susan page and mike duffy from time magazine. i m candy crowley and this is state of the union. first our news of the day. former vice president dick cheney is recover from heart transplant surgery. joining me now for the latest from the hospital is cnn s athena jones. athen athena, do they have any idea how long he might be there? reporter: well, we understand that most heart patients who go through a surgery like this end up staying in the hospital for about a month. i should mention that vice president cheney at 71 is on the upper end of the age range of people who get heart transplants, at least according to the international society of heart and lung implantation. his age could play into how long he s kept here under observation, candy. certainly this is not the first time, as we all know, he s been hospitalized, maybe the most serious as far as i can tell, but nonetheless, he s had a long history. reporter: absolutely. he s had five heart attacks over the co
autopsy report. the report finds houston died of accidental drowning but cocaine was a factor and it wasn t the only drug in her system. charges could come today. the u.s. military about to begin the long process of prosecuting army staff sergeant robert bales who s accused in that massacre of afghan civilians. he s expected to be charged with 17 counts of murder. an explosion at a silicon factory in portland, oregon, sends at least two people to the hospital. the fire was reportedly sparked by a chemical used to make silicon. haz mat crews were called to the scene there. rick santorum slamming mitt romney and raising a lot of republican eyebrows while doing it with how he did it. we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk at what may be the etch a sketch candidate for the future. what we have. stay with what we have? really? the fallout from a republican candidate putting the president before his party. and up first, cries of justice for tra
this is dinnertime here. he doesn t sleep at all basically. will cain, cnn contributor and contributor to theblaze.com and roland martin, political analyst. 7:00 a.m. eastern and 6:00 a.m. in illinois. one of the most important primary, illinois, that s what we say always, 54 delegates at stake in the primary and the winner is expected to capture the bulk of the delegates. it will be the biggest haul since the georgia primary that happened earlier this month. mitt romney looking to pad his commanding lead in the delegate chase. rick santorum we spoke to the santorum campaign yesterday really hoping to burst governor romney s bubble and the two are going at each other in their own form of chicago style politics. listen. we re not going to be successful in replacing an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight. do you really believe this country wants to elect a wall street financier as president of the united states? do you think that s the kind of experie
pages long. do either president obama or mitt romney have good ideas for reforming it? nope. that s what a long-time republican says. i ll talk to him. also, china s growth is fueling a fair portion of the global economy. what happens if that growth slows down? we ll explore. first, here s my take. the controversy over the dececration of copies of iran and the murder of americans that follow is at one level, one moment in a long complicated war. it also highlights the difficult and ultimately unsustainable aspect of america s afghan policy. president obama wants to draw down u.s. troops, but his strategy remains to transition power and authority to an afghan national army and police force as well as to the government in kabul which would run the country and its economy. this is a fantasy. we must recognize that and pursue a more realistic alternative. the united states tends to enter wars in developing countries with a simple idea, modernize the country and you will solve the
condemnation from fellow republicans. rick santorum says the comments are absurd. the white house is also being drawn into the uproar. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. let s get right to the breaking news, a huge tornado outbreak stretches from alabama to indiana and beyond. millions of americans are under tornado watches. tornado warnings as well. professional storm chasers have been following these twisters all afternoon, providing dramatic images of an unfolding disaster. new tornado reports are coming in literally by the minute. with indiana, kentucky, tennessee and other states all seeing multiple touchdowns only in the last hour. we also have this video from evansville, indiana. it s far from over. storms are on the move. the destruction could go on for hours. let s bring mayor jim coppinger of hamilton county in tennessee, where chattanooga is located. mayor, set the scene. tell us what s going on inur county. well, we did have a ouchdown of a torn