"Face the Nation" transcript: April 1, 2012

BOB SCHIEFFER: --hmm.

GWEN IFILL: Democrats really like the idea of running on the court. They-- they say, you know, if you vote for this person, you-- this is what you will get in a Supreme Court nominee and it never works that way. That's not how people vote. They vote on health care issues. They vote on what's important to them and to the degree that they want to run on what the court does or doesn't do, it will be on that I think, not on the Supreme Court itself.

KEVIN MADDEN (Romney Campaign Advisor): Yeah.

GWEN IFILL: That was like the--

(Cross-talking)

BOB SCHIEFFER: You're-- you're-- you're a Romney man?

KEVIN MADDEN: Right.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Plain and simple, what do you--

KEVIN MADDEN: Look I think that the health care bill is going to be on the ballot in the court of public opinion regardless of what happens at the Supreme Court, whether it strikes it down or not. And I think any re-litigation of this particular piece of legislation is not favorable political terrain for the President. There's going to be a very important debate in the campaign tr-- on the campaign trail about the size and the cost of this bill and that is really what-- really is-- is made it very unfavorable on the eyes of many voters. A 1.7 trillion dollars when we feel-- when we feel like we didn't have that type-- type of money and then when it did to small businesses and the taxes that came along with it. So, I think it-- it puts us in-- in a very good position in this 2012 framework.

BOB SCHIEFFER: John, talk about the impact on the two campaigns and on the candidates.

JOHN DICKERSON (CBS News Political Director): If-- the-- the President has shown a willingness to kick the Supreme Court in the shins. But that was kind of a one-off. If he continues to fight, if this goes down in some way and the Supreme Court and President talks about it a lot, independent voters are going to look at that and say, the Supreme Court which they'll look like has given the kind of thumbs down on the law, why is the President going on, this is more of the kind of obsession with health care that turned us off on him in the first place. But if there is some sense that the Supreme Court gives a positive seal of approval, I-- I think Kevin is right, this will-- the Republicans will feel energized. They'll say the only way we can kill this beast is if we get rid of Barack Obama, but independent voters will say, well, this thing President Obama was so concerned about, if the Supreme Court gives it a kind of thumbs up, they'll-- they'll see that as-- as an approval of the law. And yes, it might be a talk about size of spending and so forth and so on, but I think that would again be good--

KEVIN MADDEN (overlapping): I think in 2010, that's what really hurt him with independent voters was that, the size of the bill, the cost of the bill and the fact that it hadn't done anything to control health care cost.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Kevin, let me-- let me just change the subject just a little bit. And we're about out of time, but why is-- Governor Romney continues to pick up delegates slowly and surely, but why is he having such a hard time connecting with the right side of his party?

KEVIN MADDEN: I-- first of all, I disagree with the premise of the question. I think that the Governor has-- don't-- I think he--

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well, why that-- in most of these primaries more people have voted against him (INDISTINCT).

KEVIN MADDEN (overlapping): Primaries are always-- primaries are always about the differences within a party. And when you have a battle like we've had in this party between the purists and the pragmatists. I think that those type of divisions start to-- they come out in the primary process. But I think the reason that the Governor has gotten endorsements from people who're respected by the Tea Party like Marco Rubio and others is because he has focused very cutely on the issues of spending and deficits and reforming government. And because of that, I believe that he's going to be able to coalesce and bring the party behind him and that as we go through this process, we'll see more and more support from the Republicans.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Thank you. Time flies when you're having fun. We'll be back in a moment with our FACE THE NATION flashbacks. Stay with us.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

BOB SCHIEFFER: From the beginning of this campaign, we've been trying to get Mitt Romney on FACE THE NATION. His people keep saying maybe but so far no go. Well, not to worry, it turns out we've already got him on camera and on the record and that is our FACE THE NATION flashback. The year was 1994, it was a beautiful New England autumn and a high-stepping Mitt Romney was running literally to topple Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy. It was eighteen years ago, but what he told me that day may have a familiar ring to those following this year's campaign.

MITT ROMNEY (recording): In my profession, in business, that if-- if-- if a chief executive says look, I did this and this and this and this and this--

BOB SCHIEFFER (recording): Mm-Hm.

MITT ROMNEY: --but, oh, yeah, the bottom line is a mess, at some point, you know, you get away with that for a while, then at some point you say, okay, let's change that, you know, I can't tell you how to run your company better, but I can tell you I'm going to vote you out as the chief executive and vote a new guy.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Mm-Hm.

MITT ROMNEY: And-- and that's what happening.

BOB SCHIEFFER: It didn't work that time, Kennedy won handily but eight years later, Romney ran again and was elected Massachusetts Governor. Now, he's trying for the second time to see if it will work at the national level. This week's FACE THE NATION flashback. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(ANNOUNCEMENTS)

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, thank you for watching our first hour long FACE THE NATION. We'll be back next Sunday, of course, and our guests will include Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. Meantime, check out our new website at facethenation.com. This week we're also kicking off our Campaign 2012 Google hangout series. You can follow that live on the FACE THE NATION Google Plus page Thursday at 1:00 PM and we'll show you some of it on Sunday's broadcast. See you.

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