darryl issa, reince previn and highlights of the debate tonight. >> steve: another one. >> gretchen: log on for our after the show show. hope you have a great monday, everyone. see you tomorrow. >> steve: so long. bill: what a race we have. it is on. good morning, everybody. live look in florida. that is mitt romney meeting with vogters at the moment. he will join us as soon as that event is over live here in "america's newsroom." we'll have a big morning here as we try and shake down saturday and look forward to florida next. i think we have two super bowls at the moment. very different. good morning, i'm bill hemmer. martha: what a weekend, all around. political world and also on the football field. what a weekend, folks. good morning, everybody, we're glad you're here. i'm martha maccallum. you have this battle underway in florida. big win for newt gingrich on saturday in south carolina's primary the candidates making stops in the sunshine state. they're now eight days away.

there is no rest for these folks. mitt romney turning up the heat big-time on newt gingrich right now. here is a piece of it. >> he was speaker for four years. then he had to resign in disgrace. and then he has been a lobbyist for the last 15 years, influence pedaling throughout the years. helping freddie mac of all people. he was historian. i like to see the contract. i like to see his work product. he is the malt washington, d.c. insider. bill: early voting underway in florida. 200,000 votes cast. bob cusack, managing he had are to of "the hill." good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: is florida that different from south carolina? >> that is. it is a huge media market. that helps mitt romney because he has a huge money advantage. demographics are different. lot of retirees. snowbirds from the new york, new jersey area.

the polls, newt gingrich is surging in the state. bill: we have, now, two clips, i want to play for you. one is from cbs on sunday morning, which shows newt gingrich's line of attack on mitt romney in one sense. and then i want to play a clip from from late on saturday night which shows a very different line of attack from gingrich also. roll the first one of the we'll get to both of them right now. >> governor romney may be running for ceo. i'm running for president. president of the united states has to understand the government of the united states. barack obama clearly didn't and candidly i doubt if governor romney would. we don't have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates has but we do have ideas, and we do have people and we have proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas, beatses big money. with your help we're going to prove it again in florida. bill: well that goes to your point. you have major media markets in florida. an expensive state to campaign in. mitt romney clearly has a lot more money than newt

gingrich. some wonder if money matters after the results on saturday? >> that's right, bill. the problem for mitt romney clearly was the tax return issue. that is one. he also has been awkward in recent debates. so he has to get off the mat. he has to show he can take a punch. florida is very important. if he loses florida and four states he only one new hampshire which is in his backyard. so florida, as it was in 2008, could be a major deciding factor. bill: bob, thank you for that. by the way early voting is underway. we're finding polling that suggests more than a third of voters in florida they could change their mind between now and next tuesday which was similar in south carolina. thank you, bob, a lot to chew on today. >> thanks, bill. >> that is for sure we have a lot to chew on. rick santorum walked away in the south carolina race in third place. the white house hopeful is pledging to go to florida in full force. he says his finish proves he is still in it. he plans to win it. watch. >> this race isn't going to be over next week in florida.

it will not be over the week after when we go to colorado and minnesota and missouri. look, this will be a long race. there will be a lot of opportunity for the rest of the country, hear this all the time. why should three states decide who our nominee is? in this race it will not happen. in this race we'll have a long campaign. florida will have its say. nevada will have its say and we keep going from state to state. martha: boy, what a difference a couple days makes, right? he may be right about that. rick santorum was named the official winner of iowa's january 3rd primary last week. you remember the rather contentious discussion we had about the results of that. updated results show him edge edging out mitt romney was named winner in that ways. bill: 1-1-1 at the moment. romney reversing occurs on taxes and fox news on sunday that it was a mistake not to release returns sooner than now after his failure mushroomed into a big issue as bob cusack mentioned.

>> given all the attention focused on tax returns, given the distraction i think they became in these last couple of weeks, look, i'm going to make it very clear to you right now, chris, i will release my tax returns for 2010, which is 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. martha: all right. you heard that. we're getting a little more definition exactly what he plans to put out there. he said his tax returns will be posted online tomorrow. he pointed out to chris that he is releasing two years of returns compared to the one year that newt gingrich has posted. so that battle goes on right now. we've had brand new poll numbers coming into "america's newsroom", folks. this is one of the first looks we're getting how florida is shaping up in light of what happened after that big upset in south carolina. scott rasmussen has the numbers a little later with the florida polls. i urge you to stick around

you will find these quite interesting. bill: they're very interesting. the issue of the economy is so important, martha. it is more acute in the southeast. on our touch-screen billboard we show you why it is more important here in the southeast. specifically we'll focus on florida. on the map, the deeper red, more trouble you're in. the lighter red better off you are. if you're in green, you're okay. florida is deep in the red, unemployment going back over last few years, current statewide employment at 10%, well above the national average of 8.5%. jump around to the southeast. we drive that point home even more n georgia you're at 9.9. in south carolina we detailed this on saturday night. 9.9%. neighboring state of north carolina at 10%. north carolina, a state that barack obama barely won four years ago. we found in our exit polling in south carolina, 97% of voters said they're worried about the economy. a combined 85% choose the economy and federal budget as the most important

issues. watch that as we go forward throughout the morning. we'll talk with the governor, rick scott of florida in a matter of moments, martha. martha: we're looking forward to that. don't forget stay right here for complete coverage of republican primary. here we go again, folks. special coverage of the florida primary. fox news is the place to be as know with all the coverage. start tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. eastern. here comes florida. the. an arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords going to one of her last events as a congresswoman today. it has been a year since she was shot in the head in an event in tucson. what a road this has been. there is mark kelly by her side when she was in the hospital holding her hand. we all remember those moments. she said she will resign. she needs to focus her energy on continuing what has been a remarkable recovery for this woman. >> i will never forget the trust you placed in me to be

your voice. thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. martha: what an inspiration that woman is. gabby giffords, my goodness. steve centanni joins us now with some details on all this from washington. how she is wrapping up her time as a congresswoman. we will figure out what she will do next from there. steve, good morning. >> reporter: martha, today in tucson the congresswoman will finish the meet and greet event that was interrupted by gunfire, by her shooting one year ago. on tuesday she will attend the state of the union address here in washington on the house chamber. the last time giffords appeared in the house chamber she made a surprise appearance and got a standing ovation for colleagues. she showed up to cast the vote on debt ceiling increase. she gained a reputation as centrist who supported

border security and her district right on the mexican border and expanded health care. she could have kept her house seat and run for re-election in november of this year but as she explained in her video she wants to focus for the time-being on her recovery, martha. martha: steve, what is the plan in terms of her district in arizona right now? >> reporter: well, it will be complicated and possibly confusing. before the, until now, out of deference to giffords, few have talked about running for her seat but that could change now. there are candidates waiting in the wings. arizona governor jan brewer will call a special primary election in april. a special election probably in june. that is only remainder of giffords term. the regular election for full-two year term takes place in november. the boundaries of that swing district will be changing. special election will be in the existing boundaries. the general election for the new two year term will be in the new revised boundaries. it is likely to be a very active campaign season in

southern arizona, martha. martha: our best wishes are with her as she continues her recovery. it has been absolutely remarkable. she is so inspiring. we look forward to seeing her at the state of the union address. thank you very much. bill: strong and a great husband to boot. what a great support. martha: what a great couple. how incredible he is standing by her side and her by his as he continues his career. bill: there is mark kelly right there. martha: yeah. bill: some of the stories we're watching. there are developments of shocking claims of election fraud, this time involving the primary in south carolina two days ago. you will never guess who voted there, martha. martha: this u.s. aircraft carrier sailing into the waters of iran. why this move is very meaningful right now. ambassador bolton joins with us his thoughts on that live. plus -- >> whoa, i got that. power flash. power flash. right in front of us. bill: that is just where this begins. severe weather, these are deadly storms ripping up

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martha: well the man who shot president reagan back in 1981 will be back in court today. you're looking now at that unforgetable moment. march, the 30th, 1981 when time just stopped for a meant as all of those -- moment as all those horrible moments played out. the john hinckley, jr., has made visits to his mother's house as he has done for time to time. these visits could go for longer period of time giving him more freedom. the goal would be eventually he would live there full time. federal prosecutors and family members are strongly opposing this move. reagan family members for sure. hinckley has been held in a mental hospital since 1982. he is in washington, d.c. a

judge has gin him increasing freedom in recent years and that could be extended even further. bill: did you know florida is voting already. in fact early voting is open in all 67 counties in the state of florida. we'll look back here on touch-screen billboard. the results from 2008 to show you where mitt romney did well up against john mccain in that year. hang on. we'll not go to california just yet. come back out here in a second. we'll go to the primaries and caucuses in 2008 and bring up florida to show you what happened here. mccain was a winner in florida four years ago. romney still picked up 31% of the vote. where was he strong? he was strong up here in the jacksonville area. he was strong in the center part of the state near orange county and orlando. he was also strong in collier county and naples. you will hear an awful lot in the coming week, about the i-4 corridor. that is an area that cuts right through the center part of florida. these can be independent voters. often times you find them

going various ways on a national election. and they vote in many ways, based on their pocketbook. this is hillsborough county in tampa. over here up the i-4 4 corridor is polk county. interstate 4 cuts across the state of florida. orange county is where you find orlando and volusia county where you find the city of daytona beach. governor rick scott is with me now. governor, good morning to you. >> good morning. the i-4 corridor very, very important. they care about jobs. that is what will be important this week. bill: that they do. we found out in south carolina. your unemployment rate, 9.9, right around 10%. the early voting with 225,000, do you find that significant in terms of voting enthusiasm or would you expect that? >> absolutely. no, i mean that is very good. look, florida voters are very concerned about the next president. they want to have a president that will do what we're doing in florida. we've gotten our state back to work. unemployment as gone from 12

down to 9.9. second biggest drop in the country, 2 down 1%. florida voters want a president who will focus on one thing, jobs, jobs, jobs. that will win next week. bill: you have a focus in florida that a lot of states, they have experienced it perhaps not to the same degree. the real estate market has been shattered. the issue of health care is big deal to seniors living in florida. it nice to paint a big picture of unemployment rate dropping. it is still exceedingly high not acceptable to your level. >> you're right, bill. bill: when you look at florida, you have chosen not to endorse anyone. why would that be? >> that's right. i think right thing to do is have the candidates come and campaign. i hope they come down. what i have told all the ones is, talk to as many people as you can. i went out. i spent every day for seven months doing events to get around the state. talk to people and tell you

why are you going to change the direction of this economy? we've had a good year. a drop of 2.1% but we still have 900,000 people out of work. what i want and what florida voters want they want somebody in the white house that will help them get back to work. bill: in south carolina, they thought gingrich spoke to the issue of jobs which you pointed out is job number one, issue number one, two, and three in florida. who do you believe has taken on that issue better, mitt romney or newt gingrich? >> think they both have taken on the issue. clearly in south carolina believed more what newt gingrich was saying. i think mitt romney put a lot of effort into florida. it will be really be important this week he gets out there and says this is very simply what my plan is. what i did, i had seven steps to 700,000 jobs. that's what i would do if i was national candidate. these are three, four, five, six things i'm going to do and this will change the national economy. bill: do you find voters in

your state are angry? what is your sense of their feeling? >> i think they're still worried. you know, our confidence level is up since i've come into office but still, if you have a job you're worried about keeping it. if you don't have a job you're really concerned. they're fed up with trillion dollar deficits. they're fed up with a government that, they don't think is responsive to them. so they want a federal government that is going to think about one thing and that is how do you get back to work? that's what we've got to do. we've got to get people back to work. bill: there is debate later tonight. we'll see how that goes. then we move to the headlines tomorrow. governor, thank you. rick scott, live in tallahassee. we'll have a busy week. we'll be in touch with you and rest of your office. thank you for your time, governor. >> have a great day. bye-bye. bill: to you as well. martha? martha: house speaker john boehner giving his preview of this week's state of the union address coming up tomorrow night and his view is not pretty. take a look. >> they have made it worse.

if that is what the president will talk about tuesday night i think it is pathetic. i think the president should listen to his own jobs council. it is time to go into a new direction. martha: why is the speaker is fuming before the president has even spoken his first words, they're going to the super bowl. wow, wow, wow! tom brady and the patriots beat the baltimore ravens. the ravens missing a field goal in the final seconds of that game that helped new england clinch it. it was a late night on the west coast and it was overtime. giants and 49'ers. super bowl two weeks away. the giants beating san francisco on their home field that is rematch by the way of the 2008 game. martha: i know. bill: giants-patriots faced off. martha: unbelievable. bill: during a heated primary season then as well. martha: congratulations to our new jersey giants. we are very proud of them. and, what is the problem with that? everybody knows the new jersey giants are from

new jersey? great moment. bill: i think what he is saying i'm going to the super bowl. martha: that is exactly what he said. >> unbelievable first season it was. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

bill: some incredible new video of the intense weather in the state of the arkansas just into "america's newsroom." roll this and watch. [wind noise] bill: that lightning flashing through the sky as strong wins and rain pelted area. national weather service says reports of tornados in several warnings counties. warnings went out. no one hurt there. maria molina is working our fox weather center. we'll check in with her in a matter of moments to find out what is happen tag in the southeast. martha: we're one day away

until president obama delivers his annual state of the union address before congress and the nays. it will be his third address to the country. it is an election year speech of course. it comes with the economy still sluggish. unemployment still high in much of the country. we'll be hearing about that. wendell goler is live at the white house. wendell, what are we learning about what we're likely to hear from the president tomorrow night? >> reporter: martha, the president's aides say will book end the one she gave in kansas last month on his take for teddy roosevelt's call for a fair deal for middle class americans. after years of stagnant wages the president says this is make-or-break moment for the middle class and those trying to make it into the middle class. last week in a speech at disney world, the president called for increase in tourism in it country as a way to boost jobs. over the weekend he gave campaign supporters a bit of a peak at the themes he will focus on tomorrow night. >> american manufacturing

with more good jobs and more products stamped with made in america. american energy fueled by homegrown and alternative energy sources. skills for american workers, getting people the education and training they need so they're ready to take on the jobs of today and tomorrow. and most importantly, a return to american values. fairness for all, and responsibility from all. >> reporter: president calls them big ideas but given his relationship with congress he is likely not to make very many specific promises tomorrow night, martha. martha: so the white house has really said this is not campaign mode that we're going to see tomorrow night. what is the republican reaction to that, wendell? >> reporter: republicans say the president has been in campaign mode for some time. they point to events he has planned after tomorrow night's address including a trip he will take later this week to iowa, arizona and nevada, colorado and michigan. here is house speaker john boehner on friday. >> the president wasn't

campaigning why, next week after he gives his address, to a joint session of congress, is he traveling to five battleground states? now, i might have been born at night but it wasn't last night. >> reporter: also on monday the president will do a hangout on google plus answering questions from people across the country submitted via youtube. martha? martha: wendell, should be very interesting. we know there will be republican response as well from mitch daniels after that state of the union address. president will deliver this speech before a joint session of congress, as is the practice of course. that happens tomorrow night. 9:00 p.m. eastern. you can watch it right here on the fox news channel. complete coverage of all of that. most presidents go on the road after the state of the union speech. that is typical follow-up to the speech so that is not all that surprising. bill: we'll watch where he goes in those states that will be critical for determining what happens. martha: you think some of them might be on

battleground state list? that is probably a safe bet. bill: new warningsing that flu season will strike with a vengance. why the worst may not be over yet. martha: presidential candidate mitt romney in a high-stakes battle now in florida, folks. fighting for a win the former massachusetts governor wrapping up an event. he will join us here in "america's newsroom" moments away. stay with us. ♪ [ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! slap! ] ow, ow! [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum ta tum tum tums

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bill: as we mentioned moments ago, mitt romney wrapping up an event in the sunshine state only moments ago. we're eight days away from florida's primary a week from tomorrow. the stakes have never been higher frankly as newt gingrich clinches a big win in south carolina. santorum in iowa, romney in new hampshire and gingrich in south carolina. mitt romney is live from florida. good morning, governor, thank you for your time. >> thanks, bill, good to be with you. bill: you are 36 hours removed from south called line and you're looking toward florida but your message in south carolina was about the economy. why did that message not work there? >> well, you know, we didn't have a great week in south carolina. we had a little bad news come in couple fronts. speaker gingrich had a couple good opportunities. south carolina is in his neighborhood. he was from the neighboring

state. we knew it would be uphill battle in south kirl line. said that from the beginning. i came in fourth there four years ago. i was happy we got 2 1/2 times as many votes as we did four years ago but look, it was a loss. i congratulate speaker gingrich on that win. we have a lot of contests ahead. i'm hope win here in florida. bill: the winner in florida gets all the delegates. 31% of the vote against john mccain four years ago. disappointing second place finish. mccain had 35, 36% of the vote but the issues are similar. unemployment the same. 10% in south carolina. you have seniors worried about health care and health care reform and issue of the real estate market down there in florida. you can crystalize the issues america has gone through on those three big fronts in state alone. if your message did not sell in south carolina, how do you make it work now in florida? >> well there is no question

but the people in florida are concerned about the very things you mentioned and i understand how the economy works. having worked in the economy. i also understand when government gets in the middle of housing how it can hurt the housing market. what freddie mac did in this market is to cause part of the underpinning and the collapse which has hurt so many people here in florida. and of course newt gingrich was working for freddie mac. he said he was an historian but he got paid 1.7 million. i don't believe he was an historian. he was out speaking up freddie mac. and that was an enormous mistake. and contributed to the crisis that is here. and finally with regards to health care i know something about making health care work more like a market. i understand how markets work. i believe the people here in florida will give me the boost i need to go onto the next few states and get delegates i will need to become our nominee. bill: you demanded newt gingrich on saturday to release paperwork he did on behalf of fran any and freddie.

what do you think is in that paperwork? >> woe just don't know. with newt gingrich it is october surprise every day. let's make sure we understand what was in the work product that he was providing to freddie mac. what was the contract? what did they pay him for? you don't pay someone $1.7 million to write your history. did he write the history? let's see the work product? did he lay out the history or instead talk about policy and provide access to people in power? the speaker has been working over the last 15 years on k street in washington, d.c. it is a form of influence peddling or lobbying depending whose definition you want to use. basically he is connecting corporations with government. and there is nothing wrong with that. it is just very different than the way he portrays himself as an author of big ideas. big ideas like freddie mac giving mortgage guaranties to people who couldn't possibly repay those mortgages. that is a big idea. i don't think it was a very good big idea. bill: the other thing you

said on saturday, you want to see the ethics probe that led up to the investigation by nancy pelosi and others while he was in the house. why do you think that is important now? >> well, nancy pelosi had made comments about the full transcript of what went on with that ethics probe. as you know the speaker was the only speaker in american history to have been reprimanded by his own members, by his republican members. 88% voted to reprimand him. he was forced from office. he resigned in disgrace. so let's look at the full record of what was said as opposed to the sanitized version of a final report. you know if nancy pelosi has that record it ultimately will be in the hands of the president if newt gingrich were to become the nominee. so let's get it out there now. have a chance to see it. see what will be coming down the road in the general election and i think you're going to find in the past newt gingrich has been very vociferious about protecting that record, making sure it

doesn't get released. i don't know why he doesn't want it released. let's get it out there. bill: there is debate tonight. will you call on him now to do that again? >> sure. i'm not sure what questions will get asked. i'm not the moderator of the debates. we'll be asked to describe our concerns about one another. i will point out the speaker needs to lay out what he has done in freddie mac. he also needs to lay out the full transcript what was associated with the ethics probe. we need to understand by the way who his clients were in the health care world because he was lobbying for a medicare bill, a health care bill, that could have significantly benefited some of his clients. if that is the case, he was not only lobby abouting, and influence peddling. he may have done things that were improper. let's find out that story now as opposed to down the road after someone becomes our nominee. bill: on that point in the debate, do you need to get tougher on newt gingrich? i think we need always to be focused on the real target

here which is president obama. speaker gingrich's success in last debate or two because frankly the people who asked him questions, asked him softball questions about the president or about himself and he didn't attack the rest of us on the stage. he attacked either the moderator or the president. that is probably the best way to go. bill: your taxes will be released tomorrow, is that right? and can you assure -- >> yes, that's right. bill: can you assure the taxes are out and made public this is an issue that dice and disappears this week or will there be a surprise in the taxes that will be a drag on the message you're trying to get out? >> oh, look i'm sure anytime you release number of pages i will release that the dnc and the president's folks will be trying to find anything that they can turn into an issue. you will find after enough consideration and tlib shun and some honest evaluation there is nothing in there that is a surprise. there is nothing that is unsavory. we followed the law.

paid all the taxes required. and that's, and i didn't pay a dollar more. some people say, oh, gee, why don't you pay more? i pay all that is legally required. if you want a president who pays more than he owes, i would be surprised. bill: one more thing. the white house put out an e-mail earlier today and they have an entire file on you. i'm certain that is no surprise to you. this is the conclusion that e-mail reaches. mitt romney prides himself on being a great businessman but the american people are not buying what he is selling. how do you respond? >> well, we haven't yet really begun our campaign in the general election. that time will come. i can tell you one thing we have a president who has been in office three years and people are suffering in this country. i'm in florida today, 9.9% unemployment. home values have plummeted here. one quarter of all the foreclosed homes in america are right here in florida. this state is hurting and people across the country

are hurting by virtue of the president's record. i'll tell you one thing, this president has a record. he has been president three years. people are hurting. they're not buying what he has sold them. they want to see some change. i've been a very successful business person, a successful leader of the olympics, a successful governor. i think the american people want someone who delivers results successfully. i have. he hasn't. that's why i will win. bill: governor, thank you for your time. >> thanks, billed. good to be with you. bill: mitt romney live in florida. taxes released later tomorrow. debate later tonight. primary as week from tuesday. martha: don't forget, folks. keep it right here we'll have complete coverage of the republican primary throughout. special coverage of the florida primary bill was discussing with governor romney moments ago. we'll discuss that with brit hume and get all the reaction and brand new polls. 6:00 eastern tuesday night is when the voters will have that voices heard in florida.

we have brand new polls as the gop race moves to that state. who is leading now in the sunshine state? scott rasmussen with some very interesting results on that coming up next. bill: we're told south carolina is tough place for politics right? stand by in florida. italian authorities holding a news conference at the moment. there are new details about the italian cruise incident and those developments and disturbing new audio recordings of that stricken ship off the coast, what they are telling us today. 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.

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[ male aouncer ] red lobster's ur course seafood feast is back. get soup, salad, cheddar bay biscuits, dessert and choose one of 7 entrees. four courses for only $15. offer ends soon. i'm jody gonzalez, ed lobster manager and i sea food differently. bill: about 16 minutes now before the hour. the price to mail a letter going up. now costing 45 cents. the postal service hopes the hike will generate additional $888 million a year in revenue. the cofounders of blackberry maker, research in motion. they're stepping down as ceo's. the two replaced by current operating officer after the company lost billions in market value. another hollywood marriage has gone bust.

model heidi klum, singer seal announcing their separation after six years of marriage. the two say they have grown apart. they have four children together. they're not really hollywood. they're new york. martha: hollywood marriages, they never last. bill: beyonce said we'll never survive unless we get crazy. martha: they always seemed happy. getting remarried all the time. celebrating their vows. back to the major story this morning, brand new polls coming into "america's newsroom" on the florida republican primary. we're looking forward to see what is happening next in this story as are we. hear is the new raz muse send reports poll of likely republican voters in the primary. take a look. gingrich at 41%. mitt romney at 32%. in this poll now. here now, scott rasmussen, president of rasmussenreports.com. take a look, scott at this stunning number.

look how gingrich jumped in the first screen we'll pull up for everybody. what a move this has been. mitt romney was ahead by 22 points in florida. less than two weeks ago. gingrich has gone from 19% to 41%, scott. >> look, this is a stunning turn around that began with the monday debate performance for speaker gingrich in south carolina. right now in florida he leads by 28 points among very conservative voters. by seven points among somewhat conservative voters. among everybody else, romney is up 20. martha: it is fascinating. we have two debates within the vote as well. >> right. >> we're seeing so much keying off the debates. they couldn't be more important in terms of the performances as they head into this thing on next tuesday. let's take a look at next one we want to pull up for everybody, which refers to, this question. who would be the strongest against president obama. to me scott, this was the big headline in the exit polls the other night from south carolina, electability

has always been mitt romney been romney's strongest selling point. folks are saying they think newt gingrich will be stronger against the president. >> it is really pretty even. this is stunning turn around. every other poll we've done shows romney leading this category by a big margin. what is happening, mitt romney on paper looks more electable. a lot of people are pointing to his positions. focus on fiscal issues, rather than social issues. but newt gingrich, looks like the fighter right now and a lot of people in the republican base are saying we want somebody who will take that fight to barack obama that is their definition of electable. martha: we'll talk to reince priebus in a little while. clearly for overall gop, they want to know once this whole thing shakes out, who knows when that will be the party will rally around the candidate. this number would definitely support that notion of. wait, this is the other one. who will win the gop nomination. you still have romney at 52%. gingrich, 35%. people love watching all the action but they still think

they will end up settling on mitt romney? >> well, right now, these numbers are down for romney and up for gingrich but, there's a long way to go. we have 10 days or eight days now until the primary here in florida. and, we're going to see where things go after that until super tuesday. but the perception of mitt romney as the likely nominee is different than it was a week or two weeks ago when he was seen as the inevitable nominee. martha: very interesting. let's pull up the next one to take a look as we keep going through these. who would you vote for if your candidate does not win the gop nomination? this is it what i was referring to moment ago. 84% said i would vote for the republican no matter who it is. >> couple things. ron paul supporters are less likely to say that. one of the big myths tea party is out there saying my way or the highway. tea party voters more likely than anybody else in the republican party they will vote for anybody against barack obama.

95% of newt gingrich's supporters say the same as do 84% of mitt romney's supporters. martha: one goes to the volatility we've seen in this race. let's pull this one up. are you certain of who you're going to vote for, whom you're going to vote. 59% say they're certain. 32% say they're going to watch what happens over the course of this week i guess and they may change their mind. >> earth that. martha all we have to do is iowa. rick santorum had a big surge in the end. in new hampshire it was john huntsman an ron paul n south carolina it was newt gingrich. we're going into this florida primary. the race is taking a little bit different shape but i don't think anybody should expect the numbers eight days from now to look just like they do this morning. we have two dedates. we have the governor's tax returns coming out and all kinds of other activity. martha: boy, these guys have a battle every single day to win the voters over because they're willing to move and they have made it very clear. scott, really interesting numbers this morning.

thanks so much. we'll talk to you throughout the whole process. have a good day. bill: i wish i had better news on this front though. but apparently the worst of the flu season hasn't even happened yet. there is new warning out this morning. we'll tell you what you need to know about that. martha: mitt romney hitting his rivals hard after the south caroline primary the governor was just on "america's newsroom" moments ago. brit hume will react to how mitt romney is doing. >> speaker gingrich has also been a leader. he was a leader for four years as speaker of the house and, at the end of four years it was proven that he was a failed leader and he had to resign in disgrace.

bill: found this federal investigation leading to a

major political shake-up. upstate new york in buffalo. seven current and former city employees are arrested and indicted or convicted of federal corruption charges. they are convicted of several crimes. stealing federal funds, helping drug dealers and embezzlement. the mayor has come out with defending his city. martha: love those stories. sound like new jersey all over again. significant developments are occurring in the war of words that has escalated with iran. now the u.s. has sent and aircraft carrier into a strategic gulf waterway for the very first time since tehran said we were not allowed to do that anymore. this is big news news. the strart of hormuz hugs the iranian coastline. it is a very key route for oil exports. that is why it is such a hot potato in foreign policy. john bolton joins me. u.s. ambassador to the united nations. formerly in that post and now a fox news contributor. good to see you this morning,

ambassador. >> glad to be here. martha: several weeks ago iran said we weren't allowed to bring any aircraft carriers into the straits of hormuz that is something we've done for a very long time. how significant we did this move and pulled it off without any repercussions at least so far? >> i think it is a normal redeployment. we've had one or more carriers in the gulf for 10 years now and i think it is, intended to show to the iranians that they can bluster all they want. it is not going to have any impact on us, number one. and number two, if iran did take steps to try to close the strait of hormuz, that we've got the capability there to finish that off fairly quickly. so while, i don't think there is anything extraordinary to it, i think it is sending very clear signals to iran their bluster is not appreciated and any steps they took would be ineffective. martha: yeah. the reason they brought it up in the first place, is all of these sanctions brought against them. their central bank being cracked down on and now the

oil embargo from europe as well. how significant, how well are those working in opinion? >> well, i think there is less there than meets the eye. take the european sanctions by foreign ministers in brussels. number one the immediate impact is to stop new oil contracts with iran. all existing oil contracts are allowed to go through until july. number one. number two, you know, look the iranians have been aware of this possibility for 10 years. they have made contingency plans. and enforcement of the e.u. oil embargo as far as i can tell is basically left to each country. if you have an international oil broker who says no iranian oil in my shipments who will know? martha: forgive me, ambassador. we're short on time. thanks for being here. good stuff. >> thank you. bill: mitt romney calling out newt gingrich live in america east newsroom. what americans need to know about gingrich's past. we're getting more. martha: we're getting shocking brand new sound that come in from the

moments right after the cruise ship accident in italy. we'll play that for you right after this.

martha: fox news alert on this monday morning, brand-new reaction coming in from presidential candidate mitt romney on the high stakes battle that is now underway for him in florida, folks. mitt romney stepping up his attacks on his biggest rival, newt gingrich the winner of the south carolina primary. we are eight days away from the huge contest in florida. he says, mitt romney does, that he believes americans deserve to know more about gingrich's connections to fed demc, calling op on gingrich to release his contracts. >> with newt gingrich it's an october surprise every day. let's make waoeurpbd make sure

we understand what was in the contract. you don't pay someone 1.2 million tkhr-rz to write history. did he provide access to people in power? martha: the big question right now, is that a good line of attack for mitt romney and he heads into florida? brit hume joins me live on that question straight ahead. and we are getting new reports this morning, just into "america's newsroom" here that they have now found new more bodies in the wreck of the costa condoria, two women found under the water line inside that crippled ship. and that brings the confirmed death toll now to 15, 17 people still missing in this tragic event off the ko*efs italy. coast of italy. that's how we start the brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." grad to have you with us. lots to talk about. i'm martha maccallum.

bill: i'm bill hemmer. there are new audio recordings showing that the captain may have lied to rescue workers. the italian port authority on the horn with the captain as the boat was taking on water. by all accounts he did not do anything he said he was doing apparently. >> commander one question will everyone leave the ship or will someone remain on board. >> i will stay here. i think we are regs on the seabed and there is water inside. the rock of the ship should ease now that the ship is filled with water. more than this we shouldn't move. >> you'll stay alone or will someone else also stay on board. >> no, i believe i will be the one staying. >> only you? okay. commander, very well. >> maybe the second in command, but i don't know where he is at moment. >> okay, please continue disembarking people and we will talk later. please keep this phone with you so we can get through in case we need to. martha: boy, and then you hear about the falling into the life boat and him not being on the ship at all. greg burke streaming live from

giblio island off the coast of it lee. greg, this is a very different story than what we heard in the prior calls to the coast guard. >> reporter: exactly. this story just keeps bringing more and more news each day something new coming out. as you mentioned in the last hour two more bodies, and now more news about the captain as well. this as they try to get the salvage operations underway. one of the key things is the search for the bodies, but another key thing is getting that fuel off. they've been getting boats in place, some of the vessels, oil extraction vessels already around there. they are expected to get that going seriously at dawn tomorrow. over the weekend two more bodies were recovered. it's stuff for everybody. all these family members connected with those who have been found, those unaccounted for, but it's especially tough for those who really have nothing to show right now for their loved ones. the captain remains in the middle of this. new audio, let's take a listen.

>> i'm the commander who was talk. >> this is port authority. how many passengers are still to be evacuate stphed. >> more or less we are still verifying the latest figures here. i believe we have evacuated almost all of them. >> roughly the naval unit down there since they are the ones organizing the transport. >> 2 or 300 i have moved to the left side. >> 2 or 300 are still to be evacuated? >> more or less, i'm on the left side now. only passengers or also crew? >> crew is evacuating as well. >> 2 or 300 passengers and crew which means that 4,000 have already disembarked. >> i'm going back on the deck. i came to check if we were resting on understand what was happening at year of the ship. >> martha this happened a lot the ships going so close to the island, obviously the commander is at fault here. it raises question about the

company and coast guard. it brings into question why the companies were never punished about this before. bill: infrared video shows passengers lined up on one side of the capsized vessel scrambling down the side of the hull as the ship tilts sharply to one side. many of them taking matters into their own hands with a lack of direction from the captain and crew. once again, 17 people still missing, the captain under arrest facing charges of manslaughter. a tornado warning now in parts of georgia. this is january. deadly storms hitting parts of the south and midwest and storm chasers caught this video of severe weather in arkansas. unconfirmed reports of severe weather there. maria row lean a i molina

watching it. >> reporter: the severe weather risk is slowly diminishing throughout the rest of the morning hours. we have a risk to see additional severe weather, a tornado watch is in across parts of judge until 4:00pm eastern time. up to 1-79d reports have beeup to 179 reports have been received already. indiana wind damage, parts of the south, parts of mississippi and also alabama. now we do have that tornado watch, a closer look at where that waeufps and a second one further off to the west across the sa state of alabama until 10:00am central time. no tornado warnings in effect we have those in yellow which are severe thunderstorm warnings and that means we could see damaging winds in excess of 60 miles per hour which could produce damage and bill, we also have reports coming out of jefferson county,

chilton and saint care due to unconfirmed tornado warnings. bill: you can't let that slide. when there are more headlines let us know, we'll bring you back. martha: it's looking like it could be a long all. a stunning victory over the course of this weekend for newt gingrich in south carolina. some analysts say this con december, they believe could stretch all the way through the republican conviction, perhaps this summer. >> the more vetting, the more ideas vigorously debated the better it is for th the electorate. was good that we can talk more about the solutions this country

needs to get right on the backtrack. martha: that was sarah palin 9:30 saturday night. joined by reinus, breibus. thank you for being with us. were surprised? >> polling has been pretty accurate throughout the primary season especially in states that run primary elections like a general election. i wasn't that surprised. but i think that what sarah palin said is pretty two. i don't really quarrel with that opinion that a little bit of a debate and a tkeult bi little bit of drama and vetting is a good thing. i think in the end it is. it worked well for barack obama and hillary rodham clinton. while we put everybody to sleep in our primary by john mccain it wrapped up by february, no one it was talking about the

republicans in 08, everyone was talking about obama. martha: mitt romney was leading several days before the race an ended up losing. in florida he was ahead by 22 percentage points, he is now down significantly below newt gingrich. what does this say about mitt romney? >> well, i mean both of these canned tkaeurts going to hav candidates are going to have to work very hard to convince voters they are the right choice. one or two days in this sort of campaign, anything can happen. i don't think it means a whole lot today, other than it shows you trends and candidates will have to adjust. it's anyone always guess. who is going to win the super bowl, i don't know. who is going to win the florida -- martha: i can answer that

question for you. >> i'd probably go with the nfc. for the super bowl. martha: i'm routeing for the new jersey giants in that race. who knows who will win the race for the presidential nomination. the electability issue is very front and center, of course. gingrich seems to have gained credibility in electability. do you believe he is electable? would you like to see him as the front run stpher. frontrunner? >> the last question i don't have an opinion upon. but as far as electability, yes, and rick, they are all electable. this is historical fact, first question and the only question initially that people will have in their minds is whether or not barack obama deserves to be reelected and whether he met the standards that he set for himself when he became president. if the answer to that question is no, then barack obama loses.

whether it's mitt romney, newt gingrich, rick or ron paul. martha: they also have to be convinced by the other guy that was put up by republicans can do basically a better job, that is going to be the real question. >> right, right but the president's numbers, it's not like the president's numbers are kind of good and on the edge. these things are off the cliff, and so my point is when your numbers are off the cliff, anyone but you wins. martha: he's faired very well against mitt romney and even better against gingrich. i know we have to talk in the future about this. good to see you. the florida primary a week away from tomorrow and fox news will be right here of course with complete coverage. that is january the 31st starting at 6:00pm eastern. we'll be here. bill: yes, we will. martha: yes we will, bill. bill: for another round. martha: uh-huh. bill: and who knows where it goes from there. this is really good drama on the front. they have not seen more than a few inches of snow all year

until now. >> look outlaid de, look out! bill: there is a lot more of this too. watch the delicious on this street. this is not the south, by the way, where this happened in a moment. martha: unbelievable. bill: look out. martha: we have more turbulence for you. passengers on a flight to the u.s. getting a taste of the real deal when it came to tus turbulence last night. >> i was sure i was going to die. >> there were two people back there one flew into the hallway. bill: newt gingrich stuck it to mitt romney in south carolina. either using now one of his tougher attack dogs. >> this is a guy who has had a very difficult political career at times and who has been an embarrassment to the party. [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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bill: there were some terrifying moments for passengers and the crew on board this american airlines flight, that plane hitting severe turbulence on route to miami out of brazil. the flight attendants and passengers were tossed into the air hitting the ceiling along with the food cart. >> wake up, everything is shaking. >> the actual food cart went all the way up and hit the ceiling, made a huge hole. just brace and ow and okay we're going to go down. if we go down what are the chances we are going to survive? >> they called new york and they recommended that think land. bill: that flight landed safely in miami. the airlines says six flight attendants injured, no word on how severe. martha: back to politics now,

presidential candidate mitt romney coming out swinging now against newt gingrich in the sunshine state. he's going after the house speaker's work with freddie mac. he says americans deserve to know more. >> he was work tpoerg freddie mac. he said he was a miss torian and got paid $1.7 million. i don't believe he was a historian. he contributed to the crisis that is here. martha: brit hume joins me now. is he barking up the right tree there, mitt romney? >> reporter: well, there is no doubt that newt gingrich' past is a target-rich environment and the romney campaign attacked it successfully in iowa, not so successfully in south carolina. it remains to be seen how florida voters will respond to these attacks. there is plenty to say. so, you know, i think romney has a dual problem.

there is nothing wrong with his attacking gingrich on his record and past, that is all legitimate. romney does not seem himself to a mounted a very defensible sense of his pass and own record. we'll get a sense of how well he'll be able to do that. martha: all the folks that voted in south carolina know a little something about newt gingrich's past. they had to deal with the ex-wife issue over the course of the week. what they found on saturday night was that they didn't care. what they cared about was he was tough when it came to debating and he had some fire and it would appear that that's what folks are responding to at least right now from newt gingrich. >> reporter: gingrich did very well on the electability question, which is a bit of a surprise. he's like minus 29, 56

untphraeufrbl, nobod56 unbe favorable, nobody even comes close to that, even ron paul. that gives you a sense of it. he did something voters wanted to hear badly done. he took on some of the entities they dislike most, the national news media and on a social issue the issue of work, and that he dealt with and the question from juan williams in the fox news debate. and he swung hard on those, he hit it right in the sweet spot. the questions about his divorce, his ex-wife, i think backfired. they were too close to the voting day for voters to not distrust him. when he got the question about it i think he hammered it and that's a lot what carried him to victory. the issue of electability came down to his ability in the debate to take it to the an the

antaganist, take it to the other side and he did it. martha: he came out there being tough and a fighter. there is another person involved in the race who is also seen as being tough and a fighter and that would be chris christie who is speaking out on behalf of governor romney. there are strong similarities in the way that they are perceived. here is what chris christie had to say. >> newt gingrich has embarrassed the party over time. whether he'll do it again in the future, i don't know. mitt romney never has. he got paid $1.6 million. first he said he was a historian, now a strategic adviser. let's get serious, it was the oldest dodge in the book. he obtained the public office to try to help them. these why he paid it $1.6 million. he can call it whatever he wants to call it. martha: how much can christie help him in florida, brit. >> reporter: it's a difficult challenge for a candidate to go on the attack against another candidate and look attractive

doing it. that's why you see it done in these pac ads and surrogates in this case you saw it done by alexis christoforous tree. romney is doing some of it himself. my guess is he won't do too much of it. romney needs to have an up lifting message of his own. alexis christoforous ties an incredible figure to a lot of republicans. what he says about gingrich embarrassing the party ha has the additional attraction of being new. there was a time that newt gingrich as speak her of the house was about the most unpopular political figure in america. a lot of voters have forgotten that. we'll hear more about it. martha: thank you very much. always good to see you. brit hume from washing tops, everybody. bill: new developments into "america's newsroom" now on possible voting issues after that primary in south carolina. what reportedly happen and whether or not that could impact the race in a way. stay tuned. martha: also what happens when the rubber meets the road or when it has trouble meeting the road. boy, that is a scary look.

martha: 25 minutes past the hour and police in a standoff with two murder suspects in houston. the 21 years old apparently barricaded themselves inside this apartment after a double murder. they later surrendered. police in los angeles have questioned the bodyguard of brad pitt and angelina jolie in connection with dismembered body parts that westbound found by the iconic hollywood sign. we brought you that story earlier. the l.a.p.d. says it is standard procedure since brad and angelina have a home in that neighborhood. a small earthquake shakes up

hawaii's big island. the 4. 4.7 quake was followed by at least 20 aftershock. no injuries or damage to report in that story. all is calm now on hawaii. bill: thank goodness. martha: thank goodness. bill: the american automobile industry evolving quickly and part of it is springing up in a whole new area. alicia acuna as th the core straoe. >> reporter: wthe core straoe. >> reporter: we are talking about fort collins, colorado where we won't be filling our tanks what what we do today. >> it will be though, it will also be natural gas, electricity, a variety of different fuels and solutions. >> reporter: many future transportation leaps won't just come from detroit but fort collins, colorado. >> it will feel the same and cost less. >> reporter: ed's company developed an engine that allowed

it to capture it's own heat and reroute it to the car. it is here, a building filled with multiple green energy companies and researchers from colorado state university. >> this is for detroit for the future. if you want to do innovative stuff in the engine area this is the area to be in colorado. >> reporter: guy babbitt is on his 7th project here. he moved here to take language of the lab and unique culture. >> we love it. we get to work on so many different projects with the outstanding top-notch university researchers. >> reporter: it works they say because fort collins basically built an ecosystem where private and public sector support work that comes out of csu. >> the students don't really know what can't be done. they are always trying to push things to be at the leading edge. >> reporter: don't expect to see huge protection lines here like you do in detroit, bill. this is more research and

development. back to you. bill: it's a start. alicia, thanks, in denver. martha: remember the famous movie line, i see dead beam? in south carolina election fraud waefrps ar watchers are seeing plenty of them. they keep cropping up all the way. a live report coming up on that. bill: where are they coming from? trashing millions of dollars report of equipment, why the bankrupt solar company solyndra is now just throwing your money away for their clients' futures. never taking a bailout. helping generations achieve dreams. buy homes. put their kids through college. retire how they want to. ameriprise. the strength of america's largest financial planning company. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you, one-to-one. together, for your future. ♪

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bill: if you were with us last hour you heard this if not you missed this. mitt romney is unloading on newt gingrich. romney says americans need to know more about gingrich during his years as speaker of the house, including an ethics investigation. here is governor romney from my interview just about 60 minutes ago. >> well nancy pelosi had made comments about the full transcript of what went on with that ethics probe. as you know the speaker was the only speaker in american history to have been reprimanded by his own members, by his republican members, 88% of them voted to pep practic reprimand him. he resigned from office, resigned in disgrace. bill: when we get reaction from gingrich we'll bring that to you here on "america's newsroom." martha: the g.o.p. race may have moved onto florida, but there is a voting controversy going on now in south carolina that is

catching a bit of attention. the pau palmetto state's attorney says half of the voters were dead people. who do those people find their way to the polls. eric shawn checking it out for us. what is going on here. >> reporter: south carolina's attorney general is asking the feds to investigate possible voter fraud there. alan wilson is a republican and analysis of recent elections in the state shows that 953 dead people voted, and in some cases votes apparently were cast in the names of the deceased who had been dead for as long as six years. attorney general wilson sites what he calls voting irregularities, though there is no evidence they say so far that any dead people cast ballots in saturday's primary. january 11th calling for a probe he wrote, quote there are numerous discrepancies concerning people who have voted in recent elections who may not

have been entitled to vote. over 900 persons deceased testimony the elections appeared to have voted. voter fraud cannot be tolerated. this is not the first time state election officials have discovered the possibility of the dead voting. back in 2008 it took college students in connecticut to find 300 dead people who cast ballots. we talked to one mom who had a ballot cast in her mother's name. they say while allegations of dead people voting are quote popular and entertaining pop culture they claim that most cases are unfounded caused by what they say is wrong information on the voting roster. martha: this comes of course as the controversy over south carolina's voter id law is also going on. >> reporter: that is a huge controversy. the department of justice, as you may know has moved to stop south carolina from enacting its new controversial voter id law that requires a photo id to vote. eric holder says the law discriminates against minorities

who do not have that proper identification. they say an estimated 82,000 people in south carolina may not have the proper photo id. nikki haley has called the justice department effort a quote, terrible, clearly a political decision and she vowed to appeal it in court. if you suspect voter perhaps or election fraud where you live there is our address. martha: eric shawn in the newsroom. bill: it still owes the american tax mayor half a billion dollars. bankrupt solyndra solar panels is literally throwing cold hard cash in the glass. glass tubes factory sealed and stacked on pallet now being smashed because a court ruled storage was more expensive than the value of the panel. texas republican joe barton is a member of the house and commerce

committee. good morning to you. >> good morning. bill: what do you make of this? >> it's another example of a bad people gone even worse. they cost about $8 million, they have value. auction houses would have bought them, possibly competitors, research facilities. or you could have s*e sen sent them back to the manufacturer, which i believe is a german manufacturer. to throw them away is ridiculous. bill: they said the panels are of inconsequential value because the cost of store them exceeds their value. >> if you put them out in the parking lot there is no cost to storage. they are glass, they are almost indestructible by the weather. the court is more interested in efficiency disposal of the company than they are in trying to retain value ultimately for the american taxpayer. bill: there are some saying they would have bought them or at least put in a bid, if the bid was accepted they would have made the purchase. i think there is a bigger story here. what is it for you on this? >> you know, these are the same

people that are giving bonuses to a company that blew through a half a billion dollars of taxpayer dollars. it just goes to kind of and attitude of indifference about the taxpayer. it shows the obama administration needs to be more accountable. it shows the solyndra investigation that chairman upton and stearns are conducting needs to be ongoing and to me it shows we need to get some of the top white house officials there at the time to come before the committee and be accountable for their decisions and actions. bill: if that's the case you'll get a chance to ask a lot more questions personally. is this a lesson learned? or is there -- are there more out there? >> well, my suspicion is that there's more out there. it certainly intensifies my commitment to go ahead with the investigation, and i told that to both -- to chairman upton of

the full committee and chairman stearns. bill: when will that happen, sir? >> i'm hopeful they will schedule hearings in the next two to three weeks and based on those hearings we'll continue to go forward. bill: we'll bring you back and try to get to the bottom of it. joe barton, thank you for your time. >> thank you. martha: mourners are paying their respects to former penn state football coach joe paterno. he died yesterday after complications in his battle with lung cancer. david lee miller is live in pennsylvania where he has covered the story of penn state over the last couple of months. good morning, david leave. >> reporter: there is a wide range of emotions on the campus this morning, but more than anything else there is a feeling of profound sadness. take a look across the street from where i'm standing outside beaver stadium. here you can see a statue of joe paterno, and you can see it has been turned into a makeshift memorial. there are plagues, flowers and

signs, and despite the cold and rain people continue to come by. last night there was a candlelight vigil held so people could express their grief. the kwurpb current quarterback described the night he sreutse visited paterno's home the night after he was fired. >> as we sat there with coach joe and mrs. pa taoerpb owe i thin paterno, i think that's when i realized that guy was so much more than a football coach. he was a father, a husband and i considered him a friend. >> reporter: speaker after speaker last night said the lesson that they received from joe paterno is that one should have success with honor. martha. martha: a lot of tragedy enter twaoeupbd iin that story.

thank you very much. bill: 46 years, winningist coach in college football history, it all came to a stunning end in a child sexual abuse scandal, with jerry sandusky. he's out on bail. the maximum penalty is 373 years in prison. martha: joe paterno said of all of that, the quote, i wish i had done more, and there is a lot of people wondering today if one of the complication of this is cancer with us a broken heart for joe paterno. it has been a very grueling and emotionally difficult time for all of those involved. so our thoughts are with them today. also we are going to talk a little bit about this coming up, president obama, you remember way back offered to work with republicans to revamp his overhaul of healthcare.

he said he was open to doing that. now the word is, maybe not so much on that front. why he may be changing his tune. >> if you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor. if you like your healthcare plan you'll be able to keep your healthcare plan. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shippingiant can befriend a forest may seem lie the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take aw the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust.

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martha: new reports this morning that president obama may be shifting his strategy on the healthcare law during his state of the union address tomorrow night. the president offered to work with republicans, as you may remember, to revamp any problems that they might have with that legislation last year, but now the sort of shift is that he's expected to really draw the battle lines over healthcare as part of his election campaign for the 2012 race. kirstin powers joins me. she was part of of the clinton board transition team. she is a daily columnist. and rick louer is here with us

also. is this a good idea for him to take a harder line on healthcare as he heeds into the election? >> i'm not convinced that's what he's going to do. there is one article that is claiming that's his plan. i think that his last state of the union he said that he wanted to try to find things where they could work in a bipartisan way on healthcare and they found one thing, so that was basic rerepealing the 1 1099 tax issues. it seems there are not a lot of areas of overlap where democrats and republicans want to do the same thing. there is a possibility he could stay in his state of the union that they could work together on medicare, medicaid cost reduction stuff. i'd be surprised if he tries to pick a big fight over healthcare. martha: i guess the big question, rich, is, what will his posture be when he comes into election mode with regard to healthcare. he's going to be before the supreme in that timeframe.

he's got to go a hundred percent in favor or back off on a couple of things and see if that helps him out when republicans start pointing fingers with regard to healthcare at him. >> i don't think he has any choice but to go a hundred percent. there is no nibbling around the edges of this thing. it's a big directional question for our healthcare system, government and society. you take the worst aspects of the system we go now, keep going in that direction and add a new, huge entitlement on top of it or do you try to create a new dynamic, which the republican candidates have been talking about where you enter elements of competition and choice into the system and try to get prices down that way. martha: it seems to me, kirstin that he could if he wanted to suggest that he'd like to make some changes and perhaps some of those changes could fall on the lines of tort reform which he has brought up before as something that he's interested in. he could diffuse the argument on the other side a bit if he did that, could he not? >> that's basically what he did last time. he said he was willing to work

with them and find areas, and there aren't a lot of areas. perhaps he could do tort reform. but this is -- in an election year the number one issue is jobs, and the number one issue is the economy, and so he should be talking about the economy, jobs, deficit, and getting into some healthcare fight doesn't make any sense. of course he's going to defend it and say that he thinks it's important, but i just -- won't understand why he would make that central to his argument. >> i think he has to defend it. it's his signature piece of legislation, and i think he has to be shocked and the white house has to be shocked that this thing is still so much up in the air. they poo-pod the whole thing, it could have been struck down by the supreme court. over the last 18 months it's been getting less popular. in some polls it's underwater by 20 points. and the real question is about the implementation of it and the healthcare exchanges in the states. this is his signature piece of

legislation that could be falling apart in front of our eyes. martha: which is all the more reason why you would expect he's going to make a big tkaoefl it as a major, major accomplishment something that they were able to pass and feel very strong about as we head into all of this. we'll see where the healthcare debate goes. no doubt it will be coming up when we get more into the general election. rich, thanks very much. kristen nice to see you. bill: how you doing jon? did your team win? jon: you know i was kind of not invested in either one. but they were - dash -- i'm a denver guy. at least two of dead in alabama tornadoes tore through several towns. new threats from iran at this hour. teheran says it will close the strait of hormuz over sprinkleses just slapped on iran's oil by the european union. also, all eyes toward florida now as the primary there goes

more important to whoever gets the g.o.p. nomination eventually. and newt gingrich's blame the media strategy, lit work for the long hall? we have assembled parts of our fox news panel. watch it coming up. bill: school stuff. we'll see you at the top of the hour on "happening now." so far this winter numbers on the flu have been low but don't get complacent. our medical a team will explain in a moment as to why. martha: plus, did you hear the nationa national anthem before last night's baltimore new england game? [singing] ♪ martha: is there a penalty flag on that play? i don't know. what did you think of it? steven tyler. did he fumble the star-spangled banner? look at bill belichick's face. we'll be right back. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement

or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. ♪ ...there are no sick days. ♪ vicks dayquil. defeats 5 cold & flu symptoms. [ snoring ] [ indistinct talking on tv ] [ snoring ] [ male announcer ] vicks nyquil cold and flu. the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep you ever got with a cold...medicine. ♪

yesterday over nachos and beer? this is the end part of steven tyler's national anthem. take a look. ♪ [singing] >> the land of the free and the home of the brave. ♪ martha: you can't see all the way down the back of steven tyler's throat when he sings, then it's not steven tyler. there is tom brady reacting. if you higher steve hire steve

steve convenient tyler that's what you get. i give it an okay. bill: eight adults apparently dying in the flu season but no children according to federal health officials. last year about 122 kids died from complications of the flu. and dr. marc siegl is a member of our fox news medical a. team and professor of immediat medicine. mild so far and a lot of reasons why. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. very mild weather, favors a low flu season. we also are seeing the same strains as last year, and we are used to them and they are not that virulent, and people have immunity. we have 150 million vaccine doses given out, a little bit more compliance this year. the more compliance with flu shot the more immunity you get, where the whole company becomes a herd and you are protected

against the flu. bill: you have a correlation between the number of flu vaccines given out and the intensity. >> reporter: you bet. the flu season doesn't peak sometimes until february or early march. i gave out most of my flu shots in september or october. i'm telling people out there if you haven't got even one you should get one, 34,000 elderly tend to die of flu complications every year. we are not seeing it this year, why take a chance? bill: you have to time, february, march. what about the mild weather, is that playing a factor here. >> reporter: i think that plays a huge factor. we see more flu when it's colder and low humid today tee. the the virus travels farther. we are not seeing the spread. we have a mild flu strain and we are covered with a vaccine. the good news is the antiviral drugs we have are also working, if we start to see more flu and visits to doctors officers are only showing 1%. bill: and you would know you see

patients every day. >> reporter: i am not seeing a lot of flu yet. bill: your warning is well headed. we'll keep an eye on it come february and march. >> reporter: good to see you bill. bill: you too. martha. martha: the man who shot ronald reagan is headed back to court today. what could this mean for his future. bill: also, he's less frustrating use for the rubik's cube, the unusual art project at work. work. ♪ [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ '80s dance music plays ] [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

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