cutting funding is only going to weaken our nation and embolden our enemies. christopher says, we should increase the military. please keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carolcnn. thanks, as always, for your comments. >> carol, thank you. good to see you. cnn "newsroom" continues right now with randi kaye. hi, randi. >> hello, suzanne. we have a busy hour ahead. president obama is in vegas where he's preparing to speak. on his second day post-state of the union speech, built in part with stimulus money, services a brand-new fleet of powered trucks. that is liquefied powered trucks. one facility allows ups to move packages purely on alternative energy. the president is due to speak at

any moment now and we'll listen in when he comes to the microphone. to make sure natural gas stays plentiful, the last unclaimed drillable parts off the gulf of mexico, 38 million acres, ranging from 3 to 230 miles offshore. the interior department says there could be a billion barrels of oil and natural gas under there. bids for drilling starts at $100 an acre. newt gingrich is fighting for the veteran vote in jacksonville. the biggest republican presidential contest to date is just five days away and still a two-man race. a new cnn "time" orc poll shows romney and gingrich neck-and-neck and ron paul way behind. our numbers from sunday give a 6-point lead to gingrich. on monday and tuesday, there's a

nine-point lead for romney. one thing's for sure, the final florida debate takes place tonight at 8:00 p.m. in jacksonville. it's sponsored by cnn, the florida gop, and hispanic network. directing a comment from last week's cnn debate in south carolina, i'm sure you remember the response to john king's question about interviews gingrich's second wife gave to abc. she said that newt wanted an open marriage so he could keep seeing the mistress who is now wife number three. here's the response. >> this story is false. every personal friend who knew us during that time knows that it's false. we've offered seral to abc to prove it was false. they are not interested because they would like to attack any republican. >> abc no such witnesses were ever put forward and newt gingrich called that baloney. in an interview on tuesday, his spokesman says that was wrong. the only people the campaign

offered up was gingrich's daughter. the pentagon plans for a less expensive but combat-ready military. half a trillion dollars is going to be cut. sources tell cnn to expect, among other things, fewer troops. the army is said to shrink by 38,000. the marines will see cuts as well. the full story comes out at 2:00 p.m. eastern. the prime minister says she's fine after a hayes stee departure from a scary situation. that was julia gilard after the restaurant that she was at was ta tacked by protesters.

this is the moment just before all hell brooke lose brooke loose. mr. abbott is the opposition leader who also was caught in the melee. no one was hurt and no one was arrested either. a day after joe paterno's burial and funeral, thousands are paying their final respects. a public memorial starts next hour on the penn state campus, capping three days of honors for the winningest coach of all time. paterno died last sunday at the age of 85 weeks after coaching his final game. when snow hits ice at a very wrong time and place.

>> young slovak hockey players were practicing at the time but no one was hurt. the late evan gellist oral roberts is talking about it. his decision to come out as a gay man and what he thinks of his grandfather's legacy. you do not want to miss this interview. today's rock star as a new york firefighter is already a hero but that isn't how he saved the life of this little 6-year-old girl elise. he donated his bone marrow. the donation was anonymous but that all changed when the two met each other for the very first time. and we think you are both rock

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for years my next guest was running away, running away from his identity, from his sexuality, running away from his family name. but that was then and this is now. meet randy roberts potts, the grandson of one of the most popular evangeligist. this is a fascinating look at his life both then and now. he joins fle washington to talk

about this. randy, nice to have you on the show. i was moved by your story. you've known actually that you were gay for many years but only in the last few years have you really gone public and pretty much it all started with this, it gets better video. first, tell me about the video and why you felt so compelled to make it? >> yeah. well, about a year and a half ago, there were a lot of news reports about young gay kids killing themselves and it really started to weigh me down and in response to that dan save jaj started the, it gets better project. i think i cried to the first ten or 20 of them. i was balling my eyes out. i kept thinking, what if i had seen one of these when i was a kid or my uncle saw one of these. i felt like it was time to come out of the closet, not just as a gay man but as a member of the roberts family and subsequently made a "it gets better" video

dedicated to my uncle who was also gay but killed himself in his 30s. >> your grandfather, let's talk about him. he actually knew you were gay, right? tell me what happened the last time you saw him. what did he say to you? >> well, it was really -- he knew i was gay, and the last time i saw him it was about six months before he passed. i took my kids out to l.a. to go to disney land. we saw him for a few hours. it was just really a grandfather visit. not to talk about anything deep or life changing but it was just a really friendly, warm visit. and he never saw fit to bring up the fact that i was gay. that to me was really comforting. we didn't have to talk about it. but he was loving and treated me like a grandson. >> i know that you were married at 20 and then you had this moment years after that, after -- you were married still

and had three children. you had this moment in the kitchen where you finally said it out loud. what was that moment like? >> it was one of the most amazing moments of my life. i had known since i was five or six years old that i was attracted to men but i had always been told that it was wrong and i really ran from the label gay. i did not want to be gay. i had heard horror stories about what being gay meant. and finally using that word openly with myself, even though i was alone it was like stepping into my own skin for the first time. it was the most liberating, wonderful feeling and it's probably the most amazing moment of my life, or one of them, beyond having my three children. >> how did your mother feel about you. >> it's been -- i guess i would call it an ongoing discussion. my mother does say she loves me but she always -- the few times

that we've spoken since, she always makes sure to remind me that homosexuality leads to dead and that the bible condemns it. i think you could call it a tense relationship at best. >> tell me about this project. you're traveling around the country and the project is called the gay agenda. tell me about the concept behind it and what you are hoping to accomplish. >> yeah, well, one thing that a lot of people in conservative communities have is a visual of gay life that i think is a little skewed. what a lot of people think of a gay couple, they jump immediately to sex or something like that. they don't think of a couple watching television or having friends over for dinner or making coffee. and so my domestic actives and

hopefully when we leave. >> are you trying to undo your grandfather's agenda in some sort? >> there are wonderful things he did. he doesn't get a lot of credit for this, but he was a leader in civil rights. his television programming was beamed mostly into the south and in the 70s had he a mixed-race choir which for him at that time was very unusual. he was a pioneer of sorts in that way. i really think if he were still around, this might be a cause that he would take up. and i'm not sure that he would have been more accepting. >> i want to ask you about your upcoming marriage. >> yeah, i'm excited.

my fiancee and i will be getting married in may and i've waited i think for this for my whole life in some sense. >> randy roberts potts, great to have you on the show. we'll talk about you soon, i hope. thank you. >> thanks, randi sni want to bring you live pictures out of las vegas. the president is speaking there and has a message about energy. let's listen in a little bit. that's what the american people are looking for. they don't expect a handout. they expect if they are willing to work hard to try to get ahead, if they are doing the right thing and they can have a sense of security and dignity and help make sure that their family is moving forward. that's what americans are looking for. that's what americans deserve. today, three years after the worst economic storm in three

generations, our economy is growing again. our economy has created more than three million jobs. the most jobs since 2005. american manufacturers are hiring again and creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s. we've got more work to do but we can't go back to the very same policies that got us in a mess in the first place. we can't go backwards. we have to move forward. i said on tuesday and li will repeat today, we will not and cannot go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing and bad debt and phony financial profits. so on tuesday i laid out a

blueprint for an economy that is built to last, that has a firm foundation, where we're making stuff and selling stuff and moving it around and ups drivers are dropping things off everywhere. that's the economy we want an economy built on american manufacturing with more good products made here in the united states of america. [ applause ] an economy built on american energy, fueled by homegrown and alternative sources that make us more secure and less dependent on foreign oil. an economy built on the skills of american workers getting people the education and training that they need to prepare for the jobs of today but also to compete for the jobs

of tomorrow and most important, an economy built on hard work, responsibility, and the same set of rules for everybody, from wall street to main street. that has to be our future. that's how we restore the american promise and what i want to focus on today is for an economy built to last with american energy, that's why we are here. for decades americans have been talking about how do we decrease our dependence on foreign oil. well, my administration has actually begun to do something about it. over the last three years we negotiated the toughest new efficiency standards for cars and trucks in history.

we've opened millions of new acres for gas exploration. right now american oil production is the highest that it's been in eight years. eight years. last year we relied lesson foreign oil than in any of the last 16 years. that hasn't gotten a lot of attention but that's important. we're moving in the right direction when it comes to 38 million acres in the gulf of mexico for additional exploration and development which could result in domestic energy. but as i said on tuesday, we only have 2% of the world's oil

reserves. so we've got to have the strategy that develops every source of cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs. now, a great place to start is with natural gas. some of you may not have been following this, but because of new technologies, because we can now access natural gas that we couldn't access before in an economic way, we've got a supply of natural gas under our feet that can last america nearly a hundred years. now, when i say, under our feet, i don't mean that there is gas right here. i mean in all of the united states. and developing it could power our cars and our homes and our factories and a cleaner and

cheaper way. the experts believe it could support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade. we, it turns out, are the saudi arabia of natural gas. we've got a lot of it. we've got a lot of it. now, removing that natural gas, obviously it has to be done carefully and i know families worried about the impact that this could have on our environment and on the health of our communities and i share that concern. so that's why i'm requiring that all companies drilling for gas on public lands disclose the chemicals they use. we want to make sure that this is done properly and safely. america will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk. but we've got to keep at it. we've got to take advantage of this incredible natural resource. >> you've been listening to

president obama there in las vegas telling us that there is a lot more to do talking about his blueprint and talking about foreign oil has dropped quite a bit. from there he goes to colorado to speak there as well. at least 15 people died after a cruise ship capsized off the italian coast and divers are still searching for bodies. coming up, two underwater rescue crews as they train off the coast of long beach, california.

almost two weeks later,

rescuers are still searching for 16 people. at least 16 other people died when the cruise ship hit rocks off the italian coast. there were 4200 people on board. it's a tough job looking for people underwater, especially when the ship is unstable. casey, what are the divers practicing? >> reporter: well, we're at the port of long beach here in california, randi, and this is one of the busiest port complexes in the united states. we're on a dive boat that is part of the long beach harbor patrol. it's a very specialized dive boat where they are able to go under water for hours and hours at a time versus a scuba diver who can only be under the water for 45 minutes. this is one of the agencies that would respond to a maritime

disaster. we have the los angeles fire department, long beach police department. now, at the top of all that, running the disaster, the response to this disaster would be the u.s. coast guard and joining me now is the captain for this entire port, captain roger lafarrier. what does it take to coordinate more than a dozen or perhaps more agencies to respond to a significant disaster at sea? >> well, it takes a lot of practice working together as a team. >> and because this port is so busy, you have big giant cargo containers and commercial cruise ships, what is the difference in the response to something for that versus a cruise hip disaster? >> obviously there are more

lives involved in a cruise ship disaster. that's the main concern. we work with a system of systems so we all work together. >> reporter: do you feel you would be better equipped here to handle something there? >> absolutely. there's no question that it's the most equipped ports in the world. >> reporter: as we move inside -- thank you, captain. we can see some of these training exercises that are actually going on right now, randi. what we've got here is an underwater camera down in the depth of 80 to 85 feet a couple of divers who are down there and what they've got is an actual welding torch. you can believe it, you can actually weld or use heat to cut into steel underwater. the reason that they use this is, for example, a ship that has

been run aground. bring water into it, they can take these torches and run under the ship. they can actually repair holes in these ships. obviously there are different types of responses for a different type of disaster. you wouldn't be using flames if there was flammable because they have other devices that can perhaps rescue stranded passengers. now, we can find a guy who tells these divers what they are doing. hello, diver, can you hear me? can you tell us what you're doing underwater right now? >> yes. right now i'm trying to make a cut using a torch, a cutting

torch. and we're at 10,000 degrees farenheit material being burned and it's a free agent steel pipe. >> reporter: how is this used in an emergency? >> if you had to cut away anchors, anchor chains, free debris. >> reporter: there's a lot of training going on here right now. they are very prepared, they say, to handle any type of a disaster that could happen in this port and, of course, you're not just worried about ships

crashing into something, you're worried about the potential of a terrorist threat, all kinds of contingencies that they are prepared for. so that's what we have for you from here, randi. >> casey, that was incredible television. thank you so much and to all of the photographers and coast guard, of course, for helping us bring that to you today. thanks again. newt gingrich keeps comparing himself to ronald reagan. >> in 1995 at the gold water institute, nancy reagan said that ronald reagan's torch had been passed to me as speaker of the house and i was carrying out the values that he believed in. is it a legitimate comparison and will it really matter really come election day? that is fair game next. but, first, a political junkie question. what percentage of voters identified themselves as conservatives in the florida gop primary?

was it 55%, 61%, or 68%? shout out to the first person that brings me the right answer to @randikayecnn. ough is enough. ♪ [ spa lady ] i started enbrel. it's clinically proven to provide clearer skin. [ rv guy ] enbrel may not work for everyone -- and may not clear you completely, but for many, it gets skin clearer fast, within 2 months, and keeps it clearer up to 9 months. [ male announcer ] because enbrel suppresses your immune system, it may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, and nervous system and blood disorders have occurred. before starting enbrel, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis and discuss whether you've been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. tell your doctor if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever,

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before the break, i asked what percentage of voters identified themselves as conservatives. your choices were 55%, 61%, and 68%. the correct answer is 61%. congratulations to kenzie from north carolina. nice job. we're 6 1/2 hours away before the last debate in florida before the primary. joining us is robert zimmerman and anna. i'm going to start with you, anna. we're seeing more and more conservatives speaking out, criticizing. the conservatives are saying they might actually win.

>> what i see is the establishment to stop gingrich and i'm not sure that makes that much of a difference with the republican base in florida. when you go to newt gingrich, you see them on tv, they are gigantic, 4,000, 5,000-people crowd. so i don't know the supporter of wanting to stop newt gingrich is really on the ground. >> that's a very important point, ana, you bring up. because when you watch these incredible crowds, newt gingrich is attracting -- every time he's caught in a lie or hypocrisy, everything that happens, he yells at the moderator for asking that question. the crowd cheers. his great strength is, you can't embarrass me and ultimately he really is speaking to a republican party that's not motivated by philosophy or policy but motivated by revenge and they are better off not winning elections because of the vengeful strategy. >> one thing you've been hearing a lot about is is newt gingrich

comparing himself to ronald reagan. a reagan administration veteran has this to say. he says, gingrich has often criticized reagan's policies, writing gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that reagan's policies would fail and in all of this he was dead wrong. >> there was a tremendous amount of reservoir and goodwill and respect with reagan. anything that you can do to hit yourself up with ronald reagan is a smart thing in a republican primary. again, i'm not sure that anybody in the republican base in florida has any idea who elliott abrams is and nobody is reading the national review. it's just things that are not done in a republican base and that's who newt gingrich is appealing to, is the base. >> robert? >> well, still, ana, the base is literate and the base is going to care about issues and that's

the real parties and this is one example of this abc news -- the abc news flip-flops, of course, regarding his witnesses, the reagan speeches, his support of climate change, his being on the payroll at freddie mac. his campaign is based on opposing everything that is defining newt gingrich's career and he actually received the reagan mantel from nancy reagan. let's listen to this. >> in 1995 at the gold water institute, nancy reagan said that ronald reagan's torch should be passed to me as speaker of the house and i was carrying out the values that he believes in. during that entire period, mitt

romney was a money-making independent -- there's nothing wrong with being money-making, but he wasn't involved in helping save the country. >> it really is a battle to be more conservative. so, ana, who is more like reagan in this race, would you say? and he can reach the masses with his speaking abilities. and newt gingrich is very good at defending himself, he's very good at indignation. so i think when he gets accused of things or saying things that aren't true, it's almost when he's at his best. >> you know, it's funny, if you want to look at who is most like ronald reagan, who's the leader that can bring the country back from a very severe recession, a leader who knows how to negotiate with adversaries, a

leader to raise the debt ceiling, and one more time, i want to hit on this abc interview with gingrich's second ex-wife that was featured, the claim that he wanted an open marriage. our john king asked him about it at the debate. he said that his team offered up witnesses to abc and that they didn't want to hear from those witnesses and now abc is coming out and saying, you know what? there were no witnesses. none. so robert, to you, what does this say about newt gingrich now? >> what's your point? he got caught in a lie. and of course he'll move on to the next topic and that's really the beauty of newt. he cannot be embarrassed. although i'll tell you something, when ann coulter calls him an arrogant hot head,

she only says that as a compliment. it's time to reflect upon the republican values. >> ana? >> i hope he gets asked about this abc interview again. surely it will turn into boos and hiss from the audience and, again, he's best when he's expressing indignation. the emotional newt gingrich is what the crowd likes. >> robert, ana, thank you. that is fair game today. thank you. don't miss the debate tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. it turns out that guys are not the only ones getting concussions while playing sports. sanjay gupta is here and he will explain.

think sports concussions and the image that comes to mind is guys playing football. what i have to tell you may surprise you. dr. sanjay gupta is here to explain. when parents think of concussions, their daughters don't come to mind but you say otherwise, that they should think about that. >> they should. i have three daughters. this was surprising to me as well but there are more girls playing sports than ever before. the number has increased significantly over the last two careers. they are also playing sports that can cause concussions, like basketball bei basketball, volleyball. girls are more susceptible to concussions than boys. they have a higher incident rate of concussions. that's the headline. female high school athletes have more concussions than do males. surprising, as you say, randi, for a lot of reasons. if you look at soccer, girls

playing soccer, boys playing soccer, girls are 68% more likely to have a condition discussion. in basketball, three times more likely. part of the reason is, you think about the brain and the anatomy, there may be less fluid in girls' brains. we've got to may more attention to that. >> and what about from sport to sport? is there any difference between soccer and the other sports when it comes to girls being vulnerable? >> leaving aside gender differences, so much of it comes from the hitting of the ball and what i found interesting was that, on average, there's about 1300 headings of the ball per player per season. that's a lot. and the vast majority take place during practice. where they are doing drill after drill. that's one area where an intervention has been made. an athlete learns the concept to keep pounding their head. that's 20 g's of force.

>> is there a difference between girls and boys? >> there can be. it's very interesting. also part of the reason why i think concussions can be underdiagnosed in girls than boys. it's much more in terms of memory loss and cognitive problems, completing exams or doing exams. with girls it is more of an aversion to bright lights and loud sounds. headaches is one of the cardinal sim testimony tomorrows. girls return to play more quickly but often are not diagnosed as easily as boys are. hopefully that may change and to get more information about this -- >> put you to the test tomorrow. >> oh, really? >> yeah. >> that's a good tease, isn't it? >> can't wait to see this. >> yes. >> something happens to me, you'll save me. >> yes. >> all right. thanks, sanjay. >> thank you.

>> a new documentary, big hits, broken dreams, that's at 8:00 p.m. on cnn sunday night. police allegedly mistreated latinos and the mayor is slammed for making this racially insurance sensitive comment. >> i might have tacos when i go home. i'm not quite sure yet. >> now the mayor is singing a tune. we'll hear what they have to say, next. >> first, who let the cat out of the travel bag. on to this plane. he bee-lined it straight for the cockpit. he found a nice hiding spot and didn't want to come out. his adventure forced all of the passengers to deplane and the maintenance crew had to tear apart part of the cockpit to get to the compartment where he was

hiding. as much as i love cats, i have to say, your 15 minutes of flying, at least, is over. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

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paterno is getting under way just minutes from now. folks are filing in. organizers expect more than 12,000 people and won't attend. he died sunday about three months after the board fired him in the wake of child sex abuse charges against a retired assistant coach. the board has not apologized despite fresh from students and alumni. a spokeswoman says none of the trustees were told to stay away from the service. an unfortunate controversy tied to the service some people have been trying to sell the free tickets to today's event online. more than 10,000 tickets were distributed in seven minutes tuesday. offers to sell them quickly showed up on ebay with a pair going for as much as $500. penn state's rez called the action reprehensible. an outrageous story we've told you about. mayor of east haven, connecticut denounced for making racist remarks about la ten knows.

his comments came after four of his officers were alleged for anti-latino bias. he's now saying he was a "jerk for what he said." >> what are you doing for the latino community today? >> i might have the tacos when i go home. i spent two years from puerto rico. i will probably do the same thing for the latino community. >> you realize that's not the comment to say today. you might have tacos tonight. >> i might have spaghetti tonight. >> i take full responsibility for being a jerk when i made that statement. i apologize profusely. >> the town's democratic party is demanding the republican mayor resign. a shocking story in houston. a he pet serial killer is taking aim at dogs and most of them pitbulls. >> on saturday evening, a dog was placed in a brand-new plastic crate in an empty field and he was shot to death. >> our affiliate kprc reports seven pitbulls were found dead last month, three fatally shot

and the other suffered blunt trauma to the head. officials believe might be the work of a dogfighting ring. police have only found three dogs. two were hit by cars. in massachusetts retiring democratic congressman barney frank plans to marry his long time partner jim ready. his spokesman isn't saying when the two will tie the knot. in an interview with charl can i rose a few weeks ago, frank said said he was in love for the first time in his life. and. kentucky, a loving but sad sorry. this couple, presley and ethylbradshaw were married for 73 years. a friend who knew them well said they were a true epitome of the word love. they were married in 1938 and spent their lives in louisville. on monday presley and ethylbradshaw died just hours apart. only four gop candidates remain. tonight's cnn debate could help thin out the field. what do the candidates need to say in order to push ahead?

we'll have a live hit from our florida debate headquarters next. first a question for all our political junkies. let's keep in mind what happened four years ago. mitt romney lost the 2008 florida primary to john mccain. what was mccain's margin of victory? did he beat romney by three points, five points, or seven points? be the first person to tweet me the right answer to@randi kaye cnn and you'll get a shoutout right after the break. while a body in motion tends to stay in motion. staying active can actually ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, staying active can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain so your body can stay in motion. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain and inflammation. plus, in clinical studies,

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before the break, i asked about john mccain's victory over mitt romney in the 2008 florida primary. did mccain beat romney by three points, five points or seven points? the answer for you, five points. 36% to 31%. and a big congratulations to mike from massachusetts for

tweeting us the right answer. well, we are now just hours tonight from tonight's presidential debate. peter hamby is standing by at the site in jacksonville, florida. peter, all eyes are on the front-runners, mitt romney, newt gingrich. what do you think they have to accomplish tonight? >> well, the romney people are pretty confident right now. they think they stopped the bleeding after the gingrich surge coming out of south carolina, tellingly romney at a campaign event here this morning did not attack newt gingrich after doing so on the campaign trail for several days here. that tells you that they think they don't actually need to attack him. but they will, i think tonight, try to remind florida voters again as they have been on television airways that gingrich work the for freddie mac which played a role in the national housing mortgage collapse beginning in 2007, try to paint him as a washington insider. remind voters of those things they find uncomfortable about newt gingrich. you will see that tonight. the romney people want to project an air of confidence and

an air of competence supposed to gingrich who they've been trying to portray as sort of undisciplined and irrational. gingrich, however, this is his last chance before the florida primary. he hasn't been on running television ads here to hit his sweet spot again. his performance in the debate on monday in tampa was ho-hum. he didn't have that energy to feed off in the crowd and kind of played to the conservative base. he's been getting very big crowds on the ground here, but in a state as large as florida, it's not like iowa or new hampshire. there are 2 million voters expected to participate in this primary. crowds aren't really a good sign of what's going to happen. he's got to use these television airwaves to get across one more time, i'm the real conservative in this race. mitt romney is a massachusetts moderate. vote with your heart, not your head and going with newt gingrich. >> a lot of ground there to cover. what about immigration? do you think that will be the one of the major topics that they'll have to debate tonight?

>> reporter: absolutely. hispanics make up about 13% of the republican voter. they did in the 2008 primary. they've been going back and forth, romney and gingrich about this issue the last couple days. romney has staked out a harder line on immigration than most of the candidates in the field with the exception of possibly rick santorum. omni in 2008 actually did really well here among really conservative anti-legal immigration voters, grassroots voters here. but newt gingrich is trying to say that romney's positions are irrational. romney said he thinks under a romney administration, illegal immigrants will self-deport. newt gingrich scoffed at that during the week down here. that will be a main topic of debate. >> i understand that our audience tonight on the cnn debate will be able to participate. so it should be interesting when we hear the crowd's react to their comments. peter hamby, thank you very much. don't miss the florida republican debate tonight live on cnn at 8:00 p.m. eastern. this is going to be some good tv. thanks for watch.

as always, i love to hear what you think of the show. continue the conversation with me on facebook or twitter @ randi kaye cnn. cnn newsroom continues with brooke baldwin. >> thank you so much. happy thursday to all of you. i'm brooke baldwin. top of the hour, everything making news, rapid fire. let's go. want to let you know right now we are standing by live there at the pentagon, live pictures waiting fur i an major announcement coming from defense secretary leon panetta, a major announcement on downsizing the u.s. military. of course, stand by for that. also, it is the last chance for republican presidential hopefuls to battle face to face before the florida primary next tuesday. and you can only see it here on cnn. 8:00 eastern, cnn hosting a republican debate live from jacksonville all four remaining candidates will meet on that stage as new poll numbers tad

show mitt romney and newt gingrich in a virtual tie. and secretary of state hillary clinton didn't mention the race for the white house today. she was meeting with state department employees. here's what she said. >> a little odd for me to be totally out of an election season since as secretary of state, i cannot participate. but you know, i didn't watch any of those debates. and -- >> hopefully she'll watch tonight with us. also, a standing room only crowd this afternoon on the penn state campus to say good-bye to the winningest coach in college history. joe paterno. the memorial service and the 12,000 seat arena caps three days of public mourning for the football coach. there will be one speaker from each decade of paterno's coaching career. he died sunday of lung cancer, less than three months after losing his job in the wake of sex, child sex abuse charges against a former assistant coach. you may not remember this crime but do you remember thefrl

headline? headless body in topless bar. this week the man convicted in that 1983 case was denied parole. charles dingell was found guilty of shooting the owner of the new york city topless bar, taking who is until tas, raping a woman and forcing another hostage to cut off the dead man's dead. he is serving 25 years to life. and we are getting all kinds of stories today out of texas now from people who survived the downpour so severe, high water trapped them in their vehicles. in fact, in a dallas suburb, one driver called 911 three times. here's just one of those calls. >> the water's up to my chest. >> they're trying to get to you as quick as they can. >> okay. >> all right? >> okay, i'm on the ground. >> if i were in that car, i'd be dialing as many times as i needed to. postscript to that story moments later. the crew managed to reach him. in pakistan, at least 100

people died after taking what's believed to be contaminated heart medicine provided free of charge by the government. the pharmaceutical factory believed responsible has been closed. and the man behind a shooting at the pentagon, remember this happened in 2010, he is has now cut a deal with federal prosecutors. he agreed to serve 25 years for shooting at the pentagon and other military-related buildings. malaku was a reservist in the marine corps. police arrested him last summer, finding him with papers referencing al qaeda. and now, a moment to take in really just the wonder in which we live, the planet earth here in all its glory. this is is coming to us, thank you, nasa, just released this high-def picture. they're calling it blue marble 2012. it's actually a picture of a bunch of pictures that were taken by a new generation of research satellite that nasa is using to observe our planet. kind of cool. got a lot more to cover in

the next few hours. watch this. we are hours away from tonight's cnn debate. we're going to talk to our tv crews who are closest to these candidates. these crews have lived every behind the scenes moment. we're giving you a backstage pass. i'm brooke baldwin. the news is now. ray lahood, one of the closest people to the president but his son is stuck in egypt, forbidden to leave after a raid. we're live at the state department. . >> they would handcuff me in a bathroom to a toilet bowl face thing a toilet that was used by 60 people. >> a lesbian is removed from her home, taken underground to, quote unquote, cure her homosexuality. cnn takes you inside this controversial clinic. plus, a death row inmate brags about life behind bars. air conditioning, television, 24/7 medical care. now his victim's father is up in arms.

and a man shot to death after running to help a woman in trouble and his two young sons witnessed the entire thing. >> i ran down and sat with them until somebody showed up. there were there with him when he passed. >> the heartbreaking story of a good samaritan. each kid has their own path. they grow up, and they're out having their life. i really started to talk to them about the things that are important that they have to take ownership over. my name's colleen stiles, and my kids and i did our wills on legalzoom. [ shapiro ] we created legalzoom to help you take care of the ones you love. go to legalzoom.com today and complete your will in minutes. at legalzoom.com, we put the law on your side.

as we mentioned a moment ago, this is happening here right now at the pentagon. you see him there, leon panetta submitting the blueprint for a down sized u.s. military. >> financial problems will be in the world. that means emphasizing asia-pacific and the middle east.

third, we will maintain our presence elsewhere in the world. and we'll do that by building innovative partnerships and strengthen our key alliances and develop new partnerships elsewhere in the world. in europe, in africa, in latin america, and elsewhere. fourth, we will ensure that we can quickly confront and defeat aggression. from any adversary, any time, any place. and fifth, we will protect and prioritize some very important and key investments. in technology and new capabilities as well as our capacity to grow, adapt, to mobilize, to surge, as needed.

given the significant fiscal constraints that have been imposed on the department, our approach was to develop this force for the future. with some pretty important guidelines. we wanted to maintain the strongest military in the world. we committed ourselves not to the hollow out the force as has been done in the past in these kinds of drawdowns, to take a balanced approach to our budget by putting everything on the table, and to not break faith with the troops and their families. i want to thank the entire leadership of this department, military and civilian alike. for their participation and support in this effort this has truly been a team effort, and i

am deeply appreciative for their cooperation. >> another big-time consequence of the really the budget cutting fever seizing washington. once untouchable military budget now clearly square in the crosshairs of congress. i want to bring in chris lawrence. i know the secretary just began speaking a couple minutes ago. what do we know in terms of broad terms as to where this is headed? >> well, we know more than broad terms. we know some real hard specifics. for example, brooke, the budget is calling for about 60,000 fewer soldiers, probably 20,000 fewer marines. but just to put ha in perspective, even after those cuts, you'd still have more soldiers and more marines than you had just before 9/11. so just to give some perspective there. also, fewer air squadrons for the air force because there won't be as many troops to support. the navy's being asked to retire about six older ships and a couple smaller amphibious ships

as well and delay building some newer ships for a year or two to save money in the short-term, and we know that although the troops are going to be guaranteed pay raises over the next couple years, the budget is recommending that those pay raises be smaller come 2015 and beyond. and although there won't be major changes to active duty troops in terms of what they pay for health care and deductibles and things like that, there could be additional charges and deductible raises and things like that for retirees who are using those health benefits. >> what about the army specifically, chris? will the u.s. army bear the brunt of these cuts, or are they equally spread? >> it depends who you talk to. if you talk to people in the army, they're going to tell you, look what we got hit with. but they seem to be fairly well spread out. i mean, in some respects you can almost say the navy takes a pretty big hit, as well. and i think a lot of this

budget, a lot of what's important is what is not being cut. you know, you're not seeing cuts in cyberwarfare. you're still going to see the same number and the same growth of the unmanned drones that have been so prevalent and that the obama administration has found such a use for around the world. and you're not going to see any cuts to the special operations forces, the teams like the navy s.e.a.l.s that have conducted the raids on osama bin laden and the recent rescue there in somalia. specially operations ha has been growing at about a 5% rate. that's going to continue for the foreseeable future. >> you hear the secretary saying look, we're not committed to not having a hollowed out force. when you look at that figure, half a trillion over the next ten years, do the planners at the pentagon feel as though they've had enough time to think this through, crunch the numbers or is this more of on the fly cuts? this it is national security we're talking about. >> yeah, they're more worried. they say given time, they can

make the cuts work. what they're afraid of is because congress couldn't come to that will deal on the debt and like that, you've got these automatic cuts that could kick in by sometime at the end of the year. that's what they're worried about, that the cuts would simply be across the board. they say they're much better able to manage the cuts when they can say well, let's just take a little bit from that program but still keep this program or put more into this. they say that's easier to do than just same cuts all the way across the board. >> got it. chris lawrence, i appreciate it. chris lawrence at the pentagon for us. also, shocking new video just into us here at cnn involves the man accused of shooting at the pentagon, very building in which chris is sitting. some damning evidence coming out in court, a video he shot of himself the night of that shooting. we'll show you part of that video right after the quick break. also breaking weather news. reports of another tornado in alabama. be right back.

i got to the talk about tornadoes once again in alabama. confirmed a tornado has touched down in alabama as you look at the radar. what we know is that it hit southeast of birmingham, no reports of damage at this point in time. obviously, we're continuing to watch the situation. we've got chad meyers off to my right. he's working this, as well. are these live pictures, guys? yes, very ominous skies. birmingham keep in mind that other tornado claimed two lives earlier this week around clay in birmingham, alabama. got to go to break quickly.

listen to this here. kidnapped from home, tortured and starved. this is the story of this one woman in the south american country of ecuador. she wasn't a prisoner in some camp. she was a patient in a clinic that claims it could cure her of homosexuality. rafael romo tells her story. >> reporter: she is openly homosexual and is not afraid to speak about it publicly. but the woman says her family didn't feel the same way. five years ago when she was 23 years old, she says her family contacted a center that promised to cure her of her homosexuality. she says that's when the nightmare started. >> on december 8th of 2006, they stormed into my house, overpowered me. they put me inside a van and took me to a so-called therapeutic center. by the time i got there, i was already handcuffed and beat up. >> it was called bridge to life. in december, cnn was granted

limited access to the clinic. she endured all kinds of demeaning and abusive treatment during the 18 months she was held there. >> translator: i was kept in handcuffs more than three months. i would be left without food for three or four days. they would handcuff facing a toilet that was used by 60 people at the center. >> while we were there, one of the clinic's director lee savalla declined to speak about the allegations but did deny their goal was to change the orientation of their patients our goal is to modify all inadequate behaviors causing a particular individual to take income inadequate attitudes. >> officials say some of these clinics operate as addiction treatment centers but offer the cures in a clandestine way. bridge to life was targeted for an investigation last year, but officials could only get enough evidence to cite the clinic on a technicality. >> translator: they say they found expired products.

i would venture to say that the government has an ulterior motive. >> reporter: the ecuadorian undersecretary of health says expired products were found in the women's area of the clinic so they closed that section. but that's not really the most serious violation. what concerns us is that we have reports about their methods to change a person's sexual orientation and treatments that include torture and human rights violations. >> reporter: since we visited bridge to life, the ecuadorian government tells cnn after we were there, two raids freed over 40 people and the clinic has been shut down for alleged human rights violations. our efforts to reach the center's coordinator for a comment have been unsuccessful. today, paolo is a spokesperson for the movement against clinics that claim to cure homosexuality. >> rafael, i'm surprised that clinic let you guys in to shoot any video. so that entire clinic or is it just the women's section that's been closed?

>> the entire clinic. but what happens is that they advertise as addiction treatment centers. >> addiction treatment center. >> but people know, this is word of mouth, that they offer this treatment to, quote unquote, cure homosexuality and what happens inside is what people don't really know about it. now authorities are targeting those centers because this particular clinic that we went to hardly unique. >> so there are others? >> there are many others. in the last few months, they have targeted 31 clinics that they know of that they were operating in a similar way, have been shut down. but there may be many, many others. there's a list of 302, many of them have violations and many of them under the table are offering these treatments that are illegal in ecuador and not recognized by the health authorities. >> handcuffing her for three months to cure her. how is she doing? i imagine since she's been public about in that she's been

threatened. >> i was speaking with her yesterday. she told me she has been attacked twice, middle of the street. she's just walking and all of a sudden somebody shows up and starts beating her up. again, she feels very strongly about this cause and not only that, but gay rights and just for doing that, she's been attacked twice already. >> do you have any idea if this is just ecuador centric or something across south america? >> so far, we have only been able to document the cases in ecuador. that's where we're concentrating the investigation. >> what a story. stay on it for us. thank you so much. now new video from that public memorial that has started for joe paterno at penn state today. take a look for a moment at his widow, sue, has now entered is the basketball arena on campus.

you see everyone on their feet. staineding ovation for mrs. paterno there at the service. her husband died from a smart battle with lung cancer just this past sunday. we are mere hours away from the next republican presidential debate. coming up next, we'll show you exactly where the gop candidates stand in the polls today. but first, new list out today ranking america's most literal cities. is your hometown on the list? let's take a look. number five, boston. number four here the home of cnn world headquarters, atlanta, georgia, number three, minneapolis. so the is your city in the top two the most literal cities in america? the answer after this short break.

america's most literate cities according to a new stud from central connecticut state university. number two here it, pacific northwest, seattle. and topping the list, america's most literate stet is, washington, d.c. our nation's capital. there you go, the top five. now to politics. it's really feeling like a pivot point now, a pivot point for the race for president. a lot of folks thought after last weekend, mitt romney would have closed the deal, sewn up the republican nomination. not so as you know, newt gingrich he came in, pulled off that stunner, won the south carolina primary. so now we are five days away from florida. that's next tuesday. with gingrich and romney pretty much at war. as i began talking about a pivot point here tonight, huge debate in jacksonville. 8:00 eastern, only here on cnn. wolf blitzer is moderating. we'll be watching. hope you will be, too.

want to throw around some numbers with mr. numbers, nate silver of 538.com and "the new york times." nate silver statistician. say that five times fast. i'm sure you can. extraordinaire. take a look at the polling with me if you would. we have the polling out of florida. so on sunday, he's leading romney 38% to 32%. but in polls taken both monday and tuesday, it's romney ahead of gingrich, 38% to 29%. my question is, are these polls simply unreliable or is something happening to gingrich here? >> i think there has been a shift in momentum. you look at your poll and other polls. up till about the first debate on monday, gingrich gained a lot of ground with momentum from south carolina, romney taking hits on his tax returns. but it seems to have flipped back to romney now where polls like yours are showing after the debate, a lead for romney of 5 to 10 to 12 points. it's a surmountable lead based

on tonight's debate. might be the most important of the whole campaign. but we have seen a shift back to romney voters following back in line for the kind of establishment front runner. >> tonight's debate could be the most important of the whole campaign as a statisticiaatisti. does a figure as polarizing, as volatile as newt gingrich make your job a little bit harder in terms of recognizing trends and trying to forecast? >> sure, i mean, this whole race going back to herman cain's surge and rick perry's surge, you have much more rapid shifts in the poll than anytime in the past. people remember hillary and obama in '08. not this continuous movement where one debate can shift the number biz 10 or 15 points. that's why gingrich even if he is down now by seven points or so or five points, if he does well tonight, you could see the momentum reverse one last time four or five days in the campaign is an eternity the way things played out this year. >> so many people talk about how

this has been a lot about debates. this race. our own cnn debate, newt gingrich the huge outburst in charleston, south carolina. he goes on 0 win pretty well the south carolina primary. got the debate tonight. what or who should we really be looking out for, do you think? >> i think you're going to see every candidate use every line of attack they can. which means for romney the things you're seeing in ads about freddie mac, about gingrich's lobbying ties, ethics violations. for gingrich, you'll see him probably attack the media again and attack romney on romney care, his pac that's supposed to be uncoordinated is running a bunch of hits on romney care and obama care over the next few days. you'll see him attack the establishment as well, all the endorsements romney gets from john mccain for instance don't necessarily please republican base voters disappointed by having mccain be their nominee in 2008. so every piece of dirty laundry will be aired tonight. there's no point in holding back. if romney were to win florida,

he's in a pretty darn good position in february with states like nevada and michigan in february where he has always been thought to be strong. >> as a prognosticator, there's this is professor who correctly predicted the last seven presidential elections. allan leichtman said i don't see how obama can lose. are you in with him? are you in with leichtman here, do you agree? >> i think if romney is the nominee, it's going to be a tossup. obama's numbers are getting brighter. the one predictable variable is the economy. we've seen better numbers lately but a lot of economists are forecasting slow growth, maybe 2, 2.5%. you might see some improvement in the job market but not enough that romney can't make a pretty good case. if you see numbers like last month's employment report continuously, then obama is probably going to be strong enough to win. most economists are uncertain

because of europe, because of the action of the congress and so for the about what will actually ensue over the course of the next year. >> you say if it's romney, no one's guess. what if it's gingrich? >> i think gingrich would give obama a much larger margin for error where if you have a recession, then gingrich probably is a good enough politician to win under those conditions. if you had what the forecast says, slow growth, better, not great, i think gingrich's personal unfavorables are very high would be enough to make his job very challenging. >> mr. numbers man, nate silver, we'll see what ends up panning out. i hope you join us tonight watching the debate. five days out from the florida primary, cnn and the republican party of florida teaming up to host the next presidential debate in jacksonville. it's going to be huge, tonight, 8:00 eastern. join me in tweeting, #cnn elections. now this. just in here. shocking new video into cnn involving the man accused of shooting at the pentagon some

damning evidence coming out in court in actual video of this man that he shot of himself actually the night of the shooting. brian todd joins me live from washington. what do you know? >> reporter: brooke, this young man pleaded guilty today to three separate counts involving those shootings at four different military installations including the pentagon and the national museum of the marine corps. and as you mentioned, the very dramatic video that had to have been a key turning point in the case. this is what is prosecutors say is video he took of himself in his car october 29th, 2010 as he drove by the national museum of the marine corps pretty much in the overnight evening hours of that will day. he's narrating the video and then you clearly see him firing shots out the window of his car. prosecutors released this videotape to us today. it's an hour long video. they edited it down to some of the key clips. we're going to play a couple those for you now. we'll begin with a shot of him narrating this saying this is

the target. take a listen. >> tall building right there. that's a military building. and there's the building i'm going to target. i'm going to get -- already targeted that building. now here we go again. this time we're going to turn off. all right. [ gunshots ] >> visible here, you can actually see the shooting if we can drop that banner, maybe even roll that video again, you can actually see the flashes of the muzzle in the shooting on the evening there in question and the natural sound you saw of him actually firing the weapon. he again pleaded guilty today to three different counts related to the shootings, five separate shootings at four different u.s. military installations. there you see the gun in the

video. and then you later see him, there you go -- >> so those are the shots, brian? >> right, those are the shots. just at the bottom of the screen, you can see the muzzle flashes of him shooting. had to have been really a key turning point in the case. he has a mask there on as you see in the car. he later takes it off. you can see his face clearly visible in the video. he made this video himself according to prosecutors. this is an exhibit in the court case against him. he pleaded guilty today to those three counts. they agreed both prosecutors and his defense attorney agreed to a 25-year sentence. he'll be formally sentenced in april but essentially they had him on that video there doing those acts, and that was a key turning point in the case. they apprehended him in june of 2011 in arlington, cemetery and police say that he had a backpacking there that contained nine millimeter casings, numerous arabic statements referring to al qaeda's, ziploc

bags containing ammonium nitrate. he had planned on desecrating permals at the cemetery, memorials of soldiers who had fought in iraq and afghanistan with arabic statements. they say he was going to spray paint those memorials and again he pleaded guilty to those weapons counts today. >> did he at all explain why he wanted to videotape himself doing this? ing. >> no. he said only yes, sir and no, sir today to the judges' questions to him. he never explained exactly why he videotaped himself. they did say prosecutors have said in the past that he expressed some anger at the military. he's a former marine reservist. but he was never deployed overseas and they're not clear exactly what got him angry at the military. there's been no specific information on that. i actually followed his father out of the courthouse today and tried to ask him some of those questions and he really just wouldn't answer. he said he didn't really know why he would have been angry at the military. he didn't think he was. >> thank god they caught him before he did anything to those

graves at arlington. thank you, brian todd in washington. in a little bit of irony, the son of the head of the u.s. transportation department can't get out of egypt. we're talking about the son of a presidential cabinet member, ray lahood, his son in egypt can't leave. coming up next, why he's not being allowed out of the country and why he was there in the first place. when bp made a commitment to the gulf,

we were determined to see it through. here's an update on the progress. we're paying for all spill related clean-up costs. bp findings supports independent scientists studying the gulf's environment. thousands of environmental samples have been tested and all beaches and waters are open. and the tourists are back. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp.

of trapped in egypt, the son of an obama cabinet member is barred from leave the country and he doesn't even know why. take a look at this image of sam lahood on left of your screen sitting next to his father, ray lahood, the u.s. secretary of transportation. now, sam lahood, would fur a republican-linked group that promotes democracy in foreign countries. just this past saturday he tried to fly out of the cairo airport only to learn that he's on egypt's no exit list and the state department says several other u.s. citizens are now on that list, as well. i want to bring in foreign

affairs correspondent jill dougherty. you actually got sam on the phone just a short time ago. how is he doing? >> yeah, well we got him on the phone when he went to the airport, he tried to get out. they looked at his passport and essentially sent him back to his apartment in cairo where he is right now. we went over to iri headquarters. and talked to him by phone and here's what he said. >> sam, do you feel safe where you are at this point? >> yeah, i feel safe physically. you know, obviously, the fact that the investigative judge chose to prevent some of us from traveling is something that our lawyer tells us indicates that you know, this investigation is taking on a more serious nature and the next step from here would either be arrest or go to trial. >> now, i should explain that investigation, brooke, he's talking about is remember last month, we were reporting on

these ngos from the united states and others even egyptian ngos that were being investigated by the government. unknown exactly what they're looking for, but they're really caught in this kind of bureaucratic morass. and also, just this past hour, cnn was able to ask ray lahood, the tranportation secretary, about this. and he said he's been able to talk to his son a couple of times today. he said that he's doing fine and he also told cnn that a lot of good people are trying to get these folks on a plane. so we'll have to see whether that happens. brooke, we are told there are probably about 40, 4-0 of these americans who are kind of in the same predicament working for these ngos. >> he mentioned the serious nature, possibly arrest or trial as possibilities i guess for his outcome. can you also explain the connection between this no exit list and the series of raids on

advocacy groups in egypt last month? >> well, as we said he, would with iri and there are at least three other american iri, ndi which is the national democratic ngo. and then there's another one called freedom house. and all of them are having questions raised about whether they've actually registered in egypt to work as ngos. now, iri says they tried to do that five years ago. under hosni mubarak, but it was such a bureaucratic mess that they weren't able to do it. they tried. they gave their documents. so under mubarak, ironically, they were able to operate without registering. but now that the new, you know, the military leadership has come in, they are not happy about this and they obviously are cracking down. >> no exit list. okay.dougherty for us. a father waiting for his kids waiting for the school bus.

sees a woman getting carjacked. what happens next will break your heart. after the break. we're america's natural gas

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i know it's especially tough when you hear bad things happen to good people, but this story has shaken up new orleans, a city that has seen more than its share of crime and violence. this photograph is of harry, goes by mike answer worth from his membership card in the citizens organization for police support. so it surprised no one that he tried to help a woman during a

carjacking on this very street on wednesday. he was standing there with his sons waiting for their school bus when he heard this woman scream. police say the boys saw answer worth climb on to the hood of the car and then be gunned down. the carjacker then took off. keep in mind his kids, they're 9 and 10 years of age. >> they ran down and sat with them till somebody showed up. there were there with him when he passed. it's going to be hard on them. >> kids saw the whole thing. the woman who was carjacked, she is okay. new orleans police have developed this sketch of the suspect. take a good long look if you're in the new orleans area. average build in his 20s. >> like i said, pray the cops find him before i do. >> the family has now set up a fund for donations. mike ainsworth is survived by a

daughter as well as those two sons. race for the white house hits florida hard. this week and next. this is the republican candidates route through the state. newt gingrich catching fire after a video resurfaces of him calling spanish the language of the ghetto. we'll go live to jacksonville, florida, the site of tonight's cnn debate next.

a lot about when we were talking about iowa, south carolina, or even new hampshire. but you can expect the hispanic vote to be a major topic tonight as cnn hosts the final republican presidential debate before next tuesday's florida primary. hispanics are certainly a key dem graphic in the state of florida making up more than 22%

of the population there, and the candidates are hammering each other with adds in espanol. this one from the romney camp getting all kinds of attention. >> reagan [ speaking foreign language ] >> did you catch the tail end? did gingrich really call spanish the language of the ghetto? here are his remarks in context back from 2007. >> we should replace bilingual education with emersion in english so people learn the common language of the country and so they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto. >> so he didn't say the flat out that spanish is the language of the ghetto, but many still think he implied that. i want to bring in cnn's chief political analyst gloria borger in jacksonville, florida. the site of the debate.

talk to me what gingrich and romney are doing to tract the hispanic vote here five days out? >> reporter: well, look, hispanic voters are very important in a republican primary. they're about 12% of republican primary voters. and so they both have been talking for example, in very bellicose terms about castro and how they'd be happy if he were gone, to put it bluntly. and don't forget, newt gingrich in debates previously has been speaking about how he would believe the people who have been in this country for 20, 25 years who have deep roots in this country should not be deported. that has helped him in the hispanic community. and what we see with mitt romney is kind of a softening in his appeal to hispanic voters saying that, for example, he might accept a part of the d.r.e.a.m. act for the children of people who have served in the military to allow them to become

citizens. so we're seeing clearly a real play for those voters here, and rightly so, brooke. >> and i'm sure tonight the debate, it's just going to be attack, attack, attack. you just got back from a gingrich event. we saw how he did last thursday and how well he did in south carolina. what about florida, the debate tonight in. >> well, it's interesting because there were two newt gingrich's we saw today at his first event this morning, he was really ripping into mitt romney, calling his ads dishonest, go textually hypocritical, challenging his conservativism, pointing out that he was funded by wall street, that his campaign is funded by wall street. i was just at an event for veterans where there was a very different tone. it was very serious talking about foreign policy. and really taking it to barack obama saying you know what? i'm the only one who can go up against him and again, proposing his three-hour lincoln douglas style debates saying he's ready to take the president on.

so it will be interesting, brooke, to see what kind of newt gingrich we get tonight. you know, he held back at the debate a little bit. it was romney on the attack. romney has benefited from attacking gingrich. so i kind of feel that we may seep a lot of toing and froing tonight on that is taken between these two men. >> it's interesting gingrich keeps talking about the three-seven-hour debates if and when that would happen. who knows. i talked with nate silver from the "new york times" that the numbers guy, and he crunched the numbers pep found that gingrich has mentioned reagan in debates more than all the other candidates combined. is that all starting to backfire on him? >> well, it's interesting because romney is putting out ads saying you know what, by the way, you were only mentioned in ronald reagan's diary once and then a lot of people have come out, most notably elliott abram who's worked in the reagan

administration saying you know what, you were actually really critical of reagan when it came to aid to the contras and their soviet policy. so, this is kind of become the reagan primary, brooke, because both of them, both of these candidates trying to say that, in fact, they represent the last iteration of reaganism, and with him newt gingrich calling romney a moderate saying you know what? you were never a supporter of ronald reagan, not when you ran for the senate in massachusetts and romney saying guess what, you were not a favorite of ronald reagan's and you do not deserve to carry his torch. we could hear more about that tonight again too. >> it's going to be fun. you're so lucky you get to be in jacksonville, 8:00 eastern. moderated by wolf. >> nice weather here. >> i know. i'm jealous. i'll be in florida saturday. a pass you on the way down. thank you so much. take a look at our quote of the day. think who would have said this. here's the quote "right now it's

a lot easier to do bills in the uk or canada or russia or in china." next, we'll tell you who said this and why it's so important today and who this person who said this actually has already endorsed for president. stay here.

now back to the quote of the day. back to the quote. here it is, right now it's a lot easier to do business in the uk or canada or russia or in china. who was it in ceo of cisco

systems john chambers said this about doing business in the united states. he holds $43 billion overseas and not bringing it back to the u.s. because of taxes on profits. who did he say that to? poppy harlow spoke with chambers at the world economic forum in davos sits switzerland and has a lot for us from there today. >> of course, it's been another very busy day at the world economic forum. a lot of headlines. i want to bring two to your attention of particular interest in to the u.s. audience. the first one coming from cisco ceo john chambers. one of the biggest technology companies in the world. chambers came out publicly for the first time today telling us he is endorsing mitt romney for president. he said that romney has the experience of being a governor and running large operations. now, chambers is a well-known republican himself. he advised the mccain campaign, but a lot of this comes down to the environment for american

business right now. something that chambers is not happy with at all. he said the number one issue for american business right now the is confidence. >> consumer confidence first, business confidence second. we've lost business confidence. what's not to say business doesn't have 0 change. but this is something that government and business ought to get back, and candidly right now it's a lot easier to do business in the uk or in canada or in russia, which i never thought i would say or in china or in india than this. >> easier to do business in russia than in the united states right now. >> yes. >> and the reason you should care about what he just said there is because we need big corporations like cisco to hire in the united states to create jobs. now, another one of the big headlines came today from our interview with bill gates. we saw the down and had an in-depth conversation with him. being one of the wealthiest people in the world, i asked him about president obama's proposal of the buffett rule, that people in america that make $1 million or more a year should pay at least 30% in taxes. i asked hi