also, a "wall street journal" political reporter. nice to have you. and abby livingston. she's been on the show a couple of times before but with her sisters. she's the doubt of presidential candidate jon huntsman, with us but without her sisters. let's get right to our "starting point" this morning. mitt romney a clear front-runner once again. he's leading rick santorum by 16 points in the latest national poll. very big endorsements as well. ahead of super tuesday, tomorrow. the highest ranking republican member of congress eric cantor, getting his support. >> i look to super tuesday, i look to mitt romney winning all of virginia's delegates. in fact, i cast my vote already in virginia for mitt romney. and i'm here today to tell you that i'm endorsing mitt romney in his candidacy for the presidency of the united states. >> majority leader congressman eric cantor of virginia joins us. nice to see you. we appreciate it. >> good morning, soledad. >> let's talk about that endorsement. >> give me the reasons why you decided to support mitt romney? >> mitt romney is really the only man in the race who has a plan, a bold pro-growth plan to create jobs and get this economy back on track. and this is an essential issue for this election. it is about how we're going to make the economy better, how we're going to get small businesses back in gear. mitt romney unveiled a plan last week that is pro-growth, it brings down tax rates for everybody paying income taxes. it fills the lool loopholes in the tax code. makes it a more fair kind of tax code. and, frankly, we'll lend itself to the competitiveness to our country so we can start to lead again in is what i believe the country really, really needs after they look at the failed policies that have been in place over the three years from the white house. >> sounds like you're saying the economy, the economy, the economy. i'm curious to know if you're also saying that by you're support it's really mitt romney who is the true conservative here. >> mitt romney, again, soledad, not to be repetitious, but he's got a plan. there is no plan like his. there's certainly no plan like his coming out of the white house. we need a pro-growth bold plan to help create jobs. >> i hear you on that. i'm just -- let me just -- forgive me -- but interrupt you for a minute. as you know last week a lot of conversation was, you know, who is the true conservative. does this mean that you've answered this question and the true conservative in your mind is mitt romney? >> soledad, what i believe is this election is about how we're going to make our country have a much brighter economic future so we can continue to lead and let america be america. i mean, this is the issue here. i think what the american people are looking for are more certainty as far as your economic future is concerned and right now we know that there's just not enough job creations going on. we've got red tape holding back small businessmen and women. you look at the rate of number of business start-ups in america over the last three years, that rate has declined by 23% we've got to do something to get us back on track. mitt romney is the only person in the race who has ever created a job. he is the one who understands how to run a business, how to get fiscal affairs of the country straight so we can start growing the economy again. >> i'm just going to note that you are not going to answer that question for me but i'm happy to move on. i get you. economy, economy. but when it comes to being a true conservative you're not going to answer that for me. move on. there are a couple of schools of thought of how the fight is going to move on for the nomination. there are some people, like priebus. >> i feel good about this and i know that people argue over whether, you know, having a tough primary is a good thing or a bad thing. i just happen to believe that it's good for a party as you and i have talked about many times. >> as you well know, there are many others who would say actually it's been damaging, a protracted fight has been a very bad thing for the party. and if you look at numbers of neg f. negativity, if you look at numbers of independents who look at unfavorability, all of those numbers are high, which is a bad thing. what side are you on in that? >> soledad, what i believe has happened is we have had a very robust, hard fought debate in our primary. what we're beginning to see is a crystallizing of the party's position for the election against barack obama. that is, we are pro-growth, bold, individual liberty and economic freedom party. so what we're doing is we're coal lessing around mitt romney's plan to actually address the economic challenges we have so we can see a growth sorry ended fi chur. and it's very -- soledad, it's very similar -- >> i get. you want to talk economy. i hear you. i get it. i'm just trying to get my questions answered. >> it's very similar to what we're doing in congress right now. we're trying to find ways to work together and to bring people together and to set aside the differences. we've had a solid year plus of areas that we deliver. >> was that bad or good, i guess is my question? bad or good? >> whether it's bad or good, we're at the point now that i think people are tired of the differences and let's see if we can produce results. that's what mitt romney's candidacy is about, coalescing about the things we can agree on, it's not just for republicans, it's for dependents, like-minded democrats to come together to see how we can fix this economy and get people back to work. >> okay. we have the cleveland claim dealer also given an endorsement to mitt romney. throw it on the screen. as ohio republicans prepare to vote in tuesday's primary, they need to remember the ultimate prize, winning in november. doing so requires more than energizing the base, the conservative base. the gop needs a nominee who can appeal to swing voters and disaffected democrats. the whole entire endorsement, i thought, was very similar to the detroit endorsement, which was kind of like a, you know, if he can do this and this and this, we will sort of not very enthusiastically give our supports. is this a problem, do you think? i mean, something that has to be overcome for mitt romney? >> i don't. because i'm very excited about his plan to fix the economy. that's the issue, soledad. i know you don't want to do that. >> i do. i love talking economy. i guess i just want you to specifically answer my question. i feel like that's a luke warm, half-hearted endorsement. do you feel the same way? >> no. i mean, again, i disagree with anybody who said, you know, that there is not energy surrounding mitt romney's cacampaign. when people take time to look at his economic plan, i think they'll get excited about it. you already see him gaining momentum. double digit lead n. and win in washington, the state of washington the other night. we had several wins in a row last week. and will have super tuesday, tomorrow. i know that he's going to do really well. my prediction is he will take all virginia's delegates and i'll he will have a good night overall on tuesday. >> double digit lead when it comes to the national polls. let's talk about the apec meeting because you will speak today. i think it ends tomorrow. the prime minister benjamin netanyahu, prime minister of israel, and president obama is going to sit down and have a conversation as well. the president has said this about options on the table. >> when it comes to preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, i will take no options off the table. and i mean what i say. >> when you look at the republican candidates talking about israel and iran, they've said this. >> when it comes to preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, i will take no options off the table. and i mean what i say. >> it's pretty straightforward in my view. if barack obama gets re-elected iran will have a nuclear weapon and the world will change if that's the case. >> no israeli prime minister could responsibliy allow the iranians to get nuclear weapons because israel is a small country, so compact, two or three weapons will be the same thing as a holocaust. >> it doesn't make any sense to bomb a country that is no dlet to anybody just because they might get a weapon and try to point out that containment worked pretty well with the soviets and they had 30,000. >> you got to hear from president obama twice there. who do you think is right? >> soledad, what is going on and why we're having this discussion and debate is there's a real question of resolve on the part of the american people towards the white house. and i think also in my conversations with foreign leaders, there's equally a question of whether america is really going to maintain its leadership and influence in the region. that's what's going on here. i was at the president's speech yesterday when he delivered it. and he did say that he doesn't accept the policy of containment, that he wants to make sure that iran doesn't get a nuclear bomb. and so that is a positive step. but what i'm concerned about is the commitment to follow through. and what we've seen and what the other governments and allies in the region are seeing is that white house whose commitment has not been consistent. if you look at iran's other actions in the middle east, whether it has to do with syria, whether it has to do with egypt, or its support of the proxies in hamas and hezbollah, the question is where is the american injection of influence to try and address these situations? there's been a lot of rhetoric coming out of white house. but yet, the follow-through is questionable. that's why i think we're having this discussion. there is doubt cast on where the president is going to go on this. and i know that we have got to make a decision here and there has to be some clarity coming out of white house in terms of this direction. >> final question for you. mitt romney seems to say that if barack obama is reelected, iran will get a nuclear weapon. do you agree with that? >> i think the issue here is the fact that president has said he doesn't want iran to become a nuclear power. >> that is a yes or no question, sir. do you agree with mitt romney? he says that if obama is re-elected -- go ahead. >> and i think -- i think it's a question, are you going to accept iran's nuclear capability or are you going to wait until it has the weapon? and we can't wait until it has the weapon. s that that's a threat to u.s. interests, not just to our interests in the ally region. that's the construction of the debate going on right now. and it's seems to me that we've not had a clear statement by the white house that it is willing to make sure that iran does not develop the capabilities because if we don't stop that, it will be too late. >> that is the longest answer i think i've ever heard. eric cantor, thank you for joining us. appreciate it. 8:30 this morning, newt gingrich is going to join us live right here on "starting point." lots of other headlines to get to. let's get to christine for those. >> thanks, good morning to you. indiana toddler who was the only member of her family to survive a tornado, she has died. 14-month-old angel babcock was discovered in a field about 100 yards from her home. she suffered head injuries and she was taken off life support p her grandparents and her pastor at her side. the death toll from friday's tornadoes now stand at 39. indiana state police say the tornado destruction is so extensive they have no idea how many people are left homeless. 21 tornadoes struck kentucky alone. some 400 national guard troops have been deployed. the governor he's requested a federal disaster declaration. trying to answer for the targeted killing for a u.s. citizen. the target by u.s. drone attacks in yemen last year. he and other american citizens were killed. sources say attorney general eric holder will layout legal arguments to support the administration's use of lethal force. vad min putin is headed for a historic third term as russ russia's president, but was it fair? tearing up at a celebration last night. he crushed his rivals with nearly 65% of the vote which most districts reporting. but rivals are claiming election fraud and international monitors say they observed ballot stuffing and other irregularities, anti-putin protests are set to happen today. call it a comeback, lindsay lohan returning to saturday night live over the weekend and the fourth time host didn't shy away from her bad girl reputation, spoofing her trouble with the law in her opening monologue. >> you know, this studio feels like home to me. [ sirens ] wait, until the alarm goes off i leave the stage? i thought it was only if i left the studio. i thought you guys trusted me. >> hey, how is it going? >> hey. >> hey. so good to see you ban. i forgot how beautiful your eyes are. >> thanks, keenan. >> can i see them? >> okay. >> yeah, can i see your eyes, please? >> you know -- >> she's good. >> so we'll return to the small screen starring in elizabeth taylor biopic for lifetime in may. she looks really different. >> is she 24, 25? she's quite young, but, yeah. >> okay. moving on. thank you, christine. still ahead this morning on "starting point," rick santorum has an attack on barack obama care. he likened president obama to a drug dealer. some people say that's a little bit too far. we're going to talk about that this morning. plus, bp's multibillion dollar deal. the oil giant is agreeing to settle with thousands of victims from the 2010 gulf oil spill. not everybody is happy about it though. and stop thief! i love this story. this might be my favorite of the day. we'll tell you what happens when someone tried to rip off some girl scouts selling cookity i cans. we're back in just a moment. there's a health company that can help you stay that way. what's healthier than that? but i have this new smartphone. and now i can see everything more clearly. ♪ i can organize the analysis. sort through all the data. maybe even rattle some cages. i predict that i'm going to like the future. because the future is where i'll be serving up humble pie. a la mode. 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[ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ welcome back to "starting point." bp is saying it will pay an estimated $7.8 billion to settal lawsuit with some of the victims of the 2010 gulf of mexico oil spill. money will resolve the economic loss claims and medical claims as well. the company's deep water horizon drilling rig killed 11 people. joining us this morning is the louisiana shrimper, also president of dean blanchard seafo seafood. he's in d.c. this morning because he's going to meet with ken fineburg who led the bp compensation fund. thanks for talking with us. >> good morning. how are you doing? >> i'm well. thank you. how are you doing? >> what do you think of this deal that's now being announces? >> well, we don't know all the specifics of it yet. we are still waiting to find out. i guess it just another step in the process. >> why are you meeting with ken fineburg? >> he called me a week ago and said he would like to meet with me. i respect the job he done. i think ken's a nice guy. he did about as good a job he could, i believe. >> so your company at one point was supplying 11% of all the shrimp in the united states. is that correct? >> that's pretty much, pretty close. >> what are you down to now? >> oh, we probably down to about 2% or 3%. it basically our area, we was in what they call ground zero. basically our area is a dead zone down there. >> so there's no shrimping for you anymore? >> there's no local shrimp. the only shrimp we get is coming from 70 to 100 miles away from our facility. basically where the oil went, there's nothing else living. >> i read at one point you had 80 employees and now you're down to 8. has that number gone back up at all? >> no, ma'am. >> if you had to estimate how much money you've lost, what would you guess? >> i'll figure i've lost 8, $10 million. it's more than just money. it's peace of mind. where's the end of this thing? you know, we don't see an end in sight. you know, everything got a beginning and an end, but for some reason nobody can tell me where the end's at. and you know, what the future is going to bring. >> dean, i'm with the "wall street journal." i just wanted to ask, do you feel like you've been treated fairly? do you feel like bp has had the right attitude toward the people of your region and has done what it could or do you feel like they have not been responsive? >> i feel like they want to make it a one size fits all. and it's not. you know, they got certain people in our industry that's profited from the oil spill and certain people who have been hurt by the oil spill. i don't believe bp is taking the time to come and investigate our industry and determine who is injured and who is not. they just want to make it a one size fits all. and i don't think it's fair. >> how much money have you been offered? >> the last correspondence i had with fineburg, they offered me $25,000 which i just through that in the garbage with an insult, more or less. >> wow. dean blanchard, we're going to check in with you again and see how your meeting with ken feinberg goes. obviously it's not a done deal. the government could still and is expected to continue to its own lawsuits as well. dean, thank you. we appreciate. . dean blanchard, shrimper from louisiana. still ahead this morning on "starting point," the nfl is investigating this bounty program. cash incentives for players, for example, new orleans saints players, to take out opposing players p and they're thinking it might be even more wide spread. also, talk about a really bad dude. girl scouts get robbed in texas. i love these little girls. they fight back. we're going to tell you about that in our "get real" right after this commercial break. stay with us. your you're listening to anita baker "i apologize." so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. 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