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"early start," i'm ashleigh banfield. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. we are bringing you the news from "a" to "z." it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's get started here. >> this was a good one, guys, if you missed it. the tarmac in arizona got hot. it wasn't about the weather. it was about the president and the governor. jan brewer and barack obama getting testy on the tarmac and brewer even pointed her finger, shaking it, wagging it at the president. what was this all about? why did they have an issue and have they resolved it? >> just five days left until the florida primary. there are four folks out there. we're talking gingrich and romney in a dead heat. can someone land a knockout blow at tonight's cnn debate? that's debate number 19. >> if you're counting. and we are. >> we are. >> also, this amazing story of the rescue of the these two aide workers in somalia. here are the graphics but boy is there a story behind these graphics. if you like blackhawks, you like rescue do we have the details for you. check out the pictures. we're going to tell you how this all went down, step by step. >> we talked about this yesterday. there is a lot of anger building up in east haven, connecticut. a report found that the police engaged in bias policing, the use of excessive force against latinos and the mayor apologize are about a taco remark. is it enough to calm the controversy? "early start" starts right now. up first, the tension on the tarmac. the president and arizona governor jan brewer. we see brewer pointing her finger at him. >> it's hard to see because they're behind the limo. people who were there say this was awkward. it all kind of got triggered by things that jan brewer said in his book "scorpions for breakfast." she talked about an encounter she had with the president in the oval office in 2010, said he was pat tronnizing and it wasn't a good visit. the white house doesn't recall it being quite like that. here's what brewer wrote about it, we sat down and started with chitchat. after a few minutes, the president's tone got si serious and condescending. he started to lecture me about everything he was doing to promote comprehensive immigration reform which was code for encouraging more illegal immigration. >> the brewer called the president thin skinned. >> i had a handwritten note for him. i told him what was in there. he changed the subject to my book "scorpions for breakfast" and was a little bit disenchanted, if you will, about how he was portrayed in the book. i believe that the book is a very straightforward, honest recollection of exactly what took place at the white house. bottom line is, i wanted to be there to welcome him, to come and see firsthand what arizona has done in regards to our economic recovery. he wanted to talk about the book. and i thought that he was pretty thin-skin. they always say that a picture is what it is. but i must say, that i was not hostile. i was trying to be very, very gracious. i respect the office of the president and i would never be disrespectful in that manner. >> did he walk away from you at the end? >> i believe when we were in the conversation that i was in the middle of a sentence and he walked away. i wasn't angry at all. i felt a little bit threatened, if you will, in the attitude that he had. i was there to welcome him. i was there and glad and pleased that he was here to share with us the arizona comeback. we've worked hard to get arizona back from being number 47th in job growth to number 7. i was there to share with him what we have done and ask for that opportunity to sit down and to talk with him. >> that's pretty serious stuff, her saying she felt threatened. >> threatened by the president? okay. >> he had his hand on her arm the entire time when they were speaking. >> do you think he was squeezing. >> you never know, right. >> i'm just teasing. here's what i can say, the white house issued this statement. after the last meeting, a cordial discussion in the oval office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book .president looks forward to continuing taking steps to help arizona's economy grow. i'll say one thing. that statement didn't talk about threats or feeling anger or squeezing arms or anything of the like. >> right. >> and didn't respond to jan brewer's suggestion she felt threatened. >> i'm sure there will be a lot more talk about this. i know we'll talk about it with our political panel. it's 5:05 in the east. right now it is a tossup between mitt romney and newt gingrich in florida. here's the latest cnn/"time"/orc poll. romney 36%, gingrich, 34%. the primary is five days out. the four gop candidates face off tonight at the cnn debate in jacksonville. it is the 19th gop presidential debate. cnn political editor paul ste steinhauser is live in jacksonville with a preview. we understand that 25% of the folks say they could perhaps change their minds. this could change these numbers. >> reporter: oh, exactly. that's why this debate is so important. it may be number 19 but it's the last one before tuesday's primary. 50 delegates at state, winner take all. you win, you get all 50, you come in second, doesn't matter. let's take a look at the cnn/"time" poll. newt gingrich had a lot of momentum coming out of the south carolina win. look at this, we started polling on sunday, gingrich is up, he's ahead. look at the more than and tuesday numbers. that included that first debate here in florida. look who's ahead, mitt romney. so has gingrich slowed down coming out of south carolina? zoraida, here's proof. >> i love how excited you are about this. >> reporter: i'm excited. i'm awake. i'm awake. 25% said they still could change their minds. that is another reason why this debate is so important. you know one of the story lines, i think tonight will be just as -- want more proof? there's the bus behind me. it's a big deal if we bring the cnn express. right there, that's the building. >> i thought that's where you slept. i thought that was your hotel. >> i slept in the bus. in the bus. >> are you hearing anything about what is that one issue out there that is going to get people to change their minds? what is it they're waiting for? >> reporter: you know what, i think a lot of people still want to hear more about jobs and especially in this state, they want to hear about illegal immigration and home foreclosure rates. such a high rate of foreclosure states. wolf blitzer moderating, 8:00 eastern. >> it bears repeating. wolf blitzer will moderate tonight's gop debate at the university of florida in jacksonville. >> it could get ugly. >> things could get testy. let's switch gears to the remarkable story that involved kidnapping victim jessica buchanan. her and her family could be getting back together today. she was freed from her somali kidnapers by an elite navy s.e.a.l.s unit and other military members early this week. rescue operations were pulled off by the same s.e.a.l. 6 group that got osama bin laden last year. they landed about two miles away. came in fixed wings, in the black of night in the parachutes, marched that two miles to the compound, encountered enemy gunfire, took out nine of the somali gunmen, all of them, all killed but not one of our guys killed. 32-year-old american jessica buchanan and 06-year-old danish citizen were both unharmed and rescued by waiting helicopters that swooped in to get them. i can't tell you just how exciting this story is, because they're safe and it could have gone two different ways. live from nairobi, kenya, our correspondent there. i just have to ask you, how things went down there. that is a remarkable operation and when we see the graphics, i know it's not exactly like it really was but it sure does look a lot like the bin laden raid. they had this down to a "t," didn't they. >> reporter: a lot of people say much riskier than the bin laden raid. this was a daring and dramatic raid by u.s. special forces who really parachuted into somalia in the middle of the night. and then, as you said, advancing on foot towards those compounds where the two hostages were being kept. gunfire, nine people killed. we're hearing from government sources on the ground that there were some injuries and that some hostage-takers were also taken captive by the u.s. forces. but, of course, the white house has not confirmed this. and then the hostages were taken to djibouti, where the u.s. has its biggest military camp here in africa. just northeast of where i am here in kenya. really dramatic stuff and really anything could have gone wrong and it didn't. so many people who know jessica buchanan here are so relieved that she's out there alive after 92 days. >> i want to ask you, you're in nairobi. you talked about the hostages not too far from you in djibouti. as i understand it, jessica's husband lives in nairobi and obviously he is awaiting her return to this part of the world and also her dad is en route from the u.s. it's what, 1:00 in the afternoon there? what's the status? >> reporter: well, at the moment, we're hearing many reports from different sources. abc news is reporting that her dad will be reunited with her in italy. we're hearing that jessica buchanan's husband who actually lived in somalia with her, has left somalia and he's on his way to djibouti. the white house has not confirmed any of this. we are working our sources to just find out when this meeting is going to happen and exactly where, ashleigh. >> another quick question for you. something sort of sat oddly with me when i heard the white house saying the window of opportunity was now, because jessica was in ill health. but then our chris lawrence at the pentagon reported that the aid organization actually says she wasn't that sick. do we know what the story is here about her health and the timing of this? >> reporter: you know, we all can't wait to get those questions across to the person herself. exactly. company she works for, the ngo that she works for, the danish refugee council says that there was a thorough examination, medical examination, done on her in djibouti at that base that i was telling you about, the u.s. base in east africa and that she was okay. and we also are hearing that it was her deteriorating health condition that really expedited the authorization of this mission. so we really are waiting to hear confirmation from her, see her, see how she's doing, to confirm whether she is very, very ill or whether she is okay. >> great work. excellent. we'll work forward to your updates as the day progresses there as well. we want to remind our viewers, there are several hostages being held in somalia. among them, a british tourist, two spanish doctors and an american journalist who was just kidnapped on saturday. dozens of sailors also are being held captive by somali pirates off the coast. it is 13 minutes past the hour. minding your business now. u.s. markets closed higher, the dow up 0.5%. nasdaq got a boost from the jump in apple stock and the s&p 500 up about 1%. part of that market boost was because of statements from the federal reserve in the afternoon. christine, tell us what they're saying. >> fed chief, ben bernanke is saying interest rates will stay low, maybe into 2014. we know interest rates will stay low. the fed and ben bernanke are concerned about how slow the economic recovery has been. ben bernanke said he's concerned about structural unemployment, people being out of work for more than six months and having a hard time finding a job. the second line you're seeing on the screen, there is a case for additional policy action. that line is what got markets to turn around and close higher. that means the fed is considering maybe doing some more bond buying, revving up its plans to keep money flowing throughout the economy. and that's something that the markets really liked. >> does it work? i only ask that because interest rates have been historically low for a long time now. >> right. >> everybody says, everyone goes in and buys up houses. that's not necessarily the story. >> that's right. mortgage rates have been low for you. there are record-low mortgage rates if you can qualify. that's been the problem. for companies, they love the clarity that for the next few years things will stay very low. it means they have clarity in the fiscal outlook for the financial outlook. >> stability. >> they know they'll be able to borrow money at low rates, maybe they'll build another plant, make some capital improvements, maybe they're going to do some big purchases because they know rates will be low. that's where the fed hopes it will spur growth. >> create jobs. >> timothy geithner says he doesn't want to stay a second term with president obama. >> bloomberg reporting this yesterday, that he doesn't expect to be asked to stay tore the next term and he wants to go on doing something else. it's not really a surprise. it's been a parlor game in washington, how long geithner is going to stay. we all thought after the debt deal in august he'd be done. he went through the financial crisis. he had the first two years were very, very difficult with stimulus, trying to sell the stimulus and stabilize the economy. his people close to him and who have worked with him say they're not sure what he's going to do next but all -- no one expected i think that he stay on for a second term. hillary clinton, i think this is going to be the enfor her in terms of her role as secretary of state as well. >> she keeps on saying it and nobody wants to believe it. >> some people do. some people want to believe that. >> i think tim geithner wants to come back to new york. he has a son who will be graduating from high school. it's been a very, very rough couple of years in that job of treasury secretary. >> also, like you said, he's almost been through two wars. >> at least. >> christine, thank you. good stuff. we want to get you your travel forecast with rob marciano who'sen stading by live. >> we have issues down south and up north. let's start with what happened yesterday in dallas and around the texas area. big state, big drought problems, big rain yesterday. here's the video. across northern texas, flooding issues not only in dallas but in houston as well. we also had a couple of tornadoes touch down in the houston area. feast or famine there. they've been suffering drought, they need the the rain badly but obviously not all at one time. a lot roads closed throughout the day yesterday. that water beginning to drain. austin setting a record yesterday, 5.67 inches. that blew the record away by almost -- by over 4 inches. dallas, san antonio, almost 3 inches. dallas also getting into the act. towards the east, not a lot of severe threat right now. the threat for thunderstorms as we go through the day is certainly in the forecast. a little bit of light wintry precipitation across the northeast. this isn't a big dell. actually, pretty far north of new york and boston is where we'll see the precip pick up throughout the day today. that ill with be in the form of snow. warmer air moving into the bigger cities. new orleans, birmingham and cleveland, those are the cities that will be problems today. in between, not too bad. another storm coming into the pacific northwest. back to you. >> thanks, rob. 17 minutes past the hour. coming up, east connecticut's mayor remarks about the tacos outrage. or the tacos comment that outraged the latino commune. it's gone viral, folks. why some are not buying the apology. you're watching "early start." ee you're giving me the silent treatment? 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[ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. the arrest of four connecticut police officers on federal racial profiling charges was supposed to be the end of big controversy but it turned out to really just be the beginning. >> the town of east haven, the mayer there is under fire for something he said. it started when the reporter asked the mayor about relations with latinos. >> what are you doing for the latino community today? >> i might have tacos when i'm not home. i'm not quite sure yet. >> that did not go over very well. those comments went viral. they are national comments now and yesterday, the mayor had to come to jesus and do an apology. >> i created something that went viral. it was something that the media says gotcha. and ran with it. i accept full responsibility. i've apologized profusely. >> well, joining us now is a reporter for the "new haven register" right next door to east haven. thanks for coming in. media gotcha? i hear that a lot. is it a media gotcha? i also have heard this mayor was exhausted. he had done dozens of interviews and kind of lost it. which is it? >> i think he sort of let fly with something before he fully had a grip on what it was. >> you know him. is this really him? is this really like him or was this a stupid mistake? god knows we all have made stupid mistakes. >> i think it was a stupid mistake. he's been mayor -- well, he was mayor for ten years and has just come back. >> he's well liked, right? >> generally he's well liked and he's pretty much, he's not an ultraprofessional person. he was elected as sort of, you know, guy of the people. and sometimes acts like one. >> let's talk -- i hate to interrupt you, i'm sorry. let's talk about some the allegations here and what exactly folks are saying that's happened within the police department there, if you can clear that up for us. some of them are serious allegations there. that's why his comments seem so flip. >> they clearly have a problem in the east haven police department. it didn't just start. this investigation has been going on for a while and there's -- before it ever started and before all this stuff -- >> it's racial profiling. let's talk about -- >> it's worse than profiling. >> it's abuse. >> there are some allegations about beating people up who are already hand cuffed and already under control and, you know, bashing people's heads into the sides of police cars and with regard specifically to latinos, you know, stopping people just because of who they are or what they look like. i can't tell you that they're all true but i can tell you that during the last couple of years we've been writing about this stuff for a couple of years now, since this first came up and i've heard enough things from enough latinos in and around east haven about what this officer or that officer did or said. >> there's a history here, right, in 1997 an officer shot an unarmed black man as well? >> yes. >> this isn't new. this is a history that's been happening for quite some time. >> you're referring to malik jones. >> yes. >> and there were marches on east haven, you know, the naacp out of new haven led a march. it was very tense. there were people lining the streets. >> you made a small comment, i want to watch forward as you say there could be more people in the line of fire in terms of being arrested. it's good work. continue to update us, mark, as to what happens in east haven. now the whole country is watching. >> i should say, there are plenty of good people in east haven who really wish they could not be on cnn in the morning and on the front page of newspapers. >> especially with