Eliot Spitzer asks Wisc. Sen. Maj. Leader Scott Fitzgerald whether it's fair to cut education and taxes for the wealthy at the same time.

Chaos reigns on Libya's western border as anxious people flee escalating violence in Libya. CNN's Ivan Watson reports.

Katherine Roux of the IFRC describes the "desperation of people" at the Libyan-Tunisian border (click here for the IFRC website).

Exiled Libyan dissident Mansour El-Kikhia says food shortages may ultimately bring down Gadhafi regime.

Check out our fascinating OFF-SET interview with Mansour El-Kikhia, exclusive to the "In The Arena" blog.

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s six OFF-SET questions is Mansour El-Kikhia, Associate Professor and Chair, Dept. of Political Science & Geography at the Univ. of Texas, San Antonio.

Since 1989, Dr. El-Kikhia has been a member of the Political Science faculty at UTSA. He received his B.A. from the American University of Beirut and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara. His published works on Libyan politics and human rights in the Middle East are highly regarded, and he has testified on these issues before the United States Congress, the European Parliament, and United Nations committees.

Prof. El-Kikhia is scheduled to appear on Parker Spitzer on monday, Feb. 28, 2011.

Human rights groups say they have confirmed about 300 deaths from the street clashes and witnesses say the number may be higher. Do you sense that Gadhafi will sacrifice any number of Libyans to stay in power?

Gadhafi has always threatened Libyans with annihilation. He imprisoned tortured, and murdered at will without restraint. Hundreds of Libyans have died under torture and many more in his foreign adventures. Gadhafi’s hired killers in the United States and Europe pursued exiles and many were murdered. He ordered the destruction of foreign and Libyan civilian aircrafts, supported civil wars in Africa and Asia that took the lives of thousands of innocent civilians.

Murder and mayhem is not something new for Mr. Gadhafi. He is has become quite adept at it and killing Libyan to remain in power is another day’s work. Indeed few rulers in modern history have hired mercenaries in the numbers that Mr. Gadhafi has employed to murder his own people. The man will stop at nothing to remain in power. He is currently proving that. FULL POST

ONLY ON THE BLOG: The Labor Department reported in February that the unemployment rate plummeted in January from 9.4 percent to 9 percent. And unemployment among African Americans crept down a bit, from 15.8 percent in December to 15.7 percent now. But over the past year, those slight decreases have added up. The unemployment rate for African Americans was 16.4 percent a year ago.

Who cares about the young and the jobless? FULL POST

Today's Number of the Day is $2.7...

As in billion.

That’s how much of the $4 billion in cuts, which Congress has mandated over the next two weeks, are in “earmarks” that had already become a consensus cut in this year’s budget.

It’s real money, but does nothing to bridge the $1.6 trillion deficit we’re facing this year.

Earmarks have gotten horrendous press over the last couple years, but if you look at this link to what they actually fund,  it’s not that different from most of the federal budget.

Some of it is really useful, some of it not so much.

Many people would be surprised to know that Teach for America—a program that virtually everyone adores—got its $18 million from the federal government through an earmark.

Earmarking, at the end of the day, is a process unrelated logically to the merits of the expenditure. FULL POST

ONLY ON THE BLOG: Answering today’s six OFF-SET questions is Ayman Safadi, former Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan.

After an extensive career in journalism, media and communication that began in the early 1990s, he was appointed Advisor to His Majesty King Abdullah II in September 2008 as part of the policy-making team. From November 2010 until the end of January 2011 he was Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of State and Government Spokesperson.

Prior to that appointment, Safadi was Editor in Charge of Abu Dhabi's Alittihad newspaper, and Editor in Chief of Al Ghad newspaper in Amman. Earlier in 2004, Mr. Safadi was named Chief of Public Information and Spokesman for The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq, after having served as Director General of Jordan Radio and Television Corporation for two years.

Safadi has an M.A. in International Journalism from Baylor University in Waco, Texas and a B.A. in English Language and Literature from Yarmouk University.

He is visiting the United States to talk about the new book by King Abdullah II of Jordan, “Our Last Best Chance: The Pursuit of Peace in a Time of Peril.” BLOG EXTRA: See an excerpt from the book below. 

Safadi is scheduled to appear In the Arena on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

(Please note: the following is from the producer's notes and is not a verbatim transcript.)

King Abdullah writes that unless there is a positive breakthrough between Israelis and Palestinians in the next year, he fears that the world will miss its last chance for peace in a generation. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has disbanded the Negotiation Support Unit, the team that provides legal and policy advice during the peace talks with Israel. Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator for more than a decade, has also reigned. So what does Jordan think the next step is to revive peace talks and make them meaningful?

In the book, the King explains that ultimately, the answer is a two-state solution. That’s the solution that would allow the Palestinian state to live side-by-side with Israel. What we need is the will to get there—and the U.S. has to play a role in that process.

For so long talks have failed, and with every failure, it creates frustration. The U.S. needs to play a leading role. If that is not done, then frustrations are going to go bigger, and people are going to lose faith in the solution and will be on a destructive track to more violence.

At this point, the objective is there; the end game is known. The U.S. needs to come up with its own proposals to bring the two parties together, and then make sure they both move on track with the timeline. We haven’t seen that yet, and unless the U.S. comes in, it’s not going to happen. The objective is the will to get there. Peace advocates need to come in with pressure on both sides. FULL POST

(Editor's note: New "In the Arena" family member, Will Cain, begins a new column today on our blog. He says he thinks he'll be able to write one of these every day. We're psyched!)

Things I’m reading, thinking about and hoping to discuss today:

1. I think, in order to have a productive debate about Wisconsin, we’re going to have to discuss what “collective bargaining rights” means.

2. If given a big dose of truth-syrum, would most Israelis be happy with the “democracy” bet in the Middle East, or would they just as soon have Mubarak back and stick with the status quo in Yemen, Bahrain, Tunisia, etc.?

3. Discretionary spending accounts for about 16% of the Fed budget. Republicans and Democrats are threatening a shutdown over some small percentage cut of that piece of the pie. Is it worth it? I’m fine with shutting the SOB down, just over something big – like entitlements reform. FULL POST

CNN launched In the Arena, our new 8pm show on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011.

As always, newsmakers, experts, journalists and contributors will join Eliot Spitzer each night.   E.D. Hill and Will Cain are now part of the In the Arena ensemble, and others within and outside the CNN family will be joining the program as well.

The 8pm hour has become a centerpiece of substantive, policy-oriented conversation, and we are looking forward to building on that with this new format. Simply put, the new program will look beyond the headlines to analyze and discuss the most important stories of the day.

The program will provide context and analysis through balanced and thoughtful discussions and interviews with a wide range of guests and newsmakers who cumulatively represent various points of view.

You may have seen E.D. Hill and Will Cain on CNN before, but we thought you might want to know a little more about them.

E.D. Hill is an author and television host. From 1998 to 2008, Hill served as host for several programs on Fox News Channel including Fox and Friends, Fox News Live and America’s Pulse. She also co-hosted Bill O’Reilly’s Radio Factor for five years and filled in for Bill O’Reilly on The O’Reilly Factor. 

Prior to Fox News, Hill was an anchor for WABC-TV in New York from 1992 to 1995.  From 1990 to 1992, she served as an anchor for WHDH-TV in Boston.  Hill also was a guest co-host on ABC’s The View in the recent years.

In 2005, Hill authored her first book, a collection of personal profiles entitled “Going Places: How America’s Best and Brightest Got Started Down the Road of Life”. 

Her second book, “I’m Not Your Friend, I’m Your Parent,” was published in the U.S. 2007 and translated into Chinese and released in China in 2010.  

WILL CAIN is a licensed attorney, media entrepreneur, and host of “Off the Page” on National Review.com. Cain also produces the Internet interview program “Cain and Table,” focusing on the intersection between politics and non-political topics, such as pop-culture and sports.

Cain founded Quince Media, a Hispanic media company that produced websites, magazines and events across the country.

Cain also owned Cain Communications, a community newspaper group in Texas that published print and online newspapers to the Dallas community. 

Cain earned the prestige of being named one of the “40 Most Influential People” in the Magazine Industry by Folio Magazine 2007 and one of the “20 Under 40″ by the Texas Press Association in 2005.

Eliot, E.D. and Will welcome your feedback on the program and your suggestions on what we cover.