>> you know what i think the real problem was? anderson wasn't happy with the weeble who played anderson. he wasn't in good enough shape. his eyes weren't as blue as anderson likes to think his eyes are. there were some issues there. >> my eyes are pretty darn blue. on that note, if you need me, i guess i'll just be over here playing pong and listening to my a royal murder mystery. a young woman found dead on the queen's estate. who is she? and who killed her? and the is 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 eye caucuses. 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 economy. 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. here's 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 pundits 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 co-chief investment officer of p m mco. 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 worder? it used to be 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 germany and japan and a host of other countries would certainly help balance the budget if you consider that we spent $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, not talking 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. he talks about germany and why for 50 years we've had bases there and 30,000 troops, for instance in, south korea. you know, to the extent 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 something, i think romney and santorum and others don't have 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 kept 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 permitting 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 this year. 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's bring in dave frum and james carville. 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, which it did seem like the establishment was doing 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 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 eye and i saw the speech given by an effective and intel again 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. >> i've got to say, you know, 21% doesn't sthunds marginal. but hold that thought for a second. 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 gingrich, 11, 4, obama. 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, but i 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 economy, and he's -- he's in a tough fight. i wouldn't deny that. a 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. >> yes. >> pimco is heck of an organization. he's a bright guy. i agree with david frum, 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 dwindle. i think mitt romney is going to go here from strength to strength. have you to understand that ron paul's economic views are -- he's essentially a 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 as i've ever been, maybe one of most fun things i've ever done and it 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 perry's mind, if anything go through rick perry's mind. i'm not even certain of that. but 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 if ru muchlt if rick perry gets out, michele bachmann already

out, where do those votes go? >> they end up going to romney. just a matter of time. it may take all the time to florida. >> with the caveat, it's just a matter of time i hear you. >> let us know what you think about rick santorum and ron paul and how some in the economic establishment think they would 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 who wants to inspect your facebook page and how it could prevent you from getting a credit card. [ female announcer ] splenda® no calorie sweetener is sweet...

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all right. so get ready 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 downsizing, and of course as you all know, the super commity 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 submarines 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 a military 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 peacetime military budget. should this alarm the 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 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. they have the 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 cyberwarfare and counterspace. they have the world's largest navy in asia, the world's most pred dijous 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? i guess it's 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? there's a huge social conundrum here. speaking of new england, 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. d, i love to swim, and i love to walk outside. osteo bi-flex has really helped my knees. osteo bi-flex has been incredible for me, and i swear by it. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex, the glucosamine chondroitin suppment with 5-loxin advanced. shows improvement in joint comfort within 7 days. osteo bi-flex, my knees thank you. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex. the #1 doctor and pharmacist recommended brand.

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dunkin' donuts, the stock, not the doughnuts themselves, was upgraded by goldman sachs today in a research note issued to investors. followed some earlier upgrades

by davidson and jeffries. doughnuts and coffee 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 dunkin' donut 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. it 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 coffee and doughnuts, and how do you like them? let us know on facebook @outfrontcnn.

>> speaking of facebook, tonight under surveillance, banks are using tweets and facebook to play big money brother. it's a growing trend, and it starts with a loan 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 would 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 and said it's part of a routine background don't worry about it. are you? let us know. >> the "outfront" friv. 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. so you earn 50 percent more cash. if you're not satisfied with 50% more cash, send it back! i'll be right here, waiting for it. who wouldn't want more cash? [ insects chirping ] i'll take it. i'll make it rain up in here. [ male announcer ] the new capital one cash rewards card. the card for people who want 50% more cash. what's in your wallet? sorry i'll clean this up. shouldn't have made it rain.

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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. two prefer gingrich. one said ron paul. here is something 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. nine for santorum, six for obama. 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. number two, 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 financial protection bureau. at a speech in ohio, 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 boehner 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'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, 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 the primary in new

hampshire in 200 gabe limb some legs. but not everybody is rushing to throw his support behind romney including our next guest, republican congressman frank gitana from new hampshire. good to have you with us. we appreciate it. 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 election.

>> what 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 should know who watches this show, but your background, you used to work for rudy giuliani, a pro-choice. >> ten years ago different story, but he's done a 180 on every social issue since he's started running for president. >> i want to play quickly 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 devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. i am pro-life and fab that legislation. >> you won't see me waivering. go back to youtube and see what i said in 1994. i never said i was pro-choice. my position was effectively pro-choice.

i said that time and time again. >> yeah, those clips are going to be around a lot and they should be. look, 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. the not more complicate than what it looks like. 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 exactly what it looks like. >> where do you think he really stands? you spent some time looking that this. >> look at his family lineage, his father george romney, a center right governor, a leader the old progressive wing of the republican party. 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 progressive republican tradition but that's a killer in today's republican party. >> 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 social issues. >> mitt romney's rivals have to make this mappen 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 adult life? >> 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. they 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 now santorum and perry are going to try to derail him in 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. the reality is, is that 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 the 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 opportunists. >> 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. a murder with a royal connection. a young girl found murdered on one of queen liz elizabeth's estates. an update on a story

important to us over the past three months. three months since baby lisa disappeared. the chinese government calls the country's dating shows crass and vulgar. we went "outfront" to china to a dating show to check it out. o0 [ 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.

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 the receipt manes, not identified were found 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. and 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 nationally to link up that to the body but they need the dna test results. >> what more can you say about the victim or potentially who the victim might have been? >> using traditional techniques,

as they call them, the police have manage odd work out this, the body is described as a young white adult female, aged between 15 and 23, and as you said the body would have been there between a month and up to four months. 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. >> thank you very much. 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 mystery 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 bradley admitted she was drinking the night her daughter disappeared and she failed a polygraph exam but she denied she had anything to do with the baby's disappearance. police have searched the grounds with a cadaver dog and say they found evidence of a dead body but no charges have been filed and police don't have any suspects. the attorney representing the irwin family. right before the show he told me about the investigation and how he spoke with the parents last night. >> they are still holding out hope. >> i mean, it's remarkable. i think that's how they get through each day. this is a tragic mystery, and there's been to 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, and health care 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 him that night. >> three -- four -- three sets, husband and wife couple and two other individuals have identified a man patching his description carrying a baby matching baby leasesa's description at midnight, 2:00, and 4:00 a.m. in a diaper. also that mystery phone call policed from one of the missing cell phones that went to one of the ex-girlfriends of the jersey fellow. there are some pretty damning circumstantial evidence. >> when you mentioned this man to us, and viewers following the story may remember it it does seem like there's something there. police tell us they've talked to the guy. they've interviewed this guy. thef look flood it and they don't see anything there. if not him, then what? in any other leads that you're looking at? >> we're not going to stop pursuing leads. we are looking at leads every day.

we get hopeful on occasion and you know we're going to keep pursuing things and things have not dried up completely. so, yes, we are looking. but we don't have the subpoena power of law enforcement or the wherewithal of the fbi. hopefully, they are continuing to look. >> kansas city police said they're interested in questioning the parents more. and i know we've talked about there's been some tension, the parents have felt they've been far gets by the police, police have felt the parents haven't been forthcoming. why is there hesitation or why are you advising parent not to talk further to the police. >> i want to make sure the question's done in good faith. they have answered questions over four different interviews for about 19 hours. they have answered every question repeatedly. i want to make sure they're not bringing them in just to attempt to trip them up. these are people who are tragic victims, missing their baby, taking care of two other children, they had absolutely nothing to do with the disappearance of the baby. so far today, the kansas city

police department has not impressed me how they're handling the issue. >> what about the earn of the cadaver dogs? >> i'd love for someone sit next to me from the pd to tell me that's a dead body. we have consulted with the number one cadaver dog expert in the couldn't tri. that finding was human fecal -- >> it could be a dip. >> a dead body, a broken nail that was flown on the floor of the bedroom. that would lead the remains that that dog would react to. about doesn't necessarily mean a dead body. it's human -- fecal matter -- it's basically dna that is deagain ra tib, it's no alive. it's easy to say it's a dead body, one of the possibilities. but i'll point out, they didn't take that piece of the carpet from the bedroom. if they thought it was evidence

of a dead corpse they left the piece there. >> all right. thank you very much, joe. good to see you. we're all hoping that baby is still found. it will be a miracle. 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? that's what we saw because we went "outfront" to see for ourselves. we'll show you behind the scenes, next. you losee for evers through diet and exercise, alli can help you lose one more by blocking some of the fat you eat. let's fight fat with alli. ♪ no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card. hey, aren't you... shhh. i'm researching a role. today's special... the capital one venture card. you earn double miles on every purchase. impressive.

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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. boys care for their parents and girls moved away, 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. valuing women less than men has 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. to bras over sweatshirts. the 22-year-old, you see her there, 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 mother got to do. some may say crass and vulgar,