captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> brown: two indiana towns were heavily damaged today as a powerful wave of violent weather moved from the gulf coast to the great lakes. good evening. i'm jeffrey brown. >> suarez: and i'm ray suarez. on the newshour tonight, we get an update on the situation from meteorologist gregg carbin with the national weather service storm prediction center. >> brown: then, we get the latest on the syrian situation, and hear from wounded british photographer paul conroy, who was smuggled out earlier this week. >> suarez: and we also talk with turkey's ambassador to the united states about the international response to the

humanitarian crisis on its doorstep. >> brown: plus, margaret warner reports from moscow on the upcoming elections as valdimir putin seeks to regain the presidency. >> suarez: and mark shields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: bnsf railway. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> suarez: tornadoes raked the midwest and south today for the second time this week. at least three people were killed in indiana, and towns in four states were hit hard. throughout the day, sightings of funnel clouds, like this one in alabama, kept coming. one of the worst hit late this afternoon in southern indiana. a sheriff reported the town of marysville, home to 1,900 people, was "completely gone." other storms also caused damage north of louisville, kentucky; near chattanooga, tennessee; and just outside huntsville, alabama. in bradley county, tennessee, near chattanooga, high winds tore down the wall of a hardware store, and knocked over several tractor trailers. >> when it hit, the noise is unbelievable. you know, everything's moving. the pressure's just unbelievable. i could feel stuff moving around

the room where i was. i mean, i could feel the stuff blowing into my face, and you begin to pray real quick. >> suarez: in alabama, a number of houses and a middle school were severely damaged in meridianville, but thousands of students there and in other states had been sent home in advance. earlier this week, another round of tornadoes had wrecked much of harrisburg, illinois, and killed 13 people in several states. >> i spoke to major adams in southern indiana. major adams, thanks for joining us. first, start with the town of marysville. it sounds like terrible destruction there. what can you tell us? >> well, first reported, jeff, and marysville was called in from is it thes, stating that marysville was completely gone. i do have two officers that have been in the marysville area since that time, and there is some severe damage and things

like that, but certainly not as bald as first reported. we're concentrating most of our efforts right now to a little northern town here from the county seat, henryville, indiana. that seems to be where most damage has occurred. >> you can tell, was this one tornado, multiple tornadoes? do you know at this point? >> no, i sure don't know at this point. it seems like our damage has stretched from the far western parent of the county all the way to the eastern part, probably about a 25-mile stretch, if you have to drive that. but it looks like henryville, which is approximately 19 miles north of louisville, kentucky, seems to be our most heavily hit. we did have a report earlier when school was going on, before school let out, that the henryville high school had been struck with heavy damage.

there were student inside. but since the time i've spoken with my school resource officer that's assigned to that high school, and all the students were evacuated with very minor injuries and just a few cuts and abrasions. no injuries whatsoever to any of the students that were life threatening. i do have one reported fatality, also in the henryville area at this time. but i really can't even say whether that's storm related as of now, the corner hasn't even shown up at the scene. >> brown: what about the local and state response at this point? what are you able to do? >> well, i've got-- we're taking a list here at the office. we're being inundated with calls from citizens and people who want to volunteer, i have surrounding counties bringing in their street and highway department crews to clear some of the roadways. of course, we've got all the public service companies out tonight, and we're just trying to clear everything up and take

all the calls as they come in. >> brown: all right, major chuck adams, thanks so much for joining us, and good luck to everyone there. >> another thank you very much. >> we're joined live by corka meteorologist for the national weather service storm prediction center. what can you tell us about the number and power of the tornadoes? >> well, it's been one of those unfortunate days that we happen to see, especially in that transition from late winter into spring. this came on quite rapidly this morning. however, the forecast from the storm prediction center were right on target a few days ago. very worrisome when we see storms developing so rapidly in the morning hours when we know the day will unfold in such a way to bring the devastation our thoughts go out to the people in the areas affected today. >> brown: whether you say a storm, storm, is it one tornado, many tornadoes? do you know at this point? >> it's how you define the

storm. we're looking at a large area of low pressure, a cyclone, really, that is driving most of the this activity, and within the larger circulation are the thunderstorms that move across the landscape, the lower ohio valley and midwest were the areas today most at risk for continueses and obviously we saw long-track damaging tornadoes with part of a larger cyclone. >> brown: what causes this? >> well, it's really the transition season. we still have the wind speeds in the atmosphere that are very common in the winter months, very powerful wind speeds in the upper leveles of of the atmosphere, the jet stream level. deep, low pressure systems that we see bring blizzard conditions. to the south of blizzard conditions where you have the warm air and moisture that starts to increase as we move into the springtime months, that bring together the ingredients needed for thunderstorm development and wind sheer brings other ingredient needed for violent tornadoes, unfortunately. >> brown: would this be that you felt as unusual right now, or whether the power of the

storm or the timing of the storm? >> well, when we see violent weather like this, almost all of these events are rash unusual, soarily in march in the last dozen years or so, we've seen an event along these lines maybe four times in the last dozen arizona. you can kind of see a return frequency on something like this perhaps every three to five years. >> brown: you mentioned the forecast. how much warning is there when something like this is coming? how much ahead of time would the residents know what might be about to hit them? >> we had the first event midweek and that kind of set the stage for this more significant event today. we have been looking at the weather conditions the last five days, looking at this friday as being a particularly dangerous situation with these tornadoes. we ramp up our forecast because certainty is never really there with the event, but you become more certain of the potential. this morning we knew it was going to be a bad day,.

basically spelling out the threat that existed across this area. >> brown: is it your sense that your track ability is better and the ability to the ground to get the word out has become better over the years? >> it has. there's no question about that. the systems that are in place to give people the warnings they need to take appropriate actions in advance of these storms are in place. many of these cities and towns do have siren systems but there's noaaa weather radio and the partners that work with the national weather system are a pretty good group, and pretty good team to get the word out ahead of this dangerous weather and hopefully we'll see the results in lower faicalities and carbuls will but it sounds like we have a few this evening. >> brown: what do you look for in the the next few hours or days? >> this system will continue to be a danger overnight, especially across portions of eastern kentucky, 10 see, across the appalachians tonight and the southeast tomorrow, whole entire frontal system will move east

and south overnight tonight and pose a risk for severe storms in georgia and florida tomorrow. >> brown: all right, greg carbin of the national weather system, thank you very much. >> thank you ujeffrey. >> suarez: still to come on the newshour: the situation in syria; a russian election preview; and shields and brooks. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: there were mass protests across yemen today. crowds turned out in 18 of the country's 21 provinces. they demanded that officers loyal to the country's ousted leader be purged from the armed forces. former president ali abdullah saleh handed over power to abed rabbo mansour hadi last month after a year's worth of violent protests. saleh's son and nephew remain in charge of the powerful republican guard and central security forces. in iran, parliamentary elections took place, in a vote that's expected to reinforce the rule of islamic hard-liners. people waited in voting lines in the country's first major election since president mahmoud ahmadinejad won a disputed re-election in june of 2009. that outcome led to widespread

protests and a crackdown. the outcome of today's voting was not expected to change iran's nuclear program or other key policies. the prime minister of israel warned the world today against resuming nuclear talks with iran. benjamin netanyahu spoke in canada, ahead of his weekend arrival in washington. he argued that tehran would use nuclear negotiations simply as a stalling tactic. >> it could do again when it's done before-- it could pursue or exploit the talks, as they've done in the past, to deceive and to delay so that they can continue to advance their nuclear program and get to the nuclear finish line by running the clock, running you want clock, so to speak. >> sreenivasan: netanyahu also defended israel's right to defend itself against iranian nuclear attack, possibly, by a pre-emptive strike. meanwhile, president obama warned that no one should underestimate u.s. opposition to iran going nuclear. in an interview, he told "the atlantic" magazine: "as president of the united states, i don't bluff.

when the united states says it is unacceptable for iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say." the president also weighed into a furor involving a college student and birth control. sandra fluke had appeared before congressional democrats to urge that insurers be required to cover contraceptives. conservative radio host rush limbaugh then branded fluke "a slut" who wants to be paid for having sex. today, the president telephoned fluke to voice his support. a spokesman said he considers limbaugh's remarks "reprehensible". on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average lost two points to close at 12,977. the nasdaq fell 12 points to close at 2,976. for the week, the dow lost half a percent; the nasdaq rose about half a percent. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to ray. >> suarez: the syrian government proclaimed today it had lebanon. >> reporter: these protesters north of homs wanted to prove, despite the surrender of the stronghold baba amr, the uprising goes on. but the regime didn't like that.

( gunfire ) it was probably a syrian army mortar shell, as well as panic, there was death, claims that 12 people were killed are entirely credible. we think this woman lost her son. the assad regime is butchering the own people. the history of homs is being written in the blood of its citizens. the situation there is truly terrible, constant shelling, no water, no food, no medicine, freezing conditions. it is a scene of medieval barbarity. >> reporter: despite all the riskes, protesters have gone to

cities. these pictures were taken in damascus. and this is the country's second city, where there were also clashes with the state security forces. following the fall of baba amr, after almost a month-long siege, the syrian regime seemingly relented on the issue of aid and gave the red cross permission to go in with supplies. but a day later, the regime has still to make good on that promise and the would-be helpers are frustrated by the delay. >> it is unacceptable that the people of baba amr have not received any assistance or humanitarian aid in weeks now. >> reporter: despite the surrender of the heart of the protest, baba amr, the uprising goes on elsewhere in syria. it seems nothing can contain it now, not even sustained brutality.

>> brown: there are only a few western reporters who witnessed first-hand the assault on homs. last week, two journalists were killed, including american war correspondent marie colvin. her photographer, paul conroy, was injured during the attack. he was smuggled out of syria, and today spoke to jon snow of itn's "channel four news". >> i think we left behind one of the-- another unfolding tragedy that in 10, 15 years the world will say how did we sit there once again and let this happen? and the town can hardly be called a town any more, just mass destruction, children, women, men huddled together, basically planning their last minutes. the shelling reached a crescendo. i've been to a few wars, and unparalleled, systematic-- there are no targets in baba amr. there are no military targets. this is a systematic destruction

of civilians, property, everything that they stand for is gone. >> reporter: paul, as you were coming out, could you get any sense of how many people there really are still holed up there? >> a lot of people still there. very few people actually evacuated from baba amr. simply, once the siege started, there was no way out. so i don't know if the illusion that it was evacuated. it wasn't. they were exterminated. they've been systematically eye went into a building after my injury. it was a street. they were in the safest house they could find. i left that building. the street had effectively gone, it looked like some of the french towns in world war i, there were women, children, screaming, panic, and people would come up to me and say, "where is our help?" i had no 0 answers.

it's system at legislature. it is not war. it this is not a war. this is a massacre. >> leaders of the opposition syrian national council met in turkey today with the country's foreign minister. the council's leader called for opening a military bureau in turkey to coordinate of resistance. once a close ally and trading parentener of damascus, they have taken a tougher stance against the assad regime. syrian official capitol hill no longer enter turkey. all transaction with syria's central bank have been cut off and there are some 10,000 refugees along the two countries' 500-mile border. for more we turn to turkey's ambassador to washington, namik tan. ambassador, welcome. the syrian army has entered homs. there are reports of widespread arrests, even execution u.s. right on the street. has your government made a

formal reaction to syria? >> well, thank you for giving me this opportunity to express our views and thoughts on a very, very serious issue. actually, yes, from the very beginning, we have a principled stance on syria. syria has lost its chances to carry on. once i think a very meaningful relationship with turkey. why? because it turned a blind eye to the demands of its own people. we are for the people of syria. turkey has, from the very beginning, had, i think, shown a very strong reaction to the killings, to the atrocities, to the shelling of the cities, to the humanitarian disaster that has been caused by the, i think,

the upreasonable acts of the syrian administration. and for the time being, we have had no change in our position. it's, i think, a responsibility for us as the, i think, one of the most important neighbors of syria to try to protect the civilians. >> suarez: is it turkey's position that there can be no future for syria with bashar al-assad in charge? >> well, i think it is almost over, i can say, because syrian administration from the very beginning, really we could not understand why they did this. but they were quite reluctant to what we asked them to do.

>> suarez: there are some suggestions in our program that this is another perhaps serve thesa? this is a humanitarian disaster? >> the conditions there from the reports we received from our sources in the region, the situation is very, very difficult. and i think it is-- it can well be described as a disaster. >> suarez: last night on our program, one of the leaders will of the syrian national council from istanbul called for international help and called for weapons. is turkey willing to help arm the syrian resistance? >> look, i think some of the things are easier said than done. are of course, i know the first thing that we want to do is to protect the civilians.

humanitarian efforts are much more important than anything else at this moment. military involvement is not in our agenda at-- for the time being. >> suarez: are you afraid of a humanitarian crisis spilling over into your country if people try to leave syria? >> well, actually, we are hosting around 10,000 syrians in our country, in adjacent areases. actually it's my home town. and we will continue to host them as long as they need our help. that should be known. and we are able to it provide them the necessary needs and i think as much as we receive such demands, we will address them. >> suarez: you say that military help is not on your agenda. but you also note that you're an

important country in the region, a neighbor of turkey, a rising power, a nato member, one of the largest military forces in nato. isn't turkey uniquely prepared, more prepared than other neighbors of syria, to help out in this regard? >> this is a good question. look, i think, the key word here is legitimacy. legitimacy is more important than anything else. what i mean by legitimacy, there are two aspects of the legitimacy. one is the internal aspect, the other one is the international aspect. the internal international aspect should be designed or engineered by the u.n. we don't have any u.n. decision, resolution from the u.n. security council. they failed, as you know. so we should also have legitimate-- legitimacy, i think, domestically, which means i think should be i think full

embracing, and i think powerful opposition, which covers every aspect of the people in syria. so in both fronts, we have not gotten really quite at that stage yet. >> suarez: but if, as you say, the u.n. is stuck, unable to move, does that just leave the people of syria to their suffering? >> no, i think that's why-- that's why we are trying to bolden the base of international front. that's why we were, i think, we were critically involved, and we were very instrumental in putting up this so-called syrian-- syrian people food and had a very successful meeting in tunisia on the 24th of february. and i think that's one of the

steps that we're building on. that's a platform that would create some legitimacy. that's what we are trying to do. >> suarez: syria, as you note, not only is a neighbor of turkey but also of iraq, of jordan, of lebanon, of israel. it is in a very, very tense spot in the neighborhood. is an unstable sirria-- syria dangerous to everybody in the eastern mediterranean? >> i could not agree more. i think it is dangerous for stability and i think peace in the region which we need most in that volatile region. look at the region very carefully. there are enormous challenges. you talk about iraq. we have asun, entire middle east

, the arab spring. so if you put them together, this, i think, tragedy we don't need. >> suarez: ambassador tan, thank you very much for joining us. >> i thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. thank you so much. >> brown: next, russia two days before voters go to the polls to elect a new president. prime minister vladimir putin voiced confidence today that he'll be the victor, and he called the massive protests by opposition groups "a good experience for russia." margaret warner has been in moscow all week and filed this report. >> warner: vladimir putin is out on the stump making a pitch to get back his old job, president of russia. as the month-long official campaign season here closes in on sunday's election, the prime minister is favored to win, and big enough to avoid a run-off.

term limits forced him to cede the presidency four years ago to dmitri medvedev. but now, he's back in full presidential wannabe mode on state tv non-stop as he criss- crosses the country. and he's everywhere here, too-- on the banners of an opposition movement that's sprouted in a few short months. thousands formed a human chain in central moscow last sunday to call for "russia without putin" >> i believe 12 years of mr. putin is too much for russia. >> warner: opposition stars mustered alongside ordinary citizens young and old in a defiant yet jubilant display unthinkable just a few years ago. environmental activist evgenia chirikova has blossomed into an opposition leader. >> ( translated ): it's a clear cue for mr. putin that a crook and a thief has no place in the

kremlin. we had enough humiliation. >> warner: for many, that humiliation was epitomized by putin's bid to return with a job-flipping announcement by medvedev last september. simmering resentment let loose on the internet then, wide suspicions of fraud in december's parliamentary elections blew it open into the streets. >> we have to stop sitting in our apartments. we have now to do something for the political system. >> warner: we rode to sunday's rally with 25-year-old interpreter dmitry makarov. never active before, he was stirred to action when social media spread videos of voter intimidation and ballot- stuffing. >> so evident and so arrogant that we thought it's not real, but when your friends upload the video to facebook or they send a

photo to twitter, and you believe your friends, right? >> warner: 12 years of putin power have brought benefits to makarov and many like him, as russia's freed-up economy rode atop sky-high oil and gas prices. now, he says, government needs to catch up. >> we're not satisfied with how the government works. they are too far behind us. we want good service at a restaurant, but at the same time, we want good service at a court. >> warner: but you don't get that good service, he said, unless you pay bribes, and the same goes for lucrative government contracts. >> we want laws that protect a regular person. >> warner: so, you want an end to this sort of privileged government class? >> absolutely. >> warner: alleged sweetheart deals for putin's friends and family have been exposed by bloggers like activist alexei navalny. veteran putin opponents use older-style methods to publicize what they say is a deep and pervasive rot.

>> many people understood that he's working not so much on russia as much more on his personal wealth and his personal good life. >> warner: independent parliamentarian vladimir ryzhkov was muscled out of politics after putin ascended. >> putin is not reformist, he's a reactionary. he tries keep same corruption status quo in russia; we want real system reforms. >> warner: systemic reform of corruption can't come under putin, believes analyst masha lipman of the carnegie moscow center. >> corruption in russia is not, if i may, a malignant tumor, on an otherwise healthy body that can be severed, and then body can live and develop. it's actually the very texture of the russian governance. people who close to putin, who

constitute his elite, can expect, can rely on the government cover-up if they do something unlawful. >> warner: among the victims of that corruption, young professionals like 32-year-old denis fedorov. at an art opening this week, he said his american employer loses business because its banned by u.s. law from paying bribes. >> we cannot do some part of our work, we cannot get some contracts because, otherwise, we have to give money. >> warner: and this colors federov's feelings about putin and his entire rule. >> what i feel about our government, about putin-- i feel shame. >> warner: fedorov's friend, sergey balandim, baby daughter in his arms, concedes the system is rigged. but he values the stability and opportunity putin has brought. >> ( translated ): i'm afraid of disorder. any change of power threatens economic and political instability.

in the elections, i will vote for putin. >> warner: the gains of the putin years ended turbulence of the post-soviet '90s and the ruble's collapse. now, russian voters are ready to vote their gratitude. far from cosmopolitan downtown moscow is this gritty industrial district and andrey bondarenko's auto repair shop. the former communist opened his own business after the soviet union collapsed. those were hard early days, but putin righted things. >> ( translated ): i support vladimir putin. he brought russia up from its knees. we didn't have enough food then, and now the store shelves are full. >> warner: what do you think about people calling him "tsar"? >> ( translated ): he's not a tsar, he's a regular guy, a real common man. he's a man of action. >> warner: do you feel a lack of freedom? >> ( translated ): i absolutely do not feel anything like that.

working class people have lots of freedom. >> if you remember russia in the '90s, it was a country with chaos in the economy. >> warner: putin's deputy campaign manager, pavil zenkovich, says millions of russians like bondarenko have long memories, and know his candidate has delivered for them. >> what people see in putin, they see the guarantee that there will be an evolution, but there will be that there will be stability. they see in putin they won't lose their salaries, the factories will be growing. no other candidate in the campaign can deliver that. they see no alternative. >> warner: that's just the point, the opposition says-- there is no real alternative in sunday's elections. the kremlin's election commission permitted only three old faces on the ballot, like the perennial communist candidate gennady zuganov; and just one new face, billionaire new jersey nets owner mikhail prokhorov.

despite his western-style campaign, he hasn't cracked 10% in the polls. still, he sees an emerging coalition waiting to be led. >> ( translated ): a year ago, my nomination for presidency was not even possible. but after the parliamentary elections, the situation drastically changed. i will bring together a new political force to unify not only protestors, but those who want real change. >> warner: but ryzhkov says the race is illegitimate because the kremlin stacked the candidate deck. >> putin selected opponents himself. it was selection before the election. all these petitioners for elections are more or less managed by putin and his regime, >> warner: whether falsity will mark the vote itself is being watched by civic groups and liberal parties, who've trained volunteers as election observers.

>> we'll have lots of people going from one station to another. >> warner: ksenia sokolvas independent group golos also runs a web site that's compiling allegations of pre-ballot vote rigging >> this person says his boss told everyone how to vote and promised presents for good votes. >> warner: even the russian government is installing web cameras in 90,000 voting stations. however that vote goes, putin will retake the reins of a society that's deeply split between old and new. >> putin has his core constituency-- people who do not live in big cities, people who share the psychology of dependence and they rely on the government. >> warner: on the other side, says analyst lipman, is an urbanized middle class increasingly working in the private sector.

that split can be seen in moscow itself. on the solid ice of a windswept lake near soviet-era apartment blocks, venyamin batov was having little luck with the fish. but no matter. >> ( translated ): everything changes for the better. look at me, i'm a pensioner. i'm sitting here enjoying myself, and i get my pension on time and i am happy! >> warner: his pal nearby isn't quite so happy, but feels the protestors offer him nothing. >> ( translated ): they are uncoordinated. there are not many people, and there are no leaders with a clear and realistic program. >> warner: a half-hour away, inside what was once the red october chocolate factory, is rain tv, an internet and small- scale cable channel which runs live coverage of protests and voices not heard on state- controlled television. chief producer and newscaster renat davletgildeev says the fact that his mostly twenty-

something staff came of age after the soviet union, but before putin, makes rain tv different in crucial ways. >> ( translated ): honesty, freedom, a feeling of fresh air. our journalists do not have these mental barriers of inner censorship that tell you what you should say and what you should not. >> warner: he says they also embrace different values than those celebrated by the putin era. >> ( translated ): for the last ten years, society pursued a concept of happiness that meant a salary that is paid on time. you can go to ikea once a week to buy a piece of furniture, and you own a ford focus car. now, people want more. at the base of the pyramid, you have basic human needs. but at the top is this self- identification that people are now striving for, that their opinion should count. >> warner: if putin wins handily on sunday, how he handles this emerging new class could be crucial to his success. >> brown: our team in moscow will be filing a special online report on election day.

you'll find that on our web site at newshour.pbs.org. >> suarez: and now to the republican presidential campaign, with just a few days before voters across the country weigh in. kwame holman has our report. >> holman: the candidates largely were focused on the ten states that vote on super tuesday. but mitt romney took time to swing through bellevue, washington, hoping to secure a win in tomorrow's caucuses there. >> there are going to be a bunch of states that are going to make their mind up in the next couple of days, but you guys are first, and so your voice is going to be heard. ( applause ) it will just make a big difference, so please make sure and go to the caucus site, and get your friends to do the same thing. >> holman: ron paul also was in washington, speaking in spokane. >> you know, things have been going very well.

we keep coming back to washington because we expect to do real well here. ( cheers and applause ) >> holman: from the pacific northwest, romney headed to ohio, a critical super tuesday prize, where rick santorum held a small lead in a new poll. santorum appealed for support today in chillicothe. >> you have a chance to make a statement that we want someone who is a conservative in their heart, in their soul, in their mind; someone who's not afraid to stand up and talk about all of the issues. >> holman: in a press release, but not on the stump, santorum also criticized romney for a 2002 video. it showed him campaigning for governor of massachusetts, and boasting about getting federal funds, something he's slammed santorum for in the past. >> the money is in washington. i've learned from my olympic experience that if you have people that really understand how washington works and have personal associations there, you

can get money to help build economic development opportunities. >> holman: meanwhile, newt gingrich campaigned again in georgia, the state he once represented in congress. he went after both romney and santorum. >> unlike governor romney, i am not going to go to washington to manage the decay, and unlike senator santorum, i am not going to washington to join the team. i want to create a new team called the american people who forced dramatic bold, dramatic change on washington. >> holman: georgia shaped up as a must-win for gingrich in his bid to stay alive in the republican race. >> brown: and finally tonight to the analysis of shields and brooks-- syndicated columnist mark shields, "new york times" columnist david brooks. last week when you sat here, it was mitt romney must win michigan. he did. how important was it, david? >> it was important. it makes him the presumptive nominee, i think, again, so i think it was part plea his victory but mostly santorum's defeat. >> in what sense? >> i think santorum had a head of steam going but he went down into social conservative

territory in the final week and you see the wall building around his campaign. he had the social conservative but she lost outreach to people outside that ideological vanguard, and that sort of hemmed him in. if republican women went more for romney. we have a classic confrontation which we've seen in races before where santorum has the more down-scale voters, romney the more upscale, and overall there are just more romney type of voters than santorum voters. that doesn't mean that will be the case in ohio. ohio is a little like michigan but a little more downscale. >> brown: before you get to ohio, what is your read on michigan? >> rick santorum blew michigan. he will look back on michigan as the missed opportunity of his public career. david is right, abandoning the very narrative that brought him to where he was it's grandson of the miner, the blue collar republican who was concerned with manufacturing, for those who weren't part of the country

club set. and he did that-- this isn't a man with a chip on his shoulder. he has a two by four on his shoulder. he accuses the president of snobbery for wanting people to go to college. and many of the people he's trumpeting as heroes, those who spend long days and difficult physical labor want-- most want their children to go to college. and then doing the unthinkable-- attacking the icon of john kennedy before the houston ministers one at a time of anti-catholicism in the country when there was a lot of it, he, the first catholic ever elected, had to go into foreign, alien territory and make the case that the pope wasn't packing up to move to the white house accomplished it without losing his integrity that sort of stuff was just-- it's not kind of thing you expect in a bad lieutenant

governor's race let alone a presidential race. >> brown: we look forward to super tuesday and ohio and you heard calmy say rick santorum seems to have a slight read. >> slight, though diminishing. it's narrowed since the michigan win. i fundamentally think right now romney can afford to lose ohio. he's going to lose a bunch of states, probably, some of the southern state and i think he can afford to do that abuse he's basically established two things, first, a sort of identity with the upscale republican voters of whom there are a lot, state after state. and second, he tend to be acceptable to different-- almost all parts of the party among pretty conservative voters he does okay. among mainstream voters, among moderate voters. very conservative he doesn't do okay. but among the center of the party he does okay. he's in the enviable position of being able to survive some defeats. the downside of where he is right now he lost what he had a month ago which was a clear

narrative of who he was which was appealing to independents. he now has become much more conservative, and has a tax plan filled with debt and made himself a weaker candidate. >> anthony: what about ron paul, gingrich, and santorum himself. if romney can afford to lose-- >> i'm not sure he can afford to lose. that little video that kwame showed in the setup piece, mitt romney 2002, talking talking abg about raiding the public treasury, look like don draper out of "mad men "surprising similarity. they're the insiders, the ones corrupted by all those years on the banking of potomac and staying inside the beltway, and he was the outsider, the white knight-- a little bit tarnished. ron paul has to win somewhere.

people ask what's his motive? i don't know what his motive-- i think he wants to influence policy. he is the only candidate in the field, jeff, who has not had to revisit his positions, has not had to rewrite his record, has not had to repudiate past statements. he's been consistent but he's got to win, and washington state, where he finally is going after romney as well as both gingrich and santorum, may be his best chance. idaho, he's-- they're spend something resources on. newt gingrich, has to win georgia. un, it looks like a three-way race. santorum has given him a real tuftle there. but he really needs a victory in georgia and an impressive victory, too. >> brown: you see the same mistakes? >> i guess i do. i'm not sure ron paul has to win as much. if he can rack up delegates -- and he's paying a lot of attention to dignities-- if he can get a lot of delegates, there will be a lot of people on the floor for ron paul, and i

think that's what he wants in terms of future, influencing the party. gingrich, he has said he has to win georgia but the oddity of the thing is citizenses united and the super pacs, candidates who lose, if they have rich billionaires, maybe even one, they can keep going. citizenses united prolongs primary campaigns. the real perversity is in the short term. i don't know how it will be in the short term, right now they're helping barack obama by making the republicans mutually unattractive. >> brown: let's turn to him. a big speech to the u.a.w. part of the narrative seemed to be, look, things are getting better. >> i think the president would like to keep the ohio and michigan primaries going in perpetuitiy. ( laughter ) because, you know, as one leading republican in ohio told me who was out there this week, he said the auto thing is working for him here. it helps the president.

>> brown: he was able to say we went in and did something. >> there are not a lot of mention of other initiatives, but this is one americans celebrate. each day, the further good news from the auto industry. and the president-- i would eye don't think-- it's no longer midnight in mirk, and maybe there's a hint of dawn, but i think so that there's a little bit of getting ahead of the story, but i think where things are improving and that's good. i think identifying optimism is always good for any leader. and picking up on the sound that clint eastwood articulated so well at the half time of the super bowl. i think building on that with the reality of what's working in both michigan and in the midwest in general, and ohio in particular. >> brown: does the president have to be careful with this message because of potential dangers ahead? >> well, yes, obviously, he lauded the chevy volt, and chevy

just announced the volt is suspending production for i think five weeks because of slow sales. you do have to worry about getting out in front. i would say the political mood has gotten a little out in front. there's a mood obama is cruising to victory and the republicans have sunk. >> brown: you seal that? >> i'm sure a lot of republicans feel that and even democrats think they will win that thing. and that's too far out front. if you look at is the country headed in the right direction, there's still a lot of negativity. there's an expectation of slow growth for the remainder of the year. i have a very smart friend who is a democratic consultant said romney will look dead six times done now and november but he will keep drifting back because fundamentally the country really doesn't want change, and obama's central policies, health care, stimulus, are still fundamentally unpopular. things will looka bad for republicans but it's too soon to say. >> brown: is it your sense that the obama folks in the campaign know this, that they

can't get too far ahead of themselves? >> i think there is. but they've been down so long, that now that they're up, they're feeling pretty good,ening. i agree with david. sort of the conventional wisdom, jeff, a matter of four months ago, was obama was gone, republicans were quite bullish. in private they would talk about they couldn't wait to get him. now those same republicans are pretty glum. i mean, they found that romney is not caught on after two campaigns. he still stumbles as he did over the question about the roy blunt amendment in the senate this week. he's done it time and again. this was on the-- in the aftermath of this great victories in arizona and michigan. he comes into ohio and stumbles on that. there's a certain loss of confidence there. but i don't think there's any question, david's right, between $5-a-gallon gasoline, and democrats will not be nearly as bullish. >> brown: just a couple of

minutes left, but just to pick up on that because while talking about domestic events, in the meantime the world is too much with us. syria, we just talked about it at the beginning of the program. afghanistan, iran, a meeting with benjamin netanyahu for the president coming up. how do all these things bubble up in the world we're talking about? >> we've elevated our tone here. it's tough. well, to me the most important thing globally barack obama did this week was give an interview to jeffrey goldberg "of the atlantic" and what was striking is it he said it's unacceptable in terms i think bolder than he's used before for iran to get a nuclear weapon. it will not happen. and he really sent the message to israel, we've got your back and we're not bluffing. part of that was to hold the israeli offs from doing anything rash. but part of it really was laying

down red lines, as they say, and it was quite a bold-- quite a sophisticated interview. it's worth reading online. it's quite a bold statement the president saying it's not going to happen. >> and a meeting with benjamin netanyahu on monday. >> i agree. i thought the interview is well worth reading. the president i thought was sending a message to both sides that we're serious about this, both iran and israel. israel, don't act. and iran, you better be very careful. at the same time, we're looking at our third potential war in 11 years. and is it too much to ask that we have a public debate on this, that it not be conducted in interviews with distinguished journalists or just on speculation? i mean, is it too much too ask that the president make a case for sending americans into harm

's way and that the congress of the united states, especially with this fever about the constitution, return to the constitution, that maybe declaring war or debating whether we go to war is timely? it's just-- this is-- you know, when things are sort of ellipt callie heading into a confrontation, and a serious one. >> brown: your sense is now is the time to have that conversation. >> now is the time to have it. i really do believe that. >> gray. i don't think short-term sanctions are going to work to deter iran. i'm very dubious about the bombing of iran. i don't think anything's going to work of work, to be honest. i assumed we will learn to live with the nuclear program but apparently that's not going to happen. >> brown: david brooks, mark shields, as always, thanks a lot. >> suarez: again, the major developments of the day: tornadoes raked the midwest and south for the second time this week. at least three people were

killed in indiana. the syrian government proclaimed it had "cleansed" part of the city of homs. the announcement came amid reports of executions and mass arrests. and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu warned the world against resuming nuclear talks with iran. he spoke in canada, ahead of a monday meeting with president obama. and to hari sreenivasan for what's on the newshour online. hari. >> sreenivasan: mark and david talk sports and politics on "the doubleheader." on "art beat," jeff spoke with the hosts of the first pbs online film festival. and tonight's edition of "need to know" goes back to ohio in advance of tuesday's primary. they revisit the stories of four people hit hard by the recession, and ask what they want from the presidential hopefuls. here's an excerpt. >> here in ohio, we've seen deep resilience in the face of real economic stress. >> i have to keep on moving on. >> reporter: and now with ohio's critical republican primary just days away, the most important state of all on super tuesday, some in the middle

class remain unconvinced that any candidate from any party understands what's happened here. >> i don't think any politician can ever feel my pain. >> reporter: when we first met leanne chambers last september, she was following the same morning routine she followed for nearly a decade. she's a public school teacher, and she's always up early. on the surface, it seemed like any normal day. but like millions of americans, leanne chambers was facing a very different economic future than she had just a few years ago. in 2011, this highly regarded teacher was laid off from her job, joining more than 10,000 other public employees will in ohio who had lost their jobs in recent years because of budget cuts. >> i never saw it coming. i thought when i became a teacher that i was that was one of the most secure positions i could ask for in ohio. >> reporter: the next school year, 43-year-old leanne was hired back, full time, five days

a week, teaching second grade in a new school, but there was a catch-- so what percentage of your original pay are you getting? >> 50%. >> reporter: and your benefits? >> i have no benefits. and i'm not aallowed to dip into the sick time. >> reporter: that's right, same job, same hours, but now it's half the pay and none of the benefits. why? because leann was now classified as a substitute teacher. >> it's a shocking blow. it's something that you don't want to happen and when it happens, it's almost surreal. >> reporter: leann chambers was just one of millions of american workers who are feeling their world shift beneath them, whether it's their takehome pay, their benefits, or their job security, the life they thought they knew had fundamentally changed. >> there's >> sreenivasan: there's a link to more of "need to know's" coverage on our web site. all that and more is at newshour.pbs.org.

ray. >> suarez: and that's the newshour for tonight. on monday, we'll have our own on-the-ground look at the g.o.p. presidential contest in ohio from judy woodruff. i'm ray suarez. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. "washington week" can be seen later this evening on most pbs stations. we'll see you online, and again here monday evening. have a nice weekend. thanks for joining us. good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions

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