expected to be there. bracing for a nasty weekend. a massive winter storm is right now racing toward the mid-atlantic states. more than a foot of snow expected from north carolina all the way up to new jersey. several airlines already canceling flights, knowing this is coming. we're live on the ground with what you can expect later today and throughout the weekend. and the party is on in nashville. tee party supporters pouring into the city for the first-ever national convention. cnn is putting the spot plight on the growing political movement. jim atost ka shows us how they tried to organize by cruising for the conservatives. we begin with breaking news this morning from toyota. the carmaker dealing with another public relations nightmare in a growing crisis of confidence. toyota is confirming they're taking a close look at the

upscale level hs 250. the vehicle may have the same brake problems as the prius. toyota is saying there's need to recall the prius, but several reports indicate that a prius recall could be coming. toyota is now under investigation as well. federal safety regulators want to know what the carmaker knew about the safety problems, when they knew it why they kept it quiet. we hear a news conference will begin in an hour, the first time we've heard from him on the crisis. >> reporter: in just one hour, there is going to be the very first news conference held by the c are eo of toyota, head of this company. that's had so many issues, questions about quality. he says he'll be answering questions about quality. the reason why there's so much noise and hubbub around me is i'm on the train heading there now. but we'll get our very first chance to ask the head of toyota

about all these lingering questions about the world's number one automaker. >> i'm hoping they're being honest about the fix and i'm going to give them an opportunity to prove themselves. >> reporter: many loyal toyota owners battered by headlines of recalls and run-arounds nowor wary of a company they've trusted for decades. here's why. number one, accusations the auto giant failed to come clean about serious safety issues. according to cnnmoney.com, toyota knew and didn't tell you, at least not right away. with the flaw in its braking system on the hot selling prius hybrid. the automaker knew about the problem at least a month ago and says they made repairs at the end of january. little comfort for those who bought a prius before this week. number two, the safety concerns keep mounting. toyota confirming it's checking the brakes on its lexus 250 h. number three, many toyota

service centers are swamped staying open 24 hours to begin fixing those sticking accelerator pedals that prompted the recall of millions of vehicles. >> it causes you to be anxious. you can't just jump in your car and expect it to do what it's supposed to now. >> reporter: now many experts claim an electrical malfunction may be the problem, not those pedals. and the big picture, toyota will most certainly have a credibility problem long after the repairs are complete. >> every car manufacturer has issues. the secret is they do build a quality product. i think it will cause a lot of customers to go elsewhere and very hard and very expensive to earn their loyalty back. >> of course, the story is developing, as she said. we'll continue to follow the latest. >> we're going to get word from the top person at this company. we've only heard very briefly at davos he's been under criticism for not coming out sooner.

a powerful winter storm making its way east. new york, philadelphia, washington, could get hit with up to or more than a foot of snow. making your evening commute downright dangerous. and there could be major delays at airports all weekend. reynolds wolf is live in al alexandr alexandria, virginia, and rob marciano is live in the cnn weather xercenter. let's start with rob. hi, rob. >> this storm is happening, the second of the season. the first one coming the third week of december, a record breaker there, this one could be another record breaker. let's go to the maps. it's starting with heavy rain across the south, even severe weather across the gulf states. a lot of moisture with this. just like the last time, it's heading into cold air north of the north carolina/virginia border. there you see it's turning into snow at times it will switch over to sleet but for the most part it will stay all snow as we

go through the next 24 hours. look at all the watches and warnings posted. everything in red is a winter storm warning, the pink in jersey and delaware is a blizzard warning. we expect to see over 20 inches of snow in and around the washington, d.c., area. how much snow new york gets is still a question, probably in the likes of four to eight inches. if the track of this thing shifteds any further to the north, new york could easily get over a foot as well. a tough call for the big apple. d.c. not a tough call, a paralyzing snowstorm for sure. >> absolutely. just looking at the thing and especially as you said that blizzard warning, all the pink on the radar, rob thanks so much, and happy meteorologist day. is that what it is? >> thanks. to the south, folk s stockig up. a number of schools deciding to close for the day ahead of time. reynolds wolf is live in virginia. when you look at the radar, probably a smart move. they know it's coming at least in this area. >> reporter: oh, absolutely.

as rob was talking just a few moments ago, we're talking about record setting snowfall, several feet in this very area by tomorrow morning. how do you handle that? how do you improve the roadways? to improve the roadways and keep a sense of normalcy, what do you have to have? a lot of trucks. here at the virginia department of transportation, this is just a handful of the 60 trucks that we have out here. you see obviously the snowplows on the front, but the first thing they'll be doing is putting salt on the roadways. let's step around here, past these trucks, you can see the frontend loader back over here, it's been going into these buildings, getting the sodium color i'd and loading it into the trucks. they'll continue this procedure into the midday hour. step one procedure is to put that base of salt on the roadways. then as the snow begins to come down, that's when the plows come into play. the truck is going to fill up with the sodium chloride, and down the road it goes. hard to believe we'll be seeing

heavy stuff. they average 16.6 inches of snowfall, they could easily double that for the season. hard to believe. here comes the salt, the truck. now we're sending it back to you in the studio. see you in a bit. >> reynolds wolf for us out in alexandria, virginia. also new this morning -- stunning developments in the story of those ten jailed american missionary nz haiti. haiti has now charged all of them with kidnapping. and what many people thought was a good-natured but maybe misguided attempt to rescue kids may have been calculated even criminal. coming up 6:40 eastern, dan simon has more on the legal problems the missionary leader may have been running from in the u.s. michael jackson's doctor is still a free man. he was expected to give himself up by now. but beth karas from trutv reporting that negotiations for dr. murray's surrender broke down late last night. he's still expected to face charges as early as last week.

the doctor telling detectives he gave jackson provo follow and other said fif actives in the hours before he died. the l.a. county coroner's office says brittany murphy died from a combination of pneumonia, iron deficiency and drug intoxication. it did not list the drugs involved but a spokesman says they were not illegal and not the primary cause. brittany murphy was just 32 years old. still ahead on the most news in the morning, a tea party on the high seas. when it comes to president obama, this is no love boat. we'll explain still ahead. eight minutes past the hour. (announcer) a cold or flu can start fast.

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it's ten minutes after the top of the hour. a quick check of other stories new this morning. democrats are now stuck with a not so supermajority in the senate and president obama is telling lawmakers we "should take our time before finalizing a health care reform bill." the president says he wants to consider new ytds from both parties and health care experts as well on how to improve the system. he says letting time pass before call willing for a vote will allow everyone to get "the real facts". >> as the tea party convention kicked off, the tom kan kraid dough wasted no time talking about the grassroots movement and leadership in washington. >> people who could not even spell the word "vote" or say it in english put a committed

sociali socialist ideologue in the white house whose name is barack hussein obama. >> all right. the nashville convention is a milestone for the grassroots political movement. cnn cutting through all the noise to take an in-depth look at the tea party goals. >> the groups are popping up all over the country, teaparty organizers have taken to the seas cruising for conservativco. john acosta has more on that welcome. >> yes. tea party on the acapulco deck. you could say. they are finding ways to organize. they're not a political party. there are rallies we've seen, web sites out there that folks can surf. there's also the convention going on this weekend in nashville. but there's one way that tea partiers are organizing that you

may not have heard of as christine and kiran mentioned. you can pack your bags for a tea party cruise. >> reporter: on board this cruise ship, easing into the usz you virgin islands, among the thousands of passengers ready for some fun in the sun -- >> people are just not ready for this mad charge to the left. >> reporter: -- members of a rising american political movement are having a meeting of the minds. led by former republican presidential candidate alan keys, more than 100 conserving tiff and tea party activists rented out space on this ship that was built for the cruise for liberty. >> we believe in free enterprise. >> reporter: the organizer markets the seven-day voyage as a chance to talk politics in paradise. >> right now people are wanting to be with other conservatives. maybe they feel like they're a

little bit out on an island someplace by themselves. >> reporter: so to speak. >> so to speak, right, exactly. >> give everybody access to health care. and if you don't want it, we'll shove it down your throat. >> reporter: at the precruise kickoff at this miami hotel, keys explained why he believes the tea party is gaining steam. >> i think it's quite obvious that this isn't about republicans and democrats. it may be about the failure of both parties an the whole system. >> reporter: alan got lean leeb sees a golden opportunity. >> a lot of people never involved in politics know nothing about it, they're extremely naive, angry and upset. they're venting their frustration by attending the rallies. >> reporter: your job is to get them involved. >> we could easily slip back into slavery. >> reporter: cruise for liberty speakers floyd and mary beth have a web site calling for president obama's impeachment. >> i know we need encouragement

in fighting this battle, against obama who's trying to destroy america. i know all of you love america and are fellow patriots. >> reporter: when it comes to president obama, this is no love boat. liberal critics of these expeditions through the caribbean say they're another picture-perfect example of how the tea party movement can sometimes go overboard. democratic strategist jamal simmons worries the tone at some tea party events onshore and off is get out of hand. >> are we just talking about voting differently or something a little more edgy than that? >> reporter: want edgy? keyes refers to the president as the present occupant of the oval office. he still questions his citizenship even though the white house and republican governor of hawaii where the president was born have produced evidence refuting the charge. >> i don't see how you impeach somebody who may not be president in the first place. >> reporter: that's your position.

>> if according to the constitution you are not eligible for the presidency and that does turn out to be the case, then barack obama was never president. you don't impeach somebody -- >> reporter: oh, come on. >> no. you don't understand what constitutional government is all about. >> reporter: later there will be more tea parties aboard the liberty ship and news max cruise. but the founders of one leading tea party group wonder if this is the best use of the movement's time during an election year. >> reporter: would you go on a tea party cruise? >> you know, right now we're working about 20 hours a day. i can't even imagine any cruise, much less a tea party cruise. >> we have no time for cruising. >> reporter: but other tea partiers on these trips argue hitting the high seas is just a new way of cruising for the cause. cruising for the cause indeed. the folks over at carnival cruise lines sent us a statement emphasizing they do not agree with the politics of the private

groups that rent out their cruise. they insist private groups went out their ships all the time. this is just 1 with of them. >> when you hear things like tom tan trade dough's speech and what others say, does some of that stuff undermine the message of fiscal conservatism that some are getting out there? >> americans are going to make up their minds on this. there are lots of polls out right now, cnn has one of them out just today, about the tea party movement. a lot of folks don't know that much about the movement. when they hear some of these statements, coupled with the message of, less government, less taxes, they'll have to make up their minds are they going to go along with these guys. >> a lot of different elements in that movement, broad set of elements. >> absolutely. >> thanks . next, we're waiting for new employment figures. how will wall street react? what will it mean for your job? h

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. 20 minutes past the hour, time for minding your business. we have allan chernoff with us. all eyes are on the jobs report later today. >> yes. and we have slightly encouraging news and some really bad news

that we're anticipating. first of all, let's start with the somewhat happy news. in a little while we're going to be getting the monthly numbers on non-farm payrolls. the job report. it is expected that there will have been a gain of 15,000 jobs during the last month. okay. that's not bad. look at that chart, only one month over the past year when we've had a net gain in jobs, 4 noush ,000 in november. we're looking for some improvement in the jobs picture. obviously it's been very grim. how grim, though? there's going to be a revision later today coming out from the bureau of labor statistics. those number crunchers have rekrufrmg r recrunched those numbers and not very tasty. job losses could rise by more than 800,000. they're looking back at the numbers from april of '08 to march of '09. don't ask me why they take that exact period, but march of '09,

remember, the recession was already deeply under way in late '08 and the beginning of '09. if that happens, if we have that rise of 824,000 jobless, that would mean the number of jobs lost in the recession, 8 million. >> staggering. >> i don't think anybody would doubt it. >> no. what's so frustrated we hear about the jobs saved or created by the stimulus, 600,000. the revision wipes away progress we thought we'd made. >> as we've reported, most of those jobs created or saved, they're saved. the stimulus has not, has not, created all that many jobs when you look in the big picture. yeah, you know, 20 here, 30 here tshgs adds up a little bit. but the vast ma vort of those numbers are saved jobs. lots of money is going into the states, municipalities so they don't have to cut more jobs.

it has prevented the recession from being worse. >> so bottom line today, what do they expect? >> we're looking for a job increase at least during the last month of 15,000. let's focus on that good news. >> yes. let's look at the silver lining. >> it's going to get better. >> eventually, you're right. next on the most news in the morning morning, when it comes to your safety in the air, how much has changed since the christmas day bombing attempt. two officials we spoke to say not much. a cnn exclusive, next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] the cadillac cts sport sedan. one of car & driver's 10 best for the third year in a row. ♪ and now, cadillac announces the new luxury collection lease.

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federal air marshals really keeping us safer when we fly? >> we found you experts who call the program useless, also allegations from marshals that your tax dollars are essentially being wasted. our drew griffin went looking for some answers. >> reporter: on christmas day of last year, umar abdulmutallab tried to blow up a flight from amsterdam with a bomb hidden in his underwear. there were no air marshals on board. after this attack was foiled by passengers, the president called for -- >> more air marshals on flights. >> reporter: homeland security secretary janet napolitano testified before congress. >> we will strengthen the capacity of aviation law enforcement including the federal air marshal service. >> reporter: has it happened? not according to the federal air marshals or f.a.m.s who are supposed to be making those flights. several spoke to cnn on

condition we protect their identities. >> since christmas, most of my domestic flights, few of them, have involved what we consider the smaller aircraft. plenty of international trips they could be covering aircraft, inbound flights from foreign countries, but they aren't doing it. there's really no excuse for it. >> reporter: but there is a reason for it, these air marshals claim. lots of short-haul flights make the marshal service look more pr productive on paper, even though many of those flights are considered low security risks. as cnn has reported for three years, the odds of you having an air marshal on your flight is so low that air marshals tell us managers use creative accounting toed pad the numbers given to congress. >> the way they do it is mickey mouse. i mean, they even go to the extent of when you're flying personally they count that as a

mission if you're flying arm. if you're going on vacation with your family. that's how they help keep the numbers up. >> reporter: though the actual number is classified, it's been widely reported that the number of air marshals covering 28,000 flights a day is fewer than 4,000. do the math, like we did. consider that any trip requireses at least two marshals, large, international flights require even more, and, at best, without sick days, without vacationses, the air marshals can cover only 5% of flights. the air marshal service tells cnn additionally high trained officers are being deployed aboard an increasing number of flights worldwide, they say, to keep air travel safe. >> mostly money down the drain as far as i can see. >> reporter: professor john mueller has just completed a detailed cost benefit assessment of aviation security in the u.s. he found, of the 20 layers of security used by the tsa to

protect air travel, the air marshals have been worthless since 9/11. >> we've seen with the underwear bomber, passengers are not going to sit around waiting for somebody else to do something. their lives are at stake and they're going to jump in. >> reporter: what should be done with the air marshals? republican congressman john duncan of tennessee says, get rid of them. >> the solution seems to be, we need to double, triple, we need to triple down on this, get many, many, many thousands more air marshals. >> well, we may do that, but i sure would hate to see it because it's just a total waste of money. i know that any time you create a federal bureaucracy it just grows and grows and the appropriations just go up and up. but, as i said, look at the record. they haven't done anything. >> reporter: last week, president obama asked for an additional $85 million to beef up the federal air marshal service.

kiran, the air marshals themselves have told me their agency is, at best, dysfunctional. they say it is not protecting the public as it should. there are already calls in congress to investigate the widespread allegations of discrimination and mismanagement at this agency, but now a growing chorus asking if this agency is needed at all. kiran? >> amazing reporting. drew griffin fors us, thanks. also, just how much is the tsa spending on the air marshal program? where are your tax dollars actually going? drew will join us next hour with part two of his exclusive report. it's 30 minutes after the top of the hour. that means time for this morning's top stories. toyota is holding a news conference in japan, the president. he hasn't made a public statement since millions of cars were recalled late last month. new safety information this morning. lexus hybrid hs-250 might have the same brake problems as the

prius. u.s. safety regulators have announced they're placing toyota under investigation now. a powerful winter storm is take being shape right now. forecasters are warning of blizzard conditions along the east coast with some areas getting up to two feet of snow. several major airlines have already canceled a lot of flights to and from the east coast. we'll check in with rob marciano in 15 minutes with more on how this may impact your weekend travel plans. and welcome to the tea party with supporters from across the country gathering in nashville for the first-ever convention. cnn is taking an in-depth look at the grassroots movement and efforts to harness its newfound political power. the delegates are eagerly awaiting the keynote speaker, sarah palin, who addresses the crowd tomorrow night. >> independent analyst john avalon will head to the convention. he joins us now. good to see you. one of the things we want to talk about are the key mrairt

in the tea party movement. five key players, one judge roy moore, people may remember him because of the whole constitutional lablet, plaque at the courthouse. >> that's right, a 5,000-pound ten commandments statue, refused to remove. lost his gig but not before becoming a far right folk hero. now running for governor of alabama including being friday's lunch speaker at the tea party. >> does he have a chance in the race? >> i won't pass judgment, but he certainly has a basis of support among the conservatives. >> very interesting. number four, congressman and 2008 presidential candidate, tom tancredo, a huge anti-illinois legal immigrant activist. what role is he playing right now? >> tom tancredo, former congressman from colorado, anti-illegal immigrant activist, what happened yesterday was something -- bigger question, he's been sort of out of the

picture since he ran for president. well, he erupted on stage last night with the kind of accusation we've come to expect, even going more outer limits calling the president of the united states, ugly stuff. >> saying people who elected him can't spell the word "vote," because they can't spell english. >> thanks. stay classy, tancredo. >> joseph pharaoh. what can you tell us the impact he's having. >> joe farrah is a longtime newspaper man, coming to infamy as a clinton hater group in the 1990s. he's gone above and beyond the call of duty, part of the online obama resistance, funding the billboards that say where's the birth certificate. if you go on the site, it's a prime news force for many in the tea party movement. you can buy lawn signs that say america was founded by right wing extremist. >> number four, the convention

as we know is ending on saturday. the keynote speaker is former alaska governor add former gop vice presidential candidate sarah palin. this is the big-ticket speaker. people are paying, 350, in some cases 550 for the two-day pass. they want to hear her. >> yes. she's getting $100,000 for the privile privilege. a lot of tea there. she may be the only person emerging from the convention with a profit, also the only person who might be running for president. she needs to be understood. she's sort of the queen of the conservative populous. hugely popular with these folks. she's up there with reagan as being invoked somebody they identify with god and country. of course there have been the death panel tweaks and other things since the election that have made her suspect to some folks but her keynote will be the main event. i don't think she's the biggest factor in the convention. >> you think the biggest celebrities aren't the celebrities but the people supporting the movement. >> that's right.

the tea party themselves are a leaderless movement. they see this as a grassroots movement that as a fiscal conservative movement against government spending. there are some folks on the fringe, but it's important to know this is a grassroots fiscal conservative movement, people angry, rallying in nashville figuring out what the next steps are. we'll see when we get on the ground what the next steps are. is it a matter of progression or regression. >> when we talk about independent appeal, does the tea party appeal to independents? what do they think about fiscal conservatism, understanding that, not passing ining on deb the younger generation, but questioning whether president obama can legitimately president, how does that play? >> extremists are always their own side's worst enemy. for all of the folks just here as a fiscal conservative protest, there are folks on the fringe. we've been seeing this in the

wing nut of the week segment. it's been blurring with the base. if they want to really affect american politics beyond the protests they've had so far, they need to deal with the extremists in their midst who are stirring up the crazy pot in ways that are fundamentally unhelpful, crossing the line from opposition to demonization of president of the united states and others. >> john, thanks so much. by the way, john as we said is heading to the tea party today and will be blogging about it. check it out on cnn.com/amfix. also, in the next hour, he is the son of texas congressman ron paul. he says he was born to lead the tea party movement. we'll be speaking to rand paul live from kentucky. he is running for senate in that state. we talked to him several months back. he seemed like the dark horse. now the polling telling quite the difference. is it because of tea party supporters?

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welcome book to the most news in the morning. new developments this morning involving the leader of a baptist missionary group charged with kidnapping 33 haitian chirp. >> that's right. lara salisbury didn't have

papers necessary to cross the border legally and it appears the children she had weren't orphans at all, some of them. was she in over her head? dan simon is digging deeper from idaho. >> reporter: she's been described as the consummate go-getter, a single mother who started her own business and helped disadvantaged children around the world. >> she has a way of kind of getting what she asks for. >> reporter: but brian jack a manager at laura silz bury's company, but she also has another reputation with several employees. >> mainly coming down with promising a bill of goods never delivered. >> reporter: she's facing deep financial problems. the bank foreclosed on her home and her business, an online retailer once thriving, has been the target of numerous lawsuits, alleging she's late with payments. brian jack filed suit complaining he'd been told repeatedly he'd be paid for back-wages but wasn't.

silzbury's world was closing in as she left for haiti. many wonder why for such an ambitious mission she and the group failed to clear hurdles such as paperwork to transport haitian children and registration as an adoption agency. >> in my heart, i think she probably went down there with good intentions to help people that were in trouble, but it's a lack of foresight and planning, once again. she did that in her business life, and it seems to follow her in her personal life. >> reporter: this is what silsby told cnn shortly after being taken into custody. >> we know the truth ultimately is that we came here to help the children and we know god will reveal truth. we're just praying for that and trusting him because we came here knowing this was his mission, not ours. >> reporter: as the questions began to mount in recent days, her church pastor came to her defense. i asked whether he had any concerns about silsby never running an orphanage. is that problematic? >> well, you know, we're talking about a mom, for one thing, and p she's raised children.

we're also talking about a woman who has been a businesswoman so the idea of knowing how to run a business, all of that was already in place. >> it is such an honor to be here. >> reporter: in 2006, silsby won an award from a national women's business group. the committee made known of her charitable work saying she gives hope to families around the world. she is also a respected member of her church. that's why several members jumped at the chance to join her in establishing an orphanage. >> they were asked if they would like to help. when they were asked, they both said yes. >> reporter: sean's wife and daughter volunteered to go with silsby. >> i know their character. i know that they did not believe that they were doing anything that was illegal. i absolutely know that. i'd stake my life on that. >> reporter: now the question is whether their leader led them down an illegal path. dan simon, cnn, meridian, idaho.

>> in the next hour, what will happen to the american missionaries, the charges against them said to be so serious they're being held without bail. it's 42 minutes past the hour. rob is tracking extreme weather this morning. and we have a lot of extreme weather. a big storm taking aim at the mid-atlantic fosh the weekend. rob will have all the latest information about how much snow to expect. >> the stuff in pink is a blizzard warning. a lot going on today. in ten minute, fired after he was caught on the internet looking at bikini pics. was he set up? jeanne moos with new clues about the banker and a petition for him to get his job back. 43 minutes past the hour. bet you guys are, too. how about some hamburger helper? cheeseburger mac... how 'bout some after the show? hamburger helper. one pound. one pan. one tasty meal. compare a well equipped lexus es, to a well-equipped buick lacrosse.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. time for your a.m. house call. a new breakdown of several studies shows no clear evidence that people who ate more saturated fat had more heart attacks or strokes. researchers say this doesn't mean you can start eating fatty meat or butter. >> what does it mean, then? >> it still raises cholesterol, which can cause more heart problems. >> i thought i was in the clear for a couple of sentences there. >> no. time to get a check of the morning weather headlines. boy, you're tracking a big, big storm. >> none of us are taking today off for sure. you may be in the mood for some comfort food that has a lot of

saturated fat today. stay inside and try to get through it. luckily for the d.c. area, philadelphia area, it's happening at least towards the weekend. i'm sure in some spots they'll be canceling school or at least shortening the day. a big storm system with a lot of moisture, a very similar scenario to what we saw the third week of december with that record breaking snowstorm that came through the mid-atlantic. we're seeing a similar happenings today. we started off with a lot of moisture coming in from the gulf of mexico, deep, almost tropical moisture, even strong thunderstorms that are rolling across the florida panhandle. as that warm, moist air gets into the colder air, we've got it turning into snow. there are some spots in the d.c. area where temperatures are right around the freezing mark. so it may very well start as sleet or freezing rain in some spots, but generally speaking it is cold enough, for the most part, for it to be all snow. so that's the good news there. what does that mean? well, we've got a number of weather warnings that are posted. everything you see in in red is a winter storm warning.

the pink as kiran pointed out is a blizzard warning along the jersey coastline and delaware coastline as well. that means winds will be 35, 40 miles an hour sustained for a number of hours with low visibilities. how much snow do we expect? 16 to 24 inches in d.c., 12 to 18 inches in philadelphia, and 4 to 8 inches in new york. so a wide range in a short amount of real estate. new york, if this thing shifts any further to the north, you could easily get a foot or nor. right now the bulk of the action looks to be around philadelphia and washington, d.c. >> thanks, rob. well with, there's no dampening the spirits for new orleans fans. their first ever super bowl sunday. >> yes. people in a festive mood, even neighborhoods that were so depressed after hurricane katrina. the sights and sounds from the big easy. >> reporter: you hear it in the music, in the tone of the song.

the people of new orleans are feeling good. >> new orleans is such a thoroughly authentic american city, and the american story is always triumph over tragedy. >> reporter: seems everyone is celebrating their saints, a flag flying, the cravings of a sweet tooth. >> well, what we've got are aints special party tray, lots of black and gold on there. it's been a pick-me-up all across the city. >> reporter: you've got the candy store where you can get all your saints game day chocolates. right across the street here on magazine street is dirty coast where you can get your saints t-shirts. >> it's really true. people on sunday basically do treat going to the saints game as a religious experience. >> reporter: this is the gin telly neighborhood of new orleans, the building behind me still boarded up, the grass overgrown, the house over here still completely gutted on the inside. it's a neighborhood that's been slow to come back. but city officials say, even

here, the saints have had an impact. so how much water was here? >> eight feet of water that came into this area. >> reporter: new orleans assistant police superintendent has never seen anything quite like it. >> we're seeing a reduction in crime. >> reporter: really? >> a reduction in violent crime. we're seeing a reduction in property crime. and -- >> reporter: since the saints have been winning. >> yes. >> reporter: the saints success has refocused attention on new orleans, the pain it still feels, the pride it always had, the resolve to move forward. it feels good now, but what about after sunday? >> it's a very good thing for people to celebrate and know that they have had the strength and they can have fun. >> yea! ♪ >> reporter: vendors selling black and gold on every corner, they've thought of everything. look at this, even a saints

snuggie. fits good, too. ♪ oh when the saints win the super bowl ♪ >> it's not about win or lose. we've got to win. it's called the super bowl for a reason. >> reporter: john zarrella, cnn, new orleans. >> there you go. little slice of life. a saints snuggie. who knew? still ahead, our top stories, including toyota's damage control. very interesting. they're holding a surprise press conference today in the wake of yet another problem for the once-mighty auto maker. this time with the lexus hybrids. we're dp going to hear about this directly from the president of toyota we're expecting for the very first time. a powerful storm about to bring deep snow and chilling winds to the east coast. forecasters are warning of blizzard conditions. watch out d.c. this system is already grounding flights. we're live in the weather center

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we didn't know there was always a party going on. >> it's friday. it's time for the most news of the morning. remember dave? he's one of the only bankers in the world people are rooting for, the australian banker looking at not suitable for work pictures on live tv. it was caught. >> there was a lot of speculation he was probably set up by someone in his office because his desk is right behind live camera. as jeanne moos tells us, online fans have been rushing to defend dave. >> reporter: they're calling it the safe dave campaign. >> i believe you should safe dave. >> reporter: save dave's job. >> don't think dave should be fired. >> reporter: dave keely is the

guy who got nba abbed during a e interview at the bank. he was in the background opening pictures of a near-naked model. the pictures he's looking at are from -- >> oh, my god. this is nude pictures of women. i mean, were we born with clothes on? >> reporter: take it off. stripper music was played. >> the problem was, he did it during a live interview here on 7. >> reporter: as local anchors chord elled over the story, the save dave campaign has come to his rescue, started by a financial news web site in london. >> i think the world is going politically correct mad. >> reporter: there's all kinds of speculation that dave was set up, that this could have been a practical joke with the photos e-mailed to him so he'd unwittingly open them during the live broadcast. >> the theory goes that as he opened the third tattachment an scrolled down there was a message at the end of the e-mail that said, turn around now.

>> reporter: that's everybody's favorite part, when he turns around. now he's got support groups on facebook. who hasn't done that, asked one fan? post a photo of yourself check being out miranda kerr to show your support. >> save dave, definitely. >> reporter: the australian reports dave is waiting to hear his fate as the bank forensically examines his e-mails. >> next time, dave, be a little more careful and, company, don't fire him right off the spot. >> reporter: you're saying out. he's out. >> out, yes. >> reporter: out the door. >> out the door. >> reporter: but what would miranda think about some guy possibly getting sacked just for looking at her? the victoria's secret model told the melbourne herald-sun, i am told there''s a petition to save his job. of course i'd sign it. as long as she's signing things, he may as well sign one of his photos and send it to dave. >> tell him to take those

pictures home and leave them home. >> reporter: new york. >> of course, we have a breaking news update on dave this morning. after our company inquiry, the a ausian herald-sun reported that the bank is letting dave keep his job. no word if the save dave campaign tipped the scale. no one's been rooting for a banker. >> we were rooting for the poor guy. it's 58 minutes past the hour. top stories coming your way in 90 seconds. the road. 154 are tracking shipments on a train. 33 are iming on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email on vacation. that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. right now get a free 3g/4g device for your laptop. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilitie.

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welcome to "american morning" glad you're with us. i'm kiran chetry. >> i'm christine romans in for john roberts. a surprise news conference from the head of toyota in japan. troubles are moupting. lots of new information. there may be brake problems now with their lexus hybrids. there are reports the prius might be next on the recall list, leaving some customers frankly wondering if they can ever trust toyota again. it's going to be a pretty big nightmare today for many people up and down the mid-atlantic coast as the east coast is expecting to get heavy snow, high windwinds, ice, rain blizzard warnings in new jersey and delaware. the storm already shutting down schools and putting a deep freeze on air travel. we'll be getting the latest on how the storm could affect your travel plans. plus, they're supposed to keep us safe while we fly. so after the failed bomb attempt over detroit on christmas day,

we put the federal air marshals program under the microscope. we found out that hundreds of millions of your tax dollars are being completely wasted and we found allegations of an agency in chaos. a cnn exclusive from our special investigations unit coming up. following breaking news this morning with toyota. the ceo of the company about to hold a surprise news conference. these are live pictures right now, the topic we're told is quality. the burning issue right now for millions of toyota owners, including hundreds of thousands of people who own prius hybrids, brake problems. toyota has maintained that a recall is not necessary, but there are some published reports that suggest one might be coming. it is worth noting it is 9:00 p.m. in japan on friday night, public relations pro says that's the best time for corporations to hold press briefings if they're dealing with bad news. good evening to you. what's the latest? >> reporter: good friday evening

here. this was so hastily prepared, kiran, that we are still on the train. we're just a couple of minutes away, but we're just barely going to get there to cover this news conference. they basically notified all of the media in tokyo to hurry up and get to this news conference. this is going to be the very first time that this is a new topic setting for the head of toyota motor corporation, the man who represents this company where there have been so many quality issues and customers, millions of people, affected worldwide. really our first chance to pepper him with questions, to ask him, what is the problem? what are you hiding? are you hiding anything? so certainly it's going to be an interesting news conference, and really -- [ inaudible ] -- really ask the head of toyota what is happening inside his company. >> i'm hoping they're being

honest about the fix, and i'm going to give them an opportunity to prove themselves. >> reporter: many loyal toyota owners battered by headlines of recalls and runarounds, now wary of a company they've trusted for decades. and here's why. number one, accusations the auto giant failed to come clean with customers about serious safety issues. according to the folks at cnnmoney.com, toyota knew and didn't tell you. at least not right away. with the flaw in its braking system on the hot-selling prius hybrid, the automaker knew about the problem at least a month ago and claims it made repairs on the assembly line at the end of january, little comfort for people who bought a prius before this week. number two, the safety concerns keep mounting. toyota confirming it's now checking for possible problems with the brakes on its upscale lexus hybrid hs-250 assist h. number three, many service centers are swamped, staying open 24 hours to begin fixing the sticking pedals which

prompted the millions of vehicles recalled. >> it causes you to be anxious. you know, you can't just jump in your car and expect it to do what it's supposed to do now. >> reporter: now many auto experts claim an electrical malfunction may be the problem, not those pedals. and the big picture. toyota will almost certainly have a credibility problem long after all the repairs are complete. >> every car manufacturer has issues. >> right. >> the secret is they do build a quality product. i think it will cause a lot of customers to go elsewhere and some very hard and very expensive to earn their loyalty back. >> reporter: we are just arriving in nagoya here. i'm running off the train heading into the press conference. this is going to be our very first time, again, to ask the head of toyota motor corporation in a news conference setting exactly what is happening inside toyota. to give an explanation to the millions of americans affected by this. kiran? >> a lot of concerns. we know you're hustling to get there and get the information to us. we just want to let everybody

know as soon as we find out anything we'll be monitoring this live and check back in throughout our show this morning. thank you and good luck. kiran, the east coast about to get hit by a mammoth winter punch. to give you an idea of just how big this system is, take a look here. the snow is expected to pile up from new jersey to north carolina with baltimore and washington getting anywhere from 16 to 24 inches. our reynolds wolf is live in alexandria, virginia, where they're getting ready this morning. they're getting ready with the salt trucks, aren't they? >> reporter: absolutely. you know, guys, we keep talking about the amounts in terms of amount of snowfall. let's talk quickly about the amount of money. here in the state of virginia their budgeted for about $79 million each year for snow removal. already they spent about $84 million and they're going to spend more. see these trucks are all lining up, all part of snow removal. i know we say removal but part of it entails dropping stuff like this, this sodium cchlorid,

ice on the roadway. step one actually started just yesterday when they put a brine solution on the roadway. these trucks do a multitude of things. number one, they put out salt but also use the plows on the front to push the snow away, which they plan to do later tonight, tomorrow, and possibly a little bit into sunday. it's going to be busy. this is one of 60 trucks that will be coming through covering what could be up to thousands of mile of roadway, not just on the major interstates but also the side streets. a lot of those to deal with. it will be a tough time. they'll be coming through, loading them up and then out on the roadways. these people working 12-hour shifts. working very hard with the potential of several feet of snow here in northern virginia and of course in the d.c. area. back to you in the studio. >> let's head straight to rob marciano, live in the extreme weather center. >> good morning. as per reynold's point there,

this storm similar to the one in december, if i can see anything different about it, it may be just a smidge warmer whaxt that will only do is maybe decrease the total amounts, but the snow will be even heavier. removing that will be a tremendous effort. look at the amount of moisture, the rain, the vapor, the moisture content of the air coming from the gulf of mexico. that's your source, heading into freezing air from virginia up through the delmarva. we're starting to see it now begin to fall in the form of snow and sleet. winter storm warnings are posted for a good chunk of this area, and blizzard warning up for extreme southern jersey and the delaware coastline. we're going to see winds in of 35 miles an hour, blowing snow sideways and reducing visibilities. let's talk snow totals, washington, d.c., 16 to 24 inches expect, 12 to 18 inches in philadelphia. notice how it drops off quickly as you go toward new york, 4 to 8 inches. that's the big question mark. could be more, could be less. but what we are very confident

on is that we will see snow totals that will rival the last batch that came in december in d.c. and philadelphia. that will be a crippling snowstorm for the next two days. back to you. >> rob, thanks so much. >> we've got our sleds greased. ready to go. >> boy, for the people in delaware and new jersey and pennsylvania, what a mess. cnn is taking an in-depth look this morning all day at the tea party movement. our jim acosta has more on the group's way of organizing its members. and why they'll be cruising. 8 minutes past the hour.

the toyota leader is making

comments about the problems plaguing toyota. he's been asked, why did it take you so long to come out and address your customers? he said, this time now i am here because there are customers who may be wondering if their car is safe to drive this weekend, and that's why i am here now. also the ap reporting that the toyota chief is apologizing for the safety woes of the company but clearly choosing his words very carefully. and we'll set up a committee to raise quality control. again, a hastily planned news conference for 9:00 p.m. tokyo time to really address some of these concerns and is now just getting under way after a very brief opening comment from the toyota chief. >> at least so far short on specifics. are they acknowledging there's a problem with the lexus, acknowledging they didn't say there was a problem with the prius? obviously the most interesting part will be the question and answer. this was just announced, as christine said. if you headed there the second you found out about it, we're following this as best we can. we'll bring you new information

as it's breaking in front of us right now. meanwhile, in just over an hour, another indication of how the economy is doing. critical jobs numbers for january will be released by the labor department. economists are expecting to see a slight improvement, likely a gain of about 5,000 to maybe 15,000 jobs according to our business unit. that wouldn't be enough, though, to lower the unemployment rate which stands at exactly 10%. north korea says it's releasing an american who's been in custody there since december. robert park was detained after reportedly crossing into north korea to bring the country's leader kim jong-il a message about "christ's love and forgiveness." park's father talked to journalists in san diego and said his family has heard the news and they're happy, but they're still waiting for confirmation that their son indeed has been freed. a wisconsin college student has filed a class action lawsuit against the company that owns free credit report.com. you probably know their catchy commercials, but the complaint alleges they're not exactly clear and it's not exactly free.

the plaintiff said she signed up to get her "free" report but was unflowingly enrolled in a service. price tag for that? 15 buckses a month. with the democrats' supermajority in the senate history, president obama's message to congress is, hurry up and wait on health care. the president telling lawmakers "we should take our time finalizing a health care reform bill." he says he wants to go through the legislation in detail with republicans, democrats and health care experts to see if there are better ways to improve the system. suzanne malveaux is following the developments live at the white house. >> reporter: hey there. we've heard hurry up and wait several times. i guess that's a good way of putting it. president obama is trying to ratchet up the rhetoric if you will when it comes to the democrats putting the responsibility on them to come to the negotiating table with some ideas. it's was last night at a democratic fund-raiser that the president called on high-level

talks with republicans to try to get some sort of health care reform passed. what's happening now is you've got the democrats, both in the house and the senate, trying to work out consensus negotiating their own separate versions of this bill. but the president is now using some new language. he is trying to put pressure on his own party to come up with consensus at the same time saying republicans are responsible for getting something done. i want you to take a listen. >> what i'd like to do is have a meeting whereby i'm sitting with the republicans, sitting with the democrats, sitting with health care experts, and let's just go through these bills, their ideas, our ideas. let's walk through them in a methodical way so the american people can see and compare. what makes the most sense? and then i think that we've got to go ahead and move forward on a vote. we've got to move forward on a

vote. >> reporter: so, christine, the real question here is, is any of this real? i mean, a lot of cynics are going to look at this and say, is this actually going to happen? well, it's far from certain. despite the fact that he is calling for all of this, white house officials say this is not a new strategy, but what is happening is, on tuesday, it's one of those first meetings you might recall, the state of the union, the president said he wanted to meet in a bipartisan way with republicans, democrats, in the leadership at the white house on a monthly basis. that will happen this tuesday. we'll see if, in fact, health care reform is something where people feel like there's a little bit of wiggle room, some give and take. we'll get something done when it comes to health care reform. should also let you know this is the big super bowl weekend. last year if you recall he invited republicans, democrats, families, kids, ate pizza, had fun. i spoke to the republicans last year, they said, look, we like this dpie, we're having a great time at the party at the white house, but we're not changing

our position on health care. clearly that is the case as well, and what a difference a year makes. here we are in this position. >> suzanne malveaux at the white house. thank. meantime, the first-ever national tea party convention is under way in nashville, tennessee. the grass roots political movement have drawn supporters who want their voices heard in washington. former congressman tom tancredo kicked things off with some very controversial remarks. let's listen. >> people who cannot even spell the word "vote" or say it in english put a committed socialist ideologue in the white house, name is barack hussein obama. >> we hope to come away from this convention with a clear feeling of where this movement might be able to take this

country, ways that we can send messages to both major parties to straighten out policies in washington so that they more clearly reflect the needs of the people that send them. >> i'm interested in having some fiscal responsibility in government. i don't think that anybody in washington has gotten the message, and every time you turn on the television there's always something going on. they just don't get it. >> we're a little disgusting with both parties, what's going on in washington. when we read our constitution, it doesn't say exactly what's happening today. we feel like we're going in the wrong direction completely. >> cnn is taking an in-depth look at the growing movement with the best political team on television. they're finding different ways to organize, including cruising on the highacosta, his final installment on the series. >> new ways to organize. there is the convention in nashville heading into this weekend. there is all of those rallies we

see happening all over the country. and the many tea party web sites. but did you also know you could pack your bags and take a tea party cruise? >> reporter: on board this cruise ship, easing into the u.s. virgin islands, among the thousands of passengers ready for some fun in the sun -- >> people are just not ready for this mad charge to the left. >> reporter: -- members of a rising american political movement are having a meeting of the minds. led by former republican presidential candidate alan keyes, more than 100 conservative and tea party activists and their families rented out space on this ship for what was billed as the cruise for liberty. >> we believe in free enterprise. >> reporter: the organizer markets the seven-day voyage as a chance to talk politics in paradise.

>> right now people are wanting to be with other conservatives. maybe they feel like they're a little bit out on an island someplace by themselves. >> reporter: so to speak. >> right. exactly. >> give everybody access to health care. and, if you don't want it, we'll shove it down your throat. >> reporter: at the pre-cruise kickoff at this miami hotel, keyes explained why he believes the tea party is gaining steam. >> i think it's quite obvious that this isn't about republicans and democrats. it may be about the failure of both parties and the whole party system. >> reporter: conservative activist allan gottlieb sees a golden opportunity. >> a lot of people never involved in politics before, they know nothing about politics. they're naive, angry and upset. they're venting their frustration by attending the rallies. >> reporter: so your job is to somehow get them involved. >> capitalize them, mobilize them. >> we could easily slip back into slavery. >> reporter: cruise for liberty speakers floyd and mary beth brown have a web site calling

for president obama's impeachment. >> i know all of us need some encouragement in fighting this battle against obama who's trying to destroy america. and i know all of you love america and are fellow patriots. >> reporter: when it comes to president obama, this is no love boat. liberal critics of these conservative expeditions through the caribbean say they're another picture-perfect example of how the tea party movement can sometimes go overboard. democratic strategist jamal simmons worries the tone at some tea party events onshore and off is getting out of hand. >> are we just talking about voting differently, or are we speaking about something a little more edgy than that? >> reporter: want edgy? keyes refers to the president as the present occupant of the oval office. he still questions mr. obama's citizenship, even though the white house and republican governor of hawaii where the president was born have produced evidence refuting the charge. >> i don't see how you impeach somebody who may not be

president in the first place. so. >> reporter: that's your position. >> if according to the constitution you are not eligible for the presidency and that does turn out to be the case, then barack obama was never president. you don't -- >> reporter: oh, come on. how can that be? >> i'm sorry. you don't understand what constitutional government is all about. >> reporter: later this year, there will be more tea partiers in the caribbean aboard the liberty ship and the news max cruise sponsored by the popular republican web site. the founders one of one tea party group wonder if this is the best use of the time during an election year. would you go on a tea party cruise? >> you know, right now we're working about 20 hours a day. i can't even imagine any cruise, much less a tea party cruise. >> no. we have no time for cruising. >> reporter: but other tea partiers on these trips argue hitting the high seas is just a new way of cruising for the cause. now, carnival cruise ships did

send a statement stressing that they do not agree with the statements made in this event that was held on their ship, that they rent out space all the time to private groups. that doesn't necessarily mean that they agree with what is stated among those private groups. getting back to this convention, what's happening this weekend, there's a new cnn poll showing some 40% of americans don't know much about the tea party movement. so the question is, when you hear some of rhetoric happening on whether it's the cruise ship or at the convention this weekend, whether or not that hurts the tea party cause. >> we'll be talking about that throughout the morning. thanks so much, jim. also, just eight minutes from now, 7:30 eastern, we'll be speaking with republican rand paul, the son of congressman ron paul, now running for the senate seat in kentucky. and he is getting a lot of support from the tea party movement. we'll talk to him about why he seems to be picking up steam because of the movement. and a special investigation coming up, too, about air marshals. are they making you safer? drew griffin took a fascinating look at this program. one lawmaker says we're simply

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top stories are just minutes away. first, something you'll see only on "american morning." an exclusive from our special investigations unit. after 9/11, the federal air marshal service was beefed up. now uncle sam spends hundreds of millions of your tax dollars on this program every year. but are we any safer? after the christmas day terror plot unfolded in the skies over detroit, our drew griffin started asking some questions, tough questions. this morning we're bringing you those answers. >> reporter: the federal air marshals' mission, protect america's commercial aircraft from future terrorist attacks. with a nearly $1 billion budget,

how many attempted terrorist attacks have the federal air marshals foiled? none that we've been told about. they did shoot and kill one man, a person at miami's airport with mebt mental health issues who claimed to have a bomb in a backpa backpack. as far as arresting terrorists or anyone else -- >> i have the statistics for last year that they made four arrests for an appropriation of over $800 million that came out to more than $200 million per arrest. it's just ridiculous. >> reporter: so what's going wrong? air marshals cnn talked to for this story describe a federal agency in chaos where bored and frustrated air marshals focus more on internal squabbles than watching for bad guys. the marshals asked we not show their faces. >> we don't have managers that provide training or provide leadership or do anything other than produce conflict. how can you say you're protecting the public when

you're playing games? >> reporter: look at this dry erase board in an air marshal's office in orlando, florida. cnn was told managers use the board to keep track of how many minority air marshals had been disciplined. employees told cnn managers were awarding each other scores for their harassment activities. the transportation securitied administration says it's investigating and that all employees are entitled to be treated in a fair and lawful manner. but orlando's not the only example. all over the country, from las vegas to seattle to cincinnati, air marshals have filed official complaints, claiming age, gender, and racial discrimination. in cincinnati alone, 20% of the office filed complaints, according to their lawyer. six marshals say they were then retaliated against in the workplace with undesirable assignments. managers allegedly spent nine months at an unknown cost to

taxpayers investigating whether one female air marshal had her car registered in the proper state. >> at the conclusion of that, she was notified that the car in question belonged to a different air marshal so they were dropping the inquiry. my almost 1-year-old child would probably be better at picking up the phone and driving the driver license bureau than these guys are. >> reporter: then there is the story of this woman, a girlfriend, now wife of an air marshal who complained to the department of homeland security she was followed, photographed and investigated by the air marshals all because, she says, her then-boyfriend had a workman's comp claim. >> americans' safety is being put on the back burner because, you know, we're 40 miles away from the airport investigating private citizens. >> reporter: despite repeated requests, the federal air marshal service and tsa declined to give cnn an interview. congresswoman sheila jackson-lee

believes the air marshals program put together hastily aft after 9/11 needs to be reinvented. >> if we have those problems, we need to get a broom and sweep it out. the only way we're going to ensure the safety of the american people is that we have staff par excellence. i know they're out there. >> the allegations of retaliation of discrimination of gays and minorities is so widespread congress is now demanding an immediate investigation, but also, as you heard, christine, a potential overhaul in the entire management of the f.a.m.s, the air marshals themselves say they are dedicated to this mission of protecting the public but literally they're telling me they're hampered by mismanagement, and that is creating a security risk. >> drew griffin, thanks so much. it'sminutes after the hour. a potentially powerful winter storm paralyzing travel on the

east coast. several major airlines have canceled flights to and from washington and new york. amtrak also canceling several trains. check ahead, folks. the storm system which is already dumping rain in the south could bring at least two feet of snow to the mid-atlantic. and we're watching your money right now overseas markets have been knocked down by heavy losses on wall street. the dow lost 268 points yesterday to close just two points above 10,000. and the sell-off was fueled in part by fears over european companies racking up deficits. toyota's chief executive says he's sorry so many have been inconvenienced by the company's safety problems. he's promising to set up a global task force to improve quality control. at a hastily called news conference, the executive was asked whether the company wreld safety information. he responded by saying he is committed to cooperating with

u.s. safety regulators. the first-ever national tea party convention is under way at nashville. we've been shining the spotlight here at cnn on the grass roots political movement, people who want their voices heard in washington. one was born from the final part of our series, welcome to the tea party, we're talking to kentucky dr. rand paul, son of texas congressman ron paul. he threw his hat into the kentucky senate race last year, campaigning against big government. even got the seal of approval from sarah palin, a keynote speaker at the convention. dr. paul, thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you. >> i interviewed you last august. we talked to your dad as well. this is when you were first announcing your can candidacy for the senate. you were a long shot. fast-forward six months and you're a viable candidate. what do you think has changed? >> it's just been amazing and astounding campaign so far. we started out 11 points down and we're actually 19 points up in an independent media poll.

i give a lot of credit to the tea party, the largest events i've been to in kentucky have all been tea parties. in my little town of bowling green, 700 people showed up for a tea party, in louisville, 4,000 people. the largest events in kentucky have all been tea party so far. >> what is your platform or message that resonates with people that you say are coming to these tea party events? >> the number one reason why i run for office is because i'm worried about the debt. that's what you find at these tea parties. they don't want more taxes, but they're mostly concerned about the fiscal insolvency of our nation and that we could be ruining or bankrupting the nation, that we're passing on a great debt to our children and grandchildren. and i go one step further and say it may be more imminent that that that we could destroy our currency. we have to do something and it's not coming from the career politicians. >> i want to ask you about that. we've been talking about the tea party movement, get a handle on exactly who these people are, what political affiliations, if

any. are these independent voters? when you look at some of the people who are sort of actively involveded, there are questions here. tom tancredo, former congressman out of colorado, this is what he said at an event. people who could not even spell the word "vote" or say it -- and then there were cheers -- put a comm committed socialist ideologue in the white house, his name barack hussein braobama. do you subscribe to that language? >> i think you see it's an a morph us movement. there are politicians who have gone into the movement and try to become part of the movement. it's really about individuals. i met with louisville tea parties. it's eight common citizens like the west of us who work every day, who are middle class, not wealthy. but what resonates most with them is they look at the issues based on the issues, not on which party. now, i think they tend to be more republican than democrat, but they will tell you, if

there's a good democrat, they would support thext them. they base it on the issues. they're not about the over-the-top rhetoric. i do think president obama has gone way to the left and is leading the country toward bigger and bigger government. i tell people it didn't start with him. i think it started 60, 70 years ago with an expansive understanding of the constitution where we say the commerce clause means anything and big government is driven through the commerce clause. >> i totally hear your message about fiscal conservatism, and it has been what has really galvanized many people. then you see some of the vitd yoe. they have balm as hitler, a picture of him dressed up with blood coming out of his mouth, looking like the joker in batman. >> that's not the kind of stuff -- i don't see much of that. you know, what i see is, for example, one of the big things we talk about is reading the bills as a reform. i do fault the president when he comes forward and he actually sounds like he wants to capture some of the tea party because in his state of the union he says,

oh, we all admit the bank bailout was wrong. if they admit it was wrong, explain why they voted for it, him and many republicans, and explain why it was 1,000 pages long, printed at midnight and passed at noon the next day. and they don't read the bills. the tea party movement is about real estatie i reading the bills, about constitutional government. it's not really about name-calling. i see little of it where i go. >> i want to ask about the pure politics. mitch mcconnell is actively endorsing your primary opponent. you've won the support of dick army, steve forbes. you know, when you look at it, it's an anti-establishment campaign for you. is it enough to win without the backing of the mainstream gop? >> i think so. i think it's an enormous movement here, and i've been told the national senate committee won't get in, they're not positive their endorsement is a help at this point. we see it really as the grassroots. most people in kentucky don't want to be told by somebody in washington who to vote for, and

so i think we have a great chance and a huge momentum. our momentum really astounds me at this point. >> it does. it has a lot of political watchers saying -- attributing a lot of it to the tea party movement and they look at what happened in massachusetts. you think you can win this thing? >> yeah, i think we're on our way. i think really as we go forward it gets bigger and bigger with each day. sarah palin's endorsement has been huge for us. we've also been endorsed by gun owners groups, endorsed by conservative groups. >> let me ask you about that, though. do you see eye to eye with sarah palin on a lot of the social conservatism issue, or is your you message more fiscally conservative? >> i talk mostly about fiscal issues but i am socially conservative. on the stump i primarily talk about the deficit, out-of-control government, pork barrel spending, term limits, a balanced budget amendment. but i am socially conservative, and i think what people like about sarah palin is basically

she's very likeable, i think. there are things about her that people say, well, that could be me in the sense that she has a family, she has to deal with issues in her family and things. but she comes out as a good mom and a person who wants what's best for the country. >> she is polarizing, though. people who love her love her. people who don't, don't. it's interesting and a key endorsement. we'll certainly tell you that. rand paul, good luck. thanks for joining us. once again, lots of change since we saw you six months ago. >> thank you. yeah, we're real happy down here. >> thanks so much. kiran, meantime, sarah palin who delivered the tea party's keynote speech reportedly failed to pay taxes on properties in alaska. records show a workshop, sauna and cabins built on land partially owned by palin were not included in property tax assessments. taxes were paid on the land itself. her attorney claims it's not the owner's responsibility to report structures going up on their land. we'll be talking when we come back about the super bowl, not the actual game but an ad raising a lot of controversy

starring tim tebow with an anti-abortion message. carol costello is talking more about whether this is a big win for the pro-life movement. 38 minutes past the hour. sun life financial has never taken government bailout money, yet no one knows our name. ♪ get down tonight that's about to change. so you'll pay for the tour, but i have to change my name? no, you're still kc, but from now on, they will be the sun life band. it's funky.

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. it's 41 minutes pave past the hour. time for an "a.m. original." you might say it's getting more buzz than the game itself. we're talking about a super bowl ad featuring football player tim tebow. carol costello is live this morning to give us a play by play of what we'll see on sunday. hi, carol. >> hi, christine. hey, everyone. have you heard? t tim tebow is doing an ad that will run in the super bowl. this morning i'd like to actually step back from the issue itself and break it down another way. some say this is the culmination of a brilliant marketing strategy by the anti-abortion movement. it's rebranded itself as hip, modern, and, yes, feminist. >> reporter: tim tebow is a

star, heisman trophy winner and clearly devout. in short, he is the face, focus on the family, which opposes abortion has been looking for. >> we really hold up bonno as a great example of someone who stands up passionately for what he believes. i think we should send the same applause toward tim tebow for doing the same thing. >> reporter: tebow's super bowl ad will feature his mother and cheerleader pam, who against doctor's orders, gave birth to her son after falling ill. focus says the ad will not mention the word "abortion" but talk about family. >> we're interested in culture change. having a dialogue, talking about ways in which we can reduce abortions in this country, is a good conversation to have. ♪ to women's choice >> reporter: although the ad that's inflamed women's groups, it's a far different message than in years past, back when

james reverend james dob son was focus on the family's face. >> it grieves me greatly of how the blood of maybe 46, 48 million babies who have been aborted cries out to god from the ground. >> reporter: dob son left focus on the family last year, but abortion rights advocates say the group's core belief remains that all abortions are wrong. >> focus on the family's ad representses that they have learned their lesson that they have to appeal to that more mainstream group of americans and they have a warm and fuzzy ad. >> reporter: many abortion opponents have stopped calling women baby killers are using signs with aborted fetuses. the core of their new strategy was with succinctly put in "america" magazine. writing in 2001, a new strategy must include a strong and legitimate feminism. it's why you'll likely hear something more like this in tebow's super bowl ad.

>> that's the reason i'm here, because my mom is a very courageous woman. >> reporter: even some of the abortion rights movement think it's an effective strategy, one they should have taken a page from. >> i think we could make broader points i think in reaching a greater number of americans by saying, good for her, pam tebow. that's exactly what we're fighting for, for every woman to make the decision for herself. >> abortion rights advocates say what focus on the family is doing is dangerous because it's not being honest about its message, which has nothing to do with choice and everything to do with having a baby at any cost. of course, no one really knows that because no one has seen the commercial yet. focus on the family is not releasing any part of the ad so the ad has maximum impact on sunday. christine? >> so we'll keep talking about it. carol costello, thanks. so what do you have to say about the tebow ad, which we haven't seen?

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we have new developments in the case of michael jackson's doctor conrad murray. he was expected to give himself up to authorities by now, but negotiations have broken down and he's still a free man. joining us is beth karas from trutv. she broke this story. good morning. thanks for being here to talk more about it.

what happened basically? >> well, he was supposed to surrender this morning, and up until the even of business yesterday in california they were negotiating the terms of that surrender. the district attorney holds all the cards in this case because there isn't any judge involved yet. until the complaint is filed, the d.a. basically can make the decisions, but the defense doesn't have to agree. so things broke down. there's not going to be a surrender. there's not even going to be a filing of a complaint today. that's going to happen in the near future. and you know what? they don't even expect a surrender anymore. you know what that means? he's probably going to get arrested. >> it's just a matter of formality, right? either he turns himself in or gets formally arrested. but either way he's going to face charges here. >> oh, no question he's going to face charges. it's just a matter of when and how he'll be brought into custody. will the lapd go arrest him, or will he surrender? >> what would be the bargaining chip for conrad murray -- to say there are talks, what are the

talks? >> well, unfortunately i'm not at liberty to say, but there are certain terms that they just couldn't agree on. bail conditions perhaps, how he's going to get bailed out. it's very low bail for what he is theoretically facing, involuntary manslaughter, $25,000. he's going to post $25,000 bai will post and that there may be some things attached to that. >> this is hanging over this man's head, and there has been months to see what is going to happen to him. >> he could lose his license even before a conviction, if itd comes to that. >> he admitted that he administered the drug? >> yes. he is not the first doctor to give it to him, and that will be

part of his defense, i am sure. >> well, we'll have to see what happens from here. thank you for being with us this morning. this morning's top stories minutes away, including another pr nightmare. more safety worries for toyota, and another brand may have the same problems people are having with the prius brakes. we are looking at why the tea party has exploded. and then house, and a restaurant divided by the super bowl. he is from the big easy, and he loves the saints.

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55 mipz minutes past the hour. after your baby is born, your newborn is screened routinely for genetic diseases at the hospital. and then the dna is sometimes stored in a government lab without your consent. so technically my kids' dna is sitting in a lab somewhere? >> yes, it will stay there for 27 years. this has a lot of people worried. people say it makes sense to test kids for genetic diseases, but do they need to store the

dna. they are not anonymous anonymously, because their names are attached on the dna to other lab tories. >> so can you stop it from getting stored? >> if you go to cnn.com/health you can see my entire story on this. you know, they are not always going to listen if you write a lesser. >> elizabeth cohen for us. thank you. top stories coming up your way in 90 seconds. it's 56 minutes after the hour. get the taste of a home-cooked meal at work

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happy friday, everybody. here are the big stories we will tell you about in the next 15 minutes. a surprise press conference this morning featuring the top executive of toyota. he is apologizing for the safety problems. meanwhile new problems for toyota today. one of the lexus hybrid models may have a problem in the brake system. tea party supporters powering into the first ever national convention. and then we are going to look at one way they organize, by cruising for conservatives. and then a powerful winter storm is taking shape and heading east. up to 2 feet of snow expected in some places. forecasters are forecasting tonight's commute could be

impossible. first, in a surprise press conference this morning, an apology from the president of toyota for the first time since the company recalled millions of vehicles last month. this is a nightmare for toyota. what is going on inside right now? >> well, this is something that we do not ordinarily see in japan. you normally get a lot of deference for the president of a company, but there are a lot of questions, where was your leadership and why did we not get answers directly, and we did get an apology, and he said he would set up a global committee to set up the problem, but we did not get a lot of specifics. we did hear from him and the vice president that said we were not intentionally hiding the issue. that was the response to whether or not the company actually is revealing everything about the

2010 prius. they say we disclosed information and we have no intention of hiding or holding back. when asked where have you been all this time, mr. toyota, he says i must say we have one voice in the management and he is here for the customers. have you a president, here, christine that is trying to say he is here for the customers, and a lot of frustrated reporters that say this is too little too late. >> frustrated customers say we have been asking questions for a week. and we have been asking, and any word about why this has been so hastily arranged? 9:00 p.m. on a friday night in tokyo, two hours away from tokyo, with such little notice. by western standards it's like it's trying to get it out there but not without a lot of

attention. >> yeah, not without a lot of effort on our part. we ran and barely made it for the news conference, plugging in as it's happening. there is a feeling, a sense, why did you hastily arrange this, as you say? and then what they are saying, according to the ceo and president of the company, i am here now and answering questions and here for the customer. but it doesn't appear to be that way, when i am looking at my clock and it's 10:00 p.m. on a friday night. >> and then the global equality control, and the processes for quality control, and people are asking about quality control in the are vehicles in their garage. >> well, what a lot of the consumers, the people that have to sit behind these cars every single morning and take your

kids to day care, they want to know is my gas pedal going to fail or accelerator go to stick. they said they have a big job ahead and they are going to try to regain customer trust, but certainly they have a long way to go. >> thank you so much. >> looking at the whole procession from the questions about floor mats to where we are now and possible talk of recalls. really, for toyota, this is a major, major problem. there are other problems that are coming to light for toyota. brake checks are being checked for their lexus hybrid. there are several published reports that say another recall

could be coming. >> regulators want to know about more of the problem in the prius, specifically when toyota found out about it and why it failed to tell the public. one driver that had problems with her prius is our own jessica yellen. >> if you are driving over a slippery surface or uneven surface, you step on the breaks and they don't respond for a moment. it's like the breaks are not getting traction with the ground, and you just slip, which obviously could be scary. the breaks respond just fine when you are moving at a high speed or if somebody were to jump infront of the car it would stop, it's just a problem over bumpy streets. >> i have been calling toyota since october with no resolution. i decided to try again. nobody contacted me to even say,

hey, we realize this is a problem and it's being looked into. so they say that toyota doesn't know that there is any kind of braking problem, and there would be be a solution because they are not acknowledging a problem, and they are cooperating with the government. >> well, there you have it. if you are a owner or you need more information, you can go to the website, cnn.com/toyota. the dow tumbled 268 points yesterday. look at something we called the fear gauge. up 21% yesterday. and there are concerns about this nation's unemployment and

the growing unease that maybe the recovery could be in jeopardy. economists are predicting a slight improvement, jobs creation maybe in the month, but the government is also eng is that corrected to come out and say we are revising a year's worth of job losses and the recession, we under counted how many jobs were lost by 800,000. we will break it down for you at 8:30 eastern time with an economic analysts. we have new developments in the case against the man involved in the christmas bomb plot. he flipped on the cleric who was allegedly his teacher and is helping the fbi now find him. this could prove critical in the investigation, because the accused has also been tied to the 9/11 hijackers. and there is developments

out of haiti this morning. headlines are reminders of the misery. haiti's prime minister saying last month's earthquake killed 212,000 people. former president bill clinton is coming back to haiti today, and the envoy is helping haiti with aid. and ten american missionaries are in jail on kidnapping charge. it carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. haiti's prime minister talked to larry king about the next step. >> they were linked to other traffic. i am not in a position to decide that, and it's the job of the job or the jury. >> the prime minister also said the judge could take up to three months to decide whether or not

to prosecute these ten americans. we are watching a huge monster storm. rob marciano is tracking it for us. what is it? national weather person day? >> yes, and here you are tracking a blizzard. >> what better way to celebrate. nothing like a good storm for the weather geek to get amped up. those that have to suffer through it, i apologize ahead of time. if you live in d.c. to new york city, you will like the forecast. look at the moisture coming in from the gulf of mexico. the atmosphere is starting to

see snow. and no snow in d.c. yet. look at the expanse of weather warnings or winter storm warnings in the red from ohio down into north carolina and pennsylvania, and the pink you see is blizzard warnings. and 16-24 inches expected in d.c., and we are going for four to eight inches in new york city. quite a storm on this sacred scientific holiday. >> you cannot see that he is piled up with all gifts and candies. >> presents are welcome, but cash is preferred for rob marciano on national weather man's day. a swarm of bats, yes, bats, they have taken over a

foreclosed vacant home in florida. >> that's creeping me out a little. >> every night around dusk they come swarming out. they are helping to control the mosquito population. they say the worse part in the smell. a bat expert says even if somebody paid to remove the bats, they would still come back. >> does that creep you out? they are really cute when you see them up close. >> no, they are not. no, under no circumstances. >> they come crawling out of the house. oh, even that creeps me out. today we will talk about the top tea party minds. they are talking tea party, and why some signed up. no problem. mind if i take a shortcut? yeah, sure. [ tires screech ] ♪

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. it's 12 minutes after the hour. now a grassroots group trying to cement itself on the national scene. the first nationality party convention in under way in nashville. now we are looking at the issues people brought here in a special series, welcome to the tea party. >> it started with a bang last night as conservative fire bird, the colorado candidate used his speech to rail against president obama with controversial language. >> he cannot say the word vote or say it in english, put a committed socialists in the

white house, and his name is obama. >> he was basically disparaging immigrants, and he was talking socialists and saying barack hussein obama, and you will see they question whether or not the president was born here. how does that jive? >> it's a big question. there is a new cnn poll out this morning that shows 47% of americans have no knowledge of the movement. they hear tea party, and think is that what our kids do when they get home from school? and, no, it's a big movement. have you to wonder if their rhetoric like what you just

heard will hurt their cause. i have been there and seen them and -- >> who don't agree with him. >> yeah, they don't agree with that sort of thing. it's inescapable. there are tea party folks that always show the sound bytes or the folks saying those things, but what if we did not? we should be sugar coating what is happening at the events. and the rhetoric is no less heated out on the cruise ships where these events are going on. the tea party is not a political party. they are starting to organize in new ways. there is a convention in nashville, and then the rallies that happen all over the country, the web sites, but how about a tea party cruise? onboard this cruise ship easing

into the u.s. virgin islands, and among the thousands of paenks ready for fun in the sun. >> people are not ready for the mad charge to the left. >> members of a rising political movement are having a meeting of the minds. led by former republican presidential candidate, allen keys, more than 100 conservative activist and their families rented out rooms on the ship. this man markets the seven-day voyage as a chance to talk politics in paradise. >> they maybe feel like they are on an island by themselves -- >> reporter: so to speak. >> if you don't want health care, we will shove it down your throat. >> reporter: keys explains why he explains the tea party is

gaining steam. >> i think it's quite obvious that this is not about republicans and democrats, but it may be about the failure of both parties and the whole system. >> reporter: and this man sees a golden opportunity. >> they know nothing about politics and they are extremely naive, and they are angry and upset and they are attending the rallies. >> reporter: your job is to get those people involved? >> we could easily slip back into slavery. >> and there is a website for president obama's impeachment. >> and some are against obama, who is trying to destroy america. we love america and our fellow patriots. >> reporter: when it comes to obama, this is no love boat.

and they say they are another picture perfect example how the tea party movement can sometimes go overboard. some worry it's getting out of hand. >> are we talking about voting different or something a little more edgy than that. >> reporter: want edgy, keyes still questions obama's citizenship. >> i don't see how you impeach somebody who may not be president in the first place. so because -- if according to the constitution, you are not eligible for the presidency, and that does turn out to be the case, then barack obama was never president. you don't impeach -- >> how can that be? i'm sorry, you don't understand what constitutional government is all about. >> reporter: later this year there will be more tea partiers

sponsored by the popular conservative website. and some wonder if this is the best use of the movement's time during an election year. >> right now we are working 20 hours a day. i cannot imagine any cruise, much less a tea party cruise. >> no, no time for cruising. >> others argue hitting the h c hi-hi-gh seas is with the cause. >> we spoke with the cruise ship company, and he said they are just renting out share ships,

like they do to everybody. >> minding your business from the gulf of mexico, i would love it. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> you can go to cnn.com/amfix and post comments about what you have been seeing on his blog. now, the job creation. have we turned a corner and created jobs in the country? maybe. but it's important for your ability to get a job, and we will tell you exactly what the numbers mean for you in your day-to-day work when we come back. - i'm reading a book. - what's a book? so we tailor plans for individuals, featuring a range of integrated solutions. you at your usual restaurant? son: maybe. see you tomorrow. stairs? elevator.

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♪ >> welcome back. it's 23 minutes past the hour. we are minding your business and doing sports as well, the big game is this sunday, but just as important as the super bowl is what you are going to eat before and after. pizza orders spike by 25% for the super bowl. after half-time comes, it's a ghost town is what one pizza place owner says. >> catsup packet. you can feel off the top and dunk your fries. the kids, for me, trying to drive and eat french fries, or

you can tear the end and squeeze it out. >> and it's three times as much catch up in there. because the packets are never enough. >> you leave all good catch up in there. >> mcdonald's has had dipping sauces for years, and smucker's, they manage to put jelly in a container. >> some things, just slow to change. coming up, a house and restaurant really divided by the super bowl. it's a married couple. he happens to be from new orleans, and he is rooting for the colts, and she is from indianapolis, and she is rooting for the santsz, and the place looks like mardi gras, and we will take you there. we will let you know what the job situation looks like. is it getting better or worse and what it means for you in your job search right now.

more than two weeks after the earthquake, bobby duvall is overwhelmed. the soccer field he built for kids is now filled with homeless. he gave kids from some of the poorest neighborhoods in port-au-prince an opportunity to get off the streets and play a sport and get a meal. >> the kids never missed practice, and they disciplined enough to keep focus on something positive. >> reporter: that program is now a life saver. many families of the kids that played soccer for bobby moved on to the field with no place to go. >> we try to keep it clean, and set up bathrooms and some water, and give them care. that's all. understanding.

so there are safe here. >> safe and sheltered. duvall provided what tents he had, and those without them have gotten more creative. >> are these goal posts, too? >> yes. >> reporter: somebody made a little home out of goal posts. >> right. >> reporter: families are making due the best they can. save as many as you can, that's what is essential. >> save as many, and serve as many. that's it. ññññññññññññw that's why we created the tide "loads of hope" program, a free laundry service that provides clean clothes to families affected by disasters. [ woman ] it feels so good to be able to know that i've got clean clothes. you don't know how very basic essentials are until you have none. ♪

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it's 28 minutespast the hour, and that means it's time for an "am" original.

>> jill doherty has details of the dispute live from washington. hi, jill. >> well, you could call it guess who is coming to visit the white house, and is that the spiritual leader from tibet, the dalai lama, but it's anything but saw rein. chinese officials were fuming warning it would be consequences if president obama met with daudau l dauly beijing, furious cuts back on military cooperation with the u.s. secretary of state, hillary clinton, calls out china on internet freedom.

>> we have seen a spike in threats to the free throw of information. >> reporter: china lashes back, accusing the u.s. of information imperialism. while chinese cyber attacks pushes google to pull out of the chinese market. last november, mr. obama was in beijing shaking hands with the president, but there was a price for making the trip go smoothly. >> between the election and november, mr. obama really stayed away from the difficult subjects of taiwan and tibet, but he has to deal with them eventually. >> we have china violating international law with subsidies and dumping, really a form of international banditry. >> we are talking about the enforcement of existing rules

and putting constant pressure on china and other countries to open up their markets in resipr anchscal ways. >> u.s. officials and china experts agree beijing is becoming more assertive. some chinese see the u.s. as bogged down in a financial crisis, and two wars. >> people are saying, a tit for a tat, don't take it any more. >> that's the danger. there are a lot of issues where we will have collisions, but we want to make sure they are the fender bender variety.

kiran and christine. toyota's chief executive is apologizing for the automaker's safety problems. at a press conference, the leader would only say toyota is committed to cooperating with safety regulators. and then the morning after pill. the new policy was recommended by an independent group. it was approved in 2006 by the fda. and then haiti is charging all ten jailed americans with kidnapping, and they could wait up to three months to find out whether or not they will stand

trial. the haitian prime minister telling larry king it's up to the court. >> it's clear those people violated the law. i am in no possession to decide it, it's up to the judge or the jury. >> missionaries were taken into custody last friday as they tried to cross into the dominican republic with 33 orphans. they said they were trying to help orphans. we found out since that many of the children in some cases, as high as two thirds of them did have a living parent. and the latest jobs numbers came out mow thments ago, the headline, first of all, the unemployment rate down to 9.7%

from 10%. that is a little bit of bright news. the other survey that the government does actually showed a slight decrease in the number of jobs during the last month during january. a decrease of about 20,000. we had been expecting a gain of 20,000 of economists surveyed, and that according to the bloomberg survey. it's not a huge number in the bigger picture. now, there is also an important revision going back a further month back to november, a gain of 64,000. previously the gain had been 4,000. overall, it's showing signs of brightness and a little improvement in the labor market, and not the continued disasters. there is one other note that we need to talk about, and that is in terms of the number of jobs actually lost during the recession. the prior estimate from the

government had been 7.2 million, and now it's 8.4 million, and i don't think that's any surprise to people out there. we know that the jobs lost during the recession has been simply disastrous. >> and how it breaks down for groups, and teenager, and blacks, 16% unemployment. most of these did not change. actually the unemployment rate fell for adult women to 7.9%, and still that idea that this is a man's session or he-session, and women have faired better. so there is a lot of numbers to dig in and interesting stuff. >> overall, the bottom line is this is not a disastrous report. there are some signs of a positive trend in the employment situation. let's see how the markets respond. the markets are very, very jittery. >> and we talk about the dow, the psychological number. the fact that we are under double digit employment doesn't

change. what does it mean for the administration? >> i should also say something, you know, and everybody was saying yes the jobs numbers is causing the market to tank here, and the truth is the market cares about economic grooth and profits and not that much about unemployment. it could be disastrous, and the dow could soar because we have seen it in the last few months. >> what does this mean for you and your job prospects? i've been growing algae for 35 years.

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just in a little bit of good news. the labor department releasing the jobs number. the unemployment rate dropped, it dropped to 9.7%. joining me to break it down, our guests. 9.7%, it's just not good for america. but it's better than we thought. why did it fall, do you think?

>> well, it's derived from the household survey. the household survey had over half a million jobs created, which is different than the headline survey, which shows minus 20. so it's two different surveys. it looks like the unemployment rate may have peaked at the earlier unemployment level. if it did not peak, i think it still will peak by the first half of the year, because this overwhelming trend that we have seen for much of last year into this year is one of an improving labor market than minus 20 not withstanding. >> good times are ahead? >> don't go crazy. job loss is tapering off. that's the good news. if you don't have a job, it's still so hard to get a job. that's what we are seeing here. that's the divergence of data, and they are saying, wow, that's great news, but if you don't have a job it's still very hard to get a job. >> and we see they are temporary

jobs increase and retail jobs increased, and we know that people are working, you know, we have a short workweek. >> workweek moved up a tenth of a point. earnings went up more than expected. if you look at the revisions, some of them are nasty. we see in november, a plus 64,000 out of there. >> a plus 64,000 jobs, and november did not feel that great to me. >> there is a lot of cross currents here. we are about to break through the surface. >> yeah, this is the way it looks after coming out of a horrible time. there is a big revision, and we know we lost 800,000 jobs that we did not know about. and that brings 8.2 million jobs there. >> it's history. we are now in the rebuilding phase. all the data gets choppy.

and if you look at the last three months, the trend is actually improving. that's what we need to concentrate on. while we need jobs created in this country, i can guarantee one thing. this is a very strong and resilient economy, and it will happen. >> we had a rough day yesterday. we are talking about 10,000 for the dow, and you are hearing talk about other european countries and their debt problems, and how much debt they have taken on to get themselves out of the mess. how much concern do we have from the budding economic recovery compared to elsewhere? >> i would say none. there is a lot of misplaced fear. the difficulty in getting a deposit in the jobs growth right now or what is going on in europe or smaller countries, it's going to bring a double dipper recession, and that's not going to happen. >> i think these countries, so

card p.i.g. countries, the thing important about those countries, they are not representative of what is going on in the united states. we are talking about maybe downgrading u.s. funds. the market went up 70%. it needs to take a breather. it's normal. >> the market is not the economy. these are two separate things. they turn. we are in the first quarter of positive jobs growth. that we can take to the bank. >> the people who are not going to read the 25-page report. if you need a job, your advice? >> now is the time to upgrade or get a job, because now the business cycle is your friend, right here right now. >> if you need a job, network like crazy, and you will see a turn, a thaw right now.

>> all right. thank you both so much. we leave the jobs talk for a second and we are talking about a major, major storm coming our way. a blizzard warning. it's powering its way through the mid-atlantic states. we will talk about exactly where it might hit and how it may affect your travel as well.

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around here, especially, rob, as we get ready to see the storm. >> we are going to be grilling in the sun there at the super bowl. >> why not grill in the snow? i like the attitude. we are getting winter weather weary across the east, especially through the d.c. and delmar area. and there is expected to be as potent as the last one. a decent amount of moisture coming from the gulf of mexico, and it's streaming up the carolinas and into virginia now. we are seeing snowfall rates about an inch an hour and it's drifting towards d.c. it may mix in with sleet during the day and then transfer over to all snow as we go through later tonight. what do we expect for travel conditions? if you have to travel tomorrow, try to do it today. i am sure some of the airlines are doing that without a change fee.

d.c., metro near blizzard conditions. and also some snow in chicago. blizzard warning, and we talked about blizzard conditions in some of the metropolitan airports. parts of jersey and delaware, winds 35 miles per hour, and visibility dropping because of the blowing snow and big time waves, that will be a big issue like the snowfall which will pile up and be as impressive as the last patch that game through. 16-24 inches of snow expected in the d.c. area. so kiran and christine, that's pretty of snow for you kids to do sledding on, but the little ones would like more snow in the way of a foot. >> sledding and grilling in the snow. >> all right, rob marciano, thank you. super bowl menu rivalry on the menu. we will take you to an indiana

restaurant. the owners are live from us. he is from the big easy, but he saw sports the colts, right? >> that's right. >> she is from indianapolis, but she loves the saints. they have the whole restaurant divided down the middle between colts and saints fans, and look, it's breakfast time and they are already having a party. we will talk about the rivalry on the menu. look at all the saints fans. >> we'll be there in a minute. dw many classrooms we need? the census helps us know exactly what we need. so everyone can get their fair share of funding. we can't move forward until you mail it back. 2010 census

♪ there are a lot of stories that people get along in their households, but not in sports. we will introduce you to a guy, a chef from new orleans but a colt's fan at heart. >> she is a fan of the saints. and they are down the middle. sitting next to each other, peacefully, live from indiana, with all their customers behind them. good morning, everybody. tell us about the rivalry? is this a rivalry, or do you

take it seriously or friendly? >> i am for the colts. the colts are going to win. i don't know why she is for the saints. >> i love my saints. we take it seriously, especially this time of year. >> how did you switch teams? you seem to have adapt the hometown of each other's -- >> i never heard it called switching teams. i nel new orleans. i met him in '96 at mardi gras. him and the colts, i don't get it. >> carter, in your defense, peyton manning is from new orleans, so there you go, right? >> yes, he is. i was born in new orleans and lived there almost all my life, and the saints have always been, to me, sort of a disappointment. so i moved up to indiana with the winning team now, with the

winning team. >> i guess you are both with two winning teams. how do you handle the rivalry, because you look like you want to give him a swift kick there. how do you handle the rivalry and stay peacefully together? >> dude, they have tvs on the ridge. where he is from in new orleans, his family is not getting this. >> they are not happy. they are not happy. >> i know how we handle it. >> it's all right. >> i have something for my wife, though, since she is a saints fan now, i made her her own official "aints" bag. that's for you, baby, you put that on. you put that on. >> you have drawn the battle line, if you will, not only in your marriage when it comes to sports, but your restaurant as well. tell us about what is going on behind you? it's a new orleans theme. how are you splitting your

customers, based on who they are rooting for? >> well, we put all the saints fans back by the dumpster where they are more comfortable. >> you did not! >> there are a lot of people from louisiana that live in indiana. >> we love them. >> and they come in here and they love the saints, and i love the saints, and we have a lot of colts fans, too, don't know where they are coming from, but it's bean rivalry. the colts fans have given me grief this last few months. i called this super bowl back in august, and i knew this was going to happen. i decorated my windows. to sit here on national television and get more from you? i'm just sayin'. >> what are you going to feed the football fans of either

perfect sw team. >> we are going to be having lots of corn, and casseroles. ? >> what beer will flow? >> there may be a little beer. it's sunday, you know, probably not as much beer, but more hurricanes. >> going for the hard stuff. you two are hilarious. i see a reality show in your future. you are adorable. >> thanks. in the tradition, who is the guy? >> debby and i made a met, when the colts win, she has to go out back and clean out the grease pit. if the saints win i have to put on a dress and walk-up and down main street with a big sign, but

that's not going to happen. >> i am rooting for the saints now. >> no, no, no. >> we will keep the cameras there. >> i have to carry a sign i love peyton manning if they win. >> i hope you have a lot of run up to the game. thank you so much. >> go saints! >> go colts! >> we wish we could be there. it looks like fun. thank you, everybody. it's 58 minutes after the hour. oh, wowww ! that's fun ! you didn't say i could have a real one. well, you didn't ask. even kids know when it's wrong to hold out on somebody.

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