Santorum on the Attack; New Line Of Attack On Romney
BLITZER: With two fresh primary wins and a caucus victory now under his belt, Mitt Romney is certainly gaining ground in the polls, but his nearest rival, Rick Santorum is opening a new line of attack with just five days to go before Tuesday, and its 10 primaries and caucuses. Our senior correspondent Joe Johns is following all of this for us. Joe, what's the latest on Romney and Santorum?</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, once again it seemingly two steps forward, one step backward for the Romney campaign. In the latest poll, clearly he has regained his footing, but even now some of Romney's old campaign troubles continue to haunt him.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): In this roller coaster ride of a race, the sign that frontrunner status and momentum is back on Mitt Romney's side. The latest Gallup national tracking poll conducted after the primaries in Arizona and Michigan, showing Romney out to a big lead on the morning after his win in the Wyoming caucuses. But it wasn't all joy for the Romney campaign, because the old rap on him, the charge that he flip-flops on policy issues resurfaced in a big way. The issue was Romney's initial conditions on a proposal just now tabled in the Senate. That would have allowed health insurance plans to deny contraceptive coverage if it runs counter to a sponsor or an employer's religious belief. When first asked about it on Wednesday, Romney said this.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not for the bill, but look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and woman, husband and wife, I'm not going there.</s>JOHNS: Romney quickly clarified saying he misunderstood the question and that he actually supported the proposal, which had been introduced by Republican Missouri Senator Roy Blunt as a conservative response to a new and controversial Obama administration rule.</s>ROMNEY: I'm in favor of the amendment.</s>JOHNS: But by then, Romney had opened himself up to the charge that he tried to do a switch, and at a rally in Atlanta, Rick Santorum pounced.</s>RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Governor Romney was asked that question, his knee-jerk reaction was, no, I can't be for that. After his consultants talked to him, then he came back he said I didn't understand the question. Maybe he did or didn't, but I tell you if I was asked a question like that, my gut reaction would be always, my gut reaction would be, you stand for the first amendment. You stand for freedom of religion.</s>JOHNS: With the last weekend before Super Tuesday, Rick Santorum's campaign was preparing for a whirlwind from Atlanta to Washington State then planning to go to Central Ohio by noon on Friday. His fundraising hay skyrocketed. For his part Newt Gingrich has been focusing hard on Georgia, the state that he represented while he was in the Congress, hoping that voters here keep him viable after Super Tuesday.</s>NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have to win Georgia I think to be credible in the race. But if I win Georgia, the following week we go to Alabama and Mississippi, I think I'll win both of those, and we have a good opportunity to win in Kansas.</s>JOHNS: Meanwhile, tonight authorities in Michigan struck a blow to the Rick Santorum campaign, by announcing that Mitt Romney is receiving one more voting delegate to the Republican convention than Santorum will receive. So this means Santorum will no longer be able to claim that he tied Romney in Michigan. Santorum pushed back today, calling that change a back room deal -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: So Romney will get 16 delegates from Michigan. Santorum will get 14, is that right?</s>JOHNS: That is exactly right. Before that Santorum had been claiming that because -- he thought he was going to get 15 and Romney was going to get 15. He could say it was a tie. Now 16-14, no tie, Romney the winner in Michigan.</s>BLITZER: Thanks very much, Joe, for that. While Romney and Santorum were stumping today in other parts of the country, they'll be back in Ohio. That's a key Super Tuesday battleground. One reason geography, it's situated right between Michigan, Romney's home and Pennsylvania, Santorum's home state, so each man thinks he has strength there. Let's talk a little bit about Ohio with our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger. Ohio I think is the biggest prize come next Tuesday.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. Because, Wolf, it really is a test of both the seriousness and the staying power of any presidential campaign in either party. And when it comes to the Republicans, there are a lot of diverse constituencies there. So if you can prove you can win among these constituencies, it's important in order to have national appeal. Take a look at this. First of all, this state Ohio is a bellwether for the general election. No Republican presidential candidate has ever won without winning the state of Ohio. Secondly, it offers a microcosm of the electorate, urban, rural, Evangelical, Catholic, conservative, moderate Republicans, all of them in the state of Ohio. And thirdly it tests how whether you have a true crossover appeal. This is an open primary and so Rick Santorum, for example, hopes that he can appeal to those Reagan Democrats, those blue collar voters, who will be very important in the general election should he become the nominee. So very, very important state, 63 delegates, but actually it's not even the number of delegates that counts, you just have to prove you can win there.</s>BLITZER: What are the most recent polls there show?</s>BORGER: Well, first of all, let's say, we haven't had one since Tuesday's primaries, but the most recent poll in Ohio shows that Rick Santorum is 11 points ahead. What we'll be able to see when we get another poll, perhaps as early as tomorrow, we'll be able to see whether Romney has any momentum coming out of his twin victories the other night in Michigan and Arizona. But one important thing, don't forget, Wolf, is money. Mitt Romney has a lot more money to spend not only his campaign, but also his "Super PAC." So far he's outspending Rick Santorum 4-1. He's already been up on the air in the state. Rick Santorum has, what, five or six days to catch up.</s>BLITZER: Yes, I always say I would like to be an owner of a local TV station in Ohio right now.</s>BORGER: You and me both.</s>BLITZER: We're going to be dealing a lot of ad money. Thanks very much, Gloria. A plane is seconds from landing on air craft, the controller send it back to the skies. How an air traffic controller prevented a possible disaster when a jeep suddenly ended up on the runway.