daley concluded it wasn't a good fit, for whatever reasons. we're learning more and more and more about the first lady that there was a lot of backstabbing, backbiting. it all goes on a lot of eeg owes there. there's a nature of the beast when you're dealing with that level of politics. it's never good, though, when a chief of staff leaves the white house this close to an election. >> election year, end of january. >> he should have done it six months ago or a year ago.

you can't have these major players this close to an election. brianna, do you even know if there will be a q and a following the patient, or. we don't know whether that this will not be, that he would come in and that's pretty much what we should expect. >> is this something that he would have wanted to do? >> i don't think jack lew was thinking about it. jack lew is a very smart guy. i've known him for many years. he was a budget director during the clinton administration when president obama took over. he went and got a really major job working as secretary of state with hillary clinton in the state department, then he moved over to budget where he's done a very strong job. he's got good relations with everybody on the hill, and.

you have to have a strong political background as well as a substantive policy background. jack lew spent a couple years working on capitol hill, so he knows capitol hill. he knows the executive branch. he's told him how grateful. then we'll rather some really nice words from him. >> hi, everybody. i hope you had a good weekend. last week my chief of staff, bill daley, informed me that after spending time reflecting with his family over the holidays, he thought it was time to leave washington and return to our beloved hometown of chicago. obviously, this was not easy news to hear. and i didn't accept bill's

decision right away. in fact, i asked him to take a couple of days to make sure that he was sure about this, but in the end, the pull of the hometown we both love, a city that's been synonymous with the daley family for generations, was too great. bill told me he wanted to spend more time with his family, especially his grandchildren, and he felt it was the right decision. one of the things that made it easier was the extraordinary work that he has done for me during what has been an extraordinary year. bill has been an outstanding chief of staff during one of the busiest and most consequenand m years of my presidency. the very first day, bill took part in a meeting where we discussed osama bin laden's

compound compound. he's been involved in every decision involving decisions in iraq and was important in libya as they fought for their freedom. he was instrumental in developing the american jobs act and making sure taxes didn't go up on middle american families. he played a central role in passing historic trade agreements with south korea, columbia and panama. given his past record of service as a secretary of commerce, he was invaluable in all of these negotiations. so no one in my administration has had to make more important decisions more quickly than bill. and that's why i think this decision was difficult for me. naturally, when bill told me his plans to go back to chicago, i asked him who i thought could fill his shoes.

he told me there was one clear choice, and i believe he's right. so today i'm pleased to announce that jack lew has agreed to serve as my next chief of staff. let me begin, first of all, by thanking bill for allowing him to serve in one of the most difficult jobs in washington. for more than a year, jack has served as director of the office of management and budget. as anybody following the news lately can tell you, this is not an easy job. during his first tour at omb under president clinton, jack was the only budget director in history to preside over budget surpluses for three consecutive years, and over the last year, he has helped strengthen our economy and streamline the government during a time we need to keep everything going. jack's advice has been invaluable, and he has my

complete trust, both with his mastery of the numbers but because of the values behind most numbers. ever since he began his career in public service as top aide to tip o'neal, jack has fought for where everybody does they're fair share and everybody follows the same rules. that belief is reflected in every decision jack makes. jack also has my confidence on matters outside the borders. before he served at omb for me, jack spent two years running the extremely complex budget and operations process for president clinton at the state department where his portfolio also included managing the civilian operations in iraq and afghanistan. over the last year, he has weighed in on many of the major foreign policy decisions that we've made. so there is no question that i'm going to deeply miss having bill by my side here at the white

house. chicago is only a phone call away, so i plan to seek bill's advice in the months and years to come, and here in washington, i have every confidence that jack will make sure we don't miss a beat and continue to do everything he can to secure our economy and help the middle class and keep america safe. so i want to thank bill once again for his extraordinary service, but also his extraordinary friendship and loyalty to me. it's meant a lot. and i want to congratulate jack on his new role. i know he is going to do an outstanding job. so thank you. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> thank you. good luck. thank you, everybody. >> and that's it. so bill daley out, jack lew in. brianna reported as we just

heard that after he came back from hawaii, the president and bill had a conversation, and although he didn't initially accept the resignation, think about it for a couple days. ultimately he wants to go home to chicago, the hometown pull. there's more to it than that. >> any time they say they want to spend time with family, that's a good excuse. we'll learn more about that, and jack lew is a talented guy. i've known him for a long time. i'm sure he'll do an excellent job for the president, but he did have another deputy, pete rouse, who was the interim chief of staff. maybe brianna can help us. do you know why the president didn't -- we know that bill daley represented jack lew, but what about pete rouse? why wasn't he promoted to the full-time chwhite house chief o staff? >> we don't know the answer to

that, but one of the things we saw in november which sort of gave a sense that perhaps there was some issue with daley, and certainly that was not confirmed by any white house official, and they've pushed back on that, was when daley passed off some of his daily duties to ralph, and there was speculation what that meant for succession. but you heard the president saying when he asked daley, there was one clear choice, and that was jack lew. and certainly that an adi spoke with said, when it comes to lew, this is someone who has been in the dailies, his meetings with top aides at 7:30 in the morning and certainly clear with all the issues. >> final question, just wondering now that we're obviously covering, we're talking new hampshire tomorrow which seems a perfect bait for republicans as they see the

chief of staff's election year, as you pointed out, baling. >> i think republicans have better things to deal on right. most people, when they hear what does a white house chief of staff do, they're not exactly sure what a white house chief of staff does, but i can tell you, as a white house correspondent, the white house chief of staff is very powerful, important and does a great deal for the white house. jack lew will have a very important job. i'm sure the president is 100% right when he said, you don't want to wait. jobs, jobs, jobs. >> see what you have on the

situation room. the men who are campaigning tomorrow for the public nomination, things are getting heated, especially. what mitt romney said this afternoon that could possibly go after an ex-marine to death.

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now the race for the white house and the presidential candidates are in new hampshire today. why are you in a bakery, friend? >> i'm right behind the counter.

you can see all these wonderful, tasty treats right behind me. john huntsman supporters and the media behind me. he'll be here in 20 minutes or so. this is a last push before voters head to the polls and the target for huntsman is mitt romney, really trying to cast him as someone who is pushing for politics while he is the one who is putting country first. that is a theme that we heard him talk about over the weekend during the debates where he was criticized for working with the obama administration as an ambassador in china, and he said he puts country first, again, at every stop. so far today he has been hammering that theme, that he puts country first. this will be the fourth stop, but he'll be making about seven stops campaigning here in new hampshire, brooke. >> we have the poll, and let's put the poll back up. it shows john huntsman running third there in new hampshire. dan, is third high enough for him to stay in the race, has he

said? >> well, i guess ultimately, it depends on how those numbers actually look. you know, the debate is going to squeeze into third or is there more spread between all the candidates? he believes that he's going to do better than expectation, but the bigger issue here is that he really put all his eggs into one basket, he bypassed iowa and spent all his time in new hampshire. i asked him what his strategy was since he's following iowa, and he says he's pretty sure he can land iowa. meantime, iran sentences an american to death for espionage.

his family says he was merely there visiting relatives. ba barbara, what is going on there? >> they're trying to figure out what is facing this 17-year-old marine. now he faces the delt penalty there for espionage. >> if it is true that he had been so sentenced, we would condemn this verdict in the strongest term, and we are working with all of our partners to convey that condemnation for the enpirnment. it is a fabrication and we call on the iranian government to release them immediately. >> one of the key questions is, what is really going on with iran here. tensions in the u.s.?

inside that country and perhaps falsely charging them for other political motives, other anti-american rhetoric. that's what worries the administration the most right now. they say absolutely this young former marine was not working for the "c" and has absolutely nothing to do with he may actually face execution? >> that is the question right now that no one could answer. there are have been others detained and released. what will happen to this young man remines a bright.

trying to communicate with the iranis, find out what is really going on and what's really on the table here. >> we're also kbegt a rare, first-hand look inside -- taking a look inside. in fact, we went out there to see the violence. they were very angry, they were very afraid. a lot of people were coming and showing us what. when they told you at the same time, in the center of damascus. what is happening, in country is dividing, it's polarizing people of blooeg -- the president was a

right-hand man of the country. they are a much more divided country than they were even a few dasz. a huge recall that affects nine out of ten americans. check your medicine cabinet because you could be taking the wrong pill. we have a developing story about he's lizbeth cohen. protect your family... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side. you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within.

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if you buy over-the-counter drugs, listen up. there is a chance you might have taken the wrong pill. i want to bring in senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen here.

a fapharmaceutical company announcing a major recall. >> they're making a recall of excedrin, buff rin, nodoz and gas-x. some nodoz might have ended up in buff rin or gas-kpx in some excedrin. there is an opium painkiller in one of these, and it's possible that an opium painkiller might have ended up in there. it's not likely, but it's a possibility. >> what happened, did somebody fall asleep at the wheel? >> what they found is that sometimes the pills might get stuck in a little tube that pops up when you open them, and when you're doing a different drug on

a different day, that pill might go into it. excedrin and nodoz, you're going to look for bottles that expire december 20, 2014 or earlier. that's a huge amount of drugs. and i don't just mean excedrin like excedrin p.m. but all variations on excedrin. and nodoz before 2014. >> i'm about to feel really bad, but what do i do? >> just look at the expiration date. my guess is this is included. it expires july 2013. this is excedrin. bring it back, save some money

and take someone to lunch. what's interesting about this is the fda has been monitoring novaris and visiting them and giving them citations for all sorts of violations. they told them, you're not keeping things clean, we're not sure things are sterile. two months ago they told them, you really need to clean up your act. now we're seeing this happen, that possibly things got switched around. >> mrs. cohen? >> oh, you don't want your money back? two women who don't know each other, they live 500 miles apart, suddenly they disappear. the circumstances are not only eer eerie, they lead to questions whether they are connected. in 80 seconds, you're about to meet a guy who performs like warren buffett -- jimmy buffett

using a rare instrument. be right back. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

don't forget dr. sanjay gupta's brand new show. he hosted "the next" on sunday at 2:00 p.m. on cnn. two suspected killers are loose on the street after the governor pardons them. people are outraged. back in a few minutes.

on the case today, you have these two women in two different cities. they just vanish days apart. both are young, both are african-american, and both of their cars were found with the engines still running. i want to bring in investigative reporter michelle segona, and

before we get into the whys of this, the investigators, are they increasingly linking the two cases or not yet? >> here's what i can confirm for you, brooke, and i have spoken with both agencies. they are talking with one another. they do think there are similarities on the surface, which they are looking into, but right now there is no evidence linking the cases together. they are still moving forward with separate investigations. both women are being investigated as missing persons. >> tell me about these women. we're talking about phoenix colton and stacy english. how and when did they disappear? >> phoenix is 23 years old. she disappeared on december 18. i did confirm that with investigators. another thing they told me was that her vehicle was found in illinois. it's about 25 minutes from st. louis from where she went missing and her vehicle was found running about three hours later. so there is a three-hour gap from the time she is last seen and reported missing until the point her vehicle was found. then moving forward to stacy's

case about 500 miles away, stacy was reported missing -- i have the incident report in front of me -- on december 31st. but she was last seen around the 26th or the 27th. her vehicle was also found running on the opposite end of town, and her car was also impounded. she was last seen in the incident report acting a little bit peculiar. she was apparently shouting some biblical verses and asked the person staying with her that was in town from st. louis if he was satan. he did, in fact, leave. although there were some interesting facts surrounding this case, she is still missing. we do need to find her. and both women look a lot alike. although there is somewhat of an age gap, they look a lot alike. >> we have heard from the family of stacy english. obviously they're pleading for any information to bring their daughter back. take a listen. >> i need to see phoe.

i need to hug her. she needs to come home. >> please, anyone, if you found anyo her, come on home. >> what a thing for the family to be pleading in front of the cameras for their kids to come home. what else do you have? >> they have started facebook pages, they're getting active in the community and going out and working with investigators. the last person, for instance, in stacy's case, the gentleman who was staying with her is cooperating with investigators. that is a good thing, especially when the last person to see these people, they are giving all the information. phoenix was living with her mom. her mom was the last person to see her. she was in the driveway talking on her cell phone inside her vehicle, with it running, which is not abnormal for her. so there is some interesting similarities between both of these cases, and these are

beautiful women, and if anyone has any information, we really just encourage you to contact authorities, even if you think it's something small. it could really be something big. >> as always, thank you. two convicted killers. they are free today after last-minute pardons by mississippi governor barber. both apparently served as inmate trustees at the governor's mansion. the victims' families are outraged over these pardons today. the office of corrections says, it is up to the governor's discretion. snoop dogg busted on a drug charge after border agents searched his tour bus in texas. we're told they found three prescription bottles filled with marijuana. snoop dogg, quote, freely admits that they were his. we checked his twitter page.

no mention of his arrest. there are nearly 600 million twitter followers. willie nelson was accused of this back in 2010. if anyone is going to crumble, they better crumble before the nomination. you don't want to get to september and have someone who wasn't tested falling apart. >> apparently what's in this movie is prompting gingrich to predict trouble for the front runner. >> he's trying to convince voters he is more capable than any of his contenders. we're live again in new hampshire, next.

never too far from the race for president. first we want to talk about newt gingrich, stirring things up on the eve of the new hampshire primary. paul steinhauser, senior political editor, here's newt gingrich. >> those of us who believe in free markets and those of us who believe, in fact, the whole goal of investment is

entrepreneurship and job creation would find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever ways to elude a company, leaving behind 75,000 people without a job. >> paul, it sounds like romney took the bait on that. any fallout today? >> yeah, that's fighting words. as mitt romney runs for the republican nomination, he says, i am the best equipped of all the candidates to create jobs. he points to his years as a businessman, especially at bain kapt capital. we've heard a lot about bain capital, the private investment firm. gingrich says maybe you actually destroyed jobs at bain capital by ripping jobs apart. this superpack has acquired a 7-minute film, brooke, that basically bashs romney's time at bain capital. and they're going to blank at south carolina from this movie.

and this is independent of gingrich, but it's going to be attacking romney. romney was asked about that a couple hours ago in new hampshire. take a look at what he had to say. >> gee, i thought he apologized for going after my record at bain. wasn't that just a couple weeks ago? so he apologized for that and then decided to make that a centerpiece. well, i'm not going to worry about that. as we'll find out, free enterprise will be on trial. i thought it was going to come from the president and the democrats from the left, but instead it's coming from speaker gingrich and apparently others. >> reporter: well, actually it's coming from both sides. romney said the democrats are starting to attack romney over his years at bain. we're going to be hearing about bain capital all the way through november. >> wolf and i were talking earlier, we heard those words again, i like to fire people, and that could come back to haunt romney. but i want to know about the

game strategy. i know a lot of people kind of wrote him off after his weak showing in iowa where he once owned the field. >> i guess his strategy is hopefully to come this third or fourth here. gingrich wants to show that he is a conservative alternative and that romney, as he calls him, that moderate from massachusett massachusetts, we'll see if he gets support in south carolina that he gets right here in new hampshire, brooke. >> he santorum is trying to win over voters in new hampshire. this is summersworth, new hampshire. santorum is teetering somewhere between fourth and fifth place. let's go to that event. can santorum bounce back from

that? >> it's been tough. he's kind of been outgunned. he admitted that as much as the american legion post 69, and the former senator is speaking right now, brooke. earlier today he was in nashua, new hampshire, and he talked a little bit about some of the challenges his campaign is facing. listen. >> we buy in bulk. we are sam's club and costco folks, and that's the way we operate to try to be as efficient as we can. we've run an efficient campaign. we've been able to go out and put together a campaign with probably -- i wouldn't even say 20% of the next highest person out there, and obviously, if you're looking for someone who can put together ideas and motivate people and get things done and do it on a shoestring, well, you have evidence in this campaign. ideas matter.

>> reporter: sigh lo a lot of questions out there as to why the senator didn't go straight to california. a lot of theseie v evangelicals. we've heard from the media that there is a lot of media out here now. he can't buy media because he doesn't have the money, so go where the action is. >> a lot of free media where you see santorum. it's romney country. i'm just curious what kind of welcome rick santorum is getting on the ground in new hampshire. there it is. >> rick's welcome. in nashua, something like 100 people, right? this is a pretty good-sized crowd if you just take a look at it. quite a few people at the american legion post. he's had a good turnout. i wouldn't call it a gre great turnout, but he's still in the hunt for third place. we'll see what happens tomorrow. >> thank you, sir, so much. now this. >> whoever put together this

paperwork and everything else, the schools and everything, shouldn't teach it this way. >> parents are livid after a math assignment featuring slavery. what the heck was that teacher thinking? we're about to tell you, next. great guest experience. that makes my day. and during the four course feast,

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parents, imagine this is your child. parents in a suburban atlanta school district are now outraged after seeing these questions relating to slavery in their children's homework. the school district says these third grade teachers were trying to incorporate history -- that's what they're saying, trying to incorporate history -- into the math lessons. they agree the questions were inappropriate. our affiliate at wsb has the story. >> reporter: i h >> i had to explain to him why daddy was upset because of the words used in that problem. >> the problem was in his son's third grade math assignment. terrance barnett was outraged when he read his assignment. it said, each tree had 56 oranges. if 18 slaves picked them

equally, how many would they pick? and another one said if frederick got two beegts per day, how many beegts did atings get in one week? >> if anyone got any beatings, you don't put that in any homework of any source. >> they wanted how the these questions ended up on a child's homework. i brought that question to gwinnett school officials. one said the third grade teachers were attempting to cross curriculums, attempting to add social study lessons into math problems. but the problem with these questions, there is no historical context. >> we understand there are concerns about these questions, and we agree these questions were not appropriate. >> whoever put together this paperwork and everything else, the schools and everything shouldn't teach it this way. >> i just keep talking to wolf blitzer.

on the commercial break -- i so rarely get you in person. we were just looking at the john huntsman girls' twitter page because you're going to be talking to them next? >> three girls. very nice, intelligent but beautiful, just like you. >> thank you. we'll talk to wolf about that and what else we have coming up, right after this.

republican candidate john huntsman is taking it all on new

hampshire. he admits he's far from number one. >> i'm the underdog in this race. i don't make any bones about that. but you know what? new hampshire new hampshire love underdog. >> but he has something that some call his three secret weapons. his daughters. they have been on the campaign trail. here they are making spoof viral videos and i played this for jon huntsman when i met with him. he loved his girls. they spoke with soledad o'bruins this morning with this one simple question -- can dad win? >> i'm not worried at all. what we're seeing right now is my dad is going in the right direction. the other candidates are going in the wrong direction. and i really think that we're going to see him as a surprise here in new hampshire where you had romney who has been working for easily, 15 years, around this state, massachusetts, and my dad's only been on the ground for a couple of months so i think with 36 hours to go, i still think we might see it.

>> when you think about it no one knew my dad six months ago coming into the state and we've seen a reaction from voters here and they connect with him and the ones that have seen him are excited about hi message. they believe in him and they love his honesty. >> but the stakes are high. >> i think the story will be, romney has been here for so long, who can show the numbers to compete here. >> obviously, three very intelligent gorgeous girls who you will be talking to coming up on "the "situation room."" they retweeted you and your question was what? >> i asked my twitter followers i have these three women on the show, what would you ask them? and the most of my viewers sent back? wanted to know? are they married? are they single? can i date them? can we get married? whatever. it was overwhelmingly more people asked that than any other issue. >> apparently looking -- >> you'll love the young women. >> looking at their twitter page they're talking about if their

dad doesn't allow mayonnaise in the home. i'm sure you'll ask harder questions than that. >> we're looking forward to talking to them. they are nice young women. i know them all. >> and also, john mccain? john mccain who has been thrust his support behind' mitt romney. they were going at it in 2008. >> you know what? now they're best friends and on the campaign trail together and it's a big help for mitt romney he has aniy tnicki haley and th diversity and john mccain is a pretty good campaigner. he won four years ago the republican nomination, not the white house but a big help from mitt romney and we'll go through some of the politics with john mccain. always good to have him in "the situation room" and blocking forward to that. the hundreds man girls? john mccain a lot more. >> so, i'm curious on a more personal level. look, we're reading. we're constantly ingesting information when it comes to the

primaries and politics, et cetera and this weekend you got a break before you back in atlanta and we have big primetime coverage tomorrow night. what do you do, wolf blitzer, to leave it all? >> i like sports. i went to see my washington wizards play, unfortunately we lost again and again and again. we're not doing well. but i still my washington wizards and love college basketball and love nba basketball and i watched a lot of football. you know what i did this weekend? >> what? >> saturday morning, for an hour and a half a wachbed the republican presidential debate on me"meet the press" and i wasn the tread mill the whole time. i was exercising and sweating so that was good. i was multitasking. >> it's like what do you do when you're on the tread mill?

>> watching meet the press. and i dvr the debate. >> we love the life you have. >> i have no life. >> do me a favor and stick around. we'll have more fun. >> i have to go upstairs. i have a big show coming up in the next few minutes. we'll have to save that for tomorrow. >> look at this video, bungee jumping. have you seen this? have you're bungee jumped. >> you have to do it by zbloours the bungee cord you don't want to be on. take a look at the video. oh, the bungee cord snapped. this is between zimbabwe and zambia. she swam to safety but shot got banged up. >> it went back straight away and i felt like i had been slapped all over.

>> will be at her back. she's recovering and she's been evacuated now to south africa. yikes! coming up next, a political pop medley. chris christie is romney's bodyguard? and an interesting change with one protester. and wolf was talking about being an nba fan and the nba champs was 59 the white house an one player said he was note invited. we'll tell you why. and we'll tell you this. >> they're into their country and they vote. >> so, oh, boy. find out which candidate, the infamous bunny ranch is endorsing. and with reasons why. that's next.

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♪[music plays] when you're responsible for this much of the team... you need a car you can count on. ♪[music plays]

>> couple of minutes to go before i hand you over to wolf. i want to get "political pop" in here. sometimes it's nice for some back up on the protest trail. chris christie in the middle of getting new hampshire voters pumped up for mitt romney and some protesters started chanting but that dud not stop the new jersey governor. take a look. >> americans are right to be angry. they're right to be disappointed in a government that in washington, d.c. is doing nothing but posturing and bickering and solving nothing for the people who wind up needing, needing to get this done. really? [ chanting in audience ] really?

you know, some may go down tonight but it ain't going to be jobs, sweetheart. >> ew, as far as political endorsements go, ron paul just picked up one preiity unique one. a brothel. the ladies of the "moonlight bunny ranch" of nevada have thrown their support behind him. they ask every client to make a donation after a visit. why ron paul? he's a strong reporter of state's rights and the nevada caucus is on february 4th. and the nba mavericks visited the white house today minus one player. here's a controversy. the point guard delante west said he was banned and the security team ran a background check for him. he was arrested on weapons' charges in 2009. police say he was found with two loaded handguns and a