customers over 350 pounds can eat for free. free if you don't count the cost of all those calories, an estimated 8,000 for the qaudruple bypass. but even after the apparent heart attack, some customers aren't fazed. >> it says right on the door, hazardous to your health. >> reporter: better to be wheeled around by the fake nurses, by real paramedics. jeanne moos, cnn. new york. and with that, thank you for joining us. i'm candy crowley in for wolf blitzed in the situation room. the news continues next on cnn. thanks, candy. good evening, everyone. i'm kate bolduan. john king is off this evening. tonight before sentencing the so-called underwear bomber today a judge sees what would have happened if the bomb had worked as planned. plus the presidential race hits full throttle in michigan as mitt romney find his home state is no longer a sure thing. and in a close call just

this morning, authorities stop a pilot they say was just about to pilot they say was just about to fly his airliner drunk. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com we start this evening with the so-called underwear bomber. he'll spend life in prison for trying to blow up a plane on christmas day 2009. we all remember it so well. but this is what the blast could have looked like if he had succeeded. >> 2, 1. >> wow. that's a re-enactment from federal officials. but thankfully the bomb fizzled in real life. our deb fehrik was in the courtroom today. deb, how did he react when that very video was played? >> reporter: well, you know, it's so interesting. the fbi had put together that bomb, that demonstration bomb very similar to the one that mutallab had sewn into his underwear. that's what the explosion would have looked like if all 200 grams of ptn explosive had

successfully detonated. as the defendant watched the video, kate, he said "all "alla akbar" three times. god is great, god is great, god is great. it's for that reason that prosecutors describe him as an unrepent end would-be mass murderer and it's why the judge said that life in prison was in fact a just sentence. it's why his own lawyers, stand by counsel, knew that the sentence would likely be life and had already planned the appeal. mutallab did give a statement in court. in it he also said the mujahedin are proud to kill and that's what i did. when the judge sentenced him she said the thing about bars, the thing about life in prison is that you are serving time. you will live the same day over and over and over again for the rest of your life. and kate, his family actually came to detroit. they had hoped to be in the

court. but for whatever reason they decided not to come. they are hoping that they do get a chance to at least see him before they return to nigeria. his dad a very prominent banker. they want to see him. because they understand that it can very well be the last time they ever do. kate? >> absolutely. and deb, if you could, just because that video is so amazing, you were in the courtroom. you were there when he got that sentence of life in prison. but walk us through that video. what could this have done in that plane? >> reporter: well, it's very interesting. what you're seeing there, you see that bright light, that flash, that explosion? that is the bomb placed on a thin piece of aluminum. that could have looked very different had it been placed for example let's say on something the thickness of an airplane wall. remember when the bomb ignited inside the airplane or the chemical ignited, flames shot up the side of the wall. so that created the fire. but what you're seeing is the

explosion that would have happened had all 200 grams of petn actually detonated very bright, very powerful, again he was sitting over the fuselage. his intent was to bring down the plane and to kill all 289 people on board the plane. and ironically, kate, he argued for leniency, saying, well, it's not as if he really succeeded. so he didn't really kill anyone be did he? so it was a very almost bizarre argument being made by his lawyer. but his lawyer was trying to save his client the best he could, kate. >> i think calling that a bizarre defense i think is probably the best way you could put it. deb, thanks so much for your great reporting. in another big story just this evening, the united nations has a message for syrian president bashar al assad. stop the slaughter. the u.n. passed a resolution just a few hours ago condemning a bloody government crackdown that claimed over 70 lives today alone. foreign journalists are not

allowed into syria but our ivan watson has slipped into the southern part of the country. >> reporter: the countryside here in northern syria is in open revolt. and this is a rebellion of farmers, of carpenters, high school teachers. entire communities, villages and towns and stretches of northern syria that tell us they have not seen presence of central syrian government authority in months. they have effectively been governing themselves, and they have clearly established militias as well as pockets of what's been called the free syrian army. defectors from the syrian army who have come and joined these villagers and rural communities in opposition to the syrian government. as we have traveled across this region, we have gone from village to village, from small council to small council where young men and old sit on the ground, chain smoking, next to assault rifles, weapons, light

weapons that they say they've gotten within the last couple of months. the residents of these communities say they haven't seen any presence of the syrian government in months. not since deadly incursions were made by convoys of syrian armored vehicles. and in those cases nearly everybody you talk to can show you photos of loved ones, of neighbors, of cousins, of brothers who they say were killed in those attacks. they tell us that they're trying to protect their communities, their families, their villages, by laying rings of improvised land mines but they are fully aware that they do not have weaponry to match the tanks, armored personnel carriers and air power of bashar al assad's army. the inhabitants here, they're enjoying what they say is self rule. they are calling this pockets of liberated syria. but they're fully aware that the bulk of the syrian army is currently being held down in the siege of the much larger city of

homs. they say if that siege lifts, if the syrian government forces are victorious there, that will free them up to then attack these areas, and they warn that that would lead to a massacre. ivan watson, cnn, reporting from northern syria. today general motors announced it earned record profits in 2011. 7 billion $600 million. thanks in part to the 9 million vehicles sold worldwide last year g.m. is the biggest automaker in the world in terms of sales. tonight that made in america pride is butching up against mitt romney's opposition to the multimillion dollar government bailout and bankruptcy that kept g.m. going. let's talk about this with cnn chief business correspondent and my very good friend ali velshey. thanks for staying to talk to me. >> reporter: great to see you, kate. >> these numbers are really amazing. what does it mean? does it signal that big auto is back? >> reporter: yeah. and for a number of reasons, the

greatest of which the financial crisis is behind us, the recession is over and credit available. a lot of people didn't buy cars over the last few years. that's created pent-up demand. the average age of a car in the united states in december was 11 years. people have been holding onto these cars. they're ready for them. because of high sustained gas prices they're turning away from suvs and hybrids and going to cars. the price of a new car is now $25,000. it doesn't mean the car prices have come down. what it means there are a lot more cars available to buy now in the 16, 17, $19,000 range. and they're actually not bad cars. through the recession and through the financial crisis the automakers learned they're going to use the same platforms that they used to sell cars in europe and increasingly into china and india. so yeah, the auto industry is back. and by the way, kate, i know you didn't ask me the question, but those people who fought against the auto bailout a couple of years ago, they kind of have egg on their faces right now. >> some would say that's true.

i think a big question and probably a question that anybody that's struggling in business right now is, how did they pull this off, really? how did g.m. make such a dramatic turn snarnd. >> reporter: well, first there are a few things. the first the biggest one is they did get the bailout. g.m. was in very serious trouble. if they hadn't gotten that bailout -- they also declared bankruptcy if you recall. and that allowed them to cancel contracts, very expensive contracts, cut new deals and close some dealerships, thanks in the fair pursuit of business you can't do. so it's not that they did this all on their own. if you look at ford and chrysler they're all profitable. ford did it on its own without any bailouts and having to do that kind of thing. the bailout helped, the fact that the recession is over helped and the fact that crisis made all these carmakers retool and do what they had hadadi to do to make cars that people wanted to buy. some of these g.m., ford and chrysler cars, not so many with chrysler these days but the g.m.s and ford are very good

cars. profits up 39% compared to 2010. so they did it with a little help. but the bottom line is they did it and it saved a lot of jobs. >> it's really amazing when you kind of look back with hindsight. because there were so many skeptics, ali, when this was happening back in '09. thank you, my friend. researchers at dartmouth college say there is a worrisome amount of arsenic in some baby formulas. we'll tell you what they think is the source of the poison coming up. hole cast survivor and peace activity eli wassel asks the obama administration to stop mormons baptizing jews. >> this man is running in for the highest office in the world. and that man has possibilities. [ male announcer ] at home, you play a lot of roles.

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added to a list as "ready for baptism by proxy." i spoke to professor wiesel a short time ago and asked him what he would say to mitt romney. >> as for mitt romney, i have respect for him. i don't involve myself in politics. i am neither for democrats nor for republicans. i don't have any illusions that i could have an impact. but one thing i do know, this man is running for the highest office probably in the world. and that man has responsibilities, not only of what's happening here in america politically, but also what is happening in other areas. there is such a lie could be distorted. and to propagate it. he as a man who wants to be the leader of the free world should have an opinion on everything that is happening in this country. >> professor, let me ask you then. you talked about not getting

into politics. then why is it important for you to bring mitt romney into this? because you well know, especially in political season, that people will say you are either intentionally or unintentionally by bringing governor romney into this politicizing a very sensitive religious issue. >> well, because i am a jew. and romney is a mormon. nothing is wrong for the mormon to come and say they made a mistake and they shall not do it again. i'm not saying that he personally was involved in all that. maybe he didn't even know what was happening. but now he does. the whole country speaks about it. so why not say, look, i learned this. it's not my field. yes, i'm religious and i'm a mormon. i respect my religion. by the way, i respect his religion, too. but when it comes to this, the holocaust memory is something that we have been working for since the end of the war.

that is our obsession now, our ideal now, not to allow the world to forget what happened. >> we did reach out we should say that cnn has reached out to the mitt romney campaign and the campaign has referred us to any questions on this issue should be referred to the mormon church. and speaking of the mormon church, the mormon church has responded, professor, telling the salt lake tribune the following in a statement that "the church's policy is that members can request these baptisms only for their own ancestors. proxy baptisms of holocaust victims are strictly prohibited. they go on to say that in this case, in your case, the wiesel family names were not submitted for baptism but simply entered into a jean logical database. our system would have rejected those names had they been submitted." that's from a church spokesman. so are you satisfied with that explanation from the church? >> that is for them to say. i am not satisfied with the idea that some jews could be

converted no matter how. again, in the jewish religion we don't have that. when a man, a person, a woman is dead leave him alone. leave him in peace. >> now, there is -- as you well know there have been a number of stories in the news recently that have really brought to the forefront the question of religious liberty. and it often is asked, and i will ask you here, when is it okay? is it okay for one person to tell another person how to practice their religious beliefs? >> i practice my religion and i don't want anyone who's not jewish to do that. i'm not saying to anyone how to practice his or her religion. of course. but when it comes to other people, my religion would be to convert another person to my religion i would say, come on, it's silly. >> professor wiesel, thank you so much for joining us. thank you for your time. >> thank you.

coming up, iran's nuclear negotiator says his country is willing to resume talks about its nuclear program. but there might be a catch. and lin-sani t y is spreading to the magic kingdom. we'll tell you what jeremy lin will be doing in orlando at the nba all-star weekend. peat histo. we had to create it. introducing the 2013 lexus gs, with leading-edge safety technology, like available blind spot monitor... [ tires screech ] ...night view... and heads-up display. [ engine revving ] the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back.

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developing story we want to bring to you right now, a fair of f 16 fighters from the north american aerospace defense command intercepted a small plane that violated the no fly zone imposed for president obama's visit today. what's going on here? >> reporter: anytime the president goes someplace, often when there are major events as well there's something called a temporary flight restriction that goes into place. essentially what was going on here is a cessna 182, private aviation plane, violated that flight restriction. it was shortly after noon. two fighter jets were scrambled from march air force base. they intercepted the plane. basically they tracked it for about half an hour, made communication with the plane, forced it down to land. the person was intercepted by law enforcement when the plane landed. still a little bit unclear where all the major players were at this point. obviously one of the concerns is when the temporary flight restriction was violated where

the president was, where various folks who travel with him were. that's what we're looking into. but tfr is very common when the president travels. they are set up in that air space. you certainly see why. >> obviously a bit of an investigation to happen now what that plane was doing, why it was there. but obviously you'll be tracking all of that in this developing story. you'll be coming back and we'll be talking to you in a little bit, thanks, lizzy. let's check in with alison kosik with news. >> reporter: iran says it's willing to resume talks about its nuclear program according to a letter from the nation's nuke leash negotiator sent to the european union. cnn obtained a copy of the letter. it is unclear whether it is to ease financial sanctions against iran. a bipartisan group of congressional negotiators signed off on an agreement thursday to extend the payroll tax cut and

unemployment benefits while avoiding a fee cut for medicare doctors for the rest of the year. the measure now goes to the house and senate for final votes. new research out of dartmouth college says there's a worrisome amount of arsenic in some baby formulas, specifically cited are formulas listing organic brown rice syrup as the primary ingredient. according to the researchers, the levels of arsenic found were significantly higher than what the federal limit allows for drinking or bottled water. there are currently no u.s. regulations limiting the levels of arsenic in food. the nba announced it's inviting new york knicks sensation jeremy quickly the all-star game. espn says lin will take part in a shooting competition, not the actual all-star game. just two weeks ago the point guard was unheard of. and reportedly living on his brother's couch here in new york. but those days are over now, of course. he now has a place of his own in one of donald trump's towers. and the department of backfiring

political ads, the actress in u.s. senate candidate peter hookster's super bowl ad now says she's deeply sorry for any pain the character she portrayed brought to asian american communities. the ad attacked democratic senator debbie stabinell of michigan who says sent u.s. jobs to china. critics call the ad racist. makes you wonder if she knew what she was getting into. >> can't decide if she will or will not want to put this on her resume' tape. >> reporter: i'll take a stab at that. i'm thinking no. >> thanks so much. also coming up a suspected drunken pilot nearly makes it to the cockpit but one call helped keep him on the ground. we're talking about g.m.'s record profits with the michigan's mayor. he's a romney supporter. -- sorry michigan's governor, rather, i should say. how does governor rick snyder feel about his candidate bashing the auto bailouts?

>> it's not like an armchair quarterback. the history of that situation. more important thing is -- a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes?

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coming up this half hour, pretty amazing story. a pilot suspected of being drunk is stopped just steps away from

boarding the plane. the call to police -- questions tonight about why production of "the colbert report" was halted. first let's get one story that had us talking. a pilot suspected of being drunk almost made it onto a passenger plane for his 6:00 a.m. flight out of omaha. he was stopped near the gate by police. cnn's aviation and regulation correspondent lizzy o' leary is here with us. lizzy, how were authorities tipped off to this? >> reporter: they were tipped off by a hotel shut el driver who was driving basically this pilot from the hotel to the airport. and they notified airport police this guy had actually already gone through security and he was

stopped before he got on the plane. this is something there's a rule that pilots exist under called bottle to throttle. you can't drink within eight hours of flying. and this is something that happens every now and then. and usually the tips come from either co-workers, crew members, sometimes tsa screeners or passengers. >> first off, scary to hear that. and also, just makes me think, you know, this is not the first time i have heard a story like this. how frequently does this happen? >> reporter: on average you're talking about a dozen or 13 a year or so over the past decade. and you can sort of see the trends. this is something that the airlines look out for, that obviously regulators look out for. what is considered drunk in faa speak is a lot lower than say some police department that might pull you over for a dui, dwi. we're talking about a.04 blood-alcohol level. and obviously, if you're flying that's something you'd probably like to see the lower number is better. even in the u.k. it's lower than

that. so this is certainly something that authorities watch. because it's not something they want to see happen, kate. >> not someone anyone that's boarding a plane tonight wants to hear. sorry if you're in an airport tonight. lizzy, thank you so much. we'll talk to you later. so we've been talking tonight about g.m.'s record profits. the motor city may be back. but mitt romney who says he's a son of detroit, he's no longer leading in michigan. a detroit news wdiv poll shows rick santorum is in front with 34%, and mitt romney with 30%. and the other candidates? far back from there. let's talk all this over with our chief political analyst gloria borger. gloria, so why is santorum in the lead? wasn't this kind of a done deal for so long for mitt romney? >> a couple months ago. but nothing's been a done deal in this republican primary process. >> so true. >> i was talking to a senior santorum adviser today, raised that question. what's going on here? he makes the case that people can relate to rick santorum in this state, that they like him

more than they like mitt romney, that he's got a more populist story to tell, that he once represented steel workers, for example, and also that he's got a plan to zero out the tax rate for manufacturing which is really a big deal in the state of michigan. but there's one other thing that's really important. that is conservative and evangelical voters. we think of michigan as a blue state, barack obama won it. >> absolutely. >> it's a state that could be in play this time. do not underestimate how conservative the republicans are in that state. way back in 1988, pat robertson had his best showing in the state of michigan. so keep that in mind when you think of rick santorum. >> you and i were talking before that michigan is going to be very important. >> oh, yeah. >> i wanted to ask you, though, how important is the auto bailout to michigan voters? >> oh, it's -- well, it's interesting. we talk about the auto bailout all the time. >> right. >> and we say, it's going to be important. state of michigan, detroit.

well, the detroit news asked that very question to voters in the state. and they asked, would you be more or less likely to support a candidate who opposed giving government loans to the auto industry? look at this. 51% said absolutely no difference. now,ies that? well, first of all, both mitt romney and rick santorum opposed the bailout. this is a republican primary. now rick santorum has a good sort of campaign line. he said, look, we both opposed the bailout. but i also opposed the wall street bailout. and where was mitt romney when it came to wall street? wanted to bail them out. >> they've got to find one way to differentiate themselves. >> it might have some resonance out there. >> we will definitely see. you'll be there. gloria get some sleep. talk to you later. romney got some helped to in michigan picking up the endorsement of the state's republican governor, rick snyder. we spoke with the governor earlier this afternoon. >> governor, general motors

today reported record profits, $7.6 billion. and back in '09 president obama was criticized really from the left and from the right on his decision to bail out the auto industry. so is today's news a vindication of sorts for that controversial move? you're on the ground. >> well, i don't look at it that way. the way i view it is, it's not right to armchair quarterback the history of that situation. the more important thing is it got done and the auto industry is going great. so it's great to see the success. i'm very proud of the auto industry in michigan we're the auto capital. the big question i would hope we'll be asking our political people in this election, what are we going to do to reduce the unemployment rate by half rather than rehash what went on with the auto bailout. >> on that very point, the other big story of the day i want to now turn to the race to the white house. you announced that you're endorsing mitt romney today. but you have a couple of things going on here. you have your endorsement. you also as you well know had romney really slamming that auto bailout back when it happened.

i want to read to you his words which i know you have heard before. "crony capitalism on a grand scale. even worse he says than bankruptcy. it would make g.m. the living dead." so how do you square that criticism coming from governor romney with your endorsement? you said it yourself. this is really the industry in your state. >> well, i don't have an issue with that. because again i'm not going to go revisit the past. i want to look toward the future. i'm excited to endorse governor romney because of his stand on economics and economic growth. the biggest issue how do we create more jobs in our country. michigan is one of the comeback stories in the united states right now. we're doing really well because we didn't spend our time on divisiveness. it's about coming together, finding common ground and moving ahead. governor romney has a good background for that and good plan so i'm excited to support him. >> do you think those words could come back to haunt him in this primary? >> that's always within of the challenges. i trust his judgment on that. as a practical matter again i

look towards the future. that's what our constituents really care about. too much time spent on the past. we've got a very troubleded national government. again our state's doing well. one of the things holding us back is what's going on in washington between the budget, the deficit, all those kind of questions. we need to get that straightened out and there'll be more jobs for all of us. i just encourage washington to move forward and let's get the right leadership there. talk about some important numbers today. mitt romney calls himself a son of detroit. his father was governor there for six years. yet romney is surprisingly right now trailing rick santorum by four points in a detroit news poll. why isn't this plain and simply a slam-dunk for mitt romney? >> you never take states for granted. it's great to have mitt in the state campaigning. i think you're going to see that turn around. i think people are going to really respond. it should be about more and better jobs and the future for our children. and he's got a very strong plan. that's why i'm very supportive. and i think that's going to resonate well with miciganders.

>> mitt romney was asked yesterday about your detroit tigers. and here's what he said. >> tigers or red sox? >> oh, red sox i'm afraid. i've lived in massachusetts for how many years now? 40 years. >> governor, i have family that live in detroit. my husband is from detroit. how can you stand for that kind of an answer with the man you have endorsed? >> well, no one's perfect. we all have our challenges. and on the common ground issues we agree. but as a practical matter, detroit's the sports city in the country. i mean we've got the tigers, the lions, the red wings, the pistons and we're just going to keep going. so if you want great sports, michigan's the place to be. >> i'll tell you my husband very excited about prince fielder. that pickup for the tigers that will take on the red sox any day. thank you, governor, so much for your time. >> i like that passion. thanks. it was great to be with you. thank you. >> thank you so much. we'll see you at the primary. great conversation with the governor. but heading back to the northeast, new jersey governor chris christie is standing by his decision to fly state flags

at half-staff for whitney houston's funeral this saturday. christie says he's disturbed by critics who in his words believe houston forfeited the good things that she did in her life because of her history of substance abuse. the governor calls the new jersey-born singer a cultural icon in the state's history. >> whitney houston was an important part of the fabric, cultural fabric of this state. and as i said, on the night of her passing, i think she belongs in the same category from a musical perspective in new jersey history with folks like frank sinatra and count basie and bruce springsteen. she was a cultural icon in this state. >> cnn's jason carroll is in new york. jason, you've been follow thchlgt it seems that not everyone in the state agrees with the governor. what are you hearing? >> reporter: well, he's got a lot of critics out there, kate, who are basically saying that when it comes to lowering flags to half-staff, that is something, critics say, should

be reserved for veterans, people who have fallen in the line of duty of state dignitaries, something to that effect. when i spoke to some folks earlier today, especially those from veterans, they had the exact opposite opinion. but first i want you to listen to what some of the critics have to say. >> i thought it was a little bit too much. because where do you draw the line then the next time somebody from new jersey dies who was in the entertainment field? >> reporter: now again, a little earlier, kate, i was out speaking to some veterans at a v.a. hospital. and surprisingly, they had the opposite opinion. they basically felt the same way that the governor did, basically saying that this is a woman who did a lot for the state, did a lot for her community. and in their eye, at least the veterans i spoke, to they say she deserves to be recognized. kate? >> it really is amazing. the issue of the governor, anytime he says anything there are people talking about what that governor has to say. jason, i do also want to ask you about saturday's funeral.

we're hearing more about the plans for houston's funeral service. what do you know? >> reporter: well, right, kate. it seems with every passing day the list keeps growing of notables who will be attending. we do know that aretha franklin will be singing, stevie wonder also will be performing at the service, roberta flack will be attending, kevin costner of course her co-star from "the bodyguard" he will be speaking at the service. also i spoke with kim burrell. anyone in the gospel world knows kim's name, kate. she was friends with whitney houston for 13 years, performed with whitney last year. kim told me a little earlier today that she too will be performing at the service here on saturday. she will be singing a song called "i believe in me, you and me." this was a song that was near and dear to whitney houston's heart. and kim burrell telling me the family actually chose that song. she will be performing during the service here on saturday.

kate? >> as you well know, cnn will have coverage of all of that. thank you so much, jason, for your good work. talk to you soon. also ahead after much anticipation rick santorum has finally released his taxes. what do they tell us about the republican presidential candidate? we'll find out more next. what's this? [ male announcer ] quaker oatmeal squares

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finally we're getting a look at rick santorum's tax returns. after weeks of promises he

released his forms for the years 2007 through 2010, years after he lost his re-election bid to the u.s. senate. senior congressional correspondent dana bash is here to take us through these numbers. so dana, santorum's done pretty well for himself since leaving congress, eh? >> reporter: how would you like to qaudruple your salary in one year? that's what he did after he was defretted from the senate in 2006. in the private sector nearly $670,000. by 2009 he earned $1.1 million. his effective tax rate i should tell you was between 25 and 28%. that's relevant because you remember now famously mitt romney paid about 14.5% effective tax rate because that was just on investments. >> but dana, he may be surging in the polls but he still trails his opponents when you want to talk about net income, right? >> reporter: he made a lot but not as much as his opponents. mitt romney's income for 2010

was 21.7 million. newt gingrich 3.1 million. rick santorum $930,000. another interesting thing, kate, charitable giving. santorum if you look at all four years of the release come bind he gave a little more than $81,000 of his $3.6 million. that's about 2%. that's far less than what mitt romney gave percentage-wise. just a little less than what newt gingrich gave. >> and santorum constantly, as they all try to, refer to their humble roots. he has done that quite a bit. are these earnings, are these tax returns, are they going to hurt him in any way? >> reporter: he is the grandson of a coal miner. i don't know if you've heard him say that before. that is definitely a big part of his pitch. as you well know, mitt romney is making the case over and over again as he's trying to pull santorum down he's just a washington insider. when you look at the way santorum made his money, he actually did use some of the contacts that he made in washington. he made his money on healthcare

interests, on energy interests, media contracts. and i also want you to look at this picture. i believe we have a picture of his home in suburban washington. there you go. you see it. his home that he bought right after he left the senate. now, he needs a big home for seven kids. >> no kidding. >> reporter: but that takes a good chunk of change to buy there. and by the way, it's again in suburban washington, another point of controversy if you're the romney campaign. because he didn't go back to pennsylvania, he stayed in and around the beltway. >> they do like to talk about being the washington outsider, though. dana, we'll talk to you soon, thanks so much. so let's continue the conversation of money and politics with none other than nan republican strategist and president of media speaks strategies. james carville, a democratic strategist and cnn contributor. let's talk about rick santorum's tax returns. there has been a lot of hoopla over tax returns and taxes in general. in the end when you think about

it, is anyone voting on this information, do you think, nancy? >> i don't think so. although i do believe that particularly for someone like a romney who's got an income that far exceeds most of -- most normal people's expectations for their lifetime that it's really incumbent on them to be for tax reform. what's interesting is, both romney and santorum really are the republican contenders who have never embraced in my opinion enthusiastically tax reform. >> from the democratic perspective, are democrats waiting for these tax returns, too? >> yeah, you know, i don't think so so much. in his rate he paid 28%. the interest is how different sources of income are taxed at different rates. i think that's sort of a teaching moment for the country. the interesting thing is, in their culture that this sort of i'd olizing entrepreneurs and everything, rick santorum was anything but an entrepreneur. he was a guy that scammed government. not saying he earned a dishonest living. but i mean when he left he didn't go out and create a bunch

of jobs. he did that and apparently did pretty well at it. i'm sure he did people a decent job. so i think that's the only thing romney would have a little bit of an opening there, how many votes it's worth i have no idea. >> i think probably there might be a couple of people who might have issue with the scam government part. but we can leave it there. >> why would they pay him that kind of money? >> president obama didn't exactly create a lot of jobs in the private sector, either. so in a weird way, but in a weird way, that may be emblematic of the challenge that we're facing. you have an economy that's on its back and the question is who has the capability on turn that around. i agree with james, i think romney has a slight advantage there. >> common law professor versus a lobbyist. >> let's talk about michigan. all eyes are on michigan. romney not looking so much like a front run ne erniner anymore. we found this sound bite. let me know if you think santorum is squandering the lead with this commend.

>> governor romney assumed the bailout of wall street and decided not to support the bailout of detroit. my feeling was that we should not support -- the government should not be involved in bailouts, period. >> is he giving romney too much room there? shouldn't he have jumped at the opportunity to not support any bailouts? is he giving him too much room there? >> look, that was his position, if you will. i point out that gm announced earnings of $7.8 billion last year and jd power thing ranked cadillac third in all car brands in the world. so they're doing pretty between. if he tried to go in michigan and reverse his position, i mean, he'd have subjected himself to ridicule like you've never seen and that's been his consistent position. it's a much more popular position in the republican party. >> i want to get to one file

topic because you'll love talking about it. gingrich has not been in the headlines very much recently. >> darn. >> exactly. but there is one person that is telling you to not count him out. gingrich himself. listen to this. >> this has had a wild rhythm. it resembles riding space mountain at disney. i've been frontrunner twice. i suspect i'll be front-runner again in the next few weeks. >> any chance it will happen? >> it's been so volatile all along, but it doesn't surprise me that the former speaker believes he will be the frontrunner. his biggest fan, maybe his wife is his biggest fan, but i think it's fascinating to see people who self select into politics and just the uberous that seems to go along with that. >> romney and santorum could go after each other. he hasn't totally collapsed. if they go after each other, he

might see an opening. >> i like rick santorum's approach to the romney machine by going with humor. i thought that was very, very wise particularly since he can't go dollar for dollar. there's no question that santorum is punching above his weight, if you will, right now if you look at the dollars invested and the votes returned. >> if we've learned anything, we know we can't count anybody out at this will point. >> stay tuned. >> stay tuned. and we love it. thank you nancy and james. erin burnett out front is coming up at the top of the hour and affair erin is here with a . >> we'll be talking about whether iran actually could be planning and could be able to attack on american soil. we're talking about lone wolf type of attacks, attacks against american civilians. how real is this and what actually was in the behind the scenes intelligence briefing. we'll get to the bottom of that as we continue to focus on the iranian threat, how real is it,

how severe is it and what the united states can do about it. representative peter king will be our guest. that and a lot more coming up. back to you. >> thanks, erin. so there's a new mystery on the comedy channel. nobody's telling what happened, but the colbert report will be in an unexpected rerun tonight. also a conservative congressman and tea party assumer supporter you've probably never seen or heard before. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained. the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back.

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liberty mutual insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? alison kosik is back with the latest news you need to know right now. >> anti-crime group in washington state is rallying to block josh powell's relatives from burying him next to his two sons. powell killed charles and braden earlier this month. crime stoppers and local sheriff actually bought the plots on both sides of where the boys are buried. an attorney for the boys' maternal grandparents plan to seek a temporary restraining order to block the burial. and the network apprun bankruptcy write suspended production of the colbert report because of unforeseen circumstances. there is an emergency in his

familiar. and some white house visitors ran into might be shael obama and the first family's dog bo. this was intention al. the first lady tweeted that she and the white house's biggest celebrity would be greeting tourists. see if they were reading their twitter feed, they would have known ahead of time, but it's if they weren't because it was a nice surprise i'm sure. >> absolutely. who is the bigger celebrity? any kid i've talked to is obsessed with finding out if i've met bo. finally, today's moment, you missed or may have missed. florida republican congress pan allen west has a reputation to being a fiery supporter of the tea party. but we bet you didn't know he's also quite a singer. check out this youtube video of him doing pretty woman. ♪ i don't believe you, you're not the truth, no one could look as