did months ago. >> tomorrow night, we're talking the economy and your money. no one knows that better than suzy orman. a live studio audience tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern. the word of the day. the word of the day, ashleigh. >> she's going to say it. >> i'm not going to give it away. it's a very funny word. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. it's 5:00 in the morning, the witching hour. if you missed it, one of the biggest nights for mitt romney. off to minnesota he goes with momentum. as his campaign moves west, can

he keep that momentum? and newt gingrich, by the way, did not use this opportunity at the podium to say congratulations, governor romney. nor did he even call the governor to concede florida. he just moved right on to the next stop. what does that mean? >> ashleigh, there's a huge buzz over facebook going public. you want a piece of the action? >> yes. >> you may need a lot of money to get in on the hottest ipo ever. christine romans is going to let us know if we can get in on the action. and this dash cam video. one officer watches as his partner swims to a sinking car. zero in. there are two women in the back, and they don't know how to swim. look what he did. you're going to find out from this man's voice what it was like to rescue these two women from that lake in texas. >> on the heels of that, ashleigh. knock knock. >> knock knock. who's there? >> the fbi with a chain saw

tearing down your door. why? oops, by the way, it was a mistake. >> we've made mistakes about the fbi before, haven't we? >> yes, we have. this was a terrifying moment for that mom. we're going to share the details on that. >> better that she's okay now. >> crazy mistake. all right, everybody. let's talk politics. it was a big night. a lot of excitement for mitt romney. running away from florida, heading into nevada with a lot of momentum, or at least it seems so. here's the aftermath of that convincing victory. kiss for his wife. hello to all the kids, minus one boy. the governor came to the forefront in this state backed by hispanics, seniors, and catholics, and also women. kind of right across the board, folks. also supported by people who said, you know what, it's all about the economy and beating obama. those are our top issues. >> so the final totals here, romney 48%. gingrich 32%. santorum 13%. and ron paul there at 7%. so romney is trying to rally the republican party behind him now.

>> our opponents in the other party have been watching, and they like to comfort themselves with the thought that a competitive campaign will leave us divided and weak. i've got news for them. a competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win. >> a great sound bite, but for his part, newt gingrich was putting his positive spin on what happened in florida. almost saying it stays in florida. the results show it's a two-man race, and he is vowing to stay in this one for the long haul. >> the same people who said i was dead in june and july and said i was gone after iowa, who seemed totally quiet the night of the south carolina victory, are now back saying what's he going to do? what's he going to do? what's he going to do? is i just want to reassure them tonight. we are going to contest every place, and we are going to win. and we will be in tampa as the nominee in august.

>> here was the big win. 50 delegates for romney in florida's winner take all primary. he now has 84 delegates, gingrich 27, ron paul 10, santorum 8. but 1,144 are needed to officially clinch the nomination. political editor paul steinhauser is live from tampa. they still have a long way to go, paul. >> reporter: they sure do. where we're going, we're going west. eight hours ago behind me, mitt romney had his victory celebration. he hopes to do it in nevada on saturday. there's a lot of contests in february, but they look more favorable to romney than gingrich. starting in nevada, a large mormon population, why he would be considered the favorite in nevada. and then a couple of caucus states -- colorado, minnesota, and missouri with a nonbinding primary. moving on to maine on the 11th. they're going to have the results in maine. ron paul and rick santorum doing campaigning in those states,

hoping to get delegates that's all proportional in those states. finally at the end of february, two larger states holding primaries, arizona and michigan. michigan, that's romney country. his father was the popular governor there. romney was born there. arizona could be a little more up for grabs. we have our debate in arizona. for gingrich really, nothing too favorable. he's looking ahead to super tuesday. that's not until march 6th. zoraida? >> we're talking about gingrich. we're talking about romney. gingrich famously said yesterday it's a two-man race. there are two more in the race. >> reporter: there are two more. one of them already in las vegas last night, rick santorum, even though he came in a distant third, he thinks gingrich's defeat will help him. take a listen. >> newt gingrich had his chance, had his shot, had a big win out of south carolina, and couldn't hold it. couldn't deliver in florida. i think they're going to be looking for a different conservative as an alternative to mitt romney now.

>> reporter: that's what he's looking for. santorum talking to dana bash last night. and ron paul is looking ahead to the caucus states as well. here's what he said. >> we will spend our time in the caucus states because, if you have an irate, tireless minority, you do very well in the caucus states. there's something else the caucus states lends itself to because, if you have an energized group of people that are working in the campaign and actually believe in something, it's better to work in the caucus states. >> the candidates are moving on, and we're packing our bags and heading to neve "newsnighada. >> i know ron paul has a strong presence in that state as well. thank you for that. >> good chance to bring in christine romans looking at the exit polling data, which really tells the deeper story of the win. the question would be what were

the florida republican voters looking for in their leader, the quality they wanted in him? >> is that your word of the day? >> how did you know? was it that obvious? >> i'm very pleased with that. you look at romney. these are the exit polls. when you look at who won each category, you can see mitt romney, his face is all over this map. he won up and down the age continuum, up and down the continuum for how much money you make. let's take a look. top candidate quality. 62% of them said they wanted to beat barack obama. who won that category? romney handily over gingrich. let's talk about the conservatives. here's where mitt romney needs the work. people that consider themselves very conservative, they went for gingrich, 41% over 30%. when you talk about the economy, that was the top issue, deficit in particular. mitt romney won with this. it seems his business experience worked for him in florida. more than half of those who said

the economy was their top issue, they went with mitt romney as well, compared to 30% for newt gingrich. when we look at the numbers and the faces on these pictures, it's clear from the exit polling that mitt romney won. when you look at the very conservative, they were a little more restrained in their support, and that's where newt gingrich got most of the support. i will say one thing about steinhauser, packing his bags and going to nevada. i wonder what kind of suitcase he has. that guy is on a plane or on a bus or in a live shot. it's an election year, and he's our political guy. >> i bet it's small enough that he doesn't have to check luggage if he needs to get on a plane. >> he probably has quite a closet on that bus. >> thank you very much, christine. we appreciate it. not much time for romney to celebrate because the nevada caucus takes place in just four days. romney and ron paul appear to have a distinct advantage there. here's why. they were the top two finishers in nevada in the 2008 race. both maintained campaign offices

in the state and have been organizing there for months. and nevada may also play into romney's hands because of a substantial mormon population. >> a nevada caucus format tends to hurt gingrich somewhat. the state's republican party requires also that its voters register by january 20th. if you think back, that was one day before gingrich's big win in south carolina, which means that gingrich might not be able to capitalize on that momentum surge that he was experiencing after south carolina. and also, the former speaker didn't even open a campaign office in nevada until last week. not great for him. but we'll see how that plays out. in the meantime, you want to make sure for the best political coverage on tv, keep it here on cnn. at 7:00 a.m. on "starting point," soledad o'brien going one on one with the winner, mitt romney. >> and every morning we give you an early start to your day by alerting you to the news happening later. stories just developing now. the showdown over syria is

expected to get more intense today at the united nations with pressure on russia. the secretary of state hillary clinton leading the charge to get president bashar al assad out. russia refused to accept action on syria that would have assad removed from office. me meantime, syrian troops crushed pockets of fighters on the outskirts of the capital of damascus yesterday. coming up at 7:30 eastern on "starting point," former secretary of state jamie rubin will join soledad to talk about the bloodshed and crisis in syria and what it could take to stop it. also making news, wikileaks founder julian assange is entering the final stage of his extradition battle l in the uk later on. he has been fighting the effort to be moved back to sweden to fight the allegations of rape and sexual assault. hopefully, we'll have news later on today what happens. and it's what the entire tech world has been waiting for. the facebook ipo filing could

come as early as today, folks. experts say the social network could be valued between $75 billion and $100 billion once it starts trading publicly. mind boggling. >> a lot of money. it would be an expensive ipo if you want to get in on it. happening now, an alaskan volcano looks like it might be ready to blow. if you think it's a long way away and couldn't affect you, it could threaten intercontinental air travel. apparently 90% of air freight from asia and 20,000 passengers fly through that air space daily. the satellite data is detecting eruptive activity. it's the cleveland volcano, way down the archipelago southwest of anchorage in the aleutian islands. apparently, the eruptions could happen at any time. they're really keeping an eye. this is the last time it erupted back in 2009. >> spectacular pictures. just incredible. >> look at the cloud of ash.

obviously, that dissipates pretty quickly. it goes as high as 20,000 feet, which obviously can threaten the aircraft and the major travel in that hub. we're watching that for you. >> not somewhere you want to be traveling at that moment. ja jacqu jacqui jeras has the big weather picture. spotty showers in the northeast. but the temperatures are going to be crazy warm again today east of the rockies. watch out for thunder and lightning across parts of louisiana into mississippi. it's really across the deep south where the heaviest of rain will be throughout the day today. stuff you're getting across the northeast just kind of spitting. look for occasional showers. we also have poor visibility along the gulf coast with dense fog advisories for you. san antonio into austin and houston as well. still watching that fire area into parts of florida. so as we look at that big picture, this is really the big storm system across the east. another one in the pacific

northwest bringing rain and valley snow. this is going to be the storm to watch as we head through the rest of the week because it's going to dip on down and make its way up as we head towards the weekend. let's talk about the good temperatures. this is insane. how is a groundhog going to predict the end of winter if winter never actually happened? tomorrow is groundhog day. 60 in new york. 67 in d.c. 71 in raleigh today, ladies. >> i think the new predictor is if the groundhog is sweaty. sees his shadow. >> thank you, jacqui. let's talk first lady of the night, shall we? michelle obama was on "the tonight show." she's talking about her workout routine. >> i'd really like to know in detail. >> those arms. those arms. the right to bare arms. and then she talked about this great little anecdote about the time al roker got in her way. >> i usually start out with a three-mile run, and then i do anything from weights to a little kick boxing sometimes.

>> kick boxing? >> sometimes. >> i saw you with al gore. not al gore. i saw you with al roker. >> i didn't kick him. >> it looks like you got a little testy with al roker. show that footage. >> are jumping jacks your exercise of choice? >> you know, i do everything. jumping jacks, squats, lunges. >> uh-oh. >> we do a little everything, little boxing. >> does the president have to worry about the boxing part? >> sometimes when he sees me punching, he kind of -- >> what a great moment. don't you love that? >> that's the problem with news. we're not allowed to edit like that. we're not allowed to make that stuff up. that's pretty funny stuff. >> it is 5:14 in the east. time to check the stories making news this morning. fresh off of his florida victory, gop front-runner mitt romney is headed to minnesota today. they're holding their caucus in a week. it will be the first visit to the state for romney during the campaign. he'll be meeting with former

governor tim pawlenty before heading to las vegas. let's take you overseas for a moment. children of the minnesota couple that's missing in that italian cruise ship disaster say they are now planning a memorial service for their parents, gerald and barbara hough are 2 of 16 passengers still missing from the costa concordia shipwreck of the the italian authorities have now called off that search citing a danger to the rescue workers. the hough family said in a statement, we are certainly disheartened to hear this news, but we understand and accept that decision. >> they also thanked everybody for their efforts in trying to find their parents. >> just heart breaking. police in miami breaking up an occupy protest camp. they swept through the camp site last night ejecting the demonstrators, tearing down the tents, and making a few arrests as well. the protesters had been hunkered down at that location for more than three months. >> so if you live in florida, and even if you don't, you know that the campaign ads were so incredibly nasty, but on the

level of nastiness, just how bad was it? you might be really surprised. oops. the fbi busts into the wrong apartment with a chain saw. take a look at that picture. the feds are apologizing to the terrified woman and her 3-year-old daughter who was crying in another room. what happened? that story coming up. i wouldn't do that. pay the 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. if you're not earning double miles... you're settling for half. was that really necessary? [ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? cover for me. i have an audition.

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we're taking a look at local headlines. let's start with nashville, "the tennesseean." senator rand paul's run-in at the airport is starting to ask questions of people about the accuracy of the screeners we have to go through. there was a big to do in the terminal when rand paul refused the pat down after setting off one of the scanner alarms. the critics are saying those scanners aren't so accurate, and they send out false positives. studies revealing they might be oversensitive to sweat or certain kinds of clothing. the tsa doesn't answer questions. >> he was saying they arbitrarily go off. that's what he said. >> they did answer they don't arbitrarily go off. rand paul didn't care. he was mad. >> so the boston herald here.

a horror film come to life. listen to this. the mom and her 3-year-old daughter were terrified. that's probably an understatement. when armed men break their door down with a chain saw. it turns out, folks, the fbi raided the wrong apartment. the agents meant to bust the next door neighbor's door down. it was a drug conspiracy crackdown. the fbi has apologized. listen to this. they kept her on the floor for up to 45 minutes while her 3-year-old daughter wailed in the next room. >> you've got to be kidding me. >> that's what happened? >> they just left the 3-year-old for 45 minutes alone. >> yes, while she was on the floor. when they were trying to figure out -- even though it says they knew from the moment they walked in there they had the wrong apartment. >> i don't know. that's all i know. kind of crazy. >> there's got to be some kind of policy. there's lots of criminals who have kids. there's got to be some kind of policy when they have a raid so they know what to do. usually you sigh the officers on

shows like "cops" running out with kids. >> i think the chain saw, the mother screaming, set this off. >> i smell a civil suit. >> you always smell a suit. >> it's such a litigious country. here's something you will not escape, even if you don't live in florida. in almost every election, the race to the finish line is extremely competitive. people are saying the rivalry between mitt and newt is off the rails. new heights of hostility, particularly those millions and millions spent on campaign ads in florida. take a peak. >> gingrich was paid over $1.6 million by the scandal ridden agency that helped create the crisis. >> what kind of man would mislead, distort, and deceive just to win an election? this man would. mitt romney. >> tonight he has on his own record the judgment of his peers, democrat and republican alike, by an overwhelming vote, they found him guilty of ethics violations. >> if we can't trust what mitt romney says about his own

record, how can we trust him on anything? >> more than likely coming to a tv near you, states ahead, because that's just florida so far. according to the cantor media campaign analysis group, 92% of the ads that ran in florida this past week were negative. joined now by the president of that organization, ken goldstein. i am so thrilled to talk to you because i know that in the many years that you have been doing the work that you do, you get calls from people like me saying, ken, is this the worst it's ever been? and you're always having to get us off the ledge. but not this year. >> exactly. i think i've been studying this for 14 years. as you said, folks like you call me and ask is this the most negative campaign i've ever seen? and i say no. and i have a discussion over whether negative advertising is actually that bad. this last week in florida, over 92% of all the ads were negative. i've certainly never seen anything like that. never seen anything like that in a republican presidential primary. >> as we say the 92% figure,

it's important to sort of break down as well this was a 5-to-1 money fight. newt gingrich was really outspent by mitt romney in this ad campaign. >> a bit less than five-to-one over the course of the campaign and about three-to-one in this last week. >> pardon me. thank you. >> but it's certainly the case, when it comes to paid media, when it came to advertising, romney and his allies outgunned newt gingrich and newt gingrich's allies. >> is it a super pac problem? when you say it's the worst year ever, it does correlate with the firstier of the super pacs. >> i didn't say the worst year ever. i said it was the most negative. listen, as mitt romney himself has said and others have famously said, politics isn't bean bag. this election was a competitive election. romney fought back hard. if you think things are getting negative or a little snippy in the primary, wait until you see the general election. >> i hate to say i can't wait,

but i can't wait. this is the big reveal coming. knowing that you were coming on the show today, me and the researchers got real busy going back to our founding fathers and how they waged their campaigns. i would think we would all assume they were very gentlemanly like and it was a very polite battle. not so much. i'm going to throw a few things out there from our dirty campaigns of the past. this is thomas jefferson's campaign talking about john adams. ps, by the way, john adams is the president and thomas jefferson is the vice president, calling the president a "hideous hermaphroditial character, which has neers the force and firmness of a man nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman." well, john adams' campaign was having none of that, saying this. he is "a mean spirited lowlife fellow, the son of a half breed indian squaw sired by a virginia mulatto father."

if that's not bad enough, george washington's wife weighed in on the campaign as well. this is what martha washington said about thomas jefferson. "he's one of the most detestable of mankind." ken, who knew it was that bad that far back? >> you and your researchers get an "a." you make an excellent point here. we have this notion that suddenly negative advertising is this modern thing. just now with the advent of television and commercials, that politics in america and discussion in america used to be high brow. listen, the main reason why all of those things you just read weren't actually ads then was because tv didn't exist. think about what people said about andrew jackson. i will not say what they said about his mother on the air. the lincoln-douglass debates, which we think is the most high brow, high american political rhetoric, it was basically douglass going negative on lincoln, and lincoln going negative on douglass. negative advertising doesn't automatically mean slimy or

things are bad, it just means the focus is on the other person. >> such fascinating stuff. i could talk to you all day long. ken, thanks so much. i have a feeling we may talk in the general election too. >> thanks for having me. appreciate it. >> going to get worse, huh? >> apparently. still ahead, facebook ipo for the little guy? can we get in on all the action? when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain

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welcome back to at "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield.

>> let's get you caught up on the news this morning. mitt romney racks up 50 delegates in a 15-point win in the florida primary last night. he'll be campaigning in minnesota today. that state he set to hold caucuses next tuesday. and then off to nevada to begin campaigning for saturday's caucus ins that state. iran said to be crossing an aggressive line and looking to launch terrorist attacks on u.s. soil. that warning coming from written senate testimony from the director of u.s. intelligence james clapper. according to this morning's washington post, he pointed to a plot to assassinate the iran ambassador as a red flag. saying "iran's willingness to sponsor future attacks in the united states or against our interests abroad probably be shaped by tehran's evaluation of the costs it bears for the plot against the ambassador as well as iranian leaders perceptions of u.s. threats against the regime." pfizer is recalling some 1 million packages of oral

contraceptives, this after they discovered a problem that could cause women to take an incorrect daily dosage and possibly increase the risk of an accidental pregnancy. if you are one of the people who is a bit concerned right now, here's what you need to know. the recall involves lower overall 28 tablets and a generic version of that birth control pill. the company says the problem has been corrected. they have no reports of any adverse health effects, but i'm not sure if adverse health effects is another expression for pregnancy. >> i was reading about this, and they said that some of the pills were put in the wrong order, and that is going to make them ineffective. be careful, dump them, go get a new pack, change them, go talk to your doctor. it is 5:31 in the east. with 50 delegates safely under his belt, mitt romney is turning his attention to nevada. that state holds its caucus saturday. in case you missed it, romney racking up 46% of the vote.

gingrich 14 points back at 32%. let's talk to our panelists this morning. from little rock, arkansas, alice stork, former communications director from michele bachmann's presidential campaign. from san francisco, ruben navarrete, syndicated columnist. and here in new york, john aval avalon, syndicated columnist. i'm going to start with you, john. gingrich says he is staying in until the bitter end. despite the fact that he told bloomberg news that he only has $600,000 left in his coffers. now listen to what cain is saying about gingrich. >> if he stops getting victories, then he should quit, or he should end his campaign. i don't think that's going to happen. the fact that speaker gingrich won decisively in south carolina, governor romney won decisively in florida, it is still more indication of how it

is split. this is why i believe it's going to go on for a long time. >> john, is this just about victories, or are they weighing in how the political party is affected? and also last night, when gingrich decided not to congratulate mitt romney, we know that he doesn't have a lot of money left. how is he going to move forward? >> first of all, the thing to remember is that the process to get the nomination isn't just about momentum, it's about math. you need 1,144 delegates to clinch the republican nomination. right now mitt romney, winning 2 out of the first 4 states is around 7% of the way there. all the other candidates are completely justified in my eyes to say, look, we're going to continue campaigning as long as we can. a lot of states coming up in february and march are reportedly proportional. you get the portion of delegates that you get of the popular vote. it's not winner take all like florida. while newt gingrich blew a lot of money in florida -- and that's going to be a real challenge going forward.

you'll hear rick santorum and others make the case saying newt is out of money. time to look for another viable candidate to mitt romney. everybody is justified to go on and say this ain't over. >> we're going to talk about the exit polls. newt gingrich takes the strong conservative vote erds and evangelicals. mitt romney takes everyone else. are they saying the party going that way last time led to the party's loss. mitt romney disputes that. >> is this what the other parties have been watching? they like to comfort themselves with the thought that a competitive campaign will leave us divided and weak. i've got news for them. a competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win. >> will the republican party be able to unite? >> it certainly will.

of course, this has been a very negative campaign, and we learned with florida that the negative campaign ads have worked, and exit polls, people show that debate ds impas impacr decision, but also the negative ads blanketing florida air waves. in breaking out how the electorate voted, gingrich won the true conservatives and the evangelicals, but you look at what romney pulled out in his vote, he pulled a lot of hispanics and seniors. that's going to be critical. that's something the obama administration is keeping a close eye on. what we're going to see it's important to remember that negative campaign works, but also the debate performances have worked, and also what people also say in the exit polling is they voted for romney based on his electability against president obama and his favorability. he has higher favorables than newt gingrich. that's something that gingrich needs to keep in mind. i do agree with john 100% it's important for all the candidates to stay in. it's a far cry from the 1,144

delegates. as gingrich said last night, 46 states to go. it's important for him to stay in. it's going to be a tough road ahead. >> ruben, i want to talk to you about illegal immigration. just 3% of florida voters called it the most important issue, but the tenor of the discourse could affect the outcome. mitt romney softened his position on illegal immigration. originally, he said, he would not support the d.r.e.a.m. act, and then he flip flopped saying, yeah, if there is military service involved, i am going to support it. he talked about self-deportation. even though gingrich has a softer immigration policy, romney won that vote. what is it about the latino vote? is it important to have a strong position on immigration? >> it is. marco rubio in miami, he talked about it being a gateway issue for many latinos. latinos care about the same issues as everything else, jobs, economy, and education. but when immigration flares up, it gets our attention.

it's important candidates support it in a responsible way. the big flip-flop for romney coming out of florida, he's now for a temporary worker permit for illegal immigrants. that's no small thing. he has spent a long time in his campaign beating up on rick perry and then newt gingrich saying they favored an amnesty for illegal immigrants. turns out, when we got to florida, we had a kinder indigent letter mitt romney. here's your headline. mitt romney is in favor of an amnesty. he said it in florida. they're going to hang it around his neck when he comes out to the southwest. here's what's important to remember. latinos are different. cuban-americans in florida don't translate into the latino voters they face in nevada. >> we could talk forever. for the best political coverage in television, keep it here on cnn. at 7:00 a.m. eastern on "starting point," soledad o'brien goes one on one with

mitt romney. if you want to live forever and live forever on a lot of money, get in on the facebook ipo. we'll give you the anatomy of the ipo and whether you and me and all the other little guys have a shot at this big thing. o] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check.

good morning, san francisco. or good night. that is a live picture of coit tower. i hear it's lovely to climb and take a view of san francisco. it is 47 degrees now. you're going to have showers this morning, but later 60 degrees, kind of perfect weather, which is what san francisco is. rainy, cloudy sometimes. >> cloudy. big day on wall street. facebook finally, possibly, going to file the ipo. papers could happen within 20 minutes if christine romans is correct. she's pretty clever. >> we're very excited about this. >> maybe two hours, three hours. maybe sometime today. >> can you do me a favor.

dumb it down a little bit and explain ipo. >> you can't get it and neither can you or you or you. ipo is initial public offering. a new company -- this is only eight years old -- a new company becomes public. it offers shares to the public, investors, mutual funds, dow components, individual investors can buy the value of facebook. which means you'll be able to get a look under the hood of the car, see how much they're making from advertising, facebook credits, gains and those kinds of things, and how much money this company is making. how does it compare with some of the other ones we've seen lately? >> before you go there, why can't i get in on it it if it's public? >> you will initially. you don't get that first big -- you can't just call a broker and say, i would like one of the first shares of this very sought after company. >> is that because they allow friends and family first and then allow the rest of us. >> the way it works is the big investment banks who are the book runners or underwriters or

people taking this public, they'll go on a big road show. they're going to announce today they will be filing. today is not the day they'll start trading. it starts today. and there will be a road show where they go across the country and talk to the big investors. those big investors are big investors, pension funds, mutual fund companies, you should buy this, and this is why. they're the ones with the big money, the big investors. the little guy, we get in with our mutual fund buys some of it. and eventually you can buy it on a trade account or whatever after it trades for a few days. people who really wanted to get in on the google ipo a couple years ago, it ipo'd, which is a terrible verb. i hate that as a grammar person. it got in at $85. it's $580 today. there are secretaries and people who work at google made an awful lot of money. people in on the very beginning. groupion went public last year, and it's trading right where it started.

li linked in is up 20%. there will be a lot of buzz about facebook over the next days and weeks. that should be the day. >> i got in on some of the ipos in the '90s. i don't want to talk about it. >> i don't want to talk about the '90s at all. >> let's not even talk about it. >> could be lucrative. >> people that think they can get in the first day it starts trading, good luck on that. >> there you have it. here's something phenomenal, this rescue caught on the dashboard cam. you've seen a dashboard cam a dozen times but never seen one like this. one deputy standing by and watching as his friend is going under water, smashing windows, and getting two young women in the backseat. they can't swim. they're on the phone to 911. >> how did they get there? >> it's just an incredible story coming at you next. dad, why are you getting that? is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios

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welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin with ashleigh banfield. we're so happy you're with us. this is a story we can all learn from. a texas deputy being called a hero after rescuing two women from a car that ended up in this lake. all of this dramatic footage being captured from the deputy's dashboard camera. they were heading home, and the woman was unfamiliar with the area and was on the phone trying to figure out where they were. she accidentally drove down the boat ramp and into the lake. the deputy was driving by and saw the boat sticking out of the water. imagine the luck. he was able to pull the women to safety, and neither one of these women could swim. on the phone is that fast acting deputy hero officer, deputy

rowen from rockwall, texas. deputy rowen, congratulations. thank you for being you. walk me through what you were thinking when you saw brake lights sticking out of the water. >> thank you. that morning at 1:00 a.m. i was driving through the park, like you said, kind of just to check the park, and i happened to go down to the west boat ramp at lake ray hubbard at robertson park. when i pulled down the ramp, i noticed tail lights sticking out of the water. at first i let my dispatch know there's a vehicle in the water. i get out. i didn't see anybody in the vehicle at first. i shined my flashlight and saw two women in the backseat. >> at first i thought that was a buddy of yours shining the flashlight for you. you're alone, and you're just figuring it out that you've got people that need to be rescued. could you hear them? >> actually, when i shined the light, i could hear them beating on the window shouting help, help, and i noticed one of them was on the phone. >> i understand she had been on the phone with her father when she was lost and trying to figure out where she was. and once they ended up, these

two young cousins, 20 and 21 years old, in the water, and the water was rising as the car was sinking, she called 911. >> yes, ma'am. she was on the phone with dispatch but could not tell them where they were due to the fact they were lost. >> so tell me what you did. you got your heavy belt with the gun and all your gear, and you're looking at this car sinking. what did you do? >> i was trying to yell at them, can you get the windows down? can you open the door? trying to do anything i could to try to see if they could do anything. as one of them went to the front seat -- i don't know if they were trying to unlock the doors, the front of the vehicle started nose diving farther, and i yelled go back in the back. and i went to my vehicle and called for my assistance. send more deputies. send some assistance here to help me out. i went to my vehicle, took off my gun belt, and threw it down on the ground and made my way into the water. >> i'm watching the pictures of you doing it right now. did you know what you were going to be up against? at this point, did you know you were going to have to break windows or be under water?

>> actually, since texas has been pretty dry lately and the lake was down, but we had some heavy rains in the last two weeks. i thought the water was going to be shallower than what it actually was. when i reached the vehicle, i actually couldn't touch, and the water was above my head. so i was kind of swimming and kicking my feet and trying to use a window punch and break the window. >> and you're wearing boots at this point? >> yes, ma'am. i didn't have a chance to take my boots or bulletproof vest off. >> and here you are walking out as though this is just effortless with these two young women who could not swim. how did you do this? >> i just didn't want to get panicked and make a mistake. boat docks are slippery or fall down or something like that. i just take my time -- not take my time, but do it as easily as i could without falling and get out to the vehicle, but moving as fast as i could. >> breaking windows, rescuing young women, carrying them to safety. this is the most ridiculous question, but i've got to ask

it. how do you feel, sir, today? >> when it first happened, i never expected none of this. it's just that's what my job is. i'm a police officer. i go, and i help people, and i go home. i never thought any of this would happen. it feels good to get accolades and praises from people saying, you did a great job. it's good to hear that sometimes because a lot of times police officers get a bad rep. >> deputy rowan, i'm going to one-up that. you didn't do a good job. you did a great job. >> thank you, ma'am. >> i'm proud to call you friend. president bush saying, since we're talking texas. i'm thrilled you came on the show to talk to us about that. god bless you for your heroics, and thanks for what you do. >> thank you, ma'am. i appreciate it. >> what a great story. >> what a great calming, soothing voice. seems like he's steady, steady as a rock. >> did you see that? rocking out like it's all in a day's work. >> it's going to be okay. >> remember that name, deputy kevin rowan, my friends. >> it is 5:52. still ahead, we're going to take a look at what's trending.

new york city cops bust a fifth floor building full of a very, very valuable crop. do you recognize it, folks? >> listen to the crew. >> the crew recognizes it. i know you do. >> they don't get this excited about anything we talk about. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce.

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keeping you in the pop culture loop this morning, taking a look at what's trending on the web, we've got the fungible kind of crop. >> are you wondering what fungible is? she's going to tell you in a minute. police raid marijuana. it is a marijuana mega mansion in the bronx. listen to this. nearly 600 plants were there, 7 feet high inside that building. >> did you just say high? >> i did say high. >> girl. >> it was a 50 pound a month operation, cranking out millions of dollars worth of weed. specifically, they said, $250,000 every 30 days. so 30 men were arrested. the cops were tipped off by the sky high electric bill is what they're saying. this is what i found interesting. could you smell it, right? >> you would think you could smell it. even when it's not burning, walking by that building, you could smell it. >> this woman says, that's crazy. i used to walk down the block every single day. i lived on garfield.

never smelled nothing coming out of this place. >> the other guy says, there's no mistake this was obviously marijuana. i could smell it a mile away. >> really? maybe some of the neighbors were enjoying the fact this might have been in the neighborhood. >> the sky high electric bill was the tip-off? >> you would think. that's how most of these grow houses get busted. they sort of forget, yeah, you're ticking up the meter. so fungible, just so you know, it's a movable, perishable good of some sort that can be estimated by number or weight. ahead, what a win. what a campaign. what a negative, negative fight. so why could this race be the most negative ever? when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

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so hard. >> we're talking about being on a ski lift and falling off. >> you are, indeed. 6:00 in the morning on the east coast. "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 6:00 a.m. in the east. >> mitt romney, wow, what a night. off to minnesota with a crushing defeat under his belt. hammering newt gingrich in florida by 14 points. the folks there said electability. who could beat president obama was a big factor. did you hear this? new warning about iran may be looking to attack the u.s. on u.s. soil. >> say it ain't so. also, another occupy camp cleared out. look at the riot police coming in. that would be a scary thing to see. it wasn't a pretty sight, either. this is what i was talking about. incredible, incredible save on the slopes. a boy dangling 125 feet from the air. look at that.

skiers come to the rescue. the guy who snapped these pictures is going to join us, yep, what you're seeing is true. >> imagine dropping your boy into that crowd? so that's coming ahead. and also this. mitt romney moving one step closer to the republican nomination with a resounding win in florida. nabbed it like that. now he's vowing to bring an end to the obama era. such a convincing victory and huge crowds last night. by the way, sort of across the board, too. hispanic, seniors, catholics, women, everybody backing romney by significant margins. also got a lot of support from florida voters who believed that the economy is important and beating obama is important. >> so the final florida tally in case you missed it, romney, 46%. gingrich, 32%. santorum, 13%. ron paul in at 7% there. romney was sounding pretty presidential afterward. >> my leadership cut taxes 19

times and cast over 800 vetoes. we balance the budget every single year and we kept our schools first in the nation. my leadership will end the obama era and begin a new era of american prosperity. >> so for his part newt gingrich put a spin on the florida primary saying the result shows that it is now a two-man race. he's vowing to stay in it for the long haul. >> it is now clear that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader newt gingrich and the massachusetts moderate. >> so the big cry, romney captures 50 delegates in florida's winner take all primary. he now has 84 delegates. gingrich, 27. paul 10. santorum with 8. 1,144 are needed to officially clench the nomination. >> long way away. >> political editor paul

steinhauser live from tampa. we are talking about, it's still a long haul here. >> a long haul to go. right behind me, that's the tampa bacon vengs center where romney had his big victory. he wants to move that victory out west. look at february, nevada is next and is on saturday. the caucuses there. soon after, a week from next tuesday you've got colorado and minnesota also having caucuses. missouri, a non-binding primary. february 11th, when maine releases results of its caucus. go down a month, cnn debate in arizona on the 22nd. at the end ft month, two big primary states, arizona and michigan. a lot of these states, i guess you could say the romney is favorite. in michigan, his father was the popular governor there. grew up in michigan. nevada and that could help romney. gingrich is looking past february, looking to march and the super tuesday contests. a lot of southern states. zoraida? >> i'm just reading this here.

senator marco rubio is saying the winner last night has the nomination clinched? he had not supported anyone. >> he has not supported anyone. he did not endorse anybody here and they all wanted his endorsement. he's saying that, listen, the power of florida is so important. whoever won here is really going to be the nominee. now, hey, we've been talking about romney and gingrich but what about the other two people in the race, rick santorum and ron paul. santorum is saying even though i came in a distant third i think romney's big victory helps me. >> newt gingrich had his chance, had his shot, big win out of south carolina and could hold it, couldn't deliver in florida. i think they're going to be looking to a different conservative as an alternative to romney now. >> he was in las vegas last night. he moved ahead to nevada. so have ron paul. the congressman from texas is ready for the caucus states. here's what he said. 12k3

>> we will spend our time in the caucus states because if you have an irate minority you do very well in the caucus state. >> the candidates are moving west, zoraida, so are we. packing our bags, leaving florida, heading to nevada. >> christine romans had a question for you earlier. does he pack lightly? >> i want to know what kind of luggage he has. >> what kind of luggage do you have? >> carry-on only, right, paul? >> it's all about the carry on. you know that. all about the carry-on. >> you always look good for us. thank you so much, paul. move on to our next segment. politically related. i want to show you a couple of headlines. "good night newt" on new york post. "romney wins big in florida," "wall street journal." you know what, it costs a lot of money. there was a lot of money spent not just in florida but this election already. we have new information released from the federal election commission about just how much has been spent on those so-called super pacs. >> christine romans is here to

bring it down for us. money, money, money. >> that's right. old saying in politics money is the mother's milk of politics. and in politics your best friend is the money in your pocket. how much honey are we talking about here? $48.9 million super pacs spent through -- through the end of january, through january 30th, let's say. $39.9 million, super pac spending. this isn't candidate-directed political action committees. these are super political act committe committees, independent organizations that work on behalf of but not in conjunction with the candidates. and they can raise money and spend money however they want. they have these names that i keep saying they're like i love my mother, the super pac called i love my mother or mrk is good. >> i'm for freedom. >> you can't really tell by the names who they're for. restore our future, pro-romney pac, $17 million. winning our future, not to be confused with restore our

future, pro gingrich. make us great again, that one is pro perry and a lot of that funding came earlier on. that has slowed off because he dropped out. americans for a better tomorrow, stephen colbert. comedian gets another game. he raised more than -- not him but people on behalf of him, whatever, more than a million dollars. >> does he have to say where that money is? >> we found they were doing things like spending them on rallies, tv ads, direct mail, buying facebook advertising, $1200 for a teleprompter, postage, buying the phone numbers of supporters. so you can see how they spent the money and see who is giving the monday my. for mitt romney a lot of the supporter of the super pac are really big names on hedge funds, private equity, people who work at bain capital. people giving -- can you imagine giving $150,000 to a super pac. >> i saw where somebody gave 500. >> that was for gingrich.

>> and someone like perry actually leaves the race, what do they do with that money that was sitting there? >> they haven't said yet what they're going to do with it. perry raised all that money and he spent it -- i'm sorry, a super pac on behalf of perry, be careful because they can't coordinate. spent a ton of money on advertising in iowa. he didn't hardly even rate in iowa. the question is does this money matter. >> good question. we're going to get to the bottom of that. you want to make sure you keep it here on cnn. not only talking super pacs but also talking on "starting point" with soledad o'brien. she's going to go one-on-one with that winner, mitt romney. and he thinks that soledad will likely ask about that super pac money and all the money. >> and there is a brand new video coming in to cnn showing the syrian rebel army celebrating in the street in the city of homs. shooting guns in the air and screaming there, god is great. they are claiming victory in the city that has seen some of the most terrifying alleged massacres of the conflict so

far. at least 20 people have been killed across syria. that is just to date. still to come on "early start," tennessee senator booted from a restaurant because of some things he said about gay people in a radio interview and elsewhere. we're going to talk to the owner who did that. and she was ready to challenge the president on jobs during a live video chat, but he did something really unexpected. he asked her about her husband's unemployment and told her, hey, send me his resume. did she do it? did he get a job in we're going to ask her. she's going to join us. we are watching "early start." >> and we're checking your weather for you, jacqui jeras is standing by on the job for us. >> i've got wet, windy shs and warm, three w rz the big headlines today in the big weather department. showers and thunderstorms heavy at times across the gulf coast. watching new orleans on up towards birmingham later on this afternoon. that warm air is coming in. ahead of that front. watch out for sprinkles here for you in washington, d.c. as well

as new york city and that's going to be out of there as you head into the afternoon hours. temperatures are way above where they should be for this time of year. look at the 60s and 70s on the map. even 41 feels pretty good in minneapolis. "early start" is back right after this. [ female announcer ] the best things in life are the real things. nature valley trail mix bars are made with real ingredients you can see. like whole roasted nuts, chewy granola, and real fruit. nature valley trail mix bars. 100% natural. 100% delicious.

good morning, knoxville, tennessee. if you live anywhere near mcgee airport south of the city that is your towercam right now. it is 14 minutes past 6:00 on the east coast.

and there is your forecast. right now, 50 degrees. a little later on, 61 and a couple of showers. be prepared. >> warm everywhere, isn't it? >> especially here. welcome back to "early start." we're happy you're with us. in tennessee, angry response to state lawmaker's anti-gay response. next guest has emerged has a hero so she refused to serve him at her restaurant in knoxville. in an interview on sirius radio campfield called home sosexuaho quote, a dangerous lifestyle, and he had this to say about aids. >> my understanding also is virtually, not completely impossible, it's virtually impossible to contract aids, outside of blood transfusions, through heterosexual sex. it's virtually impossible. >> so, campfield stands by all of his comments. restaurant owner martha boggs says giving campfield the boot was a spur of a moment gut reaction.

she joins us on the phone from knoxville. are you there? >> yes, ma'am. >> good morning to you. nice to have you on our show. listen, i hear that you did not listen to the actual interview. how did you hear about this? >> well, mr. campfield is in the papers a lot around here. and happen to read an article in the "knoxville news sentinel" about that interview and the comments that he made, which were just completely false and, frankly, irresponsible. >> what anded you the most about what he said? >> a lot of things he's said over the years have offended me. the statement about how that aids is almost impossible to contract through heterosexual sex just really crossed the line. >> and i've been reading that he's a pretty popular guy in thatter. you see him out in public a lot. does he go to your restaurant frequently? >> actually, he is not a popular guy at all. that's the sad thing about it, is that he's not even from east

tennessee. he's from new york. >> he handsomely won the election. >> he did win the election. and that's another sad state of affairs, is in that particular election, with over 100,000 registered voters, only -- less than half of them turned out and only 20,000 voted for mr. campfield. >> has he gone into your restaurant before? >> he's been there on two or three occasions. my rest rant is just a small neighborhood restaurant and it's near the courthouses and the banks in downtown. >> so when he came into your restaurant, was he seated? what did you do? how was the encounter? >> no, he was standing up by the front door. it was sunday brunch. it's a really busy day and we're a really full restaurant. everybody has to wait, you know, there's usually a wait for tables. and he was standing at the hostess stand wait for a table. when i saw him, i just felt -- a lot of outrage and the

frustration that a lot of people in east tennessee feel come out. and, you know, it was just, you know, unthought reaction. i just didn't want him in my restaurant. >> so did you escort him out of the rest restaurant? did you just ask him to leave? >> i just asked him to leave. >> what did he say? >> well, we had a few comments go back and forth. i don't really recall what was said. in the end, he just left. >> what about the rest of the folks in the restaurant, could you hear what was happening? what was their reaction? >> no, it was done fairly low key. i didn't want to create a scene. i just wanted to tell him to leave. >> i want to read you something. on his blog, this is what he wrote. some people have told me my civil rights were violated under the 1964 civil rights act and that a person cannot be denied service based on their religious beliefs. i am a catholic and the catholic church does not support the act of homosexuality.

how would you respond to him? >> well, he's grasping at straws to justify his actions, where he feels it's okay for him to bully other people but when the shoe is on the other foot it doesn't seem like he likes it very much. >> martha, before i let you go, you know that he is sponsoring legislation that is sitting there right now. it's don't say gay bill. it would prohibit teaching any human sexuality other than hetero sexuality. this is in public schools, k-8. do you plan to join in on the fight on that legislation? >> the fight to stop it? >> yes. >> it's pretty much a nonissue. i mean, the only time that homosexuality comes up in the school is when there are students whose parents are gay or they have a nonknown homosex sibling. i'm not sure of the krit klum but it's pretty much a nonissue

and all of mr. campfield legislation just attracts from the real issues -- detracts from the real issues that we're all facing. it's wedge issues and there is blatant pandering. >> martha boggs, we really appreciate you waking up early with us this morning. >> regardless of how people feel about that issue, honestly, it's the responsibility of the medical comments that he made that may have a lot of people outraged whether they feel one way or the other. quick break. we'll be right back. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. [ sizzling ] ♪ [ male announcer ] free hot breakfast. with fresh waffles. real value. from your friends at hampton.

it is now clear that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader newt gingrich and the massachusetts moderate. >> and it may be pretty clear now how newt gingrich plans to claw his way back into the republican race after the loss last night. possibly just going right for those conservatives. the hard-core conservatives who are romney's real weakness last night. >> live in tallahassee, florida, chairman of the american conservative union. thank you for joining us this morning. can you hear me? >> great to be with you. it's the calm after the storm. i can. i hear you perfectly well. >> you said a few weeks ago that this will be the most brutal

presidential election ever. but that brutality is starting right now in the primary race. if you look at history here, sir, the party loses. the national journal editor said yesterday, in the 20th century, four out of five protected nominating fights, four republicans led to a gop loss. is that going to divide your party and hurt the republicans overall? >> well, you know, there are different reasons for having a feisty primary. one of them is if you're fighting for the soul of a party. that's what happened in '76 with reagan and ford. we wanted -- there was a moderate wing of the party and a conservative wing of the party. i think most republicans today in 2012 are united. most of the primary voters want a smaller government, less taxes, leave us alone kind of attitude. and so they're united on purpose. they t. candidates obviously are feisty and are fighting amongst themselves but the electorate

really is not. i think we'll be okay in the long run, but you're absolutely right in pointing out that this prolonged primal type of attitude in the primaries is not good for everybody. i'm hope that the length is not a concern but we'll see moving forward. but last night was a huge day, a huge day for mitt romney. as a floridian, obviously we're very proud of florida. we think we're like a petri dish of america and how florida votes the rest of the country will vote. that's why legislature moved florida up to january 31st. looking at it, it was a pretty brilliant move, if you want to be at the head of this chess game, florida did a pretty good job of it. >> let's talk a little bit about your exit polls yesterday. one of the things that folks said that the most important quality for the candidate is that they must defeat obama. you understand your electorate very well. so who do you think can beat

obama? >> well, that's to be seen. but obviously in florida mitt romney proved yesterday by double digits he was the best candidate. newt gingrich did fwhel souwell carolina. look, they're geographic preferences. today we know pretty much how 46 out of 50 states are going to vote in the re-election. when it gets down to the purple states, who is the best candidate for those 14 states? florida, virginia, ohio, michigan, colorado, new mexico, and so on. and so you've got to do pretty well in the midwest. you've got to do pretty well in these southwestern states. you've got to do pretty well in florida. and the candidate that's best suited to do that should win. now, florida was an interesting state because we were a mixture, as you know, we're -- >> if i can interrupt you here for a moment because you worked for romney in 2008, head of the hispanic steering committee.

mitt romney has gotten criticism for being too reserved, not a man of the people. both during that election and this one. you know him really well. have you seen a change in him? is that who you would lend your support to? >> well, i pledged to remain neutral when i decided to chair the american conservative union. obviously i've known him for a long time and his wife and i've known him personally. i like him a lot. i think we've got four good conservatives running. all invited to our big c-pac events. 10,000 conservatives there. the former presidential candidates are there. it's going to be quite a show. you will be there, cnn covering it live from some location. it will be a big show. but i'm presuming that whoever wins florida has made a pretty big case. now, that's not a final decision. obviously we've got a lot of states to go. february has, you know, an interesting array of states.

nevada, maine coming up. michigan at the end of the month, minnesota, missouri. so we've got a lot of things to do in february. my sense is that newt -- >> mr. cardenas, i'm going to -- >> he's going to have a tough road. he's a feisty guy. >> yes. and i appreciate you weighing in this morning. mr. cardenas, chairman of american conservative union. thank you very much. as job references go they really don't get a whole lot better than coming from the oval office, do they? the president asking a texas woman to send me your husband's resume and i'll see what i can do. >> so did she and did he? you're going to find out what happened in this conversation and how it all turned out. >> and we have some new developments. >> looking forward to it. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas.

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♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. good morning to you. welcome to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. nice to have you here with us. race for the white house, republicans may be just engaged in the most negative political campaign ever.

that is not likely to change any time soon. here are the final numbers. mitt romney really trouncing his opponents there. by the way, the candidates congratulated romney on his win, or at least some of them did. have a listen. >> yes. >> he ran a very spirited race, and he is to be congratulated for his resounding victory in the state of florida. >> we had a friendly conversation, and i honestly congratulated him. he ran a good campaign. >> okay. wait. that's one, two -- who is missing? >> somebody is missing from those congratulations. it was newt gingrich me did not call romney, did not congratulate romney, just went to the next states. some say that was graceless. but his daughter defended him to piers morgan last night. have a listen. >> it would be graceless, wouldn't you think? >> i'm not really sure i would say that's graceless. i think what that is is the

reality that he's moved on and we're looking towards the next 48 states. >> let's bring on our political panel and chew on that, alice stewart, former communications director for michele bachmann's campaign. and from san diego, ruben, syndicated columnist, and here in new york city, john avlon, senior political columnist for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." i want to start with you, alice, graceless or not, and does it matter because some say that's just classic newt. >> well, i guess two out of three ain't bad, right? you got two of the three offering their congratulations. it's just customary and it's polite and nice to say congratulations to the winner. i know when michele boughed out she called all the candidates and congratulated them. that just gives you the fiery tone of this debate and this contest. one good point that romney made last night is this competitive primary is good for us. it's part of the vetting process. the competitive primary, it prepares us for what we're going

to see against obama. he's got a billion dollars that's going to come out fast and heavy on the gop nominee. this is preparing us to take on the obama machine. >> he's probably none too pleased of all on negative advertising. jon avalon, i love reading your columns. i make it a point never to miss them. the phrase that you used stuck with me, a tsunami of sleaze, i believe you called it, with 92% of the negative ads in florida. so here's my question, my friend. did romney buy florida and if you think he did, was that $15 million well spent? >> that's a great question. what you can say is that romney's money stopped newt's momentum, stopped it dead in its tracks. and that $15 million, put that in perspective. between the campaign and the super pac, romney's associates spent $15 million to win florida. compare that to -- that's more than john mccain spent on television advertising in all of

the 2008 primaries. >> holy cow. >> and -- yeah. and the vast majority of those ads were negative. here's the troubling bit, negative ads work. they were able to run down newt's numbers just as they did in iowa when they took newt from first to fourth through an onslaught of negative ads. clearly, romney's advantage is money and organization. he used that to great effect in florida. it's what's re-established him as the front-runner and why he's looking as the favorite going forward. but again, caution, this race is far, far from over. he still needs 1144 delegates to get the nomination. 70% of the way there. >> and he still needs to get through the southern states, too. which leads me to ruben. when the stats came in from the panhandle they may have foreshadowed some of that southern state mentality. after all, they're all real close in there. the numbers actually bowed a little better for newt gingrich in the panhandle. we h won over mitt romney but just by one point. that's pretty squeaky. my question is, do you think

gingrich was expect that or do you think that worries him as he heads to mississippi and georgia and tennessee and texas and all the other states that he thinks are pretty friendly? >> yeah, i think it would be a good sign for gingrich. there may be something still in the south, in the american south. >> good enough? >> that they won't warm up to mitt romney as much as they should. i disagree with my friend john just a little bit. it's true, mitt romney spent a lot of money. $15 million in florida. according to the exit polls, six out of ten voters say they made up their decision to vote for romney a month ago before the ads started running. they made their mind up some time ago. spent a lot of money, we're not sure how much he bought for it. >> john, jump in there. everybody that i interviewed over the last 24 years of doing television news, everybody says negative ads work. that's why i couldn't figure out why newt hadn't done it from the get-go, starting in iowa. >> he didn't have the money. to ruben's point, who can defeat

obama. to achieve that edge he had to really drive up newt gingrich's negatives. he did that with devastating effect with this carpet bombing of the florida airwaves with negative ads. >> weigh in on that conservative factor because that's where newt was going. he just said that romney is not conservative enough. it didn't seem to work. >> to your question about the makeup of florida, the north is the south and the south is is north. the panhandle area of florida is reflective of the southern and bible belt of the u.s. and gingrich is counting on as he leaves florida, of course they're going west now, but is expected to take the bible belt of the country. southern point of florida where romney did well is like the northern part of the country. the dynamics of florida is like the nation. gingrich is in it for the long haul. he said he will take it to the convention in tampa. >> that's exactly what some of the politicians in florida have been saying while they won't endorse, they do say, you know what, florida is america.

so that's why we think that the winner of florida is going to be the winner overall. that's where i've got to leave it. alice, ruben, john, brilliant. i love it. keep it here on cnn because coming up at 7:00 eastern on "starting point," soledad o'brien is going one-on-one with the republican front-runner. that would be mitt romney. and still ahead, she talked to president obama in her google plus chat. she said her engineer husband is out of work. the president said, send many his resume. did she in did he get a job? we're going to talk with that texas woman after the break. you're watching "early start." what's this? [ male announcer ] quaker oatmeal squares

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. good morning, dallas, texas. that's like the view from my old apartment. it is great to see you. i miss you terribly. 57 degrees in texas. you're going to have some storms later. but you're heading up to 72. that ain't bad in january/february. >> it is not bad. so president obama has vowed to get america working again, right? we didn't know that he meant literally. one person at a time. he's giving a lot of attention to for an exchange he had with one woman during his google plus. she told the president her husband is a semiconductor engineer out of full-time work

for three years now. despite a decade of experience in his field. and the president said, send me his resume. check it out. 6. >> what industry tells me is that they don't have enough highly skilled engineers. if your husband is in that field, then we should get his resume and i'll forward it to some of these companies that are telling me they can't find enough engineers in this field. >> really? how often does that happen? the woman jennifer says she's a long-time republican but won't rule out voting for president obama. so, you know, good morning to you. jennifer is joining us now live from ft. worth, texas. did he send thes are may? >> we absolutely did. of course, it was ready to go because he sends it out all the time. and google personally made sure that it did get in the hands of the white house. >> all right. i want to know how this all

started because you were participating in this. and you were talking about americans being out of work. and you were specifically upset about h1b visas that they're still granting for folks who have specialized work. and so what was the exchange with the president when you were holding him accountable for that? >> you know, basically i just wanted to know, you know, why the government continues to extendish view h1b visas when there are a lot of americans with college educations in that specific field that don't have jobs. and i feel like he kind of gave me a general answer, which i expected. but, you know, for quite frankly, you get one shot with the president. i will probably never ever speak to him or any other president for that matter ever again. it just wasn't good enough for me. i have been labeled ago-getter mom in the past and i wasn't going to let the president stop

me, i don't think. >> all right. so your husband has been out of work for three years. you're a stay-at-home mom and you are not working. how have the two of you been getting along then? >> well, actually when he got laid off, i don't have a college education, so we were a little bit concerned. but the door opened up for me with state farm to do some secretarial work. so i have actually been with state farm for 3 1/2 -- almost 4 years now. >> all right. so you've been working. but your husband hat not. >> uh-huh. >> and this exchange, as i understand, there was another e-mail that just came in recently stay that said you actually got a call from the white house regarding his application -- his reresume. can you tell us about that? was that yesterday? >> yes, it was yesterday afternoon. we got a call from the deputy chief of staff for operations, alisa. and she said that obama personally that morning made it a point to get my husband's

resume out to several vfw contacts. we are very grateful for that. >> are you expecting a job offer or opportunities within your state? >> well, we are a blended family, so definitely it would need to be something in-state for custody reasons. we are hopeful. you know, it's not every day and not everyone has obama as a reference. >> but you're a long-term republican, right? is this going to sway your vote? >> actually, we're still undecided. we haven't really been happy with the presidential race this year. republican and democrat. i'm not really sure what we'll do. >> even if he gets a job? >> it's nice but -- well, i mean, it is, but we're one person. there are still, you know, lots of americans in my husband's position that, you know, doesn't -- that don't have jobs.

if something were done about h1b and it was, you know, under his, you know, power or whatever you want to call it, then that could possibly sway my vote. but that's the real issue still. i mean we're just one american. there are still lots of americans with no jobs. >> that's quite noble of you. jennifer wedel, good luck to you and your husband. >> thank you very much. >> i didn't know that she had the issue about the h1b. i came to america on an h1b. it's a good thing i wasn't doing the interview. jennifer, i do love you but that's how i got here and i'm such a proud immigrant and became american two years ago and voted in my first election. enough of that. a look at what's ahead on "starting point." >> this morning we're talking to mitt romney after his decisive win in the state of florida. we'll talk about what's ahead of him. plus, we'll be talking to florida's governor that is rick scott. he hasn't endorsed anybody.

we'll see what he is thinking as a gop race moves forward but continues, i think, to promise to be ugly or even augustlyier. plus, we're going to talk to utah republican senator, mike lee, freshman member. you will remember he tangled with president obama when he said he was duty bound to resist any other political appointments. he is become the poster boy of a congressman who is not getting enough done. ""early start" is back of this break.

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a printed statement or receipt provides... ...with mail. it's good for your business. ♪ and even better for your customers. ♪ for safe and secure ways to stay connected, visit usps.com/mail what are you laughing at? >> just that great conversation we were having about h1b visas. i'm going put it on my facebook page and tweet it out. >> this is a theme where you might expect superman to swoop in. it was a group of good samaritans that came to the rescue of a little boy on a ski slope in wisconsin. take a look at the photographs. he is dangling 25 feet in the air from a chair lift being held

on to by the adult sitting in the chair lift. a witness named matt razor snapped these photos, look, as the little boy is dropped into the arms of the crowd waiting below. it's mortifying, especially for anyone who has ever been on a ski lift and i have been on thousands of them. matt joins us live from minnesota. matt, unbelievable photographs. you saw this play out and snapped the photos. do you know any more about the little boy, how he's doing the grown-up on the chair lift? >> good morning. yeah, i actually had a chance to talk to one of the gentleman that caught him. and he had a conversation with the family after we ended up leaving the hill. and the boy was great. he was shaken up a little bit at first, but he actually got right back on the chair lift and enjoyed the rest of the day at the hill. >> come on. you've got to be kidding me. he kept skiing? >> yep, he was a trouper.

he went right back on with encouragement from all the adults on the hill and it was -- it was great. i'm sure it was very scary and traumatic for him. you know, but he got right back in there. >> matt, it's also -- listen, he's wearing very sharp-edged skis, heavy, heavy boots. that's about 30 pounds of gear roit there, not to imagine his weight. was anybody hurt in trying to catch him? >> yeah, i'm glad i got a chance to talk to the gentleman yesterday. he said that everything went very smoothly. you know, hidden valley, the hill there is kind of a family-run operation. it's very intimate. and the rescuers that were there were instantly ready to help out, and they got a game plan right away. and i guess the way that they caught him could have been very dangerous. >> absolutely. >> it was close. but i don't think that the skier was experienced enough to know

how to maybe click off his skis so they just decided to drop him with his equipment on. >> of course, we don't even know how this little boy ended up slipping from the chair lift in the first place. i'm looking closely at your pictures and i'm seeing there's no safety bar that i can see on this chair lift. perhaps that might be something that changes in the future. matt, thank you for lending us your perspective and your photos, too. we appreciate it. nice to talk to you.ed the yummy? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

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have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. welcome back. new fears this morning about iran. director of national intelligence james clapper told congress iranian leaders are considering attacks on u.s. soil. >> in fact, he even went as far as saying there is some evidence of this. the iranian plot to assassinate the ambassador is a red flag. barbara, i hear a lot of this all the time. there's lots of saber rattling going on in iran. is this just putting into words the intuitively obvious? >> perhaps. we don't really know. they don't have a lot of sources on the ground in iran. not always sure what the iranian regime is up to. what general clapper is saying that potential attack against the saudi ambassador is a

warning signal. u.s. intelligence community now assesses that iran is more likely to believe -- could carry out an attack in the united states or against u.s. interests abroad. if they feel that their regime is threatened, if they feel backed into a corner. that right now is really, they say, what is driving the iranian government regime survival. they're very stressed about the sanctions, about the economic impacts in their own country. and the continued pressure against their potential nuclear weapons program. >> i want to jump in with the fact that this is an election year. i remember president bush taking it on the chin regularly for things like this, for things that were frightening. i'm wondering if there were any critics suggest that this could be sort of timing out an announcement of something that maybe didn't need to be made. >> well, this happened yesterday at a hearing before the senate intelligence community. their annual hearing on, you know, the assessment of what's going on around the world by the u.s. intelligence community.

so this was pretty much something that was set by congress. you are seeing a lot of iranian rhetoric out of the administration. that's for sure. you're seeing it out of the european allies. there's really that full-court press on right now to get them to back away from any decision to pursue nuclear weapons. i think that's really what this is about. >> do you know what these saber rattling is coming from the religious leaders or from the president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, who is prone to say all sorts of things? >> ah, well, that is the big dilemma. once again, to figure out what is going on inside iran. we know that there's been a power struggle between those two iranian factions for months now and that is part of what is the concern is. instability inside iran. as those two factions fight against each other and they worry about the total regime survival, what's the impact. you know, who decides what the next plot may be. that's what the u.s. is trying to figure out. >> barbara, thanks for all of

that. appreciate that at this early hour. barbara starr live for us at the pentagon. and that is "early start." >> i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield. soledad o'brien is next. >> good morning. you're watching "starting point." the news is that mitt romney is the big winner in the state of florida. head to minnesota with the momentum he picks up. we'll talk about how much momentum that is. he also says the gop will recover from the ugliness of the florida race. listen. >> a competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us. and we will win. >> we'll see if that's actually true, to what degree does it divide the electorate? mitt romney will joan us live and talk about his victory. also, newt gingrich, he didn't call, he didn't really concede, and what he said was, i'm relaunching. i got four to six states to go. he is literally vowing to fight all of the way to the convention. what will that do to the gop in november. this