us, the presentations that will happen at cpac, nice to have you joining us. first and foremost this is the all star event, rick santorum will make a presentation, mitt romney will make a presentation, newt gingrich will be here making presentation, michele bachmann, sarah palin will wrap-up the entire night. what does it tell you about sort of the role of conservatives in this year's election? >> well, obviously, this has become an election that in my opinion will be decided by turnout, and whoever gets their base more passionately involved and out there to vote will win this election. the country divided 50-50 now, in terms of philosophical terms, conservatives are the base of the movement and the right, and progressives are the base of the other side and whoever thinks it's more at stake will get more enthusiastic will allow that candidate to win the election. >> when you look at statistics on turnout, ron and i talked about this yesterday, doesn't that bode badly for you, the turnout has been low in the last three races which rick santorum swept, very low. >> negativity in campaigns bring downturnouts, especially in primaries. they spent $30 million in florida, 92% in negative ads. when i see that happen in primaries, it has this suppressing effect on turnout and we're seeing it. frankly, obviously the concern has been over the last six weeks as these differences have become more personal, folks don't like to see in your own backyard that kind of mud-slinging, president's numbers go up, guys numbers go down, sooner that stops, the better. >> could there be a hold, do you expect a hold over to the general election? >> i don't think so, look, the passion out there, what unites everyone, the glue that binds us together is the quest to defeat president obama, and it's a quest more passionate than any i've seen in a long time. surpasses jimmy carter, bill clinton's, this is a real mission. you will see it here, live as you witness these three days. >> al, can i ask you, there has been a lot of questioning about why there isn't a candidate more kind of organically emerging from the conservative movement for this race. you look at the choices republicans are dealing with, republican governor of a blue state, record shaped by that. you have the newt gingrich, last won an election in 1998, rick santorum last won in 2000, where isn't there a candidate in the race as a viable candidate from more con tem important ear conservative movement? >> we started out with ten candidates, every ice cream flavor in the spectrum you want to have we're now narrowed down to four. people looked at different criteria, competence, who they like and values. you put it in the same pot and we have four finalists heading in the home stretch, ron paul, developed an interesting following that is growing cycle by cycle, they want to have a voice at the convention, i see him lasting through the process to have that voice in tampa, at our convention. but i think the three who lasted for whatever reasons, i'm a firm believer in competition and winner is the best. the field is set, no late entries, is this it or is there room at this point given the fragmentation we've seen, and the inability to sustain an advantage, there is room for someone else to make a late entry? >> i'll answer that on march 7th. >> i will take that as kind of a yes. i would have expected a strong no. but if he's not saying a strong no. probably there is a chance. >> what happens on march 7th? >> super tuesday is march 6th, if we have fragments, it will last a while, it will mean no one has the delegates to win the nomination. if they don't, then you're dealing, you will come up with a combination of two of the four in the race or outsider like jeb bush get in the race. mitt romney is hoping that he can get this thing done march 6th. i don't think anyone else has the resources that could accomplish that. if he doesn't and continues to be wide open race, things may get complicated. >> everyone claims they are the true conservative. let me play a clip of all the candidates say that and we'll talk on the other side. >> ladies and gentlemen, i don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama. >> it is now clear that this will be a two-person race, between the conservative leader, newt gingrich and the massachusetts moderate. >> this is a clear choice, i'm the only person in the race, republican or democrat, who has never served a day of time in washington. in the world i come from, leadership is about starting a business. not trying to get a bill out of committee. >> i love when everyone says it's a clear choice. it's a clear choice and then they say the opposite of what the other guy said. will the straw poll determine what the clear choice is on saturday night? >> it could. going back, we're in the empirical business of measuring these people. three of them served in congress, we do our congressional ratings. >> who is the true conservative? >> ron paul has a life time record of 83, rick santorum has a life time record of 88. and newt gingrich got a life time record of 90. we looked at mitt's website, assuming he would be for the things that he stand for, he would be a conservative. all four met our test and all four here. they can argue back and forth as to who is the best but empirically they make muster. >> explain to me why mitt romney is struggling to connect when he won the straw poll the last time around. >> i have 100% rating. >> i know, you do. i like mitt romney. i'm a mitt romney fan. the idea that he is some how the establishment candidate has been laughable to me. a person who is 64 years old, hasn't served a day in washington, dc, business leader, has to communicate the message. what is exciting about cpac, a very young crowd, when i came and spoke and i appreciate you having me, new blood from all over the country. that makes it exciting and people coming out to speak. >> is why he struggling with conservatives then? >> can i tell you something? i think in our country there is an optic bias when you come from certain states. if you're a massachusetts elected official, you have to overcome a huge optical bias in terms of how people feel folks think in that state. it's unfortunate but mitt's record in massachusetts given what head to deal with was pretty amazing. now, as you mentioned and i didn't answer your question about the straw poll, man, it will be interesting. we haven't had a real contested presidential race here at cpac in two decades, ron? we thought in 2008 we would, romney at this stage here stepped down. so straw ballot this year could well make an interesting statement as to how folks in the audience feel. >> we're here to watch that, thanks for being with us. al cardenas. other story, christine romans has those for us. developing news this morning to tell you about, one million under water homeowners could be eligible for up to $20,000 relief on the principal they owe on their mortgage. a deal between the states and banks could be announced as soon as this morning would amount to at least $25 billion from mortgage lenders and servicers including bank of america, jp morgan chase, citi group and al lied financial. this would be the largest rescue plan yet, largest settlement between the industry and the states, since the big toe back settlement in 1998. attorneys general for california, florida, new york are now all on board, we're told nearly all of the other states have agreed to the terms, still working out the details of who qualifies and how you find out. also making news, fierce fighting in syria has killed at least 12 civilians. government forces are bombarding the town of homs. the opposition says syrian forces are targeting homes and beating residents. "i should have killed you, we should talk tonight" that is the e-mail prosecutors entered in the trial of george huguely. accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, yeardley love. criminal defense lawyer said that e-mail could support prosecution claims of premeditation. >> a lot of people think premeditation thinks you have to plot and plan for months and days and hour but it's something that can occur within a split second, and usually what prosecutors do in trying to prove a murder case is they look at the actions, they look at what led up to that particular day and the relationship the defendant had with the person. >> in the opening statements yesterday, huguely's attorneys insisted their client was drunk the night love died, and was incapable of plotting to kill her. the 911 call center in pierce county, washington is launching an investigation to find out why it took dispatchers eight minutes to send a police car to the home of josh powell. once that police car was dispatched, it took 13 minutes to get to powell's home. too late to stop him from blowing up his house, killing himself and his two little boys. the founder of susan g. komen for the cure is speaking out for the first time since reversing a decision to stop funding planned parenthood. in a letter to the washington post. nancy brinker said "i mid mistakes, women's health organizations must be absolutely true to their core missions and avoid even the appearance of bias or judgment in our decisions" she apologized for disappointing supporters and pledged to work harder to restore their trust. the triple win tuesday night translated in a lot of cash for rick santorum today. his came ppaign said he raised million dollars after the wins. $800,000 from donations online, which then crashed the santorum website. i guess a good problem to have, soledad. yeah, the list of problems, having a website crash because people are giving you too much money is good. still ahead on "starting point" biggest names are here at cpac. joining us will be senator john mccain, congressman paul ryan, senator mike lee and senator jim demint. newt gingrich is focusing on winning the upcoming contests in the south, some people say that southern stralt at the gee might not work, we'll talk to gingrich's campaign chairman straight ahead. plus, this strange story, a woman alleges domestic dispute, a judge tells her she should go on a date with her husband. our get real is a question, did the judge make the right call. you're watching "starting point" we'll be back in a moment. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices? sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. 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>> we're doing well money-wise? >> like a number? >> i don't follow the numbers day-to-day, we have been doing well online, raising money online. even yesterday, now that the inevitability is broken, money is flowing to other candidates. we're seeing an upswing in our online contributions. >> the number i read is a million dollars is what newt has. mitt romney's number is around $19 million. outspent, outgunned. we saw that in florida. mitt romney spent in the vicinity of 15 or 25 million dollars in negative advertising. we talked about the fact --. >> let's play what al cardenas said. >> campaigns bring down turnouts. 92% of the florida ads were negative. every time i see them happen in primaries has a suppressing effect on turnout and we're seeing it. >> well, that is the problem. what we're doing is turning off our own base with this kind of campaigning. newt went in iowa with the idea that what he would do is run a positive campaign on big ideas. he got buried under negative advertising in iowa. we had to go to some negative advertising to defend ourselves in primaries that followed. we would like to get away from that. we would like to have a campaign around big ideas but already in ohio we have negative advertising being thrown up on the air. that is a problem for our base. >> congressman, as long as you and rick santorum, gingrich and santorum are dividing the voters most resistant to romney, can either of you overcome them? >> i think it will be be a case where one or the other will sort out, at tpresent time, rick has done well in the caucus states. we have done well in the one really big conservative primary, where real voters were out. i think it still has a way to sort itself out. >> what about florida? not real voters? it was a negative election. what happened was that the voter turnout was way down in the counties where mitt romney won, it was way up in the counties that newt gingrich won. the negative advertising is destructive for the republican party. >> when you say sorting out, either gingrich or santorum has to step aside in favor of the one of them to have a chance at beating romney, that is what you're suggesting? >> i'm suggesting this is an election that is going to the convention. i'm suggesting there will be a contest where mitt romney will not end up with the majority of votes headed in tampa and where we will have an election that will be settled at the convention. >> that is a very interesting prediction, thank you for joining us. appreciate your time. still ahead on "starting point" the pentagon is changing rules when it comes to women in combat. people say the change doesn't go far enough, we'll talk about that. a woman alleges domestic violence and heads to court, did the judge do the right thing? did the punishment fit the charge, we'll ask you the question in our get real, which is coming up next. hello, how can i deliver world-class service for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. so our "get real" this morning is a question for everybody. i'll give you the back story first. a florida couple got in a fight when joseph the husband, forgot to get his wife happy birthday and she said he shoved her and put his hand on her neck, this resulted in a domestic violence charge. fast forward to tuesday's court hearing. sonya tells the judge she wasn't hurt or scared, the ruling? the judge john hurley said the husband should pick up his wife, get dressed and take her out to her favorite restaurant, which is red lobster. after dinner he should take her out bowling that is what she said is one of the things she liked to do. the judge getting a lot of flack, he wouldn't have ordered such a whimsical ruling if the charge was more serious or if it looked like the wife was hurt, also first offense for the husband. the judge also ordered marriage counseling for the couple. so, how do we feel about this? did the judge give the right ruling? it is our "get real" this morning and a strange one, right? because domestic violence is one of those charges when you ask someone if they are afraid of their spouse in front of the spouse and if you ask them would you like to get back together, most of the time even in severe domestic violence cases they say yes, i'd like to get back together. did the judge do the right thing? >> talking about people's worse moments on national television, i would say cases like this you have to treat it seriously and whatever else, whatever else you're putt