it's better to use your cell phone once you're in the hole rather than on your way too it. jeanne moos, cnn. >> oh, god! i'm stuck in here! >> reporter: new york. >> thanks. that's it for me. thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." the news continues next on cnn. good evening, i'm john king. tonight a confirmed case of mad cow disease in california. we'll ask the agriculture secretary, tom vilsack, if your health is at risk. stunning testimony in the john edwards trial. a former top aide details tens of thousands in hush money language and the nasty language he used when told his mistress was pregnant. and less drama, but still a turning point in the presidential campaign. mitt romney banking on five more wins and newt gingrich the latest challenger to talk about packing it in. let's begin tonight with the

breaking public health scare. a confirmed case of mad cow disease in california has the agriculture department here in washington on full alert. the fatal brain disease not only can be passed among cattle, scientists think an equally deadly variation can be transmitted to humans who eat contaminated beef or dairy products. the first confirmed case here in the united states in six years. elizabeth cohen joins us from the cnn center in atlanta. elizabeth, one of the reasons people get so scared is the potential. what does this mean for the food supply? >> you know, for this one cow that really -- this one cow doesn't have that much importance for our food supply. the usda doesn't appear to be panicked, even critics of the usda don't appear to be tank panicked. the reason why is this cow was never going to be eaten, it was a dairy cow. and experts say milk of an infected cow is not infectious. you can't get the disease from drinking the milk. john. >> how did they find out that this cow was sick? >>y don't know in this case but usually a cow stumbles around

and so they examine the cow and find out they're sick or perhaps the cow has died unexpectedly and they find out upon examination that the cow is sick. >> and you know firsthand what can happen if, a big if, eats infected meat and gets the human form of mad cow disease. tell us about the woman you interviewed. >> in 2006 i entered a woman named charlene who contracted mad cow disease in the united kingdom but didn't know it. she didn't get sick immediately. she came to this country. you can see she was incredibly ill and died just a few months after she did that story. the median incubation period for this disease is 15 years, so you eat the infected meat and 15 years pass until you have your symptoms. then once you're sick, there is really nothing that doctors can do. it was devastating to see this woman, john. >> elizabeth cohen, thanks so much. in about ten minutes we'll have an exclusive conversation with thing a -- ag secretary, tom

vilsack, here in just a few moments. now to other news breaking, still more resignations in the secret service prostitution scandal. dana bash has the latest on that. >> reporter: that's right, john. tonight two more secret service members have been forced to resign. one had his security clearance permanently revoked, which effectively means that his career would ultimately be over if that stays. and two were cleared of serious charges. so what this means is that the secret service investigation of the 12 members of its organization that were a part of the initial investigation, they have all been dealt with. let me give you a broad pick tut -- picture of the secret service scandal. 12 of been investigated. eight have been forced out. one is in the process of being forced out. that's what was when you lose your security clearance, although he could appeal. three all told have been cleared of serious charges but they could face -- two of them could

face lesser sanctions or punishment. so they certainly move swiftly inside the secret service to deal with. this maybe not as swifty as some would have liked but it is not a good day or couple of weeks for this agency. >> the follow-up question to that point, the congressional hearings are coming pretty soon. has the swiftness of the investigation convinced people that the management of the agency, the secret service, has its act together? >> so far the answer is yes. being in washington for a long time as you have as well, it's stunning. usually the way scandals work here in washington is people here in congress immediately call for somebody at the helm of the agency to go. not in the case of secret service director mark sullivan. i've talked to democrats and republicans at the top of the key committees, house and senate. they say for right now they feel confident that he is the right person to stay in this job, but the investigations here in congress, they're just starting, john. >> congressional correspondent dana bash with more breaking details. thanks. we'll have more at the bottom of

the hour. moving on to stinging new testimony in the trial of john edwards. he's accused of illegally using campaign money to hide his mistre mistress's pregnancy. a former aide took the stand recount the moment john edwards found out about the pregnancy. that witness, andrew young, excuse my language, says his boss called the mistress a quote, crazy slut and said there was just a one in three chance the child was his. joe johns was in the courtroom in greensboro today. as you listen to andrew young's testimony, what was the most damaging part? >> reporter: well, that certainly was the most memorable, i think, from the entire day. because it shows a callous side of john edwards, but on the other hand there was some testimony from andrew young that really sort of suggested john edwards was living in a dream world, believing that all of this information about, you know, his girlfriend, the baby and so on was just going to blow

over, if you will. a good example of that came around december 14th. this is something andrew young testified to. he said that when he was asked if john edwards was kept apprised of all the money that was coming in to pay to cover up this affair, he said no, we sort of talked in code. edwards really didn't want to know about it in case he had to be sworn in as attorney general. so that sort of shows you the state of mind, if you believe andrew young, that john edwards was in at the time leading right up to the 2008 primary in iowa, you know, the caucuses in iowa and the primaries, john. >> that's stunning testimony. joe, thanks so much. we once had tonight circled as a major showdown night in the republican race. republicans, mitt romney, rick santorum, facing off in santorum's home state of pennsylvania. senator santorum now gone from

the race so, yes, there is less drama. it's nonetheless a major turning point in the race. five states are voting today, pennsylvania, delaware, new york, connecticut and rhode island. here's why it matters. let's look up here. let's take a look at this. governor romney enters the night by our estimate at cnn, 695 delegates. needs to get to 1144. if you notice, speaker gingrich is still in the race. he's in the 140s somewhere. ron paul is only half that. santorum now out of the race. so governor romney with appear overwhelming lead. we are assuming governor romney will win roughly two-thirds of the delegates tonight. if he wins all five states, he gets to 875. not all the way to the finish line but look how much ahead of speaker gingrich and congressman paul. so much ahead that speaker gingrich is now saying if he doesn't win delaware or do very, very well, he will reassess his candidacy. speaker gingrich now talking about getting out.

a quick point, governor romney can't get to this magic number until the end of may. since he can get so close, let's bring in gloeria borger. if any republicans doubt the inevitability, they will wake up tomorrow morning with not much of an answer. >> right. i think it won't be a surprise to wake up and say mitt romney did very well. he is the presumptive republican nominee, although newt gingrich doesn't like when we use that word. but also i think when we look at the results tonight, we can also see among republicans whether there still remains kind of a hard core, anti-romney constituency out there. let's see if he gets real super majorities out there, because that would be one way to say, okay, the party may indeed be starting to unite around mitt romney and look towards the general election. >> and the fact that he is in

new hampshire. a small state when it comes to the electoral college, but i can give you a scenario in which a new hampshire or iowa or state of that size could decide the election. governor romney essentially trying to start again. to go back to the big first primary he won and frame the general election with a message of jobs, jobs, jobs, no more obama. >> we've been talking a lot about the pivot this week that. seems to be our favorite phrase. and, yes, he's pivoting. to the general election, to talking about women, for example, where he's not doing well, hispanic voters not doing well, young voters on the student loan issue today where romney is not doing well. so, you know, he is kind of moving to say, okay, these are where i need to shore up my support. we've also learned today that sometime in early may, mitt romney is going to meet with rick santorum. hopefully he can shore up his support within his own party and get the base enthusiastic.

>> delicate balance. work on your right to shore up the issues while also trying to get a little more support in the center. >> and seeming authentic at the same time. right? >> if you don't think there's drama, it's very much worth listening to governor romney just because of the tone. gloria, thank you. in a moment we'll return to the breaking news and ask the agriculture secretary, tom vilsa vilsack, about the first case of mad cow disease in six years. later, a top republican senator unhappy with the investigation, declared white house aides of wrongdoing in that secret service sex scandal. [ male announcer ] while others are content to imitate, we'll continue to innovate. the lexus rx. why settle for a copy when you can own the original? see your lexus dealer. with determination. courage. and all the points i earned with my citi thankyou card. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou card. redeem points for travel on any airline with no blackout dates.

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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. more now on a breaking public health story we told you about at the top of the hour. the u.s. agriculture department confirms a case of mad cow disease in central california, the first case here in the united states in six years. secretary of agriculture tom vilsack is with us exclusively. how did you find this cow? >> basically tests were run. we confirmed tests and this was a cow not going in the food system. we basically took it out of the food system and made sure that it was going to go to rendering. so very rare circumstance. i can assure you and everyone who's watching this tonight that

our food supply is safe and will continue to be safe. >> now, people hear mad cow disease and get a bit of fear and justifiably so. this was one cow not going to be slaughtered for meat purposes, it's one. but if there's one, does that mean there's two or do you not know the answer to that? >> the reason i'm certain is we've taken steps since 2004 to ensure that the types of products from animals that could potentially be the cause of mad cow disease in humans are not in the food system to begin w we've taken out the brain, the spinal column. none of that goes into the food system, so i'm very, very confident that we have a very safe supply of food here in the united states. >> what do we know about how and where? >> california dairy operation. this is an atypical case, which means it's not connected in any way, shape or form to feed. we have a feed band, so that's reassuring. a very rare circumstance and situation. it can just sort of come up and pop up. sometimes it's genetic.

but in any event this particular animal is contained and will be destroyed. >> help somebody watching who might not understand the science. this is a dairy cow so it was not in the meat supply. but if somebody out there says why, why should i trust you when you say the food supply, how do you know? how do you know? >> we know because of taking out of the feed and out of the food supply those parts of the animal that could potentially cause the mad cow disease in humans. it's taken out to begin with. it's not put into the slaughter process, it's taken out. the same thing is true with dairy products. we know that those are safe as well. people need to be reassured, john. every time i hear one of these stories, i obviously think of an american family sitting down and we want them to continue to be safe and secure about their food supply. i also think about the farm family who has to have the backing of the american public. they know their job and responsibility is to make sure the food is safe. >> as you know both from your current job and your prior job as a governor, when these things

have come up in the past, sometimes our trading partners in the view of the united states and in the view of farmers have overreacted by putting bans on u.s. meat and the like. what communications are happening to make sure if you're right about this, that it's a small, isolated case, that there's not a panic in the market, if you will? >> first of all, this is only the fourth case reported worldwide and we've seen a substantial reduction in the number of cases. we've taken the steps of notifying our canadian and mexican partners in north america and also taken the step of looking at our top 20 trading partners and reassuring them that this is the way the system is supposed to work. we're supposed to identify the circumstances and make sure they don't get in the food supply. so our trading partners should be reassured. the domestic markets were reassured. the markets rebounded an i think we'll be in good shape tomorrow. >> was this cow tested as part of a government program or did the dairy operator say i think i have a problem? >> this cow probably evidenced indications or signs that gave

people a sense of concern and the testing went into place. we routinely test throughout the country and the results obviously indicated the possibility. we then went through two confirmatory tests. we're also going to send the results to the international oie as part of our agreement with international processes to make sure that everybody understands it's a very transparent process and we're doing what we are supposed to do. >> but as we speak tonight, you are 100% certain, no threat to the food supply? >> i am going home and i am having beef for dinner and that's no lie. >> mr. secretary, i appreciate your time on this important day. thank you, sir. tomorrow brings another major showdown in the u.s. supreme court. we'll preview the fight over arizona's crackdown on illegal immigration. first, pictures you won't want to miss. a baby girl grows up right before your eyes.

man: 1939 -- my parents ran across an ad for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years.

let's start with car insurance x. this one does save people a lot of money and it's very affordable. it was very delicious. could you please taste car insurance y? this one is much more expensive. ugh. it's really bad. let's see what you picked. oh, geico! over their competitor. you are a magician right? no., oh. you're not?, no., oh, well, give it a shot. i am so, so sorry. it was this close.

welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the latest news. we are following some news of a death just in from the kennedy space center. a custodian's body was found on a launch pad this afternoon. the man hasn't been identified. he was found near a liquid oxygen tank and paramedics were unable to revival him. no word yet on the cause of death, though. we'll be following up on that. and federal officials made their first arrest today in the 2010 gulf oil spill. former bp engineer kurt mix is

accused of destroying evidence by deleting hundreds of text messages about how much oil was leaking into the gulf. some of those texts allegedly say more oil was leaking than bp had let on. mix is facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted on two counts of obstruction of justice. apple products rarely disappoint and neither do their earnings reports. the company's profits nearly doubled to almost $12 billion, more than exceeding wall street expectations. apple also reports $39 billion in sales, up 60% from last year. pretty impressive. better hold on to that stock, though. it climbed 6% in the first minutes after the news broke. some good advice for you there. and they grow up too fast, some parents say. in one father's case, it only took about three minutes. take a look at this video. the dutch filmmaker compiled video of his daughter over the past 12 years of her life. we sped it up even a little more to get it in. he posted the 2 minute, 45

second video and it's already gotten three million views. it fittingly ends with the caption "to be continued." that's a really amazing thing. >> it's really fun but trust me, as the parent of a teenage daughter, the to be continued part will be harder. daddy, no. daddy, no. not that, daddy, no. no, daddy. >> i don't like that picture. yeah. at least for the first 12 years it was fun. >> that is fun. a lot of parents are going to think i'm going to try that. >> it's a really fun idea. >> there will be a caught of copy cats to that. >> copy away. nine of the 12 secret service members implicated in the sex scandal being forced out of the agency. coming up, a senator that's not happy with a separate investigation that found no wrongdoing by white house aides. plus explosive allegations. the new orleans saints bugged the opponents' locker room.

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this half hour, president obama tonight calling the secret service members in the prostitution scandal, quote, a couple of knuckleheads. that's not enough to satisfy a top republican who wants to know if there's a white house link. we'll ask him what he's looking for. did the new orleans saints know the secrets of opposing coaches? we have eavesdropping allegations that are rocking the nfl team. plus president obama and mitt romney zero in on young voters. the truth about how they could rock the election.

new developments tonight. nine secret service members now essentially out of a job. that in the aftermath of a scandal involving soliciting prostitutes in colombia. reports of the latest rez nations when president obama said when it comes to the men that protect him and his family, 99.99% every day they put their life on the line. they do a great job. so a couple of knuckleheads shouldn't detract from what they do, but what those guys did i don't know. that's why they're not there anymore. the white house has cleared any of their staff from any wrongdoing. the ranking member of the senator judiciary committee,chuck grassley, joins us. the white house counsel's office said when the allegations came out they went and checked with the staff. they say no staff members had any involvement at all. why is that not acceptable?

>> it hopefully will be acceptable, but it hasn't been made public yet. it seems to me that that information ought to be public, particularly from a president who said three years ago when he was sworn in we was going to be the most transparent administration of any in history. the other thing is, i think it's very legitimate to have independent inspector, for instance, homeland security to go over that, because i think this is so serious when it comes to national security, when it comes to the level of the presidency being protected, we need to know what the facts are and what the investigation is. now, it is -- it seemed to me this was kind of a hasty investigation, considering the fact that nobody was concerned about it until i wrote my letter friday night, so they had saturday and sunday to do it, announced yesterday that everything was okay. i hope everything is okay. i hope these guys are a few

knuckleheads, but we've got to be certain that this isn't something that goes deeper into the culture of the secret service. >> well, your chairman, patrick leahy, checked this out and he said you should take them at their word. he says it has to do with you being a republican and the president being a democrat. listen here, sir. >> there are probably some disappointed by having the white house not involved. more investigation is not going to find somebody was involved when nobody was involved. let's get this out of the politics. >> is he playing politics, senator? >> john, my answer to that is i think you know my reputation of 25 or more years of oversight work. checking on administrations. i'm an equal opportunity overseer and i take on republican presidents just as much as i take on democrat presidents. in fact probably take on republican presidents more than democrat presidents. so that's a cheap political shot. >> if the white house counsel called you and said, senator,

this is a personnel matter, this is sensitive information, private information, we did ask everybody, we did check. come on down, i'll give you a briefing and show you some of the work product but we don't want to release the names works that be enough for you? >> i feel better if people other than chuck grassley that are experts on investigation that are known for their independence would make that judgment as opposed to my being told something. i think that that's very important that we have that independence and that expertise. >> you're going to have janet napolitano for a hearing tomorrow. she of course oversees the secret service. it was moved from treasury into her department after 9/11. what's your biggest question, senator? as you answer, are you satisfied that director sullivan has moved quickly in dealing with this? >> at this point, yes. and i was very satisfied a week ago today when i got my first briefing about what he was doing and i'm satisfied with what he's

done since. my kind of benchmark on this gets back to the inspector general. i usually ask a lot of investigators. to what extent are they going to have the inspectors general of the various departments involved. in this case homeland security. and he said, well, we already have them involved. now there's some question raised to what extent, is he just going by what the secret service says or is he doing his own independent investigation and i expect the latter and that's what i'm going to try to get out of secretary -- the secretary tomorrow. >> chuck grassly, we'll follow that and tomorrow night continue this conversation in the days ahead. there's new trouble for the nfl franchise the new orleans saints. the fbi and louisiana state police want to know, get this, if the team's general manager rigged a superdome suite so he'd be able to eavesdrop on rival teams' coaches. ed lavandera is following all of this. ed, a saints spokesman said these allegations are 1,000%

false but you have both a state and federal investigation, right? >> reporter: absolutely. in fact we've spoken with the state police in louisiana. they tell us they're joining an fbi investigation looking into these allegations. and all of this stems from an espn report suggesting according to their sources, which the network is not naming, that says that between the 2002 and 2004 seasons, the general manager of the new orleans saints, mickey loomis, was able to rig a hearing device in his suite overlooking the field where he was able to listen to the coaches of the opposing teams during the game. and now investigators at the state and federal level say that they have been told about these allegations and this information. they're looking into whether or not any kind of eavesdropping or wire tapping laws have been violated in all of this. they say it's far too early to get into whether or not any charges could be filed, but they are starting the factual process of gathering information, john. >> and, ed, this investigation

comes in the wake of the saints being front and center in the bounty scandal. their head coach suspended, their former defensive coordinator suspended. this team has meant so much to post-katrina new orleans, what's the reaction there? >> reporter: the reaction is just another bizarre story involving this beloved franchise that really came to symbolize so much for the city of new orleans. remember, mickey loomis, the general manager, now the man at the center of this story was implicated in that bounty gate. he himself is suspended eight games of this upcoming football season so he's someone already under a great deal of scrutiny. as to what his future will be like in the nfl. so all of that they will continue to do. we've just heard word from the saints that mickey loomis will address these allegations on thursday afternoon. john. >> we look forward to hearing his answers. ed lavandera tracking this one. thanks so much. shifting to the supreme court where the justices will decide if arizona overstepped its authority with a tough and very, very controversial immigration law.

the justices hear arguments starting tomorrow. our kate bolduan went to the front lines of this immigration fight, right down to the arizona/mexico border. [ speaking in spanish ] >> so is there a lot of crossings through the mountains? >> yeah, a lot. >> reporter: two men on the front lines, both fighting illegal immigration, but they couldn't be farther apart. david salgado is a 20-year phoenix veteran. he's supposed to enforce arizona's immigration law. instead he's trying to stop it and his lawsuit helped trigger a supreme court battle. >> i think it's a racist law. when i took an oath 20 years ago that said i'm going to enforce all laws and treat everyone equally, i can't treat hispanics equally because i'm going to profile then. >> reporter: glenn spencer heads a private group that patrols the border with high-tech equipment. planes, cameras, even testing a

sonic barrier. >> so this flashing here would indicate -- here we go. >> reporter: spencer says he and the state are stepping in where washington has failed. >> this is a wholesale invasion of arizona. and our federal government is not protecting the state. we are going to make sure that they get all the help and the federal government gets all the help that it needs to do the job. >> reporter: it's an old fight, but a new battleground and it all comes down to this, the u.s./mexico border and the arizona law known as sb-1070, meant to crack down on illegal border crossings. but the question dividing this state is who should be enforcing illegal immigration laws? sb-1070 requires local police like officer salgado to check people's immigration status while enforcing other laws if the police have, quote, reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally. all in an effort, the state's governor says, to help federal authorities deal with illegal

immigration. >> they're coming across our borders in huge numbers. >> reporter: but the obama administration and the law's opponents argue the federal government alone has power over immigration enforcement. now, what happens here in the supreme court case is being closely watched by states across the country, georgia, utah, indiana, just to name a few. this comes down to states rights versus federal authority. a classic battle before the supreme court and a constitutional battle left for the justices to decide and happening in the middle of an election year, i don't have to tell you means the political stakes are even higher with the outcome of this case. >> so you have the legal constitutional questions. but as we've all seen in recent years an know in this presidential campaign, this becomes a hotly contested political issue. >> in the most recent nationwide pole it shows a majority of americans seem to support the arizona law. according to this poll, 68%, almost seven in ten say they approved of the law. specifically also talking about the provision requiring police

to check a person's immigration status while they're enforcing other laws. take it from a broader view, though. our cnn polling has shown that illegal immigration, this issue is very important to voters. but when you compare it to other issues, like the economy, it's not as high up there in terms of a priority when it comes to their vote. >> much like health care case. how the justices rule will impact the campaign between now and november. we'll talk more about this tomorrow after the arguments. we'll also talk to arizona's governor, jan brewer. she signed sb-1070 into law. she'll be among our guests tomorrow. coming up here, mitt romney may not be able to win the youth vote but he's working to make a denting. the truth about how that tactic could swing at least one state back into the red column. at the top of the hour, erin burnett sets down with the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanya netanyahu, and he says he knows sanctions on iran are not working. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit,

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sometimes just one event can tell you a lot about a candidate and the state of the campaign. >> the thing about north carolina is even the folks who don't vote for me are nice to me. you know, i can't say that about every place. >> to be clear, that was officially president obama speaking, not candidate obama. his two campus stops today and one tomorrow are on the schedule as official events, meaning taxpayers pick up the tab as the president, by design in three

2012 battleground states approves a program to keep student loans lower. this president is as aggressive as any of his predecessors in using the levers of the presidency and incumbency for political gain. president obama views mitt romney's wealth as a campaign issue that cuts in his favor. >> i didn't just read about this. i didn't just -- i didn't just -- i didn't just get some talking points about this. i didn't just get a policy briefing on this. michelle and i, we've been in your shoes. like i said, we didn't come from wealthy families. >> now, the images there give away the president's focus. younger voters and i would add

their parents, those who have to help pay those kids' college costs. in 2008, two-thirds of voters under 30 backed senator obama. in 2008 it was even greater. in those numbers is today's most important truth. both campaigns believe this campaign could be won on the margins. what do i mean by that? first governor romney's pitch to younger voters. >> he promised bringing the country together. that sure hasn't happened. he promised a future with good jobs and good opportunity. that hasn't happened. >> now, governor romney is not expecting to win the youth vote but he is banking on trimming the president's margins. think of it this way. the president carried north carolina by 14,177 votes back in 2008. now fast forward to 2012. more north carolinans at the moment disapprove than approve of his job performance. governor romney's challenge is to swing the 2008 margins his

way. changing the margins of the youth vote is one way to do that. meaning if some young voters stay home and a tiny bit decide to vote republican, that could be enough to put north carolina back in the red column. it's clear the president gets that. three campus stops in two days is all the proof of that you need. here to talk truth tonight, "time" magazine bureau chief, michael crowley. cornell, my question tonight as mitt romney becomes even more inevitable is has the president in his campaign, have they spent their time wisely in the sense that on the margins, i mean african-american unemployment is high. if a tiny percentage say home, if a tiny percentage of the youth vote drops a little bit or a little bit more go republican, if the latino vote is 65% instead of 66% that, could swing a colorado, a north carolina, a virginia back. is the time being well spent identifying those voters and what will become the turnout operation down the road?

>> i think it absolutely is. and both sides do this. they target voters that are important to us. the youth vote was central to the obama campaign last time around. as the youth vote grows, particularly when you look at states out west where it's growing that, latino youth vote and the minority youth vote is growing more and more important there, you have to start targeting younger voters. the question becomes quite fr k frankly when you look at him running 32 points ahead of romney, that's a margin republicans can't allow him to do. they have to pull that back. >> so romney said i agree with him. we should keep interest rates low for now. that was a temporary program. in doing that governor romney put congressional republicans in a box. they now have no choice but to agree with the president to extend that and they say, okay, we're willing to do that. does governor romney when he does things like that, does he risk on the other side having conservatives say, no, that's not the government's job? >> i don't think he does because he did make it very clear i'm

not only going to pay for it but do it in a way that does not jeopardize the creation of jobs in the economy. that's what young people need most. obama has a real problem, the president has a real problem because it's own failed policies driving the youth away from him. his support has dropped an it will continue to drop as they become more and more aware there's no jobs for them. they go to college, costs are more, up 25% under the president and over 50% of them are underemployed or unemployed when they graduate. huge numbers. i saw even 85% of them and they are headed back to mom's home instead of the dream they had to use that knowledge and talent that they gained. they are now underemployed or unemployed. this is devastating and he promised something much brighter for young people. >> i call it niche marketing. events so clearly focused at one slice of the constituency. it is the proof to me. they understand we don't know

what october and november will look like but if it's that close, that some of those states, whether it's colorado, whether it's virginia, whether it's north carolina, whether it's iowa or new hampshire where governor romney is tonight could swing by the narrowest of margins. >> that's right. you're going to see very targeted campaign appeals. you also struck an important point in the intro when you noted it's not just the balance of how these voters split but what is the turnout going to be. i think for obama the youth vote is really going to be a challenge. in 2008 you had obama promising to end a war that was incredibly dramatic and just grabbed anyone. he himself was this new, exciting outsider who had movie stars and rock stars celebrating him and there was this talk that he was really going to change washington and be something completely different. that's the kind of thing that i think gets college kids up off the couch and gets young people involved in the system. outsiders came in for the first time. i think it's going to be really hard to replicate. so he's got to do this kind of thing but it's going to be a challenge. >> we'll continue the

conversation in just a second. erin burnett is coming up and erin is in jerusalem with an exclusive conversation with benjamin netanyahu. what did you learn? >> reporter: we learned a lot tonight. you're talking about the election, mitt romney moving ahead. that was the things we talked about, mitt romney, barack obama and the election. but it's a crucial election issue and sanctions, whether they're working. he's a quick bit of what he had to say about that. >> do you think that sanctions are working? i saw a story today that i think 56% of iranian -- of iran's fleet tankers sitting off the coast with oil, full of oil because they can't sell it. it would appear that sanctions are working. >> well, they're certainly taking a bite out of the iranian economy, but so far they haven't rolled back the iranian program or even stopped it by one iota. i hope that changes. but so far i can tell you the

centrifuges are spinning. they were spinning before the talks began. recently with iran. they were spinning during the talks. they're spinning as we speak. so if the sanctions are going to work, they better work soon. >> how do you know what they're doing? >> oh, we know.oh, we know. >> you know? >> we know and others know and we share what we know. this is not the case of the questions that people had about saddam hussein. >> very interesting are, john, when we -- that conversation, that kind of pause of, oh, we know. it was an interesting moment. then we talked about what exactly he knows what he thinks iran is doing right now and all that comes up at the top of the hour from jerusalem. back to you. >> a very special erin burnett outfront in a few minutes. see you here in a few minutes. back to tonight's night in politics, five states voting now. our group will tell us what it means. and get this, shopping for a home they cheap right now, why are prices the low nest a

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race. does tonight matter? when governor romney speaks tonight, he expects to win all five of these states, expect it is will put him well above the 800 delegate count and nobody even close. he believes tonight he can speak to the american people as the nominee of the republican party and he will say this. "after 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days and not a few long nights, i can say with confidence and gratitude that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility and together, we will win on november 6th." debut cannon, you see some conservatives grumbling, some endorsements delivered, i guess he is the guy, i'm for him but i wish it were somebody else s your party ready, especially the conservatives who doubt governor romney, ready to say he is our guy, forget about past grievances, forward? >> i think they are. overwhelmingly, people are coming around. i meet with conservatives regularly now, large groups of them, coming around, telling me i used to be with gingrich, i was with santorum. you guys have won this thing what can i do to help? a lot of endorsements. i think given another 60 days

and you are going to see a very united front moving into that convention no doubt about it. >> you look at the numbers, you are smiling, smirking, actually, when you look at the national polls have changed, some state polls go back and forth, has governor romney been able to consolidate at a quicker pace than you had anticipated? >> certainly, he is consolida consolidating that but a big enthusiasm gap, you are seeing polling and reminded me of kerry versus bush and that is that you have more -- a majority of romney's voters right now saying they are not voting for romney but against -- but against obama. the same problem we had with kerry, most didn't say they were voting for kerry but against bush. democrats say they will be fine because they hate so much and all galvanize. it is hard to galvanize and energize people simple fly say vote against that guy. some point, you got give these people something to vote for, got to make them fall in love with you. he hasn't done that and i doubt he will make the true conservatives believe's true

conservatives. >> senator scott brown of massachusetts, who is a romney guy, friends, romney very helpful to him winning his election, running against elizabeth warn and demanding she release five years of tax returns, saying what she has agreed to do is not good enough, not traps parent enough. has senator brown put his friend, governor romney in a box here? >> i don't know if romney those react to brown specifically but does underscore the degree which this election across the country is revolving in large measure around wealth, equality who is paying what in taxes and what are fair and appropriate tax rates and how much are the rich staying in at the end of the day john, as you know, basically that is what this election is coming down to foreign policy, other issues, but how much should we tax and spend to get ourselves out of this deficit and the economy going again. >> and who is on your side. we got to stop the conversation to that unfortunately, we got a ways to go, a lot of fun. kate bolduan back with the latest news you need to know. new details, john, in the mad cow disease case are just

coming in. we want to bring them to you. we know the cow that tested positive is at a bay, commodities facility in hanford, california. an offtion there says the animal is being held in quarantine while they wait for instructions from the government. the company offers services in rendering, grease collection and more, according to its website u we will be following on that. other headlines we are watching, the watchful eyes of u.n. robbers keeping the syrian military in line but the violence reportedly picks back up once the monitors leave. that's according to a spokesman for u.n. envoy kofi annan. activists say at least 35 people were killed across syria today. annan called the situation "unacceptable" and says he will approach the syrian government at an appropriate time. and james murdoch, son of media mogul rupert murdoch says he wasn't aware of the large-scale phone hacking at the news of the world tab loichld he testified before a british press ethics inquiry today, contradicting statement buys

former employeeness that he did know. rupert murdoch is scheduled to appear tomorrow that continues to unfold. and homes are the cheapest they have been in a decade. they hate new low in february, according to the s & p case-shiller index, prices are down 3.5% from a year earlier. analysts say foreclosures and late payments are still dragging the market down. bad news for some, john, but if you are in the market to buy, that is good news for you. >> bad news for some is usually good news for somebody else. kate, stay put. don't go anywhere. tonight's moment you may have missed, played out at the white house, a seventh grade teacher from southern california named america's best. rebecca milwaukee beat out 3.5 million educator, a good contest there to become teacher of the year. then she whips, what happens? the president of the united states calls her goofy. but it is all in good fun. just listen. >> she has got high expectations for her seventh graders and for herself but she also knows that school can be fun and that fits a