he's talking politics and so am i with republican strategist mary matalin. talk to her about keeping america great. >> well, jane, you keep america great. at least you keep my kids entertained for many metrodomes at a time. >> good. >> thank you for sitting in with piers. welcome to cnn. >> did you come from a conservative family? my parents were liberal. >> we were kennedy democrats. we were daily democrats. so, that was the same thing. like, you were a daley democrat or a kennedy democrat. today, i support the daleys. i'm a fan of rahm emanuel who is the chicago mayor now. it was catholic, irish, kennedy. we didn't say conservative or liberal. we worked in the steel mills. my mother was a hairdresser. i became a conservative when i started reading and paying taxes. >> a lot of people do when you get into the real world of making money. growing up, my grandmother had a photograph of the pope, mayor daley, jfk and the priest on the dining room table. we have very much of the same background in that respect. let's go to what's going on in politics. santorum w

mary matalin as well. >>> coming up, keeping them honest. months haley barbour has refused to talk to us. about his pardons of hundreds of criminals. fine. the victims families want answers about why the killers got preferential treatment, even new cars in some cases, new cars for killers. >>> also ahead, the murder of another u.s. border agent in mexico. is it another fast and furious move in the works? some republicans think so. drew griffin investigates coming up. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. 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 n

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we're back with former democratic congressman robert wexler of florida, also republican strategist mary matalinney himself calls it, for the competition in alabama and mississippi, an away game for him. he's from michigan and massachusetts, but not necessarily an away game for rick santorum. i believe he's from pennsylvania. >> obviously a figure of speech. we take a step back, he's won the most states, the most delegates. he has the most money. these are -- some of these states are proportional. he has big endorsements. he has a lot of support in alabama. he'll continue to accrue delegates. that's what he's trying to do. he's trying to win the nomination. i happen to be one of those that thing a long process is just fine. so long as they stay on message and they contrast our message with a failed report of this president. i think it's fine and we march through the south. i'm in louisiana. we're in the south. let me tell you, it still will be a context here implts robert wexler, who is a more formidable challenger to the president's reelection, rick santorum or mitt romney? they're both formidi

mary matalin, eliot spitzer, nicolle wallace, austan goolsbee and jake tapper. >>> good morning.t's been a packed week in politics. we have new results this weekend in the republican primary fight. five more contests yesterday. rick santorum won the big prize in kansas, but mitt romney claimed more delegates in the territories and wyoming. that means he still holds a commanding lead in the delegate hunt. romney has more than double santorum's total. our powerhouse roundtable is standing by live to analyze what's next in the gop race. >>> but first, our headliners. democrat senator chuck schumer and republican senator lindsey graham. senator graham, let me begin with the economy. three months in a row of 200,000-plus jobs creation. and this sparked a confession from rick santorum last night after coming off his victory in kansas, he said that the economy may be getting better and the republicans may lose their edge on that issue, is he right and what does that mean for the general election? >> well, i don't think he's right at all. this is an anemic recovery after a pretty long re

james carville, mary matalin, erick erickson, i have to leave it there. >>> the heaviest shelling inms. according to opposition activists only bad weather finally stopped the gunfire from helicopters aimed at people on the ground. >>> also ahead the latest on deadly storms in the midwest, massive damage with more tornadoes possible tonight as the storm heads through the south and into the mid-atlantic we'll track it for you ahead. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. why you fell in love with her in the first place. and why you still feel the same. but your erectile dysfunction -- that could be a question of blood flow. cialis for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready. and the same cialis is the only daily ed tablet approved to treat ed and symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently or urgently. tell your

. >>> we welcome mary matalin, eliot spitzer, we have nicolle wallace, austan goolsbee and our own whiteorrespondent jake tapper. welcome to all of you. mary, let me begin where lindsey graham left off. you see 354 delegates for mitt romney. is romney right is the campaign right when it's going to take an act of god? >> i wouldn't throw god into this equation at this point given what's happened. but mitt romney has won the most states, he has the best delegates, he has the most money, he's getting it done where he needs to get it done. he's just getting better. he's closing better. >> how does this end? >> well, let me say this, it goes on it's not a bad thing. the last campaign, the liberal campaign, they went into june and hillary was screaming at obama for being an elitist, saying shame on you, barack, that went into june, they did fine. mccain and kerry were the last nominees from a short campaign. >> one difference is the passion and the energy in the campaign which is totally lacking behind mitt romney, and the reason for that, there's three republican parties, the libertarian part

ari fleischer, mary matalin, and maria cardona. ari, is it appropriate to ask gop candidates about rush limbaugh's comments? a lot of folks say, look, rush limbaugh is just an entertainer, but others say, look, he has a role in the republican party. >> well, look, you know, they are not -- they are not radio people themselves that are running for president, so yes, it's appropriate to ask them. i don't think it's the be all and end all of their campaigns. what russ said was reprehensible. he shouldn't have said it. it's insulting. he didn't need to say it, he shouldn't have said it. he should apologize for it. but this has been a strange week, anderson. you had the huffington post had somebody published who wrote the most virulent anti-catholic things ever, who likened the catholic mass to the barbaric ritual. that was larry doyle writing in the huffington post. you know, there's all kinds of sideshows in politics. i don't remember the democrats getting asked to apologize for arianna huffington. they should also. >> the guy you quo

mary matalin and -- congressman to you first as a romney supp t supporters mathis pretty convincing. there. what does he have to do to seal the deal? >> he needs to keep doing what he's doing which is winning. you've got to remind people that the majority of delegates that have been offered to date have been won by mitt romney. not the plurality, majority. so he needs to keep doing what he's doing and that is winning. as you look at the calendar going forward, all these states coming up are proportional until we get to utah. i'm going to bank on the fact that mitt romney is going to carry utah. >> mary, you've been through a few of these rodeos. what is it? when people come up to you and say, romney, can't have this, can't have that. don't like this. what's the doubt? >> the process is designed -- it's a new process to give more people in more states a voice. and they're taking advantage of this. the romney can't close argument, the converse is also true. the conservative any but romney can't close and he is closing better than they are. he overcame a double digit deficit in ohio. he

ari fleischer, mary matalin, and maria cardona., is it appropriate to ask gop candidates about rush limbaugh's comments? a lot of folks say, look, rush limbaugh is just an entertainer, but others say, look, he has a role in the republican party. >> well, look, you know, they are not -- they are not radio people themselves that are running for president, so yes, it's appropriate to ask them. i don't think it's the be all and end all of their campaigns. what russ said was reprehensible. he shouldn't have said it. it's insulting. he didn't need to say it, he shouldn't have said it. he should apologize for it. but this has been a strange week, anderson. you had the huffington post had somebody published who wrote the most virulent anti-catholic things ever, who likened the catholic mass to the barbaric ritual. that was larry doyle writing in the huffington post. you know, there's all kinds of sideshows in politics. i don't remember the democrats getting asked to apologize for arianna huffington. they should also. >> the guy you quoted

. >> and that points it out, and paul begala, and mary matalin, and hilary rosen will be here with thelong night as it has been, everybody. let me start with you, erick erickson, are you surprised to see mitt romney doing so well in the deep southern states among the women? >> well, not really, because on the campaign trail who has had the spouse out there more than any other? ann romney. she resonates well with men and women. and you know for all of the talk about the candidates beatingle up mitt romney, he has in the last few weeks focused on jobs much more than the other two candidates side tracked trying to make the case against romney and not done so well. >> well, mary, it is the most likable thing for him. >> well, the interesting thing to his credit, and in most respects what has happened for the gop primary for women is that these are bad choice, and they are voting on things other than issues that have historically been about women. you know, nothing has energized the women's base more than the republicans sort of hijacking the primary away from the economy which is what peop

jim acostia and jim hand by and mary matalin joining me. a lot of people say endorsements don't matter. does it matter that 41 has endorsed mitt romney. >> it matters for the reason you alluded to, the juxtaposition across the spectrum of generations as you said, but also across the spectrum of factions with rubio and poppy bush in the same day, leading figures of both those factions. it's a validation that this race is about to accelerate in favor of romney and close up pretty fast now. >> i know he is one of your heroes so forgive the question. george h.w. is not well regarded by a lot of conservatives. is there any way this can hurt romney? >> i don't think so. we tend to think we created all this political knowledge. you'll recall my humiliation in 1988 when we were beat by a conservative faction, poppy bush in iowa. in '92 we were primary. he is -- over the years he has made many friends. we understand, and everybody, conservatives and mainstream and whatever faction -- nams you want to give them at any given time, understand it's not

he began with joking remark speculating conservative political consultant mary matalin who was onboard the ship simply on vacation vacation might've mischievously arrange to have her husband liberal james cargo along to save his ideological soul and then simon made a startling admission and here's what he said. you know last year candidate barack obama sat on the sidewalk in toledo ohio and told joe the plumber that he quote wanted to spread the wealth around. this summit to admit i went on tv on "fox news" and public engagement but i guess was rather mischievous speculation about whether barack obama obama really advocated socialism, a premise that i privately found far-fetched. at the time simon made these mischievous speculations, it was his job, was his job to oversee reporting of abuse on where the country's naval -- cable networks. is here on a luxury cruise an ocean away from the united states he was candidly nonchalantly admitting to conspicuously misrepresenting the ideology of the presidential candidate. e-mails we obtained at the time written by simon and in a fox producer s

joining us in our strategy session, the democratic strategist jamaal simmons and cnn contributor mary matalinpublican strategist. mary, let me start with you, santorum got clobbered in new england, he spent two days there, in the political scheme of things a waste of his time, because it was embarrassing how badly he did because romney got 80%, 85% of the vote. and in illinois, he's not even on the ballot in four of the congressional districts in illinois. here's the question, it's a tough question, is santorum ready for prime time, ready to challenge the president of the united states who has a ton of money and a huge organization. >> that is a good question, but as jamaal and i have always said, if the election were held today, but it's not held today. i guarantee you when they have a nominee, there will be a united party. things will go well for the republicans in the fall. we have higher registration, our money's coming in at rates greater than it is in the zr democratic committee. what you're seeing here is the power of momentum. and romney had a solid, really strong organization and the

joining us, maria cardona and republican strategist and contributor mary matalin.ce. two words the presidential candidate never wants to hear, car elevator. how much of a problem potentially is this for mitt romney? >> it is zero problem. in that neck of the woods you add a car lift to reduce your footprint. it's an environmental thing and a zoning thing as joe johns was implicit in joe johns' reporting. furthermore, joe johns' reporting is correct and it costs between $40,000 and $100,000, including how many job, someone to assemble the parts, someone to deliver the parts and someone toen stall the lift, someone to service the lift. this is how capitalism works. rich people buy things and they create lots of jobs so every time the democrats bring up something like this shea show how detached they are, not mitt romney. >> that's a good explanation or is it just spin, what do you think? maria. >> i think it was a really good effort on mary's part. yes, it will hurt mitt romney not because of this one incident, wolf because it goes to a huge pattern. americans alread

right now joining us the democratic strategist and cnn political contributor maria car doan and mary matalinb numbers out today. more good news for the white house, the democrats, right track, wrong track, 200,000-plus new jobs this month, last month, the month before. that seems to be the right track as opposed to the wrong track. >> it's successive quarters of adding jobs, but we're adding them at such a slow pace, and our growth is 2.4%. compare that to the most comparable recession, which is reagan's, by a year earlier we were growing at 5.4%. but the more politically relevant point is people aren't feeling ichlt they don't believe these numbers because they do not count underemployment and what we call labor force participation, people who were disappointed stopped looking for jobs. it also doesn't count what is their budget situation, higher costs for energy, higher costs for groceries, higher costs for premiums, and that they do blame on the administration. so every job is good news for the people. i don't know that it's going to translate to great news, political news for the preside

. >> i know lots of couples, just look at james carville and mary matalin.u think they vote the same when they go into a voting booth? >> i think they're of the same mind. >> todd and sarah? >> yes. >> sometimes i wonder. i watched the reality show. call me crazy. >>> after a 14-year marriage, peyton manning and the indianapolis colts are reportedly splitting up. we've got the scoop on this. cnn sports guy carlos diaz weighs in. homicide of young people in america has an impact on all of us. how can we save these young people's lives? as a police chief i have an opportunity to affect what happens in a major city. i learned early on if you want to make a difference you have to have the right education. university of phoenix opened the door. my name is james craig, i'm committed to making a difference and i am a phoenix. 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 strengt