somebody would release that potential, it has such enormous potential to do great and to be great again. and it's sort of interesting. i have millions of people that want me to run, they want knee run as an independent, they want me to run as anything, they formed a party out in texas, make america great. and i said, boy, what a great name for a party. that is a great name for a party baez that baez that's what's all. i would add the word "again." >> good talking to you. >> thank you very much, piers. >> donald trump. that's all for us tonight. "ac 360" starts now. >> piers, thanks very much. good evening, everyone. 10:00 on the east coast. we begin tonight keeping them honest on the campaign trail, on attack ads that let one candidate trash another while technically dodging accountability. technically keeping their fingerprints off the knife sticking out of the other guy's back or front. newt said attack ads

helped knock him to a fourth place finish last night in iowa. romney squeaking to victory over senator santorum. santorum picking up -- congresswoman michele bachmann suspending her campaign today. but back to the ads and also keeping them honest, how clean are speaker gingrich's hands or rick perry's or anyone else's. in his concession speech last night from beginning to end, gingrich praised iowans who ignored attack ads. >> they really wanted to get to the truth rather than the latest 30-second distortion. i would not have survived in this campaign against millions and millions of dollars of negative advertising. if it weren't for the thousands of volunteers who showed up and who helped us in every town and in every precinct, and every one of us that are members, what made part of these negative ads so shameful, every one of us should remember, this process

survives because young men and women risk their lives to allow us to do this. >> now here's a sampling of the ads that ran all over iowa in the last few weeks. >> newt has more baggage than the airlines. >> newt gingrich supports amnesty for millions of illegals. gingrich was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. >> whatever you think of them, they're all missing the one thing we've come to expect from all campaign ads, the disclaimer at the end that says i'm, mitt romney, ron paul, rick perry, whoever, and i approve this message. instead, they end like this. >> restore our future is responsible for the content of this message. >> restore our future is a super pac which supports governor romney. the supreme court ruling gives super pacs power to raise unlimited amounts of money and run ads without disclosing who is behind them, sometimes until months have gone by. critics also say they give candidate plausible deny ability. >> newt has been complain, we ran a clip of him how you had

former aides running four super pac, spending a couple million attacking him. he said you should just tell them to stop the attacks against newt gingrich. would you do that? >> it's illegal, as you know. super pacs have to be entirely separate from a campaign. and a candidate. i'm not allowed to communicate with a super pac in any way, shape or form. >> you're not coordinating it in any way whatsoever? >> my goodness, if we coordinate in any way whatsoever, we go to the big house. >> mitt romney on msnbc. even some reports are saying restore our future was outspending the gingrich forces 30-1. governor romney denying any coordination with it. it's hard to deny he has connections to it. restore our future's organizers say the group's mission is getting him elected president. it was spearheaded by three former romney aides. big romney campaign donors are also organizing the super pac's fund-raising. according to "the new york times" governor romney they said, quote, appeared before dozens of potential donors at an organizational meeting blessing its work, end quote.

go to restoreourfuture.com, all you'll see is a generic mission statement, a link to donate and a link to the anti-gingrich ads. none of this is against the law. gingrich sees it as dishonest. >> are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> why are you saying he's a liar? >> because in is a man whose staff created the pac. his millionaire friends fund the pac. he pretends he has nothing do with the pack. it's baloney. he's not telling the american people the truth. it's like his pretense that he's a conservative. >> that's newt gingrich, who said for months, and again last night, he wasn't going to go negative, with some exceptions. >> we are not going to go out and run nasty ads. we're not going to go out and run 30-second -- [ applause ] but i do reserve the right to tell the truth.

and if the truth seems negative, that may be more a comment on his record than it is on politics. >> keeping them honest, just like governor romney, gingrich has a super pac right behind him. there's a minute-long ad called the two mitts, slamming mitt romney. a second pro-gingrich super pac called strong america now, also sent out mailers in iowa calling governor romney, quote, the second most dangerous man in america. both romney and gingrich have said the super pac should be eliminated entirely, but no one seems eager to unilaterally disarm. every major candidate is associated with one. the one poring rick perry is called make us great again. rick santorum's backers are called the red, white and blue fund. a super pac supporting president obama as well. all of it now with the supreme court's blessing. let's talk about the raw politics and what's happening on the campaign trail today with our panel, mary matalin, rich

gailen, and cornell belcher, a pollster for the obama 2012 campaign and was in 200 as well. does newt just have a problem with the super pacs that have more money than his super pacs do? >> look, nobody can be more scrapingly mean when he's after somebody than newt gingrich. the fact is he tends to do it himself which hasn't helped him over the years. but he has a super pac. not only that, the superer pack, the spokesman for his super pac, is his longtime spokesman, rick tyl tyler. everything he said about the romney pack is true for him. the truth is those of us who actually agreed with the supreme court decision, because the first amendment and all that stuff, the fact is, that everybody's got a chance to bill their own super pac. my guess is it was somebody from a super pac that called governor perry today. and that was the enlightenment that he got. they said we'll raise you $5 million. everybody can do this.

and newt understands that this is not the girl scout cookie drive. this is big-time politics. he's been engaged in this for 30 years. he knows what's involved. and he ought to let it roll off his back. the problem with newt is he can't laugh at himself. if he could laugh at himself, he'd be far better off and a far better leader, by the way. >> mary, i know you like him. you respect him, as many do. can he turn things around at this point? >> well, he can, and will, and has vowed to continue to make an impact. what he has done is strange in that he's relinquished a winning strategy of being the most knowledgeable conservative for a losing strategy, which is to be the most positive candidate. one. that's a process, not a substance issue. republicans want a substance. two, he is dramatically and directly undermining that strategy by vowing to rip off mitt romney's face. and three, there's no su thing, everybody promises to do positive campaigns. nobody ever does them, because

there's no such thing. not on this planet. not in the history of mankind. there's a positive way to do a contrast campaign, and that's what the ultimate nominee is going to have to do. i don't know why he's fixated on this rationale for this candidacy, that he's going to be positive. it's a counterstrategy, because we want a fighter. we need a fighter. we know that cornell and his men are going to come at us with 2 x 4s and we need somebody who can stand up to that. >> that's what mitt romney has said publicly about gingrich is that he basically needs to stop complaining, because whatever mitt romney's super pacs are throwing against him, it's going to pale in comparison, or equal what president obama's super pacs are going to throw against him. >> i'll say again, it's a curious strategy, but not as curious as his vowing to unleash the goddesses of fury in new hampshire, which will be interesting. the elizabethan strategy of

revenge here. >> rick perry said he would be reassessing his campaign, go back to texas, pray about it, think about it. a couple hours later he says he's back in. did he make the right call? >> first of all, i think i once dated the goddess of fury. but real quickly on the pac thing, anderson, i think it's important for us to understand what i think is a corrupting influence for the pacs. the ability for rich and powerful people, influential people to spend as much money as they want, in any way they want, it absolutely undermines democracy because it gives the rich and powerful more influence and power over politics. and i think it's going to show. when you're outspent 30-1 by rich people who you have no idea where they're from or what they're doing, absolutely it's having a corrupting influence. i think we should remove this from politics. >> for unions, too, cornell? >> well, for everyone. you should not be able to simply spend -- write a $1 million

check and start a pac and start attacking people. >> unions have done that for decades. >> no, no, rich they have not done that. >> sure, they have. >> they played under the rules that were there. the recent supreme court decision says money is now void. if money is now a voice, the average voter doesn't stand a chance against rich wall street guys. they're powerful enough. >> if that's the case, i want all of the e-mails i get from these candidates asking me to $5, $10, $25, i must get 50 of those a day. somebody thinks individual voters -- >> it's not the $5 or $10. the super pacs are millionaires writing million-dollar checks to help push their -- pedal their influence, rich. that's not about the average american. it's corrupting our democracy. >> rich, what is the argument for the super pacs? >> the argument for the super packs is that a donation to a campaign, local or federal, is a first amendment right. it is free speech.

and the supreme court agreed that it is in fact free speech and can't be prohibited under the first amendment of the constitution. let me go back to perry for a second. i lived in texas for most of the '90s. the whole assessment thing, i get that. reaassessment in texass a guy throwing open the doors to the sal line, sitting down at table saying, i just sold my horse to a guy for cash money, deal. that's reassessment. somebody got him some money and he's back in. >> probably from a super pac. >> we've got to take a quick break. lot more with cornell and rich and mary. stick around, everyone. up next, how rick santorum did what he did and where it takes him next. strong social conservative views some of which stirred. a lot of controversy. we'll talk about how well he plays in new hampshire and on. how last night helped or hurt president obama's chances in november. add us to your sickles or follow me on twitter.

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raw politics now. with michele bachmann out of the race, newt gingrich, rick perry, still in.

santorum trying to turn his near victory in iowa to something more. ron paul took the day off. rick perry is back in texas. gingrich, romney, jon huntsman and rick santorum are already campaigning in new hampshire already. santorum speaking at a town hall in brentwood, new hampshire >> people have asked me repeatedly, well, rick, you know, you've done well in iowa, but, you know, new hampshire is such a different place. and it's just nothing like iowa. i said, they're all americans. they all have the same fundamental values that our founders put in place. >> the sweater vests are back. there's late news as well, just in from the santorum campaign on tangible benefits of his iowa performance. the short answer, money. about $1 million donated since last night according to the campaign. it means closer scrutiny of what the dollars are buying in terms of the candidate's viability and some controversial statements. gary tuchman takes a look. >> reporter: losing by just eight votes to mitt romney has

certainly invigorated rick santorum. >> there's certainly going to be a rematch. we'll go to new hampshire and take him on. we'll run a campaign talking about my vision for this country. >> reporter: we can already tell you quite a bit about his vision for this country. santorum, after two terms as a congressman and two terms as a u.s. senator, has established a reputation as a conservative in every sense of the word. just this past sunday in iowa, santorum was talking about entitlement programs. >> i don't want to make a lot of people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money. >> reporter: santorum's comment came in a state where, by far, most of the public aid recipients are white. although he said he was tongue-tied and didn't mean to say the word black. he did mention the word black in another situation. it was from january of last year, regarding comments president obama made as a condition on abortion. saying it was above his, quote, pay grade, to say when a baby is entitled to human rights. >> the question is, and this is

what barack obama didn't want to answer, is that human life, is it a person under the constitution. and barack obama says no. well, if that person, human life is not a person, then i find it almost remarkable for a black man to say no, we're going to decide who are people and who are not people. >> reporter: santorum received significant attention when he gave a quote to the associated press in 2003 about the supreme court and homosexuality. if the supreme court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, to incest, you have the right to adultery, you have the right to anything. does that undermine the fabric of our society? i would argue yes, it does. and he continued, in every society the definition of marriage had never to my knowledge included homosexuality. it's not to pick on homosexuality. it's not man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. santorum said he wasn't equating

homosexuality with all the other activities. but was trying to make a larger point about morality. >> i think basically christian teaching on the subject, that one can have desires to do things which we believe are wrong, but it's when you act out those things that is a problem. and i was simply reflecting that opinion. and that belief structure that i happen to hold as a catholic. >> reporter: santorum is a staunch supporter of vatican policy when it comes to contraception. he said this to a evangelical blog site. one thing i'll talk about is i think the dangers of contraception in this country is not okay, the a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. a belief that may play well with many in the far right but might be a harder sell among other conservatives. regarding national defense, he is certainly the antithesis of a candidate like ron paul. if elected as president,

santorum said he would tell the iranians to dismantle their nuclear facilities and make them available to inspectors and if not -- >> we will degrade those facilities through air strikes and make it very public we are doing that. >> reporter: many critics how to rick santorum's political career was over after he lost his re-election in pen by 18 percentage points. but his star is once again rising. he hopes his iowa showing broadens his reach to new hampshire and beyond. gary tuchman, cnn, atlanta. >> back with our political panel now. mary matalin, rich gailen, cornell belcher. mary, we heard rick santorum talking about new hampshire being different from iowa. is it, in fact? >> the way he expressed it, no, it's retail politicking. but he -- i think we might be overreading what happened in iowa. you recall on monday we talked about -- i learned on the ground, and we discussed his cresting. and indeed, that is what happened. his last number was 22. he came in at 25%. which was less than the others, not romney's.

so he did exceed and definitely handled the expectations game. but we don't know if that's a real victory or the others collapsed. the reason perry, this leads to why perry reassessed, is what you've just done. santorum alone has not been through the political meat grinder. that's just a little bit of it. i understand him saying because i'm a catholic. he's not saying it well, but i understand the principles. and the republican field is going to be hard pressed to come at him that way. but he has not been through this kind of scrutiny, which is going to put him in the same boat. we will learn if that, what iowa really meant, we do not know what iowa meant. which does not mean he has huge assets. he does have operations on the ground in new hampshire, in south carolina as well. but it's too early to make a prediction. >> rich, it seems like, i mean, santorum is hoping to be the conservative anti-romney. that's what he's running really for.

not so much -- at least at this point a general election being able to appeal to a broader spectrum. he's just trying to win the mini caucus or mini primary. >> yeah. and cornell and i disagree on this. i think that over time, both because of the organization, the planning and the fact that romney's been through this before, and we all know how important that is, you learn the lessons of running for president, as opposed to running for senate, running for governor. it's a completely different deal. as these primaries and caucuses begin to speed up, i mean, we know about the four in january, seven in february, 22 in march, 9 in april, they keep coming and coming and coming. we'll see whether or not as mary said, there is the similar arc to the others, and he begins on the downhill slope or this is real. there's no way to tell. remember, all the others lasted about three, three and a half weeks before they collapsed. rick santorum is in about week one. so he's got another couple of weeks. he may do well, but what happens, for instance, if he

comes in third in new hampshire. behind romney and paul. does that mean it's over for him, and we all trot back over to perry to see how he's doing today? it's very hard to tell where this is all going to shake out. we do know that iowa is not predictive. it has never been predictive. >> cornell, how do you see it? >> you know, i see it this way. you just laid out the case why perry is going to stay in, because you do go through the meat grinder. he's hoping he can last in this thing long enough to swing back to him. i take it from rich's old boss on this thing, and why folks want to stay in it. look, you've had the vast majority of conservatives who are the base of the republican party, take a good long look at mitt romney, since going back to 2007, and they tonight reject him. mitt romney is like the girlfriend that your parents want you to date and you roll your eyes and say, i'm never going to date that person, i'm going to look for someone i think is cooler and who gets me. and i think that's the fundamental problem is, they're

all trying to vie for who's going to be the conservative standard bearer right now. and mark my words, and by the way, i said, i came on your program two weeks ago or so and said, i think santorum's going to rise here because of the evangelical vote here. i think if he can hold the evangelical vote, the conservative vote, he will do well. if they attack him like they attacked newt and don't allow that vote to coalesce around him it gives perry another chance, another opening. that's why he's staying in the race. >> interesting. >> cornell, do you think losing 65 -- 62-38 would be considered in american politics a pretty significant loss? >> i don't understand your analogy. all i know is -- all i know is rob marciano never gets above 25%. >> but my point is that's what happened in iowa four years ago in the democratic side. 62% of democrats wanted someone other than senator barack obama. and guess who got to hold his hand up and take the oath of

office 54 weeks later. >> anderson can i say this? it's not about numbers and it's not about the ceiling. it's about the dynamic. and mitt romney has done something he needed to do, which is to show that the perfectly relentlessly coiffed and pressed blue blood can fight. through this process so far he showed he can take a punch, he can deliver a punch, rope a dope, he has great head fakes. he knows how to get it in the arena. that's not something people are confident in before this exercise. >> right. >> so we should not look at the numbers, but look at the bigger dynamic of what romney is able to do. >> i'm out of time. >> but you have to look at the numbers. they don't just him. because the major of your electorate doesn't trust him. >> guys, i've got to leave it there. thank you. president obama, key battleground states today. what he's facing there and beyond. why the election could be an uphill battle for him. covering the caucuses. got kind of odd last night. we'll give you an up-close look in the wee hours of the morning.

>> have we all just given up? just like 1:30 and -- >> i like the round.

more raw politics tonight as the battle for the republican nomination moved to new hampshire. president obama was in ohio blasting republican lawmakers. >> when congress refuses to act, and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then i have an obligation as president to do what i can without them. and i'm not going to stand by while a minority in the senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve. not with so much at stake. not at this make-or-break moment for middle class americans.

we're not going to let that happen. >> president obama infuriated congressional republicans by making four recess appointments today, including richard cordray, head of the new consumer financial protection bureau. ohios a crucial swing state but it's not the only toss-up state in the election. here's a look at the battle president obama is facing right now. >> anderson, the democrats, the obama campaign, they look at this, the mixed message from iowa last night on the republican side and they're celebrating. they think a fractured republican party helps president obama in the long run. they think mitt romneys a weak front-runner. but let's be honest, no matter how the republican race turns out, this is going to be a tough political climate for president obama. here's the 2008 map. the electoral votes are a bit different this timing because of the census in 2010, some states have more, some states have less. blue obama, red mccain. let's remember, everyone thinks this will be a lot different. even iowa which voted last night. viewed as a toss-up state. new hampshire is next. obama won it last time. viewed as a toss-up state.

florida which votes fourth on the republican side, viewed as one of the states. so is ohio. most republicans think they'll get indiana back. let's just give to to them. it's a hypothetical. virginia and north carolina, two states obama carried that were long republican states, they'll be in tossup territory this year. so will colorado. nevada has the highest unemployment in the country. let's put that in the toss-up category. where does that leave you? that leaves president obama at 247. republicans would argue pennsylvania is a tossup, too. maybe wisconsin, possibly michigan. let's just play it conservative here. this leaves obama short of what he needs to win re-election. what if the republicans take colorado? suppose the republicans take florida. let's give for the sake of argument the republicans ohio, tough, tough. let's see what happens. let's say new hampshire goes republican. that's possible, if mitt romney's the nominee. he's from right next door, high unemployment. what do you get here? let's flip a coin. i'll give obama virginia and the republicans north carolina. what do we have now? 260 to 266. look at that. high latino population could offset the high unemployment.

let's give president obama the state of nevada. 266-266. anderson, the state that started it all last night, iowa. six electoral votes. that could decide the presidency. if the republicans win, they could win. president obama wins it, do it that way. he could win. yes, the democrats like what they see on day one of the republican race. but this will be a tough year for the incumbent regardless. anderson? >> interesting, thanks. the election still ten months away. how president obama's strategy may play out tonight. i talk with political analysts david gergen and gloria borger. david, you've been talking to democratic heavyweights. is this exactly what they wanted to happen so far? >> absolutely. yeah, their fear was that mitt romney would come storming into iowa, win big and then go into new hampshire and basically shut it down. from that, he would not only gain strength but have this glow of the winner. >> right. >> and for him to come out of iowa eking out a win, it is exactly what they want because it's probably going to be protractive now.

they've got time raise money, hone their message and go after the republican front-runner. >> gloria, there are two schools of thought on how the primaries impact president obama. some say a long battle will leave the eventual nominee bruised, vulnerable and others say they will emerge as a stronger and better candidate. where do you see it? >> i think back to 2008. we were all saying about the hillary clinton-barack obama race and how it would destroy barack obama. she was beating up on him. it would be used in ads against obama. some of that may have been true. but i'll tell you what, it made barack obama a better candidate for the general election because he had been through that long primary process. and i think, for example, if mitt romney becomes the nominee, i guarantee you he'll be a better candidate than he is right now. the truth is, of course, that this is a very splintered republican party. we knew that going in. and we know it as we go through

the primary process. but, you know, in the end, the nominee will be good -- a good campaigner. >> i agree with that up to a point. and that is, i think the nominee will be good at executing the day-to-day part of it. i think mitt romney has done a good job of that already. the difference was, barack obama had the capacity to capture the public imagination during the primaries. the speeches he gave after each one, compare barack obama after iowa, to mitt romney last night. there's just no comparison. they're just in different leagues. >> can mitt romney get a lot better? i think so. can a lot of the others get a lot better, i think so. but i think the earlier he unites this party, it seems like there's a tribal warfare going on right. >> seems like there's two ways the obama white house is targeting mitt romney. one, calling him flip-flop argument, the other that he's tied with wall street, that he's out of touch with mainstream america, that he's part of the 1% essentially. but regardless of whatever

strategy they choose, he is their target. they are going after him now. >> they're betting on that he is going to be the nominee. but they're also believing if they can bring him down some, it does protract the race. the weaker he looks, from their point of view, the harder it is to get the nomination if it doesn't stand up. gloria,s please. >> here's the one problem, if this race really continues. and that is, what republicans want to be talking about. and where they can really, really hurt barack obama, is if they start talking about the economy, the unemployment rate, the economic record, the promises barack obama made during the last campaign, and on and on. if rick santorum does well, if rick perry has some kind of a comeback, we're going to be talking about a social issue agenda. we're going to be talking about who's the most conservative of them all. don't forget, romney only won in our entrance polls last night

14% of people who self-identified as very conservative. so that conservative group in the republican party is really up for grabs. so the more conservative they go, and they go after those values, voters, the better that is for barack obama. so i think where it hurts him, republicans, is on the issue sets they'll be debating. >> thanks. interesting stuff. up close now, live coverage of, any event, by any definition, is unpredictable. plan for every contingency. in the end you never know what might happen or not happen or how long the night might go. last night was the marathon night of reporting, and surprises. with a look back here's tom foreman. >> reporter: election night news coverage rarely goes precisely as planned. >> stand by. we're watching all of the drama unfolding. there's a lot more to still happen. we're not going away. >> reporter: but as the night dragged on in eye --

>> your mike dropped. >> reporter: -- this one came off the rails. >> wolf, before i send it back to you and anderson, we'll do a little reverse flick. >> let's see that. >> maybe not. >> oh, are you kidding? i wanted to do my reverse flick. it failed? oh, hold on. >> one more try. >> oh. >> backhanded. >> here we go. >> all right. ready? are you ready? >> yes. >> third time's the charm. >> third type's a charm. >> excellent flicking. >> reporter: the tightness of the race, the lateness of the hour, wore down our seasoned team. >> anderson? >> let's go to anderson right now. or ali. >> don't ask me to flick it. >> have we all just given up? is it like 1:30 and everybody's like -- just flick it! >> reporter: and ideas that seemed good earlier didn't anymore. >> it's evident from the social media screen that people are going to sleep. >> the social media screen? again with the social media screen. >> it's a picture. >> this is the third hit. i don't understand what the hell this thing shows. >> reporter: it was not just the tricky technology.

>> i added them up a couple of times. oh, man. >> reporter: even basic facts proved difficult. late-night calls to caucus workers produced clarity and hilarity. >> the numbers we're receiving from the state do not match the numbers we just received from the county chairwoman. these are the final numbers. >> what do you mean the numbers don't match? >> i'll explain it to you. go ahead and explain it. >> reporter: there was no explaining. >> that was the best live phone call. >> you're doing a thankless job, ali. i appreciate it. >> it's very clear. it's thankless. i'm here all night. >> reporter: it almost was all night. but it was all in a day's work for -- >> cnn after dark. >> there you go. >> cnn after dark. >> cnn after dark edition. >> that's right. welcome, baby, it's cnn after dark. ♪ a time with love we've shared love and made love♪ >> reporter: tom foreman, cnn, washington.

>> a viewer came up with cnn after dark handle, that was very funny. stay with cnn for complete coverage and analysis of new hampshire's first in the nation primary next tuesday. our special live coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. who knows how long it will last this time, right here on cnn. we were on the air until 3:30 a.m. i think we were the last ones standing. still ahead tonight, stunning, new details about the 24-year-old suspect charged in the los angeles arson spree over the long weekend holiday. why he's also under investigation in germany for similar crimes. plus a dog walker discovers human remains in the queen of england's country estate. what police have learned about the body's identity.hril d. wait. we can have shakes? and boston cream pie. did you say pie? pie. she said pie. pie. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is?

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crime and punishment tonight, a judge set bail for the 24-year-old arson suspect at $2.8 million. harry burkhart also has to surrender his german passport. he was arrested monday for the 52 fires set over 4 days in los angeles. most of the fires targeted parked cars. some of the flames spread to homes because often the car parts were right underneath the houses. the crime spree rattles the city over the long holiday weekend, obviously. it's becoming more bizarre by the minute as new details about this guy, about the suspect and his mom emerge. casey wian has the latest. >> reporter: approximately 24 hours before the worst arson spree in los angeles since the 1992 riots, prime suspect harry burkhart was behind the wheel when his mother, dorothy, was arrested during a traffic stop. police say burkhart became enraged and had to be restrained. his mother, dorothy, an international fugitive, was

wanted by german authorities on 19 counts of fraud related to rental housing and nonpayment of breast augmentation surgery. later that day, harry attended dorothy's initial extradition hearing and his tirade resumed. >> he entered the courtroom and made quite a disturbance. there was a lot of cursing in english, words i won't repeat here. he was detained momentarily by court security personnel. >> reporter: authorities suspect his mother's detention may have been the motivation for what began less than 12 hours later. first, more than 50 arson fires that terrified several los angeles communities over four days. >> the room was full of smoke. we couldn't even breathe. >> reporter: the arson spree didn't stop until harry burkhart was arrested. appearing to smirk in the back seat of a patrol car early monday morning. he was apprehended by a reserve sheriff's deputy acting on a tip from the state department. an agent recognized burkhart from this surveillance tape, at

released by los angeles police, and remembered his angry outbreak in court three days earlier. this is one of the apartment buildings that burned during the arson spree. over there, you can see the back window of the apartment where harry burkhart lived with his mother. it's not hard to imagine someone standing at that window and watching the fire burn. >> why would someone want to hurt their neighbors, people who did nothing to offend the person? >> reporter: in his native germany, burkhart is also under investigation for an arson fire there in october that gutted a house owned by his family. in vancouver, british columbia, the province newspaper reports that harry burkhart suffers from severe anxiety, autism and several other medical conditions. according to a letter submitted by a doctor in a court case there. cnn has tried to reach the doctor without success. back in los angeles, investigators found fire-starting devices in the van burkhart was driving when he was arrested. his mother, during a court

hearing tuesday, was clearly worried about harry's whereabouts, asking, where is my son? he should be in the courtroom right now. my son has disappeared since yesterday. perhaps the german nazis know of our address. their address has moved from sunset boulevard to separate jail cells downtown, both held without bail. the arson spree caused an estimated $3 million in damage. cnn affiliate kabc reports that as harry burkhart was captured near the last of the blazes, he told officers bluntly, i hate america. and that's not all. during a court hearing here in los angeles, that just concluded a little over an hour ago, a document by an arson investigator revealed what harry burkhart said during his mother's extradition hearing. and that was f. all americans. it was the clearest statement yet that prosecutors believe that it was a direct motivation behind this arson spree. he's facing 37 counts of arson.

the other blazes are still being investigated. and will continue to be investigated, anderson. >> thanks. bizarre story. who's the young woman found dead on the grounds of queen elizabeth's country estate. live to london for the latest information on that. also ahead, what a mother is going to do to protect her baby. one young mom in oklahoma forced to use a gun. and did it with deadly accuracy. last night's marathon coverage of the eye caucuses. the part that landed me on ridiculist. >> graphics for that?anti reeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. we're getting back in shape. oh! try these. i sprinted here... wow! from your house?! from the car. unh! ooh. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. ♪ cked by our ad match guarantee.

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will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. in england, investigators are trying to i.d. a body found on queen elizabeth's estate sandringham. all they know is the body is a white woman, age 15 to 23.

she was found sunday. investigators say it could have been there -- she could have been there for up to four months. the estate itself is some 20,000 acres, including a 600-acre park open to the public. cnn international anchor and royal correspondent max foster joins us live from london with more on the mystery. dna came back today inconclusive. where does that leave the investigation? >> this is the big problem. you described the details that we've got here, a young, white female effectively. what they're trying to do, the police, are link that body to unresolved cases. reopening all of these files, examples of women who have gone missing. they haven't been found in the area, but also nationally. they need the dna profile from this body to match them. they're not managing to get it. the police are being quite cryptic about why they haven't got this information. they don't want to give too much information to journalists. they're going to carry out more extensive tests on thursday, anderson, hopefully to bring up a match -- a match for several

women two or three women actually, focusing on right now, hopefully finding a match, giving some resolve to the families of those poor women. >> so the body was found in the part of the estate open to the public. i guess easily accessible to the public. a lot of people go there. any sense of how many people go there over the course of time? and why the body wasn't discovered sooner? >> well, no, it's a big estate. this isn't your average garden. this is 20,000 acres attached to the sandringham main house, or actually the queen and prince philip are staying right now. it's a vast estate. in order to sustain it, there are villages there, all sorts of businesses there in order to sustain it. there are public roads going through. this body was found by a dog walker on new year's day. this is an area where the royals do wander around. but also the public has access to it. so anyone could have got to this site, this small bit of woodland where this body was found. >> max foster, appreciate it. susan hendricks has a 360

bulletin. >> oklahoma, a young mother with a newborn baby forced to make a life or death decision. as two armed men break into her home on new year's eve. she calls 911 for permission to shoot them. >> i've got two men in my house. is it okay to shoot if they come in the door? >> you have to do whatever you can do to protect yourself. i can't tell you that you can do that, but you do what you have to do to protect your baby. >> one intruder was shot dead. police call it justified. the woman's husband sadly died of cancer just days earlier. in texas, prison officials have suspended phone privileges for warren jeffs. you probably know who he is, the leader of a fundamentalist mormon sect. serving a life sentence for child sexual assault. jeffs is suspected of preaching by phone to his congregation on christmas day, a violation of prison rules. procrastinators rejoice. you don't have to file your tax returns until april 17th. that's because tax day, april 15th, falls on a sunday, and april 16th is a holiday in washington, d.c. anderson?

>> erin burnett "outfront" ahead. what's up? >> last night, really a stunning and amazing thing to watch happen in iowa. tonight, just looking at the field. we've got rick santorum, ron paul, and mitt romney. we went out to our strike team to find out whether they thought rick santorum and ron paul could potentially be mainstream candidates. one of the biggest bond investors this country coming out "outfront" to talk ron paul, top of the hour. baby lisa, three months to the day of her disappearance. the man with charged with trying to fine her, spoke with her family overnight. plus, i don't know if you've heard about the chinese government trying to pull some of the dating shows off the air there. immensely popular. i went to one of them and i have to say, it was an unforgettable experience. we're going to take everyone inside one of those dating shows. give them our point of view. back to you. >> thanks. coming up, i finally get my

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time for the ridiculous. tonight, once again, i have to add myself. i admit it, i may be too much of a curmudgeon. fully appreciate the latest high-tech gizmo we used in the coverage of the iowa caucuses last night. wolf blitzer was explaining how they work and there was a high-tech visual aid that came into play. if only we had some new high-tech thing that had never been seen on television before. >> can you do something like that? >> look at this the weeble. are they zapping them with a laser? >> they have a telephone. they can make a call and give the results of that caucus. and you know what, it's pretty cool. >> if you missed any of this, you can see it on the "daily show" with jon stewart. when he ruthlessly mocks you. so it's been since pointed out to me that they don't really look like weeble weebles have the signature rounded base that

allow for the wobbling. that prevents the falling down. they actually look like the fisher price little people. i stand corrected. i'm still going to call them weebles because that's what i called them last night. the first caucusgoers to show up calling them the early birds, appear and they look oddly like weebles. they wobble but they don't fall down. sam was our cnn washington bureau chief. i guess you could say the weebles were sort of his idea, his baby. here's what he said today. >> it always takes anderson a little bit of extra time to just catch up with the times, and understand went a good thing is a good thing or a smart thing is a smart thing. >> smart thing. that's like a smartphone, right? fine, maybe i'm not on the cutting edge of all the new gadgets that all the kids are using. which reminds me, has anyone seen my commedore 620? i want to type out a telegram i'm thinking of sending to sam. >> in the 2008 elections, we actually wanted to use fresh ideas, new technology to try and explain to our viewers what was

going on in the election. and anderson was opposed to it. he pooh-poohed it, blocked it. this isn't a surprise. >> the 2008 election? let me see. i have no idea what he might be referring to. we're joined now via hologram by will.i.am. let's see if we can beam him in now. >> all of the technology, i'm being beamed to like "star wars" and stuff? >> i totally roll with the hologram thing. it wasn't really a hologram. even last night i was quite honored to find out i had my very own weeble. >> you know who else is arriving right now with all these people on the table right here? >> i do not know. >> take a look. let's take a look there. >> look. >> i have my own weeble. >> nice tie. >> very nice. >> wow. >> gray hair. beautiful blue eyes. >> i got a weeble. piers morgan, no weeble. our washington bureau chief has a theory about my weeble. take a l