Gingrich: Won't Participate In Debates Moderated By Journalists
BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer. Here are some of the stories we're working on for the next hour: The first exit polls from Florida, they'll be coming in soon. It will shed some light a what voters there are thinking on this very important primary election day. And why intelligence officials now fear Iran is willing to attack the U.S. on its own turf. Stand by. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Let's get to our "Strategy Session" right now. Joining us our CNN contributors, the Democratic strategist, Donna Brazile and the Republican strategist, Alex Castellanos. Guys, thanks very much. Marco Rubio, the junior senator here in Florida, still a very powerful figure, he was on CNN with Soledad O'Brien earlier today. Listen to what he said.</s>SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I'm not going to speculate as to who is going to win, we're going to find out here fairly soon. Here's what I'm comfortable in saying though. I think that the winner of Florida will in all likelihood going to be the nominee of our party. And rightfully so, I mean, Florida, as you said, is a mini- America. I mean, virtually every issue that we want our nominee to be conversant on and convincing on is an issue that had to confront here in Florida. So we'll wait for the results. I don't know what they're going to be. We all follow the polls, but let's see because we have, you know, we have an election week in Florida. People have been voting for more than a week with the absentee ballots.</s>BLITZER: Early voting and absentee ballots, maybe 600,000 of the 2 million or so have already voted even before this day. Alex, you agree with Marco Rubio that in all likelihood the winner of this primary in Florida tonight will be the Republican nominee?</s>ALEX CASTELLANOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I would say in all likelihood, but not in all certitude. Yes, Florida is a big state representative of the country, but you know, when you look at other states, Mitt Romney is winning tactical victories not strategic victories. He's winning victories because he does negative ads, kills his opponents, has a lot more money, but hasn't won at the strategic level, at the message level. That's why it hasn't translated nationally. Yes, Mitt Romney should win, but you know, Rubio could be wrong. He hasn't heard Mitt Romney sing evidently.</s>BLITZER: Let's not get carried away. We'll talk about that a bit later. The whole notion of Newt Gingrich's strategy, what is his strategy? Let's say he were to lose decisively in Florida tonight.</s>DONNA BRAZILE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, first of all less than 10 percent of the delegates will be selected by the end of the night. Newt Gingrich still has an opportunity if he has an organization, if he can find the money, to compete for about 180 delegates in the month of February. Big prize on Super Tuesday on March 6, so there's no question that if he can go the distance to accumulate delegates especially if Mitt Romney cannot secure the nomination before mid-April, 1,144 delegates. So is there a path to the nomination? Absolutely, but I don't know if Newt Gingrich, given the fact that his campaign, he's come back twice. He's had more rebounds than Larry Bird. If he doesn't show tonight that he can close the race, that he can compete and stop the establishment from piling it on, I think it will be really tough for him to secure the nomination.</s>CASTELLANOS: February looks really tough for Newt Gingrich. It's the march across the desert. There are very few primaries and caucuses and Newt Gingrich thrives off debate, guess what? He doesn't have much coming up. So he's going to need big money to get ready for Super Tuesday. Can he find that if he takes a big beating in Florida, maybe not.</s>BLITZER: Speaking of debates, he said this. It's a very controversial comment he made. I was frankly pretty surprised when he said it. As you know, as all of our viewers know, there are already three presidential debates scheduled for the fall before the November 6th election. There's a National Presidential Commission that does this. The last debate will be in Boca Rattan at Lynn University. They already know where they are. They already have all the ground rules. They have all that worked out, yet he now says this --</s>NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The reporters who run the debates have no interest asking any question, which will affect Obama. That's why -- that's why, as your nominee, I will not accept debates in the fall in which the reporters are the moderators. You don't need a second Obama person in the debate.</s>BLITZER: Alex, you think that's realistic? Those three presidential debates that the commission has organized, he's not going to be in those?</s>CASTELLANOS: I can't imagine that he really means this, but this is what scares Republicans about Newt Gingrich. Not just the establishment, everybody. That right underneath the surface there's an angry Newt who if he doesn't get his way, if things don't start going well for him, he's much more likable when he's behind and moving up. But when he gets the lead, he seems to not be able to deal with responsibility real well, but this, he's also called Mitt Romney a maniacal liar. That's going over the line on some things. He's coming unglued a little bit here at the tail end in Florida. If that's what people see over the next week nationally when they look at what happened in Florida, it will hurt him.</s>BLITZER: I was surprised because until recently he's done very well in the debates and keeping challenging the president to the debates.</s>BRAZILE: But remember he's playing to an audience that the Republicans must understand. They want red meat. They do not like the Washington establishment. They don't like the liberal elites. Pretty much I can go on and on and then I would break into a song and you'll lose your audience. But let me just tell you this, Newt Gingrich, if he's the nominee, he will show up and he will compete in those debates.</s>CASTELLANOS: You don't turn down an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. Maybe Gingrich we'll need a teleprompter, too.</s>BLITZER: He needs more than a teleprompter that at this point.</s>BLITZER: Thanks very, very much. There will be three presidential debates. The Republican nominee, the Democratic nominee, they will be there I can guarantee you that. Tough talk on Syria from the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as gruesome new atrocities come to light on this day. We have new video of an alleged brutality on a shocking scale.