line as well, doesn't it? yeah, yeah, yeah. >> santorum's closing pitch, a poke at the former illinois senator who now lives in the white house. >> you have a particular obligation to write a wrong here in the state of illinois. >> there are 54 delegates at stake tuesday in the state of illinois. a look at the math shows you time is running short for anyone else trying to stop governor romney. you need 1,144 to clinch. governor romney is 519, not halfway but look how commanding the lead is. senator santorum is second and gingrich 139 and romney with a big lead. if you look at the remaining delegates, 996 allocated to date. that leaves just shy of 1,300. we're almost to the halfway point in the delegates awarded and illinois will get closer to that. if you are behind romney, you're running short. mitt romney is the leader now in the delegate chase and he has right now 49%, 49% of the delegates needed. the average win is winning 57%. if he wins 49% of the rest of the way, he clinches the nomination and he has been winning more than half. for senator santorum, he needs to win 70% of the delegate from here on out and only winning 20% of the delegates. speaker gingrich, the hill is even steeper. he needs to win 78% to clinch the nomination. congressman paul would need 83%. you see this here. if governor romney continues to perform, he would clinch. it might take awhile but he would clinch. the other candidates would have to do dramatically better. it makes it pretty unlikely in the eyes of most and a new poll shows romney with a 14 life point lead over santorum with newt gingrich running a distant third and ron paul at the back in single digits and might not be surprised by this, the talk on the trail is tough. >> i am somewhat experienced in the economy. i am not an economic lightweight. president obama is. we're not going to be successful in replacing an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight. we have to replace them with someone who knows how to run the economy. >> let's be brutally honest. there is one candidate that can never make this race about free because he is simply abandoned freedom when he was governor of massachusetts and he abandoned it when he promoted obama care in 2009. >> jim in the thick of all of this live from chicago. jim, very tough rhetoric. seems, number one, gov no nor romney can see a chance and store santorum in front of the statue of ronald reagan tough as well. >> that's right. whatever happened to ronald reagan's 11th commandment, shall not speak ill of another republican. it is hard to figure out which metaphor to go with, the uncivil war in the land of lincoln or the chicago way politics. and in the last 24 hours you heard rick santorum respond to the economic lightweight tag that mitt romney tried to hang on him by calling mitt romney a wall street finance ear and releasing a statement saying he has no core. earlier today saying as you mentioned a few moments ago saying he abandoned freedom and the rick santorum in i campaign isn't taking this lying down. they have gone after rick santorum as late as this afternoon with a web video they put out to reporters referring to a rick santorum statement at a town hall in moline, illinois, earlier this afternoon where rick santorum said i don't really think about the unemployment rate, i don't think it is important in this campaign, and the romney people are basically trying to turn it into rick santorum's i like being able to fire people and the only relief to voters in illinois is that the primary is tomorrow, john. >> that's an interesting way to put it, jim. i want you to listen to an interesting observation from governor romney about young voters. listen. >> i don't see how a young american can vote for, well, can vote for a democrat. >> jim, given governor romney's history, that's dicey, no? >> that was a bit dicey considering that mitt romney voted for paul and the massachusetts primary back in 1992 and the romney campaign and mitt romney have both said that of the because they were trying to block bill clinton from becoming the democratic nominee and it was an odd way of phrasing things and honestly it was another example of mitt romney having trouble turning his sights on president obama. he has been so busy fighting with rick santorum today he was supposed to go into this building behind me here on the campus at the university of chicago, john, to go after president obama's economic record, and on president obama's home turf, just a couple of miles from the headquarters of the reelection campaign and what really has been the talk of the political world and the talk of the primary is this very, very nasty battle, perhaps the nastiest 24 hours of this campaign so far, john. >> jim acosta in chicago. thanks so much. let's get perspective now. if you do the delegate math you can see, yes, romney hasn't clinched it, but he is so far ahead of the others. how big of gamble and how much backfire with santorum spending two days in puerto rico when he could have been in illinois and now he is down by double-digits? >> object why usually it didn't pay off for him. romney swept all of those. he got all of the 20 delegates. i think if you are the romney people, i talked to a senior advisor today that started calling santorum words like spoiler and obstructionist. the whole notion they take it to the convention and they believe he cannot get the requisite 1,144, that if he wants to play that game, at some point they're saying, look, you need to win 70% of the delegates. how are you going to do that? particularly they look towards april 24th, pennsylvania is up on april 24th, and they say if rick santorum doesn't win both the delegates and the popular vote, that's when people ought to say time to say good night. this is the romney people. >> given how the race has gone, let's get through illinois before we worry too much about april. i want you to listen to governor romney. one of the difficult challenges for the republican candidates and the one that says the best thing i can do is fix the economy, our statistics, and i don't mean they want people to be in pain but statistics show the economy getting better. governor romney acknowledged that today. >> i believe the economy is coming back by the way. we'll see what happens. i think it is finally coming back. >> he went on to say he thought it would come back stronger if we had a new president with different policies. how much more difficult from a communications standpoint does it make it that at least people may not feel it but at least some of the statistics are out. >> that clip shows that he has really taken a pivot on how he talks about the economy. it does get more difficult for him because he has to give the president some credit although he didn't say he gave the president some credit here, but you can't be seen to be a republican candidate and voting saying, okay, the economy is not getting better or at least not acknowledging the fact that it is getting better. you can't seem to be rooting against an improving economy, so i think he has to say what he said today, that it is getting better. i would have gotten it here a little faster and certainly i will make it get better a lot faster if you vote for me, but it is the first time i think we have heard him really say that. >> speaker gingrich is not a factor in illinois. if we're having this conversation a week from now and he doesn't prove himself in louisiana which votes over the weekend, his reason for staying is what? >> adelson, the sugar daddy and i don't think he has much of a reason and in talking to the republicans today and newt gingrich if he doesn't do well in louisiana, will be able to see that historically and that's how newt gingrich thinks in terms of his legacy and history that he will be able to say, you know what, maybe i can be a king maker in this race and maybe i can be somebody who can make a difference for either of these two candidates, and so then he would get out. nobody is actually gotten to newt gingrich and spoken to him about that yet. >> illinois first and we'll deal with louisiana and that question. gloria, thanks for yum time tonight. as for president obama, he heads west in another attempt to soothe voters anxiety about gas prices. he will push the all 69 above approach that emphasizes domestic production and also alternative energy sources. high gas prices have become a regular part of the republican presidential candidate stump speeches. >> we also got to get the president out of his job and turn to somebody that will get america energy secure and independent and i will do that. >> the president who understands that whether it is coal or oil or gas, whether it is in the ground, that is not a liability for our country. that is an asset for our country that we need to produce. >> let's bring in our white house correspondent. we know this president or any president can only do so much especially in the short-term when it comes to gas prices. you have to take this tour after the president talking about this last week is proof they feel both that financial pain of families and political pitch. >> exactly right. john, you know we have seen the president making his case for an all of the above approach to energy and traveling to do butter we haven't seen this, a very concentrated, very visual series of stops and in each of these stops he is making he will either be touting his energy policies or he will be rebuffing republican criticism of them. first off is bolder city, nevada. he will visit a huge solar farm that powered 17,000 homes, and his message is that renewable energy which he has emphasized so much is worth while and can be worthwhile economically and then he is onto carlsbad, new mexico on wednesday where he will visit oil and gas fields on federal land and he will defend himself against republican criticism that he is essentially put the kabosh on drill by using it as a back drop and saying basically, hey, no, i haven't, and then also answering republican calls to drill more which he has done before and saying that if the answer was drilling more to get prices down, then prices would be down since domestic oil production is at an eight-year high. thursday he heads to curbing, oklahoma, his first visit to the state and this is key. this is where the southern half of the keystone excel pipeline will be built. this is him under cutting republican criticism of his delaying of the northern half and then finally on thursday what do you know, john, he heads to ohio, a key battle ground state where he will go to ohio state university and discuss energy related research there. >> goes to ohio once or twice more he will be paying taxes. see how that plays out. bri, thank you. >> calls for the u.s. justice department to investigate the shooting death of a florida teenager. he is african-american and the neighbor that shot him is not. you'll hear the 911 call next. what parents need to know and what they don't see in this viral video of airport security agents searching a three-year-old in a wheelchair. [ male announcer ] this is the network -- a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions... [ beeping ] ...to bring all the right results. it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ to help business do more for customers. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! whwheeee! ! whwheeee!! whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ahah h heaeadsds u up. whwheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! evevererytythihingng y youou l , nonow w momobibilele.. dodownwnloloadad t thehe n nep totodaday.y. david reports the neighbor watch who killed the boy is free and not charge and had because of that the case is sparking outrage. >> listen as calls to 911 tell the story of a tragedy in the making. that's the voice of neighborhood watch captain george zimmerman, apparently frustrated by recent break ins. he gives a dispatcher his poor first impression of trayvon martin walking alone and acting strangely. >> this guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something. >> less than a minute later, martin is running away and zimmerman gets out of his car. >> are you following us? >> yeah. >> we don't need you to do that. >> okay. >> instead, zimmerman and martin end up fighting. a neighbor calls 911. >> do you need police, fire or medical? >> maybe both. i am not sure. there is someone screaming outside. >> in the background listen for the sound of a fight and a panicked voice yelling for help followed by a gunshot. >> is it a male or female? >> sounds like a male. >> you don't know why? >> i don't know why. i think they're yelling help. i don't know. just send someone quick, please. >> you think he is yelling help? >> yes. >> what is your -- >> there was a gunshots. >> you heard gunshots. >> yes. >> how many? >> one. >> the cries for help stop. whose voice was it? the answer could make the difference between a case of self defense or a deadly crime. >> who is that crying, trayvon. >> cries for justice for trayvon martin continue. demonstrations outside the seminole county courthouse. >> he could so easily have just been any one of us, so i feel like the reason you all are out here is because you all are affected the same way i was affected. >> not only did trayvon martin's parents fear about the conduct of the police, the congressman that sits on the judiciary committee wants eric holder to launch a federal investigation. thanks for being here. i want skeptical which congress tries to get involved in a local investigation. what convinces you that federal government needs to and the attorney general needs to get involved and the congress needs to keep an eye on this? >> you see an outpouring of sympathy and outrage by parents across america regardless of color or background. what they see is a child being in the line of fire. it is okay to have a neighborhood watch but not a neighborhood vigilante, and the question has to be whether this young boy's life was taken and his civil rights denied and in effect an investigation. at this point not knowing what will happen going forward has been waged if you will. no lie detector test, no detaining of mr. zimmerman, seemingly no extensive review of eyewitnesss who heard the shots, no analysis at least to date. this happened in february. this is now march 19th. no analysis of that 911 call. was it the young boy's call for help? a young boy who had nothing but candy in his pocket who was legitimately there and being judged because he wore a hoody? the question is did you see him in the act of a crime and the final acts is that the law enforcement and this has happened all over the country, law enforcement has said do not follow him. stay in your car. we're on our way. that would have been the appropriate vehicle to be able to address this young boy and no parent should send a child for canned and i a drink and wind up preparing for a funeral. >> in terms of a jurisdictional issue, sounds to me like you obviously don't trust how the sanford police handled this. why shouldn't the next process not florida attorney general, the state level to look at this first? do you think you should come straight to washington as a potential civil rights case? >> working with the congress woman in that area, kareen brown, outraged and been with the family members and other leaders and i want to emphasize parents of all kinds have called upon and let me say this. i believe the investigation does not need to be mutually exclusive. let the sanford police show us what they can do. i believe it is important to move that evidence if you will up to washington dc, and we welcome the attorney general. this happened february 26th. it is now march. they had a long enough time to see some of the failures of the investigation to say we'll take a look at it. not even a major investigation will take a look at this family is in pain. i frankly believe as i indicated this deceased child, this active child that baby-sited for people, that played football, that had all of the life before him, every parent right now in the united states is probably wondering can i send my child out no matter what their background is? i think the justice department needs to be the final protector of the people of the united states of america. >> and this has become for better or worse a big story getting a lot of media attention, and the family is out there. mr. zimmerman, we tried to reach his attorney and get someone to speak for him. he is presumed innocent. i assume you agree with that? >> absolutely. >> here is what his father wrote in a letter. he would not last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever, the moo he had aportrayal of george has a racist could not be further from the truth. i want you to listen here. the issue here is the police department and their preliminary investigation and what they're saying is that under florida's self defense law they don't have any evidence to charge. let's listen to the police chief. >> based on the facts and circumstances and the stories that have been reported, i can certainly understand how they would jump to that or make those assumptions. i can assure you that the sanford police department is conducting a fair investigation no heart what the color of anyone involved in it is. >> sounds to me like you don't trust the heef. >> there are a lot of state laws, and i am quite familiar with florida's very strong self defense law, very strong self defense law and i am also aware that you have to question the motives and/or the tactics of the perpetrator or the individual who shot the gun. we now have a deceased boy that cannot testify for himself. i don't believe even with this law that there was an extensive review of mr. zimmerman's actions. the sanford police have to take some responsibility. they told him to stay put. we have had these kind of cases across america. the reason why i suggest that this is a civil rights case no matter what background the individual has, civil rights belong to all americans, is that sometimes a federal law has to say the protection of this child's life is superior to state law and federal law trumps state law in terms of protecting his life. did he have a civil right to walk on a sidewalk? that young boy was not caught behind someone's homecoming out of a window, attacking someone, he was walking along a street. do we not have rights of americans, free access, free movement, the first amendment guarantees us that. i believe it is a federal case. i believe it is a case where we respect police authority and at the same time citizens have to be protected as well. >> we hope you keep in touch with the attorney general's response to your letter. thank you for your time. a deadly shooting in france prompts fears of attack here in the united states. new information about precautions being put in place and the duchess of cambridge speaks and the world listens. we'll review her first official speech as a royal next. to make it more beautiful, and more durable. you'd use edge-to-edge gorilla glass for a stunning display in a more compact form. and you'd choose an intel® core i7™ processor for maximum processing power. everything that you could ever want in a laptop. introducing the dell xps 13 ultrabook™ everything. and more. ♪ welcome back. >> hello there. >> hi there, john. good evening, everyone. some important developments to catch you up on today in the syria crisis. human rights groups say at least 30 people died today and rue terz reports da mass cass saw the heaviest fighting of the uprising. russia urged syria to call humanitarian troops and u.s. the confirms it contacted iraqi officials to make sure iran isn't using iraqi roads or aerospace to send weapons to syria. everyone is okay aboard a cruise liner that ran a containership off vietnam today. they say it has minor dents and passengers were able to continue the tour. they will show you what happened. witnesses say it was very foggy and the containership wasn't visible until seconds before the collision. >> it was as if our ship was perfectly lined up to hit it in the side, so it was a horrifying moment, and in less than about five seconds after the ship appeared, we did in fact collide right in the side of it. >> very, very scary. the duchess of cambridge in other news is very comfortable in front of the camera and she doesn't often speak in public. today katherine gave her first official speech asses a royal at a children's hospice center. listen here. >> you have all made me feel so welcome. i feel hugely honored to be here to see this wonderful center. i am only sorry that william can't be here today. he would love it here. >> her husband, prince william, is finishing up military training in the vulcan islands. a lot has been made about her performance. imagine all of those eyes on you. >> why was it funny that william wasn't there? >> i don't know. it was cute. >> cute? >> she smirked. >> that's it. see you in a little bit. what do i know? more questions for the tsa after this video shows a toddler in a wheelchair getting a patdown at the airport. this is lawn rang- eden prairie, minnesota. 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. 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>> yeah. the new york police department, john, is saying that there aren't any specific threats, but because there is such a large jewish population in new york city, police commissioner is saying it is prudent to take more precautions and you might see behind me standing in front of a synagogue where there is a prol car outside and you will see more uniformed police officers outside synagogues and schools and other jewish institutions. the police commissioner is saying the biggest concern are copycat attacks and that security has been beefed up at more than 50 locations around the city. >> and you mentioned the reaction of the authorities. what about the folks in the community, the synagogue behind you has a nursery and day care center. what are people in the community saying? >> we talked to several synagogues, and there is a lot of concern. you see the university, for one, e-mailed the 7,000 students and staff members telling them to be on alert and some of the synagogues we have spoken to have also said they increased their own private security in addition to that extra police presence and as one synagogue told me, listen, when something like this happens, everything gets reviewed. >> mary snow, thanks so much. return to a video many parents would find disturbing. airport security agents getting heavy handed with a young boy. the video which recently went viral shows tsa officers searching a three-year-old boy confined to to a wheelchair because of a broken leg. they didn't find any forbidden substances but the video doesn't tell the entire story. liz has been looking into this and joins us now. it is not new. >> it is not new. this is one of the most important things. this was shot in the spring of 2010 and the boy's father just put it online a couple days ago. i talked to him, interviewed him, asked him why he posted it now and really what it was about the search that upset him so much. >> there is another human being putting their hands on my child. that's not acceptable. if he was putting his hands on my child at mcdonald's or any place else, we would immediately have him arrested. we would call the police. >> did you feel the agent was intrusive or disrespectful? >> i think the whole exercise was intrusive and disrespectful to a human being, especially a three-year-old human being. >> the agent was about as respectful as he could have been but it was the process, john, that was the part that sort of got to him. >> if the process was the problem, tell us what has changed since then? >> the process is one of those big things. there have been big changes in the way kids are screened. back in september the tsa put in new rules to reduce patdowns for kids under 12. they can leave their shoes on and go back through the metal detector another time and get explosive swabs and the white pads you can see and as for the specific case, since this boy was in a metal wheelchair which would have set off a metal detector tore a screening machine, probably still get a patdown so they don't go away entirely but you're likely to see less of them and they shifted the focus to something called risk-based screening. they started letting people over 75 leave shoes and jackets on and essentially they're saying the people that are the least risky will get generally less intrusive screenings and they still go through random checks. one note we should point out, tsa inspectors will often go through and try to test their own defenses and one place they look is in a wheelchair and a cast, a back brace because it is human nature to not want to inspect there. you will never be patdown free even if your grandmother is in a wheelchair. she might get a patdown. that's the way to do security. >> they're trying to do their jobs. hopefully the changes found a reasonable middle ground but it never goes away. coming up, the truth about the link between president obama's travel schedule and your price at the pump and why senator scott was talking about santorum's first time. e land. economically, it seems like a good choice now. we need environmental protection. we've got more than 100 years worth of energy, right here. [announcer:] who's right? they all are. visit powerincooperation.com. ♪ home was an airport lounge and an ipad ♪ ♪ made sure his credit score did not go bad ♪ ♪ with a free-credit-score-dot-com ♪ ♪ app that he had ♪ downloaded it in the himalayas ♪ ♪ while meditating like a true playa ♪ ♪ now when he's surfing down in chile'a ♪ ♪ he can see when his score is in danger ♪ ♪ if you're a mobile type on the go ♪ ♪ i suggest you take a tip from my bro ♪ ♪ and download the app that lets you know ♪ ♪ at free-credit-score-dot-com now let's go. ♪ vo: offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™. the president is off on a four-city energy tour and i am sure it won't shock you, three of the stops are in big campaign swing states. it is the one that is not a swing state that is intriguing, cushing, oklahoma, the starting point for the southern half of the keystone pipeline. the president refuses to go along with republicans who want to fast track the pipeline. it is not just the republicans. exxon mobil now spending big on a new ad campaign that doesn't mention the president and echos the gop argument about keystone. >> it is a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects like curl and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. overly the coming years they could create a half a million jobs in the u.s. alone. >> it is a cold reality to the obama white house. the tour is necessary because the president is at the moment anyway losing ground in a potent mr. it call debate over energy. the most important number is this one o average you're paying $3.81 a gallon for gas, up 30 cents in the past month and 45 cents a gallon since the beginning of the year. the republican candidates for president blame the incumbent and his team in turn accuses the gop of cheap politics. >> the notion that we can simply drill our way out of this or that somehow that if we say that the gas prices will go down magically now, newt gingrich's 2.50 a gallon and so on, it is not oil talk. it is snake oil talk and the american people know the difference. >> truth is to president obama is silly and simplistic. look at this chart, increases in gas prices around the world track almost exactly the increases here, but if i understand politics, the guy in charge takes the heat when times are tough and gas prices are high and president obama is no exception. >> we also have to get the president out of his job and turn to somebody that will get america energy secure and independent and i will do that. >> forget the politicians for a moment. as you pay more at the pump your energy priorities change. a new study found support for allowing more oil and gas drilling is now back to where it was before the big gulf oil spill in the spring of 2010. now, the president's view isn't without support. he argues for investments in next generation power sources like wind, solar, other alternatives and 52% of americaning say developing those is the most important priority in energy policy as opposed to 39% who see more domestic production of oil, coal and natural gas adds the greater priority. just a year ago that gap was much larger, 63%, and the highest priority on alternative sources just 29% on more production of coal and oil and gas. it is proved your energy is driven by your bottom line and proof the president is losing the upper hand at least for now in the blame game. talk truth right now. michael this issue has become very powerful to the point the president is going out on the road and what can he say except when they blame me they're wrong? >> well, the best argument is the with unthat he can't make as you said, that the president's power is quite limited and that a lot of politics is happening. i think what he can do is remind people of the things he is trying to do, the case is complicated. for instance, he talks about alternative energy, solar, wind, green energy, and that raises the question of solindra and the energy programs and i think he can remind people he has done a lot on that front. another point he can make i think is a good one, he is trying to tame down tensions between iran and israel right now. this is a significant factor in driving up gas prices. he wants to cool the rhetoric and slow down the rattling and his opponents are talking about cracking down on iran and i think raising tensions that raise prices so the best arguments that he can make are tricky for him to make and i think he has to do the best he can. >> you're shaking your head. if you were a republican and the democrats would be here saying the same thing. any argument a president can make when people are feeling it? when you fill up the tank and not only is it a self serve generation, you're out of the car and watching that go and go and go and i don't care whether you are democrat, independent, march shan, it makes you mad. >> and all of us feel first when we feel a pinch in the home budget. the president's response, his energy policy, is essentially by campaign press release. the fact of the matter is his policy has been no, no, no on every effort to expand energy capacity in the united states since he i am ka into office. there was an energy bill in the congress the first two years and he couldn't get it through. he didn't provide any leadership. he has gone to war against energy, the energy industry, with the epa, and not opening this pipeline is stupid. this is him trying to campaign, trying to get behind public opinion and it is way too late. >> the position on the pipeline is you don't need to be in such a rush, there is plenty of time and the construction would just be starting and he can get to it down the road. how is his position any different from what john mccain was in the campaign four years ago when he said we need to drill more and also need wind and solar and everything else? >> i think if there is a differential, it is that mccain was not hostile to fossil fuels, and i think the obama administration actually is, and the reason he can't spin his way out of this is because his senior members of his administration and the president himself have basically called for policies that will create higher prices and they have even endorsed higher prices, so no one is going to believe them when they go, oh, poor me, we have higher gas prices. >> they raised energy standards on cars. that makes it more expensive to make cars. they're in people's wallet in every conceivable way. and a few press releases won't make it. >> if the economy were doing better, people might not feel as bad about this. when you have high presses and a step i had or slowing recover. >> on the other hand i think to some degree, the amount of time we're spending talking about this issue is probably a little better than the issues that the president was dealing economically with a year or so ago. unemployment is on the way down. the economy teams to be on upward trajectory and you have global economic growth. oil prices rise when the economy is expanding around the world. it is kind of a nice problem to have. he wants to solve it and in some way it is better trying to assure people we're not on the brink of another disaster. >> i want you to help rick santorum out of this one. >> oh, no. >> i don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. it doesn't matter to me. my campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates. >> i do care about the unemployment rate. it does bother me. i want to get people back to work. >> the point was there are bigger and larger fundamental issues about the economy, but, hello. >> i know. he walked into that punch. any time it takes you to walk yourself out of it than it did to get yourself into t you have lost. we all know that. circle back to gas prices if i can. it does relate to the economy and another problem that obama has got is he has gone all in on green energy and it has proven to be a failure in every other country it is tried in and here as well. >> everybody, hold your breath. stay with us. we'll be right back. the new york mets agree to write a $162 million check but to not me. it could have been worse and a washington icon steps down in the moments you missed. all energy development comes with some risk, but proven technologies allow natural gas producers to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation and self-contained recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprint and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas... domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. 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. 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[ male announcer ] maxwell house french roast. always good to the last drop. we're talking with politics with republican strategists. over the weekend john mccain was saying the republican party needs to move past the debate on contraception and women's issues. >> i think there is a perception out there because of the way that this whole contraception issue played out, we need to get off of that issue in my view. i think we ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives and make that clear, and get back on to what the american people really care about, jobs and the economy. >> that was a serious discussion of a political issue. here's a funny way to look at it. >> i see that both newt gingrich and rick santorum now have secret service with them on the campaign trail. and in santorum's case, i think it's the first time he's actually ever used protection. >> you're grunting. it's humor. >> it's not okay. >> not okay? >> not okay. not okay why? >> it's on the santorum family and the number of children so i think he was trying to make it funny. i'm not sure it works with the broader audience, although i have to agree that the republican party would be far more successful right now if they were talking about freedom. >> i want to be clear before we get through the conversation that was at a st. patrick's day breakfast where politicians try to be funny and some of them succeed but the whole thing was meant in humor. don't think he was adding that to a normal stump speech. >> but don't think that he didn't do that for a calculated reason. he's running as an independent, taking a shot at a couple of republicans isn't a bad thing for scott brown. if he can hold that seat, all the power to him. he's representing his constituents and the joke had timing. let me just say, it was funny. >> to the broader issue, does senator mccain have a point in terms of -- is there -- can we demonstrate a toll on the republican party from this conversation? >> well, there has been some toll, and i do think that republicans are much better off talking about the economy, talking about gas prices. i think that's their strength against president obama. at the same time this issue is a little more nuance than it's come to seem. the way it's unfolded has been quite bad for republicans the past kim couple of weeks. particularly with rush limbaugh saying these things. but the numbers on underlying issues on whether religious organizations should have these exemptions of conscience, the polls are not as clear cut on that question. so i would say that republicans took an issue that was potentially a winning issue and managed to bungle it. they would probably be well served to step away from it now, but over the long run there's a way to turn things around and get on level footing. >> let me close on this. there's an important election tomorrow in the state of illinois. governor romney routs santorum in puerto rico. he took two days there and it's a risk that back fired. if romney can win illinois after winning puerto rico, is he back in stability, the land of inevitable, or is this thing so wacky who knows? >> conventional wisdom will swing back his way, but he still needs almost 50% of the remaining delegates to get the nomination. he's still on track for that. but this is probably the biggest one yet for him that he has to win. florida, michigan, now illinois. i think it's a pretty convincing case. >> i agree completely. >> you say pennsylvania. do you knock off rick santorum in pennsylvania? >> yes. >> a lot of the contests coming up are looking pretty good for romney. not that many spots for santorum. >> we'll save the tape to see if we're back in never neverland again. kate is back with news you need to know. hello, everyone. so you think you have a tough job? try to decide this question, the supreme court justices heard today. should the government pay survivors' benefits for twins conceived by in vitro fertilization and born 18 months after their biological father died? social security said no. a lower court said yes. the justices sounded skeptical today. we'll get a decision from them by the summer. also apple is trying a couple of things the company has never done before. it's going to pay a stock dividend of $2.65 a share. it will also buy back $10 billion worth of stock. some people say steve jobs never would have done this but would have plowed this money into research. current officials say with $97 billion of cash on hand, there's enough money for all of the above. the new york mets have agreed to pay $162 million to avoid a trial in the bernie madoff case. the mets' owners are among hundreds of investors sued for allegedly profiting from the ponzi scheme, even though they deny knowing anything was wrong. madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence. finally tonight, a little boy set out to cross a bridge here in washington. and ended up spinning a basketball on his finger. he's getting some help, as you can see, from harlem globetrotter flight time lang. they dribbled their way into washington today for an upcoming game. not a bad afternoon for that little boy. >> not bad at all, that's fun. he'll remember that. now everybody has a camera on their phone so there's pictures of that as well. stay right there, kate. you're a congressional correspondent so our moment you missed or maybe someone will be missing. >> once again, good afternoon from washington. this is c-span, the cable satellite public affairs network. my name is brian lamb. i'll be with you all afternoon long -- >> after 33 years at the helm of c-span, the founder, brian lamb, announced he'll be stepping down as ceo. the recipient of the presidential medal of freedom, he has led an organization that brings the inner workings of washington to over 100 million households. we wanted to show you one of the most memorable moments, a 1999 interview with nancy reagan on dealing with the assassination attempt on her husband. >> you've had the assassination attempt, the cancers, your cancer, what have you learned about dealing with illness? and how did you deal with it at the white house itself? did you have a technique or advice you can give others? >> you just -- you just do it. you just get up and take each day as it comes and put one foot in front of the other. i don't know. and you love. >> even though he's leaving his leadership post, brian lamb will keep asking those important questions. you can catch him on his interview series q & a. c-span covered coverage of congress. most people see it as a benefit, some people see all the grandstanding. i'll say this about brian lamb, a gentleman, and you don't fine too many of those in today's washington. what do you think? >> from the part of covering congress, there is nothing in a reporter's tool belt that could be more important than c-span some days.