age i have say long friend. >> long time. i'm thrilled to be here. >> nice to have you. will cain is here as well. we all know will cain. back again. got lots to talk about this morning. our "starting point" though is rick santorum waking up a big winner this morning as he swept all three states last night. strong victories in missouri and in minnesota. and a nail baiter win in the state of colorado. santorum says it is not just a victory for him but for the party overall. >> tonight was not just a victory for us. tonight was a victory for the voices of our party, conservatives and tea party people who are out there every single day in the vineyards building the conservative movement in this country, building the base of the republican party, and building a voice for freedom in this land. thank you. >> ron brownstein is the editorial director at the national journal and he will join our panel this morning. he has gotten so much better as a candidate, not ron brownstein, but rick santorum. he has really matured as a candidate. i thought his speech last night was significantly better than mitt romney's speech. i get that he was the winner, obviously. but in terms of poise, in terms of content, it was a good speech, ron. >> yeah, as you say, winning does put a lot of wind beneath your sails, as the saying goes. wind beneath your wings. the headline is, this remains the most unsettled republican race arguably since 1940 with wendell wilky. the conservative base remains unsolved on mitt romney and the conservative base continues to have difficulty unifying behind one alternative to romney. the only good news for romney last night the that it was santorum emerging and gingrich consolidating. it least you with a situation where you have a clearly flawed front-runner but maintains a tactical advantage if the voters most resistant to him continue to divide between two choices, santorum and gingrich. one point, soledad, if you look at the total numbers of voters who came out to vote for mitt romney last night, one-third as many many minnesota than 2008 and only half in colorado. >> voter turnout low. will cain, interpret that for me. >> well -- >> oh, no, because when he does the big wind-up, oh no. >> that is a big wind up at the plate. obviously it shows and almost cliche at this point, lack of enthusiasm among the voters for the candidates offered to them. you can't underestimates how big a night that was for rick santorum. >> huge night. >> i don't the election results that speech was really, really strong. he gave voice to something that mitt romney has been unable to do at this point. when he said i represent up with 00% of the people, not just the very rich, not just the very -- 100% of the people. he hit the tone exactly right. and then i think when he started the speech with president obama knows better, whatever we're talking about here, whether it's health care or the economy, president obama knows better. he gave voice to something conservatives believe. >> that was a long speech from will cain this morning. usually it's short. >> i got more. >> i know. yesterday was sort of social issues day. i know you're warming up for that. >> also, there's a contrast, during some of the debates recently you could see that santorum was frustrating. >> ignored. >> yeah. >> there was often like a two-camera shot that he was not in. you know, and this is a resurgence that, you know, not only as all of you are saying that republican voters are not decided and a bit frustrate with the choices that they have. but i think also we have to go back to the question of what movement conservatives -- essential conservatives want. they want someone like santorum but do they believe, if they say and all polls say that republican voters want to win, do they believe he's that guy? >> let's go back to ron brownstein for one second because i want to talk about newt gingrich because the person we've been talking about as other guy as newt gingrich now, is not. what does this mean? >> he has to struggle of this long valley of february. historically candidates who have gone that long without winning anything is unlikely to do. candidates have trouble coming out of that kind of valley and he has to find a way to re-establish his relevance. as i said, the one dynamic that is good for romney in this is that you see santorum re-emerging and financial po terrible for gingrich going in the south the conservative vote will continue to splinter. if you look at the polling this week romney's unfavorables among independents is going up. head to head in abc/"washington post." you have trouble along the base. showing hesitation about him. not exactly on the right track and delivering the message to the country. >> as talk show host, i love this. i mean, this just keeps it alive and keeps it interesting. it's so much fun. >> talking about it, okay. can you say that on tape for us and do an endorsement later on the show. appreciate that. >> obviously, bad, bad news for romney. he can't close the deal. he's the deal guy. that's his whole pitch, right? and for santorum, it is huge. he's not won more -- think of it, he's won more states. >> four. >> than mitt romney has, right? and he was the third down the list. and of t. other thing is, i'm glad you brought up gingrich. this is really bad news for gingrich because all that time he's been saying santorum has got to get out. i'm the onliy alternative. i'm the only alternative. totally absurd. now clearly santorum is the alternative and newt looks silly. >> we're going to leave it there. we have a lot to talk about this morning and we'll get back to the social issues emerging in this race because they're fascinating. stay with us and the entire cnn team for the best political coverage on tv. i love saying that because in just a few minutes we're going to talk to rick santorum and ask him about his big win last night and how he's doing. you wonder if he had a good night's sleep or tossed and turned. that's ahead this morning. also, the u.s. is looking at possible military options in the crisis in syria. going to get you right to cnn's christine romans for that and a look at the other headlines of the morning. good morning. >> good morning. escalating crisis in syria. the pentagon exploring military options. anti-government activists say nearly 50 civilians died overnight in homs, including three entire families when militia stormed their homes. coming up, we're going to be joined by general wesley clark. funeral services for the two young sons of josh powell will be held saturday afternoon near the home they died in. powell attacked those boys with a hatchet before blowing up their house. and this morning we're hearing for the first time the 911 calls made by the children's case worker in the moments after she brought them for a supervised visit with their dad. >> ma'am. >> yeah. >> do you know the exact address of the house? >> yeah. it's 8119 189th street court east. >> okay. okay. stay on the line. do you know if anyone is in the house? >> yes, there was a man and two children. >> okay. >> i just dropped off the children and he wouldn't let me in the door. >> okay. stay on the line for the fire department. okay. i'm going to get them on the line. do not hang on. hold on. >> abc news has a voice mail powell left for his family minutes before he blew up the house with the children in it. in it he says, quote, i'm not able to live without my sons and i'm not able to go on anymore. i'm sorry to everyone i've hurt. good-bye. susan g. komen foundation executive karen handel stepping down after the decision to cut planned parenthood funding. that decision was later reversed but handel who opposes abortion reportedly behind the original decision, she blasted planned parenthood on her way out, calling the situation, quote, nothing short of a shake-down. the los angeles school board has fired miramonte elementary schoolteacher martin springer after he was formally charged with three felony counts of lewd acts on a girl under age 14. springer pleaded not guilty yesterday. he's one of two teachers at that school facing child abuse charges. supporters of same-sex marriage celebrating this morning. a federal appeals court struck down california's proposition 8. that proposition of course band same-sex marriage. the court finding it was unconstitutional. prop 8 supporters are expected to appeal. the case could end up before the supreme court next year. soledad? >> quae, i think that's very, very likely. christine, thank you for the update. appreciate it. with the panel, have you guys heard about this university offering a plan -- vending machine that dispenses the plan b, i guess it's the plan b pill. >> right. >> really interesting, interesting issue, i think. we have the vice president of student affairs and he says, bottom line is they did a survey and the students support it. here's what he said. >> we went out and we did a survey of the student body. and on -- we got an 85% response rate that students would be supportive of having planned b in the health center. the machine is used as much for privacy than anything else. >> you know, i don't know how i feel about this. >> one thing i think that we have to point out is that medically plan b prevents implantation. >> right. >> so it is an earlier intervention against pregnancy than many other types of intervention. and, you know, college students will have sex, some of them. >> what? >> some will choose not to. i know. shocker. and really this is about facing up to the consequences. i know that some parents will be heavily upset by it, but it's better than people sneaking around and then later having to face the choice of whether or not to have an abortion. >> i guess the question to me was, you don't need a prescription for plan b, right? >> correct. >> so that was -- it just seemed to dispense medication without even a conversation. >> you don't need a prescription but it's not sold over the counter. it's sold behind the pharmacist's wall and this particular vending machine is in the health center. it's not sitting in the cafeteria next to the coke machines. you must go to the health center and talk to the nurse i presume and put your money in the machine. >> i'm not sure in this case. i think the machine even after hours they can access the machine or before hours. >> that's right. >> that's one of the reasons that is available. i think some people may be upset by it but to me it's like having condoms available. kids, young kids are going to have sex and they ought to have condoms and they ought to have access to plan b and if this machine -- i don't have an issue with the access. not even an issue, too strong. there's no human being to talk to about the medication that you're taking. not to talk you out of it just to say, wow, what are the side effects where normally you walk over to your pharmacist and anything you get over the counter you can say, and do i take this with milk or do i need to take it, you know, with food or whatever. >> there was a time when some pharmacists refused to dispense plan b. this has been very controversial. i think it also gets to the question of -- i mean, going off on a slight tangent, i believe that people don't value enough waiting to have sex. >> that is a tangent, but go ahead. >> but given that that's not valued in many cases and that there's a pressure among college students to rush to be deflowered, if i can be so antiquated. >> wow. >> yes. >> then you have to deal with the realities. >> interest pentagingteresting. ahead this morning. a political ad that ran during the super bowl and now it's being called racist towards asians. michigan senate candidate defends the ad. the first chinese-american woman in congress, though, says, nope, it's not a good ad. she's going to talk to us about it the pentagon exploring military options in syria. what are the best options going forward? we're going to talk to general wesley clarks he will be with us. our "get real," parade for football heroes, go giants, go giants, go giants, but war heroes never really get a celebration. i'm sure there will be one for them? we'll talk about that. 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 bark. cnn's barbara starr is reporting that the u.s. military is weighing the options to stop the violence in syria. though the official line is still diplomacy and sanctions first. they are talking about military options. we've got some really terrible images to show you this morning. first, this is a funeral mass that's happening. there are reports that nearly 50 civilians were killed overnight, including three entire families with small children. we continue to hear audible gunfire in many neighborhoods and you can see some of the shells and cars surveying the damage. there are now growing calls to consider all the options. and senator john mccain says the united states has to take action. >> i think we should have a contact group, joint coalition, and also we should start considering all options, including the arming the opposition. the blood letting has to stop. >> let's go right to barbara starr who has been covering the story for us at the pentagon. and we're joibd by general wesley clerk, former nato allied commander. nice to have you, sir. in person, we usually have a chance to talk by satellite. let's start with barbara, though. what's the latest and is there -- you heard what mccain just said about arming the opposition. are you hearing talk about that from where you are? >> soledad, what we're hearing is this is very preliminary but significant that they're even talking about it. as one official said to me we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't put some ideas on the table. but no decisions from military support for the syrians. but, look, it's the first time we're even hearing about the concept of it from people who are involved in these discussions. what we're talking about is commanders are beginning to scope out what is feasible. if the president asks us, what do we have out there, what could we do, what are the risks, what do we tell the president? the u.s. military doesn't wait for the president to say, what have you got and then say, okay, we're going to spend a few weeks thinking about it. they now want to be ready. the president says it's diplomatic and economic, but in case it moves to the next step, the pentagon military officials doing the work to get ready to give president obama some ideas about what they can do, soledad. >> the u.s. military doesn't tell the press unless there's some kind of ally agenda behibtd what the strategy could be. general clark, let's talk about that. when they say everything is on the table diplomatically, but at the same time we're having sort of another plan. what does that mean, exactly? >> first of all, it's a signal to bashar al-assad that he's not going to have impunity to kill his own people. it's a signal to russia and china that the united states has of then alternatives. russia has diplomats going in there. so there are other alternatives. none of us expect much to happen from the russian diplomatic mission. i hope i'm wrong. but it's unlikely that they're going to be able to convince bash sh bashar al-assad to slow down and take it easy. the third message of the target iran. i think in iran the ayatollah still don't really believe that there is a military option. and without trying to derail the negotiations, the discussion, the u.n. inspection, the sanctions and so forth, syria is a kind of a proxy for iran. when bashar assad falls lots of things will change in the middle east. and the iranians certainly know this. when the word is out that the u.s. is looking at military o x options, big signals. >> let's show a map of the neighborhood, if you will. walk me through sort of what strategies militarily, you're in these types of meetings, what are you looking at? >> if you're going to do anything -- first of all, you always have your basic kit bag. you can do a noncombatant operation. >> you're prepping for that all the time. >> all the time. counter terrorism operation. some kind of a special forces insertion. you can always do that. you can go strike something and drop a bomb somewhere with still aircraft and not have to do much. but on the other hand, it would be denied and it may not accomplish much unless, as israelis did, you were trying to take out a specific target like a syrian reactor. if you were talking about something more sizable, let's say a no-fly zone in the air or, let's say, some major effort on the ground to be able to stop ground troops because that's what we had in libya ultimately -- >> when mccain talked about arming the opposition? >> it's a tough -- that's a very tough way to go. there is an opposition. it's not that well organized. they've got some camps in turry i can. when you add more weapons to it you create more conflict but you don't necessarily resolve it. >> when people say, well, let's look to what happened in libya, as model for what happens or could happen in syria, is that a flawed sort of analogy? >> no, it's actually moving in that way but syria is a much tougher target, we believe, it's got much stronger military, it's got nine intelligence agencies. they are competing against each other. they are entrenched. they are relatively hardened and they're re-enforced by iran and they're also supported on the lebanese side by hezbollah. so it's a much less position than libya was. when you're talking about military options you're talking about the integrated air system of syria. that can be taken down. israelis did it in 1982. it's better now but it's not impregnable. there are options. >> lets me go to our final question to barbara starr at the pentagon. have you heard anything specifically about arming the opposition? >> well, what we have heard is the same thing that general clark just talked about. it is a very fragmented group. looking at perhaps an even bigger nightmare scenario. what if assad's regime collapses and people hope he leaves peacefully. if his regime collapses, there's a power void in syria. you have civil war. you have the iranians sitting right over the border. the blood letting could be enormous. that's one of the nightmare scenarios right now. if that were to happen and you have that void, and you have that kind of civil unrest, then what does the united states do? what do the allies do? the opposition becomes many groups. the government-backed sfo ee eee prag fragmented. they want to get this over and done with in a controlled fashion. >> always nice to have you although you make me more anxious when you're here in person because this is scary stuff. >> it is. >> clearly heading to civil war. >> tough summer ahead of us with syria and iran. still ahead this morning on "starting point" we're going to talk to rick santorum. he's going to join us live. won all three gop races last night. so how does he build on momentum when the fact is he doesn't have that much money? plus, a 6-year-old boy in texas was attacked by a mountain lion but his father saved his life using a pocket knife. "get real" this morning, parade for giants but what about the war heros? we're going to talk about that as "starting point" continues. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus' dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained. the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. ♪ sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business. welcome back. time for "get real." it was a celebration fit for the kings of pro football. nearly a million people turned out yesterday in new york city for a ticker tape parade that honored the new york giants hauling their super bowl victory over the new england patriots. go giants, go giants. they were treated like heroes along the parade route. the kids were dieing to go to this. it was a city that really wanted to win and they showed their love. but the giants parade led to one group of veterans asking what about a parade to honor some real life hero soldier who fought in iraq, ahead of a group called iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. the american people want a chance to say thank you and a chance to respect and remember those who served. there are a million veterans in the war in iraq. eight years, nine months, two days. more than 4800 american service members gave their lives there. tend in afghanistan. could be in sight. they've been fighting there since october 7th, 2001. ten years, four months, one day. more than 2800 people have sdid there. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, not time for a parade or celebration because the americans are still on the battlefield in afghanistan. so the "get real" this morning, why not honor heroes who serve the country and you could do it without dishonoring troops that are still fighting. that is our message this morning as we say "get real." ahead on "starting point"," talking to rick santorum live. we're going to ask him how he intends to build on that momentum. problems inside the federal air marshal service. are women, gays, and minorities being targeted? [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, for fastidious librarian emily skinner, each day was fueled by thorough preparation for events to come. well somewhere along the way, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you. welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." rick santorum is our top story this morning stopping mitt romney's momentum right in its tracks. strong victories in the state of missouri, minnesota, and a close win in the state of colorado, but the win. rick santorum joins us live this morning in st. charles, missouri. congratulations are in order. i guess i should say congratulations for iowa, too, because kind of by the time we figured out that you had won that everybody has moved on to the next contest. four states you've now won. how are you feeling? >> obviously we feel great. very appreciative of folks in those states and people across the country. soledad, everyone as we were not doing particularly well in florida and nevada we saw our contributions online just continue to go up. this last couple of weeks have been frankly the best two weeks we've had at the campaign fu fund-raisingwi fund-raisingwise. you know, i believe conservatives are beginning to get it, that we provide the best opportunity to beat president obama. >> colorado was your biggest upset. and i know this morning that the romney people are saying, listen, this is a symbolic victory. the delegate math doesn't really add up for you. minnesota and colorado are non-binding caucus states. you know those arguments. how do you respond to this? >> yeah. well, iowa is a nonbinding caucus, too. that turned out to be a pretty important race. and everybody participants in that every year, every presidential election year. these caucuses are important. i meep, i talked to a whole bunch of people last night. they're going to go through the process, up the chain. i have no doubt if n. both those states we have very strong organizations. i suspect we will hold that percentage and maybe even do a little better in some of these states. we definitely are campaign right now with the momentum, enthu enthusiasm on the ground and we feel very good that the delegate count will at least match or receive what we received in colorado and minnesota. >> you might have the momentum but you don't have to money if you compare your money to mitt romney's money. yeah. that's a bar graph you don't want to see when you're the lower bar on that which shows he's got something like $19 million to your $1 million. al of the c-pack says it's going to be tough if millions of cars are spent on republicans attacking republicans. a lot of money truthfully were not spent on these three contests. >> well, they did spend money. at least two of the contests that i'm aware of. in minnesota and colorado they both spent more money than we did on the ground and direct mail and in other ways. calls. we know lots of folks received a lot of nasty robo calls from the romney campaign. they were running on, you know, under the -- underground type of campai campaign. we understand that. we were right above board talking about the issues and we feel very, very comfortable that money isn't -- money made the difference we wouldn't have won four primaries so far. the fact is, ideas, contrasts, someone who had a good strong record and great vision for the country. >> you don't think money isn't going to make a difference at all, right? i think newt gingrich could call you and tell you how negative ads are affecting his showings in past campaigns. are you worried about that? >> again, well, of course, that's part of the game. but we're doing very, very well raising money. i think last night we raised a quarter of a million dollars online. we're doing really well. and we feel like going forward we're going to have the money we need to make the case. >> mitt romney, his strategy in criticizing you and this might change over the next couple of days with these victories is sort of you're one of them and them being those people in congress who have an 11% approval rate. i want to play for you what he said. we'll talk about it on the other side. >> this is a clear choice. i'm the only person in this race, republican or democrat, who has never served a day of time in washington. in the world i come from, leadership is about starting a business, not trying to get a bill out of committee. >> are you worried about that as a strategy, because, you know, i don't have to tell you, people do not like congress. >> well, it's funny because i ran for the united states senate the same yearer mitt romney ran for the united states senate. we both ran in 1994. i won and he lost. it's not that governor romney didn't want to be senator romney. he tried to be senator romney but he ran as a very liberal republican in massachusetts who had just become a republican and he lost. and he lost badly in a year where republicans had the one of the biggest election sweeps in history. it's when republican revolution occurred. governor romney had a great career in the sector but we're not running for the ceo of the country. we're running for someone who can lead this country, someone who has an understanding of what's necessary to get the jobs created and has the wisdom of when the role of government should be involved and not. and on those issues, governor romney, mr. outsider, was for government takeover in health care, was for government takeover of the private sector of the wall street bailout, and was for the government takeover of industry and energy with the cap in trade. so mr. private sector was mr. big government when he was out there running for the private sector. >> donald trump would say you lost, too. he was interviewed by our ashleigh banfield who does "early start" and he said, listen -- i'll play what he said but it's basically, you lost. listen. >> rick santorum was a sitting snorks who in re-election lost by 19 points. to my knowledge, the most in history of this country for sitting senator to lossfy 19 points. it's unheard of. then he goes out and says, okay, i just lost the biggest margin in history now i'm going run for president. tell me, how does that work? how does that work? >> how does that work? >> why don't you ask abraham lincoln who lost just about every race he ran for run for president. i didn't lose my principles. i stood up and fought for what i believed in in a very tough election year. guess what, governor romney was up for re-election, too. his poll numbers were so bad he decided not to run for re-election. i stood for what i believed in. i ran against a great name in pennsylvania, robert casey, in a very bad election year and we stood by what we fought for, which was entitlement reform. i talked about the fear i had of a nuclear iran when no one wanted to hear about iran, talked about social security reform, deficits coming down the line. and no one back then was talking about those things. so i'll stand by my record. i'll stabbed by what i fought for. i stand by the fact that i didn't, you know, wasn't a well-oiled weather vane out there looking for whether where the american public is going. i stood by principle and i'll do that as president. >> let me ask you a question. do we have a video, guys, of senator santorum's speech last night because behind you you question see foster freis, he's on stage with you and he has been bankrolling your super pac. i know you know by nlaw you are not allowed to discuss campaign strategy with him but you're really close to each other. does that send a bad message to people see that? >> no. i mean, foster doesn't run my super pac. he may be a donor to it but the person who runs my super pac i haven't spoken with in five months. so as far as the conversations we have, foster has been a long personal friend for 20 years. and we have spent a lot of time together. but we also know what the law is and foster doesn't run the super pac and we don't talk about anything regarding those matters. so he's someone, again, who is a friend and will continue to be a good friend. >> let me ask a final question. we talked in the past about your daughter and you said it was a really a blessing when you were heading home anyway on the campaign break when she got sick because you were able to be there to help get her to the emergency room. how much of a struggle has this been for you with a sick child? how do you manage that? >> well, she's not a sick child. she was sick this past couple of weeks ago but she's not sick. >> she's better now? >> oh, yeah. she has condition similar to down syndrome. so while she may be susceptible on occasion to upper respiratory infection and while she does get them, it's a serious matter. she's 95% of the time like every other kid. wonderful, happy, center of the world in our family. i miss her. i miss all of my kids. we had our two oldest kids with us last few days. and this weekend we're traveling out to the west coast and i've got my two middle kids who are going to be joining me. so we try to flip in, you know, different kids and so we get a chance, a little dad one-on-one time which is always great. >> on the campaign trail, got to be crazy busy. senator santorum, congratulations on your win. thank you for talking with us this morning. appreciate your time. >> thank you, sole ddadsoledad. a cnn exclusive, controversial super bowl ad today is being called racist to asians. congress' first female chinese-american representative is going to join us to respond. ♪ welcome back. he is hitting it out of the ballpark on the music. will cain, watch and learn. alice in chains "wood." we're rocking out this morning. here, take notes, will cain. take notes. >> just give me your play list. from now on i'll give it to complimen compliments. >> so smart. >> we gave you our play lists right? >> it's coming. patience is a virtue. require if you can. seldom in a woman but always in a man. >> rhymes this morning. >> this morning we're talking about this controversial super bowl ad. have you seen it? >> i have seen it. >> it's been called racist and disturbing by some folks. it's a political ad from the former republican hoekstra who the ad ran in michigan. and he is challenging democratic senator debbie for her seat. here is what the ad says. ♪ >> thank you, michigan senator debbie spend it now. debbie spends so much american money you borrow more and more from us. your economy get very weak, ours get very good. we take your jobs. thank you, debbie spend it now. >> asian-americans, many offended. hoekstra is standing by it, though. here's what he said. >> i'm not apologizing for the ad. i said if someone believes that we were insensitive, i'm sorry to them. but, no, i'm not apologizing for this ad at all. >> representative judy chu is the first chinese-american woman elected to congress and chairwoman of the congressional asian-pacific caucus. speaking out about this ad for the very first thyme. when you saw the ad, what did you think? >> i was offended. i was stunned. i couldn't believe that there would be somebody that would run such a violent, hateful ad. >> what did you find violent and hateful about it? >> well, it stereotyped asian-americans. it has this asian-american woman speaking in a fake chinese accent gleefully saying that they were stealing american jobs. and what is even more offensive is that hoekstra is running this in michigan where 30 years ago vincent chen got his head bas d bashed? >> are you worried this is going to stir up hate against asi asian-americans? >> oh, yeah. it's meant to stereotype. it's meant to stereotype asian persons for stealing american jobs. the economy is in a downturn right now but there are lots of reasons for it. and the ad basically blames asian-americans for that. >> hoekstra has said, listen, this is -- in his -- wasn't really an apology but sort of one of those people are anded, well, i'm sorry for them kind of thing. but he said it's about money. he said really at the end of the day i'm trying to highlight the issues of the amount of debt that america owes to china. which he says -- >> well, well, he fails to recognize that we are in this situation of debt because of george bush's unpaid for two wars, tax cuts for the wealthy, and a wall street that was out of control. >> so what do you do about it? have you talked to him? is there sort of saying, listen, i'd like you to pull the ad. he said many times he has no intentions to pull the ad and the more we talk about it i'm sure it seems to be working for him. >> well, we did issue a statement immediately and wrote him a letter. and we are going to keep up the pressure. asian-american groups and community people are outraged all across this nation. >> congressman judy chu is joining us this morning. it's nice to have you. thanks for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. ahead this morning on "starting point," the white house health care lar mandates that employers cover birth control on insurance plans. religious organizations say it violates their beliefs. we're going to talk to both sides about that coming up next. stay with us. [ 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. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. hey. did you guys hear... ...that mary got engaged? that's so 42 seconds ago. thanks for the flowers guys. [ both ] you're welcome. oooh are you guys signing up for the free massage? [ both ] so 32 seconds ago. hey guys you hear frank's cat is sick? yeah, we heard. wanna sign the card? did you know the guys from china are in the office... [ speaking chinese ] [ male announcer ] stay a step ahead with the 4g lte galaxy s ii skyrocket. only from at&t. ♪ it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. . test. it would require employers to offer health care plans. it would start it with democratic senator richard bloom men that will tmpt thanks for talking with us. there was some confusion when you saw david axlerod to quote respect the prerogatives of religious institutions. that sent a lot of people into a dizzy. the white house is now backing away from this. the white house tried to clear up the confusion saying that the president wanted to find, quote, appropriate balance between religious beliefs and convictions. what does this all mean? where does this stand this morning? >> where it stands is the essential principle is that the costs of birth control really should be covered. it's about $500 a year for every individual woman because it respects the rights and opportunities for women to make basic choices, and that rule was recommended by the institute of medicine, an unbiased scientific group as a matter of health policy. politicians and politics should, in effect, not be interfering with those rights and with good health policies. so 28 states respect that rule. they have respectful balanced laws that require coverage for birth control, and the effort now to take away that right or revoke it, restrain it is simply unfounded. i'm hoping that the administration will stick to the rule. >> i know you know that religious institutions have said politics should stay out of our business. politics should restrict that so that we are exempted from this rule because it goes against what we believe. arch bishop timothy dole lan said it's unamerican. the boston arch diocese is talking about dropping health care for employees. was this impact of this decision not foreseen, that catholic organizations would come out against it very strongly? >> the rule does exempt. >> narrowly. >> all churches. 335,000 churches. >> not universities and the institutions that are run by those churches. those are not exempt. >> and individuals who are employed or students who go to those institutions can make those individual choices based on their religious convictions or conscience or other principles. those individual decisions are to be respected. and, remember, that the institutions are not required to provide services, only coverage for services that individuals can make a decision to use or not use. and we're talking about basic health policy. good, preventive health care recommended by the institute of medicine is cost effective. >> does it become a political issue? you look at the map of sort of the states where there are not those 28 states that you talked about. those are states that are the swing states and those are the states that are in white where the provision has not been passed. so do you worry about that as a political issue? >> the main point is that politics has no role, should have no role in health care policy. the outpouring overwhelming across the country when the susan komen foundation for the cure decided to ban grants to planned parenthood i think shows that people generally feel that politics should not be interfering in those individual choices. remember, 99% of all women use birth control at some point in their lives. the polls show that people generally think these decisions ought to be made by individuals as a matter of their own conscience and religious convictions. this rule basically strikes a respectful balance. the effort, ideological base to take away that right i think is really unfounded. >> i thank you for your time. we'll get to senator john hoven who is a republican from north dakota. nice to see you. you heard what the other senator said. what do you think of his position? >> look, our country has been founded on the principle of religious freedom. this decision goes counter to that founding principle. and in essence religious organizations and their affiliates now have to provide services through their health insurance program that go against their moral beliefs. >> provide options, right? they're providing the option. if the person decides they don't want to have birth control pills, they certainly don't have to purchase them, but in terms of insurance, they have to provide the option. >> under the obama health care plan they're required to provide insurance that includes things like contraceptives, sterilization, things that go against the teachings and the beliefs, the value system of that religious organization and they're required to provide that through their affiliates. >> they're required to provide the option for it. the person who has the insurance could decide if they actually wanted to go ahead and get the service or not. let me ask you a question about this poll. i know you've seen this. senator bloomenthal talked about 99% of women in their lives who are sexually active have used contraceptives. that's in the high 80s for catholic women. 55% of americans agree in this poll employers should be required to cover contraception plans. 58%, so higher than overall-americans, 58% of catholics agree. isn't the issue really between catholics who want to use contraception in a way the employer should stay out of it and offer the choice? >> it's not just catholics, it's any religion. it's requiring any organization to provide services that violate their belief system. look, our constitution, our whole system of government provides for freedom of religion. this is a clear infringement and this is an example of what we're going to get with government-run health care. it's not just the catholic church that's pushing back. you see it already on a broad basis across the country. this is -- it's the wrong approach, and i think you're going to see a very, very strong push back until the administration does do the right thing and reverse it. matter of fact, myself and others have legislation to do just that. >> senator john hoeven. he's a republican from north dakota. it's nice to have you, sir. we appreciate your time. ahead, santorum sweeps, but what about gingrich? can he stay in the race until the convention as he's been promising? we're going to talk to someone from his campaign at the top of the hour. plus, the first lady is on jimmy fallen. this is so funny. we'll talk about that straight ahead. you're watching "starting point." ♪ a refrigerator has never been hacked. an online virus has never attacked a corkboard. ♪ give your customers the added feeling of security a printed statement or receipt provides... ...with mail. it's good for your business. ♪ and even better for your customers. ♪ for safe and secure ways to stay connected, visit usps.com/mail today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do? bring it up to 90 decatherms. how bout ya, joe? let's go ahead and bring it online. attention on site, attention on site. now starting unit nine. some of the world's cleanest gas turbines are now powering some of america's biggest cities. siemens. answers. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning, everybody. our "starting point" is syria. they're asking for help. there's no letup in government attacks in homs. dozens of people have been killed overnight. rick santorum is back on target and back with a target i guess is a better way to put it. target on his back since he is now the big winner. he swept the gop contests in colorado, minnesota, missouri. we'll take a look at what we think about the gop race now. >> we definitely are the campaign with the momentum, enthusiasm on the ground. we feel very good that the delegate count will match and maybe even exceed what we received in colorado and minnesota. >> donald trump is standing by his man in the gop race, mitt romney, but would he accept a cabinet position in a romney administration? ashleigh banfield has a one-on-one interview with the donald. "starting point" begins right now. ♪ a little shout out to new orleans. dr. john. dr. john. >> i finally made the play list here. >> it does get very competitive. that's dr. john, right place, wrong time. off of bill's play list. >> this is the right place and the right time. >> yes, it is. i wasn't reading into that at all. bill press joins us. he is an author of "the obama hate machine." and talk show host. he's with us. she is a fellow at the iop, institute of harvard kennedy school of government. will cain is a cnn contributor, columnist for the blaze.com. >> good morning. >> nice to have you back. missed ya over the last couple of days. >> only one day. i'm glad. >> today is wednesday, right? >> i was here on monday. one day away, soledad. >> one day away and i long for will cain. let's get to our starting point which is rick santorum delivered a stunner last night. he swept three contests yesterday. missouri, minnesota, and then pulled off a nail biter in the state of colorado. it's new momentum that gives rick santorum the argument that it's him, not newt gingrich, that is the best alternative to mitt romney. he chose to spend the day campaigning in the state of ohio. republican congressman jack kingston is live for us in washington. give me a sense of last night. what do you make of the results? are you worried about when you tally up the numbers for your candidate, newt gingrich, we see a slide in terms of his support. >> well, actually, we are leaving last night feeling good that this thing is wide open because although santorum did well, it was an tim victory. he go not get any delegates. colorado, minnesota, missouri don't apportion their delegates. there aren't any to be grabbed. newt's still in solidly second place. the big signal out there to the romney camp is that you have santorum, ding gingrich representing conservative factions and the conservative candidates, the conservative voters are looking for their candidates. >> isn't that very thing a problem because you have those three representing that faction and now you're dividing the vote essentially? what you're really doing is giving mitt romney potentially the solid win ultimately? >> well, he's still a long way from 1144, and so this thing is still anybody's race. and what newt is doing right now is focusing on the super tuesday states. we're going back into debate season. we have four debates between now and super tuesday, which, as you know, is newt's home court advantage. georgia has the most delegates of any of the states that are up there for grab. i think it's 76 delegates and newt certainly will do well in his home state. we're feeling good about things. there's still plenty of time to drive the message that we need a reagan conservative and not a massachusetts moderate. >> plenty of time is often a bad thing when it comes to money and you talk about super tuesday, which day is that? march 6th. >> that's a long way to go. that's a month. you talk about debates. the next debate isn't for a couple of weeks. that is where newt gingrich often gets a lot of press, but its a he a ways away. isn't time a problem for you at this point? >> not so much. here's why. because at this point you're not talking about an eight or ten person race, you're talking about four. certainly these four gentlemen have become almost household names, certainly household names among republican voters who will be making this decision. so newt is well known and i think actually there's a lot of unearned media that's going -- and earned media, too, that's going to be playing in this. no, i don't think money's a factor. knew t newt will be competitive with money. romney has more money than anyone else. he has the wall street establishment behind him, we realize that, but newt is still going to be competitive on the money trail. it's not as important as it was several months ago. >> okay. so mr. gingrich blamed negative campaigning for his losses in florida and for the loss in nevada as well. this time around in these three states you really didn't see negative ads. it wasn't a factor. the ad spending was way, way down. how does he explain this loss? >> well, i don't think that you saw as many negative ads, but i think that that stake has been driven in the ground pretty deeply and so newt's name has been constantly smeared with millions of attack ads since the very first primary so i think it's just going to be one of these things where he's going to have to build. rick santorum has benefitted from the fact that it has been perceived as a two-man race. all the attacks have been on newt. now if rick is going to be rising in the polls, i think he's going to start getting negative ads too. >> from whom? >> that will help newt. >> from mitt romney or from newt gingrich as well? will he see negative attacks from your candidate? >> i think mostly from the romney folks. i think the super pacs will come in there as well. i don't know that newt is going to be focused in on santorum as much as he's going to try to continue to focus on the jobs picture, the economy picture that overreaches the supreme court as we saw in california this week. i think what probably they all need to do as much as possible right now is stick with the issues. i think newt has been trying to do that the whole time. the food fight as you know really started in iowa. we haven't quite gotten out of it. i think we're reaching it. >> i don't know. the food fight -- i've got to tell you, i would not put money on that, sir, is how i will leave that, that the food fight's going to end any time soon. >> in november. >> i would put money on that now. there you're talking. congressman jack kings stop joining us this morning. thank you for your time. >> thanks a lot. >> panelists, he didn't say -- do you think rick santorum has a target on his back and that those hits are going to come from mitt romney? i would say almost definitely, but newt gingrich as well? >> sure. oh, sure. what i like about this, this is rick santorum's time at the top. everybody else had their turn, donald trump, michele bachmann. >> when he won iowa we moved on. >> now he has his time. you know they'll come after him. i have to make this point. what rick santorum represents to me, i believe, is the social conservative, and those are the issues that are going to dominate. we talked about this just a little bit yesterday with the same-sex marriage, with this komen thing, with the contraception. >> it was like issue tuesday. >> right now not the economic issues, which i think republicans want to run on, the social issues are dominating. i'm not sure that's good for the party in november. >> interestingly, newt's strategy has been called the southern strategy, right? once the election gets to the states in the south newt will perform strongly. although he wasn't on the ballot in missouri, i think santorum's win in missouri is very interesting. it was a landslide win. does that mean that his support is representative of something that can bleed across the south? therefore, newt and santorum have a big fight ahead of them. newt can't count on boy when it gets to the south i'm in business. >> what state are you looking at then? >> all of them. arkansas, louisiana, mississippi, alabama. >> start looking at his numbers there. we've got to get to some headlines this morning. there are more deadly attacks in syria to tell you about. christine romans has a look at those stories. good morning again. >> good morning, soledad. syrian forces escalating their assault on the city of homs overnight. anti-government activists there reporting more than 50 people were killed, including three whole families wiped out in raids on their homes. the pentagon is now exploring military options in syria should president obama ask for them. a 20-year-old atlanta man is set to speak out this morning after being brutally beaten over the weekend for wearing skinny jeans and being gay. the victim's name is brandon white. it's hard to watch this video. this is posted online. he was assaulted outside of an atlanta market. the fbi, local police, they're looking right now, soledad, for his attackers. possible cracks inside the wings of the planes. that's a concern over the air bus a 380. european safety officials are ordering all airlines operating the super jumbo jet to get checked immediately. there are 68 a 380s currently in service. they have discovered cracks in the wing brackets in most of the planes they've examined over the past couple of weeks. the federal air marshall gone wild. 24 is what happens on the job. air marshalls repeatedly poor temporary their supervisors vindictive, aggressive and guilty of favor tim. 33% of females say they have been discriminated against. despite the behavior claims, this report found that the agency's mission to protect you while you're flying on a plane, that mission has not been compromised. quite a scare for a 6-year-old boy from texas who was attacked by a mountain lion in big ben national park. listen to river hobbs and his dad jason reliving how it all unfolded. >> it sneaked up on me. >> the cat was clamped on his face. reached doup and got my pocket knife out and stabbed the cat in the chest and it let go at that point. >> several trails in big ben national park have been closed now. dog teams have been called in to search for the wounded cat. no luck yet, but that's one lucky little boy. >> oh, my god. that's like father of the year. wow! i love those stories. i really love those stories. a pocket knife? >> that's awesome. >> that is awesome. that is very texan for you. >> you can't get any manlier than that. >> that is so, so true. christine, thank you. i want to play for you jimmy fallen last night, michelle obama, starring role. here it is. >> we're going to start with a stair race. you ready to do this? >> i was born ready. ♪ took my time, took my chances ♪ ♪ went the distance, now i'm back on me feet, just a man -- >> so michelle obama, look at this, and her secret service. she's been doing her move on advertisements, if you will. let's move on. let's move, rather, which is trying to get kids and everybody -- oh, gosh, it's so funny. but, you know, it's really, i think, playing off of her much higher approval ratings than her husband. first ladies always enjoy that and they're going to leverage it to the hilt. >> i remember when sarah palin basically called her out for taking the donuts out of the mouths of american children. i think most people realized that was crazy. this woman is a fitness role model. she's a role model in many ways. >> those arms. >> yeah. i aspire, you know? >> don't weigh all. >> yeah. >> she is in great shape. you know, she's taller than you think when you're alongside of her. and she's so -- in such great shape. the craziest thing that jimmy fallen ever did was to think he could challenge her. >> he's so funny. it was cute. very, very cute. >> there's beau watching. >> they did a good job with that. ahead this morning on "starting point" we're going to this terrible murder/suicide. those two little boys. >> awful story. >> father kills -- hits the kids with a hatchet and then explodes the home. we're going to hear the 911 calls from the caseworker who couldn't get into the home after she dropped the boys off. also this morning, donald trump, he says he just does not get rick santorum's success. and then rick santorum goes on to sweep last night so he really isn't getting it. we're going to hear from the donald straight ahead. then we'll play from my play list finally. chacakahn. ♪ ♪ ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. i like yoplait. it is yoplait. but you said it was greek. mmhmm. so is it greek or is it yoplait? exactly. okay... [ female announcer ] yoplait. it is so greek. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. welcome back, everybody. there are new 911 tapes released in that murder/suicide of two little boys who were killed by their father. josh powell was under investigation of the disappearance and killing of their mother. you can hear the call from a terrified caseworker who had just dropped the little boys off, 5-year-old brayden, 7-year-old charlie. he slams the door on her, doesn't let her into the house. she calls 911 because she was afraid powell was going to hurt the boys. christine romans has been following the story. christine, this is so horrific. >> it is. it's really horrific when you listen to the voice of this social worker who the boys ran out of her car going in to see their dad. he locks the door. won't let her in. and she smells gas. she tells the dispatcher that she could hear one of the little boys crying and that she can't get in. she doesn't quite know what to do. listen to one of her first calls. >> okay. how long will it be? >> i don't know, ma'am. they have to respond to emergency life threatening situations first. >> this could be life threatening. he went to court on wednesday and he -- he didn't get his kids back. this is really -- i'm afraid for their lives. >> of course she was absolutely right. and when you listen to another part of this call, another call after the house actually blew up, you can hear just how frantic she is. >> ma'am, listen. >> burning the house. >> do you know the exact address of the house? >> yeah. it's 8119, 189 -- >> okay. okay. stay on the line. >> do you know if anyone's in the house. >> yes. there was a man and two children. i just dropped off the children and he wouldn't let me in the door. >> stay on the line for the fire department, okay. i'm going to get them on the line, do not hang up. >> soledad, there's several calls that authorities have released that we've listened to. one of them is from josh powell, the father. it's from his sister. she calls authorities and says, i think something terrible has happened. are you afraid to go there to confront your brother? she basically said, i'm afraid of what i'm going to find. i'm not afraid of my own safety, i'm afraid of what i'm going to find. his boss, his attorney also received e-mails from josh powell saying good-bye, i'm sorry. finally, abc news, soledad, has heard a voicemail from -- obtained a voicemail from josh powell where he said, i'm not able to live without my sons and i'm not able to go on anymore. i'm sorry to everyone i've hurt. good-bye. that sentiment obviously explains his own suicide. it doesn't explain why he killed his kids. >> it's so awful. apparently he hit them with a hatchet. >> it's horrible. >> they found the boys, i think they died of smoke inhalation. >> there will be a funeral on saturday for the two little boys. not very far, actually, in the town not very far from where they died. >> the chaos in the 911 calls too. you could tell her frustration. part of this, they keep sending her. hang on. we have to only deal with emergency. it was very strange to read that full transcript. it was crazy. christine, thank you for that update. ahead this morning on "starting point", it is now damage control mode for the susan g. komen foundation. the vice president at the center of this controversy with planned parenthood has now resigned fl we'll talk about what happens next for them. we'll speak to the reporter who broke some of the e-mails behind the funding controversy. also our reveal this morning, it is black history month and we're going to talk about famous black writers or maybe some black writers you never heard of to celebrate. we're listening to "green day." "american idiot." >> i have some green day. >> he's going to share this with bill. >> this is the theme song for my radio show. >> is this? >> i like it. >> i love it. ♪ ♪ tell me how i made it over and welcome back, everybody. this is mahalia jackson. how i got over. >> one of my favorite songs. >> good way to celebrate into our weekly celebration of black history month, which i remind everybody is the shortest month of the year, february. ugh, again with you. i want to take a look at famous black writers. we'll start at the beginning, lucy terry, the author of the oldest known work of literature. "bars fight" which was written in 1746 and wasn't published until 100 years later. bill sweetly published her writing. 1776 her poems made her famous. victor sezur from new orleans, he wrote the first known work of fiction by an african-american. it's called the milado. william wills brown wrote one in 1853. modern day renaissance writers you should know, the poet lang stop hughes. the writer alice walker who brought her back to life. alice walker's own book in search of our mother's gardens was given to me by my mother. nicki giovani, ralph ellison. he won for invisible man. never, ever completed another novel in his lifetime. more recent reads, isma'il reid, jamaica kincaid. susan lori parks, may yeah angelo was poet lawyer reat and edward jones won the pulitzer prize. if a raid sha day a. >> i will point out it's the 75th anniversary of their eyes were watching god. >> actually, that one everyone should run out and buy. we celebrate black history month here every week. be sure to join us sunday night on 8:00 p.m. eastern. the new promised land, silicon valley. our documentary about african-americans trying to make their way in the high tech fields. still ahead on "starting point", rick santorum has that three fate trifecta he's celebrating. what could be an uphill financial fight. plus kid rock has a clothing line made in detroit, except that it's not. we're all familiar with tebowing. now there's a new trend, it's called brady-ing. i think it's stopping and praying with your legs straight out in front of you. we'll show you straight ahead. you're watching "starting point." ♪ [ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. with more choices and fewer calories, in the works package, we change the oil we change the filter... tire rotation, suspension, we make suspension checks... what we have here is the multi-point inspection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change, tire rotation and more: $29.95 or less after rebate - at your ford dealer. you're a doctor... you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor... it's real milk full of calcium and vitamin d. and tastes simply delicious. for those of us with lactose intolerance... lactaid® milk. the original 100% lactose-free milk. good morning. welcome back, everybody, to "starting point." the crisis in syria is in our focus this morning. it's growing. let's get to christine romans. she has that story and the rest of the headlines. >> syrian forces escalating their assault on the citizens of the city of homs overnight. anti-government activists say nearly 50 more people were killed, civilians killed. the pentagon now exploring its military options to deal with this escalating crisis. ivan watson joining us live from istanbul, turkey. what's the latest, ivan? >> reporter: christine, the killing continues in this city of homs with the syrian military continuing its artillery assault on a neighborhood that is an opposition strong hold. the video that these journalists and activists have been uploading to the internet which shows indiscriminate shelling of this densely populated community. what we can see is residents cowering in basements hiding from the mortar and tank and artillery shells and rockets that are raining in. we spoke with an activist today in homs. he was yelling to his family members to get away from the windows as we could hear explosions in the background. then the line went dead. christine, we don't know what happened to him or his family because sometimes the telecommunications are cut off there. activists saying at least 50 people killed today alone in homs. more than 6,000 people killed, according to the united nations, in syria since this uprising began nearly 11 months ago. the syrian government says it lost 30 soldiers just yesterday, buried them. this country looks like it's headed have quickly towards a civil war. christine? >> all right. ivan watson in istanbul. thank you. meantime, here in this country prosecutors want former penn state coach jerry sandusky ordered to stay indrs as part of the conditions of his bail. there have been complaints that he's been watching children play in a nearby school yard from the back porch of his home. supporters of same-sex marriage celebrating a huge victory this morning. a federal appeals court striking down california's proposition 8 which bans same-sex marriage calling it unconstitutional. prop 8 supporters are expected to appeal. the case could end up before the supreme court next year. chuck norris knows what makes a true warrior. that's why he's endorsing newt gingrich. he compares him to benjamin franklin and king david saying, quote, we' electing a president, not a pastor or a pope. turns out that kid rock's made in detroit clothing line isn't truly made in detroit. the detroit free press reports they're printed on a variety of clothes that are made in india, hon dor russ and the dominican republic. the stocks are higher. markets gaining some traction really over the past few weeks. the dow closed at its highest level since may 2008 yesterday. the highest of the obama presidency. and will nfl fans stop tebowing and start brady-ing. this tom brady poez legs extended after losing to the giants becomes something of a craze. brady-ing has its own official website there documenting fans across the country doing their version of the pose. >> who wants to do that? you lost. >> i don't get it. >> that's like, my life sucks right now. who wants to do that? that's terrible. that's terrible. i love tom brady. he did not win. go giants, go giants. have i said that before? >> you're gloating. >> little bit. >> we'll see eli manning's pose? >> get on that for us. what's eli manning's pose? what's the mannying? >> he's cool as a cucumber. >> absolutely. >> thanks, christine. let's get back to rick santorum's surprise combback. conversation with our panelists this morning. he won scores of victories in missouri, minnesota, then had a nail biter in colorado. full sweep in all on tuesday night. last night mitt romney attacked santorum and gingrich for being d.c. insiders. rick santorum a little bit earlier in my interview was quick to hit him right back. here's what he said. >> well, it's funny because i ran for the united states senate the same year mitt romney ran for the united states senate. we both ran in 1994. i won and he lost. it's not that governor romney didn't want to be senator romney. >> not that he didn't want to win. he tried. >> yeah. >> with our panel this morning re-introducing everybody. bill press is the author of "the obama hate machine oi. fariah shadaya is at the harvard institute of politics. will cocaine writes for the blaze.com. santorum, i thought that was an interesting little moment that he had. you could see with his big smile he was winding up. he has become a very solid candidate in all of this fighting, i think he has emerged the best. >> he had a line ready for you. you played the clip of the newt campaign saying he lost -- trump, saying he lost by 16 points in pennsylvania. i may have lost an election, but one thing i didn't lose was my principles. boy, he had a strong line. i've been trying to andlize why he does strong in some states and not others. >> what is that about? >> i think it's the attire. he wore the sweater vest. he took the bolo tie. >> i would have guessed the bolo tie -- >> it worked. >> i know he did. >> i'm not going to go with the fashion theory of politics. i do think regardless of whether or not you agree with santorum's positions, he is someone who has been very consistent, and i think that there are a lot of voters, not just evangelical voters, but a lot of republican base voters and swing voters who appreciate that. >> what happens now as a conversation? clearly after yesterday it's going to turn to social issues. i think it was we a week ago said it was all about the economy. we haven't been discussing social issues. that ended with komen. that ended with the prop 8. what was the third story? this whole catholic church and contraceptions. now we're into social issues. >> first of all, it is stunning for rick santorum to do a whole hat trick yesterday and get all three states. you've got to give him a lot of credit for that. it's bad for romney because he wants to be on the economy. i do think with santorum's win and the events of the day, it shifts things back to social issues. i want to make a point i made earlier. i think the big, big loser is newt gingrich who has all along been saying he is the alternative and having the audacity to suggest that rick santorum should drop out of the race. so i was waiting for rick santorum to suggest to you, soledad, that maybe it's time for newt to drop out of the race. >> you know what's interesting, he doesn't play that game. he doesn't say that. >> he hasn't. >> he doesn't do the attack thing. i wonder what's going to happen now, first of all, again, the social issues. he has a target on his back. he doesn't have a lot of money. >> that's helping him. let me use me as your proxy. i am not a big social conservative. the week that we have just had with prop 8, the catholic charities, the susan v. komen versus planned parenthood, this has forced socialists into the conversation in a very divisive way. rick santorum has clear positions on this. i think he will be a winner in these debates over these issues. i think it's going to hurt barack obama. let's pretend we weren't debating this over the break. i think this was a bad week for barack obama. >> whoa. whoa. whoa. >> disagreement? >> because let's be real. the swing voters will determine -- the polls are showing such a tight, you know, republican democratic match-up that swing voters will determine a lot of this. the majority of americans support a woman's right to choose. when you talk about social issues, a swing vote population is not going to be, you know, necessarily a santorum camp. >> what i'm telling you is the issues that came into the news this week aren't simply those black and white social issues. you attack susan g. komen, a very represent put tanl and good organization. >> they attacked themselves. >> you have this debate over religious charities and liberties. you are fighting losing battles. >> susan g. komen killed themselves. don't feel sorry for them. it was a dumb ass move. >> did you just curse on my show? my children watch this. >> this is a buchanan primary now. that may help in the primary. it won't help in the general. the republicans can win this. let me repeat, they can beat barack obama on the economy. they're not going to win on this. >> here's the mistake you're making. we're not having prolife versus prochoice. we're having a debate over whose voices do you stifle? do you stifle the opinions of the churches? do you stifle the opinions of susan g. komen who might have had a position? we're not debating positions, we're talking whether or not we can debate it. >> that is going to be our commercial break and then we'll continue our conversation. still ahead on "starting point", we're talking about komen. the v.p. karen han dell has quit. she says this was a shakedown. ashleigh banfield sits down with donald trump. a cabinet position? first mitt romney would have to win. that would be the first step. we'll hear what donald trump had to say with that. we'll leave you with will's play list. little willie nelson. ♪ ♪ whisky river take my mind ♪ ♪ don't let your memory talk to me ♪. ♪ whisky river, don't run dry . welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." you can love him or you may hate him but donald trump has somehow become a player in this year's republican race. ashleigh banfield of "early start" had a chance to sit down. he didn't disappoint? >> no. he has a point on everything. he follows everything to the letter. he had a lot of things to say. the one thing i found so surprising is what he thought about rick santorum. i had not heard those comments. >> it was very interesting. he was saying those comments right before rick santorum had a route and won. maybe you want to take a little bit of that back. it's interesting though, he's backing obviously mitt romney. he did that press conference the other day. you asked him one of those like, so what would you do if your guy wins and you're offered a cabinet position. >> i even phrased it differently. did you talk about -- was there a little deal deal -- i asked him, look, what did you talk about? did you talk about a cabinet position? did you talk about being involved in a romney administration? i was actually right surprised off the bat how he answered. have a listen. >> is there a place for you in a romney cabinet? >> well, it's certainly not something i'm looking for, but if i can do anything to help this country, we have to do something to help the country. we can't keep losing our jobs to other countries. >> have you talked about it with governor romney? >> no, i haven't. i haven't discussed that, no. >> and if he reached out to you, what would your reaction be? >> well, i think it's very early to worry about it. i think, number one, he has to get the nomination. number two, he has to get elected. after that i would certainly be open. >> what cabinet position would it be that you would want? >> maybe a position where i negotiate against some of these countries because they're really taking our lunch. >> oh, my goodness. i think some of his comments on china. >> not ambassador to china, right. >> no. >> that would be a very bad, bad fit. >> yeah. >> he's a wealthy man. >> big time. >> mitt romney's a wealthy man. >> yeah. and what a big controversy the last couple of weeks with the tax returns and all of us finding out about the 15% tax rate and we got a great lesson on why 15% are that rate for the wealthy err americans. i asked him what do you pay and is it right? is it time to change that code? some surprising answers. have a look. >> when i look at what's going on, this world is very fragile and this country is really fragile from an economic standpoint. china's eating our lun. . open peck is taking advantage of us like nobody has ever taken advantage of anybody or anything. you look at what's going on and this country, number one, needs leadership. beyond leadership, taxes to start raising taxes at this very fragile point can be a very, very dangerous thing. >> can i peg you on the future? is there perhaps future if we do recover in this economy, are higher taxes for the wealthy or corporations maybe something that would be viable. >> a lot could happen. i'm saying very simply, i hate to give you a very quick answer. >> could it happen? could it happen? it could happen? >> it could happen. >> should it happen? should it? >> it depends on the economy. it depends on the state. and it depends what they're doing with our money. >> i'm not sure you got the answer there. >> i kept saying, are you saying that if the economy gets better, there might be room to say maybe we need to change the tax code and stop the lobby? there's this incredible stat that the top ten corporations in america pay more to lobby to keep the tax code protecting their 15% effective tax rates than they pay in taxes. so it's overwhelming. he wasn't going to go all the way there on that. >> he didn't tell you what he pays? >> no, and i asked a couple of times as politely as i could. >> i don't think it was the polite thing. >> it was a rude question. what do you pay in taxes. he said, a lot, a lot, a lot. millions and millions. >> i think a lot of his whole thing is just marketing. "apprentice" is ending. there's a whole spin. interesting interview. nice job. coming up next, susan g. komen executive quits, blasts planned parenthood on her way out. why karen handel says this was a shakedown. americans are always ready to work hard for a better future. since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. welcome back, everybody. t thesusan g. komen senior vp karen handel is stepping down when they were asked how much planned parenthood had to do with their opposition to abortion. this is what she said. >> absolutely none. i'm a professional. when i come to komen my number one priority is the fight against breast cancer, our mission and the women that we serve. >> laura bass set is a political reporter for the huffington post. she joins us. the problem with that position, the conversation we had yesterday, laura, which looked at e-mails where you said that in fact there was a correlation between what her position was on abortion and the defunding mofl with planned parenthood. remind us of what those e-mails said and your source. >> absolutely. the e-mails showed that karen handel was the driving force bebehind the decision to defund planned parenthood. she did have the komen board on her side. she had the leadership on her side. she convinced them that defunding planned parenthood was a smart political move, but it absolutely did have to do with an ideological opposition to abortion. she's admitted that it had to do with caving to pressure from anti-abortion groups. for her to come out and say this is not political, this has nothing to do with abortion, she's still being defensive and dishonest with the public. >> here's what karen handel had to say. i thought she had an interesting choice of words when she used the word shakedown. listen for it in this. >> the only place for politics in all of this came from planned parenthood when they launched this vicious, vicious attack on a great organization and perpetrated what was nothing short of a shakedown to coerce a private entity to give them grants. >> shakedown is interesting. launched an attack i thought was an interesting choice of words as well. >> absolutely. i'm not really sure what she's talking about. i think planned parenthood has laid pretty low. >> well, that's not true. planned parenthood, as soon as they lost their funding, they did the opposite of laying low. they went up -- >> last week when the decision initially was announced they did not lay low. they came out with statements, but since their decision was reversed that's all they wanted. most of the controversy has come after that, has come after nancy brinker lined to andrea mitchell last week. when most of the backlash has actually come from the public. congress wrote a ler to karen handel and there have been petitions circulating all over the place, hundreds of thousands of people signed move on -- >> so what does your source say about how -- what the impact has been on this resignation? >> you know, my source hasn't talked to me specifically about the resignation. i know that there's a lot of internal pressure and external pressure for her to resign. people seem to be still dissatisfied with the fact that she resigned. they wanted that to happen, but they want more. they want komen to come clean and admit that they lied to the public. >> so you look at the woman who is sort of the face of komen is nancy brinker. it's her sister who was susan g. komen. i would be surprised if she would step away from the own foundation that was built on her sister. that sounds crazy. what is the end game on that? i mean, is it about a conversation about it was political? does it end at some point? do more people have to resign? >> i think people would like to see a shakeup in the board since the board unanimously approved this decision. and i think people would like to see nancy brinker come out and admit that she lied and promised the public that she's going to make decisions with more transparency going fooshd. this is a cancer charity. they owe the people who are raising money for them transparency. >> interesting. thanks for being with us. appreciate it. got a break and then "end point" is up next with our panel. be back in a moment. maybe this vacation wasn't a good idea vacations are always a good idea ♪ priceline negoti - - no time. out quickly. you're miles from your destination. you'll need a hotel tonight we don't have time to bid you don't have to bid. at priceline you can choose from thousands of hotels on sale every day. save yourself... some money a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. brad needs car insurance, but, uh, brad doesn't want to spend too much. who's brad? this is brad. ahh! well, progressive has lots of discounts for a guy like brad. brad's intrigued. paid in full, safe driver, multi-car, going paperless -- all can help brad save a bunch. sign brad up. cool! jamie will ring you up. show brad the way. who's brad? oh, here we go again. discounts that everyone can use. now, that's progressive. call or click today. in our remaining seconds we gept to "end point." bill, you get to start for us. >> i'm very proud of the fact that it looks like prop 8 is disqualified and the same-sex marriage is on its way in california. it's about time. >> an interesting debate that hasn't ended. >> i know. we're moving in the right direction. >> what have you got? >> i will echo him. i'm going to do a straight on shoutout to the students i am going to be teaching this semester at the institute of politics. >> are you a tough grader or easy grader? >> i don't have to grade them. isn't that great? it's all of the pleasure, none of the pain. they're fantastic students and i'm enjoying it. >> that's nice. >> set aside how you feel about abortion. i think it is a travesty that susan g. komen foundation, an institution that has been vilified and dem mon niezed because they dared to take away money that was not owed to planned parenthood. >> i want to take moderator's privilege on this one. do you think susan g. komen did not start this fight? do you think that