we begin, though, tonight with the tragedy in italy. today searchers used explosives to blast through the walls of that capsized cruise ship. they found five more bodies but no survivors. the confirmed death toll from friday's shipwreck now stands at 11. 24 people remain missing. late today the ship's captain learned he'll be placed under house arrest to await charges. trial on charges of manslaughter and deserting his sinking ship. dan rivers is in italy tonight. dan with the searchers now four days later have any hope of finding anyone still alive inside that wreckage? >> reporter: well, they are still out there right now at midnight here local time, that fact would tell you that they are still trying their best, anyway. let's put it like that. of recovering people. i think the reality is, though, after such a long time in such cold temperatures out here with no sound coming from inside the wreck of the costa concordia that there is a very, very slim chance now of finding anyone else alive. they've already recovered 11 bodies as you said, john, five more this morning, four men and a woman, and some 23 still missing. but they're out there now. we're told there are specialists, cave teams out there, cave rescue teams. because essentially it's like a cave in there. it's dark, it's wet, it's dangerous. and so that's what they're doing day and night trying to search through the 2,000 odd cabins to see if they can recover anyone else. >> and then, dan, as we ask questions about responsibility and accountability, much of the attention is focused on the ship's captain. out of jail but under house arrest. explain the distinction and whether there's any major significance in the shift. >> reporter: well, this was a surprise for a lot of people. because the judgment as far as we were aware was that he would be detained. and then a few hours afterwards it was revealed that in fact there would be some change of mind from the investigating prosecutor and he was going to be put under house arrest instead. he's from a town south of naples and that's where we guess he is going right now. and could be facing up to 15 years in prison if he is found guilty, if he's charged. at the moment, though, he hasn't been charged. he's merely been brought in for questioning, and then the prosecutor, the magistrate will go away and look at the case. with the possibility he may go to some sort of fast track case like we saw in the amanda knox case and rudy guidde where he gets a reductions on the sentence in return for the cooperation and a quick trial. so we don't know frankly at the moment how that's going to play out. >> we'll continue to watch that, dan rivers live for us tonight on the scene of this horrible tragedy. dan, thank you. in just a few minutes we're going to play more of those null released incriminating phone conversations. you'll hear the italian coast guard pleading with the captain to return to his ship. [ speaking different language ] . >> just a short time ago the chairman of the ceo of carnival corporation, the cruise line's parent company, issued a statement saying he is deeply saddened and offering "heart-felt condolences to the families and the victims. the statement goes on to say while this is a terribly sad time for everyone involved we want to recognize the tremendous efforts of concordia's crew who along with the italian coast guard and authorities helped to evacuate more than 4,000 passengers and crew members from the ship in very difficult conditions. while the disaster raises all sorts of questions about cruise ship safety and government oversight, the clearest answer may very well be on every cruise ship you've ever seen or perhaps boarded. just look at the ship's flag. almost never a u.s. flag. cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence spent the day digging into the reasons. why chris it looks like most of the cruise ships that leave u.s. ports actually from the bahamas, right? >> yes, john, it's called flying a flag of convenience. and it means even the radiance of the seas and its alaska itinerary are registered in the bahamas. the bahamas has registered nearly twice as many ships as any other nation. about 60 ships are registered there. about half that number are registered in panama. in a little more than 20 are registered in bermuda. only one major cruise ship is registered here in the united states. it's the aptly named pride of america, but it's not owned by any strong american brand like disney. it's actually owned by norwegian cruise lines. john? >> and so, chris, let's go through some of the reasons here. i assume one of them is a simple cost from the carrier standpoint. is it a lot cheaper to incorporate and fly the bahamian flag or some other flag than the american flag? >> all comes down to economics, john. if you want to register a ship in the united states it's got to be built in an american shipyard, staffed by an american crew, and it's got to follow american labor laws, american minimum wage laws, things like that. i spoke with a maritime legal analyst who says this all comes down to the money. >> if you fly a u.s. flag, you have to comply with u.s. laws as far as safety, pay, your crew has to meet u.s. standards. if you don't fly a u.s. flag none of that becomes a hurdle that you have to deal with anymore. >> look, some of the workers on these ships are working up 14 hours a day seven days a week for months at a time. just to be farks the cruise lines are not going to be able to sell us cruises for $700 for a seven-day cruise if you're paying american and u.s. wages, john. so it's a tradeoff. what do we expect to pay for a cruise versus how they're going to register the ship and operate it. >> tradeoff a lot of people will be debating after this tragedy in italy. chris lawrence, great reporting tonight. here in south carolina today, the increasingly bitter and brutal race for the republican presidential nomination focused on mitt romney's character and his wealth. rick santorum pointed at the attack ads romney's supporters are run and accused the former massachusetts governor of promoting lies in order to get elected. >> he's playing dirty, dishonest politics. we don't need someone who supports lies and promotes lies and stands behind those lies in order to get elected president. >> and one subplot to all the attacks on governor romney's character is a constant sniping among his rivals about who should drop out? should one of them get out so anti-romney forces can unite? newt gingrich suggested either ron paul or rick santorum should stand up and volunteer. >> i'm respectful rick has every right to run as long as he feels that's what he should do. but from the standpoint of the conservative movement, consolidating into a gingrich candidacy would in fact virtually guarantee victory on saturday and i'd be delighted if either perry or santorum wanted to do that. they have to make that decision. >> speaker gingrich also attacking governor romney for refusing to make his income taxes public while playing defense today governor romney did reveal his tax rate is about 15%. while this afternoon gingrich pounced on that. >> i think that we ought to rename our flat tax. we have a 15% flat tax. so this will be the mitt romney flat tax that all americans would then pay the rate romney paid. i think that's terrific. >> cnn's jim acosta with the romney campaign. jim, governor romney makes this declaration today. we don't have his tax returns but we now know he pays about 15%. that's a bit more information than we had yesterday but it's also a bit of a political thicket for the governor, is it not? >> it really is, john. i mean, mitt romney did come out and say that he will release his tax returns for 2011 in april. and that works out for him from a political standpoint in that he may have the gop nomination wrapped up by then. that's why his rivals are urging him to release those tax records before the south carolina primary. but when he made that admission earlier this morning, it sort of raised this other question which is and you just mentioned it, what is the tax rate you do pay, governor? >> it's probably closer to the 15% rate than i think as my last ten years my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual income. >> now that 15 tax percent rate is very interesting. where the white house has been the last six months, they've been hammering this issue of tax fairness. warren buffet has come to the aid of the white house saying tax me more. he's revealed his tax rate is roughly 17%. mitt romney's tax rate obviously if it's around 15% it's lower than that. it's also lower than a lot of middle income earners, john, which is obviously not the kind of message the romney campaign wants to get out there. and it's funny because right here at this event that mitt romney was at in florence, south carolina earlier today, a representative from the dnc, brad withouse was there to remind all of us reporters that president obama when he was candidate obama in 2008 released his tax returns in march of '08. it was basically a challenge to mitt romney, do the same. john? >> jim acosta live with the romney campaign tonight noting the democrats just as happy as some of his fellow republican toss try to keep this tax issue alive. jim, thanks. sure to be plenty of drama and discussion of governor romney's taxes at sunday night's southern presidential debate the last debate before saturday's potentially decisive south carolina primary. you'll see that debate right here only on on cnn at 8:00 p.m. eastern. when we come back, we're going to ask conservative senator jim demint -- and the captain who abandoned his capsized ship while thousands of passengers were struggling to get off. you know when i grow up, i'm going to own my own restaurant. i want to be a volunteer firefighter. when i grow up, i want to write a novel. i want to go on a road trip. when i grow up, i'm going to go there. i want to fix up old houses. 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[ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. what's going on? we ordered a gift online and we really need to do something with it... i'm just not sure what... what is it? oh just return it. returning gifts is easier than ever with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service. if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. plus i can pick it up for free. perfect because we have to get that outta this house. c'mon, it's not that... gahh, oh yeah that's gotta go... priority mail flat rate shipping starts at just $4.95. only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship and return. will be giving away passafree copies of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. we're live in south carolina tonight. this is the home state of a man who's become an inspiration to tea party activists from coast-to-coast. even though some consider u.s. senator jim demint a kingmaker among conservatives vy forg elected office he's not endorsing anyone ahead of his state's crucial presidential primary. but senator demint has just published a new book just this month "now or never, saving america from economic collapse." he's joining us from his home base of greenville tonight. senator, after the debate last night a lot of the republican rivals criticized governor romney's record as the ceo of bain capital, suck suggesting that he was heartless taking money out of companies, causing people to lose their jobs. walking out you told our reporter, "this bain stuff is a crock." why is it a crock? is it not fair to question governor romney's record? >> well, yes, it's fair. and governor romney and all republicans need to learn how to defend free enterprise. any difficult business decision could look heartless. i know i was a businessman for years, and i stayed up countless nights worrying about having to let one person go. it's a terrible thing to do. but it's not nearly as bad as when the government's trying to run our economy. we see that with siolyndra and other money that is were given away. we have a free enterprise system that sometimes is difficult and painful but frankly we need more business leaders who have made painful decisions in washington because we don't seem to be able to make any. >> as you know, some of these republican rivals, and we already hear it from the democratic national committee and the obama campaign, part of these attacks on governor romney is to say here's a wealthy guy. he doesn't understand blue-collar south carolinians or blue-collar americans all across the country. the governor's been under some pressure to release his income taxes. today he said he would do that soon. he says he he pays a rate of about 18%. >> i know i get speaker's fees from time to time but not very much. >> speaker's fees from time to time but not very much. emphasis on not very much. if you look at governor romney's financial disclosure form, which he filed, in the last year that form covers he made more than $374,000 in speaker fees in just that one year. as an average south carolinian going to have a problem, senator, with a man who made $374,000 in speaking fees and then describes that as not very much? >> well, i think the average south carolinian would like to make that much. that's how our systems works is all of us want to do better. i don't know how many south carolinians will resent that. i guess we'll have to find out on saturday. but i think for the most part south carolinians are willing to stand on their own and work hard and we don't generally want to take from what other people are making. >> we talked a lot in the early months of this campaign. tea party activists in your state, tea party activists all around the country. many of them, senator, were hoping you would join the race for president. you decided not to do that. now you've decided not to endorse as your state votes on saturday. some people look at governor romney, look at his record say he's an established politician but they don't view him as a tea party darling. some people say if he wins south carolina and he's the de facto republican nominee, some will say the tea party fizzled, that it didn't have much influence this cycle. is that fair? >> no, it's not. i've got a lot of tea party supporters and they seem to be equally split among all these candidates. there are a number of them supporting romney, santorum, gingrich, perry, ron paul. i think the people are confused about what the tea party is. i mean, they were a broad cross-section of americans who came together concerned about our debt and our spending, and they're interested in constitutional limited government. and so they're not one group of people. they're thousands of small groups all over the country. no one can speak for them. and i certainly can't, either. but i see the ones that i've worked with here and around the country pretty well divided because they see things they like and they don't like about all of the candidates. i don't think anyone would say we've got a perfect candidate in this race. but we've got some good ones that would do a heck of a lot better than what we've got in the white house right now. >> that's a fascinating race in your home state right now, senator, couldn't decide who the republican nominee is, we appreciate your time tonight, senator jim demint of south carolina. >> thank you, john. >> thank you. if you try to look up senator demint or anyone else on wick paid yeah tomorrow, you won't find anything. it's part of a protest that has some of the world's most prominent web sites going blank. we'll tell you why in just a minute. plus if hitting the drive through is too much of a hassle, the drive through too much of a hassle? burger king says it will deliver you a whopper. that's if you live in the right places. there is a platform built for the purpose of driving innovation. one that's transforming how companies from every industry-- and of every size-- are doing business. a platform built for now. and for what's next. this...is the cisco intelligent network. cisco. [ man ] you have one new message. [ mom ] hi scooter. this is mommy. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. the vegetables are cut nice and thick... you were always good at cutting your vegetables. and it's got tender white-meat chicken... the way i always made it for you. oh, one more thing honey... those pj's you like, the ones with the feet, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. places. here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know right now. >> reporter: on the road again i hope you're having fun. we're holding down the fort. at the white house today president obama and jordan's king compared notes of how to restart peace talks between the palestinians and israelis. the president also said he's consulting very closely with jordan on creating enough international pressure to end the regime of syrian president bashar al assad. a grand jury today handed up a 17 count indictment against a man who allegedly fired rifle shots at the white house last november. oscar ortega-hernandez is accused of trying to assassinate the president though he wasn't in washington at the time of the shooting. and you won't be able to see some popular web sites tomorrow, including wikipedia and the tick bl blog bloing bloing. cnn's parent company time warner supports the bills. wikipedia and others say the laws would effectively promote censorship giving content producers too much power to block searches and shut down web sites over copyright infringement claims. if you're just too darn busy to go out for fast food, burger king is rolling out a delivery service at 16 stores, mostly on the east coast, and includes four stores apparently right here in washington. lucky us. busy lawmakers, bureaucrats and busy reporters like our john king maybe will have to order 8 to $10, though, of food, plus a $2 delivery fee. now, before you ask, john, because i know you care so much about this, apparently the company even came up with a special package technology so to avoid these soggy fries and soggy burger problem that people are so concerned about with their delivery burgers. >> i'm a salad guy, kate. what makes you think i would every -- >> i make no assumptions. >> horrible. if they could deliver the gym with it, maybe. >> there you go. >> we'll see you in a few minutes. up next, a chilling account from a survivor aboard that cruise ship fighting to find a life boat on a sinking ship along with more than 4,000 other passengers and crew. >> people were hysterical. people were screaming at each other. it really turned into a life or death situation. mid grade dark roast forest fresh full tank brain freeze cake donettes rolling hot dogs bag of ice anti-freeze wash and dry diesel self-serve fix a flat jumper cables 5% cashback right now, get 5% cashback at gas stations. it pays to discover. the sleep number bed. the magic of this bed is that you're sleeping on something that conforms to your individual shape. you can adjust it to whatever your needs are. so whatever you feel like, the sleep number bed's going to provide it for you. and now, the company that redefined sleep is redefining memory foam. save $400 on our all-new memory foam bed. and at our white sale, stock up and save on our exclusive bedding collection. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. in this half hour, a cruise ship survivor remembers what she calls the terrifying sound of the ship hitting the rocks and the chaos when it started to capsize. also the truth about mitt romney's drip drip drip approach to telling us about his income taxes. plus a man who made a fortune selling yogurt now stands accrues accused of beating a homeless man who asked him for money. you're looking at a live picture there about 12:30 a.m. in italy. that's the costa concordia on its side capsized in waters just off the coast. you see the rocks in the foreground there. 24 people, 24 people already missing from this capsized cruise ship. you see it sitting off the coast there. aboard nearly a half million gallons of fuel that could turn this pristine dolphin-filled waters around that wreck into an environmental disaster. searchers today discovered five more bodies, bringing the number of confirmed deaths from friday's shipwreck to 11. tonight the man at the center of it all, the ship's captain has been freed from jail and is awaiting trial now under house arrest. also today, authorities released recordings of the blunt and harsh phone calls between the captain and italian port authorities in the moments just after ship capsized. cnn's matthew chance has more. >> reporter: as passengers tried to escape the stricken costa concordia, shocking exchanges have emerged between a frustrated italian coast guard and a captain now accused of abandoning his ship. an astonished coast guard questions why he left his ship in the first place while his passengers still languished on board. [ speaking foreign language ] . >> reporter: regardless, the coast guard demands the captain returns to the ship to help the women and children still on board. [ speaking different language ] . >> but amid the chaos, the captain now facing charges of manslaughter and abandoning his duties never returned from his life boat. you may find that hard to explain. matthew chance, cnn, london. >> a stunning, stunning to see that and to hear that. one of the passengers aboard the cruise ship last friday was a 28-year-old woman from bowling green, kentucky. lauren moore said she was having dinner with friends when the ship hit submerged rocks calling it "a terrifying sound, and we knew it wasn't normal." now safely back home she's had a little time to put this all into perspective and to remember. >> all of a sudden the boat started leaning more and more to the side and people started to jump up from their table and forget about the dinner and suddenly run out of the dining room in fear. [ screaming ] >> we ran to our room. we grabbed our cell phone and our wallet. and we grabbed our life vests. and that's when we ran to the life boats. >> it was something that is straight out of a movie. people were trying to get on life boat that is were already full. the passengers that were already on life boats were screaming at other passengers to stay off because they were fearful that the pulley system would break or the boat would break. people were crazy. they were crying. people were hysterical. people were screaming at each other. it really turned into a life or death situation at that point. it was the most chaotic scene i have ever seen in my whole life. the crew really had a hard time handling the chaotic scene. it was hard for them to hold people back from the overcrowded life boats and to work the pulley system. you could really tell that they had no real direction. i was able to see the images of the infrared this morning. some of those people that you see are probably some of the people that didn't make it back. and it's just so heart-breaking to think that that might be the last image of some people. >> this dramatic, compelling account there. as you listen to survivors and you look at those pictures, one thing becomes more urgent every day moving the wreck of the ship before wind and sea push it into deeper water. we asked cnn's brian todd to look at the challenges of pulling a megaship from the sea. >> reporter: one of the key questions now what are going do with the kosta concordia once the rescue operation is complete. that might involve a massive salvaging operations. to discuss the options we came to the everglades, florida to talk to one of the experts in that field. we have bob unger. what are some of the option this is he have for dealing with this ship? >> the options -- the list of options is pretty much the same as it would be for any job this size. i can't say what may be the more attractive option in this situation, but the easiest option, the cleanest would be to hopefully bring it afloat somehow and tow it away. if that's not possible then more remote or the other extreme would be to have to cut it up and take it away in pieces. >> what involves kind of floating it up and hauling it away? that's got to be a massive job. >> clearly to make it buoyant you have to dewater the hull in some fashion with pumps or air compressors and concern yourself with stability issues. but the people who are working on it will undoubtedly be relying heavily on very qualified engineering support to address those issues. >> and to the environmental concerns are huge, right? >> always of a concern. no salver wants to do anything to hurt the environment during the course of the operation. the object, of course, is to take the situation as it is when you arrive and make it safer for the people working on it and for the environment. >> all right, bob, thanks very much. we appreciate it. his group has dealt with cruise ships in the past salvaging cruise ships. they've sunk an aircraft carrier, also pulled a value jet plane out of the everglades so they have a lot of experience in this. experts here say one of the things you have to remember this is not going to be a quick job or a cheap job. it's going to take months, they say, and probably cost maybe up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. john? >> as you hear these stories from survivors about the chaos, as you see those dramatic pictures you can almost hear and see executives from the cruise line industry cringing and worrying. amid a rough global economy and the competitive tour industry to begin with, cruise lines now face a black eye they could hardly want. cnn's alison kosik here on more of what it all means for the cruise line business. >> reporter: hi, john. the cruise line industry has been booming. the worldwide market for 2012 is estimated at over $34 billion with a record 20 million passengers expected to sail this year. that's according to figures put out by industry analyst group cruisemarketwatch. those numbers were put out in november before the kosta concordia shipwreck. we spoke to cruise market watch today and they say it's too early to project how the accident will affect the worldwide market for cruises. the group suspects cruise lines will begin to offer discounts if they sense the number of bookings falling. the goal for cruises is to fill every ship, hoping passengers who get a deal on the tickets spend the savings once they climb aboard. so far it looks like cruise customers are treating the disaster as what it it is, an unusual, rare occurrence for an industry with a pretty good safety record. carnival tells us passengers continue to book vacations and are confident in the histo in t industry. but the losses could be in the millions of dollars. $95 million just for the concordia being out of service all year and cost to fix it. and personal injury claims and lawsuits will likely cost the company tense of millions of dollars more. then there's the damage to its reputation which is hard to measure. but the industry itself should be able to steer its way through the storm. john? >> alison kosik, thank you. shifting to a developing political story, maybe you're watching the republican campaign, seeing the republican campaign ads attacking each other. cnn has learned the president's re-elections team now taking its first steps toward launching their own campaign commercials. our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin has the breaking news on that. jess, a little early or they think it's time to get involved? >> reporter: they are taking the first steps because clearly they do think they're just about ready, john. i guess the elections season isn't real until you're inundated with ads from both sides of the aisle. sources are telling us the obama election team has asked about ad rates in 13 key states. so that clearly means they're not ready to do it just yet. they've emphasized this to us. but they are making the initial asks. some of those states include states that will be very meaningful to you, john, florida, ohio, iowa, new hampshire, and iowa. so that's just some of them. these are among the battle ground states that the president plans to contest, meaning fight hard for in november. they are by no means a sure win for the president. and of course, all the republicans who are still in the race are not just running against each other but their ads are taking aim at the president as well. and no doubt it that's one of the reasons that the obama campaign is right now contemplating going up with their own ads to push back against some of the negatives that are coming at him, john. >> good clue as to your travel schedule in the months ahead. north carolina, minnesota, iowa, florida, arizona, colorado. pack your bag. get ready to go. jessica yellin with another major developing political story. jess, thank you. up next the truth about mitt romney's tax rate and why he doesn't want to release his tax returns now. and the case against netflix. why a $90 million pay day has shareholders up in arms. that was me trying to be discreet with my vial and syringe. me, drawing my insulin dose. and me the day i discovered novolog flexpen. flexpen is pre-filled with your mealtime insulin. dial the exact dose, inject by pushing a button. no vials, syringes or coolers to carry. flexpen is insulin delivery my way. novolog is a fast-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults and children with diabetes. do not inject if you do not plan to eat within five to ten minutes after injection to avoid low blood sugar. tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you take and all of your medical conditions, including if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. the most common side effect is low blood sugar. other possible side effects include reactions at the injection site. get medical help right away if you experience serious allergic reactions, body rash, trouble with breathing, fast heartbeat or sweating. with flexpen, vial and syringe are in the past. ask your doctor about novolog flexpen, covered by 90% of insurance plans, including medicare. no one should be surprised to learn as we did today that mitt romney pays about a 15% tax rate. what is surprising that it's taking him so long to confront the reality he has little choice but to release his tax returns. we're not there yet. instead, governor romney is taking the drip drip drip approach. first he said he wouldn't release then shifted to probably wouldn't. then another shift and a pledge to release them sometime around april. and then today without releasing any documents the former massachusetts governor added this. >> it's probably closer to the 15% rate i think as my last ten years my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual income. >> now, that puts governor romney on par with warren buffet and many other wealthy americans who make their money on investments but don't get a traditional paycheck or a salary. it means he pays a lower rate than many working americans even though his estimated net worth is between 190 million and $250 million. you can be sure now some of his republican rivals and the democrats in the obama campaign will try to make hay out of that. the detailed tax returns could include other details that bring tough questions. and there's no law or campaign rule that forces the governor to make his returns public. but here's tonight's truth. his father long ago set the right example on this issue. and governor romney would be wise to follow it. yes, back in 1967 republican presidential candidate george romney released 12 years worth of tax returns, a move if you read news accounts from the time, was described as unprecedented. mitt romney should follow his father's lead, the sooner the better. but he would get and deserve some credit if he did that for transparency. why wait? why not even release one year's return? maybe romney is concerned at times he can sound tone deaf. >> i get speakers fees from time to time but not very much. >> okay now, take a deep breath and a second. i'm going to give you a moment. you define "not very much". well, governor romney's most recent financial disclosure form showed $374,000 in speaking fees in just one year. on average, more than $40,000 a speech. truth is, calling that not very much is, well, not very smart. joining us now to weigh in on romney's tax return dilemma and the campaign in south carolina, gop political consultant jim dyke, joe kline and the tea party patriots co-founder jenny beth martin. jenny, i want to start with you. governor romney's leading if you study the polls here right now. tea party activists have a little grumble about that. this particular issue of taxes. there's no law that says he has to do it. there's no rule that says he has to do this. are there any voters out there for whom this is a relevant issue or is this a media question? >> i haven't heard people in the tea party movement talk about it. but when you're running for president there are certain things you need to note answer. to what percentage you pay for taxes, how much eggs cost, how much milk is. i mean, it shouldn't be a surprise to him. and he need to be able to answer one way or the other, not flip-flopping. >> as a smart guy who runs smart campaigns, what would you tell the governor about the drip drip drip approach? >> well, there's sort of two sides to, this interestingly enough. one is you need to be decisive as i think joe would say and clear and you need to show leadership. at the same time, we're going to -- may spend the last three days of the south carolina primary talking about governor romney's taxes. i'm not sure it's going to move any votes. >> but south carolina primary, you don't think it will move any votes? >> i don't think people particularly care whether he releases his taxes. >> only on a subliminal level. the guy seems kind of shaky and equivocal. his answer last night during the debate on the tax returns was dreadful. and so i think that in a kind of second-hand way it's like second-hand smoke. it creates the aura that's enveloping this campaign and may hurt him especially since newt gingrich has seemed very forthright with one major exception. >> my question when things like this happen he's a smart guy, governor romney, whether you agree or disagree with his policies. he's got a seasoned campaign team around him. when they do something that doesn't make sense, pro long a story, trickles it out, you wonder why. >> they're human. >> maybe they're more comfortable talking about whether he'll release his tax return records in south carolina than all the other issues that may impact how voters vote when they show up. >> a larger policy issue here. that is are they embarrassed act the fact that we taxed capital at a lower rate than we tax labor. you know, many republicans believe that the investment is important to encourage investment in that way. and that's the argument that romney is going to have to make. it's a hard argument to make when you have $250 million in the bank. >> everybody knows the tax code is a complete mess and needs to be reformed. for the obama administration that's had several chances at large reform and taken a total pass to take this on i think it would be a debate we'd be happy to have. >> you mentioned the other potential issues. i want to play here a guy who did very well in iowa, not so well in new hampshire, rick santorum comes to south carolina, a state where you would think especially now that evangelical leaders many have said he's preferable to governor romney, he has an ad up against governor romney that raises some of those other issues. let's listen. >> obama supported the wall street bailouts. so did romney. obama gave us radical obama care that was based on romney care. why would we ever votecare. why would we vote for someone just like obama when we can unite around rick santorum and beat obama? >> jenny, that is aimed straight at a tea party voter, bailouts and health care. what does that tell you about the strength of the tea party? south carolina? >> well, even if he wins south carolina, he is going to say he is going to take it to a federal level and talk about the fiscal responsibility so all of the candidates are talking about our issues. he has to be able to do this, because it is part of the primary process. i'm not surprised by the ad. i'm sure that ron paul and gingrich folks feel like they should be going around their candidate as well. >> is there a sense that 2008 deja vu in the sense that newt suggested that it is up to them, but it would be nice if perry and santorum would get out and three people to romney's right, like the fred thompson and huckabee factor last time. >> well, the interesting thing is to see if the other two drop out after the results of saturday. this is the super bowl for the conservative anti-romney candidate, and right now it is looking like newt. >> that ad was about one thing and not policy, but electability. rick santorum is trying to make the electability factor, and newt is doing the same to santorum, and the way it is happening in south carolina the law of unintended consequences, the beneficiary of all of it is mitt romney. >> if you lose two of them, perry and santorum, it is too late? does romney go into the florida state where money matters on tv, and in arizona he is in good shape and in nevada, great shape, and it is too late? >> well, i think about the 1976 republican race where ronald reagan got clobbered front end and then brought it to within 15 or 20 delegates at the national convention. so, down the road, i think that there are a lot more conservatives and tea party sup p porters in the party than long-term conservative republicans. >> well, it will be interesting. and we will see where we go from south carolina and go from there. erin burnett is up next with "outfront." erin, over to you. >> well, we want to talk about what is going to happen in washington. congress back with a month off and a lot of them going to nice places like mexico on taxpayer junkets, and we will be joined by two members who want to work together. it is interesting, john, because as you know, we will have a protest vote on the debt ceiling and another countdown and we will talk about that tonight as they all come back into washington. also a big fight on what you can get on line that has the passions of millions involved. it is going to be joined by the man who founded wikipedia jimmy wails, because at midnight that site is going black, closed. he will tell us why it is washington's fault. >> that is an interesting topic, the internet. and now a man who made a fortune of selling yogurt now is a accused of beating a homeless man. and the first lady trades drama for situational comedy. [ todd ] hello? hello todd. just calling to let you know i'm giving you the silent treatment. so you're calling to tell me you're giving me the silent treatment? ummm, yeah. jen, this is like the eighth time you've called... no, it's fine, my family has free unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes. i can call all i want. i don't think you understand how the silent treatment works. hello? [ male announcer ] buy unlimited messaging and get free unlimited calling to any mobile phone on any network. at&t. and it hasn't been going exactly as planned. cut. cut! [ monica ] i thought we'd be on location for 3 days -- it's been 3 weeks. so i had to pick up some more things. good thing i've got the citi simplicity card. i don't get hit with a fee if i'm late with a payment... which is good because on this job, no! bigger! [ monica ] i may not be home for a while. [ male announcer ] the new citi simplicity card. no late fees. no penalty rate. no worries. no late fees. no penalty rate. what's he looking for? i think he's looking for savings. ♪ i can't watch this anymore. stop! there's an easier way! we compare your progressive direct rate to other top companies so you get a great price. no more running around. ha ha ha! wouldn't you love to see the world through his eyes? i bet i look like the strongest man in the world. the best place to find a great deal. now, that's progressive. call or click today. kate bolduan is back with the latest news that you need to know right now. hello, again. >> hey. good evening, everyone. one of the co-founders of pink cherry yogurt is standing accused of beating a man with a tire wrench. he is accused of chasing down a man asking for money while lee's car was at a stoplight. a class action lawsuit filed today accuses netflix inflated the value of the stock. reuters says that netflix executives sold nearly 400,000 shares of their own stock while the price was high netting them $90 million. and the plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages. a special birthday is celebrated at the white house today. first lady michelle obama is celebrating her 48th birthday. while meeting with the world series champions the st. louis cardinals today, the team offered a gift for president obama to give to the first lady. >> we have that for you and a world series bat. >> i am worried about giving my wife a bat though. if i mess up. >> i will take that. [ applause ] >> i love those unscripted moments, because they are absolutely wonderful. also, john, you probably also know that another birthday celebrated today is betty white turning 90 today, and the men in my curtain behind me says that the first on-camera appearance was in 1945, so very special birthdays today. >> they are lying to you, kate. betty white turned 21 today. i can finally buy her a drink. i am looking forward to that. >> i need to check my facts. is that what you are telling me? got yu. >> we are terribly wrong, ms. white. terribly wrong. tonight's moments, and you may have seen the first lady getting a stick bat, but she also had some schtick comedy. >> so, what are you doing here -- your excellency. >> you don't call her your excellency. >> no, no, i kind of like it. i came here to say i'm proud of you. >> why are you proud of us? >> because of how much you care for your father and because of what you two did for your friend. >> the "washington post" reports that the first lady has not appeared on a sit com since nancy reagan on "different strokes" 29 years ago, kate. >> well, good timing. that is not easy if you have never -- well, she is

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