demetrius, and russell, i want want you to know i was with them. i prayed with them. i wiped their tears. i know god was with them. i don't know why this happened, i only wish i could have done more. i'm not a hero, just a football coach and a study hall teacher. >> coach hall is a hero. the suspect, t.j. lane, is facing three counts of aggravated murder among other serious charges. cnn's ted rolands was at the high school the first time the students returned since the attack. >> reporter: it was a difficult morning as students along with their parents return today school for the first time since monday's shooting. >> it was pretty emotional, seeing everyone hug and cry and everyone unite and remembering this hard time. >> reporter: and remembering the three students killed. 16-year-old danny parmenter, 16-year-old da meet ruse hueland and 17-year-old russell king jr. today the grieving families of danny parmenter and demetrius hueland talked publicly about their loss. >> demetrius was energetic and a good young man. demetrius has donated his organs. and for demetrius one life he gets to change eight lives. they took him this morning at 5 minutes to 8:00, to take his organs. so i'm kind of having a hard time. than was the last time i got to see him. >> my brother was the happiest kid on the planet. he never got mad at anybody. he always just loved to have fun. he was going to change the world. >> reporter: 17-year-old nick walzak is still hospitalized with no feeling in his legs. a teacher john richey pulled nick into his classroom after he'd been shot. >> he's the one that pulled him from the hallway into a room. he's forever our hero. >> reporter: while none of the victim's family members would talk about the accused gunman, 17-year-old t.j. lane, demetrius hueland's mother sounded conciliatory. >> you have to forgive. because if you don't forgive you hold that in your heart. still your memory of your child in there you've got that hatred in your heart. and this is for my son. this is for my son. >> reporter: t.j. lane remains in custody. he was charged as you said today three counts of aggravated murder. two counts of attempted aggravated murder and an assault charge. he's due back in court next tuesday. >> and ted, on such an emotional day, the students coming back for the first time, what's being done down the road, today, tomorrow and beyond to help the students deal with this tragedy? >> reporter: they have counselors in place for students. tomorrow will be the first day where students come to school alone. today they came with their parents. but there will be grief counselors there. and the school administrators said today -- tomorrow will be the first normal day of school but it's not going to be a normal day. it won't be a normal day here for some time. their plan here is to heal together and do it for however long it takes. >> ted rowlands, live for us inside that school tragedy. ted, thanks so much. shifting to politics in today's long distance fight between president obama and mitt romney over what you're paying at the gas pump. in new hampshire the president brought along a chart showing the country's dependence on foreign oil has gone down every year he's been in the white house. >> now, if there's one thing i know about new hampshire it's that your political bull detector is pretty keen. it's pretty sharp. you know that we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices. there are no quick fixes or silver bullets. if somebody tells you there are they're not telling you the truth. >> across the country in idaho this afternoon, governor romney's answer? warmed up and ready to go. >> today this president is in new hampshire, trying to say that he takes credit for the fact that more oil and gas are being produced in america today. [ audience boos ] >> yeah. the american people are a little too smart for that. he can't pull the wool over their eyes in that regard. >> our chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is here. how does the president try to counter the republican charges that he's in charge, this is his problem as prices go up especially in an election year. >> reporter: the president today john is trying to have it both ways. first he argues that there are no simple answers and that as you say the republicans, well, he says they just want to drill their way out of everything. and that in reality the real answer has to include investing in alternative energy and also improving fuel-efficiency standards which he argues his administration has done. but but as you also noted he whipped out a chart to show that he solved part of the problem because during his administration, guess what, drilling is up. so he is having it both ways and he's angling for some of the credit but none of the blame. >> but how much of a vulnerability when you talk to them candidly, how much of a vulnerability is it? he is in charge. prices are going up. he as a senator is on the record blaming people in charge for prices going up. >> reporter: right. they wouldn't be talking about this as much as they are if it weren't a vulnerability. and you know voters feel it right away when gas prices go up because they see it when they go to the punch. republicans will continue to hit the president over delaying a decision on the keystone pipeline. so that's an ongoing issue for the president. and while the president's aides argue that the media hypes rising gas prices every time spring comes up, we know that gas prices might continue to rise as the market reflects fears over rising tensions between iran and israel. so there's no sign that gas prices will necessarily come down anytime in the next few months, john. >> some good economic indicators, high gas prices, potentially a little problem heading into the fall. thanks so much for coming in. mitt romney fighting with the president over gas price there. he's gotten himself in the republican primary again by opening his mouth. romney jumped on today's u.s. senate vote, that vote killing a republican effort to exempt employers providing health insurance coverage for birth control and other procedures that may violate their consciences. he rushed out a statement saying "i applaud the senator whose took a stand today and voted to defend religious freedom. the obama administration has directly attacked the first amendment of our constitution and individual liberty." the problem is, governor romney's on camera telling the ohio news network he was against that birth control measure. listen closely to the question. you'll hear a reference to rick santorum his rival as well as romney's answer. >> a bill being dede baited later this week allowing employers to ban providing female contraception. have you take an position on it? he says he's for that. have you take an position? >> i'm not for the bill. but look. the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, a husband and wife, i'm not going there. >> now later, not that much later, governor romney had a different answer and an explanation. >> i simply misunderstood what he was talking about. i thought it was some ohio legislation where employers were prevented from providing contra accept tiffs. so i talked about contra accept tiffs and so forth. so i really misunderstood the question. >> campaigning in georgia today, former senator santorum ridiculed romney's shift. >> we saw an insight into the what's in the gut of governor romney yesterday. when governor romney was asked that question, his knee jerk reaction was no, i can't vote for that. well then after his consultants talked to him, then he came back, oh, he said i misunderstood the question. maybe he did and maybe he didn't. >> jim acosta, this is the kind of controversy the romney campaign can ill afford, the question about his commitment to a conservative cause. >> reporter: that's right. it seems that mitt romney has a big night, gets a lot of momentum behind him he has one of these episodes where he just has a misstep. the romney campaign is hitting back on any notion this was a flub. they say this was a totally honest misunderstanding. they are now trying to clear up what you call a miscontraception on the issue going back and forth with reporters and talking about how mitt romney clearly misunderstood this question. in the past i would say republicans, roy blunt the author of that legislation in question said today that he thought the question was confusing for mitt romney so he is getting a pass from republicans there. clearly the campaign is trying to put this behind them. but every step along the way today, john, he was in north dakota, in idaho, he was asked by reporters, could you please elaborate on this position that you have? at one point he said he could elaborate on the issue of this blunt amendment but then he decided not. to he moved on to the next thing. >> jim, help us understand their strategy. everyone talks about how ohio, maybe tennessee the biggest super tuesday battle grounlds. ies mitt romney out west? >> reporter: he's out west because he needs delegates, john. i think it's pretty clear that on super tuesday he is going to probably lose those southern states that vote on super tuesday so he wants to win other states. so he was in north dakota earlier today, idaho after that. he's on his way to washington state right now which hold its caucuses on saturday. rick santorum also coming to washington state this evening. and rick santorum can win this state, but because of the proportional allocation of these delegates out west, mitt romney needs to get as many of these delegates as possible to sort of even things out on super tuesday. and so they're fighting for every delegate that they can get out here, john. we're going to see mitt romney having a fundraiser later on this evening. and then having an event in washington state here in seattle tomorrow morning. but then he's out of here. he's going back to ohio later on tomorrow afternoon to hook up with chris christie, the governor of new jersey, getting back to the importance of ohio. they don't need to be told by us how important it is. they know it's important. that's why chris christie is coming out there tomorrow night, john. >> all this focus on the small states a reminder of the clinton-obama race four years ago when the small states did matter quite a bit. jim thank you. a near accident in philadelphia's airport today raises some new questions tonight about airport security. a man crashed a jeep through a runway gate, drove down the runway as a plane was coming in. an air traffic controller spotted it and diverted the plane with seconds to spare. here's the discussion up in the control tower. >> everybody on 9er it's going to be a delay. you guys can shut down if you need to. we've got a rogue vehicle driving around on the airport. we're not moving anybody until we find this guy." >> you see the guy's picture right there, they say he may have been high on drugs. they don't connect this to terrorism. democrats say republicans are waging a war on women. republicans say their conscience coverage is critical to people of faith. >> this issue will not go away unless the administration decides to take it away. >> kathleen sibelius, department of health and human services secretary next. ♪ dave, i've downloaded a virus. yeah. ♪ dave, where are we on the new laptop? it's so slow! i'm calling dave. [ telephone rings ] [ sighs ] i need a new i.t. guy. [ male announcer ] in a small business, technology is all you. staples easy tech experts are here to help. you must be... ...dave. [ male announcer ] with everything from new computers, to set-ups, to tune-ups. stapes. that was easy. 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. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're never done growing. i want to fall in love again. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday. get this free travel bag when you join whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y. the senate today killed an employer exemption for providing birth control. let's talk to department of health and human services secretary kathleen sibelius. madam secretary, the administration opposed this amendment. roy blunt says he's simply trying to protect the first amendment rights of employers who might have a moral objection to abortion, a moral objection to contraception or something else. why does the administration say bad idea? >> first of all, john, the blunt amendment in the senate went well beyond women's health services and well beyond contraception services. it really would have allowed any employer for really any reason, not religious employers for religious reason, but any employer for any moral reason to deny any health benefit to any employee. so you really could have had a situation where employers got to pick and choose what coverage options would be available to their employees. if someone felt that they had a moral objection to people delivering children who weren't married, you can deny prenatal coverage and maternity services. you can deny hiv screening. you could turn down someone for a variety of treatments that you felt fell outside of your objections as an employer. and that's really not the way a health law can operate. so it was any employer for any reason, any coverage, any employee. and i think it would have totally undermined the motion that if you have health insurance it should be broad and cover the services desperately needed by people in this country. >> during the debate today, senator susan collins, republican of maine, she voted with the republicans. she voted in favor of this amendment that you say is a bad idea. i want you to listen here. even as she did so she herself raised some questions. >> the sponsor of this amendment is completely sincere. and i want to make that clear. but this issue has become a sad example of election year politics. i believe that a good compromise could have been reached and should have been worked out. >> is there a good compromise to you, senator collins' words, madam secretary? is there some way on some issues i think you concede the point on some issues there might be a legitimate moral or religious exemption. is there a compromise? >> i think absolutely what the president announced in february and what we'll be working to implement and we'll have a proposed rule in the near future, john, is a strategy which both protects religious freedom, protects the religious objection of employers who in the area of contraception feel that it violates their religious tenets and make sure that the millions of women who need family planning services, who rely on contraception, who 99% of women take contraception at some point during their health lives, have access to this very important preventative service benefit. so having an insurance company directly provide coverage to women so that employers with a religious objection do not pay for the coverage, do not refer people to the coverage, do not have to provide the coverage, and we will have a similar accommodation for self-insured plans, working with a variety of the strategies that are operational on the ground. john, we've got 28 states around this country where the state's law mandates that contraception be a part of covered benefits for women. and catholic institutions, catholic hospitals, have provided that coverage in a variety of strategies. so i am confident that by august of 2013, which is when the grace period will be implemented, we will have in place a strategy that meets both the goals. certainly respecting religious freedom but also making sure that women's health benefits for the first time will include the full package of services that they need. and then women can make a choice whether or not to access those benefits based on her own faith tradition. >> let me ask you in closing about senator collins' point about election year politics. this is one of these. i've been at this awhile. you're no stranger to the rough and tumble politics from your days as governor. seems to me that both parties like this fight. the conservatives like to challenge the mandate, challenge to the president. attacking a healthcare plan they don't like. i'm getting a lot of e-mails and pressure from democratic groups saying republicans are waging a war on women. is this one you're caught in the middle in the cabinet trying to implement this law of a fight that both parties seem to like? >> well, hopefully it won't be a fight that will continue. i think there's no question, john, that for too long insurance plans haven't paid enough attention to women's health benefits. that's why the institute of medicine said we need to make sure that they include domestic violence screening and well women visits and contraception which is the most commonly taken drug of women 14 to 44. on the other hand, the president and i feel very strongly that religious liberty is a critical tenet of our democracy. it's part of the -- what this country was founded on. and i think we have a solution that actually has been operational in many parts of the country, in the majority of the country, for years and years. so i'm confident that we can move forward on a robust benefit package that for the first time will take full account of what women's health needs are and respect the religious liberty of employers who find objectionable contraception based on religious tenets, and we will make sure that their objections are followed and listened to, but that the women employees of catholic hospitals and catholic institutions, whether they are nurses or jan tors or nurse aides or teachers, don't have to give up an important health benefit. >> i suspect we might be having this conversation again. i appreciate your time tonight, secretary sibelius. if you use google, your web surfing will be tracked. plus the shocking death of the controversial conservative commentator andrew brightbart. new details are emerging this hour about just how he died. that's next. ... scientists, technicians, engineers, machinists... ... adding nearly 400 billion dollars to our economy... we're at work providing power to almost a quarter of our homes and businesses... ... and giving us cleaner rides to work and school... and tomorrow, we could do even more. cleaner, domestic, abundant and creating jobs now. we're america's natural gas. the smarter power, today. learn more at anga.us. to help protect your eye health as you age... would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. now, that's a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. help protect your eye health. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ helping you do what you do... even better. imagine if you could always see life [music] in the best light. every time of day. outdoors, or in. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it is meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know right now. >> reporter: hello. welcome back. lots of stories to catch you up on. we begin with today's outpouring of grief among conservatives at the death of political blogger andrew breitbart. he was 43 years old. according to his web site's editor he died of natural causes. breitbart posted stories and video that is among other things took down the community action group acorn and exposed anthony wiener's sexually explicit photos. he also published selectively edited script speech by department of agriculture shirley sherad that appeared racist but was not. he defended himself. >> this was not about shirley sherad,about the naacp attacking the tea party. this is showing racism at an naacp event. i did not ask for shirley sherad to be fired. i did not ask for any repercussions for shirley sherad. they were the ones that took the initiative to get rid of her. >> reporter: today tearful republican congressmen put up a life-sized poster of breitbart on the floor. rick santorum calls breitbart "brilliant entrepreneur, fearless conservative, loving husband and father." newt gingrich calls breitbart's death "a tragedy for his family and for conservatism." rick santorum got the news talking with reporters. >> sir, did you hear andrew breitbart passed away? >> no kidding. really? >> do you have any comment on it? >> first of all, that's horrible. >> reporter: shirley sherad issued a statement saying her prayers go out to breitbart's family. democrats for the most part have said nothing today on this issue. in other news that we're watching, if you use google be advised. its new privacy policy is in effect as of today. critics say it means less privacy for you. google says it's a good thing because you'll be able to make suggestions based on what you do using google products like the search engine youtube, g mail and more if you want to see many of the ways they're watching you, search google dashboard and log in. those privacy issues are serious. >> they're watching everything. they know everything. >> reporter: bottom line, john knows this. you had an interesting interview with someone on that issue. >> look, the genie is out of the bottle. not much you can do. to protect yourself. if you use a computer, you credit card company, google knows everything about you. ahead tomorrow is an important day in iran. voting day. what the elections tell us about iranian ambitions an will the results give us insight into what the iranian people really want? rare live report just ahead from iran. plus new tonight survivor stories from the tornado that killed more than a dozen people in the midwest. we'll take you there live in just a moment for the latest. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. ewill be giving awayuse for passafree copiesrline, of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. raw emotions as tornado survivors pick through the pieces of their homes and marvel they escaped with their lives. tonight's truth about mitt romney's yes and no answer has become the latest flash point in the republican campaign. one of the nation's biggest banks tries out some fees that could go nation-wide. an enormous storm system that sent deadly tornados trashing the midwest and southeast has left 13 people dead across illinois, kansas, tennessee and illinois. hardest hit city harrisburg, illinois. live there in just a moment. let me give you a little perspective. there's a shopping mall right here. we're going to go live to this mall in just a second. our don lemmon is standing by. this is before. look at the power of that tornado. that is after. this stuff just crumbled, toppled over. a truck on its side there. don lemmon is on the ground in harrisburg tonight. don, we've seen these devastating pictures. let's listen before we talk to a survivor you spoke to earlier. >> just look at this and wonder how you ever got out. a bedroom on this side, a bedroom on that side completely destroyed and the bathroom right there in the middle and that's where i was. and how the bathroom got left, good enough for me to survive, only god knows. >> so when you ran out you had to come around on the street? >> yes. i came out of that bathroom door that's facing on that side. you can see where i busted it to get out. and i crawled over all this stuff and came out to here hollering for anybody. >> when they started coming out one by one. >> tears of joy. i didn't want to let none of them go, but i knew i had to let the 5-year-old go because he needed medical attention. >> you were holding onto him? >> i was holding on tight. >> don, that gentleman there i'm sure others you talked to, so much raw emotion. any estimate just how bad this damage is? >> well, we know it's about 2 to 300 homes across the area. and more than 50 businesses. as you can see, you sought before, and you saw the after of this. and i think they're still trying to get damage totals as they go from house to house. they've gone where they go through and put the x on it that we saw so much during katrina an other big tornadoes. they've done that. but about 2 to 300 homes so far. and again more than 50 businesses here, john. it's really unbelievable. just like a half a mile swath through this town. >> and you go through that and you walk through the community and you show these pictures and see the scope of the devastation. the question becomes, what about rebilling? how long? how much rebuilding? >> you know, they're just one day into it. so it's going to be a lot. they're estimating into the millions obviously. and the businesses they don't have estimates yet. they tried to come through today. we saw if you go this way, this was a video game store. they couldn't even get to all of their merchandise. they came today and had someone with emergency workers crawl in to get to the safe. where we're standing now is like a 5500 square foot sporting good store. so it depend on how much they can recover, john, if they can recover anything from the businesses so that they can know exactly how much they're going to recover. how much it costs to recover. how much insurance is going to pay them and what have you. so they're still working on it. it's going to take some time here. they're still putting tarps on roofs because they have another weather system coming through tomorrow. so what is still here they want to protect it. >> still in a shade of shock as well. don lemmon on the ground in harrisburg, illinois. iran yons will do something tomorrow they haven't done in three years. vote. this time they'll be casting their votes for parliament. the last time they voted mahmoud ahmadinejad won that election. voters questioned the results and protests followed. ivan, things seem to be less violent this time around? >> reporter: that's right. you have the leader of iran, the supreme leader, ayatollah khomeini. he's calling on them to come out and vote en masse. a huge campaign trying to get people out to vote. leaders here saying it's more important than ever to have a high voter turnout. why are they saying that? because the aftermath of the 2009 vote when opposition candidates accused the government of rigging the election and the ensuing street protests against the regime here really challenged the credibility and the legitimacy of the regime. so at this time you have the ruling government trying to prove to iranians and to the rest of the world that it can run a free and fair election and that it has legitimacy and the support of the public. we're not going to see in this election representatives, candidates, from that green movement we saw, that opposition pro-reform green movement of 2009, john. one of the main reasons is because the main candidates who ran for president? they're under house arrest. and many of their supporters and the campaign managers either were arrested here or have fled into exile. john. >> that's a very, very important point to make as we watch the elections. ivan, what are the major themes in the campaigning? >> are you seeing a lot of anti-american sentiment, anti-western sentiment? >> reporter: absolutely. that's pretty common for the ruling establishment here in iran. the supreme leader ayatollah khomeini saying if we get a huge turnout on friday, that will be a punch in the face of iran's western rivals. and iran is facing some pressure right now. it's got sanctions led by the u.s. and europe toughening up international trade with iran's central bank. that is making problems. and then there's an awful lot of disturbing talk of the possibility of war between israel, the u.s. and iran. and that's frankly frightening people here and driving some of this aggressive talk against the u.s. john? >> rare inside look at politics inside iran. ivan watson, thanks so much tonight. a group of american and british activists finally out of egypt months after the workers were accused of promoting anti-government protests. they're still facing fraud charges but headed home tonight. one of the released is sam la hood, the son of the transportation secretary lahood. secretary la hood tonight says "i'm pleased the court has lifted the travel ban and am looking forward to my son's arrival in the u.s. i'd like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this time." in syria today activists report a blood bath where government forces moved into a key neighborhood in in homs. rebels say they withdrew so aid can be sent there. a pair of journalists got out safely. britain joined the united states in closing its embassy in damascus and withdrawing all diplomats from syria. that done because of safety concerns. still ahead here tonight's truth about what you might call mitt romney's john kerry moment. he was against it before he was for it. plus president obama talks sports with espn and makes a very bold prediction. made it the number one selling anti-aging cream undeniably. it creamed unbelievably a $500 cream. and now women have made regenerist microsculpting cream also unscented. women love it. in original and also fragrance-free. i heard they found women loveenergy here. it's good. we need the jobs. [customer:] we need to protect the environment. [worker:] we could do both. is that possible? [announcer:] at conocophillips, we're helping power america's economy with cleaner, affordable natural gas. more jobs. less emissions. a good answer for everyone. well, if it's cleaner and affordable. as long as we keep these safe. there you go. thanks. [announcer:] conocophillips. okay. are you for or against the blunt rubio amendment? do you even know what it is? mitt romney was against it before he was for it. and when he says it's all a misunderstanding it's now the latest flash point in the gop campaign. >> we saw an insight into what's in the gut of governor romney yesterday. when governor romney was asked that question, his knee jerk reaction was no, i can't answer that. >> the amendment was voted down today. it allows employers to opt out of any moral objection. senator santorum is talking about this gut check of mitt romney in ohio. >> blunt rubio is being debated i believe later this week that deals with banning or allowing employers to ban providing female contraception. have you take an position on it? he said he was for that. we'll talk about personhood in a second but he's for that. have you taken a position? >> i'm not for the bill. but look. the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, i'm not going there. >> now, the conservative backlash was instant. and team romney was quick to respond, too, asserting the question was confusing. the candidate quickly himself called into a boston radio program. >> i really misunderstood the question. of course roy blunt who is my liaison to the senate is someone i support. and of course i support that amendment. i clearly want to have religious exemption from obama care. >> governor romney then addressed it again today. >> i'm in favor of the blunt amendment. >> can you elaborate? >> can i elaborate? absolutely. >> now, that elaboration never came. but here's tonight's truth. even if you give governor romney the benefit of the doubt and accept that he misunderstood the question he should have been more careful. truth is his instinct to attack rick santorum -- he drew a contrast instead of asking the ohio reporter to clarify the question. again especially given his problems with social conservatives, a more deliberate approach would have spared him to be against it before he was before it dust up. joining us to talk truth romney campaign adviser karen madden -- i normally am a gentleman. i do ladies first. but since you were involved in the romney campaign, is this one of these cases, if you replay that question, i could understand why he was a little confused. but he's running for president. he's had a recent series of people questioning things he said. why wouldn't you stop and say what exactly are you asking mere? what are we talking about here? as opposed to he just wanted to hit san tore almost and now he's in a mess. >> i disagree with you on two points. first is he was trying to draw a contrast. i don't think that's right. the second is it was just confusing. i think it was more than confusing. the question the way it was posed was absolutely inaccurate. so as a governor who could have been, should have been briefed about the state of the blunt bill and the nature of it being debated, that's a separate issue. the fact there's a large market share of information out there about the governor's position on this particular issue. he's made it clear hundred of times before. but the way that question was asked, it said are you for banning contraception, i think the governor was reacting to the topic, not necessarily the specifics of the actual bill. and i think that's why we had this bit of a curfuffle. i disagree it was a chance to draw a contrast. >> i just am so impressed by curfuffle. anyone who can say that and pull it off correctly deserves a hat tip. >> it takes up half a tweet if you tweet. was he drawing a contrast? how do you handle that? how do you help a candidate say, look, if someone asks you a question with a lot of come mass in it you should what? >> i think you stop and say let me clarify that. but romney generally speaking does a very fine job with interviews. i think it is very -- it's very easy to say he was responding instinctively. kevin even you say he was responding to the word contraceptive, which does make you think that perhaps he was trying to draw a distinction. but the bottom line is, it's an error that is going to cost him. because romney has serious problems with white evangelical voters. and he's going to have serious problems with them moving forward. and this just plays into that narrative, unfortunately. >> you have on? santorum says this is a gut check, and he's saying essentially you can't trust romney. you have democrats on the other side -- "mitt romney stood on the side of women having control over their own health choices. sadly only for about 90 minutes before flip-flopping and backtracking." he's take it from both ends. >> it's as simple as these candidates are running on fumes. never underestimate the value of a good night's sleep. simple as that. i think he actually handled the mistake fairly well in this incredibly fast-paced environment. more importantly, anytime a republican candidate spends the bulk of his time talking about contraception and cadillacs it is a bad week. these guys have got to start -- they are letting themselves get dragged into this and beat the horses to death. >> right now rather than just judging what we're seeing as the fumes that are on cable television, if you look at the local press out in ohio right now, places where people are going to be rendering judgment, the governor's message is entirely focused on the economy. >> you say that's what's going to resonate with voters. i want to ask you quickly another curfuffle tonight it's about michigan. we estimated the delegates evenly in the state of michigan based on our own math and our own understanding of the michigan party rules for the at large delegates, one each. they have a meeting today and governor romney gets the edge and the santorum campaign is screaming. they're saying they rewrote the rules, back room dealing, political thuggery cannot and should not happen in america." this was done in the state. whether the rom anyone campaign asked for it or not i don't think we have any reason to believe that. should governor romney maybe say take your delegate back. i don't need this mess? >> of course not. we're in a delegate hunt right now. we're going to take them any way we can get them. what has to be remembered is the state party is the one that decides this. the state party has actually said that what they're going to do -- and they said this before the actual contest. they said that their intent was to award those two person who w state wide. governor won state wide and that's why they awarded it to him. i understand what the santorum camp is trying to do but i think it is nonsense to call it news words like thuggery. >> we've had this messiness. hang on, we'll continue our conversation about other things in just a moment. remember though, join us super tuesday not only in the evening for the results but at noon eastern, we'll have a live virtual roundtable. our election panel will answer questions from cnn i-reporters about the presidential election, explore issues, all the issues you care about. go to cnn.com/roundtable at noon eastern, super tuesday. believe it or not, just five days from now. eer erin burnett. >> we're going to talk with senator menendez from the foreign relations committee about this. u.s. immigration officials are constantly talking about a red line that iran cannot cross. israeli papers today reporting benjamin netten yaho n yanyahu r line what have that line is. this is a crucial meeting to see what barack obama decides to do or not do. we'll talk about that top of the hour. back to you. >> that's a very important story and very important meeting. still ahead here, bank of america customers face steep fees for basic services. those charges headed your way. plus, justin bieber's not a baby anymore. his big milestone when we come back. in the works package, we change the oil we change the filter... tire rotation, suspension, we make suspension checks... what we have here is the multi-point inspection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change, tire rotation and more: $29.95 or less after rebate - at your ford dealer. you're a doctor... you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor... have 46 grams of whole grains... mmmm. ...and a touch of sweetness. you'll be delighted to discover how good they taste. get your free sample of quaker oatmeal squares on facebook. chocolate lemonade ? susie's lemonade... the movie. or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast speeds. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. let's continue the conversati conversation. let's talk with the roller coaster race we're all living through. latest tracking poll -- governor romney at 35%. santorum at 24%. gingrich at 15%. paul 11%. flip, last week, santorum was at 34%, romney at 27%, gingrich held steady at 15% and paul has held steady. what is going on at the top of this race? is it all about momentum? >> there is a lot of volatility in this campaign. we've seen it in south carolina all the way to florida. 20-point swings in positive-negative information about the candidates. i think also it's very interesting that inside those numbers, there's 40%, 50% who are willing to change their minds. i think with campaigns, organizations, concentrating a message and being very disciplined across these states is what will make a difference in the next couple days. >> is it the candidates haven't done a good enough job closing deal or is it a republican electorate that hasn't had a leader in the while? i make the case the second half of the bush second term, a lot of the republican party gave up on him. john mccain wasn't their guy, i'm sorry, four years ago. is it the voters or is it the candidates or is it both? >> i think it is probably a little bit of both. i think the most unifying factor among the republican party is the rejection of obama. that's why i think ultimately, no matter how confident the obama campaign sounds right now, i think they're going to see a very united and very motivated opposition moving forward. i have to say, i think romney's going to -- will eke it out. maybe if you were to equate him with a football team you'd say he's got an excellent defense and his offense is like three yards and a pifl dust. but he's going to get there. i really think he will. >> why are republicans voters so confused and conflicted? >> i think the republican party continues to find its identity and it may not have a completely unified, cohesive identity. have you candidates who are not the strongest consistently over time. i think we continue to see this roller coaster. i see no reason for newt gingrich to get out. he's not angling to be vice president or anything else. >> woe stay in if he lost his home state of georgia? >> why not? everyone says that. >> look. to the point though that nancy also made, independents right now are very volatile. we are seeing swings in those type of voters. the person who is zoomed to the top of this pack every single time has been the candidate hayes prosecuted the case the best against barack obama. that's why we've seen it go up and down, because a lot of people have shared that mantel. >> he's got vermont, he's got massachusetts, he's got virginia, i think he gets ohio. >> washington state this weekend, then ten states next tuesday. fasten your seatbelt. kate bolduan is back with more you need to know. bank of america is testing out new fees on customers in arizona, and massachusetts where a new basic checking account could cost 6 to $25 a month. customers can get out of the fee if they bank online, keep a certain balance or sign up for credit cards or mortgages. this isn't the bank's first attempt at new fees. you'll remember a $5 debit card charge flopped last year. plenty of people show off their political preferences with yard signs, bumper stickers. even a t-shirt. now add flip-flops to the list -- or rather myth flops, two friends, one republican, one democrat, came up with a fashionable way to poke fun at what they see as romney's flip-flopping beliefs but there are competing mitt flops out there. ones with political stances on each foot. for teenage girls across the country, today is justin bieber's 18th birthday. his manager surprised him on "the ellen" show with a big-ticket gift, an all-electric fiskar karma luxury sedan. he's asking fans to donate $18 to charity in honor of his 18th birthday. >> i think that cost more than $100,000. but i guess he and his manager can afford it. don't go anywhere. tonight's moment you may have missed, one of president obama's happier duties, welcome championship teams to the white house. he tells espn he's willing to wait for this team -- >> over the last five years, how many times have you envisioned welcoming the world champion chicago bulls to the white house? >> every year. and it hasn't happened yet. but it will happen. >> it will happen. you're like joe namath. you're guaranteeing it. >> well, i've got another five years here and -- >> another five years here. i got a whoa out of