[Soledad O'brien, Cnn Anchor:] Thumbs up. Wow, just a good musical selection today. That is Dire Straits, "Sultans of Swing." How long has it been since I heard that?
[O'brien:] That's not a bad place to stop then. All right, we've got headlines to get to. Alina Cho has got that. Hey, Alina.
[Cho:] Hey there, Soledad, good morning. Dismissing a threat from the North South Korea conducted live fire military drills near the disputed sea border with North Korea. Pyongyang had promised to respond with a, quote, "merciless attack" if the south went ahead with that. The drills were held in the same area of the Yellow Sea that was the target of a North Korean artillery attack back in 2010 that killed four people. Another human skeleton has turned up in a wooded area on the eastern end of Long Island, New York. Authorities are now trying to determine if the remains are connected to 10 other sets of remains that were found on a remote beach about 40 miles to the west. Police suspect at least some are victims of a serial killer preying on prostitutes. The south sopped with a messy winter storm, tens of thousands losing power across the region. Snow, sleet, and rain also triggered pileups across Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Celebrating the golden anniversary of America's first orbit of earth exactly 50 years ago today, astronaut John Glenn made the historic journey around our planet, paving the way for future space exploration, including the first moon landing just seven years later. Glenn talked about his groundbreaking voyage earlier in the show with Soledad.
[O'brien:] Does it feel like it's been a long time, 50 years, or do you look at those pictures and say, god, it feels like yesterday?
[John Glenn, Former Astronaut:] It seems to me like about a week or two ago, Soledad, because I guess I am recalled it quite often over the past 50 years and that's kept it fresh. But it was such an impressive thing at the time that it's indelibly imprinted on my memory, and I can recall those days very, very well.
[Cho:] Feels like a week ago, huh? Glenn's flight revived the NASA program, setting the U.S. on a path to cold war victory. An Aspen getaway for first lady Michelle Obama and the kids. Mrs. Obama is treating daughters Sasha and Malia to a private ski trip in Colorado. The first lady's spokesperson says all personal expenses are being paid for by the Obamas. "The Aspen Daily News" says the family is staying with friends who own a chain of ski resorts in the area. And it's must-see TV, maybe not for the GOP, but the Democrats may like this. Instead of "The Cosby Show" it was "The Obama Show" on "Saturday Night Live." Watch.
[Unidentified Male:] I also hereby veto the rice cakes that Michelle said were healthier. I think one of the children must have ate it.
[Cho:] They even got the wardrobe right for Michelle Obama.
[O'brien:] Maya Rudolf is hilarious. She always nails it. Alina, thank you.
[Cho:] You're welcome.
[O'brien:] This morning a story that is just really strange. I'll preface it with that. It gained headlines this is a sheriff gained headlines for a very tough stance on illegal immigration. He is also the co-chair of Mitt Romney's Arizona campaign committee. His name is Sheriff Paul Babeu and he is now stepping down from the Mitt Romney job and also coming out. This happened after allegations were published last week in a newspaper in Phoenix. Those allegations claimed that the sheriff had threatened to deport an ex-boyfriend if he, the sheriff, revealed their relationship. Now the Sheriff Babeu says he is gay. He denies he tried to have his ex-boyfriend deported. He is also running for Congress and he's saying that he's going to stay in the Congressional race. And he says all of these accusations are an attempt to hurt his political career. This is just so complicated, but CNN's Miguel Marquez is in Florence, Arizona. I tried to give the nuts and bolts. It's a little bit unbelievable, isn't it?
[Miguel Marquez, Cnn Correspondent:] Soledad it is one of those stories that if it didn't happen, you would never, ever believe it is true. We talked to Jose, the man at the center of this controversy last night. And he told us in completely explicit terms that he is here legally, that he was a volunteer for the sheriff for several years. And in some ways this is a love story that just went bad. He says he fell in love with Babeu, but Babeu did not fall in love with him, he reluctantly admitted during our interview. And that's when things started to go bad. Jose had run some websites for Babeu. Babeu claimed he hacked into his Twitter account. Jose says that's just not true. And then the lawyers started in. And that's when things really started to heat up. The new "Times" reporter who broke this story described to CNN last night how it is that the threat of deportation came about.
[Monica Alonzo, Reporter:] The evidence comes from the attorney who received those threats from Paul Babeu's attorney as they were discussing this document they wanted Jose to sign. And she made it clear that her client wasn't interested in doing that. That's when they started raising questions about his visa, saying that it had expired, saying that he wasn't in the country legally.
[Marquez:] Now, specifically what that lawyer claims is that the lawyer for Mr. Babeu, a guy named Chris DeRose, called her up and said, I understand he is on an expired student visa. Jose says that is absolutely not true. Babeu denies ever threatening deportation or having his lawyer threaten deportation. Coming up in the hours ahead, we're going to have a lot more with that interview with Jose himself so you guys can see for yourself.
[O'brien:] Wow. This is sort of like the definition of a hot mess, isn't it? Really. Let me ask you a couple of questions. We know that the sheriff has stepped down from the Romney campaign, yes?
[Marquez:] Yes, he has indeed. And he says that the Romney campaign never asked him to step down, that he called them on his own volition, stepped back from that so as not to bring any concern to them or any dark clouds to the Romney campaign here in Arizona. But he's going to continue to run for Congress here in the fourth district. And that's really what he's trying to save now.
[O'brien:] Wow. Well, I tell you, you're right. The way you started, you wouldn't believe it if you didn't if it weren't actually true. And now it's involving lawyers, it must be true. Miguel Marquez for us this morning with an update on what has been a very challenging story. Still ahead this morning on STARTING POINT, Rick Santorum is taking a lead in the polls. He's been targeting President Obama, his tactics changing as he tackles faith and social issues in a must carry state. Plus, it was sort of I don't think it was even a pun. It was just a racial slur, and it made it right into a Jeremy Lin headline, completely inappropriate. Now Jeremy Lin is responding. We'll tell you what he had to say. You're watching STARTING POINT. We're back in a moment.