Former N.J. Gov. Whitman talks Reagan, Romney

>> of office politics , today we have former new jersey governor who discusses the policy with ronald reagan , and why in the heartland, women are going to the polls, starting with mitt romney 's flub.

>> the problem is he is not wrong in saying 47% of the people don't pay taxes, and 47% of the people today have to rely on government more than they had to, because the job situation was so bad. but the problem with that was, what he went on to say, i don't have to worry about them. i always worry about the 35%, no matter what i do, they wouldn't vote for me, hardline democrats, wouldn't cross over . you can say 46%, that doesn't mean you don't govern for them. you may not run a campaign for them, because you have to concede this number of votes, you don't say you govern for them. because you govern for everybody.

>> so can he recover?

>> the big problem he has, if you look at the polls there is a huge gender gap . and what happens there, with todd akens' comment, and the platform, you have energized women who were not happy, and were not going to vote -- the energy showed they were just not going to vote. they were sick, upset, tending to their own business. now they're energized to vote against the republicans, and so they will be voting for obama, because they don't want to see women's rights hurt.

>> do you think that the tea party is detrimental to the future of the gop?

>> well, it is interesting to me. to me, both the tea party and the percenters, or the 49ers, are reacting to the same thing, they're both out of control. we have a deficit that is going to kill us. they're not minding the store. now, we come at it from two other spectrums, but they're the same issues, basically the same issues they're focused on. and when the tea party first came in. and i was at a rally down in arizona with a candidate on the first tax day , first april 15th after the tea party was founded. and there were people who were democrats, there were republicans, there were independents who were there rallying on the street. but when they got into the office, they started to morph over to the social issues, so as they have done that, i think the basic premise for the party is very right, frankly. we have got to get serious about these issues.

>> president reagan said famously he didn't leave the democratic party , the democratic party left him. do you feel that members of the gop feel that way? do you feel that way?

>> oh, i know people feel that way. and i'm certainly verging on that. the party that i saw at the convention when you looked at the clips that -- if you read the -- the platform, the rhetoric that you hear, the vitriol, it is not the party in which i grew up. it is not the party that would even accept a reagan. barry goldwater would be too liberal for them today. he was not against gays in the military . it has become a litmus test party that is so narrow that you just have to wonder how long it will be a national factor?

>> do you miss politics?

>> i am still involved, because i really love the policy, i do a lot of speaking. and i'm out and do a lot of speaking for candidates, individual candidates and i'm able to do a lot of things.

>> you are campaigning for senator scott brown in massachusetts, what about him appeals to you?

>> he has been an independent thinker, and i like that. he has been able to stand up to the leadership in congress, and it is not easy to do.

>> you live here in a home that is a beautiful -- it is a horse farm.

>> actually, it used to be hay, now it is mulch hay, and we run pigs and cattle, it is where i grew up.

>> so are you a city girl or a country girl ?

>> no, this -- i'm a country girl , this has been my home, my parents bought this, and i farmed it ever since.

>> we loved our time with her, and we'll begin two weeks of office politics .