and grabs a hold of me, and he says, i'm firefighter jake king.d on tight, or we're both going to die. it was like, you know, he woke me up from a kind of reverie where i was starting to fade. and he said, okay. this is extremely dangerous, but, you know, i'm going to find a way out. >> jay communicates with chris russo while inside the tunnel and they come up with a plan to pull them out against the raging torrent. >> how long you got? i need 35 feet. i'm coming for you. don't worry. >> the water was coming in very fast. at that point the water inside the culvert was swirling around like a whirlpool and we could see the tide rising. and you know, we had very, very little space. i'm going to say anywhere from 8 to 12 inches to the top of the >> you got that? this is your line. tie it to your jacket. tie the knot right in there. untie that knot. pull that out of the jacket. it's a loop knot. up under your armpits, jay. >> jay and suelina wrap themselves in the rope and prepare to escape from the dark confines of the tunnel. >> let's do it right onc

jake, it was what? about 25 years after the death of dr. martin luther king many in this country, especially people of color, were looking for hopeful some thing had changed. many had not changed. nelson mandela came along and offered many people hope. jake? >> what a nice sentiment. thank you. joining us now on the phone is general colin powell. your reaction to the news of man tell tell -- mandela's passing? >> i heard it on the plane. we've been waiting for this day to come. it still hit me as if it was nothing to be expected. he was a remarkable man. i was privileged to know him. i was privileged to spend time with him. and so many things are being said about nelson mandela. my memories will always go back to his inauguration in 1994. i was privileged to be there in front of the union hall when he was inaugurated. i will never forget. as came up on the stage to become the new president of the new south africa, he was preceded by the four generals. you see things through the filter of your experience. as general i could not help noticing these four white g

jake tapper. in our politics lead, cnn is released brand new polls this hour measuring the voters' choices for president in 2016. john kings here to break it down for us. what do the polls tell us about our potential presidential front-runners? >> well, we should make clear from the get-go that late 2013 polling is a far from reliable indicator of what the american people will be looking for when they next pick a president in 2016. but these early numbers fun for holiday political conversations and could have some impact on how the potential candidates look at the weeks and months ahead. here's the test. early democratic favorite hillary clinton versus nine republican 2016 prospects, and with just one exception, secretary clinton comes out on top. in most cases by a landslide. she beats former florida governor jeb bush by 21. former arkansas governor mike huckabee by 15 points. 18 points is the clinton advantage over texas senator and tea party favorite ted cruz and she's up 17 over the texas governor, rick perry. another 2012 gop contender, former pennsylvania senator rick santorum behind clinton by 19 points. two senate