interview reminded me about is the democrats aren't talking about the poor very much either. >> nobody is talking about the poor. >> i would really like to see barack obama respond to this by giving a big speech about why we need as a society to care about the poor and he as president is going to do something for them. >> that's never going to happen would be my guess. >> i disagree with you on planned parenthood. my end point is we keep asking why does mitt romney have trouble with money? the answer can go back to 1968. a foundational moment in his life. he said i've been to vietnam and i've been brainwashed by this war. >> that's an interesting point. i want to thank our panel. i'm reading your book, "how to be black." as a birags yal woman i feel like i'm getting information from this. from this. i'll see you back here. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> i'm fredricka whitfield in

for kyra phillips. we have a number of stories developing on this busy morning but we begin with your pocketbook. just minutes ago we learned the jobless rate has fallen to 8.3%. that's a pretty billing surprise seeing some economists expected it to tick up. let's get perspective from christine romans. what have you learned about how this number has gone down slightly? >> you know, the economy grew in january, and it grew jobs. it grew more jobs than anyone really thought. 243,000 jobs were created in january. the jobs growth, fredricka, was pretty widespread. in professional and business services, 70,000 jobs created. leisure, hospitality, health care again. but even manufacturing and health care jobs, those have been two bright spots the past couple of months. health care for maybe the past year or something. one thing that's interesting about these numbers is 243,000 jobs. we've had a hard time having jobs growth like this and

sustaining it. there was also more jobs created at the end of last year than we thought as well. so it shows you that employers are becoming more confident. they're starting to hire workers and they're now hiring enough people to absorb all the new entrants into the labor market. before for a long time we were creating jobs but it wasn't enough to even bring in -- absorb people coming out of college and people come to go this country. now finally we're digging into that big, big hole that we created during the big great recession for jobs loss. so this is a good report. i'll tell you, this is a good report. >> okay. also some encouraging news as it pertains to breaking down the demographics of those who have been unemployed. african-americans have unfortunately had the highest rate of unemployment, but apparently with these numbers comes a drop as it pertains to african-americans out of work as well? >> look, it's been a recession for the african-american community when you just look at these jobs numbers in general

for way longer than we had a recession, quite frankly. those numbers have been double digit and that's been a very difficult situation, but last month in december you had 15.8% unemployment rate for blacks. this time it's 13.6. so a drop here on paper for the african-american unemployment rate. latinos was closer to steady, about 10.5% is the jobless rate. that compares to about 7.4% for whites. you can see there are some big differences within these numbers. what we want to see is when jobs are created and the unemployment rate ticks down, that jobs are created for everyone and the unemployment rate is ticking down for everyone and then we can start talking about those structural imbalances like why some sectors have such higher unemployment than others and start to really tackle that. at least for now we're watching that. i'll tell you something, i'm going to be talking to some economists and really zeroing why that number came down for african-americans. there are some new census population figures that they're using to calculate these.

we'll see if that has something to do with why the numbers changed. fredricka? >> christine romans, thanks so much. in new york. later on this morning president obama talks jobs, more specifically jobs for out of work veterans. we'll get a preview of his plan to get them back on the payroll. that's coming up in about ten minutes from now. also this morning new information on two american tourists who have been kidnapped. the government released news of the women's abduction just a couple of hours ago. cnn's ivan watson joining us right now from cairo. tell us about how this happened. >> reporter: fredricka, let me just interrupt. egypt a very turbulent country right now. right outside our balcony right now you're seeing a column of thousands of people marching across the nile river towards tahrir square. they're carrying the flags of the main soccer teams in cairo after 79 people were killed at a soccer game wednesday night in

another egyptian city of port sayed. many of them denouncing the ruling military council that governs egypt right now and blaming the police and the military for what is being described as a massacre leading to the deaths of some 79 people. this protest just a few blocks away. there are fierce clashes taking place between demonstrators and police that have led to the deaths of three people in cairo in the last 24 hours and more than 1400 people wounded. now to the case of these two american tourists. egyptian authorities are telling us that two female americans who were in the area of saint kathryn's monastery. an ancient greek monastery in the say na peninsula were taken hostage at gun point by a bedouin tribe. this has been confirmed by the u.s. embassy which is trying to confirm the citizenship and is working with see gipt shan authorities of these two, what

are believed to be americans, taken hostage. egyptian authorities telling us that the kidnappers are demanding the release of other tribes tribesmen that have been taken. one french tourist was killed there as well. all of this pointing to egypt. very much in a state of flux. law and order being seriously challenged these days, fredricka. >> ben watson, thanks so much for keeping us posted there from cairo. all right, now turning to a new concern that israel will attack iran's nuclear program maybe by this spring reportedly. defense secretary leon panetta thinks it is a growing possibility according to a top official, and just this morning iran's supreme leader said any attack on iran would be detrimental to america. here's former cia officer robert baer on what he thinks an israeli strike would mean for

the u.s. >> i think it would be a significant blow back. the iranians, you can count on them hitting us in iraq, hitting our embassy there. probably in bahrain where we've got the fleet. i think undoubtedly inside the borders of this country. >> you think they would strike the united states? >> absolutely. >> chris lawrence is at the pentagon. chris, help us better understand this triangle. panetta is concerned that israel will strike iran and iran is warning america? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, fred. basically a u.s. official told us that israel does go through these cycles where they make very aggressive statements about their intentions to iran in order to sort of push the west and the u.s. into taking stronger steps against iran, and we know that iran has been prone to some very tough talk at times. the danger from one official i talked to is that there aren't any lines of communication and so the potential is there for a

deadly miscalculation on one side or the other. we do know that the u.s. has its own red line, that it is opposed to iran getting a nuclear weapon, but its calculations are not the same as israel's. the u.s. has said the director of national intelligence actually just recently has said if iran were to say start enrirning uranium up to 90%, that would be a serious step. right now they're at 20 percent percent. we just heard recently from intelligence officials that iran is more willing now to attack the united states here on our own soil, and the officials said the correlation between iran's willingness and actually doing it is their perceived threat from the u.s. all of this is a volatile mix now. >> so, chris, what is the intent here that leon panetta would talk out loud about this? >> reporter: well, there's a couple theories.

one is that he simply misspoke in a way. you know, it was just 24 hours after secretary panetta caught a lot of people by surprise by announcing that combat was going to step back in afghanistan in 2013. so it's possible that he simply just didn't, you know, hit the new ans exa nuance exactly right. his comments could have been misinterpreted. the other is that it could be a signal perhaps to israel. it's no secret that the pentagon has been asking congress for more money to shore up one of its biggest bombs, the kind of bomb that could be used to smash into hardened mountains where iran gets -- hides some of its nuclear facilities. the u.s. right now feels that its bomb is not strong enough and needs some improvement. so in one sense the u.s. could be buying time. another sense, the u.s. also, again, has a very different red line. they don't believe publicly that iran has made that final

decision to cross over and actually build a bomb. >> all right. chris lawrence, thanks so much from the pentagon. mitt romney is the odds on favorite to win in nevada. one day before the state holds its republican presidential caucuses, but if you think the book is closed on florida, think again. newt gingrich is hoping to pull some of the state's 50 delegates away from romney and then on to team newt. cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live for us from washington. paul, this is very fascinating. how is it that newt gingrich feels that he deserves or can get some of these delegates when romney won that state? >> reporter: fred, what is it about florida? remember the 2000 election. no, we're not going that far this time. here's the deal. we said all along winner takes all, winner takes all in florida. gingrich now though, now that it's over in florida and he lost by 14 points to romney, now he's making a move to try to get some of those delegates because, listen, originally, any contest, any primary or caucus that was

held before april 1st had to be proportional, but florida was already penalized by the republican party for moving its primary up. that's why there are only 50 delegates to take rather than 100. here's what he he's trying to do. make a move at the republican convention in tampa, florida, in august to try to grab back some of those delegates. it may be moot. this may be long over. that's what they are doing now. mitt romney talked about that move by gingrich last night. here's what he said. >> we knew what the rules were going into it, but now that he lost florida he wants to find some way to do better. look, i'm not terribly concerned about the rule process. it's going to be worked out by the republican national committee. i intend to do well and to get the delegates i need. >> reporter: all right. this one is not over yet. stay tuned on this. we'll see what happens in florida. i don't think it's going to come to the convention, fred. that's my take. >> back to nevada. tomorrow is the big day for that state. now yesterday donald trump endorsed mitt romney and now apparently sharon angle, the tea

party favorite from the 2010 race who almost took senator harry reed's job has made an endorsement. tell me who she's endorsing. >> her endorsement got trumped by donald trump. yeah, angle is now endorsing rick santorum, the former pennsylvania senator. this is an interesting move because, listen, the tea party vote in nevada is very, very inflew enshal. this movement even divided further because newt gingrich trying to go for some of that tea party support. this may hurt gingrich a little bit. some of those supporters may go for santorum because of her endorsement. she was pretty popular out there. she was the underdog. she won the primary out there in nevada. you're right, she gave harry reid a tough time in that mid term election back in 2010. also some tea party supporters also backing ron paul out there. >> paul steinhauser, you're going to be very busy this weekend, as are we. all of us will be.

tomorrow it is nevada's turn to join the heated contest to decide the republican presidential nominee. coverage begins 6:00 p.m. eastern time with a special edition of the situation room with wolf blitzer. that's followed by cnn's complete live coverage of the caucus results at 7:00 with wolf, erin burnett, anderson cooper, candy crowley, and john king. we'll be covering all day long as people head to those caucus sites. president obama wants to put thousands of veterans back to work, but his plan doesn't come cheap. he'll give details later on this morning, but we've go the a preview, and that's coming up next. and the central u.s. braces for a huge snowstorm already underway. we'll show you which states are getting the hardest hit. that's coming up. man: my eltrill s king ban

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president obama lifts the curtain this morning on his plan to put thousands of veterans back to work, but it's not cheap. i think somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 billion. so you better believe capitol hill is bracing for a fight. brianna keilar is at the white house. right now the unemployment rate is at 13% of veterans of the war. that's higher than the national average that took a dip. what is the plan? >> reporter: yeah, fred, it is significantly higher than the national average, particularly when you're looking at post 9/11 veterans. the plan the president will unveil today includes grants for communities and departments that hire first responders. so, you know, firefighters,

medics, also police. so putting some grant money toward programs that already exist and essentially allowing veterans, post 9/11 veterans, people who signed up to fight after 9/11 to kind of get in the front of the line and be a priority for getting some of those jobs. one of the things the president wants to do is to create a veterans jobs corps. the plan he will say is to create 20,000 jobs over five years for veterans putting them to work, for instance, on federal lands, like national parks, local lands, tribal lands, improving levies, roads, all kinds of different sorts of things. it does have a $5 billion price tag, fred. as i mentioned, some of these programs are already in existence. we'd have to look at what the difference would be for some of the funding last year. he'll make this announcement today at a fire house in arlington, a fire house that sent first responders to the pentagon on 9/11. >> what's the feeling of the

likelihood that this plan becomes reality? >> reporter: we're trying to get an early read off the hill. the one thing when it comes to veterans there's a lot of bipartisan support. one of the few things from the president's jobs act that made it through congress last year was for veterans jobs. i think republicans are open to it. the early read is they're sort of raising questions about really how big of a deal is this? does this really put a dent in jobs? >> brianna keilar, thanks so much at the white house. you want to stay right here because 11:30 eastern time president obama announces that veterans jobs plan at that fire house in arlington, virginia. we'll be bringing that to you live as it happens. now take a look at this. why is this becoming an unusual sight? because this has been a warm winter. snow finally. live pictures now from downtown boulder, colorado. more than a foot of snow could be falling there by tomorrow. schools are closed and hundreds of flights have been canceled. meteorologist rob marciano joining us live right now. isn't this funny? we're in february and we're

excited about snow finally in places that are usually deluged by snow as early as december. >> you would think so, yeah. i will tale you what, even for boulder and denver to get this much snow in february is unusual. over a foot possible. they've gotten almost that already. actually, they got in boulder, 12 inches of snow. pine cliff, just in the foothills to the west of boulder, two feet of snow has already fallen. denver proper seeing the snow heavy at times right now. from about the airport down i-70 is shut down because of near blizzard conditions there. so this is certainly a doozy of a storm. think with t it's a slow mover. it's going to have impacts going well past today. we also have a tornado watch for parts of oklahoma. we've had tornado warnings out for parts of louisiana. here's where the blizzard warning is up, just to the east

of denver through tomorrow at least. that's how slow this thing is moving. so total accumulations expect to be over a foot certainly in denver. past that in through nebraska and in through kansas we're looking at the potential of seeing up to 20 inches of snow before this is all said and done. >> wow. >> slow mover, fred. it will have impacts going into tomorrow. >> that is big. thank so much, rob. >> you bet. jan's jobless numbers are just out. the unemployment rate dropped ever so slightly. we'll go to wall street for reaction next. prince william has arrived for duty in the falkland islands. we'll go to london for the latest. made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪ when we were determined to see it through. kinda. here's an update on the progress. we're paying for all spill related clean-up costs.

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ever so slightly.

prince william is now in the falkland islands. 's part of a royal air force search and rescue crew. they say it's a routine deployment. argentina doesn't see it that way. cnn's max foster is covering it. this is stirring up bad blood? >> reporter: yes. we'll show you pictures of demonstrations. they flared up yet again as a result of the prince arriving. some extremists calling him the pirate prince. you also saw a british bank, hsbc being attacked in buenos aries. they'll keep attacking in argentina to make their point. prince william's landed there. he's going to take part in a routine helicopter flight. he's a search and rescue pilot. getting to know the place. we'll get pictures at some point today showing that. there will be no public appearances, fredricka.

they are -- i've got a press release here. it's very short. they mention routine twice. they're banging on about the fact this is a routine deployment, but it's the timing of it, fredricka. in april will be the 30th anniversary of the falklands war. it's seen in argentina as a provocation. >> so that's at the root of the why are they so outraged. meantime while he is on this rescue, you know, mission, his wife is solo. i know she knows what that's like, but this is the first time since they've been wed that they have to do their own solo missions. what's going on with her? >> six weeks he's going to be away. she'll keep herself busy. she's announced the chances that she's sporting. she spent some time privately at an addiction clinic, but later on this month she's going to go to a public visit to an addiction clinic up in liverpool. also go to a children's hospital getting to know her charities.

addiction is going to be a really big one for her in the years ahead, fredricka. she's trying to do to addiction what diana did with aids, take away the stigma. she'll be introduced to solo appearances quietly. a very quiet event, national portrait gallery. more of an interest for her than a campaign thing. we'll bring you pictures of that. >> we were looking at pictures of she and the prince at the premiere of "war horse" a couple of weeks ago. >> yes. >> still striking images. >> we have had confirmation of a very important fact. we do in fact have a dog. this has been rumbling on for weeks and weeks and weeks. finally we've been told they have a black cocker spaniel. that will be keeping her company. >> the name? do we know? >> ah. no. con throw verse yally we haven't been given the name. we'll fire that question at her. >> max, that will end up being the lead story, you know. everybody loves the pooches.

appreciate that. the u.s. economy added 243,000 jobs in january and the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%. patricia wu is at the new york stock exchange. what's the reaction on wall street thus far? >> good morning, fredricka. we're seeing an immediate and very enthusiastic reaction. before the report futures virtually flat. now dow futures have been surging up over 100 points. why all this enthusiasm? you take this better than expected jobs number, add that to the dow and s&p having their best january in 15 years and there's optimism that the economy has kicked into a new gear. now this jobs report beat every forecast that was out there. the estimates have been all over the place from 130,000 new jobs to 180,000 jobs added. now that shows unsrn at this about the economy, uncertainty about how many temporary jobs were actioned in january. what we know now is that we had a gain of 243,000 new jobs.

that's more than double what we saw this time last year. and the unemployment rate had been expected to tick up but actually came down to 8.3 and that's the fifth straight month we have seen the unemployment rate fall. certainly we still have a long way to go. the economy needs 6 million jobs to get back to where we were in 2008. fredricka? >> all right. patricia, thanks so much. coming up, mistakes made in the board room. lessons learned in the classroom. >> what's the demand like for this class? >> oh, it's huge. first two weeks of the semester, loads of students are sitting in the aisles here, standing up. we can't take all the students. wow. how the financial crisis could help mold the future leaders on wall street. poppy harlow joins us with that story coming up. you know when i grow up,

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. a look at our top stories right now. in egypt authorities say two u.s. tourists have been abducted. at this time we don't know their names or their condition. all this taking place as egyptian police and protesters continue to battle in cairo today. the protesters are enraged over reports of lack security at a soccer match this week. 79 people died in a riot during that soccer match. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta says he fears israel could attack iran sometime this spring. panetta believes the mission would target iran's suspected nuclear weapons program. and president obama is unveiling a jobs program for veterans today. grant money would be given to towns that train and hire vets. the program has a $5 billion price tag. the financial crisis has taught some painful lessons in the board room, and now some profitable lessons in the classroom. at columbia university one of the hottest classes is risk

management where tomorrow's wall street execs study complex models that push the economy to the brink. poppy harlow of cnn money explains. >> reporter: a jam packed house for a grad course at columbia, and of all things, financial engineering. >> if you know you're not going to take this class, can you please make up your mind shortly? there's a lot of -- >> reporter: some of these kids hope to be the future titans of wall street. >> you could easily imagine some sort of unethical trader who knows his bonus is going to be huge if he can make a lot of money. >> reporter: what could be their golden ticket, study be quantitative risk management in the school's financial engineering program. >> reporter: what's the demand like for this class? >> oh, it's huge. the first two weeks of the semester loads of students are sitting in the aisles here, standing up. we can't take all the students. >> reporter: their textbooks might as well be news clippings and balance sheets from the financial crisis. >> somebody gave us the books

and lehman brothers and bear stearns, i think knowing what we know now we could have realized something was wrong. >> aig, they had a lot of credit default swaps. >> reporter: to get that first job more than perhaps ever before they need this class. >> it'll definitely make me more marketable. >> it's definitely a growth area. it's something that's good to know. >> even through the crisis when head count has been decreasing. risk management is increasing. their numbers are larger than they've ever been before. i've been in this business a couple of decades. >> reporter: they aren't all out to prevent the next financial crisis. >> reporter: don't these kids just want to make money? isn't that why they're here? >> isn't that why everyone's in new york? no. i think most of these kids are 22, 23. they're thinking about getting a job, paying back student loans. >> reporter: with starting salaries around 150 grand for some, that shouldn't be a problem. >> if those assets decrease by

just 25% and remain on our books, that loss would be greater than the current market capitalization of this entire company. >> reporter: the movie, "margin call" highlights the importance of quants. it represents an ironic shift for financial engineers. five years ago this was a group of students that frequently went on to make the complex financial instruments that arguably contributed to the crisis. >> reporter: do you think you would be on the other side if 2008 hadn't happened making, creating these financial instruments? >> without 2008 i probably would have focused all my time and energy into those areas. >> reporter: if you could have anyone in this room taking this class, who would it be? >> i would say the ceos of the top banks. poppy joins us live. now, poppy, are there any classes that have gotten, i guess, less interest in the

aftermath of the financial crisis? >> that's a good question. absolutely. this isn't going to come as a shock. mortgage backed securities. shocker. that class at columbia no longer offered. not a lot of people that want to look into that these days. it's interesting that professor who just said if he could have anyone in the class, it would be the ceos of those big banks. he worked at a hedge fund in london a few years ago. he saw the crisis firsthand, how it was handled. it's sort of personal for him how much he thinks we need more risk management in the corner offices at these big banks. that movie, "margin call" for the first time celebrated these financial engineers who are very, very bright. a lot of times they come to wall street to make more money than they can elsewhere. they used to make these complex products that helped lead to the crisis. now they're trying to mitigate it. i think that's a good thing across the board, fred. >> wow. well, something else, poppy, a lot of college students take advantage of internships, right? did you do a few? >> yes. yeah, they absolutely do take

advantage of these internships. they should. they get paid pretty nicely to do it, especially at these big wall street banks. if they help mitigate risk, that's great. >> this next story will peek your interest because there's a former magazine intern out there who worked for free, she says, however, she should have gotten paid for all the work that she did. now she's actually suing that company. we'll talk about that lawsuit and the chances it might or may not have in court. plus, roseanne bar makes an unexpected announcement. that's coming up next in showbiz headlines.

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testimony mi moore is recovering at home after being hospitalized for alleged substance abuse. she's getting visits from two people. nischelle turner is joining us with details. a lot of people very worried

about demi. how is she doing? >> well, fred, she's apparently out of the hospital now. that's the reports that we're hearing. her two exs were actually caught by paparazzi going into her home. bruce willis was seen going up to the house. their daughter was with demi when she had to call 911. he's been involved as a parent this whole time. also, we're hearing that a blacked out lexus that reportedly belongs to ashton curb kusher arrived. he was in brazil when she first went to the hospital. >> now let's talk about -- this is quite the turn. one well-known hollywood star that's also making a little political news. do we take her seriously? i'm talking about roseanne barr? >> on the face value, you have to. >> yeah? >> she's been announcing her candidacy since 2010. this is making news because she has filed official paperwork with the federal election corporation.

roseanne is one of the four candidates for the green party nomination for president. she doesn't expect to win the nomination. she says via twitter that she plans to run until the green party convention in july when she will support the green party's real nominee. she wants to bring press attention to the green party. she also wants america to return to, this is her quote, the brilliant middle of the road away from all of these radical extremists on both sides. if you're interested, roseanne's also got a super bowl prediction, fred. she's got the giants beating the patriots 24-21. so there you have it. >> okay. very good. well, she's accomplishing at least one of those things thus far, right? she has received some of that press attention that she was trying to seek. >> yes. >> very good. >> exactly. she will satisfy probably actually do exactly what she wanted to do. that is bring attention to the green party. we're talking about it now, right? >> right.

that's right. nischelle turner, thanks so much. ever so lovely in your red raising awareness for heart disease in women. >> you too. >> good to see you. all right. then there's this. a request by super model giselle, and it's generating laughs actually on late night television. she will be returning next hour with more on that story and more showbiz headlines. and a former intern says she did so much work for the company that she should have been paid. now she's actually going to court to get her money. we'll talk about that with cnn's legal analyst. ♪ where the sun never goes out ♪ ♪ and the sky is deep and blue ♪ ♪ won't you take me american flight 280 to miami is now ready for boarding. ♪ there with you fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself. nonstop. american airlines.

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a former intern who worked for harp perceers bazaar magazi. she's suing the company. she wasn't paid and that was part of the deal. she did a lot of work the company should have paid for. now she wants minimum wage, back pay, and overtime. the corporation has not made a comment on the lawsuit. sunny hostin is joining us live. a lot of internships are unpaid. what's different here? anything? >> reporter: that's right. they are unpaid, many of them, right? we've seen sort of an explosion of unpaid internships because of the economy and because of the rise in unemployment, but there are six federal criteria that have to be met in order for an intern to be unpaid. among them are that the

internship does not place regular paid workers, and it has to be similar to a training program at an academic or vocational institution, and an employer can't really derive an immediate advantage. that's sort of three of the six. typically these unpaid internships are okay if the person is getting school credit. well, in this case it's very different. she only worked for about four months, fredricka, from august 2011 to december 2011, but she says she worked about 40 hours to 55 hours a week oftentimes and she had already graduated from college so certainly she wasn't getting academic credit. this is something going on. >> wait a minute. this was voluntary, right? >> it is voluntary. >> she knew she was not getting college credit in exchange because she was already a graduate, so what was her expectation or what is she alleging her expectation would be from this internship? >> well, you know, i think a lot

of people certainly do this to try to get their foot in the door, but there are laws that protect people from being taken advantage of in these kinds of situations. so while the expectation may have been a short internship to get some sort of training and perhaps to get her foot in the door, it would still be illegal under many federal and state wage and hour laws. so this is a tricky area. in fact, her lawyers are saying that they want to try to get a class action lawsuit here because there are hundreds of workers apparently at herst that are working under these internship guidelines. >> what will harpers bazaar have to establish? >> well, they'll certainly have to establish that they met the six federal law guidelines. i've got it tell you, that's going to be a bit difficult to do if the facts as she alleges them to be are the facts. if she worked 40 to 55 hours, if

she didn't receive any academic credit, if she didn't displace other workers. that's going to be a sort of hard test to meet and perhaps this is the sort of case that will settle out of court. but i have to say, this is something that we have been watching, legal experts have been watching for quite some time because we've seen an explosion in these unpaid internships. >> all right. sunny, thanks so much. good to see you. >> thanks, fred. tom brady or eli manning? madonna reveals which quarterback she would date. we're all about the super bowl in sports seven minutes from now.

fast forward to the cnn newsroom. the president talks to a fire station in virginia. and at 11:30, a house service committee will be looking at accountability and record-keeping programs at arlington national cemetery. at noon in new orleans there will be a memorial for mike ainsworth, the good samaritan shot last week trying to help a woman who was being carjacked. we are following lots of developments here in the next hour of the cnn newsroom. let's check in first with christine romans. good morning, frederica. tell you about the jobs report, a strong report, the up employment rate, the loews since february 2009. overall last year, 1.8 million jobs created. i will tell you where the jobs are coming from and talk about whether it is sustainable. i will have that at the top of the hour. i'm chris lawrence at the pentagon, where the big question

is would israel really strike iran this spring? we are checking with our sources to find out if it could be done and what it would mean. and i'm rob marciano in the cnn severe weather center. while most of the country enjoys still spring-like temperatures, a full-on blizzard is happening now across eastern colorado and nebraska. denver getting pounded with snow. we will run down the storm in the next hour. fred? >> thanks so much, gentlemen and lady. also coming up next hour, all those pink breast cancer ribbons are suddenly controversial after the komen foundation cut funds to planned parenthood. now, 26 u.s. senators are signing a letter asking komen to change its mind. we are live on capitol hill coming up the next hour of the cnn newsroom. thatour skin looksr even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. that is better than today. since 1894, ameriprise financial has been working hard

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all right. a lot of folks are very pumped, very close to super bowl sunday. jeff fishle is right here. the distractions are over or are they? i don't know. madonna, halftime show, may be a few distractions? >> there was a day back in the day madonna would always be distracting, better behaved now? >> no wardrobe malfunctions but she will put on a good show. >> the game itself there is an x factor, right? gronk. sounds like something you cheap your sink with. rob gronkowski, patriots tight end, practiced the first time yesterday since he suffered a badly sprained ankle two weeks ago that is the only way anybody figured out how to stop him to hurt him. gronk is not 100%, says coach

belichick but he will play sunday against the giants. set an nfl record for most touchdowns by a tight end this season. people like to make a wager or two the game suspect exciting enough. here are the prop bets, courtesy bleacher report. will kelly clarkson drop a word from the national anthem? christina aguilera botched a line last year. how many times will gisele bundchen, mrs. tom brady, be shown on tv? .5, over/under. madonna, wear fish net stockings any time during the halftime show? >> probably. >> all right. so that is what we are talking about madonna. >> we know she will be giving up skin. not the guns, then the legs. >> salsa in honor of victor cruz, giants wide receiver who does that after touchdown. madonna told reporters she would rather date eli mannings, the giants quarterback instead of tom brady. eli lives in new york and doesn't want the patriots qb to waste gas. madonna place the single "gimme

all your loving" and a couple classics during halftime. 12 minutes to put on a show. super bowl sunday is america's second biggest eating day after thanksgiving and diet detective.com has unusual exercise tips for working off the calories. would you have to run 49 football fields to burn off two handfuls of potato chips, drink six bottles of bud, some people known to put back a few, do the wave 4,280 times. good luck counting that many after six beers and if you eat three slices of pizza, 1,229 minutes of tebowing should do it. >> that's it? >> minutes. i was thinking like times. oh, okay. >> there you go. >> incredible. an incredible workout after. which nobody will do, because they are going to -- >> i can only make the suggestions, i can't force people. >> very positive. thanks, jeff. happy super bowl weekend. all right, speaking of tim tebow, you can catch him right here in the newsroom, live today, the denver broncos quarterback will give his super

bowl prediction and talk about his unforgettable season. that's in the noon eastern hour right here in the newsroom. all right, how do you make your dog an internet sensation? seems these days everybody is doing it, right? you put food on its head, for starters. cnn's jeanne moos explains. >> reporter: if the play way to a dog's heart is through its stomach why is this dog wearing her food on her head? try doing that with most dogs. dot, down dot. but tiger is not most dogs. she is the subject of a blog called food on my dog, from a sunny side up egg to a taco to a chocolate-glazed doughnut with sprinkles, tiger stares ahead impasse civil, whether it be spam in a can or pepperoni on her snout. tiger doesn't get crabby, even when she is crowned with king crab legs. her owner demonstrates his technique with leaves of lettuce. okay, lettuce is probably less

tempting than, say, a hot dog. still, tiger's restraint is impressive. >> release. >> the most commonly asked question seems to be does tiger get to eat what's on her head after? the answer is yes when it's dog dog-friendly a replacement treat if it's not. tiger wears ham like a veil. we discovered ham, even on a dog named sushi is relatively easy. >> ham on your head. >> to slip on an unsuspecting head. >> that's called distraction. good boy. good dog. yeah. what a good boy. >> but tiger even wears pizza, as if it's a beret. when we tried pizza on sushi, she tried to lick it and tolerated wearing it only reluctantly. >> good girl. >> the food on my dog blog reminds us of another internet phenomenon from last year, the dog that balanced treats on his

head. saw him balance as many as 36 treats, barely moving a muscle until he got the order to release. and no he wasn't allowed to eat them all. >> stay. head down. >> reporter: he even balanced well on his back. sort of makes the latest craze called breading cats seem like child's play. multigrain and wheat really seem to bring out their eyes. now that food on my dog has gone viral, fans want to know if tiger takes requests. request bacon? she took it. her favorite snack is craft singles. they have gone to her head. what makes this dog so irresistible? her ability to resist. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. [ barking ] hello again, everyone, i'm fredricka whitfield in for keira

phillips. we have several stories unfolding. we have information on two american tourists kidnapped in the sinai peninsula. egypt's government released news of the women's abduction a few hours ago. jill dougherty is working her sources at the state department. jill what do we know about this alleged abduction? >> fred, the latest just came into cnn, actually from the ministry of tourism in egypt. and they are saying that they have located those -- the people who are holding these maybe americans, that actually hasn't been confirmed by the state department yet, but that they have located them in the south sinai and that negotiations are continuing. so this unfolding very quickly. here at the state department, all we snow that egyptian authorities told the u.s., the embassy in cairo that there were two americans who were kidnapped. the embassy is trying to confirm that they, indeed, are americans and also trying to work for

their security. so obviously happening very quickly. frerksd you have to point out that the context of this is right now, you have a lot of developments in egypt after the fall of hosni mubarak and questions about the control that the government of egypt has on various parts of the country. so, that's one of the elements playing into this. >> all right. jill dougherty, thanks so much from washington. there has been more violent, by the way, in egypt today, just as we get reports now of this kidnap -- these abductions that have allegedly taken place as well. so you're looking at pictures right now of protesters taking to the streets over the way security has handled that recent soccer match, where 79 people were killed. our ivan watson is in cairo and we will get the latest from him in just a moment. so turning now to a new concern that israel will attack iran's nuclear program, maybe by the spring.

u.s. defense secretary leon panetta thinks it is a growing possibility, according to a top official. and just this morning, iran's supreme leader said any attack on iran would be detrimental to america. here's former cia officer robert bair on what he thinks an israeli strike would mean for the u.s. >> i think it would be a significant blowback. the iranians, who could count on them hitting us in iraq, hitting our embassy there, probably in bahrain, where we've got the fleet and i think undoubtedly inside the borders of this country. >> you think they would strike back at the united states? >> oh, absolutely. >> chris lawrence is at the pentagon. so chris, why is leon panetta tipping his hand on all of this? >> reporter: fred, there's thinking among some officials here in the building that he is simply being honest. this is what he believes, that israel may take this step some time this spring. look, an official told me, there's always this idea that

israel goes through cycles, where they make very aggressive statements about their intentions on iran in order to push the west into getting tougher but there is a thinking among u.s. officials that to israel's belief, they believe, israel believes that iran has already made that final step and decided to go after nuclear when pop and they are getting very close to what israel calls an immunity zone, where even if you wanted to stop their program, it would be too late. so, all of that is factoring in here. on the u.s. side, publicly, the u.s. does not believe iran has made that decision. they think they have got all the materials there, but have not come to the conclusion internally that it's in their best interest to pursue the bomb. >> and then, you know, chris, how difficult would it be to destroy or interrupt iran's program? >> i was talking to a couple sources last night who said no doubt, that israel could inflict

major damage on iran, but some of the problems that are inherent when strikes on nuclear facilities have worked, it's usually been in countries were the facilities were very con accept traited. you take out one or two buildings and you have eliminated the program. iran's is dispersed all over the country and also a likelihood it has been going on so long, there are secret sites neither the u.s. or israel know about. another problem is the knowledge. even if you knock out the facilities, you don't take out the know-how because iran has the knowledge of how to enrich the uranium. >> chris lawrence, thanks so much from the pentagon. >> yep. a story involving your pocketbook, here at home, this morning, we learned the jobless rate has fallen to 8.3%, a big surprise considering some economists expect it had to tick up slightlism let's get some perspective from christine romans in new york.

with sent last time we have seen this kind of dip? >> february 2009, a month after president obama took office, in the midst of a really terrible time for the american company when you had massive job losses and the unemployment rate going up. now the unemployment rate has been creeping down and you can see from this chart that is it slowly drifting lower after spiking up the end of 2008, 2009, and peaking at 10%. last year there there were revicious 1.82 million jobs created in the american economy last year, more than we had expected. the white house likes to point out that now you have got 23 consecutive months of private sector jobs growth. we have seen the government laying workers off. that's been a trend we have seen for some time, we are expecting that to continue, but the private sector for some reason is starting to hire again. tell you the words the economists were e-mailing,

monster, a game changer, showing a rapidly improving labor market, stocks up 130 points, overall you people optimistic about this number. i want to look at the numbers by race as well. we talked about this last week. recent months, seen the job market improvement, haven't seen the rate declining for black we did see that this time. the unemployment rate for african-americans is now 13.6%, down from 15.8% last moment, a pretty big drop there latinos, mostly steady, 10.5%, whites, 7.4%. i bring the numbers up, it is important to note, we talk about jobs created, average unemployment rate in this country, but really depends where you live, depends on a lot of different demographics and numbers pretty complicated, the overall pimp, frederica. >> crist team romans, thanks from new york. appreciate that. president obama lifts the curtain this morning on his plan to put thousands of u.s. veterans back to work, but it's not cheap, think somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 b you

better believe capitol hill is bracing for a fight. brianna keeler is at the white house. brianna, how confident is the white house feeling about its plan? >> reporter: you know, i think when it comes to vet traps, frederica, compared to other jobs proposals they put forward, they are more confident about it, it tends to have bipartisan support in the early read off the hill at this point is that republicans are open to it although they feel like the white house may be overselling this as a big deal. first, let's tell you what the president will propose today. and it is for veterans it is to increase the hiring of veterans because their unemployment rate, especially post- 9/11 vet, much higher than the national of a ran. the president wants to increase grants for first responders, police officers, firefighters, et cetera. and also to create a veterans jobs core, the idea to create tens of thousands of jobs for veterans in the next five years to work on, for instance, local lands, federal lands, national parks, working on things like

roads, levees, recreational areas. is there as 5 billion price tag but some of these -- a lot of these are already existent, existent programs that put vets at the front of the line, frederica. >> the job numbers, the white house has to be very encouraged that the job numbers dipped to 8.3. any official reaction? >> yeah, there has been official reaction from the white house and you're expecting official reaction, i think the president will talk about this when he talks that the fire house to announce his vets jobs plan in the 11:00 hour. positive, of course, very welcomed. the white house saying this is proof that there is sort of everything going in the right direction, that there is a continued recovery in the economy. you know what's interesting as well, frederica, normally when these jobs numbers come out, expected to be maybe not such a great report this go-around, you see responses coming from capitol hill within minutes saying, you know, maybe it is an uptick in job because lot more needs to be done. there was this sort of very loud silence for quite a while before

we got those written statement wes normally get from top republicans in the house. it was 40 minutes before house speaker john boehner and house majority leader eric cantor sent out their press releases. turns out, not surprise, had to be rewritten, normally they have them in the can ahead of time and expecting jobs numbers of a certain type and much better than expected. it caught them off guard and they had to basically trim some of what they were saying and temper down some of that criticism. of course, saying more needs to be done. >> okay. all right. as you said, brianna, we will be hearing from the president, firsthand, 11:30 eastern time, of course, we will be carrying those comments live as the president announces his veterans jobs plan at that fire house in arlington, virginia. of course, we will keep you posted on that. all right. tomorrow is caucus day in nevada, that means it is the last full day for the republican presidential candidates to stump for votes there. cnn political editor paul steinhauser back with us now from washington. so paul, romney is the odds-on

favorite to win, so, how is he and the rest of the pack spending their final hours before that caucusing begins? >> reporter: fred, most people are excited about the super bowl this weekend, no, i'm all about nevada and at caucuses there three of the four car and dats are in nevada today. the only one who isn't, rick santorum, he moved on to missouri, campaigning there today, they hold a primary on tuesday. where does it stand in nevada right now just a day to go? check this out, this is the most recent polling of people likely to partake in those caucuses tomorrow. you can see it is like home field advantage for romney. he won the caucus four years ago, a large mormon population, all that helping romney, you can see from this poll, las vegas journal review and news 8 now, got a largely 20 points over newt gingrich with santorum and paul pretty far down. fred, one other number i want to share with you, 28 there are 28 delegates at stake tomorrow in the caucuses. unlike florida, which had its primary on tuesday it is not winner take all in neff vad character is proportional that's why all the candidates think

they may come out with some delegates. fred? >> paul stein hours, thanks so much. cnn saturday, it is neff vad deals turn to join the heated contest to decide the republican presidential nominee. coverage begins at 6 p.m. eastern time with a special edition of the situation room, with wolf blitzer and coverage of the caucus results, 7:00 with wolf, erin burnett, anderson cooper, john king, candy crowley and more. this morning, violent protests are reigniting in egypt where a riot at a soccer game killed 79 people wednesday. now, outrage is building as many egyptians blame the police and the military government. cnn's ivan watson joining us now from cairo. ivan what is the latest on these conflicts that continue there? >> reporter: well, there are tens of thousands of people streaming into this square, tahrir square behind markers few blocks behind that is the ministry of interior where a running battle has been taking

place since yesterday, freak rica that claimed the lives of at least one person as well as a military officer, who was crushed by an army truck there. the rage resulting from the deaths of all those people at that soccer match wednesday night, spilling over into the streets of cairo and other egyptian cities and many of these soccer fans are now directing their anger at the military council that rules egypt and at the security forces. we have seen violence. we have seen the ministry of interior attacked, just last november, a lot of people kill there had by protesters, the difference now, a lot of these demonstrators are carrying the flags of their favorite soccer teams as they chant "down with the military ruling council," frederica. >> thanks so much, ivan watson, for that update coming out of cairo. all right. all those pink breast cancer ribbons in this country suddenly controversial after the komen foundation cut funds to planned

parenthood. now you several senators are getting involved. we are live on capitol hill right after this. and the central u.s. braces for a huge snowstorm. we will show you which states are getting hit the hardest. that's straight ahead. vacations are always wasn'ta good ideaa ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money

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there has been uproar to social media, hollywood, capitol hill and beyond. even new york city mayor michael bloomberg has weighed n he is giving a quarter million dollars to planned parenthood and he is not the only one. both sides of the issue say they have seen spikes in donations but the big question is why did komen pull the funding in the higher ups at the organization say it doesn't give money to any group under investigation. right now, congress is looking at whether planned parenthood used federal money for abortions. some say komen is playing politics, but the founder of the organization says that's just not true. >> we will never bow to political pressure. we will always stand firm in our goal to end breast cancer forever. we will never turn our backs on the women who need us the most. >> all right, let's bring in ka kate bolduan live on capitol hill. two dozen lawmakers have written

a letter urging komen to change their mind. what is going on here? >> reporter: it seems the fallout over this decision, this announcement by the susan g. komen for the cure foundation is continuing. as you mentioned this letter, yesterday, 26 democratic senators, two dozen doors, penned this letter to the administration, criticizing the plan to pull future funding from the organization and asking the foundation to simply reverse its decision. i will read you part of the strongly worded letter. it said it would be tragic if any woman lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of, in this letter's -- in their words, a politically motivated attack. now you what we are talking about here is i spoke with one of the really driving forces behind this letter, senator patty murray, the democratic senator from washington. she was very critical of this new policy that you mentioned, frederica, that the susan g. komen foundation would not be giving funding, future funding to any group that is under investigation. listen here to senator patty murray. >> we are asking the members of susan g. komen to take this

decision back and to fund as they have in the past the bipartisan efforts that women across this country support to make sure that women's health is protected, no matter whether you're a republican to ar democrat, or you're young or you're old that's what we all support and that's what we want them to support. >> reporter: now, the susan g. komen foundation is under investigation by a house committee. it has been under investigation since september. this committee wants to know how the group is using its money, if the group using federal money to fund abortions. now, we spoke with the chairman of this investigative subcommittee, republican congressman cliff sterns. he says simply that any allegation that his investigation is politically motivated or really any connection between their investigation and the decision by susan g komen is just not true. listen here to him. >> well, that's not true, it's not one particular member, it's are the entire oversight investigation committee is asking planned parenthood to

give some fiscal responsibility on overhalf a billion dollars every year that taxpayers give them and we are just asking for an audit over the last ten years of their 88 affiliates, a reasonable request and i think they are trying to make it partisan. >> reporter: stearns was adamant he has never been contacted by the komen foundation on this decision and that this decision to pull funding for planned parenthood has been completely up to them. we have to note, frederica, you have as well that the komen foundation adamantly denied any of the changes that they made that involved planned parenthood specifically in mind, many questions continue. >> all right, kate bolduan, thanks so much. so congress investigating the planned parenthood, not susan g. komen, but that still is unsettled and no findings have been released from that investigation. all right. checking stories cross country now, the feds say they have busted a human smuggling ring, illegal immigrants were being drive answer cross the border from mexico by allegedly

americans. investigators estimate about 1,000 people made it into the u.s. and 21,000 people are now on the u.s. no-fly list. that's more than double from last year. changes made to the rules bumped up the numbers. only about 500 people now on the list are americans. and forget the swanky south beach hangouts. forbes magazine says miami is the most miserable city in the u.s. the survey was based on several factors including violent crime, jobless rates, foreclosures, home prices and commute times. and denver may not be on that list, but the misery fang tore there is pretty high right now, as the region gets pounded by a major winter storm. more than a foot of snow could fall by tomorrow. schools are closed, hundreds of flights have been canceled. meteorologist rob marciano joins us now for a city that loves snow, a few people disgruntled by this, huh? >> this is a lot for denver. denver and miami two of my favorite city so i disagree with both of those stud difference

let's run it down. you saw some of the pictures coming out of denver and boulder, impressive amounts so far. this thing got going early and got going furiously. jamestown and pine cliff, two in the front range, a little higher elevation, look at boulder around denver, both at 10 and 12 inches of snow. how about that? that is amazing stuff. we do have problems at the airport. denver now reporting an hour and 45-minute delay, not only winter storm watches or warnings but a blizzard warning for eastern colorado into western parts of kansas and nebraska, blinding snow, low visibility. they have shutdown i-70 from about where the denver airport is all the way to limon, until further notice, we have a tremendous amount of snow falling now. on top of what we have seen, the darker areas could be as much as 20 inches of snow. so, there it is, not only the snow which is falling pretty heavily from denver over to we were nebraska but we have got rainfall with this, flash flooding in houston and severe

thunderstorms to the south. store, is affecting millions of people in several states. >> oh, boy. a big impact. okay. thanks so much, rob. >> exactly. the patriots believe they will have an angel watching over them in the super bowl. we will explain the initials mhk, next. so, how was school today ? i have to be a tree in the school play. good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. ( captain ) this is your captain speaking. annie gets to be the princess. oh... but she has to kiss a boy. and he's dressed up like a big green frog ! ewww. ( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines.

all right much the new england patriots are playing for the nfl title sunday but they are also playing for a woman who was like a mom to them. our mark mckay is covering the super bowl in indianapolis, so, mark, tell us about myra kraft. >> reporter: i will be happy to do so hello, frederica. inspiration, something that every team uses going into any super bowl, no matter where it is. this year, the new england

patriots are inspired by a woman who meant so much to so many. myra kraft, the late wife of pay the tree the i don'ts owner robert kraft, has been an inspiration for this new england team all season long following her death in july of cancer. players wore a patch, a special remembrance patch on their uniforms dedicated to a woman who dedicated her life to do good for others. when her husband bought the team in 1994, mrs. kraft leapt her support, if not necessarily her understanding. >> somebody like my mom who wasn't rabid about football but got the importance of it to other people and their lives. and i think -- i think that's what -- once she became involved with the nfl and she understood the power, she wanted to make sure that that power was used for good. >> we knew that, you know, this was a special place for her and this organization meant a lot, but you always get the sense that it was not -- not because of so much what we did on the field but what we did off the

field. >> reporter: many new england players called myra kraft mama, even had a painting commissioned for the kraft family, a beautiful painting here that was presented during an emotional postgame ceremony after they beat the miami dolphins on christmas eve. frederica, the word "emotion," a constant for the patriots all season long, they will certainly be feeling it super bowl sunday here at lucas oil stadium. >> so many incredible stories to tell, stories of inspiration. okay, halftime show exmany might argue madonna inspires quite a few. and she will be doing so this halftime show what do we know about what to expect? what is she revealing? >> reporter: she met the press yesterday, did a little salsa dancing on stage as well, keeping with the theme, i guess, of what victor cruz has done for all of us this season. raised up in michigan, she says it is a midwestern girl's honor to be able to perform on the big stage come super bowl sunday. she says she has really never

worked so hard, been, in her words so freaked out over a 12 machi -minute performance. she will have a mixture on the cirque de soleil-type performance, center on the 50-yard line and she promises, fred, there won't be a wardrobe malfunction. >> okay. but cirque de soleil, that means acrobatic and all that, so some real risk taking that we are going to see. all right. well that is quintessential madonna, is it not? risk taking? all right. mark mccare thanks so much. good to see you. coming up in 20 minutes, you are going to meet a giants super fan and she is only 11 years old but already, she is a vet. but first, newt gingrich says he will challenge the florida primary results. political buzz is next and i'm gonna ask the panel if they think this is just sour grapes or savvy political strategy. delicious gourmet gravy. and she agrees. with fancy feast gravy lovers, your cat can enjoy

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checking stories in egypt, two u.s. tourists have been abducted but the last few minutes the egyptian minister of tourism says the kidnappers now have been located and negotiations are actually ongoing. meanwhile, egyptian police and protesters battled in cairo today. the protestors enraged over reports of laxed security at a soccer match this week. 79 people died in that soccer match riot. u.s. defense secretary leon panetta fears israel could attack iran some time this spring. panetta believes the mission would target iran's suspected nuclear mission program. barack obama is unveiling a jobs program for veterans today. grant money would be given to towns that train and hire vets. the program has a $5 billion price tag. political buzz is your rapid fire look at the best political topics to of the day, three questions, 30 seconds on the

clock, playing today, sirius xm political talk show host and comedian pete dominick, good to see you, chris moody, yahoo! news political reporter and crystal wright, editor of conservative black chick.com. good see all of you. jump into the first question. newt gingrich says he is challenging the routs. florida primary arguing the rnc rules don't allow for winner-take-all primaries before april 1st s this smart strategy or sour sour grapes? pete, you first? >> well, fred, you know newt gingrich is a historian, i think he has mentioned that. >> he is. >> as any historian should know, you never, ever challenge the results of a florida election, but listen, i mean, everybody, everybody knows newt gingrich wouldn't be making a peep if he had won this election. florida gets penalized for moving up their primary, trying to make money with the media and the campaign, so yeah, newt,

sour grapes, doesn't seem like such a fruit guy to me, fred. >> chris? >> i disagree, that better place to challenge an election than florida. might do better than the last guy who went all the way to the supreme court. of course, he didn't win. i think newt should focus on the future states, like virginia. oh, wait, how about monsieurly? not on the ballot there second thought, maybe a good idea for him, could be all he's got. mitt romney showing strong in the next couple of states, this could be his chance. you never know. crystal, smart or sour grips? >> sour grapes, sour grapes. sounds like a brat. the rnc settled. this newt, it is time for you to get your political act together and as pete pointed out, we didn't have any hanging chads this time in florida okay, so get organized, newt, get it together. stop complaining. >> okay. all right. we have better-than-expected jobs numbers this morning. an hour from now, president obama sunnyvaling a new plan to

help unemployed veterans. can he change the jobs message enough to save his own job, crystal? >> absolutely not. once again, here's a plan from barack obama that's too late, too much, too late. veterans deserve jobs, but so do black americans, 15.8%, wither in black history month and barack -- this is a last-ditch effort for barack obama to save his own job and it is unacceptable. if he was so concerned about job creation, he should have focused on that three years ago instead of creating job-killing regulations like dodd frank and obama care. >> pete? >> well, crystal just added $1 billion to it, 5 billion. >> $6 billion, actually. >> cnn just reported 5 billion. >> 6 b. >> the president is probably going to underscore 5 go ahead,

pete. >> listen this is supporting the troops and supporting job, bread and butter politics for all politicians but we saw the job numbers today, 243,000, unemployment is 8.3% right now. almost every number, wages are up, hours are up, this is good. let's celebrate this. this is -- >> where are you living, pete? on pluto? >> no, no living in a socialist country, apparently, where 243,000 jobs created. it is a pretty good one, check out the dow today. >> wow. >> let's ask the 13 million people -- >> we will have to start the clock, you guys. >> i got to finish. crystal, i got to finish. i got a great joke here, watch this shot of president obama whispering into candidate's ears while they are in an interview, i don't know if he is going to be able to convince some people who think these job numbers aren't good that they are. >> okay. chris? >> look, give the government's record on spending, you're both probably wrong it is probably going to cost $10 billion by the

time it is all over. obama campaigned on being a postpartisan president and hasn't been able to pass bipartisan legislation or very much of it the past three years. this is something that he can get past through republicans even though it probably will have a very high price tag, something they can all agree on, i agree, probably too little too late to turn things around for his presidency but we will see coming november. >> your buzzer batter, 20 session each. this is your buzzer beater question, 20 seconds. 20 seconds people. you may remember roseanne barr from such memorable performances as this one. memorable or unforgettable? ♪ >> okay, maybe you wanted to forget. well, now roseanne has filed the paperwork to run for president on the green party ticket. any other celebrities you want to see that you think stand a better chance of running for the job, chris? >> well, truly, we haven't made

a mockery of the presidential process enough yet so i say it is time to put the nail in the coffin, earth age required to run for president to allow for the snooki primary we could have and stipulate that you must have your hair extensions pulled out on reality tv at least three times in order to be eligible. only then will we true lib the last celebrity president, ronald reagan said, mourning in america. >> yikes. crystal? >> i think beyonce should run and i think her running mate should be brad pitt and i think that she would really -- that ticket would really shake up the democrats and probably give barack obama a run for his money. >> okay. pete? >> well, i'm, of course, a comedian, i'm biased toward comedians, americans are sick and tired of politicians lying, no one more honest than comedian. the truth is funny. most honest comedian in the world is howard stern. howard stern for president. i'm pete dominick and i approve of this message. >> yikes. >> i'm sorry, frerkd i didn't wear red today. >> there you go. >> i got a snuggie here but the

husband of the greatest woman in the world and the father of two beautiful daughters, i support the research. so, here's my red. cnn snuggie. >> hearts in t all right. thanks so much, pete, crystal, chris, you will have a great weekend. i know we will be seeing, okay, very red now, pete, see throughout the weekend as well with the nevada caucuses. and you document want to forget, of course, we have got coverage of the caucuses taking place in nevada. how about that republican presidential nomination be decided? might it be this weekend, a pivotal race, coverage begins 6:00 eastern time. all right, next, divine intervention at sunday's super bowl game is tom brady's wife, gisele bundchen, reportedly wants just that and that request is being answered on late night television. 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time.

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that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years.

i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home. demi moore is recovering at home after being hospitalized for alleged substance abuse and she is getting visits from two key people in her life. "showbiz tonight" correspondent michelle turner joins us live from los angeles with more details on this. give us the scoop. >> fred, demi's two ex-he is were photographed by papparazzi visiting her los angeles home this week. bruce willis, with whom demi shares three daughters, was seen driving him to the house wednesday morning. later, ashton kutcher was reportedly seen arising at the home. ashton was in brazil wendell miff first hospitalized. you know, he received some criticism on social media for not rushing to her side

immediately. regardless though, you know, it's just actually nice to see demi receiving support from her family right now and, of course, we wish her the best, fred. >> absolutely wish her the best. all right, now let's talk about super bowl madness, because supermodel gisele bundchen, you know, married to tom brady. you know, she went on late night to ask everyone to pray. give us for on that? >> this request of hers is causing a whole bunch of laughs. let's just call her poor sexy supermodel giselle, the target of late night jokes and all these tabloid headlines. you know, she sent an e-mail to friends and family asking them to pray for her husband, tom brady, on super bowl sunday, and to send him the positive energy he needs to beat the giants. well, conan o'brien had his take on what god might have said to this prayer. listen to this. >> supermodel gisele bundchen wants foam pray pore her

husband, tom brady, to win the super bowl. yeah, in response, god said, you know what i think i've done enough for tom brady. [ laughter ] >> yeah. you know, we haven't talked prayer though, fran, in football since tim tebow's season ended. i'sure there are so many giants fans thought hoping those prayers are not answered. here's what i say fred, i say, giselle, pray for your man f your wife can't be your biggest cheerleader, who can? >> she is his biggest cheerleader, indeed. she inadvertently made her way on late night television. she doesn't mind being a guest on it usually, i don't think in this case, she had it planned but, hey, good luck to both teams, right, this sunday. thanks so much, michelle. >> exactly. >> sure. information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, aj and michelle have it all this evening on "showbiz tonight," 11:00 eastern on hln. all right. coming up, meet someone who might be the new york giants'

biggest fan. it's into the guy with his face painted blue. it's an 11-year-old girl who probably knows more about eli manning than eli manning. you know what's exciting, graduation. when i look up into my student's faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor, i am committed to making a difference in peoples lives and i am a phoenix.

in just two more days until the giants and patriots meet up in the super bowl and we think we may have found the giants biggest fan. the proof is all over her room at her house. maeve plassche has pictures and everything. many girls have justin bieber or the cast of "twilight" on her walls. not maeve, her walls are devoted to eli manning. lots of giants fans gear all

over the place, including you the big blue foam finger and, of course, the jerseys. and there she is, pumped up about the super bowl. maeve's with us right now, joining us from our new york studio. good to see you. >> good to see you, too. >> okay. so how excited are you about this weekend and the big game? >> well, i'm really excited and i have a lot of confidence in the team. >> you do? okay. so, where are you going to be watching the game? >> um, i'll be watching it in my house, parked right in front of the tv. >> now, how did this come to be? how did it come to be that you are such a giant fan? >> well, my dad, he really got me started. he would, like, be watching the games and i would start staying home with him and be watching the games. >> oh, and so -- do you play a little ball, too? >> um, no. >> any aspirations to do that? >> not really. >> okay. so you have written letters to the team and they acknowledge,

they know that you are probably one of their biggest pint-sized fans out there, right? what do they say to you when they respond to those letters that you write? >> well, they say, like, thank you for your support, i'm gonna try very hard this game or this season to do what you told us to do. >> so, if there was one player that you -- if you had an opportunity to meet one player, who would be that be? >> i couldn't pick, because they are all really great please, victor cruz, mario manningham, hakeem nix and eli manning are, like, my top. >> oh, my goodness, fantastic. now, you know, i understand that your school may have set up a big old jumbo screen to watch you on the air today. off little shout out for them? >> um, i just want to say thank you for supporting me, especially my teacher, for, like, supporting me through this. >> that's fantastic. any guesses an what you think

the final score just might be this weekend? >> um, i think it's gonna be the giants, 34-31. >> oh, okay. maeve, we may have to do a little follow-up on that. all right. all the best. i think maybe you've got a door rear in sports commentary, maybe you are going to be the next nfl sideline reporter, what do you think? >> yeah. >> all right. maeve plassche, thanks so much. good luck to you and, you know, we are going to be rooting for you as you cheer on your team this weekend. >> thank you. >> all right, maeve. tim tebow won't be playing in the super bowl but the denver broncos quarterback is in indianapolis and he will be joining us live in the cnn newsroom. suzanne malveaux interviews tim tebow in our noon eastern hour. he went from being an nfl bench warmer to the most popular athlete in america. he is both revered and reviled

for his play on the field and his very public expressions of faith. we will be asking him about all of that, noon eastern, right here on cnn. all right. making their mark this week, students at white station high school in memphis, tennessee, they are partnering up with a local charity to collect shoes for people in haiti. the campaign called soles 4 souls ends today. the students hope to collect at least 500 pairs of gently worn shoes. nyquil (stuffy): hey, tylenol. you know we're kinda like twins.

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women, according to the cdc, heart disease is the leading killer of women in the u.s. they kill one quarter of all women who died in 2008. and doctors warn people with heart disease don't always have any symptoms. and there's a battle for control of the house. 34 members of congress are retiring. we will tell you the latest incumbent who is not running right after the break. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. premier of the packed bag. you know organization is key... and so is having a trusted assistant. and you...rent from national.

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all right. another member of congress will not be running for re-election. paul steinhauser is here with that story. >> good morning, fred we talk all the time about the battle for the white house but there are two verycompelling stories.

heath schuller, democratic congressman from north carolina announced he is not going to run for re-election in november, three-term congressman, his district has been changed due to redistricting and he announced he will not be running. here are the numbers with schuller's announcement, you now have 34 members of the house not going to run for re-election. 20 democrats, 14 republicans, either retiring for running for some other office, senate, governor, something else. the other magic here is 25. those are the numbers pickups the democrats need to win back the chamber. so yeah, you know, we are talking to you all the time about the battle for the gop nomination and then the battle for the white house but keep your eyes on congress, two very compelling stories, account republicans win control of the senate, democrats win control of the house? we got a lot to talk about this year, fred. >> might sideline that presidential race. or maybe not. >> maybe not. >> thanks so much, appreciate that. reminder, all the latest political news go to our