a very good morning to you everyone welcome do "early start" i am it's 5: 00 in the east. severe weather in the south, reports of tornadoes, thousands without power. find out where the storm is heading right now.

also, wow, two more contests within a fortnight. are you kidding? they are heading to florida. it's getting ugly. romney is calling gingrich a failed leader. but why? >> the mayor of the island where the cruise ship capsized is warning of an ecological time bomb. there may have been more passengers than originally thought that weren't on the roster. >> head's up football fans, super bowl sequel, giants and patriots meet again at this year's super bowl. we'll begin this hour with powerful and very dangerous weather sweeping across the southeast this morning. and if you didn't see pictures, here is what it looked like in arkansas, listen closely. the sound of really intense wind and rain in the dark, someone had the forethought to get

pictures. a hot lot of people were sleepi multiple tornadoes r from illinois to alabama. >> reports of widespread damage, luckily no deaths. thousands waking up without power, indiana, kentucky, tennessee, mississippi, alabama all in harm's way right now. the storms are moving east, so let's head over to rob marciano checking this incredibly fast-moving system. good morning to you. >> good morning, guys. fast-moving pause january, powerful jet stream, to get severe weather like this, this many reports in january is certainly rare. even at this hour we're getting tornado warnings across parts of central alabama, tuscaloosa, an hour ago, tornado warning through there. possible tornado in tuscaloosa, trying to get confirmation of that. south of tuscaloosa, another warning for southwest central alabama. this one has had a report of a tornado by law enforcement and

now a tornado warning to the east of birmingham, the same cell that moved through tuscaloosa earlier this morning. that is giving us pause when you think about what happened last spring. all part of a complex moving east across the tennessee and ohio river valleys to the north. we have severe thunderstorm watch posted and that include places like lexington, cincinnatti, also severe thunderstorm watch just east of nashville. the tornado watch, a new one has been posted for much of alabama and sliver of georgia. next several hours will be dangerous across parts of the south as this potent storm system, this is the same storm that brought the torrential winds, snow and heavy rain across western oregon last week, so a lot of moisture with this, a lot of tropical moisture as well, that is giving us the severe weather, little light to freezing rain across part of the northeast. atlanta you will see delays,

rain and snow showers across chicago. cincinnatti, boston, issues, we'll keep track on potentially tornadic storms. >> so scary throughout the night. >> the most dangerous time. that is for sure. rob marciano, thank you for tracking it. didn't take long for the republican residential candidates to put south carolina in their rear-view mirrors and hit the ground running florida. the florida primary is it a days away. romney campaigning there, raising a lot of money and some votes in early voting. gingrich arrives in tampa today. two front-runners ramping up the attacks on each other labelling each other failures. >> he actually resigned after four years, investigated under an ethics payment had to make a payment, his fellow republicans voted to reprimand speaker gingrich. he has not had a record of successful leadership. >> you end up with a guy i think

a very good salesman, very much wants to sell, but he has a really weak product and so i think he has been dancing on eggs trying to figure out how to find a version of romney that will work, and i think the more he dances, the more people go give -- i have flaws, i have weaknesses, i had a long career. the fact is what you see really is what you get. >> let's talk about the ramped up attacks, with our panel in washington. penny nance of concerned women of america. in washington, politics writer for roll call. cheryl, if the gloves weren't off they are now. romney is calling for gingrich to release records related to his time at freddie mac and money he was paid there. freddie mac guaranteed all his bad mortgages, we know seventh highest foreclosure rate is now in florida. they have a 10% unemployment rate there as well. is this going to become like romney's tax return for

gingrich? >> it could very well become like romney's tax returns, i think it's worth noting after all the criticism over romney not releasing tax returns, he will do so finally on tuesday. also the same day state of the union. i wonder how much attention they will get then. i think this could be like romney's tax returns. it should be something that voters and journalists should scrutinize, we should look in detail what exactly newt gingrich did on retainer with freddie mac. i think important for voters to know especially given the high foreclosure rate in florida. >> penny, talk about romney in florida, 2008 he came in second in florida the exit polls from that year put him at 61% of voters conservative voted for him. majority of the voters went for romney. this time around, romney is looked as a moderate. floridians have been voting early, spent $4 million in the state. aides are optimistic telling the new york times they have 125,000 votes in the bank already, have

things changed or will romney do well again there? >> oh, i don't think that he can by any stretch of the imagination count on this year being the same as four years ago. clearly, after south carolina, the veneer of electability is gone. there is a lot of military voters often voted by absentee ballot. i don't predict romney will do as well with those guys this time around. you know, people are choosing street fighters, they understand that we have a 15 trillion dollar debt and want someone that will go after this economy, go after jobs, and fight hard. republicans want someone to fight hard in the ring against obama. so, i don't think that romney can predict what is going to happen or plan on the same kind

of turnout this time around. >> the democratic political consultant, i hear you were racing in and you made it. you're there, yay, nice to see you. >> really early here in texas. >> we appreciate having you this morning. florida isn't like the other contests, they have a very diverse population, immigrant rich areas near miami, retirees from all over the country on top of a more conservative north. how does this change the republican primary race? >> well, it's no matter what state you go to, primary voters whether they be democratic voters or republican voters have more of idealogical bend. romney will have to reconcile and this has been his problem throughout the primaries here, he has to figure out how he can attract conservative voters, endear himself to them, carry the momentum in the general

election. so far he hasn't been able to do it, especially with multiple candidates in the race. the question that needs to be answered now is, can conservatives settle with romney, or will they move elsewhere and find anti-romney, in this case starting to become gingrich. we're about to find out. you saw in south carolina what happened. >> there is a big latino population, how will he fare with them versus gingrich? >> largely a cuban population. >> and columbian, really diverse. gingrich has built a relationship with latino community for years. and he is really started what is an honest conversation on immigration reform i think this is something that resonates largely with the community there, but we don't know just yet because this is really the first test of all the primaries, that any candidate is going to have to be subject to a large

latino block. we will see how it plays out. >> sheara, penny, thanks for joining us. at 7:00 eastern, what it will take for newt gingrich to pull off an upset. joined by rick tyler and bob mccuen. >> we like to get you up to speed on what is happening later, so it's the stories developing now that will be big tonight. congressman gabrielle giffords will finish what she started. the congress on your corner event so horribly interrupted by that shooter, the accused shooter jared loughner last year, she will holdal private gathering with some of the people there that day. she announced yesterday in a youtown video she plans to resign this week.

youtube video. >> i have work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for arizona, i will step down this week. >> that was her announcement you were looking at. also mississippi judge could decide if the nearly 200 pardons issued by outgoing governor haley barbour are valid. of the state attorney general said they violated the constitution. a public notice must run in a newspaper 0 days prior to a pardon. 30 days. >> at 12:00 eastern, the annual rally to protest roe versus wade, 39 years ago the supreme court legalized abortions. rick santorum wrote an editorial in the wall street journal. my opponents whisper they are pro life but i fight the battle in the trenches, and will continue to do so until every

innocent human life in this country is protected. i think some of the candidates may take issue with that. >> i think so. eleven minutes past the hour. u.s. markets rose 2% last week closing mixed on friday. the dow up less than 1%. nasdaq down, nearly flat. >> christine romans, i always like to say you're minding our business, have you got a deal for you? >> not in the oil market looks like the eu ministers will em bar on an oil embargo against iran over the next six months. watching to see what kind of action it will be. frankly we're worried about global economies being slow. >> i don't understand that. >> less demand for oil. oil prices don't go up. even as they talk about how to punish the iranians, you're not seeing a big reaction in the oil markets. >> even though they control such a large portion? >> if you have the u.s. and european big economies showing

down you don't need as much oil. saudi arabia can make up the difference. >> a lot of news about the housing markets earnings, i will be here to navigate. >> i like this. five things cheaper in 2012. >> i'm always showing you what will cost more. this is from cnn money, a list of five things cheaper. i want to roll through them. houses, that is not fantastic for most people, in san francisco and washington d.c., houses have been stablizing, maybe this is your year with really cheap mortgage rate to pick up a home. car rentals, lots of cars, big discounts shop around you will be especially through the travel websites, expedia, deals on car rentals. super thin computers, no hard drive or dvd drive, these could

pick up be more of a bridge the gap between pc's smart phones and tablets. maybe some deals on there. quickly as well, tablets. maybe this will be an ipad 3 in march? i don't know. perhaps. we'll watch those and see if that drives prices down. >> i just got the ipad 2. >> i have the ipad 1. >> did you know mitsubishi has a 73 inch television for less than $1500? watch around the super bowl for very huge, huge very cheap tv's. >> good thing houses are cheaper you'll need a bigger house. go to cnn money to see them, depends where you live, there are things that are going down in price. >> we love that. >> thank you, christine. switch gears from christine's news to another news, the syrian government are saying no way to the arab league plan calling for president assad

to turn over power to the vice president. they are calling for them to begin talks with the opposition which they are not pleased about. >> they are saying form a new government within two months. what is the very latest? >> reporter: the city has ee mermed as the ep center of the clashes between syrian army and the group that calls itself the free syrian army, largely made up of defect ors, walking through the city is quite eerie, many shops are closed, sandbags positioned on every corner. the military hospital officials told us on average they are getting five dead soldiers killed in clashes, to give you an idea how intense this is. when it comes to the arab

league's proposal, that has been rejected by the government and this is the big issue here that those who fight do not have a concrete solution to end this ongoing crisis and we're hearing no matter what side they are, along the current path, the country could very easily slip until war. we came across would residents that were talking to us about -- unnerving and they said they didn't really know who to blame. all they knew they were living a nightmare. >> awra be careful. hard to make out what you're saying clearly a critical situation and very dangerous not only for residents but journalists. >> the pictures speak volumes,

right? >> remarkable stuff. inside syria, a very difficult thing to get access to. excellent reporting. more from italy. there are reports there were unregistered passengers on board. does that mean the toll could go up? we're live in italy in a moment. a legend that was joe paterno died over the weekend. we'll look back at the former penn state's coach's career. you're watching "early start." 't these light fixtures. kitchen's too small. what's next? 607 franklin st. ♪ sea bass... ♪ ooohhh! ♪ i like it. yeah, i love the kitchen. [ male announcer ] the epa-estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from looking for your perfect home to finding it. chevy runs deep.

i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

. 19 minutes past 5 clock, we have been talk about weather, now reports in cnn in tuscaloosa, there has been serious damage, one roof torn off, and some power issues. rob marciano is monitoring this, joins us with the latest, are we talking about tornadoes or not? >> we think so. this extensive damage now across

parts of tuscaloosa, some roof damage there, but dark out so it's tough to say what has gone down. i can tell you storm spotters have tracked that same cell that has a confirmed tornado, it moved through tuscaloosa, now moving just northeast of birmingham, this is a similar track to the deadly tornadoes that rolled through the area in the spring. this nothing compared as far as the size and strength of the tornado, strong radar signature and tornado confirmed on the ground now just north and east of birmingham, alabama. there you see it right there. even what we call debris ball, the radar is picking up debris flying through the air in that circulation, that is when we know there is a tornado on the ground there. we're getting reports from storm spotters with power lines down and structural damage with this cell. if you live north and east of birmingham, that is in jefferson county, calhoun, st. clair

counties they are under the gun here for this tornado warning as it moves rapidly to the east at 55 miles an hour. this time of year strong jet stream, power behind it, they move quickly, obviously still dark, so if you live in the area, you want to get in the center of your home and take cover until the storms pass, part of a larger system that stretches across the tennessee valley and ohio river valley where severe thunderstorms are rolling through that area as well. this is the same -- some of these areas are the same spots that saw snow a week ago. tremendous rebooting of the atmosphere and beginning to feel like spring. we'll track the storms across central alabama this cell now north and east of birmingham, more cells behind it, a rough morning for much of the state of alabama. >> we'll check in with you, thank you. >> i remember living in texas, always having that radio power or battery powered radio. >> very smart. >> tv's go out. you lose power. get batteries out if you're up. >> we have new questions in

another news story about whether there were more passengers on board. >> kind of bizarre. >> if you think about it it makes sense. unregistered passengers on board the cruise ship off the coast of italy what would that do to the missing and possibly dead? authorities think the cruise liner may have had some extra people now and they are looking into it. the pressure is growing now to speed up the salvage and rescue operation because the island of giglio's mayor is upset about the possible ecological time bomb. authorities are continuing that effort of blasting holes in the ship to try to make it easier for the divers to look, 1500 cabins to search, takes 45 minutes per cabin, they are blasting to get in easier. all of this as the crews found another woman in a life vest yesterday, and another person on saturday. the death toll is rising, 19 missing, 13 dead, dan rivers is live for us this morning in

giglio, italy. we talk about the numbers, the toll, dan, with the new report there may have been unregistered passengers, the numbers could shift, right? >> reporter: they could. this is something the guy in charge of the whole operation now has mentioned in one of the briefings to us, that they have records of a phone call from a young hungarian woman to her parents claiming that she was on board the costa concordia after the accident. they have no record of a female hundred g hungarian passenger, if this account is true and there is no reason to disbelieve her parents, she may have been on board as an unregistered passenger, therefore that begs the question, how many others unregistered passengers were on board? either at invitation of the members of the crew or some other kind of way they got on

board, but it does mean the total number of missing is now in question. and of course, so therefore is the potential number of people that may have perished. >> dan, something else i found a bit disturbing, the claim by the captain that the company actual hi liked it when the ships went close to land because they call it "tourist navigation" like showboating to fiepromote the cruise ship. what are is -- is the company saying? >> reporter: the costa company denies this. there was an established course and it wasn't his position to die divert from it. it's being linked in the italian

press with his initial take on what happened, was exactly that, not only did the company know about it but they condoned it, some reported they ordered it, publicity stunt, effective hi, to show off the boat to people on the island and potentially get more customers. that is being denied by costa, that is his word against their's, but the more this goes on, ashleigh, the more nuggets coming out of the story that make it far from clear what actually happened. we have conflicting accounts about what the captain did, this woman claimed he stayed on the boat, that is at odds with the other testimony we had from the coast guard. >> so many complex layers that still need to be answered and sorted out not until they figure

out where the people are. dan, i know you will watch for that. dan rivers live in giglio, italy. 26 minutes past the hour. still ahead, hearing on the mississippi pardons schedule today. could many so of the prisoners released be heading back to prison, including the four murderers. severe weather across the south, tracking the dangerous weather system, there has been a tornado confirmed on the ground north of alabama, our rob marciano is tracking that for you. you are watching "early start."

this is cnn, breaking news.

it is 5 clock 0 in the east. reports of a roof toward off of a home in tuscaloosa, several trees down, lots of power outages. let's look at the pictures of what the dangerous weather system did late last night in arkansas. as you can imagine, thousands are waking up without power, the storms are moving east, moving fast and i know, rob, you said there was a tornado confirmed on the ground north of alabama. you are tracking this system for us, what can you tell us? >> circulation showing it to be very, very strong near springville, st. clair, calhoun counties. north and east of birmingham. this thing moved to the north of birmingham 30 minutes ago. we showed it to you then. 30 minutes, 40 minutes before that it was in the tuscaloosa area. confirmed reports of damage in tuscaloosa, not sure of the extent of the damage.

also damage just north and east of birmingham, alabama with this cell. it's dark out so tough to get confirmed reports of the funnel but we have trained spotters on the ground tracking this thing and they have confirmed that this thing is a tornado and the current warning out now, again just the circulation near springville and heading across calhoun and st. clair counties, north of aniston. another tornado warning south of birmingham will miss the big city heading toward clanton, that will slightly less populated area. a scary morning this morning, still dark out here, this is all with the storm system that brought damage overnight to parts of southeast arkansas, memphis had a scare as well with a lot of severe thunderstorms rolling through the area, now severe thunderstorm watches posted north of here, the tornado watch has been extended now in northwestern georgia, until 10:00 central time.

next several hours will be dice y, as the storm continues to press on off to the east and moving very quickly. 55 miles an hour off toward the east along i-20 and i-55. >> thank you very much, rob marciano, you'll continue tracking that for us and we'll check in with you again. we're also watching news that will develop later today in mississippi, we have been talking about mississippi because of pardons. a hearing is scheduled over those controversial maneuvers by haley barbour. several of the people released in the pardons convicted killers. they worked as trustees in the governor's mansion as part of a special program for convicts and haley barbour on "face the nation" justified the pardons this way. >> 26 as you mentioned, half of them for health reasons. 189 have been out, most of them out for years and years, no more threat to the people of mississippi than they were the week before they got their pardon. >> that is what the former

governor says and there are a lot of people who disagree with him. our criminal defense attorney guy is paul talon, you have to talk me down. you don't have to talk me through it. i know you can't call a legal hearing because you don't like a policy but they are talking about a legal problem. a simple piece of small print in the pardons said each of the prisoners is responsible for notifying the public in the paper and in a lot of these cases that may not have happened, is that the case? >> that is the claim of mississippi's attorney general. and he stands on strong ground here because the mississippi constitution is very clear on this point. as a matter of fact, the pardon provision is a very short provision, but the one thing is crystal clear is you have to put it in the newspaper at least 30 days before the pardon, in the county where the convict was convicted and of course the reason for that is so the victims can come to the governor

and plead their case against the pardon, and the ag, the new ag, seems to think that was not done in the case of many, many maybe over 100 prisoners. >> if it isn't done, does that give the judge the right to nullify the pardon and put the people back in jail? >> that is a great question that hopefully will be answered later today at a hearing before judge green. nobody knows the answer. i've nef seen it litigated before. it's a tough question. the prisoners say that they relied on guess who, the attorney general to put the notices in the newspaper. they say an assistant attorney general was the person who told them he was placing the ads and didn't place the ads so it's the attorney general's fault, why blame the prisoner, this is what the mississippi judge is going to be looking at later today.

>> which is weird because that almost sounds like if the ag is supposed to be representing the prisoners like the fox in charge of the hen house, the hen house in charge of the foxes, if that makes sense, regardless, is -- everybody knows haley barbour is a republican and knows the ag is a democrat they are not too friendly. is this a political scrap or is there an issue here that needs to be --. >> i think there are elements of both. if we didn't have a democratic attorney general, maybe it would be a little different, but the public has every right to be shocked and upset with the way haley barbour handled the pardons. over 200 pardons being issued at the last minute, some of them murderers and rapists, i'm talking about crimes when you see them described, horrific crimes. and usually governors are very, very careful about using this pardon power. they exercise it with great

discretion and care because obviously there is a public up ro -- uproar, i think that shocked most of mississippi, democrats and republicans. >> and paul, in the next hour we'll talk with one of the representatives from that state, not only about what you and i talked about but also little tidbit, two thirds of the pardons were white people, even though two-thirds of the prison population are black people. we'll talk whether race had anything to do with you. that is not a legal issue for you but you did great. >> thanks very much, nice being with you, ashleigh. 5:36, a colorado man accused of kidnapping a nine-year-old girl is suspended of assaulting another child on that exact day. the first victim, the nine-year-old, is now speaking out. she is safe at home, after outsmarting her alleged captor and calling 911. the latest on today's front page faces when we come back. brad, where we going?

just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪ are you ok? the... get in the car. get in the car! [ male announcer ] the epa estimated 42 mpg highway chevy cruze eco. from spending time together, to spending your lives together, chevy runs deep.

8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! and the chefs at lean cuisine are loving tangy lemon, peppery poblano, sweet butternut. we're roasting, and grilling to create must-have meals with no preservatives. lean cuisine. be culinary chic.

welcome back to "early start" the penn state campus is in mourning over joe paterno, he died yesterday of lung cancer, 85 years old. he spent six decades at penn state. he was fired in that fall-out over jerry san dust dust ski. he fought hard to the end, stayed positive thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone how blessed his life had been. for many of the penn state faithful, the sandusky scandal hasn't tarnished joe pa's image. >> people think of him more than a coach. they think of him as a leader and they think of him as someone who devoted his life to the community. >> everything that joe stands for academically and off the

football field and all the good things that he and susan have done for this university and the library and everything else, it just means so much to me that i just felt compelled to be here. >> nobody what anybody else said it wasn't joe's fault we're going love joe paterno forever and ever, period. >> on the phone we have sarah ganham, covering the penn state story from the very beginning. sarah, we know that paterno was diagnosed with lung cancer in november. his family announced his diagnosis nine days after he was forced to resign. or originally they said it was treatable. are they saying it was the stress of the investigation that caused his demise? >> caller: the family is not saying much, they are not expected to say much for a wheel. people close to joe paterno call him friend, those that knew him

as a person, more than as a coach are saying they really believe it's possible he died of a broken heart. this is a man with such a strong work ethic, he could fall asleep in his bed with pencils from writing plays, in bed, and his wife would joke he would get -- she might get lead poisoning from it. that is the work ethic he had. to lose his job and lose it in the manner he had, a lot of people may be he may be losing his fight and drive and reason to keep going, especially the way it happened. a lot of people, a lot of people at statue yesterday, a lot of his close friends were saying we believe that that played a role, although it's a hard thing for them to think about. a lot of people only ask the question, tear up that he might have died of a broken heart. >> i was reading reports they were shoveling the path to his statue so folks could touch the statue, a lot of people ended up

going there overnight. what are the plans for his funeral or memorial? >> there are none set, definite at this point. however, we do know there is going to be a public memorial, as well as a players-only memorial which i think will be very important for a hlot of players. there are two, three generations of families who played for him you can imagine the people that might come back to say their last goodbye to joe paterno. there are tons of players talk about how big of a role he played in their lives. last night at the student vigil, student after student said i only met him once or twice but i felt hilike he was my grandfath, he was part of our familiar hi. we're losing part of our family. that is a tribute to the kind of man he was and how inspiring he was on campus. >> let's talk about that, the washington post conducted a final interview, he defended his

response to finding out about the sandusky allegations, he said he didn't feel adequate to respond and he said "i never heard of rape in man i did what i thought was best. i talked to people i thought would be, if there was a problem that would be following up on it." behind the statue that everybody was going to on campus, it quoted him as saying "i hope they write i made penn state a better place, not just that i was a good football coach." we see a lot of outpouring of emotion from students who attend, folks who live in the community, do you really think the words that he wrote there will be his legacy? >> it's very interesting, a colleague of mine wrote something yesterday i thought was telling, that he's got 61 years of good deeds and will it all be overshadowed by one name, that is jerry sandusky, at the end of the day, right now, this happened three months ago, it's on a hot of people's minds, at

the end of the day when you look back over a life of goodness will that one thing be the only thing you think of, a lot of people said no. you can't forget about it but it's not the only thing they will remember. however, nationally, yeah, i think it is on a lot of peoples minds and it was on joe paterno's mind. his family said up until the end he was saying don't worry about me, i had a very good life. so that gives you any indication but i think yeah it will be a footnote, obviously going to be something that is part of his legacy. >> sarah gannon, thank you for joining us this morning. 45 minutes past the hour time to get you caught up on the top stories of the morning. we begin with the breaking news reports of heavy storm damage in areas north of tuscaloosa, alabama. hearing about severe lines of storms that have actually had an effect of tearing one roof off a home downing several trees, power lines in jeopardy, there are power outages, moving east

and there are a lot of states in play. keep your ear right here. search teams in italy have found another body on that partly sunken cruise ship. the 13th victim was a woman, wearing a life jacket. 19 people are still missing. officials hope to begin pumping out half a million gallons of fuel from that ship, one of the officials called this a serious environmental risk. also today is the deadline if you want to b icid for the dodgers. list of potential bidders, magic johnson, joe torre, and cnn's larry king. does cnn pay that much? i would like to renegotiate. >> ashleigh i have one for you. >> go. >> did you hear steven tyler

tried to sing the national anthem? >> i did not but i heard everybody talking about. >> >> at the afc championship game. critics panning the performance. we'll let you hear it in ten minutes from now. >> aerosmith version. >> oh my goodness you're watching early start. >> i cannot wait. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline,

with no blackout dates. welcome. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. r-really? absolutely, and we guarantee results, you know, for a small fee, of course. such are the benefits of having a professional on your side. [whistles, chuckles] why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. we're out of toner. [circus music plays]

sign it. come on. sign it. [honks horn] ...homes around the country. every single day, saving homes. we will talk it over... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at...

on "early start" in the mornings we like to get you behind the front pain -- pages. people write these stories, they have great information. latest one from colorado is real astounding story. nine-year-old girl. saving herself. a kidnap victim, calysta cordova is now home safe. the story is remarkable. she outsmarted her kidnapper. told abc news she got her strength from her dad, who taught her to stand up for herself and look at her mom as she is overjoyed hearing the news her baby is safe, take a look. >> thank you for everybody who watched, who kept an eye out for my daughter and brought her home. >> get goose bumps when i hear that and when i see this, this is jose garcia, the suspect. accused of assaulting not only this child but another child,

the very same day. this is very complex. let's get you to jacob rogers, the face behind the print, reporter with the colorado springs gazette. jacob, how did this happen? how did this little girl calysta get away from her kidnapper and save herself? >> reporter: you don't hear about this often. she went missing on this past thursday after leaving school. missing person that night. next morning amber alert issued. sometime that morning police aren't too sure when, they haven't talked about it much, they believe the little girl and man got in a car crash, appears someone gave them a ride to a convenient store and she walked in the store first, followed by this man, she asked to use the phone to call her uncle. instead she called 911. this girl turns to the man said "no, i ain't going anywhere with you, i'm waiting for my mama." >> holy cow, the man is jose garcia. i want to show a picture not only of him. this is his mug shot as he's

accused in the case. also want to show a picture of a witness who was at that convenience store, who is mimicking what he says he saw that suspect doing. pulling his hoodie down. the police are there, dusting for fingerprints, looking for clues but arrested jose garcia. jacob, they are saying he may have been responsible for an assault on another little girl from the same neighborhood the very same day. what happened? >> reporter: police basically say that basically they alleged he took his ex-girlfriend's daughter out of school on thursday and returned her later that day. the girl's mother told a television station here in colorado springs that her daughter was touched inappropriately during that time. >> just unbelievable. jacob, i did read that young calysta was found with two black i eyes, injuried to her jaw and face, do you know if that is

from an assault or the car crash? >> reporter: that is something we're trying to find out. it will be interesting to look at the arrest warrant. hopefully that is not sealed and will contain more facts about what happened. >> jacob, thanks for that, appreciate your work. >> what a brave little girl. >> can you imagine? i'm not going anywhere with you. i love it. nine years old. >> 5:52, new questions about whether there were unregistered passengers on the doomed costa concordia. you're watching "early start." you always have homework, okay? i don't have homework today. it's what's right here is what is most important to me. it's beautiful. ♪ ♪

in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com.

welcome back to "early start." >> don't tell me anything about steven tyler that is bad. >> i apologize. stinging criticism for steven tyler, why? he sang the national anthem before the patriot-ravens game on sunday. was it bad enough to get him booted from his show? screech, mangle, butcher, some of the words used to describe it. ♪ ♪ and the rockets red glare ♪ as bomb bursting in air ♪ gave proof through the night

♪ that our flag was still there ♪ >> people are looking incredulously. this is a guy on "american idol." some of the reaction on twitter, extremely disappointed he didn't call an audible and go with dude looks like a brady. tyler held for questioning and it's death. it was the first one, screeching through it. i wouldn't get up there and do it. >> i'm going on a limb, i think it's great. i'm sorry, i still think it was good. that is aerosmith, that is how he sings. it was not a rosie o'donnell or rosean barr. >> 6:here in the east. gab by giffords is stepping down but has one more thing to do before she leaves congress. couple more questions about how many people were really on board this doomed cruise liner in italy.

why might there have been unregistered passengers and also how long is it going to take to fix this mess? >> you're watching "early start." white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. welcome. i understand you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. smart move. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. r-really? absolutely, and we guarantee results, you know, for a small fee, of course. such are the benefits of having a professional on your side. [whistles, chuckles] why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays]

here you go, pete. thanks, betty. we're out of toner. [circus music plays] sign it. come on. sign it. [honks horn] ...homes around the country. every single day, saving homes. we will talk it over... announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, make sure you're talking to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at...

a very good morning to y'all. this is "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we're bringing you the news from a to z. 6:00 a.m. in the east. we have severe weather overnight

in the south. reports of tornadoes, power outages, storms are on the move. rob marciano is tracking all of that. and also the gop hopefuls are florida bound, if they're not there already. mark my words, they're there already. only eight days to go until the primary. you know what can happen in 24 hours. gingrich, romney attacking each other. arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords says she will resign this week. she needs time to focus on her recovery. super bowl sequel, that's right, folks, patriots once again against the giants at this year's super bowl. so it should be a fun one. if you were watching football last night it was a lot of fun. >> nail biter. >> i hear that. i'm not a football fan but i like to read up on this stuff. >> i had my kid in the background. he stayed up way too late watching the graham. breaking news. powerful winter storm carving up the southeast. take a look.

it's packing powerful winds. thousands are without power. >> tornado settings also in arkansas. look at the pictures. imagine if that's in the middle of your night and you're see that weather come through. already reports of wide spread damage. cnn is confirming there's heavy damage in areas north of tuscaloosa. report of a roof that's torn off a home. several trees are down and a lot of power outages probably just beginning to hear about that as the storms continue to move east. >> let's go right to rob marciano. what can you tell us, rob? >> a couple more tornado warnings, one particularly dangerous south of birmingham and perry county. computers here in the weather center, a little bit iffy this morning but i can tell you this, the cells just south of birmingham looks strong. that's in perry county heading just to the east at 55 to 60 miles an hour.

numerous tornado warnings out. we have seen damage north of tuscaloosa, north of birmingham, a lar track of the tornados that rolled through there last spring, likely not as strong but likely injuries, certainly structural damage with this round of storms that is now east and north of birmingham but still showing a tornado signature. this red watch box shows a tornado watch in effect until at least 10:00 central time. there's a little bit more stable in georgia so it might weaken by the time it gets to georgia. but until then, it's very dangerous and through alabama with a potent storms right now i'm counting three cells in particular. one south of birmingham, one northeast of birmingham, especially all moving to the east at 55 to 60 miles an hour. we're getting reports of emergency crews being released and sent out for areas just north of birmingham. oak grove specifically. a subdivision there, particularly hard hit. again, it's still dark out.

that makes it one dangerous with the storms rolling across the south and, two, difficult to assess the situation in and around the birmingham area. obviously this entire system is moving off. i should also point out we had freezing rain north of the new york city area and tri-state area there. slick travel this morning. be careful on both of those. we'll keep you posted. guys? >> thank you, rob marciano for that. also, this story, like sun started snowbirds, republican candidates heading to florida. mitt romney's already there. you know the commercials are already there. i'm sorry, florida, if you're getting battered by it. mitt, by the way, is promising to release those tax returns tomorrow. it's such a thorn in his side in debates and elsewhere. he's admitting the issue actually might have cost him south carolina. i'm sure there might have been some arguments about that as

well. newt gingrich would say otherwise. he also is arriving in the sunshine state today. a lot of people to talk about this. washington's penny nance is here, from austin, texas, democrat political consultant and in washington, politics writer for "roll call." let's get right to it. i hate saying it's getting ugly out there but the truth is it's getting uglier. all right mitt romney looks like he's meeting the junk lar attack. look what he's saying right now about newt gingrich's background and that pesky little ethics investigation he was sanctioned for. >> he was a leader for four years as speaker of the house. and at the end of four years it was proven that he was a film leader and he had to resign in disgrace. >> ouch. that's nasty. but, you know what, this is something that newt gingrich had to know was coming.

it's not like this hasn't been a very public affair for newt gingrich, as affairs. and i would like to know what you think about florida. are they going to start chalking up all of these things, the affairs, the other women, that issue, and now the ethics issue getting lumped on to that? >> we said all along, character counts. it is an important issue to discuss. apparently in south carolina they like the bad boy down there and went for newt gingrich. i think mitt romney is going to have a tough time in florida. she does well with seniors. but earp talking about the latino vote. cuban-americans tend to be very conservative, social conservative. but both santorum and newt gingrich will do better with that constituency. social conservative issues are going to still be in the forefront for republican primary voters. i think that, again, both santorum and gingrich have a stronger story to tell than romney does. so he's got more money.

we know that rick scott spent about $40 million to take that state. and it takes a lot of money. ten media markets to compete. but this is a different world. it's a different campaign than we've ever seen before. i think anything can happen. >> we all know that some of those voting blocs that we're discussing, women, evangelicals, et cetera, don't always vote as a block. a lot of peemg are upset about media and the economy and now florida is a state that's been harmered. the real estate market has been devastated. looks like newt gingrich is going there. right out of the gate not only talking ethics but also talking freddie mac and trying link newt gingrich with freddie mac work and freddie mac he's blaming for who whoas in florida. is this a good strategy? >> i think it's the smart as they come in terms of mitt romney. what's interesting is to see romney do go negative on newt

gingrich with words from his own mouth. i think the super pac did a lot of his dirty work in iowa. but to see mitt romney who has this squeaky clean image be so critical of gingrich with words out of his own mouth, he's gone on defense. this is an effective argument. it cuts at the heart of newt being a washington insider. freddie mac is a washington institution, it's up here in washington, d.c. not nrt west. it's relevant for florida voters. there's a high foreclosure rate in the state. the real estate market was hit especially hard there. i think a lot of florida voters are angry with freddie mac. >> they may be looking for that kind of scapegoat. we'll have to see how that's playing out in the campaign, for sure. ed, i want you to we weigh on this on whole unfavorability thing because there's a poll that we have nationally that shows that newt gingrich comes in about 34% unfavorable. ron paul topping at 38%.

look at newt gingrich, 34% and mitt romney's 19%. it kind of makes me wonder what the democrats are doing when all they do is go after mitt romney. do you think they might change course seeing the momentum that newt gingrich has and start saving more of their attacks for that front-runner now? >> over the course of this campaign, if we were to put our sights on every front-runner that's been in the republican lead over the past eight months we would have -- democrats would have shifted gears six or seven times if point is is that romney has been the perceived front-runner throughout this crazy primary process. and regardless of how poorly he may have done in south carolina, he's still the front-runner, he still has the money, he still has the organization to go the distance. but this race becomes very different right now. florida is a much different state. it's much more diverse state on the republican side and we talked about latinos last hour.

11% of the vote in florida is latino. 60% of that in miami-dade. so really interesting to see how these guys can win over the community because republican party doesn't have a great record in terms of what they do and what they say with communicating with latinos. florida is going to be a key place for that. romney really has to overcome some hurdles not only with latino community but with the republican party base. he's going to continue to have this strength moving forward. >> it's a bit of a sticky wick get moving forward because it's not that you can suggest that the latino voters there have immigration on their minds because many of them are americans. they're cuban-americans or they're puerto rican. it's more complicated than we have time for in this conversation, folks. i got to cut it there. thank you all. thank you the three of you for hashing it out. want to let our viewers know to stay with us for the best political coverage. 7:00 eastern on "starting

point," soledad o'brien, how newt gingrich won carolina and what it's going to take to pull off on up sunset florida. it is ten minutes past the hour. new questions being raised about whether there were more passengers on board that doomed cruise ship off the coast of italy than originally was thought. the authorities thinks the cruise liner had unregistered passengers on board. pressure is growing to speed up the salvage and rescue operation. authorities are blasting new holes into the side of the ship. the island's mayor is warning of an ecological time bomb. death toll is rising. body of a woman in a life vest found yesterday. 19 people still missing. two americans amongst those numbers. and dan rivers is live in giglio, italy. let's start with those unaccounted for. do we know how many people are unaccounted for who was not on the passenger list?

>> reporter: the simple answer is, no, we don't, zoraida. it's getting more confusing day by day because, as you mentioned, they're now raising the possibility that there may have been some unregistered passengers on this ship. that's basically because they got a phone call from a young hungarian woman who said she was on board. she called her parents saying that she was on board during this disaster. but there's no record of a hungarian woman on the passenger list that fits her description. there is a concern that she may have been on board not officially on the passenger list, which raises the question could there have been others as well? in terms of the salvage operation. let me step out of the way so you can see what's going on here. i don't know if you can see way out to sea, a whole load of boats and tubs standing by. blue hull and white top, that, we believe, is one of the tankers standing by to pump the fuel off, the 2,000 tons of

fuel. we still have been given no firm date or time as to when that will happen. but we believe it's going to be probably, you know, fairly soon, in the next 24 hours. the question is whether they can do that at the same time it's continuing to search for the missing and for any potential survivors. we've been hearing huge explosions again echoing across the island today. seven explosions this morning as they continue to knock holes in the boat to open it up to get the divers? >> dan, we've got to let you go here in a minute. if you can just tell us, has there been any movement on that ship? i know they were worried about that perhaps moving and sinking deeper. >> reporter: there have been little bits of movement overnight. that stopped the divers going in combined with the. massive amounts. inches rather than feet. but it does remain a concern that this boat is not particularly stable where it is. and as you mentioned, the mayor

is describing it as an ecological time bomb. >> thank you. time to talk business news now. u.s. markets mixed. the dow up less than 1%. nasdaq down just a little bit, nearly flat. s&p 500 almost a little bit flat, too. >> let's bring in christine romans, what are you watching for us this morning. >> oil prices this morning because we're expecting a formal announce i'm later this morning because the eu will ban imports of iranian oil because of all of this concern about the nuclear program. we've been tell you to closely watch this and we are this morning. here's how important iranian oil is. russia, saudi arabia, and iran are the three largest exporters of oil in the world. it is a huge player. trying to starve it out of the global market so that it will be a better actor, a better friend to the global community and not actually developing a nuclear weapons program. that's what folks are trying to do. iran exports 2.2 million barrels

a day. 15% of tex ports go to europe. this is a big deal. we expect that the european officials are going to phase it in over six months because they don't want to, boom, immediately starve themselves of that oil. it's 9.3% of total world oil reserves. why isn't the market reacting like crazy? because saudi arabia is expected to step in and pump more oil and fill in that hole. iran is likely -- i mean, the biggest customer is china so it has plenty of customers for its oil. but europe's economy is growing slowly. if there's ever been a time when they say we don't want your oil, iran, it's now because it's not guzzling up -- isn't china suggesting it's not in need as of much oil. >> china is much, slow growth china is, 8.9%, growing, if we're lucky the u.s. economy grew at 3%. china is growing so quickly. it needs oil and iran is a big customer. >> blackberry and iphone person?

>> both. >> i'm a blackberry note. i was at the house without my blackberry for three hours. >> did you hear blackberries? >> of course you have two. i have one blackberry, crack berry. the stock is up. if you're a stock owner in research in motion, blackberries owner, it's up. it's up a little bit because two cofounders stepped aside at the helm of that company after pressure from their board and from other folk as well. one of the guys actually a co-founder in 1994 got a loan from his parents to start this company. >> adorable. >> apologizing last year. remember that big outage they couldn't explain for a week. people want the google android, people want the smart phone. they're growing bigger. research in motion still has huge corporate contracts but they faltered over the past year. you can see it in the stock and now these two guys stepping down. i think they stay on the board but there's a coo, insider at

the company taking the helm. see if they can get this thing back on track. >> will you please let me know what happens? >> why, because you can't live without it? >> so many of us. what other device has a nickname, crack berry. look in washington at a hearing, people in washington have them, wall street, everybody. but a lot of companies are warning to smart phones for corporate uses, too. that's a big concern for research in motion. >> i can't type on -- on i phones. i can't. i don't know. >> get one. >> i know. >> get one and you will see what happens. >> she's on me all the time for this. christine romans, terrible news. i do love her though. 17 minutes past 6:00 in the east. that will be time to get out of bed if you're late. also time to get your top stories. here you are. breaking news this morning. powerful, powerful storms. string of them stretching throughout southern louisiana, eastern tennessee, tornado watches around warnings are in places across this region and already reports of damage and power outages overnight. amateur radio reporting,

quote, complete destruction in jefferson county, alabama. >> wow. we could learn today when ru rescue workers will pump out fuel from the costa cordia cruise liner. meantime, search teams discover a 13th victim. at least 19 people are still unaccounted for. and it's the new york giants, new england patriots in the super bowl. less than two weeks from now. the giants beat the 49ers in over nnight if you missed it. at rematch of super bowl xlii which the giants won 17-14. i want to show you this quickly. very rare that the new york post and the "new york daily news" has the dame headline, super bowl! they both did the same thing. "super! ." i love it. i don't know anything about football but it looked like a super headline. gabby giffords is stepping

down. >> she's going to make it official later on this week. and, also, we're watching mississippi as well because a judge there could rule on whether some pardons were legal. it's very unusual video we're showing you. that's gabby giffords. we're definitely talking both stories. i don't want to confuse you. >> there are the pardons. >> these are the four extraordinarily controversial pardons. four murders and a whole bunch of other dangerous folks, too. the judge could say, not so fast. back to jail. you're watching "early start."

vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money

pictures that just come into our offices from affiliate wbrc in birmingham, alabama. this is a live puck chur. some of the first pictures of destruction in that area. apparently there have been reports of damage to the north of town, south of town, and we're also hearing in birmingham, alabama, there are tornado warnings all around the

city. so again, a live picture from our cameras there. you can see it's hard to make out what it is but you can certainly see it is brick and it is bad. and we're hearing a lot of damage in that area. so we'll keep you posted on that. >> hope people were able to take cover. >> or get in safe. get into their underground safety areas. it is 22 minutes past the hour. an emotional farewell for arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. she suffered that gunshot wound over a year ago. sent a video mess samg her website. giffords announced she plans to resign from congress to concentrate on her recovery. >> i have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for arizona, i will step down this week. >> today, in fact, giffords will meet with some of the people who were at that tragic event in

tucson last year. elizabeth cohen has been following giffords' recovery and she's in atlanta. elizabeth, how hard is it to recover from this kind of brain injury. just a year ago we saw her taken out on a stretcher and now we hear her sounding great but how long before she makes a greater recovery? g >> i know. it does feel so miraculous and such a bless that she has done so well over the course of the year i've been honored to speak with her doctors over the course of a year about her recovery and what they have said pretty much all along is that the recovery from the cognitive aspects of the injury is going to be more difficult than the recovery from the physical. that video you see her walking with her husband, she is really moving quite well. but she has expressive aphaseia which ch means she knows what she wants to say, what she wants to get out but sometimes it's hard to do that. it's hard to find the specific

word. but over the course of the year she's went from not being able to speak at all to speaking in one-word sentences and in that video we hear her speaking in three or four-word sentences. for this kind of injury, the physical recovery is usually relatively complete at the one-year mark but the cognitive improvements can go on and on for many years. we should expect to see her get even better and better. >> she says in that video also that she will return. and i read that her husband said, give her two years. is that likely? >> you know, the doctors i've talked to said that that is absolutely possible. i mean, especially with a big chunk of time like two years. i spoke to a policeman who had a very similar injury from an bullet wound that she had. and he said that he made leaps and bounds from the one- to the two-year mark, two- to three-year mark, that he continued to make improvements. will her speech be what it was

before? perhaps not. will she be able to give a speech, her doctors thinks that is absolutely possible. >> do you think anything about the specific type of recovery or the therapy rather that she has to go through? >> typically in this situation you sit with a therapist for, let's say, an hour at a time three times a week and they give you exercises to help you retrieve those words that you're having trouble with. and we know that she's using music. that's also a very common thing to do. and then you are supposed to spend, you know, many hours a week on your own working on those exercises. that's kind of standard. now, we've been told all along that gabby giffords is an over-achiever. and my guess is she's spending more than three hours a week with a therapist. i don't know that for sure. but my guess is she's doing something much more intensive. >> yeah. she certainly seems like she's hyper focused on her recovery. elizabeth cohen, thank you for joining us this morning. my friend bob woodruff at abc had a terrible accident in

iraq. >> doing incredibly well. >> phenomenal. he said the same thing, he knows what he wants to say and cannot. >> we had somebody here who worked as an intern with him and he would just be frozen to figure out what that world was but helped him slowly and his recovery has been miraculous. >> remarkable guy. still ahead if you've been watching a story in mississippi with the pardons, guess what? a hearing today may reverse what you saw after haley barbour granted so many pardons, but it mate not. we'll explain. and that cruise ship disaster, there are fears of an ecological time bomb. what are they going to do to remove that ship? you're watching "early start." all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint

and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today.

♪ hey, everybody. welcome back. it is 30 minutes past the hour. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. welcome back to "early start." we are very happy you're joining us this morning. it's time to check stories making news. a dangerous weather system making its way across the southeast. reports of several tornados from illinois to alabama. cnn is confirming with the tuscaloosa emergency management

there that it has been heavy damage in areas north of tuscaloosa. an amateur radio recording complete destruction, complete destruction in jefferson county. >> looking ahead this week, president obama has planned for his third state of the union address. i know, if you're doing the matt math, should be four but that first one he did is technically just an address to congress. this is number three, folks. it happens tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. sources say the speech will be the president's blueprint for the economy. it's expected to focus on manufacturing, energy, education, and middle class values. >> our dan rivers report that we could learn within the next 24 hours when italian officials hope to determine if they can begin pumping out half a million gallons of fuel from the capsized cruise ship. the mayor of the island says the situation is now an ecological time bomb. moving on to another big story. mississippi story of pardons. court there is going to review those controversial pardons made by the out-going governor haley

barbour. at issue, whether they were done according to the letter of the law. several of the people who were release walter reed convicted murderers. state senator michael watson is looking to change the way pardons are granted in mississippi. he's on the phone from pascagoula. thanks for getting up early to talk about this with me. let me just start off the bat by ask you something here. as i understand it, this hearing today is all about the technicality, that issue where you have to post in the paper 30 days before you're released news that you're going to be released. let the victims come in and maybe argue their case. for some of these people that wasn't done. but it appears to me this is becoming a political football between the republicans and the democrats. it's republican governor and it's a democrat a.g. and some are accusing the other at least of not doing their job properly. am i'm not getting this right, that this is becoming very political? >> well, unfortunately -- and

good morning, thanks for having me. you may be getting it correct. obviously this notice issue is something that's stated in the constitution so we want to make sure that it happens but there are a few folks who have decided to take a shot maybe at the out-going governor because there are some bad blood there from years past. this gives them an opportunity. >> so if that's the case, and if it was the a.g., jim hood, who took, as you call it, a shot against haley barbour, the a.g. is democrat, barbour is a republican, it sounds like the shots are coming right back at the a.g. because there are accusations that it was the a.g.'s responsibility to actually post those warnings in the paper, those notices in the paper. and that the a.g. slipped up, screwed up, didn't do the posting. is that what i'm hearing now the issue is, that perhaps it's republican lawmakers backing their former governor saying it's the democrat a.g.'s fault?

>> i don't think it's just republican lawmakers. i think you look at the constitution and understand exactly who was supposed to send out the notice. today the judge will make a rule to determine that was not correct or not. >> what do you think the judge should do in these cases? >> well, again, if the letter of the law is followed, the judge obviously is going to make her ruling based on that. i think some of these folks, the question comes down to at this level of the newspaper, something just printed once a week, you know, the question is, well, they printed every day for 30 days or was it once a week for a full week? you get a technicality like that and it comes down, again, to the judge thinking whether it's enough. if they didn't, we need to look at this. >> well, the judge might have a couple of options. one of those options, throw them right back in the slammer. do you think that should happen? >> that's an option. for those folks who are violent criminals, maybe shouldn't have received a pardon in the first place, that's ethics. >> i know you're one of the

lawmakers dropping a bill to block violent offenders from getting into that trusty program at the governor's mansion to begin with. regardless of what happens today, regardless of whether the technicalities were broken in releasing these people, the pardons were signed and there were nearly 200 of them and this is your former governor haley barbour who is defending what he did. let me just play a quick piece of his interview on cbs "face the nation" about how he defended his move. >> well, sure, we could have done it better because we had no idea that the reporting of it and particularly some of the misstatements by political opponents would let the public think we're letting 200 something people out of the penitentiary. we let 26 out and half of them for health reasons. >> for a lot of people that's going to sound like a real bad

excuse because i don't care if it's 26 or 2, they are killers. one of them on the loose right now who they can't find. my question to you, sir, if haley barbour says he will stump for you or endorse you if you decide to run again for politic, would you like that? >> i would. haley barbour is one of the best governors we have ever had and probably will ever have. this is a decision that a lot of us are scratching our heads and wondering, hey, what were you thinking? to have a decision like this on his record, you understand he did a lot of good things for mississippi. >> would you want him to endorse you? >> you know, i think i would allow haley to do that. i would obviously have an issue with his pardons and i disagree with several of them. and as we were going to correct that. >> senator watson, thank you forgetting up with us and addressing these concerns head on. appreciate it. 36 minutes past the hour. new tornado warnings have just been issued. rob marciano tracking the latest developments. folks on facebook are worried

about how fast these storms are moving. >> yeah. this time of year when they do develop they develop quickly and move quickly powered from a strong jet. a new tornado warning now issued. this one south and east of birmingham. it's in talladega and shelby counties and clay counties as well. that's this cell right here. it is moving towards talladega proper at about 50 miles an hour. and this other cell that's about to cross interstate 65 near clanton, this one has got a strong signature. it's had reports of doing some damage to the west. two cells that likely are doing damage, this one for sure has a tornado on it. but a tornado that rolled through tuscaloosa and birmingham. we have reports of structural damage, in some cases the subdivisions potentially wiped out, injuries reported in some areas and even some reports of people that are trapped in their homes. so there's been some serious structural damage with these cells. that cell that moved through tuscaloosa, birmingham, that has

weakened somewhat. there is some stable air in georgia. as these move across the border they should weaken. these two storms in talladega and this one down to the south towards clanton moving across the east. folks live in those areas obviously need to take cover now. we're going to take quick break. -good morning, dave. -good morning, dave. dave. -hey, dave. -hey, dave. hey. -hey, dave. -mr. dave. -dave. -what's up, dave? -dave. -dave. dave. dave. dave? hi, dave. oh, dave's looking for you. hey, dave. yo, dave! [ male announcer ] in a small business, it's all you. that's why you have us. at staples, we have low prices on everything your small business needs. staples. that was easy. can you enjoy vegetables with business sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less

per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield. we have a segment called "front page faces." what we do is talk to the folks behind the stories making headlines. this morning we're remembering jo paterno. paterno died sunday from complications from lung cancer, 85 years old. while we can question what national legacy he will leave, there is no doubt that state college community, that community adored him. still does. despite the scandal that ended his coaching career. >> no matter what anybody else said, it wasn't joe's fault. we're still going to love joe paterno forever and ever. period. >> and on the phone is neil, the

managing editor and face of the mirror newspaper in pennsylvania. a penn state grad, i understand, is that correct? >> yes. 1978. >> all right. so maybe you can talk about this outpouring of emotion. a lot of people are having a hard time wrapping their brain around this because of the sandusky scandal. how do you reconcile that? >> well, i mean, clearly no one ever thought -- people were concerned that joe's career would not end the way people liked to see legends end, carried off the field with a championship say, a number of years ago. no one ever saw anything like this coming. so i think in a lot of ways it's a tragic end, not only to his life but to his career. >> a lot of people, you know, knew that he had lung cancer but they're surprised that he died so quickly. do you think that it was the additional stress that caused that to happen? is the family saying anything?

>> the family hasn't confirmed beyond the lung cancer diagnosis around in early november, about nine days after he was fired. everybody wondered what joe was going to do with life after football. i think his health had been really eroding for a couple years. you saw noticeable changes in his physical characteristics. i think he had been in the hospital a number of times before the lung cancer. but there was no doubt that he didn't have anything else in his life. he always joked that what do you want me to do, retire? what am i going to do, cut grass? he never wanted to face life without football. he said as recently as five or six years ago that even going through difficult times, losing seasons, that football keeps -- he didn't want to retire because he thought he might die. football keeps him alive. he was afraid -- bear bryant

only lived about a month after his last game. there was always a question of what life without football would be for joe. >> you know, a lot of people who attended the university and who live in the community talked about this man's character. but you know, he did an interview before he died. and i'm going to quote what he said here as it related to the sandusky scandal. i never heard of rape and a man, so i just did what i thought was best. i 25utalked to people that i thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it. i know that he really wanted his legacy to be the work that he's done there. but how does this play out? you know? how is it that folks can reconcile this particular -- the fact that he diplomat do anything about the scandal? >> he did tell his superiors. but clearly he didn't do enough. i mean, they all feel that way. and i think it is telling that the day of that interview he then went in the hospital where

he lived another ten weeks -- ten days and died. so he obviously wanted to get that much out. but i think he died clearly with so much regret. and i think that, you know, history will help -- when this case proceeds, it will help, you know, further determine his ultimate legacy regullative to t case. but most of the people in central pennsylvania feel that, despite that, the terrible case and the way his career ended, that his ultimate body of work will clearly overshadow and everything that he has meant to penn state and to penn state football and to the whole region. >> neil rudel, managing editor and face of "the altoona mirror" newspaper. soledad talks to bryan scott, safety for the buffalo bills. he played for penn state under

coach paterno. still to come on "early start," keeping an eye on severe weather on the southeast part of the country. a couple of states are being hammered by winds and rain. look at the first pictures of damage. we're going to get you info on the d talladega right now. look at that radar. red, not good. you're watching "early start." ♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays]

life with crohn's disease is a daily game of "what ifs". what if my stomach pain and cramps come back? what if the plane gets delayed? what if i can't hide my symptoms? what if this takes too long? what if? but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your crohn's symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need visit knowcrohns.com/tv and use the interactive discussion guide to speak with your gastroenterologist.

i'm really glad we took this last minute trip! you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. get the app. hotels.com.

i want to show you some radar photos right now with some severe weather that's marching across the southeast. you're looking at mississippi, alabama, and georgia. and alabama is getting hammered right now with terrible weather. we've got tornado warnings in effect for the next 25 minutes in talladega. take cover. get to your shelter and make sure you have supply on hand. birmingham hit. wide spread damage in tuscaloosa as well. remember ma rob marciano is hard at work on this. >> very scary pictures there. soledad o'brien joins us with a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> tuscaloosa was hit so hard the last time. we wish them the best of look. "starting point," with us this morning as we start heading to florida, wrapping up south carolina we're going to talk to

two of newt gingrich's biggest such porters, rick tyler, senior adviser to one of his pacs, and congressman rooney who is backing mitt romney this morning. plus, ran a piece in news week which took notice, called president obama's critics dumb. we will ask him why andrew sullivan is wrong. then the story of one texas school district. they have decided the way to fix their failing school is to ban sports. we'll take a look at whether or not that's a good idea. that's all straight ahead this morning as "starting point" gets under way in ten minutes. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover.

life with crohn's disease is a daily game of "what ifs." what if my stomach pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if... what if i can't make it through dinner and a movie? what if i suddenly have to go? what if... but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your crohn's symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need

visit knowcrohns.com/tv and use the interactive discussion guide to speak with your gastroenterologist. the benefits of calcium in a sweet, delicious treat. enjoy vitafusion calcium gummies today. so this is one of our producers' favorite stories this morning. a aerosmith front man steven tyler is getting blasted for his rendition of the national anthem before yesterday's patriots/ravens game. ashleigh is upset about this. tiler is from boston. >> was it bad enough to get him booted from his own show, this performance? >> they're saying screech,

mangle, butcher. those are some of the words. you be the judge. ♪ gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ >> it was the rockets red glare that got me. >> extremely uncomfortable that he didn't call an audible and say dude looks like a brady. anthem at its death. ashleigh -- this is all i got to say. the dude's a rocker. give him a break. he's great. even there? i got to tell you, that's tough to listen to in the morning

though. >> in the morning, sure. but this was nighttime. a lot of people were drinking. dude looks like a rocker to me. our supervisor producer in atlanta agrees with me on this one. michael does as well, another producer in the biz. >> you're on an island with very few people. >> jay with one of our stage managers is going to be all over this, too. he loves aerosmith. i still think it was good. >> "american idol" judge. just saying have you ever tried to sing that line? >> no. >> so hard. >> i never would. >> i love it. tyler, i am with you, dude. i'm with you. it was great. it's about 7:00. you're watching "early start." >> thanks for being with us. stick around. the employee of the month isss...

the new spark card from capital one. spark miles gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. the spark card earns double miles... so we really had to up our game. with spark, the boss earns double miles on every purchase, every day. that's setting the bar pretty high. owning my own business has never been more rewarding. coming through! [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet?

we're still deep in debate in the studio over steven tyler's rendition of "the national anthem." >> oh, we're not in debate. >> yes, we are. >> i am not going to give up on this one. >> folk, it's great to have you here. thanks for being with us through "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. happy you're staying with us. "starting point" with soledad o'brien is up next. >> good morning. got breaking news of the dangerous storms racing across the south. thousand of people without power right now. going to talk about that. update you on what's happening there. plus, the fight for florida. there are just eight days until the primary. newt gingrich and mitt romney and they're ripping into each other's records and into each other. >> 88% of