[Savidge:] Let's go straight to Paul Steinhauser with breaking news from our political desk in Washington Paul.
[Paul Steinhauser, Cnn Deputy Political Director:] Martin, I know, we're doing this all morning. But here's what we're learning. Our John King, our chief national correspondent and anchor of "J.K., USA," just spoke to a source in New Jersey who confirmed to us that Chris Christie will announce he will not be running for the GOP presidential nomination this afternoon. Remember, the New Jersey governor has been under a lot of pressure to jump into the race. At the last minute this morning, he announced a 1:00 news conference in Trenton, New Jersey. We're learning now he will announce he is not going to run for the GOP presidential nomination, Martin.
[Savidge:] All right, Paul Steinhauser, thanks very much. Now let's bring in CNN Will Cain. First of all, Will, were you surprised? What do you think of this news?
[Cain:] I think the major reaction I have, Martin, is a disappointment. I'm openly conservative, Martin, and I feel like a real opportunity has been missed here. I think what we'll see now on the next month or two is, first, the establishment and then the electorate gravitate towards Mitt Romney. In fact, David Brooks wrote about it in the "New York Times." There's been a reluctance to move over to support Romney. There's a perceived lack of trust in his positions. There's certainly no love for the fact that he created the model for Obama care. But he does seem to be the most competent candidate. And the opportunity that's missed now is that in a year when populism played such a strong role in the Republican Party, there was a chance a guy like Christie or a Jeb Bush or a Paul Ryan could harness that energy and bring real ideological positions to make changes in Washington. I think they've missed their opportunity. I think Mitt Romney will be the nominee. And there's a good chance he beats a very vulnerable Barack Obama. And so, what do these guys do in 2016? The Christies and Ryans and Bushes of the world, you have a Republican incumbent president possibly in 2016.
[Savidge:] And I just missed that last thing you said. I'm sorry. But my question was do you think he could be vice presidential material?
[Cain:] You know, I think about the job of vice president. I'm like is that a good job to aspire to? I mean, Chris Christie, yes, he might be vice presidential material. Truthfully, I think that Marco Rubio's name has been on that ticket as vice presidential candidate for quite some time. Chris Christie is certainly somebody you can look at putting there. He carries a lot of positives. But I don't know if he'd want a job either. I say, is that a desirable to have? He's got a strong position as leader of New Jersey and if Barack Obama wins, he'll be positioned to run in 2016.
[Savidge:] You say you are disappointed. What about the base of the Republican Party, do you think they're truly disappointed?
[Cain:] The base I think when we say the base Republican Party, we talk a lot about the Tea Party. I think the Tea Party's relationship to Chris Christie was just forming. So, there will be some disappointment. But as we talk about on this channel, on CNN, a lot, Chris Christie's positions didn't fit a rigid position that fit all the Tea Party's positions. He was a little bit iconoclastic on immigration, on climate change. So, there will be some who liked the style of Chris Christie and his commitment to fiscal conservativism and they'll be disappointed, like me. But I think many of the Tea Party base will look to Rick Perry and now to Herman Cain.
[Savidge:] Why do you think he chose to say no? Is it simply is there's just no time or is there something else going on at the back of his mind?
[Cain:] You know, I don't know, Martin. The best I can do is offer you the answer that he's given us over and over, that he has said the one thing we can say is Chris Christie, from the beginning, has said, "I'm not going to run for president." Now, we know did he flirt with it after that, but he's said that over and over and reason he has given is that he doesn't feel it inside himself. He doesn't feel like he is ready. Look, he's only been governor for two years. And I think one of the lessons of Barack Obama's presidencies regardless of your political persuasion is there's some hesitancy to elect somebody with a lack of experience. That doesn't reflect well for Christie, it doesn't reflect well for Herman Cain. We want to look for people at this point to have some competency. And I think Chris Christie realized some of that in himself. Maybe he needs more experience, maybe he wants to spend time with his family. But from the beginning, he said, I don't feel it inside for me, that it's time for me to run.
[Savidge:] And he's politically a young man. He's 49. So, there is still time to do that. Will Cain, thanks very much for the insights. We will be talking again, guaranteed.
[Cain:] Thanks, Martin.
[Savidge:] Well, he didn't exactly run for president on his foreign policy credentials. He never portrayed himself as tough on terror when he's still a candidate. But now as commander-in-chief, President Obama has rid the world of some of the biggest terrorists. So, why aren't we hearing more about that? In the next hour, we will talk about why Obama doesn't seem to be getting a lot of attention for his national security successes.