happened over there. and in haiti and everywhere else on the globe. >> and here's herbie after. >> i'm not no gangster. i'm not no thug person. i'm 15 years old. i live with my mom. >> herbie, take heart. as far as we're concerned, you are a winner an we're not going to take that back ever. that does it for us. thanks for watching. "erin burnett" "outfront" starts now. tonight, outfront, which killed whitney houston? we'll talk about that. and we go to homs, syria.

i'm erin burnett, "outfront." whitney houston's funeral will be held at the prudential center in newark, a venue that can hold 100,000 people. the venue is closed to the new hope baptist church where as a girl she sang in the choir. we're going to go live and get the latest on her final hour of life and the investigation into how exactly she died. everyone admired houston's magnificent voice. she won more awards than any other female singer. and she's the only singer ever to have had seven consecutive number one hits. for me, i idealized houston as a singer. "the bodyguard" was one of my favorite movies in high school. she was gorgeous. the song went on replay back then what were boom boxes and that movie came out in 1992, the same year she married bobby

brown. and many say that was the start of her downfall, an abusive relationship, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, prescription drugs, rehab, a few years back, she spoke about one drug she said she never actually even used. >> first of all, let's get one thing straight. crack is cheap. i make too much money ever to smoke crack. let's get that straight, okay? i don't do crack. i don't do that. crack is whack. >> the drugs and lifestyle took away her glorious gift as you heard there, a voice that sold 170 million albums and still brings goose bumps to anyone who hears it. everyone hoped she'd get back on track, that those comeback albums would deliver and her voice would come back. instead she died at age 48. and the big question is whether her addictions and demons played part in her tragedy. don's been covering this, this weekend covering this hour to hour. and don, what can you tell us about how she died tonight? >> reporter: well, i spoke with

the assistant chief coroner here in los angeles county and he told me about how her body was found, which we have heard, in a bathroom. one of her staff members came in and found her. but the interesting thing he talked about, erin, was the prescription medication in the room that the tabloids are talking so much about. what he said to me was there were prescription medications in the room but nothing out of the ordinary. as a matter of fact he said to me, i have more prescription drugs in my home than what was found in the room and he didn't understand why people were making such a big deal about it. he said just let the investigation play out so they can figure out exactly how she died. >> yeah, and you're right. when everyone is sort of jumping to that conclusion and they have not done so from the coroner's office. but with all this talk about drugs, i want to ask you about the pictures we've all seen of her where she looks sort of strung out or something doesn't look right at a nightclub. i know you've been inside the nightclub where this picture was taken. >> yeah. >> what can you tell us about that? >> i just ran over from the nightclub just about five

minutes ago before we did this -- before i did this report. and what the manager of the club or one of the managers tell me is it was hot in the club, it was packed with people. she was there to support her friend kelly price. they were doing a tribute to r&b and she came out to support. and she didn't think she was going to be called up on stage. she called her up and said, hey, my little sister is here, whitney houston. she came up, sang the song. the manager said when she left the club, she had to go out through a sea of people. everyone was trying to touch her, it was hot. if you're in a club like that, you're going to leave hot and sweaty as well. and he says those pictures tell a snapshot. we don't know what she was doing. if she was strung out or dishevelled or whatever. but many people, most of the people who left the club that night looked the way whitney houston did. >> it's fair to bring that up. which is an interesting context to those pictures.

i know her estranged ex-husband bobby brown came to town last night. he continued with his performance on saturday night after news on her death. can you tell us what he's doing in l.a.? >> well, his daughter. his daughter bobbi kristina. she was staying at the beverly hilton with her mom, and she was down in the lobby enjoying the festivities. and when she heard about it, she ran upstairs to the room to see her mom and police wouldn't let her in. she was so upset, a bit of an altercation and started screaming, and as you can imagine, an 18-year-old girl losing her mother and had to take her to the hospital after that they released her. and the next day they had to take her to the hospital again. an 18-year-old girl who just lost her mom suddenly you can understand. so bobby came to town to pick her up and bring her back east to be with her family. the last images and sounds of her singing at pregrammy party last thursday may be a glimpse into her life, but they

don't tell the whole story. kelly price says that despite whitney's past, she was in a good place now. >> whitney was partying, she was happy, she was sober, maybe a little tipsy because she had some champagne. but we had a good time thursday night and i will not let anyone else say anything else about my friend because it's not true. >> cheryl lee ralph has known her for more than two decades. she's the author of "redefining diva -- life lessons from the original dream girl." i actually met her back, i believe, when she was 19 years old at dream girls. good to see you and really appreciate your taking the time to be with us. let's start off with the fact that you've known whitney four decades. take us back to when you first met her. >> you know something, it was an amazing time. i mean it was the spring of '82, dream girls was having an

incredible run, but just as we were bringing audiences to their feet each and every night, we got word there was this kid uptown at sweetwaters that we just had to go and see. went up there and there was a line of dream girls. when i first saw you i said, oh, my, this girl is the real deal. and she was about 19 years old, and that's when i first laid eyes on whitney houston, with her little close cropped curly afro and just a hint of teenage acne left over. a fresh face, original great new talent obviously on the rise. >> it's amazing when you talk about her. it's a little bit of teenage acne because one of the things obviously that stands out -- you know, seeing her in the '80s and in her movies just how perfect and clear her skin always was. such a gorgeous person. how did you become friends with her? >> she was such a beauty. it was showbiz. you know, dueling divas in the dark, you know, singing, going up for the same job. she and i were both up for a

mabeline eyelash commercial. they were going to experiment using a black face, but they wanted a new, fresh, black face. i was on broadway doing "dream girls" and i'm telling you the buzz was around about this girl whitney and she'd been doing some modelling beforehand. she ended up getting the mabeline campaign and i got the hanes stocking campaign. it was always in passing. >> you both were winners in that. i know you became friends over the years and you saw her about a year ago, how did she seem then? as people are trying to understand what state she was really in. whether she had issues with prescription medication or anything else when she died. >> i've got to tell you one thing. everybody's got their issues. some may be smaller or larger than others, but everybody's got an issue. the last time i saw her she looked like a woman who had made

up her mind that she was going to rise above this. trust me, it wasn't just yesterday she started battling with these things. it wasn't -- you cannot blame one person for all of these things. they came when fame came to visit her, and sometimes fame comes to see you. she's a good friend and sometimes fame comes to see you and she's a witch and we spell it with a "bah." just as quick as she builds you up, she will take you down. but when i saw her last, she looked like a woman who was making her rise again. >> you bloouf in the coelieve i. >> it's so sad. >> let me ask you one final question. i know you have children the same age, your daughter was friends with bobbi kristina.

what was she like as a mom? >> they weren't friend friends but they knew each other. kids nowadays they have friendships and they don't know each other but see each other on facebook and this and that, they're connected but don't really know each other. not the way we used to know each other. >> maybe that's -- that's a tragedy of a broader story. thank you very much, appreciate your taking the time. and now janelle snowden joins us. she's been following whitney as a reporter for several years, joining us from l.a. i really appreciate your taking the time. i know vh1 was about to do an interview with whitney houston a few hours after she died. what happened when they came down and broke the news to your producer in the lobby of the hotel? >> well, let me just say it was vh1 behind the music crew that was stationed at the hotel at 12:00 p.m., which is six hours in advance of the interview time. it was supposed to have happened at 6:00 p.m. that's usually not the typical time span. because she was so iconic, whitney houston, they wanted everything right, the lighting right, the chair was right, a special chair and around 2:00 p.m. her publicist came down to make sure everything was okay. around 5:00 p.m. she came down and told the producer that the

interview wouldn't be happening, i think you're seeing the chair she was supposed to have sat and the producers were like, wait what do we do? why is it being canceled? and she said because she's dead and became tearful and left the room. i'm shocked she took the time to come down and tell us. surely we wow figured it out. this was an interview she agreed to sit down and talk about brandy who was a mentor -- for brandy behind the music. >> and let me ask you, janelle, you've been following her for a long time. you were at the clive davis party she was going to on saturday night. a year ago you saw her there. what can you tell us about how she seemed? did she seem like she had issues or not? >> here's the thing with whitney houston. i think because she was such an amazing talent and we all have so many memories attached to her, at least i know do i do, positive childhood memories, we didn't want to ever see her outside of her heyday. we didn't want to see her in

this fall from grace that we most recently saw her. so when she walked the red carpet last year with clive davis hand in hand to that event it was special. for many people, that was the one time of the year they would see whitney houston. she was not a person to be on the red carpet circuit. so when clive davis walked her down into the room and she actually performed, it was a bit off. i remember tweeting about it and being hesitant because i didn't want to say what i was thinking which is this is a mess, but it's whitney houston, you want to be more reverent. but it really was that. she took to the mike and sounded very unlike herself. didn't sound good at all and clive davis ended up having to graciously take the mike out of her hand. at one point she blamed her pitch -- her lack of pitch on the band being in the wrong key, her cousin dionne warwick was supposed to sing with her. and they both sort of wrapped their arms around her in a sense to shield her from herself. it was not a pretty situation. >> thank you very much. we appreciate your taking the time to be with us. and next, police say they found prescription drugs in whitney houston's hotel room.

drugs that are frankly in almost all of our homes. and apparently 7 million americans might be abusing right now. and later this hour, the next ruler of china, very mysterious guy, but the american who knows him the best is our exclusive guest tonight. and u.s. supreme court justice robbed by a machete-wielding thief today. that story in the "outfront."

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while the exact cause of death is not yet known, it seems whitney houston's life ended the way too many talented performers have died. the l.a. coroners said there were prescriptions found in her hotel room and they're still trying to determine what killed her. if it turns out to be prescription drugs, houston will be among the statistics in a growing trend here in the u.s. we're seeing some of the people who have all of -- all of these famous people who unfortunately died due to prescription drugs. there are more deaths from drug overdoses each year than from traffic accidents and prescription drugs are the leading cause. think about it this way. how many people do you know who may have taken an ambien had a glass or two of wine, xanax. same thing. that may not be enough to kill you, but according to the cdc, more than 7 million americans are taking prescription drugs

for no medical reason at all. the founder of intervention 911 is "outfront" tonight, and let me ask you, ken, given what you've been hearing, you're hearing about this situation. as an addiction expert, you're hearing about xanax in the hotel room. and it didn't seem like it was anything like cocaine or heroin or anything like that. is this a familiar sort of scene? >> yeah, absolutely this is familiar. and it's so heartbreaking to lose somebody like whitney when we just lost amy winehouse, and michael jackson and so on and so on and so on. and the reality is, when don't know what it is as of right now, but we watched her behaviors, we watched those behaviors. and, you know, it's time to take a stance and say no more. if we see somebody with an addiction that's been diagnosed with addiction, they shouldn't have a glass of wine, they shouldn't have a glass of champagne, they shouldn't be taking a xanax to help them sleep. these are the things that kill people with addiction.

and we have to stop it. we have to stop. >> and let me ask you, ken, i've seen recent surveys talking about the stress most people go through. surveys of women saying the average american woman takes a sleeping aid a few times a week. and i think most people can understand what that's like. but how do you know if that is a problem or if you have a problem? because it seems these cases of prescription drugs, it's very hard to tell. >> well, listen, she's already been through treatment before. she's been diagnosed, she came out and said she's an addict. but she may have a glass of wine if you remember back on that oprah special she did. she may be seen out having a glass of wine. it's time for the professional people in her life, the people that love these people that are addicts to say, no, that's not okay. if you have a diagnosis with addiction, you cannot have a glass of wine and if they choose that they will --

>> how do you know whether you have one? do you know whether you have an addiction to these things? a lot of them seem to be very commonly available drugs. >> if you're an addict, what you need to do or you think you may be an addict, you need to go in and get an assessment. get a professional to see if you cross a line from abuse to addiction. and if you did, you have to be abstinent from drugs and alcohol. >> all right. and how do you know when you're at risk? i guess is the final question. it seemed in this case, certainly, that it was a mistake if indeed it was what caused whitney houston's death. >> you know, like they said, there was only minimal pills in there. if you're an addict, it doesn't matter if it's one or two pills, it's with the combination that kills us and shuts down our system. so it's not about the quantity, it's about if you're diagnosed with an addiction, you need to take it seriously and if you love somebody that's diagnosed with an addiction, please stand up to them. i know it's not easy, but fight, fight while they can't and get them into recovery.

>> ken sealy, thank you very much. whitney houston's death may lead to an ironic coincidence involving her record sales. the number is next. and later, we show you the first time the world was introduced to whitney houston. we found the tape. washed fresh for every guest. real value. from your friends at hampton.

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michael jackson earned $170 million last year, elvis presley made $55 million, and neither one of them are alive. and not surprisingly whitney houston's catalog has seen a huge jump since her death on

saturday night. 14 of her songs are currently in the top 50 on the itunes single chart, up from zero before she died, and tonight, seven of her albums are in the top 50 of the album chart. but these are just the latest numbers associated with whitney houston's career. she was the first woman to debut at number one on the album short and holds the record for number one consecutive singles. her version of "i will always love you" spent 14 straight weeks at number one. that was a record at the time. and "bodyguard" album is the first to sell 1 million copies in a week is the best-selling soundtrack of all time. which brings us to tonight's number, 21, that's the title of adele's latest album which sits at number one on the billboard album chart. in addition to sweeping the grammys, adele's "21" has been on top for 19 straight weeks.

we' if it hits 20, it will tie whitney houston's. billboard expects it to enter the charts in top ten maybe at number one. still "outfront," the outfront five. al qaeda ally? >> we hate al qaeda. we dislike al qaeda. we don't want al qaeda at our country. >> obama defies rivals. >> the time for self-inflicted wounds to our economy has to be over. >> all this "outfront" in our second half. ♪

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we start the second half of our show with stories we care about where we focus on our reporting, do the work, and find the outfront five. up nirs first, we have been talking about whitney houston and her body is being flown back to her hometown in new jersey tonight. funeral services are expected at the end of the week. her family is reportedly considering a funeral at newark's prudential center. 4 the supreme court producer told us that the robbery happened last week.

a man with a machete got away with $1,000 in cash, breyer, his wife, and two guests were not hurt during the robbery. the fbi is now involved in the investigation. number three, the defense department detailed today how it plans to cut about $500 billion in spending over the next five years. we've been going through the budget and one of the biggest cuts comes from afghanistan, accounting plans to cut spending there by $30 billion in 2013 as part of the forecast for cuts. planning for the development of the joint strike fighter, the fighter jet of the future as some call it also goes. special operations forces including navy s.e.a.l.s get more money along with drones and missile defense. number four, iran says it will soon make a major announce. about its nuclear program. we spoke to two of our iranian experts who told us the major announcement may not be that major, but they think iran will attempt to show the iranian people what it will accomplish

and that it has not been hurt despite severe sanctions from the united states and other countries. the u.n. report recently found iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. it's been 192 days since america lost the top credit rating, what are we doing to get it back? tonight, moody's downgraded the credit ratings of three more european countries including italy and portugal. the rating agency also cut the outlook on austria, france, and the united kingdom to negative. france just got the downgrade, that's why we felt particularly sad for them. and now to the horrible story in syria. many using the word slaughter. the opposition saying 30 people were killed today in a deadly crackdown which has reportedly claimed 7,000 lives in the past year. at the u.n., the human rights commissioner said she was outraged about the ongoing assault on the city of hom, there's also a call for peace keeping force. syria remains defiant saying it'll only incite more violence from the rebels. this comes while forces stepped

up the bombing campaign on several neighborhoods in the city of homs. nick payton walsh is in beirut for the latest. i talked to him right before our program began and asked him what he is hearing from sources in homs tonight. >> reporter: well, erin, the assault on homs continued unabated into its ninth day today. one activist we spoke to this morning describes his major concern as being how in the district of the north of where he is, a place which has been the focus really of shelling in that past week or so. the district court into which the troops have been moving over the past five days conducting arrests, his major concern is they may be building up to move south. of course, the casualties experienced in homs, 400 over that period of time, could significantly rise were the military to begin full-on assaults south into that area. >> and we're going to talk to an activist in just a moment.

let me ask you, nic, from your sources, the arab league has come out and said, well, they want this to end, the united nations is now involved. do the people you're talking to put any stock in that? think that's going to do anything? >> basically said he considered it all to be a waste of time was deeply rudely dismissive of the entire process. as these talks go on hundreds of miles away in cairo, the slaughter continues in homs and doesn't have any real impact at all. yes, at the u.n. today, the human rites body may talk about how they have evidence of war crimes in homs. russia may say they would support the peacekeeping notion, despite having vetoing condemnation of syria. but the roadblocks keep growing. russia saying it wants to see a cease-fire first. it doesn't want to see outside intervention in syria at all. and most importantly, the syrian government saying even this

peace plan from the arab league is it considers flagrant intervention in its sovereign affairs. >> is your feeling, nic, from the people you're talking to that this really is accelerating? that it's getting worse? that more people are being killed in a more indiscriminate fashion than they were even days ago? >> reporter: i think the violence is fluctuating, yes, certainly nine days ago that's when it really picked up, when things changed. people are asking what is the end game? is this going to continue for weeks or months? there appears to be pause at times. there are reports that maybe the red cross are allowed in certain areas. and in certain separate towns, there was a pause in fighting until last night and then the army went in and began house-to-house raids. there appears to be a pattern of more people dying over the last week or so and appears to be no let-up in that case right now. >> thank you so much, nic,

reporting to us from beirut, lebanon this morning. people in homs are desperate for food, water, and medical supplies. it's been difficult to make contact with them. but i was able to speak earlier today with an activist in homs. he described a scene of horror, especially in the areas of the city, those three neighborhoods that you just heard nic mention were under attack today. >> the situation is deteriorating for the worst. the shooting is continuous again. today we have three persons have been killed by rockets. >> can you tell me, have you been able to get into any of those neighborhoods yourself and see? or has it been impossible to do that? >> actually, not possible to do anything. not possible to move from our houses. the snipers are everywhere. if you would move to any, you would be in dangerous situation. >> can you talk about the women and children? whether the government forces have fired on women and children?

has there been any of that that you have seen for yourself? >> yes, actually today, we have lost children from the snipers, and i can provide the full name and everyone can -- actually, he is only 13 years old. by snipers, he directly shoot him. this month, we lost 114 children. this month was the worst months from our children. >> i don't know if you're aware, but al zawari says he supports your efforts, the activists. are you -- how does that make you feel that al qaeda says they support your effort? is that something you would accept? >> we hate al qaeda. we dislike al qaeda.

al qaeda doesn't support us. we don't want al qaeda in our country. no one like al qaeda. al qaeda same iran. and worse, they are killing civilians. they don't care about -- they don't recognize between civilians or army or -- this is our revolution only peaceful for civilian country. if we want to get out from al bashar and qualcomm, this will be worse. >> well, abdel, thank you very much. i appreciate your taking the time and thank you for doing this so late and for taking the risk to speak to us. we appreciate it. neg, the rising superpower. china's next leader. his plans for, well, what china is going to do for the united states. since after all, we all like to see china owns us.

really? the man who knows us best is next. . a and president obama's fight with the republicans takes a big turn today. did the gop cave? [ male announcer ] we know you don't wait until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor,

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is. >> and now to tonight's "outer circle." in india,en israeli diplomats' car blew up. what do officials know about this attack? >> they believe this was a targeted attack. they're saying this partially because a witness came forward saying they saw a motorcyclist come up to the back of the van and place something on to the back of the vehicle. the vehicle subsequently exploded in a fire ball, injuring the two people inside including the wife of an israeli defense official here in new deli. on the same day there was a situation in georgia where

fishes say they were forced to detonate a bomb placed inside an embassy employee's car. israel is saying that they believe iran is responsible for both of these attacks. iran is flatly denying it. erin? >> all right, that's our report from india tonight. he's about to become one of the word's most powerful men. tonight, he's back in the united states for the first time in 25 years. his name is shi jin ping. he is in all likelihood the next leader of china. currently china's vice president, she will sit down with president obama tomorrow on valentine's day and, yes, in the chinese press so far i've seen, they're playing it as a love meeting. after all, we do need to love each other, don't we? these two countries, the opposite of love is not indifference, it is hate as we all know. and that's what we want to avoid. china is america's second largest trading partner, they own 7% of our debt. really when you look outside the u.s. federal reserve it is china's next biggest holder of our debt.

as a future leader of china, there's a lot of curiosity of xi jinping. who is he? he's a son of a mao-era revolutionary hero. and he's a former governor of fujian province where he was known for corruption fighting activities. the 58-year-old is married. his wife is more famous than he is. famous chinese folk singer is his wife. it'll be a big moment as xi takes the reins from hu jintao next year. the former u.s. ambassador to china and, of course, a familiar face to all americans after this election season. great to see you again, ambassador. appreciate it. >> by the way, your pronunciation was great. you're doing just fine. >> i was very worried. i said at least jon will politely correct me. well, you spent a lot of time in china.

you know xi jinping. he has praised you. what can you tell us about him? >> well, i can tell you that he's stepping into the forefront of china's political leadership structure at a time of enormous change. and i think it's important for people here in the united states to realize that we're seeing politics play out here in the united states while at the same time politics is playing out in china. they'll have the 18th party in october, an event you'll probably see 70% of the top 200 leaders in china change. which i think is the most sweeping change i can remember in recent history. so xi jingping who is the leader of the so-called fifth generation since it was established in 1949 will be leading a young group that is forged not by the revolutionary ferver of his parents where he was exiled those years, spent years in the northeastern part of china. because of that, he's able to interact, i think a lot more with the peasant class in china.

we have to remember that china from a per capita income standpoint is still 99th in the world. you've got 700 million people who are living in poverty in china. i think he's got the kind of personality to relate and interact very well with all people of china. but in the meetings i had with him, i can tell you, erin, that he is confident, that he connects extraordinarily well with people. he is very well briefed. he's gone out of his way in recent years to bone up on economics and trade knowing full well these are the issues that are going to determine whether or not the united states and china are able to get through the years to come. and what is noteworthy, i think,

is he's a very, very adroit political operator. by that i mean he's been able to check all of the boxes that one needs to check to be successful in chinese politics. he's been able to check the people's liberation army box because he once works for a senior vice premier as a special assistant. so he has some credibility there unlike hu jintao who's had a challenging relationship with the military. he's been able to check the party box because of his family roots. his father was a senior vice premier before he was exiled. >> right. >> but he's also been able to check this box called the princeling box. these are the sons and daughters of the revolutionary heroes, the part cadre, the party elite. and they have enormous clout in chinese politics. he's been able to no doubt broker deals and carve out a kind of relationship that has allowed him to win over the affection and the trust of the princeling population.

>> i like that word as they called them the princelings. there's something that plays he's a princeling. what's he going to do militarily for china? he has said when he answered questions to the "washington post," the vast pacific ocean has ample space for china and the united states. obviously, you know, i remember a year ago when then secretary gates or close to that was supposed to go for a meeting, defense meeting in china and got sent away. is he going to stand up and build the military up even more than jintao has? >> jintao has had a difficult relationship with the military, i do believe that xi jinping will have a better relationship. but here's what he's going to have fall into his lap. where hu jintao will lead the stage of power having fulfilled the requirements, and that is open foreign relations, open economic relations with the rest of the world and primacy of the

communist party, there'll be no other organization that is more powerful. now xi jinping begins with a new set of realities. we're starting a new dynasty altogether. >> right. >> and now he has to deal with a reality of a china that has seen greater repression domestically. we're seeing a china engaging in more nationalistic economic behavior. >> yeah. >> seeing a china that is more assertive internationally and the whole world is watching to see how they deal with these issues. some of them are driven by domestic policymaking, how you make combinations with the aforementioned items. he's got these major issues falling on his lap. one thing is for sure, erin, it'll be a year or two before he consolidated his pour base at home before he can do anything substantial at all. > tonight, whitney houston, was

she a victim of her success? an investigation into her death. >> this is an active investigation by the beverly hills police department. now to politics. we look at the race between romney and rick santorum. statistics show mitt romney and rick santorum a virtual tie. 32% support mitt romney and 30% support rick santorum, obviously within the margin of error. 30% of republicans support mitt romney and 28% support mitt romney, within the margin of error. that's not all. former advisor for george bush, and speechwriter and david goddard. we appreciate it. let me start with you. that has to be good news for the man currently in the white house. >> as president obama lays out his budget and plays out his campaign in the long game, he's watching not romney keep surging and -- >> not romney, anybody -- >> a strong candidacy. the bottom line is this michigan primary is fraught with all

kinds of psychodrama. because of course, that's where governor romney's father was governor romney. and if he wins, it will be as much because of the super pacs allowed by the supreme court as by the voters, it seems to me. that's the real question mark. >> david from, what do you think about this? what does it say for mitt romney, especially in light of the fact that now in a general election, when you poll independents, he would get 42% versus president obama getting 51. that's a pretty damning statistic. >> it's agonizing and depressing. >> all depends where you're sitting, buddy, right? >> well, maybe. in december when newt had the first of his two surges, mitt romney surrendered to the ryan plan. he had spent months and months trying not to endorse the ryan plan. in december, he endorsed it. put that around his neck. now, there's now another not

mitt surge and this time, mitt romney has been pressed back into this contraception fight, something i'm sure he wanted to have no part of. and yet, now he has been pushed towards not quite the full santorum but a semisantorum on the contraception issue. >> something sounds very wrong about the full santorum, sorry. >> the more pressure placed on him, this is an internal problem inside the republican party. it puts more and more pressure on romney that do things that make him, as you said in your production, less and less electable with the broad middle of american politics. >> what do you think this means? >> if you look back over the last three or four month, obama's re-election campaign and dnc made a concerted effort to try to bring down mitt rom fee. you look at the swing of independent numbers you just showed, a swing of 19 points in three months among independent voters. it's devastating. what the obama re-election campaign did not foresee was republicans would help them in taking down mitt romney. that's precisely what they've

done. >> because he's had to go right every time to win the more conservative groups. >> he's moving further and further to the right. he's really stepped into a trap. the longer this primary season goes on, the more wounded he'll be in the general election, it's really quite remarkable. >> what's interesting in 1996 when bill clinton was running for re-election, he ran, and the democrats ran lots of ads trying to tarnish bob dole, who was going to be the republican nominee. this has happened without democrats spending money and not having to do much other than reposition president obama, get him on the right side of the tax issue and lay out his message. it has been a good month for them. >> david, i have to say one thing i keep hearing, though, from people who say well, we'll have a brokered convention. is that just wishful thinking. >> i think there's a certain amount of wishful thinking among journalists. let's unpack it. when people say a brokered convention, how do you have a

brokered convention when there are no more brokers. you can have a non-majority convention. the days when the governor of california sat down with the governor of new york and each controlled respective delegations. if we have a non-majority convention, it will be a free-for-all. the people making decisions are super pacs and fox news. the days in which party brokers made rational deals with a view towards general electricability, those days are gone. >> thanks very much to all three of you. we appreciate it. up next, as the world says good-bye to whitney houston, we show you the first time we discovered this talent. literally, her first video. we have it. 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. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it without missing a beat. fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromise on taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. twill be giving away passafree copieslk. of the alcoholism & addiction cure.

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with the rise of itunes and reality shows like "american idol" and the voice, popular music is now more accessible than ever. yet it doesn't seem as exciting as it was when many of us were

younger, more like a business now and less of an event. the mtv generation might be over. outside, you see kids with ipads instead of book boxes and singing "every girl's dream" during the commercial. you'd be hard-pressed to find music videos playing on mtv. they added '80s to the rotation. the death of whitney houston is another reminder of that. in a world that seems so preoccupied with fame, whitney houston made it the old-fashioned way. like michael jackson before her, she grew up singing. no youtubes or reality shows, no shortcuts.