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Jon Huntsman Drops Out, Endorses Mitt Romney; Search for Survivors Resumes off Italian Coast; Tea Party Watches to See Which GOP Candidate Gets Votes in S.C.; Students Celebrate MLK Day; Former MLK Driver Discusses Man Behind the Movement.

Aired January 16, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. Live from studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Want to get you up to speed for this Monday, January 16th. Happy Martin Luther King day.

The field of Republican presidential candidates is about to get smaller. We are waiting for Jon Huntsman to announce that he is dropping out of the race. CNN first broke the story that Huntsman is going to be pulling the plug on his campaign and endorsing Mitt Romney. Senior campaign official says that Huntsman didn't want to stand in the way of the candidate best prepared to beat Barack Obama.

We're going to bring you Huntsman's announcement live from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It's expected to start in a minute.

We're going to the latest on what it means for Romney and the rest of the GOP field and the race ahead. Want to bring in two of my colleagues. I understand one of them is ready and we'll get Joe Johns to join us as well to talk about Huntsman's decision. Joe's in Myrtle Beach. We'll get to him in a minute, but let's start with Wolf Blitzer, who's in D.C.

And Wolf, essentially, how significant is it that now you've got Huntsman who is going to be bowing out and he's giving his support to Romney? Is that really significant in terms of getting all the GOP and the Republicans behind the front-runner?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "SITUATION ROOM": Well, it's not going to get them al behind him, but it's certainly going to bring in some more of the moderates, less conservative, shall we say, GOP primary voters in South Carolina. If it is a close contest, and some of the more recent polls showed Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney not all that far apart going into next Saturday's primary.

Whatever Huntsman could bring, presumably, most of his supporters will be much more inclined to go along and vote for Mitt Romney than they will for Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum or Rick Perry or Ron Paul, for that matter. So, if it's close, it could certainly help.

And I suspect that Jon Huntsman decided he wanted to do this today. He saw the handwriting on the wall. He's an intelligent, smart guy. He knew he wasn't going to win in South Carolina. He knew he was probably going to come in last in South Carolina. And he didn't want -- there's a debate tonight -- he didn't want to go into that debate tonight and be critical of Mitt Romney only to endorse him the next day or a day or two later. That would be awkward and sort of unseemly, so he decided to do it today and get it over with, move on.

It also establishes him, if, in fact, President Obama's re-elected, 2016. Maybe he'll want to try once again. And, you know, there is a history in the Republican Party of sort of establishment-type candidates waiting in line, waiting for their turn, losing once, but then going on to get the nomination down the road, like Bob Dole or John McCain. You know, that's the kind of thing -- George H. W. Bush -- it's happened before. And maybe -- he's still a relatively young guy -- Jon Huntsman is thinking along those lines.

MALVEAUX: And one of the things I noticed, Wolf, about Huntsman is that he really is relatively -- he walks away relatively unscathed in this process when you think about it, because he hasn't been hit by all of that money from the super PACs to really bury him in criticism like Newt Gingrich is talking about. And at the same time, he gets to walk away from this, he still has his own money, his own reputation in tact. He doesn't have that kind of really harsh criticism that would have happened if he had gone on to South Carolina.

Do you think he's positioning himself now for, say, a position in the Romney cabinet, potentially secretary of state?

BLITZER: I don't know about secretary of state, but certainly he could position himself for something like that. And even though there was a little bit of tension there, which is normal during a highly- charged campaign, I don't think there's any, you know, really bad blood or any ill feelings between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.

I could easily see, assuming Mitt Romney were to get the Republican nomination and then win -- and those are big ifs, obviously, but let's say that happened. I could easily see Mitt Romney turning to Jon Huntsman for some sort of cabinet-level position.

He is a former governor of Utah, twice served as U.S. ambassador to China, to Singapore, served in other jobs in various Republican administrations. He's a talented man. He can probably get himself a good job, if that's what he wants. Or he could do something else over the next four years and then try once again, assuming that President Obama is re-elected.

And, you know, that would give him an opening to do so. So, there's a lot of flexibility there.

So, I don't think it's going to throw a ton of votes in Romney's favor by Saturday, but it certainly can't hurt Romney. And if it's close between Romney and let's say Newt Gingrich, or Rick Santorum, then it could be very helpful, indeed, down the road.

And let's not forget, four years ago, when John McCain emerged from South Carolina, Florida, got the Republican nomination, it was Mitt Romney who quickly went out there, endorsed him, went to work for him and waited his turn for now. So, going back to that theme I was laying out of sort of the history of Republicans doing this, it's a long history. MALVEAUX: All right. Thank you, Wolf.

Want to bring in -- I understand we've got Joe. Joe is there on the ground.

And tell us what we expect out of this announcement here, the folks who have gathered, whether or not we even could see Romney at this event.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There has been some talk about that, I have to say. I mean, you've got the headline there. He's going to come out, he's going to say Romney's my guy, and we're going to go from there.

This sounds like it was very much a family decision for Jon Huntsman. You know, I talked to him when he got on the ground here just after that third-place finish in New Hampshire, and it sounded like he was ready to go forward.

He said that his whole plan, if you will, was essentially to keep the momentum going, keep moving beyond the expectations and get out of South Carolina, move on to the next episode. But the reality was, here on the ground, that there are a lot of conservative voters who are looking at people like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum and not thinking much about Jon Huntsman, even though Jon Huntsman on paper is a very conservative politician.

The fact is, because he was the ambassador to China under the president of the United States, Barack Obama, a Democrat, it made it hard for people to look beyond that, I think, and that's why he winds up here today. But again, to your point where you're talking to Wolf about, there is a lot of speculation that, yes, he could possibly go, be seen as going into any administration of Mitt Romney, and there is also that question of him running, again, four years down the road, if the president of the United States is actually re-elected and Republicans are looking for someone to go up against whoever the Democrat might be.

So, all of that down the road. We expect to hear from Jon Huntsman in just a little while. And there has been some talk of Mitt Romney. But I don't know, I haven't checked on that within the last hour or two -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. We'll see who shows up at the event. Thank you, Joe.

We're going to keep our eye on all of that. Of course, expecting that Jon Huntsman is going to step down. He's going to step out of the race and endorse, so far, the front-runner, Mitt Romney.

Well, off the coast of Italy, you've got to check this out. This is a search for survivors of that cruise ship disaster.

It is now back on after being put on hold briefly because it was too dangerous. Rescuers were afraid that that ship might sink. Six people are confirmed dead, more than a dozen are still missing after that ship slammed into rocks along the coastline, tipping over. Many of those who survived say they were on their own.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONDA ROSENTHAL, SHIPWRECK SURVIVOR: There were passengers trying to help. There was chaos. I think they were trying hard, but to us, it appeared as if they weren't trained well.

NANCY LOFARO, SHIPWRECK SURVIVOR: We were like, is it sinking or is it not? Because it was just so slowly, slowly going down.

BRANDON WARRICK, SHIPWRECK SURVIVOR: We were, like, running out when the ship started taking on water. And I saw, like, the river water gushing in. I started to panic then, and that's when we started sprinting towards the boat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: I'm going to actually talk to one of those couples that you just heard from in the next hour. Find out about more of their ordeal.

Today, we're remembering Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. with a federal holiday, national day of service. The president, first lady and older daughter Malia spending time this morning at a school in D.C. They're taking part in a community service project. Sunday would have been the civil rights leader's 83rd birthday.

And a huge crowd in one Syrian town cheered as Arab League monitors visited, even lifting one of them on their shoulders, passing him around here. They see these monitors as protectors, and they didn't want them to leave.

Well, opposition forces say that the Syrian government has killed now more than 40 people in the last two days as part of a violent crackdown. It has left thousands dead.

Our Nic Robertson is in Syria. We're going to bring you his report in the next hour.

At a time when protests are heating up around the world, Romania has become the site of a dramatic social uprising. It is day four of protests against the government there and hundreds have been pouring in the capital's university square. They want the president to step down.

Online retailer Zappos says it was hacked and 24 million -- we're talking million -- customers are now at risk. They sent an e-mail to customers yesterday telling them about this breach and asked them to reset the passwords. They say that the critical credit card information, however, that is safe, but other stuff like names, addresses, phone numbers, all of them might have been revealed.

All right, everybody in Hollywood tired this morning, perhaps even just, I don't know, waking up, or maybe they were up all night. The Golden Globes handed out last night. Some familiar names won big. George Clooney was named Best Actor; Meryl Streep, Best Actress; both in the drama category. And there was less drama this year from host Ricky Gervais. He wasn't quite as mean as last year, but he got some digs in. Pretty good digs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICKY GERVAIS, HOST: The Golden Globes are just like the Oscars, but without all that esteem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And we are still awaiting Jon Huntsman live from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We're going to bring you that announcement as soon as it starts. He is going to be stepping out of the race and endorsing the front-runner, Mitt Romney.

We're going to have that for you in just moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are awaiting an announcement from Jon Huntsman out of South Carolina. He's going to be talking about the fact that he is now leaving the race and he's going to be endorsing the front-runner, Mitt Romney. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it happens, just moments away.

But in the meantime, here's a chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. Today's question: Do voters even care about the social issues now in 2012?

Carol Costello, she's live in Washington with more.

Carol, I mean, first of all, when President Bush -- when he was fighting for his second term, he threw out all kinds of social issues to get voters to actually come and vote, same-sex marriage being one of them. That was really critical for his re-election.

Do you think we're seeing the same strategy play out this year?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that remains to be seen. Evangelicals hope so. They flexed their political muscle, Suzanne, in Texas, or tried to. More than 100 Christian leaders and activists got off the sidelines to speak with one voice for one candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY PERKINS, PRESIDENT, FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL: This discussion was on the future and what America needs to become great again and to restore the family, to restore fiscal responsibility and a strong presence internationally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And they decided Mitt Romney was not that man. No, Rick Santorum is tops on the Evangelicals' list, even though he finished a distant fifth in New Hampshire.

I know, Santorum did great in Iowa, and Evangelicals are banking on another miracle in South Carolina because Santorum speaks their language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If all you think we need to do to get this economy going and to get this country on the right track is to cut government and reduce taxes, you don't understand America. America is a moral enterprise, not an economic enterprise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Santorum believes the one thing undermining the American economy is the breakdown of the American family. He cites poverty rates of single-parent families as an example.

Evangelicals hope Santorum's beliefs help conservatives rally around him, around a single candidate. You see, they didn't do that in 2008. John McCain just wasn't it. And let's face it, the economy was so bad, social issues took a back seat. Evangelical leaders hope that doesn't hold true in 2012.

So, the "Talk Back" question for you today: Do voters care about social issues in 2012?

Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.

MALVEAUX: All right. Looking forward to it, Carol.

And again, we are awaiting Jon Huntsman live, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. You see everybody's getting set up there. They're all watching that door very closely. And you've got the flags, the podium all set up. The checks have been done for sound and video.

Expecting moments away, Jon Huntsman to step up to the podium and say he is stepping down, stepping out of the race, and that he will endorse, so far, the front-runner of these contests, Mitt Romney.

We're going to have more of that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Taking a look at some freezing cold stories from across the country.

Check this out. An iced-in Russian fuel tanker finally getting closer to that snowed-in Alaskan town of Nome. A Coast Guard icebreaker actually helping the ship carrying 1.3 million gallons of petroleum get through nearly 300 miles of ice. A fuel transfer could happen today.

And check this out. This is from Seattle. The city's been hit by yet another round of snow and rain. Hot coffee, warm clothes. Hopefully everybody's surviving that day. Check that out. And finally, "I Do's" on ice. A Minnesota couple decided to have their wedding on a frozen lake. Everybody rode on snowmobiles. Once the vows were exchanged, they sped off into frozen tundra bliss.

Yes, we are calling it frozen tundra bliss. Hopefully, they will choose a warmer place for their honeymoon.

And we are awaiting Jon Huntsman, live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Keeping our eye on that door. We see somebody coming out there. It looks like they're filing in and getting settled in, taking their seats for the big announcement, Jon Huntsman stepping down, stepping out of the race, and throwing his support behind the front- runner of these early contests, Mitt Romney.

We're going to have that for you right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Let's go ahead and listen in, Jon Huntsman out of South Carolina.

(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)

JON HUNTSMAN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm up here with the greatest human being I've ever known, my wife, Mary Kaye, who has sustained us throughout this journey. I'm also up here with an interesting group of campaign activists called the Jon 2012 Girls, and I'm delighted to be with them, Mary Anne and Abby and Liddy.

I'm also delighted to be joined by our daughter Gracie, who also dubbed as our campaign's senior foreign policy adviser. And I want to compliment her on the excellent job that she did.

I'm here with my father, and I want to express my love and appreciation to him; son-in-law Jeff Livingston (ph) as well; along with a terrific team. Some supporters, like the beloved Iris Campbell, former first lady of this great state, is with us, as is the attorney general, Alan Wilson, and a close personal friend of mine, Mike Campbell (ph), who is here, among others.

And we're honored and delighted to be in your presence, some of our great supporters.

I'd like just to make a few comments about the current state of the presidential race and then we'll let you go.

Now, as candidates for our party's nomination, our common goal is to restore bold and principled leadership to the White House, leadership that will re-ignite our economy and renew the American spirit. Yet, rather than seeking to advance that common goal by speaking directly to voters about our ideas to rebuild America, this race has degenerated into an onslaught of negative and personal attacks not worthy of the American people and not worthy of this critical time in our nation's history.

This is the most important election of our lifetime. This country desperately needs to begin a journey that will allow us to courageously tackle our two most urgent deficits. One is an economic deficit, the other is a trust deficit.

Only bold ideas will get us to where we need to be, and this campaign needs to be driven by those ideas. At its core, the Republican Party is a party of ideas, but the current toxic form of our political discourse does not help our cause, and it's just one of the many reasons why the American people have lost trust in their elected leaders.

Today, I call on each campaign to cease attacking each other, and instead, talk directly to the American people about how our conservative ideas will create jobs, reduce our nation's debt, stabilize energy prices, and provide a brighter future for our children and our grandchildren. Let's invest our time and resources in building trust with the American people and uniting them around a common purpose.

Three years ago, the president promised to unite the American people. Yet, his desire to engage in class warfare for political gain has left us more divided than ever. This divisiveness is corrosive and does not advance America's interests.

This nation was built on unity and trust, trust in each other, trust in a revolution that gave birth to the freest and most prosperous nation the world has ever known, trust in our system of government. That sense of unity and trust has sustained us through world wars and national tragedies. Now we need it to sustain us during this hour of need.

Ultimately, this election is about more than the future of one campaign or one party. It is about the future of our nation. And for our nation to move forward together with new leadership and unity, the Republican Party must first unite.

We entered this race just six months ago with the longest of long shots. My candidacy was staked on the simple principle of country first and driven by a refusal to pass down to the next generation a country that is less powerful, less prosperous and less competitive than the one we inherited.

Today, I am suspending my campaign for the presidency. I believe it is now time for our party to unite around the candidate best equipped to defeat Barack Obama. Despite our differences and the space between us on some of the issues, I believe that candidate is Governor Mitt Romney.

As for the Huntsman family, we step down with an even greater appreciation for American democracy which is fundamental to American values. After all the town halls and handshakes and meet-and-greets, we leave it in the hands of the people, and we respect the results.

To our many staff, supporters and volunteers, I offer my heartfelt thanks.

Today, our campaign for the presidency ends, but our campaign to build a better and more trustworthy America continues. We will continue to fight for a flatter, simpler tax code that helps unleash opportunity rather than stifle it; for an energy policy that ends the scourge of our addiction to foreign oil; for congressional term limits; for education reform that prepares our kids for the realities of the 21st century; for financial reform that breaks up too-big-to-fail banks and protects taxpayers from future bailouts. And we will continue fighting to bring home our brave men and women from Afghanistan and stop nation-building overseas and start rebuilding our own nation.

For Mary Kaye and our family, these last six months have been an incredible and awe-inspiring journey. I have seen the very best of America. I've seen it in the spirit of our entrepreneurs whose innovations continue to inspire and better the world. I've seen it in the courage of our veterans who I've met at VFW halls in communities all across this nation. I saw it in China, 10,000 miles away, meeting with dissidents who had been tortured and beaten but who drew strength from our nation's values, our openness, our freedoms, our commitment to human rights.

Halfway around the world, they could still see America's light. That is the power America still projects. And I will never stop fighting for her and fighting to ensure that America's light shines bright for generations and generations to come, because, in the end, we must all come together as Americans and must be reminded that the fight to preserve and enhance life, liberty and happiness is what really sets us apart in this world and is worth our tireless efforts as citizens of this most extraordinary nation.

Thank you. And may God bless America.

Thank you.

(END LIVE SPEECH)

MALVEAUX: Jon Huntsman is stepping down, endorsing Mitt Romney as well.

And I want to bring my colleague back in, Wolf Blitzer, for some post- game analysis on this.

You know, it's interesting now, because now he is supporting Mitt Romney, but those two had some words, some back-and-forth in some of the debates that took place. And, you know, they don't have a really close relationship, but there is some respect.

I want you to take a listen here, Wolf, at some of the things that happened between these two and how they move forward. Let's listen real quick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTSMAN: When you have a candidate who talks about enjoyment in firing people, who talks about pink slips, who makes comments that seem to be so detached from the problems that Americans are facing today, that makes you pretty much unelectable. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTSMAN: He was 47th overall in job creation, I think most importantly, while we were number one in job creation in our state. So, I think that is worth looking at and scrutinizing, as compared to Bain Capital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm sorry. Governor, you were, the last two years, implementing the policies of this administration in China. The rest of us on the stage were doing our best to get Republicans elected across the country and stop the policies of this president from being put forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right. So, Wolf, where do these two go from here? Do we expect to see Huntsman on the campaign trail for Romney? How do they move past some of those criticisms we saw already?

BLITZER: Well, it wouldn't be the first time that rivals for either a Democratic or Republican nomination, they exchange some bitter words as they are fighting each other, then one person emerges on top, the other person gets right on board. Four years ago, when John McCain got the nomination, Mitt Romney and him had exchanged similarly awkward words during the campaign, but once it was clear that John McCain was going to get the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney went out there and campaigned aggressively for him. And now they're working together. John McCain has endorsed Mitt Romney.

So, I suspect that Jon Huntsman will be pretty active out there on the campaign trail doing what he can to help Mitt Romney, if, in fact, Mitt Romney does emerge as winner and gets the Republican presidential nomination. It's happened many, many times before, and I suspect it will happen many times down the road.

And if, in fact, Romney gets the nomination, I wouldn't be surprised to see Santorum and Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry get out there and work aggressively to try to help Mitt Romney beat President Obama for his re-election. So, it's just the nature of politics as we know it.

He did acknowledge, even in that same sentence, when he endorsed Mitt Romney, he put in that clause, despite their differences, he thinks Mitt Romney's best suited to beat President Obama in his re-election campaign. So, he's not hiding that. They did have some serious differences, but he's looking at it right now and he's saying, he doesn't have any chance.

He's coming in last in all of these South Carolina polls, in the national polls. It's better to drop out gracefully now than to continue this process and be humiliated, let's say, on Saturday night, if he came in dead last with only one percent or two percent or three percent of the vote.

So, it's a tough decision for him. He worked hard. But you know what? He's got a future ahead of him in politics, and I'm sure he'll do well down the road.

MALVEAUX: He's got the daughters, the wife, the whole picture. He's been very successful.

One of the things that I want to mention as well is we have a poll here, a CNN/ORC poll, a national poll that essentially looks at the impact of Huntsman dropping out. It doesn't look like there is really that much movement here. It says, with Huntsman, Romney gets 34 percent of the vote, of support from Republicans, as well as moderates. But then you take a look, without Huntsman, a no-Huntsman race, 36 percent. He only ticks up about a couple of percentage points. What do we think is really going to be the significance of Huntsman dropping out here? Is it all about the second-place finish?

BLITZER: Well, I think that almost all of the Huntsman votes in South Carolina Saturday will go to Romney, because he's, you know, he's endorsed him. Romney also has this tremendous advantage in South Carolina. Nikki Haley, the popular Republican governor of South Carolina, a Tea Party favorite, has endorsed Mitt Romney.

So, let's say it's close, hypothetically, between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, or Santorum, for that matter. If Huntsman can bring 2 percent, 3 percent, 4 percent to Mitt Romney, that could help him if it's very, very close. And the winner is the winner of that South Carolina primary. If Mitt Romney, even if he won by 2 percent or 3 percent, he would have won Iowa, albeit, by only eight votes; New Hampshire much more decisively. But South Carolina, that's going to be hard to beat him going into Florida after three consecutive wins like that. It's never happened before. So, I think it would be historic.

So, you know what? I'm sure Romney's grateful to Huntsman. Let's see if they go out there and campaign together in these final few days before Saturday.

But you're right, it's not going to bring an enormous amount of support to Mitt Romney in South Carolina. But it certainly can help and it might give him enough to go over the top if it's a very close contest on Saturday night.

MALVEAUX: It will be interesting to see if they actually kiss and make up before the South Carolina primary, and whether or not we'll actually see those two appear together at some point, which would be a powerful picture, perhaps could help Romney moving forward.

BLITZER: And remember, Suzanne, when Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, you know, Obamney-care -- he coined that phrase. He was pretty tough on Mitt Romney. But then when he dropped out after the Iowa Straw Poll, he quickly endorsed Mitt Romney and became very active out on the campaign trail for Mitt Romney. Just as Tim Pawlenty has become visible supporting Mitt Romney, I suspect Jon Huntsman will as well. MALVEAUX: Wolf, good to see you. Thank you very much.

So next segment, why New Year's resolutions to stop being late to work -- yes, we're all a little guilty of that -- it's a good thing right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Off the coast of Italy, the search for survivors of that cruise ship disaster, it is now back on after being put on hold for a while. It was too dangerous. But now they are going to try again. Rescuers were afraid initially that the ship might sink. We know that six people are confirmed dead, more than a dozen still missing after that ship slammed into rocks along the coastline and tipped over.

Dan Rivers is near Giglio Island.

Dan, when you take a look at the pictures, first of all, it's just unbelievable just to see that ship on its side. I know that it was standing or slightly tilted on a rock bed there. There were 200 passenger cabins on that ship. Are they now resuming a search to try to find survivors?

DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They appear to be, yes. It was suspended for a while today because they detected that the ship was moving. And obviously, it's over almost at 90 degrees as it is, so it's very dangerous even when it's stable. When it starts to move, it just becomes impossible. And I think, obviously, the big fear was that, you know, if it's going to move, that they are warned it may topple off of this ledge of rock and sink.

So, they winched off the firefighters that were aboard by helicopter and suspended the search-and-rescue for several hours. But it seems now that the boats are back by this wreck and they're beginning to resume the search for -- well, it's between 14 and 16 people that are missing still, including two Americans and six confirmed deaths so far. Obviously, this happened on Friday night here. The longer it goes on, I would think that the smaller the chance of finding anyone alive aboard.

MALVEAUX: Dan, I understand that they were at least in communication with some of those folks in their cabins at least a day ago. Do they believe that there are survivors? And have they been able to communicate with those people since?

RIVERS: Well, publicly, they're saying they have not given up hope, that they will continue to search every single cabin. There's apparently about 2,000 cabins aboard, if you can believe that. So, you can imagine how complex and convoluted this is.

I think privately that they are now realizing that the chances of finding anyone alive are pretty small, and that this is shifting really from a rescue operation to a recovery operation as each hour slips by. I mean, it's pretty cold here, and half the ship is under water. The water itself is freezing cold. So, it will be difficult to see how people can survive for very long under the water line, if they were in some sort of air pocket. If they were above the water line, there's a chance, I suppose, and that's what they're clinging on to here.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

RIVER: But they've certainly been out there since Friday night scouring and listening as well to see if they can hear any signs of life.

MALVEAUX: Dan, talk a little bit about the 2,300 tons of fuel that is inside that vessel, inside that ship there. Has that started to leak out? Is there any concern that that might be an environmental disaster if there is a puncture in that ship and that oil starts to leak?

RIVERS: Well, amazingly, it hasn't started to leak. This afternoon, we went on a cliff above the "Costa Concordia," and there's no sign at all of any oil coming out.

Having said that, they are already deploying those sort of floating booms to contain any potential spillage. And the Italian environment minister has already voiced his concern, saying urgent action is needed and this is a very high-risk situation. This is a sort of pristine advising area here. It's, you know, famous for its Marine wildlife. So, they are very keen to try and avoid any of this oil or fuel coming out.

The whole in the hull of the ship is currently above the water line because she's tilted over. The big kind of gash along the hull is now exposed to the air. So, as long as the sea stays calm, which it is at the moment, it seems there's a good chance this can be contained.

What they are worried about is the forecast for the wind to pick up this week, and I guess a concern that, if there is a big storm here, she may shift on the rock and then become more unstable.

MALVEAUX: All right. Dan Rivers, thank you very much.

About a half hour from now, I'm going to talk to a couple who survived this disaster. Now, they say the aftermath of this crash, it was a crazy, chaotic scene.

Today, a federal holiday for many of you. You have the day off, of course, Martin Luther King Day. But tomorrow, a lot of folks got to go back to work, and your boss might not be that forgiving, according to a new survey, if you're late. That's right.

Alison Kosik with today's "Top Tips" on how to smooth things over here.

I guess a lot of people are --

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.

MALVEAUX: -- dashing in at the last minute, is that right?

KOSIK: It seems that's the case, Suzanne. And you know what? It happens to all of us. We've all been late once or twice in our careers, but making a habit out of it could cost your job.

According to a new Career Builder survey, 34 percent of employers say they've actually fired an employee for being late. Guess what the top reason is for being late? Traffic, followed by lack of sleep, bad weather, and getting the kids to school or daycare on time -- Suzanne?

MALVEAUX: Yes, you know, sometimes you just oversleep. I mean, it's the nightmare scenario, but it happens from time to time, you know?

ALISON: Sure.

MALVEAUX: The alarm doesn't go off, you turn it off at the wrong time. What are some of the reasons folks say they are running late for work?

ALISON: Yes, listen to some of these. These are some really outlandish excuses workers gave to their boss for being late. An employee thought she won the lottery and she didn't. An employee thought his commute time should count towards work hours. One employee told their boss they had a job interview with another company. And get this, an employee said their cat had the hiccups and they couldn't be in on time. Um, yes, right.

(LAUGHTER)

So, all right, the bottom line here, if you're constantly lying and you're constantly late, it really can be a signal to your boss you're not committed or reliable. Brad Carr (ph), with Job Bound Training Solutions, says, just be honest. Your boss can tell when you're fibbing. Carr (ph) says be respectful, apologize for being late and tell them why, but don't feel like you need to go into too much detail. Also, if you've got a 9:00 a.m. meeting, don't wait until 8:59 a.m. to tell your boss you'll be late. As soon as you know it, get in touch with your office. But then again, you don't need me to tell you that -- Suzanne?

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: No. It's better just to fess up, come clean, you know? Tell them if you're running late.

KOSIK: I hear you.

MALVEAUX: You know? You just turned off the alarm.

KOSIK: Exactly.

MALVEAUX: I don't understand that woman who thought she won the lottery. What was it, a dream or something, and she woke up and thought, I'm not going to work?

KOSIK: Who knows? Ah, forget it. Exactly. I'm loaded.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: All right, Alison, good to see you. Right on time, as always. Six days until the South Carolina primary. We're going to look at who the Tea Party hopes is going to get the nod from voters there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Less than a week now to the primary in South Carolina. It could be a make-or-break contest for the Republican nomination.

Shannon Travis, live from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

So, Shannon, good to see you.

This is very important. This is the first-ever, I understand, Tea Party rally in South Carolina in its primary. Are they really going to play a role here?

SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're certainly hoping they will, Suzanne. The South Carolina primary's just a few days away this weekend, and Tea Party activists want to make it clear that they are still very much players, heavyweight players, in this process, in replacing Obama, but also in picking the next nominee.

Now, let me give you a little overview of what's been happening here. You've had some political heavyweights -- Senator Jim DeMint, a big Tea Party supporter, South Carolina Senator. He was here. You're going to have Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich here as well.

But earlier today, you had Governor Nikki Haley. She won with Tea Party support and she was here talking about the state of the race or what have you. But take a listen at something that I asked the governor about in response to some criticisms about Mitt Romney, and we'll talk about that on the other side of this -- Suzanne?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIKKI HALEY, (R), GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA: They are Republicans, Democrats and Independents who have had enough with Washington. And no member of the Tea Party will vote in a bloc because someone tells them to. They're very strong. They're very independent. You're going to see them very divided through this as they go to decide who is best for them. But what I can tell you they will come together on is the fact that every one of them wants to see President Obama gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS: Now, Suzanne, really quickly, let me explain what was going on yesterday. This convention started and there were a number of Tea Party activists here who were slamming Mitt Romney. It's no secret that a lot of people feel he isn't conservative enough. But one activist got on stage, Suzanne, and showed this rather graphic, gory image of a seal hunter with dead seals surrounded in bloody waters. And the caption on it basically said, "If the seals had stuck together, they could have killed the hunter. We need to stick together against Romney, because if Romney gets it, President Obama will win."

MALVEAUX: OK, Shannon, getting ugly there. Thank you. Appreciate it.

For the latest political news, go to CNNpolitics.com.

Today's "Talk Back" question: Do voters care about social issues in 2012?

Sean says, "Social issues is not the main priority among us. Rather, someone like me in the struggling middle class is having economic problems. Why would we care about social issues during this time"?

More of your responses up ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: You've been sounding off on our "Talk Back" question: Do voters care about social issues in 2012?

Carol Costello is here with your responses.

Carol, is it what you thought?

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not really. I think people care a lot more this time around than they did in 2008. But you listen to the responses and decide for yourself.

This from Will. "I don't think the majority of Democrats or Independents do and that's why the Republicans will lose. The GOP has put all its money on a horse that just won't run."

From Jeffrey, "Yes, generally speaking, voters care about social issues. It's simple. As a whole, these are issues we face on a daily basis. Simple as that."

From Don, "Social issues? Secret code for evangelicals do not consider Mormons to Christians. They will probably be a Mormon president one day. The irony is that they will have to be a Democrat to win."

This from Britney. "We do. We can't just focus on our economy or foreign policy. We have to include social issues in all aspects of all country to get ourselves back on the right track."

This from Bruce. "Double no. That won't keep the nay-sayers from presenting their doom-and-bloom message."

Please keep the conversation going, Facebook.com/carolCNN. I'll be back with you in about 20 minutes.

MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, Carol.

Today, we're honoring Martin Luther King Jr. We know him as a civil rights leader. But what was he like in person? His friend and driver gives us an inside look behind the man behind the movement.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Today, we're remembering Martin Luther King Jr. He would have turned 83 yesterday. More than 48 years after he gave the famous "I Have a Dream" speech, students in Washington, D.C., celebrated by reciting it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain to Georgia. Let freedom ring from Look Out Mountain of Tennessee.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Let freedom ring from every hill in Mississippi and from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: And when we let it happen, when we allow freedom to ring, let it ring from every village, every hamlet, from every state and everything.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: We won't be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestant and Catholic --

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Join hands and say the words as (INAUDIBLE). Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Well, he was a hero in the civil rights movement. Remember, he's someone who transformed the nation from nonviolence. But what was he like in person?

Reynolds Wolf caught up with one man who knew the icon behind the scenes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps one of the best ways to get a solid understanding of the kind of guy that Dr. Martin Luther King was is to keep to some people who knew him best.

That's where Tom Houck comes in.

Tom knew him for a number of years as a friend and a driver. How many years?

TOM HOUCK, FORMER KING FRIEND & DRIVER: I spent four years with SCLC and for about a year I drove for he and the King family. WOLF: OK. Let's say we switch roles here. How about I drive and you answer questions.

HOUCK: You got it. I'm up for it. I will show you where Dr. King used to hang in this town.

WOLF: Let's do it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF (voice-over): As Dr. King's friend and personal driver, he's in familiar territory, especially on the street named for the man he knew so well.

HOUCK: We're on Martin Luther King right now, Reynolds.

Right over here, where it says Southern Cross Bedding over here, that's where he at 14 years old for two weeks. Daddy King got him a job. He threw mattresses.

WOLF (on camera): So when you're driving around with Dr. King and you're a young guy, was he an intimidating guy?

HOUCK: No, not at all. I wouldn't have to worry about driving. He was a terrible driver.

WOLF: But he had a great sense of humor, right?

HOUCK: Great sense of humor. He would crack jokes. He'd have a great sense of amusement about him. And you would never know that he just came back from -- he one time said, I'm not going to live to be 40, which he didn't. He was assassinated when he was 39. But he never had fear in life.

WOLF (voice-over): From behind the steering wheel, Houck saw an up-close view of the civil right movements, seeing history unfold at every turn.

HOUCK: That is where Martin Luther King would make decisions about -- right in his room back here. He would be in his office talking about Selma, what kind of strategy they will do for the Selma/Montgomery March. I think he would be very sad to see this. We're seeing his office shattered.

WOLF: But some of the fondest memories are the ones that he had with dr. King, not as an icon but as a man.

HOUCK: Dr. King would get his cigarettes over there. He would put them inside my coat, because he didn't want to have Coretta, who was adamant against him smoking. He didn't want to have Coretta check him out when he was coming in the door.

WOLF: And that door led into this house, King's Sanctuary, the place where he drew his strength.

HOUCK: This is where I would drive the cars in and the kids would jump out, daddy, daddy, daddy. Coretta would come greet him as well.

This is the house where she heard the news that her husband had been shot in Memphis. This is where Ivan Allen (ph), then the mayor of Atlanta, came over and took her to the airport when they found out that he had indeed died in Memphis.

WOLF (on camera): A lot of laughter and a lot of tears in that house.

HOUCK: Indeed. Lots of laughter and lots of tears.

WOLF: And when people go to this memorial and they are going to see the image of him chiseled in stone, it's going to be a memorial. But what do you want people to know not about the memorial but what about the man? What is the single thing people should know about him?

HOUCK: I don't think there is anybody in the world today that could take his place. He was uniquely qualified and given a few years to make a world a better place, and he did. And that voice has certainly been sorely missing in the decades since his assassination.

WOLF (voice-over): Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: The current pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King preached here in Atlanta, is going to be our guest in the next hour. He critical of presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, and he says that the presidential election is all about voting rights.