[ inaudible ] that's the looping of what was believed to be a curse and then a racial slur. many conversations about what exactly was said roughly 2:20 in to that 911 call that george zimmerman made. had a conversation with a dispatcher. we had two people analyze the tape, we'll tell you what they think was said. plus russia with love, new news that a russian spy got cozy with a member of president obama's cabinet. it's wednesday, april 4th, and this is "starting point." ♪ take me to new york i'd love to see l.a. ♪ >> that's a good way to start your morning. good morning, everybody. that on not on my play list. our panel this morning, ron brownste

brownstein's with us, he's a cnn senior political analyst, editorial director at "national journal," will cain is with us, he's a columnist for the blaze.com and ben jones joins us this morning former obama white house special adviser has written a new book called "rebuild the dream." how is that for promoting your book? >> getting it out early. >> happy to help. happy to help. >> we're going to talk not only about the book but also your resignation from the obama cabinet, i want to hear all the inside scoop on that. first, though, we got to talk about the tornadoes, that was an amazing nearly four hours, absolute devastation there. >> yeah, my hometown and not far from my hometown. it was pretty scary to see. i had buddies calling me saying they had to evacuate buildings in downtown dallas and, of course, tv cameras there to capture it all. >> of course, the cleanup efforts are under way this morning. after the string of violent tornadoes. as we mentioned some people were saying there were six, others say many as 13 of those tornadoes tore a path of

destruction along the area of dallas-ft. worth, it happened yesterday afternoon, destroyed homes and businesses. and in one instance tossed a 30,000-pound tractor-trailer, that's, like, 10,000 pounds for the trailer part, 20,000 pounds, 30,000 pounds, just chucked them around. just amazing to see. the images all played out as will mentioned all a live tv because, of course, the tv cameras were right there, were able to catch the tornadoes ripping through the neighborhoods. the national weather service doesn't know for sure how many but they'll have to survey the damage and then they'll be able to tell what the number was. amazingly there were -- >> that's the good news. >> and very few injuries, having covered them a lot, they are correlated with a high injury toll that's really good news on that. we'll get right to the dallas mayor, his name is mike rawlings, and nice to see you, mr. mayor, mr. mayor, i'll begin with you if i may.

>> good morning. >> good morning to you. give me the scope of the damage. it is a good morning, because not many injuries, and no debts to report. how bad is it? >> we're still assessing this situation, but it looks like the dallas-ft. worth area really dodged a bullet. i mean, we've got hundreds and hundreds of homes destroyed. but amazingly no fatalities as you mentioned. and i think we've counted three people taken to the hospital. i mean, we're looking at a miracle here. it really is something amazing. >> i very rarely use the word miracle, but i think you are right in this case, because the pictures are incredible. how many folks in shelters, do you know the count of that yet, sir? >> we're over 100 in a couple of the shelters in the area, in east texas, so we've got people spending the nights there. really hundreds of people have been displaced. those tractor-trailers were picked up. there was more than one. there were several. i saw them. they were put on the back of

homes and those homes were just flattened. it was amazing that there was nobody in those homes. fortunately i think everybody was at work. they were -- had early warnings, so somehow this thing all worked out. >> the trailer of the tractor-trailer weighs 14,000 pounds. the tractor part of the tractor-trailer weighs 20,000 pounds. >> oh, look at that. >> you can see how wide of a swath that tornado cut through that trailer, that trailer factory, and into the forest and then into the homes. it was amazing. >> just stunning to watch while you're talking, sir, we're seeing pictures of that thing literally flying through the air. so, how much damage was done before i hop over to talk to jonathan, mr. mayor, how many damage overall was done, will you know an x act number figure any time in the next 24 hours? >> yeah, it will be a couple of days before we get the exact dollar amount. in dallas we're talking about not 100 homes but in the

dallas-ft. worth area, it will probably be about 300 homes as i kind of look at the early reports. >> all right. all right, mr. mayor, i thank you very much. >> thank you. >> let's turn to jonathan cook right now. you were in a bank if i'm not mistaken and the storm struck. what did you see? >> yes. yesterday i was in a meeting in the office that i was in had two windows in the room, and i had no warning that bad weather was even on its way. but we saw lightning strike which we thought was just about 50 yards away, and immediately following lightning was a loud clap of thunder and about ten seconds later, same thing, lightning followed by thunder superclose and so about that time, i looked out the window and i saw hail coming down and i saw rain pouring, so i said i got to go, i ran out the bank -- >> why did you say you go to go? you went into your truck which i think would be a really unwise thing to do in a terrible, terrible storm, but i guess it was the right decision for you. why did you get in your truck and what did you see around your

truck? >> well, there was hail coming down. our vehicles were unproehltec d unprotected and we had no idea the weather was going to get worse. i was trying to protect my vehicle from the hail damage, so i drove just across the street to a gas station where many people were taking shelter and just about two minutes after i pulled in, a national weather service truck pulled in with his two-way radio going and he said there's about two tornadoes in the area, and they're only about a quarter mile from us. well, right when he said that, a girl that was taking shelter with us pointed up with two fingers and said look up there, and whenever we looked up there we saw two tornadoes at the same time touch down about an it a of a mile up from us and a guy behind her said turn around and there was another funnel cloud that we never saw touch down forming behind us as well. so, it was a pretty scary situation for a second there. and whenever those tornadoes touched down, they weren't down very long, but we found out those were -- found out later

that those were two of the first tornadoes that touched down that went into south arlington. >> oh, my goodness, good news, good thing that you're okay, and i'm told that your family and friends are okay, too. jonathan cook is a member of a band called the sickest kids. thanks, jonathan, glad to see you're doing well. we appreciate your time this morning. >> thanks for having us. glad everyone is safe. >> us, too. let's go to christine who has a look at some of the other headlines. good morning. >> good morning. mitt romney halfway to the gop nomination with a sweep of three big primaries last night. wisconsin was biggest prize for romney with 42 critical winner take all delegates. romney won the badger state over rick santorum, 42% to 38%. 37 delegates at stake in maryland, romney there by an even larger margin, 49% to 29% over santorum. and in washington, d.c., with 16

delegates at stake romney got 70% of the vote and santorum wasn't on the ballot in d.c. romney continuing his look ahead strategy ignoring republican rivals and focusing exclusively now on president obama. >> the president has pledged to transform america. and he spent the last four years laying the foundation for a new government-centered society. i will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of an opportunity society led by free people and free enterprises. >> take a look at cnn's latest delegate estimate, romney well past the halfway point with 648 delegates, of course, 1,144 delegates are needed to clinch the nomination. coming up at the half hour, senator john mccain a romney supporter will join soledad live. the gunman accused in the worst deadly school shooting in california in decades facing a judge today. 43-year-old one goh is being held in jail in santa rita where -- he's been there since

ten people were shot at oikos university, a small christian school in oakland, seven people died. police have in the yet found the murder weapon, but they say they recovered plenty of ballistic evidence. and new york police this morning are investigating the mysterious death of a leading french scholar and government adviser. 54-year-old richard dekuehne was found dead in his hotel room, he was naked in his bed with blood coming out of his mouth. police found his cell phone on the third floor landing as if it had been tossed out the window. no signs of foul play so far but they haven't been ruled out yet. remember anna chapman, a new british documentary says that she was close to seducing a member of president obama's cabinet. the documentary quotes a top fbi official that says chapman was so closed to seducing this unnamed sitting kak net member that the bureau had to step in

and warn him that she was a so-called honey trap. u.s. officials deny this report. federal health officials are investigating whether sush sus could be behind a new salmonella break. 17 people were hospitalized because of this. investigators say spicy tunale ros are highly suspect but they are not certain yet. they are focusing on six clusters of restaurants. and a flight attendant goes above and beyond the call of duty. susan karns, i love this woman, she's been delivering food and drinks in the air for 29 years on a flight from africa to atlanta in late march, she delivered a baby boy. >> everyone's, like, looking at me obviously and i just held him up and i said, it's a boy! and everybody clapped and there was, you know, laughter and it was really fun and exciting and she was so happy and weepy, it was great. >> whoa!

luckily one of the passengers was not only just a doctor but an obstetrician, that oms come handy. susan karns said having been there before, i knew what to do. having been there before, i didn't know what to do. >> she certainsterilized the sc in a bottle of vodka. >> yeah. which she then drank. >> good for her. >> grace under pressure. >> good for her. that's great. >> babies come out, all you have to do is assist, right? it's not as easy as that. you're men! you're men! you have delivered no children, people! >> at 30,000 feet. >> that's a little -- again, a glass of vodka i'm sure came in handy not just for sterilization. >> what do you put on the birth certificate? where was the baby born? >> a child of the world. let's talk about the masters, golf's most prestigious

tournament, it will start tomorrow at the augusta national golf club in georgia, today we'll find out if the long-standing policy will get a boot. any time there's an issue around augusta it's the long-standing policy against of admitting female members will it get the boot. ibm is one of the sponsors of the tournament and ginny is the new ceo of ibm and augusta typically offers the ceo of ibm membership, but, of course, she's a woman. they don't give membership to women. >> conundrum. >> hmm, hmm, what will happen. what do ul thinyou think? >> there are very few trends in american live than inclusion. it's absolute in our dna. over time we widen the circle -- >> and that does not mean by next week -- >> it doesn't mean by next week. maybe not tomorrow, maybe someday, but the rest of your life as bogart said. we see in any of our lifetimes how many walls it seemed unbreachable have fallen and

that's what -- >> the female ceo of ibm at one point. >> exactly right. exactly right. so the trend line of history is pretty unmistakable. i don't know about tomorrow or next week. but it will happen. >> but the question we're asking does ginny, i say it like i know her, does she get membership, you know, when it happens? >> well, i mean, i think that you're right. that at the end of the day i can't imagine a company saying we're going to support a tournament that will not even let our ceo show up. that doesn't -- i think at the end of the day, also i do agree, look at the people who are next in line behind so many american ceos, the people who are coos right now, the people that are ctos, so many women. look at the college campuses, you got to try to find a guy. >> it's not tomorrow. it's not tomorrow. >> 50% of college graduates are now women. >> yeah. going to got there. i golf, badly. badly. >> you golf. all right, we got to get to a commercial break, but still ahead on "starting point," this question that we've been talking

about really for weeks now, did george zimmerman use a racial slur the night he shot and killed trayvon martin? weed and for an analysis with the 911 call with dispatch and you'll see it up next on "starting point." in our "get real" news that will leave, if you are a james bond fan, it will leave you shaken and stirred. his drink of choice, martini, is changing, 50 years, it's changing, because i can't talk about tomorrow or the next day. if you need to get to work you can catch the rest of our show by going to our live blog which is on our website at cnn.com/startingpoint. here's van's play list. a little bob marley, so much trouble. i hope that doesn't for tend how our show's going to go. we're back in a moment.

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one month after trayvon martin was killed, an answer to one of the big questions is sort of as hazy as ever. why was he killed? we spoke with a friend of george zimmerman's yesterday, his name is frank taf, i think his name is, and he said trayvon may have stood out to george for a reason. listen. >> we had eight burglaries in

our neighborhood all perpetrated by young black males in the 15 months prior to trayvon being shot. >> well, that's not exactly accurate. eight burglaries in the past 15 months is not correct. in fact, according to the police department there have been eight burglary reports in the past 14 months and four of them involved complaints against black males. the rest of the reports had no witnesses and no race identity attached to them. the trayvon martin case made sanford ground zero in a way for race relations. the entire city's been dissected as everyone's trying to make sense of the shooting, we bring in jeff triplette now, he's the mayor of sanford, florida, nice to see you, sir, thank you for joining us. you had three protests in sanford and across the country there are eight protests, it's a city of 50,000 or so plus people. do you worry about the image of your city? >> absolutely, that's one of our

big issues right now, that this doesn't -- as i've said before, that this doesn't define who we are. this isn't -- this isn't the type of place we are. it's a friendly neighborhood. you know, we're 53,000 people. you know, we've got a lot of diversity in our city and we just have to work down the path to make sure that what some of the media's portraying of our city is just not true. >> what kinds of things do you think are not true? >> i mean, there's no -- you know, we've got a great police department. we've got some great men and women in the police department. you know, our community relations are good. if you walk down our historic downtown riverfront or our downtown neighborhoods or go shopping in any of our stores, you'll see -- you'll see the wide range of diversity in our neighborhoods, you know, we're 30% african-american, you know, about 60% caucasian, it's very diverse. and for the most part, as

everyone is very friendly. >> does your community have a problem with crime? and if it does, who's committing those crimes? >> you know, i really don't have the answer to that. you know, we just, like any other city, have our fair share of crimes that are committed, you know, we have robberies and burglaries in our neighborhoods just pretty much typical of every other city. >> mr. mayor, ron brownstein from "national journal," good morning. in many communities where different races come together is most often in the schools. i'm interested in what kind of the atmosphere has been like do you think in your school system sings the sho since the shooting? >> from what i've heard, i've had several conversations with our superintendent of seminole county schools and the chairman of the board, you know, dr. calderon and, you know, they got together real quick with the city when this hit the national spotlight. we had a lot of discussions.

we got in front of all the principals that if there is questions or concern or talk that they know exactly what's going on and there's been some great dialogue thus far, you know, when this happened, the students were on spring break for a week, so we actually had a little bit of extra time before they came back to get out in front of it and make sure that we had the discussions with the principals, you know, that trickle down from the principals to the students. from what i've heard so far, you know, our school system's done a great job of getting out in front of it. >> real quick, what kind of programs have they undertaken in the schools? what are they doing? >> i don't know of any specific programs. it's just been an open dialogue that if the questions have been asked, you know, that the faculty has had the answers that have been, you know, open for the dialogue in the classrooms. and from what i've heard so far, there's been no -- there's been no problems with it thus far. >> final question, van? >> hi, my name is van, and i

appreciate you being on, mr. mayor. first of all, this hits close to home to me, i'm an african-american parent and i'm thinking to myself, jesus, am i going to have to dress my kids in tuxedos for them to walk down the street to get a candy bar, the whole thing. do you understand the way this is landing with people? i just wonder, i think to myself, african-american kid, if they were reversed, an african-american kid wandering around the neighborhood with a gun, i am protecting my neighborhood, i saw a white kid and i shot him, it's hard to imagine why that black kid wouldn't be in jail. do you understand why the country is worried and bewildered about why there hasn't been an arrest? >> absolutely. i've stated before that i don't even truly understand why there wasn't an arrest, you know, that goes to the state of florida and the stand your ground laws and such that are going to come out with the special prosecutor. you know, i think, you know, it goes beyond the city of sanford as to, you know, the other part

of that question is, you know, it goes to, you know, beyond the city of sanford as to -- as to relations and profiling and all that's going to come out. you know, i totally understand it and i feel for -- i feel for the parents of trayvon and any other parent that has -- that has these concerns, you know. i, too, you know, have two boys, two young boys, and, you know, i think about it, you know, if it truly was because of the hoodie or what have you, and as i said, i can't walk a mile in your shoes, but i can walk a mile next to you and hopefully we can work with the department of justice and work with programs within our city, you know, with best practices from some other cities that have been through this to, you know, try to work on those issues and make sure it doesn't happen again. >> jeff triplett is the mayor of sanford, nice to see you, thank you for talking with us. i appreciate it. in my conversation with frank taf i asked him about a fote that had been attributed to

him in the "new york times." here is how that conversation went. i'm sorry, frank, let me ask you one other question, you said this, you are quoted in "the new york times" talking about these burglaries. you said this, they were trayvon-like dudes with their pants down. i think part of that means with baggy pants. >> i never said that. >> that's a misquote from "the new york times"? >> i never said that. yes, it is. >> okay. >> i never used that term and i'd like to go on record, i never said that. >> he said several times he never said that, he said he was misquoted by "the new york times" and we reached out to "the new york times" and asked him if, in fact, they could confirm that quote and they said, yes, they stand by their reporter on that story and they stand by that quote and that story. still ahead this morning, senator john mccain's going to join us live, as you well know, he's backing mitt romney after a trifecta primary win last night. does he think it's time for the other candidates to bow out? yes, he does.

we'll ask if he thinks they'll bow out. and then get real this morning, james bond, tell me no on this, no more shaken not stirred. how is that accent? >> terrible. terrible. >> oh, go ahead, mr. texan. >> i'm not going to pretend to do an english accent. i know my limits. you might, too. >> tom petty and the heartbreakers on will cain's play list this morning. you're watching "starting point." ♪ keep rolling [ man ] i loved my first car... sometimes the door gets stuck... oh sure. ooh! [ man ] ...and then, i didn't. um... [ sighs ] [ man ] so, i got a car i can love a really, really long time. [ male announcer ] for the road ahead, the all-new subaru impreza. ♪ experience love that lasts. trouble with a car insurance claim.

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back after nine years away, somewhere in the valley, getting herself together, she was back, saw her last week and she was terrific and waiting for a new album this summer. >> go ahead and sing it. i like when you sing along. getting real this morning, a lot has changed in the james bonds movies, like james bond himself, many times. listen. >> bond, james bond. >> my name's bond, james bond. >> bond, james bond. >> bond, james bond. >> the name's bond, james bond. >> bond, james bond. >> the best bond since the original. you got to give him that. >> connery and daniel craig. >> daniel craig. >> you about the thing that has been consistent has been the martini. listen to this. >> terrible. >> vodka martini, shaken, not stirred. >> not stirred. now it's going to be a cold b w

brewski, product placement which translates into dollars, advertising age, and really? advertising age is reporting that, in fact, daniel craig who plays james bond, sipping a heineken in at least one of the scene in the new movie which is called "sky fall" which is coming out as the first part of november. you're outraged, van? >> i am. >> really? >> trayvon's here, but this is right there, man! >> really, wow. i grew up reading ian fleming novels, the idea that you'll go from being this incredible, you know, iconic, this is a 50-year anniversary of the creation of this character and now he becomes a corporate shill. >> apparently a vodka maker did not want to step in and underwrite it. >> you are looking at it the right way. >> yes. >> maybe the corporate sponsorship allows the character to live on, he doesn't drink a

martini but he's still with you. >> also maybe a sellout. >> maybe a sellout. >> you are looking at it the wrong way. you should be looking at the product placement -- i don't nove wh know what the product placement opportunities are here. >> the morning shows. >> exactly. exactly right. >> the blackberry one. >> exactly. >> i love it. i love it. i think it's a good idea. i'll disagree with you. still ahead on "starting point," keith olbermann compares himself to a $10 million chandelier. >> the thing about him is his humility. it's his humility. >> he explains why he was fired again and senator john mccain talks about his man's mitt romney's big night, what's the plan for mitt romney? will he ignore the other gop candidates? can he afford to. you are watching "starting point." drink, taste a little more, perfect. reduce lead and other impurities with the advanced filtration system of brita.

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♪ you can dance you can dive having the time of your life ♪ ♪ ooh see that girl so, we've had senator john mccain on the show numerous times and every single time i always say what music does he like so we can put it on our play list and i never really get a straight answer, well, that was it. that was it, "dancing queen" that is off senator mccain's play list. it's nice to have him join us this morning. we'll now talk about mitt romney who has more than half of the delegates he needs to clinch the gop nomination, the primary yesterday was a clean sweep, he added wisconsin, he added maryland, he added the district of columbia to his win column, the number is 648 delegates for governor romney, rick santorum, senator santorum, has 264, and newt gingrich at 137 and ron paul at the end of the list with 81. senator mccain joins us now. nice to see you.

the sweep cawas predicted and ao predicted that senator santorum is absolutely positively not going anywhere, so what's the strategy now? governor romney leads in delegates, but what do you think the plan is moving forward? >> well, first, could i say, i'm not embarrassed to say i like abba. >> we're with you. we feel it. >> courage under fire. courage under fire. >> but i think, soledad, that mitt romney has already pivoted to the general election campaign, that whether rick santorum stays in or not, it's now basically irrelevant, and mitt has a lot of ground to make up. it's been a very nasty primary. his unfavorables are high. i'm confident that he will do very well. but the fact is that every day that goes by without being in the general election campaign mode is a day lost.

he realizes that. and i think you're going to see -- already you're seeing the opening shots in a very spirited campaign. >> you know, it's interesting the way you're framing that, you know, it's been a nasty primary as if it's now done and i think if you're senator santorum's camp watching this, oh, no, no, we're not leaving the race yet. if you look at something like the state of pennsylvania, you certainly can't tell me that you're just sort of going to ignore that state and move on to just focusing on president obama, correct? >> well, i think, soledad, that people usually win their own state and that's a given. but there's no way. you can do the math and see any other result than mitt romney winning the nomination. and every establishment figure just about, but more importantly, the exit polls even if they voted for santorum yesterday, most of the republicans are convinced that mitt romney will be the nominee. it's been a very tough campaign that they've been in, far worse

than any i've observed, so we've got a lot of ground to make up. because it raised up mitt's unfavorables, but i thought he's pivoted well and i thought he did a good job last night and tuesday night when -- after his victory. >> let me ask a question, sir, if you will of ron brownstein for a moment. the strategy seems to be let's pivot and talk about president obama, what are the risks in that strategy? listen, santorum is done, look at the numbers and we're heading towards clinching the nomination. >> he is headed to clinch the nomination but the results in wisconsin was not a blowout, the bottom did not completely fall out for rick santorum, and the risk for romney is embarrassment more than anything else, if santorum can win in pennsylvania and marshal the coalition that he had in most of the primary he can win an awful lot of states in may when we are all sitting around saying that mitt romney is the inevitable nominee and i think that will be a difficult month for romney, he needs not to look past the primary and make sure he can put santorum

away potentially in pennsylvania. >> senator mccain, let's do a what-if, let's say the nomination is wrapped up, what advice would you give governor romney by picking a vice presidential candidate, what lessons were learned, and what would you tell them? >> i think that i would obviously tell him that not to rush to judgment, for one thing, but also we have some very highly qualified candidates ranging from marco rubio to chris christie to mitch daniels to bbby ginn obby jindal, we ha good stable of really fine candidates and it will be a tough decision. i think obviously marco rubio would be one of the prime contenders for a whole variety of reasons including by the way, he's been a very impressive senator during the time he's been in the senate. but back on the -- back on the -- ron, i respect your judgment, and i understand the point you're making, but there's no way you can do the math that

there's any way that santorum is going to derail this candidacy at this point in time. and i worry a great deal about not pivoting because of the fact that this continuous fighting drives up unfavorables of mitt romney, which means ground he has to make up. i'm confident he can make it up. but every day that goes by that he's not in the general campaign is a day lost. you see my point? >> yeah, as always i see your point. >> senator john mccain joining us this morning. senator and abba lover, we now know. thank you, shirr, appreciate it. glad to have you. >> thank you for having me. still ahead on "starting point," george zimmerman and the racial slur that some people say they heard in that 911 call that happened before he shot and killed trayvon martin. we sent it off for some forensic testing. the results are back. we'll talk about it straight ahead. also van jones has a new book it's called "rebuild the dream." he's going to tell us how he

felt the obama hope bubble burst. we'll discuss that straight ahead as well. you're watching "starting point." we're back in a moment. ♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do in neckarsulm, a great roar was heard and things changed. children adjusted dreams. victories became habitual. thumbs grew new calluses. hollywood hopped on the bandwagon. air traveled in style. and for the first time ever, journalists ran out of adjectives. and so concludes chapter 1 of the legendary audi r8. ♪

a couple quick headlines to tell you about. cleanup efforts now under way in

north texas after violent tornadoes flattened homes and sent giant 30,000-pound big rigs flying through the air. as many as 13 tornadoes ripped through the dallas-ft. worth area. hundreds of flights were canceled at dfw airport, a major hub. amazingly, no reports of deaths or serious injuries there. the mayor of dallas summed it up saying, we dodged a big bullet. and in his first interview since getting fired from current tv, keith olbermann admits he screwed up. but on letterman last night, he also blamed his former bosses who include former vice president al gore. >> i didn't think the whole thing through. i didn't say, you know, if you buy a $10 million chandelier, you should have a house to put it in. just walking around with a $10 million chandelier isn't going to do anybody a lot of good. >> no. >> and it's not going to do any good to the chandelier. >> and dave letter man says and

you're the chandelier? and he said, yes, i'm the chandelier. it's like one of those questions from a job interview, if you were a light fixture, it's never good when you have to really explain your analogy. let me draw you a picture of what i mean. all right, christine, thank you for that. some new developments to get to this morning in the trayvon martin shooting. we have the results of an analysis that we asked for for this controversial portion of that 911 conversation between dispatch and george zimmerman. it happened, of course, the night that trayvon martin was killed and it could reveal what was really said. this is something we literally have been talking about for weeks. alina cho has more on this. >> yeah, and for people that have been following this case, it's the latest and greatest point of debate. we've been dissecting the 911 call and at issue is the portion of the 911 call where someone believed that zimmerman uttered a racial slur. listen to the original recording first. >> he's running, which way is he

running? >> down towards the other entrance to the neighborhood. >> okay. which entrance is that he's heading towards? >> the back entrance. >> all right. as you heard there, you hear wind, really, more than anything else in that last portion of the 911 call. very difficult to understand what zimmerman is saying, but, again, at the moment you start having trouble hearing, that's where some believe he's using a racial slur. here at cnn we did our own analysis and came to no conclusion, so we asked forensic expert tom owen to analyze the recording to see if he can make out what zimmerman is saying. owen says he was able to clean up the audio a bit and to him it sounds like zimmerman is saying f'ing clothes. listen again. we're going to play just that portion and we're going to play it three times. >> i didn't hear that. >> so you can judge for yourself. watch. [ inaudible ]

>> i mean, if you know that -- >> clothes? i don't hear clothes. i don't hear clothes at all. >> but, i know, and i've now listened to it 200 times. >> if somebody tells you what to listen to before you ever hear it, you hear what they told you to listen for. >> there are some words that i think when they mention it, i don't hear that word -- >> i think it reinforces what i've been saying over and over the conclusions are elousive an we should listen to the facts as they play out. >> that's why, will cain, we asked for another forensics. yeah, see? we're not going to -- >> we're not happy with just one. we're very thorough here. that's right. that's right. all right, so we reached out to a man named ed primeau, another forensic expert, he analyzed the same portion of the 911 call and he tells us he performed what he calls listen to this, light noise reduction and light equalization and compression,

whatever that means, but anyway, he analyzed it very closely and in his opinion zimmerman is using a racial slur. again, listen. here's his version. we'll play it for you again three times. [ inaudible ] >> you know, and actually after i heard it now for the 500th time i thought maybe it's curse word cones, and i was curious to know are they driving -- >> ah. i never even thought about that. i don't know. maybe we'll never know the answer. i'll be curious to know -- >> we don't have to decide. or a court or a jury will decide. >> it's interesting as we analyzed the last portionment audio where you hear really wind more than anything else or breathing, the last forensic expert said there's only a 48% chance that this was zimmerman's voice, so there's a lot of debate as to whether it was even george zimmerman making that call. >> in the screening portion.

>> but they also have not yet as far as we know matched the trayvon voice to the screening portion, so that's inconclusive on who that really was. i hear you, will cain, will has been a long advocate of slow down, get all the evidence. but i actually find all the details emerging incredibly fascinating and with social media everyone has access now to this evidence and this is evidence and you get to sit down and sort of say, well, i'd like to hear what the experts are hearing. >> again, i said this is the latest, greatest point of debate and that really plays into that central portion was it a racial motivated crime, a hate crime. if it can be determined if he used a racial slur, of course, that's fuel for the fire. but difficult. >> and fuel for the lawyers from the department of justice. alina, thank you, appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point," we'll talk about van's book, "build the dream" he's a former white house adviser, resigned in a cloud of craziness and scandal dream."

speaking of social media, we're going to talk about exactly what happened. he'll walk us through and talk about how the american dream in his opinion can be recaptured. you're watching "starting point." back in a moment. and it's free. ya know, for whoever you are that day. it's just another way you'll be traveling at the speed of hertz. fiona here was just telling me that ford dealers sell a new tire like...every five seconds, how's that possible? well, we purchase 3 million a year. you just sold one right now didn't you? that's correct. major brands. 11 major brands. oop,there goes another one. well we'll beat anybody's advertised price. and you just did it right there, what's that called? the low price tire guarantee. wait for it, there goes another one. get a $100 rebate, plus the low price tire guarantee during the big tire event. look at that. it's happening right there every five seconds. your not going to run out are you? no.

♪ follow each other on the window, they got nowhere to go ♪ >> that's a part where it's really good to jump in and sing along. that's off of van's list, michael jackson's "man in the mirror." that's my son jackson's favorite song. partly because of michael jackson. but he's 7. you can understand that. we want to talk about van's book. not only is he a panelist but he's written a book called "rebuild the dream." it's all about being inside the white house. you wrote about the hope bubble being burst. you say "where did the forces that elected obama go wrong?

the movement didn't crash primarily because of the losers of 2008 created a fear machine. it crashed because the winners mishandled and dismantled the hope machine." what do you mean? >> the middle of the book analyzes obama's rhetoric, rhetorical strategy, the last part of the book is a bunch of professional pose ales to try to get america working. i'm one of the few people, i was a grass roots outsider, i became a white house insider and then i became a grass roots outsider again. i have a 360 view of how the white house really misunderstood the grass roots movement. the grass roots movement totally misunderstood what the white house could do and couldn't do. i thought i had a responsibility to write a book to give both sides insight into each other. >> page 78 you say this -- >> hold up, hold up. >> i'll hold it like this. now available on amazon. "we overestimated our

achievement in 2008, we underestimated our opponents. we did not lose because the backlashers got so loud, we lost because the rest of us got quiet. too many of us treated the inauguration as some sort of finish line and we should have treated it as a starting line. too many of us sat down when we should have stood up." what was the implication of that? >> the problem was i think the progressives, democrats and independents elected obama thought you got obama in the white house, 60 votes in the senate -- >> done and done. >> we thought that was enough to govern. turns out that was on one third. you needed a disciplined media strategy, fox was able to demonstrate that and you have to have a grass roots movement, people. the tea party demonstrated that. lbj did not lead the civil rights movement. obama is the head of state. he's not supposed to also be a social movement leader but the grass roots didn't understand that. we expected him to do for us what we have to do for

ourselves. >> interesting your disappointments is largely focused on those outside who opposed it. your ideology has been very open. you said you flirted with socialism, communism. when you were inside, you were part of this administration. how much does your ideology reflect the ideology reflect the administration's? >> the reason i wrote the book, so many people smear what i'm saying -- >> if i'm wrong -- >> let me finish. i figured you'd try to make some point for yourself. the are the is i like a lot of people when i was younger -- some people experiment with drugs and alcohol, i experimented ideas, world views and philosophies. when i was younger, i decided i would do everything i could to change the system to make sure poor people didn't mistreated. i grew up, i learned, i changed.

shirley sherrod will tell her story about how she learned, i was telling my story the way you're going to deal with poverty is with business solutions and free enterprise and putting people to work. >> you didn't answer will's question, which is how much of what your philosophy is reflects what was going on in the administration. >> my philosophy of using business-based solutions to fight both poverty and pollution, creating green jobs, putting people to work in green industries is exactly what the president ran on. my mature views are the views of the administration. and so the reason i wrote the book, we are now living in a situation where the information system is very sophisticated but the wisdom system is not. >> we're going to keep talking about this through our commercial break as well and into the 8:00 hour. got to take a break. we're back in just a moment. stay with us. r... and pure natural flavors. coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally.

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welcome, everybody. it was panic mode as tornadoes whipped through texas. >> large tornado on the ground! >> 30,000 pound tractor trailers were thrown through the air. a curfew is in place and a very difficult clean-up is ahead as well. plus a stunning study looks how kids view race. a boy told me his mom won't allow him to have white friends. i took the results to his parents. >> and mitt romney is more than halfway home after he sweeps three more contests but still not enough to knock senator rick santorum out of the race. it's wednesday, april 4th and "starting point" begins right now. that's off of christine's play list, billy joel. we didn't play him very much

when we were doing our long island segment. come on. i take personal responsibility. >> if he can't make that cut. >> i know. >> ron brownstein is with us, cnn senior political analyst and editorial director at "the national journal." will cain is with us, a columnist for "the blaze".com, van jones is with us, former obama white house adviser, author of identify rebuild the dream." we've been talking a little bit of a history about how you left the white house. first i want to talk about what's happening in texas, those storms. i think the most amazing pictures have been damage like this and then also those tractor trailers you can see the storm swept across the straight yesterday afternoon, path of destruction in their wake of course. amazingly there were no deaths, very few injuries to report but there was significant damage, including the twister that caught those trailers coming off the ground. some of them weighed more than 20,000 pounds and it would toss

them, you can see in the shot, it could toss them literally hundreds of feet into the air. youtube and other social media flooded with images after the storm, including this close-up taken in the city of lancaster, texas just as the twister was touching down. look at that. that's amazing. so parish recorded that video. he's in arlington, texas. nice to see you. thanks for talking with us. when you're taking photos of the storm like that, in your mind are you thinking risk or as a photographer are you thinking i want amazing shots of the storm and i'm not thinking about how close i am to this twister? >> i was definitely thinking about how close i was because of all the debris floating around. i was making sure it was going away from me and not toward me. >> so tell me how did you get to capture this? you're not a professional photographer. what happened? what were the circumstances?

>> not professional yet, trying to be. but i was actually driving to work for another job and saw some spinning up in the cloud and decided to kind of follow it and kind of took some video pictures of it before it was a tornado and i saw it hit the ground and started taking pictures of it, ended up following it for about 20 miles, and i actually got a picture that ended up on the "dallas morning news" front page and is supposed to be on couple other front pages. >> so guess what, you are now a professional photographer. congratulations to you. >> hopefully i can get a job, right? >> hey, that's the next step. you're on the front page and then it goes into a job. van says you're working it. tell me what that moment was like. were you being hit by debris? how far away would you estimate you actually were? >> my guestimate is probably 150

yard. debris was everywhere. it was like a train going by. it was a deep rumble. it was scary but it was extremely exciting at the same time. >> when you look back now at your beautiful shots, and we've been showing a bunch of them on the air here as well and remember paris velasco looking for a job, are you thinking i was completely insane? >> it was very exciting. it was a rush. i've been wanting to do that for a really long time. that was the first tornado i've seen in person and i got it. >> yes, you did. and we really glad that you're safe when you're getting those shots. hey, christine. >> new york police this morning are investigating the mysterious death of a leading french scholar and government adviser.

54-year-old richard dequan was found dead in his manhattan hotel room. he was neighborhood in bed with blood coming out of his mouth. police say they found his cell phone on the third floor landing as if had had been tossed out the window. no signs of foul play so far but they haven't ruled it out yet. >> the suspect in the shooting rampage is expected in court this morning. several people died. police are still looking for the murder weapon but they say they have recovered plenty of ballistic evidence. >> federal judges slamming president obama's recent comments about the supreme court on the health care law. a federal appeals court is now demanding the obama administration answer whether it believes unelected judges have the right to strike down a

federal law it deems unconstitutional and they want that answer by noon tomorrow. the white house is not commenting on that order. but president obama says courts have traditionally exercised deference to congress. >> and the new nike uniforms were unveiled in new york yesterday, modelled by players from each of the league's 32 teams. nike's deal with the nfl makes it the exclusive uniform and apparel provider for the next five years, a position reebok held for a decade, soledad. >> thank you, christine. appreciate it. let's talk about politics this morning if we can. mitt romney more than halfway to the total number of delegates he needs to clinch the gop presidential nomination, he added maryland, wisconsin, the district of columbia in his win column. he's got 648, rick santorum 264, newt gingrich 137, ron paul 71. >> mitt romney took another big

step toward the nomination last night the odd for santorum get more and more difficult. on the other hand, you know, pretty much every ambulatory republican other than betty draper's second husband on "mad men" has endorsed mitt romney. the bottom did not fall out for rick santorum, who held his own among evangelical voters and did well with voters earning under $100,000 a year or more, which suggests if he can remain his viability through april, when you can get may you can have an awkward situation for romney, as he progresses toward the nomination but loses evangelical states. >> a lot of van's book is about looking forward. let's say you're the obama campaign. your strategy says it has to be less of a president obama campaign. plenty of democrats have been

frustrated with president obama. so what is the strategy moving forward with the left side? >> well, i mean, i think that, first of all, the republicans have been doing us a great favor by being so clear. in the past the republicans would sort of talk about social issues and hide of economic agenda. now they put the economic agenda straight forward and saying, listen, we want to cut a bunch of social programs, leave tax breaks in place for the wealthy. i think that helps president obama. but the base has to get inspired again and get excited again. the last time it was a hope election. this year it's going to be a fear election, fear of a tea party president, fear of obama's alleged radicalism on the other. i think the president came out very strong, i think he's doing a very good job of saying, listen, if you want to talk about this paul ryan budget as being a marvelous budget, let's talk about the budget. >> is the disillusionment you see from the left perhaps a reflection of naivete or not

thinking through the solution? unlike the republican party, 80% of republicans call themselves conservatives, only 40% of democrats call themselves liberals. is it realistic to think barack obama could have passed himself through a congress that would reflect that without -- >> i know how ron feels about it. >> a part of the point i make in the book is there is this misunderstanding between the grass roots base of the party and the white house. people expected him to be able to do this evenings that frankly no president would be able to do. here's where i think we have a chance to move forward. the grass roots base of this party likes this president. they're not in love with him the way they used to be but they still like him. they don't want a tea party president. the economic issues around homeownership -- it used to be in order to go from poverty to the middle class you go to college and you buy a house. that is now the trap door into poverty because of excessive student loans, debt and

underwater mortgage. people see the american dream upside down and inside out. if the president starts talking about the bread and butter issues would be worse under a tea party presidency, i think he begins to reengage that base. >> i'm very happy to have this debate on economic issues and have an election on two economic issues. >> we're have to take a short break. ahead on "starting point," florida stand your ground law in florida. we'll talk to a lawmaker who was against that law before the shooting and now want to get rid of it. and also a warning about eating sushi. 90 people, 19 state are sick. the fda will tell us what they think is at the root of this. and we see you, katie couric and raise you a sarah palin. the guest host on the "today" show. she talked about the lame stream

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a move in florida to speed up the review of of the state state's "stand your ground" law. the governor says his own task force will start examining the law but not until the martin investigation is complete.

thanks for talking with us. you led the opposition to the stand your ground law back in 2005. do you believe that the law needs to be tweaked or do you believe that that law needs to be scrapped all together? >> i believe that it can be tweaked and still be useful in the state. i mean, stand your ground and those that supported it have good intentions but we have years of data showing the misuse of stand your ground, and the problem is it was misused before the trayvon martin case and the concern is it will be misused subsequent to the trayvon martin case. that's why we cannot wait until the end of the investigation, which as you know could teak a long time. lives are at stake and public safety is at stake in florida. that's why we must act now. >> what's the evidence -- let's put this particular case aside. what's the evidence there's been misuse? if you look at statistics over justifiable homicides prethe law, there was an average of 12 and then after the law was

instituted, that number went up to 36. so three times increase. is that what you're pointing to as clearly indicative of problems? >> a case in point in miami on january 25th, and the case was just decided about three weeks ago, in which a gentleman saw someone robbing his car, taking his car radio. he chased the robber a full city block and then stabbed the robber to death. and he was released and case dismissed on stand your ground after he was an aggressor. and so we're getting those type of cases and have data showing where those type of people are mis staunderstanding this law a people are being the aggressors and standing behind stand your ground. people are going to get the impress they have the license to go ahead and kill and let shooting be their first thought instead of the last resort. >> we're having this conversation now because of the

trayvon martin case. can you explain to me how the stand your ground law applies to the trayvon martin case. it seems like there's two stories, that zimmermann tracked down and stalked trayvon and killed him and the other was his life was in jeopardy. how does stand your ground have anything to do with this case? >> well, the stand your ground law is a little bit of history, we've always had the doctrine that if someone is breaking into your house or car, can you use deadly force to defend yourself. the stand your ground is an expansion of that, outside of the house, outside of the vehicle, anyplace you're legally able to be, a city street, you can use deadly force if you feel it's going to be used against you. the way some are interpreting it is mr. zimmermann was legally allowed to be in that neighborhood and once he fet threatened, he could use deadly

force. if you look at the statute, we have the full listing of the statute and the fourth part of the statute, which talks about immunity from prosecution, it even says if you are the adegreesor and you feel that someone is threatening you, you can still use stand your ground and use deadly force. and that's kind of the problem is that it's being misinterpreted and interpreted in different ways and sewn that's why we're convening a task force of lawyers, people that have used stand your ground for eight years to come up with a definitive use for this law -- >> so it's that particular clause. let show folks the clause. a person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and is atabsd in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force. my understanding is there are 24 states that have the stand your ground laws.

florida is different because they have that "no duty to retreat" clause, means in other states if you can get away and you decide you're going to shoot anyway, you could be prosecuted but not in the state of of florida and three other states. it's really that particular clause you're taking issue with. is that right, sir? >> the prosecution is the big part of it. normally you would have a self-defense claim. if you shoot someone and you would have to go to court and have a burden of proof for self-defense. stand your ground gives a lesser burden of proof. to use the martin case, if you have two persons and no witnesses, one's dead, you know, stand your ground shields you from prosecution you just have to claim i felt threatened. and that's the concern and that's the problem we have in florida and that's why we have to do something now before we get more cases like this, now that people are hearing about this and may get the wrong impression in florida that i can just start shooting first.

>> senator chris smith joining us this morning. thanks for joining us. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> coming up the next hour, we'll talk to natalie jackson, the martin family attorney. the fbi has been talking to folks and trayvon martin's girl friend, who was on the phone with him. the fbi has had a chance to talk to them. we'll get an update on what's happening there. also on "starting point," the real sarah palin joins the lame stream media. we'll talk about how that went. you can follow us on our live block which is cnn.com/startingpoint. bruce springsteen, "rocky ground." and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands.

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♪ america, america >> we love prince in the morning. "america" from prince, off of ann's play list. sarah palin was a guest host on the nbc "today" show yesterday. watch this. >> it doesn't matter if that person has national experience or not, they're going to get clobbered by the lame stream media who does not like the conservative message. >> you're going to stick around and join us for part of the 8:00 hour which technically makes you part of the lame stream media. >> i always said if everything's under control, you're going too slow, as mario andretti says, too.

it's been a great morning. >> yes, interesting. >> people have been waiting for her to get her talk show. it's one more step. >> i'm going to be the white oprah, i'm going to be the white oprah! >> still ahead this morning, anything could happen. still ahead on "starting point," did george zimmermann use a racial slur the night he shot and killed trayvon martin? an analysis of the tape only here on "starting point." plus a study of the meanest airline in america and it is revealed i think they really should just tell us the best ones so we can fly them. we're back in just a moment. [ male announcer ] a car is either luxury or it isn't.

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♪ crazy girl, i love you >> eli young, "crazy girl." will cain getting a lot of play on play list. who did you pay off in the control room this morning? >> he just has good taste. >> oh, oh. >> let's stick to texas. parts of north texas look like a war zone this morning after a string of violent tornadoes. >> oh, my god. please! oh, shoot! >> this is why.

a barrage of tornadoes damaged homes, flipped big rigs and left thousands without power in the dallas-fort worth area, thousands of flights were cancelled and more than a hundred planes were damaged by hail, big hail. des spipite widespread damage, reports of death or serious injuries. >> one of five construction workers injured when a giant crane collapsed in new york city died. two large pieces of the crane broke apart and fell into a construction pit. one section measured 80 feet along, the other 40 feet. investigators looking into whether a snapped cable caused this accident. the workers were part of a crew extending a subway line on manhattan's west side. >> bad sushi is a likely cause of a new salmonella outbreak. investigators are looking into

whether spicy tuna roles are responsible. several people were sent to the hospital. they are focusing on six restaurant clusters. >> and the city where martin luther king was killed is finally naming a street after him. he once marched on that street to support striking sanitation workers. >> a flight attendant has been delivering food and drinks in the air for 29 years. on a flight from africa to atlanta in late march, she helped deliver a baby boy. >> everyone's like looking at me obviously and i just held him up and i said "it's a boy" and everybody clapped and there was laughter and it was really fun and exciting and she was so happy and weepy and it was great.

>> luckily one of the passenger was not on a doctor but an obstetrician. we're told mom and her newborn baby boy are doing just fine. >> and fresh off reports airlines dlfrd their best service, u.s. news and world report are out with a list of the worst airlines. so number one, united with the highest rate of complaints. number two, continental airlines, which means the top two are the same since they just merged, right? and number three on the list, american. the report cited air tran as one of the best airlines. a united gate agent told me -- i said do you have preboarding for people with babies and toddlers and she said "oh, no, then families would think they're special." >> i think the list of best is much more helpful. meanest -- you have to fly somewhere. we said this yesterday. it's not like can you walk.

plus, the woman delivered a baby! that's got to knock whatever airline that was, that's got to knock you up ten points. >> we charge you $25 a bag but if you get pregnant and have a baby, we're here for you. >> only in the air. >> you have to weigh it, extra bag, delivered my baby. >> on monday we talked to audio expert tom owen and i was asking him to analyze the screams we heard in the back of 9 1 calls made on the night trayvon martin was shot and killed. what he came to was that the screams did not match the voice of george zimmermann. he also said because they didn't have audio clips of trayvon martin's voice they were not able to conform the screams were trayvon martin's. then i asked him this -- >> okay, as you know a lot of the conversation that we've had about this 911 call has focused

about two minutes and 20 seconds in where i hear a curse and then a racial slur. you know what i'm talking about on this? >> on the 911 call? >> yeah. if you go about 2:20 in, there's been lots of debate -- >> right. >> you have investigated that at all? what does your analysis say? can you clarify that so people can hear and deep side yes, that is what i think it is or it's not what i think it is? >> i could certainly clarify that but i've not been asked to do that. >> so if i asked you to do that, would you do that? >> i very well may do that. >> not only could he may well do that, he actually did do it for me and here is his enhanced version of what i hear to be curse, racial slur. listen, in loop three times. [ inaudible ]

mr. owen says through his forensic analysis he believeszi curse word and then "close." another forensic expert did the same thing and here's his version. here's what he looped. [ inaudible ] he says he does hear the curse word and then the slur that's been in question. we want to get to natalie jackson, she's one of the attorneys for trayvon martin's family joining us this morning. ms. jackson, thanks for talking with us. one. >> thanks for having me. >> one expert says eigit's a cu and then the other says, no, it's not. are you confident you'll be able to isolate what was said at that

windy day, 2:20 into that 911 call? >> the prosecutors will be prosecuting the case, not our team. however, there's always different experts that will say different things. each side will have an expert. here the important thing is that the jury gets to decide. i will tell you from my experience in jury trials is that juries have a lot of common sense and they listen and they hear and they watch and you cannot tell them if they are really paying attention what they're hearing and what they're seeing. >> the department of justice is looking at this as a potential hate crimes case. so that chunk if it's a case in a racial slur could be very important to making that case for the d.o.j. if they decide to go that way. if they decide it's not a racial slur, it could kill the case altogether. it's the $64,000 question, isn't it? >> it is. it's a huge part of the question. we asked the department of

justice when we met with them what role that would play, they said that would be a really big part, what he's saying. it's left up to the interpretation of the expert. >> yesterday we talked about burglary, about young, black men in the neighborhood. i asked him if he said it made sense to think that george zimmermann would be fearful of young, black men. here's what he said. >> there's an old saying if you plant corn, you're going to get corn. >> i don't know that saying. what does that mean? this case ? >> it is what it is. it is what it is. i would go on record by stating that of the eight prior burglaries in the 15 months prior to the trayvon martin shooting, all of the perpetrators were young black males. >> what do you think he's saying in that interview, ma'am?

>> i think he's saying that racial profiling is fine. i will tell you, soledad, frank taaffee is the worst representative for george zimmermann. to think he's the representative to show this is not racial profile is outrageous. >> if the justice department concludes it cannot ascertain what was said in the 911 tape, are there other grounds in your view for pursuing a hate crime case or is that pretty much the linchpin? >> i'm sorry, repeat that, sir. >> i'm saying if the justice department concludes it cannot ascertain what was said in the 911 call, in your view are there other grounds for pursuing a hate crime case or are there not other grounds if there's not a clear indication of what was said on the tape? >> florida has a hate crime statute but i don't believe the prosecutors will prosecute under

that. i believe they'll prosecute it under a crime statute and they'll leave the hate crime to the justice department. if the justice department department decides it's not a slur, that will be the end of any type of hate crime. >> we know that the fbi has now spoken to trayvon's girl friend, that she was having a conversation with him as you well know right around the moments, the minutes before he was killed. also we're told that they've had conversations with frank taaffe as well. have you followed up with her to find out any details of what's come out of those conversations that she said now on the record with the law enforcement? >> we have talked to her, our team. however, we've talked to her with the investigator. but she -- what she says is what she's always said so, you know, that's really up to the prosecutor to follow up with her. so, no, our team tries to just, you know, monitor what's going

on, just to ensure the family, who has been told the family who have been told a lot of stuff, that things are progressing as they should. >> thanks, ms. jackson, for talking with us. >> still ahead, an eye opener. little kid who already have rules in their head about their interracial friendship. i asked one child's parent where he heard these things. it's part of an "ac 360" study. you're watching "starting point." back in just a moment. cream... a touch of sugar... and pure natural flavors. coffee-mate natural bliss. from nestle. add your flavor naturally.

and we're back with our conversation. we were talking earlier about politics and van's book, which is called "rebuild the dream." the two of you were getting into it a little bit. you took great umbrage when you mentioned socialism and communism and -- >> how to reflect on the president's ideology. van took big issue with that. i want you to tell me where have i got it wrong? >> basically what i wanted to be able to clarify with you --

>> you can hit him if you want. >> no, no, no. >> no, no. >> i'm kidding. >> all these are fair questions. i was on the left side of pluto when i was in my 20s. everybody knows that. i talk about that on the record. but what i learned as i was going through the rest of my life, those ideas were not working. i was going to more funerals than graduations for kid in oakland. i said we've got to do something to get jobs in this industry. the solar industry was taking off and i said why doesn't we get these kids jobs installing solar panels. it opened up my eyes to use green businesses to fight poverty. those were the ideas that captured the attention of a lot of people in the country. i think those are good ideas, i think they're good ideas because they're good -- if you believe in markets, they're great because they're free-market based ideas. >> what i appreciated about van

and it didn't come off personally between us is the honesty in his own ideology. he's telling us now where he was versus where he is today. what i'm curious about but even today you embrace concepts like the occupy protest. how much do the occupy protests, wherever we put it on the left end of the spectrum reflect on the president? there's the source of my question. >> and did he want to you resign? >> no, there was no pressure. most people when they go to work in the white house, they call the white house and say can i come work there? it was the other way. they called me. i was there as a special adviser. our friends in the right wing media made me out to a czar, i had these incredible powers. i was just a special adviser. when i thought my colorful past was being a distraction, i called them to resign. here's the deal, i learned a ton. and one of the things i learned, when you are -- you think you love this country, you work in the white house, you're holding that country in your arms for six months, you leave, you have

a much deeper understanding about how both parties are misfiring. i wanted to write a book that could at least put what i had learned on the record. your concern is i am a left democrat, the president is a moderate democrat, how close are we politically? i think can you look at this book and see there are places where we overlap and places where we don't. that's true in any administration. larry summers in that administration and so am i. it gives you a sense of his range and breadth. i've been out of the administration for two and a half years. i want to be judged on my own ideas. >> ahead we have a really interesting study looking at how children view race. one little boy told me his mom said he couldn't have white friends. we then showed that interview to his mom and dad and we'll tell you what they had to say about that. you're watching "starting point." we're back in just a moment. ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn.

♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ i get my cancer medications through the mail. now washington, they're looking at shutting down post offices coast to coast. closing plants is not the answer. they want to cut 100,000 jobs. it's gonna cost us more, and the service is gonna be less. we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball,

they can make the right decisions.

anderson cooper "360" has a special report called "kids on race, hidden picture." i had a chance to sit down with some kid who said some pretty provocative things about race and then we showed it all to

their parents. >> davion is a third grader at a majority african-american school. >> do you think sometimes people choose friends based on the color of someone's skin? >> mm-hmm. >> his responses stood out to our experts because he was so overwhelmingly negative about interracial friendships. the majority of 6-year-old african-americans were positive. >> they're not the same color and they can't play together if they're not the same color. >> it sounded like his mother was a big reason behind that. >> so why can't you play together if you have different color skin? >> because your mom might not want to you play with that friend. >> what if someone really wanted to be your friend but they're of a different color? what would you do? you'd say no? why would you say no? >> because you're not the same color. >> and it's okay to tell people they can't be your friend because of the color of their

skin? >> mm-hmm. >> why is that okay? >> because your mom would not want them to be a different color friends. >> we're good to go, right? >> this is davion's mother, iesha. she's a teacher in her son's school district. sheep says davion has friends of many races but that race is not an issue she's delved into with him. >> i teach him treat everyone the same. i never had a conversation with him specifically about nirchany race or anything like that. >> does he ask you questions about race? >> no, not really. i don't think he understands or it's a factor to him. >> davion's father is separated from davion's mother but the two share custody of their son. they agreed to watch his test and give us their reaction. we warned them in advance their

son had some pretty provocative things to say. >> do you think it's good to have friends that look different than you or is it better to have friends that look the same as you? >> look the same as you. >> so why can't you play together if you have different color skin? >> because your mom might not want you to play with that friend. >> so what do you think is going on there? we'll start with mommy because mommy's mentioned a lot. >> i definitely have not, you know, told him that he can only have friends of one color so i'm not sure. but i'm a little bothered by it. >> are you? >> i am. >> is it upsetting? >> it is. just because i don't want him to think that i would think that or i would expect that. i definitely don't instill that in him. whoever is his friend is his friend. i'm not sure why he would feel that way. it just concerns me he would think like that. >> david was skeptical that davion's answers were a true

reflection of his son. >> i know that's not my son as far as the answers i was given. i think he answers the way he thinks they want people to answer. >> our study found the majority of 6-year-old children are optimistic about race relations but at age 13 that changes. according to our experts it's a repeated message of rejection that explains disappointing trend. if the theory goes by psychologist that kids from 6 to 13 become more pessimistic, do you worry about him? he's a little pessimistic? >> i'm a little concerned. if you're already approaching it at a mess mipessimist beinic st going to happen later?

>> it's a question she'll now face with her son. >> we later talked to all the parents of all the kids so brave to be able to watch their kids saying some pretty crazy things. >> 2011, the majority newborns were nonwhite. notwithstanding this case, as we talked about before, the inexorible trend is more intermingling and intermixing. >> before van and i and talked, we grew up very differently but we probably have very different perceptions about how inclusive it actually was. >> i wonder, this kid seems like a very sensitive kid. i wonder if he's picking u on some of the disappointment of his parents even subconsciously -- >> the psychologists talk about what the kids are taking in. the parents say they're only 6,

they're not taking in anything. that's not true. when they wa. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one. together for your future. ♪

"end point" ron brownstein? the eirony is the last 10% of voters will decide on other grounds. >> van? >> if you want to know about anything, get my book. it's like number 10 on amazon right now going lot hot cakes. >> my 2-year-old relationship with van jones has gone through its ups and downs but i would hope the conversations we've had on and off air are ones we can have more of. >> good, i like that. >> we'll be back here tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. take care. good morning. >> good morning. i'm carol costello. fast and furious dallas cleaning up