took office.but the out, also that's thanks in part to policies put in place by former resident jessica yellinnwashington -----end-----cnn.script----- 3 cnn.script----- a penny saved s a penny parned.but in canadaa hht phrase willlsoon be obsolete. the coin.it turns out it costs - more thaa a cent tt ake production would save the country 11 million dollars a year. a whale rescue-- caught on camera!this 20 foot gray whale got tangled in netting off the coasttof california.the coaat guard spotted the whale and workkd to free it.they say an older whale.. possibly its mother... never left the tangled whale's side until ii it's frrday and that means it's your turn to sound off on anything you want. want.let us know what's on could air in our "facebook segment.just go to facebook dot com lash foxbaltimore to become a fan and join the conversation. meltdown... id-flight! mid-flight!nats of jetblue meltn meltdoonthis disturbing video of a jjtblue captain having a mental break sent shockwaves. but find out whyyso many pilots ... with mental issues.. are still in the cockpit and nnt seeking help. ((brea

let's go to jessica yellin.t of that news conference and got a question into the president. obviously he tackled all kinds of topics, answered all kinds of questions during a finite period of time. asked about gas prices, rush limbaugh. jessica yellin, what were your big takeaways? >> reporter: i think it was iran and israel, that there is time for diplomacy to work and he thinks there can be an agreement between israel and the u.s., that there is no need for action in the next two weeks up to a few months. on the topic of syria that there is a difference between syria and libya because there is no international unity in the arab world, that the u.s. would have to act militarily if it were to act alone. but really, that's not a new position from the white house. he's just reiterating what we've heard before. he did take a bit of a 2x4 to the republican candidates, accusing them essentially of popping off on iran without having to take any responsibility with what he called loose talk of war before, and he did so

jessica yellin. >> mr. limbaugh apologized for what he said -- >> mr. t -- >> jessica -- >> apologized -- >> thank you, mr. president. >> thank. >> thank you. >> top democrats have said that republicans on a similar issue are engaged in a war on women. some top republicans say it's more like democrats are engaged in a war for the women's vote. as you talk about talk of war in another arena, and women are -- this could raise concerns among women, do you agree with the chair of your democratic national committee that there is a war on women? >> here's what i think. women are going to make up their own mind in this election about who is advancing the issues that they care most deeply about. one of the things i've learned being married to michelle is, i don't need to tell her what it is that she thinks is important. and there are millions of strong women around the country who are going to make their own determination about a whole range of issues. it's not going to be narrowly focused just on contraception, it's not going to be driven by one statement, by o

just a bet, jessica yellin. white house correspondent. >>> now we turn to a form will presidential candidate who found out yesterday he's about to become a former member of congress. >> did you see a ufo? >> i did. and the rest of the account -- it was unidentified flying object. >> this department of peace would hold peace as an organizing principle. >> richard b. cheney, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office. >> democratic congressman dennis kucinich lost his bid for re-elections last night to congresswoman marcy captor in a redistricting march that pitted the two democratic colleagues and friends against each other. it was a bitter campaign. in the end kucinich offered what you might call half-hearted congratulations. >> i would like to be able to congratulate congresswoman captor. but i do have to say that she ran a campaign in the cleveland media market that was utterly lacking in integrity. >> congressman kucinich joins us now from capitol hill. congressman, you were not t

our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is joining us now. jessica, this is clearly a new phase in the obama reelection campaign. >> it is, wolf. after months of saying they're just watching the republicans duke it out on the trail, now team obama is officially in campaign mode. remember president obama said this? >> all of them determine who their standard bearer is going to be. until the republicans have a nominee, we don't have a campaign. >> reporter: when he hits the stump, he never names the gop candidates. >> a lot of folks who are, you know, running for a certain offi office, who shall go unnamed -- >> reporter: but starting now, the president's top surrogate is. >> mitt romney, rick santorum and newt gingrich, these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do. >> reporter: in a key battleground state of ohio, he talked auto industry bailout and was on the attack. >> senator santorum said it was, and i quote, a payoff to special interests. governor romney was more direct. let detroit go bankrupt. he said that. he

. >> chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is here to take us inside the administration deliberations. jessica is there a chance despite what the administration says publicly this could become part of a pressure to move up the withdrawal date? >> reporter: it seems that way. the white house is adamant they have no intentions withdrawing troops sooner than 2014 which is what the president has publicly committed. to privately we know there are disagreements within the administration about the rate at which those troops should be withdrawn. that's after the surge troops come out at the end of this summer. so senior military officials, they have made it known that they'd prefer as many troops stay as long in afghanistan as possible. now, some in the white house, let's call it the by bide enfaction, are believed to want to bring as many troops out as fast as possible. then others prefer a middle option. bottom line publicly the white house has committed to no timetable for that draw down. all of that is to be announced. >> and you say to be announced. part of his discussion with allies, br

. >> let's bring in our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. republican candidates are talking tough, using very muscular language. when you look at their policy proposals what they would do is it that different from what the current president is doing? >> reporter: president obama argues that certainly not. you heard him take it directly to the republicans today, saying that they are talking loose about war. the fundamental difference, john, is about their argument about public posture. the republican candidates argue that there should be no perceived daylight between the u.s. and israel when it comes to what they would do on iran. no matter whatever differences there may be in private there should be no perceived differences in public. president obama and the administration argues it's all a question of degree, and that we've heard in recent days that president obama has said as much as he possibly can, they would argue, saying that the president has israel's back, that they are a sovereign nation and that the u.s. stands with them even going

jessica yellin working sources all day. take us inside three hours of talks and a working lunch later, what do we know? >> reporter: we're told the prime minister and the president within their three hours had 30 minutes when they were one-on-one. none of us will know really what they talked about when they were alone together. but the most pressing question, did they discuss red lines, and we are told by u.s. and israeli officials that that was not what the the two leaders sat down to talk about. that this was essentially a meeting to make clear to each leader where they stand on these fundamental issues of what it would take to press each other for an attack, but they did not ask each other fundamentally for the go-ahead, which is what we're talking about when we talk about these red lines. so the topic of red lines was not the purpose of this discussion. but many of the very fundamental topics of the iranian nuclear issue were all covered during these three hours of talks, john. >> and jess, it's a very important relatio

that's this may in chicago, john. >> chief white house correspondent jessica yellin.'s get some perspective of the day's major global news from my colleague fareed zakaria host of fareed zakaria gps. fareed the president with the prime minister of great britain by his side said despite the recent violence and horrors in afghanistan he sees no reason to accelerate the timetable to withdraw u.s. troops. do you think that's the final answer? >> i believe that's the final answer. this will blow over. particularly this last event. the karan burning was seen as a kind of u.s. policy decision which in fact provoked much greater reaction among afghans. this one is seen as a one off. this was clearly not a case where any senior commander was ordering this to happen. this was an unfortunately a single very troubled individual. i also think that it would send a sign of weakness. so it's very unlikely that under this kind of pressure they would accelerate the withdrawal. >> let's shift our focus to iran. another big subject between these two leaders. president obama making clear

. >> let's check in with our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin. jess, why name names now? >> reporter: i've talked to multiple senior democratic sources on this one, john. the answer's pretty simple. they thought that there would be a republican nominee by now. the folks i've talked to say that in addition to that they planned this a few weeks ago. not only did they think there would be a nominee but they ultimately decide the they can't wait until may or june to start responding to republican attacks. so they decided to start quote drawing contrasts. >> so jess, ohio today for the vice-president. what's next? then i guess the more important question may be when we look at an electoral map, where next? how are they decided where to go as they escalate the attacks? >> reporter: so vice president biden i'm told by a senior democratic official will go to florida next week to a senior center where he'll focus on medicare and attack the so-called ryan budget, that's what they term the house republican budget. that will be the message he hits there. the

i want to bring in jessica yellin at the white house and alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange for a preview. first of all, let's go to you, jessica. there's clearly a strategy here. we saw on the day of the michigan primary, the president going out before american autoworkers, reminding them, hey, i bailed you guys out. today you've got the single most important day for the republicans trying to get lhis job and he steals the spotlight. >> reporter: he'll come out as the president, but you cannot help but see him as a political actor as well, weighing in on super tuesday, suzanne. what he's doing, in a sense, is pointing out that he is able to ask and answer -- take questions on his policy positions, and field these questions, and pressing, in contrast, the candidates to do the same. and he also will be emphasizing his position on helping homeowners who are facing foreclosure. i know alison kosik's going to address that more closely. but this is a stark contrast his campaign has been trying to draw with mitt romney, the man they expect to be his eventual contender in the gener

but first i want to go straight to the white house to chief correspondent jessica yellin.r: certainly the sanctions against iran have stepped up recently and israel seem to deserve a lot of the credit for that around the world. i do want to bring you a little bit of news, though. according to senior administration officials, the president and prime minister netanyahu met in the oval office for two hours, a very long meeting, and their official delegations are now in a working lunch. so their meetings continue here at the white house. to your question, it's not just pressure from sanctions by the u.s. but also from the west in general. think about the oil embargo by the european nations that's come after israel's ratcheted up its talks, and listen to the language prime minister netanyahu used in the oval office today, this in a very conciliatory meeting by u.s. terms lately between the two leaders. listen to this. >> israel must have the ability always to defend itself by itself against any threat, and that when it comes to israel's security, israel has the right, the sover

chief white house correspondent jessica yellin, thank you. >>> some real-life drama for actor george clooney. he was arrested here in washington today. >>> also an outbreak of apple mannian as the new ipad goes on sale. >>> and plunging to earth. details of plans for a jaw-dropping 23-mile free fall. ok, guys-- what's next ? chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast speeds. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. i'm michael bazinet, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states. we rely on the postal service for everything that we do. the eastern maine processing facility is vital to our operation and

jessica yellin has details. what is going on?then candidate obama campaigned against high gas prices. he did follow through on many of his promises, but right now it just doesn't seem to matter. voters blame the occupant of the oval office when the price at the pump sky rockets. these candidates know rising prices at the pump can be kryptonite for an incumbent president. >> i believe your energy speeches have been so patently incoherence they are indefensible. >> we have a president 100% against anything that will create more energy independence. >> these gasoline prices are really crushing a lot of people. >> reporter: a numbs number of times/cbs news poll indicates they could be crushing the president. that is plummeted nine points in a point. the polls suggest gas prices are partly to blame. over the last four weeks, the average price has risen 40 cents. experts say they're rising -- >> the conflict with iran, the expected closures of refineries in the state of pennsylvania, some refinery closures in europe. and the fact we're

jessica yellin is in washington and you got a sense of what the president thinks about rick santorum. >> the president himself was away at a basketball game which we will get to in a minute. the obama campaign in general as you might guess is pleased the longer this goes on. they ultimately expect that mitt romney will be the nominee despite what we are watching tonight. the longer this takes, the more money it drains and more attention it takes from his effectual fight with the president. jim messina who is the manager of the obama campaign sent out an e-mail to obama supporters say if it will hug today, president obama would lose to mitt romney based on a poll and he is trying to fund-raise off that. they are not looking at rick santorum with great attention. i see you are playing the video. i think i should talk about this. president obama took prime minister cameron of the uq to his first basketball game. they went not coincidentally to a swing state of ohio. the president talked about why they went there. listen. >> first of all, i thought there was going to be wonderful for the

our chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin is over at the white house. 's going on. he's just back from iran. jessica, first, to you, how did it go at the white house today? >> reporter: wolf, the senior administration official said the meeting between president obama and prime minister benjamin netanyahu was wide ranging and productive. the total meeting lasted more than three hours. both in a oval office and then lunch with their respective delegations and ubld expect an official to say it was productive but the sense one gets is that this meeting was not intended, necessarily, to make decisions. but to make clear for each leader, to the other, where each nation stands on the all-important decision, where they are when it comes to monumental choices about iran's nuclear program. with the world audience watching every move, the u.s. president and israeli prime minister emphasized common ground. >> the bond between our two countries unbreakable. >> we are you and you're us. we're together. >> reporter: but when it comes to halting iran's nuclear program,

joining us now are jessica yellin and jim acosta. stake for the president of the united states in this supreme court decision that will come probably sometime in june? >> well, the fate of his signature domestic policy achievement and big krog achievement for the republican nominee if it should be struck down in part or in whole, wolf. it could challenge the president's credibility as a leader and his ability to make good judgments which is what they would no doubt challenge him on. but wolf, i want to, if it were struck down, i want to tell you what administration sources are saying to me in response to some of the reporting that's come out of the court. including from our jeff toobin saying that this has gone badly today for the administration. sources are saying to me that they still believe that this will be upheld because they make the case that when they presented this same case about the individual mandate to lower court very conservative lower court judges, silverman and sutton that they received similar difficult questions,

our chief political analyst gloria borger joins us along with jessica yellin over at the white house.s spent a huge amount of political capital on health care reform. how big of a blow would it be if, if the court were to throw out all or part of the law? >> it would be a massive blow, wolf, this is is the president's signature domestic policy achievement as you point out he spent an enormous amount of political capital on this issue. and it was the issue around which the tea party coalesced against the president. there would be a way that they could message for the campaign in response to defeat in the supreme court, but it would be a big blow. i should say, wolf, they are confident at the white house that they will not lose on this issue and that is because two conservative lower court judges sort of stalwarts in the conservative judicial bench, upheld the mandate so they think they will prevail at the supreme court. but you know, who knows. we'll wait and see. >> yes. stand by for a moment. we're going to get back to you. i want to bring in gloria. our new cnn international poll sh

our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin joins us.ted states. the price of gas is getting perilously close to $4.00 a gallon. >> you can tell by the frequency of the president's remarks that they new it's a vulnerability. the president is doing what he can to remind voters he's taking this on. they talk about not just the president's efforts to promote alternative energy and fuel efficiency standards, but, you know, this phrase, all of the above, which he took from the republicans. this week they announced what you could describe as the precursor to potential new exploration off the atlantic coast. and also in recent months, early steps to drilling in parts of alaska from a democrat that's unusual. i should point out a new cnn poll shows most americans don't blame the president for high gas prices, but they still blame him partially and it's enough. >> he's on the ballot. the oil companies aren't a on the ballot in november. how much of a role reversal, a polite term, in the sense that 2008 one of his campaign platforms was send me to

. >> our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is here. how does the president try to counter the republican charges that he's in charge, this is his problem as prices go up especially in an election year. >> reporter: the president today john is trying to have it both ways. first he argues that there are no simple answers and that as you say the republicans, well, he says they just want to drill their way out of everything. and that in reality the real answer has to include investing in alternative energy and also improving fuel-efficiency standards which he argues his administration has done. but but as you also noted he whipped out a chart to show that he solved part of the problem because during his administration, guess what, drilling is up. so he is having it both ways and he's angling for some of the credit but none of the blame. >> but how much of a vulnerability when you talk to them candidly, how much of a vulnerability is it? he is in charge. prices are going up. he as a senator is on the record blaming people in charge for pric

. >> i'm going to bring in jessica yellin. the longer this goes on, the happier they are they get to stay out of it. one of the, you know, developing storylines we see is that as much as romney remains the toughest challenger in the general election, they still expect romney to be the challenger, there is this emerging idea that if santorum, you know, were to ultimately challenge him, he has certain attributes that could cause more problems for the president because he does play better with low college -- less educated voters, white, working class voters. he plays well where the president is weak. it looks like that is less likely to be the case, so the white house, you know, is going to be able to breathe a sigh of relief, they think. but there is, you know, a growing awareness that if santorum were the candidate, they can't just shrug that off as something that would be an insignificant concern. >> democrats want this to go on and on. >> i get the feeling there's a real disconnect between the political class paying attention

let's discuss it with jessica yellin.the democrats are trying to quickly change the subject away from the president's gaffe to will this spate between the russians and governor romney. let's listen to a little clib of the web video the democratic national committee put up. >> if we want somebody who has a lot of experience in foreign policy, we can go to the state department and pluck out one of the tens of thousands of people who work there. but a president is not a foreign policy expert. this is without question our number one geopolitical foe. >> pretty quick action. do they think this actually helps them score points or just change the subject? >> they're trying to change the subject and it's clearly a smashing fest a snark fest all the way around. obama campaign put out a statement saying romney hasn't made clear his foreign policy goals so he should show his cards. advisers essentially mocked his statement that russia is american's chief geopolitical foe. but bottom line, let's be clear, that the political damage in

. >> chief white house correspondent, jessica yellin and jim acosta on top of the big campaign developments. let's go to the white house. better poll results but numbers up in march don't guarantee victory. let's listen to vice president biden take after governor romney in iowa. >> look, governor romney's business practices and his policies have clearly benefited the wealthy and most powerful among us. often, at the expense of working and middle class families. they actually believe it is the best way. >> so take us inside the strategy here, jess. clearly, they like the new numbers. they have to feel a little bit better about the people feeling better about the economy but still going to be tough. >> reporter: john, some of these attacks by the vice president were the strongest attacks on romney to date. the basic philosophy here is attack the strength. if you recall going back a few months, the romney campaign was making the case that mitt romney was the best man to turn around the country and create jobs. the obama campaign systematically went after the case and said that mitt romney over

i think our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is listening to us as we go. me, republicans. keep these in the democratic column until you can prove otherwise. we were in florida for a debate. even the democrats think this is tough for president obama. let's give it to the republicans. let's for the sake of argument split the difference. let obama keep virginia. and give north carolina to the republicans. where are we now? the president is getting close. that was a pickup for the president. i'm convinced just now. prove it to me republicans, look at this, you have nevada, indiana most go back to the republican fold. watch this. that hasn't voted republican for president for a long time. prove it to me. ohio does swing. you could have a scenario, wolf, look at that. right. >> you need 270. >> nevada let's say the latino vote right now convinces me that one favors the democrats. where did we start this campaign? that would be iowa and new hampshire. is it going to come down to this? probably not. it comes down to ohio or florida, but you have can a scenario whe

. >> and i want to bring in jessica yellin and from the white house perspective, it seems that president obama was quick to reach out to the woman who testified and the women on the hill who rush limbaugh had attacked, and was that about politics? >> well -- look it is hard not to see it through the political lenses in this environment, and you know the democrats will say, how could the president resist this opportunity, anderson, because the republicans as gloria have made the point, have handed them this issue. they had a religion issue to begin with when the president first came out with the contraception mandate and then they turned it into this ongoing women's health issue when the republicans went for this blount amendment. but the bottom line is that you have to look at a it through the lenses of the suburban swing vote, and suburban women voters will be a key swing vote. both sides are going after the demographic and no surprise that both sides are working this issue as best they can, and the white house especially, because it is a women's vote they want to get come november. >>

our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin was at that news kvrns. ils. jessica, how did it go? >> business holding his first press conference in three months, he worked himself prominently into super tuesday coverage. he tried to make news on the domestic front by announcing right off the top new housing aid, but reporters here took the conversation in a very different direction. it was a press conference heavy on foreign policy. the president pressed to explain his push for israeli patients with iran over its nuclear programs. >> sanctioning are starting to have significant effect inside of iran. that's not just my assessment. that's i think a uniform assessment. so this notion that somehow we have a choice to make in the next week or two weeks or a month, or two months is not borne out by the facts. >> reporter: he slammed republican candidates for what he called their loose talk of war. >> what's said on the campaign trail, you know, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. they're not commander in chief. now, the one thing that we have n

let's bring in our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin.sterday, but what are they saying where you are? >> wolf, he's been taking a lot of heat for his performance by court watchers who say that his performance yesterday was not too impressive, slightly better today, but here at the white house they're defending him. the pile is on is all about moments like this. insurance has become the predominant means for paying for health care in this country and in turn has become the predominant means of payinging for health carry in this country. >> that's donald verilli, this court watcher had no%. >> donald verilli, the solicitor general did a simply awful job in defending the law. he was nervous. he was not well spoken. >> reporter: one day later the white house came to verilli's defense. >> there are a lot of people that will sit on the side lines and weigh in with their commentary and assign style points to one advocate or the other. we had complete confidence in him before the supreme court. >> he's argued 17 cases before the course, clerked

chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is here. >> jessica, is the president going after big oil? >> again. >> believe it or not, it really felt like today was let's play politics with gas prices day in washington. the president played his part from the rose garden. >> think about that. it's like hitting the american people twice. >> he called on the senate to pass a bill that would have eliminated billions in tax breaks for oil companies. >> american oil is booming. the oil industry is doing just fine, with record profits and rising production i'm not worried about the big oil companies. >> up on capitol hill republicans charge that the white house was demonizing oil companies for political gain. >> somehow they thought that doing this would set off some sort of political win for them which frankly, i don't understand. i mean, i can't imagine anybody giving them any high fives for not lowering gas prices. >> reporter: the bill died in the senate, but will no doubt, live on in the presidential election. can you hear it now? democrats saying the gop voted for big oil. actually