Transcripts For CNN The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20120329

the average price for a gallon of regular gas today is about $4. make that $3.92. our new poll shows nearly half of americans expect that price to hit $5. that's $5 this year and most blame the oil companies. president obama tried to hitch a ride on those sentiments today. chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is here. >> jessica, is the president going after big oil? >> again. >> believe it or not, it really felt like today was let's play politics with gas prices day in washington. the president played his part from the rose garden. >> think about that. it's like hitting the american people twice. >> he called on the senate to pass a bill that would have eliminated billions in tax breaks for oil companies. >> american oil is booming. the oil industry is doing just fine, with record profits and rising production i'm not worried about the big oil companies. >> up on capitol hill republicans charge that the white house was demonizing oil companies for political gain. >> somehow they thought that doing this would set off some sort of political win for them which frankly, i don't understand. i mean, i can't imagine anybody giving them any high fives for not lowering gas prices. >> reporter: the bill died in the senate, but will no doubt, live on in the presidential election. can you hear it now? democrats saying the gop voted for big oil. actually, that fight has already begun. the american energy alliance, a group with ties to the oil industry is up with this ad in eight states. >> tell obama they can't afford his failing energy policies. the head of the democratic party hit back. >> the american energy alliance is a front group for big oil. >> yes, there's a lot of hot air in the gas fight, but here is the policy. the obama white house argues the president is trying to limit u.s. reliance on foreign oil through investments in alternative energy, new fuel efficiency standards and increased oil production in the u.s. the republican party says gas prices have more than doubled under the president's watch. here's what an independent analyst says. >> in the short term, the ability of any president to affect gasoline prices in a meaningful way is extremely limited. for purposes of comparison when president obama took office in 2001, the price was $1.55 and when he left office it was $4.25. the white house argues accurately that oil imports are down since president obama has taken office, but the gop argues accurately that that's thanks in part to policies put in place by george w. bush. i should also point out that the obama campaign points out that mitt romney who they expect to be their opponent does not plan to eliminate oil and gas subsidies as part of his tax plan although they say they're lowering the tax rate for everyone so it's a different ball game. >> excuse me for being just a little cynical about this issue. on one hand the administration is saying, okay, the republicans are wrong for pushing with the drilling. on the other hand the white house has just come out calling for more exploration which will lead to more drilling, right? >> what they say is they're for, quote, all of the above. so they're taking a page from the republicans' book, and yes, in recent months the president's administration has approved two plans for shell oil that would pave the way for them to potentially begin drilling in alaska. they've also announced plans to do a new assessment of oil and gas resources in the atlantic. so big picture, yeah, they're looking to expand drilling potentially, too. >> surprising both sides want to take advantage of this issue. jessica, thanks so much. and the high price of gas has politicians pointing a finger at speculators also, but how do oil markets really work? cnn regulation correspondent lizzie o'leary went down into the oil pits of the new york mercantile exchange to find out and lizzie is here now to show us what she learned. what's it like? >> it's a big market and jessica is right, it limits gas and the price of oil is set on a daily basis between many, many, many people trading lots of dollars and we wanted to show you what it looks like. >> it looks like chaos, but what these guys are shouting about will determine how much that gallon of gas you put in your car will cost. >> if they weren't shouting i wouldn't have a job. >> reporter: every single energy product that you use whether that's from heating oil or gas that goes in your car, the crude oil that makes up the gas and even the fuel that goes into fertilizer used on a farm is traded on this exchange. >> ira exstein has been doing this for 20 years. >> this is a trillion dollar game and there's billion dollar players. >> reporter: and almost none of them will ever see a drop of the gooey stuff. they're trading the chance to buy or sell oil at a certain price in the future. it works like this. if you buy an option at $120 for next month and oil goes to $150, you make money. that's long before the barrels of oil ever make it to their final owner like an airline or an oil company and right now regulators are debating whether all this trading is pushing up the price. the big players make expensive bets. >> how much money do i have to have to buy a contract? >> that's a good contract. it's a 1,000-barrel contract and crude's trading at $110. $110,000 to own the contract. >> those of us who don't have that much can do it this way. >> do people call you and say hey, i noticed that i'm paying a lot more for gas, and i see oil in the news. i want to get in on that? >> of course. of course. >> jeff goldberg makes investments for ordinary people. want oil? you can buy a fund that goes up when it goes up and goes down when it goes down. >> buy low, sell high. >> pretty simple. >> sounds simple. >> regulating this isn't simple. congress passed a law that says one trader can't hold too much of any given thing, but traders will tell you there's so much oil in the world and so much is traded on the exchange that the law doesn't have that much of an effect on prices and it's worth remembering that you actually kind of benefit from high gas prices. most people already own a little bit of oil without realizing it in a 401(k) or mutual fund even if gas is $4 a gallon, your 401(k) is growing. >> that's a lot of comfort to us who have been filling up at the pump here in d.c. for $4.75 a barrel. thanks so much for that, lizzie. >> and israel has reportedly been given access to air bases on iran's northern border, raising fresh concerns about a strike about iran's nuclear sites, citing american officials. "foreign policy" magazine has quietly granted israel permission to use the bases, part of a growing security relationship and he quotes azerbaijan officials as hotly denying the arrangement. cnn's tom foreman is here to sort it out for us. tom, a little bit complicated. >> it is complicated and created somewhat of a firestorm in d.c. as people debate this report in "foreign policy" magazine. let's talk about what would be involved. if israel decided that in fact it would strike iran over here it faces one inherent problem, and you can see it right here. there's more than 1,000 miles of distance between the two countries. an attack of this size would involve 100 to 125 different planes flying this distance. over that distance you'll have to refuel the planes which means you'll carry fewer armaments because it will carry most of your weight of fuel which gives you one big strike to hit iran. however, if they wanted to do this, and if the american foreign policy is correct, then you might be talking about azerbaijan. there are half-dozen bases and azerbaijan and israel have had closer tie, diplomatically and in terms of the economies and in terms of defense systems back and forth. we do know these bases are up here and if the israelis gained access to these with a cooperative deal as the israelis are currently denying, look at the difference. now the strike distance down here will be somewhere between 400 and 500 miles. why does that make a big difference? because the simple truth is if you start flying with f-15s and f-16s bringing in bunker-buster bombs you'll be trading at one to two times the speed of sound, covering the shorter distance gets cut down to 40 minutes and something like that. you're able to come in. these planes can carry these armaments and they can strike very fast in all conditions day or not, no matter the weather and they're good at defending themselves as they try to get out because we also know that the iranians have very good air defense systems and they have them around these nuclear fas ilis. why does this matter? the truth is if that's what happened and if we were able to see this sort of thing happened if it went that way, going that much closer would give the israelis an advantage of speed. obviously, they come in faster. with speed comes surprise. you're no longer flying over several different airspaces of different countries that might alert the iranians if they're under way and they can engage their targets in iran longer because they'd be closer to refuel and fly another sortie and hang around longer because they had more fuel and they're closer to overall support if one of their plants gets shot down, a helicopter from azerbaijan could come in and rescue someone. they could get more fuel and all sort of things that might make a difference. all of this is theory, gloria. we don't know that this is necessarily what would happen, but this is why it would make a difference. if it did happen an attack from up here is much, much easier than an attack from over here. gloria? >> we understand from israel's point of view why this would be their plan, but aren't there some risks and a real downside here? >> i do want to point of view from everyone involved, nobody is saying this is happening and this is based on intelligence sources and there are risks here. among the risks, israel would absolutely face a counter attack from iran if it did this. part of the force is up here. meaning it's not over here to help with the counterattack as much as it might be able to and you're committing a substantial portion of the air force up here. if it had a problem, you've lost it and you also run the worldwide risk of dragging other people in, including the caucuses' region up here between the black sea and the caspian sea, the bridge to russia. this is an area that's had a lot of troubles. if you had counterattacks this way and that dragged in other countries and even russia. you have a totally, totally different confrontation than before. i want to stress, this is nothing, but theory at this point, and sources reported by "foreign policy" magazine. we don't know that it would work this way, but you can see the complications and the potential advantages and disadvantages if it did. gloria? >> thanks, tom. and as you point out, far from reality at this point. newt gingrich cuts back from his campaign, but is that the right move? jack cafferty is next. one congressman was escorted out for wearing a hoodie on the house floor, but are law makers being treated equally when it comes to their attire. and mitt romney's a rich guy running for president as voters try to recover from a brutal recession. would his gaffes about his wealth turn off the average guy? there's another way litter box dust:e purina tidy cats. tidy cats premium line of litters now works harder on dust. and our improved formulas neutralize odors better than ever in multiple-cat homes. so it's easier to keep your house smelling just the way you want it. purina tidy cats. keep your home smelling like home. ♪ ♪ wow... ♪ [ female announcer ] sometimes, all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special. ♪ werther's original caramels. at home, i challenge that in one easy step with olay. total effects tone corrector. 7 anti-aging therapies for younger looking skin including an even skin tone, instantly. only from olay. including an even skin tone, instantly. i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself and so, college was a dream, when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was going to do it, but i knew i was going to get that opportunity one day. and that's what happened with the university of phoenix. nothing can stop me now. i feel like the sky is the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. >> and jack cafferty is here with "the cafferty file." what do you have, jack? >> gloria, good to see you. a candidate can withdraw gracefully or there's newt gingrich. the guy cannot take a hint and at this point he is likely hurting not only his party, but his own political legacy. as politico describes it, quote, the former speaker of the house has decided to cap off a historic career by spending the final weeks in the campaign in a political purgatory, unquote, but that won't stop mr. newt. he's pledging to stay in the race all of the way to the convention in tampa. he's hoping against hope for some extraordinary situation where romney can't get enough delegates and santorum is seen as unelectable. the problem is he's out of money. his big sugar daddy super pac donor sheldoned adelson who say gingrich is at the end of his line, unquote. he can't afford to travel and he's fired much of his staff and the media is starting to ignore him. people using words like laughing stock and delusional to describe the former speaker of the house. it's sad, really. for his part gingrich insists he's staying in the race to shape the political conservation and talks like $2.50 gallon gas. the trouble is no one is listening to him any anymore. he has 137 delegates and romney has 571 and santorum has almost twice as many, 264. a poll shows six out of ten republicans say gingrich should drop out of the race. also the majority of republicans say his party's nomination should be determined by the primaries and not by the convention. it is so over. the question is this, why won't newt gingrich face reality? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog or go to our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. sort of pathetic, gloria, really. >> this is a politician who cares about his leg see, right? >> well, apparently, but he's doing a lot of damage, i think. this isn't helping. he's not going to be the president and he does have a history that he can put into a book and be somewhat proud of, but he's just s.a.t. sad at thi. it's pathetic. >> it will be interesting to see what our viewers think. and a hoodie does not make a hoodlum. that's the point congressman bobby rush wanted to make when he wore one on the house floor, but when he was forcefully removed solely because of his attire it got us to thinking, how often is this rule actually enforced? cnn senior congressional correspondent dana bash is on the case. so, dan, how rare is this? >> you see members of congress running on to the house floor with sneakers, with jeans, things that they're not suppose to beed wearing so that's not rare, but what is rare is for a lawmaker to be called out on it like rush was. today some people are saying if these rules are going to be enforced they need to be done so across the board. >> the hoodie on the house floor sure got attention. >> racial profiling has to stop. >> especially since he was escorted out for breaching rules of decorum. >> the incident intended to highlight trayvon martin's case is also raising questions about attire in the house like members may not wear a hat and must wear appropriate business attire in the chamber. this memorable outfit donned late last year by democrat barney frank, tight t-shirt with no tie certainly did not qualify, but he was allowed to speak. congressional black caucus chairman tells cnn the rules which he supports are unevenly enforced. >> you just came from the house floor just from voting moments ago. you've seen people who are not in proper attire? >> oh, absolutely. and everybody up there will tell you that happens every day. people will get in the back of the room with all kinds of things on, and we've allowed it to slide. i don't think we can tolerate any of that anymore. >> because of what happened with bobby rush. >> that's right. >> reporter: translation, house officials must start cracking down on dress code so no one can say rush was singled out because of politics, party or race. house speaker john boehner is famously fixated on appearances. >> jake. you could button your shirt and pull up your tie. you don't have to look like a reporter. >> you do have to do something with that hair of yours. get a brush, will you? >> just a brush would do. such a stickler, minutes after an emotional farewell to gabby giffords he made this announcement. the chair would remind all members to be in proper business attire when you come to the floor of the house. >> what about cleaver's concern the rules are often ignored. there are members who go on the floor who are not in proper attire. >> listen, i think the rules are enforced evenly. i've asked members on both sides of the aisle to leave the floor myself. i know the sergeant at arms has asked members to leave the floor. we expect all members to follow the rules, and the rules make it clear that members will be on the floor in proper business attire. >> reporter: an interesting in thenote to this, emanuel cleaver also told me that other members of congress brought hoodies to the floor yesterday and several asked him personally to put one on, but he declined again, primarily because he, like the house speaker, respects the rules of the house. >> but dana, the dress code has really changed over the years, right? i remember when women members of congress could not go on the floor wearing slacks. >> reporter: oh, that's right. nancy pelosi talked about that just today saying that she remembers when she wasn't allowed to wear pants and barbara mcyou will ski who became the longest serving female member of congress said she had to ask special permission and it was like she was walking on the moon. the other ironic thing here, gloria is the whole reason for this -- for this attire is to keep decorum in the house and these are among the most partisan times in the house of representative and congress in general. a little ironic. >> maybe there's a good reason. thanks a lot, dana. and he's a millionaire running for president in very tough economic times. well, mitt romney's tone-deaf references to wealth, will they turn off the average voter? and the white houser. >>s at romney's suggestion that russia is americaay number one geopolitical foe. >> i'm pretty sure the cold war ended when some of the folks in this room were still in elementary school. mikulski. ings two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. do about medicare and social security... security. that's what matters to me... me? 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banding withon and he might have a shot at being number two on the republican ticket and romney is to meet shortly with former president george h.w. bush to receive his formal endorse am, but while he's like up the establishment figure, mitt romney the millionaire may still have some problems with the average voter because of his tone-deaf references to his personal wealth. cnn senior correspondent joe johns is with us. joe, what about that? >> well, gloria, this is not his first rodeo. it's the second time mitt romney's run for president which sometimes makes it hard to understand why he's repeatedly getting hit for saying things that are either off message or inartful. call them mitt romneyisms. >> you don't think it affects you all on a direct basis. >> when he says something that seems to hit the wrong note for a guy who is running for president. >> i'm not concerned about the very poor. we have a safety net there. >> it's hard to keep calling these things gaffes because he does it so often. >> i like beingaible to fire people. >> ann drives a couple of cadillacs, actually. >> reporter: especially when he tells us something about the way he thinks anda an anecdote that he shared on a conference call was supposed to be funny, but not so much to romney's critics because it's about the state of michigan losing an automobile plant. >> one of the most humorous relates to my father. >> it's a simple setup. the candidate was talking about george romney, who was president of a detroit automaker more than 50 years ago before run for example michigan governor. he was in a parade with a band that didn't know how to play the michigan fight song, but they knew the song of the wisconsin bangers. >> so every time they'd start playing on wisconsin, on wisconsin, my dad's political people would jump up and down and try to get them to stop because they didn't want people in michigan to be reminded that my h dad had moved production to wisconsin. republicans generally say they don't care about statements like this, strategists point out the democrats misspeak from time to time, too. most notably, vice president biden. >> being under the microscope 24 hours and seven days a week it is unlikely that people will view this as windows into his soul rather that these are sometimes turbulence that just occurs during a long campaign. if you look at where vice president biden comes from, he comes from a long line of gaffes and people got used to it right away and they don't view that as who he is as a person. i think the same is for romney. >> there's another question whether romney has done it so many times that now the media are scouring the record for every word that can be construed as a gaffe and giving it more play than something other candidates might say. >> the trees are the right height. >> the danger for romney is that his own gaffes are feeding a media narrative that he's not just clueless and out of touch. once that is cemented it's very hard to erase, like an etch a sketch. >> howie kurtz there talking about a controversial statement made by a top mitt romney staffer suggesting the campaign can reset like an etch a sketch for the general election. there actually is a real question whether so-called gaffes like this get traction with voters anyway. a recent poll by pew suggests 5 5% of americans never heard etch a sketch story. romney all, but admitted that he needs to work harder on keeping on message. gloria? >> i have to ask you about this report today in "the washington times" that mitt romney actually had a secret meeting, sounds ominous, with newt ginning rifrp, of all people and our shannon travis ran into newt gingrich on an airplane today. >> right. >> so can you tell us a little bit about what gingrich had to say? >> well, it's funny. gingrich didn't say too much. he basically said no comment when asked that. we've also made calls. i made calls personally to the campaign to get real and solid confirmation. it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would have to be that secret, quite frankly. on the other side, we reached out to the romney people and they're not denying or confirming either. so the question is did this meeting occur? and number two, what did they talk about? we haven't gotten any information on either side so big mystery surrounding the meeting. >> most of the times when you say no comment that actually is sort of a confirmation, but we'll have to wait to get more information. >> tells a lot. joining me for today's strategy session on politics is melanie barns, former domestic policy adviser and david frum, a former speechwriter for president george w. bush. let's talk about what joe johns was talking about which was mitt romney's propensity to have gaffe after gaffe after gaffe. he's still making unforced errors and it's been a long campaign. is it going to get any better? >> we had very rich men run for president before. lyndon johnson. you can handle it with a humor that connects you to people. he reminds us in a new book that robert kennedy's way of dealing with this is he stood up and said i came up through life the hard way and worked through everything i ever had and kennedy said i guess i'm the only person that didn't come up the hard way. >> just be comfortable. >> you don't have a choice. >> what does this tell us about a candidate? president obama had a very long primary process and lots of people said he emerged as a better candidate when it was over. what does this tell you about mitt romney? >> right. i think it did, and the president would say that, in fact, that process made him a better candidate. look, i think what happened here is we don't know what sits in mitt romney's heart and it does tell you something about a candidate and what -- the way that they process issues, the filter that they use to process issues and that after a while starts to set in the minds of the public and starts to create a narrative in the minds of the public and they start to respond. this is a way they tell you whether or not they're comfortable with you and whether or not they want you in their living rooms. >> whether you care like people like me which is the big political question. >> you don't have to be like me, but you have to care about me. >> you have to get me. >> that gives me segway to the issue of health care. health care reform is so important. we just had three grueling days at the supreme court on health kaye and the conventional wisdom expected the law to be upheld and legal experts of which i am not one are saying no, no, no, this will be overturned. if this entire bill is struck down, not just the mandate, over 400 provision would go away, and i want to put up on the screen some of the more popular ones such as children can stay on their parents' plans until age 26. there are incentives to bring doctors and nurses to underserved area. so david, if this wer to happen, there is no -- i've been begging here, boom, boom, boom, for the last three years. you don't undo universal coverage. focus on the things that are most obnoxious. most of the new coverage doesn't come from exchanges and it comes from mandates. >> republicans say repeal, repeal, repeal. >> i would say revise and reform because there are things in the bill that are good, that you can work with and one more thing about the supreme court case and this is a way when journalists are tempted to be theater critics. that was a show. >> it doesn't tell you that much of what the court's going to do. >> let me ask you this, melody, you were very involved neck deep when this health care reform was written. >> right. >> now the white house is saying publicly there is no con tingenessy plan if the supreme court strikes down. how can that number. >> a couple of things and part of this goes to what david was saying. look, everyone needs to take a good, long, deep breath. what happened in the supreme court is that tough questions were asked. that's happens on the court. i worked on a senate judiciary committee as well. courts do this democratic appointed judges pop. at the sammy time we also had a riggous rouse processed and it was almost a year, a year and a half. >> exactly. with who has been a congress voted and we came up with are a plan to the american people. >> right. you may be in a new environment with the supreme court. i'm going to have to have you folks hold it right there. we'll be back in just a minute and mitt romney says russia is america's number one geopolitical foe. we'll talk to these people about what the white house thinks about that in a minute. any suggestion that russia is america's number one geopolitical foe is on on represents a profound or unique understanding in recent history. ♪ wow... ♪ [ female announcer ] sometimes, all you need is the smooth, creamy taste of werther's original caramel to remind you that you're someone very special. ♪ werther's original caramels. ♪ ah, welcome to hotels.com. i get it...guys 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week. it all started when president obama was caught on a hot mic talking to the russian president about the planned u.s.-led nato missile defense system in europe? this is my last election. and after my election i have more flexibility. >> when asked about that right here on this program, mitt romney told wolf blitzer this. >> this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe. they fight every cause for the world's worst actors. the idea that he has more flexibility in mind for russia is very, very troubling indeed. >> as you expect this opened up a firestorm and today white house press secretary jay carney decided to say something about it. >> i'm pretty sure the cold war ended when some of the folks in this room were still in elementary school and any suggestion that russia is america's number one geopolitical foe is -- represents a profound or unique understanding of recent history. >> we're back with president obama's former domestic policy adviser melody barnes and former speechwriter for george w. bush, david frum. >> why is the white house getting involved in this war between the candidate, david? >> i so wish i was there for the follow up question. okay, jay, so what does president obama think the next geopolitical foe? >> maybe israel, but -- well -- >> not quite. what mitt romney was saying there is true. when you look at the range of problems the united states confront, that russia has been the single most obstructionist and difficult country to work with, worse than china and worse than anybody on iran, on syria and libya on a range of issues, they are the biggest obstruction there is. >> well, first of all, jay was responding to a question he was asked and that's why he made that comment, but al qaeda, iran -- >> he had it in his hip pocket. >> al qaeda, those are the threats that present the bigger threats to the united states and indeed the world. the president has made it clear where he stands on issues of nonproliferation. he's made clear with where he stands on missile defense and he's come out and made that clear today, and he came out and covered the mic. he knows what he's talking about and he's got a score, a slew of foreign policy victories behind him. this is an area where he stands very, very firm and very clear and that poses some problems for republicans because they've got to throw out the playbook. >> if russia were not backing iran up. >> i'm not sure the white house would disagree with you on that. of course, it would be easier. thanks to both of you. sorry, we have to cut that off there, and to change topics, spike lee may be a great director, but he's got work to do on his tweeting. we have an update on the tweet that got him in some really hot water. that's next. ohhh my head, ohhh. 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[ male announcer ] for fast powerful pain relief, use bayer advanced aspirin. on december 21st, polar shifts will reverse the earth's gravitational pull and hurtle us all into space, which would render retirement planning unnecessary. but say the sun rises on december 22nd and you still need to retire, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. we'll even throw in up to $600 when you open a new account or roll over an old 401(k). so who's in control now, mayans? >> lisa sylvester is minute toring some of the other top stories in "the situation room wto "including an apology from director spike lee. >> hi there, gloria. spike lees he made a mistake by tweeting the wrong address of george zimmerman. the couple who lives at the address moved into a hotel after their address went viral. lee is now asking his 250,000 twitter followers to leave them alone. meanwhile, george zimmerman remains in hiding and new video is raising questions about what happened the night of the altercation. since zimmerman appears uninjured on the tape. we'll have all of the latest from florida in our next hour and days after james cameron traveled to the bottom of the ocean, amazon.com founder jeff bezos is announcing another stunning deep sea goal. he wants to recover engines from the rocket that carried neil armstrong and the apollo 11 mission to the moon. the engines were found train,000 feet below the surface and after 40 years it's unknown what shape they are in and potentially bad news if you work at best buy. despite posting better than expected quarterly results, the electronic giant says it plans to close 50 u.s. stores by next year, prompting stock of the company to dive almost 7%. best buy is growing in at least one place. they are opening 100 smaller stores in china. >> there's another sign of the improving job market. the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell to a four-year low with 5,000 fewer people filing than the previous week. despite the promising signs, though, it was actually below expectations leading to a mixed day on wall street. the dow added 20 points while the nasdaq dropped ten points and the s&p slipped two points. gloria? >> thanks, lisa. a terrifying escape from an inferno. as wildfires spread through colorado, one family captures their race to safety on video. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ >> the republican-controlled house today passed the republican leadership's 2013 budget. the plan written by budget chairman paul ryan calls for deep cuts and could still take nearly a quarter of a century to balance the budget, but it has no chance, absolutely none, to pass in the senate. cnn's erin burnett is with us and, look, this is a huge problem, but we've got a divided congress so what do we do? >> that is the key question. i just talked to kent conrad, the man in charged with coming up with the democrats' plan and he said well, paul ryan's budget is political and ideological and that's what you hear from people on the left. people on the right obviously say, it's been 1,065 days since the democrats put forth a full budget and there you have these two entrenched sides. it's interesting, and i will hold out hope, although we'll be strident in our frustration with congress tonight, we'll hold out hope that something can happen by the end of the year. kent conrad says he wants his legacy to be reducing the deficit, but he's choosing to pursue that legacy by not running for re-election. the best way to do that is not to be in the senate and not to be the chair of the senate budget committee. that's a shockingly awful statement about our system, but we do have, at the end of the year, the expiration of the bush tax cuts and the $1.2 trillion in sequestration. as we know, the republicans don't want the defense cuts and democrats don't want the medicaid and medicare cuts and that combined with clarity this summer and the election, there is a chance for a grand bargain, and i think we really have to hope we can get one. i don't know if you heard today nancy pelosi saying she felt ready to vote for simpson bowles. what a shocking statement. in november 10, the proposal is unacceptable. i don't mind flip-flopping if people are saying they'll work together. optimistic, but not much to hope for today. >> erin, maybe the fact that the congressional approval rating is what? 10%. >> i think you're being generous, gloria. >> could get folks to move to get something done because they have to run for re-election, right? >> i would hope so. one of the frustrating things today on the democratic side is, look, they put out this fact sheet, i don't know if you saw it. fact sheet responding to republican no-budget claims. you say we haven't done a budget in more than 1,000 days. you're wrong. we put out the budget control act which is the same thing. these are all rhetorical games that they're playing and americans want a real budget and a real timeframe with compromise on important issues. i hope we'll get it by the end of the year, but tonight a whole lot of frustration. >> i'll be optimistic with you, erin. >> glass half full. >> all right. way to go. >> and a massive wildfire spread through colorado. one family captures their escape on camera. the frightening video coming up. new details about a jetblue pilot's scary meltdown. we're learning what he said in his rant from audio that's now in the hands of the fbi. stand by. ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪ 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. at liberty mutual, we know how much you count on your car, and how much the people in your life count on you. that's why we offer accident forgiveness, where your price won't increase due to your first accident. we also offer a hassle-free lifetime repair guarantee, where the repairs made on your car are guaranteed for life, or they're on us. these are just two of the valuable features you can expect from liberty mutual. plus, when you insure both your home and car with us, it could save you time and money. at liberty mutual, we help you move on with your life, so get the insurance responsible drivers like you deserve. call us at... or visit your local liberty mutual office, where an agent can help you find the policy that's right for you. liberty mutual insurance, responsibility -- what's your policy? [ male announcer ] brake problems? stop in to meineke today for a free brake inspection and you'll say... my money. my choice. my meineke. >> and jack joins us again with "the cafferty file." jack? >> the question this hour, gloria, is why won't newt gingrich face reality? it is so over. some of you are in rare form today. j.d. in new hampshire says gingrich does not live in a reality- reality-based world. he lives in newtville where commoners throw offerings at his feet. he does face reality, his version is different than most. newt shows lines of border line personality disorder, one of the primary behaviors exhibited by such people is the need to create chaos. he doesn't feel warm until everyone around him is in chaos. ambition can blind a man. paul in north carolina, he is facing, reality, jack. it's all about future speaking engagements and selling books. his political legacy isn't much to speak of anyway and as for the republican party they have so many self-inflicted wounds no one will notice a few more. ken in seattle writes newt gingrich is a meg lo maniac and his distorted view of reality, he's indispensable to the party, the country, the universe or the future of the moon. he thrives on the attention he's getting and probably has nightmares of the moment in time that it all goes away and he's forced to face his irrelevance. mike in minneapolis wrights, i don't know, but i'll bet he won't get dinner party invitations. the host will have to spray to get rid of him. go to my blog cnn.com/cafferty file or to our post on the situation room's facebook page. gloria? >> thanks a lot, jack. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, a terrifying escape from red-hot wildfires. this hour, the feverish battle against an inferno in colorado and one family's race to safety captured on video. >> plus your child or grandchild may be the target of identity theft. it turns out youngsters are at high risk for a crime that could scar their financial record for years to come. and a record lottery jackpot, more than half a billion dollars and climbing. we'll reveal exactly what you have to do if you want to beat the astronomical odds and win. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm gloria borger, and you're in "the situation room." right now, firefighters in colorado are racing to contain a large and destructive blaze. it's burned more than 4,000 acres near denver and it's killed at least two people. we're about to give you a terrifying taste of what it's like to escape from a wildfire that was generating 1,000-degree heat at one point. cnn's brian todd is here with that and new information about this disaster. brian? >> gloria, a lot of fallout in colorado over how this fire started and whether state officials with the best of intentions inadvertently had a hand in starting it. this while families are assessing damage, bracing for more and in one case missing catastrophe by mere seconds. >> the hellish scene and the child's voice tell the story. >> daddy. >> we'll make it. we're going to be fine. >> daddy. where's mom? what is she stopping for? >> it's down there. it's down there. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. >> oh! >> in two vehicles, the gulick family is scrambling for their lives. the late afternoon sky is black and orange, fire lapping the edges of the road as the family hurdles down it. >> there it is. right here. right here. >> oh, my gosh. >> it's okay. we're out. we're out. we're out. >> this scene on monday, videotaped on a cell phone by the gulick's 13-year-old son as they successfully escape the lower north fork wildfire near denver. at one point, doug gulick's wife kim in the lead car put on her brakes thinking they may need to turn around. >> and then our neighbor passed her and he knew that there was only about a half mile of that to drive through and he went in front of us and we got out. it was terrifying, obviously. >> with that fire so close burning on both sides of a steep mountain road, did the gulick family make the right call in trying to drive through it? we asked an expert. >> greg kay is in charge of the fire administration in charge of preventing and dealing with wildfires. they need to have defensible, open space around their homes and have to get out early. if that's not an option. >> if you find yourself out on the road and the fire's coming you don't very many options at all. >> just keep going. >> just try and get out -- get out of the way. my understanding was they were in kind of a dead-end situation. they couldn't go back the way they had come. >> the gulicks are among dozens of families displaced by a wildfire that colorado authorities are now apologizing for. these fires were set by a so-called controlled burn last week that quickly got out of control, killing at least two people. colorado's governor has launched an investigation and says this about controlled burns. >> we asked to suspend them certainly on all state land wherever the state forest service operates just to evaluate and again, look at these from seedures and processes, the protocols, do the best job we can of assessing the conditions. >> one thing the governor says they're looking sat whether there was enough moisture in the air and on the ground at the time to manage a controlled burn. there may not have been and gregory kay says in those areas there's so much fuel on the ground like brush and things like that, fires can explode quickly even if there's moderate wind. the conditions may not have been right for them to do the controlled burn. >> with weather conditions so strange this year, is there any way at predicting that this will be a particularly bad year for wildfires? >> just about everyone who knows about this is saying that it will be the governor of colorado said it today, our expert gregory cade said it's been a warmer than usual winter here and out west. that means dryer conditions. the wildfire season is starting earlier. cade says the wildfire season doesn't usually start until august or september. look where we are now. there could be a lot of wildfires this year. that's not good news. >> now to the trayvon martin case. newly obtained video of the shooter george zimmerman is raising questions about claims that zimmerman was hit by martin before the neighborhood watch vol know tear killed him. here's cnn's martin savidge. >> gloria, there are two new tapes out today. one of them is a surveillance tape and one of them is an interview with george zimmerman's father. these tapes are adding new emotion to a story that already has plenty of controversy. >> two different tapes, two different stories. >> first, the father of neighborhood watch shooter george zimmerman spoke to wofl, talking from shadow to protect his identity. robert zimmerman gives a dramatic account of what hes was his son's life and death struggle with 17-year-old trayvon martin in what paints martin as the aggressor. >> trayvon martin walked up to him, asked him do you have a [ bleep ] problem? george said, no, i don't have a problem. he started to reach for his cell phone. at that point he was punched in the nose. >> robert zimmerman says martin climbed atop george and continued to beat his son's head into the ground for more than a minute. as the two struggled robert spotted zimmerman's gun. >> they von martin said something to the effect of like you're going to die now or you're going die tonight, something to that effect. he continued to beat george and at some point george pulled his pistol and did what he did. >> the other tape obtained by cnn is surveillance video from sanford police headquarters. it shows zimmerman, his hands cuffed exiting a patrol car and being led into a police station just over half an hour after police arrived at the shooting scene and it's what's not seen that is stirring fresh con fro versy. no apparent sign of the injuries, no obvious broken nose or blood. however, there is also this to consider. the initial police report notes that zimmerman was bleeding through the nose and back of the head when officers arrived on scene. the family of trayvon martin and the video, and over why police haven't made an arrest. >> this video is the icing on the cake. this is not the first part of evidence that they have had. they have had the 911 tapes and they have also had witnesses. >> george zimmerman has not been charged. >> there's another protest that's being planned for this weekend here in sanford by the naacp. it is unclear how many plan to,a tend and it should last hours. gloria? >> this programming note, be sure to tune in to anderson cooper "360" tonight for an exclusive video of a witness who saw trayvon martin be shot and has notec intoen until now. that's tonight at 8:00 eastern on anderson cooper. new evidence in the case against a jetblue pilot who had an apparent in-flight meltdown and forced an emergency landing. we are told the fbi now has the cockpit voice recorder from flight 191. let's bring in our aviation correspondent lizzy o'leary. >> we learned that the fbi now has the cockpit voice recorder. they are investigating what happened. we also have a statement from captain clayton osbon's mother. the incident involving clayton has shock mead and shocked all of the people that know clayton personally. she also confirmed that osbon's father was killed in a private plane crash in 1995. we don't know what sparked clayton osbon's behavior, but this this has raised a touchy issue, mental health. very few have come forward. back in 2008, colin hughes grounded him. a private commercial pilot, he was depressed and needed medication, but the faa didn't allow it. >> when you take in the area of where a person's put into macho position albeit, aviation sports, law enforcement, milita military, i need to go to my psychiatrist. >> he calls himself the prozac pilot and wrote on the web about his struggles. >> he'll do everything he can to get there. >> he got anonymous replies from fellow pilots and others who struggled with depression, but didn't seek help because they feared losing the certification that allows them to fly. watching this week's incident on jetblue, hughes was sympathetic. >> pilots are people, too. we're human like everyone else and it takes somebody who is flying a 747 with hundreds of people onboard, huge responsibility. the general public looks at that person like, he needs to be a superman. >> two years ago the faa began allowing pilots to fly on one of four approved antidepressants, but only after treatment and a year on the ground. the administrator then thought it would reduce the stigma of depression. >> i think the medical community estimates something in the area of 10% of the population. i don't think pilots would be different than that. >> reporter: but figures from the faa now show the commercial airline pilots are reporting a much smaller incident of depression since the general public. since 2010, 20 out of 20,000 have been granted medical certification after disclosing antidepressant use. that's .00016%. we asked the faa if they think the number is that small or if irthis not disclosing the conditions. a spokeswoman said the program was in place to encourage disclosure and they're monitoring the data as it comes in. still, a commercial pilot with 30 years' flying experience told cnn yes, pilots are flying around depressed because if they do admit depression they'll be grounded. on a different note we also know the name of the co-pilot now that helped land the plane jason dowd, he also got osbon out of the cockpit. >> mitt romney scores a huge endorsement from a rising star in the gop, but will marco rubio be ready to be his vice presidential nominee? find out what he told our jim acosta in an exclusive interview. plus, what's behind an alarming surge in the number of children diagnosed with autism? our sanjay gupta has the stunning details in a new report. >> and they may be children, but thousands of them are thousands of dollars in debt. why are so many suddenly the victims of identity theft. are you guys okay? yeah. ♪ [ man ] i had a great time. thank you, it was really fun. ♪ [ crash ] i'm going to write down my number, but don't use it. 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[ male announcer ] aarp is bringing the conversation on medicare and social security out from behind closed doors in washington. because you've earned a say. jack cafferty is back with the cafferty file. got a big number, $540 million, that's the record jackpot in tomorrow's mega millions lottery drawing tops the previous high of $390 million, chump change in 2007. that was split by two people and it has people lining up at convenience stores all across the country to buy their chances at unimaginable wealth. tickets are only $1 and they'll be on sale in washington d.c. and the virgin islands until tomorrow's drawing at 11:00 at night. the winner or winners will get to choose between annual payments or the lump sum cash option. the lump sum would be $389 mil, which is still one of the biggest jackpots ever. back to the $540 million and how a winner might spend that astronomical sum. if you earned $100 million a year the jackpot would pay your salary for $540,000 and you could buy half a million dollar homes or more than 10,000 cars that cost $50,000 a pop. you get the idea. if you paid half your winnings in taxes and you will, and invested the remaining roughly $270 million in tax-free municipal bonds that earned 3%, you'd have an income every year, $8 million tax-free forever. of course, the odds aren't exactly in your favor, awe kont rare. there are 570 million to one against you, but hey, you can dream right? the question is this, what would you do if you hit the $540 million lottery? post a comment on my blog. go to our post on the situation room's facebook page. >> okay, jack. have you bought a ticket? >> i don't buy lottery tickets. never have. >> i'll buy you one, okay? but if we win, i'm keeping it. >> that's fine. okay. >> okay, jack. see you in a little bit. >> researchers are trying to determine what's behind an alarming surge in the number of children diagnosed with autism. the cdc now estimates that one in 88 american children has some form of neurological disorder. that's up almost 80% in the last decade. cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has the details. >> frankie sanders is a ninth grader who liked to play chess in his ipad and is trying to pass the test for his driver's permit. frankie also has ought im. as you may know that's a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects language, behavior and social skills. boys make up the vast majority of cases. what you may not know is that 12 years ago the centers for disease control and prevention began to estimate the total number of cases in the united states. they based it on a count of 8-year-old children with autism in select communities. if you looked back in the years 2000 and 2002, was there one child in 150 with autism. two years later, one in 125. then, one in 110. and now the latest report, as of 2008 the last time an estimate was performed, one in 88 children has ought echl. that's a 78% increase just over the last decade. and the question on a lot of people's minds is why? >> how much of that increase is a result of better tracking and how much of it is a result of an actual increase? we still don't know. researchers have discovered many genes linked to autism, but in most cases, genes are only one part of the equation and genes alone wouldn't change that fast in just ten years. there is something else that triggers the problem. >> we are talking about infections. we're talking about social conditions and we're talking about exposures to toxins and things in the environment. researchers are still looking for answers and what they do know is that dyinging children early is critical, as was the case with frankie sanders. >> frankie was diagnosed when he was 15 months old and he immediately began to get speech therapy and occupational therapy and he was placed in a group with kids who were typically developing. >> all of that hard work is paying off. frankie is now 15. he attends a regular high school and plays on the football team. >> we can diagnose autism at 2 years of age, almost always by 90% of the children, by 3, certainly, and we can actually diagnose it at 18 months. >> according to this new report, most cases are diagnosed late after age 2 or 3. that's when therapy has been shown to help the most especially with speech and communication. >> parents need to be aware of their children and how their children are interacting. >> and then, they need to seek help. >> if you as a parent are concerned about your child, talk to your doctor, talk to your school system to see if they should be assessed and get them assessed. >> so gloria, again, some pretty staggering numbers there. i will tell you that this particular study was more of a survey when you're trying to estimate the number of cases in the country and i wasn't looking specifically at what causes this increase although that is the question a lot of people are asking. and the answer, as you've heard, probably a lot of people have heard is it is lookly a combination of genetics and environment, but i will tell you this, from a scientific perspective, gloria. your genes simply don't change that fast. some of that is due to increased surveillance and increased recognition of this disease and there's been an increase still, if you account for those things, your genes can't account for all of that increase so there has to be something in the environment, perhaps even when a baby is in the mother's womb or a toxin, infection and that's where the researchers are focusing a lot of their energy and they don't know the cause and as you saw in the case of frankie sanders and there are specific things that parents can look for in a very young child, 6 to 12 months, for example, trying to figure out if there's something to think about and someone who's not babbling, children start speaking words after age 1, typically, they babble beforehand and they don't gesture to communicate and poor eye contact and they're not seeking your attention that frequently and kids are calling out for mother and father whenever they see them and they don't reach out when you approach or track you. the key is diagnosis early. so again, some startling new numbers and a little bit about what you can do about it as well. gloria, back to you. >> thanks very much, sanjay. $540 million and growing. have you thought about what you'd do with the mega millions jackpot if you were to win? there's something you need to know if you end upholding that winning ticket? plus apple being accused of not paying workers enough money to live off of. a scathing new report about the conditions of the plants where they make your ipads and iphones. ♪ when your chain of supply goes from here to shanghai, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ chips from here, boards from there track it all through the air, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ clearing customs like that hurry up no time flat that's logistics. ♪ ♪ all new technology ups brings to me, that's logistics. ♪ it's so great to see you. you, too! ahh, cloudy glasses. you didn't have to come over! actually, honey, i think i did. oh? you did? whoa, ladies, easy. hi. cascade kitchen counselor. we can help avoid this with cascade complete pacs. over time, a competing gel can leave cloudy hard water deposits, but cascade complete pacs help leave glasses sparkling. shiny! too bad it doesn't work on windows. okay, i'm outta here. there's only one cascade. love it or your money back. investigators looking into working conditions at an overseas apple supplier have just released their findings and they're not good. let's get right to felicia taylor in new york. so what's in this report? >> yeah, this is a pretty extensive report, gloria, and the reason that's important is that china is apple's second largest market behind the u.s. and this is apple's largest supplier that makes things for the iphone and the ipad in terms of the assembly line. some of the violations that were uncovered were excessive overtime, blocked exit, a lack of protective equipment and believe it or not, 43% of those workers surveyed said they had witnessed accidents some of this which led to injury. so when it comes to the ground breaking commitments that now foxconn has agreed to and they have to do it over the next 16 months so they have time to do it, they'll reduce hours to legal limits and they'll help out with pay and these are workers that make $350 to $450 a month and that isn't in par with what they should be making. they've agreed to improve safety and better worker representation. some of the things they've already done is fix those blocked exits and get the protective equipment out of the way and the missing permits and that all took place during the course of the investigation, but in order for them to comply they'll have to hire tens of thousands of additional employees to the 1.2 million people that already work for foxconn. tim cook was visiting one of the plants in china just the other day and immediately apple, after this report was released just about an hour and a half ago issued this statement, that quote, we fully support the ridiculous men dayings from the fla. we share the goal of improving lives and raising the bar for manufacturing companies everywhere. something that is also very significant about this story is although the fla, the fair labor association, is a non-profit organization, it is funded by its members and apple is one of its members and word is that they're paying well into the six figures to get this report issued in addition to the $250,000 that they pay annually to be a member of the fla. so there's a lot of different components to this story. gloria? >> thanks very much, felicia. he just threw his support behind mitt romney, but is rising star marco rubio ready to be his vice presidential nominee? stand by for our exclusive interview. plus thousands of dollars in credit card debt all before turning just seven years old? ahead you'll meet one of the nearly 20,000 children who have been robbed of their identity. cm with our smartphone app. you name it, we're here, anytime, anywhere, any way you want it. that's the way i need it. any way you want it. 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>> there's no back story. the primary's over, by the admission of the candidates and they said the only way they can win is a floor fight in tampa. i think the floor fight in tampa could be the worst possible thing to do to win in november. mitt romney has won the primary and it's time for us to get behind the nominee. >> you're comfortable he's a true conservative? >> he'll be a significant upgrade over the current occupant of the office. >> part of your rationale for endorsing is what president obama said to the russian president. >> the reminder is one of the top processes and i keep foreign policy bipartisan, but when you have the president of the united states telling a foreign leader to work with him after he's elected and what other issues is the president intend to pursue his flexibility once the election is over? do you think something sinister is going? >> i don't think it is sinister. there are issues that he doesn't want to admit where he stands on them, but after the election he intends to pursue and those are the kinds of things that we're concerned about. >> last year on "meet the press." -- >> my opinion has changed on the vice presidential stuff. i know people have asked, but my answer hasn't changed. i'm not going to be vice president. >> he is going to be very, very important to mitt romney particularly in the state of florida, can he keep the voters for mitt romney? >> you have to listen to what he said in that interview. he said my answer hasn't changed. that is up until now, that could be a different story and when i pressed him on whether or not you will stick with this response that he gave last year he said i'm not going to be the vice president and it is mysterious, and to your question, i think heel certainly be an asset in florida.latino vote and the cuban-american vote would be critical to winning that state if he were on the ticket with mitt romney and the president would need florida a great deal. he hopes to be reelected and without florida on the president's side, you could start to see how this could start moving in mitt romney's direction. no question this could be good for mitt romney if he could make marco rubio to change his mind. >> there's a long time between now and november. >> there say long time to go and it is a state that has a history of close calls and it would certainly change the dynamic of the race. and it's this question of immigration because of the immigration issue and the way that the republican candidates have taken a hawkish stance on that issue throughout the primary process. they've taken a hit in terms of the latino vote for the republican party. so marco rubio could change the dynamic for the republicans were he on that ticket and i was talking to him earlier today and he said he's comfortable with mitt romney's stance on immigration, but he did say he would like to see the republican party tweak his image on that issue, gloria. >> mitt romney is expected to get more critical support, this time from former president george h.w. bush. joining in ing us to talk abou and more is michael crowley. you can see the cover of the latest issue of "time" here, of course, our sister publication and let me start by asking you about this establishment move to coalesce around mitt romney, former president bush and marco rubio in the republican party. can we just say it? is this nomination fight over? >> in politics you never know and we're about as close to being over as we said. this is the third, fourth, fifth time the establishment has closed in around romney and the establishment has said it will be romney. he's hoping this will finally be it, but establishment support hasn't sold this hold-out ban of conservative voters -- >> that may work against. >> to some degree it might work against him and romney's fundamental problem remains and he doesn't need the endorsement of sarah palin and that's the void he needs to fill in his party. you mentioned in time.com, you pointed out that george w. bush has been completely silent during this campaign. his father will endorse formally today, but nothing from george w. bush. when are we going to hear from him? >> he endorsed john mccain on march 5th and at that point mccain-huckabee was out so mccain was kind of the last man standing. i was thinking to some degree w might be laying low and romney might not be hankering for his endorsement because george w. bush left office with low approval ratings and mitt romney's approval and disapproval ratings were almost as bad as george bush's were when he left office to say that romney is in bad shape, so it's hard to say who is the most popular figure right now. >> we were talking about jim acosta earlier, if the nominee were to be mitt romney, he does have the same problems with his base in the republican party as john mccain had. >> yeah. >> so what do you think would happen? let's play veep stakes. we're getting ahead of our game, but he may be a game changes as well. >> rubio has been pretty firm about ruling this scenario and it would be a hard thing for him to dial back. it's possible. i don't think that palin is going have a second bite of that apple. it's not crazy to imagine it would be rick santorum. he does come from pennsylvania which is an important swing state. on the other hand, he lost his re-election bid in pennsylvania badly by 18 points and he doesn't scream the idea that he'll carry it, but someone with santorum's excited base following is the kind of person that romney can really use. i'm not sure who is an obvious candidate. when you come up with a name, michael crowley, let us know. >> sorry to disappoint. imagine being thousands of dollars in debt before you hit the third grade? identity thefts are -- >> what if you won the jackpot tomorrow night, what would you do? ♪ let me get that door for you... 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lisa sylvester is investigating a frightening trend. identity thieves are going after our children. >> reporter: 7-year-old ian umshod is number 21 on the baseball field. like many kids, he loves playing baseball, guarding second base, but unlike other children, ian has a lengthy credit report, none of it good. among the charges, $5400 on a bankamerica credit card. $2700 owed to allied financial bank and $4500 to a california jewelry store. ian is a victim of identity theft. >> at the time this happened he would have been 6 and they indicated to me that there was six or seven accounts opened totaling about $15,000 worth of purchases. >> the problem began after the family's california health insurance company lost a computer hard disk drive, a credit monitoring service caught the suspicious purchases, but not before someone had racked up thousands of dollars in charges. trying to explain a lost identity to a young child can be difficult. >> he said that someone -- someone stole the computer and found my name on it, and they made, like, a card and did my name on it. >> more than 19,000 children were victims of identity theft on it according to the federal trade commission. children are often targets because not surprisingly, they have no history of debt. >> stephen is an attorney with the federal trade commission. >> typically, the way that that is discovered is the child turns 16, 17 and starts to apply for schools or car loans and thieves know that. they know that if they get a social security number of a youngster it could be years before parents have any reason to track the credit of that child. >> there are steps parents can take. >> there's no reason for you to carry your child's social security number around in your wallet unless you're going to need it for a specific purpose. you should monitor your children's activity online. >> even when parents do everything right, sometimes things happen that's out of their control. that was the case with the umscheid. simon is a district attorney in california. >> i've been a d.a. for 12 years. i'm a prosecutor at work every day and i deal with this every day. now it's hit home and that can happen to anybody and we're extremely careful. >> tracking and catching identity thieves can be difficult and the harm they cause can last for years. >> it helps parents keep tabs on the credit files and the social security administration is making it harder for thiefs to guess social security numbers. instead of being based on where and when someone is born, new numbers are being issued randomly. gloria? >> thanks very much, lisa. that's kind of scary, actually. and the mega millions lottery jackpot, now the largest in world history. next, the first thing you need to do if you win. i want to create the land what lego is today for toys. i want to have the democratized innovation in health care. i want to do that for medical technologies. my name is la sayo, and i make toys to make affordable medical devices. an airline has planes... and people. and the planes can seem the same so, it comes down to the people. because, bad weather the price of oil those are every airlines reality. and solutions won't come from 500 tons of metal and a paint job. they'll come from people. delta people. who made us one of the biggest airlines in the world. and then decided that wasn't enough. i get my cancer medications through the mail. now washington, they're looking at shutting down post offices coast to coast. closing plants is not the answer. they want to cut 100,000 jobs. it's gonna cost us more, and the service is gonna be less. we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. the ripple effect is going to be devastating. congress created the problem. and if our legislators get on the ball, they can make the right decisions. >> it's now the biggest lottery jackpot in world history. tomorrow's mega millions is now $540 million, but would you know exactly how to handle that kind of money if you won? our mary snow explains winning has some pitfalls. mary? >> gloria, it's the problem that everybody wants to have, but what would you do? there are a lot of hopes and aa said, there are challenges. >> in hawthorne, california, wanna be millionaires hope to l liquor store that boasts of selling winning lottery tickets. in new york, mega million hopefuls know the long shot but still take the chance. >> i heard all the odds. it's a dollar and a dream. >> a dream of winding up like this. >> we're millionaires. >> tlc's "lottery changed my life" is a show that tells the story of lottery winners. >> everybody has that fantasy of what would you do that that kind of money. >> i'm dr. shirley crest and i won $56 million in the florida lottery. >> life is good for some lottery winners, but others go broke. the producer says one problem is getting swindled. >> all of a sudden you have $10 million in the bank and don't know who to trust. people come out of the woodwork. >> coming into this kind of money is such a big change, there are businesses built around helping people adjust. susan bradley founded the sudden money institute. >> the possibilities with big wins are so extreme that it really does alter status quo, almost permanently. it takes about five years to get used to this kind of change in a person's life. >> bradley tells winners, the first thing to do is safeguard the ticket and don't tell many people you've won. before even claiming jackpot, she advises to have a team in place, including a financial adviser specializing in big money and a lawyer. she finds it's the personal changes, not managing the money, that prove the most challenging. >> the real thing is how all your relationships change, how you change, how you see the world, how the world sees you. >> of course, there's taxes. if you took a lump sum, most people do. that would be $389. take out taxes in new york city, for example, jackpot would amount to about $243 million. gloria? >> still not such a bad problem to have, right, mary? >> we'll take it. >> we should point out that the odds of winning this mega millions jackpot are said to be about one in 175 million. that's pretty slim. we did some research and found your chances of doing any of the following are likely better. becoming president of the united states. that's about one in ten million. becoming a saint. that's about one in 20 million. or even -- get this -- getting killed by a vending machine. the odds there, about one in 112 milli million. it doesn't look very good. now, time to check back with jack cafferty. now i know why you don't buy lottery tickets. >> there you go. the question is what would you do if you hit the $540 million. randall writes i'd buy me a couple members of congress, like a real one percenter. mark in houston, i would move as far away from texas as is humanly possible. dee writes i'm buried in debt, but is nye life so bad that i'd deep six it with a tsunami of cash and fame. the winner will be from a class of people that buy their things from convenient stores, not the class of people that have money. the end result is pre destined. karen in idaho writes, i have my lottery ticket already, jack. if i hit jackpot, the local humane society will get a huge donation. needy animals are more deserving and appreciative than greedy adults. >> scott writes i'd mourn the loss of value. i'd miss the sweetness of going to my favorite sushi restaurant because it's expensive. i'd miss the similar joy of giving something away that cost me something. i'd miss generosity and value because i wouldn't be in want of anything material. i'm not even sure i want to buy a ticket. john from oregon, i'd buy greece. peter in new york writes, i'd fill up my tank. that's all i got. gloria, back to you. >> thanks a lot, jack. it's queen like you've never heard before, belt friday the back of a police car. you don't want to miss this. ♪ carry on, carry on ♪ cuz nothing really matters real estate in hong kong, and the optics industry in germany? 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