sooner or later, it's going to happen, zoraida. >> paul steinhauser, thanks very much. >> just reworking our vacation plans for june. paul's going to fill in for us. 46 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. time to check our top stories with christine romans. >> good morning, ashleigh. >>> as many as 13 tornadoes touching down in the dallas/ft. worth area causing widespread damage. in lancaster, roofs were stripped to bare plywood, some ripped off. the city's mayor says about 300 buildings were damaged overall. at dfw airport, more than 100 planes have some sort of hail damage. dramatic video captured the power of these storms. a tractor-trailer was lifted sky high, tossed around like it was a toy. >>> former vice president dick cheney is waking up at home this morning, released from a hospital in virginia. he had heart transplant surgery ten days ago. cheney is 71 years old. he has a history of heart trouble, including at least five heart attacks since 1978. >>> a flight attendant goes above and beyond the call of duty. susan karns has been delivering food and drink in

paul steinhauser, live in washington for us.g down with millionaires and secretaries at the white house. the event is the so-called buffett rule. the very rich should not get a smaller tax rate than the middle class. >> dan lothian, who are these people? >> reporter: we don't have a list of who the people are. they did confirm the millionaires and secretaries who pay more in taxes than their bosses will be at the event. we are seeing the president get ahead in the vote that takes place in the senate. the president is trying to put pressure on members of the congress to put in place a system that he believes is fair. it's also an opportunity to draw a contrast in the policies of republicans in particular, his potential running mate, mitt romney, who obviously is a wealthy american, trying to frame it as republicans are there to support wealthy americans. you heard that from the president when he was pushing for the buffett rule in boca raton, florida, where he talked about the budget passed by house republicans and how they were

i talked with our political editor paul steinhauser about this. >> he's using ann to help. we saw her take a bigger role in her husband's campaign in primaries back in february and march. especially when it comes to reaching out to female voters. part of it is that his administration is not helping women. they're using ann romney as their conduiconduit. >> as far as choice for president goes, obama is doing pretty well with women there. romney, it's the flip of that. romney has 52% with men and only 38% with women. will the female vote, do you think, this time around be enough to carry obama back to the white house? >> i think that's one of the things the obama campaign is hoping for. we receive this going back to 1980, doing bet were women, republican candidate doings bet were men. so the strategy here for the president and his re-election team is to make sure they do really well with women to make up for their deficit among men and visa versa for mitt romney. >> what can mitt romney do to change women's minds? >> well, they're hoping that as we get away from the primaries

paul steinhauser, cnn's political editor.sident bailed out the auto industry, popular in michigan. mitt romney was against the bailout but has deep roots there. his father, george, was the governor of michigan. no republican has won michigan since president r.w. bush did in 1988. talk to me about romney's chances. >> as you mentioned, deep roots there. the bailout which didn't hurt him in the primary, a conservative electorate there, could hurt him in the general election against president obama. what does it look like on the battleground states? pretty good. the most recent poll, epic, a four-point advantage for the president in this poll. that's within the sampling error. pretty much dead even. more optimistic than a year ago whether their state is going the right direction or wrong track. one of the reasons why you're seeing that turnaround, unemployment in michigan down 8.8%, double digit last year, still higher than the national average. you mentioned bailouts. we're talking about that. listen, obama, romney, stark contr

now it's wednesday, paul steinhauser joins us live from d.c. conference it's like the slow grip torture. >> he's done it this way, his way his whole campaign. he came back from the dead twice when he became the cofrbt in the polls come december. but no longer. he hasn't been part of the equation for some time. wednesday would leave the event in the washington, d.c., air, we think he'll suspend the xab and endorse mitt romney. will mitt romney be there? he could be in the d.c. district. >> what about sbt snt? is the meeting going to result in an announcement of an endorsement after the meeting? >> we do not. that meeting may 4th, it's been almost a month since santorum suspended his campaign, he was the big main rival. santorum, what will be asking for behind the scenes, the tea party backers and social conservatives wants them to have a voice going forward as mitt romney fights for the white house. >> there's a little negotiation, what do i get out if i put my name behind you, endorse you. >> reporter: that's why romney wants santorum's endorse

cnn political editor paul steinhauser joins us live from washington. i would be doing this, but i come in in the morning and pore over these crazy polls. yesterday we were talking about the bad news for romney. you have good news. coupled with some bad news. let's do the good first. >> you just showed the headline. the primaries over, the attacks with newt gingrich, pretty much done now. mitt romney the consensus nominee. that's why his rating is starting to rise. he still has a way to go compared to barack obama. his favorable rating compared to barack obama's is 12 points down. president obama had a 56% rating, and romney at 44%. but when asked is it worth a second look for mitt romney? the answer there is yes. a majority say yes, plan to give him a second look. 4 in 10 say i know enough about mitt romney. 45% say no. this is happening at a good time for mitt romney now that we're getting past the primaries and the general election battle. >> that's the one i was referring to. i think that 52% is high and good news for him. even though president obama

. >> cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live in washington for us. we've been talking a lot about gender lately. and our poll digs deep on really specific issues. what can you tell us about the gender gap? >> our poll indicates it's still alive and well. take a look at this from the cnn/orc poll. among men, pretty much all knotted up between president obama and mitt romney. look at that among women. a 16-point advantage for the president. we saw that in our poll two weeks ago and saw that in other recent polls as well. here's one reason why. go to the next board. you can see here who is more in touch with the problems of women? look at that. mitt romney way behind barack obama when it comes to that question, zoraida. >> i saw this other tidbit. 6 in 10 women would prefer to have jobs outside the home than stay at home and take care of the house and family. >> yeah, we saw that because we asked that question after the controversy after hilary rosen's comments about ann romney. a little higher number for men but still, 6 out of 10 women feel that way.

ç >> cnn political editor paul steinhauser is joining us live from washington this morning. aul, it seems romney has finally put the proomry politics behind him and he is zeroing in on president obama and the general election. what does his speech last night say about his strategy against the president? >> and he has been trying to do this, zoraida, for quite some time. i guess you could say last night's speech was 15 minutes in length by the way, long on rhetoric, mostly short on specific policies. was basically a taste you could say of maybe the speech he will give at the republican convention in tampa in late august. a look ahead, firing away on president obama what he's done for the past three years. did he use the word conservative? no, he didn't. i went back and checked. maybe he's trying to pivot from a primary campaign to a general election campaign. another interesting thing, zoraida, polls indicate mitt romney, most americans think has a problem relating to average americans and the problems they're dealing with. take a listen to what he said here. >> for every sing

cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live in washington, d.c., for us. that big donor happens to be foster friese. there's a lot we want to talk about. his adviser says santorum campaign does want to help mitt romney. however, his communications director says the endorsement not an inevitablity. santorum's not saying anything. what's the deal here? >> i guess the real story will be -- mitt romney's right, his job is to get rick santorum on his team, get an endorsement from rick santorum. gray bender is a longtime trusted adviser to rick santorum. he told cnn last night, when romney and santorum spoke yesterday morning, romney asked to meet with santorum, and that meeting is now going to be put into the works. and then at that meeting you would think that you would get a santorum endorsement. remember four years ago, after mitt romney and john mccain had a bitter battle in the primaries. mccain came to boston, romney's headquarters. the two had a public appearance. romney endorsed him and then became a big supporter of john mccain. i think romney would li

cnn political editor paul steinhauser in washington. apparently not just the pundits.ational committee for the general election fight. apparently nobody told saners e santorum. >> they're not there yet but be honest, wisconsin is probably one of the last opportunities for rick santorum to try to change this conversation in the battle for the republican nomination and that conversation really kind of says that mitt romney is the inevitable nominee. santorum is running out of opportunities. wisconsin we're focusing on it more than the other two because it's the closest of the states when it comes to the polls. if he can't wane, three more weeks until more primaries and three weeks later all of the states look favorable to romney except for pennsylvania, santorum's home state. he says he's not dropping out until romney gets the delegates needed, 1,144. here is where the delegate count stands. romney has a more than 2:1 lead in our estimate, but he's got a long way to go to the 1,144 delegates. >> you're kind of on a roll here. yesterday we were exchanging e-mails and i sa

. >> cnn political editor paul steinhauser live in washington, d.c., can you answer that question?hat is the real answer i guess. mitt romney is still not even half way to that 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. even if he wins all three states tomorrow he won't go over the top, not even close. the process takes time but for romney the conversation has changed in the last two weeks since he won big illinois we've seen major names from the republican party, including top conservatives endorse mitt romney and say listen it's time to close ranks and get behind mitt romney. the longer we go on with the divisive primary the more it helps barack obama come november. santorum and newt gingrich are fighting on. until romney clinches the nomination he'll continue to fight for conservatives in the party. take a listen at what he said last night in wisconsin. >> cutting it short and getting the wrong candidate is worse than making this a fight for the heart and soul of america and the heart and soul of the republican party. >> if he doesn't win wisconsin it gets very tough for s

. >>> senior cnn political editor paul steinhauser is here with some answers. >> good morning, randi. it's the biggest guessing game. who's on his list as mitt romney searching for a running mate. >> everyone's on my list. i'm not taking anybody off my list. actually i don't have a list yet. >> he has until the convention in tug decide and since he's not giving anything away, we thought we asked people. we asked them to choose from eight possible candidates he may be considering and according to our poll, condoleezza rice tops the list. she says she's not interested. second on the list, former senator rick santorum who just last week suspended his bid for the gop nomination and hasn't endorsed romney yet. let's be honest. senator rob portman from the crucial battleground state of ohio who many insiders think could be on any short list, he didn't crack the short list in ohio. >> i'll help him in ohio. >> reporter: >> popular marco rubio and chris christie. rubio, possibly considered says no thanks. >> i don't want to be the vice president. >> but then a slip. >> three, four, yefive yea

turn to editor paul steinhauser. good to see you in person. this is a good treat and rare treat. we're talking about democrat hillary rosen who made some comments and it really has ig d ignited a political firestorm saying ann romney never worked a day in her life. that can be interpreted many way. the romney camp came out and obama came out and distanced themselves. you have to wonder will it have legs? will it turn to churn, this issue, as we go into the november election. big impact? >> the romney campaign was so quick to jump on this. >> seize. >> the obama campaign pointed out hillary rosen has no connection to the obama campaign team. as to that controversy, it will run out of steam. the bigger picture, the battle for women voters that will continue. yesterday this is interesting. we saw mitt romney give his first real major speech since rick santorum dropped out of the race. >> in front of the nra. >> guess who introduced him. >> ann romney. >> she spoke a couple of minutes. that's no mistake, no surprise at all. mitt romney will use his wife to reach out to female voters

paul steinhauser is the cnn's political editor. out the auto industry, that was very popular in michigan. mitt romney was against the bailout, but he's got deep roots there. his father, george, was the governor of michigan. no republican has won michigan since president h.w. bush won did in 1988. talk to me about romney's chances there. >> as you mention, he's got deep roots there, but the bailout, which didn't hurt him in the primary, ali, a more conservative electorate there, but it could hurt him in the general election against president obama. what does it look like right now in the battleground state? it looks pretty close. take a look at this. the most recent poll in michigan. this is from epics mra, it was earlier this month, and you can see a four-point advantage for the president according to this poll, but that's basically dead even. go to the next one, and michiganders seem to be more optimistic these days whether their state's going in the wrong direction or the wrong track. one of the reasons why you're seeing that turn

to cnn political editor paul steinhauser in washington. good morning, paul. >> good morning, carol. how are you? >> i'm good. let's talk about mitt romney's speech because it seemed he was taking playbook from the democrats frankly. >> he sure did in a way. this was an important speech because he was trying to pivot from a primary campaign to general election battle against president obama. he used that speech to do it. while the speech is getting rave reviews from some people, it also is interesting. you know every poll you've seen and i've seen indicates that romney has a problem identifying with middle class americans, average americans and the problems they are facing. in a speech last night he talked about single mothers who have to take two jobs. about grandparents who can't afford the gas to visit their grandchildren. he said help is on the way. he also talked a lot about fairness. that's something you hear president obama talk a lot about. take a listen to romney from last night and also the president from his speech yesterday as well. here you go. >> we will stop the unfair

cnn political editor paul steinhauser is in washington. let's talk about the buffet rule first. does this have any chance of passing and are most americans for it? >> you know, when it comes to that divide in congress it's probably a slim chance of passing. what do americans think? take a look. this is the most recent poll on the issue. yeah. you can see almost two-thirds favor that 30% tax rate for those making a million dollars or more a year. other polls over the last couple of months indicate the same thing that americans are okay with high income members, high income americans paying their fair share at least that's what the polls indicate. what about the obama white house and the obama re-election team? the president's speech today is only part of what's going on. you'll see vice president biden later this week in a campaign speech going to new hampshire, another battleground state pushing for the buffet rule. also you're seeing the obama re-election team going after mitt romney because republicans as well as romney who is the likely gop nominee are opposed to this buffet

my colleague, paul steinhauser, he was also there. we sat together at the cnn table. a lot of fun. >> what about me? i was the real big select you wanted, right? come on. let's be honest. you did great. you had a lot of celeb photos. i have to give you credit. >> you and i had a great time together. it's great to have like a table buddy that you can just like kind of relax and talk to. we're going to talk a little bit more about the dinner but, of course, we want to talk about politics. big stuff that's happening here, as you know. newt gingrich, he is about to end his campaign. what do we know about the announcement? >> he's going to do it his way. this whole campaign he's done it on his terms. he's going to end his campaign his way, too. it's been almost a week since we learned he's going to be ending his campaign. we here it's going to be wednesday probably right here in the nation's capital. what we believe is he will suspend his campaign and officially endorse mitt romney. the big question mark is will mitt romney be there? we know romney will be in the washingto