this man said at the end of the piece. they take small contributions from thousands of people, rather than big contributions from a few. but that really goes to a very different approach to politics, you know? >> yes. >> reporter: it's about ideology. >> absolutely. excellent report. thank you very much, jessica. i appreciate that. "cnn newsroom" is continuing right now with randi kaye. hi, randi. >> hi, suzanne, and hello, everyone. it's 1:00. we've got a very busy hour ahead, so let's get straight to the news. his tax returns are public and attacks from his rivals keep coming. but on state of the union day, president obama wa mitt romney wants to talk about president obama. he attacked the incumbent for high unemployment, record foreclosures, death that's too high, and opportunities too few. >> i discovered, i guess, that romney has a new debate coach, who's specialty is to say as

many untrue things as fast as you can to get them all into one or two quick statements. so i thought it was kind of wild. >> here's a snapshot of romney's tax details. for 2010, he and his wife reported income topping $21 million, mostly from investments on which they paid less than 14% in federal tax. the gingriches and the obamas earned far less and paid, percentage wise, far more. tax rates are sure to come up in president obama's third state of the union speech. here's one tip-off. we're told warren buffett's secretary will be a guest of the first lady. you'll remember in calling for higher taxes on millionaires, billionaire buffett remarked that his secretary pays a higher rate than he does. in just a few moments, we'll go behind the scenes of the biggest presidential speech of the year with man who's been there time and again. michael waldman joins me in face time about six minutes from now. as we speak, fans and friends of joe paterno are getting their first chance to say their final good-byes. a public viewing getting underway on the penn state

campus for the winningest major college football coach of all-time. paterno passed away sunday at 85, just weeks after coaching his final game and being fired in a child sex abuse scandal involving his former assistant. a private funeral is planned for tomorrow and a public service for thursday. now to the southeast, where people are trying to come to grips with the aftermath of devastating storms. tornadoes touched down yesterday in arkansas and alabama, damaging or destroying more than 400 homes. an 83-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl were killed in jefferson county, alabama. the teen's body was found 40 feet from her home, still on her bedroom mattress. her father said, "she just la looked like she was sleeping like a baby. but she wasn't sleeping. she was gone." rescuers in italy have found another body aboard the "costa concordia," bringing the number of dead to 16. another 16 people are still missing. the cruise ship crashed more than a week ago and survivors have still sharing their stories. you're looking at video shot by

denise and david saba of miami. they were on the ship for their honeymoon. they were among the first passengers to evacuate and say crew members were clearly not prepared for this type of emergency. new developments in a shocking story that we've been following. scores of misplaced headstones found at several military cemeteries across the country. in addition, eight people were buried in the wrong spot. veteran affairs department says a review was ordered last october after workers at ft. sam, houston, national cemetery in san antonio discovered over 40 headstones in the wrong spot. this report follows the revelation of widespread burial problems at arlington national cemetery. turning now to a massive solar storm that could reach the earth later today, according to nasa, it is the largest in years and it is expected to send a shower of radioactive solar particles racing toward earth. it could possibly impact power grids, satellites, navigation systems like your gps, even possibly air travel. nasa says solar flares are our

solar system's largest explosive events and can last from minutes to hours. well, the oscar nominations are out. golden globe winner "the artist" nominated for ten academy awards, including best picture. here's a look at the other movies also up for best picture. t"the descendents," "the help," "moneyball," "hugo," "war horse," "extremely loud and incredibly close," "the tree of life," and "midnight in paris." you get to find out who the winners are sunday, february 26th. ever wonder what it's like in the white house on state of the union day. last-minute edits, word changes, additions, you name it. this guy knows all about it. he's written four of them for president clinton and he is spilling all the secrets, next. but first, today's rock stars. kudos go out to a group of friends, all snowmobilers, who saw their pal get buried alive in an avalanche. one of the guys was wearing a helmet cam to capture the whole thing as it happened and here's

what they did. >> i knew that i was buried enough in snow that i couldn't move. i mean, i was just suffocating in the snow. >> and when they were digging, then i was like, oh, this isn't good. so i was grabbing a shovel while, you know, the guys were in there with their hands. >> can you breathe? we got you. we got you, buddy. >> we gogotcha, you're good. >> they knew where i went in the snow, and that was the saving grace, knowing exactly where i went in the snow. [ hermann ] there's always something

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as we look ahead to what's usually the biggest presidential address of the year, we remember last year's state of the union and wonder what became of all those big ideas. tom foreman did some checking. >> republicans have never liked the president's health care reform plan, no secret there, so he invited them last year to tell them how it should be changed and made one proposal of his own. >> if you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, i am eager to work with you. we can start right now, by correcting the flaw in the legislation that has placed an unnecessary bookkeeping burden on small businesses. >> that part about giving small businesses a break, republicans, democrats, pretty much everyone liked that, at least enough to pass a bill to remove that requirement for expanded reporting to the irs by such companies. the president signed it in april. that's a proposal accepted and a promise kept. >> as we like to point out every year, the constitution requires presidents to, and i quote, give

to the congress information of the state of the union. it does not say he or she has to give a speech, nor that it has to be an annual event, equal parts pomp and politics. but it's all that and more. and sometimes the real drama takes place offstage. >> well, you don't see that every day of the week. >> he's got the whole white house press corps. >> we've got to rewrite the state of the union. >> refere >> every word, kid. it's a whole new ball game. you have exactly 35 minutes. >> okay, that's a movie, but the stakes and the pressures are very real. just ask michael waldman, as head speech writer more president clinton, he oversaw four state of the union addresses and two inaugurate ral speeches. he now heads the brendan center for justice at nyu law school. mr. waldman, nice to have you on the program. to borrow another famous phrase, it takes a village to craft a state of the union, does it not? >> it's really true that a speech like this is not just to get applause from the audience or even to look good on television, but it's really a

statement of policy and of political aims by whoever the president is. so everybody has a view of what a president ought to say and we used to joke that sometimes he needed a round keyboard so everyone could type at once. >> that's a great visual. let me play a clip for you from president clinton's 1996 address that we know resonates in your memory. >> the era of big government is over. but we can not go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves. >> what do you think? might we expect to hear some similar statements tonight? >> well, like that speech, in that speech, president clinton was launching his re-election campaign, and he was doing it right after the very bruising fight over the government

shutdown that he had with then-speaker newt gingrich. and he was claiming the center and saying, really, that he had won in a battle over the role of government. i think president obama is launching his re-election year in a slightly different position. we're really going to hear a very grand debate in this country over how to fix the economy, how to help the middle class, and what the role of government should be. so i think with we can expect to hear some big ideas from the president, not just ones that maybe this congress, with all its troubles, would pass, but what he thinks he might want to do over the long run. >> and speaking of congress and all its troubles and all the gridlock in washington, if you were in speech writer jon favreau's shoes today, who's writing this speech for president obama, what approach would you take? >> well, first of all, he needs to, and i'm sure he will, lay out a big economic vision, a big sense of how we not only deal with the current crisis, but get out of this make-or-break moment, as he's put it, for the middle class.

and i think the timing of mitt romney releasing his tax returns and showing that he, himself, also pays more than warren buffett's secretary couldn't be better, for a big discussion of those fairness issues. but i also hope, and if i were there, i would encourage the president to talk about how government works. to talk about the paralysis in government, and really talk about things like the role of money in politics, the super pacs and how they're flooding the system with new secret funds, and that's going to make it even harder to make any change and make any progress in washington. i think people are hungry to hear that kind of reform message, as well as talk about the economy. >> i don't have to tell you this, but you do know that president clinton took some heat for the length of his state of the union speeches, but you say, long isn't such a bad thing? >> well, you know, every time president clinton gave one of those speeches, they went on a long time, forever and ever, and a lot of the pundits would go on tv and say, oh, that was too long, it showed a lack of

self-discipline, but the public loved it. in fact, president clinton's ratings went up as the speech went along. and what that says to me, and it's true for president obama too, voters, even now, are eager to hear from their president directly about what vision he has for the country. what he thinks people ought to be doing and what we need to do. you know, even in this crazy media environment, with everything that's happening, people have a hunger to hear from their elected leader about what's going on and what to do. and you know, it's one of the few remaining civic rituals. >> and tell me, at this point, the speech will happen at 8:00 eastern. at what time do they finally say, okay, this is the final -- or 9:00 eastern. what time is the final moment where they're done with the finishing touches? well, you know, that kind of thing, of course, very much depends on who the president is. i know that president george w. bush liked to have these things done pretty far in advance. president clinton, as everybody knows, often was writing and

rewriting in the limo, up to capitol hill. and president clinton would do something, which was very hard, which was he'd actually ad lib off a teleprompter. my sense is that president obama is deeply involved in the writing and rewriting of the many drafts of a speech like this. and i am sure that they are fiddling with it up until the last minute. this kind of speech goes through 10, 20 or more drafts and any president who gets up there is really going to own it and know it backwards and forwards. >> do you remember sweating it out with president clinton? >> it was often a wonderment to know what was going to be actually up there, and very often, there were challenges with the prompter, where the military officers who ran the teleprompter and still run the teleprompter for presidential speeches had to wonder if there was some computer glitch that was going to mess the whole thing up. so it can be pretty high stakes. but i just think it's a

wonderful event, because i don't mind everybody jumping up and clapping and the sort of showmanship of it, compared to the audience at a republican presidential debate, there's decorum in the congress. it's going to look tame compared to what we're seeing. >> we'll see. we'll hold you to that prediction. michael waldman, great talking to you. thank you. >> my pleasure. country singer garth brooks is back in court. he's suing a hospital for allegedly misusing a donation he made in honor of his mother, but now he's singing a different tune and faces his most important audience yet, the jury. more on his legal battle, next. ♪[music plays] ♪[music plays] purina one beyond. food for your cat or dog.

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there are a line of stories we want to update you on for today's crime and consequence.

seven years after u.s. marines were accused of brutally killing 24 civilians in iraq, their squad leader learns his fate for his role in the deaths. staff sergeant frank wooderich is expected to be sentenced today. on monday, wooderich agreed to a plea deal and pled guilty to one count of nekt dereliction of duty. the maximum he could face is three months. he originally faced up to life for several counts of manslaughter, assault, and dereliction of duty. wooderich is one of eight marines charged for shooting deaths in haditha. the cases were dropped for six other means while one was acquitted. a former cia officer faces charges for leaking classified secrets to journalists. he revealed the names about covert officers and top-secret operations. the charges center on his book "the reluctant spy," that the justice department says violated the espionage act. he spoke to several media

outlets including cnn about one of the key detainees who was al qaeda's chief military strategist. back in 2007, kiriakou was the first to acknowledge abu zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding. >> how valuable was the information that the cia gleamed from waterboarding? >> i have no idea that the information gleaned from abu zubaydah in those early days stopped terrorist attacks and saved lives. >> did it also lead you to other suspects? >> it tdid. >> kiriakou appeared in federal court and was released after posting bond. garth brooks will soon learn whether a hospital will have to return his $500,000 donation. jurors could start deliberating as early as today. brooks is suing the hospital after it promised to name a building after his late mother in exchange for the donation. the hospital says brooks' gift was, quote, unconditional.

you may think driving a car is easy or even fun. but many veterans returning from war are having a hard time staying calm behind the wheel. after the break, i'll talk with one veteran who is now afraid to drive. man: my eltrill s king ban this team of guinea pigs to ty bo so to save some y, d inea pig: row...row. they genatectry, wch le me rf t. guinea pig: row...row.took one, 8 months to get the guin: ..row.ow...row. they genatectry, wch le me rf t. lile cbby one to yell row! guineaig: ro's kof strange. guinig: row...row. such a simple word... row. anncr: t an easierayof strange. save. get online. go to geico.com. get a quote. e u

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consider this terrifying thought. you're driving on a highway and suddenly you're so overcome by fear that you slam on the brakes or pull to the side of the road. that or something similar to it is happening to thousands of combat veterans who have returned from afghanistan and iraq. according to "the new york times," car accidents in which service members were at fault soared by 13% after deployments. "the times," citing army figures, says 48 off-duty soldiers died in car accidents last year, the highest total in three years. former army reservist susan max is an iraq war veteran, diagnosed with ptsd, and knows the fear of driving firsthand. mark samuels is a driving rehabilitation specialist who's helping susan overcome those driving fiere ing fears. welcome to both of you. susan, first, tell us what you did in iraq and how that

experience may have contributed to some of the driving issues that you're having today. >> i was an affairs officer over there, 2007 to 2008, which was during the surge. i did primarily economic issues over there, reconstruction and stabilization. and part of my job was to be a page, and i essentially paid iraqi contractors for work they had done as a commander emergency response program. and that required me to go outside periodically and pay them or bring them back inside. and there were a couple of instances where it was pretty dicey. >> and what is it like for you at home now? what has that experience caused? >> well, you know, there's quite a few things, but in terms of the driving, driving is not a very pleasant experience. it's very frightening at times. i'm very hypervigilant. i'm not a particularly aggressive driver or an erratic driver. i'm a very safe driver in a lot

of ways, but very, very hypervigilant. and i'm aware of what's going on around me all the time. you know, a lot of anxiety while i'm driving, and frequently, you know, it's very exhausting, as well as, you know, there's some physical manifestations with, you know, shoulder pain and neck pain and what have you, because i'm gripping the steering wheel. >> mark, let me ask you, because, you know, from what i understand, a lot of these folks coming back, they'll race through intersections, because they're used to doing that at checkpoints. they'll stay away from the sides of the road, because they think maybe there's a roadside bomb. they'll avoid a crowded parking lot, in case they might think they can't get out. is that what you're seeing with susan and others? >> yes. actually, susan in particular, is, as she said, a very good driver, to the point of being hypervigilant. a lot of the drivers i'm working, a lot of the drivers i see at the va are demonstrating those triggers. they're triggered by overpasses, people on the side of the road

on cell phones, slowing traffic for no apparent reason. the things that we kind of take for granted and get frustrated, they see as a possible trap and a risk to their life. so their reactions very often will be speeding up, crowding other cars, even to the point of going up on to the sidewalk or going literally off-roading to get around something that they think might be a potential danger. >> and how are you helping susan and the others overcome their fears? >> well, we work with a palo alto va. we have a program where we work in conjunction with the psychiatrists and psychologists to identify what triggers might be occurring on the road. so that way, i get on the road and i'm able to kind of periodically increase their stimulus and i'm watching their eyes, i'm watching their heart rate, because we have heart rate monitors on them. i'm watching how they grip the wheel, and i can see as their stress levels go up, we're able to identify and work through, okay, why are you feeling this way? how can we change that reaction to what you're seeing or doing?

and then, therefore, have a more constructive driving experience and more positive driving experience. >> susan, how much do you drive these days and how does your family feel about it? will they get in the car with you? >> they would prefer not to. you know, i, either way, either as a passenger, they can't stand me, because i'm as vigilant as a passenger as i am when i'm driving and it drives them nuts. they would prefer that i not drive because of my hypervigilance. it's just not a pleasant experience for anybody. and i do drive extensively as part of my job and so i am on the road a lot. so it's not the best experience for me. mark has helped me tremendously and i'm very appreciative. thank you very much. >> that's why we're here. >> it sounds like you're in good hands there with mark. susan, keep us up to date, if you would, and keep us posted on how your driving is working out for you. >> i will. >> thank you very much. at last night's debate,

romney tried to put a stop to gingrich's momentum. did his attack plan work or did he give him the ammunition he needed to go to florida. that's fair game, next. and now for our political junkie question. listen up here. who was the first president to deliver an annual address to congress? you can tweet the answer to me @randikayecnn. i'll give a shout-out to you if you are first with the right answer. when bp made a commitment to the gulf,

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before the break, i asked you which president gave the first annual address to congress. the answer is george washington, way back in 1790. he had to, because it's in the constitution. and a big congratulations to dr. ken from miami for tweeting me the right answer first. this is the part of the show where we get to the heart of the political debate, where all sides are fair game. first up is the republican presidential race in florida.

if you missed last night's debate, here it is. >> the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994, and at the end of four years, he had to resign in disgrace. in the 15 years after he left the speakership, the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in washington. >> and i just think this is the worst kind of trivial politics. >> i made to point out things i think people ought to know. >> you have all this stuff just jumbled up. apparently your consultants aren't very good historians. what you ought to do is stop and look at the facts. >> someone's here that presents a very clear contrast with the president of the united states. someone that will make him the issue in this race, not the republican candidate. >> well, this is going to come down to a question of leadership. >> i think as a party builder, the 20 years i spent building the house republican party stands pretty good as an example of leadership. >> joining me now is cnn contributor, maria cardona, and republican strategist, doug heye. so who did the best job of

getting their message across? maria, i'll start with you. >> actually, i think in total, randi, the whole debate was sort of a snoozer, to tell you the truth, compared to the other ones. i don't know if it's because the audience was told that they couldn't chime in, and if that's true, i think that they did newt gingrich a disservice, because he looked very uncomfortable during some of his supposed one-liners, when he would sort of pause for the applause, and there was no applause, and there was no standing ovation. mitt romney went on the attack, which is exactly what he needed to do in order to slow down meanewt gingrich's momentum, but he looked so uncomfortable doing it that it was almost -- i cringed in watching it. because he clearly, that is not a role that he likes. it is not a role that he is good at. and newt gingrich, frankly, was not in the role to be subdued, which is actually what he was. so i don't think either of them succeeded in getting the message out to florida voters that they needed to. >> doug, what do you think? it seemed to me almost if the two had changed personalities? romney was on the attack and newt gingrich was just sort of

standing there and saying, sort of trying to be above the fray. >> right. certainly, this is the first time we've seen them in this role during this campaign, and it is kind of a switch. but this is something that was inevitable. no candidate was ever inevitable, really. but as we've gone through trying to keep this focused on president obama, as this race has gone on and on, at some points, the candidates are really going to have to contrast themselves with each other. that's what we saw last night. it's not a role, from what we saw last night, that i think either expected, but it's necessary for these candidates, as they hope to move forward, to continue that. and we'll see that in the next debate coming up later this week. >> let's talk about mitt romney and his taxes. he released his returns from last year, and the estimate for this year, if we take a look here together, in 2010, he made more than $21 million, paid $3 million in taxes. some of his money is also in banks in the cayman islands, which of course has raised some eyebrows. but the man who runs the blind trust managing those funds says that romney pays the same amount of taxes as if the money was in the u.s. so is this a dead issue or is

this whole tax issue going to follow him and continue to be fodder for gingrich and the democrats, maria? >> well, it's certainly going to follow him if he ends up being the nominee, randi, because what he's done, certainly, is not enough. he needs to take a page from his own father, who released 12 years of tax returns. we need to see the tax returns from when he was head of bain capital to see what's there, to see what it is that he doesn't want us to see. and i think it's all an issue of perception. and as we all know in politics, perception is reality. and then, also, an issue of hypocrisy. hypocrisy on the fact that mitt romney wants to talk about not wanting any government subsidies, wanting to get government out of the way completely. and guess what, when he was head of bain capital, a lot of the companies that he invested in got government subsidies. when he was government of massachusetts, he counted on government subsidies to attract business to the state. and then in terms of perception, he clearly continues to be one of the candidates who was so out of touch with middle class and

working class families that they will go into the voting booth and say, here is somebody who will never get what we're going through, never understand, and frankly, never acare. >> all right. let me stop you right there. i want to ask doug about the state of the union address. this could be president obama's last state of the union address. how bold does he have to be? and how does he pull this off without it sounding like a campaign speech? >> well, it by definition will be a campaign speech. it's been framed as such over the last few weeks leading up to this. i would love to see the president be bold, i would love to see new ideas, and i would love to him come out and not just attack a do-nothing congress and attack republicans. i would like him to look harry reid in the eyes and say, pass a budget. it's been more than 1,000 days since the united states senate passed a budget. brian walsh at the national senatorial committee put out a fwraet video highlighting that. so that's why the man who really ran to remove all types of just

hate towards politics has actually caused even more hypocrisy in politics. it's why people are as cynical as they are. he can stop that. gabby giffords, tonight, is a great example of how he can change that. but i doubt that we'll really see much from the president substantive substantively. >> doug heye, maria cardona, that is all. that is fair game today. thank you both. at last year's state of the union address, this woman was singled out for going back to school. she was even caught on camera saying, that's me. well, now it is one year later. did she stay in school and what does she think of our president now? she joins us live to explain, next. . ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, one, two, three ♪ ♪ count the birds in the big old tree ♪ ♪ la la la [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree side by side ♪ but if you take away the faces on the trees...

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if you watch president obama's state of the union address last year, you may remember one moment in particular, a moment when the president singled out a very special guest. watch. >> last month i saw the promise of these schools at forsythe tech in north carolina. many of the students there used to work in the surrounding factories that have since left town. one mother of two, a woman named kathy proctor, had worked in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old, and she told me she's earning her degree in biotechnology now, at 55 years old. >> you've got to love that moment. you saw kathy proctor there, proudly proclaiming, that's me when mr. obama referred to her. hard to forget, right? so how did she score a coveted

seat in the first lady's box? we'll go back to 2010 here, when mr. obama was touring a community college in north carolina. that's where he met the mother of two, who at 55 years old, who had decided to go back to college to train for an entirely different career. how'd it all work out for her? kathy proctor joins me now from winton salem, north carolina. does it make you chuckle just a little bit? what was that moment like? >> yeah, it still makes me chuckle and laugh. i was in a state of shock and amazement, you know, to be there with all those people and it was such an honor. but i knew he would probably mention forsythe, texas. i did not he was going to tell my name and my story. and that's why i said, oh, that's me. >> you worked in the furniture industry for about 18 years and then you left to get a degree in biotechnology. update us on your life now. >> well, i graduated this past july and i acquired a job with a

company in lexington, where i work with quality control. i do some volunteer work, still at forsythe tech, with the math and science technology club. i volunteer there, and i've did a couple of interviews, one with george packer with the new yorker. he's writing a book on the north carolina economy. >> some people who are in a similar situation, you know, they might be afraid to make that leap. do you have some advice for them? >> well, you just have to make it. you know, i'm no exception. i'm just like all the other students or people in north carolina that's lost their job, and the manufacturing jobs have dwindled away. there's not many of them, but you just have to pick something and go for it. and you know, stay with it, and finish it. >> when you attended the state of the union last year, you also got to visit the white house, you met the first lady. tell me about that. >> well, we had a private reception before the state of the union address at the white house. and we was in there. they flew my daughters up with

me. they were twins then. i mean, they were twins and seniors in high school. and she came down and made a little speech and went around and spoke to everybody, and we met her and she met my daughters and she just went around and talked to everybody. >> and i understand you met the first dog as well. but i want to listen to something else that the president said during his address last year about you. >> she wanted to inspire her children to pursue their dreams too. as kathy said, i hope it tells them to never give up. >> have you inspired your children? >> i think so. like i said, they both graduated this past june from high school, and they're both in college. i have one daughter that works a full-time job, and then she goes full-time to a community college, and the other one is in raleigh at meredith and nc state, so i think i've inspired them. i think i've, you know, they see the importance of getting an education. >> and what will you be listening for tonight in the

president's speech? >> well, i'd like to hear him talk about jobs. you know, jobs that are going to stay here and not where people will lose their jobs in six months. that and education, making it affordable and accessible to people that want it and need it. and that and health care. you know, i think people need health care and insurance and making that affordable for people. >> kathy proctor, nice to have you on the program. thank you very much. and you can watch cnn's special coverage of president obama's state of the union address starting tonight at 8:00 eastern. a hard hit on the football field brings one high school star's career to an end. >> here he is, my little brother. he's not moving. he needs help breathing. i mean, i just lost it. >> a look at concussions and other hazards that impact kids across the country when dr. sanjay gupta joins us live. but first, looks like disney finally got the memo. beards are the new black. after a near 60-year ban on facial hair, the company says

beginning next week, employees at its two theme parking will finally be allowed to grow their beards. the "orlando sentinel" says the ban was imposed by walt disney himself back in 1955. clearly, a ban that didn't include six of the seven dwarfs, though. so to disney, on behalf of three of my bearded producers and my colleague, wolf blitzer, we say thank you. we're glad the ban's 15 minutes is finally up. i'm good about washing my face.

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time now to check stories that's making news at street level. let's start in madison, wisconsin, where we want to introduce cow to this new multi-millionaire and his amazing story. napoleon is a military vet who suffers from kidney failure. he recently hit a $14.3 million lotto jackpot. he plans to buy health insurance, pay for a kidney transplant, and more importantly, help others with his winnings. >> i would like to work with people with kidney failure. i mean, i know that there's a lot of people out there sick, and until you dealt with it yourself, you don't really know how bad things really can be. >> gop presidential candidate rick santorum didn't exactly get the welcome he expected at a campaign stop in lady lake, florida. >> mic check! >> mic check! >> you can't see it from that

angle, baa santorum was just glitter bombed moments before that. three of the four protesters identified themselves as members of occupy tampa, a bit of deja vu. you can see protesters in south carolina glitter bombed santorum just this weekend. finally, we're taking a pit stop at candlestick park, back to the nfc championship game this weekend. they admit they honed in on kyle williams, whose fumble led to the giants' win. giants player devon thomas said, "he's had a lot of concussions. we were just like, we've got to put a hit on that guy. sash did a great job of hitting him early and he looked kind of dazed when he got up. i feel like that made a difference and he coughed it up." concussions don't just impact the pros on game day, but also kids across the country. chief medical correspondent sanjay gupta will be with us. his upcoming documentary "big

h hits, broken dreams" premieres this sunday and here's a preview. >> football in north carolina is really big. >> if you're from around this area, you know jh rose, a four-time state champ. >> pumped up, excited, ready to go. >> that's all i thought, every single day. football, football, football. >> football's a tough sport. you know, it ain't for everybody. there's collisions in this sport. >> here it is my little brother, he's not moving, he needs help breathing. i mean i just lost it. >> he was tackled, walked to the sidelines and then collapsed. >> friday night's death -- >> it was a tough time for the whole community. i remember getting hit hard. that actually rang my bell. >> for the first three weeks it was just a constant headache. >> the trainer was asking me questions and i was answering them all wrong. >> there are a small percentage

of impacts that simulate a car crash. >> he does have symptoms of a concussion. >> if a parent came to you and said, coach, my kid really wants to play football but i want you to tell me that he's going to be safe -- >> i can't guarantee that. >> it is a violent game that's always going to be there. can you make this game safer? >> and sanjay joins us now. you've been covering this topic a couple of years now. what made you want to focus on the youth football? >> as a neurosurgeon but also a sports fan, this is what i've been interested in for some time. you talk about the professionals and see those hits. but that culture of why people hit like that, where they're taught this, starts much younger. also i think the last couple of years i think there's been real science that has come out in this area, not just anecdotal like that must hurt or cause long-term problems, we know what those long-term problems are now

so i thought it was the perfect time to talk about it. >> so any parent is probably wondering are our kids' brains more vulnerable to injury? >> yes. typically you think kids are just more resilient to everything. >> right. >> they're just going to bounce back from things. the problem with the brain is that at that age, in high school, for example, it's still developing. as a result, if you have some of these blows to the head, you can cause permanent changes in the brain that make it much harder for the brain to develop the way it should. so what would otherwise be a relatively minor problem could turn into a lifelong problem with memory, emotional issues such as anger, such as depression, so it can be a big issue, especially in these young people. >> i know we talk a lot about concussions, but you found out it doesn't really take a concussion to cause this type of injury? >> that was the most fascinating thing for me. first of all, there's a lot of misconceptions about concussion. you don't have to be knocked out to have a concussion, but someone does disturb their

sensation for a period of time but it's those subconcussive blows that lead to longer term damage in the brain. the changes in the brain are the same sort of changes you see with someone with alzheimer's disease but these are people in their 20s, 30s, 40s. i saw these changes in a person as young as 17 years old, which just goes to show that these blows to the head, we've long thought them to be a problem, but now there's objective evidence of what that problem is. >> i'm curious if they can reverse it, but we'll save that for the details. >> there you go. but i think there are some real strategies on how to keep kids safe and i was interested as a parent and as a doctor. >> we'll of course tune in for it. thank you. sanjay's documentary, called "big hits broken dreams" happens on sunday, january 29th, at 8:00 p.m. eastern. newt gingrich is reaching

out to potential voters in florida today, but is his message hitting the mark? a live report from sarasota, where gingrich is holding a rally next. now for our political junky question. which former president was the first person to deliver a rebuttal to the president's state of the union address? tweet the answer to me. if you get it right and you're first, you get a shoutout. get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

before the break i asked you which former president was the first person to deliver a rebuttal to the president's state of the union address. the answer is gerald ford in 1966. he was the house leader at the time. he and senate leader everett dirkson gave the response to lyndon johnson's state of the union. we'll give a big congratulations to our producer, because nobody watching got it right, so you can tweet him congratulations on twitter. let's check in with shannon travis for a political update. he is in sarasota waiting for newt gingrich's event to begin. hi there, shannon. >> reporter: hey there, randi. we're waiting for newt gingrich to step up to the stage at any moment but his supporters are already here. this is by far one of newt gingrich's biggest crowds so far, maybe his biggest in florida. we're at an airport hangar in sarasota, florida. there are a number of

republicans here in this area so it would be understandable that he has a lot of supporters but i have two of his supporters here with me. this is ashley hancock and chas toms. chas is 10 years old. he made sure to mention that he'll be 11 in two weeks. i want to start off with you, ashley, and ask you why you're here? >> i'm here to show my support for the speaker and to come out and try to teach my son some of the things my mother and father taught me. how important it is to be active and to be involved in this election and this primary especially. >> reporter: and similar question for you, chas. you're only 10 years old, man, why are you here? >> i'm here just like she said. i'm here to support newt and i'm just here to support who i believe should be president. >> reporter: and you think it should be newt gingrich. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: and what is it that you've heard or learned about newt gingrich that makes you think that he should be president? >> i heard that he is not afraid

to take action for what he believes in and he can't just -- he's not just a speaker, he's not one of those people who speaks without doing. >> reporter: understood, understood. ashley, you must be pretty proud of chas here. you were saying earlier that you've been involved with some tea parties here in the area and the adherence to the constitution and a few other issues that newt gingrich specifically identifies with. >> absolutely. i think what he stands for is he's absolutely the man for the job. he's going to take this country where we need to be and he's going to stick to the constitution. you know, i worry being a parent, my son having to pay the debt that this country has been placed in during president obama's administration. i mean this is falling on him. he's the future. and i'm here to show my support. >> reporter: ashley, chas, i appreciate you being here. two supporters, one of them only

10 years old, here to support newt gingrich. some of his rivals hope they keep him out of the white house but you have two people here who say that he should be. >> shannon, nothing will surprise me. i'm sure we're going to end up seeing chas maybe in one of those campaign ads for newt gingrich sometime soon. shannon, thank you very much. thank you, everyone, for watching. as always, i'd love to hear what you think of the show, you can continue the conversation online. you can find me on facebook or twitter, @randi kaye cnn. i'm brooke baldwin, let's go top of the hour and get you caught up on everything making news. rapid fire, let's begin. first up here, 18 people had to be taken to the hospital after this bus and fedex truck crashed there in miami. all of the injured people were passengers on the bus. the fedex driver we're told is okay but traffic was blocked quite some time this afternoon.

in alabama, the focus there on recovery. one day now after a powerful tornado hit the town of clay. look at the damage here. the rescue stage is over. everyone, thank goodness, is accounted for. two people were killed, including a 16-year-old girl who was found 40 feet from her home still lying on her mattress. more than 400 homes were damaged or destroyed. today people are trying to sift through what you're looking at, picking up the pieces, finding what's left still intact, trying to save whatever they can. alabama's governor, robert bentley, couldn't believe what he saw. >> we saw areas, especially some of the residential areas that reminded me so much of the april 27th storms. i do not understand except by god's grace that people can survive some of the damage that i see in some of the residential areas.

>> governor bentley there. also 11 days after the costa concordia hit a reef off of italy, crews have discovered a 16th body. the victim was found on deck three of the ship. italian authorities say 16 people are still missing. meanwhile teams of divers have started preparing for the task of siphoning the thousands of tons of fuel off the partially sunken cruise liner. and the son of oral roberts, richard roberts, was arrested early this morning on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. roberts was stopped by the oklahoma highway patrol just past midnight. the arrest report says he was clocked driving almost 30 miles per hour over the speed limit. roberts posted bond and was released from the tulsa county jail a couple of hours later. and in arkansas, have you heard about this? a democratic campaign director's cat is mutilated and the word "liberal" scratched across its little body left on the family's doorstep. jacob burress heads the campaign

of ken aiden. according to burress, it was his 5-year-old son who made the gruesome discovery and he spoke to cnn just this morning. >> obviously work through this with his kids and it's very disheartening any way you look at it. politics should be about a good political conversation, a good discourse. whoever did this, it's just wrong, plain and simple. illinois, one of 14 states where cameras are either not allowed or not used during trials. that is about to change. the illinois supreme court is expected to announce an experimental ruling allowing cameras in trial courts but they are some restrictions and here they are. jurors and potential jurors cannot be shown and cameras won't be allowed in juvenile, divorce, adoption or child custody cases. and a massive solar storm is now pelting our planet right now and the fallout could affect power grids, satellites, navigation systems, maybe your cell phone. nasa says this is the strongest

solar storm in many, many years. radioactive particles from the fallout are expected to race toward our planet at nearly 1,400 miles a second. that's quick. we are standing by for a newt gingrich campaign stop in sarasota, florida. our guy on the ground there, shannon travis, tells us the crowd is so massive, it could be gingrich's biggest crowd so far in florida. it's at this airport hangar where this event is about to start. it's so packed, people are parking on the grass. also next hour we will see mitt romney further south talking housing at an event in lehigh acres in florida. keep in mind, one out of every 96 homes has been touched by the foreclosure process in some way in that community alone. speaking of florida, actually a different kind of florida here, a different kind of disney. disneyland got a little less clean cut. they have announced they are changing their facial hair policy for park employees.

this is not just disneyland, this is disney world as well. the company will now allow beards and goatees for staffer who say wear costumes. those not in gear can join in only on casual friday. since 2000, disney has only allowed mustaches, as now you know. we've got a lot more for you in the next two hours. watch this. hours from now the president delivers his state of the union. and this isn't just any speech. it's an election year, folks, which means the competition is fierce. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. get a sneak peek at solutions president obama will be offering tonight and hear what his opponents on the hill are telling cnn today. plus cnn goes in depth where money meets politics. meet the man who says super pacs are for all the little guys too. >> they don't have the money themselves, so how are they going to participate? the beatdown recorded on camera.

shared on youtube. and now one of these kids is in jail, and his own father helped put him there. then the woman who's made a career of having sex with people who need her therapeutic touch. >> take a deep breath. >> her story is a hit at sundance. she joins me live. [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil

but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! [ male announcer ] yes, it is. you know what's exciting, graduation. when i look up into my student's faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor, i am committed to making a difference in peoples lives and i am a phoenix.

9:01:30 is the start time

for the president's state of the union speech. he will say it's make or break time for the middle class. jessica yellin is the white house correspondent. it's a cliche we employ all too often saying huge stakes, but in this case perhaps appropriate, right? what do you think, especially given the fact this is an election year. >> reporter: cliches in tv, brooke? never, never. look, this is a political speech. they won't say that here in the building behind me, but this is the start of a political year and the president will use tonight to frame his campaign message. and he will frame it as a choice between two different visions for the future, two different kinds of economies. this is how he explained it in a preview video he did for some of his supporters over the weekend. listen tomgs. -- to this. >> this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class and folks trying to work their way into the middle class. because we can go in two directions. one is towards less opportunity

and less fairness, or we can fight for where i think we need to go. building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few. >> reporter: did you catch that? it's a big appeal to middle class americans, working folks, not the wealthy, brooke. >> okay. so that's something we can expect tonight certainly. also the president seems to have really pivoted into election year footing. the speeches he's been giving seem to be taking on an increasingly populist tone. >> reporter: yes. you'll remember -- and that language is straight from a speech he gave in early december in osawatomie, kansas, where he talked about giving everybody a fair shake and creating an opportunity society. you're going to hear a lot of that reiterated tonight. listen to a clip of that speech. we can talk on the back en. here's osawatomie, kansas. >> it's heart-breaking enough that there are millions of working families in this country who are now forced to take their children to food banks for a

decent meal. but the idea that those children might not have a chance to climb out of that situation and back into the middle class, no matter how hard they work? that's inexcusable. it is wrong. it flies in the face of everything that we stand for. >> reporter: so my top sources say that they see that speech as sort of his vision for where the economy should go. tonight will be the blueprint laying out exactly specific steps how to get there. but, brooke, what this is really about is trying to get everybody to look down into the future so that the election is not a referendum on his stewardship of the economy today, but a choice about two different ideas about how government should function and where we should go down the line. they think if it's a referendum on today, he doesn't win. if it's about two different visions for the future, that's

his shot at the future. >> i remember the speech in osawatomie, that was reminiscent of the teddy roosevelt speech. he is in a little bit of a quandry, is she nhe not? all he can really do is lay out a plan and hope americans buy it, right? >> reporter: can't say it's booming but he's got a lot of smart numbers crunchers here. last time around we checked, he said in the last year's state of the union we are poised for progress. the stock market has come roaring back, the economy is growing again and already the white house has been saying to us let's look at the numbers. the auto industry has been adding 100,000 jobs a year. the oil production is at its highest in eight years. we're cutting the deficit by $2 trillion. i can go on and on. there are tons of numbers that they can cite to say there are signs of growth in the economy that have come under his stewardship. so all he has to do, they believe, is make the case that we're going in the right direction, even if we haven't gotten to a good place yet,

brooke. >> and offer some distinctions with what the other republicans are offering. >> reporter: you got it. >> jessica yellin, thank you very much at the white house. speaking of republicans, a lot of the presidential candidates cutting a rut in the state of florida. running from town to town to town drumming up votes in the race for the white house. lye pictures of mitt romney. we'll take you live to sarasota after this quick break.

before we take you to florida, some breaking news. syria has decided to allow the monitors from the arab league stay inside the country for another month. keep in mine, several countries had already withdrawn their own

observers. the monitors had announced they would suspend their entire mission if the government didn't accept the expansion. so the government is accepting the expansion. they wanted the vice president to step in and they said no so far but arab league monitors will stay in country there. breaking news from syria. to florida we go. newt gingrich making a campaign stop in sarasota. let's sneak peek. live pictures. who is that, you ask? this is retired congressman bob walker from pennsylvania. long, long good friend of newt gingrich's, so he's essentially teeing up the crowd for the former speaker to speak. as we've been told, this place is packed with people. shannon travis somewhere there on the ground. there he is. >> reporter: in the crowd. >> in the crowd we found you. you say these people are pumped. i hope you can hear me. i understand this is an airport hangar. why is that, shannon? >> reporter: that's right, brooke. probably because the campaign

needed a really big place for all of these supporters. if you see behind me, you just mentioned there are masses of people here. this could potentially be his biggest crowd yet here in florida. up on stage as you just mentioned, you have men pumping up the crowd even more and newt gingrich is expected to come on. you know he thrives off of this. he thrives off of the energy of the crowd and he'll surely get it here. earlier today at his first campaign appearance of the day back in st. petersburg. it was a smaller crowd, at a diner but no less red meat that he threw out to some of his supporters. case in point, listen to what he said about mitt romney, brooke. >> i discovered, i guess, that romney has a new debate coach whose specialty is to say as many untrue things as you possibly can to get them all into one or two quick statements. i thought it was kind of wild. >> reporter: now, obviously, brooke, the speaker is talking

about mitt romney basically hammering away at him in that debate last night talking about his -- he ended his term in the house and speakership in disgrace, raising questions about his ties with freddie mac saying that he was influence peddling, but newt gingrich is responding. you can probably expect him to respond to this crowd because they'll definitely be behind him, brooke. >> listening to newt gingrich talk, obviously one of his tactics is to malign mitt romney and align him with the president. look at me, i'm the true conservative. president obama is way over here and mitt romney is over here. i imagine that crowd there, tea party crowd, playing right into it, to him. >> reporter: and those are two key groups, tea partiers, possibly some evangelicals but solid conservatives in this south central region of florida. another thing to note is that newt gingrich knows that this is

a base that he needs to win the primary coming up next week so he appeals to them. earlier today one really funny thing, brooke. after he finished slamming mitt, his exit music was the song "how you like me now." >> i saw that note earlier. that may be on my running play list on my iphone, so perhaps that's a message to perhaps mitt romney. what about the news, as we've been reporting all this week and in depth, the connection with money and politics. we had a whole profile piece on the multi billionaire casino owner out of nevada. now we've learned that the pro-gingrich pac getting another check cut from mrs. adelson for, what, $5 million? >> reporter: it's going to be huge. if you think back to iowa, right, i used to cover newt gingrich around the summer and early fall, he would be there

with a very small group of handlers. you could approach him, you could go up to him and he wasn't really airing any ads, if any at all. some cash came in. he started to have some solid debate performances, right? cash started coming in and things started to slowly change for him. it's much the same way as this new infusion of cash will probably do the same thing, brooke. he says that him and this las vegas billionaire go back for a while, that they have been friends, but this will certainly help his cause. again, not directly to the campaign but to the pac or super pac that supports newt gingrich. this could make a real difference here in florida because it's very expensive to advertise here and get your message out. >> we saw what those ads did for him and the primary result, right, saturday night in south carolina. >> reporter: right. >> who knows how it will translate there in florida. shannon, keep in mind the florida primary one week from today. meantime, as we just mentioned money, millions if not

billions of dollars will be spent on the 2012 presidential race. so far this season the super pacs have spent more than $35 million. coming up next we'll introduce you today to the lawyer who many say created the super pac concept. find out what he's going to take on next. also, more than 100 gravestones on the wrong graves. people buried in the wrong plots. all of this at military cemeteries across the country. coming uf after a quick break, what is being done to fix the problems? stay with us. ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

you know, all this week here on cnn as i mentioned a moment ago, we're really looking at the intersection of money an politics. one man you'll find there is james bob. he is responsible for setting the dominos for groups to collect unlimited funds to flight political battles. ted rowlands takes us in-depth

behind the legal man behind the supreme court ruling that opened the door for super pacs. >> reporter: this is the man many credit for creating the super pac. james bopp. >> as somebody very interested in government, politics and conservative philosophy, this is the ideal place for me. >> reporter: he has been fighting for conservatives since the 1970s when he started representing the national right to life committee. now he's the go-to attorney for dozens of conservative groups, including the rnc and citizens united, which, thanks to a 2010 supreme court decision, created the super pac. >> they just don't want people to be spending money on elections. >> reporter: last week bopp defended super pacs at a debate sponsored by the louisiana state bar in new orleans. his opponent on stage was robert weisman, president of public citizen, a group that lobbies against corporate influence. weisman believes the supreme

court's decision on citizens united was wrong and that it will eventually be overturned. >> whether or not it's for the democrats or for the republicans, it's the corporate interest as against the broader public interest. >> we just have more voices, more information. people are free to disregard whatever they don't want to consider. they're free to turn off the tv whenever they want. >> reporter: bopp argues the super pacs actually allow the little guy to get involved. >> they don't have the money themselves, so how are they going to participate? they have to join a group, pool their resources with other like-minded people and then they can participate actively. >> reporter: critics of super pacs include politicians. john mccain calls the citizens united decision the worst he's ever seen. >> he is so wrong on campaign finance law, it's sad comment y commentary. he's just like so many incumbents. there's a bipartisan disdain for the first amendment because incumbents know that campaign finance laws help their

re-election. at the very minimum, it stifles people from criticizing them, and they hate criticism. >> reporter: james bopp says next he'd like to push for campaign contribution limits to candidates to go away or at least go way up. but for now he's pleased to see that super pacs are now part of the political debate. ted rowlands, cnn, new orleans. we've been monitoring what's happening there. on the left side of your screen you can see newt gingrich taking over the podium, saying some thank yous and hellos to folks who have gathered to see him and hear him at this airport hangar in sarasota, florida. as soon as he gets into the meat of his remarks, we will take that live. we will also hear from mitt romney next hour here on cnn. but i do want to move along and just ask this of you. this week as we continue pushing forward of our intersection of money and paul 6, the question that we're asking is have you donated to a campaign and what do you want to get from that investment if you have given your own hard-earned money.

we want to record your thoughts and send them to ireport. go to ireport.com and you may see yourself on cnn. we'll air some of the comments throughout our newscasts right here on cnn. meantime, a new report has found that military cemeteries across the country now have had 115 cases of misplaced head stones and another eight people were buried in the wrong place. the national cemetery administration has ordered a review in october after workers at a texas cemetery found 40 headstones were in the wrong spot. we talked to you for a while now about arlington national cemetery, problems there the last two years that have brought this issue into the spotlight. missing burial records. hundreds of mismarked graves there were blamed in part on dysfunctional management. now, the veterans affairs department did release a statement in part saying this. va discovered this issue ourselves as part of regular operations and took corrective action.

nca strives for accuracy in its service to all veterans and their family members and deeply regrets the errors which have occurred. nca also notified the families. discrepancies were only found at fewer than 1% of the graves that were reviewed. now let's listen, newt gingrich live in sarasota. >> which country he thinks he's talking about. you also have to wonder what his source material is. i have been saying -- it seems to confuse the news media. i've been saying that you can really understand him best when you understand that he is a radical who taught radicalism at chicago. i'm an old-fashioned american. i think the primary documents are the declaration of independence, the constitution and the federalist papers.

so there's a fundamental difference. and if you get a chance, if you can force yourself to watch some of it or to read about it tomorrow or to get the cliff notes, i'm curious whether the president will be willing to admit the following. under his administration, the price of gasoline has doubled. under his administration, the environmental protection agency has a proposal that will add another 25 cents a gallon to the price of gasoline. under his administration, he has blocked development of oil off of louisiana and texas, but went to brazil and congratulated them on developing oil off brazil. in fact, he said to the brazilians i'm really glad we could guarantee $2 billion in loans so you could buy equipment from a george soros company. he didn't say george soros

company. just for the fact checkers, i'll make clear he did not say george soros company, but it was a company which turned out to be owned by george soros. but the weirdest thing i said and this is why i think it's interesting to watch him, because he doesn't seem to operate in the same planet you and i do. he has this planet obama somewhere out there and he's -- he said to the brazilians, i want the united states to be your best customer. now, i thought to myself, so the obama economic model is borrow from the chinese to pay the brazilians. you know, i don't want an american president who goes around the world as a foreign purchasing agent. i want an american president who goes around the world as a salesman of american products and american goods and services. to make matters worse, the obama

administration just picked a brazilian company to build an airplane that could have been built in wichita, kansas, at a time when we need the jobs. i hope the president tonight will explain the courage, the wisdom, the far-sightedness, that led him to drive cap today into an agreement with the chinese to build a pipeline. this idea of vetoing the keystone pipeline is wrong on every possible grounds. it would have led to 20 to 50,000 construction jobs while it was being built. it would have carried oil to houston, which is the largest petrochemical complex in the world. we would have made money for 30 to 50 years processing canadian oil. then the ports of galveston and houston would have made money actually shipping the oil. instead because obama wanted to have a handful of san francisco extremists happy, he vetoed it, which means that prime minister harper, who's a conservative and

pro-american, is now talking about working out an agreement with the chinese to build the pipeline due west across the rockies to vancouver. more expensive but doable. the idea of an american president making a canadian partnership with china easier than a canadian partnership with the u.s. would be inconceivable if we didn't know barack obama. by the way, last week, the saudis signed an agreement with china to develop nuclear power in saudi arabia to offset the iranians. they picked the chinese because they don't trust the obama administration. now, just think about how we're being weakened. look to our south where just as the obama administration tries to appease the taliban and they try to appease iran, they're trying to find a way to appease castro's cuba, exactly the wrong direction. they don't recognize that chavez is working an arrangement with ahmadinejad and the iranians.

they don't understand what's happening in nicaragua. it's almost like a replay of the late '70s. the president is very big on an arab spring. he's worried about libya, tunisia, ei didn't want and syria. >> newt gingrich just a couple of minutes in to him speaking off the cuff. just has his notes, never any teleprompters. he likes to tell his crowds -- talking about the president, a bit of the prebuttal to the president's state of the union. he's talking about the president living on planet obama. a lot of people talk about gingrich as a historian. we notice that you hear speaker gingrich referring a lot to a man my the game of sal orlinski. he was born in chicago in 1909. he is known for organizing people in poor neighborhoods to demand better working conditions

and getting them to polling stations to vote. rules for radicals, his most favorite book describes a confrontational method for curing economic inequality. this thursday night cnn and the republican party of florida teaming up to host our next presidential debate in jacksonville. that is cnn thursday night 8:00 eastern. a lot of politics, a lot more coming your way right after this quick break.

high hopes dashed for a 100-year-old woman who was evicted from her home. i'm talking about texana hollis. she has lived in the same home half a century. a foreclosure forced her eviction which broke her heart. the government holds the deed to her house. when the housing department

found out her age, they backed off taking her home. but it's in such terrible shape it's been condemned. a family from church has been good enough to take her in. >> this is what god calls us to do. >> she's just nice to me. she don't care what i call on, she's coming. day and night, she's coming. >> her family is now asking for help in building a wheelchair ramp so she can at least get around. and good friends, fresh snow and a snowmobile. it sounds like a ton of fun, right? it was until an avalanche. it's hard to make out. you can actually see a line of snow that's gaining on a snowmobiler. within seconds, wipeout. his friends turn into rescuers rushing in to help. as all this is happening, you get a firsthand perspective from this helmet cam. one of the friends just so happens to be wearing. this is stampede pass in

washington, just over the weekend. >> i knew that i was buried enough in snow that i couldn't move. i mean i just was suffocating in the snow. >> and when they were digging, then i was like, oh, this isn't good. so i was grabbing a shovel while the guys were in there with their hands. >> can you breathe? we got you, buddy. >> they knew where i went in the snow and that was the saving grace is snowing exactly where i went in the snow. >> suffocating in the snow. all the friends snowmobiling were wearing protective suits and helmets, thank goodness. president obama made a lot of promises in last year's state of the union address. one of them, to stop giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies. coming up next, we'll dig deeper into whether the president kept his word. 's water from the dring fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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a lot of presidents make many, many promises during their states of the union speeches, so today we're holding president obama accountable. the concept is simple. tom foreman takes a fine-tooth comb through the issues and tells us is this a promise kept, promise broken, compromised, a work in progress or stalled. so here he is now on the topic of oil. tom. >> reporter: rising gas prices, oil company profits and the bp spill in the gulf had many voters on the war path leading up to the last state of the union. a circumstance not missed by president obama. >> i'm asking congress to

eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. [ applause ] >> reporter: but just because you ask, does not mean you receive, especially in d.c. in may, the senate considered a democrat-sponsored bill to cut oil company tax breaks by $2 billion annually. a few democrats joined the republican opposition, a couple of republicans helped the democrats, but it failed by four votes. so adjusted for inflation, oil companies continue to enjoy $4.4 billion in tax breaks annually. last year was the first year ever that the average price of a gallon of gas never went below $3. our cars are still running, but this promise stalled. >> tom foreman thank you. keep in mind tonight cnn's special coverage of president obama's state of the union address begins at 8:00 eastern live in washington. and now to this, fair warning. i want to give you time and this

warning. after this quick break, we're going to talk about sex. so, parents, get your kids out of the room right now. we'll give you a couple of minutes for that. then for you grownups, stick around for my conversation with a woman who makes her living as a surrogate in this particular department. in fact there is now a movie about her at sundance getting rave reviews. that's next. [ male announcer ] this was how my day began. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn.

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as i mentioned on the other side of the break, this is a topic not meant for kids. so again get the little ones out of the room. i'll give you a minute. you're about to meet a woman who gets paid to have sex, but cheryl cohen green is not a prostitute, she's a sex surrogate. someone who helps other work

through their sexual problems. i know we're all thinking, yeah, that's what they all say but she does serious work. so much so that her life and career have been made into this big movie that is a contender for the top award at the sundance film festival this week. the film is called "the surrogate." it's about how she helped a quadriplegic poet with polio. he lost his virginity to her when he was 36. >> so -- >> your money is on the desk over there. >> yes, it is. thank you. >> that was the wrong way to start off. >> it really was. shall we start again? >> please. you start. >> although the aim is for us to have sex, i'm not a prostitute. you don't have to pay me up front. i have nothing against prostitutes, but there's a difference. we can talk about that later. >> i'm sorry. >> the other thing is there's a limit to the number of sessions we can have. did laura mention that when you

saw her? >> i don't remember. >> the limit is six, but that gives us plenty of opportunity to explore. >> that is a clip of the film. the real cheryl joins me live from sundance, park city, utah. cheryl, it's nice to meet you. we're an afternoon audience so as i go into this first question, what exactly is the job of -- do you call yourself a sex surrogate, sex partner, sexologist, what's the right term? >> we're called surrogate partners. >> surrogate partners. >> and a clinical sexologist. >> yes, i read all about your training. what is your job? >> my job is to help a person, and they're not sick or broken, they're just like all of us, myself included, to have a better understanding of their sexuality. we don't get a lot of good training and a lot of good conversation when we're growing up about it and a lot of people come to their own sexual feelings and desires from a

sense of shame and embarrassment. it can get you into situations in your life where you're not feeling as good as you possibly can about your sexuality and it can get you in trouble. considering people who are having problems with keeping erections, getting them in the first place, ejaculating too quickly or not at all with a partner, having very little sexual experience and at a certain age, if you're still a virgin, there's an embarrassing feeling that you're going to come across to a partner as inexperienced. >> okay. >> and we have a population of people, a lot of people need some tweaking, some help. >> okay. so you step in and you help them. i've been reading a lot about your work and your field. i understand it's very, very nuanced. the therapy you offer here clearly. but for some viewers, i have to ask, cheryl, what is the difference between what you do and the oldest profession? >> well, my intention is very

different. my intention is to not have clients come back. it's an education process that can be a lot of fun, it can be anxiety provoking, which is good because we work with therapists around the anxiety that might be happening during our sessions. so the focus is to help a person go out into the world feeling much better about who they are sexually so they can share that with another person and not come back to see me again. >> you have been doing this for 38 years. how many couples, men, women, have you counselled in those near four decades? >> close to 950. >> wow. 950. a lot of them are referred to you from a therapist, yes? >> they are all referred to me from therapists. so i've -- you know, i've established -- go ahead. i'm sorry. >> no, no, continue. you've established. >> no, i was going to say i've established a relationship in the last 38 years with the best

sex therapists in the bay area and people who have educated themselves in human sexuality, psychiatrists, sometimes urologists will call me. if they do, i require the client to then be working with a therapist. i have the names of very good people and i give them three names and they can choose. >> okay. so now that we all understand a little bit more about what you do, i want to talk about the film. as we mentioned, the film is based upon your experience counseling this one man in particular, mark o'brien who got polio as a child, spent much of his life in an iron lung and you helped him lose his virginity at age 36. this is from a documentary. >> cheryl was very kind to me. she kissed me on the chest after we had intercourse. i felt my chest was very unattractive.

>> just your kissing him on his chest, what did that -- give him confidence, something he had never experienced before, what? >> well, he told me that he had never been really touched in any other way other than to wash him or to do a procedure. and so the first time i touched his whole body to find out where he was sensitive, as i was coming down his chest, i just felt like i wanted to kiss him there. it was vulnerable. he was very slim. and it just came into my mind that i wanted to do that and i did it. when i looked up, he had tears in his eyes and it always make me feel like crying what i remember it because he was such a very good person. and he told me how much it meant to him to have that part of his body touched because he was self conscious about it and didn't think anybody would do that. >> i know he has since passed away, but from what i've read

you changed his life. so now there's this film, helen hunt plays you. i just want to play another clip. this is from "the surrogate." >> i was wondering maybe about possibly buying a futon, you know, in case the need arose. >> it might be worth thinking about. >> i've got the space, i think. it can be expensive, though, a nice futon. how much do you think a good one would cost? >> take a deep breath. and let go. >> do i seem anxious? >> cheryl, how did helen hunt study you? >> we met twice and we spent quite a bit of time together. i was so impressed with how -- the questions she asked me. how i would deal with certain situations. and we actually met for me to

show her how i touched mark when we had our first session and every session. i was very impressed when i heard her using some of the words that i used. i couldn't have asked for a person to represent my work any better. helen is amazing. i just love her. >> i understand the film at sundance got not just one, but two standing ovations, which is pretty rare for films there. when you first saw the film, you cried and cried. why? >> i cried because i kept thinking of mark and how much he would have loved this movie, and i also cried because it finally is a recognition that people are human creatures. all of us have desires. our sexuality is such a deep part of who we are. and to finally see it done so beautifully and acknowledged that every person, not just mark with his disability that kept him from finding what he wanted to do, the exploration of

sexuality, and we finally got to that point, but everybody. there's so many people who are confused and have misinformation, that it was -- it made me feel hopeful that other people will be able to be helped in this process. >> i have two more questions and then i know i have to let you go. one obvious thought i had would be do you ever get attached to your clients, your patients? i guess yes, since you married your current husband was a patient of yours. but what about clients getting attached to you? do you worry about that? how do you handle that? >> well, that's part of the process. if people learn to feel emotional feelings and attachments, we're working with a therapist so i never -- the therapist is privy to every piece of information in my private sessions. i tell the clients that right from the beginning that i'm not holding secrets, i'm not going to hold back anything from the therapist. so i always talk about these things if i feel that's starting to happen, and we address it immediately. and i think it's a marvelous thing. people have to learn that they

can feel strong feelings for another person and then they can let go. and i've never -- i mean when i married bob, that was a very unusual situation. and we've been together 33 years. so i didn't hurt him. >> cheryl cohen greene, fascinating. surrogate partner, a grandmother. i thank you so much. again, the film called "the surrogate." thank you. quick break, back in a moment. >> thank you. in america, we believe in a future that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one.

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