of dollars of campaign advertising are about to get a fresh bombardment. ♪ sounds like a horror movie or a trailer from a horror movie. it's a trailer for another one of those super pacs -- what's almost certain is that it's designed to damage governor romney both now and further down the road. despite romney's momentum in florida, the gallup's national polling says the fight could rage on. gingrich has a hefty lead over romney, 32 to 24% nationwide. that eight-point gap is the widest it's been since polling began earlier this month. now, those numbers can and no doubt will change, but for now, they give the gingrich camp reason to continue, whatever happens next in florida, whatever happened last night. what's happening now in florida is the gingrich-romney brawl. over ties to fannie mae and freddie mac that led to the housing meltdown and it erupted in last night's debate. >> we discovered to our surprise, that governor romney owns shares in fannie mae and freddie mac. maybe governor romney in the spirit of openness how much minute he has made on households that have been foreclosed. >> the investments that we made, have been in mutual funds and bonds. i don't own stock in either fannie mae or freddie mac have you checked your own investments? you also have mutual funds that invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> should point out the poll numbers were all before last night's debate, so they don't reflect what happened last night. speaker gingrich, you'll remember, was a paid contractor for freddie mac to the tune of $1.7 million for his consulting group. although the contract said he wasn't acting as a lobbiest, he answered directly to freddie's chief lobbyist and former lawmakers say that gingrich, in fact, did lobby them. governor romney says that his shares were in a mutual fund which he has no control over. right there on page 7, it shows holdings by the w. mitt romney ira, which is not a blind trust from fhlmc, that's freddie mac. and there's a similar investment in fnma, that's fannie mae. that's money outside of romney's blind trust. he spoke of the blind trust almost as a virtue saying it allowed him to avoid any conflicts of interest. keep in mind, when he was campaigning against ted ken dirk he didn't really trust blind trusts. >> the blind trust is an age old ruse if you will, which is to say, you can always tell a blind trust what it can and cannot do. you give a blind trust rules. >> getting back to today, speaker gingrich also has some consistency problems. before last night, he was turning to boycott any debate that didn't allow audience members to cheer or boo or applause. >> i wish in retrospect i would protested when brian williams took them out of it because it was wrong. because the media is terrified that the audience is going to side with the candidate against the media. and we're going to serve notice on future debates, we're not going to allow that to happen. that's wrong, the media doesn't control free speech people ought to be able to applaud if they want to. >> that was tuesday. today, his campaign is complaining about the audience. his senior adviser telling the huffington post that the romney campaign, quote, definitely packed the room. keeping them honest, there's simply no evidence of that. first, governor romney and speaker gingrich got plenty of cheers. here's a romney moment. >> it's simply the kind of over the top rhetoric that has characterized american politics for too long. i'm glad mark rubio called you out on it. i'm glad you withdrew it. i think you should apologize for it. and recognize that having differences of opinions on issues does not justify labelling people with highly charged epithets. >> now here's a gingrich moment. >> i want to control the border, i want english to be the official language of government. [ applause ] >> we have an applause meter. you can decide for yourself. as for packing the audience, hoo's how it worked. each campaign got 25 seats. the university got 100. the other roughly 1,000 seats were allocated by florida's republican party which is not aligned with any one candidate. it distributed tickets to registered republican voters who are not known to be supporters of any candidate. digging deeper now, what the primary picture looks like in florida and beyond. let's turn to john king. >> 25 delegates in iowa 12 in new hampshire, 25 in south carolina. 50 delegates at stake in florida. if you look at the polling, the latest polling shows governor romney with 18 points over speaker gingrich. we'll see if that holds up in the final dayses. where we go next is nevada, 28 delegates at stake when nevada holds its caucuses on february 4. missouri has a primary. the delegates will be awarded later in the process. then maine, ron paul was in maine today. 21 delegates at stake. two big primaries in the month, arizona and michigan. this gets you through the end of february. if the race is then going on, wow, march is a huge month. 17 states, plus some u.s. territories, 755 delegates total at play in the month of march. so we're going to end january in florida, arizona and michigan ends february, and then if the race goes on, anderson, a very, very consequential march. >> it's going to be fascinating. let's bring in gloria borger and david gergen. gingrich's performance last night played into the narrative that's affected him most of his career. when he's good, he's very, very good. and when he's not, he's not. >> absolutely. it's one of the great mysteries of last night, anderson. and cnn pollsters have been doing some polling and one of the things he did yesterday was he held three events and romney held one and rested and prepared for the debate. from all appearances, newt gingrich walked in unprepared, thinking he could wing it. and romney's team did a much better preparation job. and gingrich called around, a number of people told him to cool it, don't be so hot. all of that played into the newt gingrich in south carolina who disappeared in florida and lost both debates in effect in the public's mind and contributed to an overwhelming sense now that it's romney's to lose on tuesday in florida. and it's a hugely consequential primary. >> gloria, i heard gingrich -- i read that he said he was sort of quieter last night because he was so stunned at the misinformation, the incorrect things that romney was saying that he kind of wanted to fact check it and he was kind of looking down at his feet at times. >> i think that's a pretty good explanation and spin from newt gingrich. i have covered newt gingrich for a really long time. i covered him when he was speaker of the house. anticipate the thing that strikes me about gingrich is that he's much more comfortable as a back bencher when he's throwing the bombs than when he has to take a leadership position. and he went into this debate essentially with a lot of momentum from south carolina, he's very good at this, he wanted the audience, he wanted to play to the audience and he was getting the kind of advice, which is okay, now you're the front-runner. you have to start appealing to a wider swath. because if you're going to be the nominee, you're going to have to take it the entire way. i think he didn't have much of a strategy and i think he was uncomfortable for the first time. he seemed really uncomfortable to me. and also don't forget, mitt romney had pretty opposition research on him. so i think he was flummoxed most of the time. >> i think when wolf blitzer stood up to him on gingrich's attempts to turn it back on the elite media. and governor romney also stepped in, i thought that was kind of interesting and did seem to sort of flummox him. can he turn it around, david? >> i'm not sure he can turn it around the next three days. he doesn't have the money to spend on television. romney is overwhelmingly on the airwaves. >> 3 to 1, i think. >> yeah, 3 to 1. the debates were his best shot. for him to show up tired like he did in the first one. he was a little flat. and then to come last night and be flat. and, you know, rather than having a strategy as gloria pointed out, sort of come in impulsively and change his style, i think he put hymn in a situation where he's very likely to lose on tuesday. mitt romney by contrast, a good organization, changed his debate coach before he came into this week and clearly benefited from it. >> if gingrich doesn't win florida, is there a space on the calendar in the weeks ahead for him to come back into the game. >> it's very difficult, it will be very difficult. first of all it's going to be more difficult to raise them money. >> this is a guy that has come back from the dead multiple times. >> i know, exactly. but, you know, the states that are coming up that john king pointed out like nevada, michigan are very positive towards mitt romney. he'll be heading into super tuesday with a deficit. and it does get harder to raise money when you're not succeeding on the campaign trail. and i think that it would be difficult for him. there is the super pac as i said. but i do think what gingrich has to do is convince tea party voters that he is the conservative who can represent them. and i think santorum, even though he's not going to win in florida still stands in his way on that issue as we saw in that debate the other night. he's also got to convince people, newt does, that he's th anti-establishment candidate and that gets more and more difficult when people realize that he spent the last few decades in washington. >> david gergen, gloria, thank you very much. we have to leave it there. let us know what you think on facebook. google plus, add us to your circle. up next, the hunt for a killer who earned his release by getting to know mississippi's former governor haley barbour. the governor is speaking out to try to justify pardoning this guy. you decide for yourself if you buy it. he's on the loose, no one knows where he is, and authorities would like to. later, we get a rare up-close look inside the battle for syria. opposition forces getting remarkably close to damascus. this thing is spiraling out of control very quickly. ishay? >> we have got a follow-up of the italian cruise ship disaster you will not believe. remember the cruise line offered a discount on their next cruise. wait till you hear what they're offering now as a settlement and the catch that it comes with. crime and punishment tonight, there's a killer on the loose, his whereabouts unknown. but joseph osment didn't escape from prison. he was pardoned by the governor and his record wiped clean. the victims' families were outraged. much of the country was basically puzzled as to how this could have happened. especially when it came out that all four killers earned their pardon because they worked at the governor's mansion. >> for decades, our government's mansion has been served primarily from the state penal system. almost all murderers because the experts say people who committed one crime of passion in their life, after they serve 20 years and these on average served 20 years, are the least likely to ever commit another crime. that's why they have always been the people who served. i will mention that all these men have rehabilitated and they redeemed themselves and they deserve a second chance. and that's what we as christians believe. my wife and i are christians. >> the experts we spoke to, however, say the governor simply does not know what he's talking about. this idea that if you committed a crime of passion, you killed your wife, it's not necessarily the only time. >> reporter: joseph osment's wanted poster is going up all over. it's the old road convenience store where osment murdered ricky montgomery 90 years ago. mary mcafee cannot think about the man who killed her brother going free. >> he's a cold-blooded murder. in my opinion, he's a cold blooded murder for what he's done. and if he thinks he may have to go back to prison, what has he got to hughes? >> reporter: only osment's family seems to know what he's doing now. but on a december night in 1992, he and his friends planned to rob the convenience store to get some christmas store. this is joseph osment's confession. he admits coming in this store with a friend. when his friend walked in, he immediately shot ricky montgomery. and he saw ricky montgomery crawling on the floor and he shot him again. he did this so that he couldn't identify him. he did all of this so his take in this crime could be between $50 and $60. >> he said he was begging for help. you can't imagine how that feels. >> reporter: he was begging osment? >> and then to shoot him in the head, to know that he was all alone. that's the worst thing that you know can't help someone you love. >> reporter: this is the courthouse where he pled. >> he pled guilty right up there on the second floor there. >> reporter: osment's murder case was this lawyer's murder case. they spared osment from the death penalty in exchange for the death penalty. >> osment already prove head can't live in our society by our rules. and he committed the ultimate act by taking someone's life. so no, he should have never gotten out. >> reporter: do you think he'll do it again? >> i think he could do it again. he already did it once. >> reporter: the last time mississippi authorities saw joseph ozmond, he walked off the grounds of the governor's mansion, his mother picked him up and drove off. they believe he's hiding on these country roads. >> he's avoiding service. his mother knows it, all of his relatives know it. we have been there knocking on doors. >> oz osment's family know where he is? are they cooperating? >> reporter: according to the attorney general they have been able to make contact with several of the relatives and they haven't been able to get anywhere with that part of the search. and obviously people around here in northwest mississippi have their eyes out for him. they have heard so much about this case over the last three weeks. we got a lead on what we believe was a relative of joseph osment, and we knocked on the door and someone peered through the window and then refused to come to the door. when somebody says look, this person's got a piece of paper staying he's a pardoned criminal, he could be getting a passport and on his way traveling the world if he wishes. >> appreciate it. we'll continue following it. the situation is getting worse in syria. the death toll surging. what a cnn crew found when it traveled just a short distance today. also ahead, costa cruise lines makes a settlement offer to the people who survived the ship's accident off the italian coast. in syria, signs that things could be sping out of control. spurt forces have killed 135 people over the last two days. of course, cnn can't independent confirm the report. we can't verify the video you're about to see either. but we've got to warn you, the images are extremely hard to look at. you may want to turn away, but again, this is what's happening. activists say at least eight members of the same family were killed. all but three of them were children. the video was purportedly shot in home where is most of the killings were reported. the united nations has stopped counting the dead. today's cnn crew drove from central damascus to a town just outside the capital. they had to pass through a checkpoint. it wasn't manned by the regime. it was manned by the so-called free syrian army, a resistance group that claims to now have control of aefr area outside of damascus. >> follow us, the armed and masked men say. they are members of the free syrian army. a group of us journalists banded together to see how far we could get. we heard of a funeral. few expected the free syrian army to also control this much territory around it. we're hardly a 15-minute drive from the heart of damascus and you can see the scene here. no one stopped us on our way in. this area seems to be in control of the free syrian army, at least for now. the activists in our car points out the free syrian army fighting positions. at the main square, amid calls for the fall of the regime, the fighters are hailed as heros. we're constantly getting mobbed by people who want to show us the buildings. this man is saying up there, that's where a bomb hit and then they managed to fix that, repair that for now, but everybody coming, really wanting to get the story out, wanting their perspectives to be seen and heard. and wanting people to understand what it is they're going through. because they say all they're asking for is freedom. all of a sudden -- chaos. rumor the security forces are coming causes mas panic. everyone here knows firsthand what that means. it's a false alarm, but we hear government forces have the area encircled. is there anything up ahead, we ask these men at a checkpoint. they say there are clashes and point us in another direction. that way is also blocked. we hear a sniper up heed. we scramble away. a small group of activists takes us down back routes. the government may control the heart of damascus, but it's losing more ground by the day in the outskirts. >> are you shocked to see check points run by the syrian army. these are defectors from asaad's forces so close to damascus. >> reporter: we were quite surprised that it was literally less than a minute after we came off the main highway that we came across the checkpoint. the free army seems to be growing and gaining more and more territory. they are not perhaps in full control of these particular areas, but then again, neither, it seems, is the government. when we were in the city with the governor a few days ago, there was only one neighborhood that they felt was safe enough for us to be able to get out of the bus and begin filming it. >> how strong is the syrian army. because a few months ago it was just a random group of defectors here and there. and where are they getting their weapons from? >> reporter: well, the numbers are hard to say. some say 50,000, others say 10,000. they are made upmostly of defectors, but the group we came across today, they had civilians amongst them as well, who decided to pick up and join the free syrian army's ranks. and if you'll remember, everyone here has military experience because everyone has to go through a few years of obligatory military duty. the weapons we're being told, when they defect, they take weapons with them. sometimes they're able to buy weapons off of other soldiers. and they're also saying when clashes take place, sometimes the syrian forces leave weaponry behind. and then, of course, you have the issue of weapons being smuggled across the various porous borders. >> you make the point that the opposition to the regime is not one group, but fractured into many sides and the genie has been let out of the bottle. explain that. >> reporter: the great concern is that neither side really has full control over the situation. the government is trying to maintain this firm stance, but we keep seeing chunks of territory spiraling out of its control. the opposition is fractured on every single level, anderson. the street, which is the engine behind this entire movement, operates independently of the organizations that are outside of the country, like the syrian national council. add to that, even the street level activists sometimes don't operate as one cohesive unit. plus, you have the factor of these fringe extremist elements that completely have their own agenda. you have undertones of sectarian violence. and when you look at this entire picture, it most certainly seems as if the country is on a collision course towards some sort of sectarian or civil war. >> ahead on the program tonight, outrage over all the animals left behind in the wake of dia pa pan's nuclear diczarrer. they've been fending for themselves in this no-man's land. our correspondent goes in to see how the animals are doing. anderson, some o