heart of america. >> how he's trying to clear up the remark regarding an the very poor. what did he really mean? our campaign team is covering romney and we have new comments regarding the fallout. plus, on to nevada with newt gingrich focused. but will his big money donor follow with his cash after that huge lawsuit in florida? . >> and and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace, and soul. >> new information on death of tv legend don cornelius, dead at the age of 75. we look back on how peace love and soul changed tv. plus cornelius and the reverend al sharpton, 36 years ago, and what the reverend said today about the loss of his friend. and the "news nation" gut check. planned parenthood as 0ds with the nation's leading breast cancer charity, susan g. komen for the cure accusing that charity of bowing to anti-abortion activists.

>> and everyone, i'm tamron hall. we're following mitt romney trying to clarify a comment he made earlier today, less than 24 hours after winning the florida primary, romney said in an interview with cnn he didn't care about the very poor but he then emphasized he wants to concentrate on the middle class. here's what he said. >> there's no question. it's not good being poor and we have a safety net to help those very poor. but my campaign is focused on middle income americans. >> and joining me now by phone, nbc dmus campaignen embed garrett garrett haake. already we received a lot of tweets saying this is a democratic talking point from axelrod and others. we know gop opponent of romney have tried to paint him out of touch only caring about the wealthy. how is he clarifying this? >> good afternoon. he came back to the back of the plane on our way out to minnesota today and address this

had question, almost cutting off a reporter who started to ask him about it saying you can't take the sound bite of this. he said "my focus on the campaign is on middle income people. of course, i'm concerned about all americans, poor, wealthy, middle class but the focus will be on middle income families." i've been following this campaign since late july. this is not a new statement from romney. he uses this sort of same talking about point about focus on the middle class, not the very poor or very rich going all the way back to this fall. i looked back to the giant filing cabinet and found a piece i wrote a few weeks ago. he said it slightly different and that he was also concerned about the very poor. so it's a bit of sim byiot tickets, a bit of different language but not some new concept from the romney campaign. >> i guess what people are hitting on is the line "i am not concerned about the very poor." this follows mitt romney on stage saying i like firing people. you can file them under flubs or

gaffes. whatever you choose to say. nonetheless, it is becomes a part, if joe biden is a gaffe machine, then what, if you will, does that make mitt romney if this continues? >> that's a fair question, tamron. this kind of commentary plays into the narrative that democrats and his opponents are trying to build up around romney this idea he is this corporatist machine. it certainly doesn't do them any favors when he uses that kind of language. >> thank you very much. the news nation political panel, michael smerconish, a radio talk show host and msnbc contributor, a.b. stoddard, columnist for the hill and elizabeth crohn, conservative political commentator and co-host of the agenda in las vegas, nevada. thank you all for joining me. michael, i'd like to start off with you here. you heard garrett say this is not the first time mitt romney has made a similar comment. it came out pretty harsh on cnn when he flat out said i am not concerned about the poor.

they have safety nets. he also later said he agrees there are holes in this safety net he speaks of for the very poor and he'll fix that, but that's not his concern. how do you process this, michael? >> i think that it was obviously poorly worded. i doubt that's what he really believes and what he meant to say. but it does further this the narrative as him being a detached guy, not one of us, meaning he's somebody with money in the cayman islands, has a swiss bank account. he's made a tremendous amount of money all of which is great for mitt romney, but he's going to have a hard time connecting. i looked at that video of 48 hours ago when he sang "america the beautiful" and i said that was not a good campaign moment because so much of this candidacy just doesn't look real. and that's what he's got to deal with. >> abe by, so many of romney's supporters have been sending me e-mails and tweets saying this is being taken out of context. we played the entire sound bite. whatever you choose to say,

there's a reason than mitt romney went back and talked with garrett haake and the other reporters. he knew he had stepped in it and needed to clarify this because perhaps he should have said i am focused on middle class and go on from there but saying i not concerned about the very poor, that is made for tv ads that will haunt him if he makes it to the general election or ads that newt gingrich can use against him in nevada. >> that's exactly right, tamron. i mean, the message that he is campaigning to save the middle class is obviously a good one and president obama is going to be campaigning on the very same theme, that it's him standing in the way of republican economic policies finishing off the middle class in this country. but to say i'm not concerned about the very poor, he knows it won't be run in all its entirety next time. it won't be in any kind of ads from the democratic national committee or the obama campaign and as you said, perhaps the by the gingrich campaign. it will just be those words, i'm not concerned about the very

poor, this from a man who makes more than $50,000 a day on investments, income from his investments that are still paying off though he is not technically employed. it's vet very big disconnect with most americans. they will find all of this very hard to understand. it doesn't mean that he doesn't want to do the right thing for the middle class and create more opportunities for this -- for economic growth. it just sounds like he just doesn't care about them at all. >> let's switch to nevada, elizabeth. i'll bring you in. this is your home turf. you know it very well. newt gingrich, we've got some sound from him last night vowing to keep going focusing on nevada. let's play newt gingrich from last night, please. >> florida did something very important coming on top of south carolina. it is now clear that this will be a two-person race between the conservative leader newt gingrich and the massachusetts moderate. >> so tell me a little bit about the -- what you're seeing in nevada. there are already ads up by

santorum and romney attacking newt gingrich. what is it like on the grounds in your state? >> well, the interesting thing about newt gingrich's comment that he considers it a two-way race is that here in nevada, that is not the case. it's a three-way race because of the strong support here for candidate ron paul. he pulled 14% here in 2008. he's looking to better that this time around. he's been busy since he's been on the ground here in nevada since last night. had a huge rally here last night, pulled in 1,000 folks, that's the biggest rally we've seen yet out of these presidential candidates since they hit the ground in nevada. so newt gingrich i think going to have a difficult time pulling off second plates here in nevada. >> what do we know about sheldon adelson's involvement? he's that multimillionaire casino magnate, now invested millions of dollars to get newt gingrich to win this nomination here. do we know if his money will follow newt gingrich to nevada, the home state of sheldon

adelson, i should point out? >> well, yesterday, sheldon adelson's daughter some of his children pumped about another $1 million i believe it was into the super pac. it's anyone's guess whether the adelson money been continue to flow into that super pac after nevada. but i think an important thing to note here is that sheldon adelson has been a big gop donor in this state for many, many years. and obviously, he's supporting and backing newt gingrich as things sand right now, but i think any republican candidate whoever the nominee is can depend on financial support from the adelsons. >> let me get you back in, a.b. santorum is out with his bashing of newt today saying he supported wall street bailouts, he came out and said he was for it. some of the things we've heard from santorum before when he's gone after nug. but to elizabeth's point, listen, we cannot forget about ron paul. he did not obviously show up well in florida but he was ahead

of everyone else headed to nevada, and he can at least be a spoiler if nothing else there. >> so can rick santorum. that's the problem in the month of february for newt gingrich is that you're looking at a bunch of caucus contests that rick santorum and ron paul prepared well for. obviously the romney campaign is also organized on the ground way in advance of these contests. they prepared well for them, too. it moves the narrative away from this two-man race that gingrich wants it to be to once again a split field where romney iraqis it out with a plurality every time. a month of that with only one debate diminishes opportunities for gingrich to get the coverage and get the moment tum back that he needs to recover from the loss in florida. >> quickly michael, the final thoughts on what we saw. last night. did florida tell us anything that we didn't know? >> the conversation has been that february is going to be a slow month. more delegates will be selected in february than were selected in january. it's game on.

>> all right, michael. thank you very much. a.b. and liz, great pleasure. and president obama pressured congress once again today when it comes to helping struggling homeowners, a key issue in this election year. the president went to virginia today to unveil details of a plan he outlined in his state of the union address last week that would allow homeowners with privately held mortgages to refinance at today's record low interest rates even if they owe more on hair homes than they're worth. >> no more red tape. no more run around from the banks. and a small fee on the largest financial institutions will make sure it doesn't add to our deficit. >> nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker joins us live. even if the ideas are seen as good and it could help homeowners, we expect some opposition from congress here. >> absolutely. members of congress already speaking out about in plan, tamron. the big sticking point is the pay for plan. you just heard the president

reference it. he wants to pay for this by essentially charging banks, large banks a fee. well, tamron, this is something that the idea that the administration has already proposed about two years ago and it already was met with the stiff resistance back then when we had a democratically led house and senate. so right now, it's tough to see how this would pass through a republican-led house. house speaker john boehner in fact came out and talked about the president's proposal today. he said "we have done this at least four times. and none of these programs have worked." soap already house speaker john boehner coming out with strong words suggesting that the president's latest plan to help homeowners refinance will be met with more stiff resistance in congress. of course, president runs the risk of being accused of sort of staging an election year stunt trying to run against a do nothing congress by proposing something that in all likelihood will not pass. on the other hand, republicans

could be accused of not cooperating in this instance. we'll have to see how this plays 0 you the. >> thank you very much. coming up, heavy hitters. romney's super pac pulled in a whopping $17.9 million in the past six months. that's crushing his opponents. new details on the millionaires behind the money. plus, going public. have you heard? facebook's ipo is expected to be one of the biggest market debuts in history. how it could turn many facebook friends possibly into millionaires. >> peace and soul. and some sad new details coming in on the shocking death of iconic "soul train" founder don cornelius. i'll talk with ari ep hutchinson who says "soul train" will never leave america's station. we've got incredible video of the reverend al sharpton.

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election commission show mitt romney crushed newt gingrich in the super pack race. the first such filings in this election cycle show is the super pac restore our future raised $30.2 million in 2011. at the same time, the pro-gingrich super pac winning our future raised $2.1 million. look at the difference on screen there. these file ags show how much more republican super pacs are raising over their democratic counterparts. two super pacs formed by karl rove raised a total of $5 16r million. meantime, pro-obama super pacs

raise the just $6.7 million. while super pacs to help democratic congressional candidates raised $9.2 million. we've heard a lot about this man, sheldon adelson has given $11 million to the gingrich superer pack. harold simmons donated $8.6 million most of it to karl rove's super park and jeffrey katzenberg gave $2 million to the pro-obama super pack. nick, thank you so much for your time. we're running down the list here. obviously, the repeated theme is a few people who have an incredible amount of money are willing to put it into politics. >> that's correct. what we're seeing here is the way that some recent court decisions have opened kind of new channels which the wealthy corporations and unions can all fool their money and in new and more direct ways to spend directly in elections including in this republican primary. >> we heard the president and we

know the other objections of people who were concerned about the impact that supreme court decision would have on politics. who has been proven right by the numbers that we've seen and the effectiveness of super pacs? is it too early to say who was right or wrong in this debate? >> it's a bit too early to say. the main worry after citizens united from some advocates of tighter campaign regulations was what we would see a lot of money directly from corporations and unions in these super pacs in these campaigns. so far, most of the money we're seeing is from wealthy individuals reaching into their own pockets and in some cases transmitting money everyone companies they own or control. but it's still more kind of a rich man's and rich kind of lady's game if you will. we haven't quite seen the flood of corporate money. there's also an important distinction. some of these groups including priorities is usa which is the obama super pac and the crossroads group founded by karl rove also have a sister

organizations organized as separate organizations called 501 c4s. those groups have not disclosed. it's impossible to say who their donors are. >> when we look at, you bring up obviously, we brought up the difference in the amount of money being raised by the obama super pacs versus the republican super pacs, mostly mitt romney here. what are we learning from this story line? >> we're seeing barack obama is raising his money the old fashioned way, using the power of incumbent sit as the president and traditional bundlers to gather checks from friends and families and associates $2,000 at a time. he has a very good machine for doing this. it's a tightly organized organization, well oiled. they have raised a lot of money through the traditional campaign finance system. it's the republicans locked in a nominating fight who don't have a nominee for their party yet who are mostly relying a little more on these super pacs and

large checks from a relatively small handful of the people. >> you wrote and i think just to surmise that the super pac disclosure underscores the influence of wealthy individuals and what they've had their influence on 2012. here we are waiting to see what happens in nevada and part of the story line for newt gingrich is whether or not mr. adelson will pony up more cash to keep those scathing ads going. >> that's correct. you know, this is a fascinating example. mitt romney has a few dozen ordazes of supporters in his super pac who are putting in money. but it's newt gingrich whose chances are dependent really on a single donor and his family on the pone that they can put into one super pac to boost him in nevada and elsewhere into all right, nick confessore. we greatly appreciate it. facebook is expected to collide with wall street today with an initial public offering of $5 billion.

now, it would be one of the largest ipos in this country's history. putting the company's worth somewhere between 75 to $100 billion. now, it is a big deal for big money investors, but take a listen to this, will any of facebook's 800 million users like this deal or get a real chance to own a piece of the action? cnbc's julia boorstin joins us live from outside facebook headquarters in l.a. what's the latest there? >> reporter: oh, tamron, i'm here in men low park which is where the facebook head quarters are. there are about 2,000 employees in this massive building behind me. it's a very, very cool office. a lot of folks here, about probably north of 500 of them are going to end up being millionaires after this filing which we were speekted to see today. we will see someone like mark zuckerberg, ceo of facebook worth probably between 20 and $25 billion once this company goes public. i want to show you a couple pictures we took here of my sneak peek inside facebook's

headquarters. we took a look earlier today. the offices are very cool. even though it looks super corp at on the inside, it's very funky and casual on the inside. there's an office where people can talk on the phone and walk on a treadmill. there are even about five bars, i mean bars with hard alcohol and beer on tap where facebook employees can gather for different kind of happy hours that they've organized. pretty fun environment in there. you see little lounges where people can sit and talk. and there's even a vending machine that's designed just for electronics. pacebook employees don't have to run out if they want a usb cord to connect their iphone to their laptop. what this means for the 800 million or even a billion user, we'll see what happens when the company starts trading on the open market which could happen sometime in may. then we'll see whether or not they think it's worth it at the price it's trading at to buy into the stock. we expect the company to report about $3.8 billion in revenue for 2011. >> julia, thank you very much. greatly appreciate it.

coming up, romney may have scored a double digit win over gingrich in florida but exit polls reveal his weaknesses as the race move on to nevada and beyond. plus, a major recall involving a popular form of birth control. the dugmaker says the pills may not prevent pregnancy. what's with you? trouble with a car insurance claim. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. what do you get dollwhen you combineobody the home depot with this weekend? the cure for cabin fever. because with... get-it-done savings on everything we need... ...we can turn this weekend into a fresh floor... ...or an updated bathroom... ...or a brand new look. so let's hit those orange aisles - and make today the day - we make a big difference - no matter how big our budget. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. get more project for your money - like this valencia vanity,

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including chicago and new york are spenting to see temperatures at least 14 degrees warmer than normal. we're following breaking news out of egypt. dozens of people are killed when riots break out following a soccer match. the latest live out of cairo. also ahead, for the first time ever, a social network will play a major role in announcing election results. how the nevada gop plans to use twitter of all things. and the nation's largest breast cancer charity susan g. komen under fire this hour after cutting funding from planned parenthood. they say komen is bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists. we've got new details. it is our gut check. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash.

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[ sighs ] i can't wait till morning. wait! it's morning in china! ♪ [ male announcer ] it's sweet, it's nutty... it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. of egypt where at least 40 people have reportedly died in rioting is following a soccer match. take a look at some of the video just coming into us. it is being called one of the worst incidents of sports violence in decades. we are kay row.

a man, we've been looking at this video. sheer chaos. what happened? >> indeed the pictures have been quite terrible there. from what we understand from eyewitnesses and people on the ground there, a rival match between two teams was winding down. one of the teams unfurled a huge poster that was perceived to be insulting to the fans, to the local fans of that team. and it instigated clashes between the two rival fans. they spilled over onto the field. now, among the clashes people were using fireworks and fire bombs to attack one another. and it seemed when they store stormed the field they were able to use a lot of metal rods to attack one another. health officials in the city of port said say the death total is expected to rise to 51. the ministry of health has the number at 40. it highlights the precarious situation these events find themselves in. in another incident in cairo, the public announcer announced

the game was being suspended as a result of the clashes there. that ended up triggering another riot in that second match where fans set fire to one of cairo's most iconic stadiums. it is a very precarious situation to say the least. >> do we know if they've been able to gain control of the situation? >> the situation is not under control. there were police at the stadium but these situations in the past involving police have turned deadly. it seemed the police were not engaging the protesters orphans and so it seems right now from both state tv andite witnesses that the stadium is still pretty much under mob rule. is the riot police have not opened any fire on the protests are and they are trying to bring the situation under control. but the fighting has not stopped. it's been about an hour now since the fighting broke out and the game finished. >> a man mo ha dean live for us where 40 people killed after the violence broke out toing the soccer match. you heard him report more people may have also lost their lives. we'll keep following.

thank you. and despite mitt romney's 14-point win over newt gingrich, romney could have some issues as he's heading into nevada. his problems could be seen with some of the more conservative. take a look at some of the numbers out there. in florida, 33% describe themselves as very conservative. about the same, 36% describe themselves as somewhat conservative. but take a look at the numbers when you break it down. of the very conservative voters we saw last night, 41% support newt gingrich. that's an 11-point advantage for gingrich. also our exit poll information gave us another hint where mitt romney might need to improve. 41% of voters said romney's position are not conservative enough. 38% said they want to see someone else get in the race for the nomination. and get this, that includes 32% of mitt romney's own voters. and joining me now to talk more about it, steve dayson who is also an endorser of newt

gingrich. steve, thank you so much for joining me. greatly appreciate it. >> thank you, tamron. appreciate you having me back. >> i've got to to you about this number. 38% want to see someone else run. they went in, they voted, they came out and spoke with our exit poll people and said they want someone else in this race. you're a conservative. help me understand, who are you looking for in maybe not you because you like newt. who are these people looking for in. >> well, i this i what they're looking for is someone that doesn't have to resort to scorched earth tactics to win but can actually run on a conservative record and can communicate it in a way that actually rallies the nation to conservative values and issues and also has the resources to show that they can put a professional organization on the ground. and i think that will everything i just mentioned, there's a few candidates that represent a couple of the facets of the composite that the people want, the ideal composite, but since that ideal composite is not there, you have some of the buyer's remorse indicated in

your exit polling. >> let me talk to you about newt. obviously he took a pounding yesterday. he did not do well with women especially. he didn't do great with men either. but he really got beat up from women voters i might say, just toe so speak here. what does he need to do in nevada? >> i think what newt's got to get back to, he's got to get back on offense. i think there was too much talk about how much he's being hammered, all the negative ads very reminiscent of the last time he surged as the front-runner position. he at his best when he is playing offense. you know, newt is sort of the charles barclay of political candidates. barclay once said i ain't on this league to play defense. newt is best with the ball in his hands dribbling towards the basket. when he's trying to get back on defense, that's not his best. he's got to get back on offense and get back on offense in those southern states where romney is going to have a lot of trouble winning delegates.

>> did you see any indication of that happening with his speech last night? he didn't call mitt romney and congratulate him. in his speech, he talked about all these grand things he would do following his inauguration. is he playing that offense that you say he needs to play? >> i think that's a good first step. i think newt is at his best. here's one some things we've learned about the three main republican candidates in this race. rick santorum is at business heft attacking romney. romney at his best attacking gingrich, gingrich attacking mediaen at issues. when those three candidates are doing those things, they're at their best. rick santorum was really good in the two debates especially in the second. romney was really good if florida going after newt gingrich hard. some of it was out of bounds but hey, you know, we're big boys. put on your big boy britches and take it. newt is at his best when he gave speeches like he gave last night. >> as i understand, at least what i've read, newt is not out with any ads yet in nevada.

what does that say? >> i think what it says is you're dealing with a state that has only 2 delegates that are proportional allocation. where their nomination is going to be decided, the republican party is a southern party. if you do the delegate math, i count at least 600 southern delegates that i don't believe arithmetic mitt romney can or will win. the path to him getting 1144 delegates before the convention i don't think is a coronation. i don't think that's the case at all. if i'm newt, i'm going to go from texas to west virginia and build a fence around the south where they have huge delegate states and i'm going to try to stop mitt romney there beginning on super tuesday. >> bottom of our screen it says gingrich 46 or bust. many have noted when he says 46, that's not accurate. he's not on the ballot in missouri and virginia. does that is also hurt him a little bit? as you pointed out, you know,

you've got to play, i don't like saying the big boy, but you've got to play to win, whatever you are. >> sure. i think virginia hurts more because it's his home state. missouri has kind of a convoluted system. rick santorum is not on the ballot therein an he's campaigned there. i'm not sure we know what's going to happen yet in missouri. the key for newt is texas to west virginia. if you look at the delegate counts in these states, here's one example. mitt romney won 50 delegates last night in florida. north carolina has 55. alabama has 50 delegates. those are winner take all states. so what newt gingrich has got to do is get mitt romney down in the south, the real south, not the more metropolitan diverse south. if you look at the exit polling last night. >> you're talking south as in south carolina, that kind of south. >> yes, that kind of south. here's something that your viewers should keep in mind looking through a general election. one-fourth of romney's vote of last night came from palm beach, broward and miami-dade counties.

i think every msnbc viewer understand a republican in a general election is not going to win those three counties over barack obama. if i'm newt gingrich, i want to take on mitt romney in places like the northern panhandle in florida which is states like louisiana, texas, mississippi, alabama, georgia,et al. >> he needs to hire you as his coach. thank you very much. good to see you. a possible extension of the federal pay freeze tops our looks at stories around the news nation today. the house is expected to vote on the measure today that would freeze the salaries of federal employees, including members of congress and their staff for a third year. president obama wants to be end the pay freeze next year and raise federal salaries a half percent. bail increased for the former los angeles school teacher accused of taking sexually explicit photos of children. mark berndt was on court today on allegations he committed lewd acts involving nearly two dozen children. bail has been raised from $2

million to $23 million. drugmaker pfizer is recalling one million packs of birth control pills because of a mix-up. the company says some packages don't have enough of an active ingredient raising the risk of unintended pregnancy. the recall affects mauve ril and the generic version of that birth control pill. pfizer recommends consumers exposed to the incorrect packaging should begin using a nonhormonal form of contraception immediately. american airlines wants to cut 20% of its labor costs which could mean the loss of more than 15,000 jobs nationwide. that announcement comes two months after american's parent company amr filed for bankruptcy protection. and reaction is pouring in after the death of legendary soul train founder don cornelius. reverend al sharpton him met him when he was just 19. what he saying about soul train and don core feelious means for

all of us. but first, there's a lot going on today here. things we thought you should know. indiana's state senate passed right to work legislation today despite massive protests outside the capitol that would prohibit labor contracts that require workers to pay union fees. supporters say the law would attract employers and create jobs. opponents argue it would lead to lower wages and diminish job quality. republican governor mitch daniels is expected to sign that bill into law. and results of this saturday's nevada republican caucuses will be revealed in realtime via google and twitter. this marks the first time social networks will play a central role in announcing the outcome of a political presidential contest. and did you see it in first lady michelle obama brought her let's move campaign to the tonight show the with jay leno last night. she got jay to eat his first apple in 28 years. the first lady also critiqued mitt romney's rendition of america the beautiful.

>> i saw it in the green room. >> right. >> beautiful. >> beautiful. ♪ get a free balcony upgrade when you book now. limited time offer. some restrictions apply. in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check.

the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. coming up at the top of the hour, a game of price is right in florida. we'll introduce you to the millionaires and billionaires who helped romney buy the sunshine state. and now have those fortunes trained on the white house, plus, respect and the presidency. now backing to t-a-m-r-a-n. >> thanks, martin. new deal tas on the death of "soul train" creator don cornelius. police say the 75 died at his home from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the torso. .cornelius did talk to his son on the phone before the

shooting. police believe he shot himself after that phone call. the reverend al sharpton host of politics nation was a long-time friend of don cornelius and he said "i am shocked and grief stricken. we've maintained a friendship for the last 38 years. he brought soul music and dance to the world in a way it had never been shown and he was a cultural game-changer on a global level. a 19-year-old sharpton appeared on "soul train" back in '74 to honor james brown. here's that moment. >> we know that in the recording industry that they give a gold record to those that achieve a million seller, but we view your million seller payback as a black record because it is relevant and says many of the things that young blacks have tried to say and could not musically express in our own little way. >> i'm joined by earl hutchison, contributor for the grio. i sue he that video of the reverend al at 19 and i like

watching centric and other cable network but they show old episodes of "soul train." you see moem influential african-americans still doing their thing who got their start and first exposure on "soul train." >> you know i think over the next few days, we'll hear a lot about don cornelius' legacy. a legend pioneer icon. these are all true. . he did elevate african-american music to another level. before don cornelius, typically in the 50s and 60s you typically thought of black music as being pigeon holed. it was for black audiences. the genius of don cornelius was he was able to expand the audience. he was able to take african-american and that's basically what it was, music and those sounds and that beat and that drive and essentially make it america's music because you had just generations of young white kids, young hispanic kids, young asian kids just dancing away. in fact, you know, tamron it was

interesting to see a lot of them with their afros and platform shoes and mini skirts and you know, i mean, it became literally america's art form. and that was really the genius of don cornelius. >> absolutely. "soul train" started in 1970 in chicago. i have a great friend from iowa. he was around 4 years old and he said this jewish boy growing up in iowa, this was his exposure to black culture. and his appreciation of black is beautiful and all these things, this is what my little jewish friend from iowa shared with me. this impact certainly was a great importance to kids like myself growing up in texas. this was a glamorous view of african-americans that was not always available. but it also was a view that was appreciated by non-blacks. >> yeah, and that's the thing. and when the reverend al said a game-changer, what he meant was he in fact, crossed all cultural and ethnic boundaries. the other thing too on a

personal note. don cornelius, when you say him, suit and tie, always most of the time well coifed, he was a classy guy. so it wasn't just, you know, a bunch of folk running around, jumping around with a lot of music. in other words, you had top white entertainers across the board, all ethnic groups and it appealed to many, many people across all ethnic lines and at the center of this, you had a classy guy. so it really made it work. and i think that's really when you look at "soul train," i know 30 years later when they had had the retrospective, many people pointed out, don, you really did change not only the complexion of music in america but you changed the audience for our music in america. we thank you for that. >> very sad circumstances surrounding his death. perhaps in his honor, we can all get together and form a "soul train" line for mr. cornelius. great life he had there. very sad to see him go. i'll see you soon. >> thank you. up next a controversial

announcement from the nation's leading breast cancer charity. susan g. komen for the cure says it is severing ties with planned parenthood. critics say the charity is bowing to political pressure. details in our "news nation" gut check. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

today my journey continues across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon.

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time now for the "news nation" gut check. the nation's leading breast 'canes awareness group susan g. komen for the cure is cutting ties to planned parenthood and

will stop providing funds to them for breast cancer examinations. they say the action is the result of the charity's newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. now, back in september, republican congressman cliff stearns of florida launched an inquiry to see if planned parenthood uses public money to fund abortions. planned parenthood says komen caved into political pressure which they deny. joining me now reporter laura basset. thank you for your time. i know you've already spoken with a few people who say they will no longer give donations to susan g. komen for the cure. what is at the heart of their explanation for this action? >> well, this issue is not about abortion. and susan g. komen is making it about abortion. planned parenthood has been under attack from right wing groups, anti-abortion groups for the past two years over the fact that 3% of their services are abortion services.

in fact, planned parenthood also gives 4 million breast exams every five years and susan g. komen's money was used directly towards providing those exams for women. so to politicize women's health like this, i think women with cannes remember furious, women who have family men who have cancer or if they just find a lump on their breast and want to go in to get it checked. because of a political issue that has absolutely nothing to do with women's health. >> we reached out to susan g. komen for a cure for a comment. they did not provide one to us, but again, in other articles, that have been quoted as saying this is not about the anti-abortion pressure or anything of that nature. they say this is their criteria. is there any validity to that? >> there's a lot of evidence to the contrary. unfortunately, they've been getting a lot of pressure from right wing organizations for years over their connection to planned parenthood. and they recently hired a vice president who ran for governor of georgia on a strong

anti-planned parenthood plat fox. it seems like there are other issues at play despite what they say. >> i should point this out, planned parenthood says the donations from the komen foundation provide 170,000 breast exams to low income and un insured women that would include mammograms. laura, thank you very much. i know we'll be talking about this tomorrow, as well. what does your gut tell you? did the susan g. komen bow to political pressure to severe ties with planned parenthood? cast your vote on this one. that does it for this edition of "news nation." martin bashir is up next. wanted to visit us... in louisiana. they came to see us in florida... nice try, they came to hang out with us in alabama... once folks heard mississippi had the welcome sign out, they couldn't wait to get here. this year was great but next year's gonna be even better. and anyone who knows the gulf

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