we begin this evening with the still growing political and legal uproar in the state of mississippi. state officials may ask for nation-wide help tracking down some convicted murderers pardoned this week by the outgoing governor halee barber. some victims' families are worried and furious. >> we are in jail now and david is out of jail. we will forever be looking over our shoulder wondering if today is the day that david decided that he was going to finish what he started. >> cnn's martin savidge is in jackson, mississippi reporting the story. martin they've been pardoned but now the state says guys you have to come back. do they have to come back? >> reporter: you know what, that's a really good question that they are still trying to decipher at this very hour, john. last night a judge granted an order that said at least for the time being the pardons that had been approved by former governor halee barber had to be stopped. that's at least those people who were still behind bars. but as far as the four convicted murderers released on sunday, these are the ones that authorities are really concerned about, well, the judge said that they will have to report in on a daily basis their whereabouts. but they aren't obligated to do that until they receive an official copy of the court order. the problem is, authorities can't find the murderers to give them the copy of the court order to force them to start reporting in. it's a real catch 22. because once they were pardoned, when they left the confines of a prison, they were under no obligation to tell mississippi authorities where they were going or where they were going to be or what they were even going to do for the rest of their lives. they disappeared. and state authorities say they now have no idea where they are. >> there's going to be a national search for some of them. we'll catch them. it's just a matter of time. >> do you know where they are? >> no. we know where their family -- we're in contact with their family, local law enforcement. there's a search going on out there for them. and we'll lay hands on them at some point. >> because they were pardoned, again according to the department of corrections, they were under no obligation to tell anybody where they were going or what their future plans were. >> that's right. all we have is like old addresses and who their family is and all our people are working on it. >> reporter: so this is the problem. you can see it right now. they cannot ask for help from other states if they left the state of mississippi. because these guys really are not wanted for anything because they haven't done any crime. they were pardoned. john? >> so there's the legal quandary, martin. what about the political controversy? i've known former governor halee barber for some type from his role as the former republican chairman in washington, d.c. and other political activity here. i tried to reach him today and i couldn't. i did speak to somebody close to him who says he has an explanation and he understands he's going to have to give it pretty soon. is he saying anything back there? we heard from the family. what's the controversy back home that awaits him? >> reporter: it's a huge controversy here. many people loved halee barber. they believe he had been a great leaded in this state. now they're having second thoughts because of what he did in his final hours. he issued a lengthy statement last night. he didn't deliver it in person. he delivered it on paper. he said that the clemency process has been miscon sfrued by a lot of people. he also said "approximately 90% of these individuals were no longer in custody. and he said that these pardons were intended to allow them to find gainful employment and/or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote. he means of course if you're a convicted felon you couldn't own a gun or could not vote. by pardoning them he allowed them to do that. he didn't address the fear, what about the murderers, rapists that you pardoned and are now free. he didn't respond to that. john? >> when you hear the accounts from those family members it's pretty clear he's going to have to respond to that. martin savidge, thank you. on the presidential campaign trail tonight, mitt romney's trying to stay astep ahead of his components. he's campaigning and fundraising in florida which will hold its primary on the last day of this month. most of the republican pack back in south carolina where republicans vote in just nine days. there rick santorum is arguing romney isn't trustworthy. >> ultimately aren't you looking for someone as president you can trust? >> yes. >> what would give you the idea that someone who has changed his position on almost every single issue is someone you can trust? >> john huntsman is telling south carolina voters romney's own words make him unelectable. >> my problem is really a political issue. and that is when you have a candidate who talks ability enjoyment in firing people, who talks about pink slips, who makes comments that seem to be so detached from the problems that americans are facing today, that makes you pretty much unelectable. >> cnn jim acosta tracking the campaign at the moment with the romney campaign in west palm beach, florida. jim, that pro gingrich political group released that documentary essentially savaging mitt romney's record saying he's heartless and greedy and laid people off. how is the romney campaign trying to deal with what could be a pretty big negative? >> reporter: john, we basically heard mitt romney say today he can feel people's pain. if you watch that pro-gingrich superpac documentary you'll see people talking about how their lives were destroyed at the hands of bane, talking about bouts with depression, broken marriages. listen to what mitt romney had to say earlier here in west palm beach. he almost offered a rebuttal to that documentary and talking about the plight of the unemployed. >> unemployments is not just a statistic. being unemployed for a long period of time means families having a hard time making ends meet. it means in some cases people having trouble in their marriages, losing faith, becoming depressed. it's a real tragedy when people are out of work for long periods of time as we've seen. and my job is to get americans back to work. if i'm president of the united states i'll worry about your jobs, not my job. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: now newt gingrich and rick perry have both been going after mitt romney big time on this issue of bane capital. both of those contenders in south carolina today were sort of making the pivot away from bane capital and more towards accountability on wall street. rick perry went so far as to say he loves capitalism. here's what both had to say. >> it's almost as though if you ask questions you're somehow challenging the whole system. but i want you to understand how i feel as a candidate for president. the american people have the right to know what has been happening to their economy, and they have the right to know where all the money went. >> listen. i love capitalism. i mean, free market capitalism in the state of texas has created over 1 million jobs. we understand how capitalism needs to work. but this corrupt and fraudulent activity that's been going on in washington, d.c. between them and wall street has to stop. >> reporter: now, something interesting happened this week with all these attacks on bane capital. they've actually worked to rally conservatives behind mitt romney. today the romney campaign released a long list of conservatives from rush limbaugh to the "wall street journal" to the national review to the governor of south carolina who are all coming to mitt romney's defense over this issue, criticizing newt gingrich and rick perry over their comments on bane capital, john. >> so you see those adjustments today in south carolina. nine interesting day to go. jim acosta, we'll stay in touch in the days ahead. a week from tonight we bring you the southern republican presidential debate thursday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern two days before that all important south carolina primary. here in washington today, secretary of state hillary clinton acknowledged there are discussions about a possible transfer of some taliban prisoners now held at guantanamo. and the opening of a taliban office in cutter. those talks could be a prelude to some kind of afghanistan reconciliation process. all that is threatened tonight by an uproar over a video that surfaced on the internet showing u.s. marines urinating on the dead bodies of taliban fighters. if you haven't seen it it is graphic but we've blurred the most offensive parts. >> did you get the middle guy? >> look at mine. >> yeah. >> you get the idea there. pretty heinous act. cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins us with new details on this investigation. barbara, among those new details they've now identified at least some of those marines, right? >> reporter: absolutely, john. they moved very quickly on this. the marine corps is not all that big. those marines were known to people who saw the video. it is -- this is a unit now. it is widely believed out of camp lejeune, north carolina that served in afghanistan until late last year. two of the marines now who participated in that video, their names are known to the marine corps. they're moving very quickly to investigate all of this, both the marine corps investigation and the naval criminal investigative service investigation. it really couldn't be more serious. they want to nail this down very quickly, john. >> quick to investigate, barbara, also very quick to condemn. both at the military level and senior civilian administration officials. what is the sense inside the administration of why they thought it was so urgent not only to investigate but to try to condemn this and pretty forecefully? >> reporter: they've seen these misconduct issues arise in the past. abu graib back in iraq. the burning of koran. rumors that sparked riots in afghanistan. the anti-american sentiment every time one of these misconduct cases emerges on the internet and goes viral around the world. so you saw the military move with the investigation. but you also saw secretary of state hillary clinton take this on very publicly today to get the diplomatic part of this out in public. she had some very strong words. listen to what she had to say. >> i share completely the views expressed by secretary panetta earlier today. i join him in condemning the deplorable behavior that is reflected in this video. it is absolutely inconsistent with american values, with the standards of behavior that we expect from our military personnel. >> reporter: so john, it's not very often but the u.s., the afghan government and the taliban all in agreement all condemning. this and you're absolutely right. what's at stake here is can they now move forward with reconciliation? will the taliban still try to come to the table or will this be a deal breaker? so far no indication it's going to be a deal breaker but it does make things tough. >> fine reporting from barbara starr. thanks for your help tonight. one of the republican's rising stars could be a power broker in the next presidential primary. he's south carolina congressman and tea party favorite tim scott. he's with us live tonight and maybe we'll ask him. he hasn't endorsed anybody yet. is it finally time? later alaskans cope with twice as much snow as usual. ♪ you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance. you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you want a firm bed you can lie on one of those, if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to the sleep number year-end closeout event. not just ordinary beds on sale, but the bed that can change your life on sale. the sleep number bed. it calibrates precisely to your body and your comfort zone. now you can feel what happens as we raise your sleep number setting and allow the bed to contour to your individual shape. oh yeah. it's really shaping to my body. it's the final days to save up to $800 on selected 2011 bed sets. plus, free standard shipping on all beds. you can adjust it however you want so you don't have to worry about buying the wrong mattress. once they get our bed, they're like, "why didn't i do this sooner?" hurry in to the final days of the year-end closeout event and save on the bed that can change your life. the sleep number bed. only at the sleep number store, where queen bed sets now start at just $899. a big announcement from the president today one that's certain to have a quick impact out on the campaign trail. officially notifying john boehner the government is close to the debt limit. republicans like south carolina's tim scott joins us live in his state. i'll get to the presidential primary in just a minute. this was part of the deal that was cooked. the president had to ask twice for this. this is asking for the second installment. he'll get the money, get to raise the debt limit. but what are we going to hear in the debate about that proposal? >> there's no question that when you think about the $1.2 trillion that the president's requesting, the obligation of the super committee producing results did not happen. so as i did in the debt ceiling, i said no therngs i'll say no now. i think you're right. bottom line is he'll probably get the increase. but we have started questioning ourselves on how can we consistently move forward knowing that we're borrowing 42 cents on the dollar and this debt deal did not produce any savings for the american people. that's a problem. >> and so you raise how important this is. it will be a debate in congress. the president will get his money. is it getting as much attention on the campaign trail? nine days from now republicans have the choice. they could give mitt romney a 3-0 record, pretty impossible to stop or say not so fast. a lot of the conversation has been about other issues. i want you to listen to speaker gingrich saying why is the establishment coming after me for raising questions about mitt romney. >> saying i have two great credentials, my governorship which you're not allowed to talk about because it's really pretty liberal, and the work under bane capital but you're not allowed to talk about because that's an attack. if you talk about my record that's an attack on free enterprise. that's baloney. >> you have not been kind to newt gingrich or rick perry for raising bane capital. the state senator jim da dimint -- why is that not fair game? is mitt romney's record not fair game? >> i think mitt romney's record is without any question fair game. here's the question. should we as republicans, as conservatives, who believe that capitalism is a foundation to a good economy, attack the principles that undergird capitalism? we believe that when you're looking at bane capital as a whole, you're talking about a company that created jobs for domino's pizza sports authority and staples. so if you have a balanced perspective on bane capital, you find a different picture. but more important than defending romney or defending bane capital, what i think you hear at least as an undertone and going to grow louder is that we believe that capitalism is the mantra of the day and anything that creeps towards socialism is a problem. so that contrast is in the prime picture today. it is in the frame of the conversation about who will be the next president and what they represent philosophically. >> you became a national figure, sir, and a member of the leadership in the congress because of the tea party movement and your involve nt in it in the last cycle el. i want you to hear amy kramer of the tea party express, saying if you look at the campaign so far, romney wins iowa, wins new hampshire. he's hardly a tea party darling. will the tea party be heard from? let's listen. >> the tea party movement is saying not so fast. you cannot just shove these candidates down our throats and expect us to take it. you know, we're going to be involved in this process. we're going to have a say in the matter. and i think we're going to be influential in what happens next week. >> should the tea party in south carolina stop mitt romney? >> well, there's no question that each voter should have an opportunity to vote their conscience and the tea party represents many of us who believe that we are taxed enough already. we believe in free markets. the question is, is there a one candidate that represents the anti-romney? the answer seems to be no. when you have rick perry, when you have mr. santorum, mr. gingrich all working on the social conservative platform in south carolina, you see there is a divide on the social conservative side and all four candidates are absolutely going after the businessman. so i think it's going to be very difficult for any of us to find one candidate that becomes the anti-romney candidate the next nine days. but the question we should ask ourselves is, who is the next visionary leader of america? how do we have the aspiration to inspire americans to reach their highest level? we need a president that does so. that's what we're looking for in this primary process. >> appreciate your time tonight. we'll see you in south carolina early next week. >> absolutely. most of us it's been a pretty mild winter. but it's worse than usual in alaska. some parts look at it there, 20 feet of snow since thanksgiving. we're going to show you more in just a few minutes. later, workers tell us what happened when mitt romney's bane capital took over a couple of south carolina companies. 6 i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. 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[ male announcer ] when kelley blue book's kbb.com gave the 2012 camry a best resale value award, we were delighted. ♪ when it received a 5-star overall safety rating, we were ecstatic. and when camry became the number-one selling car in america 10 years running, we blushed. ♪ the reinvented 2012 camry. from toyota. ♪ welcome back. kate baldwin is here with the latest news you need to know now. welcome. >> good evening, everyone. here's a rare look at the city that's been at the center of syria's anti-government protests. this is syria's third largest city. the government organized this unprecedented tour today for journalists including cnn's nick robertson. they saw gun-toting soldiers in civilian trucks, checkpoints, wounded soldiers. in other neighborhoods open stores and a sense of normalsy. in other news, alaska, expect snow in winter, of course, but maybe not this much snow. forecasters predict anchorage well get another 6 to 14 inches today. that's on top of 45 inches since december 1st, about twice as much as normal. think that'