out the door. we're going to talk to a family member of the victims who says they've been left now without any answers. no one is talking to them. and then, a tragedy. i'm not even a really big football fan. that was so sad to watch, the tide rolling over my favorite lsu. of course, they were thrilled because it was revenge approximately we'. we'll talk about that. and former chief white house staff, they're going to talk about the former governor's late surge. texas a&m going to get into it with tebow. all that and much more aheard this morning on "starting point." we begin right now. good morning. welcome. that's what it looks like outside. and chen inside at cha says bacho, the voter, starting earlier in dixon notch. nine registered voters. here's how it turned out. huntsman and romney tied, 2-2. gingrich and paul got one vote apiece. and obama got three votes. we're expecting some new poll numbers this morning from suffolk, university. we've been following the suffolk poll day by day. and the most recent one, romney 13 points ahead of ron paul. huntsman is 20 points behind in third place. and if you look at the american research poll, romney is at 38%. huntsman is at 18%. we're watching the poll numbers. we'll update those for you during this morning. let's get right to dan lothian this morning at a polling center that just opened 1 1/2 minutes ago. i'm going to introduce the rest of the folks we're talking with. we've got david joining us again this morning, will cane from "the blaze" who did not finish breakfast yesterday. hillary rosen is us, ron browns seen from national journal. i'm getting better of getting the lengthy titles in. dan lothian, the polls are open. are you expecting a lot of folks at this early part of the day? >> we are petting a lot of folks. yes, they opened up a short time ago and long line of folks coming here to cast their votes. as you were talking a the polls, we've been looking at who is up and who is down. mitt romney has had a big lead here in the state of new hampshire and the fight has been for second place. now is a chance for the real vote to take place. this no longer a poll. and those undecideds who have been trying figure out who they're going to line up behind will finally come in here and get a chance to cast their vote. a snapshot of how busy this place was in 2008, we're told they had a big, large numbers here. in fact, they ran out of ballots and they had to request more ballots from the city clerk. the numbers at that time, john mccain got 799 votes here. and, of course, mitt romney got 731 votes. not only voters showing up here today though. three of the candidates, romney, gingrich, and huntsman, will also be coming by here to do some last-minute stomping. soledad? >> and it's always amazing because there's a tv camera there and then the candidates show up. amazing. it's stunning. thanks, dan. we're going to include you in this conversation as we turn to our panel. new hampshire is akd second place. romney has been consistently far ahead. >> although we're not only so great at predicting new hampshire. remember what happened in democratic primary. >> every poll shows him ahead by 15 points, really? >> ten-point swing in 2008, too. but i'll give you romney's going to win today. >> then second place. what do we think about? >> first of all, margin will matter. second place will matter and third place will matter. iowa seems to be that romney could be beaten but it wasn't clear whether anybody in the field could actually beat him. new hampshire could give you the same kind of effect. especially if romney's overall vote total is relatively low. show consistent resistance to him. a field having trouble coalescen around one alternative in part because ron paul who has a ceiling on his support really seems to be a blocking back position if he comes in second. >> there's an argument that says having the other people in the field is helping romney. >> absolutely. >> how so? >> well, because fracturing out the alternative vote. as long as romney doesn't have one challenger he remains in a good position. the actual delegates in new hampshire, for that matter iowa, are meaningless. what they're climbing for is your attention, media's attention. >> i'm in. i'm giving attention. >> absolutely. >> piggyback off that. >> second and third. >> will huntsman do enough to remain in the conversation, to remain in the race. and will santorum do so little he falls out of the conversation. >> look toward south carolina. >> yes. >> speaking like santorum and many people have said what a big mistake to focus on new hampshire, he should have gone right to south carolina. he's polling strongly. ultimately you try to see, does it matter by the time you get to south carolina. >> i think the fourth and fifth in this case matters because the question is going to come out of new hampshire is how dead is perry, who is the only person who could have taken this thing away from romney. if perry is in fifth place he's just dead. >> sixth might be good. >> fifth might be good. >> and meanwhile, gingrich who is not in the top three, again, is about to launch the most amazing self emulation in america. >> as he brings down mitt romney, potentially. >> murder suicide. >> that's what i'm saying. >> south carolina clrks is a very regular party machine, when they see someone who cannot possibly win the nomination going after the guy who can, cutting president obama's campaign ads for him, that that is going to hurt gingrich and it's going to -- it is going to lock things up even more. >> i asked mitt romney about this yesterday, his events. the bane attacks really is what everybody is expecting as we head into south carolina. here's what he said. listen. >> newt gingrich is now being funded by a super pact with a bill of something like $5 million to his name and he says he's going to go after your work at bane. >> gee, i thought he apologized for going after my record. wasn't that just a couple weeks ago? i thought it was going to come from the president and the democrats from the left. but instead it's coming from speaker gingrich and apparently others. >> so there are some people who say, right, this is -- he's doing the work, newt gingrich, doing the work of the democrats. another theory that says floated out ahead of time. have the bane conversation ahead of time so that by the time you get into the general election, everyone has heard it. >> well, i think two things. first of all, the reason why this is going to be effective against romney regardless of whether it's in the primary or the general is because romney is out there saying i'm a turn-around guy. i can fix the economy. and here the bane experience is going to be when he turned companies around, people lost their jobs if that's what he would do as president. wait. one more point is that in a primary right now, this is different. the republican establishment, it may not be right about mitt romney on this. rick santorum and newt gingrich and jon huntsman are finding economic populous, blue collar workers who want to vote republican who are uncomfortable with mitt romney's eliteness wall street background. he might -- might be -- >> literally, physically, will is wright ithing in pain. >> people are going to continue to feel that vibe. that's why, you know, it's not necessarily, you know, only killing obama, it may be helping an alternative republican that has a better shot with those voter sfwls you big into your breakfa breakfast. we've got to go to christine romans who has updates with other stories. christine, we know that this morning there was this major speech made by the syrian president assad. what has the reaction been to his speech? >> good morning. president assad making a rare speech this morning and hs blaming the media, soledad, and foreign conspiracies for trying to destabilize his country and trying to get the arab world on his side. meantime, more people are dying. accusing the president of organizer massacre on villages. cnn has been shut out of this country for months. nic robertson though is among the first western journalists allowed in but had his equipment taken away which is why he's joining me on phone from damascus. good morning, nic. what can you tell us about what's happen ing there? >> reporter: christine, demonstrations, anti-government demonstrations are continuing today. nothing that president assad said in a almost two-hour speech will appeal to the opposition. he didn't say that he was going to take his gun, tanks, and soldiers off the streets, which has been a demand of the arab league here. he appealed to his already steady large support base. he's trying to boost the country for the fact that this present situation is going to go on for a long time. that was the first of his speech. and he also put the arab league monitors here in grave danger by saying and vilifying the arab league has trying to destabilize his government here and tliing to overthrow the regime in syria. so we've already heard today that arab league monitors were shut out by them yesterday. kuwaiti press agency saying their monitors were fired at today. i spoke to the head of the arab league mission here in such a sensitive subject he wouldn't comment but he was at that moment, i saw him rushing off for a meeting with the syrian prime minister. christine? >> thank you, nic. talk to you soon. meantime, the u.s. is condemning the iranian's government's death sentence for an american accused of spying for the usa. amir hekmati has 20 days to appeal his case. earlier zain vergee spoke to his family's attorney, a former war crimes ambassador. >> i hear from them easily five, six times a day. as you can imagine, the stress is very, very high. the news is not positive. but we try to reassure them that it's not over. we will engage the government and hope that they will show compassion. and president obama is replacing his gatekeeper chief of staff bill daley abruptly resigned saying he wants to spend more time with his family. is there more to daley's departure than meets the eye? brianna keilar has more on this. >> you're not buying it, going back to chicago in the middle of january in that's something he wants to do? the truth is, there is a little more to it than this. although the white house trying to make it clear that this was daley's desession. it sounds like this wasn't necessarily the best fit and that when it comes to getting the president's ear, there's only so much oxygen in the room. and daley was competing, of course, with top advisers like vallue valerie jarrett and davi axelrod and lacking some of the influence. it appears he didn't have the ability orring bag of the president to pimake some of the staff changes that he might have wanted to make. one of the other issues here has to do with congress in is a white house that has struggled in its relationship with congress. it's not just the republican on think that will tell you that. democrats will as well. and daley was at the he'l helm, course b. and more symbolic snafus in the fall, christine. >> all right. now the budget guy is in charge. brianna keilar in washington. thank you. soledad? >> christine, thank you very much. oh, i can't believe i have to do this segment. alabama wins the bcs championship. i really like the giants, too. i believe you should root for the local team but so that's usually where i put all my focus but i was really cheering for -- in jenlg, local lsu because i also love new orleans. but, wow, yesterday they just killed them. killed them. it's alabama second national tight until three years. it is the first shutout. it's like not only bad, it's terrible. joe carter is in new orleans this morning. at least you're in a nice city this morning. joe, good morning. >> good morning. yes, it's a beautiful city. and critics have said that alabama didn't even belong in this game because they didn't win the division, didn't win the conference championship. they proved their critics wrong last night by dominating the lsu tigers from wire to wire. the defense played amazing. you know the last time these two teams played field goals were a major issue for alabama. they couldn't make very many. last night their defense played so well. they actually kicked five which tied a bowl record. beat lsu 21-0. second national champ wron ship in three years. this one is a little extra special considering what the town of tuscaloosa went through back in april when the tornadoes tore through that town. >> tuscaloosa, it means a lot because, like i said, we lost a lot of people in the tornado. and i told the team before, you know, the season that it's going to mean a lot to a lot of people that we do make it to the championship. and i said before the season, i said, we're going to win the national championship. >> for us to bring back the crystal ball to us ttuscaloosa,t brings a t lolot of hope and dr to tuscaloosa. we have a story about carson tinker, long snapper for alabama. extra special night for him last night because back when those tornadoes ripped through tuscaloosa in april he actually lost his girlfriend. so was it was a bittersweet night for him. girlfriend's parents were in the stands. we'll tell you mow about his story and what it meant for him and her family to win the championship last night. >> that's so sad. the damage there, still there. joe, we'll look for that. we with move on out of this conversation because it's a sad day. ahead this morning, let's just talk about football because i'm so strong in football. the whole show should just be football. my husband is watching like, oh, my god, she's talking football. >> silver lining is they're 1-1. >> yes. >> that is right. but you hear the story. everybody thought tim tebow and the denver broncos next opponent would be the new england patr t patrio patriots. but, no, it turns out the big problem will be the legal department. we'll tell you what that's about. and mississippi governor is pardoning four convicted killers. all of them worked for him at the governor's mansion. families of their victims say they are outraged. we're going to talk to a family member straight ahead. of course, you will recall a terrible anniversary. one year since the tucson shooting rampage. a little girl, kristina taylor green, among those killed that day. her mom has written a new book about her daughter and her daughter's legacy. you're watching "starting point." we have a short break.movi shoot and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. can you enjoy vegetables withe. sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. welcome back, everybody, to "starting point." we just marked one year since the tucson shooting rampage that injured congresswoman gabby giffords and killed six people, including 9-year-old kristina taylor green. she went to see giffords speak. her mom has now written a book at her daughter. i had a chance to talk with her about it. roxanna green joins us this morning. your book is terrific. it's called "as good as she imagine imagined." i have to imagine with you for the one-year anniversary how hard is it for you to deal with the day? >> it's been very challenging. but, you know, my faith has got me through it and my friends and family and a lot of praying. >> i want you to tell me a little bit about kristina taylor. honestly, you -- it's almost unbelievable what a remarkable kid she was at such a young age. she was into sports. she was into politics. tell me a little bit about her. >> well, she was an extraordinary child. she was an exceptional child in every way. she was beyond her 9 years. very what your for her age. she was very patriotic. loved her country. she really wanted to give back, make a difference in her community. and she was aware of people that were less fortunate and she always wanted to do charity work and to help those that weren't as blessed as she was. >> where did that come from? and i can see you getting upset as you talk to me and i'm sorry. but i mean, for people who didn't mknow her. it's going to sound cheesy, but she was a great citizen. what happened that day was she was going to see gabby giffords because she had a love of politics. is that something thatou instilled in her? >> s, i instilled that in grow involved to do charity work with my parents. and i taught both my kids that we have to give back. and so she probably got that from my side of the family. >> she ran for student council, student council president in third grade. did she ever talk to you about what her dreams were for when she was a grown-up, not just fourth grade but when she was a grown-up, did she want to be a politician, which i think sometimes today is not exactly a career path anybody wants, much less a little kid? >> ever since she was 2 years old she always told me she wanted to be a star. and she was very talented. she was a talented dancer and a musician and a singer. and she wanted to be a doctor. she wanted to help and make a difference in the world. she also said that she possibly for female president and the first female baseball player. but she had high dreams and high hopes. i know whatever, you know, she would have chosen, she would have would be great at it. >> yeah. no question about that. what was she hoping to get out of seeing gabby giffords? that day, that was the plan, to go around the corner and get to meet somebody who was really working in politics. what did she want to get out of that? >> she just wanted to learn more about our government and how she could give back and make a difference in our local community and she had some questions prepared. and she wanted to meet her role model. she wanted to meet someone that she admired, a strong, intelligent woman. and those are the kind of people that she admired. >> when you look back over the last year, how do you think you've changed? what's changed in you? >> i'm more appreciative of just the small things, little things in life. i realize that every day is so precious and we're so lucky to have every day. and to do everything you want to do in life because there might not be a tomorrow. >> that's roxanna green, ris tina taylor green's mom who has written a really nice book about her daughter. lovely. ahead this morning on "starting point" as we continue through our morning, get real segment, denver broncos mike might have some legal problems. we'll tell you why texas a m&m lawyers are not happy last weekend frkts newt gingrich will join us live. he's tangling with mitt romney with super pack funding of ads. you're watching "starting point." ♪ [ male announcer ] why do we grow quaker oats? because there are mountains to climb. ♪ dreams to be realized. ♪ new worlds to be explored and hearts to be won. quaker oats. energy to get you going, fiber to help fill you up and help keep your heart healthy. super people eat super grains. good morning. welcome back, everybody. we are at cha bachon where they are making breakfast. those pancakes look really, really good. although our table is covered with food. the specialty of pork pie and maple syrup bacon. all of us will just be on the treadmill for the rest of the day. welcome back, everybody. time to get real this morning. tim tebow and the denver broncos thought after they beat t