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CNN NEWSROOM
Romney Wins Florida; Power of Negative Political Campaigns; GOP Candidates Head West; Power of Negative Political Campaigns; Romney Wins Big in Florida; Former "Soul Train" Host Don Cornelius Found Dead; Facebook IPO Filing could happen today; Alaska Volcano Could Erupt Soon; Candidates Croon on Campaign Trail
Aired February 1, 2012 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad. Thanks so much.
It is the top of the hour. Good morning, everyone. We begin with Mitt Romney, the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination at least for now. Romney coasted in the Florida primary with 46 percent of the vote. Newt Gingrich a distant second, 32 percent. Rick Santorum, Ron Paul way behind, as you can see.
And in his victory speech last night, Romney said he will oust President Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Three years ago this week a newly elected President Obama faced the American people and he said, look, if I can't turn this economy around in three years, Ill be looking at a one-term proposition, and we are here to collect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Romney's big win in Florida definitely catapults him it into a hefty lead in the delegate count. He now has an estimated 84 delegates, more than three times the number collected by Gingrich. Santorum and Paul, once again, left in the dust.
Gingrich says it's a two-man race now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to contest every place and we are going to win and we will be in Tampa as the nominee in August.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the candidates are now taking their campaigns West. But before boarding his plane Romney actually took a few minutes to talk to us.
CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser is in Tampa.
What did he say, Paul?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, Kyra, he said he realizes this still could be a long road ahead to winning the Republican nomination on CNN's "STARTING POINT." Our Soledad O'Brien asked him about Newt Gingrich and what he thought. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: So I'll do it the way I think is best. So far my process is giving me a good start. I know we're going to go on. But I'm feeling pretty good at this point, Soledad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Well, you know, Romney felt pretty good last night. Right behind me there, that's the Tampa Bay Convention Center. That's where he had his big victory party last night.
And Kyra, he wants to move that victory west. Take a look at the February calendar because weve got Nevada next up on Saturday, the caucuses there. And soon after next Tuesday, youve got Colorado and Minnesota with caucuses, Missouri with a nonbinding primary. A week from Saturday, on the 11th, that's Maine and their caucuses.
Weve got our CNN debate on the 22nd in Arizona. And then the Arizona and Michigan primaries at the end of February, on the 28th.
And Kyra, you look at the February calendar and it looks more favorable to Romney than Gingrich. Gingrich looking ahead to Super Tuesday on March 6th and those southern states -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: What are you hearing from the other candidates this morning?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, there are two others, right? Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Santorum and Paul both out of Nevada yesterday. They already moved ahead. They knew they weren't going to win delegates here. Santorum says, you know what, I came in a distant third but I think -- he thinks that Gingrich's big loss here helps him. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Newt Gingrich had his chance. Had his shot. Had a big boost and win out of South Carolina and couldn't hold it. Couldn't deliver in Florida. I think they're going to be looking for a different conservative as an alternative to Mitt Romney now.
REP. RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will spend our time in the caucus states because if you have an irate tireless minority, you do very well in the caucus state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Santorum there speaking to our Dana Bash out in Nevada. And Kyra, you can -- you can tell by all this sound, its still a four-person race. Nobody thinking of dropping out today -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. We'll keep tracking it.
Paul, thanks.
Well, Christine Romans has been setting the exit polls of how people voted and why.
Christine, what's the top quality voters saying?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Ill tell you it's electability. That's the number one thing here that folks were looking for. You look at the exit poll and you could see that really Mitt Romney came by -- across the board he was the guy that they were trying to vote for. And you can see here top candidate quality, electability, ability to beat Obama, 58 percent of people polled when they left, said that it was Mitt Romney who could do that. Only 33 percent said Newt Gingrich.
Let me show you about women because women went for Mitt Romney, 52 percent. So you know Gingrich really lagged here. That's pretty interesting overall when you look at up and down the income spectrum as well and the age spectrum, it was Mitt Romney they were going for.
We also asked them what was the number one issue for them. Guess what? It's the economy, 62 or 68 percent said it was for the economy. And of those who said the economy was their top issue, Kyra, it was Mitt Romney who won there by a pretty decisive margin.
Also on the deficit, people in Florida are concerned about the deficit. And 41 percent of those who said the deficit was their top issue said that it was Mitt Romney who was best positioned to try to fix that for them -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Christine, thanks so much.
ROMANS: Youre welcome.
PHILLIPS: And were going to have more political news all morning and throughout the election season. Of course, if you're away from your TV you can get your political fix at our Web site, 24/7, CNNPolitics.com.
All right. Buying Facebook. Its IPO filing actually could come today. And rumors are swirling over how much the social network firm is worth.
CNNs Felicia Taylor following that big story for us -- Felecia.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra. You know the rumors started to come out over the last couple of days. Really started to heat up in the early hours of this morning. Several reports saying that Facebook is seeking to raise about $5 billion in its initial offering. That's one of a number of things that we might learn about the company if it does file today. We'd also possibly learn about its ticker symbol, which exchange. And the most likely choice is the New York Stock Exchange but not a definite. And most importantly, how much the company is actually making. That's been a big question mark. What it's worth. We'll have to wait until after it actually starts trading, which is typically a few months after the paperwork is filed.
Analysts estimate that Facebook value is somewhere between $75 and $100 billion. That means that it would be worth more than iconic companies such as Walt Disney and General Motors. And that company has only been around for the last seven years so it's quite an amazing story -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Felicia, think about Apple and how many of us sit back and say, among a group, we should have bought in to Apple because look at it now. So what's the word now when everyone's talking about should we buy up Facebook stock?
TAYLOR: Well, should of, could of. You know, it depends on who talk to, because Ive talked to a couple of different traders out there and a couple of brokers. And one person said to me, you know, it's interesting that they've chosen Morgan Stanley possibly to be the lead underwriter on this as opposed to Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs often does these sort of large IPOs. None of this is definitely, though. But his theory was the reason they chose Morgan Stanley was because they wanted people, the average investor to be able to get stock in its initial offering, which is pretty interesting.
If you think about it, Morgan Stanley has about 14,000 different brokers out there. So clearly if you're a Morgan Stanley customer you're going to have a better shot at it. But his view was that you would be able to get in on this in the beginning. They want people to be able to get in. Usually though institutional investors are the ones that snap up the first offering. Getting in close to the open obviously can pay off.
I mean if you remember, you know, take Google, for example, it debuted at $85 a share. Then quickly went above $100. But if you bought it at $100 in 2004, today it's worth over 500. So yes, I mean if you can get in, certainly that sounds like a good thing to do. But it's not necessarily that easy.
PHILLIPS: Gotcha. Felicia, thanks. Nothing's ever easy, I guess.
Later this hour we're going to talk with the author Douglas Rushkoff. Hes actually going to tell us why this giant IPO isn't such good news for Facebook users and could even spell the end of Facebook as we know it. We're going to talk with him live 9:40 Eastern Time.
Now to a story about a U.S. ally and troubling claims its intelligence agency is actually helping terrorists. It's all coming from a leaked NATO report.
Zain Verjee joins us out of London. So how valid and how serious is this, Zain?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra. Good morning. Well, we're talking about something like 27,000 interviews, more than 4,000 of them have been done with Taliban detainees, al Qaeda detainees as well as foreign fighters and Afghan civilians as well. This is a pretty unique report apparently because the two main things that are coming out of this is, number one, the Taliban think that at the end of the day they are going to win, particularly when western troops pull out of Afghanistan.
And the other really interesting thing here, Kyra, is that they say that they depend on Pakistan on its intelligence director and its intelligence agency, the ISI, for support and success. Now the Times of London reporter who has seen this leaked report, his name is Jerome Stocky, we asked him with this leak who wins and who loses. Listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME STANLEY, AFGHANISTAN CORRESPONDENT, THE TIMES: Well, this is only likely to heighten tension between particularly U.S. relations with Islamabad. It may also further the Afghan government's appetite for peace. There's a sense in this document that peace negotiations aren't going very fast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Apparently he says, too, that this document says that Pakistani officials know exactly where all the senior Taliban commanders are. That's something that has really made the United States annoyed in the past, and there have been so many suspicions over the years of Pakistani intelligence leaks, and certain parts of it, that prop up and support the Taliban.
So NATO has really downplayed this report, Kyra. They say look, this is just the Taliban's view. Its just their opinion, that doesn't really bear out the reality on the ground. And Pakistan for its part has totally rejected it. They completely deny everything in this report and call it totally frivolous -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Wow. We'll stay on the story. Zain, thanks.
Say what you want about negative political campaigns. They work. The problem is with all that mud, is it going to come out or leave permanent stains?
And suspense on the slopes. A boy dangling from a ski lift. We'll show you what happened next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: All right, let's head Cross Country for some stories making news.
In southern California a nuke plant shuts down a unit after a sensor found a possible leak of radioactive steam. So far that leak has not posed any threat to workers or the public. Investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong.
And police at the Dallas - Fort Worth airport say that a TSA agent is a thief. The employee was caught with eight iPads. Apparently the agent rifled through passenger's check bags and just swiped the tablets.
And take a look at these pictures out of Wisconsin. A boy apparently slipped off the ski lift chair and was dangling from it. Another skier was actually holding on to him, holding on to his arm, and then a group of good Samaritans down below, well, they gathered together, locked arms, and they caught his fall.
Well, voters in Florida can have their state back now, but it might take a while to clean up all that mud from the primary campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: How can somebody run a campaign this dishonest and think he's going to have any credibility running for president?
ROMNEY: Im not going to go find grandmothers and take them out of their homes and deport them. Those are your words.
GINGRICH: This guy owns Freddie Mack and Fannie Mae stock.
ROMNEY: What the speaker did was to work as a spokesman to promote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to protect them from those people that wanted to take them down.
GINGRICH: This guys is surrounded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lobbyists and he's running an ad?
ROMNEY: I know the speaker's not real happy. Speaker Gingrich, he's not feeling very excited these days.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were you happy with the two debates here?
GINGRICH: No.
ROMNEY: He said after the first debate that he didn't do well because the crowd was so quiet.
GINGRICH: You cannot debate somebody who's dishonest.
ROMNEY: The second debate he said he didn't do well because the crowd was so loud.
GINGRICH: I can't debate somebody who won't tell the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Ill tell you what, John Avlon, that really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? I mean you can say all you want about how destructive and awful that is, but you know what? Mud seems to be a great investment. And the negativity works.
JOHN AVLON, POLITICAL ANALYST, NEWSWEEK AND THE DAILY BEAST: It really does unfortunately. And it ends up becoming a positive object lesson in some ways for political campaigns and consultants going forward.
Look, one thing we can say for sure about Florida. You know Mitt Romney's money, that investment in ads, and over $15.3 million spent by the Romney campaign and its associated PAC in Florida alone. That stopped Newt Gingrich's momentum out of South Carolina cold. And it unprecedented degree of negativity to this extent.
Sea mag which measures these things said that 92 percent of the total political ads in Florida last week were negative. That's an unprecedented number. So in the mid of that sort of Avlon of negative ads, what happens? Newt Gingrich gets defined negatively? People -- actually I think it depresses overall turnout and the Romney camp is able to take that money and organizational advantage and ride to a big win in Florida. So that's the problem from a civics standpoint is that the ugly, negative attacks work.
PHILLIPS: OK. So if it works, is it going to get worse?
AVLON: There's no reason to think it's going to get better. I mean, the season of the super PAC has just begun. And that's a cautionary tale for all of us. I mean, Newt Gingrich has felt the brunt of this.
Back in Iowa, 45 percent of all ads running in Iowa towards the end were negative against Newt. And what did it do? It took them from first place in the polls around a month out to fourth place.
So, you know, there's every sign that this is going to be a high dollar campaign with super PACs on both sides deploying a lot of negative attacks. The danger there, of course, is that it ends up just increasing voter and citizen disgust about politics, seeing it as essentially dirty business.
And there are some consultants that say that's fine. Lower the turnout if you need to. Just make sure our guys show up at the polls more.
PHILLIPS: Well, apparently, Gingrich didn't call to congratulate Romney. Take a listen to what Newt's daughters told our Piers Morgan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, CNN'S PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT: Little bit graceless, wouldn't you think?
KATHY GINGRICH LUBBERS, NEWT GINGRICH'S DAUGHTER: I'm not really sure I would say it was graceless. I think what that is, is a reality that he's moved on and we're looking toward the next 46 states.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. John, does a call really matter to voters? Does Romney even care if he gets the call? I mean, he told our Soledad O'Brien this morning, you know, politics ain't bean bags -- whatever that means.
AVLON: Yes. Politics ain't bean bags. The old George Washington Plunkitt line.
Look, I mean, I don't think voters care at all about that. I think there is that great Winston Churchill line about being magnanimous in victory and defiant in defeat. So, maybe that's what Newt Gingrich is channeling.
But it's a little bit graceless. It's a nicety. But it's not the end of the world. This fight is going to go on. We've got the Nevada caucus on Saturday.
And the reality is just in this delegate fight, you know, Mitt Romney, for all his wins, is only 7 percent of the -- towards getting the number of delegates he needs to clinch the nomination.
So, we've got a lot of states ahead that are going to be heavily contested. And many of them are going to be proportional. And that's going to make this race really interesting going forward at least through Super Tuesday.
PHILLIPS: All right. You just gave me a little presidential history there on politics ain't bean bags. Good intel. Thank you. I'm going to remember that line.
AVLON: There you go.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, John.
Well, one of the president's senior advisors and strategists David Axelrod will talk to John King about what Barack Obama needs to do to get re-elected. That's on "JOHN KING, USA" tonight, at 6:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.
And just in: the private sector adds 170,000 jobs. Will that give a bounce to the markets? We'll head to Wall Street right after the break.
And these guys lost limbs fighting in Afghanistan, but they find a sense of pride on the ice.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, when you see a story like this, you have no other choice but to be humbled and inspired.
Wounded warriors, not just dog-sledding, snowmobiling, downhill and cross-country singing, but now, they're playing sledge hockey.
And, of course, Zain is going to show us how they do it and tell us all about it.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: You're going to have to look at the video. It's really cool, Kyra.
But what's actually even cooler is that these are soldiers that have been injured so badly in places like Afghanistan they've had major burns, they've had to have their limbs amputated. They have severe psychological injuries as well.
And when you see this video, here they go. They're on sledges here on ice and they've just taken off their prosthesis, their legs, their limbs, their arms. And they're saying, you know what, we're going to get on ice and we're going to play no matter what. This is a program and the focus really is to try and work with them, show them winter sports to help them physically and psychologically recover.
Listen to how some of them put it, Kyra.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CPL. SHAWN MULCAHY, CANADIAN SOLDIER: With me coming up here, I'm around my own brothers. We all went through an injury. We all can connect on the same basis pretty much.
ALEX, FORMER BRITISH SOLDIER: So, we kind of balance with each other in terms of rehabilitation and moving forward with our lives. It's good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: They're forming strong bonds there, Kyra, too.
You know, the thing to note is that in Afghanistan, the Canadian and British soldiers never really fought alongside one another. But they're making many more friends here. And it really is a sense of pride that they can get out and they can do this and they can feel OK.
PHILLIPS: Thanks for sharing that with us, Zain. Appreciate it.
VERJEE: OK.
PHILLIPS: There's a lot going on on Wall Street today, including the latest private job sectors.
Felicia Taylor, tell us more.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the private sector added about 170,000 jobs in January. That's down from 292,000 added in December, according to payroll services firm ADP. This report is sometimes seen as a preview for Friday's all important government report, but not necessarily a good indicator.
Analysts do predict 135,000 total jobs were added last month. In recent months, private sector gains have offset some of the government jobs that have been lost.
ADP report is often a mover for the market but it's definitely not being noticed today. It's definitely overshadowed by some of the other news out there -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. When are stocks set to open?
TAYLOR: We're looking at a very strong open. Dow futures are up 100 points. And the S&P is also up strongly as well, about a quarter of 1 percent. Like I said, the ADP number's in stride, but we've got some upbeat manufacturing numbers overseas, in China, France, Germany, and the U.K. And then we're also going to get some manufacturing numbers for the U.S. a little bit later today.
There's still no deal on Greek debt. And that continues to hang over the market. Should we see a deal out of Greece, then you can see this market blowout. It will be a bull run for sure.
We still are coming off the best month of January for the Dow and the S&P since 1997. So -- you know, there's that old saying, as January goes, so goes the year. So, could be a good year.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Felicia.
Florida's a wrap. Now, the Republican presidential campaign turns west. We'll take a look at the road ahead.
And Michelle Obama takes "The Tonight Show" stage and reveals what life is really like at the White House. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's check top stories.
U.N. diplomats will try again today to reach some sort of agreement on Syria. The Security Council has drafted a resolution calling for Syrian president to step down. But Russia and China are opposing it. Opposition activists say at least 43 people were killed across Syria today.
The search for survivors from the shipwrecked Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia is now officially called off. Fifteen people are still missing, including a Minnesota couple.
And Facebook's IPO filing could take place today. The company is looking to raise up to $5 billion.
But author Douglas Rushkoff says this IPO is not good news, especially for Facebook users. He's going to join me in about 10 minutes to talk about this live.
All right. Mitt Romney wakes up today the winner of Florida and also the clear front-runner in the GOP race for president. He's feeling pretty confident as the campaign heads west now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: OK. It's actually not the sound bite that I was expecting, but he was talking about we have to stop dividing this country.
But this has been such a divisive race. I mean, the back and forth, and cutting each other down. You see the rift that's forming between the establishment wing and the new wave like Sarah Palin. I mean, can it continue on without adding more danger to the candidates and the party?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, not only can it continue on, it is going to continue on.
A couple things happened last night. Newt Gingrich's speech, when he lost, was not very congratulatory of Mitt Romney. He --
PHILLIPS: Does that matter? Do voters really care if a call is made or a handshake is made? I mean, we notice it, right?
PRESTON: Yes, we notice it. And it's not necessarily that the voter at home is saying, oh, my God, he didn't make the telephone call, which shows that the bad blood between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney is very acidic, a word that we used yesterday just kind of explaining this whole race.
But this isn't new. We saw this happen in 2008. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton -- they went to the beginning of the summer. That was a pretty contentious race for the Democratic nomination.
PHILLIPS: All right. Let's look forward to Nevada. This is where Gingrich has probably his biggest supporter, right, when it comes to super PAC money. Is that going to make a difference for him?
PRESTON: No. Well, Sheldon Adelson who is the billionaire casino mogul who lives out in Las Vegas has pumped, I believe, it's $11 million into the super PAC supporting -- providing the air coverage for Newt Gingrich and all of these attack ads that Newt Gingrich is firing back at Mitt Romney.
It's not going to help him in Nevada necessarily. In fact, Sheldon Adelson's money has helped him elsewhere in Florida, and what- have-you.
The problem for Newt Gingrich in Nevada is that Mitt Romney has a very good organization in the state. There is a high Mormon population.
PHILLIPS: That's what I wanted to ask you about, all the Mormons in Nevada. Is that going to trump any amount of money that might be backing Gingrich?
PRESTON: You know what it provides? It provides you with that base support that is going to go out and back you. That's what Romney's going to see.
In addition, Romney has already been running television ads out there. He has an organization in place and none of these other candidates, with the exception of Ron Paul, has any kind of organization out there.
PHILLIPS: OK. So once we -- well, I guess two questions if you don't mind. So what are you going to be paying attention to in Nevada? Are you going to even think about anything else but Romney and Gingrich?
PRESTON: Over the next week, it's not necessarily Nevada as well. We'll be looking ahead. Some of these candidates will not be focusing on Nevada because --
PHILLIPS: (INAUDIBLE) bypassed and moved on?
PRESTON: In many ways, yes. Rick Santorum is talking about Missouri, which is holding a contest next Tuesday, the contest that really doesn't matter when it comes to the math. We're also looking at Minnesota. We're also looking at Colorado, were also holding contests next Tuesday.
So, what we started in the beginning in January, we focus so much time on Iowa, and so much time on New Hampshire, so much time on South Carolina. What we're focusing on now is a national campaign where candidates are trying to pick up support wherever they can.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll talk Obama next hit, Mark. OK. Appreciate it.
All right. Saturday, we did mention it's Nevada's turn to help decide the Republican presidential nominee. And our coverage will begin at 6:00 p.m. Eastern, once again, with a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer, followed by CNN's complete live coverage of the result at 7:00. Wolf, Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, Candy Crowley, John King, Mark Preston, of course, will all bring you the results and the analysis.
All right. Let's talk about Facebook. Facebook's IPO could happen today and could become one of the biggest in history. Ahead, why it could also mean the end of the Facebook revolution.
And Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin. Is her performance in the new HBO movie "Game Change" convincing? We'll have the sneak peek coming up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Serving edible menus we have almost since day one, and that's because serving edible menus makes a lot of sense. Every month, about 20 tons of paper are wasted in restaurants alone. And so, you know, by that rationale, if you just eat your menu that was made from organic local products, you could eliminate that paper waste.
It looks like a sushi roll, it feels like a sushi roll, but it's your menu.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: This just coming in to CNN. We're getting word that former "Soul Train" host Don Cornelius has died apparently from a gunshot wound.
"Showbiz Tonight" host A.J. Hammer joining us live from New York.
A.J., I know this is just developing and we're just getting the news. What can you tell us about what may have happened here?
A.J. HAMMER, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" HOST: Well, we don't have any details on exactly what transpired. It's all just breaking right now. But, of course, Don Cornelius, the legendary host of "Soul Train," a show that he created because he felt, Kyra, that there was a real void in soul music being represented here in the United States. And he was largely responsible for the early exposure of artists on a wide scale, like Aretha Franklin, like Michael Jackson, like even James Brown. So, we'll continue to follow this developing story.
But as we know it, Don Cornelius is dead at the age of 75. He was born in 1936, originally involved with politics. He would also close his show, love, peace, and soul.
So, we wish Don Cornelius, love, peace, and soul.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll follow the story, A.J. Thanks so much.
All right. Let's switch gears, shall we? First Lady Michelle Obama appearing on "The Tonight Show" last night -- a little bit of everything. Showing some moves, talking about the inside scoop at the White House.
HAMMER: Well, here's the thing. The first lady does not mess around, Kyra, when it comes to staying fit. Now, she was on "The Today Show" with Al Roker. And they were talking about the president singing, they were talking about these White House sleepovers that go on.
But she also talked about what she does to keep those arms of hers so toned. "The Tonight Show" took that clip. Well, they just ran with it. Take a look at what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: You got a little testy with Al Roker.
AL ROKER, NBC NEWS: Are jumping jacks your exercise of choice?
MICHELLE OBAMA, U.S. FIRST LADY: You know, I do everything. I mean, jumping jacks, a squat, lunges, a little bit of everything, a little boxing.
ROKER: Does the president have to worry about the boxing part?
OBAMA: You know, sometimes when he sees me punching he kind of --
ROKER: Oh!
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERS)
LENO: Well, you are competitive.
OBAMA: Oh! I didn't mean to hit him that hard.
(END VDIEO CLIPS)
HAMMER: I don't know what Al Roker did, Kyra. Judging from that right hook, I imagine our president is very well-behaved around his wife. Wow.
PHILLIPS: Exactly. I think he knows who's really the boss, A.J.
Hey, look, we apparently -- we were just talking about Don Cornelius and the fact that we both got word that he has passed.
Alan Duke has been working this for us, A.J., out of the L.A. bureau. He's on the phone with us. You might have a question for him as well. So, I'll just leave the mic up, A.J.
Alan, what do we know about the cause of death?
ALAN DUKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): It was shooting. It was a gunshot wound. It happened about 4:00 this morning when the Los Angeles police received a 911 call to come to the 12,000 block of Mulholland Drive. This is just about the Beverly Hills area of Los Angeles.
They found him shot. He suffered a gunshot wound. And they took him to Cedars Sinai hospital where he was pronounced dead.
No one is officially calling this a suicide, but there's every indication that it was a self-inflicted wound based on what they're doing with the investigation. The coroner's office is confirming that they picked up the body of Don Cornelius this morning at Cedars Sinai. They have that and they're going to do an autopsy.
But that's where we are right now. Don Cornelius, the founder of "Soul Train" dead.
PHILLIPS: All right. A.J., any questions while we got Alan on the line, with the story for us at L.A.?
HAMMER: Yes. Alan, obviously, Don Cornelius and the show "Soul Train" are synonymous. There may be many people of a later generation who aren't familiar with "Soul Train," but its influence, I'm sure you'll agree with me, cannot be understated.
DUKE: Ye, he was the Dick Clark of his time for African- Americans, but not just for that. I mean, it wasn't just African- Americans who watched his show because if you wanted to know what was hot and the dances and the styles, you would watch his show because that's where a lot of people white and black in America picked up on the styles and the dance moves of the time.
So, not only was he iconic, but the show that he hosted, it really was a cultural touchstone for many Americans especially in the 1970s.
PHILLIPS: Yes. And, guys, if, indeed, we do find out he died by suicide, what a heart-wrenching story to talk about as we find out what exactly he was struggling with. But both of you point out what an influence he made for so many people for so many years.
Alan, thanks so much.
A.J., thanks for weighing in and kind of rolling with that news. Sure appreciate it. We'll see you next hour.
Alan, we'll continue to follow up on what happened exactly with Don Cornelius, now reporting his death by a gunshot wound in Los Angeles.
All right. Well, this is just among you and me and about 800 million other people. We can see a very different Facebook if the company goes through with its big IPO. We'll hear why in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Facebook founder Jeff Zuckerberg is about to update his Facebook status to filthy rich. His company is likely to go public and start trading shares. But is that necessarily good news for all of its users?
Author Douglas Rushkoff writes about that for CNN.com today. He's with me from West Chester, New York, via Skype.
So, let me ask you this, are you going to buy?
DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, AUTHOR, "PROGRAM OR BE PROGRAMMED": No. I don't buy these things. I'm invested enough in technology because of my job. I suppose if I bought the shares, too, I'd be bad diversification for me.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, then, let me ask you about the story then in itself. The day after this goes public and you log into Facebook, what's going to be so different?
RUSHKOFF: Well, if anything, nothing will be different. I mean, in some sense, the minute you -- the minute you go public, the minute you kind of sell your company, then you're kind of set in stone. In some ways, I'm less worried about what changes than the fact that it might just now stay the same.
This is the formula. This is the way they're going to make money and their shareholders and investors are going to demand they keep this up. It's sort of like when a rock group has a big hit. And then, the record company says, ok, do another one just like that.
PHILLIPS: Well, you -- you actually point that out in your column. You say the more money a company takes in, the more it has to play by the, quote, "rules of money". And you actually use Google as a good example.
RUSHKOFF: Right. I mean, Google, you know, was kind of wild, crazy, wonderful company started by these Stanford students. And you know when you go public your job then, you have a fiduciary responsibility to your shareholders to show that you are being serious with their money and that you're taking their returns as your primary concern.
So now a kid like Jeff Zuckerberg or Mark Zuckerberg has got to be less concerned with how is Facebook going to change the world than how is Facebook going to return dividends to its shareholders.
You know in Google's case, they stopped talking about how they give every employee 20 percent of their time off to go pursue whatever they want to do. Google keeps talking now about how they're focused. They got rid of Google labs which was a fun place for people to go and play with various, you know, projects, all sorts of weird little projects that employees were developing on top of Google's applications.
And they're showing that they're a serious company. They're going to focus on what they do, which is their advertising. You know and those are -- they're real rules. These are the rules of business. It just seemed to me that the possibility of the Internet and the possibility of these kind of almost self-funded Internet companies was to avoid the inexorable pull of the NASDAQ stock exchange.
PHILLIPS: Well, stay tuned. Zuckerberg definitely won't have as much fun and won't be as free to do what he wants to do. We'll just have to see what changes do happen. Douglas Rushkoff, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
RUSHKOFF: Thanks for having me.
PHILLIPS: You bet. You can read everything that Douglas wrote about on the Facebook IPO. Just go to cnn.com/opinion.
Well ahead, all eyes on Alaska as a volcano threatens to blow. The last time this mountain erupted, it was 2009. We'll take you there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, we are paying attention to a remote Alaska volcano that actually could threaten international air travel. Take a look at this NASA image of the ash cloud from Mount Cleveland. Now this was 2009 when it erupted. Well, apparently there are signs that the volcano could erupt again.
Jacqui Jeras has been following all the latest details. Jacqui, what do you know?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's been a very active volcano over the last couple of years Kyra and a new lava dome has been building up here and the reason why that's concern is a lava dome develops when lava kind of flows around the top and eventually it will cover that vent. And when it covers that vent the lava gases build up and explosion could take place.
So we're concerned that an eruption is going to be possible like what happen potentially back in 2009. Now, let's show you where this is at, because it's kind of in a remote area it's down off the Aleutian Island chain. So here is mainland Alaska, we'll zoom in here. There you could see Mt. Cleveland.
So it's an uninhabited island and nobody lives there, but the big concern about this is for air travel, because if this erupts take a look at how many flights move over this area, and many of to cargo planes in particular will take this flight from the U.S. over towards Asia and about 20,000 people travel along these routes every single day.
So that's the passenger planes that could be impacted by this as well. So this has been detected by satellite Kyra, and we haven't seen any actual explosions taking place, but potentially we could see that ash up in the air around 20,000 feet and it could go really at any time.
PHILLIPS: Wow, all right. Keep us posted, Jacqui.
JERAS: Ok.
PHILLIPS: Thanks.
And we are following lots of developments in the next hour of CNN NEWSHOUR for you. Let's check in first with our Zain Verjee -- Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi there, Kyra. A leaked NATO reporter is giving us some pretty unique and sometimes astounding insights into the Taliban. I'll bring you more details in a few minutes.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: And I'm Paul Steinhauser in Tampa. Mitt Romney wins big here in Florida and Newt Gingrich doesn't call him to congratulate him. Details at the top of the hour.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Christine Romans in New York, watching the Super PAC money, $48 million. How was it spent and who did it benefit? I'll have that for you at the top of the hour -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: All right guys, thank so much.
Well, living with long term unemployment, a family of five all living in a neighbor's home all in one room. Hear their story in their own words next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Jeff, just blame everything on the media.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS: That is right. Although if you're going to blame us, blame us for having some fun yesterday really. It's the one day before the Super Bowl where everybody kind of loosens up. Year after year, we see the craziness on the media day and on a scale of one to ten, it's a ten.
This year, the NFL decided like Spinal Tap, turn it up to 11. For the first time, even fans were allowed at media day. 7,000 tickets were sold to the lower deck at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. They were close enough so they could say hi to the Giants and Patriots. Player hear the interviews and get a good look at the goofballs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to flip.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I'm going to have an out of body experience.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm afraid I'm going to get kicked out.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a sign for Welker. I realize he's too hot. And too old to drop it like it is hot, so I started to do the moves like Welker.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Feeling you, the Super Bowl fans, CNN fans -- feeling you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FISCHEL: That's what the day was like right there. That's what it was.
PHILLIPS: That's our viewership.
(CROSSTALK)
FISCHEL: There is that, Spencer facing your door and what, the meringue, maybe?
PHILLIPS: That's a little disco ball.
FISCHEL: All right. Nevertheless I'm very excited as you are as well, about Sunday. The big game should be great, really.
Let's do high school basketball. Montgomery, Alabama, not one, but two long-distance buzzer beaters from the same team. That is Slade Methman (ph), the full length of the court; 90 feet at the end of the first quarter. Yes, he deserves some hugs for that.
then his teammate C.J. Duncan connects from half court at half time, and another great shot. St. James team though did lose to its rivals St. Jude 66-63.
Another kid making our highlight reel. This time for hockey. Oliver Wallstrom, watch what he does with the puck here in a little one-on-one mini tournament in Boston. He actually picks it up; it's on his stick, kind of lacrosse style, skates in and scores.
PHILLIPS: Is that legit? Is that legit?
FISCHEL: I mean he did it. You don't even see NHL players try that. I don't know if that's legal. That's pretty cool though.
PHILLIPS: Let's investigate this, shall we?
He'll probably get, no matter what, you're going to get a big contract, right.
FISCHEL: Look at that. I have no skills.
PHILLIPS: And he's so casual about that.
FISCHEL: Oh, yes. He has clearly practiced it 1,000 times. You don't get skills like that without practicing.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Jeff.
FISCHEL: Ok.
PHILLIPS: Well, it is almost the top of the hour, and the presidential candidates do a lot of talking on the campaign trail, but can they actually sing? CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on the hits and the misses.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When a candidate sings the resulting headline is "Mitt sings America and it isn't beautiful" prepare to be compared with the president who just wowed the crowd singing the Al Green oldie.
And one snarky headline puts the word "sings" in quotes. It is a tricky thing for politicians to sing.
From John McCain to Herman Cain.
Let's reheat a slice of former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The late Senator Edward Kennedy was known for letting loose in Spanish. It took a blackout during a town hall meeting to get Rick Santorum to sing Sinatra.
And strange as it sounds, Hillary Clinton used her own off-key singing caught in a humorous campaign web video. President Obama's Al Green routine has likewise turned into a Web ad. The President's eight-second performance has been remixed into a virtual duet with Al Green.
The Obama campaign has even turned this performance into a ring tone you can download to your phone. As for Mitt Romney the first comedians poked fun of him for constantly speaking the same lines.
MITT ROMNEY (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, beautiful for spacious skies --
STEPHEN COLBERT, TALK SHOW HOST: No, that's from Friday.
ROMNEY: Oh, beautiful for spacious skies --
COLBERT: No, that is from Monday. I want last night.
MOOS: Now, he's getting skewered for singing them. A harsh critic might say this Mitt sings worse than this Mitt from the Arby's Restaurant promotion.
If you can't take the heat, don't sing in the kitchen.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
