candidates' histories. i wonder if they will do the same thing with obama. we don't know much about mr. obama. >> we will have to -- well, we noah lot, but we will have to leavit there for now. >> that does it for us on this sunday. >> so great to have you all here with us. the news continues in washington right now. we hope you have a great day. the winningest coach in college football history has passed away. joe paterno's family confirming the news that he lived his life with one goal in mind, to make an impact. julie banderas joins us with more on the life and legacy of the former penn state head coach. hi, julie. >> joe-pot died this morning at 9:25 a.m. it was after a two-month battle with lung cancer. he leaves his wife, his five

children and 17 grandchildren. paterno died at state colleges medical centers where he underwent treatment and remained connected to a ventilator until his family communicated to the hospital his wishes not to be kept alive through extreme artificial means. his family released a statement earlier today saying he died as he lived. he fought hard until the end. he stayed positive and thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. his ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this happy valley to achieve them. he was a mandy voted to his family, his university, his players and his community. paterno leaves behind a sports legacy that will be nearly impossible to match. the most successful football coach, college football coach in history with 409 wins and two national championships while honing the lions. but his success is scared by a

child sex scandal involving sandusky in which joe paterno was accused of not doing enough to stop the assault. it lead to him eventually being fired by the board of trustees after announcing an early retirement. sandusky currently faces 52 counts of child molestation. already members of the family, the community, students are gathering at a makeshift memorial outside penn state's beaver stadium, but as of now there are no funeral plans. >> julie banderas with the latest, thanks, and we will continue to follow that story. we proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money. and with your help they will prove it again in florida. >> we are now three contests into a long primary season.

this is a hard fight because there is so much worth fighting for. there is no doubt the momentum will continue. >> three states, three winners , what a great country. >> the rate is on. a southern surge for newt gingrich. once all but politically dead he makes an extraordinary come back. he is winning the primary and stopping mitt romney in his tracks. as it stands, three contests, three different winners and now the action shifts to florida. we have fox team coverage of all of the latest. they are both on the ground in south carolina. we kick it off with mike. hi, mike. >> insiders break down what happened in the first in the south primary. it is clear that newt gingrich's southern swagger and his fiestiness played well leading to a double-digit victory. former governor mitt romney and his tax return issue doged him throughout much of the past week.

and today south carolina said -- jim demint said it hurt him for not being definitive in his answer. governor romney sought to address that on fox news sunday and made some news. >> i will release my tax returns for 2010 which is the last returns that were completed. i will do that on tuesday of this week. i will also release at the same time an estimate for 2011 tax returns. so you will have two years, and people can take a good look at it. we will put them on the website, and you can go through the pages. i think we made a mistake in holding off as long as we did. it was a distraction. we want to get back to the real issues in the campaign. >> it was an effect issue for newt gingrich and rick perry who went after romney about his tax returns. former speaker gingrich offers this reaction. >> i think that's a very good thing he is doing. i commend him for it, and i think it is exactly the right thing to do.

as far as i'm concerned, that particular issue is now set, and we can go on and talk about bigger and more important things. >> gingrich is clearly hoping a double-digit victory in south carolina will help his campaign fundraising because runing in florida is very expensive with all of the media markets in a bigger state to cover. for romney try -- trying to get back on track, and they are feeling good about their start in florida with a lot of early voting, absentee voting already taking place. several hundred thousand votes are already cast. now for a look across south carolina, let's go to my colleague john roberts and hopefully warmer and charming charleston. john? >> no warmer, but very charming here. no question about that, mike. last night's victory wasn't just a come from behind for newt gingrich. it was an absolute blowout. you can talk about it in terms of percentages. let's put up the map of south carolina. this is all of the counties across south carolina. we are up for grabs, and look

at this. it is a sea of red for newt gingrich. mitt romney only took three counties. they were substantial counties. richland and charleston county and beuford county. but newt gingrich is across the board. he didn't just win in the upstate. he went across the state and even taking horry county which is where myrtle beach is. how did he do it? he won in almost all of the key voting blocks. late deciders broke for him. 44%. conservatives he won 44% of those. independents he won 41% and he came close in moderates. evangelicals, 44% for him. and look at this. married women, 41% which is an indication that the scandal of the last 48 hours before people went to the polls really had no impact on married women. newt gingrich obviously when it came to the podium -- when he came to the podium very happy about the results in south carolina. here is what he said. >> the biggest thing i take from the campaign in south carolina is that it is very

humbling and very sobering to have so many people who so deeply want their country to get back on the right track. >> when you look at the way newt gingrich won in this state, across the state and in all of the voting blocks, it is an indication that he is a strong candidate going forward. he didn't win among one particular group. that is a problem for mitt romney. he wanted to be able to win in a lot of the groups. it is clear as they go on to florida based on mitt romney that he will continue the attack against newt gingrich. here is what he said. >> in recent weeks the choice within our party has also come that stark focus. president obama has no experience runing a business and running a state. our party can't be lead to victory by somebody who has never run a business or never run a state. >> and mike emmanuel talked a second ago about the news mitt romney made this morning

saying he was going to release tax returns for 2010 and 2011. now that he has done that, watch for him to turn the attack on newt gingrich saying it is time to release record at freddy mac, and there will undoubtedly be a point at the debate in tampa. back to you. >> you can count on it. thank you very much, john. how big of a deal is it to win the primary? it could be huge for the winner, newt gingrich, but this year they are entering uncharted territory. every gop candidate who won the south carolina primary has gone on to win the republican nomination. but this time there is a twist. previous south carolina victors had also cap captured either iowa or new hampshire. it is something gingrich was unable to do this time around. here to talk about what last night results mean for the rest of the primary season, a democratic strategist and president of d2 strategies and alice stewart, a republican strategist and former bachman campaign spokesman.

thank you for joining us today. >> good morning. >> great to be here. >> alice, i want to start with you. you have been active working on congresswoman bachmann's campaign. how big of a deal that mitt romney agreed to release his tax records this week? >> i think it is significant. unfortunately he should have done it earlier in the week. it shouldn't have dragged on as long as it had. earlier in the week we said get it out of the he made the decision not to do so. unfortunately it became something he couldn't get away from. the fact that he couldn't clearly articulate any reason why he did or did not release it, that was a hindrance. we learned that became an issue instead of him focusing on his ideas and his visions for the future of this country, and he got bogged down. it was an issue that could have been put to the past a longtime ago. what gingrich was able to do is capital lies on that, but also on the debate. in 2008 the big issue was god and guns. this time it is debate and

determination. and that is what made the difference for gingrich. >> how much difference does this make, this huge south carolina win going into florida where arguably he has a lot less of a ground game and he spent less money than romney has. romney does hold a very wide lead, but he did in south carolina a few days ago as well. >> well, certainly this republican primary has been a very volatile period of time. i think it is much more important for mitt romney to do well in florida and for gingrich to hold his own as we go into it. he clearly has both issues. will the win help him raise money he needs to get into the air into expensive media markets as well as an organization on the ground. so i think florida obviously is going to be very important. i think the two candidates people will be most focused on will be mitt romney and newt gingrich. i think it is more important that mitt romney do well and gingrich holds his own.

>> one of the top issues when you think about florida is the senior citizens who live there. and the debate about social security, and these candidates have had a lot of ?ieping in the debate so far. that's going to be a hot topic this week as well. >> having worked on the rick scott campaign, social security and medicare is a big issue as well as medication. they will have to go and articulate their vision. more than anything, the issues are critical of the the people in south carolina demmon demonstrated it and i believe the people in florida will too. they want someone who will take on barack obama. i spoke with several people over the past several days and they said newt gingrich or even mitt romney. in particular newt gingrich who may not be the right candidate and check off the boxes, but they look at him in the debate and they can see him taking on barack obama in the issues and doing what he can to help in florida's case save social security and improve medicare and create jobs and turn the economy around.

>> and what do you make of that? there is a conversation that newt can be deadly in the debates, but is he the right person for the gop to have out there as their nominee? are those different skill sets in your mind? >> they are. i think she has done a good job in analyzing the situation. and i think republicans are terrified of newt gingrich and a general election candidate. i think the fact that newt is very smart, but -- he is very intense and very emotional. but how he will stand up to general scrutiny and the general election i think terrifies people. and it is going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out. >> and we lost two contenders this week with governor perry bowing out and governor huntsman as well. where do you think their votes go in florida? >> well, time will tell. of course with perry's endorsement of gingrich, we will see how that helps.

huntsman's votes will go to different people. what we will see in florida is the tea party is critical. who ever can coral the tea party vote would be smart. it would be great to get a jeb bushen endorsement and an arubio. the key going into florida is what you can do for social security and medicare. while gingrich has a lot of the surge coming out of south carolina, gingrich has money. 19 million cash on hand. he already has a good ad war on the air. and gingrich needs to compete with that. he already has a good money bomb that started after last night. i'm sure he will continue to give him money. but money will be critical going into florida. it is a large state. you cannot shake every hand. so having money to compete against romney will be critical. >> absolutely. >> thank you very much. and both of you please stick around. our panel will come back and talk about how this gop field will go head to head against president obama. we will be back with them in a few minutes. thank you, ladies. the south carolina win has

shaken up the gop race yet again. >> i think with rick perry having dropped out and that patriot having done well for the front-runner whom i will call newt gingrich now being the front-runner. >> it is your turn to weigh in. do you think newt gingrich is now the new front-runner? tweet the answer at shannon breen. we will read some of your responses later on in the show. officials combing through the wreckage of the italian cruiseship say there may have been unregistered passengers on board. that sh -- that news comes as they say they pulled another body out of the ship. amy kellogg is live with the latest. hello, amy. >> they have not identified all of those 13 either yet, shannon which is particularly distressing for those familyswho are still waiting for news about their loved

ones. the person they identified today, it was a body of a woman on the seventh deck of the partially submerged ship. there is a lot of concern about the welfare of the divers who go in there each day. parts of the ship are becoming increasingly polluted with cleaning fluidings -- fluids from the kitchen and other pieces of debris. there is concern about the half a million gallons of solid fuel that needs to be extracted from the ship which is in a priss teen, natural preserve, this part of the mediterranean sea which is a real tourist destination, but most importantly those still missing and the family of the american couple from minnesota still missing, jerry and barbara heil and other family members of those unaccounted for. the numbers are shifting because there may have been passengers on board the ship who were not registered.

the captain made more news today as further transcripts of the conversation between him and investigators leaked to the italian press. some explosive comments with the captain saying the salute which caused this crash, the slow sail by of the concordia was authorized and they say that practice is generally encouraged as a pr stunt. the captain also spoke in these transcripts about having to run into passengers from the life boat. he wasn't a coward and after the night of friday the 13th, his life was nothing. and an interview and he spoke to the captain he held the captain in his arms and the captain, quote, cried like a baby. there is a piece of very

important information that has gone missing apparently, a laptop computer that the captain had been seen carrying after the accident. shan n no, back to you. >> aim -- shannon, back to you. >> amy kellogg with the latest on that tragedy, thank you. strong winds are blamed for one death in california. he was killed by a fallen tree in yosemite, national park. it knocked out power for more than 25,000 people scprkts midwest is dealing with -- and the midwest is dealing with the threat of severe weather. we will have the latest on our weather coming up. we are getting a first look at the man who allegedly kidnapped a nine-year-old colorado girl. 29-year-old jose garcia is being held on charges of second-degree kidnapping after he allegedly held calista cordova before the brave nine-year-old escaped. cordova was abducted while walking home from school on thursday triggering an amber alert. officials call the little girl a hero for escaping her captor and calling 9-1-1.

choice words from senate majority leader reid as the presidential field moves on. wait until you hear what he said. and joe paterno has left behind an amazing leg fwaw see. a heart melt -- amazing legacy. a heart felt message from his family after this break.

legend -- legend daughter coach joe paterno has died. paterno's family announced his death in a statement this morning saying his loss leaves a void in our lives that will never be filled. he died as he lived and he fought hard until the end, stayed positive and thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone how blessed his life had been. paterno was battling lung cancer and he was 85 years old. >> it is time to check in on the weather now. >> hi, shannon. 5* dangerous day of weather ahead across the areas in the south. 79 degrees in new orleans. it feels like it is spring out there. the temperatures have been breaking records, but there is a cold front on its way.

because of that a major potential outbreak for severe weather is in store. in fact, the storm prediction center has issued a moderate risk for severe weather. this is something you see in april and in may. this kind of activity, not this time of year. we are expecting that some of these tornados could be large and violent. so anybody in this area needs to certainly be watching. anybody in the yellow could see the severe weather. look at this future cast to give some of the timing on this. across arkansas you can see some of the darker yellows popping up. that's around 6:00 local time today we could start to see some of the storms become severe. by around a midnight this line crosses over the mississippi river valley and up throughout parts of illinois and indiana. and it is all nightlong we are potentially dealing with severe weather and cutting through kentucky and tennessee and toward alabama. a lot of people under the gun here and they will have a chance for some of the severe weather by tomorrow as well. yesterday we had the snow toward the northeast. that's gone. clear skies behind it.

some clear skies. there is plenty of cloudiness across the coast. but for the most part we won't have any precipitation. this storm will move toward the northeast and bring some rain for tomorrow. that's all combining with what we have today which is some snow and icing across the northern plains. out -- out across california another storm is moving in. that active pattern will continue for much of the coming week. we will send it back to you. >> rick, thank you very much. after contests in three states we have three primary winners. the big question is how do they stack up against president obama? our panel is back. alice stewart will help us out. debbie, i start with you. a recent fox fox news poll, the polling was the best chance -- who had the best chance to beat the president? and mitt romney sits with 63% of the vote. do you think what happened changes things? >> i think the dynamics will be volatile for this entire election year. i think all of the republican candidates are going to have a

problem is as you get closer to the general election. this is going to be about jobs. they all represent policies of an economic situation that is the most severe for the great depression. they want to know who they will trust to create jobs. all of the republican candidates will have a serious challenge as they talk about the issues as you get closer to november. >> and mitt romney has referred many times to the plan he put together. he highlighted his background as somebody who has worked in creating jobs, and his opponents say in killing jobs. how do you think that issue will play out for these folks as they try to go head to head with the president? >> well, jobs will be critical of course as they go against obama. your poll is important, but also another number that came out, exit polls after last night show that in terms of who is the best to go against obama, newt gingrich came out on top 51%. i have to respectfully disagree. any of these candidates on the

republican side would do a better job leading this country than president obama. i have to agree with maureen. she said obama came into the white house on a wave of euphoria, and now the leadership is about the joy of a root canal. he is not leading the country in the right direction. we have a jobless rate through the roof and high gdp and they want somebody to go in there and turn things around. any of these republican candidates will do a better job than president obama. >> and we have to imagine at this point that whether it is -- within the white house or more formally the re-election campaign they are maping out a strategy for who they could best match up against. how deep into the strategy do you think they are? there are still four contenders. >> i think they are looking at every candidate. they want to talk about what the issues are that the voters are going to be voting on. let's take nick romney. you talk about jobs. when they start to look at what the facts are, president

obama came in and saved the domestic auto industry. mitt romney was against saving the auto industry. when they look at who will be a fighter for the middle class, somebody that paid 15% of his income taxes or somebody who will be a fighter to create jobs and not duplicate the policysthat got us in the mess to begin with. we are starting to see the unemployment going down in the country. there will be a clear choice that will make the difference for the voter in november. >> we will see mitt romney's tax returns. and we will also hear from the president in the state of the union and launching his campaign and moving ahead. a lot to watch this week. thank you. >> have a great day. >> thank you. one factor contributing to the south carolina win, rick perry. when the texas governor dropped out he sent his supporters to campaign for gingrich. last night perry sent his congratulations saying the big win makes him the conservative standard in florida and beyond.

perry said, quote, newt gingrich is the change agent we need to contrast, debate and defeat president obama in november. we will see if florida voters agree. mitt romney comes under fire for not releasing his tax returns until now. >> you know, i don't know how many years i will release. i will look at what our documents are, and i will release multiple years. i don't know how many years, but i will be happy to do that. >> just this morning romney told chris wallace he decided he will release his taxes. more details on the plan. and president obama nailed. it -- nailed it. how his cairn neighed has gone viral. >> ♪ i so in love with you

fans are gathering to

mourn joe paterno's passing. there -- a stoird career and he was dismissed against former assistant coach jerry sandusky. not long after that, paterno was diagnosed with lung cancer. joe shepherd has a look back at joe-pa's life. >> i am not a guy with themes. i am not a guy for goal setting. that's never been my style. >> joe paterno kept it simple. his program's motto, success with honor. it reflected the attention he gave to the academic success of his players. he called his campaign to combine kak deem micks and at let -- combined academics and it may have had something to do with his great depression up bringing. he was born in brooklyn in 1926. he said the cost of tuition almost forced him to drop out of prep school. but he went on to play football at brown and planned to attend law school. but instead he took an opportunity to join his

college coach at penn state. 16 years later joe paterno took over. >> it is a battle of the unbeaten. >> and within a couple of seasons he lead his team to the first of five unbeaten seasons. in more than four decades as head coach, joe paterno racked up an unprecedented collection of trophies and records. he had more wins than any other coach in division one football. none more important than his two national championships in 1982 and 1986. he is the only coach to have won the rose bowl, the cotton bowl, the sugar bowl and the orange bowl. his first losing season didn't come until 1988. but win or lose, paterno's attitude was the same jie. we are going to work hard and try to be a really good football team. we will play them as tough as we know how to play them. >> he never let the success get to his head. he lived in the same modest house for most of his career. joe paterno and his wife raised five children here.

they donated millions of dollars to the school and to the community. a library on campus is named in paterno's honor. a statue outside beaver stadium preserves his image. it is an image several of his fans came to adore. to politics now, harry reid held not back caucus goers. reid told the audience that, quote, one of the candidates believed in free love. reid was referring to gingrich's second wife asked her for an open marriage so he could continue an affair with his current wife, cal si ta. -- calista and gingrich denied the claim. he said this, quote, his claim to fame is he swells sweater vests on the internet.

president obama delivers his state of the union address on tuesday night. it is his chance to not only layout proposals for the year ahead, but to outline a vision for re-election. he will face a divided congress that will start a new session by resuming odd battles. like the payroll tax extension. joining us to talk about all of those things, congressman stuntsman, he -- sutsman and a democrat from new york. welcome to you both. >> good afternoon, shannon. >> good afternoon. >> we will start with you. we have got a preview about what the president will talk about. it sounds similar to what he had to say in kansas. he says it is going to be about fairness for all and responsibility for all. how do you feel about those themes? >> those are good words to use. that's what people are looking for. with this president it is more than just words. we have to look at his actions, and his actions have spoken louder than his words. people are looking for stability. there is some sort of hope and

confidence, and we are always looking for ways to create a long-term vision, a long-term strategy, and the president has nod laid out a long-term strategy. people are looking for security and they are looking for long-term stability. that's what i hope the president talks about in the state of the union, and he does need to explain the keystone pipeline, why he is delaying the keystone pipeline because that's a lot of jobs for america. >> and congressman, i want to ask you about that, about the keystone issue. house speaker john boehner was on fox news sunday with chris wallace, and there are discussions about whether the keystone pipeline will be tied to the payroll tax extension. everything is on the table. how do you feel about that? >> well, i think that we need to go forward with a very strong plan that i believe the president will outline in his state of the union message that empowers our middle class. by strengthening the middle class. we in the middle class need

fairness. there can be job creation and there can be a see surgeons. and empowering the middle class with purchasing power is important. so if we clutter up the discussion on job creation and empowering the middle class with items that may not serve as useful, we need time to examine, the president needs time to examine the keystone application. we need also to look at a progressive energy agenda. i for one don't believe we will drill our way to prosperity. we need to embrace america's intau elect and put that to work to create innovation for energy alternatives and energy iy fishts see. >> congressman, how dowry spond to those -- how do you respond to those who say we need to talk about jobs. it is union leaders and otherswho say keystone could be a very important injection into the economy right now? >> well, i think what we need to focus on is the dor ability

-- durability, the strengthening of the energy policy by pulling us off of our dependancy that has been so long-term on the fossil-based fuels. diversity and making sure we go forward with the energy alternatives is a good job growth area as is manufacturing, and hopefully from the president's message we will get inspiration to strengthen manufacturing that was far too ignored by previous administrations. and it is time to get into some of those nuts and bolts on manufacturing and energy alternatives and energy efficiency. >> congressman stotsman, on -- stutsman along with the address, the payroll tax extension confer res will discuss that, and they will meet as well. what is your prediction for the success of that group? >> i hope that we just go ahead and extend the payroll tax cuts and make them permanent. i don't have a problem with ever cutting taxes in washington. but i do think we have to have

the long-term conversation about what payroll taxes go toward in washington. it is social security and medicare. and one thing that -- instead of the president talking about just the middle class, let's empower all-americans. i grew up in a poor family on a family farm in indiana, and i had an opportunity growing up in a poor family. i think we need to empower every american and give every american the opportunity to pick themselves up and make themselves something. that's what -- as he talks about his agenda and his plans for america, i think it needs to be about every american and not just the middle class. >> very quickly, congressman, last word to you. >> well, with the payroll tax extension discussion, you you can't give to the middle class and the working poor and take away what the other had. we need a fair, balanced approach that looks at both revenues and the investmentsthat we need to make. the investment in job creation

, investment in energy alternatives and innovation, the investment so that we can compete effectively in a global race on innovation and clean energy to compete with nations like china and germany and india and spain, we need the investment. it is investments, fairness and tax policy, the working poor and the middle class will engage benefits for every strata in the income ladder including those on the top who has seen their income grow 250% over the last few decades, all while the middle class has been flat lined. >> congressman, you mentioned something that we can agree on. congressmen, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank-- my pleasure. in case you missed it, president obama serenaded a group of supporters. >> ♪ i, so in love with you >> wow. all right, he was such a big

hit it has been turned into a ring tone. you can download it from his campaign website if you are interested. new developments in the deadly cruiseship disaster, and we will hear the tale of stwo americans who survived the costa concordia cruise, and why officials think there were more people on board than originally thought.

joe paterno is being remembered after news of his death. former president george hw bush says he was proud to call paterno a friend and true icon that was respected on the field and off. in a largely symbolic protest, they voted to reject the president's request for a $1.2 trillion increase in the debt limit. congress has been fighting over the issue for months.

now some say the issue should be not only left to washington, butt the states as well. the republican from arizona has introduced a constitutional amendment that would require approval from a majority of states, but for washington they could increase the federal debt ceiling. thank you for being here. >> happy for here. >> some will scratch their head and say isn't this a federal issue 1234* why get the states involved? >> the fact of the matter is it is beyond a federal issue. it is every man, woman and child in this country that is being buried in debt. i really believe our citizens had no concept and it is moving along the levels of the country. great idea. obviously washington, d.c. can't control themselves in regards to spending. the president took down another 1.2 trillion in debt

obligations -- or authority. we need some adults and maybe we need to reach out to the legislatures and ask for help. >> i am going to read this because at least i want to -- h is the wording. an increase requires approval from the majority of the legislatures from the separate states. it sounds short and sweet. but from what i understand if you get 34 of 50 states and 38 of the 50 would have to move forward to get it to the status of having an impact. do you think you will get to the numbers? >> that's the movement that has been ground up from the legislative level. one of the reasons for wanting to introduce this ad at a congressional level and get two-thirds house and two-thirds senate. but i believe there is a number of -- even our friends on the left who realize they can't control themselves. they know they are burying their children and grandchildren in debt, and if the congress will move this

forward and hand it over to the state, we can move toward the constitutionalamendment without having a constitutional convention. >> do you think your colleagues will be willing to share the responsibility? >> look at the -- look at what happened. the president had the authority to rescind it. the president is just going to veto it. and it is a hot potato. and it has more americans with the scale of the scandal. >> we will keep an eye on it as it bubbles through the states. come back and keep us updated. >> thank you ?ie. heartbreak on a college campus in new york as a fire claims three lives. details on that tragedy next. and the hospital where joe paterno spent his final days explains his death. the latest on his passing next.

the hospital that treated joe paterno until the time he died says the former football coach's cause of death was small cell carcinoma of the lung. one of paterno's sons thanked the hospital for their help the past few days adding that the family can't begin to express its gratitude. another son of paterno's says

his beloved penn state, that his dad always loved being a part of the family, and i know the feeling was absolutely mutual. now we will look at some of your other top headlines. the polls are open in florida for early voting. voters in the sunshine state can cast their ballots between now and the end of the week. so far we are told between 200,000 people have voted early in that state. the bodies of a missing texas family have been found, and police say the couple's son may be to blame. police say they got a tip that the son confessed to a friend about the killings. and people around the world are welcoming in the year of the dragon. in chinese culture, the dragon is believed to bring in good luck, and it is lucky to be born in the year of the dragon. those are your top stories. another development in the italy cruiseship disaster. another body has been found bringing the death toll to 13. and now a new twist. the captain of the ship saying the ship's owner authorized the maneuver that lead to the wreck.

this as american passengers returned home with tails of the -- tales of the tragedy jie. i came up out of the water and looked back and said swim as fast as you can. the boat was turning and would have crushed us all. i. >> it is good to be home. >> thases a firsthand account from passengers from the costa concordia. >> they are now safely home in little rock. >> three people are dead in new york. look at this cell phone video of the fire. police say two female students and one male who was not a student died in the blaze. four others made it out alive and the cause of the fire is unknown. next up in the long season of the gop presidential primaries, florida. what is it going to take to win there? we will ask a man who knows firsthand. and we will find out if he is ready to throw his support behind any one of the candidates. and it looks like there might have been more passengers aboard the doomed italian cruiseship than first thought. a live report in the search for those who are still missing next.

>> shannon: condolences are pouring in this afternoon following news of joe paterno's passing. he died after a short battle with lung cancer. i'm shannon bream. we start hour number two of america's news headquarters with julie banderas who has a look at paterno's life and legacy. >> he died at 9:25 this morning at state college's mount

nittany medical center. his health had grown progressively worse after breaking his pelvis in a fall at his home in state college, pennsylvania. he remained connected to a ventilator until his family communicated to the hospital his wishes not to be kept alive through extreme artificial means according to the washington post. earlier today his family released a statement which reads in part he died as he lived, he fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. already a somber scene at a makeshift memorial outside penn state's beaver stadium where members of the community and students are gathering. he leaves behind a sports legacy that will be nearly impossible to match. the most successful college football coach in history with 409 wins and two national championships while helming the nittany lions.

former president george h.w. bush released a statement on the passing of his friend staying i was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of joe paterno. he was an outstanding american respected not only on the field of play but on the field generally -- but in life generally. we send our con lo condolencess wife and family. unfortunately as we all know his success was scared by a sex scandal in which paterno was accused of not doing enough to stop the sexual assault. the uproar over the scandal led to him being fired shortly after announcing an early retirement. he leaves behind his wife, five children and 17 grandchildren. as of now, there are still no funeral plans being announced. shannon? >> shannon: we will come back with updates as we get them. thank you so much.

>> sure. >> it is not that i am a good debater. it is that i articulate the deepest felt values of the american people. >> shannon: that was former house speaker newt gingrich after his decisive victory in south carolina last night. now, it is on to florida for gingrich and the rest of the gop pac. it was quite a week as he relaced former massachusetts governor mitt romney's substantial lead. could he do the same in florida? >> former speaker newt gingrich and his team are clearly hoping last night's big win is a game changing moment in the republican primaries. today the former speaker offered what the first in the south primary means. >> in south carolina began to become really clear if you want to beat barack obama newt gingrich is the only person with the background, the experience and ability to get on the stage and drive home a

conservative message with authenticity. >> romney's senior advisors point out nobody runs the table and you don't get to the end zone without being tired and taking hits. one change romney says he will release his 2010 tax return and a 2011 estimate on tuesday and says it was is a mistake and a distraction. today, former senator rick santorum suggested romney is vulnerable. >> mitt romney is now know longer the inevitable. he lost two of the three races he had to run. going through the same thick he went through the last time around which everybody thought he mad the money and the organization. you have to have the ideas and the track record and inspiring vision and message for the country. not just about how much money you have and how many people you can pay to help your team. >> that all sets the stage for florida where early and absentee voting are underway.

there will be two more debates in florida which can either change momentum or build it. shannon? >> shannon: mike with the latest from south carolina. thank you, mike. ahead, the conservative factor moderates versus the right wing. john roberts will look at the influence of conservative voters in south carolina's primary coming up. the republican presidential campaigns shifting from south carolina to florida. that state's primary is up next on the election calendar january 31. the primary in the battleground state is different from primaries and caucuses that have come before. what does it take to win in florida? let's ask a man who knows, congressman allen west who has yet to endorse any one in the race. congressman, thanks for joining us today. >> it is a pleasure to be with you, shannon. how are you doing? >> shannon: i'm very good. you said you didn't want to endorse in the race because you didn't want to get into the food fight. tell us what you meant and have you changed your mind? >> i think it is important to allow the process to play out

and allow the people all across the country voting in the gop primary for them to be the deciders, especially down here in florida. so i'm not looking at endorsing any one. i will continue to pay attention to each one of the candidates and pay attention to the debates and then when the eventual nominee steps forward i will be behind that person 100%. >> shannon: how much difference will the debates make to you and have you made up your mind at least personally who you think you are going to vote for? >> i think it has pretty much so for me come down to a two person contest between former speaker newt gingrich and governor mitt romney. i think that they are clearly showing themselves to kind of be the two frontrunners in the contest of the final four. and, yes, debates do matter and i think what we saw in this past week was another very good performance by the speaker on the debate stage but as well, we saw him come out and do some of the things that i think a lot of people wanted to see and

that is stand up against the liberal media ele elite and tok them on in his confrontation with juan williams and john king of cnn. >> florida a diverse state. having grown up there, i know it is urban and it is rural. there are farms and cities and people with all kinds of different nationalities. you young people but a lot of seniors as well who care about things like social security and medicaid. what do you think will be the top issues that florida voters will consider in picking someone? >> florida is the fourth largest state in the union. northern florida down to south florida here in the keys are totally different, very diverse state. there are going to be different situations as far as the issues. still going to be about the economy. still going to be about conditions with the right type of tax and regulatory policies to spur on the small business and job greeting. it really gets down to who is going to be the one that can talk about economic freedom for

america's hard working families down here in florida. but also you have to talk about a vision for how do we reform and repair medicare and social security. we have a problem with fraud, waste and abuse here. we know that the actuaries have said that medicare is going to go bankrupt in the nextite to nine years and you will see a degradation of social security benefits five to six years after that. we are looking for someone with a plan of action to get the economy turned around but also concerned about national security. just last week we had president mahmoud ahmadinejad visiting cuba. and china coming in with oil drilling right off of our coast. >> shannon: you said when it comes to dealing with iran you think this president is telegraphing that we are weak and if you were in the white house the message you would want to send to iran is game on.

where do we go from here? >> one of the most important things is to show your strength and might. ronald reagan said peace through strength. when i look at last week the fact that we canceled one of the largest joint military exercises we were going to have defenseael, a missile exercise because we did not want to offend the iranians. and there was a letter talking about direct negotiations and talks. talking about releasing five or six afghan taliban leaders. we have to show strength. iran has been the enemy of the united states ever since we had our hostages that were taken. now, is not the time to telegraph weakness. >> shannon: thank you for your service in the military and now on capitol hill. see you here in washington shortly. >> we will see you in florida, too, shannon. >> shannon: i hope to be there shortly. thank you, congressman. >> shannon: , today, we want to

know what you think. is newt gingrich now the frontrunner? is it someone else? is it undecided? we have gotten a ton of responses. tripp says gone ut. he's the frontrunner now. there is still plenty of time to weigh in. tweet us. more of the responses coming up later in the hour. >> president obama thinks it is time to "return to american values. in a video message sent saturday to campaign supporters he previewed his third state of the union address that will effectively launch the president's reelection campaign. steve centanni with more. hi, steve. >> the state of the union address is not, of course, a campaign speech but the preview was launched by the reelection campaign not by the white house and it came out the same day vote was underway in the south

carolina primary. in it, his central mission. >> this is a make or break moment for the middle class and folks trying to work their way into the middle class because we can go in two directions. one is towards less opportunity and less fairness. or we can fight for where i think we need to go. building an economy that works for everyone. not just a wealthy few. >> 43 million people watched last year's state of the union address so this will be one of the biggest opportunities all year to appeal to american voters in this election year. a chance for the president to lay the groundwork for his reelection campaign by drawing a contrast between his policies. the president highlights the importance of domestic energy, american manufacturing and job training and education. but republicans say it doesn't focus enough on easing taxes and government regulations as a way to spur economic growth. >> you know, i have read a lot

about what the president is going to talk about tuesday night and sounds like the same old policies will be seen. more spending. higher taxes. more regulations. the same policies that haven't helped our economy, they made it worse. >> the president delivers his state of the union address before a joint session of congress tuesday evening and then goes on a three day swing through five western and midwestern states. the republican response to the speech will be delivered by governor mitch daniels of indiana. shannon? >> shannon: steve, thank you very much for the update. >> i guess they are here to celebrate six straight months of job loss, criminal corruption, total incom in competence. >> protesting a recall effort against the governor. walker wasn't there but his wife stood in for him. >> we need you to be our choir. we need you to go out into the community and we need you to sing.

we need you to talk to people, to your neighbors. >> recall! >> last week, walkers opponents turned in almost two million signatures in an effort to recall walker and five other republicans. the governor touched off weeks of protests at the state capital with a proposal to limit some of the public employee unions bargaining rights. >> shannon: officials combing through the wreckage of the italian cruiseship that crashed last week say there may have been unregistered passengers aboard. they recovered another body from the ship, bring the total to 13. amy kellogg with the latest. >> we don't know how many unregistered passengers might have been onboard the costa concordia. talking about maybe one or two at this point but certainly we have seen numbers change throughout this tragic story. another body recovered today, shannon. that of a woman.

she has not been identified. several have not been identified because some don't have any documents on them or didn't when they tried to get off the ship or got trapped moving around the ship. meanwhile there was a demonstration in genoa which is the headquarters for the costa cruise lines. showing solidarity with the crew members and with the victims and with their families. there has been a lot of discussion about the chaos that ensued after the ship ran aground and the officials and the captain not being in charge and the lower level crew members like the waitresses and people who clean rooms not having the proper training but actually really stepping up to the plate, putting their own lives on the line to help others get off the ship in time. we actually spoke to a family recently from peru. they traveled from lima, their daughter and sister was a waitress on the ship and she had reportedly been on until the bitter end trying to help people get off and she has not

yet been accounted for. these stories keep coming and they are heart breaking. and then more transcripts leaked out to the press of conversations that were held between the captain and the investigators with schettino saying that actually costa cruise lines authorized the salute which was the slow sailby that got too close to the shore here and led to the ship hitting a rock. costa in the past has said we didn't know about this. the captain saying now they did and in fact theyen couraged this practice because it is sort of a p.r. stunt for the cruise line and the big ships. he also said that he actually was not the last person -- that he was the last person to get off the boat. that was something that has been coming out again a lot today in the press. there is so much contradictery information and we do know the captain was on a rock during the critical hours of the evacuation process. so the investigation continues.

the captain's safe and his documents being looked at but his personal laptop which was seen right after the accident has gone missing, shannon. is the latest from here. back to you. >> shannon: live from italy. thank you so much. for more in depth coverage of the italian cruiseship crash tune in tonight for fox news reporting tragedy at sea hosted by geraldo rivera. >> chief meteorologist rick reichmuth at the fox extreme weather center to tell us more. >> tell you what, warm down across the south. feels like spring down here. 77 in new orleans. when you get those kinds of temperatures also very humid and the cold air to the north we will have big problems. right back here you see the cold air. a cold front that is moving through and that is going to hit the moist air this afternoon and we are talking about the potential for a very big severe weather outbreak. places like, arkansas starting to see it earliest and that is

probably where we would see the largest if we see any tornadoes. could be large and violent tornadoes later on this afternoon. put this into motion and see when this happens. sunday tonight around 6:00 local time. that is when we will see the first few severe storms begin to fire. that pulls off towards the west as the evening progresses. it is around midnight, 11:00 or so before it crosses through the mississippi river valley and up into parts of illinois and then all night long continues to trek right here across the tennessee valley and eventually move in towards parts of the northeast and not necessarily as severe weather tomorrow but as rain. keep in mind all of the snow yesterday, some places 6 to 8 inches will see some rain tomorrow. could cause a little bit of localized flooding there as well. cloud cover across much of the east for the day today. we have the storms across the north. snow and a little bit of icing into the northern plains. across parts of the west, cannot catch a break. a lot of places need the rain. little too much across parts of

california and that means heavy snow athe mountains as well. shannon? >> shannon: rick reichmuth with the latest. thank you very much. >> you bet. >> shannon: mitt romney on the defensive this morning. the former massachusetts governor went on "fox news sunday" to set the record straight on everything from faith to finances. >> given all of the attention that has been focused on tax returns, given the distraction that i think they became in these last couple of weeks, look, i am going to make it clear to you right now, chris. >> shannon: make what clear. find out what he told chris wallace, next. and condolences and remembrances pouring in as students and fans remember joe paterno. we will share some of the nice things being said about him, today. [ male annouer ] juice drink too watery? ♪ feel the power my young friend. mmm! [ male announcer ] for unsurpassed fru and veggie nutrition... v8 v-fusion. could've had a v8.

i wanted it to be special. oh, what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon. mmm, it's good. honey, i love you and... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. yeah but honey, i love you and... is that what i think it is...it is... it's bacon. honey look. [ male announcer ] progresso rich and hearty... 4 new flavors, you can lose yourself in. what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

when you walk 10,000 steps a day, it's the same as walking a professional golf course. humana. proud supporter of health and well-being. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections,

or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist how you can defend against and help stop further joint damage with humira.

>> shannon: condition dough lenses are pouring in to state, pennsylvania, following the death of legendary coach joe paterno he. paterno. the 85-year-old died earlier today from lung cancer. he wa. his replacement staid? a statement that the school has suffered a great loss calling paterno a great man, coach, mentor and in many cases a father figure. he went on to say it is an oner

to be able to follow in paterno's footsteps. it is a time where we faced a setback. you know, in my experience a lot of people face setbacks and you come back from them and that is the only way to be successful is to come back from the inevitable downturns. we are hoping and expecting to do that down the road. >> shannon: that was presidential candidate mitt romney talking about last night's loss in south carolina. chris wallace had an exclusive interview with the governor this morning and gave us a sneak preview. chris, very important conversation you had with mitt romney this morning and big news. >> chris: absolutely. the morning after. and interestingly enough i said what went wrong. there was a swing of 20 points in five days in south carolina before the first fox debate he was leading by 8. last night he was losing by 12. he said he thought newt had a good week and he thought he had a bad week especially on taxes and the news he made as he said i understand people aren't satisfied with this april thing. i'm going to release my 2010 tax returns the ones that he

filed last april on tuesday as well as a summary of what my taxes are for trillion. hfor 2011. he is going to try to get over the issue and not allow his opponents to continue to hammer h him with it. >> shannon: and i'm sure he is hoping to not have a repeat in florida where the polls show him very far ahead. >> chris: he has huge structural advantages in florida. he has the only real national campaign. he has already -- he and his super pac already spent $7 million on commercials and i have seen a bunch of them in florida. very negative. has been hammering newt gingrich the way he did in iowa and his super pac has. they have also been pushing because there is early voting and absentee balloting. 1.2 to 2 million people will vote. 200,000 already have. 10% already have and this is the romney people driving them. having said all of that 2003 saw what happens when you get momentum and if newt does

really well on monday night tomorrow night in a debate and thursday night in still another debate and somehow is able to keep the momentum from his victory in south carolina it could happen again. i know romney is going to do everything to try to stop it but newt may just be at this point a force of nature. >> shannon: also want to ask you you have the speaker of the house focusing back here on washington a lot of unfinished business. >> absolutely. and i must say i have the sense it is going to remain unfinished. talked to john boehner. he will be right behind the president delivering the speech tuesday night. he said look, basically what he said is we have the right ideas. the president has to change and listen to his own jobs council and has to come along and do what we want to do. i don't get the sense of a lot of compromise. >> shannon: news worthy interviews and a fantastic panel as well. >> chris: , thank you. >> shannon: catch the exclusive one on one interview with mitt romney right after our show. it airs at 2:00 and

6:00 eastern on the fox news channel. >> by tonight the nfl conference champions will be term. the ravens and patriots first at 3:00 eastern and then at 6:30, the new york giants take on the san francisco 49ers. tonight's games and the super bowl could break some records because while the economy is struggling the nfl is actually thriving. revenues rising faster than any other sports league. elizabeth is live in atlanta with the story. hi, elizabeth. >> tonight we will learn which teams will be facing off in the super bowl which could bring in record-breaking ratings. to show you how popular that show two weeks from now is intended to be. advertiser is are paying about $4 million for a 30 second spot which is really no surprise because the ratings have been going up. we have seen massive viewership of 15% from just last year. it is the highest they have been in two decades. >> the nfl is totally recession proofed because people are not

going to give up football. football is an american sport. look at the tv contracts. this year, each team in the national football league receives $97 million from television. >> he is talking about the renewal deals between the nfl and the four major networks. the deals will generate billions of dollars over the next decade but nfl treats all the networks equally so creates sort of a bidding war for the nfl. that in combination with relatively a short season that means big bucks for the national football league. >> in a way, it is a limited commodity. how many football games in a season as opposed to number of baseball games. so if i miss a couple of braves games it doesn't make that much difference. but if i miss one falcons game i am missing a fairly large percentage of their games. >> but fans are also packing stadiums, shannon. we know about 95% of capacity on average this season.

and what are they wearing? well, we know fans are buying the gear because the nfl generated $2.7 billion off just merchandise this year. shannon, back to you. >> shannon: i mean you want to be decked out in your team gear and every year there is new stuff. it is never cheap. >> absolutely. they make everything. they really do. >> shannon: even for your pets. now, on to florida where campaigns need a whole lot of money to run commercials across the state. i will ask one of romney's top surrogates in florida what he needs to do to finish strong in the sunshine state. to parent or not to parent is a question that casey stegall is exploring today.ul't that story is next. all because so many people wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome gn out,

they couldn't wait to get here. this year wagreat but next year's a be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf knows that winter is primetime fun time. the sun's out and you can go deep sea fishing for amberjack, grouper and mackerel. our golf courses are open. our bed and breakfast have special rates. and migrating waterfowl from all over make this a bird watcher's paradise. so if you missed it earlier this year, come on down. if you've already been here come on back... to mississippi.. florida... louisiana... alabama. the gulf's america's get-a-way spot no matter where you go. so come on down and help make 2012 an even better year for tourism on the gulf. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. i took some steep risks in my teens. i'd never ride without one now. and since my doctor prescribed lipitor, i won't go without it for my high cholesterol and my risk of heart attack. why kid myself? diet and exercise weren't lowering my cholesterol enough.

now i'm eating healthier, exercising more, taking lipitor. numbers don't lie. my cholesterol's stayed down. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. it's backed by over 19 yes of research. [ femalannouncer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications, or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serio side effect. [ man ] still lo that wind in my face talk to your doctor. don't kid yourself about the risk of heart attack and stroke. if lipitor's been working for you, stay with it. lipitor may be available for as little as $4 a month with the lipitor co-pay card. terms and conditions apply. learn more at lipitorforyou.com. [♪...] >> announcer: bank robbery certainly is a frightening crime. after all, bank robbers stole $43 million in one year. but identity thieves? try 37 billion!

and guess how identity thieves are getting some of that money. by taking over our bank accounts. they may not even need your social security number anymore. all an identity thief may need are a couple of simple pieces of information, like your mother's maiden name or the city you were born in, and they could add their name onto your bank accounts in order to make your money their money. you need help. [whoosh, clang] you need lifelock-- the only identity protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. lifelock is the proactive identity protection company with an early warning alert system that is state of the art. when we detect any suspected breaches of your personal information within our network, we contact you right away, before the damage is done. lifelock has the most comprehensive identity protection available. no one can stop all identity theft-- that's why lifelock offers you peace of mind, and you get our million dollar total service guarantee. >> having your identity stolen

feels like you've been totally violated. you go around looking over your shoulder. it's almost as if someone has broken into your home. >> announcer: don't spend another day without lifelock. call now! try lifelock's service risk-free for 60 days. lifelock is the only identity protection company that now monitors bank accounts for takeover fraud. no one provides more comprehensive identity protection than lifelock. if you're not convinced after 60 days, simply notify lifelock and you won't pay. and to keep your documents out of the wrong hands, we'll even add this personal shredder-- a $29 value-- absolutely free with your enrollment. don't wait another minute. call now or go to lifelock.com. lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. >> shannon: joe paterno's passing came quickly. on november 9 he was dismissed

in the wake of a scandal involving a former assistant coach and on november 18 his son shared he was battling lung cancer. he was hospital sizeized and remained there until today where at the age of 85 he passed away. fresh from his defeat in south carolina mitt romney says now he will release his tax returns. it is the bottom of the hour. peter standing by with your top stories. hi, st. petersburger. >> peter. >> romney said he will release his 2010 tax returns and an estimate for 2011 on tuesday. he called the tax issue a distraction and said his campaign made a mistake in not releasing the returns sooner. unregistered passengers may have been aboard the italian cruiseship that hit a reef and capsized according to the official in charge of rescue efforts. crews are still searching the sections of the ship above water. seas are too choppy for divers

to check out sub merged areas. so far, 13 known dead and at least 20 missing. today is the 39th anniversary of the supreme court's landmark 1973 roe versus wade ruling which legalized abortion. tomorrow, thousands will descend on washington for the annual march for life protesting that decision. president obama marked the anniversary by releasing a statement saying he is committed to protecting a woman's right to choose. and details are coming out about kobe bryant's pending divorce. records show his soon to be ex-wife vanessa will keep the couple's three california homes. public records value the properties at more than $18 million. and those are the top stories right now, shannon. back to you. >> shannon: peter, thank you so much. so just how big of an influence did conservative voters have on newt gingrich's divisive victory in south carolina saturday night? fox's john roberts is here to tell us where the critical

voters are putting support now. hi, john. >> good afternoon to you, shannon. conservative voters were a big part of newt gingrich's win last night but they weren't the only part. let's give you a look at it. you can talk about percentages but if we put up the map of south carolina here this tells you how newt gingrich just kind of steam rolled the entire state. won in every county but three. mitt mitmitt romney pulled outr areries in three counties. newt gingrich came close to rung the table and here are the keep groups he won amongst. take a look at this. late deciders. 44% of those. 44% of conservatives. they make up 70% of republican voters. he won among independents. 41% came second we should say. as well among moderates. he won evangelicals and won among married women even after the scandal that broke on thursday. he has punctured mitt romney's air of inevitablity here.

here he is for meet the press this morning. >> well, the establishment is right to be worried about a gingrich nomination. a gingrich nomination means that we are going to change things and make the establishment very uncomfortable. we are going to demand real change in washington. >> and now mitt romney has to reboot his campaign and reposition himself as the real conservative because all of those conservative voters went to gingrich. a lot of them did go to romney. almost as many as went to rick santorum. but romney this morning in an appearance on "fox news sunday" still taking aim at gingrich saying he is not a reliable conservative. >> i don't think religion is going to play a big factor in selecting the nominee. i think the speaker has explaining to do for sitting on the sofa with nancy pelosi and arguing for climate change regulation. for all calling the paul ryan plan right wing social

engineering. look over his record and say he is not so conservative. >> okay. so romney now down in florida. in volusia county today. trying to get up ahead of team going into the primary there on the 31st. working in romney's favor, realclearpolitics average of polls has him 18 points out in front and 200,000 plus absentee ballots already cast at a time when romney was way up in the polls. you can make a calculation that lot of them may be in his favor. if south carolina proved anything, shannon, it is that even if you have got a big lead it can evaporate in a heartbeat. >> shannon: that is absolutely the fact. and we will watch because it only took a matter of days. and john roberts, thank you so much. >> shannon: well, after being coy about whether he would participate, mitt romney says he will take part in both debates in florida. there is one tomorrow and then another on thursday and the polls show him leading in the sunshine state.

he also faces challenges there. pam bondy is the attorney general of florida and a romney supporter. she joins us to talk about it ahead of the big primary. ms. attorney general thank you for joining us. >> thank you, shannon. thanks for having me on. >> shannon: after his defeat, why do you think that mitt romney is still the person for florida voters? >> shannon, florida, we are known for our early voting. and so many voters already interest come out and supported governor romney. mitt romney has been running a well organized campaign for months and months now in our state. florida, we are known for electing, washington, outsiders into office just like marco rubio and myself were elected in 2010. florida we are all about jobs, the economy, everything we can do to get our state and our country back on track and that is exactly what mitt romney is ready to hit the ground running as president doing for our country. >> shannon: we understand that there are already 200,000

votes, early votes lodged there in florida. who do you think that benefits? >> well, i would certainly hope it benefits governor romney. he has been working very hard in our state. he has been all over the state of florida. he knows how serious, florida is to get to the white house and he loves our state. he takes it very seriously. he has been here a lot and i got to know governor romney before i was even elected and he is sincere. a family man. he is not arrogant. but i tell you what, he is tough and he is qualified and he is ready to take on barack obama. and that is why i'm he supporting him. >> how do you think the debates will impact folks there? seemed to be a huge turning point for newt gingrich in south carolina. what do you think could happen with the debate there's in florida and how much impact will they have on voters? >> i think they are going to have a tremendous impact. we saw how the south carolina debate impacted those elections as you said. but i think that governor romney is going to be strong. i think he is prepared and i

think we are lucky that we have good qualified republican candidates. but in my opinion governor romney is by far the best to hit the ground running at the white house. which is what we need right now in our country. >> shannon: since i have you with me. i have to ask you. obviously florida leading the charge against the healthcare law, the fight at the supreme court. many briefs filed and things moving ahead with the case. this week the government is going to file its brief on severability about whether the whole law can survive. if the mandate is pulled out, how are you feeling eight, nine weeks out from those arguments? >> we are looking forward to the arguments and being in front of the supreme court. they have give us three days as you know, five and a half hours which is unprecedented amount of time. so the country takes this very seriously. and, you know, of the majority of the states involved in the lawsuit with me, the majority of the states have endorsed the players in the lawsuit have endorsed governor mitt romney as well. >> shannon: we will see how it all plays out.

the primary there in florida and the case at the supreme court. thanks so much for your time. >> thank you, shannon. take care. >> shannon: one factor contributing to newt gingrich's south carolina win, rick perry. when the texas governor dropped out he endorsed former house speaker and sent his supporters to work campaigning for him. he sent congratulations to gingrich saying the big win makes him the conservative standard there in florida and beyond. he says newt gingrich is the conservative change agent we need to contrast, debate and defeat president obama in november. we are getting the first picture of a man who allegedly kidnapped a 9-year-old colorado girl. being held on charges of second-degree kidnapping after he allegedly held the 9-year-old for 18 hours before the quick thinking 9-year-old bravely escaped. she was abducted while walking home on thursday triggering an amber alert. officials are calling that little girl a hero for escaping her captor and calling 911. today marks the 39th

anniversary of a controversial roe v. wade decision. coming up, one woman's amazing story in the wake of a controversial topic. [ male announcer ] is zero worth nothing? ♪ imagine zero pollutants in our environment. or zero dependency on forei oil. ♪ this is why we at nissan built a car inspired by zero. because zo is worth everything. the zero gas, 100% electric nissan leaf. innovation for the planet. innovation for all. no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. hey, aren't you... shhh. i'm researchg a role. today's special... the capital one venture card. you earn double miles on every purchase. impressive.

chalk is a lost medium. if you're not earning double miles... you're settling for half. was that really necessary? [ male announcer ] get the venture card at capitalone.com and earn double miles on every purchase every day. what's in your wallet? cover for me. i have an audition.

>> shannon: tomorrow thousands are expected to descend on the national mall for this year's march for life. the march for life is a prolife response to marking the roe v. wade anniversary. preparations for the big event already underway starting with a mini rally at the white house this afternoon. organizers say last year there were 400,000 supporters. they expect similar attendance tomorrow. >> i can't imagine what the world would be like without her. and that is why i want people to understand. >> shannon: that is a clip from a documentary that tells a story of our next guest and her unique perspective.

it is called a voice for life and features melissa oden's journey. now, a proud mother herself, she saves her story in hopes of saving unborn lives. i had a chance to talk to her about her story. thank you so much for joining us today. you have a unique story in that your biological mother decided to abort you but you survived the procedure. what sort of perspective and platform has that given you on the issue. >> being an abortion survivor changed my life and has given me an opportunity hopefully to make an impact around the world. i didn't find out i was an abortion survivor until i was 14. and growing up certainly i knew about abortion but i will tell you finding out that you are that choice, you are that child who was aborted and survived really changes your entire perspective. >> shannon: do you feel like it has given you a voice in a different way?

sometimes this is a difficult debate to have, a difficult conversation to have across america people are deeply divided o on the issue. are you able to walk into some of the conversations in a different way because of your experience? >> i think being an abortion survivor helps me to understand truly both sides of the issue. i know that may not make sense to some people. but being an abortion survivor not only can i understand from the child's perspective the impact that it has but truly i walk in other people's pain on a regular basis. you know, i'm kon contacted by women and men, family members impacted by an abortion and i think what is important to me as a survivor is that i'm not angry and i'm not bitter about what happened to me. and i can let people know that i understand their pain and i understand what they are up against in terms of obstacles in their life. and i think that is not something that people expect from someone like me and so it

is an opportunity for me to really bridge the divide. >> shannon: and now once again marking the anniversary of the landmark decision roe v. wade what would be your message out there to both sides of the debate? >> what is difficult for me as an abortion survivor is that for 39 years, you know, we have heard so much of the same rhetoric. the words like it is a choice. it is my body. all of those things. and i'm living proof that it isn't just a choice that it is a child's life that we are talking about. and i'm a mother myself. i have a three and a half-year-old daughter. and i look at her every day and i realize that if i would have died like i was suppose today's from that abortion she never would have lived and that is what i really want people on both sides of the fence so to speak to remember as we are looking at this anniversary. that it is human lives that we are talking about. and not just one human life. we are talking about so many

lives and future generations from just one abortion. >> melissa, you share with us a unique perspective. thank you so much for your time. thanks for joining us. >> thank you. >> shannon: and today a number of women's groups marking the anniversary saying it is an important victory for women's freedoms. the president releasing a statement saying he is committed to protecting a woman's right to choose. a football legend is gone and fellow athletes are remembering all he did for penn state university. the latest on the death of joe paterno, coming up next. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, e, two, three ♪ ♪ counthe birds in the big o tree ♪ ♪ la la la [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. ♪

♪ you and me and the g old tree side by side ♪ butyou take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the charminoutfits. take away the sprites, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're le with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions. fedex. solutions that matter. and hello to "whoa, yum." use campbell's cream of chicken soup to make easy enchiladas, cheesy chicken & rice, and other chicken dishes that are oh...so...whoa. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

your bad back, call now. call the number on your screen for your free information kit with dvd, brochure and price list. call right now and you'll also receive a $50 savings

card just for inquiring about the sleep number bed. ask about our risk-free 30-night in-home trial. call now for your free information kit and a free $50 savings card. call now! >> shannon: and now some of our top headlines. the world of college football in mourning after the death of former penn state head coach joe paterno. his storied career included 409 wins in 46 seasons. it was overshadowed a bit by the abuse scandal involve his former assistant coach. divers pulled another body from the wreckage of the italian cruiseship that ran aground. it brings the death toll now to 13. at least 20 people still missing. are heidi klum and seal calling it quit? some say they plan to file for

divorce. new data suggests that some people may be rethinking their family planning. in california the birth rate at its lowest rate since the great depression. casey stegall live from l.a. to explain. hi, casey. >> hey, shannon. talk about a true sign of the times. california's birth rate has not been this low since 1935 and the golden state is not alone. according to the organization baby center, fewer people are choosing to have kids across the country at least for now. and cost is the primary concern here especially when you consider that some federal data suggests that on average it costs about $225,000 to raise a child from age birth to 18. and experts say that that is a 40% increase from just ten years ago. listen. >> child care can run you $750 on average a month.

that really adds up. and child care is one of the reasons families are getting smaller. if you you have a child in child care and you are paying that bill, you are thinking long and hard about adding another child and doubling that child care bill. >> now, there are some positives here. we understand that children that are born during this baby bust will actually face less competition when it comes to getting into colleges and then entering the workforce. it could also help ease the overcrowding situation at public schools across the country. >> it would be something to consider in the future because we have to also project what k-12 may be for five years out, ten years out for capital outlay. and that is a factor. it will be a factor in the decisions made regarding the funding for those institutions. >> and analysts predict that this trend will continue. america will see lower birth rates for the rest of the

decade. pretty fascinating, shannon. >> shannon: it is. when you look at all sides of the impact there, casey, thank you very much. we asked and a lot of you you answered. your twitter responses, is up next. [ kate ] most women may not be properly absorbing the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption.

morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. i can adjust it if i need to...if my back's a little more sore. and by the time i get up in the morning, i feel great! if you have back pain, toss and turn at night or wake up tired with no energy, the sleep number bed could be your solution. the sleep number bed's secret is it's air chambers which provide ideal support and put you in control of the firmness. and the bed is perfect for couples because each side

adjusts independently to their unique sleep number. here's what clinical research has found: 93% of participants experienced back-pain relief. 90% reported reduced aches and pains. 87% fell asleep faster and enjoyed more deep sleep. for study summaries, call this number now. we'll include a free dvd and brochure about the sleep number bed including prices, and models plus a free $50 savings card. and how about this? steel springs can cause uncomfortable pressure points. but the sleep number bed contours to your body. imagine how good you'll feel when your muscles relax and you fall into a deep sleep! i'm not just a back surgeon, i'm also a back patient. i sleep on the sleep number bed myself and i highly recommend it to all of my patients. need another reason to call? the sleep number bed costs about the same as an innerspring but lasts twice as long.

so if you want to sleep better or find relief for your bad back, call now. call the number on your screen for your free information kit with dvd, brochure and price list. call right now and you'll also receive a $50 savings card just for inquiring about the sleep number bed. ask about our risk-free 30-night in-home trial. call now for your free information kit and a free $50 savings card. call now! >> shannon: we love hearing from you at home. we have been asking you today do you think that newt gingrich is now the frontrunner. sarah writes, no, gingrich is not the lone frontrunner, it it is still