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New Hampshire Votes; Mississippi Governor Issues More Pardons; South Carolina Watching New Hampshire; Woman Forced to Rob a Bank; Republicans Step Up Attacks On Rivals

Aired January 10, 2012 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go, hour number two, top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

All eyes today on the silver and the bronze in New Hampshire. The biggest prize may be in South Carolina. Also, CNN gets a rare look inside Syria.

Let's play "Reporter Roulette" on this primary Tuesday and begin with you, Jim Acosta, in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Obviously, you know it is decision day there, but all eyes, as we mentioned, on who will get the number two and the number three spots tonight. You just spoke with Jon Huntsman outside a polling place. Is he feeling confident?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is feeling very confident, Brooke.

I have to tell you, it's very calm outside the Webster School here in Manchester. It's been like polling palooza here all day long. We have seen several different candidates go through the media mosh pit in sort of a last appeal for voters before this New Hampshire primary is all wrapped up.

And you're right. We had a chance to catch up with Jon Huntsman. He made his way through the crowd here to talk to some voters at the last second and we asked him what his expectations are for tonight. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: New Hampshire has the knack for big, historic upsets. Is that what you're hoping for here?

JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have always thought that New Hampshire was the place to come, where you can upend conventional wisdom. And I think tonight conventional wisdom will be upended yet again.

QUESTION: Is this do or die for you?

JON HUNTSMAN: We have to do well, make no mistake about it. And we have worked this market harder than anyone else, 170 events. We have given it our heart and soul. We have done everything humanly possible. Now we will wait and see the results tonight.

ACOSTA: Thank you, Governor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So you heard Governor Huntsman there say he's given it his heart and soul up here in New Hampshire and that's putting it mildly. He's been the Rick Santorum of the New Hampshire primary. He's tried to do this the old-fashioned way with retail politics going door to door in this state, unlike all of the other candidates.

If it pays off for him tonight, if he somehow pulls off a second- place showing in this state, there is a chance that this could sort of reshuffle the way this race is being viewed right now, and he might be seen as sort of the newest un-Romney to emerge. But we have to wait until all the votes come in, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We will all be waiting. It is all so exciting as we watch the final votes coming in.

We saw that image, gosh, that scrum, as we call it, surrounding Jon Huntsman. I'm sure you, Jim Acosta, are not throwing any elbows, but I can only imagine the scrums around Romney and Gingrich.

ACOSTA: No, never.

BALDWIN: You mentioned the media mosh pit. Is it getting a little out of control there?

ACOSTA: There were time when it felt like it was getting out of control. The Manchester Police Department, I did not realize the Manchester Police Department had officers on horseback, but they made that evident outside this school. They did show up on horseback to keep control of not just the crowd here, but more importantly the media, because it was getting a little out of control.

Keep in mind it's not just the local press and national press. The world is watching. There are journalists from all over the planet covering this campaign. It makes for some trying moments, you might say. There were a few. I didn't know whether to cover this polling place or to body surf on it during a couple of moments today. It was just that chaotic.

BALDWIN: Being a political correspondent is a little bit of a contract sport, is it not, Jim Acosta? Thank you so much covering all of that for us. Jim, I appreciate it.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," Peter Hamby not probably having to throw too many elbows yet because he has already skipped ahead to Columbia, South Carolina.

I know you have been with Rick Perry, who is skipping New Hampshire. Big push ahead to South Carolina. You have been with him the last few days. He's hammering Romney as well.

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's absolutely drilling Mitt Romney.

He's down here. This is a state more suited to him culturally, politically. It's more conservative. But he's really seizing on this Bain Capital attack that the other candidates are -- but he's taken an even harsher tone, basically saying that Bain looted several companies here in South Carolina, fired your friends and relatives.

Today, he actually compared Bain Capital to a vulture. He said vultures, they're circling these companies and picking at the flesh on their bones. It's really, really tough stuff, but he's hoping he can get a head-start on his rivals by planting that seed while his fellow candidates are up in New Hampshire, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Speaking of Bain, we know the super PAC supporting Gingrich, those ads starts rolling out in that state tomorrow. Different kind of ads certainly hurt Newt Gingrich in Iowa. And he's flipping the script and now using these ads against Romney.

How effective might they be, Peter Hamby, on blunting Romney's successes?

HAMBY: I think they can be very effective.

Newt Gingrich learned a lesson in Iowa and that is negative campaigning works. No matter how high and mighty you want to be, they do work. Undecided voters here, the numbers are about 50 percent. So, you know, that's a lot of people who are undecided about the race, and that's big.

Mitt Romney's lead is pretty sizable here right now. He has 37 percent of the vote. Rick Santorum is at 19 percent, his next closest rival. But voters here are only really waking up to this. For a long time this year, South Carolina was mostly an afterthought, and in the last few weeks, these TV ads started showing up.

And all of a sudden people are looking around and they have got a bunch of choices in front of them. This super PAC, which can basically -- they can't coordinate with Newt's campaign, but they can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. They do have to reveal their donors at some point.

They're going to spend over three millions dollars on television here. Typically, a campaign can get away with spending $300,000 on TV statewide in a week. They're going to totally nuke the television airways down here, Brooke. Voters are not going to be able to escape political ads for the next week-and-a-half.

BALDWIN: But as we were talking earlier, Mitt Romney has certainly got the money as well, and I'm sure he will be countering those ads with some ads all of his own.

Peter Hamby for us in South Carolina, Peter, appreciate it.

Next, switching gears, talking Syria here, the massive anti- government uprising there. Opposition groups say at least 33 people were killed today, including three little children. President Bashar al-Assad is blaming a foreign conspiracy for the violence. And the Arab League is blasting Syria's government for attacks against its observers.

Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, is actually in the capital city of Damascus with a rare look at a country in revolt next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: the Arab League believes these incidents are very serious incidents. They have complained to the Syrian government.

They say that in areas called Latakia and Deir el-Zour, that Arab League monitors were attacked by people loyal -- loyal to the Syrian government, loyal to Bashar al-Assad, that these attacks on the Arab League monitors led to damage of equipment and injuries to Arab League monitors, that the Arab League holds the Syrian government responsible for the security of the Arab League monitors while they're here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Nic Robertson, thank you, reporting from the Syrian Cain of Damascus.

Developing right now, several convicted killers are walking free after 11th-hour pardons by the governor of Mississippi. But just a short time ago, we have learned there is now more, a lot more.

Also, F-bombs, nudity, your TV, the Supreme Court taking up a case involving Cher that could change the way how -- you and I watch television.

Also, this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His record as governor, I think, makes it very hard for him in South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The GOP race takes a surprising turn hours before polls close in New Hampshire.

Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We have some new details here on the emerging story out of Mississippi.

The governor, Haley Barbour, has just made an additional pardon moments before his successor was inaugurated. Just on Monday, the governor pardoned four convicted killers. One had just been denied parole. All four were serving life sentences and worked as trustees at the governor's mansion.

Martin Savidge joins me now.

Wow. We're talking four we heard about earlier and now there are an additional how many more?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're talking, at least from state officials that I have spoken with, of an additional 200 more pardons that have been signed off on.

BALDWIN: Wow.

SAVIDGE: These are not all for the crime of murder.

However, I am told there are additional murders now that have been pardoned as a result of Governor Barbour actions. They say it's a very significant number, as we all obviously realize.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SAVIDGE: I look back historically at the number of pardons, and it's not just pardons, but there are other forms of exoneration that can be given.

When you add them all up to all the previous administrations in the state of Mississippi going back to at least the late '80s, there is nothing that comes close to 200-plus pardons.

BALDWIN: To that number.

And as you and I were talking in the commercial break -- because I just kept asking you why. Why would he do that? And the answer is he doesn't have to explain himself.

SAVIDGE: He does not have to.

This is a power that all governors -- I believe almost all governors in the United States have and the president of the United States has. It's one that they typically use at the end of their administration.

However, to this extent, this number is just shocking. And it's shocking in many ways, because Haley Barbour, staunch conservative, very much Republican, who -- Republicans always say how against crime and strong and tough they are on crime.

And then to hear of this many people that are being pardoned, especially murderers. And some of these crimes -- all murder is terrible, but some of them are really egregious when you read the details.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I can't help but think about the families, right, of a loved one who was killed. You have this person who was convicted and who has been in prison for life and all of a sudden they're pardoned. Is there just absolute outrage or...

SAVIDGE: A couple of things. Brings the crime immediately right back. The emotions come flooding back.

And then on top of that, they say that now they are in fear. The people that were convicted for killing their loved one is now out on the street. Will that person come seeking revenge in some way, shape or form? They're very much frightened for what may come next.

And now, apparently, many more families are going to suffer through this same fear. So it's really a shocking development to watch happen in a state that's so conservative where most people have up until this point loved Haley Barbour as a governor. But they're thinking that he is leaving the wrong kind of legacy as he leaves.

BALDWIN: You said you checked the records and you haven't seen anything since the '80s, at least, with this number of pardons.

(CROSSTALK)

SAVIDGE: Nothing close.

BALDWIN: Martin Savidge, thank you.

(NEWS BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

BALDWIN: We're going to get you back to our special political coverage here in just a moment, but first, a young soldier is found dead in her barracks. This is Fort Carson. There is a huge development in this investigation. You're going to hear it next.

Plus, car bombs, grenades, murder, all on a massive scale, that is what the feds are saying one man wanted in a major U.S. city. It's part of a disturbing trend involving -- we talk about it here on the news -- we talk about lone wolves.

Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI, standing by. He is going to explain what's happening next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The Army is ruling the death of a soldier in Colorado as a homicide. She was found dead Sunday in the barracks on Fort Carson just outside of Colorado Springs.

The Army identifies her as 28-year-old Brandy Fonteneaux of Houston. She had been in the Army for more than two years. The Army is not offering any other details.

And two arrests recently involving two men in separate cases with one common goal, to hurt, damage the United States. Federal officers arrested a 25-year-old just yesterday on charges that he planned to set off a car bombing, takes hostages and then blow himself up to quote create mayhem in Tampa, Florida. He was born in Kosovo. He is a naturalized American, and federal documents say he wanted payback for wrongs done to Muslims.

Also, another case, federal prosecutors charged a former U.S. soldier of trying to get Somalia to join the terror organization Al- Shabab. The 24-year-old tried to avoid detection by flying through Kenya, neighboring Kenya, but he was arrested there.

Joining me now, Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI's international operations.

Tom, all these indications, two men apparently worked alone. We're by no means connecting these two either, but really the thing we first thought, finally, here, these are examples of success for federal law enforcement in these lone wolf cases.

TOM FUENTES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Hi, Brooke.

There's been a number of these cases already in the past few years, and there's more under investigation currently, and it's just a question of at what point the FBI or the police want to terminate the investigation, arrest the subject and attempt to convict them with what they have.

This is already cases that have happened just like this and now two more.

BALDWIN: Two more. And something else that really strikes us when we read about these cases, some of these plots are carried out, some of them are not. You had this former soldier we mentioned. He is 24, and the Florida suspect is 25. Do the math. They were 14, 15 when 9/11 happened.

You look, Tom, at all these different -- these lone wolves and they're so young. What do you make of that?

FUENTES: I think that's the power of the Internet and mass communications, that they can learn about these events and in their mind treat it as if it just happened yesterday or recently.

That's not unusual that we have these young fighters, whether here or overseas, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia. We have got young fighters who were 10, 12 years old at the time of 9/11.

BALDWIN: Certainly we have been talking about lone wolves, though, since prior to 9/11/2001.

But since that day, how much has law enforcement had to shift in stopping these kinds of acts before they happen?

FUENTES: Well, the shift is that they have to really make sure that they're conducting extensive community relations programs to get the cooperation of the local communities in this case and to maintain great cooperation overseas with all of the international partners.

In the case of Baxam, flying from Baltimore to Nairobi, Kenya, taking a bus to Mombasa, wanting to take a taxi to Somalia, bringing hundreds of dollars with him, that took tremendous cooperation between the FBI, the FBI office in Nairobi, Kenya, and the Kenyan police.

And that enabled them to identify him and determine what his intention was as far as why he wanted to go to Somalia and assist or join Al-Shabab.

BALDWIN: I am sure the FBI, Tom, gets hundreds of tips, people calling in, and there has to be a clear delineation between obviously these people who truly have nefarious intentions and those who are just curious. There has to be the line. How do they discern that line?

FUENTES: They just have to investigate.

And I think it actually is more than just hundreds on a nationwide basis or an international basis.

BALDWIN: Yes.

FUENTES: It's in the thousands.

They have to begin the investigations and try to look at how viable is the threat? Does the individual who is telling other people of his intention to become a terrorist, is it true? Does he mean it? Or is it a next-door neighbor turning in somebody they don't like?

So that takes a great deal of effort and resources on the part of the law enforcement community in the United States, the intelligence community, state and local police agencies here, as well as cooperating partnership relationships with police all over the world.

I think that it's a great credit that so far we have had great success in interrupting these plots and determining what their intention was.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. Kudos to law enforcement.

We would rather be reporting on these kinds of stories from this perspective than obviously the other.

FUENTES: Right.

BALDWIN: Tom Fuentes, thank you.

FUENTES: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRICH: Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of other people?

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Somehow, the Republican race just took a bizarre turn. Candidates, Republican candidates are debating capitalism, cash and the rich. And they're attacking the guy on the right side of your screen, Mitt Romney, for the business experience he has been promoting from day one of his campaign season. So who will win this fight?

Gloria Borger has a little something to say about this one. She's going to join me live next.

Hello.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be here.

BALDWIN: Good to be with you. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I don't know if you can hear the newsroom here buzzing behind me. We are less than four hours now from most of the polls closing in New Hampshire.

And we have been talking about the fact that Mitt Romney is most definitely expected to win this New Hampshire primary. The question is -- one of the questions is by how much. We are going to be looking to see whether these last-minute attacks by his rivals led primarily by Newt Gingrich might shrink Mitt Romney's expected margin of victory.

Gloria Borger, chief political analyst, first things first.

Have you ever, in the years you have covered politics, ever heard of Republicans fighting one another over something like this?

BORGER: Well, it's interesting, because when I first started covering politics, Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment was thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.

Not only are they attacking each other, which I guess is sort of par for the course these days, but they're attacking each other on a Republican issue, which is business experience.

You know, that is Mitt Romney's whole reason for being a political candidate, or so he says. And Republicans say they have better business experience to lead the country out of our terrible economic times. And what are they doing?

They're having their own little argument, their own little class warfare, if you will, within the Republican Party. It's crazy.

BALDWIN: I asked -- we had one of the Gingrich daughters, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, on, and I said, look, is this personal now? And she said, no, no, no, it's not personal. He's not even angry.

BORGER: Yes, yes, yes.

BALDWIN: You say yes, yes, yes. BORGER: I say yes, yes, yes.

BALDWIN: It is ugly.

BORGER: It is ugly.

And don't forget, Newt Gingrich is one of the most accomplished attack politicians of our time. And when I saw him, say, in Iowa, I'm going to be positive, I'm going to take the high road...

BALDWIN: Did you buy it?

BORGER: I kept thinking to myself, well, he was making a virtue out of a necessity because he didn't have a lot of money.

But those Romney PAC ads which attacked Newt Gingrich as sort of a crony capitalist, $3 million worth of them thrown at him, and he got angry and he got upset.

And so I think yes, he decided the only way to survive was to fight back, and this is becoming personal. It seems a little scorched earth to me, because if Newt Gingrich fails, what he's going to do is bring -- try and bring Mitt Romney down a peg or down with him.

BALDWIN: But if he's able to bring him down a peg or two, or however much tonight, as we're looking at the margin of victory, and if it's successful, and now it's not only, you know, Gingrich on the bandwagon.

BORGER: Right.

BALDWIN: It's all these other candidates as well.

BORGER: Sure.

BALDWIN: As we look on, you know, next to South Carolina and to Florida.

BORGER: Right.

BALDWIN: Might we see continue to see that narrative play out?

BORGER: Well, we're going to see this narrative play out.

BALDWIN: We are.

BORGER: I don't think we're going to see as much of the effect in New Hampshire because I think it's kind of a complex argument. It's going to take a week or so to sink in, but you're going to see a very nasty, mean campaign in South Carolina. But the positive side for Romney is that all the other folks are going to be attacking each other as well in addition to attacking him. There's going to be --

BALDWIN: So it's diluted a little bit.

BORGER: It's diluted. There's going to be a lot of noise, and it may all cancel each other out and voters in the end may decide to go for the status quo, which in this case is probably Mitt Romney. So we'll have to see how that plays out.

BALDWIN: How damaging this whole -- the GOP, this whole debate, capitalism business --

BORGER: It is damaging.

BALDWIN: How damaging?

BORGER: I think it's damaging to Romney's brand, as I was saying. Business experience is Romney's brand. And I think what we see developing is a real split in the Republican Party between the small business, blue-collar conservative wing of the Republican Party and the corporate elite wing of the Republican Party.

And so it's kind of corporate capitalism versus buccaneer capitalism, and Newt Gingrich is making the case that Romney was the latter, that what he did was came in, and he got people fired, and he made a lot of money, and he left, and Romney is saying no, I built businesses, I saved businesses, I didn't destroy businesses.

But what this does is it gives Barack Obama all the ammunition he needs. All of it. Now --

BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE) all ready for him, I guess.

BORGER: Yes. But Romney may turn out to be a better candidate as a result of this, so just keep that in mind.

BALDWIN: All right. Watch for the play by play from Miss Borger tonight, 7:00.

BORGER: It's on. You'll be there, too.

BALDWIN: I'll be there, too. Don't forget. You can catch both of us along your favorites tonight, special primary coverage, 7:00 Eastern. Do not miss it.

Gloria Borger, thank you very much.

A grandmother said someone put a bomb on her ankle, forced her to rob a bank. Find out what her husband was doing through this whole thing and what police found at her home.

Plus, for one Republican candidate, New Hampshire is a thing of the past. South Carolina is the big price. Rick Perry are raising the stakes on Mitt Romney. We're live there. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Obviously here at CNN, we're going to be watching New Hampshire very closely tonight as the primary is happening today. We're also keeping an eye on the next primary state, the next primary state, that being South Carolina, and that is where we find Tom Foreman in beautiful Charleston right now. And Tom, what do you have going on tonight? A little something special, I hear.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we do, Brooke. We are here not only in beautiful Charleston but on the beautiful campus of the College of Charleston and look at all our empty chairs here. They're not going to be empty for long. We're going to fill this with about 40 undecided Republicans here, and as the results start coming in from New Hampshire, we're going to have them watch the speeches of the candidates and see what's going on up there.

And they're all going to have these. Each person will have one of these in hand and they will turn it and adjust it based on their feelings about what they're seeing. Whether it excites them or they dislike it, like it, that sort of thing. They'll all be doing that in all these chairs and those results will be traveling right over here to this crack thing from Southern Methodist University from the Communications Department, will be analyzing all of the information as it comes in.

So we can see whether women like it, whether men like it, do older voters like it, do younger voters like it. How all of that plays here in South Carolina. Because as you said earlier a lot of the numbers suggested Mitt Romney will probably be pretty well set in New Hampshire. So everybody, every single team up there is already looking down here.

We've seen very aggressive media buys. Lots of ads, lots of flyers, lots of radio sports. People reaching out saying this is the new battleground, this is the one they're focusing on even as the voting is going on up in New Hampshire -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: What are you hearing? You've been in and around the College of Charleston. I don't know how long you've been in town. What are you hearing already from South Carolinian when it comes to these candidates?

FOREMAN: Well, I mean the biggest thing that you know you'll hear about people here is that they see the wave coming toward them. They can see the ads on TV. They can see the flyers. They can see robocalls. They can see all these things and they realize that this is burning their direction.

But here's something you have to bear in mind. Sometimes the choice of message -- well, it always has a lot to do with the audience. But it can really change place to place. Here's something to bear in mind. If you're talking about New Hampshire, there's a Pew Forum study for a few years ago, for example, that said that about 4 out of 10 people up there say religious beliefs are important in their lives, very important in their lives. Down here it's more like seven or eight out of 10.

So the idea of the values vote becomes more powerful here. You see more ads that talk about that sort of thing. Up there in New Hampshire, and for that matter, in Iowa, unemployment is relatively low, it's in the 5 to 6 percent range. That's below the national average. Down here is in the way over 9 percent pushing 10 percent range. That's above the national average.

BALDWIN: Yes.

FOREMAN: All of those are shaping the messages of these campaigns and that is affecting how people here see it. So there's just no question, Brooke. This is also the most populous state so far. People here know how important the decision will be in their state and they're intrigued by the amount of money the candidates are spending and how it's hitting them.

This is going to be one way we measure it tonight. There's nothing quite as fascinating as watching those little lines move up and down as all of our voters here say right now --

BALDWIN: How about that.

FOREMAN: -- this is what I think of Mitt Romney, this is what I think of Rick Perry, this is what I think of Mr. Santorum and on it goes.

BALDWIN: Real time reaction from you and your friends there at the College of Charleston. Tom Foreman, we will look forward to seeing you tonight. Thank you so much.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE BUTLER, NEIGHBOR: I feel bad, I know my son feels bad that some way we feel like we didn't look out for him. We should have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A woman says she was forced to rob a bank all while a bomb was strapped to her ankle. But the mystery here gets a little bit more bizarre. We're going to tell you what police didn't find at her home. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here is a story even police are coming forward. They're saying you can't make this stuff up. So this woman in Arkansas, she tells police that a man broke into her home, took her husband hostage, put an explosive device on ankle and ordered her to rob a bank.

Kumasi Aaron from CNN affiliate KFSM has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KUMASI AARON, KFSM REPORTER: Betty Davis is back at her home tonight, back to the place where it all began. Davis told police at least one man came inside her home, tied her husband, Dean Davis, up and forced her to leave her home. Austin and Mike Butler live across the street and say they're surprised it happened to them.

AUSTIN BUTLER, NEIGHBOR: They're good people. They're really nice people. Very friendly. I know their kids forever. I know them forever, too.

AARON: Deputies spent all day at the Davis' home collecting evidence and haven't yet released a motive for the invasion. But after living in the neighborhood for nearly 20 years, Mike Butler says he's concerned for his family's safety.

M. BUTLER: When it hits this close to home right across the street from me, and my mom is living right there next -- next door across the street from them, it could have been my mom in that position.

AARON: Investigators say after the suspect tied Mr. Davis, he also took a weapon from the home and forced Mrs. Davis to leave her house.

As for the suspect, investigators consider him armed and dangerous. They don't know his name, only describing him as a white man wearing blue jeans.

The Butler family says this is a tight-knit community, and even though the Davis' were not hurt, they wish they could have done more.

M. BUTLER: We look out for everybody else, and I feel bad, and I know my son feels bad that -- some way we feel like we didn't look out for them. We should have.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Police say they have no reason to believe Davis made the story up. The search continues for at least one suspect.

Coming up next, Newt Gingrich capitalizing on a dig he took at Mitt Romney. It involves baloney.

Plus Wolf Blitzer in the house. He's going to join me live once again with a sneak peek at tonight's big election special. Can we expect more weebles? Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour Donna Rosato is the senior editor of "Money" magazine, Jack Otter is the executive editor of CBSMoneywatch.com.

Thank you both for being here. I appreciate it.

Donna, first question for you comes from Mike in Mesa, Arizona. Mike says, "My wife and I both have good credit scores. We've got a 30- year fixes mortgage, 6 percent interest rate." What should they consider before refinancing?

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR EDITOR, MONEY: It's always worth considering refinancing if you can lower your interest rate at least 1 percent, by 1 percentage point. And of course if it goes 6 percent, today interest rates are averaging 4 percent, so it seems like a slam dunk, but that's not really the one thing you should consider. It's really important to figure out how long -- or to plan for how long you're going to be in that house.

Refinancing costs thousands of dollars.

HARLOW: Right.

ROSATO: They're averaging like $5,000, so if you're not going to be in the home at least five years, it's going to be hard to recoup those costs. But if you are planning to stay in the home for at least that long, it can be well worth it. Shop around, see what you qualify for. You want to make sure you qualify for the lowest rates because you're going to save the most money over time.

You might even consider resetting to a 15 or 20-year loan. The payment aren't that much more but you can save really tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

HARLOW: That's very good point.

Jack, your question comes from William in Kentucky. William is a 24- year-old grad student with a small income and he's asking, "How should I start investing for retirement?"

Well, props to him, right, for thinking about it this early on.

JACK OTTER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CBSMONEYWATCH.COM: It is -- people don't realize the huge benefits you get from starting the compounding now rather than waiting until he's 30 or 34.

HARLOW: Right.

OTTER: So I would say open a brokerage account at a Fidelity Schwab or Vanguard, it's very easy because they watch your money, so they're going to make it easy, and open a Roth IRA. He can contribute up to $5,000 a year if he's making that much. You know you can contribute up to your income.

And I would invest that money in just three mutual funds. The total U.S. stock market, the total global stock market outside the U.S. and then the total bond market. They're index funds. They track those. You can put an equal amount on each. Don't get tricky trying to time the market or buy individual stocks or any of that stuff. If he can contribute to those over the next 40 years, he will be in great shape.

HARLOW: Sure. Because as history and human nature shows investors tend to the average Joe, tends to buy high and sell low.

OTTER: Exactly. Don't touch it.

HARLOW: We just don't do that.

OTTER: Put money in every month then he'll be beating most of the pros.

HARLOW: All right. Thank you, guys, very much.

If you've got a question you want answered, send us an e-mail at any time at CNNhelpdesk at CNN.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A little bit of political pop for you on this primary day. Stay with me. Pious baloney. This is a phrase made famous now from this exchange between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney during Sunday's debate. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mitt, I realized the red light doesn't mean anything to you because you're the frontrunner.

(LAUGHTER)

GINGRICH: But can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney? You've been running consistently for years and years and years, so this idea that suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind -- just level with the American people. You've been running at least since 1990s.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It has been that phrase. So popular in fact that the Gingrich campaign took it to the Internet. Check it out. This is called stopromneyspiousbaloney.com. Yes. That's the URL. It is a standard campaign Web site. It has a clip of that exchange on what appears to be a baloney sandwich.

I don't have to tell you this. Primary day, New Hampshire. This is match-up number two for the Republicans.

We're going to find out, Wolf Blitzer, in a couple of hours, polls closing some in the 6:00 hour, 7:00 --

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN'S THE SITUATION ROOM: We're going to start in the 5:00 hour, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Releasing some data from the exit polls, so I want our viewers to get ready for that in the 5:00 p.m. Eastern hour.

BALDWIN: Two candidates today on your show.

BLITZER: Yes, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul.

BALDWIN: And Ron Paul.

BLITZER: Ron Paul will join us in the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour live. And we'll talk to Jon Huntsman live in the 5:00 p.m. Eastern. And they have a little fight going on, who comes in second, Ron Paul or Jon Huntsman. Everybody assumes Mitt Romney -- it's almost the home state for him.

BALDWIN: Right.

BLITZER: New Hampshire neighboring Massachusetts. So we'll see who comes in second. Will it be Ron Paul or will it be Jon Huntsman? Who knows.

BALDWIN: I just -- I just want to say, you know, a lot of people were up late rehearsing for the big special tonight. I have to say, I mean, you yourself, you were here, what, 11:00 last night?

BLITZER: I was. You were, too.

BALDWIN: This guy rehearses.

BLITZER: And you're going to be with us.

BALDWIN: How many times have you done this?

BLITZER: You're with us all night tonight.

BALDWIN: I know.

BLITZER: You'll be at that social media wall.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BLITZER: You'll be seeing what's trending on Twitter.

BALDWIN: The moments, the things that hopefully will pop in the papers the next morning --

BLITZER: Facebook, you got all the social media. And you got -- and you've got a staff helping you --

BALDWIN: Who do I think I am? Goodness.

BLITZER: You need -- you got people.

BALDWIN: I got people, just like you.

BLITZER: You got people.

BALDWIN: I'll try to be like you, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: You know, we got people.

BALDWIN: OK. Well, we look forward to it, we'll of course be watching you in nine minutes from now.

BLITZER: So you're rested. Are you ready to go?

BALDWIN: I'm ready to rock.

BLITZER: OK. Did you run five miles this morning?

BALDWIN: No, today I slept in.

BLITZER: OK.

BALDWIN: Tomorrow.

BLITZER: Good.

BALDWIN: Thank you, Wolf. See you later.

All eyes may be on the guys who want President Obama's job, but quietly the president doing a little bit of campaigning all of his own, including folks paying $45,000 each for one of his events.

Roland Martin has the scoop. We'll get his take, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: So before we talk about the president here actually I want to bring in Roland Martin here who will be sitting up late tonight, and is tweeting away.

ROLAND MARTIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know this --

BALDWIN: Can you put the phone down?

MARTIN: I'm trying to tell people --

BALDWIN: Can we get a shot of this?

MARTIN: That's right.

BALDWIN: That you're on television right know.

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: Time to see Brooke. This is -- this is the start of R&B, Roland and Brooke.

BALDWIN: Can we talk --

MARTIN: Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: And so, Wolf -- Wolf was just sitting in that seat and in the commercial break he was saying, are you excited for CNN after dark.

MARTIN: Of course.

BALDWIN: And he was talking music choices. And guys, can we cue up? Let's play the song that Wolf is very --

MARTIN: Marvin Gaye.

BALDWIN: He's excited about Marvin Gaye. What tune would you like to play tonight?

MARTIN: Actually, you know, since last week, every night I've been tweeting a song we should play each night, so we hit the Jackson Five one night. Of course we play Barry White. I say we should play Parliament-Funkadelic "Flashlight."

BALDWIN: Yes. MARTIN: That's what we should play.

BALDWIN: All right, well, let's cue them up.

MARTIN: Since the spot will be on New Hampshire.

BALDWIN: Let's cue them up. Let's cue them up.

MARTIN: We'll have a little -- little synergy.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about the political -- switching gears, though.

MARTIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Political spotlight. Maybe on New Hampshire today, President Obama creating his own spotlight. The White House says, and let me just quote Jay Carney.

MARTIN: Sure.

BALDWIN: He isn't engaging particularly aggressively in his reelection campaign. It's only January, there's not a Republican nominee. But there have been -- there will be five different fundraising dinners.

MARTIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Two last night in Washington, one you had to pay -- what was it, 4500 bucks a pop to attend one of these.

MARTIN: Right.

BALDWIN: You buy it --

MARTIN: That's one of the cheap ones.

BALDWIN: That's one of the cheap ones?

MARTIN: That's one of the cheap -- those 4500 bucks. Yes. That's one of the cheap ones.

BALDWIN: Do you -- do you believe that they're not aggressively -- they're not getting --

MARTIN: No, that's nonsense. I mean, look, OK, this is the cute little dance that Republicans and Democrats do when you're going through reelection, because you don't want to appear as if you're making, you know, electoral decisions, when in fact you are. So the reality is the president is indeed raising money for the reelection campaign you are engaged in that.

When you look at the tone of speeches, when you look at those kind of things, you are focusing on reelection, so let's stop playing the game. And so Jay knows the game. He was a reporter. He knows how we do this deal.

BALDWIN: Get this. He knew how to talk.

MARTIN: Absolutely. He is operating and focused on reelection, no doubt.

BALDWIN: One of the themes, and it was "The Washington Post" this morning, they were saying look, one of the speeches he gave, it sort of seemed like, you know, foreshadowing, maybe a drafts version of one of his, you know, reelection campaign speeches and one of the themes in these were essentially the president lumping some of these Republican candidates in with some of the Republican leadership in a non-successful Congress.

MARTIN: Of course.

BALDWIN: What do you make of that comparison? Smart?

MARTIN: That's what you're supposed to do.

BALDWIN: Good move?

MARTIN: You're supposed to link the two. Look, it was no surprise the Republicans linked speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, with the president in 2010. She was extremely unpopular in ads left and right. That's exactly what you do. And so you want to force the candidates to have to deal with that issue, just like when you see this whole Bain ad that's running out there that Newt Gingrich has been working around.

It's pretty funny the Republicans saying we're the party of the little guy, the Democrats said, hey, that's been our domain, and so that's also going to be a consistent theme as well. So of course you absolutely -- look, Congress is extremely unpopular. Boehner is speaker of the House, and so of course you link Romney with Boehner, with Senator Mitch McConnell. That's exactly what you're supposed to to do.

BALDWIN: Will it be successful, you think?

MARTIN: I think it will -- there will be some success there. The key, though, the president has to establish an even stronger populous tone and say I'm fighting for you. I still don't know why they don't go to Mississippi and go to Senator Thad Cochran's district, go to Jeff Sessions seat in Alabama, go to Louisiana to David Vitter, and say, wait a minute, explain to me why you guys are broke in these three states, you're the poorest in the union and these three senators are opposing what I'm doing to help you out. That to me needs to be a more aggressive tack by --

BALDWIN: Shows contrast.

MARTIN: By the president, by the White House, to say I'm fighting for you. What are they doing for you?

BALDWIN: The White House is also announcing this panel, this panel essentially to keep a very close eye on Beijing. They're calling it or they will call it the Enforcement Task Force. MARTIN: A task force?

BALDWIN: A task force.

MARTIN: Don't we have a State Department for that? I thought that's what they actually do.

BALDWIN: It's the task force, Roland Martin.

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: I'm just saying. We have an ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, you know about that. That's what they're supposed to do, but another task force? OK. Got you.

BALDWIN: But again, with this task force, and President Obama talking about China, we've been hearing a lot of China from Mitt Romney, obviously from Jon Huntsman. Again, is this another way for the White House to ready themselves to get into a good spot?

MARTIN: Well, look --

BALDWIN: For reelection.

MARTIN: Everybody wants to focus on China because of the amount of money that we actually owe them. They own so much of our debt. We want to make them out to be the boogieman if you will, oh look what they're doing. But you know what's amazing to me? Nobody wants to bring up -- they're communist. It's hilarious. We act as if they're not a communist country.

And so when we say oh, look how the regulations are so much easier for them to do stuff. They're a communist country. Of course it's easier.

BALDWIN: But I think the point is -- but I think the point being some people are saying, look, this is a reelection year, this is an election year, and this is the political implications of him talking China already here.

MARTIN: No, no, no.

BALDWIN: In January. Sending the task force --

(CROSSTALK)

MARTIN: I disagree, because we've had to deal with the fact that China is frankly the biggest threat to the United States in terms of being a world power.

BALDWIN: So you're saying OK, this is old news?

MARTIN: Yes. First of all, we didn't focus on China for the last three, four years. The last 18 years. And that should be the case.

BALDWIN: Yes. MARTIN: And you look at the amount of spending they're doing in the continent of Africa. Look at what they're doing in terms of minerals, in terms of natural resources, in terms of what -- how they are dominating solar energy, which Americans created the technology. And we're handing it over to them so we should be paying attention to what they're doing.

BALDWIN: Final note.

MARTIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Cue the music.

MARTIN: Come on, Brooke. That's how we do it. I told you.

BALDWIN: This is how we roll on this show. Roland Martin says he wants "Flashlight" --

MARTIN: That's why this is R&B.

BALDWIN: -- and you got it.

MARTIN: Here we go.

BALDWIN: So that's the song tonight.

MARTIN: George Clinton, that's a bad brother. Shut your mouth.

BALDWIN: In 20 seconds, what are you most excited about tonight?

MARTIN: I'm most excited, we're going to have a DJ on set tonight for "CNN After Dark." Eric Shirley doesn't know yet. But I told him --

BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE)

MARTIN: I said, dude, when are going to have a DJ on set? I mean let's turn this into the hottest, hippest, sexiest political party on all of television.

BALDWIN: And we'll see you tonight.

MARTIN: FOX and MSNBC can't touch this.

BALDWIN: Watching the clock tick down. Wolf Blitzer, to you. Oh, brother.