. >> warner: and i'm margaret warner. on the newshour tonight, we explore the former pennsylvania senator's rise in the polls, and his past and present stands on key issues. >> brown: then, we get the latest on the uprising in syria, and the mounting humanitarian crisis there. >> warner: judy woodruff talks with former senator and astronaut john glenn, 50 years after he became the first american to orbit the earth. >> brown: from india, fred de sam lazaro reports on the campaign to immunize children against a debilitating disease. >> as recently at 2009 there were 741 cases of polio in india, more than any other nation. by last year, 2011, the number had dwindled to one solitary case. >> warner: and we close with a presidents' day conversation. hari sreenivasan talks with historian richard norton smith about a new museum dedicated to abraham lincoln. >> why is lincoln an icon that we see so much in pop culture today? >> he is just one of those figures who is synonymous with integrity. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight

>> life, life, yes. >> warner: but does that inhibit you in any way from hiring? >> yeah, that is that companies think twice to hire somebody. >> woodruff: just up the road is the family run chain making company. its owner giovanni magi feels held back by a swollen and unresponsive italian bureaucracy. >> the bureaucracy, is a very negative effect in the economy in italy gave us a lot of problems, so we need a lot of permission. >> permitting hassles long delayed his plans to build this simple warehouse across the parking lot. >> in italy nowadays it's not possible because we are in a global market, with competition from. we must be very-- . >> warner: and then there is italy's high rate of corporate taxation, combined taxes can run more than 50%. they argue that's one reason italian companies aren't as efficient as some foreign competitors. it also leads to tax evasion. >> the reason for the italian sport of tax dodging has even deeper roots, he says. >> i think maybe it was, you know, the mentality of italians. i think that most italians don't believe this and m

he chose to express his sentiments about time warner with a poem in his native time. >> time warner.reporter: that was beautiful. what does that mean? >> (beep), (beep). ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: a ( cheers and applause ) >> jon: welcome back. my guests tonight are former newspaper reporters. they currently work as political opposition researchers. their new book is called two insiders who see the dark side of american politics. please welcome them to the show. ( cheers and applause ) hello, alan and michael. come and sit. thank you for joining us. my first question is, who are you working for? now, even the fact that you've put it out in a paperback gives it a sense of intrigue and c.i.a.-type free. like i'm supposed to put this in a bag and then deliver it to somebody in a park and then they read it. it's all very nerve wracking. you're the guys know show up at a local courthouse and say, we were wondering if you have any information on so-and-so? >> exactly. >> jon: do you tell them who you're working for? >> that's why we call the book nobody. because when we go in there an

margaret warner has our story. >> warner: if there was any doubt about the heft of the unaffiliated super pac funds in this year's campaign, the january reports laid that to rest. the four republican candidates raised $21 million combined, the super-pacs supporting them raised $22 million. >> rick santorum is the ultimate washington insider. >> warner: most of the super-pac money went for campaign ads like these, many attacking rivals to the super-pac's favored candidate. the difference in firepower was most striking for newt gingrich. he raised $5.5 million; the "winning our future" super pac, more than $11 million. the disparity was less in mitt romney's case. he pulled in $6.5 million; the "restore our future" super-pac supporting him, $6.6 million. rick santorum, now surging in the polls, collected just over $4.5 million on his own; the "red white and blue fund," a little less than half that. likewise, ron paul raised just under $4.5 million; the pro-paul super-pac, about half that. what's more, at month's end, the pro-romney and pro-gingrich super-pacs were left with more cash on han

margaret warner has that story. >> warner: today's case stems from a claim made in 2007 by xavier alvarez elected member of a california water district board. he introduced himself at a public meeting by saying he was a retired marine, and adding none of it was true. alvarez was charged with violating the 2006 "stolen valor act," which makes it a crime to lie about having received a military decoration. alvarez was fined, and sentenced to probation and community service. he appealed, arguing the law violated his first amendment rights. also today, in a case widely watched in the american west, the court ruled unanimously in favor of a montana power company in a dispute over who owns the riverbeds of three montana rivers. the justices threw out a state court order that the p.p.l. montana company pay the state some $50 million for using the riverbeds for hydroelectric plants and dams. for more on both cases, we are joined by marcia coyle of the "national law journal." >> let's do the alvarez case, the stolen valor act. give us a little context here. when is lying a crime and had is lying pr

margaret warner is in moscow and spoke with one of russia's leading activists. thousands of russians took to the streets protesting what they charge was fraud in weekend parliamentary elections. among the leaders, 35-year-old lawyer and anticorruption blogger alexei navalny. he coined the now popular description of prime minister have had a here putin's united russia party as the party of crooks and thieves. navalny and others were arrested on the first day of those demonstrations, but by christmas eve he was out and speaking to an even bigger anti-putin rally. all this has brought white-hot focus on this coming sunday's presidential election as putin seeks to reclaim the top office. though polls show navalny is the most popular of the opposition figures, he's not on the ballot, but he stayed active with a campaign branding putin as a corrupt autocrat with his widely red live-journal blog of government corruption exposeeÉs and with a new project to enlist volunteers to monitor polling places this sunday. i spoke with alexei navalny at his office in moscow. thank

spun off from time warner cable nearly three years ago, time warner cable is a fortune 150 capital-intensive domestic company that provides high-speed data, video and voice services to over 14.5 million customers. we have over 48,000 employees in 29 states. we offer our workers secure jobs and wages and benefit packages that are competitive and that support families, dreams and retirements. last year we hired over 7300 people including hundreds of veterans. we're part of our nation's communication's backbone that enables domestic companies to compete rooij naturally, nationally and globally. we help small and medium-sized businesses grow and thrive. time warner cable spends about $3 billion a year on capital improvements a third of which goes to wages. in 2012, we're continuing to extend our network to even more businesses and families. our investments also support a national network of suppliers including nearly a quarter of a billion dollars spent annually with minority and female-owned businesses. our effective tax rate is historically around 39%. while our cash tax is paid is lower drive

have two takes on europe's debt crisis: a report from athens on greece's troubles, plus margaret warner talks to italy's prime minister, mario monti. >> the euro-zone cris has indeed brought about the reemergence of old phantoms about prejudices and a lot of mutual resentment. >> ifill: and we close with jeffrey brown's conversation with photographer annie leibovitz, whose latest exhibit offers portraits, without the people. >> it's a journey. i certainly didn't realize it until i looked at >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: a three-judge federal appeals panel ruled 2-1 today against banning same-sex marriage in california. the decision upheld a lower court that

margaret warner has our story. >> warner: as the war in afghanistan continues into its 11th year, top u.s. military officials have repeatedly said that progress has been made in arresting the taliban's drive and moving to afghan self- sufficiency. but recently, an army officer, lieutenant colonel daniel davis, has made waves, charging that is simply not the case. in a classified report to congress and an 84-page unclassified version, davis accuses the military's top brass of misleading the american public about just how badly the war is going. he draws on 250 interviews he did with u.s. troops and afghans during a year-long mission throughout the country last year. among those in his sights, general david petraeus, who commanded troops in afghanistan before becoming cia director, and statements of his like this testimony last march: >> the momentum achieved by the taliban in afghanistan since 2005 has been arrested in much of the country and reversed in a number of important areas. >> warner: lieutenant colonel davis has briefed members of congress and staff, and spoke with us this mo

or put pressure on time warner to do a deal with msg. time warner saying they don't want to deal with the 53% price hike. msg says that's not really true. and msg despite having the 31% revenue decline on the sports part of their business because of the lockout hitting highs today. so 52 week highs. so it's going to be an interesting question. this is like the basketball version of tebow. and it's pretty crazy right now. i can tell you that. >> darren, quick question. to me it seems like the nba's big dropoff in viewership. but still when you look at espn and disney being the biggest thing there is in cable. 44% margins. here you're dealing with the largest sports market, it would seem to me. don't you think that will put more pressure on? >> there's big potential here. and obviously espn's making their money because they run highlight after highlight. they pay for that. but it's the cheapest programming in all of tv. the amount of times that espn runs those highlights. i think there's going to be pressure to get something done here. at

margaret warner has our story. >> warner: this shaky cell phone video captured the fearful scenes-- flames raging into the night sky. honduran television showed the fast-moving blaze burning out of control at a prison. workers at a nearby hotel said it took 20 minutes to 30 minutes for the first fire crews to arrive. even then, firefighters said at least 100 inmates died in their cells, screaming for help. some inmates were set free by guards, rescuers carried injured prisoners outside. many of those died later of burns and smoke inhalation. in short order, grieving relatives gathered outside the prison in comayagua, a city in central honduras, about 45 miles north of the capital tegucigalpa. as dawn came, people tried to storm the gates of the prison to recover remains of their loved ones. some threw rocks before being pushed back by security officers. the president of the central american nation porfirio lobo went on television, with condolences and a promise of aid. >> ( translated ): this is a very painful day for honduras. we are very sorry about what happened and i want to express my

i'm the senior vice president and chief tax officer for time warner cable. i'd like to first tell you about our business and the impact of taxes and tax policy on time warner cable. then i'll explain why we believe that less complexity and a lower rate will benefit our investors, employees and customers as well as the overall economy and americans at large. time warner cable is a fortune 150 capital intensive domestic company that provides high speed data, video and voice services to over 14.5 million customers. we have over 48,000 employees in 29 states. we offer our workers secure jobs and wages and benefit packages that are competitive and that support families, dreams and retirements. last year we hired over 7,300 people including hundreds of veterans. we are part of our nation's communications backbone that enables domestic companies to compete regionally, nationally and globally. we help small and medium-size businesses grow and drive. time warner cable spends about $3 billion a year on capital improvements, a third of which goes to wages. in 2012, we'