jeanne moos, cnn. >> dictator, look this way, give us love. >> that's it for me, i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." the news continues next on cnn. good evening from the cnn election center. we're watching breaking news tonight. new photographs of the suspect at the high school in ohio. also, mitt romney attacking rick santorum on the eve of the must-win primary in the state of michigan. plus, an accidental explosion exposes an apparent plot to assassinate the russian prime minister, vladimir putin. first tonight, the breaking news from ohio where authorities just gave out more details about today's deadly shooting at a high school in chardon, ohio, that's near cleveland. one student dead, four others wounded. two of the wounded students are in critical condition, one is

serious, and another is stable. yet another student showed a reporter from wkyc where one of the bullets grazed him. >> yeah, right here on my ear. i was actually -- as i was turning away from the gunman, he caught me right on the ear. >> reporter: how's your hearing, how close was he when he fired that shot? >> we were the table right next to him, he was within three feet of us. three of the victims were at my table as well. >> the student we just saw identified the gunman as t.j. lane, seen here in a picture from his facebook page. authorities won't confirm the identity other than to say he's a student and juvenile. the shooting happened in the school cafeteria at 7:38 this morning. one of the teachers chased the gunman out of the school and ultimately caught him. frantic parents answering phone calls and text messages from their children rushed to the school.

>> she texted me and said there's been a shooting and i'm in a closet, but don't worry. i just said keep texting me, so that's what we're doing, i keep texting her. >> cnn is outside the school in chard chardon, ted, what are we learning about the alleged shooter? >> reporter: well, john, we're learning this is a young man that became a bit of a recluse in recent years, according to his friends. we heard from one witness/friend who said he used to hang out with him in middle school, elementary school, but in the past few years, he stuck to himself and started dressing in black clothing, sort of that goth look. we've also heard stories from witnesses he may have been teased at some level because of that. that's not been confirmed by authorities. as you mentioned, they are not even confirming his name because he is a juvenile. he was chased out of the school, he did give himself up right away, apparently. he is in custody tonight.

>> ted, bring us up to date about what we know about the student who sadly was killed and the wounded students this evening. >> reporter: well, the student that was killed was a 16-year-old. he was on his way to a vocational school, a lot of the students that go to this school take classes at a vocational school. he was on his way there, waiting for a bus when he was gunned down. his family issued a statement saying they are utterly shocked, asking for their privacy. at one moment they drop off their 16-year-old at school and within an hour learn he's being air lifted to a cleveland hospital where he eventually died. we did hear from a family member of one of the other critically injured students who is also at a cleveland hospital tonight. that family member tells us that that student is out of surgery. he was shot in the stomach and there was some fear that he would be paralyzed, but according to this family member just recently, he's doing very well and hope he'll make a full

recovery. >> we hope as well he makes a full recovery. live at the scene of this horrible tragedy. thanks so much. we'll get back to you. martin savidge has a personal connection to this story. he spoke with cnn by phone about an hour ago. >> everybody in the community and certainly the high school has just been shocked and horrified by the day's events, and talking with students here, you can see how deeply shaken. it began, of course, early this morning during the morning announcements, about 7:30 when the principal gets on the loud speaker system in the school and announced that they were in lock down. the students initially said we've had these drills all the time, but they could tell by the emotion in his voice that this was not a drill. a lot of the kids can't even bring themselves to talk about it. we've reached out to a number of families, especially families whose children were either in the cafeteria where the shooting

took place or who were in the hallways, and they just are so emotionally distraught. initially, when they got out of the classroom, got out of school, they felt fine, but now the news has begun to sink in. that particular teacher, which is so often cited, the students know him as mr. hall. it's actually frank hall, he is a football coach, and big guy, and the kids say they are not surprised in any way, shape, or form that mr. hall would have been the one that chased the gunman out of the school and probably prevented any further disaster from happening here. now, i'm also hearing there are other teachers who did other heroic events. some of them quite remarkable. outside the line of the classroom going to rescue wounded children, bring them to their classroom, and to care for them and protect them. >> this subject has two sons at chardon high school. linda joins me on the phone now.

linda, take me through your terrifying, horrifying moment. how did you find out there was a shooting at the school where your two sons were? >> well, one of my sons had contacted me from the parking lot of the school across the street, the maple elementary school, because he was in the hallway outside of the cafeteria, i believe, they were preparing to go to their health class, and he did not -- i don't believe he saw the shooting, but he heard the pops of the gun, and thought at first it was a cap gun or something, and i think then he just reacted to that, along with any of the few other students there, and they just started running, and they ran across the street. the parking lot where they gathered and were just trying to come to grips with what they just went through. they weren't really quite sure. i think the phones were out, they were texting.

he called me, took a couple of times to reach me, called his dad, and from that, we just gathered that we needed to get there, waited for more information, tried to reach my other son, who happened to be on the other side of the cafeteria in the locker room for gym class, and i eventually reached him, and he had no idea what was happening, because he was in the locker room, didn't hear the shot, but i believe that the teacher must have kept them in there. >> do either of your sons know the alleged gunman? >> no. i believe they just know who they are, the shooter or the victims. they aren't acquainted with any of them. >> no conversations in recent days about trouble at the school or threats at the school or any behavior, if you read this young man -- the alleged suspect, if you read his facebook page,

disturbing writings. any concerns at all before this horrible event this morning? >> no, not that they were aware of, not that we were aware of. i think that everything was pretty normal and pretty routine. >> in terms of the school arranging to get the children out, obviously, i need to worry about the gunman first, had the lock down. how would you grade the school's performance of dealing with this and making sure it got information out and got the students out? >> oh, i think the school did an excellent job. i think the police department -- i think everybody did an excellent job. i felt comfortable being around the community as we gathered waiting for our kids, the schools did an excellent job. took a little bit of time to get the information out to us, but we were kind of getting more information through our kids' communications with cell phones and stuff, but the school did the best they could in the situation, given they reacted

admirably, everybody. >> linda, appreciate your help understanding this tragedy tonight. our best to your boys as well. please, take care in the days ahead. more from chardon in a bit. shifting to politics. for mitt romney, the michigan contest is a must-win, the state he grew up. tonight a poll shows it's a dead heat. rick santorum 36%, that is within the poll's margin of error. mitt romney spent today across michigan, hitting santorum with sharper and more personal attacks. >> i'm glad he recognizes, this has got to be a campaign about the economy. it's time for him to really focus on the economy and for you to all say okay, if the economy's going to be the issue we focus on, who has the experience to actually get this economy going again? senator santorum's a nice guy, but he's never had a job in the private sector. >> about an hour ago also in michigan, the former

pennsylvania senator threw the criticism right back at romney. santorum says no one, especially governor romney should question his conservative credentials. >> leading ahead of the curve on conservative issues. to be attacked on television as someone who is not an authentic conservative by a massachusetts governor. [ applause ] >> our national political correspondent is on the trail in michigan for us. has to be a tense night for the romney campaign. they know how important michigan is and with the polls showing a dead heat, they've got to be feeling the hit. >> reporter: that's right, john, they don't want to take a trip to al gore country and lose their own state, and that is really where the stakes are now for the romney campaign. romney earlier today was talking

about why rick santorum should get back to economic issues. that was a dig at rick santorum, we know he's been put under intense scrutiny on comments on socially conservative issues. i have to tell you, john, behind the scenes, the romney campaign was fielding lots of questions today about some of those comments that mitt romney made in the last 24 to 48 hours, really going back to detroit when he was talking about the romney family's car collection, those two cadillacs his wife drives, then on sunday at the daytona 500 when he said i'm not much of a nascar fan, but i know owners of nascar racing teams. all of that was being asked of romney advisers behind the scenes today. the advisers were pushing back saying this is part of a media narrative, they were dismissing it and saying mitt romney does, indeed, connect with voters out on the campaign trail. john? >> we're going to see how he connects in his one-time home state of michigan.

jim acosta on the ground, thank you. also in the news tonight, new explosion and rage of the burning of holy books in afghanistan. there are no nato causalities. the taliban calls the attack a retaliation by last week's koran burning by nato troops. now to syria, reportedly boosting today's death toll to 125 people. more than half at a security checkpoint in homs. the european union fighting the intense bloodshed with sanctions, but the regime insists reform is already in the process, pointing to a new constitution. again, this is the regime speaking, it says it's been overwhelmingly approved. up next, arming syrian rebels. we'll ask if that's a smart idea. and the private e-mails from a major security firm hit the

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in addition to new bloodshed in syria and afghanistan, today

also brought a strong warning targeting iran. vladimir putin predicts the consequences of a military strike against iran would be disastrous. mike rogers is just back from a trip to israel last week. mr. chairman, let's go through some of these hot spots in the region quickly, because there are many. you were in israel, people in the united states, including high up in the obama administration think the prime minister is going to wait until may, and if he does not see iran backing down, he'll launch a preemptive strike, did you get that sense? >> i got the sense israel is incredibly serious about a strike on their nuclear weapons program. they have a very different set of eyes on this problem. one is the fact that they've got problems on their southern border, egypt is growing unpredictab unpredictable, hamas a getting stronger, hezbollah, their

argument is if that nuclear umbrella comes over iran, it's dangerous to their very existence, let alone a middle east arms race -- nuclear arms race in the middle east, that they are going to have to do something. if you look at it through their perspective, they have a hard choice to make here. >> did you try to disabuse them of their perspective, the top military commander, chairman of the joint chiefs said about a week ago, it wouldn't be prudent, they need to wait, give sanctions more time. do you think the prime minister of israel would do this, say, in a month or two regardless of what the united states thinks? >> i think that they believe, it's their calculus that the administration, when they say because of those public comments that they should wait and do other things, is not serious about a real military consequence to iran moving forward with its nuclear program, so given that, i think they believe they are going to have to make a decision based on what's good for their national security interests aside from

what they think might be good for the united states, so i do think they believe they are going to have to make a decision on their own, given the current posture of the united states administration. and that's where we were hoping to pull this thing together. i think this would be better done with rolled-up sanctions, don't wait until july, crank everything down, continue to put pressure on them, and have a real option of military consequence for iran. they don't believe it, iran, i mean, and neither does israel. we have to change that equation if we're going to have an impact on iran backing down from their nuclear weapon program. >> how and what should the united states do to change the equation in syria? should the united states support arming the opposition? i think you said in the past you're worried there could be some al qaeda influence there. >> we do. we do know, we have credible information al qaeda has been working through some of those rebel groups in syria.

you don't want to go in and arm the wrong people. we've been down that road before, and it just didn't work out all that well for us. i'd walk very slowly. i think there are some options, though, john. we can empower the arab league to do more. there are some talk of establishing a safe haven in the country through the arab league to give breathing room so people could understand who the rebels are, could understand a way forward and a way that doesn't jeopardize the stability of the region. i think all of that is possible. the u.s. needs to be much more aggressive, i think, through the arab league. >> mr. chairman, let me bring you home to domestic politics, your state's primary is tomorrow, the state of michigan. mitt romney was raised there, his dad was the former governor. we have a dead heat tonight going into tomorrow's primary in a must-win state for him. you're a romney guy.

what's this problem? >> again, this has been a long primary, and it's been republican on republican viciousness since the beginning. the only thing the public gets a chance to hear right now is why one republican doesn't like another republican. never good for us in the long run, but remember, this is a state that lost a million manufacturing jobs over the last decade. it's been absolutely devastating for our state. he has a very strong economic issue, and that's why i think you're seeing the polls turn a bit towards romney. when people show up to vote, john, i think they are going to vote on who they believe can turn the economy around and i think most of them can see mitt romney's plan can do just that. >> we'll track those results tomorrow. chairman, appreciate your time tonight. thank you so much, sir. tomorrow's michigan primary will be the first time we hear from an important group of voters. just ahead, what they think of the republican race. than a cove? two covergirls. get two miracles in one product. new tone rehab 2-in-1 foundation.

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welcome back, here's kate with the latest news you need to know right now. hello, there. >> hello, sorry you're not here, you're probably having more fun. >> the election center, it's beautiful. >> it is, it is, it is. stratfor countered the apparent leak of its e-mails by raising and refusing to answer questions about whether some of the documents were forged or

tampered with before wikileaks made them public. the documents include one entitled the stratfor glossary of strange intelligence terms. they call the publication implorable. one of the plotters accidently blew himself up in a ukraine apartment building. last month's explosion led authorities to a group of plotters who have confessed they were organized by cechen militants. wildlife officers in florida had quite a morning today. they removed a black leopard and two tigers from the property of a former actor, who played "tarzan" in the 1970s. he was arrested for not having the right permits, which have been evoked because the animals were not properly caged. a wild story, if i have to use a pun. >> yeah, haven't seen those movies, but i'm guessing there are a lot of searches on the

interweb tonight. >> exactly. >> kate, see you in a little bit. when we come back, we go back to ohio for more on today's shooting at a high school near cleveland. authorities finished an emotional briefing a short time ago. plus, potential dirty tactics in tomorrow's michigan primary. ♪ [ kareem ] i was fascinated by balsa wood airplanes since i was a kid. [ mike ] i always wondered how did an airplane get in the air. at ge aviation, we build jet engines.

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in this half hour, new

details op a deadly shooting in a ohio school. if you haven't hugged and kissed your kids lately, do it now. we'll update you on the shootings in a second. also, michigan's muslim voters prepare to weigh in on the presidential race. it isn't a movie, didn't win an oscar, but angelina's right leg is all the rage on this day after the academy awards. let's bring you the latest on the deadly shooting in ohio that left one student dead, four others injured. the suspected gunman, a student. tonight we're learning more about what happened in chardon around 7:38 this morning and what comes next. >> our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the five victims in the case. just really not a lot you can say when you're responsible for the safety of 3,100 kids other

than the fact we're going to do e best we can to make sure that our schools continue to be safe. >> there is no normal response to this kind of event. some will seem to handle it in stride, others will be very distraught, and it's all within normal limits. what we'd like to say to you is that it is -- it is our opinion that it's best for you to talk about and deal with these events as soon as you can after the event and thereby reduce the long-term impact of this terrible tragedy. >> classes will be cancelled for the entire chardon schools tomorrow, so there will be no students in attendance. i'm asking our teachers and faculty and support staff with the exception of five maintenance people in case we need access to the buildings, we want to stay home and reflect on family, and i hope every parent, if you haven't hugged or kissed your kid in the last couple of days, you take that time.

>> a lot more information feeding into us from ohio. we're getting a clearer picture of how today's shooting unfolded. deb, what do you know about the timeline of all this? it starts this morning about 7:38? >> the bell rang about 7:18. within ten minutes parents began getting frantic calls saying there was a gunman inside and he was firing. now, what we know so far is that he's a 17-year-old teenager, you're seeing the picture of him right there. he's identified as t.j. lane, a vocational student, who had been living with his grandmother and appeared to have some family problems even though he's described as well-liked by a number of the students that were there. it appears, and police are investigating the possibility lane apparently targeted a specific table, a specific group of boys who were in the cafeteria. one of them, a boy by the name

of nate muller says they had been friends with lane and went their own separate ways, but the table he was aiming at, one of the boys appears to have been dating the ex-girlfriend of this t.j. lane. that is something that police are investigating. the school was immediately put on lock down. the school having prepared for this kind of tragedy, they were immediately put on lock down, doors were shut, children cowering in areas where they thought it would be safe. some of them locked themselves into closets as they were texting their parents. nate mullor was able to place a phone call and call police. that's when they responded, but by that time, this hero teacher, coach frank hall, apparently was able to chase the alleged gunman out of the school, thereby saving numerous lives. the police responded, set up a perimeter, and that's by about 9:00 he was taken into custody. >> horrible tragedy, sounds as

if not for the sequence of responses, could have been worse. >> absolutely, no question. >> deb, thank you so much. the alleged shooter, t.j. lane, wrote this, "feel death, not just mocking you, not just stalking you, but inside of y you." haley joins me now. haley, friend and classmate. did you have any indication, any indication that t.j. was planning a shooting at the school that he was so troubled he wanted to take revenge on any fellow students? >> no, not at all. he seemed like a very normal, just teenaged boy. he seemed happy. i mean, he did have a sad look in his eyes a lot of the time, but he talked normally, he never said anything strange or -- it was a really big shock. >> how often would you speak with him? >> well, he had a very, like,

sketchy attendance record. he didn't go to school very much, but when he did, we'd talk a few times a week, like two or three a week. >> and in terms of this student who was killed and the others who were shot, there are indications from reporting from other students at the school he specifically targeted this table, this group of students, for a reason. did you know the victims? >> no, i don't know them. i know of them, but i do not know them personally. >> do not know them personally. what else do you know about t.j., did he like guns, for example, did he talk about using guns in any setting, whether it would be in appropriate settings like hunting or inappropriate settings at all? >> yes, he did. he told me he enjoyed hunting, he enjoyed video games, just normal things, i don't know. >> you say just normal things. let me ask to put into context, did you notice anything in the last several days to a week that was different from how he was, say, a month or three ago? >> not at all. >> so this is a total surprise

to you? >> complete shock. he's always been quiet, but -- >> he's always been quiet. what was it like at the school when this happened? >> everybody was just in disbelief. nobody could believe that t.j. -- he was student of the month, like, it was just a really big shock. >> and did t.j. ever talk to you, lived with his grandmother, apparently family issues, did he ever talk about that? >> i've asked him once or twice, but he never would go into detail. he just said he had family trouble. >> haley, appreciate your help tonight trying to find out more about this disturbing story. thank you so much for your time, best of luck. coming up here, the truth about rick santorum since he's been in the presidential spotlight.

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in lansing, michigan, today, another stunner on the presidential campaign trail, rick santorum endorsed the sierra club, okay, that's a stretch, but stay with me a moment and listen. >> we went into a recession in 2008 because of gasoline prices. the bubble burst in housing because people couldn't pay their mortgages because we were looking at $4 a gallon gasoline. >> now blaming gas prices for the housing bubble puts santorum in the sierra club on the same

page, but here's tonight's truth, no doubt higher prices were a factor in the recession, the strains were crystal clear well before energy prices started to spike, and truth is, this is hardly the first santorum statement that's kept the fact checkers working overtime. the overwhelming culprit in the housing shock was the sub prime loan debaa kl. today wasn't the first time, but he's getting more attention now, much more, because of his rise in the polls and not always making the best use of the spotlight. pressed to explain how gas prices caused the housing bubble to burst, santorum said this. >> i said that was a factor. i'm sorry. i'll make sure i'm much more specific. >> here's some other controversial comments of late. on the glenn beck program he was asked about beheadings, u.s. officials blame the drug cartels, but santorum sees

something else. >> tell the truth about what the threat of radical islam is all about, and we don't. we have a president who won't even use the word muslim or islam in any national security documents. >> on that same program, santorum blamed colleges for driving young americans out of the christian faiths. >> 62% of kids who go into college with a faith commitment, leave without it. >> a 2007 survey did find 7 in 10 young process christians qui age of 23, but "going to college doesn't make you a religious dropout." "higher education is not the villain." does the senator need to be more careful? amy kramer, cnn contributor, and our chief political analyst.

amy, we have seen this cycle when you rise up, whether you're michele bachmann early on in the spring, herman cain, governor perry at one point, you get more attention and you can sometimes talk your way into trouble. how's the senator doing? >> well, i think some of these things he probably should not have said. the housing burst bubble -- the housing bubble burst was not about gas prices. we all know what happened with fannie and freddie and that happened before prices climbed during the 2008 election -- or in the summer of 2008, so i think he needs to be a little more careful about what he says, because when these people do rise up, they are in the spotlight and they are getting a lot more attention and they need to be cognizant of that. >> so you have this moment where you can step up and seize it, eric, or sometimes you end up hurting yourself. how's he doing? >> not so well the last couple of weeks. he keeps saying he'd like to talk about jobs and the economy, but it's the media who gets him to talk about the cultural

issues. not really, he keeps going on cultural programs rallying evangelicals to his support and is doing well in georgia, rallying evangelicals, but he's talking about cultural issues, not jobs. >> that's the hard part. he's talking about them. he's going on certain programs because he wants to win and wants to knock newt gingrich out. he's trying to consolidate support to knock gingrich out and then get a one-on-one on romney, but sometimes the short-term gets in the way of the long-term. >> in the short-term he knows what he's doing, evangelical voters are very important in the michigan primary, could be as much as half the vote, so that's important for him, but what he's doing is turning office call conservatives, and in the long-term, independent voters, calling president obama a snob for saying that kids ought to aim to get a college education, i think that becomes a problem.

the thing that i watch about rick santorum, following him out on the campaign, is when he gets asked a controversial question, he doesn't turn away from it like some politicians would do and say you could ask that, but i want to talk about the economy, he actually doubles down, that's what he does. he wades right into it. >> to a degree, that's what he did in the debate last week when asked about ear marks, he defended his record in the senate, explained the senate process. ear marks are this much of the federal budget problem, which is this much, however, it's a test for members of your movement, right? >> i had a radio talk show host say to me recently in south carolina, conservatives feel the tea party movement is shoving us to the side, kicking us, i said you may feel that way, we have the independents and moderates and some democrats identify with these fiscal issues. the economy, that's what it's about. we don't want to alienate them

either. it's about reigning in washington and getting our spending under control. that is what resinates with americans all across the country right now, because it's affecting their pocketbooks and that's where all these candidates need to stay, on the economy. >> one of the ways to appeal to blue collar voters is show up at nascar. the daytona 500 was today, supposed to be yesterday. rick santorum sponsored one of the cars. here's how rick santorum talks about nascar. >> start at the back of the pack in the 21st row, i said, you know, let's use the santorum -- let's use the santorum strategy, hang back, let the other cars in front get in wrecks or drop out of the race and move up in the end. that's hopefully the pattern he'll use. >> rick santorum talking about the driver who starts in the back of the pack and he says he'll surge, santorum, campaign metaphor there. here's mitt romney also down at daytona. not as closely as some of the

most ardent fans, but i have some great fans that are nascar team owners. >> and they drive a couple of cadillacs. >> you know, mitt romney is burning a candle at both ends, with ends with nothing left. he's the first republican, i think, ever to campaign on the progressivity of the income tax. he wants to use barack obama's rhetoric and fall into the caricature of the 1%, but the guys are playing to their weaknesses, not their strengths. >> neither of them is closing in a very strong way, i would have to say, in the state of michigan, and that's why it's a tie. romney, these haven't been his best days either. he keeps making unforced errors. >> that's why you're hearing more and more about this broker convention, because none of these candidates are really closing anywhere, and the passion isn't there for the candidates. >> you want that? >> i don't -- i want to go to bed tonight, wake up tomorrow,

and have it be over. >> this is what happens when you do have the longer drawn out, in one clenches, everybody's tired, candidates are tired, staff is tired, the voters are tired. remember, now president obama, senator obama sometimes forgot what committees he was on in the united states senate. he said things in the campaign that were controversial. so it happens in a campaign. the question is, how do you recover from it and get the reset button, we may not in this race. >> we may not get a reset button for a long time and that may be a problem for the candidates. remember, in 2008, there were, i think, three times as many elections by now. they wanted to drag it out. may be more exciting, but when you're suffering with the weakest candidates, plus romney, who can outgun them with the checkbook, you get in this mess. >> there's no incentive to get out when you have a super pac sugar daddy. by the way, we haven't talked about newt gingrich, wait until

super tuesday, he's getting money. >> we'll see, we'll see. >> right around the corner. >> one week from tomorrow. we'll see, we're still at this one. thanks, erin, you're staying on this tragic school shooting, what's ahead? >> yeah, unbelievable story, obviously, everyone this morning around 7:30 when the shooter came into a high school in chardon, ohio. five kids shot, one died, why they were targeted. whether he indicated he'd bring a gun to school on twitter and what we know at this point about the gun and what the gunman, the kid who shot these five kids, was thinking, why he chose to do this. we have some new details on all of that. and also on michigan when we talk about rick santorum versus mitt romney, there's a man, democratic strategist who says let's wreak havoc, democrats, and go vote for rick santorum tomorrow. he's going to come out front and

talk about why he's asking democrats to do that. is that the american thing to do, is it a patriotic thing to ? all that coming up top of the hour. back to you. >> erin mentioned the possibility of democratic mischief tomorrow in michigan. we know there's tea party voters, evangelical voters and michigan will be the first test of the muslim vote. joe johns explores that in a moment. thanks for babysitting the kids, brittany.

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the gop race in michigan couldn't be closer. mitt romney, rick santorum in a dead heat a day ahead of the big primary, so it seems like the candidates would be trying to drum up every vote. so what are they doing to reach out to michigan's muslim community? some say not much. here's joe johns. >> reporter: some call bangladesh avenue, a multicultural community where a lot of muslims live and work. the worker of aladdin cafe says she's detegting a lack of enthusiasm. >> for prime, it's not really because base is not excited and not energized. >> reporter: in fact, the people in the community feel mitt romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich aren't exactly beating down the doors asking for their vote, though muslims like nadia don't feel as though they've been ignored. far from it. >> so, i don't think they're ignoring us. i think they're using us as a

pawn to strengthen a rather radical ideal of what it means to be american that's not inclusi inclusive. >> reporter: they say it's about how some have talked about sharia law, jihad. gingrich has made the dangers of radical islam a focus of his speeches. >> so, my view is that we need to have a president who is prepared to tell the truth about who's trying to kill us. >> reporter: rick santorum holds himself out as a champion of religious freedom, which could work in his favor in a religious community, but not this time. >> i think it's very important that we understand that shah ri law is incompatible with the united states institution. >> he truly beliefs defending his own religion, but when it come to defending the religious rights of others, he believes that he wants to impose -- he

wants the law of the land to reflect his views of his religious institution and nothing else. >> reporter: among those here, the reaction to mitt romney was much less about his views on islam and more about his relationship from the state, as a guy who grew up here. >> i think romney with his legacy in michigan, having been born and raised here, was kind of taking our state for granted until recently. >> reporter: and anecdotely, john, the one republican candidate who seems to have gotten a certain amount of praise here in michigan from muslims happens to be ron paul. of course, because of his emphasis on civil liberties, he's gotten endorsements from the muslim newspapers in the area, as well as an endorsement today from the arab american republican leadership association, john. >> so, joe, does that mean ron paul has the edge or this community much like the rest of michigan, the rest of the

republican party, split, fractured? having trouble picking one? >> it does seem people are having trouble picking one, none the less, mitt romney has been very careful in the way he has talked about the muslim community. he's been very careful, also, to talk about religious liberties and not sort of go on the attack. he says it's partly because he grew up here in the detroit area and knew a lot of people of faith and dif wrennuates between them and people who are as you call them, extremists. >> joe live in michigan. thanks so much. kate bolduan's back with a latest news you need to know. >> good evening, everyone. new troubles for an italian cruise line. the costa allegra is without power in the indian ocean following a fire.

it is from the same fleet as the costa concordia. a homecoming photo of a male marine kissing his boyfriend created quite a stir. it has gotten 14,000 quote unquote likes and 3,000 comments since saturday. brandon morgan and his partner say they're surprised by the attention their photo is getting. and it seems angelina jolie's leg has legs so to speak. in the wake of last night's ceremony, her dress and pose sparked a new twitter handle. it has been filling up with snarky comments. i just looked and she has over, her right leg, has over 20,000 twitter followers. >> not something to be snarky about. not at all. >> i'm not going anywhere with this. i tell you. >> what's to snark at? >> nothing snarky here. >> finally, tonight's moment you probably missed. as you know, secretary of state

hillary clinton supposed to be nonpolitical in that job, strictly, but during a visit to tunisia, she told a group of students she's sure president obama will be re-elected this e year. >> i did think i needed to point that out to the audience and probably you know, my enthusiasm for the president got a little bit out of hand. >> no political juices flowing there? >> you know, i tried to dampen them down, tried to have you know, them taken out, blood transfusion, but occasionally, they rear their heads. it just suggests that i want what's best for my country. >> that's called your dna is your dna, kate. >> she handled it the way i think people should. if you think you misspoke, laugh it off and admit it and go on. >> didn't think she misspoke. irrational exuberance. >> if there's any family with politics in their