because it is friday. are you excited, aren't you? >> it is my favorite day, don, except for saturday and sunday. >> and your favorite days are saturday and sunday because you get to watch me all evening on cnn. thank you. it is the top of the hour. the iowa caucuses are less than a month away. they are the first big test of the republican field and a lot could change in 3 1/2 weeks as we know. just ask newt gingrich and of course herman cain. the best political team on television is all over us. right now let's talk with our chief political correspondent, candy crowley. good morning, candy. there's another big debate tomorrow night. this won't be like the others.

no herman cain this time and newt gingrich is the guy to beat. >> well, yes. there is actually a lot at play in this debate which probably will make it the most high decibel debate that we've seen. number one, the calendar's kind of closing in on him. those caucuses are less than a month away. number two, the conventional political wisdom always has been -- there are three tickets out of iowa. three people survive. not only do you have mitt romney who needs to go after newt gingrich and start to drive down some of those poll numbers, you have everybody else on that stage that wants a ticket out of iowa so they go after newt gingrich as well and probably a little bit of romney. so you have the makings of both the calendar and the politics of it at this point. this sort of promises to be a lively affair. >> of course it will. we're talking now about the gop hopefuls but what about the president? does this gingrich's rise change anything for the white house and

their strategy? >> i think the re-elect campaign has begun to pay a little bit of attention to newt gingrich. what they mostly want is chaos in the republican party. whatever they can do to foment that, if they can boost newt or boost mitt against newt, if they can take them both down a little bit, that's fine. they can put that in the bank for the general election. right now what the white house -- the white house still believes this is going to end up being mitt romney because he seems better prepared for the long haul. but again what they most want is for whoever it is to spend a whole lot of money between january and june and have a bloody fight within the republican party while the president remains presidential. so you've got all these republicans out there politicking, then can you have your guy out there on the side of truth, justice and the american way and looking all

presidential. so what they're for in the re-elect campaign is as long and as hard a fight as they can get in the republican primary. >> this event on saturday night will make for good television on sunday morning. who will you have on state of the union? >> we'll talk to one of those people who would dearly love a ticket out of iowa, rick santorum. see what he makes of the newt rise, what he makes of his own chances. he's practically set up camp in iowa as you know. we'll talk to him and also take a look at the end of the war in iraq. that happens in month. >> i will be watching. thank you, candy crowley. now we want to bring in paul steinhauser. let's talk about the other debate, the one starring donald trump. rick perry, michelle bomb man now telling donald, no thanks, paul. >> yes. we're down to just two candidates who say they'll take part in this debate if it happens. the debate is supposed to be in iowa on the 27th of december, two days after christmas but

newt gingrich and rick santorum are the only two who said yeah, we'll be there. you mentioned the two yesterday, rick perry, the texas governor, and michele bachmann, congresswoman from minnesota saying thanks, but no thanks. bachmann has met four times with trump. trump says he'll probably make an endorsement after this debate but he says if he doesn't want to, he may go with independents. stay tuned, you never know. >> this debate will be without herman cain. he might be out of the race but we are hearing a lot from him still, paul. >> he's doing interviews this week and talking about trying to still get his message out there even though he suspended his campaign for the white house. he talk about maybe a radio or tv gig. he was a radio talk show host in atlanta before he ran for the white house earlier this year. he also talk about an endorsement. remember he said he would make an endorsement week ago? here's what he said last night on fox news.

>> i am in the process of making that evaluation. remember, as a businessman, i don't shoot from the hip and so i have some discussions that i'm going to have with several of the candidates and we've got to see how far apart we are. >> who has sought your endorsement? >> let's just say that several of them, we have talk. >> remember, cain's poll numbers were dropping big time before he suspended his campaign because of those sexual harassment allegations and the allegations after 13-year affair with an atlanta business woman. he still has the support of some in the tea party movement, no doubt about that. >> i watched that live last night. he said we could have turned poll numbers around but there would be more people coming out, on and on and on. thanks very much. we'll have our next political update in one hour. for all the latest political news, go to cnnpolitics.com. other news now -- this morning for the first time we are seeing a hostage tape of retired fbi agent robert

levinson pleading for help. he vanished in iran nearly five years ago. take a listen. >> please help me. 33 years of service to the united states deserves something. please help me. >> hard to look at that. let's bring in jill dougherty at the state department for us. jill, what can you tell us about that tape? the family has had it for a while but just posted it online. i'm sure you find it hard to watch as well. >> it really is. the mystery -- he disappear, robert levinson, former fbi agent, disappeared almost five years ago and -- in iran. and it was a very big mystery. i talk with the family in the early days and nobody seemed to know where he was. and back in march there was what was being referred to as proof of life. secretary clinton talk about it

and the family, of course, did. and the indication was that there was something that proved that he was alive. nobody knew exactly what that was, either. obviously turned out to be this videotape. and the indication from the state department was that he was being held someplace in southwest asia. that was really undefined. but he disappeared when he was working, now having retired from the fbi, he was working on some investigative things. this one dealing we believe with cigarette smuggling and he disappeared in iran. now to see that videotape, what he does say is that he's being treated okay but that he is running out of diabetes medicine. obviously he looks very gaunt there and the family put it on the website, apparently to try to get some type of conversation going with the people or gloups are holding him to say, what do you want, what are your demand. they want help from the u.s. government.

>> it goes without saying this is not going to help soothe tensions between washington or the united states and tehran. >> it is a very difficult time because we've been reporting, of course, almost every day the difficulties right now in the relationship. you have the plot against the saudi ambassador, rumors that israel might strike their nuclear programs. a lot of very difficult things. the problem here has been it's not clear precisely who is holding him. the united states government has talked to the iranians indirectly and directly about this but they've never gotten any indication from the iranians that they know where he is. that's what iran is saying. so it is very murky. but there obviously is a life at stake and we don't even know how he is doing right now because this video probably came out, let's say, in march. what's that? nine months? >> absolutely. thank you, jill dougherty. we're going to follow that story.

a tense day at the eu crisis summit where leaders are trying to tackle europe's debt crisis. they did -- did -- reach an agreement. some of them anyway. christine romans joins us now from new york. i told a fib, i said see you on monday now i'm seeing you right now. what is the deal with this deal? >> i know. i mean this is a deal among the 17 nations that use the euro currency, don. six other nations who want to eventually join it. but it isn't the entire 27-member european community. britain didn't want to sign on to this. david cameron, the prime minister, saying, look, he needed safeguard and protections for british interests and he simply didn't see that. they wanted to stick with the original treaty as it stands that keeps all these 27 countries together. 27 countries together but 17 of them use the same currency. of those 17 then, they've agreed to some new -- the outline i guess that they are going to

have tax and budget policies that are more -- that are more in line with each other. they're going to allow more what's called fiscal unity and that's the direction that they're going to go. and markets so far seem to like that we're moving down the road but i want to be very clear here -- it is a long road, don. there is a lot of work to be done. you've got the uk is clearly a fly in the ointment and matt mccall, who's a money manager, i want you to note his caution here. listen. >> you keep pushing down on somebody else. we'll blame somebody else but nothing gets done. we don't fix the actual issue. they're spending toop money and not bringing in enough money. >> spending too much money and not bringing in enough money. that sounds familiar, doesn't it? that's what the u.s. is grappling with as well. but what this is, these core countries, 17, plus six others who want to join them eventually, they're promising to try to have more fiscal unity

and that's what -- that's clearly what these countries need to do to go forward here. a lot of work still to be done, don. >> christine romans, thank you very much. we'll watch the markets closely. we've got the u.s. perspective on how this deal might affect us. let's check in for reaction in europe, zain verjee joins us from london with the headlines. good morning, zain. >> good morning to you, don. the eurozone is split. many leaders are just saying forget about britain, we're just going to push ahead with new fiscal rules in order to balance the budget and just leave the british isolated. let me give you an idea what "the guardian's" headline is. the your peeuropean question --t be splendid eor -- europe for al its failings has become a scapegoat tore weaknesses that are really our own. we may be about to rediscover that awkward truth.

it was why we joined in the first place. look at the international herald tribune. "treaty to save euro takes shape but britain sits out." don, it says they're not a perfect solution because it could be seen as institutionalizing. a two-speed europe. the intergovernmental pact could be ratified much more quickly by parliament than a full treaty amendment. one of the questions now is how are they going to move ahead. the difficulty is also going to be in implementing it. don? >> zain verjee, appreciate your reporting. thank you very much. jerry sandusky's wife speaks out about the child sex abuse case against him and the claim she did nothing to help an alleged victim. that's next. and police in oklahoma make an unusual arrest at a local walmart. a woman allegedly trying to make crystal meth inside the store. cross-country next. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents: the cold truth.

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i take leadership seriously, even though we don't take ourselves too seriously. these people want me to make the right choices. and to stop making the coffee. all i know is that i've made the decisions

that i hope let them believe as much in me as i do in them. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. if you're a business owner, we have financial strategies to help. we're going to take you cross-country now for some stories. police in boston arrested two occupy protesters this morning for setting a tent in the middle of a business street. the arrest happened hours after the city's midnight deadline for carpers to leave the downtown park which, by the way, police did not enforce. police in tulsa,

say employees at a local walmart caught it woman allegedly trying to make crystal methamphetamine out of cleaning supplies taken from store shelves. officers say this isn't the first time she's facing drug charges. in arkansas, a convicted murderer gets a retrial after one juror disregarded the judge's orders not to tweet during the proceeding. the state supreme court is considering whether or not jurors should have cell phones during trials. jerry sandusky's wife is speaking publicly for the first time about sexual abuse allegations against the former penn state assistant football coach. dottie sandusky is not only supporting her husband by angrily denying any abuse went on in the home. beth karas joins us now from state college, pennsylvania. good morning, beth. what is dottie actually actually saying? >> good morning, don. well, in the statement that she

issued yesterday she said among other things that no child, whoever visited our home was ever forced to stay in our basement and fed there. we would never do anything to hurt them. i continue to believe in jerry's innocence and all of the good things he has done. of course, she came out with this statement, don, because she's been under fire. people have been raising questions based on victim number nine's statement that he screamed for help as she was upstairs and she didn't come and help. >> the question is though, are these two new victims, alleged victims, trying to at least in some way insinuate that she had some knowledge of this, so the question is does dottie sandusky face any legal troubles possibly over an alleged attack happening in her home? >> reporter: well, theoretically yes, but it all depends upon whether she did indeed have knowledge. as you just said. if these victims can actually prove that she knew -- like they went to her and said to her,

he's doing this to me, he's assaulted me, he didn't want him to touch me and she didn't do anything? yes, she could be charged. but the key is did she know it. right now she's come out saying i knew nothing about this. >> beth, this is very interesting. there is a new poll out this morning about former penn state football coach joe paterno. tell us about that, please. >> well, that's a quinnipiac poll. that's pennsylvania voters who are saying by a slim majority, but nonetheless a majority, 52% are in favor, they support the firing of joe paterno. 43% are opposed to it. that poll asked about the firing of graham spanier and 74% were in favor of that and 65% thought that football has too much of an influence on the penn state campus. that was a little different a month ago. it was a month ago day november 9th that street in front of me was full of students and community folks rioting because of the firing of joe paterno. but after a month, the evidence

that's come out, tempers are different now and people are saying, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea. >> my, how things have changed. thank you very much, beth karas. we'll count on you for more reporting on this. just ten minutes away from the opening bell on wall street. we will see how the markets react to the economic news out of europe. plus strong words for the secretary of state. why russian leader vladimir putin is lashing out at secretary of state hillary clinton. i'm not crazy about these light fixtures. kitchen's too small. what's next? 607 franklin st. ♪ sea bass... ♪ ooohhh! ♪

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2011 is almost over and we want you to help us pick the top ten stories of the year. just go to this website.

cnn.com/topstories and take part in our local -- excuse me, our online poll between now and december 15th. the top ten stories of the year will be unveiled on air and online on december 30th. it is not quite like the cold war days but there is a war of words breaking out between western prime minister vladimir putin and secretary of state hillary clinton. zain verjee joins us now with more. so zain, what's putin's problem with the secretary of state? >> well, putin's mad because he says the u.s. has been encouraging the protests that russia's been seeing out on the streets ever since sunday. what happened sunday? well, the parliamentary elections happened and putin's party came out on top but people have been really angry, they have a been demonstrating and vladimir putin is pointing the finger directly at u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton. listen to how he puts it.

>> translator: the first thing that the u.s. secretary of state said about the russian elections was that -- by saying that she sets the tone for some public figures in that country. gave them the signal. they heard that signal. >> secretary of state clinton lashed back saying, yeah, they weren't free and fair. there have been irregularities and suspicions of fraud also in this election and wants to call for an investigation to occur. she also said that though russia has made some progress, the u.s. is still supportive of the rights and freedoms of the people of russia. >> zain, what is the status of the protests in russia? is this going to blow up? >> i mean it could. there is a protest being planned for this weekend and some people are calling it the snow rev las vegas. there hasn't been protests of this kind of nature in russia

for years. they're organizing on facebook, something like 20,000 people have signed up already to try and coordinate the security forces will be out in full force. but there is expected to be quite a turnout in this demonstration. people are upset, largely because of corruption and economic stagnation. vladimir putin is saying, let me be president, i can fix it. >> thank you, dane. being a front-runner in the gop presidential race has proven to be kind of a curse. just ask herman cain, mitt romney and rick perry. so when will it be ron paul's turn at the top? we'll talk more about that right after the break. and later, you won't believe -- maybe you will -- how much it is going to cost to sit next to kim kardashian at a vegas new year's eve party. why? we don't know. i'll give you a hint. it is five figures. the story coming up later in our showbiz headlines.

let's check your top stories now. new information about yesterday's shooting on the virginia tech campus. the university spokesman says the suspected shooter was not a student there.

ballistics tests show the suspect and a virginia tech police officer were killed with the same gun. u.s. officials disagree over whether a drone shown on iranian tv is the same one that went missing over afghanistan. iran claimed to down the drone. the u.s. skeptic questions the drone's appearance. the family of a captive american has posted an online video showing he is still alive. retired fbi agent robert levinson went missing in iran back in march of 2007. the video here appears to be recorded about a year ago. friday trading getting under way on wall street. opening bell in just moments. things could be looking up. thanks to a deal reached at europe's debt crisis summit. christine romans is back now watching things in new york. we'll probably be talking just as the bell goes. what's going on? >> well, all 17 nations that use the euro as their currency have

agreed that they will move toward greater fiscal unity which means they'll have more aligned policies for taxes and spending and budgets and that they'll abide by these rules. there have been treaties in place meant to keep these countries in line in how big their debts and deficits can be and there have been a lot of exceptions made over the years. now this is the 17 core countries and six other countries who want to join the euro eventually all agreeing they are going to be within the framework -- work out a framework. noticeably absent is the uk. britain. david cameron, the prime minister, said you know what? there weren't protections and safeguards for his country and he can't sell it to his people so he's going to say you guys go it alone but we're not going to be part of this, we'll stick by the original treaty. that's a fly in the ointment going forward here. but most of those who were involved, the 17 core eurozone nations, don, they say that they

are moving in the right direction. now another -- separately another thing here is that these european countries are going to be giving $200 billion to the imf to help in any bailouts they have to give to spain or italy. another reason markets overseas are a little optimistic. futures have been higher. we are looking for a little bit of a higher open here. but i'll tell you, it is pretty unpredictable how markets have been reacting to all of these two steps forward, one step back, three steps forward, two steps back in europe so i want to caution that the dow at any given time is a temperature for stock investors but we're looking at a lot of different things around the world, looking at commodities markets that are down, gold is coming down, oil's been coming down. we are also watching the capital markets, credit markets, what's happening in bonds for some of these countries. it is a very complicated and complex web of financial markets. dow is just one of them but the dow right now back above 12,000. we'll see if it holds to the end

of the day. >> you took the words right out of my mouth -- trading above 12,000. on the plus side now, it keeps going up. you told bus todaus about t. what's the outlook for next week? >> this is kind of a critical and treacherous time overall when you've got people making their financial end of the year decisions and the like. but this is really important about the payroll tax holiday in the u.s. that's something that hasn't managed to pass this week but a lot of people are looking to what they see as a dysfunctional congress to see if they can get their act together, don, and show some sort of stability or unity on what kind of near-term deficit reduction we're going to have but also stimulus. some people think that payroll tax holiday would be stimulative. something else is interesting. since the u.s. lost its aaa credit rating and was put on watch that it had to get its act

together, it's done nothing to do that. so while the eyes are on europe, there will be this look at the u.s. again eventually here where the world wants to know what we're doing to get our financial house in order. so far we've done nothing. >> of course, thank you. makes sense. appreciate it, christine. time for some politics. just 3 1/2 more weeks until the iowa caucuses. the republican candidates are getting ready for a big debate there tomorrow on saturday. this time, newt gingrich is the one to beat. you have to think things could get lively between him and mitt romney. don't you think? look at ron paul's numbers. look at ron paul's numbers. he's not far behind romney and lately he's been bashing gingrich. let's talk about all of this with john avlon from "newsweek" and the daily beast. john, we have seen so many front-runners -- good morning, by the way. so many front-runners have come and gone. is ron paul going to -- is this ron paul's turn now?

>> well, if this was a rotating game of musical chairs it would be ron paul's turn next. the question is whether the music will stop before he gets his shot. each of the gop alternatives to mitt romney that have surfaced have around five weeks roughly on top. michele bachmann, rick perry, herman cain, now newt gingrich. but newt seems to be in the poll position at the right time. but as you pointed out, ron paul is strong in these polls. he is second in many polls. his supporters are intense, they are committed and they could upset a caucus. no one should count ron paul out. he's in that winner's circle in the top three considerations. >> interesting. he is -- ron paul quite honestly is a likable guy. he's kind of like everyone's dad. you may not agree with his politics but he is an affable, likable guy. let's talk about romney though. romney's rather passive aggressive attack on gingrich's

past marital issues. are we going to see him getting more aggressive and less passive? >> yes. the romney camp is regrouping, they're retrenching. they know they've got a problem. newt gingrich is pulling away in many polls. he's developed a sizable lead. on the one hand romney camp is trying to humanize their candidates, putting out the ads, show him as a family man, someone who's very relatable, the second bit is they're releasing their surrogates to attack newt gingrich. last night on "outfront" with erin burnett, they're trying to say newt gingrich is not conservative enough and a flip-flopper. it is a little bit desperate but you'll see the romney offense playing hard core the next few weeks. >> in terms of strategy, it appears the strategy has been for mitt romney to sit back and let the crazy play out around

him. people are wondering where has he been? he hasn't been on a morning show. now all of a sudden he finds himself in second place in many polls. and probably didn't expect it. bad strategy on his part and his team? >> absolutely. look, this is the inevitability implosion. you try to stay above the fray, you don't talk to the media, you get out of practice and guess what? mitt romney woke up as hillary clinton did four years ago realizing he's got a real problem. you will a of a sudden not only is he playing offense he's going to be talking to the media. his last outgoing was a disaster. he got rattled by pretty predictable questions but he'll be playing offense across all fronts right now because he has a real problem he needs to address. he cannot lie back because he will lose if he does. >> you can see it in his body language. he moves around, smiles, crosses his legs, oh, this is an unusual interview. hey, let's talk about that rick perry ad where he talks about gays in the military and obama's

war on religion. it's gotten a lot of criticism. could it end up -- it might be -- is it backfiring on him? >> it is a desperate play and attempt to rally evangelical conservatives in the iowa caucus around his candidacy because he sees that as the only play he has. one his strategists pushed this ad saying this was the good thing to do but there was apparently division within the romney camp -- within the perry camp over whether this was wide and decent. keep in mind, this is the sort of rhetoric you hear from activists a lot, obama's war on religion. but you don't hear it from presidential candidates or texas governors and i do think it is actually diminished his candidacy. he seems small because he's getting -- playing that gutter ball and certainly the lines about gays in the military contrasting with christmas, it is controversial. we'll see if it helps him solidify support but i think it is a desperate and personal and sort of disgusting play.

>> maybe not such a good strategy. thank you very much. john, we'll have rand paul coming up in the next hour to tell us about ron paul, his chances and him possibly run is as a third party candidate. we'll talk to rand paul in an hour on cnn -- next hour. new numbers this morning on how many soldiers cremated ashes ended up in landfills instead of being buried properly. the scandal erupted in the string and today the deadline for a military report on exactly what happened. live from the pentagon next. he'd yet to hear of mutual funds, iras, or annuities. back then, he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement solutions for our military, veterans and their families. from investments... to life insurance... to health care options. learn more with our free usaa retirement guide. call 877-242-usaa.

today's the deadline for the secretary of defense to hand over all documents related to how remains of fallen troops were handled at discoveover air base. a congressional committee is conducting an investigation. the scandal first erupted last spring when a whistle-blower sent a letter to a soldier's widow. barbara starr has new figures on how many troops ended up in a landfill. terrible story. >> don, good morning.

absolutely. this now much widary problem than the air force first publicly acknowledged. you are right, 5:00 p.m. is the deadline for pentagon to submit document to the house oversight committee on capitol hill. the pentagon says they will do it this morning. defense secretary leon panetta will offer the documentation that he has about what has happened, how many troops involved, what the procedures and policies were, what the steps have been taken to cent the situation, everything that is going on. but fundamentally now the air force is acknowledging much wider than originally believed. at first they said just a handful of troops remains had been cremated, incinerated, then buried in landfills. but listen to the new statistics now that the air force has reviewed all of its records. body fragments linked to 274 fallen. body fragments they've been able to identify buried in landfills.

another 1,762 not fragments not able to be identified. so they don't know how many fall rn linked to those. also incinerated and buried in landfills. essentially as medical waste. now this all stopped in 2008, and now these remains are buried at sea but this still is a brewing controversy. a lot of upset certainly amongst families and amongst the veterans groups as well. >> as you can imagine, you said it stopped in 2008, now they are buried at sea but what is the next step here? >> panetta has in fact appointed an internal panel to look at all of this. it is headed by retired general john abizaid who used to be the head of the u.s. central command. their first meeting will be next week and they are going to take a look at how all of this unfolded inside the military and whether other steps and measures need to be taken. but i just want to briefly say,

there is also information for families who feel they might be affected. the air force has set up a call center. there is a phone number. 1- 1-855-637-2583 or e-mail -- dover.pm@pentagon.af d fchl dover.pm@pentagon.af.mil. this morning for the first time we are seeing a hostage tape of retired fbi agent robert levinson. he's pleading for help. he vanished in iran nearly five years ago. we'll play that tape for you next. ♪ my hair is gone ♪ cheap cologne ♪ motor home ♪ i'm the rocket man! [ both ] ♪ rocket man ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone ♪ burning out his fuse up here alone? ahh. [ male announcer ] crystal clear fender premium audio. one of many premium features available on the all-new volkswagen passat.

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we're here to take you cross-country right now. in portland, oregon, a man is in the hospital after a taxi cab slammed into his hotel room yesterday. police believe the driver had a medical emergency prior to the accident. he was treated and released but the hotel guests at last report was in critical condition. in atlanta, for the first time in 86 years, the secret formula for the iconic soft drink coca-cola has a new home. official moved it from a bank vault where it's been kept since 1925 to its own vault in the coca-cola museum. got to keep that formula safe. holiday lights and love were in the air wednesday night in oklahoma city.

oh, one knee. you know what's happening here. he asked his girlfriend the ultimate question -- will you marry me? guess what -- she said -- well, judging from her reaction, can you see. it was a yes. $20,000. $20,000. $20,000! that's the new year's eve price tag for a table next to kim kardashian. kareen wynter, can't we just make it stop? please, please make it stop. >> you know, just for you, don, on this friday, i know we're buddies, we go way back and i know how much you love talking kardashia kardashians. more kim than you can handle this friday morning. kris humphreys gave kim kardashian an engagement ring estimated worth $2 million.

the marriage only lasted 72 days. i don't think $20,000 is going to get it done but that will get you close enough to kim an maybe see who's she kissing at midnight. she will be ringing in the new year at las vegas hotspot inside the venetian. tickets for the event are $200 a head. radaronline says $20,000 will get you a table next to the kardashian party. that include an open bar and a champagne toast. they've hosted birthday parties and other events for kim. they pay her pretty well for this privilege. reports are kim has gotten up to $25,000 an hour in the past to appear at the club. it should be another profitable new year for miss kardashian. good news, huh? >> oh, yeah. lovely. >> let me have it. >> finally, an interesting choice for an actor to play

disgraced washington, d.c. mayor barry. this will be interesting to watch and see how he does it. >> yeah, could be pretty good tv, don. there are reports this morning that eddie murphy, a big name, will play the long-time mayor in an hbo film. according to the "washington post," the film would be directed by none other than spike lee. the "post" says this isn't the first time someone has tried to make a movie on the long-time mayor who was infamously caught on camera smoking crack cocaine. the "post" says there was an effort in 2002 to produce a film about barry starring jamie foxx but we'll have to see if this effort makes its way on to our tvs. but barry was mayor for almost 20 years getting re-elected even after the drug arrest that turned him into a national punch line and he still serves on the d.c. city council. plus during the civil rights era, a young mayor barry was involved in the freedom ride.

can you hear what i'm just describing, there's quite a bit of story to tell about his life but it could, could make for good tv. would you watch? >> absolutely, i would. of course absolutely i would. of course i would watch. regarding the kardashians, we kid because we, i don't know. >> we love them? we kid because we love them? >> yeah. >> okay. thought i heard that. >> see you soon. more "showbiz" headlines with kareen next hour when she takes you behind the scenes where this year's annual cnn's heroes takes place on sun night. in the morni. that's a big accomplishment to me. i don't know how much money i need. but i know that whatever i have that's what i'm going to live within. ♪ ♪

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we're going to fast forward now and tell you about some stories making news later today.

republican presidential candidate mitt romney speaks in cedar rapids, iowa, around 11:35 eastern time. gop hopeful newt gingrich has a 4:00 p.m. book signing in washington. republican presidential candidate ron paul holds a youth rally at the university of northern iowa at 8:00 this morning. we are following lots of developments in the next hour of the "cnn newsroom." let's check in first with chris lawrence. hi, chris. >> hi, don. ron has released this video. what it says is in an intact stealth drone set off an investigation to see if it's real or fake. we'll dig into that next hour. i'm jill dougherty at the state department. missing for almost five years after he disappeared in iran. a videotape of former fbi agent robert levinson is now on the internet. i'm elizabeth cohen in atlanta. michelle duggar pregnant with

her 20th child has a miscarriage. thank you very much, everyone. also next hour, as ron paul ramps up his attacks on newt gingrich his senator son joins in. rand paul joins us to talk about the 2012 race. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com india commissioner david stern has rejected a trade that could have sent chris paul to the lakers.

the all-star guard has been looking to get out of new orleans and laker fans were salivating over the idea of paul playing with kobe bryant. one hour after the deal was announced the nba killed it. the league owns the new orleans hornets and decided the deal wasn't in the team's best interest. okay. the legendary life of hollywood icon elizabeth tailor is going up for sale. jeanne moos has a look at prize possessions that could be yours during an auction next week. >> reporter: liz taylor is eyeing her own auction. she is eyeing her jewels. she is eyeing the line of people waiting to get in at kristies. she is watching your back as the clothes off her back go up for bid. from her beaded versaccis. maybe you'd prefer to own her tiara. the one given to her by husband number three, film director who

said. >> elizabeth, you are my queen, you must have a crown. >> reporter: she wore yellow the first time she married richard burton. her fifth husband, she wore a kaftan. she never ran out of diamonds. >> it's the size of a cherry. >> reporter: richard burton gave it to her. >> she would call it her baby because she wore it every single day. >> reporter: she even wiggled it at larry king. most people have a jewelry box. what did she have? >> she had a jewelry room. >> reporter: they created a mockup creating all of her jewelry boxes with her labels. for instance, the ping pong diamonds from a match she played with burton. >> he said, elizabeth, if you beat me by ten points or more, i'll buy you a diamond. >> reporter: she won. he bought her three. looking for something a little cheaper? imagine slipping into elizabeth tail ror's daisy hot pants. she wore this outfit at the age of 39, the day she first became

a grandmother. they're not just hot pants. >> they're kind of like where's the fire engine. >> reporter: you can even bid on her size 10 shoes. the very feet that stomped on a fellow who insulted her in "butterfield 8." it includes her portrait and a monkey necklace that michael jackson gave her. >> she said they're great. >> reporter: so close that her boa once got stuck in his sequin jacket. if your neck is starting to feel weighed down. >> reporter: this is for those that can't quite afford the real thing, chris at thises is selling paper cutouts of liz taylor jewels for $25. it seems as if every possession like this 500 year old pearl comes with a great liz taylor story attached. >> she almost lost it and they found it in her puppy's mouth. >> reporter: the only thing more glittering than her diamonds were the flashbulbs.

jeanne moos, cnn, new york. top of the hour, there's never a dull moment in the bruising republican race for president. going into the debate in iowa, we have a new frontrunner, newt gingrich. his opponents are already piling on. the caulk kss are less than a month away. the volume is about to get even louder. cnn's paul steinhauser is here. paul, the gloves are off. >> the gloves are definitely off. 3.5 weeks until the january caucus. two debates, don, in iowa. one saturday night, one next week. the romney campaign really stepping it up in the last couple of days against gingrich who now is the front-runner in iowa and two of the other early voting states as well as some of the national polls criticizing gingrich on a number of front. a new web video from the romney campaign out this morning. take a listen to this. >> social engineering is

any more desirable than left wing social engineering. i think it is too big a jump. >> the speaker dismissed the medicare reform plan put forward by congressman paul ryan. >> earlier this year he was criticizing that. those comments got gingrich in a lot of hot water. in fact, he had to walk them back and say he supported ryan. almost sank his campaign. one of the things that almost sank his campaign back in may and june. now the campaign out with this video trying to bring back that baggage from newt gingrich. >> i want to talk about ron paul right now because he's got a lot of dedicated supporters, as you see, they come out during the polls and the caucuses. they catapult him to the top. could he win in iowa? >> he could. he's got a strong organization in iowa. as you mentioned, cnn time orc, he was very close to romney

basically battling for the second spot in iowa and also battling gingrich for the second spot in new hampshire. pictures there from iowa state university, not that one, i'm sorry, but he was at iowa state university last night. they had over 1200 people at that event, mostly students. a lot of young people really are supporting ron paul. he has another event at another university in iowa. keep your eyes on him. don, ron paul very, very active right now in going after newt gingrich as well. not just mitt romney. >> that's what happens when you're at the top. it's a blessing and a curse. everybody goes at you. good to be number one, but everybody goes after you. thank you. appreciate it. we'll talk with ron paul's son here in a few minutes. rand paul will be here to talk about the race to the white house for 2012. almost exactly half hour into the trading day on wall street and analysts expect it to -- a bump, i should say, at

the open, thanks to an agreement reached at the eu's debt crisis summit. the dow up 122 points. so that's how the u.s. markets are responding. zain verjee joins us from london with european reaction to the debt deal. hello again, zain. >> hi, don. there's an agreement. well, not quite. the eurozone is split. majority of countries in the european union want to push ahead with a set of policies that will basically pursue fiscal rules in order to balance the budget, but the uk has said, no, way, they're not signing up for t. they want to protect their own banking sector. the guardian says the european question will it be splendid isolation or miserable? i don't hear the sound of champagne corks or celebration among british euro skeptics, it says. who knows what happens now, but europe for all its follies and failings has become a scapegoat

for weaknesses that are really our own. we may be able to rediscover that awkward truth. it was why we joined in the first place. take a look at the international herald tribune. trety to save euro takes shape but britain sits out. though not a perfect solution because it could be seen as institutionalizing a two-speed europe. the intergovernmental pact could be ratified much more quickly by parliament than a full treaty amendment. the question now for many is how soon are they going to implement this and how effective will it be. >> the world is watching. thank you, zain verjee. this morning for the first time we are seeing a hostage tape of retired fbi agent robert levinson pleading for help. he vanished in iran nearly five years ago. here it is. >> please help me get home. thirteenth 33 years of service to the united states deserves something. please help me.

>> cnn's jill dougherty is at the state department. what can you tell us about the tape? the family has had it now for a while but just posted it online. >> right. and the question -- we still don't have the final answer to this, don, is why did they decide to post it at this particular moment? you know, there's been so much merciness about this case of robert levinson. when he disappeared he was a retired fbi agent. he was investigating, we understand, cigarette smuggling in that area in iran. he disappeared and really for quite a while nothing was heard of him. over the years the united states has pressed the iranian government to give some type of information. where is he? who is he holding? iran continued to say we have no idea. we do not know where he is. it's been a really difficult situation. so the family now releases the tape. it shows him looking very gaunt. look at those pictures.

you see a kind of portly gentleman and then somebody who is obviously in distress and in this tape he says that he is running out of medication for diabetes. the tape was done and it appears as much as a year ago so we don't know his status right now. the family, they obviously want to have some type of dialogue with whoever is holding him to get some information, what do you want? what's the demand? so that perhaps something could be done to follow through on that plea by mr. levinson for someone to help him. >> it doesn't do much for the tensions between washington and tehran. >> absolutely. it couldn't be worse right now just thinking of the drone situation coming down in iran. the alleged plot to kill the saudi ambassador. relations have never been worse and so let's say the motivation for iran to really help under any circumstances could be less than ever. so the family right now coming

into this holiday season is really hoping that something can happen. >> jill, thank you very much. is it real or a fabrication? iranian tv is airing video of what it claims is a u.s. drone that went down in iran this week. u.s. officials seem to disagree whether that drone is a fake or it's one that went missing -- the one that went missing. cnn's chris lawrence has the story from the pentagon. >> don, u.s. officials all agree that the crash in iran, that iran has what is left of the drone. they both agree that the drone was not shot down. the question is in what shape is the drone in? is what you're seeing in that iranian video really what they pulled out of the crash site? one aviation expert said he could see a scenario where the drone glided to earth in a falling leaf pattern where most of the damage would be underneath but when you take a

look at what iran showed in the video and a picture of what we think to be the u.s. stealth drone side by side, you look at them, another expert says the wings in the iranian drone are pointing downward where most of the pictures, they're further up to increase the stability. one u.s. official says that u.s. satellite imagery looked at that wreckage when the drone went down and said iran had nothing but a pile of rubble. >> chris lawrence, thank you very much for that. coming up here on cnn, as ron paul ramps up his attacks on newt gingrich, his senator son joins in. rand paul joins us live in a few minutes to talk about the 2012 race. police in boston did not enforce a midnight deadline for occupy protestors to leave a downtown park. why did these campers get cuffed? that story is next when we go cross-country.

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let's take you cross-country now. police in boston arrested two occupy boston protesters forsetting a tent in the busy street. it happened hours after the deadline to leave the downtown park which, by the way, police did not enforce. police in tulsa, oklahoma, say police at at local walmart allegedly caught this woman trying to make meth. officers say this isn't the first time she is facing drug charges. in arkansas a convicted murderer gets a retrial after a juror tweeted during the

proceedings. the state supreme court is deliberating whether or not jurors should have cell phones during trials. we have been hearing so much about newt gingrich and mitt romney, you might think the republicans are down to a two-man race, but check out ron paul. according to the latest cnn orc poll, he is pretty much tied for romney for second in iowa, the first state on the primary calendar. new hampshire's next, and he's got double digit support there as well. take a listen. >> you've been fairly aggressive in your criticism of congressman gingrich lately in terms of your campaign ads. >> he used to be the speaker. i have to expose him for what he's been doing. that's all we're doing. trying to present the facts. >> i have to tell you ron paul does not mince words.

meantime the paul campaign is planning for the long haul, potentially powering through to next summer's gop convention. senator rand paul, the candidate's son joins us to talk about the race. thank you so much for joining us, sir. does your father plan to stay in all the way to the convention? what's his strategy? >> you know, i think a lot is yet to be determined by the early primary states, but we're in a statistical tie in iowa. things look very good. we've worked very hard. we've sent out a lot of mail. we've spent a lot of money on tv and i think the polls are showing that people still are looking for a conservative cham pi on. i don't think anybody's probably been more conservative with the taxpayer dollar than ron paul in the last 20 years in congress. >> listen, i'm looking at something that you wrote and you said, republicans would take a giant step backwards by choosing newt gingrich. i heard your dad saying is that the guy who used to be the senator? he's on top now, newt. your article was interesting

about why you think -- you're hitting newt gingrich as well about why you think newt is not the guy. >> i got elected with a lot of the tea party support and the tea party movement. the tea party was a lot about people unhappy with republicans voting for bank bailouts. we thought they sold out our limited government views when they voted to send taxpayer money to big banks. unfortunately newt gingrich was right there with them being payed by fannie mae and freddie mac. it goes against everything that the tea party stands for. >> i want to talk about this when you're talking about tea party which has inserted itself into the process. many look at it as another party and many look at the tea party as being affiliated with the republicans. let's talk about what about the talk of your father possibly being a third-party candidate? let me ask you, would you split with your party and support your father? >> that's a tough question, but

i think he has said repeatedly that he has no plans to do that. i've said repeatedly that the tea party has power by trying to make the republican party more pure to limited government, limited taxation, constitutional powers than it does as an independent party. in fact, i think if the tea party split off or if ron paul split off that it would be like ross perrault when he split off. it would defeat the republican nominee but it wouldn't necessarily elect a third-party candidate. >> listen, when i was speaking to a political analyst about your dad, i said, you know, most people love ron paul. you can't help but at least relate to him because he's like your dad or your grandfather, right, like in most families. it doesn't always play out in the media. you don't always see people talking about him even though he's oftentimes at the top of the polls. why do you think that is? >> well, you know, i think the thing is that he has difficulty

getting beyond 20, 25% in republican primary votes but he gets a lot of independent votes. if you stack up ron paul against president obama, he actually does better than many of the other republicans because of his positions on not going to war without constitutional authority. >> that's what i want to ask you. i'll let you go on here. that's what i want to ask you. do you think your dad maybe isn't far enough to the right for the republican party at this point? >> well, the interesting thing on fiscal issues,'s about as far right as you can get. he thinks the federal government should do very little other than what the constitution says but on issues of war he picks up many people in the independent and the middle who say, you know what, we shouldn't go to war without a declaration of war. congress should vote on these things. yeah, i think he gets a lot of independent vote, but a lot of our strategy is we're working very hard on independence in iowa. independents can vote in either primary in iowa and new hampshire f. we can get the

independent vote, we'll surprise a lot of people. >> i think so. listen, where do you think it goes from here when it comes to your dad because he's strong in the polls but, again, that doesn't always play out when you look at who is going to actually go and vote. you said you're not going to split off if he becomes a third-party candidate. it's a tough question, but you'd actually have to vote against your own father. what do you think is next for your dad? >> well, we're doing the traditional campaigning. it's a lot of hard work. we have a lot of people on the ground in iowa. we have a lot of county republican chairmans endorsing him this time around. we have state representatives who have endorsed him, so we have a ground game and it's the one advantage we have over gingrich. not only does my father have a conservative voting record, he was against the bank bailouts, against the individual mandate behind obamacare and he has a ground game. gingrich has no ground game. have you to get voters to the polls and we're planning on

getting thousands and thousands of voters outcome the iowa caucus. >> i want to talk to you about something that is in popular culture really and that is the video, texas governor rick perry talking about i'm proud to be a christian. gays in the military, all of that. i'm sure you've seen the ad. what's your reaction to that? >> i think that you get bigger and better coalitions by sticking to the fiscal issues. the biggest problem facing our country is the debt. i think a lot of the other issues divide us more. i am a christian, but i don't go around wearing it on my sleeve a lot of times. i think that's a personal thing. it does guide my decisions, but also i think that really we need somebody who will tackle the fiscal problems. we're bankrupting this country. entitlements are out of control. the european debt crisis threatens to come to our country. we could be in the middle of a crisis like we were in 2008 and that, to me, is the most important thing is that we need a leader who can handle crisis.

the thing about ron paul is he predicted the housing crisis in 2003. he said it was coming when everybody else was blind and said, oh, the boom will go on forever. my father warned that the boom was coming to an end. we want someone who has that knowledge to guide our economy. >> rand, that will have to be the last word. we're out of time. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. jerry sandusky's wife speaks out about the child sex abuse case against him and the claim that she did nothing to help an alleged victim. plus a deal is reached at the eu's debt crisis summit. richard quest will break it down for us. ♪ it's easy to see what subaru owners care about.

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jerry sandusky's wife is speaking publicly for the first time about sexual abuse allegations against the former penn state assistant football coach. dottie is not only supporting her husband but angrily denying anything went on in her home. we're joined from state college, pennsylvania. what does she have to say for herself? >> reporter: in the statement that she issued yesterday, don, she said the following, no child who ever visited our home was ever forced to stay in the basement and fed there. we would never do anything to

hurt them. she went on to say, i continue to believe in jerry's innocence and all the good things he has done. she came out with this statement, don, because people had been raising questions based upon the recent allegations, especially of the accuser known as victim number nine who said at least one time he screamed for help in the basement as he was being sexually assaulted, raped actually, and claims she was upstairs and didn't come to help. >> the question everyone is asking with these new allegations, could she face any legal troubles about an alleged attack and not saying anything about it? >> reporter: theoretically she could, but it depends on if she knew it. in the statement she's saying, i knew nothing about any of this. the prosecution would have to prove she had knowledge of it and didn't do anything. she failed to act. these were children in her home f. she knew about sex abuse of a child, she had a duty to report it, but she's saying she didn't know anything. so it would involve evidence of these children maybe saying that they actually went to her and talked to her or they saw her in

the doorway or some evidence to prove she knew it because right now she says she didn't know it. that would be her defense. >> appreciate it. a tense day at the eu's crisis summit. that's where leaders are trying to tackle europe's debt crisis. they did reach an agreement, most of them anyway. the 17 countries that use a single currency, the eurozone all signed on. and most of the rest of the eu did as well. notably absent though, the uk. they were absent. richard quest, live from brussels, the site of that summit looking very dapper this morning here in the u.s. richard, can there be progress without britain on board? >> that, of course, is the key and crucial question. yes, they can have an intergovernmental agreement and the 17 plus, as they're known, 26 it's believed or 23 plus. doesn't matter which. most of them have agreed to come

together to have a fiscal compact. they will share a budget deficit. they will do things like have automatic sanctions. they will have much greater supervision, inclusion, all of those sort of things. it is the uk that is saying no. now what is the significance? it is as if one of the u.s. states suddenly turned around and said, well, actually, the rest of you can't do this. you can get together and have a nice little chitchat, can you do what you like amongst yourself, but you can't use all the penalty of power, institutions of the european union. frankly, don, it is going to move into a legal nightmare because the union itself, the president of the union, the president of the council, they are adamant they are moving ahead. it is britain -- the analogy i'm using, it's as if a member of the family is standing outside throwing rocks at the windows.

>> good analogy for sure. so even without the uk, richard, i want to know what the mood is like in brussels. what i'm asking, is this seen as a success? >> sorry. well, that is a really good question. frankly, if you look behind me you can see the several hundred journalists, possibly up to a thousand journalists. whether individually they will regard it as a success depends on which country you're from, what your agenda was and did you get what you needed to get from here. so, success? merkel, sarkozy, spain, italy, greece. some countries like sweden and hungary, they were very much on the fence. as for britain, they leave here with a bloodied nose. cameron will go home to the uk and his populus and press might

be good but there is certainly no great popularitiy for him in this room. >> richard quest, thank you. go have another cup of coffee, sir. we appreciate your reporting here in the u.s. right now though we're going to talk a little bit more politics. we'll talk about newt gingrich because he is the candidate to beat in eye owe wampt his opponents are slamming him left and right. now someone is comparing him to, dare we even speak her name, kim kardashian of all people. we're talking about that in our political buzz coming up.

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[ knock on door ] cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice. between those boxes and this place, i'm totally staying sane this year. do i smell snickerdoodles? maybe. [ timer dings ] got to go. priority mail flat rate shipping at usps.com. a simpler way to ship. taking top stories right now. new information about yesterday's shooting on the virginia tech campus. university spokesman says a suspected shooter was not a student there. ballistics tests show the suspect and virginia tech police officer were killed with the same gun.

the air force is now saying that the cremated remains of hundreds of fallen soldiers were dumped in a landfill. previously they said only a small number had been burned in a commercial landfill. a family of a captive american has posted an online video showing he is still alive. retired fbi agent levinson went missing in iran in 2007. the video appears to be recorded about a year ago. i love this because it's time for our political buzz. do it for me. rapid fire. it is a look at the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. playing today, she's not afraid to say that she is a liberal. cnn contributor maria core doen in a. sam s sa der. and republican strategist and

column nus cheri jacobus. not afraid to say she is a conservative. first question up, guys. there's a big debate in iowa tomorrow. how should the other candidates plan to take on newt. first you, maria. >> well, i think that what they can do, romney's already started to do this, is take him on on his record. it's long and it's rich and it's full of flip-flops and full of positions that evangelicals and conservatives don't like. they can talk about how he was for the insurance mandate, talk about how he was for cap and trade, talk about how he insulted the paul ryan plan as being social right wing engineering. they can talk about how he made millions off of freddie mac, the institution that republicans hate. they can talk about his hippocracy in the '90s going after president clinton. there's so much there. if that doesn't work, they can go for folding chairs at the end. >> that was a lot of slamming in 30 seconds. sam, go ahead.

>> well, it's too late for the other republican candidates to have more affairs than gingrich or to rack up more hundreds of thousands of dollars of congressional ethics fines, so i think to appeal to the republican base what they need to do is come out against gays in the military more. i think they need to make sure that they are war riors in the war on christmas and make sure that they're not muslim or mormon. maybe they have a chance to unseat the front-runner, gingrich. >> clearly that is sarcasm. >> well, i don't know about that. look at what rick perry's done. that's the formula he's following. maybe it will work. >> bring it home for us, cheri. >> that hasn't worked against speaker gingrich. he's a serious man and serious candidate. i think the other candidates should do what he's doing and that is go after barak obama for his record and how he is destroying this country and the

trillions of dollars that he's wasting and the fact that he's holding the keystone pipeline process hostage so that he can pander to the far left of the party. it will mean tens of thousands of jobs. that will also hold hostage the payroll tax holiday. there's plenty to go after and they should do so. >> i'm going to take you back a long time ago on this campaign. oh, it was a week ago, not even. sun sunday. herman cain is out of the campaign. he's talking about his plans to make an endorsement. listen. >> i am in the process of making that evaluation. remember, as a businessman i don't shoot from the lip and so i have some discussions that i'm going to have with several of the candidates and we've got to see how far apart we are. >> who has sought your endorsement? >> let's just say that several of them, we have talked. okay. so he's dropping in the polls before he suspended his campaign. first to sam. how much does cain's stamp of

approval matter? does it matter? >> he doesn't shoot from the lip so that probably adds to the value of it. no, i'd say the longer he waits, the less valuable it is. he is in danger of his stamp of approval going from virtually meaningless to completely meaningless. so if i was him, i'd do it as quick as possible. >> cheri. >> i have to agree, actually. i think because his numbers dropped so low before he dropped out, the impact of his endorsement is waening daily. there are other endorsements that will be more exciting, sarah palin, those types of folks that come out. the cain endorsement will do more to help him, affect him, book sales, whatever. i'm not sure it's going affect any of the candidates at this point. they can do without it. they may like to have it. they may not want to have it. i don't think it matters. >> i could see it but our audience couldn't. when she said sarah palin and other endorsements, what was your expression?

>> i think it was a huge smile and laugh. >> all right. >> i don't really know what else to say. this republican primary race has become really just -- >> when i said just your reaction, not to talk. it's maria's turn. >> thank you. thank you, don. >> go ahead. >> i think i get some extra time here. >> yes, you do. go ahead. >> i agree with my panelists because, you know, normally when former candidates are going to endorse, it matters somewhat, but herman cain had such a spectacular flameout that i don't think it matters. it matters to him because once he endorses, that day will be the very last, if any, relevance that he has in this campaign whatsoever. i think it only matters to him. it's not really going to matter to any of the candidates. >> i can't wait to get your reaction to this one, our buzzer beater's really awesome. 20 seconds each. iowa pastor is circulating a video that slams newt gingrich over his personal life comparing him to kim kardashian.

listen. >> newt respects marriage about as much as kim kardashian. that's right. newt gingrich is the kim kardashian of the gop. >> all right. with that kind of pr, can gingrich keep or win over evangelicals in iowa. cheri? >> if he does, it's because he's shown contrician. he's been very honest about his marriage issues. they were resolved with divorce and remarriage. i don't think a video has much impact. it does more to make this pastor, i guess it is, look a little bit silly. i don't think it will impact gingrich at all in iowa. >> maria? >> i think the video is a little bit unfair because kim kardashian has only been married once. in all seriousness, he has evangelicals right now. he's leading in iowa. whatever he is doing is working thus far. the point of this video is that this is an issue that could matter to evangelicals. we'll see if it's an issue to

him moving forward. right now he's enjoying momentum at exactly the right time. >> i'm getting news in from producers. she's been married twice. >> still, newt gingrich is beating her. >> sam, go ahead. >> i actually don't think that the marriage is going to be the issue for evangelicals. i think what's actually going to have more resonance with them was later in the video where they made a real big point of saying he's catholic now. that's clearly the dynamic of the republican base that we're seeing. they don't like mormons and they don't like catholics. the question is which one do they not like more. that will give you your answer. >> sam, did you say you were a comedian in your past life? >> indeed, yes. i'm being totally serious now. >> thank you, sam. thank you, cheri, maria. >> that's what's so sad. >> appreciate it. no doubt beyonce has moves and a new york businessman wanted to make some money off

her talent. first she said yes, then she said no. you know what happened next. the beyonce lawsuit next in "showbiz" headlines. difficult to replace, easy to lose. we'll talk about lunar rocks and other space materials from earlier nasa missions that are now missing in action. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of a pain free holiday. ♪ this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. just a second. just, just one second. ♪ what are you looking at? don't look up there. why are you looking up? ♪ get outta the car. get outta the car. ♪

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a businessman trying to capitalize on beyonce's energetic dance moves gets some good news in court yesterday. a judge says his lawsuit against the superstar can move forward. details now from entertainment correspondent kareen wynter. what's going on? >> don, this is a huge lawsuit. it's from a video game maker who

said beyonce left him high and dry by abandoning a project to turn her dance moves into a game. developer game 5 alleges that they spent millions on the game before the pop star backed out costing the company $19 million financing deal forcing them to layoff a whole bunch of people, 70 people according to the suite. beyonce is claiming she has valid reasons for walking away and asked the new york court to throw the deal out. they said no. the judge ruled the case will go on. this is a big suit. gate 5, they're asking for $100 million in damages. that is a pretty big price tag to pay, wouldn't you say? >> certainly is. what a cool video we have playing there. >> i love that. >> really awesome. so are you going to heroes? did you get your invitation. >> i d. got invited this year. >> mine got lost in the company mail. >> i was going to ask you. i have an extra ticket if you want to fly in, be my date.

>> cool. we'll see about that. how's it going though, the preparations? >> i was just down there at the shrine auditorium yesterday. i'm headed down in a bit. everything looks fantastic. it's all coming together so nicely. building the stage, getting everything together. i'll be on the red car pit with "showbiz tonight's" a.j. lamb mer and dancing with the star's champ martinez. miley cyrus, kid rock, george lopez just to name a few. there are so many more. don, what i'm looking forward to is highlighting all the amazing achievements of our cnn hero nominees. it's going to be a fantastic, wonderful night. >> looks cool. wonder if it has some of the pieces from the debate. looks great. >> whole production. >> enjoy. i'll call you afterwards and see howie can get out there and i can be your date. thank you. more information on everything breaking in the entertainment world. you can get it this evening on "showbiz tonight," 11:00 p.m. eastern on hln. some sad news to report for

the mother who starness the reality tv show "19 kids and counting." michelle duggar had a miscarriage trying to have her 20th child. that begs the question. what do doctors say about when a woman should stop trying to have children. elizabeth cohen is next.

michelle duggar is 45 years old and was trying to have her 20th child. we get word this morning that the star of the reality tv show "19 kids and counting" had a miscarriage. let's bring in elizabeth cohen. does having a lot of children make it more likely to have a miscarriage? >> not in and of itself. in other words, just the fact

that her body had carried 19 children doesn't make it more likely she would miss carry. what does make it more likely is a matter of statistics. if someone had told me that michelle duggar had never had a miscarriaged, i would have been shocked. women miscarry quite frequently. this was actually, as far as we know, her second miscarriage. >> at what point she was due? >> we were told she was due in april. she was halfway through. that is very different. much less common to miscarry in the second trimester than the first. it takes much more of an emotional toll i think. >> why do they want so many kids? it used to be common in agricultural days when people farmed a lot. not so much anymore. >> she and her husband really believe that children are a gift from god and that they will take whatever gifts god gives them. when i chatted with her on the phone, we had a wonderful conversation as two moms talking about our kids. she clearly loves being a mom.

she says that god gave me these gifts and i'm going to appreciate them. >> it's a sad fact of life. we were having this conversation, i was telling you about my mom, having miscarried, having this conversation. women miscarry all the time and it's fairly common. why do so many women miscarry? it's a fact of life. >> you know what, sometimes the doctors will say it's nature's way. very often the fetus has a chromosomal abnormality. sometimes it is because the mother has something wrong with her that needs to be corrected. telling the difference is tough. if you go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient we have an article that helps you tell the difference. if the woman miscarries two or three times, don't worry, sweetie, it's just nature's way, don't buy that. find out the reason. >> always good stuff. always empowering patients. thank you. moon rocks gone missing. nasa says it's lost or misplaced

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they are rocket scientists, not custodians. they are in trouble for lax controls on as stroe materials

like moon rocks. too many of which are missing in action. rob marciano here to explain. what's this all about, rob? >> you can imagine now with nasa pulling back with the space shuttle program. now they're finding out they lost space rocks. not the best time. let's put things in perspective. first of all, during the apollo missions they brought back over 100 pounds of space rock. tens of thousands of these samples. a lot of them have been loaned out to museums, research facilities. of the 20,000 that have been loaned out, 517 have gone missing or stolen, whatever. so that's about 2% of the 26,000 that have been loaned out. 70% of the 377 researchers replied to the last inventory in 2008. they have to be a little bit more strict about what's going on here. by the way, i just checked out ebay, you can buy moon rock for $40. save us all a bunch of headaches.

have nasa spend a little tax dollars and buy them all back. speaking of the moon. we have a total lunar eclipse happening tonight. tomorrow morning who will see this? let's talk about that. first of all, little review course. that's when the earth passes between the sun and the moon. the shadow is thrown on the earth. totalitiy tonight or tomorrow morning is going to be pacific time, 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. we say pacific time. that's going to be the best time. eastern folks won't see much because the moon will be setting just as it starts. for our friends in australia or southeast asia, you'll have a good shot at seeing this. this is how it's going to shake down. as the moon sets the sun comes up. basically everywhere west of especially california will get the best shot of this. our west coast viewers who are watching this, get up early tomorrow, 5:00 a.m. it will start. it will last until 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. you will see the shadow of the earth.

$20 will get you moon rock. >> bonnie taylor. "nothing i can say, total eclipse of the -- "cnn newsroom" with suzanne malveaux, americans have gotten a lot poorer since the financial meltdown in 2008. a new report proves it. what the average american household is worth now after the fallout is coming up when the "cnn newsroom" continues.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

not so fast. you know why? because just when you thought the lisz of republican candidates for president was complete, we get a maybe from donald trump. let's find out what that's all about from our senior political editor, mark preston. my voice is changing. mark? what's going on with donald trump? >> the fact that donald trump continues to say that he might run for president has kind of complicated matters in the near term for him. donald trump was supposed to moderate and will moderate a debate out in iowa two days after christmas. only two candidates have agreed to do that debate, newt gingrich and rick santorum. one of the candidates, michele bachmann, said she didn't want to participate because she wasn't sure if he wasn't going to run for president himself. he was in "the situation room" with wolf blitzer yesterday and this is what he had to say about a possible run.

>> people are afraid that i'm going to run as an independent candidate, and some of the people that are supposed to be in the debate have expressed that. i don't want to give up that option because it certainly is an option if the republicans pick the wrong candidate or if the economy and everything continues to be bad and we have the wrong candidate. that would be the worst. >> you know, don, let's just be honest about this. the fact of the matter is donald trump is not going to run for president. he has a book out right now. he is influential in politics. the fact is we interview him. he has interesting things to say. all of the candidates have gone up there. most of them have gone up there to kiss his ring, try to get his endorsement. the fact of the matter is donald trump i think likes the attention a little bit more than actually running for president. >> you know what, i think after hearing that with donald trump, what he would say to you, help me out here, suzanne malveaux. >> you're fired! >> you're fired. i'm out of here. thank you very much. next update one