jessica biel are engaged. no word yet on a wedding date but, of course, john king will know because he'll be invited. >> i bet he popped the question watching us all night going through the election coverage. were you up with us? >> reporter: i did not miss those moments. i was laughing so hard. you were fabulous. >> jon huntsman live with us from new hampshire. erin burnett was up all night and erin burnett and "up front" starts right >> a royal murder mystery. a young woman found dead on the queen's estate. who is she hand who killed her? and the united states and china in an arms race, but the u.s. facing severe cuts in defense spending. can we keep up? what is china putting all that money in right now? and then mitt romney, just barely won the iowa calk yeses, but guess who might be number one? let's go "out front."

i'm erin burnett. "out front" tonight, romney on a roll. mitt romney squeaking out a win in iowa and immediately hitting the new hampshire air waves. >> it's time for this pessimistic president to step aside and let american optimism that built this greatest nation on earth build a great future for our children. >> but are people buying what mitt's selling? conventional wisdom says the former ceo will be the republican nominee and that the quote, unquote establishment is behind him. well, we wanted to know if that is really true. so we reached out to the "out front" strike team, our exclusive group of the best and brightest minds in the business world in this country and asked them which gop candidate is best for the kun successfully here are the results. it turns out most do support romney. 12 of 15. two preferred gingrich over all other candidates and one person said ron paul and i'll get to that. that's really important.

another thing. in a head-to-head matchup the strike team matchup said they would support rick santorum over obama, that's right. this is important because a lot of bun tips and washington insiders maybe surprised to hear what they consider long shot contenders. santorum and paul. not being dismissed by mainstream and major entrepreneurs, business leaders and ceos and donors in this country, but in fact one of the most influential of them all, a man who manages the largest bond fund in the world, says the man with the best economic vision for america is ron paul. bill gross is the founder and chief investment officer of pimco. ron paul is coming off a third place finish, very strong in iowa, and before i ask you why you like ron paul, let me just one through a couple of things here that people may know him for. wants to cut $1 trillion from the budget in the first year, wants to get rid of the federal reserve. what do you think about those policies? >> well, i responded to you and said that ron paul was the best

republican. i didn't say he was the best candidate and we can talk about that later. i think it wasn't necessarily ron paul's economic policies which garnered 21% of the vote, erin. it was really a case of what i would call anti-disestablishmentarianism, remember that word, used tonight longest word in the english language. >> right. >> no idea what it means and a good sound bite and maybe ron paul should use it. in other words, ron paul represents the disenchanted vote, the anti-business as usual vote and his idea to bring the troops home from south korea and japan and a host of other countries would certainly help balance the budget when you consider that we spend $1 trillion or so on iraq alone so that's really why i like him. i think those policies in terms of the gold standard and -- and, you know, eliminating the fed, i think those are overboard and certainly nothing that i would advocate. >> so you're saying in terms of the focus on the deficit in

particular, but one of the things you're talking about is troops from, well, you know, knots talked about the wars here, iraq and afghanistan, you're talking about more established bases, the broader ron paul point of cutting back in some of our military commitments. >> right. i think that's what he talks about frequently. he talks about south korea. he talks about japan and germany and why for 50 years we've had bases there and 30,000 troops, for instance in, south korea. you know, to the xccent that they alone come back, they would provide a source of lowering the deficit, so that's, i think, very much of a positive. he has other things going for him, too. i mean, he does have the strongest sense, i think, of all republican candidates in terms of monetary policy. yes, he goes too far in terms of the gold standard. yes, he goes too far in saying we should eliminate the fed, but he does know how the monetary system works, and that's this i think romney and santorum and others don't have much of a clue on. >> this is interesting because i

know you're saying all right, he goes too facts and circumstances but, you know, a lot of people on the strike team, it won't surprise you, bill, they said ron paul, he's crazy because he wants to get rid of the fed and i dismiss that out of hand. you're the guy who deals with the fed more, relies on the fed more and american monetary policy more than anybody in our country, our mutual funds, our 401(k)s, a lot of them are in your hands. so what would happen in a ron paul presidency? why would you be all right with it it given those ideas? how do you think he would temper them? would you become comfortable with that if he did? >> well, back again, i think obama is the man though i'm not satisfied with what obama's done from the economic standpoint, but in terms of the republicans, you know, i think ron paul has a sense, again, of monetary policy. he does know that it's important to have a stable currency and a stable sense of value going forward, that inflation basically is not the clue going forward to our economic problems. you know, i have a sense that

romney and santorum basically, you know, suggest that the policy for job growth should be one in which regulation is cut and in which obamacare is eliminated and taxes are perpetually cut low. i don't think that's the way to create jobs. i think we need to focus, to bullet, you know, basically policy on job creation as opposed to per might and encouraging the private sector to do it. they haven't done it for the last, you know, five years. >> all right. bill gross, thank you very much. we appreciate it it. bill gross, as we said, biggest manager of bonds in this country. obviously that means he buys all that debt that this country is issuing. ron paul has energized and excited people all across the country. 40% of first-time caucus-goers vote for the texas congressman and if bill gross has any indication, he may have more staying power than we thought.

let me start with you, david frum, important to note bill gross is saying he would be an obama man, but when it comes to looking that the republican field, he does not dismiss someone like ron paul out of hand twi did seem like the establishment was do, and -- and similarly in our results from our strike team with rick santorum. so what do you make? do you think that these guys have the capability to become more mainstream candidate? >> ron paul has no capability of becoming a more mainstream candidate. he's a man of the margin, and i think if you are a democrat and you want to do a little mischief in the republican field, you might well favor him because he is is a man -- ron paul is a man who couldn't be elected mayor of a town, let alone president of the united states. here's how the ron paul message worked. i was in one of the precincts in iowa and sought speech given by a very effective and intelligent ron paul supporter. he presented ron paul as pro-life, anti-gay marriage, a veteran, in favor of strong american military, and by the way a supporter of the mission to kill osama bin laden.

now that is a different ron paul, because ron paul in fact was not in favor of the mission to kill bin laden. he said shortly afterwards that he wished that it had all been done in conformity with international law and bin laden had been arrested with the cooperation of pakistan, a total fantasy. if the republicans had known, that i don't think the republicans would have done that well in that room. ron paul is inherently marginal, a boutique candidate. he may raise a lot of money out of this race, but he's not going anywhere. >> 21% doesn't sound that marginal, but hold -- hold that thought for a second because, james carville, i want to bring you in here and put up a screen asking the strike team here. we went through and asked them who they would vote for, obama verseus, okay. versus romney, 12 of them for romney and two for obama. santorum, nine for santorum, purely on economic policy, nine for santorum and 6 for obama and ron paul 8 obama, 7 paul. i mean, that wasn't even a sweep. now, these people generally are

going to trend republican. there's no question about that, by would have thought on the economy some of this surprised me. what does this make you think about president obama? >> well, look, first of all, i think he's a slight, slight favorite to win re-election. it's going to be a tough fight. there's no question about this. this is, you know, not a particularly great xli, and he's -- he's in a tough fight. i wouldn't deny that. pretty small sample. look, bill gross, i have nothing but admiration for him and the guy that he works with, mohammed el iran is his name. p myoco is a great organization and a bright guy. ron paul is not going to be the president of anything, and if you go and it's -- a couple of ideas he has that there's enough that somebody with like, but if you go anything deeper, some of the stuff is really disturbing and real out there. i -- i'd declare -- i wouldn't declare him out of the mainstream. i'd declare him way out of the

mainstream. nice affable guy. >> does it make you think twice that people will say, all right, well if mitt romney doesn't have what it takes, you get a lot that have establishment money and support would be willing to back someone like a rick santorum, obviously more so than they would a ron paul, but willing to do that, david frum? does that surprise you at all? >> i don't believe it's true. i think that ron paul -- that ron paul is going to dwind. i think mitt rom i? going to go here from strength to strength. have you to understand that ron paul's economic views are -- he's essential lay monetary policy crank, and ron paul's views are what the united states needs is to abolish banking. we need to abolish the currency system. we need to go back not before the fed -- the great depression, not before the creation of the federal reserve. he wants to go all the way back to before the civil war when the federal government was real out of business of money creation all together. he's against fractional reserve banking. he doesn't believe that there should be such a thing as commercial credit, that there should be chits against gold

deposits. a formula for perpetual depression if you take it seriously which i don't and neither does bill gross. >> let me ask you one question here about rick perry because the tweet today was pretty amazing. last night giving his concession speech and tweeting out today a picture of himself in what looked like quickly a wet suit running in the middle of -- yeah, in texas, see, doesn't that look like a wet suit, saying that the next leg of the marathon is the palmetto state. here we come, south carolina. have you ever heard anybody, james carville, get out of the race and decide the next morning, wait, i'm back in? >> no. last night the weirdest thing and maybe one of the most fun things i've ever done and just continued this morning. it was a very strange thing. all right. he's going to take his shot, i guess. i don't know. i have no idea what goes through rick per's mind, if anything goes through rick per's mind. i'm not even certain of that, burks you know, he's entitled to

take his shot, and i don't think he's going to do very well, but why not try. >> literally five seconds, david frum f.rick perry gets out, michele bachmann already out, where do those votes go? >> end up all going to rom any. just a matter of time. it may take all the time to flav. >> with the caveat just a matter of time. >> let us know what you think about rick santorum and ron paul and how some in the economic establishment think they could be okay. still out front, a royal murder mystery, a young woman found murdered on one of the queen's estates. we're on that case and the u.s. defense secretary leon panetta has to make major cuts to the defense spending at the time china is building up its military in a massive way. what are they doing tonight? and under surveillance works wants to inspect your facebook page and how it could prevent you from getting a credit card. ♪ there's a place i dream about ♪

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so get rey for who might be a seismic change to america's military and the consequences in cost and physical might will be extraordinary. tomorrow defense secretary leon panetta will be addressing the pentagon's budget. it's going to be cut by half a billion dollars in cuts, at least 47,000 fewer marines and troops are expected in the next year. now while america is downside sizing and, of course, us a all know, the super committee automatic cuts, half them, $600 billion come from defense, china is doing the opposite, massive buildup. the "wall street journal" today doing a story we found fascinating about china's naval strength. dozens of sun reasons and arsenal ballistic missiles that can reach u.s. warships thousands of miles away. the "wall street journal" says these missiles are going to be delivered by 2015. one of them hits one of our carriers you could take out 5,000 troops with one missile. now we are slashing and china's growing. a frightening scenario we've been talking a lot about here on this program. peter brooks is ament expert with the heritage foundation, a conservative think tank, and i

appreciate you joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> let me ask you this question. it seems that part of problem is when you have conversations with former defense secretaries, for example, they are honest with us in their point of view, right. they see china as a threat. they see china as not a friend of the united states and a real -- a real enemy is not the right word at all but a real contender and competitor but when you ask people in the government they categorically refuse to acknowledge that. >> they have to be careful. the people doing the policy and diplomacy, the people sitting down across the table from the chinese, so that sort of of stuff coming out of government is always very much watered down, you're right. people who are out of government, people in think tanks can speak quite frankly about this issue. >> now china's been increasing its defense budget for the past 20 years. fastest growing pierce peacetime military budget. should this alarmt united states? i think as a caveat we need to acknowledge that this country pays multiples what have they do on an annual budget? >> right, but china -- you're right. china has the fastest peacetime -- fastest growing

peacetime defense budget in the world. they have been increasing their defense spending by 10% or more, erin, for more than 20 years and has the world's second largest defense budget. those are just numbers. those are budget numbers. things are cheaper to make in china. the chinese military is cheaper than the united states military in terms of maintaining it, but they are developing an aircraft carrier program. theft j-20 stealth fighter which was unveiled just about a year ago and then secretary of defense bob gates was in beijing. they are spending a lot of time and effort on cyber warfare and counter space. they have the world's largest knavy in asia, the world's most prodijious submarine program. they are really developing significant capabilities that we need to be paying attention to. while we're building down, china is building up. >> particularly on the navy side. i mean, as journal pointed out, it's something -- i think it's always worth pointing out, but it's really all about the sea even now. 95% of the world trade goes by sea, where the u.s. will take a lot -- the bulk of the budget cuts that are coming, just as

china is building up. i mean, how does this end, peter? guess the way nations are, right? they want to build up their military, but how does this end? >> it's not quite clear. the problem is we can see china developing capabilities, but we don't know what china's strategic intent, is and we need to be cautious of that. is china a fire-breathing dragon or cute, cuddly panda? it takes -- intentions can change overnight. china is claiming large parts of the pacific ocean. you need a large navy for -- to be able to patrol the pacific. they talk about the tyranny of distance. you need a capable air force. i mean, these are things we really need to think about as we look at our defense budget. erin, it may not surprise you that if i told you that if these cuts come into play. >> right. >> we may build down to 220 and 240 naval ships which would be the smallest navy we've had since 1916, world war i. >> that is pretty amazing, almost back to the time where, as bill gross was saying, ron

paul wants to take us when it comes to monetary policy. thanks very much. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. >> santorum missed winning in iowa by eight votes and how will he fare in the more liberal new england state of new hampshire? a huge socialin conumber drum and dunkin' donuts, a lot of us go there every day for coffee and doughnuts, but how much do you really know? we'll be right back. [ engine re] [ male announcer ] you won't find the toughness of a ram 1500 combined with the legendary power of a hemi v8 in any other truck. it's a beautiful thing. guts. glory. ram.

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dunkin' donuts, the stock, not the doughnuts themselves, was upgrade by goldman sachs today in a research note issued to investors this. followed some earlier upgrades by davidson and jeffries. doughnuts and kochy actually trade on the stock exchange. well, the pile on of optimism comes as the doughnut chain based in canton, massachusetts announced a plan to double the number of its locations from 7,000 to 14,000 dunkin' donuts in the united states. that was a 20-year projection, but, you know, we love our doughnuts so much in this country. no matter how bad they are for us because, yes, this brings us to tonight's number. 290. that is the number of calories in a dung doughnut chocolate glazed doughnut the only food i ate all day. i did stuff something in right before the show but for 11 hours that was it and the calories did not burn off as expected and leave me starving and wanting more empty calories t.actually worked. the ad says america runs on dunkin' donuts and sometimes that's true.

i can't help myself, i love dds. where do you get your cove and doughnuts and how do you like them? let us know on facebo facebook @outfrontcnn. >> speaking of facebook, tonight under surveillance, banks are using tweets and facebook to play big brother. it starts with a loan application application. in the process the banks want to know about your social media connections, on twitter, linkedin and facebook and others. it's the bank's way of finding out if you're a good financial risk and along with snooping for a credit profile they check out your friends on your social networks to see if they could be good customers, too. i asked a senior legal analyst for his take on lenders and the internet. >> when it comes to social networks and privacy, it's really the wild west out there because under the law no one knows for sure what the rules really are. banks are starting to ask. what's your twitter handle?

what's your facebook page, and -- and is it legal for them to ask for that? probably, although no one knows for sure, but they are getting that information, and they are using it it. >> "out front" reached out to a lender who used social networking part of a routine background don't worry about it. are you worried about it, let us know. still ahead, preemptive strike. >> no one will ever say that mitt romney will lead from behind. he will lead from in front. >> new leads? >> could be a dead body, a diaper, could be as much as a broken nail. >> all this "out front" in our second half. ♪

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when it comes to home insurance, surprises can be a little scary. and a little costly. that's why the best agents present their clients with a lot of options. because when it comes to what's covered and what's not, nobody likes surprises. [ click ] [ chuckles ] we totally thought -- [ all scream ] obscure space junk falling from the sky? we cover that. moving on. aah, aah, aah, aah. [ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪

all right. we start the second half of our show with stories we care about where we focus on our own reporting, do the work and find the out front five. up first, does mitt romney have the backings of the business community? we reached out to the strike team, a group of biggest and best minds in the world of business and asked which gop candidate is best for the economy and the results show most support romney. here's what else. who would they support between president obama and santorum on economic issues. six of nine said they would support santorum, as you can see. that number might surprise some pundits and washington insiders. they are saying santorum is a

long shot contender. might be interesting to see how this plays when you look at numbers like that. president obama testing his constitutional power by making high-profile appointments while congress is in recess. the most controversial, robert cordray to be head of the new consumer protection bureau. with cordray by his side the president said the appointment is necessary for the new agency to begin protecting consumers. republicans say the agency is bad for jobs and bad for the economy and they won't confirm any nominee until it's changed. house speaker john baron also says he expects the courts will find the president's appointment illegitimate. the president, for his part, has no time for that. number three, a man charged with a spree of arsons in l.a. also under investigation for arson in germany. that's his home country. he was charged today with 37 counts of arson. authorities believe he set more than 50 fires after learning his mother may have been extradited to face fraud charges in germany. we have also now learned

burkhart is a suspect in a fire which destroyed his family he's home in germany days before he came to the united states. number four, fed chair ben bernanke outlined to congress the actions needed to stabilize the housing market. we looked through the 26-page letter and he suggested making it easier for borrowers to get credit and containing the number of foreclosures. the fed says there is no single solution but that doing nothing at this point will, quote, push house prices lower and prolong the downward pressure on the wealth of current homeowners. pretty important statement. so at this point to prevent the drop in housing prices there, he's more dramatic possibilities under consideration. well, it's been 152 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? you know, john avalon, i've been away for a week, and 152 days, feels like it's too many days, everybody. >> too many. >> all eyes are on new hampshire. state's primary less than a week. mitt romney has a strong lead as you're probably aware but on the heels of his surprising finish in iowa last night, rick

santorum has doubled his support in the state. don't want to emphasize too much because doubling is still a low number in new hampshire but still a big upward move for him and today a big endorsement for romney from senator john mccain who won new hampshire in 2008 gave him some legs but not everybody is rushing to throw his support behind romney including our next guest, republican congressman frank gitana from new hampshire. what's been holding you back from endorsing anyone? >> like many granite staters i wanted to watch the field and see how they react to issue that granite staters ask all the time, so i'm still in that undecided column. i've got a few more days left before i make my decision, and i'm glad all the candidates are here in new hampshire to try to convince me and other granite staters how to vote on tuesday. >> so what is it though -- you have john mccain coming out today who won new hampshire last time around, coming out for john -- coming out for mitt romney. what's holding you back from

loving mitt romney, for lack of a better word you? know, the guy -- the guy is really trying to get some love and what's been holding you back from connecting with him? >> well, mitt romney's got plenty of love in the state of new hampshire, and he's got a home here. he was a governor of massachusetts, so he does have a lot of friends and supporters here, but this is about barack obama and who is best capable of beating the president of the united states because we're -- he's taking our country i believe in the wrong direction so like granite staters i am making a final decision in this final week. >> so you're not convinced at this point -- >> talking and meeting with every single candidate. >> you're not convinced at this point. interesting last night, we were -- we were up until 4:00 a.m. covering iowa, and even in iowa when the voters who cared about electability overwhelmingly voted for mitt romney. when they cared about the deficit, ron paul, social issues it was rick santorum, but you say you care about electability and you're still not convinced romney is your guy. >> well, look, i think the two people who came out on top in

iowa, rick santorum and mitt romney, are both great candidates and bring a lot to the table and both have strengths in their own right, and we'll see how it plays out over the next several days, but i think either candidate would represent the republicans very well in a general e. >> exwhat do you think the number needs to be more mitt romney to get a resounding win in new hampshire? obviously been polling up around 47%. what do you think the number needs to be for a home run for him? >> you know, i honestly suspect that that number will tighten a little bit and he probably won't get quite that high. >> right. >> it's pretty normal that going into the final week of a campaign things do tighten up. nobody expected rick santorum two weeks ago to be eight votes behind mitt romney. that's certainly going to help him in new hampshire. he's doubled his numbers overnight and he'll probably get another five, six points after some polling is done today or tomorrow, so i think they are all going to barnstorm for the next several days, but i think mitt romney will do well and i think rick santorum will do much better than originally expected.

>> thanks very much. good to talk to you, congressman. >> my pleasure. >> you look at new hampshire as this season unfolds for the primaries, one of the most liberal states in the nation. social issues have not been at the forefront of this campaign for republicans, but they are now, so if you check this out, this is -- these are the flicking walls, okay, and this is -- this is the wall that you flick to, and this is what i thought was really interesting. when you look at people last night in the entrance polls in iowa for whom abortion was the most important issue they went overwhelmingly for rick santorum, 58% of them. gloria borger has been talking a lot about how she thinks with debates on television this weekend they will start having social issues, gay marriage and abortion right at the center of the conversation. romney has avoided talking about social issues in an effort to push for independent voters and rick santorum has embraced social issues. we know santorum supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortions and not only is he against gay marriage but he supports a federal marriage

amendment which would define marriage as only between a man and a woman. there are two debates this weekend, and it seems fair to assume that these issues will come up. will it get romney into trouble is the big question? john avalon is with us. and a columnist with "the daily" and co-author of "the grand new party." let me start with you, and everyone would watches this show, your background, you used to work for rudy giuliani, a pro-choice reap kafnlt mitt romney is not, that at least not now. >> ten years ago different story, but he's done a 180 on every social issue since he's started running for president. >> let me play an ad. this is from newt's pac running now in new hampshire stealing from a john mccain ad back in 2008, of course, on the day john mccain endorses mitt romney. here it is on the social issues with mitt romney >> i believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. >> i will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and a devoted and dedicated to

honoring my word in that regard. >> i am pro-life and favor that issue. >> you won't see me waivering. go back to youtube and see what i said in 1994. i never said i was not pro-choice. i said that time and time again. >> hypocrisy is the unforgivable sin in politics and mitt romney -- these aren't evolution of individual views, a 180 across the board and it's for a simple reason. he's a salesman and needs to make a different sale now to get the republican presidential nomination than when he did when he was running for governor of massachusetts. it's -- >> where do you think he really stands? you spent some time looking that the? >> look at his family lineage, his father george romney, a center right governor, a leader of the old republican party of michigan. his mom ran for senate in 1970 as a pro-choice republican in 1970. i think his family lineage as a

leader of the old republican tradition but that's a killer in today's republican that's right. >> this is going to be on the table now. all these clips are going to come out because rick santorum is right now obviously coming out as a dead heat out of iowa, and -- and he wants to talk about socialish sglus mitt romney's rivals have to make this happen now. they have to derail mitt romney quickly because if they don't, all of this stuff works to his advantage. this whole idea that oh, this boogie man that mitt romney is a secret moderate, what are general election voters going say? swing voters, ronald reagan was a new deal democrat who became a republican and signed the most liberal abortion law in america when he was the governor of california and then became a staunch pro-lifer. this happens. >> no. >> when have you a growing political movement, some people change their minds about stuff, and i think that this idea that voters actual swing voters in actual swing states are going to be terrified bay guy who hasn't had the same exact views his entire adultive.

>> would they be if he was forced to go much more in the direction of rick santorum? >> he's not going to. here's the thing about mitt romney. everybody says he's a robot, his great advantage. he's super disciplined. keep trying to take him off course and he keeps going forward relentlessly. >> you call him the energizer bunny. >> newt gingrich tries to derail him and santorum and perry are going to try to derail nim south carolina and he keeps going. this guy, it's creepy. in 2007 -- >> it is creepy. >> in 2007 he answers a question one way and answers the get exact same way now and that's the kind of hyper discipline you need to handle this kind of a campaign. >> that's a very generous description of what's gone on. there is individual evolution on issues, of course, and what we have here is 180, a direct reaction to a political problem, a salesman with a different sale to make and i don't think people in the general are going to say oh, but, you know, way back when he was center so we're going to follow through. >> winning teams attract tuneists. >> we have to leave it there.

watching this whole social issue discussion start is going to be fascinating and exciting certainly coming into south carolina. thanks to both of you. let's check in with anderson. what's coming on "ac 360"? >> i hope you got a couple hours of sleep. >> hope you did as well. >> keeping them honest tonight on the program. huge amounts of money being raised and spend funding attack ads shaping the presidential election by groups that remain completely unanimous until after the votes are counted. the ads made a big difference in iowa. just ask newt gingrich about that. it's all legal, of course. tonight we'll take a look about the truth of super pacs and keeping them honest. new details on the suspected arsonist who terrorized los angeles over the weekend. how a simple traffic stop may have fueled the rampage. those stories in tonight's ridicu li st. >> amazing how those details have come out. see you in a couple minutes, anderson.

>> sure. a murder we are a royal connection. a young girl found murdered on one of queen elizabeth's states. a look at who could be responsible and an update a story important for us for the past three months. three months since baby lisa disappeared and a chinese country calls the country's dating shows crass and vulgar. we went out to china to a dating show to check it out. o0 c1 2 0 [ beep ] [ man ] you have one new message. [ mom ] hi scooter. this is mommy. the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good. the vegetables are cut nice and thick... you were always good at cutting your vegetables. and it's got tender white-meat chicken... the way i always made it for you. oh, one more thing honey... those pj's you like, the ones with the feet, i bought you five new pairs. love you. did you see the hockey game last night? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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we do at the same time every night, our outer circle, where we reach out to our sources around the world.

tonight we go to iran where the country's parliament said it was preparing a bill that would bar all foreign warships from entering the persian gulf unless they received permission from the iranian navy. now that would be a big problem for the united states which has said forces in the persian gulf from world war ii. its ships sail through the strait of hormuz obviously every day. michael adler is a public policy scholar at woodrow wilson center, and we asked him could iran get away with this. >> i don't think that the iranians are seriously thinking of cutting -- coming to a military conflict with the united states navy in the gulf, and what you find is that the parliament often enunciates positions which are more radical than the government is actually going to carry out. >> it's a murder mystery of royal proportions, a young woman's body was found in the woods near the queen of england's sandringham estate less than two miles from the queen's residence by a dog walker on new year's day.

the gruesome discovery came days after the royal family was enjoying christmas vacation. investigators believe the victim was dead anywhere from one to four months. they are treating the case as a murder investigation. max foster is our royal correspondent. he's in london tonight, and max, how do they know this is a murder at this time? >> well, erin, at moment we're not getting that much information. the police really want to protect this investigation, but what they have said is that -- that this woman was very unlikely to have died of natural causes. they have launched a murder investigation rand we were hoping to get some more information today because they are going out with dna tests on the body. they weren't conclusive so we're hoping to hear more tomorrow where more tests will be carried out. what they are doing is opening up cases of disappeared women in the uk. locally to the sandringham estate but they need the dna

test results. >> what more can we say about the victim or potentially who the victim might have been? >> using traditional deck teams the police have worked out there. the body is described as a young white adult female, aged between 15 and 23 years old and the bod woe have been there between a month and up to four month, and what they are doing is looking at these previous cases. they have given us photos, for example, of two women of east european origin who have disappeared in the area. they have matched that. trying to link it up and still need the dna but obviously the families of these young women, you know, they must be extremely concerned at this point wondering if this is the body. the police just don't know at this point. >> max, pretty amazing story just to watch and the queen and prince philip are still at their palace just a couple of miles away. well, where is baby lisa irwin. three months from her disappearance from her missouri home the disappearance continues to baffle investigators.

the 10-month-old vanished on the night of october 4th after her mother debra bradley put her to bed. after being questioned by police she admitted she was drinking the night the baby disappeared and failed a polygraph but denied she had anything to do with the baby's disappearance. police have searched the grounds with a cadaver dog and say they found traces of a dead body. >> they are still holding out hope. i mean, it's remark. a i think that's how they get through each day. this is a tragic mystery, and there's real been no clues other than the three witnesses who, you know, unfortunately, i think law enforcement got to a little bit too late who actually placed a baby matching baby lisa's description in the hands of an individual matching this fellow jersey's description at

midnight, 2:00 rand 4:00 a.m. in different parts of the neighborhood. >> jersey is a local guy, sort of a ne'er-do-well us a described him who you think may be responsible and we have surveillance video that we can can remind everyone and show again. you think it may have been the individuals, three sets of individuals, husband and wife couple, and two other individuals have identified a man matching his description carrying a baby matching baby lisa's description at midnight, 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. in a diaper. there's also the mystery phone call placed from one of the missing cell phones that went to one of the ex-girlfriends of this jersey fellow. so there are some pretty damning circumstantial evidence. >> when you mentioned this man to us before, and viewers following this story may remember it, but it does seem like there's something there. police tell us they've talked to this guy, interviewed this guy, they've looked into it and they don't see anything there. if not him, then what? are there any other leads that you're looking at?

>> well, of course, we're not going to stop pursuing leads. and we are looking at leads every day. we get hopeful on occasion. and we're going to keep pursuing things. things have not dried up completely. so yes, we are looking. but we don't have the subpoena power of law enforcement or thewhere withal of the fbi. >> police have said they're still interested in questioning the parents more. we've talked about there's been some tension. the parents felt they've sort of been targeted by the police. the police believe the parents have not been completely forthcoming. why are you advising the parents not to talk further with the police? >> i want to make sure that the questioning is done in good faith. they have answered questions over a period of four different interviews for about 19 hours. they've answered every question repeatedly. i want to make sure that they're not bringing them in just to attempt to trip them up. these are people who are tragic victims. they're missing their baby. they're taking care of two other

young children. they had absolutely nothing to do with the di appearance of this little baby. so far to date, the police department has not impressed me on how they're handling this family. >> what about this issue that keeps coming up with the cadaver dogs? >> that is an enormous red herring. i would love someone to tell me from the pd that that's what that says. we've consulted with the number one cadaver dog expert in the country. that finding was of human fecal matter, or human dna. it could be a dead body, could be a diaper, it could be as much as a broken nail that was thrown on the floor of the bedroom. that would leave the remains that that dog would, you know, react to. so it doesn't necessarily mean a dead body. it's human -- fecal matter is something it could be. it's dna that is degenerative. it's not alive. so it's easy to say it's a dead body. it's certainly one of the

possibilities. but they didn't even take that piece of the carpet from the bedroom. if they really thought there was evidence of a dead corpse in that room, they would not leave that piece of carpet there. let them come out here and say, instead of releasing rumors to the press. >> thank you so much. good to see you. we're all hoping that baby is still found. it will be a miracle, but miracles happen. thank you so much. coming up, dating shows, the chinese government is trying to take them off the air, calling them crass and vulgar. well, is it? hmm. that's what we saw. because we went out front to see for ourselves. we'll show you behind the scenes next.e an uncer ] when a moment suddenly turns romantic, men with erectile dysfunction can be more confident in their ability to be ready with cialis for daily use. even if it doesn't happen every day, you can be ready anytime the moment's right, because you take a clinically proven low-dose tablet every day. [ man ] tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medications and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sexual activity.

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when it comes to getting a girlfriend in china, it seems that men have no pride. that's what gets a girl. there are many negatives to china's one-child policy which has been in place since 1979. some families chose to abort girls. experts say there are 300 to 400 million fewer people in china today than there would be thanks to the one-child policy. but more boys than girls grow up to be young men without wives or girlfriends. and that's led to increased social unrest and crime. but it's also led to this. the dating show, the number one dating show in shanghai. and it reaches nearly 5 million

viewers throughout china. it gives young women the pick of 100 men. it's finally succeeded in putting them on top. >> there are 60 million single men in china now. and lots of women, we have a shortage. >> ten young women in their early 20s were in the final stages of picking a date. we watched them getting ready from pigtails to tiaras. she was demure and accomplished and has a job in beijing. she's pretty picky. >> small eyes. >> one young man on the show she told me was cute, but didn't seem to be much more. >> i have a traditional family.

but i'm also modern. i just want love. >> love. with a man of her very, very specific choice. maybe one of these men that you see in the finalists, or maybe not. thanks to the one-child policy, in china at least, one of the more important ways now, girls finally rule. china's broadcaster cut the talk shows and dating shows, because the government thinks they're crass and vulgar. you know, if i hadn't been there on the set, i think i probably would have agreed, said, you know, girls getting pig tails put in and getting dates. but in this situation, it wasn't just about good and bad. because something important was really happening on the set for those girls. they were accomplished and they were going places and doing things. and they had the freedoms to come on a dating show and pick any guy they wanted. seay said that was completely different from what her