mitt romney's campaign using the same website that helped president obama win the 2008 election. we'll explain how campaigns use that to target you, the voter, with the click of a mouse. and a camera man gets a face full of pepper spray during wild protests. and would you believe this protest is over a few hundred dollars? you're watching "newsroom." at bank of america, we're lending and investing in communities across the country. from helping to revitalize a neighborhood in brooklyn... financing industries that are creating jobs in boston... providing funding for the expansion of a local business serving a diverse seattle community... and lending to ensure a north texas hospital continues to deliver quality care. because the more we can do in local neighborhoods and communities, the more we can help make opportunity possible. the utterly shocking sensation of being on a business trip where everything goes right. backed up by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. feel the advantage. feel the hamptonality. 13 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories. rupert murdoch now admitting to a phone hacking cover-up at his "news of the world" tabloid and while murdoch wouldn't name the people responsible, he did apologize for not taking more control of the situation. >> i have to admit that some newspapers are more special to my heart than others, but i also have to say i failed. >> dozens have been arrested in the scandal which forced murdoch to close one of his best-selling newspapers. police in riot gear run through the streets of montreal to control violent crowds of protesters. dozens of people under arrest. the protests started after talks broke down between student leaders, college student leaders and government officials. college students have been demanding the government drop a planned tuition hike of $375 a year for five years. and there is no suspense about the top of tonight's nfl draft. the indianapolis colts have said they will take quarterback andrew luck in their first pick. the washington redskins are expected to take another quarterback, robert griffin iii with the next pick. mitt romney will be fund-raising at private events today, president obama is getting ready to officially kick off his campaign. it will officially start on may 5th. the president will hold re-election rallies in columbus, ohio at ohio state university, and in richmond, virginia, too. now, of course, those states are considered among the key states in the general election come this november. mitt romney's campaign, it's watching you, at least online. it started using the same website that helped president obama win the 2008 election. this is optimizely. it helps people customize a website, simple things like picking colors and strategically placing buttons, but then it tells you which setup will get you the most hits in a web trial. here's hln digital lifestyle expert mario armstrong. this is so innocuous. >> it is, but they call it very effective. called ab testing and right now on my apad i'm looking at the elect romney page and can you see the donation button is in red. let's go further down on the screen here. we'll also notice that the connect now button is in red and make a donation is in red. there is a reason, it's not just party colors and things of that nature, just looks great on the wednesday sglit or it's patriotic. >> it's really about ab testing. what this means is optimizely works for starbucks, abc and cbs use this, large enterprises, crate & barrel, large businesses use to this use data maining, to find out what works best when someone comes to a website. the romney campaign said if we make it a purple button, do more people click on that and do we get more funds because it's purple? we can test that over time to see which changes to the website have the most impact. >> what in my online presence would tell mitt romney's campaign that i'm more likely to donate money if he puts the buttons in red. >> nothing personal about your personal settings or something about you, it's really a random test that's happening, but it's happening concurrently, so the website at any given moment could have four different versions of that website that are out there, and then they see which one are people really clicking the button that we want to click the most. it could be donations. it could be, you know, supporting a rally, could be following a video to watch for a specific cause. whatever their goal, is they can see, okay, if we move this video clip here, more people click it when it's there than down in the bottom right-hand corner of the page. >> that really helped president obama get elected in 2008? >> that's a part of it, this is a bigger piece. i'm calling this a data election. this is going to be won by data, and what i mean by that the ability to understand how to manipulate your website, your mobile apps but then also personalization, going back to your point. if i'm one on a mobile newsletter or app they can get other things about me to figure out how to use me as an influential voter or rallier or supporter of their campaign. more than this just piece it's all about data analytics. i think the election will win is the smartest, most techiest election but i would say that being a techie. >> yeah, you would. fascinating, mario armstrong, thank you so much. still to come this next story simply amazing, being called a medical first this morning. a transplanted kidney failing in one patient is taken out and placed in another, and it's working. also ahead, have you heard the latest allegations about secret service agents acting like oversexed frat boys, not in colombia but in el salvador? a store we strippers, prostitutes and lots of alcohol. our political buzz panel weighs in next. this at&t 4g network is fast. hey, heard any updates on the game? i think it's final seconds, ohh, shoots a three, game over. so two seconds ago... hey mr. and mrs. harris, where's kevin? say hi kevin. mom, put me down. put...the phone...down. hey guys. did you hear... the choys had their baby? so 29 seconds ago. well we should get them a gift. [ choys ] thanks for the gift! [ amy and rob ] you're welcome! you're welcome! [ male announcer ] get it fast with at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 2000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon. at&t. ♪ with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, we earn more cash back for the things we buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. no annual fee. that's 1% back on... wow! 2% on my homemade lasagna. 3% back on [ friends ] road trip!!!!!!!!!!!! [ male announcer ] get 1-2-3 percent cash back. apply online or at a bank of america near you. ♪ but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover. e welcome back to "newsroom." it is the first case of its kind in the united states, a transplanted kidney that was failing was removed from a patient who is still alive. it was taken out of him and given to someone else. the kidney originally went to ray fehring who you see there in the blue shirt. his sister donated the kidney to her brother and days later his body reject it had so they decided it take it out of her brother and give it to erwin gomez. >> my strength is back and my appetite is going. >> to find out that this was going to be something bigger than, you know, just a failed transplant, you know, it's going to help someone else. it's going to help people. >> literally my life and my function, i owe it to them. >> an amazing story. our medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here, and so how did this work? i mean, this patient's body rejected the kidney so doctors said bring erwin in. >> right. that's basically it. >> geez. >> because in the past what doctors have done is if someone's body can't tolerate a kidney they basically kid rid of it. i mean, that's what we're told. well, it didn't work. there's nothing wrong with the kidney. it was that the recipient had a blood disorder that made it so he just couldn't handle it, so it was in the first recipient for two weeks, and they realized it wasn't working, and they took it out and gave it to erwin gomez who actually is a cardio vascular surgeon and he's back at work. sort of like this light bulb over the head before. >> why didn't we do this before? >> doesn't work in one person. doesn't mean it won't work in another person. >> what happened to mr. fearing, the first person that the kidney didn't work for? >> he's on dialysis, and that's have he took his sister's kidney so he could get off dialysis and maybe there's another kidney out there for him, who knows, but what an -- they said to him, look, if the kidney is not working in you, but it is your kidney so you tell us, is it all right with you if we give it to another person, and he said yes, of course. he saved a life. >> wow. >> it's amazing. >> how many more kidneys could be available because this light bulb went off? >> my colleague stephanie smith who wrote this story for cnn.com asked that question, and they don't know exactly, but the doctors she talked to said this could be like 400, 500 kidneys a year that we could basically reharvest and give to another person. that's a lot. hundreds of people might live because they thought of this new technique. >> amazing. elizabeth cohen, thank you. >> thank you. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning. why is climate change such a hot-button issue? we haven't heard a lot about climate change this election cycle, but that maybe change. in an interview with "rolling stone" magazine president obama said, quote, this is going to be a debate that will become part of the campaign, and i will be very clear in voicing my belief that we're going to have to take further steps to keel with climate change in a serious way, end quote. but why the slow jam on the climate issue, mr. president? mr. obama said that with more people worried about jobs and the economy the other side has been able to pour millions of dollars into debunking climate change science. his opponent, mitt romney, has expressed skepticism on climate change, like in this video from an october fund-raiser posted on thinkprogress.org. >> my view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet, and the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce co2 emissions is not the right course for us. >> of course, the lightning rod in the climate change debate this year is the keystone pipeline. environmentalists oppose it in part because they say the use of more fossil fuels adds to global warming, but still, the president hasn't talked much about the climate change part. is it because republicans keep talking about the much-needed jobs the pipeline would create, or is the issue just too hot to handle so the talk back question for think morning. why is climate change such a hot-button issue? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your comments later this hour. still to come, newt gingrich finally throwing in the towel, and we've asked our political buzz panel to name their favorite newt moment of the campaign. now, that should be good. that's coming up after a break. [ horn honks ] hey, it's sandra -- from accounting. peter. i can see that you're busy... but you were gonna help us crunch the numbers for accounts receivable today. i mean i know that this is important. well, both are important. let's be clear. they are but this is important too. [ man ] the receivables. [ male announcer ] michelin knows it's better for xerox to help manage their finance processing. so they can focus on keeping the world moving. with xerox, you're ready for real business. who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are, or may become pregnant or are breast feeding should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate, possible increased risk of prostate cancer, lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet, or body, enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing during sleep, and blood clots in the legs. tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin, corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62% so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. 28 minutes past the hour. checking our top stories now. republican congressman paul ryan is getting a chilly reception at georgetown university where he is now speaking. more than 90 professors and administrators signed a letter accusing ryan of misusing catholic teachings because ryan is catholic to justify his cuts to social programs. ryan addressed those concerns moments ago. >> the overarching threat to our whole society today is the exploding federal debt. the holy father himself, pope benedi benedict, has charged governments, communities and individuals running up high debt levels are, quote, living at the expense of future generations and living in untruth, unquote. we in this country, we still have a window of time before a debt-fueled economic crisis becomes inevitable. >> ryan says the poor deserve help but says big government makes people depend on handouts. he said instead help should come from neighbors, churches and local governments. guilty, that's the verdict for former liberan president charles taylor. an international court said he helped sierra leone rebels commit war crimes and he's set to be sentenced next month. attorneys for john edwards are attacking the credibility of his former aide. andrew young is the star witness in the trial against edwards. he's accused of using political donations to cover up an affair. political buzz is your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. playing with us today, sirrious xm radio host and comedian and all-around pete guy, pete dominic and cnn contributor, will cain, another smart guy and chris moody, you too, from yahoo! news, he's in the middle. welcome to all of you. >> thank you. >> first question, cnn affiliate in seattle quotes a source who said secret service agents got wasted in el salvador ahead of president obama's visit there last year. they partied with strippers. they took the strippers to their hotel rooms and even said we do this all the time. don't worry about it. the secret service is offering no comment this morning to cnn, but the question for you, is this more evidence of a cultural problem? will? >> yes. i think so. it shouldn't come as a surprise. when we heard about the colombian incident, you know, 11-plus guys decided to venture into the world of prostitution, i can promise you this. it wasn't a spur of the moment decision. it wasn't 11 guys sitting around saying, know what, there's nothing on tv i've got an idea. this is something that manifested over time. that being said, be careful. i would like to know when are these guys on and off duet? are they always on duty, 100% of the time you are on duet whet president is there, not there, how far in advance of his arrival? because the truth is at some point these guys are regular human beings as well. >> chris? >> i think one of the biggest problems the secret service might have is a flood of applications. this sounds like a really fun place to work, but that's the problem. it's not supposed to be a fun place to work. this is the united states secret service, not sterling cooper, so these guys, i mean, with the secret service really going to need to implement some real policy changes here, and it's really going to take some time for this culture to change and certainly some restraint as well. >> pete? >> no. i mean, listen, these are guys whose job it is to protect the president from getting killed, keeping him from being safe. that would be like saying because will cain may or may not like to take bath with rubber duckies, is that a sign of his ability to leave his childhood behind? no, no, it's not. these guys deserve to blow off some steam, not condoning any way getting prostitutes, but -- but, you know, when they are so focused all the time, in their free time they might do crazy things. these are security guys, not diplomats. it may happen from time to time. it's not going to happen anymore i'm imagining. >> hopefully no. second question. president obama is on the cover of "rolling stone." he told the magazine's founder that climate change will likely be part of his campaign in 2012. climate change is an emotionally charged issue and i'm wondering why is it such a hot-button issue? pete? >> because the button is getting hotter, that's why, because the -- because we had a snow storm on halloween, because a hurricane made it to new york, because the oil industry decided to launch a disinformation campaign paralleling off the tobacco industry because if president obama wants to actually pass any kind of legislation the supreme court will -- will strike it down saying it doesn't -- it's not covered under the commerce clause and then we'll have to ship everything by sea anyway because that's all we're going to have. that's why it's a hot-button issue. >> holy cow. will? >> you didn't need an explanation, you got an illustration there with pete. it's a hot-button issue, it's like religious belief, like zealotry. we can't move from a debate of whether man is causing climate change to talk about whether man anybody can do anything to remove carbon emissions and if it's worth the cost, if we can, if it's worth the cost. we can't have the debate because this debate exists in the realm of religion. >> chris? >> you know, i'm taking the president's comments with a grain of salt. this is an election year. the economy is at the top of all the public opinion polls, and climate change is often at the bottom. can i not imagine president obama is going to give this more than just lip service on the campaign trail. he's not going to use the political capital that it takes to pass forward a big piece of legislation in this election year. it's just not going to happen. he may mention it a little bit, but this is going to be an economy-driven campaign and that's going to be the main focus. >> okay. on to your buzzer beater. 20 seconds each. newt gingrich giving up -- he's giving up the ghost next week and supporting mitt romney. no newt to kick around anymore. what i want from you, guys, to name your favorite newt moment of the entire campaign. chris? >> there were so many, and, you know, newt liked to be kicked around a little bit, liked to play that game, but i remember it was all encapsulated so well i believe it was the arizona debate when the moderator asked all the candidates to say -- to define themselves in one word and newt kind of smirked a little bit, looked and he said cheerful, and the whole press corps erupted, not