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Romney's 'Latino-palooza' – CNN contributor Ana Navarro on Romney's 'progress' with Hispanic voters
President Obama will engage a crowd of Latino students in a town hall style event at the University of Miami tonight. He follows Mitt Romney’s appearance at the “Meet the Candidates” forum on Hispanic and educational issues co-sponsored by Univision and Facebook. CNN Contributor and Republican Strategist Ana Navarro attended last night’s event. She joins John Berman on “Early Start” this morning with her take on the GOP candidate’s performance.
“It was a very good event,” Navarro says of the forum. She calls Romney’s series of Hispanic events this week “Latino-palooza,” which Navarro feels Romney has waited to do until being formally nominated at the Republican National Convention. The Romney campaign has also spent a lot of money on Hispanic ads, she says. “We are seeing a sprint-to-the-finish, all out effort by Mitt Romney in these last 40 some days.”
Navarro says the crowd had strong Romney supporters at the forum last night. They also had some tough questions for the candidate at the beginning, “a real grilling on the immigration issue, but then they moved to the economic and education issues. You could see this was a Mitt Romney at ease,” Navarro says. “I could tell that he’s been preparing and briefing for debates,” even though this wasn’t exactly a debate format, “he did well.”
Berman asks Navarro if she was satisfied with how Romney received questions at the forum about his somewhat controversial stance on immigration. Navarro says Romney still hasn’t provided specifics but that “there is a change of tone.”
“There is a change on some of the words he’s using,” Navarro says. “We’ve gone from talking about self-deportation to now him saying, ‘Were not going to have massive roundups and deportations.’ We’ve gone from him talking about a veto threat for a DREAM Act if it were to pass under his administration to him addressing some ways where he could pick up and give legal resources to some those students that would be covered under a potential DREAM Act.” Navarro says, “he’s made progress.”
What's trending for Sept. 20th, 2012
Woman who ruined Jesus painting wants royalties, and Bruce Springsteen goes crowd-surfing.
Troubling signs for Romney with independent voters? CNN Political Director Paul Steinhauser breaks down latest polls
Mitt Romney and President Obama are both reaching out to Latinos tonight. Romney attends a late night rally in Miami, Florida, a critical swing state that could decide the election. The GOP candidate addressed Latinos on Hispanic and educational issues at a forum at the University of Miami yesterday, distancing himself from his “47 %” comments.
President Obama is scheduled to make the same appearance at the “Meet the Candidates” forum co-sponsored by Univision and Facebook tonight. CNN Political Director Paul Steinhauser breaks down the their latest poll numbers on “Early Start” this morning.
Democrats and Republicans have likely already made their decision for November. Steinhauser says poll numbers among Independents are the most interesting. “Among Independents,” Steinhauser says, “more than half say no difference,” in regards to whether Romney’s fundraiser comments make them more or less likely to vote for Romney. “Of those who say it makes a difference by a two-to-one margin, they say they’re less likely to vote for Romney. That could be a little troubling for Mitt Romney.” This is just one poll that was conducted Tuesday night, Steinhauser cautions. More numbers will follow soon.
“For Mitt Romney to win in November, he’s gotta win all the states that John McCain did four years ago,” Steinhauser says. “Plus, he’s gotta make some pick-ups.” Poll numbers, however, show Obama in the lead in Michigan and Wisconsin, where Romney and running mate Paul Ryan are from, respectively. These are “troubling signs,” Steinhauser says.
Chicago teachers strike ends but the Union is still expected to make ratifications – CNN's Kyung Lah reports
Wednesday 350,000 students are expected to return to school after Chicago public school teachers voted overwhelmingly to end their strike. The walkout which lasted seven days left parents scrambling to make provisions for their children.
Although Union delegates accepted a new contract, the agreement is still expected to be ratified by the more than 29,000 teachers and support staff. About 800 union officers and delegates met for just over two hours before deciding to suspend the walkout.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel who filed an injunction to end the strike said the new contract is "an honest compromise." Some of the new provisions mean longer days for students and children entering kindergarten would receive 2 1/2 more years of instruction by the time he or she graduated.
– CNN's Kyung Lah reports
French magazine publishes cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed – CNN’s Jim Bittermann reports
The French government is pleading for restraint after a weekly magazine known for its sharp satire published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed. The cartoons have France bracing for a strong reaction at a time when Muslims around the world are rioting over an amateur anti-Islam movie produced in the U.S.
The magazine director said his staff is "not really fueling the fire," but is using its freedom of expression.
The last time this magazine did something relating to the prophet, their Paris office was firebombed.
-CNN’s Jim Bittermann reports
Actor Andrew McCarthy on his new book and how traveling around the world changed his life
Andrew McCarthy is known by many from classic ‘80s movies like “Pretty in Pink”, “St. Elmo's Fire” and “Weekend at Bernie’s.” McCarthy is also known as an award winning travel writer. In his new book entitled “The Longest Way Home - One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down,” McCarthy chronicles his travels and the inward journey he took while exploring the world.
McCarthy tells “Early Start’s” Zoraida Sambolin that traveling was a complete accident. “I was a big traveler. Traveling sort of changed my life and it was just a passion of mine that I pursued. I met an editor of a magazine. I finally bombarded him… to let him write for his magazine and eventually it took off from there.”
The actor says his book is about taking an inward journey and answering questions on how people connect, form intimacy, commit and form partnerships. “I answer questions, some people go to therapy, some people sit and have chats over coffee. I find the answers to my questions when I go far from home.”
McCarthy who describes himself as a solitary person says he was “sad to be leaving” to cover a story for his magazine after getting married but still “thrilled to be going alone.” He adds, “I couldn’t reconcile those two aspects of myself. That need for solitude for solitude… and the need and the yearning to be together.”
“Whenever I come back from a trip I’m a better version of myself,” says McCarthy. “I have more access to my love… and if I bring home a better version of me, that’s a good thing.”
President of the Hispanic Leadership Fund Mario Lopez on Romney's fundraiser comment: 'it was a joke'
Mitt Romney is appealing to the Latino vote today with a “Juntos con Romney” rally in Miami and a special on Univision featuring Romney in a “Meet the Candidates” forum at the University of Miami. All of this comes just two days after a secret recording of the candidate was released showing him making light of his disconnect with the Latino vote. Romney supporter and President of the Hispanic Leadership Fund Mario Lopez joins Zoraida Sambolin on “Early Start” this morning with his take on the remark.
“I think that it was a joke,” Lopez says. Lopez compares it to an earlier joke Romney made in January saying “that it might be easier for him to win the Florida primary if he could convince folks of his Latino heritage,” like in the leaked recording. “I don’t think it was offensive at all.”
Sambolin asks if it shows that Romney is out of touch with the Latino community. “I disagree,” Lopez says. “I think what’s much more out of touch is the fact that we have two million more Hispanics in poverty over the last four years under President Obama, that we have record number of people on food stamps, that we have 23 million people out of work, a lot of whom have given up hope of finding a job, and frankly the Hispanic unemployment is much higher than that for the general population.”
Sambolin offers that perhaps this is precisely why Romney should take it seriously and not approach the subject with humor. Lopez responds that “this represents a great opportunity for him to explain exactly why it is that free market policies are better for all income groups.”
CNN’s Peter Hamby says Romney is ‘trying to reframe controversy’
The Romney camp is still repairing the damage from the hidden camera comments Mitt Romney made at a recent fundraiser. He said that nearly half of all Americans consider themselves victims who believe they are entitled to government assistance, and he is not going to worry about “those people.” President Obama responded to the comments in an appearance with David Letterman.
Romney isn’t apologizing for the comments but he clarifies them in an Op-Ed in this morning’s edition of USA Today. His campaign is on the defensive now and CNN Political Reporter Peter Hamby reports live from our Washington Bureau with the latest analysis and poll numbers.
Mitt Romney is firing back with an argument against comments President Obama made in 1998 supporting redistribution of wealth. Romney is “basically trying to reframe this controversy as a fight between two fundamentally different views of government,” Hamby says.
His explanation has still defined the divisions in the Republican Party. “It’s the same split that the GOP’s been dealing with since 1964, to be honest,” Hamby says, “You’ve got the sort of beltway elites who have been very critical of Mitt Romney versus the sort of grassroots who actually kind of like Romney’s blunt language.”
What’s trending on September 19, 2012?
Have you seen the latest cover of Forbes Magazine? The fold out cover of its 30th anniversary issue features the biggest names in philanthropy. Oprah, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet and Jon Bon Jovi are all in the mix. Plus, a new baby panda joined the family at the Smithsonian National Zoo on Sunday night. Vets say that giant panda Mei Xiang’s new born cub is healthy and well. Check out the zoo's live panda cam on CNN.com.
Gov. Markell on Romney's hidden camera remarks: 'This is entirely consistent with his policy positions'
On Monday, secretly recorded videos of Mitt Romney speaking at private fundraising event were released on the website of the left-leaning magazine Mother Jones. The clips show the candidate characterizing 47% of people as Obama supporters who are dependent on government support systems. In the same clip, Romney adds to his "entitlement" argument, saying "my job is not to worry about those people.”
In an interview Tuesday, the GOP presidential candidate said he was making a political analysis in the remarks, not a broader assessment of Americans who rely on government-funded programs.
This morning, Obama campaign surrogate, Gov. Jack Markell (D-DE) stops by “Early Start” to discuss Romney's leaked comments and whether or not people have become too dependent on government.
The Governor says that he was “surprised” by Mitt Romney’s comments but “was not surprised that this is what he thinks because this is entirely consistent with his policy positions.” Markell lists these policy positions as Romney’s “embrace of the Ryan budget, kicking hundreds of thousands of kids out of Head Start, kicking students out of Pell grants.”
On the topic of reducing government dependency, Markell says Obama has been focused on energizing the private sector. “We’d all like to see as many people employed as possible in the private sector,” says Markell. “But we also have to understand there’s a role for government to play. We have to make sure that the kids are being educated, to make sure we’re investing in infrastructure, to make sure we’re helping people with job skills.”
Some conservatives like Rush Limbaugh are embracing the leaked videos as an opportunity for Romney inform members of the “47%” about how his policies would help them. Markell says the 47% Romney is referring to are senior citizens, students and veterans who “feel like you’re entitled…you don’t want to be working. That’s not the world that I live in. That’s not the world most Americans live in.”
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