Interview with Bob Walker, John Sununu
CROWLEY: Joining me here in Manchester, John Sununu, former governor of New Hampshire and a Romney supporter, and Bob Walker, a former U.S. congressman who's advising the Gingrich campaign. Thank you, both, gentlemen. Big debate last night. Not a lot of fireworks aimed at Mitt Romney, so it seems to me that this is a nod in the direction of he really is the front-runner and this is all about can anybody challenge him? Would you agree with that summation of what happened?</s>FORMER GOV. JOHN SUNUNU, NEW HAMPSHIRE: Well, I think they're all challenging him. And that's what the process is all about. Mitt Romney's going a step at a time, recognizing it's going to be a long slog, although, of course, New Hampshire is the most important step in that long slog.</s>CROWLEY: Thank you, Governor.</s>SUNUNU: But -- but really and truly, anyone who thinks this is going to end quickly and early is -- is mistaken.</s>FORMER REP. BOB WALKER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: I would agree with that, that I think that, in New Hampshire, that Mitt Romney is certainly the front-runner. I think that there are a lot of people vying for the number two and three slots, again, in -- in New Hampshire. But clearly, there are high expectations for Governor Romney here in New Hampshire, and so part of this selection is going to be measured by those expectations.</s>SUNUNU: Let me talk...</s>SUNUNU: Let me talk about this spin that's coming out. Whenever you're losing badly, you move from saying I'm trying to win to lowering expectations. To me, the reference point for what you can do in a New Hampshire primary was the Bush-Dole campaign. I ran the Bush campaign in '88. Bush beats Dole 38-29. It was virtually a two-man race. And -- and we had a great campaign, got up to 38 percent. This is six or seven people -- actually eight or nine major ones -- still on the ballot, including the ones that dropped out. That's the reference point, that you're going to get somewhere, I think, in the middle 30s and you're going to win hopefully by eight, nine...</s>CROWLEY: ... lowering expectations...</s>SUNUNU: But -- but why should it be any better? Why should it be any significantly different than the Bush-Dole margin structure that occurred then?</s>WALKER: But the fact is -- the fact is that the expectations of a lot of the New Hampshire polls that I'm talking to is that he should be in the 40s in New Hampshire. And the other fact is that, right now, we see, for instance, Newt Gingrich moving up in the latest poll and we see Romney moving down a little bit. It's closing up. And that will be a factor in what the final determination will be.</s>SUNUNU: It -- it always closes up and that's the whole point. And what you're getting is the spin of the losers trying to salvage something out of the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary.</s>WALKER: Well, the fact is -- the fact is that everybody came into New Hampshire recognizing that, if Mitt Romney would happen to finish second in New Hampshire, it would be a disaster for his campaign. And so everybody else is in fact finding a way to jockey for position. We'll see when we move from here. John believes that this is going to be a long slog. I believe this is going to be a long slog.</s>CROWLEY: I believe it's going to end in Florida. Do you all say you think it's going to be a long -- I mean, I understand that the delegates, getting the delegates out there is going to take a while because every state has delegates and has a different process. But the fact of the matter is, if somebody's going to come out of here looking fairly strong as the not-Romney candidate -- correct?</s>WALKER: That could be. It's not -- it's not clear exactly how that will sort out because some of that is already sorting out on the ground in -- in South Carolina.</s>CROWLEY: In South Carolina. So South Carolina then becomes the next battlefield and you -- you go there and you find the conservative alternative to Mitt. And then it's solved in Florida. What's wrong with that scenario?</s>SUNUNU: You're right. It -- it's going to be a long slog. It's going to go well past Florida.</s>CROWLEY: Right...</s>WALKER: Well, we think...</s>SUNUNU: Isn't it -- isn't it really a representation of, you know, people trying to overspin this process that we're spending all this time talking about how important a small margin differential might be? We ought to be talking about issues. We ought to be talking about the fact that -- that the Republican Party has got a bunch of fairly good candidates, very good candidates, campaigning, debating, talking about how to fix America, and Mitt Romney is putting out a message that, right now, has him at the top of the pack. He won Iowa; he's going to win New Hampshire; and he's going to move into South Carolina and Florida, and we're going to see different parts of the country participate in the process. And I'm positive Mitt Romney's going to do well.</s>WALKER: And...</s>WALKER: ... we are talking about process, because the issues that the American people want to hear about is not where the individual candidates are in percentages. What they want to hear is how we're going to produce the jobs of the future, how we're going to make this economy grow, how we are going to deal with a foreign policy crisis that's enormous in places like the Middle East.</s>CROWLEY: So let me talk about the latest ad from Newt Gingrich talking about economic policy. Take a listen.</s>ANNOUNCER: Romney's economic plan? Timid, parts of it virtually identical to Obama's failed policy. Timid won't create jobs, and timid certainly won't defeat Barack Obama.</s>CROWLEY: So, Romney's plan is timid and very much like Barack Obama's. So let's talk policy.</s>SUNUNU: Look, the most important thing that you have to do to create jobs in this country is to create a climate that attracts investment. Investment wants to come back to America but most of the private sector is holding cash today because they're scared to death of this administration. You need to flatten the tax; you need to cut corporate taxes. You have to reduce regulations; you have to modernize regulations, and you have to recognize that we are truly in a competitive climate, not a public-sector perspective like Obama has, but a competitive private- sector set of experiences that Mitt Romney can bring to creating the public sector policies that we...</s>WALKER: But just so we understand -- just so we understand, it was not Newt Gingrich calling the plan that Governor Romney has put forward timid. It was The Wall Street Journal. it was The Wall Street Journal that has said that it is a plan that is closer to Obama's than certainly the rest of the people in the field. Newt Gingrich believes that by going to a zero capital gains tax, by lowering the corporate tax to 12.5 percent, that you will get exactly the investment that we need in this country and we will produce new jobs. Moreover, the one-year expensing of equipment for manufacturers and for others will assure that we invest in the most modern technologies and put the workers in the field that will be the most productive.</s>SUNUNU: Candy, what America wants to know: who is going to cut spending, reduce spending so you can go to a flatter tax, so you can reduce capital gains tax, and so you can reduce regulations.</s>WALKER: You have to have growth in order to do those things. You have to...</s>WALKER: You have to grow the economy in order to do it.</s>CROWLEY: I'll have you both back, I promise.</s>WALKER: Thank you. It's good to be with you.</s>CROWLEY: After the break, an exclusive interview with Nancy Pelosi on the Republican 2012 race and her biting non-opinion of the front-runner.</s>CROWLEY: Have you ever met Mitt Romney?</s>PELOSI: I don't think so. It wasn't memorable if I did.