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ron brownstein in person. editorial director of the "national journal." and will cain. >> was that familiarity or disappointment? >> with love. will cain who i always like to see sitting next to me. >> good morning. >> we've got a lot to get to this morning. it was a tough week obviously with the death of whitney houston and really at the end of the week an opportunity to remember her and her legacy. she was laid to rest yesterday in westfield, new jersey. the private moment followed a service in newark, new jersey, on saturday. family, friends, and stars paying tribute. it was a beautiful service. it was whitney houston's own voice that ended the ceremony. ♪ so good-bye ♪ please don't cry ♪ we both know i'm not what you you need ♪ >> the service lasted four hours and it was interesting to talk to the baptist pastors who were there who said, listen, we want to make it very clear, this is a religious service. this is not a performance. this is not a concert. this is a homegoing. reverend jesse jackson was there of course he is a president of the rainbow push coalition. we had a chance to talk to you a lot saturday on the air. tell me about the burial, though, sir. it was obviously a quiet family affair. how was that? >> i was not at the burial. let me say, first of all, we thank you for the extent and sensitivity of your coverage on this past saturday. we had a double -- soul train engineer, he left the train and first class passenger rather quickly, whitney left the train. so kind of a double wound. in the words of tyler perry, singer of r. kelley and bebe winans and kevin costner and clive davis, great celebration on this past saturday. >> a real challenge. i know they were trying to navigate between the privacy wishes of the family and the fans who wanted to be part of it. that had to be a challenge. i know you talked to cissy since the funeral. how is she doing and how did she feel that the tribute went? >> very well. it was handled in such a way that is miraculous how the cameras were a half block away and how there was coverage on the inside but not the exhaust i kind of coverage. cissy is a strong woman of faith. she's been through a lot in her life. and i cannot help but think how great a singer cissy has been down through the years. i mean, whitney comes through a great lineage of singers, singing with aretha franklin, singing with elvis presley, watching her mother in the studio sing, you know. first music teacher, first music critic, first choir director. she came out of a great lineage. ing of, the environment. aretha franklin, dionne warwick, all of the stuff was there for her to achieve greatness, and she did. >> i need to ask you about this dramatic moment. we were a distance away from the risers and we could see in the camera shots bobby brown leaving the church. what exactly happened? >> all you know is reverend sharpton and bishop jakes and i were talking and the service was being held up. apparently the ushers brought him in where they thought was an appropriate place for him to sit. then it was the place con fwfin for the immediate family. finally in the end he would not move because i think he belt embarrassed, they asked him to leave. i went out to the car and cissy and bobbi, they knew nothing about this. it was a logistic call conflict. cissy houston and bobby christina had nothing to go with this. he left embarrassed. his positive statement has been a good thing. he did not go off, as it were. >> let me read a little bit of that statement me said, my children and i were seated by security, subsequently asked to move on three separate occasions. security then prevented me from seeing my daughter. in light of the events, i gave a kiss to the casket of my ex-wife and departed as i refused to create a scene. it was an unfortunate moment in a wonderful ceremony. what happens now? bobby kristen has hchristine. >> she left her grandmother who she needs very much, she has her father and friends and god to turn to. she has some huge challenges in front of her now but she certainly has an environment thats that support that she needs and all of us now are on alert in terms of being sensitive to what she must be dog going through. this is just the tenth day since her mother passed. the wound is very fresh. she has to come to grips with a huge adjustment in her life. she requires, you know, i think, prayer, support, and to some exat any time extent, distance as well. >> a lot of people were talking about her from the pulpit and how they are going to care for her. i hope that happens. reverend jesse jackson, always nice to have you. got other headlines. alina cho is in for that. good morning. >> good morning to you. three skiers are dead after an avalanche at a resort in washington state. authorities say they fell about 1500 feet. a dozen skiers buried in snow had to dig themselves out. all of them at this point accounted for. the area was out of bounds for skiers. heavy snow fell in the area, too, about 19 inches in just the past 24 hours. a fourth skier was saved by an inflatable safety device that kept her from going under. new this morning. iran has cut off oil to the uk and france. it's in retaliation for all 27 eu countries putting sanctions on iran's oil experts, starting in july. the u.s. says an attack on iran will be premature. this is u.n. inspectors are in iran today for another round of nuclear talks. an iaea report back in november warned that iran could be on its way to developing a nuclear weapon. iran insists its efforts are peaceful. a well-known arizona sheriff stepped down as co-chair of mitt romney's presidential campaign. sheriff paul resigned from the volunteer position after acknowledging he is gay and denying allegations that he threatened to have a former lover deported if he outed their relationship. he was also a republican congressional candidate in arizona and he says he intends to stay in that race. another human skeleton turned up in a wooded area on the eastern end of long island, new york. authorities are now trying to determine if the remains are connected to ten other sets of remains found on a remote beach about 40 miles to the west. police suspect some of the victims are of a serial killer preying on prostitutes. minding your business, investors will keep an eye on greece and quarterly earnings from major retailer when those markets reopen tomorrow. and weatherwise, the south socked with a messy winter storm. just look at these pictures. tens of thousands losing power across the region. the snow, sleet, and rain also triggered some pile-ups across tennessee, north carolina,nd virginia. what a mess. soledad, back to you. >> gosh, doesn't look like that. thank you. lin sanity, that's a word we're sticking with now, because some have been bad. it is back on track. they lost to the hornets on friday, but he helped the knicks win over the dallas mavericks, defending champions. a racial slur said a couple of times is overshadowing some of that victory. espn employee was fired after using an offensive slur on the headline on a mobile site and anchor is under fire after using the same word in his broadcast. it is so bad i'm not allowed to repeat it. i'm going tell people to go google it because espn and jeremy lin is worth understanding. i'm not going to say it. here's what espn said. we apologize, especially to mr. lin. his accomplishments are a source of great pride to asian-american community including the asian-american employees at espn. saturday night live kind of did a send-up of all the comments around jeremy lin. they weren't apologizing for their segment. here's what they did. listen. >> i mean, he's unstoppable. he's like that sign says, wednesday game, lin is the knicks good fortune. >> he's sweet, not sour. >> he turned kobe into kobe beef. >> kobe's like, hey, i ordered fried chicken. >> hey, hey, hey, hey. >> i thought we were having that kind of fun. dan, back me up. >> apologize to our viewers at home for our comments of bill gibson, they were linsensitive and politically incorrect. he has been fired. >> you know, i love that because i thought they really hit it right in terms of how people have been trying to navigate something that frankly is just racist. i you know, people are doing all of these apologieapologies. they are racist when they say what the guy from espn put in a headline. >> absolutely. >> look, you know, this is so unusual and so actually inspiring on so many different levels. people love the story op an underdog who was passed over by every team. all that harvard basketball tradition that he's in the nba. >> hey, hey, hey, hey, watch the harvard jokes. >> and dwroet have it clouded bethis thing -- what doesn't everyone go for the racially insensitive comments when they're trying to talk about this guy? there are so many other ways to go. >> this guy, interesting wrangle on this story is race through and through because it's not about the racially incensensiti remark which the story has been plagued with, but it's also -- it brings up the conversation. when is it appropriate to root for race. we keep showing pictures of china town and i think i saw a restaurant called the hong kong express, full of asian people root forr jeremy lin. when is it okay to root for race? >> of course, it is about race. the story is -- >> part of it, sure. >> of course it is. we don't go around saying, oh, my god, a white golfer? that element is there. and it's so easy to talk about it without being racist or without using crude rumor. you're right, it's great for the asian american community. it's great for the u.s. sports community. we lost gary carter last week and this is making everybody happy. it's simple to cover this man's race without doing it. this scandal is inspiring in a way. i'm glad that these guys at espn.com made this racist headline to show how quickly the community responds to anti-asian slurs. >> the headline said blank in the armor. i had this conversation with my nephew who is visiting today who is 14. he gasped. i was so happy that this kid -- 14, was like, wow, he knows it's completely inappropriate. >> the response of the population shows how far we've come in a short time wards the kind of humor. in a way it's showing racism and more or less an i.q. test for the public. >> it's important that his ethnic background is not the only part of the story why people have embraced him. there is the underdog story, there is someone who was passed over by everyone else, out-playing kobe on national tv, maybe not turning him into beef, but it's a big store rirks hard work, humble, contained within himself. >> and it's the knicks. and the knicks really need a good -- exactly right. they beat the world champion dallas mavericks. the world champion dallas mavericks. >> jeremy lin, we love you. and the snl skit was fup any and made its point. rick santorum trading places with mitt romney in the polls, attacking president obama on his faith, social issues. we'll talk about that. and we'll talk about whether or not it's working in one of the most critical swing states. and georgia is on his mind. kind of has to be for newt gingrich. he is sweating a little bit about his home state, just like mitt romney is. or is it do or die there for him? get real this morning. pizza place tells parents, no pizza for you if your kids won't shut up. that's a good business getter. will's playing list is going to play us out to commercial break with the dixie chicks. >> world champion dallas mavericks, if i wasn't clear. >> dixie chicks "love it or leave it." >> i love it. ah, welcome to hotels.com. i get it...guys weekend. yeah! if you're looking for a place to get together, you came to the right place. because here at hotels.com, we're only about hotels. yeah! yeah! noooo. yeah! finding you the perfect place is all we do. welcome to hotels.com until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio. we know all this because we asked you, and what we heard helped us create pnc wealth insight, a smarter way to work with your pnc advisor, so you can make better decisions and live achievement. today my journey continuesk across the golden state, where everyone has been unbelievably nice. mornin'. i guess i'm helping them save hundreds on car insurance. it probably also doesn't hurt that i'm a world-famous advertising icon. cheers! i mean, who wouldn't want a piece of that? geico. ah... fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent oh dear... or more on car insurance. welcome back. rick santorum describes himself as mitt romney's main competitor for the gop presidential nomination. and there's a new poll that is backing him up. according to gallop, 36% of registered republicans support santorum. 28% back mitt romney. a few days ago the two were in a statistically tie in the key swing state of ohio santorum is leading by seven points, 36-28. that's an 18-point jump from early january. democratic congressman jason of-. and republican congressman steve of ohio is joining us this morning. congressman, we will start with you. 18-point jump in your state of ohio. why is he surging? >> i think rick santorum is a great candidate. i think he would make a great president. i think mitt romney would as well. we have four good candidates in the republican primaries. as they say, so goes ohio, so goes the nation. it's pretty hard to win the presidency without carrying ohio and i think it's going to be very close. and i wouldn't really put money on either one of them or any of these folks. it could go either way. >> does that contradict about what you said about having four good candidate it is there's not one person pulling ahead? maybe you have four average candidates? >> no, i think we've got four very good candidates. i think either four would be preferable to the current occupant of the white house on both issues, whether it's domestic issues or foreign affairs type issues. if you look at this economy and how it's dragged along and we still have over 8% in jobs and unemployment in this country, after passing the president's so-called economic stimulus package, spending over $800 billion and where are the jobs? and then his health care, the obamacare is dragging this country down. that's one of the main reasons small businesses aren't creating jobs right now. there's too much uncertainty in this economy. >> congressman, one of the things that i have seen certainly over the last couple of weeks really has been a shift on conversations about the economy to really conversations about social issues, contraception has been a big topic, gay marriage has been a big topic. when it comes to senator santorum the role of women has been a big topic. good or bad for a general election campaign? >> we have pretty good experience with senator santorum here in pennsylvania. it was his focus on those type of issues, i think that did him in politically back in 2006. he took what i believe is the biggest loss any incumbent senator has taken in history with an 18-point defeat. so if he allows his campaign to go in that direction, i don't know if that helps him in the primary but it certainly going to be a liability in the general election. >> congressman, good morning. i want to ask you about one of the issues that are not only in the presidential race but in the house as well. the legislation that you are co-sponsoring in the house would allow not only religiously based employers but any employee to deny not only contraception but any service under health care review that they view is morally offensive. why is it necessary to go that far? >> well, i think it's clearly been the tradition in this country and ought to remain that that businesses and churches get to follow the constitution and the constitution clearly states that people have the right to exercise their religion as they see fit. and this is a case -- this is, again, not about contraception but it's about religious freedom. this is a case where i would argue that the administration, obamacare in particular, and the way it's been interpreted by this administration, doesn't just step across a line, it is erases that line all together. >> so just to be clear, your view, any employer should be allowed to deny coverage of any service that they believe violates their moral code? >> it's not about denying coverage, it's about when people are providing health care for their employees or particularly -- >> insurance? >> in particularly, when you have religious catholic hospitals, for example, where it's a tenet of their faith that one not have abortion-inducing drugs or sterilization or those type of things. why should we force religion to pay for those type of things. the president has tried to come up with a compromise but it hasn't compromised anything. it's really a wink and a nod and doesn't solve the problem. >> that sounds like a lengthy way of absing yes to ron brownstein's question. i want to give the final question to altmeyer. when you look at the unemployment rate in ohio. 8.1%. in lower than the national unemployment rate this 18.3%, as you both know. what do you think? how much is the economy going to play on super tuesday? >> i think the economy is going to play, in pennsylvania, in a very positive way for the future. we have assets with energy resources that put newss a unique position. ohio theirs some of that. when the candidates come into our region they're going to have to talk about the good thing we've done in the employment market, why we're below the national averages and the decisions that have been made, very difficult decisions, to put news that decision. we we are at a different place than a lot of other states in the country. >> congressman altmire and congressman chabot. still ahead on "starting point," newt gingrich says each candidate should win his state. what happens if he loses georgia? our "get real" this morning is a pizza place telling parents get your agent together on your kids or we're going to kick them out. in fact, it's on the menu. that's a way to get clients. we're going to talk about that this morning. stay with us. st jobs across our country... ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. it's fun to watch ron brownstein rock out. he's -- >> nothing better than new year's eve with patti smith. every year. every year. >> yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh. all right. our "get real" this morning, children are to be seen and not heard. don't hear that a lot but it works its way into the latest story. grant central pizza in georgia, the owners are taking a stand against kids who are having melt downs. the menu offers pizza, pasta, calzones and a new disclaimer. we want to ensure that all diners have an enjoyable lunch or dinner with us. we respectfully ask that parents intend to their crying tots outside. this is in response to an incident in which a child apparently hit a customer in the head with a toy. my children would never do that. oh. and also some reviews on yelp.com who complained about loud and unruly kids taking over the place. the customer said she dislikes the parents who allow it to happen enmore than the kids who have the melt downs. family restaurant, they just don't want kids to have meltdowns. >> it's good enough for church, good enough for pizza. i hope they go for airplane