the santorum campaign is cashing in, no joke, on rick santorum's sweater vest. we'll tell you -- >> sweater that keeps on giving. >> and it's a fashion forward statement as well. it is wednesday, march 21st, and "starting point" begins right now. ♪ can i have you to myself, i do want you around ♪ ♪ those pretty faces always make you stand out in a crowd ♪ >> that's right, off of hogan gidley's playlist, the jackson 5 "i want you back." great song to wake up to. hogan gidley is rick santorum's campaign manager. we get to our panelist, john fugelsang joins us, comedian and personality, ron brownstein, senior cnn political analyst, and editorial director for "the national journal" and will cain is a cnn contributor and contributor for theblaze.com.

breaking news story in france, 300 police officers are surrounding the home of a suspect o is wanted in the shooting of that jewish school that happened on monday, killed a rabbi, two young sons and a young girl that was killed in the shooting. france says two officers were wounded in a shoot-out overnight and roeuters is reporting sayin he wanted revenge for the killing of palestinian children. in toulouse diana magnay, we heard about this time they were expecting the suspect inside the house would be coming out, turning himself over to police. where does that stand? >> reporter: absolutely. that's what the suspect said that he would do. he's been talking to police. they said he was extremely determined, extremely stubborn not exactly a negotiating position really but apparently he said he would come out at

midday. it's midday now and we haven't heard anything. there are around 50 police surrounding the house, 300 police all in all, taking part in this huge operation, the culmination of a manhunt, which has been ongoing really since that first killing ten days ago. now, this man is 24-year-old, hold up in a building up the road, told authorities is he responsible for the killings of three soldiers last week and for the killings of these jewish children on monday in revenge for the death of palestinian children, he said. he has apparently spent significant time in pakistan and afghanistan and says he's linked to al qaeda and right now, soledad, apparently the police are able to track his every movement in that house, using infrared sensoring devices. soled soledad? >> diana, we'll stay with the story and stay with you as we wait for something to happen in this case as 300 police officers

are now standing by to try to see if they can get that suspect out of that home. diana, thank you. let's turn to politics now, where the number one issue for voters in illinois, it effeting president obama, according to cnn's exit poll, what drove conservatives and middle income voters to rally around mitt romney. governor romney scored a decisive win in illinois, took home 47% of the vote to nt is snt's 35% of the vote, and that win helped mitt romney pad his del lat count, now at 562, senator santorum has less than half at 249. mitt romney is taking new jabs at president obama. >> we once built an interstate highway system, and the hoover dam. now we can't even build a pipeline. i mean, we once led the world in manufacturing and exports, investment. today we lead the world in lawsuits. you know, when we replace a law professor with a conservative

businessman as president, that's going to end. >> talking about himself, of course. last night no doubt a big blow for rick santorum. you'll remember that he had predicted if he won, if he won illinois he'd win the nomination. listen. >> i predict if we are able to do what i know most people think is impossible, which is to carry the state of illinois, that will fundamentally change this election like no other contest to date. it will put us in a position where they'll stop talking about delegates and start talking about how are we going to stop rick santorum from being the romney. nominee. >> all of that did not happen. what a difference 24 hours makes. what did happen to the santorum campaign? >> the grooves are cut deeply in this race. rick santorum has a base of support, and the most conservative evangelical wing of the party but has not been able to expand beyond that and illinois is a state where those voters simply are not present in the kind of numbers he needs to compete. 58% of the vote was not

evangelical and in no states so far, no state with an exit poll has santorum won more than 31% of voters who are not evangelical. he is competing among too narrow bandwidth in the republican party to threaten romney for the nomination. >> i know in a moment we'll have hogan gidley campaign manager talking and going to disagree with this but we have our numbers guy, ron brownstein. >> you do it on hand on looseleaf paper? >> this is my opinion, my perception, the fat lady may not be singing but standing off to the side of the stage warming up ready to walk out. >> the challenge is santorum is not strong enough to overcome romney's advantage but romney has not proven he's strong enough to drive santorum from the field. there are a number of states on the calendar that tilt toward the voters that favor santorum, which santorum could win starting in may. the only plausible argument is we're going to deny romney a first ballot nomination and see

what happens. right now it seems difficult to imagine. >> let's see what hogan gidley says is the plausible direction. it's nice to see you. good morning. what is your anale sis? you heard from ron brownstein. what do you say? >> where to start, ron. i love you to death, but there are a lot of things left to happen. >> here it comes. >> that's right. louisiana is the half way point. we haven't even finished the first half. we have a whole second half to go, prepared to go the distance, we've structured our campaign that way. we've got a low burn rate, we're prepared to go on into the other states. >> what happened in illinois, would you say? what went wrong? >> illinois is a tailor-made state for mitt romney. it's a hugely moderate to l liberal state, obama's home state and of course mitt romney is going to play well. we continue to do well amongst conservatives and the primary because rick santorum has taken the message and resonating with

people. what does it say about mitt romney to spend $13 for every vote he gets? we spend $3. that makes him a horrible businessman or a horrible candidate and that's how this is playing out now. >> what does it say about your conservative support with the exit polls. the categories when you look at them that went for mitt romney different i think that we've seen in some times in the past. 30,000 plus was mitt romney, true conservative also for mitt romney, support the tea party, catholics mitt romney. those are categories rick santorum used to win fairly handily. >> well you're trying to put several things into a box. i can walk out of a polling place and say i'm mickey mouse but that doesn't make it so. a lot of people across this country and you've seen some of the other states who are more conservative than illinois that have come out strongly for rick santorum. what does it say about mitt romney that he can't lock this thing up? he's got the establishment money. he's got the establishment support. he's the establishment candidate

but for some reason, and we saw this starting to build in 2010, conservatives are refusing to be force-fed a candidate hand selected by a minority moderate wing of the party. >> hogan keeps saying, what does it say about mitt romney? what does it say about mitt romney? is this a derail romney as opposed to let's try to get rick santorum elected? >> realistically they can hope is deny him a first ballot nomination because they're not going to overcome him. the question for santorum if you n only win in states dominated by evangelical christians, if you can't win more than about a third of a republican party in any state how can you make the case you are a more viable nominee and appealing more broadly within the party. romney is having trouble winning the most voters in the gop but santorum is having more trouble reaching beyond that vanguard. >> that's key what ron just said. hogan might say illinois is tailor made for mitt romney. in order for rick santorum to deny mitt romney the nomination

he has to win some states that are tailored to mitt romney like california and new jersey. what's going to happen in those states? >> what is the strategy, hogan? we'll give you the final word this morning. >> those states while they vote more moderate in the general election the conservative base in those states is very strong. we plan to do very well moving into louisiana, we have pennsylvania and wisconsin coming up, those are big states for us as well. look, we are playing extremely well in these states. rick santorum has taken that message, it's resonating. the support is growing. and for you go is to pretend like he doesn't win anything but evangelical voters is relick kuls. he won a state in pennsylvania and won very well there and won in democrat districts 70% democrat districts for congress, so his appeal is broad, it's just trying to be pigeonhold into this. the conservative side of this ballot is being split up by ron paul and newt gingrich. the fact we're even competing with mitt romney is absolutely amazing at this point.

it's just a great american story. >> hogan gidley, nice to have you. thanks for starting our morning with "the jackson 5." >> you're welcome. i do it every morning. >> i might start that, too. let's get right to christine with the headlines. good morning to you. >> we're following a developing story south of the border, mexican officials assessing damage from ed why's 7.4 magnitude earthquake. it shook buildings and rattled nerves in mexico city some 200 miles from the epicenter. in guerrero state reports as many as 800 homes damaged or destroyed. amazingly only 11 injuries reported. president obama's oldest daughter, malia was on a class trip in mexico when the quake struck. the white house says she's okay and was never in any danger. a brand new witness in the controversial shooting death of florida teenager trayvon martin. records confirm martin's girlfriend was on the phone with him minutes before he was killed by george zimmerman. she says martin told her

zimmerman was following him and she told him to run. the martin family says that testimony proves zimmerman did not act in self-defense. coming up in ten minutes the latest in this investigation with the president of the national urban league. the keystone pipeline extension back on the fast track or part of it. sources telling cnn the president wants to cut the red tape for a part of the expansion of that oil pipeline. the part where the green arrow is pointing the part of the pipeline the president wants to expedi expedite. the goal, bring down oil prices in the long-term, that's the hope and maybe in an election year defuse some of the rhetoric on the campaign trail coming from some of the gop candidates. at issue, still a big chunk of that pipeline that has to go through fragile terrain in nebraska, terrain on top of an important aquifer. a daily dose of aspirin might significantly reduce the risk of cancer and prevent tumors. people who took it for five years reduced risk of developing

cancer by get this, 37% but experts warn that the drug can cause dangerous side effects like stomach bleeding. and a milestone for twitter today, exactly six years ago on march 21st, 2006, twitter founder jack dorsey posted the first ever tweet. twttr minus the vowels was the first name. twitt billions of tweets later, it is the most popular platform in the world. averages more than 1 billion tweets in less than a week. soledad in. >> i am not surprised. . christine thank you very much. ahead on "starting point"," syria's look at the threat from iran. could attack on nuclear sites make iran more dangerous? we'll talk to congressman peter king who is holding a hearing on that today, he'll join us for a preview. the new ipad how it's been apparently overheating,

"consumer reports" takes a look at some of those reports about overheating, the verdict is straight ahead. and our get real focuses on rick santorum's sweater vests. available in one color only. we leave with you ron brownstein's play list. always with the bruce springsteen. >> great album. >> you say that every time. >> "land of hopes and dreams." you're watching "starting point." we're back after this break. ♪ and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time.

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new developments to get to in the shooting death of 1-year-old trayvon martin. a florida jury is investigating what happened along with the fbi and department of justice. martin was unarmed when he was shot and killed in a neighborhood near orlando, florida, by george zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain. last night a rally with the naacp, mark moreale is the president and ceo of the national urban league. >> good morning, soledad.

great to be with you. >> thank you, we appreciate that. the urban league is a number of organizations calling for more people to sort of eniter this case, the fbi, the department of justice. do you think police are intentionally not doing the job on this case? >> the facts just strike out and shock you, this patient boy who was minding his own business effectively in this neighborhood but you know what strikes me, soledad, is that the police very quick quickly sought to classify this as self-defense and to me that violates every established protocol of a clear investigation so not only are we saying investigate and bring justice for trayvon martin, and bring george zimmerman, charges against george zimmerman. i also say the actions of the police department need to be

carefully examined by the justice department. >> the police department have said a lot of the reasons that they had not arrested george zimmerman is because of the stand your ground law. >> let me tell you what the police did is they quickly sought to classify this. they didn't do what police are expected to do in cases like this, which is to say we reserve judgment until such time as there can be a complete and thorough investigation by our department, by the grand jury, and let the process go forward, but for i think the actions of civil rights organizations and the media shedding light on this case, this may have been a case that could have been easily swept under the rug. >> it's going to be hard to prove racial bias, which is if you're going to prosecute this under the federal hate crimes law, you're going to have to prove that. >> i don't think it would be hard to prove that at all. i think the language mr. zimmer uses at 1:52 in the recording

falls under the guidance of our hate crime laws. this is the two words he uses. >> let's play a little bit of this recording and of course we're not able to play the part of the recording where he breaks into a whisper and that's really what people have been talking about. i want to play a little bit of his earlier call to 911. >> hey, we've had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there's a real suspicious guy. this guy looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something. it's raining and he's just walking around looking about. >> further on in this 911 call, 2:21 he curses, and says a racial slur, and it's whispered, it's hard to hear, but i could hear it pretty clearly when i listened to it on the recording. >> i think people the hate crime aspect of it is important, but you have a basic fundamental murder, which may have taken place, and i'm saying may because i don't want to preempt

the authorities, and a hate crime can occur with an underlying crime, and that's usually how it takes place but look, this is a young man, 17-year-old, who was where he was, had a right to be, on a public street, and i am so, so shocked at what's coming out about this alleged neighborhood captain. we had a neighborhood captain program that was significant, highly successor when i was mayor of moramay y mayor of new orleans and everything he did beyond making a call broke neighborhood protocol. >> the guy who was a sponsor of the stand your ground law said this, "nothing in standard ground authorizes a person to pursue and confront." this makes it entirely different. there are people in the justice department who said anonymously and legal scholars they think hate crimes laws are just hard

to prove. >> at the federal level that's true, requires you to get inside someone's head. john's correct if we have audio evidence that allows you inside someone's head to their motivation it helps. as someone slow to give an opinion on this case i want to see evidence, mayor morial's opinion is spot on. there's still a hole in the time line. we don't know when trayvon martin and george zimmerman, how deadly force was escalated but at some point the burden shifts to george zimmerman, is the one that ended up shooting trayvon martin and self-defense is something he has to prove. >> that's true. >> the police department gave him the benefit of the doubt. you do know a little bit about what happened. the girlfriend, who is literally on the phone with trayvon martin is having a conversation in that sort of time period that everybody's looking and here is a little bit of what she said. >> he said he lost the man, and then the man, trayvon said the man still was following him. i asked him to run and trayvon

said he's not going to run. trayvon said he ain't gonna run like that, he was going to walk fast. >> zimmerman was screaming help before the gun went off. >> and the screams for help stopped. >> and what you have is there were two other women, you have additional evidence that is coming out that, had the police department conducted an investigation and not rushed to judgment, they would have had this available to them before they make a determination this was self-defense. we wait for the state's attorney. we encourage the state's attorney to conduct a thorough, complete and fair investigation. we'll be watching them closely, as well as the justice department. so this case is going to continue to attract attention, and i think leaders on the ground in florida, and leaders nationally and i think people in america who have just, love and favor justice have to keep a close eye on this case.

as a father of a young son, it just shocks me that this can happen in the 21st century. >> in the end we're not going to settle this case in a tv studio in new york as you know so what do you want at this point? what do you want from authorities at each level? how do you want them to proceed? >> i think the state's attorney should conduct a thorough and complete investigation, that i'm confident should lead to criminal charges against george zimmerman. what those charges are could be a number of things. secondly, i think that the watchful eye of the justice department and the civil rights division should keep a close eye on the state proceedings, and reserve the right to bring civil rights charges, but in addition to that, i'd like an examination of the police department there in stanford, florida. >> i think there will be a close examination of what the police did in this case, to me which is very baffling. >> congratulations. glad to see you back. >> nice to be back. we liked having you with us this morning.

we hope they are able to bring justice in this case. still ahead on "starting point," iran's supreme leader says the country will strike back if it's attacked, how real is the threat? we'll talk with congressman peter king in a moment. plus our get real this morning, the sleeveless revolution. yes, men, i'm speaking to you. will cain, think how good you would look in this. >> never, ever, ever see me come on this set. >> in is what you're getting from christmas from me thisser yoo, rick santorum's famous sweater vest. we leave you with rush, "tom sawyer." ♪ turn left. the passat is one of nine volkswagen models named a 2012 iihs top safety pick. not that we'd ever brag about it. turn right. come on, nine. turn left. hit the brakes. huh? how'd that get there?

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♪ oh if i could build my whole world around you, darling ♪ ♪ first i'd put heaven by your side ♪ ♪ pretty flowers would grow wherever you want, honey ♪ marvin gaye. this is your selection this morning, you're get nothing love on screen for it. >> i know. >> we give you credit right here. >> they assumed everyone would know what it is. >> you always think "ain't no mountain high enough" and i thought "if i could build my world around you" was good. more than 3,000 santorum sweateren vests have been sold. hogan gidley tweeted the warmer temperatures make this difficult to believe but rick santorum has sold more than 3,000 sweater vests, fear ricks vest.

go onloan and for a contribution of $100 or more, you get a gray sweatervest, only one color, and you fill out obviously the appropriate paperwork on the website but when you get this wrapped and delivered at christmastime from me with love. >> thank you. >> that's a great graphic, 300,000, romney. i think santorum is winning that category in the sweater vest fund-raising. >> homophobes who have a large collection of sweatervest, but romney is selling us loafers without tassels. >> we're ransacking the attic for ways of making money. it's beginning to get dry. >> in terms of cash. they're doing well. hey, romney folks might be like hey, what can we sell? jeans! that could work. it could work. all right, still ahead this morning on "starting point,"

mitt romney wins in president obama's home turf. new exit poll numbers could spell trouble for the president especially about the economy. and one of the biggest mysteries of the last century hasn't been solved, a new hunt for amelia earhart's plane, 75 years after that plane disappeared and she disappeared as well. there's an old photo that's giving new hope. and a glam rocker's team line-up. kiss is teaming up with another. ♪ in the darkness, there's so much i want to do ♪ sometimes, i feel like it's me against my hair.

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♪ everybody, let's have some fun ♪ ♪ you only live for once and when you're dead you're done ♪ we go from rush to b.b. king. >> two mornings in a row. a lot of b.b. king. "let the good times roll" steve

israel's playlist, congressman. first a look at the headlines. christine romans has that for us. >> good morning, soledad, new information on the suspect surrounded by police in france. he's wanted in connection with several deadly shootings over the past week including one at a jewish school where three kids were killed. according to reuters a prison director in afghanistan says the gunman escaped a kandahar jail in 2008 during an afghan insurgent attack. french authorities expect him to surrender at any moment. the u.s. army sergeant suspected of killing 16 afghan civilians is likely to be charged with homicide tomorrow. the attorney for staff sergeant robert bales expects other charges to be filed, too, and says the case could take two years to prosecute. lawyer john henry brown telling reporters he doesn't see much evidence against his client so far. >> i heard what the allegations are, right, and i'm a defense

lawyer so i deal with the evidence and i don't know about the evidence in this case. i don't know that the government's going to prove much. there's no forensic evidence, there's no confessions. >> sergeant bales is being held in a military prison in ft. leavenworth, kansas. his attorney met with him twice this week for a total of 11 hours. secretary of state hillary clinton praising 11 countries for significantly reducing their oil purchases from iran, the list of countries includes japan and several european nations. clinton says other countries that have not reduced buying oil from iran could face sanctions. at 7:45 eastern soledad o'brien will talk to u.s. congressman peter king about his investigative hearing on the potential terror threat from iran. the new ipad is hot, hot, hot, maybe too hot, though. just as apple announced it sold 3 million new mdi pads in four days people started complaining the device heats up way more than the previous version. "consumer reports" did a study comparing the ipad 2 and the new

hdi pad, the new one heated up to 116 degrees at one point during the test, 13 degrees hotter than ipad 2. apple says the ipad operates "well within our thermal specifications" and advised anyone having any problems to contact apple care. head bangers, soledad you're one of them i know. rejoice. two of the biggest hard rock bands will tour for the first time since the 1980s, kiss and motley crue, they call it requesting the tour" starts in brist bristol, virginia. >> what is the arming age? >> doesn't matter if you have sunglasses, big hair and havinghavinmakeup you're ageless. tickets go on sale this friday, soledad. >> that's great. when they come to the garden i am so definitely going. >> i can't tell which one is kiss anymore. >> something about 40 days and 40 nights -- let's turn to politics, mitt romney picking up new momentum at the gop race heads into

louisiana this weekend. he scored a big win in illinois last night, the political home turf of president obama. romney picked up 47% of the vote to santorum's 35% and last night both men directed their attacks at the president. >> after years of too many apologies and not enough jobs, historic drops in income and historic highs in gas prices it's time to say this word, enough. we've had enough. >> there is one candidate in this race who can go out and make that contrast, with the current occupant of the white house, someone who has a track record of being for you, being for limited government, being for solutions that empower people. >> democratic congressman steve israel of new york joins thus morning, chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee. nice to see. thank you for going with us. >> good to be with you. motley crue, sounds like

elements of the republican caucus. >> right out of the gates, steve p right out of the gates. >> i haven't even formulated the question yet. let's first get your thoughts on governor romney's win last night. analysis of the race. >> well, my analysis is first of all he should be congratulated for that win. now we go on to the pennsylvania primaries, where senator santorum is gearing up, that is his home state. it seems like every time that governor romney thinks that it is the ninth inning, two outs, two strikes and he's got the lead the game goes into extra innings. this game is going into extra innings. romney and santorum will continue to devour each other. they can't seal the deal. mitt romney can't seal the deal with himself because there are so many mitt romneys, the president is going to continue talking about creating jobs, supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses and strengthening and deepening this economic recovery. >> let's talk about the economic recovery, because in our exit poll we asked this question. is the nation's economy starting to recover, and 46%, the bottom

line, 46% say it's getting worse. 34% said it's staying the same, starting to recover is kind of a wimpy 20%. how concerned are you about those numbers when many people have said and you might be included in that many people have said that re-election for president obama is really going to depend on that starting to recover feel. >> i'm more concerned about actually creating job growth and supporting small businesses, and continuing this recovery than what the polls say. secondly the poll, those exit polls are a subset of a subset of voters. those exit polls are republican voters in a republican primary in illinois so i'm not sure it reflects the depth and breadth of the electorate. third when you contrast the actual policies what, democrats are trying to do, house democratic candidates as problem solvers with the rhetoric of romney and santorum and the republicans, one thing is clear. under their policies, we lost

700,000 jobs a month three years ago, under democratic policies, we at last month we picked up over 200,000 jobs. now, 200,000 jobs isn't where everybody wants to be but i'd rather be going in that direction than losing 700,000 jobs a month under these republican policies. >> congressman israel, good morning, ron brownstein from "the national journal." >> good morning. >> mitt romney from state to state has run best among better educated more affluent voters in suburbs president obama is counting on to win in the general election and what you're counting on is to recapture seats you lost in 2010. how do you rate governor romney as a competitor for the white color votes that are becoming increasingly important to democrats? >> you're absolutely right in our drive for 25 seats to win the majority in the house of representatives and protect medicare we have got to win those fairly moderate, independent suburban communities that we won in 2006 and 2008. so we need to focus on those

communities. now, governor romney in a moment of time may be doing well in those communities but it depends on which governor romney is campaigning in those communities. in those communities, the debate is not necessarily going to be between governor romney and president obama. the debate is going to be between governor romney an governor romney. he has said every different thing to everybody in those communities, and i think in those communities where, ron, you have so many independent voters, they want two things. they want straight shooters and they want problem solvers. they don't want the typical politician who says whatever he thinks he needs to say in order to get votes and that is absolutely what mitt romney has been about and will continue to be about. he will say whatever he thinks he needs to say to win. there are two, three, four mitt romneys. there's a multipolarity with mitt romney and those independent voters will be turned off by this kind of, those kinds of tactics. >> congressman steve israel joining us, democrat from new york. nice to see you.

thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you. getting to commercial break. ahead iran operating inside the u.s., is new york first on the list? we're talking to congressman peter king straight ahead this morning. a mystery that stumped historians and sparked c conspiracy theories regarding amelia earhart. we're back after this.

♪ oh my gosh is this is what it the playlist has come to, people starting to submit their own school's victory march. >> huge points for creativity. >> the victory march by the university of notre dame band, representative peter king is a notre dame law school alum and currently chairman of the homeland security committee. less than who two-hours the committee will hold a hearing to figure out iran's ability to carry out attacks against the united states and there's a new message about the country's suspected nuclear program. listen.

>> that the iranian government pursues irresponsible path, it will be wepure sues a responsib path it will be welcome among communities. >> how great and immediate is a threat from the iran supreme ali eye toe lakhamenei will not hesitate to strike back saying this, we have said we do not have atom ing weapons and we will not build any. but if there is any attack by the enemies, whether it be united states or the zionist regime, we will attack them at the same level as they attack us. >> your choice of music is interesting, sir. >> thank you, soledad. >> as we talk about iran, how great is this threat from iran, how immediate is the threat from iran in your mind? >> soledad that is the purpose of the hearing. our preliminary findings are this could be a significant threat. most americans don't realize that hezbollah has had agents

and operatives in this country for many years. the conventional wisdom among intel jents aligence and law ent officials they were here for fund-raising and facilitation and recruitment and not necessarily to carry out terrorist attacks. however we know a number of them have been trained as terrorists, so the question is, how quickly they could be made operational, and would they carry out an attack, and based on what happened last october, when it turned out that iran was planning to actually kill the saudi ambassador in washington and kill hundreds of americans, the american intelligence community believes we are very much at risk for an attack by iranian operatives which would be hezbollah, a terrorist trained force in this country that really is the "a" team of international terrorism, far more sophisticated than al qaeda. >> what is the goal of the hearings today to articulate those potential attacks or take it further than that? >> we have experts coming in

including from the nypd showing whoo what he believe the extent of the threat is, how real it is, what we should be doing and it's important to educate americans and members of congress, most of whom are not aware iran has a significant number. we estimate in the hundreds f not thousands and if tensions escalate between iran and israel and the united states, maybe this would deter what i believe is really unbalanced and irrational attacks upon groups like the nypd who are trying to act preemptively. >> congressman, ron brownstein from "the national journal." "the new york times" reported the war games the pentagon suggested if israel attacks iran the u.s. would be drawn in to a military conflict in the region.

what's your assessment of that conclusion? i have to watch how i say this. the u.s. could find itself implicated or involved in it. having said that i don't think we can rule out an israeli attack. we have to keep all the pressure out there. sometimes the president has sent mixed signals and in recent weeks his measure has gotten more consistent to iran. the fact that there can be complications is not a reason why israel shouldn't do it or we shouldn't do it. we have to make sure whatever we do that it is going to work, that we know about it and realize that iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. >> congressman peter king joining us this morning, nice to see you action sir, thank you. >> soledad, thank you. still ahead on "starting point," a new clue sparks a new bid to find amelia earhart's plane. hillary clinton is paying

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♪ >> that is off will's playlist.

dire straits. there's a new clue in the 75-year-old mystery. investigators are looking at the old photograph. can we show that photograph? >> not quite as old. >> cold. it could help them find out where amelia earhart's plane went down. she was breaking barriers left and right. hillary clinton announced yesterday a new effort to figure out what happened to amelia earhart. listen. >> she embodied the spirit of an america coming of age and increasingly confident, ready to lead in a quite uncertain and dangerous world. >> okay. so here's the history and there's the photograph right there. this is a picture taken in october of 1937. it's a photo of a shoreline of an island where there's a blurry object sticking out there. >> been there. >> liar.

they circled the blurry object. people have said that blurry object is consistent with the strut and wheel of a plane that earhart was driving and they had evidence that her plane may have gone down in this area. her last radio transmission said she thought she was lost. >> a new high profile endorsement of this investigation. it will teach a new generation of children about amelia earhart. >> people will start watching that amelia earhart movie. my daughter who is 11 was in here yesterday. she wanted to talk about amelia earhart. i like that a new generation of girls and young men as well. >> landing gear was sticking out of the water? >> yes. >> it took 60 years to locate landing gear sticking out of the

water? >> i think it's more of an effort now because in july they'll start bringing in underwater gear and so the photo has been around since 1937. >> so we'll know. gosh, we ought to locate that and look down there. >> we, being scientists who say they'll do a ten-day mission. >> they believe it's one area of this barrier reef. they know what they're looking for. i guess the big hope is that if it is the plane, there may be bone fragments to dna test. >> amazing how these stories captivate people decades later. >> they had bones that they thought were bones of amelia earhart and did testing on them and they were inconclusive but dna testing is so much better now if they had not lost the bones in the 1940s a lot of that could have been solved. >> what's amazing is that soledad's daughter, born long after this mystery has taken place, knows who amelia earhart is and will daughters in the future be so obsessed? >> i think so.

ahead this morning on "starting point," breaking news. we're going to continue to talk about that suspect cornered in france. wanted for a string of killings including three children shot and killed at a jewish school. latest developments on that story. the united states postal service is more than $5 billion in debt. it wants to solve that debt problem by delivering more junk mail. we'll talk about that solution straight ahead on "starting point." y of meager travel cards. battle speech right? may i? capital one is issuing a venture double miles challenge. show us how much you spent last year and we'll give you 2 miles for every dollar spent on your travel reward card. up to 100,000 miles! hawaii, here we come. claim your miles at capitalone.com today! what's in your wallet? can you play games on that? not on the runway. no. but what about your wrinkles.

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♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? good morning. welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning. breaking news. a suspected terrorist is now cornered after a shootout in france. he's the man wanted for a string of killings including those three children who were shot and killed at a jewish school. we're learning the suspect was just in court about a month ago. we'll go live with the latest. close to closing a deal. mitt romney makes a statement in illinois. we'll see how confident the

candidate is now. demanding justice in the case of trayvon martin. looking at the track record of the shooter, local police and a law that may have allowed him to walk. it's wednesday, march 21st. "starting point" begins right now. ♪ i want to rock ♪ i want to rock >> yeah. that is my playlist. it's twisted sister. "i want to rock." >> you grew up on long island. some things don't traffic. >> dee snyder is so funny. i've interviewed him several times. he's an absolute riot. i loved twisted sister. we should bring him in. so much fun to talk to. they had a great christmas album. >> because it's march. >> just because we wanted to. john is with us. a political comedian and radio

personality. nice to have you. you're gone for a couple days and your title against long again. >> we like it. and we will start with serious news this morning. breaking news about the shootings in france. 300 police officers are now surrounding the home of a suspect. it's happening right now. the suspect is wanted for shooting at the jewish school that happened on monday. you'll remember in that shooting a rabbi was killed. his two young sons and young girl as well who was a child of the director of the school. france is saying that two officers were wounded in a shootout overnight and reuters is now reporting that the man said that he wanted revenge for palestinian children. a prison official in afghanistan tells reuters the suspect was arrested for bomb making when he visited that country two years ago and was eventually able to escape from prison. the raid happening, today's raid, happening in the southern city of toulouse.

tell us more about this suspect. >> reporter: hi, soledad. the raid is in the ninth hour. we hear the suspect is very stubborn and very determined. he's had phases of talking to police and that's now over. he said he would hand himself over about an hour ago but he has not done that. we know that he is armed. police saying that he has an uzi still with him and we know about who he is. a 23-year-old guy who was born here and is known to authorities here. just last month he was in court on a driving offense where he apparently caused injuries while driving without a license. we also know from the interior minister that they have been tracking this man, french intelligence services for quite some years. he spent time in pakistan and

afghanistan. he's self-proclaimed jihadist and is a member of al qaeda and that as you were saying committed that deadly attack on the jewish school to avenge the deaths of palestinian children and he also has told police that he was responsible for killing of three soldiers last week. soldiers of north african origin whose regimens recently came back from afghanistan. soledad? >> that's the latest from there. police continue to try to wait out this suspect. diana, thank you for that update. let's turn to politics now. conservative, tea partiers, middle income voters came out and helped romney score a decisive win in the state of illinois. 47% to senator rick santorum's 35%. that victory gives mitt romney even more momentum as the race heads to louisiana this weekend. romney has a sizable lead in the delegate count with 562. rick santorum with fewer than half.

249. and mitt romney is putting most of his attention toward jabs to the president. listen. >> we once built an interstate highway system and hoover dam. now we can't even build a pipeline. i mean, we once led the world in manufacturing, in exports, investment. today we lead the world in lawsuits. when we replace a law professor with a conservative businessman as president, that's going to end. >> it's very clear. it's a two-person race. now we need all conservatives behind me. >> it's a two-person race. maybe not at this point. we'll talk to the romney campaign in just a few moments. what do you take away from mitt romney. >> democrro i think until somebs serve, somebody wins somewhere where they're not supposed to, the basic dynamic will continue.

we keep going. romney has a clear edge but not enough to drive out santorum. >> i think it's a downhill skiing event. santorum and other guys are struggling on the moguls. >> does romney have the ability to drive out santorum before june? he has to win places where he's not expected to win in order to do that avoid ten more weeks of gruelling grind. >> let's check in with the romney campaign. senior adviser. how do you analyze the ra yesterday and congratulations i should really start with. >> thank you. well, soledad, it was a big win in a big state. it's now 21 states and territories that mitt romney has put into the win column. he has more than half of the delegates he needs to claim the nomination. and if you're familiar with the delegate allocation rules and as you look at the calendar of upcoming contests, you have to wonder where his opponents feel that they can win enough delegates to overtake what is

really a commanding lead in the delegate count. now, there's a reason why mitt romney has amassed so many delegates. he has far more votes than his opponents. the reason he has far more votes is because he has a strong pro-jobs message that is connecting with republican primary voters. >> back in 2008, it was mitt romney who stepped aside for john mccain even though it wasn't decided, he moved out of the way. i know this has been part of the message that others should move out of the way. what happens if they don't? >> well, i don't want to presume to speak for rick santorum or newt gingrich. the decision to get into a race or get out of a race is a very personal one that can only be made by the candidate. i can speak to what happened four years ago when mitt romney stepped aside for john mccain. at the time john mccain did not have the delegates he needed to clinch the nomination but he was clearly on a path to doing that. the math was very challenging

for mitt romney. he made the decision that at that time, the country being at war in iraq, it was important for john mccain to begin to rally the party behind him so he could prepare himself for the fall election campaign. mitt romney stepped aside. now, in rick santorum and newt gingrich, these are both decent, honorable men who have run good campaigns. they are good americans. they are good republicans. and ultimately i'm confident they'll make a decision that's not only right for their party, but right for them. >> you know, eric, as that math becomes more and more obvious to a nonbias observer, it makes you wonder why rick santorum and newt gingrich aren't dropping out and there seems to be personal anmist from these candidates. what has mitt romney done to make these candidates so mad? >> any campaign is like that. emotions run high. elbows get sharp and get thrown

in different directions. usually when the contest comes to its natural end in a primary, people get behind the inevitable nominee and in this case it's mitt romney. that's what happened four years ago by the way. john mccain and mitt romney had a very spirited contest but you saw mitt leave that race, fund raise for john mccain, act as a surrogate for him on the economy. in the fall he appeared at all his debates. did numerous media interviews for senator mccain. i'm sure that in this case this year you'll see the same thing happen with our opponents. >> good morning, sir. it's fair to say that john mccain was considerably a more moderate candidate than the ones that governor romney faces now. is there a concern that the pressure from santorum and gingrich might force the governor to track so fared to right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election? >> i think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign.

everything changes. it's like etch a sketch. you can shake it up and we start all over again. i will say if you look at the exit polling data in illinois, you'll see that mitt romney is broadly acceptable to most of the factions in the party. you have to do that in order to become a major party nominee. he's winning conservatives. he's winning tea party voters. he's winning men, women, winning catholics a catholics. there's two reasons why mitt romney will be the nominee. people see in him the capacity of someone who can lead on the economy. secondly, they see someone who can defeat barack obama. there's a real sense that it the president is vulnerable this year because of the domestic problems he faces and mitt romney is the person with the experience and the qualifications to take him on. >> i want to ask a quick question of ron brownstein.

do you think it's an etch a sketch analogy. primary is done. the deal is done. everybody forgets and you reset? >> you get a second look. there's no question about it. it is not a complete blank slate. there are positions that romney has taken on a variety of issues particularly those related to hispanic and to some extent the debate over contraception and its effect on college educated women that he's going to have to deal with going forward. there is no doubt. bill clinton came out of the 1992 primary bruised and battered. you do get a second chance but not as if the slate is completely blank. >> bill clinton had a third-party candidate helping. >> let's talk money. how challenging has been to really fight this battle and i think we've had this conversation many months ago. doing a fight on two fronts. you're trying to give a message against president obama and also the other guys who are still in the race. how much of a drain has that been? >> money is an important ingredient for a winning campaign. mitt romney is going to be --

well resourced in this primary. he'll be well resourced in the general election. i think super pacs and money they put into the race has had a distortive quality. it's suspended the normal rules of political physics because usually at this point a candidate who is not winning who doesn't look as if he can get delegates to clinch the nomination will see his support dry up. you can have a wealthy benefactor. >> nice to see you. thank you for talking to us this morning. we appreciate it. got to get to headlines. >> new developments this morning in that 7.4 magnitude earthquake in southern mexico. officials say as many as 800 homes were damaged or destroyed in just one town near the quake's epicenter. only 11 people were hurt across

the country thankfully. the earthquake was felt hundreds of miles away in mexico city. president obama's oldest daughter was on a class trip in mexico when the quake hit. the white house says she is okay. she was never in any danger. a new witness speaking out in the controversial shooting death of a florida teenager trayvon martin. martin's girlfriend says she was on the phone with him minutes before he was killed by george zimmerman. she says martin told her that zimmerman was following him. the fbi and justice department are both investigating now. 8:30 soledad will talk to florida congresswoman that called martin's death a hate crime. president obama preparing to visit the demilitarized zone that divides north korea and south korea on sunday. officials participating in a nuclear security summit in seoul. that's being overshadowed by north korea's announcement that

it plans to carry out a rocket powered satellite launch next month. south korea considers that launch a nuclear weapons test. a daily dose of aspirin might significantly reduce the risk of cancer and prevent tumors. researchers found people who took aspirin regularly for five years reduced their risk of developing cancer by 37%. experts warn the drug can cause serious side effects like stomach bleeding. you can expect to see more junk mail in your mailbox if the post office has its way. the u.s. postal service pins hopes on earning millions of dollars by helping small business increase use of direct mail. the post office is $5 billion in debt so it pushes this program to boost revenue. sending those ads would cost companies about 15 cents per home. soledad? >> all right. if it saves money, saves the post office -- >> they have a tough road with

communication being done by e-mail and electronically and tough stuff they have to deliver. >> do you want $5 billion in junk mail in your mailbox? >> it seems like the post office is dying because more trees are living. >> that is true. still ahead this morning on "starting point," a 16-year-old american boy who was living in dema demaskous is now free. he spent three weeks in a jail in syria. we'll talk to his brother leading the campaign to try to get him out and the congresswoman who negotiating the teenager's release. what's that expression about nice guys? >> tim tebow is a great kid. i said that. i mean, he's the one guy if i wanted someone to marry my daughter, it would be him. >> except he's not looking for someone to marry his daughter. he's looking for a quarterback. peyton manning takes tim tebow's job. we'll talk about where tim tebow could end up and i still like hill. we're back in just a moment.

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♪ we're going to stop it now. it's matt futterman's playlist. matt is here to talk about manning and tebow. peyton manning now officially with the denver broncos. $95 million. five-year contract. the former mvp admits he's got some work to do. here's what he said. >> i have work to do. i'm not where i want to be. i want to be where i was before i was injured. >> he has some work to do. he was cult by the colts where

he played his entire 14-year career and now it all changes. how weird is that going to be for fans, do you think? 14-year career is a long time at a high level. >> it was very weird yesterday when there was a moment when they held up that orange jersey. it's denver broncos. bright orange crush jersey. says manning on the back. for a second you stopped and said that's weird. that's strange. where's the blue and white one? >> not the first time. emmitt smith. joe montana. it's happened before. >> it is hard to get through the first day. >> look at what happened here in new york with brett favre a few years ago. that didn't work out too well. it's a $96 million contract. $100 million. >> you can round that up. i'm comfortable with that math. >> which will set him up pretty well. that first year, that first $20 million, definitely guaranteed. as he goes through his subsequent seasons there will be a series of physicals he'll have

to pass to guarantee future years of the contract. >> he gets through a year and then does a physical and can play for the rest of the year and has that contract for the rest of the year. >> then it's the following season. he's peyton manning. he has leverage going into this thing. >> he may be stuck with a measly $20 million? >> it will probably be a little more than that. there are personalities always. >> at that level of investment, what do you think the definition of success will be in denver for this kind of signing? >> i think it's got to go -- you have to get beyond the divisional round. >> go further than tebow did? beat tom brady? >> have to win the division. tebow got them where they needed to be. you got to get beyond the divisional round. the nfl is set up so that everybody goes 8-8. everybody is supposed to spend the same amount of money. what teams have to do is they have to take risks. sometimes these risks pay off and sometimes they fail. >> how big a risk for his neck?

isn't that the big issue? what's the status on his neck and isn't this sort of an injury that potentially if you get hit the wrong way as a quarterback, you could die. >> and it's your neck. here's what separate professional football players and professional athletes from all other human beings, which is, i make the assumption if you or i had this injury, none of us would think of getting on a football field. we might not even play tennis again. >> 20 million is more than soledad is paid in a whole month. keep that in mind. >> that may be true. it's not so much the money. peyton manning has all of the money he could ever spend in a lifetime. what it is the age lags they feel when they walk on the field. >> his brother has one more super bowl. >> that's a good point.

i thought what elway said that he could marry my daughter but not be my quarterback for tim tebow. >> marry my daughter. >> if you seen him throw some of those passes you might trust him with your daughter. >> thank you for coming in and talking to us about it. still ahead this morning on starting point, president obama may feel pressure on gas prices. he's expected to make a move on the keystone pipeline today. losing control. a gas station pump explodes after it's caused by an impatient driver who cuts the line and causes an inferno. hello, crazy people. he's embarrassed. i'll say yes, he is embarrassed. we're back in a moment. yes i was. we lost a beautiful man that day. but we gained the knowledge that priceline has thousands and thousands of hotels on sale every day. so i can choose the perfect one for me without bidding.

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♪ >> this is off john's playlist. >> i've got a few long time losers as well. >> when you figure out your song isn't getting on, move along. i navigate around producers. >> we haven't heard country music. >> yes. get on country music. will would like some. you can get our playlist at cnn.com/startingpoint if you would like. story in new hampshire where of course the motto is live free or die with one condo association as sued a woman for

planting flowers in her yard and they charge her $50 a day. that fine reached close to $6,000 plus the board's legal fees. kimberly says the builder told her she had permission to do planting. condo board says that's not correct. the bylaws do not prohibit flowers but all homes are supposed to conform and look the same and by planting flowers she's messing that up. >> no hydrangeas, no peace. >> could you imagine that march? >> i think the story confounds the assumption you're supposed to have an opinion on everything that happens. >> you don't care? >> she knew when she moved in. >> come on. bring this back to the constitution for me, will. >> this should be a libertarian

cause. >> yes. i like that story. you know what? she's up to $6,000. if they don't resolve this soon, she could face some serious money. >> i'm keeping these flowers. keep that fine coming. >> medical marijuana was controversial to plant. >> not just that. all right ahead this morning on "starting point," we're going to talk about the death of trayvon martin that's sparked a national debate about race and justice and florida's controversial self-defense law. remember the datsun? it's coming back. we'll tell you why. you're watching "starting point." [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota.

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>> a walk down memory lane. that is congresswoman brown's playlist. she's going to talk to us in just a moment about the trayvon martin case. first to headlines and christine romans has those for us. >> let's start in france where we have new information on the suspect who is surrounded by police right now. he's wanted in connection with several deadly shootings over the past week including one at a jewish school where three kids were killed. according to reuters, a prison director in afghanistan says the gunman escaped a kandahar jail in 2008 during an afghan insurgent attack. his lawyer says he was arresteded in france last week and then released back to the streets. charges could be filed tomorrow of the army sergeant suspected of killing 16 afghan civilians. the attorney for robert bales expects the case to take two years to prosecute.

the lawyer doesn't see much of a case against bales right now. >> i don't know what the evidence is. we all heard what the allegations are, right? i'm a defense lawyer. i deal with the evidence and i don't know about the evidence in this case. i don't know that the government is going to prove much. there's no forensic evidence. there's no confessions. >> sergeant bales is being held in a military prison in ft. leavenworth, kansas. a rush to get gas nearly caused a tragedy at a gas station in miami. witnesses say a jeep tried to cut in front of a hummer but the driver lost control and slammed into the gas pump causing that fiery explosion. the driver somehow managed to escape unharmed. she wasn't charged but her jeep was destroyed. israel has passed a new law banning underweight models from runways and commercials. lawmakers hope this measure will help reduce eating disorders. male and female models must have a body mass index of 18.5 or

higher. the law also bans advertisers from airbrushing photos to make models look ultrathin. and a lot of studies have been done examining sibling rivalries in children but now adult sibling rivalries are one of the harmful and least addressed issues plaguing families. 45% of all adults have a rivalry that is straining a relationship with a sibling. brothers rivalries focus on things like athletic prowless and sister rivalry is more passive aggressive focusing on who mom likes best and who is a better mother now. the datsun brand will be introduced in indonesia, india and russia in 2014. nissan is also planning a green

line of datsuns. for the record, i love all of my siblings. >> for the record, i'm the better mother and move loves me best in case any of my siblings are watching. >> my brother leaves that theory but he's always underminie inin any way. >> we're going to talk about the trayvon martin story which is something we've been talking about for a while now on this show. outrage continues over the shooting death of this unarmed black teenager in florida. now justice department is investigate what happened the night trayvon martin was killed. naacp president says the action called for on facebook and twitter is showing the power of the people to make sure that justice is heard for this young man. he was shot to death in the florida district of representative brown and she says it's a hate crime. representative brown joins us this morning. it's nice to see you. thank you for being with us. we appreciate your time. you've been one of the early and loud voices outraged about the

shooting of this teenage boy. some of the details about the shooter, george zimmerman, are amazing. he hasn't been arrested. he still has a permit for his gun. he still is armed. what would you like to see at this moment happen to george zimmerman? >> personally, you know, i want a thorough investigation and that's exactly what the justice department is going to do and we need an independent investigation but personally i would like to have seen him arrested and at least he will not have a permit to carry a gun and have a gun on him as we speak while the investigation is going on. any law enforcement agency where there is a shooting, that person gets a desk job. he's not carrying a gun while the investigation is going on. why was at the time that you questioned him, he was not drug

tested? you drug tested mr. martin and tested him for alcohol. all of this wasn't done. so how can we correct it and make sure that the system is fair? i mean, one of the outrages people don't feel that the system is fair to mr. martin. >> so the hate crime focus which is what the department of justice civil rights division is going to focus on, it is said to be a very challenging thing to convict on. what many people are listening to is a certain portion of the call that george zimmerman made to dispatch when he said i believe there's someone who is coming in and he was calling in to try to, i guess, call the police. the 911 call. i'm going play a little bit of that call and then we'll talk about it on the other side. >> we've had some break-ins in my neighborhood. that's a suspicious guy. it's raining. he's just walking around looking

about. >> so this call continues. about two minutes and 21 seconds into this phone call with the dispatcher, he then sort of curses under his breath and he says a curse and he says a racial slur that i will not and cannot repeat on the air. do you think that what he said -- anybody can listen to it. find it online and play it. it's very quiet. i could hear it very clearly. do you think that in and of itself is indicative of grounds for hate crime? >> i mean, that's one of the elements but keep in mind, it was many comments and the police officer or the dispatcher asked him to stand down. do not confront him. do not follow him. we're on the way. now, keep in mind he was a self-appoint person that was policing the area. and if you're a community watch, they ask you to follow the directions of the police or of

the dispatcher. he did not do this. what was this young man doing walking on the sidewalk that you felt that you had to engage him and you couldn't wait the five minutes before the police got there. >> beyond the specifics of this individual case, do you believe there's an issue with the florida stand your ground law or not? >> without a question. it needs to be reviewed. and the legislators in florida are looking at it. i've talked to several. in fact, i talked to my senator, senator hill last night, who was involved in crafting the law. it originally started if someone was breaking into your home. now they've expanded it. and really florida is one of the number one tourist states in the entire country if not in the world and clearly we've had at least ten deaths similar and six of them the people did not have

guns. you know, it definitely warrants review. >> the law's co-sponsor said that this is a completely separate issue here and nothing in stand your ground authorizes a person to pursue and confront. this makes it entirely different. >> this is the way the police department is interpreting it, which is, you know, deserve review. not just from the legislature but from the justice department because i feel that it's not only a hate crime but civil rights violation. >> congresswoman, one of the most remarkable aspects of this tragedy is the universal outrage that we've seen through social media from americans of all walks of life. you can never see americans don't care about their fellow citizens after a case like this. do you and your time in congress notice a universal outrage amongst conservatives and progressive members? >> i have never -- people have come to me on the floor, what

can they do? what can we do? it has nothing to do with party lines or racial lines. there is a real concern. i think people view it -- i'm a parent. i have a son or i have a nephew and they just see this could have happened to anyone and america is better than this. it is no question. we are better people than this. and we have to take this as a teaching moment and figure out what we can do to correct this. it's something wrong with this picture. >> congresswoman brown, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. >> thank you. still ahead on "starting point," a 16-year-old american boy who was living in damascus is now free. he spent three weeks in a syrian jail. we'll talk to his brother who led the campaign to get him released. president obama gives go-ahead on the portion of the keystone pipeline. what will that do to bottom line at the gas pump? probably nothing.

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after originally denying the permit, president obama is set to give the go ahead on the southern portion of the keystone excel pipeline stretching from

cushing, oklahoma, into the gulf of mexico. christine romans is here to explain what it means and the timing is interesting. >> it's an election year. it means gop has less firepower against the president for standing in the way of diversifying american sources for energy. the problem here is not that little part that we showed on the map. it's the part further up which is in nebraska called sand hills of nebraska over in western nebraska. i was there for a couple years ago for a different story. it's beautiful and desolate land. we can show you pictures. underneath that land is this big aquainquire that many are concerned about putting a pipeline through there. ranchers graze cattle on that land and are concerned about the keystone pipeline. it has to be worked out what where will it go and what will the route be? trance cana transcanada is working on what

he can. >> this has no correlation to what will happen to gas prices. not the announcement or building of the pipeline. >> these things are settled long-term when you talk about diversifying access to oil. the white house can crow about what they say is the best domestic production of oil in ten years. they want oil producing in the u.s. and from the oil sands of canada connecting this to refineries on the gulf coast. >> isn't the issue is what has held this up is environmental impact in nebraska but they don't like concept to begin with? they don't want this heavy tar sand oil brought into the mix because they believe it's the most dirty. >> only thing we're difficultveg is what dead dinosaurs we're doing. we have a pot of pipelines in the country. tran

transcanada says we don't have leaks. we lose money. we're good about preventing leaks. >> this does not water down substantive criticism from the left or right. president obama has played politics with our long-term energy future. this was designed to appease environmental groups and people paying high gas prices. it's not connected. some in the public will connect it and he's playing politics with an important project. >> i'm shocked that you're shocked. >> what i'm saying is people ought to know this and it's inappropriate. >> historically gas prices peak in may or june not later as people often assume. if that holds up, does this issue lose some edge by november? >> i think it does. i think that you could have oil prices and gas prices coming down later in the year. we see this trend over and over and over again. this big concern right now for administration is probably going to fade. pipeline controversy itself,

canadians want it. people in this country wants it. transcanada wants it. >> oil prices are too high. they have record levels of production going on in saudi arabia. that could have a thumb in the scale in terms of how this issue plays out in our politics as well. >> the other big wild card is iran. >> coming up next on "starting point," we'll talk to the family of the american boy freed in syria allegedly abducted a year ago spent three years in jail there. we'll talk to his brother coming up next. every time a local business opens its doors or creates another laptop bag or hires another employee, it's not just good for business, it's good for the entire community. at bank of america, we know the impact

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>> a 16-year-old american boy living in damascus is free after he spent three weeks in a syrian jail. photos on facebook show him after his arrival home in dam k damascus where he lived with his mother since he was 3 years old. their younger brother was missing and they say he was kidnapped by syrian spell generals officers. joining us this morning is his brother and the congresswoman he contacted for help in the case. he's been released, which is great news. we spoke just a few weeks ago to talk about what could happen. where is he now and what has he told you about what happened? >> he's currently at home in damascus with his mother.

he basically gave us small details on what had happened, who he is with, and basically informed us that he was okay and healthy, which was our main concern. now what we're looking for is to bring him back home so basically we're just figuring out minor details. >> let's talk about some of those details. he was held in jail for three weeks. what did he tell you about conditions and kinds of questions he was asked and the process for him. he's a teenager. >> well, exactly. he's a teenager. he was quite frightened after he was released. he basically gave us an idea of the food that he was offered. the bathing conditions. the sleeping conditions. he said it was all horrible. he said he was the only minor in the group and there was between

20 to 30 inmates in the cell. however, they all ranged in age from their 20s to their 60s. >> did he give you any -- did he shed any light on why they nabbed him in the first place? >> unfortunately he did not. he seemed very frightened. he didn't really give us as much details as we would have liked to receive. now the best thing we can do is just bring him back and then discuss the details. >> congresswoman, what has been the role of the government in getting this young man released? >> well, there are many people to thank, soledad. we worked very hard with our state department, with u.s. ambassador to syria who has been called home, ambassador ford, based in washington now as you might know. also the syrian charged affair in washington who was very helpful and even former ambassador from syria to the united states we made efforts to

work through him. i think the family's facebook site contributed to greater public recognition of what was happening and frankly your story that drew attention to this, global attention. i think all of this helped. working together to get hadi released. he's a u.s. citizen. his passport is his most valuable document. this was a win-win-win for all of us. >> clearly hadi is a u.s. citizen. what about his mother? he was living in damascus and could have come back alone at any time. do they want to leave damascus now? >> yes, he does. originally he just wanted to finish his high school there. now that's really not an option so now we're trying to figure out what we want to do as far as his schooling goes and receiving the transcripts and setting up appointments for him to move back and live with my father in

d.c. as far as his mother goes, i'm not quite sure whether or not she will be coming. >> thanks to talking with us. congratulations. it must be a tremendous relief for your family and certainly congresswoman, from your perspective as well, to have this young man safe and sound. >> yes. >> thank you very much. i would like to show our gratitude on behalf of my family and i towards the u.s. state department, congresswoman and her office, the local news agencies and cnn of course. we really do appreciate all your help and support. >> if we can help in any way, we're glad to do so. thank you. >> thank you. >> end point is up next with our panelists. first, here's a sneak peek at this weekend's next list. >> i'm just in love with and ennamorred with the design of the human body and its elegance. nature has these powerful

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>> our last few seconds. let's get to end point. who wants to start? john, you start with us? >> i'm celebrating mitt romney's win by buying a pair of khakis without pleats. i enjoy the football talk. >> bipartisan center where my wife is the vice president tonight honors two founders bob dole and howard baker for a century of service. a great event for two great men. >> i lik