-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com major new backing and a brewing new controversy for the republican presidential candidate mitt romney. he's picked up one of the most sought-after endorsements of the campaign, but a remark by one of his top aides is now threatening to overshadow it. our national political correspondent jim acosta is with romney who is holding a town hall meeting outside baltimore. jim, what happened? >> reporter: wolf, as you just mentioned mitt romney is about to hold a town hall meeting just outside of baltimore. the maryland primary is coming up in about a week and a half, but mitt romney can take comfort in the fact that rick santorum's path to the nomination looks sketchy today, but as the romney campaign knows, this race for the gop nomination is not etched in stone. >> thank you. >> reporter: it was as if one of the biggest names in republican party politics was listening to mitt romney's call for unity after the illinois primary. >> join us. join us. >> about 12 hours later former florida governor jeb bush released a statement announcing his endorsement of romney. now is the time for republicans to unite behind governor romney, bush said, and take conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall, but bush's endorsement comes less than a month after he warned a crowd in texas the current republican field was alienating centrist voters. he summed it up this way to a local station. >> i think, though, it's important for the candidates to -- to recognize that they have to appeal to primary voters and not turn off independent voters that will be part for a winning coalition. >> attacks from bush's speech that day sounded more urgent. i used to be a conservative, bush said, and i watch these debates and i'm wondering i don't think i've changed but it's troebling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fear and emotion. bush's comments may be easier than what one of romney's longtime aides said on cnn's "starting point." whether the gop front-runner has tacked too far to the right to win the nomination. >> i think he hit a reset button for the fall campaign. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch. you shake it up and do it all over again. >> andrew kaczynski posted an etch-a-sketch on top of the romney car. they tweeted a picture of the pennsylvania senator doing his own etch-a-sketching. >> that should be comforting to all of you who were voting on this primary. the comments are a signal to voters that team romney plans to run as a blank slate in the fall. >> remove all trace of any kind of marks and be able to draw a new picture. maybe a picture like when he ran for governor of massachusetts not as a conservative. >> newt gingrich offered his own etch-a-sketch to a toddler in louisiana and said politics could be in her future. >> she could now be a presidential candidate. she has her very own etch-a-sketch. and the dnc piled on with a new web video that says there are some things you can't shake off. >> now this afternoon romney strategist sketched out a response to this controversy and here it is, quote, i was talking about the race, he says, as we move from the primary to the general election. the campaign changes. it's a different race with different candidates and a focus on different issues. that is not enough, obviously, for the santorum campaign. just before this event got started, wolf, santorum's press secretarialis stewart was hanged out these etch-a-sketches to reporters out in the parking lot. we all got one, wolf? >> a quick question about jeb bush. as soon as i heard the endorsement, major endorsement for mitt romney. my mind immediately raced to the possibility of a mitt romney/jeb bush ticket in the fall in the general election if romney does, in fact, get the nomination. what are they saying about that? >> reporter: they're not saying much about that kind of speculation this afternoon, wolf. mitt romney released a statement welcoming the news that jeb bush is endorsing their campaign, but it would be a potent ticket for the republican nomination and for the fall general election campaign. jeb bush coming from florida, that is a key swing state that president obama will likely have to hang on to in order to get reelected in the fall, but the question is going to be raised with putting the name bush on a republican ticket work out that well for the gop this time around and perhaps there might be some in the republican party to say better to wait for 2016. >> we'll see what happens. thanks very much. rick santorum is in louisiana this coming saturday. he's on the offensive showing no sign at all, despite trailing romney by more than 300 delegates. our senior correspondent, joe johns is out on the campaign trail. what's the latest over there? >> wolf, rick santorum arrived here in louisiana looking very much like a guy who is prepared to stick it out for quite a while. the santorum people are taking the position that this is basically halftime in the race with a long time to go and they say they're going keep going as long as mitt romney doesn't have the nomination locked up yet. >> leaving no doubt that he's still in the race for now, rick santorum arrived in harvey, louisiana, full of fight despite the thumping he'd just taken in illinois. at first, santorum was taking on president obama for his energy policies, claiming the moratorium on oil drilling after the deepwater horizon disaster that the administration actually lifted has been replaced by a reg each excessive administrative red tape. he's trying to connect with voters in a region where drilling means jobs. >> here in the gulf, the moratorium and of course, what we see in alaska, the continental shelf, federal lands increasingly trying to lock up federal lands so no minerals can be harvested from there. i'm not just talking oil, gas and coal, but a whole variety of different minerals. >> reporter: santorum was predicting a strong showing here in louisiana and still going after the republican front-runner with about the same amount of vigor he used to attack mitt romney for the illinois primary. >> he will say what he needs to say to win the election that's before him, and if he has to say something different because it's a different election and a different group of voters he's willing to say that, too. >> reporter: santorum was also looking ahead talking about mitt romney's health care plan in massachusetts which his campaign intends to highlight for similarities with the obama healthcare legislation that gets its hearing next week before the supreme court. i asked santorum about jeb bush's endorsement of mitt romney which he dismissed as establishment politics. >> do you think it is time for the republican party to sort of come together? >> i agree. they should all start supporting me because i'm a strong conservative candidate, and i'm hopeful as we've seen in every state all of the endorsers, the establishment, you know, who is comfortable with the status quo go with mitt romney and the folks who want to see the real changes going on in washington, d.c., support me, and i think that's what this vase comirace coming down to. all of the states are important to rick santorum, but perhaps the most important are his own home state of pennsylvania which he spent the night in last night and also in texas. in may, he's going to texas tomorrow, wolf. >> that will be a big battle in pennsylvania even though it is his home state i suspect the romney folks will try to win that state. joe johns for us, thanks very much. let's dig deeper with our political analyst gloria borger. the jeb bush endorsement of mitt romney. what does that say about where the overall primary season stands? >> it says that illinois was a very convincing win for mitt romney and what you're seeing is the establishment start to coalesce around mitt romney who they think is the likely nominee, but there aren't any more power brokers anymore, wolf, who can come in and say to the republicans, it's time to end this thing. let's get on with it and go to the convention all united. jeb bush can't do that. what we are really seeing is a contest that's not going to end with some kind of dramatic flourish, but you probably will see mitt romney crawl across the finish line in the end if he can get those 1144 delegates, but you will see a race and when santorum wins one and romney wins one, for example, in louisiana this saturday, likely that it's not going to be mitt romney and it could be santorum and it could be newt gingrich. then on april 3rd, maryland, wisconsin and d.c., maryland, probably romney, but wisconsin, who knows? if santorum could win wisconsin that would be a huge win for him and think, as joe was mentioning, april 24th you have pennsylvania which i would argue santorum absolutely needs to win. >> governor romney had a very impressive win in illinois, but he still had problems with some elements of that republican conservative base. among those folks who call themselves very conservative. they went for santorum, 49%, romney 36% and among those who describe themselves as born again, santorum 47%, romney, 37%. so what can romney do about that? >> not much. i think the race has kind of established a pattern, and i think it is what it is. mitt romney is never going to convince evangelical voters who are skeptical of him. the most conservative voters who are skeptical of them and the most ardent tea party voters who are very skeptical of them to support them overwhelmingly. he did win people, the tea partiers in illinois last night. that was a part of his very large victory, but overall they're going to remain skeptical. what we call the base of the base. so in the end they're going to have to decide whether they want to defeat president obama enough that they would come out wholeheartedly, if he's the nominee as seems likely, and vote for him in the fall. it's not going to be because they're passionate about him. >> they're passionate about not voting for president obama. that could be the decisive element. gloria, thanks very much. so what about jeb bush for vice president? his endorsement of mitt romney is endorsing buzz about his slot on the gop ticket. plus, the obscure republican rule that could dramatically change the race for the white house. we'll talk about that. that's coming up in our strategy session. stay with us. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions... [ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ cannot be contained. [ clang ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. see your lexus dealer. lemon burst, blackberry harvest, pina colada... i can't imagine where she is... orange creme... [ grocery store pa ] clean up in aisle eight. found her! [ female announcer ] yoplait original. 25 flavors for you to love. let's get right to jack cafferty for the cafferty file. >> it's just about over. while mitt romney didn't score a knockout in illinois, he landed enough blows that his opponents may be unable to answer the bell for the next round and it's a bit ironic, i suppose, the republican primary fight may have been decided in the democratic president's home state. romney's win was impressive, double digits and he won just about every exit poll category that was measured except for evangelicals and conservative voters. rick santorum's show thing on the other hand was far from impressive. he got little support beyond his base, but more importantly he showed again that he's incapable of winning a large midwestern state and there simply aren't enough louisianas, mississippis and alabamas to get him the nomination. newt gingrich finished dead last. he's gone from contender to curiosity to nobody cares. he's toast. ron paul who may have the bestside set of ideas for solving a lot of our big problems has never been able to connect with enough voters to make a difference. finally, if romney should go on to win the nomination, and i think he probably will, the republican voters would have settled for the moderate in the middle sort of what the vast majority of the country has always been about and his victory will be a slap in the face to the tea party. romney's now looking past these fights toward the big title bout in november, and the rest of the country, i think is starting to do the same. here's the question, was illinois the turning point in the republican race? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. post a comment on my blog or go to our post in "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> thank you. twitter is blowing up with the etch-a-sketch comment made by a top romney campaign aide. you saw it here in jim acosta's report. let's discuss what's going on with the host of cnn's "reliable sources" howard kurtz and laren ashburn, the founder and editor in chief of daily download.com. thanks for coming in. you guys have a new venture that you'll be announcing shortly, but let's talk, howie, first of all, it's amazing how quickly when we said this morning on cnn has blown up. >> i watch cable news all of the time and i found out about this on twitter. suddenly everyone is commenting on it, it's trending. >> is it because etch-a-sketch, is it because everyone knows what etch a sketch is? >> more than light brite. >> it's an indelible image for the romney campaign because it makes it look like the principles can be shaken up like the children's game. >> but not indelible. >> it's amazing what's going on right now even compared to four years ago, the social media situation has dramatically changed politics. >> you know, president obama was the ringleader when it came to social media and engaging those young voters. he's still the king. he has 25 million likes on his facebook page. he released a documentary 17 minutes long only online. you actually had to sign in, give an e-mail address so that they then had that and could engage you outside of facebook. anybody could go on twitter and they had a following and who did you see tweeting about the whole etch a sketch controversy. eva longoria tweeted arianna huffington and i love etch-a-sketch. did you see the one with the dog on the etch-a-sketch? it will be bigger than the dog con troer havy. >> i don't know if it will last that long, but even the dnc wasted no time. they're not always the fast nest reacting, but they had this. i'll play a little clip. >> if i were elected and congress were to pass the dream act would i veto it and the answer is yes. planned parenthood. i'll get rid of that. i was a severely conservative republican governor. ♪ ♪ >> the question is, it has a few hours' life right now, but how long does an etch-a-sketch comment like that will last? >> i do think it will last a very long time. someone tweeted which was so funny. they said -- not funny that he died, but romney when he dies the first paragraph of his o witch waere will be etch-a-sketch. >> and you are tapping into the whole social media adventure. >> we've been tracking this on daily download and the campaign has conducted a lot of sniping and online warfare through media like twitter. they exchange snarky e-mails and people chime in and it's become -- i think twitter is the new a.p., wolf, it's a whole new conversation that takes place in addition to newspapers and magazines and that's why something like this can become a trending topic in just a few hours because it taps into the cultural mainstream in a way that pure political coverage doesn't always do. >> and in "usa today," a very big media company, we decided we wanted to start daily download to really take a look at what's happening on the internet, how mainstream media companies are adapting to the internet, whether or not newspapers in print will be able to make the jump and how that's affecting that. >> i follow what mitt romney does and sometimes his campaign pushes back at journalists who are on twitter and they get an advanced look at what they'll be writing. >> what about ann romney? ann romney is on pinterest. >> you're obsessed with it. >> it's where you put all of these pictures together that you leak. you can say this is my flower page or this is my mitt romney page. >> 10 million users on pinterest. >> good luck with the new venture. thanks. howie kurt, you can be seen every sunday morning at l11:00 a.m. eastern on "reliable sources." jeb bush, the former florida governor has announced his pick in the race for the nomination. does have his sights set on the number two spot in the ticket? we'll discuss in our strategy session. also, a plane bound for china gets diverted for two days. we'll have the details of the nightmare that unfolded. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast speeds. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. >> i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." here are some of the stories we're working on for the next hour. anti-american sentiment running rampant in hezbollah. does the pro-iran group pose a real, genuine terror threat right here on u.s. soil? stand by. >> in france, the standoff goes on with an accused mass killer who says he wants to bring the country to its knees. we are learning more about a man driven by vengeance. and coach sean payton suspended. a very hefty fine and more. the nfl deals harsh punishment to the new orleans saints for a so-called bounty on opposing players. stand by. we're in "the situation room." >> all right. let's get right to our strategy session. joining us our cnn political contributor maria cardona along with rich galen. guy, thank you very much for coming in. jeb bush, popular governor of florida, endorsing mitt romney saying primary elections had been held in 34 states and now is the time for republicans to unite behind governor romney and take our message of fiscal conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall. is it at all realistic, do you think, to think that a romney-bush ticket in the fall is possible? >> any of these are possible. we were talking about them in the green room before. the great thing about running for vp is it's a ten-week sprint and if you win, you get a house. you get a car and you get your own airplane, but for these governors and ex-governors it's a great gig if they want to do it. the great thing about the campaign is they don