ron brownstein. quick question.icans and puerto ricans feel the same way about immigration. it's not as pressing an issue because the subject illegal immigration is not an issue. puerto ricans are citizens. let me ask you to amplify what soledad was asking. marco rubio last frierks a conservative hispanic group said two things, he said it was unrealistic to deport 11 million immigrants. we need an accommodation not only for young people in the military but young people who are pursuing higher education. both very different from your candidate, mitt romney. what do you make of marco rubio moving in a different direction on those issues? >> i've always been on that side of the equation. i've always supported the dream act. i'm a co-sponsor of the dream act. there governor romney has a much more hare lined stance than i do. obviously is it a challenge? if the rhetoric gets really nasty, it becomes problematic. however, i still think that issue number one, when i'm out there speaking to the people, i don't care where in

joining us again from washington, cnn political analyst ron brownstein. all right, ron.ration is working hard on the voter dri drives, particularly the non-whites. why is it we feel they need the most coaxing? >> as you noted, when bill clinton was first elected in 1992, only 12% of the vote was the minority. 88% was white. by the time barack obama got elected in 2008 it was 26% that was non-white. it wasn't like there was a sudden jump because of his unique status as the first african-american candidate. the obama campaign projects internally that 28% of the vote in the 2012 general election will be non-white. now, in 2008 barack obama won four-fifth, 80% of all non-white voters. if he does that again in 2012 and the share of the minority vote increases, the republicans would have to win a share of the white vote they haven't won since ronald reagan in 1994 to beat him. that put as lot of incentive to maximize that turnout but it increases the pressure on the republicans do better with the minority voters than they've done in the last few elections. >> your reporting be

my meineke. >>> alice rivlin, douglas hoelts-aiken, and ron brownstein.pletely confused by this week, because friday it's like the best unemployment figures we've seen in three years and the dow industrials go crazy and the cbo earlier in the week said the debt outlook is horrible, the deficit's horrible and by the way unemployment's going back up. are we happy or are we worried? >> i think it was basically a good news week. the unemployment figures and the new jobs in the friday report were good news. they aren't definitive. that was one month, but it was a good, strong month, an indication that the economy is taking hold. if it lasts we'll have the best thing that anybody is able to predict is a good, slow recovery with gradual reduction in the unemployment rate from what is admittedly a very high level. >> the cbo said 9.3 or something next year which is like craziness. >> remember the cbo its job is to find the dark cloud for every silver lining so it did that. the reason it did that, all kidding aside is the cbo has to assume an enormous tax increase

ron brownstein, ron, thank you. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for the discussion.ppreciate it. cnn senior political analyst and editorial director for the national review. thank you. >>> mitt romney picks up endorsements from two michigan newspapers, but how is he doing in the polls there? two days before the gop primary there. we'll take a look when we come back. what's this? [ male announcer ] quaker oatmeal squares have 46 grams of whole grains... mmmm. ...and a touch of sweetness. you'll be delighted to discover how good they taste. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares on facebook. [ male announcer ] when diarrhea hits, kaopectate stops it fast. powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. fast. [ male announcer ] stop the uh-oh fast with kaopectate. >>> welcome back to this special edition of cnn. i'm richelle carey. let's continue to delve into the issues on the presidential campaign. here is a mitt romney had to say about his conservative credentials. >> i can attest for my conservative credentials by quoting someone who endorsed me in my 2008 camp

who wins the nomination and especially after today that difference will be much more clear. >> ron brownsteinwill be officially made. we know a lot of the details already. thanks, ron. appreciate it. >>> still ahead on "starting point," some backlash over the burning of the koran. it's growing. we're hearing about more deaths this morning. are we expecting it to get even worse? we'll discuss that straight ahead. >>> plus a young latina trying to become one of the very first female boxers ever to compete in the olympics. hanging tough, moving on. she'll talk about her recent huge victory. >>> off of our staff play list. this is "news uprising." ♪ ♪ they will not force us ♪ they will stop degrading us ♪ ♪ they will stop degrading us >>> welcome back, everybody. some breaking news to get to out of afghanistan this morning. violence is becoming more deadly after the mistaken burning of korans. a local official says nine more people have now died in protests that have been happening this morning. two american soldiers were killed yesterday. former u.s. army chaplain where he advised the commanders

. >> ron brownstein from national journal.oice, the core choice on taxes that you offer is extending the tax cuts passed under president bush. 8 million more people went into poverty while bush was in office. there were fewer people working at the end of the eight years than when the tax cuts were passed. what in that record gives you confidence that extending those tax cuts will produce better economic growth in the future than they've contributed to so far in the past? >> fewer people were working now than before barack obama got started. we have a low employment rate, meaning not unemployment but employment. what i would say is we're not saying extend tax cuts, we're saying reform the system to make us more competitive. look, here's the problem. eight out of ten of our businesses in america, they file their taxes as individuals. so when the president keeps raising these tax rates, which are on individuals, they're on small businesses and we're taxing them at much higher rates than other countries. look overseas which in wis

ron brownstein, we're going to give you the final 20 second end point today. >> michigan feels a little like the battle of the bulge moment for romney. only a slim one but one that suggests his coalition is a little broader than rick santorum's who's relying too heavily on one group until we go to ohio. keep going. "cnn newsroom" with fredricka "cnn newsroom" with fredricka whitfield begins now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> good morning, everyone. i'm fredricka whitfield in for kyra phillips. we start this hour with a deadly outbreak of tornadoes in the central plains. that's a tornado dropping out of the night sky in reno county, kansas. reports of several tornadoes hitting parts of that state overnight. the sheriff in harveyville kansas reports a twister destroyed about half the town. severe weather is blamed in the death of a woman in dallas county missouri. tornadoes also caused damage in nearby branson, a popular tourist spot. >>> the cleanup is beginning today for people in those hard-hit areas. rob marciano is here to give us details about what happened and what's ah

[captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: ron brown skin is a two- time -- ron brownstein is a two- time award winning journalist. he has been covering this race. good to have you back on the program. >> good to be back. tavis: you just got back from florida. these numbers referenced suggest that mitt romney is going to pull this off. do you believe that? >> inouye gingrich has had a difficult week. -- a new to gingrich has had a did a good week. he has been kind of lethargic on the stump. this has been arguably the most unsettled primary race for either party in the modern era. in 2011, there were more people had in the voting in the national polls than any previous at a year's election. we have never had a race where different people one of iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina in the republican race. this could reestablish mitt romney as the front runner if he wins, but it does not feel like the last act of this play. tavis: if i say to you that mitt romney is going to win and you say, so what, newt gingrich has already said he is going to win. if mitt romney wins in

ron brownstein is with us, david frum, and jamal simmons. the results last night. michigan everyone was watching. >> that was the marquis contest. it told us two things that are important. one is that romney's hold pretty strong. it did very well with bringing voters together as he has done in other states. the other big take away from michigan is that rick santorum seems to be defining himself slightly too narrowly to truly threaten the nomination. he can challenge him but right now he's winning only the most ideological elements of the party. he's not reaching more deeply into that blue collar core of the party. noncollege voters, middle income voters, he lost catholics in this after spending the weekend attacking the first catholic president on the separation of church and state. he seems too narrow. he can win states but he's going to have to expand to win the nomination. >> mitt romney paid very heavily for this win. it's not the millions of dollars. the price was he was driven on friday to a speech in detroit where he announced a secon

we asked political analyst ron brownstein just how important that manage battleground. >> how crucial is it? >> it mitt romney loses michigan it will be a blow. the fact that he's able to have the resources. if he's unable to win here it will not only send a message, but give santorum a huge burst of momentum going into tuesday. blue collar, lunch bucket states. and a loss here could immediately cascade into that. >> reporter: we're standing in forbes field right now, if that romney team is huddled in the locker room, what are they saying about michigan? >> they have to do whatever it takes to win the stakes. >> reporter: mathematically he could survive, but politically? >> it would be an earthquake. >> he says it would be an earthquake. the stakes enormous for mitt romney and rick santorum on tuesday. stay with the powerhouse team. and tomorrow morning, george interviews rick santorum, that's the first thing in the morning on "this week" with george. >>> the group is trying to evacuate sick and wounded civilians caught in the bloody crackdown with reports more than 70 people have bee

he has gotten so much better as a candidate, not ron brownstein, but rick santorum.e has really matured as a candidate. i thought his speech last night was significantly better than mitt romney's speech. i get that he was the winner, obviously. but in terms of poise, in terms of content, it was a good speech, ron. >> yeah, as you say, winning does put a lot of wind beneath your sails, as the saying goes. wind beneath your wings. the headline is, this remains the most unsettled republican race arguably since 1940 with wendell wilky. the conservative base remains unsolved on mitt romney and the conservative base continues to have difficulty unifying behind one alternative to romney. the only good news for romney last night the that it was santorum emerging and gingrich consolidating. it least you with a situation where you have a clearly flawed front-runner but maintains a tactical advantage if the voters most resistant to him continue to divide between two choices, santorum and gingrich. one point, soledad, if you look at the total numbers of voters who came out to vo

ron brownstein is a senior political analyst and editorial director of the "national journal."d to see you. romney won the night but are the results enough to tamp down the threat from scrum? it was awfully close? >> it was. it was a very narrow victory for romney in michigan. it was probably necessary but not sufficient to stabilize him in this campaign. as paul steinhauser noted earlier, there were lots of reasons for rick santorum to feel good about what happened in michigan. i would add, there was one reason for real concern. santorum did very well with the groups, the ideological vanguard of the gop coalition. evangelical christians, tea party activists. he didn't reach enough beyond that in michigan. he lost, for example, catholics. he only ran about even among blue collar republicans. in the end, if all he can do is mobilize that very conservative core, he can threaten romney but he probably can't beat him. he has to expand his reach to really overcome romney's other advantages, especially with more upscale republican voters. >> perhaps that chance comes next week, super

that's what they're focusing on. >> back to ron brownstein.gingrich said on the sunday talk shows talking about the poverty and the poor. >> in america, too. >> romney's description that he doesn't worry about the poor because they have a safety net, i think, conservatives, in fact, do worry about helping every american pursue happiness. >> one thing we saw after the neva neva nevada caucuses, i'm in the race and really start to highlight the differences between her and mitt romney. if he's really in the race, what kind of damage can he cause, focused on poverty here? >> first of all, i think the broader point is right. gingrich clearly sees if he has a chance of recovery, which is not guaranteed because once you start losing a presidential primary, the history of losing against losing is the voters consider you to be less viable. i think the centerpiece is going to be taxes and argue he's a much more aggressive tax than myth ros-lehtine mitt romney. jack kerch who i covered a quite a bit and the early stages of george push's compassion nate c

ron brownstein in person. editorial director of the "national journal."nd will cain. >> was that familiarity or disappointment? >> with love. will cain who i always like to see sitting next to me. >> good morning. >> we've got a lot to get to this morning. it was a tough week obviously with the death of whitney houston and really at the end of the week an opportunity to remember her and her legacy. she was laid to rest yesterday in westfield, new jersey. the private moment followed a service in newark, new jersey, on saturday. family, friends, and stars paying tribute. it was a beautiful service. it was whitney houston's own voice that ended the ceremony. ♪ so good-bye ♪ please don't cry ♪ we both know i'm not what you you need ♪ >> the service lasted four hours and it was interesting to talk to the baptist pastors who were there who said, listen, we want to make it very clear, this is a religious service. this is not a performance. this is not a concert. this is a homegoing. reverend jesse jackson was there of course he is a president of the rainbow push

we asked political analyst ron brownstein just how important that michigan battleground will be come tuesday. >> how crucial is michigan? >> the state is decisive, but if mitt romney loses michigan it would be a huge blow. he has so many advantages here. the family name. the fact that he's able to concentrate his financial resources. he has enormous establishment support. if he's unable to win here it will not only send a message, but give santorum a huge burst of momentum going into tuesday. blue collar, lunch bucket states. and a loss here could immediately cascade into that. and really turn this race around. >> we're standing on ford field right now, if that romney team is huddled in the locker room, what are they saying about michigan? >> they have to win the state, they're doing whatever they can to win the state. >> reporter: mathematically he could survive, but politically? >> it would be an earthquake. >> he says it would be an earthquake. the stakes enormous for mitt romney and rick santorum on tuesday in michigan. stay with the powerhouse team. and tomorrow morning, george

ron brownstein, you listened to every word. he took the high road, if you will. he didn't go after any hi challengers. >> early on, he said we've had almost no discernible debate going forward. it's all been backward-looking about his record -- but the speech today i thought was a bit of a state of the union. it went through a list of proposals without identifying one where we draws the line with romney. reagan picked the panama cavernal. gingrich has to find a play to draw the line in the sand. he didn't quite do that today, though he obviously has some raw material. >> i'm sure i undercounted. i counted 17, none of them small, completely wretch civil service, completely eliminate a host of taxes. so good for imhad, he's clearly trying to be the candidate of ideas. i think rob has a point. he still has to draw a central distinction i think with mitt romney. i think rick santorum did that. i'm not in the room, about you it seemed a little fat. newt is a really good speaker. he knows every ereasonable news zone for the right, and it didn't seem he hit them, but it

. >> ron brownstein, we love having you in person. o move to new york. >> do it, do it, ron. the "national journal" is out now on newsstands. >> do they have ads for chrysler products in the magazine? >> the dodge dart which i'll be purchasing later? good thinking there. got a lot to get to this morning. >>> susan g. komen, cancer charity. they are literally mid crisis after cutting off cash, payments, to planned parenthood. we'll examine whether this is policy or politics or maybe both. >>> also, cashing in on tornado tourism. a plan to get people to ves it joplin, missouri, to see the damage. a lot of people are angry. -i love this card. -with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. it's 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% cash back on oscar. ...tony. oscar! 2% back on whatever she'll eat. 3% back on filling up this baby. [ male announcer ] now get 1-2-3 percent cash back. it's that simple. [ male ann

we have ron brownstein joining us by the way. he's not with us, sadly.> yesterday when you were sitting with me we through up numbers talking about spending. romney aired 13,000 ads versus the 200 ads for gingrich. that was through january 25th. there are some new numbers going through january 30th. big change in the numbers. romney campaign and super pac combined 19,000 ads versus newt gingrich, big increase for him, 4,000 ads. i believe that's through january 30th. so first and foremost, let's decode that. it's not only negative, there's also a lot and low turnout. >> yeah. i'm glad we've gotten that straightened out. instead of it being an aircraft carrier versus a row boat it was only a battleship versus a row boat. i'm glad we got that sorted out. look, that is reality. that's the reality newt gingrich faces that every state that does matter mitt romney is going to have an overwhelming financial advantage. yes, i think the turnout is kind of interesting. unlike 2008 when you had antipathy toorge towards george w. bush, despite the very strong feelin

. >> well, our senior political analyst ron brownstein thinks that romney's heat wasn't just hot, ityou used words like meth thotd cal thod call, relentless, do you think he pulled it off last night? >> you were wondering if he was a prosecutor in some other life because, in fact, he was very calm, but very relentless and methodical in exposing a consist atlanta argument against rick santorum. rick santorum's core argument in this case arguably is that i am a more consistent, more defepend dependable, more resolute conservative than mitt romney. but what santorum was forced to acknowledge last night on an entirer ises ris of issues, no child left behind, fund for title x, funds birth control for low-income women, and earmarks that political expediency at various points in his career caused him to violate those rules. romney painted a guy that was much more of a career politician than he likes to let on. >> santorum described himself as courageous last night. you say you're seeing cracks in the campaign. >> yeah. well, no, look, santorum, the basic structure of the race continues to e

"national journal" editor ron brownstein has joined our panel as well.egin with this, if you will, congressman. what do you think of this? originally you had said for the last budget proposal that you are wildly disappointed. what do you think this time around? >> well, i think the president is attempting to put forth a document that is realistic and addresses the needs we have at the same time. it's not going to be a pretty budget. it's going to probably have some difficulties over in the senate. and it's probably dead on arrival over at the house. but that's because of congress' dysfunctional and we are not going to sit down and try to work around the edges of the budget. i mean, the budget -- presented by the president, he understands that if it is ever going to be approved, his budget must budge. but the danger here is that we're going to struggle around without addressing the major problems. let me just say the president is getting a lot of criticism. i don't think it's difficult served that, you know, he has create all these problems. we do have a

joining us to discuss this and more, cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein, democratic strategistpenny lee, and republican strategist john fury. all right. well, the komen foundation says it wasn't politics but it sure was political quick sand. so john, i want to start with you. one conservative blogger says the komen foundation found itself on the liberal black list, his phrase. are you offended by their decision? >> listen. first of all. the susan g. komen foundation does great work. i've ran in their 10-ks. it's an important organization. i want to say taking the politics out. sad thing is it gets away from their mission. the other lesson here is if you give money to planned parenthood, you better understand you can never take that money away because it becomes a big political firestorm. and then the politics of this obviously is that it's polarizing the country. you've got the pro-lifers and pro-choicers. this shouldn't be an issue that gets involved in that. >> all right, ron, let's keep in mind that the money was for breast cancer screenings specifically not for abortions bu

thanks, ron, so much for being with us, ron brownstein with "the national journal." >>> over at the white house today a high-stake game with high-level diplomacy as president obama welcome d china ace heir apparent. brianna, a series of important meetings? >> a series of important meetings, it's hugely important, because the vice president of china, xifjinping is expected to take over the reins from hu jintao very soon and be in control really the next decade. this is a -- there's a lot of tensions as you mentioned from everything from trade from the military presence in asia as well as human rights. outside the white house and on a bridge not far appear protesters gave the vice president x xi jinping. >> i welcome the entire delegation. >> as vice president biden welcomed xi, and president obama met in the oval office with the man widely expected to become president of china later this year. >> this is a great opportunity for us to build on the u.s./china relationship. >> reporter: but both men are walking a line, two rival powers sizing each other up. >> well tried to emphasize because

. >> ron brownstein is the editorial director at the national journal and the national journal decidedd on this show. what did you find? >> our united technologies poll, we did a poll on the aftermath of his comments and how it looked at what americans feel about the safety net. we did find the country divided on whether the middle class or poor had suffered most in the downturn. a slight majority saying the middle class, 45% saying the poor. we found that as political scientists have talked about, americans are philosophically conservative and operationally not. on one hand programs for the poor is a big cause of the deficit and they are reluctant to cut entitlements that benefit the middle class. >> let's break down some of those poll numbers. let's throw this one up, guys. the one that says 3% say it's because when they're talking about the main issue in spending, 3% say too much government spending on programs for the elderly. 14% say spending on programs for the poor. 24% say defense spending. do we have this poll, anybody? >> yeah. >> there it is. thank you. and then 46%, that to