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Budget Cuts Hit Home; $1,000 Homes for Detroit Police; Hiring Breakdown; President Obama And The GOP; Challenging The President; Empty Seats & Angry Fans at the Super Bowl; Army Captain Creates High- Tech Way to Navigate the Battlefield

Aired February 08, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's just after 1:00 p.m. here on the East Coast. It's after 10:00 a.m. on the West Coast. I'm Martin Savidge in for Ali Velshi. Thanks for joining us. Let's get to it.

Cut this and trim that. Get used to those words because for the next two years, you're probably going to hear those even for longer than that. Key words about what is going to happen to business and government. The hard part is defining the "this" and the "that," and of course deciding how much.

And it's not just a problem for Washington. Almost every state has rung up and struggled to close budget gaps during the great recession. And so far 44 states and the District of Columbia are expecting shortfalls in fiscal 2011, which starts by the way July 1st. That means more cuts in services, higher taxes, or possibly even both. And budget cuts in Washington are going to make state budgets even harder to balance.

Check this out. In 2008, the federal government spent or sent rather the states more than a quarter trillion dollars just to fund Medicaid. Lesser amounts went to transportation, education, housing, and farming. Now when those amounts are trimmed in Congress, farmers, students, drivers, real people pay.

So for the two at the top, I'm joined by my colleague, Jim Acosta, who has been looking at the four biggest states with the biggest budget problems.

Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN GENERAL ASSIGNMENT CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Martin. The bigger the state sometimes, the bigger the deficit. And you're right. You've been hearing a lot about the exploding federal deficit. Something that's been neglected is the fact that many states are also facing deep, deep deficits of their own and that means big budget cuts.

Take a look at what some of the biggest states are up against. Florida's budget deficit, $3.6 billion; Texas, $27 billion over two years; California $25 billion. Illinois has one totaling $13 billion. So how are these states expected to deal with this? In Florida, they're talking about layoffs of state employees and pension plan changes. In Texas, they're looking at cuts in education. Over in Illinois, Martin, get this, there was a 67 percent income tax increase and over in California possible cuts in Medicaid and higher education.

In a sign of the times, Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott announced his budget cuts at a Tea Party event where he talked about his plan to require state employees to start paying into their pension fund. He also talked about cutting taxes. He wants to cut taxes despite the fact that he has a big deficit to deal with and the Tea Party crowd on hand really ate that up -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: You know, Rand Paul has a plan for cutting the deficit by I believe 500 billion.

What's going to happen as far as trying to deal with those issues?

ACOSTA: Well, we're going to hear some details about that hopefully this evening. Tea Party-backed members of Congress are holding their first Tea Party town hall at the National Press Club tonight here in Washington. And one of the featured speakers is Senator Paul, who has come up with a very bold plan to cut the deficit by $500 billion.

Look at some of these proposals. Cuts that would essentially eliminate the Department of Education. Over at the Department of Agriculture, $42 billion in cuts, Treasury 42 billion, energy 50 billion, HUD 50 billion. Other cuts include foreign aid, countries like Israel.

Rand Paul was saying he wants to do away with foreign aid to Israel, cuts at HHS, Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, but as an olive branch to Democrats, Martin, he is also talking about a big reductions over at the Pentagon, and so we'll hear more about that this evening. And I remember covering Rand Paul out on the campaign trail, and he says, look, if we're going to cut domestic spending, that Democrats are not going to like, Republicans have to get used to the idea of cutting over at the Defense Department as well. So the battle lines are being drawn, Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes, you bet. And they're going to get very, very angry.

All right, Jim Acosta, thanks very much.

ACOSTA: You bet.

SAVIDGE: Let's check some of the other big stories of the day right now. It's day 15 of the anti-government protests in Egypt. And CNN's Ivan Watson says this looks like the biggest turnout in Tahrir Square yet.

Many people telling our crews that they were energized and inspired by an interview that Google executive Wael Ghonim. He was released by Egyptian security forces yesterday after nearly two weeks in custody.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Meantime, protesters make sure that their voices are heard by marching on the Egyptian parliament. They've been singing, they've been chanting the word "fraud" even as army troops have moved in to surround them.

A House judiciary subcommittee is about to begin a hearing on federal support for abortion. The legislation at hand would make permanent some restrictions that currently have to be renewed every year. That includes a ban on federal funding for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the mother's life. And a ban on Medicaid money going towards abortion. Separately the House, Energy, and Commerce committee will meet tomorrow on a bill restricting any abortion financing in President Obama's health care overhaul. Even if both bills make it through the Republican-controlled House, it's unlikely that they will go anywhere after that in the Senate.

Well, another week, another giant snowstorm. That's right. On the radar. This one is expected to take a southerly track raking across the plains and into the southeast. Kansas could be looking at another foot of snow by tomorrow with points north seeing some wind chills of almost 40 below zero. Oklahoma and Arkansas are also expecting some heavy snowfall.

Jacqui Jeras is tracking the system. We'll check in with her a little later on and get more details.

And after yesterday's triumphant trip home, the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers are ready to really celebrate. The team is hosting a return to title town. It's a party actually that will take place this afternoon at Lambeau Field. You can expect fireworks, speeches, and video highlights from the season. Kickoff is in about two hours, and as you might expect, all 56,000 tickets sold out.

Today's sound effect is that rare combination of grand larceny and high comedy. To set the stage I'll just say that the crooks who tried to swipe Rolexes from a shop in Britain probably didn't take little old ladies with purses into account.

Take a look.

(VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Here she comes. You can see her moving into the screen there. That's our little old lady. There you see the bad guys breaking in. And with a couple of big swift hits with the purse, they are off. Off to their mini bikes. And then watch this. They start to get on. She swipes at them again. Down they go. And finally the music that is our polite nod to Benny Hill for those who remember that.

We still don't know the lady's name, but she did tell in an interview, and I quote, "I'm not a hero. Maybe it was foolish to get involved, but somebody had to do something." Thank goodness for big purses.

Well, rebuilding the city for a thousand bucks a pop. New efforts are under way to get Detroit cops to move back into the motor city limits by offering them homes for less.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMINEM, RAP ARTIST: This is the motor city and this is what we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: If you saw the big game, you probably remember that clip from the Chrysler commercial featuring rap star Eminem. It premiered during the Super Bowl and was a nod to Detroit, a city working to rebuild after being hit hard by the recession and foreclosures.

Now the motor city's mayor, Dave Bing, is offering to renovate homes and offer them to Detroit police officers and firefighters for only $1,000. Right now more than half of the force lives outside of the city. This cheap housing plan will not only be an incentive to get those officers to move back into town, but it also will help them revitalize many of the Detroit neighborhoods full of abandoned homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR DAVE BING, DETROIT: Police officers living in their neighborhoods have the potential to deter crime, increase public safety, and improve relations between the community and our sworn officers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Mayor Bing says that he is willing to kick in federal stimulus money to help fix up the homes. The incentive is being offered on 200 abandoned houses currently owned by the city. In Detroit's Boston Edison and East English Village neighborhoods.

Detroit officers who already live in the city can get in on the deal as well. The mayor says that he will offer those officers a chance to improve their existing homes with the federal stimulus dollars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to reward the ones that did stay. I never left, I never had a plan to leave. I make Detroit work for me. It's my home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And the idea is catching on. The mayor's office says that they are already getting calls from officers interested in signing up.

Coming up in about an hour, we'll talk to the Detroit mayor, Dave Bing, about this new program and see how things are going so far.

It's a novel approach in Detroit so how would you revitalize your city? Well, we want to know. We want to know what you think. Here is how to reach us.

Send us your responses on our blog at CNN.com/Ali or jump on to Ali's Twitter or Facebook page. We'll read some of the responses coming up later in the program.

Now if you're looking for a job, you need to listen closely. We are looking at what it takes to get businesses hiring again -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: President Obama challenged the Chamber of Commerce yesterday to help get Americans working again. But what will it really take to get big and small businesses to hire? Christine Romans, anchor of "Your Bottom Line," joins us now to break it down.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, HOST, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE": Marty, small business optimism has crawled out of that deep hole of the recession. An index by the National Federation of Independent Business is at the highest point now since December, 2009. But they're still too scared. To scared to spend money and expand and they're still too scared to hire. Small business owners are battling weak sales. And until that improves, optimism will be fragile.

Why is this so important? Well, because small business is responsible for some 60 percent of all the new jobs created. And optimism for small business is not as robust as it now is for big business, whose profits are back. It's a day after the president extended an olive branch to big business, appearing before the Chamber of Commerce to ask companies to spend some -- to spend some of that nearly $2 trillion worth of cash they have stockpiled to invest in the U.S. and hire Americans.

Big business wants fewer regulations and lower taxes. The president wants them to create jobs here. Now they've vowed to work together, even though business has spent tens of millions of dollars in two years fighting the president's agenda point by point. Fighting it with the exception of the big stimulus, which meant, of course, lucrative contracts for big business.

Trade expert Lori Wallach of Trade Watch scoffs at the president asking big business for helping creating jobs, calling the Chamber of Commerce the club of notorious job offshores. But the question is, when will business, big or small, start creating a meaningful number of jobs here?

Marty.

SAVIDGE: Well, be sure to tune in to "Your Bottom Line" with Christine Romans each Saturday morning at 9:30 Eastern and "Your Money" with Ali Velshi Sundays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.

Time to check the developments in our top stories right now.

You're looking at a tape version of Tahrir Square where today's crowds are larger and louder than they've been in days. Protesters pledge no compromise until President Hosni Mubarak steps down. Earlier, one group broke off and marched on parliament.

Meantime, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaking out on the conflict, saying the Egyptian military has acted with, quote, "great restraint," unquote, toward the protesters.

In the next hour, we should know more about what caused sudden acceleration problems in Toyota cars and trucks. The results of a ten- month inquiry conducted by the Transportation Department and NASA scientists. It will be revealed at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. The government links dozens of deaths to sudden acceleration. Toyota insists that its cars are safe.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was back in a British court today fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces two allegations of sexual assault. His lawyers argue the extradition is a ploy to hand Assange over to the United States. They wrapped up their case just a short time ago. The hearing is expected to wrap up on Friday.

What are Republicans looking for in a presidential candidate? Well, the answer may surprise you. Here's a hint. The economy is no longer issue number one. Our Ed Henry is standing by to fill in the blanks.

Ed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: CNN is taking a look ahead today at 2012. Yes, we're talking the next presidential election. It's just 21 months away, but the contenders are already lining up. And there seems to be no shortage of Republicans that are hemming and hawing about possible runs. But what about the Democrats? How secure is President Obama after all?

Well, it's time now for our "Stakeout" with senior White House correspondent Ed Henry. I was so anxious to get to you, I threw to you on the tease, Ed. But we're going to get to that in a second. Let me first ask you about the news of this special lunch with the president tomorrow. What is all that about?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Robert Gibbs just announced the president's going to be hosting lunch tomorrow here at the White House at 12:30 Eastern Time with the Republican leaders in the House. Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Canter, the whip, Kevin McCarthy as well. Interesting because, you know, certainly coming out of the election, there was a lot of talk about how both sides were going to come together, have a lot more meetings. And you have to wonder, we've seen this before with other White Houses, other Congresses, Democrats, Republicans, have a lot of meetings but don't get a lot done.

Now, this White House says, look, in the lame duck session of Congress in December, those meetings actually produced some results where they came together on those tax cuts for the American people. So we'll see whether this lunch actually opens the door to maybe a little bit more cooperation in the weeks ahead, Marty.

SAVIDGE: All right. Now to the 2012 race. Are Democrats happy with the president as their 2012 contender?

HENRY: It seems like they are. In the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll that just came out, you've got 78 percent of Democrats telling us that they want to see Barack Obama as their nominee in 2012. Only 20 percent saying they'd like to see another Democrat get in there and be the nominee. That's an uptick for the president. A few points higher than -- from the last time we asked that question.

Why is that so important? Well, since 1968, there have been four incumbent presidents who have faced primary challenges starting with Lyndon Johnson, going all the way through the first Bush, President Bush 41, as we call him. And all four of those presidents either stepped aside or got knocked out of office. And so what happens when you have a primary challenge, you lose momentum. Your party gets split. And oftentimes your party ends up losing in the general election. So it's very important the first sort of step for this president to try to lock up 2012 is to make sure he doesn't have a primary challenge. It looks like Democrats are pretty happy right now.

SAVIDGE: Right. Yes. Well, it seems like a wide open field of possible contenders for Republicans, but do Republican voters have a core issue that maybe will be the tiebreaker?

HENRY: What's interesting is that, you know, usually the Republicans in general do have an issue. In 2010 they were rallying around cutting spending in Washington, for example. But when we just asked this question, you know, what's the biggest thing for you heading into 2012? And it's very interesting that what they told us, Republicans, was that 68 percent were saying the most important thing in a nominee is somebody who can beat Barack Obama, 29 percent saying the most important thing is a nominee that they agree with on the issues. So it looks like ideology maybe, and it's very early, but maybe is taking a back seat to winning.

Now, both sides want to win, obviously, but it's interesting that right off the bat you're showing Republicans coalescing and saying, regardless of who it is, regardless of whether or not they agree with us on every single issue, we want to win. That could help someone like Mitt Romney, for example, who has flipped on some of the social issues. Some conservatives wondering whether or not he's really with them on some of these things. Maybe that will take a back seat, for example, to actually, if it is determined, look, he's going to be the strongest nominee months down the road. Maybe that would take a back seat to actually beating the president.

Marty. SAVIDGE: All right, so here's the deal, Ed. Save us 21 months of wondering and tell us right now who's going to win Election Day?

HENRY: Oh, man. You know, it's so hard to tell this far out. What I find fascinating is that in our polling numbers you see people like Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin at the top of the Republican field. Think back to this same time in 2007, who was at the top of the field? It was Rudy Giuliani, because a lot of times this is based on name ID, not based on who's actually going to win.

And so I'm not going to pick one name, but I would say look at the bottom of our list when you go to cnn.com on the Republican side. That person, one of those people, has got a better shot at winning the GOP nomination. Whether it's Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels from Indiana, one of those folks with less name ID right now but who may be able to pull the organization together and get some momentum down the road. They may have a better shot because, again, also in 2007, not a lot of people thought Barack Obama was going to beat Hillary Clinton in the primaries either. So these early polls really go after the name ID, not necessarily who can pull it all together.

Marty.

SAVIDGE: Yes, absolutely right, Ed Henry. Thanks very much. Joining us from the White House. We'll check back with you in 21 months. Thanks.

Well, as we said, the president is ramping up for re-election. He is facing a rapidly growing list of rivals. We will look and take a closer look at some of the lesser known Republicans who want the job in 2012, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Happening now. You are looking at video of Cairo's Tahrir Square, where the biggest crowds in days gathered as Egypt's protesters now enter into their third week. One group broke away and they marched to the parliament building chanting "fraud." Egypt's vice president says that President Mubarak has signed off on a committee to oversee constitutional amendments that were discussed at this weekend's talks with opposition members.

As states across the country deal with soaring deficits, Florida's Republican governor, Rick Scott, unveiled a new state budget proposal that cuts spending by about $5 billion. It also cuts taxes by $2 billion. The move reflects a goal by politicians in both parties to deal with deficits mainly by shrinking the size of government.

And in just 30 minutes we expect the results of a 10-month investigation into Toyota's sudden acceleration problem. The federal investigation led by NASA focuses on whether Toyota's electronics were a factor in the sticky gas pedals which led to massive recalls.

U.S. troops have a new weapon in their fight for freedom in Afghanistan, and it fits right in the palm of your hand. Details in today's "Big I" right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Despite attempt by Egypt's government to seek reconciliation with pro-democracy protesters, tens of thousands are jamming Tahrir Square again today, demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down immediately.

CNN's Bed Wedeman, he's been reporting on this people's power revolution since it erupted, going on three weeks now, and says that today's crowd is the largest he has seen.

Another of our reporters in the thick of things is Fred Pleitgen, and he joins us live from Cairo.

Fred, what's happening right now?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Martin, Ben is exactly right when he says this is one of the largest crowds that we've seen since these protests started.

And I can tell you right now it's about half past 8:00 p.m., and the square is absolutely packed. I would say still tens of thousands of people. And the interesting thing is we're actually still seeing people come into the square. What we've seen with these crowds is that they tend to get bigger in the afternoons. And today was certainly the day as we were saying that many, many people came out here.

We're not exactly sure why that is. One reason might be that on Twitter and Facebook we've heard renewed calls for people to come here. Also, of course, we had that Google executive who was released after being held captive for about 12 days. And he gave a very emotional television interview last night. That really seems to have galvanized the anti-Mubarak movement.

And certainly people who I've been speaking to down here on Tahrir Square are telling me that they're absolutely in it for the long haul. That they feel more motivated than ever before. It really, really seems like, also from the amount of tarpalas (ph), from the amount of tents that you see there on Tahrir Square, that people are really digging in for the long run, Martin.

SAVIDGE: And so what's the strategy on the part of the government, then, Fred? I presume then that Mubarak and the vice president simply think that they can last longer than the protests can?

PLEITGEN: Well, that seems to be part of it. But on the other hand they certainly at least are trying to give the impression that they're making a sort of reconciliations and are sort of making advances toward the protesters.

There was an announcement today by the vice president that apparently Mubarak had signed a decree to form a committee to try and implement some of the things that Mubarak announced in an earlier speech, you know, pertaining to the transition of power, pertaining to changes in Egypt's constitution.

And so therefore it seems as though the government is making some move toward the protests and in that way trying to take the momentum from these protesters. But certainly by the numbers that we've seen today it doesn't appear as though many in the anti-Mubarak camp are buying into what the government is saying, Martin.

SAVIDGE: And it all has remained peaceful today, right, Fred?

PLEITGEN: It certainly has. It certainly all has remained peaceful. And if you describe the mood down there, it's sort of like a festival kind of mood that we're seeing down there.

Certainly people are still very aware of the fact that there's quite a serious protest. But at the same time you have artists down there. You have people with guitars and drums making music. You have a lot of people with banners. So certainly the emotions there is very festive down there and it really seems as though this is at the heart of very, very peaceful protests, Martin.

SAVIDGE: We'll stay in touch.

Fred Pleitgen, right there in the middle of Tahrir Square. Thanks very much.

Let's go to another world hot spot. Chechnya and its bloody feud with Russia. The devastating war between Chechen militants and Russian troops is long over, but some militant factions continue their own brand of guerrilla warfare. Moscow calls them terrorists.

Now one of Russia's most wanted men Chechen warlord, Doku Umarov, seen in this picture, is claiming responsibility for the deadly bomb attack last month on Moscow's main airport. That suicide attack, by the way, killed 36 people you'll remember. Umarov is considered the head of the Islamist militant insurgency in the north caucuses. He previously claimed responsibility for deadly bombings in March of last year. Also in 2009.

Let's check developments in our other top stories.

No relief for those already knee deep or higher in snow. A powerful storm system over the Rockies forecasted several feet of new snow in the mountain west, and up to 8 inches in Oklahoma and Arkansas by tomorrow. The Dallas/Ft. Worth area also is expected to get 2 to 4 inches of snow. Later in the week expect rain and snow to slam the deep south.

What's this? Empty seats at Sunday's Super Bowl? Yes, there were. Four hundred or so which were denied to fans with tickets because the seats in certain sections of Cowboys Stadium weren't ready. The NFL has issued an apology for the fiasco. They're offering free tickets for next year's Super Bowl and a refund of triple the cost of the $800 face value of the ticket to the 400 people that were left standing.

In Pakistan's volatile northwest tribal region three bomb attacks today killed four security personnel. One device was a road side bomb targeting a military convoy, killing two soldiers. Another blast in the city of Peshawar killed two policemen. The third bomb, just outside the city, destroyed a parked oil tanker and damaged four others. All were destined for NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Challenging the president? Well, there's lots of buzz around about possible Republican candidates for 2012. But whose buzz could last for another 21 months? We'll check that out, next.

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SAVIDGE: In today's "Big I," a U.S. soldier fighting in Afghanistan has developed a new high-tech way to, well, navigate the battlefield. He has created an iPhone app that can help troops target Afghan attackers. It's called Tactical Now and it allows soldiers to map and plot waypoints on a battle field for only a few dollars.

Joining me now from Afghanistan is Captain Jonathan Springer. He developed this app in order to help soldiers fight for freedom.

Thanks very much for joining us and, first of all, tell us, how does it work?

JONATHAN SPRINGER, U.S. ARMY CAPTAIN: Hey, Martin. Glad to be here and thanks for having me on. It is very simple. It combines three components -- a compass, a map, and a camera, and they're all -- it all uses the base around the military, a grid reference system, latitude and longitude.

But, yes, it's very basic in concept. But it basically takes what some expensive civilian GPS and Military GPS devices do and puts it all in one app, if you will, and helps -- hopefully, helps soldiers execute their mission out on the battlefield.

SAVIDGE: Well, that's the great thing about it is how inexpensive it is.

Can it pinpoint where the attackers may be?

SPRINGER: Yes, it can. I'm not going to say it's a magic bullet, if you will. But, yes. It can. It can plot waypoints (ph). It enables you to track where you're going if you're on a patrol. So say if you're taking fire from a certain position you'll be able to plot that waypoint to that position so when you go back to base, you can share that data with your comrades so you can plan the next mission accordingly, to hopefully mitigate any of that risk that would come up on the next operation.

SAVIDGE: Now, would this app be available to anyone? How do you get it? And, how much does it cost?

SPRINGER: Well, it's going to be available on iTunes here very soon. It's in apple's hands right now getting reviewed. It'll be cost of the value (INAUDIBLE), about $5.99. So it will be available to anybody. But my intent was to provide the soldier, the U.S. service member, anybody fighting in combat and back in the states, a very inexpensive device to help them at home and abroad.

SAVIDGE: So what was the alternative? I mean, what were you using before you came up with this?

SPRINGER: Well, the Military -- they do have some GPS devices. They're very expensive. Not everybody gets them. So I saw a lot of soldiers were spending out of pocket upwards of $200, $300, $400 on these GPS systems.

But I saw soldiers having, you know, these Smartphones, iPhones, Android phones, and I said, you know, there has to be a better way than having to spend out of pocket for something like this. So I said, you know what? I'm going to pony up my own money to create this and sell it for $5.99, and hopefully soldiers and service members out there like it as much as I do.

SAVIDGE: Well, I love the ingenuity. But let me ask you this. Is there any way, say, that the Taliban could download the app with their iPhone and then use it against American troops?

SPRINGER: It's a good question. And, yes. They probably could. There's nothing stopping them from going on, say, amazon.com or (AUDIO GAP) - device, you know, right now. To those out there that would say this is putting soldiers at risk, I would say it's no different than, you know, any other civilians' GPS device or solider who is out in the battlefield. I'm just trying to do something to help the war fighter out there on the front lines, and hopefully it does that.

SAVIDGE: And one last -- before I let you go, can we use this -- what civilian applications do you think we could use this for here at home?

SPRINGER: Well, I told my mom when I was coming up with the whole idea, you can use it on the battlefield, Mom, but you can also use it for shopping at the mall. You can plot a way point to your car, so you go into the mall and you get lost going back out to your car you can find your car.

So, you can use it for that. You can also use it for hunting and hikers can use it and (INAUDIBLE). So, there are a lot of other applicable uses for it.

SAVIDGE: Well, you know, if you do me a favor and work on another app for me. That's how to find my car keys at times, that would be great. But our deepest thanks to Captain Jonathan Springer, joining us from Afghanistan with some marvelous innovation there that will help American forces serving overseas. Thank you once again.

SPRINGER: Thank you. God bless you.

SAVIDGE: For more information -- thank you, sir. For more information on Jonathan Springer's app, go to Ali's blog. That's at CNN.com/ali.

In the meantime, there is a big, big winter storm sweeping through the Plains and, by golly, it is headed our way, Jacqui. Down here in the South as well?

(WEATHER REPORT)

SAVIDGE: Right. A lot of school systems are struggling to figure out how they'll make up the days already.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEORLOGIST: I know! School years are going to be extended. Vacations going bye-bye.

SAVIDGE: Oh, boy. All right. Thanks, Jacqui.

We've been looking ahead today to the 2012 presidential race. The president and the contenders. So, where do we stand now? CNN's senior political analyst Gloria Borger joins me now from Washington. Gloria, we are focusing on the contenders for 2012 so what are we seeing in the early polling?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we're seeing there a lot of contenders, and that Republican voters really are just judging by kind of name identification.

Let's take a look at our poll. We asked Republicans only, who is most likely to win the Republican nomination in 2012? As you see here, you've got Mitt Romney who ran last time, 25 percent. Sarah Palin ran last time as the vice presidential candidate, 24 percent. Huckabee ran, 13 percent. Gingrich, former speaker of the House, 7 percent. Haley Barbour, governor, 3 percent.

Then the others in the single digits that we've got, Ron Paul, 3 percent. Tim Pawlenty, another governor. Mitch Daniels, another governor. Rick Santorum, one percent, is of course, a former senator. So, there is a huge field. And by the way, this early in the game, we really don't know much of anything aside from who's the best known, Marty.

SAVIDGE: That was my question. Does it really matter how you poll when it's this early in the competition like that?

BORGER: Well, let me point out President Lieberman, President Giuliani, President Clinton. Those people were all very much ahead in the polls early on because people knew who they were and they thought, in theory, they might be a good presidential candidate.

But you know how the primary process kind of winnows the good candidates from the terrific candidates. So, unfortunately, we're going to have to slog it out. We'll be up there in Iowa, the caucuses, about a year from now, to see who really can run this. It's a long road.

SAVIDGE: One last one. How do we account for the Palin factor?

BORGER: Sure. Well, the Palin factor is the elephant in the room, literally, because the Republicans I talk to are all trying to figure out, will she or won't she. It's a great parlor game here in Washington. There are lots of people who have changed their minds three or four times on that because more and more, people believe that she's acting less and less like a presidential candidate because she's growing more and more controversial.

On the other hand, there's also a lot of people who believe, you know what? It's going to take one of those Republicans in the field, in this long list we just went through, to come out there and criticize her directly. That candidate might become the sacrificial lamb because the Tea Party folks won't like it, but somebody's actually got to take her on and see if she responds and if she decides to get in the ring or not.

SAVIDGE: All right. Gloria, we'll continue to follow it. That's the beauty of politics. It's always fascinating, always changing.

BORGER: So much fun.

SAVIDGE: Yes. Thanks very much.

BORGER: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, he gets a judge to issue a restraining order. We'll tell you why in our "Odds & Ends." That's just around the corner.

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SAVIDGE: Taking a look at some "Odds & Ends." Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has apparently has been having problems with a Facebook stalker. TMZ reports that a judge has ordered a 31-year-old man to stay away from Zuckerberg, seen here being inducted into the California hall of fame. The harassment went beyond Facebook messages to include visits to Facebook offices, letters, and an attempt to visit Zuckerberg's home. The man allegedly wanted money and used threatening language. TMZ says when it contacted the alleged stalker, he apologized for his behavior and promised to respect Zuckerberg's privacy in the future.

This store in Huntsville, Alabama, wants its customers to make love, not war. Pleasures, which describes itself as an upscale romance boutique, has launched a guns for toys offer. For now through Valentine's Day, customers can bring in guns and trade them for sex toys. The owner, Cheri Williams, says she hopes to take 300 guns off the streets, but she's also trying to make a political point here, saying that guns are legal in Alabama but adult toys aren't. Williams is a longtime critic of a state law that puts strong restrictions on the sale of sex toys.

Just when you thought America was getting a bit too caffienated already, Starbucks bringing in a bigger cup. The Starbucks Trenta. Weighs in at 31 ounces. Here it is compared with a Starbucks tall cup. It's only for cold beverages, iced coffee, iced tea and lemonade, but some people are wondering how much may be too much.

This guy made a YouTube video showing you can pour an entire bottle of wine into a Trenta cup. Nobody is recommending that. But it's an example. The Trenta is bigger than the average human stomach. The guy in this video says, you better know where the bathroom is before you go and buy one.

Breaking news now into CNN. We have the results from that extensive study into Toyota cars. Eight million, you'll recall, recalled cars, ten months of study by the finest minds at NASA. It now comes to this solution: we think to the unintended acceleration problem that put a major ding into Toyota's good name and its bottom line.

Even if your car wasn't affected, I'm sure you remember the stories. Cars that sped up and wouldn't slow down, sometimes with horrendous results. For almost a year now, experts from the Transportation Department and, yes, NASA have looked into possible causes, including the gas pedals themselves. Driver error, electronic throttle controls or something else, including electromagnetic radiation.

The findings are being announced right now in Washington, and CNN's Deborah Feyerick is watching. She joins me for Two at the Top. And Deb, we're hearing investigators have cleared the electronic throttles so what do you know about that?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have. We got an advanced copy of what the secretary of transportation is expected to say at 2:00. We are learning that he has ruled out electronics as the probable cause of that throttle opening, causing that sudden acceleration, the cars to speed out of control. This is what Toyota originally diagnosed as the probable cause, that is, those large floor mats that were causing the gas pedal to stick. And also a sticky accelerator pedal. That appears to be what did cause those cars to speed up uncontrollably.

Now, NASA engineers did have unrestricted access to a lot of Toyota's computer code for that electronic throttle system. They tested it, they bombarded it with electromagnetic radiation. They tried to recreate the conditions under which the car sped up.

And they found in fact it was not an electronic problem. Now, because of this particular finding, which is going to be presented to the National Academy of Sciences, which is also studying the problem - but because of this finding, NTSA, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is considering a couple of steps. Specifically considering brake override systems in all Toyota vehicles, specifically the keyless ignition systems. They're also considering a study, more research to be done on the electronic control systems, the throttles, because a lot of people really felt that when they pressed down, the pedal stayed down and would not release. They felt that effectively what was going on is the pedal had no connection to the engine, and they believe what was causing the cars to stick.

But again Toyota saying - I'm sorry, the Department of Transportation saying no, that is not the finding. And the federal regulators are also going to look at the placement, believe it or not, of the brake and the gas pedal to see whether in fact that needed to be reexamined and perhaps redesigned -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Well, complicated stuff, right. Deb Feyerick, thanks very much for giving us the first look at what now has come out of this study. We'll stay in touch.