i want to say that actually going to move on to this thing i'm going to michele bachmann sorry i'm. going to be in turn on as well my son. has decided to rake in a little on the field team six team that killed osama bin laden they've actually trademarked it now and that means that they're just a start making i know it'll make halves with field team six next thing you know the little mermaid point or part two of her shells are going to little seal team six things on him i think up a little ridiculous disney company have more interested if it becomes a ride or are they going to deal with the osama bin ladin portion of this are we going to see little of solid bin ladin figurines in disney stores that now little kids are going to be coming for christmas they are starting out a little more and i thought of the about seal team thing but. i have a two year old daughter and so i've been making the rounds on youtube with all disney cartoons and i got to tell you like one nine hundred thirty s. disney big bad wolf are some of the biggest like nos jews you've ever seen in your life so maybe th

when you get it you see the bachmann's in so she there is no usa i like you're a no no you know what all you're busy doing your show senior adviser said now the huckabees gone bachmann is it in some breaking news here are you really i think or maybe you don't think i just very sarcastic i'm not. going to curse us like this more teams that was aware that a big mistake like has been a moderate i can't believe he'll even tell you you know he had already. i'm going to be going oh it's running for president. you're right there i said you know you're going to be on tuesday and you're talking about a presidential run all in favor of it. every waking second we're going to have her to kick around now for the next at least several months but they are kids to read the letter kids get a little to come with her she criticizes someone says you do you're misreading the constitution doesn't cite a single example she defends new jersey. you know and then she says names michele bachmann for bringing down women yes you have to be a credit to your gender and then she also was as a typical new jersey hig

on to palin and bachmann.n will announce her plans later this week, but already some are saying, bachmann shouldn't bottom because she's a carbon copy of sarah palin. here's what bachmann said about that on "jk usa." >> i have great respect for senator palin, i consider her a friend. so if she gets in, she gets in. that won't impact whether or not i get in or not. >> leslie, you have to admit, palin has certainly come up with a way to garner attention, you know, with her bus tour. bachmann sees diminished now. is she toast? >> i don't think so. you can have more than one female candidate. sarah palin has transcended politics into celebrity. she has to deal with highly polarizing numbers, the fact, to your point, she does not appeal to independents. she has her own challenges. michele bachmann can take advantage of that. the point is, there are more candidates that are aggressively appealing to -- these outsider candidates who are appealing to this concern about the direction of the country, and it's good for a

can bachmann resist the call of the wild? with us today, hdnet's dan rather, rachel madoow, kelly o'donnell and michael gers inn. president obama has put out a new plan for the middle east and now he's headed to europe. what's at the center here is the push to put the economy back on track. that's why there's a focus on the debt compromise and that's what the election will hang on. i want to do something different this week. usually we bottom-line things with our regulars, but let's start there this week. we asked the meter, which includes kelly, what is the better position for parties to prepare for 2012, hold firm for your party's priorities like medicare or tax rates, or compromise to get a deal? it's unanimous. all 12 say compromise is the smarter presidential politics for both parties. kelly, explain that, because so far you've seen the republicans holding hard. no taxes. dismantle medicare. democrats holding back, not ready to make a deal, you're saying they're smart, both of them, to get in there and deal. >> grow myse

and bachmann repeatedly said palin will have no impact on whether she gets in the race or not. at one stop she said today "look i like sarah palin, she's made important contributions to the country but she's just not comparing herself to palin. bachmann said the person she should be compared to is barack obama and she said she thought she compared favorably. >> smith: jan crawford in washington this evening, thank you very much. the drug violence in mexico has touched nearly every part of that country, even the schools. on friday, a teacher in monterrey got her kindergarten students on the floor and recorded what happened when five people were gunned down at a taxi stand right outside the school. she kept the children calm with a song even as gunshots rang out. ( gunshots ) ( speaking spanish ) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> smith: that teacher was honored today with a certificate praising her outstanding civic courage. and there was a barrage of bullets earlier today in miami's south beach. police traded fire with a man in a car who had raced down a crowded block after an apparent drive-by shooti

why is michele bachmann catching on? she has an opinion and voting on the courage issues of the day. a huge amount will change. mitch daniels, i think the governor of indiana will get in, in the next two weeks and i think mike huckabee will run and get in at the end of august there is still room for the late entries, chris christie, mitt romney types. i know, i'm a little broken record on this. occasionally they're right. broken alarm clocks are right -- i can't remember what that is. twice a day. thank you. i do think it's -- what strikes me the most is the dissatisfaction of the president. they give the stump speeches and there are huge issues going on in washington and people want to know what their opinions on them are. >> chris: let's talk about mitch daniels. with haley barbour out, suddenly mitch daniels is coming up a little bit in terms of speculation. and he did something very interesting this week. on friday, he announced that he is going to sign when it gets to his desk the bill that will make indiana the fir

sarah palin is a threat to michele bachmann. bachmannes go, the candidacy dies. the advantage right now is to mitt romney. met ronnie is the front runner. every day that goes by when you do not talk about the front runner or criticizing him is a good day for any front runner. >> the question is huntsman. mitch daniels was going to be great, except he does not want to do it and i guess -- except his wife did not want to do and he is gone. hudson has -- huntsman has charisma, which pawlenty and blacks. he is a moderate, liked by people like me, which is a problem. >> absolutely a problem. >> that is what will cost him, that he is moderate? >> "moderate." that is like democrats saying that if you support the ryan plan, we will kill you because you are moderate. there are parties of the right -- republicans are the party of the fight, democrats of the left. romney has a bigger issue, romney care. his front runner-ship will hinge on how he handles those attacks and a debate. if he shows he can answer it, he will win the nomination but if he cannot, it will be extremel

but bachmann says she's ready to run and not worried about governor palin or anyone else. >> if i chose to run, i run to win. that's the only way that i do it, because if i'm it, i'm it, and i will do -- i am an extremely hard worker. >> a busy day, spicy day. >>> we begin in islam bad. tense moments between america's top noigss and the highest military officer. secretary of state clinton made clear the united states has no evidence suggesting top pakistan military figures provided safe haven to osama bin laden, but also made clear obama administration expects pakistan to find out if lower level officials knew and expects pakistan to be a more consistent partner. >> america cannot and should not solve pakistan's problems. that's up to pakistan. but in solving its problems, pakistan should understand that anti-americanism and conspiracy theories will not make problems disappear. >> that meeting took place as word surfaced that bin laden at one point contemplated a deal with pakistan. he would call off attacks on pakistan targets in exchange for safe passage of al qaeda leaders. they were

momma grizzly sarah palin versus tea party heroine michele bachmann. politically, they appear to be so soulmates. unbending conservatives who fire up tea partiers like no other republicans. just listen to what sean hannity asked this crowd last spring. >> how many of you would like to see a palin/bachmann ticket? >> well, that sounds kind of cool. >> reporter: a year later, it looks more likely they could be running against each other. >> we know that our best days are yet to come. >> reporter: palin isn't in yet but check out this campaign-style video she released today. it touts her upcoming tour of american landmarks. bachmann has been looking like a candidate for months, and listen to what she said today in iowa. >> i've had that calling and that tugging on my heart that this is the right thing to do. >> reporter: on another recent iowa trip, bachmann told us she wouldn't hesitate to run against palin. would you run against sarah palin? could you envision doing that? >> i love sarah palin. i love her. she is a wonderful individual. >> reporter: but

another has signed up with congresswoman bachmann. a couple other of the leadership is with judge roy moore. it might be tough to assemble the leadership he had because as everybody knows here in iowa, it is a very retail-heavy process with about is,-- ,800 precincts where you need somebody organizing in those precincts. even though governor huckabee starts with more of a head start than he did four years ago introducing himself to iowans, i don't think he can put off a decision thatch longer because we're seeing all these other campaigns really start to organize, start to have town hall meetings, start to sign up county leaders and precinct chairs. >> when was the last time you spoke with the guy? >> i have not recently spoke within governor huckabee. >> david catanese. >> do you believe mitt rahmny, one, is the unequivocal front runner in your state, and, two, does he have to win new hampshire to win the nomination? >> i do think he's certainly right now the unequivocal front runner in our state and part of the reason is of course h

the following challenge pitting my public education against your advanced legal education so you bachmann accepted the challenge though i'd argue that tenth graders knowledge of the united states may be too much for bachmann she probably needs to go head to head with a fifth grader than a job or even a bad georgia republican governor nathan deal so much for the fourth the state of journalism georgia after a local news affiliate ran a scathing article about potential ethics violations coming out of the governor's office governor barbour reporters from that affiliate from covering a bill signing ceremony until they apologized for the article in the words governor deal's off this is trying to censor news coverage of his administration is he taking a page out of hosni mubarak's playbook or just another republican procrit. and a very very ugly ron paul like father like son last week rand paul compared universal health care to slavery and over the weekend his dad a rendezvous. same thing here and on fox news yes yesterday morning ron paul was challenged that the general welfare clause of the co

that makes michele bachmann look sane ok i would say anything anybody that needs to show bachmann look seeing is. anybody that makes michele bachmann look sane is that an amazing service for the republican party in that way but no i mean it's true for most people on that stage the ones that are the real contenders romney and plenty you know he can only diminish them by his presence because they're going to have to answer all these early ridiculous questions and listen to him bragging about his wealth and all of you know his hot wife and all the other unbelievably silly things he says but you know who knows maybe as i said michele bachmann or a couple of the crazier ones will be made a little bit sane so it will benefit i have to say the real winner here is president obama and the democrats they've been engaging with you know everyone said why is the president actually releasing this person to get now the answer is look if they can engage with the donald trump if they can make that look like that so that's a legitimate republican contender for them then that's the counterpoint to them t

she michele bachmann is not a true tea party constitutionalist like ron paul is so we make a she is a social conservative but she comes with tea party language but i still think she's a great album will wait to see how she does in hopefully she'll be in the next debate i will get the comment that i was. here last night anyways gary johnson i was really excited to see my former governor mazing job as governor i mean yes you had bill richardson as ok i know not everything that comes out of new mexico was he said he was just very calm and ministration because he was investigated by the federal government but no dangerously which is really enough i actually talked to the man shannon played say please. just one last question last time we talked you were kind of like setting up a storm when i brought up the grove is that the one with human growth. there was there was a bit that was the end of a log you that you had with him the whole time he looked so uncomfortable i would talk about an awkward you know i mean. if there really was nothing about the bohemian grove that bothered him that's

jon huntsman, santorum, rudy giuliani, michele bachmann and sarah palin., so we have context around this. romney still at 20%, palin at 12%. she said this week she's got fire in the belly. gingrich at 9:00 a% and so on a forth. where does it stand? >> it's very confusing. mitt romney, anything that's happened the last two weeks has been very good for mitt romney. he is sort of the default option, i think, for the republican party. chris christie has made sherman-like statements about not running this time. i think, i personally think he's serious about that. and i think one reason is that he can look ahead to 2016. >> yeah. >> and see that as a better chance. >> what about the message, andrew ross sorkin? i mean, you cover wall street, you cover all things financial. a fiscal discipline message of we're going to get it right on the economy message, that is still the right message for republicans going into next year. >> i got an e-mail while the show was going on, while ryan was just speaking. and even though the medicare plan may be unpopular, the view by

bachmann has events in new hampshire as well.she's getting ready to announce, though, in iowa, where she was born. santorum's still out there. giuliani, actually taking a look at this, as harold suggested, he's going to be in new hampshire as well. as for president obama, we mentioned he'll be in joplin, missouri, today. he's also preparing as early as tomorrow to nominate general martin dempsey as the new chairman of the joint chiefs, the president's top military adviser, of course. he is currently the army chief. he would take over for departing chairman admiral mike mullen. earlier, i was on the "today" program mentioning general cartwright. i misspoke there, because he had been ortaken by some criticism of him. but harold, a point about not just the week ahead, but the politics. >> you're president obama. can you imagine being able to run on i brokered a deal to cut spending in medicare and social security? he ought to lead on this front. i saved and created millions of jobs in the car industry, we killed bin laden. you come

in iowa, bachmann, iowa very important to bachmann if she runs for the white house, a victory there.ld steal voters in iowa. her main kaine, ceo of godfather's pizza, popular among tea party activists. palin could hurt him with those voters as pel. tim pawlenty could be hurt in iowa, he's expecting or hopes to do well in iowa. palin could steal voters from him. and rick santorum, former senator from pennsylvania, popular with social conservatives but so is sarah palin. if she runs she overshadows him and maybe hurts him. >> thanks so much, paul steinhauser. a lot of time to talk about this one. >> oh, yeah, we sure do. >> we'll be back in touch. >> the famous blue angels will be taking off some time after their commanders stepped down. commander david cos says he didn't live up to the precision flying team safety and performance standards during this air show in lynchburg, virginia, last weekend. the angels have canceled their next couple of performances while a new commander takes over. >>> are you still making plans for the holiday weekend? we will get a check of the weather coming

michele bachmann is here, though, i understand. and she's thinking about running for president.hich is weird because i hear she was born in canada. yes, this is how it starts. tim pawlenty, he seems all-american. but if you heard his real middle name, tim jose pawlenty. what a shame. my buddy, our outstanding ambassador jon huntsman is with you. now, there's something you may not know about jon. he didn't learn to speak chinese to go there. oh, no. he learned english to come here. >> perfect timing there. even the president was not off limits to the jokes. host seth myers made sure of that. >> i tell you who could definitely beat you, mr. president, 2008 barack obama, you would have loved him. so charismatic, so charming. was he a little too idealistic? maybe. but you would have loved him. i still think we all remember that inauguration day, the first lady was there. and may i say for as beautiful as you looked that day, you look even more beautiful tonight. now, you, on the other hand, mr. president, have aged a little. what happened to you? when you were sworn in you looked li

mitt romney and michele bachmann are expected to announce their plans next week.nd as john hendren reports there are signs of a run from a former governor of alaska. >> sarah palin shows the signs of a second coming. a bus. don't call it a campaign bus. there is the house. newly bought $1.7 million estate in arizona, which just happens to be more accessible for a candidate than alaska. there is the upcoming movie. >> not a single drop of oil. >> then there is this -- >> the fire in the belly, it's there! >> republican voters seem to want new candidates. polls show nearly half are unhappy with the current 2012 field. abc7 news learned this week michele bachmann and mitt romney will announce they're in and join a field that includes newt gingrich attacked by his own party criticizing a medicare plan. tim pawlenty and john huntsman. just is intriguing is who is not running. mike huckabee. and indiana governor mitch daniels who says he loves his country, he just loves his family more. >> republican leaders are so unhappy some are considering drafting g.o.p. standard b

michele bachmann is expected to announce from another campaign state, iowa. but the buzz candidate is the one from alaska or could it be arizona. sarah palin shows all of the signs of a second coming. there's the bus. just don't call it a campaign bus, making stops at historic sites. there's the house, a $1.7 million resort in arizona. there's the upcoming movie. >> not a single drop of oil. >> reporter: and there's this. >> the fire in the belly, it's there. >> reporter: but the signs can be deceiving. another candidate from reality tv, donald trump, insisted, he was leaning towards a run. but he republ republican voters seem to want new candidates. polls show nearly half are unhappy with their current 2012 field. abc news has learned that this week michele bachmann and romney w romney will announce they're in. >> we picked a fine time to pick a president who had no experience in business. pretty no leadership experience, to be president of the united states. >> reporter: they will join a field that, so far, includes newt gingrich, attacked by his own party.

bachmann really allied herself with sarah palin. shelley is a democrat in west virginia. 2012 politics is the subject. caller: thank you for taking my call. sarah palin is not running for president. the reason is, if she was, roger ailes would have suspended her from being a xbox contributor a long time ago. i would not vote for any way. host: melissa, a republican in buffalo, new york. caller: thank you for taking my call. first of all, i am a republican and i would never vote for sarah palin. if she could not hack it as governor and she resigned after two years in office, there is no way in the world she could handle being president. i do not buy the story that she quit because of ethics investigation. her own lawyer confirmed that she quit because of all the pressure put on her by all of the critics. secondly, i would not vote for michele bachmann because she has this problem with rewriting history. i think another problem is that during the 2008 elections, or 2010, i am sorry. no, 2008, obama was running for president and have a

republicans to do and yet she snubbed by the leadership and threw a little concern about michele bachmann saying things like you know the fathers of this country about slavery you know she just but she keeps coming out with these propositions well i think everybody does when you're under so much pressure to perform and to really get your point across i think everybody says things that maybe come out the wrong way i have met her i like her i think she's she's very strong in her views she votes conservatively of that's really what i'm more concerned about you're talking about women playing a leading role if you party movement and you know i get it that a lot of the foot soldiers shall we say probably off military better for one talking about women but on the side like another are women and i'm guessing that's probably true in the uk as well you know a lot of people who walk precincts are women. but so much of the money that created the tea party came from the koch brothers david jones koch billionaires and dick armey a multimillionaire and they're funding so many of these groups that are pu

now, bachmann is a favorite of social conservatives and tea party activists, and she'll be in iowa next big speech to republicans. mitt romney will be in iowa as well on friday. so, harry, the race that got off to a slow start may be picking up fast. >> smith: jan crawford in washington tonight. thanks. and this program note, newt gingrich will be bob schieffer's guest this sunday on "face the nation." if you follow pro wrestling, you know randy "macho man" savage. >> i'm ready for anybody! >> smith: savage died today when his jeep wrangler crashed into a tree in florida. the police say he may have had some kind of medical issue before he lost control of the jeep. randy "macho man" savage was 58. coming up next, we'll explore the president's roots in ireland. [ male announcer ] if you've been to the hospital with heart-related chest pain or a heart attack known as acs, you may not want to face the fact that you're at greater risk of a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps protect people with acs against heart attack or stroke: people like you. it's one of the most researched prescription

michele bachmann is up in new hampshire.y out in iowa, both are being overshadowed a great deal by sarah palin who, if our estimates are correct, will be arriving here at gettysburg within the hour, brooke. >> in the meantime, i'm sure you have good tunes on the cnn express bus. enjoy yourselves until you see miss palin. all right? >> reporter: we're trying to stay cool. >>> did you hear that the dutch and duchess are coming to the united states? we will get much more from the palace. that is next. >>> also, chad will tell us where we can expect more bad weather. we'll be right back. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. [ female announcer ] wake up to sweetness with honey nut cheerios cereal. kissed with real honey. and the 100% natural whole grain oats can help lower your cholesterol. you are so sweet to me. bee happy. bee healthy. >>> there is plenty going on this holiday monday starting with when a pyramid -- it's actually a circle, when the royal will be coming to the united states and a heatwave. i want

but michele bachmann has not taken the bait.ven commenting, not just sayi

social conservatives don't have one although michelle bachmann could come up. the tea the tea partyies, other than ron paul who may or may not be a viable long-term candidate -- >> tim to plenty? >> he gets in. he's trying. he's been meeting with them and if you look at the field, as michael has said, all of them have really strong problems with their canned day d.a. sis. -- canned da sis but pawlenty is a little bit different because he has growth room. romney can't become something he wasn't in 2008 or risk becoming more of a flip flopper and we discussed gingrich's problems and it goes on and on but pawlenty was a pretty good governor, midwestern governor, he doesn't have a whole lot of negative stuff attached to him. he did advocate for a cap and trade system, something he immediately came out and said, sorry, mistake, didn't mean to do it. trying to get that off the plate. he's got growing room. and he has been meeting with the tea partyiers, he announced his team in iowa this week, it's a very good team and heading it up is mike huckabee's chairman who he

and congresswoman michele bachmann tells supporters that she'll make "an all-important announcement"ext month in her birthplace of waterloo, iowa. one candidate took the plunge this week. former minnesota governor tim pawlenty made it official in des moines on monday. his announcement tour then wound through florida and ended up in new york where i caught up with him. what seriously do you need to do to raise your profile or will the system just take care of it by force of running? >> well, even now only about 50% of the republicans nationally even know my name. so we have to get the name i.d. out and then convert that, of course, to support. but if you're a serious candidate for president, that will happen naturally over time, but i like the fact that most of the other candidates are really well known and yet they don't really have a strong front running position and that gives us time and space to be able to advance our campaign. >> so, ladies and gentlemen, my husband, governor tim pawlenty. [ applause ] >> well, let's get right to the heart of the matter. medicare, you have said

do bachmann and palin compete for the same voters? >> they do.ean, they both will be competing for that same bloc of voters that tim pawlenty is hoping to get. i mean pawlenty and palin and bachmann, they're all going to -- and newt gingrich, rick santorum, herman cain, it's not just bachmann and palin, all these guys are going for the social conservatives and the tea party supporters. we have seen a lot of people say, kind of positioning it where is bachmann going to get in if palin doesn't? will palin get in? almost pitting those two against each other. i think we have to think a little more broadly because there are a lot of people going for those votes. not just the two women going head-to-head. >> jan crawford in washington this morning. jan, good to see you, thank you. >> thank you. >> up next here, as nato adds more muscle to the air strikes on libya, we'll look at maybe one last diplomatic move to break the stalemate over moammar gadhafi. you're watching "the early show" right here on cbs. [ waves crashing ] ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] and jus

sarah palin and michele bachmann might be next. find out where the campaign and the potential candidates are headed this memorial day weekend "early" this friday morning, may 27th, 2011. >>> good morning. well tom to "the early show" here on a friday morning before the holiday weekend. i'm chris wragge. >>> i'm erica hill. good to have you with us this morning. a little bit of breaking news to start out. information that may end the mystery of crash of air france flight 447. the airbus jet, as you may recall, went down off the coast of brazil two years ago now. well now it's taken two years but recently found at the bottom of the ocean some new clues that reveal the terrifying final moments of that flight. >> exactly. going to have that coming up just a couple of minutes. first. >> high level meetings this morning between the u.s. and pakistan where secretary of state hillary clinton held a series of touchy discussions with pakistani officials. cbs news correspondent, elizabeth palmer has just returned with the latest. good morning

to me the person to watch for in the next few weeks is michele bachmann who i think will announce by15, who is bringing advisors on board and i think will fill a lot of that space, the sarah palin space. >> chris: byron, let's turn to the front-runner the race. mitt romney, who visited iowa for the first time in seven months, which is kind of remarkable. but he wouldn't say whether or not he'll participate in the big straw poll there in august, which is a big deal in iowa and to iowa caucus-goers. he wouldn't say whether if he were president he would sign the paul ryan medicare plan into law. i know it sounds like an odd question but pawlenty said he would sign it in to law. how do you assess his chances? >> as far as strategy goes if you talk about romney advisors they say we'll do it different this time. it didn't work last time. will he skip iowa? he poured zillions of dollars in iowa and did not prevail. huckabee won they'll do things differently this time. he wouldn't commit to ames, which could be viewed by people as iowa as a sign he is just not going to play hard there. right

wouldn't that affect michele bachmann's would-be presidential aspirations? >> you would think it could. michele bachmann, a congresswoman, who is a darling of many in the tea party. she told people in iowa, she will make an announcement in waterloo, iowa, where she was born. she says, she will make it next month about her presidential ambitions. listen to what she said to john king about sarah palin. >> my decision will be independent of whichever candidate gets in. i have great respect for governor palin. i consider her a friend. if she gets in, she gets in. that won't impact whether or not i get in or not. >> if she does get in and if palin does run, you would think they may be going for the same kind of social conservative crowd and tea party activists. this is getting more interesting by the day. >> paul steinhauser, many thanks. a reminder for all the latest political news, go to our website, cnnpolitics.com. >>> we are talking about a republican candidate you might not have heard of, herman cane. he has a nicely radio show in atlanta. this is what he s

if michele bachmann called you up for support, would you give it?st: i would have to sit down and talk to her. you have to give me a little bit of time. host: who would you like to see a jump in? let's make it more interesting. guest: it is not so much looking at the person that i want to see a jump in. these are the types of characteristics that i like to see, someone who understands the critical issues that we are facing and able to articulate that in the very clear and concise manner, someone who can connect with americans from all walks of life. you are not going to be able to see it in every one. at least someone who has the right image that can bring forth. we cannot go back and have a bob dole run against a bill clinton. i will put it in terms of a military context. will you do a frontal assault, people see you coming and start shooting at you immediately. i go back and look at the fact that the democrat party shows a pretty unknown georgia governor, they chose a governor from arkansas, and then they chose an individual who was a state senato

they look at newt gingrich, sarah palin and michele bachmann has re-election insurance.u buy that? >> i'm sure the white house is celebrating the idea that sarah palin may get in the race and stir things up to make the race that's unpredictable even more unpredictable, which is a benefit for the white house. these politics can change in a moment, in a minute. and the president's re-election is contingent on the economy. sarah palin would help him get re-elected, it's no slam dunk if the economy isn't doing well, come a year from now. >> no question about that. the unemployment rate, the most important number for president obama. matt dowd, thank you very much. >>> another political story heating up. former presidential candidate, john edwards, met with a woman at the center of a investigation that could lead to a felony charge for edwards. he had lunch at the estate of bunny mellon. the meeting was reported by abc news. let's get background here. bunny mellon, multimillionaire. she's important because the theory of the prosecutor's case is several hundred thousand dollar

will it be sarah palin or michele bachmann? i'm candy crowley and you're in "the situation room." first to the u.s. investigation into osama bin laden and dramatic new clues revealing that he may have been trying to reach out to pakistan for protection in the years before he was killed. this comes as hillary clinton paid a visit to the country in a new effort to ease tension in the wake of bin laden's death. chris lawrence is at the pentagon with all of the details. chris? >> candy, all of this is coming out of the massive treasurer trove of intelligence that the navy s.e.a.l.s pulled out of bin laden's compound. this revelation is fascinating in that it really reveals one of the ways in which osama bin laden thought about trying to evade u.s. detection. documents seized show that he was ready to make a deal, pakistan, no attacks if pakistan protected its leaders and allowed them to live there. pakistan's ambassador told cnn there were no contacts with his country. >> you can think of many things of wanting to do them and so did osama bin laden. question is, did erase any of them