Primary Day In Arizona And Michigan; Santorum Seeks Support Of Michigan Dems
O'BRIEN: Yes.</s>O'BRIEN: Yes.</s>LAMONT HILL: I like my mom, but I love Luther Vandross.</s>O'BRIEN: Yes, yes. I completely agree. That's Luther Vandross starting us off this block. Yes, yes. And that's Marc's pick, but, really, it's all over my iPad, too. Voting is under way in the State of Michigan. It's Mitt Romney's home state, of course. He won Michigan four years ago against John McCain. And now the polls are showing him neck and neck with Rick Santorum. One point behind, according to American Research Group. There are 30 delegates at stake in the State of Michigan. And I spoke to Jennifer Granholm. She's a former Democratic governor of Michigan. She's also the host of Current TV's new show, which is called "The War Room With Jennifer Granholm."</s>O'BRIEN: Why do you think Mitt Romney is facing such a tough battle in what's considered to be his home state?</s>JENNIFER GRANHOLM, (D) FORMER MICHIGAN GOVERNOR: That Romney supported a bailout for Wall Street and not for the auto industry in his home state when his father ran an auto company was as though he pierced us when we were on our knees. And so I think that has a lot to do with the fact that he's not doing well. In addition to all of the, you know, flip-flopping and pretzel spinning that he's been doing about why he took that position.</s>O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about Michigan, in fact, and the voter population there. I know obviously the voters in Detroit are different than the voters who are in the suburbs who are even different than voters who are on the exurbs. Tell me a little bit about them.</s>GRANHOLM: Yes. Well, on the - you know, if I - if I held up my Michigan map, Upper and Lower Peninsula, you know, in the Detroit area right here, the Detroit area is largely Democratic. But, you go up the I-75 Corridor that's Flint, that's Detroit, that's Saginaw, that's where Romney is going to do well because the Republicans that are in those places are more economic conservative. But if you go to the west of the state and the north, then you would see that it's much more of a social conservative. So you're going to see a split, I think. I mean Michigan's primary will be divided. The delegates will be divided by congressional districts. So even if Mitt Romney wins the number of votes cast, actually Rick Santorum could come away with more delegates because he may win more congressional districts. The west and the north, I think, play to his favor.</s>O'BRIEN: The president is running a new ad and it focuses a lot on the auto industry. I'm going to play a little bit of that for you.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jobs are on the line. Every Republican candidate turned their back, even said "Let Detroit go bankrupt." Not him.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Don't bet against the American auto industry.</s>O'BRIEN: Do you think that there is not as much leverage in that ad? When you look at the poll and you reference this a little bit before, something like only 42 percent of people in the State of Michigan supported the bailout, even now looking back saying that it was successful. Is that a problem?</s>GRANHOLM: Actually of all voters, it's - it's very popular. But among Republicans, which is, of course, what we care about tomorrow or today, the bailout was a challenge. Nonetheless, people here understand that it worked. And the thought that - that Mitt Romney would say, Let Detroit go bankrupt in a "New York Times" Op-Ed is really so - so utterly - such an example of pandering to a national audience when he comes from Detroit. And then when he comes back to Detroit and he says, I love the American car, I've got all these cars and not only that, my wife has two Cadillacs. Then I've got every automaker covered because I've got one from each of the big three. I mean, it's not so much about his wealth, but that he appears to be trying to make up for something that everybody knows he opposed. So I do think that the president - it all bodes well for the president in a general election. I think that Michigan, unlike in other years where it was a swing state, I think Michigan will be solid blue in November because it worked and Michigan's economy is back on track.</s>O'BRIEN: How much of a role could gas prices have? Here's what Rick Santorum said about President Obama talking about gas prices.</s>RICK SANTORUM, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We now have $4 a gallon gasoline and some are suggesting it's going to be $5 and maybe more this year. Why? Because the president is doing nothing to allay the fears of the world that America is going to try and help replace the oil that is tenuous right now in the Middle East.</s>O'BRIEN: Even people who admit that the White House doesn't directly control the price of gasoline at the pumps will say, hearing the president over the weekend talk about - well, you know, it's not really his fault, about the gas prices, isn't going far enough. Do you think it's a mistake for him to take that position?</s>GRANHOLM: Well, I mean, it is the truth. I mean, the gas prices are up. Let's be very clear about it, because of the unrest in the Middle East and speculators who are taking advantage of that. Truly, to blame the president for gas prices, I've said earlier, is like blaming Rudy Giuliani for 9/11. It's ridiculous. However, people who are putting money into their gas tanks want something done. And who else do you blame but whoever is in charge. The reality is - and the president out there explaining this. That even if - even as he has opened up more oil and gas leases, even as there is more drilling off of the Gulf, if you opened up every potential possibility for drilling, the U.S. Energy Information Agency has said that it would only affect gas prices to the tune of three cents per gallon. So Newt Gingrich and others who said they want to bring it down to $2.50 when this is a commodity that is traded on world markets is absolutely ridiculous. The president has to get out there and say that, but he also has to say, I understand this hurts.</s>O'BRIEN: Jennifer Granholm is the former governor of Michigan. It's nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us. I should mention she's also the current TV host of "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm." Thanks for your time. Appreciate it.</s>GRANHOLM: You bet.</s>O'BRIEN: Then we're going to have live coverage of the Arizona and Michigan primaries begins at 6:00 P.M. Eastern tonight and with a special edition of "JOHN KING USA" followed by live coverage of the results which starts at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, following Breaking News, a second student has now died in that Ohio school shooting. We're going to hear from Chardon High School student Nate Mueller, who describes the shooter's silent rampage. Plus, Rick Santorum is now urging Democrats to vote against Mitt Romney in Michigan's primary. The Romney campaign is calling it a new low. We're going to ask Will Cain what he thinks.</s>CAIN: A whole lot.</s>O'BRIEN: So do wish. Also, we've got Will Cain's play list this morning. Oh, back to Willie Nelson. I love Willie Nelson, but, my God, don't you have anything else in your iPod?</s>CAIN: Let it play for 10 seconds.</s>O'BRIEN: I know the song.</s>LAMONT HILL: You only have six songs on your iPod.</s>O'BRIEN: Yes, it's true.