it may be the most critical supreme court case since the justices ruled on the 2000 presidential election, but out in obama administration's health care reform law is under close scrutiny. in a dramatic hearing today the court appeared deeply split. conservative justices are showing deep skepticism about the individual mandate which would require people to buy health insurance. cnn's congressional correspondent kate bolduan and jeffrey toobin were both inside the court today for the hearing. kate, let's start with you. is the health care law in serious jeopardy right now? >> reporter: i'll tell you, wolf, you never know how much the oral arguments in the courtroom will in the end reflect the final opinion of the court, but straight out of the gate today the lawyer for the obama administration was the one on the defensive and while the justices can and do surprise us, quite frankly, from being in the courtroom today, it does appear that the key provision of the health care law, the individual mandate, it does appear that it is in trouble. >> we want obama care. >> reporter: high drama outside the supreme court. >> here's what we say to obama care! >> reporter: but the real action was inside the courtroom as the justices examined the key question in the historic health care case. is the individual mandate constitutional? the argument did not appear to go well for the obama administration and its supporters, even swing vote justice anthony kennedy seemed skeptical, signaling the law goes too far. >> the federal government has a duty to tell the individual citizen that it must act and that is different from what we h had. >> in previous cases. that changes the relationship of the federal government to the individual in a very fundamental way. >> though chief justice john roberts was tough on both sides, giving some hope that he might be persuaded to side on the mandate question, the provision requiring most americans to pay a penalty. once we say there is a mark, it seems to me there are not limitations over what congress can do. all bets are off. >> the more conservative justices pose multiple hypothetical, testing the boundaries of the overhaul. >> most people will need health care and almost everybody is going to be buried or cremated at some point. >> everybody has to exercise because there's no doubt that lack of exercise causes illness and that causes healthcare costs to go up. so the federal government says everybody has to join an exercise club. >> the obama administration's top lawyer before the high court donald virili did find a sympathetic here from the four more liberal justices all debating congress act within it's power in crafting the law. >> the people that don't participate in this are making it utsch in more expensive for the people who do. so it's not your free choice just to do something for yourself. what you do is going to affect othe others, affect them in a major way. >> now this historic case wraps up tomorrow with the final issues being debated and they are important. the justices will be taking a look at whether any of this health care law can survive if the individual mandate is found unconstitutional. the justices will be taking on whether the expanded medicaid program under the law, whether it unfairly steps on state powers. wolf? >> kate bolduan, thanks very much on the steps of the supreme court. while the justices focus in on the individual mandate, about what about the other part of the health care law? here are key features already in effect. it is illegal for insurers to deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions. adults would have to wait until 2014 for similar protection. children may now stay on their parents' policies until age 26. and no more lifetime limits on benefits if you have a devastating condition, you will remain covered no matter how much it costs the insurance company. now to a veteran supreme court watcher our own senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. you tweeted and said it our air, this is a train wreck for the obama administration what you heard and saw during those two hours today. >> this is why i love the news business because, you know, if you go and watch things that make as i big difference. it's awfully different from making a prediction. most of the so-called experts including me said yeah, they'll probably uphold the law. you could not sit in that courtroom for two hours and think they would uphold the law. kennedy, roberts, alito, scalia, roberts didn't say anything, but his views are well known, it looks awfully secure to me to strike down the mandate. >> he's the lawyer, the top government lawyer representing the obama administration. you were not impressed by his ability to respond. he was stuttering and staerming or whatever? >> you know, some people have a bad day at the office. dan virili had a bad day at the office. there was no energy to his presentation and not a lot of passion. >> didn't they rehearse? they had the courts we were hearing and heard about the practices they were doing. there were no great surprises and no surprise questions and no gotcha questions and all of them were predictable. >> you know what? i don't know. i do know that the solicitor general's office is famous for how rigorously they prepare for oral arguments. presumably they did that now and they did that for this case. it didn't look that way in the courtroom. >> the senate majority leader harry reid was asked about your train wreck comments, how bad the administration's performance was today before the nine justices. listen to harry reid. >> i wouldn't bet on this, but i'll bet i've been in court a lot more than jeffrey toobin, and i've had arguments, federal circuit, supreme court and hundreds of times before trial courts and the questions you get from the judges doesn't mean that's what's going to wind up in the opinion. >> i assume he's a lot older than you are so he has been in court a lot more. i'm not sure he's more an expert on the supreme court and i don't know if he's written a best-seller on the supreme court for that matter, but he does make a fair point, just because someone is playing devil's advocate doesn't necessarily mean they're siding with that position. >> when i started to going to supreme court arguments in the '90s there was a lot of that. in the roberts court you see much less of it. almost always with this court, the questions that the justices ask are very good clues to how they're going to decide the case. obviously, do i know for sure? of course, not, but those questions were very indicative of strong feelings about this case, and i know that these -- the clinton administration lawyers are not at all happy with how they went. >> the clinton administration -- >> i'm sorry, did i say clinton? the obama administration. >> clinton, i don't know, he hasn't been president for a while. >> having said all that, they've got all these long brief, all of these long documents. >> yes. >> that have been submitted to the court, is it fair to say that these oral argument, the six arguments that they're going to have really makes a difference? don't these nine justices basically know where they're going come down by now? >> the bigger the case, the less the oral arguments matter because these justices have well known feelings. >> it's for months and years. >> you talk about abortion, affirmative action and these justices have dealt with these issues for years. if you ask the supreme court justices, how many does an oral argument make a difference and they say two or three. >> and usually in cases on obscure areas they haven't thought that much about. yes, it's great theater and yes, it's important in focusing the issue, but in terms of lawyers changing the justices' mind, it doesn't happen very often. >> you're generating a lot of buzz out there on twitter @jeffreytoobin. when did you start tweeting? >> just last week. >> you have thousands of followers. after today you'll get thousands more. >> i hop so. >> thanks very much. in the next hour, dr. sanjay gupta will weigh in on health care ramifications for patient across the country. all right. this just coming in to cnn. our brand new poll shows that as the fight for the republican presidential nomination grinds on, most republicans want to see two of the candidates drop out of the race. six out of ten say newt gingrich and ron paul should quit, but only 39% want rick santorum to end his bid. all this comes as the cnn/orc poll shows mitt romney with a sizeable lead among registered republicans. he's now at 36%. rick santorum is slipping. these down to 26%. paul and gingrich remain well behind. our chief political analyst gloria borger is here. gloria, last month, as we know, santorum seemed to have a narrow lead. that's changed. what's going on? >> he had a two-point lead. it's very clear and obvious that the inevitability argument is beginning to take effect with republican voters. they believe that mitt romney's going to be the republican nominee and lots of them want to get in line behind someone they believe is a winner, and as you also point out, people want to see a mano a mano race now between rick santorum and mitt romney. they want to see it end in the primaries. our poll shows they do not want to take it to the convention, but i would argue that if rick santorum is going to get any kind of momentum given this poll, he has to start winning and i would think that next tuesday, wisconsin is a very important state for him to show that he can actually win another big state. >> wisconsin, maryland and the district of columbia and let's not forget about d.c.. >> how could we? >> this new poll shows strengths and weaknesses of these candidates. >> there are two distinction ways in which republicans view mitt romney. take a look at the first one. these are questions about electability and his business acumen. when we asked republicans which candidate is more likely to beat president obama you see there romney beating santorum so handily. get the economy moving, again, beating him strongly and be a strong leader. so these are clearly romney's attributes that people believe very strongly in if you're a republican. but, but when you look at the values questions, wolf? does he care about issues that i care about? can you believe -- does he say what he believes? look at this. santorum beats mitt romney on that. does he share your values? again, santorum, care about people. that's so important when you vote for a presidential candidate. so what we're seeing here, wolf in our poll is what we've seen play out in the primaries. people like mitt romney's business experience, but they're not passionate about them, and if you're a cultural conservative you can't yet find a way to embrace the candidacy of mitt romney and that has always been his problem and guess what? it's going to remain his problem. >> yesterday, newt gingrich was here in "the situation room" and said flatly he's not dropping out until and unless romney gets 1,144 delegates ensured, but otherwise he's staying in. say he were to drop out. our new poll shows how that could potentially split up. >> it's very interesting because for a while what the romney campaign was telling us was keep newt gingrich in because he will split the conservative vote with rick santorum, around the time of the illinois primary, the romney campaign started thinking differently that they would get more of gingrich's votes and our poll confirms that. take a look at this, if you see gingrich in the race, you see romney with 36, santorum with 26 and without gingrich, romney, look at this, is up nine points. santorum is only up four points. so romney gets about twice the number of gingrich supporters and that is why the romney people are now saying, you know what? he's a spoiler, we need to get newt gingrich out. >> it's 45% and the romney 30% for santorum and registered republicans across country. interesting numbers. >> thanks very much. >> sure. >> new fallout from president obama's open microphone gaffe with the russian president, but it's mitt romney who is feeling heat right now and it all started with the comment that romney made right here in "the situation room" yesterday. also trayvon martin's parents in a meeting right now up on capitol hill. what they're asking for, what they're saying, stand by. you're in "the situation room." 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[ male announcer ] for our families... our neighbors... and our communities... america's beverage companies have created a wide range of new choices. developing smaller portion sizes and more low- & no-calorie beverages... adding clear calorie labels so you know exactly what you're choosing... and in schools, replacing full-calorie soft drinks with lower-calorie options. with more choices and fewer calories, america's beverage companies are delivering. with more choices and fewer calories, 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. >> jack cafferty is here with "the cafferty file." >> while the u.s. supreme court hears argument about the constitutionality of obama care only a few hundred members of the public and press can see what's happening while it's happening. that's because the high court decided there would be no televised coverage of these historic health care hearings. lawmakers, media and open government groups pushed to let the tv cameras in to broadcast the three days of oral arguments. some say the supreme court's practice of no tv cameras is behind the times. that's an understatement, but the best they could get are daily audio recordings and transcripts of the hearings. the court says they're releasing these because of the, quote, extraordinary public interest, unquote, in the health care case. no kidding. what these nine justices decide could have major effects on the political and economic future of the country, not to mention the health care of millions of individual americans which is why, i suppose, that a lot of the polls show americans overwhelmingly in favor of televising these arguments before the nation's highest court. a new cnn/orc poll shows 61% of those surveyed shows the supreme court ought to allow tv cameras into the hearings. only 35% said no. in december, congress held hearings on the so-called cameras in the courtroom act. supporters say tv coverage of the high court's hearings could provide more transparency. opponents say allowing cameras would detect for the institution. to quote rick santorum, bull stuff, and the people have every right to witness what goes on there. anyway, here's the question. you can figure this out. should the supreme court arguments over health care be televised in go to cnn.com/caffertyfile. post a comment on my blog or go to the post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> they're making a little progress because they now allow audio to come out. i suppose in the next 10 or 20 years they might let television cameras in there, jack. >> i heard they no longer ride horses to court, either. they actually get in the cars and use that mode of transportation. they're getting there. >> slowly, but surely. thanks a lot. >> thank you. president obama is trying to recover from a gaffe in which he was caught on camera and over an open microphone talking to russia's president about how things will be different after november if he's reelected. let's go to our chief white house correspondent, jessica, more fallout from that today. >> reporter: that's right, wolf, for reasons that have nothing to do with foreign policy, the president's open mic comments could follow him into the general election. >> the president rarely takes actions and apparently this time he felt the need. >> first of all, the mic's on? >> a joke after a microphone picked up private remarks to russia's president saying he'll have more flexibility to work on missile defense after the u.s. election. how did he clean it up? >> i don't think it's any surprise that you can't start that a few months before a presidential and congressional election to the united states and at a time when they just completed elections in russia and they're in the process of a presidential transition where a new president's going to be coming in less than two months. >> not just the media pounced. >> in a dramatic move that weakens the u.s., i have to go after the new tape that you have today in which the president in a very cynical way says to the russians why don't you wait until i get re-elected before i sell out the missile defense person. >> he's not willing to tell the american people. this is to russia, this is, without question, our number one geo-political foe. >> democrats tried to focus this video. >> the president is not a foreign policy expert. >> these words could haunt the president into the fall. first, it feeds a long standing republican narrative that president obama will move far to the left in a second term. >> imagine a president obama with four years and no one to be accountable to? imagine what he can do. >> second, if mitt romney is the republican nominee he now have new ammunition if the democrats accuse him of being purely political. >> in the general election when the debates really start up and they go head to head, and obama goes after romney as someone you can't trust what he's going to do next, romney has the argument you can't be sure of what obama will do in the second term and i've been trying to tell you that all along. >> reporter: it doesn't help that the president made the comments to the russian president, wolf. memories of the cold war still linger for some voters in this country, no doubt. i should point out that memories of the cold war also linger for someone else, russia's president medved medvedev. he made a comment responding to mitt romney. he said in response to mitt romney's criticism that russia remains one of this nation's top geopolitical foes and romney should check his watch, the year is 2012 not the late '70s. wolf? >> much more on this story coming up as well. jessica, thanks very much for that. i suspect this gaffe will continue to plague the president. we'll talk about it more in the next hour. debbie wasserman schultz, the chair of the democratic national commitel be my guest. we'll talk to her about this and more. meanwhile, a new fund-raising tactic by newt gingrich's campaign and it's raising majorbrows. we'll discuss that in our strategy session. also, distracted driving in a way you've never seen before. it's a story every driver, young and old, must watch this hour right here in "the situation room." ♪ 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. ♪ what ? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it ? hello ? hello ?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello ? ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense. let's get right to our strategy session. joining us now two cnn contributors, the democratic strategist james carve ill and the editor in chief of red state.com. here in the testimony today, whatever you want to call it, the arguments for the supreme court, the government's chief lawyer donald virelli according to people inside and our own jeffrey toobin, they thought he was weak, to put it mildly. they had months and months to prepare. the questions were obvious. how is that possible that the lawyer representing the obama administration comes in seemingly unprepared for these important arguments? >> well, and the oral argument, bii went and looked at a bunch of other people and it wasn't just his opinion. it was unanimous. i had no idea that according to legal experts and these are not conservative experts and both sides, it wasn't all of that prepared for some of the questions he got which seemed to me and other people to be pretty anticipated questions that he would get. so i'm at -- honestly, i'm at a little bit at a loss for an explanation. >> i'm at a loss myself because they usually do major preparation. the questions were obvious. eric, if this goes down for the obama administration and the supreme court in june, end of june, let's say, rules that it's unconstitutional and the mandates requiring people to buy health insurance, are you convinced that this is an automatic political win for the republicans? >> i don't think it's automatic, but i think it's pretty close to being automatic. suddenly mitt romney if he's the nominee has the one issue that would galvanize conservatives and they've got to support him to preserve the 5-4 majority on the supreme court and that may be what he gets to run to november with. it's not automatic, wolf, but it will embolden republicans either way, they would love to see the law upheld and some of them wanted the public option he didn't get. what's the political fallout from your perspective? what will happen? >> i honestly believe this is not spin. i think that this will be the best thing to ever happen to the democratic party because health care costs will escalate unbelievably. it's 2020, it will be 26. and you know what the democrats will say and it's completely justified? we tried. we did something and go see a 5-4, supreme court majority and our poll shows that half of the thing is political and they overturned an election and just as a professional democrat that did nothing for me in overturning this thing 5-4 and then the republican party will own the health care system for the foreseeable future. >> i believe that, that is not spin. >> go see scalia when you want health care. >> i think what it will do, eric and i'm anxious to get your reaction. what it will do is energize a lot of democrats out there and they'll say, you know what? there could be one or two vacancies over the supreme court over the next four years and if they a republican in the white house there will be another antonin scalia or samuel alito. if it's a democrat in the white house it could be a sonia sotomayor or ginsburg. one or two supreme court justices for the american people could be enormous, this could be a huge issue going into the next presidential election. >> wolf, both sides, wolf, not just the democrat side, even if the laws were upheld or struck down, there is a 5-4 conservative majority and historically you see republicans picking justices who have a greater propensity to gravitate to the left than you see democrat judges propensity to gravitate to the right. this will be an undercurrent issue for both sides, though. >> i keep hearing, james, a lot of liberals out there who aren't necessarily thrilled with the president's performance so far. they do say when all is said and done they need to reelect president obama, otherwise roe versus wade and all sorts of sensitive issues will be overturned by a new supreme court, that's why they say a democrat needs to be in the white house. >> i mean, i think the president's done a good job on a host of things and to just to go back on the basic argument, if they did this thing 5-4 and overturn it, and i think that it will give the democratic party an argument for a long, long time about this, and you know, it gets charged up and remember scalia and these guys overturned an election and i don't understand why the solicitor general and everyone was so lackadaisical about this. these guys aren't going to read a law book and decide what to do and the public has this figured out. this court did enormous damage with bush v. gore and it lingered and to overturn the thing 5-4. as a professional democrat and not just as u.s. i think it's the best thing that could happen. >> i say that's a larger issue and i think it goes back before bush versus gore. everyone feels every issue in america has been politicized. it is a matter now and it depends on what anthony kennedy had for breakfast on how the decision goes -4 to the left or 5-4 to the right and we have handed ourselves over to one man in the black robe. >> i'm not sure, again, just speaking just as a political partisan, i think i'd rather lose this thing 5-4. >> think you do. >> all right. >> political -- very quickly to both of you, quick reaction, newt gingrich now online saying you could have a picture taken with him for $50. he needs the money for his campaign. eric, what do you think of that? >> i think it means his campaign has flat lined. >> all right. james, what do you think about that? >> you know, wolf and eric? we've all been in photo line, if you did 10,000 photographs which is impossible to do, you'd have to collect and you'd only have a half million dollars which would get you through dee three days in one of these things. it doesn't seem like an efficient way to raise money. people try what they want to try. >> you've got to do what you've got to do, guys, thanks very, very much. >> i plane had to divert because of an unruly captain and it was, quote, a medical situation, but that's not necessarily the whole story. stand by. thera's something new with harry potter. j.k. rowling's latest move. that's coming up next. a controlled burn in colorado has quickly spread out of control and now firefighters can't get it contained. lisa sylvester and monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room." >> this fire has torched 4500 acres so far and officials have confirmed a second person has been found dead in the fire zone. firefighters say the blaze is still out of control. strong winds, high temperatures and dry conditions are fueling the flames in a mountainous area near denver. 16 structures have already burned. and if you live on the east coast you might have had an early wake-up call courtesy of nasa. just before 5:00 a.m. it launched five rockets as part of the study of the upper level jet stream. each rocket released a chemical that create these milky white clouds. scientists will track them to study winds at the edge of space that are well over 300 miles per hour. and pope benedict has arrived in havana, cuba. speculation is growing over whether he'll meet with fidel castro during his three-day visit. the pope will celebrate mass in the capital's revolution plaza where he will speak directly with the cuban people. he said cuba's marxist political system, quote, no longer corresponds to reality. and harry potter fans won't have to carry those thick books around anymore if they want to read the adventures at hogwarts. after a long wait, author j.k. rowling's website to sell the digital versions in english is up and running. by selling the ebooks on her own site she'll keep most of the revenue as opposed to sharing the revenue with publishers. >> we can all get the digital version. >> go ahead and enjoy, thanks, lisa, for that. trayvon martin's parents are here in washington right now. we are live on capitol hill with what the dead teenager's mother and father are saying, what they're calling for. stand by for that. also, while thousands rally outside the u.s. spouse, several lawmakers watched the case inside as it was unfolding today. we're going to get their take. that's coming up in our next hour.in ] ♪ [ female announcer ] life is full of little tests, but bounty basic can handle them. in this lab demo, bounty basic is stronger than the leading bargain brand. everyday life. bring it with affordably priced bounty basic. the parents of trayvon martin are here in washington right now. they've made a rather emotional statement while the investigation continues in florida into their son's shooting death pf athena jones joins us now. you're up on capitol hill. what are trayvon's parents saying? >> reporter: that's right, wolf. i just came out of that room. it's a packed room and we hadn't expected to hear from trayvon martin's parents, we only expected to hear from his lawyers. he asked the pair to stand up in that packed room and to be recognized and called for a moment of silence from everyone. we did hear from sabrina fulton and tracy martin. let's listen to what we had to say. >> i'd like to say thank you. thank you for the support, as i said before, and i'll stay it again trayvon was our son, but tray vovens your son. >> thank you for the support to our family and everyone who has helped us stand tall in this matter, everyone who is holding the legacy of trayvon and making sure that he did not indeed die in vain. i would just like to say thank you. he is sadly missed and we'll ton fight for justice for him. >> wolf, that whole idea of fighting for justice has really been the main focus of today's forum which is still going on. >> we heard from benjamin crump, the martin family lawyer, we believe he was dead today because of racially profiled. >> we heard from the brady campaign against gun violence and that the reason the trayvon martin is dead today is because george zimmerman had a gun. and the representative from the florida's third district which is where sanford is located. she said the community there feels like the system is broken. this should be a teachable moment. we have to look for ways to avoid this sort of thing ever happening to another trayvon martin and another young black man in america. >> for any man, not just any black man, you never want to see this happen to anyone. it was fair to say. this wasn't a regular congressional meeting. it was a democratic forum? >> exactly. they called this forum together because the democrats were in the minority and the idea was to come out and bring people out to testify to talk about the ways to seek justice and several of the lawmakers talked about wanting to call for different laws and community policing and training for community police. they talked about trying to end racial profiling and the idea to to have a discussion around this case and to include martic's parents and i should question there is a huge crowd of teenagers from the orlando area who happened to be visiting washington on part of an annual trip who are coming in and out of that hearing. one of them knew trayvon martin and it's been a real big crowd up there and a lot of attention being paid to this today and every day for the last couple of weeks. >> i hope it's a learning experience for all of america right now. if something -- something positive comes out of this terrible tragedy, let's learn from this, as you point out, so it never happens again. >> athena, thanks very much. >> the death of a british businessman in china sparked an international outcry as well. the mystery surrounding what happened has grown with the downfall of a prominent chinese lawmaker, word of a cover up and a reported attempt at asylum. erin burnett is following this and it sort of sounds like a tom clancy novel. >> it does, wolf. some is incredible. some of the social media sites where we have seen inside china and out of the united kingdom are period lines like this. tanks in the streets of beijing. another one talking about rumors of a coup in beijing. this is kind of shocking. you would think this is the stuff of a novel. there have been reports of shots inside the forbidden city where china's leaders reside and all of this is stemming from a man who could have been president of china who is now missing. i mean, the government theoretically knows where he is, wolf, but nobody seems to know. he was one of the most senior members of the communist party and the fact that he's missing and no one seems to know where he is and the communist party hasn't spoken about his removal of power is very significant and it's linked to the death, possibly of this british businessman neil haywood. he was in the province where he was a senior leader in the community party, found dead in his hotel room back in november. the police who, of course, reported to this official said it was excessive alcohol consumption and cremated him immediately and so they thought it was case closed. now the united kingdom has asked for the investigation to be reopened. some people are saying this could be poison and it could be linked to bosilolay. it is a bizarre story, and it could be out of a spy monovel tt you're seeing headlines like coup out of china. that should seem almost like an oxymoron. this is a significant story and at the top of the chinese communist party and at some point soon it will be broken somewhere when we find out where he is. >> we'll be seeing a lot more on this story coming up at 7:00 p.m. on "erin burnett out front," i'm looking forward to that show as i do every single day. >> thanks, wolf. >> jack's asking this question. should the u.s. supreme court arguments over health care be televised? your answers are coming up next. also what would happen if a nuke went off near the white house? we have results of a new government study. that's coming up in our next hour. ♪ ♪ 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. [ coughing continues ] [ gasping ] [ female announcer ] washington can't ignore the facts. more air pollution means more childhood asthma attacks. [ coughing continues ] log on to fightingforair.org and tell washington: don't weaken clean air protections. and tell washington: ♪ 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. ♪ jack joins us again with "the cafferty file." >> the supreme court arguments regarding obama care be televised? >> yes. this isn't a question of whether the frproceedings should be public. they are public. whether only those fortunate enough to be in d.c. and get one of the few tickets are able to watch. let everyone in. dave in ohio, no, cameras encourage grandstanding. think judge ito in o.j.'s trial and judge seidlin in the anna nicole smith fiasco. think judge judy. i rest my case. >> yes, they should. this is a landmark decision in this country's history and with all of the technology we have there's no reason that we, the people, cannot see these proceedings. eric in houston, no. this is our highest court. not a circus. since we can hear the recordings we have ample opportunities to hear, and/or learn and monitor the court's action. i think the justices have acted wisely. robert in florida writes, the jesting that you and wolf just did after you asked the question earlier in the hour, they don't still ride their horses to court, do they? hits the nail on the head. the question is whether they should have their court activities televised, the question aren't these judges confident enough to state their opinions publicly? are they afraid to look the public, the camera in the eye? tariq in new jersey is a social studies teacher in newark, new jersey. i think the televised civil discourse in the supreme court could be of benefit to student of law and concerned citizens seeking clarity on issues that mattera i great deal to them. frank in los angeles writes, it's a novel approach. i think c-span would be a good venue. clarence thomas could then further his career as a silent star. if you want to read more about this, go to the blog, cnn.com/caffertyfile or to our post on "the situation room's" facebook page. >> justice thomas hasn't raised his voice for six years in any of these arguments. >> why doesn't he -- >> he just doesn't do it. he doesn't do it. >> i'm going to ask jeffrey toobin in the next hour why justice thomas never asks questions or says anything during these oral arguments. >> i would be interested in what he has to say. >> good. >> russian president dmitry medvedev takes on mitt romney. we'll tell you what he said in response to romney's comments yesterday right here in "the situation room," plus, the dangers of texting while driving like you've never seen before. this is a report you need to see. you know what's exciting, graduation. when i look up into my student's faces, i see pride. you know, i have done something worthwhile. when i earned my doctorate through university of phoenix, that pride, that was on my face. i am jocelyn taylor, i am committed to making a difference in peoples lives and i am a phoenix. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ [ male announcer ] brake problems? stop in to meineke today for a free brake inspection and you'll say... my money. my choice. my meineke. admitted, many of you talk, text or tweet while driving. even though you know you shouldn't we're about to show you just how dangerous distracted driving is. our regulation correspondent lizzie o'leary is here. you had a chance to go to a high-tech simulator to underscore what a disaster, potentially await people who start texting while driving. >> i'm looking at it in a whole new way. i went to the highest tech simulator in the country. some folks at the national transportation safety board want to ban cell phones altogether and i sort of got a peek at why. take a look. we all know distracted driving is risky, but we do it anyway. to understand just how a crash like that can happen, we went to the university of iowa's driving simulator. it's like a giant metal spider perched on hydraulic legs. >> how big is that thing? >> big. a full size vehicle fits inside of that, so a real car surrounded by a 360-degree field of view motion base. it has six-degree freedom legs that come up so we can spin and rock back and forth. >> it's the closest thing to driving without actually being on the road. that lets researchers safely test what it takes for you to be distracted. with cameras recording even the smaflt eye movement. >> you can look away, one to three-quarter seconds before things begin to shift in our lane. we have to have a steering wheel correction. so it doesn't take much time to have to have a substantial correction in your driving. >> it only takes two seconds? >> only two seconds before we see things breaking down. >> the typical text takes four seconds. >> so the first thing that i'm going to ask you to do is to adjust your seat. >> okay. >> reporter: you knew we were going to test it, write? complete with a series of screens like a b or text message. >> it feels like you're driving in the landscape. >> driving the car feels real with motion and a changing landscape, and yes, this is my real reaction on the researcher's camera when they surprised me. >> number recall. >> 597 -- [ bleep ]. >> that's good. good for research purposes, but not reality. >> in 2009 more than 5,000 people were killed by distracted driving. more than 400,000 were injured. even talking on a hands-free phone takes your mind off the road, but the riskiest thing is texting. more than 35 states now ban texting behind the while. deborah heresman whose agency investigates crashes says that's just the start. >> federal government could push the straights further by providing incentive grants and giving them money to help them do this. >> reporter: and ultimately help drivers on the road. >> the government's already working with some manufacturers to voluntarily disable some of those devices that are built into cars when they move. one of the things we saw in the simulator was a car that can alert you when doing something dangerous when it came close to the car in front of me, the seat belt hug mead tight to alert me and i slowed down and didn't swear. >> it drives me crazy to see teens texting and driving. >> they're the most vulnerable population buzz someone born in the mid-1990s has always had this technology to them, and teenagers are less experienced and more than three-quarters of them text regularly and that makes them much more vulnerable to the population. >> they have just not do it, put it away and just drive. lizzie, thank you. you're in "the situation room." mitt romney firing back saying the republican is stuck in a cold war state of mind. this hour, questions about romney's world view after he told me that russia is america's number one geopolitical foe. an important day at the supreme court. new reason to think that the health care reform law may be struck down. our own dr. sanjay gupta explains how your coverage could be affected. and what if -- what if a powerful nuclear bomb struck the heart of the nation's capital? there's a new government study that answers that question in a very surprising way. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com mitt romney saw an opportunity to attack barack obama. he went for it, but he wound up ticking off another president. we're talking about the president of russia. this new flack began right here in "the situation room" yesterday when romney told me that russia is the number one geopolitical foe. it turns out kremlin leaders were listening. here's our national political correspondent jim acosta. jim, they were listening very clearly. >> yes. the kremlin knows how to listen, wolf. with this open mic episode, they thought they caught the president in its own etch a sketch moment until the contender created a whole new controversy. >> after my election i have more flexibility. >> in frz's open mic moment with russian president dmitry medvedev, mitt romney saw an opening and the question is whether the gop front-runner missed it. >> this is to rush a it is without question, our number one geopolitical foe. the idea that our president is planning on doing something with them that he's not willing to tell the american people before the election is something they find very, very alarming. >> reporter: alarm bells also rang on capitol hill where house speaker sounded as if romney needed a lesson in washington protocol. >> i think it's appropriate that people not be critical of him or of our country. >> as for romney's number one geopolitical foe comment, it didn't take long for that to transmit back to the russian president. >> it is very reminiscent of hollywood in a certain period of history. it is 2012, not the mid-1970s. ♪ ♪ ♪ it was an apparent reference to the cold war in the days of 007 taking on the soviet union, but was this episode of "from romney with love," a doctored no-no? >> i would call that a hyperbole. >> there is good reason to worry about russia. take vladimir's putin's controversial return to the presidency, he says, or moscow's moves to block united nations sanctions. >> you cannot ignore russia. you've got to find a way to work with the russians. >> the romney campaign responded to the russian president with a statement saying the comments make it evident that the kremlin would prefer to continue doing business with the current incumbent of the white house, but the statement goes on to attack russia as a unique, not number one geopolitical concern. >> this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe. >> questioning whether romney is ready to be president, but listen to one of romney's fiercest critics and gop rival newt gingrich told cnn. >> i think that we need a total reassessment of american foreign policy and the world is much more complicated than any one country. there are centers of gravity that you have to pay attention to every day. >> and in case, you couldn't hear that, he said not a gaffe there at the end of those comments. romney may be backing away from his assertion that russia is the nation's top foe. he is standing by his criticism that the president has caved to the russians on issues like missile defense, but the white house is not holding back either. when asked who the country number one enemy is, the country's number one enemy, jay carney replied it is still al qaeda. wolf? >> that's interesting because when i pressed governor romney yesterday, to back up, he said russia was america's geopolitical foe and what about e ran, north korea and china. he did back off from that statement and his question of geopolitical was a major international player, if you will, but he sort of backed off and at least that was my interpretation. >> out on the campaign trail, mitt romney has identified nuclear iran as the greatest threat facing the united states and so calling russia the nation's top geopolitical foe just sort of fought with that narrative that he's basically been saying out on the campaign trail for months. so it's not surprising that this campaign statement is away, sort of backing away from that. >> i don't think the story will go away. thanks very much, jim acosta, let's get to the most important supreme court case in a decade while we marched outside in court. they heard the key provision of the health care reform law. that would be the individual mandate that requires most americans to buy health insurance by 2014 or face a penalty. our senior analyst jeffrey toobin says the law appears to be in grave trouble right now based on the questions and the comments made by the justices. listen to the swing justice on the court, anthony kennedy, sounding sympathetic to opponents of the health care mandate. >> here the government is saying that the federal government has a duty to tell individual citizen that it must act, and that is different from what we have in the previous cases. that changes the government toward the individual in a fundamental way. >> you tweeted today and you said this was a train wreck for president obama, what you heard. you were in the court during those two hours. a train wreck. william brennan, the famous liberal justice used to say the most important rule of the supreme court is the rule of five. with five votes you can do anything you want and there sure looked to me five votes to strike down the individual mandate. chief justice robert, justice scalia, kennedy, alito and thomas and that's all you need. >> the united states since the '60s has mandated or required that all of us, in effect, buy insurance. medicare insurance, social security insurance, to pay for expenditures down the road. what's different about mandating health insurance for everyone as opposed to social security or medicare? >> well, medicare and social security are straightforward taxes. they've been justified by the supreme court, what makes it different according to its opponents, this requires to buy a product from part at market whether they like it or not, including ruth bader ginsburg who says healthcare is a special market. everybody is in the health carry market whether you want to be or not. if you get hit by a car, you will be taken by the hospital and you will be treated and everybody, the taxpayers are going to pay for that even if you don't have health insurance. so the government is -- is allowed to regulate that market and force people into it. >> a lot of republicans say privatize social security. if they were to privatize social security would that be mandated as well going into the private sector? >> i think that's one of the unusual implications of striking down this law. a lot of pet privatizing is, republican, an a heritage found dagz. he wanted to privatize, and forcing individuals to buy into a private market, and all of those decides would go down the drain. >> i want to bring in our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta to help us better understand how americans could be affected. what would happen, sanjay? >> well, there are a few things and the whole law is sort of struck down and the provisions that we've seen go into effect, people not being discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions and having a community rating, meaning the premiums that you pay are based on people who are your age living in your community. those things would no longer be in existence, staying on your parents' plan until the age of 26 and also the idea of lifetime caps and right now if someone gets sick they have a cap and how much they'll pay for a year or over the lifetime of the policy. those caps, you know, are gone in the affordable care act, but you obviously would be in play if the law was struck down. >> you have questions from viewers. sanjay, realistically how will the individual mandate work? with so many people unemployed, how would it control costs? >> well, the cost of this is the tougher question. if someone is unemployed, what would happen and some of this taking place in 2014, if this law is upheld, you're used to getting your insurance through your employer. this person is unemployed so they'd be able to access an open market and a sort of exchange to get their health care insurance there. they wouldn't be discriminated against if they had a pre-existing condition and they would have competitive prices with other insurance companies that are all part of this exchange. if they can't afford the premiums that are charged by the insurance company they choose, they could get subsidized depending on how the income level us and how high those are. if they don't have insurance out of their employer and they can be charged very high premiums. >> we have another question via twitter. i'll put it up on the screen. my daughter was diagnosed with a brain disorder. how will repeating the law -- >> the idea that someone is trying to get health care insurance and they have some sort of pre-existing condition, the cost of their insurance, their premiums could be very, very high, and again, what we're talking about with the affordable care act they can end discrimination based on preexisting conditions. in her case it depends a little bit. i assume this woman's under the age of 18 and her daughter, she has no discrimination based on preexisting conditions and that has gone into effect by virtue of the fact that she's a child. if the entire law is struck down, that would go away. the discrimination protection, and if the these other provisions remain intact then what she has been talking about, just in terms of if you sever it that way, where does the money come from to fay for someone who has the preexisting condition? it's a question mark. >> i was talking to jack cafferty earlier. we never hear from justice thomas in oral arguments. for six years he's been silent. the other justices raise questions, ask questions, he stays silent during the two hours today, two hours yesterday, two hours tomorrow. what's behind that? >> well, he gets asked that a lot which he speaks at law schools which he does fairly often. he said the lawyers are interrupted too much and i think they should be allowed to make their case. he has said at one point that he grew up speak gola the language in south georgia, so he with wasn't comfortable speaking in public. at this point it's become bizarre and self-perpetuating and he doesn't want to give his critics the satisfaction of his stopping, but especially on this court where you have eight justices who are so active and ask so many hard questions, his silence is even more conspicuous than it used to be. >> good answer. thank you very much. jeff toobin will be back in the court tomorrow. >> i have no problem talking. >> and sanjay does an excellent job talking as well. he's also a neurosurgeon and got a major -- sanjay's book is a new york times best-seller. >> i'm also not a neurosurgeon. you better go buy it. sanjay, thanks very much. health care reform may be a losing issue for the president no matter how the supreme court challenge turns out. i'll ask the democratic party chairwoman, congresswoman schultz if she thinks she'll be my guest this hour. the landing after a pilot's angry rant and possible talk of a bomb. what happened on that jetblue flight? 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>> jack cafferty is here with "the cafferty file." >> good answer on clarence thomas. rick santorum is not ruling out becoming mitt romney's running mate. nobody's asked him, but he's serious. no b.s. here. when asked by the christian broadcasting network if he'd consider a vice presidential offer from romney, santorum said of course. santorum says the race is, quote, the most important race in our country's history. end quote. aren't they all? and he'll do everything he can to help the country. when asked the second time if he's keeping his options open for a v.p. spot, he did not shoot down the idea. i suppose he's facing the fact that he'll not win the nomination, it's about time. it's the illustration of the phrase that politics makes strange bedfellows. santorum has been vicious in his attacks on romney. he called romney, quote, the worst republican to nominate against president obama to when it comes to the health care issue. santorum said americans would be better off with president obama wing a second term than romney being elected and he later fudged around and tried to walk that back, but he said it. with friends like this romney has suggested that he will not pick rick santorum as his running mate. not surprised. romney said he's not conservative enough. i don't think that's the real reason. who might romney pick? some of the nominations include florida senator marco rubio, paul ryan of wisconsin, virginia congressman, eric cantor and south carolina nicky haley. it's still early. remember, john mccain didn't find sarah palin until just before the convention. what a find it was. so here's the question, if you were mitt romney, under what circumstances would you ask rick santorum to be your running mate? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post a comment on my blog or go to my post on "the situation room's" facebook page. wolf? >> i suspect that's not going to happen. >> no. not at all. >> all right. we've got another story we're following. it's developing right now. shock and chaos onboard a jetblue flight forced to divert due to a so-called medical situation involving the pilot. a captain, witnesses say, charged the cockpit door and had to be wrestled to the ground. wow! let's bring in our regulation and aviation correspondent lizzie o'leary with the latest. i know it's still a work in progress. we are learning new details, very bizarre. what do we know? >> we can reconstruct a timeline of what happened here, this jetblue flight from new york to las vegas and three hours in this dramatic incident involving the captain had to be subdued, describing it as a medical situation. here's what happened according to several passengers who weave talked to on the plane and various authorities. it was going to vegas, about three hours in, the co-pilot became concerned that the captain exhibited erratic behavior during the flight. oui the captain had exited the cockpit during the flight after which part the co-pilot locked the door. a passenger in the first row said he saw the captain leave the cockpit and tried to get into the occupied bathroom and flight attendants went up front to the galley where he was escorted, and an off-duty pilot who happened to be flying along into the cockpit. he walked back to the rear of the plane and he turned around and ran up the aisle and began pounding on the cockpit door. he was shouting about putting the throttle in idle under different accounts from passengers, one said he talked about a bomb. another said he didn't. he said he referred to iran and israel saying we're going to get them and repeatedly saying say your prayers. several passengers and the crew subdued him. listen to one of the passengers interviewed earlier. >> we just heard a lot of commotion that we knew that he wanted to get back into the cockpit. they shut the cockpit door and he couldn't get back in and he was yelling things and we heard the word bomb. we didn't know exactly what was going on. he was shouting different things and they subdued him and got him to the ground and there were some male passengers that were helping them restrain him on the ground. >> we talked to one of those passenger, a retired new york police department sergeant, he was in the seventh row and he was part of the group that tackled the captain. they restrained him using their own belts. the pilot was handcuffed, taken from the plane. this passenger said i felt that if he got in the cockpit he was going try to take the plane down. the plane came down very quickly and met by local law enforcement and the detectives interviewing all of the passengers and no one was hurt. the airline has taken him on to vegas. and cnn has obtained a memo congratulates him saying as aviation professionals we depend on knowing what to do in any situation. i would like to thank the crew of flight 91 and the safety of the customers. law enforcement, the locals and fiber investigating this, wolf. obviously, there's a lot more to come and it may or may not be a medical situation, but they're looking into it. >> the pilot -- they say the pilot had a medical situation. he was taken to a nearby hospital and that's pretty much all they're saying at this point. >> was he taking meds and got off his meds or something? >> we heard a flight attendant on american airlines said she'd stopped taking her meds. >> you can imagine how fearful those passengers were. fortunately, everything worked out okay. >> lizzie, thanks very much. good report. president obama's signature accomplishment, health care reform now in jeopardy of being overturned. i'll ask the democratic national committee chair, debbie wasserman schultz about the election-year danger for her party. tough new security rules to prevent cheating on college entrance exams. some students say they're shocked this didn't happen years ago. look, every day we're using more and more energy. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ it's something of a circus outside the supreme court in washington as activists rallied for and against the health care reform law. what if members of congress were eager to jump into the fray. let's bring our senior congressional correspondent dana bash. you had a chance to speak to some of those lawmakers who heard the arguments today. what were they saying? >> we did and republicans in particular said that they were encouraged, wolf. they feel that the administration didn't do that graft a job in making the argument for the health care law, but more importantly, they focused on justice anthony kennedy who, of course, is the key swing vote on the court. they focused on the questions he asked and the comments that he made. they said favored against the obama administration. >> did you hear any arguments today, how did you come out feeling in terms of which way the court was going to go? ? certainly justice kennedy was highly skeptical and they had to find the issue right. can the federal government force americans, free americans to buy a product? >> i've heard that justice kennedy was asking the right questions and he said that obama care would fundamentally change the rep between government and the people. that's the question that needs to be asked because the constitution did not allow for the government to force us to buy things that we don't want. so i'm encouraged by that. >> now, wolf, not every republican was that giddy. tea party caucus chairman, mush el michele bachmann and harry reid saying the same thing. >> the questions are always good questions that the judges ask, but you can't take what the questions what the justices ask. >> you cannot base what the court's going do based on an oral argument. it's nice to speculate as to what might happen, but believe me, those nine men and women are extremely smart. a lot of times they probe with those questions and not in any way to tip their minutes and how they're going to vote on it. >> now reid was not in the courtroom himself. he sent some of his aides in there, i'm told by a democratic source that they came back thinking they did not believe the administration did a good job and not in the words of one source feeling that it was a real uh-oh moment. >> dana, thanks very much. dana is up on capitol hill. let's dig deeper now on this sensitive issue. joining us is the chairwoman of the democratic national committee, debbie wasserman schultz. >> a lot of opponents, where were the democrats and the supporters of health care reform? yr aren't they out there trying to press the case that this is good for the country? >> well, the supreme court is group of nine justices and they'll consider the oral argument and the briefs submitted by the govern ams and the opponents of the health care reform law and where the democrats have been and where we always have been since president obama took office, focusing on job creation and focusing on getting our economy turned around and focusing on making sure we can fully implement it. >> the democrats are running away from their grand achievement health care reform on the second anniversary. we didn't see a lot of the president boasting about it and the vice president boasting about it and congressional leaders talking about it, why? >> that's simply not the case. >> vice president biden was in florida on the anniversary of the health care law with me on friday and talked about the importance of making sure it was fully implemented and spoke to seniors about the importance of the prescription drug doughnut hole which would be fully closed by the affordable care act for the next seven years and making sure we don't go backward and leave them twisting in the wind when trying to afford prescription drugs and keeping young adults on their parents' insurance until age 26. making sure that we can't go back to the days like rep reps want to, that an insurance company can drop us or deny us coverage. >> i don't know if you were watching jeffrey toobin our senior legal analyst that he said he was in there for two hours and has written a major book on the supreme court. >> i read it. >> this was a train wreck for president bus president obama. the solicitor general didn't seem red for prime time, if you will. >> i certainly don't think that based on one day of oral arguments that we can make a judgement on the ultimate outcome and the decision the justices will make. you have conservative justices appointed by republican presidents that have upheld the law as being constitutional. at the end of the day, we need to make sure, number one, congress certainly can regulate health care. number two, when you have tens of millions of people who make a decision not to carry insurance and then they get sick and they have to go to the emergency room and ultimately can't afford to pay, that decision is an economic decision that impacts millions of other people and drives everyone's health care costs up and that is why it is a commerce clause issue and makes it constitutional. >> james carville and our cnn contributor and pretty good strategist, he was in "the situation room" he made the case that you, the democrats are better off if the supreme court rules against health care reform and overturns the law. play the clip. >> it is not spin. i think that this will be the best thing to ever happen to the democratic party because health care costs will escalate unbelievably. it's 2012 and 20 out of 100 people and by 2020, it will be 26 and you know what the democrats are going to say? it's completely justified. we tried and we did something and go see a 5-4 supreme court majority and they have the guys figured out and they think the whole thing is political. they overturned an election and just as a professional democrat, they did nothing to me to overturn this 5-4 and the republican party will own the health care system for the foreseeable future. i really believe that. that is not spin. >> you agree with him that it would be great for the democrat going into november if the justices overturned health care reform? >> it would be great for americans is if the justices uphold the affordable care act to make sure that the republicans aren't allowed to drag us backward to the point where they're making decisions on what's best in terms of your health care. doctors and patients should be making those decisions. we should make sure seniors like the ones i represent don't have to leave prescriptions behind because they can't afford to take them all home because of the doughnut hole. that's what would be best. >> what if they decide 5-4, 6-3 to overturn it? what do you do then? >> if are revisions that need to be made those will be made, but we believe the law is constitutional and the supreme court will ultimately uphold it. >> the whole notion that with this politically, forget about the substance because you make a good case and why it should be continued and why it shouldn't be overturned, but on the political substance, would you win? would you energize the base if the law were overturned as james carville suggests? >> we have an excited base. >> notas excited as they were in 2008 and they were pretty excited as in 2008 and it's on the republican side because you can see with almost every single one of their primaries they've had a huge drop in turnout and they had a lackluster field. they're flailing around and trying to find who it is that should be their nominee. mitt romney has not been able to close the deal. so if there's any concern over lack of enthusiasm it shock on the republican side. they're fired up and ready to go. >> how worried are you about the open mic incident yesterday in south korea when the president was overheard saying to the russian president, you know what? after the election we can do something else. don't worry. just i don't have to be reelected anymore and i'll be able to do things then paraphrasing, that i can't do now. president obama has done a remarkable job in terms of foreign policy, being commander in chief and bringing osama bin laden to justice and making sure we re-established the united states and diplomatic influence around the world and also speak softly and carrying a big stick. i think his reputation internationally, globally has been significant and the american people are proud of their president and the position that he's brought the united states to you. >> you're getting a lot of good publicity for that. it was fun. i enjoyed it. i hope they let cam flas there. >> it's like the supreme court and they don't let cameras in, and they don't let them in the supreme court. >> thanks very much. >> students who take college entrance exams now have to go to new lengths to prove their identities. and we're taking a closer look at tough new security rules after a major cheating scandal and a new study reveals if anyone here in washington can survive a nuclear bomb attack in the heart of the city. stand by. my name is robin. i'm a wife, i'm a mom... and chantix worked for me. it's a medication i could take and still smoke, while it built up in my system. 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[ applause ] [ male announcer ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. >> there's something new today for high school students to think about as they prepare to take college entrance exams. they now face tougher security requirements designed to prevent cheating. mary snow's in new york. she's looking into the story for us. what are you finding out? >> this change affects more than 3 million students who take these tests each year. new safeguards were announced after a cheating ring was discovered here in new york last year. it was these arrests tied to a cheating scandal in a wealthy new york city suburb that prompted new security rules for college entrance exams. now everyone will be affected. front and center was 19-year-old sam eshaghoff, he told "60 minutes" that students paid him to take s.a.t. tests for them. she found 55 kids who either got paid to take the s.a.t. or a.c.t. test or paid others to take it. >> how easy is it to cheat on the s.a.t.? >> well, before, it was incredibly easy to cheat. there were a number of loopholes that made it possible for kids to pay someone else to take the test for them. >> reporter: prosecutor kath reason rice says a fake i.d. was all that was required. to change that, students will have to upload a photo of themselves when they register for the test and it will be put into a database. on the day of the exam a photo i.d. will be required to macht registration. scott farber who runs a prep course for students taking college entrance exams questions why it took so long. >> it seemed very, very strange that a test that was this important, that was tied to billions of dollars to financial aid and ultimately students' futures to not have that in place before seemed very strange. >> when the cheating in nassau county first came to light, test administrator said the problem was not widespread. >> the data previously had suggested that impersonation was not a systemic issue. from the onset we've said one case and one too many and that's why we committed from the beginning to work with the district attorney to further enhance the security processes. >> but rice is convinced the cheating isn't contained to nassau county. >> i don't think there's any question this is going on across the country. it's not just kids here in new york who come up with this idea. >> wolf, nassau county district attorney kathleen rice says another big change is there will be better disclosure from the cheating scam. it makes it difficult for administrators from informing colleges and parents about cheating. wolf? >> mary, thanks very much. meanwhile, potential signs the u.s. economy may be turning around, but does that mean now is the good time to buy or sell your home? also, for the first time in years, one u.s. team won't be going to the summer olympics. you'll find out which one didn't make the cut. create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the coming years, projects like these could create more than half a million jobs in the us alone. from the canadian border, through the mid west, to the gulf coast. benefiting hundreds of thousands of families throughout the country. this is just what our economy needs right now. a potential sign for peace may be, may be in the devastating syrian crisis. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now. i must say i'm skeptical, lisa, but what's the latest? >> you and arab league envoy kofi annan says the government has accepted the six-point plan to end the bloodshed and he's urging it be implemented immediately and this as bashar al assad visited the besieged city of homs and was confronted by residents. another 57 people were reportedly killed in the slaughter just today. an arab television network al jazeera says it won't broadcast video it received showing the deadly shooting spree in france. you could hear the victims crying out in the edited footage. french president nicolas sarkozy asked not to air it. he was shot dead after a more than 30-hour standoff with police. he claimed to have ties to al qaeda. despite recent signs of hope for the economy, home prices have tumbled to ten-year lows. analysts say potential buyers lack confidence in the market in part due to the looming number of potential foreclosures. on the other hand, homebuilders are gearing up for more new construction and mortgage rates remain favorable, some also see evidence the housing market recovery may be approaching. it was a wrenching loss for the u.s. men's soccer team whose hopes of going to this summer's olympic games in london were darned by a dramatic late score in el salvador knocking it out of qualifying contention. it is the second time the u.s. team has failed to qualify for the olympics since 1976 and the last time el salvador made the cut was in 1968. if you don't already have your mega millions lottery ticket? you may want to think about buying one. tonight's estimated jackpot is $363 million. it's the third largest in the game's history. the odds of winning are almost 176 million to one. the chances are someone will have that lucky ticket, wolf, tomorrow. >> that would be pretty cool. if you don't buy a ticket, you can't win. i never buy tickets and i obviously am not going to win that lottery. thanks very much. a doomsday scenario, what if a terrorist dropped a bomb near the white house? we have a new study that estimates who would survive, who wouldn't survive. stand by. >> and are politicians crossing the line with reb i haved dwloos make your head turn? and your jaw drop? >> this is the economy -- or... we make it pink ! with these 4g lte tablets, you can do business at lightning-fast speeds. we'll take all the strawberries, dave. you got it, kid. we have a winner. we're definitely gonna need another one. small businesses that want to grow use 4g lte technology from verizon. i wonder how she does it. that's why she's the boss. because the small business with the best technology rules. contact the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 1-800-974-6006. this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. it's something all of us here in washington, d.c., would rather not think about. what if -- what if nuclear terrorists targeted the nation's capitol with a powerful bomb? federal officials have thought about that long and hard over many years and they figured out who would most likely survive and who wouldn't. we have the information, the new report brian todd's been going through it. brian, what are you learning? >> wolf, this study was first published for official use only until it was circulated on scientific websites and the study lays out a scenario where the white house and a large swathe of the nation's capitol are a scenario -- buildings reduced to rubble. panicked crowds trying to escape deadly fallout, evoking images of 9/11. what would happen if terrorists set off a ten tikill low ton nuclear device. the study puts ground zero just a few blocks from the white house. a direct line of sight from producethe white house. the most severe damage extends half a mile in every direction according to the study. every building in that area, including the white house, flattened. more than 45,000 people dead, over 320,000 injured. it's the tough of movies like the sum of all fears. this study uses a ten klil chlt to in bomb. >> the scale is fairly modest. >> it would fit in this one gallon milk jug container. >> just the uranium. >> the highly enriched uuranium. it would fit in any minute have i van you you see going down the street behind me. >> but randy larsen points out it's still 5,000 times more you powerful than the truck bomb that destroyed the federal building in oklahoma city. still in the washington area, if the bomb was set off where the study puts it, buildings like the capitol and pentagon would survive. the severe damage sew where there's the greatest impact extends just beyond the south lawn of the white house right there. from that point will this wthis mod ram damage zone. on this side of the zone, that's survivable, right? >> yes. nothing survivable on that side, survivable somewhat here. but if we just move another half mile away, almost everyone will survive. >> larsen says that is if they take the right action after the blast. that means sheltering in place. he says the instinct is to look out the window to see what happened and then try to evacuate. he he says that's wrong. the best thing to do, get to a basement or garage and stay there for at least seven hours. >> why seven hours? >> despite what we've been taught, 90% of the radiation is gone after about seven hours. about you st two days, 99% of the radiation will clear away. shelter in place, go to garage. >> and in the garage, the radiation won't get in? >> if you're not in that hot zone. if you're in the hot zone like where the white house was, within a half mile of there, everything is gone including the garage areas. if you're outside of that half mile radius, you have a good shot. >> thanks very much. let's go back to jack for the cafferty file. >> kind of a depressing story, wouldn't you agree? >> very. >> the question this hour is speaking about depressing stories, if you were mitt romney, under what circumstances would you ask rick santorum to be your running mate? rick says he's open to this idea. romney hasn't asked him as you might expect. everett writes i'm not a republican, but i'm watching closely. if i was romney, i would never approach santorum to be a running mate. rick santorum is far too conservative to be electable. romney should be shrewd, find a popular moderate as a running mats. if he he says the right things now, he could be president. kae chip writes santorum makes dan quayle look good. i would rather ask my ex-wife to manage my checkbook than to ask santorum to watch my back as vice president. doug writes in romney win, he'll ask lindsey graham to run with him. m writes i don't know, but i'm having a good laugh trying to think of an answer. green in pennsylvania says under no circumstances should romney ask santorum to be his running ma mate. and john writes if i were romney, i'd be agreeable to having santorum providing santorum agreed to have his mouth taped closed whenever appearing in public. if you'd like to read more, you'll find it on our blog or on the situation room facebook page. >> keep your eye on center rob portman of ohio. just a thought. coming up, who is behind the latest bizarre political ad some jeanne moos is next. 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. domestwill be giving away enerpassafree copieslives... of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. here's joan any jeanne moos. >> reporter: just in time for easter, herman cain is hopping down the bunny trail. >> this is small business. this is small business under the current tax code. any questions? >> reporter: well, one question someone posted is why does a rabbit sound like a seagull? >> any questions? >> reporter: but the most common question is what did i just watch? actually, it's the second one in a row. >> this is the economy. this is the economy on stem uhe husband. any questions? >> reporter: how about did the fish survive? >> any questions! >> reporter: when stephen colbert showed the herman cain spot to his audience -- >> it is a her-masterpiece. >> reporter: there was a bit of nervous at this timering. colbert did his own version. this is the any. th economy. this is the economy on regulations. >> reporter: the folks at peta called it really bad. herman cain says no gold fish were ex23ish yofficiated. the fish which cain said belongs to the little girl was put back into water in time. >> see, it wasn't killed, it was merely tortured. >> reporter: herman cain calls his latest spots focusing on the economy intentionally provocative. >> people who are totally oblivious to how bad things are need to be awakened. >> reporter: for a little while, youtube took down the budding video because it was flagged as ib appropriate, but after review, it was reinstated. meanwhile peta called the rabbit ad a step up from the gold fish ad since the rabbit wasn't real. >> these ads are so weird, it's hard to tell the ads from parities of the ads. >> reporter: this, for instance, is a parity with a pretends director's track. >> and that is mr. sniffles. such a professional. we worked so hard to