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Huntsman to Quit Race Today; Conservative Split on Candidates; Cruise Ship CEO Apologized; Capsized Cruise Ship Makes Headlines; South Carolina Radio Host Says Campaign Could Get Nastier; Russian Space Probe Falls to Earth; Rising Wages; ; Perry: Marines in Video "Made a Mistake"; Obama Attends MLK Service Event
Aired January 16, 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: Well, it looks like Jon Huntsman is out of the hunt. Two hours from now, he is planning to announce that he is dropping out of the presidential race -- presidential race, rather. And a source says that Huntsman is going to endorse Mitt Romney.
CNN's Peter Hamby was the first to report the story last night. He is joining us live from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What do you think, Peter?
PETER HAMBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's pretty interesting. Actually a little surprising. We thought that Jon Huntsman might actually stay in the race through South Carolina, even though he didn't have a ton of support in the polls after his underwhelming finish in New Hampshire. The campaign tried to say they exceeded expectations, and they certainly did in New Hampshire, climbing up from single digits to finish in third place there. But they simply didn't have enough momentum here in a conservative-leaning and he didn't have enough money to really carry on.
So his endorsement of Romney, however, is a little surprising. He is the candidate that ideologically most fits the Huntsman brand. However, Huntsman and Romney don't like each other very much. There's a lot of bad blood there. They have a frosty relationship, and their staffs do not like each other one bit. So it will be kind of interesting to see how this plays out.
Romney will not be with Huntsman today here in Myrtle Beach for this announcement ahead of the debate tonight -- Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's interesting. When I had a chance to interview him last week, he said, oh, I have respect for Romney. I think he's a great family man.
It's really interesting how reporters like you get the inside scoop, and you can't necessarily get it directly from the candidate.
Meanwhile, Huntsman making this announcement just a day after he got an endorsement from the state newspaper, Peter. And he sounded so enthusiastic just a few days ago after his third place finish in New Hampshire.
Let's take a listen once again, and I want to ask you about this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here we sit tonight, ladies and gentlemen, with a ticket to ride and to move on. Here we go to South Carolina. Thank you all so very much. Thank you.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. So what changed? And what do you think is next for him? Some say this is just a trial run for four years from now.
HAMBY: You know, what changed, he didn't catch on. I mean, frankly, he never caught on here in South Carolina. He did maintain a small staff here in case, you know, he did exceed expectations, get a first or strong second place finish. But Huntsman is a little out of step with the conservative base on issues like same-sex marriage and some issues on the environment.
And frankly, Tea Party activists, the Republican base, are angry right now, and Jon Huntsman is not an angry candidate. He has more of a sober, calm temperament. He's been calling for civility. So he never really caught on down here, Kyra. But it is interesting that "The State," the biggest newspaper here in South Carolina, endorsed him, and then that very night he decides to drop out of the race.
PHILLIPS: It's nothing but interesting, that is for sure.
Peter Hamby, great work for us. Thanks so much.
And you can enjoy Wolf Blitzer and the best political team on television for live coverage of Jon Huntsman's announcement. That is scheduled for about 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. You can see it right here live on CNN.
Well, with South Carolina's primary now just five days away, well, this time it might be working to Mitt Romney's advantage. Polls are showing him with a solid lead now. Time for running or conservatives to rally behind a single candidate, too. But it's day two of the South Carolina Tea Party convention as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL GEORGE, FOUNDER, STRONG AMERICA NOW: There is a candidate that can beat Obama in a debate. And what is his name? It's Newt Gingrich. Romney is going to lose to Obama. There's no doubt about that in my mind. So that's my view.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, let's look ahead then at South Carolina and beyond with Paul Steinhauser.
Paul, electability. That's definitely the buzz word for a lot of Republicans right now. Could Romney win without the support of the Tea Party movement? PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: He could win the nomination, Kyra, because as Peter was talking about with you, you know, the conservatives are fractured here between Gingrich, between Santorum, with lesser degree Perry and Ron Paul, so Romney winning this establishment, more moderate vote.
We saw that happen in Iowa where he supposedly eked out that little victory by eight votes and the same thing in New Hampshire. Could it happen in South Carolina? Sure.
How do Tea Party activists feel about Romney? They don't love him. No doubt about that. Some are actively working to defeat him. But check this out, Kyra. This was our poll from Friday. But I broke it down just by Tea Party supporters, which is about half of the Republican electorate.
Well; look who's on top? When you break it down among Tea Party supporters only, Romney. Again, 31 percent of Tea Party supporters say he's their choice for the nomination ahead of Gingrich, Santorum, and the rest of them.
So they may not love him, but some are actively trying to defeat him, some are saying, well, I guess we're going to have to -- we're going to have deal with him, Kyra. And Tea Party activists are pretty influential in South Carolina, Florida, and all of these other states. They've made an impact, no doubt it, in this campaign -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, how about the evangelical leaders that met this weekend? Their endorsement not Romney. They are actually backing Santorum. Let's talk about the impact here.
STEINHAUSER: Yes, and this was interesting. It came down to three rounds of voting. And in that third round, about 85 votes for Santorum, about 29 votes for Newt Gingrich. These leaders who -- they met in Texas, they say, you know what, Mitt Romney's Mormon faith had nothing to do with this, it wasn't a factor, but let's be honest. Some Christian conservatives do have a problem, do have an issue with people of Mormon faith. Some people, maybe they don't consider them true Christians.
But will this be -- have an impact in South Carolina? Yes, it could. Because listen -- listen, social conservatives are definitely, definitely a factor in South Carolina. Especially upstate, where there's a heavy, heavy Republican population.
But the Gingrich campaign, the Romney campaign, both downplaying this endorsement over the weekend. Take a listen to Senator John McCain, who is turning out to be a big surrogate for Mitt Romney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I think it is a hit. I mean let's be very honest. There is a very strong evangelical movement in South Carolina. Unemployment is nearly 10 percent. And that certainly is a very -- much higher priority for the voters than it would be if the unemployment rates were down. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: And if you didn't catch the senator made those comments with our own Candy Crowley so that's "STATE OF THE UNION" behind him. "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday.
Kyra, the big question mark here is, how much can Santorum kind of pivot on this? How much can he make out of this endorsement? And he's only got less than a week now to do it -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. Paul, thanks so much.
And keep it on CNN now through November. Best political coverage on television. And then on Thursday night, 8:00 Eastern, it's the "Southern Republican Presidential Debate," that's happening live right here on CNN.
Well, at a news conference in Italy just moments ago, the owners of the cruise ship that ran aground said that the captain had never had an accident before. And rescuers have now suspended the search for any possible survivors because the ship is sort of shifting. But the owners are holding out hope that they will find more survivors. The ship is starting to move and that's posing a lot of danger for the divers.
Now the ship's captain is being accused of deviating from a well- established route taking the ship too close to shore. He has been arrested, and now he could face manslaughter charges. Survivors are still in shock, as you can imagine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIVIAN SHAFER, COSTA CONCORDIA SURVIVOR: There wasn't anybody to help you. I mean, really, the passengers were loading the life boats by themselves.
RHONDA ROSENTHAL, COSTA CONCORDIA SURVIVOR: We had to go about four or five gates down before we found a life boat we could get into. And then the people were very angry that we've got on that life boat because it was very crowded.
SHAFER: The crew was so young. And I -- you would have thought they could have handled it better. You would have thought they could have handled it better on the shore. You would have thought they could have handled, you know, getting people off the boat. Warning people.
BRANDON WARRICK, COSTA CONCORDIA SURVIVOR: It was just bad. Like mad scary to get on the life boats. Nobody followed any procedure. The crew was yelling for people to wait their turn. And pretty much it was just a giant every-man-for-himself to get onto the life boats. The first ones before they were even lowered.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Wow. Dan Rivers is live in Giglio.
Do you think that once the ship stops moving that the search for possible survivors could resume, Dan?
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think so, Kyra. Yes. If we just have a look at what's going on behind me, there is a lot more activity now in the last few minutes, which perhaps indicates that they are beginning to resume their search.
I don't know if you can make out through our signal there. There's a small gray inflatable rib just in front of the superstructure of the Costa Concordia. There are other small craft behind it. There's a big tug moving towards it. So it's giving me the impression anyway that they are beginning now to resume the search of this wreck.
We've been hearing, as you mentioned, from the company, Costa Cruises, in the last hour. Basically, defending the crew, but suggesting or reinforcing the suggestion that it was solely the captain that took the decision to go too close because, in the words of the chief executive, he wanted to show the boats to the island. And it's just as simple as that.
Now there were lots of questions about what kind of safety procedures there would have been. Would there have been alarms and so on, yes, they -- he said there would have been alarms, there would have been visual alarms as well as sounds alarms going off. All showing that he should not have deviated from the course that had been predetermined that was governed by the Satellite Navigation System.
He overrode those commands, according to this chief executive, and decided to go, well, recklessly close to the shore of this island of Giglio, and with devastating results.
Now, in terms of the criticism of how they evacuated people, he defended that, saying the crew performed well. During two hours, they managed to evacuate 4,200 people. He said that the life boats were efficient. And the evacuation was according to procedure. So he was dismissing the idea that it was chaotic. But that's obviously not what we were hearing from people onboard, that you just played the clip of.
PHILLIPS: Yes. Well, and, Dan, as you just mentioned, it looks like they have resumed that search for passengers. We'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning.
Dan Rivers, yes, appreciate it so much.
Well, as you can imagine, the capsized cruise ship dominates -- or dominated, rather, headlines around the world. Still is actually.
Zain Verjee has been reading up on the reaction from London -- Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning, Kyra.
The CEO of Costa Cruises essentially a short while ago apologized that this disaster had happened and promised that whoever was responsible for it would be held accountable. And an investigation has been launched. But, yes, what he said and on newspapers around the world, too, really the headlines here. "The Guardian" in the U.K. has this one. "Floating hotels that can be sunk by a rock." It says, "This incident raises the specter of the kind of disaster the cruise industry and its passengers hoped was long past. Ships costing the better part of a billion dollars can still be holed by a rock."
"The Globe and Mail" in Canada says, "On a picturesque Italian shore, an incomprehensible mishap." "Just last summer, the mayor wrote a letter to thank the Costa Concordia for giving his island an incredible spectacle on its way out to sea. But no cruise ship had ever performed as close to the island as this."
Finally, "The Standard" in Belgium says, "Blind panic in a floating city."
Now, Kyra, it puts this maritime expert that says. "This type of cruise ship is truly a floating city, which isn't a bad thing if everything runs smoothly. But in an accident, it means you have a mass of people unable to evacuate quickly and calmly."
A lot of accusations being made right now towards the ship's captain. And one of the survivors I interviewed earlier today, Kyra, said that she was totally outraged about what the captain is saying in defense of himself is that he didn't know that there were rocks there -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Zain Verjee, following the reaction there out of London for us.
And if you think the mudslinging in South Carolina has been ugly, well, my next guest says you ain't seen nothing yet. We're going to talk with Columbia, South Carolina, radio host Keven Cohen right after the break.
What a way to heel. Swimming with the dolphins. Hear what it means to our wounded warriors, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, South Carolina has got a reputation for dirty politics. And according to Columbia radio host Keven Cohen, he says his WBOC listeners are worn down and they've had enough.
Kevin, you say the nasty campaigning is just going to get worse. So how is this going to play out with voters and who will suffer the most?
KEVEN COHEN, TALK RADIO HOST: It'll be interesting to see how this whole thing turns out. What's so interesting is you think, well, what can they say that they haven't said already, Kyra? But you'd be amazed. This is the state that's turned out Lee Atwater, this is the state that's just derailed campaign after campaign.
I'm surprised but now Jon Huntsman can't even make it through the week here. So nothing that's going to come out of their mouths will surprise me at this point. But I think it's going to get pretty vicious. I mean when you're desperate and you're facing the cliff and you're about to fall off a cliff, you're going to do what you have to do. And my suspicion is you're going to hear some nasty things said about Mitt Romney before the week's over.
PHILLIPS: So, who do you think is the most desperate?
COHEN: I think at this point you have to look at Newt Gingrich's campaign as being the most desperate. Rick Santorum did not maintain the momentum that he had following Iowa after New Hampshire.
And then you look at Rick Perry, and people are just wondering why Rick Perry is even in the race at this point. If he doesn't do something down here in South Carolina, forget it. It's all over.
In fact, a lot of people that support Gingrich and Santorum and Ron Paul would like to see Perry out. Mitt Romney does not want to see Rick Perry get out. He wants to see as much of the second and third placers split their vote as much as possible.
PHILLIPS: All right. You're not endorsing anyone. But out of all of the candidates you have dealt with, who do you think really has it together there on the ground?
COHEN: In terms of organization, it's very hard to argue with what Mitt Romney has done, 50 states. I mean, you can tell when you've done enough with these elections, Kyra, that you make phone calls. You send emails. You get a response immediately, you get what you need out of the campaigns immediately.
Mitt Romney has great ground troops here in South Carolina. Newt Gingrich has gotten better, but it's been slow because there's not a lot of money with that campaign. Rick Santorum has been absolutely absent until very recently. And Rick Perry, pretty good organization, a lot of money there, but just not a lot of oomph and a lot of momentum from the people who initially supported him.
So, if I had to say, and obviously not endorsing anybody, but if I had to say, Kyra, there's no question, Mitt Romney is the most organized campaign.
PHILLIPS: So, Keven, final question. You say that this Saturday is South Carolina's general election. So, where does Obama stand?
COHEN: President Obama is a nonfactor in this state. I mean, he hasn't visited South Carolina even once since he became the president. He was here as a candidate himself, did very well, had Oprah with him and all of that back in the day.
But ever since then, he has not visited here. And as well as he swept 2008, I mean, he was a nonfactor in the general election in '08. He lost by 10 points to John McCain.
So, I don't think we'll be seeing much of Barack Obama in the Palmetto State in the 2012 election. I really believe this is the general election for South Carolinians. But we're pretty excited about Saturday getting here, but they're also pretty excited about Saturday passing. PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what? We'll talk again, Kevin. We'll be listening. Thanks so much.
COHEN: Thanks for having me.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
COHEN: Let's check stories across the country now.
Let's start in Anaheim, California. Police identify 23-year-old Itzcoatl Ocampo as the man who's been targeting and killing homeless people. Witnesses say that they saw him allegedly stabbing a homeless man to death on Friday. Several of them actually chased Ocampo, later leading police right to him.
And in Seattle, police are bracing for an icy morning commute followed by another round of snow and rain.
And then in the Florida Keys, listen to this.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
PHILLIPS: Nearly 30 wounded warriors taking part in a different kind of therapy -- swimming with dolphins. Just one unique stop within a three-day soldier ride cycling event organized by the Wounded Warrior Project.
Well, Joe Paterno is telling his side of the story. "The Washington Post" interviewed the former coach about the Penn State alleged sex abuse scandal. Paterno says an assistant coach told him he saw Jerry Sandusky abusing a boy in the shower, but Paterno said he didn't know how to handle the situation.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JOE PATERNO, FORMER PENN STATE FOOTBALL COACH: And I called my superiors and said, "Hey, we got a problem." And I said, "Would you guys look into it?" Because I didn't know, you know, I had never had to deal with something like that. I didn't feel adequate.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Paterno also says that he turned the case over to people that he thought would have more expertise than he did in matters like this.
Authorities have said that legally, Paterno did what he was supposed to do.
The liftoff went fine, but the overall mission, not so much. Russian space probe crashes to earth, and experts want to know why.
Plus, some good news on the state of the economy. Salaries are rising, but it depends on where you live. So, where do we see the rise going the fastest? We'll tell you right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, liftoff looked pretty perfect. But since then, not so much.
Zain Verjee, what happened to that probe and do engineers know what happened?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: No. They are still trying to figure out what exactly happened. They also are saying that one of the big problems is they don't have enough date on or information relayed back from the probe to allow them to put it together.
There are still so many questions, like the burning of fuel into the atmosphere, could that be dangerous to earth, and whether any fragments of the probe then crashed to the earth's surface. Essentially, you had a massive ball of fire that dove back to earth, 13 1/2 tons, Kyra -- a totally disastrous end.
What the Russians were trying to do with this was basically land on one of the moons of mars and then scoop up rock and soil sample, and then bring it back to earth for analysis. This was supposed to be Russia's big glorious trip to deep space that would eventually allow them to get onto mars.
So, this has been a total failure. They are saying they're going to expose the officials responsible for this failure. And many are saying what the Russians will try and do now is do joint ventures with the United States or other European or Western countries rather than go it alone.
One of the worries for the U.S. and other countries too, though, Kyra, is that they use a lot of the Russian equipment to launch things like satellites. And the Russians have had a lot of recent failures out in space recently. So, people are concerned that there is some kind of systematic faulty situation with Russian technology because of this incident -- one of many failures -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Yes. NASA and Russia are working very closely, Zain. So we'll follow -- continue to follow the stories like this. Appreciate it. Thanks, Zain.
And some good news for workers. Wages are increasing.
Alison Kosik, how much of an increase are we seeing?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK. So putting this in perspective for you, Kyra. Don't get too excited. Because sure, salaries did go up last year. In fact, they went up every quarter.
But guess what? The increase is barely keeping up with inflation. You take a look at how it's broken down here.
You look at the months between October and December. That's the fourth quarter of 2011. Salaries went up 2.2 percent compared to the same time in 2010.
This information, by the way, is coming from PayScale, a company that kind of tracks the salary thing.
So, putting this in perspective, you see how clearly that 2 percent ain't all that good compared to salaries before the recession, which rose more than 3 percent. But then when you look at those years between 2009 and 2010, salaries actually fell.
So what you essentially have here, Kyra, is a slow improvement in pay as we see the unemployment rate coming down a bit -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, can you break it down by city for us and talk about where the wages are rising the fastest?
KOSIK: OK. This is where it gets interesting for everybody. So, you look at this, at what PayScale did. It measured 20 big cities. And salaries rose in 17 of them. In Houston, the salaries went up the most, 2.2 percent. And that's mostly because of the boom in oil and gas industries.
In Miami, you see the rise there of 1.8 percent. Chicago and Washington were up as well.
Now, Chicago is interesting because it missed out on wage increases that other cities saw before the recession. So you see Chicago kind of playing catch-up there.
Seattle did pretty well, 1.6 percent. And you can thank the strong tech sector there and orders for planes are rebounding. You know, Boeing is based in Seattle.
And also construction. The construction industry wasn't hit as hard as other areas. So things, you see, are improving ever so slightly. You know, even though it's not keeping up with inflation, I say every little bit helps, especially when it's your salary -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Amen, especially now with the economy being -- not doing so well.
KOSIK: You said it.
PHILLIPS: Alison, thanks.
Well, Jon Huntsman is expected to call it quits in just about an hour or so. So do you think we'll see him again? There's been talk that this was just a trial run for 2016. Maybe he'll pay more attention to Iowa in four years. More on that coming up.
And the Golden Globes kicks off the unofficial start of awards season. Last night's show brought a lot of unexpected wins and left others pretty disappointed. We've got the highlights for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now.
We pause to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. today. Many people are going to celebrate the day by visiting the new memorial in D.C. dedicated to him. It's the first MLK Day, by the way, since it was completed.
And the nationwide strike in Nigeria over skyrocketing fuel costs have stopped for now. Labor union leaders are temporarily halting the protests that threatened to shut down Nigeria's oil production. It all started last week when the government decided to eliminate the country's fuel subsidy.
And the company that owns the doomed Italian cruise ship is blaming the captain for the accident that killed at least six people and left about 16 others unaccounted for. Costa's chairman and CEO just said a short time ago the captain deviated from a well-established sea route. He also added there's no evidence that any of the 2,000 tons of fuel aboard has leaked into the sea yet.
Well, the search for more cruise ship survivors off Italy has been put on hold. Bad weather apparently is one of the reasons.
Rob Marciano has been following the conditions over there.
Now, when we talked to Dan Rivers, it looked like a beautiful day and he said it looked like it had resumed. What do you know?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, during the crash and yesterday, the weather has been fine -- visibility good, seas relatively light. But today, conditions have gone down just a little bit. We've got a low or a storm right in through here heading across Spain. And basically, winds are kicking up out of the southeast across the western coastline of Italy.
So because of that, we've got winds and high surf. So to just give you an idea of what the temperatures are like there, water temperatures are around 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Air temperatures are in the 40s. So, obviously, winter conditions prevail across the Mediterranean.
To give you an idea of what the route of this thing was, there is -- it left just north of Rome. It was supposed to go up towards the northern coast of Italy. And then cruise right past Giglio. And as it did that, as we've been reporting, it came just a little bit too close and some reports are that it does that from time to time to give the tourists a bit of a buzz or some excitement there.
Obviously, whether that was the case or not, we don't know for sure. We do know the results. And right now, they are struggling with bad conditions there -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: You bet.
PHILLIPS: Well, GOP front-runner Mitt Romney has said if elected president, he would deport illegal immigrants within 90 days, and build a border fence between the U.S. and Mexico. But Mexico holds a special significance in his family.
CNN's senior Latin American affairs editor Rafael Romo explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): In the rolling hills of northern Mexico, about 180 miles south of the U.S. border, lies a community that stands out for its religious roots.
MILES A. ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SECOND COUSIN: We established apple orchards, peach orchards, farms, ranches. That's basically what we do today.
ROMO: Miles Romney is the descendant of Mormons who settled the area more than 125 years ago.
MILES ROMNEY: Well, we come from a hard-working family. We come from honest people.
ROMO: His great grandfather led the first group of Mormons to the state of Chihuahua, the same Mormons of whom the family of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney traces its heritage.
In fact, Mitt Romney's father, George, who also ran for president in the United States, was born in this area himself. Miles Anthony Romney is Mitt's second cousin. Miles is so proud of Mitt's political career that he managed to get a Romney bumper sticker sent to Mexico and he also displays the Romney name on his window.
And he can understand why Mitt Romney's religion is an issue for some people.
MILES ROMNEY: I think it's just a misunderstanding on their part. I know people try to use that against Mitt. But they just can't find anything on him to dig up about him.
ROMO (on camera): The first Romneys arrived this part of Mexico around 1885. They came from Utah, where as Mormons they faced religious persecution and were not allowed to practice polygamy. There are still about 40 members of the Romney family here in Colonia Juarez, who can trace their roots back to first settlers.
KELLY W. ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY'S SECOND COUSIN: There was actually a very small percentage of the church that practiced polygamy.
ROMO: And while that percentage included his grandfather, Kelly Romney, another of Mitt's second cousins, says the community hasn't practiced polygamy since the church banned it in the late 1800s.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Again, that was our Rafael Romo.
Well, join Wolf Blitzer and the "Best Political Team on Television" for live coverage of Jon Huntsman announcement. That is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Eastern today. You can see it right here live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Straight ahead, Ricky Gervais proves once again holding back just isn't his thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICKY GERVAIS, GOLDEN GLOBE HOST: The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton basically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: More highlights from last night's Golden Globe Awards in just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking stories cross country now.
A southern California man is accused of trying to poison his wife. Forty-three-year-old Fernando Flores allegedly put the cleaning chemical Goof Off into his wife's cereal. She is expected to survive. He is expected to be charged with attempted murder.
Encouraging news on a fuel delivery to Nome, Alaska. A coast guard cutter helped get the fuel tanker through 300 miles of ice. Workers have now been placing a hose down to transfer fuel or placing a hose down, rather, to transfer the fuel from the tanker. And that could happen sometime today.
And "I dos" on ice. This Minnesota couple decided to have their wedding on a frozen lake. Everyone rode onto the event on snowmobiles and then once vows were exchanged, you got it, they sped off into the frozen tundra bliss.
George Clooney and Meryl Streep won big last night at the Golden Globe Awards show, but they weren't the only ones.
"Showbiz Tonight's" A.J. Hammer was there. And he's got all the scoop for us -- including the host who threatened to steal the show.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERVAIS: Nervous? Don't be. This isn't about you.
A.J. HAMMER, HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" (voice-over): Right out of the gate, the Golden Globes were about host Ricky Gervais. And the acid tongue Brit started off by taking a shot at the show itself.
GERVAIS: The Golden Globes are to the Oscars what Kim Kardashian is to Kate Middleton.
HAMMER: "Showbiz Tonight" can report that neither Kardashian nor Middleton were at the ceremony, but Madonna was, and Gervais took aim in one of the night's feistiest moments.
GERVAIS: And she's just like a virgin.
MADONNA, WON BEST ORIGINAL SONG IN A MOVIE: And I'm still just like a virgin, Ricky, then why don't you come over here and do something about it?
HAMMER: And although he likely made NBC network execs sweat, Gervais wasn't the entire focus of the show. After all, there were plenty of awards to hand out.
(on camera): Out here on the red carpet. Obviously, everybody buzzing with anticipation about who would walk home with a Golden Globe tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "The Descendants."
(CHEERS)
HAMMER (voice-over): "The Descendants" and "The Artist" took film top honors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Homeland."
(CHEERS)
HAMMER: While "Homeland" and "Modern Family" were TV's big winners.
"Showbiz Tonight" can report that the Globes were not without unscripted moments. Meryl Streep forgot her glasses during her acceptance speech.
MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS: Oh, I'm going to have to remember my speech.
HAMMER: And George Clooney took the stage imitating his walking cane- reliant buddy Brad Pitt.
GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: I have to give it back so he can make it to the bar.
HAMMER: Where perhaps Pitt bought a drink for Clooney who later won for best actor in a drama in "The Descendants."
CLOONEY: Thank you.
HAMMER: Making Hollywood's leading man a leading contender for Oscar gold.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: A.J. Hammer waking up early for us now, live out of Los Angeles.
So, what do you think? What did the reviews for Ricky Gervais? He was a little tame, wasn't he?
HAMMER: I thought so. I mean, he still took some shots, Kyra. But the feeling this morning is he seemed to be pouring on a little more charm than his acid tongue this year. I'm not sure if Kim Kardashian or NBC would agree with that given the attacks that were aimed at them last night. But I got to tell you, I thought going into it would be all bets off for Ricky, with the idea that he basically had nothing to lose. And he was much tamer than a lot of people thought he would be. That said, I thought he was still terrific and funny. It's just not the headline that he was a year ago today.
You remember, Kyra, a year ago today, he's all we were talking about.
PHILLIPS: You think he'll be back next year?
HAMMER: Well, it's difficult to say. He did say that NBC would be sure to ask him back if he did hammer everybody like he did last year. And since he didn't do that, maybe they won't ask him back. I don't know.
But, look, he a terrific host, taking nothing away. I think the bar was set pretty high for him to be going after people. And, I don't know, I don't really believe that Ricky feels he needs to ingratiate himself with the Hollywood community, but he seemed to be doing a bit of that last night.
PHILLIPS: Yes, including taking up a list of the things he wasn't supposed to do. He did play by the rules of sorts. Thanks, A.J.
All right. Stay with us. More inside the Golden Globes with A.J. in our next hour.
Well, coming up, Jon Huntsman is expected to call it quits in just about an hour or so. So, do you think that you'll see him again? Well, there's been talk this was just a trial run for 2016. We're talking about it right after the break.
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PHILLIPS: Jon Huntsman is out of the hunt, and we should actually hear from him live. In just about 45 minutes, we'll take it. But until then, let's keep our political conversation going with CNN contributors Will Cain and L.Z. Granderson.
Guys, that ticket to ride from New Hampshire ended up being more like the long and winding road out of the race. So, here's my question. Are we going to see Huntsman again? L.Z.?
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: You know, this was a very tough weekend for me. First, Drew Brees loses. Then my Packers.
And now Huntsman is out. I got nothing. I got nothing.
I'm disappointed. You know, I really thought that he was going to stick around, if nothing else, to continue on having a sort of conversation of being moderate -- being conservative but not being socially irresponsible.
And to see him out is sad to me. Is he around for 2016? You know, that's a very interesting question, because it suggests that Mitt Romney, if he is the primary ticket winner, is going to lose to President Obama. So if that happens, and if it's 2016 and, you know, we're cleaning house, yes, I think you see him back.
But obviously, if Romney and whoever wins the primary ends up in the White House, then, you know, now, we're looking at 2020. And I don't think so.
PHILLIPS: Will, what do you think? I mean, he is the youngest guy out of all of the candidates and some say this was a trial run for 2016.
WILL CAIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Before we get to 2016, can we not throw dirt on his 2012 campaign for one moment and analyze one thing about it?
PHILLIPS: Oh, I thought you were going to talk about Drew Brees or the Packers.
CAIN: I am. Watch this. I am. L.Z.'s affiliation to Jon Huntsman is as confusing his statement of using we with the Packers or my, he doesn't plan -- L.Z. doesn't play for the Saints or the Packers, and I don't understand his affiliation with Huntsman.
Here's been the big question all along, Kyra -- is Jon Huntsman a conservative? Policy-wise, Jon Huntsman had one of the most conservative tax reforms plans out there to radically simplify the tax code. And on financial reform, he had a very radical plan to break up the banks. If they are too big to fail, they are too big to exist.
So it brings up the question, what is a conservative? Why are people in the news calling Jon Huntsman a moderate? It says to me we define these men more by their style, more by their opinions on civil unions and gay marriage than by their policy proposals. And I don't think that is appropriate.
You want to talk about 2016, Kyra, let me say this. Jon Huntsman needs to take lessons from this campaign. He is responsible for this. He painted himself as a moderate. He consistently threw conservatives under the bus, and pandered to the left.
What I don't understand is why anybody was unable to look past this because he really was a conservative guy. By the time we get to 2016, it's going to be -- it's going to be crowded. Paul Ryan. Possibly Chris Christie and in that environment people like me who championed Huntsman I don't think I'll be able to do it again.
PHILLIPS: All right, I've got to -- I've got to ask you guys a totally different subject here. Rick Perry was on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley and she asked him about that video showing U.S. Marine urinating on enemy corpses. Listen to his response. I want to get your reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The idea that this administration would go after these young people for a criminal act is again -- I think it is over the top. And did they make a mistake? Absolutely. Should they be reprimanded and appropriately punished? Yes. But going after them as a criminal act, I think really bad message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Guys, this story has sparked a lot of outrage at home and abroad. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he is deeply troubled. What do you make of Perry sort of saying that, you know, kids making a mistake response? L.Z.?
L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: You know, this goes back to -- I wrote a piece last year in which I said if President Obama was to turn water into wine, Republicans would accuse him of being a wino.
And I feel this is the same sort of line of thinking, and that is there is nothing that President Obama can do that would please someone like a Rick Perry. There will always be criticism.
I don't think anyone sees anything wrong with being as aggressive as possible, sending a message, not just to the people in our armed forces here but abroad that we're going to hold the U.S. to the same standard we want everyone else to be at. And for him to suggest that we just dismiss this, just tells you just what he lacks in terms of foreign policy and understanding international and global politics. It's very amateurish.
PHILLIPS: Will?
CAIN: You know, I think there's a place in this conversation, Kyra, to push back on the outrage. I think it's just a little too easy for pundits in New York that sit around tables to default to outrage. I will say this. We put these men in very strenuous circumstances, and we teach them to take away the lives of their enemies. That's much worse than urinating on their bodies after they're dead.
What I'm saying is, if you put men in this situation, and train them to do that, and then you expect them to flip a switch back into civilization to all of a sudden abide by the rules we do back here in civilized society, I think you're just asking a difficult thing.
Bear in mind I'm not dismissing these men. And I don't think Rick Perry is either, by the way. I'm not excusing it either. I'm just saying, tap the brakes on the outrage every once in a while. You've never been there. You don't know. You might not know completely what you're talking about.
PHILLIPS: Will, L.Z., happy Monday. Thanks, guys.
CAIN: Thanks.
GRANDERSON: Goodbye Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Today we pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King and his message of nonviolent social change. Take a listen to some students as they recite passages from "I have a dream" from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro slave -- which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers as evidenced by their presence here today have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We cannot walk alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And as we walk, we must make a pledge that we shall always march ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But not only that. Let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountain side let freedom ring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholic --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Negro spiritual, free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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PHILLIPS: Four NFL teams still with a shot at winning the Super Bowl and here's how two of them advanced on Sunday, in case you missed it.
The Packers playing the Giants at Lambeau Field. New York quarterback Eli Manning throwing the Hail Mary pass just before halftime. Hakeem Nicks goes up to make the great grab. Yes, the Giants took a 20-10 lead and never looked back. Manning finished with three touchdown passes, out-playing Aaron Rodgers. Giants win 37-20 and move on.
Sunday's other playoff game in Baltimore. First quarter, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco hits Anquan Boldin for a touchdown. Ravens led the Texans 7-3. Baltimore defense controlled the game. We take you to the fourth quarter, less than two minutes to go, Houston's T.J. Yates. There you go, trying for a tie. He's intercepted at the end zone by Ed Reed. The Ravens hang on to win 20-13.
All right, here's your playoff schedule for next Sunday. The Ravens take on the Patriots 3:00 p.m. Eastern, 49ers host the Giants 6:30 p.m. Eastern, winners go to the Super Bowl.
MCR's Sports correspondent Mike Pasta (ph) is joining me next hour to break down the weekend games and of course looking ahead to the big goal.
All right, we're following lots of other developments in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in first with our Alison Kosik -- Alison.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kyra. With so many states swimming in red ink right now, some lawmakers are saying you know it's about time to take from the rich to make ends meet. I'm going to tell you which states are lining up first in the next hour.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I'm Joe Johns in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Jon Huntsman expected to get out of the race for president, he's going to make an announcement in just a little while. A candidacy that never really caught on. I'll have that coming up at the top of the hour.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hi, there. I'm Zain Verjee in London and in a few minutes, I'll tell you what newspapers around the world are saying about the cruise disaster in Italy -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, guys, thanks so much.
And also, we're going to hear from our "Political Buzz" panel on what's ahead for Jon Huntsman's daughters. They made a pretty big splash campaigning for their dad. He might be quitting the race, but well, we get the feeling we haven't heard the last from the Jon 2012 girls.
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