it does, judy. what you have to be worried about is that a perception, a negative perception can start to set in that becomes a caricature. take the case, for example, of president gerald ford. perhaps the best athlete ever to sit in the white house, university of michigan football player, drafted by the nfl but he slipped coming down the stairs and he drove a golf ball into a crowd and all of a sudden he was a klutz and chevy chase had a career. and that became the perception. mitt romney is now coming across as a guy who was born in a log cabin in grosse pointe, michigan w silver ear plugs, i mean he doesn't hear. i mean it really is setting in. and i think republicans, you talk to, are getting nervous that perhaps this guy just doesn't have the touch. i mean it's not a silver spoon, it's silver ear plugs. i mean he really is tone deaf. >> woodruff: but he's now saying i misspoke. can he put this behind him and -- >> well, i mean, to be blunt about t whatever else he says about the safety net, ver

. >>> judi dench reveals he's going blind. her daughter reads her lines from the script and hope for millions fighting the same disease. >>> good evening saturday night. that same home town church that was once so moved by that teenager with a god-given voice was moved today with whitney's closest family and friends. this time saying good-bye a week after her death. outside of new hope baptist church her fans paying tribute as the hearse arrived. inside the church, houston was remembered by so many. including dionne warwick, her mentor, clive davis and for the first time. kevin costner, who revealed a singer or star who worried would she be good enough. linsey davis is in new york tonight. linsey. >> reporter: fans came afrom across the country to be here for whitney houston's celebration. but today that was reserved for people, including stevie wonder. >> reporter: those expecting a funeral for whitney it houston got a celebration instead. >> everybody sing -- ♪ jesus loves me >> reporter: in music and with words it was a tri

. >>> judy dench reveals he's going blind. her daughter reads her lines from the script and hope for millions fighting the same disease. >>> good evening saturday night. great to have you with us. that home town search so moved by the teenager with the god-given voice was p moved today. this time saying good-bye a week after her death. outside of new hope baptist church her fans paying tribute as the hearse arrived. so many paying tribute. . and for the first time. kevin costner, who revealed a singer or star who worried would she be good enough. linsey davis is in new york tonight. >> reporter: those expecting a funeral for whitney it houston got a celebration instead. >> everybody sing -- ♪ jesus loves me >> reporter: in music and with words it was a tribute to whitney houston, the church girl. >> whitney houston loveed lord. >> reporter: the iconic singer. >> was there anything she could not do musically? is there any performance of the "star spangled banner" that remotely compared to hers? >> reporter: the friend. >> we ta

i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight: we get the latest on the republican race and assess how big money is shaping the campaign. >> woodruff: then, we interview u.s. housing secretary shaun donovan about president obama's plan to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. >> ifill: ray suarez tells the story of victor rios, a one-time california gang member now college professor and mentor to at-risk youth. >> it was important for me to hear an adult tell me, "listen, we know you messed up. we know you're a dropout, but we still believe in you." and they gave me that dignity and i ran with it, and i'm still running. >> woodruff: jeffrey brown examines the much-anticipated public offering for social media giant facebook. >> ifill: and hari sreenivasan explores a fossil find in the rocky mountains packed with the bones of ice age mammoths. it's the subject of tonight's edition of "nova." >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided

judy's apartment is 2r.he suspect they were after 2f. >> the looks on their faces when they knew they got the wrong door was priceless. they were -- they looked at each other dumbfounded. >> imagine if you are the guy in 2f. you hear the fbi breaking into your neighbor's place, you are out of this. >> two years they investigated this, and they got the wrong door. >> after they figured out we're in the wrong apartment, they did end up arresting the person they were after in the first place. judy said that an agent did come back to the apartment and apologize and give judy a number to get all this stuff fixed, but she says that she doesn't think the apology was genuine. she even called it a smack in the face. >> give me five. good job. >>> what starts as a simple traffic stop turns into a southern power struggle. norwitch, south carolina, where a trooper has pulled over a dodge on the side of the road. >> i'll have to write you a speeding ticket. >> doing 70 in a 55-mile-per-hour zone. >> i got you speeding in

good evening, i am gwen ifill and i am judy woodruff in tampa florida, we will have the latest results and analysis thon pbs news hour special report. >> mitt romney is basking in the glow of an easy win in the sunshine state and cruised past newt gingrich in today's presidential primary contest in florida with all but at handful of votes outstanding romney won at least 46 percent of the vote, gingrich had 32 percent, reversing the outcome in the south carolina primary only ten days ago. this evening, romney supporters hit the tampa convention center and took note of the fierce fight that he and gingrich waged in florida. >> primary contests are not easy, and they are not supposed to be. as this primary unfold it is the other party has been watching and they like to comfort themselves with the thought that a executive campaign will leave us divided and weak. but i have got news for them, a competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us and we will win. and when we gather back here in tampa seven months from now for our convention, our -- [ cheers and applause ] >> -- ours will

i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the newshour tonight, we look at the deal with dreamworks and assess the challenges ahead for american companies doing business in china. >> woodruff: then, ray suarez examines iran's new proposal to resume talks with western nations. >> brown: margaret warner talks to a military whistleblower, army lieutenant colonel daniel davis, who says top commanders aren't offering a true portrait of the afghan war. >> when you constantly are saying, "things are going good" and everybody on the ground knows it's nothing close to being the truth, then your word loses all credibility. >> woodruff: mark shields and michael gerson, filling in for david brooks, analyze the week's news. >> brown: and we remember the life and career of veteran foreign correspondent anthony shadid. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: bnsf railway. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic pe

i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the newshour tonight: we get the latest on the republican race and assess how big money is shaping the campaign. >> woodruff: then, we interview u.s. housing secretary shaun donovan about president obama's plan to help homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. >> ifill: ray suarez tells the story of victor rios, a one-time california gang member now college professor and mentor to at-risk youth. >> it was important for me to hear an adult tell me, "listen, we know you messed up. we know you're a dropout, but we still believe in you." and they gave me that dignity and i ran with it, and i'm still running. >> woodruff: jeffrey brown examines the much-anticipated public offering for social media giant facebook. >> ifill: and hari sreenivasan explores a fossil find in the rocky mountains packed with the bones of ice age mammoths. it's the subject of tonight's edition of "nova." >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided

on the panel this week, writer and fox news contributor judy miller. syndicated columnist cal thomas, jim pinkerton contributing editor the american conservative magazine and bureau chief of talk radio news service, ellen ratner. i'm jon scott, fox news watch is on right now. since birth control is the latest hot topic, which candidate believes in birth control, and if not, why? >> the first, is there's a legitimate question about the power of the government to impose on religion activities which any religion opposes, but i just want to point out he did not once in the 2008 campaign, not once did anybody in the elite media ask why barack obama voted in favor of legalizing infantside, let's be clear here. >> newt gingrich going off cnn's john king in the debate this week, this time, as you heard, a question about birth control. newt gingrich has generally done well in these debates. generally, always invoking some kind of attack on the media. is it working for him? >> well, it's worked pretty well for him. it doesn't seem to be keeping him in first plac

i compare her to judy garland. i also compare her as an artist to judy garland. >> judy garland had one of the greatest voices ever. >> so did whitney houston. >> that's a good comparison because you could hear in their voices really what they had experienced in their lives whenever they sang a note, you know. >> it's a very good observation. i remember seeing judy garland when she came back at the palace theater in new york and whenever she would sing "somewhere over the rainbow" or any of those ball ball add, all of her life was in her voice. whitney the same way. she didn't just sing a song, she felt a song. she -- >> whitney houston, her "ever the rainbow" was "i will always love you." >> yes. no one could cover that song. >> even though it was dolly's song, even dolly said i wrote that song and it was a hit but when whitney did it, she made it her own. >> i asked dolly once did you like performing as much as writing? she said with she loves performing but when you can write a song like that and have whitney ho

good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> brown: and i'm jeffrey brown. on the "newshour" tonight: we have the latest on the anger and the apologies from heidi vogt of the associated press in kabul. >> woodruff: then, two takes on coming primary battles. our own gwen ifill previews tonight's g.o.p. debate in arizona. and we talk with journalists micheline maynard and bill ballenger in michigan. >> brown: from syria, we have two reports on the bombardment of homs that killed dozens, including two western journalists. plus, a rare eyewitness account of the weeks' long attack on the besieged city. >> reporter: free syrian fighters have entered the government security building. it's room-to-room fighting now, stairwell to stairwell. >> woodruff: margaret warner examines today's supreme court arguments in a free speech case involving a man who lied about getting the medal of honor and a decision on who owns montana's river beds. >> brown: and we close with today's ground-breaking on the national mall for the smithsonian's museum of african- american history an

it's a part. >> jon: i think judy is in ordering in agreement? >> absolutely and media about, just wait until they hear everything that rick santorum believes about contraception and women's rights. >> he is leading in the polls. numbers rick santorum at least in michigan is up 34% to the mitt romney 30%. quite a stunning turnaround. how is the media reacting. >> i think they are covering it. look, i also think the contraception debate really mandates healthcare mandate played to his strength. social conservative. he is catholic. very outspoken about religious issues and it helps fuel it. >> jon: has the coverage of that contraception issue, andrea, been appropriate do you think. the media seems to be in favor of contraception and misses the larger picture? >> i think they were right on the mark until his campaign started to make the questionable comment. when you are talking about religious freedom at cpac he was winning but the media goes with trapping him and pulling out these things he said on contraception. i think it's getting in such a nua

i'd point out this, judy. for weeks the president was not in the... not the center of attention. it was all about the republicans. now we have seen within a matter of days first with the contraception issue with the religious freedom issue and now with the budget how he's going to be back to barack obama and his positions are going to be controversial. >> woodruff: when it comes to that budget which was released today, susan, what do we know about how the president is thinking' the election because these budgets are always seen as election... especially in election years seen as political statements. >> they're always political statements this one particularly so. there's no expectation that this is a blue print for how the nation will proceed on its actual budget. it's a blueprint for the debate we're going to have this year. it provides a pretty sharp contrast for americans on what they want to spend their money on. the government's money. how big a government they want. what role they want the government to play. in the economy and in their lives i

>> fascinating question, judy. you're solutely right.ad has just come out from a santorum superpac-- now there's smug haven't heard of before now-- basically castigating mitt romney for his position against the auto bailout by the obama administration. a little strange, since rick santorum has exactly the same position. so i don't know how rick santorum, who is not supposedly connected with the superpac, is going to explain that if it comes up in the debate tonight. but that's fascinating. the other thing i'd say is a poll just came out last night, shwing that barack obama is way ahead of mitt romney in michigan now, by 18 points. that is over double the lead he's ever had in a poll over mitt romney dating back three years. a year ago, mitt romney led barack obama in the polls here in michigan. most people think that's because of all the negative publicity that has come out of mitt romney's and rick santorum's opposition to the federal bailout. that is a bailout that was popular among democratsnd independents. i don't think it's going to

. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: ray suarez gets the latest on the turmoil from matt bradley of the "wall street journal" in cairo. >> brown: then, we examine the backlash after a leading breast cancer charity cut its grants to planned parenthood. >> woodruff: we look at wealth and poverty in america, a subject getting new attention in the presidential campaign. >> brown: from our "american graduate" series: a photographer documents the lives of high school drop-outs now in juvenile detention. >> the woratexctpeion is really key to who they are. their families have limited expectations of who they can be and they themselves have limited expectations. >> woodruff: and we get two views on defense secretary leon panetta's statement on ending the u.s. combat mission in afghanistan by the middle of next year. >> brown: that's all ahead. on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve soc