DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz visited CNN’s Starting Point to address criticism that President Barack Obama has “flip-flopped” on the issue of Super PACs.

“Isn’t there something contradictory in that, though?” asked host Soledad O’Brien, “Saying ‘I’m against it, but embrace it because the other guys are embracing it.’”

Former Pennsylvania congressman and current Gingrich campaign chairman Bob Walker joined Starting Point‘s Soledad O’Brien on Thursday to discuss how Newt Gingrich plans to win over voters participating in the upcoming straw poll.

Fresh off his Tuesday night wins, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum visited Starting Point‘s Soledad O’Brien to explain his strategy… and issue a couple of corrections.

On Tuesday morning’s Starting Point, host Soledad O’Brien led yet another discussion of the Obama administration’s decision to give non-church religious employers one year to comply with the Preventive Services Mandate, which some claim is an “attack on religious liberty.”

O’Brien did a good job of challenging that false premise, but allowed guest Rep. Marcia Blackburn (R-TN) to slip in the lie that the mandate covers the “abortion pill.”

Super PACs have been facing heavy criticism since the moment they were created but, lately, that outcry has become nearly deafening. One of the harshest critics has been President Obama. That’s why it was awesome for his campaign to write a blog post explaining why they need to win eliminate Super PACs by winning the election…using a Super PAC. This morning on CNN, Obama supporter Russell Simmons defended the President’s “second Super PAC wrong to make a campaign finance reform right” approach.

Starting Point anchor Soledad O’Brien gave former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney a helping hand into some hot water the other day when she elicited Romney’s now-famous “I’m not concerned about the very poor” remark. On Friday morning’s Starting Point, O’Brien and her panel challenged Gov. Romney’s later assertion that he “misspoke,” and that his remarks were simply a “slip up on a word.”

Before having Mitt Romney say he wasn’t concerned with the “very poor” on Wednesday, Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien had emerged as a fun, loose show that would broadcast live from diners more often than studios, and featured engaging panels with the likes of Roland Martin, Will Cain, John Fugelsang, and various politicians and commentators.

Mitt Romney was off to a bad start this morning, as he began the day telling CNN’s Soledad O’Brien that he was “not concerned about the very poor.” Jon Stewart happened upon this clip in horror, trying to understand what Romney was getting at. The best he could do was to imagine Romney as a doctor unconcerned about the “very sick because, you know, morphine.”

In an appearance on CNN’s Starting Point Wednesday morning, RNC chairman Reince Priebus tried out a little condescension and confrontation on host Soledad O’Brien, and was met with curt impatience. Asked if the nasty Republican primary race could damage the eventual nominee, Priebus passive-aggressively accused O’Brien of “spinning,” while a visibly annoyed Soledad O’Brien pressed him to get to the point, and later challenged him on his comparison of President Obama to cruise ship villain Captain Francesco Schettino.

Mitt Romney, fresh off his win in Florida, appeared on Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien to discuss his strategy going forward. At one point during the interview, O’Brien asked Romney about a recent poll that had him trailing President Barack Obama when it comes to “understanding the needs of average Americans” as well as a Washington Post column by Kathleen Parker that opined voters “can’t connect” with Romney.

Over the past few months, we’ve been watching the top tier of the Republican party duke it out for the Presidential nomination (Sorry, Sarah. If you don’t run, you don’t get to be top tier). However, right next to them waiting in the wings, there’s the next batch; the future of the Party made up of guys like Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, and Marco Rubio. They’re younger guys who the GOP might have pegged for a 2016 run or, more importantly for right now, a spot as this year’s Vice President. Well, you can take Rubio out of that talk. As he told Soledad O’Brien this morning, he will not be running for VP.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) was a guest on Soledad O’Brien‘s Starting Point Tuesday morning, and was confronted with questions about his now-infamous, “get the hell out of the United States” comments from over the weekend, directed at Democratics Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Peter Brookes — the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and Senior Fellow of National Security Affairs at the Heritage Foundation — told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien Monday morning that he finds Defense Secretary Leon Panetta‘s recent comments about Pakistan and Osama bin Laden to be “quite careless.” You’ll recall that Panetta told 60 Minutes that, [...]

Former GE CEO Jack Welch and his wife Suzy appeared on CNN’s Starting Point and told host Soledad O’Brien that they were calling upon Ron Paul to drop out of the race — although all of their kids were for Ron Paul! “You know, Ron Paul’s followers are not party regulars. He’s not a party regular. He really has these very, very impassioned followers. All four of our children are huge Ron Paul followers,” Suzy acknowledged. “So we’re living with this.”

Soledad O’Brien‘s Starting Point — a show that’s been, thanks to O’Brien’s grilling of guests, frequent diner settings, and the fun sartorial shots fired back and forth by Will Cain and Roland Martin, an early-morning delight thus far — experienced a few funny logistical hiccups on Friday morning as it began broadcasting.

There has been a lot of high-minded chatter among the political media elite deriding the proliferation of presidential debates this election cycle. As CNN prepares to air the 19th Republican Primary debate tonight, Starting Point anchor Soledad O’Brien wondered if this GOP reality show is a good thing. Roland Martin argued that the debates have been revealing, noting “If we didn’t have 19 debates, trust me, Rick Perry would still be in this race.”

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) was a guest on Soledad O’Brien‘s Starting Point Wednesday morning, and hit on topics ranging from the economy to his assessment of the State of the Union address. The interview had a great moment right off the bat, as Hoyer made a joke about the diner food, O’Brien invited him to join them anytime, Hoyer laughed…and then noting. For a solid five seconds the two stared at the screen in awkward silence before O’Brien asked, “What’d you think of the speech?”

On Tuesday, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) and Rep. Allen West (R-FL) joined Soledad O’Brien on Starting Point to have a spot of breakfast and discuss the release of Mitt Romney’s tax returns.

Soledad O’Brien gathered together a panel to weigh in on former president Jimmy Carter‘s analysis of Newt Gingrich‘s “coded racism” in the way he addressed GOP debate moderator Juan Williams. And to enjoy a little breakfast together.

During Friday morning’s Starting Point, Soledad O’Brien sat down with former governor John Sununu — a Romney supporter — and tried to get some more information on why Romney is so reluctant to release his tax returns. She played a clip of Romney being booed at Thursday night’s debate before turning to Sununu for comment.

On Wednesday, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien invited Congressmen Chris Van Hollen (D – MD) and Tom Price (R – GA) onto the show to discuss the vote on whether to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian spoke with Soledad O’Brien to explain why his social bookmarking site was shutting down to protest SOPA. “Both SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are threats not just to the US economy and not just all the jobs that this tech sector creates, if they had existed, Steve Huffman and I could have never started Reddit. It’s frustrating to see legislation that was written by lobbyists and not technologists perhaps become law.”

Mitt Romney appeared on CNN’s Starting Point with host Soledad O’Brien on Wednesday, and was asked to give his take on DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Specifically, her opinion that his win in the Granite State didn’t exactly constitute a “victory.”

Former Speaker and current presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich spoke with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien this morning on the topic of (Who else?) Mitt Romney and Super PAC ads.

The endlessly quotable Christine O’Donnell is making the TV rounds once again, voicing her support for Mitt Romney as he prepares for this weekend’s debates in New Hampshire in advance of Tuesday’s primary. Today, she spoke with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien about Jon Huntsman‘s recent assessment of John McCain‘s Romney endorsement (For those of you who [...]