four contests in all tonight. hawaii and american samoa also casting ballots. most of the attention focused on alabama and mississippi. late polls in both states showed races too close to call. our exit polls also suggest a fierce competition in both states with conservative support. early exit polling, we ll bring this over for you. here we are in the state of mississippi tonight. voters were asked as they went to the polls. what s the most important candidate quality. you can see more than four in ten republican voters in the state of mississippi today say their number one priority is beating president obama in november. about 20% say they want a true conservative. 20% say strong moral character matters most to them. look at the state of alabama. same question. what s the most important candidate quality? little lower number there about four in ten say the most important thing they want is a candidate who can defeat president obama, a true conservative, strong moral charact
this is from homs where government troops have free reign. body after body, truck after truck. according to the opposition, these were women and children stabbed, burned to death late sunday. some had their throats slit. you see 22 body bags in all of the 45 who were reported dead. as always, we can t independently verify the claims of the video, but today at least we got a kind of confirmation from syrian state media. it, too, broadcast the victim ofs in homs. normally they limit themselves to footage of funerals of police officers and security forces. now at least it is showing civilian victims, but on syrian state television, they blame those killings on so-called armed terrorist groups. it s a narrative we ve heard over and over again from the regime. the military has taken control of the neighborhoods in homs. the pictures you saw may, in fact, support that assessment. in his meeting, kofi anan, the syrian dictator stuck to the story that the violence is being committed
the republican race for the white house is all tied up in mississippi and alabama, most primary polls close in four hours. those contests could go anywhere. . what s happens in lafayette, jim? the primaries are, all three candidates have a serious shot at taking the checkered flack, all at least at risk for a maybe blowout. with the deep vow. reporter: confident that primaries in mississippi and alabama could put him in the gop s driver s seat under the obama economy, it s been harder these are crushing a lot of people. romney has good wins to, and victories by newt ging rich could be just as damaging. reporter: he s making the case that the race won t be settled in the south. it can be different for anyone to get to the number of delegates with the majority of the convention. they laughed that off in an e-mail to reporters, saying that they have bush did you somehow magically win at the convention. this is pure fantasy or vanity, or both. i do not believe
neck-in-neck with his top gop rivals. james carville and david are standing by. we ll talk about that. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. a new wave of fury may be about to explode in afghanistan after a u.s. soldier allegedly walked out of his base and went on a house to house shooting rampage. 16 civilians are dead, nine of them children. military authorities say the soldier acted alone and turned himself in. vowing revenge for the killings, a statement from the taliban calls u.s. forces and i m quoting, sick-minded american savages. u.s. officials are voicing deep sorrow. let me say that like many americans, i was shocked and saddened by the killings of innocent afghan villagers this weekend. we send our condolences to family who have lost their loved ones and to the people of afghanistan. this is not who we are. and the united states is committed to seeing that those responsible are held accountable. let s go straight to kabul with sara sidner stan
that horrible day one year ago. plus a new documentary targets bullies, the motion picture association rates it r because of strong language but that r rating will keep kids from seeing it. an army staff management goes on a shooting rampage in afghanistan opening fire in at least two villages. the american sergeant acted alone, he turned himself in after the rampage and right now he is in nato custody. the president of syria kofi annan spoke face to face again today in damascus. he is the first to meet with assaad. annan wants a cease fire. i have been here for a very short time. almost every city imaginable wants peace. they want to move on with the alliance. while the few men talk peace in damascus, violence raged across syria. activists say at least 32 people were killed in fighting today. and a dramatic rescue in italy after a cargo ship ran aground off sicily. the ship had started to take on water after it ran aground in extremely rough seas. we re told the cr