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Romney Wins Big In Florida; Breaking Down The Florida Vote; Super PAC Spending; Facebook IPO Filing Could Happen Today; NATO Report: Pakistan Aids Taliban; Rising Reports Of Death In Syria; Pressure To Remove Syrian President Grows; Don Cornelius Found Dead; Life of Long-Term Unemployed; Amtrak Train Hits Vehicle, Derails; From Romania to the NFL; Obama Campaign Fights Back
Aired February 01, 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: And good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us.
We begin with Mitt Romney not singing, but he's the clear front- runner for the Republican presidential nomination, at least for now. Romney coasted in the Florida primary with 46 percent of the vote; Newt Gingrich a distant second, 32 percent. Percent; Rick Santorum and Ron Paul way behind.
And in his victory speech last night, Mitt Romney said he will oust President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Three years ago this week, a newly elected President Obama faced the American people and he said, look, if I cannot turn this economy around in three years, I will be looking at a one-year proposition, and we are here to collect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: From this big win in Florida definitely catapults him into a hefty lead in the delegate count. He now has an estimated 84 delegate, more than three times the number collected by Gingrich. Santorum and Paul once again left in the dust. Gingrich says it is a two-man race now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to contest every place and we are going to win, and we will be in Tampa as the nominee in August.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the candidates are now taking their campaigns west, but before boarding his plane, Romney actually took a few minutes to talk with us. CNN political editor, Paul Steinhauser is in Tampa. So Paul, what did Romney say?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Kyra, you know, 1,144 that's the number of delegates Romney needs to clinch the nomination. So he said in this interview with us that he realizes there is still a long way to go in this battle for the nomination.
On "STARTING POINT," CNN's STARTING POINT, our Soledad O'Brien asked him about Newt Gingrich not calling him giving that congratulatory call to Romney last night. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: As it has been said long ago, politics isn't beanbags. You know, we are battling to become the nominee. He's going to do it the way he thinks is best. I will do it the way I think is best. So far my process has given me a good start. I know we are going to go on, but I am feeling pretty good at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And he felt pretty good last night. Kyra, right behind me is the Tampa Bay Convention Center that's where Romney had his big party last night. He hopes to have another one in Nevada on Saturday.
Take a look at the calendar, Nevada's caucus up next and then we've got three states next Tuesday, caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri with a non-binding primary.
Maine has its caucus results on the 11th. Go down to the 22nd, that's the next debate. It's our in Arizona and Arizona and Michigan, Kyra, they hold primaries at the end of the month.
When you look at February and you know what, it seems more favorable to Romney than Gingrich. He's looking ahead to Super Tuesday and states like Georgia and Tennessee with the whole contest.
PHILLIPS: What are you hearing from the other candidates before I let you go, Paul?
STEINHAUSER: Well, both Santorum and Paul were not here. They moved ahead. They knew they were not going to win here. They were in Las Vegas. And Santorum feels that even though he finished third here in Florida, he thinks that Gingrich's big loss will help him. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Newt Gingrich had his chance, had a shot, had a big boost and win out of South Carolina, and he could not hold it. He could not deliver in Florida. I think they are going to be looking for a different conservative as an alternative to Mitt Romney now.
RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will spend the time in the caucus states, because if you have an irate tireless minority, you do very well in the caucus states.
(END VIDEO CLIP) STEINHAUSER: So bring on those caucus states. Paul and Santorum are already there. Romney and Gingrich on their way, and Kyra, we are packing our bags. We're heading out to Nevada as well.
PHILLIPS: All right, Paul. See you there.
All right, Christine Romans is studying the exit polls of how people votes and why. Christine, tell us what is the most important candidate quality was to the Florida primary voters?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Once again, Kyra, it was electability. I mean, the Republicans who went to the polls want to make sure they are going to be able to beat Barack Obama in the fall, and the man who fits the bill to them is Romney.
The 58 percent of people who said the most important quality, Kyra, is defeating the president, 58 percent of them voted for Romney and 33 percent for Gingrich.
And you know, Romney starts to lag though with conservatives because conservative voters in Florida tended to lean towards Gingrich. People who consider themselves very conservative, 41 percent voted for Gingrich and only 30 percent for Mitt Romney, and 22 percent for Santorum.
And for those who support the Tea Party, the support from the Tea Party and the very conservatives went to again Gingrich with 45 percent going to Gingrich.
Now the most important issue, no question, it is the economy. We have seen it again and again in Iowa, in New Hampshire, and in South Carolina. For those who have said that the most important issue is the economy, Kyra, more than half of them voted for Mitt Romney.
His business background played for him in Florida, a state that has been pretty much beaten down by a housing crisis, he kept it pretty general on his -- you know, his outlook for how to fix housing, and that played and worked.
PHILLIPS: You have also been tracking the "Super PACs," and how much money has been spent so far. What did you find out?
ROMANS: Wow, you there was a saying that money is the mother's milk in politics, and boy, there is a lot of money this time around. The "Super PACs," of course, are not the candidate driven PACs, but these are independent PACs working on behalf of these candidates, but not in conjunction with them.
We found more than $48 million almost $49 million in "Super PAC" spending to date. You look at who has the biggest one, and it is the "Super PAC" on behalf of Mitt Romney. Not working with the candidate. They can't talk to the campaign basically, $17 million spent.
Next up, Gingrich and then you can see Rick Perry over the past year, his "Make Us Great Again" pro-Perry, he's not even in the race anymore, $4 million we know and of course, that's pretty much evaporated now.
Ron Paul, and the smallest sphere that you see there, that is Stephen Colbert, $1 million. He is poking fun at the whole thing. Of course, the managing to raise $1 million, but we can see their spending.
You can see they bought direct mail campaigns, television advertisements, $1,200 here and there for a teleprompter. They bought names of voters and phone numbers of voters. So we get a pretty good look at how they are spending all of that money, $48 million worth -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Don't underestimate the power of Steven Colbert, Christine. I think we have learned that, haven't we?
ROMANS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right, thanks so much. All right, we have more political news all morning and throughout the election season. Of course, if you are away from the TV, you can get all your political news on our web site, 24/7 cnnpolitics.com.
Let's talk about buying Facebook. Its IPO filing could actually come today and the rumors are swirling over how much the social networking firm is actually worth.
Let's talk more about this with Maggie Lake joining out of New York. What do you say? Could we hear something today, Maggie?
MAGGIE LAKE, CNNI BUSINESS ANCHOR: We certainly think so, Kyra. So many news outlets are reporting this is going to come today and it's important because it's not going to trade today, but this is the official filing that will kick off the process of going public.
We expect the shares to actually hit the market sometime in the spring. The estimated value they want to raise is about $5 billion. The money they want to raise. But that is conservative, because there is so much hype and anticipation about that. That number is likely to go up.
We, of course, won't know exactly what they will trade for per share. That is going to be negotiated over the coming weeks, but what we are going to do is get a really good peek at this very private secretive company.
How much money do they actually make? We don't know that. How do they make their money? How much from advertising? How much from games like Zynga? That is going to sort of feed into this debate of whether this stock is worth it.
Some people are putting the market value of this at $75 billion to $100 billion. Certainly the biggest internet IPO ever, and if the prices like that, it would dwarf Disney and General Motors.
All of this for a company that didn't exist just a few years ago so there is a huge amount of anticipation about the details coming up -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, well, this is the $50 million question, right? Should we plan to buy up on Facebook stock? I guess, all we have are examples of other companies who have done extremely well when they have gone public.
LAKE: Right. And other companies, especially internet and tech companies that have been a lot of hype and then left the investors holding the bag. The problem is there is a lot of skepticism.
They are really popular, but can they monetize that. Can they actually make money, and if they do, is it going to bother us as users, more advertising and selling our personal information.
So a lot of people are skeptical, but we all remember Google. A lot of people were skeptical about Google. They priced them $85 and look at them now. They are at $500. Nobody wants to miss that opportunity.
If you're a retail investor, you have to be very careful. Wall Street or money managers, insiders will get the first chance at it and then it's likely the stock will run up. So you want to be careful not to sort of don't jump on that bandwagon when it happens, you want to check out the price.
Give it a few days maybe, and see where it settles before we dive in, but, you know, we are going to hear now based on the financials, this is what the discussion is going to be, can they keep that kind of rapid growth? They can keep us as users to make money off of us to make investors happy? We are going to have to see.
PHILLIPS: Stay tuned. Maggie, thanks so much.
Now to a story about a U.S. ally. It is pretty troubling claims that the intelligence agency is actually helping terrorists. It's all coming from elite NATO report.
Zain Verjee is following the story for us out of London. So how valid and how serious is this at this point, Zain?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are looking, Kyra, at something like 27,000 interviews with more than 4,000 detained Taliban fighters, detained al Qaeda fighters, foreign fighters, Afghan civilians as well.
It is offering us some pretty unique insight. There are a couple of major headlines here. The first is that the Taliban apparently believed that they can absolutely win the west, beat the west, particularly when western troops pull out of Afghanistan in a few years, and I believe 2014.
Also, what they are saying is that they are heavily relying on support for their success from Pakistan. Surprise, surprise, the finger has been pointed in this leaked document to the Pakistani intelligence agency known as the ISI. A London reporter by the name of Jerome Starkey has seen this leaked document and we asked him a short while ago because of this document who loses and who wins. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME STARKEY, AFGHANISTAN CORRESPONDENT, "THE TIMES": This is only likely to heighten the tension between particularly U.S. relations with Islamabad. It may also further the Afghan government's appetite for peace. There is a sense in this document that peace negotiations aren't going very fast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: He says this document also says that senior Pakistani intelligence officials know exactly where all the senior Taliban commanders and the senior Taliban leadership are exactly.
This has been a really sore point with the United States, and part of the reason the relationship with Pakistan has been so bad, because the U.S. says that Pakistan, you know, and they say, no we don't, and so that has been very difficult for the relationship.
NATO has really downplayed this report. They say, look, this is just the opinion of the Taliban. It does not reflect reality on the ground. Pakistan says this is crazy. They deny it. It is frivolous -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll still follow it. Zain, thanks.
Intense fighting inside Syria and growing pressure from the outside for the country's president to leave office. A live report is next.
And millions off homeowners owe more than their home is worth. The White House wants to help. We'll preview the president's speech schedule for 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Syria's death toll continues to rise as clashes between government forces and rebels escalate. Those stories have been told through home videos posted online for the entire world to see.
On the streets of Damascus, this massive march. Thousands of people reportedly chanting death rather than humiliation as bodies are carried overhead in a mass funeral. The opposition says that the government forces have reasserted their control over some Damascus suburbs.
Meanwhile, other street scenes are pretty eerie. This video from up one part of Syria reportedly shows an armored carrier captured by rebels after clashes with government forces. Those vehicles are supposedly blown up in protest.
And finally another rare look inside Syria, not at the fighting, but the aftermath, this burning building was allegedly hit by army artillery. CNN has not been able to independently verify any of the images that you have just seen because access to the country is limited for us.
Well, the most deadly fighting continues in Syria. There is growing pressure from the outside for President Bashar Assad to step down. Arwa Damon joining us from Beirut with the latest. Arwa, pretty chilling images that we just saw from inside Syria, and often, it's our only source of information to see what is actually happening there.
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is, and that is what makes it incredibly difficult to get an accurate picture of just how the various front lines within country are shifting, but it most likely seems that the fighting continues to be intense in that flashpoint city of Homs where you have the video that you just showed there of the building that was set on fire.
We also have been seeing fighting intensifying in the country side outside of the capital of Damascus. Over the weekend there was a big push of government forces to go into the Damascus suburbs that at least momentarily seemed to be in the hands of the rebel fighting forces.
Now the government has appeared to have exerted its control over those areas, but as I was saying that we are seeing the fighting shifting to the countryside as well. So it most certainly seems that the various battle lines are moving around at a fairly quick pace as the government forces and those who are now fighting alongside the opposition continue the face-off -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: So despite the Arab and western support, the U.N. still has not drafted this resolution calling for Assad to resign, any sign that he might cave?
DAMON: Not it would seem unless Russia and China change their stance, but especially Russia. What gives the Assad regime a lot of its power, and what gives them the confidence shall we say to continue along this current course is the knowledge that up until now Russia has been a pretty unwavering international ally.
And as long as the Assad regime knows that Russia is going to continue to block any sort of resolution as it most certainly up until now seems it is going to, the Assad regime seems fairly confident that it does have this type of significant international support.
When it comes to the pillars holding up the regime inside the country, they still remain fairly intact. Defections not yet on the scale that would really shake the military, and the other various pillars such as the merchant middle class. They are so far staying largely silent.
So the government most certainly seems to be approaching this from what it would be perceived to be from its perspective at least a position of power.
And many analysts and diplomats in Syria will tell you that the first step of getting the Assad regime to come to some sort of negotiating table or even begin to consider stepping aside would be convincing this government that it is beginning to lose power and support.
PHILLIPS: Arwa Damon out of Beirut for us. Arwa, thanks.
And still ahead, we're learning this morning about the death "Soul Train" host Don Cornelius. We will talk about his life and the investigation into how he died next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: We have gotten word that "Soul Train" creator and host Don Cornelius has been found dead in Los Angeles. Police say that he died of a gunshot wound. There are reports that his death was a suicide, but officials are not confirming that.
Cornelius was 75 years old, and joining us on the phone now, Cori Murray, the entertainment director of "Essence." Cory, thanks so much for calling in.
And of course, I want to talk about his life and what he did through music and through his journalism. But, have you received any word as you are pursuing the story with regard to the cause of death? Are you able to confirm anything about this suicide report?
CORI MURRAY, ENTERTAIMENT DIRECTOR, "ESSENCE" (via telephone): Kyra, no, I am not. I am basically reading what you are seeing is that the reports are mixed. It is either a suicide or perhaps unfortunately, it could be a homicide, but right now I don't have any confirmation on either.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about what a remarkable man this was on so many levels. A lot of people don't know that he was inspired by the civil rights movement as a journalist before even moving into the music world.
MURRAY: Yes. You kind of think that like the afro and the catch phrase "Love, Peace, Soul" but you don't think about the man behind the music, if you will, about why it was important for him to get African-Americans seen in a different light, and larger light to whiter audiences, which is the driving force for creating "Soul Train."
PHILLIPS: What was that? What was it in his life and his experiences that people with whom he spent time that pushed him to do that, Cori?
MURRAY: I think it was like any African-American, you know, who's coming up in that time that you felt not valued enough. You didn't feel as if you were seen as a whole person, and you know you where.
And then also, it is that black folks, we contributed so much to music, and we were constantly either not seen on our own album covers. We were seen in the larger context like on the Dick Clark TV programs.
So, he felt like, you know what, we are contributing so much to the society, we need to be seen, and we need to have the spotlight shown on us. PHILLIPS: And it was not just African-Americans, because that show drew such a wide audience.
MURRAY: Teena Marie, I mean, there are some great folks who came through there. Like you said, it was not just African-Americans. I mean, if you were making soul music no matter what color you were, you got on "Soul Train."
PHILLIPS: Well, I tell you what. He was a pretty amazing individual on so many levels, and we will continue to follow this investigation.
Cori, it will be really sad to learn if he died by suicide and try to find out more about what he was struggling with. It is not easy being a barrier breaker and living the life that he did.
MURRAY: No, it wasn't. And you know something about Don Cornelius, I mean, he was in our households every Saturday. You know, growing up for 35 years that "Soul Train" was on and I mean it was a staple in so many homes.
He was a part of the family, and that is what -- it is one of the times when the whole family sat down and watched television because we wanted to see who was on "Soul Train" that week.
And we waited until the last when he closed out the show. Regardless, he is gone, and he is a great, it is a great sadness that music lovers have right now.
PHILLIPS: Well, he was on in our household, too, that's for sure. Cori Murray, thanks so much for calling in. I appreciate it. I am sure that "Essence" will be lifting up his life with a pretty incredible article. Thanks, Cori.
MURRAY: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: You bet. All right, the top of the hour, President Obama is due to speak on the economy specifically the housing crisis. One part of the president's plan is to help Americans who owe more than their home is worth.
Dan Lothian is at the White House. So Dan, the president already had a housing program and participation was well below expectations unfortunately.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That is right.
PHILLIPS: So what is going to be different this time around?
LOTHIAN: Well, you heard the president preview a little bit of that during his "State of the Union" address where he talked about cutting through some of the red tape that would allow struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages, take advantage of the low interest rates, which are below 4 percent.
So when the president unveils this new plan, which he will do in less than an hour in a nearby community center in nearby Virginia, the president will talk about streamlining the process to allow those homeowners who are current on the mortgages to refinance.
And this White House believing that they could end up saving an average of $3,000 a year. In addition, the president will be proposing a sort of bill of rights, which will protect homeowners in the transaction process making sure that fees or any other kind of additional payments that have to be levied that they will understand this up front.
And then finally for communities in states like Florida and Nevada that have been hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, the president pushing a plan that will allow private investors the buy up some of the foreclosed properties.
And then they would have to rent them out. This is particularly important in these communities where these homes have been boarded up. This is one way to try to restore some of the value back to the ailing communities -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Dan Lothian at the White House. Thanks so much. Once again the president's speech at the top of the hour, we will have live coverage as soon as he steps up to the podium and starts to talk about that housing plan, 11:00 p.m. Eastern, 8:00 Pacific right here on CNN.
A big win in Florida for Mitt Romney last night, but does that mean that the party is over for everyone else? Our political panel weighs in just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking the top stories now. The Security Council has failed to reach a resolution to call for Bashar Assad to step down. Opposition activists say that at least 56 people have been killed across Syria today.
And the search for survivors from that ship wreck Italian cruise liner is officially called off. Fifteen people are still missing including a Minnesota couple.
And Facebook's IPO filing could take place today. The company is looking to raise up to $5 billion.
And the "Political Buzz," your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. We've got three questions, 30 seconds on the clock.
And playing today, CNN contributor, Maria Cardona, Sam Seder, host of the "Majority Report" and Crystal Wright, editor of conservativeblackchick.com.
First question, guys, a big win for Mitt Romney last night in Florida. If we crunch the numbers at this point, is the race basically over? Maria?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No, Kyra. It is certainly not over yet. Look, this is all about getting delegates, and at the end of the day, the winner has to reach the magic number which is 1,144 delegates and Romney now is at 84. Gingrich has 27. So this is still a long way all from being sealed. This is still a long way off from being over. Both Romney and Gingrich have tanked with Independent voters nationwide and Romney specifically has a lot to do to seal the deal with conservative voters in his own party which still do not like him and do not trust him.
PHILLIPS: Sam?
SAM SEDER, HOST, THE "MAJORITY REPORT": I don't think this race is over until Newt Gingrich has decided he has sold enough books, frankly and I think he's just going to hang in there, and take this opportunity to take a vacation around the country with some of his closest friends and family.
And I think that he'll go as long as he can convince some billionaires to lend him or give him a couple of million here or there. So I think as long as there are books to sell, this race will continue. But I think in the end, Romney will probably come out battered and bruised, but he'll be the nominee.
PHILLIPS: Crystal?
CRYSTAL WRIGHT, EDITOR, CONSEVATIVEBLACKCHICK.COM: Where to start. I think Romney's theme song should be "The Empire Strikes Back" -- da, da, da. I mean he outspent Newt in Florida, he out negative ad him, added him and then the thing that he could not do though, he is not able to convince the conservative voters that he has the passion for the job.
And as Maria said, only five percent of the delegates have been accounted for; this is a horse race. Newt needs to go back to his message that we saw in South Carolina and his concession speech in Florida. That's what he needs to do.
PHILLIPS: Crystal, are you trying to outdo the President in his Al Green whipping a little "Star Wars" there?
WRIGHT: I am trying. I am trying.
PHILLIPS: Yes I know, I know you and Mitt Romney, whew.
WRIGHT: I think it was Mitt.
PHILLIPS: Yes exactly, ok.
WRIGHT: I think I can sing better than Mitt. I do think so.
PHILLIPS: I would probably agree. All right. Women in Florida, guys, voted for Romney in even bigger numbers than the overall tally. Why do you think that was? Crystal?
WRIGHT: I think again, the negative ads. What we have learned and Newt needs to learn from this is Romney has a great organizational effort going on, he's well-funded. And I think Newt needs to go back to the Newt we saw in South Carolina and needs to tell women, look, I have made amends with my personal life I'm not going to talk about this garbage. I will defend you at home and abroad.
That's what a woman wants. A woman wants a strong man she can depend on who has conservative values and these are the questions that Newt needs to hammer on with respect to Romney.
PHILLIPS: Maria, why do the women love Romney?
CARDONA: Look, when you outspend somebody seven to one the way that Mitt Romney did in Florida with Gingrich, when you have 13,000 ads which Mitt Romney had to Gingrich's 200 ads, it's a lot easier to -- to sway people, but look, they both still have a problem. There was a poll that came out by the Latino decisions and a great Web site for Latina mothers. Mommyverse.com that basically said what Latina mothers a key group, 76 percent of Latina mothers found all of the candidates wanting. None of them were compelling for them, and the 46 percent self-identified GOP Latina mothers none of the candidates were sufficient for them.
PHILLIPS: Sam, what do you think?
SEDER: Why do I think Newt Gingrich has a problem with women voters? Seriously? I mean, it may have something to do with his history in the way that he's treated the women closest to him. I think I would imagine most women see a guy who has left has his wife while she is stricken with cancer to leave another wife and wanted to sort of juggle both relationships at the same time, I imagine they feel like this is a guy I probably cannot trust.
So I think that -- that has something to do with it and then of course, Mitt Romney made sure that everybody knew that story with millions and millions of dollars.
PHILLIPS: I thought it was interesting our two females didn't say anything about the cheating aspect. Interesting.
WRIGHT: Well, you know, well remember people liked Clinton and we know when he ran in 1992, he had a closet full of women, ok and that didn't seem to bother the Democrat women, did it?
PHILLIPS: And Maria, do you want to weigh in on that?
WRIGHT: Right. Yes, but everybody forgets that.
CARDONA: Well -- well -- well first of all Clinton actually spoke to women about the policies that they cared about which is why he was elected and that's something that neither Romney or Gingrich are doing.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's see another segment.
WRIGHT: And what about that "60 Minutes" interview, that "60 Minutes" interview, Jennifer Flowers, whoa.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Oh boy I still see something. Sam, see what you started.
SEDER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Ok here we got third question, apparently the candidates have been buying some ad time on the weather channel. Here is Conan O'Brien's take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: Studies are showing that Republican candidates are buying a lot of their ad time on the Weather Channel. They are like, yes. You can tell last night the weather man blamed a cold front on immigration and gay marriage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Ok. So here is the question. What channel do you think that Romney and Gingrich should advertise on and I'm not -- you can't say CNN or MSNBC or Fox. Sam?
SEDER: Well I think you know for Romney, if he really want to hit his -- his base, I would say probably is there a yachting channel? Maybe Bloomberg News or something, I guess. And -- and for Gingrich, I would say he should just go straight to QVC and get both jobs done at the same time.
PHILLIPS: Crystal?
WRIGHT: You know Romney should go to the Personality Channel I don't think there is one and he doesn't really have a personality, but that aside, I think Oprah Winfrey's Network would be a good one, Lifestyle or Lifetime rather and going after the women vote, you know.
PHILLIPS: Maria?
CARDONA: Romney should advertise on the "I'm not really such a flip-flopper" channel, and yes "you can really trust me" channel, and the "don't look at my record and just listen to what I say today" channel, that's all the things that he's got issues with.
WRIGHT: That sounds like Barack Obama.
CARDONA: And Gingrich should advertise on the "I'm not really such an angry man" channel.
PHILLIPS: This is no fair, you guys made up channels, ok I was looking for something really (INAUDIBLE)
(CROSSTALK)
WRIGHT: Oh there's too many of them.
PHILLIPS: Ok, all right. Thanks so much, guys. We'll do it again.
CARDONA: Thanks Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right. No job, no money and a family of five that once was thriving in a middle-class environment is now forced to live with a neighbor in a single bedroom. Our Poppy Harlow is taking a look at the family that's living with long-term unemployment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: One room now home to a family of five.
TALIA MOBLEY: Now the two girls sleep on the bottom Eamon and Isis and then up here our older sister is on the top.
HARLOW: Mom and dad somehow manage to sleep together on the couch.
T. MOBLEY: Most of the time, honestly I lay on top of him. Eamon is the littlest one.
HARLOW: If you think you know what long-term unemployment can look like --
(CROSSTALK)
ADAM MOBLEY: Why you don't come in the kitchen.
HARLOW: -- think again.
A. MOBLEY: You can't understand something until you lived it.
HARLOW: Adam and Talia Mobley brought in more than $100,000 just two years ago, by all measures middle-class until they were both laid off.
Frightening new numbers show 50 percent of the unemployed in New Jersey have been out of work for more than six months and its' a similar story elsewhere.
A. MOBLEY: I was a lead technician for COMCAST.
HARLOW: You had it made?
A. MOBLEY: Yes, I had it made.
T. MOBLEY: I was a customer service rep.
HARLOW: What's the hardest element of the situation that you think people might not know?
A. MOBLEY: It's definitely not financial, it's emotional. If you're not strong people, it can buckle you.
T. MOBLEY: It could break you.
A. MOBLEY: Yes.
HARLOW: The Mobley's unemployment checks have run out and they've exhausted their savings.
A. MOBLEY: The only benefits that we get from the state right now is assistance with the food.
HARLOW: Human Services of Morris County, New Jersey, where the Mobley's live have seen their food stamp caseload surge 140 percent since 2007.
LAURA SULLIVAN, HUMAN SERVICES: Seeing the dual-unemployed families that's unusual for us.
HARLOW: So the bottom is falling out of the middle-class?
SULLIVAN: I believe that.
HARLOW: Have you seen anything like this before?
SULLIVAN: No, not like this, never and I have been here since 1980.
HARLOW: This is one of the wealthiest counties in America where the median household brings in over $91,000 a year, but when you can't find a job here, you can't get by.
T. MOBLEY: You send out a lot of resumes and you pray to God somebody gets back to you.
HARLOW: 500 resumes later, nobody has offered Talia a job. How long do you think you can go on like this?
A. MOBLEY: Honestly not very much longer.
T. MOBLEY: What is up with you?
A. MOBLEY: How was work?
HARLOW: Afternoons are spent with the grandmas with their three kids and then it's back to Laura Sullivan's house where they are living rent-free. She took them in after knowing the Mobley's less than a year.
SULLIVAN: People ask, like, why would you take someone in and you've no privacy? I'm like, honestly, you want to compare my privacy to a family no having a home? Like is there any comparison?
T. MOBLEY: What did I say?
HARLOW: It's far from ideal, but when you've been out of work this long, there is no room for ideal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Poppy is joining me now live from New York. Poppy, do Adam and Tallia have any leads on jobs yet?
HARLOW: Tallia has a lead. She -- what's so interesting, about this Kyra is that she went back to school when she lost her job, she retrained in health care as a certified medical assistant because she was told by so many people health care is where the jobs are, she's done a number of interviews. The morning we spoke with her, she had a second-round interview so she is waiting right now to hear back on that.
Adam has not had lead so he and his brother started a t-shirt company together but they can't get the funding to really get it off the ground. I think the issue is Kyra, you think about what is long term unemployment and it doesn't necessarily stick with you until you see a family like that living in a room all together. A family that never expected to be here just a few years ago, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Yes and more family is just struggling in the exact same way.
HARLOW: It's so many.
PHILLIPS: Poppy, thanks so much.
HARLOW: Sure.
PHILLIPS: Well, breaking news right now outside of Detroit. We're actually hearing that an Amtrak train slammed into a heavy vehicle at the crossing there. A couple of train cars have flipped off the rails, as you can see. We're hearing that there are no life- threatening injuries at this point. These pictures coming in to us from our affiliate WDIV. Service across central Michigan, were being told, is suspended.
So right now a passenger train derailing. We will bring you as much information as possible as it comes in to our newsroom.
Super Bowl pressure is nothing to the Patriots' punter. He and his family survived a revolution in Romania. How he came to the NFL next.
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PHILLIPS: Ok. So when it comes to the Super Bowl, everybody knows about Brady and Eli, right? But our own Don Riddell, well, can fill us in on a couple of European-born players. Don, let's maybe start with the Patriots' punter. There's a pretty cool back story there.
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS: A great back story and a real international flavor to the Super Bowl 46 this year. It's broadcast in what, some 235 countries I think we're up to now. We've got a player that was born in Jamaica, a player that was born in South Korea.
We have even got the Giants' defensive tackle Mathias Kiwanaku. His granddad once upon a time was the president of Uganda, would you believe, until Idi Amin had him assassinated in 1972.
But it's the Patriots punter, Zoltan Mesko, who's really capturing the imagination. You talk about remaining calm under pressure and calm under fire in big games like this, well, he knows all about that given that he and the family are from Romania. They lived through the revolution there and the fall of communism, and he has quite a story to tell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZOLTAN MESKO, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PUNTER: I grew up in Communism until I was 3 1/2 years old, lived through a revolution while bullets were flying through our apartment on Christmas Eve. And after that, we had hyperinflation set in, so we could not buy anything with our money, even though my parents were engineers, they were earning the equivalent of $100 a month each.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIDDELL: Just incredible. Apparently they used to have to stuff pillows in the windows the keep the windows safe and try and stop the bullets coming into their apartment. Just quite incredible.
But he has made a real success of himself since he and his family moved to the U.S. They won the green card lottery when he was 12, and he became an instant hit when he became a really promising school and college athlete.
Soccer was his game, but he learned football by watching television, and since then he has learned five languages and look at him now. He's going to be in the Super Bowl.
PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. All right. Now, tell us how the Giants kicker got over here.
RIDDELL: Yes, he had an interesting story as well, and we are all big fans of him here in Britain, because he actually Scottish. His mom was Scottish. He was born in Greenock in Scotland because his father was a navy SEAL and he was stationed there at the time. So he, of course, grew up as a soccer fan as well.
Moved to the U.S. when he was 10, and has since proven himself to be quite an adept kicker. Remember, it was his kick that got the Giants to the Super Bowl.
PHILLIPS: You have to love it. Great, great stories. Don, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Well, still ahead, a violent end to the life of Soul Train host Don Cornelius. We have the latest with our A.J. Hammer coming up next.
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PHILLIPS: We've got sad news to report out of Hollywood this morning. Don Cornelius the creator and host of "Soul Train" has been found dead.
"SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" host, A.J. Hammer joining us once again from New York with as many details as we have tried to put together, and what do you know, A.J.?
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Well, Kyra, it is still a breaking story; it's still developing. But here is what we do know. Police responded to a call at about 4:00 this morning in Sherman Oaks, California, and they found the body of Don Cornelius who had suffered a gunshot wound. Don was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
And "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT has just now learned that the L.A. County Coroner's office is investigating.
Don Cornelius was an absolute legend in the entertainment industry. He created the TV show "Soul Train", because he really felt there was this big void in the way soul music was being represented in the United States. This is back in the 1960s, late in the '60s.
Don hosted "Soul Train" for 22 years. The show started out in Chicago and then it moved to L.A. Where it really became a nationwide sensation. Now Cornelius was a very private man; he rarely gave interviews, but in what was perhaps the last interview that he gave to "Time-Out Chicago".
Here is what he said. "I felt that it was my mission to see to it that black talent had an opportunity to get national television exposure. We wanted to make each show evolve into a shocking moment." And Kyra he certainly accomplished what he set out to. He broke so many soul artists into the national consciousness; certainly a legacy to be proud of and certainly one that is well-respected.
PHILLIPS: And I see a lot of people are already responding to his death, A.J.?
HAMMER: Yes, that's right. Obviously, Twitter is the place celebrities go and people from Hollywood.
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons tweeting, almost just after the news broke. This, "So sad about Don Cornelius, RIP."
Rapper Ice Cube saying this, "Rest in Peace, love and soul, Don Cornelius." That's a reference to the very words that Cornelius used to close the show each week.
And "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" just heard from music legend Quincy Jones who knew Cornelius well. And here's what he tells us, "I am shocked and deeply saddened at the sudden passing of my friend, colleague and business partner Don Cornelius. Don was a visionary pioneer and a giant in our business. Before MTV, there was 'Soul Train'. That will be the greatest legacy of Don Cornelius. His contributions to television, music and our culture as a whole will never be marched. My heart goes out to Don's family and the loved ones."
So a lot of people responding to the really, really sad news; Don Cornelius Kyra, dead at the age of 75 this morning.
PHILLIPS: Yes. A.J. thanks. And coming up in the 11:00 hour of CNN NEWSROOM", we're going to actually talk with Gladys Knight about her memories with Don Cornelius. So stay with us for that; that's coming up in the next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Mark Preston, we have been talking about Mitt Romney, the Republican frontrunner right now. What is President Obama up to?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, you know, very quietly, we haven't heard a whole lot from him necessarily campaigning, but they are doing a lot behind the scenes. They're trying to organize in all the states including Florida and Ohio. They're also raising money.
In fact let's just take a look at a couple of the bullet points on the fund-raising the e-mail that went out last night from Jim Messina who is the campaign manager for Mitt Romney. And $15.3 million, that was spent on ads, of course down in Florida. 13,000, that's the number of advertisings that was running down in Florida in '92. That is the percentage of this ads that were negative.
And in this fund-raising e-mail, what they're trying to convey Kyra is the fact that Republicans will do anything to try to win -- we should say Democrats; we'll do anything to try to win -- to try to raise money off of this.
PHILLIPS: Well, I will tell you who's getting a lot of attention. Michelle Obama doing Jay Leno, last night, the show.
PRESTON: Arguably -- no, not even arguably, she is the President's best surrogate. She was on the "Tonight" show last night talked about the rigors of being in the White House. She's out there talking about childhood obesity on the West Coast, but you know what else she's doing. She's also raising money, because, you know, there was a number that was slipped in about seven months ago that the Obama campaign was looking at raising $1 billion for this campaign.
They said that that is now not true, but they were pretty close to it last time, and they will need every dollar to try to win re- election.
PHILLIPS: Mark thanks.
PRESTON: Thanks, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We're going to have your next political update in just about an hour. And a reminder, for all the latest political news just go to our Web site cnnpolitics.com.
All right. in today's "Daily Dose", Pfizer is recalling 1 million packs of birth control pills, because some may not prevent pregnancy. The drug company says that some packages of Lo/Ovral-28 and Norgestrel tables may contain the wrong number of non-active and active pills. The pills may also had been placed out of order in the packaging which could leave women without contraceptive protection.
All right. As Facebook gets ready to go public, offering its stock put its stock for sale, we have a question for you. Can you imagine what life would be like without the social media site?
In the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, Suzanne Malveaux talks with the guy who went cold turkey on Facebook, cell phones and e-mails. Wait until you hear what he had to do to stay connected with his friends without the help of computers or Smartphones.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's fast forward to some stories that we will be following for you in the CNN NEWSROOM.
11:00 p.m. Eastern, President Obama talking about the economy at a community center in Falls Church, Virginia. He is expected to highlight his new housing plan.
Then 11:30 Eastern, Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano meets with NFL officials in Indianapolis to review security plans for the Super Bowl.
And at noon Eastern, then Michelle Obama talking promoting healthy eating with a visit to in Englewood, California. The first lady wants to bring more grocery stores to low income areas.
That does it for us. We will be back here bright and early tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern time.
Suzanne Malveaux takes it from here.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good to see you Kyra.
