you singing. oh, my head at 5:00 in the morning. my partner here is singing. >> i am. >> did you have that good a night sm. >> no. i didn't sleep last night. i'm a little loopy this morning. >> you look like the vision of a jewel. >> that was her word of the day. that was nice and early. >> i nailed that in 21 seconds of the welcome to early start. i'm ashleigh banfield. i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from a to z. it's 5:00 a.m. in the east.

it's decision day in florida. the polls open in two hours. it is an ugly fight to the finish. >> and a prestigious college has fudged some s.a.t. scores for some of the incoming freshmen. why would they do that and admit to it? um find out. 911 calls from the crash in florida. >> he's coming too fast. >> here comes another one. see, there he goes. that was a bad one. >> we'll be talking to someone who was in the middle of the wreckage, sandwiched between two semis. a tennessee state senator is on the hot seat in a way. he is sponsoring some anti-gay legislation, but you will not believe what he's saying about homosexuals, homosexuality on the radio waves. you'll hear the transcript and you can decide for yourself. >> the fight for florida

officially begins in about two hours. even before the polls open, the gingrich camp is back pedaling here. if the polls are right, florida appears locked. romney with a very healthy double-digit lead there. gingrich is lowering expectations for the next two contests, michigan and nevada. but the former speaker says he's in the race for the long haul, he's not getting out. the two candidates tearing into each other right until the end. >> you have an article today in the wall street journal. no difference between romney care and obama care. the packet is, i don't believe the republican party is going to nominate a liberal pro abortion, pro gun control, pro tax increase, pro gay rights. i don't think romney can raise enough money to sustain the falsehoods that are the base of his campaign. >> i know speaker gingrich is not happy, not feeling he can sighted these days. i know. it's sad. he's been flailing around a bit. you watch it and shake your head.

it's been kind of painfully revealing to watch. but i think the reason that he isn't doing so well is because of the last two debates, don't you think? >> this is surprise in florida. 50 delegates, winner takes all. paul steinhauser is live from tampa florida. we were talking about the fact that romney ahead in two polls but the gingrich took him in the national polls. what a difference a day makes. >> really a big difference in the national polls. the national polls are catching up sdplordzoraida, polls. five major polls in the last 48 hours to indicate the same thing. romney with a double digit lead. came out yesterday morning, late morning. this is from quinn pie yak. newt gingrich 14 points back in the survey. 29%. you can see rick santorum, the former senator from pennsylvania, the congressman

from texas pretty low out of running here. they have moved on. i think it's obvious, romney, gingrich, maybe not so much -- so happy with each other. it's gotten uglier. this was a tough campaign, no doubt about it. it wasn't like it was pleasant in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, but things have gotten tougher and rougher in florida. we're zoraida, talking about big money. the romney camp an the independent super pac that supported it is outspending the gingrich campaign. a lot of nasty ads here in florida on tv. this is new yesterday. the gingrich campaign catching up to the romney campaign with a new website. tales of mitt.com. it calls mitt romney a flipflopper. the romney campaign has their own website attacking gingrich. it's been up for a while. the gingrich campaign catching up on this one. so much at stake as you mentioned. 50 delegates, the biggest poll

so far. winner take all, zoraida? >> paul, i know you follow the pauls carefully. they're up, they're down. what do you think is causing this surge for romney? is it the super pac ads, all the money he spent in florida? >> that is contributing to it. romney's strategy, he got beat in south carolina. gingrich started playing defense. the two debates including the cnn debate, romney had good performance, gingrich did not perform well. this all matters. this is contributing to the lead by romney. zoraida. >> paul steinhauser, live in florida for us. i love your energy at in hour of the morning. you can keep it on cnn now through november for the best political coverage. on starting point, this is cnn exclusive. soledad o'brien goes one-on-one is republican senator marco rubio. the coverage of the florida primary begins with a special edition tonight at 6:00 eastern.

at 7:00 eastern, join wolf, anderson, erin, candy and the best political team on television as they guide you through the florida results. want to get you up to speed on syria this morning. we've been bringing you a lot of stories about syria but things are ramping up there. our secretary of state, hillary clinton, is expected to urge the u.n. security council to support a resolution for peace in syria to boot bashar al assad out of power. look at your pictures. the violence escalating in the streets. cnn showing you both sides saying the government has been cracking down day after day. yesterday, alone, 100 people died. the government saying for it part, these are all terrorists. arwa damen is live. >> the u.n. resolutions don't have a lot of effect when it

comes to this typically. this particular resolution doesn't have a lot of teeth either. it's not about sanctions economically and it's not about military might. does anybody think this will make any difference in syria? >> first of all, we have to see if that resolution goes through. bearing in mind that russia so far is putting forward every single indication that it is going to veto it. what the resolution does which is perhaps different than other ones, it calls for the implementation of this arab league proposal that came out recently that would see president -- that would pave the way down road for free and democratic elections. if that does in fact take place, it could possibly result in some sort of change on the ground. because at least in that case, the syrian government would be getting a signal that its long time international ally, russia, might be beginning to change its position. one has to remember that the syrian government, by and large,

still believes as if it is in a position of power. if they're clinging to that belief, they won't be inclined to ease up. >> other than russia and its potential action at the u.n., does syria have any friends at this point? it seems as the arab league speaks about what's going on in syria as a block and they speak negatively about it. many are calling for al assad to step down. does this country have friends next door? >> well, you have to remember they have a very, very powerful friend in iran and that alliance is very strong and very deep and very historic. you must also remember that this is not the first time that syria has been relatively regionally isolated and has managed to weather that in the past. it also enjoys a healthy and fairly strong relationship, by and large, thanks to and as a by

product with it relationship by iran and iraq and nuri al maliki. it's remained silent saying it's not getting involved in syria's affairs because it's extremely and understandably concerned about potential spillover effects. so it does have some alliances in the region. but what we have been seeing is that up uprising in syria is not just polarizing the nation itself. it's also polarizing the region and to a certain degree the international community as well, ashleigh. >> arwa, we'll keep an eye on things. thanks very much. i'm glad to see you're in lebanon and not in syria. i hate to say it. we're always worried when you head into syria. thank you, arwa. minding your business this morning, u.s. markets closed lower across the board ned. the dow, nasdaq and s&p lost less than half a percent. futures looking up this more than. christine romans is here to mind our business and mind yours too. they're optimistic about europe today. you sent me a note saying they

didn't resolve the ush us of greece. >> no. they didn't. they agreed to a permanent e.u. bailout fund. that's at least is what investors are hopeful for. this is going to be three steps forward and two steps back with the european issue. all year we'll be talking about their political moves towards fixing their problems. there's a lot of headline risk when you talk about market. be careful. today at least you have futures up. we'll see if that -- >> bailouts. we'll be talking approximate that again. how he can sighting is that. we'll talk about airlines. full disclosure on things, right? how many times have you gone to buy a ticket and it's $59 one way or $129 one way and then it's $312 when you get the bill. now there are new rules. the department of transportation will not allow the airlines to just post base fare and at the end of your checkout you realize there are taxes an fees. there's always an asterisk that there's adding taxes and fees. there's going to be for clarity.

the airlines don't like it. it's not their taxes and fees that make their airline look higher but the government taxes and fees, right? >> they say they were never hiding anything. they were showing what their airfare was. the other thing, hotels, car rental companies, they don't have to put in the taxes and fees either. >> they're being singled out. >> right. that's what they say. the department much transportation says, look, people want to know what it's going to cost to fly. spirit airlines has a warning on its website. the government is trying to hide its fees and taxes and bury it in this number. the government says that's not true. they could put every kind of fee added in there, itemize it if they wanted, but bottom line here for you guys, if you get a ticket today, it will look higher. but it won't be higher. it's just going to have everything wrapped in it. >> i like that. i like the finger pointing. it's not us, it's them. we'll put it in writing for you to see.

you know who to be mad at, right? >> there's a congressman in georgia who wants to fight this. i see what you're saying. i see -- for the average voter, they'll be livid about that. >> he wants to say it's not fair to single out the airlines and he wants to reverse it. mostly, it's consumer groups, the department of transportation, they're like, look, you need to know what you're paying. but why not hotels and rental cars and everything else we use in. >> i don't know. >> we'll have to see. christine romans, good stuff. every morning at this time. give or take 30 seconds at 5:12. we like to alert you to news that's happening later. things developing now that will be big tonight. >> just a few hour from now, we could find out some of the people behind the money attack ads that have flooded the primary state. today is the deadline with the federal election commission for super pac spending. another big election takes place in oregon today where

disdprased former congressman's seat is up for grabs. woo resigned last year after an 18-year-old woman accused him of making unwanted advances. getting ready for the super bowl media circus. 5,000 press credentials were issued this year. the crowd of reporters around quarterbacks brady and manning are expected to go 30 to 40 deep today. >> excitement builds. parts of the country getting a taste of spring today. other parts of country can't feel a thing. they're only thinking about super bowl. rob marciano shall i don't know which one you are. you're in atlanta. >> the forecast interesting pour the super bowl. they're playing in a dome i know that. they may get snow in indianapolis. if you're knowing. >> could affect the commute. >> pack your gear. you're right, warm temperatures will be making their way north and eastward today. so the cold air that you're feeling in new york and the cold air you felt yesterday, it will be short-lived.

the heat pump will move things your way. as far as florida is concerned, breezy. a shower near the coastline. upstate new york, 32 inches in fulton, new york. national weather service a bit of a surprise with lake effect snow showers. not almost three feet. they're buried there and digging out. still snows up here. the taper off throughout the day. the warmer air will move up from the south. houston and new orleans, we're looking at developing storm system here. rain across parts of southeast texas. they'll take any rain they can get. if you are traveling in new york, cleveland, boston, chicago, those are the problem spots. houston, thunderstorms with a high in the lower 70s. it will be 56 eventually in new york city. almost warm enough to water-ski. that's what they're doing. it's summertime there. in australia, the world record for water-skiing behind one boat was broken during australia day. they tied up 154 skiers and pulled them out in and about 145

made it. they went a full nautical mile behind that boat and that my friends is a new world record. >> can you imagine the swell behind that boat. holy moly. >> a nice rooster tail. >> what about the people who fall, they get to flail around? >> they get a t-shirt that says you're a loser. >> what a picture, rob. >> they tried. >> honestly, never seen anything like that. this is going to sound stupid. have they done this before? did i miss the last one? >> apparently so. apparently the record was 140 and change. and these guys blew it out of the water so to say. >> a nice surprise, nice treat. it is 5:15 in the east. time to check the stories making news this more than. the candidates have done all the talking. now, it is the people of florida who get to have their voices heard. polls open in just under two hours in the sunshine state. the latest polls have mitt romney with a double-digit lead over newt gingrich who is lowering expectations the next

could two contests, michigan and nevada. a pardoned mississippi killer may be coming back to face the authorities in mississippi after police track him down. he was in wyoming, he was living under an assumed name and he was served with papers. the papers that ordered him to appear at a court hearing later this week to determine whether his pardon was legal. still a bit questionable whether he's going to bother acknowledging that. mississippi's governor is -- haley barbour pardoned -- 76 applicants after accepting them, then recorrecting them. >> really had. >> the school blames a computer error for sending the acceptance letter. they will reimburse the $65 for the application fee. the school says they're going to try to help the students who withdrew applications from other institutions. >> how do you do that? >> what about the pain and suffering.

i smell a civil suit. that's a bummer though. >> how do you help them with applications that they pulled? >> i don't want to confront their parents. i'll tell you that much. start of california college, admits to taking s.a.t. scores. find out why they did it. that's up next. a tennessee state lawmaker sponsoring some anti-gay legislation and if you think that's a little on the harsh side, some people don't, some people do, wait until you hear his radio interview and why he got booted out of a restaurant. all that come next.

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it's 5:19 in the east. we're getting an early read on your local news, what's making national headlines. we have papers from virginia and california. we'll start with the virginian pilot. virginia is expected to pass a bill requiring pregnant women to undergo ultrasound before they have an abortion. the bill requires women get a chance to review the ultrasound image before the procedure. pro choice advocates call it a tactic to make abortion more costly and inconvenient. there are seven states that require ultrasounds with an abortion. there's a senator in that area upset about this. janet howell. she says she was dismayed enough by the progress of the bill so

men seeking medicines for viagra would be required to undergo ee rectal exam and a cardiac stress test. >> and would they have to see their exam. is this the kind of thing you're given the chance to see it or clockwork orange where you have to see the things. seems creepy, doesn't it? >> it does on both ends. >> on both sides of the argument. let go to l.a. and get you the l.a. times, my friends. in fact, if you pick up the l.a. times today, you have to kind of squint because -- that's the top fold. the bottom field has something way down here in the itty bitty tiny print. can you see it? it says college boosted s.a.t. exam scores. it turns out that claremont mckenna college admitted to inflating a lot of the scores for the incoming freshman class. i thought wouldn't it be the student who wants to inflate the scores. it turns out the college wanted to inflate so they rank higher on the u.s. news and world report annual college ranking

that everybody waits for. >> so wrong. >> they're admitting to it. it's embarrassing. i think at this point, they may have somebody -- senior official is going to resign taking responsibility for it. they're inflating it not just a little, like ten to 20 points. >> i never took the s.a.t.'s. >> this keeps on happening over and over again. >> hopefully not. hopefully after this it won't. it's 5:22. the man behind the tennessee don't say gay bill to prevent teachers from talking about homosexuality in the classroom is under fire again. he's under fire about gays and the origins of the aids virus. he was kicked out of a popular restaurant in downtown knoxville. that's the least of his worries. he made the comments on michelangelo sirius radio show. the host joins us now on the phone. are you there? >> caller: good morning. >> good morning to you. we're going to listen to some of the interview because there are

so many different things that he said on here. we're first going to start with the issue of how you can contract aids. let's listen to that and you tell me how he justified some of the positions. >> my understanding also is that virtually, not completely impossible is it's virtually impossible to contract aids outside of blood transfusions through heterosexual sex. it's virtually impossible. >> we know statistically that's not through. the national center for health stat particulars says 27% of new aids infections are from heterosexual sex. it's not -- this is not the only thing he said. he compared homosexuality to bestiality. can you tell us what he said? >> he seemed to really be going off an enormously outdated dat that he had from maybe 30 years ago. he is intent on proving that homosexuality is dangerous and

harmful and, therefore, we should do nothing to protect people who are gay. so he just began distorting all kinds of figures about aids. he is the one who brought up aids. i didn't ask him about aids. i was talking to him about the don't say gay bill. he said homosexuality is dangerous, gay men die at an earlier age which is a false statistic. then started saying that aids made homosexuality more dangerous. that it started with gay men and then he told an outlandish story about an airline pilot having sex with a monkey and that's how aids began. and then it spread through the gay world. which is completely false, of course. around the world aids is an epidemic among heterosexuals in africa, india, china and elsewhere. >> let's get prospective. he's the sponsor of a bill in tennessee nicknamed the don't

say gay bill. it would prohibit teaching any form of human sexuality other than heterosexual. this is in the public schools k-8. how are people reacting to this bill? >> caller: this bill has been something he's been spearheading for years. i actually spoke with him three or four years ago when he first began pushing this bill. and it never got out of committee in tennessee. last year it actually did and it got passed by the tennessee senate. now it's in the house and they're going to vote on it again. as you can imagine, gay and lesbian, bisexual, transgender people in tennessee are very alarmed about it. nationally, people are alarmed about it because this will be the first state that would ban discussion of homosexuality and they're putting other bills in place as well in tennessee. they have -- they want to actually exempt people who speak

against homosexuality based on religion from the anti-bullying bull in the schools. >> i want to deal with that. this shocked me. there are two teenagers that committed suicide, two gay teenagers from his state and what he said and i was reading from your interview that bullying thing is the biggest lark out there. how did he explain that? >> caller: yeah. it's really extraordinary. we've seen these reports, of course, of suicides, of gay teens in the media for quite a while. these two stories in tennessee. bullying is a problem across the board. we've been talking about it for years. the idea that he just saw it as something made up. he was trying to frame the bullying issue as propaganda that was pushed by gay activists. >> michelangelo, i can't let you go. he got kicked out of a restaurant?

>> caller: yes. i spoke with the owner of the restaurant yesterday on my program. it's called the bistro at the bijou in knoxville. she says that she had read some of the comments. i had written a piece on the huffington post about the interview. she had read it. when she saw him, she said he was always controversial but this crossed the line. she told him, i'm sorry, you cannot be served here. you're not somebody who is welcome. >> is this transcript posted somewhere for folks to read if they'd like to? >> caller: yes, i'm going to post that interview well up at huffington post. the interview with can field is posted. i'll post the interview with the restaurant as well. >> michelangelo, thank you for joining us. i suggest google ryan white, the 13, 14-year-old who contracted the virus that causes aids and then ended up dying

because of it. because of a blood transfusion. it's horribly irresponsible. not how you feel about gay rights, issues. it's extraordinarily irresponsible. >> one of the things he said, you can only get it through blood transfusions. >> i thought he was saying you couldn't. >> he was saying you could he did say blood trans fug. >> i stand corrected. frustrating to think that so many people could have taken a lot of information away from that. >> the transcript will be out there. it's remarkable. ahead on early start, the fight for florida. it's today, folks. 90 minutes from now polls are opening. there are some signs of chings in gingrich's armor. at least in florida. what about elsewhere in we'll talk about it in a moment. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient

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it is 30 minutes past the hour. it's time to get a check on the top stories making headlines this morning. >> people of florida are about to head to the polls. primary voting begins in 90 minutes with mitt romney opening a commanding double-digit lead in the polls. the gingrich camp is lowering expectations for the next two races in nevada and michigan. >> president obama defending drone strikes in pakistan. he says "pinpoint attacks are less intrusive of other country's sovereignty than the alternative." going al qaeda terrorist and other insurgents. the president was responding to a question on video town hall on google. it tightened tensions between the u.s. and pakistan. vice president joe biden admitting he told the president not to launch the raid that killed osama bin laden. biden says he was not convinced bin laden was hiding in the compound where seals teams 6 ultimately found him. president obama consulted each of the top advisers before

launching that mission and biden says every single one them warned the president against taking action except for leon panetta. a victory in florida looking almost inevitable for mitt romney. i feel like i'm calling a boxing match. newt gingrich all but conceding the upcoming contest in nevada and michigan. former house speaker has a bit of an uphill battle on his hands. is the gingrich campaign on the verge of crumbling or is that overstated? live from washington, tammy lee joining us chicago radio host lenny mcallister. from tampa, florida, paul steinhauser our political editor. we'll start with you paul. the numbers are fascinating. if you loob at how they've changed. the gallup poll from thursday until now, mitt romney has jumped ahead eight points of newt gingrich. it seems as though everybody is

talking about this crumbling amount of support for newt gingrich. but that doesn't play out nationally. so i guess the question for you is, when he talks about conceding the states coming up, he's got a bigger prize, doesn't he? he has a bigger eye on the prize and thaez the whole strategy of delegates for portion at. >> there's only 50 delegate at stake. that's a lot. that's more than south carolina or new hampshire. still, it's a long way away. you need 1,144 delegates to clinch the nomination. even if romney takes the delegates, it's winner take all in florida, still a long way away. this thing is far from over. that's what the gingrich camp is saying. you mentioned the national polls. gingrich widened his lead in the national polls out of south carolina, out of that double digit victory. the national polls catch up to the state polls and as romney surged here in the state polls in florida, we're finally seeing him cut that lead that gingrich had. basically evaporated in the

national polls. they're catching up with what we're seeing in florida. big momentum gingrich had coming out of south carolina seems to be gone. ashleigh, you mentioned the february calendar. it does not look favorable to gingrich. nevada, a state that he won four years ago, a large mormon population, he seems to be the favorite there. a lot of the caucus states coming up in the next two weeks don't seem to be helping gingrich that much. on the 28th of february, the two big state, michigan, hey, romney grew up there. his father was governor, popular governor there. arizona could be a tough state for gingrich as well. romney has the support of cain and his stance could help him as well there. newt gingrich had a couple of things to say on the trail yesterday. he's taking this to august to the convention. he's not dropping out any time soon. that was some of the nicest stuff that was said. between the two candidates, gingrich and romney, they are getting really almost petty had their choice of wording. let listen to how both of them were speaking yesterday.

>> what a pathetic situation. to be running for the president of the united states with nothing positive to say for yourself and nothing available, big idea, big vision, big future and all you got to do is try to tear your opponents down so they get to be smaller than you are. that's the romney model. >> speaker gingrich is not feeling excited these days. i know, it's sad. he's been flailing around a bit trying to go after me for one thing or the other. you just watch it and shake your head. >> i remember well when president obama and then hillary clinton wanted to be candidates went at it for months and month. the republicans were loving it. they were doing their job for them. are they loving the fact that the they're doing the democrats job for them. >> you're right. it's like watching a wrestling match. they're turning off the voters. the volume of negative ads you're seeing in florida and

elsewhere are turning off the vote voters. i would be curious to see if santorum or paul captures the frustration that they're feeling as the politics of personal destruction go at it. they have to be careful. at the end of the day, they're going to ask people to come together and vote for them. if they have so turned off the electorate by this nastiness in which they're doing, that bodes well better for us. we'll be coming in with better ideas and for a direction and a forward looking part for this country. >> lenny mcalter, steinhauser was referring to that calendar. it's got itty bitty print. but i want to direct people's attention to the 22nd of february on that calendar. that's how long it's going to be until there's another debate. we all know that newt gingrich performs well, usually, in the debate. he didn't have a great performance the last two go around. is mitt worried about that. he doesn't have a chance to

shine on the stage getting the crowd riled up and he's got to go through a number of contests before he gets to that debate date? >> well, again, it goes to the longer term strategy. he knows he doesn't have the money to compete with mitt romney. therefore, he has to use these national debates to inspire people to coalesce behind him. he needs those opportunities to contrast himself one to one with mitt romney. which makes last week that much more of an anomaly. he had a great opportunity to leverage the momentum from south carolina. he did not take advantage of it. i do not expect him to do the same exact thing moving forward. he's going to use the debates as an opportunity to get people excited, to show that he is the contrast mitt romney and basically neutralize the money advantage that romney has. if he's able to contrast himself well, he could neutralize that and do what he did earlier in the campaign, which is jump from behind back out to front-runner status. lenny, penny and paul. thanks so much, guys. appreciate it. >> thanks, ashleigh.

8:30 eastern on starting point, cnn exclusive, soledad o'brien going one-on-one with marco rubio. through november, it will be worth it, folks, our prime time coverage of the florida primary, by the way, begins with a special edition of john king usa 6:00 eastern tonight and at 7:00 eastern, join wolf and anderson and erin and candy and the best darn political team on tv as they dpied yguide you through te results. a horror of a chain reaction crash on i-75 in florida. we'll bring you all the details of that. you're watching early start. capital one's new cash rewards card gives you a 50 percent annual bonus. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it.

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a very good morning to you. welcome back to "early start."

we have details about the deadly chain reaction, set of crashes in florida. >> the highway has reopened a half hour before the pileup. ten people died, 18 people injured. nearly 20 cars and trucks were involved in that. it was near zero visibility because of the smoke and the fog from a nearby brushfire. we finally have a 911 calls released. they reveal all of the chaos. listen to this. >> oh, what's going on? >> okay. we are getting help out there, okay? >> ma'am, ma'am, ma'am? this was the tenth one now. we just had five in a row. >> is anyone pinned? >> we can't tell. >> was that another one? >> yes, ma'am. >> how many vehicles now? >> 16. >> okay. do you see any fire, anything like that? >> no fire. we can't see. you can hardly see your hazards. here comes another one.

he's coming too fast. here comes another one. see, there he goes. oh, that one is a bad one. i'm hearing people crying on the other side, northbound. will the fires were bad. the subsequent fires burned three of the ten dead to a point where positive i.d. was a hurdle for them. the ntsb may take over the lead in the investigation. officials are still trying to determine how the brushfire started. >> remarkable you see those pictures and you think how is it possible anyone survived that. remarkable. it is now 43 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. let's get you up to date on the top stories. in over an hour, people in florida heading to the polls. the republicans for the most part anyway. mitt romney has a commanding double-digit lead and the latest numbers that are out. newt gingrich insisting he's in the race for will long haul anyway. he may be creeding to romney.

it's coming under fire. one congressman from georgia is promising to introduce a bill to overturn it. he's concerned under the new guidelines, airlines can jack up fees and hide them from consumers. president obama just happening out on the google. talking jobs and the economy during an online video chat. he made an unusual offer to jennifer waddell of fort worth, tex teb, who told him her husband was an out of work engineer. >> jennifer, could i ask you what kind of engineer your husband is? >> he's a semi conductor engineer. >> it is interesting to me and i meant what i said. if you send me your husband's resume, i would be interested in finding out exactly what's happening right there. because the word we're getting is that somebody in that kind of high tech field, that kind of engineer should be able to find

something right away. >> jennifer says she plans to take the president up on his offer to send that resume in. how awesome would it be to send your resume to the president and have him look it over at the oval office. >> he probably gets a lot of them. now we have it on tape. >> have to cover that one and follow it. still to come on early start, mitt romney really surging in the polls in florida. but the tea party has number of its own and they may not match up with the other polls. gingrich certainly coming out on top. so ha does that mean for the contest today and the contest going forward and going to the top and ask the head of the tea party patriots. that's coming up next. e check? no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. hey, aren't you... shhh. i'm researching a role. today's special... the capital one venture card. you earn double miles on every purchase. impressive. chalk is a lost medium.

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just over an hour from now. it is 5:49 on the east. floridians will be heading to the ballot boxes to decide who the candidates will be. mitt romney is surging in the gop polls. but that is not exactly how the tea party patriots see things. >> no, no. they conducted a straw poll of their own.

this is on sunday night. this is what it found. 35% support gingrich. 31% rick santorum. 18% mitt romney. >> yeah. very different numbers. flipfloping. imagine rick santorum being up that high as well. the polls don't show that. the founder of and the coordinator of the tea party. jenny beth. >> thanks fo having me. >> i'm confused. the numbers show different than the other polls. then we have to go back and look at other number. in each of the states that's been won so far by each of the candidates that's won a state, they've all had the backing of the tea party. iowa had -- santorum had iowa, he had the backing of the tea party, romney won new hampshire and gingrich won with the backing of the tea party. in florida, do you think that trend might end? >> it may very well. especially when you look at the polls that come out today or come out in the past few days

from florida for all voters. we may see different results tonight than what we saw in the straw poll on sunday night. >> what about going forward? i saw that one of the chairmen of the memphis tea party has come out to back romney. there's some support in nevada as well. do you think things might be shifting somewhat as the candidates continue to move? >> well, each of the local groups does what they think is best for their local area. so there are some coordinators who supported romney, others santorum and others newt. i think it's divided up among the coordinators around the country. >> how are you feeling as you see the tenor change in the campaign stump speeches? yesterday, gingrich is quoting here. what a pathetic situation. using strident words and the tone, even if the words aren't strident, the tone is. is this turning off tea partiers

at all in. >> i don't know if that's turning the tea party people off. what they're concerned about are the issues, which is one of the things i believe that gingrich said in that. they're not focused on the issues and the solutions for america. that's really important right now. we're in a situation where our country is going to be $16.4 trillion in debt roughly when the new president takes office. we've got to figure out how we're going to correct that and cut the spending. >> you know, i'm glad you said that. i was looking at a quote from you earlier. at least three of the participating candidates pledge to decrease spending below the current spending levels. repeal government controlled healthcare. that made me think, gosh, how do they differ? how do they differ? >> i think the differ, the people in florida and in south carolina shall really appreciated newt is he's out there fighting and really championing what he believes in. we realized he doesn't have a perfect record, none of them

have a perfect record. but the win for the tea party movement and ultimately the win for america is that these candidates are talking about what's in hine with the majority of americans. they know that government spending has to be reduced and the majority of americans want the healthcare legislation repealed. >> jenny beth, i look forward to our next important to speak. me think it's going to be soon. >> great thank you. >> thanks for turning out this morning. we have a lot more, especially. it's seven minutes to the hour. right after the break. lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare.

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we'd like to keep you in the pop culture loop in the mornings. so we look at the interweb to find out what's trending in social immediate wra. >> this morning on twitter. david axelrod dogs romney. he posted a photo of the president in the back of his car with his dog with the caption,

how loving owners transport their dogs. this is a i can't be at romney for transporting the dog in a kennel on top of the family station wagon. >> mitt romney is happy there isn't a photo of his dog on top of the station wagon. >> i think if he had to do it again, he wouldn't. the obama campaign launched a facebook page called pet lovers for obama on the exact same day. >> ouch. look at that cute bow. that won't bode well in the general election. we're three minutes away from the top of the hour. a full hour from now, gingrich really feeling the heat in that state. is he ready to concede florida? he is conceding to upcoming races. we'll let you know which ones coming up. ...'scuse me... ...or a big steak... ...or big hair...

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good morning to you. welcome to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> hi, i'm ashleigh banfield. nice to have you here. we're bringing you the news from a to z. that's our theme. 6:00 in the east. let's get started. candidates are getting in final digs before florida goes to the polls. polls will open just one hour from now. >> we have live pictures for you here. anti-assad rally in syria. the protesters are flooding the streets as you see there. the white house is saying president assad will go. one country at the u.n. may stand in the way of that. one of those pardoned mississippi killers who was on the loose and on the run has been found. thousands of miles away, in fact. 1,000 miles awe way from mississippi. he may, may, may be coming home to face the authorities there. i say may because the attorney

general wants to get tough on the manhunt but he can't really. we'll explain why. and the president letting secrets fly about u.s. drones during a hang. why the loose lips on sensitive intelligence matters. candidates have done all the talk on it and now it's time for the people of florida to be heard at the polls. the primary begins in just an hour. mitt romney is surging in the pel polls. newt gingrich's camp is backpedalling at this point, saying things to the extent of seeding the ing thing the two contests to romney. the big prize is florida because, of course, if you're talking delegates they don't get bigger than this one so far. 50 delegates. it's a winner take allstate. john zarrella is live from florida with us this morning. so, john, here's the question. the polls seem to indicate that newt gingrich is sliding off a cliff and then you hear the tea partiers come in, no, no, no,

even rick santorum is at play. now it's over but the talking. what are we expecting today? >> reporter: you know, those latest polls, in fact, there were four of them at the last minute saying 43-29 romney over gk, and that romney leads in basically every group from evangelicals to conservatives and we are in lithia, florida, heavily republican area of hillsboro county, suburb of tampa. there are 3200 registered republicans here. interestingly enough, mccain took this precinct or hillsboro county four years ago and beating romney, 37-30%. but right now romney looks like he's certainly going to play very, very well here in hillsboro county. 200,000 early voters already here in the can't. supervisors say that's a good sign. ashleigh's right.

weather is not going to be an issue here in florida. it is going to be absolutely gorgeous weather throughout most if not all of the state today. so that's not going to be an issue. they do expect heavy republican turnout across florida. and so right now it looks like it's going to be a very, very big day for the republican party here with a good voter turnout and, again, in -- this is the i-4 corridor area of florida. expect to be heavily contested. ashleigh, as you pointed out, evangelicals and rick santorum said not so fast. there were still a lot of undecided republican voters up until the last minute. could very well perhaps close the gap a little bit for gk before all is said and done tonight. >> that means you or o.t., my friend. until at least 7:00 tonight, john zarrella. >> there you go. sure. make sure you also stick with cnn through november for

the best political coverage on tv. soledad o'brien going one-on-one with marco rubio. and tonight is the prime time coverage. begins, i'm sure john zarrella will be working hard, but others are coming on, too. john king with a special edition at 7:00 p.m. eastern and 1/2 and anderson and erin and candy and best political team on television will guide you through the florida results. it will be fascinating. wrestling match. it is 6:05 in the east. it's the obama administration unplugged. first we have defense secretary leon panetta revealing to "60 minutes" a key pakistani informant in the hunt for bin laden. now president obama in a town hall openly sharing details of the cia's controversial drone program in pakistan. >> we are able to pinpoint strike an al qaeda operative in

a place where the capacity has met military in that country may not be able to get them. so obviously a lot of these strikes have been in the fatah and going after al qaeda suspects who are up and very tough terrain at the border between afghanistan and pakistan. >> so our question is, why the loose lips on such sensitive intelligence matters? barbara starr is live at the pentagon. are we making a lot to do about this or does this seem like classified information that we perhaps should not be hearing? >> well, you know, it's like that old game of clue. everybody may know that the butler did it but it's not the fact that you're supposed to get out there and talk about it. so what is the president really up to? is it fascinating question. these cia drone strikes are very well known behind the sceneses. everyone knows we fly drones in the pakistan, launch missiles, and kill militants but you don't

talk about it because it packs pakistans into the the corner. pakistani government very bitter, even though it permits these grown strikes, knows about them, very bitter in its relationship iright now with th united states. what was the president doing? we don't know the answer to that. was it somehow just a slip? was it an effort to somehow backpack stan further into a corner for some reason that we may not be aware of? of course, it comes just a day after defense secretary leon panetta also talked about very sensitive information about pakistan, that pakistani doctor trying to help the cia with this situation and trying to find osama bin laden. it seems like the only person out there right now not talking is cia director david petraeus. he will be on capitol hill later this morning, zoraida. so i think a lot of people will be watching trying to see if he offers any clues as to what is going on here. >> we did see after we heard from leon panetta that the

pentagon issued a statement kind of clarifying the situation. but that hasn't happened with president obama. and you know, the information that he put out there. do you think we'll hear more from that? >> i think the next time we have a white house briefing, reporters are very likely to ask this question because this has been one of the things in washington for months now. everyone knows the drones strikes keep happening but you can't get anyone to publicly confirm it. once you have the president of the united states confirming it, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle. this is now very open, very much out there. and it will be very interesting to see how all of this plays out. already in pakistan you're beginning to see some commentary emerging overnight about some -- and very critical of this because this backs the pakistani's further into a corner.

it makes the government there whr which is very fragile, working at the behest of the white house. can the u.s. get that cooperation back with pakistan with this bitter relationship get any better after all of this? >> barbara starr live at the pentagon, thank you. another front on foreign relations is tensions building over the violence in the streets of syria. united nations set to take up a security council draft resolution. look at the live streaming pictures we've got of anti-government protests in syria. people are flooding the streets. children among them chanting "god help us, save us from assad," meaning bashir al-assad. that's the president of that country. he is under increasing pressure to step down. from arab league nations, international nations meeting. arwa damon is on the phone with the latest. arwa, all eyes are on this country. these protesters may think they're safer with their message out on the street?

>> reporter: you know, from the onset the protesters have been telling us that they fully believe they were the ones that were going to have it because they've always had very little safety in the initiative or in the united nations or international community coming to somehow save them. but all eyes are on syria. also because of this critical resolution that is going to be debated. you have the u.s., european nations, and the arab league, some countries part of the arab league, basically backing this resolution that doesn't call or sanction or any sort of military action, nor does it threaten, but what it does do is push forward the arab league that would keep president bashir event chewly cave way with some sort of democratic election. let's remember, the syrian government has already had that initiative. the country to watch right now is going to be russia. there is a flurry of diplomatic activity at all levels, with

various countries, trying to pressure russia into not vetoing this resolution. if russia does not veet it, it may not be an immediate impact on the situation in syria but it most certainly would sent a critical message, that is that it perhaps can no longer rely on a key international ally. >> let's hope all of those people we are looking at live on the streets are going to be okay today. certainly after yesterday's within 00 dead in the streets. we don't want numbers like that. arwa damon reporting live from beirut, lennbanon, next door to syria. a manhunt is over. a pardoned mississippi murderer is found. and england's prince william heading to the falkland islands for a tour of duty. will it stir up tensions between britain and argentina? hot in florida, i'm sure? not just politically speaking.

what's going on elsewhere? >> yeah, weatherwise, not too shabby in florida. a little bit of rain across texas and louisiana right now. that will developing and moving up towards the northeast. texas will take any sort of rainfall they can get. the big story is the warming trend across the eastern two-thirds of the country. big cells across upstate new york yesterday. temperatures jumped 10, 15, and in some cases 20 degrees from where they were yesterday. 15 to 20 degrees above normal. 70 in memphis. new york city, 66 degrees in atlanta. drought in texas, one town running out of water. more on that after the break. 12 minutes after the hour. this is "early start."

it is 15 minutes past the hour. time to check stories making news. people in florida begin voting in 45 minutes. all the latest polls show mitt romney with a double digit lead over newt gingrich in the sunshine state. now the gingrich camp may serve two upcoming contests to romney, michigan. president obama is defending the use of drone strikes in pakistan. he says, quote, pinpoint attacks are less intrusive of other countries' kov rehnity than alternatives for going after al qaeda terrorists and other insurgents. the president was making these comments while responding to a question during a video town hall on google. you will probably know that the drone strikes have been heightening tensions between the u.s. and pakistan, but no one's really ever said it in those words before that, yes, our drones are attacking in

pakistan. very tense. all right. it is 6:16 here in the east. prince william heading to the fo falkland islands for six weeks for royal air force training. argentina is condemning the prince's deployment as, quote, a provocative act. argentina is making new claims to the falklands 30 years after losing it in the war. britain is saying this is a regular deployment for prince william. how is it becoming now a provocative act? >> well, if you imagine that -- well, prince william would argue this is just part of his tour of duty, part of a regular process for people in his position. but in order for him to be deployed there, the prime minister would have to give clearance, argentina saying that's a provocative act. 30th anniversary of the falkland's war. and david cameron has followed

up saying a few of these islands is nonnegotiable, sovereignty is a matter of falklanders and they want to stay british. and as we head into this anniversary territory, there's a great deal of concern that there's going to be a big response in argentina. perhaps not the falklands. and countries like brazil are backing argentina on this issue so britain is looking more and more isolated. >> what's the u.s.' position on the falklands? >> that's interesting. the state department answered the question on this. and it does seem as though the obama administration has shifted positions slightly on this, saying we encourage both parties to resolve their differences through dialogue in normal diplomatic channels. zoraida, one columnist here in the uk had the headline after that saying, the obama administration knives britain in the back again over the falklands. definitely stoking diplomatically. >> max foster, live from london,

thank you very much. 18 minutes past 6:00. a small town in central texas is in a bit of a tough bind. they're having to truck thousands of gallons of water to keep the town from running dry. water supply is dangerously low in a place called spice wood beach. it's 35 miles northwest of austin, texas. the historic drought is triggering a stranage four wate emergency. they need extended rainfall to reverse this trend. they may have to actually resort to this method of trucking the water in for months and months. right now the residents are only allowed to use water for bathing, cooking, and drinking. if you're watering your lawn your neighbors will know it. that's scary, just the thought of it. vaser college apologizing to 56 applicants, accepted and then rejected. the school is blaming a computer glitch for mistakenly sending acceptance letters. promising to rei'm burrs the

application fee. also going to try to help those students who with drew applications from other institutions. some parents say that is simply not good enough. calling on vassar to admit the applicants. one family told "the new york times" they're considering legal action now. >> ah, an hour ago i think i said i smell a civil lawsuit rat coming. >> they have an official letter from vassar saying you have been accepted. >> that's hard. that's tough. if you've got college-bound age kids you know the pain and suffering everybody goes through. all right. still ahead, why you're going to have to wait a little bit longer for your tax refund if you filed your taxes early. yes. >> that's not right. >> doesn't sound right at all. it is not a typo, folks. you're watching "early start." hello, how can i deliver world-class service

for you today ? we gave people right off the street a script and had them read it. no, sorry, i can't help you with that. i'm not authorized to access that transaction. that's not in our policy. i will transfer you now. my supervisor is currently not available. would you like to hold ? that department is currently closed. have i helped you with everything you needed ? if your bank doesn't give you knowledgeable customer service 24/7, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

minding your business this morning. u.s. markets down yesterday. dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 closed lower to start the week. >> if that doesn't get you going, how about this? if you filed your tax returns early you're apparently going to have to wait to get your refund. so that sounds crazy and the person who makes sense of crazy things oh. >> and the person who is crazy -- >> you sort out the crazies for us. would you sort this one out? doesn't make a lech of sense. >> your crazy correspondent is

here to tell you what the problem is. the irs is putting new software in to make sure there can't be abuse in scoff laws and erroneous kinds of refunds for tax returns, right? so if you filed thinking you were going to get a quick and early refund, return, right, refund before january 26th, the irs is saying, no, it's going to be a week later than you thought to get your money. why? because they put this new system in place and it's going to be a little delay of about one week. if you, say, last week, a week ago, filed before january 26th to get your refund and you thought you were going to get it wednesday, you're not going to get it wednesday. you know, something interesting -- >> not right. >> we like the idea of people not being able to scam the government for money. every year people get refunds who don't deserve those refunds. you should plan on 21 days once you file. that's on the irs website. plan on 21 days once you file either electronically or by paper. the average tax refund last year was $2900.

$2,913. >> that's a lot of money. >> people are waiting for that money. when i see numbers like that the financial finance guru in me says be careful not to give the government an interest free loan every year. check your withholdings and make sure it's right. you don't want the government to have the use of your money all year and then all of a sudden your getting a windfall, great, but make sure you're using the money. >> another reason not to wait to do your taxes. do your taxes. >> here i am giving you advice about personal finances. i have not done my taxes yet. i've got the little piles and i'm getting it sorted. have you started yours? >> oh, yeah, i keep it all year long. i'm one of those people who makes invest chlts and you don't get the statements until october so i have to file extensions on time. >> right. there you go. >> i have a little note here. 401(k) fees. >> 401(k) fees. could be new rules waiting any day to find out new rules of speedy investments about your 401(k). the government wants to make it more clear for us to find out the disclosure of fees within the 401(k) so that you can make

some choices and better choices maybe about keeping the fees down. over the lifetime of investing in your 401(k) you're paying out thousand, tens of thousands of dollars in fees to people who are managing the t cans. the government wants you to be able to see it better and make some other choices. the longer term strategy here is that you can save money and have more money working for you. so any minute, maybe today, maybe tomorrow we're going to get some clear details about what these -- industry doesn't like it. >> does that mean you're going to get those envelopes at home, open up thinking it's going to be a personalized thing but it's a booklet that you don't understand and you toss? >> the dollar amounts. >> we shall see, yeah. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. ahead on "early start," the polls open in about 30 minutes florida. the gingrich camp appears to be reeling. the signs of former speaker's campaign could be unraveling. you're watching "early start." you know when i grow up,

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start." it is 6:29 on the east coast. it also happens to be christine romans birth day. happy birthday, christ teen. she looks great at 29. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. time to go to the stories. it's up to voters now. they head to the polls in 30 minutes. mitt romney has opened a double digit lead over newt gingrich in all the latest polls. gingrich camp now hinting it may seed two february contests to romney. michigan and nevada. nuclear update for you now. u.n. nuclear experts are giving a thumbs up to japan's planned, quote, stress test for its remaining nuclear power plants. team from the iaea, international atomic energy agency, gave its blessing after studying the reviewing that tokyo ordered following last year's melt down at the plant. the president asked biden

for his opinion before he launched that raid. biden told him don't go. he felt it was not a sure thing. he apparently wasn't the only one. biden said only current defense secretary leon panetta supported the president's mission. 6:30. with florida voters just 30 minutes from heading to the polls newt gingrich's camp say they by seed cede those campaigns to romney. is it beginning to crumble? let's ask our experts, live from washington, dem ek strategist penny lee. from chicago, conservative radio lost, lenny mcallister. and from tampa, florida, cnn political editor, paul steinhauser. lenny, starting to you. gingrich says he is going to stay in it until the it beer end. i'm going to share a tweet that you retweeted yesterday. apparently a publisher joe mcquaid, it says, if newt without a pot to pee in is dragging down gop, then what is mitt's massive, scorched-earth

negativity doing for it? i want to check and see if you agree, but before i do, hang on and let's listen to this and then we'll talk. >> i don't believe the republican party is going to nominate a liberal who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase, pro-gay rights. the republican party base does not want to nominate somebody who represents the establishment in wall street in new york. romney refused to allow catholic hospitals to have conscience in their dealing with certain circumstances. romney cut off kosher food for elderly jews on medicare. both of them have the same lack of conservative religious liberty. >> all right. so, lenny, some people would say gingrich is actually the scorched earth and dragging down the gop. you retweeted that. clearly you don't feel that way. >> no, i don't feel that way because if you look at how mitt romney regained the front-runner status it was through negative ads.

this is the gist about the gop scorching the earth. this is about what americans want in their politics. very bad reflection of how we are as voters in the 21st century. what we like are people that spend a lot of money on negative ads to catch themselves up in the polls and whoever can beat up their competition the worse wins. that's not what we need. we're in a crisis mode right now in america. we've seen it from the democrats, we've seen it from the republicans. this is more about it booing each other up than it is about leading americans. it's a bad reflection of who we are. and we can't necessarily just blame the candidates. we have to blame ourselves. it just so happens to be playing out right now in the republican field. >> you actually say that it's a super pacs that we've learned more about than the candidating, right? >> right, absolutely. we have learned about who can spend more money and put out things that people have to refute and be on the defensive than we have learned about who can lead this country moving forward. we're going to see the exact thing from president obama moving up into the fam. it's not as though the democrats

are exempt from this. it's all politicians for the most part and it's a sad reflection of who we are as a country and what we're looking for in our leaders moving forward. >> paul, i want to switch gears here and talk about the numbers. we talked about them a little bit earlier. yesterday we were saying that mitt romney was winning in florida but gingrich actually took the lead in the national polls. that's kind of changed here. one day is making quite a difference here. why the sudden surge? >> you know, the national poll seems to be lagging indicator. when romney's surge happened here in florida it took a couple of days for it to catch up in the national polls. we're finally seeing that gingrich's lead in the tracking polls disappeared with the new numbers that came in yesterday afternoon. what's happening in the states is really dictating what's happening nationally. gingrich won that big double digit victory in south carolina. ten days ago. that boosted him in florida. also boosted him in the national polls. now the dynamic has changed. and i just want to say, christine romans, happy

birthday. >> we'll make sure we pass that on to her. >> thank you. >> i want to ask one more thing, paul. do you think that gingrich saying perhaps that we would have a moon base in eight years and that becoming a joke is acting the numbers? >> yeah, i was one of the contributing factors. i understand what he was saying. of course, jobs here in the space industry are very important in florida but at the same time it opened up to -- him up to attacks from both santorum and romney and they were effective. that along with the negativity that lenny was talking about and the two debate performances by romney and gingrich all contributing to romney rising in the polls here. gingrich sinking. >> penny, i want to talk about something completely different. after florida there are multiple races in february, starting with nevada. we have no debates though until february 22nd. but you say this is a good time for strategy, strategy session for democrats like you. because you said democrats are going to be interested in the exit polls from these races. i wish i could bring paul in here because numbers and exit polls are, you know, all the

rage for him. but what type of strategy specifically is this for democrats? what are you looking for in these exit polls? >> well, we're looking to see what kind of enthusiasm and who the voters are that are actually showing up. we'll make comparisons to who they stack up against mccain voters in 2008. who are the people actually being energized and whether or not anybody is actually being energized with this mud slinging that's going on all over the place on the republican side. so it will be very choir use to see. i mean, all of us are competing for that same kind of moderate middle, that undefined populous vote their is out there, that middle class blue collar, per se, voter. all of us are looking to see, you know, where is the base on the republican side, where the enthusiasm level. is there any daylight to be seen that we can go at that they're struggling with, unwed married women, where is vulnerabilities that we can look at and with an effective message go in,

recapture them for the democrats. >> did you find some of those vulnerabilities? did you find them so far? >> we're looking. south carolina was a very interesting mix. you did see some enthusiasm and you saw some numbers coming out but you also saw very great uncertainty. so that's what i'm saying to us, is that the republican base still isn't solidified and there are some concerns there. so they have concerns about who their nominees are. messages that speak to jobs, messages that speak to about getting the economy going instead of politics of personal destruction are what is being effective. that's the kind of message that the president is delivering right now. >> all right. lenny, paul, penny, thanks for being with us today. >> thanks. tonight cnn's primary time coverage of the florida primary begins with a special edition of "john king, usa" at 6:00 p.m. eastern and at 7:00 p.m. eastern join wolf, anderson, erin, candy as they guide all of us through florida results. and still ahead, that manhunt, the pardoned convicted murderer on the land for a

couple of weeks is over. they found him. joseph osmond, turned up 1,000 miles away and served him with paper. is it going to make a difference? watch "early start" to find out. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow.

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good morning. welcome back to "early start." >> i'm ash listleigh banfield. one of the killers that they were looking for, they found him. found him a long way away and served him with papers. convicted murderer joseph os land got the papers but he doesn't necessarily have to go back if he doesn't want to. they're civil papers. he was found in wyoming. he hadn't been known about since his mom picked him up when he was released from prison on january 8th. not an arrest, it's a subpoena. you will remember that

mississippi's attorney general jim hood has been going after the former governor's haley barbo barbour's pardpardons. last night he was talking to anderson cooper. have a listen. >> all we have is a civil document that we served him with. that is the most we can do because he had. paul, you just heard the a.g. say he's doing this with one hand tied behind his back. could you please explain why it is that this former convicted killer now pardoned is getting a civil document, like a subpoena that any old joe might get and why he doesn't necessarily have to honor it? >> lawyers are scratching their heads about this one all over the country because it's really interesting. here's the background. the mississippi governor, prior

mississippi governor, issues a pardon. convicted murderer walks out of jail a free man just like you and me or anybody else, free woman i should say in your case, ashleigh. he moves over to wyoming and now the new attorney general goes into court and says, wait a minute, that pardon was illegal. we want to take it back. and there's a court proceeding in mississippi now in which they're trying to say it was an illegal pardon. but this guy's in wyoming. and they can't issue an arrest warrant because maybe he is a free man. we have to have a whole trial on the issue whether the pardon was legal or not. bottom line in my opinion, there's nothing that mississippi can do to force him to return from wyoming or any other state that he wants to go to. >> can the mississippi authorities go to wyoming, say, before a judge and say, give us a hand, please, and, you know, maybe flex some of your state muscle to send this guy -- not really extradition but something like it? >> there is nothing quite like

extradition in civil cases. now, remember, this is -- this is really a civil case. lawyers would call it an equity case because the judge is going to issue them something to happen. the only thing that happens, if we look at a car accident case, for instance. let's say you were in a car accident and you went to another state. they could get an order requiring you to give a deposition or testimony in wyoming about the case. but they couldn't issue a an order requiring you to come back to mississippi unless they get an arrest warrant. and they've got to get a mississippi judge to issue an arrest warrant and then seek extradition. >> right. >> and that's when it gets complicated because i don't know if it's going to work. >> for anybody out there who is really angry hearing this, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. i read a note from you to one of our producers that said this actually could be in his best interest to go back of his own volition and get into court because if he doesn't, he could be a big loser. >> well, he could be because what happens in civil cases, if

you don't show up for your case when it's being tried in mississippi, you lose. they offer -- they order a judgment against you because they say you defaulted in the case. so that's the risk that he takes, because the mississippi judge may say, i gave him an opportunity to litigate this, he didn't show up. the pardon is invalid. i now issue an arrest warrant and they extradite him from wyoming. >> then you get the a.p.p., then you get the extradition, then you get the big legal muscle. >> which is going to wind up in the u.s. supreme court some day as to whether these were legal arrests and legal pardons. real mess. >> fascinating. i was about to give you a huge compliment to tell you how smart you are and then you out did yourself. >> always learn a lot from that guy. >> he's a real smart cookie. soledad o'brien joins us now with a look of what is ahead on "starting point." >> good morning. that's a great opportunity for me to say i'm a really smart cookie. it never came. it never came.

teasing you. good morning, ladies. >> you are. >> you have to ask for it, it's not as good. we've been talking obviously about the big night tonight as we head into the primary. of course, after all the talking comes the votesing. that's what we're going to look at this morning. we've got an exclusive interview with popular florida congressman marco rubio this morning. he's not endorsing any candidate yet. we're going to talk to another influential florida congressman, republican allan west, a tea party favorite. he also has not endorsed anybody. we're going to get his take on who he expects will win it tonight. plus, you notice as i have over the last few weeks every candidate in the gop primary race has been invoking the name reagan, ronald reagan, ronald reagan. this morning we talk to michael reagan, his son, and ask him who really is the true reagan conservative. those stories and much more straight ahead as "starting point" begins in ten minutes. see you then. [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things.

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it is 49 minutes past the hour. time to check the stories making news this morning. a call for action in syria. antigovernment protesters flood the streets this morning. these are new pictures that we got in. the children were chanting "god help us, save us from assad," referring to syria's president. the united nations is considering a resolution calling for him to resign. secretary hillary clinton is expected to urge the u.n. today to support a peace plan. and a week old u.s. law that requires airlines to include the taxes and all those extra fees in their advertised prices is already coming under fire. one congressman from georgia is promising to introduce bill to toss that law out. among other things, wes concerned that under the new guidelines airlines can jack up their fees and keep them hidden from consumers.

and in just ten minutes polls will open in florida for the state's winner take all primary. 50 delegates are at stake there. mitt romney has a healthy lead in the final polls. campaign has taken an ugly turn as well. tampa will host a republican national convention this summer. and joining us now to talk more about this, bob buckhorn, he is the mayor of a parks florida. thanks for being with us this morning. congratulations on the republican national convention. that should be a nice influx of money into your town. >> it is indeed. we are really looking forward to hosting the convention. it's going to be a big undertaking for us, but we are very, very excited, zoraida. >> let's talk about these candidates. these been an awful lot of money spent in the state of florida with the super pacs, mitt romney also spent a lot of money. is that turning offer voters in tampa or is that being effective? we see romney with double digit leads. >> i think it's been effective in the sense that he's been able to tear down gingrich and stop the momentum. but in terms of participating in

the democracy and elevating the debate inthis has been nothing more than a mud fest. i have yet to see one commercial that says what either one of these candidates want to do for america. all i hear nonstop is what they don't like about the other guy. that's unfortunate. >> how about specifically about what they want to do for the residents of tampa? which one of the candidateses do you think fairs better there? >> well, i think clearly governor romney's lead is increasing. it's not because he's offering an alternative vision to president obama. it's not because he's offering a hopeful message. i think he's only increasing his lead is because he's saying more bad things about his opponent. we really haven't heard anything about what they're going to do about the foreclosure crisis. what they're going to do about increasing employment. florida has been devastated by the real estate bust. we need somebody who is going to offer help to our citizens. and i'll tell you, i see it every day in the eyes of the people that i represent. i mean, they're choosing between paying their mortgagor paying for their medicines and we have

yet to hear anybody to say or offer a compelling reason why they should be elected. >> we talked to you earlier and you say the battles in the state could actually be good for republicans. could you explain that? >> well, i mean, i think what it's going to force them to do is create a message and compelling message and a winning message. i think out of this will come a stronger republican nominee because he's been battle tested. he's been scarred. how he recovers from those wounds will help him in a general election. but if he comes out too scarred and too wounded and bleeding too much, it gives president obama a lot of fodder for the fall campaign. that's a risk that the republicans run by being so venomous and vicious in their attacks on each other. >> mayor, one thing we looked at very closely is the latino vote in the state of florida. but we do tuns latino vote in miami is not necessarily the latino vote in tampa. can you tell us what is important to latino voters in your town? >> well, you're absolutely

right. it's a very different constituency. florida has had a huge influx from part uerto ricans. they are overwhelming the cuban-americans which historically have been the largest bloc. they want an opportunity to advance, good education. education is very, very important to them. what they don't want is the anti-immigration rhetoric that we're hearing out of the republican party, well, i think the republicans ought to look at jeb bush as a model on the immigration issue. governor bush, it was republican governor here, understood very clearly that we are i'm powered by immigrants. we are better because of ore diversity. we don't demonize people because they look different from us. that is, i think, going to be an achilles heel that they may not be able to recover from. >> interestingly enough, he is not endorsing anyone. mayor bob buckhorn, thank you for joining us.

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that's it for us on "early start." >> soledad o'brien coming up next with a whole bunch of stuff including an exclusive. >> good morning. you're watching "starting point." we're talking about the voting getting under way this morning in florida. mitt romney has been surging to this double digit lead in the latest polls. we might be seeing of signs of cracks in the gingrich campaign. plus, the former speaker is lowering expectations for the two february contests, one in michigan and one in the state of nef vada nevada. he says this is good strategy. others say this could be the beginning of the end. teenage cancer survivor has been suspended from school. see him in that picture there. hair is kind of long. he's been growing out his hair. he says he wants to give the hair to other cancer patients through locks of love. my daughter did this. the school says, no, we have rules against boys growing their hair.

we'll talk about that