One day late in the summer of 2010, I was sitting in my backyard with my oldest daughter. We had just finished cutting the lawn when my neighbor and his oldest son stopped by.

His son, a football player at one of the powerhouse local high schools, had grown nearly an inch over the summer and weighed more than 200 pounds. He was already in practice for the upcoming season. He asked if I had time to speak to a friend of his who also played football and had suffered a concussion the previous season.

They were asking me in my capacity as a neurosurgeon, but also in desperation, as this young man was still having tremendous difficulty nearly a year after his injury.

Most of the patients I see in the hospital visit me at the time of their injury, and I hardly ever get to see the longer term impact of a severe concussion on an otherwise healthy young person. What he shared with me was stunning, and also formed the basis of the year long project, "Big Hits, Broken Dreams."

This young, physically robust, handsome man couldn’t remember the details of the hit in a mid-season practice that led to his concussion, but he was able to describe in awful detail how much his life had changed since.

Read more...

The GOP race looks like a dead heat in the CNN Florida poll released yesterday, with Romney at 36% and Gingrich at 34%. A 25 point Romney lead in our last poll basically evaporated in just two weeks’ time.

But is the race really neck-and-neck? Maybe. Probably. But the truth is: right now, nobody really knows. We’re seeing significant day-to-day swings in the numbers, with both men trading momentum over the course of our three-day poll: Gingrich holding an undeniable advantage one day, Romney holding a significant edge the next. We’re now in uncharted territory - this late in the season, this is not how Republican presidential campaigns work.

What’s driving the numbers? The evidence isn’t all that clear-cut. But here’s one clue: unfavorable ratings for both men are rising by double-digit margins in virtually every poll. In other words, as the campaign grows bloodier by the day, it’s as though Florida Republicans wake up each morning and think to themselves: Who do I like less today?

Take today: this afternoon, Romney’s campaign put out a release calling Gingrich “Dr. Newt and Mr. Hyde,” as Romney himself spent the day slamming the former speaker at virtually every stop. And Gingrich accused Romney of “lying,” “grotesque hypocrisy,” and treating his GOP rivals as though they’re "stupid." (In fact, wrapped all the week’s anti-Romney attacks in one line that stands as a masterpiece of the genre: “…[W]e’re not going to beat Barack Obama with some guy who has Swiss bank accounts, Cayman Island accounts, owns shares of Goldman Sachs while it forecloses on Florida and is himself a stockholder in Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac while he tries to think the rest of us are too stupid to put the dots together, to understand what this is all about.”)

Florida is a must-win state for Mitt Romney if he wants to hold on to the electability argument that had been the chief strength of his campaign before primary season voting got underway. This is also a must-win state for Newt Gingrich: it’s a closed primary, which means only Republicans can weigh in – so if Romney wins, Gingrich’s argument that he’s the only candidate who can unite and excite the conservative base will take a major blow. Right now, Romney’s got the establishment riding to the rescue, with a wave of GOP figures from Bob Dole and John McCain to Ann Coulter shifting into anti-Gingrich emergency mode. And Gingrich has been pulling in the crowds, with thousands crowding rallies from Sarasota and Naples. This is a winner-take-all state, with 50 delegates at stake; there’s no prize for second place.

Which brings us to tonight. As of now, tonight’s debate may be their last face-to-face showdown for the next month or so. Debates have been critical this cycle, and maybe none more so than tonight’s: Whoever comes out on top tonight stands to grab critical momentum heading into the home stretch here in Florida – so both Romney and Gingrich are likely to come out swinging.

Tune in for the debate at 8 p.m. ET on CNN, and don’t miss Anderson’s post-debate show for the best recap and analysis. Also, don’t forget to send your questions for the candidates by using #CNNDebate on Twitter.

Dear Mr. President,

I trust all is going well with your travels after that rather testy chat you had with the Arizona governor. I can't say that I'm surprised. Not only are there the regular party differences between you two, but this whole immigration business is going to be a sore point for a while, I imagine.

And what is the solution? I guess no one knows.

One fundamental question that needs to be answered: What purpose does immigration serve these days?

Some might say "Do you mean legal or illegal?". It seems to me that the two have become so tangled in the same debate that we can no longer discuss one without the other.

So is the fundamental goal of our immigration policy bringing needed labor to this country? Or is it helping struggling people? Or is it for politicians to add to a voting block?

I think, just as our nation's economy has evolved over centuries, our immigration policy has needed to evolve, too. And the first step in that evolution probably starts with that question: What do we expect or want from immigration? Once we answer that, I suspect, we'll be on our way toward constructing a policy that can work.

Regards,
Tom

Tuesday night, President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech to Congress in the House chamber focusing on his trademark policies – tax increases for the wealthy, Wall Street reform, health care reform, government stimulus spending – along with topics that could please the Republicans such as corporate tax breaks and expanded oil and gas development. He also emphasized the current disunity of Congress and declared: “What's at stake aren't Democratic values or Republican values, but American values, and we have to reclaim them."

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords resigned in an emotional ceremony on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The former congresswoman, who Rep. Nancy Pelosi called the “brightest star Congress has ever seen,” announced her resignation on Sunday in a video message. She plans to focus on her recovery from last year’s shooting in Tucson, Arizona that left six people dead. Her presence at Tuesday’s State of the Union address was particularly touching. Arizona GOP Rep. Jeff Flake rose with Giffords at key moments throughout the speech to help her stand up, even though they may disagree politically. To understand the medical hurdles in Giffords’ remarkable recovery, Anderson spoke to Dr. Sanjay Gupta earlier this week.

Thousands of Egyptians flooded Cairo’s Tahrir Square Wednesday waving flags and chanting slogans exactly one year since protesters took to the streets in an 18-day uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. And earlier this week the democratically-elected Egyptian parliament met Monday for the first time since Mubarak stepped down. It’s the country’s first parliament to be dominated by Islamists, who were previously banned from running for office during President Mubarak’s rule.

The Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday. ‘Hugo’ and ‘The Artist’ lead the list with 11 and 10 nominations, respectively, including best picture. Which movies and actors are you rooting for?

And an Ohio news station’s innovative storytelling lands it (and its puppets) on our RidicuList!

Today’s Scoop:

With the Florida Republican presidential debate and primary around the corner, we’re looking into the financial history of the two frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Anderson is Keeping Them Honest.

And we’ll be talking politics with Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time” – join us at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET tonight for a conversation you won’t want to miss!

American special forces made a daring overnight rescue, via helicopter, in Somalia, saving two kidnapped aid workers – one American and one Dane. A U.S. official told CNN that among the rescuers were Navy SEALs from the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden. More insight into the rescue mission tonight on AC360.

A look ahead:

Tune in to tomorrow when CNN, the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network host the Republican presidential debate in Jacksonville, Florida at 8 p.m. ET. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer will moderate the two-hour debate; be sure to stick around for Anderson’s post-debate wrap-up live from Florida.

Buzz-winning story:

Historians are calling recently uncovered JFK audio tapes a gold mine. The former U.S. president, looking ahead at his calendar, calls a particular Monday “tough” due to his tight schedule. That Monday turned out to be the day of his funeral. It’s a chilling look at an historic moment, and the every day life of President Kennedy.

Follow Deena Sami on Twitter.

Dear Mr. President,

Well, it seems as if your speech last night was received in the fashion one might expect: Democrats liked it, Republicans disliked it, and independents remain somewhere in the middle. That last group is the one I want to write about today.

I was with a focus group in New York, tracking their reactions to all you had to say, and it appears that you still have your work cut out in winning the independents back to your side.  You know as well as I do that you can’t possibly win re-election without them.  So, you may ask, what is the problem?

Fundamentally, in terms of last night’s speech, the issue is that your applause lines, the really big “Wow, you’re going to love this!” moments you had scripted, fell like stones into the sea with the indies.  Every time you turned on the whole “hope” and vision thing, they reacted with such mistrust and…well, almost contempt…that it was unmistakable.  Oh sure, individually, I’m sure some of them weren’t that bothered, but as a group, that was the reaction.  It wasn’t pretty.

When the speech was over, I asked them why they felt that way, and to paraphrase they said, “We’ve heard it all before. It’s just talk.  I believed him the first time, and I don’t anymore.”  To that end, it truly appears that your key moments are not compelling, but rather repelling to these folks.

Like I said, it is not pretty, and to be honest I’m not sure what you can do about it.  The only thing these people want (and btw, I’ve seen this effect in more than one place) is results.  They want to see substantial improvements in the economy, in bipartisan cooperation, and political leaders doing what the vast body of American citizens wants…not what the politicians and their special interest groups want.

That’s a tall order to fill.  But it is the key to re-election as far as I can tell.  Because words, no matter how carefully chosen, just aren’t cutting it for those voters anymore.

Regards,
Tom