. >> for medtronic, a strong showing in the south is critical to show conservatives he can win. >> this president has not succeeded. this president has failed. that is why we will get rid of him in 2012. >> before the saturday caucuses, romney held up a three-one delegate count, a healthy lead for a front runner still showing signs of weakness. >> they with us. much more to come. >> snow up in your spare this morning. we had lots of sunshine today. a warming trend is on the way. clear skies right now. really dry. but in the sleep number store, we hear it all the time. nine out of ten couples disagree on the firmness they want in a mattress. i sleep on the couch. with our bed, the sleep number setting represents the firmness that you like on your half of the mattress. you can have it your way and i'll have it mine. so we save a lot of marriages. at our semi-annual sleep sale, save on our most popular bed sets. plus, free standard shipping but only through march 18th! only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. you can always expect more. like more on demand

i see it's medtronic and stryker. is it because they do not innovate? >> yes. they're less innovative and tend more towards a commodity business. they're counting on utilization which may or may not come due to health care reform. obviously if health care reform law does not get overturned, they being the bellwethers in their sectors, will get hit the hardest. >> thanks, les. >> thank you. >>> president obama ramping up his trade battle with china calling on the world trade organization to force china to ease its grip on rare earth metals which are critical to the tech sector and some say to defense as well. our chief washington correspondent john harwood is at the white house. john, what's the latest? >> reporter: tyler, one of the most consistent themes in american politics and discussions with the economy these days is the need for the united states to get into a better place with china and its economic relations with china. mitt romney sounding that theme on the campaign trial. and today president obama linked the need for a freer export policy of rare eart

the former ceo and chairman of medtronic and jeff from the school of management.ent about the ability to execute. do you think her tenure is under some kind of threat? >> no. i think not whatsoever. you look at the long-term enterprise building there and it's a fantastic story. this is a company that was $35 billion business when she took over. this is a $60 billion business. highly profitable. incredible emerging growth story. they are about 45% of their revenue from outside the u.s. alone and this is really growth under her reign. where they are in russia and what they've done in china incredible deals, africa, middle east and of course the focus and innovation. they've been putting 9% of revenue into renovation while average s&p firm cutting it by 3%. this is a longer term story. that's repositions. >> i have seen blistering notes about her ability to tackle cost cutting moves that didn't pay off. are you along with jeff and if so, why shuffle? why start grooming successors now? >> i think her motto theme is performance with purpose. we need to see performance.