or wait, wait, don t fund me. of course, the deficit is a serious issue. that s why paul ryan couldn t be here tonight. his budget has no room for laught laughter. michele bachmann is here, though, i understand. and she is thinking about running for president. which is weird because i hear she was born in canada. yes, michele, this is how it starts. letting you know. [ cheers and applause ] tim pawlenty.
he seems all-american. but if you heard his real middle name. tim hosni pawlenty. what a shame. my buddy, our outstanding ambassador john huntsman is with us. now, there s something you might not know about john. he didn t learn to speak chinese to go there. oh, no. he learned english to come here. and then there s a vicious rumor floating around that i think could really hurt mitt romney. i heard he passed universal health care when he was governor
show, cnn contributor, political anchor, errol lewis. we ll get to them in just moments. this dinner is an odd backdrop to our breaking news which lit up reporter and white house blackberries at the dinner and came just as president barack obama was making his way to the event. there are reports from libya that moammar gadhafi and his grandson, his son and three of his grandsons were killed in a nato air strike today. a libyan government says saif al arab gadhafi died and moammar gadhafi and his wife were in the house but are still alive and three of his grandchildren were purportedly killed. nate toe said it did hit a command and control building but not confirming any of the deaths. frederik, what s the reaction there tonight? reporter: massive demonstrations at the compound in the heart of tripoli. we heard also massive gunfire all throughout town that seems to come in direct reaction, that happened right after a press conference earlier tonight where the libya spokespe
here shortly. we do need to start with this issue in libya where members of moammar gadhafi s family have been allegedly killed according to a libyan government. a spokesman said the libyan leader s son and three grandsons were killed in a nato air strike. gadhafi and his wife were in that house at the time but survived the air strike. this news came with celebrations. yes. that s what broke out at the rebel capital of benghazi after he had heard the the news after a libyan spokesperson disputed the claims of the deaths and said it s a desperate attempt by gadhafi s government to get sympathy. we re trying to get our reporter on the line. he did go the scene where these air strikes took place. we ll talk to him as soon as he s available. but, again, we have been unable into thely confirm whether or not deaths, deaths took place at that house although our reporters and crews have been able to visit the site. let me turn to our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr. how does
we re in the hallways. we lost power, as i said, around 9:00 a.m. and it was just i mean, the heat was unbearable. you know, 330 kids, about 20 teachers, walking up and down the hallways trying to make sure everyone is safe and calm. one of my students with autism, i noticed, second grader, was actually comforting one of her nondisabled peers which i thought was amazing. very sweet. yes. we re looking at the damage here of these photographs you took, correct? yes. we are seeing that significant damage took place at the school. yes. the proximity of that damage to where you and many of the kids were, how far apart? i m pretty sure that that the initial tornado touched down in front of the school. because after the storm, you know, i braved the weather to go outside, i went out to survey the area, and you could see where the tornado had obviously touched down and had run straight through the the valley. the school is lookout valley elementary in chattanoog