>> we begin tonight with presidential politics. new numbers that underscore just how important our big debate here is tomorrow night and a new twist in the campai campaign conversation. a new cnn times poll shows a statistical dead heat this arizona. 36% for mitt romney, 32% for the surging rick santorum. add in a small santorum lead in michigan which also votes next tuesday, and what you get is a tense, volatile gop race as the final four candidates prepare for their first debate in nearly a month. in a moment how the tightness of the race is playing out among the candidates. but first a campaign commentary is stirring controversy. listen here to franklin graham, the son of the reverend billy graham, when asked on msnbc just this morning if he can say categorically that the president is not a muslim. >> i can't say categorically, because islam has gotten a free pass under obama. >> how so? >> well, we see the arab spring. coming out of the arab spring the islamists are taking control of the middle east. barack obama is an incredible man. he's got a lot of ability. and he's got the power of the white house. he could be speaking to these countries right now demanding that they protect the christians in those countries. and he's been quiet about it. >> cnn chief white house correspondent jessica yellin joins us from washington. jess, you asked the white house press secretary, jay carney, about franklin graham's comments this morning. what did he say? >> reporter: well, john, he essentially dismissed the entire question and tried to stave up the fight. he said that he asked the president -- he talked to the president this morning. and "amazingly the president didn't address the franklin graham comments". and he said that the president is focused on the job at hand, which is focusing on the economy, the issues that are important to the american people. he was asked earlier about some of rick santorum's comments on the campaign trail as well about the president's theology. and to that he said that, you know, the president has made it clear that he's a christian, and that it's up to news reporters, producers and our editors to decide whether these are stories or not, essentially turning it back on the media whether this is something we need to be talk about, john. familiar. >> jess, they can turn it back on us. they can say it's out of bounds. but i assume both at the white house and more importantly at the obama campaign they think this tone, this shift is happening for a reason. >> reporter: absolutely. and they know that this is -- they believe this is politics at play no doubt. and the general sense, though, is that this is not helpful to the republican field. there is a larger sense that there is a negativity in the republican field that is hurting the republicans. and once it gets into a general election mode this sort of dialogue doesn't win over those key swing voters. and whether or not it comes up in the general election, it doesn't really play to the republican candidate's benefit, john. >> our chief white house correspondent jessica gel lin. >> absolutely no doubt mitt romney is feeling the heat. he previous most days to draw contrast with president obama on economic issues. but with senator santorum gaining important ground among conservatives in michigan and arizona, governor romney today took his turn in the campaign culture war. >> you expect the president of the united states to be sensitive to that freedom and to protect it. and unfortunately, perhaps because of the people the president hangs around with and their agenda, a secular agenda, they have fought against religion. >> our senior correspondent joe johnson is covering the romney campaign. joe, this is not the territory governor romney prefers to. so if he's going into culture wars, religion, secular, an indication that he's starting to feel his poll numbers falling? >> >> reporter: well, it's certainly all about rick santorum. and look, i mean, talking to people inside the campaign and outside the campaign, john, you really get the sense that what they're saying is the more this campaign talks about social issues, the better santorum does. i think it's also true that a lot of people believed mitt romney was trying to remain more moderate, simply because if he got the nomination it would be a shorter stretch to appeal to those voters in the middle, those independent voters come general election time. but now this is michigan, this is a state where the campaign understands if they don't win here it's going to be a very tough road to hoe for mitt romney, quite frankly. and the belief, i think, is that he can no longer be coy about these social issues and he's simply got to speak to them, john. >> and joe, let's listen to something else governor romney said today. >> i can assure you, as someone who has understood very personally the significance of religious tolerance and religious freedom and the right to one's own conscience, i will make sure that we never again attack religious liberty in the united states of america if i'm president. thank you. [ applause ] >> joe, he didn't use the term directly, but that was a very rare allusion from governor romney there to his mormon faith. >> reporter: right. he really doesn't talk about it much on the campaign trail at all as you know, john. he just hasn't gotten specific even though we know he's give an lot of money to the mormon church. he was also a lay official in the church. it's obvious, though, that there are some concerns out there. and among them the polls that show among evangelical voters there's something like 17%, maybe a few more, maybe a few less, who just would not vote for a mormon. so he's got that problem. and he hasn't talked about the religion much. but if you listen to that sound bite it was very carefully couched in the language of religious liberty, which is something apparently they think people will go for. >> joe johns and the important battle ground of michigan which like arizona votes a week from tuesday. thanks so much tonight. rick santorum was in michigan much of this week but he arrived in arizona today introducing himself to a phoenix odd yns as "a guy from a steel town and a fighter in the mold of ronald reagan and barry goldwater." >> someone who's been fighting across the board, not just on one or two issues but has been a conservative believing in the founding principles, the reagan doctrines, a real authentic conservative who cannot just win this election but in so doing do so based on a vision for this country that is different than the status vision of barack obama. make it about big things! >> more on the arizona campaign new polling numbers in just a moment. team obama will tell you one reason the tone of the gop race is changing in recent days is because it's getting harder and harder for republican toss talk critically about the economy. to that end today was an important if symbolic day on wall street. for the first time since may 2008, the dow industrials crossed the psychologically important 13,000 mark. christine friedland from royaltiers is here with some perspective. so up over 13,000. then the do i by the end of the day had dipped back down a bit. how big of a deal this. >> i think this is a real big deal. may 2008 the crisis was starting to bite. we had bear stearns but not leeman yet. i remember talked to really scared wall street people saying will the dow ever get above 13,000 again. so i think this is really important. and i think you're absolutely right, john, to say it really pulls the rug out from under that core republican argument that president obama has made the economy worse than it was when he took over. >> and yet there's a bit of an irony here in that the dow is at its high mark of the obama presidency at the very moment gas prices are at their high mark of the obama presidency. up every day now kristen for the past two weeks. any relief in sight? >> i think that is the big danger. the price of oil is now above $105 a barrel that. seems to be driven primarily by geopolitical issues, concerns about the standoff with iran. and if things get worse with iran, which is obviously a possibility, then i think you can see the oil price shoot up even higher and all of that healing that we're seeing in the u.s. economy seeing reflected in the stock market will be undone. >> almost a tug-of-war if you will. the potential drag of energy prices competing against the potential psychological and boosting effect of the higher dow and somewhat lower unemployment, right? >> yeah. i think that's absolutely right. and i think that it's going to pose a really difficult challenge for the white house. because of course u.s. policy and israel's policy can have a real impact on what happens with iran. and therefore a real impact on the u.s. economy. and probably on the presidential election. so this is one of those moments when domestic politics, the economy, and geopolitics are all intersecting really in tehran. >> important perspective. kristen freed land of royaltiers. senior administration officials are telling us the obama administration's new corporate tax reform plan will be unveiled tomorrow. but there's an interesting twist. we're told the plan will come from the treasury department, not from the white house. watch for that tomorrow. the supreme court's taking a case that could bring huge changes in the country. it involves a student who claims she's the victim of discrimination because she's white. details in a minute. and later, an incident that has afghans furious and top u.s. officials apologizing. tle emotional here? aren't you getting a little industrial? okay, there's enough energy right here in america. yeah, over 100 years worth. okay, so you mean you just ignore the environment. actually, it's cleaner. and, it provides jobs. and it helps our economy. okay, i'm listening. 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>> reporter: this is a huge case. this law was settled in 2003. san ra day o'connor's most famous opinion as a justice where she said yes, it is permissible for public universities to include race as one factor in admissions. clearly the conservatives who are now on the supreme court have objected to that decision and they have five votes now. it seems to me very likely that affirmative action in public education is on its way out with this case. >> you say on its way out. that would be important as we watch that one play out in election year. another big case is the president's health care law. conservatives say no matter how this one goes they think it will help turnout. what is the big issue before the justice es? >> reporter: the issue is, does the federal government have the power under the united states constitution to force americans to buy health insurance? the individual mandate. is that a permissible federal power? now, if you look at the history of the constitution in this area, it seems very likely that the federal government does have this power. the commerce clause ace very broad power. even some very influential republican judges like lawrence silverman and jeffrey sutton, have says this law is constitutional. so i'd say the betting of people who follow this is that the court will actually uphold president obama's healthcare plan. but that's a big one. and that will be decided before the election. the affirmative action case is going to be decided after. >> and as you know, jeff, the arizona immigration law, sb 1070, set off a lot of controversy in this state and across the country. copycat laws the issue before the justices is what? >> reporter: the issue there is, is immigration a principally federal responsibility? is this an area where the states have a right to regulate? or has the federal government pre-empted, that's the term, has the federal government pre-empted this area and are these laws unconstitutional for that reason? this is an area where i think it's harder to predict, although the conservatives generally give a lot of deference to state power. and i think it's likely that these laws -- it's more likely that these laws will be upheld rather than overturned. >> and jeff, because of the focus on the economy, because of the focus in recent days on socialism and contraception we haven't paid as much attention to what many the candidates are saying about the courts. today senator rick santorum talking about one democratic appointee on the supreme court. let's listen. >> when ruth bader ginsburg was asked the question, whether she would recommend to a country forming that they should adopt the united states constitution as their constitution. and she said no. but that's what the president believes. that's what the left in america believes. that's what plog progressives believe that this document has lived past its expiration date. >> political statement. more of a legal statement there. jeff, what do you make of that? >> reporter: it was actually very interesting. ruth bader ginsburg was invited to egypt by the new government there to give advice on how they should reform their legal system in the post-mubarek era. they asked her, do you think we should revise our constitution in line with yours? and she said no. well, you know, the south african constitution which is actually a newer constitution, post apartheid, she says that's probably a better model for you. i think it's a very interesting comment by her. i'm not surprised it's controversial. but it's important to remember also that ruth ginsberg is an appointee of bill clinton, not of barack obama. so i'm not sure how much he can be associated with her comments. >> we'll see. they all carry their pocket copy of the u.s. constitution, not the south african constitution around the republican campaign trail. >> reporter: they do. >> jeff toobin, appreciate your help. insight tonight into the supreme court. disgraced global financial official dominique strauss-kahn tries to new tactic to clear his name, answering questions about prostitute. u.s. officials have questions about a new way to get your jolt of caffeine. when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we were determined to see it through. here's an update on the progress. we're paying for all spill related clean-up costs. bp findings supports independent scientists studying the gulf's environment. thousands of environmental samples have been tested and all beaches and waters are open. and the tourists are back. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. one chance to hunt down the right insurance at the right price. the "name your price" tool, only from progressive. ready, aim, save! grrr! ooh, i forgot my phone! the "name your price" tool. now available on your phone. get a free quote today. in the works package, we change the oil we change the filter... tire rotation, suspension, we make suspension checks... what we have here is the multi-point inspection. every time a vehicle comes into a ford dealership you'll be presented with one of these. we check the belts, hoses... brakes. tires and the pressures... battery, all your fluids... exhaust system, transmission... we inspect your air filter... it gets done,it gets done quickly and it gets done correctly. the works. oil change, tire rotation and more: $29.95 or less after rebate - at your ford dealer. you're a doctor... you're a car doctor. maybe a car doctor... welcome back. here's kate bolduan with the latest news you need to know right now. >> reporter: other news to catch you up on real quick. iran warns it would launch a preem itch strike if it believes it is about to be attacked. the threat over increasingly tense times over iran's plans. united nations inspectors are in iran for the second time that month but not expected to be allowed near any nuclear facilities. dominique strauss-kahn is being questioned in an investigation of an alleged french prostitution ring. strauss-kahn resigned his post last year after he was arrested and later cleared of rape charges in new york. strauss-kahn urged police to question him in this latest case, saying it would help clear his name. finally, music mogul shawn p. diddy combs and basketball legend magic johnson are launching new channels on the comcast network. it's an aagreement to diversify the cable landscape as part of its purchase of nbc universal. apparently ten channels are going to roll out over the next eight years. we may have to wait a bit but could be interesting. >> new program, more part of the conversation, more part of the debate and more choice out there. that's a good thing for everybody. all right, kate, we'll see you in a little bit. here in arizona a dead heat between rick santorum and mitt romney. we're taking a closer look at our new polling numbers, dissecting in part how the tea party factors in big. plus your drinking habits may influence your your kids. but a new study says movies may have a bigger impact. don't tell the cast of "brides maids." >> could i have a glass of alcohol when you get a chance? 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