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Conservatives Focus on 2010 and 2012 Elections; Alexander Haig Dies at 85; Jonathan Krohn Outlines his Views

Aired February 20, 2010 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, a trial run in Washington for who will go up against President Obama. Conservatives are ready to choose. A GOP giant died today. We look back at the life and times of Alexander Haig with someone who knew him best, our very own David Gergen will join us in just a moment. And one man, one controversy has changed the professional sports endorsement game forever. We'll tell you about that.

Good evening, everyone. Three years out from the next presidential election, and tonight conservatives are already checking out potential candidates. Taking a straw poll on who they want to go up against President Obama. We have live pictures now from CPAC. It is a tradition that ends a big three-day gathering in Washington. Again, call CPAC to conservative political action conference. Again, going on live. You're looking at pictures of the podium. They're already deeply involved in this year's congressional race. So, factor in the grass roots Tea Party movement, influential TV and radio commentators and growing discontent all across the country with official Washington. It adds up to a potential, really a political force here.

Cnn's Political Editor Mark Preston is covering the event, of course, and he joins us now live. Mark, so, a lot going on here. I see all the names on this straw poll here, but before we get to the straw poll, that's going to come out this hour, right? So, we should get it in this broadcast. Am I correct?

MARK PRESTON, Cnn Political Editor: We should know, Don. Hopefully in about 45 minutes, we'll come back and we'll release the results of the straw poll. Of course, unscientific survey being taken here but it could give us an indication of where conservatives are right now and who they want to take on President Obama in 2012.

LEMON: Let's talk now about all of this talk about bipartisanship we've been hearing from the president and from democrats and also from republicans. The people here are saying the government doesn't represent them. It hasn't laid out a future plan for them. Are they talking about bipartisanship, though? What about that? Are they willing to work with the party that's in control now? Or had they just thrown up their hands and sayings, you know what, we're going to wait for the next three years and we'll do it once we elect a republican into office? PRESTON: Well, Don, I think, it's certainly the latter. You are looking at conservative activists behind me right now. Upwards of 10,000 activists came here to Washington, d.c. over the past three days to talk about politics and policy but mainly to talk about how to knock democrats out of Congress, out of power in November and more importantly, how to knock President Obama out of power in 2012. They don't agree with his fiscal policies, they don't agree with his foreign policies and the only way that they think that they can change them is remove them is to remove them from office. So, there wasn't talk about bipartisanship here over the past three days. Though, it was political strategy about how to win back Congress and how to win back the White House, Don.

LEMON: So, no talk about -- were there any solutions that were mentioned at least over the past couple of day, the past three days?

PRESTON: Well, Don, if you certainly are republican, if you are conservative, you thought there were a lot of solutions. They talk about cutting the deficit, about trying to reduce the debt. They talked about trying to do health care totally over than what we've seen from congressional democrats and what we've seen from the Obama administration. Now, of course, if you're a democrat, you would say they are the party of no. That's all they were talking about the past three days.

But, I will tell you, some of the main speakers, some of the people who will be voted upon in this straw poll in just, you know, the next half hour, so the next 45 minutes, they embrace the party of no during these major speeches, they said that, that is their role as conservatives. They feel that if they allow democrats to continue forward with the path we're on it could be total destruction for the country and certainly they don't want to see that when they're talking about their children years down the road -- Don.

LEMON: OK. Let's take a look at some of the people here and some of the people on this list that we're going to talk about, put it up, Mark. They actually spoke at this gathering this week. And some are saying, you know what, this is really an audition, so to speak, for these people. But, on the list here, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and John Thune. OK, and then write in and then undecided. It seems like, you know, there's some action happening behind you. We can hear it. So, listen, are these people who are on the list, who showed up this week and is it really an audition?

PRESTON: Well, let's talk about a few that did show up. Earlier in the week, we saw Mitt Romney. Of course, he ran in 2008, did not win the nomination. We saw Indiana Representative Mike Pence. Some thought that he would try to run for Evan Bayh's seat, whenever it will decided to get out of the senate race just last week. However Mike Pence has decided to stay in house of representatives. He was one of the people that talked about being the party of no. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has taken a lot of steps we've seen over the past year to really try to set himself up for a run. In just a few hours ago, Don, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich from Georgia made a hero's entrance. He walked in from behind me, he walked through the crowd giving people high fives. The crowd was electrified. Now, Newt Gingrich hasn't been in office in a while but I will tell you, she is a favorite of the people here. The one name, Don, who was not here and is on the ballot, of course, is Sarah Palin. She did not come to this forum last year. She has appeared at some of these Tea Party rallies and plans to appear at a couple more. Still a favorite of these but we didn't hear her speak -- Don.

LEMON: OK. So, within the hour, we're going to see what happens with this straw poll and if it indeed, this is going to be the next candidate and Mark is going to talk a little history. How much does this mean? Who actually ends up being a candidate when it comes to the straw polls from CPAC? Mark, we'll see you in just a little bit. Thank you, sir.

So, when it comes to the government, you know, the right, the left and everyone in between agree on one thing. Most people say that it is broken. So, all next week, CNN digs into the mess to find out what can be done to clean it up, if anything. No more politics. It's time for answers here, "Broken Government" all next week, right here on CNN. Make sure, you tune in.

OK. So, listen to this one. This one came as shock to many people this morning including me and the next person we're going to talk to. If you're familiar with Watergate or the early days of the Reagan Presidency, then you know the name Alexander Haig. He died early today in a Baltimore hospital. He was 85 years old. Haig was a decorated soldier, he was an army general and President Nixon's chief of staff during the Watergate crisis. A few years later, he was in the middle of another crisis at the White House. It was 1981, President Reagan had just been shot. The Secretary of State Haig comes out to talk to the press. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXANDER HAIG, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As of now, I am in control here in the white house pending return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up I would check with him, of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. That was a very interesting time in our country. The constitutional actually says the speaker of the house is number three. So, this pretty tainted Haig as power hungry. He left the state department after 18 months. His presidential aspirations never really panned out after that. We'll going to speak with our David Gergen who knew him well, coming up right here on CNN. More politics ahead as we take a closer look at the CPAC, that CPAC meeting in Washington as well. Including a new voice that you may not have heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KROHN, AUTHOR, "DEFINING CONSERVATISM": You know, I'm very glad to be here again and for the record, I'm not using any teleprompters, today because I loaned them from the President Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, you are looking at the future of the conservative party. Conservative politics in America. We'll speak with Jonathan Crohn and in about 30 minutes, we'll talk about this as well. Passengers booted from flights for being too fat, or too smelly and the list goes on and on. It was big news this week. We'll speak with an advocate for passengers' rights.

So, make sure that you're a part of our show. I want you to weigh in on all of these topics. Join the social networking sites, logon. And we'll read some of your comments on the air. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I just told you, just moments ago Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig died earlier a Baltimore hospital, 85 years old. He was a decorated soldier, an army general, and President Nixon's Chief of Staff during the Watergate crisis. Our Senior Political Analysts David Gergen was President Reagan's Communications Director. He worked with Secretary Haig in the White House. He worked very closely. He joins me now. Listen, you know, we all heard about what happened. Most people know what happened with Alexander Haig after the assassination attempt on the president and he said those words, I think, it's "I'm had control now," right?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, right.

LEMON: That's much for him, way beyond that. You knew him personally. Talk to me about it.

GERGEN: Well, Don, I did have the privilege of knowing Al Haig when he was Chief of Staff under Richard Nixon and I reported directly to him and also then, I worked in the white house while he was Secretary of State during the Reagan years. So, I knew him well. Kept a photograph of him on my walls in the Reagan years. It was not a very popular thing to do in those days, but I found him -- he went through an evolution in life. When he was at the White House under Richard Nixon, he deserves an enormous amount of credit from this country at a time when the president was caught in crisis, obsessed with Watergate, at his wits' end.

Al Haig picked up the reins and steered the government, almost single- handedly for many months and he kept the whole government out of a lot of trouble. Things didn't collapse and towards the end while we don't know the details, I'm persuaded that he played a role in persuading the president to do the right thing and that was to resign. I have a lot of respect for him and I have a lifelong respect for him for the contributions he made not only as a soldier, as a decorated combat veteran in Korea and in Vietnam, and but for his service during the Nixon days. LEMON: So, listen, then, take us forward then to the Reagan administration, because it was a bit of controversy. Then, we, you know, as I said, he was a decorated soldier, very well-respected gentleman. Was it that one incident that happened after the president was shot that sort of sealed the deal for his political career and for how history may judge him?

GERGEN: Not seal the deal. But I must tell you, Don, it's a deeper story. And that is, shortly before he went into work in the Reagan government as Secretary of State, he had serious bypass surgery, and I must say, as I've seen on a few other instances that can change a person's personality. He was always a combustible. He was smart, tough and he could get really fired up very quickly. A hair trigger. But after that, I was among those who saw a change in him, so that he flew off the handle much more easily, much more suspicious of people. He saw enemies where they weren't there. And he harbored grudges.

And it was a changed man, we saw as Secretary of State and I don't think -- it was not a happy period for him but I think his health was an issue in that and I must tell you that on the day of that shooting, I was in the room with him. In fact, we had -- he had, this was just -- he was trying to sort of steady the country and he ran down a hallway and up staIRS before he went into the briefing room. And I think that the bypass caused him to perspire a lot. He was clearly out of breath, didn't take time to compose himself. He was in such a rush, he rushed up to the microphone. And what the country saw was -- when a man said, I'm in control here, the country saw, the world saw, a man that looked like he was out of control. And it was jarring.

It was a terrible moment for him and it became an albatross for him the rest of his life. I do think it play add role in his 1988 failed campaign, but to me, you know, it's easy for a leader to slip off the high wire and all of us make mistakes. He had that bad moment, but he should be judged by the totality of his life. And the totality was more than three years of meritorious service to this country. A man who not only was a combat decorated veteran but an adviser and informal adviser to at least half a dozen presidents and who served this country well. George Shultz' successor, Secretary of State, I thought, captured it well today. He said, he was a patriot's patriot. No matter how you sliced him, he always came out red, white and blue and he really wanted to serve the country.

LEMON: And, you know, we may not get this time again to talk about this.

GERGEN: Sure.

LEMON: Do you think that he really meant it constitutionally? Because, I've heard him speak on that after that. And, you know, not that we're going back to rewrite history, but if there's a moment when someone can explain, perhaps you can. Did he mean, I'm in control here at the situation that's happening right now that we're trying to deal with? Did he mean constitutionally, was too much made of that situation?

GERGEN: I think that he was garbled the constitutional aspect of that, Don.

LEMON: Yes.

GERGEN: I think, that was simply, you know, you just forgot his constitution. Nothing is getting intentional. What had happened was that a group of -- down in the Situation Room. Secretary of State Haig, Secretary of Defense Weinberger and others. While the President Reagan was, you know, under the knife, and no one knew how close to death he might be, and there was a heated argument between Haig and Weinberger about what the defense levels of the military ought to be. Weinberger thought they ought to be raised. Haig wanted to be reassuring to the world and they got into a heated argument.

Larry speaks, the Deputy Press Secretary, not knowing any of these, completely innocent, walks in from the hospital into the press room, starts briefing. Starts getting questions about the alert status, about where we are. Who's in control here? And Al Haig sees this, all of us were watching down in the sit room, and Al bolted out of the room, runs down the hallway, up the staIRS and he was simply trying to get things, because he taught the country was very much on edge and the world was on edge, and he wanted to be reassuring.

LEMON: Yes.

GERGEN: And I think, it's because of his personal condition, in the fact that he was sweating, extraordinary hot under klieg lights of televisions and lots of lots of light. I mean, walking in the pressure that I walked in, did a lot of a -- I'm telling you, you were just dreading the lion's den. So, I gave him -- I think he should be forgiven for that. I always thought too much was made over the whole incident and people ought to remember as President Obama said today in the tradition of warrior diplomat that this country has always celebrated.

LEMON: And David Gergen, that's why, we brought you on. Someone who knew him well and who worked with him through two administrations. And who know him for a long time, David Gergen who is our Senior Political Analyst, David, we really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

GERGEN: Thank you, Don. It's good to be here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KROHN: Bill Bennett is one of my mentors and my friends, and I'm proud to say that he last year called me his colleague.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, he is not old enough to vote, to drink, or to drive, but Jonathan Krohn says, he knows what's good for America and he even wrote about it, "Defining Conservatism." The principles that will bring our country back. And Jonathan spoke today at CPAC conference in Washington. Thank you for joining us. It's good to see you. You're such a young guy and you're so passionate. So, we like that. So you call yourself a conservative realist, right? So, what exactly does that mean? KROHN: Well, what that means is that I base my views on real, on reality, on fact, not on fiction. Not on hyperbole, not on emotion, but on real fact and all reality. I base it on realist philosophy, and that's really what my conservative ideology is all about. In other words ...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: And that what's your book is all about, right?

KROHN: Exactly. Exactly. My book is all about conservatism base on reality, base on the natural law, not based on man-made hyperbole and man-made emotion or man-made feeling.

LEMON: OK.

KROHN: But -- but conservatism base on reality.

LEMON: All right. So, listen, let's talk, then, about reality. You're there at the CPAC Conference and a lot of people there, most of the people there say and correct me if I'm wrong, government is not looking out for them. Hasn't really set out a plan for them. Government is too big. When under a conservative administration, most of the debt was created. Is there responsibility for that? Are people...

KROHN: Oh, well.

LEMON: Are people hearing that?

KROHN: Sure. Well, don't forget, President Obama has already spent more money in his fIRSt few years, I mean, I'm sorry. His, just a little bit more than a year in office than President Bush spent in his whole eight years. So, I mean, it's not -- it's not fair to say that George W. Bush created a majority of the problems. Yes, at the end of his administration, he made some big mistakes by bailing out banks and a lot of the people here are not very supportive of bailing out the banks and a lot of them said, let them die. But I would have to say that people, that -- you know, you're a little bit wrong there, Don. President Bush did not create the majority of the debt we already had.

LEMON: I didn't say President Bush, I said under -- under conservative administration that much of the debt was created...

KROHN: Oh, correct?

LEMON: So, it's right.

KROHN: Correct.

LEMON: And so...

KROHN: No, no, no. I understand. I understand.

LEMON: Yes, and so, there are some who will say that the money that is being spent now, not all of it, but some of it, is in direct reflection of that, because of the deficit, because of the job loss, that some of that money had to be spent in order to pump up the economy. Does anyone there think that's the case or they just think that government is too big?

KROHN: No.

LEMON: The Obama administration spending too much money.

KROHN: Sure. I think there are few people here who may believe that but the majority of people like me realize that you know, President Obama had said when he passed the stimulus package unemployment would stay at eight percent. And then, we'd decrease unemployment and we'll go from there. That didn't happen. We're now, as you know, and as CNN knows and anybody who is studying the news realizes 9.7 percent unemployment.

LEMON: Almost 10 percent.

KROHN: 1.7 percent -- yes, it was 10 percent for a while and I think we've got to realize that spending the money under the Obama administration has really created the job growth that we were hoping and it really hasn't created the job growth that it was set out to create.

LEMON: OK. Let me ask you this. You're a young guy and like I've said, I love it that you're so passionate here. So, I want to ask you, with you there, 14 years old, we've been talking a lot. You've heard the current administration talked a lot about bipartisanship. About working with the other side and what have you.

KROHN: Yes.

LEMON: Is there -- is anyone there open to that or is it just -- I asked our political editor about it earlier, or it's just that, we'll wait for the next three years until this democratic administration is out and then we will make some changes?

KROHN: Absolutely -- that - the second comment was absolutely not the case. The majority of the people here are in favor of bipartisan compromise. Making a bipartisan effort to reform health care, and Newt Gingrich spoke here earlier. And I'm in agreement with him and I've said this for a long time. There are things we can all agree on both sides, tort reform, for example. Nobody is opposed to reforming -- no rational person, at least, is opposed to reforming the horrible legislative system when it comes to tort legislation, to tort lawsuits, to -- medical malpractice suits. People are in favor on both sides of reforming that system.

LEMON: OK.

KROHN: And competition across state lines. That's another thing that I think we can all agree upon. People here are in favor of bipartisan compromise on health care.

LEMON: OK. KROHN: But one of the things that can happen in order to have a good compromise is for government to engage in creating health care system that it runs.

LEMON: OK. Jonathan, thank you. I wish -- I love speaking to you because I think that you make a lot of sense and you're a young person.

KROHN: Thank you.

LEMON: So, I love hearing from you. Thank you so much. I wish I had more time. Come back and see us. Will you?

KROHN: I will.

LEMON: All right. Jonathan Krohn, thank you.

All right. We want to check our top stories for you right now. The man who flew a small plane into an Austin, Texas, IRS building may have hoped to cause even more damage than he did. A law enforcement official says, several seats from the Piper Cherokee had been removed and possibly replaced with a fuel drum missing from the airport. The plane's pilot, Joseph Stack, and an IRS employee died in Thursday's crash.

Gunfire and artillery ringing out today around the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Southern Afghanistan, U.s. and Afghan troops were facing stiff resistance from militants fighters in one of the biggest allied groups assaults in the war so far. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is urging NATO to do more to protect civilian caught in the cross-fire.

Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir says, his government and rebels in the country, those four regions, will sign a peace treaty in the next couple of days. The two sides had been working towards an agreement for about a year now with Qatar's help. Seven years of fighting has claimed about 3,000 lives, unfortunately three millions out of their homes. An international court has charged Al-Bashir with genocide.

There's been a changing of the guard for the country's oldest civil rights organization. Roslyn Brock, a health care executive from Maryland has been named the NAACP's new chair. Brock had been serving as the group's vice chair and will replace Jillian Bandes who had held the post since 1998. Brock is the youngest person to ever serve in that position. And make sure, you tune in tomorrow morning, to our Sunday morning show, Betty Nguyen will have an interview with her.

First Lady Michelle Obama tackles a weighty issue, childhood obesity. Why she says, it is a crisis that could endanger the nation's health, and we'll tell you, what she wants for your governor to do about it. We'll tell you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: All right. Look at that. So, this is just last week. Jacqui Jeras is here. Jacqui, let's look at this picture. Just last week when I was walking around the weather center we were looking at snow on the ground?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we were in fact.

LEMON: Oh, my God. How quickly things change. You know what, when it's bad weather, we always blame you like, Jacqui, oh my gosh. So, thank you for the good weather and meteorologists all across that country.

JERAS: I wish we could take the credit for it, you know.

LEMON: What's the temp here?

JERAS: Sixty two in Atlanta. But, you know, to put perspective for you, Don, we've been so far below average for the last couple of weeks in the southeast, that average feels pretty good. So, everybody's pretty much like, you know, where we should be for this time of the year at most five degrees above average. So, to be exact in Atlanta, we're four about today.

LEMON: All right. Good. I love it.

JERAS: Yes.

LEMON: What else?

JERAS: I know. What else?

LEMON: Now what?

JERAS: Now what? You know, changes are coming right, as they always do. Nice cold is going to come through and bring us some rain by Monday, but for a change, great throughout the entire weekend. How about that? We're feeling good all across the southeast. The northeast not too shabby either. Even Upper Midwest about where you should be for this time of the year. The cool stuff is out west. And we've got a series of storms that we're going to be tracking throughout the weekend into early next week. And you know, the second of which is going to pass the biggest punch. So, today we're looking at some scattered snow showers across the four corners.

We've got some rain into the valley areas. The heaviest of the snow is going to be up there in Colorado and Utah where we could see a foot inch of snowfall. You get into higher elevations, we could be pushing too in places like Aspen and snow mass and telluride could see maybe anywhere between eight and 18 inches of snowfall. So, great news for you skiers, if that's what you're looking for. The snow comes into play into the nation's midsection by tomorrow. And you can see the winter storm warnings that have been upgraded here across the Quad city. South of Des Moines and down to Kansas City, Kansas City proper, I think, we're going to get that mix.

So, the heavier accumulations are going to be little further up to the north towards St. Joe. You're getting a little snow at this hour. But the real game really arrives late tonight and throughout the day tomorrow. And the heaviest snow accumulations that were expecting from this, will going to be somewhere on the range of maybe six to ten inches. That heavier squat south of Omaha, South of Des Moines, just North of Chicago. But I think Mill Wacky will be the one major metropolitan area that is not going to be escaping this one this time around.

The other thing we're watching with the weather, Don, by the way, is that the shuttle expected to land tomorrow, 10:16 Eastern Time. We could have clouds and showers, we could have probably make Kennedy, there in Florida. And Edwards is expected to see wet weather or next storm moving in there. So, could be a little iffy. We'll continue to watch that for you.

LEMON: Yes, we will continue to watch. You know what? I was about to head out of here, because -- the weather is so...

JERAS: It's so nice. Winter break outside, everybody, right?

LEMON: When I saw that. I was like, hey, why am I here? I guess, I got to pay the mortgage, right?

JERAS: Because you're awesome and we love you.

LEMON: Thank you, Jacqui. Love you, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIGER WOODS, GOLF SUPERSTAR: I do plan to return to golf one day. I just don't know when that day will be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: OK. Listen, we've heard you. You have Tiger fatigue. We're talking about something much more interesting. Tiger Woods, this controversy, has changed the game when it comes to professional sports sponsorships. How much their getting paid and how long their contracts are. Rick Harrow will talk about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Live pictures now, Washington, D.C., that a CPAC conference. We told you about this straw poll that takes place every year there. It's a three-day conference and it has the people who conservatives would like to see run against the person in office, usually, if it's Democrat, or who they'd like to see run next time. So they've taken that straw poll.

We go to our political editor, Mark Preston, who is standing by live there with the results.

What do we have there, Mark?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Don, the straw poll is about to be released behind me. You have about 10,000 conservative activists who waiting to find who would win this unscientific poll, but yet a barometer. I'm dragging it out for you. But let's get right to the results. Ron Paul, the Texas Congressman who ran in 2008, he ran a campaign that a lot of people were surprise about. He was able to use the Internet to raise an incredible amount of money, given his lack of natural stature, and he was able to use the Internet to really organize.

So Ron Paul, 31 percent of the respondents have chosen him to take on President Obama in 2012. Coming in second, Mitt Romney at 22 percent. Mr. Romney won the straw poll the last three times. Mitt Romney, at 22 percent, had won the straw poll and comes in second. And in third, a bit of a surprise, Sarah Palin, at 7 percent. Comes in, does not break double digits. She was not actually here at all. She did not address this conference. Sarah Palin at 7 percent.

Don, the question is, what does this really mean? And we don't really know, at this point, other than the fact that the folks behind me, certainly 20 percent of those folks who participated in this straw poll, are real Ron Paul backers -- Don?

LEMON: Let me ask you this, because we're talking about the people who'll were there. Of the people there, Ron Paul spoke. Mitt Romney spoke, Tim Pawlenty. Palin wasn't there. You said the third was, who, Mike Pence, right? Mike Pence was there.

PRESTON: Mike Pence.

LEMON: Someone on Twitter said, "Hey, Don, why the mention of Ron Paul's speech at CPAC, Ron Paul at CPAC, all about war."

So listen, did Ron Paul talk about war? Did he make a big impact there? And mostly this is young people and they kind of like Ron Paul's ideas. Right?

PRESTON: They do kind of like his ideas. Ron Paul has an interesting strain of conservatism. He has a bit of a libertarian strain of conservatism. He is somebody who is very upset at how the federal government is handling its economic policies. That was one of his major issues, if not his major issue when he ran for president in 2008.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: What about this war thing here? What of this war speech?

PRESTON: He brings in the Iraq war. Don, is that Ron Paul doesn't like to see intervention as part of the United States. He doesn't like to see the fact that the United States is spending money on a war over in Iraq. He doesn't like the fact that the United States is spending money at a war in Afghanistan at a time when the nation has all of this debt.

That's what we're seeing here now. That could hurt him in the Republican primary. The fact of the matter is, is that Republicans, by and large, are for a strong foreign policy, a strong Army. That's something that Ron Paul is not going to resonate with a lot of voters. Again, a nice little boost for him right now in this straw poll. Be interesting to see really what he does and even if he runs for president in 2012 -- Don?

LEMON: We'll see. You're always right on. Thank you very much Mark Preston, leading the charge. Any more information or something new that happens at CPAC, we'll see Mark in a little bit. Mark is standing by. Thank you.

He is headed back for more therapy. Tiger Woods has finally spoken with the media about the sex scandal. We saw that ad nauseam, ad nauseam, and talk about that. So let's move on. We talked about how he apologized.

Let's not even go to the sound bite. Let's go straight to the ground, and to our Rick Harrow, our man on the ground.

Rick Harrow, talk to me about this. We have seen, you know, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods. I have seen the pundits over and over. Everybody's saying the same thing. What I found the interesting is what you're telling me. He has changed the game when it comes to sports endorsements for the future. Maybe less money, maybe shorter periods of time for a contract. That's huge.

RICK HARROW, SPORTS BUSINESS ANLAYST: It's huge, and you hit it on point a couple hours ago when we did this off camera. We could talk how there were 27 individual apologies in 13.5 minutes. How many times do we have to say that? We are tired of hearing that.

LEMON: Yes. Right.

HARROW: So what is the next step? Hertz moved away from O.J. Simpson, McDonalds moved away from Kobe Bryant. This is the mother of all mea culpas, and Tiger was the most recognizable and most aware and most endorsable man on the planet.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: All of these athletes now that are winning these medals in Vancouver, they're all paying attention to this, because they may not get the money that they would have gotten before this scandal, or contract that was as long, for the amount of money that they wanted.

HARROW: Here's a point, by friend. The contracts from now on -- and they're $12 billion of endorsement money. That's a lot of money. Going to be shorter, going to be smaller, going to be easier to terminate. That's the legal issue. So Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Shani Davis, Evan Lysacek, all the people bringing home gold are now going to be dealing with an entirely different market, not only in the sports world, by the way, but in the entertainment world as well.

LEMON: OK. Listen, here's the thing. A lot of people who are interested in golf -- and this is where Tiger made his mark. This is like the Tiger economy, as they call it. During that press conference, he said he wasn't sure when he's going to return's. I'm not sure when I'm going to return. I've got to go do whatever. What does this mean for golf now? Obviously, golf will survive. Probably, not the way it would have pre-scandal.

HARROW: Well, pre-scandal and post-scandal will define the future of golf. Tim Finchem, the commissioner was in the front row, he ought to be. There were nine millionaires on tour when he came on board in the tour, 91 now. Certainty was important. When he got hurt, you knew kind of when he was coming back, within a month or two. Now, it is a month? A year? A couple of years? Sponsors, television ratings, they're down about 50 percent. The uncertainty is the biggest issue that impacts golf in the future.

LEMON: All right. Rick, good information. That is the best thing that I've heard, the newest information. If I was winning all of these medals or whatever, or excelling in sports and then I found out, oh, my gosh, this controversy is going to hit me in my pocketbook, and even, you know, in my stature as an athlete, I might be a little upset.

Thank you. Great information, Rick Harrow. We'll see you tomorrow.

HARROW: Great. We'll pick up the Olympic theme tomorrow. Thank you.

LEMON: All right, thank you, sir.

Congress sounds the alarm on Avandia. A new Senate report suggests the popular diabetes drug may be bad for your heart. And wait until you hear who says they knew what about what. The problem? How long they went public with it. We'll tell you.

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LEMON: Listen up right now. Time for your top stories. This one is important, a disturbing report coming out of Congress on the diabetes drug, Avandia. A Senate Finance Committee report says the medication has been linked to tens of thousands of heart attacks and it says the drug's manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, knew about the risk for years but kept it from the public. Glaxo disputes the report and insists Avandia is safe.

A piece of history uprooted at the White House. Workers removed two trees, including a sugar maple planted by President Ronald Reagan back in 1984. That's so -- underground utility -- they want to do that because the utility system can be upgraded. But the trees will be replanted once the work is finished. No worries.

First Lady Michelle Obama is calling the nation's governors to give America children the future they deserve, she says. Mrs. Obama says one way to reduce childhood obesity is by doing that. The mother of two young daughters, leading a public health campaign on this very issue. At the governors' winter meeting today, the first lady said obesity in children is both a financial and a health crisis. That's today from the first lady.

In California, nearly 60 percent of inmates released from prison end up back behind bars within three years. This week's "CNN Hero" of the week, she broke that cycle. He's a former crack addict, a six-time inmate, Susan Burton, got out, got clean and transformed her life. Now she's created a program to help female offenders do the same.

(CNN HEROES)

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LEMON: OK. So listen, if you fly a lot, even if you don't fly a lot, chances are you have dealt with these issues. It's inevitable. You've been there, endured it, on a plane next to someone who may not smell so fresh. A lapse of hygiene, a good enough reason, is that, to kick someone off a plane? Canadian media says it happened on a Jazz air flight in Charlottetown, an American man the B.O., body odor, as they said, was so bad, he was booted. Jazz Air only said it deplaned the passenger, but it didn't say why. The air line doesn't have a body odor policy.

And then there is this, of course, that we have all seen, the whole stink over the movie maker, Kevin Smith. This had nothing to do with his smell, but his size. They said he was too big. Smith was kicked off a Southwest flight in Oakland because the captain thought his girth was a safety risk. Southwest later apologized and gave him $100 voucher. Smith has raked the airlines over the coals via Twitter, on his blog. He's done it on video, on his web site. So you've seen the whole thing.

Let's really talk about this. And I want your comments. If you want to comment on this, send it to me. Too overweight, offensive body odor, how much power do airlines have to decide who flies on their planes? How much power should they have?

Kate Hanni is the founder of flyersrights.org. You may recall her campaign began when she and her family were forced to sit in an idle plane without any food, water or information. She joins us tonight from San Francisco.

Let me get your whole take on these stories, that you've heard of people being kicked off, before I really start questioning you about that. What do you think about being either too big or having bad body odor?

KATE HANNI, FOUNDER, FLYERSRIGHTS.ORG: Well, the big issue is a little bit separate, I think, from the body odor issue, in that the airlines have specifically in their contracts requirements for size. So Southwest Airlines, in their contract with carriers says, if you can't sit between the arm rests of the seat you have to buy a second seat. However, the decision that was made was to allow him on the plane anyway, and then he was asked to get off the plane.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Let me take this on real quick, before we get to the body door. Not everybody is a size zero or a size two. Some people are big people. I mean -- so then -- so then --

HANNI: Right, exactly. Don, every airline seat seems like it's getting smaller. I'm a small person, but it's tight in Coach for anyone. And I think -- there's almost no leg room. (CROSSTALK)

LEMON: I've been there. I've been in the middle seat. I don't know what the solution is. I've been in the middle seat. Somebody is big. You're like this. Or the other problem, someone smells really bad and honestly, the whole flight, you're like, oh, my gosh, what's going on.

HANNI: Sometimes --

LEMON: What do you do? I mean, they're in a predicament.

HANNI: Yes. Sometimes the flight attendants will step in. It depends -- with the body hygiene issue, I've seen them step in and ask a guy to change his clothes. They found clothes for him and had him change his clothes before they let him board the plane. But they did let him board. That was years ago.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: You may say that's helping the other people on the plane, but is it fair to the person who may have the issue? Maybe his religion says he can't wear deodorant, or her, or maybe someone, you know --

HANNI: In that particular case, I think he was indigent and on his way to family. And he was aware that there was a problem.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: So, Kate --

HANNI: So he didn't have a problem with changing. But --

LEMON: I've got to run. I've got to ask you really quickly here, what's the solution then, if you can answer really quickly?

HANNI: You know, the government needs to step in. And I hate to say it, but the government needs to step in and re-regulate the airlines. They need to step in and mandate certain policies, because nobody has any idea what their rights are.

LEMON: That's the bottom line.

HANNI: Nobody's being helped.

LEMON: We have to leave it there. Kate, thank you.

HANNI: That's right.

LEMON: Kate Hanni, she's the founder of flyersrights.org.

HANNI: Thank you.

LEMON: Appreciate it.

We'll be right back.

(FIT NATION)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: In our 7:00 p.m. hour here on CNN, your teenager may just love this one, imagine, no 12th grade. It is an idea being looked at in one western state. It's a way to save some cash. One hour from now, we'll tell you about that.

We're getting a lot of your comments here. I don't have my reading glasses.

Someone said -- this one is from Facebook -- "Don, I do think if the airlines charge fat people more, then they should charge thin people less."

OK. That's very interesting.

Someone says, "The airlines need to make bigger seats and, as for body odor, that isn't a policy, but it's just common decency."

"The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Airlines wouldn't apologize if the person kicked off the plane had no media reach."

"I know it's not cool, but I don't want to sit next to someone who smells on a plane."

I'm Don Lemon at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 7:00 p.m. eastern. "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer begins right now.