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Arizona Sheriff Resigns after Gay Outing; Santorum Clarifies Theology Remark; Three Skiers Killed in Avalanche; Whitney Houston Laid to Rest; 23 Killed Across Syria Sunday; Interview with New York Representative Carolyn Maloney; Oil Prices Hit 9-Month High; Arizona Sheriff Resigns After Gay Outing; New Orleans Mardi Gras has Teen Curfew; Lin Leads Knicks to Bounce Back Win
Aired February 20, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Thanks so much.
Well, Mitt Romney has got a mess on his hands in Arizona. A rising conservative star and Romney Arizona point man in the state resigns. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is gone, forced to admit that he's gay and accused of threatening his ex-boyfriend.
Miguel Marquez has an exclusive interview. He is in Florence, Arizona, for us.
Miguel, you actually spoke to this ex-boyfriend, right?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We spoke exclusively to that ex-boyfriend. He will only go by the name of Jose right now, and he wants his face hidden and his voice changed because he fears retribution. But it is absolutely extraordinary that a 34-year-old Mexican migrant finds himself in the middle of presidential politics in a bruising political year.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA: These allegations that were in one of these newspapers are absolutely completely false.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): It's a Grand Canyon sized political shocker.
BABEU: We're outmanned. Of all the illegals in America, more than half come through Arizona.
MARQUEZ: The tough-on immigration Arizona sheriff outed by his migrant ex-boyfriend.
BABEU: This is my personal and private life, but now it's not private any longer. And it's an awful position for me to be in.
MARQUEZ: He's in that position because of this man, Jose, a 34- year-old Mexican national, afraid to be identified but speaking out because he says he was threatened by his powerful ex-lover. (On camera): And then at some point, you felt --
JOSE, ACCUSES SHERIFF BABEU: Used.
MARQUEZ: Used. And then threatened?
JOSE: Yes.
MARQUEZ: Why threatened?
JOSE: I got a text from him, directly, on my phone saying that I will never have business, that my family will be contacted.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The alleged threat to have Jose deported if he went public with the affair.
BABEU: At no time did I or anyone who represents me ever threaten deportation, ever.
MARQUEZ: Babeu stepped down as co-chair of Mitt Romney's campaign in Arizona, but the tough-as-nails sheriff says he is not ending his run for Congress.
Jose says he's here legally and wants to get on with his life. But with the story playing a role in presidential politics, that won't be happening anytime soon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: Now, Jose says that he is here on a tourist visa. That he was granted a 10-year tourist visa with multiple entries. And he goes back and forth to Mexico to keep himself current and legal. He says he was running a business here, that he volunteered for the sheriff as well. That he fell in love with the sheriff, and then reluctantly admitted during our interview that the sheriff just did not fall in love with him -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So has the Romney camp said anything thus far this morning, Miguel?
MARQUEZ: They haven't said anything this morning. But the Romney camp over the weekend, according to the sheriff anyway, and his lawyer, were very gracious. They told him they didn't want him to step down, that they wanted him to stay as co-chair, they didn't really care about this. But this is getting bigger. The number of allegations out there by this individual and the fact that he would step down so quickly from the campaign on his own volition indicates that the sheriff may have some more work to do -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Miguel Marquez. And welcome back to CNN. Great to have you back. Way to kick it off with an exclusive story.
MARQUEZ: Good to be --
PHILLIPS: All right.
Well, Rick Santorum has surged ahead of Mitt Romney in a new nationwide poll of Republican voters.
CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser has the numbers for us.
Big swing from last week, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Big swing. And let's take a look it this, Kyra. The search continues at least according to this poll from Gallup. This is the Daily Tracking Poll of Republicans nationwide.
Look at the this, on the left column there, where it stands right now. And you can see Rick Santorum eight points ahead of Mitt Romney. You can say he leads now. That's outside of the sampling error. Look at the right column. One week ago, that's where it was, Romney ahead of Santorum. Things have changed.
But, Kyra, if I were Rick Santorum, I'd want those primaries to be tomorrow, not a week from tomorrow. You've got Arizona and Michigan one week from tomorrow. The big question is, will this surge in the polls nationally and in the states continue for rick Santorum?
Stay tuned on that one, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Now Santorum also challenging the president's theology.
STEINHAUSER: Yes. Somewhat of a controversial weekend, I think, you could say for Rick Santorum. He questioned the president's strategy of forcing or asking health care companies to provide prenatal testing. He said that led to abortions. And as you mentioned, the theology comments. Here's what Rick Santorum said on Saturday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's about some phony ideal, some phony theology. Not a theology based on the bible, a different theology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Now, with Rick Santorum questioning whether Barack Obama was he Christian or not? Here's what Rick Santorum said yesterday on the talk shows.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANTORUM: No, I wasn't suggesting the president is not a Christian. I accept the fact that the president is a Christian. I just said that when you have a worldview that elevates the earth above man, and says that, you know, we can't take those resources because we're going to harm the earth by things that are -- that frankly are just not scientifically proven.
For example, the politicization of the whole global warming debate. I mean this is just all an attempt to, you know, to centralize power and give more power to the government. And this is not questioning the president's beliefs in Christianity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: I guess we could say welcome to front-runner status, Mr. Santorum. Anything you say with you're in the front- runner, Kyra, comes under the microscope a lot -- never like it was before, and Rick Santorum every word he says now is going to be analyzed. So welcome to front-runner status.
And, you know, Kyra, that also happens in debates. And I think we have a debate coming up, don't we?
PHILLIPS: Yes, we do. And you can watch the Arizona Republican presidential debate right here on CNN, Wednesday night, 8:00 Eastern. It's the last presidential debate before Super Tuesday., March 6th.
And Washington state, an avalanche near a popular ski resort kills three people. ESPN actually reports that one of the victims was a former pro skier, Jim Jack. About nine others dug their way out of there after being buried in the snow.
Meteorologist Rob Marciano joining me more on what happened.
Give us some details, Rob. I mean the way some of them survived is pretty remarkable, right?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, one ne of them basically had the air bag system that a lot of people are using now, which helps you float on top of the snow. Now that's not obviously, that you're going to survive. There's tress. There's rocks that you can be impacted by. But that certainly helped one of the survivors. Three again were killed yesterday that doesn't include one more that was killed just -- south in Snoqualmie Pass.
There's some of the video from one of our affiliates up the slip itself. That's Highway 2, that's the road that you take from Seattle up to Stevens Pass and over the pass, which is about 4,000 feet. This slide took place around 5,500 feet or so. And there you see the remnants of it down towards the road itself.
All right. Here it is in relative to Seattle. I got about 70, 80 miles east of there. So hour and a half, two hours, you can get there from Seattle day trip. You got some fresh powder and you're out there. You got two feet of it right at the resort. Now that's a lot even by cascade mountain standards in just two days. So here is the resort itself. We are actually looking at the southern side. This is all inbounds right here. And they either hiked up by themselves or took a lift up to this area, and then got -- went out of bounds and this is somewhere in here is where that slide took place.
So that's how that slide happened. And the reason is in the cascades, you get snow levels that go up and down and up and down, and that creates different layers of snow. Soft snow covered by hard snow and then soft snow on that. And you get a weak layer on top -- underneath some of that snow, and you'll get a slab to break free. And that's exactly what happened. Now what's going on in Colorado as well, danger is rising there, Kyra, because we've had so little snow and we have also had a lot of sun this year. And now the snow is piling on top of that unstable layer. So snow danger, avalanche danger is significant in Colorado as well. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: Got it. Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Well, Whitney Houston's family, friends, and fans paid their last respects this weekend to the superstar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR CORY BOOKER (D), NEWARK: We are here to mourn our loss but to celebrate --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Newark Mayor Cory Booker and gospel singer Kim Burrell were among the speakers and singers at Saturday's funeral. Houston was then buried next to her father at Fairview Cemetery during a private family gathering on Sunday.
Kareen Wynter joining us from Los Angeles this morning.
Kareen, investigators still looking into the cause of Whitney Houston's death. Any word when they might know something?
KAREEN WINTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kyra, those toxicology reports, they usually take anywhere between six to eight weeks to complete. But a source close to the investigation tells us that they have put a rush on those reports so we'll likely see something sooner, Kyra.
The source also tells us that the medicine and pill bottles found in Houston's Beverly Hilton hotel room the afternoon she died are basically undergoing basic testing and at this point, Kyra, well, nothing appears criminal. That there's no evidence, they say, any doctors or pharmacies contacted so far get anything wrong, and that they are in fact cooperating with the investigation.
As we've been reporting, Kyra, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, it was among the prescription drugs found in the room. Family members and staff say Houston used the medication, Kyra, but investigators, they haven't been able to confirm if she took the drug the day she died. That information would likely be on the toxicology reports.
And in the meantime, officials are contacting pharmacies, they're contacting doctors, both in California and other states like Georgia. They are analyzing data from CURES, a California Department of Justice Prescription drug monitoring program that tracks a patient's drug history. And so far, sources close to the death investigators tell me Houston's family members, Kyra, friends and doctors, can only provide so much information. So what they're doing right now is they're going through the painstaking process of digging through Houston's prescription drug history, using this database CURES to basically help them connect the dots here -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So now we're also hearing about this possible hotel security video playing a role in the investigation, right? What do we know about that? And what will we be seeing on that?
WYNTER: Well, investigators are also looking at that hotel surveillance video that they believe exists and may help them reveal more information about Houston's behavior as well as activities in the common areas of the hotel in the days leading up to her death.
And speaking of the hotel, Kyra, while hotel employees there say that Houston was partying in the bar and other venues even the night before she died, and another source says Houston appeared intoxicated as she ordered drinks in the hotel earlier in the week and that she was seen drinking the morning the day she died.
So, Kyra, a lot of -- a lot of information that investigators here are combing through. Will we see that surveillance video? It's really a part of evidence that they have right now, so perhaps not right now. But you know in this case, there's been so many leaks. So we'll have to see if that video in fact gets out there -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll follow it. Kareen Wynter, thanks so much.
Well, with Syrians dying by the day, there's a growing call in the international community to arm the opposition.
Pro-democracy activists say the government forces are shelling the besieged city for the 17th straight day. And despite continued deaths, a top military adviser to President Obama says it would be premature to arm the opposition. Now take a look at this.
This video reportedly shows men running into a burning building in Homs trying to rescue a child. But CNN can't vouch for the authenticity at this point. One rebel commander actually calls the uprising an orphan revolution, saying they haven't received international support like other Arab Spring revolts.
And the nearly yearlong brutal crackdown in Syria is making headlines across the world this morning, and it has been actually for months.
Zain Verjee following the latest from London this morning. Hi, Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hey there, Kyra. Let's go straight to the international news headlines. They're covering quite a range of different topic as well as countries today.
"The Irish Times," Kyra, has this headline. It says "Uprising Will Fail But Leave Lasting Divisions, Analysts Say." This is actually kind of an opinion piece that says, "Arming insurgents is certain to prolong the conflict in Syria. Government supporters argue the rebellion will be defeated but not until a great deal of blood is shed and the economy destroyed."
Check out "The International Herald Tribune." It says, "Arms sales underscore Moscow's tie to Damascus. It says the Arab Spring and the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have dissipated Russia's once powerful influence in the region, transforming the relationship with Syria into one of critical importance to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin."
Finally, Kyra, look at "The China Daily." It says this. Saying no to gunboat diplomacy. It adds, "China's veto at the Security Council does not mean that Beijing takes sides with the Syrian government or that it's turning a blind eye to the bloody clashes. It means it does not want Syria to end up on the same disastrous road as Libya, which finally ended in a full-scale civil war."
Kyra, a range of topics and opinions from different newspapers around the world.
PHILLIPS: Gotcha. Zain, thanks.
It was a hearing on contraception and religious freedom, and the panel testifying, all men. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney was not very happy. She joins me live.
And next, this man runs straight into a burning building. Why would anybody do that? We'll tell you, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Checking stories across the country now.
In California, a plane and a helicopter collide. You can actually see the small aircraft here, which landed after the crash. The chopper's pretty beat up, but both pilots are OK.
And snow is ice cover a lot of North Carolina today. A winter storm brought flurries a day after temps hit the mid-60s on Saturday. Drivers beware. Many roads expected to be dangerous all morning.
And watch this Massachusetts man run straight into a burning home. The Good Samaritan was actually trying to save two men inside. And you know what? He succeeded. They all made it out alive.
So, where are all the women? That's what Representative Carolyn Maloney asked when she walked into a congressional oversight hearing on contraceptive coverage, and all she saw were a bunch of men. On top of that, Maloney says Chairman Darrell Issa actually manipulated committee rules to block female witnesses from even testifying.
Congresswoman Maloney joining me live from New York this morning.
Congressman -- Congresswoman, rather, you and Representative Eleanor Norton were clearly disappointed during the hearing. You left. You came back. Tell me why you left that hearing initially.
REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D), NEW YORK: Well, it was in conflict with a hearing on Financial Services on which I serve, a very important hearing, which was a markup on legislation, five bills. I had two amendments in that hearing. So I had to be two places at once. I did come back to listen and to ask questions of the panel.
PHILLIPS: And you --
MALONEY: But what I think is interesting, Kyra, is when two women leave, they say it's a walkout because there are so few women on the panel that if you leave, they think it's a walkout. People were walking in and out all through the hearing that took place for hours.
PHILLIPS: You also accuse Darrell Issa of manipulating committee rules to block female witnesses from testifying. Tell me why you were pushing so hard for Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke to testify.
MALONEY: Well, first of all, a woman is more qualified to speak about women's health care than anyone else. And for him to say she's unqualified is totally unjustifiable.
Also, the Democratic minority is entitled to select our witness. We selected Sandra Fluke. He said she was unqualified. It's not his role to say who the Democratic witness should be or what their qualifications are.
And when you have an important health care issue that affects tens of millions of women, it's very appropriate. And I would say necessary to have a woman on the panel.
PHILLIPS: And you make the point, this was a health care issue. Issa came back writing this letter to Democrats saying, quote, "As this hearing is not about reproductive rights but freedom of religion, Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness."
MALONEY: The hearing was about women, and women's access to preventive health care and insurance coverage to provide that health care on a whole range of areas, including reproduction and contraception. This was totally about women's access to health insurance. It was about insurance companies providing access to contraception, which happens to be the law, Kyra, in 28 states.
PHILLIPS: So what's next, Congresswoman?
MALONEY: What's next? We are going to go back and continue working for fairness and justice for women and all people.
PHILLIPS: Congresswoman Maloney, appreciate your time this morning.
MALONEY: And access.
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead: oil prices spike overnight. You're going to feel the pain beyond the pump. We'll explain right after the break.
Plus, get ready for a burger that's grown in a lab. But you better be ready to fork over thousands of bucks for it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: You've heard of test tube babies. How about a test tube burger? I'd like that lab patty on wheat please. Zain Verjee, could you serve that up?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm sorry. What?
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: OK. You know what? I know you much better than this. And that's no lab patty. That's straight from Mickey D's down there, two blocks from the bureau.
VERJEE: Exactly, exactly. Eighty-nine cents, baby.
Well, you know, this is -- as I nibble on this a little bit later, I'll just tell you there's a Dutch scientist, and he's come up with this way to create a test tube burger. Now it sounds absolutely delicious, Kyra.
Basically what he's done is taking 10,000 stem cells and got them from cow muscles. Hmmm. And it's going to be multiplied by a billion times in a Petri dish, and hurray, you have a test tube burger.
Now, it's pretty affordable to you, Kyra, but not to the rest of America. It's $330,000 for one test tube burger.
PHILLIPS: Who's going to pay that? Please tell me, who is paying that?
VERJEE: I don't know. I don't know who would want that. But, you know it kind of -- I don't know how it tastes. But it's been described as tasting kind of like the texture of calamari and looking kind of gray.
Now, judging by the looks of you, I think you're on salads mostly these days because you look fabulous. But I really think a big mac with fries and a large Coke should really be what you're doing these days. But I don't know. I tend to prefer the Mickey D's, you know, the easy way and tasty way.
PHILLIPS: I agree, yes. Lunch date tomorrow. See you.
VERJEE: Lunch date, darling. OK.
PHILLIPS: You probably have already felt it at the gas pump. Oil prices are on the rise again. It's not the only thing, I guess, that is expensive than a lab patty is, you know, our gas.
Hi, Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Yes, for 89 cents, you can't get a gallon of gas. That's for sure. So what's up with the rising gas prices?
Well, there are several factors at work this time around, but most of the focus really seems to be on Iran this time around. Oil prices overnight, they topped $105 a barrel. That's the highest levels that we've seen in nine months.
Now, what happened over the weekend is that Iran said it's not going to go ahead and sell oil to Britain and France. What Iran is doing is retaliating for European Union sanctions that were put in place last month with the E.U., the European Union, and the U.S. want from Iran is more information about their nuclear enrichment activity.
So what happened essentially is that oil prices spiked. And as far as the U.S. views this, it's really more of a psychological effect, less of a supply issue for the U.S. because we don't get any of our oil from Iran. And France and Britain, they get very little of it from Iran. So, it's more about the fear of what if Iran continues to squeeze supply, then real concrete issues here.
PHILLIPS: All right. Now, what's it mean for gas prices headed into the spring?
KOSIK: You can guess this one, and I bet you'll guess right. Higher oil prices are going to mean higher gas prices as we get into the spring months. You know, some analysts say the national average could be $4.25 by late April. It's already $4 in two states, in California and Hawaii. The national average is currently sitting at $3.56 a gallon.
Now, if prices rise as expected, what you'll probably wind up seeing is consumers drive less. But you know what? That's not necessarily a good thing for the economy. You don't really want to see the consumer pull back.
However, prices do tend to fall when demand slows down. So, there are several ways you can look at the high gas price issue -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Alison, thanks.
Well, he admits he's gay, and his ex-boyfriend says he threatened to deport him. Mitt Romney's point man in Arizona has our L.Z. Granderson and Will Cain going at it. The Monday morning political showdown, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.
Pro-democracy activists reporting Syrian forces firing on the besieged city of Homs for the 17th straight day. President Obama's top military adviser says it's premature to arm the opposition.
And Senator John McCain and two other senators are in Cairo today, planning to bring up the case of 19 detained Americans. They're being held as part of an Egyptian crackdown on nongovernmental organizations.
And three people were killed in an avalanche Sunday near a Washington state ski resort. Nine other skiers managed to dig themselves to safety. All the skiers were experienced and had the proper gear.
A rising star for conservatives in Arizona and Romney's point man, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu came across as tough, no nonsense, and uncompromising when it came to illegal immigration. Now, a man comes forward exclaiming he is Babeu's ex and that Babeu threatened him.
Now, the sheriff admits he's gay, was involved with the Mexican immigrant, and we're talking about what it means for Mitt Romney.
L.Z. Granderson, CNN contributor. He is in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Will Cain, also our contributor. He's in New York this morning.
All right. Will, let's start with you. Romney has got a bit of a problem here.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I don't think so, Kyra. You know, I heard you in the tease a minute ago say that Will Cain and L.Z. Granderson are going to go at it. I don't think so.
If we are -- the only point I think we disagree with is whether or not this story has any bigger meaning, whether or not it has any bigger context. And I don't think it does. I think what you have here is largely a lover's spat between a sheriff and his ex-lover -- meaning we shouldn't trust, by the way, what either side is saying right now. But we have a sheriff who's come out as gay -- big deal.
I don't see the bigger story and I don't see how it impacts Mitt Romney's campaign.
PHILLIPS: L.Z., what do you think? Is it damaging? You've got the gay issue, the immigration issue. You got the fact that Babeu allegedly threatened to deport his ex-boyfriend if he outed him.
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: I think that, you know, Will is being a little bit optimistic in this conversation because he didn't come out as gay. He was outed. And those are two total different conversations.
You know, I always look at this situation not necessarily about the Jose versus the sheriff conversation, because we don't know. As Will said, we don't know what's true and what isn't true.
But what we do know is that this man is going to continue to run for Congress but pull out of helping Mitt Romney run for president. Now I ask you, what are the qualifications to run for Congress and how are they different than ones helping him run for president? You know, why did he resign? Did he resign because he didn't think he was in an environment in which he could be openly gay? That is the larger conversation and the one this we should be having.
PHILLIPS: Will?
CAIN: So this is the point -- yes, so this is it. This is the point of our disagreement right here.
I don't know how L.Z. can draw that conclusion from one factor among three in this story. The other two are allegations. We do not know if they're true, that the sheriff's lover was allegedly an illegal immigrant and that the sheriff threatened to have him deported.
We don't know if those are true. But regardless, they are now part of the story. They are going to be part of this hornet's nest of media coverage. It's not hard to see why the sheriff would say, I don't know that I'm a good figure to be involved with the Mitt Romney campaign now. I'm not going to do this to this campaign.
PHILLIPS: L.Z.?
GRANDERSON: But I'm good for Congress? But I'm still good enough to be your congressman? I can't volunteer and help Mitt Romney run for president, but I can be your congressman? How does that make sense?
CAIN: That only affects his own career, because that only affects his own career. Perhaps he is taking a noble stance.
GRANDERSON: Really?
CAIN: I have some negative publicity around me right now. I don't think that should rub off on the guy I'm endorsing or supporting. But for my own career, I'll take it on.
PHILLIPS: L.Z., do we need to hear --
GRANDERSON: I don't think the gay should be rubbing off on Mitt Romney is what he's saying. I don't know the gay should rub off on Mitt Romney, not necessarily my scandal.
PHILLIPS: L.Z., do we need to hear from Mitt Romney himself on this?
GRANDERSON: You know what I would really like to hear from Mitt Romney? I would like to hear him say I reached out to this man who I once called friend and thought was good enough to help me run for president. I reached out to him, said I understand you're going through this scandal but I want you know you're sexual orientation has nothing to do with your qualifications as congressman or to help me be the president of the United States.
I don't know if you had that conversation with him or not, but I would love to hear that publicly, because that would go a long way to help him diffusing the idea that the GOP and the Republicans are anti- gay.
You know, the scandal is a separate conversation. But I think it's important that Mitt Romney says those words.
PHILLIPS: Will?
CAIN: It seems like we're trying really hard to make this a story completely about sexuality, as though there's not an issue over abuse of power involved in the story, allegedly -- abuse of power involved in this story. I just think we are trying really hard to have a conversation exclusively about sexuality, the GOP's hypocrisy role with sexuality and having this rub off on Mitt Romney. We are trying really hard it seems like here.
GRANDERSON: No, we're not trying really hard. The platform is what it is. In 1994, Mitt Romney sent the Republicans a letter saying, I will fight for your full equality. Next thing you know he's on stage saying, I support an amended constitution that would ban marriage equality and he is not fully engaged in trying to overturn "don't ask, don't tell".
So, don't pretend as if this is like, you know, a one-off. This is an ongoing conversation within the party and definitely with Mitt Romney.
Now, I think, if he really wants to prove himself to be a president for all the people, he would take my suggestion, call this man up, and say you defend this country as a sheriff, you should have the dignity of continuing to do so whether you are openly gay or not.
PHILLIPS: L.Z. and Will --
CAIN: And don't pretend he just got kicked out of the Mitt Romney because he came out or was outed as gay. That's not what happened here.
PHILLIPS: We shall continue the conversation. Gentlemen, I knew you'd get, Will is like, oh, no, we're not going to get heated about this. Uh-huh?
CAIN: Well, I was wrong.
PHILLIPS: Thank you, gentlemen. We'll talk to you again.
Straight ahead, imagine this -- it's Mardi Gras in New Orleans, 170 kids arrested. No surprise. We'll tell you why, next.
Plus, who says you can't make a career comeback after going to jail? Not Lindsay Lohan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, A.J. Hammer, let's get right to it this morning. We're talking about your hero, your mentor, your inspiration -- the man you look to before you start every single show.
A.J. HAMMER, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" HOST: Every single show. He begins my day. I walk into my studio, and my audio engineer, Kyra, plays a sound bite of Stephen Colbert saying, for more, let's go to my colleague, A.J. Hammer at "Showbiz Tonight" -- A.J. Because he had tossed to a piece of mine on his show once before, which I was thrilled by, and now, Stephen is now a part of my day even though to this point, he didn't know that.
PHILLIPS: Now, he knows.
HAMMER: So, Stephen, there you go. You're with me every day. Yes.
But this is what I want to believe is good news today. We heard from a spokesperson for Stephen Colbert. They're telling "Showbiz Tonight" his show is expected to return to the air tonight, Kyra, this after that unexpected hiatus.
Everybody, of course, has been wondering what's been going on. Fans have been concerned because really this was such an unusual move for the show to abruptly suspend production last week due to as Comedy Central put it unforeseen circumstances. The show's production was dark on Wednesday and Thursday, and scheduled, they aired a scheduled repeat on Friday.
"The New York Post" was reporting that Stephen took time off to care for his ailing 91-year-old mother in South Carolina. If that is the case, certainly, we wish him and her all the best.
And as of this morning, Stephen hasn't released any official sort of statement. But he did tweet his gratitude to his fans on Friday. Let me read to you what he said, "My family and I would like to thank everyone who has offered their thoughts and prayers. We are grateful and touched by your concern."
So, still a lot of unanswered questions. The show's Web site has actually been updated. I checked that out, there's a full week of scheduled guests on there starting tonight. And, Kyra, I guess we're just going to have to wait and see whether or not Stephen is going to address this on his show.
PHILLIPS: Well, you got to love him even more, he is taking care of his mom. That's pretty awesome.
All right. Lindsay Lohan also making a return to the small screen.
HAMMER: Yes, for one night only at least. She is returning on March 3rd. She's going to be hosting "Saturday Night Live." This is after her probation restrictions end next month.
And, really, think about it. This is pretty huge for Lindsay. You know, her career has very much been on the back burner for what seems like forever. But "Saturday Night Live's" familiar territory for Lindsay. She hosted the show three times in the past. The first time back in 2004, she was just 17 at that time. This is going to be her first appearance on the show since 2006.
And as you can imagine, Lindsay is happy to be, I think, doing anything. TMZ reporting that Lindsay wanted to be on "SNL" so badly she actually reached out to Lorne Michaels, the show's executive producer, personally.
She also expressed her excitement over the news over the weekend after NBC revealed an on-air promo and NBC tweeted about the fact she'd be hosting the March 3rd episode.
Here's what Lindsay tweeted simply, "SNL! I love NBC!" Lots of exclamation points there.
Lindsay Lohan's publicist also confirmed to "Showbiz Tonight" that she would be hosting the show, saying in a statement that Lindsay is very much looking forward to hosting "SNL," working with an incredible cast, crew, with writers, putting on a memorable show.
And, Kyra, you know, the last time we saw Lindsay, we really saw Lindsay. It was that December issue of "Playboy" magazine. She was on the cover. She was inside. She reportedly paid a million bucks to do that. And that has also been reported to have been a record breaker.
So, Kyra, clearly, "SNL" banking on Lindsay to bring lots of eyeballs to the show when she makes her big return on March 3rd.
PHILLIPS: A.J., thanks.
And stick around. Beyonce and Jay-Z show up on "Saturday Night Live," sort of. A.J. will be back next hour to explain.
And it's Mardi Gras. Beads, booze, and the big house. No surprise. At least 170 kids arrested. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, it looked like the curfew worked in New Orleans, 170 kids arrested in New Orleans. Ed Lavandera what can you expect? Its Mardi Gras, do you think they are really going to pay attention to a curfew?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New Orleans Mardi Gras is an intoxicating splendor to see, especially for wide-eyed kids. But they shouldn't see everything. So New Orleans police are enforcing a big change to the city's curfew. No one under 16 allowed alone in the French Quarter after 8:00 p.m.
COMMANDER JEFFREY WALLS, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: We were having kids that were being victims and also perpetrators of crime.
LAVANDERA: Commander Jeff Walls runs the New Orleans Police precinct in the French Quarter.
WALLS: At night, it turns into more of an adult entertainment area.
LAVANDERA (on camera): The clock has struck 8:00 at night here in Jackson Square in New Orleans and now it's time for the crazier side of the French Quarter to come alive. And we're going to go find it.
We found Maria Munoz Silva walking with her children. So you think this is a good place for kids to be after 8:00 tonight?
MARIA MUNOZ SILVA, RESIDENT: No, not down there.
LAVANDERA: Why not?
SILVA: Crowds -- crowds are getting rowdy.
LAVANDERA: Yes.
SILVA: Things that they shouldn't see.
LAVANDERA: Don't tell them that. Whisper that to me, will you?
SILVA: We hide his eyes.
LAVANDERA: So just how many kids are running around unsupervised at night? New Orleans police say during this Mardi Gras 170 have been arrested so far for violating the curfew. That's 20 percent of all Mardi Gras related arrests.
This seems to be one of the harder parts of enforcing this curfew is just how do you find someone who is under the age of 16 in a crowd like this?
Charles Dorsey sees underage revelers every night while he sells New Orleans Lucky Dogs and also sees 17-year-olds taking care of 13-year-olds.
CHARLES DORSEY, LUCKY DOGS SALESMAN: You know, man, you've children watching children.
LAVANDERA: That's not a good combo?
DORSEY: That's not a good combo.
LAVANDERA: Curfew supporters say that French Quarter's wild side is just too dangerous and some sights are so bizarre, they just can't be explained to a kid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera is now joining me live from New Orleans. You know, it's kind of hard, Ed, to think that kids growing up in New Orleans are going to abide by a curfew during Mardi Gras. I mean, really.
LAVANDERA: Oh no, it is. But you know police say, look, they've had, you know, a problem with not only kids perpetrating crime or being involved in that, but they are also worried about them being victims of crime.
So they say that you know you've got a -- parents are allowed -- if they have an adult with them, they're fine. They can be down there. You can take your kid down to the French Quarter, you know, whatever time of night -- whether or not you want to take them on to Bourbon Street is another story, as you know, it's your own decision to make there.
But this curfew will -- will go on well past Mardi Gras. So once -- once Mardi Gras ends tomorrow night, this curfew at 8:00 will remain in place.
PHILLIPS: And look you add alcohol to the equation it's not a good scene. Now some people have actually called this new law racist.
LAVANDERA: Yes. There was -- you know there was -- when it was first implemented by a city council member, or pushed for back in January by a city council member there was a lot of talk of that. You know we spent a weekend in the Quarter talking with folks, talking with families who were bringing their -- their kids down there.
And we didn't find anyone who was really, you know, complaining against it. It's interesting the way all of this works is if they find someone who is under 16, they take them over to what's called a curfew center. And then they call their parents and have the parents come down and pick them up. Police say that they haven't had any complaints about -- about this.
But you know, it was interesting early on, there was a lot of talk about that. Whether or not that has completely subsided I think, it might very well be the case.
I mean it's kind of hard to justify, you know, some 13-year-old or 14-year-old walking around by -- by themselves in that part of town when all of that kind of craziness and insanity is going on.
PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera in New Orleans -- Ed thanks.
Well, we just can't stop talking about it -- Lin-sanity. And now he and his Knicks take down the NBA's reigning champs. We've the highlights in sports in seven minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: And here are some stories we're working on later today in the CNN NEWSROOM.
1:40 Eastern, Mitt Romney has an event in Cincinnati. He's going to be trying to sell his jobs message to Ohio voters.
At 2:00, Ron Paul speaks to Republicans in Jamestown, North Dakota.
Then at 3:00, Newt Gingrich talks to college Republicans at Oral Roberts University.
A few minutes after that Rick Santorum hosts a Republican rally in Muskegon, Michigan.
All right, we're following lots of developments the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with our Miguel Marquez -- Miguel?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra I'm in Florence, Arizona where we have an exclusive interview with Jose, the man who outed his ex-boyfriend, the sheriff here in Pinal County, causing him to step down from the Romney campaign. I'll have that story at the top of the hour.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Did Iran really sends some war ships in to Syria? Kyra we'll have the details coming up.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Kareen Wynter in Los Angeles where investigators are -- investigators are getting closer to finding out what killed singer Whitney Houston. I'll have the details coming up at the top of the hour.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, guys.
And Jeremy Lin, speaking out, after ESPN runs a racist headline. We have the full story and what he said, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories "Cross Country" now, the Virginia trial of former UVA lacrosse player accused of beating his ex- girlfriend to death resumes this week. George Huguely faces six charges. The most serious -- first degree murder. 22-year-old lacrosse player Yeardley Love was found dead in her apartment from blunt force trauma in May of 2010.
And a Florida boat explodes after an engine cover comes off. Thick smoke from that damage fire injured -- inside dozens of nearby condos where the windows were left open. Two people were on that boat during the blast; they were able to jump to safety, though.
Check out this leap into a grocery aisle in Orlando. Yes, he got in through a hole in the roof. Then he was caught on camera stealing meat. He gets away by standing on a chair, hoisting himself back up to the roof. The man took off with $75 worth of food but he caused $500 worth of damage.
You know, the story just keeps getting better and better.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: It does.
PHILLIPS: For him.
FISCHEL: For him, absolutely.
PHILLIPS: For his playing, for the team.
FISCHEL: And you know, he's even shaking off the controversy that has gone on with ESPN's inappropriate comments that have come up. ESPN's apologized and Jeremy Lin said, you know what, I don't think they meant to do it.
PHILLIPS: Why do you think that happened?
FISCHEL: You know, mistakes -- mistakes happen. He even said I don't think they really meant to do it. And of course, so then once he settles that, all the attention goes back on the court and people can just have fun.
And you know, people might have been having a little bit of doubts. Jeremy Lin struggled Friday night, for the first time, the Knicks lost their first game since he got into the line up. He was so good yesterday against the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks, it was Lin-fectious.
Spike Lee wearing a Jeremy Lin Harvard jersey. My favorite sign I saw yesterday, "The Lin-Pire Strikes Back". And look another Harvard grad, Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. Lin he was fantastic -- 28 points and a career best 14 assists. And this was against Jason Kidd, one of the best point guards ever.
The Knicks beat the Mavericks, the defending champs. The Lin- sanity is getting so Lin-sane, he's actually asking the media back in Taiwan to leave his relatives alone. He said they are being swarmed non-stop. It's hard to see how this story gets any quieter.
Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder hosting Denver. Durant unstoppable. Look at this hoop -- this ties it at 111. Great score.
Durant had a career best 51 -- that's the high in the league this season. Ty Lawson has a chance to win the game for the Nuggets, no. So we go to overtime.
It wasn't like Durant was carrying his team by himself. Russell Westbrook had 40 for the Thunder. He gets two right here. You combine their score, 91 -- that hasn't been done in nearly 30 years. The Thunder wins 124-118.
Lebron James going for a block against Orlando, into the crowd, lands on a couple of kids. One boy was hurt he was crying, ouch, Lebron hit me in the head. Lebron did come over to apologize. He said by the time he got there the kid was smiling. So were Heat fans. Miami won its sixth straight.
Phil Mickelson whispering to his daughter, "I'm trying to win back-to-back". It hasn't been done in two years. At 18, he needs this to force a playoff, and he gets it. But Keegan Bradley says wait, wait, wait -- I want in on the playoff, too. He needs this and he gets it. So a three-way playoff for the tow and Bill Haas. It's Haas in the second playoff hole, 40 footer, this can win it. It's in the hole. Mickelson and Bradley can't match him, Bill Haas, your Northern Trust Open winner. It was actually a really exciting final way to finish a three-way tie until the end.
PHILLIPS: Keegan was the favorite here, too.
FISCHEL: I know you like him.
PHILLIPS: Jeff Fischel, thanks.
FISCHEL: OK.
