Republicans Prepare to Debate; GOP Debate is Last Showdown Before Super Tuesday.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: final showdown. The GOP candidates arrive for tonight's CNN debate here in Houston. It's their last face-off before Super Tuesday. And if his rivals can't stop Donald Trump's express soon, will they try for a brokered convention? Attack mode. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz badly need to land some punches tonight. And with Trump's tendency to hit back hard, the debate could easily turn into another bare-knuckled brawl. And a former GOP contender is piling on -- 2012 nominee Mitt Romney is in a public spat with Donald Trump over tax returns after hinting the billionaire has something to hide. Plus, with the debate taking place in a border state, the immigration battle is heating up, the former Mexican president warning Trump that he's not going to pay for the -- quote -- "F'ing wall" and warns Latinos against what he calls a crazy guy. Want to welcome our viewers in the United States and watching around the world. Wolf Blitzer is preparing to moderate tonight's Republican debate. I'm Anderson Cooper, along with Chris Cuomo. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM. And welcome. We're live from the University of Houston, site of tonight's CNN Republican presidential debate now just two-and-a-half- hours away, a critical showdown, the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday, when delegates are up for grabs in more than a dozen states. The candidates have arrived here at the debate hall, where it may be the last chance for Donald Trump's rivals to try and slow his momentum. The front-runner has won three states in a row and is riding high in polls. Ted Cruz leads in his home state of Texas, but has spent much of his time clashing with Marco Rubio, who hasn't won a single state and trails Trump badly in his own state of Florida. John Kasich and Ben Carson will stand at opposite ends of the debate stage tonight. They are taking heat for acting as spoilers and need strong performances to fend off the increasing pressure to bow out. There's a wild card tonight as well, as the GOP establishment shows growing anxiety over Trump's lead -- 2012 nominee Mitt Romney has gotten into a public feud with Trump over tax returns. Romney suggests Trump is hiding a bombshell. Trump called him a dope. And first on CNN, as Marco Rubio scrambles for support, his campaign is telling donors and power brokers that it's preparing for a brokered convention as a way to keep the nominee away from Trump or Cruz. The tension building, the stakes high, and we have the kind of coverage only CNN can deliver. The candidates have checked out the debate hall here. They are now making their final preparations. That is the room inside the debate hall. We begin with CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. What are you learning from the campaigns, Jim?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Donald Trump better have his body armor on tonight on this debate stage behind me. With the GOP front-runner looking to run the table on Super Tuesday., Trump's rivals are signaling they are going on the attack tonight. A senior adviser to Ted Cruz tells me the Texas senator is no longer going to -- quote -- "take it on the chin" when it comes to Trump calling him a liar. Cruz has been more aggressive in going after Trump in recent days, urging voters not to fall for P.T. Barnum, and that this adviser tells me we will see that play out on the stage later tonight. This could also be a make-or-break night for all of the contenders vying to be the anti-Trump in the GOP race. Marco Rubio has sharpened his rhetoric in recent days, saying Trump supports parts of Obamacare. We will probably hear Trump's response to that later on tonight. And a pro-John Kasich super PAC is going after Rubio, disputing the notion that the Florida senator should be the establishment's number one candidate. As for Rubio, my colleague M.J. Lee is reporting the Florida senator's advisers have been meeting to prepare for the possibility of a brokered convention, but Rubio needs to survive long -- all the way to the convention. He's going to have to do some winning before then. He needs to win his state of Florida. A new poll there shows him losing to Donald Trump, but Rubio's team is telling me take it to the bank. He will win in Florida -- Chris.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Jim Acosta, not-so-secret secret coming out of the Rubio camp. We will talk about the implications there. There no question there's so much riding on tonight's debate. The showdown could turn into another brawl among the Republican rivals. Let's turn to CNN political reporter Sara Murray in the spin room. Sara, a key Republican establishment figure is throwing fuel on the fire now. What do you make of the Romney situation?</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That is absolutely right. You would think that Donald Trump would be brawling today with other Republican rivals from this cycle, but the guy he's fighting with is the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, who has said there could be a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes, is calling on Trump to release his back taxes. Now, as Trump is wont to do, he took to Twitter to respond today. He said, "Mitt Romney, who was one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics, is now pushing me on tax returns. Dope." And he even released a photo, Donald Trump did, of him signing his tax return, a huge sheet of paper there talking about how ridiculous the whole thing is. Now, none of this is prompting Governor Romney to back down from his criticism. He decided to join this Twitter battle today weighing in and saying: "Methinks the Donald doth protest too much. Show us your back taxes, Donald Trump." He used "#whatishehiding." Now, Mitt Romney knows betters than most how damaging the tax issue can be. He was really slow to release his tax returns four years ago. When he did, he faced a lot of criticism about his low tax rate and also about his overseas holdings. The questions for Donald Trump would be, what kind of charitable giving do you have? What is your overall tax tab? We were just speaking right now me to Alex Conant, who is the spokesman for Marco Rubio's camp. He says he does believe that Republican voters should get a look at these candidates' tax returns before we hit the general election. He said Marco Rubio will release his own returns in just a few days -- back to you, Anderson.</s>CUOMO: But a bombshell, obviously, Sara, is a little more of a shoulder shrug if you don't have the there there, the proof. So, we wait on that. What else are you hearing out of the Rubio campaign, this odd tension between the urgency of telling everybody, vote for me now vs., hey, we will maybe do a brokered convention? What are you hearing?</s>MURRAY: We were just talking to Alex Conant about that as well. While he'd not comment specifically on what Terry Sullivan had to say, he said he still expects Marco Rubio to sew up enough delegates to win the nomination before we get to California, but he reiterated this is going to be a long slog campaign. He said their campaign is preparing for any possible scenario. That's sort of how they are spinning that little discussion to us today -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Sara Murray, thanks very much for the latest. Joining us is Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah. He chairs the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He also serves on the Judiciary Committee and he has endorsed Senator Marco Rubio's White House bid. Congressman, thanks very much for being with us. This new Quinnipiac poll shows Rubio way below Trump in his home state of Florida. Rubio's campaign says not to worry. Senator Tim Scott couldn't say on this program just yesterday that Rubio had Florida in the bag. Given these numbers, what do you say? Does Rubio have his own state?</s>REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: I hope so. He needs to. I think as you look at the home state, just as Ted Cruz, if he can't pull off in Texas, I think Marco Rubio needs to pull off Florida. That's just my personal opinion. And Mr. Kasich, if he thinks he's going to stay in the race, the governor is going to have to pull off Ohio. You are expected to win your home state.</s>COOPER: At this point, though, if the race doesn't become a one-on- one matchup, how does your candidate -- if Cruz doesn't drop out, if Kasich doesn't drop out and Carson, how does your candidate actually start to win anywhere? Where on the map do you see him right now winning?</s>CHAFFETZ: Well, look, this is the challenge for Republicans. If we actually want to have a nominee who is conservative, then you better rally around somebody. And I think the most conservative person that can win in November is Marco Rubio. And we have got a decision as a party. And there's still millions of votes to be had. That's in part why I'm pouring my heart and soul behind Marco Rubio. He is that conservative. He is principled. He's not going to surprise us. He's going to make us proud. And he can rally and expand the tent, so that when we take on Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, we can actually win, with a conservative.</s>CUOMO: The math isn't exactly clear anymore that this coalescing theory around one candidate, in particular Marco Rubio, would be enough to wind up more than balancing the field against Trump. But that's a little bit theoretical, because, as you said, we have to see which way the votes go. But tonight is practical. Tonight is real. What's is your advice to Senator Rubio about what to do on that stage?</s>CHAFFETZ: Well, to answer the first part of your question, Donald Trump has not broken 50 percent. In South Carolina, he got less than a third of the vote. There's still a lot of votes out there and a lot of people that I think are still shopping and trying to find the right person. For the debate, I think Marco Rubio just needs to be Marco Rubio. You don't need to try to pretend to be somebody else. And if you do pretend to be somebody else, you are going to get called out on it. Just be the passionate conservative that talks from his heart and his soul and Marco Rubio will be doing just fine.</s>COOPER: Do you believe he should start to go after Donald Trump to try to confront him more directly than he has?</s>CHAFFETZ: Marco Rubio's style is to be aspirational. I think he's got a very detailed plan, the most detailed plan that I see out there in the field. If he gets hit, I think he will hit back. I know in New Hampshire, to use a sports metaphor, he threw a little bit of an interception. But you know what? You can still go out and win the Super Bowl even though you throw an interception in the first quarter. I think he's going to be just fine. He talks from his heart, he knows what he believes. And he just -- he's probably not going to throw the first punch, but that second punch will be quite a punch to the gut, if he gets one.</s>COOPER: In terms of -- Marco Rubio has said that he is the most qualified in terms of foreign policy, the most experienced to become president. Aside from committee assignments, which is what he often names, I mean, can you name a specific plan he has to defeat ISIS that's really anything different than what's already being done?</s>CHAFFETZ: You can't dismiss his committee assignment when you are on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He's seeing the same intelligence that the presidential level intelligence is seeing. Nobody else in the field is having those types of experiences. So, for instance, I went into Libya. I was the first person after Benghazi to go into Libya. I talked to Marco Rubio, who had also been to Libya. I don't think anybody else in the field had been to Libya. He's done good things on human trafficking. He understands the world. He's traveled the world. You can't just dismiss seeing that intelligence, digesting it and having those secretive discussions in a classified setting.</s>COOPER: But in terms of policy, does he -- I mean, how is he -- how is he any different than any of the other candidates? What can he offer?</s>CHAFFETZ: If you look at his world view and his understanding of the world, whether it be the Middle East, North Korea, the South China Sea, just watch the debates. I think it will play out tonight on the program. He understands this, he can articulate it, he has a vision for it, unlike the others, who have trouble just articulating who these leaders are, which countries are even involved, understanding the Sunni-Shia relationship and how we put together a force to actually win and defeat ISIS. I think he has the most comprehensive plan. But everybody needs to go and look at their own Web sites and hear them out and make their own decisions.</s>CUOMO: Well, to this point, clearly, it hasn't been resonating, as we look at the results. And that winds up raising another practical concern for you and all of his supporters, which is, if he does not get the delegates that are necessary and Trump doesn't, is Rubio's best chance at this point a brokered convention?</s>CHAFFETZ: Well, yes, again, you have had no candidate that's broken the barrier of 50 percent. When Mitt Romney was in the fight in Nevada, he was north of 50 percent of the vote. No doubt Donald Trump is doing well. He's got three wins. I'm not trying to take anything away from him. But let's understand that you have got millions of votes out there, more proportional votes than we have had in the past. And a brokered convention is still a very distinct possibility.</s>COOPER: We are going to take a short break. We are going to have more with Congressman Jason Chaffetz in just a moment. Our coverage continues.