they'll notice me, and until then, i will 00 just be lonely, a little lonely, little me noets. >> you make the call at home that one. ron paul, doing very well in iowa at the moment, will be with us tomorrow. we'll see you then. erin burnett out front starts right now. thanks, john. breaking news tonight. we're this wau we're in washington for the taxpayer roll cut bill. are we headed for another federal failure in we'? we're getting forward republican leaders to speak in moments. as we count down. the latest developments then from asia following the death of north core reand he 00 kim

jong-il pnd and another toddler goes missing. what are they doing to find her? let's go out front. we're waying for the house to waiting for the house to vote on the payroll tax cut bill. the vote too should take place later tonight. you're going to see the house republican leadership come out in a few moments. we anticipate to make a statement. john payner speaker will be there and we will also hear from eric cantor, jeb hensarling. as we count down to that, let's tell where you we stand. the version of the bill under consideration tonight is the senate version. it extends the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for two months. now, they're paying for this by having fannie mae and freddie mac charge higher fees on new

mortgages, so it is paid for. what's the hold snup the bill only stepds textends the tax br two months. that's a real kick the can down solution and it frustrate as lot of people on both sides of the i'll. but enough so for the gop leadership that they may put the whole thing off entirely. the senate has already gone on recess for the holidays, which means they would have to be recalled back to washington in order to vote on any new bill the house creates. dana bash joins us. you come aboutback to a real na biter. >> that's right, i've been gone on maternity leave and i was saying before the specifics certainly have changed, but the chaos hasn't. you just showed a picture outside the republican meeting right now, house republicans are discussing the way forward now and unless something dramatic changes which according to sources i've talked to in that meeting didn't look like it will being the republicans will vote

down the two month exsechkts payropa extension of the payroll tax. in the house they're saying it's sim simply not enough and that it will hurt businesses to do the temporary fix. it means 160 americans will likely see their taxes go up, i unemploy unemployed americans will lose their benefits. and they don't know how this will end up because the senate which is right down the hall behind me, they're gone. they passed over the weekend this two month extension and the senate democratic leaders are saying the vast majority of republicans in the senate said this is a okay and we're not coming back. >> so you think they mean it, right? they're not coming back. if this doesn't happen, then we're going into the new year. >> you ask a very good question because the republicans are sort of banking on the idea that democrats in general and the president specifically, they don't want to have this increase

in taxes for many, many americans because it will really hurt will the economy potentially and that's the last thing president obama needs going into the election year. however the senate democrats if you look back through the year that they've been working with house republicans, the republicans in charge in the house, we've seen this brinks man ship over and over again. democrats are caved, as they said. and i've talked to several democrats dwa who said you won't recognize us, you've been gone for six months, we're not going to blink this time, we're not going to cave. but we'll see what happens. it's anyone's guess right now. >> well, thank you right now. we appreciate it. let's find out exactly what's happening here. debbie wasserman schultz joins us of the democratic national committee. thanks so much for being with us. we appreciate it. so just give me your -- how do you feel tonight? >> well, really outraged. i have to tell you, outraged on behalf of my constituents, on

behalf of the single mom and single dad who i stood with a couple weeks ago in an ice cream parlor in my district who would face $1,000 coming out of their paycheck if this payroll tax cut extension doesn't pass. the legislation passed the senate 89-10. the senate is not exactly known as a very functional institution. if they were able to pass a bill 89-10 with overwhelming bipartisan support, how could the house republicans, this is how extreme they are, that the house republicans would refuse to take up the two month extension so that we could sit down at the table and work out how we would extend it for a year just so that they could insist on their way. we're talking about house republicans who oppose the payroll tax cut extension to begin with, had all year to take it up and pass it, and only new at the last minute are scrambling and insist has gone they really want a year extension. what they want is their way and

they're trying to jam the middle class and it's not going to work will tim this time. >> and i think people on both sides are incredibly frustrated that something that a lot of people agreed on you could only get done for two months. and i know your view is it's better than nothing. but the national payroll commission came out -- national payroll reporting consortium, i'm sorry, said it's too late, we can't implement a two month extension, two-thirds of the nation's employers wouldn't even be able to do it, they would have such confusion at this point. does that make the cause for just wait and get right? >> that doesn't even make any sense. this is a payroll tax cut that has already been implemented and they would severally continue to implement it. we have to make sure that 160 million people don't lose their payroll tax cut, we have to make sure that 2.2 million people also in this bill don't lose their unemployment compensation benefits.

and mark zandi, john mark's former economic adviser, has said and have others, that the economy would being remarkably damaged and that we would really jeopardize the continued recovery if we don't pass this tax cut extension and the unemployment benefits extension. it's two months. we need to get it done so it doesn't happen to the middle class over the holidays. the republicans need to stop listening to the tea party what for the middle class. >> i guess the point was that it's scheduled to expire so they have it programmed into their system. but i hear you. in terms of the economic growth, most numbers out there, half a percent, obviously that's not something anybody wants to take and we can find ways to pay for this, but are you fully sold this being a make or break for the economy recession or not a recession just based upon this one tax? >> this is a critical component

of the president's american jobs acts. one of the key things that he proposed was to extend the payroll tax cut for employees, add a payroll tax cut for employers which the republicans have refused to take up, make sure we made short term investments in infrastructure, keep teachers and first responders working on the job. there's a package that we need to move forward with. one of the linchpins is this payroll tax cut extension. without it, it pulls a lot of money out of the economy, a lot of money out of middle class pay cuts right at the holidays, at a critical point when we'll make ultimately impacting the amount of money that folks can spend right in the haerts eart of the unbelievable. >> thanks very much. we appreciate your time. good to have all three of you. john avalon, this is an

interesting situation because you and i talked extensively last week starting will thursday night that we were incredibly frustrated that democrats and republicans could agree on a tax cut and only get it done for two months. it was pretty pathetic. but now this happens and the whole thing gets even worse. >> but the only thing worse than kicking the can down the road two months on payroll tax is failing to keep the payroll tax cut in place at all. and yet that's what we're playing with. it just underscores how addicted these folks are to partisan brink man ship. even when the middle class tax cut is at stake. and it just increases that frustration. >> david frochl is there anyway the republicans can win? >> that's the wrong question. i don't mean -- it's the wrong way to think. i agree with john. we have here the guy gap tick

tragedy of the failure of the american political system to respond in an intelligent way to an economic crisis that is not only worse than the 1930s, but similar to the 1930s. we've been here before, so we have no excuse. there's a whole series of tragedies. there's the tragedy that the payroll tax, which has not had results we want, so this is the one at this point counter cyclical policy that there still is, it's not a very good county cyclical policy. second, we have the crazy idea that it has to be quote/unquote paid for by immediately coming up with the spending cuts that we should be positioning about in a time prosperity in ordinary to fund the aid the people need at this time of recession and even depression.a time prosperio fund the aid the people need at this time of recession and even depression. anlgtd the part that we're playing games with unemployment insurance. because we can question how much good the payroll tax cut does.

we know that the unemployment insurance money is desperately needed in a country where now the average unemployed worker is out of work for over 40 weeks. >> james carville, what's your take on how this ends? obviously i think everyone would agree we should have had it done last week and it should have been done for a year. but we're not, so here we are. how does it end? >> with an election. i think we'll just keep i seeing this on and on. i agree with 90 respect about of what david from just said. we've been in this situation before. we know what we're supposed to do. we're just not doing. they kept the pipeline in, something most all of the republicans except 10 in the senate voted for it. then it gets over to there and

it's stunning how much good it would do. we could argue it will do some good, it's $1,000 a year to somebody which a lot of money. and the fact that the democrats give in on the tax, they give in on the pipeline, they go in and get 89 votes in the senate and then all of a sudden boehner who is a likeable guy who has no control over his caucus says i can't do this. but we'll wait and see. >> we'll take a pause, gentlemen. thank you very much. we're counting down. just a couple months, we'll hear from the house leadership. john boehner going to be coming as you can see there, we keep showing you, a lot of staffers behind them, but going to be making a statement. right now our anticipation that s. that we'll have procedural votes and this could extend into the we chlt hours of the morning. we're also counting down the gop side to the presidential election and, wow, a big shift

in the polls today. we'll grive you the very latest on newt gingrich and a big endorsement for mitt romney. and a shocking video from iran which allegedly shows an american spy captured. james rubin out front with information about exactly what happened and what he knows about what the cia is doing in iran. and the out front five, at&t, dropping that doomed bid for t moebl. what does it mean for your dropped calls. everyone believes in keeping their promises once a year. but we believe in helping people take steps to keep them every single day.

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♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates. a $300 million stake in the social media site twitter. it's more than 100 active users and it's becoming increasingly popular in the arab world whether wr it was credited with playing a role in the arab swing. but now arab language messaging is the fastest growing segment on twitter. which brings us to tonight's number. 10,000. that's the dollar amount many top celebrities are paid per tweet when they endorse products. seriously. according to the site sponsored tweets.com, advertisers are willing to play tens of

thousands of dollars to mention their products and services on twirt. if you're interested in the really big names, you have to call for a quote. i will say by the way our writer, chris maloney, called for a quote on himself and he gets 63 cents a tweet. that is a star that will surge. maybe he was the latest flavor of the week. the newt gingrich story pretty stupendous. 15 days until the iowa caucuses and newt gingrich just lost his lead. this was a -- all right. a new cnn orc poll shows newt gingrich ties with mitt romney to first place. and why do i make that poof sound noise? a week ago a poll showed newt was ahead by 17 points. okay. that it's pretty stupendous. but it is anybody's race. and joining us how, vice president editor of the "des

moines register" and tea party co-founder. i want to talk about the poll number, but i also want to know that your paper endorsed mitt romney this weekend. jenny, your organization held a straw poll that newt gingrich won. rick, why do you think that mitt romney is the right guy? it's been newt gingrich who has been getting a lot of momentum lately. why do you go for mitt? >> well, it's interesting sitting here in this des moines which is the front lines much the big political war that's going on right now. to listen to the show that you just had on and your guests talking about what all sun folding in washington right now. it's no surprise to you, to your viewers and certainly to everyone here in iowa, washington is broken. we have not seen any sense at all of any kind of willingness to collaborate and cooperate from a bipartisan stand point. we've had a unique perspective with being able to spend time with each of these candidates.

in the case of both dr. paul and governor romney, the past five years. and we've been impresseded with governor romney's vision for this country and the fact that he's focused in on job creation, turning around the economy, but doing so in a way that hopefully will build bridges in washington as opposed to this incredible political divide that exists there right now. >> and you say in the paper, but jenny, first, i know you said you won't make an endorsement, but let me ask you about another thing that stood out in this poll and that is that 56% of likely gop voters still say they might change their mind. which is pretty stunning considering that they have known mitt romney for eight years. that they have known newt gingrich for 28 or more years. the point is this is a known field. it's been a very covered race. and 56% say they'll still change their mind. >> i'm not surprised by it. exactly as the other man is saying, there are huge problems in washington, d.c. and they're

evaluating the candidates and trying to determine who is going to best be in the position to solve the problems that our nation faces. they don't want to see us go the way of greece and it will take a lot of bold thinking and a lot of decisive decision making on the next president's part. >> rick, let me ask and you quote on -- i just have to read and i think this gave me a smile.and you quote on -- i just have to read and i think this gave me a smile. in your endorsement on his reputation as a flip-flopper, you said "voters will have to decide for themselves whether such subtly nuanced statements expressed romney's true beliefs or if he's trying to have it both ways. many people might want to punch you. others will say it's a beautiful way of putting it. you came to terms with that. >> we did. it's no big surprise politicians change their positions. some of them own up to it, some of them want to run away from it. what impressed the i had the

tori editorial board is that you had a politician in governor romney who acknowledged it. didn't try to dodge it. what we wrote is exactly how we feel, that it's up to the voters on decide if he was trying to have it both ways or did he express some kind of maturity which frankly was a breath of fresh air for us. here was a politician who said i've changed my career in certain ways i look at some of the issues. i stand by who i am and what i believe in, but perhaps i could have done it in a different way. that was mature, that was fresh thinking for us. >> jenny, would you be comfortable with mitt romney? i know you won't endorse anyone, but with half the republican party identifying stifl as tea party friendly or tea party defeatee and the tea party not warming up to mitt romney, would you be comfortable with him if he became the nominee?

>> what i can say rather than what i would be comfortable with is that what water we're hearing from mitt romney is what we've been fighting for for the past nearly three years. he's talking about bringing fiscal responsibility to washington, d.c. and that's what we need right now in our country. and so when you weigh that versus what we have currently in the white house, i think that there are people who would be much more in favor of mitt romney than they would of president obama. >> well, thanks very much to both of you. we appreciate it. >> thank you. in iran tonight, a video has been made public that allegedly shows a confession of an american spy. according to the news agency, this is the man accused of carrying out the intelligence operation. he saysis name is amir and claims to be a u.s. marine. cnn has not confirmed the us a

then tisity of the man's report a report and the man's father says it's a bunch of lies. but today we asked james rubin how extensive cia operations actually are in iran. >> i suspect the cia is operating both in human intelligence, satellite intelligence, and recognizance information and shared intelligence information with other services like the israeliss, like the british it, the french. it's an all sort effort right now in iran. >> u.s. state department has not responded to our request for further comment. south korea meantime is on high alert following the death of kim jong-il. and we'll tell you what we know about his son. it's amazing that this is the modern times and we're not 100% sure whether his son is age 27 or 28, but we do know a lot about king jonk unand we'll tell you about that and the nuclear

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we are awaiting in just a couple moments, as we said, we have been counting down to john boehner and the other house go. leadership talking about what's going on in that room. for those of you not aware of the full situation, the senate obviously passed a two month extension of the payroll tax and

the house seemed to be ready to do so. john boehner said no. two months not good enough. wants to did it for a year or not at all. dana bash is there. and i know you've been getting e-mails from people inside that room. what are you hearing? >> reporter: they seem to be according to several republicans who have been as you said i've been e-mailing with pretty united on the idea of voting against this two month extension. the question now is the political tactics and strategy going forward. because this is really brinks man ship with democrats in the house and who gets the west political upper hand and you how they work their way out of the whole concept of allowing taxes to go up for 160 million merpss the whole concept of allowing taxes to go up for 160 million merpss. we still expect the vote to happen later and it's important to underscore something you touched on several times which is that everybody says that they want a year long extension for the payroll tax. the white house, the president,

democrats. everybody. the question has been all along how do you do that and pay for it. so it doesn't add to the debt and deficit. and they couldn't come up with a solution, so that's why they did this two month extension. but house republicans are saying that's not good enough. >> we'll be checking in with dana in a kcouple moments. david frum was the one who said just borrow the money, it's really cheap. a little ironic there. we start this second half of our show with stories you care about. we have been working pretty hard today.reason i'm in d.c. tonight is i spent the day with jan eith janet napolitano. i asked her about drones and whether the predators that currently control the border will be much more widely used inside the united states. >> i think we have to be very

careful here. what we're talking about is the domestic united states. and we want to make sure the things we do have also respectful of people's privacy and civil liberties, the constitutional values that we're protecting as well as protecting safety. so i think any discussion of using that kind device within the united states, that would require a serious policy discussion. and i'm not prepared to make an announcement on that. >> well, there were explosions, there were guns, there were knives. and there were drugs. much more tomorrow "out front." next at&t announced it's an ban toning a bid to take over t moebl. a move analysts predicted last week. the abandoned bid comes after the u.s. government tried to block it.

they were worried it would limit competition and cause to us pay higher bills. at&t must pay $4 billion to break up the merger. number three, a memory card found of bradley manning's aunt's home contained information to how to contact wikileaks. this testimony according to our producer in today's court hearing. he found more than 100,000 state department cables on a computer that the army private used, however the investigation investigator found no evidence that the cables were september to anyone. manning faces 22 charges including aiding the almost for allegedly distributing secret documents to wikileaks. bank of america stock closed below the $5 mark. the lowest level since the worst of the financial crisis in march of 2009. this could lead to an even bigger selloff. that's because a lot of mutual funds aren't allowed to hold stocks that trade under $5.

so once it goes below that, they have a little bit of margin, but below that they may be forced to sell to satisfy their fund requirements. it's actually important for a lot of people watching since about 40% of 401(k) and retirement plans own shares of bank of america it's been 136 day since america lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? north korea's infamous leader since 1994 died of a heart attack. he was 69. the announcer wept. in control now, his youngest son, kim jong-un who most of the world knows almost nothing about. he's in his late 20s. he was educated in swizer lapd. and last year, was named a four star general. this power shift threatens the stability of the entire region because north korea has nuclear weapons and there are concerns

that are very you are against about the safety and stability of those nuclear weapons.agains about the safety and stability of those nuclear weapons. joining me is gordon chang and in washington, ambassador pritchard. he met kim in person back in 2000. you met him. what stood out to you at that time and what stands out to you now about the son? >> well, i accompanied secretary of state albright in october of 2000 and one of the things that struck me then is how confident kim at least tried to convey to us in the meeting there was justis principal foreign policy adviser, his first vice minister, and then an interpreter. that was it. when the questions came up, he seemed to be able to answer them. if there was something difficult at all, he would turn, ask a

partial question to kun-suk-chu who started to give him smpg and he would say, oh, yeah, i know. i was struck by his attempt to convey his mastery of subject. secretary albright had suggested that we had a list of technical questions about missiles that we wanted to negotiate and perhaps someone could answer those, and he took them and flipped through those and said i can answer these. now, of course he cooperate answer them all, but that's what he tried to vconvey. >> gordon, let me ask you what you think about this and what do you know about the so thn? we've seen various reports that he's erratic and has temper. he's young and hasn't had any experience. do you think we'll see real instability? >> i actually think that well. and the reason is that kim

jong-un has only two years of on the job training. his dad had 20. so that means kim jong-un has nodded that the time to put his supporter mts to key posts. he hasn't had the balancing all of these facts. so he might try to bolster his legitimacy by doing something horrible. >> so you think we could see some real ratcheting up tonight. >> yeah, and it could be as early as this year, could be next year. the south korean elections we would think would prevent them from doing anything because they want to get a friendly government in seoul, but this is a government that operates only according to its own logic xhrks is not shared by anybody else and that really means it's very hard for us to try to figure out what it will do. but it would seem to me that it will become a little bit more be lidge rant in the years ahead. >> ambassador, i'm curious what

your experience was like. they were the the biggest buyer a certain kind of liquor. there was a lot of high life while the rest of the pop lay suffers and many are starving. what did you see about how they live? >> i think my first trip if november of 1997, he was truck by nauchl things. there were very few cars on the road. usually older models mercedes. i kept thinkinging something is amiss and i kept counting the number of people who were wearing eyeglasses and the number was i found six over a three day period. so basically necessities for the people was certainly lacking. that's improved over time. but kchis kim jong-il and thosed him lead a life in stark

contrast. >> how big of a threat there to the united states? our politics are incredibly dysfunctional and given iran has been acting up. >> north korea and iran have been running a joint missile program and nuclear prepare weapons froom about a decade. the more need threat, though is that north korea will do something against the south like it did last year. we have an obligation to defend south korea. i'm worried china might become entangled in all of this, so what might be a minor proffer indication could escalate in for something more serious. i'm just saying it will happen, but the risk is unacceptably high. >> well, thanks very much to both of you. we appreciate it. and in tonight's outer circle, we go to egypt. two pro democracy protesters killed. the pictures are horrifying. and the latest from maine where a toddler vanished from her bed

this weekend. why are so many toddlers going missing? we'll be right back.

gentleman gupta. >> you've been talking about north korea. we have more on the death of kim jong-il and despite the picture painted by their government propaganda, this is reality.

people risking everything even their lives to get out. unique perspecti spespective fr and lisa link. also an incredible story of a child, baby pierce, fighting for his life while his mom takes on the systemgk. also an incredible story of a child, baby pierce, fighting for his life while his mom takes on the systemh. also an incredible story of a child, baby pierce, fighting for his life while his mom takes on the system. also an incredible story of a child, baby pierce, fighting for his life while his mom takes on the system to get him the care he needs. >> seeing that picture of baby pierce, what's he up against? >> he was born with a congenital heart defect. he gets his health insurance through medicare, but indiana said they would pay for the operation with a slight catch and we'll tell you what the catch means and what it means for you, as well. >> all right. we turn now to the search for a missing toddler. the story early similar to that of baby lisa irwin. baby lisa was last seen in her

kansas city home on the night of october 4th. nearly three months later, the case remain as mystery and it is drawing comparisons to what is unfolding in a tight knit community in maine which is where another toddler, ayla reynolds, disappeared this week he said. her father said he tucked her into bed friday night and in the morning, she was gone. she was actually wearing a cast on her left arm from a recent fall. police are canvassing the area tracking down leads. all while her family says they have no idea where she could have gone. what happened to her? joining us is marc klaas. his daughter was kids napped and murdered in 1993. napped and murdered in 1993.napped and murdered in 1993. marc, good to see you again. >> thank you, erin. >> what do you think happened here? police are treating this as a missing person's case. do you think that's ayla was kidnapped? >> i think chances of that are very slight only because statistically less than half a percent of all children that are reported missing are victim ofs a stereotypical stranger

abduction. i think that you have to look at a much smaller world of possibilities here. i think the universe of possible suspects is very small. and consists of the individuals that were in the house the evening before, any peripheral contactses that they may have had, neighbors and certainly registered sex offenders in the community. >> and police have also reportedly seized two carses that belonged to her family. what are the implications of that? there are some that seem to come to mind, but what do you see in that? >> well, sure. i think that the police are doing exactly what i said. they are looking in-ward rather than outward. they're looking number one at the father because statistically again, parents are the most likely suspects in these kinds of situations. so they're going to be looking-live understand they've also been in the attic of the house, they focussed a lot of attention in the garage of the house.

they've taken a couple of cars. so going through this with a fine tooth comb and also depending upon the resources of the fbi, the state police, et cetera, who have much greater experience in these types of situations. so i think this is all good information. >> cow belie >> do you believe the authorities have a person of interest interest? the baby lisa quasituation is sl unresolv unresolved. in this case, do they have somebody that they already think is responsible? >> i think the people that are potentially responsible and the suspects would be the individuals that were in that house the night before. remember, erin, supposedly this little girl went to bed at 8:00 and didn't make a peep. she's a 20 month old child with a broken arm. didn't cry out, didn't do anything for almost the next 13 hours. i think that that's highly improbable. i think the authorities are going to seg agree gate the people in the house and in-tear

great them and try to find breaks in the stories. >> all right. thank you very much, marc. good to see you again. >> thank you, erin. and now this. we do it at the same time every night. our outer circle where we reach out to our sources around the world and tonight we begin in cairo where at least two pro democracy protesters died today in clashes with security forces in tahrir square. know hknow ma'ahow tense is the situation? >> the situation is volatile. while protesters say they've been systemically targeted, the see supreme council say it's the protesters for blame.protestersn systemically targeted, the see supreme council say it's the protesters for blame. as of tonight, not a lot of hope that essentials will subside anytime in the near future. >> thank you. and now we go to syria where the government has signed an arab league agreement to stop the

violence and allow international observers in to the country. do people really believe that this is true this time somewhat's been the reaction from people on the ground? >> just as soon as they signed the deal, activists inside syria were reporting at least 25 people killed by the pro government security forces. among them, two children. the syrian opposition thinks that the regime is maneuvering while more civilians will be killed. >> rima, thank you. and how to iraq where an arrest warrant has been issued for one its vice presidents.sunni government official is accused of orchestrating attacks. what's behind the charges? >> well, the charges are based on confessions on state television by three men said to be part of the vice president's personal security detail. the men confessed that at times they had direct orders from the

vice president himself to carry out bombings and assassinations saying that they used their official identification cards to and a half indicate various check points about. now, his political party and his office both say that these agencies are entirely politically motivated, part of al maliki's employ to gain more power. the great concern is that this will further deepen the sectarian divide here and this is a country that knows all too well that politics and violence tend to go hand in hand. >> thanks as always. and next, ken jennings. in 2000 4r, he went on that 74 e winning streak on jeopardy. he's gone places since then literally. he has a book titled map head. i love that stuff and i do best to stump him next. ♪

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jeopardy jam champion ken jennings won $2.5 million when he won 70 games in a row. this past february he went on the show again against ibm's machine watson. although jennings lost, he's landed on his feet with the publication of a new book called "maphead." he is a nerd but a neat one, and i spoke to him earlier. i know you talk about how you slept with your atlas under your pillow. i brought mine. my mother still has it. i saved my money, first thing i bought with my bake sale money was an atlas.

so i know how you feel. you write about that, running home to your atlas after school and how special that was for you. i wanted to ask you two things about technology because i've got in this literally my maps from when i was a kid. a physical piece of paper. >> with crayon coloring on it. >> with crayon coloring and lots of inaccuracies which i won't put up for the camera. what do you think about the gps? is gps killing us? we type in go to the mcdonald's around the corner rather than knowing where to go even in our own town. >> i have one in my car. i'm a slave to the convenience of it. but i feel like it makes us dumber. because that part of your brain where you're always thinking i'm a little too far west, we better turn here, that's what makes us good spatial thinkers. >> what about another thing in technology that's become central to how we live, google earth? >> my hope is that things like google earth will actually, you know, make maps seem sexy to kids for first time in centuries, maps can do all these

new things. you can watch realtime traffic or weather, you can see photos of your house. you can actually see on your smartphone where your friends are right now. these are things that like ten years ago something where you could see friends on a map, that was so out there like a harry potter device. i think it makes maps seem cool to kids. >> americans really don't know where places are. there's a poll that you referred to that we pulled from national geographic. a few years ago. caveat with that. threwer than 3 in 10 americans think it's important to know the locations of country in the news. just take for example the outsourcing of jobs to india which a lot of americans know about and have strong opinions on. 47% of americans couldn't find the indian subcontinent on the map. >> wow. it's sort of big. not like it's tucked away down there. >> an obvious shape. >> you think we could find india. that's a little bit troubling for me. americans have this reputation for being insular and not caring

what goes on outside our borders. >> american kids would spend a mandatory year overseas or a way to change the way we see the world? >> obviously it's got to happen in our schools. the only place in a developed world where a kid can get a master's degree, go from kindergarten and advanced degree and never take a geography task. >> global warming in the rise of china, you describe them all as problems of geography. how come? >> i sort of feel like maybe this is because of the way my brain works, but i feel like if you don't know where a place is how are you ever going to make any kind of decision? you know, how can you understand iraq or afghanistan or libya if to you those are places that are all just over there somewhere? if you can't even point to them on the map, can we trust the voter to make the right call? i feel like you have to know where things are to make the right decisions. >> ken, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> it's a pleasure. thanks for having me, erin. >> this guy knew everything.

but after the interview i tried to stump him and i tried really hard. the trivia master had a little fun with. what is the largest iranian island in the straits of hormuz. ? >> oh, i can't remember the name of the island. it has hyphens in it. >> no hyphen. four letters. >> you got me. >> it is the island of kish. >> sounds delicious. i guess real men do not visit kish. >> all right. tomorrow exclusive interview with janet napolitano. with it comes 4 1/2 kilos of heroin. have a great night. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve.

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