the former governor haley barbour. before leaving office he gave 14 pardons including a murderer. in an exclusive interview with cnn, eps he's sorry and has found god and changed his life. he worked in the governor's office as part of a prison program for three years and talked with the governor he said every day. >> reporter: your pardon, as you probably know by now, has triggered a lot of outrage. not just yours, of course. but the pardons of other prisoners. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: what do you think about that? >> well, you know, if the lord lay it on the governor's heart, the inmates who work at the government around the world who have been working at the governor's mansion, be they, whatever they been doing their chores at the governor's mansion, yes, i think they should be pardoned. everybody deserved a second chance in life. >> martin savidge tracked him down and conducted that exclusive interview. martin, explain more on how he described his relationship with the governor and how important he thinks it was to his release. >> reporter: you know, he said it was really significant to his release. he describes the trustee program where he gets to be in the governor's mansion as pretty much a given. once you get into the program, it is known you will get a pardon. look at the cozy relationship he has with the state of mississippi. the man who has his fate in his hands. he gets to talk to him on an average basis. the average mississippi citizen has no access like that. but a man who murdered his own wife, shooting her in the back apparently gets to talk to the governor every day and make a point about how changed a man he is. >> martin, we were last night. the state was trying to find and track down these guys who had been pardoned and released. now there is a question about whether or not they'll be rounded up and returned to prison. you were able to find hill. how is the state of mississippi doing finding the others? >> reporter: they're doing better than they had been in the last couple days. of the four murders that were pardoned and then released, three are now back in custody. at least they've been served the orders that they have to now appear in court. one is still missing. his whereabouts are unknown. another one of those murderers was found out of state of neighboring alabama. but this is the one they're worried about. they're asking for the public, if anybody knows or has seen him, please notify the authorities. as for those pardons, the several hundred of them, the attorney general's office says most of them now they believe did not meet the criteria of the constitution of the state of mississippi. many could be going back to jail. >> a fascinating story. wonderful reporting on the ground. this afternoon, u.s. military officials confirmed this is dicey, navy and coast guard ships have been hawassed by high speed iranian boats in the straits of hormuz. look at this video. the u.s. navy and the coast guard ships, two close encounters with the smaller high speed iranian boats you see there just last week. the iranian boats did not respond to initial warnings creating some tense moments when the small iranian boats got pretty close. in the end, cooler heads prevailed in what is a transit point. let's map this out for you. increasing security stakes in the straits of hormuz. 17 million barrels a day. roughly 1/5 of the daily oil trade goes right through here, through the straits of hormuz. you see iran here. the united arab emirates, the persian gulf. this is what we're worried about here. see the red lines? this is what is known to be the range of surface to ship missiles. from iran, it could come out into the water. the blue line is the end of the barrier. the maritime waters boundaries and these yellow lines, these are the key shipping lanes. another concern especially, you just saw the small boats buzzing. the navy and coast guard vessels, the united states and others know iran has been working on its ability to use mines, to drop mines in here. you could disrupt shipping and u.s. military exercises, u.s. military ships in the area. high stakes here. the cnn correspondent joins us now. if iran does something more provocative and what we just saw was pretty provocative, what is the united states big to do? >> the defense secretary said he is big to do to keep the, that he is willing to do whatever it takes to he said kite open. they are keeping aircraft and troops in the region. the president would have to order them into action but the military clearly has the ability on the high seas from the skies to take that military action to keep the strait open. but you know, when you look at that video, you see an equal concern. what if one of those speedboats comes right for a coast guard ship? that's plenty prof o >> the escalates in his words, could be dangerous. the iran crisis surfaced on the presidential campaign. it was the very first thing mitt romney brought up when he started criticizing president obama this morning at a stop in south carolina. >> internationally, the greatest threat this nation will face over the coming decade is a threat of a nuclear iran. and he failed to put in place crippling sanctions against iran. he failed to speak up for the people in iran when they were in the streets, asking for freedom. he was silent. he failed to put in place a series of military option that's would convince iran that the course they're following is not one that will be acceptable to the world or to us. >> another campaign, governor romney is not responding to his opponents' campaign on his business record. in florida, newt gingrich kept hammering away, challenging romney to prove his claim that while the ceo, he created 100,000 jobs. >> to question a presidential candidate's claim that he created jobs is not to attack capital i. it is to question a candidate. and the idea that some candidate can make a claim and then yell foul the minute you ask him to prove it is just silly. i mean, if he can't stand up today and defend his claim, how is he going to stand up to obama in the fall? >> getting a little testy as you can see. south carolina's presidential primary eight days away. a brand new poll indicates the race is tightening. governor romney is leading gingrich 29% to 25%. ron paul in the hunt. a strong third at 20%. a new cnn/orc poll nationwide shows romney with a more comfortable lead. 34% to given's 18. the national polls showing a boot. our cheat political analyst gloria borger is here. you look at this on the ground in south carolina. the romney campaign shows it is not that tight but tightening. we'll have a pretty interesting week. >> it shows that first of all, the negative ads against romney are probably having some effect. if you believe this poll. and don't forget, south carolina, 9.9% unemployment. newt gingrich is saying that romney is essentially a corporate raider. he did not create 100,000 jobs. in fact, he killed jobs. and he is trying to put romney on the defensive there and in fact romney went up with ads talking about bain capital and how bain capital created jobs. >> we're watching this race. momentum matters. gingrich went down a lot when he was hit with the ads in iowa and you see it showing up in the poll. we asked favorable or unfavorable. look at this. look at this right here. just romney and gingrich. now governor romney has a 67% favorable rating. 67%. two-thirds of all republicans rate him favorably, up from 55% in november. and look at speaker gingrich. the flip side. only 49 give him a favorable rating. 61%, unfavorable. number one, romney is getting a bounce from winning and number two, speaker gingrich is seeing a definite toll from the attacks. >> it's interesting. gingrich tried to have it both ways and it didn't work for him either way. when he was positive in iowa, it didn't work for him. when he was negative in new hampshire, it didn't work for him. now it may be working for him a little more in south carolina, but it's funny because gingrich branded himself and then rebranded himself. and people did not like this sort of negative newt gingrich that they saw, although it may in fact be having an impact in south carolina. so very hard to tell right now. >> we'll watch. it will be interesting to see if our new national numbers change at all. our national results show that governor romney is benefiting. again from winning, people like to support a winner. big issues. the economy and the budget deficit. those matter most to republicans. what you would think might be governor romney's greatest vulnerability, herring. he has romney care, the individual mandate in massachusetts. if you look at the polling, who can best handle the economy? governor romney wins that one quite handily. if you look at the polling, who can best handle the budget deficit, romney followed by ron paul followed by newt gingrich. here's the one that surprised me. who can best handle health care? a poll of republicans, remember. 30% say romney, 20% say gingrich. so it's been a while since they've been sharply critical of romney on health care. at the beginning of the season, that's what it is all about. >> if you would have asked me a year ago whether mitt romney would be attacked on capitalism or health care, i would have said to you, are you crazy? of course he'll be attacked -- >> a capitalist. >> he'll be attacked on health care. now if you look at the poll, mitt romney has supported mandates. newt gingrich is second in that survey and he at one point in his career supported health care mandates. what do tea partiers hate the most? health care mandates. this shows that romney is successful and that people are beginning to trust him a little bit more on the issues. and that they believe him when he says, what i did at the state level, i wouldn't have done at the federal level. >> perhaps we'll learn. let's let a few more states vote this year than the 2010 cycle. you have a great weekend. a federal judge rejected an effort by four of the republican candidates to get on virginia's march 6. the primary ballot. only the mitt romney and ron paul campaign had enough signatures to qualify. the others knew the rules months ago in essence, played the game, lost and are now complaining the rules were unfair. the pentagon warns iran not to cross the line. next, the dangerous stakes. plus, monday is martin luther king day. in washington, the celebration began today. >> i have a dream this nation will lies up and live out the true meaning of its creed. people with a machine. what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. take the privileged investing tools of wall street and make them simple, intuitive, and available to all. distill all that data. make information instinctual, visual. introducing trade architect, td ameritrade's empowering web-based trading platform. take control of your portfolio today. trade commission-free for 60 days, and we'll throw in up $600 when you open an account. during a funeral for a nuclear scientist during a bombing, the israelis admit nothing. leon panetta said the united states was not involved in that killing. but secretary panetta gave the iranians a very clear warning. >> that means we have to keep all options on the table. all options on the table. and clearly there are those areas that for us are red lines. number one, we cannot allow them to develop a nuclear weapon. that's one. number two, we cannot tolerate iran blocking the straits of hormuz. >> let's check in now with fareed zakaria. this has gone on for some time. when you draw red lines, that means you better be ready to enforce them. especially when it comes to the immediate talk over the straits of hormuz. where is this headed? >> there is no question we are seeing an escalation that could be dangerous. there's an old saying in international relations. there are two things that are very expensive. threats when they fail and promise when's they succeed. and what you're doing with a red line, you're doing a bit of both. you're saying if you cross this red line, we guarantee there will be an american reaction. i think that the feeling on the straits of hormuz is that we would be able to reopen the straits but at considerable cost and with a considerable amount of not national tension. so oil prices would go up to $200, $250 a barrel. it would be a very, very complicated thing. now i think that the iranians understand that and they are backing down and they understand that they're closing the straits of hormuz would be madness for them because it would shut down effectively all of iran's imports and exports. it would make it impossible, any kind of iranian trade them would be the country most hurt by it. but we are also ratcheting up the pressure in a way where it isn't clear what the end game is here. iran is not going to cry uncle and simply say, all right, we surrender. >> and when the administration talks more tough on this side, we know we have a president of the united states and defense secretary. we have one voice of the government. in iran, there is always the question. mahmoud ahmadinejad have the full support of the ayatollahs and vice versa. when you have a warning and a blunt warning from the united states, is there a risk that it could play out differently within the competing factions inside iran? >> for precisely the reason that you describe, john, it is very unlikely that you will see some kind of major concession. the minute one of these actors makes a concession in iran, let's say mahmoud ahmadinejad says maybe we should talk to the americans. maybe we should negotiate. maybe we should freeze. his opponents within the system will say that's appeasement. that's selling out. the system is too fractured. too divided to imagine them making a big strategic decision like that. that we are going to make major concessions. i think there is a desire to find some way out within the iranian system. and we have to see if we can find an effective and clever diplomatic way to meet with that desire. in other words, keep the pressure on but try to chart some path out. otherwise you're just building up pressure and the whole thing could explode because of one miscalculation, a ship in the gulf in the straits of hormuz that somebody stops either ad vertently or inadvertently. the price of gas at the pump could go up to $5 or $6 a barrel very easily. >> it is that economic reason, is that the lever here? because both sides have the interest. there is no love lost between the two governments. no senior level communication between the two governments. you do have these two pretty cold facts. 35% of all seaborne traded oil passes through the strait. 1.1 million comes to the united states. 14 crude oil tankers through the strait. do both sides try to find a quiet way to step back? both sides know their economies would be crushed if this escalates. >> i think so. that's what you have to hope. this is a kind of version of mutual assured destruction. were they to try to block the strait, every buyer of that oil, there is something that means that these were. >> reporter: now unforeseen circumstances in which we do not have to pay you any more money. and that would be a huge blow to the iranian economy. it would also obviously be a crippling blow to the xhern economy. >> a complicated and consequential mess you might say. thank you. >> a pleasure. this was supposed to be day apple's latest iphone went on sale in china. but things didn't go the way anyone planned. >> security are running down here now. the mob continuing to follow them. >> we'll tell you why everyone is so angry. >> plus, candidates often talk about their roots. what about where they live now. ahead, how does your home match up? ♪ do you know what you want? ♪ while beating up on yesterday ♪ ♪ rolling on, moving on [ female announcer ] the space of a small suv. and more ways to connect to your world. ♪ do you know what you are? the all-new prius v from toyota. ♪ do you know? hi. looking good! you've lost some weight. thanks! you noticed! you know these clothes are too big now, so i'm donating them. not going back there again. good for you! how'd you do it? eating right, whole grain. whole grain? whole grain. [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't... multigrain cheerios has five whole grains and 110 lightly sweetened calories per serving... more grains. less you! multigrain cheerios. more grains. less you! have i got a surprise for you! yeah, it's new [ barks beneful healthy fiesta. gotta love the protein for muscles-- whoo-hoo! and omega-rich nutrition for that shiny coat. ever think healthy could taste so good? [ woman announcing ] new beneful healthy fiesta. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. here's the latest news you need to know right now. >> happy friday. news to tell you about. a cnn investigation finds radiology students have been cheating on exams for years. here's how it works. students split up test questions to memorize. then share the answers with the next round of test takers. some argue it isn't cheating because they still learn the information. 139 doctors were suspended for sharing test questions in 2010. a lesson learned right there for all of you. other news, monday is martin luther king day. he would have been 83 this year. >> with this faith he will go to the mountain of despair, a stun of hope. with this faith -- >> today's fifth grade students from one of the schools recited the speech on the stems of the memorial where king himself delivered the speech in 1963. how wonderful is that? and for some of the republican presidential candidates, that white mansion at 1600 pennsylvania avenue here in washington, that one, of course, not that one but another one, it might not seem like such a move up. what i am a talking about here? in about ten minutes we'll show you the homes the candidates currently live in now. see how yours compares to theirs. what do you think? >> i'm dying to look. you know, politicians are just like us. >> the common man. they're just like us, john. >> all right. looking forward to that. you may have noticed we haven't shown you any of ron paul's campaign stops today. that's because there weren't any. coming up, where and what he's up to. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life, or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life, so get the insurance responsible drivers like you deserve. call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? the truth about president obama's new plan to streamline the federal government. let's just say timing is everything. >> also, ohm oprah explains why we won't be seeing her on the campaign trail with the president. and you've ever forgotten your change at the airport check point, the tsa says thank you. it all adds up to big bucks. first a rare black eye for apple. today's launch of an iphone in china turned into a riot. we see what happened and why. >> reporter: it wasn't supposed to be like this. eggs pelted at the apple store. people furious. tempers reac