could cause serious problems from rerouting planes to knocking out power grids. rush limbaugh ditched, again. you can hear it on armed forces radio and now voices are saying, yank him off. those are our starting points for march 8th, 2012. ♪ good morning. that's from carlos diaz's play list this morning. let me introduce us to our panel. nice to have you. good to see you, we appreciate it. amy holmes. we worked together for years and years, she is the anchor of "real news." nice to see you. i like the hoodie and the gold lame this morning. great to have you all joining me. let's get under way with this starting point this morning with

satellite images and trying to show iran clean up something at the military base believed to have been a test site for explosives used to detonate a nuclear weapon. it is not exactly sure at this point what they're trying to clear up. this is on the heals of iran allowing u.n. inspectors to visit the base after repeatedly denying access to the same inspectors in the past. the director general of the agency tells matthew chance that he believes iran is hiding something. >> iran is not telling us everything. that is my impression. so, we have, we are asking iran to engage with us proactively. and iran has a case to answer. >> mike raunlers of michigan is chairman of the house intelligence committee. nice to see you, sir, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. we have been talking about these satellite images that we're just getting word of. what can you tell me about these

images? >> well, those are the satellite shots that you see are probably commercial sites, so, we have access to different kinds of materials, as you might imagine and it's clear that they were doing some activity there that they did not want the rest of the world to see, many believe and have a high degree of work that was happening at that facility was enhancing their nuclear weapons program. that is what is so disturbing. to give them time to straighten things up so when they invited them back with conditions, that they could make sure that people didn't see things that they didn't want them to see. >> so, do you believe that the location of the suspected nuclear testing site is, in fact, a place where there's evidence that they're trying to remove evidence of creating a nuclear weapon? >> i do believe, with the high degree of confidence that there were activities there that were related to their nuclear weapons program. what they were is still up for some debate.

but, clearly, that's one site that they were engaged in some activity and there are several different avenues that they're pursuing all at the same time, enrichment being one and missile testing being another and then weaponization. so, how do you get the thing to function, nuclear bomb to function. we think some of those activities at this particular facility and enrichment at another. >> so, iran has done this before, a cleanup of a site that could be contaminated with nuclear waste right before inviting inspectors to come back in and in a way, it's like a cat and mouse game. do you think that this is, basically just another evidence of another game? >> i do. the sanctions are starting to bite a little bit. i wish we would draw them a little tighter and there are things that we can do starting in july we can move up on the timetable and continue to put pressure on them, but they are very clever and they understand if they can delay a little bit, they can continue to work on

their program. they look at it as their nuclear umbrella. if they can get a bomb that is developed and that can explode, they believe that they're under this nuclear umbrella. so, the debate in the intelligence community here is, when did they think that they're going to get to that point where they can actually functionally detonate a nuclear bomb. israel says that they think we can't wait much longer to figure that out and the united states we are having internal debates now on what the next course of action is going to be. >> what do you think the next course of action can be and do you think the attack by israel is imminent? >> well, i was just in israel recently and met with all their folks over there. i came away, soledad, with the thought that they're looking at the world in a little different way. egypt is no longer a reliable partner and hezbollah on their north is well armed with about 30,000 missiles, thanks to iran. iran is going nuclear and iran said that they want israel to be

wiped off the map. so, their standard and ours are going to be a little different. their argument is, hey, we can't let them even get into the race of trying to make that bomb explode. we have to do something sooner. i believe that if this is going to work, we have to have a credible military option. meaning, iran has to believe that we'll do something if they continue to pursue down this path. so, continue sanctions and then show that the united states is serious when we say all options on the table. we can't say all options on the table, oh, by the way, israel, we don't want you to do anything. that's not very credible. we need to make our argument. >> let me ask a few question about syria, if i can. we're getting word of a major defection if it is the deputy oil minister and the name is -- i'm sorry if i'm mangling that name, but basically he resigned from his position and joined the opposition. first of all, can you confirm that that is actually true and,

number two, what will the implications of that be? >> i'm not at liberty to discuss the defection just yet, but i will tell you that we had lower level defections are happening and if this, in fact, were happening, it would be the most senior deflection yet. it just shows that there is some pressure there. i would caution, however, that we saw lots of defections, even in libya. even from senior military commanders. they were still able to keep their organization functioning and syria is in probably a better position. i think the government forces are probably more holistically loyal. some out of fear and some out of true loyalty to the regime and they have iran and other advisors from other countries, unfortunately, trying to keep this thing together for assad. so, it's good news if, in fact, that proves to be true, however, i wouldn't get too excited just yet. we've got a lot of folks who are

still committed, especially in the military, about conducting acts of violence at the regime's request against its own people. >> senator john mccain and senator feinstein had very opposing views on what should be done next in syria. i'll play a chunk of what they both said and i want you to comment on the other side. we'll play that. >> the united states cannot be the world's policeman. we still have men and women dying in afghanistan and we're trying to get out of iraq and we played a role in libya and we see the middle east exploding. the key is to get the united nations, to pass a resolution, which enables the arab league to go in there. >> i understand the strain on american military. i understand the sacrifices made by american families, but i also understand that the proudest part of american's history is when we have tried to help other people achieve the same goals that we so passionately articulated when we declared our

independence. >> who do you agree with? who's right? >> well, maybe a little of both. how is that? there are issues with just going in and i supported the president on his libya action. this i'm a little bit concerned with in the sense that we -- they have chemical weapon stockpiles that we know of that they know we know of. the world knows about that we haven't quite figured out if you start to meddle in syria, how do you make sure that doesn't fall into the wrong hands. we don't have a good handle on who the opposition is. if we do that, we need to walk through the series of things that we have. i argue, however, that syria is in our national interest to have a regime change. you know, iran used syria through proxies in iraq to kill as many as 600 u.s. soldiers. they introduced weapon systems and they used it to funnel proxies into iraq to conduct operations against our u.s.

soldiers. it is a proxy and a supporter of terrorism and it's something that would benefit the world and certainly is in the national security interest of the united states to do something about. my concern here is, we need to walk before we run. there are lots of steps that we need to do and can do and are not doing in syria that can put it in a better position to tip that regime without direct military action. >> congressman mike rogers is the chairman of the house intelligence committee. nice to see you, sir, thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you, soledad. carlos diaz is joining us here for a couple of days with our sister network, hln. you have a look at the headlines for us. >> more rush limbaugh headlines. we start out with carl levin chairman of the armed services committee calling to be taken off the armed services radio network. the network airs limbaugh's show every day to thousands of service members stationed around the world. limbaugh is under fire for calling georgetown law student a

salute and slut and he is telling cnn he delighted so many advertisers from the limbaugh show and he hopes they'll drop limbaugh on their own. one of the deadly tornadoes that ripped through the midwest last week causing massive destruction is caught on camera and the twister stayed on the ground for 95 miles. as it tore through towns in kentucky and west virginia. now, weather experts say it's rare that these kind of twisters touch the ground for more than a few miles. whitney houston left everything to her 19-year-old daughter, bobbi kristina, but the singer's will does not mention specific assets. houston's money will be put into a trust. bobbi kristina is 19 years old now and she'll receive part of that money when she turns 21 and more when she turns 25 and then the balance when she turns 30. and how's this as a gift from your commander in chief. president obama while greeting a

group of wounded warriors at the white house this week signed the prosthetic arm of carlos evans. that's got to be pretty cool. sergeant eveneds was injured in afghanistan. he's previously met first lady michelle obalm at the walter read army medical center back in 2010. from moguls to modern day girdles. the annual list of billionaires and the top dog is no surprise, carlos slim worth $69 billion and then microsoft co-founder bill gates, he came in at $61 billion. warren buffett with just $44 billion, he's number three. newcomer to the list, though, sara blakely, she is the creator of spanx the undergarments that women and men -- >> not nodding. >> i'm not saying who is nodding. i'm not confirming the nods, but i also can confirm that men wear

these, too. i'm not saying -- but blaky came in on the list at number 1,053. >> what does that say about our great nation that she's a billionaire, the woman who makes spanx that just basically sucks it all in. >> you're a tragic, tragic man. still ahead this morning, the earth right now, don't want to scare you, but the earth right now is being blasted by the largest solar storm in years. if you have to catch a flight or on the phone or even if you just have a fridge, you might feel it today because it affects the power grid. we'll bring in the nasa scientists to talk about the possible fallout. how do you wash these pants? look at the label. give it to a woman because it's her job. that's what the actual label says. happy international women's day, everybody. we get right to my playlist before we go to commercial.

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i'll sing it. we're not going to get to the words. no, let's wait for it. all right, james brown starting us off this morning. see the entire playlist every morning on our website, cnn.com/startingpoint. you also usually can see my blog. i stayed up last night watching "revenge." i couldn't get to my blog this morning. >> you're such an underacheever, soledad. >> the chaos of my life. let's talk about solar storms this morning. massive solar storm is hammering

the earth, as we speak. some pictures from a nasa satellite. said to be the biggest solar flare in three years. apparently could cause major destruction. knocking out power grids and disrupting gps. this morning we're going to talk an astrophysicist. explain to me what a solar flare is. what is actually happening? >> well, what you're seeing is really, you know, inside the sun it's like convection zone, it's like a part of boiling water. instead of water, what we have is plasma inside and it's particles that are charged, electr electrons, protons magnetically twined and this churning causes

severe, you know, magnetic field which then starts bubbling up in the form of dark spots that are sun spots. very often we see that on the sun and when you see a sun spot, you know there is an acive region and a strong, magnetic field associated with it. when the magnetic field gets really twisted and torn, they tend to risrupt and when they disdisrupt they produce a huge amount of energy in the form of particles blowing out like cloud of plasma. so, you are essentially seeing an expulsion of matter and energy from the sun. >> it sounds beautiful and complicated and scientific and i really am curious why that means my gps gets mangled and why they have to move planes around it and why you cannot just knock

out an entire power grid. this is one so big that we should expect the same thing happening as in past years where you could knock out an entire power grid. >> that's not necessarily true. i would say on a scale of one to five, this particular storm is three. so, it is, you know, moderate to severe, so, we should see some effects but certainly not the impact but not what one would expect of a five category that we had very long time ago. so, what does a solar storm do? it can cause three different kinds of effect on our technology. one is through geomatic storms, which really disturbs and trip power grids, et cetera and that's a big problem. the other is radio blackout and that's the radio storm and then the third one is radiation storm

and you do not want to expose your astronauts outside of the protective shield of our magnus fear and if there are people flying in aircraft and high altitude, again, you can expect to see high level of radiation, especially in high latitude, northern and polar regions. >> it's amazing, as you're speaking, we are showing literally the most beautiful pictures of the sun and the solar flares. it's amazing how gorgeous they are as you describe all the potential destruction down the road coming our way. >> i have a question. it sounds like this is not catastrophic, that's good news. if there were going to be a catastrophic event and a lot of radiation heading our way and plasma and things that would do damage, how much warning would you have? how much time would we have to prepare for it? >> this is a very good question. at least through the science side we have really surrounded the sun.

we have solar dynadynamics very capable and two spacecraft that are away from the sun and we are seeing all 360 degrees of the sun. not just the front side. if you have it emerging on the far side, we know. that gives us a long-term ability to forecast. okay, there is an active region and we should be watching that. and then we have about 1.5 million miles from earth, we have a spacecraft called advance explorer and what that does, that actually measures the particles that are put out through these ejecs or flares. >> she's saying it is going to be okay. he just calculated how much warning do i have before i need to leave? >> do we enough time to call will smith. >> it's 30 minutes to an hour once you see it. >> plenty of time.

>> i hope i got that right, thank you for joining us this morning. i appreciate it, thank you. those pictures were just amazing. still ahead on "starting point" hitting the mute button on barney frank. what did he do to get banned from talking for an entire day? also our get real cleaning instructions on these pants. it says there, give it to your woman to wash. no joke. we are listening to amy holmes playlist. four minutes, that's usually what we get. look at all this stuff for coffee.

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i like this playlist. off of jay's playlist. uncle kracker. >> i only pick songs that my son wrote. he co-wrote "smile" and kenny chesney's "somewhere with you." >> has he bought you a house? >> no. but his musical debut is tonight. so, as long as -- >> what is his musical debut? >> "smile." >> we love having him this morning from a distance. thank you. >> he's out there, somewhere. >> watching, i'm sure. watching the show this morning, i'm sure. our get real this morning is a woman's place is in the kitchen or in the laundry room. we left that back in the '50s.

have you seen this? listen to this. >> you men kill me. you're all alike. you want us around but all you do is yell and scream and give orders. you men just think that you own this world? >> yeah, but you women get revenge. you marry us. >> "honeymooners." there is this great british clothing company called madhouse. emma barnet tweeted about a pair of pants that her boyfriend brought home a couple weeks ago. right under the label, i guess they were going to throw them in the laundry or something and it says, machine wash only and it says, give it to your woman, it's her job. yeah, so, yes. happy international woman's day. did i say that already? the company didn't quite apologize. what they said is they're not really responsible because they didn't notice the label, but it's really odd and they said it was clearly a joke. >> what person would give

laundry to a man? nobody. no one. >> what person would give laundry to someone who can't do laundry. >> i got in trouble the other day for washing towels with napkins or something. because the germs from the towels could kill the family if they wipe their -- so, i don't think it's sexist at all. >> but that's not a gender issue. >> it is. >> you can't do laundry. >> who does the laundry? i don't even know women or men if they're home, i can't guess. if it's two men, the most feminine man does the laundry. >> it's not a gender issue -- i would say. >> beating something on a rock. >> notice the two smart guys not saying a word right now. >> which woman? >> actually, my husband would be terrible at laundry. i wouldn't let him do it. as am i.

so, i would say a trained laundry professional should handle the laundry. it's not a gender issue. and it is not a more feminine issue. >> there's an ability, i think. just an ability for men not to know which germ, men don't know the germ -- >> some men. not you, that good at laundry. we get it. >> you know what i do, i wash them together when she's not home, you know, just to get back at her and then watch her wipe her mouth with something i've washed with underwear, actually. >> you're also vindictive. >> we're learning so much more about you than your laundry abilities. if you want to keep listening to this conversation during our commercial break, i'm sad if you do. you can go online to cnn.com/startingpoint and you can see the action on the blog. >> why do we lie to each other? well, women are better at laundry than men. they don't let us touch the laundry. it's not a bad thing.

>> it's just not true. >> if you own -- if you own a pair of those pants, so, seriously -- >> we've ruined -- stay away from those pants. >> commercial. >> spanx do hold your stomach in and when you take your clothes off, you look like a sausage. >> thank you, here's the music. here we go, commercial break. we're going to talk about the surgeon general, kids and smoking after the break. [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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you guys are talking over britney spears. >> no great loss. >> this is -- >> come on, listen. i have a love of britney spears. >> you can check out our entire playlists online at cnn.com/startingpoint. >> she's brilliant. >> she's brilliant. ahead this morning, i can

see how this morning is going, 33 minutes in and we're circling the drain already this morning. okay, bipartisan in congress, we'll talk about it ahead this morning two congresswomen coming together today to talk about foster children, really serious issue. we'll talk to congresswoman karen bass and michele bachmann. first, though, we have to gret to headlines. carlos has those. >> we'll just stick to the headlines. >> please. rutgers university student dharun ravi tried to make amends with his roommate. testimony at ravi's trial revealed text messages that he sent on the night that clementi committed suicide. it's not clear if he received them. not all bliss for osama bin laden on the day before the raid of navy s.e.a.l.s. bin laden's final days were

marked by the bickering of his three wives. the information is based apparently -- >> you don't wash my hat with the underwear. do not wash the hat with the napkins. >> the information is based from bin laden family members and the inspection of the now destroyed living quarters in the compound in pakistan. a huge recall from toyota to talk about. 68,000 cars, excuse me, 680,000 cars and trucks, including tacomas, camries and toy sota says the safety system in those vehicles are losing power because of bad installation and other vehicles are getting stuck while in park. chrysler is also issuing a recall, the company says salt on roadways could corrode the rear suspeng of their jeep liberty. it's recalling 200,000 models from 2004 to 2005. the new model of ipad will be available in a week. on march 16th, but, it's getting mixed reviews. apple unveiled the new ipad yesterday and it does not have a

new name, it's just ipad, but features much higher resolution screen and the ability to shoot hd video and also has voice recognition software, but some say the upgrades are not enough. the new models start at $499. old ipads will be discounted by $100. let's go over to christine now, she has today's business headlines. >> good morning, carlos. minding your business now. more evidence that free checking is a relic of the past. wells fargo announcing a new $7 a month service fee on checking accounts in six more states. wells fargo stopped offering free checking for its new customers back in 2010 and now some existing customers, they've been notified that starting may 4th, they will pay for their checking account. banks have been adding fees to new accounts for the past couple years saying new laws to protect consumers, those laws make it unprofable to offer new checking. a record number of people now bank at credit unions. so many people dumping their

bank fees it works out to an 4,326 new members every single day joining credit unions in the last quarter of last year. you can direct deposit your paycheck and opening a credit card with them and banking online. you have to read the fine print. let's check in on the markets now. stocks will open higher when the bell rings in two hours. a jobless claims report at 8:00 a.m. eastern and the jobs report is out tomorrow. carlos sph. >> just like jay, this person is finally, rarely at a loss of words. massachusetts congressman barney frank was banned from speaking on the house floor. frank received the day-long ban for violating house rules by launching into a personal attack against a republican colleague. texas congressman. the two had been arguing about similar goals intended to make it easier for shareholders to invest in community banks. so, barney frank told he could not speak from the house floor today. >> which is funny -- >> he's retiring, i guess.

>> he's a big talker. he is a big talker. >> just don't wear that jacket and the shirt, again, is all i care about. >> let's talk about the -- don't laugh at his -- >> i'm not encouraging him. >> it wasn't ironed. he didn't iron that shirt. >> we have moved off of laundry, truly. definitively at 37 after. moving on to foster care in this country. half a million children in this country are in foster care. the outlook is pretty bleak for these kids. number one, one in four probably don't have a high school diploma or ged. 64% of them if they're young men have been convicted of a crime and only about half of them were employed compared to 72% of their peers. this morning a bipartisan effort in congress to try to change some of these statistics and leading that effort is the democratic representative, karen bass and republican representative michele bachmann of minnesota. they're co-chairs of the

congressional foster youth congress. it's nice to have caucus, excuse me, nice to have you both with me. congresswoman balkmchmann, if y don't mind, i'll ask you to start. you have two foster kids, this is why you are linked to this issue? >> it's very personal for me. we saw a couple in church doing foster care and we looked at each other and we thought, maybe we could do that, as well. we both had broken hearts for at-risk kids. we took in our first child. it was a good experience. we got a call from the agency, would we take another, we did. we got a call to take another and we kept taking children and over the years we had 23 children and it was as much a blessing for us, if not more, than what we could offer to the kids, as well. any people out there considering foster care, look into it. it's wonderful for everyone involved. >> congresswoman bass, what is your connection to this? >> well, actually, i've been involved in the issue from a policy perspective since 1990.

i formed a community organization called community coalition that was in response to the way crack cocaine was hitting so many communities. one of the consequences of that epidemic in the 1980s was a number of chirb wound up in the foster care system. that's when the number of kids in our nation removed from home really exploded. and, so, i worked on it from a community basis trying to influence policy on a county level and then when i ran for state office, i was involved and formed a foster care caucus in the state legislature. it was one of my big motivations for wanting to run from congress is to be able to work on this issue in a bipartisan fashion and to have a long-term strategy for improving the foster care system in our country. >> what do you both hope to do because clearly, even though the numbers and the statistics i just gave are really bad and they go on and on and i've done the stories on this a number of times. doing anything in a bipartisan fashion right now in congress is very, very hard. what is your strategy at this point? >> i don't think it's that hard

and, you know, congresswoman and i have talked and there are two other co-chairs. there's tom merino, who is a republican from pennsylvania and jim mcdermott who is a democrat from washington. the four of us co-chair the caucus and all of us come together because we understand how important this issue is and it's also an issue that has a positive ending. we can improve the quality of life for these children. i know it's something that we can succeed in in congress. >> it's a difficult issue, but we are real optimists. personally, i've seen the positive outcome in children's lives. one thing my husband said is that every child needs to know that at least one person is crazy about them and cares about them and if we can have that level of care and the personal touch in a child, it makes a tremendous difference. one thing that karen and i have been working on and that we're very concerned about is the overdrugging of children with prescription drugs. children in foster care, in particular, have an a elevated level of having more drugs

assigned to them. there are many children in foster care that have four and five psychotropic drugs. this is our first issue that we're working on in foster care, the overdrugging of children. it's very bipartisan. we believe very strongly in this because there is no partisanship when it comes to positive outcomes for kids. >> that's an issue even outside of foster care, as well. i think you're absolutely right. >> one thing that is exciting about congress so many people there with so much expertise. for example i mentioned jim mcdermott is a child psychiatrist and he has years of experience and he was also the author of some very important legislation. so, us working together with a long-term strategy, i'm convinced that we can make a big difference. >> let me ask you a question, female legislatures and not a whole lot of women in congress, i don't need to tell the two of you. people have talked about late days, especially around the whole rush limbaugh comments that there is like an attack on women.

do you think that's true? i know, congresswoman bachmann you were talking about the sense of outrage when there was an attack on the left and when it came to the right you didn't feel people were attacked, as well. >> i couldn't repeat on television what has been said about me. a judge recently ordered twitter to identify a man who called for me to be not only raped and sodomized but also killed. now, this is serious. and i had things said about me during the course of running for the presidency. there was zero outrage about the statements on the left. absolutely zero. this is something that is completely wrong and i think when you see the overkill that's being done against rush limbaugh and then you see the comments that were said about me and absolutely no response whatsoever, there's no comparison here. so, why is it that there is outrage when it is an issue on the left, but there's zero outrage on the right. to me, it doesn't matter whether

a woman is republican or democrat or whether she's liberal or conservative. this sort of violent talk should not be acceptable for anyone. >> i think violent talk is absolutely unacceptable. i mean, look at what we all experienced as a nation last year with the wounding of one of our colleagues. so, it should definitely never have been tolerated. but, once again, in terms of the foster care issue, i think it's an opportunity for us to come together, to work together and to develop an agenda for how we help these children. because when you remove a child from home, it's really then we become the parent and i think it's our obligation as legislatures to make sure that these children are served well and that we take care of them, just as we would take care of our own. >> the positive thing is, we know we can. we know there are things we can do to improve the quality of a child's life and that's why we're coming together in this bipartisan way. we want to put aside any difference because we want to have the best interest of the

child at stake. >> thank you, ladies. i appreciate your time this morning. nice to have you both. we'll talk about the attack on women. you know, it's interesting to see, i would say, outrage on both sides would be nice as a opposed to outrage on one side or lowering on the other side. we'll discuss that later. got to get to a commercial break. still ahead, we'll talk about teenage smoking and whether or not big tobacco companies are targeting children. plus, this woman, she won a million dollars in the lottery and now she's still on food stamps. she says she needs the money. we'll talk about that straight ahead on "starting point." stay with us. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health.

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america." much more ahead on "starting point" and we'll talk about the tobacco, what some people are calling epidemic. a surgeon general put out a new report, it's quite a stunner. are tobacco companies targeting kids? a blogger on the front lines of the egyptian uprising will join us. a year later she doesn't think the situation is any better, especially for women. andrew breitbart's last words. we'll talk to the editor straight ahead. "starting point" is back right after this break. is bowl of strs is loaded with vitamin c. and now, b vitamins to boot. coffee doesn't have fiber. unless you want it to. splenda® essentials™ are the first and only line of sweeteners with a small boost of fiber, or antioxidants, or b vitamins in every packet. mmm. same great taste with an added "way to go, me" feeling. splenda® essentials™. get more out of what you put in.

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what we need is a smoking roll model, a real winner. >> jerry jones meets jerry ma kbier. >> you can't live in contemporary society. >> why not. >> the health issue is way too prevalent. thetd' be asking you to go unspoken. that should go unsaid. >> that's a clip from the movie, thank you for smoking. he played the role of a tobacco

lobbyist. this morning there was a new report from the surgeon general showing that that clip could be reality. for years smoking in people under the age of 18 was going down. now it's either slowed or it's stalling, that decline. each day in the united states more than 3800 young people smoked their first cigarette. two of these new smokers replace one person who dies from tobacco use every day. despite an agreement by the industry in 1998 to not target children, the new report suggests that in fact that targeting continues to happen. mr. myers is here this morning in a campaign for tobacco free kids. >> good morning. >> let's talk about the report specifically. it's the second time ever that the surgeon general has issued a report on kids. what did you think was the biggest surprise out of the report? >> the report has two alarming facts. one is despite the progress we've made, we've made a great deal of progress, the tobacco industry's marketing continues to effectively addict millions of our children. as you said, every single day 1200 americans die from smoking,

but more than twice as many kids light up their first cigarette. it has a second very important message and that is we know how to reduce tobacco use. the state programs we've seen all around the country have been shown to be effective and yet we're not funding them. >> so what exactly has changed if there was a decline and there was a solid decline for a long time then a turning point where that stopped, what happened? >> we've seen a couple of things happen. first, the tobacco industry's marketing is all over the place. they're spending more than a million an hour, more than $27 million a day to make tobacco products attractive to children. they do it in precisely the places kids see, retail outlets. they've spent more than $100 billion advertising and marketing in retail outlets just over the last decade. at the same time, states have dramatically cut the funding for tobacco prevention programs that have been shown to work. over the last four years states

have cut funding for these effective programs by 36%. it's no surprise that we're seeing the tobacco industries blanketed marketing overwhelm the cut backs in the state programs. it's actually penny wise and pound foolish. these programs not only save lives and reduce the death and disease from tobacco, they save money for taxpayers. >> this morning ken garcia, who's a spokesperson for altruia, which is a parent company for phillip morris. he e-mailed me. he has a statement from the company. it goes like this, the food & drug administration is in full enforcement and our company is in full compliance with all the regulation around how products are sold and marketed. it's highly restricted, highly regulated and between us the industry and the federal government who regulates us are all working for the same cause, which is to make sure that kids can't access tobacco products. where do you see specific examples where that is not the case? it sounds like you're saying that's not true. >> it's absolutely not true.

phillip morris says they've never marketed to kids and, therefore, they have never had to change and yet go into a retail outlet. we've seen marlboros advertised next to slurpies. we've seen cigarettes advertised on the ice cream counter. >> you could argue that cigarettes and ice cream and grownups eat sies cream, and grownups have slurpies. >> you could argue that. what the data shows is kids are seeing advertising every single day and the more likely today that kids see advertising the more likely they are to smoke. the tobacco industry knows that. that's why they're spending all of that money. virtually every new smoker is a child. 90% of all new smokers start as teenagers and over 80% of them smoke the three most levelly advertised brand. phillip morris and the tobacco companies have been doing double speak to the american public for decades. unfortunately neither their marketing nor their statements have changed. >> i have a question for you. we have severe restrictions on

where people can smoke, they can't smoke in restaurants and here in new york city you can't smoke outside on the sidewalk. at what point do we have to let this be sort of in the purview of parents and families to try to convey their values to their children and keep their children from starting smoking? >> parents and families have an incredibly important role to play, but today it's not an even playing field. today they're still up against the marlboro man. when you have more than a million dollars an hour being spent marketing these products, it's very hard for parents to protect their children. that's one of the critical lessons here. parents and child -- parents and children can play a very important role but government needs to do more and the tobacco industry for the first time needs to stop the kind of marketing that they know and that this report shows increases youth tobacco use. >> matthew myers is president and ceo of campaign for tobacco free kids. thank you for joining us. we appreciate you joining us. >> thank you very much.

still ahead on starting point, can you feel it? that massive solar storm that's slamming into earth. we'll tell you who it could affect your flight, gps, the power grid. also, andrew bright back's final bombshell. there it is, the hug, with a professor that is controversial. we'll talk to breitbart's editor straight ahead. you're watching "starting point." short break. ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪

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this is iran's cleanup job. there are new images that shows iran hiding radioactive waist from a nuclear test. also, have you felt the impact yet? the largest solar storm in five years is hammering the earth right now. it could disrupt everything from flights to power grid. plus we'll tell you about andrew breitbart's last work. >> open up your hearts and your minds to the work. >> that's a videotape of president obama back in the

1990s. is it much of a. >> boomer: shell at all. we'll talk about that. a year after the arab spring, disturbing information. things might not have changed especially for women. those are our starting points for this thursday -- i said friday earlier. you guys didn't correct me. thank you. it's march 8th. thursday. twitter corrected me. everybody else didn't here. what are we listening to? whose song? this is beyonce. this is beyonce. it's on my play list. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com women, run this world. >> that's fine. as long as they do the laundry. >> you had it. you were so close. come on. you're killing us. >> jane thomas joins us, actor, amy who will ams, she's an anchor and errol lewis. you're worried about sirius and solar flares. >> i'm taking the day off.

why can't we just take a day off? we live in this incredible atmosphere. we want everything to work perfectly. everything has to always go fast so just take a day off. >> will you call my boss? >> i'm going to continue to anchor my show right now then and i'll take a day off. thanks for the advice. >> it's a signal from god that we're supposed to slow down. whoever runs the universe is saying, you know, sweat it out. >> whoever runs the universe is not the person yelling in my ear get to carlos and news. good morning. >> i'm going to give you news if you don't mind. >> no, fine. go ahead. >> let's get to world news. new satellite images raising more fears. two western diplomats tell cnn that satellite images show large trucks and earth moving vehicles at a suspected nuclear testing site. the timing is important. the u.n. inspectors have tried and failed to go to that site. they only decided on monday that they would be let in. the director general of

international atom international atomic energy agency tells our matthew chance that iran is hiding something. >> iran is not telling us everything, that is my impression. so we have to -- we are asking iran to engage with us proactively and iran has a case to answer. >> scary reports out of syria right now. reports of at least eight people killed today as government forces shelled several cities with the assad regime doing everything it can to crush the rebellion. meantime, a hey ranking official has defected to the opposition. syria's deputy oil minister posted a video on youtube saying he was, quote, joining the revolution of this noble people who will not accept injustice. have you seen these stunning images from nasa this morning? it's the biggest solar storm in five years. shooting out of the sun. the worst of these waves

battering our planet right now. space weather experts say it could really mess with the magnetic field today and jay's show on sirius satellite radio. it can disrupt satellites and power grids over the next 24 hours. the northern lights never looked as stunning as they did last night. check that out right there. whitney houston left everything to her daughter, bobbi kristina, but the singer's will does not mention specific assets. houston's money will be put into a trust. bobbi kristina is 19 years old now. she'll receive part of the money when she turns 21. more of it when she's 25. and she'll get the balance of that money and those assets when she turns 30. president obama's re-election campaign will release a 17-minute documentary next week on the president's first term in office. here's a clip from the trailer which was just released this morning. >> how do we understand this president and his time in office? do we look at the day's headlines or do we remember what

we, as a country, have been through? >> sounds like tom hangs' voice. the film's director was an oscar winner for al goer's inconvenient truth. jessica simpson is very pregnant and very naked on the cover of elle magazine this month. it's not anything we haven't seen before. this is demi moore from 1991 on vanity fair. hello. in case you're wondering in the elle interview. jessica simple son says she's carrying a girl. >> that's what i look like without spanx on. >> jessica simpson is due in a few weeks. >> i think that's a pretty picture. i like when the women do that. i never felt cute. >> the belly. >> for god's sake, it's his baby. sure. you don't think that's artistic. >> do we have a name for the father? >> former tight end for the 49ers. >> i think that that's a nice

picture. she looks good. i never felt sexy when i was pregnant. >> you weren't cgied like that picture. >> they promised me they would photo shop it. she looks good. congratulations to the happy couple. moving on. let's talk about this -- >> sad for advertising. >> the andrew breitbart story. weeks before his sudden death the conservative blogger, andrew breitbart, was talking at cpac. he said he had a bombshell videotape that he claimed would damage the president. >> then he died. >> yeah. i've got videos. this election we're going to vet him from his college days to show you why -- to show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008. >> so that's andrew breitbart talking at cpac.

he was a guest on our show. he joined our panel at cpac as well. is this the videotape? this is from buzz feed. this is a clip from wgbh. it shows president obama back in his harvard law school years speaking at a rally in support of racial equality among the faculty at harvard law school. he gave a glowing review of the professor. breitbart's video clip from that introduction then shows charles ogletree, another harvard professor, commenting on this clip. listen. >> open up your hearts and your minds to the work of professor derrick bell. >> now what makes this so interesting when you think about it, of course we hear this throughout the 2008 campaign. i don't care if they find it

now. >> this morning is joel pollak. he is the he had tor in chief of breitbart.com. is this the video that andrew breitbart was talking about at cpac? is that it, what i just showed? >> that is one of the materials andrew breitbart was talking about. by the way, those weren't his last words and this is not his final bombshell. this is the beginning of a vetting process that begins with andrew breitbart's probe into barack obama's time in chicago and will continue. we're not just vetting barack obama, we're also vetting the other candidates. the mainstream media won't and didn't vet barack obama. >> so then let's go back to the clips that i just showed. what part of that was the bombshell? because i missed it. i don't get it. what was a bombshell? >> well, the bombshell is the revelation of the relationship between obama and derrick bell. >> so he's a harvard law student and harvard law professor, yeah? >> that's correct. and derrick bell is the jeremiah

wright of academia. he passed away but during his lifetime he developed a theory called critical race theory which holds that the civil rights movement was a sham and that white supremacy is the order and it must be overthrown. >> that is a complete misreading. i'll stop you there for a second. then i'll let you continue. that is a complete misreading of critical race theory. that's an actual theory. you could google it and someone would give you a good definition. >> in what way is it a critical misreading? can you explain to me? explain to your readers what it is. >> i'm going to ask you to continue on. i'm just going to point out that that is inaccurate. tell me what the bombshell is. >> wait a minute. you've made a claim that my characterization of critical race theory is the opposite of martin luther king is. >> critical race theory looks into the intersection of race and politics and the law and as a legal academic who would study this and write about it he would advance the theory about what

exactly happened when the law was examined in terms of racial politics. there is no white supremacy in that. it is a theory. it's an academic theory and as one of the leading academics at harvard law school, he was one of the people as part of that conversation. so that is a short definition. >> i'm glad we've got you saying that on tape because that's a complete misrepresentation. critical race theory is all about white supremacy. critical race theory holds that civil rights laws are ineffective, that racial equality is impossible because the legal and constitutional system -- >> what i just said the intersection of race and politics when it comes to under the law. >> you said white supremacy. >> i'm trying to figure out what the bombshell is. get back on track. what's the bombshell. >> this is critical. >> it's not critical. >> this is critical. you can't derail this, soledad. white supremacy is the heart of critical race theory and obama knew it. by the time he embraced him at harvard law school derrick bell had already given a speech in

chicago two months before that caused a sensation which was about how white supremacy was still the order of the day and that black people were fooling themselves if they thought civil rights and equality were achievable goals. he said this. one of the people who came to his defense was jeremiah wright with whom bell had correspondence over the years. it is a connection that is very important. >> so your point, you're trying to make the point that derrick bell was somehow a serious radical, is that what you're trying to say? by connecting president obama to derrick bell, a harvard law student to a harvard law professor, the first black tenured professor at harvard law school, you're trying to make that connection? is that the bombshell? >> don't believe me, believe henry lewis gates jr. who said that derrick bell had a blind spot for antisemitism. don't believe me, believe one of derrick bell's -- >> there are plenty of people who debated that theory. there's no question about it. if your point -- if your bombshell is that derrick bell is a radical, is that what

you're trying to say? i'm trying to understand what the bombshell is because i haven't seen a bombshell yet. >> the bombshell is happening right here on this program where we've got a story and you're not interested in telling your viewers who derrick bell actually is. you want to come in and obfuscate and tell me i don't know what critical race theory is, that white supremacy has nothing to do with it. this is about barack obama's connection to a radical tleerl ri that he didn't just embrace when he was a student at harvard. when he was a teacher at the university of chicago he forced his students to reader rick bell. >> a lot of law students reader rick bell. you really do not understand critical race theory, number one. >> can i say something as a white person? what are you frightened of? >> i don't know. >> are you frightened that some black people are going to do something to you? you have a group of individuals -- if you and i were black we would be madder than hell, but we're not. so we are white people. there are more white people than black people. and so there's a struggle that's

been going on and so in a struggle you talk about a lot of things. there's anger. there's resentment and so what are you frightened of? what do you think barack obama's going to do? is there a secret black movement that's going to start killing white people? what are you talking about? as a white guy. >> i'm glad you played the racism card. you've accused me of being a racist. >> i've accused you of being white. >> you've accused me of being afraid of black people. it doesn't deserve a response. i'm not concerned about that. what i'm pointing out is that there's a pattern in barack obama's associations with derrick bell, with reverend wright and it carries over into his governance because his justice department won't treat black civil rights violators the same way it treats white civil rights violators. there's a racial pattern in which justice is enforced and it gives us a sense of how barack obama thinks about these issues.

at every point when he could have followed the path of martin luther king he through in his lot with the jeremiah wrights and derrick bell's. it's important not because of what he believes but it's important to vet the media. >> you want him to take it easy on the white supremist groups? >> exactly the opposite. >> is that it? i'm just asking. i mean it. i'm just asking. >> why don't you just ask the question -- why don't you ask the question without knowing a thing about me or what i believe. this is typical mainstream media behavior. >> i'm looking at it. i'm talking white guy here. >> you're judging me by the color of my skin. >> yes, i am. >> that's exactly -- that's exactly what andrew breitbart -- >> if i could interjeblgt. >> you're watching rush limbaugh, listening to him, and i release it and say this guy's an idiot because he listens to rush limbaugh. >> i bet you don't know what time -- i bet you don't even know what time rush limbaugh airs. >> hold on. >> wait a second. >> i think there's a different point also that needs to be discussed, which is why are we

looking at this video in 2012. why didn't we see it in 2008. >> it was on. >> we didn't see the -- >> it was on the internet for four years. >> jeremiah wright was more divisive. >> i followed that election very closely at this organization. this video in its entirety was not a part of the political discussion. >> it was in a documentary that aired right before the election. >> hold on. soledad. in the documentary it showed video, no audio, and only small clips with voiceovers. just the raw video. why didn't we see this? >> of what? of hugging derrick bell, a renounded harvard law professor of when he died -- >> hold on. this would be something for the public to decide, not for the media to decide. i think that is a worthy discussion to have. the media as a gatekeeper of information here did not allow this to be put into the public square. for then candidate mr. obama, tell us about your days at college. what were your thoughts about it? how have you evolved? >> go ahead. stay with us.

>> george bush hugged kenneth lay and we found out he was a horrible -- >> we talked all about it. >> go ahead. >> these are the interesting questions. i was on the harvard campus around this time. >> me too. >> we were developing critical race theory and so forth. it certainly wasn't some sort of radical movement. it was a bunch of professors talking to other professors. the students could listen in, they would participate. >> was it a worthy conversation in 2008? >> hang on. let him finish. >> the fact that breitbart and what's left of his organization now wants to sort of posthumously smear derrick bell and then sort of by implication bridge that to -- into the presidential campaign, i would predict it's going to be irrelevant. i mean, we know a lot about this president. i don't think you're going to take the selective snippet from the breitbart organization and overwhelm what hundreds of millions of people now know about the president from four years of governance. >> i absolutely agree with that. my point is this. listen, when i was in college i was a vegetarian and an animal

rights activist and now i love prime rib. i'm not saying that's an inindictment of president obama or derrick bell. what i am saying is this is an indictment of the mainstream media that did not open this conversation back in 2008 with the full video, with the full audio. >> but -- >> it did not. we didn't have this conversation before the american people. we didn't broach this to the then candidate, senator obama, to discuss his background. >> i want to go back to joel because when we started, joel, you said this is one of numerous bombshells. so i bet you and i are going to be talking a lot over the next couple of months if you have a lot of different bombshells. give me a preview of what else is coming. >> well, i think in the coming days ahead you're going to learn exactly what derrick bell was about, what critical race theory was about. yes, it was a radical movement, that's why charles ogletree said he wanted to keep this hidden. >> to an audience that was shooting it and they laughed. if you watch that clip, by the way, the entire audience is white it looks like from the back of their heads in that videotape. it's being shot.

they laugh. you don't think that that was -- >> wait. so you want to judge the reactions of the audience by their race? you know that, soledad -- >> i'm only pointing out a fact. i'm only pointing out a fact which is when you see the audience, it's a bunch of white people. he says it's being shot. he laughs. they laugh also. >> first of all -- >> you know, would err' obviously going to have to -- >> if it was a bunch of white people, that would be the first time an all white audience had attended a lecture there. >> you know what, someone was talking in my ear so i couldn't hear everything. the question we should get back to is what do you think ultimately is coming? give me a preview so we can discuss it as the days and weeks come ahead. >> what's coming is what andrew breitbart called the vetting. we're going to go through the past of barack obama and the present. the four years that he's been in office relating to his economic performance, his encroachment upon constitutional rights, his foreign policy and it's not just about democrats. we're going after republican candidates as well. anybody who would lead this

country has to be properly vetted. we cannot have what happened last time. i think ami who will ams is exactly on the money. it's not about the mainstream media deciding this, it's about citizens deciding for themselves. if the media won't expose it then citizen journalists will come to the fore. >> we are i'm sure looking forward to all of that coming forward. it's nice to have you. joel pollak is the editor in chief of breitbart.com. still ahead after just a year the arab spring, we're looking at the state of women in the middle east today. it's international women's day. there's some surprising news that women's rights may not be improving. we're going to talk to a blogger on the front lines in cairo next. then how winning a million dollars in lotto spelled problems for this woman. she's on food stamps and wants to stay on food stamps. we're going to talk about that. we're listening to oe rrol's play list. "all in all. ♪

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welcome back, everybody. it's been a year since arab spring started in egypt. we mark international women's day taking a look at women's rights in that part of the country and why some people say it hasn't improved at all. dalhia is a blogger. she is the egypt director of the american islamic congress. she's in new york because she's being honored at the third annual women in the world summit tonight. nice to have you. >> nice to be with you. >> congratulations to you. you're going to be honored for fighting for women's civil rights in the middle east. how would you describe the opportunities that exist for the women in egypt today? >> unfortunately after the revolution it's so disappointing what happened to the women in egypt. everyone, including the military, which is now the interim ruler of the country, even the other political forces in the country, including the liberals, are purposefully marginalizing women in response to the pay the try attic mentality of the society instead

of challenging it. this is putting the women in a very critical situation. we have to fight for having their honest peace. they have to have a voice. >> so what happened? when you were fighting originally in the arab spring it was men and women together fighting together for a common cause. where did that unravel and not move into, you know, sort of the real political structure? >> those 18 days of revolution was like heaven for women, actually. women were there side by side with men. no one cared if you are a woman or you are a man, if you wearing a veil or not. they are only caring that you're an egyptian, you're believing in what you do, and you're here to oust this dictatorship. i remember many times when we were in the square, we were inspiring our men partners that we are women and we are here so they incest on remaining in the square and keeping fighting, but what happened immediately after the revolution is that the patriotic mentality dominated the scene and also the rise of islam mi cysts and this

extremist version of islam mi cysts that we are seeing on the rise in egypt enhances this. so you can see women are crashed between two big stones, extremism on one side and pay the try ar particular mentality on the other side. >> you ran for the parliament which is 1% female. half the population in egypt is female. if it's the visual, the crushing between the two stones, what's the way out? >> actually, my experience running for parliament was a tough one because it showed me how politicians tend to deal with women. unfortunately, including the most liberal parties, i belong to a lib wall party. they only see women as a way of decoration, a way of showing the public that they believe in women rights and they are more open minded. just to attract some votes. rather than giving women real power to have a seat.

most of the liberal party, for example, were claiming the islamist parties for putting women at the very bottom of their listers, which you call tickets here, at the very bottom of the listers and not having their full vote. look at the liberal parties and the leftist parties, it's the same. they never wanted to have women on the top of the list simply because the society does not accept it and pleem not vote for us if we are having women on the top of the list. it was a big challenge. >> as you know, hamid karzai is getting flak today because he's endorsed 150 muslim cler riks and some of the things that he's endorsed sound like a complete throw back. tell me what your reaction is. >> when i see countries like afghanistan that was once a secular country, we all know how afghanistan looks like, especially in regard to women rights and human rights and civil rights in general.

i've become really concerned about my country, which i don't want to be pessimistic, but i'm seeing it heading in that direction. now we are about to write our constitution and the people who are dominating the constitution committee are mostly from the muslim brotherhood and the other groups who recently, for example, said we should stop parliament and they said we should stop indicating our children english language because it's an invasion in their mind. this is how they are thinking. this is how they are treating the concept of opening to the wallet and also they consider civil rights and women rights and all these issues western concepts that is invading our society. >> you sound very pessimistic. we congratulate you on your work. she's the egypt director of the american islamic conference. nice to have you with us. still much more ahead on "starting point." from rags to riches to both.

a lotto woman hits big and says she's still on food stamps. she's making no apologies. a move to discharge rush limbaugh. a powerful senator wants him off of armed forces radio. the best part of any great meal?

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much more to get to on "starting point" this morning. where are the minorities in the gop primaries? if you look at the numbers, they're not there. there's a large number of older white voters. what does that mean? what are the long term implications for the rnc? this is a man who asked a woman out on a date and robbed her. this would qualify for the worst date ever. we'll tell you about that. then hollywood's legend ri rito moreno is going to join us. stay tuned. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. i have hemorrhoids and yes, i have constipation. that's why i take colace®. [ male announcer ] for occasional constipation associated with certain medical conditions, there's colace® capsules. colace® softens the stool and helps eliminate the need to strain. stimulant-free, comfortable relief. no wonder more doctors recommend it. say yes to colace®! [ male announcer ] we're giving away fifty-thousand dollars worth of prizes! enter weekly to win! go to colacecomfort.com to enter!

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unemployment benefits last week, 8,000 more. 362,000 new to the unemployment line for the first time last week. higher than we were expecting. it's another week, soledad, below the key 400,000 level. that's the sign of a labor market moving in the right direction. futures are still higher. tomorrow's the big day. labor department releases that jobs report for february. economists surveyed by cnn money, 19 economists suspect that the economy added 210,000 jobs last month and that the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 8.3%. >> thank you very much. let's get to headlines. carlos has those. >> is it always this heated around here? this is a very stressful morning. >> we still have 23 minutes. >> take a deep breath. >> to get to. >> whew. >> coombaya. >> let's join hands. >> we almost had white on white violence. i mean, i -- >> he said you're playing the race card. that was kind of funny. >> yeah. >> a white guy against a white guy playing the race card.

let's move on. democrats and republicans, they're city setting aside their differences to vote on a jobs bill in the house. the legislation is designed to help small businesses, especially start-ups. there's little or no controve y controversy. lawmakers and the president, they all agree that this jobs act is good. it's comprised of six measures aimed at removing barriers to small business investment. a stunning new report from the surgeon general on kids and smoking. it suggests tobacco companies are skirting the law and targeting young people. the report says the once steady decline in youth smoking has slowed or stalled in recent years and each day 1,000 people under 18 smoke their first cigarette. plus, numbers show two people start smoking for every one person who dies from tobacco use. it's the first surgeon general report on kids and tobacco use since 1994. all right. first he asked you out. then he robs you blind.

police in florida are on the hunt for a guy who calls himself the romeoburg glar. here he is on surveillance video breaking into the house of a woman he just asked out on a date. the victim, who police did not identify, said the guy called himself marciano valentino. he asked her out to lunch at an apple by's. when she waited there, he broke in stealing $5,000 worth of electronics. when he did show up the guy allegedly stuck her with the bill and then took her iphone on the way out. so he took all of her stuff and got a free lunch and a free phone. >> she's a teenager. >> a person who's accepting a date for lunch at apple by's. >> i've had many a perfectly fine male at apple by's. >> her first mistake was being a teenager. >> the story is what i would start. you start one where you know the

guy's no good from the beginning. >> on eharmony. >> on facebook he only had a mug shot. she should have known. >> story. finally this morning she hit it big in the michigan lottery and got a new house, new car, and her regular old monthly welfare check. amanda clayton still collects $200 a month in state food assistance. a local detroit station caught up with clayton while she was shopping on a shopping spree. she told a reporter she thought it was okay because even though she hit the lottery, she technically didn't have a job. >> it's okay because it's legal. that's why it's okay. she continues to get the checks. it's not illegal for her to do this. >> cnn affiliate wdiv spoke with the michigan department of human services and the department released a statement saying in part under dhs policy a recipient of food assistance benefits must notify the state within ten days of any asset or income change. dhs relies on clients being forthcoming about their actual

financial status. if they are not and they continue to accept benefits, they may face criminal investigation and are required to pay back the benefits. the state says clart ton has been removed from public assistance and of course here's the big thing. you have to be the one to tell the state, you know what, i've got money now. i'm good. that's the crazy thing with this. >> she'll be back. it doesn't sound like somebody who's going to hold on to much of that lottery money. when it's all gone, i'm sure she'll be back to dhs. >> right. crazy stories. this is strange news today. let's talk a little bit about the gop primary. >> solar flare. >> that might be the reason. >> two months into the primary season and interesting pattern is developing. one that unless changes, experts say, could be a problem for the gop. according to cnn exit polls in this campaign white people have cast at least 90% of the vote except in the states of florida and arizona. majority of voters have been over the age of 50 in florida and nevada 70% of the ballots

were cast by voters 50 plus. ron brownstein is the editorial director of national journal. he writes about this as he talks about 2012. so all of these numbers, of course, are important because they could portend bad things for the gop. are you talking bad things this election cycle or really down the road? >> right. right. you have to look at both. near term and long term. as you point out, overwhelmingly white primaries and predominantly older. soledad, we are look living through the most profound demographic change. when bill clinton was first elected only 12% was nonwhite. when barack obama was elected it was 26% in 2008. he won 80% combined of all of those minority voters. that allowed him to win the presidency even while winning only 43% of whites. he is the first person ever to win the white house and he won it comfortably by losing whites by double digits. fast forward two years later. republicans had a very big election. best mid term election since

1938 by winning 60% of whites. the most they had ever won. in a mid term election it tends to be older and whiter, the electorate. it is still possible in the near term, yes, to squeeze out a victory by maximizing the vote among whites. if you look at the long term, even in 2012 in the presidential race when the bigger electorate is voting, if you let the democrats continue to win 80% of nonwhite voters, the math gets very difficult for republicans, especially as that minority share of the electorate continues to grow. >> talk about the numbers that you crunched looking at the exit polls that have already had their primaries. >> we've had 14 states with exit polls. in all but two of them, as you noted, at least 90% of the vote in the republican primary has been white. and in all but four of them at least 94% of the vote has been white. now that includes states that are very diverse. in virginia in 2008 only 70% of all voters were white in the general election. 94% in the republican primary. in south carolina only 71% of

all voters were white in 200898% in the republican primary. nevada 68% in 2008 were white. 97% in the republican primary. what you're seeing is a republican coalition now that is overwhelmingly dependent on the votes of whites. in fact, if you go back to 2008, 90% of john mccain's votes came from white. as i say, in the near term if you drive up that white support to the kind of level we saw in 2010, you can still have a good election. the challenge for republicans is twofold. you can't count on that level of support among whites in every election. as i said, 2010 was their best showing ever in a mid term. you don't want to have to do that every two years. that minority share of the vote as it continues to grow because of demography makes the math more daunting. if barack obama wins as big a share of the minority vote as he did in 2008 and it grows as much to 28% in 2012 which is what his campaign expeblgts, he could lose 60% of whites and still win. the imperative, i think the

imperative for republicans to improve their showing in minority communities, especially hispanics, is clear. what the data shows is that they are not attracting voters. >> i have to get amy shaking her head, no, no, no. >> only because i think there is another element, particularly with the gop primaries that needs to be taken into consideration that we've seen, of course, this enthusiasm gap. that president obama had the benefit of a lot of first-time voters who tended to be young and minority. i'm supposed to be looking over here. and with this enthusiasm gap, is it surprising that the people who are turning out for these primaries are going to be older, white folks? we know that older people vote in much higher numbers than young people. >> older people vote in higher numbers than young people in an off year election. 2010, the share of the vote that seniors represented was unusually high. that's going to go back down in 2012, amy. >> you're using the gop primary right now as the basis of your information. >> right. >> what i'm saying is that there are other factors and elements that might be driving those racial numbers. >> well, i think, you know, when

you go into states that are 30% nonwhite in their general election profiles and you are looking at white share of the vote in these primaries at 95, 98%, 97, 98%, i think it's pretty clear that whatever these candidates are not engaging minority voters. by the way, you know those polls about latinos say the same thing. lots of trouble right now. not guaranteed forever. they do need to improve this in 2012 and certainly beyond. >> ron brownstein, nice to see you, thank you. ahead of "starting point" this morning, the legendary rita moreno is going to join us. we'll bring her out. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. 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. call now for our free guide and tips on planning for your retirement this tax season. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪

he stormed out the front door like i did something wrong. >> well, you did. you were horribly insensitive to your husband. >> he's not my husband. we sleep in separate rooms. we no longer have sex. >> darling, all relationships go through phases. you have different needs, you change, you grow. >> yeah, well, i can't grow what he needs. >> legendary actress rita moreno

in tv's season happily divorced. she is the winner of a grammy, emmy, tony award. the joan there, of course, is that the show is really based on fran drescher's life. her husband turns out to be gay. >> she was married for 18 years to a husband who one day said i'm gay. it's called happily divorced for a reason, because they can't end the cease rear, they can't afford to leave home. they have to stay there. it's hilarious. it's very salty too. it's quite salty. >> i'm not surprised with her and you in it as well. >> fun for me as a hispanic woman i am playing her mother. i love to talk like that. i'm getting more and more to talk, more and more through my nose. its a getting scary. >> new yorkers love it. >> rita, do you think in 18 years you would have spotted if your husband was gay or not in an 18-year marriage? >> how do you know she didn't? you're making an assumption. >> i talked to her the other day and she said they had such a

nice relationship she didn't want to really bring it up. >> i have to tell you something. they still co-produce and co-write. he -- they are so loving. they nuzzle and they hug. he's very protective of her. if her dress isn't sitting straight, if her hair is sticking out, he is a he there. they're wonderful together. >> perfect. >> lovely. >> how do i find that man? >> actually, it is. that element is also included in the show, which is nice. >> my wife wishes i were gay so i could leave her alone. >> you need her to do the laundry. >> the wonderful part for me is my character, robert walden who plays my husband, they have made us sexually active. did my ovaries turn to dust or what? >> you're 80 years old. >> i'm 80. >> is it exhausting to do a show like that? >> oh, i get wired. listen, i just did my one woman show about life. it's called life without makeup

which i think is a great title which i hope to bring to new york. i danced and i danced a little piece of america. i danced a little piece of the mom bow. i don't know by the time i get to new york if i can do that. >> yes, you can. >> i'll probably be 892 or something like that. >> you can. you've won an emmy, grammy, tony, oscar. >> two emmys, but who's counting. >> i'm counting. let me change that. two emmys, sorry, a grammy. >> she got the zblsh where do you keep them? like a case? a big case? >> oh, god, no. that's so ostentatious. >> oh, no. they're on a shelf in the living room. for years i kept them in a carton. >> why? >> when i married my husband he said, what are you doing? he said something that really meant something to me. i always felt it was ostentatious, i really did. i get shy about certain things even though i'm a big loud mouth. >> i think you should put it on a chain around your neck. >> i have a teeny weany little gold oscar that they give only to people who have won them. when he said to me that was marvelous, he said, you didn't buy these, you earned them.

>> yes. >> i said, that's right. >> i love it. >> so now they're on a shelf in the living room. they're pretty gorgeous. >> can we talk politics for a second? you heard ron brownstein talking about the latino vote and the lack of minorities in the gop. you were cutting your eyes. why? what were you mad about? >> no, i'm not mad. >> did some of our debate -- >> i think the republicans have a serious problem and i think they've alienated a lot of latinos. i don't know about the black situation, but i know that they've alienated -- forget the cubans. that's another country, literally, but i think they're going to be in a lot of trouble. i think obama's going to be in a little bit of trouble. i've killed myself for him. and i think -- i think -- >> how do you see the race -- >> i think it's fascinating. >> who emerges as as -- >> i was glued to the set. >> is it mitt romney as the nominee? >> i think so. >> okay. >> don't you think so? >> it looks that way.

>> barack obama, mitt romney. >> yeah. yeah. >> what do you -- >> as long as it's not sarah palin. >> you never know. >> oh, dear. she really scares the hell out of me. so does rush limbaugh. he's a strange man. >> i think he's very disturbed. i seriously do. >> you don't think it's entertainme entertainment. >> i think it must be hard to live in a rage. the man is so angry. he's so filled with angst. you wake up in the morning and you're angry. >> is it a show? it's just a show. >> how come he's never had a heart attack. >> with that chent, something that i have found so alarming is how we just sort of accept actually men speaking about women this way and it's on the the left, on the right, it's in entertainment, politics, that these terms used hurled at women is outrageous. >> slut? really? >> i think michele bachmann was right when she said there's often outrage on one side and not the other. that is very true. people will be outraged. the answer is not lowering the outrage, the answer is raising the outrage on all fronts.

i think they're right. >> where did civility go between the sexes? >> i think's he broken so many sbrer barriers. if he does it, it's okay. they're a very special person. i think he's the one who's started all of that. >> it will be interesting to see where it all goes. love having you. now when you bring your show to new york you'll let us come. >> i love being had. especially by you. >> our end point -- >> i have a confession. >> save it for the commercial. hold on. hold on. wow. save that for the commercial. our "end point" is -- >> do you have sexual fantasies? >> no. no. the end as we started. our echbd point is next. >> we're adults. >> don't go away. our "end point" is next. kenny chesney, somewhere with you we leave you with for the moment. ♪ [ male announcer ] this is the story of one of nature's most perfect foods...

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all right. time for "end point." we're going to let you do our guest "end point." you have 20 seconds. >> i think rush limbaugh ought to take a