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Huntsman Drops, Endorses Romney; Search Resumes Of Stricken Ship; Oil On Tap For Nome; We Don't Want Your Amnesty; Hackers And Zappos; Obama Says All Can Serve; GOP In-fighting Helping Obama?; Watching The GOP Race; Interview With DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse; One Fine Accuser Admits Lying

Aired January 16, 2012 - 13:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: Well, hello, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick, in today for Randi Kaye. It's 1:00, so let's get straight to the news.

The only major Republican presidential hopeful who never enjoyed a significant surge in the polls, well, he's out. Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman did pull off a third place finish in New Hampshire and called that a ticket to ride. But that was almost a week ago, and a week ago is like forever in politics. Now with South Carolina voting five days from now and Huntsman polling dead last at 1 percent, well, he's calling it a day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HUNTSMAN (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Only yesterday, South Carolina's biggest newspaper, "The State," endorsed Huntsman. We'll talk more about all of this in Fair Game, that's coming up later this hour.

Well, the owner of the cruise ship that ran aground and partially sank off Italy says hope is the last thing to die. An estimated 16 people are still unaccounted for in Friday night's disaster. And for a while today, search teams had to pull back because the ship was rocking. Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it hit a reef, but the captain claims it was not on any of his maps. The ship's owner says that's not true, says the captain's to blame for straying from the usual routes. He's been arrested and could face charges including manslaughter and abandoning ship. The accident killed at least six people.

A sea-faring triumph in Nome, Alaska. As soon as today, a Russian tanker should start offloading 1.3 million gallons of oil to keep the town of 3,500 people bright and warm through spring. It arrived late Saturday literally in the wake of a coast guard ice cutter after an unprecedented 300-mile journey through the frozen Bering Sea. Nome can't be reached by land these days and air deliveries of fuel isn't exactly practical.

Anti-government protesters in Syria chanting, we don't want your amnesty, we will give you one. Yesterday, Syria's president reportedly offered to excuse, quote, "all crimes committed," unquote, by opposition forces since they first rose up against him in March. There's a catch. So-called fugitives have to turn themselves in by the end of this month and few seem willing to trust that they will not be harmed. More bloodshed and arrests are reported today.

A Korea burglar serving a potential life sentence in upstate New York is recanting his sexual abuse allegation against former coach Bernie Fine. Van Hooser was taken in by fine as a teenager after his parents died. Last month, he became the fourth man to accuse the former Syracuse University assistant basketball coach of molesting him. The district attorney never believed him and even provided documents to federal prosecutors that could clear Fine. Then a jailhouse interview with a post-standard newspaper, Friday, Van Hooser merely went along with claims that were suggested by police. Fine denies molesting anybody and he has not been charged.

A small town high school teacher who disappeared from her morning jog nine days ago still has not been found, but investigators believe she was kidnapped and may well be dead. While the 5,000 residents of Sidney, Montana, hold out hope that Sherry Arnold is alive. Police in North Dakota are holding two men on charges of aggravated kidnapping. The FBI, meantime, asks people in both states to search their property for disturbed soil or anything else that seems amiss.

And if you'd bought shoes from Zappos, well, you better reset your password. The cyber retailer says hackers have accessed the names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and partial credit card numbers of its 24 million customers. Passwords were still in, too, but Zappos says they were encrypted and probably useless to anybody else. Hackers got only the last four digits of customer's credit cards, no more than would show up on a printed receipt.

And President Obama says there's no better way to honor Martin Luther King Jr. than to help somebody else. For the third straight year, he and the first lady mark today's holiday with a service project at the Brown Education campus in Washington. He said they plan to do a whole bunch of stuff to make the facilities even better than they already are. And he called on all of us to roll-up our sleeves, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARRACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's nobody who can't service, nobody who can't help somebody else. And whether you're seven or six or whether you're 76, you can find the opportunities to make an enormous difference in your community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Dr. King was first honored with the federal holiday in 1986. Six years later in 1994, Congress dubbed it a national day of service. And with South Carolina's primary just five days away, the attack ads they are getting pretty vicious. So vicious, in fact, that some are wondering if the Republican candidates are actually helping President Obama. Up next, I'm going to talk to the communications' director for the DMC to see how Democrats are gearing up for November.

But first, we want to take a moment to remember Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. His legacy is undeniable, just look around. To say that he changed history is an understatement. These moments only capture a glimpse of his work. It's taken far too long, decades, to properly honor Dr. King with this memorial in Washington D.C. and it still a work in progress. The controversial quote is getting fixed, but what Dr. King left behind goes beyond the civil rights movement to the undying idea of equality and justice. For that and so much more, Dr. King, we honor you as today's Rock Star.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: The South Carolina Republican Primary is coming up this weekend, but the Democrats in the state won't vote until late February. So, are Democrats still keeping a close eye on the Palmetto state this week? Joining me now is Brad Woodhouse, Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee. South Carolina -- Brad, let's get to this. South Carolina, like the other primaries, is really a blueprint for the Democrats. How are you using what you're learning on the ground, basically, to tailor the Democratic strategy?

BRAD WOODHOUSE, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Well, a couple things, Deborah, and thanks for having me. We were very excited coming out of Iowa and New Hampshire that we had the most organized campaign of any of the campaigns.

The president obviously is running in the primaries unopposed, but we are very excited that we have committed volunteers, that we have offices, and that's a -- that's a blueprint for the rest of this primary and obviously for the general election.

Organization is really going to matter and the president had the best organized campaign in 2008, he'll have it again in 2012. And I think as we've seen in New Hampshire and Iowa and South Carolina, Republicans they like to rely on, you know, nasty, negative attacks and we're going to talk about the president's record and organize on the ground.

FEYERICK: Well you know, Brad, let's talk about that, the nasty, negative attacks, because that is a big issue right now, especially when it comes to the super PACs. I mean, you see some of these super PACs that the Republicans are running against one another and it really seems that they're firing torpedoes into their own party candidates, potentially. Will they be even worse when it comes to going after President Obama?

WOODHOUSE: Well look, we totally expect for this to be a very tough campaign and in some respects be a very negative campaign. We were -- we were upset, I guess disappointed at the citizens united decision a couple years ago that allowed this proliferation of super PACs. The president tried to pass legislation to help reign those in. That -- the Republicans stood in the way because, you know, they are taking money away from corporations and Wall Street to run these things.

Right now, they do -- they do have them trained on each other which is probably helping us and the president some in the short term but certainly it's going to be a -- it's going to be a tough -- a tough campaign and these super PACs are unfortunately going to play an outsized role.

FEYERICK: Well, are you suggested then that either President Obama or the Democrats are above using super PACs and using super pac money to put out similar ads?

WOODHOUSE: Well, I mean, I think everybody that has followed this process knows that we don't have anywhere near the super PACs or the -- or the amount of funding for super PACs on our side. I mean, we're not in the position of discouraging or encouraging anybody from -- you know, from doing anything. But anyone that's followed the money knows that the Rogue group, American Crossroads, the Romney group all have multimillions of dollars, far more than anything on the Democrats side. Like I said, we're the ones that would like to see things -- would've liked to see these things go away or at least have to disclose their donors so people know what's behind these attacks.

FEYERICK: Well Brad, you know, it's so interesting because I don't think many people don't even realize that Democrats are also going to the polls and voting in primaries because so much attention has been focused on the Republicans. But in New Hampshire, President Obama got 82 percent of the vote. That was considered a low turnout, though. Could this potentially be a problem or do you just think Democrats right now not motivated and don't need to be motivated?

WOODHOUSE: No, Not at all. And I think -- I think they are motivated. We might use either Iowa or New Hampshire as an opportunity to boost -- to boost turnout. I mean, in 1996, Bill Clinton was running unopposed and he campaigned in New Hampshire, because he wanted a big turnout. But big turnout is not what we're looking for right now.

We're looking to sign up volunteers. We're looking to get voters to commit to our I'm In campaign, and to be part of this for the -- for the long haul. So, we're very excited about our organizing efforts. I mean, look, we -- "New York Times" noted that we had the best organized campaign in the state of Iowa, and the president was running in Iowa unopposed. So, we think the enthusiasm is going to be there. It's showing up in our small dollar donations, it's showing up in the number of volunteers that we've signed up in 50 states across the country. So, you know, our folks are ready and rearing to go.

FEYERICK: And Brad, one final question, a "Washington Times" story just out says that Congress had its least productive year ever, even though they appear to log more overtime, so I don't know whether that means they're spending more time fighting, but does it suggest that President Obama has polarized Congress? And if so, is that a kind of attack you're preparing for? WOODHOUSE: Well, not at all. I think the -- I think the Tea Party takeover of the speaker's office in Washington -- the Tea Party takeover of John Boehner is what polarized -- is what polarized Congress.

As you remember, the president tried very hard to reach with agreements with Speaker Boehner on the debt ceiling deal. He tried to reach a longer term agreement on the payroll tax cut which we still have to address here in the next -- in the next two weeks. And every time the Tea Party told John Boehner to walk away. And so, look, we're going to talk about that going into the election. But there's a lot of work that needs to be done to get Americans back to work, and so we're hoping that Congress will work with the president. But so far, the Tea Party is spinning (ph) away.

FEYERICK: All right. Well, Brad Woodhouse, thank you so much, really appreciate it. Of course, we're going to be checking in with you a lot in the coming months. Thanks so much.

Well, be sure to keep it right here on Saturday as results come in from the South Carolina primary. Join Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, and John King beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

Six people are dead, 16 people still missing after that luxury cruise ship capsized off the coast of Italy. Now the question, why? Did alcohol play a role in the catastrophe? We're getting new information on the captain and that's coming up. Stay with us on the other side.

FEYERICK: Well, in today's "Crime & Consequence," there are so many questions about who's to blame for that cruise ship disaster in Italy. Right now we're told the search for survivors aboard the Costa Concordia, well, it's back on. It has resumed.

The chairman and chief executive of the cruise line says he has not given up hope of finding people still alive. The cruise ship hit rocks that tore 1 150 gash in the haul. The ship then rolled over on to its side near the Port of Giglio, off the Tuscan Coast, over the weekend. At least six people died and 16 passengers are still unaccounted for.

Now the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is accused of deviating from the route and taking the ship way to close to shore. He's been arrested and could be charged with manslaughter, shipwreck, and abandoning ship when passengers were still on board. Prosecutors say he could face up to 15 years in prison. Schettino says he's, quote, "shattered, dismayed, saddened for loss of lives," unquote.

CNN's senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joins us from London. And, Matthew, what is happening with the captain of the ship right now? He's getting ready to go to court?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Captain Schettino is being held in police custody. He's there on charges of manslaughter and on charges of abandoning his ship, of course. Under Italian law, the captain has to stay on board the vessel until all of the passengers have been evacuated. It seems that he did not do that. He could face up to 15 years if he's found guilty of these charges, but his next step is to answer the questions of the investigating judge. That will take place in the first instance tomorrow where he'll be able to explain why it was that he brought this huge passenger liner so close to the coast of that Italian island, whereas it should have been, you know, maybe four miles out at sea, according to the prosecutors. And so he's got a lot of questions to answer, Deborah.

FEYERICK: And, you know, Matthew, obviously he is the focus of a massive criminal investigation at this point. Have prosecutors ruled out technical errors or is that something that they're going to determine once they begin to formerly question him?

CHANCE: Well, at the moment, the focus of the investigation appears to be on the idea that human error, the error of the captain and others, was the significant contributor to this maritime disaster. It seems that the captain ordered that a very close skimming route was taken by the ship near to this island, where they should have been much, much further away.

But it's not the only focus of the investigation. There may have been technical issues to blame here. The captain says he consulted the charts. They didn't show any rocks in the vicinity. Clearly the charts, though, that we've looked at do show very many hazards around the area where the ship ran aground. And, obviously, it did run aground. And so something's at fault here. And that will be determined by the investigations, obviously.

FEYERICK: And is there any indication, Matthew, that perhaps alcohol played a role in this? There was a report that somebody had said they had seen him at the bar. Is that possibly a consideration?

CHANCE: I think it's a consideration. But the head of the company which runs the ocean liner, Costa, has said categorically within the last few hours that he does not believe, according to their preliminary investigations, that alcohol played a significant part in this. It's true that the captain appears not to have been on the bridge at the time it ran aground, but that's quite normal in a cruise liner environment. He was having dinner. Entertaining is part of the captain's responsibilities. And in fairness, he did go straight back to the bridge to try and take control.

What the captain says is that -- is that he thinks he did very well in bringing the ocean liner around into a maneuver into shallow waters and to lay it on its side. That act, he says, saved many, many lives indeed, Deborah.

FEYERICK: But, you know, on some levels, Matthew, to just play devil's advocate, you have to wonder how that exactly happened because he ran right into a reef. It tore that huge gash in the side of the ship. How does one then correct that kind of an error? So I guess they're going to be looking at that. But do you think anybody else could share the blame? People who were up on the bridge who were navigating while the captain was perhaps not there?

CHANCE: I think it's possible. I think what -- we'll know more when the details of this investigation are made public because obviously the captain wasn't on the bridge when the encounter happened. Other people were in charge. Perhaps they should carry some of the responsibility as well.

But I think what's important for the cruise liner company particularly is that they rule out any technical failure because remember Costa has four other identical ships to the Concordia and it wants to be absolutely certain that this was human error and it wasn't some kind of technical problem that may be encountered in the other vessels as well.

FEYERICK: Yes, absolutely, especially since apparently the first report was that it was some sort of an electrical warning or electrical problem.

Matthew Chance, reporting from London, thanks so much.

Well, still to come, smokers need not apply. The growing number of companies refusing to hire folks who light up. Is it a trend that's here to stay? Coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Well, drug tests for work. A lot of us are used to that, right? But, what if I told you that part of the hiring process included testing for nicotine. It's today's "Under Covered" story. More and more employers are adding no nicotine as a job requirement. Most of those employers are hospitals.

Now while it's still a rare hiring practice, according to a number of reports, a few companies and health care systems in Texas, Ohio, Idaho and Pennsylvania, they're already enforcing nicotine-free hiring. These are just the most recent ones that have been reported. That means if your urine tests positive for nicotine, well, you can forget about getting hiring in some places. And there's no negotiation on that. We're talking no smoking, no chewing tobacco, even no nicotine patches to kick the habit.

Well, it's a hiring model that the Cleveland Clinic really started several years ago and that's where we find Dr. Michael Roizen. He joins us now from the Cleveland Clinic.

And, Dr. Roizen, first of all, what kind of an impact is this nicotine-free hiring policy having where you work?

DR. MICHAEL ROIZEN, CLEVELAND CLINIC CHIEF WELLNESS OFFICER: Well, I think there are four impacts. One is it has let our workers know, our employees know that we care about their health. That we care that there is no tobacco on campus and so it has helped change the culture to one of wellness.

Secondly, because of turnover that all hospitals have, it's decreased our smoking rate, which has made our costs go down and allows us to use lower cost for all the people who use us for medical services.

Third, because of the publicity about it, it has decreased and helped decrease smoking rates throughout our county, our major county, Cuyahoga County, where we have the majority of our 46 cites, has decreased its smoking rates to one of the highest in Ohio, to now the lowest in Ohio.

And, fourth, it has increased job competitiveness for all the firms in Cuyahoga County, or all the people who use us, because we've helped them drive their medical costs down.

FEYERICK: But let me ask you a question. Just to be fair. By saying no nicotine ever, what you're doing is you're also telling people, by the way, even on your free time, you can't do it. Isn't that an invasion of privacy? I mean why not do it, for example, for alcohol? It seems that you're sort of pushing the envelope a little bit when it comes to your workers and their rights.

ROIZEN: Well, if they want to smoke on their own time and have been hired beforehand, they can do that. But let's be clear, there is no redeeming social value for smoking. It only increases costs and decreases America's job competitiveness. If tobacco companies paid their fair share, they'd be paying about 150 times what they are paying in taxes for medical costs. Or if you had a two-person family that wanted to pay more, it would be $4,600 a year more in insurance costs.

We can't charge that. We charge a little bit more, as many companies do. But the main thing we've got to do as a society is come to grips with the fact, does America want to be competitive for jobs? And if so, what are we going to do about the chronic diseases that toxins -- and the biggest one is tobacco -- cause.

FEYERICK: Sure. But let me ask you this question. And, again, just to play devil's advocate a little bit here, push the envelope, you know, of course there's no redeeming value perhaps to smoking. But at the same time, it is an addiction for many, especially those who have started smoking at very young ages before tobacco in many places and smoking was banned in many instances. So why aren't you doing more to help folks get off nicotine, as opposed to basically targeting them and saying, sorry, you tested positive for nicotine, we're not going to give you a job, you're just out of luck, look elsewhere.

ROIZEN: We don't do that. In fact, anyone who applies for -- in fact, we thought a lot of people were applying to get free smoking cessation. When a person applies, if they test positive, they are given free smoking cessation.

In fact, for everyone in our county for a six-month period, if they weren't covered by insurance, we offered free smoking cessation, including pills and patches and counseling to them to try and decrease the smoking rate. And we did decrease the smoking rate. Something over 8,000 people in our county got off smoking because of this process that we had without insurance.

So, in fact, what we're doing is we say, we live where we're saying. We live and say, this is so big an issue for our job competitiveness, we want Cuyahoga County, we want Ohio to be more competitive. And if you really had -- if you really cared about this, if you were the state governor or if you were the president, the thing you'd say most is, the most -- the thing that we can do most to improve job competiveness, to lower the budget deficit, is to ban smoking among state workers or ban smoking -- not hire -- federal workers who smoke. That single thing would do the most to make America more competitive for jobs.

FEYERICK: Well, it will be interesting -- it will definitely be interesting, Dr. Michael Roizen, to see how that plays out. Hopefully caffeine will not be the next thing that's targeted.

We really (INAUDIBLE) people wanted to quit --

ROIZEN: Well, caffeine is actually healthy.

FEYERICK: Oh, well, OK. Well, there you go. Well, people thought smoking was healthy when it was first introduced. But Dr. Roizen, we're out of time. So, thank you very much. Really appreciate your joining us today. Thanks.

Well, the Tea Party has a big say in South Carolina politics, but they also have a big beef with the Republican frontrunner. Could the movement's distrust of Romney in the south derail his chances in the state? That's coming up next in "Fair Game."

But first, our "Political Junkie" question. Who finished second behind Barack Obama in last week's New Hampshire Democratic primary? Remember, I said Democratic primary. If you know the answer, tweet me. Take a look. It's right there. DebfeyerickCNN.

(SINGING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SINGING)

FEYERICK: Before the break, I asked who finished in second place behind Barack Obama in last week's Democratic primary. The answer, Ron Paul. He got more than 2300 write-in votes. So Ron Paul finished second both in the Republican and the Democratic primaries. Congratulations to Cody, from North Carolina, who tweeted me the right answer.

Now, the part of the show when we go to the heart of the political debate and where everything in all sides are "Fair Game."

Jon Huntsman has had enough. Earlier today, he announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON HUNTSMAN, (R), FORMER UTAH GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Well, joining me now is Democratic political consultant, Ed Espinoza; and Republican strategist, Doug Heye.

Doug, first of all, let me start with you.

Huntsman is now endorsing Mitt Romney. Are his handful of supporters going to switch to his fellow Mormon are they simply going to move to another candidate?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: It's really unclear. And you use the word "handful," and I think that's correct. Governor Huntsman had a problem really engaging and drawing support from Republican voters.

But what this does do for Mitt Romney is two things. One, it brings a great day of news coming up to the -- we're just a few days away from the South Carolina primaries. And it also signifies to other candidates that perhaps Mitt Romney is that best candidate. And it may be in their best interest, if not sooner rather than later, to get out and do the same thing.

FEYERICK: To follow up on that -- Ed, I'm going to pull you in in just a second.

But before that, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, they are going to be speaking at South Carolina's Tea Party Convention. Mitt Romney was not even invited. So it's not as if he is getting much momentum. How critical is Tea Party support in South Carolina and elsewhere for that matter?

Let me go to Ed for this one.

ED ESPINOZA, DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Tea Party support is important because Tea Partiers are conservatives. And that's the area that Mitt Romney has the most trouble with. He's been winning these primaries but he's been winning them by about 37 percent. The problem is, he has to consolidate the conservative base. Any candidate has to do that.

A Democratic has to consolidate the progressive base. A Republican has to consolidate his conservative base. He has trouble doing that right now. The Huntsman endorsement will help him but it may not necessarily help him in a meaningful way. He's got a lot of those supporters already. He needs to find out how to handle his base of supporters in the right wing.

FEYERICK: I want to show you a new political ad running in South Carolina this week. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: As head of Bain Capital, he bought companies, carved them up, and got rid of what he couldn't use. If Mitt Romney really believes --

MITT ROMNEY, (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Corporations are people, my friend.

AD NARRATOR: -- then Mitt Romney is a serial killer. He's Mitt the Ripper.

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

FEYERICK: Now, this one was put out by a super PAC originally started by comedian, Stephen Colbert. While it is a bone fide super PAC ad, it's Stephen Colbert's ad.

With an ad like this, what does it say about the process? Really, especially in South Carolina, we have seen it get nasty, nasty, nasty, Doug?

HEYE: If there's anything right for satire, it's certainly our political process. And Ed and I deal with it every day.

(LAUGHTER)

We make jokes amongst each other. But maybe it's good to have somebody from the outside come in and really point out some of the ridiculousness that we see.

(LAUGHTER)

But ultimately, I don't think it will affect Mitt Romney at all. I wish the Tea Party would invite him to address their voters and their supporters so we can get a more robust debate. We'll have a debate tonight. That's where these decisions really get made.

FEYERICK: Ed, do you feel that this is maybe not an endorsement of Mitt Romney but a -- he's the guy any way kind of nod to him? He didn't go after Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul. He went after Mitt Romney. How do you see it?

ESPINOZA: You know, we've seen these ads on "Saturday Night Live" for years and they have always satired the political process. It's the first time we've seen one try to be a part of the political process.

But this is -- I actually think this speaks beyond candidates and it has more to do with the ridiculousness of super PACs. Super PACs make politics worse. That's saying a lot, because that's hard to do. Here we have it, and we're dealing with it every day. And until we get laws that are favored more towards the people and less towards interests that can give large amounts of money, we'll see people do this. The sad thing is we can see a funny ad from Colbert like this, but it can also be used -- it could very well be a real ad under this law.

(CROSSTALK) FEYERICK: That's really what is unfortunate. It's gotten so nasty that people can't tell what is a spoof and, in fact, true in some cases.

ESPINOZA: Right.

FEYERICK: Let me ask you, gentlemen, tonight, we're going to hear from the candidates. Between Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, who has to knock it out of the park out of those three?

HEYE: I think all of them do. And that's the real critical thing for this debate. If Mitt Romney is not only the frontrunner but the inevitable candidate, which I think is too soon to say, it's incumbent on Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul to make that final distinction on FOX News tonight. Otherwise, they run the risk of being left behind.

FEYERICK: Ed Espinoza --

ESPINOZA: Yes.

FEYERICK: Doug Heye -- and you agree, Ed?

ESPINOZA: Yes, I do.

FEYERICK: OK, gentlemen, thank you so much.

Doug Heye and Ed Espinoza, thanks so much.

That is "Fair Game."

HEYE: Thank you.

FEYERICK: Well, he told investigators Syracuse's former basketball coach abused him for decades, starting when he was just 13 years old. Now one of Bernie Fine's accusers tells reporters it was a lie. Up next, could the man be charged? Hear why he said he made up the whole story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: More questions surfacing about the sexual abuse allegations against former Syracuse coach, Bernie Fine. According to "The Post Standard," a newspaper in Syracuse, one of Fine's accusers is now admitting he lied. The accusations that Fine sexually molested him, he says, they are all made up.

Floyd David Vanhooser is known as accuser number four. He told investigators and the media that Fine allegedly sexually molested him for decades, starting when he was just 14 or 15 until just last summer. He's in prison for a burglary conviction. That apparently is the reason for his big lie.

The U.S. attorney's office is continuing the investigation but it raises a lot of questions.

We're going to bring in criminal defense attorney, Eric Franz, who is joining us by Skype.

Thanks so much, Eric.

"The Post Standard" got a hold of these two handwritten letters with Vanhoosser's confession. In them, Vanhooser writes, "In a statement I gave, I told a lot of lies about Bernie Fine. None of what I said was true. I made it all the story about Bernie because I was mad at him for not getting me a lawyer. I would have gotten less time."

First of all, how damaging is it to an investigation when one of four accusers simply lies and say is I'm sorry. I made it up? How damaging is it?

ERIC FRANZ, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY (voice-over): Well, it's certainly damaging insofar as if they want to make Vanhooser an alleged victim. They can knock him out of the box. If they don't charge anything with Vanhooser, you still have Davis and Lang and the third accuser. Unless you can demonstrate that Davis and Lang and the other accuser had access to Vanhoosser's complaints and that prompted them to make their complaints, their credibility is going to rise and fall on how they present their claims and how they stand up under cross examination.

FEYERICK: The story that Vanhooser told was, in many respects, was consistent, in terms of the age, how it happened, that he was in the house. But remember the phone call with Fine's wife, Laurie? She made it when she was talking to one of the other alleged victims, Bobby Davis. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE FINE, WIFE OF BERNIE FINE: You never had any oral sex with him?

BOBBY DAVIS, ACCUSER: No.

FINE: No.

DAVIS: He, he -- I think he would want to, but --

FINE: Oh, of course he would. Why wouldn't he? I know everything that went on. I know everything that went on with him. Bernie has issues, maybe that he's not aware of, but he has issues. And you trusted somebody you shouldn't have trusted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Bernie Fine has always said he's innocent. But when you listen to that phone call, it's almost as if she's confirming that he had some sort of predisposition to it. How damaging is that and what role does that play in evidence?

FRANZ: If you listen to the tape, she says she has issues but she doesn't identify them. She may believe he has issues but is she a witness to any specific acts of sexual misconduct? If he's having sexual relations with other men, but they're not underage and they are consenting adults, he might have issues in her mind. But that doesn't mean he has criminal exposure. So I think the real issue there is going to be what she specifically recalls seeing and whether or not they are able to compel her testimony, because she is his spouse and there's a marital privilege there.

FEYERICK: So she doesn't have to testify against him is what you're saying.

I tried to reach out to Bernie Fine's lawyers. They did get back to me. It is a holiday. But earlier they had also discredited another alleged victim, accuser number three. It was accuser number three who basically launched this investigation because his statute of limitations had not run out, as it did with Bobby Davis and his brother, Michael Lang. How does that impact, if you've got now one victim who is saying, I didn't do it, a second victim whose credibility is at stake, can you go on the testimony of two brothers?

FRANZ: Well, you can't. If they brought up charges that only named Davis and Lang as alleged victims, it would beg the question as to whether the false allegations from others would even be admissible in the courtroom, because it has no relevance unless you can demonstrate that somehow it tainted Davis and Lang. If it prompted them to come forward, if it caused them to color the manner in which these activities occurred, then it would otherwise be relevant. But otherwise, they could just charge Davis and Lang, those people as the victims, and Vanhooser and the third victim, their testimony would become irrelevant, whether they are telling the truth or not.

FEYERICK: Eric Franz joining us. Thank you so much. We appreciate you're giving us some perspective on that.

FRANZ: Pleasure, Deb.

FEYERICK: It will be interesting to see if the university has to hire Coach Fine back if it was a rush to judgment.

Still to come, what a way to heal, swimming with dolphins. Hear what it means to our Wounded Warriors.

But first, if you were one of the 30 million Americans who watched the Broncos battle the Patriots this weekend, you saw less than stellar performance from Tim Tebow. It was actually a really bad performance. Last week, we learned that nearly half of the fans believed divine intervention was at play at Tebow's success. So what happened Saturday night? Perhaps, there's another plan in store for him, or perhaps he would make a great commentator, or perhaps his 15 minutes on the field are coming to a close.

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FEYERICK: Well, now it's time for a look at stories making news across the country at "Street Level." From New Orleans, one more reason not to shoot up bath salts. Researches at LSU report a case of flesh-eating disease in a 34-year- old woman, who injected herself with salt to get high. These are not the products you buy in stores to put in your bath. It's a synthetic street drug that has a cocaine-like effect and are banned by the DEA. A woman lost her arm, shoulder and collar bone to amputation and underwent a radical mastectomy by using it.

Next, to an emotional homecoming in Louisville, Kentucky. Four people from Kentucky were on board the cruise ship in Italy that overturned and killed six people. The group made it back home last night and were greeted at the airport with lots of hugs. The four friends described their experience as, quote, "scary and chaotic." They said they were among the lucky ones that were able to take a lifeboat to a nearby island.

Now to Anaheim, California, where police arrested a man in connection with a series of deadly attacks. 23-year-old Isacol Campo (ph) is accused of targeting and shooting homeless people. Witnesses say they saw him stabbing a homeless man to death on Friday. Several of them chased Campo (ph), later leading police to him. He is now facing charges in the murders of those four men.

In Marietta, Georgia, three-year-old Mazy Griswold (ph) is happy to be home. And her 8-yeawr-old brother is the reason. Mazy was making gravy when she leaned too close to the flame on the family's gas stove. Ezra Griswold (ph) heard the scream and swatted at the fire with his bare hands. Mazy suffered second-degree burns but Ezra saved her life.

You don't have to be a kid to love Legos. Grownups had the biggest, grandest costliest and most painstaking creations at the Brick Fair Lego Fan Festival in Birmingham, Alabama. Builders came from as far away as Canada to show off creations containing hundreds of thousands of pieces. Pretty remarkable.

BMW is now recalling 89,000 Mini Coopers in the United State states. Those are those really small cars. A computer problem can lead to a fire in the engine compartment. That's what prompted the recall. It's the same problem that led to earlier recalls of BMW and Rolls Royce luxury cars. BMW is still investigating whether the cause of the problem is related or just coincidental.

The Florida Keys were the site of a Wounded Warrior cycling event. Dolphins made a huge splash with vets who are struggling with combat injuries and who sometimes find it hard to deal with people. Besides providing exercise, therapy and, of course, lots of fun, the event and many others like it raise money for wounded troops and their families.

Well, there's one place down south where Mitt Romney has a huge backing, but it's not in the U.S. Coming up, CNN treks to northern Mexico where nearly 40 members of Romney's extended family call home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) FEYERICK: So have you heard Mitt Romney has roots in Mexico. In fact, he still has family in Chihuahua, Mexico. It's Mexico's largest state and it's right along the border.

CNN's senior Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo, caught up with some of the Romney's to find out what they think of his presidential run.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice- over): In the northern hills of northern Mexico, about 185 miles south of the Mexican border, lies a community that stands out for its religious roots.

MILES ROMNEY, MITT ROMNEY RELATIVE: We established apple orchards, peach orchards, farms, ranches, and that's basically what we do today.

ROMO: Miles Romney is a descendant who settled in this area more than 125 miles ago.

MILES ROMNEY: We come from a hard-working family, we come from honest people.

ROMO: His great-grandfather led a group of Mormons to Chihuahua, which is where presidential candidate Mitt Romney traces his 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, he managed to get a bumper sticker sent to Mexico and he 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 he's just understanding 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: The first Romney's arrived in this part of Mexico around 1885. They came from Uinta, where, as Mormons, they faced religious persecution and were not allowed to practice polygamy. There is still about 40 members of Mitt's family here who trace their roots back to the first settlers.

MILES ROMNEY: It was actually a small percentage of the church that practiced polygamy.

ROMO: While that percentage included his great grandfather, Kelly Romney, another of Mitt's second cousins, says the community hasn't practiced polygamy since the church banded it in the late 1800s.

KELLY ROMNEY, COUSIN OF MITT ROMNEY: We took over our father's business. ROMO: He invited us to tour his peach orchards, a family business since the Romneys settled here, and a crucial force of employment in northern Mexico. The Romney family and other Mormon settles built this school in 1904. Mitt himself has never been here, but Kelly said he saw him once in the states.

KELLY ROMNEY: I was on a plane one time in Salt Lake City. He was on it. My wife saw him and kept trying to get me to go meet him, but I guess I was a little intimidated. I thought when we get off in New York I'll meet him. But wee got off the plane and he went on to Boston.

ROMO: As much as he admires his second cousin, Kelly says he disagrees with his position on immigration.

KELLY ROMNEY: There should be guest worker programs for these people who are practically starving to death to go over there and do work that American people will not do.

ROMO: More than anything, this branch of the Romney family defines itself by the teachings of its church and feels its allegiance to both Mexico and the United States.

(on camera): If there was a war between Mexico and the United States, which country do you root for?

KELLY ROMNEY: I think I root for Mexico in a soccer match.

ROMO: Rafael Romo, CNN --

KELLY ROMNEY: We are loyal to this country. We were born here.

ROMO: (INAUDIBLE), Mexico.

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FEYERICK: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. It now continues with Brooke Baldwin.

Hey, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Deb, nice to see you. Thank you so much.