major. tonight's truth follows the money and tells you just where the obama and romney campaigns believe the presidential election will be decided. in china, just as secretary of state hillary clinton arrived for a round of delegates, a chinese human rights activist left the protection of the u.s. embassy in beijing. the united states says he received assurances he would be treated humanely. later, he spoke by phone and told a very different and much darker story. he says, u.s. officials broke promises to have someone with him as he received medical treatment. >> translator: the embassy kept lobbying me to leave and promised to have people stay with me in the hospital. this afternoon, as soon as i checked in the hospital room, i noticed they were all gone. >> stan joins us live from beijing. tell us more about this phone call in which chen says he was misled, double crossed. >> a phone call at 3:00 a.m. beijing time, he was sitting up in his hospital room afraid for his life. his wife was by his side. she was telling me, she could not even leave the room. that's how scared she was. all of this unfolded after he left the u.s. embassy earlier in the day. he had been hold up there for the past six days after fleeing house arrest. he was allowed to leave of his own volition. they took him to a hospital. at that point, things started to change. that's when he started to learn about the level of threats and violence being made towards him and his family. he said his wife was tied to a chair, interrogated for hours and beaten with sticks after the guards found out he, chen, had fled. he said they were waiting back at their home with weapons if he did not leave the embassy. he is at the hospital and very much at the mercy of the chinese government. he was under house arrest for 18 months. he is making a direct plea to be allowed to leave china. he is asking president obama to do everything that you can to get me and my family out of here. we fear for our lives the longer we stay here. john? >> this is at a minimum a dramatic misunderstanding. he is in the hospital, being supervised. i am being kind when i say supervised by chinese officials even if the united states said, come back, could he go back? >> you know, john, he thought that everything was going to be fine. he thought there was a deal here that the u.s. and china had struck a deal where he and his family could live safely and freely. he quickly found out there were threats being made that make that impossible. that's how i feels let down by the you states. he says they did not give him enough information. he was basically cut off from the world when he was inside the embassy, couldn't make telephone calls, wasn't able to watch the news and didn't have enough information to make the crucial decision. while he was inside the u.s. embassy, there may have been a greater product of leaving the country. he is a chinese citizen inside a chinese hospital. his wife, afraid to move, threats being made against their lives and in a country that haslocked him up before. a very precarious situation, john. >> remarkable reporting by our stan great. as stan noted, secretary clinton did speak by phone with chen today. sh he released a statement saying she was grad to congratulate him on being reunited with his wife and children. the question now, as you have this mixup and finger pointing, what will happen in the case? jill dougherty is in beijing for the meetings. jill, you have heard what stan says chen told him in the phone conversation. are u.s. officials still adamant they were fully forth right and laid this all out for mr. chen? >> reporter: yes, so far, they are. they say when he came to the embassy, right from the beginning, he said he wanted to stay here in china and continue his work. in an interview i did with kurt campbell, the assistant secretary of state, he says mr. chen was asked at least three times. are you leaving? do you want to leave of your own volition? he said yes. they also point out that he did not ask for asylum. those are three strong points. now, let me read what victoria new land said. this is another thing that came up, another issue saying the u.s. embassy threatened then to leave. at no time, they said, did any u.s. officials speak to chen about physical or legal threats to his wife and children. nor did chinese officials make any threats to us and at no point during his time in the embassy did chen ever request political asylum in the u.s. at every opportunity, he expressed his desire to stay in china, reunify with his family, continue his education and work for reform in his country. that is what the state department is sticking with. obviously, it is a bad situation right now, because the son is up, as you can see. secretary clinton has to go to this very important strategic and economic dialogue with chinese. all the top officials will be here. this thing is still hanging over it, even though, i guess last night, we thought it wasn't. >> we thought it wasn't, indeed. as you note, these talks, delicate, sensitive, important to begin with. >> let's get some insights on this delicate diplomacy and what should be done next. nicholas burns, harvard professor, you said the president of the united states had one choice, one choice, to get chen out of china along with his wife. how did we end up here? >> well, john, i think it would be very unfair for me or anyone else to second-guess the administration. we don't have all the facts. i would say this. i think the obama administration did the right thing to protect him over the last six days and the right thing to negotiate privately with the chinese government. i certainly would never second-guess the commitment to human rights of secretary, hillary clinton and ambassador, gary locke. they have proven throughout their careers that that is an issue that is very important. i think the onus should be on the chinese government. they are the ones that mistreated chen and demanded an apology from the united states, an outrageous request from the chinese. if chen is now feeling, now that he is out of the embassy's care and is back. i would think the united states has an ab slight right to go back to the chinese and demand better treatment. they obviously had an arrangement that indicated chen would be well-treated by his own government. >> you made the point when you were there that the chinese could not be trusted. maybe some language barriers. he says he gets to his wife at the hospital and she tells him she was beaten. the police have told her they would be there waiting for them. they are not going to be the deal that essentially he thinks the u.s. promised him. he says he wanted to stay but nowhere in this have we heard the united states pushing the chinese to say, bring his wife here and let them both leave. should that have happened? >> i don't have all the facts. i would say this, john, the u.s. was in a difficult position here. it was chen's decision whether to seek asylum, to try to travel to the united states under our protection or to return to his life in china outside the gates of the american embassy. i am sure the united states officials were very sensitive that that was his decision to make. i would say that from my own point of view, it is very difficult to trust the chinese government. it is an authoritarian government. we have a major difference with it on human rights. that difference has now been illuminated all too clearly over the last several days. again, i think that the united states has an absolute right to go back to the chinese and ask for better treatment for chen. all the world is watching. we are seeing that incredible failure of that government in china. >> so secretary clinton, secretary geithner sit down at these conversations tomorrow with huge economic issues, huge security issues to discuss with the chinese. how does this xlcomplication overshadow or complicate everything else? >> this is the most important relationship we have in the world. at a time like this when the chinese government has aced so badly towards one of its own citizens, a champion of human rights himself, i do think this issue will dominate the next couple of days. i wouldn't be surprised if there are further negotiations. obviously, chen and his wife are feeling they are intimidated by the chinese government. that keeps this issue on the agenda this week and the future. >> we appreciate the insights of the former undersecretary of state, nick burns. back home, authorities charged 13 people in connection of last november's death of florida a&m university drum major, robert champion. he collapsed on the van bus within an hour of receiving what medical examiners call multiple blunt trauma blows during a hazing event. >> i have come to believe that hazing is a term for bullying. it is bullying with a tradition, a tradition that we can not bear in america. >> the florida case is unusual. none of the suspects are charged with murder. cnn legal analyst, jeffrey toobin, joins us live from new york. when you look at this case and hear what the prosecutors say, they are bullying with tradition, is this the right charge? the family is disappointed. they think it maybe should have been can you ever. >> it does seem taylor made for this case. florida has a specific felony crime hazing causing death. that, given what we know about the case, seems very appropriate. some sort of homicide, whether it is manslaughter or a lessor homicide like manslaughter, seems like a very tough charge to prove given the facts as we know them. this does seem like an appropriate charge. of course, we will see what a jury thinks of this. >> what kind of punishment would people be looking at if convicted under this law? >> for the 11 charged with this felony, a maximum of five years in prison. >> five years in prison. is it unusual when you have so many charged. the prosecutor is trying to hold everybody he thinks accountable accountable but is trying to send a message. >> absolutely. this could be a very challenging trial for the prosecution. each defendant is entitled to an individual judgment on his or her culpability. just because they were sitting there, that is not enough to convict them. they are going to have to establish that each individual person hazed mr. champion in such a way to cause his death. that's going to be complicated. some may plead and cooperate. at the moment, no one has. that could be a very challenging burden for the prosecution. >> the family has sued the bus company and the driver suggesting some negligence is involved. >> the criminal case goes first. it certainly could help get a judgment or settlement in the civil case. i think you can bet that that civil kaz will be filed sooner rather than later. >> appreciate your help on this one. a long-timeline backer, junior seau, took his life today. could football injuries have played a part in this story? he doesn't like president obama's new deal to keep american troops in afghanistan through 2024. >> for us to have that kind of force presence there for that long is a mistake. 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[music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. president obama is back home from afghanistan. his job to sell you on keeping some troop ns afghanistan through 2024. he addressed part of his remarks to americans and lawmakers who think ten years of war is enough. >> i recognize that many americans are tired of war. we must finish the job we started in afghanistan and end this war is responsibly. >> can the president sell his sceptics? i spoke to the democratic congressman, keith ellison of minnesota. >> congressman, the president made the case that you have to leave combat troops in afghanistan through the end of 2014. then, he envisions some military partnership for another decade after that through 2024. is that the right approach? >> actually, i think the president did a great job by foe discussing on osama bin laden. there are fewer than 100 al qaeda operatives in afghanistan. we have thousands of troops there. we north scheduled to get down to the pre-surge level until later this summer. i cannot see how we need literally thousands of thousands of american troops to deal with a force of alcohi ka. th this is $88 billion per year. >> the president anticipated some criticism. those who say, let's come home yesterday. listen to this part of the president's speech where he makes his case for a little more patience. >> others will ask, why don't we leave immediately? that answer is also clear. we must give afghanistan the opportunity to stabilize. otherwise, our gains could be lost and al qaeda could establish themselves once more. i refuse to let that happen. >> you think he is overstating the threat, the risk? >> what i think is that we have enough surveillance and enough partnerships in place to return if al qaeda begins to organize. we don't have to keep this massive presence there as we have. i think we can work on diplomatic and military to military relationships without having a massive force there. i don't buy the case we need to stay there to the degree we are there now. i think we should get out and get on with the business of focusing on nation building in our own country he says not only keep those troops there by 2024. he says the specific number could be worked out. could you support a significant number of u.s. troops remaining in afghanistan through 2024? >> no. >> why not? >> it is not warranted. the united states job is not to police the whole world. we need to protect the homeland and be good allies with our allies, which afghanistan will be. to have a substantial number of troops there through 2024, that's incredible. the expense is incredible. the fact is we are dealing with a transnational threat. they are springing up all over the globe. for us to have that kind of forced presence there for that long is a mistake. >> congressman keith ellison from minnesota, appreciate your insights. more riveting testimony in the john edwards testimony. a witness testified about the day his wife won fronted him about reports that he had been cheating. facebook says it will make a ton of money. >> announcer: this is the day. the day that we say to the world of identity thieves "enough." we're lifelock, and we believe you have the right to live free from the fear of identity theft. our pledge to you? as long as there are identity thieves, we'll be there. we're lifelock. and we offer the most comprehensive identity theft protection ever created. lifelock: relentlessly protecting your identity. call 1-800-lifelock or go to lifelock.com today. [ lopez ] the red white and blue means so much to me. it means opportunity it means anybody can attain whatever they want to do this is what red white and blue means to me. what does it mean to you? ♪ what does it mean to you? greetings from the people here sure are friendly but some have had a hard time understanding my accent. so to make sure people get every word of the geico savings message i've been practicing how to talk like a true chicagoan. switching to geico could save you hundreds of dollars on car insurance... da bears. haha... you people sure do talk funny. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. >> we knew it was coming. now shall it's official. newt gingrich is out of the race for the white house. that doesn't mean he has suddenly become a cheer leader for mitt romney. >> i am asked sometimes, is mitt romney conservative enough? my answer is simple, compared to barack obama? you know, this is not a choice between mitt romney and ronald reagan. this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftist president in american history. >> gingrich ends his campaign with two primary victories in his column. he says he is ready to go back to being what he calls an active citizen. former presidential candidate, michele bachmann, plans to endorse mitt romney tomorrow. they say the announcement will happen tomorrow in portsmoth, virginia. facebook will begin publicly trading on the stock market on may 18th. the wall street journal reports facebook will begin wooing private investigators in a road show on monday. they originally planned to raise $5 billion in its i.b.o. but has yet to set its final target. >> whatever it is, i think it will be a lot of money. junior seau, one of pro football's best players. he is dead tonight at his own hand. the cost of a career in the nfl. questions about mitt romney as a businessman from a man that worked alongside governor romney at bain capital. ouffer's steam g should get some credit? my carrots. my milk. 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[ laughter ] we're servers at red lobster. and we sea food differently. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. junior seau has apparently committed suicide, not the first nfl star to take his life. we dig deeper into the physical and mental costs of playing football. he says why wealth is good. he used to work with mitt romney and has plenty to say about why the rich should be richer. the truth about president obama's attack strategy. what his re-election ads say about his biggest worries. that is tonight from the sports world, former nfl star, junior seau dead at 43. he apparently shot himself at his california home. police treating this is a suicide. he spent most of his career with the san diego chargers and played for the miami dolphins and new england patriots. every time a football player die, the first thing it calls to mind, dem dementia-type brain disease. is that possible? >> the only way you can tell for sure is to examine someone's brain after they die. that may be something they do with junior seau as well. what we are talking about is something known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. there is a lot of similarities. plaques and tangles are in the brain that cause cognitive and memory problems and depression. that was a common thread in all of these nfl players we have been investigating for some time. last year, dave duerson, another nfl player, 50 years old at the time, also shot himself in the chest, as did junior sheau. shooting yourself in the chest is a rare way to commit suicide. dave duerson left a note saying he wanted his brain to be examined, which is why he shot himself in the chest. that examination of the brain did show this chronic encephalopathy. >> i visited the lab in boston where they are doing a lot of this research. at the time that i visited, we were in pretty early but they had examined lots of different brains but about 19 or so were from nfl players and 18 of them showed chronic traumatic encephalopathy. it is a little bit of a biased sample, because these were people who had died young. maybe they asked that their brains be donated. maybe they had concerns they were developing these symptoms of cte. 18 out of 19 brains, very prevalent in this sample. >> you say it can't be detected unless you examine the brain after death. is that any sense that developing any kind of a therapy? is that possible? >> there is. there is quite a bit of research going on in this area. i have talked to some of the people that are at the forefront of that. one thing to point out is that it is not just concussions that can set people up for this but also what are known as subcon cusive injuries. high doses of anti-oxidants, for example, is something that's been looked at, even high doses of oxygen and hyper bearic chambers has been looked at. it is very nay saint. this is early. some of what we have been talking about is just now being described. these are some of the areas of research we are looking at. >> dr. gupta, appreciate your insights. thanks very much, doc. >> emotional day in court. the case against former presidential candidate and john edwards. he encouraged his biggest support, his daughter, kate, to leave the room, before two of his former advisers testified about the details of his affair with rielle hunter. he is accused of using campaign money to keep that secret. diane diamond. take us inside the courtroom. he turned to his daughter and said something. she left the courtroom and there are reports wiping tearses. take us inside. >> reporter: you are in luck, because i was sitting directly behind kate. she knew what was coming. it was going to be a humiliating story about her mother we will get to. she leaned up to her father during a quick break and said something like, i'm going to leave. he said, kate, kate, kate, three times and, boy, she was out the door, wiping tears. she did not want to hear what was coming next. >> what came next? >> reporter: well, what came next was a woman named christina reynolds, a senior top aide to the senator but also a really, really good friend of elizabeth edwards, she told a story about a distraught elizabeth edwards who told her a few days earlier, i think john is back having that same affair with that woman again on october 10th, 2007. there was a "national enquirer" article reporting there had been an affair. the very next day, on the tarmac at a private jet port in raleigh, north carolina. elizabeth has a meltdown. she says to her husband something like, you don't see me anymore. she ripped off her blouse. she ripped off her bra in front of everyone on the tarmac, all of the congressional staffers and began to yell at her husband. christina reynolds testified that she and another staffer ru rushed to her, tried to cover her up and went inside. she did not go on this campaign trip. john edwards was a mess. his face turned red. he covered his eyes. there was a break for 15 minutes. he raced out of the room, i guess, to find kate. when he came back, i was standing right there, two rows back in the media section. in a very large stage whisper, he said to his attorneys, that was just so wrong. that was so wrong. this is supposed to be a case about campaign financing. then, he sat down. it was not a good day for john edwards, for that and many other reasons. >> to that point, the tabloid, a painful day for the family. details. how does the prosecution say these details are relevant to its campaign finance case? >> that's a really good point. two other staffers appeared and also told stories about rielle hunter and elizabeth edwards that went to this point. elizabeth already knew about this affair. john edwards was not spending this money trying to keep the affair from his wife. she already knew about the affair. i think in their closing, we will be told, he was spending the money on himself. he was spending it on his presidential campaign so that it did not go down the toilet. will it work? that's up to the injury. >> helping us understand this complicated and sensational case. thanks so much. >> mitt romney's wealth and tenure at the investment firm capital are certain to be major campaign issues. they suggest romney doesn't understand the struggles of average americaned and portray his teen yur at bain as heartless, worried more about his bottom line and american workers. he is often uncomfortable talking about his good fortune. et ward conard is not. he is a former co-worker and says wealth is good for america, especially workers looking to get ahead. adam davidson interviewed him for the magazine you have watched governor romney. sometimes he doesn't want to talk about his wealth. other times, he says, he is not going to apologize for being successful. how does the former colleague think he should deal with the issue? >> he wouldn't talk about his close friend andmer partner, mitt romney, at all. he is one of his largest donors. he gave over $1 million. he clearly wants him to be president. he wouldn't talk to me too much about how he thinks romney should run his campaign or what romney has told him privately. >> he does make the case that wealth is good. let me read part of your article here. connor concludes that for every dollar the investor gets, the public reeps up to $20 in value. this is crucial to the arligume. he thinks we should appreciate the vast wealth of others. >> he is very mathematical. sort of a bain way of thinking. you look at numbers and deep analysis. you don't get distracted too much by anecdotes or personal stories, that sort of thing. ed told me many times that he was very much applying the sort of bain way of doing things to the economy. his analysis. it is very mathematical, not very rich in humanity or human characters. >> his view, there is this process by which all of our lives are improved, about i a small number of us. people with great talent and skill pursuing advancement these might be inventers, engineers, big investors, private equity people like himself. in his view, those are the main actors on the stage of human progress. most other people benefit from that but are not major drivers of history or economic progress at all. >> you make an interesting point. the founder of google is mighty rich. most of us use google, many times a day. you sort of understand, i am benefiting from this. how does ed make the case that people should understand how they are benefiting from bain capital, an invest firm? >> he wouldn't talk to me about bain. mitt romney wouldn't talk to me about bain. bain itself wouldn't talk to me. it is a complete secret about how they benefit the country. the core idea is what they do is find companies that are not particularly healthy and make them more healthy. we know they have been successful at that and other times, they haven't been. it is hard to do a full reckoning of whether bain has truly been successful at making the economy better overall than they claim to be. ed certainly believes and i think it is a genuine belief, not just some ad campaign. he believes that almost by definition if some person or company makes vast wealth, they are benefiting society. he is such a firm believer, unlike almost anybody else i have talked to. he is such a firm believer in the free market. he believes that if i'm rich, i must have done something very valuable to the society. >> you can sort of sense your own wheels turning. your are trying to digest this during the article and conversations. he hopes the argument details why it will help understand that his former boss, mitt romney, believes that he should help the investor class win this december. i wondered if the book would have the opposite effect. >> absolutely. ed con nard is not a diplomate. he is not a politician. this guy speaks his mind very directly. i guarantee i am going to get a very lengthy e-mail about how i misrepresented his views and wasn't a good enough spokesman for him. he is not at all pol tick. he is very happy to say things shocking and upsetting. that's in tremendous contrast to mitt romney. i had that deep wonder throughout. is this the uncensored views of mitt romney? we don't really have his sfer personal economic philosophy. there is nowhere to go to see that. i do know a lot of these ideas come from that bain capital world they were steeped in. bain himself loves the book. it makes me think this is a helpful guide to the world in which mitt romney learned about economics and talked about economics. >> you will want to read his article in this sunday's new york "time" magazine. his book, unintended consequences, why everything you have been told about the economy is wrong. adam, appreciate your insights. >> thanks so much. one thing romney and obama campaigns agree on, the states where they will be battling it out most this fall. sarah... will you marry me? i think we should see other people. in fact, i'm already seeing your best friend, justin. ♪ i would've appreciated a proactive update on the status of our relationship. who do you think i am, tim? quicken loans? at quicken loans, we provide you with proactive updates on the status of your home loan. and our innovative online tools ensure that you're always in the loop. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. i have a great fit with my dentures. i love kiwis. i've always had that issue with the seeds getting under my denture. super poligrip free -- it creates a seal of the dentures in my mouth. even well-fitting dentures let in food particles. super poligrip is zinc free. with just a few dabs, it's clinically proven to seal out more food particles so you're more comfortable and confident while you eat. super poligrip free made the kiwi an enjoyable experience. [ charlie ] try zinc free super poligrip. >> follow the money was the guiding lesson deep throat gave during the watergate scandal and a great way to understand how the competing campaigns for president view the state by state political terrain. follow the words, also good advice. when a campaign goes on attack early on, almost always a sign of worry. >> as governor, the outsource sent jobs to a call center in india, still pushing tax breaks for companies that ship guys overseas. just what you would expect from a guy that had a swiss bank account. >> here is how the obama campaign wants to you to translate to think that mitt romney is rich and you shouldn't trust him. when he promises to create jobs for you here, he doesn't mean it. following the money tells us a lot about how team obama views the race. it is airing in virginia, ohio and iowa. to win the white house, romney needs to win two if not all three of those battle grounds. the obama strategy, plain and simple, block governor romney's path. the superpac, restore our future, unveiled some new ads and helped us understand. its targets, virginia, ohio and iowa, just like team obama and colorado, michigan, nevada, florida, and north carolina. a national presidential campaign but the next 188 days, that's it, boys and girls, this one will be set ltled in eight or ne states. here, mike crowley and maria cardona and david frum p. you say this book will make me laugh not cry. >> as sensitive as you are. >> so you see these early ads. first and foremost, let me start with the nonpartisan. the obama campaign comes out. they have some positive spanish language ad s on the air. in terms of virginia, ohio and iowa, coming out with a whack on mitt romney on the economy tells you what? >> first of all, they know they are in for a tough race. if you are coasting and sitting pretty, you don't have to go negative. i don't know that obama feels he is behind but that he feels he is going to have to be tough. he is trying to define mitt romney. oat 'bama campaign is happy that the republican primary played on as long and as noise ilily as i did. they are continuing to drive that message and not let the subject change too much. >> do you agree that they see that this is going to be a did very, very different map for 2008? >> absolutely. president obama will be the first to say that. he knows this is going to be a very tough re-election fight. they have said that time and again. the issue is they are not necessarily worried about romney but the economy. they know very well the economy is going to be the biggest decider of this election. what they want to do early on knowing that it is going to still continue to be a fragile recovery. it is great for president obama. they want to hit him early on on his biggest vulnerability. he how to create jobs. at bank capital what he did was ship jobs overseas. in addition to that, being so wealthy, he doesn't get what the middle class is going through. >> their point is romney doesn't understand you and won't help you. >> why are they telling us this? ronald reagan in 1984 and bill clinton in 1996 didn't need to go negative on that you are opponents. they didn't need to talk about their opponents at all. things were bad when i took over. things are way better now. vote me. barack obama's problem is things are not way better now. things are a little bit better. they are -- but they are not significantly better and there are a lot of signs this spring that things are going into pause again. we had some bad reports in march. the european economic situation is very frightening. he has to be prepared for november where he cannot give any positive message about his record at all. to go on the attack against your opponent is a plan b or maybe a plan c but it's a pretty poor plan b or plan c. >> but it's not the only thing he's doing. obama is not running away from his record. he is embracing the fact that he created 4.2 million jobs. he is embracing that he saved detroit and a lot of middle class workers. >> will we see a mention -- i know we'll see a mention of the auto bailout. will we see a mention of the stimulus plan or health care plan in an obama am campaign ad? >> i think it depends who you're talking about. you should talk about the health care plan because it gives nine million latinos coverage. they should absolutely be talking about that. >> a lot of obama's agenda is a hard sell. a lot of democrats really like it. there are voters in the middle who like it. but the key things that he did do, the projects he spent the most time on, health care and stimulus, are not easy issues to sell. that's why you see personal attacks and a lot of talk about osama bin laden. >> you may think it's a sign of weakness but how does romney deal with -- we know they're very aggressive so how does he deal with an ad that says he's rich, he doesn't get your struggles, and don't trust him. >> it's not about him. you do not want to get drawn into anything defensive. about four million private sector new jobs created over the obama administration. that takes us not even halfway back to where we were in the summer of 2007. less than 50% is not a passing grade. >> but romney wants to embrace the same exact policies that put us there to begin with and he's mad that president obama is not cleaning up the republican mess fast enough. and that's what democrats are going to continue to say. >> if you want top what i'll do compared to president obama, i'll do the opposite. is that the right language to use? >> i think he has to be a little bit careful because it's not that people are so down on president obama. i mean he's not -- he doesn't have gutter level approval ratings and he's still personally popular. i did notice that he invoked jimmy carter again. one thing we talked about the last time i was here, bill clinton is coming up and speaking out on behalf of president obama so he's trying to find another democratic president he can refer to other than clinton. >> people aren't mad at obama but disappointed. four new orleans saints have been suspended. find out which player will be sitting over the entire season. and two ex-girl friends open up about dating a guy named barack obama long before he was president. 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. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves. the most innovative companies are doing things they never could before, by building on the cisco intelligent network. see life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. ♪ ♪ one, two, three, four ♪ you say ♪ flip it over and replay ♪ we'll make everything okay ♪ walk together the right way ♪ do, do, do, do mary snow with the latest news you need to know. >> violence is increasing as egypt's presidential election gets closer. a clash today left at least 11 dead and 100 injured. demonstrators were protesting the exclusion of their candidate when the crowd was attacked. about ten of the 23 presidential candidates have been disqualified. the election is scheduled for may 23rd. back in the u.s., new video captures the fatal accident two years ago where 250-foot long barge slammed into a stalled boat in philadelphia. attorneys for the families of the two hungarian students who drowned released the video today. you'll see an alleged crew member jump overboard into the delaware river leaving 33 passengers in the boat as it's rammed and submerges. the nfl is suspending four former and current new orleans saints players today for accepting thousands of dollars to injure opponents. included is jonathan vilma, who was suspended without pay for the entire 2012 season. the others, two of which play for other teams now, will be barred without pay for up to eight games. art buyers listen up. one of the most famous paintings in the world is for sale today. "the scream" will be auctioned at sotheby's here in new york. the presale estimate is, get this, $80 million but it could go much higher. the most expensive painting sold by sotheby's was picasso's green leaves and bust for $106 million two years ago. there's lots of estimates this could smash those records. >> obviously "the scream" series is very famous. i won't be placing a bid. stay with me, mary. tonight's moment you may have missed. it's a candid, somewhat romantic peek at barack obama through the eyes of two ex-girlfriends. one of the women saved his love letters. at one point he wrote there's a certain kind of conservatism which i respect more than liberalism. he was talking about t.s. elliott. after that he dated genevieve cook who kept a diary. she wrote, she didn't think she was the perfect match for barack obama, saying i can't help thinking that what he would really want be power fully drawn to was a woman, very strong, very upright, a