they're referring to the straits of hormuz. this is a big threat from iran, the closure of it and the u.s. is bearing down on that as well as the accusations we killed their scientist. you'll those words. there are new efforts to take away parole power from the governor in one state. and this is reaction to that fiasco that happened in mississippi where the outgoing governor decided to give full pardons so there are four convicted murders on the loose right now, the attorney general is saying there will be a nationwide manhunt for those guys that took off running. >> i still don't understand that how can you work for a guy that is technically innocent? weird. we'll get to the bottom of it. also, here's one for the funny books. stephen -- force. >> or is it. >> i love this man. but would he be a good president? could he be a good president? could he even be president? he made a big late night announcement. it ain't the first time stephen colbert has suggested throwing his hat in the ring for president. we'll tell you what the polls show. we have some amazing video here. look at this. these are iphone riots in china. i love my iphone but -- i didn't know i'd be going there. >> they egged the store. we'll go there live too find out how security handled the chaos there. first to something else that's explosive and potentially dangerous. that is our relationship should i say euphemistically with iran. quite a chess game going on between the obama administration and, of course, the administration in iran. "the new york times" is reporting this morning that we are warning iran's supreme leader that closing the strait of hormuz is a red line. >> that is the most vital oil shipping lane in the world and would bottle up a fifth of the world's daily oil trade. the strike group led by the k"us carl vinson" is riving and they're denying it's related. >> i know you feel like you've heard it before, the threat of closing the strait of hormuz. we've been cat and mousing on this a little bit but it's ramping up because iran is now threatening it again because one of its nuclear scientists was killed and there's been a response to the nuclear program there and now the supreme leader, the ayatollah khomeini is blaming the usa as well as the mossad for that killing of that nuclear scientist. now, our government is saying it had absolutely nothing to do wit. you can listen closely to our defense secretary leon panetta. >> on the nuclear scientist, you know, let me state what the secretary of state made clear and i will state it as firmly. we were not involved in any way in any way with regards to the assassination that took place there. i'm not sure of would was involved. we have some ideas as to who might be involved but we don't know exactly who was involved but i can tell you one thing, the united states was not involved. >> well, it sounds pretty clear, right? but then there's there, a source tells cnn 's barbara starr, you cannot infer anything from what the secretary says. >> i feel it's pretty clear. >> the iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad is also defending it saying the united states is using this as an excuse that iran is not looking to make any atomic bombs and that it goes against humor rat to do so. they have said all along they maintain this is for medical reasons and have to do with cancer research, et cetera, and energy. so that's their story and then we've got ours. >> yep. we're going to talk to a reporter about that, as well. but now we want to talk about the fallout from the mississippi pardon mess. oklahoma senate is making a move to prevent a similar thing from happening there. cnn affiliate koco reports tate senator harry coates filed a resolution that would take parole power away from the governorer it says this "the current controversy in mississippi highlights the potential drawbacks associated with having a governor in this position. this is a common sense effort to mitigate any such risks by allowing the qualified and experienced member of the pardon and parole board the opportunity to determine the best course of action in each case." they're still looking for those four released killers. after getting out with full pardons before haley barbour's additional pardons and alina cho is here with more. >> so many are outraged about this and at this point it's a case they're trying to undo what's already been done. >> i don't know. >> well, and that's the big question. you know, first off we should mention a chuj has issued an order preventing at least for now the release -- is my microphone working, the release of any more prisoners -- maybe we should work on this. it doesn't change the fact four convicted murders are on the loose and cannot be found. now, legally the four of them are supposed to report to authorities on a daily basis. not required to do so until they receive an official copy of the court record but they've disappeared because they were pardoned. once these four vicks were pardoned it's as if, remember, it's as if they never committed the murders so they were free men and they had no obligation to tell authorities where they were going and not much they can do to find them. technically because they haven't broken any laws authorities cannot issue an arrest warrant. mississippi's attorney general told our martin savidge that tracking them down is priority number one. >> there is going to be a national search for some of them. we will catch them. just a matter of time. -- >> do you know where they are? >> no. >> no? >> we know where their family. we're in contact with their family. there is a search going on for them and we'll lay hands on them at some point. >> hail lley barbour pardoned t. they worked at the governor's mansion in the kitchen even washed the governor's cars according to abc news. the victims' families want haley barbour to give them some answers. >> the whole nation is wanting to know why. i think that he needs to at least be accountable to the citizens -- to the people of mississippi. he needs to stand up and take a stand and at least explain his decision to do this. he's abuse the his authority as a governor to pardon all these criminals and let them go back out on the street. >> now, the only explanation we have gotten from barbour is a brief statement he released and said 90% of the people pardoned were no longer in custody and that a majority of them had been out for years. , that doesn't change the fact that four convicted murders are on the loose. they cannot be found and it doesn't change the fact that those four convicted murders were not not in custody anymore. they weren't among that 90%, so as you have said, you know, the whole nation is rivet the by this wondering how could this have happened. >> don't you think it's weird that the a.g. in that state is saber rattling saying we're going to go after them. how is there a man hunt? it's like a man hunt for me and you. we have done nothing wrong. >> don't they have to -- >> can you do a man hunt -- >> they can search for them. they technically can't issue an arrest warrant. yes, they want them to check in every day. they can't do so until they're served with a court recoorder. they can't do that because nobody can find them. >> it's like asking me to check in every day. why? i didn't do anything wrong. >> it's rare to have these pardons overturned as jeffrey toobin has reported. >> very scary. >> thank you. every morning we like to get you an early start we like to call it by getting you up to speed on news developing now and will become big by tonight. a judge in peru will held joran van der sloot how many years he can expect to spend behind bars and spleeded guilty to killing stephanie flores. van der sloot was a suss independent in natalee holloway's killing. flores found something related to the case on joran's computer it is expected. a federal court will hear perry's challenge to get his name on virginia's primary ball ballot. right now, only mitt romney and ron paul are on the ballot. and this is great video. iphone riots in china. apple saying this morning it's going to stop selling the iphone 4s in china because it's just gotten way too dangerous. the company had to close the beijing store after they egged the place. scalpers reportedly got more than a thousand people standing in line for them so that they could then sell the phones on the black market. they did that here in new york, as well. a whole bunch of people paid $100 to buy those phones and get them on the black market. >> not going there. >> you can sell your own broken iphone on ebay and get more money here than they paid in china. >> u.s. markets closed higher but not by much. the dow and nasdaq had gains of less than 1%. >> that's not much. that really isn't much. earnings season so that's going to be directing things. i'm expecting things to be choppy in the near term. all about the earnings seasons and we'll get those today. >> they release them all at different times. >> different times so we'll get an idea of just how healthy the u.s. banks are. that's important. >> you threw this here. i was reading it. 2011 graduate salaries are up. they're up. specifically for certain areas. >> so, look, if you are in high school trying to pick your college major, listen, if you are in college right now wondering what is going to happen, listen, average salary for 2011 graduates is up to almost 42,000 up about 959 from last year, the top earners, guess? engineers, engineers, computer science, computer engineering, those blow away everything else. the lowest are criminal justice, english, psychology and then just a little built better than those is education, about 37,000, $38,000 a year. special ed major you get a little more and communication majors only got a little bit more. >> did you know what that was for engineers. >> 61,000 and good demand. how many times have i told you that. five years of school usually. more of an investment on the front end. that's what's important. i always tell you and the big, you know, college planning experts say you don't want to borrow more for college than you expect to earn in your first year out. that's why this report is important. i'll tweet it. give it to the young person in your life. >> the young person in your life is probably asleep. >> and borrowing money. you shouldn't borrow more money than you expect to earn in the first your out. you have kids in marketing, in engineering, especially in engineering but marketing and business who are getting -- would are still in college getting for jobs in the summer. i haven't seen that in about three years. that means young people are getting jobs again. >> not your passion though. >> you have to find the thing you love, the thing you're good at and someone will pay for you. struggling with student debt you'll ultimately be unhappy. i'm saying, just go for something for the money and i probably couldn't be an engineer although my parents pushed me for. >> my first salary out of college. >> 7,000. >> i thought it was so much money. >> 24 years ago. i don't think 24 years ago -- it doesn't mitigate at all. >> highest paid english majors write technical work for engineering technology. translate it to the growing fields but i'll tweet it out if anybody wants to look at it for 9 young person in your life. >> what's happening weatherwise. jacqui jeras is filling this for rob marciano today. >> good morning, guys. travel is going to be a huge problem today especially across the great lakes. and the northeastern corridor dealing with 9 winter storm so the snow is an issue but in addition the wind is going to make things even worse. check out these pictures we have for you from cookeville, tennessee, they've got about a half of an inch to an inch of snow from yesterday. not a whole lot but enough to close the schools down and there's a lot of black ice all across the area too. i-40 reporting a lot of accidents across tennessee overnight so be aware of that. take a look at some of the other totals more impressive. the state of illinois, check out rockford, about six inches there, chicago, o'hare, 4.6 inches is what you got and this is the 11th latest you've ever had two inches of snow or more. about three inches in milwaukee but you had a little more at the airport. more like 6, the cold air is pushing in. it is going to hit the entire eastern seaboard. the last day of those warmer temperatures in the northeast as those temperatures fall, winds will be gust up to 50 miles per hour so that could cause spotty power outages not to mention the mess at the airports. back to you guys. >> 15 minutes past the hour. still ahead, natalee holloway. remember that teenager at the center of that misery in aruba. legally now she is considered dead. she was declared such by a judge in this country. we'll tell you what her parents have to say about that. i want healthy skin for life. 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! ♪ [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first on the side. from honey nut cheerios to cinnamon toast crunch to lucky charms, get more whole grain than any other ingredient... without question. just look for the white check. good morning to you, charlotte. it is, what, 36 degrees now. they are -- >> what? >> not going to be sunny and 45 later. there's a cold front everywhere. jacqui said, get ready. >> you know what is hot in charlotte, the ads on tv. >> oh, yeah, lord i am so sorry if you're having to watch the barrage the ads in your state. i know it's ugly. >> give folks a lot to talk about. >> 19 minutes past the hour. just getting ready, don't do it yet until you have your local news making headlines. we like to call it our "early read." we have papers from atlanta and from phoenix. why don't we start in atlanta. "the atlanta journal-constitution" is reporting if you're a flier and go airline to airline, you may not have to do that so often because if delta gets its way it wants to take over american airlines. pretty amazing. american's parent company, amr, they're bankrupt, delta and some private equity firmer is reportedly putting together a bid in bankruptcy court but at this point nobody is commenting. those airlines don't want to talk publicly about this and as far as frequent flier points, wait. you're going to have to get the comment from them. we have no idea -- >> that would be quite a monopoly. >> huge. we'll go to arizona. the democrats in arizona plan to introduce a bill to repeal the state's controversial anti-immigration law known as sb-1070. why are they trying to recall the law? because the senate president, russell pearce was recalled using the architect of that law and hoping it gives them an opportunity to do that. listen -- do you know the details. it orders immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times. failure to carry them would be considered a crime and broad question to question them, by police. they stop you and you don't have that information and they think you are not a legal resident then that's the one -- >> that's the one this of's been pressuring about and the governor of the state got tongue-tied about that. that's not been none too friendly. >> it'll end up in court. >> that would have been me two years ago if i lived in arizona. i would have proved i was an immigrant. >> i'm too white. nobody would ask me to show the card. we're also waiting on a story developing right now, a judge in peru is going to hand down the sentence that joran van der sloot deserves, two days ago he pleaded guilty to a violent and vicious murder of a woman in lima hotel room back in 2010. the court proceedings are getting under way at 10:00 eastern. just under five hours from now. but you might remember also that van der sloot is a prime suspect in natalee holloway's disappearance in aruba. almost seven years ago. he was arrested a couple times and held behind bars and the suspicion was just enormous but never charged in that crime and natalee body was never found so no one ever knew what happened. yesterday a judge in this country in alabama finally declared that young girl dead and it was a sad day for natalee parents. >> well, it's been tough. you know, we learned about natalee situation ten days into the investigation. the fbi told us that they were investigating this from a homicide investigation and, you know, we've been dealing with her death for the last 6 1/2 years and hopefully this meeting today will kind of put some closure on it. >> natalee father wanted to see this through and, of course, it makes me very sad. >> very sad, indeed. the attorney for natalee father whose name is dave holloway joins us from birmingham. mark white, thank you for getting up to talk to us about it. such a sad topic. i'm glad i'm talking to you because i don't know where i'd begin to ask your client about this. so i'll ask you. how is he doing? is he okay after that ruling? >> well, i think this was a painful but necessary process. dave is doing i would say as well as one could anticipate because this has been a long, painful journey for these parents, for this entire family. but it did -- it did -- we did accomplish, i guess yesterday, the legal requisite that we set out to do. >> and i though that there were some technicalities. there is a college fund in natalie's fame that couldn't be released unless she was required dead and medical insurance payments also at issue, as well but my curiousty at this point and i'm a mom so i could not go through what these two parents have gone through, does it have any effect on the investigation into what happened to this young woman? does it have any effect on the arubans and will they continue to try to solve it? does this declaration of her death make a difference ask. >> well, those are all questions that this family ask every day, and they continue to cooperate constantly with all law enforcement authorities, both in this country and the other country, as well. there is a pending case here in the northern district of alabama involving the attempted extortion of beth holloway, and ultimately there will have to be legal adjudication on that case. >> how would that happen because he's being -- joran van der sloot is being sentenced in peru today that could be a sentence of upwards of 30 years, but if he does end up getting the maximum and let's just say he serves a portion, 10 or 20, might the americans might want to extradite him before, during or after that sentence and actually try to prosecute him here for that extortion? >> i think the u.s. attorney here is committed absolutely to prosecuting that case as to whether it will be after he is sentenced or after he serves that sentence, that remains to be seen. >> mark, i appreciate you taking the time to talk with us. if you would pass on our condolences to beth and dave, as well. this has got to be a terrible time for them. thank you for your time. >> thank you. it is 25 minutes past the hour, switching gears here still to come on "reliable sources," n "early start," new candidates. comedy stenl's stephen colbert making a run for the white house? i was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning because my back hurt so bad. the sleep number bed conforms to you. i wake up in the morning with no back pain. i can adjust it if i need to...if my back's a little more sore. and by the time i get up in the morning, i feel great! if you have back pain, toss and turn at night or wake up tired with no energy, the sleep number bed could be your solution. the sleep number bed's secret is it's air chambers which provide ideal support and put you in control of the firmness. and the bed is perfect for couples because each side adjusts independently to their unique sleep number. here's what clinical research has found: 93% of participants experienced back-pain relief. 90% reported reduced aches and pains. 87% fell asleep faster and enjoyed more deep sleep. for study summaries, call this number now. we'll include a free dvd and brochure about the sleep number bed including prices, and models plus a free $50 savings card. and how about this? steel springs can cause uncomfortable pressure points. but the sleep number bed contours to your body. imagine how good you'll feel when your muscles relax and you fall into a deep sleep! i'm not just a back surgeon, i'm also a back patient. i sleep on the sleep number bed myself and i highly recommend it to all of my patients. need another reason to call? the sleep number bed costs about the same as an innerspring but lasts twice as long. so if you want to sleep better or find relief for your bad back, call now. call the number on your screen for your free information kit with dvd, brochure and price list. call right now and you'll also receive a $50 savings card just for inquiring about the sleep number bed. ask about our risk-free 30-night in-home trial. call now for your free information kit and a free $50 savings card. call now! welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin. >> i'm ashleigh banfield. it's 29 minutes past the hour so we thought this was a good time as are most times to get you caught up on the headlines. top stories, that fiasco in mississippi. well, it's having reverberations in other states because lawmakers in oklahoma are taking up a bill that would strip away parole power from that governor. the state senator who is introducing the measure says the situation in mississippi just highlights the drawbacks of having a governor with that kind of power. >> so many questions there. the u.s. reportedly warning iran not to cross the red line. "the new york times" says the obama administration signaled iranian lead that's close iing vital stripping lines would very volk a u.s. response. i read that the chief of naval operations is saying that the strait of hormuz and business going on in the arabian golf is what keeps him awake at night. >> it keeps me awake at night. it does. also, this keeps folks awake at night if you're a police officer married to one or have one in the family. the headquarters of new orleans police department evacuated. apparent think there were live grenades found inside a car they were processing. some car involved in a shooting and find a safe and inside the safe are two gre anyways. think about the guy driving the car knowing he's got grenades in the back and someone shooting. yeah, that would not be a place i'd want to be. that would keep me awake at night. >> object, my goodness. crazy stories. >> indeed. 31 minutes past the hour. with eight days to go before the south carolina primary the candidates are getting a warning saying stop cannibal identifying the front-runner. romney is taking heat over his position at bank capital and gingrich and santorum slamming him as well so rudy giuliani on "piers morgan" said cool it. >> both newt and rick are good friends of mine. they are two people that i would have a kind of inclination to support. i think their positions are closer to mine than even mitt romney's, same thing with rick santorum but i think the attack they are leveling against romney is not only an unfair attack, i think it's an attack that hurts what republicans stand for. which is a free market economy. >> we're going to talk about that with our political panel in washington democratic strategist maria cardona. and cnn political editor paul steinhauser and from chicago, lenny mcallister. lenny, i'll begin with you. did you ride your snowmobile in this morning? >> i mussed dogs in. i try santa get back to the north pole. >> the leadership telling republicans to basically cool it. apparently rick santorum is listening. let's listen to this then we'll talk about it. >> we have a president who sees, well, america like king george iii saw america at the revolutionary war, a country that should be ruled for the benefit of the people. >> so here's a potential problem, right? lenny, nobody has actually won the nomination yet. so is focusing on obama a good strategy? >> it is a good strategy. here's the problem, though. you still have this civil war within the conservative base between the establishment republican party and the tea party movement that's never had a chance to pick a presidential candidate and now you have the establishment who's not supposed to get involved in primary elections, all of a sudden saying, hey, cool off because we kind of have our nominee, this isn't good. this is not how democracy supposed to work. if you look four years ago if that would have happened back then we wouldn't have the president we have now. i don't think it's a great move for conservatives. it may backfire with the tea party really raising up in south carolina and florida and it has the potential of being a big mess within the conservative base if this goes awry. >> okay, paul, let's bring you in on this. how do you feel about that? we don't have any polls since iowa and so, you know, how does this strategy work for santorum? >> well, you know, santorum to his credit was one of the few republican candidates who didn't criticize romney over his time at bain. so he never went that extra step that some of the other candidates did and since then they've kind of taken it back because, listen, republicans, all republicans, not just establishment republicans are saying this is going at our core, free market principles, stop criticizing romney on that. plenty of other things to talk about but not on that. you're just giving ammunition to the democrats and somebody like maria cardona. >> is the republican leadership essentially saying let mitt romney win? >> i think that's exactly what they're saying and i completely agree with lenny that, you know, if i was a tea party activist i would not be happy right now because essentially they're telling me to shut up. that's exactly what the tea party activists have been against for the last two years which they have an agenda and don't think the republican establishment has been listening to that agenda and this goes completely against everything that they have fought for these past two years. but what is also interesting is that, you know, this is definitely a fight and attention -- i've written for the soul of the gop because they don't understand which side it is that they want to placate. whether it's the republican establishment, the more moderates who understand that if a tea party activist nominee gets the nomination it's going to be very tough for that person to compete in a general election but what's also interesting, mitt romney has been basically practicing political jujitsu and moving to extreme positions to the right to try to placate exactly the tea party activities who don't like him and don't trust him. >> i want to deal with one more issue. gingrich is one person who is not going to keep it clean. he has another new web ad we talked about yesterday out against romney. and he has this one that compares him to liberals like john kerry, michael dukakis, the ending is kind of weird here. >> massachusetts moderate mitt romney, he'll say anything to win. anything, and just like john kerry -- >> laissez le bon temp ruler. >> bonjour -- [ speaking french ] >> a massachusetts moderate cannot beat barack obama. >> lenny, very quickly, what's that all about? >> i don't know. i guess it's trying to play off european socialism. but oui, oui, i don't know why that's supposed to square folks. >> it shows the desperation within some in the republican party to try to find an anybody but romney candidate. if they don't coalesce behind gingrich, behind santorum which probably won't happen or behind perry which probably won't happen mitt romney will run away with it. >> here's the deal, i got to let you have the last word, paul. >> from an old playbook, 2004 campaign trying to paint kerry as rich in touch with europe, not a real american, it worked with george bush, maybe gingrich is trying it now. >> thank you all very much. of course, keep it on cnn now through november for the best political coverage on television. on thursday night at 8:00 eastern it is the southern republican presidential debate. it's live right here on cnn. then one week from tomorrow the road to the republican nomination for president stops in south carolina. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ one too many... 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[ding] [fans whirring] announcer: chill raw and prepared foods promptly. one in 6 americans will get sick from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. i don't know about you, when i was a little girl i loved me my barbies. >> i didn't so -- i wasn't a barbie girl. >> why is that? >> i don't know. i liked other dolls. >> i liked the ones where you could do their hair. >> i like them now though. >> for your daughter. >> but i was big into doing the hair curling and all the rest. what's interesting about reminiscing about that there is a new pitch out there for mattel to actually come up with a bald barbie. >> that's fantastic. >> barbie with no hair. apparently there are 80,000 supporters on facebook asking for this, liking this and the numbers keep on growing. there's the page right there. if you're wondering why all of this is a threat. there is a campaign to help kids would are affected by cancer and, of course, the hair loss that comes along with the treatments of cancer and also conditions like alopecia and the campaign was started by two women who both have cancer in their families and they're both affected by cancer. one of those women is jane bingham live from philadelphia with her 9-year-old daughter belle. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> so, jane, i want to start with you. i think this is a fabulous idea. putting together the concept, the movement to reach out to mattel to say, you know what, this might just be the right kind of barbie for the right kinds of kids who are either affected by hair loss and cancer or any other kind of affliction and turns out that's really your story, isn't it? you have cancer and your daughter has been affected by it. can you round that out for me and let me know what's happened. >> yes, i was diagnosed with an incurable form of non-hodgkins lymphoma five years ago, i was able to do immunotherapy for a number of years and this past summer i started a chemotherapy round and my hair started falling out and i decided that it was just -- instead of watching it fall off i would shave it off and pie daughter had some -- >> reservations about that. >> some coping issues with mom going from long hair to bald. >> it's creepy. >> belle, can you hear me. >> your mom was saying you had coping issues. how did you feel about seeing your mom all of a sudden going from have all that long beautiful hair to shaving it off and being bald? >> i felt really bad for her and i felt really sad because i like am not used to seeing her without hair but really long hair. >> like yours. you are have beautiful hair and i think your mom looks really good. i think she looks terrific. jane, this is really just a terrific idea. have you had any response from mattel on this idea to produce -- to mass produce barbies that are bald so other kids can benefit from that? >> in our attempts of contacting mattel, we've already received form lers saying that they don't take outside -- or unsolicited suggestio suggestions, but as the movement has grown, the form lers coming back have become a little more understanding in saying that they hear the outpouring. >> the need, yeah. well, i want to mention, as well, because, jane, we did reach out to mattel and got some of the same kind of response you got. they said to us, mattel appreciates and respects the passion that has been built up for the request for a bald barbie doll and as you might imagine, we receive hundreds of passionate requests for various dolls to be added to our collect. we take all of them seriously and are constantly exploring new and different dolls to be added to our line." in fact, a woman who kind of started this whole movement who you connected to when you read about her through a friend who worked at mattel was able to get two -- just two bald barbies made for a young girl who was sick in the hospital. but do you think it may stop there? do you think you might get some faction and be able to move forward? well, your facebook has thousands of people liking it. you only expected about 500 when you got into this. >> yeah, we started the page i believe on december 20th. after i had read the article about the woman who was able 0 get the two one-of-a-kind bald barbies for the two cancer patients and she's come on board and is an administrator on the page, as well. her name is beth and -- >> sorry. go ahead. >> and it just really took off. it seems to have resonated with so many people, people in the alopecia community, people in -- that have been touched by cancer themselves or a child, even a mother, an aunt. and there's even been people saying, well, what about the boys. >> sure, i mean it's a great idea and i wish you tremendous luck in your effort and i want to also say thank you to belle for showing up and being such a great public speaker. thanks to both of you. >> thank you. >> okay. >> we'll be right back. >> what a sweetheart. right back after this break. es. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. can you enjoy vegetables with new glucern sauceer smart. and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. 5:48. zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield. i know you're excited about this. whoo. we have political news from politico. it reveals a big announcement in the presidential race. last night comedian stephen colbert announced he might run. listen. >> i am proud to announce i'm forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for the president of the united states of south carolina. i'm doing it! >> this is on our front page faces and on the phone with us is political reporter james holman in south carolina. james, is he serious? >> no, but he's making a serious point and he'll get a good amount of attention which is the whole campaign finance system in the country is broken and created in super pac and this will definitely draw attention to the way in which money is pouring into the state. but what prompted the run or this exploratory thing that is part fun is a poll that was done by public policy polling in which they put him into the race and they wanted to see how he polled and he actually did slightly better than jon huntsman campaigning his heart out. a fun opening for some fun publicity. >> could it actually hurt the campaign then for a legitimate candidate? >> we were finally getting to the point where the campaign was getting serious. we had months of the season and at this point it's -- the conservatives are trying to establish themselves as the conservative alternative to mitt romney and colbert -- there's a wrinkle there. interestingly he can technically run. he can go through the motions but he won't be on the ballot. the south carolina ballot doesn't have a space for write-in votes. >> he offered to pay for the south carolina primary, right, when they were trying to decide who was going to pay for it. what does he do with all that money he's accumulated. a lot of people would love to see him run. >> yeah. and the open primary too. there's no contest on the democratic side. in the race he would be able to get a lot of democrats who would cross over to republican primaries. he has reserve ad time we reported late last night on local tv stations so he can run some ads and have some fun with this. >> do we have any preview of those ads? >> we don't. i imagine that we'll see those rolled out on his show and that he'll find a way to kind of get maximum effect out of it. >> more of a political play or a play for his show, right, than anything else, right? >> right, and he's trying to make a real point and that's what the last year has been about with the polar action committee he talked about on his show and talked about pondering his to talking -- making fun to making a point a lot in washington think is real. >> james hohmann from politico, thanks for joining us. people are having fun with it. >> i love he says the united states of south carolina which is awesome. and i think he's turned over his super pac money to jon stewart. stewart makes his way on to our show again, hello, china, where is my iphone? apparently it's lost in this melee. this is the iphone story beijing being egged by angry mobs. why are they mad and why aren't they going home with the iphone? for a limited time, passages malibu will be giving away free copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. all right, if you're going to beijing don't expect to line up for your iphone. they're not for sale out of a store anymore. it is just too dangerous to get one. >> amazing pictures. apple had to close its flagship store in beijing after shoppers egged the place. dan grant live in beijing, what is is going on? >> reporter: extraordinary, isn't it, over a phone. if you see the images they speak for themselves. people camped out overnight to tie to get one of those. they officially went on sale. then 7:00 a.m. came and went and people got angry. the doors would not open and told the phone would not be for sale today. that's when they started throwing eggs at the building. security were chased. pursued anticipate beaten up. police called in to try to move the people away. people who wouldn't leave of their own volition were dragged away from the scene and all of this because people could not get their hands on the iphone but really it strikes a much deeper chord here in china. there's a rising sense of anger here. people are angry at authority for a whole lot of thing, pollution or track or inflation or factories closing. they're pointing the finger and i'm getting angry and don't like what's happening here or don't like what they see. this was a chance to get one back. >> i can't -- you know, i really got a second here but let me ask you, stan, is it just that tough to get the electronics because there are so many people in china or is there something else to the iphone there that's akin to the frenzy here without the violence? >> look, they love getting their hands on new gadgets especially the mobile chinese. the problem here, there were some in stock. the issue was security. the police saw how many people outside and didn't trust the mob and as you saw what happened how things can turn nasty, now you can't buy an iphone in any story only online. >> you're great for braving that. >> he's okay. he gets an award or a purple heart. thank you, stan. >> almost 6:00 here. ahead in our next hour it was caught on tape. an l cop punches a homeless woman. so a war vet slips the video past police so we could see it. we have that and the 911 tape. you're watching "early start." when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. 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[ male announcer ] it's time to reclaim your garage. the all-new passat. the 2012 motor trend car of the year. ♪ seek your way and go a very good morning to you. hello, everyone. this is "early start." i'm ashleigh banfield. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from a to z. 6:00 a.m. in the east. the u.s. reportedly warning iran, do not cross the red line. the standoff that could make oil prices skyrocket. pretty scary as well. >> good heavens, we're supposed to be secretly speaking with the iranians now according to the "new york times." diplomacy? oh, boy. if you've been following the story about pardoning the killers. now there's another state that's trying to remove its governor from that whole parole process after the whole mess went down in mississippi. in the meantime, the ag says four killers who legally, legally took off running are somewhere out there and they have no idea where they are. caught on tape. l.a. cop socks a homeless woman in the face. then demands a cell phone that videotaped it all. a war that pulls off a slick move to get the video out. we have it obviously. >> who knew. >> unbelievable. and so up first this morning. new tensions in the standoff between the u.s. and iran. the obama administration warning iran supreme leader that closing the strait of hormuz is a red line."the new york times" warni iran through a secret channel of communication. the strait of hormuz is the most vital oil shipping lane in the entire world. it would block a fifth of the world's daily i'll trade. a blockade has arrived in the arabi arabian sea. the pentagon denying the shuffling of a navy fleet. but the defense secretary leon panetta says the u.s. has to be ready. >> clearly there are those areas that, for us, are red lines. number one, we cannot allow them to develop a nuclear weapon. that's a red line. number two, we cannot tolerate iran blocking the straits of hormuz. and that's the red line. barbara starr is live at the pentagon. we're kind of caught here on these secret channels of communication that are happening. what is the white house saying? >> well, there hasn't really been any reaction from them about that particular story, zoraida. but, you know, i don't think it's too surprising that the american government would really try and find every channel it could to reach out to iran and to communicate u.s. intentions about all of this. you know, we have no formal real communication with that government and yet tensions are at an all of time high. what they want to do, what panetta wants to do is lay it out in public, make it very clear. no nuclear weapon, no closing of the strait of hormuz, you can't do that or we will respond. they don't want any miscalculation. they continue want any misunderstanding by iran. so the idea is put it out there in every channel you can, zoraida. >> there are some people who say, though, that that would never happen, closing the strait of hormuz would never happen because that would cripple their own economy. >> well, you know that is the thinking. that's why a lot of people talk about, you know, this is a ratcheting up of rhetoric. but what's the reality? if iran was to close the strait of hormuz, some people call it economic suicide for an already shaky iranian economy. they basically put themselves out of business and exporting oil. and the other persian gulf allies up and down that waterway, they also rely on this strait for oil shipments, for a lot of their commerce, a lot of their imports and exports. it's one of the busiest waterways in the world. even the countries around iran are not going to support any shutdown of this strait. it's in everybody's interest to keep it open. but as everybody starts talking and you see all of this rhetoric rising, you don't want any miscalculation. trying to put it out right in public and everybody state their position. >> reading this did not make anybody feel comfortable. the strait of hormuz and the business going on the arabian gulf is what keeps him awake at night. >> pretty interesting, isn't it? the chief of naval operations for the navy making those comments. i think everyone agrees. it does keep everybody up at night. think -- again, you know, if you look at a map, you see that the strait of hormuz is a very narrow waterway. thousands of ships go up and down that. so that makes it tense even on a good day to have so much shipping traffic pirates, commerce, the good guys and the bad guys, up and down that water way. to throw into the mix the uncertainty at any moment of what iran might do, any kind of miscalculation is something very unsettling. >> all right. barbara starr, live at the pentagon for us. thank you. >> sure. lawmakers in oklahoma are trying to make sure what happened in mississippi does not happen in their state. the senate in that state is introducing a bill that would strip parole power from their governor. all of this while the mississippi state attorney general is now calling for a nationwide manhunt for those four killers who were pardoned by that state's governor. the ag says they hit the road running before a judge could halt governor haley barbour's har d pardons. >> we'll catch them. it's just a matter of time. but -- >> do you know where they are? >> no. we know where their family, we're in contact with their family, local law enforcement. there's a search going on out there for them. we'll lay hands on them at some point. >> at some point. it's going to be a tricky, trick can proposition. they got out of prison on sunday. they were gone. so now the a.g. wants to actually serve them with papers to say, you need to check in with your parole officer every day. >> find them first. >> yeah. >> well, there's a bit of legality serving these now considered to be innocent guys. these are unconditional pardons. >> and running around with guns. >> they're allowed to have guns. the idea of serving them with papers saying you have to check in with your parole officer -- but you know what, it might just smit them with those papers anyway and see if they can get that legal tool to work for them. >> and hope they can find them. it is seven minutes past the hour here. we have good news. salaries for 2011 college grads are up so we want to talk about that. this excited me when saw these numbers. it's such a positive sign for kids trying to decide what they want to do. >> it is because there's this cocktail party conversation about whether or not college is worth it. you've heard people talk about it. i say that's being had by people who went to college. look, college is still the way to make homore money even thoug it's difficult to pay for it on the front end. even the vice president yesterday was talk about this, this new big conversation about whether college is worth it. listen. >> for the first time in my memory being asked by middle class people is it worth my spending all this money, is it worth my spending a minimum of $100,000 a year -- four years to send my kid to school, for them to graduate $27,000 in department if i can't get the whole $100,000, is that worth it today, today's economy? well, it is worth it. it's worth it because on average you will make $20,000 a year more than if you just went to high school. >> i just ran the numbers and he's right. it's about $400 more a week you aerch if you have a bachelors degree. if you just went to high school earning $626 a week, that's a median earnings. $626 a week. more than $1,000 a week if you've got a bachelor's degree. the key is how to pay for it p the average salary last year, 41 $41,701. the key is not to borer row more than you expect to earn the first year of school. that starts to become the trick. the fastest growing jobs in this country, the fastest growing jobs are reretail jobs, restaurant jobs. they're not very high paid jobs. >> we need to think. we've got some big questions in this country about telling everyone to go to college? what kind of jobs are we creating on the other end that people are going to be able to still get $41,000 a year for those jobs? >> how are they supposed to guess? >> i'm not saying it's all hunky dory out there but i'm saying if you're computer science, engineering, if you have one of these relevant stem careers, you've got a good place. >> engineering, hyper focus on the salary. >> $61,000. it's usually five-year program. probably going to spend more up front to do it. but $61,000 and great demand for those jobs. >> a rt staying salary, base, right? >> starting salary, $61,000. >> let's switch gears to goodish news. mortgage rates are at an all-time low. sounds. >> terry: refrigerat-- soundser fik. >> these very low mortgage rates because a lot of people don't qualify for them. until unemployment starts to really improve these low mortgage rates are not going to help the economy much and that's what the freddie mac chief economist said. most people refinance into a 15 year. that's 3.3 -- 3.16% for 15-year money is free essentially, but as you well know, it's very difficult to get it even if you have a job. >> want a candy? psyche. that's how i feel. >> the rates are low. if you can do it it's worth the time to try to do it. but it's difficult. >> christine romans, thank you. >> thank you. every morning we also like to give you an early start to your day we call it by alerting you to news that's happening now but really developing into something bigger later on today and tonight. just a few hours, joran van der sloot is going to be sentenced in peru. just earlier this week he pleaded guilty to killing 21-year-old stephanie flopoulos. a year after holloway was found missing. a federal court will hear rick perry's challenge to get his name on primary ballot. gingrich, huntsman, santorum joined the lawsuit after they didn't qualify for the ballot. >> hot stuff. and the reason i say that is this is my really cheap segue to the weather. our jacqui jeras has been watching the weather for us. so lame. i'm so lame. i couldn't column with anything better. >> did you say 4.6 inches in chicago of show snow. >> 4.7, to be exact, yes. yr close. it's still coming down but it's light. chicago can handle it. you get a lot of ice on the roadways. you know who is making money today? snowplow drivers, so happy to be out there because they pretty much haven't been doing it. widened out in the bigger cities you just starting to kick things up here across the northeast. now, we're going to stay with the rain in places like new york city as well as down towards baltimore. but we will get that cold air eventually in and the winds will kick in this afternoon. here are a couple of snowfall totals that we mentioned. chicago, the biggest number i could find so far, indiana, nine inches. you get that moisture kicking in around the great lakes. localized snowbelt citys will see the higher amounts. the cold and the wind will be the big story. gusts could reach 50 miles per hour. spotty damage. maybe some tree limbs down. be aware of that. if you're traveling today we're expect major we delays. new york city, metro's boston, philadelphia. that's because the winds are going to be so strong you've got to line up the planes and go on all kinds of different runways. not fun for travelers. >> thank you very much. it is 13 minutes past the hour. time to check this stories making news this morning. obama administration is reportedly warning iran not to cross the so-called red line by closing critical shipment lanes in the persian gulf. iran has threatened to block the strait of hormuz in response to the latest sanctions. mississippi's pardon fiasco fresh in their minds and all of ours, oklahoma has decided to take some action. the senate there stepping in to try to prevent a similar mess from happening in that state by introducing a bill that could strip their governor of any rule in the parole process. and north korea's new leader flexing military muscles. they say pyongyang test fired some missile tests, less than a month after kim jong-il died. all right. one of our favorite times of the day. >> she's like dealing with serious trepidation because it's that moment -- wake them up, right? >> where we wake somebody up. >> see what happens. >> apparently we're dealing getting a busy signal. jon stuart took issue with us. it was a funny segment and we could do serious things in it. he su sdwrggested -- >> be funny, be funny. >> how well did that go? >> hi, is that ali velshi? >> hello, ali, speaking. >> hello, ali. this is your wake-up call. >> good morning. >> you're late for work. >> you do know who it is, right? >> i do. i do. good morning to you both. >> we were worried about calling you this morning because of jon stewart completely shredded us for doing this thing. beknew you would be a good sport about it. >> and he would be awake. >> i am awake. and given that jon stewart has already done it i'm not going to do it twice this week. >> you don't think you're going to get a free pass, right my friend? >> exactly. >> the reason i think it was a great day to call you up. delta air lines looking at maybe buying american airlines and i did the head jumble. how many of these buyouts have there been? i'm starting to feel there's just like two or three airlines left and they're massive. am i wrong? >> the airlines are getting bared. the most recent was united and continental. delta and northwest before that. u.s. air and america west before that. that wasn't the world's most successful merger when it happened. so now delta/continental -- united/continental are bigger than delta. they are bigger than amr, the parent of american airline. they all hold on rumor and speculation. a combination of delta and american airline would create such a massive airline a lot of analysts are saying they're not even sure that the government will let that happen because it would be so big, so much price control. but the bottom line is a number of mergers have gone through. so i think that's probably why if they're discussing it they try it. i wasn't able to get on the record from anyone that it's actually happening but the "wall street journal" is reporting it. >> too much of a monopoly because i feel like i would be paying an extraordinary amount of money for my airline ticket because of competition is small then. >> but over the last two years, zoraida, we've seen airline fares go up, oil prices and fuel surcharge hikes. we've already seen our first hike this year in airfares. here's the interesting thing. january of 2012, this month is the lowest month for airfare in a few years. so for whatever reason there still seems to be enough competition. airtran and southwest -- >> trying to warm us up for the big merge. >> possible. >> i was just saying yesterday that i was actually able to fly my parents in from chicago for 74 bucks on daelta air lines. >> still competitive routes. but that's the latest news. it will be interesting to see whether this happens. there's been a lot of airline consolidation. they are having trouble. all profitable this year, most of them are, but they've had some horrible years so they're trying to figure out a motd dell to sell seats at a reasonable price that people will pay for them and offer the service they expect and consistent tently make money at the same time to make our staff happy. >> get to the office because everyone is going to want you to report for this today. and keep an eye on that frequent flier point, too. ali velshi, thank you for being a good sport. >> ali was the first e-mail i received when i came here, welcoming me to cnn. >> it's the canadian thing. ed good canadian. good brethren. time to get you up to speed on what we're going to be doing in just a few moments. did you feel it? the earthquakes in ohio? any idea what they've been caused by? fracking. >> what's fracking? >> fracking is a kind of a kol and not so cool thing depending on what side of the energy issue you're on. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. 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[ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. good morning to you, pittsburgh. it is 28 degrees. it's going to be 28 degrees and snowy a little later today. >> but other than that, you're a really nice town. los angeles scherf riheriff's ds been caught on tape hitting a homeless and mentally ill woman in the face on the bus. watch what happens. it comes about. oh, gosh. it's hard to watch this. here's how it started. apparently she was acting erratically. someone called t 11 on her. the sheriff's deputies arrived. she got in the scuffle with them and that's how they krreacted. a guy name jermaine green, iraq war vet. he was on the bus and decided to catch this on his cell phone. then the cops came after him and said give us that phone. he takes the chip out of his phone. he's way too sly. have a listen. >> i turn and methodically took the memory card out of my phone and put it in my mouth and then i kissed my fiance to give her the memory card so this story can be out. >> slick. jermaine's video goes national, viral. the l.a. county sheriff's office is taking action. >> the individual deputy who swung an elbow at the lady is looking at that as a sensible solution. we need to refrain that individual and hold him accountable. >> so many stories at play at this one, not the least of it that the iraq war vet thought so quickly sdl happened to be there. >> and kiss his girlfriend to pass it. i don't know. our cnn legal analyst sunny hostin is here. i want get you to comment on that but let's talk a little bit about what happened legally speaking. >> sure. >> because i've seen cops have to get into it with people they can't control, sometimes high on drugs with extraordinary strength but is it ever okay to do that? >> it is sometimes okay. bottom line, there are all of these policies that police officers have and they have to follow them. generally they can use the amount of force that's reasonable to make an arrest. to sort of make sure that everyone is okay on a public bus. in this case the question is whether or not he felt that was probably. >> reasonable. >> it's reasonable. sheriff's department came out and said this guy needs to be retained. when i looked at it and seen a lot of cases like this. i thought it was xwesive. the force used was excessive. >> the guy who recorded it, he said this was not warranted. nothing ever happened for her to justify that moment. >> you've got two officers there. you've got two officer there's. i don't know that he was really being threatened. when an officer is being office force. >> she didn't have any weapons on her. >> they didn't know that. they're also dealing with what we call in law enforcement edp, emotionally disturbed person. it was obvious she was an edp. there are different guidelines that come into play when you deal with them. >> different guidelines but if you're emotionally dedisstushed. >> and in looking at it i wonder we would be having this conversation if it were a man. right? would people be as outraged if it were a man instead of a woman. >> can they get a shot of this? take a look at this. how hard am i holding your hand? >> not very hard. >> now how hard? >> did it look any different on camera, anybody? >> no. >> nobody knows how strong she was. >> no one knows. >> no one knows maybe something was hurting. maybe a bracelet was cutting in the wrist of the cop. devil's advocate. >> that's why it's really the officer's perception. we weren't there. we don't know. what we saw on the videotape to me with a trained eye looked excessive. again, we weren't there and the guidelines allow the officer to use the force that he believed was reasonable at the time. >> his superior came out saying he needs retraining. >> to the face of a woman who is emotionally disturbed doesn't look good at all. one thing i want to mention, also, people with generally video trap officers when they are in the line of duty. and what i don't like about this story is the fact that they threatened this guy, this vet, and tried to take the phone away from him. i think that's improper. >> we just had a story out of illinois for that same reason as -- because of the strictest laws around about videotaping. >> you can't interfere with them. but generally in most of the states you can do it. it all comes out of rodney king. remember, none of us would even know anything about what happened to rodney king without the video. >> you can record. >> i don't like that. i think that's improper. >> are you okay? >> i'm okay. it hurt a little. i'm a little person. >> ashleigh do, you like her? >> just show a point. >> i gosh. all right. >> i shouldn't beat up our guests. >> 26 minutes past the hour. i head on "early start," republican candidates tearing each other down. is it for obama? are they ready to call a truce? i don't know about that. you're watching "early start." forty years ago, he wasn't looking for financial advice. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. life with crohn's disease is a daily game of "what ifs." what if my stomach pain and cramps end our night before it even starts? what if i eat the wrong thing? what if... what if i can't make it through dinner and a movie? what if i suddenly have to go? what if... but what if the most important question is the one you're not asking? what if the underlying cause of your crohn's symptoms is damaging inflammation? for help getting the answers you need visit knowcrohns.com/tv and use the interactive discussion guide to speak with your gastroenterologist. have more fiber than other leading brands. they're the better way to enjoy your fiber. good morning, everybody. i'm ashleigh banfield. this is "early start." >> welcome back. it is 30 minutes past the hour. 6:30 to be exact in the east. trying to prevent a repeat of that fiasco in mississippi, oklahoma state senate will remove the bill from the governor. four convicted murderers, pardoned by haley barbour as he left office. people are looking for them trying to figure it where they went. rchts and if you're on the worry meter, how about this? escalating fences between the united states and iran as the white house reportedly, according to the "new york times," is sending some secret back channel -- i don't know if you want to call it diplomacy, but certainly a warning, if iran povs to block oil shipments to the strait of hormuz, the united states would consider it a red line. and a new book called "the obamas" drawing a sharp response in michelle obama. the author, jody kantor, speak to cnn's piers morgan last night. >> these are aides very close with her. also remember, i've been covering these people since 2007. i mean, eric shultsz' protest to me sounds like a protest against journalism, against the process of trying to understand these figures. coming up in the next hour, jody kantor will the soledad o'brien's guest. it's really getting some traction again now with the gop, thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow republican, right? well, doesn't seem to matter because poor old mitt romney is under fire from rick perry, from newt gingrich, from rick santorum. and even rudy jult giuliani was on piers morgan last night was saying, cut it down, guys. in washington, democratic strategist maria cardona is here and paul steinhauser is us, and from chicago, conservative commentator lenny mcallister. >> they're going after him not only about the whole issue of, you know, capitalism and how his work at bain was somehow what they believe it should be. i didn't understand any of it especially since everybody has come out against it and losing traction. it doesn't stop there. there's a web app right now out and it's paid for by the newt gingrich camp and it goes after the whole sort of language and leftyism of speaking other language. let's play it and talk on the other side. >> massachusetts mitt romney will say anything to win, anything. and just like john kerry, he speaks french, too. >> bonjour. >> but he's still a massachusetts rod rate and massachusetts moderate cannot beat barack obama. >> apparently, maria, in politics it's not cool to speak french. i want to jump off that and talk about spanish. you're a native of colombia. and apparently there are all the stories breaking about mitt romney having a father who was born in mexico and yet mitt romney is not bringing that up anywhere. i'm curious as to why not. wouldn't it help him rather than hurt him? >> i think there's a simple reason. and that is that he really has nothing to say to latino voters, whether that's in the gop or in the general election or what have you. if t. problem with mitt romney is that he has taken stances are are just not to latino voters, period. it ranges from immigration to the economy to health care to education, anything, you name it. the key thing is that he has already basically committed to -- to vetoing the dream act if it comes to his desk. we understand and we know that immigration is not the number one issue for latino voters but it is what weigh call a threshold issues. if you in the r. not talking about n. a respectful tone about immigration, they're to the going to listen to you anyway. you know people who have been in the decision of being undocumented and the only thing that you are looking at is trying to live a better life and to give your family what you couldn't back in your home country in latin america. and so he doesn't know how to do that. >> let me switch a little because i'm trying to wage in a ton of issues. lenny, i was watching as rick santorum was stumping in south carolina and i started to get a little uncomfortable at one point as he was suggesting to the south carolinians, don't get it wrong, south carolina, don't let this happen. don't let obama get elected. or it's you who let's america down. and i sort of thought, oh, no, don't hurt me. do you think that's the right tone to take if you're trying to endear yourself to voter there's? >> if you are to conservatives. something funny maria said, mid romney is committed to voting against the dream act. one of the biggest criticisms about mitt romney is the fact that he hasn't been committed to much of anything. that's what rick santorum is trying to get at, listen, i'm a true conservative. i've stuck to these principles since before it was popular. mitt romney is a johnny come lately conservative in south carolina. iowa didn't get it. new hampshire wasn't going to get it. if you don't get it, south carolina, in regards to voting for a true con zeservativconser be too late. going up against a strong re-election campaign, thus, we will get a second presidential term from barack obama. >> paul steinhauser, because you have such a great sense of humor. i watched with glee as stephen colbert announced his presidency for the united states in south carolina. it's adorable. but even if it were true that he would want to jump into this fray, it's not possible, is it? you can't just jump on a ballot now, can you? >> a couple of problems here. first of all, he isn't from south carolina. he's a native of the palmetto state. he missed the deadline to get on the ballot. south carolina doesn't have a provision in the primaries for president to be a write-in candidate. unfortunately stephen cobert this is going to be tough. he did hand over the pack to jon stewart. >> do we know how much money is in that pact? >> good yes. i don't have that figure but i will now look into it so i can give you an answer on monday morning. >> i wonder what they would use it for. >> he did offer -- do you remember back in november when the south carolina was run into problems moneywise? >> he wanted to sponsor it. >> they said that. >> lady and gentlemen, thank you very much. good to talk to y'all. >> thank you very much. god bless. have a great weekend. still ahead, series of earthquakes in ohio, are they manmade, caused by the gas drilling process known as fracking? poppy harlow is looking into it. we're going to talk to her. you're watching "early start." can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. welcome back. 6:40 in the east. in ohio, new questions about the controversial process, it's known as fracking. >> it's not like it hasn't been controversial today but now there's something completely new and weird about it. this whole process, if you don't know, it's the idea of jetting water super hard and fast down into the ground an splitting up taverns to release natural gasses, et cetera. i don't know if i'm the best scientist to explain that. but that's kind of what it is in a nut shell. and now something they have to do with all that water they use that's all yucky, dirty, and nas nasty, you've got to put it somewhere, right? the way they decided to dispose of that water apparently could be responsible for earthquake. >> isn't it unbelievable? >> poply harlow, cnnmoney.com. >> manmade earthquakes. >> the sicientific term is induced sigeismicity. we were state your name unned. you look at youngstown, ohio. hugely economically depressed area that has needed jobs since the '70s when the steel mills left. now they discovered the marsalis shale. as ashleigh explained, they have to get rid of the wastes from fracking. the waste water. it's a lot of saltwater but it's also unknown chemicals nap has people very, very worried pbt one of the state representative there's is so worried because scientists have linked 11 earthquakes since mid march in ohio to disposal well to getting rid of this waste that's injected 9,000 feet into the ground. he's called for a moratorium on 180 wells across the state of ohio. on the flip side, what does that do to the jobs? take a listen. >> all officials are rushing to find out anything we can do to provide jobs. we've lgs 50,000 jobs. people are desperate. they want to make sure we do something. on the other hand, we have to do it in a safe and environmental way. >> it was stuck. the development of the best economic opportunity over the past two decades in the state of ohio and it would shatter the industry and the livelihood of people that are existing here now. >> we also spent time in a community, trying to roll some of that video for you if we can. 400 people came, up in the arms about something that they never expected to happen in their town. they were yelling. as you can see there. but some folks say, look, we can handle these earthquakes if it means jobs. the biggest one has been 4.0 but we did see damage to different homes. the concern scientists have that are looking in to this, called in from columbia university, is this can happen again. what was also troubling to me to find out is from regulators they have known in the past this kind of injection can be caused in earthquakes. they say that no state in this country is required to have companies test for fault lines before they drill these wells. i said, well, you know, don't they think they should be? they said, we're looking into what that. that's the big question, at what price. yes we want domestic energy but at what price. that's what's going on in ohio right now. >> worries me. potentially happening, right? >> poppy, thank you. smarter than the average scientist. and way prettier. just to come on "early start," cuban-americans furious with mercedes benz. why? because of an advertisement. we're going to show it to you. you are watching "early start." 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[ laughs ] hey! welcome back. i'm zoraida sambolin along with ashleigh banfield. the u.s. reportedly warning iran through secret channel, don't cross the red line. that would be shutting down the strait of hormuz, the most vital oil artery in the entire world. this comes as the united states sends another carrier strike team to the arabian sea. the move the pentagon says is not related to iran. police headquarters were evacuated in new orleans after police found two live grenades in the trunk of a car. the police say that carer belonged to man who allegedly killed three people earlier in the day. he himself was shot and killed by an officer but the bomb squad had to come and deactivate those weapons. soledad o'brien joins us now with what is ahead on "starting point." good morning to you. >> to morning, have you read this book? it's called "the obamas." it was written by jodi kantor. she's going to join us for breakfast with soledad. she's going to talk about it. the first lady not so happy with the content. we'll ask her which where she got her sources from, did she actually talk to the couple at all and we'll have a conversation about some of the impact of this book. killer tons loose. we've been talking about this national nationwide manhunt after the mississippi governor pardoned four killers. today they're rying to get those four killers that report back. broving unsuccessful. we'll sit down and chat with jeff toobin about that. that's all ahead this morning in ten minutes. y r skin looks bettr even after you take it off. neutrogena® healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% saw improved skin. does your makeup do that? neutrogena® cosmetics. [oinking] [hissing] [ding] announcer: cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer. 3,000 americans will die from food poisoning this year. check your steps at foodsafety.gov. welcome back. it's 6:50 in the east. we're getting an early read on your local news. this morning we have papers from miami and washington. so let's start with the miami herald. this is one of those what were you thinking. cuban-americans in miami are furious are mercedes benz by using the image of a revolutionary to sell their cars. daimler ag, parent company of mercedes is apologizing now the the ad used his image with the words viva. so there's one this one guy feel his rodriguez. one of the three cuban exiles who was recruited by the cia to help the soldiers in search of him. and he says i know who he was and he was a criminal, a murderer and a person who hated the united states of america. how dare you do this. >> such an icon anything image though. you travel, i travel, we all travel. you have to put all of your metal into these bins when you go through the x-ray, right? done it before? put in your watch, your ring, maybe a little bit of spare change. ever had to do that, folks? have you ever forgotten to pick it up on the other side? because, guess what, you're not alone. are you ready for how much money arps have been making from leftover change? >> how much? >> $409,000. yeah. >> a year? >> well, that's just the most recent yeah, 2011 alone. apparently they keep the money. the tsa keeps the money. if you want to know where it happens the most, jfk. $47,000 left aft jfk. >> they just keep it. they don't donate it? very good question. >> they are being asked to donate it. there's a florida lawmaker who wants to start donate it to the united service organizations who helps the troops. jfk, $47,000. lax, $19,000. it's remarkable. >> i would say guys. we don't keep spare change in our pockets. >> it's the boys who have to start thinking, pick up your money or left assured if you left your money behind it might end up going to a good cause. >> that's good. who let the dogs out? they are unleashing the attack dogs in south carolina. it has to do with dogs. one dog on the roof of the car from mittpictures. what they mean and why they're getting traction. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? 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[ female announcer ] purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena naturals. why does my mouth feel dryer than i remember it to be? there are more people taking more medication, so we see people suffering from dry mouth more so. we may see more cavities, bad breath, oral irritation. a dry mouth sufferer doesn't have to suffer. i would recommend biotene. the enzymes in biotene products help supplement enzymes that are naturally in saliva. biotene helps moisten those areas that have become dry. those that are suffering can certainly benefit from biotene. that's a beautiful shot. good morning, new york. the sun rises over that beautiful city that we love so much and like to call home. >> what's the temperature? >> you know, in the studio here, it's about 65. i like to say p. >> we're not sure what it is outside. you know something, the republicans have been barking at each other long enough and we are just getting into this whole campaign season. but now there's a newt gingrich video that truly is dogging, and i moon it, dogging the front-runner mitt romney over his one-time family pet. >> reporter: like most dogs, mitt romney says his dog liked fresh air. well, he's getting plenty of airti airtime, all right, thanks to newt gingrich's anti-romney ad trudging up the old dog in the kennel on the car roof story. >> we have five kids inside the car and my guess is he would have liked it lo better in his kennel than inside. >> reporter: it's seamus speaking from doggy heaven. the original story was written by boston globe reporter back in 2007. i'm trying to think in dog years how old is this story. writer neil swidy confirmed details of the story with romney family members. way back in 1983 the romneys piled into their station wagon for a 12-hour trip to canada with the dog in his kennel on roof. >> airtight kennel. >> romney built a special windshield for the kennel. so when he put seamus the dog up here on the roof he was protected from the wind. at some point one of romney's sons yelled, dad, gross. a down liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an air irish setter who had been ride to think roof in the wind for hours. >> to me mitt romney treated his dog like a mattress or christmas tree. >> there were comments from howard stern and parody song on youtube. ♪ there's even a reimagined hitler parody using a scene from "downfall." anti-romney demonstrators have popped up with stuffed dogs on car roofs. but the writer at of the original article think it's been dismissed. >> when the dog is in disindustridi disstriszed, writ momry pulls into a gas station, borrows a rose, washes it down and then puts it back up there. >> emotion free crisis management. >> it's like the beverly hillbillies. they treated the critters better. >> reporter: look where duke the hound gets to sit. >> i ain't bulging out of this rocker. >> reporter: and granny's in the seamus position for shame. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> i wonder if the democrats are going to use that to campaign against mitt romney if he's the eventual front-runner. >> well, that's "early start," the news from a to z. soledad o'brien standing by live. let's guess, i wonder where she is. a diner, good morning. >> ding, ding, ding. good morning. how come you guys are in a nice studio with a working teleprompter and i'm in a diner again? >> you have food. >> we get coffee, that's it. >> i have food. oh, i feel so sorry for you guys. welcome, everybody. you're watching "starting point" this morning. lots to get to. starting with this mess in mississippi we've been talking