and a very good morning to you, everyone. welcome to early start. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> we're bringing you the news from "a," to "z." let's get started here. the obama administration looking to bring an early end to the war in afghanistan. the gop is blasting that announcement. saying not so fast. this is a bit premature. also, if you were looking at these pictures, if you're the police officer who is running the dash cam, what is that going across the sky?

i'm trying to hum that song. that's a pathetic effort. anyway, some people very concerned about the ufo possibilities here. we have the answer to what that fireball in the sky was. >> what are you trying to do? >> i was thinking about that '80s show, that '90s show. whatever. a woman wins gas money after she sues honda. she spoke to us when she first filed this lawsuit. she said the car's manual promised her 50 miles per gallon. it didn't deliver. can others cash in on her lawsuit? >> and mitt romney talks to cnn. our soledad o'brien saying something along i'm not concerned about the very poor. okay, hold on. was that all he said? or has he been eviscerated unfairly? we're going to get to the bottom of context and why it matters. up first, a war of words over ending a war. reaction is pouring in after

leon panetta announced that combat in afghanistan will end next year. this was on a plane to a nato conference in brussels. he told reporters, quote, our goal is to complete all that transition in 2013 and hopefully, by mid to the latter part of 2013, we will be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advise and assist role. >> this is not highly unexpected during a campaign year. but the gop front-runner at this point, mitt romney, came out blasting this announcement. saying the obama administration is giving our enemy an edge. >> the taliban hears it. the afghani leaders hear it. why do you tell the people the day you're pulling out your troops? it makes absolutely no sense. it's putting in jeopardy the mission of the united states of america and our commitments to freedom. he is wrong. we need new leadership in washington.

>> from one politician to the other, the chairman of the house armed services committee, also had harsh words about that. we'll get to that. first, to barbara starr live at the pentagon. first question out of the gate. everyone's asking, barbara, is this just too soon? >> well, you know, perhaps a hard reality check is in order here, ashleigh. nato has said the afghans have agreed. all troops, all foreign troops out of afghanistan by the end of 2014. that's long agreed to. that's the reality. end of 2014. what defense secretary leon panetta is saying, there will be a transition period before that, training the afghans. just like we saw in iraq. you have to start that before you leave the country, don't you? he's saying, basically, in 2013, they will start wrapping up combat. they will shift to this training role and stick to the nato flan of being out by 2014. the question is whether the

afghans will be ready for all this. >> exactly. why is it we're hearing the critics saying this is a year sooner than we expected. even the chairman of the armed services committee saying this. the committee has not seen a single assessment by our commanders to say they have confidence in a swift transition. >> it's politics plus military policy. how unusual in washington. you're seeing people select certain facts. governor romney, what he says is what a lot of people are saying. will the afghan forces will ready. can they look after security in their country? are you handing the taliban a reason not to negotiate? not to come to the peace table and just wait it all out? can you do something about those safe havens across the border in pakistan in time? all these are key questions. but the alternative would be for

u.s. troops to stay in afghanistan in definitely after more than a decade of war. everyone knows that that is not a sustainable option. >> barbara, thanks very much for that. i have so many more questions for you. i'll touch base with you at 6:00 with that. also to let our audience know we have a great guest coming up. general james marks is coming up. he'll weigh in, as well. and then, at 8:00, soledad's going to go further on this. she's going to talk to wesley clarke. not only a general, but a former presidential candidate. politics and the military. this should be a great interview soledad will have, as well. >> it's 5:05. minding your business now. stocks kicked off a new month with solid gains. the nasdaq led the way, with strong earnings from the tech sector. >> and the big news might though have been facebook, facebook, facebook. you probably saw it, heard it. the company finally did the filing. we were waiting and wondering.

yesterday was the day. christine romans, you were the first to tell us at 5:00 in the morning. >> and status update is they're going to file for an ipo. now, we know. we have a look, as i was saying, under the hood of this company. we know how much money it made. and what kind of revenue it had and where that was coming from. this is how it stacks up with the rest of the big tech giants. we made about $1 billion of profit last year. that makes it a bit smaller than the microsofts the ibms, the googles of the world. its revenue was $3 billion, almost $4 billion in revenue. 85% of that comes from advertising. now, we know how that is the bulk of the money it makes. this company has a lot to prove. there's so much facebook hype about going public. now, this company has a lot to prove. it has to prove it can grow that billion dollars in profit to something that matches the other companies. and people are so excited about this. they're going to value this company very, very big. maybe even dwarf

hewlett-packard. it has a lot to prove. when it gets access to all of the investors and that cash, that's how it grows, right? now, mark zuckerberg's going to have to answer to hedge fund managers. and he'll have to answer to people who are investors in his company. it will be interesting to see how the company might have to change and how things might have to change for us. >> that's the downside, right? it's a cultural change for them. >> it is. along with the filings, mark zuckerberg wrote a letter attached to the filings. talking about the engineering, the hacker way at this company. it is really a singular kind of culture there. and a lot of tech companies have this issue. and they become public. and say don't change us. this is what has worked for us. something so interesting about the letter with zuckerberg put with the ipo filing. we often talk about inventions like the printing press and the television. today, our society has reached another tipping point. ooh, the printing press and the television. so, facebook has changed the

world. it has. it had a $1 billion profit last year. how is he going to drive that company so match that kind of language? >> that's 845 million active users an facebook. and i heard a crazy thing yesterday. one of the analysts said that zuckerberg might give every one of the users one share, just to be different. >> there's 3,200 employees who work there. that maybe took stock options. there's dell millionaires that took stock options because they didn't have cash. that's a heartwarming story. for us, you were telling us about your son. >> we had this full conversation about facebook and how can he get in on the action? he's 13 years old. what an opportunity for kids, right? this is something they know. this is a big deal. how do you do that? how do you get them focused. >> you don't want them to get in the stock if it didn't pan out

the way everyone thinks it's going to. but that's a good question. you want kids to get involved in finance through things they know, like facebook. i'm going to find an investment club in this neighborhood. >> that would be cool. at 13 years old, he can turn into ali velshi. >> pinstripes. >> my brother was doing fantasy stock book portfolios at the age of 12. >> wonder what mitt romney was up to early in life. >> that's a good question. >> your next assignment. want to move on. we want to give you an early start to your day by alerting you to the news that's happening now and happening later. it's developing tonight for the big story tonight. in a few hours, attorney general eric holder will be grilled about the botched fast and furious gun tracking program. yesterday, congressman daryl isa

accused the justice department of a cover-up. the agency just kind of lost track of over 1,000 different weapons they were tracking after they were sold to so-called straw purchases. some were seriesed from crimes. president obama speaking at the national prayer breakfast this morning. we'll have his remarks for you live at 8:00 eastern. protesters are expected to be outside, including gay rights demonstrators. and other groups who say the event is not inclusive enough. >> i was reading this thing in "the new york post" this morning. >> page 6? >> yeah. a crazy story in page 6 about waking up to tv tension. >> that's it. >> was that the one? >> we talk about early reads. we read really early. and it just turned out, we were reading about yourselves. >> it says, a lack of chemistry is plaguing cnn's new show, early start. with ashleigh banfield. has your picture.

have expressed frustration of the schizophrenic nature of the source. they just don't jell. banfield says too much. >> you be quiet. why is it you never hear about the guys on espn having catfights? >> well, you never hear about that stuff. >> it's more fun when you talk about girls having catfights, right? anyway. love you, girl. >> we have to move on. we have a lot more news. a lot more important things happening in the world than that. thanks anyway, "new york post." we got an unbelievable scene developing in egypt. not what you think. this is a soccer match in egypt. the fans rioted, hitting each other with rocks and chairs. if you thought riots got out of hand, this one has a death toll of 79 people. >> unbelievable. >> hundreds of others injured in this riot. >> witnesses say police did very little to stop the violence. authorities are investigating the cause of the riot now. did it stem from sports rivalry?

or was it politically-motivated? three-day national mourning period is being observed there. ben wedeman live in cairo for us. are you hearing about this being politically motivated? >> as with everything in egypt these days, there is a political element to it. just to give you some background, it was the cairo team that had gone to this stadium to play against the local team. the team is famous for its participation in the political clashes that have taken place in egypt over the last year. in fact, in november and december, they were leading the clashes with the police. so, many of the members of that club, of the hard-core fans of that club, are accusing the police of just standing by and allowing their rival, the rival team's fans, to go after them with, as we saw, everything.

rocks, bottles, sticks and in some cases, according to eyewitness accounts, firearms, as well. many people in cairo are blaming the military for not being able to maintain law and order. not just at football games. but throughout the entire country. >> are they also being blamed for causing the tragedy? i read that somewhere. >> there are members who are saying exactly that. that this was the revenge of the security forces on the fans because of their participation in those clashes. obviously, we don't have evidence to suggest that. we're hearing calls of the minister of the interior to resign and for people to go on trial for this massacre. >> ben wedeman, in cairo.

thank you for that. 13 minutes past 5:00. >> leon panetta's announcement on afghanistan, expected to make more waves on the campaign trail today. it came on a plane without the president yesterday. the announcement that u.s. forces in afghanistan, are expected to end their combat role in 2013 and continue a training role through 2014. >> after taking a bit of hit, planned parenthood has raised $400,000 in just 24 hours. how all of a sudden did all that money come in donations? it follows an announcement from the susan g. komen foundation they were going to pull their funding from planned parenthood. komen is blaming the cuts of congressional investigation over planned parenthood services. the founder is denying it had anything to do with political pressure. >> as we move forward, we will

implement more strategies to serve more women. we will never bow under political pressure. we will stand firm to our goal to end breast cancer forever. >> that's nancy brinker, who is the sister of susan g. komen. she was a big contact with george w. bush, as well. this is a huge story. a california woman has defeated honda in small claims court. you'll remember heather peters of los angeles. she spoke to us after she filed a claim against the auto giant because the honda civic hybrid didn't come close to getting the 50 miles per gallon. she's been awarded nearly $10,000. and you probably didn't see it in the northeast or the northwest. but if you were in texas or oklahoma, what on earth was that streaking across the night sky in those states? check out the video from the police dash cam. i was going to sing some crazy song. but, listen. it was a routine traffic stop that caught this. but the faa is weighing in on what that is. it is a meteor.

that's the fireball. it was an actual meteor. the reports came as far south as waco, texas. and as far north as oklahoma city of people saying, yikes. >> so much more fun to say it was a ufo. we go to the national weather forecast. did you see it, rob? >> no. but that's striking video. looks more like a ufo than a fireball or meteor. i'll take faa's word on that. another picture from space, actually. the dark side of the moon. check this out. ebb and flow, a twin satellite project, a grail that is orbiting the moon that takes the side we don't see. this is the dark side, the elusive one. you see how many impact craters are on that. down across the south pole. that, my friends, is good stuff. thank you, nasa. also, good stuff, you probably enjoyed it in trenton, new jersey, yesterday. 67 degrees. new york city, 64. record-breaking heat. this is going away. the temperatures today will still be a good ten degrees or

so above average. 70 degrees in atlanta. 52 degrees in chicago. rain across parts of the delmarva. still some cloud cover today. at least for the most part this morning across pennsylvania. it's february 2nd. you know what that means. fog across parts of the south. hit the low beams across i-10. storms coming out of the colorado rockies. 12 inches possible from denver across nebraska beginning later on today. guys, happy groundhog day. back to you. >> that's when i said the groundhog was going to be sweaty when he came out. that would indicate how the spring would be like. >> that's the new gauge. >> instead of the shadow. >> i was waiting for the pink floyd reference on the dark side of the moon. i know you're old enough. >> yes. very much so. >> i actually just found out how old he is. i was shocked. >> can we say it, rob? >> you're 14. >> thank you. there you go. >> i like it.

>> a story from american airlines, looking to cut thousands of jobs. here's the weird thing. why is american airlines saying, no. this is going to save jobs. what's that going to mean for you, too? >> the washington state senate passes the gay marriage bill. it's not a done deal. what happens next? you're going to find out in early reads.

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good morning to you, milwaukee. it's 5:20. 32 degrees now. but later, it is going to be sunny and 44 degrees. >> very nice. in fact, milwaukee's a good town to start with because we're doing our early reads for you. getting a look at your local news that makes national headlines. this morning, papers from milwaukee, as well as seattle. the journal sentinel. 550 people have filing sex abuse claims against the catholic arch diocese in milwaukee. there was a timeline, a deadline on this. the arch diocese has filed for

chapter 11 bankruptcy. we can't say who the people are filing. but we had the stories before. and they're requesting that a lot of the claims be thrown out. >> moving on to "the seattle times." we have a copy for you. it reads, historic vote clears the way for same-sex marriage. washington state senate passes the gay marriage bill. it's a big step on the path to legalize same-sex marriage there. if it passes, the governor says she is going to sign it. washington would be the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage. so, in addition to 26 lawmakers who previously announced their support, 2 more republicans joined onboard. senators andy hill and joe faine. overall, 24 democrats, 4 republicans voted for the measure. >> something says it could be a supreme court suit. they always end up in that route. an interesting story. >> a long, ten-year battle.

>> has it ever. another big story we're covering for you, some deep and painful cuts at american airlines. it's not the story you want to hear like this. but the company wants to eliminate 13,000 jobs from that company. remaking the nation's third-largest airline under bankruptcy protection. unions, not particularly onboard with this. >> the term sheet they put down today is not where we're going to wind up. it was absolutely outrageous. it brought up issues and made proposals that were never discussed in our four years of bargaining. it was so far-reaching that even i, who was expecting a very, very outrageous proposal was completely shocked. >> it's a difficult day for all of our employees. no question about it. from the senior management to every -- to the newest employee of the company. >> so, our cnn brand-new aviation and regulation correspondent, lizzie o'leary, is joining us live from washington. let's start right off the block by saying welcome. >> thank you.

>> and also, what kind of jobs are we talking about? right across the board? or things we need to be worried about. >> they are, across the board. although, they're a little deeper in some places than others. when you look at the overall numbers, 13,000, that's the big headline number that are proposed. it's important to remember the airline has got the threat of the bankruptcy court behind them. so, you hear the union say those numbers are outrageous. there's a court proceeding here. that's why it gets pushed so aggressively. we're talking about maybe 400 pilots, 2,000 flight attendants. mechanics, 4,600. that raises eyebrows with fliers. >> i'm a flier. when i heard that number, is that safe? how are we supposed to digest that news as fliers? >> in two ways. number one, remember, these are union jobs. when you look at the way other airline bankruptcies have happened, you're probably looking at taking some of the

union jobs and shifting them to nonunion employees. it means mechanics are working on your plane. but maybe they weren't trained in the union shop. maybe they have different hours. and this is something we're watching, where the work gets done. american used to do its work in-house. a lot of airlines don't do that anymore. does it get moved off-site. who is watching that? does it stay in the united states? that's another thing to keep an eye on. we don't know yet. >> the ceo said, yes, this will be an end of a journey for a lot of people. but in the end, it will preserve tens of thousands of jobs. hopefully that is the case. but what about the people who doesn't have a job with the airline and flies and pays for tickets? >> it's very soon to say what's going to happen overall right now. american is worried about your business. they would love your business. they've been advertising very cheap fares over the past day or two because they know that fliers are worried about that. in the longer term, yes, it

probably means, as they get rid of some planes, planes are expensive, that the roots will be cut down. that could put pressure on ticket prices. but other things go into what makes up the ticket. the taxes, the cost of oil. we don't know entirely yet. we'll be watching that for a while. >> lizzy o'leary. nice to have you. thanks for being with us. mitt romney's florida victory celebration didn't last very long. can he recover from a comment that he made to our own soledad o'brien? [ female announcer ] goodnight gluttony, a farewell long awaited. goodnight, stuffy. goodnight, outdated. goodnight old luxury and all of your wares. goodnight bygones everywhere. [ engine turns over ] good morning, illumination. good morning, innovation. good morning unequaled inspiration. [ male announcer ] the audi a8, chosen by car & driver as the best luxury sedan in a recent comparison test.

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welcome back to "early start." we're happy you're joining us this morning. >> it's 29 minutes past the hour. time to get you caught up on the stories making top headlines this morning. the republicans are blasting the defense secretary's announcement that the u.s. and nato plan to end our combat mission in afghanistan in the middle of next year. the administration says the time is right. but mitt romney says this jeopardizes the mission there. and essentially gives the enemy an edge. deadly violence following a soccer match in egypt. nearly 80 people were killed and hundreds injured after a stampede by the fans. authorities are investigating whether the rioting was trigred by sports rivalry or whether it was politically motivated. egypt's leaders have declared three days of national mourning now. and florida state troopers are keeping a close eye on smoke conditions. smoke conditions that could force parts of i-95 to close because of visibility.

it's a stretch between state routes 50 in both directions. the authorities have been so cautious because of last weekend's chain reactions on i-75 that killed 11 people. those crashes were caused by extremely heavy smoke and fog from a nearby brush fire and a strange weather pattern that wouldn't allow that smoke to escape that valley. >> they're watching it closely. democrats and republicans finally agree on something this morning. mitt romney really stepped in it. the gop front-runner stunned a lot of people yesterday. he wins florida. then, kills the victory buzz by saying this to cnn's soledad o'brien. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. if it needs repaired i'll fix it. i'm not concerned about the very rich. i'm concerned about the heart of america. the 90%, 95% of americans that are struggling. and i'll continue to take that across the nation. >> pundits on the left and the

right are taking romney to task. the front-runner can't shake the out of touch rich guy image. so, let's talk to our political panel about this. penny lee joining us. and jonathan coliglio. thank you for joining us this morning. all right. schirra, i'm going to start with you. apparently romney has a history of making these unfortunate comments, is what i'm going to call them. let's listen to some of them. and then, we'll talk about it. >> cooperations are people, my man. i like to be able to fire people who provide services to me. tell you what. 10,000 bucks? $10,000 bet. i know what it's like to worry about getting fired. there were couple of times i would wonder if i would get a pink slip. i'm also unemployed. >> all right. so, we know a lot of these comments are taken out of

context. but unfortunately, there's always an economic undertone to them, whuldco be a big problem for him. he's now headed to nevada, where there's a 12.6% unemployment rate. it's one of the highest in the nation. these are gaffes he can't afford to have. economy is the number one issue. and 56% of americans say that romney is out of touch. the tea party, the conservative tea party is now in play in nevada. it wasn't the last time he was there. how does he recover from all of this as he's headed into the nevada caucuses? >> well, he can do it two days. he can flood the zone and go out and give as many interviews as possible. or he can start shying away from interviews with the news media to avoid these kind of gaffes. the bad news for mitt romney, is he's made a habit of this. that reel of tape is an attack ad for democrats they can run over and over if he's the nominee. i think in the end, his advisers or people around him need to

talk to him about this. this is a problem with his candidacy and a long standing one. he's not the most articulate candidate we've seen on the campaign trail, next to barack obama, who is an eloquent man. that's going to be a big difference in fall if he doesn't work out the problems in his -- >> the super pac ads. it's advised by karl rove. and some are saying that the super pacs are contributing to the most negative campaign ever. the exit polls in florida show that 71% of voters said that the ads were, indeed, a factor in their vote. are super pacs contributing to shaping the negative messages we're constantly seeing? >> one of the interesting thing about super pacs is they are part and parcel of the campaign

finance reform efforts of ten years ago. the mccain feingold legislation was supposed to limit the political parties. the left was the ice breaker and the spearhead of outside groups with moveon.org and americans coming together. the other thing that the campaign laws do is because outside groups cannot coordinate with candidates, it makes it very, very difficult for outside groups to run positive ads because we can't coordinate to get footage of a candidate to put into an ad in a positive way. >> you're saying they have no choice? >> what i'm saying is at the end of the day, you end up with a situation where it's much easier to get the negative footage, like you showed on the earlier segment and turn that into an ad. there's no coordination with whoever you're hitting. in a weird way, it's a result of the campaign finance reformers that we have all of the outside

groups operating today. >> all right, penny. let's stay on the super pacs. six democratic super pacs reported fund-raising of just over $19 million. it's significantliless than jonathan's super pac hall. and not concerning of president obama, with $81.8 million in the bank. but the houses race in contention, as well. the tea party as well as jonathan's super pac have a lot of democrats in their sight. if we talk about super pacs shaping the election, are you concerned that the democrats aren't able to get as much money or the same amount of money as the republicans? >> there's always concern. when you have someone like mitt romney going out there in a state like florida, carpet-bombing a candidate for him to be able to win, that's what he did to newt gingrich. we're all concerned we're going to have that same effect on house races on senate races. i have to tell you, a lot of it back tires. you saw mitt romney, even though it was a highly negative ad, his own negatives went up. now, 50% of independents now

question whether or not they like him. and you also have three to five republicans now that are saying, wait a second. i don't think we want who we have for our nominee. so, these ads are effective. we are concerned about them. but also know they have a double-edged sword to them. we will run a positive campaign. we will have the necessary money to be competitive. how it shapes up will be very interesting. >> thank you very joining us this morning. >> thank you. keep it right here on cnn for the best political coverage on television at 7:00 eastern on "starting point." soledad will have an interview with mark mckinnon. a former adviser to president bush and senator john mccain. he will say how he would advice mitt romney right now. we have plenty coming up. we're back right after this. u. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart.

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♪ people all over the world wow. love, peace and soul. remembering don cornelius, the cool creator of host of "soul train." he was found shot dead yesterday in an apparent suicide, at the age of 75. >> cornelius was a genius between one of the longest-running sinlongest-run g longest-running syndicated shows. 1971 to 2006. "soul train" catapulted the likes of james brown, aretha franklin, the jackson 5, public enemy, you name it. his hand was there. christopher john farrelly editor of "the wall street journal" is joining us today. it said "soul train" was the rails of a revolution. and don cornelius was the engineer.

we were in a meeting when we found out about this. we were totally shocked. to find out it's a self-inflicted gunshot wound. what do we know about that? >> we know he had some health problems. we had gone through some bitterly contested divorce from a second wife. but we don't know much more than that. i'm sure more will come out in the coming days. more on his legacy. what we do know is "soul train" is a very important show. not only for black america, but for white america, but for all americans. to bring soul music straight to your home. this show started before youtube. before twitter before all these other ways of sharing what's going on with music and fashion and dance. it took these things that people might not have gotten to see in their hometowns and they got to see the latest moves. the latest dance moves. the artists they only heard on boom boxes or walkmans. they got to see them in their homes and experience what other people were getting to see in

the big city. >> i read somewhere, before there was mtv, there was "soul train." you were a kid in suburbia, watching "soul train." and that show was perfect for suburbia. can you explain that? >> a lot of times, "soul train" focused on urban music. it was for everyone. especially people who didn't get to have the kinds of acts come to their hometowns. i grew up in a small town outside of rochester, new york. we didn't get to see aretha franklin and stevie wonder. they weren't there to perform for big stadiums. we got to see them on "soul train." that was very important for a lot of people who love great music. >> you know, it was the first day of black history month, which i consider very ironic, as well. are we hearing anything about tributes planned?

all of these greats where we helped launch their careers. >> qwest love, the drummer for the roots, and the house band for late night with jimmy folen. he wrote a tribute on how much don cornelius meant to him. he owned the show. and that was something that was really pioneering for someone of that time to actually own their own show. have it nationally syndicated and be a blacked-own show. it paved the way for a lot of music moguls today. not only black music moguls. but white ones, as well. >> christopher john farley, thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. 44 minutes past the hour. time to get caught up on stories of the morning. republicans blasting the defense secretary's announcement that the u.s. and nato plan to end the combat mission in afghanistan by the middle of next year.

mitt romney on the stump saying this jeopardizes the mission there and gives the enemy an edge. leon panetta did also say that an early transition to a training role doesn't necessarily mean that the u.s. is pulling out early. legendary boxing trainer, angelo dundee has died. he was best known for guiding muhammad ali to glory. and was also in the corner of welterwieght great sugar ray leonard. dundee was 90 years old. and big rigs may be about to get a whole lot bigger. proposed federal transportation bill would allow heavier and longer trucks on our nation's highway highways. house republicans are behind the idea. but congressional critics don't like the idea. saying if there was ever a prescription for disaster, this is it. bigger isn't always better. >> a healthy debate on that

issue. a texas teenager mistakenly deported is back home with her family. there's questions about how and why she was sent to colombia. [ beep ] [ mom ] scooter? the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. it's got tender white meat chicken. the way i always made it for you. one more thing.... those pj's you like, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

it is 5:48 in the east. welcome back to "early start." this is a shocking story. remember the american teenager mistakenly deported to colombia. she is back home in texas. what happened to her is still something of an international mystery. >> it really is. and cnn's ed lavandera has been getting to the bottom of it. >> reporter: this is your room? >> yes. >> reporter: is it like how you remember it? >> yes. it's everything. >> reporter: more than a year ago, she ran away from home. she's back with her family. and we're trying to unravel the story of how this american

citizen, with the name of tika cortez, was deported to colombia. where did the name come up with? >> it's a name she made up. >> reporter: her family says she was in houston and forced to prostitution. she was scared and stole clothes to take a bus home. but the family insists the teenager never tried to fool law enforcement agents. >> they didn't believe her. they told her to shut up and keep her mouth closed. >> how many officers did she try to tell? >> at least three. >> reporter: immigration officers? >> immigration officers. >> reporter: how many of the houston police officers? >> she never told the houston police officers she was a u.s. citizen. so, it never came up. >> reporter: the family said, the judge asked where do you want to be deported to. she said puerto rico. when she was told colombia, she thought it was columbus, ohio.

not only did they tell her she was from colombia, they told her who her mother was. >> reporter: immigrations and customs enforcement officials say the turner family accusations are absolutely false. they found no evidence that she tried to give officers her real name or claim she was a u.s. citizen. i.c.e. also denies that the name matched a colombian citizen scheduled to be deported. and on top of all that, a law enforcement source tells cnn, there are jailhouse recordings telling officers she is tika cortez from colombia. i.c.e. agents said from the beginning, told her she was tika cortez from colombia. are you saying that's not the case? >> that's not the case. >> reporter: it took less than two months for her to get

deported. do you speak spanish? she is now three months pregnant. and the fight over how she was deported will likely be settled in court. >> her accent was very good. yeah. i thought. >> she had learned all of the spanish when she was there. >> that's what she said. when she was there. >> a very mysterious story. coming up at 7:30, soledad is going to speak with jakadrien turner and her mother. we'll be back right after this. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free -- it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip.

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i got that feeling. >> going to be a good night? >> i hope it's going to be a good day. >> i love it. you know what you're looking at? in pennsylvania. this is gobbler's knob. look at the people out there. 5:30 in the morning on the east coast, this many people turn out for the celebration at gobblers knob. this is where punxsutawney phil has his big day. his dig debut. >> i love it. ♪ let's live it up i thought that was our producer in our ear. >> it does sound like him. will he see his shadow? big question. we're going to monitor detail there's and bring them to you. >> it's been a mild, mild winter.

no complaints. we're keeping you in pop culture by looking at what's trending on the web and on social media. >> or the interwebs. >> the interwebs. >> this is great. this interwebs story comes from "the huffington post." are you ready for this? a guy named john goodman, not the actor, but he could be because this is a funny story. that's john goodman and his girlfriend. he is 48 years old. and she is -- he is trying to adopt his girlfriend so he can manipulate paying out asset notice a wrongful death suit. this is the way he can try to protect his assets by adopting his long-time girlfriend. if he does it, if he is able to go through with the adoption, legally, she's entitled to part of his trust. apparently, there's a court, another court, that's trying to overturn this adoption.

the wrongful death was a car accident. he ran a stop sign back in 2010. it was a serious incident. there was a person who died. and the family of that person who died, launched the wrongful death suit. >> and he's trying to get away with not paying anything. >> he wants to get away of not paying on his assets. he's 48, she's 42 and he's trying to adopt her. still to come, the u.s. to end combat operations in afghanistan next year. this big announcement draws big criticism. james spider marks, former commander of the u.s. intelligence center weighs in. you're watching "early start."

good morning, everyone. it is 6:00. an early start. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. it's 6:00 in the east. an early end to the war in afghanistan. the gop is blasting that announcement as naive and premature. also a teenager who was orphaned in a terrible florida traffic pileup has another worry. talks about deportation because she with her entire family was illegally here in the u.s. has there been resolution? we'll find out. you know how everything is bad for you? we have the bitter truth about sugar this morning. doctors are saying it is poisoned that should be treated like alcohol or cigarettes. >> but will it be and how can you regulate that? it is in everything. speaking of being everywhere

and everything, the donald making an appearance in vegas a little later on today. all sorts of rumors that it is an endorsement and the rumors go further that it is for newt. but, wait a second, if he endorses newt, how could he possibly run later on as an independent? we'll get to the bottom of all that. >> critics are slamming the announcement that the u.s. plans to end combat operations next year. leon panetta told him about it on a flight to brussels yesterday. >> our goal is to complete all that transition in 2013 and then hopefully by the mid to latter part of 2013 we'll make a transition from a combat role to a training, advise and assist role. >> house arms citizen committee buck mckeon called this decision premature and said this. in 2006 america made a similar mistake in iraq. we moved before the iraqis were ready and we were faced with a near civil war.

it is incumbent upon the dod, the department of defense to justify this change in strategy to congress before announcing it publ publicly. mitt romney in nevada slammed the administration's decision as naive. >> his secretary of defense said on a date certain the middle of 2013, we're going to pull out our combat troops from afghanistan. he announced that. he announced that so the taliban hears it, the pakistnis hear it and the afghan leaders hear it. why in the world do you go to the people you're fighting with and tell them the day you're pulling out your troops. >> major general and former commanding general of the u.s. army intelligence center. so, absolutely perfect that we have a chance to ask you about this. good idea, bad idea? >> i think it's a bad idea and no compelling reason why the decision would be made now.

essentially there's no change to the plan that has been in place for a while and there are about 100,000 u.s. troops in afghanistan right now and the plan is to bring those down to about 70,000 by the end of this year. but for them to make the announcement now, really distinction without the difference. the mission is really not going to change. u.s. forces and nato forces are still going to put a heck of a lot of pressure on all taliban resistance, all form of resistance and also simultaneously, you know, ashleigh, incredible training of the afghan security forces. some say that needs to be ratcheted up and the numbers need to rise. that is on a path from 300,000 afghan forces at this, you know, right now to about 350,000 by the end of the year. so, the numbers are about right. got to make sure the standards are there. i don't know why they would make this decision. >> i'm glad you said standards. i spent a lot of time in that

country and part of the local forces is corrupt, inept and all scatter and do their things once everything leads them and they don't have some major police men there. has that changed or is that the assessment on the ground? >> how do you bolster? what is the glue that holds these together. whether it's a security officer or policemen, actually. for the united states to say we're going to take a role to allow the afghans to step up front, there must be something in the mix there that tells the sec def the timing is right. you have the tail wagging the dog and economic pressures on nato and, again, i don't know there is a compelling reason for this decision to be made. >> as you keep referring to sec def, leon panettaacronyms. i could use a lot. >> there is a lot of criticism,

but the sec def says give us a break here. he may have been miscategorized by saying 2013, 2014 a big, messy, messy but clean end when we get to the end of 2014, but this is something that kind of stuck. buck mckeon the chairman of the armed services committee said the committee has not seen a single assessment by our commanders that indicate they have any confidence in such a swift transition. two questions for you. is this swift if what the sec def is saying is true and what kind of markers are you looking for on the ground to be able to say it's time to leave? >> we've already committed to a timeline. frankly, i look at this decision, i put my hands in the air and i say, i don't know why this was made now. no reason it had to be done. he probably got ahead of the headlights in the administration. probably let the cat out of the bag a little bit soon. that's number one. we have this timeline that's in place and, again, when you look

at what the secretary of defense said is that we're going to transition. he didn't indicate that there's going to be an accelerated withdrawal of forces. fundamentally a shift in his mind and a mission that there will be a crossover, what they call a crossover, but where the u.s. and nato forces say the afghan forces are now in a position to take the lead and will help and assist, while the sec def just determined when the crossover point is and it's by the end of 2013. there should be no misunderstanding in terms of what is going to happen and that fits within the timelines that are described. >> what are we leaving behind there? getting into afghanistan reporters talked about what we left behind there in the '80s. loads of ammunition and loads of crap being used against our guys there. are we going to be leaving behind a lot ofneredance and a lot of weaponry and a lot of know how that could come back

and bite us in the you know what later. >> did you say crap? >> i did. >> what we're going to have in afghanistan askis a presence fo long time. so, my point is, we will continue to have incredible intelligence operations taking place. a lot of bad guys that need to be taken out, identified, rounded up, interrogated, pushed to the side. we have to help the afghan government do that. will be allowed to do that. be able to operate with their cognizance. we're also going to have, i would say, a large logistic support effort wherever there is a u.s. force presence there is the availability to do what they need to do. we will have presence in country for quite some time to include a training presence. hopefully, all of that stuff is within a certain construct in order to accomplish missions as directed by the afghan government and the ones we need to direct ourselves.

>> my tendency would be to say, thank you, spider, but the general in me says call him major general. nice to talk to you this morning. >> thank you. general wesley clark is coming up to talk to soledad 8:00 this morning live. some great stuff coming there, as well. make sure you tune in for that. it is nine minutes past the hour. now to facebook's coming out party of sorts. paperwork for initial public offering is filed yesterday and the company could be valued at $100 billion. they start selling shares this spring and depending on how it goes founder mark zuckerberg could be up to 24 billion and that would put him in "forbes'" top ten. casey wian, is there any downside about this? we were talking about changing the culture of that incredible company. could there be a downside? >> there could sure be a

downside and a lot of potential risks to facebook were outlined in that filing yesterday and some of the most interesting ones, some of the most obvious ones, the global economy could be slow. facebook's rapid growth and the number of users from 150 million in 2009 to 845 million today, that could slow down. they talked about risks. what inmark zuckerberg leaves the company or something happens to him. they even talked to risks about as specific what if someone develops a new technology that would allow ads on facebook pages to be blocked. plenty of risks but most of the people we talk with say this is a company that is poised for rapid growth, continued growth in the future, especially internationally. zoraida? >> i was reading that privacy is a very sensitive issue. that word was actually mentioned 35 times in the filing. >> yeah, it's not surprising. another interesting revelation in that filing is the fact that

mark zuckerberg who owns 28% of facebook's stock actually is going to have a voting control of 57% of that stock because other ingesters have turned over their proxies to him. this man not out of his 20s yet will control a company that is worth, some believe, up to $100 billion. zoraida? >> just an incredible story. thanks for sharing more details. casey wian live from california. just ahead on "early start" doctors are saying sugar is poison, toxic like alcohol. should you be carted the next time you want to buy an m&m? sugar, really? first, let's get a quick check of your travel forecast with rob. >> valentine's day right around the corner. >> what did you get me? >> it's coming. you know, i still got two weeks. get some warm weather yesterday,

that's for sure. record setters as far as the heat is concerned. these are the temperatures expected today. some cooling across the northeast, but, still, ten degrees above average in some spots. 55 degrees in d.c. and 47 in new york city and 52 degrees in chicago. still light showers across the del marva and still cloudiness across western pennsylvania and today is groundhog day, by the way. you may see a shadow, again. you won't see it across the deep south. fog is a problem here and snow storm developing out in the central plains. that's a quick check on weather, "early start" is coming right back. my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done.

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good morning to you in charlotte. 53 degrees right now. guess what, it's going to be sunny and 70 a little bit later. >> that's why everybody wants to go to charlotte. john's parents live there and they go there all the time. 16 minutes past the hour. 6:00 is the hour on the east coast, if you're checking. here are your top stories. leon panetta's announcement on afghanistan, huh, yeah, kind of expected to make some serious ripple waves on the campaign trail today. he made his announcement on an airplane and said this, u.s. forces in afghanistan are expected to end their combat role in 2013, but then continue sort of the training and transition right through 2014.

egypt is now observing three days of national mourning for the nearly 80 meanal that were killed in a soccer stampede. you are looking at pictures there. hundreds of others were injured in a match. authorities are investigating whether the violence was triggered by a sports rivalry or if it was politically motivated. donald trump, planning to hold a news conference today, 12:30 eastern time in vegas. it's expected that he's going to make something called a major announcement. we don't expect him to say he's running for president, but politico and others are saying he's ready to back newt gingrich, which would be a bit surprising given that he is running as an independent and you can't endorse somebody and go running against them. >> that would be a sign. sweet, sweet, poison. a new study warns that sugar is as toxic as alcohol and should be regulated just like it.

>> you know, we hear that sugar is bad for you, but i'm not sure we ever heard it is this bad for you. they're calling this the toxic truth in the journal "nature." what exactly is the problem and why is it any more serious than we already heard? >> this is three researchers at the university of california san francisco issuing their opinion. they say, look, we've done enough studies over the year to know, again, their opinion, that sugar is bad for you, so, they said why not regulate it just like alcohol or cigarettes, right? i mean, we have syntaxes for those. let's have a syntax for sugar. it ought to have a tax in it, according to these three folks. here's one that writes, i think really kind of going out on a limb. maybe you should have be 17 years old in order to buy soda because there's so much sugar in soda. >> it's in everything. you can't get a candy bar then,

right? >> processed sugar is in so many things. we asked the sugar association what they thought of this and here was their response. yes, we have an obesity problem in this country, but to label a single food as the cause of the problem misinforms, misleads and confuses consumers. so, the sugar people saying, hey, don't blame us, all sorts of terrible stuff out there. >> any guidelines as to how much sugar is okay for the body. >> the american heart association has guidelines. one of the indication with sugar it could lead to heart disease and diabetes. the american heart association has weighed in and i brought three foods that, according to the heart association guidelines just one of these would give you all the processed sugars you're supposed to have in a day. so just one doughnut. you eat this doughnut and that's it. you can't have any -- you're done for. isn't that sweet? >> i love they make it in the shape of what's going to kill you. >> exactly. or, this one really surprised

you. just this much lemonade. that's it. that has as much processed sugar as you're supposed to have in a whole day or this one blueberry muffin has actually way more, way more sugar than you're supposed to have in a day. >> blueberry muffin. >> it does look pretty good. >> thanks for ruining my morning. >> fruit is still okay? >> they're not commenting on natural sugar. apples are still okay. we're talking about processed sugar and it is in so many things and as americans we have forgotten how much of this stuff we're eating. it is in everything. >> we'll look forward to your reports all day. thanks for that. also ahead on "early start" president obama came out with a housing plan. make it easier to get a re-fi, but is congress into this? will they go along for this ride? you're watching "early start."

boy, are we having lots of dialogues about this. minding your business now. yesterday was a winning day on wall street. the dow rose 2/3 the s&p 500 rose, as well. >> some people -- >> this is the talker today. >> some people hang on these numbers all the time, but most people are hanging on the other stuff and that's like troubled homeownership. the president wanting to get people to refinance your home and help you with a lower mortgage. christine romans is here with the details. yes, re-fi would be great. wouldn't it be terrific if we could qualify? >> you hear people say, i'm

underwater on my loan and i can't get these low interest rates or i blew out my credit but i have a .600 credit score. the president laying out the challenge to congress and involves a church in virginia saying, look, we're in a dream and housing is really important here. he wants this plan where you will be able to refinance your home and the average saving he is saying is $3,000 a year. the conservatives say it's higher taxes, have somebody else pay for it. it will lower the threshold down to at least 580 for your credit score. right now you have to have 20% in the bank. you know, equity in the house and you have to have money, you have to have a job and a 750 credit score to refinance. >> good luck. all that equity. everybody has lost their equity. you can't even loan to value any more. >> this is another plan, yet another plan. >> there is the problem, because

so many people have failed. so many people went through this long winded process only to be told, guess what, we shut down that program and we're going to move it into this bucket now. >> disappointing to describe the efforts to date to fix the housing crisis and people like john boehner and mitt romney has said, you know, the housing market needs to settle out. >> let the market fail. >> let the market figure this out. this is what the president says to that. >> it is wrong for anybody to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to wait for the housing market to hit bottom. >> we had several programs and i'm telling you one in four people that have been promised help were actually helped. that's why these are disappointing. a modification program that was designed to help 4 million people and it headed 910,000. that's something for those 910,000, but hasn't helped everybody that they wanted to.

the refinancing program to the government. designed to help 5 million people and actually helped 962,000. these things are disappointing to date. john boehner and other folks are saying, come on. this housing crisis is so much worse than we thought. we can't fix it. >> a big, fat, auto industrial like bailout. >> someone at zillow told me if you make people whole on their equity what they lost it would be like $750 billion. another t.a.r.p. for homeowners. >> wouldn't it be nice if we got it? >> your grandkids would pay for it. >> thank you, thank you for that. 6:27 on the east. she survived a horrific crash over the weekend. a passenger and family friend of the teen survivor will join oslittle bit later and tell us how she's doing and what's next for her. you're watching "early start." ever since that ol' broom dumped me here... oh, oh. oooh! will love ever come my way?

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welcome back to "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. republicans blasting the defense secretary's announcement that the united states and nato plan to end the combat mission in afghanistan, are you ready, in the middle of next year. pretty early according to a lot of the other timelines out there. mitt romney for his part on the stump saying that timeline jeopardizes our mission there and makes absolutely no sense. attorney general eric holder will testify about "operation fast and furious" the botched tracking program. he will face the committee chair who has threatened holder with contempt, if the justice department misses a deadline for documents related to that program. >>. and bad news on the job front here, american airlines saying it's planning to cut 13,000 jobs. among the maintenance workers, flight attendants could be hit the hardest. the nation's third largest

airline is in bankruptcy court and american's parent company also wants to end pension plans and stop paying retirees health benefits. interesting enough, saying those are painful job losses, they could lead to a lot of people having their jobs saved. 6:31 in the east. the shifting role for the united states and afghanistan and the winding down of america's longest war. defense secretary leon panetta announced the combat in afghanistan will end next year. so, earlier, major general spider marks says the decision may be political and financial. >> good idea, bad idea? >> well, i think it's a bad idea. clearly, i think you have the tail wagging the dog. economic pressures on nato and, again, i don't know that there is a compelling reason for this decision to be made now. >> republicans are also coming out and saying this is not a good idea. barbara starr is live at the pentagon. seems like there's not a lot of support for this.

how is this being justified? >> well, you know, zoraida, this is something that was clearly in the works anyhow. perhaps secretary panetta, as he sometimes does, got a bit ahead of himself in announcing this publicly. it's not clear that nato was ready to go down that road just yet. nato had already agreed that it would end all operations in afghanistan, essentially in 2014. at the end of 2014, so, back up the calendar. you have to shift to training and training more afghans before you completely pack up and go. so, that's what panetta is talking about. getting out of combat is a major combat ending operation some time next year and using the rest of the time on the calendar before the nato-agreed upon deadline to work on training afghans. that is the real challenge. can you train enough afghans and are afghans really able to take over and what about the safe

havens for the talibans and al qaeda across the border in pakistan. none of that gets to that key question. >> the concern of the general, in fact, the general would not be complete and we could perhaps be in a worse situation. >> well, that's one of the criticisms here that it may not be. but, remember, it's the afghan government. this is beginning to sound an awful lot like iraq, isn't it? it is the afghan government that would have to make a decision to ask nato to ask the united states to now stay longer beyond 2014. and afghan president harmid karzai is under his own political pressure inside his country to get foreign troops off afghan soil. there's not a lot of support continuing in that country amongst the afghan people for a long-term foreign presence, but at the same time, just to even make it more complicated, what general marks said, of course, is correct. the war's not sustainable. it's not sustainable economically here in the united

states, even pentagon officials say that. >> barbara starr live at the pentagon for us, thank you. >> sure. coming oplittle bit later, general wesley clark will join soledad o'brien on "starting point." tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern, secretary gates will join john king. pundits slamming mitt romney. he told cnn "not very worried about the very poor." is that all he said or was it taken out of context? you'll find out in a moment, you're watching "early start." and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy,

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at meineke i have options... like oil changes starting at $19.95. my money. my choice. my meineke. good morning, washington, d.c. 49 degrees right now. little bit later, a little rainy for you, but up to 59 degrees. there's the good and the bad. >> 59 degrees, but a lot hotter everywhere else. things are heating up in washington. we say that just about every day. welcome back. >> especially now. >> especially now. 38 minutes past the hour, it seems some, however, let me rephrase this. some people are saying that mitt romney is the only thing

standing in mitt romney's way to the republican nomination. and why is that? you might think he would be riding a real wave in florida, but he sort of stepped in it with soledad o'brien yesterday, or did he? did he step in it or didn't he? when he said i'm not very concerned about the very poor. by itself, that sounds kind of ugly. would you like some context in how that comment came out? you're welcome. have a look. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. if it needs a repair, i'll fix it. i'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine. i'm concerned about the 95% of americans who right now are struggling and i'll continue to take that message across the nation. >> so, i said last question, but i have to ask you. you said i'm not concerned about the very poor because they have a safety net, and i think there are a lot of poor americans who are struggling who will say that sounds odd. can you explain that? >> finish the sentence, soledad, i said i'm not concerned about

the very poor that have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, i will repair them. >> so, context means everything, right? doesn't seem to matter, though. his opponents are absolutely jumping on that very short statement. nu newt gingrich at a rally in nevada said this. >> i am fed up with politicians in either party dividing americans against each other. >> okay, so, talk about a buzz kill. a buzz kill after florida winning streak, you might say. let's bring in our panel to talk about. political reporter for roll call and penny lee and jonathan calegio and current director of communications american crossroads. that's so much to talk to you guys about. this whole issue of romney about i'm not so concerned and the context that it was taken in and run with and the context he

supplied that necessarily has not been run with. let's talk about how he has also been a perpetrator of this. i'll talk with you first about it, shera. a quick sound bite that gives context to this. romney ran an ad saying that obama said if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose. that's really ugly stuff. but here's the context of how president obama said that line. have a look. >> senator mccain's campaign actually said, and i quote. if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose. >> oh, wow. isn't that just something when the context comes back. obama didn't say it, obama was quoting mccain as saying it. has he had a taste of his own medicine in some ways? >> his campaign will say you took this out of context. they certainly did that before and that clip you showed is one

example of what we've seen and what i read about in several reports over the course of his campaign that he's done this. the bigger issue here with mitt romney is the quote itself. the fact that it was taken out of context is the subject of debate we're talking about now, but just that little snippet is still indicative of larger problems he has with his candidacy. still, he's pretty inarticulate on the campaign trail and all these gaffes newt gingrich has made and, number two, he's out of touch with the average american. i think that comment definitely in many democrats' minds just reinforces that. >> since you mentioned the gaffes. we have an amazing team here on staff who found all those gaffes and strung them together so we could play them for you. have a look at all of these. >> i like being able to fire people who provide services to me. >> i tell you what, 10,000 bucks, $10,000 bet -- >> i know what it's like to worry whether you're going to

get fired. a couple times whether i wondered i'm going to get a pink slip. maybe i should tell my story. i'm also unemployed. >> all right, look, the guy has made a couple of gaffes. we all make them. heck, i make them every day on this show when we're live and we're at pace. here's the deal, is his message being lost to ultraconservatives who really might appreciate a lot of this? he might be able to get a lot of those conservatives on board if his message wasn't lost for the other headlines bashing him. i'll toss it to you. >> he's getting it from both sides. getting it from newt gingrich on one side. for the very poor, but at the same time, also rush limbaugh really took romney to task, as well, because over the fact that he says, well, we have a social safety net. this is the social safety nets are the bane of many conservatives.

they think that is wasteful government spending on many sides. he is getting it from both sides on this one comment. in context or out of context, this is haunting him. this, again, kind of reinforces a narrative that is out there or a perception that people have that he just can't connect or, better yet, we can't connect to him. this is going to be a problem for him going forward, whether or not he can find that connectability that people want in their president. >> so, jonathan, i want you to weigh in on something. since you're affiliated with american crossroads. i was looking at the numbers that superpac that spends any money right now on any of the four candidates out there in the republican nomination, but it's focused on the general election and going after obama. in that effort in 2011, you all were able to bring in $51 million. if you look at the numbers for obama's superpac, holy moly, they only got $2.2 million.

here's my question. money matters. we saw that in florida. but in the general election, is it a money battle or a battle of personalities, i think, james carville called him a detach ee doofs is it about the money battle? >> it will be partly. money matters less as you get closer to election day. everybody was talking about what sarah palin was saying and what john mccain was saying and biden and obama was saying, we weren't talking about the ads. do you remember an ad from the end of the campaign cycle of 2008? money matters framing the political debate and ultimately what an outside group can't control is the candidate's message, is the ability of a candidate, like you were saying to connect with the voters. i do think that 2012 is a big issue debate around whether or not obama can turn the economy around. he's going to be given three years to do this and it doesn't

look like we've seen any success on it so far. the more that romney or newt or whoever ends up being the republican nominee can make this a referendum on obama instead of about themselves. >> maybe karl rove can run for president. if he can do for the economy what he has done for the fund-raising of crossroads. >> high growth rate, yes. >> listen, jonathan and penny and shira, thanks very much, guys. >> thank you. well, soledad o'brien joins us now with a look at what is ahead on "starting point." >> hey, good morning to you. so much ahead. this morning on "starting point" facebook surrendering some of its privacy going public in this $5 billion ipo. we'll talk about some of the details with wall street insider today. we'll follow groundhog day. the most important item of the day according to my four children. we'll talk to the teenager, a young woman deported to colombia accidentally.

she'll join us live on the set to talk about exactly what happened. and what happens now. that's all ahead when "starting point" begins at the top of the hour. "early start" is back right after this commercial break.

hello, friends. 49 minutes past the hour. time to get you caught up on the top story. the republicans blasting the defense secretary's announcement that the u.s. and nato plan to end the mission by the middle of next year and training the local forces to take over the job, instead. on the stump mitt romney says that jeopardizes the mission there and basically gives it an edge. hey, an early transition to a training role does not necessarily mean the u.s. is pulling out early. marine experts still don't know why so many dolphins are dying on cape cod. more than 100 of the mammals have been found dead, stranded along the massachusetts coastline since last month. 81 of them dying. investigators saying recent changes to the water temperature could be disorienting the dolphins. and florida state troopers keeping a close watch on the

smoke conditions that could force part of interstate 95 to close due to low visibility. the targeted stretch between state routes 50 and 407 in both directions are really what are at play here. authorities are being extra, extra cautious because of last week's train reactions on i-75 that killed 11 people. caused by heavy, heavy smoke and fog by a nearby brush fire. one of the tragic victims is staying in the hospital today and will not get deported. this is a big concern that a lot of her friends had. 15-year-old caramel lost both of her parents and her sister as her family was returning home from a church outing. she was injured herself in that crash, as well. she is an undocumented immigrant brought to this country by her parents. there had been some concern that she was be forced to return to her native, brazil. immigration and custom enforcements say, don't worry about that, now you can focus on your healing.

so, a family friend is joining us now. thank you for being with us now. we appreciate it. first of all, i was just reading that she just found out that her parents and her sister had died. how is she doing? >> she's fine. she's really in shock. she got surgery. she just heard about the news, the truth yesterday and we told her what is going on and she mentioned three questions. who will take care of me. you decide, if you want to stay here, go back to brazil, she decided, no, i want to stay here. i love this country. the doctor did not show anything about the date, but we expect for maybe the next 20 days she

come back with us. >> so, her injuries are pretty serious then? >> she have like interior bleeding and she got a surgery, she didn't break anything, but just really difficult to see her. she is really, really -- >> i know there were some concerns that lidiane would be deported. her country had stayed in this country on expireds visas and yesterday customs and inimmigratii immigration enforcement released the statement. she deals with the tragic loss of her family. reports of her facing deportation are completely false. i.c.e.'s stated priorities include convicted criminals, immigration fugitives, repeat immigration law violators and recent border crossers.

will she live with her uncle? what is the status on that since she will be staying in this country? >> i just got my attorney yesterday and i offer her to be, if i can help her, i'm american and i told the attorney to help her. to do something. whatever to have to do, i can apply to her to be my daughter, i can adopt her and my attorney just take care of things and just waiting for her to come and definitely we decide whatever we have to do to be her legal. >> she is just 15 years old. because of her injuries, she is incurring some medical expenses and we have some information here that we would like to verify. a source close to the family told cnn that florida's governor rick scott visited the hospital on sunday. he said that the family should not worry about any financial

costs, that florida would take care of it. the governor apparently gave the family members a phone number to call if there was any difficulty hearing back. have you heard from the governor? do you know anything about this? >> yes. we, he just visited her sunday in the morning after the accident. and he talked , i will take car of transportation for the body back to brazil, discussed around $50,000. we tried to contact his office a couple times and nobody answered. and, yesterday, in the morning, his attorney call a friend of mine and told us to wait two more days and they will take care of that. but, definitely -- the only thing we have is -- >> we thank you very much for joining us. i'm sorry to interrupt you, we

have to go. we will on our website put up some information. a lot of folks are calling asking how they can help. we wish her well. let her know our thoughts and prayers are with her. here's some information for you, we'll be right back. >> i appreciate it. ♪

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we're coming very close to the top of the hour. i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" coming out. >> right here on "starting point." you remember, of course, mitt romney's comments about the poor. he said that to me yesterday. here's what he said. >> i'm in this race because i'm concerned about americans. i'm not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there. >> will cain is just smiling. >> you know it was coming. >> roland is back. also this morning talk about defense secretary leon panetta. he has a plan to get out of afghanistan, but is that plan premature? some people are saying the plan is dangerous. we'll talk about that.