will be signed b.o. in the past president obama has said his thumbs are too clumsy to type on the phone. no doubt his tweets will come in handy as he gears up for the 2012 election. i send all my own tweets, my producers are far too busy to send tweets from me. i promise when i get my first tweet from the president signed b.o., i will be sure to retweet it. cnn newsroom continues right w now. i'll be sure to tweet you brooke. >> randi thank you so much. hello to all of you, i'm brooke baldwin, i want to start this hour with a big fight going on in new york. it's all about same sex marriage, the state is one vote away from making it legal. take a look at the scene today.

♪ >> people filling up those hallways, chanting, singing on both sides of the issue. they're very worked up about it. the new york senate is currently deciding whether to approve governor cuomo's built. things have been getting intense. here's something we found interesting about the debate going on right now in new york. there's another issue right here. it's the subtext of the whole conversation. this about people's issues on same sex marriage or civil

rights. here's what one rabbi told us on the ground. >> this issue is not about religion. it's about civil rights. it's not at all about a religious ceremony. >> we'll be speaking with jeff toobin about the president's involvement with the issue in a little bit. first, dana garrett, she's been watching the protests in albany. first, we saw some of the video here. set the scene for me, what does it look like right now. and when might this vote happen? >> well, hi, brooke. as you saw from the video, you know, it almost has the feel of a revival meeting here in the halls of the state capital. it looks like neither side is going to be very satisfied today. though the senate is in session. they seem to be voting on a lot of noncontroversial bills, it does not look like today they

will be voting on the bill legalizing same sex marriage. the negotiations are ongoing. they are really bringing it down to the wire. the legislators are due to begin their summer recess tomorrow. but a source told me that nobody thinks they're going home today. now, as you said, they're one vote shy of getting that majority to get this bill passed. the sticking point still seems to be language regarding protecting religious institutions from what the senate majority leader called unintended consequences. they're worried that maybe some religious institutions could lose their tax exempt status. it's caught up a little bit in that. they're negotiating in typical albany fashion. they're looking at property tax caps and rent control. a lot of us are tied up with that, and we may not see a vote

on the same sex marriage bill until those bills are resolved. probably not today, maybe tomorrow, maybe later in the week, everyone seems to be prepared to be not going home tomorrow. >> let's back up and talk numbers here. we know governor cuomo has been quoted as saying, he would be amenable to changing some of the language. we know 31 certains including two republicans are in favor of this bill. one republican senator needs to sign this thing, then it would be a done deal. all but one republican senators support the bill, he is not bulging. let's listen to what he told us today. >> they're against gay marriage. this is not the issue. this is a people issue. and they have the right to protest the same way as anyone else. >> dana, i had a little bit of a tough time hearing him.

i think, perhaps, you were the one hearing him. could you more or less explain what it was he said? and then taking it a step further. if the bill becomes law. if they get that one or more additional republican in favor of this, how long before this would go into effect? >> right. you're listening to rubin diaz. he's been a long time opponent of this. he's the only democratic senator opposed to this. he's opposed for the same reasons as a lot of the conservative religious groups. they feel it's god's law a marriage should be between one man and one woman. he thinks it's incorrect. and that's his staunch belief. if it goes into effect, once the governor signs the bill, it would be 30 days before same sex marriages could happen here in new york. >> 30 days, and you also say, we know this passed the state assembly last week. the sponsor of this bill in the state assembly has a personal reason for wanting this to become law. what's his story?

>> well, that's danny o'donnell, he's been a champion of this effort for the last many, many years. and he is the sponsor of the bill in the assembly which has passed about four times since 2007. he and his partner of 31 years are anxiously awaiting the passage of this. they like so many gay and lesbian couples can get married this summer. he talked to me and said they hope to have a new york wedding with new york wine and new york food. he certainly like others, have invested in the outcome of this bill. >> dana garrett, we appreciate you reporting for us from the halls of the capital there in albany, knock. thank you so much. if anything changes, 23 if you do hear anything about a vote, hop back on and let us know. i want to bring in jeff toobin, senior cnn legal analyst. we heard dana mention all the

attempts in the past. the senate rejected the bill in 2009. in addition to the last three attempts, jeffrey toobin, what would be different this time around? >>. >> the state is different, the country is different. the polls have changed on this issue. in the early and mid-90s, the polls said two to one americans were against same sex marriage. nationally, same sex marriage now ekes out a slight majority, but in new york state, there is a substantial majority in favor of same sex marriage. politicians ultimately respond to the will of the voters and the voters have changed. now, that doesn't mean same sex marriage is going to change. as someone who's followed the new york legislature for many years, it's a mysterious place, and strange things happen. clearly, public opinion is what's driving the difference. >> as dana played out.

there are concerns on one side about the language and possible unintended consequences. specifically concerns of the bill that would redefine the legal parameters of the marriage. how would the language need to change to perhaps placate those folks who don't want this to happen for religious reasons? >> i think this is not a major problem. the concern is that somehow churches will be penalized for not holding same sex ceremonies. if the first amendment to the constitution means anything. it means that churches can never be forced to conduct one kind of marriage or another. that is something that is completely within the free exercise of religion. now, what the fight appears to be about, is that churches in addition to conducting religious ceremonies sometimes do various sort of contracts with the government. they run food kitchens, they have foster care operations.

and there would be the possibility that they might be worried, at least, that they would lose the funding for their soup kitchens or foster care operations, because they refuse to do same sex marriages. i think that is a fairly easy fix to put in the legislation. this is not really a problem for the supporters of same sex marriage. they don't want to see the churches defunded in this way. if that's the only problem, it seems like it's pretty easy to fix. >> i have one more for you. in talking about president obama here, no doubt the president will be asked about the issue in new york, he'll be in manhattan this week, hosting the gala with the gay community. the president spoke about his stance. i'm sure you read the "times" article over the weekend. it is an issue i wrestle with, i think about.

because i have a whole host of friends that are in commit ted relationships. what is your read heading into 2012? is this an evolving stance on same sex marriage or is this politics? >> i think it's probably both. the way it is with most politicians. partly it's a matter of conscience, and partly it's a matter of the partisan needs of the day. same sex marriage is overwhelmingly popular in california, in new york, in massachusetts, in the states that are the very blue states. but remember, three supreme court justices were voted out of office entirely because they voted for the right to same sex marriage. this is not a universally held belief. barack obama has to carry new york and california, but he also

has to carry iowa. the conservative parts of the country are not nearly as supportive of same sex marriage as people are on the coasts. obama is testing the waters here. what's clear to me, is that in 2016 it will be impossible to run for the democratic nomination for president unless you support same sex marriage. but we're not there yet, and i think obama is evolving. >> he's evolving, so short answer a little bit of both. thank you, jeffrey. now this. >> syria's president tries to calm protesters through a speech on tv. up next, who assad is blaming for the bloody rage in his country. walmart wins big. the retail giant isn't out of the clear just yet. we're going to explain coming up. with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey.

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the president of syria didn't do much to quiet his critics or offer up any firm promises to make changes in his country. he spoke on syrian television this morning, and said his government is tracking down anyone who sheds blood or plots to shed the blood of syrian people. talking about the more than 1100 people who have died in the past couple months in street fighting, clashes between syrian troops and anti-government demonstrators, that is according

to human rights activists. you see the pictures here, crowds of protesters fill public spaces in damascus and several other cities today, people who are not buying president assad's concessions. already more than 10,000 syrians have fled to safety with syria's border with turkey. that is where bill black is standing by for us now. did people hear the president's speech today? and what was their reaction? >> reporter: yeah, brook, they did. they watched, they listened, they said they didn't expect much from this speech at all. but they got far less than they had even hoped for. it was a long rambling speech of mixed messages. it opened by offering condolences to the families of those who lost people during

these recent months of violence, but then went on to say that most of those people who have taken part in the process are criminals or terrorists. so religious extremists. the president said many syrian people do hold legitimate political aspirations, he wanted to help them, he was committed to reform, that would take place through something called national dialogue. there was no detail. only thin would the country be ready for some sort of major political reform which people have been protesting for. rising their lives for months now. >> without any of those major changes that these people want to see in their country. i'm guessing if they're hearing little substance, that they don't feel safe to go home, they

want to stay where they are in these refugee camps, is that correct? >> yeah, that is indeed correct. during the speech, the president spoke directly to the thousands of people who have fled their homes and especially to those who moved toward and even across the turkish border. he said they should return home because their communities made them. and he promised that the security forces would not harm them, would not punish them, there would be no retaliation, they simply don't buy that. they don't believe it, they believe they would not be safe if they had to go home. so at the moment they say they are stay writing they are, even though that means living for the moment in fairly desperate conditions. >> what about from the leaders within turkey? are they making any kind of pressuring president assad to make major reforms? even if they are thus far, is that falling on deaf ears?

>> we believe it's happening certainly. turkey is a major player in the region. turkey and syria have diplomatic relationship the belief is that turkey is very much trying to apply pressure for president assad to embrace reform more rapidly than he's seemed to do. and in addition to that, control the military crackdown, which has been growing so brutally and at such a pace in recent weeks and months as well. there are turkish media reports tonight that suggest the turkish president believes what has been discussed today is inadequate and not enough. >> people have fled for their lives and are not going home. thank you so much. and quickly here out of libya,

nato official confirms the alliance did bomb a control site in tripoli in the capitol city before dawn today. this is what is left of this compound where nato said the gadhafi government planned attacks against the libyan people. 15 people were killed, three of them children. nato officials say they are investigating the claim. just yesterday nato acknowledged that one air strike missioned its target and may have caused civilian casualties. 800 square miles, that is how enormous arizona's largest wildfire has grown. it's not the only one burning in the state. some relief is on the way. plus, the bad weather is back in a big way. and some storm chasers had their cameras rolling. more of this amazing video coming up. you name it.

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just what is going on in the windy hot and dry west? look at this with me, sierra vista, arizona, southeast of tucson, everyone living there ordered to evacuate over this weekend. and this fire refuses to be contained by contingency lines. this thing is jumping over highways p.m. the weather not cooperating either. more on that in a second pup . t but i want to take you to texas. texas now part of the conversation, more than 20 separate wildfires burning in texas today. here's the tough part, the forest service, critical fire conditions in place for much of the entire state of texas. that said, let's go to chad myers. we talk about relief, they think about these firefighters now in arizona and texas. no relief for them right now? >> no relief. arizona's better today than yesterday and the day before.

arizona was blowing 60 miles an hour over the weekend. the fuel was dry. it hasn't rained in tucson for 70 days. they do get rain there sometimes. they're waiting for the monsoon season. the humidity comes up from the south and you get daily thundershowers. at least some rain to help these guys out. the bad weather turns to texas, that's where the wind is coming in. so it's moved out of the southwest of the arizona/new mexico area. into the southwest will be parts of texas. to the north of that, we have tornados on the ground right now north of hill city, kansas. big box here, another box i put in here, there will be 2,300 lightning strikes. every time it flashes, there's one spark, another spark, another spark. this is a brutal night for a

couple things. from dodge city back into west texas. no fires outside. this is the red flag warning. nothing to do outside with flames, you can't risk it because of what it looks like on the ground. i'll draw this out for you. this is arizona right here, here's new mexico here, here's texas. everywhere you see this maroon color, that's an exceptional drought. yes, you can even get droughts in deserts. i know deserts are supposed to be dry. but if you don't get enough rain to even get the plants that live there to stay alive, then you have the exceptional drought, and it's all the way from tucson up to albuquerque and all of texas. that's why texas is essentially on fire. it's burning at this hour in many spots. we'll continue to watch all the weather for you here. we'll watch that big cell. that's the one i'm worried about, this has been on the ground for many miles. the big tornado on the ground. there's a lot of farmland in between there and the next big

town. if you see something coming today, there will be big, big tornados in there. >> let us know as soon as -- send us an ireport. what causes fires to jump a highway? >> you will get a spark picked up by the fire on the west side of the highway, even though that's a piece of asphalt or concrete, it can fly two miles. >> i can't imagine standing there and seeing that. it's a story we've been covering for a couple months. it's a class action no go now for all those female employees hoping to sue walmart. alison is standing by to tell us this story. >> reporter: brook, i'm going to go ahead and tell you why the supreme court threw out this case, and what it means it for employees who may be looking to sue their own companies. i'll have all that coming up after the break. host: is the pen mightier than the sword?

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a big victory at the supreme court for walmart. they put aside a massive discrimination suit. there were too many different women in too many different jobs in the country for a suit of this size to go ahead. this could affect every private employer, both big and small. alison, it's so important to make the distinction this got

overturned simply because of the size? >> exactly. when you look further into this case, it wasn't necessarily that the case would have been too big. it was just too broad. look at the majority of the opinion by justice scalia. without some glue olding together the alleged reasonables for those decisions. it will be impossible to say that examination of all the class members claims will produce a common answer to the crucial discrimination question. what's the translation here. the translation is,with the case including more than a million women with so many different circumstances, it would be too large for one lawsuit. the court saying, there has to be a common threat among them, the supreme court saying there isn't. there's no significant proof that walmart had a general policy of discrimination. walmart is pleased with its rulings. it's going to continue to build a future of female leaders. >> it's a huge victory for walmart, what did the mega chain

stand to lose here. >> a lot of money. you know what, billions of dollars, think about it, if this went into class action status, it means more plaintiffs, a bigger liability for walmart, if it had gone through, it would be the biggest class action case dealing with jobs in history. keep in mind this isn't the end of this suit, but now every woman will wind up having to fight individually or it could prompt women to back down, because it could be intimidating to take on walmart yourself, not to mention really expensive. >> if we're talking 1.5 million both former and current employees, this has to go down to the lower courts because it was too broad, it can't possibly be a case -- is it a case by case basis here of 1.5 billion people? >> it would wind up being that, that's what the supreme court is insinuating here, these cases have to have more of a common thread, you can't have all of

these different women coming forward enmass in this number as well, brook? >> alison, huge victory for walmart. thank you. i want to get back to our top story. new york's battle over same sex marriage, they're waiting for that one single republican vote to have this thing passed in the state of new york. the state is a vote away from legalizing it. president obama's opinion has come back into the conversation. he's hosting an event this week with members of the gay community. does he support same sex marriage, endorse it or not? watch this exchange just a short while ago. >> did the president support same sex marriage -- >> what i know is what his position was during the campaign and what it is now. you know, he's been very clear about it, he's very clear about

the fact that his opinion is evolving. i don't have anything to add to it. >> the word we keep hearing is evolving. with regard to the president and same sex marriage not yet ready to endorse it. if you were hoping to catch the casey anthony murder trial today, not going to happen. coming up the judge's unexpected pull of the plug. and holy cow dot com, the internet is about to get bigger. we get to get more creative. (screams) when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing.

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the casey anthony trial in recess. the judge cancelled today's session without explaining why. but earlier in the day he scolded attorneys on both sides of the courtroom for slowing down the pace of the trial. you know the story, casey anthony is an orlando woman accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter caylee. the judge announced a recess until tomorrow morning. first lady michelle obama starts a week-long visit to africa today. her first stop is in south africa. her focus is youth leadership, education and the continuing struggle against apartheid. the first lady's mother and two daughters will get to travel right along with her. one of the "jackass" cast members is dead. ryan dunn was known for performing dangerous stunts often the tv show friends and family members say he was killed this morning in a car wreck not too far from philadelphia. i want to you take a look at

this putt with me, let's roll the video. and there it went. a gimme with roy mcilroy, he still had to drain it. he won the tournament yesterday by eight strokes. beating the u.s. open record set 11 years ago set by mr. tiger woods. soon the days of dot com and dot org will be a distant domain memory. you're about to be able to dot com dot anything you want. the implications are huge for this, folks. why the big change and how it's going to affect how you and i and the rest of us surf the web. [ waves crashing ]

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges.

get ready for google to become your best friend online. a group in charge of the internet domain names is changing the rules in a big way here. that means just about everything goes. when it comes to choosing an address for a website. what does it mean for you and me? let's ask katie. i know this is like nerd heaven for you. but it sounds a little bit like recipe for confusion, we think about all the possibilities. i understand you know web address won't have to end with dot com or dot net, instead you could have cnn.com or

redcross.com becoming dot cnn or dot redcross? can i ask why? >> this is confusing, but it's an exciting day for nerds. there are 22 top level domain names, we use the dot comes, dot net, dot orgs or dot tv. you can put in a proposal for anything you can conjure up in your mind. it's not cheap. it costs about $185,000 to apply. when the applications start january 12th, 2012. a lot of people in big corporations will be applying. you can get creative and get dot awesome if you want it, but have you to have the money to do so. >> $85,000 just to apply zm. >> hang on. as people begin to apply, say you're really in to pinot noir.

what steps you take to try to get that as your domain? >> yeah, for our big business this is a no-brainer. we think of the cokes and pepsis, there's no doubt they're going to pick up dot pepsi or dot coke. if they pick up something vague like dogs or shopping or sales. they could turn that around and sell it as a second level domain. for big businesses, this is pocket change to throw out $185,000 for one application fee. it could get very interesting to see what goes through, and what other individuals start to pick up. i want to put a perspective on this for you too. we talk about the 185 k base. right now, a dot com average is about $12. and a dot net is about $8. as you can see here, the price has skyrocketed. come that time where people are starting to apply, it's going to

get interesting. >> people are creative. and we know what happens on the internet and there can be some offensive things and people get creative in that regard. what happens when someone tries to register a naughty domain name? >> the organization will be looking through every single application. in many cases it could take from 6 to 18 months to get something through. i think with that price tag on it, this is going to stop the crazies and the cyber squatters as well. we're going to see a lot of big businesses fighting for those domain names, but will keep a lot at bay. which is a nice thing. >> we'll be looking for some domain name of yours as well. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. 700 million people connect on facebook. but 7 million of them just deleted those accounts. the facebook fatigue, do you

have did? and this -- ♪ . >> do you recognize those guys? the music world is going gaga over these guys, mumford and sons. they are awesome. i got one on one with several of these guys. time now for some free money advice from carter evans. we get answers to your financial questions. founder of the financial advice blog, ask the money coach. i need to hire someone to help me navigate a possible short sale and deal with all three of my lenders. >> believe it or not, it's a real estate agent that's best prepared to help somebody to negotiate a short sale and deal with the process when it comes

to your banks. there's a lot of real estate agents out there that specialize in this. if you go through an organization like the national association of realtors, they'll be able to connect you or point you in the right direction. you get online and search for an agent in your area, with an agent who specifically specializes in short sales or foreclosures, it's a long drawn out process as we know. you can't just go in there and say 60% down or 60% on the dollar in terms of what this property is worth. it doesn't work that way. have you to package the short sale offer in the right way. >> jessica and florida says my husband works for a family owned small business. he loves his company but they do not offer a 401(k). what are his options for pretax retirement savings? >> you can contribute up to $5,000 or 6,000 if you're age 50 or older, because he does not have a workplace sponsored

retirement program, his contributions will be tax deduct ishl. if he's a contractor for the company, that opens up other possibilities like the solo 401(k) or the sep ira. in those cases you have much higher limits. >> have a question you want answered? send us an e-mail any time. ♪ you love money ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ you love money ♪ well, you know i love it too ♪ ♪ i work so hard at my job

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facebook fatigue. do you have it? it's trending today, and let me explain why. the blog called inside facebook says the social networking site lost 7 million active users just last month. facebook dispute those numbers, but we have seen reports that people are using facebook less and less. what gives? some say they are making a conscious effort to spend less time facebooking and engage more in the offline world. whenever a great band rolls through towning a group i'm listening to, maybe you're listening to as well. we'll take you backstage with

one half of a british quartet. they got together a year ago. i give you mumford & sons. ♪ >> how many instruments do you guys can't play. >> what can't you play? >> so talented. >> the guitar very well. >> that's not true. you are very good at the guitar. >> violin, can't do that? >> could if you wanted to, though. >> what's your favorite sth >> favorite instrument is drums. or the piano. it never gets played, the piano. we tour around with keyboards and stuff. lied love to have a grand piano on stage. that would be awesome. >> so when people say you're the it band of the moment, is that a compliment? >> it's -- those are silly

things because we just -- we've just been doing what we're doing for the last three years, you know. it hasn't really changed for us except it gets played to more people. >> look at all the seats you fill. you fill this. >> this is one of the most beautiful venues we've ever been to. >> it's beautiful here in atlanta. >> we try not to take too much nights like this. >> it feels like even though this is amazing, we don't feel like we've had any major jumps. even though this is a bigger venue than we ever could have imagined. >> because you started out playing to like 50, right? >> no, less than that. but like it's every tour. we've done five u.s. tours, and every tour it's slightly bigger. it's like the next step up. so it doesn't feel like going from a small club to a big venue like this. we've done each step one at a time. it's been really helpful to work on everything in detail and worked on a set to play bigger

places because it's grown into a bigger place. >> fortunately, we've hit that wall now that it's time to make a new record because we can't play anything bigger than these venu venues. you see a lot pour people, and they want more music, more material, and they want to you play for longer, and our album's like 50 minutes long. we've been playing new songs constantly. even at our album launch party, we were playing new songs at that. we write all the time. >> every night. we always play new songs, and it makes the old songs sound fresh. >> how is it going? >> it's been going well. you never know. we might try a new one, just got to practice it a little bit. >> how would the sound be different than this album? i read it was influenced a little bit by your time in

tennessee. true? >> yeah, i think tennessee and the rest of america has slightly been an influence. we're quite kind of transparent when it comes to our writing in the sense that we reflect the experiences that we have on the road and our lives in general. i think we've seen a lot more, and we found we have different things that are tricky that we had to cope with in life that didn't exist five or six years ago. ♪ >> i'll tell you what, that is one of the better live shows i have seen in quite a while. if you want to watch it again, pass it along to your friends, i put all of the interviews on my

site, cnn.com/brooke. i tweet, you tweet, many of us tweet, right? now the president is about to start tweeting as well all by himself. wolf blitzer is going to tell us why.

time for your cnn politics update. let's go to my colleague wolf blitzer on this monday with the latest on the cnn ticker. wolf blitzer, hope you had a nice weekend. >> not as good as you. you obviously had a great weekend watching mumford and sons. i just tweeted i love that interview. you like that song "the cave," right? >> i love "the cave." they played a couple new songs. it was a tease. they're about to hop back in and record it once they're done touring. they were amazing live. >> amazing. those guys are very, very talented. then again, you are very talented yourself, brooke. let's talk politics for a little bit. president getting ready for a huge announcement, the start of withdrawing troops from afghanistan. 100,000 u.s. troops there, another 40,000 nato troops. the president says starting in july, he's going to start

withdrawing troops. a few weeks ago people thought maybe 5,000, 10,000. now, who knows? it could be more, given the growing unpopularity of the war, the death of bin laden, the fact that it's costing $120 billion a year. $10 billion a month to keep troops in afghanistan right now. so the pressure is mounting. as a lot of our viewers know, the vice president joe biden, he's probably been the most assertive, the most aggressive in calling for a reduction of troops. he's got a counterterrorism strategy in mind that doesn't require as many troops, boots on the ground as they say. in the past the president sort of decided with defense secretary gates, general petraeus. maybe this time he'll side with biden. we'll see what happens. it's a big decision that's coming up. a lot of people are wondering. by the way, i don't know if you noticed the conference of mayors at their meeting just now, they passed a resolution basically calling for a withdrawal of forces from iraq and afghanistan as quickly as possible so that money could be used for domestic purposes. think about it, $10 billion a

month that could be used for education, building infrastructure, or whatever. so there's a lot of growing pressure on the white house, especially as they gear up for re-election season, to bring those troops home as quickly as possible. we'll see how many troops the president announces are going to be coming home. all u.s. troops, as you know, are supposed to be out of afghanistan by the end of 2014. one little additional political note before i let you go over hoor, the president's going to start tweeting personally again, according to the white house, as he gets up for re-election. barack obama will be tweeting just like @brookecnn. @wolfblitzercnn. get ready for the 2003s. >> i already follow the president. we'll know specifically it's the president because it ends with the initial b.o. that's how we know it's a presidential tweet.

thanks for the love on mumford and sons. check them out when they're back in d.c. thank you very much. we'll get another political update in half an hour. now as we approach the top of the hour, round two, watch this. it's a decision that could affect your company and your paycheck. walmart accused of discrimination, and now the supreme court makes a game changing decision. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. after weeks in seclusion, the president of syria makes a air rare speech. no negotiation, no dialogue, just a warning to the people he says are really behind the bloodshed. she's the american convicted of killing her roommate during a drug fueled sex game, but now as amanda knox appeals the conviction, witnesses come forward saying they have evidence she's innocent. and just minutes from now the astronauts taking the last shuttle into space. >> three, two, one. >> are scheduled to arrive at

kennedy space center, and what they do over the next 72 hours will make history. plus she tried to hire a hitman to kill her husband. >> no. >> all that crying, yeah, that was fake. now as she learns her fate, her husband reveals how she tried to take him down many times before. we're on the case. welcome back inside the "cnn newsroom." i'm brooke baldwin. cnn has learned a big head is about to roll over fast and furious. that's the atf gun operation we told you about on friday that allowed criminals to buy hundreds of high powered weapons and ammo in arizona. the theory was to, in fed speak, let the guns walk over the border in mexico and trace them to their final destination, that being drug cartels down there. listen to what one atf agent who

worked in mexico city tells cnn. >> the only way you're going to find those guns in mexico is where? >> at crime scenes. >> at the death, at the side of somebody who's dead, at a gun battle between the police and the bud guys, which either the bad guy was killed and his gun was left at the scene or used during the commission of a crime in which the gun was left behind. >> now some atf agents say they objected to the gun sales, but higher-ups stopped them from arresting the gun buyers. these whistleblowers call fast and furious dangerous, deadly, and a catastrophic disaster. listen to what they just told congress at a very heated, very fiery hearing just last week. >> we weren't giving guns to people who were hunting bear, we were giving fwns to people who were killing other humans. >> rather than meet the wolf head on, we sharpened his teeth,

added number to his claw. all the while we sat idly by watching, tracking, and noting as he became a more efficient and effective predator. >> and now just this afternoon here comes the fallout. let's go to washington to jeanne meserve, our homeland security correspondent. jeanne, whose head is about to roll here? >> we expect the acting head director of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, ken melson may be going soon. according to two senior law enforcement sources who spoke to our producer, terry freeden, he is expected to resign under pressure. the timetable here is not clear, but this may happen within the next day or two. it's a result of all the attention focused on this program, fast and furious, which not only allowed weapons to walk into mexico, but the icing on the cake is when two of the weapons associated with this program showed up near the body of brian terry. he's a border patrol agent who was killed just a few miles from

the mexican border, brooke. >> jeanne, might this go beyond the atf? there was a congressional report saying the program was authorized not only at the highest levels of the atf but the highest levels of the department of justice here. might other people be forced out? are a >> reporter: some people might, but we just don't know what the upshot of the investigations are going to be. right now the inspector general of the department of justice are looking at this as well as the congressional and atf investigators are looking at this. all of those investigation,in process although we certainly heard that members of congress said that higher-ups in the justice department had to know about this. we do not have any specific information about that yet, brooke. >> did anyone really think that they could track these guns once they walked, once they got down to mexico, and use the information to prosecute a massive gun-running operation? >> reporter: well, we heard those whistle blowing atf agents say last week up on capitol hill

that, yes, that was the intention of the program. what they wanted to do was bring down the really big fish. that hasn't happened at this point in time, and the whistleblowers claimed that they really never would be able to make a case, having let those weapons walk, not having traced them to their final destination. but we certainly have not seen a prosecution. >> jeanne meserve, we will be following it with you if that acting director does indeed leave his post. jeanne, thank you so much from washington. if it's interesting, if it's happening now, you are not to see it. rapid fire, let's go. a big, big noisy debate happening in new york. this whole thing is about same-sex marsame same-sex marriage, and it's getting very, very intense. listen to this. >> no. no. >> the new york senate is deciding whether to approve new york governor's andrew cuomo's bill, giving same-sex couples the same benefits and

protections that opposite sex couples have. it is one new york senator away from passing this thing. in texas, wildfires are spreading with 12 new fires reported just since yesterday. that bring the number of big fires there to at least 20. the forest service says some 500 homes are threatened at this point. 163evacuated. across the country, more than half have already burned this year than all of last year. and down they go, the red and white smoke stacks no longer part of the riviera beach skyline in florida. they imploded the smoke stacks of this oil burning plant in south florida for 50 years. they're gone in seconds. the demolition clears the way for construction of a new natural gas power facility. over to nebraska, where storm chasers captured this

frightening video of what appears to be a funnel cloud there touching down in the southwestern part of the state yesterday. in fact, there were several tornado reports last night. fortunately, no injuries, no major damage reported. more strong storms, as chad was mentioning last hour, are in the forecast today. and some sad news for hollywood today. reality star ryan dunn is dead after a single crash this morning near philadelphia. the 34-year-old, best known for his role in the popular "ja "jackass" movies, is known to be behind the wheel. dunn and his passenger died as a result of injuries sustained in that accident. a manhunt is under way in new york after four people are gunned down inside this long island pharmacy. it happened after a store robbie yesterday morning. two of the four dead are store employees, including a 17-year-old girl who was supposed to go to her prom on wednesday. police have a picture of the suspect after he was caught on store surveillance. it is a case that could

affect your company and your paycheck for years to come. the supreme court makes a huge decision on this discrimination lawsuit against walmart. that is ahead. up next, amanda knox faces decades behind bars for the murder of her roommate, but as she appeals the conviction, a couple of witnesses are coming forward, and they say they have evidence to prove knox is innocent. in fact, they say they even know the real killer. i'm going to speak live with the spokeswoman for friends of amanda knox. don't miss this. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle --

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and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. and i have here a copy in my inbox, a copy of the letter from who will now be former congressman of new york, anthony weiner. you know he resigned officially, announcing it last thursday. i just want to read this to you. he says, "dear secretary perales and governor cuomo, i hereby resign from the house of representatives of new york's ninth congressional district effective tuesday, june 21. it is an honor to serve the people of queens and brooklyn." again, the house is out today. presumably, that will be read tomorrow. it will go into effect, his resignation, tomorrow night. could a convicted child killer and a mobster help free an american student serving time for the murder of her roommate

in italy? both prison inmates told an italian court over just this past weekend that amanda knox did not kill meredith kircher. but they told different stories about the killer's identity. this is mario alessi. he is serving life in prison for a crime that shocked italy. alessi snatched an 18-month-old boy from his home and killed him. alessi is serving time with rudy geday. he said that knox was not in the house when geday showed up to have sex with kircher. kircher's throat was slit as he was holding her down. later, a mobster testified that his brother killed kircher and confessed to him about it. let's go to anne bremner, a criminal defense attorney and a spokesman for this group, friends of amanda knox. anne, good to have you on.

this testimony potentially huge here. how might this weekend's testimony be a turning point in amanda knox's appeal? >> it is huge, and it could be a huge turning point, brooke, as you stated because rudy geday, the real killer, the lone killer, said back before amanda's trial on skype, where the police overheard it, that amanda wasn't there. she was innocent. that didn't go into trial. it's corroborated by a witness. he's in for a horrific crime. he confirms what geday says. i don't even know rafael, her supposed co-defendant. so it's huge. as for the mobster, that could be incredibly helpful or just incredible, but the bottom line on that is he came forward to the authorities a long time ago, and they wouldn't hear from him. so it goes to show the bias in the underlying investigation with that latter witness. >> as we're talking, anne, about prison inmates. as we just mentioned, alessi snatched an 18-month-old boy

from home and killed him. 18 months. how are prison inmates as witnesses? in terms of credibility, lackluster at best at times. >> as prosecutors in the crimes committed in hell, you don't have angels for witnesses. inmates are in prison for a reason. he's a notorious criminal. one of the lawyers in the case for meredith kircher showed a sign of the boy and said, do you remember him? we do. and the judge khai boshed that. the fact is that's who inmates talk to. and a lot of times we have information from fellow inmates as we do here. it's corroborated by what he said a long time ago and corroborated by the fact that amanda knox and rafael are innocent. >> you're part of a spokesperson for friends and family of amanda knox. you're in touch with her parents. how are they? and how's amanda? >> she's -- this has been three birthdays, four christmases in prison. she's only 23. they're holding up as best they can.

i heard from part of her family today, and they're hopeful, very hopeful about yesterday, even more hopeful with the dna and forensic evidence we're going to hear about shortly. what a long haul. you send your child off abroad, and she never comes back. it's every parent's worst nightmare. they spend every month they've got members of the family there. they rotate, and they'll do this from here to eternity to protect their daughter and get her home to seattle. >> they do alternate. they do see her periodically, i know. given the past case and looking ahead, how hopeful are they? realistically, anne, that she will be able to come home? >> i think for the first time they are hopeful, really hopeful. there was a little glimmer of hope before the verdict, but those jurors were exposed to media. they weren't sequestered. the trial wasn't fair. the prosecutor, of course, was convicted of abuse of office, and there was no forensic evidence, no hair, no fibers, no dna, no blood, nothing to connect amanda. now we've got the forensic evidence coming up with an

independent review, which is going to show that she's innocent. cnn had a fabulous piece on the evidence, as you know, and the lack of evidence. so they're very hopeful. and finally, the prosecutor now says himself that he cannot place amanda knox in the murder room. that too is huge. >> well, you mentioned it. we're committed to covering the case all the way over there in perugia, italy. anne bremner, we'll be in touch. thank you so much. he is accused of ordering the murders of hundreds and hundreds of people, and blood continues to spill in the streets. after several weeks, syria's president bashir al assad shows his face and has a message for the protesters. and find out who he's blaming for the killings. with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy.

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globe trekking now, turning our attention overseas. want to talk about syria. that's where thousands of people, possibly hundreds more have reportedly died in the streets in public spaces in the last few months. people either rising up against the government or on the other side trying to keep the uprising down and quiet. hala gorani, we've missed you. good to have you back on the sofa. >> good to be back. >> we know the president of syria, bashir al assad, went on television again today and apparently hasn't much changed his stance. might we ever hear any kind of solid specific concessions from him? >> well, for those hoping that his tone was going to change

today, it was his third speech. and what's interesting, brooke, is that president ben ali of tunisia, who was today sentenced in absentia, to 35 years in prison, and president mubarak, both gave three speeches before they were ultimately forced out of power. the expectation with syria is very different. there's no expectation that in the immediate future bashir al assad is going to be forced from power. however, it did, according to analysts, according to those who have listened very carefully to his first two speeches, he appeared a little more nervous. he appeared more serious, no joke cracking, as he had in the first speech. he blamed the unrest, however, once again, on sab tours. he called for a national dialogue. he called on syrian refugees on the turkish side of the border, of whom there are more than 10,000, to come back home. then immediately we saw on youtube videos of one we believe was shot in a suburb of damascus

of demonstrators saying, president bashir al assad, you're a liar. that's the video i was just referring to. >> that's the video. we've had correspondents. you've talked to phil black, and i've talked to phil black. in these refugee camps, people reacting to this message, it's an empty message, empty promises. they say they don't feel safe enough to go home. yet are we hearing anything from european leaders or u.s. leaders after this? >> the french foreign minister today said bashir al assad has reached the "point of no return." we heard from the white house, jay carney, the press secretary, saying concrete action is needed, not just words. we heard from the state department spokesperson who said, we're just not buying it when it comes to claims of saboteurs in syria. you have to remember this is very unlike egypt. the leadership in syria is controlled by a minority sect. they have placed at the top of

the military their own people. the military leadership is going to hold on to power because, if they lose, they have everything to lose. it is the rank and file from within the majority sect, the sunnis. if there is any kind of split among the rank and file, that's where we might see some change in syria but not before we see chaos and more violence. >> and, again, to underscore, you were there. you tried getting in. arwa damon got in and got out. why is it they continue to refuse our requests? >> well, i think for obvious reasons. this violence that is unfolding in certain cities, if you have day to day, hour by hour coverage and you get the side of the story from those people who say they are the victims, who say they are being targeted by the military and security forces, then, of course, it makes the official line coming from the government much, much harder to believe even though their credibility has certainly

gone down quite a bill over the last few months, as we've certainly been able to hear across the country or talked to us on skype or whose videos they've uploeted on youtube. >> i just wanted you to explain the answer. thank you, hala gorani. >> we keep trying, and we're still hoping. >> thank you vi much. now we're getting very close to hearing how much campaign cash president obama and his republican challengers have scored so far. not only can the numbers make or break a campaign but they can show who's the biggest threat. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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get help paying for what medicare doesn't... and save up to thousands of dollars. call this toll-free number now. let's go to our chief political analyst gloria borger with the latest here. we know the president wants to get to that $1 billion number in terms of fund-raising. think he'll make it? picking up the pace? >> he is picking up the pace. lucky for obama, he doesn't have opponents who are going to get the money. when you're president of the united states, you get to take a trip down the road in washington, d.c., to one hotel and do two fund-raisers in one night. very cost effective use of the president's time, at which the minimum price for a seat is around $10,000. yeah, and i bet there won't be an empty seat. so it looks like the president

is going to be on his way. whether he raises $1 billion remains to be seen. last campaign, $750 million. i think no republican is going to get close to that. we'll see. >> will the campaign cash numbers, gloria, from both the president and the gcop white house hopefuls we'll get at the start of july, why are they so important? >> we get those numbers at the end of the month. people kind of look at the numbers, and they look at the credibility and the viability of a candidate. you see, it will important, for example, to see if newt gingrich is actually able to raise a lot of money given the fact that his campaign essentially imploded. we'll see how much mitt romney has raised. he seems to be the front-runner in the money raising category. whether tim pawlenty is actually everybody's second choice. and also, as you know, we've got jon huntsman getting into this race, and, you know, he is somebody who is not only wealthy on his own, but lots of people i talked to today say he will be

able to raise money. >> and we should be hearing from him later on in the week, correct? >> reporter: yeah. it's going to be very interesting. he announces tomorrow. i've been talking to a lot of republicans who watched our republican debate and said, you know what, tim pawlenty didn't do so well. maybe jon huntsman will be the alternative to mitt romney. be interesting. two mormon candidates fighting each other out. >> tomorrow is the day for him. we'll be watching. gloria borger, thank you. coming up here, a verdict could come very soon in the rod blagojevich retrial. find out where he goes once it does. also, the supreme court makes a decision that could affect your job, could affect your paycheck. plus more and more kids, perhaps yours, getting food allergies. experts say they know why. get ready for big changes as you surf the web. we invented the automobile. ♪ and 80,000 patents later, we're still reinventing it.

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here we go. nearing a verdict in the blagojevich retrial. a lawsuit against walmart come to go a screeching halt on the supreme court. kids allergies may be even worse than we thought, and the internet is about to change. time to play reporter roulette on this monday. ted rowlands, want to begin with you in chir. you're here covering the second corruption trial of illinois governor rod blagojevich. he's accused of trying to sell president obama's former senate seat. what was the case against the governor this go around? >> reporter: last time, brooke, the jury came up with one conviction out of 24 charges, and afterwards they talked to the prosecutors and the defense,

and the jury said it was just too complicated for them on all of those other charges. this time around, the prosecution made a concerted effort to dumb things down a bit, if you will, especially in their close. the prosecutors took their time in laying out the groundwork with what they believe is a clear case against blagojevich. they dropped a few of the charges. he's now facing 20 charges. that said, it is still very complicated. there are ten wire fraud charges. the jury is now into their sixth day of deliberation. they have about an hour to go today and still no verdict. so we'll see if their strategy worked when it does come time for an actual verdict in this case. you might want to -- many people expect that it will be a split verdict. the odds of them coming together on all 20 of these charges would be considered a long shot especially now that they've been at it for six days. >> ted, let's read between the jury tea leaves. one more day to deliberate. this is already day six. good news or bad news for the former governor? >> well, you know, one could argue that it's good news because there might be some

disagreement. but if you look at the amount of work this jury has to do, it would make sense it would take them a fair amount of time. there are 20 different charges. they have to go through each one of them. a lot of these charges have a corresponding audio recording of blagojevich on the phone. there's a lot of work to do. and if you look at the other trial, took that jury 14 days before they came up with their split verdict, basically a deadlock. one could argue it's great for the defense because it's not clear-cut. who knows? they do have a lot of work to do and to get through it, if they're doing due diligence, which they seem to be doing. >> what would happen here after the verdict, ted? >> well, blagojevich will come back to the courthouse and hear the verdict. if he's guilty, he won't be remanded into custody. likely, he's out on a bond now. he'll likely be out on bond until the sentencing date. he still also has the one conviction to be sentenced on at that point. of course, if he is found guilty

on any of these charges, then he probably would be remanded into custody after sentencing. but when the jury verdict is read, if he's guilty on any or all of these 20 charges, likely the judge will -- it is his choice, but likely the judge will allow the former governor to go home and return for the sentencing. >> like you mentioned, it could still be a couple of days. the last trial, 14 days of deliberations. next on reporter you r roulette, alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange. it's the end of the line for this massive gender discrimination case against walmart. it involved 1 million workers. this was a return not necessarily because the supreme court disagreed with the lower court's ruling but this was just too broad a case. >> reporter: exactly. this ruling came down after the fact that so many of these potential women plaintiffs, brooke, had so many different

circumstances, so it really wouldn't be fair, the court said, to lump them into a single lawsuit. the justices said, you know what, there has to be a common thread through all of them. the supreme court says, you know what, there isn't. the court said there is no significant proof that walmart had a general policy of discrimination. with all this in mind, they went ahead and threw out the lawsuit. >> now this goes case by case basis, i suppose, at the lower court level. with regard to walmart, huge win for them, but had they lost, they would have lost big. >> reporter: they would have lost big, you said it. they would have lost in the billions of dollars. a class action lawsuit means more plaintiffs, bigger liability, and this would have been the biggest class action case dealing with jobs in history. now every woman kind of has to go fight individually. they can branch off into smaller groups and try lawsuits that way, but you know what, this may wind up flooding the lower courts more, or this could prompt these women just to back down because it can be really intimidating to take on walmart by yourself or even in those

small groups, not to mention very expensive as well, brooke. >> alison kosik, appreciate it. next senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen and the study posted in "pediatrics," food allergies are more common than first thought. and these reactions can be very, very severe. miss cohen, you bring me food again, this time allergies. how serious is this? >> it had been thought from previous studies it was around 2% to 5%. and this study, a really big study, says it's more like 8%. more than 40% of these kids had severe reactions, things like trouble breathing. >> there has to be certain foods that trigger specific allergies. >> they saw certain foods coming up over and over again. for example, 25% of these kids with allergies, allergic to peanuts. no surprise. i know my daughter's class is a no peanut class. shell fish was 17%. and milk constituted 21% of the allergies. so those three foods are a huge

chunk of the allergies. >> so the obvious why? why are we seeing the increase? >> no one quite knows, but there is a theory, which some people i've heard call the cleanliness theory, which is that today parents are often really crazy about wanting to make sure their kids don't get anything dirty on their hands, or if a food falls on the floor, they throw it away instantly, and that maybe we're keeping our kids too clean. they don't get exposed to germs, so our bodies don't learn how to mount an attack against them. >> we don't have the resistance. >> it's a theory because we live in a cleaner world than we once did. and allergies in developing countries are much, much more unusual because those kids are exposed to everything >> are you buying that? >> you know, i think there's something in there. i really think there's something to it because there's so much evidence that shows that kids that are exposed to more germs and dirt are said to have allergies less frequently. >> so the three second rule, parents don't adhere. it's more like pick it up, don't eat it. >> i think it depends where it

falls and what it is and your child's situation. i must say as a parent i don't always adhere to that rule. >> elizabeth cohen, interesting. thank you very much. keep those peanuts away, i guess. and just when you got comfortable and a hanavigating internet, get ready for change. coming up next on reporter roulette, silicon valley correspondent dan, what is the deal here? >> the internet corporation for names and numbers -- yes, there is a body that regulates this stuff in terms of domain names on the internet, they have decided they are going to open up the flood gates and say that the end of the dot com era is over. so essentially you could have a dot whatever you want. you could have a dot brooke baldwin. it will cost you. $185,000 to get that, plus $25 thou thou ,000 to maintain it. so it's for the well heeled

businesses and obviously individuals with a lot of cash in their pockets. >> i can't promise i have that kind of money, but if i wanted to register a dot brooke baldwin, is there a very narrow window in which i can register? >> you have to do it between january and april of next year, and this could be complicated stuff because you could have 65 characters in these domain names, and also you might have competition between various companies and industries. for example, the apple industry might want dot apple. well, the apple computer company presumably would want it as well. in that case, there would be an auction, and it would go to the highest bidder. >> bottom line here, is this about people want to go get more creative and getting bored with dot comes, or is this really about money? >> i think it's about both. i think this governing body saw the need for it, that it would open the doors for more innovation, and also it's going to generate a lot of cash and allow them to do more creative things on their end.

it could be a bit complicated. don't look for this to happen probably until the end of 2012, brooke. >> $185,000, not cheap, my friend. dan simon for me in the silicon valley bureau. thank you very much. that is your reporter roulette times four today. the judge in the casey anthony murder trial abruptly ended today's session after ler lecturing both sides, prosecutors and defense attorneys. we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline.

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a college baseball standout from florida will not face rape charges in the bahamas. his name is garrett wit ls. he and a couple of friends had been accuseded of assaulting two teenage girls at the atlantis resort last december. authorities in the bahamas ruled today that evidence in the case does not support the prosecution. wittles had been looked at by major league baseball teams but was passed over in this last draft. the judge in the casey anthony murder trial wanted to keep things moving along so the case could go to the jury by the end of the week. suddenly this morning, the judge stopped the trial until tomorrow. let's go to sunny hostin on the case here. why did he do it? why the sudden recess? >> the judge thinks the attorneys are playing games, brooke, and this is not the kind of judge you play games in front of. at the beginning of this trial, rather before this trial, pretrial, the judge said, if

you're going to have any experts take the witness stand, these experts have to be deposed, and in addition to that, an extra layer he imposed was they also had to file reports with each other. he wanted to avoid what he calls trial by fire, trial by ambush, trial by surprise. this morning the defense was going to call a witness to the stand who had not been deposed by the prosecution because his report didn't contain any opinions, but he was apparently going to testify to some of those opinions on the witness stand today. jeff ashton, the prosecutor for this case, was infuriated, indicated that he would be filing sanctions against this attorney jose baez, and the judge just had enough. he took them all back into chambers. we don't know what happened in chambers. we can assume they certainly got put in their places, brooke. and then by mutual agreement they decided to stop the trial until tomorrow morning, 8:30 a.m. >> this judge is not messing

around because we also know the judge signed an order -- >> no, he's not. >> -- barring the release of the jurors' names. why do that, sunny? >> i think that's smart in this case. this case has received such media attention. he certainly doesn't want anyone trying to reach out to the jurors until after this is all said and done. we're talking about till after a possible recommendation for the death penalty should she be convicted. he has a lot of rules in place, and this is just one of those ways that he is trying to really ensure that this trial doesn't become even just sort of, i guess, more exposed than it's already been. >> more of a circus, and we're all waiting for casey anthony herself to take to the stand. we'll be watching and waiting for that. >> yes. >> i do want to move on to case number two because, while we were all tied up last week with this case, anthony weiner's resignation, there was another case that came to a close. we covered this before. dahlia depolito, she was

sentenced to prison for trying to kill her husband. let's look here. we'll remember this video. let's watch. >> no, no. no. oh, my god. >> depolito, who's being comforted by police, crying at this crime scene. folks, she staged the whole thing to convince that her husband was dead. she was also caught on camera hiring an undercover police officer who posed as a hitman. sunny, we know depolito got 20 years. is that a long sentence for a crime like this? >> she gets the academy award for that performance, duoesn't she? >> hello. >> it certainly is a long sentence. 30 years is the maximum, 4 years is the minimum. but the judge took into account what you saw just now, the video, the fact that she premeditated this, that she planned this out. he called her just pure evil, cold hearted. and bottom line is she gets two

years, i believe, credit for time served, and that means we'll probably see her released in about 18 years. and her mother asked for leniency. she did not speak, but 20 years in prison. pretty long sentence. >> well, given her theatrics and her academy award winning performance there, did police go to unusual lengths, sunny, to catch her? >> i think they did. i mean, we were calling this, right, brooke, the reality defense case. i had never seen anything like this. they actually put a sting operation together, and she thought that her husband had, in fact, been murdered. so kudos really to the police because it was a prime piece of evidence in the case against her. >> i remember you talking about it. kudos indeed. sunny hostin, thank you very much. >> thanks, brooke. the next republican jumping into the presidential race has a big advantage over his competitors. he actually worked for president obama in the white house. now, one of the president's former aides is telling cnn why

jon huntsman's criticism is surprising.

tomorrow former utah governor jon huntsman announces he is joining the election for 2012. now aides to the president are spo speaking out about huntsman's time in the white house. >> reporter: ron paul can pack the house, so he frequently attends press conferences like this. but look who plays second, even the vote counters seem surprised. >> jon huntsman, 382 votes. >> how are you? >> reporter: jon huntsman is a former republican governor with a bipartisan twist to his resume. >> i know him because he was president obama's ambassador to china. >> reporter: as huntsman prepares to officially launch his campaign, his former buddies on team obama just want to hug him to death. >> when we were in shanghai, we

got a chance to talk, and he was very efusive. this was in the fall of 2009, about what the president was doing. he was encouraging on health care. he was encouraging on the whole range of issues. >> reporter: with no imagination whatsoever and the help of president obama's top political consultant, you can hear how an obama-huntsman race would play out. do you think that barack obama has had a failed presidency? >> on the economic side, there are no signs of success, very little. >> reporter: you think it has failed on the economic side? >> failed on the economic front. >> that is -- that is in conflict with what he communicated to us in 2009. if he had suggestions on the xwh economy, he had an excellent opportunity to suggest them then when we were all together in china. i think what has changed is not his view of the economy, but his view of his own chances to win the nomination. i understand. that's politics. he's a politician, and he sees

an opportunity. >> reporter: huntsman also favors civil unions for same-sex couples, entertained but did not enact the idea of mandated health care insurance, thinks the u.s. ought to get out of affectio afghanistan, and believes in the science of climate change. you think democrats will be rough on huntsman, sample a republican? >> everyone knows that jon huntsman has weaknesses on some substantive issues, but the fact that he served in a democratic administration makes it a little tough in a republican primary, and he understands that himself. >> reporter: but you're acting like it's a nonstarter. >> he fawned over obama to the point where he sounded like he should have been on msnbc. >> reporter: in a political world, bipartisanship is nice in rhetoric. it can be darn toxic in the primary season. candy crowley, cnn, washington. >> and now to wolf blitzer with a look at what you and the sit room team are working on for your show today. wolf, what do you have coming up? we've got a lot more coming

up on jon huntsman, who's going to announce tomorrow. from the statue of liberty behind him, that he wants to be president of the united states. the pros and cons, what he brings to the equation. we're going in depth on that. and a lot more coming up on what's going on in libya, syria right now. we're getting a lot more information about syria and iran, what iran's up to. barbara starr is here. norm coleman, former republican senator from minnesota, he knows a lot about these two guys from minnesota who want to be president of the united states. a woman, michelle bachmann, who's the congressman from minnesota, and tim pawlenty, the former governor of minnesota. we've got a lot to talk about. >> wolf, we'll see you in a couple minutes. thank you so much, sir. and he's not president obama but apparently plays one on television. did you see what happened when this impersonator spoke to the crowd of republicans in new orleans? they yanked him off the stage. find out what it was he said and the real story behind this guy next. i'm good about washing my face.

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wanted to turn this around quickly for you. this is from chaser tv.com. this is elm creek, nebraska. severe weather, possibly funnel cloud, don't know. we're keeping our eye on the severe weather there in the midwest. certainly wolf and possibly chad myers will be all over it the course of the next two hours. keep your eyes and ears to us here at cnn.

i do want to move along and get to political pop. this is one of those days we can tell you we're a little ahead of the curve on political pop. it was weeks and weeks ago we started talking about obama impersonator reggie brown. just this past weekend, he went from honorable mention to the center of attention. joe johns is here with more on this. joe, talk to me. who is reggie brown? >> you know, reggie brown first caught our eye weeks and weeks ago, as you said, with this remix of a notorious b.i.g. rap video, and this is something that we thought was very funny, played very well, but we weren't the only people really who sort of looked at this thing and thought it was good. we also noticed over at fox news, those people brought him in and had him debate ron paul. it's all because he looks so much like the president and can really sort of mimic his mannerisms. well, this weekend at the rlc, he is brought in to be a

comedian and tell jokes. next thing you know, he's told essentially to get off the stage, and the question is why? obviously, from our perspective, we'd like to know that. the answer apparently is that he was telling racially tinged jokes that were said to be inappropriate. let's just sort of listen to one of them. >> okay. >> my favorite month is february, black history month. see, michelle, she celebrates the full month, and, you know, i celebrate half. >> hmm, okay. so he got yanked, right? >> he got yanked. and the point for the rlc was these were inappropriate jokes, they said. but we talked to people we actually had on the ground -- >> we had people in the audience, did we not? what did they say? >> well, i mean, their point of view was these jokes actually were laughed at. the racially