welcome back, everybody. this the beach hut, cafe. they are very busy. i think this is the busiest diner that we have been in at 7:00 in the morning. we're glad they're having us. you're listening to luther vandross, "the power of love," my selection. let's introduce you to our panel. cnn political contributor and republican consultant and maria cardo cardona, democratic strategist. and david frum, let's get a shot of david frum's chair. i've committed to mocking david frum this morning because he is late for my show and when you have -- >> arrive with sleep in his eyes. >> i'm told it's not his fault. too bad, we don't care. we're moving on. let's talk a little bit about this final debate last night. it is the debate right before florida republicans will vote and stakes were very, very high. mitt romney and newt gingrich really going at it all night with jabs. was there a clear winner in addition to our panelist who got florida republican congressman is in miami. endorsed newt gingrich. thanks for being with us. certainly appreciate your time. how do you think -- i don't know that you're ready for us yet. all right. we'll start. you guys let me know when he's ready. panelists. mr. rivera is getting ready. who do you think won? and don't give me the, i'm a republican, i'm a democrat, you know, here's who i'm supporting. >> we never do that. we never do that. >> never, never. >> last night, last night was, i think -- i think the best performance of the stage last night. i want to say this actually was wolf blitzer. >> yeah. >> he did a very good job last night. two things. one is when the candidates pushed back, wolf pushed back against them, especially, for example, newt gingrich in that exchain. >> you think wolf blitzer won the debate? >> i think he did a perfect job. he let the candidates run and go at each other when they really had something to say. so we got a very good debate. who won last night? i think mitt romney took the debate last night. he was a alpha dog last night. newt gingrich seemed a little passive. and when romney pushed back on gingrich's investments that was a key moment. >> i believe that congressman david rivera is ready for us right now. i would guess that he's going to disagree with you because, of course, he is endorsing newt gingrich. am i right, congressman? >> you're absolutely correct. i thought newt gingrich did as well as he's done in previous debates when he's, of course, being congratulated for a lot of folks over the months. and certainly over the last few weeks during this primary campaign. and i think the voter os florida will recognize that coming next tuesday. >> one of the moments in the debate, and there was lots of focus on immigration, obviously. i thought there was tons of issues finally being discussed in this particular debate. i thought it was really good. here's what they talked about in terms of english language. this went on for a little bit in the debate. let's play it. >> and my point was, no one should be trapped in a linguistic situation where they can't go out and get a job and they can't go out and work. >> so congressman rivera, newt gingrich as you know has got a lot of flack for that because he basically had at one point referred to language of the ghetto. do you think he deserved the backlash that he got from that and the conversation that happened in this debate last night? >> no, of course not. newt gingrich has been one of the foremost at hadvocates in t republican party reaching out to the hispanic community. when he was speaking of the house he helped pass an important immigration reform legislation which helped many nicaraguan-americans or central americans achieve the american dream. over the years even after he left the speakership he's been pushing into republican party, inside the republican party, and as a private citizen, to make sure that we do everything possible to reach out to the hispanic community. the pat way to the american dream in america as all hispanics will agree is making sure we do everything possible to educate our children, that they are extremely proficient in the english language, all americans and particularly hispanic americans understand that that's important. that's why speaker gingrich is trying to make that point. he wants the american dream for all hispanics. >> and i understand that, but i think the words that were used, and we could play this chunk, he literally said the language of living in a ghetto. i do think, sir, when you're tacking at latinos that you're talking about language of the ghetto. i want to play that clunk first and then get you to respond. >> we should replace bilingual education with immersion in english so people learn the common language of the country and so they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto. >> language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto. congressman rivera, that's from 2007. that's a tough one to spin, i think, isn't it? >> well, not at all. not if you believe in the american dream. and i think most hispanic-americans belief in the american dream and they want prosperity for their children and grandchildren. that's what we're all about and that's what newt gingrich is all about. he wants to make thur that we make all americans as proficient as possible in english. every hispanic-american, parent, has children or grandchildren in school, that's what they want. they want their children to move up the ladder and be able to go on and further their education. do everything possible to achieve the american dream. and one of the important elements in this country to achieving the american dream is making sure our children are proficient in english. how can anybody possibly be against making sure hispanic-americans and all americans are proficient in english as possible. >> congressman, congressman, this is maria cardona, how are you? >> how are you? >> part of the american dream is actually showing respect to the latinos who have been here and, frankly, calling spanish the language of the ghetto is not showing that kind of respect. >> the only candidate that has shown respect to the hispan hispanic-american community in this election is newt gingrich with the way he has humane and reasonable immigration policy, for example. no candidate has been more respectful to hispanic-american, more open to the american dream for hispanic-americans than newt gingrich. that's the fact. that's the record. the fact of the matter is newt gingrich has shown great respect for the hispanic community in the way he's developed his immigration reform policies, outreach efforts to the community. newt gingrich is doing everything possible to send his message on economic prosperity, whether it be education, health care, all of the issues that hispanic-americans are concerned about, he's doing everything possible to get his message across to hispanics here in florida and i'm sure he will do it in other states as well. he's done it before and he will do it in the future. >> congressman, alex. >> alex, how are you? >> i'm good. i'm good. hey, understand that congressman gingrich's intent here and, you know, i don't think republicans do get enough credit for trying to lift minorities out -- >> you're getting in dangerous spin territory. got it. got it. yes. and your question is? >> listen to what gingrich was saying there. he was actually saying that -- i know my family. we came to this country, the most important thing we had was mom and dad tried to make sure we learned the language of the count country, the language of the economy. >> i don't think they disagree with learning the language. >> my question for gingrich is a little different. the kind of erratic nature of some of the things he said. let's say his intent was good, but if a president makes these kinds of unforced error and says things that offend people, say when he's overseas, would newt gingrich be a stable president or or erratic president? >> well, you have to remember, you know, sometimes when you're a private citizen as he was when he made that statement you're talking about developing public policy, sometimes you need to shock people into waking up to a problem. and maybe that was speaker gingrich's intent, to make sure he used some type of language that would maybe wake people up to the problem of making sure that everybody in america is proficient in english. the fact of the matter is, that every american will support his policy position, which is making sure we allow people to achieve the american dream and the way to do that is to excel in the english language. he wants to do that for every american child, whether they're of hispanic background or asian background, no matter where they're from in the world. we need to make sure that everybody is as proficient in english as possible. and as president, i think that's what every american wants him to do. what's important is the policy. maybe not so much the rhetoric but the policy that he's defending. >> congressman rivera, nice for having you. thank you for your time. got to get to other news. christine romans has that for us. good morning. >> good morning to you, soledad. two teenagers arrested for allegedly trying to carry out a bomb attack. police say the two students from utah's roy high school, about 30 miles north of salt lake city, plotted to set off explosives during a sdochool assembly and steal a plane to make their get away. 18-year-old dale morgan and 16-year-old boy not being released who reportedly planning this for months. police did not find any explsiv at the school or the teen's homes. the american woman rescued by u.s. navy sales after some molly pirates captured her is in italy now. she will be reunite with her father there before heading home. they were providing aid in the region when they were captured. they spent three months in captivity. the manhunt for a convicted killer is intensifying in mississippi. there is reward to find you sef azman, one of several felons pardoned by former governor haley barbour. of these four murderers who were pardoned, this one remains missing. they were supposed to be turned over to the governor's office but no one knows exactly where they are. passengers who survived the costa concordia cruise shipwreck will reportedly get about $1,000. reuters reports the money is being offered to those who were not physically hurt in the crash. passengers who were hurt will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. those who accept the deal cannot ever sue the company. public viewing being held tonight in the los angeles area for legendary singer etta james. a private funeral will be held friday with reverend al sharpton giving the eulogy. she was battling leukemia, 73 years old. soledad? >> that's so sad. i love etta james. as we've been tacking agent all morning the hispanic vote is going to prove critical in this election. so did any candidate last night win that group over? brownstein joins our panel from miami where he was able to watch the debate with a crowd of the hispanic leadership network conference. we miss you in person. a couple things i want to get to because you posted right after the debate an article on nationaljournal.com which is a great deconstruction. give me the one take away that people should know about the debate last night. one. >> can i can give you two? newt gingrich has still not got it back. his teaming was off all night. whether he wanted to confront romney. romney was there with an answer that usually got a better response from the audience. even when he tried to be conciliatory towards romney brurk away wolf's question on taxes, romney came back and said why don't you say what you said on the campaign trail here on stage. most interesting though, particularly watching this with a preponderantly hispanic audience is what the congress called a humane and reasonable immigration policy drew almost no reaction, soledad, from that audience. almost no positive reaction. there was almost a bigger positive reaction when requiring english as the language and romney as an anti-immigration. immigration where cuban-americans dominate the hispanic vote may be different than in a broad general election context. >> last question for you. santorum, i thought he was good in the debate last night. what kind of impact do you think that's going to p terribly ha p have, if any at all? >> santorum was good in the debate ain pressing a case against mt. romney. romney will take the arrows if it splinters the conservative vote that gingrich needs to consolidate if he's going to have any chance near in florida which looks more dim i think ast last night's debate than before. >> alex and i were having an argument about that. thank you, ron. see you in bern. beginning of next week and you can see his great article at nationaljournal.com. good deconstruction of the debate last night, national journal has the cover story as well. ahead we're going to continue our conversation about how it went last night, especially looking specifically at the latino vote here in the state of florida. and mitt romney's foreign policy adviser is going to join us next with a look at why she thinks he's the best candidate to represent latinos. plus, the mayor of east haven said he might go and have a taco. well, here they come. he doesn't have to go anywhere. delivered right to him. it's part of a bigger point they were making to that mayor. we'll tell you about thanchts college costs in some ways crushing dreams of students, spiraling out of control. we'll talk this morning with arne duncan and the president's new plan and is it economically i believe? 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[ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. welcome back, everybody. we're coming to you this morning from the beach hut cafe, which is in jackson beach, florida, having breakfast with our panelist. david frum is joining us. >> remind me not to go to bat with you guys. >> remind us not to count on you in battle. >> rose, will you hop in and fix his ivp for him while we're doing this. nice to have you. only 17 minutes into the show. all right. we've been talking this morning about the critical latino vote in the state of florida. could it make or break the race with florida republican representative join us. she's a foreign policy adviser for myth romnitt romney. we appreciate you. would love to have you in person. let's talk about last night. what did you think of the debate? >> well, i thought it was an awesome debate by all of the candidates, of course, i'm a little bit partial. i'm for mitt romney. i think he came on aggressively, very decidedly ready for battle. i wish that mitt would have shown up previously but it's good to have the real mitt there on stage and it shows that one of the arguments that newt makes is that he would be a great debater against obama. no doubt. by mitt showed that he can old his own also against president obama. what we want is a candidate who can beat president obama and shares their values. i think that person is mitt romney. certainly electability is still a key issue in this race. >> okay. there were lots of conversations about a couple of things. one was the deporting of grandmoms. we had a big chunk of that in the conversation yesterday. and also newt gingrich had called mitt romney anti-immigrant in is what mr. romney said last night. let's listen. >> that is simply inexcusable. and actually senator marco rubio came to my defense and said that ad was inexcusable and inflammatory. mr. speaker, i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mexico. my wife's father was born in wales. they came to this country. the idea that i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. >> so he was given, nut gingrich was given the opportunity to back away from the comments and he did not. he repeated them again. let me ask you a question about mr. romney's immigration plan. i mean, they sort of sparred over the deporting grandma. who would he be willing to deport, both gingrich and romney say, no grandmas. i wouldn't deport grandmas. spell it out for me. >> well, i think, that mitt romney was correct when he said the problem with illegal immigration is not that 11 million grandmas. it's sort of simplifies that, that way of looking at the problem. now, he got -- mitt's defense of his position not being anti-immigrant got a big applause in the hispanic leadership conference at doral last night and i think that that's the kind of reaction that many hispanics will have. i don't know that it's productive to call someone anti-immigrant. now, marco rubio, who is our hometown boy, our star, he was ye correct in saying take down that ad. you can say what you want in a different way without tagging anyone as being anti-immigrant. mitt's position differs from mine. i'm in stay vor of comprehensive reform. but what i think this debate and this election is all about is making sure that obama is a one-term president and it will hinge on the economy. i know here in florida everyone loves to talk about immigration, i'm grammigratio immigration, immigration, i'm grak inauguration. it's a great concern but here in south florida, the mortgage crisis and all of the economic pocket book issues, mitt romney has got that kind of message and that's why whatever gets said about immigration, once mitt has got newt talking about that nonstop, it's really newt's -- in a very weak position because what people care about overwhelmingly is the economy, not immigration. >> the economy. i understand. congresswoman, alex, how are you? >> hey, alex. good to see you. good to hear you, anyway. >> good to see you. question for you. right now we seem to have -- we're a country of 300 million people that has a cap yearly on how many immigrants can come here, about 140,000 people, i think. and we're losing a lot of our, you know, first round be intellectual draft choices. we're losing a lot of talent. what is romney's position on i' legal immigration and incruising that? >> he's been laying out his ground game for this presidential race for a long time. he made it very clear in last night's debate he is in favor of legal immigration. he believes that when you foster a climate that brings about illegal immigration, what you are doing is you're sending a message to those folks who have been patiently waiting in line in their home countries to say, hey, you know, going by the rules is not going to pay off for you. come on over here and do your best. i think what all americans are looking for are sensible strategies for dealing with this immigration problem that we have here. all of the candidates are saying that we're against illegal immigrati immigration. let's see what we can do to make sure that we can keep folks who are going to be good contributors to our country and do so in a legal way. but again, immigration is not going to drive the debate neither in florida nor anywhere else. so we can keep talking about immigration. but it's the economy, it's the economy, and it's jobs and mortgages and all of our mortgages are under water. >> congresswoman, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> next time, you know what, i just lost my audi