several hotels looking for him, they drop off pictures over him and it was this morning that a person at one of the hotels, we haven't run the name yet, the agent wouldn't tell me, but the person one of the hotels called the secret service field office in pittsburgh and because the state police were closer, they went and arrested him. we are waiting for more specific details, like the name of the hotel and what the next step is, that is what i have been able to learn just now. >> we know the shots were fired friday night, a bullet was found, didn't quite penetrate one of the window, hit one of the windows, another bullet found just yesterday. how do we know police, able to link this kbloung man to the vehicle and to the bull sets in >> as of friday, they found an abandoned car in that car, they found a semi-automatic rifle and shell cations and they believe this oscar ortega hernandez fired from constitution avenue, which is about 700 or 800 yards away from the white house,

toward the white house, then fled in the vehicle, crashed the vehicle on an on ramp to a bridge that connects over to virginia and was seen running away on foot. they haven't conclusively linked those -- the bullets found here to that rifle, but that is their preliminary conclusion, brooke. >> athena jones for us at the white house. athena, thank you. next on reporter roulette, jean casarez live in university park, pennsylvania, more on the story there. jean, we are finally hearing from the man, its once-grad assistant, right, written up in that grand jury report now, assistant coach of penn state, taking a lot of heat in this scandal, assistant coach mike mcqueary, what is he saying in this e-mail? >> you know, mike mcqueary is such an important witness for this case and in allen up to, pennsylvania, the newspaper today, "the morning call," has said that they have received an e-mail that mike mcqueary actually sent in the last week and a half to a former student at the university. and in that e-mail, they say that he says that in 2002, he contacted the police in regard

to what he saw, the oral sex happening in the men's locker room at penn state. well, i looked at the grand jury presentment and there quite possibly is an inconsistency, it very plainly shows under victim number two that mike mcqueary did not contact police. now, here's some quotes from this e-mail. quote, i did stop it. not physically, but made sure it was stopped when i left that locker radio. and quote, did have discussions with police and the official at the university in charge of police. so obviously, he is saying to this former classmate that he contacted police and there was never, to our understanding, a police report made in 2002. >> right, i read grand jury report as well, it details how he actually went to his father and then he went on to joe paterno. never once in this grand jury report it mentions that he went to police you can correct? >> very specifically says he went to his father, the next day, joe paterno and the next day the vice president of

business, who is in charge of the state college police with the university. >> okay. jean casarez, thank you so much, on campus there at penn state. next on reporter roulette, millionaires, going to d.c., telling congress, tax us more. kate bolduan live on capitol hill. and kate, who are these people? >> yeah, they are asking for something that many americans do not ask, you don't often hear up here on capitol hill, which is raise our tax, this is a group of millionaires, a former aol executive as well as the founder of ask.com among them. on capitol hill with a very basic message, in order -- the super committee should first off, when they are looking for twice cut our deficits and get our debt under control, look forwards wealthier americans. they want to see the super committee raise taxes on income over $1 million. this is a group of millionaires, they call themselves the patriotic millionaires, a group that was formed last year. they were then calling on congress to let the bush era tax

on the wealthy expire and now they say their message is as important as ever, saying that this is what the super committee should look to when we need to tackle our deficits and debt. they are making the rounds on capitol hill, an event this morning, press conference and now kind of pounding the pavement, meeting with democratic and trying to meet with republican members and of course, targeting the super committee to get their messages to them. they are meeting with some members, like the democratic house leader nancy pelosi, as well as i'm told congressman bass air is rah and clyburn, two members on the super committee and meeting with legislative staffs of other members. >> perhaps it is too early to ask, i will anyway, kate. do we know -- do we know yet how this message of tax us more, how it is being received? >> still meeting with some members as we speak but, i can say this very confidently, that this event was, in part, sponsored by the house progressive caucus, a group of more liberal democratic members in the house of representatives who already welcomed that message and offering that

message which is raise taxes on the wealthy in order to pay down our deficit and debt. i will tell you on the flip side, while not hearing directly from republican members, i doubt they are taking this message very seriously, if i could stay that way, because republicans have roundly rejected this idea of paying for anything up here on capitol hill, saying that you do not raise taxes on job creators in a time of a jobs crisis. these millionaires clearly disagree with that statement. but they are up here to send their message any way. >> pounding the pavement, as you said, kate bolduan. thank you. speaking of millionaires, my twitter account, it has been blowing up about the fannie and freddie bonuses n a couple of minutes, you will hear what happened on the hill today as well when executive got in the hot seat. stay tuned for that. next on reporter roulette, the price of oil soars and facebook deals with porn and violence. alison kosik live in new york. first, alison, with regard to the oil price cis, some say the adviser a great thing. >> yeah that is kind of strange, right?

we are seeing oil price at levels we haven't seen the first time, oil close at about $102 a barrel today. if you ask analysts, brooke, they will say the prices are moving higher because the economic readings that we have been getting in the u.s. on gdp, for instance, on consumer confidence, recently been getting these reports and they have been a bit better than they had been in the past so the thinking is as the economy improves, ever so slightly, wheel is more demand for oil. this is good because we want to see the economy improve. also more good news, may not see prices go up at the pump too much for a few reasons. for one, we are heading into those winter months, you see gas stations use what's known as winter grade gasoline that is a little cheaper. also, brooke, people typically drive less in the winter so less demand for gas. brooke? >> second question, we mentioned facebook. i think i have seen some of this on my own cnn account. what's going on? >> yes. yeah. that's what i was going on what is woundering with all this porn and all these violent pictures in my news feed. yeah. these are all splashed across

many facebook users' news fidels. you know, friends probably didn't realize what is happening. here is what facebook says, it says there was a coordinated spam attack that caused the porn and violent images to show up and that users were somehow tricked into copying malicious codes into their browser bars and that allowed hackers to access their accounts. though facebook does say none of their data or accounts were compromised during the attack, facebook is saying it is working to identify and shut down the accounts that were responsible but there is a lesson here for all of us, brooke who use facebook, never cop pand paste an unknown link into your address bar. >> never, never, never. >> that is how this whole thing got started. >> all i'm doing deleting. thank you. that is reporter roulette for this wednesday. still ahead, listen to this. a guy stabs his lawyer with a pencil in court. sew gets a new lawyer. stabs him. wait until you hear what happens to lawyer number three, after judge restrains the suspect, all

hannibal lechter style. also this -- >> made 9.3 million the last two years while the president made $800,000. do you think that's okay? >> taxpayers bailed out fanny and freddie and recent lit mortgage giants asked for more. well, guess what, millions of dollars are going to executives for bonuses and that sparked some serious fireworks today on the hill as executives sat on the hot seat. plus, reporters confront newt gingrich on accusations that he lobbied for freddie mack and made a lot of cash doing t you will hear his answer. and the feds baugs suburban pill mill involving cash, prescriptions, find out who is accused of running. this stay right there. you

meineke's personal pricing on brakes.

i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes.

that's personal pricing. here is a number for you 95.4 million, as in dollars what taxpayers paid to the top managers in salary and benefits since 2009 of fannie mae and freddie mac. things got intense when they were quizzed about their pay history. here is a little bit of that interaction today on the hill. >> but you made 9.3 million the last two years while the president made $800,000. do you think that's okay? >> congressman, i have been brought in and asked to take on this role as ceo so that i can put in place a management team that can help achieve the goals of conservatorship, which is stabilize the company, provide

liquidity to the market and help -- >> but you're still losing money, you've taken $90 billion and you're getting 9 million a year. let me go on to mr. haldeman. now, bloomberg and other organizations were concerned when you came on board because you don't come with a background like mr. williams does. basically, you are not qualified runting ortion if one were to look at your historic res may. that was a concern. but you did come out of the private sector. hopefully you remember -- what did you make the last year you were at putnam? >> i don't -- i don't recall. >> did you make more than $1 million? >> yes, i did. >> was your compensation tied to performance? >> yes, it was. >> it was tied tightly to performance in which you could

literally look at the yields of accounts or the profits of the organization in order to determine what your bonus would be? >> it was tied to the performance of the funds. it was tied to the economic performance of the company and i had equity participation as well. >> now, equity participation always assumes that the stock goes up, right? >> it doesn't always, no. it -- it happened to during my tenure. >> so your options were worthless if your stock went up -- or went down? >> that would be correct. >> okay. so at -- freddie mac, has your stock gone up? >> in my tenure, it has not gone up. >> okay. i just want to make sure that 7.8 million over the last two years is based on a company who is not worth more today. as a matter of fact, just for the record, if i were to look at the net profits of -- for fannie mae from 2003 to 2010, i'd find the net profits were a $10 billion, $11 billion loss. >> in case you are keeping tracks those execs are set to receive $6 million for 2011 as both freddie and fanny ask for billions of more dollars to cover losses. and now if it's interesting and happening right now, your

bea to see it rapid fire, let's go, beginning with at least two people in metro atlanta arrested, accused of operating this massive pill mill where large volumes of prescription painkillers and other medications were being sold. this follows a year-long investigation. investigators say, unlike others, this one was run by licensed physicians. also, some true american legends walking the halls of congress today. a "apollo 11" astronautses, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin, michael collins and the first american to orbit the earth, john glenn. u.s. astronaut dan burbank and two russian cosmonauts blasted off early this week. joining them in the capsule was a red plush angry bird from, you know it the popular video game. the toy a actually belongs to the 5-year-old daughter of one of the cosmonauts.

after arriving at the iss, the cosmonaut spoke to his daughter and i assured her angry bird made it to space safe and sound. look that the video, this car plunges into a lake you can the driver made it out alive, all on her 27th birthday a police officer was following the car when it veered off the road at more than 70 miles an hour. the officer and another there were rescued the driver seconds before the car sank. the driver had lost consciousness after a seizure. here are her words. >> how lucky for me, i just -- i can't even imagine. i wouldn't be here today if he wasn't there. >> how frightening. interesting moment in washington today, take a look, a propeller hat, congressman don young showed up wearing this thing. he is the alaska representative here at this committee meeting on the future of oil and gas development. he spoke for a couple of minutes with the propeller hat on and nothing was said until this

point in time. >> can i take my propeller hat? now this is for the -- i want you to know i'm supporting mr. marquee, i will tell you right now. >> i'm sure had he -- >> obama energy program. >> i'm sure he is thrilled with that. and now this. watch out itunes. google is joining the music biz today and unveiled an online music store but it hasn't scored deals with all the major labels. for now, itunes, still the big man in town. still ahead it is perhaps the most powerful group of lawmakers in washington right now, so how does the super committee cut more than $1 trillion and will they do it by the deadline? my next guest says there is no way to strike a bargain. don't miss this. plus, no cages, no shield, no fear. why this man dove inches away from great whites. ah, yikes. that's next. two minutes away. the postal service is critical to our economy--

delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet they're closing thousands of offices, slashing service, and want to lay off over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains 5 billion a year from post-office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. congress created this problem, and congress can fix it.

you kind of curious, would you do this, divers swimming around sharks without any protection? no cable, no nothing. just scuba gear. let's watch this video together. um. he is getting a little close. a little close for my liking. multiple sharks, by the way, in those waters. the divers say they weren't scared. they say sharks are not as dangerous as people think. you agree? let me know. send me a tweet. let's talk about politicians now. this time next week, we will know what the so-called super committee has come up with, its mission, cut 1.2 trillion of spending over the course of the

next decade and apparently, you don't think it can do it because, take a look at this, a new cnn opinion research poll shows most americans think it is unlikely this group of six republicans, six democrats will have a plan in place by november 23rd. that's the deadline. let me remind you how gargantuan a task we are talking about here. so our government owes its creditors close to $15 trillion. that is our national debt. this year, 2011, we will add another $1 trillion-plus debt. next year, 2012, another $1 trillion-plus dollars debt. you're following me. you see the pattern. so joining me now, bob cusack of the hill. and bob oh just gut check time. i mean, congress punted super committee. will the super committee punt back to congress? >> i think it's likely. i think the super committee is going to be very difficult for them to get a deal and i think it is coming down to two people that is speaker john boehner and majority leader harry reid who

struck a deal to avert a government shutdown this committee was picked by leadership officials, boehner, reid and others, so fluid it is changing by the hour there is an outside so the schott they get a deal f they don't get a deal there are automatic cuts that get triggered, including cut us to the pentagon. republicans don't want that lot of democrats, you talk to liberals on capitol hill, they are fine if those cuts are triggered. so, there's some incentive from the left not to get a deal. but this is going to go down to the wire, there is no doubt about it. >> i want to ask you more about the trigger mechanisms, first, i want to show the numbers again, it is important for us to wrap our heads around what they are handling. right now, with spending about a fifth, a fifth of the federal budget on health care programs, take a look at the graphic and follow me, this is the beige slice of the pie, and just as much on defense in orange, a slice of the pie that would take a hit, you mentioned defense, the super committee if they do nothing, those triggers kick in.

listen to you in super committee co-chair hensarling. >> people don't realize $1.2 trillion of deficit reduction is going to happen anyway. we prefer to do it in a smarter fashion, the 1.2, frankly, half of that is aimed at national security. leon panetta, our secretary of defense says that will hollow out our defense. so, number one, i would be committed to keeping the 1.2. we have got 13 months to find a smarter way to do it. i think the cuts that you are aimed at defense frankly go too far. >> i should point out, congressman's interview was last night on cnbc. he said we have 13 month does it. bob, does that sound like deadline talk to you? >> no, it doesn't. congress is very good at kicking the can down the road. >> heard that phrase before. >> yeah. no. they always do that. even if they do get a deal it is going to be a minimal deal. $1.2 trillion, maybe $1.3, they use some more savings, they use something a little bit out of health care, not a lot of money, as your chart shows, i think it is not going to be a big deal,

not going to be 3 trillion, 4 trillion speaker boehner and president obama were talking about. even if they do get a deal it is relatively small and if they don't, those cuts don't go into effect, as hensarling mentioned, 2013 a lot of republicans said they will try avert the defense cuts, maybe some won't happen. tough watch credit rating agencies because if there is no deal or if it is a weak deal, we could be seeing the stock market tumble in the wake of a credit down grade. >> here is something i want to point out, we mentioned a moment ago, cnn/orc poll says the majority of you americans don't believe a deal will be reached. let's break it down further here and it is republicans here, 42. basically, the question is would be responsible if the super committee doesn't agree? republicans, they are blaming republicans, 42% blame democrats 32%. what do you make of those numbers, bob? >> i think that's why republicans are nervous and they are certainly pointing their fingers at democrats. they are saying they are walking away from the deal.

now, remember this summer, it was republicans walking away from deals with president obama. so republicans are a bit nervous and democrats feel like they have the upper hand because, up like this sum othmer and during government shutdown,ens want to avert cuts, not getting a deal is bad for republicans, there are doubts health care and education and in this so-called trigger if they don't get an agreement but not major reforms to medicare or medicaid or social security, so, democrats feel like, for once, they have the upper hand on republicans, saying, listen, republicans have to decide, choose tax increases for millionaires or are they going to accept some cuts to defense? one or the other, otherwise, they are not going to cave, they say. >> speaking of taxes, what about the grover norquist factor, president of americans for tax reform? nearly every republican signed his pledge not to raise taxes unless it comes with deep cuts. how big of an impact is this pledge having on the super

committee negotiations? >> brooke, it's totally huge. the nor quest pledge is a powerful force because if you break that pledge, then you are susceptible to a primary challenge on the republican side. now, there have been some republicans in recent days who have said, listen, i signed that pledge a long time ago that doesn't mean i'm on it now. but it's a big deal. so the big question is will they get a deal and then does it violate the grover norquist pledge? i mean, speaker boehner tried to down play grover norquist influence at republican party by calling him some random person but he also said that republican leaders have assured him that they are not going to increase taxes. so the white house has been very frustrated with the republicans backing the pledge and not being able to crack it, but we have seen a couple cracks in recent days. >> well, i know reid said it was disheartening, that whole factor, let's see if boehner and mr. reid can pull something through here, bob cusack of the hill, nice to meet you, thanks for coming on.

>> thanks, brooke. it is the story a lot of you are still talking about tweeting me about it through the last 24 hours. the story is this, this young girl, they kills herself after years of sexual abuse. she left behind words of pain, suffering and secrets all over her twitter page. coming up next, you're about to hear my emotional conversation with this young girl's mother. she talked to me about this investigation, including why the mother says police essentially ignored her daughter. stay right there. this silverado. i'm a big hunter. oh, what do you hunt? deer. fish. fantastic. ♪ [ male announcer ] this holiday, chevy's giving more. now qualified buyers can get 0% apr for 72 months on a 2011 chevy silverado. or 0% apr financing for 60 months plus no monthly payments until spring. ♪

a lot of you tweeted me, in fact, still tweeting me now about the story of 18-year-old ashley bilisano, sent out 144 tweets in the course of six hours last monday detailing years of sexual abuse, the pain it cause herd and her struggle for justice. according to one tweet, the final straw really was this phone call. she talked about how apparently authorities, according to authorities, told her it was

unlikely her abuser would be prosecuted. i talked to ashley's mother about the abuse and you about the investigation. >> she was devastated. she trusted this person. that person was supposed to be the very one to protect her. and he is the one who hurt her. she -- it -- it was really bad. and it was a period of three and a half years and there was a lot over manipulation and control and -- over here and she felt like she really could not tell. she expressed to me if she even tried to tell, nobody would believe her and she, in fact, tried to reach out to her stepmother about two and a half years ago and to the round rock police and at that time, this dismissed it. nobody went back to follow up on her. >> i want to ask you about that specifically, because i know that some of what she was tweeting about and perhaps the final straw for her, but during

this three and a half-year time period you detailed, you never knew about that story, that period of time? you never then could yank her out of that situation and bring her home, is that correct? >> which time? i'm sorry. >> the three and a half years of this alleged abuse, 14 through -- >> no. no i did not know. she -- she seemed really -- from what she showed me, what she showed the rest of the family and her friends and her teachers, everyone, was that she was happy, that she was really well adjusted. she was really great about putting on a happy facade. so much so that we believed it, close to her, with her every single day, her friends, the austin area, they had no idea. >> so i read ash lives 17, a boyfriend and finally feels comfortable enough to share with her boyfriend these stories of this alleged abuse, she then shares the information with a teacher, with child protective

services. i want you to tell me about this -- the cps worker, how this individual reacted to this teacher and ashley's stories of abuse and also the detectives who were assigned to the case. >> she felt like she -- she had to explain entirely. it was almost as if they were treating her like she was the one under investigation instead of her being the victim. she -- she felt like they were really insensitive to what had gone on and, you know, they say they do did what they could to protect her but she let her back into the home where she was abused, living with some of the people that lived with her at the time of her abuse and i did not get a phone call. they say that they tried to call

me. ashley was secluded. she had her cell phone taken away from her, she had her laptop taken away from her. xhoe not talk to her sisters there. she has two little sisters that live in round rock, she could not speak to them. and everything, this is what she told me so she couldn't reach out to me, i had to hear it from her boyfriend. >> so tragic. we reached out to child protective services here is what theyed to us, quote, we conducted a thorough five-month investigation interviewing 11 sides will we believed might have had relevant information to share with us. article of that investigation, we were unable to confirm that abuse had occurred. enkwoed. cps stays is taking a second look at the case to ensure that ashley's siblings are not being abused. coming up next, the fate of four men hanging in the balance. judge will soon decide whether convicted killers should be let off the hook after new evidence surfaces. we will tell you what it is. plus, a guy sits in court, stabs his lawyer with a pencil. dolls the same thing to the

second lawyer the. and the third one, well, just hear what happens even after the suspect was put in restraints. sunny hostin is on the case. that's next.

you

a 17-year-old murder case that put these four teenagers in prison busted wide open because dna evidence points to a different killer, a man who was shot and killed three years ago. sunny hostin is on the case. those men were teenagers then, today, obviously adults, asking a judge to vacate their convictions. the judge was supposed to issue a ruling this hour. do we know anything? any word? >> no word yet but of course this is a case that sort of captured national headlines, everyone is looking at this case. the innocence project is involve ready. we know that they have been pretty successful and pretty successful in cook county in chicago where this took place.

i have been told that the wrongful convictions at northwestern says there have been more than 100 exonerations in illinois since 1989, brooke. and of those, 31 involved new dna evidence. and that's the case here. interestingly enough, all of them were convicted. they all confessed but there was no dna evidence linking them to the crime, only their confessions. many of them are now -- all of them are now saying that those confessions were owe kersed. the judge is struggling with that fact and on the, judges really do struggle with coerced confessions and false confessions, but they do happen and they do certainly happen when you have young people being interrogated by police. so oh a case certainly that we are watching, brooke, i don't know yet what the judge will decide but i will let you know as soon as i hear. >> just quickly, 'cause i'm curious, has dna testing in the past exposed a number of false confessions? >> absolutely. absolutely. i mean, the innocence project

has done incredible work in this air y area and 25 documented false confession cases leading to wrongful convictions in cook county, in particular. this is something that does happen and sort of the miracle of dna testing now and the dna evidence, it has exonerated many people. it's also convicted many people. so it's -- i think sort of the wave of the future in terms of these types of cases. >> right, with dna. this next story, i got to be honest, i didn't believe it when i heard it. washington state. let me set it up this man facing felony drug charges, allegedly gets asigned a lawyer, lawyer number one, stabs him with a pencil this guy smuggled out of jail. gets lawyer number two stabs him with a pencil he smuggled out of jail. gets number three, the guy grabs the lawyer's pen, allegedly stabbed lawyer number three in the side of the head, judge says, okay, you don't get any more lawyers this guy has to represent himself, got do it --

hannibal lechter style, in a restraint chair, because he was, i guess, persuasion toward pencils. here is a question for you can a judge really take away one's right to legal representation? >> well, you always have the right to be represented but that right, of course, isn't absolute and the judge has the discretion to allow you to represent yourself withstand by counsel. that's what's happening here. i mean this is a tough job, right, being an attorney. i'm just so surprised he got three chances to attack his lawyers. and i wonder if there's some sort of mental issue going on, some sort of psychological issue going on. what's interesting is that he was found competent to stand trial. he has also been charged with murder. so, this is a very violent person, clearly, but there must be something going on here because you just don't go and attack your lawyers. people do do that. not me. i haven't been attacked,

thankfully. >> hang on so we know the guy was convicted. does he have grounds to appeal? >> you know, i don't think so i mean, certainly, do you have the right to defense counsel but i just -- i can't imagine given these circumstances and given the fact that he had not one, not two, but three attorneys and he attacked all three of them, did he have stand by counsel, i would imagine it is going to come up on appeal but i don't think he is going to be victorious in that sense. >> sunny hostin, thank you. and next, as newt gingrich rises, so do questions about his past, including this accusation that he got paid to lobby on behalf of freddie mac. >> i did no lobbying of any kind, all i got to say about it. >> find out how the former house speaker explains his role as freddie and gingrich reveals his campaign mistake thes. plus, wolf blitzer in studio with me today. we will find out why he is in atlanta.

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former house speaker and republican presidential hopeful newt gingrich is firing back against accusation these lobbied for freddie mac. he says his role with the mortgage giant was purely as a strategic adviser. listen to his exchange with reporters in iowa just a short time ago. >> i offered strategic advice over a long period of time. >> how much did you spend, like on a monthly basis, doing that kind of work? seems like a lot of money? >> have to go back and look. first of all it wasn't paid to me. gingrich group was a consulting firm that had lots of people doing things. and we offered strategic advice. >> you didn't obtain -- >> sure, but i don't know the amounts. >> is it $1.6 million figure correct? >> i don't know, go back and check. >> sounds like a whole lot more than just being a historian then. >> i was speaker of the house and strategic adviser. >> did you also consult with fannie? >> no. >> just freddie? >> just freddie. >> gingrich is standing among

republicans, recent weeks, showed you the poll, cnn/orc poll, now number two among top republican hopefuls there surprising considering how many people were writing off his campaign just this past summer. cnn political correspondent jim acosta caught one newt gingrich on the campaign trail in iowa. >> reporter: meet the gop's late hess fresh face, newt gingrich. >> yesterday afternoon in jefferson, iowa, somebody introduced me as the front-runner. >> reporter: yes, the same gingrich who was once a dead candidate walking now has a shot at the gop nomination, drawing big crowds in iowa, he is can dade about his near-death political experience when his entire senior staff abandoned him all at once last summer. did you feel dead? >> no i felt desperate but i didn't feel dead. i've done this for 53 years. and the two hardest months of my career were june and july. i am the only candidate running who has actually led at the national level. >> reporter: but with gingrich,

humility has its limits and assessing what initially went wrong with his campaign, he compared himself to two conservative giants. and where did you go wrong? >> oh, i think that it was a big mistake on my part to try to bring in conventional consultants, because i am much like reagan and margaret thatcher, i am such an unconventional political figure that you really need to design a very unique campaign that fits the way i operate and what i'm trying to do. >> reporter: gingrich has climbed in the polls by outshining many of his rivals at the gop debates and by selling ideas that sometimes veer from tea party doctrine. for example, gingrich would spend billions on a new federal brain science project to find cures for alzheimer's and parkinson's. >> the best way to control the cost of medicare is to defeat the diseases so people stay healthy. >> reporter: but in nearly the same breath, gingrich rails against the washington establishment. >> the washington establishment model is pain and austerity. >> reporter: despite being a creature of the capitol for

nearly three decades. you are not a creature of washington? >> no. >> how long have you lived outside of washington since your days as speaker? >> i haven't. i've lived in mcclaine, virginia, for a practical reason. i do work -- i did work at the central intelligence agency, i did work at the pentagon. >> but critics might say you are a creature of washington, if you've spent all of these years -- >> you can call me anything you want to, all right? none to -- none of my policy proposals represent the washington establishment. >> reporter: ultimately you gingrich wants voters to judge him not on his past, such as his previous marital difficulties, but on what his campaign website calls the new newt. >> because this is the new newt that we're seeing here? the newt gingrich? >> go back and get the "time" magazine cover in 1994, where they had me as scrooge holding tiny tim's broken crutch. and the title was how mean will gingrich's america be to the poor had? i mean, one of the things the

elite media did was it created a caricature of me so when people finally saw me in debates, they said that can't be newt gingrich. because, in fact, i'm very different from the media imagery. >> reporter: another telling sign of gingrich's sudden surge, he plans to open up his first campaign office in iowa next week and he will has an infusion of campaign cash to work with after raising nearly $3 million in just the last month. jim acosta, cnn, sheffield, iowa. tuesday tight on cnn, the republicans running for president will hold another debate this time steps away from the white house. the republican national security debate co-sponsored by the heritage foundation and the american enterprise institute, it starts at 8:00 eastern tuesday night hosted by mr. wolf blitzer. he is fluent in french, he cooks and is a graduate of georgetown. "people" magazine voted him this year's sexiest man alive. it is -- this man, bradley cooper. now, we are about to take you through a list of the past five

winners, so last year, voted sexiest, ryan reynolds. in 2009, it went to mr. johnny depp and the year before, the winner was hugh jackman. so testing your knowledge today, can you remember who was voted sexiest alive in '06 and '07? you will hear them after this and how about thatting is way to this guy, wolf blitzer in the studio. um, yes. mrs. blitzer says yes. i know mrs. blitzer. got a little surprise for you coming you up. >> thank you. >> we are going to tell you the folks why you're here. next. >> big story. >> be afraid. cooking something up. accept it.

you can't change the way banking works. just accept it, man. free ? doesn't close at five ? try nature. it's a bank. what do you want, a hug ? just accept it. hidden fees, fine print, or they'll stick it to you some other way. stay with the herd, son. accept it. just accept it. accept it. just accept it. accept it. if we miss this movie, you're dead. if you're stuck accepting banking nonsense, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.

if you only knew what we

talk about on commercial breaks. we've been taking you down memory lane giving you the list of some of the guy who is went before. 2010, ryan reynolds. johnny depp. before that, hugh jackman. matt damon. 2006, george clooney, but i have a little bit of an issue with "people" because i think it should have been this. cue the magazine. >> i agree. they missed the boat. they obviously didn't understand. >> our sister publication, part of the same time warner. >> they kind of missed the boat this year. i'll do what i can, next year, wolf blitzer the cover. hi, good to see you. >> good to be here in atlanta for a special reason. you know why i come to atlanta this time of the year every year. >> we couldn't tell the people when i was in "the situation

room" last week. >> we know why i'm here and i tweeted about it earlier! we've pulled up your tweets. >> you're here because of the b.e.t. soul train awards. we're taping, fox theatre here in atlanta and it will air on centric and b.e.t. the sunday after thanksgiving. that's me, cedrick the entertainer and me. we've got good stuff coming up. you remember last year. >> can we talk about last year? >> see the guy standing next to me, paxton baker in the red, he's in charge. a good friend of mine from washington. >> last year was the dougie. do we have a new guest? >> we have dougie fresh and you know, we're friends, but we're not going to do the dougie. we've got something else. >> i've got sources who tell me you've been cooking up something new. >> we've got something.

people are going to have to watch or maybe somebody will tweet about it. good music. maybe you'll come if you want. >> who turns down wolf blitzer for a day at the b.e.t. soul train awards. i'll find a dress today. i guess we should talk about your show. >> jon huntsman, the republican presidential candidate. he's going to be joining us live. nick kristof of "the new york times" on the occupy wall street stuff that's going on in new york. we have got a lot of good stuff and this whole story about newt gingrich, new information you've been reporting as well. one of the front-runners. you want to be the president of the united states, people are going to start looking at everything. >> his poll numbers have been looking good. we'll look for you in five minutes time. thank you. still a couple of minutes left of me, so we're going to talk about regis philbin. next week, we're going to interview him. on today's show, he had a big

time vis tor. joe johns is next with your political pop. [ male announcer ] you love the taste of 2% milk.

but think about your heart. 2% has over half the saturated fat of whole milk. want to cut back on fat and not compromise on taste? try smart balance fat free milk. it's what you'd expect from the folks at smart balance. political pop now. but you haven't heard of this. presidential insurance policy for crocodile attacks. yep. apparently, it exists. joe johns has the details. have you ever heard of this? >> oh, no. this is completely new. he's supposed to get this

insurance when he arrive ons the northern territory of australia. you're thinking, seriously? i mean, first of all, you think that being president of the united states with all the secret service protection not to mention the military people being deployed to australia, you wouldn't need $50,000 worth of crocodile insurance so no, it's not like it's a requirement or anything. what it's really starting to smell like is a brilliant promotional stunt making the point that this is the land of crocodile dundee and so on. doesn't pay off in a nonfatal injury. i have to tell you the story, it's really made the rounds very qui quickly. forced me to call around asking about crocodile insurance just for fun. we e-mailed the white house secret service about this. so far, they're not playing along with the joke. haven't gotten back to me. joe johns, who's covered

congress in the hill for years has to make a phone call on crocodile insurance. that's why we love you. >> they laugh at me. they don't know how to respond though. >> okay. we'll move on. question number two, regis philbin, i believe is his last day on the show. so the vice president made a surprise visit today. >> right, right. joe biden in new york. apparently dropped in to give regis philbin a big send off. regis is retiring, yes, on friday, after 28 years in the anchor chair. long time. vice president dropped in with some tennis balls, golf balls, nar some type of canvas bag that looked like it had a white house seal on it. you have to wonder if that represents some of the swag the white house is going to get rid of to save money, but yes, a big send off for him and as ate