primaries continue because you're making yourself so far right wing that you alien mate yourself to moderate voters. >> i think it's interesting george w. bush and newt gingrich as the models of compassion. >> 40 something% of latinos voted for george bush. >> reasonable stances. >> on that issue. >> that is it. stop. time to get to "cnn newsroom" with kyra phillips. with kyra phillips. it begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com we begin with breaking news this hour. we are learning of a marine helicopter crash in arizona. pentagon correspondent barbara starr joining us. barbara, what exactly have you learned? >> reporter: sad news, kyra. two marine corps helicopters crashed. they reported that seven marines, all the marines on board, both those helicopters were killed when there was that mid-air collision last night. a full investigation underway.

families being notified today, receiving the sad news. one was a uh 1 helicopter, one an ah 1 w helicopter. very routine training exercise by all accounts and sadly a mid-air collision killing all seven marines on board both heel lows overnight. >> we will follow all of the breaking details that we get from you, barbara, and also the investigation now taking place. barbara starr at the pentagon, thanks. >> sure. look, it's no surprise when you reach the top, you get a target on your back. and poll surging rick santorum found that out last night at cnn's debate in arizona. >> while i was fighting to save the olympics, you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere. you're entitled to your opinions but you're not entitled to -- >> i've heard that line before. >> misrepresent the facts and you're misrepresenting the facts. you don't know what you're talking about. >> yes, governor you balanced the budget for four years. you have a constitutional requirement to balance the budget in four years.

no great shakes. i'd like to see it federally but don't go around bragging about something you have to do. michael dukakis balanced the budget for ten years. does that make him qualified to be president of the united states? i don't think so. political gurus mark preston and paul steinhauser were at the debate. mark, let's go ahead and start with you. romney and santorum definitely throwing heat, but it looked like santorum felt the burn maybe a little bit more. >> reporter: yeah. you know, i wrote yesterday right before the debate, kyra, that rick santorum does very well when he's the hunter but how would he do as the hunted? he was the hunted last night. and i've got to tell you what, i think it was very unsettling for him to really be in the middle of it all. for someone that was taking heat not only from mitt romney, but, boy, he took it from ron paul last night as well. so this morning as we wake up here in arizona, as people wake up across the country after watching the debate, the question is will rick santorum continue to have the momentum that we've seen him build up over the past ten days or so?

i think last night was not his greatest night. in fact, i think it might have been probably a win in the mitt romney column because he did very well as the hunted, kyra. paul, romney also throwing a little heat at our john king. let's take a listen to this. . >> we're going to have to create more jobs, have less debt, and shrink the size of government. i'm the only person -- >> is there a misconception about you? the question is a misconception. >> you get to ask the questions you want. i get to give the answers i want. >> fair enough. >> tell you what, paul, i mean, it's like romney sees gingrich go at john last time around. now decides to do the same thing. is this going to become a beat up on john king? >> you know, take a page out of the gingrich playbook. newt gingrich was very effective in the debates up until now in going after the moderators, going after the mainstream media. maybe romney taking a page out of it. you know, i was writing on

cnn.com that romney had to go on the attack against gingrich. what mark was talking about. he was pretty effective. listen, was it mitt romney's best debate? no, it wasn't. he did what he needed to do. he needed to bring rick santorum down to size. after the debate was over mark and i were in the spin room. i was talking to some top romney advisors. they were very pleased with what happened and they're confident. kyra, they say they're confident they'll win not only in arizona but also that close contest in michigan. >> rick perry also in mesa making a pretty bold prediction. >> well, yeah. >> we may have two or three more front-runners before august gets here. it won't surprise me for this to go all the way to the convention. >> what do you guys make of that? mark preston? >> reporter: well, i think that rick perry, of course, is a newt gingrich supporter and newt gingrich was talking about going all the way to the convention, right? >> what's the reality? what's the reality of that? >> reporter: well, the reality is, first of all, at least rick

perry was on message which some would say during debates he wasn't on message. >> reporter: for the first time. >> reporter: for the first time. look, the reality of that happening, it's not going to happen. there are four men running for president right now. two of them who are really locked in the knife fight right now for the nomination. of course that's rick santorum and mitt romney. and it's going to play out over the next, you know, four our foof months. >> reporter: kyra, listen, if romney does stumble in michigan or arizona or on super tuesday, yeah, this thing will go on for a while longer. if romney does very well on tuesday and on super tuesday, march 6th, maybe this thing doesn't go as far as we thought. >> reporter: could wrap up quicker than we thought, kyra. >> reporter: stay tuned. >> there you go. on top of that rick perry was very nice to our john king. mark, paul, thanks so much. join us tuesday night for america's choice 2012. we're going to be following the arizona and michigan primaries with a special ee degs of jonk king u.s.a. complete live results starting at 7:00 eastern with wolf blitzer and the best political

team on television. syria's government is offering condolences now to the families of two western journalists. but it denies reports that it was responsible for the attacks in homs that killed them. meanwhile, we continue to monitor the amateur video that comes in from syria and a report in a british newspaper is saying that intercepted military communications suggest that syrian troops targeted the journalists that were killed. opposition protesters in the battered city of homs honored american marie colvin and french man remi ochlik. they will hammer out a plan to get humanitarian aid to the civilians in syria. meantime, the protests over the koran burning by nato troops in afghanistan continue and so

does the violence. u.s. soldiers and demonstrators have been injured while president obama apologizes to afghan president hamid karzai. zain verjee following that out of london. what exactly did the president say? >> reporter: good morning, kyra. the president says this, we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding accountable those responsible. he apologized and said that handling materials, religious materials like the koran, was just unintentional mishandling. at the same time today, kyra, u.s. diplomats in kabul as well as both in the north and south of afghanistan are on total lockdown because of the increase in protests that have been going on. now what the taliban have come out and said the so-called apologies, they mean nothing. what they have done, kyra, is to call for more attacks on nato troops, on nato military bases as well as to inflict the most amount of violence possible because of what they see as

intolerance and bigotry and the treatment of the koran. you mentioned there was some violence today. there were two demonstrators killed outside a military base when there was gunfire, a couple of u.s. soldiers were also injured and seven afghans too. >> zain verjee out of london for us. a former lacrosse player faces years behind bars. just after a jury found him guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend. details ahead. talk about someone who's pretty cool under pressure. a tv reporter in tampa reporting live, see what happens right behind her? two cars collide. you will a he see the live shot next. your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional.

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news we told you about ten minutes ago. a marine spokesperson now confirming that seven marines have been killed after two helicopters collided last night. it happened during a routine training operation near yuma, arizona. training complex right there in that area. no word yet on what went wrong. we are on the investigation. we'll bring you the details as we get them. all right. checking other stories cross-country now. boulder, colorado. winds reaching 80 miles an hour. strong enough to flip cars, as you can see here, and even knock a person off his feet. some homes were damaged. and a number of trees and light polls snapped as well. in sacramento, california, a fast-moving grass fire engulfs hundreds of bee hives overnight. they have to put out the flames and try not to get stung. now watch this. costs go up too so you could see fewer people driving.

calm as a cucumber. she didn't even flinch as you saw the car and cab slam right into each other. she did make sure, however, that the drivers got out moments later. she wanted to make sure they were okay and they are. former university of virginia lacrosse player faces up to 26 years behind bars. a jury found george huguely guilty of second degree murder for the death of yeardley love in may 2010. a judge will sentence huguely in april. ashleigh banfield live in new york with more on this case. ashleigh, is the verdict a surprise? >> you know, i stopped getting surprised after o.j. and casey anthony, i'll be quite honest with you. in this one i felt it could have gone either way. could have gone felony murder, life for that. second degree sounds like it's appropriate given a lot of the evidence in this case. some people may disagree, and that's the american way. however, second degree can carry up with it this very large penalty of up to 40 years.

so 25 for that and then the additional one year for the additional conviction is sort of a middle of the road thing. >> what do you think? will huguely appeal? >> you know, that's a great question because at first i thought, why would he appeal when the other option is so much worse? he could actually go to trial again and someone might consider him -- a panel might consider him guilty of first degree. it's probably a no loss situation for him to appeal this because he's already had the recommendation for 26 years so he can't get a recommendation for any more than that. the only thing he can hope for is that maybe another jury down the road might consider this a manslaughter. that's if, if they can find some problem with the case that reaches an appellate level. >> all right. so the jury recommended 26 years in prison. can the judge change that? >> yeah. you bet. the judge can downward depart from that and judges do really remarkable things. i have learned never to expect anything when judges actually take the bench on sentence day. this one is so political though

and this one is so scrutinized, i wouldn't -- i wouldn't -- well, i would be surprised if he departed too much from it, but it will be a day that we should all watch very carefully to see just what he does with that jury's recommendation. >> all right. ashleigh banfield, thanks so much. >> sure. prices at the pum rise again. they've hit a record for february. we're talking about that next. and no more mademoiselle? we'll explain why feminists are forcing some changes on the french government. [ jennifer garner ] there's a lot of beautiful makeup out there.

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no more mademoiselle. that's right. feminists went to war over the word and they won. zain verjee has that from

london. zain, i always thought it was such an elegant, sophisticated way of addressing a woman. >> reporter: it was, absolutely, mademoiselle kyra phillips. no, madam, we cannot do that, okay? we have to now use the word madam, which is now seen as a lot more neutral, because the feminists in france are saying how come all the men get to be called monsieur whether they're married or not. it's like what happened with germany. they said we won't use it for official use because it means little women or little woman and same with seniorita for the spanish. it's old-fashioned. mademoiselle is out. what's happening is that the government's officially banned it. when you fill out all the official documentation and go through the french bureaucracy, there will no longer be the

option to say mademoiselle or madame, they're saying you can't discriminate, be condescending or sexist. that is what has happened in france today. and it's been a big deal for feminists. they're claiming this is a huge victory and they're saying this is way more than just symbolic. ps, kyra, the french first round of voting elects is just around the corner, a few weeks away. this may do something a little extra to get the women vote in there. oui, madame? >> i understand now. what about the magazine? what will you do with that? >> they'll have to call it madame. i think that this only relates to the official use in the french bureaucracy. so fashion magazines and other popular culture things, they'll still do whatever they want. >> not an issue. >> oui.

i prefer sherry. >> so does stevie wonder. just don't mess with the crocque, monsieur. my favorite sandwich. i know that you don't want to hear this, but gas prices keep rising. should i call alison kosik mademoiselle, madame. maybe i'll stick with darling. zain says it in such a romantic way. alison, how about ali? >> ali, a lot of people call me ali. you can call me ali, kyra. all my friends call me ali. let's go ahead and talk about jobs first, shall we? the number of people filing for first-time jobless claims held steady at 351,000. analysts had been expecting a modest rise. there's a little good news there. claims are holding close to a four-year low. it's a good sign for the jobs market. okay. so we got the good news out of the way. now let's get to the bad news.

gas prices. according to aaa they jumped by 3.3 cents overnight. it doesn't sound like a lot, but it is a big jump. it brings the national average for a gallon of regular to $3.61 a gallon. it's the 16th day in a row prices have gone up. why is this happening? analysts are pointing to tensions with iran which have caused a big run up in crude oil prices. crude accounts for more than half the price of gasoline. kyra, we're getting reports about gas stations near disney world that are charging almost $6 a gallon. how to ruin a vacation. when you're on your way. became, $5.79 a gallon. nice. >> not nice. alison, thank you. if you had one word to describe each of the gop presidential candidates, what would it be? you're going to love what gingrich said. that's coming up. a little note on google websites say that their privacy policy is changing. they mean it. now it's got some privacy

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syria's president al-assad loses power, that opens up a whole new can of worries. barbara starr says u.s. military leaders are working on options. >> reporter: what if it all gets even worse in syria? the white house is still pitting hopes on a plip mow ma particular solution. >> in terms of a military action to secure part of the country, that is not currently a policy we're pursuing. >> reporter: but as secretary of state hillary clinton heads to tunisia for syria talks, the idea of arming the rebels isn't

going away. a state department official said arming the opposition will likely be discussed but the u.s. position is it's not a good idea. one worry, iran and russia. both still support bashar al-assad's regime and no one is sure who the opposition really is. >> until we're a lot clearer about who they are and what they are, i think it would be premature to talk about arming them. >> reporter: then there's concern about al qaeda's presence. >> another disturbing phenomenon that we've seen recently apparently is the presence of extremists who have infiltrated the opposition groups. >> reporter: the u.s. military is preparing options for the president should it be requested. one nightmare scenario they are considering, what to do if the regime falls and syria's stockpile of chemical weapons is looted. cnn has learned a classified military analysis estimates in a worst case scenario it could take more than 75,000 troops to

secure the sites. >> that's a very large number. >> reporter: the u.s. military believes there's more than 50 chemical weapon sites across the country. >> syria probably has one of the largest programs in the world. it has multiple types of chemical agent. the world war i gases like chlorine, phosgene, the nerve gases. >> reporter: the worries range from al qaeda to hezbollah getting their hands on the weapons. >> what would worry me the most is artillery shells with chemical weapons would be sold or moved to hezbollah and that would really alter their capabilities against israel substantially. >> so, barbara, it seems like we always hear that the military is going to need tens of thousands of troops for pretty much any mission. is this realistic? >> reporter: that is the key question here, kyra. it's one of the reasons they're pressing, the obama administration is, for

diplomatic solution. any military intervention really quickly does become a nightmare scenario. 75,000 troops very, very unlikely, but it's the kind of options planning that the military does so they can present what they believe is the worst case scenario. they know they're not going to get it if it comes to that, they just hope it doesn't come to that, that there is a diplomatic resolution to this crisis very soon. kyra? >> barbara starr at the pentagon. thanks. let's check other top stories. president obama's apologizing to afghan president harmid karzai. the incident has sparked protests and the taliban is calling for muslisms to attack nato military bases and convoys now. seven marines are dead after two helicopters crash. the accident happened last night during a training exercise near yuma, arizona. with gas prices skyrocketing, president obama will talk about reducing dependence on foreign oil. president's speech is in miami this afternoon.

he'll also touch on ways to expand oil and gas production. okay. presidential campaigns and debates are all about selling yourself. talking about how great you are, how dreadful your rivalries are. egos come out. humility is left at the door. case in point last night to date in the desert. each candidate was asked to describe how fabulous he is in one word. let's start with ron paul. >> consistent. >> senator santorum? >> courage. governor? >> resolute. >> mr. speaker? >> cheerful. >> well, resolute robert and consistent cain are here with us this morning. whose self-description was most accurate last night, gentlemen? robert, let's start with you?

>> you've got to give it to ron paul. without question he's consistent. he hasn't changed his positions since the 1800s. but, in fact, realistically, neither has the republican party changed their positions. they're still debating against contraceptive rights for women. they're still defending the gilded age in terms of their economic policy. it really reflects how out of touch not just the republican party is but how hypocritical the conservative movement has become. >> shame on you picking on the older guy in the race, robert. will, what's your take? >> what am i supposed to do here. answer your question or rebut everything robert just said? the answer to your question, kyra, is ron paul. undoubtedly. he is unwaiveringly consistent on any position, regardless how popular it might be. he deserves a ton of credit for being so consistent. robert, come on, at least we have to recognize that there's a legitimate debate going on about religious liberties. whether or not it's really about

contraception, i'm not going to debate you about that. i think we should agree. one side thinks it's about contraception. the other says religious liberties. >> there is no debate amongst the american people about contraceptive rights for women. every poll that you've seen conducted not just about the american people at large but about catholic women in particular shows they believe they are entitled to and they respect the right of contraceptive care being provided for insurance. >> no one on that stage last night, not one man on that stage and i'll probably include john king in this as well, is looking to ban the ability of women to find access to contraception. >> that is false, man. >> not one man wants to make contraception tifs illegal. this is about who pays for it. >> no, it's not, will. >> religious institutions be forced to pay for a health care service they want to. that's it. >> that is not the issue. >> final thought here. move on. will, that's not the issue at all because the accommodation

the obama administration reached protected the religious institutions from paying for it and the insurance companies were footing the bill. >> let's talk about santorum, all right? the jeremy lin. the sansayings. he's the big target. case in point ron paul saying will the real santorum please stand up. >> we have a new television ad that labels him a fake. why? >> because he's a fake. >> i'm real, ron. i'm real. >> congratulations. >> uncomfortable moment there. fake or not, will? >> i'm not going to call him fake, but etc. will' say this. he's earned this reputation as the conservative purist, pure play in this election. i don't think that's an earned position. i think whether or not he's talking about favoring certain industries in the economy by providing lower tax rates to manufacturers or kind of just generally ignoring the tenth amendment on so many issues he might find are moral or

righteous regardless of where it falls, he doesn't deserve the mantle of conservative purist? is he fake? i'm not going to go that far. >> robert. >> i would agree with will. i wouldn't call him a purist. he's cornered the market on the zealot movement and represents that wing of the party without question. can you imagine how galling it's got to be to be called fake on the stage with mitt romney next to him? that has to be a bit frustrating, i'm sure, in rick santorum's defense. >> robert and will, there's one thing you guys are not, you are not fake. that's for sure. thanks, guys. google is making some big changes to its privacy policy. this one's a doozy. it allows the company to have a complete profile of everything we do on google. deb simon shows us why this gold mine of user data for google may not be so good for your privacy. >> in the morning i check the headlines on google news.

send some personal e-mail using google's g mail. i may check google maps for driving directions. later at work i remember to do a google search for plumbers. i also need to do research for this story. more searches. later i'll glance at my google calendar for appointments. upload some videos to youtube. and maybe i'll log on to google plus, the company's growing social network. and some variation of this happens almost every single day. >> google knows almost everything about you. >> reporter: that's why privacy watchdogs like peter eckersly are sounding the alarm about their new privacy policy. beginning next month the company is going to keep track of your activity across all of its sites and build a profile of you. google says it will use the information to improve its services. services where, for example, a user can get better search results. >> we'll understand when you search for jaguar, you're looking to are a jaguar. >> reporter: critics say the company is stomping on privacy

to bolster its advertising and increase profits. >> if there are things that you want to keep private about your life, those records are all in there. if there are things that you actually need to prevent other people from knowing about you, those will be in there. >> reporter: those already nervous about the company's influence pounced when it became known last week that google exploited a known weakness in apple safari browser bypassing the browser's privacy settings. >> when i first found what google was doing i thought i had it wrong. i thought i had to have it wrong. >> reporter: jonathan mayer is the stanford researcher who uncovered the safari breech. on the surface he says it may not seem like a serious transgression. google's code was being used only to target ads and user's personal information was never collected. but for some web searches believed to be private were not. and that, mayer says, opens the door to private information being exposed by rogue employees, internet hacking and more. >> doesn't get disclosed because an employee is evil, because the

company messes up? does it get disclosed because the government demands it? >> reporter: as for the new policy, google acknowledges that, quote, people have different privacy concerns. our goal is to be clear about what information we collect, so that you can make meaningful choices about how it is used. the bottom line, people use google because it offers important and useful services that are also free. >> at this point absolutely have to trust google. and in a sense on one hand google is probably more trustworthy than a lot of these other big technology companies, but because they know so much about us, we have to hold them to a higher standard of trust. >> dan simon joining us live. if consumers are concerned about their privacy on google, what can they do about it now? >> reporter: well, the first thing i would suggest they do, kyra, is actually take the time to read google's new privacy policy. i would probably guess that most people have never read a privacy policy. this one is actually pretty easy to understand. they took 60 policies, threw

them all in the garbage, and wrote one up. take the time to actually read it. but there are a couple things that you can do. the privacy controls that google has had for years, they remain unchanged. you can actually go in and edit or delete the web searches that you've done. but the most crucial thing that you can do, kyra, is if you have a google account, you can sign out of it and then do your searches and your searches will remain anonymous. this is a very important issue. it's a growing issue. people should really take the time to learn about it, kyra. >> thanks so much, dan. we've got an update now on that breaking news we brought you about 1/2 hour ago, those seven marines that were killed when two helicopters crashed last night in yuma, arizona. on the phone with me right now, first lieutenant marine dooley. she's the spokesperson from miramar out of san diego. maureen, what can you tell us about this crash? it was a training operation i understand? what details can you tell us of

what happened? >> good morning, kyra. thanks for having us on here. it's never fun to talk about things like this. really all i can tell you is that we did have two aircraft collide last night. one was an ah 1 whisky cobra and one was a uh 1 yankee huey. that's one of the updated, new huey helicopters we have in the marine corps fleet. they were conducting routine training operations. it was nothing really out of the ordinary. we have aircraft going out to yuma training ranges on a weekly basis. they go out there primarily because the aircraft minimum mi micks what they will see in afghanistan. >> were these marines actually training to get ready to go overseas to afghanistan? >> yes. >> okay. >> it was a training -- training exercise to prepare them to deploy. >> gotcha. and are you able to confirm if it's something that went wrong

technically with one of the helicopters? do you know if it was a mistake made on behalf of one of the pilots or crew? >> you know, right now we can't confirm any of that. mainly because the investigation has just started. we've got some folks out there on the ground who are going to be assisting with the investigation. things like that take months so we won't know exactly what happened until the investigation is complete and we can't make any assumptions right now as to what caused it to happen. >> what we can say is this a tough time for a number of families right now. >> it is. >> maureen dooley, appreciate you calling in. thanks so much. quick break. we'll have more from the "cnn newsroom" straight ahead. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning

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well, the academy awards celebrate the movies, but the people in charge of the oscars are actually telling actor cohen not to use the red carpet to promote his movie. a.j. hammer, okay. what's up with this polite warning? >> yeah. well, it looks like what they're doing is cutting it off at the pass. that may be the best approach with sasha baron cohen. he publicly ran around in character with those other films. it looks like that was his plan for the oscars. he plays a sex crazed middle eastern despot for the film. we can understand why they might not have wanted him do that on the red carpet. they have let him know. a spokesperson for the academy is saying this to "showbiz tonight." we would love to have him at the

oscar show. we have expressed to him that we don't like our red carpet to be used as a promotional stunt. we're waiting to hear from him. we put the ball in his court. apparently they can't simply pull his ticket as has been reported. cohen was in hugo, of course. the way it apparently works is the academy a lots a whole bunch of tickets to each film. the film distributes those tickets to whomever they want. i don't know that sasha barron cohen planned to show up like that. maybe he just wanted us to be talking about it right now, which we're doing. well done, sasha. well con. >> on the note of hugo, you and i loved the movie. we'll take a second to give that a shout out. all right. the friends reunion movie, okay, a lot of people waiting for this. they're going to have to wait a little longer, i understand? >> or it may never come. if we're going to go by what jenna anderson told the hollywood reporter, i'm he going to say, no, this is never going to happen. friends is considered a classic tv series. since the show ended in 2004

rumors have always been flying around that the show could actually get the big screen treatment one day. seems kind of right, doesn't it? a lot of fans would certainly love it, but jenna doesn't like it. she was asked about it. she doesn't seem so keen. i can't imagine how you would do it unless you did it years from now. i can't imagine what it would be. it's not normal. friends is in your living room. friends is not in a movie theater. it doesn't make sense to me. i think it would be going against its authentic self which makes a whole lot of sense when you think about it. it is the kind of show you want to slump back in your living room love seat or whatever you have and watch the show. who knows. jen aniston, not so hot on the idea. >> now i know how a.j. watches the tv, in his love asset. >> slunk. >> you slunk. >> i don't know what that word means. >> it works. it's a combination of a few. see you next hour. entertainment w0r8d, as we told you, gearing up for the 84th

annual academy awards. we can slunk in our love assets with a.j. he'll be on the red carpet for this. watch sunday night, 6:30 eastern for "showbiz tonight's" road to gold. that's here on cnn. it's one of the hardest things to do, ask any addict who quit cold turkey. now there's pills that can actually help. one man's story just ahead in our in depth series on addiction. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] not everything powerful has to guzzle fuel. the 2012 e-class bluetec from mercedes-benz. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to getid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own.

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let's make something clear. addiction is a brain disease. it's not a failure of will power. there are medicines that actually shortcut that addiction, too, but why aren't they used more often? we're going in depth. cold turkey in a pill. cnn's chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta now with a third part of thaer series. i've had a lot of people ask me about the series. if you don't mind, is your show this weekend going to incorporate these pieces? >> yes. >> good. >> also the science now which you're alluding here. it's constantly developing. i'll tell you before you watch this, it is controversial still, exactly how you treat this disease. should medications be on the table? if you think of this as a brain disease, should this be an option? it's not for everybody. meet walter kent who it tried everything to stop drinking until he found this. take a look. >> reporter: this is the last place you'd expect to find a recovering alcoholic. >> one of my old favorite watering holes. >> reporter: this is where

walter kent hangs out, a bar called goobers. walter is a giant of a man, but for most of his life he couldn't find the strength to put down that bottle. >> i was the type of person that the only time i drank was when i was alone or with somebody. other than that, there was never a problem. >> reporter: he tried rehab and aa. nothing worked. >> nothing seemed to get rid of that urge. i couldn't get rid of the craving. >> reporter: but then in 2000 he tried again, an experimental program at brown university. this time he got counseling once a week and a daily pill, a medicine called naltrexone. this time it worked. >> when you can lose the total urge, total craving for alcohol, you can beat it. there's no doubt in my mind because i'm living proof. >> now it's not for everybody, to be clear, but walter, nothing else had worked for him. the way this works really quickly is that it basically tamps down that euphoria that you get from taking a drink.

you want to replicate that feeling. you don't get as much of that with this. it has side effects. people get nauseated, no pleasure in other parts of their life. it does improve there, as you saw, walter's life. >> like i said, a lot of people been asking about this. i want to plug that you're that we've talked about on a special edition of "sanjay gupta md" saturday and sunday mornings, 7:30 eastern, right? >> you got it. >> thanks, sanjay. >> thank you. quick break. we'll right back.at e say to thed of identity thieves "enough."hed we're lifelock, and we believe you have the right to live free from the fear of identity theft. our pledge to you? as long as there are identity thieves, we'll be there. we're lifelock. and we offer the most comprehensive identity theft protection ever created. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. [ male announcer ] we know you don't wait until the end of the quarter to think about your money...

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what could be the first prescription weight loss pill in 13 years moves a step closer to government approval. the obesity drug is touted as helping patients lose at least 10% of their body weight. an outside panel is recommending a drug for fda approval say the benefits outweigh potential risks including heart problems and birth defects. fda decision is expected by mid april.

now some stories we're working on today in the cnn newsroom. bradley manning is charge with the biggest intel leak in history. if convicted, maximum sentence of life in prison. one, pray without ceasing movement is going to try to pray away impending gas hikes. their prayer vigil will be at a washington gas station. at 2:30 president obama expected to speak at the university of miami on gas hike fears and improving energy-efficient standards. following a lot of developments. let's start first with nick peyton walsh. nick? >> president barack obama issued an apology over the burning of religious texts on an air base here in afghanistan but that's doing very little to calm popular fury and protests across the country. i'm mark preston in mesa, arizona. political knife fight took place

last night between the four political candidates seeking the party's nomination. we'll have winners and losers at the top of the hour. >> thanks, guys. and we all know how real reality tv is, but what used to actually reflect the diversity of american life, some say as degenerated into straight up slees. the story in next hour on today's installment of "i am america." ♪ the story in next hour on today's installment of "i am america." [ 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. see your lexus dealer.

just because jeff makes none of us now because of our cheesy pun, we're keeping it up. >> i'm all in. >> oh. >> i'm cool with it. >> he didn't put up a ton of points, jeff, but he did lin. i like yours better, though. >> all right. >> take it away. >> i'll keep working at it. it's inescapable. linsanity level may have been down a notch last night but wait until tonight. jeremy lin, carmelo. the knicks running the floor. it's lin who gets it to melo. this could be a match made in heaven in new york. melo finishes 15 points just in the second game back from injury. lin had 7 assists. this game was never close. knicks win by 17. lin sat out most of the fourth quarter. tonight, the big dual of south beach, lin and the knicks take on lebron and the heat. courtside seat for tonight's game is going for as much as

$10,000! come on. moms and dads know what it's like to catch a cold from your kids. that's what tiger woods is dealing with. he struggled with the cold in yesterday's first round. last hole, needs to get up and down the beach to win. but he leaves some meat on the bone, i would say. ten-foot putt for the win. and he does get it. he faces nick watney in today's second round. tiger took some nyquil maybe last night. no ambien though. forward takes one for the team. ouch. ricochets off his mouth for the goal. he later said it tastes like chicken. perrault will be fine but the caps aren't, falls to ottawa, 5-2. one problem, they didn't get the domain name for a guy named eric i thinkleman owns it. he bought it for eight bucks and

he's a prankster. so you know he set it up so when you go to the site the red sox spring training park you're automatically sent to the new york yankees website. arch enemies. that's not funny, it's cruel. he's not even a fan. he thinks it's really funny. >> thanks, jeff. >> all right. >> all right. it is just at the top of the hour. thanks for joining us. we're talking about how they're battling out at the top of the polls and on the campaign trail this morning. so it's no surprise that mitt romney and rick santorum were trading fire at the debate last night. >> we came to the federal government asking for help on transportation and security. i was fight for those things. our games are successful. while i was saving to fight the lrchs you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere. >> don't go around bragging about something you have to do. michael dukakis balanced the budget for ten years. does that qualify him to be president of the united states? i don't think so.

>> our political director mark preston was at the debate pap lot of back and forth between these two. what do you think, which one did the best job at getting the message to the voters? >> well, tell you what, kyra, as i said, it was a political knife fight here in mesa, arizona. and it was for many reasons in is the last debate, or we think is the last debate, certainly before super tuesday. and then, you know, less than two weeks, 13 states are going to weigh in on this republican presidential race. i think we saw last night mitt romney is more comfortable being the hunter. he went right after rick santorum, the newest front runner in thises race for the republican presidential nomination and at times, i got to tell you, rick santorum seemed uncomfortable. although i got to say he did hold his composure. he could have fallen apart a couple of times. he's taken criticism from mitt romney but he had ron paul on his other side and ron paul was unrelenting in his criticism saying that rick santorum wasn't

an authentic conservative. >> two other candidates, gingrich and paul got shots in as well. let's take a listen. >> kind of silly for you to then turn around and run an ad attacking somebody else for getting what you got and then claiming what you got wasn't what they got because what you got was right and what they got was wrong. >> we have a new television ad that labels him a fake. why? >> because he's a fake. >> all right, mark, dit either of them gain any ground after that? >> well, i got to tell you what, you know, ron paul was certainly interesting to watch last night and he gave us a few moments of laughter. the fact of the matter is ron paul is not going to win the republican presidential nomination. i know that's going to upset some of our viewers but it is a fact. a lot of people thought newt gingrich did well last night. they said he did a good job of distinguishing himself from the other candidates. but tell you what, he didn't have that moment in order to get back into the top tier. the top tier right now can only

be two spots and that's rick santorum and mitt romney. i don't think newt gingrich had that moment last night. he might have had a good debate but he didn't have the moment. you can join us tuesday night for "mrk's choice 2012," following a special edition of "jiang ki "john king usa" at 6:00 eastern and complete coverage with wolf blitzer at 7:00 p.m. eastern. continue following the breaking news this morning of those seven marines that have been killed when two helicopters collided last night in yuma, arizona. pentagon correspondent chris lawrence is joining us now. chris, what have you learned? >> reporter: kyra, basically they're still investigating this incident. but let's get a quick recap of what we know so far. we know seven marines were killed in this midair collision. two helicopters, a huey and a

super cobra collided midair. they were in a remote area doing a routine training mission. the identities of those seven marines are being withheld. they're not going to release them until they're sure that all family members have been notified. right now the incident is under investigation. again, we know it was in a remote area. it was about 8:00 at night. so they were doing some night training. you've got the chocolate mountains there in that area. it's sort of on the border, yuma, is of california and arizona. still unclear exactly where they crashed in that area. but i can tell you, they do lot of night training. that's when a lot of the flying took place in iraq and afghanistan, so you've got to train that way. this is not the first time that it's happened. i think it underscores how dangerous it is, even in training. there are no gimmes, so to speak, any time you climb on board a helicopter. in washington, i think just in

december, two army helicopters collided. i think there was another one also in afghanistan just literally last month. so crashes happen. i know i've been on just about every kind of helicopter or chinook that you can name, and i know every time i got onboard, i never ever took any flight for granted. >> point well made. i'll agree with that. chris lawrence, thanks so much. we'll stay on top of the investigation. we've also learned that two nato troops killed by a man in an afghan army uniform were americans. they were shot as hundreds of afghans protested the burning of korans. president obama has now written a letter to afghan president hamid karzai apologizing for this grave mistake. cnn's nick paton walsh is in kabul. nick, we're hear that the taliban there in afghanistan is telling muslims to attack military nato bases? >> reporter: absolutely. the taliban have always told

afghans to rise up against what they regard as the infidel occupy. they're trying to harness genuine discontent and loathing, to be honest, by many afghans for this admission that a koran was burned or many different parts of religious text were burned on an air base not far from me here in kabul run by americans. we've had two key protests. one in which a norwegian soldier was lightly wounded and another one in which two americans were shot by a man in afghan army uniform. a protest was happening outside the base at the time. two protesters were shot dead and seven injured. we learned that, in fact, they believe the soldier who shot the two americans inside was, in fact, acting in conjunction with that protest outside the base. so troubling thing here for americans. very few officials left in seniority to apologize to the afghan people since barack obama put out his statement. let me read you a line from it. the error was inadvertent.

i assure you we will take proper steps to avoid any recurrence, including holding those accountable for it. so real effort here by u.s. officials to try and fight this fire, this particular point. it's not seeming to calm protests at all for the last three days. u.s. diplomats on lock down now for two full days in a row. and i think deep concerns as we approach tomorrow, friday prayers, and offer the sermons which can inflame tensions and anger we may see yet more violence. kyra? >> nick, thanks so much. syria's government is offering condolences to the families of two western journalists and it denies reports that it was responsible for attack in homs that killed them. as that violence continues, a report now in a british newspaper says that intercepted military communications suggest that syrian troops actually

targeted those journalists that were killed. opposition protesters in the battered city of homs honored american marine colvin and frenchman with a makeshift memorial. videos like this have been posted online inside syria because outside journalists are so restrictive. cnn's ivan watson got inside syria and actually talked to people who have risked their lives to show us what's happening. >> reporter: first glance, this little operation looks like a grun ji middle eastern university dorm room. but these men see themselves as media warriors. >> translator: we're fighting a war against the regime's media channel, says the group's leader, even though we're working for free with few resources, we're winning against them because ear servant of a revolution who are demanding freedom. each activists knows the high stakes of this conflict all too well. you have shown this video? >> yeah.

this is our friend. muslim take the place to take a video. >> reporter: 23-year-old's last moments a i live caught on camera by his friend after he was shot by syrian soldiers. the little group of revolutionaries have named themselves media brigade in honor of their fallen comrade. >> eivan, you were in syria. tell me from your perspective, how dangerous it is for these rebels to post this video and show their faces and get this information out. >> reporter: as you just saw, one of their colleagues in this little rebel cell was killed a couple of months ago just trying to film when he was gunned down by a soldier. tuesday night a cameraman, a syrian cameraman, who was helping to get a lot of the live video feeds out from the besieged city of homs, was killed by an artillery shell, a

similar one that was killed by two journalists yesterday. the american newspaper editor marie colvin and a french photographer as well and a couple of foreign journalists were wounded. these guys are doing dangerous, dangerous work. they do not have flak jackets. they do not have helmets. they are driven by their ide idealism and bravery. they are truly something breathtaking to behold. and they, i would argue, have pretty much singlehandedly kept the focus on the uprising in syria alive over the course of the past 11 months as journalists like myself have been blocked from being able to go into that country. >> so, ivan, you actually got out of the country safely. how did you do it? >> well, one of the alternatives that we've had to do because this syrian government has so routinely denied journalist access to syria, is journalists have started smuggling themselves in.

along a number of established smuggling routes from neighboring countries like jordan, like lebanon, like turkey, and those smuggling routes have become very important to the opposition for smuggling dissidents who are wanted out, for smuggling supplies in like medicine, like increasingly weapons. and that is a route that we took in from turkey. it is arduous physically. it's not legal, according to the syrian government. it involved walking for more than a mile, carrying all of our equipment, in the dark, in pitch-black. our trip back was over this kind of rolling biblical countryside. and it shows how difficult it is for the opposition to communicate and get supplies in from the outside world. on our way out, kyra, we passed new trains and groups of smugglers carrying bundles of

weapons on their shoulders into syria. m-16s, rockets, some shotguns. that sounds like a lot but it's not if you consider that the rebels are fighting with these small arms against attack helicopters, cannons, and battle tanks. kyra? >> eye vivan watson in istanbul. thanks. puts it out in perspective. steve forbes ran for ppt twice. he's still a huge force in politics. what does money guru think of the gop candidates still in the race? he joins me live, next. costs coup, too, so we could see fewer people driving. >> well, maybe not drive for another reason. the story behind the wild accident on live tv coming up. when you have diabetes...

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across-country now, boulder, colorado, winds reach 80 miles an hour. so strong, you saw it tipped over that truck, check this out. you think this guy is having a hard time standing? yeah. norkd that person right off his feet. some homes were damaged. a number of trees and light poles snapped, as well. in sacramento, california, fast-moving grass fire suddenly engulfs hundreds of bee hives overnight. firefighters faced two immediate problems putting out the flames and trying not to get stung. check out this live shot. >> costs go up, too, so we could see fewer people driving. >> the reporter didn't even flinch. it looks like the car and the cab just slammed right into each other. you can see it happen behind her in the live shot. she did make sure, however, after she got done what what she

had to say that the drivers got out and they were okay, and they were. okay. mitt romney throwing some heat in the desert last night. take a listen to him going after rick santorum. >> if you had not supported him, if we had said no to arlen specter, we would not have obamacare, so don't look at me. take a look in the mirror. >> well, our senior political analyst ron brownstein thinks that romney's heat wasn't just hot, it was pretty effective, too. you used words like meth thotd cal thod call, relentless, do you think he pulled it off last night? >> you were wondering if he was a prosecutor in some other life because, in fact, he was very calm, but very relentless and methodical in exposing a consist atlanta argument against rick santorum. rick santorum's core argument in this case arguably is that i am a more consistent, more defepend dependable, more resolute conservative than mitt romney.

but what santorum was forced to acknowledge last night on an entirer ises ris of issues, no child left behind, fund for title x, funds birth control for low-income women, and earmarks that political expediency at various points in his career caused him to violate those rules. romney painted a guy that was much more of a career politician than he likes to let on. >> santorum described himself as courageous last night. you say you're seeing cracks in the campaign. >> yeah. well, no, look, santorum, the basic structure of the race continues to evolve in a way that gives santorum a real shot at this. what we're seeing is a polarization of the ideological grounds where romney is consolidating voters in the middle who are more moderate but you see those more conservative tea party voter, evangelical christians who earlier divided among several candidates continuing to consolidate around santorum. if that continues, he is in a

strong position in michigan and on super tuesday. what happened last night is that romney showed he could move in argument that could threaten santorum with those voter because if there's one thing we know about that activist vanguard of the republican party, they don't like business as usual in washington and santorum on a variety of fronts, as i said, was forced to acknowledge that he had been part of ineffect business as usual. he apologized for three or four times for earlier positions during the debate. that's not a kind of a situation that any candidate wants to be? >> ron, final question. how about the self-described mr. cheerful going after obama last night. take a listen. >> i think this is a very sober parade and i believe this is the most dangerous president on national security grounds in american history. >> ron, david brodie, the white house correspondent for the christian broadcasting network actually says don't count gingrich out, especially if santorum stumbles. do you agree? >> you know, never say never in this race. by the way, that was one of the best single questions in debatsz that have gone on for over a

year. describe yourself in one word. we saw somewhere between self description and aspiration, i think, in the way all of the candidates labeled themselves. look, gingrich, you can't rule him out. certainly he had a fine debate last night. nothing seemed to occur last night that would change the basic dynamic which is the conservative voters seem to be settling on santorum as their first choice. but this thing has been up and down, particularly on the conservative wing, populous wing of the republican party. so many times you would be foolish to say anything is impossible. certainly it looks like santorum becomeing the candidate of the populous wing of the and romney is the upscale candidate and heading into that super tuesday on march 6th. >> ron brownstein. how would you describe yourself in one word? >> tongue-tied? no. >> brilliant. i'll say it for you. >> thanks. >> i'll talk to you later. join us tuesday night for "america's choice 2012" and a

special edition of "john king usa" and complete live coverage of the results starting at 7:00 eastern with wolf blitzer and, of course, the best political team on television. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news.

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i know election year, politicians and pundits don't hesitate to tell us what they think is right for america. but what defines us in 2012? all this week we're going in-depth on "i am america" taking a closer look at how our country has changed ethnically, religiously and economically. today kareen wynter looks like stereotypes in reality tv and what it says about the changing face of america. >> reporter: imagine you're from china and the only images you have of the melting pot here in the u.s. comes from reality television shows. >> go ahead! >> reporter: an explosion of unscripted programs like "real housewives" spreading to different cities. >> i'm sure they would think that we just lived in a completely degenerate society. >> reporter: "baseball wives," "mob wives," even "trading

spouses." viewers have gained "big brother" access. >> i wonder sometimes if the camera brings out the meaner side of people. >> i'm not kidding. >> reporter: able to view everything from the surreal life. >> the viewers love it. i'm sorry to say. >> reporter: to "the real world." >> one of the biggest myths of the last decade is that reality tv has anything to do with the real life of america. >> reporter: media critic wrote "reality bites back." >> true stories. >> reporter: she says mtv's "real world" which debuted 20 years ago opened the door to discussions of diversity. >> i admire the black race. i really do. >> reporter: but she says those days are gone. >> mtv's "real world" deinvolved. where they used to treat race and gender and sexuality with some measure of understanding and reflection, now they cast

for people who have drunken hook-ups in the hot tub, they will get into huge screaming fights. >> reporter: she says despite the name "flavor of love" this program was more than tasteless as '80s rap star flava flav wanted a mate. >> the tension for hyper sexual lazy buffoons, clowns, criminals, thugs, jezebels, hos, all of that. >> it's the audience and producer and participants. we're all come police is l guil. >> reporter: she has made a career out of being a reality show fixture on programs like "the surreal life" after failing to land a job with donald trump. she is currently an editor for "reality weekly." >> you said the producer is driving this? >> the bigger the ratings the

more they'll cast those type of personals, the more they fight, the more you will see the ratings. >> reality shows more so than scripted shows is an area where people are really cast forediversity. >> reporter: the winner in "survivor's" most controversial season where the tribes were separated based on race. the rational, according to the host and producer jeff probst. >> the original motivation was the criticism we received for being too white. >> reporter: he said when he heard the twist he almost quit. he explained why he stayed on during the show's finale. >> i wanted to be on the show because minorities were underrepresented. usually it's caricatures. i wanted america too see asian-american men as they truly are. >> ang got of groups have done well. >> married couples from beverly

hills. >> reporter: they won "the amazing race" nine years ago. >> it was about competitiveness, it was about showing t ing thin that gay people can do anything else that anybody can do. >> i think reality television has made the world a better place and made us all understand each other more. >> reporter: ultimately the key is how we view these shows. >> watching it in an engaged way, critical way, and debunk the stereotypes. >> i may be married to a plastic surgeon but i'm 98% real. >> reporter: don't be fooled, even if real appears in the title, it's not a true depiction of the real world. kareen wynter, cnn, hollywood. >> for nearly a month we asked you to weigh in on what makes us uniquely american. >> i am america. >> i'm america. >> i teach english. >> football coach. >> i speak three languages. >> i am american. he is, too. >> you can see more of those i-reports on our website, go to

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tom stories now. two american troops are killed by a person wearing an afghan

national europeuniform. the taliban is now calling for muslims to attack nato military bases and convoys. president obama has written a letter of apology to afghan president hamid karzai. seven marines are dead after two helicopters crashed. that accident happened last night during a training exercise near yuma, arizona. gas prices skyrocketing. president obama is going to talk about reduce dependence on foreign oil. his speech is in miami this afternoon. he's also going to talk about ways to expand oil and gas production. okay. time for political buzz. you're rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. playing today, robert zimmerman, cnn contributor will cain, and lash, a cnn contributor. last night's debate in arizona. what do you think? winners, losers? robert? >> well, i don't think anyone

really had their breakthrough moment like gingrich did in south carolina. but without question, rick santorum lost. there's no doubt that he is a zealot when it comes to right wing. romney is looking like a washington insider and in fact someone who wasn't a true conservative. santorum was the real loser but i think all of them were big losers in terms of their ability to reach mainstream independent voters. as long as they chew to define themselves with the extreme right wing of their party, with extreme positions -- >> dana? go ahead. finish your thought. >> as long as they continue to define themselves with extreme right wing positions about immigration or women, or the middle class thanks will lose. >> i'm going have you give you guys an extra five seconds. da dana? >> i yield. >> i don't know where the anti-contraception thing comes from. it's not the 1960s and it wasn't

related by any of the candidates last night. no, last night i think newt gingrich won but he didn't win because he gave a stand-out performance in south carolina. the reason newt gingrich won last night is because santorum and romney attacked each other it insulated him from weathering any more attacks. he ended up looking like the states man and he was the only candidate, i made this remark last night, he was the only candidate who repeated lly brout the debate back towards barack obama. that's winning. >> will? >> maybe, maybe. that's interesting. i would say romney won by a little bit only because he was able to knock santorum down a notch. and i've wondered openly on tv, how does a conservative attack rick santorum in a republican primary. where is your substantive opening? where's the hole to get him. the truth is i think the answer is i focused too much on substance. last night mitt romney found rick santorum's weakness, it's in his personality. we saw it in early debates, dislikable when he couldn't get

time in debates, off to the side. last night defensive again, a little bit unlikable. that is rick santorum's weakness. >> right on time. question number two, the candidates were also asked to describe themselves in one word. here's what they said. >> consistent. >> senator santorum? >> courage. >> governor? >> resolute. >> mr. speaker? >> cheerful. >> i love how everybody laughs at that. all right. here's my question. what's your one-word, guys, not, two, three, four, five, six. one word to describe each one of these candidates. dana? >> well, with ron paul i would say libertarian. with rick santorum, i would say rederchtive. with mitt romney, whaaffle.

gingrich, statesman. >> did you say 1waffle? >> yes. >> i'm hungry now. >> i would use one word to describe the entire field, disappointing. if you saw this show an hour ago you saw robert and i get into a pretty heated exchange. there's a debate going on in the country about future of the country and the long-term pros spel prospects for it. the free markets and energy policy, what the government can mandate to -- >> will, didn't i say one word? you said disappointing. >> disappointing. >> okay. robert? >> i never had -- i never have heated exchanges with will. just animated conversations. >> okay. play by the rules. one word. >> one word. rick santorum, glass jaw. ron paul -- that's two. >> romney's chihuahua, two words. >> newt gingrich, shameless. mitt romney, a chameleon.

>> i'm the only one who can count apparently. >> you're the only one that plays by the rules? yes. buzzer beater, 20 seconds on this one, guys. all right. this is what newt gingrich said when he was asked what he's giving up for lent. >> i am going to give up desserts, all desserts for all of lent. >> okay. so gingrich is giving up all desserts. what should the other candidates be giving up for lent? will? >> feels like a layup but i'm going say that several of these candidates should probably give up their candidacy for president for lent. >> oh. >> i think that romney is probably the only alternative to provide a real option to barack obama come november. and some of these guys should recognize that. >> robert? >> well, the we -- >> like that, dana? >> we all know that newt is really moving dessert into appetizer and giving up salad for lent. but i think ron paul, he's got

to give up being mitt romney's attack dog. i think mitt romney has got to give up -- mitt romney has got to give up his facade. and i would argue rick santorum has got to give up eating his own words. >> dana? >> i don't know how someone can lose four out of nine contests and still be considered inevitable. but that's beside the point. ron paul needs to give up talking about iran. no talking about it. we love you when you talk about domestic stuff. run from iran. romney needs to give up up a pretenses of defending romneycare. you have $700 million in increased taxes and fees. there's no way to defend that on a conservative level. i don't know what gingrich and santorum should give up but i agree, somebody should gave up their candidacy. >> i'm giving up on all three of you and sticking to 30 seconds and 20 seconds in this segment. see you again. join us tuesday night, please, for "america's choice 2012," we're going to follow the

arizona and michigan primary with a special edition of "john king usa" at 6:00 eastern and complete coverage of the results with wolf blitzer and the best political team on tef vision. steve forbes ran for president twice. still a huge force in politics. what does he think of the republican presidential candidates? he joins me live, next. there's another way to minimize litter box odor: purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder to help neutralize odors in multiple-cat homes. and our improved formula also helps eliminate dust. so it's easier than ever to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home.

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whitney houston's death at the famed bv hilton hotel apparently staffers there talked about her death and got fired. "showbiz tonight" a.j. hammer has more. >> kyra, the key word here is apparently. "showbiz tonight" reached out to beverly hills hilton to talk about this. this is on radar online. we haven't heard about it just yet but they've been terrific with what information they've been able to share throughout the whole situation. but what i can tell you is that

radar online is reportering that a few staff members have been fired for speaking out about her death. this have been employees who have been let go. i'm hur the beverly hilton has a moo no media policy when you think of all the celebrities they have as the guest. the president stayed there just last week. none of this is confirmed yet. however, since whitney's passing the hotel has, understandably, completely overrun with reporters, kyra, trying to get every single last detail of what really happened to whitney houston and how she spent her fibal hours. >> meanwhile, the academy award show is putting out a gentle warning? >> yes, aiming this at sasha baron cohen. we remember how he had borrat and bruno. it looks like that was his plan for the oscar's red carpet. now, in his new film he plays a

sex-craz sex-crazed middle eastern despot. the academy let him know they don't want any part of it. they do want him there on the red carpet but as a guest, not there promoting his film. apparently they can't simply pull his ticket. people have been suggest that maybe they would do that. but cohen was in the movie "hugo" which is a big feel this year with so many nominations and apparently the way the academy works is they allot a number of tickets to each film and studio and the studio decides who gets one of the tickets and sacha baron cohen has a ticket. we're all eager to see how he will show up, adding a little spice to the show. >> always something, right? the entertainment world is gearing up for the 84th annual academy my awards this weekend. a.j. will be on the red carpet. no publicity stuntsz. he's the real deal. watch sunday night 6:30 eastern for "showbiz tonight"'s road to gold right here on cnn. steve forbes, he ran for president. he definitely knows money.

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this morning. so romney and dewey, explain the similarities. >> well, when dewey ran back in 1940 against harry truman, he was a formidable favorite, ahead in all the polls but he ran a campaign that didn't say very much. at the end of the day harry truman pulled off the biggest upset in history. yesterday finally, he came out with a proposal on taxes, not as far as i would go, but a good step in the right direction. so i hope he's starting to immunize himself against dewey-ism. >> interesting. okay. the debate last night. romney has been described by up with of our contributors as methodical, relentless, that he did a great job. i'm sort of reading between the line of what you just said. did you change your mind, are you a romney backer? >> not yet. long ways from that yet. but last night i wish he had hammered home more of his tax

plan. he's going to have to demonstrate in the weeks ahead, kyra, that he really believes this. this is a central part of his theme and hits at every opportunity he gets. he did do well last night. santorum faulted. really faltered, i thought. and gingrich did well finally after several bad debates or subpar debates. but romney came through very strongly. he's poring a lot of money in michigan and now i think ahead of michigan. >> so let me follow up because this is your favorite obsession, of course, taxes. and this week you actually were interviewed and the quote that made headlines, you said obama's corporate tax is a house of horrors. explanned on that a little bit. >> well, he does cut the corporate tax rate but ends up in the details putting in a massive tax increase. talking about putting taxes on small businesses. most businesses that are small are organized are they call

subchapter s corporations, or llcs. that's going to hurt job creation. he's going to reduce their ability to deduct interest. he's going to put taxes on companies that have profits overseas. no other country does that. so when you add it all up it's going to cost companies hups of billions of dollars over the next ten years. if that's helping us, i would rather do without the help. >> all right. while i have you because you're the money guy. you know, we had our big 13,000 moment this week. let's talk gas, oil, and economy here quickly. we're flirting with five bucks a gallon, steve. what is this going to do to us and how do you think it's going to play out in the election? >> well, i think -- and i don't want to be alarmist here, but i think there's a very real possibility in the coming months that israel is going to finally have to move against iran. they think their window of opportunity is closing. they know they've got it's an

exo essential threat. when that happens it's going to send the price of oil up sharply, at least short term. for a couple months that's going to just royal the markets. i think we'll recover from that, the oil markets, when this crisis abates. but in the meantime expect a lot of turbulence. otherwise, assume nothing happens in the middle east, i think you will see gasoline go to, say, $4 a gallon, but not much above that. the inventories are there. and still a very high price. but i don't think it's going to breach for long $5 a gallon. >> steve forbes, always good to talk do you. appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you. >> you bet. the debate's over so let the spin begin. we go inside the front-runner's spin rooms to see what their handlers are saying. our political ticker in seven minutes. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive.

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some stories we're working on later today. arraignment is scheduled for bradley manning, the man charge with the biggest intel leak in u.s. history. if convicted he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. and at 1:00 eastern, the pray without ceasing movement, going to try to pray away rising gas prices. it will be held at a washington gas station. 2:30 eastern, president obama expected to speak at the university of miami on gas hike fears and approving energy efficiency standards. you can see that here on cnn. sometime now for a daily dose of health news. what could be the first prescription weight loss pill in 13 years moves a step closer to government approval. the obesity drug qnexa is touteded a helping patients lose

at least 10 pors of body weight. outside panel is recommending the drug for fda approval, saying the benefits outweigh the potential risk including heart problems and birth defects. fda decision expected by april. coming up with suzanne malveaux, "time" magazine says one specific demographic could mean everything when it comes to counting the votes in november. we're going to ask the mayor of los angeles about the issues driving latinos to the polls. that's coming up when "newsroom" continues. i don't want healthy skin for a day. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] don't just moisturize. improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula goes beyond 24-hour moisture. it's clinically proven to improve your skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. for healthy, beautiful skin that lasts. i found a moisturizer for life. [ female announcer ] daily moisturizing lotion.

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