care of a funeral home in jersey. we re following developments on both fronts. cnn s don lemon on the west coast, deborah feyerick back east in newark. hello to you both. deb, let s start with you. what can you tell us about the arrangements? reporter: well, michael, whitney houston s mom, cissy houston, a gospel legend, is making all the funeral arrangements. and they decided to make it an intimate, invitation-only event, at the hope baptist church, the church where whitney houston grew up. another friend and church member said that at the church, whitney houston also felt safe and adored. her mother was the choir director there, the musical director. and whitney often would kick off her shoes and she would just be filled with the holy spirit. and she described her experience growing up in the church saying, when she was there, she was singing for god, and when she would visit later in life, oftentimes, michael, she wouldn t even bring security, because she felt so comfort
i ve made it clear to the ledge i islators in my state that it s time for them to step up and take the vote. i m optimistic at that point that we believe we have at least the 25th vote if not more in our senate and that we have enough votes in our house, but i don t want them to say instead of taking the tough vote, send it to the voters. they were elected to make these decisions. it s time for us to do so. the opponents want to put it on the ballot in the fall. they are free to do so and i believe the people of my state will stand up and say it s time for marriage equality. i know there have been a lot of stories done about what s taking place in washington state and we ve seen a lot of major busi e back the bill taking place there. we have starbucks, microsoft, nike, google. does it say anything to you that there are all of these people that are coming out to say they support spg like this. does it show that the fabric of
and take more steps forward, we need to show we have his back now when the heat is on. then they ask you to sign a petition and puts you on their radar to raise money and to get out for the vote. with rick santorum or without, the anti-abortion movement has so taken over the republican party now that they have turned the republican party s nominating contest in an anti-abortion primary. they might think that is good politics for them but leaves democrats wide open to lock up every pro choice vote in the country and then some. it seems like now they are finally trying to. joining us is alan grayson, represented florida s 8th district, nice to see you again, thank you for joining us. thank you. how central is rolling back abortion rights to what florida republicans are all about right now? i think it s quite central. our polling shows locally and this is true throughout the state, around 10% of the republican voters are strictly
the anti-abortion movement has so taken over the republican party now that they have turned the republican party s presidential nominating contest essentially into an anti-abortion primary. they might think that is good politics for them but leaves democrats wide open to lock up every pro choice vote in the country and then some. it seems like now they are finally trying to. joining us is alan grayson, represented florida s 8th district from 2009 to 2011. congressman grayson, it s nice to see you again. thanks for joining us. thank you. how central is rolling back abortion rights to what florida republicans are all about right now? i think it s quite central. our polling shows locally and this is true throughout the state, around 10% of the republican voters are strictly anti-choice vote. by the way, 10% of the democratic vote is a pro-choice vote, they are relatively equal. the difference is the republicans have nothing else going for them. if you ask the republicans what is y
right. if anybody knows anything about rick santorum the man on dog thing and also the abortion issue. that is what your hole reputation boils down to, senator, central challenge of your candidacy is broaden your appeal beyond those issues to convince people you can speak to some other issues we sides just being anti-gay and anti-abortion. if this is just a contest about who is the most anti-abortion, then congratulations, rick santorum you re running away it. you may have gotten destroyed in new hampshire, came in fifth. looking at the exit poll results, one group of voters you won were voters who said that abortion was the most important issue motivating their vote. also in south carolina, you got destroyed, the one group of voters where you won majority of the vote, abortion was the moe important thing motivating their vote. the only other group was voters who said the most important quality was a strong moral character.