international community and he's looking inward perhaps, but let's talk about, there is always this sort of threat from north korea in terms of its nuclear program. there's new imagery that shows activity at a plant. how worried are you about their nuclear program? >> i think a nuclear program is something they need to keep, to maintain, to maintain the height end alert for their military, and much of this is for their domestic consumption. their military capability scientifically speaking, is far inadequate to reach the united states and become a real source of threat. so i think it's very important for us not to overreact to what happens to be a rather harsh provocative words. >> obviously you're looking at them in a way sort of pointing this towards the masses,

concerned about the arab spring that something like this could happen in north korea. when you mentioned the execution of kim jong-un's uncle, what is that -- when you looked at that, a lot of people wondered, my goodness, does this mean there's some sort of instability in the government. how did you read it though? >> no, that's an anomaly. i don't think there's many in north korea. he miscalculated that he can challenge kim jong-un's authority. i don't think he meant to challenge the authority. north korea is a family state created by kim i want l's son decades ago. no one without that bloodline is legitimate in the view of north koreans. so without having probably kim jong num bringing in sort of a

palace coup, i don't think he personally had an ambition to become a north koreaial leader, so this is history and now buries in our memory. i don't think this would lead to any arab uprising type of situation in north korea. >> that does seem to be the prevailing view. professor park, we appreciate your time. thank you. ahead, trying to recover from an ice storm, when the ice just won't melt. the thermometers will be moving soon. stay tuned for whether it's up or down. we have brand-new poll numbers matching hillary clinton against all the reps who may have their eyes on the white house. find out who is the only one ahead of her. 6

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. could hillary clinton beat a republican in the 2016 presidential horse race? our new poll offers a very early look at the field and the potential matchups. here is cnn's chief national

correspondent john king. >> brianna, we should make clear from the get-go, it's far from a reliability indicator, far from reliable of what the american people will be looking for, but these early numbers, fun for some holiday political conversations, and they could impact how some of the potential candidates look and act in the weeks and months ahead. the early democratic favorite, hillary clinton versus nine republican 2016 prospects, and with just one exception, secretary clinton comes out on top, in most cases in a landside. she beats former governor jeb bush by 20 points, 18 points is the clinton edge over ted cruz, and up 17 over texas governor and 2012 candidates rick perry. another contender, former rick santorum is behind clinton by 19 points. two newcomers run behind clinton by 13 points and 19 points

respectivelily. paul ryan, well, he comes closer. the new poll shows clinton with an eight-point edge. who is the one exception? new jersey governor chris christie, over, he edges 48 to 46%. that's a statistical dead heat, but nonetheless early bragging rights for christie, as he begins a very busy schedule crossing the country. what makes him stronger than the other republicans? don't underestimate name recognition. he's been in the headlines a lot because of the big reelection win. bigging deeper, he -- and by nine points among suburban voter, running much closer to clinton than any of the other republican, so a great present, and they should get clippen some holiday cheer, but a very cautionary note. in this point, mean polling conducted in late 2005, hillary

clinton was the runaway leader among democrats, and rudi giuliani, the big early front-runner. barack obama at that point didn't even come up in the polls. so have fun with the new numbers, and maybe have a christie/clinton chatter, but wouldn't use these poll numbers at all to make any early bets in vegas. brianna? this week brought a surge in last-minute shopping, but also a surge in visits to the obamacare website. and cnn's athena jones is way in over in hawaii covering president obama, as he is on vacation, and watching all of these deadlines. >> hi, brianna. the administration has been touting the heavy traffic to the federal exchange healthcare.gov. we know monday was a record day, tuesday was also a high traffic day, but we won't get a real sense of how many people were

ability to complete the process until mid-january. that's when the administration is set to release the next back of numbers. i will tell you that insurance companies today had a conference call with health industry officials to take about the changing deadlines earlier this week. this is not uncommon. the insurance companies are in constant contact with the officials at hhs, and services all throughout this roll-out process. an industry source from the insurance industry told us they hadn't gotten the flood of enrollment applications from earlier this week. that's simply because it takes a while for this information to make its way from the exchanges to the insurance companies. this, of course, being a holiday week, that will play a role there, but this sort also said they believe the change in the deadline to midnight the following day, december 24th, is not likely to have made much of an impact. one more thing, brianna, we've

been talking about the big traffic on healthcare.gov, well, state exchanges saw big jumps in numbers. i want to share a few of them. connecticut had more than double the enrollment on monday. 6700 people signed up. colorado had a record day. california. 103,000 people enrolled between friday and monday through cover california. so just a few of the constituents we're getting from the states. >> proof that we journalists are not the only ones who work best under deadlines, thank you, athena. 100,000 homes are without power in michigan. wintry weather has slammed the state, taking out power lines, wreaking havoc, as you can imagine. power crews may not be able to restore lines until this weekend. a coal so bad it forced

hundreds to red cross shelters on christmas day. michigan could be more snow with highs in the 20s. after months in a russian prison, the first greenpeace activists are back home. the so-called arctic 30 have been held on charges of hooliganism after boarding an oil rig as a peaceful protest. the charges were dropped as part of president putin's new amnesty law ahead of the sochi olympics. the remains crew members will be leaving in the next few weeks once receiving the proper immigration papers. you probably see a lot of crazy touch as a cabdriver, but $300,000 in cash? gerardo gamboa discovered the money in the backseat of his cab. you know what he did? he turned it all over to police. a professional poker player came forward and for his honest he was rewarded with a steak dinner

and $1,000 bonus. and it's the will he or won't he gripping teenager girls. justin bieber announced, quote he's officially retiring on his twitter page, but he added he's never leaving his fans and will be here forever. lucky us, right? the 19-year-old canadian is "forbes'" ninth most powerful celebrity and 48 million followers, making us doubt he will give up his career. a candid conversation with shirley ma klain, with her ties to the rat pack, her friendship with jfk and what hollywood and washington have in common. [ male announcer ] this store knows how to handle a saturday crowd. ♪ [ male announcer ] the parking lot helps by letting us know who's coming. the carts keep everyone on the right track. the power tools introduce themselves.

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2013's biggest scandals. here's cnn's joe johns. >> number ten, beam me up, baby. it's seldom you get the crack question of the year and crack answer in the year at the same place. it happened to the notorious star of his own crack-smoking video. toronto mayor rob ford, when he got put on the spot in an open forum with the whole world watching. >> have you purchased illegal drugs in the last two years? >> yes, i have. >> ford was a trend-setter in 2013, leader in the pack of categories of mayors gone wild with honorable mention to number nine, san diego's mr. smooth himself, bob filner who resigned as mayor facing a tidal wave of allegations, including a former

female employee who filed suit, alleging that filner asked her, wouldn't it be great if you took off your panties and work without them on? he was eventually sentenced. kwame kilpatrick, convicted of racketeering and extortion so pervasive, prosecutors said it helped push the motor city into the largest bankruptcy of a city in u.s. history. 28 years in federal prison. speaking of elections, number 7 on our list isn't a mayor, but he could have been. new york's former congressman anthony weiner, a hit performer for the sexing controversy that made hem leave capitol hill. he made an encore running for the big apple's job, but when

more pictures surfaced, he lost the primary with less than 5% of the vote. magnanimous, he gave the universal we're number one hand signal as a parting shot. while we're on the subject of popularity, number 6 on the revenue service. and in keeping with the season, what might be described as one of the most notorious naughty lists in recent u.s. history. it seem somebody at the irs got the bright idea of singling out conservative groups, especially tea partiers for extra special attention. the practice attracted outrage from coast to coast and an investigation by the other federal agency that jins up fear and anxiety everywhere. the justice department. and speaking of spilling the goodies, there are some nongovernment players that must be mentioned for outstanding performances in 2013. number five on the list is the former man of steel. lance armstrong. here is a guy who was master of

the cycling world and the big lie. winning the tour tea france seven time claiming repeatedly he was not don'ting to enhance his athletic performance. after being banned from the sport, he gave a tell-all sort of interview with oprah. where else? he confessed an often remember as the biggest understatement in the history of sports. >> i'm not the most believable guy in the world right now. >> number four on our list with another kind of credibility problem, that phony sign language interpreter who crashed the nelson mandela service. it would be funnier if it were not so creepy. he got within arm's length of the president of the united states making meaningless gestures. it later came to light that he had once been accused of rape and murder but was found not guilty. >> number three is paula deen. what would possess a host of a pop hard cooking show to get herself embroiled in a lawsuit where somebody was actually going to ask her under oath

whether she ever used the n word when she can. can you say settle the case already? and speaking of legal problems, number two is the not so secretive anymore, nsa. the national security agency. who would have thought that one government outfit that was supposed to be stealth city could manage to embarrass or anger just about everybody in the u.s. by letting a rogue former contractor named edward snowden download a bus load of secrets from its computer system? splash some of it to the media and then run off to russia of all places while the goodies continue to be spilled item by item for maximum effect. coming in last for award of the year, congress for the absolutely inexplicable government shutdown crisis i of 2013 that featured an absurdist reading a dr. seuss's classic in the minute of a talkathon. >> i do not like green eggs and ham. >> not to be overlooked the

obama administration for the utterly disastrous rollout of the healthcare.gov website. which debacle was worse is entirely in the eye of the beholder. the futile attempts by a congressional minority to dismantle a law of the handled upheld by the supreme court with the stated aim of getting rid of the president's signature achievement, or the video replays of the leader of the free world promising his signature achievement would allow anyone to keep the status quo, only to find out that just, well, it wasn't true. >> if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. >> cnn, washington. shirley mcclain is being honored. she recently talked with gloria boringer. >> i just remember sitting in the car with john kennedy on top of mulholland drive, talking about film. and power and entertainment and

that's all we did was talk. >> oh. >> okay. >> you were backstage when marilyn monroe sang happy birthday at the garden to kennedy? what was that about in. >> there is a back story to that. marilyn wouldn't come out. of her little dressing place because she, i don't know, didn't like the dress. i don't know. what was or wasn't happening. and they asked me if i would sing. there i was an understudy again and they asked me if i would sing happy birthday to the president if indeed miss monroe didn't come out. at the very last moment she came out. but i was right back there thinking, i wonder if she'll finish the song? and she finished him off starwise. >> maclane found her natural habitat with the rat pack. the notorious bad boys of hollywood. >> i have to show you this picture we found of you with two of your favorite memories with the rat pack.

teen marine, frank sinatra. >> is that jack carter? >> i think it is. >> what was it like being the girl in the rat pack? >> i was the one who would pick up the crackers and the jelly beans and answer the door. i always told them the truth. that's why i think they liked me. >> did it ever get romantic? >> never. i had a crush on dean for about 15 minutes. >> she liked sinatra, too, and discovered how helpful he could be. >> a couple of times when i went on the road with my show and there were some union problems at whatever theater we were playing, and you don't mess with the union when they've got them so many i would call frank. he would say i've got people. next thing i know there was no problem. >> she looked about a know on her rat pack days at a time when hollywood stars were not so

perfect. >> they were human beings who were so primitively talented on all levels. and they loved the mistakes of the moment. >> they didn't like perfection. they didn't like to rehearse. they didn't like to be aware of what was happening so they didn't look ridiculous. they loved looking ridiculous. they knew they were icons. they knew they were -- so especially talented. that the audience couldn't relate to them. who was this talented everented? so when something was happening in a movie and it was knocking them off their pedestal, they loved that. they were very aware of how smart that was. >> does that happen in hollywood now? >> in my opinion, no. everybody wants perfection. even if they're playing a disheveled idiot on the street

they want to know exactly what will happen. >> do washington and hollywood have anything in common? >> oh, yeah. they both want to be understood them both want to entertain. they know how to win with comedy. they don't want to look good. they both want high ratings. they both want the right hard robe mistress. they both want -- they want to learn the secrets of exercising power without seeing, seeming dictatorial. >> you've just written this book, what if. what if shirley mclane had gone into politics instead of show business? >> i don't think i was ever that nuts. i guess i was in my 50s. a bunch of people with money came and asked me if i would run for the senate of california.

i think i said sure, i'll do it. if i win i want eight weeks aier to play vegas. >> she needed a larger stage and her signature moment came in a movie. >> you have to go back to the oscar, "terms of endearment." you the mother are frantic to get your dying daughter a painkiller. and you scream. >> give her the shot. >> all she has to do is hold out until 10:00. it's 10:00. my daughter is in pain. give her the shot. do you understand me? give my daughter the shot! >> thank you very much. >> one take. >> one take? >> she is convince that had real life isn't done in one take. she is a believer in reincarnation and other worlds. >> some people think you're kooky. are they right? >> uh-huh. are not they saying also, no, i

want to hear about the unkooky part that they say. have i earned the right to have that unkooky part, too? i'm really interested in that. >> shirley has been fearless and honest and tackled complicated characters and she has revealed a greater deeper truth will. >> and she is still doing it. as the visiting and formidable american mother on downtownon abby. >> you think the british have a lock on that? let's see the other side. >> you're having fun. >> oh, yeah. >> for the first time the kennedy center honor is a family affair. warren beatty got it before you. >> my younger brother. >> we have a lot to talk about. he call me and said, okay. what's next? i said you have to get it first. then that guarantees i'll get it. maybe the nobel peace prize for understanding there are other

realities. that's when they hung up. >> i'm in for wolf blitzer and erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >p next, an american h begs the president for help. p >> you are>> you are a fa you understand the deep meant mental anxiety. >> his close friend joins us next. plus, ups and fed-ex under fire. >> i waited around for hours and hours to show up and it never can. >> how many christmas gifts are still mia? and another victim of the so-called knockout game. why the federal government is now involved. >> his faith was on this side. you see three plates here. >> let's go "outfront."