captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: republicans cast votes in ten states on this super tuesday, with the largest batch of delegates at stake so far in the presidential race. good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight, we get the latest on what to expect in the key contests from christina bellantoni and stuart rothenberg. >> woodruff: then jeffrey brown examines a new report showing minority students are more likely to face harsh discipline than their white peers. >> ifill: we have the story of a program based in the california desert that trains marines in cultural awareness before shipping them out to afghanistan.

>> the first time you go on the patrol you're going to be overwhelmed. you're doing it for the first time in afghanistan, that's not a good day. >> woodruff: hari sreenivasan looks at rewards for nfl players who leveled intentional hard hits and knockouts on the football field. >> ifill: and we close with more on presidential politics with the analysis of mark shields and michael gerson. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. 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 foundatis. 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.

>> woodruff: this was super tuesday, the biggest single day in the presidential nominating race. voters from alaska to atlanta were choosing their favorites from the republican field of four. across ten states, people went to polling places this day or are gatheringate at caucus sites this teeng to make their decision. the candidates waited to see how those states would distribute 419 delegates. that's more than a third of the 1144 delegates needed for the republican nomination. georgia offered the most delegates today, and former house speaker newt gingrich hoped to win the state he represented in congress. he campaigned today next door in huntsville, alabama, a state that votes next tuesday. >> for the third time, we're going to come bouncing back. i suspect another two or three weeks we'll have a clear choice. ( applause ) >> woodruff: gingrich also addressed the american-israel

public affairs committee in washington via satellite. so did mitt romney, pressing for a tougher line on iran. >> a nuclear iran is not only a problem for israel. it's a problem for america and it's a problem for the world. >> woodruff: and rick santorum who addressed the apac gathering in person. >> we have a whole lot of primaries going on all across the nation. ten of them. but i wanted to come off the campaign trail to come here. >> woodruff: but for romney and santorum, ohio was the day's major focus and the closest contest. romney was hoping to overtake santorum there. he was also favored in massachusetts and vermont and in virginia where some polling stations look like ghost towns. the low turnout was mostly because only romney and texas congressman ron paul qualified for the ballot. paul focused his campaign mostly in the west. he was the only candidate to

visit alaska. today he stumped in idaho. >> this is a very special day. idaho is a very special state. we're expecting lots of things to happen. >> woodruff: so the republican hopefuls await tonight's results with only one thing seemingly certain: regardless of the outcome the race will go on for some time yet. >> ifill: for more on the races we are watching most closely tonight, we turn now to stuart rothenberg of the "rothenberg political report" and "roll call" newspaper. and newshour political editor christina bellantoni. we have so much to talk about. let's start with ohio. the prize of the night, christina. what is romney's strength there? what is santorum's strength? it's neck and neck. >> it is. this is where you've seen both candidates sort of making their core message. romney has been talking quite a bit about the economy. he would be the better steward of it. making these pointed jabs. i didn't study the economy. i didn't hold a conference sub committees about the economy. i actually did something about the economy. and then santorum is out there saying, actually it's not just

about managing the economy. it's about all these core values. he's really trying to win that evangelical vote. he's appealing to aate low of the working class voters that particularly are in the area of the state that is close to his home state of pennsylvania. romney is trying to win the suburbs and big cities. >> ifill: why is ohio so key? 63 delegates but it's not the most delegates of the night. >> that's right. georgia has more delegates. for a number of reasons t state encapsulates the small- town republicanism that when we think of republicans. you have sub urban voters. you have a state that's turned out to be a swing in presidential contests. and it's regarded as a good cross-section of america. so i think if you can win ohio, if you can win new york, if you can win ohio, you can really compete nationally. certainly winning ohio is... shows that you can appeal to a broad swath of republican primary voters. >> in fact no republican has won the white house without winning ohio.

it's very important in the general election. the organization here for these candidates is also pretty important because rick santorum base not able to get on his delegate situation in order to be able to collect delegates including the appalachian area that borders his state. >> ifill: which regions are you watching? >> cincinatti is important. a lot of republican votes down there. but also the south central and west central ohio, lots of republicans i theb thinking back to 2004 when ohio was such a battle ground in the presidential contest. >> ifill: feels like it always is. >> yes. we were all looking at that map and democratic turnout was terrific in columbus, franklin county and cleveland. and then those republican votes started coming in from southern ohio and southwestern ohio. small towns, a lot of them and there are a lot of republicans in them. >> ifill: stu, i'm going to hold you something you said and we scoffed at you.

you said tennessee would be a state to watch. >> susan page made me a laughing stock. i always thought it was an important state. newt gingrich started early on talking about the south. that's where his campaign was going to get jump-started. sure, we have alabama and mississippi coming up. but today we have three southern states: georgia which the former speaker is supposed to win. it's his home state. if he wins it it's a big yawn because he's supposed to win it. virginia where only ron paul and mitt romney have delegates. we have to expect that mitt romney is going to clean up. and then tennessee. and tennessee is just such an interesting state. eastern tennessee, classic mountain republicanism. knoxville, chattanooga moderate republicans, howard baker territory. lamar alexander territory. the sitting governor. you go west in tennessee and basically you're going south, south in terms of culture and politics until you get to the memphis suburbs where you have much more of a sub urban vote.

in that central part of the state and the western part of the state you would think conservatives whether it's somebody like gingrich or rick santorum would do really well. >> ifill: but only two democrats. christina, how much are you watching that? are there other states you're also keeping an eye on? >> in tennessee the santorum vote felt very confident about that. he's been doing very well in the polls. those numbers are closing. >> ifill: as they were in ohio as well. >> exactly. also spending a lot of money on tennessee. cheaper to buy tv time there than it is in some of these other states. we're also looking at oklahoma where santorum had a big lead. you've got this very conservative state. john mccain won it in 2008. mike huckabee did very well there. they're targeting that. ron paul spent quite a bit of time there. he got 1700 people at a rally in oklahoma. >> ifill: is this what happened last time which is we saw santorum get a big boost coming out of his three-state win, going to michigan way ahead and then things closed and closed until the last minute.

>> surprise. campaigns matter. running ads are important. having an organization matters. being on the attack in the campaign. i think we're seeing how the romney campaign is actually having an effect. >> ifill: how important is the south just as a pathway to the next step for these candidates. >> when you look at the actual numbers and that magic 1144 delegates that somebody needs to get that nomination, the south it's important but it's not going to get someone like gingrich or rick santorum to that magic number. romney still has an advantage here. he's been amassing these delegates in all of these contests as we've gone along. it's important because the other candidates are going to say he can't win there but it's not necessarily the numbers prize. >> ifill: do you read it the same way? >> yeah, i do. look, the south is important. for the republicans, for the nomination, and in the general election having said that michigan and ohio and new york and california is important. a lot of delegates around the country. basing your strategy as a former speaker did at one point at least and maybe santorum as well on a southern strategy, i think it

exaggerates in the republican contest it exaggerates the region where you have to play everywhere. that's the advantage mitt romney has had. he's playing everywhere. >> ifill: stu rothenberg, christina bellantoni, we will be talking about this all night. thanks a lot. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now a quick look >> woodruff: now a quick look at how you can follow our election coverage at any hour, night or day, on your desktop, laptop, or mobile device. we hope you'll join our super tuesday watch party online. we will live stream all of our broadcast programming tonight, including our late night special. our on-line stream will also include live results data from all the states in play this day. throughout this political year, you can explore our map center. here you can view the results of every primary and caucus from tonight and this entire election cycle. you can see the entire country, county by county, through different demographic and economic lenses.

and if you like, you can predict your own outcome for the general election with the electoral college calculator. >> thank you. >> woodruff: want to watch the candidates' speeches tonight? we will have them all live on our you-tube channel. after our 11:00 eastern television special our coverage continues online at 11:30 p.m. with hari sreenivasan and christina bellantoni having a live chat and taking your questions. you can participate in the conversation using your facebook or twitter account. find all this on our front door at newshour dot pbs dot org. be sure to check out the baran new pbs political web page at pbs dot-org where you will find our work and the work of our pbs program partners. >> ifill: still to come on the newshour, minority students facing harsher discipline; cultural awareness training for

marines; cash incentives for rough play; plus, mark shields and michael gerson. but first, with the other news of the day, here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: president obama took on his republican opponents today, on foreign policy, gas prices and other issues. he spoke at a white house news conference called to coincide with super tuesday. newshour correspondent kwame holman has our report. >> reporter: at times the president took a tongue in cheek approach to his challengers on their big day. >> today is super tuesday. i wonder if you might weigh in on some of our potential republican opponents. mitt romney has criticized you on iran and said hope is not a foreign policy. he also said that you are america's most feckless president since carter. what would you like to say to mr. romney? >> good luck tonight. (laughing) >> no, really. >> really. >> reporter: but mr. obama turned serious on republicans

demands for military action against iran's nuclear program. he said they're beating the drums of war but don't understand the costs. >> this is not a game. there's nothing casual about it. you know, when i see some of these folks who have a lot of bluferter and a lot of big talk but when you actually ask them specifically what they would do, it turns out they repeat the things that we've been doing over the last three years. if some of these folks think that it's time to launch a war, they should say so. they should explain to the american people exactly why they would do that and what the consequences would be. everything else is just talk. >> reporter: the president also ridiculed suggestions by some republicans that he wants gas prices to move higher still to promote alternative energy. >> just from a political perspective do the president of the united states wants the gas prices higher? i want them lower because they

hurt families because i meet folks everyday to have to drive a long way to get to work anthem filling up this gas tank gets more and more painful. it's a tax out of their pocket books. >> reporter: reporters also asked about rush limbaugh calling a law student a slut she backed insurance coverage of birth control. mr. obama denied to question limbaugh's apology. instead he said there's a larger political point. >> millions of strong women around the country are going to make their own determination about a whole range of issues. it's not going to be narrowly focused just on contraception. it's not going to be driven by one statement by one radio announcer. i believe that democrats have a better story to tell to women about how we're going to solidify the middle class and grow this economy, make sure everybody has a fair shot, everybody is doing their fair share and we got a fair set of

rules of the road that everybody has to follow. >> reporter: today's super tuesday news conference was the president's first of the year. >> sreenivasan: wall street took it on the chin today. it was partly due to new worries about greece getting private investors to accept terms of a european bailout. the dow jones industrial average lost more than 203 points to close at 12,759. the nasdaq fell 40 points to close at 2910. hours before president obama spoke today, iran agreed to let u.n. inspectors visit a major military site. the announcement said both sides still have to agree on guidelines. the parchin complex had previously been off limits, and u.n. officials have said secret work on nuclear weapons may be under way there. also today, six world powers agreed to resume nuclear talks with iran. the european union's foreign policy chief, catherine ashton, made the announcement in helsinki, finland. >> on behalf of china, france, germany, the russian federation, the united kingdom

and the united states of america, i have also resumed talks with iran. we hope that we will be able to now pursue with iran constructive engagement with the purpose of addressing the international community's concerns about the nuclear program. >> sreenivasan: there was no word on a date or venue for the nuclear talks. eight women are suing the u.s. military, alleging they were raped, assaulted or harassed while in service. the plaintiffs are all current or former members of the navy and marine corps. they say they suffered retaliation after reporting incidents to their superiors. their federal lawsuit, filed today, accused military officials of showing a "high tolerance for sexual predators." five top members of the computer hacking group known as lulz-sec were charged today in federal court in new york. the f.b.i. said the ringleader, hector xavier monsegur, pleaded guilty to various charges last year and began working as an informant. the five others are accused of crimes ranging from stealing information to defacing the web

sites, including those of the pbs newshour, credit card firms, and others. democratic congressman donald payne of new jersey died today of colon cancer. he was first elected in 1988, and served 12 terms in the house, representing the newark area. payne had chaired the congressional black caucus, and dealt extensively in u.s.-africa policy. donald payne was 77 years old. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to judy. >> woodruff: we turn to education and the impact tougher discipline policies are having on minority students. it turns out young black and hispanic students are far more likely to receive tough school punishments, including suspensions, than white students. jeffrey brown has more on this story. >> brown: those were some of the findings in a report released today by the u.s. department of education's office of civil rights. overall, the report found african-american students are three and a half times more likely to be suspended or expelled than whites. and 70% of students arrested or

referred to law enforcement for disciplinary problems are black or latino. the report also looked at disparities in educational opportunities. education secretary arne duncan said today that schools with a high number of black and hispanics are less likely to offer calculus. >> reporter: even in schools offering calculus, hispanics make up 20% of the student body with just 10% of the students actually enrolled in calculus. that underrepresentation has to end. overall, while black and hispanics make up 44% of the students in this survey, they make up only 26% of students in gifted and talented programs. something is wrong with that picture as well. >> brown: we take a closer look at today's report with chester finn, president of the thomas b. fordham institute, which focuses on the reform of elementary and

secondary education. he served as assistant secretary for research and improvement at the department of education in the reagan administration. and christopher edley is the dean of the law school at the university of california berkeley. he is also currently a co-chair of the equity and excellence commission created by the department of education. christopher edley, i'll start with you. start with the issue of discipline and punishment. what jumps out at you? what is important here? >> let me make three quick points. i mean, it is from a civil rights perspective i think civil rights lawyers would look at these huge disparities that arne duncan was just talking about and where there's smoke their fire. they would say that this makes out a suspicious case that there may be a some kind of if we saw these kind of discrimination going on. disparities in an employment setting, people would jump on it. the second thing i would say and more important than that is that the expulsions, the suspensions, these huge disparities in discipline showed that we're really not

providing equal educational opportunity. you can't be providing opportunity if kids are kicked out of the school. and there are alternatives to those disciplinary measures. there are alternatives in terms of interventions, in training teacher to do a better job of classroom management and interventions to figure out what's going wrong in that kid's life. the third and most important thing i'd say apart from a civil rights enforcement issue is that these kinds of disparities in discipline are highly correlated with tremendous disparitys in academic achievement, in academic attainment. that if a school is not successful at figuring out why jamal and jose are acting out the chances are pretty slim that they're figuring out why maria is two years behind in reading. fixing our schools, supporting our teachers, intervening with our kids in a way that we're searching for a strategy that works for each kid, that's the civil rights issue.

>> brown: chester finn, does it rise to that level for you? what kind of implications do you see? >> i'm glad they're collecting the data which hasn't been happening for a while. and a lot of the data certainly are alarming. but it would certainly be a mistake to see a racist behind every tree in american education. the schools are not doing a good job with poor and minority kids. we've known that from many indicators including those that dean edley has referred to. certainly one symptom of school problems are these disparate discipline rates. but we have to also keep in mind that teachers and principals are trying to run an orderly school where kids who are serious about studying are not disrupted. it would be a mistake to keep in class a kid who was a problem child as well. >> brown: let me ask you or just stop you right there and stay with you because one of the questions i assume this raises goes to the so-called zero tolerance policies in many schools where an automatic suspension comes for a variety of misdeeds. >> some of which don't deserve

it. some of which do. if a youngster is found in school with a loaded gun, for example, i think that is an instant suspension or expulsion cause. on the other hand, a kid who talks back to a teacher wouldn't qualify or shouldn't qualify for a zero tolerance, should be given a good dressing down and told to behave better. i think as with zero tolerance was in the larger society, this can be

discretion that is used in the context of discipline or in the context of referring kids to special education where implicit bias may play a role, where the inability, the professional undertraining, if you will, of teachers may come to the fore as a factor in creating the different treatment of kids. >> brown: all right. chester finn, the same question. what does one do with this data at a local level or at a national level. arne duncan was quoted today saying this is really about self-analysis. he was suggesting administrators and teachers look in the mirror to see the good, bad and ugly. >> of course they should. of course data are valuable for people running schools and school systems. some of this is not within the control of the schools.

some of the kids who are being disciplined are coming from troubled homes and troubled neighborhoods and bringing a host of problems with them into the school. the school which actually occupies a very small fraction of their lives school cannot solve all by itself. i don't want to lay the entire burden here on schools. there's larger societal issues here too. you can look at criminal incarceration rates in the justice system too and see similar disparities. but some people do commit crimes. just similarly some kids don't behave well in school. >> brown: you're referring to disparities that go beyond the punishment question. >> way beyond the punishment question. they also go to the academic achievement question as chris edley was saying to the teacher quality question to whether you learned what you should have in sixth grade in order that you can successful in seventh grade because if you're not you're more likely to act out. if you act out you're more likely to be thrown out which is, of course, a vicious cycle that begins way back probably in first grade.

>> brown: we will have to stop there. chester finn, christopher edley, thanks so much. >> a pleasure. >> ifill; next, another in our occasional reports from journalism students around the country. tonight, giving u.s. forces a crash course in afghan culture. at today's white house news conference, president obama said the furor over the koran burning incident last month showed the challenges for allied troops in afghanistan. dealing with those challenges and gaining a better understanding of cultural differences is the aim of a program based in the remote desert of southern california. our report, prepared before the koran burning, is from carl nasman. he's a graduate student in the journalism school at the university of california berkeley. >> it looks and sounds like a typical afghan village. but these marines are nowhere near afghanistan. they're patrolling a multimillion dollar

recreation. lance corporal derek hicks is one of the marines on patrol. >> this is basically typical of a lot of villages in afghanistan. we were deployed there last year. there were a few towns that were similar to this that we were patrolling through. it's very realistic. >> reporter: the mock afghan villages at the marine corps base outside of san diego. even from my vantage point above the action the scene below seems real. the training facility is less than two years old. it's one of three mock villages on marine corps bases across the country. hundreds of marines pass through here every week before deploying to afghanistan much one of them is sergeant christopher roberts. >> the first time you go on a patrol you'll be overwhelmed with all the culture, the scenery, trying to figure out what's going on, how to deal with these people. if you're doing it for the first time in afghanistan that's not a good day. >> reporter: marines here learn more than just combat. they're taking a crash course in afghan culture. >> you get all kinds of cultural awareness training.

it plays a huge factor. you might want to wave at somebody or point to a certain direction. but if we know if that's something that that local area they kind of look at that as an insult compared to what we would, we go through that training. my guys are able to kind of stop themselves before they do it. >> reporter: their teachers are afghan americans, hired for a role. only they can play. >> they come up and try to shake your hand on patrol and stuff. try to offer you food and stuff. just like a typical afghani. it's good train to go have the role players out here because i think without them, it would be pointless to be running the training. >> back when i was still a marine i wish i would have had this training because the only thing you use for opposing forces is another marine wearing a t-shirt on his head or another acting like a fool. you don't get the realism.

>> reporter: this former marine and a military training coordinator for one of dozens of private companies hiring role players for specialized military training. >> the unit may request anything from somalis, yemeny folks, you know, afghans. it all depends on what the needs of the marine corps is. we will try to facilitate that as much as possible. >> reporter: just outside his office early in the morning the afghan role players start arriving for work. this man is one of nearly 500 afghan role players on the payroll. thousands more work for other companies nationwide. the war in afghanistan created a steady stream of u.s.-based jobs for afghan immigrants especially here at camp pendleton. role playing is an important source of income for afghan americans, a community hit hard by the recession. >> i was looking for work.

this is the kind of job i heard that i can do because i speak many languages. >> reporter: this man and other role players can make a few hundred dollars a day working at the base. >> it pays my bills. i'm the only person working at my house right now. my wife isn't even in the united states. she doesn't speak english. i have a little over a year old daughter. >> reporter: but role playing is more than just a paycheck. the breakroom is a meeting place for afghans where new and old cultures mix. >> the generation that has the culture that is really stuck with them from afghanistan. there's the other ones that are blended in between like the melting pot. most of all you have the young guys hanging out having fun. >> we learn a lot more from each other, yes. the afghan people speaking your language. we get together to start talking. actually we're being

ourselves. we're kind of like mixed up. we're american and we're afghans. we're american and we're afghans. >> the acting community still figuring it out. what is our position in the american dream. >> reporter: this man is the executive director of the san diego chapter of care, the council on american-islamic relations. he says role playing is an instrumental job in the afghan community. >> this is a great thing to do. we're serving america and we're serving afghanistan both at the same time. it's like hit ing two birds with one stone. but at the same time you have those who believe that, you know, this is not necessarily an honorable job because you're taking the side of, if we may, an oppressor. >> i heard a few negative things. this is like selling yourself out. >> reporter: role players walk a thin line. especially in san diego, a

city with strong military ties. discrimination against afghans and ear muslims flaired up after 9/11 when it was discovered that two of the 9/11 hijackers, none of them afghan, lived here before the attacks. >> i just questioned where, you know, like plilt cally i would stand or with my belief where i would stand with it because, one, i didn't know what the military was aiming for in, you know, afghanistan. two, know what exactly, you know, they wanted from us here. you know, i have roots both places. yes, i was born here. but my parents were born there. >> reporter: now a decade after the united states invaded afghanistan, role players are still coming to terms with their ties to both countries. >> like i was trying to do something, if you can see.... >> reporter: outside the base this art student studying graphic design. >> this is actually another one. this is my peace tree. >> reporter: his work is influenced by his duel eye department tees. >> at the roots the roots of

peace are war. >> reporter: in a way that's kind of what your job is little bit like during the day, right? you're not going there to help people like come better killing machines. >> definitely not, man. that's the only reason i do it. at the end of the day like i can tell that these marines are learning something. (gunfire) >> reporter: three years ago this was a mock iraqi village. but as that war wound down the military built a new afghan village. iraqi role players were let go and afghans took their place. >> i think the only thing that will change obviously is the type of role player, the type of culture that they may ask for three years from now we could be asking for, you know, iranians. we could be asking for koreans, who knows. >> reporter: for now the training continues with afghans. but marine combat troops will start leaving afghanistan next year and virtually all troops will be gone by 2014.

>> woodruff: now, the fallout in the national football league following an investigation into a veterans coach whose past practices went out of bounds. hari sreenivasan has the story. >> sreenivasan: the man at the center of the candle, former new orleans saints defensive coordinator greg williams. an nfl investigation had found williams had created a so-called bounty program to reward players on his team when they knocked opposing players out of the game. the report released friday said that between 22 and 27 defensive players on the new orleans saints as well as at least one assistant coach maintained a bounty program funded primarily by players in violation of nfl rules. it quotes nfl commissioner roger goodell as saying the investigation began in 2010. >> second and eight and he's picked off. >> sreenivasan: after

allegations from players that members of the saints' defense had targeted opposing players specifically quarterback brett farve of the minnesota vikings and kurt warner of the arizona cardinals, among others. >> wow, did he get hit. >> reporter: the rewards of 1500 for a knockout hit leaving player unable to return to the game and $1,000 for hits resulting in the player being carried off the field. williams, now coaching with the st. louis rams, has admitted to and apologized for running the pool of up to $50,000 over the last three seasons. he could face fines and/or suspension. nfl investigators are looking into whether he ran similar programs with other teams when he was head coach of the buffalo bills from 2001-2003 and as defensive coordinator for the washington redskins between 2004 and 2007. the latest on the investigation we turn to peter king. thanks for being with us.

>> you're welcome. >> sreenivasan: tell me. how deep did this investigation by the nfl go? how widespread were these bounty programs? >> well, it was a two-year investigation on and off. mostly off quite frankly because when the nfl investigated this after the 2009 football season, they sent investigators to new orleans and interviewed several people, coaches and at least one player with the new orleans saints, and they denied the existence of a bounty program but then more credible evidence came to the surface within the last three months. the nfl reinvestigated and i think one of the important things in here is that they examined a lot of forensic evidence. i'm guessing that means emails. and they found a lot of evidence in the emails that a bounty program existed but i think the one important thing to realize here is that there are actually two sort of forms

of a bounty. the one that is getting all the headlines and that i don't think is nearly as widespread as the other one the one where players will be offered cash to deliberately injure and knock out a player on the opponent that week. i think it's the other kind of bounty that is significantly more prevalent, and that is, you know, $100 for an interception here, $50 for a forced fumble or something like that. so i don't believe that every team in the league is offering players $1500 to knock out the opposing quarterback every sunday in the league. i think it's rare, in fact. >> sreenivasan: did this cross a particular boundary? why is there so much of an outrage over this? >> you know, i think it's because over the last 18 months the nfl in the middle of the 2010 season had a horrible weekend where there were three or four very violent hits and collisions. and the nfl at that point

decided to really ratchet up the fines and the possible suspensions of players for what they coidered over-the- top hits. the nfl has been confronted with more than 50 players in the last few years who were suing the national football league because they feel that the league knew a lot about head trauma and concussions and did absolutely nothing about it. so i think one of the things that the league thought when they started hearing this and why it upset the commissioner, roger goodell so much is he's saying, hey, on the one hand we're trying to prevent, you know, these really serious hits and to try to make the game if possible a little bit safer. now you've got a rogue outfit, you know, at least some people on the defense of the new orleans saints who are encouraging players by incentivizing them to go out and injure the opposing quarterback or somebody on the opponent. so i think, you know, those

two things are at such cross purposes that it's going to force roger goodell, the commissioner of the league, to hand down some very severe sanctions. >> how does the nfl change the culture of the sport? i mean, on high school football on friday nights and college football on saturdays you see the stickers on the sides of the helmets for when kids make big plays. it seems like this is an extension of that incentive structure. >> big plays are one thing. and tremendously hard hits in making a tackle. that's another thing. but if there is this sub culture involving some teams in the nfl where they look on film on friday and they say, okay, there's the quarterback, in this case here's brett farve. if you knock him out of the game we're going to win. so i'm going to pay you $10,000 as an extra motivation to go knock brett farve out of the game, and i think that is where the nfl feels that we just can't have that. we can't have this extra

motivation to try to deliberately injure star players when, on the other hand, they're fining people severely right now to, you know, to try to prevent some of these colossal hits, you know, and illegal hits that they're seeing. >> sreenivasan: what kind of repercussions are we likely to see here? how seriously is the nfl likely to take this? >> i think the nfl will take it very seriously. i believe that the assistant coach that was most involved who has already admitted that he was knee deep in this bounty program, greg williams, who is now with the st. louis rams i believe he'll be suspended for at least half of the upcoming season and won't be able to coach. then i believe that the people who at the very least, sean peyton, head coach of the saints, mickey loomis, the general manager of the saints, the nfl believes at the very least that they lost institutional control over what was going on on the

defensive side of the ball. i have... i believe both of those men will get suspended as well. i think some players like the aforementioned jonathan wilma a prominent linebacker on the team who according to the nfl offered his teammates $10,000 to take out brett farve in the championship game three years ago. >> sreenivasan: peter king from "sports illustrated". thanks so much for your time. >> you're welcome. >> ifill: we'll be back shortly with more on super tuesday from mark shields and david gerson. first this is pledge week on pbs. this break allows your public television stati

>> ifill: online, stacy pearsall describes the ambush that resulted in her final combat injury. >> woodruff: finally tonight, we come back to the republican presidential race on this super

tuesday, and to the analysis of shields and gerson. that's syndicated columnist mark shields and "washington post" columnist michael gerson. gentlemen, good to see you on this very important day. mark, the polls are closing in just about 10 minutes in virginia, in georgia, and in vermont. but let's talk about what's at stake for these candidates and start with romney. what does he need to have happen today. >> mitt romney needs this to be over. when asked which political party do you think does a better job of reach beyond its own hard core supporters to people not in that select group, it's 55% democrats, 26% republicans. that is a direct consequence of this primary where they've been debating really a very narrow range of issues of very conservative concern, not of general concern to most voters. that's a problem for mitt romney. he's just got to score

victories tonight and move that this process be over. >> woodruff: what would you add to that? >> it will be interesting how much a few thousand votes' difference could make for mitt romney in ohio. if he wins ohio he will look like a comeback kid. he came back in florida. he came back in michigan. comes back in ohio. it would be a real victory for him. he looks like a boy scout but he also is like a boy scout with serious night knife fighting skills. he can come back. if he loses particularly ohio and tennessee, it raises again the whole series of questions about whether he can make the closing case, whether he can be the closer in this race. if not, i think he's still the likely nominee even if that circumstance because there's no credible alternative. but it's going to raise all the recriminations we've seen before with talk of hopeless alternatives. it's not good for him. >> woodruff: what about santorum? what is he looking at tonight? what does he need. >> he a really tough few weeks attacking john kennedy,

attacking college education. he didn't really lead into this very strongly. he has real challenges about whether he can have an effective campaign. he's not competing in some places because they didn't file slates. he also has a question whether he can appeal beyond a fairly narrow range. ohio is much bigger for him than it is for romney. if he can't win ohio and he repeats what happened in michigan, there's very little justification for his candidacy. >> woodruff: what about santorum? agree ohio is more important. >> i think for rick santorum he needs ohio. we're stipulating that he carries oklahoma. i don't know if we have every reason to but we're stipulating that. it's the redest of red states. >> woodruff: he's been ahead in the polls. >> he's gotten a good reception there. i really do think that ohio is important. the demographics of ohio is better for him than it was in michigan. he needs a victory. i mean, if romney were to

score ohio, tennessee, idaho, vermont, massachusetts, virginia, he could make the case that he won a national victory tonight. santorum's only hope is to stop him and take... rob him of that in ohio. >> woodruff: be he's not going to get out tonight we assume. that's not what you're saying. >> the virtue of santorum is the opposite of what michael mentioned. he didn't have infrastructure but he can live off the land. he doesn't have a big overhead. i mean you give him a credit card and a night's lodgingality day's inn. >> a credit card and a billionaire. >> but he doesn't have... romney has an enormous infrastructure that has to be supported and maintained. he really doesn't. he doesn't have a big media buy. his getting out will not be necessarily an economic defeat. >> woodruff: mark, what about newt gingrich? he's been ahead in georgia. that enough for him just to

win his home state? >> i don't think so. if romney doesn't win in the south, he can't make the case. if it's michael bloomberg or olympia snow or jon huntsman, that republican nominee will carry georgia and in all likelihood carry the southern states, south carolina that newt gingrich did carry. they are red states. and republicans are looking for somebody who can win purple states and blue states. >> anything that encourages newt gingrich to stay in the race like a big victory in georgia is actually bad for rick santorum. in a variety of places and good for mitt romney. i think romney is rooting for gingrich in some ways. >> woodruff: he'll stay in because he can do it on a shoe string. >> well, for georgia, he will look at other southern primaries. >> alabama. >> exactly. he'll think, well, i should stay in and at least test it. >> woodruff: what about ron paul, michael? he was in alaska. he's been in idaho today. >> he has a ceiling on his

support which means he has to do the caucuses rather than the primaries. he's very focused on north dakota. i think he's speaking there tonight. he has no must-win states. he is really a movement rather than a campaign. he's made some real progress for his movement. i think find it kind of disturbing. he's an important player in the republican side. his son is a.... >> woodruff: why disturbing? >> because i think his libertarianism and foreign policy views are quite extreme. either in the democratic or the republican party. but he's gained a lot of ground and credibility in this election. >> two quick points. one of the reasons the race has to be over. everyone of the republicans numbers is plumb heing. that includes santorum and gingrich and also romney. the one exception is ron paul. ron paul has maintained not favorable but has maintained his almost favorable with his negatives. and i think that... i really do think that he has a chance

of pull a pat buchanan. pat buchanan won the alaska caucuses and upset the political world briefly in 1996. those states care if somebody comes. we'll find out. this is his best chance tonight i think in both north dakota and alaska. i don't think idaho is available to him. i would be surprised. >> woodruff: we have all night to talk about it and look at those results. we'll be seeing you two tonight. >> ifill: >> ifill: again, the major developments of the day. republicans cast votes in ten primary and caucus states on this super tuesday. president obama charged that republican critics of his iran policy are "beating the drums of war," but don't understand the costs of war. and stocks fell, on new doubts about greece meeting its bailout deadlines. the dow industrials lost more than 200 points. check our web site for the latest political news, and much more. hari sreenivasan explains. >> sreenivasan: on our world page, we look at tibetans burning themselves to protest china's rule. also there, read about a topic

at the aipac summit that didn't grab headlines, the israeli- palestinian peace process. plus, on the rundown, gardeners share their thoughts on the u.s.d.a.'s new plant-hardiness zone map, a guide to which species can survive in winter. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy? >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on wednesday, we'll look at the political landscape ahead for republican president hopefuls after the super tuesday contests. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. we'll see you online, and again here for a special election report at 11:00 p.m. eastern time as well as tomorrow evening. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: