good morning. welcome. i'm soledad o'brien. welcome to "starting point." we are coming to you from manchester, new hampshire. we are coming to you live from the airport diner. five day ways from primary day here. our starting point this morning is something that you are bogey to hear on the combine trail today which is the future of the american military. just about four hours president obama will reveal his plan for a slimmed-down force that will no longer be fighting two full-blown ground wars. digging into the details and talking a lot about it this morning. also, mitt romney, does he have a tea party problem? they didn't go away in iowa but could new hampshire be different? we are going to ask the tea party favorite and romney supporter christine o'donnell this morning. and despite the sparring back in 2008 in this very state, senator john mccain is now backing mitt romney. he is going to join thus morning to tell us why. then oops, we deported your teenage daughter. a family is asking how the government accidently september a missing runaway teenager, 15 years old to colombia. even though she doesn't speak the language and doesn't know anybody there. that plus our political panel that will make you stai say get real. "starting point" begins right now. we start with the military this morning. bracing for sues mick changes and cuts. president obama will join leon panetta at the pentagon. lit happen later this morning. going to discuss the strategy for cutting billions of dollars from the budget. this is going to include these things. number one, no longer fighting would ground wars simultaneously. removing 4,000 troops from europe. and cutting at least 47,000 marines and troops within the next five years. the president's opponents say this is coming at a time when china's military is growing. when iran is growing its nuclear program and middle east is more volatile than any time before. cnn's chris lawrence has been talking to his source. we will find out what the president will be saying today. chris is live for us at the pentagon. good morning to you, chris. first, why the shift? >> bottom line, soledad, money. when you have to cut half a trillion dollars and possibly even a full trillion dollars out of the budget, you can't have everything on the plate. so -- as one official told me, look, if you think the greatest danger to the u.s. is right around the corner, then you keep the military -- keep the army size high right now. and big. but if you think the greater threat is going to grow over the next five, ten, 15 years, then you keep that money in research and very many and in weapons systems and things like that. and that's basically what this has come down to, a choice. knowing that the military can no longer buy and fund everything, having to make some tough calls and you mentioned the big change, not being capable of fighting two large ground defenses, being able to fight one and deploying forces to try to hold off another. >> chris, the president will make this announcement, talking to reporters at the pentagon. how unusual is that? what's the explanation for that setting? >> yeah. the people i spoke to said they can't really remember the president, any president, doing something like this. obviously it is a political year that's going to play into any calculation. this is a fairly big strategic shift. so the president is going to come here and he is going to sort of outline the policy and strategy and then the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and defense secretary panetta will answer our questions and get more into the nuts and bolts of it. but, again, i think touched on one of the big points of it. you know, a smaller military, you know, the military is more likely going to go back to what it was pre9/11 in terms of manpower because the pentagon simply can't afford to pay all of these soldiers, marines, over a length of time. when you start adding up health care, retirement costs, housing, pay, bonuses, it does not add up. >> chris lawrence, thanks. i-want to bring in general mark kimmitt, retired general. nice to have you with us this morning. let's begin with sort of the numbers that would just heard chris talking about. what do you think is literally going to be the impact if we have fewer boots on the ground in terms of safety and in terms of overall military for the united states? >> well, pit -- i like many of my colleagues remain concerned that a budget-driven exercise on our nation's security is not the way to move forward. it is reasonable and rational to talk a hard look at the 21st century responsibilities, threats, and capabilities we need to address those lets. but to go into an exercise with the intent and express goal of reducing the amount of money this you are paying, in fact, you may take a look at the threats, you may take a look at the requirements, you make take a look at the responsibilities as you reshape the military, and determine that you need more money rather than less. understanding the fiscal constraints of these days, that's a tough sell. it is a dangerous world out there in -- our enemies are going to be watching us carefully and our friends are going to be watching us carefully, too. p we are going to honor our commitments or not. >> how much of this is sort of rethinking of the economic reality which all americans know and also rethinking of strategic changes in how wars are really fought these days? it is not like how world war ii was fought. >> you are absolutely right. there are new threats out there. cyber attack, we never anticipated that we would have to fight our way in and out of the strait of hormuz. we have certainly new realities out there and we asked the military to do much, much more. haw mantarian operations, peacekeeping operations in the balkans. standing guard on the north korean border. all of these are different in the -- than the threats we faced and requirements we faced in the last century and my view remains we ought to be very, very careful before we start shedding missions and asking our military to do less. >> let's take a look at another country's budget, china. when you look at the gdp china comes in right after the united states. i-want to look at military spending. $91.5 billion in 2011. that's almost 1% rise over the year before. the year before, 2010, where they spent $77.9 billion, 7.5% rise over the year before, 2009. what should americans take when they look at this figure from china? >> well, what they ought to be looking at is a clear desire on the part of chinese to pay a lrn larger role in the world as reflected in the military capabilities. that will incur challenges to u.s. dominance in that region. i think that's why this administration is starting to focus more and more on that region. and all of those increased expenditures are going to result in a requirement for us to take a hard look at how we are going to maintain our interests in those -- that region. >> general mark kimmitt for us this morning. thanks for talking with us. appreciate. >> it thank you. president obama will be announcing that plan for the pepg after a decade of war. and it includes, as we mentioned, mass cuts. confidentrage of the president's brief which happens at 10:50 a.m. eastern time right here on cnn. round two for the republicans. it is all happening right here in new hampshire. this state holds its primary on tuesday and unlike iowa, new hampshire should be a lot kinder to mitt romney. in the latest poll the former massachusetts governor holds a commanding lead in the granite state. he has 47% of the vote. 30 points ahead of the second place finisher in the poll, ron paul. on wednesday, romney got an endorsement from the man who won new hampshire in 2008. john mccain, who had this to say about his former rival. take a listen. >> i guarantee you one thing. no one will ever say that mitt romney will lead from behind. he will lead from in front the way ronald reagan did and not lead from behind which is what this president is doing. >> romney has a support of the republican establishment here in new hampshire. picking up endorsements from senator ayotte, governor john sunu sununu. >> you can get all the doles and mccains in the world as romney probably will. but in the end, nobody cares. >> well, my next guest is hoping her endorsement does matter especially to tea party members. former u.s. senate candidate christine o'donnell joins thus morning. she is in philadelphia. welcome to "starting point." nice to have you and thanks for being with us. you just heard, christin hunts smoound bite and enlisted him the establishment will weigh in and weigh in on behalf of mitt romney and big giant shrub is the way he sees it. how do you see it? >> well, you look at the fact that governor romney has earned not only my endorsement but governor nikki haley's endorsement. figures who have had to fight the establishment. and the resounding message in that is that he has broad base appeal and that, you know, based on the feedback we have been getting from my supporters, it truly is causing people to take a second look because they know that based on governor haley's record, my record, we would not sell out like that. i took a close look at governor romney's record. i brought all my concerns directly to his campaign and they were able to address them and -- >> what were some of those concerns? >> you know, that -- >> what were some of those concerns he -- >> you know, i -- the impression that's trying to get out there is he's a big spending moderate and the reality is that he was automobile to balance the budget in massachusetts without raising taxes and he took a bold approach to cutting spending there. obviously one of biggest concerns of many americans is obama care and, you know to compare the massachusetts health care bill to obama care is like comparing, you know, motel 6 to the four seasons. and also, governor romney has clearly articulated a strong understanding for how destructive full implementation of obama care truly will be and he's pledged over and over to make stopping obama care in its tracks his number one priority. then he was able to lay out a plan on how he will do that. >> let's talk about tea partiers across -- my apologies. tea partiers across the country. if you look at how governor romney did in iowa, actually -- new hampshire, sorry, new hampshire, when they asked people primaries -- tea party members, primary voters, choice for nominee, governor romney does very well. i have a picture of that. 42%. leads the pack very, very well. when you look at how it actually went in the state we just left which was iowa, it is actually rick santorum that leads the pack at 29% and governor romney is down at 19%. isn't that big giant challenge not only does he have to overcome but nodes to you overcome it? what will you do? >> well, a couple of things on that. first of all, governor romney earned a lot of the teavangelical support as some people are calling it. he has the infrastructure to get his message directly to the voters. when it comes to candidates like is an tore sxum huntsman, you know, it is hard to stay a step ahead when you are busy catching up. santorum, god bless him, getting a lot of support right now. but in the short time between new hampshire, south carolina, and florida, can he build the infrastructure, can he get his message out before others define him? i think that's going to be his biggest challenge whereas people know that governor romney is ready to hit the ground running and challenge this massive billion dollar obama machine that is already, you know, trying to outorganize the republican party. that's the only way obama can win. >> look forward for me -- look forward to me in south carolina for just a second. here's what a woman named karen martin, head of the spartanburg tea party. do i not personally know anyone that does not despise mitt romney. this is her quote. and doesn't hate the idea of him being our nominee. that's a lot of strong words, despise and hate and she leads the tea party in spartanburg. >> right. well, based on information that i have got, e-mails i have received from some of my supporters in south carolina, she's wrong. one thing you have to keep in mind is that there's this visceral response from certain people who are just getting access to the media and, again, evidenced by the fact that governor romney was able to win over some of that support in iowa shows that that is simply not true. and, you know, i hope that leader begins to take a look at governor romney because has the class, courage and convictions to stand up for some truly conservative principles in a liberal state like massachusetts and that's overlooked. but another thing going into south carolina that we have to keep in mind is that there is an unknown factor, this election cycle. when candidates win states leading up to super tuesday, not all of the states are winner takes all. that's delegates are going to be split. we don't know how that's going to impact the process as candidates try to get that, you know, 1,150 delegates. south carolina may not have the historical preference it did. >> christine o'donnell with us this morning. thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> our pleasure. senator john mccain is joining us live in the next half hour. right here on "starting point." still to come, rick santorum who is surging after iowa. campaign contributions are pouring in. but with success comes more scrutiny. there may be a few skeletons or certainly things he's said in the former senator's closet. we will take a closer look. the teenage girl from texas who ran away from home and somehow wound up being deported to colombia. an american citizen and does not speak a word of spanish. we will hear from her horrified mother. something you have probably never seen before. a soccer goalie scoring a goal. from there. coughs, sneezing, fevers?ow i re tylenol: me, too. and nasal congestion. nyquil:what? tissue box (whispering): he said nasal congestion... nyquil: i heard him. anncr vo: tylenol cold multi-symptom nighttime relieves nasal congestion... nyquil cold & flu doesn't. breakfast being made hear at the airport diner. welcome back. i'm soledad o'brien. we are live in manchester, new hampshire, this morning. in five days votedlers get to go to the polls to pick their gop nominee, political panel to start with this morning from washington, d.c., editor of the national journal. also cnn contributor rick joins us. here in manchester p. julianna bergeron, member of the new hampshire gop executive committee. james, political analyst important our affiliate wmur. nice to have you all. james, let's start with you. we will hear from president obama announcing major cuts and shifts. what's the impact going to be on the race? >> for the new hampshire primary probably not all that much. but when it comes to the general election, new hampshire is still a presidential swing state. the campaign remains here after next tuesday and this is a very big fiscally conservative state. and for that sense, it is going to have impact more on the general election than probably the primary. >> you heard from christine o'donnell who now has been -- really a surrogate for the romney campaign. also john mccain has announced he is throwing his support behind mitt romney. and how will that impact the race here? politically they are on two opposite sides with -- under the gop umbrella. is that a challenge? >> i don't think it is a challenge. i think it will help mitt in the state, you know, more support he gets the stronger his lead which is -- he is running ahead 40% at this point. so i think it is good for him. >> ron brown stein, huffington post had a funny line this morning. they talked about the iowa competition as being a competition of the tallest hobbit which i thought was funny. do you think that's true? two, could new hampshire change all of that? >> and seven dwarfs. it is great to see america mores on to new hampshire. con coring the other hill states before the election over. look, new hampshire -- iowa, it felt to me kind of reaffirmed two things at once. that mitt romney can public beat and that it is going to be very difficult for any one of these can't diets beat him. in a very -- real way, iowa crystallized when we have seen all year. romney is a solid but not spectacular competitor for the more centrist parts of the party. voters that don't identify with the tea party, voters that than don't identify as evangelical christians. 19% of tea party supporters in iowa, 14% of self-identified evangelical christians, less than they got in 2008. there is an opening on the right. the question is whether anyone in the this field is capable of really seizing that by consolidating that support that remains skeptical of romney after iowa as before. >> maria, when you look at a state like iowa, that's nondiverse state, you look at a state like new hampshire, similar thing, in the a very diverse state, in iowa, we know now there is less than 6% turnout for the caucuses, new hampshire is a state that has a million people. people talk about both of these states helping widow down the candidates but in a way is it being winnowed down by states that don't actually represent maybe what your average american if there is such a thing would look like? >> there's no question about that. what we have seen in both parties recently is this that is -- for that process to try to change. you have seen for the democrats, they moved up nevada. for the republicans, they moved up florida. and to your point, i think what is so i-ing coming out of iowa is that none of these candidates, at least in my eyes and what i can see is trying to appeal to the diversity that exists in the country. and you really tried to push mitt romney yesterday on his immigration stances because as we know, that is a very important issue to the latino community. not the number one issue but it is an issue they care about and he was not able to answer the question. frankly, none of the gop candidates have been able to answer the question about how they are going to try to appeal to the growing latino community and we are going to see how that's going to affect their stances in florida but more importantly into the general election. >> soledad, soledad -- >> james, i want to ask a question about the growing power of the latino community is not an issue here. really, in the state of new hampshire. look what are the big issues people are dealing with? you see high foreclosure rates. you see an unemployment rate around 6%. what are the issues that are really the heart of the people who will be going to a primary in five days here? >> the latino community fastest growing in this state, still small. in no stay a perfect reputation. what you do find in new hampshire is this sense of empowerment from voters. they will ask tough questions to these candidates and you saw it yesterday. you saw what the chinese american living in new hampshire at a mitt romney town hall meeting asking pointed questions about her own heritage towards mitt romney. in terms of the issues, no question that there are jobs, jobs, jobs. yes, unemployment rate here is lower. country is at 5.2%. but still, it is jobs in the economy and in secondly, it is for republicans and particularly some independents where barack obama's approval rating is down here. it is who you pick to beat barack obama. >> we are going to take a short break. i-want to thank our panelists. talking about the state of new hampshire. looking forward to the primary in nif days. make sure if you are watching cnn on tuesday night because all eyes will be in new hampshire. you can join wolf blitzer, erin burnett, john king, candy crolly. the best team politically on tv. still ahead right here on "starting point," you want to join