captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> lehrer: good evening. i'm jim lehrer. the nation's unemployment rate held steady last month at 9.7%. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the jobless rate for african americans and latinos is much higher. we'll look at why. >> lehrer: then, ray suarez looks back on a rocky week for democrats. >> while the president tried to get health-care reform back on track, ethical questions about fellow democrat its threaterned to derail the message

>> woodruff: we get analysis from mark shields and michael gerson, filling in for david brooks. >> lehrer: and then fred de sam lazaro reports on troubles in the african nation of sudan, hit by drought, food shortages, and violence. >> access to basic health care is minimal. and if we look on the ground what we see is an union tarian crisis. >> woodruff: and is the 3-d hit "avatar" the way of the future for the film business? jeffrey brown takes us to the movies. >> lehrer: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour is provided by: >> what the world needs now is energy. the energy to get the economy humming again. the energy to tackle challenges like climate change. what if that energy came from an energy company? everyday, chevron invests in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, building.

fueling growth around the world to move us all ahead. this is the power of human energy. chevron. intel. sponsors of tomorrow. bnsf railway. and monsanto. 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. >> lehrer: today's monthly look at unemployment was considered good news, as the jobless rate remained unchanged. >> woodruff: the report did show the economy lost more jobs, but not as many as expected. americans waiting to apply for work may not have noticed, but february was the fourth month in a row that the jobless rate either fell slightly or stayed the same. it peaked at 10.1% in october,

dropped to 9.7% in january, and held there again last month. the labor department reported employers cut another 36,000 jobs, but there had been predictions the figure would be worse, as many as 100,000. >> i think the numbers show that we are approaching the very bottom of the business cycle in terms of employment, what you might call the trough, but we're not quite there yet. >> woodruff: harry holzer is a professor of public policy at georgetown university and former chief economist at the labor department. >> job losses are getting smaller but they haven't disappeared. they are concentrated in a limited number of sectors like construction, finance and the government, but we might not have reached bottom yet. >> woodruff: some economists have suggested there would have been a net increase in jobs last month if not for blizzards in the midwest and east. the bureau of labor statistics

commissioner, keith hall, was not ready to go that far today. he was questioned before the congressional joint economic committee. >> so would you say that the snowstorms distorted the job numbers that you are presenting today? >> i would say it's really hard to tell. and i'd say we won't know... we'll have a much better idea, i'd say, looking at next month's numbers to sort of see. >> woodruff: for his part, president obama welcomed the february numbers. he spoke during a visit to a washington-area energy company. >> the measures we are taking to turn our economy around are having some impact. but even though it is better than expected, it's more than we should tolerate. far too many families remain out of work, far too many families are still struggling in these difficult economic times. >> woodruff: the jobs report showed the struggle is even more acute for minorities. unemployment among blacks was almost 16%; for hispanics, the

rate topped 12%. in contrast, white unemployment stood at 8.8%. and at georgetown, holzer said the u.s. still faces the challenge of creating enough new jobs to get the recovery moving. >> in the last few years, we've lost over eight million jobs. to get unemployment back down to where it was before the recession, at about 4.5%, we not only have to create those eight million new jobs, but we'll need about three million more to cover all the workers that get added to the labor market, that join the labor force every year. >> woodruff: in the meantime, at job fairs around the country, some employers are seeing streams of would-be workers, many of them, over-qualified. in california, "the los angeles times" reports theme parks like disneyland have had floods of white-collar applicants to fill openings. still, it's widely expected the

overall pace of hiring will stay slow this year. for a closer look at racial disparities revealed in the unemployment numbers, we turn to two people who follow the subject closely: algernon austin is director of the program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the economic policy institute; and mark hugo lopez is an economist and associate director of the pew hispanic center. gentlemen, good to see you both, we appreciate it. >> good to be here. >> woodruff: algernon, why are the rates so much higher for minorities. >> there are a number of factors involved. one for blacks and latinos, lower educational attainment. other factors include age, they're both slightly younger and younger groups have higher unemployment rates. region, some of the whites states in the country have the lowest unemployment rates, some of the most diverse states have some of the highest unemployment rates. there's also the persistent

issue of discrimination in the labor market. we continue to see that also at play in producing the unemployment disparities. >> woodruff: let's dig into some of those factors one by one. mark lopez, what about this education. how much disparity is there when it comes to education and how much difference does it make? >> well, we talk about latinos, latinos have lower levels of educational attainment on the whole, particularly when we talk about young latinos. you really see this when it comes it to the high school dropout rate. young hispanics are two to three times more likely to not have graduated from high school or have a high school diploma than other people in the united states. when you talk about going to college or college attainment, hispanics continue to lag behind other groups in terms of college a tanlt and getting a bachelor's degree. >> woodruff: what about the matter of age that algernon mentiod. >> for latinos one of the interesting characteristics is that while there are 47, 48 million hispanics in the u.s. the median age is 27,

for whites it's more like 40. so there is a tremendous difference in the age distribution for hispanic, many under the age of 18 and haven't enterentered the labor market just yet. >> woodruff: plush that out for us in terms of education, age and the geographic differences. >> right, right so, states like the dakotas -- dakota'ss, yes yes, have very low unemployment rates, on the other hand, california, detroit, nevada and other more diverse states, states with large minority populations have very high, some of the highest unemployment rates in the country. so that contributes to some of the disparities that we see. >> woodruff: is it worse in this recession for minorities than in previous recessions? >> for hispanics it may be worse. i'm not sure. but hispanics were-- hispanic males were heavily concentrated in the

construction sector. so for that reason in construction with the bursting of the housing bubble, construction got hit very hard so there is a very sharp rise in the hispanic unemployment rate. the black unemployment rate is quite high but it's not quite as high as it reached in the 1980s recession. >> woodruff: and it is a factor, mark lopez, it depends on the sector of the economy. and it is construction that has been hit very hard. >> that's particularly true. what is interesting is in the past decade what we saw during the height of the housing boom, is that the unemployment rate between-- the unemployment rate for hispanics and the unemployment rate for nonhispanics virtually merged. we saw very little gap between the two groups. so hispanics made tremendous employment progress throughout this past decade but with the burst in the housing bubble and the drop in construction jobs, also manufacturing, the gap widened to what we had traditionally seen in the decade prior to this current decade.

burr hispanics made tremendous progress in the past decade in unemployment. >> woodruff: and we know african-americans made progress in the 1990s. have those gains been waped out by this recession? >> yes, some of the broader economic gains even before the recession officially started, i mean the foreclosure crisis really i think hit african-americans first. so we saw sort of declines in home ownership, declines in home el wealth. and those are -- those disparitys in terms of wealth and income and in terms of the poverty rates we'll see open up over time. because unfortunately, the affects of this recession are going to be long-lasting. >> woodruff: you also mentioned discrimination. >> yes. >> woodruff: has it been documented how much discrimination plays a role? >> yeah, the precise amount is not clear but it's clear that it is an important factor. so for example, one thing note is that yes, education

plays a role. but as mark just said, latinos have the lowest sort of educational attainment on average yet it's blacks who have the highest unemployment rate. so it's not education alone that's affecting that. and researchers have done excellent audit studies where they sent white and black applicants out to employers presenting the same information in the same ways. and those studies repeatedly show that employers are more likely to give a job offer to the white applicant than the black applicant. >> woodruff: in the latino community you know, both touching on the question of discrimination but overall, is there a sense that it's worse this time. >> a recent survey at the pew research did asking americans generally about which group to you think encounters the most discrimination or a lot of discrimination. and one of the interesting findings in this particular report was that actually the public sees hispanics as the

group that is most discriminated against right now. 23% of americans said that hispanics were the ones that are discriminated a lot, against a lot. that is different from what we saw in 2001. in 2001 it was african-americans who were perceived by the public as having or experiencing the post discrimination. so we have seen a little bit of a flip here. now what is driving that, we don't know. this something that we have been unable to explore thoroughly. but the data suggests that the public sees hispanics as being discriminated against more now than african-americans. >> woodruff: i want to also ask both of you about this thing that we are focusing on more with this recession. and that is under employment. it's getting as much attention, practically, as is unemployment. how do you see that across all groups. how big a role is that playing including whites who are -- >> right, the underemployment rates are at historic highs. but even there we see disparities.

i remember my organization did tracks these numbers by race. and if i remember correctly for december the underemployment rates for both blacks and for las inos was 25%. and for whites i think it was about 15%. so it's high overall historic highs but there are racial disparitys there also. >> woodruff: how do you see. >> exactly the same. there is a high level of underemployment but it is to the just hispanics and latinos there is a undercurrent across the entire labor market. >> woodruff: and a lot more focused on that. and to both of you, mark lopez first, coming out of this recession which we all hope is coming sooner rather than later, is there a sense that minorities will enjoy the same movement that whites do, or will they be lagging? >> i don't know for sure whether or not we will see that. and whether or not the

hispanic community feels that that is going to happen. but certainly for hispanics, a lot of ground needs to be made up because a lot of the job loss especially earlier part of the recession occurred among hispanics. so for hispanics there a lot of ground to cover to get to where they were before the recession started. >> yes t depends on what the recovery looks like. we're all hoping that it's quick and strong. unfortunately, the signs are not great. but if it depends on what sectors recover, you know, if construction recovers that's going to be very beneficial for hispanic workers. if manufacturing recovers that will be very good for african-american workers. and if it is more, if the jobs require high levels of skill and education. unfortunately, that means that for blacks and latinos are going to be less likely to get those jobs. >> woodruff: it's a grim picture all the way around, even with a little bit of

glimmer of good news. algernon austin, mark lopez, thank you both. >> thank you >> lehrer: now, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan in our newsroom. >> sreenivasan: the jobs report boosted optimism on wall street that the economy is improving, and that sparked a broad-based rally. the dow jones industrial average gained 122 points to close at 10,566. the nasdaq rose 34 points to close at 2,326, the highest in 18 months. for the week, the dow gained more than 2%; the nasdaq rose nearly 4%. general motors has announced it will reinstate 600 dealerships that were slated to be closed. the decision is a compromise meant to head off congressional action. last year, g.m. told 2,000 dealers that they'd lose their franchises. it was part of a corporate plan to save money. about 1,100 of the affected dealers appealed to the auto maker to reconsider. in greece, the parliament today approved $6.5 billion in budget cuts and new taxes to defuse a debt crisis.

but opponents of those austerity measures protested again in athens and fought with police. we have a report from john sparks of independent television news. >> here's how bad things are in greece right now. workers, civil servants and the unemployed involved in a series of street battles this week, as the prime minister george papandreou pushed through his third emergency budget to slash the country's deficit and please eu leaders. even pensioners are throwing themselves against the barricades yesterday. and today it was the turn of the communist party. mr. papandreou's government has whacked up taxes, raised the retirement i believe and the people of greece don't like it. >> the greek prime minister went to berlin today looking for a friend. the german chancellor merkel was supportive. greece is dealing with

difficult problems said mr. papandreou but he stopped short of asking for financial aid. still many think that's just a matter every time. >> this economy is in very, very deep trouble it has a huge budget deficit it has very poor growth prospects, very high level of indebtedness. investors are skeptical that the government can get the economy growing. and unless it can get the economy growing, it's going to be impossible to put public finances on a sound footing. >> reporter: fear now, however, a greek singer puri will chip in, donating her pension earned when she served as an nep to the country she loves. the harmonious and then to a very difficult week. the greek >> sreenivasan: the greek prime minister, george papandreou, comes to washington next week to meet with president obama. we'll have an interview with him, on monday night. singapore has raised its terror threat level after warnings of a plot to attack oil tankers and other ships off its coast. the warning focused on the malacca strait, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. millions of barrels of oil pass

through every day. the government says it's increasing security at border crossings, airports, sea ports and other high-risk targets. british prime minister gordon brown insisted today the decision to invade iraq was justified. he testified in london at a public inquiry into britain's role in going to war. tony blair was the prime minister in 2003, when british forces joined the u.s.-led invasion. brown was then in charge of the british treasury. today, he backed his former boss. >> i believe we were making the right decision for the right cause. i believe i had sufficient information before me to make a judgement. of course i wasn't trying to dot job of the foreign secretary or trying to second-guess something that has happened at other meetings. i was looking at the issue on its merits. and as i've said to you before, i was convinced that the merits of our case >> sreenivasan: brown also criticized u.s. officials over post-war planning. he said the bush administration failed to focus on how to secure and rebuild iraq.

six people were killed when a passenger bus crashed south of phoenix, arizona, early this morning. at least 16 others were hurt, including three children. police said the bus rear-ended a pickup truck, then veered out of control, rolled over, and landed on the side of the road. the roof of the bus was crushed, and the windows knocked out. the bus was traveling from central mexico to los angeles. investigators searched for a motive today after a man opened fire at the pentagon subway last night. two police officers were wounded and briefly hospitalized. the shooter, john patrick bedell, was killed at the scene when the officers returned fire. bedell had driven from california after leaving anti- government messages on internet message boards. his parents had warned police that their son was unstable and might have a gun. authorities said bedell had a history of mental illness. a series of powerful aftershocks rocked chile this morning, nearly a week after a devastating earthquake. one registered a magnitude of 6.6 and hit the city of

concepcion right after dawn. also today, government officials indicated more than 270 reported deaths were double-counted. that would lower the official death count to about 540. those are some of the day's main stories. i'll be back at the end of the program with a preview of what you'll find tonight on the newshour's web site. but for now, back to judy. >> woodruff: and still to come on the newshour: analysis from shields and gerson; a hunger and health crisis in sudan; and going to the movies, 3d style. >> lehrer: but first, a frustrating week for democrats in washington and elsewhere. ray suarez has our report. >> suarez: it's been a week when democrats seemed bedeviled in their efforts to advance their agenda. topping that agenda-- president obama's drive to put health care firmly back on the to-do list. >> i believe the united states congress owes the american people a final vote on health care reform. >> suarez: but democratic leaders find themselves confronting an issue they

thought they had put to rest, abortion. house speaker nancy pelosi insisted yesterday the bill passed by the senate and heading for the house would not let taxpayer dollars pay for abortions. >> there is no federally-funded abortion. that is the law of the land. it is not changed in this bill. there is no change in the access to abortion, no more or no less. it is abortion-neutral in terms of access or diminution of access. >> suarez: michigan congressman bart stupak said pelosi is simply wrong, and he warned he and 11 others will vote no. >> we will not compromise that principle, a number of us who will not vote on that. just asking for current law. >> suarez: the democrats' health care message was also hurt by

ethics woes surrounding two new york congressmen. the first involved 20-term veteran charles rangel, who temporarily stepped down as chair of the house ways and means committee. >> i have this morning sent a letter to speaker pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work. >> suarez: the house ethics committee is investigating rangel over hundreds of thousands of dollars in unreported assets and income, and over his use of rent- controlled apartments in new york city. and last friday, the committee admonished rangel for accepting caribbean trips financed by private businesses. and today came word that freshman new york democrat eric massa will resign monday. he had already announced he would not seek re-election, citing health reasons. >> now i'm a direct, salty kind of guy, and i run at a hundred

miles an hour. and my doctors have clearly told me i can no longer do that. >> suarez: massa did not directly address a male staffer's complaint that the congressman made unwanted advances. house republican leader john boehner said the ethical issues add to doubts about democratic leadership. >> it looks like chaos on the other side of the aisle. >> suarez: but illinois democrat luis gutierrez dismissed the criticism. >> we all know how to walk and chew gum at the same time here. if these things were to paralyze our caucus, then i think there would be evidence of that. but all i see is energy and vigor and discussion and debate, and trying to find a way the american men and women the health care they so deserve. >> suarez: and others, including tennessee republican zach wamp, said scandals can hurt everyone. >> these ethical lapses on both sides have cost the congress a lot of credibility, anyone in

elected office. so i hate it for all of us that we seem to slip down the quicksand and not address the country's problems. >> suarez: the ethical cloud hanging over new york democrats extended beyond washington this week, with the governor, david paterson, facing scrutiny in two separate scandals. officials in new york are investigating whether paterson intervened in a domestic violence case to protect a top aide. and the state's public integrity commission said wednesday that paterson broke ethics rules by soliciting the new york yankees for free world series tickets. back in washington, the white house faced distractions of its own in the form of reports on the status of chief of staff rahm emanuel. press reports suggest emanuel is the "voice of reason" in the administration, and that the president would be better off if he followed emanuel's advice more often. >> lehrer: now, the analysis of shields and gerson-- syndicated columnist mark shields and "washington post" columnist

michael gerson. david brooks is off tonight. what do you make of these rahm emmanuel stories? these pro emmanuel stories. >> jim, in 45 years in washington i have never seen anything like it. it is inconceivable that a president whose's engaged in the biggest fight of his presidency, that is passage of the health care, his defining issue, the storys are copping out, rahm emmanuel, according to the reporters, did not talk to the reporters. but the people who did talk to the reporters are known allies and friendly to rahm emmanuel, that if the president-- had followed his advice, if he had followed his slis he would be better off now. substitute bill mowers for lyndon johnson, lyndon johnson picked up the paper and read that bill mowers was reported in the paper, his press secretary, as having given him best advice and lyndon johnson would be a lot better off politically, if he had followed it, bill moyers would be packing that afternoon.

he would be lucky to get out with his body intact. >> lehrer: you have rent experience of the gorjs w bush white house. what do you think happen if a similar thing would happen mere. >> i have to echo. i never have seen anything like tk, i served two chiefs of staff it kind of their job to solve problems like this. sometimes a secretary of state goes off the reservation or there are conflicts. it's there job to be the honest broker and to make things work. in a situation like this it's hard to imagine rahm emmanuel to you being the honest broker. he's put his views out there. and called into question two very important policies. a kind of big bang on health care saying i would have done something more limited. in the middle of a health care debate. and then also the new york trials for the 9/11 conspirators saying that he opposed this. and that's a very sensitive issue too. that's profoundly destructive to the president's agenda. i have never seen anything like it. >> lehrer: do you agree it is profoundly destructive to the president? >> well, jim, how does the president come you have off. the president comes off in

the stories, disengaged, excessively cerebral, not terribly, politically strong or decisive. and in one of them, the rest of the staff, senior staff come in for a punch too. i mean it's just-- there's no reading of this that could be helpful. and if it's true that rahm emmanuel had nothing to do with it, then rahm emmanuel probably ought to seek a public forum, a friendly forum and go on and just blast these stories and say that barack obama is the toughest, most decisive guy and his decisions have been the right decisions. and i'm there to serve. i mean because-- . >> lehrer: do you think -- >> i just think it's unhelpful. >> lehrer: do you agree, though, do you agree, michael, that somebody's got to do something like this, it can't go on like this. >> i agree with that suggestion. he is going to have to try to get in front of this. i think it's probably out of the question to have a change of chief in staff in the middle of a health care debate. i think that that wou ld be

very destructive in itself. but it is hard just to pretend like it didn't happen. >> lehrer: the point that was made that john boehner made in ray's piece that the, you add up the charlie rangel situation and the david pat errson thing and now congressman massa resignation an you have chaos among democrats, do you see chaos. >> not necessarily. these things aren't unprecedented. i mean we've seen them before am but it does add to a narrative. because democrats were really hit in the health care process for kind of legal corruption when it came to benefit force nebraska or benefits for louisiana. so it kind of adds to a narrative of corruption that i think is destructive for any party in the majority. we saw it in 2060 and in 1994 that i'm usually throw out majority parties when they look arrogant and corruption. and republicans have experienced that. and i think that if democrats don't confront this there really is kind of sleep walking into a very

serious situation in the november. >> lehrer: do you say the same. >> yeah, i think each of them is unique. i mean david paterson is the revenge of eliot spitzer. i mean david paterson is i'm sure a decent man but he was not equipped to be governor of new york in a very tough time. that's become obvious. >> lehrer: spitz her to resign. >> he was his running mate instead of the john edwards award that goes to john kerry for 2004 for picking running mates. it does matter whom you do pick. i think that the paterson thing aside, i mean charlie rangel is an american tragedy. i mean he's a wonderful, wonderful, beloved figure. but what he has done, i mean-- . >> lehrer: combat veteran in the korean war. >> high school dropout and was one of the buffalo soldiers. the black regiment in korea , with a purple heart and bronze star, combat.

and came back and finished high school on the gi bill. went to college at st. johns, nyu and st. john's law school. just a great story, up from the bootstraps and all the rest of it but 9 sense of entitlement had set in. talking about $500,000 unreported. and wealth. and so to his credit he didn't say i'm doing this because of my health or i'm doing this to clear my family name. he basically set up there and said look i'm becoming burdened to my party and my colleagues and my friends and i don't want to do that. >> the phrase that mark used, the sense of entitlement, the idea that you get to a certain place in politics where you are bulletproof. it seems to affect a certain group of people in politics whether they are from the left or right or democrats or republicans, just goes with it sometimes. >> it seems that way. we've soon it in other circumstances. i mean one of the reasons the party has changed in the house in 2006 was the abramoff scandal and personal scandals that

related to mark foley. >> lehrer: republicans. >> right, exactly. so you see this in the majority it seems to be a recurring kind of experience. but it's not a helpful one now where you both have ideaological problems, the democrats seem to, opposition to the kind of role of government they are proposing. and then you add on top of this a feeling that they are disconnected or corruption-- corrupt. that is a serious combination. >> what is your reading now about health-care reform after the president made his speech on wednesday and where things look where do they look. do you think congress is going to in fact pass these? >> well, what we've seen so far is that there are no people who voted no the first time who said, who are saying yes, i am's going to vote for it this time, the stat bill in the house. and there are few people who voted for it the first time who said no, i'm not going to vote for it in the house, okay. sos that he a problem. but i do think that, i think speak er pelosi believes that there is an audience here of people that she

might be able to persuade. these are essentially blue dog democrats who like the senate approach better than the house approach. it is marginally less expensive t doesn't have the public option, okay. she needs to get half a dozen, a dozen of these people to switch their votes from the first time around opposing, to supporting this time. that's not an easy task but i also don't think it's an impossible task. >> lehrer: what is your reading? >>. >> well, i thought the president on inn his speech on wednesday struck the right notes. he is talking, mike sell right, talking to the democrats. he is not talking to the republicans but i thought he drew it quite well he threw out four republican ideas, the personal savers account, come up at the summit, the limits on malpractice. and i thought it showed that sense of willing to build a coalition, a consensus to compromise. and knowing full billion he is to the going to get any republican votes and drawing the lines between the two

parties and i think he did that well. he is willing to do ig in, will go out and campaign. yeah son atmire in pennsylvania. >> lehrer: democrats both. >> both democrats in that group of 38 who opposed it. but i think it's tough, jim. i think it is a tough thing. there is great mistrust and distrust on the part of house democrats toward the united states senate. there are right now 70 bills sitting in the senate that passed the house with 50 or more house republicans voting for them that the senate has enacted on. and we saw this week holding up the wol-- the place just doesn't, it doesn't function. i mean it's not dysfunctional t just doesn't function. and so there is a great skepticism, are we going to walk out and vote for that senate bill which is loaded with problems. >> not including the cornhusker, ben nelson deal and all the rest of it from nebraska, and then have it founder in the senate and we're stuck out there.

so. >> there are actually some democrats who want a letter for 51 members of the senate promising that they will do these things, exactly because they deeply distrust that institution. >> lehrer: michael, do you have an analytical point you would like to make about what jim bunt asking. >> my analytical point is of all the spending you could pick to object to, unemployment spending in the midst of a recession makes very little sense to me. i mean it's this kind of republican, and a very good, you know, i think political environment for republicans who could rescue defeat from the jaws of victory. i think this was a terrible message for the republican party to send. it's the right-- it's the right message in one way, in a general way, you know, getting a hold of this deficit problem. but applying to this this problem in particular, i think it makes no sense at all. >> he was a gift to the democrats for the reason

that michael cited. he put a mean face on the republican party for two or three days. but in addition he made the case for reconciliation. you know, no wonder you need reconciliation. i mean-- . >> lehrer: can't do it the regular way. >> you can't do anything, you got 51 votes, for goodness sakes. these people, they couldn't pass a mother's day resolution. and so in that sense, he made the case there, i think, although i think the case for reconciliation is stronger than it was a week ago. >> the republicans finally, the texas primary race for governor, rick perry defeated cay bailey hutchison, a message there. >> it is certainly a message of anti-washington, rick perry now the longest serving governor in the history of texas, running as the challenger against cay bailey hutchison who had been essentially undefeatable for 20 years. >> lehrer: very popular senator. >> state treasurer, united states senator. and she was put squarely on the defensive about washington.

it tells you where the texas republican party is. i mean the regular party establishment was very much with cay bailey hutchison. >> i'm not sure. a race like florida, the primary, republican primary is shaping up as an ideaological battle between a conservative and a moderate. >> lehrer: crist and rubio, also for governor-- i mean for senate. >> for senate. but in texas , the basically argument that hutchison made is it is my turn it was not an ideaological critique. inch of this was rooted in a personal conflict between two camps in texas that didn't like each other very much. there was a little ideaological overlay. i think perry eventually rallied some conservative support against hutchison. >> de. >> but the primary, you know, argument leer was a personality argument. >> lehrer: she expected-- she did not expect perry to run again. >> literally she thought that he had promised not to.

that it was her turn to come back to texas and do what she wanted it do. but that is not much of a political argument. >> this was a fellow who had entertained the possibility of secretary session. >> lehrer: you got a problem with that. >> and made the bogus claim it was part of the deal when texas came into the union. texas did secceed from the union and 623,000 americans died in the conflict that followed. >> lehrer: as a matter of history, when texas did become a state of the union, part of it was they reserved the right to divide some day into five other country-- into four other, yeah, whatever, something like that. thank you very much, both of you. >> woodruff: next, growing violence and hunger in southern sudan. special correspondent fred de sam lazaro reports. >> reporter: in a remote doctors-without-borders field

hospital, a newborn arrives... >> my good man my good man >> reporter: the little boy emerges with no medical complication. 3.5 kilos? >> yes. >> reporter: he weighs in at a healthy 3.4 kilos, or seven and a half pounds. but these happy moments are few and short-lived. just yards away are children months older who weigh less than the newborn. >> he's five months old. >> reporter: how much does he weigh? >> he weighs 3.3 kilos. >> reporter: the u.n. says half of south sudan's population is desperately short of food. that's a four-fold increase in hunger this year, due to drought and growing violence-- violence stemming from age-old local conflicts and, some fear, echoes of the north-south civil war. sudan's mostly black african south has long fought the predominantly arab north.

a largely ethnic conflict took on economic dimensions when oil was discovered in the 1970s in the south. its benefits have mostly flowed to the national capital, khartoum, in the more affluent and powerful north. fighting ended five years ago with an internationally brokered comprehensive peace treaty. it recognized a semi-autonomous government of south sudan and called for nationwide elections. those will be held in april. but under the treaty, there will also be a referendum; it is now set for early 2011, just in the south, to determine if it will break off into a separate country. as the votes draw nearer, there's been a noticeable breakdown in security in many parts of this vast territory. the united nations estimates that some 360,000 had to flee their homes from violence in 2009, and some 2,500 lost their lives due to violence. that's more even than the conflict in darfur, in western

sudan, last year. a lot of the conflict likely has to do with local rivalries and deteriorating living conditions, especially the lack of water for crops and cows, the major source of wealth here. >> can you ask him who shot him? >> reporter: it's what landed tut bidong in the lankien hospital for three months. he was shot in the leg in a fight with a rival clan. >> ( translated ): somebody cut the ears of their cattle, and they came back and to take revenge on us. >> reporter: zach vertin, an analyst with the international crisis group, says this kind of fighting has gone on for a long time. >> traditionally, among the pastoralist communities in south sudan, cattle rustling during seasonal migrations is a primary source of conflict. you also have rising food insecurity, minimal access to state institutions, minimal access to justice mechanisms, and a huge number of small arms and light weapons.

>> reporter: there also are fears that sudan's leader, omar al bashir, internationally indicted for war crimes in darfur, might be inciting the intertribal conflicts to disrupt the elections, or to prevent the break-up of the country. >> previously, khartoum did offer financial and military support to certain tribes within the south, but also in other regions, in the east and in darfur, as part of a broader sort of divide-and-rule strategy. so its important that the parties and the international community keep an eye on that.

>> reporter: despite the in- fighting, most experts say southern sudanese are likely to come together and vote to become an independent nation. we heard this from people we talked to at the field hospital. >> reporter: so the northern government has not taken care of the south properly? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: many experts agree it will take significant international oversight to

insure the election, referendum, and the consequences-- drawing up borders and agreements to share the oil-- all proceed without conflict. but doctors without borders says it is preparing for the worst. even under the most optimistic scenario, this region will remain largely without access to basic health services for a long time, says akko endevit, one of the group's country leaders. >> we will be here for, i suspect, the coming years-- 2010 for the elections, 2011 for the referendum. but even after that, access to basic health care is minimal. and if we look on the ground, what we see is an unfolding humanitarian crisis. >> reporter: and field hospitals like this are on the front lines of the crisis and malnutrition on the leading edge. nurse tim harrison runs this emergency feeding center, a place some patients walk days to reach; a space designed for far

fewer patients. >> this ward will hold 12 and this ward will hold eight, so 20 in-patients. >> reporter: and you have? >> 54. >> reporter: that's not counting the overflow of dozens under a tarp and hundreds of outpatients. the immediate challenge is to get emergency food aid, not ballots, to the population of south sudan. >> woodruff: fred's report is part of our collaboration with the pulitzer center on crisis reporting. >> lehrer: and finally tonight, part two of our pre-oscars look at the movies. last night, jeffrey brown examined the war film "the hurt locker." tonight, the technology behind "avatar." >> brown: nominated for nine oscars, "avatar" is one of the most honored films of the year, and far and away its biggest box-office hit, grossing more than $2.5 billion worldwide. but the impact of james cameron's blockbuster may well spread far beyond that to usher in a new age of 3-d filmmaking

and viewing. of course, we can't show 3-d technology on your tv screen at home; at least, not yet. but it's integral to the look and even the story line of "avatar." the film uses the revolutionary performance capture technique that combines human actors with computer-generated animation to create the blue, ten-foot-tall navi people and the world they inhabit on the planet pandora. audiences-- 3-d glasses on-- become part of the world as well. and suddenly, 3-d is everywhere, with some 20 films set to be released this year, including

tim burton's "alice in wonderland", opening today. here, the technology plays to the director's dark and quirky style. other 3-d films to come: "shrek: forever after"; "toy story 3"; "how to train your dragon"; and "clash of the titans," which is being converted from its original format. all this is leading to something of a pile-up, as theater chains race to meet demand, installing up to 150 new 3-d screens a month. currently, fewer than 9% of the country's 40,000 screens can accommodate the new films. the question now-- will film- goers flocking to "avatar" keep the 3-d wave going, or will 3-d, which after all has been trumpeted before, once again prove to be a passing fad? and for more on hollywood's renewed interest on 3-d we turn to kim masters, she's the host of the radio

program "the business" on kcrw in california which covers the entertainment industry. so kim, it's "avatar" and the new technology that has tipped the scales towards 3-d? >> yeah, i think there was a certain amount-- i mean there were people in hollywood that were pushing for 3-d and there were people who were resistant. but when "avatar" grossing about $2.6 billion at this point, you know, not everybody is james cameron, not everybody can do that, but i think the studios would like to try. >> set the context for us a bit here. because we focus on the glamor of the industry and especially its oscar season. but this is an industry kind of looking for its next economic model, how to entice people back into the theatres. how does 3-d fit into what's going on? >> yeah, the industry is very much at a crossroads because of the digital revolution, like a lot of other businesses. it's been heavily impacted. dvd sales have dropped off, meanwhile there's all sorts of, you know, exploration, how to sell movies on-line,

different ways to make money. the industry is really concerned. and there's a certain ambivalence. because on the one hand 3-d has been a big-- a big windfall. there's been a huge amount of money generated by films on 3-d. "avatar" has made more than $70% of its money on 3-d screens. so while the industry is pushing theatre owners to get ready for 3-d to upgrade so they can show 3-d films, they're also looking to you a different model which is video on demand so that would you sit in your living room and watch movies whenever you want to. and what we see now is they are trying to sort of go both ways at the same time which is something that has theatre owners really concerned. because as they are being pressed to upgrade, they're also being squeezed when they say you can see, for example, alice in wonder land that will be available on dvd sooner than it ever would have been before, in the past it would have been four months, now it is about three for alice. and you know, there's basically saying to consumers you can kind of

stay home and see this relatively soon. so there is a lot of turmoil. >> and i mentioned 20 other movies this year in 3-d. we tend to think of 3-d for a certain kind of movie, right, the fantasy, children, or maybe horror movies. are we moving towards the general drama, comedy, what have you in 3-d? >> well, that's sort of one of the debates that has gone on and is going on. there has been people notably jeffrey katzenberg that does these animated films like "shrek" saying 3-d is the future for all film. film is 3-d and it will look back and be like the transfrition silent move yees to talkies t will be that big of a revolution. and there have been other people who will say no, it will to the become the standard because it is silly, who wants to see my dinner with andre in 3-d. it's not necessary. and it's foolish. so it is, i don't know that the decision is made but i think that with "avatar" we see 9 scales tipped

certainly for the big action pictures. the studios feel compelled to do those movies in 3-d because they are afraid if they don't they will seem dated and people won't go to see them. so there is a pressure. >> among the less than enthralled, i saw a quote from jeff bridges whose's up for an academy award at the oscars sunday. and he said actors will kind of be a thing of the past. we'll be turned into combinations. a director will be able to say i want 60 percent cloonie, 10% bridges, and throw in some charles bronson to come up with a new guy who will look like nobody's whoever lived. >> you know that is a concern that actors have. and as they've campaigned for oscar, the makers of "avatar" have tried to stress that those are performance-driven. that they are really the actors performances. and if "avatar" doesn't win on sunday, it could be because the biggest block in the academy is actors and they look at those blue creatures and think i'm not quite clear comfortable with that. so that is a concern that

filmmakers are trying to put that to rest. and i would say based on the experience that i have so far, you can't really fake a performance. you can't fake stardom, to give you an example when heath ledger died in the middle of the batman film, you know, they could computer generate heath ledger if they had had to. but i talked to the people who do that work and they said we can make it look and sound like heath ledger but we can't make it heath ledger. so i think that concern may be, you know, a bit exaggerated. although there are filmmakers who are sort of control freaks and probably would be very happy to generate all sorts of creatures. the argument from the cameron side of things, the "avatar" side of things it is like prosthetics it like a mask. it enables to you do a richer performance. it doesn't take the actor out of the occasion. >> and just briefly in our last 30 seconds here, i mean as i said in our setup, we've seen this before t has been trum eted before. there is still a question mark whether this is a passing fad but in the meantime we're going get more of them whether we like

them or not. >> we will. and i have to say i don't think this like that. i think we're moving to a place where there will be a pretty much of a major standard of 3-d, especially when it comes into your home, which is in the foreseeable future. and you can really have a pretty rich 3-d experience in your living room. i think it's the future. not everyone agrees. >> all right, we'll watch. kim masters. >> watch and learn. >> watch and learn, kim masters, thanks a lot. >> thank you. >> lehrer: again, the major developments of the day: unemployment in february held at 9.7%. the economy lost another 36,000 jobs, but that was fewer than expected. and wall street took the report as good news. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 120 points. the newshour is always online. hari sreenivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's there. hari. >> sreenivasan: we have more analysis of today's unemployment numbers, including what the jobless rate means for the overall economy, and a report on the impact of growing under-

employment. watch a slide show from the field hospital fred de sam lazaro visited, and find a link to the pulitzer center's sudan project. plus, two conversations on the film business: on the "rundown," the recession's toll on the oscars; and on "art beat," film critic david thomson previews sunday's awards. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. judy. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. >> lehrer: and i'm jim lehrer. "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. thank you and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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