charlie d'agata has the latest on their departure from the middle east. get a whooping cough shot or get pulled out of class. and a new day for students in libya. elizabeth palmer shows us the schools that have expelled former dictator muammar qaddafi's portrait and the dictator's legacy. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell. >> mitchell: and good evening. we begin this saturday night with the race for the republican presidential nomination and the results of today's straw poll in florida. in a shocker, herman caine topped the poll with 986 votes or 37%, well ahead of texas governor rick perry with 15%, and mitt romney with 14%. the other candidates trail behind.

tonight's straw poll result upsets the conventional wisdom that the race was narrowing to two front-runners, perry and romney. whit johnson in washington has more. >> reporter: after taking his lumps in this week's debate, texas governor rick perry's efforts to woo republican activists in florida fell far short. arch-conservative pizza chain c.e.o. herman caine won the day with his positive message of bringing america back to greatness. >> america is a nation of dream makers and dream achievers. >> if you can't win florida, you can't win the nation. so i think mr. caine put in a lot of steam and moved ahead a lot today. >> reporter: hoping to maintain his status as g.o.p. front- runner, perry has taken aim at his top rival, mitt romney. >> it's not who is the slickest candidate or the smoothest debater that wee need to elect. ( applause ) >> reporter: later saturday, perry and romney jockeyed for

support in michigan. >> nice to see you this morning. >> reporter: home turf for the former massachusetts governor who grew up in michigan when his father was governor there and where romney captured the g.o.p. primary in 2008. >> hopefully the people of this state will support me like they did last time. >> reporter: romney has hammered perry for calling social security a ponzi scheme and for allowing illegal immigrants to receive a discounted in-state college tuition. >> if you're opposed to illegal immigration, it doesn't mean that you don't have a heart. it means that you have a heart and a brain. >> reporter: the battle between perry, romney, and the rest of the republican field may come down to who is seen seine as the better conservative versus who is seen as more electable. >> if i had to pick between the two i would pick perry because i think of romney as more establishment. >> reporter: in a cbs news/"new york times" poll last week, republicans were split on whether they want a nominee who agrees with them on the issues or who can just beat the president next year. romney supporters think he has the edge. >> well, i just think he's got the best chance of beating obama and i think he's got a good plan for the economy and i like the

fact that he's not a career politician. >> reporter: our cbs news poll also found that 22% of republican voters are still undecided, a reminder there's plenty of room in the field with the first primaries and caucuses about five months away. russ. >> mitchell: whit johnson in washington, thanks. for more perspective on herman caine's upset victory in the florida straw poll, let's turn to cbs news contributor scott conway in washington. scott, i think it's safe to say not a lot of people saw this coming. what does this upset mean for herman caine? what does it mean for rick perry the perceived front runner? >> herman caine gives a great speech and i think this is a case of where he went out and talked to the voters and inspired them and won and upset perry. i think for rick perry this is not good news. this is someone who everyone believed to be the republican front-runner for the nomination. he had a bad debate by just about every measure and fought really hard to win this straw poll and came in an embarrassing second place. the third thing i'd mention is

michele bauchmann was last in the straw poll, and she was, remember, first in the iowa straw poll, and that was something that a lot of people thought would really propel her candidacy, but now you have to start wondering whether she's actually a viable candidate in this race. >> mitchell: there are some names out there that a lot of folks thought were going to get in the race, giuliani, palin, governor chris christie in new jersey. what do you think? with this upset today, will that inspire one or more of those folks to jump in? >> i think you have to say it's more likely. chris christie said time and again he's not going to get into the race but i spoke to someone today who is leading an effort to draft him to get in the race. he sound encouraged as if christie might decided to get in after all. and palin is another one, we're all waiting for her decision, and i have to say she would probably smell blood in the water after today and after perry's debate performance last week. >> mitchell: scott conroy in washington as always. thank you. two american hikers are flying back to the u.s. from the middle

east tonight, putting their long period of iranian imprison management will behind them. as charlie d'agata tells us, the two were upbeat this evening as they prepared to board their flight in oman. >> reporter: shane bauer and josh fattal have kept out of the public eye since they took their first steps of freedom in oman. >> getting off the plane that brought us here three days ago was the most incredible experience of our lives. we'll never forget the excitement of seeing our loved ones waiting for us. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: for bauer, that meant a tearful reunion with fiance sarah shourd, jailed along with the men after hiking across the iranian border in 2009. she was released last year. the men had to wait another year until iranian officials released them on $1 million bail. >> we stayed up all night with our loved ones, and we watched the most beautiful sunset we've ever seen. >> reporter: they thanked oman for helping to secure their release. >> we hope some day to return to this wonderful country, but for now, we're eager to get home at last. >> reporter: their long ordeal ends tomorrow when they're

scheduled to arrive back on u.s. soil. charlie d'agata, cbs news, london. >> mitchell: palestinian president mahmoud abbas said today he will not go back to peace talks until israel agrees to stop building new settlements and accepts the 1967 border as a basis for those talks. palestinian and israeli security clashed at one checkpoint yesterday but as mark phillips explains, this is a region where the bounds aren't always clear. >> reporter: to draw a new border between palestinians and israelis, you have to first find the old one, and in many places, like here in the bustling arab town of barta'a, it's not easy. so where is the green line here? >> here is the green line. >> reporter: ashraf al-kundous is a dentist in barta'a, where the old green line, named after the color of the pencil used to draw it in 1949, ran right through the middle of town. the line vanished when israel took control of the west bank in 1967, but it still controls people's lives.

in theory, ashraf should stay on the old arab side of the line where he was born. >> it's so difficult. >> reporter: right now, you're illegal here? >> reporter: makes perfect sense. yet, the line, president obama and others have argued, should be the starting point for negotiations with mutually agree swaps of territory to define the new border. to drive in search of the line, though, is to find it's been blown away by the winds of history, shifted by the massive israeli-built security barrier, which the palestinians call a land grab, or buried under new roads linking israel's west bank settlements. this is for the israeli people. and the pence fens is between. >> reporter: it takes a geographer, like khalil toufakji to know where the line is now.

>> reporter: here, it means a checkpoint designed to keep west bank arabs out of israel. yet, here it is a row of ignored overgrown barrels. essentially today it has no meaning at all. up in the north, where we started in barta'a, what people say they want is an end to the restrictions and indignities the line causes. because ashraf the dentist, was born east of the line, he's officially palestinian and can't travel with his wife, born on the old israeli side. >> i cannot go with my family and my wife and my children to, you know, to israel. >> reporter: they've been fighting this week to try to find a way to start negotiating again, but a bigger battle awaits if those talks ever begin. and there's a great deal of diplomatic pressure being exerted on israelis and palestinians to get them

negotiating once again. but those talks are still hung up on all of the issues that have plague the them for decades. russ. >> mitchell: mark phillips, thank you. also in the middle east, more deadly violence today in yemen. a day after president saleh returned from saudi arabia, after three months of treatment for wounds suffered in an assassination attempt. government soldiers fired rifles and mortar shells at the unarmed protesters, killing at least 40, raising the death toll since last week to some 140. ahead, should california school kids be kept out of class because they haven't been vaccinated. that story when the cbs evening news continues.

>> mitchell: treasury secretary timothy geithner called today for bolder action to resolve the

european debt crisis which he called the most serious risk facing the world economy. this follows fed chairman ben bernanke's warning earlier this week of "signature downside risks to the economy" which triggered a huge plunge for the week on wall street. for more perspectives on the market and the economy we're joined by jill schlesinger, editor at large for cbsmoneywatch.com. good evening. >> good to be here. >> mitchell: ben bernanke makes a statement a warning and the market goes in a tailspin. what happened? >> he told us what we know-- growth is slow across the globe and continues to get slower and the crisis in europe has not been addressed but he said it in such a way that made investors think, uh-oh, maybe the central banks, maybe governments don't have the answer. that's why they sold stocks and really kind of huddled in the corner and said let's see what happens next week. >> mitchell: when we looked at the market the past few months, a lot of swings back and forecast, back and forecast. what's going on? >> i would say this is a traditional swing between fear and greed. we know these two issues are hanging over the market. the moment when it seems

something is a little bit better than we thought we go into greed mode-- we buy stocks, we push the markets higher. them when we see something is not so good, we sell stocks, we panic we go into fear mode. fear and greed are the only two manages that drive markets. >> mitchell: technically we are not in a recession. >> correct. >> mitchell: are we headed toward one? >> it almost doesn't matter. we are in such a slow-growth recovery many americans feel disheartened. the reality is even if we were in a recession i don't think it would feel much different than where we are today and i think people ought to get used to because in history we know that these kinds of recessions and recoveries take longer than other types. >> mitchell: "get used to it," that does not sound good. >> i'm sorry. >> mitchell: thanks a lot. in california, where memories of last year's whooping cough outbreak are still fresh, students have just days to comply way mandatory vaccination law. not everyone is falling

willingly into line as john blackstone reports. >> reporter: at southgate high school in los angeles it's been a painful start to the new year. >> that hurt! >> i didn't feel it. >> i did. >> reporter: under pressure to comply with a new statewide mandate, nurses are doling out shots as fast as they can. >> all the high schools and the seventh and eighth graders need to have a tdap shot. >> reporter: the tdap shot protects against whooping cough, a highly contagious and preventable disease that was once nearly eradicated but last year it made a huge comeback in california and ten infants died. >> at times we felt helpless watching i had violent coughing fits and there wasn't much we could do to stop. >> reporter: over the summer, ads urged parents to vaccinate their kids before the start of school but thousands of students still haven't complied. in sacramento, kids were being yanked from class. >> they took me out of school

because i didn't have my shot. >> reporter: in berkeley alone, 600 students have an urgent assignment-- show proof they've been vaccinated or roll up their sleeves and get the shot. potentially a lot of kids next week will be told you can't go to school. >> that's right, and california with the dropout rate as high as it is, we can't afford to lose any student so i worry about it with laws like this. >> reporter: 40 states have passed laws requiring secondary school students to be up to date on the whooping cough vaccine. >> whenever you mandate anything there's going to be some discussion-- quite appropriately-- and some push- back and those parents just have to be convince. >> reporter: in california, parents can opt out of the whooping cough manidate if they're personally opposed to vaccines but only a small percentage is expected to do so, much to the relief the state health officials. john blackstone, cbs news, berkeley, california. >> mitchell: and we'll be back.

>> mitchell: nasa confirmed today that the six-ton satellite you've been hearing about over the past few days fell to earth overnight. it could be seen from the west coast burning up in the atmosphere but scientists admit they may never know exactly where it came down. the projected path had the satellite re-entering the atmosphere in the ocean off the pacific northwest and that's why nasa believes all or nearly all the chunks fell. overseas, russian prime minister vladimir putin said today he would try to retake the presidency in elections next year. putin's victory could make him russia's rule until 2024. he has already been endorsed by the current president, dimitry medvedev, who would swap jobs with putin and become prime minister. in eastern germany, a man was detained after firing an air gun after firing at the pope's mass. the pope praised catholics over

what he called the acid rain effect. and in the florida strait, swimmer diana nyad is about a third of a way to her 103-mile swim from cuba to the united states. the 62-year-old swimmer endured a night of painful jellyfish stings. she was forced to abandon a similar swim last month after suffering an asthma attack. and after several practice flights, darting around the sky, in the mountains of china, american jeb corliss, wearing a wing suit was ready for the main event. jumping from a helicopter, corliss glided down into a valley and right through a hollow cave. corliss said it was a spectacular experience. ahead, as a high-level assassination doomed afghan peace hopes?

>> mitchell: three days of mourning for former afghan president burhanuddin rabbani ended today with a memorial in kabul. he was murdered earlier this week by a suicide bomber with explosives hidden in his turban at a meeting for peace talks with the taliban. mandy clark is in kabul. mandy, let me ask you first of all, what has the murder of rabbani done to the peace process? >> well, the process probably died with rabbani. prior to his murder, u.s. and afghan officials said there was some progress in reconciliation with insurgents but with his death it appears it's a categorical rejection by militants of any peace plan. it's very difficult to see how any talks can be revived at this stage. and if there are no peace negotiations then victory has to come from the battlefield but u.s. troops are already withdrawing and the afghan forces are not ready to step up yet. rabbani's death has also caused ethnic tensions. rabbani was an ethnic tajik from

the north. now the taliban is a largely pashtun movement from the south and it has alienated a lot of tribes here. so rabbani was seen as the elder statesman who could bridge that ethnic divide. >> mitchell: mandy, how would you describe the atmosphere at rabbani's funeral yesterday? >> reporter: there was real anger, thousands of mourners had turned out for the funeral, and there was live coverage of the event, but it was stopped short when rabbani supporters started throwing rocks at official cars and chanting antigovernment and anti-u.s. slogans, angered by their support of peace talks with the taliban. there was also a very strong anti-pakistani sentiment. many people here blame their neighbor for stirring up violence here and providing safe havens for insurgents who operate in afghanistan. >> mitchell: mandy clark in kabul, thank you very much. ahead, libyan schools dropping qaddafi from the curriculum. that story is next.

>> mitchell: and finally this >> mitchell: and finally this evening, soldiers of libya's provisional government inched their way deeper into the town of surt. one of the last remaining strong hold of muammar qaddafi supporters. meanwhile, it's back to school in tripoli, after a summer of the youngsters will never forget. elizabeth palmer has more. >> reporter: it may look to students of al mrooj primary school like the same old classroom and the same old desks. but make no mistake, says najla al-bishti, an english teacher-- everything has changed. what used to be there? >> muammar qaddafi's picture. >> reporter: it was a big one? >> yes, it was a big one. >> reporter: at morning assembly, other symbols of qaddafi's power are gone, too. the national anthem is new and so is the flag. for the past six months, these

kids have witnessed libyans fighting libyans in a civil war. now, najla's 11-year-old daughter, ro'iya, tells her classmates we must plant the seed of forgiveness. but it may be a little too soon for that. the school principal, a qaddafi supporter, is not among the returning staff. he was told not to show up. for 42 years, libyans were force fed qaddafi's bizarre teachings and his speeches. now they have a choice. they can't reject it fast enough. the special room set aside for the student qaddafi fan club has been trashed. a rug in the hall with qaddafi's head on it is trampled daily. it all feels like a kind of exorcism. >> reporter: the kids, though, are moving on. asked by najla to recite a qaddafi poem everybody once had

to memorize, they balked. >> they didn't want to say it. >> reporter: finally, one little girl agrees. although, clearly she and her classmates think it's nonsense. with absolutely no bearing on either their lives or their future. elizabeth palmer, cbs news. >> mitchell: and that is the cbs evening news. i'm russ mitchell at the cbs broadcast center in new york. good night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org d the team's expl . a tempest over a t-shirt. why a shark fan is being told what not to wear at tonight's game and the team's explanation for the edict. he was just kind of like a little free spirit all over this town. >> he cruised his way around the bay area community in his

wheelchair. tonight he's the fatal victim of a hit and crash. what happened before the man was hit. hours away from being back on u.s. soil, the parting comments of the cal grads after more than two years in an iranian prison. cbs 5 eyewitness news is next. ,, [ male announcer ] at green giant we know nature gives us the most nutritious of gifts. but only when they are ready to be given. that's why we pick vegetables at their peak. ...and freeze them fast, locking in nutrients ...for you to unwrap. ♪ ho, ho, ho. green giant