Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Romney Releases Tax Returns; How Voters View Romney's Finances; State Of The Union, One Year Later; Oscar Noms In, Hugo Leads; N.C. College Lockdown Lifted; Big Hits, Broken Dreams; Waiting for Solar Storm's Fallout

Aired January 24, 2012 - 10:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It is now the top of the hour. Thanks so much for joining us here in the CNN NEWSROOM. After intense pressure to release his tax returns, we now know how much Mitt Romney paid the tax man.

He released his tax forms just about an hour ago. And it's no surprise, Mitt's a rich guy. Here's a look at how rich. He made more than $21 million in 2010 and almost all of it came from investments. Not wages.

He paid $3 million in taxes that year or 13.9 percent. Christine Romans has been digging deeper into the 1040s. Christine, let's talk about how much money he gave to charity. We didn't touch on that last hour. What have you been able to find?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Can I write the paper cuts off --

PHILLIPS: My gosh, I don't know. We both have got the big stack here up on -- yeah. It's pretty -- ours are four or five pages.

ROMANS: I don't like to look at my four or five pages and the 500 pages in front of me as equally are daunting. Couple things the campaign has been -- we got off a call with the campaign pointing out that he paid 16 percent of his income to charity.

Of course, they're trying to, you know, show that he pays a lot of money to charity and he pays a lot of dollars to federal income taxes, but he pays more actually in charity than income taxes, $7 million over the past couple years.

He paid $6.2 million in taxes. Among the money he's spent on charity, $1.5 million in cash, 2010, more than $2 million in cash to the -- to his church, the Mormon Church, also to cancer research, also to multiple sclerosis research, Boys and Girls Club of America, so a lot of different things like that.

It's interesting because they're, obviously, trying to put the best spin on it on these very big numbers showing he made an awful lot of money, he gives away an awful lot of money. But his overall tax rate at 14 percent or so and 15 percent or so are what people are really zeroing in on.

As we have said before, he makes money, pays taxes on that income, at a lower rate than someone would pay taxes on just general wages because that's the way the tax code is written -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. So, let's take a look at how Romney's tax details compare to Obama and Gingrich, quite a difference, but really no surprise, but optics definitely a player here in a campaign year.

ROMANS: I know and I wonder if with we'll be scrutinizing everyone's tax returns, everyone on the Republican field's tax returns as much as we are or, you know, or everyone's doing Romney's.

OK, so $21 million, last year, effective tax rate at 14 percent. We've reported that so how does that compare with the Gingrichs? They made about $3 million last year. Their tax rate is 31 percent rather, and then the Obamas made just shy of $2 million and their tax rate is about 26 percent.

So you can see that the Romneys are, I mean, they are in the very top of the 1 percent. There aren't very many people who run for office who -- I mean that wealth is rare, quite frankly. But all of those people, I keep saying, make so much more money than the 49,000 median household income I think for the U.S. last year.

So I think most people look at all those numbers and like wow, that's a lot of money. But the Romneys really make a lot more money than everyone else and it's on investments. It is on investments and it is a complicated tax return because he is someone who -- who has a lot of different investments.

They are all in blind trusts. So he doesn't make the investments as people say. And he -- even had a Swiss bank account up until last year. But they closed it because they said it wasn't doing any good for him.

PHILLIPS: We'll be talking more about it. Christine, thanks so much.

All right, we know the 1040s now, what does this mean for 2012? National political correspondent, Jim Acosta is in Tampa. So, Jim, you know, Romney makes tens of millions dollars without drawing a salary.

We just pointed that out. He has these offshore accounts. I know you can't read into the minds of voters, but no doubt, this is going to -- this is going to play in how folks view Romney now?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Mitt Romney making roughly $40 million and paying 14 percent in taxes on that $40 million over two years, that's not a big problem for Mitt Romney with the Republican Party.

Republicans are not going to begrudge the fact that he makes lots of money or pays very little in taxes. They're going to like the fact he gives a lot of money to his church and they're going to like the fact that he gives a lot money to his charity.

The problem for Mitt Romney today is sort of the optics, the way this tax return, these tax returns are coming out, on the same day that he's trying to offer a pre-buttal to the president's State of the Union address.

I just want to point over the shoulder what the Romney campaign has put up this morning. They put up a giant Obama isn't working banner over where Mitt Romney will be giving his speech. He is going to be talking about how the president's handling of the economy could have been much better.

We're standing inside an abandoned warehouse. Mitt Romney is going to make the argument that this warehouse is abandoned. The factory is closed because of Obama economics. The problem for that, though, is that the president's team, their political team, has also put together some optics for this evening.

They are putting Warren Buffett's secretary in the first lady's box at the "State of the Union" address. Why is that important? Well, Warren Buffett has said I pay a lower effective tax rate than my other secretary.

President Obama has talked about the Buffet rule, how he would like to seat rich pay more in taxes than, perhaps, the people who work for them. And so, you know, all of this is going to be a general election image problem for the Romney campaign today because of the timing of the release of these tax returns.

We're going to see how Governor Romney handles this issue later this morning, give a speech in about a half hour from now. He's got the teleprompters up behind me and a very big sign, Kyra, a very big indication that he's going directly after the president today and his handling of the economy -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, we'll check back in with you when that event starts. Jim, thanks so much.

Let's talk with John Avlon. He's calling in also on the phone via New York. John, we've been talking about the fact that Romney has made a lot of money.

We mentioned in particular, these funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. But bottom line, he's a rich man, but these returns don't show that he did anything wrong?

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via telephone): No. That's exactly right. Everything is perfectly legal in these tax returns. The question I think is whether it ends up making sense in a common sense fair way to the American people.

Because you do have a guy who's among the ranks of the super rich, not talking about the 1 percent, we're talking about the 0.001 percent. And he pays a less than 15 percent rate. That is just a loophole that's been put in place. We have to figure out if it's purely cap gains or carried interest involved as well, but that -- when you view politics with such perspective that becomes a problem.

Bloomberg did an analysis that kind of puts it in perspective. The 1 percent in America threshold is around $380,000 a year. That's how much the Romneys made in a week off investment income.

So you are talking about a time when the middle class feels squeezed, when there's a growing gap between the super rich and working wealthy, this could be a political issue.

Nobody begrudges success and this is a remarkable measure of success. The question is the loopholes and the exceptions put in place baked in the tax code so that a guy who's at that top 0.001 percent, pays 20 percent -- 20 points less on income tax than the top rate for everybody else.

PHILLIPS: And you mentioned carried interest and yes, it is there. We talked about that last hour with one of our financial gurus, so it's a little inside baseball, but a point well made, John and one more thing to talk about.

Now let me ask you about the timing of this release. You know, tonight the State of the Union address Obama plans to zero in on income inequality and Romney's expected to give his prebuttal this hour.

AVLON: The prebuttal. I love how that word has been subtlety mainstreamed. Look, that's because Romney's trying to present himself already as the nominee, the alternative to the president.

The timing isn't great because it becomes exhibit a in the point the president's trying to make, which is that we have an economy that isn't working for everyone as well as it should.

The president's already indicated that he wants to campaign as the defender of the middle class. The forgotten squeezed middle class. At a time when the super rich have been doing beautifully, everyone else feels enormous pressure and frustration at a slow- growing economy.

The question is whether Mitt Romney can represent himself as the guy who best can understand the economy and, therefore, kick start it into action or whether he will be seen as elite and out of touch.

Because in part of these loopholes and tax rates he's able to legally take advantage of but strike a lot of people as problematic politically, if not ethically, to say the least, politically, not ethically.

PHILLIPS: You bet, and when we got our hands on these tax returns last hour sort of overshadowed. Something else that happened last night in politics, the debate in Florida so here are some highlights for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the 1990s, he had to resign in disgrace from the job as speaker. I had the opportunity to go off and run the Olympic winter games. In the 15 years after he left the speakership, the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in Washington.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, we have an ad in which both John McCain and Mike Huckabee in 2007/2008 explain how much they think Governor Romney can't tell the truth.

ROMNEY: I don't think we can possibly retake the White House if the person who's leading our party is the person who was working for the chief lobbyist of Freddie Mac.

GINGRICH: So let me start right there. There's no place in the contract that provides for lobbying. I've never done any lobbying.

ROMNEY: You were on this stage at a prior debate. You said you were paid $300,000 by Freddie Mac for a historian, as a historian. They don't pay people $25,000 a month for six years as historians.

GINGRICH: You've been walking around this state saying things that are untrue. It is not correct to describe public citizenship, having public advocacy as lobbying.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The theocracy that runs Iran is the equivalent of having Al Qaeda in charge of huge oil reserves and gas reserves and nuclear weapon.

REPRESENTATIVE RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's not 1962 anymore and we don't have to use force and intimidation and overthrow governments. I don't think that's going to work.

SANTORUM: They rejected conservatism when it was hard to stand. It's going to be hard to stand whoever this president's going to be elected. It's going to be tough. There is going to be a mountain of problems. It's going to be easy to be able to bail out and compromise your principles.

ROMNEY: The idea that somehow everything important for conservatism or for America happens in government is simply wrong. I've been in the private sector, I worked in one business that was in trouble and helped turn it around.

GINGRICH: I think only a genuine conservative who's in a position to debate Obama and to show how wide the gap is, between Obama's policies and conservatism, can, in fact, win. We better be prepared to beat him in the debate and prove exactly how wrong his values are and how wrong his practices are.

SANTORUM: Governor Romney's plan in Massachusetts was the basis for Obama care. Speaker Gingrich for 20 years up until last year supported individual mandate, which is at the core of Obama care.

And there is no difference between President Obama and these two gentlemen and that's why this election here in Florida is so critical.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: An election that Newt Gingrich is addressing right now in St. Petersburg. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)

GINGRICH: -- specialty to say as many untrue things as fast as you can to get them all into one or two quick statements. So I thought it was kind of wild, but I am thrilled to be here. I can describe and explain my candidacy with three simple questions. How many of you believe that the United States is seriously on the wrong track?

How many of you believe that in addition to changing the White House, we have to change the way Congress behaves, the bureaucracy behaves, the courts behave, it's bigger than Obama, while he's the start, there's a lot more to getting America back on the right track than just Obama?

And how many of you believe that even if we win the election, that the left and the established forces will fight us every single day to try to stop us from changing things? That's why I'm running.

Because we need somebody who's prepared to develop a team that actually changes where the country is going and actually changes how Washington works. I always ask audiences, to be with me, not for me, and I tell them if you say you're for me, vote, go home and say I hope newt fixes it.

What I described to you is too big for one person even the president to fix. I need you to be with me for the next eight years, so that we can go out, side by side, side by side, remind the Congress every day, what we're doing.

Remind the governor, the state legislature, county commission, the city council, the school board, if you really want to get America back on the right track, it is a whole wave effect that unleashes the Americana people to rebuild the American dream.

And that wave effect has to be at every level. So this is a big undertaking. As I said last night in the debate, I find this very sobering to think about the scale of the challenge we face. This isn't just fun and games. This isn't like a high school class presidency.

This is trying to get the most powerful complex country in the world back doing the right things the right way. I think there are three primary projects we have. The first is economic. How do we create jobs? How do we get housing price back up? How do we get economic growth in the right way to rebuild manufacturing?

So we're capable of being the arsenal of democracy and how do we balance the budget, return power back home through the 10th amendment so we end up with a smaller, less intrusive federal government doing the things it constitutionally should do and within a balanced budget. That's the first big challenge.

The gap between where Obama would go and where we would go, is about as wide as the Pacific Ocean. He represents a big government, radical view of American future in which government is control and we are merely subjects. The second big difference is the nature of America.

I believe in American exceptionalism. American exceptionalism doesn't mean you and I are exceptional, we're normal people, but it means the system we've inherited from the founding fathers is truly exceptional and it start with the Declaration of Independence and starts with the idea that we have been endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.

This is central to defining America. The only country in history that says power comes from god to each one of you personally. You are personally sovereign. And -- and those rights are unalienable which means that no government can come between you and God.

No bureaucrat, no judge, no president, can come between you and God. This is why, since you're sovereign, we begin our constitution, we the people. We don't say, we, the politicians, we the bureaucrats, we the judges, we say, we, the people. Because in America you are always a citizen and the government should be your servant, not the other way around. Now --

(END LIVE SPEECH)

PHILLIPS: Newt Gingrich, live in St. Petersburg, Florida. We will follow, of course, all the GOP candidates as they hold these live events in the state before the primary.

President Obama delivers his State of the Union speech tonight. So just how involved is the president in his speeches? We're going to talk to the man who wrote two of them for President Clinton. An insider's look, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: President Obama's State of the Union speech could live on far into the future like President Monroe's in 1823 when he warned European powers to stay on their side of the Atlantic or it could be memorable like JKS s in 1963 and his eerie warning of storms beyond the horizon.

Or maybe it could be the subject of debate like president bush's nine years ago, when he warned of Saddam Hussein looking for uranium in Africa. Shesol wrote two State of the Union speeches for President Clinton.

And Jeff, you wrote his final one in 2000. This potentially could be Obama's last one. If you were writing the speech tonight, given this is an election year, what would you make sure is in Obama's speech?

JEFF SHESOL, FORMER SPEECHWRITER FOR PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, first I should say clear out of -- for the sake of modesty and accuracy I didn't write the speeches for President Clinton, I was lucky to write the speeches with President Clinton. He was obviously driving that process himself.

PHILLIPS: Give credit where credit is due.

SHESOL: Exactly. With respect to what President Obama should do tonight, I think there are a number of things he's going to want to accomplish tonight.

But I think the first and the most important thing is going to be to set the terms for debate over the course of this election year. The State of the Union address, though it's wrapped in pageantry and the flag and ceremony and so forth, is always a political speech and never more so than in an election year.

His rivals have been out there in these debates and on the campaign trail doing their best to try to define him and define the contest. This is a great opportunity for him to do just that in reverse.

PHILLIPS: Now aren't there a lot of cabinet members that are putting pressure on the president as well, saying I want you to get my pet project in here and I want you to incorporate this into your speech? Is that true, and how do you deal with that? Maybe you can give me an example of how you dealt with it with your speech with Clinton?

SHESOL: Very politely, very diplomatically. They're putting pressure not only on the president, but on the president's speech writers as well. There is a full-scale lobbying effort that happens on the part of members of Congress and on the part of the president's cabinet to try to get their stuff in the speech.

If the president mentions it, suddenly it has shot right up near the top of the national priority list. And so as speechwriters we were getting calls all the time from cabinet members calling from their cell phones in their convertibles or at one point we were 24, 48 hours away from the State of the Union address.

We had really locked down the speech, we were fine-tuning -- the president fine tuning its delivery and in the middle of this rehearsal I was summoned to the back of the family theater to answer a phone call from a cabinet member still trying to get policy priorities for that cabinet department in the speech.

So it's a big, full-on push. Even though this is going to be a very political speech this year, it is still, at heart, a policy speech and I'm sure the president is going to be laying out his agenda for what he hopes to accomplish, what he actually thinks he might accomplish in this difficult year.

PHILLIPS: I bet it's hard taking things really important and trying to make them extremely interesting to all of America. Jeff, thanks so much for your insight. Really appreciate it.

SHESOL: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You bet. One year ago tomorrow that President Obama delivered his last State of the Union address. Within that speech, a pledge to streamline government, did he keep that promise? Tom Foreman takes a look.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama came to office promising to change the way Washington does business, and in his last State of the Union, he got specific.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In the coming months, my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: He did it in the sense that after almost an entire year, he finally unveiled what he had in mind, combining six departments and agencies all related to business investments or trade. It is a reorganization, sure, but not nearly as broad as many of his critics expected or arguably as big as he hinted was coming.

This is a judgment call, but because of the timing and scope of what he finally came up with, we will say it seems to be a work in progress.

PHILLIPS: And you can watch tonight, CNN's special coverage of President Obama's State of the Union address, 8:00 Eastern live from Washington. Right here on CNN.

You've heard about comparing apples and oranges. Well, how about this matchup, the White House versus an Apple store, which power hub carries a higher value by the square foot?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So what's worth more, an Apple store or the White House? Felicia Taylor, that's an interesting question.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. I mean, it sort of like, how do you compare an Apple store with the White House? But actually, it's about a tie. They're both worth about $4,700 per square foot, $4,700 per square foot.

It's an interesting fact but like I said, it's not really an Apple to apples comparison. Apple's numbers are based on how much it sells per square foot. The White House is based on real estate value. It does show what a behemoth apple has become.

Based on these numbers, apple is the most valuable chain in the United States. Impressive considering it opened its store just about 11 years ago, which frankly in corporate history, that's not that long ago. So, it's kind of a tie frankly.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. All right, Felicia Taylor, thank you so much.

We are going to talk coming up about Mitt Romney, coming out swinging. Taking on Newt Gingrich at last night's debate and moments from now, offering a so-called prebuttal to the president's State of the Union. He's a man on a mission, but will it pay off? Our buzz panel gives their take.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking stories now explosives from five separate attacks kill at least nine people in Iraq, another 72 are injured. Four car bombs exploded in busy areas of Baghdad, including near an elementary school where 18 children were hurt.

New video this morning from inside the Costa Concordia just moments after it ran aground off Italy. A passenger from Florida documented the scene as he and others were evacuated. A body found this morning brings the total to 16 that have now been recovered. Another 16 people are still missing.

And President Obama will address the nation tonight at 9:00 Eastern in his last State of the Union Address before the 2012 election. The President is expected to focus on jobs, energy and education. CNN's special live coverage begins at 8:00 Eastern.

All right. Any minute now, Mitt Romney steps up to the podium in Tampa, Florida, giving a prebuttal, as they call it, to President Obama's State of the Union Address that will be at 9:00 Eastern tonight. It's like a pre-emptive strike. Romney's expected to attack President Obama's record on the economy, speaking at an abandoned factory.

We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it happens.

All right. "Political Buzz", your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock and playing today, Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman, founder and editor of "Citizen Jane Politics" Patricia Murphy and Georgetown University professor Chris Metzler.

All right, guys first question, Mitt Romney's tax forms they're out and he's rich no surprise. Why is he so rich? Well, investments, not wages. So how is that going to play out with Americans who are still punching the time card? Robert?

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, his success in business is not a liability. In fact, quite frankly it's an attribute. But the -- but the real issue is the fact that Mitt Romney parked his money in the Cayman Islands or in Swiss Back -- and in Swiss Bank accounts and, in fact, he's paying a tax rate that an average American making $70,000 a year pays. He's become a poster boy for the inequity and injustice and unfairness of the tax system.

PHILLIPS: Patricia?

PATRICIA MURPHY, FOUNDER/EDITOR, "CITIZEN JANE POLITICS": I agree with Robert, actually, that I think it's a big problem for Mitt Romney because Americans just can't relate to it. Who even knows where to get this banker, let alone a Swiss Bank account, is just so different from most people's reality who are really, really struggling.

But Americans, I think, don't have a problem with people being wealthy at all. Everyone aspires to be wealthy. It's the way Mitt Romney talks about it, he seems embarrassed, uncomfortable, just like somebody like George W. Bush, he was a man of immense wealth but he was very relatable to the American people.

Mitt Romney needs to find a way to interact and relate to people who are normal Americans or this will be what -- what kills his nomination.

PHILLIPS: Chris?

CHRIS METZLER, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, I don't think the American people really actually care about this. Look, he's very successful. He's done a good job in terms of getting all of these things. I think, in fact, he could use this to really talk about reforming the tax code because as he indicated, he's paid the taxes that he was required to pay under the law. And, in fact, was very charitable relative to the givings that he's done.

So I think, in fact, it's just a silly discussion. We know that he's rich. The question is, can he use it to his advantage for reforming the tax code?

PHILLIPS: All right. Second question, last night's debate, Mitt Romney tearing into Gingrich's leadership. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994 and at the end of four years he had to resign in disgrace. In the 15 years after he left the speakership the Speaker has worked been working as an influence peddler in Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So are Romney's attacks enough to stop or reverse the Gingrich surge? Chris?

METZLER: No. Absolutely not. I think -- I think what Romney has to do, rather than focusing on some random issues, first of all the Speaker did not resign in disgrace, but secondly, rather than focusing on random issues, what he really has to do is distinguish himself, transparency, of course, is an argument that one could use, because it is the best disinfectant.

The problem is he seems a little, Romney, uncomfortable with the transparency question. Barring that, I think what he probably could do to reverse the -- Mitt's -- I'm sorry, the surge, is actually to self-deport back to New Hampshire. PHILLIPS: Robert?

ZIMMERMAN: Romney may -- Romney may be uncomfortable with transparency, but Newt Gingrich is just terrified of it. I mean what we saw in the debate last night was just a warm up act. You've got a state in Florida where 44 percent of the homes are under water and Newt Gingrich made $1.8 million from Freddie Mac. Mitt Romney should be hammering away at his relationship there, his influencing peddle, influence peddling and demanding that Newt Gingrich release his contractual relationship with Freddie Mac.

All he's got do is sign a form saying I am -- I allow the full disclosure documents to be released.

PHILLIPS: Patricia?

ZIMMERMAN: And he's failed to do so.

MURPHY: I think Mitt Romney did better last night in this debate than he has in previous debates showing Republicans that he is tough enough to take on President Obama, but he didn't do enough when I was in South Carolina, I talked to lots of undecided voters who said the moment that Newt Gingrich basically went ballistic on Juan Williams was the moment they decided this guy could be president, this guy can take on a president who has a billion dollar war chest.

Romney didn't come anywhere close to that last night. There was no one moment that he took fire and really grabbed people by the lapels and said I can do this, I can beat this president. So he didn't do enough.

PHILLIPS: All right. Guys, and I understand I might have to give Patricia a little more time on this one. If you're an "office" fan, here's a "Buzzer Beater" for you the actor who plays Dwight Shroute admits that he looks a whole lot like a young Newt Gingrich. Take a look at this. You've got to love it.

Even changed his official Twitter profile picture -- let me see -- to this vintage 1970 -- or I guess, yes. He changed the picture to this vintage 1970s Newt. Ok, now there are three more GOP candidates and we kind of divided these up and Patricia, You let me know if you need a little more time here, because she went the cartoon route, ok, we wanted sitcom route. Robert, who do you think Romney resembles?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, I had two choices came to mind. First of all is Ron Burgundy, who is portrayed in the iconic movie "Anchor Man" by Will Ferrell. Because Ron Burgundy was quotable and engaging but just couldn't quite get it together and couldn't quite measure up.

The other and very frankly, I would have chosen, if I remembered his name, the man in the advertisements for erectile dysfunction but I couldn't remember his name.

PHILLIPS: Oh. I am going to move on to Chris.

ZIMMERMAN: Just trying to help. PHILLIPS: Yes let's rescue me here, please. Rick Santorum, what would you say?

METZLER: Actually I had two choices, the first of which was Robert Zimmerman, but I decided not to go with that one -- instead, I decided to go with Jerry Seinfeld. I think he has a striking resemblance to Seinfeld. The difficulty, of course, is, he doesn't have the humor of Seinfeld.

So probably Zimmerman would have been the better choice. But I'm going to stick with Seinfeld.

PHILLIPS: Ok Patricia, did I give you enough time?

MURPHY: I'm ready. I'm ready.

PHILLIPS: Ok, give it to us. You've got Ron Paul.

MURPHY: I'm going with a thin Archie Bunker. Sort of an armchair quarterback complaining about a lot of things, the world is not fair. I'm going Archie Bunker.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I love it.

Ok, I could just see the new sitcoms now coming out this year. You guys, thanks so much.

MURPHY: Thanks.

METZLER: Thanks, take care.

PHILLIPS: And the nominees are in for the 84th annual academy awards. A.J. Hammer is here next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, the Oscar nominations are in and "Hugo" is leading the way. Showbiz host A.J. Hammer, live from New York. Ok. You were -- you mentioned "Hugo"; you had a feeling it was going to get a number of nods.

A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes. And it definitely was no surprise. I do think overall, this is going to be a particularly tough year for academy voters, Kyra. A lot of competitive categories this year, nothing that is an absolute, absolute win for anybody, I think. Now we did run through the best picture nominees last hour.

So right now I do want to take a look at the acting categories. The nominees for actor in a leading role are as follows: Demian Bichir in "A Better Life"; George Clooney nominated for "The Descendants", Jean Dujardin for "The Artist"; Gar Oldman in "Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy"; and Brad Pitt's nominated for "Moneyball".

Hard to believe but this is actually Gary Oldman's first ever Oscar nomination. I think that's definitely going to make this race very interesting but I think the real battle will probably be between Clooney and Dujardin here who have both been collecting awards over the past few months for their roles. Although we shouldn't count out Pitt. Not at all, I think he's going to get in there.

Also a tough decision for actress in a leading role as well. Big names matched up against each other this year. Let's roll through those right now, We have Glenn Close nominated for "Albert Nobbs"; Viola Davis for "The Help", Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"; Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady", and Michele Williams nominated for "My week with Marilyn".

For this I see a three-way race with Streep, Davis and Williams. But Kyra, it has been 30 years since Meryl Streep won an Oscar. So I'm thinking maybe the edge goes to her and this could be her year.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Ellen is already calling it and we know Ellen gets everything right, A.J. So I think we should bank on that.

HAMMER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Now, Seal finally speaking out about his splits from Heidi Klum. What's he saying?

HAMMER: Well, this is such a shocking split to so many of us, came down a couple days ago. We're all still a bit shell-shocked from it. Seal sat down with Ellen DeGeneres and he talked about what happened to his marriage with Heidi Klum. Let's watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAL, SINGER: You go into these things with the greatest intentions, you know, when you say I do, when you say until death do us part I mean those vows hold value, they're not just words.

You just grow apart after a while. I mean, you try and you work through it and the thing that you quickly realize, is when you're married and you become a parent, is that you do the best that you can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HAMMER: Yes. Kyra, I think a lot of people obviously relating with what Seal is saying this morning about growing apart. It does, after all, happen. But I can't remember a split in recent history in Hollywood where so many people took it so personally and feel so sad about it because these guys were the lovey-dovey couple of Hollywood. We really thought they were one that was going to last through it all.

PHILLIPS: Yes. It's a shame. A.J. thanks so much. Bit of a downer there.

If you want all information on everything breaking in the entertainment world, A.J. has it every night on HLN, 11:00 Eastern.

Big hit, broken dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My little brother, not moving, he needs help breathing. I mean I just lost it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Ahead in our next hour, Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a closer look at the devastating effects of football and concussions. Actually, we're going to do that this hour right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Got an update for you on the breaking news story you're watching last hour out of Raleigh, North Carolina. We had told you that this technical college, Wake Technical Community College, had been on lockdown because there were reports that a gunman had been spotted on the campus there.

We are told that it's an all clear. The situation has been handled. That's according to the Web site now for the college. So once again, getting the all clear in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the campus of Wake Technical Community College.

PHILLIPS: "BIG HITS AND BROKEN DREAMS"; it's a new documentary by our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's taking a look at concussions and football and the dangers for kids across the country. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Football in North Carolina is really big. If you're from around this area, you know JH Rose is a four-time state champ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pumped up, excited, ready to go.

That's all I thought, every single day. Football, football, football.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Football is a tough sport, you know, it isn't for everybody. There's collisions in this sport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My little brother, he's not moving. He needs help breathing. I mean I just lost it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Waller was tackled, walked to the sidelines and then collapsed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Friday's night's death of Jacquan Waller is being --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very tough time for the whole community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I remember getting hit hard, that actually rang my bell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the first few weeks there was just a constant headache.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The trainer was asking me questions and I was answering them all wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A small percentage of impacts that simulate that crash.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He does have symptoms of a concussion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If a parent came to you and said, coach, my kid really wants to play football, but I want you to tell me that he's going to be safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't guarantee that.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Is a violent game. That's always going to be there. Can you make this game safer?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Wow. That will grab your attention especially if you're a parent. You've been on this topic for two years, if not longer. Why did you want to focus on youth football?

GUPTA: Well, it's sort of my -- in my sweet spot obviously because of the neuroscience background and as sports fan. I think now being a dad as well, although I have daughters. A lot of people come to me and they're making these decisions on behalf of their kids and the question is, what is happening to their brains? We watched those highlight films on television all the time and thought that that has to do something to the body.

Well now over the last couple years, since we've been investigating, we know there's more knowledge about this than ever before. We know what the impact of those collisions are to the brain both in the short term and in the long term.

These football players, Kyra, they average -- average career is 3.5 years. They're retiring in their late 20s after having all this damage potentially to their brain. We wanted to find out what their lives were like.

PHILLIPS: You don't have to necessarily suffer a concussion to injure your brain, right?

GUPTA: That's right. And that's a misconception. First of all, a lot of people don't even know what a concussion is specifically. You don't have to be knocked out to have a concussion. It's some sort of disturbance of your sensation. But all these other hits, these ones where people just get right back up, nothing to it. They average about 650 of these hits a season.

PHILLIPS: It's the repetition.

GUPTA: It's a repetition. I think we have a quick animation you can look at here as well to see specifically what's happening. So two players hit like this. You get a collision like that; you see what's happening specifically to the brain. It's not so much the hit itself. As it is the brain sort of moving back and forth in the skull developing that inflammation, and that can be a significant problem.

But those sub-concussive hits are causing these changes in young brains that are similar to the changes you would see on someone with Alzheimer's disease, except these are people in their 30s and their 40s; not that 70's or 80's. Now we know what the impact is in the longer term.

PHILLIPS: Sanjay, thanks.

GUPTA: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: (INAUDIBLE) parents we're all going to be watching. Sanjay's documentary "BIG HITS BROKEN DREAMS" this Sunday night, 8:00 Night Eastern right here on CNN and we'll keep the conversation going all week with tips on how to protect your kids.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're following this massive solar storm. The fallout could actually reach earth today. We're talking about possible problems for satellites power grids, navigation systems such as GPS. Meteorologist Rob Marciano joining us to break it down and explain. It sounds kind of scary.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, we're entering this period of solar activity that's going to be quite active not just now, but going forward through next year. And the flare that happened Sunday night, there was one that happened last Thursday so it's quite often.

The flare that happened Sunday night was pretty strong, at least the radiation of it was. To give you a reminder when you have a sun spot that emits a solar flare that has radiation with it, it also has charged particles.

So it's a two-prong event basically. The radiation gets here a little bit faster. That happened yesterday and last night. As a matter of fact, some planes, they don't like to fly over the polls because one it messes with the radio communications. And Two, the x- rays, from this radiation, it's not -- you don't want to get zapped with too many x-rays. Planes were diverted because of that.

The charged particle or what we call the Coronal Mass Ejection travels at that 1 million miles an hour. All right. 93 million miles of light, you do the math. It's coming at us right now. So this was not an (INAUDIBLE) flare. Thank goodness. But it's very, very close. This is the next -- this would be a major event that will trigger, wide-scale or blackout.

But I think -- there was an M9 flare, brief radio blackouts, possible throughout the day today. And with the G-3 type of storm: There might some power out in some spots but it's more going to be a G-2, G-3.

Spacecraft NASA said they were cool with the ISS, they didn't have to do anything terribly drastic with you guys up there. So there's no need for you to go out and buy an iron vest or wear sunglasses today.

PHILLIPS: And be an iron man.

MARCIANO: But, Aurora Borealis, the northern lights tonight, could very easily get into the lower 48. So keep an eye the window and the sky.

PHILLIPS: Ok. All those astronomers out there, thanks a lot, Rob.

Well, coming up in the next hour with Suzanne Malveaux, here in the Newsroom. If you're tired of finding that cheap airline ticket on line only to find that the price skyrockets when you try to pay. New rules for airline fees go into effect this week that will change the way airlines have to list fares. We're going to tell you the big differences, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: There's no surprise here, Newt Gingrich is stepping up those attacks on Mitt Romney: with Florida's primary just a week away. Shannon Travis, covering it all for us. He's actually at the Gingrich event there in St. Petersburg. So he went after a Romney aide, Shannon?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Big time Kyra. You can't come to St. Petersburg, Florida, and not draw distinctions with your rivals. You know, there are a number of Republicans here, retirees that are very conservative. So and Newt Gingrich needs to win here. And one of the tactics that you just mentioned he went after Mitt Romney.

You'll remember that in last night's debate Mitt Romney: and Newt Gingrich kind of went at it and Mitt Romney: kind of unloaded on what he considered fact after fact after fact going after Newt Gingrich. Well, Newt Gingrich had a response for that today just a few moments ago. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Discovered, I guess, that Romney has a new debate coach whose specialty is to say as many untrue things as fast as you can to get them all into one or two quick statements. I thought it was kind of wild.

TRAVIS: now, another thing that Newt Gingrich said was that Romney will have more money in Florida than him, but that he will have more people. He also said that that's exactly a mirror image of what happened in South Carolina that propelled him to win, obviously, on Saturday, Kyra. And Newt, get this, left, exited to the song "How do you like me now," Kyra?

PHILLIPS: Quite a confident guy, isn't he, Shannon? Thank you very much.

TRAVIS: That's right.

PHILLIPS: We'll be on the politics all day long. And a reminder for all the latest political news, you can just go to our Webs site, cnnpolitics.com. Trying to remember a country song, is that Toby Keith?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I think it's Toby Keith.

I was thinking the rap version. That actually, "How do you like me now". That's what I was thinking.

PHILLIPS: All right. There we go Kyra and Suzanne's music.

MALVEAUX: Rendition.

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly.

MALVEAUX: We'll see if it works for him. All right.

PHILLIPS: Good to see you. Take it away.

MALVEAUX: Thanks.