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Houston Cause Of Death Still Unknown; President's Election Year Budget; Major Fire In New Jersey; Riots And Fire Bombs In Greece; Sandusky Allowed To See Grandkids; Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage; Celebrities and Addiction; Sarah Palin Keeps GOP on Edge; Syrian Government Continues Bombardment of Homs

Aired February 13, 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.

Almost two days after Whitney Houston's death in a hotel bathtub, one day after an autopsy turned up no signs of trauma or foul play, the assistant chief coroner for L.A. County says we do not know yet how Houston died. Here's what we do know.

The coroner's office is denying reports on TMZ that officials told the entertainer's family Houston likely died of a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs. A spokesman also says it's too early to rule out drowning or to rule it in. And toxicology results won't come back for weeks. My colleague, Don Lemon, is outside the coroner's office right now. Don, you were at the briefing. What else did we learn?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We learned that Whitney Houston was seen an hour -- about an hour before her death by someone in the very hotel room where she died, according to Ed Winter, the assistant coroner here. The person left the room and then came back about an hour later and then found Whitney Houston's body inside the bathtub. And then Ed Winter said her body was removed from the bathtub. Randi, they tried to revive her. They couldn't revive her. And of course, at 3:55 a.m. Pacific time she was pronounced dead.

And then, as you know, you had been covering, you know, these beats when stars die, when people die. They want to do toxicology reports. And usually, they have some sort of idea just from doing the autopsy which, by the way, has been completed. They might have an idea or a suspicion about how that person died. But using the toxicology reports, that's the final word. And I posed that question to Ed Winter a short time ago during a briefing, and I spoke to him a little bit afterwards, as well. Here's part of our conversation at the briefing, and I'll tell but our conversation afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON : The toxicology report is just a confirmation, but you have some idea, usually, just from the initial look and see (INAUDIBLE) as to what the cause of death might be. I know you don't want to speculate, but what do you -- ED WINTER, ASSISTANT CHIEF CORONER, L.A. COUNTY: No, that's not true. You can look at a body and not know what the cause of death is. You might have a suspicion but the person could have suffered a heart attack or an embolism or something. And no matter what medications they're taking, until we run a tox and see the level and what's in the system, we're not going to speculate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Yes. So, what he's saying in that, if you read between the lines, is that they have their idea about what it is, but until they're 100 percent sure, Randi, they don't want to say, well, we think it's this. They want to be absolutely sure, because this is very high profile, as you know.

KAYE: Yes, of course. And one of the things that there's been a lot of talk about is prescription drugs, of course, given Whitney Houston's history. Are officials saying anything there, Don, about prescription drugs, what might have been found in her hotel room?

LEMON: Yes, they are. And as you said, there have been reports that it was a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol, right? Well, the coroner won't go that far. But what he will say, Randi, and what he is saying, is that, yes, there were prescription bottles found, and initially, the coroner's office did not release the information. And that's what he said when I spoke to him afterwards. He said, there were prescription bottles found in the hotel room, but it wasn't anything that out of the ordinary or that would make them go, huh, what's going on here.

And quite honestly, he said, I have more prescriptions, meaning the coroner, at home than was found in the hotel room. But as you know, if those prescriptions are taken in the wrong way, right, they could lead to someone passing out, being unconscious, and if they're in a bathtub, maybe they pass out and go under the water. Who knows. That's just speculation. And Randi, you and I talked online a little about those photographs. You've seen the photographs, haven't you? Of Whitney Houston leaving that club on Thursday night?

RANDI: Yes, the scratches and the blood on her leg.

LEMON: You know, with Kelly Price when she was singing. Yes, yes. And so, and so -- and Kelly Price, the last person that she performed with, talked about that. She said, hey, listen, we were having a good time. Yes, there was champagne flowing. Whitney had some champagne. She left the club 2:00, 3:00 in the morning.

Anyone who would leave at 2:00, 3:00 in the morning, if you've been dancing, it's hot. You would be sweaty, and maybe -- you know, you may be a little bit tipsy. So -- but we don't know how much she had to drink and if there was interaction with the prescription drugs. But again, yes, you do see the pictures and you see that Whitney -- they're not flattering pictures of her leaving a club, Club True on Thursday night which was one of the last times she was seen publicly, Randi. KAYE: Yes. Just so tragic. Don Lemon for us there at the coroner's office. Don, thank you very much for your reporting. And we also want to pass along word from a source close to Houston. The star's body, we're told, will be flown to her native New Jersey for a funeral on Friday or Saturday. More details on that as we get them.

We'll have much more on Whitney Houston, but we're also focused on the president's $3.8 trillion budget which he announced this morning. Among the goals, cut spending to reduce the deficit. That includes defense cuts, but it would spend more on education and infrastructure. And to raise revenue, the rich get hit with a Buffett rule that would tax millionaires at 30 percent. Still, by the end of this fiscal year, the deficit would stand at $1.3 trillion. Republican leaders want more spending cuts and promised a fight over raising taxes.

Live pictures now of a large fire in Long Branch, New Jersey. Take a look at this. We're told one of the four buildings burning is an apartment building, but we're not sure which one or if anyone might be trapped inside. But you can see the amount of smoke there, and the apartment does house 30 to 40 people. Smoke is so thick, you can barely see what's happening there on the ground, but of course, we'll keep our eye on the fire and update you when we get more information.

Much of Athens looks like a war zone today after violent protests and clashes with riot police. Protesters went on the rampage after the Greek Parliament approved a package of harsh austerity measures demanded by the country's foreign lenders. The hugely unpopular deal aims to keep Greeks from defaulting on its debt. Protesters battled police for hours, yesterday, throwing Molotov cocktails, setting fire to more than 45 buildings and looting numerous others. Police fought back with tear gas. Scores of people and police were injured.

Most of Jerry Sandusky's grandchildren will now be allowed to visit him at his home. A judge in Pennsylvania issued that ruling today. Sandusky, who's been under house arrest since December asked the judge to relax the terms of his bail last week. The former Penn State assistant football coach is awaiting trial on child sex abuse charges. Under today's ruling, Sandusky can visit now with 11 of his grandchildren but not three others involved in a custody dispute.

Next hour, Washington's governor will sign a measure legalizing same-sex marriage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Gross Substitute Senate Bill 6239 is declared passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The bill passed the House and the Senate last week. Governor Chris Gregoire says the state will, quote, "no longer deny our citizens to the opportunity to marry the person they love." The law is set to take effect in June but could be put on hold if opponents gather enough signatures to put the question on the November ballot.

Somebody in Rhode Island is a big winner today, we just don't know who. The winner of the $336 million Powerball jackpot hasn't come forward. Whoever it is matched, the five winning numbers and the Powerball. The numbers are 1, 10, 37, 52, and 57, and the Powerball number was 11.

Coming up, we're going to return to the death of Whitney Houston, specifically to the investigation and to what happened to her in those final hours. Did she drown in the bathtub as some reports indicate? Or could it have been an accidental overdose? We'll get into the scenarios investigators are exploring today when I talk with a forensic scientist.

But first, the cloud of grief looming over last night's Grammy show was hard to miss. But there was a ray of sunshine and her name is Adele. In case you missed it, the British singer swept the night winning six trophies, including record, song and album of the year, especially impressive considering she couldn't even talk a couple months back after undergoing vocal cord surgery. So, choosing today's Rock Star was a no-brain for us. Congrats, Adele.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Police in Beverly Hills have put a security hold on Whitney Houston's death investigation. That's common in high-profile cases like this one. It limits what authorities can say in public at least until official reports are released. But my guest today in Facetime has a pretty good idea of what's going on behind closed doors. Larry Kobilinsky is one of the country's best known forensic scientists, and chairman of the science department of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Larry, nice to see you. The L.A. Assistant coroner told our Don Lemon that it's too early to draw any conclusions on the cause of death. Do you buy that?

LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, CHAIRMAN, JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE: Well, I think, ultimately, we need to know what the toxicology report says because we have to determine, first of all, whether it was an accident or death due to natural causes. Obviously, if it was a heart attack, an embolism, that could be determined upon autopsy. But there are situations where you cannot tell from an autopsy, and that's why you need the tox report to shed some more light on the case.

KAYE: And I'm glad you brought that up, because oftentimes in cases like these, we're interested to hear about the drug tests and the toxicology report. And we're always told it takes, oh, I don't know, six to eight weeks. Why does it take so long?

KOBILINSKY: Well, I don't think it does. I think that if this is a high-priority case, I think they can get results in a week or two. I think they worry about dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. And since this is such a high-profile case, they want to take their time. And if they want to do any kind of really exotic kind of tests, it might take a little longer. KAYE: When you look at the situation in Whitney Houston's hotel room, we have the assistant coroner saying that she was in the bathtub, he confirmed it. Winter did confirm for reporters that she was in the bathtub. She had been removed from the bathtub, so they could try to revive her. Does the fact that she was in the bathtub and then moved from the bathtub, would that hamper the investigation at all?

KOBILINSKY: Well, certainly the first thing to do in a situation like this is try to save a life. So, removing her from the bathtub and performing CPR is absolutely appropriate. However, there are things that might be disturbed, you know, evidence that she drowned, for example. Typically, when people drown, there's a froth that appears coming out of the mouth and the nose. Moving her might disturb that, and it might not be so evident. However, on autopsy, finding water in the lungs, finding water -- sponginess in the lungs, finding froth around the trachea, all of those will be indicative of a drowning. That's certainly a possibility.

KAYE: What about a nondrug-related cause of death, a heart attack, as you mentioned, or maybe an embolism. Would something like that have been apparent this early on in the initial autopsy?

KOBILINSKY: Yes. Randi, I think if it was an embolism, they would have seen that on autopsy. On the other hand, if it was a transient, electrical arrhythmia-type problem, that would not have been seen on autopsy. So, I think they have to look at all of these possibilities. Clearly, they found some prescription drugs in her room. And -- although, that seems not an indicator that she died of an overdose, certainly the amount of medication and the types of medication that they will find in her body could result in a conclusive opinion about her cause of death.

KAYE: Yes, let me ask you about that, because if there were -- and I want to be very clear, we don't know what drugs might have been in the hotel room or might have been in her system at all, if any. But if there were, how long would those drugs stay in the system? I mean, in other words, how long would the coroner have to try and find out what's in her system, especially after death? How long does that stay there?

KOBILINSKY: That -- time is not really an element here. They remove all kinds of body fluids, urine, blood, eye fluids. They will have organs to look at. Tissues to look at. It will not pose a problem for the toxicologists. They will know definitively which drugs are present, if any, and the quantity of these drugs. And then a pharmacologist, a toxicologist, can determine whether or not there is a lethal overdose or a synergistic effect from multiple drugs. And perhaps alcohol on top of that. All of those are possibilities.

KAYE: Yes, it sounds like a whole host of possibilities for sure.

Larry Kobilinsky. Thank you. As always, appreciate your expertise.

KOBILINSKY: It's a pleasure. KAYE: In the days before she died, witnesses reported seeing Whitney Houston acting tipsy, looking messy and partying. So the question, should friends have done more to intervene? We're going to gets into that angle of the story next with addiction specialist Bob Forrest of Celebrity Rehab. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY PRICE, FRIEND OF WHITNEY HOUSTON: The champagne was flowing. It was -- it was a party. And I've heard so many things about people saying that, you know, she was erratic, she was this, she was that. She was none of those things. And I have to go hard on making sure that people understand, it was a good party. There was nothing negative about it. It was positive. We had great music. Her daughter was there. My children were there. They're all around the same age. It was that kind of environment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: That was Kelly Price talking about the pre-Grammy party two nights before Whitney Houston died. Houston actually sang with Price that night in what would be her last performance. Joining me now is Bob Forrest. He's a certified addiction specialist and part of VH-1's "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew."

Bob, this is a tough conversation to have. I feel like we have this conversation far too often. But let's talk about that night. Kelly Price said that Whitney Houston was a little tipsy from the champagne. Now, for someone with Houston's history of drug and alcohol abuse, what does that say to you?

BOB FORREST, CERTIFIED ADDICTION SPECIALIST: Well, it says to me that she had fallen off. I had heard a couple -- three years ago, prior to her "Oprah Winfrey" thing, through the grapevine, that she was doing well. She was with good people. She was sober. She was building a foundation to a sober life. And to hear that she's having little champagne tells me that she's fallen off and isn't as focused. And it happens all the time. It's important that the people around the addict kind of call them on that. And I guess this wasn't being done. You know, it's sad.

KAYE: Is that what happens with celebrities who have addictions? I mean are -- do they not get the tough love that maybe their friends should be giving them? I mean, are they surrounded by enablers in many ways?

FORREST: They certainly are. And it's very difficult for people to understand. Celebrities get actually substandard care because everybody kisses their you know what's. When someone like Whitney Houston goes to a treatment center, everybody treats her specially and differently. So it's actually a -- you know, a real downside to the celebrity culture that you can't get adequate, honest drug treatment in America. And it's difficult. Celebrities seem to -- some seem to be able to figure their way through it. But it's very difficult. And they have all kinds of concierge service at rehab centers until that tough love, that confrontation, that honesty that addicts need often doesn't happen with celebrity clients.

KAYE: I know that you didn't work directly with Whitney, but you, like the rest of us, certainly know her story and all of the ups and downs. I mean is there a different mentality for celebrities when it comes to addiction?

FORREST: It just -- eventually when they get the foundation, they get in with good people and people that don't want anything from them, and don't expect anything from them, that they just be sober and help other people get sober, that is what the 12-step kind of fundamental base is. Once they do that, it's all golden. You have several examples of it in the media. I mean I always talk about Robert Downey. He's not the star of the biggest movies in America because he's still doing drugs. You know what I mean?

KAYE: Uh-huh.

FORREST: He figured his way through it, and it's wonderful what happened. And it -- what's sad about Whitney is, she had figured her way through it, too, and now here we are. And I've been here over the last four years for Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson. And this idea that prescription drugs are killing people. That's what's killing people. Not illicit drugs. Prescription drugs. And when I heard she was tipsy and there was prescription drug bottles found in her hotel room, I just -- you know, I deal with this 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That's a bad, bad combo.

KAYE: Yes, well we don't -- I should point out, we don't know what exactly was found in her hotel room yet. We're, of course, waiting on that. But I want to ask you about Whitney's daughter, Bobbi Kristina. Listen to what a family friend, Kim Burrell, had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIM BURRELL, FAMILY FRIEND: I had an opportunity to share a lot of time with -- privately. And they were very, very close. Loved each other very much. And they got along like best friends. She was overwhelmed. She's hurt. But she has hope. We prayed. And we talked briefly. And I was able to hold her and encourage her and love on her. And, in time, in time she'll be OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Let me ask you about that. I mean, do you think she's going to be OK? I mean not only did she just lose her mother in a very high- profile death, but this is a girl who actually would care for her mom and try and help her navigate through hotel lobbies and things like that and actually, you know, play the mother role in taking care of her.

FORREST: Yes, this has been going on for decades in America. The co- dependency that's formed in the adult child. You know, it is -- it's rampant where the child becomes the adult and parents the addict in their life. A parent addict. And, you know, she's going to have to do some soul searching and get angry and get -- and do some things that are necessary in order to gain her own emotional autonomy. And it's going to be difficult. And I just fell for her. That's immediately what I think, all these people, their kids involved and these people's deaths. It's so awful.

KAYE: Yes, it is. You think about her daughter and Michael Jackson's children, Anna Nicole Smith's children. It's just very sad.

FORREST: Heath Ledger's little daughter.

KAYE: Yes, you're right.

FORREST: It's just awful.

KAYE: Well, Bob Forrest, thank you for the work that you're doing on this and trying to help people. We certainly appreciate that and appreciate your time today.

FORREST: Sure. Thank you for having me.

KAYE: Friends say Whitney Houston had cleaned up her life in recent months, but was her long-time struggle with addiction ultimately a factor in her death? Up next, HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell joins me from Los Angeles. She's been there talking to Houston's friend and colleagues. And she'll tell us what she's learning. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Today we are remembering Whitney Houston and her impact on all of our lives. Fans laid flowers and left messages on the sidewalk outside the Beverly Hilton Hotel where she was found on Saturday. Whitney Houston was more than a singer, she was also an inspiration to so many. Jane Velez-Mitchell joins me now from Los Angeles. She's the host of HLN's "Jane Velez-Mitchell" program.

Jane, you were there this weekend through all of the crying and all of the tributes that we witnessed from afar. What really struck you about the reaction from celebrities and from Whitney Houston's fans?

JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HLN ANCHOR: Well, it was amazing to see the fans converge at the Beverly Hilton while Whitney Houston's body was still inside. And they really formed a spontaneous chorus almost of crying. And they had candles. But they were singing Whitney Houston songs.

And what I thought was really extraordinary is that the rank and file fans knew all about Whitney's demons. And they had all the facts, almost like a reporter would. But they could separate that from her talent. And they wanted to focus that night on her genius as a singer.

And just the love. People crying. People talking about their experiences. How she was as, it's a cliche, but they had said the soundtrack of their lives. And it's true for so many of those folks.

And I was right there as they were singing. And that really was so touching that they -- as a group, strangers, go together and began singing, literally, a medley of Whitney Houston songs. KAYE: Yes. Well, one of the things that's happening now is obviously investigators and loved ones are trying to piece together her last few days, her last few hours. Have you been able to get any information about some of these reports that she was acting a little strangely, just walking around the hotel a bit, looking confused, wearing mismatched clothes, just looking disheveled? Anybody talking about that to you?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I want to be careful because, you know, it's like a game of telephone. But we do know she was at that party on Thursday night. The true Hollywood party. And as your previous guest said, your -- she's in recovery. She went to rehab less than a year ago and she's been at rehab -- she's been in rehab several times. And when you're a person in recovery, you're not supposed to have even a drop of alcohol.

As a recovering alcohol myself -- 16 and hopefully 17 years in April of sobriety -- I will not gargle with mouthwash with alcohol in it. I will not eat food with a drop of alcohol because I know it can trigger a binge. Once I get that into my system, I have no control over my behavior.

So when I heard that she had been drinking champagne Thursday night, and we heard that from Kelly Price, who was at the party, a chill ran through me. I know the consequences of that for somebody in a recovery. It is a slip. It is a fall. You don't know where it's going to lead you. Then we heard stories about her partying at the hotel and that one of the reporters that I'll speak to on my show on HLN said he saw her with two drinks, one in each hand. Now I don't know what was in the drinks, but he claimed she was mumbling and not coherent. And there's video of her interrupting an interview involving Clive Davis and two female singers in which she appears to be a little bit out of control.

Again, it's very hard when you're dealing with this issue to say anything definitively. I want to obviously restate that we do not know her cause of death. That's part of the insanity of this disease. A person in their addiction will never, rarely cop to the fact that they're actually using, unless they're confronted in some kind of intervention situation. So you have to kind of extrapolate from behavior. And of course you hope that you're wrong. So you don't want to extrapolate and pass judgment on somebody and be wrong. For example, if somebody goes into the bathroom for a couple of hours and they've got a history of addiction, they take their purse and stuck in there, your first thought is, oh, are they in there using.

We'll never know for sure until we get the tox tests back. But certainly, the fact that she was drinking champagne, that means she did slip from her recovery.

KAYE: Let's talk about the legacy she left, certainly for young women. She inspired so many young female singers, young girls who wanted to grow up to be Whitney Houston. Now, with her death, there is an equally important lesson here, as well. Wouldn't you say?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: I do feel that this should be a wake-up call to America. We do want to wait for the tox test to come back. But if, in fact, it is, big if, but if it is connected to prescriptions drug use, this has to be a wake-up call to America. The time has come. Enough already. We have seen too many of our great artists die from legal prescription drugs. More people dying from O.D.ing from legal prescription drugs from illegal drugs. This is a crisis in America. And doctors have previous little training in addiction. They don't understand that when they give people powerful narcotics for back pain or leg injury, that they are creating addicts. So I think the time has come for America to wake up and say, hold on a second, there's something seriously wrong here, and we need rethink what we're doing and how we're doing it vis-a-vis prescription drugs.

KAYE: Well said.

Jane Velez-Mitchell, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you. Thanks, Randi.

KAYE: And still to come today, Mitt Romney may have won the big CPAC straw poll this weekend, but he's not the one that's getting all the attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR & FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Be aware, Washington. Tea Party Patriots are alive and well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Coming up, Sarah Palin's big swipe at Republican leaders and warning about the Tea Party. Is there an underlying message in her words? "Fair Game" is next.

But first, our "Political Junkie" question. Who is the only person to win the CPAC straw poll, yet never officially ran for president? Tweet me the answer to @randikayeCNN. I'll give a shout out for the first right answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Before the break I asked who is the only person to win the CPAC straw poll yet never officially ran for president. The answer is then Virginia Senator George Allen. He won in 2006 by a narrow margin over John McCain. Congrats to Alex for tweeting the right answer first. Well done.

Sarah Palin is keeping the GOP edge with her latest comments. Among other things, she says she's not concerned that Mitt Romney is the right conservative to head the ticket in November. Here's what she said on FOX News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: I trust that his idea of conservatism is evolving. And I base this on a pretty moderate past that he has had, even in some cases a liberal past.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Her comments not making picking the nominee easier. Presidential politics are always "Fair Game."

Doug Heye is a Republican strategist; Ed Espinoza is a Democratic political consultant. They join us from Washington.

Doug, to you first on this one. Is Mitt Romney conservative enough?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Oh, I think he is. I think whoever we nominate will be conservative enough. That's what this process is about is finding out who is that conservative that's going to be best against Barack Obama. It may be Mitt Romney. It may be Rick Santorum. Perhaps someone else. But whoever we nominate is going to be a conservative candidate and hopefully defeat Barack Obama come November.

KAYE: Ed, what do you make of Sarah Palin's comments?

ED ESPINOZA, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CONSULTANT: I love Sarah Palin.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

KAYE: She's good TV.

ESPINOZA: She's good TV. I think that she's good at recognizing opportunity. If she senses that there's an opportunity for there to be fracturing and some -- potentially a brokered convention that maybe she will come back into the process. I don't know that -- as much as we talk it, I don't know that it will eventually get that far. But like Doug says, the nominee will be conservative. The problem that Romney's got is that people aren't convinced he's conservative yet. He's got work do there.

KAYE: Let me ask you about something Rick Santorum said. He said that Romney bought his straw poll victory at CPAC. Is this sour grapes? We know the campaign, according to Santorum, registered people, paid for people's registration at CPAC in order to vote in this poll.

Doug, what do you make of it?

HEYE: Ultimately, that's how you win straw polls. That's in large part how Michele Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll last year. Ultimately, Rick Santorum is at his best when he's talking about conservative issues. That's what I'd like to see more of. As a Catholic, who went to a Catholic high school, Bishop McGuiness in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I was impressed at how Santorum addressed the issue of contraceptives, which is important in this certain primary context we're in right now. I'd like to see him focus more on that because that's where he's at his best.

KAYE: What do you think, Ed? Is it sour grapes? Wouldn't he have done the same thing if he had the money to do so?

ESPINOZA: I don't know. He sat out of the Iowa straw poll for the same reason. Didn't have the money. He's been smart with his strategy in going to states that don't have winner-take-all delegates. They've got proportional representation. He skipped Florida. Everyone thought it was a bad move. Then he went and won three states. His strategy, very different than Romney's. He -- Romney needed that CPAC straw poll. I don't know how much it's going to help him. But he needed to win it. It may have about as much effect as Bachmann's Iowa straw poll or Herman Cain's Florida straw poll. Either way, he still needed it.

KAYE: We know how those went.

ESPINOZA: Right.

KAYE: Let's stay with Rick Santorum. He got himself into a tight spot with his comment about women in the military. Should they serve in combat? Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM, (R), FORMER PENNSYLVANIA SENATOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you have men and women together in combat, I think that there's -- men have emotions when you see a woman in harm's way. It's in our culture to be protective. And that's -- that was my concern. I think that's a concern with all of the militaries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: How do you think that's going to impact his campaign, Doug?

HEYE: I don't think it really will. Ultimately, we're going to have this process be about -- this is what the process has been around, who's that conservative candidate, who's going to address the issues that directly face this country every day. We've got a budget now that's been submitted by the president. And while his chief of staff, former OBM director, doesn't know that it takes 50 votes in the United States Senate to pass a budget, we know that the Obama administration's planning more debt, more deficits, more spending and more taxes. The Republican candidate who can best address that is the one who's going to emerge.

KAYE: Ed, let me ask you because I know you love talking about Sarah Palin. She made a comment over the weekend on Long Island that she's unsure of the presidential run. Do you think she's just teasing the GOP a bit, or is she going to really mess things up at the convention?

ESPINOZA: Are you trying to tell me that Sarah Palin did something that gets her attention?

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: Go figure.

ESPINOZA: Classic Sarah Palin. And like I said, I love seeing more of her. If other people love seeing her as much as I do. I think she's good entertainment. And, hey, if she decides to jump in at the convention, more power to her.

(LAUGHTER)

KAYE: All right.

ESPINOZA: Who knows what she'll do?

KAYE: Who knows? Who knows?

(LAUGHTER)

Ed Espinoza, Doug Heye, nice to see you. Thank you very much for joining us.

HEYE: Thank you.

KAYE: That's "Fair Game" today.

ESPINOZA: Thanks.

KAYE: His amazing firsthand accounts from the ground in Syria have captivated folks across the globe, but the videos made him a target of the Syrian Army. Up next, the brave young man known as Danny and his journalistic request to tell Syria's story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: We want to take you live to the East Room of the White House. You see it there. We are preparing for the president. He is going to award National Medals of Arts and Humanities today. Actor Al Pacino is among the recipients. You see there a picture of Dr. Joe Biden. Also Poet Rita Dove will be in attendance. Sarah Jessica Parker is in attendance, as well. We wanted to bring you live pictures. We'll continue to watch that. As soon as it gets underway, we'll bring you more information.

Now to Syria where government forces continue a deadly, unrelenting bombardment of Homs and other towns. They've endured nine days of shelling. One shocking target today was a cemetery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(GUNFIRE)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: A Syrian human rights group says at least 10 civilians have been killed in Homs and elsewhere in the country, as well as three soldiers. More than 680 died across the country last week. Most of them in Homs, according to opposition activists.

The onslaught by government forces today includes artillery, tanks, and armored personnel carriers.

In the latest bid to stop the slaughter of civilians, the Arab League is calling for a joint U.N./Arab peacekeeping force for Syria. As the shelling of Homs continues, the Syrian government rejected the proposal, calling it an incitement to terrorism. The revolt is a major focus of the U.N., with the General Assembly expected to take up a draft resolution that would condemn human rights violations in Syria. Russia says it needs more information before making a decision on whether to support it. You'll recall that Russia and China recently vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution denouncing the Assad regime.

Much of the incredible reporting on Homs has come from a brave young Syrian who, until recently, was known recently only as Danny.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY: Bombs and shells, everyone -- it blows in the air or comes up to the buildings.

Look at the bodies. Look at the bodies. These are rockets. These are rockets. These -- they are firing rockets on us. We've got more than 40 people dead. Hundreds of injuries. Look at this -- look! Look! All dead bodies! We're not animals. We're human beings. We're asking for help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Courageous reporting like this earned Danny the moniker of the Voice of Home. It placed him in the crosshairs of the Syrian military. As tanks closed in on his neighborhood, Danny decided to flee the country. His parents in Cairo waited anxiously for any news of his whereabouts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HELEN ABDUL DAYEM, DANNY'S MOTHER: We're not expecting Danny to arrive in Lebanon until late tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell I'll allow 10:00.

DAYEM: He says there are activists with him now. I'm checking with them. Calm down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

DAYEM: You're not calm. calm down.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: Who could be calm in a situation like that? Danny's mother says her greatest fear is that, one day, she would turn on the news and see images of her dead son. Finally, a phone call they had been waiting for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAYEM: This is the Human rights in Lebanon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What, what?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's in Lebanon?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's in Lebanon, in Beirut?

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: A happy ending. The Voice of Homs had made it to safety in Lebanon and soon will have a reunion with his family.

Still to come today, a freak accident at a Florida church has the pastor's daughter clinging to life. Here what happened after a church member showed off a gun in the next room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Time now to take stories making news at "Street Level."

First to St. Petersburg, Florida, and what officials are calling a tragic accident. A pastor's daughter now fighting for her life after being shot in the head by a church member. It happened after morning services at the Grace Connection Church yesterday. Officials say Hannah Kelly was injured when a gun her boyfriend and two other men were handling went off. Investigators say the gun's owner has a permit to carry the weapon. No charges have been filed.

Next, a bizarre two-state journey for a teen kidney transplant patient. 14-year-old Brittany Jones has been found in Wisconsin after her father was seen taking her from a hospital in Missouri. Police say Jones turned up in a hospital in Milwaukee hours after she was seen leaving a medical center in St. Louis. Jones was from Illinois, had a kidney transplant last year. She was taken into custody of the Illinois Family and Children's Services after doctors said she was getting inadequate care at home.

To Orlando now. The parents of Robert Champion are suing a charter bus company in the death of their son. You recall Robert Champion died as a result of a hazing incident last December. His family is holding a news conference today. Investigators are still investigating that case.

History is about to be made in Washington State. Governor Chris Gregoire is scheduled to sign a measure legalizing same-sex marriage next hour. The move came after the House approved the bill after other states had taken similar action. It would be the seventh state to allow same-sex marriage with gay and lesbian couples. The law takes effect in June but opponents vow to challenge the move with a ballot measure that would allow voters to overturn it.

So New York's Madison Square Gardens now, home of the Knicks and the hottest start in the NBA right now, Jeremy Lin, the Asian-American point guard who ended up in the pros by way of Harvard. That in itself is extremely rare. But what Knicks fans are going crazy about is that -- their frenzy is called Lin-sanity, by the way -- is that since he burst on the court about a week ago, the team has won five straight games. Yes, hard to believe. And now as a committed Christian, some are comparing Lin to pro football's Tim Tebow.

A leading conservative magazine is urging Newt Gingrich to drop out of the race, but with one state under his belt, is that really fair?

And a brand new national poll out this hour. Wait until you see who is at the top now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: What's happened to Newt Gingrich? In a matter of weeks, he's gone from frontrunner to, some would say, also ran. A respected conservative publication is even calling on him now to step aside.

Let's get the latest on this and all things politics from our CNN political reporter, Peter Hamby.

Peter, I want to talk to you about that. But first, I want to ask about these new polls. Hard to ignore. Very tight race coming from the Pew Research Center. Santorum on top.

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Yes. This is big news for Rick Santorum. He's essentially tied with a margin of error with Mitt Romney. These are the two national frontrunners. Rick Santorum, who was an also-ran a few months ago. Notable about these polls is you see the conservative base really getting behind Rick Santorum. Conservatives, Tea Party supporters, evangelicals are moving away from Newt Gingrich, who was the conservative standard bear for a while, and behind Rick Santorum.

If you look at this poll, conservative Tea Party supporters, most of them, a vast majority, say Mitt Romney is not conservative enough. So Romney has had trouble reaching out to them, connecting with them over the last couple weeks. This is really in the spotlight of the Republican race right now. He's trying to appeal to them. Also, he's slipping among Independent voters. If you compare the number in the poll, the Pew poll, he's taken an eight-point hit in a match-up against Barack Obama. That's bad news for Mitt Romney looking to the general election. Of course, Independent voters, as always, decide the general election. Romney is kind of walking a tightrope right now. KAYE: One thing that could certainly help Rick Santorum is the "National Review," a very conservative magazine, asking Gingrich to drop out of the race. Is that their way of saying, hey, give all your support to Rick Santorum, we need it?

HAMBY: Yes. Let me read this quote from the "National Review." This is an editorial they wrote today. Quote, "it would be a grave mistake for the party to make someone with such poor judgment and persistent unpopularity as presidential nominee" -- this is about Newt Gingrich. When he led Santorum in the polls, he urged Santorum to leave the race.

But this magazine, the "National Review," was borne out of the very conservative movement Newt Gingrich is appealing to. They were instrumental in Goldwater. They endorsed Ronald Reagan in 1986. When your own people are telling you to go, that's a bad headline for Newt Gingrich and could be a problematic narrative for him in the coming weeks. He's really waiting for these March 6th Super Tuesday dates, so it could be a long slog for him before then.

KAYE: He's also said he's going to take this all the way to convention, so we'll see what he decides to do here.

Peter Hamby, thanks so much. Nice to see you.

Thank you, everyone, for watching. As always, I'd love to hear what you thought of today's show. You can continue the conversation with me on line. You can find me on Facebook and Twitter as well @RandikayeCNN.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with Brooke Baldwin.

Hi, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Randi. Happy Monday to you.