the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> now, wait a second. >> burn. newt gingrich giving it back as candidates attack his policy and his personal life. did they do enough to stop this surge? new child sex abuse allegations rocking one of the biggest nonprofit sports organizations in the country. two basketball players accusing the former head of the aau of molesting them as little boys there's a madman in the street. oh, my god. you all right? there's a madman -- >> and hollywood rampage caught

on tape. a crazed gunman firing into cars. we'll talk about what set him off on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com and good morning, everyone. it's monday, december 12th. wow. december 12th where has the year gone? carol is off. i'm christine romans. >> and i'm ali velshi. good to see you again. haven't been here a while but come back into much news. >> tell me your abu dhabi -- >> in case you missed it, republican front-runner newt gingrich must have felt like everyone was ganging up on him

because they were. calling the palestinian "an invented people." >> this is a propaganda war in which our side refuses to engage and we refuse to tell the truth while the other side lies and you're not going to win if you're afraid to stand firm and stand for the truth. >> you stand firm and speak for the truth but you don't stand for israel. if bb netanyahu what's to say what you say, let him say it. >> and the leading to one of the evening's most spirited exchanges. >> let's of candid. the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> now, wait a second. wait a second. now wait -- >> i mean -- >> all right, cnn's deputy political director paul steinhauser joins us from des moines, iowa this morning. paul, nice to see you.

romney's offer to make a bet with rick perry, another moment last night. >> reporter: yeah, that may be -- maybe it backfired a little. a long-standing argument between the men we've seen play out and previous debates rick perry suggesting mitt romney and his book "no apologies" took out a little chapter where he says he has support for the mandate on health care. listen to how it played out in the debate saturday night. >> you're for individual mandates, my friend. >> you know what, you've raised that before, rick, and you're -- >> it was true then and it's true now. >> rick, i'll tell you what, 10,000 bucks -- 10,000 dollar bet. >> i'm not in the betting business. >> reporter: here's the problem. okay, we all know mitt romney, very wealthy man. multi-millionaire. when you're trying to maybe reach out and associate with

average americans, a $10,000 bet, a little steep. a lot of people saying maybe this backfired. democrats criticizing romney right after those comments. yesterday morning, brought his wife into this equation to kind of get himself out of the mess. take a listen. >> actually, after the debate was over ann came up, gave me a kiss and said it was great and she said a lot of things you do well, betting isn't one of them. >> reporter: and you know, of course, of course, romneycare, as opponents call it, has been a problem for mitt romney all along. the individual mandate, of course, now the national health care law, a big problem with conservative voters and has been an issue for mitt romney throughout this campaign. christi christine, ali? >> good to see you, paul, it's ali. you look like you're going to be there three weeks. the primary is january 2nd. hope it warms up for you. you said democrats took a piece

out of romney. careful not to take too many pieces off newt gingrich. neither of the gop front-runners would be able to win two crucial states against president obama in a general election. tell us how this plays out. >> reporter: yeah. this is interesting. take a look at the numbers. a new poll over the weekend from nbc maris. the south carolina numbers. you can see president obama and a hypothetical matchup with both newt gingrich or mitt romney ahead, and ahead by a decent amount. fascinating, because south carolina, a pretty reliable republican state, i think we can all say in the gop. a long way away. things could change. go to florida. this is the big state, the big enc enchila enchilada. crucial battleground state. the president has a smaller lead but a lead over gingrich and romney in hypothetical matchups. to your other point, yeah, the democratic national committee could go after mitt romney nonstop but they're starting to

pick up criticism of newt gingrich as he's risen in the polls and now the front-runner in the gop nomination. three weeks and one day a way from the caucuses right here in iowa. christine, ali? >> paul, thank you. i don't mean top say anything disparaging about my co-anchor's home state of iowa -- >> weather's cold. and accused of playing politics in a "60 minutes" interview the president saying the gop decided their best bet, sitting on the sidelines. his words, and he sized up two potential challengers in 2012. the two we were just talking about -- newt gingrich and mitt romney. >> what do you make of this surge by former speaker gingrich? >> he's somebody who's been around a long time and is good on tv, is good in debates, and,

you know, but mitt romney has shown himself to be somebody who's good at politics as well. he's had a lot of practice at it. you know, i think that they will be going at it for a while. when the republican party has decided who its nominee's going to be, then we'll have plenty of time to worry about it. >> as paul steinhauser just told us, however, the president's re-election team has spent most of its time and money on mitt romney but last week senior obama strategist axelrod called gingrich the godfather of gridlock in washington. and new sex abuse allegations rocking one of the world's largest sports youth group. accused of child sex abuse. in an espn interview, two former back players say robert dodd molested them when they were teens in the 1980s. the aau says it alerted police last week and even turned over

the name ever a third accuser. cnn's george howell joins us live. they first learned in early november but police weren't told until nearly a month later? >> reporter: again, christine, that is one of the questions we want to ask of police this morning. basically getting into the timeline of events here. we know that the aau received anonymous e-mails from a source only identified by the name shrimp breath. that on november 7th and 8th. they also received anonymous phone messages that took at least a month for the group to basically hire a private investigator, then go through all of that material to decide whether to turn it over to police. again, a month went by when this group turned it over to police on december 8th and, again, the group made the decision just days after getting those anonymous e-mails and phone calls to remove dodd from his

post. >> the alleged abuse took place at hotels on the road at tournaments. any abuses outside of tennessee? >> reporter: just across the river you're in another state. a fair question we want to ask police as they look into these allegation. again, this team back in the '80s did travel to different events. so that is something we will ask police as we speak to them this morning. >> he has been removed from his post, you jsay? >> reporter: he has. days after getting the e-mails and phone calls the board convened, confronted dodd, and dodd apparently denied repeatedly any connection to these allegations but did admit that he was contacted by an anonymous source. again, the board made the decision to remove him from his post, and we've been checking around for him here in memphis. we knocked on several doors, checked in orlando, but no sign of dodd, who is suffering if colon cancer. no idea where he is at this

point, but an investigation under way. >> undergoing treatment for cancer treatment we're told, too. that's right. thank you so much. meantime, the penn state scandal, what assistant coach mike mcqueary saw in the locker room showers has surface pd. it's different than provided to investigation. mcqueary told family friend, a doctor, that he heard sex sounds, end quote, coming from the shower. saw a young boy stick his head out of the shower and later jerry sandusky left with a towel on. mcqueary told the grand jury he actually witnessed rasandusky raping a young boy. >> a preliminary hearing expected to begin in the morning. cnn's susan candiotti spoke with the attorney of one of the victims and has a preview of what we can expect in the courtroom. >> ali and christine, good

morning. at the preliminary hearing on tuesday we'll get a sneak peek at the prosecutor's case against jerry sandusky. wearing his court-ordered ankle bracelet, jerry sandusky will leave his home tuesday to face his accuser for the first time. a potentially explosive moment in this courtroom, when his alleged victims take the stand outlining dramatic charges ever rape and molestation. >> what do you think the atmosphere will be like in the courtroom? >> i think it will be electric. >> reporter: sandusky is charged with performing oral sex on the teenager known as alleged victim number one more than 20 times in 2007 and 2008. the boy's attorney says the teen is ready to testify. >> how is your client trying to prepare himself for this? >> reporter: he has been told to essentially tell the truth and prepare by simply trying to relax as best as he can. >> reporter: what is it going to be like for him to face coach

sandusky? >> i believe it's going to be a very difficult, difficult experience for him. >> reporter: and for each alleged victim at the preliminary hearing. prosecutors much convince a judge there's enough evidence to go to trial. >> it's a very embarrassing situation for most of them, to be sure, and they're going to be cross-examined by someone who is determined to show they're lying. >> reporter: that someone is sandusky's lawyer. >> we're looking for people to tell us specifically what they're saying happened, and then what we're going to do is start trying to prove that that probably didn't happen the way they said. >> reporter: with two more alleged victims coming forward last week, sandusky now faces more than 50 charges of sexual assault. he denies all of them. yet sandusky's denials don't matter to victim number one. >> he wants nothing more than to see zsandusky behind bars.

>> reporter: he's prepared to see this through no matter how long it goes? >> absolutely right. >> reporter: apparently, so is coach sandusky. he's doing his homework to help prepare his defense. >> thank you. a developing story. an al qaeda prison break in yemen. at least 14 suspected terrorists dug a tunnel out of a prison in south yemen. an area where militants have seized entire chunks of a province as political violence turns that country upside-down. dozens of al qaeda militants also tunnelled their way out of a prison in the same area, you'll remember, back in june. former dictator manuel noriega is in panama spending his first night back in his homeland in a prison cell. the drug-running dictator was taken straight to prison to begin serving a 20-year prison sentence for murdering his

opponent. and a night of emotion, inspiration and standing ovations at cnn gave an all-star tribute to ten remarkable men and women and announced its hero of the year last night. >> the 2011 cnn hero of the year is robin lim. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ the edge >> i could never keep it together when watching "heroes." she helped women in indonesia have a healthy pregnancy. in her biggest moment as she is in the rest of the year. >> today on earth 981 mothers in the prime of their life will die, and tomorrow again and yesterday. and i'm asking you to help

change that. we don't even know how many babies are lost, but all of us can help change that. >> personal plea. really is. >> she became a midwife after her sister and her sister's baby died from complications during childbirth. that happened several years ago, and so many of these heroes, a personal experience on something they've seen in communities or travels and these are unsung heroes. that's the beauty of this program. cnn goes out and finds these people who are not widely recognized. they haven't been given an international award for what they do. it really is, it's one of those many things that make me cry. >> and not cliche but gives you faith in humanity again. it really does. >> absolutely. ahead on "american morning," on the court, punishment handed down for a nasty brawl in college basketball. one coach says his players may never come back. and a player who helped clean up baseball after the steroid, now he's fighting what

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so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. so why wait ? ask your doctor today... ... about taking care with vesicare. welcome back to "american morning." it's 19 minutes after the hour. punishment handed down for one of the most vicious fights we

have seen ever on the basketball court. this happened with nine seconds to go in saturday's game between cincinnati and xavier, yancy gates busted up and roles in the brawl. cincy's head coach showing disgust at a news conference. >> -- decide who's on the team going forward. that's what the university of cincinnati's about. period. i told them the way i feel, i've everyone inner been this embarrassed. i'm hoping president williams doesn't ask me to resign after that. >> frank words clearly showing his disgust and talked to the two rivals who cancelled their 80th meeting next season. >> looked at as one of the good guys in major league baseball. now the reigning national mvp ryan brawn tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs

during the playoff. he faces a 50-game suspension next season if confirmed. he recently signed a new deal that will pay him $150 million through 2020. his spokesperson says he's ultimately be proving innocent of these allegations. in a year of college scandals there is indeed something to celebrate. robert griffin iii game the first player from baylor to win the trophy. andrew luck second in the voting for the second straight year. griffin is also on the dean's list and the son of two retired army sergeants. >> and his choice now is, he can play another year, he could go to the pro, go on to law school. this guy has every kind of good option ahead of him. we're going to talk to him later on. >> he'll join at live at 8:40 a.m. eastern. we'll ask what this means for baylor, about a jump to the nfl, about the superman socks he wore to the ceremony saturday.

a great conversation with him right here at 8:40 a.m. the travel forecast and rob marciano in the extreme weather center. you wearing supermano spidey socks? >> i'm more of a spidey guy. a humble man. saw his interviews over the weekend. congratulations, and a fine first name, as a matter of fact. robert. >> that's right. >> issues do deal with across the northeast. after a chilly weekend, as a matter of fact, the coldest air of the season yesterday morning. finally getting below freezing across parts of the northeast including new york city. a little batch of freezing drizzle across western wisconsin and heavier rains across the southeast and southwest corner. the southwest corner has a little snow with it. rainfall amounts significant across parts of southwest florida and most stays south of florida and coming into the southwest, los angeles and the mountains to the east of l.a., significant snow especially

above 5,000 feet. winter storm warnings posted. and those same places seeing storms will get it. low clouds causing delays in san francisco and san diego and phoenix. day time highs today, 42. chicago 46. atlanta a little rain, 45. warmer in new york than yesterday, but still a little chill in the air reminds you christmas is around the corner. back up to you. >> i don't need the chill. i need the kids reminding me every moment christmas is around the corner. >> it was beautiful yesterday. going up fifth avenue and the lights and windows. very nice. >> oh, yeah. still to come, new details on a shooting rampage in los angeles. disturbing video. you see here, the gunman opening fire on random cars. what happened and what could have triggered violence? we're going to talk about it on the way back. it is 23 minutes after the hour. so i like control in the rest of my life... especially my finances. that's why i have slate, with blueprint.

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"minding your business" this morning. most asian markets advancing yoker night. a debt crisis is triggering optimism. u.s. markets open in about three hours coming off a strong session friday with the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all posting sharp gains.

u.s. investors will be closely monitoring events in europe. no official meetings planned after a majority of eurozone members struck a new deal to save the euro. britain a member of the eurozone, a member ever the eu, is rejecting it leaving some investors on edge. the mf global money chase continues. the judge overseeing the bankruptcy of the firm clearing the way for some customers to get their money back. he's approved releasing roughly $2 billion more in frozen funds to customers of the firm, but this still doesn't include the $1.2 billion that mf global lost before it collapsed. many of you were shopping this weekend because you weren't going to the movies. weekend box office sales hit a three-year low with more than $77 million taken in. new year's eve led the way in a very weak field. it took in $13.7 million. save a tree and some money if you're a little tight on cash this holiday season the american christmas tree association

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if you will cheat on your wife, if you will cheat on your spouse, then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner? >> getting personal and giving it back. newt gingrich facing his first

big test since he skyrocketed in the polls and with three weeks until iowa it is getting ugly on this "american morning." sorry about that. i thought i was supposed to read that. >> been out of the bracket. i'm a little rusty. iowa, that is, the iowa stories should generally fall to you. when the canadian primary is on i'll take over. >> oh, yeah, they talk about the canadian primary so much here. welcome back. 31 minutes after the hour. time for this morning's top stories. newt gingrich gaining momentum. a new nbc news maris poll has the former house speaker leading mitt romney by 19 points in south carolina and 15 points in florida, but when the two republican front-runners go up against president obama in both states, they both lose. the president leads romney by three points and gingrich by four and florida, obama by 7 and gingrich by 12 points.

one of the country's largest sports groups. now memphis police are investigating sex abuse claims against robert dodd. in an espn interview two former basketball players say that dodd molested them when they were young teens in the 1980s. the aau alerted police last week, it says, and even turned over the name of a third accuser. the aau dismissed dodd last month. and manuel noriega, waking up in his homeland this morning in a prison cell. the drug running dictator from the '80s was extradited back to panama yesterday, taken straight to prison to begin serving a 20-year sentence for murdering his opponent while in power. he spent some 20 years in prison in florida and france for drug trafficking and money laundering. ali? and now that newt gingrich has emerged as a front-runner for the republican nomination he is taking a beating from both sides of the aisle, not only from gop rivals but democrat as well.

the democratic national committee now labeling the former house speaker at the original tea partier, end quote, in a new ad. talk about that. the high lights of the debate over the weekend, with national coordinators of the key party patriots. an organize with 1,800 chapters and millions across the country. welcome. you would know the candidate who is the original tea partier. does this resonate with you when they call newt gingrich the original tea partier? >> i think of the original tea partiers not us but sam adams and the people in boston, massachusetts. so, if they're referring to the fact that newt gingrich and president clinton balanced the federal budget, maybe he is one of the early tea partier, but i don't know what they're talking about. >> mark did anything change? game changers? anybody upset anybody else? >> i don't think there were any

game changers, things that am e amused the press generally. you see the occasional bungle. the romney bet didn't place well. >> a bet, he was having a disagreement with rick perry about something in his book and said, bet you $10,000. >> obviously the average american isn't betting $10,000 on pretty much anything. i didn't see any real game changers. >> talk about rick perry and newt gingrich. gingrich's rocky private life in the past. listen in to this. >> if you will cheat on your wife. if you will cheat on your spouse. then why wouldn't you cheat on your business partner or why wouldn't you cheat on anybody in that matter? >> i've made mistakes at times had to go to god, seek reconciliation but i'm also a 68-year-old grandfather. >> looking for a person of principle. does this become a big issue for

newt gingrich and how did he hand that? >> i don't know if it's a big issue but it's an issue. character should always be considered, especially in talking about the president. it is an issue in the tea party and people will take it into consideration when decide hoing to vote for. >> ron paul, consistent and grown a little over the course ever this attacked gingrich for earning money as a consultant to fannie mae and freddie mac. bought $1 million in consulting fees. listen to what ron paul had to say. >> if you look at newt -- >> listen to michele bachmann. michele bachmann, actually, but we'll listen to michele bachmann in a second. ron paul said to, said about newt gingrich that he -- he basically took taxpayer money because taxpayer bailed out fannie mae and freddie mac. gingrich's response he offered strategic advice, was in the private sector, working in the private sector. your sense whether this is

important? >> i think it is important. people around the country involved in the tea party movement know that fannie mae and freddie mac have had a lot of problems, and that our government, it's involved in things that it shouldn'ted be involved in. the fact he was making money off of it, bother people. that's part of the reason our party doesn't know where to stand. >> does it bother them he was taking money at that time, being in the private sector? >> i think it does. when my husband and i lost our house we were offered money from them and declined it, and lost our house instead of taking money from the, i guess we in the private sector, too, but we didn't take that money. >> okay. we were just listening to michele bachmann. do we have that again? can we play what we just heard from michele bachmann. listen in. >> if you look at newt-romney, they were for obama care principles. if you look at newt-romney, they

were for cap and trade. if you look at newt-romney, they were for the illegal immigration problem, and if you look at newt-romney, they were for the $700 billion bailout. >> done an effective job and she is effective. newt-romney taking aim at the two front-runners. where is michele bachmann in this race when it comes to you and tea party patriots? >> the most important thing what she said was true. it was affected because it was true dealing with flip-flopping on major issues to tea partiers. michele's been consistent. she has stood on principle throughout her career and all the way through the election. the people attracted to her candidacy, it really is about principle and consistency. >> the tougher conservatives, michele bachmann, rick santorum, they're not gaining more attraction at the moment. will they? can they? >> we'll see. not a single vote has been cast.

it's hard to tell what's actually going to happen. mark and i were talking before this started, and on december 18, 2007, giuliani was ten points ahead in polls and he didn't make it out as the nominee. >> three weeks away from a very, very important, from iowa -- let's talk about this. we've got this poll. the cnn "time" orc taken between november 29th and december 6th about tea party supporters. look where gingrich is polling among tea party supporters. 62% say they'll support him in florida. 40% in iowa. 37% in new hampshire and 53% in south carolina. are the numbers skewed? three weeks to go. are they going to topple gingrich or could beginning rsh become the republican presidential nominee? >> anything is possible. again, the polls have been fluctuating wildly. >> true. everybody's had a chance. >> pretty much everybody is the front-runner. if you look at history, in december of 2007, giuliani, he

was considered the presumptive nominee by pretty much everybody in the media. it's going to look at the history, take a deep breath and wait to see how people vote. >> people like are you activists. you're not really waiting. what do you think is going to happen? your guesses what to happen in the next three weeks? >> in the next three weeks we're just going to watch how things pan out. people in iowa are still paying attention. iowa has to get out the vote. they're going to do that. we'll see what happens in new hampshire and south carolina. and i would suggest in south carolina, people are still, i was there, they are undecided and still trying to make up their minds. >> there's something to all of these debates and that there are some undecided people still thinking about it. great to see you both. thank you for being with us, mark and jenny beth are with the national committee tea party. and randomly shooting cars on hollywood street.

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welcome back to "american morning." 43 minutes after the hour.

learning new details about a terrifying weekend shooting rampage in hollywood. a gunman pacing back and forth down the middle of sunset boulevard randomly shooting at people. >> oh, my god. you all right? there's a madman, just shot people. >> can you see, a guy filming it four stories up or something. managed to capture all this. the suspect shot and killed on the scene. what triggered this rampage? clinical psychologist jeff gar deere jo -- gardere. >> standing in the middle of the street, shooting, 26 years old, shooting like crazy. his friends and a former girlfriend say there was a recent breakup. what makes someone go and want to go out in such a huge way like this? >> obviously, yes, this is a person who was suicidal. i would think even though there are reports that he was taking

some sort of pharmaceutical, some sort of a drug, his girlfriend says, we don't know what it is. we know with, in the past -- >> or if it's even true. >> we know in the past with some certain antidepressants if that's what he was taking. we don't know there are side effects such as suicidal behavior. you can only begin to wonder whether this guy had some sort of mental health history and if he didn't, perhaps undiagnosed. certainly this is someone who was probably emotionally unstable probably for quite some time and then this breakup with the girlfriend threw him over the edge, because people break up all the tile. people get dumped all the time. people sometimes take drugs, but they don't go out, try to kill other people and especially in an outrageous way such as this one, and then want to be killed by the cops, which is what he was asking for. >> say he may have had an illness he was undiagnosed for. according to his girlfriend, he

wasn't big into drugs. didn't like pharmaceuticals. he met a woman who he thought was a pharmaceutical salesman. the whole thing is murky. if you are undiagnosed or think you have some kind of mental illness, what kind of drugs could cause you to become delusional or psychotic or suicidal? is there a wide range of things that you shouldn't touch? >> a couple of drug, and i won't give specific names, of course, but certain anti-depressants we know have been warnings that if you are not taking them the correct way or if the levels are too high, that, in fact, you can be suicidal, and we've seen these warnings for young people especially. >> that's counterintuitive. you think you're depressed and somebody gives you an antidepressant, it's going to make you feel better? >> the other thing, when we look at antidepressants, i'm not a psychiatrist or physician, we know if it's not the right balance for you, if it overstimulates you, for example, and you already have suicidal

thinking to begin with. most people commit suicide after they've been discharged from a hospital, when they're feeling bet are because they have more energy. maybe this guy, who claims that he liked fast things. we found that off his facebook, might have been taking something that was an overstimulant. >> but we don't know. sometimes people -- the girlfriend, ex-girlfriend is trying to put the blame, not the blame, put the attention somewhere else. just no idea what was ticking in this kid, young man, 26 years old. >> right. >> but to go out -- it's one thing to be so depressed and heartbroken over a breakup. apparently he's known this woman for a very, very long time. it's one thing to be suicidal. another thing to shoot somebody else. someone's is in critical condition, shot in the face. to go shoot someone in the face, that's really, really -- >> we need to look at all of these different kind of cases. even the shooting cases on the campuses. these are not people who woke up

one day and said, you know what? i'm going to go hurt someone because i'm angry. these are people -- >> it's a process. >> it's a process. they've had emotional issues perhaps undiagnosed, perhaps masked. with this particular person, again, we don't know anything of substance right now, this could have been a guy who was always kind of unstable but hooked up with the right girl at the time. they knew each other how that college. dating four years. she was the anchor. she kept him stable. once she dumped him, then he just fell apart. that's all that right now we can apongsize. >> if there are people watching who feel they are despondent or you know someone who is very, very despondent, stories like this, you're so good at reaching out, saying, look, there are better days ahead. just stop for a minute. up know, if someone's really in trouble -- >> that's right. stop and think. we've seen so many of these cases. right now you just can't look the other way. you have to try to get them to a family physician, get them to a

psychologist, to an emergency room. the mobile crisis units. there are things you can do out there you don't have to be powerless. >> how do you say it? most who tell you they're despondent, aren't telling you, by the way, where can i ge for help? how do you say to somebody, i think you need help? >> the first thing, i really care about you. perhaps -- you don't even have to say, i think you're emotionally unstable. you need a little help. all of us need some help at some point in our lives. i love you. i'm here for you. let me take to you see someone, to see my doctor. take you to a house of worship and get counseling, whatever it is, whatever the resources, just get people involved, and if you do get enough people involved there are enough eyes on that person that they can support them somehow instead of just letting go off randomly and doing something really crazy. >> jeff gardere, clinical psychologist. >> great to be with you both.

we're used to the celebrity apology but never saw one like this. alec baldwin going to the confronts of "saturday night live" to send a message to american airlines. we'll tell you about about it when we come back. 49 minutes after the hour.

about 51 past the hour. here's what you need to know to start your day. newt gingrich still going strong. the former house speaker gaining

support in two key southern states, leading mitt romney. president obama accusing republicans of doing nothing as a political strategy. last night in an interview with "60 minutes," the president saying the gop decided their best bet was sitting on the sidelines and hoping the economy would get worse. the penn state sex scandal. a new version of what assistant coach mcqueary saw in the showers. a rape reports, at the time he heard sex sounds, briefly saw a young boy and later saw jerry sandusky leave with a towel on. mcqueary told the grand jury that he witnessed sandusky actually raping a child. former dictator manuel noriega back in the state of panama in a prison cell. he was extradited yesterday after spending 20 years in prison in florida, and in france, for drug trafficking and money laundering. with the season on the line, the new york giants stun the dallas cowboys on sunday night football.

they blocked a field goal try in the final seconds after eli manning took them down the field for another fourth quarter comeback. final, 37-34. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" right back after this. ♪

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welcome back. the next list is a new cnn program which focuses on some of america's most creative minds. some of the world's most creative minds. each sunday dr. sanjay gupta profiles people on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. in fact, the concept of the next list is not names you know, it's the next list of names you'll know. >> this week, a computer developer who transforms the way we see in his magical new world, it's showing up in museums. take a look. >> before the ipad i used to joke i made useless programs but they're at useless as a song a movie, a story, something like that. and all of a sudden with the ipad, i could just go directly to people and say, check this thing out. it doesn't -- we don't even have to label what it is. it's just called gravelex.

bubblematter, see if you like it, and all of a sudden they did. >> you can catch the next list, each sunday, 2:00 p.m. right here on cnn. alec baldwin doing damage control. you were somewhere in the air when this was happening. >> i heard about it. >> he wouldn't stop playing a video game on his phone. he actually received an apology from himself. take a look at this clip from "saturday night live." >> what harm would it do to let him keep playing his game, any game, not any game, but a word game for smart people? >> and doesn't that interfere with the plane's communication's systems? >> you don't believe that? do you? would you get on an airplane up 30,000 feet in the air if you thought this could bring it down? it's a cruel joke by the airline industry. we would have gotten away with it, but alec baldwin was just too smart for us.

he really is something, seth. >> but didn't alec baldwin getting kicked off the plane delay takeoff. >> it did, and the first time in the history of american airlines one of our flights was delayeded. come on, seth! >> that was funny. okay. just ahead, newt gingrich is pulling away from his gop rivals in the south in two critical early states. the new polls are showing how he may fare in november against president obama. the news isn't as good. we'll tell you when we come back, 56 minutes after the hour.

he's surging but can he beat president obama? new polls showing whether voters think newt gingrich is the best choice to face the president. new questions about the alleged eyewitness in the penn state sex abuse scandal and whether coach mike mcqueary is really an eyewitness after all. america's gun law in focus after another tragedy at virginia tech. allowing gun on campus, somebody who says that is the answer. and it is my great honor to announce the 2011 cnn hero of the year. >> they spend their lives

putting others first. nowcnn's "heroes" get their night in the spotlight on this "american morning." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning, everyone. it is monday, december 12th. carol is off today. i'm christine romans along with ali velshi on this "american morning." welcome back. >> good to be back. i missed everybody and am thankful there is a great deal of news to report this morning. >> politics for you. >> let's start with that. newt gingrich. he is sizzling in the south. take a look at this new nbc news maris poll released yesterday. the former house speaker opening up a gaping lead over mitt romney in two southern states. this is south carolina you were looking at and, yes, that's not an error. that shows a 19-point margin for newt gingrich over mitt romney. in florida, gingrich is 15 points ahead, but the news is not all good for newt or for mitt romney for that matter. we have two reports. first, our deputy political

director paul steinhauser is live in des moines, but let's start with joe johns, he's live at the cnn center in atlanta this morning. joe, good morning. good morning to you as well, paul. new poll numbers show that neither gop front-runner can knock president obama off in two key states. tell us about this. >> reporter: well, it's disturbing for republicans who want to reclaim the white house, if you look at these numbers. still early. still just a snapshot, but for those people who are looking at newt gingrich or mitt romney as the guys to knock off barack obama, take a look at this. 51% for obama in south carolina. 39% for gingrich in south carolina. basically identical numbers in florida. now, the interesting thing is, four years ago, i should say three years ago, barack obama actually lost south carolina, but he did win florida. so these are the kinds of numbers that you start looking at, and they're the things that

make you go "hmm." ale, back to you. >> no kidding. these were not -- these republicans, or at least with south carolina, a republican stronghold. there is an interesting debate in new hampshire tonight, which pits newt gingrich against jon huntsman, absent from this weekend's debate? >> reporter: right. huntsman is a guy who hasn't gotten a whole lot of traction, as we've heard so much about here, across the country. new hampshire, he'd have to do very well. this is going to be his shot pretty much to make this case. that one opportunity in a debate, up against the front-runner in the race, newt gingrich, and people are going to get to hear what jon huntsman has to say. so for newt, anything he can do to sort of, you know, speed up the clock here and get this thing over, that's good for him, too. >> all right. joe, thanks very much for that. lots to watch. joe johns joining us from atlanta. and this weekend's debate, mitt romney might have made a critical mistake.

it happened when texas governor mar rick perry challenged him. reviving claims by critics that he's out of touch. listen. >> you were for individual mandates, my friend. >> you know what? you've raised that before, rick, and you're simply wrong. >> it was true then and it's true now. >> rick, i'll tell you what, $10,000? $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business. >> oh. and i think this morning romney wishes he weren't either. cnn deputy political paul steinhauser, live in des moines, iowa this morning. rick perry looked shocked when romney offered that $10,000 bet. didn't he? >> reporter: yeah, and rick perry yesterday campaigning near iowa saying that, yeah, this shows that mitt romney is out of touch with americans who are struggling to survive in tough economic times.

you see him on the campaign trail, putting out a web video making the most of it. perry trying to get traction. good debate. for romney, yeah. even the democrats as well, democratic national committee beating up on mitt romney for two straight days after those comments saturday night at the showdown, at the debate here in iowa. the romney campaign saying, though, that it showed that rick perry wouldn't take that bet, that he would step down from it. this is a long simmering feud between the two men over what mitt romney wrote in the book and whether he took anything out in later editions in the book. no apologies about romneycare of which he passed while being governor of massachusetts. >> romney calling gingrich a career politician, but then gingrich hit right back on that. didn't he? >> reporter: he sure did. listen, what has changed over the last couple of weeks since that last debate, the rnc debate in washington just before thanksgiving. the polls.

newt gingrich now the front-runner. here in iowa, first to hold the contest and when you're the front-runner, you have a bull's eye on your back. >> let's be candid. the only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> wait a second. now, wait a second, that's -- now, wait -- >> reporter: i mean, all right. we've got three weeks now until the vote and all the candidates septemb september -- except huntsman are here for the political debate. >> if i were a career politician, if i -- ted kennedy, wouldn't have been in the private sector, makes me good president. >> makes good tv. and president obama accused republicans plafring politics with the economic crisis last night and gave an interview to

"60 minutes." the president said the gop decided their best bet, sitting on the sidelines. president obama sized up two of his potential challengers in 2012, newt gingrich and mitt romney. >> what do you make of this surge by former speaker gingrich? >> he's somebody who's been around a long time, and is good on tv, is good in debates, and -- but mitt romney has shown himself to be somebody who's good at politics as well. he's had a lot of practice at it. you know, i think that they will be going at it for a while. when the republican party has decided who its nominee is going to be, then we'll have plenty of time to worry about it. >> so far the president's re-election team spent most of its time and money focusing on mitt romney. last week senior obama strategist david axelrod took the first direct shot at newt

gingrich calling him "the godfather of gridlock" in washington. and new developments in the penn state abuse case against jerry sandusky. questions after a new version of what assistant football coach mike mcqueary saw in that locker room back in 2002 surfaces. this latest account, it's slightly different from the handwritten statement mcqueary pried for investigators. sara ganim joins us live with details. good morning. by my count, three kinds of different interpretations of what mike mcqueary saw in the showers back in 2002, nine years ago. four if you count that e-mail leaked by one of his friends or acquaint answers has talked how he made sure it stopped. >> reporter: you're right, christine. there are several variations and we have to remember that the grand jury report, that variation, is a summary of his testimony.

however, you know, that is, presumably, very close to his handwritten statement, which he gave to police, which describes this very graphic scenario shower where he actually had seniory sandusky sodomizing a young boy, describing the boy's hands were up against the wall. the way he described it is in such detail it is different from this very first account. what we reported on sunday, that after what he saw, whatever he saw in that shower, we hent to his father's house in state college seeking advice and there, a colleague of his father was there and sat with him and heard what is presumably mike mcqueary's very first account, very first time telling what he saw in that shower, and it's very different. the details are just incredibly different than that handwritten statement he gave in 201 o. he says he walked in, heard sex noises, something he mentioned in the other report, but then

says the young boy peered around the shower stall, looked at him before a man's arm grabbed the boy around his waist, pulled him back and seconds later jerry sandusky left in a towel. so this witness, this doctor, also says that he asked mike mcqueary several times what did you see? and several times mike mcqueary said, i didn't see anything. >> so the question is, what was it that he didn't or did see and how shocked was this man who was walking into his father's house by what he had just seen and this was the first time he was telling someone presumably about this, and it was nine years ago. so all of this, i guess, sara, what is the most important version of events? is it these version of events or is it what mike mcqueary tells a judge and jury when and if there's a trial? >> reporter: well, the thing is christine, you know when we get to friday you know, this is going to be an issue on tuesday, at jerry sandusky preliminary hearing, but there are several

cases against jerry sandusky. the key, when we get to friday, we have a hearing for gary schultz and tim curley. the two penn state officials charged with perjury. they're charged with perjury because the grand jury believed mike mcqueary over them. and so this is going to be, i would assume, a big deal on friday and, yes, you're correct. what mike mcqueary tells the judge matters. however, the defense will -- >> defense will try -- >> let this go. use it, and you know, when i talked to the attorneys over the weekend they said you you know, if this is true, the charges should be dismissed. >> the attorneys for schultz and curley? >> right. correct. right. >> thanks so much. sara ganim. cnn contributor and crime reporter at the "patriot news." looked at as one of the good guys in major league baseball. ryan braun now is fighting reports that he failed a drug test. espn says braun tested positive

for high levels of testosterone during the milwaukee playoff run. braun face as 50-game suspension next season if confirmed. recently signed a new deal that will pay him $150 million through 2020. that's not the biggest deal out there, believe it or not. his spokesperson said he will ultimately be proved innocent of the allegations. tell me that you didn't just shed a tear. right? tell me you didn't? because i ow did you. cnn paying tribute to ten totally inspiring men and women and announced its hero of the year last night. a.j. hammer has the highlights for us. >> reporter: laughter, tears, standing ovations. it was a night of emotion and inspiration. and hollywood's famed shrine auditorium. >> welcome. >> reporter: selected from more than 10,000 nominations, ten remarkable men and women honored for their extraordinary work. like the wife of a fallen soldier who made it her mission no military widow would feel alone.

>> i love you, michael. >> reporter: and american midwife who moved to indonesia to run a free clinic for at-risk mothers. a former refugee who brings free recycled soap to needy communities around the world. >> and who knows, you might help save a life. >> reporter: aparalyzed man who brings the gift of mobility to others in need. >> there is nothing better than to serve god and help others. >> reporter: and a grandmother from chicago who takes kids off the street and gives them a chance. >> please, don't give up on our young people. >> reporter: and with the help of some of hollywood's brightest, young star, cnn also honored three young wonders. their battle for clean water and fight again hunger and homelessness proves that heroism has no age limits. ♪ just keep pushing on >> reporter: from the first moments on the red carpet. >> these are real celebrities to me. these are the heroes. >> reporter: to the final announcement of the night. >> the 2011 cnnary he ar"hero o

year" is robin lim. >> reporter: everyday people with big hearts and rock-solid determination for changing the world. a.j. hammer, cnn, los angeles. >> i could never keep it together. i think it's so great. >> to think there were hundreds more who cnn talked to and profiled over the year really trying to change their neighborhood and the world one piece at a time. mother robin, robin lim, helped indonesian women have a healthy pregnancy. >> she became a midwife after her own sister and her sister's baby died from complications during childbirth several years ago. took that experience and event and doesn't want -- stood up, 981 women die every day, because of preventible complications in pregnancy and she wants to change that. >> incredible. still to come this morning,

another tragedy at virginia tech. gun laws. it's become a factor in the 2012 presidential race. are laxed gun laws the real problem or is allowing gun on campus the answer? former dictator manuel noriega back in panama, but he won't be seeing much of his homeland. you're waging "american morning."

welcome back. second tragedy on the campus of virginia tech university. the apparent murder/suicide that claimed the life of an officer with five children is re-igniting the debate over the nation's laxed gun laws. are they the problem? the president of the virginia citizens defense league a guns rights group that supports having concealed weapons on campus. welcome to the show. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me on. >> it seems somewhat counterintuitive in the wake of this type of shooting you'd be suggesting that guns should be allowed on campus. for those who don't understand that, tell us what your case is? >> sure. a gun is a self-defense tool. it's simply something that's

used to protect yourself. it's not either good or bad in and of itself. it's who uses it or carries it, and we believe that students, faculty, staff and guests that have concealed permits carry everywhere else they go should also be allowed to carry on campus. a campus is nothing more than a bunch of buildings. >> you've held this position for a while. what about a case where the person who's shot had a gun? in this case, a police officer? >> well, yes. a gun is not a guarantee nothing can happen to you, and that's, you know, you still -- somebody could sneak up on somebody, but most crimes don't happen that way. usually there is some kind of an altercation or an indication that something's going to go down ahead of time. that was very unusual. >> talk about this. a number of colleges have taken up this debate on their own. virginia tech made a decision they don't want guns on campus but a former virginia tech professor said this, listen to

what he said. he said schools are often places highly charged with emotion and conflict. only an idiot could posit guns would somehow enhance the atmosphere. what do you think about that? >> well, he's not speaking about ready. you know? i went to college. not everybody's like that at all. i've been to these colleges. we've been having protests it, going to different colleges to bring awareness to this. nicest people you'd ever want to meet there. blue ridge community college here in virginia allowed carrying for faculty and stach. no problem. zero. same thing in utah. every university in utah, no problems, allows guns. in practice, it's not an issue. the kind of people that get permits are not the kinds that would be drunkereds or druggies. they couldn't apply anyway. >> most groups like yours who posit the availability of gun and gun rights usually are associated with real

responsibility in owning a gun. right? you generally believe there should be a sense of responsibility for people who own guns so they don't discharge accidentally or get lost. wouldn't you argue there are more people on a university campus who might not have developed that level of responsibility just yet? they do go out on benders overnight, drink more than the general population does. things could get lost. more people share a room. does that affect your thinking about guns on campuses? >> no, because that's not the kind of person. irresponsible aren't the kind to get permits. there are 7 million permit holders in america and it is the most law-abiding lice of our -- segment of our population. >> i hear what you're saying. my point, there's nothing when applying for a permit that would suggest, put you out of the running because you're an irresponsible student. am i right? >> true, but -- >> go ahead. >> but you don't need a permit to carry a gun. you do understand that? anybody, any criminal, anybody can put on a gun and carry it.

>> how are you saying irresponsible people can't get a gun? if you don't need a permit or when you fill out the form when you get a gun, so they do the immediate check on you, there's nothing to say, nothing on the form suggesting you're responsible or not responsible? >> buying a gun has got nothing to do with carrying one. we're talking about people who have a concealed permit. criminals carole anyway. the university doesn't have to allow them. there's a difference between owning and carrying a gun. >> is there something to getting a concealed carrier distinguish you're responsible or not? >> any record of drunkenness, gets in fights, arrests, those are all disqualifiers. >> arguably, many who carry guns are not going to have records? it kind of exists? you drink more than do you in normal life. that doesn't trouble you at all? not trying to make your case, but that doesn't bother you? >> no, no.

it does not. like i say, universities where they've done this it's not been an issue. in practice as opposed to theory it's working fine, as i would expect it would. >> finally, whos decision would it be whether gun are carried or allowed on campus? shouldn't that be up to the officials, that they don't want guns carried or should that be a state decision? >> should be a state decision. in virginia, preemption at all of our local governments preempted can't pass without the general assembly. a logical step. the attorney general agrees. logical step to apply to universities as well as allstate agencys, they, too, are preempted early the general assembly steps in and says you are allowed gun control of a certain type. >> great to have you here. appreciate you taking the extra time to clarify that discussion we having. the president of the virginia citizens events league. a quick break.

it's 40 -- 23 minutes after the hour. a little ahead of myself in a different time zone. we'll be right back with more "american morning." [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card. earn points you can use for travel on any airline, with no blackout dates.

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"minding your business" this morning. most asian markets advancing yoker night. the debt crisis by many european countries triggering optimism. u.s. markets open in about two hours coming off a very strong session friday with the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 all posting sharp gains. nern american investors watching closely europe today. no officials meeting planned this week after a majority of eurozone member struck a deal for a new treaty to save the euro. britain rejects it leaving some investors on edge, and we still have concerns about global growth to grapple with as well.

now the judge overseeing mf global's bankruptcy clearing the way for some customers to get their money back. approving roughly $2 billion more in frozen funds to customers of the firm. still not including the $1.2 billion it lost before it collapse. this money owed to banks, other funds even farmer. are young people better off than their parents 30 years ago? depends on their gender pap study says young women today earn about $1.17 for every $1 their mom earned in the 1980s while young men today are earning about 10 cents an hour less than their fathers did 30 years ago. a big shift happening in american families network. and spreading christmas cheer. it's a very secret, very generous santa. some kmarts in michigan and seri

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all right. top stories, ali told me it's

12-12-11. >> a whole year before the world ends. >> and a lot of politics to get to until then. the president saying the gop decided their best bet was to do nothing. >> i think the republicans made a different calculation, which was, you know what? we really screwed up the economy. obama seems popular. our best bet is to stand on the sidelines, because we think the economy's going to get worse and at some point just blame him. so we haven't gotten the kind of engagement from them that i would have liked. >> more on that this half hour. front-runner newt gingrich coming under attack in this weekend's gop iowa debate. his opponents questioning his conservative credentials challenges his comment in the palestinians are a "invented people" and wondering whether had can be trusted after admitteding to infidelity. and memphis police

investigating sex abuse claims against the amateur athletic union's former president robert dodd. in an espn interview, two former basketball players say dodd molested them when they were young teens in the '80s. the aau says it alerted police last week and even turned over the name of a third accuser. the aau dismissed dodd last month. all right, ali. moving on to the penn state sex scandal. former football coach jerry sandusky will be forced to face his accusers in court for the first time tomorrow. he's charged with more than 50 counts of sexual assault. some of the alleged victims prepared to detail dramatic accounts of rape and molestation. here to weigh in on what we can expect in the courtroom, cnn legal analyst paul. what can we expect? the hearing is tomorrow. what can we expect from that hearing? >> well, it's going to be a very, very interesting development in the case because under pennsylvania law, at this hearing, you basically have to make out what's called a prima facie kate, meaning basic

evidence has to be presented to a judge and the judge has to look at it and say if the evidence were believed a conviction at trial. not a full trial but looking at sort of a bare bones presentation. now, that means potentially all of the victims, the alleged victims, might come into court and actually testify and be subject to cross-examination. so we're going to see for the first time a mini trial with all of the major characters in a courtroom being questioned. it's going to be a very, very interesting day. >> how -- how important is it that so many of these young men will be standing up in front of that judge? what -- i mean, that's pretty -- pretty big thing for the defense to overcome? >> you have to remember with respect to preliminary hearings, defendants don't expect to win. they really -- he doesn't -- sandusky's attorney doesn't think the thing will get thrown out. there's an avalanche of claims against him. even if only one of these kids is believed, that's a serious case.

if only one of the ten victims survive the hearing and went forward to trial, even that would be serious. what his attorney is going to see is how strong is the case? how detailed are these stories? can a case really be won at the time of trial when the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt? >> another twist to this. mike mcqueary. he is the assistant coach, the penn state assistant coach in 2002, nine years ago walked into the showers in the football building and saw something. we've seen three, by my count, maybe four different versions now of what we saw. there's a family friend, a doctor who was at the house. his father's house right after he saw whatever he saw who says he saw something a little different than what he colded grand jury. the grand jury summary says. how important is that? the pro administrators? >> the mcqueary testimony is really critical in that case. you can schultz and curley, administrators, and the claim

against them, that they committed perjury when they testified before the grand jury. the grand jury believed that mcqueary's version was accurate and theirs was not. now we have mcqueary saying one thing in a written statement that he gave in 2010, i think. >> right. >> i'm sorry. 2008. mixing my years up. but about six years post-incident. in that statement he says he actually witnessed a sodomy incident in the shower. earlier in time, someone who was at his house when he was reporting this to his father, a doctor, from the area, said, no. he never said that. he said he just saw them, something unusual going on. >> hard to figure out what he saw. >> heard bad sounds. >> for something like this, someone to witness this, is it unusual for there to be -- we haven't had a trial yet. a few different kind of iterations of what he saw out there over a nine-year period of talking about this? >> no. that's not unusual. but it's very difficult to prove perjury. perjury is a charge that requires precision in the use of

words, and let me throw one other thing into the mix on a perjury case. remember, there's another claim out there. mcqueary says he reported this to the local police. the town police and they both say, no reports from him. so mcqueary's credibility is very shakey. i've got my doubts about whether that perjury case will survive. >> let me ask you about the credibility of dottie znd zpd, the wife of jerry sandusky, there was a claim that came up from a new victim this week who said he was crying for help from the basement, while being attacked by jerry sandusky and dottie sandusky said in a statement, i'm angry about these false accusations of such a terrible incident ever occurring in my home. no child visiting our home was forced to state in our basement. how common is this and could she face -- could she somehow face a liability if indeed that happened? >> there's nothing common about any aspect of this case. >> you're right. >> with pedophiles, and a

married pedophile -- >> hard for the spouse to imagine what's happening? >> let's cut to the chase here. if it's true this was going on for years and there was a bedroom in the basement where he was keeping these kids, where they were being fed sandwiches she made and there were screams emanating from the basement, there's a case to be made against her as aiding and abetting in misconduct. i'm not saying obviously -- prosecutors haven't made that case out yet, but we'll hear testimony from many, many victims as this thing goes on. i would rule out the possibility somebody's going to say she may have some involvement. we have to watch careful lif as this developed. >> would she ever testify? they're married. in a case like this, the wife can be compelled to testify? >> unusual in pennsylvania. most states spousal privilege, you can't force a wife to testify against a husband, but in pennsylvania, where it's a serious crime involving sex abuse, the sousal privilee spo does not apply. she can be forced to testify

against her husband. prosecutors might say we need your testimony, you better testify or you're looking at a case as well. still to come this morning, three weeks to go before the iowa caucuses. how this weekend's gop debate may have redefined the race. and it's never too late to follow your dreams. coming up, an inspiring story of two out of work baby boomers overcoming failure and finding the recipe for success. you're going to love this story as much as i did. it is 38 minutes after the hour.

welcome back. if you missed this weekend's republican debate in iowa you missed the gop field ganging up on the front-runner. the new front-runner, newt gingrich. mitt romney challenging former house speaker on his controversial comments about palestinian people. you'll recall gingrich called them an invented people. rick perry confers how trustworthy a candidate can be if he's cheated on his wife. before does the race go from here with just three weeks to go before the iowa, important iowa caucuses? let's ask david fromme, former

speechwriter for president bush and a concerned speechwriter. welcome to you both. >> good morning. >> this is newt gingrich's debate since fwking a front-runner and he's holding the lead quite well. how do you think de? >> he did well. you could see governor romney clearly pondering how to deal with this new challenger. up until now, the not mitt of the moment has always been someone, romney could effortlessly dominate in a debate format. rick perry, herman cain. a very different floor of the building mitt romney son than those two individuals, newt gingrich, mitt romney is nimble. you could see the discomfort, the nervous laughter of the romney performance as he confronted this new challenge, which he hasn't yet figured out how to solve. >> wouldn't you be steamed if you were mitt romney? every time someone implodes

someone else ends up taking the lead? penny, you and a group of conservative leaders met with newt gingrich last wednesday. how do you feel that went? what did you learn, what do you think of him? >> i give him credit. he stood there two hours and took questions on any subject matter. nothing was off bounds, and replied graciously and thoughtfully to everyone. you know, i think people left the room with different feeling, but i think that it did move the ball down the field for him. you know, it's important, the issues that he's dealing with, that the american people are grappling with, are key for american women. women have carried every presidential election since 1964. they've swung in the last election for republicans for the first time in 30 years, and conservative women are really having to look at all of this. having to look at not only fidelity to your marriage, fidelity in the constitution, to

conservative principles, and it's very important. >> how did he hand that question? he has admitted to marital infidelity in the past. the discussion came up. how do you think he handled that? >> and it came up in the meeting i was in. he did i think, a good job of expressing his own -- his own repentance. the fact that, like other christians, i believe in the idea of redemption and grace, and so that is part of our thought process. that's part of the thought process for people in iowa, for christians in iowa. if we believe in grace for ourselves, we have to believe in it for our leaders, but also the key issue is repentance, and is newt a different man? and they have to work through that, and that is what is going on right now. >> he certainly made that point last night, to say, judge who i am now as oppose to who i was then. let me ask you, david. let's go back to mitt romney for a second. there was a dispute between mitt

romney and rick perry about something that was in, that rick perry said was in mitt romney's book, and in a later edition was taken out, having to do with health care. they went back and forth about this. listen to how it went down. >> rick, i'll tell you what, $10,000. $10,000 bet? >> i'm not in the betting business, but -- >> oh, okay. >> $10,000 bet. i can see, penny, i can see you shaking your head. >> oh, my -- that was a huge gaffe. >> a little out of touch. who makes a $10,000 bet? >> i wouldn't call it a gaffe. what you have there, romney has at various moments tried to bully rick perry. a man of whom he doesn't have a lot of respect. we've seen it before. and in the past with superior intellect. that's inbounds. in this case, his superior money, and it's -- maybe interesting to be reminded of the fact that romney regards

$10,000 as not a lot of money but clearly regards him -- he knows rick perry, $10,000 is a lot of money. and, you know, this party has gotten to somety remo tdegree r from the american concerns and attitudes. that revelation of how much you think $10,000, that was a pretty far drift. >> penny, you didn't like the idea that these kind of bets go down? you just didn't like that? >> my point was that culturally, he was way off message on that. the good people, the good baptists of iowa don't bet. and, by the way, rick perry knew that. he comes from texas. he gave exactly the right answer. so i cringed when i saw that on a number of levels, not just the fact that $10,000, some people barely make that a year. besides the amazing amount of money he was trying to bet, the fact that he was trying to bet it all just was -- way off. >> you found distasteful. >> yes.

>> let's talk about michele bachmann for a second. she comes out of these things quite well. usually comes up with something. this time, newt-romney. she piled the two front-runners together as being not the conservatives and not the trusted ones as it were. let's listen to michele bachmann talk about nuewt-romney. >> if you look at newt-romney, they were foreobamacare principles. if you look at newt-romney, they were for cap and trade. if you look at newt-romney, they were for the illegal immigration problem and if you look at newt-romney, they were for the $700 billion bailout. >> did it do something for michele bachmann or hurt newt-romney. >> the false claim 47% of americans don't pay taxes. we're talking about removing the republican party, the concerns of everyday people.

to say to half the country the payroll tax, the most important tax for most people that that tax doesn't count that if you pay excise taxes on plates and glasses and cheap running shoes, you're not paying taxes. if you're paying your share of corporate income tax through the higher prices you pay at the store, that you're not paying taxes. it's just writing off half the country as dependents who really are columnly p actually are pay load. >> you're giving pen aveny a pa look on her face. what is that? >> michele bachmann and rick santorum did a great job making the case they have been principled conservatives, consistent conservatives throughout their career, and i thought they both did a, had a great showing the other night, and i just would hope that rick's name idea would get a little higher so he could actually catch some wind in his

sails before it's too late. >> he wasn't cotton any wind? >> and not the same media exposure. never above 50% in name idea and it's hurt him. michele made great points. she's talking about the personal federal until tax, and you know that, david. >> i know that. deliberately misleading for her to use those numbers in that way. rick santorum has talked more about the concerns of middle-class americans. i give him credit for that. >> we're a month away from the caucus in iowa. thanks very much. the fed eder of the fromme.com and penny nance, thank you both. a good story in a bad economy. two baby boomers press the reboot buttons on their lives. they turn to their love of food and they find sweet and savory success. sorry, that's what it is. all starts with a saucepan in this week's "smart is the new

rich." >> eating is a very emotional time. >> reporter: and now a livelihood for these two men. >> really, really good. >> reporter: almost two years ago the friends the friends and next door neighbors cooked up lizbeth lanes cuisine. >> these are sauces that we make on i a regular basis. >> in 2008, his advertising business tanked. >> when the phones stopped ringing, i knew i had to do something quick. >> reporter: when michael lost his job in health care management, he found inspiration from his 12-year-old daughter. >> she said, so, dad, what is it you really like to do? and out of those conversations was, you know, my love of food. >> reporter: neighbors and foodies, together with 60 years of work experience, they named their new company after the street where it all began. >> being two 50-some-year-old guys, we're not afraid to admit that we don't know. >> it was exciting, but it was also a little terrifying because

at the age -- at the time, i was 58 years old, and to reinvent yourself at that age is a pretty drastic thing to do. but i knew that if we stuck with it, that it had a possibility of really working. >> reporter: rid does the design, ads, and labels. michael handles operations. >> i'm sort of the suit, and rid is kind of this creative guy. >> reporter: and it's about profit and principle. they ship their sauce using handicrafters. it's a nonprofit organization that gives jobs to people with disabilities and other employment barriers. rid's stepson, rob, works there. >> there are a lot of parents out there who have these special needs children, who lay awake at night wondering, well, when he gets out of school, what are we going to do with him? and this -- a place like handicrafters really gives them a wonderful opportunity to have a responsible 9:00 to 5:00 job. >> reporter: now with 50 stores in 16 states, their boomer

reboot is working. >> if we had started this out right out of college, or, you know, in our late 20s, early 30s, it probably would have been much tougher. >> it's so totally different from just having a 9:00 to 5:00 job. i have done both, and i know where i want to be, and i'm where i want to be. a total career transformation. and it's really two stories. two boomers who rebooted after just, you know, being chewed up and spit out by the financial cries, and the recession that followed. using 60 years of that experience to do this new venture, and they are doing a great job, right? >> and they are giving these jobs to people who would otherwise would have difficulty. >> they are also helping other people fill their resume, who normally wouldn't be able to get that experience. on two fronts, it's just a really great story. >> and the sauce is good. >> yeah, it's good. still to come this morning, alcohol, drug use, and depression all on the rise for students entering high school. what you can do to safeguard your children. it's 52 minutes after the hour.

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give you the unexpected burden of constipation? certain prescription medications can cause occasional constipation, which is why people turn to senokot-s tablets. senokot-s is the leading brand that has the proven effectiveness of a natural vegetable laxative ingredient plus the comfort of a stool softener. senokot-s tablets. proven relief for occasional constipation. go to senokot-s.com for special savings. high school. it can be an exciting time in a teenager's life, but it can be a scary one. >> because in high school you think that the whole world -- you never see in the rearview mirror or ahead. you only see that moment. >> that's correct. and the increasing pressures of drinking and drugs and the incidence of depression, it's a

problem for high school students, especially those in rural areas, because the programs and resources that you are so familiar with in urban areas aren't as readily available. >> but a new study says there's a way to keep rural teens happy and healthy. and elizabeth cohen is live in atlanta for us. good morning. elizabeth, what do parents need to know? >> well, you know, parents of kids anywhere need to know this information. but it's interesting to me that the drug abuse rates are actually highest according to several studies in rural areas, whether you're looking at rural new york or missouri or south carolina. and so a bunch of educators got together and said, what are we going to do about this? so they looked at 500 families. these are african-american families in rural georgia. and what they found is that when they did a special program with them, they got drug abuse rates down 47%. and really it's not -- there's no genius here in what they did. they just involved parents, which is huge. they involved parents. and they also talked to the kids about racial discrimination.

and what to do about it. and that actually had an effect on their drug abuse rates. >> really? like you said, it sounds obviously these drug abuse rates in rural america are on the increase, including high school students. what tactics could parents benefit from across the board? >> 47% decrease is big. so all of us want to know, what did they do that i can do with my kids? first of all, you want to start the conversation early. in this study, they started it early. it is never too young really to talk about drug abuse. and you want to use different kinds of lessons depending upon the age. the second thing is that you want to be realistic. you want to think, what situation is my child is going to find himself or herself in that i can give him instructions on how get out of a bad situation, how to not use drugs. go to cnn.com/empoweredpatient and see more information on how to keep your kid drug free. >> thank you, elizabeth. still to come, newt gingrich

sizzling in the south. a new poll gives him double digit leads in florida and south carolina. but can he carry those states if he were running against president obama? >> and we're talking to the makers of everyone's favorite sweet treat, ben and jerry. they are joining us and dishing out support for occupy wall street. you're watching american morning. it's 58 minutes after the hour.

newt gingrich surging in the south, opening commanding leads in florida and south carolina in a new poll. but it's a much different story in those states when it's newt against obama. and more than a dozen suspected al qaeda terrorists tunnelling their way to freedom from a prison in south yemen. we'll tell you about it on this "american morning." good morning, everyone. it's monday, december 12. very glad to have ali velshi

back in the saddle. >> glad to be back. it's 12-12-11. >> what does that mean? >> probably something will happen on 12-12-12. i'm not suspicious. >> there's a lot to do before we worry about the end of the world. up first this hour, newt gingrich soaring in the south. but can he stand toe-to-toe with the president? a new poll shows the former house speak are opening up double digit leads over mitt romney in two key southern states, south carolina and florida. but the outcome changes dramatically for both republicans in those states when the opponent is the president. joe johns is joining us live from cnn in atlanta this morning. joe, good morning. gingrich and romney took the brunt of the attacks at the debate. what is the president saying about these two potential opponents? >> well, you know, there's an old rule in politics that you never interfere when you're opponent is doing harm to himself. and right now, quite frankly, the republicans certainly it's really rough for them out there. just this morning, we woke up to

new attacks by mitt romney on newt gingrich about newt gingrich's relationship with house democratic leader and former house speaker nancy pelosi. so the president of the united states right now is trying to stand clear of all of that, and if you watch this excerpt from this interview with "60 minutes" you can really see the president practicing the art of saying nothing and trying to be complimentary. listen. >> what do you make of this surge by former speaker gingrich? >> he's somebody who's been around a long time. and is good on tv. is good in debates. but, you know, mitt romney has shown himself to be somebody who's good at politics as well. he's had a lot of practice at it. you know, i think that they will be going at it for a while. when the republican party has decided who its nominee is going

to be, then we'll have plenty of time to worry about it. >> the president of the united states really weighing in there on newt gingrich and mitt romney. absolutely didn't hear quite anything about what he really thinks of these candidates, guys. >> all right. joe, thanks very much. and as joe said, he was -- he did sort of talk about them. he said they have had a lot of experience and that sort of thing. that's part of the discussion. if anyone doubted whether newt gingrich was a front-runner in the republican race, those doubts were erased this weekend in the iowa debate after the candidates took turns ganging up on the former house speaker. let's bring in cnn senior political analyst ron brownstein, the editorial director of "the national journal" and with us live from washington. let's talk about what gingrich did, ron. he went on the attack with mitt romney really pressing the point that he say career politician. listen to this. >> let's be candid. the only reason you didn't

become a career politician is you lost to teddy kennedy in 1994. >> wait a second. now, wait a second. now wait a second. >> what do you think, ron? did he do any damage there? that was the gotcha moment of the debate if there was one. >> i thought newt gingrich delivered a very deft performance. he was effective on the offense, and that was the single most memorable line of the debate. and more importantly, he was very effective on the defense. he avoided sounding defensive and didn't sound cavalier either. he dealt with a variety of issues, including his personal life. in a very measured way. and it is a reminder that, you know, he is not -- he does not seem as prone in this campaign so far toward the tendency to self destruction which was certainly a problem for him as speaker of the house. >> ron, so many people have talked about this, this guy has been married three times. he's now converted to

catholicism, right? how is he appealing to -- and his performance this weekend, how is he appealing to the evangelicals? he said i asked for forgiveness. i am a 68-year-old grandfather. focus on me now. >> that was his most i thought effective moment of the debate. he is appealing to evangelicals. part of what's happening in the polls in south carolina and florida as well as in iowa is those voters are consolidating around gingrich. part of this is a demand phenomenon. they need someone to consolidate around. they don't like romney. they showed that in 2008. he won only 20% of the combined vote of evangelicals in those primaries. and they need a candidate. it's closing time. they have cycled through the alternatives. gingrich is the beneficiary of being the last person standing. but there is also i think this argument, which was i thought quite effective, not only on the personal issue but more broadly on what will be i think even more important attacks on him over the leadership style he displayed in the house. he basically said, look, that person isn't the one on the

stage anymore. i am a different person. i'm 68 years old. and you'll have to judge who i am now. that i think could be a pretty effective argument for him. but he's got a lot more fire coming, i think, not only on the personal side, but more so on the leadership side, because some of the people who are most critical of him are the republicans who served with him in the house in that period once he became speaker. >> let's talk about romney for a second, who doesn't tend to slip up too much. i recall a few months ago when he said something about corporations are people, and that sort of -- that tends to be his achilles heel, this idea that he is a rich guy. he had a disagreement with rick perry in this debate about something that was in his book or not in his book. and he was so insistent that he offered rick perry a $10,000 bet. we've been talking to conservatives all morning. some of whom think the $10,000 makes him seem out of touch. others who think that evangelicals shouldn't be betting. >> betting is not something that a baptist is into. is this his hw bush moment at the grocery store where he didn't know what the scanner

was? >> it's similar. and one thing that really matters is the composition of the republican electorate has changed. there are many more of what they call the sam's club republicans. a lot more blue collar and working class party than it was 20 years ago when george bush couldn't identify the supermarket scanner. i think this is going to be a difficult moment for romney. can he overcome it? sure. but it definitely goes to one of his biggest weaknesses in this race, the sense that he could be out of touch with average voters. and rick perry certainly jumped on it right away yesterday on television. >> what do you think of the others? michele bachmann. she always has sort of something nifty that she says. this time she coined the term "newt romney" to talk about the two front-runners. santorum can't really seem to get much traction here. this is their big play. iowa is going to be a great play for conservatives. what do they do with this? >> so the debate kind of physically encapsulated the dynamic of the race. you have at the center of the stage, two people, mitt romney

and newt gingrich, that the conservatives are not entirely comfortable with. and it produces a situation where the biggest single bloc in the party doesn't have a horse that it fully trusts at the center of this race. and then you have the four candidates on the wings, all of whom are more conservative than those in the center trying to get in there. if there was any bad news for newt gingrich in this race, it was how well michele bachmann did. because gingrich is benefitting from a consolidation as i said among tea party voters, and evangelical cyst i don't knkri n kristoffersonian cyst -- christians. if she can relaunch herself -- and i thought rick perry did himself some good as well. same thing. if either can get renewed momentum, they're likely to take more votes from gingrich than romney. but overall, it was a strong night for gingrich. and i think bachmann did kind of do as well as she could to say, hey, look at me again before we close this thing down in iowa. >> ron, good to talk to you as always. senior political analyst and the

editorial director at "national journal." >> thanks, guys. >> perry did not take that bet. >> when somebody offers you a bet about something that they are sure about, the instinct is to take it. for a guy that's been criticized for not thinking fast on his feet, for conservatives, him not taking that bet probably did him a lot of good. >> especially the sam's club republicans too. costco, the average income for someone at costco is $93,000. >> high end people save their money by shopping at costco. but the sam's club republicans are not going to necessarily relate to a $10,000 bet. >> time for this morning's top stories. at least 15 suspected terrorists dug a tunnel out of a prison in south yemen. this is an area where militants have seized entire chunks of a province. conservative republicans are on the record saying that congress will reach an agreement before the end of the year to

extend the payroll tax cut. that signals a shift in position for the gop. senator lindsey graham of south carolina and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on the right making the rounds on the sunday morning talk shows conceding we need to extend the tax break that is saving the average american worker about $1,000 a year. >> i believe we should extend the payroll tax holiday another year, avoid a tax increase on working people for another year. i also agree with senator reid that we ought not to do it again next year. we know that's an emergency package, coupled with an extension of unemployment, with some reforms. but at the same time, chris, we'd like to create some jobs. >> the house bill to extend the payroll tax cut also includes provisions to ease athe approval process for the controversial keystone pipeline. >> you remember we had this discussion a year ago. >> it looks like iran will not

return that unmanned u.s. spy drone. did anyone think they would? the deputy commander of the iranian military says that no one welcomes spying and no one sends back the spying equipment to its country of origin. iran claims it downed that u.s. drone earlier this month about 140 miles from its border with afghanistan. >> i venture he's right on that. i don't know if anybody has ever returned that stuff. manuel noriega is spending his first night back home in a prison cell. he was taken straight to prison to begin serving a 20-year sentence for murdering his opponents while. >> power. he is 77 years old. he's been in france for 2010 after spending two decades in an american prison for money laundering. and child sex allegations against the aau leader. and the fight that left eight players suspended and one

bloodied. and ice cream giants ben and jerry siding with the 99%. we'll ask them why they support the occupy wall street movement when they join us later on in the show. it's 12 minutes after the hour. progresso. it fits! fantastic! [ man ] pro-gresso they fit! okay-y... okay??? i've been eating progresso and now my favorite old jeans...fit.

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morning. 15 minutes after the hour. you're watching "american morning." new sexual abuse allegations rocking one of the nation's largest youth sports groups. the former president of the amateur athletic union accused of child sexual abuse. two former players say that robert dodd molested them when they were teens back in the '80s. >> the aau says it alerted police last week and turned over the name of a third accuser. george howell is joining us live now from memphis, tennessee. george, the aau says it first learned of the alleged abuse sometime in early november. the police weren't told until nearly a month later. >> christine, definitely one of

the questions that we plan to pose to police this morning. it will be our first time to speak face-to-face with investigators to ask them again about this time line of events. focus again starting on november 7 and 8 when this group tells us that they received anonymous emails from a source only identified by the name shrimp breath, and they also received anonymous phone messages. i'm told that the board convened quickly after, and decided to remove dodd from his post. they also hired a private investigator to look at the emails and phone calls, try to identify the sources. that information. and that is when they later decided to turn all of this information over to police. again, just days before the airing of this report on "outside the lines" on espn. the report again where these two men shared their stories publicly. but we are waiting to learn more about the time line of events from police and where they are with their current investigation into dodd. >> what we're hearing, george, is that some of the alleged abuses took place in hotels

while on the road at tournaments. what do we know about where this happened? >> ali, again, it's fair to assume, fair to question, just across the mississippi here you're in another state. fair to assume that this team travelled to several different events. we will ask police where they are with the investigation. but again dodd has a long history of working with young people in sports. again, he was a director with the ymca here in memphis for many years, and he had a longtime director of the aau. so we will definitely pose those questions this morning to get some insight as to where that investigation is. >> george, we should point out he is maintaining his innocence. he has been removed from his post, but he maintains his innocence this morning? >> absolutely. in fact, when he was confronted by the board with the aau, he denied repeatedly these allegations. but he did admit that he was approached, someone contacted him, an anonymous source,

contacted him. that is why again he is no longer part of the aau. >> all right, george. thanks very much for that. in the penn state child sex abuse case, another story about what this assistant coach saw in the locker room showers back in 2002. the patriot news reports the latest account is different from the handwritten statement that mcqueary gave to investigators. he told the grand jury he witnessed jerry sandusky sod myselfing a young boy in the shower. but he told a family friend he didn't see a sexual assault. cnn contributor sarah gannon explains what he described. >> he heard sex noises, which is something he did also mention in the other report, but then he says a young boy kind of peered around the shower stall, looked at him before a man's arm grabbed the boy around his waist, pulled him back, and seconds later jerry sandusky left in a towel. so this witness, this doctor, also says that he asked mike

mcqueary several times, what did you see? and several times, mike mcqueary said i didn't see anything. >> to update you on that, sandusky is due back in court tomorrow. he is charged with more than 50 counts of sexual assault. for the first time, some of his alleged victims may confront the former coach and take the stand. cnn legal analyst paul calham stopped by last hour, and said we can expect a sort of mini trial tomorrow. >> basic evidence has to be presented to a judge, and the judge has to look at that and say, if that evidence were believed, there would be a conviction at trial. so we're not looking at a full trial, but we're looking at sort of a bare bones presentation. now, that means potentially all of the victims, the alleged victims, might come into court and actually testify and be subject to cross-examine. >> he called it an avalanche of testimony from these people. he said if even one of them is believed, as you heard him say, that's a pretty tough case.

in a year of college scandals, we want to give you something to celebrate. quarterback robert griffin iii became the first baylor player to ever win the heisman trophy. stanford quarterback andrew luck was runner-up in the voting for the second straight year. rg3 is also on the dean's list, the son of two retired army sergeants. and this year's heisman trophy winner will join us live in about 20 minutes. he has with him the most recognizable trophy in american sports. we're going to ask him what it means. >> is he bringing it? >> i think he is. we'll talk about whether he goes into the nfl, the socks he wears. >> law school. a lot of options in front of him. stiff punishment for one of the ugliest fights we have ever seen on the basketball coach. it happened saturday between cincinnati and xavier. the teams each suspended four players for their role in the brawl. and rob marciano in the extreme weather center. just another day at the office. >> i want to show you this

video. this time last week we were talking about a lunar eclipse that was going to happen saturday morning on the west coast. you would get to see the last part of it. and this report from oregon, time lapse video as the moon was setting into the morning fog. next lunar eclipse, total one, not for at least another year as far as the calendar for next year is concerned. we have showers across parts of the southeast. this is actually needed rain across parts of south central georgia. it will be dissipating throughout the day today. cold air in much of the midwest. some of this drizzle through cedar rapids, through western wisconsin, seeing a bit of that freeze to the roadways. that's your wintry precip. also at the higher elevations across the southwest. nasty weather from los angeles to san diego, even as far north as san francisco. sliding into the desert. and that's going to create some problems as far as rain in the valleys and snow above 3,000 feet. serious accumulations above 5,000 feet. six to 12 inches in the mountains just east of los angeles.

could see 10-20 inches in the southern rocky mountains as well. and in general over the next couple of days, just kind of nasty as the slow mover will dump a decent amount of moisture and cold air from the pacific ocean as it slowly makes its way through the southwest. meanwhile, problems in lblg if you're traveling today. some in san francisco as well. san diego, phoenix to a lesser extent. low clouds and showers in minneapolis and atlanta. but the northeast is nice. chilly weather over the weekend. the chilliest air of the season, as a matter of fact. and we'll rebound over the next couple of days. temperatures will get a bit more mild. high in new york city today, 45 degrees. 42 degrees in chicago. ali, good to have you back. >> good to be here. it's crisp here in new york, but clear. >> feels good. yeah. new details on the los angeles gunman caught on camera shooting at passing cars. who is he? what triggered the violent rampage? it is 23 minutes after the hour. . back then, he had something more important to do.

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26 minutes after the hour.

minding your business this morning, this week u.s. investors will be monitoring events in europe. no official meetings are planned after a majority of eurozone members struck that deal for a new treaty to save the euro. britain is rejecting it, leaving some investors on edge about where europe goes from here. the u.s. markets opened just over an hour ago. dow, nasdaq, and s&p all pointing lower this morning suggesting a possible selloff at the opening bell. u.s. bank credit is growing at its fastest rate in three years. this is according to the federal reserve. financial institutions increased commercial and industrial loans at an average yearly rate of nearly 10% in the third quarter of this year. the mf global money chase continues. the judge overseeing the bankruptcy clearing the way for customers to get some of their money back. he approved releasing about $2 billion more in frozen funds to customers of that firm. it still doesn't include the

$1.2 billion that mf global lost before it collapsed. farmers are still waiting to get their money. it's that time of year. today is green monday. it marks the beginning of what usually is the busiest week for online retailers. for the past six years, green monday has ranked among the top spending days of the season. last week, shoppers spent almost $6 billion online. they changed the way we eat ice cream. and now ben and jerry say good business can be a positive force for economic change and equality. they are taking their message to washington, d.c., but first they are speaking to us. "american morning" is back right after the break. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot

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welcome back. new this morning issue an al qaeda prison break in yemen. at least 15 suspected terrorists dug a tunnel out of a prison in south yemen. it happened in an area where militants have seized entire chunks of a province as political violence turns that country upside down. top stories now, president obama accused republicans of playing politics with the economic crisis last night in a "60 minutes" interview. he says the gop decided their best bet was to do nothing. >> i think the republicans made a different calculation, which was, you know, we really screwed up the economy. obama seems popular. our best bet is to stand on the sidelines because we think the economy is going to get worse, and at some point just blame him. and so we haven't gotten the kind of engagement from them that i would have liked.

front-runner newt gingrich coming under attack in this weekend's gop iowa debate. his opponents disputing his conservative credentials, challenging his comment that the palestinians are an invented people, and questioning whether he could be trusted after admitting to infidelity. and new details on the terrifying weekend shooting rampage in hollywood. disturbing amateur video you see here shows the gunman shooting at strangers in the middle of sunset boulevard. he is standing in the middle of sunset boulevard. his name is tyler brant. he was shot and killed by police after reportedly pulling out a knife and egging the police on. >> there are now reports of a recent break-up and possible prescription drug use. we discussed this earlier with clinical psychologist dr. jeff guardier. >> well, obviously, yes, this is a person who was suicidal. i would think even though there are reports that he was taking some sort of pharmaceuticals, some sort of a drug, his girlfriend says, we don't know what it is. we know with --

>> or if even it's true. >> or if it's true. we know in the past with certain anti-depressants, if that's what we was taking, we don't even know that, there is side effects such as suicidal behavior. but you can only begin to wonder whether this guy had some sort of mental health history, and if he doesn't, perhaps he was undiagnosed. but certainly this is someone who was probably emotionally unstable. probably for quite some time. and then this break-up with the girlfriend threw him over the edge. russia's elections rigged? president dmitri medvedev is calling for investigations into allegations of vote fraud in last week's elections on his facebook page. he says he is ordering checks at every polling station. this after thousands of russians gathered for anti-government demonstrations. prime minister vladimir putin's party suffered big losses, but retained its parliamentary majority. american troops have now vacated a military base in southwest pakistan that was

reportedly used to operate the cia spy drones. pakistani officials ordered u.s. troops out of the air base after a nato air strike killed 24 pakistani soldiers along the afghanistan border. new york senators are pushing for changes in the airport screening process. they want the tsa to provide onsite passenger advocates at airport security. this is in response to a number of recent complaints. several elderly women say they were strip searched by tsa agents. the tsa denies it but the senators say a public advocate there could protect vulnerable passengers. >> can't say it will get you through any faster. you'll have to page the person and get them to come down. >> you wouldn't just have the passengers against the tsa. you'd have somebody else there. ben and jerry revolutionized the ice cream world, and now want to transform american business. they are throwing their weight behind the occupy wall street movement. we'll talk to them after the

break. and joining us, the 2011 heisman trophy winner, robert griffin iii and his socks. and the trophy. 35 minutes after the hour. as the years go by, some questions loom large. are you prepared for your retirement years - 25 or more of them? do you have a financial plan for you family that works, in good times and in bad times? having the right perspective can help you answer the big questions. for more than 140 years, pacific life has helped find answers for those navigating the path to financial security. ask a financial professional about pacific life - the power to help you succeed.

♪ good beautiful morning to you, new york city. wake up and get out there. it is 34 degrees and sunny. it's getting up to 45 and sunny. sunny for most of the week actually. i think thursday some rain clouds come in. but it is just -- this is one of the best times of the year in the city. everybody is out there. as one of our guys on the floor described it, it's like a mosh pit. like they just took people from other cities and dumped them in the middle of manhattan. >> welcome back. ben and jerry are famous for making some of the best ice cream on the planet. now the duo is dishing out business advice. >> so ben is ben cullen. jerry greenfield is the jerry. they support the occupy wall street movement. they say business leaders should work to reduce business economic unquality. and they are taking their message today to the national press club. good to see you.

thank you for being with us. >> how are you doing? >> i love your story, and most people have heard your story and it's a terrific story about two guys who really struggled in a small business. and then got really successful. and really big. and what a lot of people don't know is that you are now owned by one of the biggest conglomerates in the world. it kind of seems weird that the two of you guys would be involved in occupy movements. tell me why you got involved early, and what part you want to play in this. >> well, i think what occupy signifies and the service that they're doing for the country is to point out that there's a huge spread between rich and poor. that it's growing faster and faster. it doesn't always used to be this way. but that now the top 1% of the population owns 40% of the wealth in our country. and, you know, that's not the way it's supposed to be.

a big part of it is because corporations have become too powerful. and that's something that we need to change in order to create the country we all thought we were born into and that we all heard about some elementary school. >> but you guys have really benefited from this, right? you sold your company to one of the biggest conglomerates in the world. no doubt you had the advice and counsel of investment bankers who helped you decide how to sell your company. in a way, people on occupy wall street, they disdain that. they disdain people who have worked within the system and have enriched themselves in this system. how do you square your long advocacy of liberal and progressive, i guess, movements and ideals with the other side of that, which is you guys have been wildly successful in this -- the way this system is? >> you know, this gets to the

interest -- into the issue of self interest. and there's kind of an assumption that everybody is supposed to operate in their own self interest. and i don't think that's the way the world is supposed to be. i don't think that's what the major origins talk about. what we should be operating in is the interest of fairness and justice and quality for all, regardless of whether that benefits yourself or not. >> jerry, what do you want companies to do? what do you think big companies should do to try and close this gap, this income inequality and income control gap? >> and companies like unilever which owns your company. >> first of all, i think businesses need to recognize that they are part of society, they are not just existing to maximize their profits and not worry about anybody else in the community.

businesses are the most powerful source in our society, and that thi they utilize incredible power through lobbying and legislation, and they should be looking out for the common interests as opposed to self interest. it's also interesting having been down at occupy the movement and the people there are not anti-business. and they're not anti-capitalist. you know, i was sort of concerned that people were going to shun us when we went there. but all they want is a fair deal, a just deal, a level playing field. >> i tell you, some are anti-business and anti-capitalist. some aren't. some are for free tibet. some are for not using drones anymore here and abroad. there are so many different things that have all morphed together at occupy wall street. tell me, guys, what do you think it stands for?

when we asked for a list of -- you know, tell us what you want -- >> there's almost a resistance of doing that. >> what do you advocate for? then people who are not leaders but are leaders of the occupy movement say that's not what we're about. we're not about giving you a point by point legislative agenda. what do you think they want? >> it's really about values. about shifting the culture of the country and shifting our politics so that it serves the majority of people in the country instead of corporations and the elite. but i'll give you three concrete, you know, proposals that occupy wall street would embrace in a heart beat. and one is to rescind the legal fiction of corporate personhood, that corporations are not

people. they should not be undo ywed wi the same rights as people are. and that would reduce the power of corporations and shift power back to the 99%. and i think that another thing that occupy wall street would embrace would be real campaign finance reform. again, requiring a constitutional amendment so that money is no longer considered to be free speech. that's absurd. >> right. >> and i think that now with the power of occupy wall street, and the mass movement that it's able to generate, that a constitutional amendment is really possible. >> all right. ben, jerry, good to see you guys. >> one last question. if you had an occupy wall street flavor, what would you call it? >> chockupy. >> very good. i like that one. ben and jerry, tnks so much. nice to see you.

>> nice to see you guys. >> ben cohen and jerry greenfield are co-founders of ben and jerry's homemade ice cream. >> i'm probably not the first to ask them that. that came out quickly. in a year of college scandals, something to celebrate. robert griffin iii, the first baylor player ever to win the heisman trophy. he'll be joining us live in the next five minutes. and they spend their lives putting others first. now cnn heroes get their night in the spotlight. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation, so i used my citi thank you card to pick up some accessories. a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? we talked about getting a diamond. but with all the thank you points i've been earning... ♪ ...i flew us to the rock i really had in mind. ♪ [ male announcer ] the citi thank you card.

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it is 47 minutes after the hour. here are your morning headlines. u.s. markets open in about 45 minutes, and we could be looking at a sluggish start to the week. dow and nasdaq and s&p 500 futures all pointing lower this morning suggesting a possible selloff at the opening bell. an al qaeda prison break in yemen. security officials say at least 15 suspected terrorists dug a tunnel out of a prison in south yemen. dozens of al qaeda militants also tunnelled their way out of a prison in the same area back in june. president obama slamming republicans during his interview with "60 minutes" on sunday. the president says republicans refuse to compromise on any of his budget initiatives. he says they are banking on a bad economy to bolster their election chances. front-runner newt gingrich

under attack in this weekend's gop debate in iowa. his opponents questioning his conservative credentials, challenging his comment that the palestinians are a, quote, invented people, and wondering whether he can be trusted after admitting to infidelity. and with the season on the line, the new york giants stunned the dallas cowboys on sunday night football. they blocked a field goal try in the final seconds after eli manning took them down the field for another fourth quarter comeback. 37-34 was the final score. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" is back right after the break.

we got a famous guy here in studio. >> this is my interview, and velshi can't stay away. this is as close as you'll ever get to a heisman trophy winner. >> congratulations. i'll leave the hard work to christine. >> we're with quarterback robert griffin iii, and his superman socks. >> not today. >> they are santa socks. all right. it's got to be the lucky socks. or it's just this guy really knows how to play some football. ok. he became the first baylor player to ever win the heisman trophy over the weekend. capping off a record-breaking year filled with thrilling last-second touchdowns. a year that baylor fans will not forget for a very long time. joining us now is the 2011 heisman winner, robert griffin iii. how does it feel? how does it feel?

>> it's amazing. words can't describe how i feel right now. honestly, i'm excited to get back to waco and practice and see everybody. >> i'm telling you, i mean, this is a trophy that has never been in the baylor trophy, you know, room or anything. and so what point of the season were you like, wow, i mean, this team -- i can do this. this team, we can really do this. this has been an amazing year. >> it started off on the first game, we beat tcu on national television. we felt we had a lot of momentum going. and the signifying moment was beating oklahoma at home when they were number five, first time we beat a top-ranked team in a long time. it was really exciting, and everybody was kind of gaining a lot of momentum. >> momentum, and there's got to be good leadership there. leadership from you and the coaching staff. when you got the momentum, how was the leadership? what kind of a leader do you feel like you were on the field? >> i think the biggest thing about leadership is knowing how to communicate with people and realizing that you have to trust the people around you. i trust those guys. we have been through the fire

together a lot. and at the end of the day, they have to make plays for me and i have to make plays for them. we did that, and that's why we are here. >> what about the other guys who got a lot of votes too? but you win it. there were some really good candidates out there. >> trent richardson from iowa, tyler matthew from lsu, andrew luck from stafford, and monty ball. all of those guys are great athletes. they'll be in the bowl games in december and january. and i look forward to watching them play. >> so what are you going to do next? you have some choices here. you could go to law school. play again. you could go professional. what are you -- you have so many good choices and good options. >> well, it's good to have a lot of doors open. the biggest thing for me right now is focusing on what's in front of me, and that's playing in this bowl game on december 29. after that's done, i'll decide whether to come back or go pro. >> so keeping focused right now. enjoy this moment. everyone is asking you what next. and you're like, come on, can i enjoy my trophy for a minute?

>> yes. take care of what's in front of you. >> in 2009, i think you tore your acl. and you have been quoted as saying that you really knew then how much you loved to play this game. when you were sidelined. you love this game. how did that change your outlook as a player and how you play? >> for me as a player, you have to take advantage of every day, take advantage of what's in front of you. when you get an injury like that, a lot of times guys gallon into the tank, and i didn't do that. i had a great support system around me, and that helped. if you can dunk a basketball, do it every day, because someday you won't be able to. >> what is your advice to kids who look at you and say, i want to win the heisman some day? how do you know -- at what point as a young athlete do you know you've got the drive and the talent? and what's more important, the drive and the talent, or is it both, to get this achievement? >> god given talent definitely helps, but it's more about the drive. >> and up here? >> what's between your ears.

you have to take care of your classroom, because it helps you on the field more than i can explain. make your dreams a reality. don't let anybody crush them. if you have the drive to do it, you cancan do it. >> you're the dream student athlete. do you think you'd like to have a legal degree? you have a political science degree. >> i got my undergrad in political science. getting my masters in communications. maybe do something like what you guys are doing. >> nice. >> it would be fun to do that. and i am looking forward to going to law school in the future. could be in the fall, maybe a few years from now. >> but potentially big money to be made in the interim too. there's all of these ways, you know, the investments, and the choices. >> especially if physically you're definitely in your prime. >> yes, ma'am. i mean, obviously, the life span is a football player isn't very long. but if the nfl comes knocking, who are you to say no? the biggest thing for me is i have another year available. i have a big decision to make, and i'm looking forward to just making that decision. >> it's really nice to meet you

and see this actual, gosh, the heisman trophy. you say it feels so unbelievable because you guys have worked so hard, right? >> it is. and to have something like this, i still have -- it still hasn't sunk in yet. hopefully it won't for a couple of months so i can focus on this bowl game. but i am blessed to be a part of it. >> everyone says you're very talented, cool, and very humble. that's the thing you have to keep hold of. there will be all these successes down the road too. it's just cool. and, again, explain to me the significance of the socks. >> ok. well, obviously, i have the santa claus socks just because it's, you know, it's the christmas season. >> you can't see them. but you were wearing the superman socks earlier this week. >> if you're going to go to the heisman ceremony, you have to wear your best pair of socks. >> oh, yeah. there's a picture of the superman socks from the heisman ceremony. awesome. >> yes. >> really nice to meet you. best luck in the future. thank you for bringing the trophy by. i'm sure i can't even left it. >> you're strong enough. you got it.

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call 855-get-slate today. welcome back. cnn paid tribute to 10 totally inspiring men and women announcing its hero of the year last night. aj hammer has the high lights for us. >> reporter: laughter, tears, standing ovations. it was a night of emotion and

inspiration at hollywood's famed shrine auditorium. >> welcome to cnn heroes and all-star tribute. >> reporter: selected from more than 10,000 nominations, 10 remarkable men and women were honored for their extraordinary work, like the wife of a fallen soldier who made it her mission that no military widow would feel alone. >> i love you, michael. >> reporter: an american midwife who moved to indonesia to run a free clinic. a former refugee who brings free recycled soap to needy communities around the world. >> and who knows? you might, you know, help save a life. >> reporter: a paralyzed man who brings the gift of mobility to others in need. >> there is nothing better than to serve god and help others. >> reporter: and a grandmother from chicago who takes kids off the street and can i haves them a chance. >> please don't give up on our young people. >> reporter: and with the help of some of hollywood's brightest young stars, cnn also honored three young wonders. their battle for clean water and fight against hunger and homeless