school, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh. this is so great to watch. in overtime. i'm just going to sit here and watch this, yes, touchdown. it's over. all that, plus our all-star panel. and actor john ratsburger is going to call us, involves getting america working again. and, of course, you're going to want to set your dvrs for 8:00 a.m. exclusive interview with aretha franklin, the queen of soul. "starting point" starts right now. that's it. that's that i was telling you about. bring it right here. the putzen challenge shs they put this in front of you. watch out. make a little space. this is french fries, canadian cheese curd and then a spicy gravy on top. this platter they sell for $19.95 but the challenge is if you can finish the entire thing, five pounds, you get to have it for free. today i'm going to say, will, this is -- clear some stuff out of your way to help you out. >> right. all right. >> by the end of the show, if you can -- here you go. i have a fork. here, a spoon. if you can finish that i'm going to buy it for you for $20. >> does it come with its own cardiologist? >> it does. they take you right to the e.r. >> all right. we got a countdown, of course, to new hampshire primary this morning. lots to talk about. let's talk about the suffolk university poll. it shows mitt romney with a pretty comfortable lead but it's been dropping fourth day in a row. ron paul and jon huntsman has been gaining a little. and then american research group poll showing mitt romney ahead 26%. huntsman surging in second place. the debates started turning on mitt romney. take a listen. >> if his record was so great as governor of massachusetts why didn't you run for re-election? >> i went to massachusetts to make a difference. i didn't go there to begin a political career running time and time again. i made a difference. i put in place the things i wanted to do. >> can we drop a little bit of the bologna. you dropped out of office. been out of state preparing to run for president. you didn't have this interlude of citizenship while you thought about what to do. >> well, these debates, very interesting. weekend full of debates. let's introduce you to the folks we're talking with this morning. lloyd mcdonald, nice to you, sir. feel free to dig in and eat any of the fries you want. >> i don't think i need it. >> luke hanes is was as well. cnn senior political analyst and national journal editor, ron browns seen. and he zipped in at the last second. a little out of breath. political analyst for dmur, doing another job helping us out this morning as well. from washington, d.c. we have democratic strategist and former hillary clinton adviser in d.c. nice to have you all. let's begin. let's talk polls. so when you see this movement wayne, i feel like i should call you mr. mcdonald because i know all these guys. have a french fry, mr. chairman. went you look at these polls that show this incremental movement, how are you feeling about this changes? ahead of a weekend to attack mitt romney, two debates. did it work? >> it's not unusual for polls to tighten as election day nears. and i'm neutral. i have to be neutral as party chairman but certainly mitt romney remains in a very solid position. the debate yesterday morning at the capital center in concorde was aggressive debate, much more so than saturday night. governor romney held his own. he hedefended his positions wel against all of them. >> basically a fight for second place now? >> yeah. possibly fight for third place. you've got a variety of polls which are different trajectory. the suffolk has him going down, shows romney maintaining his lead. the key question coming out of new hampshire, we had coming out of iowa, will anyone merge as the single clear alternative to mitt romney? you could have a result here that further moves you away from that dynamic if -- especially if ron paul is able to come in a strong second. much less if jon huntsman come in third. then candidates elevated by iowa. rick santorum being depressed in new hampshire. and muddle that benefits mitt rom sni. >> does any of that matter? the romney is in ahead in iowa, just a squeak, and then able to win here in new hampshire which is looking like any poll shows him a good lead. in south carolina he's strong. ultimately it doesn't matter? >> brings up a good point. what are we playing here for in new hampshire and iowa? we're not playing for delegates, media buzz. he's running away with that conversation. he's the one we're talking about. i was talking to some of the people in diner here about who they liked. talk about mitt romney because they know he's electoral. he's going to win. >> blown away when you talk about eight points in iowa. can you use words like -- sorry. sorry. sorry. >> the thing about romney is he's maintained his position throughout this. people have been up and down, bachmann, perry, santorum. but romney has consistently been the guy to beat. >> 75%, even if you look at your best polls, 60% are not supporting him. run away is not really a word i would use. >> that is the challenge we're talking about. the two things that have been true all year, last january, are that there's a substantial portion of the republican party, probably a majority, resistant to mitt romney and yet no one has been able to lastingly consolidate that majority behind one candidate. and if you come out of iowa and new hampshire, really with possibly the same story. mitt romney continuing to face resistance but yet no one being able to say, yeah, i am that single one. rick santorum, if he can somehow come in second here, where there's no indication he is, might have been able to get in that position in south carolina. but the risk is you go to south carolina, more conservative state and see that conservative vote fragment and romney was able to win what john mccain did, a victory in south carolina that really puts him in a great position. >> what's going to help mitt romney is iowa and new hampshire don't get presidents. they whittle down the field. seven candidates to only six. if new hampshire really doesn't whittle down the field because rick santorum is where newt gingrich is, create one candidate, mitt romney, versus five others. >> survives that. >> governor romney -- if governor romney -- >> you said once. we have it on tape. i heard you. >> success continues, whoever the ultimate nominee is, the party is going to unite behind them. >> the party will unite behind them but will the voters unite behind them? that's the $64,000 question. >> he's made a lot of inroads with independents because of his record in massachusetts and some of the other stances he's taken. and number one, issue is jobs and the economy. nobody is strong run issue than mitt romney. >> lets me ask you a question from d.c. you know, one of the narratives out of new hampshire, right, mar marie, is new hampshire loves the underdog. i know the media, we run with that story. flog it and, of course, it was hillary clinton as underdog, down five points in the polls, up three at the end, new hampshire cried in between there. tell me a little bit about that -- yeah, right. it was on the day before. what do you think is the possibilities from the experience that you had as her former, you know, on her campaign formerly? >> well, i think to your point, soledad, and new hampshire voters have said this time and again. they don't like anybody, whether it's the pundits, where it's the polls, or anybody else telling them how they should be voting. and they, i don't think, really care what happened in iowa. i don't think they don't care what really has happened in the debates or what has been, quote, unquote, coronated. i think they are in this to make the decision that they believe is the best one for the country. they believe that is the best one who will either be electable or who they believe represents their values. and there are still a lot of undecided voters here. is it enough to be able to change the trajectory in terms of the buzz everybody keeps talking about that mitt romney has been able to produce? i don't know. but that is what is so terrific about politics. a day is a lifetime. and i have to point out one thing for the panel, because i think it's so interesting in these past debates, and people have talked about this. no one has been able to really go after romney on so much of what i believe he's vulnerable on. this past debate, i think, was the one where his rivals went at him in a way that they hadn't before. >> you know it's coming. they've got a day and i think -- >> exactly. >> i'm sorry. yesterday. well, you know what -- >> soledad, you know, i always say this. the one thing that's predictable about new hampshire is that it is very unpredictable. our poll last night shows that 56% -- 56% of likely primary voters are still making up their minds this morning. >> first, we have to get to some of the other stories making news. christine has a look at that while will digs into our putzen french fries. >> yeah. >> that's why. >> christine, good morning. >> and if he can eat all of that, that's a news flash. thanks. new this morning, five months after he was arrested in iran, an iranian court convicted american exmarine amir hekmati sentenced him to death. they say he's falsely accused and demanding his immediate release. this morning, a major drug recall novartis is pulling certain over the counter me medicines off store shelves because of chipped and broken pills and packaging mix-ups. it clunds bottles of excedrin, nodoz, gas-x. gabrielle giffords leading the crowd in a pledge of allegiance in a candlelight vigil in tucson. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> one year ago a shooting rampage claimed six lives and wounded 13, including giffords. all right. a woman cheats death after her bungee cord snaps. it happened in zimbabwe. it was caught on tape. wow. the cord snapped about 30 yards over crocodile-infested waters. amazingly, she suffered no major injuries. and can you feel it? we're paying more at the pump. according to the lundberg survey, gas prices jumped 12 cents since the middle of last month to an a. national average of $3.36 a gallon. let's check in on the markets. u.s. stock futures trading mixed. dow futures up a bit. s&p is flat right now. nasdaq future is up a bit. tug of war about optimism from the u.s. after the jobs report on friday but lingering concerns over europe's debt crisis. all right. lsu and alabama set for an epic rematch in tonight's bcs championship game. lsu handed alabama the only loss of the year back in november in overtime in the first meeting the stakes are way higher tonight in the superdome. cnn's joe carter is in new orleans. good morning, joe. >> hey, good morning. yeah, whether you like the bcs or you want to blow it up it certainly has number one versus number two going at it for all the marbles tonight. lsu had one of the most remarkable seasons in some time taking on alabama. lsu looking for the second title in four years. alabama their second tight until three years. the two went at it in november. really a defensive struggle. ended in a 9-6, lsu win in overtime. i'll tell you, lsu had incentive tonight, not only will they be trying to win their second national championship basically at home here in the superdome but if les miles beats nick sabin tonight, he will get a million dollar bonus for each of the next six years which remain in his contract. it's a lively atmosphere here in new orleans. not particularly at the moment because it's obviously so early. but we saw last night lsu and alabama, both sets of fans are here and getting rowdy. it's easy to have fun on bourbon street, soledad. >> you know, i love nor. you know that is my favorite city in the whole world. the poll is trying to drown me out here. i was supposed to go to this game and then, of course, this show got moved so i'm not going. let me talk to you for a minute a about tim tebow. awesome game. 80 yards. >> wasn't it? >> he's just amazing. yeah. just amazing. >> you know -- >> it really -- >> tebow's become, in my opinion, the greatest story the nfl has seen this season. you know, i can get the aaron rodgers thing, packers thing, great. but tim tebow far and away literally the best story nfl has got going this season. on the internet last night. i thought tebow was going to break twitter. but, yeah, tebow, he's proving all his critics wrong. here he is in the playoffs. wasn't even supposed to be a starting quarterback and now taking on the tom brady. great story to follow all year. >> it is. but you know what i like about it best, always saying is that football is supposed to be fun. there's other important stuff but football is supposed to be fun. thank you, joe. appreciate it. we got a new suffolk university tracking poll. we were talking a moment ago about the one from two days ago. now we have a new poll that's going to -- there it is. look how it tracks. you can see january 5th and 6th, romney at 39%. move to your right there, now at 33% in this suffolk poll. ron paul started 17%. gone up a little bit. stayed over the last couple of days. 20%. i think it's huntsman is the other story to watch there. couple of days ago at 9%. now up to 13%. it still puts romney in a big league. we'll talk about what polls like this could mean for what the front-runners are going to do. still ahead, going to talk to senator rand paul. of course, he is outcome paining for his dad. we're going to talk to him in a little bit about his plans. and then we're talking about penn state. they have named a new coach, and everybody is up in arms because he is not a penn stater. they're mad. plus, our get real. there's a new book out that says the white house had a little secret party, however, the secret party was so secret that they actually have video of it and whose organizations around the country covered it and it was on the web as well. we'll talk about some secrets ahead on "get real." when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home. penn state, welcome back, everybody. before we talk about pen state i want to show you a little bit of the inside. we have this giant plate of fries in front of i. will has had one bite. this is a specialty. it's called -- >> i don't remember. something challenging. >> it's something hard to pronounce, putine. it's french fries, then you have the canadian cheese curd and then spicy gravy. i haven't tried it yet. will has. >> it's excellent. let's talk a little bit about penn state, of course, embroiled in that sex accuse scanned with jerry sandusky kind of taking a step forward, they have a new head coach from bill o'brien. he's an outsider though. he is not a former penn state player and not a coach. all the fallout from the jerry sandusky child molestation scandal people are talking about today. joining us this morning is brian scott, played for penn state and now buffalo bills. gentlemen, it's nice to see you. brian, let's start with you. reaction after the hiring of mr. o'brien, no relation to me, i should point out, was overwhelmingly negative. how do you feel about it? >> i actually -- i'm excited with the choice that they made. and you know, i understand the backlash that kind of came from some of the former players. but i'm happy with it. i think the board of trustees -- what do you understand about it? >> el wiwell, i believe they we between a rock and a hard place. having to choose someone from outside the university as they did, i think it was the best decision for them. >> so, steve, obviously it's a challenge to try to find a coach after 47 years of jo paterno. here's what bill o'brien said in his press conference. >> i'm here now. i'm the football coach here now. it's my job as the head football coach at penn state to have the best football program both on and off the field. >> do you think that it's enough, to have a new coach who has no connection to the school or does it require, by it i guess moving forward require cleaning out all together? obviously there are a lot of folks who are involved in the program, involved with joe paterno, worked for jerry sandusky, who are still there? >> soledad, this is a long-term process. if anyone thinks that hiring bill o'brien is going to turn this thing around, they're dilutional because whether it's fair or not, whether people think it's right or not, everyone at penn state who is remotely connected, whose name is likely to come up, one of these many, many trials involving sandusky and these horrific, disgusting charges, if you will, everyone is going to get pulled into this. my opinion is, everyone has to go. you have to clean house. it's not just on the football side. it's not just on the academic side. everyone connected to penn state on the administrative side in terms of the board, and people are going to say that's ridiculous. that's not what the court of law says. that's not due process. we're talking about brand reputation and management. i have a 19-year-old an when he was making a decision of going to school, say penn state is going to that school? you cannot tell me that does not tarnish the ability of penn state to recruit, not just for football but for academics and the best students. >> we've seen that already, steve, right, bryan, we've seen it. the three topics have changed their minds about heading to penn state. when does that end? they need a year, two years, they just need to win and then no one will care? what is it? >> i really don't know. i don't have an answer for that. but obviously, you know, we're trying to move forward. the sooner we can do that the better. and i think, you know, to be upset with the hiring of coach o'brien and to kind of, you know, stay where we are is a disservice not just to penn state alum but also to the organization itself, to the football program, and to the young men that will continue -- that they want to attend there. i think we just, you know m to move from it to give them a fair chance at it. >> soledad, that doesn't -- >> bryan, steve, you know what, we're going to stop there. we will continue to talk about this because clearly we could talk about it all day. you know, where is the line? where do you stop? players, the receptionist? i mean, how far do you go? thanks, guys. appreciate that conversation. still ahead, breaking news out of iran regarding country's nuclear program. plus, an american there on trial has now been sentenced to death. we'll update you on his status. and the iranian president is in venezuelan. and "get real," new book coming out claims to reveal very juicy hidden secrets of the obama administration. no juicy and hidden you can find them online. and rand paul, talking about his dad's success in the polls. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 let's talk about fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 there are atm fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 account service fees. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 and t