and a good morning to you. this is "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida soambolin. we're bringing you the news from "a" to "z." let's get started. they're venting their fury. there's outrage in afghanistan over the burning of a koran at a main u.s. military base. the u.s. has apologized, but it's not stopping this. >> you know something? we started this story with you yesterday, but the momentum seems to be growing. it is sort of a final face-off also here in the united states

before arizona, michigan, and super tuesday. brand new polling is showing that we are in a virtual tie, though, in the desert. and reliving the lewinsky affair. staffers are opening up for the very first time in a brand new documentary. they are saying the white house was consumed by it for nearly an entire term. that documentary is getting some mixed reviews this morning. we're going to share that with you. and the president singing the blues, not over the campaign, literally singing the blues with bb king. yeah, get down. you're going to hear the rest of that coming up. we begin this morning with breaking news out of syria. opposition activists telling cnn two western journalists were killed in heavy shelling by syrian government forces on a neighborhood in the besieged city of homs. we are not naming the journalists yet. we are pending notification of their next of kin. we are working our sources on

this story, and we'll be following it throughout the morning for you. again, two western journalists were killed in heavy shelling by syrian government forces in homs. also, in another area but a lot more violence as well, the american embassy in kabul, afghanistan, is on lockdown this morning. new protests raging across that country. take a look at the pictures. started yesterday with a few hundred people outside bagram, and now look, all of this in response to the inadvertent burning of the muslim holy book, the koran, at our air base there. thousands of afghans have amassed outside of the base. they're setting fires. they're venting their outrage in extreme ways, throwing rocks as well. u.s. choppers had to fire flares to try to break up this crowd. >> an official says some of the religious material was removed because detainees were writing on the documents to exchange extremist messages.

still the united states is apologizing, saying that it was an honest mistake. general john allen, the top commander in afghanistan, ordered an investigation, saying it was not intentional in any way. >> journalist ben farmer is live in kabul, afghanistan, for us this morning. ben, kwet me to the crux of the issue here. is thissette going out of hand, or do american officials on the ground there feel they can contain this outbreak of violence? >> reporter: well, at the moment, it seems to be escalating. we now have three major protests in afghanistan. one in the capital kabul, one in the eastern city of jilalabad, and one close to where it happened yesterday. the death toll has risen over the course of the morning. there are at least 30 wounded and perhaps 5 dead. there is no sign at the moment that nato's apologies which have been very profuse, are having an

effect to calm these people. the centers are all locked down, and transport staff has been put on hold. they're worried the anti-western feelings, which is very strong in these protests, would result in more violence if these protesters do reach the capital. ashlei ashleigh? >> what are they doing about american personnel on the ground there? we're in the midst of a draw down, but there are a substantial number of americans who are going to be staying behind in that country, and this just sort of foreshadows whatted can be lying ahead of them. is there any word of additional security measures other than the lockdown? our sincere apologies. that single, unfortunately, with ben farmer has just broken up. we can tell you this. there have been profuse apologies from the isaf commander on the ground, general

john allen. he has apologized not only to hamid karzai in that country, he has apologized to the people of afghanistan. even the white house weighing in. jay carney, the spokesperson suggesting in a news conference yesterday that america is offering its sincere apologies for this inadvertent burning of the religious material. however, we all remember last year when a florida pastor burned a koran in protest. that sparked violence in that country that led to dozens of people being killed. a united nations compound being stormed. so clearly, this is a critical, critical issue to keep an eye on. i think we, unfortunately, don't have ben farmer any longer, do we? we've lost that signal. we'll continue to try to watch that and keep an eye on the developing situation for you. >> i also read they're going to do additional training now for this not to happen again so they can identify when it's religious documents and this does not happen again. we're hoping that will happen soon as well. it's five minutes past the hour here. major market milestone.

the dow jones crossing 13,000, that mark for the first time in nearly four years. blue chip stocks up more than 6% so far this year. the end of the day, dow closed just below 13,000. up 15 points for the day. 12,965. the nasdaq lost a few points. the s&p 500 up just a bit. >> how does that happen? how does the nasdaq go down on a day when everyone's cheering? >> it has different components in it. the dow has just 30 stocks. gm, american express, 3m, ge. actually, i don't know if ge is in it anymore. keep that in mind. it's not representative of what's in your 401(k). that's the s&p 500 much that's up 8% this year. i want to look at the dow because this is the psychological one that everyone looks at. it crossed 13,000 for the first time last year since may 2008. guys, look how far stocks, as measured by the dow, have come. in may 2008 was the last time 13,000. basically the economy and the stock market crashed.

the president took office, and then slowly, slowly, the stock market has recovered. it is up 63% during this president's administration. so clear lirbly, the stock mark telling us that corporate profits are recovering. remember, the stock market doesn't reflect how you feel. it reflects how companies feel. the companies feel good. they have a lot of cash in the bank. they're cautious about hiring. they're giving money back to their shareholders. not necessarily hiring, giving money back to shareholders, and things are doing well for the companies. a lot of you are asking me, wow, stocks are better. i'm going to get in. professional investors, when they're up 8% in several weeks, which they are at the s&p 500, they look at a milestone and think, hey, i'm going to take a little money off the table. i might sell some stocks. the rest of us say, hey, i feel good now. i want to buy stocks. you have to be careful. you have to be buying stocks all the way up, not just when it hits 13,000. otherwise, it doesn't do you anied good. this is an important time to

remember what is your risk tolerance? what do you want your money to do for you? are you looking at your 401(k) statements? please do it twice a year. don't do it when the market is at 13,000. >> they're looking at the peaks, and we're looking at the dips. >> yeah. a number of people actively engaged in the stock market, it's hit a wall. they're looking for pull back before they get in. >> i still don't get why the s&p isn't up a little. it's that whole psychological thing. i thought it would have bled over. >> you mean nasdaq. >> is the s&p down? >> the s&p was down slightly, just a little bit. i kind of thought, again, it's a different measure. >> once it hit 13,000 on the dow, then there was a little bit of selling, this flurry of selling. i'll check out what exactly was going on there. >> my own personal finance person here. it's wonderful. we like to give you an early start to the day to look at the big stories developing tonight. president obama's plan for corporate tax reform is being unveiled today. it proposes cutting the overall

corporate tax rate from 35% to 28%, and the effective tax rate for manufacturing to know more than 25%. officials say the changes are essential to fixing a system that is not competitive, unfair, and inefficient. in upstate new york prosecutors beginning their case in their trial of a mega bus driver involved in a deadly crash back in september of 2010. the driver is charged with four counts of criminally negligent homicide. prosecutors say there were 13 signs warning of the low bridge and urging tractor-trailers away from that route. today is ash wednesday. it ushers in the season of lent. begins today, and it's observed by christians for 40 days prior to easter. and a horror scene at a health spa right outside of atlanta. five people were gunned down at su jung health spa in norcross,

georgia. the shooter then turned the gun on himself. in all, four men and two women died. we'll talk to a reporter live about that as well. we're going to turn to politics on the day of the big debate in the desert. there's brand new polling that shows it is statistically tied up in arizona. betem mitt romney didn't expect that. he is within 36%. within that margin, take a look. here are the numbers. rick santorum closing in at 32%. newt gingrich fell behind at 18%. ron paul really, really well behind at 6%. romney's four-point lead is again within that critical margin of error. >> and santorum is leading nationally as well. now people are digging deeper into his past, right? got to check out the front-runner. he's been forced to answer questions about a sound bite from 2008. this was dug up by the drudge report. listen. >> if you were satan, who would you attack in this day and age? >> there is no one else to go

after other than the united states, and that's been the case, for now, almost 200 years. >> jim acosta asked santorum about his satan warning. >> as a person of faith, i believe in good and evil. i think, if somehow or another as a person of faith you believe that good and evil is a disqualifier for president, we're going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president. >> cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live in mesa, arizona. it's really tough to be the front-runner, isn't it? >> reporter: it really is. this is the first debate in nearly a month, since our debate in jacksonville, florida, and so much has changed, especially for rick santorum. last time there was a debate, he was standing on the sidelines. this time he's going to be center stage with mitt romney. when you become a co-front-runner, you get a lot more scrutiny. we knew candidates would go after santorum because of his

record in congress as a senator. romney and paul have been criticizing him as a big ear marker, big spender. now he has to go up against other things, like that sound bite you heard a few moments ago. you get pummeled by other candidates. get ready for the major leagues, mr. santorum. zoraida? >> what do you think we're going to expect out of him? >> i think santorum is a fighter. we've seen him, no doubt about it. he's a very feisty person. he may be able to punch back, maybe like newt gingrich did. remember in florida mitt romney went after newt gingrich after gingrich's success in south carolina. romney was very successful in those debates. we'll see how successful he is in tonight's debate and how rick santorum will defend himself. and how will newt gingrich react? he needs a breakout performance at this debate to reenergize himself and get some mojo back. this is not only the first debate in over a month, it's the last debate before the primaries

in arizona and michigan and also before the ten states vote on super tuesday on march 6th. this is the last chance for the candidates to make a major impression on a national stage. >> did you really say getting his mojo back? >> i did say that. it's a little austin powers quote there. hope you enjoyed it. >> i did. thank you very much. paul steinhauser live for us. we appreciate it. and don't miss the last presidential debate before primaries in arizona and michigan and super tuesday, of course. cnn's arizona republican debate tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> who says you can't disco down if you're a political editor? who says? let's get you to rob marciano, who could possibly be considered the disco king of cnn. hello, rob. >> at 5:00 in the morning especially. we were pulling some moves before we went on the air. >> watch that hamstring. >> hope your mojo is moving along on this wednesday. we have showers rolling into chicago in the way of some rain and snow showers, possibly some wet snow piling up to an inch or two there. new york down to philly to d.c., we're okay. we're setting up, though, across the south for not one, but two

days of potentially rough weather, especially across the southeast, northern georgia, northern alabama, and parts of eastern kentucky and tennessee today. isolated tornadoes possible, damaging winds and large hail. i think tomorrow will be a better bet for a more widespread event as some energy comes out of the rockies. more energy coming out of the pacific northwest. strong system today with high wind watches and warnings. could see gusts of 70 or 80 miles an hour, especially in the canyons over some of the higher peaks. with this will be rain, flood watches, and even flood warnings have been posted for parts of western washington, including seattle and parts of king county. temperatures today, especially in the eastern third of the country will be warming up into the 70s across parts of texas. 76 degrees expected in dallas. 47 degrees, even with the rain/snow mix in chicago. what does fall will melt away pretty quickly. 55 degrees expected in new york. 67 degrees in atlanta. even warmer temperatures tomorrow. fog in san francisco, if you're traveling through that city. i mentioned the showers in chicago, especially this morning, might be delays if you're traveling through that

area. some wind in new york. in atlanta, maybe afternoon thunderstorms, as we pointed out. some of those could be rough. >> that's a lot of delays. >> we try to keep our bases covered. >> we appreciate you. thank you. >> thanks, rob. i guess you could say it's official. president obama has the singing bug. first it was al green swooning away. remember this? ♪ i so in love with you >> i had no idea the man could sing, no idea, until that moment right there. >> he had me at hello. now he's moving on, folks. he's stepping up his game. it's "sweet home chicago." he's singing for the second time in 2012. a little more hesitant this time. grabbing the mike with blues legend buddy guy and also bb king. talk about pressure. here's a few lines of "sweet home chicago." ♪

♪ sweet home baby don't you go ♪ come on baby don't you want to go ♪ ♪ ain't no place sweet home chicago ♪ >> i'm a little partial to that "sweet home chicago." some say this is president obama's clinton saxophone moment. you be the judge. ♪ >> did i say saxophone? i meant saxophone. maybe it's more like president bush boogying down. ♪ i don't know. you be the judge. >> this was one of my favorite

moments, though. this was one of my favorite moments of president bush. >> i don't know if i'd call that boogying down. >> letting loose. look at him go. i love it. i love this. he had me at hello although he didn't even say it. if i had to vote on all three. >> the first obama moment, i think was the best. >> so in love with you, it should have been on valentine's day, like i said. awesome. still ahead, this just in. chris christie says what's on his mind. >> he should just write a check and shut up. >> oh, hello. who did he tell to put his money where his mouth is? you'll find out. and, folks, listen to this. what could be the end of affirmative action as we know it. the supreme court takes up race as a factor in college admissions. we're going to talk to a legal expert about this. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule.

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the american is marie colvin, who reported from syria for us actually, just hours ago. and frenchmen remi ochlik. activists say they were killed in heavy shelling in the city of homs. they are the latest to die in this slaughter. there are thousands of people killed in this battle. opposition says 106 killed just yesterday alone. last night on "ac 360," marie colvin talked about the murder that was happening in this city that very day. >> this is the worst, anderson, for many reasons. the last one, i think the last time we talked, when i was in misrata. it's partly personal safety, i guess. there's nowhere to run. the syrian army is holding the perimeter, and there's just far more ordinance being poured into

this city, and there's no way to tell where it's going to land. >> nick is live for us in beirut. >> reporter: there's very little we can tell you about how this tragic accident happened at the moment. a british newspaper is saying she has reportedly been killed in homs, according to activists they've spoken to. i can only say marie colvin, when i joined british newspapers 15 years ago, she was a legend then. and since then, literally every major conflict or story, her name has been above some of the most eloquent reporting you could have imagined to have seen. we don't know how this happened. there has been consistent shelling of the area where she was for the past 18, 19 days now. that's really all we can say at this point, ashleigh. >> it's zoraida, nick. we're taking a look at pictures of her there. she's wearing an eye patch. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, she wore the eye patch since she was injured in sri lanka in 2001, again,

bravely pursuing reporting, and she wore that eye patch ever since. i mean, she's been to every major conflict from kosovo to chechnya to iraq to afghanistan. she's always been there. we should point out today also another western journalist appeared to have been killed, some others injured, and i'm sure marie herself would want everybody to know that another nine people were killed in homs today who were just civilians living there, killed by the shelling too. >> and do we know if her family has been contacted? >> reporter: we understand that is the case. i think that's one of the reasons why the "sunday times" trying to be cautious about when they released news of her death to make sure her relatives were informed. so, yes, i believe that has now occurred, zoraida. >> nick payton walsh live for us. we appreciate it. >> i worked with marie colvin. she was an amazing journalist, a consummate professional. we are all better for the

reporting she has done. it all underscores what we have been saying on this program, any western journalist, any journalist at all who tries to make their way into syria is at great personal risk. >> i was reading a report about her. they called her absolutely fearless. it's 22 minutes past the hour. monica lewinsky, it was a scandal that made headlines when it broke 14 years ago, and it turns out it's creating another buzz again. >> it's a two-part pbs documentary on the clinton presidency that aired this week, and it focused on president clinton's affair with the white house intern. alina cho is here with the details. it got mixed reviews. >> supporters of clinton say it was long on lewinsky and very short on accomplishments. it is fascinating to watch. this was a four-hour documentary shown in two parts, covers the 42nd president from childhood until his last day in office. in some ways, it was a highlight reel. it showed the rise of then house speaker newt gingrich, the

battle over the budget, and the eventual government shutdown. also touched on president clinton's response to crises at home and abroad, from the oklahoma city bombing to the siege at sarajevo. but 40 minutes of the documentary did focus on president clinton's affair about monica lewinsky, the eventual impeachment. one of the most interesting moments in the documentary is the interview with former clinton adviser dick morris, who talks about the very night the scandal broke. >> when the lewinsky scandal broke, the president paged me, and i returned the call. and he said, ever since i got here to the white house, i've had to shut my body down, sexually, i mean, but i screwed up with this girl. i didn't do what they said i did, but i may have done so much that i can't prove my innocence. and i said to him the problem the presidents have is not the sin, it's the cover-up. and you should explore it, just

telling the american people the truth. >> you know what we don't hear in that bit of sound that we hear from dick morris is that he goes on to say, you know, let me do a poll. let me see what the american people feel about this, and waty he found was that, yes, his hunch was right. the american people will forgive adultery, but they have a harder time forgiving the lying. >> just ask newt gingrich, right? going into south carolina after that debate. amazing. one of the things i look at those pictures of dick morris, and i think, boy, what a difference a decade can make. he's now prominent on fox news channel, very critical of democrats. and i'm very curious about the inner workings of the white house staff at this time and how they were trying to come to grips to cope with this news. >> i think it's safe to say now they were all caught off guard. you look at the day the scandal broke, perhaps the day after, secretary of state madeleine albright at the time saying, essentially, i believe the allegations are false. the rest of the cabinet

essentially saying, i second that. perhaps most interesting -- and many people don't know this -- was the day after president clinton was forced to answer questions from independent counsel ken starr and his speech to america admitting the affair. remember this, the clintons were scheduled to leave for their annual summer vacation on martha's vineyard, and the white house staff had no idea how to handle the walk. do you remember this? the first family's very public walk across the white house lawn to the waiting helicopter. watch. >> they decided they can't do anything. they can't orchestrate it. they can't spin it. they're powerless to effect it. and in the end, it falls to chelsea clinton, a teenager, to take both of their hands on her own initiative, take her father's hand in one, her mother's hand in another, and walk across the lawn, literally the bridge between her parents at this moment of crisis between them. >> i mean, i think that image is seared in the memory of many.

>> i remember that. they put their daughter in the middle, which makes sense. >> one of the most memorable images from that whole scandal. it's that moment that you wondered, are they going to come out? are hillary and bill clinton going to be hand in hand? turns out chelsea was literally and figuratively a buffer at that moment in time. >> i wonder if they put her there or if it happened that way. if it was strategic. >> we'll never know. >> i'd say it was probably strategic. >> i don't know about that. >> this is a tough time to be president with all of the scandal. how are you able to deal with the duties of being the president? >> it obviously goes without saying, huge, huge distraction. former white house press secretary dee dee myers said the affair consumed the president and his staff for nearly three years, from the very time the scandal broke to his impeachment in the senate. of course, now all these years later, 14 years later, this documentary. coming up in the next hour, we're going to hear about one of those events when the white house first confronts, at the

time, a very little known islamic terrorist group called al qaeda. all these years later, there are still people who believe that the lewinsky scandal sort of clouded president clinton's vision, didn't allow him to focus on al qaeda and the growing threat of al qaeda. remember, this was three years before 9/11. >> they say legacy takes a long time to foment. it will be interesting. >> thank you, alina. still ahead, just hours before a critical debate, they're tied in the polls. rick santorum is facing questions about his thoughts on satan and the united states. you heard it right. satan and the united states. what is he saying? you're watching "early start." you'll find out. today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines

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good morning to you. 31 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> and i'm ashleigh banfield. the u.s. embassy in kabul looking out their windows at this, and that's not good. it's on lockdown there, folks, because protesters have been hitting the streets, condemning their troops and nato troops too for burning copies of the holy

book, the koran. u.s. officials are apologizing for it, admitting it was just a mistake, but that was it was a mistake in disposing of korans that had been scrawled with extremist islamic messages. in this country, all knotted up, just hours away from that cnn arizona republican debate. a new cnn poll is showing that rick santorum and mitt romney are officially in a statistical dead heat in that state. >> up and over. the dow jones average topping the 13,000 mark for the first time in nearly four years. that happened yesterday. it end theed the day just below 13,000. the dow is now up 30% since president obama took office. former uva student george huguely is charged with first degree murder in the beating death of his girlfriend, college

student yardley love. so the issue of satan coming up in rick santorum, do you think it will take center stage at the debate? >> he's defending it, saying i said it. he's going to have to face questions. the fallout is going to show in a difference in the polls, maybe as the polls continue. what does it mean? is there a bigger meaning to it anyway? cnn.com's contributor ruben navarrete joins us to weigh in on this. and cnn political editor paul steinhauser. paul, i want to start with you because you're the man in the know when it comes to the numbers. we're looking at these statistics out of arizona, these latest polls which show these guys are in a statistical dead heat. yes, romney's ahead by four points, but that's in the margin. i'm wondering if you think those polls might change with some of this language that's coming out from 2008 about satan and attacking america.

>> it may actually change in santorum's favor because remember this is a republican primary, and a lot of republican voters comfortable with santorum's talk about faith. it's something they're used to him saying. as you mentioned, they told jim acosta last night, i'm a person of faith. i believe in good and evil. and in a speech last night in arizona, he said, i'll defend everything i say. he's actually reemphasizing those comments. they may help him in a republican primary. in a general election, they could be a little different. remember in arizona 29 delegates at stake, and it is winner take all. >> so it's one thing to hear about the headline about satan coming after america's institutions, it's another thing to read about a headline like that, and it's a whole other kettle of fish to actually see it. so we thought we'd dig up the old sound bite and play it for our viewers this morning. have a look. >> if you were satan, who would you attack in this day and age?

>> there is no one else to go after other than the united states. and that's been the case now for almost 200 years. >> there's nothing like seeing a radio interview, i'll add. but it is interesting that our jim acosta at cnn, who is absolutely on it, was on the stump yesterday and was able to catch up with the former senator and ask him about it. here was his response. take a look. >> i'm a person of faith. i believe in good and evil. i think, if somehow or another because you're a person of faith and you believe that good and evil is a disqualifier for president, we're going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president. >> so gretchen hamill, i want you to weigh in on this. it is one thing to talk extreme conservative values when you're on the stump and you're trying to get the no, ma'am nag, and it's quite another when you have to face voters down the way i who are a lot more, let's say, independent. is this working out well now, or

is this a little too strident for conservatives who like fiscal conservatism but maybe aren't that socially conservative? >> you know, this may be working well for him now, and we'll really see if it is tonight during the debate, especially since it's ash wednesday. i mean, it's kind of a holy day for a the love folks out there. it will be interesting to see how this plays in the debate tonight. it may work for him in the primary, in the general. you just don't know. independents, they don't like to get religion involved in politics, and let's be honest. the issues that are on americans' minds right now are not religious or social issues. they are the issues of the economy, of jobs, of government spending, and how we're going to get this economy back on a track where it is an upward mobility to where people have more economic opportunity and to where we know our taxes are going to go up and we're not going to go the way of greece. >> ruben navarrete, is this too much, or is this exactly what conservative voters are looking

for? whether they're way up high in michigan or way down low in arizona? >> ashleigh, i think the latter. i think it's exactly what they're looking for. not so much because they agreed with rick santorum on those issues or anyone's going to go to the polls to cast a vote against satan or in favor of contraception, but rather because it goes to the idea that he's someone of conviction. he stands by what he said. contrast that with mitt romney, who has the exact opposite problem according to the polls, and it does sort of play well for santorum. also, i'm a pundit. it's my job to tell people what i think. anyone who pays close attention to this election, it's not working this time. any time the media tells someone there's an issue, the voters go the other direction. if i tell them it's important, it isn't. if i tell them to fall behind romney, they don't do it. no matter what elections you've covered, this is a whole different thing. the 2012 election is weird, and it doesn't play by the rules. this is an example of that. >> it's a good thing cable news isn't running for president. that's all i have to say as i

end this with all three of you. take care. it's ruben, gretchen, and paul. still ahead, new jersey governor chris christie lays down a challenge. >> he should just write a check and shut up. >> who is he talking to? no, who was he talking about. we'll tell you after this. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. you noticed! these clothes are too big, so i'm donating them. how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios... five whole grains, 110 calories.

we're having a great conversation this morning. it's 41 minutes past the hour. he's not your typical politician. >> heck no. >> new jersey governor chris christie is not holding back. >> he was asked about warren buffett, the man who said tax me more, i'm okay with that. here is what the governor said. >> he should just write a check and shut up and just contribute. the fact of the matter is that

i'm tired of hearing about it. if he wants to give the government more money, he's got the ability to write a check. go ahead and write it. >> well, even warren buffett, though, if he wrote a check, could not do a whole lot. christine romans joined us at the table during the commercial break and said, you get letters from people saying, could i write the government a check to help pay down the debt? >> from time to time, i get a letter saying, i've inherited money from my husband or i'm a widow. i would like to do something about our debt problem. i don't want to give this to our grandchildren. the government will let you write a check. you can go to the treasury's website and find out how you can pay down the debt, but don't. you're throwing your money into an abyss of debt. $15 trillion is the national debt. the issue here is having a fair tax system and having a congress and a president together who can figure out, come together and figure out how to fix it so you don't have such huge disparities. it's interesting because warren buffett actually last fall was asked in a cnn interview about this very thing.

back then heritage foundation, michele bachmann, who was running for president, said he shouldn't be complaining about it. he should write a check. >> kind of makes you cheerful to see the childlike faith in the american public. we have a deficit of $1.2 trillion or something, and they say the way to solve it is by voluntary contributions. if they really think that's sound tax policy, god bless them. >> sound tax policy. ironically, i think that's what chris christie, the governor of new jersey, and warren buffett probably both want is sound tax policy. the way it is right now, there are so many loopholes. there are so many exceptions and exemptions and all these other things that, depending on who you are and how much money you have, you could pay wildly different tax rates. >> this is my entirely unscientific way of doing a comparison. but if george soros, warren buffett, and even adelson decided to give all their money to the federal government, it would be like buying one french fry from all the mcdonald's

around the world. >> more than $1 trillion in a budget deficit. clearly, the government is spending way more than it has. it shows you the political fire power of the argument. >> and chris christie, boy, he does not mince words. >> love him. >> the guy is good for cable news. >> warren buffett says it like it is. he's the oracle. and chris christie is like the jersey oracle. he's like the jersey version. >> jersey boy. love it. it is 44 minutes past the hour here. coming up, five people gunned down in a shooting at a georgia health spa. we have a live report from the scene right after the break. when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes.

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that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. it is 47 minutes past the hour. a horror at a health spa right outside atlanta, the su jung

health spa in norcross. the gunman gunned down five people and then killed himself. >> we have the very latest. there seems to be so little information coming out so far about this other than five people and some kind of a relationship between them? >> reporter: right. it sounds like there is a relationship, ashleigh, between the shooter and his victims. this mass murder has really rocked metro atlanta's korean community. local investigators are getting help this morning from the georgia bureau of investigation as they try to sort out a motive in this case. we're learning that the shooter was apparently related to some of the victims. those victims include two men and two women. we're learning that the owner of the su jung health sauna was killed by the shooter, and the shooter may have been his brother-in-law although police haven't confirmed that. the police chief here in norcross tells us much of the incident was captured on surveillance footage at the spa.

>> rebekka, thank you for the update. unbelievable. 40 minutes past the hour. coming up, the u.s. supreme court argues the role of race in higher education. is this the beginning of the end of affirmative action? then tonight the gop candidates take the stage for what could be their final debate. there is a lot at stake. we're going to tell you what to watch out for. oh will you grab us some yoplait? sure. what flavor? mm, one of each. lemon burst, hm,

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welcome back to "early start." it is 51 minutes past the hour here. the supreme court is to take up the issue of race in college admissions. they're hearing a case from the university of texas where a woman says she was denied admission because she is white. could this be the end of affirmative action? paul is a cnn political contributor. he is coming to us live from skype. >> good morning, zoraida. >> good morning to you. could you explain a little bit about why this woman filed this suit. as i understand it, she did not gain admission the first time around and actually was part of a second round being considered. >> well, yes, she was being considered the second round, and there's an issue as to whether she even has a right to bring this lawsuit. there's a doctrine called standing, and that is whether a litigant really has the right to have the case decided by the court, and that's one of the

issues that's going to be decided here. the court is looking at a bigger question here. they're saying basically she applied to the university of texas, and her claim is that she was rejected for admission on the basis of her race, that if she had been of another race that is given preference in admissions, she might have been a student at the university of texas. so the court, in a surprise to, i think, a lot of people, has decided to look at the case. they've looked at this affirmative action doctrine in school admissions in the past, and they're now revisiting this very, very controversial doctrine of affirmative action. >> it was kind of surprising, paul, because just as sandra day o'connor, who wrote the majority opinion earlier in the case, and that was nine years ago. she said it would be necessary for the next 25 years. so why is the supreme court choosing to take this case now? >> well, sandra day o'connor,

who of course is now retired from the court, in a case involving the university of michigan, which was the landmark case, basically said, you can consider race as a factor when you're trying to create what she called a critical mass in your student body so that there's adequate diversity in a student body. and she said it was necessary essentially to remedy race discrimination that had existed in the united states. she said it would take at least 25 years before we don't need this doctrine anymore. but bear in mind, through the years the composition of the court has changed, and it's changed radically. we now have on the court a large number of conservatives. judge scalia was the first. judge thomas and new appointees, newer appointees to the court who all firmly believe that affirmative action and race

consciousness and selecting students is unconstitutional. and they're all hungry for an opportunity to reverse this. and i think what the judges are also looking at, if obama is reelected, he will have an opportunity to appoint more people to the supreme court, and essentially the conservatives will lose their opportunity to be in the majority on this issue. so i think they're looking at this as a chance now to take the issue up while the ideology is sort of evenly split conservative versus liberal on the court. and there's a better chance for reversing affirmative action with the current composition of the court. >> some of the colleges and universities are arguing they do want a diverse student body. if we look at the numbers which i polled, back when this all began in 1976, blacks and hispanics, blacks were 9.4% of the population. in 2009 we see 12.5% black.

do we take this in account that the institutions say, in order to better serve their students, they need a diverse student body. >> the court will certainly consider that very strongly. prior precedence of the court seems to indicate that universities are at least allowed to consider this as a factor. it can't be the overwhelming factor, but it can be a factor. texas interestingly tried to get around this whole problem by saying the top 10% of students in each high school class in texas would presumptively be able to gain admissions to the university of texas. this, of course, would guarantee that, in minority districts, those top 10% would compete equally with students in richer, more white districts, and it does create racial diversity at the university of texas. but fisher, who's suing in this

case, says, hey, this isn't fair. i come from a very good school, and i'm just out of the 10%, and i can't get in. and yet my test scores mean that objectively speaking, i'm smarter than the kid from the poorer district who's in the top 10%. so the only reason you're not letting me in is because of my race. so that's, in a nutshell, what her argument is. and she's saying, hey, it's not fair to me. it's supposed to be merit based, not race based. so this is going to be quite an argument before the supreme court. >> okay. paul callan live for us this morning. we really appreciate it. it will be interesting to watch as this unfolds. >> nice being with you, zoraida. still ahead, satan expected to come up, believe it or not, at tonight's arizona gop debate. rick santorum with a little surprise coming out of his radio past. and also, reliving lewinsky. it's a new documentary, visions and sounds from inside the white house. did president clinton tell an aide, i screwed up with this girl? is it fast?

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good morning. it is one minute past 6:00 in the morning. this is "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from a to z. we're happy you are joining us this morning. we start with breaking news. two western joounlists have died in the shelling. one, an american there on the left and frequent contributor to this network. also here in this country, it is a final face-off before arizona, michigan, and super tuesday. it all starts tonight. all of this is brand new

polling, is showing that there is a virtual tie in the desert. we'll have comments about satan actually making their way into this program and sort of haunting rick santorum as he goes up against mitt romney. reliving the lewinsky affair. did it distract from al qaeda? what white house insiders said in this new documentary. there is nothing quite like a president whose sayings, doesn't matter if it's a musical president or not, but you have got to hear president obama belting out the blues. we'll have that for you a little bit later on in this program as well as the rest of the news. we want to begin with breaking news. just minutes ago we had word that two werwestern journalist e including an american was killed. marie colvin whom you might recognize reported for cnn and just hours ago, and remi.

they were killed during some of the heavy shelling we've been see for three weeks in the city of homs. opposition says 106 people were killed just yesterday alone. it was just last night on anderson cooper's program "ac 360" that marie talked about what she said was a murder that happened every day in that city. >> every civilian on the street has been hit. we're talking about, kind of poor, popular neighborhood, the top floor of the building i'm in has been hit. it's totally destroyed. there are no military targets here. the -- there is the free syrian army. heavily out-numbered and out-done. rocket propelled grenades. but they don't have a base. there are more young men being killed. you see a lot of teenage young men. but they go up to try to help get the wounded to some kind of

medical treatment. so it's a complete and utter lie that they are only going after terrorists. there are rockets shell, tent shells, and aircraft being fired in a parallel line into this city. the syrian army is shelling the city of cold, starving civilians. >> it's tough to be listening to her voice from just last night. arwa damon is joining us now live from beirut. did you know her? >> yeah, actually our paths had briefly crossed inside homs. we had left syria and she was going to be staying there because that is just how passionately she believed in the need to tell the story. she was someone who was fully aware of the risks involved. this is amongst the most seasoned journalists of our generation. and she had been to just about every single war zone you could imagine. she lost her eye to shrapnel in

s sri lanka. that didn't stop her. marie was the kind of person who would tend to go where nowhere else would two. she was someone we all looked up to. we admired her bravery. we admired her ability to report with such compassion and would really shine that critical spotlight on human suffering around the world. in many ways she seemed to be entirely unstoppable. she was always so calm in these types of situations. really believing in the need to take these great risks to keep on telling these stories. and, of course, she's not the only person reported to have been killed this morning. also a french journalist, remi ochek who was killed as well. and citizen journalists inside the home. one of the many brave journalists who take those youtube videos posted online. he was also killed by shrapnel after he was covering the deaths

of four family members. this just goes to show you how indiscriminate and just how intense the shelling in the neighborhood is. it really does not spare anyone. >> arwa, do you have any more details on exactly what happened? >> we're still trying to piece that together and reach out to activists located there who would have been with her as well. it seems as if there is some video that emerged showing rubble in the street where the strike is said to have taken place. but the shelling inside homs is incredibly intense. oftentimes, you know, you've got 15 shells that will rain down in the span of just 30 seconds and it's very hard to determine exactly where the shelling is because in one instance it can sound like it's fairly far away and the next moment it will impact the very building you're inside in. it's the kind of situation where even standing out on the street, moving from one location to another, also poses great risk just because the shelling is so indiscriminate. >> you know we were talking to

nick earlier about her, who also knows her. he said she would want people to hear about the civilian deaths that are still happening, as well. >> she most certainly would. according to activists there, at least another nine people who were killed, she was also, of course, in that brief clip you aired earlier there reporting on how she witnessed the death of a child. she had also been to a medical clinic a few days before that and seen another two people diaz well. that was really her forte. her ability to take the suffering, to translate it into pros and to report it to the rest of the world. she was someone who really believed in the journalistic mission to try to shed light on various astros cis atrocities world. >> arwa damon, live for news day butt . >> it's so good to see arwa in that exact neighborhood and others. luckily arwa is back in beirut.

it goes without saying, they are at such risk to bring the story to the western world. we also want to follow breaking news out of afghanistan this hour. the american embassy in kabul on lock down right now. new protests raging across afghanistan all in response to what the u.s. is saying is an inadvertent burning of muslim holy books at a military base there at bagram. thousands of afghans are massing outside that air base, u.s. choppers firing flares to try to break up this crowd. >> officials say some of the religious material was moved because detainees were writing on the documents to exchange extremist messages. still, the united states is apologizing saying that it was an honest mistake. general john allen, the top commander in afghanistan, ordered an investigation saying it was not intentional in anyway. he also said that there would be training for the soldiers that they could identify all of those

religious materials. back here in this country to politics now. it's the big day in the detate in the desert. polling on this day is showing it's a statistically dead heat of the two top front runters. romney at 36% and santorum tucking in neatly behind at 32% within that margin of error. ron paul just ticking along at 6%. romney's four-point lead again within that margin. brett o'donnell is our next guest. he helped to prepare mitt romney for one of his big debates, as well as michele bachmann for debating as well. i'm glad to have you back was because do you know something, brett, i've been doing the matt. it's been 27 days since the last debate. i'm kind of wondering if the it candidates are a little bit rusty or if they are unbelievably prepared for tonight. what do you think? >> well, i mean, i would imagine that all of them have been preparing significantly for this debate. this is the last debate of the primary season potentially.

and so the stakes could not be higher for the debate this evening. >> some word that newt gingrich cleared his schedule today so on debate day he's not doing any campaign stops, no speeches dpli where. does that speak volumes for you? >> it does. it says that he's taking tonight very seriously. i think all of the candidates will be. most of them go through a routine that they have found works for them to get them ready for the debate. both mentally and in terms of preparing for the issues. >> all right. i want to play for you a couple of sound bites. i think you and i even talked about this about a month or so ago. but these were some of the greatest hits from both -- you know where i'm going with this. >> sure. >> from both newt gingrich as he was heading into that south carolina slam and also from mitt romney as he went into his big florida slam. so let's have a look at those two and talk in a moment. >> i think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much

of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office, and i am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that. >> i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mexico. my wife's father was born in wales. they came to this country. the idea that i'm anti-i'm gant is repulsive. >> wow. i remember both of those moments as they were playing out live. i could almost hear the echo of no, you didn't. but i got to ask you. do you think those things are just organic? do they just happen? are they just debate magic or are they strategic? >> i think sometimes they're strategic, sometimes they are debate magic. there's this misconception that candidates sit in a room and a bunch of advisers cram lines into their head so they can go out and deliver, you know, sound bites to an audience. many times that's not the case. many times you know it's the candidate that has to execute. now, in the case of newt gingrich, clearly that moment

was t'd up for him because it was the moment about his ex-w e ex-wife, infidelity. tonight will be interesting because it was john king who is moderating that debate and he is no rating this evening. it will be interesting to see that exchange and how it goes down between speaker gingrich and john king. >> so, brett, apart from newt gingrich and mitt romney who were clearly all about the narrative last time around. it's now different. it's 27 days later and it's about romney and santorum. does santorum need to do one of these big things? does he need to come out of the gate with a big slam with his mojo as paul steinhauser calls it or does he need to keep going under the radar? >> going under the radar will not be acceptable this time. he will be the center of the stage and in the spotlight. he's got a lot of things he's going to have to answer tonight in the debate given the last few days and some of the comments that are surfaced. some of the things that he has

said. he's got to clarify those and make sure that he is, you know, ready to go to answer those questions that have come up over the last few days. you know, these debates are really about establishing who is the alpha male, who is the leader of the pack. and it's very, very important that tonight, each of them look for that moment where they can establish themselves as the person who will the champion to go take on president obama in the fall. >> i for one would have loved to be a fly on the wall with one of your prep sessions but i will just have to do with this interview. i thank you for it, brett. >> see you again soon, i hope. i want to remind our viewers not to miss the last presidential debate before the primaries in arizona, michigan, and super tuesday, as well. cnn's arizona republican debate starts tonight 8:00 eastern. sharp. don't miss it. 13 minutes past the hour. still ahead on "early start," president obama is unveiling a brand new corporate tax reform

plan scheduled for today. christine romans gives us a sneak peek. linsan cashing in on a good cause. first, let's get a quick check of the weather. rob marciano joining us. >> day after fat tuesday, shake the cobwebs out and get out there and get on it. showers across upstate new york. shouldn't be a big deal. rain and snow showers across chicago. maybe an inch or two this tl. threat for severe weather across parts of the southeast today. and again tomorrow with the anticipation of this storm that's rolling into the pacific northwest today. flood watches and warnings. wind in the mountains of idaho and montana and wyoming. that energy will get into the south tomorrow for severe weather as the heat continues to build. that's a quick check on weather. 14 minutes after the hour. "early start" will be right back.

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we begin here with breaking news from syria. two western journalists, including marie colvin. there she is on the left-hand side. colvin was a frequent voice here on cnn reporting from syria just last night. cnn's "ac 360." the 28 french photographer on the left there, remi ochlik was

also killed. this is rubble from the shelling where those journalists were killed. five people gunned down last night at a health spa outside of atlanta. police say the shooter also turned the gun on himself. we have very few details there. jury deliberation is expected to begin today in the university of virginia lacrosse trial. he is charged with first degree murder in the beating death of his exgirlfriend yeardley love. a supreme court in whether race should be a factor in college admissions. a woman says the university of texas denied her admission because she is white. the university says race is only one of several factors it considers. also in the news, a snowmobiler set off a deadly avalanche in montana and it ended up killing him. a fellow rider was able to escape. the pair was riding in an area that was approved for snowmobiling. retired astronaut mark kelly who is also the husband of

former congresswoman gabrielle giffords says that he is now writing a children's book. the book will be called "mausstronaut about a mouse that travels in state. the jersey that jeremy lin was wearing when he led the knicks over the l.a. lakers earlier this month went on sale and it fetched more than $42,000 at a charity auction. the money is going to madison square gardens garden of dreams foundation. i'll repeat that. $42,000. just remarkable. and edward's famous painting "the scream" is for sale. it's headed for auction at sotheby's and experts say it could go for more than $80 million. >> the reaction to that? ah. that same reaction, right? $80 mill? >> i had that reaction when it was stolen. so this has some history to this painting, not only just a famous and beautiful painting but also

it's been around the block, shall we say. coming up, the gop candidates prepare to battle it out tonight in what could be their final debate. we're going to tell you what to watch out for. our panelists are going to do that for you.

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24 minutes past 6:00 a.m. on the east coast. welcome back, everyone. america's businesses are getting a tax overhaul. obama administration is unveiling a corporate tax plan later on today, lowering the highest tax rate but eliminating a whole budge of those loopholes. >> we need somebody to break it

down for us, so christine romans is here. what do you know about this plan so far? >> it's on the front page of all the newspapers. jessica yellin had a preview about it last night. we're going to hear more how the president wants to have a new framework from lowering the overall tax rate from 35% to 20%. we wants to eliminate dozens of loopholes and subsidies and goodies that companies can use to try to lower their tax rate from 35% on their own. he banwants to install a new minimum tax on foreign profits and put in incentives for companies to keep jobs and production and manufacturing at home. so this is a framework from the administration and an administration official admits that it might be difficult in this political environment to get it all through, but the president putting out there what this administration sees for lowering corporate taxes. >> is it good enough? is it what companies want? is it what republicans or companies think is good enough?

>> we'll look to see what the big business lobby stays about it later on today. bottom line is companies have $2 trillion in cash, right? they're back to making profits again. if you look at congressional budget office analysis of how much companies are paying, they're not paying 35% of their profit in taxes. they haven't done that for years. they're paying more than 12% of their profit in taxes. and you look at some of the very biggest companies in this country who are, i guess, based in this country but work all around the world. you know, they have tax offices that are working very, very aggressively to make sure that they're paying very little tax, as much as legally -- as little as legally possible. so if you take away all of the corporate tax breaks and subsidies, companys will be paying higher tax necessary some cases. so that's why i'm sure we're going to hear from the corporate lob i bs today about what they think the president should do about this. >> you were telling us a factoid earlier that i thought it was interesting. the tax attorneys get paid a whole lot of money. >> in some of these companies,

the place where the attorney gets paid the most, the most highly paid attorney is a tax attorney for a big company. we have a complicated tax system that is full of loopholes and subsidies. and if your job is to enhance shareholder value your job is to go out there and get them. >> not if obama's plan might go through. 27 minutes past the hour. coming up, gop candidates debate tonight. maybe for the last time. what you can expect. and a woman in texas shot by a bullet that flew over the board rder from mexico. we'll let you know what happened and what the implications are. you're watching "early start." look at all this stuff for coffee. oh there's tons. french presses, espresso tampers, filters. it can get really complicated. not nearly as complicated as shipping it though. i mean shipping is a hassle. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service.

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>> i'm zoraida sambolin. all knotted up, it's just hours away from the cnn arizona republican debate. a new cnn poll shows that rick santorum and mitt romney are in a statistically tie in the state. the u.s. embassy in kabul is on lock down as protesters in afghanistan rally a second day against koran burnings. nato officials have apologized for what they're calling an error in the disposal of the korans they say were scrawled with, quote, extremist messages. u.n. nuclear inspectors bailing again in their attempt to investigate if iran has secretly been working on arms testing. they issued a defiant warning threating a preemptive strike against any country that threatens iran. police in london are rehearsing a full-scale terror attack. they're faking a subway bam blast with mass casualty there's. security exercise is part of the preparation for this summer's big event which is, of course,

the olympic games in london. maryland is a step closer to becoming the eighth state to legalize same-sex marriage in the united states. the senate committee approving a gay marriage bill and sending it to the full state senate for a vote later on this week. maryland's lower house approved it last week. and a woman walking in el paso, texas, was hit in the leg by a bullet that authorities believe flew over the border from mexico. police say the incident occurred at the same time as a shootout broke out in juarez. >> that's a crazy story. >> unbelievable but i suppose they are close enough. i've never been there. 32 minutes past the hour here. let's talk politics. rick santorum's comments about satan four years ago surfacing just hours before the big cnn republican debate. >> satan has done so by

attacking the great institutions of america, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that have so deeply rooted in american tradition. >> so he is defending what he said. and is sure to face more questions about it tonight. at least that's what we think here. the fallout could slow down his surge in the poll perhaps. let's talk to cnn.com contributor and former spokesman, house republican conference gretchen hamill, and cnn political editor paul steinhauser. paul, i'm going to begin with you. the peril of being the front-runner is we are hyper focusing on santorum today. listen to what he said to our jim acosta about the satan comment and then i want to talk to you about it. >> i'm a person of faith. i believe in good and evil. i think if somehow or another because you're a person of faith

you believe in good and evil is a disqualifier as president, we're going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president. >> cnn poll has a tight race with fundamental plate split in party. 34% of the people though say they might change their minds. how can santorum appeal to those who are less religious with the comments like the ones we just shared? >> listen, his comments shows that he backs up what he says, that he doesn't change his mind, he doesn't maybe flip-flop like some other candidates may be running for the gop nomination. republican understand that rick santorum is a very religious man who stands by his convictions. it's not just social issues for rick santorum. i think he needs to do that in our debate tonight. for rick santorum, remember, this is the first time he's going to sit center stage. he's been on the sidelines on the side of all the brief use debates. when you sit in the center as he will with mitt romney, a lot

more scrutiny comes and he needs to be ready for full frontal attacks from romney and paul. >> we're going to talk about the economy here. santorum is hammering home on social issues. listen to this. >> free prenatal testing ends up in more abortions and, therefore, less care that has to be done. it's the churches money. forcing them to do something that they think is a grievious, moral wrong. how can that be the right of a woman? that has nothing to do with the right of a woman. i do have concerns about women in front line combat. i think that can be a very compromising situation. it's not about your jobs. it's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. >> he is a man of his convictions. but we know that economy is the most important thing to voters and it's a weak spot for obama here. only 40% think he can get the economy moving. so do you think that santorum is going to focus every opportunity

he gets on the economy in the debate? >> he hasn't thus far. he has been focusing on some other issues and it will be interesting tonight to see how he handles this. with the polls showing pretty much deadlocked in michigan and arizona, this is going to be critical for both of -- actually for all of the candidates romne santorum to show they have the leadership to bring the nation out of its economic turmoil, all of the fiscal turmoil, and it can bring this nation back up and provide the economic opportunity to the american public that they want. but staying on these social issues may be his strategy in order to win the nomination. but we need to get back to the focus of what americans care about and what this country needs right now. >> ruben, we're going to stay on santorum. democrats are not their biggest fans but he's getting a lot of criticism now from a conservative columnist from "new york times," ross dalvat. op-ed piece for today. it says, talking like a social conservative activist could actually be a problem. in the still unlikely event that santorum captured the nomination

then his campaign would probably be able to social conservatism what barry goldwater's 1964 campaign was to small government conservatism. a losing effort that would inspire countless observers to declare the loser's worldview discredited, rejected, finished. is he right? is it as dire as all that? >> i tell you what, i think ross at "the new york times" has it wrong. i don't think he's got it right at all. i know a lot of republicans who feel this way. the problem is the heartland voters don't feel that way and it didn't feel that way in eye ewhat. look at rick santorum, we pronounced him all but dead a few weeks ago and now he's a front-runner. people in the heartland do like his emphasis on social issues. they don't have to agree with him but he sticks by what he believes and he speaks to them about his core. >> final question. two-word answer.

president obama sang last night. i don't know if you heard it. here it is just in case. ♪ come on ♪ baby don't you want to go ♪ same old place ♪ sweet home chicago >> i'm going to preface this by reminding all of you that i am from chicago. thumbs up or thumbs down. gretchen, i'm going to start with you. >> two thumbs up. it was a great moment for him. >> ruben? >> thumbs down. he ought to focus on the economy. no wonder he's singing the blues. >> paul? >> i'm the man in the middle so i'll give one thumbs up and one thumbs down. how's that? >> well-done. thank you very much. one thumbs up, one thumbs down. i they two thumbs up. i want to take you overseas because in afghanistan, if you didn't think a lot was going on there, think again. the embassy there is on lockdown because of this. look at these people. they are livid. all over what's called an

accidental burning of religious documents and korans. we'll take you live there in a moment. ahh, one.

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you know, typical alarm clock. i am so glad to get rid of it. just to be able to wake up in the morning on your own. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪

...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. welcome back to "early start." 42 minutes past 6:00. in just a few hours jury deliberations are set to get under way in the murder trial of a former university of virginia lacrosse player, george hugh le. our paul cowen, cnn legal contributor and former prosecutor, now criminal defense attorney, joins us via skype from ridgewood, new jersey. i've been wanting to talk to you about this for a while. this is a little different in that closings actually finished

on saturday and here we are almost four days later getting down to deliberations. is there anything to this very long period of time in which this jury has had to contemplate the last things they heard? >> judges have a right to do this, to delay submission because of courtroom efficiency. i'm told that the courtroom had to be used for a grand jury yesterday and that was one of the reasons that the delay occurred. i have to say though that most lawyers are appalled by this. it's a murder case. after you sum up to the jury you like the jury to get the case. it's a very, very important case. so i'm surprised that the court scheduled it this way. i don't think it's a good thing. >> paul, one of the last things that this jury heard and saw in this case was a prosecutor in tears. i have done hundreds upon hundreds of cases. i've been in courtroom after courtroom and i have never seen a prosecutor cry. >> you know, i was sort of stunned by it, myself. and you know, because i was commenting on this is t. the oty

on another cnn show. and i was talking to a prosecutor friend of mine in manhattan who has been in the office for 30 years. never heard of a prosecutor crying. now, people watch this stuff on television, you know, "law and order" and they think that's what happens in court. >> it doesn't. >> they don't cry because appellate courts frown op it. they think it's objecting emotion into a case when the jury is supposed to be focused on the facts. sometimes you see defense attorneys do it but this is the first time i've ever seen a prosecutor do it. >> i've seen plenty of defense attorneys do it. if things don't go george hughley's way, is that reversible error? is that something he can say i have a real good appellate issue here? >> it's certainly something that can be argued before appellate court. there's a long history of cases being reversed when prosecutors

used emotionally charged words in their summations. if you call somebody a creep or a predator or a habitual liar, courts frown on that because they say it's name calling. now, what's more emotional than crying in front of the jury? so if the court was looking for a reason to reverse, that certainly would be put on the list. and let me tell you something. there's probably a lot of areas in this case where the court might be looking hard at the record. so it's going to be on the list. >> you bet your bottom dollar there appellate attorneys are watching every moment in the case. the heart of the issue is, premeditated murder or felony murder. no matter how you slice it there is a whole lot for the jury to chew on. >> yes. and it's just such a tragic case for both families. the love family, she was a talented athlete, beautiful young girl. and for george hughley as well,

going off to college and you have this case. it's just -- it's horrific. but prosecutors did something very unusual here. they charged premeditated murder, that he planned to kill her. very, very serious charge. life in prison. and then they hedge their bets by saying he's guilty of what we call felony murder. now, this is a doctrine that when you're, say, sticking up a store or a bank, if a bystander is accidentally killed, you're guilty of murder even if you don't plan it. so they're saying he broke into her dorm room and planning to steal her computer, and she died in the process, hence, felony murder. a real stretch on that doctrine. and if prosecutors lose those two counts, then it drops down to manslaughter, which is what the defense says it is. you know, defense says, hey, he was a drunken kid who was stupid and acted inappropriately and he hit her and hurt her but he didn't want to kill her. >> you are smarter than i am but i'm going to disagree with that

on the felony murder. i say this is an out clause on this jury if they can't get the premeditation, they can get him on that. you and i are going to have this conversation again. >> i don't want to say that i'm smarter than you, are ashleigh. >> paul callan, it's a joy to talk to you every day. 46 minutes fast hour. here's what's making news this morning. breaking news from syria. two western journalists including american marie colvin on the left there was killed in heavy shelling in a neighborhood in the city of homs. colvin was a frequent voice here on cnn reporting from syria just last night on cnn's "ac 360" on the right there 28-year-old french photographer remi ochlik also killed. this is showing the rubble from the shelling where those journalists were killed. pbs documentary on former president bill clinton has focused new attention on the whole monica lewinsky affair and the clintons are not too happy

about it. in the next hour on "starting point," soledad talks to davis, former white house counsel and clinton family friend. the new u.s. consumer finance protection bureau is looking to crack down on overdraft fees. it's investigating whether banks are manipulating the system and charging the fees and whether they're making it clear to you how they have been incurred. so it is official, president obama is a singer. if you didn't already know it, with his al green number. take a look. ♪ i am so in love with you >> wow, that was january 19th, mr. smiling man. and this is now, "sweet home chicago," singing for the second time in this year, 2012. a little more hesitant this time. why wouldn't you be? he's on the stage with blues

legends buddy guy and b.b. king. but he did manage to get out a few lines of "sweet home chicago." ♪ baby don't you want to go ♪ come on ♪ baby don't you want to go ♪ same old place ♪ sweet home chicago >> my knees would have been knocking beside b.b. king. and hey, h low there, mick jagger, too? star-studded affair. some people are saying this is president obama's bill clinton's saxophone moment. let's take you back. have a listen. ♪ maybe you prefer president bush goi boogying down.

folks here are laughing, okay? but i believe that's ashleigh's favorite moment. >> not of all of them. that would be my favorite moment of president bush's moments. i don't think there were that many but this is a good one. that was a whole lot of fun, i remember. >> even his wife is getting in on the action there. soledad o'brien joining us now on what's coming up on her program starting. >> i was going to say president obama must be feeling the pressure he has to sing in front of buddy guy and b.b. king, tough crowd. i'm going to change that. president bush dancing and then taking over the drumming? >> it's a bit much. >> he was a decider. >> he was good. i like that. i like that. still ahead this morning on "starting point" at the top of the hour we're going to dig deeper in the story we brought you yesterday. we were talking about the buffalo schoolteachers and all the millions of dollars they've been paying for plastic surgery. that's covered by the district. going to talk to a teach whole had plastic surgery. going to explain some of the detheys behind that sorry this morning. also, governor chris christie of new jersey sits down and talks to piers morgan and

piers asked him about his weight. and these are young ladies who had their own following when their dad was run for president. the huntsman girls are joining us. that's all ahead at the top of the hour. "early start" is of course is right back after the this break.

welcome back. 53 minutes past the hour. developing story happening now in afghanistan. there are new violent protests on the streets of kabul. demonstrators rally for a second day now. they're angry over the burning of the koran by nato troops. u.s. officials have apologized for what they're calling a mistake. they say copies of the koran that were confiscated from the detainee center had extremist messages written in them and that's why they were disposed of. >> the u.s. embassy is right now on lockgown down in reaction to street protests. and reports of increasing violence this morning are coming in. four people reportedly killed by police. ben farmer is a journalist in kabul who joins us live now. it's just sort of late in the afternoon where you are.

i'm curious to find out if there are any additional measures right now that you've been able to see, concrete measures, to try to mitigate what is going on there and maybe stop the spread of this violent protest. >> police have deployed extra men on the streets of kabul and on to streets of several other cities to try and stop these protests. we've seen at least five or six large protests today. the death toll -- wounded. mr. karzai has made a statement. we've been expecting him to make a statement for some time now. rather than condemning the protests, he's condemned the actual burning of the koran. and he's ordered an investigation into what happened at bagram. so it doesn't look like he has moved to take away the heat out of these protests yet. and it seems that they could well continue. although it's late in the afternoon and today's protests

might be waning, there's fierce that it might continue tomorrow and everyone has their eye on friday and friday prepares. >> ben farmer, thank you for that. that is distressing news. that the president of the country has condemned the burning of the koran and not the violence that has ensued. that doesn't speak well to how this unfortunately. still ahead on "early start," reliving the lewinsky affair in a new documentary. does it focus too much on monica, however? soledad o'brien is talking to a friend of the clintons. she's going to talk about the details of that. in the works package, we change the oil we change the filter... tire rotation, suspension, we make suspension checks... what we have here is the multi-point inspection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change,

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