because somebody came in to steal. wow! >> the free store as the name implies chock full of stuff you can take. no price tags or cash yers, nothing. this guy and allege accomplice had they wasted a few hours they could have gotten away scot-free. brooke takes it away now. a couple of key issues here we're all over this hour and the next two hours. key vote about to begin any moment in the u.s. senate. the big question is will the tax cut bill live another day or die on the floor this hour? we're about to watch a number of senators cast their votes, so stand by for that. also, we are going to get through the piles and piles of snow. this is the windshield view left side of your screen of one of our intrepid cnn crews as they drove through northwest indiana today. i tell you what, i was in indiana all weekend in the snow. got one yeword for you, yuck.

a huge decision from a judge in virginia. here is the core of the issue here p can the federal government require every single american to have to buy health insurance? and if you force them to pay for it, is it a tax or is it a penalty? the judge today out of richmond, virginia, says it's a penalty and congress does not have the power to penalize americans for not doing something. so i want to bring in right now senior legal analyst jeff toobin. i want to get to the part here where the judge called unconstitutional. this was really the centerpiece of the legislation that we saw passing back in march that brought every american into the system and got them to pay for health care, whether you liked it, whether you didn't. my question to you is, jeff, if the ruling stands, is there even still health care reform? >> well, the judge very clearly said, yes, that there is only part of the law that he found unconstitutional, that certain provisions that have already

gone into effect like kids being able to stay on their parents' health insurance until age 26, no exclusion for preexisting conditions, those are all unaffected by this ruling. it's also important to emphasize that there are lots of challenges to the health care law in various courts around the country. two judges have already ruled that it is constitutional. this judge said no. all that means is that the supreme court is going to have to resolve this question sooner rather than later. >> and as you've pointed out earlier, this particular judge in richmond, virginia, appointed by a republican president. we'll talk politics in a minute. but joining me phil gingrey. he is a doctor and also a republican. and first, congressman gingrey, i want to play you part of what the white house said today, part of their response. they say the whole reason this law is written the way it is is to protect people with preexisting conditions who find it pretty tough to get insurance

at all. listen to this. >> we need to be able to ban this insurance company practice of saying that people can't get coverage because they have preexisting conditions. that happens right now all over the country. you can't ban preexisting conditions unless you -- preexisting condition exclusions unless you get everybody into the system. that's what this individual requirement is all about. >> here's my question to you, congressman gingrey, dr. gingrey. if you have a preexisting condition or simply can't afford health insurance for whatever the reason may be, as a doctor to patient, are you just out of luck now? >> no. brooke, of course, i understand the tradeoff. obviously, if you're going to in the law force the insurance companies to take everybody with preexisting conditions, even if they wait until they've had the

operation to sign up for insurance at community rates, then you offset that by forcing everybody else, the young healthy, those that want it or not, to purchase health insurance and not only to purchase it but to purchase a policy that the government decides is an adequate coverage. so that is the part that the judge hudson of the eastern district of virginia ruled unconstitutional under article i, section 8, utilizing the commerce clause to say it's applicable not only to regulating interstate commerce or commerce between nations, but to force people to engage in commerce and i think the judge is absolutely right. >> you segued into my next point. talk about commerce and buying. perfect for you have because you're on the energy and commerce committee. the federal judge today took issue with the whole part of the health care law that addresses commerce laws specifically. page 3 saying the commonwealth argues requiring an individual

to purchase a good or service from a private vendor is beyond the boundsries of congressional commerce clause power, i.e., you can't force someone to have shop for health insurance. but my question to you is, isn't commerce a good thing? don't people in this country benefit from having more people spend money? >> commerce is a wonderful thing. now should we force them to purchase not just an automobile but one from government motors since the government controls 60% of the stock of general motors? and in fact, when this law was proffered in the energy and commerce committee a year and a half ago, the original draft, the democratic majority wanted a strong public option. they not only wanted to force people to have to purchase, but they wanted them ultimately to have to buy it from the federal government. i mean can be talk about taking away people's liberty and right to choose. the president had said if you

like what you've got, you can keep it until you can't. >> i want to bring in jeff toobin. jeff, i imagine you're still sitting there listening to this conversation. i don't know if you want to take sides per se. but to congressman gingrey's point, does that make sense? >> i think it really depends on how you see the power of the federal government. it has been true for decades that the federal government has been intimately involved in health care. there's medicare. there's medicaid. and the question really before the court is, is the obama plan simply a logical extension of medicare and medicare, which is what the administration says. or is it something new that is outside the power of the federal government? this is, i think, fundamentally a very partisan, political issue. you see it in the makeup of the judges who have decided this case so far. i think you'll see it as the case moves through the process. how you look at the constitution depends on your ideology and

that depends -- and that's going to determine how you come out in this case. >> jeff toobin, to your point -- this is for you, congressman gingrey, on the whole -- this could perceived as a huge political victory for conservatives on this ruling. do you feel vindicated by this judge's decision in rich monday? furthering that, does this set the stage for republicans such as yourself to propose repealing the entire law come january? >> well, brooke, i do feel vindicated. ever course more importantly i'm sure ken kuch nelly, the attorney general of virginia feels vindicated. there's another lawsuit -- 20 states, including my state of georgia. they will take arguments, i think -- oral arguments on thursday of this week in a district court in florida. and i expect that that judge will rule just as judge hudson has ruled. i agree with jeff with regard to what ultimately will happen. ultimately this will be decided by the supreme court and i hope sooner rather than later.

quite honestly, it could be a 5-4 decision but it could also be 9-0. because even though what he says about the power of the federal government to expand into other areas of health care beyond medicare and medicaid or medicare for all or medicaid for all, that might be true. but what the judge ruled in virginia was strictly on whether or not it was constitutional to force people in many instances -- most instances, in fact -- against their will to purchase health insurance. >> that's right. so ultimately it will be up to -- generally speaking here, the law of the land, supreme court to parse through this 42-page ruling from the virginia judge, many other states as you mentioned tackling this very issue as well. we will see if it will be sooner rather than later that those justices will take this up. jeff toobin and congressman gingrey, i want to thank you both for weighing in. this is video everybody is talking about. not this video. you're going to have to wait for it. but i am talking about this

young lady miley cyrus. she's seen in the video later smoking from a bong. but what is she smoking? that is ahead. let's take a live look at the senate floor this hour. lawmakers there are he have pecked to decide pretty shortly here whether president obama's tax cut agreement with republicans can be voted on. this is huge! this affects you. this affects me. this affects all of our paychecks. details live from capitol hill. [ male announcer ] open up a cadillac during our season's best sales event. and receive the gift of asphalt. experience the cadillac of crossovers, the striking srx. it's the one gift you can open up all year long. see your cadillac dealer for this attractive offer. backed by the peace of mind that only comes from cadillac premium care maintenance. the season's best sales event. from cadillac. i'm hugh jidette and i'm running for president. i'll say a lot of things but do i really care about this baby's future?

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welcome back to the "newsroom." let's not waste any time. live to capitol hill to see how this tax cut vote is going. it's already begun. this is happening on the senate floor this hour. want to bring in senior congressional correspondent dana bash. i want you to explain this vote for me because people may be confused. this is not the vote but a procedural vote. the number we're looking for is 60, correct? >> reporter: you got it, exactly. it's a procedural vote but it's an important one because it is as we like to say a key test vote to get a sense where the votes really are on the president's tax cut package. it's the first time we're going to see that on the floor of the united states senate. it started at the top of the

hour at 3:00. but don't hold your breath for it to end any time soon. the reason is because of the weather. the senate majority leader is going to hold the vote open as long as it takes. we're told it even might be until 6:00 eastern if that means every senator can get here through the treacherous midwest weather and it really might take that long. we're hoping to get a better sense how the vote is going before that. but i can tell you in talking to democratic and republican sources leading into this, everyone is pretty confident that it will get at least the 60, probably more, much more than that to pass this hurdle. going to get a lot of republicans and probably more democrats than we would have thought this time last week. >> so maybe we'll get 65? maybe they will see 70? we'll have to watch and see. it's tough going with the weather. let's remind everyone real quickly, dana, this tax agreement that the president came together with the republicans, it extends the bush-era tax cuts for two years. that includes every american including that top 2%.

provides 13 months of unemployment again you benefits. and also would cut 2% of the payroll tax. so that said, just giving everyone the quick reminder of what's going on, what's at stake, let's talk about the house side, dana, because we know it's going through the senate right now. this is the procedural vote. if they get the 60, they debate and go on to the official vote and it goes to the house side. what happens there? and does the senate vote -- would the margin of vote in the senate possibly affect the house? >> reporter: that is what the white house is certainly hoping. they're hoping that a pretty substantial vote in the senate will kind of force the house to take this up. you'll remember -- and our viewers remember the pretty astounding news that came out of the house democratic caucus last thursday when they really rebuked the president and voted that they would not take up this package on the house floor in its current form. so what is going on? democratic leaders melt earlier today and they're trying to figure out how, in fact, to take up a tax cut bill.

they're all saying they will not put anybody in a position that taxes -- that anybody's taxes especially middle income americans, that their taxes will go up because we're talking about tax cuts expiring at the ends of the year. but the question is how are they going to do that and please many democrats in the house who are not only upset about that upper income tax rate being extended for two years but more importantly even at this point is something else in there. that is an estate tax provision. and that exempts individuals who have estates up to $5 million, families who have estates up to $10 million. and democrats in the house are not happy about that. listen to what chris van hollen, a leading democrat on this issue, told us earlier today. >> we will bring a tax bill to the floor in some form. we find the senate bill in its current form unacceptable and there will be changes made especially as they relate to the most egregious provisions like

the estate tax, which puts a $25 billion hole in the deficit, $25 billion over two years to benefit the wealthiest 6,600 estates. >> reporter: so the question is how are they going to do that. and if democrats put up, let's say, an amendment -- that's what they're talking about potentially doing. there are all kinds of procedural ways to do it. say they put up an amendment to change that and make it something that house democrats like better. if it succeeds, then what? the whole package has to come back to the senate. you already have the president, the vice president and the budget director who we're told is making calls today to house democrats warning if there are major changes. and that may be one of them. this whole thing could unravel. that is the sort of balancing act house democrats -- especially leadership vowing not to let taxes go up is trying to deal with now. >> i was wondering if anyone would try to slip something in there before the vote. dana bash, stay in touch with

us. we want to see how the vote is going. as soon as it comes to a close we'll bring it back on air. dana bash for us on capitol hill. all the action on the senate floor today. thank you. now this. can't we all just get along? that is the message from new york city mayor michael bloomberg who is leading this movement right now to ends bitter partisanship in politics. he's calling it the no labels campaign here. jessica yellin is there and joins me next. plus the man who will be third in line to the presidency not so much afraid to cry. shed a few tears. we've compiled the best of, if you will, republican john boehner's greatest watershed moments. that's next.

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you've heard it. i've heard it. everyone has heard it. this is not news. there's a lot of partisanship in washington. if this works today, some very powerful politicians are launching this new group whose aim is to get beyond partisanship. fittingly enough, one of the participants our viewers will recognize this guy. this is new york mayor michael bloomberg, a democrat turned republican turned independent. you following me here? who may or may not run for president. jessica yellin as always right in the thick of things for us. jess, how is this supposed to work exactly? >> reporter: so this is an organization. it's not actually founded by bloomberg or by politicians. it's founded by activists but very powerful democrats, republicans and folks who want to get what they say sort of moveon.org or tea party style grassroots movement around the

middle, the idea being that if we want to get past partisanship and want people in washington to make compromises you need a force of people that will send e-mail and petition, et cetera like the other groups do for compromise positions. what does that look like? here are some of the founders of the group explaining their vision, brooke. >> never give up your label. just put it aside so we can do what government should do and solve problems and find common sense solutions. >> we need you to go out and organize in your communities and raise a voice out here. what we're really hoping for you to do is go out there and create a ruckus for democracy. >> what i'm arguing for is the need for grassroots movement to help political leaders reach across the aisle to seek common grounds, to try to find solutions so that america can be the place that the founding fathers intended it to be, so we can be great, so we can provide the leadership at home and around the world that i think

that we were set up to be. the current system rewards the status quo because conflict -- the conflict that we have today becomes personal and results tend not to follow through. >> reporter: and, brooke we're here in new york city but they say they hope it will take off and become much more grassroots. >> you are in new york city which happens to be home turf for you mentioned mayor michael bloomberg. you're a tough cookie who asks tough questions so i know you asked him the question if he's running for president. >> reporter: i wish i had gotten the chance. he entered through a back door and did his appearance on stage and left. he was not asked that explicitly on stage but during his appearance he was pressed on this whole concept of sort of what works out there to find a new way. and he actually sort of repeated the things we heard him say but underscored them which is he does not think that americans want a third party.

a lot of people think he would run as the third party candidate. he says he doesn't think there's support for it or that most americans agree that their voices are heard and most feel recommended by the parties even if turned off by the partis partisanship. we know he says he's not going to run and sounds like he thinks there's not room for a third party candidate but we all know when there's a movement for someone to run often it's hard to resist in the end. so far he's resisting. >> since this is called no labels how do the politicians, the member of the groups, how do they avoid the perception that they're not democrat-li light o republican light? >> reporter: it's unclear where it will go from here. there are a lot of democrats here, some conservatives, some republicans, some independents. they really hope that what will happen is they'll launch house parties like we saw during the obama campaign and local meetings in every congressional

district around the country and people will drive this in the way we see people driving other movements. that's flair vision and would avoid the problem you're pointing out. it's just unknowable whether it can or will happen. i'll stay on it. >> we know you've been in ohio covering house speaker to be john boehner. let's talk about mr. boehner. he has done it again. did you see this? he got himself all choked up. here is the speaker of the house in waiting speaking to leslie stahl on last night's "60 minutes" about. >> i can't go to schools anymore. i used to. you see all these little kids run around. can't talk about it. >> why? >> making sure that these kids have a shot at the american dream like i did. it's important. >> all right. tearful moment number one. here he goes again.

this time it was his wife debbie who set him off. >> more proud of him. he'll do a good job. we're proud of him. >> you know what's happening over here? >> my nose is running. >> no, it's not. what set you off that time? because she's proud of you. he cries all the time? >> no. no. but he's going through an emotional period, too. i mean, this isn't -- as you say, this is not any ordinary job. whoever would have thought that he'd be in this position. he was a janitor on the night shift when i met him. he's come a long way. >> a man can cry. and i guess his wife, debbie, getting accustomed to it. apparently we the american people are about to be accustomed to it. back to november 3rd when the republicans swept the election. what did boehner do? he got all choked up. you remember this?

as his wife debbie said it's an emotional time for boehner. after all, he is about to become third in line to the president. all this choking up, it's nothing new. i want to show you john boehner on the floor of the house. i want to take you back a couple of years. may 24th, 2007, during a debate on the war in iraq. >> since i've been here, on the opening day we all stand here. we raise our right hands and swear to uphold and defend the constitution of the united states. there are a lot of my colleagues that have heard me make this statement. that i didn't come here to be a congressman. i came here to do something. and i think the top of our list is providing for the safety and security of the american people. that's at the top of our list.

and after 3,000 of our fellow citizens died at the hand of these terrorists, when are we going to stand up and take them on? when are we going to defeat them? >> that was john boehner back in 2007. reminder, set to become house speaker come january 3rd, pretty much guaranteed more water works to come. many members of his own party have blasted michael steele. so here's a question we all want to know. will he run for a second term as heads of the republicans? that decision could come very, very soon. also police say a suicide bomber warned authorities before blowing himself up. his target, innocent christmas shoppers. that's next.

let's talk weather. and the perfect place to start, this is the metrodome in minneapolis. live pictures thanks to our affiliate kare. this is part of that inflatable roof that if you saw the video over the weekend, remember the snow just came kind of pouring on through because they have seen so much snow in minneapolis. these are live pictures from on top of that inflatable roof. who knows what they're going to do next. we do know they're playing that

game tonight in detroit but, my oh, my, a lot of snow over the weekend. one of the places you would think there wouldn't be snow, could it be atlanta, georgia? everyone panic, panic! i'm only half joking here and i can say this because i'm an a native atlantan. any dusting of snow down here sends the school schedule into a tizzy. atlanta traffic when it snow, forget about it. don't go out. that's nothing compared to folks in the great lakes county. looking at our snow in our county and shaking their heads. this is a live report from wausau, wisconsin. the converted atv snow plows converted there. high temperature in wausau 13 congress. this from cleveland. this is the morning commute. no one's commuting. the snow is dry, whipping in the wind. a lot of cancellations today at hopkins international. the road going pretty slow as well because of all the ice out

there, if it's going at all. now this. you see the car there in the middle of your screen? you see it's on fire and all those flames. it exploded while parked on a street. this is stockholm, sweden over the weekend. now, investigators say the man who parked that car there was probably a suicide bomber whose explosives simply detonated too soon. fortunately, no one else was hurt. the suspect was killed in one of two separate explosions saturday night. swedish police have identified him and say he sent an e-mail warning to police minutes before his car there exploded. authorities are calling this an act of terrorism and are investigating a possible london connection. and he is the republican national chairman for now, anyway, elected by the party's committee four years ago. but the question today is this. does this man michael steele want to keep the job? we learned that steele will hold an invitation-only conference call later today. that is when he could announce whether he intends to run for

the chairman gig again. the rnc will choose its chairman for the next term next month. so far, steele has said nothing publicly as to whether or not he wants to run. president obama signing a $4.5 billion child nutrition into law today with his wife first lady michelle obama by his side. they call it the healthy hunger free kids act. it aims to expand the number of children in school lunch programs and get rid of junk food in those vending machines. >> because while we may sometimes have our differences, we can all agree that in the united states of america, no child should go to school hungry. >> this is all part of the effort to reduce childhood obesity by the first lady. president obama joked he will be sleeping on the couch if this bill does not pass. and kind of sad here. it's the final week of larry king live after decades on air

interviewing the biggest names in news. larry will hand over the reins to piers morgan but first talking to stars like conan o'brien and the new host is opening up with larry about his feud with jay leno. >> you ever keep in touch with any -- ever talk to leno, keep in touch? no. >> no, i haven't spoken to -- i don't think i'll be hearing from them. i'm not going to -- and i don't -- there's nothing really for either of us to talk about. i haven't talked to anybody. i'm friendly with jon stewart and stephen colbert and they were really nice enough to come and help me when i did the tour. they came on stage in radio city and they were absolutely hilarious, brought the house down and we did a big skit together. so i think that -- but the other guys, i don't -- i don't have that much of a relationship with

them. >> larry also asked conan, how is your new gig at tbs, asked him how it's different from network television. conan answered that and a whole bunch more. "larry king live" 9 k eastern right here on cnn. would it upset you if companies knew what you watched on tv, what you surfed on the web or who you're calling on your cell phone? it's called tracking your digital foot print. . so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicine

like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, and prescribe a long-term asthma control medicine. be sure to see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma all day and night. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if symbicort is a good choice for you. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.

all this week we are talking about envisioning the end of privacy here on cnn. let me just be direct with you. we're all naive if we think

anything we do online, on the cell phone or laptop, even our tv sets is 100% secure safe from the eyes from someone who really wants your information. i hope you know that already. but this isn't want of those hacker conversations. i'm talking about people and organizations out there making a living watching you surf and shop and chat on the internet. this man right here david norris founded and runs a company that takes your online information and he does a little something with it. david norris, let's just begin with the fact that i have a tv and cell phone and laptop. what kind of information can you get from me? >> so blue kabbah has the next generation technology that can help identify your device when you visit a website. so if you go to a website you might shop or browse we identify the actual computer that you're using. the usefulness of this is actually pretty interesting. by identifying the device, you can fight online cyber crimes, people trying to do fraudulent transactio

transactions. >> you can fight cyber crimes but meantime you can get information from me. what specific kind of information? my name, birth date and social security or what kind of websites i'm surfing? >> that's a great question. our technology does not capture any information about you have as an individual. we capture information about your machine or your computer. so by doing that, we protect your privacy. no e-mail addresses or phone numbers, any of that. but we capture the unique identity of your machine. >> who benefits from that unique identity and that information? who are you giving that to? >> so blwe can help businesses creating more relevant content for you based on profile information we have about you. >> does this mean since i'm engaged and looking at wedding websites you'll see i'm looking at these and i'll suddenly be spammed by wedding vendors for example? >> that's a great point. we actually separate privacy into two areas. there's one area called tracking which would be the equivalent of

having someone follow you around to different stores while shopping. on the web people do this and actually capture the websites you've been to. that can be a little creepy. on the other side there's targeting which means creating a demographic profile of you and targeting information that would be more relevant to your likes and dislikes but it's a little bit safer and more acceptable than doing this actual tracking. >> so you're targeting. you're not tracking, correct? it's an important distinction? >> we actually offer both but give the consumer the choice to opt out of the tracking. >> responding to prifsy complaints you have the ftc putting the brakes on this tracking software specifically calling for this do not track mechanism that enables consume -- i.e. me and you ha -- to opt out. is that fair? >> exactly right. would you like someone to follow you around to different stores as you shop? >> no. >> no. on the web most consumers don't realize that actually has today.

if you go to any popular webbite many different businesses will track where you have been and where you're going and they use that information to then try to present more advertising information that you'll buy products and services from them. >> good news for someone who doesn't want this you can opt out. bottom line online security and privacy, is this like a thing of the past, sir? >> no, no. it's actually something that's very important. consumers need to understand that their information is out there on the web and just visiting a website you could be tracked and have their privacy -- it's something that they could control if they choose to. >> just have to educate yourself, know it's happening and say unh-unh. >> it's not always obvious to a consumer how to do that p. >> thank you so much. now take a look at this. >> i've been keeping the first lady waiting for about half an hour. so i'm going to take off. >> i don't want to make her mad. please go. >> you're in good hands. and gibbs will call last

question. >> thank you. >> keeping the first lady waiting. hang on a second. see ya later. did you see this? this was friday. kind of a surreal moment. the current president essentially handing off to the former president in the middle of this white house briefing. will this scene help president obama in this whole ongoing tax cut debate? that is ahead. plus severe weather wliping large parts of the country. talking snow and ice, bitter cold temperatures. the video, the new warnings next. this holiday season, chevy's giving you more. like a 100,000 mile/5-year powertrain warranty.

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millions of people -- and you know who you are -- dealing with weather headaches today. a blizzard slamming the midwest over the weekend. the storm is now moving

eastward. if you're on the east coast, heads up there. take a look what's going on. this is northwest indiana today. at least two counties there have declared a state of emergency. and police crews are out and about rescuing dozens and dozens of stranded drivers. that does not look like fun. also some places in western wisconsin got more than 20 inches of snow. the governor declaring a state of emergency there for all 72 counties of wisconsin. schools there and in michigan and in indiana, they're closed today because of this nasty weather. and no surprise. a lot of people found themselves stranded at the airport. i do not how that is not me last night getting out of indy miraculously. nearly 1400 flights in and out of chicago's o'hare airport were canceled as of late last night. and did you see this? we showed you a live picture a couple of seconds ago. in minneapolis heavy snow calls s. the roof of the 64,000-seat metrodome to deflate. it's like an inflatable roof thing deflated because of all the snow. you can see the snow there on the field. and the gaping hole in the roof.

the vikings were supposed to play the giants there yesterday. that game now tonight in detroit. and chad myers, i spent my weekend in indiana in the snow working. and i am still cold. yes, i'm a wuss and, yes, i'm still cold. >> it's about 48 degrees in the studio. >> i have my wool sweater on because i was so cold over the weekend i want to stay warm. >> what do you think portland, maine is right now? >> 42. >> wow! were you cheating? >> no. >> 49. >> get out! i'm good. >> you win. 46 in boston because, brooke, the cold air isn't there yet. there is the cold front right through there. people in the new york city area going, hey, i'm glad you giles in the midwest have all this cold air. we don't have it. yet. yet. >> the evil laugh. >> because it is on the way. buffalo's 10 degree temperatures will make their way to the east

across binghamton, syracuse and scranton. as a result temperatures are cold. this is what it feels like working outside. if you would love to have a job let's say loading bags in detroit's wayne/metro airport it feels 5 below. that's 37 below freezing. i always thought 32 was a mean number to be freezing. why not zero like celsius like centigrade? we shouldn't make that minus five but minus 37 p p. feels minus 4 minneapolis and 2 below in chicago. if you have anyone outside working, maybe offer them a warm cup of coffee or some time to get out of the cold air. and if your bags are late off the plane give them a break. >> hot cocoa, that does not do the experience. speaking from experience here, friends. thank you. parents, think about this. you think your kids really like those sugary cereals.

going down the aisle in the grocery store and pulling on them. maybe not. a new study finds otherwise. find out what children apparently prefer. plus, was miley cyrus smoking pot or the stuff called salvia? we have a picture of her smoking from a bong definitely causing a stir. we'll play it for you coming up. amount i correct, you're from miami? >> yes. >> this is like freezing freezing to you. so you're a wuss as well? >> yes.

so apparently whatever miley cyrus does, people tend to pay attention. but when this hannah montana

star was caught on camera smoking a bong, people kind of perked up and really started paying attention and talking. it's trending for sure. allison kosik, we're lucky enough to have you here. usually it's in new york at the new york stock exchange but we're putting you out of your wheelhouse and doing trivia today. this is something to talk about. >> talk about a talker when you see miley cyrus do anything it makes news as she goes from a squeaky clean image to a not so clean image. she's on the rage. she's on video. let's take a listen to her. she's smoking a bong. >> hold it in. >> okay. i'm not going to lose it now. >> just lay down. going to dock unit the [ bleep

[ bleep ] out of this. >> this video from tmz. here's the deal with this video, brooke. she was supposedly smoking salvia, not pot. what's salvia? it's a natural herbal drug, but it is a hallucinogen and produces an intense high. it's legal in california if you're 18 or over. it's illegal in 15 other states. this video was shot a few days after her 18th birthday in november. so she's free and clear on that legal front legal front if she was smoking salvia. her father tweeted about it. he said, sorry guys, i had no idea. just saw this stuff for the first time myself. i'm so sad. there's much beyond my control right now. as any parent, can you imagine seeing your daughter smoking like that? for the whole world to see. >> no, and again, it's her reps saying it was salvia, correct? >> exactly, exactly.

she was having a good time. and i've heard salvia sales have gone up ever since this hit tmz. >> parents want to keep that one away from the children i imagine. number two about cereal. and i've got to tell you i was a big cinnamon toast crunch girl back in the day. i was surprised by this by the way. >> usually you hear that kids only want to have the sugar cereal. well, not necessarily. there's a study that was done out of yale university. it shows that kids could eat the low sugar cereals if you put it in front of them. what this study did was put these kids into two groups. one the low sugar cereal group and the other the high-sugar group. and these kids were more than willing to go ahead and eat this low sugar stuff. in fact, they were willing to put more fresh fruit into their cereals unlike the sugar brands. also, one other interesting thing, the kids who ate the sugar cereals ate more of it. they weren't satisfied with one

bowl, they're getting triple and double the amount of sugar. >> if it's put in front of them. but i bet the parents are like, the bright, colored boxes. >> well, you know what? the lesson here is give it a chance, give them the low sugar stuff. see how they react. you may be surprised, they may go for it. >> alison, thank you. and now more than eight years after a man took elizabeth smart right out of her own bedroom, her kidnapper learns his fate. you're going to hear her entire statement there speaking outside the courtroom after that verdict next. inary craftsmanship. we fill them with amazing technology. and we fill them with inspired design. and now your chevy dealer wants to fill them with as much good will as we can. come see how chevy is giving more. right now, get no monthly payments till spring plus 0% apr financing and fifteen hundred dollars holiday allowance on most chevy models. see how your dealer is giving at facebook.com/chevrolet.

elizabeth smart is considering becoming a prosecutor herself, at least that is what her father is now telling reporters. i want to remind you the man, and there he is with the big beard. a man who held the teenage elizabeth smart captive for nine months and sexually assaulted her was found guilty of those

charges friday in salt lake city. now, the u.s. attorney said that after this conviction that elizabeth's three-day testimony was key to convicting brian david mitchell. i want to you to listen to her in her own words. this was her statement just outside that courthouse. >> first of all, i'd like to say thank you to everyone who has put so much work into my case and helping me. today's a wonderful day and i'm so thrilled to be here, i'm so thrilled with the verdict. but not only that, i'm so thrilled to stand before the people of america today and give hope to other victims who have not spoken out about their crime -- about what's happened to them. i hope that not only is this an example that justice can be served in america, but that it is possible to move on after something terrible has happened. and that we can speak out and we will be heard. once again, thank you so much. i am excited to go back to france and complete my mission. thank you to everyone for

everyone's prayers and support. >> pretty well put together, isn't she? elizabeth smart now 23 years of age. she has returned home to a church mission from france. and she was mentioning to participate -- she wants a career seeking justice for victims of crime. and a driver leads police on this high-speed chase. when the car wrecked, you see the aftermath there, police find him dead. but in the backseat, they hear the cries of a 3-month-old girl. the story is coming up. and also, we're watching capitol hill lawmakers holding that test vote, that procedural vote to try to get to the magic number being 60 to open debate and officially vote on that tx k cut deal. we'll get you a live report coming up here. you're watching "cnn newsroom." that's why only zales is the diamond store. where you can get up to $1,000 off now through sunday.

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if you live for performance, upgrade to castrol edge advanced synthetic oil. with eight times better wear protection than mobil 1. castrol edge. it's more than just oil. i wanted to bring in gloria borger. before we talk ticker, let's talk about u.s. senators voting right now. in fact, i'm hearing as we have producers back there watching the numbers where we're closing in. live pictures of the senate floor, by the way, closing in on that 60 mark. to then open debate. what are you hearing, gloria from your sources? >> well, i just spoke with the senior adviser at the white house who said to me that obviously they expect to get to 60. but they also expect that it's going to be a very strong showing as he put it. and they hope that that will

help give them some momentum to take this vote to house democrats whereas you know those are the people who have been a little bit more wary of this tax cut deal to say the least. than the democrats in the senate. they're hoping they get the big "mo" as george bush used to say. >> the big showing, 65, 70. that would help regard to those house dems. what else do you have today, gloria? >> first off the ticker, haiti. we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of that devastating earthquake. and today secretary of state hillary clinton said that the officials in haiti need to step up, that the world expects more of them. she was meeting in ottawa today with some of her counterparts. and she said that the other countries should not stop their

direct aid to haiti because of the election turmoil there. but she also said that the haitian government has to come up with a more focussed approach on problem solving. so a little bit of a scolding there from the secretary of state. another top administration priority this week, we are going to get the year review on afghanistan. it's due thursday, and from what we're hearing, the report is likely to say that there has been some progress, but, of course, it's going to take into account the fact that this has been the bloodiest year in afghanistan in nine years. and we don't expect any major shift in administration policy on afghanistan. >> gloria, thank you so much -- >> so we have -- >> that's the latest on the political ticker. we've got to go, top of the hour here. gloria borger, apologies there. we'll get you another update in half an hour. we'll get you updates any time, you can go to the internet cnnpolitics.com or twitter at

political ticker. and now top of the hour, this -- president obama's health care overhaul is in sudden jeopardy. a judge ruling a single piece of this legislation unconstitutional. so should you be required to have health insurance? i'm brooke baldwin, the news is now. sounded like you were going to run for a second term. >> can i finish this one first? >> will michael steele run for a second term as the republican national chair? he announces his decision tonight. that "new york times" critic pokes fun of a ballet dancer's weight. is he out of line? wait until you hear his comments and how he's responding to the criticism. plus, a terrorist targets christmas shoppers. now we're hearing what he warned before blowing himself up. and a woman sues starbucks after she spills hot tea on her leg. so is the coffee chain in hot water? we're on the case.

a lot of news happening right now. rapid fire, let's begin with this. a suicide attack in afghanistan killed six american service members yesterday. taking a look at the map. this happened in the kandahar area. a military spokesman said the attacker drove a mini bus packed with explosives into an army base and set it off. nato forces have reportedly detained several people believed to be connected to that attack. next, richard holbrook is fighting in an unbelievable way. that is a quote -- precisely what the state department source is telling cnn about the u.s. special representative to afghanistan and pakistan. holbrook had emergency surgery to fix a tear in the main artery of his body. we're told he is in critical, but stable condition. next -- wow, look at what is left of this -- was a chevy

impala. a fatal accident that ended a high-speed police chase yesterday. the vehicle flipped upside down, killing the driver, but can you believe in the backseat, a baby girl, 3 months old. she survived, thank goodness. she started crying, police found her hanging upside down in her car seat. they had to cut her out of the wreckage. the baby survives and is now in the hospital. unbelievable. next, all right. another frightening car crash for you. take a look at this one carefully. this is an suv off the road, upside down, the only thing -- look closely -- the only thing between that truck and a 70-foot drop is that teeny tiny tree. bring in a crane, rescue crew, and one tense hour later, the lucky driver back on solid ground. he should go back and hang some decorations perhaps on that tree. next, bernie madoff may be forbidden from going to his son's funeral. his oldest song mark hanged

himself this weekend. bernie madoff is serving life in a north carolina prison for what's been called the biggest financial scam ever. inmates are allowed to attend funerals if they have less than two years on their sentence. apparently kim jong-il's second son is a fan of eric clapton. so much they suggest the u.s. send the singer to perform in the country. why? as of way of building good will, of course. this according to a 2007 document released by, you guessed it, wikileaks. a former food network chef sentenced to nine years in prison in a murder for hire plot targeting his wife. this is juan-carlos cruz. he pled guilty to soliciting two homeless men to kill his wife. the plan totally fell apart. and one of the guys went to the

police. cruz's wife was in the courtroom for the sentencing. next, the boyfriend of a 33-year-old swimsuit designer whose body was found in a hotel bathtub has been charged with murder. he believes someone other than his client was in that very room. brooks has pleaded not guilty in the death of sylvia cachay. brooks cannot be charged with murder unless it was determined indeed homicide. security officials found ammunition in the luggage of don king. king was stopped at a security check point. king was allowed to hop onboard that flight. no charges were filed. king was headed out of cleveland after attending his wife's funeral. his wife henrietta died at 87

last week. see the broken glass in the hole there in the front windshield? a man says he was cruising down the freeway in california when someone threw a chunk of a brick at his truck. there's the gash. it went straight through the glass, hit his teenage daughter in her chest. >> after the brick hit me, i was like wiping my face and saw glass on my hands and i got freaked out because i didn't know where it was coming from. >> driving 70 miles an hour, 65 miles an hour down the freeway and a rock coming at you, it's like 100-mile-an-hour impact. so if it'd gone up a couple of inches, it'd hit her in the head and i'd have a dead daughter in the passenger seat. >> thank goodness that's not the ending. these are the official engagement photos of prince william and kate middleton. they're getting hitched on april 29th of next year. britain's prime minister says it will be a national holiday. next, president obama met

with the defending nba champs, l.a. lakers this hour, met them at a service event out at d.c. boys and girls club. the president assembled care packages for wounded warriors and toiletry kits for the d.c. homeless. the event was attended by local area youth and continued the tradition of honoring sports teams for their efforts of giving back. giving back to the communities, as well -- giving back to fans and winning championships. and now this, a "new york times" critic is under fire for making a crack about a ballerina's weight. does he deserve this criticism? this fire storm? and i'll tell you why he is not apologizing for this one. that one is ahead. just in, we are getting dash cam video of an officer getting hit by a car after he stopped to help someone. we'll share that with you next here in the newsroom.

i want to show you a frightening piece of video. we'll look at this together here. what we're going to see is a policeman helping a driver who is next to the highway. they are hit by a car, and it's caught on the dash cam.

this is cincinnati earlier this month. oh, my goodness. slams into them. the man in the white hat, you saw him. the officer, another car coming out of nowhere, hits him, hits the concrete barrier. here's the amazing party and obviously this is why we can show this to you thank goodness. officer michael flam and the other man despite that crash and flight through the air, they're okay. in fact, if i'm reading this correctly, they weren't even hurt. despite this. this happened during cincinnati's first winter storm of the year. apparently the roads were icy, the car slipped. but they are okay. just barely escaping that. obviously very dangerous. now to this breaking news on the hill. we've been watching the numbers here in the procedural vote. u.s. senators voting on opening debate to then vote on this tax cut agreement. and dana bash, do we have that magic number 60 yet? do they have it? >> it is the unofficial cnn

count, but our count we do see that 60 senators have voted yes on this critical test vote on the president's tax cut deal. only seven people -- seven senators have voted no, all democrats, and on the yes side, it's pretty much split between republicans and democrats. this is unofficial, the vote is not completed yet. it might not be for some time because of the weather and other reasons, senators are coming in slowly as we talked about earlier. right now unless no senator changes his or her vote, the president has the 60 he needs. the president is going to be now, how much over 60 is it going to be from the perspective of people who want this to get done push the house to actually do something and do something that is not that different from what the senate is voting on now? >> we know this isn't a huge surprise as you were reporting earlier, they were expecting to get that 60. we'll just have to see how far above that 60 mark they are going to get. once that happens, talk to me about what's next.

>> well, the senate still has to take a final vote. and we believe that is going to happen as soon as tomorrow. one of the open questions procedurally is going to be whether or not the senate will actually debate any amendments to this tax cut package we're talking $858 billion, of course, that would extend all the bush-era tax cuts for two years, give unemployment benefits, extend those for 13 months. it would have an estate tax provision, which is pretty controversial among democrats, and a whole host of other tax measures in this bill. so it is a very thick measure, very thick piece of legislation, and it is the subject as we've been talking about for some time of pretty interesting and intense negotiations, primarily between the white house, specifically at the end, the vice president joe biden and senate republicans. this is really evidence of a new time in washington if this is happening. and especially, if you look at the vote on the senate floor, the fact that the only no votes so far seven by our count are

the president's fellow democrats. >> got it. we got it. dana bash, i guess unofficially officially reporting that they have that 60 number. dana, we'll be checking back in with you. i know it'll take them perhaps some time to get all of those votes tallied. you mentioned messy situation in the midwest. but we appreciate the news. thank you, dana. and now also sort of on the political front. will michael steele run for a second term as the head of the republican party? his decision we're hearing could be hours away. and why was most of the media blocked from covering sarah palin's trip to haiti over the weekend? that is ahead. believe it or not, tea party movement releasing a book? what kind of book? it's a children's book. what could that be about? joe johns has the scoop. his political pop is next. book a hotel with name your own price and if you can find a lower published price anywhere else we'll match it and pay you $25. book now and save

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when we're looking for questions that aren't getting answered, who do we turn to? joe johns for a political pop. let's talk about rnc chairman michael steele on your radar today. >> that's right. should he stay or should he go? this is one of those issues that's been around for a long time. steele could announce his future today, a guy people love to make fun of. republicans, democrats, liberals, conservatives, rush limbaugh, even the president's made fun of him. take a listen to what the president said about him at the white house correspondents dinner. >> i saw michael steele backstage when we were taking pictures, aka notorious gop. michael who knows what truly

plagues america today, taxation without representing. >> wow. >> that's pretty good stuff, right? >> i don't know what to say to that. >> well, you know, the charitable view is that steele was a bipartisan punching bag. the uncharitable view is that he brought it on himself blurting out things that put him and the party in awkward positions and even though republicans did pretty well in the midterm cycle, steele isn't getting credit for it. in fact, some republicans i've talked to say it happened in spite of michael steele, not because of him. >> joe johns, you've got some sources, don't tell me who's talking, tell me what they're saying. is he in, is he out? what's the skinny? >> all right. nobody i know of is speaking for the record. of course, we can read the blogs like everybody else and we have long been told the tea leaves are leaning toward him not running.

some of this is based on steele doesn't appear to have an organization. you always need that in place for another term as rnc chairman. he's supposed to have a conference call with members of the rnc at 7:30 eastern time. maybe we'll get a better feel for that. >> we'll be waiting for that later tonight. meantime, sarah palin, we know she took a trip down to haiti. as a matter of fact, you told us last week she'd be headed to haiti. the problem is, no one got to cover her. >> i saw some still photographs and a little bit of a news conference. sarah palin arrived in haiti over the weekend as part of a humanitarian delegation led by evangelist franklin graham. i think our reporting suggests she is not exactly a household name in haiti. our cnn crew for ac "360" went back to haiti, they've been there a few times to cover the palin visit and reported over the weekend she wasn't exactly chatty, didn't want to have political conversations in the disaster zone.

the main reason she was getting so much attention is because she's a potential presidential candidate in the u.s., but you know, whatever. >> do you think this makes her look more so like, hey, i'm going to b take a quick jaunt to haiti. do you think this is the next step to a potential presidential candidate? >> sort of connect the dots. judge her by the company she's keeping. she traveled with the son of the reverend billy graham. as you know, this is an evangelical family which has established connections to several presidents. and if you think you might need to show connection to evangelicals, to connect to your party's base in a presidential run, you can sort of see how traveling to haiti with franklin graham could have its advantages. >> final question, 30 seconds. there's a new coloring book out, joe, what's the deal? >> yes, and we are not making this up. the tea party patriots have a new coloring book, an activity book for children, it's supposed to teach children the fundamentals of liberty.

but it can also be used as a fund-raising tool. how handy. it can be yours for $4.99 and no doubt it is sure to rocket to the top of the preschool set. move over backyardigans and elmo. >> which can raise money, as well. always got goods, the political pop. thank you, sir. >> you bet. youtube is adding another feature to its site. involves you, free speech, and fighting terror. that is ahead. and police say a suicide bomber targeted christmas shoppers. wait until you hear his warnings and why he did it. michael holmes hanging out in the studio today. he's going to join me next. ♪

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we take a look at the news happening outside of the united states. and cnn international's michael holmes is here to help us out. holmes. what's up, holmes? happy birthday, by the way. >> thank you. i'm old. >> 29 looks good on you, friend. >> i'm counting backwards from now on. that's for sure. >> let's talk sweden. what happened? >> it was amazing. it was on saturday.

sweden's a place that hardly ever has any sign of trouble. they have never had a suicide bombing until what happened this weekend. a time when he moved with his family from iraq to sweden, refugee status. a few years ago he went to england and became more and more radicalized according to people at a mosque where he was actually kicked out of the congregation there because of his radical views. well, turns out on saturday he had a car -- he gets out of the car, apparently, that thing goes off. he's headed with a vest. he's heading, they think, for a congested area, about 500 meters away from the car was. he trips, stumbles, and the bomb goes off before it was meant to. he gets killed -- >> but everyone else, a --

>> two minor injuries. >> that's amazing. do they think he was alone? >> you know, the police don't know for sure. but what they're saying is -- and of course they're saying it's hard to organize something like this without someone being involved on the periphery or in a key way. so they're working on the assumption that perhaps he was not working alone. >> secondly, i woke up reading about this and thought, my gosh, can you imagine, being a parent and you find out your child, your kinder gathere kindergart n kindergartener was taken hostage. >> it's been 17 years since they had a hostage incident like this one. this happened at a school. these kids were about 20 of them age from 4 to 6. they were in a classroom. and this guy comes in, 17 years old. comes in with a sword. and it turns out that the teachers here were the real heroes. they calm this guy, talk to this guy, of course the police showed up as you can see. >> who was the guy? do we know?

>> he was a 17-year-old disturbed teenager. apparently the cops were saying they didn't think he was going to do the kids harm. he actually let a bunch of them go, let a couple of teachers go. and in the end, the police snuck in with some food, they tasered him and brought him under control. >> and all the kids are okay? >> everyone's fine. and in fact, the teachers maintain such a level of calm in the classroom that even the psychologist -- the kids didn't really even know what was going on and they're probably going to be fine. >> thank goodness for teachers. >> exactly. >> come back, will you? >> i will. >> thank you. thank you. did you know today is the busiest of the year for fedex? more than 16 million packages in transit. we'll show you how it goes down ahead. also, the senate voting to take up president obama's tax cut deal. so what happens now? they are lining up reporter roulette is next.

time to play reporter roulette. we have your taxes, fedex's busiest day of the year, and the crippling weather in the midwest. dana bash for us on capitol hill. we know crucial vote underway for those tax cuts. where does it stand right now? >> reporter: we believe it's 62 or 63. we're trying to get an exact total on where it is now. but th bottom line is it is above the 60-vote threshold that was needed for this key test vote. we believe it's pretty evenly split. democrat and republicans for the yes side, no, seven, all the president's fellow democrats, brooke. >> and then the officials vote for passage in the senate. do we know when that will happen? >> likely tomorrow at some point tomorrow, we're not exactly sure

when. and one of the outstanding questions also is whether or not the democratic leader and the republican leader are going to offer -- allow any amendments to this, especially for those seven, i'm sure it'll be more democrats who say they don't like this. give them a chance to change it. unclear if they'll allow it, and if they do, unlikely those amendments would pass. >> and then it heads to the house. what does that mean, dana, for the house, voted not to bring this up as the vice president said, you know, take it or leave it? >> they're still saying, the house democratic leaders that they're not going to bring up the tax cut package on the floor of the senate right now. but what they are saying is they will bring up some form of this package. with some changes. how are they going to change that? and in what sort of process would they use? we're not sure exactly. but what we do know is the thing they dislike the most aside from the fact that in this package, the wealthiest americans are getting -- they're getting their tax cuts -- >> the estate tax is the thing that we expect them to try to

change. dana bash, thank you, ma'am. next on reporter roulette, david mattingly in marietta, georgia. david, this is the busiest shipping day for fedex, is that right? >> reporter: that's right. they have millions of packages going around worldwide right now. it is double what they would see in a normal day. it is their busiest day ever they say just today. it's the busiest day of the week. the busiest week. but again, they're setting a record today, and they say what's driving that is internet sales. in fact, about three to four out of all the packages here, keep in mind, this morning, this entire warehouse was full of these packages. three out of four -- three to four out of ten of these packages were all from internet -- internet sales. so this is a big deal for customers. we're not sure what it means in terms of the economy, but it certainly their buying habits were going online. and that's what we see happening

today. >> david, what about your christmas cards, your letters? what do they factor in? >> i talked to the post office about that. cards and letters are actually down this year. that's continuing a trend we've seen over the last decade. fewer and fewer people are sending fewer and fewer cards and letters. >> what is -- let's say we wait until the last minute. what is the absolute cut off point for something to get there before christmas? >> well, the shippers are telling me that if you want to send it with the cheaper rate going by ground, then you should get it in by friday. you still have the option of trying next day air, but that's going to be a whole lot more expensive all the way up until christmas eve. so they're recommending that you get it in on friday to take advantage of the lower rates and get it in early next week if you want to do the air shipment to take advantage of that, as well. next on reporter roulette, chad myers here talking weather.

>> temperatures in indianapolis tonight will be single digits and colder. so maybe 5. the windchill factor of 5 to 10 below, that is too cold to let your pets outside without protection. you cannot have a dog, cat, or any other pet outside. even though they have fur coats on, i realize that. but they need the wind stoppage, need a dog house, something to get them inside. whether it's a garage or something. make sure they're protected. >> and this whole thing in the midwest is moving east. >> 35 in new york city. >> not too bad. >> tomorrow morning, 11. >> ew. >> there's the big drop. it's coming, the cold air is on the way, not much to do about it. and the roads are going to get icy in many spots, across parts of upstate new york where it is snowing. buffalo seeing 10, cleveland, 16, we have sent our rob marciano there. 46 now in boston, 36 degrees warmer in boston than cleveland because the cold air has not reached the eastern part of the united states. i've gotten some e-mails saying i know you're chatting about the

cold air, it's really, really hot out here. oh, pity party. >> we feel bad for you. >> we feel bad for you pueblo at 72, phoenix at 80 degrees all across the desert southwest, temperatures are in the -- it's always one thing or another, right? >> rub it in. >> cold on one side, warm on the other. and so there you go. get your letters in the mail, i guess. i didn't even know until -- i didn't know what the price of a stamp was, they keep moving it. it moves every week, i think. >> what is it 35? >> 44. >> oh, 44, i'm not into this mailing thing. thank you, chad. there is is your reporter roulette for this monday. did the president self-destruct when he called out both republicans and democrats over this whole tax cut deal? one high-profile republican says it's precisely what happened. jessica yellin. but first the year is winding down, we have the best of lists. so today we're going to talk

about the best quotes of 2010 according to yale university. think about this. this is kind of fun. number five, chi, chi, chi -- le, le, le! as the miners were trapped underground. number four, a political tweet from sarah palin. she tweeted "don't retreat, instead reload." number three, an airline passenger says to a tsa agent, do i have to say this? "if you touch my junk, i'm going to have you arrested." it came during the uproar of the new pat-down procedures. i had him on the show and here's what he told me. >> you're with the tsa screener and he's explaining the pat-down process and you told him what? >> i told him that if he touched my junk i would have him arrested. >> the sound bite heard around the world. which quote could possibly be

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all right. you've had a little time to think about this. rounding out the top five quotes of the year. number two, tony hayward wanted "like his life back." number one, she's not a witch, she's you. that, of course, former delaware senate candidate christine o'donnell denying speculation she practices witchcraft and goes to satanic altars. and now to jessica yellin joining me now with the latest news and the political ticker.

i remember when you talked to a guy who made a commercial for that ad. >> i'm not a witch either. >> i know you're not. oh, my goodness. >> reporter: we end up doing political hits at the breakdown of political events. we are, first of all, the top of the political ticker, brooke, is mike huckabee. we all know him as a potential candidate for president in the republican side in 2012. he hasn't said he's going to run, but it's out there, and he has taken off after president obama calling him amateur-ish in saying he self-destructed in the president's press conference. huckabee was giving an grew interview to the magazine "the national journal" and he was talking about president obama cutting this tax cut compromise, coming before reporters, and he said that it was -- he was surprised to watch -- >> oh, of course. >> reporter: he was surprised to watch president obama "launch from the podium at some of his own and his own party." can you even hear me?

>> can't they -- can't you just tell them you're jessica yellin, live on cnn right now, people. come on. >> reporter: let me bottom line that one. mike huckabee, he criticized president obama for attacking some democrats in the president's own party at the press conference, basically huckabee saying, dude, if you want to win these peoples' votes, don't attack them. that's that story. let me move on to why i'm here today. i'm here at the launch of a group we talked about last hour and no labels. we learned a little bit more about them in the last hour since i last saw you. they are trying to organize a movement around the center. they are trying to get folks who don't want to be all the way to the left or all the way to the right to find compromises. and they are going to even start a rating system so that when someone runs for office. right now they get a rating for gun control groups or groups that want deficit control. well, this will be a rating that says how much a candidate works with the other party, how civil they are, and how well they compromise.

so you can vote on somebody's civility or take it into consideration before you go into the polling place. so that's why we're here. this is a group that's launching. we'll see how well it does. they still have a long way to go. and the one other item we had to talk about today is that three service members are suing for being discharged from the military because they were gay. they are suing to get back into the military. the reason this matters right now is because as you know, don't ask, don't tell repeals could go before the senate, before the end of the lame duck session. and if it fails, many people think it might fail. gay rights groups are making it clear with this, they plan to take this issue to the courts next year if congress doesn't decide on this one, they say the courts will, brooke. >> jessica yellin. thank you very much. thanks for rolling with it. appreciate it. and coming up, a christmas play totally goes awry. a camel -- yep, a real camel goes crashing into crowded church pews? you have to see this video. also, did you know that russian prime minister vladimir

putin can sing? and apparently play the piano, as well. you're going to see it, plus who was in the audience when he took to the microphone next.

we've all been there. you know, not all of us, some of us. at a party, feeling kind of good. someone says, hey, sing karaoke. you've got to see this. who is that delighting a st. petersburg crowd at the piano you ask? this is vladimir putin receiving polite applause for clunking his way through. a pretty good attempt at a class

e ic. but wait, he's not done, there's a microphone up there. listen to this. ♪ ♪ -- you are my thrill >> so apparently mr. putin likes to have a good time, especially when there's guests in the audience like goldie hawn and sharon stone. his english pronunciation not too bad either. next, listen to this. >> he is on the jets sideline. boy, looked like he got tripped by one of the -- >> could he have been tripped? take a look at that? going down head over heels. that is nolan carroll. the tape doesn't lie. he was tripped by the strength coach for the new york jets. the coach spoke to reporters after that game. he says he has no explanation what he did and will take whatever penalty the league gives him. come on, coach, keep it clean. on and off the field, will ya?

for most people falling off a cliff would be a nightmare, for this russian gentleman, it's a hobby. have you ever heard of base jumping? that is what this is. this man flew nearly 2 miles off of the side of the mountain and antarctica before jumping down freefalling hundreds of feet before pulling the parachute. by the way, you can't have a backup chute when you base jump because it's so quick. he makes it down safely, lives to jump another day. now to the camel story you were waiting for. the first baptist church went all out for their christmas pageant. they even got this guy a real camel. well, the thing is, when you work with live animals, they're unpredictable. and the camel is in the pews. and there are people in the pews. apparently the camel's okay. i'm thinking the people are okay. but i don't think the camel is working in the pageant anymore.

no more terrorism-related videos on youtube. at least that is the plan and that is trending today. here's the deal, youtube now letting users flag videos for removal if the viewer thinks they promote terrorism. you know, you can already flag, you know, videos for nudity, sexual activity, animal abuse. well, google, which is the parent company of youtube has come under some criticism for not pre-screening militant speeches and propaganda videos. those videos have been cited in more than a dozen terrorism investigations. so last month, youtube removed hundreds of videos that featured anti-american cleric, the u.s. calls him a global terrorist. a construction worker accused of trying to blow up a recruiting station called him a real inspiration. i know you know who that is is. "new york times" dance critic says this about a ballerina in new york city's "the nutcracker." her is jennifer ringer and this is what he wrote. "jennifer ringer as the sugar

plum ferry looked as if she'd eaten one sugar plum too many." turns out she had had anorexia as a young dancer. she has overcome that. but ringer saws she's not expecting a apology and says quite frankly she doesn't need one. she told the "today" show today that the comment initially hurt, she's going to get over it, and she says she is not overweight. so who's tracking what you do online? and what b aboabout who you tal on your cell phone?

i'm hugh jidette and i'm running for president. i'll say a lot of things but do i really care about this baby's future? when he's 30 years old our $13 trillion debt will be $70 trillion eventually his taxes will double just to pay the interest. i'm hugh jidette and i say let's keep borrowing and stick our kids with the tab.

real quickly here. cnn has now learned that the president, president obama will be speaking from the white house in about 20 minutes about the vote still ongoing, by the way, on the floor of the u.s. senate. we have now confirmed that they have hit that 60 mark. that's the mark they needed as part of this procedural vote to then open debate and then continue on to the official vote

which may or may not happen tomorrow. again, president obama to be speaking in about 20 minutes time. and now tomorrow's news today. i want to fast forward. here's what i can tell you. a big announcement if you are planning on buying a car or a house. the federal reserve expected to announce whether it will change interest rates. and the question is, will it stay near zero? also, the founder of wikileaks expected to appear in court for a hearing in london. julian assange is facing alleged sex crimes. he is now fighting extradition to sweden. and it is almost red carpet season. the golden globes announcing nominations for the best performances in tv and the movies. the globes said to be pretty good indicator, pretty good preview of hollywood's biggest award show, of course, that being the oscars. and this week here at cnn, we are all about your privacy. protecting it and of course, also, you know, the threats along with it. and i want you to take a look at this, our digital producer derek dodge and his vision of the end of privacy.

>> face it, many of us are always logged on. on average, with spend 22 hours a week online. 1/3 of that is on social networking sites. >> everything you do online, whether you want anyone to know or not is being collected, stored, and correlated. >> collectively, internet users spend a total of 110 billion minutes a month on social websites and blogs. >> everything you enter, every page you load, every website you visit, every friend you talk to, that's going to be tracked. >> a whole generation of young people has grown up in this online world. there are teenagers and 20 somethings whose status is shaped by what they do online and who they share it with. >> just because you're at home doesn't mean you're in a private area. >> privacy online seems like a no-brainer. adjust your settings where you see fit and be careful on what you post. >> you can't understand how some of these new guard of digital

fingerprint tracking companies will actually use the information, how they're selling that information, and what they're going to do with it. and right now there's no control over how they're going to use it. >> year-after-year it's become more essential to my personal and professional life. and like many, i don't see much of a problem with that. >> they know you better than your lender, your spouse, you know yourself. they can predict what you're going to do next, what goods and services you're going to need next. >> but with an increasingly social internet comes a threat of constant surveillance. it sounds scary, but i have to wonder, if i'm not doing anything illegal or embarrassing, what do i have to hide? in other words, does it really matter? >> there's no way to account how it's being used. and if it becomes erroneous and it can be erroneous, there's no way to correct that information. >> in a place like this you'd expect to have no privacy, right? >> absolutely. >> you'd have video cameras, people looking at you, security guards, atm machines. you're telling me in a public place like this i am more private or have more privacy

than when i'm online. >> that's absolutely right. because of everyone that's looking at you, they're looking at you, determining what you're doing and looking away. everything you do is not important to what's going on around you. so the cameras may capture you at the atm taking cash out. the guards may look to see if you have a badge on, but after that, no one's paying attention to you. >> i feel there's a generational divide between those who grew up in it and now those coming and saying you're giving away too much information. am i wrong? >> no, you're absolutely right. those who have grown up with social networking, putting everything that ever happened to you out there have a different idea of privacy. in fact, they may not have any idea of privacy. that just may be the way they've grown up in the digital generation. they don't have any qualms about putting the least little bit of information out there. so it might not occur to them that there are things you might want to control about what people have available and what they track.

a federal judge now striking down the -- really the center piece of president obama's health care insurance overhaul calling it today unconstitutional. so what does that mean for you? and how is the judge here in this case connected to michael vick? huh, that's next. ♪

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we have little bit of everything for you on the case today. sonny, first up we want to talk about this huge health care decision today, this ruling from a judge in virginia. and we in the show have been breaking down what it may mean to all of us. but what i want to know, to ask you right now is what this judge in virginia. what do we know about him? and what in the world does he have to do with michael vick? >> well, he's very interesting. he's been on the bench on this particular bench for eight years. before that he was on a lower court. he was also a federal prosecutor, brooke. and he was the federal prosecutor, the u.s. attorney

for the eastern district of virginia. most hate to try cases there because things move so quickly. and he did say when reviewing this particular case, i'm going to issue my ruling in about 30 days. and i think people were surprised that it was becoming so quickly. but not a surprise to people that used to appearing before him. because, again, he's someone that handles things very quick live. his connection to michael vick, well, he was the judge that sentenced michael vick to two years in prison. and remember, brooke, when that happened, people were astonished that he would be sentenced to federal prison for that long. but that is the judge. judge henry hudson, that did that. >> judge hudson, been in the news before. and now this, switching gears here. just into cnn, bernie madoff's attorney is saying that the con man will not be attending his son's funeral out of consideration for his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren's privacy. mark madoff killed himself over the weekend. his father serving life in prison for that multibillion

dollar financial scam. but sunny, my question to you is with all of the suits here, will they continue against his estate? >> they will continue, brooke, against his estate. and i think that's what so many people today are really talking about. the fact that one of the considerations that people think he was really thinking about was the fact that three of his children were named in a lawsuit by the trustee. and when he took his life, it didn't stop the legal challenges. under the law, his estate will still be challenged. and so i think that's really sort of the fascinating thing about this. he took his life, but the case goes on against his estate and against his children. >> where do those lawsuits, sunny, where do they stand right now? >> well, one was just filed again last week against -- against three of his children. and the trustee had his deadline for filing all of these clawback lawsuits. he met his deadline.

and now the cases will proceed. imagine, these cases will probably take a long time. some people are guesstimating two to three years. but the cases involving mark madoff certainly will continue. and they say that he is still under investigation, believe it or not, as is his younger brother. >> talk to me about starbucks. what is the suit there? what is going on? >> yeah, i like to call it fast food justice. i think everybody remembers those mcdonald's cases where the hot coffee spill landed people millions of millions of dollars. starbucks was in hot water recently because an elderly woman about 76 years old spilled hot coffee on her thigh, but no laughing matter because it required a skin graft. well, she lost her case in court. and they said starbucks just really isn't responsible for it. she was responsible for it because she double cupped that tea and that double cup was defe defective. fast food justice. >> what did you call it