this wild leopard injured seven people. they managed to corner this hospital in a hospital t broke through this window, escaped, and the whole thing was caught on camera. still has yet to be caught. i'm brooke baldwin. thanks for being with me. see you back here tomorrow. "the lead with jake tapper" starts right now. hide your soda pops, school students in the miami area. the first lady is coming to your area. the politics lead. democrats are on the trail in these heated midterm battles. former president and possible future first husband bill clinton in the south. the world lead. the crowds. massive, the violence, persistent as venezuelans rebel.

is that a movement to antagonize? and the national lead. would it be religious protection or legalized discrimination? it looks like arizona's controversial bill that protects services for religious reasons could die on the republican governor's desk. good afternoon, everyone. i'm jake tapper. we're going to begin with the politics lead. control for the u.s. senate is up for grabs. republicans need six seats and the races are off. radio tv airs are already cluttered with campaign ads. establishment republicans fending off attacks from tea party rivals and democrats in purple states are working feverishly to put a grand canyon size gap between themselves and president obama. the first showdown will take

place in texas. gop party leaders have made no surprise that they smell blood in the water, largely due to obamacare. this has left democrats vulnerable in arkansas, alaska, louisiana. democrats are keeping their fingers crossed that dysfunction in the republicans. former bill clinton is rallying support for the democrat running against senate minority leader bill mcconnell. our correspondent erin mcpike is live in louisville. can clintons sway the race? well, jake, we're still eight months away but he drew 800 democrats to lunch here today. he's popular. democrats need that if they have any chance of beating mitch mcconnell. we should also point out that

bill clinton is very close to the candidate and her family. bill clinton's favorite season starting. campaign tame. >> look, i love kentucky. you've been good to me. you've voted for me twice. you've been great to hillary. i love you. >> reporter: he's making his trail debut to help, who else, an old friend. alison grimes. >> it makes a big difference who wins this election and, alison grimes should win it and will with your help. >> reporter: she's the secretary of state who's practiced law and done plenty of politicking with her father. >> the clintons didn't forget. jerry oversaw the landslide over barack obama. the family business catered

inaugural events and chelsea's wedding. now clinton is returning favors to the next in line. grimes is just 35 and playing up that she would be the state's first woman in the u.s. senate. >> you will hear over the course of this campaign, especially on behalf of the women of this state 53% of the electorate, a little katy perry roar and by the end of this race, eight months from now, we'll be bringing home our kentucky girl miley cyrus with a little wrecking ball straight to the guardian of gridlock. >> i am thrilled to be here today as kentucky continues to fight to ditch mitch. >> reporter: mcconnell has spent three decades in the senate and as minority leader is the gop's last line of defense against president obama. grimes is hitting mcconnell hard for washington gridlock, charging that as republican leader, he's responsible for

washington's dysfunction. >> not only can she beat mitch mcconnell, she is going to beat mitch mcconnell. >> reporter: the 42nd president is much more in demand here compared to the 44th who see some as political kryptonite. and to that end, harry read was asked today about having president obama campaign for senate democrats and harry reid said, basically, that we have one president going every place and that is bill clinton. jake? >> erin mcpike, thanks. for more on this, i want to bring in democratic strategist, hilary rosen and kevin madden. let's hear what mitch mcconnell has to say about clinton being in kentucky. >> the last time he ran in 1996, i beat the current governor by

160,000 votes, ten points. in 2008, both bill and hillary clinton came to town, including the day before the election and i won by 100,000 votes. so i welcome president clinton back to kentucky. every time he's come, it's been really good for me. >> i guess one question would be, though, mcconnell, before he gets to alison grimes, he has to face down a tea party challenger, matt bevin. does that make is different than previous years? >> yes, you about i think he's positioned to come out of that primary okay and then draw the contrast against alison grimes in a general election. but i think mitch mcconnell's points are right. bill clinton hasn't really been that great of an asset for candidates in kentucky. 2008 and 2010, both of the candidates there in those cycles were beat handedly even though bill clinton and hillary clinton came in to campaign about them. again, this is going to be a

question between the contrast of the two people on the ballot and that's alison grimes and ultimately mitch mcconnell. >> i actually think that is right. i think bill clinton is popular in kentucky. alison grimes is running ahead of mcconnell in polls and mcconnell, i've been surprised about this, that his approval rating, even among republicans is only around 60%. this guy is not the same popular politician that he has been in kentucky for the last 20 years. this is a different guy running and being beaten up in the primary from the right, from the tea party candidate, is going to infect him. >> the president's popularity is also on the ballot and we see president obama's popularity right now, it's barely in the 30s. >> you said it was only between grimes and mcconnell. now you're saying -- >> no. i think the contrast is going to be important but we know in midterms that is unique and we also do know that if any time somebody like bill clinton comes to ten kuk tea, it is a reminder

that barack obama cannot be there. i think the reason he cannot be there is pretty relevant to a lot of the voters out there, which is that he's unpopular and obamacare is unpopular and it's going to be a central issue. >> a popular kentucky native in alison grimes. this is between the two of them and i think she's going to pull it out. >> i would was going to say, even when president obama was popular, kentucky was never really obama country. let's turn to president obama and speaker boehner who met in the oval office to talk about immigration reform and obamacare. one aide said that they agreed there's a lot of work to do the rest of the year and it's important to work together wherever we can find common ground. less than two hours later the speaker of the house pounced on the chance to take into account things such as different stipends for businesses and could raise premiums for

two-thirds of all companies. >> another sucker punch to our economy, another broken promise to hard-working americans. >> is there any reason to think that anything will happen this year? >> it's very tough. i mean, being look, every time you get into an election year, folks on capitol hill are more likely to talk about what their differences are than what they can find common ground on. it's just inherent in the system right now. so i think most folks right now are going to be looking to draw the contrast on immigration. they are going to looking to draw the contrast on obamacare and spending. it's just simply the way things are on capitol hill right now. >> yeah. you know, there are a couple of things. like the highway bill. you know. the highway trust fund will run out. they may find common ground but i think kevin is right. there is no reward in, working together this year and the right and the left are pounding the middle for compromise.

>> on that cheery note, hilary, kevin, thank you so much. we appreciate it. coming up next, when we come back, president obama drawing a line in the sand. why he is putting his foot down with the president of afghanistan. that's coming up. and later, the first lady gets a celebrity help with her let's move campaign. >> if i eat a great diet six days a week. >> uh-huh. >> but on sunday i eat nothing but candy, is that okay? >> no. >> what? >> but four years later, is the let's move campaign really working? predibut, manufacturings a prettin the united states do. means advanced technology. we learned that technology allows us to be craft oriented. no one's losing their job. there's no beer robot that has suddenly chased them out. the technology is actually creating new jobs.

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welcome back to "the lead." it's time now for the world lead. hamid scar zi has been refusing to sign an agreement that would keep u.s. forces in afghanistan past this year. now president obama is calling

his bluff. he spoke to the afghan leader earlier today and for the first time called karzai and acknowledged to the u.s. that they are preparing a contingency plan that would leave no troops in afghanistan, no small counterterrorism force, no advisers or trainers. it's known as the zero option. jim acosta questioned the white house press secretary about this. >> it is a fact that there will be no truce? >> yes, correct. >> by december 31st, they will all be gone? >> absolutely. >> no wavering on that? >> absent of the s.a., there will be no troops on the ground at the end of the year. >> joining me now to talk about the zero option is chairman robert menendez. thank you so much for joining us. our jim sciutto reports that a senior government official in

pakistan said that a complete withdrawal will lead to a, quote, holocaust. i know you've had your issues with karzai in the past. are you comfortable with a zero presence, no u.s. troops in afghanistan? >> well, look, i think even the administration is not comfortable with the context of the zero option but one thing that i support the administration on is for us to continue to have troops in afghanistan, even at a diminished amount of troops, we need a bilateral security agreement. it's under u.s. authority and without that, it's very difficult for us to leave troops in any country without such a bilateral security agreement. at the end of the day, we've made it very clear that we are willing to keep a presence in afghanistan and that we want to continue to help the afghan

forces and work in counterterrorism but cannot do that without bilateral security agreement. >> it's a very tense time in venezuela. the state department reported that three diplomats have 48 hours to leave the u.s. in response to the three u.s. diplomats that venezuela expelled earlier this month. is the u.s. antagonizing the venezuelan government with these rejections? >> no. on the contrary. president maduro finds it easily to continuously expel three counselor officers. we have nothing to do with the protests in venezuela. but he uses that as an excuse and, of course, our response is i think an appropriately measured response. what president maduro has to

explain to his country is how is a country so rich in oil at an only 56% inflation rate? why is it that in fact those students are taking to the streets which he calls fascist? who is the fascist? the students who want the greater freedoms or those military -- the militia-armed individuals who are supporting maduro's military and killing now up to three individuals in venezuela with several hundred wounded? i think those are the questions that president maduro needs to answer. >> the u.s., the white house has said that they don't want to vocally be more involved or in other ways because they don't want to give maduro the excuse of blaming the americans. when you see what the white house is doing or not doing and you hear the chants from venezuelans about not wanting to live under a cuban-style

dictatorship, what is your response? >> my response is that there are many ways to help the pro-democracy advocates in venezuela. first of all, we could be moving for a multilateral approach with the oas. i want to salute the mexican, the colombians, they have all made a strong statement about the freedoms for its individuals. the oes has a democratic charter. we should be pro et moting that. also, if maduro's government is in the midst of the militias, which has publicly been reported, hurting protesters inside venezuela who are peacefully protesting and arrested the opposition leader for just calling for protests, i don't think we'd be arresting people here in the united states just for calling for protests in

washington. in fact, we shouldn't be targeting sanctions against those in the maduro government who are using violence, whether it's visa or revocations or targeted freezing of accounts here in the united states. those are strong statements about human rights and democracy. >> let's turn to the ukraine for the last question, sir. you're about to be briefed by victoria nuland. secretary of state john kerry said that the u.s. wants to work with russia on helping ukraine with the transition. do you think russia is a partner that the u.s. can trust? >> well, look, i'm very concerned about russia, especially under putin. putin thinks in the context of peter the great. why was peter great? because he added more territory to the russian empire. and i think that's president putin's views as well, adding

more territory to the russian federation. i get concerned, based upon what we saw in georgia and elsewhere where the russians went in and gave passports to those who have some type of russian dissent and said these are russian citizens, we have to protect them. i see that happening in the ukraine. so i hope we send a very strong message along with our european allies that we need ukrainians to decide their own future without the intervention of russia or others. and we need to do that from a position of strength because if not, putin won't understand anything but that. >> senator menendez, thank you so much, sir. >> thank you, jake. when we come back, pull out the scarves and hats again. frigid temperatures making its way across the united states as the country is going to feel the pain. plus, president bush proving

he's no longer shy about his masterpieces. where you'll be able to see the former president's paintings up close. that's coming up. [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help protect your eye health. as you age, your eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is a vitamin made just for your eyes from the eye care experts at bausch + lomb. ocuvite has a unique formula that's just not found in any leading multivitamin. your eyes are unique, so help protect your eye health with ocuvite.

welcome back to "the lead." winter has officially became the slightly tippy wedding guest to plain old obnoxious. the east is going to have temperatures plunge to as much as 35 degrees below normal. yes, it's still february. parts of the d.c. area got blanketed today with a fresh coating of snow. joining me now is meteorologist chad myers live from the cnn weather center. chad, how soon will this bitter cold move back in? >> it comes in -- it's already in chicago. it's already in minneapolis. it comes into the big cities tonight, tomorrow, and really the bulk of it is on thursday into friday. chicago, now somewhere around 17, won't get above freezing for the next seven days. in fact, many lows in chicago will be 5 or 10 below zero.

it's going to be 17 below in the twin cities. this is a cold air. it skirts the south. it gets here. the low in atlanta is going to be 22. we'll take that. this is the core of the cold. ontario, quebec, it swings down through and into the upper midwest and clips new york city as well. here are the lows tonight. minneapolis, 14 degrees below zero. do the math. that's 46 degrees below freezing. chicago, 1 below. that's the morning low. even for new york, you get to 18 tonight. but that's not the coldest night of the week. tomorrow night will be colder and friday night will be colder than that. it gets down to 11 in new york city for thursday morning. back out here, you don't even want to see this. 7 below zero in chicago with wind making the windchill factor even worse than that. like you said, they will not leave the super bowl party and the game has been over for four

hours. winter will just not leave. >> brutal. chad, thank you. republicans who voted in favor of a controversial bill are now saying that they made a mistake. will that make any mistake to the governor of arizona as she makes a decision about what to do. and one of the creators of "caddy shack" and ghostbusters." you can separate runway ridiculousness... from fashion that flies off the shelves. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle... and go. and only national is ranked highest in car rental customer satisfaction by j.d. power. (natalie) ooooh, i like your style. (vo) so do we, business pro. so do we. go national. go like a pro. where their electricity comes from.

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welcome back to "the lead," i'm jake tapper. continuing in national news, this is just one bill in one state and yet it has divided a country. but now it's looking increasingly like the controversial bill to amend arizona's restoration freedom act will not become law. arizona's governor will likely veto the bill which would protect business owners from lawsuits if they refused to

serve certain customers. supporters say it protects first amendment religious of freedom, though now there are fewer of those in the state senate at least who originally voted for the bill now asking governor brewer to veto it. i want to bring informer arizona congressman jim colby. he used to be the dean of the house republican delegation from arizona. he was also one of the first republican congressman to say that he's gay while in office. congressman, good to see you. >> thank you, jake. >> have you said what you think about this bill and communicated that in any way to governor brewer? >> yes, i have spoken to the governor's staff and i've also sent her a personal e-mail expressing my views, which i this that it's unnecessary and harmful and should not be enacted into law. >> there's been a big economic movement against this bill.

apple, n fchl l, american airlines, a lot of companies voicing concerns about this bill. we know the economic pressure governor brewer must be under pressure to veet to this. what are some of the other preshs frpres preshs pressures from the other side. >> saying this is about religious freedom. i want to promote the legislation therefore reledge jous freedom. but this sends the wrong impression that it has to do with legalizing discrimination against people. >> rush limbaugh was talking about this bill on his radio show earlier. i want to play a bit of that. >> she's being attacked for suggesting she might veto the bill for economic reasons. i kid you not, she's -- she's not saying that the veto would be for the reason they want to

hear. the same sex homosexual advocates want her to veto it on the basis of civil rights and gay rights and what have you. the governor of arizona is being bullied. >> congressman, does it matter to you why the bill would be vetoed, as long as it's vetoed? >> well, the important thing is that it doesn't become law, that it does get vetoed, but i think it's important that it be done -- i don't know what she'll say in her veto message but it's important that it's done for several reasons. one, i've already enumerated. i think it's morally incorrect. i think it's unnecessary and it's bad and from a reputation standpoint, it gives arizona a black eye and we don't need that so i think we need to avoid that. >> i'm going to read part of a letter that the three republican state senators who changed their mind about the bill wrote. "while our sincere intent was to

create a shield for all citizens' religious liberties, the bill has instead been miss charge rised by its opponents and causing our state harm. do you think it's being mischaracterized? >> i think the problem is the bill. i don't think it's being mi mischaracterized. i'm sure that the motives for those who supported this was for good motives but it's not needed and it does send the wrong message and i think it's morally indefensible to say that people can discriminate on the basis of one sexual orientation and they are not having any repercussions from that. i think it's wrong, a moral standpoint, reputation standpoint, i think it's wrong. >> jim kolbe, thank you so much. coming up next, the first

lady goes one step further in her fight against childhood obesity on the fourth anniversary of her let's move campaign. the new rules she's announcing that take aim at several big-name companies sf. plus, you've probably seen president obama's self-portrait but curious about the ones you haven't seen? well, stay with us.

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welcome back to "the lead." your child's school may no longer be sponsored by coca-cola. the new regulations would stop companies from advertising junk food in schools. which would mean no giant logos of coke or pepsi in your child's school. today is the fourth anniversary of michelle obama's let's move campaign to combat childhood obesity. >> i think we should all agree that kids should not be bombarded with ads for junk

food. >> will ferrell joined the first lady for a little focus grouping. >> getting a good body and staying healthy is about dedication and consistency and eating right. >> so no entire honey baked hams? >> sorry. >> no. >> for other people in this country, the let's move campaign is a quintessential nanny state idea. and what about the results? is the campaign really working? i want to talk about that with margo. her agency has collaborated with let's move in the past and geneva woods. genevie, it's no secret, you're not a fan of let's move. >> it sounds good. everybody says let's keep bad stuff away from the kids.

but i think if the local school district wants to make that call and some states have, that's one thing. i don't think it's the role of the federal government and as to whether it's working, kids go to places outside of schools. are we going to ban advertising from coca-cola? they don't just stay in school their entire lives. i think the question of it being effective is a little bit artificial. it sounds like we're doing something good. is it really effective. >> margo, why not school and local authorities? >> gen is in the minority about this. parents want junk food and marketing out of schools. food marketing has a very strong impact on children's health. it's what they think of as food and and it's for sugary drinks and

other foods that parents want their kids to eat less of. >> that is one of the questions. which parents are we talking about? >> the majority of parents. >> you're talking about the majority of parents caring about what kids drink or not drink. diet coke is good for people, even though it doesn't have sugar in it. the government has a track record here. in 1992 they came out with something called the food pyramid. it wasn't so right. it said people ought to eat a high carbohydrate diet. if we taught that in schools, why do we have an obesity problem? >> the government is not responsible for the obesity epidemic. we send our kids to school each day for a long period of time. six to eight hours. most parents want that to be a

healthy, safe environment because we're not there to guide our food choices. so most parents want the food choices and the marketing to be healthy. schools are a taxpayer-funded institution. they are the government. so it's just a matter of making those environment self and helpful. >> if parents are so supportive of this, why don't parents in this local district say they want this taken out of the schools? they don't need the federal government to do it. they should be trying to do things like not passing on a trillions upon trillions of debt to the next generation of america. that's something they ought to work on. >> we all agree on that. >> that's a role for them. why are they spending time and energy on this, especially, when as you say, parents already know it's the right thing. they can make these choices at the local level. >> why should the government

be -- >> most of us, we're raising our kids, we're working, we have a lot of responsibility. we don't have time to go school by school, district by district to put into place sensible policies. this is a policy that most people want and it is a local wellness policy so the scope of it and how it's run, how it plays out will have a lot of local influence. but this is responding to the demand that parents have voice. this is not pushing something down parents' throats. >> this is more of the government saying you don't know how to pick out your own doctors, so let's take care of the doctors for you. it is indeed the nancy state. >> it is not indeed the nanny state. we're spending $15 billion a year. it's important. the marketing will follow the

same standards as the school foods standards. >> i want to ask, what is the track record? we've had school lunch programs, school breakfast programs for years. they didn't just show up under michelle obama. as we know, many parents don't like what has been served in those for years and we have an obesity problem today, eating these very programs that you talk about? >> the schools that had strong nutrition programs and good nutrition policies, the kids have lower obesity rates and better diets there. schools are working on the nutritional qualities of the food. >> to be continued. thank you so much for coming. wolf blitzer is here with a preview of the situation room. you sat down with the man that nicolas maduro called the crazy of the crazy, marco rubio. what did he tell you?

when we come back, hillary clinton said we're in a race against time. now secretary of state john kerry is calling it the world's most fierce weapon of mass destruction. so is the obama administration doing enough? stay with us.

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welcome back to "the lead." it's time now for the buried lead. john kerry announced that the state department will host a conference on protecting oceans. this comes on the heels of president obama pledging is billion to help communities prepare for climate change. the supreme court heard arguments over how far the

administration can go, specifically, whether they can tighten emission standards. the cross may be skeptical about the climate change but the world metrological organization said that the first six weeks of this year have been note blg for unusual weather extremes, extreme cold, heat, rain. our next guest says we should all be paying attention to all of this because joining us now, elizabeth kol bert, author of "the sixth extension of unnatural history." the human species is eradicating other species from the world. i want to remind our viewers of how secretary kerry talked about the importance of this issue a few days ago. >> climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps the worst more fierce weapon of mass

destruction. >> is he right? is that dire? >> i don't think people realize how much of the world depends -- how all of us, all societies depend on this sort of climate that we are used to and how quickly we're pushing the planet, the whole planet into this climate regime that is unknown in human history. so if we really continue on the trajectory that we're on, we're going to have carbon dioxide on the atmosphere and it's very unclear what the consequences of that are going to be. >> i think a lot of people in the public, certainly a lot of house republicans and some house democrats and senate democrats think that there's a quality to all of this. there's chicken little, that scientists say that and it doesn't actually mean anything if the water and sea goes up half a temperature or a degree. >> one of the things that scientists that they tell us, they look back at the points where temperatures have been higher than now. it's true.

they have been years in the past and they rook at what sea levels were like. washington, d.c., will be under water. if nobody cares about that, that's unfortunately -- washington is a place where people think they can choose their fact ts, like you chose to put on that stripe tie this morning. >> thanks to my wife. but, yeah. i get your point. >> the laws of geo physics are a lot more -- you know, unchangeable than the laws of politics and, unfortunately, everyone, everyone around the world, including those people who really did the least to contribute to this problem are going to deal with the consequences of people thinking that they can choose their sets of fact ts. >> so one of the reasons why there hasn't been action on climate change is because people see environmentalists saying, don't do this and they feel like it will -- and a lot of cases they are right -- affect jobs, hurt jobs, hurt the way that americans live their lives.

you talk about extinctions in this book. yesterday the u.s. wildlife service put two salamadners on the endangered sheesh she's list because of human actions, groundwater contamination. who cares? two slamanders in central texas. what does it matter? >> i can answer that two different ways. the first way i can say is, this is sort of -- this is the beauty and variety of our planet. it it took many years to unravel to that point. the list goes on and on and on these days. if you don't care about that, really, what do you care about? recently the pope said this line, god always forgives. people occasionally forgive but nature never forgives. you drive those creatures ex

tints it's never coming back in all of history. but in a more sort of practical in your gut level, one of the things that we've learned by looking back over the long record of life on this planet is there are these moments of mass distinction and when that happens, as one british palentologist that i quoted said, the rules change. you're just changing the rules for everything on earth and we are obviously part of that. >> elizabeth kolbert, very fascinating. thank you so much for coming in. i hope you'll come back when we talk more about this issue. in politics, prepare to explore the deeply complicated relationships between a former u.s. president and fellow world leaders, not through top secret documents that have been sealed away somewhere, but at an art exhibit being hosted this spring by former president george w. bush. bush, as you may know, took a

painting in 2009. the artist in chief will be displaying some of his never-before-seen paintings this april at an exhibit called the art of leadership, a president's personal diplomacy. the ex hib bit captures how bush ds relationship with world leaders helped to shape global policies during his presidency. as if learning that her phone was tapped was not bad enough, angela merkel has the distinct honor of trending on twitter a hitler mustache this photo was snabed and the photographer happened to take the picture just as netanyahu lifted his finger, casting a rather unfortunate shadow across the lip. it did not take long for the

photo to go viral. harold ramis could find humor in every aspect of life. now the obamas are paying their respects to the genius who died yesterday at the age of 69 after giving us classics like "ghostbusters," "groundhog day" and, of course, "caddy jack." >> how about something for your effort? >> there won't be any money but when you die, on your death bed you will receive total consciousness. so i have that going. which is nice. >> carl spakler. the obamas said our thoughts and prayers are with his family and

his wife erica his children and grandchildren and that he received total consciousness. i turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." wolf? jake, thank you. happening you now, no bluff. without a signed security deal, all u.s. troops may soon leave his country. hillary clinton doesn't matter when it comes to biden's decision on running for president 2016. and i'll have a special one-on-one interview with marco rubio. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." no deal, no troops. that was the blunt message from president obama to hamid karzai today. president obama made