picture. >> makes you think everybody is a fan. >> who doesn't want my picture? >> reporter: mel gibson has reportedly said that he made sure his hair was groomed in his mugshot so he wouldn't end up like nolte. the moral of the mugshot or whatever it was, comb your hair. even if this kid didn't, at least he wasn't wearing a hawaiian shirt. >> nick nolte mugshot hair, hudson's hair. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> the story is don't drive on ghb, but -- >> the shirt was worse, though. kyra phillips, good morning. >> i think that little baby hudson there, he needed a little dipty do. that's the talk of the town right there. good morning, everybody. newt gingrich is surging in it polls and racking up the endorsements but a bit of a dark cloud on the horizon. more on that in just a moment, but, first, his fight for the gop nomination. a new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows him with a

commanding lead over mitt romney. the other candidates trailing far behind. paul steinhauser is in washington. paul, the same poll shows gingrich struggling in a head-to-head race against president obama. tell us about that. >> that horse race poll and two others indicate the same thing. way ahead in the horse race. look at this, hypothetical matchups next november. president obama versus gingrich and president obama against mitt romney. president obama 11 points ahead of gingrich. among all voters. but, basically, dead even with romney. so, the nbc/"wall street journal" poll maybe an electable issue for newt gingrich. you've seen the democratic national committee go after romney left and right over everything. not so much about gingrich. but yesterday, this is interesting, jessica yellin and i were at a briefing and some of the top obama re-election advisors giving us their briefing and this is what david axelrod, the senior, senior

strategist said about newt gingrich. the higher a monkey climbs on a poll, the more you can see his butt. so, you know, the speaker is very high on the pole right now and we'll see. >> how worried is the obama camp about gingrich? >> they're concerned. they're still directing most of their fire, more of their fire at romney, but, listen, they, just like the rest of us, see newt gingrich surge in the polls and they're prepared, they say, to deal with newt gingrich if he eventually becomes the nominee. for now directing more of their fire at romney than gingrich even if axelrod used colorful language. speaking about gingrich, kyra, his top new guy in iowa is no longer on the team. this just happened last night. this gentlemen had to resign his post as political director for gingrich in iowa after he made comments earlier in the week

before he joined the campaign that suggesting that moremannism was cult, at least in the eyes of a lot of evangelicals. that is trouble for newt gingrich. newt gingrich sent out to his campaign staffers, hey, no more going on the attack, we're not doing that any more. we're not going to go negative. craig bergman agreed to step away from his role with newt 20 12 today. there you go, kyra. >> all right, paul steinhauser, thanks so much. you can go to our website, cnnpolitics.com. on capitol hill, lawmakers are racing the clock to extend the payroll tax cut which saves the average american about $1,000 a year. the white house's countdown clock continues to tick towards the january 1st deadline. house republicans say that now they passed their extension, president obama needs to rally his democrats in the senate. >> you know, in recent days, the white house website has had this helpful countdown clock to

highlight the need to extend payroll tax relief. well, now i think the white house needs to update their clock because it's now time for the senate to act. >> what the president is not willing to do is leave town or allow congress to leave town without ensuring that 160 million americans do not see their taxes go up next year. >> congressional correspondent kate bolduan on cap hill. >> it's not because of the payroll tax extension commission, democrats support very much extending the payroll tax they estimate for 160 million americans next year. it has to do with some of the central elements of the other central elements of the bill that the house passed last night.

one major obstacle that democrats are opposed has to do with the revision that republican leaders speed up the keystone oil pipeline. the white house has put off approval of that pipeline saying it needed further environmental study. it's not related to the payroll tax or any of the year-end issues we're dealing with here. they added this to their bill to win over more support from conservatives who had really been lukewarm to the idea of extending the payroll tax cut really until last week or just the week before. democrats say it is going, this bill is going no where in the senate. they're very much against that provision. just listen here to senate majority leader harry reid following the house vote last night. >> the bill just passed by house republicans tonight is a pointless, partisan exercise. the bill is dead on arrival. it was dead before it got to the senate. the senate will not pass it. and the sooner we demonstrate that, the sooner we can begin serious discussions and keep taxes going up from middle class americans.

>> so, today we could see a vote in the senate on the house passed bill. democratic leaders, have you heard right there from senator reid, they're confident it will not pass. then the question is, what's next? there is some thought that maybe once they put this bill aside, if you will, get through voting on this to show in the senate that it cannot pass, then maybe leaders will sit down and really start negotiating. but, the battle continues, kyra, and the clock, obviously, is ticking down. >> we'll follow the battle and the clock, kate, thanks. well, if you talk on your cell phone while driving, you're not going to like this. the ntsb actually wants a nationwide ban on all cell phone use and, yes, that even means your hands-free devices. christine romans, why make this push now? >> you know, they've been investigating accidents, accidents related to distracted driving, kyra, and one accident in particular in march 2010 that was a distracted teenage driver ran into a school bus, the driver and a student were

killed. lots of lots of people were injured and as they've investigated that crash and others, the ntsb and others have come to the conclusion that driving while using a cell phone, even with the hands-free device or while texting is something that is simply too dangerous and they're making the recommendation, quite frankly, that this end. it is just a recommendation. it is a federal government making a recommendation. some states have already been pushing back saying, no, it goes too far. libertarian groups saying, what's the difference between distracted driving and talking to your passenger? but the ntsb says there is a difference. i want you to listen to what the chairman of the ntsb told me earlier this morning. >> i used to talk on my phone, as well, until i understood the dangers of it. two years ago we put a ban on all of our employees of talking and texting hands free. when i hung up my phone and stopped talking on the phone while i was driving and it was becoming sober and seeing that everyone around you was drinking.

>> the ntsb says at any given time 13.5 million people are on their phones talking or texting on the roads. and it simply is too dangerous and it's not a risk that people should take. no text, no text or tweet, as she said, is worth it. the other thing here is there is a different kind of technology that is pervasive in the car. you've got gps and texting on the phone and talking on the phone and different kinds of hands-free devices and they're not saying that the other distractions are better. those are also distractions. thousands of people die every year because of different distractions inside the car. they hope this one can be prevented if there is an overall ban on using the phone and texting while driving, kyra. >> christine romans out of new york for us, thank you. coming up, the presidential race through the eyes of steve forbes. the business icon and two-time presidential candidate answers a critical question, which candidate can lead the nation out of its economic gloom?

his answer might surprise you. and when it comes to marriage, more people are say pg, i don't. we'll find out why it's dropped to a record low, just ahead.

later this morning in ft. bragg, north carolina. president obama talks to the troops about the u.s. military's drawdown in iraq. this month nearly 40,000 men and women in uniform will come home from iraq for good. our martin savidge is live in kuwait and embedded with those existing troops. how is the withdrawal going, marty? >> hey, kyra. let me just show you a picture here. we were here at camp virginia a couple weeks ago at thanksgiving

and at that time this place was absolutely packed. the troops and equipment coming out of iraq. take a look at it now. it is very quiet. in fact, that's the busiest spot you'll find in camp right now, the basketball court. otherwise you start moving in this direction and you begin to see that this place is looking very, very quiet. not deserted. several thousand soldiers here, but nothing like it was when we were here a couple weeks ago. take a look at that. they added a couple decorations here. in this part of the world, you don't get a sense of christmas until you get on to a u.s. military base. the christmas tree is up and a couple live trees set up out there, as well, so the soldiers can get a feel of the season they're all heading back to. number one, their mission in iraq ended quicker than they thought it would be. two, they're on their way home and, three, they'll make it home, most of them, at least, in time for christmas. kyra? >> i'm curious, martin, you have

spent a lot of time in country and now, you know, these men and women are coming home for good and it's been a controversial eight years. what have you noticed? what have you heard just in all the conversations you had that is really sticking with you right now as you seen it from the beginning until now the end? >> well, i think, kyra, it is a sense of realism that these soldiers have. they have done an excellent job to the best of their abilities and the best of their trainings. they leave behind a nation that still faces a gravely uncertain future. a nation divided and the next door neighbor is iran. you have now, as the u.s. leaves, this great potential for a vacuum of problems. so, these soldiers are aware of that, but most of them know that they invested a lot of times and most of them have done multiple chores. they believe the time is right for the u.s. soldiers to leave and the iraqis have been trained

and time for iraq to stand up and the people of iraq to decide their own future. many of these soldiers are curious about what will be happening next and they'll be following, but following from home. >> martin savidge from kuwait. next hour we'll talk with an f-14 pilot who was the first to take shock and awe to iraq. i talked with lieutenant reid wiseman right after the war began. at 10:15 eastern today he'll tell us how that war shaped his career and his life. plus, president obama talking to the troops about the end of the war. that's just before noon at ft. bragg. you'll see that right here on cnn. well, donald trump has pulled out of the gop presidential debate that he was scheduled to moderate. trump says that he wanted to avoid a potential conflict of interest because he could enter the race later than a third party candidate.

>> the republican party does not want me running as an independent. so they made this debate pretty impossible, although it could be an interesting chat with newt gingrich and it could be an interesting time. they want me to announce that i won't run as an independent candidate and i won't do that. because if the republicans pick the wrong person, i would, in fact, seriously consider running. >> well, trump says that most of the candidates declined to take part in the debate because of his potential candidacy. as of now, only newt gingrich and rick santorum are committed. well, our next guest knows donald trump very well and has himself run for the white house, twice. steve forbes is the editor in chief of his namesake business magazine "forbes." so, steve, polls show the election maybe right for a third party election. what do you think, is donald trump the right candidate for that role? >> we'll have to see who the

republicans nominate and i do believe that after the process is completed, which is going to be a very tough one in january and february, there will be a strong candidate who will have the united party behind him or her. i don't think there is a real third party effort. if you're going to do it, you have to do it fairly soon. it's a fairly arduous task to get on the 50 states and requires a lot of resources. i'm not sure at the end of the day donald will do it or mayor bloomberg will do it. i think it will be a two-person race. >> you're a business guy and you've been a loyal supporter of rick perry, even as he's sinking in the polls. so, if perry is forced out of the race, what other republican would you support? >> well, ultimately, whoever wins the nomination, but winning the nomination i wouldn't count rick perry out yet because, as we've seen, this thing is extremely fluid. newt gingrich is the latest one

to lead in the polls and in iowa he's beginning to show a little bit of faltering. ron paul has run devastating ads against gingrich. you have, really, a five-person race in iowa right now, bachmann, perry's coming up and the top three there. that's very fluidp. so, about 70% of the republican voters haven't really made up a firm choice yet. made a firm choice. so, you could see somebody come up in the middle as romney and gingrich should go at each other as they're starting to do in iowa. that opens it up for another person to come up the middle. people say, i don't like these two fighters. i'll go with somebody else. we've seen that happen before. >> why is rick perry still your guy, steve? >> i'd like his flat tax proposal. i like his record in terms of tort reform in texas. i like his belief in that a dollar should be as good as gold, a strong dollar. a strong record on spending in texas and with that kind of executive ability, i think he could be able to execute once he got into the oval office.

one thing to have ideas, quite another to bring them into reality. >> we know he's not doing so well and you mentioned romney and newt. between those two, who is your pick? >> i haven't focused on that one yet. i enjoyed the debate on saturday night. i think newt's got, i think newt's got a very good tax plan and one thing romney has to do or really two things. kyra, he has to come up with a better tax plan than he has now and not have this 59-point plan. you know, god only had ten points. and he's also got to deal more effectively with health care, especially the individual mandate in massachusetts. he's got to find a way to walk away from that idea or else the base is not going to really go with him. if he deals with those two issues, he could still win the nomination. >> look, you know, you're a powerful money guy and here we are in a horrible economy. joblessness, joblessness is at its all-time low. how would you advise your presidential pick, whomever it

is going to be and, if, indeed, it's not rick perry and you choose to support somebody else, how would you advise that pick on the economy? >> well, you have to have several bold points. one is stabilize the dollar. i know monetary policy is the most boring subject in the world, but a weak dollar always means a weak recovery. the american people instincti instinctively understand that. simple ratification of the tax code. newt gingrich understands it, rick perry does, others have proposals hammer those the way ronald reagan did tax cuts over 30 years ago and then reforming health care where the patient is in charge, not the government. and, of course, everyone agrees on ending the bench spending. you hit those four things. a stable dollar, simplifying the tax code, health care and stop the bench spending. i think you've got a winning platform. that's what's needed right now to get the economy moving. >> i'm listening to you and i'm wondering, why aren't you running for president? >> well, i tried it twice and,

so, i'm an agitator now and that's more of a fun role and my kids like that their inheritance is not going into bumper stickers and radio and tv ads and the like. >> steve forbes, good to see you this morning. >> makes for a happier holiday. >> happy holidays to you. >> thank you. >> you bet. well, he's a whiz when it comes to computers, now, about commercial space travel we'll tell you about paul allen's newest business venture. [ dad ] i love this new soup. it's his two favorite things in one... burgers and soup. did you hear him honey? burgers and soup. love you. they're cute. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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as nasa pulls out, entrepreneurs want in on the space race and now you can add microsoft co-founder paul allen

to the mix. rob marciano has more on the stratal launch system. >> that sounds pretty serious. >> it's space airline. you can just see it on the vehicle itself. you ask how they're going to do this. paul allen had a little adventure like this a few years ago and spent $20 million on it a few years ago and this go around, $200 million. this is the vehicle, this isn't going to go into space, this is going to be the carrier of the rocket to about 30,000 feet and from there we launch it into space. it has six jumbo jet airplane jets to get it up to that altitude and carry the rocket. $20 million. the goal here is to have the first test flight in 2015 and then first commercial flight in 2016. so, here's a run down of how it's going to work. goes to about 30,000 feet and it's going to need a couple miles of runway to take off and land. once it gets to 30,000 feet. the rocket itself will be launched. they're actually going to tilt

it up and accelerate for a bit and get it at the proper trojectory. they'll launch that rocket and goes wherever you need. their motto is any orbit, any time. here's what paul allen had to say. >> by the end of this decade, stratolaunch will give tomorrow's children something to search for in the night sky and dream about. >> i love it. sir richard branson is the main competitor. he's got about 500 reservations in what's called virgin galactic. it's going to be across the pond competition for the next few years. >> a lot of kids dreaming. thanks, rob. >> all right, you bet. well, stocks on wall street, on the other hand, not quite ready to take flight this morning. alison kosik at new york stock exchange of what investors will

keep an eye on today. hey, allisisonalison. >> stocks going the opposite direction. the dow looking at a 40-point dip at the open and investors bothered by that fed statement from yesterday afternoon and they weren't necessarily expecting any new stimulus measures to come out of the meeting but always that bit of disappointment that comes when nothing is announced. it's what i like to call an tis pointment. the group that compiles those existing home sales figures and what it said is that it's going to do, it's going to res have down the numbers from 2007 all the way to now. what it essentially means is that the housing picture was actually worse than first thought. why this big error? the national association of realtors says that some home sales may have been double counted. yikes. kyra? >> what's the deal with people not getting married? >> you know what, there's a study showing that marriage,

kyra, it's just not the priority that it used to be. the pew research center broke down the latest census statistics showing that the number of people getting hitched is at a record low right now. 57% of adults had a ring on their finger last year. that's down sharply from ten years ago and an even bigger plunge from 1960 if the current trend continues the number will drop below half in just a couple of years. there you go, kyra. >> all right, got to have faith in love, right? it's around the holidays, especially now. >> of course. >> alison, thanks. >> i'm all for it. coming up, ipads in the cockpit. they get clearance to use tablets even when you can't. our favorite expert, shall we say, weighs in next. >> so, an app album is a brand-new thing. the idea is to create a complete fully immersive interactive experience that involves music and interactivity.

you used to take an album home and you'd have to play it on a record player. i think there's something almost like spiritual the way we would kind of bond with an album. so, the app has the potential to bring that back. and the way it does is by demanding all of your senses at once. [ male announcer ] sometimes a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs. wait a minute...i... [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer. 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...

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checking top stories now. those really loud tv commercials will soon be history. the fcc ruled tuesday to ban commercials that blast their volume louder than other programming. the new rules take effect next december. and the "time" person of the year is the protester. runners up include kate middleton, gabby giffords. and the marine corps is now apologizing for sending purple heart ornaments and a letter about athletic reconditioning to more than 1,000 families of the fallen. package was meant for marines wounded in action, but still alive. well, american airline pilots are going to be packing lighter. come friday, they can leave their 40 pounds of paperwork at

home in favor of ipads. the faa has just cleared them in the cockpit from gate to gate. meantime, alec baldwin and the rest of us still have to power down for big chunks of the flight. miles o'brien, a pilot, aviation analyst, science correspondent for pbs, my former co-worker who i missed desperately and a lot of folks here pretty confused, miles. and pretty ticked off by this. >> i don't know how the airlines and faa will be able to stop an outright passenger uprising in the wake of all of this. everyone will be chanting alaca! it's crazy for them to stand up there with a straight face and say, you must turn off your device and airplane mode is not enough when the guys in the cockpit, you know, are playing angry birds on their ipad. >> oh, now, can you confirm that, miles o'brien? what have you been flying? have you been flying angry

birds? >> i do fly with my ipad and here's the charts that i use, kyra. it's a very useful device. it's a wonderful thing. i fly with my ipad on and my two iphones going and i never have a problem. >> all right, so, here's my question -- so, if pilots can do it, you do it, they've got their ipads then why can't everybody else use their ipads, their phones? >> this, this is the important point to remember. the faa doesn't care about us. the faa, essentially, works for the airlines. if the airlines called them up and said, hey, we'd like to save a half million gallons of gas by putting ipads in the cockpit instead of these 40-pound binders filled with all the approach plates and everything else, the faa will take inaction and conduct some tests and, sure enough, the ipads are in the cockpit. if we as poor, pitiful passengers want to fire up our kindle they say, no, we're

airing on the side of caution. well, i think this is, this is the wedge that will cause the whole myth to crumble. >> so, interesting. because the faa says, look, this is okay because it's only a few pilots with ipads versus a plane full of passengers and devices so fewer signals to interfere. do you buy that? bottom line, what do we know about these devices interfering with plane's electronics or communications and has the faa ever done comprehensive testing? >> you ask a lot of questions, kyra. >> you taught me well. >> first of all, if you're on an airplane, think about it for a minute. if you're on an airplane and six passengers in 39b, 39c and 24d have kindles and if you really think that's going to bring down the airplane, we should all get off the airplane at that moment because it shouldn't be that fragile. secondly, there is in these devices, in the cell, if you use the cellular component on the ipad or the iphones, the frequency is pretty close to the

gps signal. and there is a possibility of interference there. i should tell you, however, the airlines do not use gps as their primary navigational tool. so, you're not interfering with anything that helps them get from point a to point b. has the faa done tests on behalf of passengers? no. they have said all along we're just going to err on the side of caution here. the bottom line is, if the airlines come to them and say, look, we want to save a few bucks, things happen very quickly. passengers don't have any clout. >> we'll see if any changes happen quickly with regard to -- >> alaca. everybody, keep your devices on. >> miles o'brien, always starting trouble. some things never change. good to see you. >> good to see you. coming up, actors honor their own handing out nominations for this year's sag awards. millions of kids around the world about to be surprised with presents through "operation christmas child." franklin graham is joining me live to talk about it, next.

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the screen actors guild has just announced its nominee for the 2012 sag awards their list with tomorrow's golden globe nods widely seen as an oscar preview. all right, a.j., name the names. what is the scoop? >> in the category of outstanding performance of a male actor in a leading role, the faceoff between brad pitt for "money ball" and george clooney for his work in "the descendants." they're going up against leonardo decap rio for "j. edgar." and jean dujaroin and two demian

bichir. an old rivalry renewed between merrill strip in "the iron lady" and glenn close in "albert nobbs." dueling film premieres last night. they are up against viola davis who is just incredible for "the help." and michelle williams nominated for "my week with marilyn." the artists bridemaids and "midnight in paris" having outstanding performance by a cast. i love that "bridesmaids" made it in there. sag recognizes the work done in television. kyra, that's certainly something we can talk about next hour. >> five words you probably never thought you'd hear, right? snoop dogg, come on down. tell us about the "price is right" first ever celebrity week. >> i love this as a huge "price

is right" fan as a kid. celebrities coming on down. remember johnny olsen. bob barker is one of the reasons i wanted to be in television. i wanted to be bob barker, instead, i'm happy to be here with you, kyra. it will be a celebrity week on "price is right." celebrating their 40th season and do a bunch of special episodes. the celebrity contestants will include snoop dogg, jenny mccarthy and heidi klum. should be a fun, fun week of shows. kyra, already reports that snoop dogg apparently, apparently knows more about the prices of grocery items than you would imagine he would. i would imagine a competitive week of shows. i would love to be on there as the announcer for one week. >> i was in college, a group of us lined up and wewere actually in the audience and you try to act crazy or have some sort of funky t-shirt hoping they'll

call you. but i never had the chance to jump over all the people and run down and kiss bob barker. it just never happened, a.j. >> you might not have had the right shirt on that says kyra loves bob. >> i knew i did it wrong. i think it said i love a.j. hammer, that must have been the problem. we'll see you back here with more headlines next half hour, a.j. he'll tell us about lindsay lohan. she stood up ellen degeneres yesterday and we're also wondering if she'll keep her court date today. a.j. has all the scoop. also coming up, millions of needy kids about to get a big christmas surprise. a shoe box full of presents donated by a stranger. franklin graham joins us to talk about "operation christmas child," next. nyquil (stuffy): hey, tylenol. you know we're kinda like twins.

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well, for millions of needy children around the world, the holidays are just more of the same. they have nugging, they get nothing. well, the evangelical relief group samaritan's purse tries to spread a little christmas cheer to these kids and share the christmas message, as well. every year "operation christmas child" collects shoe boxes full of gifts and sends them to more than 100 countries. franklin graham joins us from new york. great to see you, franklin. >> good to see you and a merry christmas to you. >> ditto. well, as we talk, if you don't mind, i'm going to show folks

how to go to samaritanspurse.org and build a box if they still want to do it and send it to your organization. tell folks what you witnessed over so many years and how it makes such an impact on these kids? >> you know, kyra, we ask people to take a shoe box kind of like what i'm holding right here and fill it with items for a child. it can be, if it's a girl, put a doll, if it's a boy you may want to put a ball or a car or something like that. send it to us and we'll take it to a child and give it to them around the christmas season. but we ask people to pray. pray for the child who is going to get the box. you know, i don't know who will get the box, but god does. if we know god will hear the prayer of one righteous person, can you imagine, 9 million people praying for 9 million children. that's how many boxes we will collect this year, 9 million and it has a huge impact because every child that gets a box, most of these kids never had a

gift in their life and the hope it gives them knowing that somebody cares about them and that somebody is praying for them. it means everything in the world, kyra. and the joy that these kids get, you know, just getting a gift and so much fun and every year we have the privilege of just handing these boxes out to millions of children around the world. >> just to let folks know, they can still do it. you're supposed to do it in november. it's real easy. go to the website samaritanspurse.org and see how you build a box. as you go through, choose the child, choose the age and choose everything that you want to put in that box and then you can actually track the package, which i think is so fantastic. tell our viewers, i mean, these go all over the world, right, franklin? you can actually see where it ends up and how your box makes an impact. >> you can. it is fantastic. you can actually track the box that you built into what country it's going to. really a lot of fun and you can go on every day and see the progress of your box.

so, it's fun for the person who puts the box together, but the child that gets the box, kyra. it makes a huge impact. we had children that got boxes 10, 15 years ago that have now immigrated to this country and got adopted and they're in school and university and they're packing boxes and giving boxes and it's come full circle. it's so fun to see what god has done through a simple gift, just a simple box. >> that's why we talk about it every year. two things i have to ask you about. your dad, got pneumonia. i think a lot of people around the world were pretty concerned about that. but he's doing well and i understand he didn't even want to leave the hospital, he was enjoying his time with the nurses and the doctors and probably talking about god with every single one of them. >> absolutely. no, he's doing well, thank you for asking. he's back home getting ready for christmas. he just finished a book called "nearing home." that book has done extremely well. he's been so encouraged about it that he's actually starting now

another book. he's working, even though he's 93 years of age. still keeping busy and still working and he wants everyone to know about god's son, jesus christ, who died for our sins and raised to light and could come into any heart that is willing to accept him by faith. this has been his message all of his life telling people about god's love and he's still doing it. >> when it comes to the evangelical vote and we're coming up for a big political time. matter of fact, it's already started. a lot of people listen to who your father is talking about. a lot of people listen to who you and you're talking about. have you endorsed anybody yet? are you thinking about endorsing someone? if not, who caught your attention, franklin? >> well, there's a lot of great candidates out there who i think are very capable. i think everybody agrees that our country is in trouble. and we've got to make some changes if we're going to survive as a nation. so, i'm just praying that god would give us the man or woman that can lead this nation. we are in trouble, kyra.

i haven't endorsed anybody. i don't have any intentions at this time of endorsing anybody, but some great people out there that are running that have some great ideas and i think will help this nation and maybe even turn this nation around. >> is there someone you respect? >> i met most of the candidates on the republican and, of course, i know the president and i have respect for all of them. >> we will see what happens. franklin graham, very careful with his words. good to see you and our best to your father, thanks so much, franklin. >> thank you, merry christmas. we'll be right back. i'm kind of a fixture in different parts of town... some folks call me a rock star, some call me the mayor... and i love it. and, i make everybody happy. i keep my business insurance with the hartford because...

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stories making news later today. obama talks to the troops at ft. bragg north carolina just before noon. the following hour lindsay lohan has another court hearing. later tonight, four presidential gop hopefuls plan to attend a movie titled the gift of life. let's check in first with paul steinhauser. paul? >> kyra, could it be a set back for the frontrunner. newt gingrich's top guy in iowa is no longer with the campaign. i'll tell you why. >> we are following the arrest of three florida a&m students in an alleged hazing incident. today we're hearing more from the victim's attorney. that story coming up at the top

of the hour. >> and i'm arwa day monday in baghdad. coming up as well, an update on the u.s. troop withdrawal and the type of iraq the americans are leaving behind. all right. thanks, guys. also next hour, you're going to meet reid wooiz man. he was one of the first pilots to attack iraq back in 2003. >> we are here to liberate the iraqi people. so what is our goal? we've got to go out and do our job as professionally as we can. we've got to execute 100% perfectly every time. there are civilian lives on the ground, there's fellow americans fighting down there. we have to do our best and we have to be perfect pretty much 100% of the time. no room for error. >> that was lieutenant wise man more than 8 years ago. today lieutenant commander weissman is an astronaut at nasa.

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[ knock on door ] cool. you found it. wow. nice place. yeah. [ chuckles ] the family thinks i'm out shipping these. smooth move. you used priority mail flat rate boxes. if it fits, it ships for a low, flat rate. paid for postage online and arranged a free pickup. and i'm gonna track them online, too. nice. between those boxes and this place, i'm totally staying sane this year. do i smell snickerdoodles? maybe. [ timer dings ] got to go. priority mail flat rate shipping at usps.com. a simpler way to ship.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com well, there's another lawsuit coming from the child sex abuse allegations out of syracuse university. two men who say former syracuse assistant basketball coach bernie fine actually abused them when they were team ball boys. jeff is following that for us this morning. >> they're not only upset with the school, they're taking on the head coach, jim boeheim. he initially called bobby davis and his stepbrother mike laing liars who were out for money.

they're now suing for defamation. since boeheim said that more accusations have come out. he's softened his stance. bernie fine has not been charged. >> college hoops last night, check this out. waiting for the inbounds play with their backs to raymond taylor from florida atlantic right off the mississippi player and kbets the easy lay-up. mississippi state did win its ninth in a row 75-58. james harrison likely will not be playing monday night against san francisco after his one game suspension for hitting the quarterback koelt mccoy. it left him with a concussion. it's harrison's fifth illegal hit on a quarterback in the past three seasons. he is appealing the suspension. he will not change the way he place he says. kyra, i know you'll love this. there's an entire website now devoted to how aaron rodgers

photo bombs the captain's picture before each game. there he is. always peeking out behind the other guys doing something sily, making a goofy face. 's been doing this for years, but he's still doing it now that he's arguably the best player in all of football. it's rod gersphoto bomb.com. it's good to know when you're a star you don't take yourself too seriously. >> thank you very much, jeff. nick nolte says he wants to clear up the truth about any episode that may be a little bit foggy. here's cnn's jeanne moos. >> it is the mona lisa of mug shots. so famous all it takes to recognize it is the outline. ridiculed in song, imitated. >> put your hair like this. nick. >> worn as a halloween costume. someone even put it on his credit card.

almost a decade after its release letterman still making jokes about nick nolte, about how the u.s. didn't release a death photo of osama bin laden. >> the white house released this instead. take a look at that. >> to mugshot connie sores at the smoking gun. now nolte is talking. he's saying a mugshot it was not. in an interview with gq magazine, he explains he was high on a drug ghb, liquid ectasy. at the hospital where he was taken for a blood test a young officer asked him if he could take a polaroid. i said, come on, you don't really want to ask you that, do you, he recalls. but he did. he made him agree that if he posed the young officer would share any proceeds with his colleagues. i let him shoot the polaroid. the rest is history. it's the gold standard against

which mothers compare their baby's hair. >> which reminds me a lot of nick nolte mugshot hair. >> he was 1992s sexiest man and look at him now, still sexy. >> one guy posted that on his local tv weather forecast when we are expecting heavy wind, this picture is what they use for a bad hair day. police may be tearing out their hair because the california highway patrol spokesman who originally released this picture says, it is a mugshot, one of several that they took, not a polaroid taken at the hospital. >> maybe that's how he perceived it on ghb. maybe that's what he thought they were saying. here's another fan that wants a picture. >> reporter: makes you think everybody's a fan. >> who doesn't want my picture? >> reporter: mel gibson has reportedly said he made sure his hair was groomed in his mugshot so he wouldn't end up like nick. the moral of the mugshot or whatever it was, comb your hair.

even if this kid didn't, at least he wasn't wearing a hawaiian shirt. >> nick nolte mug shot hair, baby's hair. well, on capital hill lawmakers are racing the clock to extend the payroll tax cut. it saves the average american about $1,000 a year. they've passed their version of the bill and they're warning democrats now who are threat jing to kill it. >> the president seems to have threatened to veto this bill one, because house republicans don't want to raise taxes. why would you want to raise taxes on anybody in this economy? why is taking more away from small business people and job creators going to be helpful to our economy? it isn't. without spending discipline, it won't help on the deficit problem at all. kate baldwin on capitol hill. the bill is dead on arrival. what's next? >> reporter: yeah. it really does seem, well, if

you listen to the senate majority leader, that it is absolutely dead on arrival in the senate. he says there is broad opposition to many of the provisions in the house-passed bill. let's get to that in one second. first, just to further the point. listen here to senate majority leader harry reid from last night right after the house vote. >> the bill just passed by house republicans tonight is say pointless partisan exercise. the bill is dead on arrival. it was dead before it got to the senate. the senate will not pass it. the sooner we demonstrate that, the sooner we can begin serious discussions how to keep taxes from going up on middle class americans. >> reporter: now senator reid said very much the same thing today as he was speaking on the senate floor even going as far to call it a useless partisan charade, kyra. there is likely to be a vote on this house-passed measure in the senate today. again, it's not likely to go anywhere. the main opposition, there are several things that democrats are opposed to in the house

bill. one of the major obstacles is that house republican leaders added a provision that would speed up the keystone pipeline project. it's not related to the payroll tax but house republicans added it in there. where do things go from here? now it's looking like we are facing two dead linings. not only have they not reached agreement on how to extend the payroll tax cut before the current payroll tax cut extension expires at the end of this year. we're also facing a potential government shutdown come this friday as a massive government funding bill that's been negotiated for months now has gotten thrown into the mix of this latest round of bringsmanship and we could be face fg they don't break the log jam on payroll and potentially resolve some issues with this massive government funding bill, we could be facing another government shutdown even earlier even before we're face thg deadline with this payroll tax extension. it's getting pretty contentious up here as you can see. >> kate baldwin on the hill. thanks. next hour president obama

expected to deliver remarks at 11:55 eastern at ft. bragg. we will carry it live. newt gingrich is surging in the polls and racking up endorsements, but today his campaign is dealing with an embarrassing blunder by a staff member in iowa. deputy political director paul steinhauser has the scoop for us. paul? >> kyra, with less than three weeks to go now, remember, that's the first contest in the primary contest battle, this is not the storyline they wanted to deal with. the story itself, it was a couple days ago that gingrich and mitt romney have been going back and forth on the attack. yesterday gingrich put out a ler saying we will not go on the attack against any republican candidates. neither my staff or surrogates. here's what happened. gingrich's brand new political director in iowa had to step down because earlier in the week before he was in the campaign he was doing a focus group and he

was talking about how evangelicals would not consider or vote for romney. romney is a mormon and they believe mormonism is a cult. craig bergman agreed to step away from his role with newt gingrich 2012 today. he made a comment that is contrary to the group. the story line, gingrich does not want to have to deal with it, but he is dealing with it this morning. >> this new poll that shows if gingrich does, indeed, win the nomination, the tougher challenge may lie ahead. paul? >> definitely. four new polls out in the last 24 hours all show the same thing. gingrich the front-runner for the gop nomination. let's take a look at this. this is say hypothetical, next year the general election. barak obama the president versus newt gingrich, obama with an 11 point lead. obama versus mitt romney, much, much closer contest. this poll indicating maybe an

electability problem for newt gingrich. >> paul steinhauser, thanks so much. donald trump has pulled out of the gop presidential debate. he was scheduled to moderate. he said he wanted to avoid a potential conflict of interest because he could enter the race later as a third-party candidate. >> the republican party does not want me running as an independent so they've made this debate pretty impossible, although it could be an interesting chat with newt gingrich and it could be an interesting time. they want me to announce that i won't run as an independent candidate, and i won't do that because if the republicans pick the wrong person i would, in fact, seriously consider running. >> trump says that most of the candidates declined to take part because of its potential candidacy. as of now newt gingrich and rick santorum are committed. this morning three florida

a&m band members are facing criminal charges. the three men appeared at a tallahassee courtroom yesterday. they're accused of beating an 18-year-old band member badly that she suffered blood clots, broken thigh. george howe has been following this. we're hearing from the victim's attorney for the first time. >> we are. keeping it in perspective, we are talking about two investigations at florida a&m university. the first dealing with robert champion, the band's drum major who died on november 19th. this is the case of bria hunter. huntder claims that -- rather, she filed her police report about two weeks before champion's death. she says she was involved in several weeks' long hazing period where she had a broken leg, blood clots from those alleged hazing incidents. we talked to hunter's attorney, b.j. bernstein who held a press conference and talked a bit about her client. also talked about the three people arrested and alludes that

more people could be involved. take a look. >> bria talked to law enforcement and there were more than three people in attendance at this, up to 12 students involved. hopefully these young people will come forward and tell the truth and hopefully they'll be able to move forward with their education eventually, but accountability and responsibility is a critical part for any student who's a part of this. even more so, florida a&m has to change. >> you see those three people there arrested. james harris, shawn hobson and aaron goldson in this case. this case still king. another case involving robert champion still underway. >> this young woman, she's actually withdrawn from school. >> she is. in fact, she's leaving a full ride scholarship, an $80,000 year scholarship to be in the band claiming that she and her family have received tweets from

people threatening retaliation for her speaking out against this alleged hazing incident. >> it's going to be interesting to see how this all unfoeltds. thanks. calling it the new dui. the ntsb wants to ban you and every other driver on the road from talking or texting while behind the wheel. the recommendation was laid out yesterday by the safety panel including a total ban nationwide. yes, that means hands-free devices. ntsb chair woman says while it may not be a popular push, it's one that's necessary to combat a growing threat posed by distracted drivers. >> there are a lot of distractions. frankly, distractions have been around as long as the model t has been around. this is a new type of distraction, and what we see is that people are bringing more and more electronic devices into the car. there's devices that are in the car as part of their infotanment and they are creating more

distractions. we're seeing more people texting behind the wheel and people being distracted by the cognitive conversations that they're having with people where it's taking their attention away from the driving task. >> while the ntsb can't actually change the law, the group hopes its recommendations will lead states to do so. overseas now the drawdown of u.s. troops stationed in iraq intense ifies from a high water mark to where the number now is at 5,000. arwa damon is in baghdad. arwa? >> hi, kyra. that's right. as of yesterday 5.5,000 troops in iraq. the u.s. has to meet the deadline of having all of its troops out by the end of the month. for the military that is leaving and for the iraqis that are staying behind, a lot of mixed

emotions about america's war in iraq coming to an end. a lot of the soldiers who have spent so much of their lives here, many of them on multiple rotations, many of them have seen their friends die in front of them. they have a lot of questions. they're tlos a certain degree uncertain about what iraq's future is going to be. a fair amount of uncertainty among the iraqi population as well. while iraqis did not want to see the u.s. military here forever, at the same time there are a lot of fears about the security vacuum that is potentially going to be left behind especially given all of the ongoing political uncertainty here. despite the fact that we heard from president obama, prime minister nuri al-maliki, both of them talking about this national unity government, many iraqis wouldn't really agree with that. we're seeing a lot of internal turmoil when it comes to governance. that of course many people worry given the fact that it is iraq, it could lead to more violence possibly. >> talking about the violence and troops leaving. thanks so much.

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president obama speaks to the troops next hour about the ends of the iraq war. a war that began more than eight years ago with "shock and awe," and i was there.

6. >> our mission objectives, hit the target. >> seven aircrafts did drop bombs over iraq. >> reporter: eight years ago i was there when the iraq war began. >> the campaign is being called "shock and awe." >> reporter: from the air, land, and sea. >> there are five weapon stations on this special operations craft. >> reporter: i met some of the bravest men and women i've ever known. >> one of those guys dropping the first bombs on iraq, lieutenant reid weissman, an f 14 pilot. i talked to him aboard the abraham lincoln right after president bush declared war. >> reporter: when you heard the president of the united states say, this is it, we're at war, what was going through your head. >> first and foremost, surprise because i didn't expect it to happen the way it started. i didn't expect that i would wake up and see the president talking about we are at war

without us being airborne at the time. i thought for sure that's the way it was going to start. at first surprise and then a little bit of nervousness and then after that just a whole lot of motivation. >> i've kept up with reid weissman over the years. he always told me about his ultimate goal after the war ended, and he did it. he's now lieutenant commander weiss man and he's a nasa astronaut. he joins me where he's training for a 2014 launch from russia. reid, great to see you. >> kyra, great to see you. always great to talk to you. >> you heard a little bit about what you told me as soon as the iraq war began. you know, how is that moment and that war changed you professionally and personally? >> without a doubt, kyra, i think that war made me grow up awfully, awfully fast. very quickly i realized that war can be ugly. it's fast. it hits hard and it's for real,

and i think that single thing really, really made me into an adult probably a little bit younger than i would have been. i think that's helped me throughout my career. >> now the war began. you landed on the carrier. i tracked you down and i asked you, what does this mission mean to you. here's what you told me. >>. >> reporter: why do you think this war is the right thing to do. >> that's a great question. this war is a very right thing to do because of sad dam hussein and in my opinion more importantly, his sons, who are far more vicious than he is. for the iraqi people, it's going to be tough. this next year is going to be very tough for the whole world, especially when we didn't get basically the u.n. to pass a resolution for this to happen, but we needed to do it right now because if a terrorist gaets hold of any of the things that saddam hussein has or if his sons are terrorists and they get to the united states, think

about what would happen if they unleashed something in manhattan that was a weapon of mass destruction, now we have tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of americans who don't get to wake up and smell the fresh cut lawn and the mist on the grass. we can't have that. the president's doing the right thing. >> so, reid, as you listen to that, did we do the right thing? what do you think about what you told me at that time? >> well, kyra, of course i think we did the right thing. i think we were fighting for freedom and we were fighting for the defense of our nation at the time. i'll always think that was the right decision for us. i think it's funny that i said it's going to be a tough year for the world really and it turned out that i don't think anybody could predict really what came. instead of a tough year it turned into a tough eight years. >> how does that sit with you when we see all the men and

women that have died and how controversial this war has become? how do you stomach that at night? >> well, kyra, it's hard to justify the human cost of any war, but i think fundamentally that war was worth our fight and fighting for freedom was absolutely worth it. sure, i wish it had been quicker. i wish it had been much cleaner and the cost of civilian and military lives was high, but in the end i think that was the right thing to do. >> reid wiseman. stay with me. we'll take a quick break. we'll talk about his new gig, the one at nasa. before did you into space, well, you've got to go underwater. >> here's the force. >> coming up, we'll talk more about lieutenant commander wiseman's new adventure. ♪

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well, as we told you, lieutenant reid wiseman was one of the first pilots to bring "shock and awe" to iraq. today lieutenant commander wiseman is exactly where he wants to be, with nasa, training for a mission to space. he's with us live from moscow. 's training for a russian launch. reid, you told me at the start of the war in 2003 that you wanted to be an astronaut. you did it. so what does the future hold for you with the end of the shuttle program? >> well, kyra, the human space flight program in america is still going strong. we have a lot of work ahead. the international space station has had a human on it since 2001. we're continuing that. we're doing research every day. like you said, i'm two years away from a launch.

one week from today we're going to launch two astronauts and a cosmonauts to a station. >> i'm listening to you and you're being the serious reid wiseman. but i know inside the minute you found out you made it to the program it was a pretty exciting moment, wasn't it? >> it was an exciting moment. i was actually underway on an aircraft carrier in the persian gulf. there's no better place to be i think to find out that you're going to be an astronaut and train with nasa and fly in space. you remember what those halls look like. it's hard to run through them. >> i'll never forget the e-mail i received telling me you got it. you mentioned the science. tell me what's exciting right now on the space station sciencewise. >> well, right now, kyra, i think it's looking very positive that we may have just found a vaccine for salmonella and we flew some viruss up to the space

station intentionally and we looked at what happened. we found out they got stronger when they were up in that weightless environment. we've reverse engineered them. we've sent a drug to the fda and we'll see if it works. it would be fantastic to save thousands of lives. >> what a pleasure to talk to you today. as we wrap up, a couple other personal things that changed in your life. you got married to your sweetheart since the war, carol. you had two beautiful daughters. seems like everything is working out the way you planned, but i know you keep close to your heart what's taking place in iraq. i know that means a lot to you. you're finally pursuing what you've always wanted and that's becoming an astronaut. it was so great to look back with you today, reid. thank you so much for joining me from moscow. >> it was a real pleasure, kyra. always great to talk to you. thanks for the opportunitiy. >> you bet. all right. let's check stories cross-country now. you don't see this everyday.

police officer driving his cruiser up a utility poll. one of miami's finest got distracted while reaching for a pen that he dropped. that's when his cruiser drove over some wire and was pulled upward. he walked away without a scratch, even laughing. deep-fried twingys. now available all year long at an oklahoma restaurant. the name's pretty easy to remember, too. yeah, you guessed it, the fair. a snowstorm that hit northern arizona expected to clear out today. it dumped two feet of snow in one area. it was enough for students to get a snow day. that system dumped so much snow in the dessert southwest. it's moving east ward into the central plains. bringing plenty of rain with it. rob marciano tracking it for us. >> this is the second strong southwestern snow system, one that got down into mexico as far as the snow is concerned. still have snow advisories and winter snow warnings posted for mexico and colorado.

the rain and energy with this system is heading into the plains. isolated tornados, large hale possible. these haven't formulated but in the afternoon they'll become a little bit better chance of that happening. chicago up through mill walk can i, you've been getting rain. stretching east to cleveland, buffalo. it will get up towards the northeast. until then we're talking about mild conditions. fog this morning. temperatures may very well top out at 70 degrees in some spots today, including atlanta. 70 for a high. 46 degrees in new york city. 52 degrees with that rain in chicago. we do have travel delays because of the rain in chicago, both at midway and owe hair. sky harbor, we'll keep track of the potential problems in texas. newsroom is coming right back. in one... burgers and soup. did you hear him honey? burgers and soup. love you. they're cute. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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checking top stories. put down the remote. those really loud tv commercial alls will soon be history. the fcc ruled tuesday to ban commercials that blast their volume louder than programming. capital hill, lawmakers racing to extend the clock. saves the average american about $1,000 a year. house republicans say they've done their part passing their version and warn democrats are threatening to kill it. the senate is now taking up the bill. it's being called the new dui. the ntsb wants to ban you and every other driver on the road from talking or texting while behind the wheel. yes, that means hands-free devices too. the ntsb can't change the law, the group hopes its recommendations will lead states to do so. in a few moments president

obama is going to ft. bragg north carolina. he's addressing the troops. athena jones at the white house. tell us about the trip. >> reporter: you know, this is an important milestone for this president. he sees this as a campaign promise capped. they've been using every opportunity to mark this. they've been talking about it all week. we had the iraqi prime minister nuri al-maliki coming to the white house on monday. yesterday the president gave local interviews to tv stationness separate states a close the country talking about this iraq drawdown. today they want to travel to ft. bragg, north carolina, to talk to some of the troops. we've been told a couple hundred troops returned just yesterday so it really is kind of a welcome home. both the president and the first lady, who spent a lot of time on issues dealing with military families, will be speaking to the troops. the idea is to thank them for their service, sacrifice, and honor their achievements. we know that more than a million americans served in iraq.

4500 troops lost their lives. the idea is to thank them for that sacrifice and say that the u.s. is going to take care of these returning vet trangs. one more thing that senior administration officials have mentioned is that we can hear something of an economic message as well. the white house has been saying for several months as we're winding down iraq, it's officially coming to an end, we're beginning to wind down the war in afghanistan. the idea more than ever is to focus on the economy here at home. building up america here at home. so we can probably expect to hear a little bit of that today as well. >> athena jones at the white house. thanks. stay with us next hour president obama going to deliver those remarks at ft. bragg. 11:55 eastern. we will carry it life. political buzz. playing today cnn contributor maria cardona. sir yus xm talk show host, pete

doom anything. chris mets ler of georgetown universi university. first question, guys. christine o'donnell, the former senate candidate from delaware. you know her. she endorsed mitt romney for president. good thing for romney or not? >> i think it's a great thing for romney, kyra. we know he's had trouble with the conservative vote and christine o'donnell's endorsement will really help him shore up the all important conservative tea party wicken vote. he clearly convinced christine o'donnell that he would be a good witch and not a bad witch if he were to win for president. good for him. >> chris? >> no, actually, i really think it's irrelevant. so we have someone who can't spell. we have someone who is, who, what's her name again? i think probably the more important news would be whether or not pete and maria right now right here will commit to

endorsing romney. i think that would make a huge difference. so i'm waiting for that endorsement. pete and maria, come on, guys. >> you want my endorsement, chris? >> go ahead, pete. >> for romney, yes. >> sadly, i actually believe people would care more about what maria and i think than christine o'donnell. i'll take over from there because this endorsement, chris is absolutely right, totally irrelevant i think. can you imagine, maybe she's making a run for vp, kyra. can you imagine a moderate republican chooses a social conservative, fairly unvetted, fairly attractive female to run on the vp ticket. get all those female evangelical right votes. wait, i was having a bit of a flashback to 2008. >> boy, i'd love to see pete on a date with her. "the new yorker" runs 40 nice things about newt gingrich and it asked readers for their

input. here's a look at a few of the cleaner ones. he's taller than james madison. he's never divorced me. he's the one to get obama re-elected. guys, add one nice comment about newt to the list. chris? >> takes a licking and keeps on ticking. because who thought at this point in the race we would be talking about newt as the front-runner? what i would have to say is that for those folks who have actually been saying for newt we'd like to run against newt, i have two words for you, jimmy carter or ronald regan. how'd that end up for ya? that's newt. never underestimate him. >> maria? >> i was actually very impressed and happy to hear when i heard the news that he is a avid zoo

visitor. i think that is a huge positive. i never would have thought of him zoo, aquariums, that's warm and fuzzy. that and he looks like the burl i was snow man. during christmas that's a great thing for him. >> pete? you should see pete's face right now. >> i can only give you one thing. i'm a comedian and a writer. i've got 15. buzz me here. buzz. newt has a great head of hair. he's written four times as many books as dan brown but they're less factual. he's made an honest women out of both of his mistresses. the only thing that chuck norris fears, newt gingrich as president. and he's not herman cain. >> geez. >> whoa, pete that was pretty

stellar. >> that was great. >> funny guy, pete dominick. buzzer beater, 20 seconds each. "time magazine" as you know named the protester its person of the year for 2012. in a big political year, who's your person of the year. maria? >> well, i think i have two. the first one is seal team 6 but i understand the person who headed that was one of the runners up. i think i would also say because of the protester of the year was person of the year that it should go to muhammad bousi who lit himself on fire and lit the match for the arab spring. >> chris? >> i'm actually going to go overseas and go with angela merkel because i think in fact she's doing an excellent job trying to save the euro and, thus, the u.s. currency. so i'm going to go with merkel. no, pete, she does not have to be american. i would, of course, go with

margaret that mumarg thatcher. she's always my default. >> why do you hate the french? they made a great choice with the protester. maria said it about the guy in tunisia. egypt, rest of north africa. look at what happened in america, wisconsin, ohio, great choice the protester. i would say grover norquist who has held the budget hostage. >> always a pleasure, guys. thank you. coming up the screen actors gild chooses its favorite performers. >> the nominees are -- >> that was a tease. you know, because you been, you know, this is what you had been doing. you know, working, working, working, working, working, working. and now you're talking about, well you know, i won't be,

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screen aktors gild has just a nunsed its nominees. their list along with the golden globe nods. a.j. hammer has all the details. all right, a.j., name the names. >> reporter: all right, kyra. we talked about the film nominees. let's look at the television side. another big year for hbo. there is no stopping them. they had several actors

nominated. two of their big shows, board walk, empire, game of thrones could win in the category of outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series. the sag equivalent of best drama. those two shows up against dexter, breaking bad from amc, and the good wife from cbs. the networks did better in the comedy categories. all five nominees by an ensemble are from broadcast networks. 30 rock, the office from nbc, the big bang theory from cbs, glee from fox, and kyra, one of our favorites, modern family. very disappointed because it just dawned on me we don't get a new modern family tonight. not that you shouldn't watch. i believe it's the great dude ranch episode. >> pretty funny. >> reporter: unbelievable last week. >> yes, it was. i'm so bummed out. i didn't know we were going to get a repeat. who would ever want to skip out on ellen degeneres. when i was on maternity leave, i

never missed ellen, not one day, a.j. >> reporter: yeah. i don't think lindsey lohan wanted to miss her appearance on the ellen show. she says she got stuck in hawaii which forced her to miss the taping. she did offer to tape an episode tomorrow, but the show couldn't work everything out to work around lindsay's schedule. it was a pretty tough trip to hawaii for lindsay. she reported that her purse was stolen while she was there. she did get the purse back but she lost all the cash from it. reportedly around $10,000 that's what you rom around with when you're on vacation. she's busy today with another court appearance in los angeles. the ellen show was her one planned promotional stop to plug her appearance in the new issue of playboy magazine. kyra, i have the feeling, going on ellen, it's terrific. it will do great things for publicity. that issue will do just fine. >> here's a blast from our past. the price is right?

>> yes. it's a big celebrity week. are you ready for snoop dorks jenny mccarthy, heidi clooum, they're going to be bidding and spinning. they're celebrating their 40th anniversary. this is a great idea. i'm thinking, tell me if you agree, if snoop dogg is up to win a new car, wow, it better be something pretty spectacular, don't you think? >> oh, my gosh. i'll tell you what, memories of that show, right? now it's modern family. then it was price is right. a.j., you're always taking me back. all right. if you want any information on anything breaking in the entertainment world, a.j.'s got it every night. "showbiz tonight" at 11:00 p.m. it started as a nice idea for purple heart recipients. send them purple heart ornaments. the marines sent them to the wrong people.

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some folks in pitman, new jersey, are pretty angry about a sign. the freedom from religion foundation wants it removed of the the town's mayor says it's on private property and it will stay put. according to facebook lax is the nation's most social airport. number two is hearts vil jackson. followed by chicago, o'hare. this necks class owned by the late elizabeth taylor sold for $11.8 million. the highest price ever sold at auction for a pearl jewelry. the profits will go to the aids foundation. the marine corps apologizing for a mistake. christmas ornaments were sent to families whose members were killed. wow, chris, what the heck happened? >> well, kyra, here's where the mixup happened. a charity group donated about

9,000 of these ornaments as a gesture of goodwill. the marine corps wounded war remember regimen sent them out intending to send them to living recipients of the purple heart but what happened was their list of purple heart recipients didn't distinguish between the living and the deceased. so about 1100 families who have had a marine or sailor fall in battle they got these ornaments addressed to their deceased loved one which obviously coming at any time of the year is a hard thing to take. coming so close to christmas was tough on a lot of these families. over 3 dozen families started calling the marine corps saying what's going on here. they've been profusely apologizing saying basically flat out there's no excuse for this. we will make it right. that's going to be in the form of a written apology and the

head of the wounded warrior program, the colonel is also personally calling some of the families back who called in to the marine corps. so a really, really tough thing for these families to get this time of year, but there was no malicious intent behind it. it was a mistake. >> well, it's going to be a lot of apologies, no doubt. you're right, chris, tough time of year to receive something like that, a mistake like that. they're doing everything they can. thanks a lot, chris. up next, when it comes to marriage, more people are saying i don't. we're going to find out why it's dropped to a record low. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your stuffy nose. [ deep breath ] thank you! that's the cold truth! some folks call me a rock star, some call me the mayor... and i love it. and, i make everybody happy. i keep my business insurance with the hartford because...

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stories making news. later today obama talks to the troops at ft. bragg, north carolina just before noon eastern time. the following hour lindsay lohan has another court hearing. des moines, iowa, there's an antiabortion themed movie entitled "the gift of life" going to be attended by four gop nominees. some surprising new numbers show that married couples here in the u.s. are on the path to becoming a minority. alison kosik, new york stock exchange. we're doing our part in keeping the institution alive. >> we are. marriage is not the priority that it used to be, kyra. pew research broke down the latest sentences census date at

that showing the number of people getting hitched is at a record low. 51% of adults had a ring on their finger last year. a big part of the decline is the economy. more couples, they're now living together without walking down the aisle first. in many cases, one person has lost a job or they can't afford two separate places. it turns out that people who have a college degree, they've got a higher likelihood of getting married than those with just a high school education. they have a harder time finding a job so they're more reluctant to take that vow. also the whole attitude about the institution of marriage. it's, poof, changing. kyra? >> oh, boy. well, let's take a look at the market, shall we? >> we're seeing more downward momentum. a lot of it, kyra, is reaction to the euro dropping below $1.30. that that does is makes our exports more expensive, meaning our products become more expensive to buy over there. it's good if you're a tourist.

it's bad if you're a company. it's the reason we're seeing shares of caterpillar, which are the biggest loser on the dow. that's an american company that does a ton of business overseas. the worries right now in the market about caterpillar is how much exposure they have to the troubles in the eurozone. we're seeing that red across the screen. the dow down 99 points. >> alison, thanks. time now for a little college hoops. that's right. time for sports. 16th ranked mississippi state on the fence. their backs are turned. right off the rump as you'll see here. mississippi state player gets the easy lay-up. mississippi state did win ninth in the row, 75-68 final. love this. there's an entire website devoted to the green bay packers and its quarterback, aaron rodgers. you can see him there peeking

behind the other guy. making a goofy face, doing something silly. he's been doing this for years. you can go to the website rodgers dlts photobomb.com. "time magazine" named its person of the year. it is gab briwe'll have the ans after the break. welcome to idaho,

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guess today's the daytime magazine actually announced its person of the year and as they've done a handful of times before, editors chose to honor a group of people over an individual. this year it's the protester. >> reporter: from the arab spring to athens, occupy wall street to moscow. the cover singles out some of the mass movements that have helped shape the world this year. it was talked about on "american morning." >> the arab spring protester informed our choice quite substantially. a year that began with the arab spring is ending with protests still in some parts of the arab world like in sir ra, protests in russia, protests in downtown new york, protests around the world. the arab spring protester inspired protests around the world and so we decided in the

end that rather than pick on any one individual or even any one small group we would go for the larger. >> some of the runners up, kate middleton, paul ryan, and a ai weiwei. for gop presidential hopeful mitt romney it's safe to say the gloves are off when it comes to front-runner's newt gingrich. that is if the washington post is any indicator. mark preston? >> kyra, we've seen mitt romney be very restrained through this whole race for the republican presidential nomination. we've seen the rise in michele bachmann and the fall of michele bachmann. the rise of rick perry, the fall of rick perry. the rides and familiar of herman cain. throughout all of those rises we've never seen mitt romney attack any of those candidates, however, we are just weeks away from the iowa caucuses and newt gingrich has risen to the top. mitt romney, however, is

starting to criticize him. in fact, let's look at what he told the washington post in an interview that appeared in today's paper. very critical. he says of newt gingrich, he has been extraordinarily unreliable leader in the conservative world. not 16 or 17 years ago, but in the last two or three years. even during the campaign the number of times he has moved from one spot to another has been remarkable. i think he's shown a level of unreliability as a conservative leader today. the reason, kyra, we're seeing mitt romney take it straight to newt gingrich specifically regarding his bona fides when it comes to conservatives, the fact of the matter is it will be conservatives who will choose the next republican presidential nomination in all of the states. >> mark preston, thanks so much. we'll have the next update in just about an hour. you can always go to the website cnn politco