romney and santorum pretty much tied and the debate is tonight here on cnn. what could either candidate do at this point to put themselves ahead. maria? >> they need a game in-changer. as a democrat i would advise rick santorum to talk about satan as much as he can, continue to talk how he doesn't think women are fit for combat, they shouldn't have access to pre-natal care or contraception because it's bad for women and families. for mitt romney i would advise him to makes a many $10,000 bets as he can to talk about how the author of the anti-immigrants sb 1070 arizona law is on his team and for newt gingrich, moon colony, moon colony, moon colony. >> boris? >> maria got the santorum and gingrich parts right. the right part we should not have santorum, overly focused on the social issues or newt gingrich who talks about moon colonies and other crazy things as the nominee. she is wrong on mitt romney. immigration is a strength for mitt romney in arizona. his

let's talk to maria cardona who is in atlanta. in washington, doug. welcome to you both. lots to talk about here. let's start with romney. he won arizona handedly and michigan was closer. what happened to santorum, was this his last chance to gain on romney? maria, we'll start with you. >> santorum, instead of sticking to his populist message and brought him to the position of being front-runner, he went down this sort of odd alley of these social issues which i think really hurt him with voters. it hurt him with the media even because they then started digging up all of these other speeches and comments that he had made that made him then go deeper into the social issues and i think at the end of the day voters realize this is not the same person that they had been hearing from and that they wanted somebody to actually talk to them about the economy. and he -- i think he squandered an opportunity. is it the last opportunity? maybe not. out of michigan he is getting a good amount of delegates and going into super tuesday mitt romney is not very strong in a lot of these ot

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let's check in with the contributors, paul begala and maria cardona and marty flisher in and alex castellanos romney loses michigan, is the bid over, and all of you said no. you have no doubt, that michigan matters, but it is not going to end things for mitt romney if he does not end tonight? >> right. he has talent as david gergen pointed out and a ton of money and good organization. it is a huge embarrassment, and i can't begin to describe and i have been asking around and maybe the viewers and the political reporters has anybody had this much problem in the home state in the primary, and nobody can remember it, but even if he loses it ain't over for him. >> but even on another program he said that he was distancing himself, and massachusetts is really the main stay and that is where if the voters in massachusetts rejected him, that would be something. >> okay. >> it is not done for him, but he is clearly going to be limping with crutches out of the contest, because, yes, to everybody's point here, we should not be talking about whether michigan was contested for him. he has been campaignin