tomorrow scaled back to a three-ho show. we'll cover all the bases. >> brian: going to be a sprint. we won't have any time to talk. >> steve: i know it! >> gretchen: sandra lee, michelle malkin, bob massi amongst our guests. have a fantastic wednesday. bye-bye. bill: thank you, guys. a decisive victory sending mitt romney rolling last night. [applause] a victorious romney greeting supporters by taking florida by a mile. everglades mile. >> thank you, guys. i stand ready to lead this party and to lead our nation. my leadership will end the obama era and begin a new era of american prosperity. [cheers and applause] bill: there was more from that last night as we move forward ourselves. good morning, everybody. i'm bill hemmer. happy morning to you. martha: hello, good to see you again. bill: quick turnaround. martha: everybody good at

home i hope. i'm martha maccallum. good morning to you. by the numbers this one was very early last night as we know well. romney got 46% of the vote. gingrich got 32%. this has become a two-man race. santorum 13. ron paul got 7% last night. he had not really campaigned down there. former house speaker newt gingrich was defiant when he came out to speak to the people of florida last night. he said this is florida from over. >> florida did something very important coming on top of south carolina. it is now clear that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader newt gingrich and the massachusetts moderate. [applause] and the voters of florida really made that clear. bill: so that was gingrich again late last night on the results quickly on the touch-screen billboard from florida. we show where romney won.

in the florida orange nonetheless, romney at 46% and newt gingrich 14 points back at 32%. where did romney do well? just about everywhere here in the center part of the state that is so critical to the outcome of florida. down here around the population centers. look at miami-dade. so many votes down here, many of them democratic, but still so many republican. romney 61-26 over newt gingrich in the southeast. pop up to hillsborough county. this is tampa. a lot of votes here as well. 48 28. in the hillsborough county area and west of there in pinellas. jacksonville, this is the area, duval county, northeastern part of the state where romney was very strong four years ago. this year just barely ened gingrich by a point. we'll get to that throughout the morning. we'll explain the significance. if you go back to four years ago in 2008 where mccain and romney went head-to-head. here is mccain and romney in florida orange.

this is where mccain dominated. picked up so many votes in the southeast. also on the western edge of the i-4 corridor. this year if you change the map to 2012 you see romney picked up so much momentum last night in florida. i want to bring in stephen hayes, writer for "the weekly standard" and fox news contributor. >> good morning, bill. bill: what do you think last night means today? >> this is, i think this is a really decisive victory for mitt romney, 46%. nearly half of the votes. if you look at the votes of two mouse plausible conservative alternatives, newt gingrich and rick santorum, and combine them, mitt romney still beat them by 20,000 votes, incredible, striking you think he lost south carolina just 10 days ago. bill: when you think about the negative campaigning that went down, you talked about this last night. this will be written about last night.

politico writes about the rules. which rules. negative campaigning works. ground campaigns are important and so is money. romney had that. >> particularly in large states. there are 10 media markets in florida. romney has been up consistently since january 3rd, the day of the iowa caucuses. he has been on the air the entire time, overwhelmingly negative, overwhelmingly taking shots at newt gingrich. strength for romney, married woman 51%. he dominated in sumter county where the villages are located. most likely to beat obama in november, romney 53%. now we shift our focus to newt gingrich. >> he is still in it. bill: 46 states to go as he said last night. what's his plan? >> that is a good question. one of the big questions for newt gingrich how do you raise money? what do you do to finance your campaign to make sure you can stay in? in today's modern political age you don't need to have that much money for the campaign per se if you have someone bankrolling a super

pac going to be supporting you even though they're not coordinating. the question for newt gingrich what is my message. he is trying to position himself the conservative to mitt romney. the question did he do so of damage to himself in the days he responded to attacks in days between south carolina and florida and people will say, maybe you're not a conservative alternative with mitt romney. bill: he was strong among the tea party supporters much as we saw in south carolina. one more note about the campaigning. floridians thought both were equally negative as one another. so they saw that as a wash. we'll catch you soon, steve. good luck on the train back to washington. >> appreciate it. bill: steve hayes. here is martha. martha: rick santorum and ron paul basically brushing off the florida results. saying that this race is just getting start in their opinion. both men skipped the sunshine state to focus on saturday's nevada caucuses where they feel they have a

better shot. they talked about last night the importance of staying in the race. >> you need to draw that contrast. we need someone who can be a conservative nominee. you know what? in florida, newt gingrich had his opportunity. he came out of the state of south carolina. he came out with a big win and a lot of money. he said i'm going to be the conservative alternative. i will be the anti-mitt. it didn't work. he became the issue. we can't allow our nominee to be the issue in the campaign. >> a few months ago, there were, how many candidates? there were nine. we're down to four. but tonight, tonight i saw a statistic we're in third place when it comes to delegates and that's what really counts. [cheers and applause] martha: paul never fails to get his group fired up. he did last night. he is counting on caucus states like nevada to deliver his delegates and keep him going in this race. bill: that's the bottom line, right. martha: we love ron paul at end of the evening speeches. he comes out fired up and

ready to go. bill: back in the sweater in nevada. martha: he was. bill: look at delegate count stands today. florida is winner-take-all. romney gets all 50 delegates in florida. he has total now of 87. newt gingrich 26. rick santorum and ron paul tied, no they're not. santorum at 14 and paul at 4 respectively. it takes 1144 delegates too clinch the nomination. we've got a long way to go. at least until april, for sure. at least the way it looks like on the calendar, martha. martha: she is fresh off the florida victory. he is rather and mitt romney did not immediately going to nevada which is getting people talking this morning. you know where he is spending time today? in minnesota. that is where he is headed for an event this afternoon. our own carl cameron were huddled with michele bachmann's former campaign manager. hear is the big question, what is he doing in minnesota? could we see an endorsement from michele bachmann for mitt romney. we're going to ask her that

question. we'll get her take what is happening so far when congresswoman michele bachmann joins us in the next hour. obviously she could help him with some of the tea party strength and very conservative folks did not necessarily rally to him in big numbers last night. we have this morning as well. president obama to lay out his plan to help homeowners who owe more than their homes than the homes are actually worth. those are called underwater mortgages as we've all become too familiar with. his new plan would let the homeowners refinance at a much lower rate. that would potentially save families thousands of dollars a year. a very popular plan for the homeowners but is it good for the economy? fox business network stuart varney, anchor of "varney & company". how many times have we had the plans? is this number five or six? >> i lost count but this is the new one. the broad outlines are as you stated, martha. if you have good credit and up-to-date with your mortgage you will be able to refinance even if you're

underwater. that costs a lot of money. it will be paid for with a big new tax on banks. that's how this plan with work. now there are certain problems with that. number one, if you got a bank tax you're taking money out of banks. they have less money to make loans to stimulate the economy. number two, if you have a bank tax, you have to have legislation. that means congress would be involved. do you think congress would allow it just to be innocent borrowers who get helped? wouldn't they stick victims groups in there as well? that brings up moral hazard. the paperwork required would swamp the fha which is supposed to be the organization that gets this thing together. swamped with paperwork. that would probably happen. four, this is a very political development. if president obama does not get this deal through congress he can then turn around say, see, i tried but you republicans wouldn't let me help those innocent homeowners. martha: stuart, before i let you go, why don't they encourage banks to work out loans with people who

borrowed money from the bank in the fist place? i know you can't pay your bill, how about if we renegotiate you pay us this month this much and slap a tax on banks if they don't do the deals? >> i'm with you all the way. i don't know why the banks voluntarily get into the business of working things out. a workout is surely the most preferable item here. they're not doing it and i don't know why. martha: that's what they did during the real estate crash of the '80s. they did all the workouts between banks and people who borrowed money and it worked out very well. stuart varney we'll see you on the business network in a little while. bill: more on the fight for nomination too. we'll get back to that story in a moment. there is a new report that shows the nation is in for another year of a trillion dollar deficit that makes four straight now. a dire warning for government leaders to go ahead and wake up. martha: now, at 15 trillion? police are releasing a graphic surveillance video of a double murder but they

have a very good reason for doing so. they think that people will recognize the men in this video, these brazen shooters. they're hoping they will find them. bill: congressman darrell issa threatening the attorney general eric hold early for contempt what he says is cover-up over operation "fast and furious.". congressman issa is here live to explain all of that. >> when did you first know about the program officially i believe called "fast and furious"? >> not sure of the exact date but i probably heard about fast and furious for the first time over the last few weeks. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

martha: family members of the minnesota couple still missing on board that doomed italian cruise ship say they now accept the decision to end the search. gerry and barbara heil were on the costa concordia as part of a 16-day vacation in europe as part of their retirement. they are among 16 passengers still missing on that ship. children back home in minneapolis say they can not

begin to express their gratitude for everyone involved in the rescue effort. they're taking comfort on the belief that their mom and dad are in a better place. >> to be together at that point in your life with someone you love knowing your death is approaching probably would have given them a lot of peace in their hearts. martha: what a tragedy for that lovely couple. that is the scuba diving underwater video search effort was called off because it became too dangerous for the crews to continue operating inside that ship. terrible story. bill: so eric holder now is being threatened with contempt by a leading member of the house. at issue here? more than 70,000 documents related to operation "fast and furious." that was supposed to take down the mexican drug cartels or lead agents to them. instead some guns from that program were used in murders including the connection to the killing of a u.s. border patrol agent brian terry. the chairman of the oversight and government reform committee is

darrell issa. he is my guest now from the hill. welcome, sir, to "america's newsroom". >> thanks, bill, and thanks for covering this. the terry family has waited more than a year to get answers. so far only 6% to 8% of the documents we know to exist have been delivered. a year is way too long. this investigation is dragging and obviously with attorney general holder coming tomorrow i wanted to make sure he understood that congress's patience is not infinite. bill: with that as a backdrop right now let's push from some answers from you. you i know you're not satisfied. you accused him of severe things. misleading congress and engaging in a cover-up. how so? cover-up is a serious charge. >> certainly. i want to make it very clear. we're still finding out what eric holder knew and what he knew it. very clearly on february 4th when we were deliver ad document that said we never walked guns, lanny breuer, his chief assistant for the criminal division and number three at justice was in

mexico trying to negotiate further gun-walking. so you can't square these inconsistencies at washington, d.c. headquarters for justice. and, bill, that is the important thing. all along we're told it is a rogue atf unit. it was a rogue u.s. attorney. now we've got head of the criminal division for arizona taking the fifth. you sort of see a pattern they want to throw systematically somebody under the bus. our real question is, the department of justice has a responsibility to oversee hundreds of operations around the country, to know what they are and know what they shouldn't be and it's very clear that either they knew what they were and approved them or weren't doing their job and didn't fully know it. bill: why is it clear? the feds are saying this is the atf office in phoenix. go blame them. it was their operation. why are you not convinced? >> well, first of all, we have sworn testimony on the 4th of july last year from the acting director of the

atf, kenneth medical son. he said first of all believed justice was trying to throw the atf under the bus. second of all he gave us dates, times, details what he knew and when he knew it and more importantly what he didn't know. lanny breuer's people signed basically wiretaps and they signed them that allowed dea and other agencies to know things and justice to know things even atf didn't know. more importantly, to hide from atf and the embassy in mexico city the existence of this operation wasn't done at atf. it was done at justice. again, bill, we only have about 8% of the documents that we know to exist and we already have one after another things that lead up to justice to show us this operation may have been very popular with u.s. attorney burke. it may have in fact included some rogue atf individuals but in order for this to happen and happen again and being sought to happen yet

again it took justice to do what they shouldn't do, which is allow men and women on both sides of the border to be put in harm's way because of weapons they let walk. bill: the hearing tomorrow, and eric holder told you his office is working tirelessly on this. i know you don't buy it. i think the tally on paperwork was 6,000 pages for your committee where there were 70,000 given the private investigator at the government level looking into this. what purpose would this hearing serve tomorrow then? >> well, first of all, eric holder is coming before our committee and we appreciate his coming to answer questions but we really would have liked to have had more documents so we could ask more thorough questions but you take what you can when you get it. what we expect to ask eric holder why didn't you know? you've given us sworn testimony first you only knew a few weeks before a particular previous event. now you recanted that. you said you knew further but why didn't you know in

detail in order to stop this? why is it that on the day that brian terry was killed you were informed brian terry was killed and yet you, for some reason they didn't tell you that what they knew which was he was killed with "fast and furious" weapons found at the scene. bill: i know you pushed for these answers before and they have been elusive in your view. we'll watch tomorrow to see whether or not it takes you a step further. >> thank you, bill. bill: you started segment talking about answer. we'll see if we get more tomorrow. darrell issa on the hill. >> thanks, bill. bill: martha. martha: violent shootout caught on tape. police are hoping this dramatic video may help bring the gunmen in it to justice. we'll show it to you coming up next. bill: mitt romney wasting the no time putting focus on president obama after his victory in florida last night so where do we go next? >> another era of america crisis thomas payne is reported to have said, lead, follow, or get out of the way. well, mr. president, you were elected to lead.

you chose to follow and now for you time for you to get out of the way. [cheers and applause] you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. g this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

martha: well police in east st. louis releasing surveillance video in hopes of solving a double murder. there were three gunmen wearing black hoodies opening fire on two men filling up their car at a gas station. police are saying they think the victims were targeted and it sure looks that way in this unbelievable video. they think there are some very important clues in the video that's why they want everybody to see this. they're urging people to pay attention to the stature of these gunmen. what they're wearing. one had a large insignia on the back of the large sweatshirt might be a clue. way they shoot and reload

they think they were experienced gunmen. if anybody knows anything about the scene they should contact the police. >> that is violent scene. 24 past the hour. good news for chrysler now, sales surging 44% in january, making a big comeback after a federal bailout, a bankruptcy filing and a takeover by fiat out of italy. heavy snowfall killing 53 people in japan. the majority of deaths caused by people slipping from clearing snow from roads and roofs in japan. in syria some of the bloodiest fighting in the 10 month uprising we've seen to date. we see the opposition using live ammunition, real weapons usually used by the army. leland vittert is is live in jerusalem watching this. what do the new weapons mean for the opposition, leland? >> reporter: bill, it is not quite a game-changer but certainly a very significant moment because for the first time this rebel army, the free syrian army, call them the opposition, whatever else you want it is

significant now they have some real firepower. [gunfire] [shouting] this is a russian-made apc, armored personnel carrier. the syrian army or someone from government forces brought over as they defected. all they have had is ak-47s to take on president assad's tanks. now they have something to fight with. that didn't help them in the damascus suburbs where as saud forces were able to crush the rebels. now with this new armor they may be able to hold the city of homs. as in the past year in libya, if opposition is ready to control one big one likes city of homs all of sudden the momentum can go in their direction. the momentum is now on the side of the rebels and time is not on assad's side.

bill: that is some extraordinary videotape. thank you, leland vittert with a rare look inside the battle back and forth on the ground in syria. all right, 27 minutes past the hour. martha: a stunning development to tell you about in this bizarre murder investigation we've been following of a marketing executive. she was found strangled. now police say there shows signs of a big struggle before her murder. a man has not come forward to talk about this case. he says he was at her home when she was murdered and that he helped dispose of the body. this is getting bizarre. former l.a.p.d. homicide investigator mark fuhrman will join us in a moment on that. bill: what a difference 10 days can make, huh? remember south carolina? mitt romney gaining frontrunner status in florida. newt gingrich vows he is not finished by a longshot. >> abraham lincoln who said we have government of the people, by the people, for the people and we're going to have people power defeat

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police are investigating this case. sad news to learn learn don cornelius was found dead in his california apartment. bill: all 50 delegates in florida are in the hand of mitt romney. he won a solid victory last night that is winner-take-all in florida, beating newt gingrich by double digits. phil keating follows up this morning live in tampa, florida. so romney's victory speech was not the only victory speech, phil? what happened? >> reporter: that was somewhat after surprise last night, bill. good morning to you. he received two congratory calls, one from rick santorum and ron paul. not from newt gingrich. typically the victor goes out to the crowd and addresses the crowd last. last night it was mitt romney coming on 30 minutes after the polls closed in florida, giving a boisterous and festive

speech to florida republican supporters. up the corridor in orlando, about 45 minutes avram romney that's when newt gingrich came out delivering yet another victory speech hitting on obama like he is the eventual nominee saying florida defeat by romney of 14 points absolutely not a crushing blow to the gingrich campaign. >> no, not after iowa, or new hampshire. you know i called him after south carolina, congrat lated him and he welcomed that call. but then he didn't call last night. by the way, rick santorum and ron paul and i talk after each campaign, congratulate one another on the campaigns the other have run but speaker gingrich i guess doesn't participate in that tradition. >> reporter: surely understandable how there could be bad blood permanently between romney and gingrich. over past 10 days, everybody living in the state of florida, seen a ba rage, carpet bombing of negative attack ads, most of them romney against gingrich. and while gingrich vows he

is definitely staying in this, this is two-person race that's what last night in florida shows, romney's speech next door, it was more like a rough draft for what he thinks will be his eventual nomination here in tampa in late august. bill: we'll see you there then, phil. thank you. talk to you real soon. phil keating in tampa. martha has more. martha: bill, mitt romney is looking for support from that more conservative voter. according to the exit polls last night, 41% of voters who consider themselves very conservative they supported newt gingrich. look at the numbers. 41-to 30. ed rollins joins me now. former deputy chief of staff to president ronald reagan. mappinged reagan's campaign in 1984 successfully and major roles in nine campaigns. a great addition to the discussion. >> correct a little history. mr. romney did not call governor huckabee after iowa

four years ago. after that they exchanged calls. first one he didn't do that. martha: very interesting, very interesting. thanks for that. let's look at some of the other numbers about. one of the big numbers was this sort of very conservative voter. if you look at some other exit polls we got. they back up the notion that gingrich is stronger with the group than romney. we'll ask you how much of a problem for romney. not conservative enough, mitt romney, 41% says he nits that bill for them, not conservative enough. as we roll along, do you think that, this is white evangelical and born-again christian voters pretty close although gingrich edged him out two percentage points. that is within the margin of error. look at next one we have, strong supporters of the tea party they leaned toward gingrich, 45%, romney 33%. he got people who liked tea party, basically support the tea party went for romney. how do you not be mccain or

dole? how do you fire up that group and the base and win the presidential election? >> you have to communicate with them. when you have two conservatives in the race today with santorum and gingrich beating you up as they have so eeffectively over last few weeks harder to draw those people. as race goes on and more and more romney is inevitable that he is a lot of conservatives will start listening to message and paying more attention. right now they're not there and may not be for the next several months. martha: how does he convince them which is tough sell for him, that is he truly a conserve tiff? >> the rhetoric basically he was conservative. but when he was governor and ran against senator ted kennedy for the senate race he wasn't. there is still lingering suspicion. obviously that is what a campaign is about. my sense he run a very effective campaign yesterday. gingrich has not run a campaign. this is the problem in the whole race. it is family-run. talked about his daughter

writing his speeches and making his commercials. he has to expand. he doesn't like consultants but when you're in multistates where you go from here you have to have a real campaign and he hasn't had a real campaign. martha: one of the things santorum seem to be getting that mitt romney is not, that sort of tough fighter mentality that is very prevalent right now. people are angry in this country, some people, about the way these things are going. my question is, does mitt romney, if he gains, if he goes through nevada and maine and cleans up in a couple more of these states, will the confidence of having those victories in him, will it allow him to sort of spell out that tough, enthusiastic vision that he has for the country? >> he has been a lot tougher the last 10 days as you've seen. two great debates. after south carolina he wasn't. he had two great debates. he ran, veries, very hard. got very aggressive in the campaign. people will start to see he is tough enough. that is very serious question. is he tough enough to be up against obama and obama's team? he is starting to answer

that question to the affirmative. martha: are there any states in the near term, when you look at nevada, you look at minnesota, maine, colorado, that you think newt gingrich can win? >> he has to get to super tuesday. that is has to get to the south. martha: so he has to write them off? >> you never want to write them off. it is all about delegates. as mrs. clinton found out four years ago you can't avoid anything. you have to go after caucus votes. martha: good to see you. ed rollins. >> thank you. bill: here is a bit of good news, stocks are i from flying right now. we're up 125 points in eight minutes. what is up with that, you wonder? manufacturing results are coming in from around the world the china is doing better than many thought. europe is outperforming the forecast. that gives investors hopes that the manufacturing sector in the u.s. will continue its recovery.

martha: dow 13,000. don't say it. economy drowns really in $15 trillion in red ink. the government saying we're in for another year of trillion dollar deficits. four years in a row, folks. so what can be done? bill: what can be done. a drug raid turns nasty when the suspect opens fire on police. the chilling audiotapes that tell the deadly story. >> we have shots fired. we have officers hit. i need medical. >> units responding take cover. >> all units take cover. >> shots being fired out into the area. take cover. don't come on the scene. we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. it's cash back everywhere, evertime. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% cash back onoscar. ...tony. oscar! 2% back on whatever she'll eat. 3% back on filling up this baby. [ male announcer ] now get 1-2-3 percent cash back.

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backyard of the shed. >> guys, sounds like he is racking a gun up there. >> officer down. officer down. get medical up here right now. get medical up here now. >> throw him in a police car and get him to the k now. martha: that suspect was eventually shot and taken into custody. bill: remember when we had the story here too. here is mcconnell. >> it is important to remember the president got everything he wanted the first two years. we're living in the obama economy and what he wanted the first two years was to turn us into a when european country as rapidly as possible and i've seep no retreat on his part or on the part of the senate majority from that pathway toward a western european economy. bill: that is senate republican leader mitch mcconnell after another bombshell report. get this. the deficit will run more than a trillion dollars again this year.

that makes four straight years of deficits, more than a trillion dollars per year. what in the world can be done here? we thought we would bring both sides together to talk about it. oklahoma republican james langford is on the budget committee. good morning to you. also texas congressman henry cuellar is a democrat. welcome to you as well. gentlemen, i don't know, representative la langford you can start here. is this a lost year? what can you guys agree on? >> there is a lot we can agree on we have to get a house from the house and the senate. house produced a budget. senate failed to produce a budget. hard to plan long term when you have the other side not putting out a budget that is from the senate side. there is a trillion dollar deficit there is no plan to make it stop. we have a plan to get out of this and find agreement from the house and senate to do that. bill: you're squarely pointing finger at democrats in the senate and

white house with a democratic president. what about that, congressman cuellar. >> deficit spending is democrats and republicans. between 2001 and 2008 we added $5 trillion to the federal deficit. it has been added by both democrats and republicans. bad thing, is, james would agree with me, both parties are waiting until the after the november election see who get the better election. bill: then it would be a lost year, right? >> well i hope it is not a lot of year. we have a long way to go on that. acceleration happened in the last eight years of presidency there was 5 trillion in debt. first four years we've got five troll trillion in -- trillion dollar in debt. highest debt during the bush administration was 450 billion. now we have haven't had one under a trillion in this administration. we have to getaway for this to stop. bill: i think about what paul ryan told chris wallace on sunday, representative cuellar. what we're giving american

people a future of debt, doubt and decline. >> right. the only thing is, we got to keep in mind that in december of 2008 we were losing 750,000 jobs. this last month we created 200,000 jobs. one of the ways we ought to grow the economy by growing the economy, we'll get more revenues. bottom line is we have $3.5 trillion budget roughly and the revenues coming in is 2.1 we have to make structural changes on both sides. bill: some structural changes. the american people would argue this has to be significant. you guys are standing right next to each over the. >> we get along. >> first of all, don't talk about football, ut and oklahoma are different. >> not a good place to talk about it. i can tell you there are lot of things we do agree on. one is getting economy moving. method to do that, government spending or encouraging private spending that may be different. we have to get the economy going. we lost a lot of revenue not because tax rates change but economy is so bad so many people are unemployed they're not paying tax.

we to have more people employed. bill: why grow tax revenue when government is growing rate that it is? why not slow the down the growth of government? can you guys agree on that. >> we certainly agree. look at federal employees we have right now lowest we've had since world war two. >> by percentage. >> ahe grew. we have to make sure keep spending down. that's why i support the balanced budget amendment. we have to make sure we also have a way to reduce the deficit. got to be done now, not after the election. why do we have to wait. we ought to sit down as democrats and republicans --. bill: sir, representative langford said not the debt that the big deal. the fact that no one will fix the debt. >> that that is a big issue. we'll have a budget proposal coming out of the house in next month and a half. we'll put another major proposal out there, here is how we get on top of this. this is mortgage, not a car payment now. bill: will that go anywhere now? >> we'll look and see. the senate has to produce a budget as well.

we can do our part. i can't cross over to the other side of the hill to make them do their part. bill: give your colleague the final word then. >> thank you so much. other thing we have to keep in mind we did cut a trillion dollars already. the committee made up of democrats and republicans, house members, senator, came up with it. we have to keep cutting and do smart way set price to us to make sure we grow the economy. bill: the number is staring us all in the face and we can't escape it, 15.3 trillion. >> we've got to get out. bill: henry cuellar, james langford off the hill. martha: seems like 14.2 just the other day. bill: sure does, doesn't it? martha: mitt romney making a little trip today but not to where you might expect. he is going to minnesota, fueling expect expectation he-- speculation that he looking for endorsement from michele bachmann. will she say yes? bill: looking forward to that. new developments in a murder

mystery. a woman strangled left inside a mercedes-benz in an affluent suburb, shaking that town to its core. >> jane was a go-getter. aggressive isn't the right word, assertive. ambitious. wanted things done. always moving at the speed of light, always wanting to make things happen but really a good person. so who ordered the cereal that can help lower olesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole gin oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

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bill: hi. some officers in new york city, scratching their heads over this one. raymond kelly is the police commissioner. ray kelley tells officers not to wearers? nypd garb off hours. they are a logo or shield. you can't do that in public. like us walking outside with fox news stuff. new jersey, we're number one

for 10 years going right now. martha: we are. put that right in there. number one for 10 years. we'll talk that more a little later. we have this story for you. police in a wealthy detroit suburb are investigating quite the murder mystery there. 56-year-old jane bashara was murdered last week. her body was found in an alley in detroit inside a mercedes. they have someone they're calling a possible accomplice. jane's husband, bob bashara has been named a person of interest in this death. friends and family aren't sure how to take this news. >> does it surprise you that he is a person of interest in this case? >> i'm not here to judge. i'm here to support the family. martha: those funeral services held yesterday attended by hundreds of people. joining me with more on this former homicide detective mark fuhrman. fox news contributor. good to have you on the show today.

>> thank you, martha. martha: there is a man that hangs around the neighborhood. this is one of the first people neighbors were suspicious of when they heard about what happened to her. he says he was there when the murder took place and that he helped dispose of the body of those are the reports anyway coming out of the police department. what do you think? >> well, the first thing is, if the police have eliminated the possibility that this is just a mental case or somebody that's trying to get attention through admitting to a high-profile case, let's put that on the back burner and say they embrace what he is saying and they start an interview. let's even say he is represented by an attorney. if he is an come mission -- accomplice, and he did not commit the murder, that is the biggest murder. the police need to establish he is not in fact the mur earlier. then they might talk to an attorney or the specific person about specific immunity. in other words, immunity for this crime to testify and provide information about the crime.

now he could have heard the news reports. the husband had problems passing a poly. maybe he thinks there is going to be an arrest and he will get trapped in that arrest and subsequent arrest when the husband is arrested and he will talk. so sometimes people come forward to try to be the first one for the immunity. martha: we just saw pictures of them taking aware her car. she was found in that car. apparently her fingernails were pulled off in some cases. there were bruises on her body. a lot of signs there was a struggle. that happened before this murder took place. the husband as you say a person of interest. as you also mentioned, people may not have caught it in there, he failed a polygraph test. >> he failed parts of the polygraph test. the media is reporting that. we don't know if it was inconsistent or complete deception but, martha, you just brought up a lot of good points. the victim definitely put up a struggle.

when she puts up a struggle and fingernails are broken, it usually means some part of the suspect or suspects has scratches. so i'm sure the police are strip searching both these individuals with search warrants looking for any scrapes, bruises or anything that would match. and then this man that came forward, the detectives always hold back information that is known only to the detectives and the suspect. so if somebody does come forward they can describe what they saw and if it doesn't fit many of the crucial items, they simply know that that person was not there. >> got two people that they're definitely looking at here for starters. mark, thank you very much. mark fuhrman. we'll stay on this story. >> thanks, martha. bill: there is a man caught in a burning car engulfed in flames. how do you get out of this one here? there's a daring rescue you're about to see on that coming up here. martha: heading to vegas, baby, vegas. why the nevada caucus could be so vital this year. everybody has got an excuse

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martha: florida in the rear view mirror for now, folks. mitt romney back on top after his decisive victory in the sunshine late. his lead in the next contest being challenged a little bit. a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom" after the day of the primary. good morning i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer. it's february and it feels like may. we are not complaining. 58 degrees in the northeast. they are burning it up on the trail, all four candidates vowing to come on strong, all but ron paul able to claim one primary victory or caucus victory in the campaign. >> our plans reflect freedom and opportunity, and our blueprint

is the constitution of the united states. together we will build an america where hope is a new job with a paycheck, not a faded word on an old bumper sticker. >> my commitment is to unleash the spirit of the american people, to find new and innovators and positive things to do them seven days a week, to do them relentlessly, to do them without stop, to make sure that we have fundamentally got even america right on the right track. >> we're going to have differences on the issues and we need to talk about that. but what we saw in florida won't help us win the election. >> the economic crisis we had four years ago, the realization ever the significance of our federal reserve system as well as our flawed foreign policy, the people know about it, they are awakening to this. they are listening to this message, it's up to us to do something about it.

[cheering] [applause] [. martha: each of these candidates is well designed and speaking out in the way that we've heard them for quite some time. newt gingrich clearly the historian last night to some extent in his reach, and carl cameron joins us now. he was up following all of this along with the rest of us. what is the big take away from florida? >> reporter: that organization and money and administering a national campaign is the way you win a national campaign. mitt romney was able to get on the tv sets of florida long before newt gingrich did with his advertisements. the super pack that supports mitt romney was actually advertising here in florida before the iowa caucuses. that really gave mitt romney a bit of a cu cushion. he had elected republicans in the state behind him, vastly more than his rifles, and a

rivals and he came into florida having been beaten very, very badly in south carolina. after south carolina there were polls on sunday that suggested that gingrich was actually winning in florida, but those were weekend polls, which aren't as reliable. they were one-day polls on a sunday which are less reliable, and it happened to be a day of the nfl playoffs which also raises questions about their accuracy. the took the rest of the pollsters monday and tuesday to come out with their numbers and by wednesday mitt romney was back in a tie from newt gingrich, the bump that gingrich got from south carolina seemed to have eroded. if you live by the debate you can die by the debate. we are pushing 20 debates, they will be fewer, one is coming up in arizona in a couple of weeks but it will not allow candidates with little money and organization to use debates to sort of perpetuate their candidacies. newt gingrich had spectacular debate performances in south

carolina. they weren't outstanding in florida, in fact mitt romney was widely critiqued as having done better and you saw the results last night, a blowout in virtually every cat gore ree category vote demographics. martha: newt gingrich had a lot of strength after his win in south carolina. not great strength when he came into florida. he's been fluid by that more than anything in this campaign and is going to have a little absence of debate time up there on the stage to fix that problem in the coming weeks. carl, thank you very much. great coverage, we'll see you soon. carl cameron in tampa, florida. bill: looking back night at the results on the touch screen billboard here. we wanted to drill down a little bit between romney and gingrich and the outcome. romney is in the florida orange, gingrich is in the lime i think we will call it. this is where gingrich's strength came in. a lot of these areas are evangelical voters, strong conservatives, southern voters as well.

bump it up against his home state of georgia and that's where he will start pagin making his case as to tkw to why he should continue this battle. romney dominated in the central part of the state and in the southeastern part of the state. what is next on the calendar? as we look ahead to the month of february, this is where we are right now, we're in to february, the 1st of february. this saturday in nevada that is the caucus in nevada, a few more mixed in over the coming weeks after that. this is a big date down here, this is arizona and michigan on the 20th of february. primary votes in both states. that will be significant to see how romney for rather how gingrich cuts into that lead. back in february, go to march right now. five weeks from yesterday is super tuesday. this is the big marker on the calendar. ten states on that day which include georgia, which is newt gingrich's home state. massachusetts reu is romney's

own nature. you have tennessee, ohio and virginia where newt gingrich is not on the ballot in that state. this map we saw yesterday may or may not change depending on what happens over the coming five weeks now. we are off and running here. how does that florida orange change all the landscape for the candidates? john roberts is tracking that down. he's live in las vegas now. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, bill. it's the first in the west competition here, the republican nomination, the caucuses coming up on saturday. mitt romney won and one big back in 2008. guess who came second? john mccain? no. ron paul came second, and it's expected to ron paul is going to do even better this time around than he did four years ago. this is turning into a two-man race between mitt romney and ron paul. what are the big issues at stake here? there are four of them, jobs, jobs, jobs, and the housing crisis. this is a state that was one of the fastest growing in the

nation, now people can't get out of here fast enough because they just cannot work. david begins is the clark county g.o.p. chairman. here is what he told me about the issues. >> it's the 14% unemployment rate here, it's the home values, its the foreclosures, it's the lack of progress on jobs nationwide. it's the lack of progress of getting the spending under control, it's the increase in regulation that seems stifling businesses. >> reporter: yeah, well you no the unemployment rate has got even marginally better here in nevada, it's now down to 12.6% in the month of december. but this was a town mere in las vegas that was really built on construction, and construction, here has virtually dried up. all the big casinos, big developments going in, no work being done on them. bill: how would you describe the profile for the politics of nevada today, john. >> reporter: there are really three distinct groups that operate in nevada when it comes to the election right. those are establishment

conservatives, libertarian minor people. this is the west after all, very independent minded, small government, do it for yourself, take care of yourself and family, and look after god as well, and then there are the tea party folks, the ones who propelled sharron ang hrerbgs s run for the senate back in 2010, they are expected to go very strong for ropbg paul. ron paul. a large hispanic here and a substantial population of more moneys. dave told me about them. >> more moneys are about 11 piers ever the population. in a republican primary they may be up to a quarter of the voters here. they have very, very high turn out rates. >> reporter: turn out rates of 70 to 75% which he says is pretty much unheard of in any primary contest. mitt romney captured the bulk of them in 2008 but ron paul making a push for them this year.

martha: a little contest for you on the silver state despite the casino that they are so well-known for. they have no personal income and no corporate taxes. that causes a little bit of a problem for them right now because they are struggling with 12.6% unemployment in the state of nevada. 87% of the state's land is under control of the bureau of land management. much of that is used by the military and is wildlife reserves. bill: mitt romney added something else last night to his campaign, a romney adviser telling fox that the campaign asked for the protection of the secret service, and that he has met the qualifications to get that. how does one qualify for security? the secret service actually has no role in deciding who is a major candidate that deserves protection, that decision is made by the department of homeland security, the secretary of that department. the earliest candidate has received protection was eight months before the first primary of the 2008 election campaign, that's when agents began tailing then senator barack obama.

martha: i remember that clearly. that was very early on for him to get that kind of protection. we'll see when it comes for these candidates. fox news alert for you this morning out of los angeles. don cornelius, the long-time host of the tv show show train dead at 75. he was shot in the head at his hollywood home. circumstances are unclear about how that happened. there is an aerial shot right now coming in from the shopper shot over don cornelius' house at this hour. he went to broadcasting school as a young man, started his career as a chicago sportscaster and then created soul train which first premiered in 1970 and it ran for 35 years. he served as its host until 1993, legendary guests including aretha franklin, smoky robin sorpbgs all had their careers propelled on that show. bill: it looks like it could be

the white house versus the catholic church. the law forcing catholic organizations to cover birth control, that is causing all the controversy with the clergy, and in each and every church across the country, details on that to explain. martha: mitt romney may be counting on one major endorsement to win the minnesota primary, we're going to talk about that with michelle bachmann, about whether she's ready to support mitt romney. we'll ask her back when we come back. great to have her with us. she'll be here live in a moment. bill: also watch here. there is a man behind the wheel of a car engulfed in flames. today he's alive to tell about it, and you can thank the heros in a moment for this. feel the power my young friend. mmm!

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martha: he is fresh off of his florida win, so where is presidential candidate mitt romney today? headed to minnesota. leaving his rivals to fight for the ground in nevada where he will be late today. no doubt he would love to have our next guest endorsement, congresswoman michelle bachmann joins me now. congresswoman good to see you this morning. welcome. >> thank you, martha. good to be on with you this morning. martha: there's been all kind of buzz about your folks meeting with the romney folks. one of your former advisers went over and was a debate coach to mitt romney, that has been sort of mentioned as one of the reasons he was so strong in the recent debates in florida. what do you expect to talk to him about today? >> what will i be talking to governor romney about today? martha: yeah. >> i don't have any intentions of talking to him. i'm in washington d.c. doing my jobs in the united states congress.

there were reports that came out that my team and the romney team were talking about an endorsements. that isn't true. i talk to all the candidates on a regular base seufplt basis. i enjoy talking to them, we had a wonderful comraderie on the campaign trail. i haven't made a decision who i will endorse or if i will endorse before the nomination. martha: he would love to talk to you about getting your endorsement. i know you're being diplomatic about who you will endorse. the race coming up ph minnesota on february the 7th. some say it would be great to do the endorsement before then that that would be a good position for you to be in. do you think you will? >> at this point i don't have any plan to make an endorsement in minnesota to february 7th. i encourage all the candidates to come to my great state of minnesota, they will love it there. people will love being up close and personal with all the g.o.p.

candidates. at this point i haven't made a decision about endorsing right now. martha: what do you think is holding you back at this point? what are you waiting for? >> i think it's important that the people make the choice about who they want. my goal is to make sure that obama is defeated, as i'm sure people across america also want to make sure happens. i want to be a unifying voice. i want to bring together the tea party, the establishment, very wel evangelicals. we have to bring in independents and disaffected democrats. we have to defeat obama. that is my intention. we have a lot of faction tphal hraoeuzing going on now. i want to bring the factions together. that's what i want to do, go all across the country and help whoever the nominee is defeat barack obama. martha: we looked at all of the exit poll information last night and the one area that was a little bit weaker for mitt romney, he had a very strong night in florida, of course, but the tea party support, for those who say they are strong supporters of the tea party went to newt gingrich, we're looking

at the poll right now by 45% over romney's 33%. you, of course, are a very strong voice for this group of people, for the very conservative, for the tea party voter, and any one of these candidates is going to want to try bring that group into the foul to try to change things in this country. i guess a lot of people think i would go along way to have that support from you. do you think you will give it to somebody along the way here? >> it's entirely possible, but i haven't made that decision yet. and i'm happy that you talked about the tea party, in terms of not just numbers, but the fire power, because in 2010 when we saw the republicans retake the house of representatives, it was because squarely the support of the tea party, and they delivered that support. the tea party isn't just right-wing conservatives, the tea party is made up of independents and disaffected democrats. it's a crowd of people that are very tired of washington d.c., and they want the country to

work again. and these are important voters that we have to bring in to our presidential campaign in 2012. and so rather than disrespecting the tea party we need to be lifting them up and listening to the tea party, because they have a lot to say about common-sense, and about what we need in our message to win in 2012. martha: we've got to go. at one point you called them newt romney. you put them both together, mitt romney and newt gingrich, you said neither one of them was conservative enough and you didn't think they were taking up that ground. anything you've seen lately changed your mind about that, or do you still see it that way. >> hey, i thought i was the very best candidate up on the stage that had it all. the voters are choosing otherwise. i'm not going to take my marbles and go home. i'm going to be a part of this process. we have to defeat barack obama in november. martha: great to have you here. mitt romney p in minimum so the

that said to be courting your endorsements. it's grit to have you here. bill: we wonder what does gingrich do, what is his strategy, how does it change? a terrific panel debates that in a moment. a warning or eric holder, a top lawmaker accusing him of a cover up, and he, darrell issa is demanding answers. >> a year is way too long, this investigation is dragging, and obviously with attorney general eric holder coming tomorrow i wanted to make sure he understood that congress' patient is not infinite. [ male announcer ] for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuali. which meant she continued to have the means to live on... even at the ripe old age of 187.

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bill: about an hour ago we were talking about darrell issa about his accusations of a cover up by the attorney general, strong charges here.

holder will testify tomorrow about fast and furious in front of issa yet again. that committee chairman threatening to hold him in contempt of congress if he does not hand over 70,000 documents asap. >> what we expect to ask eric holder is why didn't you know? you've given us sworn testimony, first that you only new a few weeks before a particular previous event, now you've recanted that and you said you knew further. why don't you know in detail in order to stop this? why is it that on the day that brian terry was killed you were informed brian terry was killed, and yet for some reason they didn't tell you what they knew is that he was killed with fast and furious weapons. bill: there is the argument. senior judicial analyst judge napolitano, good morning to you my friend. can congress see anything congress wants. >> it can see anything it wants from the executive branch much the government with which the justice department is a part

unless there is an exception. the exceptions would be documents the revelation of which might interfere with something the government its doing. congress continue see raw documents in an investigation still going on, it couldn't see the government's file in a criminal case it's still prosecuting. it couldn't see personal, private information about a government employee the revelation of which the public has no interest in. short of those exceptions it can see any government document in the possession of the justice department. bill: but holder's argument is that there are active investigations underway and that is the reason why he cannot reveal the documents issa is looking for. >> the way to address that is for holder to go before a federal judge and ask the judge to restrict the subpoena. the federal judge will look at the documents, and the federal judge, not the congress or the justice department will determine what documents will be revealed. bill: we are not at that point. >> no, we are at a very, very dangerous point for the justice department.

they are stonewalling the congress. the presume pittsburgh is congress gets what it wants. united states vs. nixon, a famous case, we know when congress wanted documents from president nixon, they said the tapes have to be turned over, we know congress has a right to these and it will ultimately prevail. holder is a smart guy, he knows congress will prevail. bill: what issa would say about holder is he is stalling and dragging this out and you make the case that ultimately issa prevails. >> yes, ultimately the congress will prevail. why would eric holder be stalling? can you think of something that is going to happen in november of 2012 that attorney general holder would prefer happens first? the presidential election. they've been stalling on fast and furious for two years. they only have to stall for another 8 months. bill: eight, nine, maybe ten months. >> that is probably their thinking, because this would be very, very bad for the president if it it revealed exactly who in

the justice department or the executive branch of the government knew about this. bill: two quick questions. contempt of con. what does that mean, how serious is it? >> that means that the congress itself has issued the subpoena, that the recipient of the subpoena has defied the congress, and the congress has voted for contempt. then the congress goes to a federal judge, and the judge decides if the subpoena was proper, and if the pickup was not complied with. bill: is that common? >> no, it's very, very rare for a judge to hold a human being in contempt of congress. there would be adverse consequences for his license to practice law if that happens. there would be tremendous public shame. there could even be incarceration if he refused to turn over documents, the judge would incarcerate the attorney general, could do so. this has never happened, to induce him to cough up the documents. bill: given all that, thank you. terrific backdrop. we'll watch this hearing tomorrow and see what comes up. when you talk about a cover up publicly against the attorney

general you don't throw phrases like that casually. martha: now somebody really has to bring in the raw numbers in those delegates and james rosen will be here to break those numbers down so far. bill: newt gingrich defiant and vowing to fight to the end last night. his next steps and whether or not that is good for the republican party. >> you're going to see, this is what a serious, conservative city is like, who is bold, and is prepared to change washington, despite the screams of the establishment and both parties. what's this? it's progresso's loaded potato with bacon. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato.

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martha: there is more to becoming the republican nominee for president than scoring points in debates, raising all that money, running all those ads on tv, above all else in the end you just have to get in there with 11,044 delegates at the end of the whole story. each state has their own rules for handing them out. for example florida had 99, then they were down to 50. the race lasts until april, really to get all those numbers put together. chief washington correspondent james rosen is going to break it down and explain all of this for us at his very own big board. good morning, games. >> good morning, martha. imagine if the giants and the patriots each claimed that the playing of the super bowl in indianapolis favors their seem. that's what is happening with the four g.o.p. contenders and

the hunt for delegates that stretches out ahead. overall up for grabs this here are 2,286 delegates. to clinch the nomination in advance of the convention one of the four republican candidates needs to capture 1144 delegates. where do we stand right now? not very far along, actually if you look at things. after yesterday's big within in florida governor romney has 87 delegates. that counts up all the four states. only 115 in total have been awarded. put another way, slightly more than 5% of the total. so looming on the horizon is super tuesday, ten states will send voters to the polls on march the 6th. that is down 29 states from super tuesday four years ago. 19% of the delegates will be up for grabs on that day. most will be awarded on a proportional basis not on a winner take all basis. some of them will be nonbinding, that means the delegates can vote for whoever they want, although they usually go tort

winner. some are hybrids, partly proportional, partly take all. one of thefp is virginia, virginia has almost 50 delegates to give away. newt gingrich didn't qualify for the ballot there. tennessee has 60 delegates to give away. newt gingrich didn't qualify for the delegates there. he's hopeful about his home state of georgia, which will be giving away 76 delegates, 26 more than florida offered last night. factor in some of the other southern states that will be going to the balance ot box soon, you can see why newt gingrich argues this schedule favors him over romney. >> the add that after florida this is over makes no sense at all. we go into a long stretch of proportional represent taeugts. we have no evidence he can get 50% anywhere yet. we'll see how he does tomorrow night. until he starts winning 50% or more. if you sake rick santorum's vote and my vote i bet it's bigger than his vote tuesday night. >> reporter: there are a series of states coming up as you can see where governor romney is

thought to enjoy advantages over his rivals. romney saeudz say their man is best positioned to endure a long battle. if you want to avoid a brokered convention in august you have to capture the 1144 delegates, martha. martha: i said 11,000, that would take us a really longtime. i'm glad it's 1144. we would be here for a longtime. pretty fancy stuff there with the big board. i think bill is just sort of a little bit feeling the heat over his shoulder there with that big board. bill: james, you rock it brother. if i may call you brother. >> reporter: always, every day. bill: he calls everyone brother. bill: thank you james. martha: he has a lot of brothers. thank you, james. >> the same people who said i was dead in june and july and said i was gone after iowa who seemed totally quiet the night of the south carolina victory are now going to be back saying, what's he going to do, what's he

going to do, i just want to reassure them tonight, we are going to contest every place and we are going to win and we will be in tampa as the nominee in august. [applause] [cheering] bill: somewhat defiant newt gingrich last night in florida. where does he and his campaign go from here. gretchen ham he will former spokeswoman for the house republican congress. doug schoen, a former pollster for president clinton and a contribute. i see schoen is back from hanging out with the one percent. sorry had to bring it up again. gretchen, what does newt gingrich do? would you make the case that was classic newt? >> it was classic newt. he was himself, that is persistent. he needs to debate well, make it about the issues and give that historical context and the big ideas that people like. he needs to get out of the mud. bill: these debates are going to the sideline now. i don't believe there is one for

another month is there? >> there isn't one for a while e. needs to get back to what he does well, present the ideas and historical content. that's what won eupl south carolina and what people like. he needs to get out of the snake pit he's been in the last week. bill: doug, are you going to calm down the pythons over there or what? your big point is that the message for gingrich is not as compelling as it needs to be. explain that. >> yeah, i think gretchen was really putting her finger on it. he has to have a message of change for basically working class, ordinary republicans at the grassroots, why he has ideas to lower taxes, lower spending, promote economic growth, get america moving again, and speak to the disaffected in america in a way that he did in south carolina and bluntly he didn't do in florida. bill: do you think, doug, that they are list toning hi listening to his message.

>> the exit poll said interestingly me last night that they see him as the true conservative but they didn't like him. they voted against him on personal terms. the answer to your question is they are not listening but they want to. bill: gretchen do you site the same way? >> i can completely agree. if you look at the exit polls mitt romney won those who thought he what's hrebtable, those most concerned about the economy, he won those folks by 20 points and he split the tea party, he didn't win the strong tea party vote. that shows us that newt needs to calm down, act presidential, talk about the issues that the americans care about, that is the economy and also be that conservative. bill: more to your point to tea party. he split the vote of the generally supportive tea party. >> yes but not the strong, he won the strong. bill: but he won the strong tea party voters. he said last night, doug, he's going to -- he has 46 more states to go. you need organization, money,

how do you get around those barriers now. >> the first thing you need is messag message. you can't get elected without message. the other thing you do is you need to pick your spots. super tuesday will be the make-or-break day, i think it's march 8th when he has a whole host of southern caucuses and primaries with proportional representation. if he scores well there the argument he made last night could come to fruition, if he doesn't it will be mitt romney. bill: to that point, then, georgia yes, oklahoma yes, tennessee yes, alabama yes, virginia he's not even on the ballot. >> he's not on the ballot there and in another important state, that's missouri. back home in the rural area people love newt, they love the big ideas, they love that he doesn't care about political correctness and that he can give the history lesson that we all know that america was built on these great capitalists principles and other principles, they love to hear about that from him, but he's not in some of these critical states and that is concerning.

that's concerning for a lot of reasons to see if he can actually do this in the long haul. bill: he did very well in northern florida, which is the rural area that you're discussing and describing there, gretchen. thank you for coming in today. and doug thank you as well. welcome home to you, nicely done. martha: we showed you this story, we'll show you the rest in a moment. a man trapped behind the wheel of a burning car. >> is anybody in there? hello, is anybody in there? martha: so frightening. scoming up, two heroes who saved his life. bill: the catholic church is take on the white house over healthcare. >> i understand that there is controversy and winds that and we will continue to work with religious groups to discuss their concerns, but on the other side of this was the important need to provide access to women to the preventative services that they require. bill: here is what you have you

have a battle from catholic groups all across the country being forced to provide birth control. we will talk to father jonathan morris about the backlash that is build tkag. martha: you kno building today. martha: it takes a lot to make a new yorker stop and stair. but peopl stare. what is that over the statue of liberty? what is that flying, is that bill hemmer? [ male announcer ] this was how my day began.

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out, drag him to safety, all involved came out unharmed. man. the exact cause of the fire is under investigation. that man inside is okay. martha: the white house is now defending a controversial policy, in president obama's healthcare law despite protests from prominent catholic leaders this. rule is going to require many religiously affiliated groups like schools, hospitals and churches to provide birth control coverage as part of their healthcare coverage them. say that is the prerequisite for all of these plans, regardless of whether you're a religious institution or know this is picking up a lot of steam in the republican presidential race, listen. >> i want you to know that on the very first day i will sign an executive order repealing every antireligious act of the obama administration. >> he talked about the war on the catholic church which i think is an issue which will be

extremely important. it has to do with the regulations in obamacare. >> how this newly waged war on religious freedoms that president obama has now engaged in, how that erodes our foundation and does adversely affect our religious liberties. martha: president obama won the catholic vote in 2008. it is a crucial part of any presidential election vote. father jonathan morris joins me. he is traveling with timothy dolan in the middle east. he has been very outspoken her. good morning to you. >> good morning. when a great time here. in the introduction before the break it was mention they'd somehow the catholic church is in a battle with the obama administration. i really don't think that is the way it is. for the last seven days i've watched archbishop cardinal designate dolan at the foot of

the birthplace of jesus here, taking time away to pray, and get the obama administration has decided that it wants to enter into a battle not only with catholic bishops, not only with the cat hreur catholic church, but anyone who believes in our right to religious freedom that always included the freedom of conscience. it's not about continu contraception or the catholic church, it's about religious liberty. martha: as healthcare reform kicks in all of these institutions will have to provide a healthcare system, a healthcare insurance plan that includes the same basic things, and they are saying there is no e exemptions. they have to provide, condoms, continue september tiff, the morning-after-pill. and that is clearly the issue here. >> they have offered two olive

branches, but neither of them are og i have branches, they are slaps in the face. what are the exemptions? they are ones, a catholic hospital can get a exemption from the mandate as long as they are only serving people of their own faith. a catholic church is not going to stand in front of a hop and check baptist malcertificates. they are open to serving anyone. the second proposed exemption is we are going to give you a year to get in line with this mandate. how long do we need, a year? we need ten seconds, and that is to say we don't need time to proceed pair to violate our conscience. if the obama administration, or any administration is willing to say, we are not going to allow for religious liberty because we believe we have the right to mandate this. the federal government, what is going to be next. this is not just a catholic issue. martha: let's listen to archbishop dolan on this issue.

>> never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience. this shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the bill of rights. how about letting our elected leaders know that we want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored? and the administration's mandate rescinded. martha: one last quick thought, father jonathan. >> sure, you know, this is not a conservative issue either. even very democratic catholics who supported the obama administration with the healthcare, going against the bishops, yes they are now saying what he has done is promised them one thing, religious liberty. remember when he was at notre dame and promised to offer religious liberty that we share some values but he's always going to respect freedom of conscience. he has said one thing and done another one. i don't think it's good politically and i certainly don't think it's moral.

martha: father john nan thank you. an extraordinary trip that you're on with the card ol designate in the middle east. >> absolutely. martha: traveling onto rome where he will become a cardinal. we can't wait to hear all about it. thank you very much. martha: god bless you, martha, thank you. bill: this story won't go away. there were letters red in thousands of catholic masses this past weekend on this very issue. martha: they want it to be a front and center issue in this campaign. we'll hear a lot more about it. bill: headlines coming up on "happening now," good morning, jon. jon: a skwro*pbg showin strong showing by mitt romney. newt gingrich says he's in it for the long run. karl rove here for analysis. more on the president's new plan to refinance millions of home loans, and the texas woman who had that feisty exchange with president obama's unemployment

and job prospects, she is here and we have an update on his job search muc. "happening now" coming up. [ male announcer ] in bli, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ '80s dance music plays ] [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

bill: breaking news. our affiliate out of detroit is in the air over this train collision, a collision with a semi truck in michigan. this is jackson, michigan. south central part of the state. the semidriver was taken to a local hospital. that person is being treated. but look at the aftermath of this train and how many cars now are on their side. it's not known if there are other injuries but we're look into that right now talking with local police up there. everyone apparently is off the train. it left pontiac, michigan at 6:00am, supposed to arrive in chicago. this would have been a familiar route running east to west to

the windy city. martha: it looks like a computer train out of chicago. we can't see the semiin the shot. the driver was taken to the hospital with injuries. there are no other reports of injuries. it's possible it was a little bit late for the heavy computer traffic in the morning as it headed out. look at this, it folded over to its side against the rest of the train here and the other one is off to the left. this looks like a very serious situation. that looks like the engineer in the front car on this train as it lies there. we have no reports yet on conditions of the engineer of this train, and whether or not he sustained any injuries. a very, very tough morning and difficult situation. bill: we'll figure out how many passengers were on board at the time. it appears to be a rural area. now you wonder if the cross signal was working correctly and all this and that will go into the investigation as to how this happened in jackson, michigan earlier today. martha: all right. so we are waiting for the president to step to the podium

in falls church, virginia this morning. he is about to layoutis earlier with stu varney. this is one of many mortgage relief programs we've heard about in this country, big questions about how to pay for it and whether or not this is what the government should be doing. bill: also, you know, pretty crazy folks in the city of new york. martha: what the heck is that? >> strange sightings in the skies over gothum. people flying in the air, no strings attached. martha: that is a new one.

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bill: see strange things in manhattan. how about this sight? three people sailing to the new york city skyline. check them out. were you tricked? but buy it? a trio of model airplanes. this is how they did it. part of campaign fox news, chronicle owned by news corp. one of the remote control units ran out of power. it landed in the hudson. where have we heard that