we'll bring that to you as it happens. also, casey anthony's video diaries popped up on the web and questions thousand get there. she talks about her new dog, new computer, but does not talk about her daughter, caylee. plus, foul play. a video of the high school basketball player literally leveling the other team. it's gone viral. the student involved is considered to be a villain. the guy who shot it, a lesson in social media. for sushi and for country. how a giant tuna is becoming a source of national pride in japan. that, plus a big time panel and one of romney's top guys talking to us this morning, plus tyson. this is hysterical. as herman cain. take a moment to think about that. tyson as herman cain. all that and much more right here on "starting point."

welcome everybody. the battle for new hampshire. the "boston globe" is backing jon huntsman. the former utah governor offers the country an opportunity to renew itself. talking with eric, who's worked with mitt romney nearly ten years. his senior campaign adviser, and he joins us live from boston this morning. nice to see you. thanks for talking with us. >> thank you. >> let's begin with this endorsement. what do you think the impact will be here in new hampshire? >> well, soledad, boston is a two newspaper town, and the "globe" has a liberal editorial page. the other newspaper is "the boston herald" a more conservative editorial page. pleased to get the endorsement of the "boston herald" and yesterday there were two newspapers in new hampshire that announced endorsement for mitt romney. one was the "national

telegraph." pleased to get that. the other "the eagle tribune." there's a growing sense mitt romney is, one, the best person to lead in the white house on jobs and the economy, and, two, the best equipped candidate to take on barack obama and win in november. >> so that sounds like a really long way of saying, you don't care at all. it doesn't matter. i want to read you clips of this endorsement which was farrelil long. both supporters and attracters, talking about governor romney, suspect behind the conservative scaffolding is a data driven mod light will make compromises. by the way romney has run its campaign is, it's really impossible to tell. that cuts to the core of the flip-flopping tag that has really stuck to governor romney. how will you deal with that? >> new hampshire is a nice laboratory for this primary process and how people react to mitt romney, because new hampshire, or the people of new

hampshire, were front row spectators to mitt romney's governorship. they know what he faced when he came into office in 2003. a state in recession. a broken budget out of balance by hundreds of millions of dollars, and by the time the governor left office four years later, he had completely turned that situation around. the economy was growing. jobs. not losing them. and balanced the budget four years in a row without raising taxes. >> another endorsement. represented by rick santorum and tea party activists represented by ron paul pushed romney in unwanted directions. new hampshire, republican independent voters have a chance through huntsman to show him to be a sturdier model. jon huntsman would be a better president. the part where they're talking about romney being pushed in unwanted directions. isn't it a fact what's happening in this race, you're seeing, to appeal to the tea party, or

might potentially, in a general election, start losing more moderate voters? >> no. i think what this race is oriented around is jobs and the economy. that's the number one issue on the minds of the voters, and i think mitt romney, republican primary voters have a candidate who is perfectly credentialed to lead on jobs and to lead on the economy. you know, mitt has led in many different enterprises, turned around the olympic, the commonwealth of massachusetts, as i jut explained. he's been a businessman. in fact, that's where he spent the bulk of his career and i think these are the qualities of leadership republican voters are looking for in their next president. >> all right. let's talk about some of those economic figures you've raised. romney put up a figure of 100,000 jobs created. is that a number you're sticking with? >> well, when mitt romney was at bane capital, the company invested in about 100 companies. the three that mitt romney talks

about most frequently on the campaign trail are some well-known names like staples. sports authority. >> right, but he adds them up and says that that adds up to 100,000? >> that's correct. if you add up the jobs, just those three enterprises alone, the amount exceeds 100,000. but, look, we're happy to have this -- >> let me stop you there. hang on one second, then i'll let you finish. and you know, we will have this discussion with barack obama. i can guarantee you that, but not this moment. >> sure. >> you say, you add up those three. that comes to around 100,000 jobs. the dilemma, of course, add up the other ones and it does come up to 100,000 jobs. what the "washington post" said. listen to this. the 100,000 figure stems from the growth in jobs from those three companies, you mentioned them, staple, 89,000, sports authority, dominoes. the tall sdi not include losses from other companies with which

bane capital was involved, maybe most importantly, are based on current employment figures, not the period when romney worked at bane. >> well, let's take some of those -- >> saying, that's a -- >> -- you know, soledad -- >> go ahead, i'm sorry. >> the bane record has been examined over a period of many years. about four or five companies that critics focus on, which experienced job loss. that's not unusual in the private sector. those numbers add up to maybe 4,000 or 5,000in there are 25 million americans who are unemployed, stop looking for work or stuck in part-time work and want a full-time job. this is going to be a central -- a central message of mitt romney's campaign, and we -- we invite the comparison of the two records.

>> it's ron brownstein, "the national journal." good morning. >> good morning. >> you know, tax policy center which does comprehensive analysis of candidates going back several years put out their assessment of mitt romney's tax plan yesterday and said 99% of million nears would receive a tax cut averaging about $150,000. people are lower, middle class, only one-third would receive any tax cut as all. maybe 1/6 or 1/5 would see their taxes increase. do you dispute this and if so will you release your own analysis with specifics how you think your plan will affect people at the different income ladder? >> thank you, ron. mitt romney's plan does not raise taxes. let's be clear about that point. he has proposed not only -- >> on anybody? >> not on anybody. he's proposed dramatic spending cuts that will reduce the deficit, of course, and he's put on the table some very pro-growth tax policies,

permanently extend the bush tax cuts. dramatically cut the corporate tax. target relief to the middle class. i think what the tax policy center is focused on is temporary tax provisions of the stimulus that are due to expire anyway. under the terms of the legislation that was signed by president obama. to somehow attribute that to mitt romney is unfair, in my view. >> and in terms of kind of the magnitude of the tax savings, when you look at the tax savings, simply by extending the bush tax cuts and other provisions you have, they argue most of it is in fact going to the upper brackets. do you dispute that? >> well, what we tried to do with governor romney's tax plan is to target relief to the middle class. we had said specifically to those who make less than $200,000 a year, we will eliminate the tax on capital gain, interest income and dividends. this is meant to help out a class of people who have been

most damaged by the obama economy. >> james from an affiliate tv station here in new hampshire. i think he's been to the station a few times. you know, eric, a pure political question for you today. as you look at the path of the nomination, what made you happier this jeek the win in iowa or the fact rick perry is still in this race? >> well, six weeks ago in iowa, nobody gave mitt romney a chance of winning the caucuses. in fact, i don't think mitt romney has been a front runner that state for the entire 2011 year. so we were thrilled with the outcome. we're hoping for a more comfortable victory in new hampshire, but we're not taking anything for granted. i know the polls are very favorable to mitt romney, but we're running as if mitt romney is three points behind. he understands that in new hampshire, you have to work hard to earn every vote, and that's exactly what he intends to do.

>> you know -- the debate stage saturday night and sunday you have a situation where ron paul is in second place. everyone is talking about rick santorum. who's your biggest opponent on that debate stage? >> well, we take all of our opponents seriously. ron paul has a very passionate and committed base of supporters, but his foreign policy views are way outside the main stream. rick santorum is also a fine person, but his experience is different than mitt romney's. his experience is in washington's world. mitt romney's experience is in the real world. and i think that when voters make their choice, they're going to be looking for somebody who comes from outside washington. whose experience has been mainly in the private sector creating jobs. that's why we think at the end of the day they're going to choose mitt romney as their nominee. >> this is, i'm from the american center for progress in

washington, d.c. one question i had, the "boston globe" this morning talk and the need to cow tail to the tea party. i wanted to ask you, at the beginning of this process, the governor, governor romney, seemed to try not to embrace the ryan budget then a few weeks ago attacked newt gingrich saying he wasn't embracing it then fully embraced the ryan budget. and just, i just want to make clear that you fully endorse the house republican budget proposed by ryan that had dramatic cuts and entitlements in reshaping of spending. right? >> no. i think the aversion of events is incorrect. when the ryan budget came out, and most of the focus was on the medicare reforms in that plan, governor romney applauded those changes. said he would have a plan of his own, but he thought that paul ryan was going in the right direction. scently, mitt romney did come out with his medicare reforms.

by the way, the only candidate who have addressed that in parliament and what he has said is, to take that ryan plan one step further. he likes the idea of giving premium support to our seniors, but he would also keep in place the existing traditional medicare system as a choice, and then subsequent to that, paul ryan adopted the mitt romney temperatu template, blueprint for medicare, and that seems to be the discussion that's taking place now in washington. so we're happy to have contributed to that debate and we look forward to implementing the governor's reforms when he's elected president. >> thanks for talking with us this morning. appreciate your time. >> thank you, soledad. we're going to turn now to cnn's christine romans who is live for us at cnn headquarters with a look at the day's other stories. good morning. >> good morning to you, soledad. the air force academy this morning charging three of its

cadets with sexual assault. charges may be filed here. officials say the cadets were involved in three unrelated cases at the academy in colorado springs over a period of 15 months. just last week the defense department report cite add charp increase in sex-related attacks at the nation's military academies. syrian state television this morning reports a suicide bomber set off an explosion that killed and wounded dozens of people near a school in a densely populated area of damascus. the obama administration reportedly set to announce new regulations that would allow certain undocumented immigrants to remain in the country while applying for citizenship. another story. designed to keep families intact. specifically families with legal residence. may have the advent of the president's support among latino voters. and has penn state found the man to succeed joe paterno as the school's head football coach? reports say new england patriots

offensive coordinator, bill o'brien, interviewed with school officials yesterday in state college, pennsylvania, and said to be a significant step in the search for the nittany lions new head coach. and watching your money this morning. the government's big jobs report for december comes out at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. economists surveyed by cnn money expect 150,000 jobs were added to the economy in december, and the unemployment rate ticked up a bit to 8.7%. i want to show you, soledad, how that fits into the overall pictures. these are jobs now added in 2011. you can see, this would be six months of job creation over 100,000 a month. six months in a row. soledad, the first time that has happened since 2006. soledad? >> i know later this morning christine will take a close are look at exactly what kinds of jobs are being added, and the political implications of that as well. i want to hear from other voters this morning. going to talk to folks at the diner how they're feeling about where the country is going.

and the people they want to lead it. and some calling south carolina's tea party kingmaker. hasn't endorsed anybody yet. we'll see if he's ready to do so. casey anthony resurfacing on a new video on youtube. how it got online and what she's saying. her family speaking out. that's when "starting point" continues. stay with us. you tell us what you want to pay, and we give you a range of coverages to choose from. who is she? that's flobot. she's this new robot we're trying out, mostly for, like, small stuff. wow! look at her go! she's pretty good. she's pretty good. hey, flobot, great job. oops. [ powers down ] uh-oh, flobot is broken.

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one of the best things about spending a morning inside a dine sir you have an opportunity to talk to people who come to have breakfast and pick their brains about what they're thinking about in new hampshire's upcoming primary. josh lund per bill is joining me. you're 21 years old. >> correct. >> where do you stand politically? >> right now i'm pretty muchen decided. i think i might know who i'm voting for. thinking probably ron paul. he seems to be consistent through his 30-year run through

congress. >> something that's appealing to you about ron paul? >> he cares about my generation. i know that the young voters are uninspired. we don't know what to do. a lot of us are lost. >> how much is education playing a role or the cost of education? >> oh, my gosh, yeah. education, the cost of education is a huge thing. i know i left school. i'm a junior. i was forced to leave school because i can't afford it anymore m anymore. i had to come home, help me 235ur, my father's a veteran, almost four years unemploy. i feel we've lost everything. the dreev drive of what america means. >> carla, do you feel the same jay that lack of inspiration? >> at this point i'm undecided. i'm feeling very unsure exactly who i'm going to vote for. there's really not a candidate that's resonating with me. this time around it's very unusual. >> you're a mom? >> i am a mom. >> your big issue? >> my big issue is the economy,

as well as i'm -- i would say i'm more generally looking for candidates that can get along, that are able to not polarize extremes. >> this campaign must be challenging. everybody's fighting every day. appreciate it. letting me interrupt your breakfast. over here, bill smith. this gentleman here. nice to see you. tell me a little about yourself. where you stand politically? >> politically conservative. voting in the primary as a strategic maneuver i'm not energized by anybody running. i decided to vote for governor romney recently because he gives the best chance of beating president obama in the fall. >> who will be the most inspirational? what would a candidate have to say to make you think, yes, i'm going to throw myself behind this person, because i love them so? >> that's a great question, because i've been waiting to hear that and unsure that anybody's going to say it. i think that things are so depressed out there for people economically, that right now they're just looking for

anything. and i think that i probably am waiting for more because i've been such a political geek since i was about 10 years old. i think i want more than the average person. >> bill smith, thank you very much. some of the things you're hearing here this morning are the things we've been hearing over the last couple of days here in new hampshire. people are feeling disaffected and unirspired. frefti i interesting to see how it plays out in new hampshire in a few days. more on "starting point." ♪ where the sun never goes out ♪ ♪ and the sky is deep and blue ♪ ♪ won't you take me american flight 280 to miami is now ready for boarding. ♪ there with you fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself. nonstop. american airlines.

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were back. it's time for this morning's "get real" talk be about the power and price of sushi. you probably heard about that tuna, set a record in japan. a massive fish. 593 pounds. it sold for almost 57 yell, the by who bought it, the owner of a big sushi chain but will end up losing a lot of money in the deal. this is why. typically a piece of bluefin tuna sells for $75 a apiece. he's going to sell it for $5.

a loss of roughly $600,000. here's why. he wants to make 10,000 pieces of high-grain sushi available to the people of japan. he call it is a goodwill gesture in the wake of the tsunami that happened in march and we think that is very really. ahead on "starting point" this morning, casey anthony, back in the news, yes. talking about her future. she's talking about her future in a void yes which appeared on youtube. the question, how did it get there? we'll hear from her family'starian as well. and congressman tim scott known as a tea party kingmaker. the state of south carolina. he'll join us to talk about which republican candidate lead like to support and who could win with a big win in south carolina voters. that's straight ahead. tired eye relief

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good morning. welcome back to our show, "starting point." i'm soledad o'brien and you are looking at us live inside the airport diner in manchester, new hampshire. that's a very, very good menu, if you're here, find yourself in manchester, that's what you want to see. talking to a man many called the tea party's new kingmaker. congressman tim scott. the road to the gop nomination could well run through her district and home turf in south carolina. we'll hear what he has to say. and casey anthony. a new life, a new dog, but no mention of her daughter caylee. we'll talk about her direly that p -- diary that popped up on the web. and christine romans, a look at the other day's stories for us. >> hi there, soledad. deported by mistake and now coming home. the clomp yam government handing over jakadrien turner. deported after running away from

home about a year and a half ago. in the next hour we'll talk with her mother and her attorney. police in southern california believe a serial killer is stalking the homeless. they say three men living on the streets have been killed over a ten-day period last month. and sunday marks one year since the deadly shootings in tucson, arizona. six people killed and congresswoman gabrielle giffords suffered a near fatal head injury. christina taylor green the youngest victim. her parents talked to cnn's piers morgan how they managed to cope. >> i was thinking it bass a nightmare and i was going to wake up so i kept pinching myself hoping it wasn't real, but it was horrendous. horrible. days after that i would go to her room and hope to find her in her room, but you know, obviously, you know that it is real and you just day by day you just try to cope. >> oh. u.s. stock futures pointing to a higher open.

right now ahead of the opening, the big december jobs report that comes out next hour at 8:30 eastern time. dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 futures all up now and soledad, if forecasts hold true it will be six months in a row of 100,000 jobs created or more in this economy, and this economy is so beaten down, that has happened since 2006. >> hmm. when are we expecting to hear the numbers? >> 8:30 eastern. yep. >> christine, thanks. after new hampshire's primary comes south carolina. it's the first southern primary and it's really important when it comes to electability. if you dough back to 1980, every republican who's won there went on to become the party's nominee. mitt romney will again spend the day in south carolina where he got the big endorsement of the governor, nikki haley. nice to see you, sir. thanks for being with us. numbers, first and foremost. look at tea party support in iowa. for a governor, governor romney,

14%. low, low, low. senator santorum was high at 29%. then move to new hampshire, he's polling high among tea partiers roughly 47% i think. in south carolina, give me a sense how people are leaning. >> tell you what, today over half of the republican voters are undecided. so that means that governor romney has a very strong opportunity to make headway in this state, but also means santorum as he's surging, he has an opportunity to make headway as well. with rick perry and newt gingrich staying in the race and being in the race -- >> but that's the non-answer -- that's a non-answer answer. right? >> a great answer for you. >> it was very good, but i'm going to ask it again. for the guy -- >> yes, ma'am. >> running the 3ruben party, kingmaker and rising star as they love to call you. give me the vibe on the tea partiers in south carolina. who are they going to go with? >> soledad a country boy trying

to find a way to make this country stronger and what the tea party really wants is a president who understands how to make things happen, because he has a vision for this nation. not one that's reading a textbook on how to govern. i will tell you this. at the end of the day, conservatives want a person who matches our values and who beats barack obama. so that combination, we are still looking for the answer. >> that combination is? >> that person, may be you, but i'm not quite sure. here what i will tell you. >> oh, you clearly do not know me well at all. >> the next ten days you'll see happen, as we get closer to the 21 1 happen, as we get closer to the 21 1st, south carolinians will solidify behind a candidate and rush to the finish line and after we finish the process, come together and with whomever our candidate is, go out and get a new president and have christmas in november of 2012. >> who are you supporting? i know when you throw your

support behind a candidate, it can make a big difference. so, mr. kingmaker, mr. rising star, who are you supporting? >> i will tell you the rising stars of our state are the everygay constituents who give me an opportunity to be with you today. >> you are so smooth. >> the next two weeks i'll make that decision. what they're going to do -- here's what's going to happen. we have dwone a very good job since 1980, consistenty done so, give you a preview what will happen. next saturday, all candidates on one stage and an opportunity for another town hall with these guys able to take their message to the people. after the 14th going into the last week of the primary process, we'll be in a position to sigh who we'll support and perhaps even come out with an endorsement. >> you've been having get-togethers. i think i'm correct saying you

spoke with michele bachmann. >> now she's out of the race. governor huntsman. >> yes, ma'am. >> governor romney is set to sit down and talk to you. what do you want to hear that would make saw port governor romney? he'd have to say, what? >> certainly, well, mitt, holding the town hall series, they've all done that except for ron paul. what i'm looking for in a president, a., someone's whose value system is consistent with me, who understands a vision for america is far more important than the divisive nature of the current presidency. i will tell what you i need in a president who someone who simply understands how to create jobs and how to reduce government regulation so that we free the individual, not so that we coddle and protect the individual. we need to free the individual and unleash that person for the help of our future, the health of our future. >> congressman, good morning. ron brownstein from "national journal." from a differ angle. very conservative republican

state, south carolina. ever see lee atwater engineered the primary in the 1980s more often a firewall. george bush, john mccain. any reason to think it will not fall the same way this time and ultimately favor the establishment candidate, in this case, mitt romney? >> i think the reason to believe that this year is going to be a very important year and a very different year is because the stakes are higher than they've ever been before. the fact of the matter is, we are at that crossroads in the country, as country. we need to pick a president who moves us back towards capitalism, pick a president who leads us towards it's future where the american dream is whole and healthy. that candidate will emerge out of the field we currently have in the republican party and ge on to become our nominee and the president of the united states in november of 2012. this year. >> but if the stakes are higher, how come we're not seeing more enthusiasm? talking to a bunch of people, i'm in a diner, you can tell,

the people are like, ah -- people say they're not feeling inspired by the front-runner and everybody else to some degree. isn't this going to be a huge problem? an inspiration about bringing people out to vote? >> hey i think these men are still painting the picture of the america that could be under their leadership. we need to finish the picture. i think once the picture is finished, what you'll see happen is you'll see the team, the republican team, the conservative base, along with the independents, lining up to support the candidate who best articulates how we're moving this economy forward, freeing the individual and limiting the role of government in our lives so that we have the best shot at remaining the superpower we have been and we continue to see folks coming to this country, because they understand opportunity is alive and well. >> congressman, this is james from wmur, the new hampshire television station. one thing that struck me, no

matter how topsy-turvy this election may be, we're still ending up possibly with the establishment candidate in a conservative upstart. when i talk to tea party members in new hampshire they're confused who that person is subpoena ron paul in second place. rick santorum is obviously has a lot of momentum. your state, rick perry. after new hampshire, will there be one candidate against mitt romney or the tea party continue to have a splintered decision? >> well, there's no question that we have variety is the slice of life. you'll see awe thrll three of t candidates still in the race and optimism why they think they'll be the one that takes on mitt romney. i wouldn't make a bet. i believe each candidate has an opportunity to show why they should be the conservative choice. we believe that all four candidates we've talk about to include ron paul, all five candidates, are simply more conservative than barack obama, our current president.

we'll be behind someone. there will not be any kind of division once we get through the primary process. we will be united to see our vision of a better, stronger, more free america coming to fruition. >> hi. this is -- i'm from washington, d.c. these candidates are more conservative than president obama, but who speaks more for conservatives, just between rick santorum and newt gingrich? between those two alternatives to governor romney, who, you know, many people feel is too moderate to represent tea party voters, who amongst those two really represents, you know, the people you talk to every day. the activist wing of the republican party? >> a difficult question to ask. no question that newt led the revolution that brought the majority back to the republican party. when you look at santorum's record, he has been a social

conservative without question. we've seen both candidates have taken shots at what the definition of a conservative should be. i will tell you that it's very difficult to see a line of delineation between the two candidates that say this one's more conservative. i would say looking for a social conservative, more voters would probably suggest rick santorum is more conservative on social issues than newt gingrich, but i will tell you this -- at the end of the day what we're looking for is a well-rounded candidate who represents the future of america, and who takes this 8.6 unemployment rate and moves it back down to 5s. >> congressman tim scott. nice to chat with you. appreciate it very much and i want to remind everybody, if you're really interested in what's happening in south carolina, cnn will release a new, the first post-iowa poll comes out at noon eastern time today from cnn. we're going to looking forward to seeing what that says, very revealing. back in early december, it looked like manalook

ed newt gingrich had a big lead. we also want to mention, jon huntsman, an endorsement in his pocket. wolf blitzer's guest on "the situation room" and, of course, that's at 4:00 eastern here on cnn. then "john king usa" at 6:00 eastern. ron paul joining him to go one on one with that. still ahead here on "starting point," yes, casey anthony. still talking about her. kind of bizarre. have you seen this new video? a youtube video that's resurfaced. we'll talk to psychologist jeff gardere about the odd things that casey anthony says in this video. and then, who are the new bad boys of basketball? not in the nba. not in the college ranks. take a look at some of this. watch this shot. oh, my god. the viral video, has put the spotlight on high school. basketballers, weeg talk about that story straight ahead. is sw. and more. if you replace 3 tablespoons of sugar a day with splenda®,

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welcome back to "starting point". casey anthony. in the news today. talking ak her in the diner. for the first time seeing her

since acquitted of murdering her daughter caylee, about six months ago. sporting a new look. a video message that surface and youtube. never merngss her daughter caylee but talks about her future, listen to this. >> surreal how much things have changed since july and how many things haven't changed. the good thing is that things are starting to look up and things are starting to change. and go away. which is what they say, the things stay good and that they only get better. >> jeff gardere a clinical psychologist in new york this morning. what do you make of this? it's so weird. it's weird, because black and white. it's weird because talking, just weird, is my take. what do you think? >> a lot of people, soledad, use video diaries in order to try to work out their own issues.

just as people back in the day used diaries to express a lot of their thaurts, but we're talking about someone who's around 25 years old. by that age you're talking about someone who includes the world, includes other people in the universe as part of her environment. casey in this particular case only speaks about herself. totally narcissistic. totally self-centered and really the most amazing thing, as you pointed out earlier, she never mentions her daughter. her daughter who's dead. any parent who lose as child that is at the forefront of their mind, and she does not mention it, not even once. >> let's play, jeff, for folks the clip where she sort of talks about mine, me, mine, mine, it becomes to me. here's a clip. >> it's been a long time since i've been able to call something mine and now they have something

even as silly as saying i have a computer, and a camera and a phone rented and i wouldn't have the phone without [ muted ] and i actually now paid for my own computer. the camera was a gift, but these are things that are mine, and i don't have to -- i don't know. that i don't have to give back. >> so. >> hmm. >> a big question. i know. i might be making up this number but i think i read it was 40 times she said mine in this four-minute video, which would be a lot. video diaries, you mentioned, someone could be processing, or when it's someone whos notorious and famous, it could be something that you're creating to sell. what do you think about the potential of that and on the other side i'll tell you what her parents have said -- parents' lawyer said this

morning. >> i certainly do think in her own immature way and certainly, she sounds like a little girl even though she seems like she's more grown up. trying to get more of a mature look, but this is someone who i truly believe is stuck in her own childhood. and the fact that she keeps saying, mine, mine, mine, mine. i finally have something that i can call mine. well, what about your daughter caylee? your dead daughter? wasn't she yours? and why, again, are you not mentioning that? and this whole idea of, okay, this is a video diary. i want to share my thoughts with the world. i want to work out my issue. that's what most people do, soledad, but here she even announces by the end of this video diary that there are going to be more of these things coming out. so is this really therapy or is this more a coming attraction? there will be more for you guys out there. that is so self-centered. narcissistic to think we really want more. people looking at it, more because they're fascinated and

disgusted at the same time. she's not doing herself any favors. >> or getting paid for it? the guy who actually ended up up4r0eding this said he to hit a bunch of pay walls first and then eventually worked around it and talking to "nancy grace" basically said eventually you could find it for free online. that's how he uploaded it. want to play you a little chunk from mark glickman. the attorney for casey anthony's parents. what he said this morning. >> they're really -- i guess the best word is amambivalent. they don't know the context what this video was for. it doesn't seem to be apparent. a lot of people speculated put out for a financial gain. it doesn't seem to be targeting any specific audience. especially it's not a tease in any way. so they really don't understand what the context of it was, the audience, if it was just for casey herself and somehow leaked.

>> so i use the word ambivalent. an odd word for someone's parents whose daughter just been acquitted and is -- i mean, ambivalent? >> her parents no her better than anyone in the world, are ambivalent about inambivant abo this. we say, we don't really know what the heck is going on and we're not really feeling this video. we are not endorsing this in any way and we don't know why she's doing this and maybe what she's doing is not an honest and a genuine thing. i think that's what the parents are saying and i find it amazing she didn't mention her parents as part of the healing process, even though she's estranged. so, even if there is not a money motive at this particular time, when we're looking at casey anthony, someone who many experts, including myself have said, this is someone with a personality disorder, perhaps borderline, perhaps narcissistic. i think it just gives much more credence to that and money may

not be the motive now, but she's placed herself in the public eye because she knows at some point she is going to make money and she just doesn't want to go away. this is a woman who is found not guilty of murdering her daughter. this is a woman found not guilty of murdering her daughter, but a lot of people think she just got away with it. just go away. >> it sounds like more installations and we can't wait to hear what else she has to say. ahead this morning on "starting point," a high school basketball game in pacific northwest gets very, very ugly. we're going to show you why the man who put it on the internet for everyone to see now says he's sorry he did it. big job's report for december comes out in just about 30 minutes. we're expecting it at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. christine romans will tell us what it means for the economy, the 401(k)s and politically. andy teenage girl from texas is mistakenly deported to columbia despite the fact that she is an american and she is 15 years old.

they are expecting her home very soon. we will talk to her mom, ahead. [ panting ] ha ha ha! 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.

welcome back, everybody. we're inside the airport diner in manchester, new hampshire. i have to tell you from personal experience, it not only looks good, but it is good. have you seen this videotape? seriously, roll the tape so they can look inside this camera. this is a game, cornell high school. watch. did you see that? he literally clothes lined the guy. he literally clothes lined the guy. the cornell team is in white. look at that shot. so, high school basketball team and a guy whose nephew plays on the team posted this video to youtube because his goal was to show parents that he felt that the officials weren't really calling the fouls. the officials were saying, like after that, they called holding. i know like this much about holding. i know this much about fwa

basketball and that was not holding. l.z. granderson, ron brownstein is back and, l.z., why don't you start. what the heck was that? >> that's a flagrant foul, that's what it is. the kid should have been kicked out. here's why. you know, basketball is a physical sport. it's a contact sport, but it's not an impact sport. and what we're watching are impact fouls. the guy is physically trying to intimidate and bully and not just be physical with the player. and, you know, he's 6'3", 280 pounds. the guy should have been kicked out because one of those kids could have gotten seriously hurt by one of those fouls. >> every single time i see this, i mean, he literally, that one clocks him in the face, practically. another one where he clothes lined and the kid's feet are probably four feet off the ground. it's absolutely shocking. what is more shocking is what the coach had to say, l.z., which is that he feels that the

kid is a good kid. he says a teddy bear. this is the player, the 6'3", 200 player is a teddy bear and he basically says, he's the victim in this. >> well, the victim or not, the answer is, we don't know, right? this is kind of like, this is kind of like the -- >> what do you mean you don't know? >> we don't know anything about this kid. we know five seconds of what we've seen and the way the modern world works with youtube and things going viral is your worst moment as an individual, as a private citizen is going to be, is going to be what ultimately expands around the world. >> roll the tape while ron is talking. go ahead, l.z. >> it's not five seconds, though. the video is actually five minutes long. >> it's fine. >> i mean, so, we don't know him personally or know his personality. >> the kid, look, it's obvious, ridiculous, flagrant foul, as you say. when you look at something like

this, you know, it's hard enough to deal with growing up without it becoming viral or discussed on a cable morning show. that's kind of the world that we're in, i think, soledad. we're individuals that are picked out of the mass and kind of brought out, you know, kind of the whole thing explodes and it's always going to be your worst moment that explodes. almost always. >> we don't give blame to the kid, but the referees are the ones to blame. >> well, that's why the guy whose name is michael christenson. he actually posted this because he thought that the referees were so flagrant themselves and ignoring the flagrant fouls. >> absolutely. >> it's like a truck. >> it's like a truck. yes, i would say that's a very good description of it. >> he's really a grizzly bear. >> you know, when the coach said -- >> we don't know. >> we're going to take a break because i can go on about this forever. the coach said it's not fair. that's how he ends the statement, talking about not the

poor kid that was whacked but the kid who was the kid that did it. i just think that is a sign that that coach doesn't know what he's doing. i thank you for that. we could watch it all day because that's just a shocker. l.z., and ron and james, as well. still to come on "starting point," snubbed, once again. mitt romney can't get any love in the state that he used to govern. we'll show you that, straight ahead.ch l report cards. and i'm gonna need to see a receipt for that watch you're wearing. you know, you really should provide us with a checklist of documents we're gonna need up front. who do you think i am? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide a checklist of the mortgage documents you'll need up front. it helps keep you in the know every step of the way. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do.

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good morning, welcome, everybody. i'm soledad o'brien. welcome to our new show which is called "starting point." breaking news this morning. the big job's report is going to be released in 30 minutes. the white house is hoping for promising news. the candidates are waking to pick it apart if it's not promising news. also, a home town snub to talk about. the largest paper in new england

backing jon huntsman. we have "boston globe's" editor talking with us. a teenager deported by mistake is coming home. we'll talk to her mom this morning and find out what happened at such a complicated and confusing case. mike tyson resurrects herman cain and it is so funny. candidates get spoofed in a cyberdebate. we'll bring you the sneak peek this morning. and our reveal. we'll tell you the story of a woman who used twitter to get ahead. "starting point" begins right now. that's it. the airport diner in manchester, new hampshire. welcome, everybody. we're on the inside where it's nice and warm, even though it's cold on the outside. we're talking the economy this morning because a big u.s. job's report for december is to come out in the next half hour. christine romans has a break down of what we are expecting.

christine, what is it going to say? >> good morning. we think it is going to say something like 150,000 jobs were created in the month of december, soledad. if you look at what the last year looks like, this is it. this is that forecast there. that is six months in a row of job gains of 100,000. this economy has been so weak, quite frankly, it has been since 2006 that we have been able to put them together like this. i know you love context, especially political context. i want to show you the perspective here. this is important, especially in a campaign year. this is when the president took office. these are how many thousands of jobs we were losing during the lead up to that recession and financial crisis and the months following. it has been slow and painful since then and now just some steady improvement. it's this part of the chart that everyone is interested in. the economists are interested in. 15 months in a row of jobs gains and we'll know for sure at 8:30, though, soledad. >> all right, we're waiting for that. thanks, christine, appreciate

it. mitt romney has been snubbed. "boston globe" endorsing jon huntsman for the gop nomination. offers the republican party an opportunity to renew itself. back in 2008, paper also endorsed john mccain in that race. joining us live from boston is peter canellis. peter, nice to have you with us and thank you for joining us our panel, as well. first of all, i think when we were talking earlier to the folks from the romney team, they basically did a big giant eye roll and said, so what. they never like our guy anyway. what do you make of that? >> i think that we actually said some fairly nice things about mitt romney, but he's run a very cautious campaign and very hard to tell from the mitt romney who is out there on the stand and comparing him to the mitt romney who was governor here. it's very hard to tell what he's going to be like as president. where jon huntsman has been bold and he's been clear. >> when you look at some of the

polls, and i want to throw up this new poll that comes to us from suffolk university. they say, likely new hampshire gop primary voters, choice for r nomination. paul at 17%. here's the person you picked, 8%. 8%. is that a problem? >> well, i think it's very difficult to poll for the new hampshire primary. we've seen some very big swings in the last few days before the primary and also a huge number of independents in new hampshire. all of them will be taking republican bouts this time around if they choose to participate and huntsman is very appealing to them. so, i think that huntsman numbers will be a lot better than that. >> one of the things that you said in your endorsement which i thought was very interesting is breaking the 11th commandment, a ronald reagan commandment which is basically, thou shalt not destroy thou colleagues because

thou shalt pay for it later in the general election. how big a problem do you think that is going to be? >> people have been entertained and a lot of times people were wincing and pulling back from the screen. one reason that we endorse huntsman is that he had very few of those moments. he wasn't harsh and he wasn't out of line in any way and a lot of the others have been. >> peter, this is john king. let me ask you a question. is this more that you just prefer a huntsman over romney? you think huntsman would be a better president or because those at the "globe" feel snubbed that romney is campaigning more proud of his massachusetts experience. he doesn't talk about as much working with the late senator kennedy or how closely he had to work with democrats in the legislature. you feel like he's running from his record in massachusetts or you just don't like him? >> well, i think that his aspect of running from his record in massachusetts is something that everybody has noted, not just here in boston, but everywhere. becomes a part of his character.

part of his presentation in some way. so, i think that probably was some factor. but it wasn't some sense of personal peak. people feel that huntsman would generally be the better president. >> ron brownstein from national journal. in the editorial you suggest that the mitt romney that you saw as governor in the first couple years there would be, in effe effect, an effective president. what has changed in him in your mind? >> i think we saw the first three years he was governor, he was really, you know, hands on kind of pragmatic, no drama, no tension. worked very closely with democrats and was progressive in many ways. i mean, he had a smart growth program and he, obviously, did the health care bill. these were major accomplishments for massachusetts and he helped to sort of cleanse the political culture here. in his last year as governor, he took a lot of right-wing positions that were out of line from massachusetts and preparing to run for president and since then has not talked about the

progressive things he did in massachusetts. >> just following up on that, you referenced health care, but you didn't really talk about it in detail. health care is one of the signature accomplishments of governor romney and the basis of president obama's health care plan and mitt romney has tried to run away from that. it's been a point of contest. how much was the health care issue and his departure from that part of your analysis? >> i think it was a significant part of the analysis in that if he had, if he had defended it a little bit more strongly and i think that idea he's put out that he believes that every state should come up with its own solution. but he's also been so vuciferous in his criticism of obama care and the individual mandate and things like that that it comes close to disavowing what he did in massachusetts. and people here are very satisfied with the health care system. they also see it as sort of a signal accomplishment, a sign of

massachusetts' leadership and it's a shame that he hasn't embraced it more. >> let me ask you a question, peter. so, obviously, you gave a lot of cred to the various ways in which you think economically someone like huntsman could bring not only the state, but the country back. would you be supporting huntsman, say, over barack obama? >> well, that remains to be seen. if huntsman gets the nomination, i think we'll have a very, very strong discussion focused on the jobs of the future and focused on high tech and building economic alliances overseas that work for both countries. that would be a very interesting debate and we'll have to see how it turns out. >> peter, this is james, how are you doing? there's a couple newspapers here that really like jon huntsman, but they said internally in their discussions they didn't see him as a serious candidate, as a serious alternative to barack obama, his inability to

raise money, his inability to actually make a stand here in new hampshire. what are you seeing in him as a serious candidate that maybe these other editorial boards aren't here in new hampshire? >> well, i think that his credentials, obviously, are stellar. his presentation is very strong. his confidence is very visible. he would be an efebtive president and a strong candidate against barack obama. obvio obviously, he has not positioned himself as prominently as mitt romney has. but it is still a fluid race and we can see how these things happen. as we said at the end of our editorial if new hampshire republicans and let's say huntsman did not get the nomination, it's sending a signal and it will signal what the eventual nominee will pursue as president. >> john king, let me ask you a question. with no disrespect to peter. but does it matter? does an endorsement from paper

that is centered to be pretty liberal in a state that is considered to be very liberal going to crush mitt romney in any way, shape or form when it's giving the nod to jon huntsman? >> no offense to -- we live in an age that is a lot of distrust of institutions. people don't like the big banks and big government and they don't like -- >> speak for yourself. >> less influence for the news media. that said a lot of people who live particularly in southern new hampshire who formally lived in southern massachusetts who have been "globe" leaders and they will take a look at it. i don't think newspaper endorsements and when candidates stand next to nikki haley, i don't think it matters the way it used to. >> peter, pete her a rebuttal he wanted to get to. go ahead. >> look, our goal is not to dictate to our readers. our goal is to sort of put some ideas out there. if people read that endorsement and look at it and it might jog something in their mind, i think

it could influence things positively for huntsman. as you know also, john, a lot of independents up there in new hampshire and, certainly, it's a complicated dynamic between massachusetts and new hampshire and different people who read the "union leader" and different people that read "the globe" but enough voting on tuesday that it could have an impact. >> peter y thank you. our panelists, i thank you. they'll stick around with me. mitt romney in new hampshire for a function this evening. he's coming back to the state. right now he is getting ready to take the stage in conway, south carolina. he has not take on the stage yet and he has not spoken. the governor of south carolina, nikki haley at his side and senator john mccain who just gave governor romney his endorsement will be at his side, as well. we're expecting to hear from them in just a few minutes. every republican who won south carolina went on to win the nomination. a big deal. today at noon a brand-new

cnn/orc poll. the first poll of that state since early december when newt gingrich had a very big lead. mitt romney is holding, as i said, that rally. we'll bring that and turn around that sound. he has now come out in the crowd. we're expecting him to make some remarks in just a few minutes. and with the "globe" endorsement in his pocket, what's jon huntsman doing? he will be wolf blitzer's guest in "the situation room" today. john king will be going one-on-one with ron paul at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. don't miss that. time to check in with cnn's christine romans. other stories making news this morning and she has a look at it. christine? >> good morning, soledad. a proposed rule change by the obama administration could keep immigrant families together while the undocumented apply for legal status. as it stands now, people undocumented must leave the country to apply for a green card. they face years of separation from their citizen family members who are here. joran van der sloot murder

trial beginning today in peru. his attorney says his client will plead guilty to all of these charges. he admits killing 20-year-old stephany flores but says it wasn't premeditated. he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of american natalee holloway, but has never been charged in that case. he will plead guilty to her murder. and penn state may have found that the man to succeed joe paterno as the nittany lions head football coach. new england patriots bill o'brien was interviewed by school officials yesterday in state college, pennsylvania. all right, u.s. stock futures pointing to a higher open right now ahead of that big december jobs report comes out in 15 minutes. wealer bring you those details when it happens at 8:30 eastern. soledad? >> all right, we're looking forward to that report. thanks, christine. ahead on "starting point," a teenage run away from texas. this young girl, 15 years old

mistakenly deported to colombia. she is supposed to be coming home soon. we'll talk about all that has transpired with the girl's mom who joins us here in just a few moments. this is the funniest thing i have seen in a long time. not your typical debate. usually candidates don't like to be mocked and laughed at, but this is really, really funny. with larry king hosting it all, just makes it completely over the top. and then a really cute story about this 9-year-old kid who runs around and interviews the candidates. if you would be a super hero, who would you be? watch their answers. all pretty remarkable. nyquil (stuffy): hey, tylenol. you know we're kinda like twins. tylenol: we are? nyquil (stuffy): yeah, we both relieve coughs, sneezing, aches, fevers. tylenol: and i relieve nasal congestion. nyquil (stuffy): overachiever. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. thrilled. wait. we can have shakes?

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." this morning we're here to tell you the story of a reunion that a texas family feared had never happened. jakadrien turner was deported to

colombia by mistake after she g was arrested and gave authorities a fake name. this morning the government is turning the girl over to the u.s. embassy and they're expecting her very soon to be back on american soil and maybe in the arms of her loved ones. ray jackson is the family attorney and they're both in dallas this morning. janeesa, let me start with you. i know she has in been in colombia since may, have you had a chance to talk to jakadrien? >> i am relieved, but, no, i haven't had a chance to talk to her. >> do you think some of the fact that you haven't talked to her is that she ran away a year ago and she doesn't want to come home, could that be the hold up, do you think? >> i want her to come home. she belongs home. >> ray, tell me about the next

steps. as we mentioned in the inferoduction she's now in the hands of the u.s. embassy in u.s. custody. what happens next? >> the next step is that we try to get her home. whether that's by us going there to pick her up or having transportation for her to come back here. after she gets back home, obviously, we understand that there is going to be a lot of care that's going to be necessary for jakadrien and then at that point we'll start seeking re-dress as far as the civil rights violations for the governmental agencies that allow her to be wrongfully deported. >> so, that to me sounds like lawyers speak for we're planning to sue the various agencies that were involved and that would be the -- am i right about that? i mean, you're talking about the, the pd locally and then you have the i.c.e., immigration d andand

customs enforcement and then the officials who interviewed her and determined she would get a passport out and into the united states. i.c.e. takes these allegations very seriously at the dhs. i.c.e. is fully and immediately investigating this matter in order to expeditiously determine the facts of this case. at no time during these criminal proceedings was her identity determined to be false. let me ask you a question. you probably know your daughter really well. how did, a 14-year-old or 15-year-old girl fool all these authorities? what do you think happened? >> i think she basically did what she was told to do. >> so, who do you think was telling her what to do? >> i don't know. i don't know. i don't know who these people are.

>> mrs. o'brien -- >> go ahead. >> these agencies have methodologies and safe guards in place to prevent anyone from being able to misidentify themselves as a citizen of another country just to be deported. somewhere the ball was dropped and whether it's i.c.e., immigration, local authorities, whomever, at some point this 14-year-old girl should not have been able to doop or bamboozle these agencies in order for her to say that she's from another country and then for that country to then provide her with documentation saying that's who she is and allow her into the country. >> it's bizarre, isn't it? it's stunning. it's stunning and when you add to that, we're talking about a 15-year-old girl. we're not even talking about an adult. when you think it should be hard enough for a grown up to do

that. but a child, it is a really bizarre story. well, listen, i am very interested in hearing what happens at your reunion. i know it's been a real struggle with your daughter. it's been a really tough thing. so, we hope that it goes well when she comes home and you get a chance to talk to her. of course, ray, it sounds like you say lawsuit. we'll follow up with you, too. to hear exactly how that will go down the road. thanks for talking with us this morning. best of luck to you, appreciate it. ahead on "starting point." isn't that a bizarre story? so weird. we turn from that to a story that is really hilarious. that is larry king there and that is mike tyson as herman cain. oh, straight ahead, we'll tell you about a different kind of debate. it's actually much more entertaining than the ones we've been watching. we're back in a moment. exactly . cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks.

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welcome back, everybody. this is a shot inside the airport diner this morning. where folks are having breakfast and we're having a good time. have you guys seen these clips?

its it is so funny. john mckinley is rick santorum, greg german is jon huntsman and ryan is -- and the list goes on, but the best one is mike tyson as herman cain. take a look. >> we have reached a very important part of the debate. the reagan speed round. now, you know how this works. we give the candidates seven seconds and whoever can mernnti ronald reagan's name the most wins the round. go! >> reagan, reagan, reagan, reagan -- >> ronald reagan! >> the winner of the reagan speed round is jon huntsman. >> hey, guys -- >> herman cain, get out of here.

>> riding in primetime. >> herman, go! >> do you think it would be possible to do something like this and these guys always so funny. but particularly this race, to a large degree, has kind of had elements of that. >> it has been described as a reality show. why not? kind of an "american idol" or who gets voted off the debate stage this week. why not a comedy series? it's really incredible the way this has become a form of pop culture as well as a political exercise. >> people ask all the time, is it too late for somebody to get in? >> there you go. >> cold in new hampshire. >> herman cain is going to get the face tattoo. >> does this kind of thing -- >> might be kind of a -- >> how funny is larry king? i mean, he was, i think he's having such a good time. the whole thing is so hyst

hysterical. >> a nice serious edge there. how often can you say ronald reagan. >> they're mocking a little bit of cable, as well. seven seconds. >> mocking cable. >> shocking. let's put an end to that right away. >> is that illegal? >> if it's not, it should be. maybe i should run for president. all right, guys, appreciate it. ahead on "starting point" the december jobs report going to be released in a few minutes. christine romans will update us. how twitter helped a homeless woman emerge from the darkness and find hope. we got that straight ahead.

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inside the airport diner. i'm soledad o'brien. welcome back to "starting point." the big jobs report for the month of december will be out in a few moments. we're watching your money and have that for you straight ahead. also, when you're 9 years old, this is the one question you would like to hear answered by every candidate. which super hero would you like to be? did anybody flip-flop on this? we'll talk to the kid who was able to pin down the candidates. christine romans is here with a list of the day's stories. >> 200,000 jobs created. i'll break them down for you in just a moment' better than expected. serial killer may be stalking the homeless on the streets of southern california. authorities say the killer has murdered three homeless men so

far. each stabbed multiple times. the air force academy charging three of its cadets with sexual assault. officials say the cadets were involved in three unrelated cases at the academy in colorado springs. that's over a period of 15 months. and casey anthony, like you've never seen her or heard her before. resurfaced with a video message that is all about herself and no message of her daughter, caylee. earlier on "starting point" soledad got jeff gardere's take. >> this is someone who i truly believe is stuck in her own childhood and the fact that she keeps saying mine, mine, mine, i finally have something to call mine. what about your daughter, caylee. your dead daughter, wasn't she yours? why, again, aren't you mentioning that? this whole idea of this is a video diary. i want to share my thoughts with the world and i want to work out my issues. that's what most people do,

soledad. but here she even announces by the end of this video diary that there are going to be more of these things coming out. >> more coming out. can't wait. okay, we have breaking news we have to get to right away. christine mentioned 200,000 jobs and why don't you pop in and explain to us where these jobs are. we say that this is a big change in turning point. it is, around the expectations that you guys were talking about earlier. >> 200,000 jobs created and an unemployment rate that fell to 8.5%. that was better than expected. for the year, soledad, 1.6 million jobs created. 1.6 million for the year. this is what the picture looked like. this is the forecast and now we know it is more like this for jobs created and ending on a strong note. we expected a lot of those to be retail jobs and to be service sector jobs. we have known other data that it was small businesses that are hiring. so, that's what that looks like there for the year. and i want to give you kind of a good picture of how this looks compared to when the president

took office, right. we know that things are a little bit better than we thought. more like this here for the month of december. this is what it looked like when the president took office. this is important, soledad. you're talking about a trend here. on the campaign trail, all you hear about is how this is the obama economy and how the president destroyed the jobs market. this is when the president took office and this is the slow and steady improvement through the end of the year. now you have six months in a row of at least 100,000 jobs created. as i keep telling you, that hasn't happened since way back in 2006. now, i want to pull it out even further for you. >> christine, hold on a second. hey, john. so, christine is talking about these jobs added. i know we'll see that graph and in a political campaign, not very long from now. >> whitehouse.gov. >> a job is not a job is not a job. they are not all equal. >> still millions of americans who for months and months and months can't find work and they can't, yet, politically. this is a hand stand moment at the obama white house because

it's not just, just the statistics. obviously, 200,000 jobs is great. if it's temporary, could come back and haunt the president. >> christine, what kind of jobs are we looking at. >> they need the psychology to improve. >> the trend has been health care jobs, education jobs and, for example, government jobs, those tend to pay better, 280,000 of those have gone over the last year. they're being replaced by jobs in the private sector and many are lower wage jobs and retail jobs and you've heard me say this before, soledad. the concern that i always have is the jobs we're replacing in the economy are jobs you couldn't send a kid to college on. what are we doing for the middle class overall? these are still big questions that we have, even when you're talking bout steady and slow improvement. you want to send a kid to college to train for. when you also look at underemployment. people who work in part time or longer term and now you're into the double digits, again.

high into the double digits for underemployment rate or people who have been sidelined by the economy. i want to be clear. john is right. the white house has to be careful on doing too much of a victory lap. europe could set us back, again. if europe goes back into the tank, american factories are going to close. that means more job losses and both sides will paint this how they want to on the campaign trail, basically. >> i would just say, i think this is very good news. and i totally understand that we have to be focused on the kinds of jobs we're replacing and there's still a need for the american jobs act, but we should recognize the 200,000 jobs is a big number, one of the biggest numbers in years. we're seeing signs of recovery in the housing market. this is an optimistic sign for our economy picking outside of the political context is good news for all americans that our economy is doing better and we're able to produce in the hundreds of thousands of jobs. now, we still have work to do and i think the president should

be cautious, but it's good news for all of us. >> you can't spin a job being created 200,000 jobs. there is no way to spin that in a bad way. let me a question to christine. are you talking about big multi-nationals are hiring or is it small businesses? where are the jobs being created? >> it's small businesses, mid-size businesses. in some cases, i think there's a little bit of hiring at the big multi-nationals, but for the most part, they're trying to stretch their workers as much as they can and they have an eye on europe. very concerned about what is happening in europe. the small businesses and mid-size businesses, quite frankly and the service sector industry that they have to add when the economy gets a little better. sometimes they'll add temporary workers or contract workers, which is also tough because you don't always get benefits with that or certainty with that, but i'll tell you something. i was talking to a commercial real estate ceo recently who told me that he doesn't think he can go, if he gets one more big

teal deal, he will have to hire a bunch of people. he stretched everybody to the max. he will wait until the last second to do that. i think that's consistent through hmid-size businesses through the economy. if they get a little bit of improvement in their order, soledad, you'll see some hiring. >> so, someone like mitt romney looks at these numbers and he created a campaign and many of the republican contenders who created their campaign around the economy, the guy to fix the economy is me. this is problematic. >> well, politically, the issue is going to be what matters more. level or trajectory. the odds are high that president obama will be seeking re-election with an unemployment rate higher than any president who won re-elections than franklin roosevelt during the depression. is that how voters make their judgment or do they look at the direction? more net jobs created in 2011 than the entire eight years of the bush presidency. can he argue we're not where we

should be, but we're going in the right direction. >> listen to what mitt romney is saying about employment right now. he's at a peanut factory. let's listen. >> the government and scale of government. he has been racking up deficits over a trillion dollars a year. he was critical of president bush for putting in place deficits over $400 billion. he's been doing three times that. he's on track by the end of his first term, his only term -- >> a pretty good indication of where mitt romney is going to be hammering president obama. >> we talk about jobs, jobs, jobs. unemployment rate lower in new hampshire, but what these candidates and president obama have not addressed is the anxiety and how you feel about the economy. i have a job maybe today, am i going to have one next year? how am i going to pay for the health care? how am i going to pay for the kids' education.

these candidates are not -- >> funny you should mention that because this is, tell us about this one. what we've learned. >> we have been polling all-state national journal for the last three years every quarter looking at how americans feel about the economy and the short answer, i think the one sentence summary of the three years of polling the americans are navigating turbulent waters and they are paddling along. they have no one in there really looking out for their interest. it explains a lot of the political volatility they've seen. they know they are facing much greater risks than earlier generations did. >> political history tells you the psychology matters more than the statistics. bill clinton ran for ereelection and the economy was booming. you can't look at the last democrat to be re-elected. if you look at ronald reagan and george h. w. bush. five consecutive quarters of pretty good growth and people felt better. he had a weak aopponent in

walter mondale. george h. w. bush. people felt tired. they felt like they were treading water. he could make the case, things are getting better. not good enough, slowly getting better, how people feel. >> that's the core of the argument that the obama team has wanted to make from the beginning. not that we're out of the ditch, but heading in the right direction and you want to turn the keys back to the people whose policies -- >> the question is, do people buy it because how they feel, you cannot give a speech and change how people feel. >> you have ten months to find out. >> they really do. we'll keep our conversations going. still to come on "starting point" the candidates come klcln about their dreams of being super heroes all because of a persistent 9-year-old kid in new hampshire. a woman who used twitter to get laptops and more. that story straight ahead. tae . but did you know they're good for you too? they're high in vitamins and potassium.

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welcome back. this morning we have a story from a 9-year-old boy from new hampshire who thought it would be cool to ask each of the republican candidates who would be their favorite super hero. he thought it might provide some insight into their personalities.

there he is meeting mitt romney. arnie and his dad joins us and he's 9 years old. so, tell me why you thought this would be a good idea? what did you want to know from the candidates? >> i like super heroes and my dad wanted to find a fun way to get me into politics. >> i want you to weigh in on who you like. the first one we have mitt romney, he's the frontrunner. run this clip of mitt romney for me. >> i kind of grew up a superman. probably have to be superman. that's right. no, i think it's the leap tall buildings in a single bound. >> did you enjoy ari, asking questions of the politicians and when you heard from mitt romney, what did you think of his answer? a lot of the politicians said superman, a lot. >> i found it annoyed that everybody liked superman but i

understand why. he's kind of a powerhouse and he can do a lot of things to help the country and i think romney, he didn't ignore the question and he seemed to like listen to me, at least. >> which is what every voter would like from their representative, isn't it true. dad, i feel like your son has learned a lesson when he said he didn't ignore the question, necessarily. this is not necessarily about the question of a superhero. >> it's not what they say, but how they say it and how they interact with a 9-year-old. ari was reluctant to do this experiment with me because he said, hey, dad, they're going to think i'm crazy and ridiculous. a super hero question from a 9-year-old -- >> compared to all the journalist questions. they love that question. it's easier. who did you think was the nicest? >> herman cain seemed to like the question and -- >> let's play a little bit of herman cain. here's what he said to you.

>> superman. >> why would you be superman? >> because we have a super mess in this country. and we need superman to bail us out. superman, that would be mine, okay. is that okay? >> yeah. >> okay. >> now, ari, who is your favorite? >> watching that clip, herman cain turns to you and tarts interviewing you. this man's greatest strength is his charm. >> absolutely. we met herman cain a couple weeks before the scandal and a couple weeks before he started freaking out over video and he, regardless of what you think of him and what your politics are, he's just dripping with charm. his enthusiasm just jumps off the screen. >> that's a very cute project. so, your take away. if you could vote, you're 9, let's say you could vote, because you can't, who would you pick? >> i don't know all the things that all the candidates want to do, i'm not really sure. >> you're undecided, well you

fit perfectly well into everyone else i have spoken to today. nice to have you. >> welcome to new hampshire. >> very, very cute. i feel like you're a growing journalist. i see it coming. still ahead, the reveal. we'll tell you the story of how a woman turned her life around using 140 characters. "starting point" is back in a moment. lief with hydroblend™, only from visine®. just one drop instantly soothes and revives tired, overworked eyes. and comforts them for up to ten hours. visine® tired eye relief. try now and save $3. 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. can you enjoy vegetables with ad match gu saucee. and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less

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airport diner on the outside and on the inside. that's where we are this morning. kind enough to give us a little space in the diner. time for the reveal.

we're looking at a story of ann marie walsh and how she used twitter to get ahead. she has 4,800 followers and those followers have sent her lots of things like laptops, even cash. she has a filmmaker who is following her around documenting her story. she had so much success on the social network that back in 2 9 2009, she was invited to speak at twitter's 140 character conference. what is it about annmarie that makes her so special? she was until recently homeless. when she first started tweeting it helped her express her struggles with mental health issues and bit by bit more people started to lissen and she's crediting all her followers with helping her get through tough times. she has a place to stay now, thanks to a counselor that she met at a tweet up event and hoping through twitter she's hoping she'll get a job soon. good luck to annmarie. still ahead, what our

panelists learned on this morning in new hampshire in our end point segment, straight ahead.

it's really important to write from your heart because your words that will make your hero's story stand out. a couple of tips, please, don't nominate yourself. it's against the rules. not necessary to nominate someone over and over. we read each and every nomination, really, we do. be selective. those honored at cnn heros are truly dedicating their lives to serving others. after you told us about your hero, click submit. it's that simple and that worthwhile. nominate someone deserving today. >> thank you so much for this time. this has been the greatest night of my life. having triplets is such a blessing. not financially. so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes.

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time for our end point where we take a look at what we've learned today. why don't you start for us. >> i think the biggest news of the day is the jobs report, obviously. i think the interaction with the republican primary will be really interesting. mitt romney central case is his business case and i think given more optimism in the economy maybe that will shift social moderates to vote more for their conscious than on social issues.

>> optimism in the economy, that is sort of the key phrase, isn't it, john? >> i think it is the key phrase. sure, he's a nice guy, but he has failed. what he has tried to do for the last 3 1/2, 4 years has failed. that gets harder if people start to say, finally, i feel a little bit better. finally my home valus are going up a little bit. we have a long way to go. the psychology of these numbers matter more in september and october than they do today. >> it's a challenge, isn't it? >> absolutely. i agree. i think while we're focusing on the republicans, if this is sustainable, the ground is starting to firm a little bit under president obama. for the record, i would be the silver surfer. i just want to get that out there. >> by the way, bad news for mitt romney in the general election but the good news earlier today is the conservatives, particularly the tea party base, they don't know where to go. if they continue to splinter, mitt romney will most likely be the nominee. >> that was