fight, because i have been on the front lines. >> he says he was a severely conservative republican governor of massachusetts, and he also said he knows conservativism, because he lived wit, and vowed to repeal president obama's health care act, and to agree or disagree, it is to use his own word severely conservative, and to be honest, it does not describe his time in massachusetts as governor and how he himself was describing himself when he ran for the job. this is mitt romney in 2002 when he was running for governor. >> people realize i'm not a partisan republican, but moderate and my views are progressive. >> not a partisan, moderate, but progressive views. here he is in a campaign debate volunteering the moderate and liberal position on abortion rights. >> and the chairman stuck a little point in there that is with my views on protecting a woman's right to choose. i have been clear, and i will preserve a woman's right to choose and i will be devoted in that word. i will not change any provision of massachusetts' pro choice law s. >> mitt romney ten years ago outlining the position on abortion and whether you agree or not it is a far cry from severely conservative. the difference between then and now is consistency, and he had been saying then what he said in 1994 in the u.s. senate running against ted kennedy as a progressive republican. >> i believe that abortion should be legal in this country and i have since my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a u.s. senate kacandida and since roe v. wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it. it was a independent in the time of reagan and bush. i'm not trying to return to reagan and bush. >> back then mr. romney promised the fight for full equality of the gay and lesbian citizens and that is from the law republican he wrote. he wrote, i'm with you on this stuff and i'll be better than ted kennedy. so in 2002 he was a moderate with progressive views, and he also signed a ban on assault weapons and also signed a reform law that is similar to president obama's. and later in the ehis term he m more to the right on the gun control, and ash bortion. in 2006, when the strongly conservative magazine "republican events" put out the most conservative governors, romney did not make the list. and you can agree that his views have changed over the years, but the issue is can he seemingly rewrite the past to look better now. a lot to talk with james carville and ralph reid founder of the christian coalition, and president of the century strategy. james, when you hear mitt romney describe himself as having been a severely conservative governor, what do you think? >> well, it is not up to me, but i know that before that audience, when you think of obama care or romney care, i don't think it went over very well, and if romney is trying to run as the genuine conservative candidate against rick santorum, that is not the winning message. i don't think that people are going to buy that. you know, he is a little bit of a tight spot here, so he has the try to make some room, but this is not a smart thing he did. it doesn't sound genuine at all. >> ralph, does it sound genuine to you? do you believe he was a sincerely conservative republican governor? >> well, i believe that his advisers feel strongly and he believes that the entire teen ur as governor in the course of the campaign haseen buffeted by the opponents and the mediacrit to the health care plan, and it is a good call that he cut taxes 19 times and cut spending $3 billion and balanced four budgets and left $2 billion in a rainy day fund and left a state that he inherited in a fiscal nightmare and left it with one of the best fiscal situations in the country and unemployment hovering around 4%, and he had every right to make that case. >> but rafflph, in 2002 when he was running, he said he was not a partisan republican and describing himself as anything but severely conservative back then. >> sure. i don't disagree with that, anderson, and i have been doing this a long time and james have been doing this a long time. we both had good friends and clients in the case when we have been u consultaconsultants and office and are radicalized or evolved once they get into office. this is an 85% democratic legislature, and he vetoes bills 800 times, and it is very clear that he changed. while i remain neutral in the race and i'm not advocating anybody for this nomination, i want to let the voters decide. i know mitt romney, and i believe that evolution that he had was genuine. >> james, it is -- i mean, obviously, if president obama is running against mitt romney, they are going to be calling him a flip-flopper. >> oh, yeah. why would they do that? >> and hasn't the president, himself, changed his positions on for instance on the super pac recently on whether or not to support them? >> sure. sure, and people do. you know, and i'm sure that will come out, and, we will see what it is. it is hard to think of something that mitt romney has not changed the position on. he is a good family man and give him credit for that and loyal to the church. but look, that is something that has to be aired out. right now, mitt romney's problem is that the kn scon seservative cottston to him, and you look at what happened in south carolina and the other night, and no chance that santorum or gingrich is the nominee, and we all know that. but they just don't -- the way i -- this is like trying to feed a dog a pill. and the dog keeps spitting up the pill, and eventually they will have to take the romney pill, but they will spit it up a few more times before they take it. >> and ralph, to james' point, rick santorum says they have raised $3 million in the past two days and taken the number two spot in the gallup poll, and is he the al teternative to rom? >> well, i go become to what rick santorum said when they were writing him off as dead a few weeks ago. he said if you don't like how the race is going, give it a few days, and it will change. this is my ninth presidential campaign and i will tell you that you have to determine this on a ouija board at this point. fw but to james' point about the conservatives having to eat the dog food and we have seen this movie before, so cautious about a free still photo to suggesting that who is nominee is won't have these folks on board. >> i didn't say he wasn't going to like him, because i said they will eventually take the pill. >> yeah, i agree with that. >> and everybody is -- but no rick santorum is not going to be the nominee of anything. it is going to be romney and you are a good republican, and you are starting to fall in line and hopefully people for your party's sake they follow your lead, ralph, but they are not cueing up easily. you have the whip them in line down there. >> well, i am not falling in line and i will support who the ultimate nominee is, and whoever the ultimate nominee is, they will be sharpened and better by this process and just as barack obama by the way was a much better candidate than he ever would have been if he had not gone 12 rounds with hillary clinton. >> and you might find five people who think that rick santorum is the political equal of hillary clinton, but i would be hard pressed to find them myself. >> we will talk to them more after the break. and dialing in on the religious issues of birth control. and the issue will get heated up. we will ask them both the put out the fire. let us know what you think. follows on twitter tonight @andersoncoop @andersoncooper. the slaughter in syria is so pronound that it is visible from space. we will show you more importantly the destruction on the ground level view. and syrian armor taking aim on a civilian neighborhood. asia. >> well, the man who has been convicted of stalking madonna is under arrest again, and we will tell you why. that and much more when "360" continues. ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! ashlee! what were you looking for when you bought your edge? 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[ male announcer ] yes, it is. vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money before the break, we were talking to democratic strategist james carville, and ralph reid of the freedom coalition, and we were asking if mitt romney is trying to paint his record as more conservative than it was, and whatever you conclude, he is trying in this campaign to stake out the religious high ground. he is trying to have religious employers to include birth control coverage in their health care plan, and today president obama laid out a compromise. >> women will have access to free preventative care which includes contraceptive services no matter where they work. that core principle remains. but, if a woman's employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of the health plan, the insurance company and not the hospital and not the charity will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive carefree of charge without co-pays and without hassles. >> well, both planned parenthood, and the catholic health association gave this new version the blessing and the conference of catholic bishops called it a step in the right direction, but they would reser reserve their opinion for now. i asked ralph reid about what he felt about this. >> well, it is incalculable and what it shows is what the white house would have liked to do, and pulled back the curtain of what obama care would have looked like in a second obama administration, and that is number one. number two, we need to wait for the actual language of the ruling, but it is getting a mixed reception at best, and this is why, because et it is a government edict that is instead of telling the religious organization that they have the provide the funds unilaterally to fund something that is morally objectionable, they have shifted the mandate to the insurance company. how does the insurance company get the money to provide the mandate? they will get it from the religious emp ploy i p ploploye objectionable, but it is an improvement. >> and let me say two words, terri schiavo. this is an overreach, and first of all, they are against contraception as is most of the people. this is the kind of thing, and first of all birth control pills don't cost insurance companies money, because they gladly will give it to people, because it saves them costs. >> especially told by the government. >> and 98% of catholic women use birth control, and 28 statesmandate estatesma statesman -- statesmandated this, and if anything in the long run, they will be slightly helped by this. i think that the terri schiavoover reach is one of the things that caused the house to be lost in 2006. and rick santorum doesn't support it. >> look. i think it is nice to try to save the subject to terri schiavo. but what happened here is that this is a mushroom cloud that you had people bike joe biden and bill daily leaking they had advised against it and the white house was diving under the furniture and if it were such a great thing, why did obama himself feel like he had to walk into the white house briefing room and walk it back. this was a political disaster for the administration and white catholic voters who are voting 15 points republican in the last thr three years. >> raffle, ralph. >> yes. >> let me explain it to you. he looks reasonable in the thing. people like the idea of having contraception in this country. and the thing that he now comes and says, okay, we fixed it. just the long range implications of this if anything are going to be favor fobl table to the pres. he came out looking reasonable. 28 statesmandated it before and nobody said anything about it. >> well, james, the 28 states don't require religious organizations to provide insurance under penalty of a fine. that is apples and oranges. >> well, the religious institutions who were providing this before, but the president compromised and i come back to the point that birth control pills drive health care costs down. but it is the people who are so adamantly opposed -- >> james, contraception is widely and fully available to women all across the country, and if they cannot afford it, it is subsidized under title ten. >> no, santorum wants to overturn granholm versus connecticut. >> you said two minutes ago he should not be the nominee. who are you running against? >> i did. >> well, why are you bringing it up? >> well, do you support -- >> and what we are saying is the position -- >> raffle dlph, do you support >> i do. >> and your position. >> are you doing a george stephanopoulos, and we are going to debate contraception? it is not about contraception. >> sure it s. >> it is about whether or not a religious organization is going to be forced to do something that they find morally repugnant and against their conscious including the morning-after pill, and other methods to induce abortion. for you to not unction that that, that forcing them to violate the conscious is a violati violation of the first amendment right shows how tone deaf -- >> remember, when you losing an argument, don't try to talk down to me, you are losing the argument. the president came across being reasonable. >> and if we are losing the argument, why did he capitulate? >> well, again, excuse me for speaking while you are interrupting, ralph, but part of being a good christian is having the other person have a say so. >> go ahead. >> thank you. i think that what we are seeing here is the president being reasonable, and what we are seeing here is what we have, and the idea that this costs money is not what the facts are. birth control pills actually save on health care costs. this is what is becoming -- and the president comes across as being reasonable, and the damage of this is a, is if anything i think slightly helpful to him in the long run. >> ralph, the final thought and then we have to leave it. >> well, from the policy standpoint, it is a fig leaf and they took the gun pointed at the catholic bishops and pointed it out to the insurance companies, and this is why obama care does not poll over 30%. from a plolitical standpoint, te catholic vote in swing states like ohio, michigan, florida, new mexico, iowa is bleeding like a stuck pig on this administration and that is a major problem and why they should walk it back. >> well, that is why the president is up 6 points in the last poll, because the catholics are bleeding. >> it is not about contraception, but liberties. >> and 98% of catholics take birth control. >> leave it there, guys. >> thank you. they sure smile a lot for two guys who disagree so much. earlier we saw you mitt romney's big moment at cpac, and tonight, newt gingrich introduced her husband today, and she said there are three things that people don't know about her husband. he is a committed golfer, and he loves books and this. listen. >> newt is also very supportive. when i sing at the basilica at the national shrine or play my french horn with the city of fairfax band, he is right there listening. i am personally grateful for his wisdom in not trying to sing as a candidate. he knows his limitations. >> callista gingrich basically stepping out front to introduce her husband as ann romney has been doing to much success on the campaign trail. according to gingrich campaign, we will see more of ka lcallist gingrich in the coming days, because she brings out the husband's softer side which are the word s ths that the campaig used. she also had been his mistress for six years, and this is his third marriage and there had been some concern and in some quarters about what impact of her taking a more visible role in the husband's campaign might actually have and would it increase some resentment? clearly, the belief is that newt gingrich has a problem with the female voters and we have seen it in the last several primaries and caucuses, and the question tonight, can callista gingrich change that? here is randi kaye with an upclose look at callista gingrich. ♪ >> reporter: on most sundays callista gingrich sings in the ch church choir, but not until recently she found her voice on the campaign trail. >> let's give a warm welcome to my husband and best friend, newt gingrich. >> reporter: still moments like that are rare. getting anywhere close to callista on the campaign trail is challenging to say the least. >> no cameras. you are like 8-year-olds. >> reporter: are they trying to keep callista away from the reporters? >> i am not aware that they are trying to. >> reporter: and yet when we wanted to interview callista, the campaign said no, and agreed to let us speak with karen olson, callista's friend since the second grade. growing up, olson recalls that callista was a cheerleader, and they attended college together where callista majored in music and practiced six hours a day and graduated cum laude. and then she moved to washington, d.c. to work as a clerk with the house agriculture committee. in 1993, callista began a six-year affair with newt gingrich who at the time was speaker of the house and on his second marriage. did she talk to you about meeting newt or dating newt? >> well, you know, yeah, we knew about it, but she didn't say a lot about it. >> reporter: did you ever offer her advice? >> no, you want the best for your friend. you don't want to see them get hurt, and having a high profile relationship, you know, it is just that we were concerned. >> reporter: was she concerned do you think? >> i think so. >> reporter: callista and newt married in 2000, but the affair still dogs them to dday on the campaign trail. after newt's second wife told the media he had wanted a quote open marriage, they ran into this question in florida. >> and just to clarify, i wanted to see if you all are in an open marriage? >> no. >> no. >> reporter: how do you think that she handled that sort of thing being pressed in tough situations or getting hard questions out there? >> well, publicly, i think that she handles it very well, but privately, it can't be easy. >> reporter: early on, callista was accused by staffers of undermining the campaign, and pulling him off of the campaign trail to go on a cruise, and to appear for her new book featuring ellis the elephant. >> i'm callista gingrich and this is my friend. >> reporter: and despite the sagging poll numbers newt skipped town last fall to attend his wife's french horn performance and all that and on top of the couples' $500,000 line at the jewelry store tiffany and company. callista grew up in a white colar family in wisconsin. her mother named her after the wife of a bank president she had once worked for. callista's middle name is louise, so her family calls her calli lou. money was so tight that her mother used to sew her clothes by hand, but these days she is always brightly dressed and with pearls. and her spokesperson told the "new yorker" i don't think she owns a pair of jeans. and her coiffed blond hair has caused such a stir that there is a facebook page directed to it. and even late night comedians. that probab