Primary Evening In Michigan And Arizona; Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum Vying for Big Win on Super Tuesday
SAMBOLIN: This is the part of the show where we go to the heart of the political debate where all sides are "Fair Game." We're a day away from the Michigan and Arizona primaries. It looks like a two-man race in both. Winning these two contests could set the table for a big Super Tuesday for either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum. So joining me now is Republican analyst, Lenny McAllister; and Democratic political consultant, Ed Espinoza. Guys, both of these states look like dead heats. So why does it seem like Santorum and Romney are only focusing on Michigan, Ed?</s>ED ESPINOZA, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Well, Michigan is a proportional delegate -- sorry. I've got a little echo here so I'm going to turn down the volume. Michigan is a state that allocates its delegates on a proportional basis. Arizona is winner-take-all. Romney is going to win Arizona. The polls might be tightening up a little bit now in a couple of surveys, but these candidates have internal polling. They see the writing on the wall. They know it's going to happen. Santorum is going to lose Arizona. It's not a good use of the campaign funds. So for them to have a real competition and to have come out of this race with delegates, they are going to take it to Michigan.</s>SAMBOLIN: Do you agree, Lenny?</s>LENNY MCALLISTER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Somewhat. But some of the points Ed is missing is that Michigan is part of the Midwest sweep that Santorum would love to have. You listen to what Rick Santorum says an awful lot, he talks about the Reagan Democrats. He's trying to be that person that gets the Reagan Democrats in the fall so he gets the nomination. What does he need? He needs Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, where he is up. He needs those types of states. He already has Missouri. He would likely get Indiana. If he can get the Midwest, couple that with a Christian conservative in the south, he can see how he would win in November. Well, Arizona plays into that but nowhere near that Midwestern belt that he needs. That's why it's more important for Rick Santorum to win in Michigan tomorrow.</s>SAMBOLIN: Over the weekend, Rick Santorum said a couple things I want to talk about. Let's listen first and then we'll talk.</s>RICK SANTORUM, (R), FORMER PENNSYLVANIA SENATOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob.</s>SANTORUM: There are good decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to test that are not taught by some liberal college professor that try and indoctrinate them.</s>SANTORUM: Oh, I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image.</s>SAMBOLIN: Remake you in his image. Lenny, what do you make of that?</s>MCALLISTER: It goes back to what I've been saying previously, great social commentary, horrible, horrible political messaging. Remember, Rick Santorum has been talking to the manufacturer that is going to go vote. In that regard, it's a great move. However, I can't help but think about, in the month of February, Black History Month, the United Negro College Fund, you have Rick Santorum telling people that it's snobbery to want people to aspire to go to college. Again, I understand what he's trying to go after. You can be a blue collar worker and still accomplish the American dream. But the way he's messaging it is bad. And once again, this is going to be a long line of messaging issues that Rick Santorum is lining up throughout this campaign season.</s>SAMBOLIN: Ed, do you agree?</s>ESPINOZA: Yes, I totally agree. When they say --</s>SAMBOLIN: This is a tough one. I've got another one. This is a speech in Troy, Michigan. Listen and we'll talk about it.</s>SANTORUM: To go across this country and talk to minority communities, not about giving them more food stamps and government dependency, but creating jobs that they can participate and rise in society.</s>SAMBOLIN: I kind of remember hearing this from Mr. Newt Gingrich, Lenny.</s>ESPINOZA: Yes.</s>MCALLISTER: Yes, we have. And, again, I understand where they are trying to go with this. But part of the problem is this, Zoraida. If you don't have -black-</s>SAMBOLIN: Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait. Lenny, how do you understand where they are trying to go with this? Explain that to me.</s>MCALLISTER: Because what they are trying to say is, you look at African-Americans, you look at how the African-American subculture in America -- we're getting more dropouts, we're getting more black men incarcerated, we're becoming more dependent on the system, and we're not reflecting the pride that African-Americans have had for years in this country. You have to get back to prosperity, back to work, back to fulfilling a dream and a legacy. I understand that. But if you're messaging all wrong, if you're making it seem as though all black people are on welfare or you have to save them from one thing to another, and pointing blame rather than talking about something that is liberating or prosperous or something empowering, you miss the point. You stay stuck on the language and you don't get to the message, which gets to the vision of what the candidate is trying to articulate.</s>SAMBOLIN: Ed, are you going to agree with Lenny on this one as well?</s>ESPINOZA: I couldn't follow everything that he was saying but I know this. That if you say that it's snobbery to think that somebody needs to go to college but you say that they don't need to be on food stamps, there's a disconnect there. There's also a disconnect between understanding minority communities, building any relationship there, whether it's Santorum saying comments like this or even Romney making off-the-cuff comments about his wife having a couple of Cadillacs, these are the things that show a real disconnect with voters out there. And I think that there are not only will there be problems on Tuesday but problems over the long haul.</s>SAMBOLIN: All right, gentlemen, we will leave it --</s>SAMBOLIN: Oh, oh, oh, yes?</s>MCALLISTER: It's the same problem that the Republican parties have had. It will be interesting to see what the convention looks like in 2012. If you don't have black consultants and black strategists in the room with these candidates, you hear these types of comments, you see the delegation go like we did in 2008, and you see the voting results in November. This is just --</s>MCALLISTER: -- what they have been doing previously.</s>SAMBOLIN: Perhaps vying for a consultant's job.