mitt romney in second place. ron paul ran for president in 2008.s is the second year he won the cpac poll and also the second year that governor romney came in second place. conservatives are being cautious about their pick for 2012. more than one dozen republicans are considering a run. a number of those were in the cpac straw poll ballot today. earlier today, we heard from mississippi gov. haley barbour. we will bring in his speech again tonight starting at 10:50 eastern. president obama discussed the 2012 federal budget proposal to be unveiled next week, including a five-year federal spending freeze. republican senator orrin hatch thetah also talked about federal budget proposal. he called on the president to back tax code reform and free trade agreements under consideration by congress. we will hear the president's weekly address and also that of senator hatch. this is about 10 minutes. >> i received a letter from a woman named brenda reece. it speaks to what a lot of families are going through. it offers a good example of the responsibility ne

i think newt gingrich has a got, mitt romney has a slot and there's an establishment alternative to romney'son't think the speech has changed much. we have to see some establishment figure step forward to try to take that mantle away from mitt romney and those three slots will be joined by a lot of other people trying to claw their way into the possibility of nomination. >> dee dee myers, what's the dynamic here? i think this week was when senator obama announced. there was so much settled across the land, the democrats could really get themselves organized at the end of the bush administration. not so this time. >> among democrats? >> among republicans i mean, but the comparison to democrats. >> right. for, i don't know, a couple of generations the republicans have always chosen the next in line as their nominee. by traditional measure that say would be mitt romney this time but clearly something has changed. the republican party is no longer willing to takt next guy in line. i think there's a lot more churning in the base of the party. there's a lot less obey ans to that hierarchy that's d

followed by former massachusetts governor mitt romney with 23%. the other candidates, including newt gingrich and sarah palin, trailed far behind. for more on the poll and the state of the republican party in general we are joined in washington by our political analyst john dickerson. john, good evening. >> good evening, russ. >> good evening, russ. >> mitchell: it is very early in the game. so does this poll mean anything at all? >> it doesn't mean anything. in fact in the past it's sort of been the kiss of death. since ronald reagan in the early 80s, the winner of the straw poll, except for george w. bush has gone on to lose the nomination. that's true with ron paul. and mitt romney who came in second has won it several times. that didn't help him either. if a dark horse can come and done well, that might have helped with fund-raising. he could have generated some buzz. the g.o.p. is before the straw poll, confused without a front-runner. >> mitchell: of the four bills planned for votes this week only one passed and a republican congressman resi

if mitt romney is a candid, i will support that, because i am a republican. i am critical of the messages as health care program, but i'm not alone on that. i'm using information gleaned from entities deadlocked at it and said this and not turn out so well -- hattis that has looked at it, and said it did not turn out so well. >> [unintelligible] >> if you did not hear the question, it is the president has called for an increase of the irs budget, and i have called for its abolition, because i support a fair tax, which is a consumption tax. i think the tax system we have is not just a matter of the raid been screwed up. i think the real issue is the fundamental principle behind the manner in which we tax is itself screwed up. you should not penalize productivity, income, works, savings, investment, because those are the things that to build a healthy economy. you should want people to work and work harder. you should want people to take risks with their capital that might create business or a jobs. one person has any state that is developed, and you punish the

you say that mitt romney's plan for massachusetts "if our goal in healthcare reform is better care at lower cost we should take a lesson from romney care which shows that socialized medicine does not work." socialized medicine? >> i think there is a difference in ronald reagan saying don't speak well of another republican and don't evaluate what another republican's proposals are. let's go back four years ago and look at all of the things i was criticized for by fellow republicans including mitt romney. policy issues are different. if you start attacking integrity that is different which i haven't done. the "wall street journal" analysis of the massachusetts healthcare bill showd that it was exactly almost a carbon copy at the state level of what obama care was at the national level. costs have gone up. they are out of control. people are waiting longer to see a doctor and the quality of healthcare is down and the people of massachusetts are less satisfied with their healthcare than they were before the program went into play. >> chris: is romney care is as it is, the signature issue

in a look ahead to 2012, ron paul won the straw poll and mitt romney came in second. here's more. >> the conservatives who gathered in washington hope to find their choice to replace president obama. >> making president obama a one-term president. >> president obama is no ronald reagan. >> reporter: texas congressman ron paul won the straw vote contest with 30%. the annual conference was about more than picking a candidate in to 2012. the want the republican party to act boldly in solving the country's problems. >> we need to restore american optimism and we need to restore america's hope for the future. >> the tea party showed off its power at the conference. just as it did on capitol hill this past week when freshmember republicans forced party leaders to nearly triple the size of proposed budget ky cuts, another sign conservatives are getting what they want. >> what we got in the last election is a reaction from the country, and they said, we want something in there to put a stop to this. >> reporter: the only question now? who will lead the g.o.p. effort next year

former massachusetts governor mitt romney gets 23%. and, as you can see, there are a number of candidates who got 6%, 5%, 3%, several of them prominent. you see that there is by% listed as other. we had a number of write-in candidates. donald trump got 5%. for those of you who are big youtube fans, dale peterson got some votes. when we come by with the first and second choice, it is 37% ron paul and 31% mitt romney. [catcall calls] by the way, these numbers are almost exactly the same as they were in last year's straw poll. finally, we ask you all, are you satisfied with the republican field? we wanted to make short work of it. 56% of you said you were satisfied with the field. 43% said you were not. this is slightly higher than it was last year. the republicans in congress -- the word that needs to be taken away from here is that your base is watching. they are hopeful you will do the things you say. they are not convinced you will do the things you say. next year, who knows who the next year, who knows who the winn

mitt romney finished second with 23%. some ginn heavyweights lagged behind. newt beginning rich was fifth. and sarah palin got 3%, and former arkansas governor mike huckabee got 2%. major conservative figures gathered in washington to find their choice to replace president obama, and they pushed the republican party to act boldly to solve the country's problems. >> we need to restore american optimism and we need to restore america's hope for the future. >> alan: no republican has officially launched a campaign so far. >>> the obama administration will release its budget plan for 2012 on monday and it's expected to include a good deal of cuts and investment projects. one of the projects is high-speed rail, which directly benefits california. president obama wants $53 billion for high-speed rail over the next few years. california plans to build 800 miles of track for high-speed trains between san francisco and san jose, fresno, and bakersfield, l.a. and orange county. the stimulus already provided $8 billion in funding for high-speed rail but republicans are

next was mitt romney with 23%, and then everybody else was in single digits, 5% or 6%. so if there's any good news in there, it's probably for mitt romney that he did pretty well. sarah palin, who didn't show up, ended up in ninth position. bianna? >> all right, david, thank you. >> and for a check of the morning's other headlines, here's ron claiborne. >> hey, good morning to you, bianna and dan. good morning, everyone. >>> thousands of people marched in raleigh, north carolina, to fight what they say is the threatened resegregation of local schools. the marchers were protesting saturday a school board decision to end busing schoolchildren to achieve socioeconomic diversity in schools. the school board says that the move would allow children to attend schools closer to home. >>> the ill-fated spider-man musical on broadway has been hit with two safety violations by new york state. "the new york times" reports that the state department of labor issued the violations against "spiderman: turn off the dark." one violation involved an actor who fell during a performance and

poll for the second consecutive year with 30% of the involvement former massachusetts governor mitt romney finished second with 23%. some g.o.p. heavy weights lagged behind. newt gingrich finished fifth, sarah palin got 3%, and mike huckabee got 2% of the vote. major conservative figures gathered at the annual conference in washington, dc to refine their choice to run against president obama. hally barber was extremely critical of president obama, saying his economic policies have been hostile to job creation. >> after his policies contributed to unemployment rates stuck at 9-plus% for almost two years, suddenly president obama and the democrats are paying lip service to job creation. except this time they call their spending invevmentz rather than stimulus. >> alan: barber is considering a run for president. so far no republican has officially launched a 2012 campaign. >> the obama administration says it will release its budget plan for 2012 on monday. it's expected to include both cuts and investment projects. one of those projects is a high-speed rail which directly benefits california.

and so someone like that, mitch daniels, governor of indiana and mitt romney, for my money those are-- there are not a lot of plausible candidates. maybe four, maybe five. >> lehrer: four or five plausible candidates, mark? >> well, jim, i don't know. i will defer to david when it comes to guys on the plaus ability of republican dan the candidates. the reality of the cpac meeting is that there were 11,000 people there at the hotel, registered for this conference. there were constituency in surgeon of the candidate. there is-- usually it is a candidate, they want to beat barack obama but they don't have anybody. what impressed me the most of all, what they did not discuss, as the world was dominated and riveted on what was going on in egypt, they didn't even address it in their speeches. >> why do you think that is. i think it is a lack of self-confidence. a sure footed innocence. they didn't know what they wanted to say. they weren't sure, the only one who was really critical that i saw was rick santorum, the former senator from pennsylvania who basically took the line that has been d

. >> mitt romney in other circumstances might be seen as a frontrunner. you played some of the snappy lines at cpac. those are better than saying barack obama stole my note plan. >> that didn't come up, somehow. he's got to distance himself and everybody who is running for president on the campaign trail is running fazz far as way from barack obama as they can. >> there is always been that cliche that they're in lock step. john mccain 2008, so they get the nomination. what happened that this year you've got rick santorum who is out of office. donald trump talking about running. even if they shake out, but why is there no orderly process. >> we've covered these cpac conventions. they come early. they seldom ends up with the nominee. it's for people to set their outer limited. >> they have to do their best. for some it's a matter of getting with their integrity intact. for others is to genuinely play to the crowd. >> sarah palin wasn't there. >> nor was mike huckabee but donald trump was. that tells you something about that nature of that. but romney is in

mitt romney, just one of the gop heavyweights who reached out to conservatives at this influential gathering. >> this is the obama misery index, and it is at a record high. >> reporter: and they also heard from the underdogs, who may or may not step into the ring. >> our agenda is america's agenda. >> reporter: while donald trump was there, sarah palin wasn't. fellow republicans threw a few punches anyway. >> i've never had a book signing. >> reporter: the hardest shots were reserved for president obama. >> i'm worried not only do we face a crisis today, we do not have a leadership in the white house that can deal with it. >> reporter: this year the tea party is demanding to be heard. >> if we republicans go a little timid, if we don't do what we were sent here to do, this movement, this revolution is going to overrun us. >> reporter: these conservatives share a common goal. >> and, oh, yeah, baby, winning the white house in 2012. >> reporter: but there's no clear road map. >> what i haven't heard yet is our plan. >> reporter: for conservatives and those who want to lead them, a preview of 2

haley barbour, mitch daniels, newt gingrich, ron paul, tim paw lenny, rick perry, mitt romney, paul ryan, and john thune. but one non-presumptive candidate did appear and held forth. >> if i decide to run, i will not be raising taxes. [cheering] we'll be taking in hundreds of millions of dollars from other countries that are screwing us. [cheering] we'll be creating vast numbers of productive jobs. [cheering] and -- thank you very much. and we'll rebuild our country so that we can be proud. our country will be great again. >> question, is he serious about a presidential bid authorize is a publicity ploy? >> well, certainly it's a publicity ploy. the question something, is he serious about it? >> i don't know. but he is at least speaking on economic nationalism in a way that nobody else in america is. he's talking about the chinese, tariffs and putting man, one bo country. the message is right on for a republican, there's no republican out there that's got this message right now. up saw -- >> messenger. >> you saw who won on -- the messenger is too old. you saw who won sea pac, ron paul.

>> mitt romney's foreign policy campaign book "no apology" has 11 reagan references. tim pawlenty's "courage to stand" 24 reagans. sarah palin's "america by heart," 33 reagans. only to be narrowly beaten by herself, palin's "going rogue" has 34 reagan references. this isn't even counting a book from newt ginrich exclusively about ronald reagan. so who is the person on the planet who might be closest to ronald wilson reagan? >> i'm not sure anyone can succeed in being ronald reagan. >> john berman, abc news, new york. >>> coming up, how advertisers are getting in your head and know what you like even if you don't. ♪ [ smack! ] [ smack! smack! smack! ] [ 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 imagine a day when we can eat what we want and sleep soundly through the night. prevacid®24hr prevents the acid that causes frequent heartburn all day, all night. >>> tomorrow, millions will tune in to see the big game and the other big attraction, the ads.

mitt romney won the straw poll back in 2007.r john mccain won the party's nomination. >> ready for mccain, cross out palin. >> reporter: two years later it's mccain's former running mate who is getting a lot of attention at c-pac. >> sarah palin has several of my pins. >> reporter: sarah palin turned down her invitation, citing scheduling conflicts. heidi lasher is pulling for palin to run in 2012. >> for me i'm really upset. i would love for her to be here. but i know she's got a lot going. >> reporter: conservatives are far from united on a favorite but do agree on one thing. >> a second term of obama would be disastrous for our country. >> reporter: they're determined to win back the white house in 2012. joel brown, cbs news, washington. >>> this morning on "the early show," actress jennifer aniston. i'm betty nguyen. this is the "cbs morning news." pretty unpredictable. e from knowing when my next job will be to what i'll actually be doing. so in the rest of my life i like control. especially in my finances. that's why i hav

new rhetoric to put americans back to work it's going to take a new president all eyes were on mitt romney but make this very clear if i were to decide to run for president who according to a recent rasmussen poll leaves obama in a potential presidential race in two thousand and twelve and who just recently opposed the new start treaty which would limit the amount of nuclear weapons in both the united states and russia and which was supported by leadership of both parties neustar needs our national security. and potential candidate michele bachmann had quite a few eloquent things to say about u.s. foreign policy particularly china with all the money that we owe china i think we might rightly say who is your daddy but in this interview when discussing foreign policy bachmann it wasn't joking this is the time where we need to be on red hot alert five alarm alert and instead of throwing back and taking our weapons off the table we need to go and another presidential hopeful has been gearing up for years now especially when it comes to dealing with iran and ahmadinejad he gets to wipe out tel

. >> many republicans think that mitt romney is a deep will he flawed frontrunner. -- deeply flawed frontrunner. and think about it. you want to run against an incumbent, any incumbent, versus having an open race? you're better off in an open race. than running against any incumbent unless that incumbent is really down in -- chris: i'm just wondering. 9% unemployment rate. the industrial midwest wide open. the big ten states, you could win there. a republican can win in states now that they could probably normally not win in. >> oftentimes when you wait, it's too late. chris: that's what i say. so is jeb running? >> i don't think he's going to run. >> i think he'll say no. >> i doubt it but one of the people saying no now will end up running. chris matthews at this or someone like that. >> 2016. chris: i think they're going to keep pounding on that guy's door until it opens. when we come back, i think haley barbour will be the guy pounding the latest. scoops and predictions out of the notebooks of ring ring. progresso. i look great in my wedding dress with the help of your amazing light soups.

among the featured speakers, mitt romney.eeting is considered the unofficial beginning for the race for the republican nomination. >>> proposals for the future of mortgage finance giants fannie mae and freddie mac will be presented to congress. the obama administration has presented three plans that will reduce or eliminate the government's role in the mortgage market. >>> and hundreds of high-profile musicians and singers begin to arrive in l.a. today, ahead of sunday's grammy awards ceremony. one more thing to watch. >> could be a big year for eminem, experts say. >>> coming up later on "good morning america" today, some big box stores are offering to buy back your outdated electronics gear. it sounds like a good deal. but our becky worley says it may not add up to a bargain. >> you may have seen target and best buy are offering programs. they started to pop up around the holidays. we said in the tease, it's hard. you're paying a percentage of what you actually purchased. >> exactly. >>> for some of you, your local news is

the annual conservative political action conference in washington placed mitt romney in second.hree others finished in single digits. you see newt gingrich there in fifth. and at that same conference, conservatives proud of the muscle they're flexing against their own party, forcing to republicans on the hill to come up with all of the promises cuts in spending. $100 billion worth. here is david kerley tonight. >> stop, enough. we're not going to go down this road anymore. >> reporter: conservative republicans meeting in washington are celebrating tonight. while most of the nation concentrated on egypt, tea-party republicans were forcing house leadership to blink. >> $100 billion means $100 billion, and we insist on it and we're getting it. >> freshman republicans, more than 80 of them, said no to their leader's first offer to cut $35 billion for the rest of the year. the speaker bent to their will, changing his tune. tripling the proposal. >> we're going to cut more than $100 billion in discretionary spending. on this year's account. >> so a campaign promise to cut $100 billion

be no they were sure of that and we were a nuclear power and by containing all the odds and mr mitt romney's words were results in the term i saved russia but also europe and the world to watch the full interview with the widow of russia's first president boris yeltsin log on to our website r.t. dot com now the u.s. media has gone wild over an iranian book found in the arizona desert its contents lists the details of past terror attacks carried out by suicide bombers and militants the publication made some american news channels hand at future attacks on the us by iran but there are still those who think the threat is an exaggeration . a book found in the arizona desert that's what america's most are watching cable news channels one thing i heard fox news alert i knew terror fears the book was reportedly published in iraq and contained information on suicide bombers that much was enough to trigger a sensational suggestions that iranians could be plotting something inside the u.s. they would not give us a picture of the book they would not be able to personalized in any way or you know what t

be war no they were sure of that and we are a nuclear power and by containing all that and mr mitt romney's words boris yeltsin not only saved russia but also europe and the world. that. you can watch al gore knows full interview with a in a yeltsin i in just ten minutes time here on r.t. . and about twenty anti-government demonstrators were arrested on monday when they tried to hold an authorized rally in central moscow police said protesters were disruptive and ignored requests by officers to join a legal gathering nearby the un sanctioned group who refused to join the peaceful demonstrations have since been released on the thirty first of every month opposition protesters are allowed to stage legal rallies in the russian capital. a quick look now at some other headlines are making around the world. will have a day for talks the spied the south korean president's earlier demanding north korea takes responsibility for two deadly attacks last year if the february eighth meeting will be the first negotiations between the two sides since the north the shelled a south korean island. well seoul