but have a great weekend, everybody. >> gretchen: log on for our after the show show. we're going to have judge jeanine walk on back over to the curvy sofa. >> steve: have a fantastic weekend. now we go to "america's newsroom." so long, everybody. bill: don't know where i live but they were turning up the heat in florida. newt gingrich who many thought would bury mitt romney but it was romney last night who went for the jugular. quick sample. >> mr. speaker, i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mexico. my wife's father was born in wales. they came to this country. the idea that i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. don't use a term like that. bill: it went on from there. good morning, everybody on a friday. i'm bill hemmer. some fireworks there. we'll see if it changes the dynamics of tuesday's vote. martha: i'm doing great. good morning, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. last night's debate setting up what looks like a two-man race in florida when you

look at all the polls across the board. a lot of passion. a few jabs. a little bit of humor mixed in. look at highlights. >> i did say and i don't know of any american president has a swiss bank account. i woe be glad for you to explain that sort of thing. >> i'm proud of being successful. i'm proud of become in the free enterprise system that creates things for people. i'm proud of that. >> governor romney in spirit of openness how much money he made how many houses foreclosed made by his investments. >> can we set aside that newt was member of congress and used skills as member of congress to advise companies and that is not the worst thing in the world and mitt romney is wealthy guy and going out and working hard. you guys leave that alone and focus on the issues. bill: that might have been a little too much to ask. "wall street journal" new poll shows this. mitt romney and newt gingrich, gingrich with the most support for the republican nomination. national poll now, 37%.

romney at 28%. that was beef the debate. "real clear politics" with gingrich lead nationally with a slim margin. will any of that change. stephen hayes. "weekly standard" senior writer. will any of that change in florida specifically? did you declare a winner last night? >> i thought rick santorum had a very good night on substance. the moment you played where he scolded romney and newt gingrich going back and forth not talking about issues, attacking one another was kind of moment could stand out to undecided voter in florida and maybe states beyond. i thought he had a very good night. i thought mitt romney had a great night. seemed more comfortable with his skin and with his arguments than he has been. bill: that is interesting. why do you think that is the case? what changed for him? >> mitt romney brought in a new debate coach, bret o'donnell. very, very good. worked for john mccain and michele bachmann earlier in

the cycle. he is very good. he has been known to come into the situations polish up the candidate that he is working for. that may have had some impact. i think mitt romney seemed very comfortable and was ready to go back at newt gingrich and was well-prepared. you had the moment where newt gingrich talked about mitt romney's mutual fund having been invested in fannie mae and freddie mac. newt sort of showing some indignation about that. mitt romney turning back quite calmly and saying do you know that you're invested in those as well? newt --. bill: seemed like romney did his homework. to the point you're making heres, listen to this exchange also. >> well, you and i have a great relationship, goes back a long way. i'm with him. this is a nonsense question. [applause] look, how about the four of us agree for the rest of the evening we'll talk about issues that relate to governing america.

>> mr. speaker, you made an issue of this week when you said that he lives in a world of swiss bank and caiman island bank accounts. i didn't say that you did. >> i did and i'm perfectly happy to say that on interview in some tv show. this is national debate you get a chance for us to -- >> you make a serious accusation like governor romney like that. you need to explain that. [booing jishg. >> i want to try again. >> wouldn't it be nice if people didn't make accusations somewhere else they weren't willing to defend here. bill: what is telling about, that how gingrich tried to pull back a little bit, but romney wasn't having any of it. >> he wasn't having any of it. that didn't work for a couple of different reasons. i think primarily when newt gingrich went back at moderatetores in last two debates, particularly with juan and john king, he, summoned up a reason to show the kind of indignation he was. with juan, newt gingrich would say there was implication there that i

don't care about minorities. with john king the idea of raising tawdry issue as first question in the debate. with wolf's question this is what newt gingrich has been talking about all week long. it was a little preposterous for him to say i now don't want to talk about that which i've been talking about all week long. it made no sense and romney hammered him for it. bill: we'll continue to analyze this throughout the morning. stephen hayes, thanks for kicking it off for us in washington. >> thanks, bill. bill: here's martha. martha: immigration was a big topic of conversation that put newt gingrich on the defensive when asked to explain a spanish radio ad as mitt romney was referred to the most anti-immigrant candidate. >> tell me what language you would use that thinks deport aing a grandmother or grandfather from their family. tell me the langage. i'm perfectly happy to use the language. martha: it went on from there. romney said his ad was

inexcusable and senator marco rubio spoke out about the ad and called it inappropriate and they pulled that ad. bill: speaking rubio his presence was fet, right? played a role in his debate when candidates asked which prominent latinos would be part of each cabinet. rick santorum first to mention rubio. newt gingrich may have shown a few cards saying he has other plans for the florida senator perhaps. >> i actually thought about marco rubio in slightly more dignified and central role than being in the cabinet but that is another conversation. [applause] bill: it went from there. rubio of course is a rising star in the party. he is popular in florida. analysts have said that adding him to the ticket could bring the hispanic vote and help clinch a victory perhaps in november in florida and perhaps a few other places in the country. martha: very interesting. you've got the florida space coast issue and perfect place for candidates to bring up newt gingrich's idea of establishing a colony on the moon.

the idea that romney seized on to slam the former speaker. >> i spent 25 years in business. if i had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon i would say you're fired! the idea that corporate america wants to go off to the moon and build a colony there, it may be a big idea but it is not a good idea. martha: so is talking about expanding our shrinking space program a bad idea really? we'll get under that idea a little bit. coming up next hour. bill: ron paul had a few ideas for the space program. martha: send them all up there. bill: stay tuned for that. stay tuned tuesday for all coverage throughout the entire day. special election coverage kicks off 6:00 with bret and megyn. we have results throughout the state by way of each count and each precinct. foxnews.com/haehq. martha: big night for that. looks like we may have another solyndra on our

hands. a third american energy company filing for bankruptcy after getting federally-back fund from the energy department through the white house. now this time it is called ener-1. parent company of a electric car balterry maker. electric car battery sales are not so hot. they received a $118 million grant in 2009. last year vice president biden praised company touring the facility. >> everyone is catching on, folks. the industry is transforming itself. we believe americans are ready to embrace that transition. and you folks, you folks standing her on the floor, ener-1 are on the ground floor of the transformation. martha: enron-1. sorry about that. oops. bill, help me --. bill: fox business network stuart varney --. martha: stuart, i'm so sorry. good to have you here today. obviously he made a little blooper there, calling it

enron. he later called it ener-1 the right name of the company but raised a parallel unfortunate for the company. >> this was embarassment for vice president biden. not just getting name wrong but promoting a company which got government money that went bankrupt within a year. it is big disappointment for president obama's green energy policy. as you said there, martha. ener1 makes batteries for plug-in cars. very little demand for the batteris. the company is now bankrupt. it got a $118 million grant, not a loan. a grant of 118 million. spent about 55 million of it and now it is in chapter 11. not going away completely. it will stay in business, protected from its creditors. this thing is not going to expand and a lot of money, taxpayer money is gone. martha: that unfortunate growing list of those energy companies. talk about the gdp, stuart. >> sure. martha: we have a look at the for the final quarter and the whole year of 2011 and it's not great.

>> no, it is not great. this amounts to the second disappointment for president obama delivered today. 2.8% growth in the last three months of 2011. that is the annualized rate of growth, that is very weak. that just does not make it. that is the springboard, the last part of last year, that is the springboard going into an election year. president obama need ad much higher rate of growth to have any impact on the jobs market or the housing market or america's prosperity. you need a much better rate of growth to spring you into the election year. didn't get it. big disappointment. 2.8% does not make it. martha: not good. stuart, thank you so much. stuart varney, fox business network coming up a few minutes from now. bill: that wasn't your bookie calling but the super bowl, was it? martha: that is embarrassing. this new phone has a loud ring tone. i apologize. bill: your ring tone is fascinating. >> it is a piano thing. bill: rachminoff.

martha: sorry guys. >> how much is a horrific cruise experience worth to you? the company running the doomed ocean liner putting a price tag on that. that number is shocking. martha: it will not go very far. the senate approving a debt ceiling hike worth $1.2 trillion. here we go ben again right? how much more can we take on? bill: that balloon is going to break. a major investigation underway. who sent $2 million worth of cocaine to the united nations?. martha: isn't that interesting? ♪ . 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

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ago. we're getting our first pictures from cincinnati where a casino construction site collapse led to at least 16 injuries on the ground so far. we're at the very beginning of getting a sense what is going on here and what the extent of those injuries are. we can tell you at least 16 people, nine of them serious injuries, a building collapse at the site after new casino in downtown cincinnati, ohio. we understand they were taken to the university hospital there. they're on the scene not yet able to determine the cause of that collapse. they have had to close all the roads around the casino site. 10 fire trucks on the scene along with several ambulance. this is a big issue and a lot of injuries. nine of them serious in this situation. we'll stay on top of a developing story out of cincinnati. bill: they had another collapse too in cleveland just last month. we'll be back on that story. the u.s. borrowing more money it does not have. new fallout after the senate

votes down a measure that would have prevented a hike in the debt ceiling. $1.2 trillion and more credits coming your way, america. senator kelly ai don't think from new hampshire and senate budget committee knows this all too well. senator, good morning to you. >> thank you, bill. bill: welcome to "america's newsroom." you voted against it. you lost. why did you vote against it? >> i voted against it because we can't continue to vote for money we don't have in this country. yesterday we allowed the president another $1.2 trillion increase in the national debt. i'm the mother of two children and i'm really worried about the future of this country. that's why i voted against it. i also voted against the budget control act, this debt ceiling deal. we're not really addressing the underlying fiscal crisis and making sure we don't go the way of greece. bill: 16.4 trillion i believe is the mark we reach in the fall. >> it is troubling. bill: maybe into october. the president will come back before the end of the year after that mark and after we

get to that mark and ask for more. >> he is. bill: when and where and how does this stop, senator? >> it only stops if we put together a budget. this weeks the 1,000th day that the senate democrats would not put forth a budget for our country. we've got to get our fiscal house in order. we have to cut spending and make the choices what we're going to prioritize our spending and finally if we don't do something, we have to save the entitlement programs. this president has been totally absent in all of this. we'll see what is happening in europe. we have to address it now. bill: i heard your statement. it will take both parties to get this done. i think all americans realize that. that is why the approval ratings in congress are as low as they are. i think the question who has the nerve to get it done? >> well i can tell you that there are many republicans ready to get it done. look at the, the house passed a budget that would have reduced spending over $6 trillion over the next 10 years. we wouldn't even have to have the debt ceiling debate if we had done a budget for

our country that was responsible. that is my focus in the senate. that's what we need to do. just common sense. that's what people do at home. bill: do you get a sense, you saw and heard the state. union. did you hear something in there that would give you an idea, hey, the decision will be made in the right place the next time? i. >> i didn't. i thought the president was absent on the issue dealing with the debt. we didn't hear anything about reforming entitlement programs to save them. if we don't change those now they're going bankrupt. we've heard nothing from the president on these issues. he hasn't shown the courage. bill: campaign year. you're probably not going to hear him highlight it. it his watch where it is going up on. >> you're right. he doesn't want to highlight because he has been a failure on this issue. look he ignored his own fiscal commission. his budget was so fiscally irresponsible it didn't get one vote in the united states senate. not even a member of his own party would vote for it because it would increase the debt so dramatically. he has been absent on this issue.

it is unfortunate. bill: senator, we'll see you in september when that number is 16.4 trillion. it will be an issue for this election also. kelly ai don't think. senator out of new hampshire. >> thank you, bill. bill: martha, what's next? martha: a diplomatic pouch in the united nations found containing something not very diplomatic. 35 pounds of cocaine, in fact. why on earth would this show up at the mailroom in the united nations you may ask? we'll have details on that. bill: what are they doing there on the east river? president obama saying in his state of the union address calling for new energy initiatives. why did he block keystone pipeline project? a fair and balanced debate. martha: candidates challenged on their health records. why the oldest candidate in the race says his age is no problem at all. ♪ . dinner? candles?

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bill: just past 22 minutes after the hour now. new reports of a massacre of women and children in syria. activists releasing video of an entire family allegedly killed by forces loyal to the assad regime. the u.n. estimating more than 5000 have been killed in that 10-month up rising. at&t calling out federal regulators for blocking growth in the wire le industry. sec is more interested in picking winners and losers than allowing markets to work. the faa names hartsfield-jackson international airport as the busiest in the world. that hub handling more than 920,000 flights every year goes back and forth between o'hare and chicago and

hartsfield. atlanta is on taupe for now. martha: there is an eggs have -- investigation underway who is response possible for a package containing $2 million worth of cocaine the united states, the united nations postal center discovered at their headquarters here in new york city. cord to the police the 35 pound package came from? mexico, okay. big surprise there. anna kooiman joins me live from our new york city studio for the very latest on this developing story. good morning, anna. >> reporter: hey there, martha. new york police and also the drug enforcement administration have confirmed that the shipment contained 35 pound of cocaine has been seized at the united nations mail intake center. officials are trying to figure out how it got there and who it belongs to. officials tell us they don't think there is any relationship between the cocaine and the united nations but instead the cocaine was intended to be picked up at a mail processing center. two bags doctored to look like diplomatic pouches

which are not subject to screening raised suspicions because of faulty logos. they both had sky blue colored poorly concocted u.n. logos. the drugs were issued in hollowed out notebooks inside the bag. martha: talk to me a little bit where the drugs came from, anna. we know we said they are from mexico but they're going to try to track down the source of it. >> reporter: here's the deal on it, martha. no name on it. no return address on the packages. they were sent from mexico city through cincinnati and new york. as soon as the cocaine was detected by u.n. scanner, u.n. security immediately contacted united states law enforcement. >> this was not connected to the united nations and that's why the host government, the city authorities in the shape of the nypd were brought in to

assist. >> reporter: representatives from the union don't believe the bags of cocaine were meant to make it as as far as the united nations facility. the more we learn on the story we'll bring it to you. martha: thank you very much, anna kooiman in the newsroom. bill: don't hear that every day, do you? martha: certainly don't. somebody is trying to find it. bill: talk about a taxicab, take that courier service. the italian cruise ship disaster developed a new payout offer for passengers. we will give you the number. you will decide whether or not you think that number is fair. martha: rick santorum taking on mitt romney and his health care record in massachusetts. who got the better of that fight? >> free ridership has gone up five-fold in massachusetts, five times the rate it was before. >> that is total complete -- >> i will be happy to give you the study. >> first of all, not worth getting angry about. secondly, secondly, 98% of

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martha: we've been reporting this morning there has been a collapse of a casino site where they have been doing construction. at least 16 people were injured. this is in cincinnati. and they have taken nine in serious condition to the hospital. 16 people that they are working on in total. no word yet what caused the

collapse at this construction site. we'll keep on top of that. we'll get you all the new developments as they come in. bill: that is right snack dab in the middle of downtown too. putting a price on suffering of passengers on the doomed costa concordia. the cruise liner hitting a reef and capsizing oaf the italian coast two weeks ago. 16 were killed and 16 missing and presumed dead. the ship's operator offering uninjured passengers about $1,000? what about that? adam shapiro fox business network. adam, good morning to you, what gives? >> reporter: this is negotiated settlement between the cruise line, costa and italian consumer advocacy agencies. nothing requires the roughly 3500 passengers to whom this settlement to apply, nothing requires them to accept it. they are free to pursue in court legal challenges against the parent company of costa we all know as carnival cruise lines, the largest cruise line operator in the world. this roughly $14,600 they're

being offered was negotiated by advocacy groups. it is not binding. you don't have the to accept it. this does not apply to the families of people who died aboard that ship or roughly 100 people who were injured. they are not part of this settlement offer. bill: this will not settle these claims? that you can contest them and still have to work through the victims of this disaster? >> there are those and there are already class action lawsuits which have been filed by italian advocacy, the consumer advocacy groups, hired a law firm out of miami to sue carnival cruise lines, the parent company. they think they can get roughly million dollars per claim. that is what is playing out. lawyers are jumping in. bill: adam, they are for that. thanks for update what is happening over there in italy. thanks. 32 minutes past. martha: it was the 19th debate last night for the gop presidential candidates and rick santorum fired a

barrage of attacks aimed at mitt romney's health care record targeting the governor's plan in his home state of massachusetts. santorum says romney's record will be a liability if he is to become the nominee. watch this heated exchange. >> what governor romney just said is government-run, top-down medicine is, working pretty well in massachusetts and he supports it. >> that's not what i said. >> think about what that means, going up against barack obama. >> massachusetts everybody is mandated as a condition of breathing in massachusetts to be to buy health insurance. if you don't, and if you don't you have to pay a fine. five times the rate it has gone up. why? people are ready to pay a cheaper fine and then be able to sign up to insurance which are now guaranteed under romney-care then pay high cost insurance which what happened as a result of romney-care. >> first of all it is not worth getting angry about. secondly, the secondly 98%

of the people have insurance. and so the idea that more people are free riding the system is simply impossible. martha: interesting back and forth there last night. joined by virginia governor bob mcdonnell. he is a mitt romney supporter. governor, welcome. good to have you here this morning. >> thanks, martha. martha: what did you think of that exchange? >> you know i thought that was a great debate overall. i thought candidates were at the top of their game. a lot of humor and very tough moments. mitt romney overall i thought had the best night of debate season and with his strong leadership taking fight to the other candidates and the president. on that exchange, these are important policy issues. all the candidates have the same position, martha, all of them will make efforts on day one of the presidency to repeal obamacare. here's the issue. the federal government can not mandate the states enact a requirement to purchase insurance on their people. that is against the tenth amendment.

that's why i was the first state to sue here in virginia. that is not what mitt romney did. the states are free to i had. he admitted there are some things he did right and some things he would do differently. on day one he would repeal obamacare. that is same position as rick santorum. i don't think that is --. martha: it will perhaps in a similar head-to-head debate if mitt romney soes up the nomination. we're still a distance from that. you see the reporters and questioners ask mitt roll anyhow can you say you will repeal the health care plan put in place by president obama when you thought it was great idea in your home state in massachusetts. that will be question rightly or wrongly? >> but the very important difference is, having the federal government mandate that every, every american purchase that and if they don't they get fined, that is not constitutional. federal government can't do it. the states have the policy ability to do it, and that is fair policy to debate

what is working in the states. i wouldn't do it in virginia. people have their choices but the federal government mandating every american do it, that is what it wrong with it. that is why mitt romney and all other can dots -- candidates have strong difference than president obama. mitt romney will have no problem taking the fight to this president and all his failed policies on jobs spending, taxes and energy. >> there was an interesting moment with rick santorum last night as well where he basically said, look, let's accept the fact that newt gingrich was in congress a long time. he used the skills to make money in the private sector when he left. mitt romney is a wealthy man, who gained his success by hard work throughout the course of his life. can we please leave those two topics alone. >> that was great moment. martha: he is fed up back and forth between gingrich and romney. i hear it pretty much everywhere i go. is this destructive for the republican party what is it going on between the two candidates? >> i thought that was great

moment for rick santorum. it was well-said. all the debate moderatetores are asking those questions and so they want to engage gingrich and romney as two reported front runners in that discussion. so in part, martha they have got to answer the questions and talk about the critical issues in the race. so but it was a good moment for rick santorum. i think all the candidates agree. all four of them are vastly better than this president who has a $15 trillion national debt, horrible unemployment, 8% from 35 months, no energy policy and playing the blame game. president presided over administration with surplus of rhetoric and deficit of results. >> look at one more moment from your candidate you support last night, get your thoughts on it. >> okay. >> mr. speaker, i'm not anti-immigrant. my father was born in mexico. my wife's father was born in wales. they came to this country. the idea that i'm anti-immigrant is repulsive. don't use a term like that. you can say we disagree on certain policies but to say

enforce into u.s. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration as i have approved somehow anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over the top rhetoric that is characterized american politics too long. martha: did you see a bit something different in him last night? >> that was a very fine moment for mitt romney, using his personal story in a bit of righteous indignation to try to talk about toning down over the top rhetoric in politics. yeah, it was a much more engaged and passionate and, taking the fight to his opponents mitt romney. that is what americans want it see. that has been i guess the one rap on him, they didn't see the fire in his belly. i know he has got it. that is why i'm supporting him. he displayed that last night and showed why he can go toe-to-toe to beat barack obama. he is most electable candidate. he will appeal to more independents. i see president romney in the future. martha: governor mcdonnell, always good to see you. thank you so much for being

with us today. >> thank you, martha. bill: we'll talk to a newt gingrich surrogate next hour and get reaction after those guys went at it last night. one of the lighter moments when the moderatetores asked ron paul about his age. he is 76. humerus response too. watch this. >> congressman paul, you're a physician. you're 76 years old. you would be the oldest president of the united states if you were elected. are you prepared to release your medical records so voters out there know what your health is? >> oh, obviously because it is about one pain, if even that long. [applause] [laughing] i'm willing, i'm willing to challenge of these gentlemen up here to 25-mile bike ride anytime of the day in the heat of texas. bill: in the heat of texas that is. martha: in the heat of texas. bill: he went on to remind us age discrimination is a crime. you should tread carefully about comments on his age.

ron paul is tough guy. you heard newt gingrich said. i've seen this guy on campaign trail. he has no problems with his health. martha: i don't think you can judge somebody by the number of his age. bounding up and down the stairs all the time. long history. bill: truth is, everyone has to be in great shape to with stand this campaign because it goes and goes and goes. martha: that's for sure. so, we have some severe weather we also want to talk to you about this morning and it has been pounding parts of the midwest. new warnings for areas already underwater. a live look where mother nature hit and what she may be doing next. bill: martha, new questions about the latest energy push from the white house. critics asking, critics asking, why the move when keystone was given a no? martha: check this out. a car of the future? a tiny fold-up poised to revolutionize urban driving? we have to get you one of these, bill. bill: get on your bikes and ride. ♪ . [ male announcer ] drinking a smoothie with no vegetable nutrition?

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martha: all right. we are back. hello, everybody. say good-bye to the parallel park. mit unveiling the protoe type of a future electric car. check this out of the bill hemmer and i were checking during break. this would be great vehicle around downtown manhattan except if you get in collision. the wheels rotate. you spin them around to turn into tight spot. this is the part i don't understand, it folds to get them into one space. teach me about a folding car idea. there are engines in the baby. one in each wheel so you get more interior space where you can sit. they say commercial versions of this car may be ready by next year. maybe in time for --. bill: take that sucker out on the highway. easier to park. president obama set to speak at the university of michigan ann arbor talking

about making college more affordable part of the push for policies set out in the state of the union yesterday. it is new energy initiative. critics asking with why the president would be blocking the keystone pipeline and cut our depep densy on foreign oil. i want to debate that. brad blakeman, former deputy assistant to george w. bush and doug schoen former pollster for president clinton and fox news contributor. doug schoen is in davos, switzerland where he is hanging out with the 1%. hey, brad, how will this go one in this debate? do you think the administration is wounded or still open to the possibility of a move on keystone? >> bill, they're clueless. this president has a horrible track record on energy. look, he goes to brazil and tells the brazilian you get a $2 billion loan but you have to drill off your coast. shuts our coast down where we have plenty of oil and natural gas sitting out on our shores. he will not let us use our own lands.

the pipeline, the xl pipeline with canadians, number one trading partner, get majority of the oil from canada. can't build a pipeline. he was for it before he was against it. gas prices are 100% higher since he took office. this president has not done for america what america needs to be done and his energy policies are hollow like solyndra. half a billion lost. you just reported earlier today that ener in 1, another company touted by the white house. lost taxpayers, $100 million. he has no record on environment or energy. >> he made it clear the other night he is not turning back. he doesn't think the country can afford to turn back either. you lay out an interesting case for being vulnerable on this in a political year. doug, is brad onto something? >> yeah, i thought the president did an excellent job in the state of the union acknowledging problems with solyndra albeit indirectly,. making it clear as he has in the past that he is going to

need more time on keystone. i think that was probably political. i think brad's right. but there was a clear statement that we have to pursue all sources of energy. that we have to do offshore drilling. look for natural gas. and also do renewable energy. i think the president stated a pretty comprehensive policy and i think he was able to make lemonade from lemons. bill: the republicans had the phrase all the above when it came to energy. that came out about a year ago, brad. now the president is using line on the trail. i guess all the above means except for one thing and that one thing would be keystone, right? >> absolutely. look he is co-opted the republican message. he is trying again to deflect. that's what this president does. he deflects away from his own record. bill, if you look at his record, he has abysmal record on energy. the fact of the matter is a canadian official said to me last week, how much more friendly do we have to be to you guys? you're our number one trading partner.

get most of your oil from us but won't let us build a pipeline and put 20,000 americans and canadians to work. you talk about shovel-ready jobs the president could put the jobs to work tomorrow if he wanted to. instead he is co-opted by a small group of environmentalists at the expense of the american people. bill: i mentioned he said other night we have to keep at it. doug, is this a winner in november? >> i think it's, at least a neutral for him, if not a winner. look, he is balancing environmental concerns and our need to break the dependence on foreign oil. brad stated very eloquently the case against the president. it's clear but by being able to argue as he did that we need to pursue as the republicans said, all sources of energy, i think he delayed keystone. he will probably go back to it after the election. he is allayed concern from the left wing of the party and i think he laid out a pretty comprehensive policy, bill, at the very least will

neutralize the issue if not produce an outright him for him in debates in november. bill: gentlemen, every time we talk about this story, we get headlines on it and stuff dribbles in the over the next six months or so. watch the price of gasoline this may into the summer. if it goes up four bucks, five bucks a gallon, republicans will hit the white house over the head for this. doug, enjoy the one percenters and brad, see you soon. >> i will, bill. bill: martha. martha: new details behind a picture getting a lot of attention. we've all seen it by now and president obama's and arizona's governor caught in heated discussion. jan brewer says there is more to this whole thing than meets the eye we're now learning. ahead a live report from the white house. bill: what is in a letter, huh? heavy rains triggering severe flooding. >> hit by tornado on monday and now we're flooding. we knew it would rain and but not it would flood.

it is trying to come into our building right now. everything is pretty much damaged.

david: there is incredible new video of this dramatic rescue. coast guard air crew hoist hoisting up four crewmembers from a grounded fishing vessel. all four were suffering from hypotherm kbrau. thank goodness for the coast guard. martha: heavy rains are triggering flash flooding in birmingham, alabama. dirty water and debris filling the streets and bursting drainage pipes. awful situation. some flood victims said they have never seen anything like this before. >> not a good feeling but we are trying to get everything done. we're optimistic.

we're trying to get up and running as soon as possible. we're here to see the insurance agent to go ahead get our claims and trying to get out of here now. >> nothing like this ever happened. you think it can't happen to you. it is terrible. we'll be back. pray for us. wait on us and hopefully in the next week or two we can start services the people. martha: smile on her face and positive outlook that woman. meteorologist janice dean, another woman just like that, joins me in the fox news extreme weather center. hey, janice. >> the silver lining is the south really needs to the rain and starting to put a dent in the drought across texas and louisiana all threw the southeast. that is the good news. unfortunately we're getting rain in short period of time. it is moving up to the northeast where we have delays in newark and as well as laguardia. over two hour delays that will cause a ripple effect. make sure you call your air carrier before you head out or pick up something from

the airport. that is where we're seeing radar accumulation, precipitation estimates. several inches across these areas. again they really need this moisture. so, unfortunately too much of a good thing right now. severe weather threat across portions of the mid-atlantic region. we've seen several, several, tornados. i mean dozens of tornados so far this january. look at this, guys. we're top three, here. 70 estimates of tornados this month alone. as you head towards 2008. we had 88. we could get up to the number two spot. i don't think we'll make the number one spot of 1999, 218 tornados. it has been a really active year. show you where the storm goes. it moves out of the way and next clipper system moving into the northeast. a look ahead to florida, guys. clear skies. very nice conditions for next week's vote. back to you. martha: good time to be in florida. so we'll be here. janice, thank you very much. bill: i'm digging the winter here in the northeast. come on.

hasn't on a gotten cold yet. we'll take a little bit of that. martha: nice winter. a little white stuff. bill: cools you like early spring, right. there are new details on an ugly matter of a son after sitting cabinet member. ray lahood is the transpourstation secretary. his son and a group of other americans are barred from leaving egypt. the latest on efforts to get him out of there. martha: how about this? a snowmobiling adventure with friends almost turns deadly. we'll talk live with the man who survived this incredible avalanche. he will be with us in "america's newsroom." that is coming up. >> it is like being in concrete. i guess i always figured you could move somewhat. wiggle here and wiggle there and create yourself an air pocket. there was nothing. the snow totally filled in. filled my mask in. [ male announcer ] montgomery and abiil haggins

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with less chronic osteoarthritis pain. imagine living your life with less chronic low back pain. imagine you, with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce this pain. tell your doctor right away if your mood worsens,

you have unusual changes in mood or behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18. people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaids, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing skin or eyes. tell your doctor about all your medicines, including those for migraine and while on cymbalta, call right away if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles or seriouallergic skin reactions like blisters, peeling rash, hives, or mouth sores to address possible life-threatening conditions. talk about your alcohol use, liver disease a before you reduce or stop cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. ask your doctor about cymbalta. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. go to cymbalta.com to learn about a free trial offer. martha: we are starting to get an inside look at exactly what

went down in the dustup between president obama and the governor of arizona. jan brewer seen greeting the president at the airport with what appears to be serious conversation. it turns out she handed him a letter in that moment and is making that letter public. these how we get rolling on a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." great to have you here. i'm martha maccallum. greg: i'm bill hemmer. good morning. we talked to governor brewer yesterday. now she is releasing the letter that she tried to give the president saying she disagreed with his approach on the economy. she wanted to take him also to lunch, have a look around and also take him down to the border. martha: that's a fairly genial letter overall. ed henry is traveling in michigan. it sounds like the story doesn't want to die. >> reporter: that's what it sounds like. the president wants to move on and talk about college afford built here. for some reason governor brewer

is keeping this story alive by putting her book out. her book has been saor soaring in the charts since this has come out the president has been on the road for three days now. in the letter it sparks the back and forth between her and the president. she wrote, quote we both love this great country bu but fundamentally disagree on how to make this prosper once again. of course my offer to visit the border and buy lunch still stands. this is what took place with diane sawyer. >> there is a picture with jan briar, she says you were tense, thin skinned. she is all over the airways. >> i think it's always good publicity for a republican if they are in an argument with me. this was really not a big deal.

>> reporter: the president trying to move on. he's now here at the football practice field at the university of michigan visiting yet another battleground state. i'm sure a visit here to the university of michigan helps him back there with ohio state. martha: probably not. they seem very fired up with the president there. thank you very much. greg: the speech i can streami is streaming live and our website. live online. sales of scorpians for breakfast soaring over the past few days. on wednesday 340,000 books ranked higher and amazon's best selling list. by thursday morning her book was number 56. thursday night it was number 10. no other book they say has increased sales that much in only 24 hours. martha: it's book sales has owe for sure. doctors are tending to more than 16 people right now after a bad construction accident at a

casino in cincinnati, ohio. you're looking at live pictures. they were under construction for this new casino in downtown cincinnati. workers were pouring concrete when a steel portion of that structure came crashing down. reports say everyone is accounted for and none of the injuries are life threatening. we are being told a similar accident happened at the site of another casino, very strange in cleveland last month, owned by the same company. that is going to raise questions how they are doing that. greg: in the meantime i'm going to go back to this election year, which is changing by the day. republicans debating for the final time before the florida primary on tuesday. by the looks of it mitt romney wasting no time to go on the attack against newt gingrich. >> speaker gingrich was hired by freddie mac to promote them. instead we should have had a whistle-blower and not a horn to

ther. >> governor romney has an investment in goldman sachs which is today for closing on floridianss. maybe he should tell us how much monies made off of how many households that have been foreclosed by his investments. let's be clear about that. >> the bigger issue here is these two gentlemen who are out distracting from the most important issues we have by playing petty, personal politics. greg: a new quinnipiac poll showing that romney's lead is getting greater. 32% say they might changed their mind. on the screen you see 28 to 39. romney is up 7 points, 38 to 31 in florida. phil keeting is live in tampa now. what is romney saying that appears to be resonating at least in the polling any way. good morning. >> reporter: a second poll just came out. no word yet from the romney campaign. undoubtedly they will be very

tkhraoeutd. delighted. they were very happy with the debate performance last night in jacksonville. mitt romney got a hold of a new debate adviser. anybody watching these debates and there's been about 20 of them so far, they say as of late mitt romney is performing much better. last night the allegation is that gingrich fell flat. he was surging out of south carolina, they come down to the battle state, huge, 29electoral college votes come november. he was riding the momentum. it appears his lead in the poll has flip-flopped back to romney. the crucial aspects of these polls, each one consistently says about 30, 35% of republican voters in florida remain undecided or could change their mind. greg: phil, there is a senate panel headed by two democrats who are looking into voter suppression in the state.

what have you found out about that? >> reporter: well, it starts today at 1:00, this is the first time ever that this subcommittee on the judiciary constitution, human rights, voting rights, subcommittee headed by dick durbin. bill nelson a florida senator will also be there. they have a lot of testimony coming in. they think a change in florida's voting laws and around the country are only meant by republicans to suppress democratic votes in november. take a look at this graphic. 15 states changed election laws since 2008 which would impact 5 million voters in november. they require showing a photo id or proof of citizenship to vote. they make it harder to restore voting rights and reduce early voting, 11 of the 15 states, republicans control the government. the republican governor's office as well as the senate and the house in the state legislature, and the democrats contend this is all court of a master plan. republicans say, no this is

simply to curtail voter fraud. >> the idea of one person, one vote is the bedrock of the republican of this democracy. if citizens don't have faith in one person, one vote, then elections mean nothing, they have no value. >> reporter: key point by the democrats. early voting is underway. since it has been reduced to hours from two days they say it will only help republicans. greg: thanks. martha: we have your full coverage of the florida primary on tuesday january the 31st. coverage kicks off 6pm eastern. fox news is america's election headquarters. greg: yeah we are. martha: hello, hello, hello, foxnews.com. greg: put that on the banner and hang it. breaking news out of baghdad. a homicide bomber detonating a

car packed with explosives near a funeral procession killing at least 32, dozens more injured. half of those killed were policemen guarding that march. minutes after the blast gunmen opened fire at a check-point in the area killing two more policemen. at least 200 have been killed across iraq since the beginning of the year which about the same time that u.s. forces pulled out. martha: also in the middle east the son of a top american official is being banned from leaving egypt. this is ramping up tensions between the u.s. and it's long-time middle east ally. sam lahood is the son of our transportation secretary ray louisian lahood. he was told when he went to leave the country in cairo that he could not leave the country. catherine herridge joins me live in washington. catherine, obviously this is a tense situation, and it may put -- leave the u.s. to put some financial pressure, we're understanding on egypt as well. >> reporter: that's right, good morning. this is being worked at the high he levels of the administration,

the president obama, and secretary of state and her top human rights officer who is in kai re. it is the prerogative of congress that aid in excess of $1.2 billion annually will be linked to the democratic transition in that country. right now there are six americans being blocked from leaving egypt. >> i'm very gratified by all the work that is going on by the administration and our ambassador in egypt, and so i appreciate the work they are doing on that. >> reporter: sam lahood is a local director for a group called the international republican institute or iri, this is a group that promotes tkepl kraeus tee. the iri was one of 17 organizations raided and investigated by egyptian authorities last month. >> we are very worried for their safety, and they are worried about how this situation has not worked itself out over what is now a month. >> reporter: egypt's military is

refusing to give up power in that count throw and the generals are blaming foreign groups. some of these like iri for the unrest, martha. martha: it's a very disturbing situation. i understand that you've heard directly from sam lahood. what does he say about this. >> reporter: i did in this email sam lahood describes how he was stopped at the cairo airport last saturday and was told he was on a no exit list, asked how to fix the problem the immigration officer had no explanation for him. egypt security sofsess are involved. quote the investigative judge who was assigned to interrogate our staff members told our lawyer that all of our computers were sent to state security to be download and analyzed. we have no information that this is close to any conclusion. in a separate email an american who asked not to be identified said he feared arrests were imminent. we don't know if this view is shared by the others, martha. martha: very disturbing situation. catherine, thank you for the update. greg: in the meantime we've seen this. right the gloves are already off now they are throwing knockout punches down there in florida.

>> maybe governor romney in the spirit of openess should tell us how much monies made off of how many households that have been foreclosed by his investments. but let's be clear about that. [applause] greg: that was one side. how did mitt romney respond to that hit from newt gingrich? we'll play it for you. martha: and how about this. this young man in a world of trouble today. allegations of an elaborate plot and an escape plan that you will not believe. greg: he says it was like being buried in concrete. he simply could not move and his life was on the line. the man who survived an avalanche and the guy who helped save his life are here tk to tell theitoday to tell their story. >> i actually thought the snowmobile was on top of me. it wasn't until i was totally undug and looked back at the hillside that the whole hillside gave away. it filled my mask in. every time i tried to enhale i was inhaling ice balls. ble nutr? ♪

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greg: new details on two

students busted on a plot to bomb their high school. this is in utah. they arrested two 16-year-old boys. they were tipped off by another student receiving an alarming text message from the younger student. neighbors of the suspect said they never saw this coming. >> when i heard the news i was shocked. you know, i would expect him to be the next albert einstein not a bomber. as time went on more cops showed up, unmarked cars, stuff like that, there were dogs all over the place, they were carrying a couple of boxes out of his house. >> these two boys were working together to perform and carry out this plan. >> it was a very clouded-khraoeupbd olined of message. we are on the successful side of a bad deal. >> i'm glad they got caught before it happened. greg: police saying they also discovered detailed escape plans involving stealing a plane from the airport in augus augden,

utah about 30 miles from salt lake city. martha: back to florida right now, mitt romney turning the tables on newt gingrich at last night's republican presidential debate. the former house speaker attacked romney with his associations to the mortgage giant freddie mac and that is when governor romney fired back. take a look. >> the contracts we released from freddie mac said i would do no consulting, i mean no lobbying, none. we discovered to our shock governor romney owns shares of both fannie mae and freddie mac, governor romney made a million dollars off of selling some of that. >> first of all my investments are not made by me. my investments for the last ten years have been through blind trust. i don't own stock in either fannie mae or freddie mac. there are bonds that the investor has held through mutual funds. i know that sound like an enormous revelation, but have

you checked your own investments? you also have investments in mutual funds that also invest in freddie mac and fannie mae. martha: that was the moment last night, in every one of these debates there seems to be a moment that lives on, a clearly uncomfortable moment for newt gingrich. joined by doug hye, a form rnc communications director. doug, who won that? >> no doubt it was romney. it reminded me of almost a scene from rocky, where mitt romney is rocky balboa absorbs punch after punch and returns fire to the point that if not a knockout certainly puts him in a great condition to win in florida on tuesday. it was the right debate at the right time for mitt romney, and he's a big winner from last night. martha: there were polls that were emerging and in the last 48 hours really in florida that looked like this game was changing a little bit, that romney -- that excuse me gingrich was falling become a little bit since his back high

coming out of south carolina, and that romney was starting to gain some strength again. clearly that had to have given mitt romney a bit of confidence as he headed into last night's debate. you could see it sort of all over him in his demeanor. let's take a look at the quinnipiac poll that just came out as well. this is the florida republican presidential primary, 38% for mitt romney, 29 no 29 for newt gingrich. your thoughts on that. >> it's great to go into a debate with the wind at your back. being in this position, having that debate last night, having brought on new staff, fred o'donnell who is a great debate coach working with governor romney, we saw a new mitt romney last night, we saw somebody who i think a lot of republicans are going to look at as they not only watched last night but look at the replay and say, that is the man i want to be my republican nominee and that is the man that can beat barack obama. it was a great win for mitt romney last night. martha: it was interesting,

everyone has sort of said that he doesn't connect enough with voters, that his responses have been sort of rehearsayed sounding. he seemed looser on his feet. it's very interesting to me if this debate coach had anything to do with that, you wonder what he might have said to him that kind of freed him up, because clearly that was the mitt romney that we saw last night. let's talk a little bit, though about a great moment that rick santorum had and we played it earlier for everybody at home. but rick santorum basically said, look, let's put all this stuff behind us, this is the overwhelming thing that i hear from a lot of folks, they are tired of this discussion about freddie mac and your tax returns and all that stuff. they know there is more important fish to fry out there. >> yeah, absolutely. you know, we've seen unemployment is just under 10% in florida right now, and that's the issue that is of most concern. i think mitt romney with a real knockout blow last night might have put those issues behind not just him but all the candidates. martha: thank you so much for weighing in.

doug heye joining us from washington. greg: it will be a decisive factor in the race for the white house, jobs. how many jobs have been created under president obama's term? steve forbes weighs in on that. this. a picture causing problems for the woman seen here. who she is and why this is a big deal, in a moment. if you're one of those folks who gets heartburn

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martha: 34 minutes past the hour right now. part of a perry bridge collapsed in kentucky after being hit by a barge. the accident forced the closure of roads in both directions.

no cars fell into the water, no injuries reported in that one, but some wild pictures coming out of there. one of mexico's most active volcanos is rumbling to life. it's been spewing ash and smoke into the sky about 40 miles from mexico city, incredible pictures there as well. how about this picture for you? the 14-year-old daughter of venezuela president hugo chavez is kicking up quite a fuss. she posted a picture of herself online with u.s. dollars and the critics are angry because the american currency very tightly trolz i controlled in venezuela and hard to get your hands-on unless your chavez's daughter i guess. greg: spike in unemployment a good sign for the economy? how would that be. economists say many of the people who stopped looking for work re-entered the job market, indicating that the economy might be strong enough to lower unemployment. we roll this out today, hotmail

in north carolina from the time -- that is not gus. from the time president obama took office how many federal jobs have been created not counting the military? you'll see the question in a moment here. there it is on the screen. steve forbes, editor and chief of forbes media here to answer that question right here. steve, how are you. >> doing very well, thank you. greg: in the studio with the answer. are we growing or shrinking like the private sector in washington d.c. >> washington always grows. if you don't count the post office up 140,000. the post office is an independent thing and they have real losses, they have been shrinking. since obama has been in charge 140,000 plus. greg: but the post office is in serious debt. >> serious debt, they are down 115,000, net for the feds is 25. but where you don't have the post office the government is still growing very nicely. greg: i want to get your sense here because the "wall street journal" came out with a poll this week and they gave the

impression that americans are starting to feel a little better, maybe just a little bit but a little better about their own economic circumstances. do you find the same. >> three years after severe recession it's about time. it's about two years late. if you look at the unemployment numbers you've got a couple of things going there, one the fourth quarter i think they revised that number upwards. i think it's a little stronger. however, you've got a crisis in europe, that is going to be a weight on the economy this year. another pre verse thing is by extending the unemployment benefits 99 weeks the only way you get them is if you're out looking nor a job. by bringing those benefits back again, which they did in this latest bill from congress, people are going to be looking for work. greg: in your line of work are you able to protect where unemployment will be next fall? >> no, because you can make -- you can make a guess at it. if you get a crisis in europe or like the tsunami in japan, it goes away. you'll create this year, bill, there is no reason why you can't create 2 million jobs this here but that is still a subpar pace

it won't make a real big dent on the unemployment numbers. greg: a guy said to me about month ago, he says we're going from terrible to awful and it feels great. is that the sense in. >> i was in alaska where it was 23 below, then it went to zero and it felt like a heat wave. bill: i guess that would apply here. keeping track of all that stuff. great to see you again. you can leave a question right there, because you idea, bya. martha: newt gingrich may have not hit the home run that he was looking for last night but the former speaker spent a lot of time in the evening on the defensive. >> those of us who were in the trenches mighting in the 80s, it will be nice to be recognized for what we actually did and not to have orchestrated attacks to try to distort the history of that period. martha: what newt gingrich plans to do now, these final four days to win the sunshine state, his florida chairman, bill maccallum

joins us. bill: they were buried alive, the story behind dramatic images of a man caught in an avalanche, here today to tell his story how he was dugout. >> we got you buddy. we got you, you're good. >> we got you. we got his head. call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. [ 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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martha: fox news alert for you right now. doctors are treating over a dozen workers in area hospitals

after a construction accident happened in ohio. you're looking at a live shot right now in cincinnati. downtown cincinnati where a casino partially collapsed. early reports are that the floor collapsed entirely where they were pouring concrete. what a scary situation this must have been for awful the people on thfor all of the people on the scene there. chief richard brawn from the cincinnati fire department joins us on the phones. they are in charge of the rescue efforts there. thank you for making a couple of minutes for us. we appreciate it. what can you tell us about what happened there this morning. >> when we got there they were pouring a floor, and one of the beams gave way, and the floor collapsed going into a v-collapse. the workers were working on the floor, so they basically rode the v down as the floor collapsed. so that is what really helped. and there was no one under the floor. martha: thank goodness. that could have been even worse. but what a frightening situation it must have been for these folks on the job there this

morning, showing up every day to work on this casino, and now this. how many injuries? what is the nature of them? >> we transported ten, they seem to be mostly bumps, bruises, possibly some broken bones, but i won't know until they get to the hospitals and get checked out. martha: and you said that some people may have walked in on their own as well for treatment? >> correct. martha: something similar happened, you know, in cleveland i believe not too long ago, the same company we understand is building both of these casinos. do you see any connection? >> not that i know of. i read about the one in cleveland but i'm not that familiar with it. martha: we'll see what the investigation into that finds. chief, thank you so much for taking a couple of minutes with us, we do appreciate it. hope everybody is doing okay. >> thank you. bill: a bizarre irony, huh? they were getting down and dirty between the two big dogs in

florida. newt gingrich hitting mitt romney, and defending himself that he's not a true reagan conservative. >> it's increasingly interesting to watch the romney attack machine coordinate thing. there are four different people by four different people that randomly show up. for those of us in the trenches fighting in the 08s it would be nice to recognize what we actually did, and not have them distort it. bill: former attorney general in the sunshine state, bill ka call um is wit maccallum. why do you think gingrich is the best man. >> i think he has the most knowledge, the leadership skills and the vision to be the president of the united states, and i think he's the one who has the best chance of beating president obama because he has good debate skills and he is very capable of sharpening the

contrast. i think that's what is going to be required to say, here is a true conservative position. he can articulate, very much different from what president obama st-pbdz for. thi stands for. he has the best economic plan, the boldess economic plan to really reduce the taxes, eliminate the tax all together on capital gains. he knows national security, he's deeply steeped in what we need to do to defend our country and take him on in this bill in the military that is really scary that he's announced the last couple of weeks. he doesn't have his hands tied behind him as governor romney does. he supported romney care. bill: that came out in a significant way. now i why why you are running his campaign in florida, you speak rather well of them. do you think mitt romney had the better of him? some are writing he was a no show. >> i don't think that is true. like stocks if you have and

earnings report one year that is really good and the next one you have one that is a little bit better but the analysts all expect you to earn 20-cents a share mourn you reported then expectations aren't met. i think people are expecting newt to land a knockout punch in every one of these debates. i think he held his own last night. romney made serious mistakes last night. for one thing he said he never voted for a democrat when he had a chance to vote for a republican. i would be surprised that he can explain away the 1992 presidential election in which he had a primary, and george h.w. bush was running and pat buchanan was on the ballot against him, and paul tongsa was on the ballot and he voted for him. bill: that will be flushed out in time. why are we hearing from people who used to work with gingrich in washington, and so few of them have a good thing to say? i don't know why this is. this is what bob doyle said yesterday.

doyle said hardly anyone that served with newt in congress endorsed him. that fact speaks for itself. he was a one man band who rarely took advice. it was his way or the highway. >> i was in leadership in the u.s. congress with newt before we taopbg the majority in 1994 we would not have taken it without him. i was there for the contractors of america we have not have had it without him, welfare reform, all those things you hear about. there were critics and people he didn't get along w. he shakes things up. bob doyle i respect a lot, i campaigned for him for president, but bob dale's character and nature is just very different from newt's. he's uncomfortable with newt who is going to be the guy who is the shakeup artist. he's got a lot of bold new ideas, lots of energy, a lot of leadership skills, two different personalities. doyle was never comfortable with him. newt has a lot of supporters. bill: any way you're not going to find a second person like him. there was significant early voting happening in your state. you could get as much as 25% of the vote already cast before tuesday of next week. who wins do you believe?

>> i think we're going to win this down here in florida for newt. for one thing the early voting began saturday the day of the south carolina primary, i think we're in good shape in early voting, in absentees we chased them as well. i think newt is going to do fine because he does present in sharp contrast. we have a number of his former supporters, friends and colleagues in congress like j. c. watson and bob walker and senator fred thompson are all down here courtroom panic for him. campaigning for him. i think we will do very, very well. bill: nobody predicted the outcome of south carolina with gingrich winning 46 counties, who knows on tuesday. thanks. 22 before the hour. ♪ welcome back, your dreams were your ticket out. welcome back. martha: saying so long to an old favorite of the small screen.

robert heyges, as one of the sweat hogs in welcome back kotter. he was known as epstein. the new jersey-born actor played a jewish puerto rican wheeler dealer. he will be missed to be sure. he died of a heart attack we are learning after suffering chest pains at his home yesterday. he was 60 years old. that lunched a lot of careers. bill: it sure did. a handful of friend out to enjoy fresh powder in their snowmobiles buried over their heads in seconds. one of them had no idea what happened, he said it felt like concrete around him. he will tell news a moment liv us in a moment live, who saved him and how. >> it's like being in concrete. i guess i always figured you could move some what. you wiggle here or wiggle there and create yourself an air pocket but there was nothing,

the snow just filled totally in, filled my mask in.

bill: it was a scary moment alternate the winter x games in aspen. free style snowmobiler colton moore losing control of everything in the middle of a 120-foot jump. check that out. what did that look like in hd, flailing his arms, he loses contact with his ride. fortunately he's 22 by the way he was able to twist himself upside down allowing him to land on his back instead of his head. moore then went onto get back on his ride and win gold in that event. now that is something. martha: that's why they call him the x games. another snowmobiler story from you. this man walked away from a near-death experience in washington after getting wiped out by an avalanche. fortunately his friends were

nearby and sprung quickly into action. you can see them in this video as they race over to try to dig their friend out and get themselves to safety. john swanson is the man who survived that avalanche. ricky is his best buddy for life now. he helped rescue him. hi, guys, welcome. good to have you both here. >> thank you. martha: obviously you're an active guy, you do a lot of outdoor sports, you say you never anticipated the way this would feel. tell us about that. >> it just is -- you kind of have the thought that you can help yourself or something, and so the feeling of being totally helpless and totally relying on somebody else to get you out of the predicament is uneasy. martha: what was your first thought about what had happened? suddenly one minute your riding on your snowmobile, the next you have snow you said all the way through your helmet. >> yeah, and that's just it is that you just a few thoughts go quickly through your mind, and

that is the big one, i knew that they would find me, i knew these guys would find me, it was just a matter of how long it would take, and if they would find me in time, because i was helpless in the snow. martha: you said in a couple of minutes would you have sufficient indicate. >> yeah. martha: you guys were the heros in this story. you got him out in time. you must have been frightened. >> it was really frightening. i thought he actually got run over by a snowmobile, i was already heading that way and john was yelling, get the snowmobile off him. he thought the snowmobile was on top of him and he was pinned under him. martha: you thought the snowmobile was on top of you. >> i did. i thought somehow it came around and still got me and landed on top of me. my fear actually was that they would look for one side or the ofts it rather tha other of it

rather than looking under need it. martha: you said you really can't get the sense of how huge this avalanche was. at what point did you realize what was coming down at you guys. >> i mean i didn't. it was just -- martha: so fast. >> all of a sudden the hill is there, and then the snowmobile looked like it was just underwater. martha: it happened from another snowmobile that was up above, that caused the avalanche, that is a common problem out there, right? >> yes. martha: you can see it in the video, you say we've got his head. what are you thinking as you try to get him out? you know time is working against you. >> just get him out, get his chest uncompressed. i mean it's a lot of weight on it. martha: what was going through your head as soon as you felt that your head at least was out. what did you say to them you yelled something to them at the end. >> dig faster. [laughter] martha: how about getting out of there? how far was it to get you guys out of there?

>> well, actually we continued to ride. the matter is actually it happened so quickly for me that by the time they pulled me out and i was standing on top of the snow i just continued to ride. it didn't sink in. i had ten guys around me waiting to hug me and kiss me and all kind of awkward things and they were in more of a panicked state than i was. martha: that's what makes you guys thick. let's get back on and go riding some more. i have a suggestion for you, fishing. right? try fishing. thanks so much, we are glad euro kay and you're a good friend, good for you guys to get him out on time. thanks so much for stopping by. good to meet you both. bill: dig faster huh? you better get a shovel over here, come on. nice to see you, gentlemen. jon scott standing by, "happening now" rolls your way in 12 short minutes. jon, how are you? jon: great story. i am doing well and sounds like

they are too the fight for florida, newt gingrich and mitt romney trading barbs as we get polling information on a very close race for the sunshine state. did you hear ron paul's challenge? we'll tell but that. also the growing power of the debates in shaping this race for the white house. plus, is there a surge in craig's list crimes underway? possibility of an allergy to cold? can that be? we'll talk to our medical a-team. a dramatic rescue of a fisherman by the coast guard. the man who was nearly stomped to death by a moose and his 85-year-old wife comes to the rescue. we'll talk to them in a few minutes. bill: a packed show. we'll see them at 11am eastern. with all the play on the internet computer programmers are in hot demand in a political campaign. think you have to be a geek to do this? thing again. we've got that story. martha: that wheel was apparently spinning around and around for pat sa sajak

apparently. confessions of what was going on behind the wheel. across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon.

cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance.

>> "wheel of fortune." martha: pat sajak saying in an interview that he and vanna white used to kickback a few during long breaks when they were taping a lot of "wheel of fortunes" in one day. the mexican restaurant across the street served a mean marc margarita. he had trouble recognizing the alphabet. he is pack tracking on the story late bit. he said he might have exaggerated because it was a

good story. he said it may have happened only a few times. you can make sure folks are out there checking out the old episodes, you can do that on the internet. it's probably the hottest searched item on youtube. bill: the big part of that story is that he can still spell, which is a talent. martha: alvanna had to walk around in those high shoes. bill: the internet and social media will be vital to campaigns on both sides. you don't have to be mark zuckerberg to be on this action. >> reporter: 2012 has been dubbed code year, since most of us know how to use computers but very few of us know how that work and programmers say that knowledge could actually help decide who wins the white house. the ground war has always been part of political campaigns, grassroots, door to door. >> what about next year? >> reporter: in the 20th century the air war became critical, radio and tv ads. now the cyberwar might be the

key element of any run for office. the internet and social media sparking buzz and swinging votes. fueling uprisings and revolutions too. and you can't go viral without code. code is the language of the computer, the heart of any website or program, and people are eager to learn the basics, including more than one million signing up with code cadmy in the past few months. >> computers are universal pools. you can write the program to do anything you want it to do and the computer will follow the instructions. if you don't know how to create those tools then you are subject to the power of the people who make the tools themselves. >> reporter: we reached andrew martin via skype, he is trying to improve on traditional campaign strategies. >> what are the social sections? what is most valuable? what insights can you glean from your social network online that

would have an impact and be particularly valuable to you in making a political decision. >> reporter: well voterec.com launched last week. and there is no charge to learn. beginners like us can start right away for free. bill: i'm looking forward to that. you think back over the past few election campaigns and wow. thanks, rick. here is martha. martha: some new warnings about craig's list going out across the country today. law enforcement seeing a surge in crimes called, robbery by appointment. i'm really glad we took this last minute trip! you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute.

ah, well played sir. get the app. hotels.com.

martha: president obama getting late night laughs over his trip to sioux city. take a look. >> president obama busy. president obama is traveling the country, did you know this? he spent last night in las vegas. [cheers and applause] this morning he woke up on his hotel room floor trying

what t do about a tiger, baby and 9% unemployment. martha: no 9% unemployment and hangover. bill: mike tyson hanging out. we've got to run, right? have a great weekend. martha: you too i'll off and running on monday. building up to florida. off we go. martha: "happening now" getting started. we'll see you monday. have a great one. jon: happening now begins with this fox news alert out of downtown cincinnati. several people rushed to the hospital there after a serious collapse of a construction site of a new casino. rick folbaum standing by with very latest. >> reporter: jon, i've been in touch with the cincinnati fire department. at one point they had 26 engine companies responding. there is confusion about number of people injured. we're told 16 to 20 people. apparently nine of those people injured have serious injuries. no word what caused part of this building to come down. it is under construction, has been for several months