time no show the voters your commander in chief material. we're counting down to the national cnn debate. a new front-runner will take the stage to ni. cairo bracing for a million man it is in. protesters demanding more resignations saying the new government is just as oppressive as the last. and does your carry on luggage suffer from zipper shock? just ahead, a bill is in the works because you'll write to one checked bag for free. this is your "a.m. wakeup call."

. good morning to you, it is tuesday, november 22nd. i'm carol costello. here are this morning's top stories. republican candidates gathering in the shadow of the white house tonight for the big cnn national security debate. it's the first test for newt gingrich as the front-runner. a new poll shows he leads mitt romney by 4%. giving up a lot of the blame, not much shame is the congressional super committee calls it quits. lawmakers announcing they cannot reach a deal to cut at least $1.2 trillion worth of deficit now even more painful cuts loom. part of a major highway between memphis and dallas reopened after an intense down pour washed it away yesterday. 88,000 cars and trucks sat on a 30-mile detour and more rain is on the way this morning. so let's check in with jackie gerris in atlanta. good morning. >> good morning, carol. yeah, flooding is going to continue to be a big problem across the mid south this morning. the rain continues to come down in little rock. we have this big system really

that's affecting much of the plains heading into the lower mississippi river valley today. if you're traveling, please do not drive over any roads that are covered in water. there you can see the flood watches and warnings which remain along i-30, i-40 up towards 55 and on up into paducah, kentucky. severe thunderstorms are possible also later this afternoon from eastern texas stretching on up into the lower ohio river valley, over towards cincinnati as well. so a big issue for travelers all across the east and southeast. even though not a lot of rain up and down the east coast, you're going to be clouded in. so that makes things tough at the airports. strong system in the pacific northwest, too. so from seattle along i-5 into the portland air, expecting heavy rain and heavy snow. the temperatures much colder in the plains. we're pushing 80 in atlanta. carol, we'll talk more about what can you expect for travelers at the airports coming up in about 15 minutes. >> all right. we'll be waiting. jackie gerris, thank you. there will be a new front-runner when the republican

presidential candidates square off tonight live on cnn. a brand new poll shows that 24% of republican voters now support former house speaker newt gingrich. he's ahead of mitt romney for first time. gingrich was at 8% in a cnn poll just last month. for a while the debates were the only thing gingrich had with top staffers bailing and n. key states. his campaign was left for dead. tonight is his first big test at the top. the republican presidential candidates face off for the 11th time tonight. just a few blocks from the place they hoped to call home, the white house. the focus tonight, national security. a chance to convince voters that they will be the best commander in chief. moderator wolf blitzer has a preview to show us. thanks, very much. we're here in historic constitution hall. in washington, d.c. we're only, what, half a block away from the white house, a couple blocks away from the washington monument, the lincoln memorial. this is a real beautiful

building. very historic. every president, by the way, since calvin coolidge has been to this building. tonight there's going to be a significant republican national security debate. the eight republican candidates, they're going to all be up here together with me on this stage taking questions on national security, foreign policy, the economy. we have our partners, the american enterprise institute and the heritage foundation, experts from both of those think-tanks. they'll be asking questions as well. i'll be directing the questions, making sure that the viewers out there, especially the voters, republican caucus voters, republican primary voters will be a little bit more knowledgeable about where these candidates stand on the most important issues after the debate than they are right now going into the debate. we want to know where the candidates agree, where they disagree. where they agree with president obama on critical issue, where they disagree, where they agree among themselves and disagree. so we'll have a good strong

debate. it's going to be important. i hope you'll all be watching tonight, the cnn national security debate at constitutional here in the nation's capital, 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> we'll be watching, wolf. after 2 1/2 months and after all that talk about how failure is not an option, the super committee called it quits. the six democrats and six republicans on the committee have announced they can't reach a deal to cut at least $1.2 trillion from the budget. and the $15 there a15 trillion debt is not going to go away. >> reporter: when congress voted august to let the government borrow more money, there was a catch, a super committee charged with cutting $1.2 trillion in spending over the next decade. high stakes and by monday's deadline, below expectations. >> we're still talking. we'll see what happens today. >> reporter: all the six republicans and democrats could

agree on was they could not agree on how to bridge the partisan divide. >> our democratic friends said we won't cut one dollar more without raising taxes. i think that tells you a lot about the philosophy in washington. >> the whole deal is really being held hosa ahostage in ide the wealthiest people in america should get a bigger tax cut. >> reporter: without a deal, mandatory budget cuts will be imposed. divided equally between defense and nondefense spending. defense secretary lee on panetta warned these cuts would cripple the military. after the deal collapsed, president obama vowed to veto any attempt to roll back the required reduction. >> the only way these spending cuts will not take place is if congress gets back to work and agrees on a balanced plan to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. >> reporter: as far as political blame, a new cnn/orc international poll shows democratic leadership approval

dropped six points. neither can claim even 30% support. the super committee issued a statement last night. they didn't even face the cameras. but senator john kerry did call in to "out front" with erin burnett last night. listen. >> what didn't happen is the job didn't get done for the united states of america because what was the deficit reduction committee became a tax cutting committee. and we got totally hung up by people who were insisting that not only could they not raise any additional revenue from the wealthiest people in the world, but they wanted to give them an additional tax cut. i mean this is insanity. and what we couldn't get passed them was their resistance to doing anything. we had $1.3 trillion in cuts on the table. we put serious things on the table that we were very, very,

you know, very difficult for us. i had thousands of people that are demonstrating against me for the things we put on there. but we also put $1.3 trillion of additional revenue. they should know that is too much. and then it turned out that a trillion was too much, 900 was too much, 600 was too much. 250 was too much. i mean we wound up not being automobile to get thable to get because they wanted to know that the tax cut for the wealthiest people in the country was going to be permanent. we couldn't do that. >> so you heard what happens now acro across the board cuts in spending, that's what no one really wanted. it was supposed to be the swortd hanging over lawmakers heads. some are already trying to wiggle out. the president saying, no way. >> i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending.

there will be no easy off ramps on this one. we need to keep the pressure up to compromise, not turn off the pressure. >> but the president is taking a lot of heat himself for not being more involved before the committee collapsed. new york mayor michael bloomberg saying it's a failure of leadership at all of the highest levels. >> i just think that the failure of the super committee to come to an agreement is just a damning indictment of washington's inability to govern this country. i don't know how you reach an agreement if you don't sit down at the table and talk to each other. i think it's a failurement people say who do you blame? blame is both sides of the aisle and both ends of pennsylvania avenue. >> so the committee's failure now triggers automatic cuts to almost every level of government. the $1.2 trillion will be split evenly between domestic programs and national defense. but some politically sensitive

things like medicaid and social security are spared. defense inspect leon panetta warned that military cuts could tear a seam in the nation's defense. s & p issued a statement saying it's not going to downgrade america as long as these automatic cuts remain in place. in other news, calls for changes to alabama's very strict new immigration law that's been called the toughest immigration crackdown on the state level. much more harsh than the one in arizona. ten democrats from congress heading to birmingham to begin a campaign to repeal it. it requires proof of citizenship for any person with the state. birmingham's mayor told congressman that the legislation smacks of apartheid and jim crow. >> we have a beautiful mercedes plant here in alabama. and then you go and arrest the executive from germany that come here? i mean do you want the jobs and the commerce or do you want the

stain that comes with the discriminatory legislation? >> one republican co-sponsor of the law says if the congressman went back to washington to pass immigration reform, we would not have to do their job for them. a standoff in an air force base in colorado ended peaceful think morning. air force officials say an airman with a gun surrendered to authorities more than 12 hours after barricading himself in a building at the base. no shots fired. no one was hurt. officials say the airman was facing a discharge over legal action in a civilian court. still to come, u.c. davis outraged. students protesting the pepper spraying seen around the world. the police chief is now on leave. students say that's not enough. egypt, protesters calling for a million man it is in. they're vowing to stay until more resignations are handed in. and it's the number one complaint of airline travelers, too much carry on luggage hauled on by other passengers. a couple lawmakers have an idea

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15 minutes past the hour. this is your "a.m. wakeup call." republican candidates are ready to battle it out tonight. they'll face off in a debate only a few blocks from the white house. they'll talk national security and foreign policy. you can watch it live at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. the super committee is throwing in the towel after the bipartisan panel just could not reach a deal on how to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit. thousands of students gathered calling for the resignation of u.c. beshg wloi apologized to the crowd for last week's clash between police and occupy davis protesters.

the rally sparked by this video of cops pepper spraying peaceful protesters in their faces at point blank range on friday night. two officers and the police chief are on administraministed leave. they came out with a statement last night. listen. >> both the president and i were simply shocked and appalled by these images. we agreed that he will convene all ten chance lorz and immediately begin to develop system wide procedures to insure that students can engage in peaceful protests. >> in the meantime, uc davis officials say they are conducting their own investigation. in money news this morning, delta is coming back on international travel, much of the cuts come from transatlantic flights. the airline says changes are necessary because of high fuel costs and economic uncertainty. delta plans to trim the flight capacity by 2% next year. in sports, nba players filed

an amended antitrust case against the league to consolidate a pair of lawsuits filed last week and to hopefully speed up the process that could lead to a settlement in the lockout. labor talks dissolved last week after the players union and the nba could not reach a deal. let's head to atlanta and check in with jackie gerris. thanks giving is shaping up to be a cold holiday for some. >> yeah. but much of the weather woes are moving out by thursz. the bad news is it's going to be here when everybody is traveling, right? so that's kind of the bummer of it all. so keep this in mind before you head out the door. take a look at the national map today. there is so much red on it. we're concerned about the severe thunderstorms developing from texas all the way up into the ohio river valley. there can you see that big focus, new orleans, places like birmingham and nashville, memphis, all could see strong to severe thunderstorms this afternoon not to mention the flooding that is on going across the mid south. it's been a terrible mess in

places like little rock as much as five inches to the north and west of there. parts of the interstate shut down yesterday. that's back open. so that is good news. there were new water rescues that took place overnight. so something we have to continue to monitor and watch. now if you're traveling by the airports, the list is lengthening today. expecting delays. atlanta and d.c. metros, new york it is yes and philadelphia will see showers this morning and fog. memphis and st. louis, because of the storms, chicago and cleveland primarily wind issues. and then expecting some fog in san francisco. tomorrow, of course, the busiest travel day of all throughout the seven-day holiday week for those of that you have that many days off in a row, good for you. our nation's midsection looks good. great traveling from minneapolis to houston. even though we're not expecting a lot of severe weather tomorrow, there could be strong storms. you get that rain in there, carol, you just know it's tough to get around, especially at the

airports. >> i know. >> you have to remember, it's holiday time. >> that's right. jackie gerris, thanks. violent protests in cairo. thousands of protesters, at least 24 are dead, hundreds injured. the violence is escalating after four days of clashing between security force ands protesters. so let's head to cairo and ivan boston. good morning, ivan. >> reporter: good morning, carol. that's right. thousands of people slept here overnight on blankets that were being brought in to support them. the crowds are swelling throughout the day. meanwhile, in the streets leading away from the square in direction of the interior ministry which is a five-minute's walk away, that's where the battles are raging between riot police and angry young ee jipgszs. there are clouds of tear gas back therement we just came from there and we had the good fortune to be equipped with gas masks. the young people in there don't

have them. they are spitting and puking from the effects of this gas running up to us with canisters. one of them i saw today showed that the gas had been manufactured in jamestown, pennsylvania. and we can see another cloud billowing up right there and people running away from them. it's really nasty stuff. but despite that, these people show no signs of leaving. they're demanding that egypt's ruling military council which took over after mubarak was forced out of power, they're demanding that the military council step backment they're furious that at least 24 of their compatriots have been killed in these battles since last saturday. carol? >> i understand tourists have not escaped this kind of thing, either. two tourists are placed under arrest? tell us about that, ivan. >> reporter: yeah. let me just say, you know, we're zooming in on what you can see

are people running away from the gas which appears to be being fired from some of the roof tops here, carol, just to give you a sense. and the fact that the kids keep running into battle shows they're not going to give up this symbolic ground here. they're not run ago way from this standoff with the authorities. as for the people detained, we talked to egyptian authoritiesment they say they've captured three americans that were shown on television, state television last night. one of them appeared to have an indiana driver's license and they also appeared to have id cards from the american university of cairo. the u.s. embassy is looking into these reports and the authorities here are accusing them of saying they were caught throwing molotov cocktails and had in passports on them when they were picked up. also the u.s. embassy telling us that a female american student was detained by egyptian police yesterday and later released.

i've talked to what seems like at least one american tourist who was mixed into the crowd down there. so it's likely that foreigners are going to be caught up in these running street battles. carol? >> so ivan, just to be clear, these three americans were apparently charged with hooliganism. were they taking part in the process? was that person, that american taking part in the protests? >> reporter: i'm going to quote here the general prosecutors office's spokesman. "the three boys were throwing molotov cocktails and had no passports on them when they were picked up." that's about all we know about their identity right now. and the u.s. embassy says they're looking into this case. the much bigger drama taking place right now, carol, is a massive political crisis in

egypt just days before the country is supposed to go to the polls in the first phase of parliamentary elections. egypt is the most populous arab country, some 70 million people. a lot is on the line right now. and those elections are up for question right now whether they can even be held when the center of the egyptian capital right now is the scene of a running street battle. carol? >> ivan wattson, thank you for wi filling us in. we'll get back to egypt because developments are happening rapidly there. we'll take a short break. it's 23 minutes past. everything comes together.omente where there's magic. and you now understand what nature's been hiding. ♪ at dow we understand the difference between innovation and invention. invention is important. it's the beginning. it's the spark. but innovation is where we actually create value for dow,

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investors remain worried about the lack of progress in solving the u.s. and europe's debt problems. time for a quick check on global markets. investors took quite a hit yesterday when the world learned u.s. lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on the debt deficit. nina dos santos is live in london. hit us with those numbers. >> reporter: it seems the markets here where i am there is a little optimism there. it won't go anywhere near raising the 2% plus loss that's we've seen for many, many days in a row. i can also say that u.s. futures are showing a positive open. again, a number of hours before the united states markets get close to trading. it seems as though some of the markets particularly where i am are shrugging off the issues that the united states is having many saying they are open. carol? >> all right. i hear you. let's switch gears a little bit and go back to the days when we were able to check in bags on

flights for free. some lawmakers are dreaming of those days. they may do something about it. >> yeah. that's right. it seems as though congress may consider now limiting the charges that the airlines imposed on checked baggage. of course, those charges that they brought in about five or six years ago on checked baggage particularly for budget airlines here and it prompted a real glut in carry on luggage. a number of passengers cited this as their number one complaint. so we had tourists for thanksgiving and holiday season crushed when everybody gets on the planes, trains, and automobiles, don't they? it seems as though for the airlines, they could be in store for is a bill proposed to see each passenger being allowed to now carry on one item of carry on luggage, without pushing the limits. but also one checked bag with no fee. en that could in turn bring down the amount of carry on luggage that people are trying to stuff into their overhead bins. must point out, carol, you know,

extra carry on luggage does have significant draw yakz. it means longer lines at security. it takes a lot longer to get people on and out of the aircrafts. and the airlines made about $3.9 billion back in 2009 just on these fees. they need them to counter balance the rise in fuel price. it's unclear as yet as to whether this particular bill does go through could mean higher ticket charges going forward. >> you know it will. nina, thank you. still ahead, small plane makes a crash landing. by the time police get there, the people onboard made a run for it. details of the late-night mystery coming up. and we're counting down to the cnn gop presidential debate. newt gingrich is leading the pack this time. progresso. it fits! fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit. okay is there a woman i can talk to?

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trying to choke herself. >> we got her admitted. they called her daughter names, racial slurs, then got physical. then came a suicide attempt. a mother is now suing her daughter's school for letting her bullies get out of control. this is your "a.m. wakeup call." good morning to you. this is your a.m. wakeup call. i'm carol costello. here are this morning's top stories. the republicans who want the president's job are set to debate tonight. the focus, national security and foreign policy. cnn, the heritage foundation and american enterprise institute are hosting. our wolf blitzer will mod raier.

clashes between protesters and the military in cairo continue for a fourth straight day. protesters are calling today's vent a million man it is in. at least 24 have been killed and hundreds of others have been injured since the clashes began on saturday. a major interstate in arkansas reopened this morning after flash flooding forced officials to shut it down. 88,000 cars and trucks were sent on a 30-mile detour around interstate 30. that connects memphis, tennessee, to dallas. a key route for cross country truck drivers. more rain expected today. jackie gerris, how much? >> i know. well, the good news is maybe just a couple of inches. and most of that is going to stay south of little rock. had a is the good news. we do see an end. it will take a while for all that water to go back down. today will be a rough one across parts of the mid south. there you can see the radar picture where we have showers from iowa stretching down into

parts of texas. nothing severe at this hour. outside of just that heavy rainfall and that flood threat. there you can see the watch area up in little rock on up towards paducah. storms could be severe later on today. windy and wet conditions there. just cold on the backside of that system. we'll talk more about your travel forecast coming up. >> all right. thank you. thank you, jackie gerris. there will be a new front runter when the candidates square off tonight live on cnn. a brand new cnn/orc poll shows that 24% of republican voters now support house speaker newt gingrich. he pulled ahead of mitt romney for the first time. gingrich was at 8% in a cnn poll last month. once again, national security debate airs live at 8:00 eastern to i'm in. the super committee issued a statement last night, didn't even face the cameras. senator john kerry did call in to "out front" with erin burnett

last night and he was hot. >> well, what didn't happen is the job didn't get done for the united states of america because what was a deficit reduction committee became a tax cutting committee. and we got totally hung up by people who were insisting that there had not only could they not raise any additional revenue from the wealthiest people in the world, but think wanted to give them an additional tax cut. i mean this is insanity. and what we couldn't get passed them was their resistance to doing anything. we had $1.3 trillion in cuts on the table. we put serious things on the table that we were very, very, you know, very difficult for us. i had thousands of people demonstrating against me for the things we put on there. but we also put $1.3 trillion of additional revenue. they should know that's too much. and then it turned out that a trillion was too much. 900 was too much. 600 is too much. 250 was too much.

i mean we wound up not being able to get this because they wanted to know that the tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country was going to be made permanent. protected. and we just couldn't do that in good conscience. >> so you heard what happens now. across the board cuts in spending. that is something no one wanted. and was supposed to be the sword hanging over lawmakers heads. some are already trying to wiggle out. the president saying no way. >> i will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts domestic and defense spending. there will be no easy off ramps on this one. we need to keep the pressure up to compromise, not turn offer the pressure. >> but the president is taking a lot of heat himself for not being more involved before the committee collapsed. new york mayor michael bloomberg, an independent, saying it's a failure of leadership at all of the highest

levels. >> i just think that the failure of the super committee to come to an agreement is just a damning indictment of washington's inability to govern this country. i don't know how you reach an agreement if you don't sit down at the table and talk to each other. i think it's a failure, you know, people say who do you blame? blame is both sides of the aisle and both ends of pennsylvania avenue. >> so the committee's failure now triggers automatic cuts to almost every level of government. the $1.2 trillion will be split evenly between domestic programs and national defense. some politically sensitive things like medicaid and social security are spared. secretary panetta warned that military cuts could tear a seam in the nation's defense. s & p issued a statement saying it's not going to downgrade america as long as the automatic cuts remain in place. calls for changes to alabama's very strict new immigration laws. it's been called the toughest

immigration crackdown on the state level, much more harsh than the one in arizona. ten democrats from congress headed to birmingham to begin a campaign to repeal it. the law requires proof of citizenship for any interaction between a person and the state. a mercedes benz executive was arrested over the weekend for not having a driver's license. birmingham's mayor told congressmen that the legislation smacks of apartheid and jim crow. >> you have a beautiful mercedes plant here in alabama and then you go and arrest the executive from germany that comes here? i mean do you want the jobs and the commerce or do you want the stain that comes with discriminatory legislation? >> one republican co-sponsor of the law said if the congressman went back to washington to pass immigration reform, we wouldn't have to do their job for them. a florida mother launches a fight against bullying. randy vanderhaden filed a lawsuit against her daughter's middle school in coral springs.

she says her daughter was called names, racial slurs, and even shunned by other students. she is so upset, tried to take her own life. the school didn't do anything to stop it. and the superintendent even blamed her daughter. listen. >> i felt sad, hurt that, one, they weren't protecting her, two, i couldn't do nothing about it. i was shocked that she was putting the blame on my daughter. she was saying maybe your girls would like to talk. maybe she started it. she needed to get thick erskine. this is what teenagers do. >> she is now taking online courses and seeing a therapist. a plane with marijuana, yeah, packed with marijuana, touched down at the houston executive airport. it happened last night. no pilots were found onboard. airport officials say the aircraft made a hard unscheduled landing which caused some damage to the front nose gear.

police are trying to figure out when exactly the pile lots bailed. national security will be the focus when newt gingrich and his republican rivals meet up for a debate hosted by cnn. joining me now is "washington post" political reporter nia henderson. good morning. >> reporter: hey there. >> we're glad to have you. you've been working on this article about the five things to watch during the debate. so run them down for us. >> reporter: yes, indeed. i hope i can remember all five. the first one i think is going to be will anyone attack newt gingrich? he is one of the new frontrunners. he's ahead of romney and certainly benefitted from his performance in debates so far. he has so far not attacked his republican rivals and sticking close to that reagan rule of being kind to your fellow republicans on the debate stage. tonight we'll see if anybody steps up and takes him on and tries to gain some ground in some of the early states.

another issue is herman cain and libyament we saw him flub over the laugh couple days with that libya responsement he seemed to not know what the policy was and not have his own policy for a couple of seconds there. and then it's important for america to have a leader, not a reader. it's important that america has both of those things. but he is certainly down played the importance of knowing foreign policy specifics. will he try to reverse that impression and he might not be up to being commander in chief tonight. the other is going to be will ron paul get more than 89 seconds? his followers were so upset that he only got 89 seconds. he is now one of the frontrunners in these races, specifically in iowa. he is a co-front-runner in some of the early polls. does he get more time? this article will be up at 6:30. i think another question is going to be, which i actually don't raise in the piece, i'm thinking about now is -- this is

no knock on cnn -- but will people tune in for this debate? i think the last debate got about five million viewers. but we're two days ahead of thanksgiving. people are thinking about turkey and macaroni and cheese and traveling to see families. i think that will be a question, too. >> that will be a great question. if anybody can pull it off, wolf blitzer can. >> that's right. that's right. >> absolutely. nia, thanks for waking up early with us. let's get a check on what's coming up at the top of the hour on ""american morning."" good morning. >> good morning you to. coming up at 20 minutes on "american morning," we're keeping a check on egypt. protesters there erupting in rage right now, planning a million man it is in. it's been absolute brutality over the past four days. we're going to ask ambassador nicholas burns if the revolution is unraveling. who has the national security chops? we're counting down. tonight's critical cnn national

security debate, newt gingrich at the top. and signs -- are aliens sending us a message? did we miss any because we ran out of money? nasa is restarting a program to listen for life in outer space. we'll have those stories and much more coming up at the top of the hourment but first, this is your "a.m. wakeup call." [ female announcer ] for over 30 years, we've been dedicated to helping our students succeed in america's most in demand careers. we provide you with instructors who are professionals

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it is 45 minutes past the hour. here's what's new this morning. the super committee is throwing in the towel after 2 1/2 months of debt talks. the 12-member bipartisan panel just could not reach a deal on how to cut $1.2 trillion from the nation's deficit. a birthday party may have turned into a flash mob in washington. police say 50 teenagers swarmed a 7-eleven on saturday night swiping snacks and drinks before running away. six teenagers were stopped who had items from the store. none could show receipts.

police say the suspects came from a nearby birthday party. in money news, bad news for bargain hunters this holiday. companies are cracking down on online shopping at work. a new survey finds that 60% of companies interviewed have blocked shopping sites. that's up from 48% last year. and even if you do have access, nearly a quarter of companies track your every online move. in sports, rex ryan's emotions got the best of him and it will cost him. the nfl find the jets coach $75,000 for telling a fan to shut up while using a profanity at halftime of new york's loss to new england last sunday. ryan has since apologized and says he'll not appeal the fine. for some reason that story maukz me laugh. >> i can tell. a lot of people might be swearing about the weather today, too. it's not going to be great out there for a lot of travelers. we're concerned about severe thunderstorms and the flood

threat continues across parts of the mid south. we're talking lower mississippi river valley all the way up towards the ohio river valley. large hail, damaging winds and a few tornadoes will be possible. so it's going to be tough for travel. make sure you don't drive over any roads that are flooded. here's where you expect the delays. really primarily across the east at one western city though, carol, san francisco. back to you. >> got you. thank you, jackie. the republican presidential candidates will face off for the 11th time tonight. the focus tonight, national security. wolf blitzer has a preview of the showdown. thanks very much. we're here in historic constitution hall in washington, d.c. we're only half a block away from the white house, a couple blocks away from the washington monument, the lincoln memorial. this is a real beautiful building. very historic. every president, by the way, since calvin coolidge has been to this building. tonight there's going to be a significant republican national

security debate. the eight republican candidates, they're going to all be up here together with me on the stage taking questions on national security, foreign policy, the economy. we have our partners the american enterprise institute and the heritage foundation, experts from both of those think-tanks. they'll be asking questions as well. i'll be directing the questions making sure that the viewers out there especially the voters, republican caucus voters, republican primary voters will be a little bit more knowledgeable about where these candidates stand on the most important issues after the debate than they are right now going into the debate. we want to know where the candidates agree, where they disagree. where they agree with president obama and where they disagree. where they agree among themselves and disagree. so we'll have a good, strong debate. it's going to be important. i hope you'll all be watching tonight, the cnn national security debate at constitutional here in the

nation's capital, 8:00 p.m. eastern. >> i think wolf sold it, don't you? tune in tonight on cnn. thousands of protesters in egypt in the fourth straight day of violent demonstrations. tsz pretty nasty out. there police are lobbing tear gas at the crowds now. >> tear gas, yes. and they're also throwing back at the police molotov cocktails and rocks and stones. take a look at the scene in the square. carol, it looks like they're back to square one. this could be scenes back if february from what's going on there. basically, everyone out on the streets is really mad at the military. they're angry because they feel they're holding on to power and just won't give it up. they're upset because there are not enough jobs. the economy has gone down. and also they feel they would have had more changes since hosni mubarak left and they feel the pace is slow. and there was a report that came out and the human rights abuses

under the egyptian military leadership is worse than under hosni mubarak. carol? >> let's switch gears and talk about what is happening in south korea. i understand chaos absolutely broke out in parliament chambers. what happened? >> well this isn't a scene you would have seen in the super committee, carol. let me just show you some of these pictures here. there is a free trade agreement that was being discussed. one of the opposition candidates threw a tear gas capsule in parliament. you can see the hostile scenes breaking out there in south korea. this is actually good for the u.s. and in spite of the scene. this deal basically means $10 billion of additional exports from the u.s. to south korea. what do you think of that video, carol? >> i can't believe a lawmaker

brought in a tear gas canister and just lobbed it? >> he lobbed it in the building in parliament. and eventually, you know, the scuffle broke out. but they made a deal. the agreement was eventually reached and it was hammered out. and that was the law of the country. i don't know if it would have worked in the super committee, carol. what do you think? >> i think that maybe that more than a few members of our audience would say why not? give it a try! thank you. we appreciate it. here's what we're working on for the 6:00 a.m. our of "american morning." the super committee fails to come up with a plan to cut the deficit. where does this showdown go next? and when we come back, we're leaving holiday stress. yes, there is an app for that. details in today's tech headlines. why do we have aflac... aflac... and major medical? major medical, boyyyy! [ beatboxing ] ♪ i help pay the doctor

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it is that time of year again. holiday shopping, holiday parties and for many that means one thing -- stress. but lucky for you, there are apps to help you get through the season. cnn money's reporter has the details. come on, lori. there is a app for dealing with stress? >> the idea, carol, is we're all stressed out. we're spending a lot of money during the holiday season. and we should keep track of our finances a little bit better. that the help relieve the stress. if you're an online shopper,

there is an app called slice. it is connected with your g-mail or y or your yahoo account. it will track everything you're spending online. so, you know, look at it this way. you have a great idea of seeing exactly where your money is going online. i've been testing it out. i tried it. i'm spending a lot of money on itunes. that was eye opening for me. during the holiday season where all your money counts is great to know exactly where your spending your money. so that's a really cool app. and there is also something pretty cool about it which is there's a way to track your packages. so you know during the holiday season you order something online and, you know, you really want to make sure it gets there in time. the idea is that it will send you a push notification because it will assess the tracking numbers. so when your package is about to get sent, you'll get a notification on your phone and you'll be able to be at your doorstep when they deliver that package. so that's definitely a perk. and, you know, let's say you're

not exactly an online shopper, there is something called lemon which is a great app. let's say you collect receipts. use the app which is free to download and take a picture of your ree sets and it will digitize that information and it will categorize it. you go to the grocery and, you know, instead of keeping that receipt and keeping a bundle of paper in your wallet, take pakt. it categorize that's information as food and you'll get a better idea of what you're spending money on during the holidays and, you know, it's very important to do. it is so easy with these apps. i've been testing them out. they're really pretty easy. >> sounds awesome. okay, so we're days away from than thanksgiving. of course, you pig out because that is the tradition. will is a good app to, what, help keep our calories? check? >> yeah. okay, so let's be honest. being a little bit ambitious by saying we're going to keep our calories in check. but if we want to do it, we may as well as being as easy as possible. instead of actually adding and

typing into your app what exactly you're eating, there is an app called meal snap. take a picture of your food. what it doll is auto mat beingly deliver an estimated calorie count wave you're eating. right now you're looking at a picture of pears and that kind of thing. it gave me a really spot on calorie count. so, you know, they say it's magic. that's how they do it. really, i think it's people in a room assessing that information for you. at the end of the day, it's someone emphasis doing it and not you. and that might make you stick to that list in check during the holidays. you know? >> maybe so. or maybe just depressing. thank you very much, lori. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> that's it for this tuesday edition of "a.m. wakeup call." "american morning" continues right after a break. have a great day. they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout.

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