we're in mesa, arizona, tonight's cnn arizona republican presidential debate. it's been about a among since they last faced off and since then even more upheaval. rick santorum is now the surging candidates and the one for mitt romney to beat tonight. both men we are campaigning down to the wire and may have given each other press ammunition. he's here with us, going through the details. what's the latest? >> for the top two candidates, the devil is in the debails. two potential flash points. tonight mitt romney's new tax plan and rick santorum's faith-based brand of politics. he made what could be a risky move, a plan that could come under fire. >> i'm going to lower rates across the board for all americans by 20%. it will last -- setting the top bracket for the wealthier earners at 28%, and cut the corporate tax rate to 25%, lower than the 28% proposed by the president, but higher than his gop rivals. romney would offset some of those cuts by limiting popular deductions for the wealthy on mortgages and charitable contributions. a potential turnoff for some conservatives. >> for high-income folks we're going to cut back on that, so we make sure the top 1% keeps pays the current share or move. >> reporter: and his use of the term 1% may be impossible to resist for rick santorum, who welcomed his rival's new tax plan. >> welcome to the party, governor. it's great to have you along. >> reporter: santorum would like to change the subject. when we caught up with the rising gop contender, he offered no apologies. >> senator, any chance to respond to this headline that was splashed across the drudge report about the speech you made in florida? >> you know, if a personi'm a person the faith. i believe in good and evil. i think -- if wow or another you're a person of faye is a disqualifier for president, we'll have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president. if they want to dig up old speeches talking to a religious group, they can go ahead and do so, but i'm going to stay on message. >> reporter: santorum told cnn that his campaign has raised $6 million this month and understood what could like ahead if he somehow beads michigan. it's the talk of washington, the possibility of aer broked convention. >> obviously if there's not enough delegates, we'll have to deal with that, but it's a long, long way to go. we feel good about where we are headed right now. >> reporter: all of this new attention for rick santorum has overshadowed newt gingrich who likes santorum on this ash wednesday. newt gingrich did not go to services, but rick santorum did, gingrich did say he is giving up desserts for lent, though republicans know the debate stage is often his sweet spot. >> like a lot of us, he could stand to lose a few pounds as we all. >> reporter: especially after all this time on the road. >> we all could stand to lose -- >> i'm not saying just you or newt gingrich. all of us could stand to lose a few pounds. tonight's setting will be different. i've done three, everyone stands up on the stage. today will be different. >> today will be different and our viewers are probably familiar with el did debate forum. i think at one point we had eight candidates. tonight the four candidates will be seated. it's congressman paul, senator santorum, governor romney and speaker gingrich. i'm in a table across from them. some people say you lose some of the energy, the passion, though i think there was a bloomberg news debate where they got feisty, but did that change the tone and tenor of the debate? we'll see. >> i remember four years ago you did the debate when there were two left with hillary clinton and barack obama. everyone was seated for that one. it got a little exciting. questions from the audience? the twitter university? >> that part will be familiar to our viewers. i will moderate, steer the discussion, but yes, we'll take some discussion from the hall tonight, and send questions from twitter, go to facebook, or the old-fashioned way, straight to our website. this is one of the things we like to do, not only involve the audience, and it's important, because mish gan and arizona vote on tuesday, but this is the last debate on the books, could be the last of the primary cycle, but we are certainly it's the final state before 14 states. and then ten states on super tuesday. a lot at stage here. >> i think it's fair to say, at least if you believe the national polls, he's now the front-runner. >> that's right, and it is in miss interest to go after him tonight. one thing we have seen in arizona, a new maris poll that might show that romney might be okay here. if romney should somehow lose michigan to santorum, it will create this whole conversation, he cannot win the state where he grew up, he can't win states in the midwest, santorum can, and this goes to the conversation we had last night of the possibility of a brokered convention. >> are you still tweaking questions, or is that done? >> i heard you talking earlier about how we do this. we have what we call the cone of silence, a staff-only room, small group of us, and we always look around what happened today, what did the candidates is a? the new tax plan, santorum's responsible, and you look at your questions and say we need to tweak them a bit. we also look at those questions online, twitter, facebook, eight was through the debate, try to keep it as fresh as we can. >> we'll be watches. guys, good luck tonight. >> be sure to join john later tonight as he moderates the presidential debate. it begins 8:00 p.m. eastern, only here on cnn. it will go out live around the world. and opposition group in syria says at least 60 people have died across the country, and almost 9,000 since the government's crackdown began. this is the scene in the city of homs today where two western, where two journalists were included, one of the them was a marie colvin. >> marie, you have covered a lot of conflicts over a long time. how does this compare? >> this is the worst, anderson, for many reasons. the last once -- i think the last time we talked i was in miss rata. partly it's personal safety, there's nowhere to run. the syrian army is holding the perimeter, and it's far more ordnance being poured into the city, and no way of predicting where it's going to land. plus a lot of snipers on the high buildings surrounding the neighborhood. you can sort of figure out where the sniper is, but you can't figure out where a shell is going to land. just the terror of the people and, you know, the helplesses in of these families hiding, where all they can do is hope it doesn't hit them. that's very, very difficult to watch. >> joining us is ivan watson. let's start with marie colvin, a very courageous, wonderful journalist. i interviewed her on a knew occasions as well, but tell us a bit about this remarkable woman. >> reporter: you know, i remember being in southern lebanon with her. she was the next room over during the israel/hezbollah war. this was a fiercely committed journalist, who i had seen in hot spots around the world again and again, who i looked up to, what was kind of a legend, an institution. the fact that this small community has lost her and anthony shahdid in less than a week, that comes as a big blow for what i've called before a shrinking tribe, but even more than that, the death of so many journalists in such a short period, also the french reporter remmi ochlik, an award-winning photographer, just highlights the conflict that's been going on, and i think marie colvin would have wanted to draw attention to the baby she winced dying in homs last night, and focus on that rather than on her own death, wolf. >> you know, ivan, another person that died yet was the syrian blogger rami el syed. you spoke with him recently. >> that's right. this government he was calling for a way to evacuation women and children, and trying to draw national attention to the horrific situation. then we learned last night that he is yet another victim of this indiscriminate syrian artillery bottom partment, i'm going to warn viewers, the video that was filmed of loved ones gathered around his corpse, it's disturbing to watch. this man had helped put out many other videos prior to that, documents atrocities in syria. he managed to get live images of day after day of the syrian bombardment of homs, and it's people like him who had been documenting the human rights abuses, syrian activists putting their lives on the line and smuggling video out over enter net over the course of this 11-month crackdown that's claimed by conservative estimates more than 7,000 lives. these are very brave people and they are paying for their activist work with their lives, wolf. >> ivan watson on the scene for us, also a courageous journalist, thanks very much. cnn's arwa damon t. many will call, was in syria only the other day. we'll speak with her in our next hour, and my interview with marie colvin last year only months ago when she was covered the revolution in libya. we spoke about how dangerous that was and whether she feared for her life. we'll also go inside president obama's blueprint, how he plans a huge rate cut without adding to the deficit. plus the president's faith under attack. much more. donna brazing and eric erickson are standing by live. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. here's jack cafferty. >> if you're ever thinking of running for president of the united states, watch your mouth. barack obama should be sending rick santorum flowers today. republican presidential candidates under fire for a 2008 speech in which he said satan is attacking the great institutions of america. speaking to students at ave maria university in florida, he said satan has set his sights on the united states of america. he described a spiritual war and asked, quote, if you were satan, who would you attack in this day and age? he suggested it was natural for the father of lies, as he called satan, to go after a good, decent, powerful and influential country. fast-forward four years. instead of acknowledging that the dialogue might have been extreme, he's digs in his heels, defending the comments, saying he's a person of faith who believes in good and evil. santorum insists he'll stay on message and talk about the things americans want him to talk about. he says his views on satan are not relevant to what's being discussed today. really? i'll bet some would disagree. santorum is leading the republican field in several national polls, tied with mitt rom in in his home state of michigan. we'll see if his thoughts tonight on satan come back to bite hem. i'll bet they do. here's the question. rick santorum said satan is attacking america. is he right? go post a comment on my blog or go to the post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? all right. jack, thanks very much, as i blogged today, i think you have a problem if you're a presidential candidate and you have to defend your views on satan. but that's another issue. check out my blog. lisa sylvester is monitoring other top stories right now as well, including divers found even more victims today inside the partially sunken italian cruise ship. what's the latest? >> that's right. eight more bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of the costa concordia, including the body of a 5-year-old girl. officials say they were found in a submerged part of the ship known as bridge 4. the death toll now stands at 25 with seven people still missing. meanwhile, prosecutors are investigating seven employees including the head of the crisis unit, who was on the phone with the ship's captain the night it struck rocks. a gunshot fired in -- el paso please believe the woman's leg was grazed by a bullet between a gunfight between juarez police and a -- 46,000 honda odysseys are being recalled because their power tailgate could suddenly drop on someone standing underneath. the problem lies in faulty gas-filled struts that hold the tailgate open. the automaker says two minor injuries have been reported. wolf? thanks, lisa. he was part of the democratic casual list in the midterm elections, but former senator russ feingold is still speaking out. he's going to join us live to talk about those issues, his new book and president obama's reelection campaign. he's now an obama campaign cochairman. plus the role of religion, especially when it comes to president obama. certainly has become a hot-button issue in the republican presidential race. we're going to talk about that in our "strategy session" and a lot more. 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[ doug ] we're the mclennan family from spruce head, maine, and we sea food differently. he lost his bid in 2010, but russ feingold has just been named the national cochairman for president obama's reelection campaign. he's also written a brand-new book about u.s. policy. the book is titled "while america sleeps." senat senator feingold joins us now. what's the most foreign thing you recommend we do, this wake-up call? give us a sentence or two, what we need to know in order to be ready in this post-9/11 world. >> good to be talking with you again. we've all got this wake-up call in 2001. we were taken by surprise. we made a vow as a people, i thought, to make sure that we wouldn't be surprised again, but i don't think we're paying serious attention to the various situations around the world, presence of al qaeda operatives in north africa, somalia, nigeria, even china's influence in africa. it seems like we pulled away and basically have gone back into domestic feuding instead of making sure we are active and concerned about what was happening in the rest of the world. >> what should the u.s. be doing right now as far as syria is concerned? because it's a disaster. >> that's a great example. in the book i point out we have this tend yaensz to invade one country at a time, whether it's iraq or afghanistan. we sort of have this attitude that you either have to invade it or stay there forever or do nothing. i think what p.m. many p did with regard to libya shows you don't have to do that. you can see there's a tipping point. with regard to syria, obviously it's more complex. you don't have to talk about american troops on the ground. there's other levers. whether it be getting china and russia to come around in the united states, a willings in of the arab need, this guy has to be removed from office, but you don't have to do it in an unending invasion. there are other way toss do it. we have to make that happen. >> do you regret, senator, being the only uss senator to vote against the p.a.t.r.i.o.t. act right after 9/11. >> absolutely not. that was probably one of the best things i have ever done. it was a difficult thing. i read the bill. that was unique. i thought maybe as the late bob novak said, it contained an old wish list of the fbi, like going after people's library records, who had done absolutely nothing wrong. i point out in the book there's such a thing as sneak-and-peek versions. they weren't even used for terrorist situations, so it was a power grab, an example of what i talk about in the book, which is the use of al qaeda and the fear to manipulate our domestic politics. you will see that tonight in the debate, where you'll see these rep candidates trying to use phrases, attacking the president for allegedly apologizing for america, as a replacement for having a real policy. the in my view president obama is doing an excellent job on the national front and if he's reelected, as i expect, i think he could be a great president from the point of view of our international policies. >> you're a national cochairman for the campaign, but that doesn't stop you from disagrees with the president, even big critical, including i'll read a line from your book. i'm concerned about the tone of the statements coming from this administration, for they seem unnecessarily triumphant, likely to send out the wrong message to the rest of the world and especially to americans. what are you referring to? >> i have a good fortune of knowing the president. one of the things i like is he's not afraid to have allies and friends who don't always agree with him. i think he's done brilliantly, but i've heard statements from some white house officials that we think al qaeda is pretty much on its last leg. that's not my understanding. whether it's al shabab or the maghreb in north africa. the great thing about the president is he has a broad vision, he isn't trying to score political points. he's trying to do what's right to protect the american people. you'll bet i'll mention my disagreements, but i certainly agree with him, and i'm awfully pleased he's the president of the united states. do you agree that all options should be on the table? >> i do. its think it's not read to lead with the talk, or any option of that kind. but you know, we have a right to self-defense. if it came to that, so be it, but i think again, just like syria, there are many other levers that can be worked. if the sanctions go higher, the pressure is greater. iran is not like iraq under saddam hussein, where one guy completely ran the show. there are different power pockets, different pressure points. the people of iran don't necessarily have negative views about america if we don't play into the hands of americanism, so i think there are many ways we can stop them from doing the nuclear weapons, but we cannot allow them to have them. i do agree with the president strongly on that point. >> the book is entitled "while america sleeps, a wake-up call for the post-9/11 era." it's a powerful and very important book. senator feingold, thanks so much for writing it. >> thanks so much, wolf. let's tend the conversation in our "strategy session." joining us donna brazile and eric erickson, the editor in chief of redstate.com. thanks very much for continuing this conversation. a quick thought on russ feingold. he disagrees with the president, but is now a national cochairman. >> one of the good things about the democratic party is we don't have to agree 100% to have good membership in the party. he's a strong leader and will be a very good spokesperson. >> sounded sort of like ron paul. he opposed it in the house of representatives as well. >> i think the patriot act long term doesn't have a long time to live as more and more americans realize. i'm a supporter of the p.a.t.r.i.o.t. act, but i think it needs to be reworked. >> all of the candidates have really been taking stuff about the president's religion. let me play a clip and then we'll discuss. >> this is what the president's agenda -- it's not about you, it's not about you. it's not about your quality of life. it's not about your jobs. it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology, oh, not a theology based