age i have say long friend. >> long time. i'm thrilled to be here. >> nice to have you. will cain is here as well. we all know will cain. back again. got lots to talk about this morning. our "starting point" though is rick santorum waking up a big winner this morning as he swept all three states last night. strong victories in missouri and in minnesota. and a nail baiter win in the state of colorado. santorum says it is not just a victory for him but for the party overall. >> tonight was not just a victory for us. tonight was a victory for the voices of our party, conservatives and tea party people who are out there every single day in the vineyards building the conservative movement in this country, building the base of the republican party, and building a voice for freedom in this land. thank you. >> ron brownstein is the editorial director at the national journal and he will join our panel this morning. he has gotten so much better as a candidate, not ron brownstein, but rick santorum. he has really matured as a candidate. i thought his speech last night was significantly better than mitt romney's speech. i get that he was the winner, obviously. but in terms of poise, in terms of content, it was a good speech, ron. >> yeah, as you say, winning does put a lot of wind beneath your sails, as the saying goes. wind beneath your wings. the headline is, this remains the most unsettled republican race arguably since 1940 with wendell wilky. the conservative base remains unsolved on mitt romney and the conservative base continues to have difficulty unifying behind one alternative to romney. the only good news for romney last night the that it was santorum emerging and gingrich consolidating. it least you with a situation where you have a clearly flawed front-runner but maintains a tactical advantage if the voters most resistant to him continue to divide between two choices, santorum and gingrich. one point, soledad, if you look at the total numbers of voters who came out to vote for mitt romney last night, one-third as many many minnesota than 2008 and only half in colorado. >> voter turnout low. will cain, interpret that for me. >> well -- >> oh, no, because when he does the big wind-up, oh no. >> that is a big wind up at the plate. obviously it shows and almost cliche at this point, lack of enthusiasm among the voters for the candidates offered to them. you can't underestimates how big a night that was for rick santorum. >> huge night. >> i don't the election results that speech was really, really strong. he gave voice to something that mitt romney has been unable to do at this point. when he said i represent up with 00% of the people, not just the very rich, not just the very -- 100% of the people. he hit the tone exactly right. and then i think when he started the speech with president obama knows better, whatever we're talking about here, whether it's health care or the economy, president obama knows better. he gave voice to something conservatives believe. >> that was a long speech from will cain this morning. usually it's short. >> i got more. >> i know. yesterday was sort of social issues day. i know you're warming up for that. >> also, there's a contrast, during some of the debates recently you could see that santorum was frustrating. >> ignored. >> yeah. >> there was often like a two-camera shot that he was not in. you know, and this is a resurgence that, you know, not only as all of you are saying that republican voters are not decided and a bit frustrate with the choices that they have. but i think also we have to go back to the question of what movement conservatives -- essential conservatives want. they want someone like santorum but do they believe, if they say and all polls say that republican voters want to win, do they believe he's that guy? >> let's go back to ron brownstein for one second because i want to talk about newt gingrich because the person we've been talking about as other guy as newt gingrich now, is not. what does this mean? >> he has to struggle of this long valley of february. historically candidates who have gone that long without winning anything is unlikely to do. candidates have trouble coming out of that kind of valley and he has to find a way to re-establish his relevance. as i said, the one dynamic that is good for romney in this is that you see santorum re-emerging and financial po terrible for gingrich going in the south the conservative vote will continue to splinter. if you look at the polling this week romney's unfavorables among independents is going up. head to head in abc/"washington post." you have trouble along the base. showing hesitation about him. not exactly on the right track and delivering the message to the country. >> as talk show host, i love this. i mean, this just keeps it alive and keeps it interesting. it's so much fun. >> talking about it, okay. can you say that on tape for us and do an endorsement later on the show. appreciate that. >> obviously, bad, bad news for romney. he can't close the deal. he's the deal guy. that's his whole pitch, right? and for santorum, it is huge. he's not won more -- think of it, he's won more states. >> four. >> than mitt romney has, right? and he was the third down the list. and of t. other thing is, i'm glad you brought up gingrich. this is really bad news for gingrich because all that time he's been saying santorum has got to get out. i'm the onliy alternative. i'm the only alternative. totally absurd. now clearly santorum is the alternative and newt looks silly. >> we're going to leave it there. we have a lot to talk about this morning and we'll get back to the social issues emerging in this race because they're fascinating. stay with us and the entire cnn team for the best political coverage on tv. i love saying that because in just a few minutes we're going to talk to rick santorum and ask him about his big win last night and how he's doing. you wonder if he had a good night's sleep or tossed and turned. that's ahead this morning. also, the u.s. is looking at possible military options in the crisis in syria. going to get you right to cnn's christine romans for that and a look at the other headlines of the morning. good morning. >> good morning. escalating crisis in syria. the pentagon exploring military options. anti-government activists say nearly 50 civilians died overnight in homs, including three entire families when militia stormed their homes. coming up, we're going to be joined by general wesley clark. funeral services for the two young sons of josh powell will be held saturday afternoon near the home they died in. powell attacked those boys with a hatchet before blowing up their house. and this morning we're hearing for the first time the 911 calls made by the children's case worker in the moments after she brought them for a supervised visit with their dad. >> ma'am. >> yeah. >> do you know the exact address of the house? >> yeah. it's 8119 189th street court east. >> okay. okay. stay on the line. do you know if anyone is in the house? >> yes, there was a man and two children. >> okay. >> i just dropped off the children and he wouldn't let me in the door. >> okay. stay on the line for the fire department. okay. i'm going to get them on the line. do not hang on. hold on. >> abc news has a voice mail powell left for his family minutes before he blew up the house with the children in it. in it he says, quote, i'm not able to live without my sons and i'm not able to go on anymore. i'm sorry to everyone i've hurt. good-bye. susan g. komen foundation executive karen handel stepping down after the decision to cut planned parenthood funding. that decision was later reversed but handel who opposes abortion reportedly behind the original decision, she blasted planned parenthood on her way out, calling the situation, quote, nothing short of a shake-down. the los angeles school board has fired miramonte elementary schoolteacher martin springer after he was formally charged with three felony counts of lewd acts on a girl under age 14. springer pleaded not guilty yesterday. he's one of two teachers at that school facing child abuse charges. supporters of same-sex marriage celebrating this morning. a federal appeals court struck down california's proposition 8. that proposition of course band same-sex marriage. the court finding it was unconstitutional. prop 8 supporters are expected to appeal. the case could end up before the supreme court next year. soledad? >> quae, i think that's very, very likely. christine, thank you for the update. appreciate it. with the panel, have you guys heard about this university offering a plan -- vending machine that dispenses the plan b, i guess it's the plan b pill. >> right. >> really interesting, interesting issue, i think. we have the vice president of student affairs and he says, bottom line is they did a survey and the students support it. here's what he said. >> we went out and we did a survey of the student body. and on -- we got an 85% response rate that students would be supportive of having planned b in the health center. the machine is used as much for privacy than anything else. >> you know, i don't know how i feel about this. >> one thing i think that we have to point out is that medically plan b prevents implantation. >> right. >> so it is an earlier intervention against pregnancy than many other types of intervention. and, you know, college students will have sex, some of them. >> what? >> some will choose not to. i know. shocker. and really this is about facing up to the consequences. i know that some parents will be heavily upset by it, but it's better than people sneaking around and then later having to face the choice of whether or not to have an abortion. >> i guess the question to me was, you don't need a prescription for plan b, right? >> correct. >> so that was -- it just seemed to dispense medication without even a conversation. >> you don't need a prescription but it's not sold over the counter. it's sold behind the pharmacist's wall and this particular vending machine is in the health center. it's not sitting in the cafeteria next to the coke machines. you must go to the health center and talk to the nurse i presume and put your money in the machine. >> i'm not sure in this case. i think the machine even after hours they can access the machine or before hours. >> that's right. >> that's one of the reasons that is available. i think some people may be upset by it but to me it's like having condoms available. kids, young kids are going to have sex and they ought to have condoms and they ought to have access to plan b and if this machine -- i don't have an issue with the access. not even an issue, too strong. there's no human being to talk to about the medication that you're taking. not to talk you out of it just to say, wow, what are the side effects where normally you walk over to your pharmacist and anything you get over the counter you can say, and do i take this with milk or do i need to take it, you know, with food or whatever. >> there was a time when some pharmacists refused to dispense plan b. this has been very controversial. i think it also gets to the question of -- i mean, going off on a slight tangent, i believe that people don't value enough waiting to have sex. >> that is a tangent, but go ahead. >> but given that that's not valued in many cases and that there's a pressure among college students to rush to be deflowered, if i can be so antiquated. >> wow. >> yes. >> then you have to deal with the realities. >> interest pentagingteresting. ahead this morning. a political ad that ran during the super bowl and now it's being called racist towards asians. michigan senate candidate defends the ad. the first chinese-american woman in congress, though, says, nope, it's not a good ad. she's going to talk to us about it the pentagon exploring military options in syria. what are the best options going forward? we're going to talk to general wesley clarks he will be with us. our "get real," parade for football heroes, go giants, go giants, go giants, but war heroes never really get a celebration. i'm sure there will be one for them? we'll talk about that. can you enjoy vegetables with 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 bark. cnn's barbara starr is reporting that the u.s. military is weighing the options to stop the violence in syria. though the official line is still diplomacy and sanctions first. they are talking about military options. we've got some really terrible images to show you this morning. first, this is a funeral mass that's happening. there are reports that nearly 50 civilians were killed overnight, including three entire families with small children. we continue to hear audible gunfire in many neighborhoods and you can see some of the shells and cars surveying the damage. there are now growing calls to consider all the options. and senator john mccain says the united states has to take action. >> i think we should have a contact group, joint coalition, and also we should start considering all options, including the arming the opposition. the blood letting has to stop. >> let's go right to barbara starr who has been covering the story for us at the pentagon. and we're joibd by general wesley clerk, former nato allied commander. nice to have you, sir. in person, we usually have a chance to talk by satellite. let's start with barbara, though. what's the latest and is there -- you heard what mccain just said about arming the opposition. are you hearing talk about that from where you are? >> soledad, what we're hearing is this is very preliminary but significant that they're even talking about it. as one official said to me we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't put some ideas on the table. but no decisions from military support for the syrians. but, look, it's the first time we're even hearing about the concept of it from people who are involved in these discussions. what we're talking about is commanders are beginning to scope out what is feasible. if the president asks us, what do we have out there, what could we do, what are the risks, what do we tell the president? the u.s. military doesn't wait for the president to say, what have you got and then say, okay, we're going to spend a few weeks thinking about it. they now want to be ready. the president says it's diplomatic and economic, but in case it moves to the next step, the pentagon military officials doing the work to get ready to give president obama some ideas about what they can do, soledad. >> the u.s. military doesn't tell the press unless there's some kind of ally agenda behibtd what the strategy could be. general clark, let's talk about that. when they say everything is on the table diplomatically, but at the same time we're having sort of another plan. what does that mean, exactly? >> first of all, it's a signal to bashar al-assad that he's not going to have impunity to kill his own people. it's a signal to russia and china that the united states has of then alternatives. russia has diplomats going in there. so there are other alternatives. none of us expect much to happen from the russian diplomatic mission. i hope i'm wrong. but it's unlikely that they're going to be able to convince bash sh bashar al-assad to slow down and take it easy. the third message of the target iran. i think in iran the ayatollah still don't really believe that there is a military option. and without trying to derail the negotiations, the discussion, the u.n. inspection, the sanctions and so forth, syria is a kind of a proxy for iran. when bashar assad falls lots of things will change in the middle east. and the iranians certainly know this. when the word is out that the u.s. is looking at military o x options, big signals. >> let's show a map of the neighborhood, if you will. walk me through sort of what strategies militarily, you're in these types of meetings, what are you looking at? >> if you're going to do anything -- first of all, you always have your basic kit bag. you can do a noncombatant operation. >> you're prepping for that all the time. >> all the time. counter terrorism operation. some kind of a special forces insertion. you can always do that. you can go strike something and drop a bomb somewhere with still aircraft and not have to do much. but on the other hand, it would be denied and it may not accomplish much unless, as israelis did, you were trying to take out a specific target like a syrian reactor. if you were talking about something more sizable, let's say a no-fly zone in the air or, let's say, some major effort on the ground to be able to stop ground troops because that's what we had in libya ultimately -- >> when mccain talked about arming the opposition? >> it's a tough -- that's a very tough way to go. there is an opposition. it's not that well organized. they've got some camps in turry i can. when you add more weapons to it you create more conflict but you don't necessarily resolve it. >> when people say, well, let's look to what happened in libya, as model for what happens or could happen in syria, is that a flawed sort of analogy? >> no, it's actually moving in that way but syria is a much tougher target, we believe, it's got much stronger military, it's got nine intelligence agencies. they are competing against each other. they are entrenched. they are relatively hardened and they're re-enforced by iran and they're also supported on the lebanese side by hezbollah. so it's a much less position than libya was. when you're talking about military options you're talking about the integrated air system of syria. that can be taken down. israelis did it in 1982. it's better now but it's not impregnable. there are options. >> lets me go to our final question to barbara starr at the pentagon. have you heard anything specifically about arming the opposition? >> well, what we have heard is the same thing that general clark just talked about. it is a very fragmented group. looking at perhaps an even bigger nightmare scenario. what if assad's regime collapses and people hope he leaves peacefully. if his regime collapses, there's a power void in syria. you have civil war. you have the iranians sitting right over the border. the blood letting could be enormous. that's one of the nightmare scenarios right now. if that were to happen and you have that void, and you have that kind of civil unrest, then what does the united states do? what do the allies do? the opposition becomes many groups. the government-backed sfo ee eee prag fragmented. they want to get this over and done with in a controlled fashion. >> always nice to have you although you make me more anxious when you're here in person because this is scary stuff. >> it is. >> clearly heading to civil war. >> tough summer ahead of us with syria and iran. still ahead this morning on "starting point" we're going to talk to rick santorum. he's going to join us live. won all three gop races last night. so how does he build on momentum when the fact is he doesn't have that much money? plus, a 6-year-old boy in texas was attacked by a mountain lion but his father saved his life using a pocket knife. "get real" this morning, parade for giants but what about the war heros? we're going to talk about that as "starting point" continues. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] offering four distinct driving modes and lexus' dynamic handling, the next generation of lexus will not be contained. the all-new 2013 lexus gs. there's no going back. ♪ sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i