out front tonight mitt romney begins a battle in south carolina. five days until the primary in new hampshire, right in that's where the former massachusetts governor has a solid lead. so where he decided to spend most of the day was, south carolina. >> i want to restore to america the principles that made us the powerhouse, morally, economically and militarily, in the entire world. >> romney, his pal john mccain, and gal nicky haley, all there, giving a joint speech in charlston. this is a whole new ball game. one of the highest concentration of evangelical voters in america, nearly half of the population identifies itself as evangelical. which doesn't exactly mean good things for mitt romney. in iowa, 34% voted for rick santorum, only 14% for mitt romney. here is what is amazing. we don't know if romney has made it right with christians in south carolina because polls are about a month old. wisdom is that he wouldn't and didn't need to win south carolina. the vibe changed. now people see it as a must-win state he if he is to be the presidential nominee. gloria, first of all, south carolina, wasn't positioned as a must-win state for romney. but now set one pushing it days ahead of new hampshire. can he win? >> you know, if you look at history first of all, no republican ever won the nomination without south carolina. if history is a guide, he ought to win it. can he win it? good question. it is not entirely clear because of rick santorum. i just spoke with someone high up in the santorum campaign. they are about to make a very large ad bye in the state of south carolina. as you know from the wall the other night, erin, when you were flicking away there, that strong moral character is the key to santorum's support. 40% of the people who were looking for strong moral character were santorum supporters and that is really important, in south carolina. so mitt romney has a way to go there. >> it is interesting you bring up the moral character going tore santorum. john, you were pointing at reverend in south carolina, baptist convention saying, romney's mormonism will be more of a concern that gingrich's infidelity. >> at least according to that analysis. bob jones university is in south carolina. there is some folks in the hard core evangelical sect that will have a hard time with romney's religion. but he came in fourth in south carolina in 2008 behind fred thompson. so there is room for a center right candidate to win south carolina, he just has it play hard. that's why he is down there today. >> of course john mccain was down there. i want to play a soundbite of something that happened in new hampshire regarding rick santorum, that could be very interesting when it comes to south carolina. this is a conversation with a student in new hampshire, crucial because we know issues very different this south carolina, talking about gay marriage. >> if your point is, people should be allowed to do whatever makes them happy. right? is that what you just said? >> as long as tle don't harm other people. >> okay. so if they aren't harming other people. who determines whether they are harming people or not? >> anybody can -- >> well, if there is -- so everybody can understand it. oh. everybody can -- so we aren't going to have courts. >> morals -- >> so there is some objective standard. >> two men have the same rights as a man and woman. >> what about three men? >> no, stop. >> now we will play the reaction at the end with this whole exchange ended of what happened to rick santorum. >> thank you for your time and attention, thanks. [ applause ] [ booing ] >> that's new hampshire. new hampshire on social issues decidedly not like south carolina but does a soundbite like that play differently in south carolina. >> that whole ex change would play differently. remember, the least religious state in the nation, and rick santorum ain't no libertarian. but that appeal can help him in south carolina for better or worse. >> gloria, what do you think about how that plight play or will play tonight to south carolina? >> in south carolina, people are more atune to the social issues. in new hampshire, it is more the economic issues. but i think what you saw there, is rick santorum, welcome to the big leagues, welcome to the top tier. because what happens, when you're in the top tier, as you go around the state, you're going to have people who want to challenge you because they know that he is very conservative on social issues. so you clearly have someone in that audience opposed to his position on gay marriage. he is against gay marriage. and sort of pushing him on it. this is the test for someone who is a candidate. he kind of seemed to let that get under his skin. and he is going to have to develop a way to not let that get under his skin. as he continues campaigning in new hampshire. have it's a whole different state than iowa. >> let's go to joe johns. joe, what was it like today, when in that crowd. john mccain, obviously stumping for mitt romney. and what's the feeling like? are you getting a sense of enthusiasm for mitt romney, or no? >> i didn't really get a huge sense of enthusiasm. this is a polite audience and a lot of big wigs there. the governor of course of south carolina was there. john mccain was there. and it looked like the kind of stop where mitt romney wanted to come to south carolina and say, i'm not forgetting you. i'm here. look at me. i brought along the guy who won the south carolina primary four years ago. i hear he is making a few calls around the state. and i think they are putting their foot in the water and trying to figure out how they can get a leg up. they are also realizing, communicated with tlem today, and they tell me that they are under no illusions that in their view it is an uphill battle but they will make a strong showing as possible sb erin. >> so what do you think about how this will go? because you can make the argument as they did. they don't need to win it. but as gloria pointed out, no one ever won the nomination without it. >> look be with you got to play south carolina. it is an important state and much more complex than the stereotype. i'm biassed, my folks live there. but he can complete there. there are a lot of plis conceptions about south carolina. him hiing that nikki haley support, but she is less popular than barack obama. the argument that no one should avoid is economics. that is rick santorum's strongest point. it is whether he can make the place about the closed mill towns and hey we have a plan for manufacturing. that could help you and mitt romney has it plan that field as well. >> how do you think when we get the next poll which i think we will within the next 24 hours, last time we had it at the peak of the gingrich surge. >> right. >> what is your view of how at least in order it stacks out in south florida. >> i don't know. i think you will see rick santorum and newt gingrich do well in south carolina. i think it depends on what happens to mitt romney in new hampshire. he is in the stratosphere in new hampshire. even if he wins, which i think is likely, it comes down from the stratosphere it a level that is more like what he has been getting, say 25 to 30% and still wins. then he will be perceived as very vulnerable. but if he has a lot of momentum, all this added, democrats fall in love with their candidates. republicans fall in line. right? at a certain point, the republicans may decide they fall in line. but here is the problem for mitt romney. tea partiers don't like him very much. and that will dog him in south carolina. >> thanks very much to both of you. we appreciate it. we will -- thanks to you joe johns as well. we will speak with mitt romney's top adviser later in our show and put those questions to him in a few minutes. next, president obama announcing sweeping changes to america's military. today as everyone focuses on the campaigning, a big story. and did you know we have 200,000 military sites around the world? that is not a joke. is it time for america to start slashing? under surveillance tonight, the government and facebook, using facial recognition on a daily basis. but there is a flu group trying it out. big business targeting you. the woman acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, caylee, under a new video. this is an rc robotic claw. my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ now a story we have been out front on from the beginning. military cuts in the u.s. today president obama announcing a sweeping change to the way this country fights. the focus is not on fighting large ground battles, it is all about sea and air might, including drones, to watch china and iran. now the move means nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts for the pentagon budget. thousands of fewer troops. and with it, a warning. not of weakness thanks to cuts, but of getting more for less. >> it is our military will be leaner but the world must know that united states is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats. >> out front tonight, the fall out begins. the uk's independent reads, obama, the u.s. can no longer fight the world's battles. so what does this mean? did you know there are more than 200,000 american military sites around the world in many in vital areas of interest. that's right, 202,178 in the around the world. do we need them all? the former commanding general of the u.s. army intelligence center, and commander of the aircraft carrier group, good to have you both with us. admiral, can we afford to slash some of them? >> absolutely. a number of them are still legacy from the cold war. particularly under the european theater. what is important today is, do you have bases that might be ad hoc bases because we have relationship with kazakhstan. they worked with us. they know us. we can fly in there and do what we need do to guard afghanistan. but it is also why you are seeing a greater dependence upon mobile bases, like aircraft carriers. we have also placed at sea increase in the army troops, you actually have the visions of equipment floating at sea today. i think you will see that more ad hoc type of base structure than fixed and forward. >> general marks, when you look at that headline out of independent though, it makes you realize that rest of the world, there will be many who see this as america the weaker, america that cannot fight battles any more. is there any truth in that interpretation? >> there's absolutely zero truth. how someone wants to interpret that is up to them, but the facts don't back it up at all. joe is spot on. let's not focus on any type of presence in the aruba or bahamas, let's focus on what we have done over the past 30 years. we have had pretossing stocks of equipment in a whole bunch of locations around the globe, to include the indian ocean. for over 30 years to prepare and be forward ready for contingencies we don't predict very well. we have a great amount of experience in terms of how it to fight and create influence where we need to create it. we must not rely on fixed locationes a tie us down and spend a lot of money. but still we must have the ability, erin, to put boots on the ground in order to achieve dominance and to achieve influence. >> and let me ask you about china. you can see china from so many different ways, right? they have that drone. they will get the technology. they have nuclear submarines or can you see they are still spending a lot less than america and have a long way to go. but they are obsessed with one thing, and that's coming up with a counter to everything america has, and america has all sorts of goals with its military. how important is china right now? >> i think this is a very important issue. >> go ahead, admiral. >> the president changed our focus in the western pacific where the strategic center of our trl be for the century economically as well as security wise. but the other aspect of this change is changing to what spider marks here did in his whole career. he is saying it is no longer about how many ships you have, how many brigades you have, it is about whether you shape towards knowledge. china has about 80 submarines. we have about 50. do we pr cure a lot more submarine eats $2 billion a piece or begin to develop a censor system that can listen for subs in the south china fra little buoys that can network that to some drone flying around it drop a torpedo. that's the reshaping that president announced today. it is about capability not necessarily more structure. >> all right. general marks, admiral, thanks to both. interesting you both think the interest is doing the right thing. of course, let us know what you think out there. this opens the whole door to why china is so obsessed with why china is interested in hacking into our technology. that ings brings us to under surveillance. to today we are talking about facial recognition. now you can see it on facebook with photo tagging as an example but now businesses from bars, to big retail chains may all use facial detection to target you. now how and why? we asked the federal trade commission that question. >> well, there are three reasons. the first is photo organization and sharing sites. so the idea would be that i upload my photos on to a particular site. and i can organize them through a company offering facial recognition technology. the second use we have seen is digital signs. i might pass by a sign and it might record my age and gender to serve me a target the ad. the third use is innovative use by apps. for example, one of the things we heard about is that there are cameras in particular bars and the cameras will record the general age and gender of the people in the bars and i can download an app and decide which bar to go to based on the age and gender of people in that bar. >> obviously privacy a major concern. and they are working on it. but at this point, all you can do is ask businesses and let customers know if they are using the technology. can't stop it. that way you have a choice of going in that bar or not. obviously, this is going to have a lot more to it. a florida mom, missing michelle parker, we have spoken to her family several times. her mother out out front. and steven colbert, can he flick better than i can? pie. she said pie. pie. 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[ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ so, on last night's colbert report, steve colbert had fun with me. on tuesday i had trouble with my flick wall during coverage of the iowa caucuses. that was pretty pathetic, i got to admit. but the thing is, he took it furn when he unveiled his own device and flicked a picture of me around his set. i was okay until he actually flushed me down a toilet. yeah, that's what he did. he ended the segment, let me show you the toilet part here, okay? here is -- yeah, see? okay. so that's where i started to have a problem. but then he ended his segment with this. >> are you -- what's this? cnn, is this your graphic? pow. >> that brings me to tonight's number. that's the year that photo was taken, 2005, on my first day at cnbc. so steven, when you ask, is this your graphic, cnn? the answer is, no. look, it's not a big deal. you were probably just excited about your new toy and you were forgot you were a journalist for a second. but the truth is, steven, i don't want to fight with you. sort of like michael jackson said. "i want to flick with you all night ♪ >> any time, anywhere, colbert. i i just want to flick with you. i will bring my flick wall. you bring yours. we will settle it once and for all. we love michael jackson in general. he is the king of pop for a reason. why we use one of his number one hit, flick -- sorry, rock with you. his album, "bad" has the most number one songs off one album. that could change. because katy perry has five number one songs on her album, teenage dream. one more and she could beat the king of pop. she is close. this is one of a lot of surprising numbers in music. adell's 21 rocked the charts. best selling al. but year. 21, first year of digital music sales topped physical music sales. but here is what we liked from the neilson billboard report. 3.9, that's how many million vinyl records were sold last year. vinyl. over a million more than last year and fourth straight year of increases. that's right. still out front, the "outfront" five. a parent's plea. >> they are so important to me and my family. >> casey's bizarre video. >> this has just been such a bless flg so many ways. >> all this out front in our second half. my job is to find the next big sound. they sound awesome tonight. and when i do find it, i share it with the world. you landed the u.s. tour ? done. this is fantastic ! music is my life and i want to make the most of it without missing a beat. fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. we're getting back in shape. oh! try these. i sprinted here... wow! from your house?! from the car. unh! ooh. [ male announcer ] get back on track with low prices on everything you need. backed by our ad match guarantee. walmart. i understandour ad match guarantee. you need a little help with your mortgage, want to avoid foreclosure. candy? um-- well, you know, you're in luck. we're experts in this sort of thing, mortgage rigamarole, whatnot. why don't we get a contract? who wants a contract? [honks horn] [circus music plays] here you go, pete. thanks, betty. betty: we're out of toner. announcer: if you're facing foreclosure, talk to the right people. speak with hud-approved housing counselors free of charge at... we start the second half of our show with stories we care about, where we focus in our own reporting, dot work and find the outfront five. first, the department of defense will see if classify information was leaked to the filmmakers of the movie to the death of osama bin laden. congressman peter king called for an investigation claiming the white house and pentagon gave filmmakers access to tactics used in the raid. republican said quote the leaks that followed the successful bin laden mission led to the arrest of pakistanis and put in danger the mission's heros and families. the white house denied sharing any classified information. number two, barnes & noble announcing it is considering spinning off its nook unit. nook is its ereader. the company says holiday sales rose 70% over last year but the cheaper simple touch caused the company to cut its overall sales outlook. shares are hammered, down 17%. third, general motors announcing a fix for the chevy volt. there were concerns about how well the volt's battery was protected because two cars caught fire weeks after a crash test. we took a look at what gm is doing. the company will strengthen existing protection surrounding the battery and adding a censor to monitor cooling levels. there is an an official recall. the company is calling it a quote customer satisfaction campaign. i