surrounding the new jersey governor and a possible run for the white house. how many times does a guy have to say no before it sinks in? >> you folks are an incredible disappointment as an audience. the fact that that took to second question. shows you people are off your game. that is not american exceptionalism. >> jim acosta, hopeful supporters still only heard one thing, he didn't say no. any reason to believe that he's reconsidering now? >> yeah, the buzz is exceptional, kyra. yes, there is reason to think that he is reconsidering for a governor who is known for his new jersey brand of straight talk. chris christie never really came out and said last night whether or not he's running for president. unlike what he has done in the past. he sounded very much like a candidate in a speech at the reagan presidential library out in california. the new jersey governor accused the president of dividing the country in order to win re-election. he took a settled dig at rick perry when a woman in the audience asked christie on his views of giving in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants. christie said not heartless to oppose that policy. twice last night, three time physical you count the woman from new jersey who said, hey y want you it run for president. he was asked whether he is reconsidering his repeated statements that he is not running. one woman got very emotional emploring christie to run. christie says, he's sorry, it's just not his time. here's what he had to say. >> do it for my daughter, do it for our grandchildren and do it for our sons. please, sir, don't -- we need you. your country needs you to run for president. >> it's extraordinarily flattering, but by the same token, that heartfelt message you gave me is also not a reason for me to do it. that reason has to reside inside me. >> and if you listen very carefully, christie did not give a definitive answer. i talked to a close adviser of the governor yesterday who said only christie knows what christie is doing right now. adding the storm of speculation is incredible, but this is a decision that will come from chris christie on his terms. so, kyra, you can see the word there, decision. which seems to indicate that this is an open question right now. he dozen have much time to make up his mind, though. there is about a month between now and when you got, basically, your first really big filing deadline for a primary in the 2012 nomination battle. that is for florida. so, if he does not decide by october 31st, this is over. really, he has to decide before then. you cannot launch a presidential campaign on the fly like this. the clock is ticking. >> all right, we're going to keep talking about it for at least another month and jim acosta, thanks. coming up at 9:15, we will take a closer look at chris christie's plans and what they mean to the republican party. john avlon will join me with his thoughts then. sarah palin is stirring speculation with new comments. mark press from washington. mark, what exactly is she saying and what are supporters hearing when it comes to sarah palin? >> well you know, kyra, she's doing very much what chris christie is doing, she's leaving it out there she is still running for president. listen to what she said last night on fox, where she is a paid contributor. >> as a title and a campaign too shackling does that prohibit me from being out there, oout of a box, not allowing handlers to shape me. >> there you have sarah palin last night who might give indication, in fact, that she's not going to run for president. those words, in fact, kyra, sounds more like someone who wants to be the leader of a movement and not necessarily president of the united states. what's interesting is she said the title is too shackling, but the fact of the matter is, the president, the united states is still the leader of the free world. we'll see where she goes with that, kyra. >> meanwhile, apparently some news just came in about florida moving its primary day. what do you know? >> another big scoop for peter this morning. florida we expect to hold their presidential primary on january 31st. this is very big news when you're looking at the republican presidential primary calendar. the reason being this contest were not supposed to start until february when iowa will kick it off. what this all means is that the republican presidential primary process, kyra, is going to start in early january to mid-january. a month earl than the republican leaders had hoped. >> mark preston, thanks. your next political update in about an hour. just go to our website, cnnpolitics.com. back now to that shocking start of michael jackson's death trial. if you haven't heard it yet, prosecutors played a chilling audiotape of a drugged up michael jackson just weeks before his death. his speech slow and slurred. it was all captured on the iphone of jackson's personal physician, dr. conrad murray. >> when people leave my show i want them to say, i've never seen nothing like this in my life. go. go. i've never seen anything like this. go. it's amazing. he's the greatest entertainer in the world. >> cnn's don lemon is following the trial from los angeles. don, you were right there in the courtroom sitting behind the jackson family when this was played. how did they react when they heard that recording? >> kyra, they were stunned. they were shocked. they were passing tissue down. the family was sitting there in a row and, you know, when you sit there, when you're inside the court as an observer, it's just like church pews. you're sitting really close. i was right behind katherine jackson and joe jackson and latoya next to her and the family, on and on. they just started passing the tissue down and you could see them crying and they had to listen to it twice. because the first time the audio wasn't up in the courtroom and then the second time, they played it, but you still couldn't understand what he was saying. we did. see the words up in the courtroom. people were saying, was that michael jackson? this has nulothing to do with conrad murray's guilt or innocen innocence. innocent until proven guilty. you are a mom, i have a mom, imagine listening to that, your loved one in that state and then, you know, finally the picture. they saw that, as well. it was heart wrenching. >> don, is there any, any speculation to why conrad murray would even record this in the first place? >> no one knows. that's what people in the courtroom and outside were wondering. why would he, why would he record that? what were the purposes behind that? kenny ortega who was a producer for "this is it" said on the stand, he didn't understand why. but to his knowledge he thought it was right during the time when conrad murray started to treat michael jackson. we don't know. i think that's probably something that may come out in the testimony. but, again, it was tough, kyra. it's real. human emotion, it's real. >> you actually ran to conrad murray in the hallway. did he say anything to you? were you able to have any type of conversation with him? >> i didn't. it was, it was odd because you run into people. i saw the jacksons in the hallway. germane jackson shook my hand. they watch cnn, they recognize us and they said, hello. i said, how are you doing? he just put his hand over his heart and he said, it's tough, it's tough. we were all waiting in the break to go to the restroom and get water and what have you and conrad murray was there with his security team and he walked out of the rest room and gave me a long stare like, oh, you're the guy from cnn and ed chernoff who i know from doing the jackson documentaries, as well, just kind of looked. this was after the prosecution presented their thing. it is just the sullen look like, oh, my gosh. he knows. he knows. but it's even tough for him because he cried in the courtroom, as well. you saw that, too. >> don lemon, we'll be talking a lot this week. appreciate it. after four decades on the lam, he felt pretty safe. but george wright underestimated the long arm of the law. the notorious fugitive has been captured in europe. our deb feyerick here with all the details. if you look at this guy's life over the past 40 years, it's pretty remarkable what he has gotten by with, deb. >> it is. they finally got the lead that they needed. along with fbi agents and po portuguese authority they arrested him about an hour from lisbon. he had been living there under an assumed name. he is now fighting extradition. he does not want to come back to the united states. why? well, in the early '60s he was convicted of killing a world war ii veteran who is a bronze star recipient and that killing taking place during a gas station robbery. he was serving up to 30 years when he escaped a new jersey prissen and he made his way to detroit where he joined the black liberation army. then in 1972 wright and four other liberation members hijacked a miami-bound delta flight out of detroit. wright was dressed as a priest and apparently smuggled a gun onboard in a hollowed out bible. once the plane landed in miami, wright and the other hijackers demanded a million dollars in cash. the highest ransom ever for this kind of hijacking and that was for the safe release of some 80 passengers. well, fbi agents did deliver the money and they delivered it using bathing suits, that was a way of insuring they were not carrying any sorts of weapons. they flew to boston, got more fuel and took on another pilot and flew across the atlantic to nigeria where there was a strong headquarters for they asked for asylum. the million dollars was returned to the united states, along with the plane. four years later, the other hijackers were arrested in paris. wright stayed on the run. his next appearance now in a portuguese court expected in about two weeks, kyra. >> we'll be following it, deb. thanks so much. if you want more inside scoop, tom fuentes assistant director of office of operations. he joins us live at the half hour. state-run news is reporting that iran is planning to send ships near u.s. waters and an iranian navy. zain verjee is following the story from london. what do you think, smoke in mirrors or a real threat here? >> it's difficult to know. if you think of iran like a kaleidoscope, you don't know what is going on and it's constantly changing. they have so many different and very intricate and internal dynamics going on. hard to know. but it is significant and the threat shouldn't be taken likely and is unlikely to be taken so by the pentagon, even though they haven't commented on this. specifically what was said, the local news agency quoting a commander said that iran will send ships to the u.s. atlantic coast and the quote that was given was that the navy of the iranian army will have a powerful presence near u.s. borders and also went on to say the world arrogant power, not naming the u.s., but we're assuming that is what is implied is so close to us, so we want to be close to them. the u.s. has had ships in the persian gulf close to iran, too. so, i think it is important to continue to watch this development. you know, iran just in february sent a couple ships to the suez canal that they hadn't done so since back in 1979. there are significant developments. the pentagon is likely to react to this some time today. >> we'll keep talking about it, zain, thanks. the controversial plans of chris christie. he says no, his supporters say yes. john avlon joins us right after the break. we're america's natural gas and here's what we did today: supported nearly 3 million steady jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. the nascar nationwide series, i know pleasing fans is a top priority, 'cause without the fans, there'd be no nascar. just like if it weren't for customers, there'd be no nationwide. that's why they serve their customers' needs, not shareholder profits. because as a mutual, nationwide doesn't report to wall street, they report to their customers. and that's just one more reason why the earnhardt family has trusted nationwide for more than 30 years. nationwide is on your side. new jersey governor chris christie may have a unique credibility problem. no matter how many times he says he won't run for president, his supporters simply refuse to believe him. listen. >> i don't feel ready in my heart to be president. >> i don't feel like i'm ready to be president. i don't want to run for president. i don't have the fire and ability to run for president. i'm not stupid. i see the opportunity. i see it. that's not the reason to run. i threatened to commit suicide. i did. i said, what do i have to do short of suicide to convince people i'm not running? apparently, i actually have to commit suicide. >> and now supporters are squeezing new hope out of his latest speech because this rising republican star did not actually use the word no in his appearance last night. john avlon daily beast columnist joining me now with his thoughts. so, john, you actually think this has reached the point of ridiculous. >> i really do. i mean, the guy said no so many different times so many different ways. he tried to improve upon the statement of denial saying, do i have to kill myself? the courtship of chris christie is a fascinating story. the way his supporters, especially a lot of big donors in the republican party keep reaching out to him to run. and it's because, frankly, there is an admission that there is a serious weakness in the field in terms of strong leadership in the center right. he is a great governor, he's got the right message and demeanor and unapologetic, he's engaging and unceremonial and he's a strong believe in executive leadership but he said over and over, he's not going to run. at some point you have to listen to the guy. >> at some point you say the donors are stirring the pot here, but i'm also sort of hearing from you think this guy can make a great candidate. >> i do. but that's very different saying he'll run. the speech he gave last night was a very strong speech. it was an honest speech. he talked about the strong executive leadership and compromise in washington. he's not simply playing to the base, he's actually laying out a vision consistent with his record in new jersey about how you get things done, recognizing that compromise is an essential part of the equation. ultimately when you're trying to actually make improvements and deal with a budget deficit as he's done in jersey. i think the party could use him. he's a national leader in the party. this has taken on a life of its own and not bearing any reality to what he's consistently said. >> he's saying no and final question here, jim acosta said he could actually say yes, but he's got about a month. >> yeah, well, there are certain just hard deadlines. you know, the reality is that you need to register to get in the florida primary, which by all accounts is decisive by october 31st. i mean, there's a certain point at which you can no longer practically functionally run for president, at least on the republican line. now, look, there will be all sorts of, i'm sure there will be some of him running as an independent down the line because there is a hole in the field that chris christie could fit, but he's just, you know, he's said no so many different times. he's one of the most effective governors in the nation and i understand why governors like him. very importantly a few guys in the senate right who the tea party like. a general ground swell of support, but not just going to happen. the hard deadline is october 31st. >> we'll be watching, of course, john, thanks. when you care enough to send the very best to the jobless, hallmark unveils the new line of greeting cards offering a reassuring word to those out of work. why some think it's not such a great idea. and would you spend 600 bucks a night for a real hole in the ground? we'll show you a hotel suite that will have to take you to the mine shaft to reach. [ cellphone rings ] cut! [ monica ] i have a small part in a big movie. i thought we'd be on location for 3 days, it's been 3 weeks. so, i used my citi simplicity card to pick up a few things. and i don't have to worry about a late fee. which is good... no! bigger! bigger! [ monica ] ...because i don't think we're going anywhere for a while. [ male announcer ] write your story with the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. get started at citisimplicity.com. [ gnome ] awwwwwwww. i just feel bloody awful. she told tiffany, stephanie, jenny and becky that she was coming to a place like this! but somebody didn't book with travelocity, with 24/7 customer support to help move them to the pool daddy promised! look at me, i'm swimming! ♪ [ gnome ] somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. if your booking's not right, we'll help make it right, right away. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone. let's get to your "showbiz headlines." while filming on a farm in northern ireland, she was told to wrap it up. the farmer saw her stripping and the farmer's wife said they're christians and they don't want young people to see that on their land. chaz bono and his partner got the lowest score but. real housewives kyle richards met barack obama at an l.a. fund-raiser. on twitter richard's husband said he spoke with the president and learned a surprising fan of the show, first lady michelle obama. top of the line, yet still underground. a swedish hotel offering a suite 500 feet below the earth's surface. you better plan to dig deep into your pocket to stay the night there. zain verjee has more on this hotel's hole in the ground. hello, zain. >> hi, darling. it's either cool but definitely not the pits. you need to go down a mine shaft to get into this hotel. 600 bucks a night. if you're willing to do fork it out, you are doing it for the experience. it is pretty luxurious. they have champagne, cavier, it's really great. no phone signal, so no way to communicate with the outside world, if you're okay with that. in order to do so, though, they have the whole intercom system built so you can actually talk to people if you have to or want to. if you want to take a shower, you have to go all the way back up the mine shaft and go to the shower. if you want to go to the toilet at night, you have to wrap up really warmly because it's really cold. that having been said, it's kind of cool. it's in sweden. a different experience and it's way underground, about 500 feet. kyra, would you do it? >> and way expensive. 600 bucks a night. i would need the shower and underground plumbing, thank you very much. thank you. >> kyra, you can give up your penthouse for a night to go down to the depths of a -- >> zain, i don't know what world you're living in. your head is definitely underground if you think that is the way we're living around here. coming up from the new jersey state pen to a portuguese resort and back again. a fugitive's comfy life on the lam is over after 41 years. the inside scoop from an fbi vet. you're paying 9% xu for your family health insurance premiums, but your boss is helping you out more than before. we've got that story and your market watch, next. (screams) when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and c