also, wow, two more contests within a fortnight. are you kidding? they are heading to florida. it s getting ugly. romney is calling gingrich a failed leader. but why? the mayor of the island where the cruise ship capsized is warning of an ecological time bomb. there may have been more passengers than originally thought that weren t on the roster. head s up football fans, super bowl sequel, giants and patriots meet again at this year s super bowl. we ll begin this hour with powerful and very dangerous weather sweeping across the southeast this morning. and if you didn t see pictures, here is what it looked like in arkansas, listen closely. the sound of really intense wind and rain in the dark, someone had the forethought to get pictures. a hot lot of people were sleepi multiple tornadoes r from illinois to alabama. reports of widespread damage, luckily no deaths. thousands waking up without power, indiana, kentucky, tennessee, mississippi, alabama all in harm s way rig
mitt romney is coming off his second place win in south carolina with nonstop attacks on the rival who beat him. newt gingrich. with the biggest contest to date just eight days away, even his temperment are talking points for mitt romney. he s gone from pillar to post like a pinball machine, from item to item in a way that is highly erratic and does not suggest a stable, thoughtful course which is normally associated with leadership. so far three republican contests have picked three different winners ron paul will take part in another debate in tampa. a state of emergency is in effect in alabama after storms in late january. two people are known dead in the birmingham area. dozens of people are hurt in what appears to be one or two tornadoes. many homes are damaged or destroyed and many thousands don t have power. a possible tornado touchdown in arkansas as well. overseas now, europe tightening the jus on iran. eu foreign ministers say they won t sign any more contra
video statement online today saying she has to focus on her recovery. i don t remember much from that horrible day, but i will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. i have more work to do on my recovery. so to do what is best for arizona, i will step down this week. i m getting better. let s bring in cnn s athena jones from washington. what kind of reaction are we receiving? the reaction has been swift here on capitol hill from both sides of the aisle. democratic leader nancy pelosi said i join all my colleagues in congress in thanking gabby for the honor of calling her colleague and wishing gabby and mark great success and happiness. and house speaker john boehner said in his statement, i salute congresswoman giffords for her service and for the courage and perseverance she s shown in the face of tragedy. she will be missed. we also saw a statement from representative steny hoyer saying i
investigation. we begin with the gabby giffords announcement. giffords released a video statement online just hours ago saying she has to focus on her recovery. i don t remember much from that horrible day, but i will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. thank you for your prayers and for giving me time to recover. i have more work to do on my recovery. so to do what is best for arizona, i will step down this week. i m getting better. let s bring in athena jones in washington. so, athena, what kind of reaction is pouring in? well, we re getting a lot of reaction there was a lot of love and support shown to congresswoman giffords after the shooting last year. you remember in august when she returned to the house chamber to vote on the debt ceiling bill, she got a standing ovation from her colleagues. so today we have seen reactions from both sides of the oil. democratic leader nancy pelosi released a statement saying in part, i join all my colleagu
grocery store parking lot was a crime scene. today, people have been filing through here to honor the victims. congresswoman gabrielle giffords herself made a surprise appearance here last night. it is the first time she has visited this site since that morning one year ago when she was gunned down while holding a congress on your corner event. her husband astronaut mark kelly says today is not about his wife, in his opinion, it is about the six people who lost their lives. including a federal judge, and a 9-year-old little girl who wanted to come here to meet her congresswoman. i sat down with mark kelly yesterday as he reflected on the highs and lows of the last year. and also discussed the woman s political future. i don t have a crystal ball i would like to get one, it would be nice. but, you know, i think her future is really bright. she has a decision to make about running for reelection sometime before may.