the chair of the white house council valerie jaret will be introducing remarks. the president live as soon as he takes to that podi podium. >>> mitt romney is focusing squarely on president obama and the general election even if rick santorum were to bow out and calls for santorum to admit defeat, the former pennsylvania senator can still win the nomination. that was evident as a group of conservatives met with santorum to plot their path forward. joining me now is al cardenas, chair of the conservative union. thanks for joining me. >> my pleasure. good always to be with you. >> it seems like there's a split here. you have the gop establishment pretty firmly behind mitt romney, even senator john mccain went as far as to call for rick santorum's exit from the race on wednesday. why are the conservatives in the party falling behind around romney? >> i think social conservatives and conservative voters are, the exit polling in wisconsin show conservatives and conservative voters are voting for romney, obviously, who i know so well and respect so much are hard nosed

. >>> former president bill clinton and white house senior adviser valerie jaret speak thursday at the annual conference at the export/import bank. they discuss how the u.s. can bolster american exports. during his first year in office president obama set a goal of doubling exports over five years. you can see the event live thursday at 8:45 a.m. eastern here on c-span3. >>> i walked out after the iowa caucus victory and said game on. i know a lot of folks are going to write. maybe those even at the white house, game over, but this game is long, long, long way from over. we are going to continue to go out there and fight to mack sure that we defeat president barack obama, that we wen the house back and that we take the united states senate and we stand for the values that make us americans, that make us the greatest country in the history of the world, that shining city on the hill to be a beacon for everybody for freedom around the world. >> with that announcement rick santorum ended his 2012 presidential bid, a process that the pennsylvania senator began in 2009. follow the steps he