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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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pop lead
Jimmy Kimmel agrees, Leno "dumbing down" his jokes
Late night ratings roulette has begun, with more than ten million viewers at stake, and hundreds of millions of dollars in network advertising on the line.
But as NBC apparently makes moves to replace Jay Leno with Jimmy Fallon, ABC's Jimmy Kimmel - fresh from his New Year's move from 12:35am to 11:35pm - remains unfazed.
"Obviously, NBC is looking to move on, because they did it once already. This would be the second time that this has happened. So I mean, it makes perfect sense. And Jimmy Fallon is doing a great job," says Kimmel.
As for Jay Leno, let's just say Kimmel's respect for the comic legend knows bounds; Kimmel criticized Leno in a Rolling Stone article back in January, saying "Leno hasn't been a good stand-up in 20 years."
"Yes, yes. My mother told me to stop," Kimmel says of the criticism. "I have diarrhea of the mouth."
Kimmel tempered his criticism of Leno, saying he "is one of the great comedians." But in response to questions of the NBC host dumbing down his material, Kimmel says, "I think that's fair to say."
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money lead
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey shares his next big idea
It may have started a revolution, or at least fueled one. But the revolution that is Twitter began seven years ago today, when creator Jack Dorsey wrote the first-ever tweet. Since its creation, Twitter has been used to announce presidential candidates, and play a pivotal role in dictators being toppled.
"The moment for me was when I was watching the State of the Union after Obama was just elected President," said Dorsey. "The cameras were panning around to the congressmen and congresswomen, and they all were like on their phones. And I was like what is going on, they're being rude the president is speaking right now. And I get a buzz in my pocket, I took out my phone and it's Senator Claire McCaskill saying, 'I'm watching the President give the State of the Union.' And there's this amazing connection between the two. It becomes very, very small suddenly and I just love that feeling."
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national lead
White House may move drone program from CIA to Pentagon
U.S officials tell CNN that the White House is thinking about moving the drone program away from the CIA and into hands of the Pentagon. It could lead to more transparency in the controversial program, which has up until now been shrouded in the shadows.
Unmanned killing machines in the sky have been the weapon of choice for the Central Intelligence Agency for years, as a method of combating terrorism. The drone kill count is formally classified, but could be as high as 4,700. Included in that number are the deaths of high profile terrorists like American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and his son.
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politics lead
Is this the man who will save the GOP?
By Jake Tapper and Sherisse Pham
Saving the Republican party isn't brain surgery, but you might think it is with all the infighting since they lost the election. Now, a new conservative star is on the rise, and he just happens to be a neurosurgeon.
Dr. Ben Carson, who is also African-American, made a splash at CPAC last week, where crowds cheered his hints at running for office.
"If a year-and-a-half goes by and people are still clamoring for me to do that, and there's no other very good candidates, I would certainly have to seriously consider it," says the Baltimore-based neurosurgeon.
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national lead
Americans overdosing on salt
By Jake Tapper and Sherisse Pham
Americans eat too much salt. The American Heart Association, presented several new studies today revealing that many of us are ingesting an overdose of sodium on a daily basis.
In the U.S., eating too much salt played a role in 2.3 million deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other diseases in 2010 alone. And Americans are passing these bad habits on to their kids. In a different study also released today, researchers found that three-quarters of pre-packaged meals and snacks for toddlers had way too much salt.
"We're not born liking salt, we develop a liking for it about 6 months of age," says Michael Moss, author of "Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us."
The processed food industry hugely influential in shaping our taste for salt, adds the Pulitzer Prize-winning author.
"Kids that are exposed to more processed foods ... are more apt to be licking the salt shaker by the time they're in preschool," says Moss.
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