that's it for us. "erin burnett out front" starts right now. newt gingrich at the top of the gop polls, but can he stay there? john ablawn crunches the numbers tonight. then a baptist church in pipeville, kentucky, votes to ban interracial marriage. stella harville, a woman denied permission to marry comes out front with her story for the first time. the bottom line on the president. unemployment, the lowest it's been in about three years, but there's a real big but. does he need bill clinton to win? let's go "out front." unemployment drops to 8.6. that is the lowest level for unemployment in about three years. a big psychological headline, but a closer look. 120,000 jobs added last month

really isn't great. frankly, that is barely enough to keep up with population growth, never mind put a dent in the 9 million jobs lost in the great recession. still, the president hopes that america will focus on the unemployment rate and he's also hoping he can get some of what this guy has. oh, that bill. he is the love of so many voters. recently some republicans have said bill clinton isn't sold on barack obama term two, but the two men appeared together at a green building event in washington today. >> i am thrilled that president clinton has been willing to take this on. as he pointed out, partly thanks to me, he's home alone too often. and this has been a passion for him for quite some time, so i am very grateful for his involvement. >> well, president obama needs all the bill he can get. bill clinton's book "back to

work" example number one of the former president's popularity. the number one political book on amazon. number ten on "new york times" best seller list and clinton's latest approval rating is at a sky high 63%. can you just imagine if that were the margin in an election of the vote? now, that's a mandate. all right, compare that to obama's nearly full 20 points lower at 44%. okay, bill, he needs you. but are you going to be there for him? james carville former adviser to bill clinton, david gergen and our senior political analyst john avalon is with us, as well. all right, james carville, what is going on here? you see bill clinton with barack obama, but, you know, this is at a green building. a cause of the former president's. you're not seeing them together at a whole lot of things. you know, bill clinton has far from whole heartedly embraced barack obama in a bear hug. >> i'll bet you anybody, anything that president obama spend more time with the last

democratic president than the republican nominee spends with the last republican president. that i'm very comfertile in saying. >> it depends on nominee of the week. >> he'll spend, you know, former presidents have a very difficult job. be seen and not heard. it's a delicate balancing act, but, obviously, the president supported president obama in 2008 and form as much as is appropriate in 2012. >> what is all out, though, john avalon? >> as much as he needs him. here's the reality. elections are won by the candidate who connects to moderate in the middle class. he was able to focus on the economy and make that forgotten american middle class feel like they have an advocate in the white house. that's exactly what barack obama needs to do going into this election? >> there is a way for barack obama to get more clinton and that might not be to get more bill clinton, but get more hillary clinton. look at her approval rating at

69%. trumps her husband's. >> that's absolutely right. and there may be a good chance that they, that later on they will get together. i think everybody is asking, as i go around the country, what is the possibility of hillary being on the ticket and swapping joe biden over to the state department? way too earlfry the white house to make that call, but come summer and he's in a tight race and president obama is in a tight race, he may want to play that card. i'm not sure hillary clinton wants to do it or joe biden wants to do it, but the president may have some persuasive power. i want to go back to bill clinton in just a minute. no question that bill clinton will be supportive of barack obama during the campaign and the obama people will want to showcase bill clinton, for example, at the democratic convention in charlotte this next year. but i think the real way to draw upon bill clinton's strength is to ask had imfhim for more help

creating jobs. bill clinton has this book out and he had a central idea about a year ago to create far more green jobs retrofitting of buildings and, frankly, he didn't get a warm reception in the white house. i think it would be possible and even be wise just as this president has reached out to hillary for help on foreign policy, to reach out for him on jobs. >> there are nuances to this, people have picked up that president clinton, he publicly said, he doesn't want to raise taxes during a recession. >> yep. >> president obama has some plans in there that would raise taxes on the wealthiest americans. but there is an important nuance there? >> look, bill clinton raised taxes as part of the first budget deal and we have the boom of the '90s not because of the tax rates but because of building the middle class. look, barack obama knows that bill clinton, particularly in the swing states. if he wants to put north carolina in play, again, bill clinton is invaluable, but what david gergen said is important. it's also the economic

prescriptions. it's putting some of those in action, in which he has the power to do. >> and in the eyes, you've talked about president obama's real problem with the eyes as independence, that's where you think bill clinton can really help. >> james carville, let me ask you about something we started the show with. this is always interested me. the unemployment rate right now 8.6%. that's a big drop and based upon a survey of americans who pick up the telephone and say, do i have a job or not? different than the payroll number which companies reporting who they're hiring and firing. payroll number is not good. if people are self-reporting improving job market, is that unemployment rate really the number that will predict who wins the election? >> i don't know. you know, the unemployment rate is high. and, you know, probably be high on election day as people point out, 7.4 is the highest when president reagan was elected. it was like 140,000 private sector jobs that were created, i mean, one of the problems is we lost over a half million public

sector jobs. but i think if there's improvement, it will probably be to the president's benefit. as of now, as of now, that very important caveat. it seems the job market is improving out there, which could only be interpreted, at least, pretty good news for the president. >> david gergen, how does he play that, though? with the 9 million jobs and not keeping up with population growth with new job creation. how does he sell it's improving and buy into my story when things are still really bad out there for so many people? >> frankly, i think it's too early to play on the things that are improving a lot. yes, there are some signs, but if things go bad in europe as we have talked about before, this economy could stall or even go down, again. i think what he needs to be doing now is be seen as actively working to improve things. and i do believe in the last few weeks he's been, he's almost been rather passive in the sense of governing.

he's been much more the campaigner. what i think is important for the next few months is for him to come back to the white house and govern. and be working hard on getting these payroll tax cuts extended and do the other kind of things that may help create more jobs. >> thanks to all three. we appreciate it. and, by the way, mitt romney now talking about the unemployment numbers. by the way, mitt romney posing with his extenedded family. michelle parker, she disappeared two weeks ago. we've been talking about her stow apher sister out front tonight with the latest. newt widening his lead on the gop side of things. can anyone hope to catch him? john avalon has the power rankings and then inside the personal life of mitt romney. what you didn't know. i'll go to the front lines in dubai. an exclusive preview in just a moment.

jon corzine, the former cmf of mf global to testify next week. the committee is looking into the collapse of mmf global, which filed for bankruptcy on october 31st. the biggest financial failure in america since lehman brothers. investigators are still trying to find up to $1.2 billion that has been missing from the brokerage's customer accounts. jon corzine the former ceo of goldman sachs. brings us to our number tonight, seven. that's how many of board of directors resigned after louis freeh was reported as the trustee in charge of overseaing the liquidation. he has been a busy man. heading the internal investigation into the penn state child sex abuse scandal. it's been a crazy week in

politics. john avalon is here and will give us the biggest rankings of the week. how does it fall? >> here's what it is, erin. it's getting cold outside, but politics is heating up. tonight we're kicking off our political power rankings. our way of gauging using polls, analysis, and also getting out front, seeing what might happen next week. a couple weeks ago, this is how it might have looked, mitt romney on top, the best campaign. herman cain getting over some of those early sexual harassment allegations. his supporters still staying with him. ron paul hanging in there and newt gingrich bottom of the pact and jon huntsman not getting any love. what a difference a week can make. here are some of the sound bite highlights. herman cain on monday beginning with a terrible week. we have ginger white, 13-year affair. by the end of the week he's running ads using a dude with a lie detector test as a character witness. >> media won't tell you what one of the four most lie detector

experts in america said about herman cain. >> my exam is being truthful, but the allegations of saying that she has been sexually assaulted by him did not occur. >> just keeps getting weirder. mitt romney had a bad week. polls falling across the board and a very testy interview with brett bear. >> you're wrong. the tape out there, continue to read the tape. >> i love that. the normally unflappable mitt getting rattled by bad news. newt gingrich soaring high on all the polls and it just might be going to his head. listen to what he tells abc news. >> the odds are shear high i'm going to be the nominee. >> feeling pretty good about himself. he has reason to. let's look at what the political power rankings are. newt gingrich on top. he's soaring in every state. mitt romney hanging in there at number two. he still has the most

professional organization. he wants this, he has been up there all the time and foolish to write him out. ron paul in the winner circle. his supporters are intense. don't write him out. jon huntsman the big surprise. why is he number four. nin inching ahead in new hampshire. telling conservatives to give him another look and do a debate with newt gingrich in new hampshire. herman cain number six, why only number six because he still has all of our attention. tomorrow he'll make a major announcement. tonight he is talking with his wife. here's why he has power, even if he gets out of the race, who he tells his supporters to go to will shake up the race. sum it all up, who is the biggest mover of the week, no question, it's the newtster. biggest loser has to be the hurminator, no question. he has had a tough, rough week. that's our look at who has the big mow at their back with tonight's power rankings. >> i like that.

>> got to have some fun with it. >> let's bring in david gergen and david is back with us. you have a special look at what's going on with mr. romney. david, let me start with you. you interviewed mitt romney a few weeks ago. we have "parade" magazine here. it hits stands on sunday. there it is. i want to ask you more about this. how do you think, first of all, mitt romney's week has been seeing newt gingrich fly like a phoenix to the top? >> oh, i think it's been a very rough week for them. john avalon had it exactly right and just about a week or ten days ago, mitt romney was running who was going to get the nomination and he was seen 70% chance of winning the nomination, maybe 69% and today he's less than 50. whereas newt gingrich is surging. so, is mitt romney still, i think, the man to beat? yes. but for the first time, he has a

serious rival on his hands. if newt gingrich can go through the vetting process that is coming and he knows that and emerge on january 1 and he is standing up there as a rival, romney could be in trouble and i think the real question now is, what does he do for his campaign to give it momentum? >> alex, i want to get david's view since she spent four times but let me ask you about a quote david has in his "parade" magazine. romney in a word, human. he's much funnier than he comes across. that's for sure. >> and when you meet him, as i did years ago, last campaign i worked for him, he's this wonderful, genuine guy. and then you see him on tv and he looks so perfect and we think perfection is false, most of us, because we know how hard it is. he does have that kind of problem. but i'll tell you a story, for example, i recommend david's piece to everybody because it's

not just where these guys stand on the issues. who are they as people? how would they react? you never know the crises that will confront a president. one of the folks who worked with him came up and said, mitt, my daughter is lost in new york city, 14 years old. what do i do? mitt romney shut down the business and took everybody to new york city and set up a command center to find the girl and, fortunately, they did. that's mitt romney. i think what he needs to do to win this election, if he wants to, tell me who you are. tell me what's important to you. i think david got to that in the parade. >> david, tell me what you found? in this piece lots of pictures of mitt with his family and he talks about things he likes to do. he likes to sit on the couch and watch "modern family" among other things. what did you find out about mitt romney that surprised you. somebody who worked with so many presidents and in so many campaigns. >> i think alex is putting us exactly on the right trail.

the mitt romney we see behind the podium is highly confident but seem robotic and even scripted. he is a highly confident person, but that's only a piece of who he is. what you see when you go into his home a much more relaxed mitt romney and a much more human mitt romney. i was strucked when ann romney walk under to the room, he literally lit up and his whole body language changed and it became apparent that his whole life rotates around her more than you would ever think. he said, i verified with her, that she actually was the one who talked him into running this time. he had some reluctance about running this time, but she ta talked him into it. she talked him into going on a mormon mission years ago when she was young. she talked him into running for the senate against teddy kennedy back in the '90s. and he, this is a man who is much more deeply anchored in family and in faith than i think

we know and to go to alex's point, again, i think if he wants to be embraced by the american people, he is not only going to be respected, you have to establish an emotional connection. so important for the presidency. that means he has to humanize himself. he has to open himself up to who he is personally. open himself up to what his family means to him. especially ann, she seems to be a great asset. >> people can't believe that it is really that good when he is that normal and he was so lucky enough to meet the love of his life at 18. maybe there is a weird jealousy that people have that fate smiled on. herman cain, not smiling in the last week. how the media has gone for him, regardless of what happened. he's in atlanta meeting with his wife right now. his wife did not know ginger white. a decision comes tomorrow. he's getting out or not? what's your take? >> he said he's making a major announcement and not showing his cards. at the end of the day, only two people to convince him to stop

his campaign. himself and his wife. clearly, a highly, personal conversation they're having right now. at the end of the day, they're people. he rised on the polls because he was authentic and seemed different than mitt raw romney. more commresly in his personal life. everyone will be watching tomorrow. we won't know until he tells us, but probably some hot drama going on at the cain household tonight. >> thanks to all three, we appreciate it. don't miss "parade" magazine this weekend. a church in kentucky votes to ban interracial marriage. comes out front for an exclusive interview tonight. in tonight's seriously. blackberry makes a smart phone. but some of their employees aren't so smart or beloved. we'll be back.

so, we do a lot of serious stories on this show, but this one is a little more seriously. research in motion, the canadian company that makes the blackberry has been struggling lately. the embarrassing worldwide outagic flatlining sales of the new smartphone and trouble with their playbook and all that contributed to a stock that dropped more than 70% since february. just today they announced they're not going to make their guidance to wall street because of the playbook problem. but the company had a plan to try to turn things around. send two of their top executives to china to drum up international business and help right the ship. brilliant idea, right? china, that's where it's all at.

all the sales, all the people. on the flight from toronto to beijing, the two executives got drunk, seriously drunk. the two men, george campbell and paul alexander wilson got so drunk the flight crew had to ask the first class passengers to restrain them before returning to canadian air space and returning and being met by o canada. well, the other passenger husband to wait almost 18 hours for a new flight. the two men pled guilty to charges of mischief and were ordered to pay restitution to air canada. our frequent fliers are banned from flying with the airline, again. they were among the two biggest frequent fliers in all of canada. they have been suspended by research in motion, as well. you know the video will surface, you know it has to and how much do you want to bet it was shot by another passenger using an iphone. oh. seriously.

still out front, the out front five. banned in kentucky. >> it's racist. that's all you can call it. funny or die. >> i want to be with your president. all this "out front" in our all this "out front" in our second half. i was put on an aspirin, and it's part of my regimen now. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go see your doctor now. i'm an expert on softball. and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders

so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there.

we start the second half of our show with stories we care about. focus on our own reporting. up first, unemployment drops to 8.6%. a good psychological headline, but a closer look, 120,000 jobs net added last month, barely enough to keep up with population growth. never mind really putting a dent in the 9 million jobs or close to it lost in the great recession. the president appear would the former president today. whose help he may need to win over independence and election. he said another clinton may be the key to re-election, hillary. gergen says talk of hillary joining the ticket next year. her current approval rating is higher than that of her husband, 69%. number two, general electric and rolls royce announcing they're dropping their self-funded efforts for the f-35 fighter jet. based on the numbers, they're giving up on a potentially $100

billion market. and this is a victory for the contract on the f-35, but they may not want to celebrate either. f-35 is one of the most delayed and overbudget programs in pentagon history and concerns that defense department cuts could dramatically impact or end the f-35. number three, ticketmaster will refund $1.50 processing fee for customers that purchased a ticket from the company within the past 12 years. wow, the refund is the result of a class action lawsuit filed in 2003. it's alleged that the fee was wrongfully collected. ticketmaster is still actually charging the fee, but now very fairly disclosed. in a statement to cnn, a ticketmaster spokesman said it attempts to earn a profit for its services and will continue to charge fees for the services it provides. i just can't even imagine what the figuring out who bought the tickets and the mailing fees add up for that $1.50 refund. number four, strong and

destructive santa ana winds dying down across california tonight. there are still more than $100,000 people across the state without power. gusts in some places have reached 140 miles per hour. wind toppled thousands of trees and damaged hundreds of buildings. it has been 119 days since the u.s. lost its top credit rating. what are we doing to get it back? the stock market gave a little bit of a lift. all the major indices, 7% higher for the week. the dow, its second best weekly point gain ever. there was that one big amazing day. well, thou shalt not discriminate, unless you're a member of the freewill baptist church in pikeville, kentucky. on sunday the church voted 9-6 to ban interracial marriages. shutting the door on stella harville. they attended services at the church while visiting her parents in june and plan to marry next summer. but the church issued a statement this week saying,

"parties of such marriages will not be received as members. nor will they be used in warship services and other church functions with the exception of being funerals." this is not a joke. the national association of free will baptist says they do not condone or allow interracial marriages and encourage the church to reverse this decision. stella, really appreciate this, your taking the time to be with us. this is a shocking story and hard for me to imagine that this could still happen in this country. were you shocked when this happened? >> oh, absolutely. yeah. i mean, it is a very hard process. >> so, how did you find out, i know that your parents have been going to this church for a long time and the pastor at the time pulled your parents aside and said, you can't sing any more because i don't want my 3-year-old granddaughter growing up thinking it's okay to marry a

black man. how did, how did you find out? how did your parents tell this to you? >> well, obviously, i'm not around in the area because i'm in grad school in indiana. but it was weird because i was with a friend, staying with a friend the night before and i just decided to surprise my parents with a visit because i hadn't seen them in a few weeks and this was right after they had the conversation with the former pastor and, you know, when i came home, mom was like, stel stella, we need to talk. i was like, oh, no, i haven't heard this phrase since i was a teenager, you know. so, that's how i learned about it and i was just floored. i mean, as well as they were. i mean, to say that we couldn't sing in church because he doesn't want his granddaughter growing up thinking it's okay to marry a black guy. like, i get it. people have their convictions

and it's not like i would want to flaunt it in front of them. so, like, what are they going to do? are they going to go out to a public outing and if they see an interracial couple they're going to be like, oh, we want you to leave because i don't want my granddaughter thinking it's okay. it's -- i still don't know how to process all this. >> stella, i know that the pastor who said that comment about his granddaughter and told your parents this summer stepped aside and not related to that decision. there is a new pastor now, but on sunday your church voted, i guess there were 43 people who could have voted. only 15 of them did. 9-6 to ban interracial marriages. is this changing the whole way you see the community where you live, your church, your parents' friends, assuming that some people in that church are their friends. i mean -- >> i mean, yeah. i know all the members that voted ever since i was a little kid.

but i have to give a shout out to my community, first of all, because i'm just so overwhelmed with their support and their love and i really don't think we would have been able to get past these few days without their support. so, i thank them for that. and, you know, i'm sorry for the church itself that has to go through this because, obviously, obvio not everyone agrees with this vote. only these nine members. as for the members that didn't take a vote, i think that hurt even more. that they knew what was right, but they just chose not to take a stand on this. i felt like the outcome could have easily been, you know, different, if they had stood up. >> that is one of the most disturbing parts. people are afraid to have their choice. i want to emphasize that the new pastor isn't in favor of the old pastor's decision and i know there's going to be another vote this weekend. let's just say that it changes.

and they say you can get married. what does that change? you're still going to get married in that church? your parents still going to go to that church? >> we weren't even planning on getting married in the church in the first place and we definitely will not consider getting married there now. that was never an issue. if they do overturn the vote, my parents have expressed that they will return just to support because he's just a great guy and has a great heart for god. we really do think he can do great things for the church and get it back on order. so, they have expressed that they will go back. as for teach and i, you know, i won't say, you know, never, but it's going to take a while. >> all right, i think anyone can understand that. thank you for coming out front and sharing your story tonight, stella. good luck to you. >> thank you, i appreciate it. well, did jerry sandusky

continue to have a friendly relationship with the boys he is accused of sexually abusing after the abuse ended? this is a question that some people are asking, as the war of words heats up among the attorneys in the case. sandusky has been charged with sexually abusing eight boys while he was an assistant coach at penn state. he has denied the allegations earlier this week and his attorney told cnn that the former football coach has been social with two of the alleged victims as recently as this past summer. >> the young man we believe to be the person and the number two allegation and the young man we believe to be the person in number six allegation have maintained friendships with jerry and his wife. they had dinner with them this past summer. >> but today an attorney for the victim six sandusky only asked him to dinner because he knew he was being investigated. police were aware of the dinner and asked him to wear a wire, but he didn't do because he was nervous.

carlos diaz is here to break down the story. the big question i have, even if a person had been abused and "still does things that seem friendly with an abuser" that doesn't necessarily they're okay with it or it didn't matter or didn't happen. >> all you have to do is ask yourself this one question. this accuser hits the stand and the prosecutor says, did you shower with jerry sandusky, yes, i did. dinners, relationships, none of that matters. did you shower with jerry sandusky? yes. were you naked? yes, i was. those questions are what matters. having dinners and saying we're still friends. matters not. and that's the problem here. the lawyer for jerry sandusky, who, by the way, we hear a lot from. notice you're not hearing a lot from the prosecution because they're busy, probably, allegedly, fielding new complaints from other alleged victims. the defense is out there talking to everyone that he can about, you know, how jerry sandusky is still friends with this victim and that victim. once again, we're seeing jerry

sandusky trying to charm his way out of a situation. >> all right, so, and just to make it clear here, there would be no, no legal ramifications whatsoever, right? if someone who had been abused remained friendly with the abuser, right? we never know. maybe they still felt the pressure and still feel the guilt. all kind of displaying that. >> that's the thing. not about whether you're having dinner with jerry sandusky and whether you think he is a great guy. all those things do not matter in a situation. it matters what happens in the grand jury testimony which we already received with eight victims. over 23 pages and 15 years of accusations and then what matters is when these children take the stand and they're questioned by the prosecution. that's what matters. >> all right, thank you very much, carlos, appreciate your taking the time tonight. it's been two weeks since michelle parker disappeared. the sister of florida's missing mom comes out front with details, next. the latest on mindy mccrede. the deadline for her to return

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we do this at the same time every night. we reach out to our sources around the world and we begin tonight in cairo where the parliamentary elections took place for the first time since the fall of hosni mubarak. jim clancy is there for us. what was turnout like and who won? >> erin, a record vote here. election officials say 62% or

8.5 million voters turned out to cast their ballots. some surprised, too. it appears that some very hardline islamic politicians are going to be members of parliament. they won their races outright. we're still waiting to see the full details. election officials say they have been working nonstop to get those. with 8.5 million voters casting ballots, election officials say this hasn't been seen since the time of the farrows. erin? >> now to iraq where the last of 40,000 u.s. service members once stationed at camp victory packed up and headed out today. martin savidge is in baghdad. how long did it take them to clear out and what is the next step in the full draw down? >> the draw down has been going on for six weeks. as far as what happened today, that took only a matter of hours. they got into their vehicles and documents were signed. closing on a house, essentially, according to one officer and

they left. as to what comes next, still about 11,000 u.s. forces that are in iraq, not to mention thousands of tons of gear. all continues to flow south, well ahead of schedule. aire a erin? >> all right, martin. keeping tabs on silvio berlusconi. jim, who did prosecutors put on the stand today? >> erin, today a detective testified that three of the women at one of silvio berlusconi's parties were, indeed, prostitutes. accused for paying for sex with one of them and then 17-year-old exhaustic dancer. buerlusconi said he would appea at some of the trial and today he was a no-show. erin? two weeks after 33-year-old michelle parker disappeared in orlando, florida, investigators are expanding the search area. parker was last seen on november 17th when she dropped her 3-year-old twins off with their father, dale smith.

smith and parker were once engaged but their relationship ended in a heated argument on a tv show "the people's court" in part over the engagement ring. coincidentally that show aired the same day she disappeared. dale smith named the primary suspect in the case. we invited both smith and his attorney to come out front this week and they have declined our request. joining us now, matt morgan, attorney for michelle parker's family and michelle's sister. good to see both of you, again. we had hoped with a much better story to tell. i know you've expanded the search area and are still looking, matt. why was the search area expanded, do you know? >> at this point in time, they're just trying to increase their search area and come up with new leads, and they felt like they had exhausted their awareness efforts at oak ridge, everybody pretty much knows what's going on at this point there so they want to move to

seminole county and raise awareness down there. >> lauren, what have you heard? i'm sure from the family people have been trying to help you. has anyone come forward with anything that has made you think your sister could be nearby or you could be close to finding her? >> the police department and crime line are sifting through thousands of tips and since she went missing and then it went live with the crime line and everything like that, we've had thousands and thousands of tips that have come in, which i am grateful for. some have panned out and some have not and by panned out they fit in the time line of possible sightings of her vehicle and things like that. >> lauren, when is the last time you saw the twins? it's my understanding as far as you know they don't know where their mother is but they've been asking for her repeatedly. >> i saw them on monday, got to spend a few hours with them, got to mcdonald's, got some french fries and a happy meal, a little toy they got to play with. they're 3 1/2, so they don't really quite understand what is going on.

but they just think say mommy's at work. >> matt, let me ask you what your view is now. at this point only dale smith has been named a suspect but he is the father of those twins. he has the custody of them now. what -- do you have any further sense as to whether he was responsible, whether you and the family think he is responsible or has your point of view changed in the past couple of days? >> our point of view remains the same and that's that we truly do hope that he had no involvement, because for the kids' sake we think that would be terrible for them to grow up with the knowledge that their father might have had something to do with their mother's disappearance, so we remain hopeful that he didn't. but you know, in regards to dale being the prime suspect, we really are leaving that in the hands of the police at this point in time and we want them to continue to explore all possible avenues, so in the event that somebody else is out there, that they're caught and brought in. >> lauren, when you and i spoke earlier this week you talked

about, you were trying to remain cordial with dale because he was the father of the twins, but that he had over the years been abusive to your sister and she had confided in you about that, right? >> there were definitely times when she confided about me -- confided in me with things that happened in their relationship that definitely gives me a different opinion on things, but it's just, i don't know. it's just one of those things i'm just trying to keep my head on straight i guess. >> all right, well we hope that this is resolved quickly, and thanks to both of you again for being with us. matt morgan and lauren erickson. >> thanks. >> thank you. she's had a public battle with drug addiction, now pregnant with twins and on top of that country singer mindy mccready is in violation of a court order to return her son to his grandparents. her mother calling today for the boy, his name is zander, safe return to her florida home. court deadline came and went

yesterday. representative for mccready says the child has been with his mother the last month and she's fearful about his safety. we invited mccready to join us again tonight but she declined. the child's father, billy mcknight is here. billy, people have been curious about this story. when is the last time you talked to mindy and to zander and what did she say? >> i talked to zander about 7:30 last night and mindy later on about 9:00 last night. she sounded upset with the situation, she thinks she has a case against florida and that she was going to stay hidden, they'd have to find her. >> you said once you decided to talk to the press she decided, mindy didn't want to talk to you anymore? >> her phone has been off since last night so i haven't been able to talk to zander today.

>> what's your understanding of the situation? she's saying, yes, she may have had her problems, but zander was being mistreated and abused by his grandmother. that's why she's done this. can you explain whether you think that's true or give us a better sense of what happened? >> well, he's been down here for four years. i've gotten a really good relationship with gayle and mike inge and every week or every other week we exchange zander. he's never had bruises. he's rarely ever sick. he's very happy. he loves being there. he loves being with me, so i can't see that. i don't see any signs of that whatsoever. >> and what condition is she in? obviously you all are cordial at least, right? i mean you've communicated about him and you both get to talk to him on the phone so it's not as if you all had a bad relationship, all things considered, right? >> well, right. recently we've been cordial. we went for a long time without talking.

i don't really know what condition she's in right now. i do know she's pregnant. i hope she's sober and well for her babies' sakes for zander's sake and her own. i couldn't tell you what her condition is. >> do you know when you might get to see zander again? did she talk about that with you last night or no? >> she said i would be able to come where she is, however, that she didn't tell me where she is. she said that she will be able to prove things are wrong with lee county and i would be able to come up there and visit and that's not how i want to do things. he's been down here. he's away from his home and it worries me, that he's okay. >> billy, thank you for sharing your side of the story. >> thank you for having me. >> i hope you see him real soon. next on "out front" we're going to the front line, an exclusive preview of our trip next. rks differently. it's the only wrap with patented heat cells that penetrate deep to relax, soothe, and unlock tight muscles.

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this fireworks display went down tonight in the united arab emirates. it was the july 4th for the uae, home of dubai, abu dhabi and the world's tallest building and the emirates is really young, only 40 years as a country. and they want to be a big ally of the usa. take a look at this ad that they took out in the "new york times" today. it was four pages in "the new york times" and last night in washington the power elite were

at a uae hosted party. the uae is in a power position right now. they have nuclear power, they're about 150 miles from iran, they sent planes to help the u.s. enforce the no fly zone in libya and they sit on 10% of the world's oil. >> well apart from being a strategic ally in terms of regional security, uae also is the largest export partner in the middle east for the u.s. and the largest export partner on a per capita basis worldwide, and clearly that positions uae very strategically for the u.s. and bilateral relationships have been pretty strong for decades now. >> so it could be a biggest ally in the region but the uae does have some problems. dubai is still climbing out of a massive bust with real estate prices down 60% from the peak. so we're going there to get the story, from the arab spring to irano syria, to e indoor ski slope. in a rare interview with the prime minister of the united arab emirates and ruler of du s