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Egypt: One Year On; U.S. Troops Free Hostages in Somalia; President Obama Outlines Campaign Message; Clinics Claim Gay "Cure"; Inside Japan's Exclusion Zone; Gingrich Speaks To Supporters In Florida; Obama Campaigns In Iowa

Aired January 25, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

I want to get you up to speed.

The U.S. military says the elite Navy SEAL Team Six was definitely part of the dangerous overnight mission to rescue two aid workers from kidnappers in Somalia. Special Forces troops parachuted into Somalia, killed all of the hostage-takers, and then brought the aid workers to safety. One of them is American Jessica Buchanan, and her father says that she is doing well under the circumstances.

(CHANTING)

MALVEAUX: So we are looking at a huge anniversary rally. It is under way in Egypt.

They are marking one year since the start of the revolution that swept out longtime president Hosni Mubarak. You are now looking at live pictures here from Cairo's Tahrir Square. Thousands of people gathering at the birth place of the revolution.

A very emotional day on Capitol Hill as Gabrielle Giffords formally resigned from Congress. She's given up her seat to focus on recovering from the brain injury she suffered when she was shot in the head last year. Her friend and colleague Congresswoman Debbie Wassermann Schultz read Giffords' resignation letter on the House floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), DNC CHAIR: "Amid all that was lost on January 8th, there was also hope and faith. This past year, it is what I have often clung to, hope that our government can represent the best of a nation, not the worst; faith that Americans working together in their communities, in our Congress, can succeed without qualification; hope and faith that even as we are set back by tragedy or profound disagreement, in the end we come together as Americans to set a course toward greatness."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: President Obama takes his message from the State of the Union speech on the road. He is off on a three-day visit to five states considered to be crucial in the November election.

The president stops in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. That is later this hour. That's where we are going to take you live.

Later today, also, he travels to Phoenix and Las Vegas. He's going to be building on the ideas that he outlined last night, including personal responsibility and fair play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: no bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on responsibility from everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Republicans not wasting any time tearing into President Obama's State of the Union message. In their official GOP response, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels accuses the president of dividing the country into class warfare. He blasted the president's economic policies as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MITCH DANIELS (R), INDIANA: In three short years, an unprecedented explosion of spending with borrowed money has added trillions to an already unaffordable national debt. And yet, the president has put us on a course to make it radically worse in the years ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Want to go back to Egypt. It is exactly one year since the start of the revolution.

(CHANTING)

MALVEAUX: Now, this was the scene in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 18-day uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak. The square is packed again today to mark that anniversary.

Our Ben Wedeman, he was there then. He is there now.

Ben, tell us what is going on where you are today.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, well, we have several hundred thousands of people have packed into Tahrir Square, and certainly the mood seems to be quite upbeat, quite festive if you compare it to what it was a year ago, when just a few hours into the protests, there was tear gas being fired, people being arrested and beaten. That was the beginning of an 18-day uprising.

Now people are here, some of them to celebrate the revolution. Many others in Tahrir Square this evening to demand that the revolution continue, that the military council that runs the country step down immediately and hand power over to its civilian leadership beyond Tahrir Square. And that's also very important.

There are millions of Egyptians who feel that the time for protests and demonstrations is over, that it's time to get the country working again, getting the economy working again. The economy is in shambles, but many people still believe that what is most important is to go out into Tahrir and to demonstrate for change -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And Ben, I know it's a little loud where you are, but one of the things that marked this revolution was really the violence, the number of people who were killed protesting this government.

Are people afraid to be on the street? Do they feel secure? Or is there a sense of anxiety and fear that they might be attacked again?

WEDEMAN: Well, many people were, in fact, nervous in the last few days that this large demonstration would result in violence. And I must stress today is not over.

For instance, many ATM machines have been emptied of cash because people were afraid that the banks would shut down. Some people have stocked up on food in anticipation of violence. So there is a good deal of nervousness, but so far the day has been relatively violence- free, and the hope is that the night will be the same -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Ben Wedeman, as always, we thank you for your excellent reporting a year ago, for your reporting today on what is taking place in the region, in that country, on the ground. Tremendous change that has taken place over the last year.

Thank you, Ben.

We're going to have more from Cairo in a couple of minutes. I'm going to be joined by Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy. She's been a witness to the uprising from the very beginning, and she has also been directly impacted.

Bipartisanship. Defined: cooperation, agreement, compromise between two major political parties. Right? We hear it all the time out of Washington. Do we even see it rarely?

But the question: Do voters even want bipartisanship anymore?

That brings us to today's "Talk Back" question and Carol Costello in Washington, where we don't see very much bipartisanship. So I don't know. I don't even know if we can be optimistic about this.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bipartisanship? What's that?

Well, let's talk about that.

There was one magical moment preceding the State of the Union. I say "magical" because it conjures something unattainable today -- unity. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, shot while talking with her constituents, has come to symbolize bipartisanship, a notion so antiquated, we get teary-eyed when we think about how it used to be and how it could be again if only we took a cue from our military. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: When you put on that uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or White, Asian, Latino, Native American, conservative, liberal, rich, poor, gay, straight. When you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you or the mission fails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But Republicans say Mr. Obama isn't practicing bipartisanship, not with his executive orders and recess appointments. They say they can do better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We could make speeches. We could yell at each other. We could pretend we were Barack Obama. Or we could put the country first.

Now, I will not compromise. But I will -- I will be willing to coordinate and to get things done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: If I get to Washington, I can assure you, I will meet with the Democrat leaders. I will establish a relationship of respect and rapport.

I know they will attack me. That's kind of how politics work. They will attack me in public.

I will not return fire in the way we've been watching over the last several years in Washington. I want to get America right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But let's face it, a spirit of bipartisanship, unity is not exactly topic number one on the campaign trail or in Washington these days. The goal now is to get things done with or without help from the other side.

So, the "Talk Back" question today: Do voters care if their next president is bipartisan?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.

MALVEAUX: Yes. It always seems, Carol, like it's some sort of disaster that gets the parties together. Right? I mean, you have this moment, Gabrielle Giffords, and everybody can really feel for her and understand and like her. And 9/11 brought the country together.

You wonder why they can't do this without some sort of major upset. You know what I mean?

COSTELLO: I don't know. That's the question. Maybe -- I don't know.

Even voters seem to be partisan and aren't willing to compromise with one another. So maybe it's just a cultural thing right now. We're just not in the mood.

MALVEAUX: Not in the mood. Let's change the mood, Carol. Let's change the mood.

All right. Thank you.

COSTELLO: We'll work on it.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: It's now confirmed Navy SEAL Team Six was part of the joint operation that saved two aid workers from kidnappers in Somalia. That is the same elite military unit that killed Osama bin Laden last year.

We also know more about who knew what about the mission during the State of the Union Address that was last night.

Want to get Chris Lawrence from the Pentagon.

So, Chris, first of all, talk about the details of the raid, what we have learned so far -- how far it was planned, if they knew it was going to be a SEAL mission.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, the military had been planning this mission, but they needed the go-ahead. These hostages were kidnapped back in late October, but there was a really heightened sense of urgency that set in over the last few weeks.

Part of what contributed to that was the deteriorating medical condition of Jessica Buchanan, one of the hostages. When the military got some intelligence, specifically where the hostages were and who had them, that's when President Obama gave the authorization to go ahead with the rescue mission on Monday. The military executed that plan on Tuesday.

The Special Operations team got in there. They found nine kidnappers with weapons, with guns and explosives nearby. All nine of those kidnappers were killed. They got the hostages at an outdoor encampment, hustled them onto the helicopter, and got them out of Somalia.

MALVEAUX: And Chris, we know the president gave a little shout-out to his defense secretary, Leon Panetta, last night before the State of the Union Address. What did he tell him?

LAWRENCE: Yes, Suzanne. This was a moment that really had a lot of us scratching our heads. Let's take a look, because this was a really strange and interesting moment last night before the State of the Union. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Good job tonight. Good job tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: Yes, "Good job tonight." We didn't know what that meant, to what exactly he was referring to.

MALVEAUX: Right.

LAWRENCE: Well, it turns out that Secretary Panetta was at the White House for some routine meetings, had been monitoring the situation all along.

At the point where President Obama said, "Good job, good job," they knew that the hostages were safe with the Special Operations team, but the mission wasn't over. The team wasn't completely out of Somalia and back at a safe base yet.

MALVEAUX: They seemed pretty optimistic there.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

MALVEAUX: Do we know anything about these kidnappers, who they are, why they did this?

LAWRENCE: Well, there's no indication from sources we've spoken with that they are part of al-Shabaab. More than likely, they seem to be kidnappers, people interested in ransom, in money.

MALVEAUX: All right. Chris, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: So, today is like the July 4th for Egypt. January 25, 2011, that is the day that the country erupted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHANTING)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): For Americans, it's hard to even wrap our heads around. For almost 30 years, Hosni Mubarak ruled a country of 80 million, unchallenged, like a modern-day pharaoh, until, suddenly, the masses said they had had enough.

It was just days after protesters brought down another dictator in nearby Tunisia when Egyptians took to the streets riding high on their momentum. Tens of thousands poured into Tahrir Square and stood their ground, demanding regime change. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Leave Egypt, Mubarak. You're already -- we've reached the downfall of Egypt. We've hit rock bottom. So, honestly, leave.

MALVEAUX: For 18 days, civil war raged in the streets in a country where the average citizen is just 24 years old. Egypt's young people were organizing online, relying heavily on social media like Twitter and Facebook to communicate.

It was a digital wildfire, a flash mob of historic proportions. But Mubarak struck back at the uprising hard. Egyptian security forces were let loose on their own people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what you do. We will die for our freedom!

MALVEAUX: The violence was hard to watch, but in less than three weeks the protesters brought down three decades of tyranny.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: So the trial of Hosni Mubarak is still playing out in Egypt right now. The former president is charged in the deaths of more than 840 protesters. The revolution, far from over.

Joining me live from Tahrir Square in Cairo is Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian journalist who has been watching this movement unfold with her own eyes since the very beginning.

Mona, first of all, there's a sense that when Mubarak stepped down, a new era in Egypt was beginning. What is the state of your country now?

MONA ELTAHAWY, EGYPTIAN JOURNALIST: Well, we wanted to get rid of Mubarak, and we did, Suzanne, but what ended up happening is that he was replaced by 19 Hosni Mubaraks, which is the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, headed by Field Marshal Tantawi. And we came out today to march from various points across Cairo, but also various points across Egypt, to say down, down with the military rule, because we're serious about regime change. And we're also here to say that the revolution continues until we get rid of that regime and Egypt is under civilian control.

And as you can hear from behind me -- and the square has been absolutely full all day -- it took us hours to march to get here. So the revolution continues, I'm very glad to report.

MALVEAUX: And Mona, the last time you were there in the square, you got attacked by Egyptian forces. We're glad that you have healed.

Can you tell us what has come of that? Has anyone reached out to you to bring justice here in your case?

ELTAHAWY: Well, yes, my arms are still in casts, as you can see, Suzanne, and one of the things I will be doing while I'm here in Cairo is discussing my case with human rights lawyers who will sue the military council for me and who will sue the security forces for me. And I'm also joining a class action case against the ruler, essentially, along with dozens of other women for sexual assault, because along with having my arms broken, I was sexually assaulted by Egyptian security.

So we are fighting back. There are many ways that we're using to fight back. And I think it's very important to understand that today is not about celebrating, because the revolution isn't over yet. The revolution continues.

Today was a day to honor martyrs. And all the way as we march, it took me three hours to march with thousands upon thousands of people to march here.

There were pictures of marchers everywhere, including a childhood friend of mine called (INAUDIBLE) -- I used to play with this man when we were children -- including a young man (INAUDIBLE), who was killed in 2010, including a young medical student called (INAUDIBLE), and another young student called Nina Danielle (ph).

So we were honoring Muslims and Christians, young and old, who have given their lives for this kind of gathering in Egypt which (INAUDIBLE). So, over the past year, the Supreme Council and its security forces have beaten, have arrested, have killed, have shot out the eyes, have broken the arms of thousands of people, and have (INAUDIBLE), and yet we're still here to say that the revolution continues.

MALVEAUX: And Mona, just very quickly here, because you are on the ground there, do you feel safe? Are you being protected there? Does that provide some sense of safety for you because your case was such a high-profile case throughout the world, the kind of abuse that you suffered?

ELTAHAWY: Well, you know, what I'm trying to do, Suzanne, is -- because I do have access to the media, I'm here speaking to you, people know who I am. I mean, all throughout the march people were stopping me to see how I'm doing because they know me and what happened to me.

I'm trying to use my case to highlight the fact that there are thousands of Egyptians that we don't know who have suffered as much as I have and even more. And so it's imperative that I take this case (ph) and pursue in legal ways as a way of showing that you cannot continue thinking that you're going to get away with this, because the revolution started out against police brutality. And so we have to continue the revolution until we're free.

MALVEAUX: All right.

Mona Eltahawy, thank you very much. Certainly, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done in that country.

President Obama takes his State of the Union message on the road. Well, how is it going to play with the voters? How did it play out last night?

We're going to ask both a Republican and a Democratic strategist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: President Obama is taking his message from his State of the Union speech on the road. He's expected to arrive in Iowa on a campaign stop. That is happening this hour.

In his speech last night, the president provided a preview of his re- election message. He says that preserving the American dream is the defining issue of our times.

Joining us to talk about the president's message, Terry Holt, Republican strategist and former press secretary for the Bush-Cheney campaign; and Donna Brazile, CNN political contributor, Democratic strategist.

You guys are my favorite. It's going to have you here on the show.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you. It's great to see you.

TERRY HOLT, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you, Suzanne. It's great to see you.

MALVEAUX: It's nice to have you both.

All right. So, now that I've got you here, I want you to both listen to how this played out last night and today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Anyone who tells you that America is in a decline or that our influence has waned doesn't know what they're talking about.

Yes, the world is changing. No, we can't control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs. And as long as I'm president, I intend to keep it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The detachment between reality and what he says is so extraordinary, I was just shaking my head as I was watched the TV last night. I think it's time to have somebody who says what he means and means what he says. And if I'm president, that's the kind of president I'll be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right, guys, this doesn't make sense to a lot of folks, right? I mean, how is it that these two can have two diametrically opposed pictures of the state of the country, the "State of the Union." Donna, I'll start with you.

BRAZILE: Well, let me say that I thought the president's speech last night was on point. He essentially laid out the predicate that this election is about whether or not we continue to fight for the enduring American values, give everybody a fair shot.

If you want to live the American dream, you have to work hard for it. The president didn't spend all this time as he's done in the last two years talking about the things that he inherited from the previous administration.

He talked about the road ahead and how we can get the American people back on their feet, down the road to prosperity for all Americans. Not just the top 1 percent, but what Mitt Romney and Republicans are talking about is returning to the past policies that got us into this deep hole.

The financial problems that the country is facing, two wars, tax cuts for the wealthy, I think that's why what the president laid out last night was a good example of what we should be talking about the rest of the year.

MALVEAUX: Terry, jump in here.

HOLT: It was a campaign speech and now he's on the campaign trail. This president is expected to be a statesman at the "State of the Union" speech, but what we got was partisanship.

Let's face it, Barack Obama's numbers have not been as good as it could have been and unemployment at 8.5 percent, I wonder he has been living in the White House for only a few years, but he's lost touch with the American people.

The over taxation, the overregulation, the attack on small business that his administration has levelled on this country are responsible for the mess we are in and you cannot acknowledge that in this speech last night. He turned on the campaign politics and I expected him to do that.

MALVEAUX: Let's talk about what he said about his vision for the world government. I want you to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'm a Democrat, but I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed. The government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves and no more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So Donna, this sound very much in line with what some of the Republicans have been saying as well. Is this the kind of message that will appeal to the moderates and independents that he needs to bring on board now?

BRAZILE: Well, if you look at the recent "Washington Post"/ABC poll, clearly independents are listening to the president like Democrats and some Republicans, 50 percent of the American people believe that the Republicans intentionally stall the economy.

They are not helping the president jump-start the economy. The Republicans complained after President Obama took office and said we want to roll and set the table. Mitch McConnell said, guess what, we're not going to do anything, but focus on --

HOLT: Talk about leaders and partisan president who used --

BRAZILE: We've got a president who cares about all Americans, not just the top 1 percent. It's time we focus on policies that transform us.

MALVEAUX: Terry, you've got to get in there.

BRAZILE: What the president said last night is that he --

MALVEAUX: Respond if you will.

BRAZILE: I yield to the nice gentleman.

HOLT: I think the American people want to like this president. The problem is that they don't particularly support his policies. You know what was striking last night, Suzanne, is the benchmark of his administration was health care, reforming health care, getting government in control of health care.

He barely mentioned it at all. It's astonishing and the reason is it's unpopular. People may like the president, but they don't like his policies and they may reject him in November because of it.

MALVEAUX: I've got to let there. I got to let you guys go and I want you both back often. Thank you, Terry, Donna.

The official response Republicans called President Obama's "State of the Union" speech divisive. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels also accused the president of trying to use government to solve all of the country's problems. He says that approach is hurting, not helping the middle class.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR MITCH DANIELS (R), INDIANA: The president's grand experiment in trickle down government has held back rather than sped economic recovery. He seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars.

In fact, it works the other way. Our government is big and bossy as this one is maintained on the backs of the middle class and those who hope to join them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Daniels says the president is trying to score points with some Americans by taking shots at others.

Well, a young woman says she was beaten, held against her will by people who say they are curing her of her homosexuality. Well, now she's out, she's speaking up, and taking a risky stance against her own government.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Clinics in South America that advertise as addiction centers quietly claim to what they say cure gay men and women of what they call social disorders. A woman who went through one clinic's program says she experienced nothing short of torture. CNN's Rafael Romo went to see for himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Paula Concha is openly homosexual and is not afraid to speak about it publicly. But the Ecuadorian woman says her family didn't feel the same way.

Five years ago, when she was 23 years old, she says her family contacted a center that promised Paola Concha of her homosexuality. Concha says that's when the nightmare started.

PAOLA CONCHA, ALLEGED VICTIM (through translator): On December 8th, 2006, they stormed into my house, overpowered me. They put me inside a van and took me to a so-called therapeutic center. By the time I got there, I was already handcuffed and beat up.

ROMO: The clinic was called "Bridge to Life." In December, CNN was granted limited access to the clinic. Concha says she endured all kinds of demeaning and abusive treatment during the 18 months she was held there.

CONCHA: I was kept in handcuffs for than three months. I would be left without food for more than three or four days. They would handcuff me in a bathroom to a toilet bowl facing a toilet that was used by 60 people at the center.

ROMO: While we were there, one of the clinic's directors, Luis Zavala, declined to speak specifically about Concha's allegations, but he did deny that their goal was to change the sexual orientation of their patients.

LUIS ZAVALA, "BRIDGE OF LIFE" CENTER COORDINATOR (through translator): Our goal is to modify all inadequate behaviors that are causing a particular individual to take inadequate attitudes.

ROMO: Government officials say some of these clinics operate as addiction treatment centers, but they offer homosexuality cures in a clandestine way.

"Bridge to Life" was targeted for an investigation last year, but officials could only get enough evidence to site the clinic on a technicality.

ZAVALA: They say they've found expired products. I would venture to say that the government has an ulterior motive. ROMO: The Ecuadorian undersecretary of health says expired products were found in the women's area of the clinic so they closed that section.

JUAN MOREIRA, ECUADORIAN UNDER SECRETARY OF PUBLIC HEALTH (through translator): But that's not really the most serious violation. What concerns us is that we have reports about their methods to change a person's sexual orientation and treatments that include torture and human rights violations.

ROMO: Since we visited "Bridge to Life," the Ecuadorian government tells CNN that after we were there, two raids freed over 40 people and the clinic has been shut down for alleged human rights violations.

Our efforts to reach the center's coordinator, Luiz Zavala, for a comment had been unsuccessful. Today, Paola Concha is a spokesperson for the movement against clinics that claim to cure homosexuality.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: The health official says new regulations for addiction clinics were implemented last year and most are on probation for some type of violations.

He says they are aggressively investigating reports of clinics supposedly offering to cure homosexuality because Ecuador does not recognize it as a disease.

MALVEAUX: So, Rafael, what's happening here? Is the government actively trying to shut down these clinics by carrying out raids or what is going on?

ROMO: They have conducted dozens of raids in the last few months. As a matter of fact, they have shut down 31 clinics that were all operating in the same way. They advertise as addiction treatment centers, but in reality, under the table, they were actually offering these homosexuality cures.

MALVEAUX: And what happened to this young woman that you featured in this piece? Is she OK? Is she endanger by coming out like this?

ROMO: She's doing OK. The problem is that there's a lot of discrimination still in Ecuador. She has been targeted twice. She was beaten up on the street twice. She faces still a lot of the same problems that many gays in Ecuador face on a daily basis.

MALVEAUX: Very courageous woman. Thank you, Rafael. Appreciate that.

Well, remember Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster? Radiation levels have now fallen dramatically in some areas. We're going to take you there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MALVEAUX: It's been more than ten months now since that earthquake triggered the nuclear crisis in Japan. Our Kyung Lah, she takes inside the nuclear disaster zone for a rare look now at the containment area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're a couple of miles now into the exclusion zone and I'm carrying a couple of radiation meters with me. This actually reads radiation on surfaces. And this one will keep track of how much radiation our bodies have been exposed to. This you keep right next to your body. And the radiation did spike once we passed the exclusion zone.

So we're in the center of town here. And just to give you an idea of how evacuated this area is, how people had to leave everything behind, take a look inside this convenience store and you can see everything is as it was almost a year ago. This is all earthquake damage. But no one's been able to come in to clean any of this up. It's as if time stopped and has stood still ever since the March 11th earthquake.

So this is a neighborhood in Tomioka (ph). And if you look over my shoulder, you can see there are all these houses, but there are no people. You can't even really hear any dogs. There's no neighborhood sounds. It's very eerie. It's very quiet.

LAH (voice-over): We checked the radiation on the ground. Much higher than in the air. At a level that's not harmful in the short amount of time we're here, but the challenge for the government is accumulative effect of the radiation on the people in this community. Around the corner, the first signs of cleaning up the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

LAH (on camera): What you're seeing here is the decontamination process that's begun in the no-go zone. This, what you're seeing under these blue tarps, is contaminated soil. The government's trying to basically push it aside, try to contain it, in order to make this place livable again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Four police officers are arrested after the FBI says they racially profiled Hispanics. Then the town's mayor makes a bizarre remark about tacos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Want to dip into an event that's taking place. We're listening to Newt Gingrich. He's in Coral Springs, Florida, talking to voters there. And let's take a listen.

(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, let me -- let me ask you all a couple of questions. How many of you -- how many of you agree that America is largely on the wrong track? How many of you agree that getting America back on the right track requires more than just defeating Obama because it requires changing bureaucracies, judges, laws, and regulations? And how many of you agree that the noisy left will oppose us every single step of the way, even after we win the election?

You have now -- you have now explained why Callista and I made the decision to run. I believe that this is the most important election in modern times. I believe that four more years of Barack Obama will be a disaster for this country. I believe if after this level of unemployment, this level of debt, this level of failed policies, this level of investments like Solyndra, if he were to get re-elected, you can't tell how radical he would be in a second term.

And so I think it's very important that we nominate someone -- so the reason we are running is because we believe -- thank you. I agree. Now, let me just say, we're not going to let her disrupt us from having a rational conversation. And that's typical of an Obama supporter, that they can't have a rational conversation.

(END LIVE SPEECH)

MALVEAUX: You're watching a moment there. It looks like a heckler who has interrupted Newt Gingrich during his speech and the crowd shouting back and then she was escorted out of that crowd.

I want to dip in as well to President Obama's event. He is speaking in a group in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unrealistic ambitions. They do believe that if they work hard, they should be able to achieve that small measure of an American dream. That's what this country's about. That's what you deserve. That's what we talked about during the campaign.

And today, three years after the worst economic storm in three generations, we are making progress. Our businesses have created more than three million jobs over the last 22 months. And if you look at a job chart, if you look at a chart of what's happened in terms of jobs in America, we lost 4 million jobs before I took office, another four million in the few months right after I took office, before our economic policies had a chance to take effect, and we've been growing and increasing jobs ever since. Three million over the last 22 months.

Last year we created the most jobs since 2005. And today, American manufacturers, like this one, are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s. And that's good news. Our economy is getting stronger. We've got a lot of work to do, but it's getting stronger. And we've come way too far to turn back now.

After everything that's happened, there are people in Washington who seem to have collective amnesia. They seem to have forgotten how we got into this mess. They want to go back to the very same policies that got us into it. The same policies that have stacked the deck against middle-class Americans for years. And their philosophy, what there is of it, seems to be pretty simple. We're better off when everybody is left to fend for themselves and everybody can play by their own rules. And I'm here to say they're wrong. We're not going to go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing and bad debt and phony financial profits. That's not how America was built. We're not going to go back to that.

So last night in the State of the Union I laid out my vision for how we move forward. I laid out a blueprint for an economy that is built to last. It's an economy built on American manufacturing, with more good jobs and more products made right here in the United States of America.

(END LIVE SPEECH)

MALVEAUX: President Obama out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, talking the day after the State of the Union Address, talking about fighting for the middle class. We'll have more after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: First Lady Michelle Obama and celebrity chef Rachael Ray, they are at an elementary school. They're highlighting new rules for school lunches, healthier school lunches. We're going to talk to Rachael Ray later today. We're going to bring it to you for tomorrow's show. Just running out of a little bit of time here but we promise we'll get that to you tomorrow.

You've been sounding off on the "Talk Back" question. Carol Costello with some of your responses.

Hey, Carol.

COSTELLO: Rachael Ray must be enjoying the food.

MALVEAUX: We promise, she's going to be here tomorrow.

COSTELLO: She's a cool lady. I'll look forward to it.

MALVEAUX: She is. She's great.

COSTELLO: Our "Talk Back" question today, do voters care if they have a bipartisan president in 2012?

This from Robert. "Congress bought, the Supreme Court broken, and the executive dysfunctional. Our founders had no idea how 21st century logic would break the Constitution. This partisan attitude has brought the country to the brink of civil unrest, now part of every day the new America. Enjoy, enjoy."

This from Reginald. "The GOP have dug in their heels and are waiting out the final months to the election. They will stay the course with the hopes the economy will not continue to improve. They are content to remain partisan and blame the president for all of the nation's ills." This from Jamie. "I wish someone could explain to me the difference between a liberal, conservative, moderate, libertarian, Democrat, Republican, radical, whatever. Whatever else label is out there. That's why there will never be any bipartisanship. It used to be a country of Democrats and Republicans, which caused enough problems."

This from Jeremy. "We should not be demanding that our politicians in Congress and the White House are bipartisan. We should be demanding that they are nonpartisan. Asking the parties to work together is useless. They're committed to opposition. Instead, we should be pressing our representatives, senators and the president, to abandon partisanship and work towards pragmatic, not ideological ends."

And this from Jeff. "The president of the United States has a limit on the years he can serve. This helps keep his decision from being solely based on his re-election and keeps new and fresh ideas coming in. Why is the Congress different? Congress has to make decisions based on getting themselves re-elected, hence it's Congress that's broken."

Please, keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn. And thanks, as always, for your comments.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, thanks, Carol.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Randi Kaye.

Hey, Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Suzanne.