Face the Nation this Sunday: Gingrich, Santorum
This Sunday's Guests are Republican Presidential Candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, author of the new book "Now or Never" and New York Times author Jodi Kantor, author of the explosive book on the first family, "The Obamas"
After unprecedented back-to-back primary wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney appears to be cruising toward the Republican nomination. But as Romney is looking ahead to the big delegate state of Florida, his opponents are looking to stop his momentum in the next primary state, South Carolina.
"I don't believe any moderate can debate Barack Obama successfully because there isn't a big enough gap between the two of them," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich this week. "And I believe if you are going to defeat Barack Obama, you are only going to defeat him with a conservative and that requires South Carolinians to come together," he said aiming his attack on Romney.
Full CBS News coverage: Newt Gingrich
But Gingrich's attacks on Romney's record running the private equity firm, Bain Capital, may have backfired as many top conservatives rallied around Romney against attacks that they said were anti-capitalism and anti-free market. A pro-Gingrich Super PAC released a 30 minute video slamming Romney as a greedy businessman, putting profits ahead of people, entitled "King of Bain: 'When Mitt Romney Came To Town.'"
"He said his record was a central piece to understanding him. Fine. So, get him to talk about his record. Why is it inappropriate to ask somebody about their record?" said Gingrich in response.
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For his part, Rick Santorum, who finished only 8 votes behind Romney in the Iowa caucuses, avoiding attacking the front-runner for Bain.
"Governor Romney's record in Massachusetts is deplorable. It's not a conservative record," he said in an interview on FOX News this week. "That's why I've been somewhat, you know, hesitant to go after his Bain Capital record. I don't want to divert attention away from his horrible record as governor and being a moderate to liberal governor in Massachusetts... gun control, abortion, and a very bad record on taxes and spending. Those are the kind of things that I want to talk about here in South Carolina," said Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania.
Full CBS News coverage: Rick Santorum
One top Republican who said the attacks on Romney's Bain record went too far was South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, who is known for his efforts to elect more conservative Republicans to Congress.
"To have a few Republicans in this race begin to talk about how bad it is to fire people... certainly we don't like that, it really gives the Democrats a lot of fodder," DeMint said on the Laura Ingraham radio show.
DeMint also told Ingraham that he wouldn't endorse in the race and will focus more on making the Senate more conservative. In his new book, "Now or Never: Saving America from Economic Collapse," DeMint argues that only conservative Republicans can reduce the size of the federal government and cut spending to reduce the massive federal debt. "Republicans simply cannot cooperate and compromise with Democrats - we must beat them at the ballot box. Failure to do so will only allow the Democrats to continue destroying this country," he writes, urging like-minded Tea Party conservatives to rally together.
On the other side of the aisle, another new book has brought attention to the role of First Lady Michelle Obama in her husband's administration and re-election bid.
In "The Obamas," New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor says that Mrs. Obama moved more quickly to take her husband's staff to task for problems than he did. "Though she could grow annoyed, she almost never got really angry on her own behalf; it was almost always when she felt her husband, so conciliatory, so quick to say yes, was being taken advantage of or badly served," she wrote.
Responding to the book, the first lady told Gayle King of CBS This Morning that she doesn't meet with the president's staff and that her staff and her husband's work well together.
"I guess it's more interesting to -- imagine this conflicted situation here and a strong woman and-- you know?" Michelle Obama said. "But that's been an image that people have tried to paint of me since, you know, the day Barack announced, that I'm some angry black woman. And, you know..."
"Yeah, how do you deal with that-- that image?" King asked.
" You know-- I-- I just try to be me. And-- and my hope is that over time people get to know me. And they get to judge me for me," said the first lady.
Can Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum rally conservatives to stop Mitt Romney's rolling to the nomination or will a split among conservatives all but give Romney the win? Will South Carolina be the state to stop to Romney, even though the winner of the Republican primary there has won the nomination every time since 1980? After raising millions of dollars in the last few months, can Romney even be stopped? And finally, will the new book's portrayal of the first lady help or hurt her husband's re-election changes?
Those will be among the issues discussed as candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, Senator Jim DeMint and "The Obamas" author Jodi Kantor join Bob Schieffer to Face the Nation.