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Gauze And Wipes Versus Bullets And Mortars; L.A. School Reopens After Abuse Scandal ; Easing Up On No Child Left Behind; Foreclosure Abuse Deal Reached; Santorum Raises $1 Million In One Day; Gay Marriage Bill In Illinois House; Women In The Combat Zone; Slaughter In Syria; Navy SEALs in Action; Cuomo, Bloomberg at Odds Over Fingerprinting for Food Stamps; GOP Presidential Candidates Making Pitch at CPAC; President Obama Gives Speech on No Child Left Behind

Aired February 09, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Randi Kaye. It's 1:00 on the east coast, 10:00 on the west. We've got a busy hour ahead so let's get you in the zone.

Gauze to treat decapitations, burial by moonlight to avoid government snipers. Activists in the Syrian of Homs are begging the outside world for protection against troops and artillery that are bombarding their city for a fifth straight day. They say more than 100 people have been killed in Homs today alone and in just a few moments, I'll explore the options facing the outside world with former U.S. defense secretary, William Cohen. That's in our Facetime segment just six minutes from now.

It is a new day and hopefully a far safer one for students at a Los Angeles school at the center of a shocking child abuse Scandal. Some 1,400 students resume classes at Miramonte Elementary today and were greeted with an entirely new staff of about 70 new teachers. The whole staff was replaced after the arrest of at least two teachers accused of committing lewd acts to students. This hour, attorneys representing eight alleged victims are expected to announce the first lawsuits in that case.

President Obama is letting some states off the hook when it comes to the no child left behind law. The president is expected to announce this hour that he's freeing 10 states from stricter parts of the law in return for a promise to improve how they evaluate and prepare students. Those states will no longer be forced to meet the requirement that all students be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Mr. Obama's announcement is due to start at 1:55 Eastern time, and we'll bring it to you live.

Finally, some big relief to the tune of $26 billion for distressed homeowners. If you were watching CNN last hour, you heard President Obama discuss the deal with five of the nation's biggest banks. The settlement will help homeowners burned by foreclosure abuses after the rupture of the housing bubble in 2008. Federal and state officials charged that the banks were involved in illegal short cuts and other deceptive practices during foreclosure procedures. Among other things, the banks will reduce loans for nearly 1 million households and send checks of up to $2,000 to about 750,000 homeowners who were improperly foreclosed upon.

Rick Santorum is making bank on his triple win in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado. The former Pennsylvania senator raised $1 million in one day. Santorum's campaign says you can thank online donors for a good chunk of that. At one point, his campaign Web site crashed because it was getting so many visitors. Today, Santorum is stomping in Oklahoma, pushing hydraulic fracking (ph) for natural gas, pounding President Obama and buttering Oklahomans for Super Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You look at all the states on Super Tuesday, Oklahoma, as I said before, is the rock bed (ph), is the bedrock of the Republican party, the conservative movement in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: You can hear directly from Santorum right here on CNN, he will be speaking with John King on "J.K. USA" tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Gay couples in Washington state are probably hearing wedding bells right now. State lawmakers have approved a same-sex marriage bill, making Washington the seventh state to take such action. But it didn't happen without intense debate before the final House vote of 55 to 43. The Senate passed the measure last week, it now goes to Governor Chris Gregoire, she calls the vote historic and promises to sign that bill. Illinois could be the next state. Illinois could be the next state to consider legalizing same-sex marriage. Three lawmakers have filed a measure that would eliminate the part of state law that now explicitly prohibits gay marriage.

Women in the U.S. military can expect new roles placing them even closer to the combat zone. The defense department said that possibility will occur when it opens up nearly 14,000 new jobs to military women. Right now, women are restricted from serving in small ground units involved in combat. So, for the past decade, many have served in support positions that have put them in harm's way anyway. Some of the new jobs include tank or artillery mechanics, field surgeons in forward position, and crew members on missile launchers.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the animal rights group PETA that SeaWorld was enslaving killer whales for human amusement. The judge ruled the 13th Amendment that prohibits slavery does not apply to non-humans. The judge called slavery an involuntary servitude uniquely human activities. SeaWorld says the lawsuit was a baseless publicity stunt, but PETA says it will pursue other avenues to help SeaWorld's five killer whales.

The U.N. is calling it appalling brutality. Crime so horrible, outcomes so gruesome, we can't even show you on television. Coming up next, the desperate situation in Syria growing even more dire. If you thought it was bad before, wait until you hear what's happening now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAYE: In the five days since the U.N. Security council failed to condemn the brutal crackdown on critics of the Syrian government, Syrian missiles and bombs, snipers and tanks have laid waste to the city of Homs. Outside reporters aren't allowed in but pictures and stories get out mainly on the Internet. And what we've all seen and heard in the five days has taken 11 months of conflict to a new and horrific level. (INAUDIBLE) reports more than 130 people killed today alone, 110 in Homs. Those numbers change by the hour.

All the while, the outside world confronts options that range from looking the other way to launching a Libyan style intervention. One man has a unique perspective on the risks, the stakes, the costs, and the politics, too. William Cohen is a former defense secretary under President Clinton, now chairman and CEO of the global consulting firm, The Cohen Group. Mr. Secretary, what can and should the U.S. be doing right now, anything?

WILLIAM COHEN, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, THE COHEN GROUP: Well, the U.S. is reviewing all potential options that can be taken against Syria. I think the first instinct normally, because we're so appalled at what has taken place, would be to send in the Marines. The difficulty with that is you want to save a military option as a last resort and not the first resort.

So, before you send in the Marines, you have to have a real clarity of mission, you have to know whether it's achievable, you have to know what the cost is in terms of blood and treasure (ph), and the exit strategy how to get out. All of those questions have to be analyzed and I'm sure the military is looking at that right now.

In the meantime, we have to strengthen the economic sanctions against Syria, diplomatic effort to resolve this. Turkey is now taking a leadership role, Saudi Arabia is taking a leadership role. I think the international community, the U.N. secretary general now very much engaged in this, trying to persuade the Syrians to stop slaughtering innocent people or face ultimately war crimes charges and be brought to justice later. But right now, the goal is to stop the killing of innocent people.

KAYE: There's --

COHEN: The options are pretty limited right now.

KAYE: There's a lot of talk, of course, about intervention and one person in the intervene camp is a friend and colleague of yours from Capitol Hill. Listen to what John McCain said this morning on CNN.

(BEGINVIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We can he with work other countries to provide assistance in a broad variety of ways. And by the way, military equipment should not be an option that should not be -- is an option that should be considered but maybe not directly. We could give them communication, they need equipment, they need medical help very badly. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: OK. So, it worked this Libya, so why not Syria?

COHEN: Well, what Senator McCain was saying is that the United States should not undertake this alone. But working with a coalition of countries, provide assistance of humanitarian nature, communications, other types of relief for them. I mean, you may also consider establishing safe havens in certain border areas. That will require a military option to be considered, because once the safe havens have been established, there's nothing to prevent the Syrian government from moving in and shelling them.

So again, we have to be very careful before we take step one, understanding what the consequences are. And we've learned some lessons, I think, from going into Iraq, knowing that we were going in militarily, but not really fully factoring in what the consequences would be by not having an adequate two and three and four step plan in Iraq, and it cost us dearly.

And we want to make sure as we undertake these missions that are humanitarian in nature, that the United States works with other countries who in the region should be taking the lead and I commend both Turkey and Saudi Arabia and other countries like UAE, number one, for severing relations for the most part with Syria, at least on a temporary basis, and taking commercial action against them. And I think Russia and China have to be concerned about this. They both want to have influence in the Gulf region.

KAYE: Yes.

COHEN: They both have commercial establishment. Those are going to be placing some question I think.

KAYE: And that, you believe, is what's behind their resistance to call for Assad to back down and step down?

COHEN: Well, I think as far as the Russians are concerned, it's a client state. It has been historically, they have a major arms transactions with them. And so, they also have that relationship with Iran. And so, this is going to, I think, rebound in a way that perhaps they haven't fully calculated in terms of what the reaction of the Arab world is going to be and the international community in terms of looking how Russia is behaving as well as China by vetoing that resolution. I think that there are long-term implications for their relations with other countries.

KAYE: I want you to watch this video clip with me. It's with a very well-spoken Syrian activist, we call him Danny. And he's showing us what's happening with the deconstruction in his neighborhood. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY: You can see the whole street, the bodies are in there. There's bodies in that house, pieces of bodies in that house. This is a civilian house. This is where civilians live. Pieces of bodies are still in here. (INAUDIBLE.) These are bodies. These are civilian bodies. These are civilian bodies. This isn't the army. This is children, men, women, being killed. Where is the U.N.? We don't want monitors again. We want the U.N. to interfere with the army. (INAUDIBLE) people have (INAUDIBLE.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: There you have it, Mr. Secretary. You can see what's happening there. I mean, he was showing us bodies, civilian bodies he said, in his neighborhood. Is this really something that diplomacy can solve?

COHEN: Diplomacy has to be exerted initially. Hopefully, through the diplomatic channels, pressure can be brought that will bring both Russia and China into that coalition, as well, to say to the Syrians, you must stop this. This is a crime against humanity. You are shelling innocent civilians. It's -- I know we've been at least warned or at least taunted by the Russian president saying you shouldn't act like bulls in a China shop. But you shouldn't act like butchers in a slaughter house either. And that's what's taking place when you start shelling innocent civilians and killing them on a substantial scale.

So, this is the reason why the international community has to be involved, the United States can play a role. But once again, before we try to send the Marines in, we have to know exactly what our mission would be, who is in charge of this mission, how many are going to be involved? So, if the United States doesn't find itself actually exacerbating the situation, raising it to a cold war level between United States and Russia and actually making it more difficult to get a cessation of hostility.

So, we're looking at all the options, and I think the administration is proceeding with great prudence and caution at the same time with a sense of urgency but understanding, but don't take step one until you know what you're going to be doing. And I think that's what they're trying to proceed. If diplomatic, economic, raise the level of awareness and criticism at the highest level possible, and then isolate Syria and show to be the pariah state that it is along with Iran that's supporting it.

So, it's a tinderbox area, and we've got to be careful. To the extent that the United States becomes involved militarily, we have to then consider whether Iran will become involved, Hezbollah to become involved, and Lebanon, and whether that is going to exacerbate and put the match to the tinderbox. So again, we're going to move with as much action as we, but caution as well.

KAYE: And we've much more to talk about with the secretary, including the Pentagon's new plans to put more women in to combat zones. Not everyone is on board, so keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We're continuing our conversation with former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen.

And, Mr. Secretary, while I have you, I'd like to ask about some news happening today at your old workplace. The Pentagon is relaxing restrictions on women troops in combat roles. I mean, is that a natural progression, do you think, given the blurry state of combat nowadays?

COHEN: Well, I think it is. And we've seen a move from a point of view that women shouldn't be anywhere near the combat field, but they have been over the years. I know that back in the '80s, for example, I questioned the chief of the Air Force as to whether or not women pilots could withstand the g forces as well as men. And the perception was because that women were smaller, lighter, that they couldn't handle a g force. It turns out to be just the opposite. Because of their lighter weight, they were better able to withstand the g force in our high performance aircraft. So we've come a long way in understanding that women can contribute to the military object.

It shouldn't be a social equality agenda that's being fulfilled, but can women contribute effectively to the military mission. That's what the Pentagon chiefs are looking at. And to the extent they feel they can, they should be allowed to do so, achieve the mission and they can contribute. They have been contributing. I think it's a natural progression, as you suggested.

KAYE: Let me ask you about the Pentagon downsizing U.S. military. Half a trillion dollars give or take now coming out of the Defense Department budget over the next few years. Do you fear that this could have an impact on national security?

COHEN: Well, I think Congress, number one, has mandated that they called for $487 billion over 10 years, 259, I believe, in the first five years. So Congress is the one who's saying we've got to save. And the Defense Department has to contribute.

I think the Defense Department can handle that particular size cut over that 10 year period. The difficulty is going to be when we talk about sequestration, namely when the ax falls because the special committee, super committee, couldn't reach an agreement on the $1.2 trillion cut that they were supposed to try and achieve. Now they're talking about across the board cuts. That would be another $500 billion out. That would certainly compromise our national security.

I think everybody is working under the assumption that that money will be put back in or the sequestration, rather, will not fall and the ax won't fall. The money, if it were to be cut, will be put back in.

It's not a way to run the military, in terms of the planners trying to say what will we have to work with. I was with Secretary Panetta in Munich just a few days ago and he indicated that the military is not planning on any further cuts beyond the $487 billion. That's why I think that's a pretty strong signal that the administration is going to work with the Congress to make sure we don't cut any deeper during the next decade.

KAYE: Mr. Secretary, so nice to have you on the program and spend some quality time with you. Appreciate that. Thank you.

COHEN: Great to be with you.

KAYE: Remember all the furor over drug testing welfare recipients in Florida? Well now another fight is brewing, this time in New York, over fingerprinting those recipients. It's something the state still does, but is it fair? That's next.

But first, you probably want Emily Clark as your neighbor. She's a former firefighter who's battling cancer. But that didn't stop her from risking her own life when she noticed a neighbor's home on fire. With no one else around, Emily took action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I started banging on the back door and still didn't hear anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I grabbed the kids and I took off running to their bedroom to get out. Well, somebody had already kicked in the back door, which we didn't know it was on fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The family says Emily not only saved their home, but their lives. And that makes Emily today's rock star.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The Navy SEALs describe themselves as a, quote, "special breed of warrior" ready to answer our nation's call. They spell out their creed on their website. It says in part, quote, "I will never quit. I'm never out of the fight. I will not fail." The roots of the SEALs go back to World War II. But the group we hear about today was created by President Kennedy in 1962. There are about 3,000 active duty SEALs. Basic training is so tough that only about 20 percent of the candidates make it. One of SEAL Team Six's most celebrated missions was the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year. Now the SEALs are getting rare recognition in the form of a new Hollywood thriller where the SEALs play a very unique role. Barbara Starr has a preview for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All clear.

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The SEALs of Bandito (ph) Platoon are called into action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know I will.

STARR: When a deadly terrorist plot against the U.S. is uncovered. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a personal recovery. Proceed to target. Recover the package and move to extract.

STARR: It's an edge of your seat Hollywood thriller. But, wait, those are real SEALs acting in "Act of Valor."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody that was asked to participate in the film said no. Everyone to a man (ph) said no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Initially all the guys turned us down. You know, they weren't about making movies.

STARR: But director Mike McCoy (ph) convinced the Navy only SEALs could play SEALs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We started to see a brotherhood of men that you didn't even know existed in the real world.

STARR: And together they embarked on a two and a half year production schedule. Ben Vert (ph) has been on classified SEAL missions all over the world. This movie is as close as you get to what he really does. The combat is actually the crew filming SEALs on training missions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be nice if I could be here. We're talking (INAUDIBLE) aggressive threat. You see this guy move and frag (ph) out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frag out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is extremely authentic. I mean we were there at every turn with the production company and the directors during the filming of "Act of Valor" where we could say, this is the way it actually happens.

STARR: The movie is not without controversy. The Navy originally wanted to make a SEAL recruiting film. The crew shot hundreds of hours and suddenly it became a movie that never got the Pentagon's official stamp of approval. Navy officials say they know some will be critical of real commandos being used in a Hollywood thriller.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It did not follow the typical approval process, but the Navy did support the film and the SEALs were involved with the film every step of the way.

STARR: But to keep their secrets, some camera angles were adjusted on weapons, classified procedures left out, and there was a lighter side.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We made fun of each other constantly. You know, you're running around, trying to simulate combat and you're going to take a fall and tumble and look silly and that's now on camera where you can get away with that. On the battlefield, only your buddies see that. So, it had its moments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These were some of the most compelling, dynamic men we'd ever met in our lives. And they were just really humble, good dudes. Dudes you just wanted to have a beer with and maybe go surfing and hang out.

STARR: And what about a real SEAL becoming a real actor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If Clint Eastwood call, though, I'm taking that phone call.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And he should. Barbara joins us now.

Barbara, Navy SEALs in a Hollywood movie. I mean I guess a lot of people might be wondering, is there a possible security risk here by seeing these guys on film?

STARR: Well, you know, we asked that question because, you remember, you know, the Osama bin Laden mission that the SEALs did, everyone was banned from knowing the identities of any of those commanders. We are told that some of the SEALs in the movie are back on operational duty overseas. We will not be getting interview with them. The Navy told us they think it was willing -- they were willing to at the risk. They think they can keep all of them safe. But it is a pretty amazing movie to watch.

KAYE: Yes. And just watching them film real training missions, I was concerned until he actually said that, you know, they didn't give away all the state secrets on this one.

STARR: They -- well, they did. They say they didn't give away all the state secrets. But here's something that's really interesting. They did, in fact, use live ammunition in some of these scenes to make it more authentic. And the lieutenant commander that we interviewed very seriously wanted everyone to know there is a big difference between a movie and real life for real SEALs and real troops in action. He wanted people to remember that so many military families have suffered. Not everybody gets up and walks away when the cameras stop rolling. You know, there is real life out there. This movie, though, opens February 24th and it should be a pretty interesting one to watch.

KAYE: Yes, there's a lot of action in that one. Barbara Starr, thank you very much for bringing that to us.

So remember all the furor over drug testing welfare recipients in Florida? Well, now another fight is brewing in New York over fingerprinting those recipients. Still something that the state does, but is it fair. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE Your fingerprint is necessary for a lot of things, including I.D. for security. But what if you had to be fingerprinted to get food for your family? That's a requirement for food stamp recipients in a couple of states. And there's a heated debate about the practice playing out in New York. Here's the situation. New York and Arizona are the only two states that still fingerprint food stamp recipients. California and Texas had similar requirements but they dropped it. It's a story we think is under covered.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the city's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, are at odds over this. In fact, Cuomo brought it up in his State of the State speech last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW CUOMO, (D), GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK: I'm saying stop fingerprinting for families with children for food.

(APPLAUSE)

CUOMO: Stop it all across the state and let's stop it this year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Erasma Beras-Monticciolo is with the East River Development Alliance, a nonprofit that works with struggling families.

Erasma, is it fair to say that you side with Governor Cuomo?

ERASMA BERAS-MONTICCIOLO, EAST RIVER DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE: Based on the fact that we have -- my organization has a large footprint in the public housing area in western Queens. We serve approximately 35,000 public housing residents, many of whom are food stamp eligible and are reluctant to apply because of the finger-imaging component. And thse families go without food because of that.

KAYE: So the flip side, you have the mayor and supporters who say the practice is vital. We reached out to the mayor's office and here's what he told us. He defends the fingerprinting saying, "The New York City Food Stamp Program must be managed with integrity to preserve the confidence and credibility of the taxpaying public. Not only does finger imaging identify duplication and fraud, but it also prevents people from even attempting to scam the system since they know it's not possible. Finger imaging protecting the system from abuse."

So what is wrong with trying to prevent fraud and abuse?

BERAS-MONTICCEIOLO: I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to prevent fraud or abuse, but there are other ways of doing it. For example, just using computer imaging with Social Security numbers would be sufficient to prevent fraud. We're doing it already with Medicaid and other benefits. Why not with food stamps, as well.

KAYE: You said it deters struggling New Yorkers from applying for food stamps. Do you have any idea how many people we're talking about?

BERAS-MONTICCEIOLO: Even New York City statistics state that there are 600,000 people in New York who are food stamps eligible and are not accessing that benefit. So that means that there are approximately $166 million that are left, federal dollars that are left on the table through the food stamps benefit that people aren't accessing. So that means that $278 is the average, according to the USDA, the average amount of allotment for food samples. So if you multiply that by 600,000, that's approximately $166 million that are left on the table.

KAYE: Are they simply afraid to be fingerprinted or do they not have the time for this type of procedure?

BERAS-MONTICCEIOLO: It's a combination. You have the elderly and the disabled who are just unable to get to the agency to get finger imaged. You have obviously the working poor who don't have time to take off of work to go stand in very long lines and feel that the practice is criminalizing them, creating another additional stigma. And you have those who are formally incarcerate who had just was to reintegrated themselves into society without having to once again go through fingerprinting.

KAYE: I want to share with you some of the numbers that the mayor's office provided us with. These are really key here. Just take a look here. Look at the recipients, 1.8 million people. They receive $3.3 billion in benefits. Bloomberg's office is pointing out the finger imaging of food stamp recipients caught nearly 2,000 cases there of abuse or fraud and saved New York taxpayers more than $5 million. So isn't that reason enough possibly to go ahead with this practice?

BERAS-MONTICCEIOLO: I'm not really certain that the 1900 duplicate cases is really caused by fraud. It could be errors made by a person, right, human errors that cause the duplication. But if you think about the fact that the USDA states that the average allotment of food stamps in New York is $278, and you have 600,000 New Yorkers who are eligible and are not accessing these benefit, you are leaving $166 million of federal money on the table that could be injected into the economy.

KAYE: All right, thank so much --

(CROSSTALK)

BERAS-MONTICCEIOLO: So if you compare those numbers, five million to 166 million, I think there is an argument to do away with finger imaging.

KAYE: Erasma Beras-MONTICCEIOLO, appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

BERAS-MONTICCEIOLO: Thank you.

KAYE: Well, he's got the momentum, he's finally getting the money, but can Rick Santorum get the delegates? Some say it all depends on strategy. Could he be borrowing from Barack Obama's 2008 playbook? That's "Fair Game," next.

But first, President Obama won the Catholic vote in his 2008 victory over John McCain. Did exit polls show that he won 48 percent, 54 percent or 68 percent? I'll give a shout out to the first person who tweets me the right answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: What percentage of catholic voters President Obama won in the 2008 presidential election, 48 percent, 54 percent or 56 percent. The answer, 54 percent. And congratulations to John from Columbus, Ohio, who was first to tweet the right answer.

President Obama worked hard to win over those Catholic voters. Today, he finds himself taking Catholic criticism over a new health care policy that requires employers, including religious groups, to cover contraception with their health care plans. That political storm is "Fair Game" today.

Democratic strategist, Maria Cardona, joins me, along with Republican strategist, Ron Bonjean.

Maria, I'll start with you.

We're hearing that the White House is looking for a way out of this situation. Was this mandate a serious misstep perhaps?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, Randi, I don't think it was. I think it was actually much a do about nothing by Republicans in their zeal to try to distort what the notion of this provision was. And the White House is not trying to find a way out of it. They are trying to work with Catholic leaders on a way to implement what they know is the right thing on do.

By the way, this provision has absolutely nothing to do with religious freedom. It is all about fairness and making sure that women across the board are able to access health saving, preventive medicines and services the way that all women across the board do. It has a clause, a conscience clause, for Catholic doctors who don't want to prescribe contraception. and it is not something that the churches themselves have to do. But if they have an institution that serves hundreds of thousands of people in the community, this provision is geared towards not discriminating against women who need the medicine.

KAYE: Ron, let me ask you about this. I want you to listen to New York Archbishop Dolan, his reaction to the word that the White House may find a compromise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY DOLAN, ARCHBISHOP, ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK: I would welcome the fact that officials in the government are saying we need to rethink this and we need to have a grateful exit so that Catholics charities, Catholic schools, Catholic health care institutions, can continue to do the wonderful work that they've done for so long.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Ron, would this translate in the end into votes against the president? A lot of people would think conservative Catholics weren't going to vote for him anyway.

RON BONJEAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: This is a huge mistake by the White House. At a time where they were just getting good economic numbers, they decided to make this move. Democrats are running away from the president in droves. You have Senator Joe Manchin blasting the president. You have Catholics angry about this. And this is not coming from Republicans. This is coming from Catholics, from Rome, the Catholic leadership. This is coming from even, like I said, Democrats on the Hill. And Catholics could be disaffected by this. This is a big deal.

And it does deal with religious freedom of institutions. I think people are very upset about this. And what I think the Obama administration will do is to walk back from it. And I would imagine they're going to try to probably find some middle ground between the liberals and the Catholic community in terms of some type of waiver process, like they offered to businesses across the country that the Obama health care law affects.

KAYE: Maria --

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: I want to ask you about Rick Santorum. I know you have more.

(LAUGHTER)

But I want to move on to Rick Santorum here.

CARDONA: OK.

KAYE: He won three states, of course, in one day. He's raised a bunch of money. He had so many visitors to his web site that it crashed. So is he a viable candidate here?

CARDONA: Well, this process, this political season has been so topsy-turvy. And frankly, Rick Santorum has been the one who hasn't surged, so it is his time. It would be a big mistake on behalf of Romney or Gingrich to discount Santorum. And we see that at least Romney isn't because he's one of the ones who is now a target of Romney's criticism. So I do think it's real. And I do think that Romney and the Republican Party need to take him seriously.

But I do have to say one thing about the contraception issue. Majority of Catholics agree that this is the right provision.

BONJEAN: No.

CARDONA: Majority of women --

BONJEAN: No.

CARDONA: -- as a Catholic woman, it is the right thing to do. And if Republicans want to be on the side of keeping women from having this preventive --services -- and frankly a lot of contraception is for diseases like endometriosis. My friend's life was saved by contraceptive medicines because she had endometriosis. If Republicans want to be assuming that, that's on they will. KAYE: I'll take it back towards Rick Santorum one more time.

(LAUGHTER)

I'm going to rein you guys in.

Ron, with me, please. Let's look at this map together. You can see that Santorum is going to focus here on states that award delegates proportionately, like Ohio and Michigan. He's basically ceding the winner-take-all states. This is the new strategy for him. Is it a realistic path to the nomination?

BONJEAN: When he had the bounce out of Iowa, he didn't really know what to do with it, and lost New Hampshire pretty badly. Now with this recent bounce, he has to figure out how to translate this into fundraising organization. You don't want to take your strategy into winner-take-all states because Romney will unleash a massive amount of advertising resources in those states. He's likely to come in first. So it's smart to start looking at states like Oklahoma, where he is at today, to campaign, so he can start accruing delegates and adding those up.

KAYE: Ron Bonjean, Marie Cardona, we will leave it there. Thanks so much.

That is "Fair Game" today.

CARDONA: Thanks so much, Randi.

BONJEAN: Thank you.

KAYE: Still ahead, the YouTube video sending shockwaves around the world. Why the father of this little 4-year-old boy made him stand outside in the freezing cold in his underwear and then videotaped him as he cried. The outrage coming up.

But first, it's been a while since we've heard Adelle sing on stage. But after throat surgery --

(SINGING)

KAYE: -- and two months of not being allowed to speak a word, Adelle is back with a bang. She'll be performing at Sunday night's Grammy Awards where she's up for six awards. And her interview with our Anderson Cooper will air just before the show on CBS's "60 Minutes."

(SINGING)

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KAYE: Let's go to Washington State where a father blew up his house with his children inside on Sunday. Authorities are investigating how 911 calls from a social worker at Josh Powell's home, seeking help, could have been handled better. Critics say it took too long for dispatchers to understand the seriousness of the situation and to send help. CNN affiliate, KCPQ, reports it took at least 21 minutes for a police car to get to the home. Police are calling the case a murder/suicide. Josh Powell was a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Susan Cox Powell.

Now take a look at this video shot in New York. It's a 4-year- old boy running and doing push ups in the snow in freezing temperatures. You can even hear him crying on that video. A man calling himself Eagle Dad shot this clip of his son. The family is from China and was here on vacation. He says it's his way of toughening up his son who was born prematurely. The video has sparked outrage, as you can imagine, after it hit the Internet.

These are some comments from the Chinese micro-blogging site, ZBo (ph). Quote, "Why don't we have a law against this abnormal behavior? If we allow he's things to happen, before long, there will be all sorts of lion dads and snake moms who feel justified abusing their children."

"I can't agree with this educational style. It's so cruel and sensational. Eagle Dad might publish his own book to promote his way of training children. Shame on him."

The boy's father says he doesn't care about the criticism and that his child is always happy.

In Georgia, a 7-year-old girl fought off a stranger who tried to kidnap her in a Wal-Mart. Brittney Baxter was browsing in a toy section when a man started to talk to her. He then grabbed her and tried to carry her off. That's when she started to kick and scream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTNEY BAXTER, ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING VICTIM: Yes, I was just like kicking as high as I can and trying to get away and go tell somebody that you trust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The incident was caught on surveillance cameras and helped police track down the alleged kidnapper. 25-year-old Thomas Woods was arrested but denied being in the store. Police have charged him with attempted kidnapping and say he was recently released from state prison.

In Wisconsin, the Archdiocese of Milwaukie says alleged victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy should have spoken up earlier. The statute of limitations has expired. The three surviving alleged victims claim they were abused by a parish priest and a choir director in the 1970s and '80s. And their lawyers say this move will only traumatize them further. The archdiocese has consistently denied wrongdoing in its handling of abuse cases.

A Rutgers student goes on trial on February 21st for posting an online video of his gay roommate kissing another man. 18-year-old Tyler Clemente committed suicide after that incident in 2010. The roommate, Duran Robbe (ph), is facing a 15 count indictment, which includes hate crime charges in connection with that death. He has turned down a plea deal that would allow him to avoid jail time. And now Tyler's brother, who also is gay, is speaking out about the incident. James Clemente says the trial is going to be incredibly emotional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLEMENTE, BOTHER OF TYLER CLEMENTE: I just think about the epidemic that suicide has become against gay youth and it breaks my heart. And every child that I've seen since and before my brother's death, I mean, is one of many unfortunately. And this needs to stop. It's not the answer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Speaking there with our Jason Carroll.

Live pics from the East Room of the White House where President Obama will be speaking in just a few minutes. The president is expected to announce that he is freeing 10 states from stricter parts of the No Child Left Behind law in return for a promise to improve how they evaluate and compare students. We'll bring those comments to you as soon as they get under way.

But first, another "Political Junkie" question. This one will test your presidential history. There has been one Catholic president, John F. Kennedy. What is the most protestant denomination among American presidents? Tweet your answer to me at randikaye/CNN. The first person to get it right gets a shout out right after the break.

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KAYE: Before the break, our "Political Junkie" question tested your knowledge about politics and religion. I asked when I protestant denomination has had the most American presidents. The answer? Episcopalian, with 11. Presbyterians are close behind with 10, followed by Methodists with five. A big congratulations to A.J. from Florida who was first to tweet me the right answer.

We want to go back to the White House now. Live pictures as we wait for the president to make some remarks about No Child Left Behind.

In the meantime, I'd like to bring in our CNN political reporter, Peter Hamby, standing by at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Peter, I have to warn you, we might have to breakaway once the president starts speaking.

But I hear the Republican presidential hopefuls will be making their pitches to the crowds there where you are.

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Yes, they'll be here tomorrow. The three front-runners at least. Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are all speaking tomorrow. What's interesting is this is a barometer of conservative sentiment. On a small sample, but the real party activists will be here tomorrow. Mitt Romney is struggling to connect with these kinds of voters. We're going to be watching him tomorrow to see the kind of reaction he gets. Mitt Romney has a smart, professional team. They won't let their man get booed here. He's got to the make his case. We'll be interested to see whether he attacks his rivals or keep the focus on Barack Obama.

We're also going to be looking to see how Santorum and Gingrich do. Those are both obviously the two candidates vying to be the, quote unquote, "conservative alternative to Mitt Romney." And don't forget --

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: Peter, we're going to have to --

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: I'm sorry, Peter. We have to stop you there. We want to listen to what the president has to say about No Child Left Behind.