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and this is "starting point." ♪ take me to new york i'd love to see l.a. ♪ >> that's a good way to start your morning. good morning, everybody. that on not on my play list. our panel this morning, ron brownste brownstein's with us, he's a cnn senior political analyst, editorial director at "national journal," will cain is with us, he's a columnist for the blaze.com and ben jones joins us this morning former obama white house special adviser has written a new book called "rebuild the dream." how is that for promoting your book? >> getting it out early. >> happy to help. happy to help. >> we're going to talk not only about the book but also your resignation from the obama cabinet, i want to hear all the inside scoop on that. first, though, we got to talk about the tornadoes, that was an amazing nearly four hours, absolute devastation there. >> yeah, my hometown and not far from my hometown. it was pretty scary to see. i had buddies calling me saying they had to evacuate buildings in downtown dallas and, of course, tv cameras there to capture it all. >> of course, the cleanup efforts are under way this morning. after the string of violent tornadoes. as we mentioned some people were saying there were six, others say many as 13 of those tornadoes tore a path of destruction along the area of dallas-ft. worth, it happened yesterday afternoon, destroyed homes and businesses. and in one instance tossed a 30,000-pound tractor-trailer, that's, like, 10,000 pounds for the trailer part, 20,000 pounds, 30,000 pounds, just chucked them around. just amazing to see. the images all played out as will mentioned all a live tv because, of course, the tv cameras were right there, were able to catch the tornadoes ripping through the neighborhoods. the national weather service doesn't know for sure how many but they'll have to survey the damage and then they'll be able to tell what the number was. amazingly there were -- >> that's the good news. >> and very few injuries, having covered them a lot, they are correlated with a high injury toll that's really good news on that. we'll get right to the dallas mayor, his name is mike rawlings, and nice to see you, mr. mayor, mr. mayor, i'll begin with you if i may. >> good morning. >> good morning to you. give me the scope of the damage. it is a good morning, because not many injuries, and no debts to report. how bad is it? >> we're still assessing this situation, but it looks like the dallas-ft. worth area really dodged a bullet. i mean, we've got hundreds and hundreds of homes destroyed. but amazingly no fatalities as you mentioned. and i think we've counted three people taken to the hospital. i mean, we're looking at a miracle here. it really is something amazing. >> i very rarely use the word miracle, but i think you are right in this case, because the pictures are incredible. how many folks in shelters, do you know the count of that yet, sir? >> we're over 100 in a couple of the shelters in the area, in east texas, so we've got people spending the nights there. really hundreds of people have been displaced. those tractor-trailers were picked up. there was more than one. there were several. i saw them. they were put on the back of homes and those homes were just flattened. it was amazing that there was nobody in those homes. fortunately i think everybody was at work. they were -- had early warnings, so somehow this thing all worked out. >> the trailer of the tractor-trailer weighs 14,000 pounds. the tractor part of the tractor-trailer weighs 20,000 pounds. >> oh, look at that. >> you can see how wide of a swath that tornado cut through that trailer, that trailer factory, and into the forest and then into the homes. it was amazing. >> just stunning to watch while you're talking, sir, we're seeing pictures of that thing literally flying through the air. so, how much damage was done before i hop over to talk to jonathan, mr. mayor, how many damage overall was done, will you know an x act number figure any time in the next 24 hours? >> yeah, it will be a couple of days before we get the exact dollar amount. in dallas we're talking about not 100 homes but in the dallas-ft. worth area, it will probably be about 300 homes as i kind of look at the early reports. >> all right. all right, mr. mayor, i thank you very much. >> thank you. >> let's turn to jonathan cook right now. you were in a bank if i'm not mistaken and the storm struck. what did you see? >> yes. yesterday i was in a meeting in the office that i was in had two windows in the room, and i had no warning that bad weather was even on its way. but we saw lightning strike which we thought was just about 50 yards away, and immediately following lightning was a loud clap of thunder and about ten seconds later, same thing, lightning followed by thunder superclose and so about that time, i looked out the window and i saw hail coming down and i saw rain pouring, so i said i got to go, i ran out the bank -- >> why did you say you go to go? you went into your truck which i think would be a really unwise thing to do in a terrible, terrible storm, but i guess it was the right decision for you. why did you get in your truck and what did you see around your truck? >> well, there was hail coming down. our vehicles were unproehltec d unprotected and we had no idea the weather was going to get worse. i was trying to protect my vehicle from the hail damage, so i drove just across the street to a gas station where many people were taking shelter and just about two minutes after i pulled in, a national weather service truck pulled in with his two-way radio going and he said there's about two tornadoes in the area, and they're only about a quarter mile from us. well, right when he said that, a girl that was taking shelter with us pointed up with two fingers and said look up there, and whenever we looked up there we saw two tornadoes at the same time touch down about an it a of a mile up from us and a guy behind her said turn around and there was another funnel cloud that we never saw touch down forming behind us as well. so, it was a pretty scary situation for a second there. and whenever those tornadoes touched down, they weren't down very long, but we found out those were -- found out later that those were two of the first tornadoes that touched down that went into south arlington. >> oh, my goodness, good news, good thing that you're okay, and i'm told that your family and friends are okay, too. jonathan cook is a member of a band called the sickest kids. thanks, jonathan, glad to see you're doing well. we appreciate your time this morning. >> thanks for having us. glad everyone is safe. >> us, too. let's go to christine who has a look at some of the other headlines. good morning. >> good morning. mitt romney halfway to the gop nomination with a sweep of three big primaries last night. wisconsin was biggest prize for romney with 42 critical winner take all delegates. romney won the badger state over rick santorum, 42% to 38%. 37 delegates at stake in maryland, romney there by an even larger margin, 49% to 29% over santorum. and in washington, d.c., with 16 delegates at stake romney got 70% of the vote and santorum wasn't on the ballot in d.c. romney continuing his look ahead strategy ignoring republican rivals and focusing exclusively now on president obama. >> the president has pledged to transform america. and he spent the last four years laying the foundation for a new government-centered society. i will spend the next four years rebuilding the foundation of an opportunity society led by free people and free enterprises. >> take a look at cnn's latest delegate estimate, romney well past the halfway point with 648 delegates, of course, 1,144 delegates are needed to clinch the nomination. coming up at the half hour, senator john mccain a romney supporter will join soledad live. the gunman accused in the worst deadly school shooting in california in decades facing a judge today. 43-year-old one goh is being held in jail in santa rita where -- he's been there since ten people were shot at oikos university, a small christian school in oakland, seven people died. police have in the yet found the murder weapon, but they say they recovered plenty of ballistic evidence. and new york police this morning are investigating the mysterious death of a leading french scholar and government adviser. 54-year-old richard dekuehne was found dead in his hotel room, he was naked in his bed with blood coming out of his mouth. police found his cell phone on the third floor landing as if it had been tossed out the window. no signs of foul play so far but they haven't been ruled out yet. remember anna chapman, a new british documentary says that she was close to seducing a member of president obama's cabinet. the documentary quotes a top fbi official that says chapman was so closed to seducing this unnamed sitting kak net member that the bureau had to step in and warn him that she was a so-called honey trap. u.s. officials deny this report. federal health officials are investigating whether sush sus could be behind a new salmonella break. 17 people were hospitalized because of this. investigators say spicy tunale ros are highly suspect but they are not certain yet. they are focusing on six clusters of restaurants. and a flight attendant goes above and beyond the call of duty. susan karns, i love this woman, she's been delivering food and drinks in the air for 29 years on a flight from africa to atlanta in late march, she delivered a baby boy. >> everyone's, like, looking at me obviously and i just held him up and i said, it's a boy! and everybody clapped and there was, you know, laughter and it was really fun and exciting and she was so happy and weepy, it was great. >> whoa! luckily one of the passengers was not only just a doctor but an obstetrician, that oms come handy. susan karns said having been there before, i knew what to do. having been there before, i didn't know what to do. >> she certainsterilized the sc in a bottle of vodka. >> yeah. which she then drank. >> good for her. >> grace under pressure. >> good for her. that's great. >> babies come out, all you have to do is assist, right? it's not as easy as that. you're men! you're men! you have delivered no children, people! >> at 30,000 feet. >> that's a little -- again, a glass of vodka i'm sure came in handy not just for sterilization. >> what do you put on the birth certificate? where was the baby born? >> a child of the world. let's talk about the masters, golf's most prestigious tournament, it will start tomorrow at the augusta national golf club in georgia, today we'll find out if the long-standing policy will get a boot. any time there's an issue around augusta it's the long-standing policy against of admitting female members will it get the boot. ibm is one of the sponsors of the tournament and ginny is the new ceo of ibm and augusta typically offers the ceo of ibm membership, but, of course, she's a woman. they don't give membership to women. >> conundrum. >> hmm, hmm, what will happen. what do ul thinyou think? >> there are very few trends in american live than inclusion. it's absolute in our dna. over time we widen the circle -- >> and that does not mean by next week -- >> it doesn't mean by next week. maybe not tomorrow, maybe someday, but the rest of your life as bogart said. we see in any of our lifetimes how many walls it seemed unbreachable have fallen and that's what -- >> the female ceo of ibm at one point. >> exactly right. exactly right. so the trend line of history is pretty unmistakable. i don't know about tomorrow or next week. but it will happen. >> but the question we're asking does ginny, i say it like i know her, does she get membership, you know, when it happens? >> well, i mean, i think that you're right. that at the end of the day i can't imagine a company saying we're going to support a tournament that will not even let our ceo show up. that doesn't -- i think at the end of the day, also i do agree, look at the people who are next in line behind so many american ceos, the people who are coos right now, the people that are ctos, so many women. look at the college campuses, you got to try to find a guy. >> it's not tomorrow. it's not tomorrow. >> 50% of college graduates are now women. >> yeah. going to got there. i golf, badly. badly. >> you golf. all right, we got to get to a commercial break, but still ahead on "starting point," this question that we've been talking about really for weeks now, did george zimmerman use a racial slur the night he shot and killed trayvon martin? weed and for an analysis with the 911 call with dispatch and you'll see it up next on "starting point." in our "get real" news that will leave, if you are a james bond fan, it will leave you shaken and stirred. his drink of choice, martini, is changing, 50 years, it's changing, because i can't talk about tomorrow or the next day. if you need to get to work you can catch the rest of our show by going to our live blog which is on our website at cnn.com/startingpoint. here's van's play list. a little bob marley, so much trouble. i hope that doesn't for tend how our show's going to go. we're back in a moment. guys. come here, come here. [ telephone ringing ] i'm calling my old dealership. [ man ] may ford. hi, yeah. do you guys have any crossovers that offer better highway fuel economy than the chevy equinox? no, sorry, sir. we don't. oh, well, that's too bad. [ man ] kyle, is that you? [ laughs ] [ man ] still here, kyle. [ male announcer ] visit your local chevy dealer today. right now, very well qualified lessees can get a 2012 equinox ls for around $229 a month. one month after trayvon martin was killed, an answer to one of the big questions is sort of as hazy as ever. why was he killed? we spoke with a friend of george zimmerman's yesterday, his name is frank taf, i think his name is, and he said trayvon may have stood out to george for a reason. listen. >> we had eight burglaries in our neighborhood all perpetrated by young black males in the 15 months prior to trayvon being shot. >> well, that's not exactly accurate. eight burglaries in the past 15 months is not correct. in fact, according to the police department there have been eight burglary reports in the past 14 months and four of them involved complaints against black males. the rest of the reports had no witnesses and no race identity attached to them. the trayvon martin case made sanford ground zero in a way for race relations. the entire city's been dissected as everyone's trying to make sense of the shooting, we bring in jeff triplette now, he's the mayor of sanford, florida, nice to see you, sir, thank you for joining us. you had three protests in sanford and across the country there are eight protests, it's a city of 50,000 or so plus people. do you worry about the image of your city? >> absolutely, that's one of our big issues right now, that this doesn't -- as i've said before, that this doesn't define who we are. this isn't -- this isn't the type of place we are. it's a friendly neighborhood. you know, we're 53,000 people. you know, we've got a lot of diversity in our city and we just have to work down the path to make sure that what some of the media's portraying of our city is just not true. >> what kinds of things do you think are not true? >> i mean, there's no -- you know, we've got a great police department. we've got some great men and women in the police department. you know, our community relations are good. if you walk down our historic downtown riverfront or our downtown neighborhoods or go shopping in any of our stores, you'll see -- you'll see the wide range of diversity in our neighborhoods, you know, we're 30% african-american, you know, about 60% caucasian, it's very diverse. and for the most part, as everyone is very friendly. >> does your community have a problem with crime? and if it does, who's committing those crimes? >> you know, i really don't have the answer to that. you know, we just, like any other city, have our fair share of crimes that are committed, you know, we have robberies and burglaries in our neighborhoods just pretty much typical of every other city. >> mr. mayor, ron brownstein from "national journal," good morning. in many communities where different races come together is most often in the schools. i'm interested in what kind of the atmosphere has been like do you think in your school system sings the sho since the shooting? >> from what i've heard, i've had several conversations with our superintendent of seminole county schools and the chairman of the board, you know, dr. calderon and, you know, they got together real quick with the city when this hit the national spotlight. we had a lot of discussions. we got in front of all the principals that if there is questions or concern or talk that they know exactly what's going on and there's been some great dialogue thus far, you know, when this happened, the students were on spring break for a week, so we actually had a little bit of extra time before they came back to get out in front of it and make sure that we had the discussions with the principals, you know, that trickle down from the principals to the students. from what i've heard so far, you know, our school system's done a great job of getting out in front of it. >> real quick, what kind of programs have they undertaken in the schools? what are they doing? >> i don't know of any specific programs. it's just been an open dialogue that if the questions have been asked, you know, that the faculty has had the answers that have been, you know, open for the dialogue in the classrooms. and from what i've heard so far, there's been no -- there's been no problems with it thus far. >> final question, van? >> hi, my name is van, and i appreciate you being on, mr. mayor. first of all, this hits close to home to me, i'm an african-american parent and i'm thinking to myself, jesus, am i going to have to dress my kids in tuxedos for them to walk down the street to get a candy bar, the whole thing. do you understand the way this is landing with people? i just wonder, i think to myself, african-american kid, if they were reversed, an african-american kid wandering around the neighborhood with a gun, i am protecting my neighborhood, i saw a white kid and i shot him, it's hard to imagine why that black kid wouldn't be in jail. do you understand why the country is worried and bewildered about why there hasn't been an arrest? >> absolutely. i've stated before that i don't even truly understand why there wasn't an arrest, you know, that goes to the state of florida and the stand your ground laws and such that are going to come out with the special prosecutor. you know, i think, you know, it goes beyond the city of sanford as to, you know, the other part of that question is, you know, it goes to, you know, beyond the city of sanford as to -- as to relations and profiling and all that's going to come out. you know, i totally understand it and i feel for -- i feel for the parents of trayvon and any other parent that has -- that has these concerns, you know. i, too, you know, have two boys, two young boys, and, you know, i think about it, you know, if it truly was because of the hoodie or what have you, and as i said, i can't walk a mile in your shoes, but i can walk a mile next to you and hopefully we can work with the department of justice and work with programs within our city, you know, with best practices from some other cities that have been through this to, you know, try to work on those issues and make sure it doesn't happen again. >> jeff triplett is the mayor of sanford, nice to see you, thank you for talking with us. i appreciate it. in my conversation with frank taf i asked him about a fote that had been attributed to him in the "new york times." here is how that conversatio