we begin with a look at today's eye opener. your world in 90 seconds. >> conservative is alive and well in missouri and minnesota. >> rick santorum's three-state sweep jolts the gop race. >> i want to congratulate senator santorum. wish him the very best. >> even though there were three elections they didn't mean much because no delegates were awarded. >> it's a bigger waste of time than voting on "american idol." >> i smell gasoline and he won't let me in. >> 911 calls reveal the panic as josh powell torched his own home. >> he blew up the house and the kids. >> the kids and the husband -- and the father were in the house? >> yes. he slammed the door in my face. >> we're going to go to the supreme court and we'll win there. it's been a long time coming. >> there is rational and legitimate governmental interest in proteching marriage between only a man and a woman. >> if you want to respect the sanctity of marriage ban kardashian weddings. >> overseas it is reported that syrian troops are attacking the city of homs from the fifth straight day. bus a 83 jets are to be checked for wing cracks. >> karen handel has announced that she will resign. >> it's in the best interests for susan komen to step aside. >> baby chun chun weighs in at 15 zblounds all that. >> and all that matters. >> we've got a ring. >> i got two. >> on "cbs this morning." >> it doesn't matter if you won or if you lost. >> it matters. welcome to "cbs this morning." it took one night for rick santorum to become a player again in the republican presidential race. the former senator won all three gop contests last night, including an unexpected five point victory in colorado's caucuses. >> santorum won the minnesota caucuses. there it was been an 18 point marge begin. he won by 30 points in the missouri primary. he moves on with a whole lot of momentum. political correspondent jan crawford is in denver. good morning. >> good morning, and good morning to the west for everyone who flat out declared this was a two-man race between romney and gingrich, voters in three states last night said not so fast. santorum not only won minnesota and missouri, he won colorado. that was a state romney was supposed to have had locked up. >> conservatism is alive and well in missouri and minnesota. >> reporter: rick santorum was such an underdog that just a week ago people were speculating he'd drop out. last night he not only one, he blew out the competition. >> your votes today were not just heard loud and wade across the state of missouri and minnesota, but they were heard loud and louder all across this country. >> reporter: the states were a bit quirky. missouri was basically a beauty contest with voters caucusing next month for real. still, santorum's strong showing is a huge blow to the front-runners, especially newt gingrich who's been campaigning as the conservative alternative to romney. though with gingrich's stumbles and voters nervous about his baggage, last night santorum assumed that title. gingrich finished no better than third. >> this was a good night for rick santorum. want to congratulate senator santorum. >> reporter: but as big a win as it was for santorum, it also was a rejection of romney. he so far has not persuaded republicans he can carry the conservative message. >> i thank you for all trying to help. we've got a long way to go. >> reporter: but last night santorum set his sights beyond his republican rivalries. i don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney. i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama. >> reporter: now for santorum who won those iowa caucuses, all these wins are a vindication of sorts. gingrich has been suggesting that he should quit this race so all those santorum supporters could go over to newt gingrich and gingrich would take on romney and win. now santorum is the man with the momentum and that makes it a lot harder to see how that gingrich combback is going to work. >> jan, thank you very much. cbs news political director john dickerson is with us. how did santorum do it? >> the conservatives spoke. 'peeled to the core of the republican party and they've been consistently unsure about mitt romney. they landed for a little while with newt gingrich. they've been shuffling around. they liked what rick santorum had to say and they turned out for it. >> the romney camp says we didn't focus on these. it's more of a defeat for newt gingrich than for us. >> there's an old line in politics, when you're explaining you're losing. they're having to explain away the losses. they are right in that romney has a lot of money and an organization. he didn't play as hard in these states, but he is the one who's supposed to be taking on barack obama. he needs to be strong in his own party. and these victories by rick santorum showed that he's not strong in his own party. he can't seal the deal with the core of that party. the doubts persist. so he has a lot of work to do. >> where is the process now to select a republican nominee? >> rick santorum is now going to fell a lot of heat from the romney campaign. what romney has to do now is what he did very successfully after south carolina, which is get his campaign back together and it's going to be a battle between a conviction politician, santorum, and a politician whose biggest problem in some ways is that people think he lacks conviction. >> in terms of getting the campaign back together how much will that rely on the money he has and the ads which seem to have done so well in florida? >> the good news is they have planned for this. they have a long campaign. they are a cautious and long campaign. they have money for future states. they can rely on what they've already built. there is scrambling that needs to go on for sure, but there's also a lot in place for romney. santorum is scrambling he'll get a lot of money. it's hard to take that money and turn it into an organization overnight. he had trouble doing that after iowa. >> thanks. we want to update you now on the stock act. it became very popular of course after a 60 minutes story back in november. now the house democratic leader has become a specific target of the legislation. nancy cordes is on capitol hill this morning. >> reporter: good morning, to you, erica. the stock act is sailing through congress as a payroll tax cut extension and jobs bills remain mired in gridlock. the stock act passed the senate overwhelmingly last week. late last night house leaders released their version. some aspects of it are bound to create controversy. >> the bill is passed. >> reporter: the senate version of the stock act passed 96-3. house republicans hurried to finish their own version in time for a vote tomorrow. >> it is unacceptable for anybody in this body to profit personally from non-public information. >> reporter: the bill's sudden popularity is amusing to louise slaughter who first introduced the stock act six years ago and never got much support. >> what's driving this? >> "60 minutes." i've never seen anything like it. the day after on the street people were asking me about it. >> reporter: house republicans say their bill will be even stronger than the senate bill which explicitly bans members of congress and their staffers from trading on non-public information they glean through their work on capitol hill. it also requires lawmakers to disclose any trade over $1,000 and revoke the lawmakers' pension if they're convicted of a felony. but here's where the bipartisanship ends. on tuesday house republicans announce they're adding a clause they call the pelosi provision restricting lawmakers and their staffs from unfair access to initial public offerings or ipos. the provision is a dig at house minority leader nancy pelosi. her husband's participation in an ipo for visa was highlighted in the "60 minutes" story. she denies there's a conflict of interest. >> i will hold my record in terms of fighting the credit card companies as a speaker of the house or as a member of congress up against anyone. >> reporter: pelosi's office adds that this was one of the largest ipos in history, 4 million shares of visa were sold. her husband bought 5,000. >> nancy, thank you. we do want to go back to steve kroft's "60 minutes" story which inspired the pelosi provision. >> do you think it's all right for a speaker to accept a very preferential favorable stock deal? >> we didn't. >> you participated in the ipo and at the time you were speaker of the house. down the think it was a conflict of interest or have the appearance of a con tlikt of interest? >> no. if you decide that you're going to have -- elaborate on a false premise, but it's not true and that's that. >> i don't understand what part's not true. >> yes, sir? that i would act upon an investment. >> "60 minutes" correspondent is here with us. >> good morning. > reminds me that the worst call you can get is saying i'm steve kroft on the line from "60 minutes." you have to build that up. you have to keep that an active proposition. >> what's going to happen to the pelosi provision when the house votes? >> i have no idea, but -- well, i'm assuming that it's going to pass. i think it should. i think it's a great addition to the bill. i don't think that the people in congress people in positions of power should be rewarded with the opportunity to make huge amounts of money when they're considering legislation that may be -- this company may be involved in. >> so this very much changes things as to what congress people can do and what information they can share? >> yes. how it's ultimately enforced we'll wait to see. there's still all sorts of problems with the disclosure laws as you well know. they have to report their stock trades now 30 days -- every 30 days, which is a huge improvement. they used to have to only do it every six months which makes it easier for reporters to go and find out what they're trading. but we'll see if that's in the senate provision. some people -- or house provision. some people have said that it needs to be longer. >> some kind of conference taking place? >> yes. >> you mentioned the need for enforcement, which is still kind of up in the air. you got a pretty overwhelming viewer response from this. when you heard from the american people who watched this piece, your piece in november, is the stock act that we're seeing now what they wanted in terms of changes? >> i think that they were just outraged to find out that members of congress really weren't subject to insider trading laws. i think people have been so dissatisfied with the performance of congress if you look at their approval ratings, i think the people were just angry that people -- that there were a different set of rules for them. >> when you do a piece like this that really stirs up washington, what's the consequence? what happens? do you get people saying, boy, do i have a story from you? do you get a lot of people saying i don't want to be seen with you? >> the reaction is funny. a day or two after we did the story i had an interview scheduled with a member of congress and he called back and said, i'm not doing this in my office. i don't want to be seen with steve kroft and "60 minutes" on the hill so we did it in a hotel room. it changed within a matter of days when everybody said, look, we need to do something about this. then, of course, everybody jumped on the bandwagon. >> thank you very much, steve. great to see you on the program. >> great to be here. >> this sunday "60 minutes" will have an interview with adele looking ahead to the grammys. turning to washington state now where police have released chilling 911 tapes from the day josh powell killed his two sons and himself. the calls were made by a social worker who dropped off the children. here she is pleading for help. >> i'm on a supervised visitation for a court ordered visit, and something really weird has happened. i am really shocked and i could hear one of the kids crying but he still won't let me in. >> reporter: desperate for help and sensing danger, social worker elizabeth griffin hall pleads with a 911 operator to send someone quickly. >> i'd like to pull out of the driveway because i smell & gasoline. he won't let me in. >> reporter: inside the house josh powell is brutally attacking his children while a frustrated griffin hall waits helplessly for authorities to arrive. >> okay. how long will it be? >> i don't know, ma'am. they have to respond to emergency life threatening situations first. >> this could be life threatening. he went to court on wednesday and he didn't get his kids back. and this is really -- i'm afraid for their lives. >> reporter: moments later powell torches the home as an explosion rocks the neighborhood. >> exploded the house. >> ma'am -- >> he exploded the house. he blew up the house and the kids. >> the kids and the father were in the house? >> yeah. yes. he slammed the door in my face. so i kept knocking. i thought it was a mistake. i kept knocking and then i called 911. >> reporter: bowpowell's sister called 911. >> he said something about he can't live without his sons and i'm not afraid of him. he'd never hurt me. i'm afraid of seeing something i don't want to see. >> reporter: yet as she spoke josh powell and his two sons had already perished in the fire. >> we turn now overseas. syria's president now says he wants to hold talks with opposition forces, but syrian troops attack the city of homs for the fifth day in a row. activists report at least 20 people were killed. with syria at the brink of civil war, it is a dangerous time for anyone to be there, especially outsiders. our clarissa ward, one of the few western reporters in syria, filed this report from a rebel camp. >> reporter: we attended a military training session for the syrian liberation army, the rebel force that we have been staying with here. what was most striking is that these men are not former soldiers. they do not have military expertise. many of them are not even physically fit. they are farmers and they are workers. they have enormous amounts of courage and enormous amounts of spirit but really very little military expertise. it's important to remember that this is a revolution that is being fought on a shoestring. we visited a hospital which is really just a few rooms. it's one of the only places that people who have been injured while participating in a protest or people who are affiliated with rebel forces can go for any treatment. they really have only the most basics of medical supplies there. when we visited we saw one man donating blood into a bag. the blood was quickly tested to see if the blood type matched and then it was immediately injected into another man. these men on the ground here, these rebel forces, but also just these civilians are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, military expertise, and they say most importantly of international support. clarissa ward for "nbc 10 news today," syria. this morning supporters of proposition 8, california's ban on same-sex marriage, want the supreme court to decide the issue. yesterday a federal appeals court ruled the voter approved ban is unconstitutional. same-sex marriage's though will not resume immediately in california. the court gave proposition 8 supporters time to appeal. >> it is time now to show you some of this morning's headlines from around the globe. we begin in britain where the guardian reports the last known world war i veteran has died. florence green joined the women's royal air force a few > th this national weather report sponsored by hallmark. life is a special occasion. an angry message from one special ops commander to another on tuesday. stop talking to reporters or your troops are going to get killed. you'll see that confrontation and we'll ask john miller about keeping secret missions secret. also, george clooney has no secrets from us. we'll go inside his home in los angeles as person to person returns to cbs after 50 years. you're watching "cbs this morning." this portion of "cbs this morning," sponsored by kay jewelers. every kiss begins with kay. just right. s okay. ready... mm-hmm. happy valentine's day. 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[ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. mitt romney has been very dominant lately. despite the occasional foot in the mouth like this humorously preposterous statement about our national anthem. >> i love the hymns of america. of course, our favorite is the national anthem. we're the only people on earth that put our hand over our heart during the playing of the national anthem. >> we're the only people on earth. i didn't know that. neither did any of the people in italy or guatemala or croatia or somali or japan or the ukraine or venezuela. >> quick trip around the world with jimmy kimmel on this wednesday morning. >> be careful when you say we're the only people who do anything. there may be somebody somewhere in the world who does it. special operations as we changed course here, special operations have been making headlines lately. but is that putting troops in danger? >> one retired general is fed up telling the special ops commander it's time to get out the media. we'll ask john miller about that. stay with us. you're watching "cbs this morning." your local news is next. san francisco arson investigators are looking into e that sent good morning. 7 am 5. time for news headlines at christian coalition 5. san francisco arson investigators looking into an explosion and fire that sent people to the hospital in burns. it happened last night in the ingleside district. the suspect arrested for shooting an off-duty federal agent in newark is an eye doctor from piedmont. police are looking for a motive. the victim's family is withholding information about his condition. and a plan to increase police activity against protestors in oakland fell short of the votes needed at a city council meeting disrupted by "occupy" activists tonight. tonight mayor jean quan will give her annual state of the city address. we'll have an update on your traffic and weather coming right up. good morning. got a new accident just now past the bay bridge toll plaza. it is beginning to stack up quite a bit behind those pay gates. we have a fog advisory in effect issued