Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Discovery's Final Mission; White House Drops Defense of 'DOMA'; No More Long Beer Lines

Aired February 24, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The Academy Awards is shaking things up a bit for this year's big show. Take a look at this.

Gone are those lengthy movie montages. Instead, only short film clips from the 10 best picture nominees will be shown. But look what's in this year -- Mominees. The show's producers have enlisted nominee's moms to participate in promotion and pre-show activities like tweeting. Host James Franco's grandmother will be among them.

And the countdown is on to Hollywood's biggest night. Join SHOWBIZ TONIGHT'S A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson for live red carpet access at the Oscars. Watch "Road to Gold," Sunday, 7:00 Eastern on CNN, then at 11:00 Eastern on HLN.

The launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is getting ready to happen in just under three hours. The Space Shuttle Discovery is set to blast off at 4:50 Eastern, 1:50 Pacific Time. Weather is looking great for the launch.

The crew will deliver a storage module, a science rig, and spare parts to the International Space Station during its 11-day mission. Five men, one woman and NASA's first robot astronaut will meet up with the International Space Station. And this is the 39th and final mission for Discovery.

Those were live pictures you were looking at earlier. Discovery is a shuttle first -- the first female shuttle pilot Eileen Collins flew on the discovery, the first African-American spacewalker, Bernard Harris, flew on the Discovery, and the first sitting member of Congress, Jake Garn, also flew on the Discovery.

And joining us now live from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is our very own John Zarrella. Not his first, of course, launch.

John, I hear you have Bill Nye "The Science Guy" with you there, as well.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I do. I'm bringing Bill in, in just a second.

But right now, the crew is getting on board. I think that's a live picture from inside the Shuttle Discovery. I believe that's Steve Lindsey, the commander, who has just now gotten strapped in.

You know, this is a veteran crew, the six astronauts here. There's a shot outside in the white room there, and I believe that is Alvin Drew who is about to go in. He's one of the mission specialists.

You know, the veteran crew handpicked. Discovery at one point was supposed to be the very last shuttle flight. That, of course, didn't work out. Two more coming in down the road.

Now, as I bring Bill Nye in, "Science Guy," executive director of the Planetary Society -- if you're not here today, Bill, a good place to have been was yesterday down in the Florida Keys, where Scott Carpenter went fishing for a very good cause -- raising money, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, and they do online auctions and things, and the folks that bid on this paid about $5,000 to fish with Scott.

BILL NYE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PLANETARY SOCIETY: Scott was a Mercury --

ZARRELLA: Mercury 7, original astronaut. And the importance of science and engineering --

NYE: Engineering. That's very important.

ZARRELLA: -- and how they are doing everything to raise money for scholarships for students in those fields.

NYE: See, so everybody talks about -- the president talks about we need innovation.

ZARRELLA: Yes.

NYE: We need to innovate. What keeps the United States ahead of everybody is our ability to innovate.

Well, these guys, with all due respect, they're all lawyers. Now, what we need are scientists, and especially we need engineers.

The space shuttle will do some science, but it's mostly or largely an engineering feat. And we love engineering feats. Charles Lindbergh, the pyramids, we love the stuff. And these people who are able to do this can -- with all due, they can do algebra and they can do math. And so we can wring our hands about our concern about innovation and the future of especially the United States, but what we really need are people who are qualified to do it.

ZARRELLA: And, you know, you're talking about these things. One of the things they're going to be carrying up on this mission is Robonaut. I got to see Robonaut. Yes, the most dexterous robot ever made, and they're going to use it to do the simple tacks in space, or they hope to.

NYE: Well, the routine tasks.

ZARRELLA: Right, which will relieve the astronauts of those responsibilities so they can do science, which on the International Space Station right now, the next five, 10 years, they've got to prove that they can do groundbreaking science.

NYE: Oh, they will. It reminds me very much -- to me, it's very much analogous to Antarctica. You've got to have a science base there. You're got to study our planet from the pole. All this crazy important weather goes on there, and you always have a presence.

LEMON: Hey, John and Bill, let me interrupt here, because I'm hearing, John, you have a story to tell us about a fishing trip with a former astronaut. I want to get that in.

ZARRELLA: Yes, we were just talking about that, that Scott Carpenter, one of the Mercury 7 astronauts, was out fishing yesterday in the Florida Keys, and it's to raise money for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. The Mercury 7 astronauts, the original seven, founded this program. And they've raised $3 million, $10,000 scholarships over the years, and it's strictly for scholarships for students in math and science.

LEMON: So John --

ZARRELLA: So this one paid $5,000 for that trip.

LEMON: That's a great cause. I thought you went fishing with him or something. See, I thought you were hanging out on the boat going fishing.

NYE: You guys don't pay him enough to --

ZARRELLA: If we weren't here, we would be down there fishing.

LEMON: All right, Bill. Bill and John, thank you. Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

NYE: -- diving, and there's got a connection between diving and astronauts.

LEMON: All right. Enjoy. All right, guys. We've got to go.

I know they're having fun.

We've got to go.

All right. We want to know if you had the opportunity -- I'm talking to the viewers now -- to fly to space, would you?

Make sure you join the discussion on Ali's blog at CNN.com/Ali. And also, we're going to use your comments on the show the throughout the day. So make sure you stay tuned.

And also, we want to see your pictures of the launch. Upload pictures and videos to ireport@CNN.com.

Let's go now to Wisconsin, where a standoff over budgets, politics and labor rights are showing signs of movement. We're finally expecting a vote in the senate assembly on a so-called budget repair bill that would sharply hike public worker contributions to health and pension funds and take away most of their union bargaining rights.

Similar plans have set off similar outrage in several other states. Wisconsin's governor says it's critical to wiping out a deficit which has to be done by tomorrow. But the standoff continues in the Wisconsin Senate, whose 14 Democrats are still in Illinois depriving a majority of Republicans of a quorum.

Our "Sound Effect" is a timely reminder to be careful what you say on the phone and elsewhere. The Wisconsin governor thought he was talking to one of his richest, most powerful supporters yesterday, the billionaire industrialist David Koch. You see him there on the left next to his brother Charles.

The Koch brothers gave big to Scott Walker's campaign, and even more to the Republican Governor Association and the pro-business group Americans for Prosperity. In fact, the governor spent about 20 minutes on the phone yesterday with Ian Murphy, thinking he was someone else. Ian Murphy is the editor of the liberal online news site "Buffalo Beast."

Listen to this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

IAN MURPHY, "BUFFALO BEAST": Well, I'll you what, Scott, once you've crushed these bastards, I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: All right. That would be outstanding.

Thanks for all the support in helping us move the cause forward, and we appreciate it. This is about public sector unions. I mean, you essentially are having taxpayers' money being used to pay to lobby for spending more of taxpayers' money. It's absolutely ridiculous.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Walker admits he was pranked, but says he didn't say anything in private he hasn't already said in public.

To Libya now, a country slipping further out of the grasp of Moammar Gadhafi.

After 10 days of protests that would have been unthinkable really a month ago, much of Libya is in the hands of Gadhafi's opponents, including the third largest city, Misrata. Benghazi, the second largest city, fell earlier, along with Tobruk.

And you can see the aftermath for yourself. Just take a look.

But the closer you get to Tripoli, the farther you get from scenes like these and the closer to scenes like these that you see on the right. Look at that. This is Az Zintan where we're getting reports that anti-regime forces have triumphed over Gadhafi loyalists, but not without a fight. The same is believed true for Zawiya, which is notable, because both those towns are west of the capital, and the ever shrinking core of Gadhafi's power.

In Tripoli itself, where independent reporting is almost impossible, security forces are said to be the only people who dare to venture out. Gadhafi himself is lying low, but he did call in to state TV, blaming the turmoil on young people addled by drugs and brainwashed by Osama bin Laden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER (through translator): The demand is not there. The demand is bin Laden's demand. The massive system has nothing to do -- why do you try to drag bin Laden into our country? Why do you listen? You are taught and you are brainwashed by bin Laden to tell you what to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So it is not just Gadhafi's own people who are turning on him. Within the past hour, Switzerland announced it's freezing Gadhafi's assets in Swiss banks.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: So the White House and the administration may be downplaying it a bit, just a little. But yesterday's announcement about dropping its defense of the Defense of Marriage Act is really a big deal. As most folks know, the 1996 law defines marriage in the eyes of the federal government as a legal union of one man and one woman. Now the president and the attorney general are saying that is unconstitutional.

And our senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, joins me now from New York.

So, Jeffrey, this is something that, again, most conservatives definitely oppose. Why is this such a big deal? It only applies to really two cases, right?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think the conservatives are right that this is a big deal. And this is also a shift in President Obama's position.

It's one thing to say that if he had been in Congress in 1996, he would have voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA. It's something very different to say today, the federal government regards this statute as so far outside the mainstream, that it's actually unconstitutional.

I think that's a big change, and it's one that I think suggests a major evolution in the president's thinking on the issue of gay rights.

LEMON: And also, what they're tying it to -- because I want to read this. And it says, "Classifications based on sexual orientation warrant heightened scrutiny." OK?

So, Jeffrey, that seems pretty straightforward, but it's actually a pretty crucial position because they're tying it to something else that has already occurred.

TOOBIN: Right. What that means in plain English is that the Obama administration now regards any sort of discrimination against gay people as just as legally suspect as any sort of discrimination against women, that they are precisely legally parallel.

The United States Supreme Court has never taken that position. Many courts have explicitly not said that gay rights is equal in significance to women's rights. So the fact that the Obama administration is embracing that standard suggests a change in what they want the law to be, but it also suggests that is the president's position on gay marriage, same-sex marriage, is evolving, as well.

LEMON: What's next, Jeffrey?

TOOBIN: Well, I think what's next is the what the president has hinted at, particularly in his end-of-the-year news conference last year. It seems to me that he is going to come out and say it is no longer constitutionally or morally permissible for the law to forbid gay people from getting married. He's never taken that position before. That would be a change. But he said it's evolving.

It would be a political risk. There would be a lot of opposition, but there would also be a lot of support. But I think yesterday's announcement is really a very clear signal which way the president is heading.

LEMON: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you. This is of course an issue that's going to ramp up as we get closer and closer to 2012.

In the meantime, we like convenience, because do you hate those long lines to get beer when you go to see your favorite team play? I know I do. So, next, a cool new invention that could have you back in your seat in no time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: This week CNN is kicking off a new series. It's called "The Connection." And here's the concept behind it. The world is full of unsolved problems, both small and large, but it's also full of creative, smart people who are coming up with extraordinary solutions. That's the connection.

Here's CNN's Dan Simon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The best place to see Josh Springer's invention is at a ballgame, but away from the action.

(on camera): How simple is the technology?

JOSH SPRINGER, GRINON INDUSTRIES: It's very simple. It's very simple.

SIMON (voice-over): To fully appreciate it, you need to have two traits. One, you hate standing in line. Two, you have an affinity for beer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got Bud Regular. I've got Michelob Ultra.

SPRINGER: I'm the kind of guy that won't wait in a beer line. I go to the event, I pay good money for the seats.

SIMON: So just to prove to himself it could be done --

SPRINGER: Everybody looked at me like I was crazy.

SIMON: -- he set out to end the beer line forever with a dispenser that pours the beer from the bottom up. The speed is something to behold. Springer says he holds an unofficial world record for pouring 56 beers in one minute. His videos on YouTube have gone viral.

(on camera): Why do you think people get so excited seeing a beer filled up from the bottom?

SPRINGER: That's a great question, but I still kind of giggle when I see it happen, too. It just kind of captivates you.

SIMON: So how do you fill a beer up from the bottom? Well, as you may have suspected, there's a hole in the bottom of the cup. But the key to making all this work is with this -- a simple magnet.

So when you put the cup on here, the magnet is suspended and then the liquid comes in, and then you just --

SPRINGER: Right. The liquid comes in from around the holes underneath the magnet.

SIMON (voice-over): Once the beer is filled, just grab the cup and the magnet forms a perfect seal with a tan (ph) ring embedded in the cup.

(on camera): What do people do with the magnets when they're done with them?

SPRINGER: They take them home and put them on their fridge.

SIMON (voice-over): Which leads to Springer's second great idea -- get advertisers to put their logos on the magnet. There is though the occasional incident, with those wondering what's up with the strange cup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't do that.

SIMON: A bottoms-up dispenser with four nozzles cost $3,400. But Springer says most of his profit comes from the cups.

Right now, the system can only be found in a few major venues. The Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas was the first customer.

JOE CARTER, THOMAS & MACK CENTER: So being able to go through lines is absolutely critical. So, yes, I think that eventually every arena will have this.

SPRINGER: I'd like to see it just grow and grow and grow. I mean, we get inquiries from all over the world daily.

SIMON: Josh Springer isn't eliminating the world's most pressing problem, but putting it into the beer line isn't too shabby either.

Dan Simon, CNN, Las Vegas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: OK. Listen, we have more trouble for Toyota cars to tell you about if your vehicle is on the newest list of recalls. Is it? We're going to tell you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. Here's what you missed, just in case you are just joining us. House lawmakers in Wisconsin could vote today on that controversial budget cutting bill. In anticipation, demonstrators are turning up the heat by calling for the protests to stretch beyond the capital in Madison. They're protesting a plan that would limit state workers' collective bargaining rights.

Another Libyan city is now in the hands of Gaddafi's opponents. Anti-government protesters declared victory today in the country's third-largest city of Misrata. They've already taken control in the eastern city of Benghazi where huge crowds continue to rally.

Plus, more bad news for the Libyan leader today. CNN has confirmed Switzerland has ordered the freeze of Gaddafi's assets. He remains in the capital city of Tripoli.

Federal officials say a Saudi national may have been planning to attack the Dallas home of former president George W. Bush. The 20- year-old suspect is charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction after officials say he researched and bought bomb making equipment. Investigators say his other possible targets included nuclear power plants. He'll make his first federal court appearance tomorrow in Lubbock.

And more trouble to tell you about for Toyota. Grab a pen and piece of paper here. The automaker announced its issuing a recall for more than two million vehicles with gas pedals that could get trapped in floor mats. They're recalling vehicles of several different Toyota and Lexus models from 2004 to 2011. So, listen for a complete list. We want you to check out CNNmoney.com.

And in just about two hours and 20 minutes, the space shuttle Discovery will blast off for its final mission. You're looking at live pictures from inside Discovery. And the weather at the Kennedy Space Center right now is perfect for a launch. Five men, one woman and NASA's first robot astronaut will meet up with the international space station. NASA has two more launches planned for this year, including space shuttle Endeavour. That mission will take Mark Kelly, the husband of Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to space in April.

A British judge says Wikileaks founder Julian Assange can be extradited to Sweden over allegations of sex crimes. That ruling came down today in London. Assange hasn't been charged with anything, but authorities in Sweden want to the question him about claims of sexual misconduct relating to two incidents in August. Assange says he'll fight the extradition. His lawyers have one week to appeal.

Closing in on Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. With the opposition gaining ground by the day, are Gaddafi's days in power running out? Some answers right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Beautiful shot of the Statue of Liberty there.

Let's talk about embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi now. He appears backed into a corner with pro-democracy protesters. Now in control of eastern Libya and making advances on the capital of Tripoli.

So, joining me is our contributor, CNN International anchor and correspondent Michael Holmes. Also the host of "BACKSTORY."

So, Michael, opposition forces are on the move. We have a map showing the cities for you now under control -- under their control. Do they really have any chance against Gaddafi's heavily armed forces?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It depends which forces you're talking about, of course. We'll get into that in a minute about the army versus the paramilitaries versus the secret police.

But this is extraordinary. It's been one city after another. What's important to remember here is that there's not some major opposition force that's moving towards the capital. These are all locally grown protest movements that have taken control of some pretty big cities, the second- and third-biggest cities, as you were saying before.

So, they're not just sort of massing around Tripoli. What's going to happen in Tripoli has pretty much got to come from within. LEMON: So, they're not unified, these forces --

HOLMES: No, they're not. No, this is homegrown stuff. And that's the extraordinary nature of it. They're up against guys with guns. Some of the protesters are armed, but they're armed with, like, hunting rifles and knives and literally pieces of wood.

LEMON: Do they stand a chance against Gaddafi forces? What about Gaddafi's forces?

HOLMES: Well, yes. What's interesting there is that the military is, the army, if you like, it's a very fractured, weakened force divided into various battalions. That was done intentionally because Gadaffi didn't want to fall victim what he did in 1969, which was a military coup.

So, what he has done is set up a network -- a brutal network of various paramilitaries, militias, basically thugs on the ground. And let's not forget he's imported mercenaries from other African nations. The other guys out there, particularly in some of the cities west of Tripoli out there doing killings in the street basically indiscriminately shooting of civilians.

LEMON: There are reports that all these revolts we've been talking about sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East, that may be strengthening Iran's position while at the same time weakening its rival, Saudi Arabia.

HOLMES: Yes, well, we've talked about Iran for a long time. One thing that's been interesting is Iran was the big winner, of course, in Iraq. Sat back there, didn't fire a shot, and now has all the influence in the world over the political parties in Iraq or many of them and the militias, as well.

The same fear, I suppose, is being used in these latest uprisings, if you like, in Bahrain. People are worried if there was a democratic election, the Shiias would win. That would lead to Iranian influence. We have sort of concern in Egypt, that the Muslim Brotherhood would be Iranian influenced.

It really is a scarecrow of the moment, though. There's no evidence of that taking place.

It could take place. There's always been the great fear of what they call the Shi'a Crescent, which is Shi'a extremism spreading from Iran. If you look on a map, it makes a crescent all the way through to Egypt. And there is the fear of that. And the Saudis are most worried about that, too. They can't afford any instability. And that's probably won't sit by the sidelines and watch neighboring countries go down, either without having some sort of influence there too.

LEMON: I've been wanting to ask you about this. You're an Aussie. Is it fair to call - we usually call Australia "down under." New Zealand -- down under?

HOLMES: Well, they're down under. Sort of like America and Canada.

LEMON: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: I mean, some serious stuff there. Let's talk about the earthquake disaster in Christchurch. Officials aren't encouraged by finding any more survivors.

HOLMES: Pretty much a recovery operation now, Don. It's tragic.

The death toll - the official death toll is up to 98 now, but there's something like 270 people still missing, and there's pretty much no hope of any of them are going to get out. That one building, the CTV building, Canterbury Television -- I've been in that building. There's over 100 people in there.

One sidebar, horrible story. I've been reading the Aussie press. And they were following this family that a senior producer at CTV was in that building. They were holding a vigil outside there. Father, two kids, they're out there for like 24 hours. So, guess what? House got robbed.

LEMON: Oh!

HOLMES: And then they were told that mum, who was inside the building, is quite likely dead along with everyone else in that building. Horrible stuff.

There has been some looting. Very minor. But it has happened. To happen to that family is just horrible.

LEMON: It's a recovery mission now.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: I reckon it will take ten years to rebuild Christchurch. $12 billion as well, aside from the human loss.

LEMON: Thanks as always.

HOLMES: Good to see you, man.

LEMON: It's good to see you.

Poor versus rich. The war of wealth has been around for ages, but today's rat race is reshaping America quite a bit. That's next in the "Big Breakdown."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: It is time now for what you see right there, today's "Big Breakdown." And in the "Big Breakdown," the big gap between America's rich and poor.

But it is no longer as simple as that, not as black and white as that, either. Today, America's growing income gap is more about green versus really, really green, or super-rich versus everyone else.

I want you to take a look at this. Over the last decade, the income of 90 percent of Americans has remained pretty stagnant and stunted. But the story changes dramatically for the other 10 percent. Those folks we're talking about, the super-wealthy have gotten richer. A whole lot richer at that. In fact, last year, that elite group of top-tier Americans accounted for about half the nation's total wealth.

But it hasn't always been this way. I want you to look at this. In fact, history tells quite a different story here. OK? After World War II and during the 1950s, the suburban American dream ruled supreme. Back then, the bottom 90 percent of Americans actually controlled about 68 percent of the economy. So, what a difference a few decades make.

So, back to today's rat race now of the super-rich versus everyone else. Will the playing field ever level out? No one knows for sure, but experts say jobs and the real estate market could be big deciders.

And that's today's "Big Breakdown" for you. And for more on this topic, check out CNNmoney.com.

So, every day here on show, we have a segment called "You Choose." We give you three stories, headlines and you vote on which one you want to see. Your first option, okay? Uganda's president say he may release a rap album.

Your second option -- did I just read that? Your second option, ten arrests in a U.S. immigration agent's shooting death.

And your final option, a startling link between dirty air and heart attacks. Make sure you head to our blog at CNN.com/ali to vote for that. And we'll bring you the winning story in ten minutes here on CNN. And once again, go to cast your vote. CNN.com/ali.

So, they make more money than university presidents. Even governors, even presidents of the United States. Next, the debate over the huge salaries of football coaches at some top public universities. We want you to hear the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. I know this next story is going to get you going. It got our team going this morning in the meeting. While some state employees are protesting pay and benefit cuts, one group is doing very well, though. They are the coaches of major college football teams. Thank you very much for that, Ali (ph).

Compensation for them is on the rise. It's really on the rise, causing controversy among faculty members and beyond. The latest storm is at Texas Tech, where coach Tommy Tuberville is getting a 33 percent raise after one just season on the job. One season, 33 percent raise. His new take home pay? Up to $2 million, and that is guaranteed. So, the question today is, should there be a salary cap on coach's compensation? I want to bring in now Andrew Zimbalist and Rick Harrow. They are the members of today's "Stream Team."

And Andrew, you're a professor of economics and you say that there should be salary caps for coaches on compensation. Why?

ANDREW ZIMBALIST, SPORTS CONSULTANT: I do. It's complicated. It would take an act of Congress to give the NCAA an anti-trust exemption. But I think that could happen.

Look. In my view, the salaries that these guys are earning, $2 million, $3 million, $4 million, $5 million -- Pitino last year was over $7 million -- it's ethically unsavory. It's symbolically inappropriate. It's economically unjustified. If you compare the NBA teams with the top 30 NCAA basketball teams, the NCAA teams get about one-tenth as much revenue, yet their coaches compensation packages are practically equal.

It's also financially necessary to have some kind of a cap because the average FBS team, the 120 teams, the largest teams in the NCAA, are averaging a loss of over $10 million now just on an operating basis alone.

LEMON: All right, OK, Andrew. What about all the money they say that, especially the football programs of these universities bring in and the basketball programs? It's like, why would you want to hurt that because there are people who say they ultimately help the school, and that comparing this to other salaries is really apples and oranges.

So, Rick Harrow, the sports business analyst here. Rick, do you agree with that Andrew said?

RICK HARROW, SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Well, let me just put it in perspective a little bit. Let's put this with the head set, Don, because we've done this before of a coach being a CEO of a mid-level corporation. That CEO gets stock, and he's evaluated based on the profit performance of that corporation.

Now, the six super conference teams, the big guys, the Ohio States, the LSUs, the Floridas, the Georgias, the Alabamas - collectively, they made over $1.1 billion in profit last year. Not saying 20 percent, 30 percent, two percent is right. All I'm suggesting is when you evaluate it with that head set, these coaches certainly earn what a CEO would make.

LEMON: OK, Rick. But does that always go back to the school? Does that always go back to the school and help the school even if they make that much money?

HARROW: Well, it certainly does in many cases because it helps fund other programs. University of California, for example, has to cut baseball and gymnastics because they didn't generate enough revenue. They tried to self-fund these programs, and clearly, a lot of programs dip back into their fund. But it goes back to the old axiom, Don, that you have to spend money to make money, and this is no different.

LEMON: And Andrew, same thing. Let's talk about Cal Berkeley a little bit more. What did they have to do? They had to cut back, right? And that's an argument in your defense.

ZIMBALIST: Well, look, the main argument in my defense is what Rick is saying doesn't have any economic foundations to it. The talent that we currently have in college coaching is exactly the same talent we'll have if there's a salary cap. It's because the payment that they're getting, these multimillion-dollar contracts, are all economic grants. They're opportunity costs, their reservation wages are way, way down. If they're not coaching college football, they'll coach in SCS lower division levels or in high school football to learn $30,00, $40,000, $50,000.

They're not going anywhere. If we cap them at say, $500,000, they're not going anywhere.

So -- and look, the players are not getting paid. That's why. If there are profits, and the numbers that Rick used are not the right numbers. But if there are profits in particular teams, then it's because the players aren't getting paid, it's because they're a massive university --

LEMON: Andrew -- let Rick get in here and defend himself. Rick, respond to what he have to say.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hang on, Rick. People are saying listen, don't hate the player. Hate the game. That's how it's done. Go ahead and respond.

HARROW: Well, first of all, I'm not going to debate Andrew. I never have, I never have in the industry. He doesn't make deals. So, the bottom line is he can talk about numbers all he wants to.

Here's the circumstance. The Texas Tech's profits went up to $11.5 million last year. A lot of it is because of Mr. Tuberville's coaching. And the business people in that university thought it's appropriate to keep him. They would reward him and his staff based on the increased profit, which is used to fund other programs. It's not right, it's not wrong. It is what it is.

LEMON: All right. Rick Harrow, Andrew -- I have ten seconds if you want to respond real quickly. That's it, though.

ZIMBALIST: Tuberville didn't make the profits go up, and you have to look at the accounting. You can't just say because somebody said there was $11 million in profits that the profits went up. And Tuberville is an extraordinary coach. Over 100 coaches in college football are getting more than $1 million right now. You can't say that because Tuberville did well that all the other guys could get paid so much.

LEMON: Yes. But if all the other guys could be Tuberville, they certainly would be, Rick Harrow and Andrew Zimbalist. Thank you both very much. We really appreciate you joining us.

HARROW: Nice to talk to you, Don.

LEMON: To be continued. To be continued.

All right. Let's turn now to politics. Time now for a CNN political update. And CNN senior political editor Mr. Mark Preston joins me from Washington. So, Mark, the potential Republican presidential candidate seems to be rushing in to support Wisconsin's governor and what's going on there.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: They are, Don. Let's give you a quick snapshot over the last couple hours from what we've seen from potential Republican presidential candidates and what they're saying and doing for Scott walker, the Wisconsin governor.

First of all, Tim Pawlenty this morning put out a video and put up a Web page on his campaign Web site asking people to sign up and show their support for him. The video that he put out is about a minute long, very fast acting and very critical of the unions up there.

A couple hours later, Mitt Romney decided to cut a check for the Wisconsin Republican party. Romney says that it is critical that we stand with the Wisconsin GOP as it stands up for the rights of the taxpayer. And just a short time ago is, Haley Barbour, the Mississippi governor, put out a tweet that said "The governor is showing the leadership it takes to turn our country around. He's standing with taxpayers in keeping his word." Now, have to tell you, Don, doesn't hurt these three gentlemen if they run for president. It wouldn't hurt their standing with primary voters.

But not to be outdone, Democrats are weighing in, as well. Russ Feingold, the former senator from Wisconsin, Democratic senator. He just in the last hour put out an e-mail to his supporters. He's asking them and urging them to call on Governor Walker to take a step back and end his attempt to strip the rights of Wisconsin workers.

I got to tell you, Don, there's a lot of political activity on going what's going on in Wisconsin. This is just a snapshot of what we've seen in the past couple hours.

And you know what? A real interesting story we've seen in the past two days is John King interviewed David Axelrod, who is President Obama's top political person. A couple of nuggets that came out of there. First of all, he said we're going to start seeing campaign staffers, these are field organizers, show up in key targeted states by the early spring. Axelrod also told John that the president is going to file the necessary paperwork to begin raising money by early April, and when John asked how much is it going to cost, how much are you going to have to spend on this campaign? John said will it be $1 billion? Axelrod just shrugged.

Don?

LEMON: Ah, interesting. All right, thank you, Mark Preston. I wanted to ask you about that hoax phone call, but we'll get to that a little bit later, what was your reaction from that.

Our Mark Preston. Mark, we appreciate it. Your next political update from The Best Political Team on Television just one hour away.

And we're still taking your votes on the YouTube story of the day. You can choose from these stories. The Ugandan president says he may release a rap album. Ten arrests in the shooting death of a U.S. immigration agent. Or a startling link between dirty air and heart attacks. Head to our blog, CNN.com/ali to vote.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK. Now back to our "You Choose" segment where we ask you to vote on the news. And here's the winner today. Scientists report in today's "Lancet Journal" that air pollution triggers more heart attacks than using cocaine? And the study says bad air poses as high a health risk as alcohol, coffee, and physical exertion.

The World Health Organization describes air pollution as a, quote, "major environmental risk causing an estimated 2 million premature deaths around the world each year."

And we'll post the stories about the Ugandan president possibly releasing a rap album and the ten arrests in the shooting death of U.S. immigration agent. We'll post that on Ali's blog for you at CNN.com/ali.

OK. Now it's time for my "XYZ" today. And it's a short one.

Careful what you say and who you say it to, entirely in this hyped-up information and tech environment. It may sound a bit paranoid. I know I may sound a bit paranoid, but there's always someone who's looking to get you.

Case in point. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, what was he thinking? Talking to someone he thought was a rich conservative campaign contributor about the inner dealings and his strategy to deal with protesters and demonstrators and Democrats in his state. Although he claims he didn't say anything he wouldn't have said in public, the fact is he didn't and he hadn't said it in public. And regardless of how you feel about him, whether you're on his side or the teachers' side, it made him look bad. Especially when he talks about sending in people to agitate protesters.

To many, it made him look sneaky and not above board. Exactly what his opposition has been saying all along. So, word to the wise. Don't write, e-mail, publish or say anything you don't want seen repeated over and over and over again in the most public of ways. A tough lesson for the governor, and one you can learn from without suffering the embarrassment yourself.

And that's my "XYZ."

Time now for more NEWSROOM and CNN's Brooke Baldwin. Take it away, Brooke!