GOP Battle for Michigan; Santorum Supporter Apologizes
WHITFIELD: Check the top stories right now, final funeral plans are set for Whitney Houston. A long list of stars will honor Houston tomorrow at her childhood church in Newark, New Jersey. Ex-husband Bobby Brown is also expected to attend. And today, Congress could approve the deal extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. President Obama will sign the deal when it hits his desk. In Louisiana, a 5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River is closed in one part because two vessels collided this morning. One of the vessels was a barge that leaked oil into the river. The vessel has been pushed up into a bank and is no longer leaking. No word yet on how much oil did spill, however. All right, "Political Buzz" is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today, CNN contributor, Maria Cardona, Chris Moody is a political reporter for Yahoo! News and Boris Epstein, he is a contributor for the "Daily Caller" and a Republican strategist. All right, it's good to see all of you. All right so first question, two female Democratic council members walked out of a committee hearing, the contraception rule, because there were no women on the panel of witnesses so what is at stake here? Maria?</s>MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What's at stake I think is the downfall of the Republican Party because frankly they're stepping it big time and they should take a playbook out of Rick Perry and wear boots. Except boots wouldn't be -- wouldn't be big enough. They need to wear rubber suits. Because they are not just stepping in it they are rolling in it. Look, Independent women of critical demographic and the majority of women in this country have taken contraception and they demand, we demand equal access to preventive services. Imagine that that's outrageous that we would demand equal access to life-saving services. The Republicans are wrong on this. They've already -- already alienated Latino voters and they're going down the wrong path on this.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Boris?</s>BORIS EPSTEIN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: This could be handled better from the Republican perspective no question about this. This could be framed as a constitutional debate. Does the President and the federal government have the right to mandate that these -- this contraception is paid for either by religious institutions or their insurers. Sometimes the same institutions or the employers are also the insurers. That's how the debate should be framed. Both sides are trivializing it by saying at one side the Republicans don't want women to have contraception and Republicans are saying that the Democrats or President Obama, don't or want to trample on religion that's not happening with either one. Let's be smart about the debate.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Chris?</s>CHRIS MOODY, REPORTER, YAHOO NEWS: Look I think the optics at yesterday's hearing could have been a lot better. Surely there was a Republican aide looking at the names of people that were going to speak at the hearing and said, you know, maybe they'll criticize us for not having any women. I'm actually surprise that they didn't think about that. And of course, they were criticized for it. I mean, but that is a trivial matter I think people are saying that his is Republicans the cultural wars of the 1990s but it wasn't Republicans that started this mandate on -- that could violate certain people's religious moral convictions. So the question I think is who swung -- who swung first? And I think in this case it was the Democrats.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Santorum supporter Foster Friess makes a joke about women using aspirin as a contraceptive back in his days. Santorum is putting distance between him and his comments but is this giving us a glimpse into Santorum's world? Boris you first?</s>EPSTEIN: It's bad. To go on "Andrea Mitchell" and to say that, it was awful. Is that a glimpse into Santorum's world? Maybe yes, maybe no but what we do know about Rick Santorum, is that he's someone who has spoken against women in military forces, women in the workforce, he's spoken out against gay rights, he's someone who concentrates on social issues, he's someone who is not for a big Republican tent. And that as Republicans that's what we need, we need to concentrate on small government, low taxes, national security, that's how we can beat President Obama and win the Senate while keeping the House. If Rick Santorum is at the top of the ticket we're going to have a problem in all the races.</s>WHITFIELD: Maria?</s>CARDONA: I think it's not only a glimpse into Rick Santorum's world, I think it's a glimpse into this new extreme Republican Party who doesn't respect women and who doesn't understand that women are a key demographic. And it's as going back to your first question it's a long the same lines. And look if they keep down this path the only election that Republicans are going to win any time soon are elections on Newt Gingrich's moon colony. It's ridiculous what they're doing in terms of alienating critically important demographics.</s>WHITFIELD: And Chris?</s>MOODY: Well I think obviously Rick Santorum and his campaign, were a little bit embarrassed by Foster Friess comments. You know I've heard Rick Santorum on the trail discuss this quite a bit. In his personal life he opposes using artificial contraceptives but every time I've heard him he's been extremely clear to say that he separates his personal views from policy views. If you look at his record throughout the 1990s, he doesn't necessarily vote against contraceptives and I think that's something that is overlooked quite a bit, that he separates those two things.</s>WHITFIELD: Ok, your "Buzzer Beater", 20 seconds each, Romney is now in a dogfight in his home state of Michigan. Even with an endorsement from the Governor, so why is this such a tough battle for him, Maria?</s>CARDONA: Because in addition to the fact that this is not somebody that conservatives trust or conservatives like because he's flip- flopped on so many issues, the key argument for his candidacy, which is that he is a businessman who knows how to turn around ailing industries has completely tanked because of the fact that he came out against the Detroit bankruptcy plan or bailout plan that has in fact, saved Detroit and saved the key industry in Michigan.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Boris?</s>EPSTEIN: Saved the key industry, by still costing taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. The bailout comments are a problem for Mitt Romney. Long-term, he is going to overcome these issues and he is going to be Republican nominee because, again, he doesn't concentrate on social issues like Santorum does and focus on what people care become the economy and national security. Michigan is going to be a dogfight. Long-term, Romney is the nominee no question about it.</s>WHITFIELD: All right. Chris?</s>MOODY: When it comes to his lack of support for the bailout it's kind of a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario for Mitt Romney if he had said I support the bailout, they would have said well, you're just -- you're pandering to Michigan or you're abandoning your free market or Republican conservative principles. People are saying that Michigan could be a Waterloo for Mitt Romney. I don't know if it's that extreme but it will tell us if we're going to have a much longer primary -- primary season here going forward.</s>WHITFIELD: All right next time, we need more -- more time on the clock for you guys next time. We're very fiery.</s>EPSTEIN: That would be great.</s>CARDONA: It does seem very short today, Frederica.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Maria, Chris and Boris, thanks so much.</s>EPSTEIN: Have a good weekend.</s>CARDONA: Thank you.</s>WHITFIELD: Have a great weekend. All right, just days before the Arizona primary election, the GOP contenders debate the issues again. The Arizona Republican presidential debate on CNN Wednesday night, 8:00 Eastern Time. And more stars are being added to the guest list for Whitney Houston's funeral. Details straight ahead in "Showbiz" headlines.