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Manhunt Underway in Montana; Should Judge Recuse Himself Because of Sexuality?; President Obama Visits Puerto Rico; Republican Debate Winners and Losers?

Aired June 14, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Randi. Thank you so much. Have a great afternoon.

And good afternoon to all of you. Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

I want you to take a good long look at this picture of this man. His name is David Burgert. He is armed, he is on the run, and he has a bizarre past. And right now, dozens of local, state and federal lawmen are on a massive manhunt. They're looking for him in the rugged wilderness of western Montana.

Three more states are apparently now on alert as well. Burgert is a former militia leader, a survivalist with very strong views against the government. And he's considered -- and I'm quoting here -- "a danger to anyone he meets."

I want you to listen to this alleged plot. This is from back in 2002. Burgert and members of his Project 7 militia -- that's what he called them, the 7 -- supposedly wanted to assassinate everyone from the dogcatcher to local judges, so they could overthrow the government and start a war with NATO.

Burgert and Project 7 denied any plot, but at the time, the sheriff found two trailers packed with firepower and survival gear. Burgert got caught, spent time in prison on weapons charges after an armed all-night standoff. And he was released just in March of last year. And just this past Sunday, Burgert led sheriff's deputies on a chase in the Montana wilderness, acting like nothing was wrong, driving erratically at the time.

I want you to listen to a woman who saw him, watched him go on by.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He waved to us out on the deck. And the cops were behind him. He acted like he didn't see them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Well, then Burgert stopped and shot at the deputies, according to them, before disappearing into the woods.

Mike Dominick is the undersheriff of Missoula County, Montana. Mike is joining me here on the phone.

Mike, and we counted at least 10 local state and federal agencies involved in the search for this guy. Do you have any idea where he might be?

MIKE DOMINICK, MISSOULA COUNTY, MONTANA, UNDERSHERIFF (via telephone): Right now, we're not sure. To tell you the truth on that is, he can either be right in the drainage where we believe he went into and we had a dog lead us into that drainage that eventually lost the scent.

But he's supposed to be an experienced survivalist, hiker. We had about 20 tactical officers on the ground yesterday with aid from an aircraft almost for about 10 hours. And we weren't able to locate him in the several square-mile area that we were searching on foot.

We have got roving patrols throughout the area. And we're basically kind of going into an investigative phase right now.

BALDWIN: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

DOMINICK: -- search warrants, arrest warrants.

BALDWIN: So you're searching by air, searching by land, got dogs out there, you mentioned just lost the scent yesterday.

And I read that you consider him to be armed and extremely dangerous. He, I know, had wanted to fight it out with law enforcement recently. What's your biggest fear about him?

DOMINICK: My biggest fear personally is that he comes into just a citizen up there and either steals a car, and we do know that he is armed. He is wanted to confront law enforcement, government officials. My biggest fear is that an officer tries to stop him on a traffic stop on an unrelated incident and gets ambushed.

BALDWIN: So, you're worried about your fellow officers.

DOMINICK: That and the citizens in the area that -- people up here are pretty self-sufficient, especially in this area. It's fairly remote.

BALDWIN: I know it's remote. And I know he's also not from this area. Yet apparently he scouted out some of these areas.

DOMINICK: He did.

BALDWIN: In fact, you have found -- what have you found at some of these campsites? What has he left behind?

DOMINICK: Outside his campsites, kind of in different directions of the compass, you would stashes of food. One of the deputies found a stash of clothing in another location somebody had spotted him out, so -- BALDWIN: What does that tell you about him, Mike?

DOMINICK: Well, he's planned for confrontation with law enforcement. He is prepared for it. The last couple contacts people had him -- just a county roads guy saw him three weeks ago, and he talked about how he was ready for a confrontation with government and government couldn't keep him out of these locations.

And he called a highway patrolman just two, three days ago and said he wasn't going to go down like he did last time. Last time, he was arrested by a SWAT team after threatening to commit suicide, but eventually gave up.

(CROSSTALK)

DOMINICK: -- just wasn't going to do that.

BALDWIN: Do you think, given what you just said, that he's out there, he's hoping that you come and find him, and he's trying to goad you and law enforcement into some type of confrontation.

DOMINICK: You know, that's probably, I believe, how he started out. And I think maybe he was surprised that an officer shot back at him. And then he fled off into the brush. We have had plenty of officers out there to -- if he was interested in reengaging officers right now, there were more than plenty of them out there for him to find.

BALDWIN: Any indication if he in turn was shot? Is he out there in this remote wilderness possibly injured?

DOMINICK: Yes, see, that's we don't know that.

BALDWIN: OK.

DOMINICK: There was a shot heard several hours into the search. We don't know if that was him using a gun on himself or somebody was just shooting up in the area.

BALDWIN: What's his state of mind? Are you talking to any friends? Does this guy even have friends? He sounds awful paranoid.

DOMINICK: With the people I have talked to, acquaintances and probation officers, FBI officers that have dealt with him for over 10 years, their take on it, that he's lost almost all his friends, that he seems right now to be a real loner. We don't show anybody helping him.

We have -- some parts of the population up here aren't real happy with the government. But 99.9 percent of the time, they're very law- abiding citizens. And this is a great state to live in up here in Montana, and this guy is an aberration for this area.

BALDWIN: Yes, I know you look -- you live in this neck of the woods. You would know. You know these neighbors. There's been a phone tree. Everyone knows to look out for this guy. DOMINICK: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And now we know folks not only in Montana, but three surrounding states, alerts have been issued as well.

Mike Dominick, please keep us apprised as to what's happening and if and when you catch Burgert. We appreciate it.

Also, coming up next hour, I will be speaking live with Tristan Scott -- he's a reporter with "The Missoulian" -- for more on the man who is the focus now of this massive manhunt now under way several days into this.

But, meantime, history being made today. The last time it happened, the construction of the Berlin Wall had just begun, just to give you a little perspective here. Today, the president of the United States made an official visit to Puerto Rico. We are going to take you there live next.

Also, Senator Chuck Schumer breaks his silence on fellow New Yorker Anthony Weiner. We will share the senator's comments about Weiner seeking treatment just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, I want you to listen to this argument. A judge's ruling that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional should be thrown out because the judge who decided that is gay and did not actually disclose his sexual orientation at that time.

So, any minute now, we should be getting a ruling on this one from another federal judge there in San Francisco. Let me back up. Here's the backstory. We're talking about Judge Vaughn Walker. He ruled last August that California's Proposition 8, Prop 8, should be tossed out.

Now, a couple of months ago, he publicly disclosed that he's gay, has been in a committed relationship for some 10 years. Now, people who support the ban on same-sex marriage, they filed a motion. They say Walker should never have been allowed to rule on the case because he and his partner stood to benefit from this specific decision.

So, that's where we are right now.

And here to help me talk about this unprecedented legal tactic is attorney Lisa Bloom. She's also the author of the bestselling book "Think: Straight Talk for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World."

Lisa, good to see you. There's your book cover.

Let's begin with this. I understand that this is the first time, Lisa, that a judge's sexual orientation has been used as a rationale to reverse a ruling. Which way do you think this thing is going to go?

LISA BLOOM, ATTORNEY, THEBLOOMFIRM.COM: Well, Brooke, this is the first time I know of that a judge has been accused of bias simply because he's gay.

But let's put this in historical context. I have been litigating civil rights cases for over two decades. And many times, attorneys have argued that a female judge should not sit on a sex discrimination case, that an African-American judge shouldn't sit in a civil rights case. And every single time I'm aware of those arguments being made, the arguments have been rejected.

You simply can't be too female, too Jewish, too black or too gay to rule on a case. And I have read Judge Walker's decision. It is lengthy, detailed on both the facts and the law. And it seems to me this is really a desperate attempt by the anti-gay-marriage forces to try to reverse the decision. I would be very, very surprised if it's rejected on this basis.

BALDWIN: OK. So, given the fact, given your historical perspective, you know, then a female would have to recuse herself from perhaps maybe a rape case or an African-American judge from a civil rights case. And you're saying, given the precedent, these judges have not had to be recused.

Do you think there's any point in time, though, when a judge should come forward and have to disclose some bit of, let's say, very personal information based upon a certain case or trial he or she may oversee?

BLOOM: Well, the legal standard is actual bias or an interest in an the outcome of a case.

If I own stock in Exxon, and I'm a judge deciding a case involving Exxon, I have to recuse myself because I have a financial interest in the outcome. But simply because someone is a woman, and it's a rape case or an abortion case or a sexual harassment case, those judges have never had to recuse themselves.

And, frankly, I think it's offensive that there would even be a suggestion. One could argue, alternatively, that men shouldn't decide sexual harassment cases or sex discrimination cases because they have an interest in the outcome.

And then who are you going to find to decide these cases? Somebody without any race, any gender, any sexual orientation? Those people don't exist. So the argument here is really tenuous, that Judge Walker is not only gay, but he's in a long-term, committed relationship, and, therefore, he would benefit if he got married.

But Judge Walker has said he has no interest in getting married. And I think we have to leave it at that.

BALDWIN: So, you say, bottom line, your prediction, Ms. Bloom, is that his ruling will stand? BLOOM: Yes, absolutely, I think his ruling will stand. I also think it will stand on the merits, because it's one of the most detailed, thorough decisions frankly I have ever read in my career.

And, as I said, I would be very, very surprised if it's reversed simply because he's gay and he's in a long-term relationship. I think it's a desperate ploy. If for any reason it is thrown out on that ground, that decision will go up on appeal, and I think Judge Walker's decision is going to stand. I hate making predictions, Brooke. You pushed me into it.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yes, I know . I know. Well, we should eventually have some sort of culmination of what may happen. We were told it's Judge Ware who would ultimately be coming down with this decision on Judge Walker's ruling from back in August. So hopefully we will be getting that within the next two hours.

Lisa Bloom, as always, thank you so, so much. I appreciate it.

Did you watch the Republican debate right here on CNN last night? Look, even if you didn't, you're going to love the segment we have coming up. I'm going to speak with a body language expert. And so many of you were tweeting me about different things you noticed here and there last night about these seven different candidates on stage. And what were they really saying when they answered certain questions?

Also, we will go live to Puerto Rico. President Obama was just there. We will have a live report coming up.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You haven't seen this in 50 years, a U.S. president on an official trip to Puerto Rico. But it's happening today.

And our Juan Carlos Lopez is there in San Juan.

And, Juan Carlos, we know whenever president decides to take a trip somewhere, it is political, and I imagine the political implications of this particular visit, courting the Puerto Rican vote in the U.S. come 2012.

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.

And it's interesting that President Obama said in his speech that he was just keeping his promise as a candidate to come to Puerto Rico as a president. But there's an interesting factor. Puerto Ricans can vote in the primaries, but they can't vote for a president in the island. They can vote for the president if they're on the mainland.

And, currently, there are more Puerto Ricans on the U.S. mainland than there are on the island. So, that is a very important electorate. There's a very important group in Central Florida. Florida is a goal both for Democrats and Republicans. So, it makes sense to come to this island to hear out what issues they bring and to send a signal to Puerto Ricans in the U.S. mainland.

BALDWIN: And one of the issues usually -- this is something that I know you heard the president address today -- is the political status of this tiny island. Currently, it's a territory. It could become a 51st state or maybe -- I know there's a minority of people who want it to just totally secede from the U.S.

But the president said today whatever people decide, he will stand by them. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've addressed the question of political status. In March, a report from our presidential task force on Puerto Rican status provided a meaningful way forward on this question so that the residents of the island can determine their own future. And when the people of Puerto Rico make a clear decision, my administration will stand by you.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Big applause, Juan Carlos, power to the people.

Do we know what else the president was doing today in San Juan?

LOPEZ: Oh, yes. He visited La Fortaleza, which is the oldest -- according to the White House, the oldest running governor's mansion in the Western Hemisphere.

He met with leaders from both parties. And he also attended a fund-raiser, a very important trip, not only because he's visiting this country, a lot of controversy over his visit, but also because he will be going back with funds for the DNC.

BALDWIN: Juan Carlos Lopez in San Juan, thank you so much.

Keeping our eyes on that fire in Arizona -- folks, it has now been upgraded, not in a great way. It's now the largest wildfire in that state's history. It's spreading now into New Mexico. Jacqui Jeras has the latest coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A shocking report today reveals a large amount of weapons from the U.S. are fueling the Mexican drug wars. We have numbers now. According to the ATF report, in 2009 and 2010, 70 percent of weapons recovered in Mexico came from the U.S.

This report spurred Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, along with two other Democratic senators, to call for tougher firearms laws and regulations. Meantime, the Mexican government says more than 15,000 people died last year in violence stemming from Mexico's drug war. Folks, that is 40 people a day.

President Obama says Congressman Anthony Weiner should step down in the aftermath of his whole sexting scandal. Here's the president's message: By doing that, Congressman Weiner would actually help his constituents.

Want you to listen to what President Obama told NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Ultimately, there's going to be a decision for him and his constituents. I can tell you that, if it was me, I would resign, because public service is exactly that. It's a service to the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And just a couple of minutes ago, we heard from New York Senator Chuck Schumer. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Those of us who have been friends of Anthony Weiner for a very long time feel his wrongful behavior is distressing, saddening. It's heartbreaking. Now, it's clear he needs professional help. That's what he sought. And that's all I'm going to say about this subject.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Also, let me throw one more in there. Another member of Congress from New York, Representative Carolyn McCarthy, says she's hearing Congressman Weiner -- quote, unquote -- "might resign in a couple of days" -- end quote.

Last night, the House approved his request for this two-week leave of absence while he gets treatment at an undisclosed location.

And you know you are paying more when you fly these days, but now we have the official word on how much more, if you want to hear this. The Transportation Department says U.S. airlines collected almost $5.7 billion, with a B., in fees from passengers from last year alone. That includes $3.4 billion in baggage fee and $2.3 billion in reservation and change fees. The amount collected last year was roughly twice the amount collected the year before.

Back to that wildfire still very much so raging in Arizona, has now officially become the largest in the state's history. And now it's making its way toward Puerto Rico.

Jacqui Jeras is here.

And, Jacqui, I know you and I were talking yesterday. And it was something like 10 percent containment. Now we're hearing 18.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

BALDWIN: So, at least that's one good sign.

JERAS: Yes, that's a lot of progress, actually, to be made in just 24 hours. So that's the good news.

There is still some very slow advancement of this fire. And they're trying to prevent this thing now from spreading into parts of New Mexico. Much of the advancement has been on the southern tier here today. Winds are much lighter. That's the good news. That's why they're able to set more of these containment lines and help prevent this from advancing at a more rapid pace.

But the dry conditions still remain critically low. And that continues to be an issue. We talk about how terrible and how large this thing is. And it's now over 730 miles large, what it has burned up. But there is some beauty in all of this.

I wanted to show you this iReport, Brooke. Take a look at that. This was taken two days ago from Andrew Peilage (ph). He lives in Phoenix. And he did kind of a time-lapse type of effect with his camera to be able to shoot those beautiful shots. One other thing about wildfires, too, is that they make very beautiful sunsets.

BALDWIN: Can I just say one thing? I apparently still had San Juan --

JERAS: You said Puerto Rico. Yes, I know.

BALDWIN: I had San Juan on the brain.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Oops. My bad. Obviously, I meant Arizona. It is also affecting a big state park in New Mexico.

JERAS: Yes.

BALDWIN: And what about air quality?

JERAS: Air quality is still a huge concern right now. I want to give you a look at this satellite image from NASA. And this shows you all the heat signatures from the fire. And look at that smoke spreading 200 miles away easy into Albuquerque.

We are getting reports that they can smell this now in parts of Colorado Springs. So, that's some 400 miles away. And they're issuing special air quality alerts and impacts. And you can see this dark red area here. That's where the worst conditions are, conditions a little bit better into central parts of New Mexico. And that's because the winds aren't as strong today, so it's not carrying it quite as far -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: These folks who were under mandatory evacuation, Eagar, Springerville, they have been heading home. So --

JERAS: Yes, and the air quality very, very poor there for those folks. And, you know, the air conditioners bring all that stuff from the outside inside. So, that's a concern, too.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Tough to get a respite from any of that stuff.

Jacqui Jeras, thank you so much.

Coming up next: what the Republican candidates were really saying last night. A body language expert is here. And I'm going to speak with him about moments just like this, when Tim Pawlenty was asked about his recent attack on Mitt Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM PAWLENTY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And he's the one who said it's a blueprint and that he merged the two programs. And so using the term "Obamneycare" was a reflection of the president's comments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is next.

Then, do you ever wonder if your sun block is actually waterproof? I know a lot of them say it on the bottle. But don't you always see it coming off when you get in the water? We have an important bit of information from the FDA today.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The scores are in on the presidential debate. Have you heard Mitt Romney looked presidential? Did himself well up in New Hampshire last night. Then you have Michele Bachmann, she stole the show by announcing yes, indeed, she's in the race for president. Not just that, but Bachmann got in there and more than held his own.

Tim Pawlenty, you heard about this, wouldn't say to Mitt Romney what he had said on Sunday about Mitt Romney. All good fodder for my next guest, T.J. Walker. He's a body language and media analyst, also a presentation coach. And T.J., first things first, you hit on something that all the other commentators appear to have missed that we've been watching into today. You said Texas Congressman Ron Paul looked as though he were, and your words, sucking on lemons. Let's watch. Ron Paul.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm the commander in chief. I make the decisions. I tell the generals what to do. One of the ways to solve this ongoing debate about marriage, look up the dictionary, we know what marriage is all about. But then get the government out of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: I had him as a guest on my show, very mice man. But Ron Paul, sucking lemons, T.J., not so nice.

T.J. WALKER, BODY LANGUAGE/MEDIA ANALYST: He just looks like the angry man down the street growing up who is always yelling at the kids to get off my lawn. He's hunched over. He's scowling. He seems angry. Let's opt out of everything. That really appeals to a certain hard core elements of tens of millions of libertarians in the country. They'll be e-mailing angry, nasty things to me. He doesn't come off presidential to most voters in my view.

BALDWIN: Someone who has come of presidential to you, Mitt Romney looked pretty good. That's what folks are saying. Michele Bachmann looked good as well. How did they do? And specifically, how was their body language last night?

WALKER: Well, Michele Bachmann came across incredibly comfortable. Before this debate, the impression most people had of her who just see snippets on news are wildly inflammatory sound bites. For the first time a lot of voters saw her give coherent answers. She came off likable, intelligent. We learned about her five children, her 23 foster kids. She came across as somebody who could be a true leader, if not the president of the United States, at least the true leader of a Tea Party movement or a certain conservative movement.

She still has a problem that she's a member of the house. You look at the last 150 years, house members don't get nominated to be president of the United States.

BALDWIN: What about Mitt Romney, though? What about him says presidential?

WALKER: Well, he's straight out of central casting as far as his look. He's got the Ronald Reagan hair. You can accuse me of being superficial, let's face it. Americans don't typically elect ugly presidents.

BALDWIN: That's why we're having you on.

WALKER: He has the look.

BALDWIN: Let me move on. Forgive me, T.J., but I want to talk about Tim Pawlenty. A lot of people are dogging him. Pawlenty got on TV last Sunday, used the word "Obamneycare," saying Mitt Romney's health care plan was just like president Obama's. Last night he wouldn't say it to Mitt Romney, even though our own John king invited him to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Your rival is standing right there. If it was "Obamneycare" on FOX News Sunday, why is it not standing right there?

TIM PAWLENTY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama is the person I quoted saying he looked to Massachusetts for designing his program. He's the one who said it was a blueprint and that he merged the two programs. So using the term "Obamneycare" was a reflection of the president's comments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He's not even looking over. Did Tim Pawlenty just wimp out there?

WALKER: He did wimp out. However, I think a lot of voters were looking at him and saying there's only two people who could really be nominated, Mitt Romney and the governor of Minnesota, what's his name? Pawlenty. So I differ with a lot of the pundit pundits. I don't think he destroyed himself. He looked like a wimp. There's no doubt about that moment.

But a lot of people are not happy with Romney. They're looking around. Pawlenty is credible. He came across as intelligent, rational and thoughtful. He may not have helped himself as much as he could have, but he didn't hurt his chances.

BALDWIN: Some of them don't ultimately get the candidacy for president. Some of them may have vice presidential nominations. Maybe that's why they were playing nice last night. T.J. Walker, thanks so much.

WALKER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, if the SPF is higher than 50, does it give you more protection? I kind have always wanted to know that answer. Especially since I had this thing happen to my nose, a little skin cancer a couple months ago. The FDA just weighed in.

Then finally CNN has managed to get into Syria. We've been trying for quite a while now. We have done this. We can now see for ourselves what is going on there on the ground. We have new video just coming in. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: It is just about officially summertime. We should all be reaching for the sunscreen. The FDA is trying to change the confusion. Starting next year any sunscreen that wants to call itself broad spectrum has to protect from UVB and UVA rays. UVA rays cause wrinkles, UVB rays cause sunburn and can cause cancer. Now only products with SPF rating of 15 or higher can make claims of reducing the risk of sun cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JANET WOODCOCK, FDA SPOKESPERSON: FDA is taking actions to provide uniformity and standards in the marketplace. When a consumer buys a product they know what to expect. They know it's been tested against rigorous standards and it will deliver the protection that's on the label.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: The waterproof SPF's won't exist anymore. They never worked as advertised. As for the mega sunscreens, the ones that say 70, I have 75 in my car. There's not enough research to show they work better than the ones labeled 50.

And now CNN is going in depth again this week with our listening tour. In case you might have missed it last night, seven Republican presidential hopefuls took to the stage.

CNN's Casey Wian is with some folks in Iowa who did indeed watch that. Casey, what's their reaction been?

CASEY WIAN: Well, last night the Tea Party here in Iowa kicked off a month long bus tour in Council Bluffs with a watching party of the presidential debate, about 75 members of the Tea Party gathering together to listen to what the candidates had to say. Here's what some of those folks had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY MORRIS, COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA, RESIDENT: A lot of them have said less government. OK. That's one of the concepts of the Tea Party. The other concept that the Tea Party believes in is getting back to the constitution. That's one thing I haven't heard them say. But the idea of getting less government and less taxes, that's what I've heard. That's what I like so far.

JEFF JORGENSEN, COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA, RESIDENT: A couple people surprised me. One of them is Newt Gingrich. I think he's going to have campaign staff that may be wanting their job back. We'll wait and see. He's a little bit of an impressive fellow this evening. Another one that's impressive is Michele Bachmann. I think she's got a connection to people that's just evident. And I really like her style.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: Organizers of the event asked the participants who won the debate. They asked them to applaud when they mentioned the name of each of the different candidates. The loudest applause went to Michele Bachmann and to Ron Paul. What was very interesting though, not one single person watching from that Tea Party group applauded when they mentioned Mitt Romney's name. Part of the reason is the fact that Mitt Romney has decided to forego the Iowa straw poll later this summer. A lot of folks here feel like he's ignoring the state.

BALDWIN: Not giving Iowa the love they would like to get. Casey, thank you so much.

I want to share something with you. Let's roll over to the twitter board and show this tweet. It says "It's odd that Obama thinks Representative Weiner should resign but not Assad, president of Syria. Lewd tweets violates public service but not killing people?" Who is this coming from? P.J. Crowley, former State Department spokesman. When we come back, the U.S. got involved in Libya, so why not Syria? And this just in. CNN has finally gotten in the country to see for ourselves what is going on there. We have new video just coming in from Syria. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to take you back now to the crisis playing out in Syria. It's been ever since mid-March when Syrians started taking to the streets. The government started responding with brutal, deadly force. We here at CNN have lamented the fact we cannot get into the country to report what's unfolding there. The Syrian government quite frankly hasn't let us in.

Today we got in on our own. CNN's Arwa Damon. I spoke with her yesterday. She crossed in from Turkey to try to find the refugees driven by the Syrian army from the rebellious border town. Here is Arwa Damon inside Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the camp site located just across the Syrian Turkish border. The conditions are so dire as you've been walking through here individuals keep coming up to us, wanting to show us how much the families are struggling to survive.

The women here are visibly upset. They arrived a few days ago from one of the small villages outside. They don't have much of a shelter either. These children with them that don't even have, you know, proper shoes. They're not able stay clean. They're filthy. It's just an incredibly desperate situation.

So the kids are saying they just playing in the water, but this is also being used by adults to bathe themselves, bathe the children and do their washing. And this water is not clean by any stretch of the imagination. It's so murky it looks more like a stream of mud.

This is something of a makeshift pharmacy that's been set up inside the camp f it can even be called that. Muhammad, who brought most of the medicines, owned a pharmacy and he piled everything he possibly could as he was fleeing. And he's choosing to stay here because the people desperately need his help. He's the only person that they can go to for any number of illnesses that people are suffering from here, especially the children, given the rough weather conditions.

So this woman who just arrived we're being told has high blood pressure and she's diabetic. Those, for example, are two medicines he quite simply does not have.

This is what this family has to cook on, and you actually don't see this level of so-called luxury small camp site. The tents, crude. A tarp strung between two sticks. Various vehicles, you see them strung between trees as well. Laundry scattered all over, the family crouching and waiting. And when we ask them what they witnessed, they simply for the most part say it's too horrific to put into words. The next thing they want to know is when will they be able to go home, because none of them have that answer.

Arwa Damon in Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: A tough look at that especially with those lit the children. The number of Syrian refugees has topped 6,000 on the Turkish side of the border. As we were reporting yesterday, they fled into turkey after Syrian government forces entered their town and essentially wiped it out. That assault has prompted renewed calls in Washington for the Obama administration to step in. In fact, I want you to listen to this again. This is Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: If to it made sense to protect the Libyan people against Gadhafi, and it did because they were going to get slaughtered, the question for the world, have we got ton that point in Syria? I think we may not be there yet, but we're getting very close. If you really care about protecting the Syrian people from slaughter, now is the time to have let Assad know all options are on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now from the State Department is our own Jill Dougherty. And Jill, you and I spoke yesterday. We talked about Syria vis-a-vis Libya. You told us how Syria is much tougher nut to crack. I want to talk now about Syrian President Bashar al Assad. He is a dictator, really. But today in Syria, is there an alternative to him? And if so, could the alternative be worse?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question, because actually Bashar al-Assad was considered a potential reformer, and that's what's been one of the factors here. He kept saying, even recently, don't worry, I will reform. Don't worry, I will reform and the world wanted to believe it. But they haven't seen any evidence of that. So that's part of the equation why the world is being so slow.

But when you're talking about, you know, viable opposition who could take over, that is a huge question, because you saw Lindsey Graham talking about Libya. Syria -- the opposition in Syria is so far behind, let's say, in organizing, than the opposition in Libya, that it's not even funny.

So when at the state department today, when we're talking -- I asked this question several times. Who are the opposition, what do they want. And mark Toner, the spokesman, we can listen to what he said exactly. He said they're simply not there as a group. They're still forming. Here's what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK TONER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: There's not been a cohesive opposition in Syria, and, you know, we're beginning to see this through the popular uprising, beginning to see that emerge. What we've seen frankly is, you know, as the violence, as the oppression has escalated, Syrian people have only become more stalwart and more resolute in protesting the government and pushing for the kind of political transition that we believe is necessary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: Stalwart and resolute, but they're also being slaughtered in the process. And that is the problem. What do you do right now? Not down the road. What do you do to help these people?

BALDWIN: Well, we have an ambassador over there. What is he do I think? Is he meeting with President Assad or any other government officials that are part of this ongoing repression?

DOUGHERTY: Well, no. He's not being allowed. He's a relatively new ambassador. There wasn't an ambassador for a number of years in Syria. Then president Obama decided there would be an ambassador, that it was worth sending one.

There was a lot of opposition, especially from Republicans who said look, why are you rewarding the Syrians by sending them an ambassador? Mr. Obama did it anyway, and they still maintain he's useful. But guess what he's doing? He' not being allowed by the Syrians to meet with anybody in the government. He meets with the government --

BALDWIN: So what good is that?

DOUGHERTY: He doesn't talk, you know, with the government.

BALDWIN: All right, Jill Dougherty with the latest there on Syria from the state department. Jill, appreciate it.

It hasn't even been 24 hours since last night's debate, but we just learned another Republican candidate is about to enter the race. Wolf Blitzer is live with the Political Ticker next. And here's a clue -- for now, it's not this guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) NEW JERSEY: I can't say this any other way, I am not a candidate for president. I am not a candidate for vice president. If the vice presidency is offered to me, I will turn it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie a couple of months ago. Has he changed his mind? Piers Morgan is going to join us next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right, before we check in with Wolf. Parents, this is for you. You're going to get extra cool points with your kids this Thursday. You should already hear the requests we're getting from CNN parents. You know who you are. Mark your calendars, set your DVR. You have to watch this show Thursday. Why, you ask? Because this young woman will be on. Joining me here is Salina Gomez, girlfriend of the Biebs. Justin Bieber is going to be here. She can sing, she can act. She's be here this Thursday in the CNN news room.

And now, we shall talk politics with Wolf Blitzer with news fresh off the CNN Political Ticker. And Wolf, let's talk last night, you were in New Hampshire. You were there. What were your impressions?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Well, you know, brook, that I met Justin Bieber, right?

BALDWIN: Of course you did.

BLITZER: I met him -- I got a nice picture of me and Justin Bieber. I'll share it with you.

BALDWIN: If you have the inside school or any questions.

BLITZER: I know he's got a zillion followers on twitter. I know I like his music and he's a nice young man. I met him at the correspondent dinner not this year, but a year earlier.

BALDWIN: So Wolf and the Biebs are tight. Shall we talk politics? What did you think of last night?

BLITZER: I thought it was good, I thought it was interesting. I love this kind of stuff. I thought the seven Republicans, you know, they were pretty tame. Tim Pawlenty had a shot to take a punch at Mitt Romney. We thought he was going to, and he didn't. I don't know why. A lot of people have been tweeting me all day, because I asked him why didn't Tim Pawlenty follow up on what he said Sunday when he went out and blasted Romney on health care reform and mandates. And why didn't he go further and sort of just backed off?

A lot of people have been tweeting me, you know, maybe he's already thinking about throwing his hat in the Romney -- if Romney gets the nomination, for the vice presidential nod, running mate thing.

I don't think that's necessarily what he was thinking, but there are a lot of theories out there why Tim Pawlenty decided not to hit back and hit hard at Romney. And I think there must have been some confusion among his own staffers or whatever.

But, in any case, the candidate is responsible for what he says. And, in this case, Pawlenty, he took the high road, I guess, and didn't really directly swing at Romney.

BALDWIN: Yes. (CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Romney did well. He looked presidential. I thought he was impressive.

BALDWIN: That's what everyone has been saying. He looked presidential. And everyone played pretty nice for now.

BLITZER: Yes.

BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer, we will chat a little later this hour. You can talk to me about what is coming up on "SITUATION ROOM." Hopefully, maybe we will learn later more about your relationship with Justin Bieber. I don't really know.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.