[Blitzer:] To our viewers you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Happening now. Some call it the Louisiana Watergate. New details on the scheme to allegedly tamper with Senator Mary Landrieu's telephones. What the suspect's lawyer is now saying. Stand by. President Obama takes his State of the Union jobs pitch on the road as he tries to strike a balance between more spending and more jobs. Also ahead, are your stimulus dollars going towards fraud? We're taking a closer look. It's a CNN exclusive. I'm Wolf Blitzer, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Now to that politically charged criminal case in Louisiana. Those four men arrested for allegedly trying to tamper with the phones in Senator Mary Landrieu's office. A defense lawyer in the case is now speaking out. Let's bring back Lisa Sylvester. She's working the story for us. Lisa, what are you finding out?
[Sylvester:] Wolf, what we are learning new details about what might have been the motivation and why Senator Landrieu's office was targeted. The four men, Joseph Basel, Robert Flanagan, James O'Keefe and Stan Dai you see them here in their mugshots. Well, J. Garrison Jordan's office, one of the attorneys involved, said their idea was not to intercept or wiretap Landrieu's calls. That they wanted to do was to get embarrassing video of her staff handling constituent calls. And there's a little bit more background behind all of this. Conservative critics, they have been complaining for weeks about not being able to get through to the senator's office to voice their views. The Family Research council is among those saying, you know, that their members would just get a busy signal when they tried to call.
[Blitzer:] Lisa, you're also learning more about the connection between these four men. Right?
[Sylvester:] Yes. That's right. You know one common link is a conservative group called the Leadership Council. This group is based in Arlington, Virginia. And it's a group that really grooms young conservatives to try to spread their message by starting college newspapers and using social networking. James O'Keefe, the man who actually became known with his video sting of the liberal grassroots group ACORN, he actually taught there in 2006 in the beginning part of 2007. Joseph Basel, when he was a student at the University of Minnesota, received a $500 grant to start a conservative newspaper from them. And Stan Dai also received money from the Leadership Council to start a similar paper at George Washington University. Now the leadership institute appears to be distancing itself from these four individuals, you know, saying that they don't condone anything that would break the law. The fourth individual, Robert Flanagan, we have some background about him as well. His father is actually the acting U.S. attorney from Shreveport. And he has written several blogs critical of Senator Landrieu and her position on the health debate and he was writing for New Orleans based conservative group called the Pelican Institute of Public Policy. Flanagan is listed on their Web site as being a guest or rather I should say, O'Keefe was listed on their Web site as being a guest speaker there last week. And the title of that speech, "Exposing Truth, Undercover Video, New Media and Creativity." And also late this afternoon, one more development. We got an e- mail, an exclusive from Amanda O'Keefe. She is James O'Keefe's sister and she told us, quote, "We the people have a responsibility to seek the truth, to try to see through the corruption of the government, the Legal system and the media. And reveal what's really going on." So there's a lot of pieces here and I'm sure that as this story continues, too, Wolf, we'll get a lot more information. We tried to reach out to Senator Landrieu's office. We're still waiting to get response from her on this latest development, as well as we've also reached out to the other attorneys involved. And we're waiting for call back from them Wolf.
[Blitzer:] All right, we're going to check back with you. Thanks very much, Lisa Sylvester. Working that story. Let's move to Florida now. We are talking about the governor, Charlie Crist. The president of the United States. They were there together today but is Charlie Crist sort of trying to distance himself somewhat from the president because of his support for the economic stimulus plan last year? Will it hurt his chances for re-election? Joining us for our strategy session, democratic strategist and CNN political contributor Paul Begala and the former chief of staff for the president of the United States, George W. Bush, Andy Card. Thanks very much for coming in. Look at these pictures. This was the picture to a certain degree last year when the two men met. I think we have it right there. That was last year. I think at one point, yeah, there he is. You see the hug they got over there. And then today it was more of just a strictly handshake. There it is. At the airport. How much does this hurt Charlie Crist? He has a tough conservative challenger for the senatorial primary, Marco Rubio.
[Andy Card, Former Chief Of Staff To President Bush:] I may be old school but always show respect to the president, the office of the president. I think it is right important the governor to greet the president when he comes to into the state and no matter the party or philosophical differences may be. It is a matter of respect.
[Blitzer:] Jeb Bush, Republican, the former governor of Florida, he was on the "Today" show earlier today. He agrees totally. Listen to this.
[Jeb Bush , Former Florida Governor:] I would go when the president comes to the state, I think it is more than appropriate. It is not a sign of support. I wouldn't necessarily have embraced the stimulus plan that did not have support in the state and campaign for it and put Republicans in a vulnerable position
[Blitzer:] President of the state comes for billions of dollars for high-speed rail system for Florida, it is appropriate the governor shows up.
[Paul Begala, Democratic Strategist:] Right. Andy is right. Governor Bush is right. That's what do you. It is interesting, Jeb made the I would not have embraced the stimulus plan. Well, the symbol of that, though, embrace, the picture, that
[Blitzer:] Actual hug.
[Begala:] Here is today. You see, we have the secondhand come in here. Left hand coming around. But I can't see I don't think Governor Crist, he is not doubling up. President is doubling up.
[Blitzer:] No man hug.
[Begala:] No man hugs. There is a history of this. Joe Lieberman lost his primary in Connecticut, Democratic Party, in part because of a famous picture where George W. Bush hugged him. I think he kissed him which was creepy. In a manly way.
[Blitzer:] I think that was at the state of the union address.
[Begala:] State of the union address.
[Blitzer:] Let me show you numbers. Look at the numbers. Quinnipiac poll. Marco Rubio, 126 percent. Now it is down to 44 percent for Charlie Crist. 47 percent for Marco Rubio. These are among registered Republicans. Charlie Crist got he has his hands full.
[Card:] He has. He made a mistake in embracing President Obama. Not just president but policies early on. Florida does not agree with the way President Obama's leading this country. I don't think Florida voters do.
[Blitzer:] Do you think Florida Democrats disagree
[Card:] I think Florida voters not standing behind the president on a lot of the health care initiatives and other initiatives now.
[Begala:] Here is the thing, though. All the pundits, except Andy and me, voters want bipartisan in a pig's eye they do. Charlie Crist is a bipartisan Republican. He endorsed the president's economic stimulus plan. He says now he didn't. He did. He even did the bromance hug there. That's bipartisanship. How is he being rewarded? He's getting beat by the more port is a Republican. Republicans in Florida. At least the Republican Party wants no part of bipartisanship.
[Blitzer:] If someone said to me six months ago that Charlie Crist is going to have trouble getting that Republican nomination to run for Senate, I would have said what? He's a very popular guy.
[Card:] Lot of people independents waking up to say wait a minute, let's pay attention to the policy. Not just the politics. Independents are making the difference. They are the ones helping the Republicans motivate change.
[Blitzer:] Good way to end this conversation. We will con. We have a lot of time between now and the primary and general election. Guys, thanks very much for coming in. We have a lot more coming up. Including what's happening in Haiti right now. New developments. Stand by.