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Candidates Stump Before South Carolina Votes; Romney Stumbles On Tax Returns; Six U.S. Marines Killed In Chopper Crash; Gingrich Denies Open Marriage Claim; Thousands Flee Deadly Wildfire; Reid Postpones PIPA Vote; Cook: Captain Dined after Crash; Republican Debate Generates Buzz
Aired January 20, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It is the top of the hour now. We're going to talk about presidential politics. Thanks for joining us, everyone. It's the last full day of campaigning, by the way, before tomorrow's primary in South Carolina.
Right now, Ron Paul is at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Charleston. Newt Gingrich actually canceled his scheduled appearance there and is now headed to a town hall meeting it at the bottom of the hour.
We'll check in on that, as well. Extensive coverage this hour, we've last night's CNN debate, all the highlights from there and also we're going to breakdown the best parts for you with the Best Political Team on television.
Let's go ahead and begin our focus on that bare-knuckled campaign of Newt Gingrich. Last night, he shared the stage with Republican rivals at the debate and he shared the spotlight with an ex-wife who is making a pretty scandalous claim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIANNE GINGRICH, NEWT GINGRICH'S EX-WIFE: He was asking to have an open marriage and I refused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted an open marriage?
MARIANNE GINGRICH: Yes, that I accept the fact that he had somebody else in his life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, that claim fuelled just one of many memorable moments in last night's CNN debate. National political correspondent, Jim Acosta, takes a closer look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN MODERATOR: Would you like to take some time to respond to that?
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, but I will. JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The CNN debate opened up with a question to Newt Gingrich with about the allegation from his second wife that he once asked for an open marriage. The former speaker as he has done time and again in the debates turned the tables on the media.
GINGRICH: I think the destructive vicious negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I'm appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.
ACOSTA: The response got a standing ovation.
GINGRICH: Let me be quite clear. The story is false.
ACOSTA: Fighting for survival in South Carolina, Rick Santorum seemed to say the issue is relevant.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These are issues of our lives and what we did in our lives. They're issues of character for people to consider.
ACOSTA: The debate later turned to health care reform and Mitt Romney was on the ropes over his plan in Massachusetts.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is not a free market health care system. It is not bottom up. It is prescriptive in government. It was the basis for Obama care.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you want to be governor of Massachusetts, fine. But I want to be president and let states take responsibility for their own plans.
ACOSTA: Then Ron Paul gave his own unique prescription for paying for health care.
RON PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Where is the money come? My suggestion is look at some of the overseas spending that we don't need to be doing.
ACOSTA: But the discussion eventually went back to the personal when Santorum was asked what he thought of being described by Gingrich as lacking the knowledge to bring big changes to Washington.
SANTORUM: Grandiosity has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich. He handles it very well. Newt is a friend. I love him, but at times he just has that worrisome moment that something's going to pop.
ACOSTA: Gingrich's response, you're right.
GINGRICH: You're right. I think grandiose thoughts. This is a grandiose country of big people doing big things and we need leadership prepared to take on big projects.
ACOSTA: That didn't stop Romney from piling on. ROMNEY: You talk about all the things did with Ronald Reagan and the Reagan revolution and the jobs created during the Reagan years. I looked at the Reagan diary. You're mentioned once in Ronald Reagan's diary.
ACOSTA: The back and forth went on for a while.
GINGRICH: The truth is you did very well under the rules that we created to make it easier for entrepreneurs to go out and do things.
ROMNEY: I don't recall a single day saying, thank heavens Washington is there for me.
ACOSTA: Then came an audience question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gentlemen, when will you release your tax returns specifically?
GINGRICH: An hour ago.
ACOSTA: Romney, who has arguably mishandled the question all week appeared to fumble it again.
ROMNEY: My taxes are carefully managed and I pay a lot of taxes. I've been very successful and what I have are taxes ready for this year, I'll release them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: The real big oops moments among the GOP final four, which means the race likely stands where it was before the debate began. Too close to call. Jim Acosta, CNN, North Charleston, South Carolina.
PHILLIPS: Romney's fumble of his tax issue may be all the more damaging given the strong and feisty performances of Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Both men targeted Romney and each other.
Our Dana Bash is with the Santorum camp. S he joins us from Lexington, South Carolina this morning. Dana, Santorum showed some chops in these debates.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's for sure nothing like last night. Last night was something that really I think hands down even his opponents would say that he was the toughest that he had been before and you just heard some of it in that piece.
Already this morning he is out on conservative radio continuing to hit Newt Gingrich in particular. Newt Gingrich is the biggest threat to Rick Santorum right now. Obviously, Mitt Romney is as well.
But Newt Gingrich is the one who is really leading in the polls and potentially taking those key socially conservative voters that Santorum is really banking on to do well here and beyond.
I just want to give our viewer as reminder of the kind of thing that Santorum was also saying about Gingrich last night. In particular, effectively saying, Kyra, that he is a little too -- maybe he has one screw too loose to be the president of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I served with him. I was there. I knew what the problems were going on in the House of Representatives when Newt Gingrich was leading there. It was an idea a minute. No discipline. No ability to be able to pull things together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: So there he's basically saying that just because somebody has ideas and is a good debater doesn't mean that he's a good leader. And we can absolutely be sure that Rick Santorum is going to keep that up today on his five-stop tour really trying to get in this as much as he can before tomorrow's very important primary for him -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Dana Bash with the Santorum camp. Thanks. So do you have your scorecards handy? Mark Preston sure does, the CNN political director joins us now with the winners and losers of last night debate. All right, Mark, how are you scoring them?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Kyra, I'm still trying to sort it out. That was an unbelievable debate last night. There were arguments over transparency, on personal wealth, redemption, infidelity, personal attacks.
It was all laid out on the stage last night. Was there really a winner or loser? In some ways you can say that Newt Gingrich was the winner because he proved last night that the headline this morning and heading in to Saturday is that he could win the South Carolina primary.
And all this talk that this primary process is going to be over very quickly could actually be a thought that the Romney campaign wishes was true, but probably is not true. The fact of the matter last night Newt Gingrich had a very good debate.
Rick Santorum had a very good debate as well. And in fact, Mitt Romney did pretty good except for that stumble over the taxes. He was very strong at the beginning, Kyra, but when he stumbled over the taxes, again, it raised another red flag.
And we can't forget Ron Paul. He really played very well to his base last night. He got a lot of applause lines out of the audience and he seemed very content afterwards -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Mark Preston with his take on the debate last night. And also CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen said Gingrich provided one of the most explosive moments in debate history.
David is going to joins us. It's 10:15 Eastern Time with his take on all the fireworks. And the road to Republican nomination for president is up next in South Carolina for its primary election.
You know that by now. Watch CNN Saturday night, 7:00 Eastern as the contenders and you wait for those final results. That's tomorrow night.
Six U.S. Marines have lost their lives after their helicopter crashes in Southern Afghanistan. They were serving as part of NATO'S international security assistance force when their chopper went down.
Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joining us now from Washington so, what exactly happened?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the NATO peace keeping forces saying that this was not enemy fire, that there was no evidence of enemy action in the area when this CH-53 helicopter went down yesterday, killing six U.S. Marines on board.
We can now confirm that the unit, the Marine Corp. unit, was out of Hawaii and they were serving in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The Taliban took credit and said they shout it down, even e-mailing one of our producers in Afghanistan saying they shout it down.
But again, the NATO forces, there was no evidence of enemy fire in the area. It has been a very tough 48 hours for NATO and Afghanistan. Four French peacekeepers military were killed in eastern Afghanistan, a number wounded when someone in an afghan army uniform opened fire on them.
The French government now saying this situation may lead the French to reconsider and pull their troops out of Afghanistan early. Just the latest incident. Politics front and center in the United States, but for so many families, that dreaded knock on the door -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Yes, Barbara Starr from Washington for us. Thanks.
David Gergen calls the start of last night's GOP presidential debate. One of the most explosive moments in debate history.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Let's talk about the fireworks at last night's Southern Republican Presidential debate. It was hot from the get-go. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Your ex-wife's gave an interview to ABC News and another new interview With" she says that you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair, she says you asked her, sir, to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take time to respond to that?
GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL: No. I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I'm appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Well, our CNN senior political analyst David Gergen was there, as well. David, this is definitely the talk of the town this morning. What do you make of all of it?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was explosive and it was also one of the harshest moments that I've seen. A harsh attack on the press, on John King, on CNN, let's face it. And this is for a lot of conservatives now, this is red meat. They go after the people in the press have word for it.
Newt Gingrich has done this before, gone after people in the press. It's worked for him almost every time and I think last night as a matter of politics, it was clear that he knocked that ball right out of the park.
In fact many thought he may well have won the South Carolina primary through those opening few minutes. Now, I want to just say I thought the question was fair. I thought John King -- both fair and fearless in going after and putting it out there.
It was the elephant in the room. Everybody in South Carolina was talking yesterday about Marianne Gingrich's allegations and Newt Gingrich said they're fall. She said they're true. We don't know what's true here.
But I think it was fair given the circumstances and given the background after all of a party that impeached Bill Clinton over personal indiscretions.
So I thought it was a fair question and Newt Gingrich in retrospect, I think a lot of us sense that Newt Gingrich saw it coming. He knew what he was going to do and he had a very theatrical response, which really won a lot of points for him here in South Carolina.
PHILLIPS: You know, so many people have mentioned that Bill Clinton, and of course, that whole scandalous situation. All these years later, do voters -- how have the minds of voters changed? Do they really care about these affairs anymore? Does it really impact the way they vote now?
GERGEN: We'll have to wait and see. Gloria Borger was arguing on behalf of -- on CNN that a lot of women voters may be repelled by these allegations. We'll have to wait and see. I do think actually -- I come from an old school that says we ought to be prying less into the lives of public figures.
And hold them up to harder scrutiny in terms of their public lives and I think we've gone too far. But the fact of the matter is that's where we are and the Republicans have criticized the way people live.
And they believe this push this family values and what she was arguing -- the wife, the former wife was arguing. Former wife was arguing is a lot of hypocrisy and it's hard to disagree.
PHILLIPS: What's your gut, what do you think will happen tomorrow?
GERGEN: My gut is that Newt Gingrich's momentum has continued. I think he -- look, I think he saw a fastball coming. He was ready for it. He knocked it out of the park. This debate last night was a continuation of a debate Monday night, both of which have propelled him forward.
Mitt Romney gave a very good debate performance except for what he dealt with taxes when he was awkward and stiff and defensive. But there's a sense here in South Carolina that Romney can still win this, it's still very close.
But the momentum is on the side of Newt Gingrich and if he wins, it will totally upset what we all thought a week ago and that was this would be the end of the line for the Republican race. Mitt Romney would see it up here. Even if it's close, even if Romney wins tomorrow night, it's pretty clear I think that this race goes on.
Gingrich is in it for a while, at least through Tuesday. We'll see. But yesterday was one of the most tumultuous days we've had in this whole year of politics. And it has shaken up this race and I think almost anything is possible now. But I would bet on Gingrich in the primary Saturday.
PHILLIPS: David Gergen, thanks so much.
Internet hackers strike back after the government shuts down an alleged piracy hub. Find out what they did and how the feds are responding.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A fast moving wildfire south of Reno is forcing thousands to flee their homes. One person is dead and at least 20 homes have been destroyed now. Fire fighters are starting to make progress, but hundreds of hot spots are still out of control. Rob Marciano has been keeping an eye on this wildfire. Will the weather help?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The same storm that will help them hurt them last night with the intense winds. This is the second cold season fire that this area has seen in two months and you've seen some of the pictures are dangerous. There's 20 homes burned to the ground. Almost 4,000 acres burned, as well, Hundreds of fire fighters working on this thing.
Winds have calmed down a little bit, but thousands have evacuated. Here's where it is. It's right near Lake Tahoe. All south of Reno, Nevada proper and it's actually the road that you would take from the Reno airport driving west of Lake Tahoe towards south Tahoe if you're making that route.
But this is generally where the fire is. And that's where it in-s continues to burn this morning. We'll have more information after an update in the next couple hours. But the rain and snow is coming.
Right now just raising the levels of humidity on the east side of the sierras, but the rain mixed with snow at times at lake level and in Truckee, California so that's the good news.
The rain continues to pour in from the west coast. That the reason they have these two fires is at one point they had a stretch of 56 days without any rain during what would normally be the rainy season.
As far as what we're looking at for the next couple day, more in the way of rain, rain and snowfall for this area over the next several days. And this is the same storm that brought the ice to Seattle, that brought the flooding rains to western Oregon and will continue to do that over the next due days. But for these folks, it will bring beneficial rains and help the firefighters get a hand on that fire.
PHILLIPS: Good. We'll be following it here. Thank you so much.
Remember the online protest earlier this week when big name sited went dark like Wikipedia? It has succeeded at least for now. Senate majority leader Harry Reid is postponing Tuesday's vote on the Protect Intellectual Act or PIPA as we know the bill.
And congressional correspondent, Kate Bolduan is joining us now in Washington with the latest. So Kate, did lawmakers just blink?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It seems pretty clear that they kind of saw the writing on the wall that they did not have the winning position especially politically at least right now.
Let me read you in part the statement coming from the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He put out the statement this morning saying in light of recent events, I decide to postpone Tuesday's vote on the protect IP act. We, of course, call the acronym PIPA.
He goes on to say there's no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved. He later goes on to say we make good progress through the discussions we held in recent day and I'm optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks.
I'll tell you that it was clear that top Democrats. They really have known for days that it was going to be pretty tough climb to stare down the internet in light of these protests, Kyra and would be difficult to win support, get enough votes to push through this procedural vote to move forward on this anti-online piracy bill.
Once these protests really started -- this online protest started, there were many. We have an unofficial list in the teens of senators who had supported this legislation flipping and rethinking their support to moving to oppose the bill in light of all of the kind of protests coming out.
So it's clear now that they're having to kind of at least in some level go back to the drawing board in the Senate as well as in the House. We just received a statement that the house is also rethinking it's version of this bill to try to find a better compromise. So it seems the online protests have succeeded for now.
PHILLIPS: All right, Kate, thanks so much.
And we've had a bunch of analysts pick apart last night's GOP presidential debate. After the break, our "Political Buzz" panel gets their turn.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, a shocking new claim against the captain of that doomed cruise ship off coast of Italy now. A cook aboard the Costa Concordia said as the water poured in, the captain sat down for dinner with a lady friend less than an hour after the ship's disastrous impact on that rocky reef.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGELIO BARISTA, COSTA CONCORDIA COOK: The captain insisted on having a meal at around 10:30. He arrived with a woman who I didn't recognize. I wondered what the captain was doing, why was he still there. Anyway, we gave him his drink and he was waiting for the dessert to be served to the woman he was with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Dan Rivers with the latest developments. He's joining us on the phone there. So, Dan, what do you know about what the cook is saying, also this young lady was interviewed. What have you been able to piece together?
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Yes, it's apparently a further damming piece of evidence against the captain that would suggest that he was as the cook said rather than leading from the front, was having dinner after the accident happened.
I mean, the ship hit the rock at about 9:41 and the cook is saying at 10:30 on Friday night, he was still waiting for his dessert not exactly giving the impression that he was up on the bridge trying to figure out what to do.
This is absolutely contradicted by this woman he was having dinner with who is a Costa employee, although she was not actually working at the time. She'd bought a ticket as a private passenger to spend time with her friends on board.
Now, Dominique (inaudible) is saying that the captain stayed on the ship for a lot longer than the coast guard would have us believe. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I've heard in Russian media that the captain left the ship first or among the first, but this is not true. I'm a witness. I don't know if I'm invited to testify in the court or not. But as a witness, I can say that I left the deck at 23:50 following an order from the captain who told me to go to the third deck to get into a lifeboat that could take more people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: So contradicting what the port authority told us that the captain had radioed from the lifeboat and was ordered to get back on to the ship's bridge. I think ten times in total he was told to get back on the ship and apparently refused to do so and was then later seen on the island.
So it's a bit of a he said/she said in all this. But I'm sure this will all come out in the fullness of time in the almost certain subsequent court case.
PHILLIPS: Yes, we'll be following it for sure. Dan, thanks.
Well, an online slap down. That's what the hacking group Anonymous says it's doing by shutting down FBI and Justice Department Web sites. It happened after the feds cracked down on a site accused of Internet piracy.
CNN's Amber Lyon joins us now from Los Angeles. Amber, the FBI site I guess is back on line. The Justice Department site was up and running until this morning. Is this a second attack and do we know for sure that Anonymous is behind all this?
AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've noticed that the DOJ site has been going kind of in and out and we've talked with several Anons, who are Anonymous itself is an unorganized collective more of an idea and a culture, it's hard to get to really to get to the bottom of things. But we've talked to several of our more influential sources and they are claiming responsibility Kyra.
Now Anonymous says that the shutdown of megaupload.com yesterday is really the straw that broke the camel's back here. They say this is censorship and something that could possibly turn into a slippery slope. Possibly leading to the shutdown of larger file sharing sites like YouTube.
The Department of Justice says that megaupload.com is actually the 13th most visited site on the net was an illegal hub for copyrighted TV shows, images, computer software and video games generating more than $175 million in what they say are illegal profits.
Now, almost immediately after Megaupload was shut down, the cyber activists gathered online instead of on streets and began a distributed denial of service attack on U.S. government Web sites. That's different than the hack they're not actually breaching security for that. With the DDOS attacks, computers flood a site with so much traffic that it causes that site to crash.
I spoke with some Anons who were watching this operation very closely. Here's how they describe it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LYON: So Anonymous sees the shutdown of Megaupload as a type of Internet censorship?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly. It's a violation of freedom of speech. And it's a -- Anonymous and a lot of other movements regard the Internet as sort of independent from any government and they regard the government interfering in the free flow of the Internet as stepping outside their jurisdiction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LYON: And most of these targeted Web sites are now back online. We spoke with a law enforcement official he tells CNN that the FBI is investigating and has not said who they believe are responsible -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Ok. Amber Lyon, thanks so much.
Well, it's time for "Political Buzz". Your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. And playing today: CNN contributor, Maria Cardona; Chris Moody, from Yahoo News; and Georgetown professor, Chris Metzler.
Ok guys let's start with the obvious question. Newt Gingrich's ex-wife and that ABC interview. Here's Conan's take.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: Newt Gingrich's second wife said, Newt, she wanted to give these interviews, and she said, Newt wanted to have an open marriage. Yes. I think it might be true. Because at the last debate, Newt turned down the lights and said, "Hey, fellows, let's just all be president".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. Seriously now. Do you think the story which he says is false by the way will hurt Gingrich in any way? Maria.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, it's certainly not going to help him, Kyra. And I think it all depends on what voters think when they go into the booth in South Carolina tomorrow. And mainly I think he's got an issue clearly with women going into this. He was already at probably half the favorability that he was with men.
And then it also depends on whether these women think that this is old news, that it's just baggage that the media is regurgitating. He answered the first question from John King last night brilliantly and he really played to the crowd with that one. So we'll see what this means going into South Carolina tomorrow.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chris Moody.
CHRIS MOODY, YAHOO NEWS: Look, the last thing you want when you're trying to get a large group of people to like you is have you're ex-wife show up with a megaphone. However I don't think it's going to hurt him very much. He's been doing very well in the polls even in these last minute polls here. Everyone knows about Newt Gingrich's 1990's, 1980's baggage. They've heard it all before, they've heard his redemptive, his redemption story and I think last night he handled it very well.
He's channeling the anti-media anger within the Republican Party and I think it might even work to his advantage in the end. And if he wins this thing, it will really give him the momentum to go on to the next state.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chris Metzler.
CHRIS METZLER, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Yes well actually, his ex-wife is the gift that keeps on giving. As it relates to Newt in this particular case, I don't think this is going to make a difference. It's old news. We've heard it all before.
I think going into this election, what's going to happen is the people are going to say, ok, why did you wait until this last minute to bring this up? And more importantly, all she did was repeat a bunch of nonsense that we've already heard.
I think perhaps ABC is jealous of the real housewives franchise and what they really want to do is have the real housewives of Newt Gingrich. I mean, it seems to me that that's what's going on here.
PHILLIPS: Oh, boy. Ok, I think Chris just named the next reality show and he'll probably make a lot of money.
All right, Rick Santorum is getting his chance to tear into Newt Gingrich. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Grandiosity has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich. He handles it very, very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: So do you think Santorum is poised to do well in South Carolina? Chris Metzler?
METZLER: Yes, I think he's poised to do well. I think at this point though, I think it's just a little too late for him. What he's trying to do is to gain kind of the relevance that he got from actually winning Iowa. So I think he'll -- he's going to do well, but I think at the end of the day, that Newt is going to pull out an upset in this particular race and that perhaps a Santorum now is trying to be second in that race. Because I don't think Romney wins this at all.
PHILLIPS: Maria.
CARDONA: I think that Santorum did very, very well last night. The question is whether he's going to be able to turn that into an advantage that is going to give him any real momentum going into South Carolina. And he seems to be the candidate of catching up and a little bit too late. He won Iowa, but it was too late. He did really well in the debate last night, his best performance to date, but it was probably too late.
So I think he's in this maybe for number two and we'll see what happens in South Carolina. I do think he gains a little momentum, though.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chris Moody.
MOODY: I think Rick Santorum got gypped in all of this. One of the greatest benefits to winning the Iowa caucus is the bump that you get afterwards, the media attention, the momentum that you received. And he didn't get any of this. I mean, the Iowa caucuses, they use the system where the precinct where I was where they passed around a Tupperware bucket and everyone put their -- their ticket in there and then they miscounted it.
So you know this could have been a very different race if he had won a couple of weeks ago or we had known that he had won he could have come in here with a lot more momentum. And it could be a Santorum versus Romney race instead of Gingrich versus Romney. History could have been very different.
PHILLIPS: All right, you're "Buzzer Beater"; 20 seconds each on this one. Let's take a listen to President Obama last night at the Apollo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm so in love with you --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Not bad Obama channeling a little Al Green there. So -- so what song will he be singing in November guys? Maria?
CARDONA: Well, I was going to go cliche Kyra and choose "We are the Champions". But I'm going to go with a song that's a little bit closer to my heart which is "El Pueblo Unido jamas sera vencido" and in English that means "The People United will never be Defeated".
But I think between now and then, I'll have to teach the President a little Spanish.
PHILLIPS: It sounds good. Chris Metzler.
METZLER: Well, I'm not sure, I mean, I think it depends on who the nominee is. But I will tell you the song that Republicans want him to sing. It's the Beyonce song "To the left, to the left. Everything you own in the box to the left". I think that's pretty much what the Republicans are going to want him to sing. They want him to pack his bags and get out of there. So I'm not sure what's it's going to be, is it going to be to the left or is it going to be signed, sealed, delivered.
PHILLIPS: I really want to -- oh, ok. I really wanted to hear Metzler sing but all right, Chris Moody.
METZLER: No, you don't.
PHILLIPS: What do you think?
MOODY: I think after this -- I think after this long hard campaign, it's definitely not going to be kumbaya. But I think it depends on what side you come down on. If you're a Republican, you want to hear him sing Elvis Presley's I'm left, you're right, she's gone.
If you're a Democrat, I think you'd be happy spotting Barack Obama strolling down Pennsylvania Avenue wearing a white leisure suit humming the Bee Gees -- that great Bee Gees song.
PHILLIPS: Yes, what's that great song Bee Gees song? Which one?
MOODY: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Is it "Staying Alive?"
MOODY: Staying Alive.
PHILLIPS: There you go.
MOODY: Staying Alive.
PHILLIPS: I'll cue the music next time. Hey, guys. Have a great weekend, it's going to be fun tomorrow night.
CARDONA: Thanks Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We'll talk again next week.
MOODY: Hope you have a great weekend.
PHILLIPS: All right guys.
Well, you might already know the story of the Tuskegee airmen. But you've never seen it like this. Through the magical vision of George Lucas. Yes, the man behind "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" finally gets the airmen's story to the big screen. Coming up, we're talking to Lightning Little and his breakout role.
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PHILLIPS: Seems that a lot of people have a lot to say about CNN's Republican presidential debate. Don Lemon definitely got an earful when the audience left last night's showdown in South Carolina. He joins us now live from Charleston. So did everybody just pounce on you -- Don. DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know how, when we go talk to people, they're like, "No, I don't want to be on camera." I don't want to be -- last night Kyra, every single person wanted to talk to me.
The overall consensus, quite honestly I have to tell you, people said this was a great debate. As it gets closer to the election, the debates get better.
But I have to say, almost to a person, people were upset. One person, one woman I spoke to wasn't upset about it. People were upset about the question to Newt Gingrich off the top. They thought it was inappropriate. And that's what everyone wanted to talk about. I'm just being honest.
They were saying, yes, you know, we care about morals, values, but it wasn't appropriate off the top. And when I asked them about anything else, they kept going back to that. Take a listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's big issue today is whether or not Newt is the jerk that we think he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's relevant, but I also think it's uncalled for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I look at it like this. We elected Clinton.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His answer was the highlight of the evening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's cheating on his wives, who else is he cheating on?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He came off as a total jerk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was appropriate for Gingrich to answer in the way that he did, absolutely. And I think the audience and everybody else agreed with me.
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LEMON: So again, they think it did have a place, not just off the top. But when people go to decide the primary on Saturday, I don't think that that will be in their minds. What's going to be in their minds of course jobs and the economy.
And if you ask about, I think most people think it didn't really make a difference, no one really changed any minds. No one did anything to really hurt themselves last night. Maybe Newt Gingrich got -- maybe he helped himself a little bit with the question. That's it.
Kyra back to you.
PHILLIPS: Don, thanks so much.
And coming up after the break, we're going to talk to a star of the new movie "Red Tails" and ask what it meant to play a Tuskegee air man and to do those American heroes right by putting their story on the big screen.
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PHILLIPS: Overlooked in history and couldn't even get a break decades after the civil rights movement, the Tuskegee airmen struggled to fight for our segregated country in World War Two. And that struggle lasted decades, not just for the airmen, but also for those who wanted to tell their story on the big screen.
George Lucas says Hollywood refused to fund his black cast. So what did he do? He paid for it himself. The result? "Red Tails".
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is Lightning?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How low are you Lightning?
Taking a (INAUDIBLE) on the front like you should have done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on. Got you.
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PHILLIPS: And you're going to be seeing a lot more of that pilot who blew up that train. Word is this is his big breakout role. David Oyelowo a.k.a. Joe Lightning Little joining me from Sundance. Great to see you David.
DAVID OYELOWO, "RED TAILS", ACTOR: Thanks for having me.
PHILLIPS: My pleasure. You know what, this isn't the first time that you've broken barriers. You were the first black actor to play an English monarch with the Royal Shakespeare company. Henry VI, "Lightning Little". Ok. Two very different men, but this opportunity must have been incredible for you.
OYELOWO: David: It really was incredible. Not least because I'm from the UK, I knew very little, in fact nothing about the Tuskegee airmen. And when I first read the script and found out what these men did for this country at the time they did it and the way they did it, it was just a story I became obsessed about being part of telling.
PHILLIPS: So growing up in England and Nigeria, what was it like to walk the grounds of Tuskegee University in Alabama?
OYELOWO: It was incredible. You know. I mean Tuskegee, Alabama is a tiny little town, 12,000 population. And to think that this is where the Tuskegee airmen trained and went on to do these incredible things. They basically went on to help save the world in the '40s in the Second World War. And it was just indicative to me of the fact that great things start with a small seed. And that's what this guys did. Because what they did has ramifications for the freedom we enjoy now.
PHILLIPS: Amen. Well, considering that history, what was it like for you as a black actor to be a part of this and the fact that George Lucas had to defy Hollywood to get this film made?
OYELOWO: Well, one of the joys for me getting to do this film was getting to be with a group of black actors where we were the center of our own story. There was no need to jettison in a white character to make the film feel like it could cross over. This is a full bore action movie that is not just for black people; it's for all people.
And that's what you get with George Lucas. He absolutely understands his audience. He knows what they want. And that we have in bucket loads with "Red Tails".
KYRA: So then as a black cast, you guys really did share a bond like the actual airmen did during the war, David.
OYELOWO: Yes, because we were very aware of the opportunity we were being afforded. One of the things Terence Howard, who's also in the film said to us, is when I was a younger actor, nothing like this happened, nothing like this has happened. And you guys should really be aware that is this a very rare situation.
So that in and of itself was very bonding for us. We were very aware that this was an opportunity both for us as actors and also to celebrate the airmen, what they did. Unsung heroes, a largely untold story especially on the big screen.
So, you know, that was something we took to heart. And we knew we had to come through for them.
PHILLIPS: Well, not only are you terrific actor, you've got a huge heart. Thanks so much, David, for joining me. And we put this special tag together just for you and another individual you're going to hear about now.
The same day that "Red Tails" is going to be released -- that's today -- one of the real airmen who inspired it is laid to rest. About an hour from now, Retired Lt. Col. Luke Weathers, Jr. will be buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery complete with a military flyover.
Weathers was a decorated Tuskegee airmen in World War II and he went on to become the first black air traffic controller in Memphis.
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PHILLIPS: Canadian freestyle skier Sarah burke has died. The 29-year-old succumbed to injuries that she sustained during a training run last week in Utah. She suffered a brain hemorrhage that actually led to cardiac arrest. She's considered a pioneer of freestyle skiing.
Mitt Romney has already got the South Carolina governor stumping for him and now our Paul Steinhauser says he has the support of another southern governor. Hey, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, this just happened a couple hours ago. The governor is Bob McDonnell of Virginia, fellow southerner you could say coming one day before the primary right here in South Carolina. McDonnell he was on this morning with Soledad O'Brien this morning. Take a listen to what he said.
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GOV. BOB MCDONNELL (R), VIRGINIA: I'm a southern governor endorsing Mitt Romney in the first southern state primary. The governor of South Carolina has endorsed him, as well. And I think hopefully that will help him.
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STEINHAUSER: All right. Well, will it help or hurt, I don't know. Think chicken soup, it probably can't hurt. I don't know how effective these endorsements are going to be.
One thing about McDonnell that's interesting here, he was kind of close with Rick Perry, so I guess it's no surprise that he waited until one day after Perry got out of the race to endorse Romney -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Paul Steinhauser -- let's remind everybody to tune in tomorrow for our coverage, all through the day and night. Thanks so much. We're keeping an eye on the primaries.
Now coming up in the 11:00 hour, Suzanne Malveaux. Is your boss a psychopath? Odds are you've had a crazy manager at some point in your life and in your career. So next hour we'd actually got a test that you can take to find out. And if the answer is yes, I guess Suzanne I guess Suzanne is going to give us tips on how to deal with your psycho boss.
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PHILLIPS: Happening later in the CNN Newsroom at noon Eastern, we expect emergency officials to update us on a fast moving wildfire south of Reno, Nevada. That's destroyed at least 20 homes now and killed one person. The governor there has declared a state of emergency.
And at 1:00 Eastern, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta holding a town hall with about 200 troops at Maryland Naval Base. He's also expected to give his vote of confidence to the F-35b fighter jets.
That does it for us. Hope you have a great weekend.
We'll be back here bright and early on Monday morning. Suzanne Malveaux takes it from here. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: It's going to be a great weekend just watching --
PHILLIPS: Happy Friday.
MALVEAUX: Happy Friday. We're going to watch that primary, as well.
PHILLIPS: Darned right. It's going to be a great Saturday.
MALVEAUX: All right. Have a good weekend.
PHILLIPS: Thanks.
