the tebrew, the bonfire brewery in eagle, colorado, getting 150 gallons of the special suds just for you, bill hemmer for this weekend. bill: nicely done. see if the bropg coast hang on. martha: against the patriots this weekend we'll see. see you tomorrow. bill: debate tonight. fallout tomorrow. martha: see you back here tomorrow guys. jenna: i don't know about you but a tebrew sound pretty good. jon: i'm not sure he is endorsing it but i still like the broncos this weekend. jenna: for you on the west coast it is only 8:00 in the morning. if you don't feel like a beer we understand. regardless, everybody it is a big day. bill and martha were talk about it. i'm jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. we're in the fox newsroom and "happening now", hours away from the final gop debate for january 3rd's iowa caution us. it is a debate you will only

see on fox tonight 9:00 eastern time. mitt romney seems to be taking off the gloves, using words like zane any to describe newt gingrich. in an interview. >> zaney is not what we need in a president. zanesy great in campaign and talk radio and in print. makes for fun reading. in terms of a president, we need a leader. a leader needs to be someone who can bring americans together. jenna: zaney, huh? don't end there. romney the target of zincers, a day of z words. taking a shot at gingrich for being rich. >> gingrich has his wealth working in government. he is a wealthy man, a very wealthy man. if you have half a million dollar purchase from tiffany's, you're not a middle class american. jon: the wealth from government versus the private sector argument there. meantime it romney camp is

out with a new web attacked a calling mr. gingrich unreliable and, an unreliableable leader for teaming up with nancy pelosi on climate change. ♪ . >> if enough of us demand action from our leaders -- >> together, we can do this. ♪ . jon: joining us from the site of tonight's fox debate in sioux city, iowa, stephen hayes, senior brighter for "the weekly standard.". also a fox news contributor. there are echoes, stephen, the mike huckabee campaign. huckabee, obviously a presidential candidate the last time around who ran a very strong race. echoes of what happened to him that the romney campaign is trying to prevent this time around. >> yeah. i think that's right. if you look where mike huckabee was at the very beginning of october of 2007, he was at about 5% in

the polls here in iowa. he doubled his support in october. doubled his support again in november and eventually emerged as the frontrunner and won the iowa caucuses. the romney team is looking at that and thinking we need to stop the gingrich momentum before it really takes off. jon: what happened to romney's pledge he would essentially not going to attack the other republicans in the race? >> well, i think everybody's pledges are off at this point. you're now at the point where you've got less than three weeks until people are voting. newt gingrich went after mitt romney yesterday. romney has been going after gingrich ferociously. ron paul is up on the air here with very harsh attack ads on newt gingrich so it has goten very tough. jon: speaking of ron paul, you say the romney camp would prefer to see him do well in this race. why? >> well, i think the romney camp wants to have any other outcome other than a newt gingrich victory here in iowa. they think a gingrich victory could propel him to

further success down the road. maybe not a victory in new hampshire but a better showing in south carolina. maybe better showing in florida. if that momentum, if newt keeps staying on the same trajectory that he has been on, i think the romney team sees he would be harder to bring down. if, on the other hand, they can reverse his momentum and he has had quite a bit of the past couple weeks they think they can stem the momentum and retake the lead. jon: it's a tough race to fight there in iowa. you have a relatively small number of voters. you've them scattered all across the state. it is likely to be cold i gert it is right now, a ron paul who has fervent support could do very well. >> yeah, it is cold. that's why i look like i'm crying actually. jon: we don't fault you for that, stephen, come on. >> i'm not crying. i love talking to you. it is cold. i think ron paul has a fantastic organization on the ground here and it's very interesting just talking to people the number

of voter contacts they have had from the paul campaign, including people who would not be traditionally thought of as libertarian-leaning republicans, easy targets for ron paul. i heard a story last night about ron paul trying to organize attorneys for ron paul. not exactly a huge group here in iowa necessarily but he is reaching out to everybody. he is contacting everybody who is a potential paul voter including independents who he hopes to make republicans on caucus night. i think you may well see that organization and that campaign infrastructure which they have been, in a sense putting together for more than four years pay off for him in three weeks. jon: all right. stephen hayes, we'll let you get out the hanky. we know it is cold there. thanks for bearing with the tough weather and joining us early this morning there in iowa. thank you. >> anytime. jenna: can get really emotional about the whole thing. jon: he loves his politics. that's right. you can see more of steve

later tonight. he is part of bret baier's all-star panel on "special report", 6:00 p.m. eastern time. a little bit later tonight the big event, rick has all you need to know about the iowa gop debate. rick. >> steve is emotional when it comes to politics. we know you as well at home are. we have a special deway to watch the debate on fox news channel that starts at 9:00. start at foxnews.com. our stream begins at 8:30. i will host a predebate show with some of the best pundits here at fox. doug schoen and pat caddel will join me live. we'll have a post-debate wrap up analysis show. debate starts at 9:00. we start at 8:30. that is coming up tonight live on fox. jon: sound good, thank you. jenna: this fox news alert. we'll turn to capitol hill right now. a possible break for the budget impasse just in time to avoid a government shutdown. funny how that happens, right? an extension of the payroll tax who day is focus of the

debate, one of the debates. the standoff over spending is bringing the nation to the brink of a shutdown. if it sounds familiar it is. if the congress fails to act the government could run out of money tomorrow night. apparently we're going to figure it out. mike emanuel leif on capitol hill. if the grinch steals christmas, mike, is the grinch going to win out here? is the government going to shut down? >> reporter: jenna, after a meeting at the white house yesterday with senate democratic leadership and after the key congressional leaders met in senator mitch mcconnell's office last night on the brink of a potential government shut down, it sound like they realize they need to get something done. take a listen to two of the key leaders. >> on the payroll tax, on unemployment and tax extenders in this gr, republican leader and i have been in discussion on that. we think we can come up with something that would get us out of here at a reasonable time in the next few days.

>> we hope to be able to pass a combination of appropriation bills. and we're working hard to figure a way to resolve the remaining differences on the payroll tax extension and the related issues that are important to both sides and we're confident an optimistic we'll be able to resolve both on a bipartisan basis. >> reporter: it is important to note the differences seem to be over the payroll tax cut extension. the spending bill, the one trillion dollar deal that was hammered out by the appropriations folks here on the hill has bipartisan support and so a lot of people are taking senator reid's comments on the floor to mean that he is about to release his objection to moving forward on that critical spending bill that will keep the government up and running from tomorrow night through september. jenna? jenna: through september. all right. what a difference a day makes indeed. everyone seemed to calm down a little bit when it came to the senate floor there. what about the house? the house said they're

waiting on something from the senate. we're going back and forth a little bit here. what's the deal with that? >> reporter: we heard a lot of frustration from house republican leadership. they feel like they have passed a lot of bills over the course of the year and they have just died in the senate. what they have said, okay, you're holding up this spending deal, this trillion dollar spending deal. we'll move forward, take that compromise and pass it in the house. that seems to be expediting things a bit if you will in the senate. so bottom line they're continuing to move forward and waiting and to see what our counterparts in the senate decide. of course time is of the essence. jenna: certainly is this time of year. mike, thank you so much. >> reporter: thank you. jon: well some answers there and perhaps now some tough questions for jon corzine, the former mf global ceo, testifying for a third time about the collapse of that company. lawmakers grilling corzine over new allegations about his role in the disappearance of clients money. peter barnes of the fox business network live from the capitol visitors center.

will they make any progress today in finding that missing billion or so dollars? >> reporter: yeah, that 1.2 billion, jon. we've seen the testimony already. it's been released. witnesses including some of the regulators and trustee looking for that money are not expected to say that they have found it today but that they continue to try to look for it. but, mr. corzine himself is going to continue to get hammered on all of this. right now we have, we have a new contradiction that lawmakers here are going to drill down on with him earlier this week we heard an executive from one of the commodities exchanges say mr. corzine may have known about $175 million loan that was made with protected customer money, segregated money to mf global's london office within the week or so before the company failed and then went bankrupt. now that loan might have been proper, it might have been legal. the company might have followed all the rules t might have been improper.

that is what investigate to us are looking into but mr. corzine testified he had no requested what happened to any of this $1.2 billion and that, on this specific loan he said that he didn't know anything about it. and a subcommittee chairman here wants to know more. >> i think what we're going to have to do is get to the bottom of this and certainly we, mr. corzine said up to this point he has not, didn't give an order to do that. he was a little more vague in the first hearing a little bit more specific yesterday but then there's obviously contradiction to that testimony yesterday. >> reporter: so either somebody is not telling the whole truth or somebody is lying and that is going to be the focus of some of the questioning here today, jon. jon: are democrats giving him a hard time as well as republicans? i mean he served as a democratic governor of new jersey as well as a democratic senator. >> reporter: well, if in the first two hearings, agriculture committee hearings in the house and senate where you have a

little bit more bipartisanship, california, a democratic state is a big agriculture state. new jersey is a big agriculture state. you saw plenty of democrats going after mr. corzine. but we'll wait to see if some of the house democrats at this financial services committee go after him today as hard. jon: peter barnes from the fox business network who covers washington. peter, thank you. >> reporter: okay, jon. jenna: a big story breaking overnight. we now know seven miners are being pulled to safety after an underground exploon at a northern idaho silver mine. tragedy is no stranger to this particular place. rick has more on this. rick? >> jenna, this mine has been the site of a number of recent accidents including deaths of two miners. one just last month, another back in april. this time miners became trapped after what is known as a rock blast. we're told all the miners have been rescued. no one is still trapped. that had been major concern since last night when all this happened. of the seven miners who were involved, one had to be

taken to a hospital. the other six treated for minor injuries at the scene. so good news there the company that operates this mine has been fined for its safety record a million dollars alone over the death of that miner last spring. the company blames this latest incident on seismic activity. here's the mine's president and ceo. >> this didn't that occurred is one that we will investigate and determine what was the cause of it. this is not related to either to previous incidents that have occurred at the lucky friday. >> as we all know mine something dangerous work and companies don't always provide a work environment that is as safe as it should be. just last week a mining company out of west virgina gave over $200 million to the families of 29 miners who died in a terrible accident last year. again reports that everyone is accounted for and okay in this latest mining event in idaho. back to you, jenna. jenna: that is good news when you see a headline like

that. you never really know how it will turn out. all turned out quite as well. glad they're all right, rick. thank you. jon: great news for those families for sure. there is a great big surprise for one homeowner. what did they find in the basement? a 500 pound black bear. taking a little nap. wait unt you hear who found it. that story coming up. jenna: that could be a surprise, couldn't it? we'll turn to international news as well. we have new concerns about iran and nuclear weapons. why the white house fears the country is weeks away from producing enriched-uranium. that is according to one report. we'll talk to ambassador dennis ross who recently left the obama administration about the latest in that part of the world. jon: also some new developments in the alleged hazing incident at florida a&m university. what investigators just uncovered. a live report about that controversy next. ♪ . [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up!

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investigators are looking into alleged hazing at florida a&m university. they're launching a new probe into possible fraud at the school and here's the background. police are investigating last month's death of marching band drum major, robert champion. we've talked a lot about that. already this week officers arrested three band members for the beating after freshman, bria hunter. they think that might be involved in the hazing as well. steve harrigan live from miami. steve, anymore details around what is being called hazing incidents? >> reporter: incidents and perhaps murder as well. there is a second investigation underway not only into the death of robert champion but also into bria hunter. she was a first-year student and clarinet player and beaten so brutally in one hazing incident that her femur was shattered. >> she was beaten by hands, fists, spatulas, metal rulers and book binders.

so much so that it caused blood clots in her leg. she could barely walk the next day and was later taken to the emergency room. >> reporter: investigations in both cases are underway. so far this week there have been three arrests in the hunter case and both families are suing florida a&m. jenna: wow, steve, is this just one university o the screen we're seeing pictures of those arrested for the beating you're talking about? but is this isolated to this one university, this one band or is there any indication that maybe the problem is bigger? >> reporter: there is a real concern this problem spreads in marching band beyond the university level, beyond florida a&m perhaps to the high school level as well. these two victims were both from the same georgia high school. so there is an investigation underway into incidents of hazing at the high school level. for now at this point marching band operations in at least 21 georgia high schools have been suspended while they investigate. jenna? jenna: we'll continue to follow this story, steve.

thank you. jon: there are new fears about iran to tell you about. a report showing the country could be just weeks away from producing material for nuclear weapons. what that means for the possibility of military action. also, japan's earthquake and tsunami, not only the deadliest disstasers of the year, there is more fallout from this catastrophe. we'll tell you about that some coming up.

jenna: apparently there are new fears iran may be weeks away from being another step closer to creating a nuclear weapon. the "jerusalem post" is reporting today the iranian government is about to fire up centrifuges at a secret underground plant near one of the country's holiest cities. it would be capable they say

enriching uranium at a higher grade than ever. that brings them closer to a nuclear weapon. dennis ross, former assistant to president obama and director of national security council and with the obama administration until september. how does it feel to be out of d.c.? >> it feels different. jenna: i'm sure. it has been couple busy years with the administration. we talked about new fears with iran more times than i can count. i have to ask you when you hear a report like this, how close do you think iran is close to nuclear weapons. >> they are not close to nuclear weapons. jenna: you wouldn't say weeks away? >> not weeks away. they have to enrich much higher grade than they are. they have to weaponize to the degree they are not. obviously this is a program you have to spend a great deal of time being vigilant about. jenna: when the president entered into this administration in 2008 he talked about engaging iran. it seemed diplomacy was a route he was willing to entertain. e've seen heightened rhetoric since then the

world obviously has changed as well. there have been reports that the president will become more aggressive as we get closer to the 2012 election, more aggressive to iran. do you think that will be happening? >> i think he has been aggressive all along. he made it clear from the beginning that he was determined to prevent iran from getting nuclear weapons. the focus on engagement was to see if there was a diplomatic way to resolve this but it was also a useful lever to mobilize the rest of the world to support what we're doing to put more pressure on iran. how do you concentrate the pressure to make a difference to iran and give them a way out if they're prepared to take it. jenna: put us behind the curtain. what does the president look like in his leadership role? you say he has been tough on iran. what does being tough on iran look like in this presidency versus the other presidency versus reagan or bill clinton? >> look every empty is different. -- every president is different.

this iranian program poses a threat to everybody and our site vital national interests. the president was clear this is something we have to head off. there are different ways to do it. he has spent enormous amount of time dealing with this issue as one of the most severe and significant national security challenges he faces. he brought this up with every leader he dealt with multiple times. certainly with the russians and the chinese. it has been an increasingly significant focal point of his presidency. jenna: so he has been consistent. >> absolutely. jenna: interesting to going into an election year take examination of a president in office. we dissect the policy coming down from washington to the rest of the country. but i would like to ask you what should the american people demand of their next leader when it comes to iran and when it comes to middle east policy? what should we want from our next leader in office? >> well, i think the first thing is that because iran poses a threat to our vital national security interests you want to have confidence that in fact this is an issue you know is going to be dealt with.

iran with nuclear weapons is something that transforms the world as we know it. this is not something that we should be living with or con inat thatting. this is something important to insure that it is prevented. first thing knowing that the president is going to president will deal with this in a way that insure ours interest, number one. jenna: can you be specific talking about dealing with it? we obviously talked about military action as well. everyone is wondering if that option is on the table of the president said last week of course all options are on the table. with iran is diplomacy an effective way or is force an effective way. >> iran with nuclear weapons creates its own sets of consequences. the question is how do you blend diplomacy and coercion produces out come we want which is iran without nuclear weapons. jenna: are we on the right path. >> i think we're on the right path. but this is an issue we have to watch closely. jenna: turn to israel as we look at the middle east, we

have to look at israel one of our key allies there. president said recently in new york in fund-raising event i try not to pat myself on the back but this administration has done more in security of state of israel than any previous administration. since you worked with five presidents in the past do you think that's true? >> can tell you as a fact of life i was actually one of the original authors of something known as strategic cooperation with the israelies in the reagan administration. there is no doubt that where we are today is something that we didn't fully even envision back in the early 1980s when we shaped this. so the truth is in terms of character of cooperation with israelis, focus on security issues, the nature of the dialogue with them, how we work with them across the board with intelligence and national security questions, really isn't unpredented. it is built on a base, built on foundation created over time but it has been taken to new heights. jenna: give credit to this one administration being the most make sure i quote him, has done the most in terms of security for the state of

israel? you're saying it is really combination of the administrations in the past as well? >> one thing about israel, this has been a nonpartisan issue and should remain that way. the fact is presidents of both parties have been committed to israel's security. this president has taken it to a new level. the nature of the cooperation is unprecedented. >> just a quick final question. see "time" magazine "person of the year" is the protester. you obviously were in office in incredible time in the middle east where you had the arab spring. i'm wondering to date, you just spoke about this in a speech you recently gave about our stake in the middle east trying to make sure our interests are achieved. to this date have we done a good enough job as a country capitalizing if you will, on some of the unrest we've seen in the middle east and making sure our interests are at the forefront in that region? >> look we're facing an enormous challenge. anybody who you hearsay they know exactly out things will unfold during a time of change when nobody predicted what would happen you should be a little bit cautious listening to what they have to say. i would say this however. this is time of potential, a

time of risk and potential. the challenge for us at this juncture it is to figure out how we position ourselves that the kind of interests that we have, the kind of values that we have, are more likely to shape and define the middle east over time. nobody is going to be able to write this story in a way that reflects exactly what we want because the people of the region are the ones writing it. we have a big stake there and we have the ability to try to influence and we'll have to do that. jenna: sounds like the start of a new conversation for the two of us. looks forward to have youing back on the show. thank you for your service for this administration. >> thank you. jenna: we look forward to having that conversation in the future. ambassador, thanks very much. jon. jon: from iran let's go next door to iraq where the war is officially at an end now. our own jennifer griffin is traveling with the defense secretary leon panetta as america shuts down its military operations there. hear why the secretary says the u.s. role in the region is hardly over. plus an upscale neighborhood rocked by the murder of a husband and wife in their million dollar

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jon: larry sabato is here with his crystal ball. as we count down to the fox news gop debate in iowa, we are also looked ahead to

another key battleground state this primary season. you won't be surprised to hear it is all about florida. sabato is the director for center of politics at the university of virginia and is our guest right now. you know, so much gets focused on iowa, so much attention gets focused there. then you go right away to new hampshire. you could have a split decision there easily. then you get into south carolina and finally from. florida has a track record of picking the eventual republican nominee, right? >> they have a pretty good track record. of course south carolina likes to claim that too. we don't want to upset the palmetto state voters. but i'll tell what you is really significant about florida this year. they butted in line and went fourth ahead of january. jon: they got spanked for that. >> they got spanked for that. their 99 delegates turned into 50 but they made it winner-take-all. they weren't supposed to do that either. this was supposed to be proportional representation. now you have 50 delegates, winner-take all.

and more people will vote in flat plus 20% than in all the other january caucuses and primaries put together. it is bound to exceed two million, jon. jon: right now newt gingrich has a comfortable lead in florida, doesn't he, at least in the polling? >> he has a big lead. of course that is fragile because it's going to depend on what happens in iowa, new hampshire and south carolina. there is either big mo, big momentum or little mo, little momentum generated by those contests and as you noted there may be a split verdict. florida as always is going to be a very expensive primary state, a big media state. and that favors candidates who have raised a rot -- lot of money. jon: we mentioned earlier in our discussion with stephen hayes the mitt romney campaign is trying to blunt newts sudden ascent. they learned something with what happened to mike huckabee last time around where huckabee didn't have much after showing in

the polls in october and came on strong. clearly mitt romney, who has a lot of money to spend, will be trying to take on gingrich and for that matter the other contenders in florida where television can buy you a lot of punch. >> yes. that is the hope of the romney forces. they think they can hold onto new hampshire. they're probably right. they don't expect to win in iowa. they will be very lucky to win in south carolina. i doubt the romney forces can do it. so if they could manage to win in that big media state of florida, that would be a big, big plus for romney going forward into the other primaries and caucuses. there are a few in february but mainly in march. i'll tell you, gingrich has also been raising a lot of money. we don't know how much yet but i don't think he will be as outclassed as some of the romney forces think he will be in florida. jon: all right. it will be interesting to watch. again if you have a split decision in iowa and new hampshire, then you go to south carolina and florida where at the moment, newt

gingrich is doing well, it's going to really turn this race potentially upside down. larry sabato, thank you. >> thanks, jon. jenna: the u.s. war in iraq is over. the u.s. military formally ending the nearly nine-year conflict in a ceremony at baghdad international airport. this was under very tight security. national security correspondent jennifer griffin has more from baghdad. >> reporter: secretary of defense leon panetta arrived from afghanistan to end the iraq war. ♪ . a simple ceremony at the baghdad airport to case the colors and mark the completion of nearly nine years of war. nearly 4500 u.s. lives were lost here. more than 30,000 u.s. troops were wounded and more than 100,000 iraqis died as a result. the war cost the taxpayer nearly $1 trillion. it will be left to the historians to decide, was it worth it. at 5:34 a.m., march 20th,

2003 the bombs started dropping on baghdad. the iraq war had officially begun. a height 170,000 u.s. troops served here at 500 bases spread out across the country. now there are just two bases left and 4,000 troops. in a matter of days those too will be gone. >> to be sure the cost was high. the brood and treasure of the -- blood and treasure of the united states and also for the iraqi people. but those lives have not been lost in vain. they gave birth to an independent, free and sovereign iraq. >> reporter: the war began with shock and waa. it ended with a simple ceremony. u.s. military involvement in iraq has ended. the iraq war is now over. in baghdad, jennifer griffin, fox news. jenna: an interesting contrast between beginning and end of that war. more than a million

americans served in iraq. that doesn't count their families of course. today we thank all of you for your service. the remaining 4,000 troops that jennifer mentioned are expected to be withdrawn by the end of the month. we do have our embassy there and thousands of contractors still in iraq. we'll keep you posted on that. jon. jon: our troops did an excellent job there. right now police in an upscale suburb of boston are hunting for the killer of a married couple murdered in their own million dollar home. rick folbaum as has the latest on that mystery. rick? >> folks in this wealthy suburb are not used to hearing about their neighbors being murdered. the last homicide in and dover, massachusetts, was nine years ago. this time two people are dead as you mentioned, a homebuilder and his wife and at this point police have no suspects. >> the incident appears to be isolated, an isolated act and the circumstances lead us to believe there is no further threat to the andover community. >> reporter: the victims are

john and geraldine magee, both in their late 60s. they were found around 9:30 yesterday morning on the first floor of their mansion. friend and neighbors as you can imagine are very upset. >> my children, i called already today, went to school with their children. their daughter was very lovely. as far as i knew the kids were both pretty nice. >> reporter: police are not releasing any other information right now other than both of the victims were shot. their dog was not harmed but their car was found abandoned in north boston. it had been set on fire. investigators are searching the burned out vehicle for any clues. if anybody has any information about the murders you are asked to call the police in andover, mass. there is the tip line. on the screen. if we get anymore information. we'll pass it on to you guys. jon: please do. rick folbaum, thanks. >> firefighter injured and commuters still diverted after a tanker truck goes up

in flails. take a look at that. it is not the only thing that was damaged in this fire. we'll have more on the incredible video and what happened with all this. jon, taking tumbles on a ladder putting on lights to having too much eggnog. we've done that once or twice, right? more americans are spending their holidays in the hospital. these accidents can be avoided. top five hazards to look out for during the season with a doc coming up. jon: i'll watch the eggnog. ♪ .

jon: some developing stories we're keeping an eye on here in the newsroom and also from our control room. italy's appellate court explaining why it cleared amanda knox in the grisly murder of her roommate.

the court says prosecutors used faulty evidence to build their case against that american student. fixed mortgage rates dropping again to record lows. the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage falling back down to 3.94%. a good time to buy a hughes if you've got any money. california police saying a 10-mile stretch of a los angeles freeway will remain closed through the weekend after a spectacular tanker fire there. the intense flames melting the truck leaving a crater in the roadway and damaging the overpass above. jenna: deck the halls and ladder falls at this time of year. right now holiday injuries are on the rise. consumer products safety commission says more than 13,000 people were treated for injuries during last year's holiday season. that is up from 10,000 in 2007. doctor lee nokur from the university ever maryland is national spokesperson for the american college of merge physicians. she is a er doctor herself

and doctor, this is busy time at the e.r.? >> it potentially can be busy time. you don't want to meme in the e.r. and i don't want to see you. jenna: that is good way to put it. you gave top fives reasons visits during the holiday season there is a little bit of theme of overindulgence whether it is alcohol or overeating. you say those are some of the main causes for e.r. visits. can you give us a few examples? >> obviously alcohol you think of motor vehicle accidents. actually there is something called holiday heart syndrome. if you have a heart problem, a lot of alcohol can be toxic to your heart and it can cause irregular rythym. we see people coming in like that. people eat too much. just isn't just gaining weight. if you're diabetic, if you have heart failure and eat a lot of sugary, salty snacks that can aggravate your condition. and you know, people forget to take their medicine or they're in denial because they have so much going on,

so they come in too late. they wait. jenna: that's interesting. you don't even think about those effects during normal time of year but everything seems heightened during the holidays. stress and everything else. >> right. jenna: i was looking at falls and fires, burns and cuts. i would like to talk a little bit about that. a lot of folks make christmas cookies. you forget you have your "kids in the kitchen" and that can be is serious formula for some pretty bad burns. >> kids especially, doorbell rings. people go to the door. pots are simmering. kids have very thin skin and takes much less time for hot liquid to scald their skin. scalds you have to really watch out for. put the pots on the back burner. turn handles away and don't leave kids in the kitchen alone if you're cooking. jenna: we're all going to christmas parties. you have dip and crackers out. you say food-borne illnesses are up. is there safe way to snack or should avoight those things all together?

>> shouldn't leave things out probably more than two hours or have leftovers and keep heating them during the holiday time, it needs to be heated up again to kill bacteria. cold season is now. think about all the people you're kissing hello. and coming into contact with shaking hands. it is cold season anyway. so wash your hands before you eat and touch your face, things like that. jenna: keep the kissing to a minimum. that's right, doctor, you. look at jon's face. get him on camera. jon: what is wrong. that is what mistletoe is all about, come on. jenna: the doctor is not so sure about that. there are germs out there. thanks for setting us straight. good reminders. >> my pleasure. jon: you left out the eggnog. a frightening discovery at a home in new jersey. imagine this, a 500 pound bear is found sleeping in a guy's basement. rick folbaum has that story. rick? >> reporter: this is why they have bear hunts in new jersey. the bears take liberties in

the garden state. sometimes they even move in and make themselves at home which is what happened in north jersey a cable guy on a routine repair job heads into a man's basement to fix a wire and comes face-to-face with a 500 pound black bear that had been living in the basement. >> we heard growling. he thought it was the guy upstairs and he turned around and when he turned around he saw the bear laying there. he was growling at him. he left all the equipment there and ran out. >> reporter: animal control was called. they tranquilized bear. it was so big but took a while for him to fall down. he stumbled around for a few blocks. neighbors watching from their homes. hear is the guy who had the bear in his basement living rent-free. >> i didn't even know he was even there. i haven't been down in the cellar lately. i'm glad i wasn't down there. the 500 pound black bear doesn't sound like anything i want to bump into too often. >> reporter: jon, that bear hunt just last month, over

400 bears in new jersey killed. they missed this one though. back over to you. jon: the bear said the porridge was just right. >> reporter: exactly. jon: rick folbaum, thanks. we'll be right back. at subaru o. ♪ that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. ♪ with your help, we can reach 20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. [ female announcer ] get 0 percent apr financing on select models for thirty-six months and we'll donate two-hundred and fifty dollars to your choice of five charities. now through january 3rd.

jon: well "happening now", and happening all year, 2011 makes it into the record books for disaster costs. a string of deadly tornados here in the united states, the tsunami in japan and massive flooding in thailand all leading to the highest ever catastrophe related economic losses in a sing fell year. liz macdonald is here with the details. where does this report come from? >> reporter: hi, jon. it comes from swiss re. a reinsurance company that basically backs up insurance companies. what it is saying is 2011 had the highest number of

economic disasters. it was the worst year for economic disasters. we're talking about what happened in japan with the tsunami and earthquake. also you mentioned that two deadly tornados here in the united states. swiss re is calculated $350 billion in estimated economic damages. that is up 55% from 2010 and swiss re is saying, you know, we're still awaiting, still awaiting what they expect to be very, you know, disasterous winter storms in europe and also on going claims from the flood in thailand which is still unfolding, jon. back to you. jon: we're looking at some of the footage from the japanese tsunami and earthquake that triggered it. is that the worst event? >> reporter: that's right, jon. what happened in japan is the worst for 2011 and in fact interestingly enough, six of the top 10 spots came in the u.s. in other words, storms here in the united states took six of the top

10 spots in terms of the worst economic disasters. the two deadly tornados in alabama and missouri and other states ranked fourth and fifth. and the hurricane irene came in at number six. back to you, jon. jon: that is up there now, hurricane irene. that will cost us all. >> reporter: that's right, jon. that will cost everybody, taxpayers, companies you name it. back to you. jon: liz macdonald, fox business network. thank you. jenna: was operation "fast and furious" part of a broader policy to limit your right to buy guns? we have bombshell documents in the botched gun tracking operation that seems to be a creating a whole new controversy we'll look ahead. plus we're hours away hours away from the final gop debate for the iowa caucuses. next we'll talk to chris wallace. he is live in iowa straight ahead. ncredible for me, and i swear by it. [ male announcer ] osteo bi-flex with 5-loxin advanced™. shows improvement in joint comfort within 7 days.

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jenna: we start off with this fox news alert nearing high noon

here on the east coast, we're awaiting a statement from the prsident down in d.c., as you can see there, we have a live shot. lawmakers are trying to hammer out an agreement to keep the government running past midnight tomorrow night. they have a lot of work to do before then. john boehner said minutes ago he's optimistic a government shutdown can be avoided and that everyone should take a deep breath. probably good advice for everybody during the holiday season. senate leaders also sounding more on theist mystic this morning, and we're going to talk about that with kent conrad of north dakota, he's chairman of the budget committee, also a member of the gang of six. senator, nice to have you back with us. >> good to be with you. jenna: we're hearing some reports that democrats will drop the millionaires' surtax, do you think that's a good idea? >> look, i think it would be preferable to pay for the continuation of the payroll tax cut, the benefits 160 million

people by asking those who make more than a million dollars a year to pay a slight increase of less than 2%. and that's, again, on earnings over a million dollars. they pay nothing on earnings up to a million dollars. so i think that's reasonable. but republicans have made clear they would rather have 60 million -- 160 million people have a tax increase averaging a thousand dollars than to ask those earning over a million dollars to pay a little bit more. so i don't think at the end of the day we can allow the payroll tax cuts to end. that would hurt the economy, that would cost about a million jobs according to independent economic analysis. so we've got to find an alternative. that's what we're working on right now, and some good progress has been made this morning. jenna: tell us a little bit about that progress. >> well, we're finding ways that we can both agree to in terms of paying for these things.

one of the things that's being discussed is war costs. with troops coming home, that means there is savings over what the congressional budget has estimated for the next ten years in war costs. jenna: are those real savings? is that real savings, senator? sometimes we've heard that, you know, the troops are planning on coming home, so they say that the savings is sort of obvious where you're not really doing the harder work to go and pull back some spending that we should be on, another pet project somewhere. >> you know, the groups i've been part of, the fiscal commission, the group of six, we've stayed away from using that offset. jenna: right. >> but the congressional budget office does say -- jenna: okay. >> -- that there is about 700 million of savings there that could be used. look, i would prefer to do it a different way. i would prefer that we make a little tougher choices because it'll be more lasting and more sustainable, and i very much fear that, you know, if we get into another conflict, the budget for it is not going to be

determined by numbers on a page. it's going to be determined -- jenna: well, we want to talk about that -- >> -- by the national security. jenna: we know you were part of one of the first bipartisan efforts to figure out what to do with this deficit. the gang of six was the first group out there. i understand you guys had a meeting last night, so we'd like to know a little bit about the status of the gang of six, and what's your next step? what do you feel like your next step is going into the new year to really get some deficit reduction here? >> well, we've now expanded to a group of eight, four democrats, four republicans. we have spent, as you know, hundreds of hours. we have made real progress, made more progress again yesterday, and i'm very hopeful that in the new year our colleagues can be convinced on all sides. jenna: does that mean -- >> that we really is to. jenna: i'm sorry to interrupt. >> no problem. that we really have to move forward and take on this debt threat in a very serious way. jenna: it seems a lot of our viewers agree with that, and i

just wanted to get specific on that. does that mean the bowles-simpson plan and making that into legislation and putting that on the floor and getting a vote on it? >> bowles-zinnson which i was also part of, that was the president's fiscal commission, as you know, we had 11 of the commissioners there agree, five democrats, five republicans, one independent, and then the group of six -- three democrats, three republicans -- tried to put meat on the bones, tried to turn that into a legislative proposal. i think the work of those two groups will really form the guts of whatever is done. jenna: just a final thought. it sounds like you have some things ahead. you're continuing to do work that everyone knows the country needs. but in the process we've had this battle, this hyperpartisanship in d.c., and it's damaging to the confidence of the people in the country that, one, washington is working and, two, that we can actually

do something to achieve the goal which is deficit reduction. how damaging do you think it's been the last couple months to try and achieve the ultimate goal that you want to achieve next year? >> that's not been helpful, but you know what? sun comes up tomorrow. [laughter] and we have got, we've got an opportunity, we've got a challenge, and, you know, this country is better, we're better than all of this. congress is better than this. and we've got to prove it. and this is going to be an opportunity. so let's all join hands and do what we know needs to be done for our country. jenna: we appreciate your thoughts, as always, and appreciate that assurance as well. senator, look forward to having more conversations with you on this, and we thank you again for joining us today. >> merry christmas. jenna: to you too, sir. jon: well, the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses takes place when? jenna: tonight. i think it's tonight, right?

jon: tonight, 9 p.m. [laughter] jenna: do we have our countdown clock? eight hours, 54 minutes. you're not going to miss it, we promise. we're glad you with us today. nice to have senator conrad with us, a little optimism, the sun will come up tomorrow and maybe better days ahead. jon: i'm jon scott. it's your last chance to see the seven leading gop candidates together before the very first contest in the presidential election. you can watch that debate tonight right here at america's election headquarters starting at 9 p.m. eastern. steve brown is live for us in sioux city, iowa, right now. newt gingrich, i guess s still the leader both around the country and in iowa. i know you've been talking to some folks there, steve. are they looking for something from the former speaker? >> reporter: i think thai looking for some -- they're looking for some clarity because amongst the undecided we talked to, there's a question about trust when it comes to newt gingrich. these five undecided all from the sioux area, all going to be

watching or attending the debate tonight, all going to caucus, they seemed to come to a consensus that they were not exactly sure what they would get with newt gingrich as president. >> i would like to see someone with more business and public office experience, more executive experience. cool he has it. >> -- i don't believe he has it. >> i have a concern that he could easily go across the aisle. >> you don't trust him? >> i don't trust him. >> and that kind of surprised me. there is an opportunity tonight, but it does look like mr. gingrich is going to be the source of some darts from his fellow debate counterparts if saturday's debate is any indication. jon? jon: what about missteps here? is there something that candidates should not do or need to be particularly careful of? >> reporter: the temptation is that if you're going to be aggressive, well, now might be the time, but there's a fine line. our panel of undecideds took particular exception, if you recall, to the pre-straw poll

performance by then-candidate tim pawlenty. have a listen. >> early on i thought the way michelle -- the way tim pawlenty went out of michele bachmann right out of the chute, i thought that was horrible. >> he was desperate. that was it for him. >> yep, it turned me off. couldn't even think about supporting him. >> reporter: now, this is widely, again, expected to be the most aggressive debate in a series of pretty adepress e debates, but for iowans who will cast ballots come caucus night, too much can discount your chances of getting their support. jon? jon: doesn't take much to make one slip and then everything changes, right, steve? >> reporter: not at all. that's correct. jon: steve brown, live in iowa. thank you. jenna: i think about that every day on live television. [laughter] jon: don't we all. jenna: you know, we're going to have a lively debate and expert analysis throughout the day but also tonight. rick has more on that. >> reporter: that's right. watch the debate right here on fox news channel, but while

you're watching it, log in at home on your computer because we have a pregame show, pre-debate show that i'll be hosting starting at 8:30 p.m. eastern time. you can go to foxnews.com, and there's a little link here. watch the debate right here, we'll have it streaming live and, as i said, analysis during the commercial breaks and a wrap-up show after that. so watch it on the tv and watch it online. back over to you guys. jenna: rick, thank you. jon: for an early forecast of the iowa caucus results, "the new york times" today offering a preview of its polling-based projection based on statistical models. this race is still wide open with as many as five possible winners. right now the times is predicting newt gingrich will probably get the most votes, about 25%, with ron paul coming in second at about 20% followed by mitt romney in third with about 15%. but they remind us all that right now it is, quote, wide open. let's take you back to sioux city where fox news sunday

anchor chris wallace will be one of the moderators in tonight's debate. you know, interesting, white open races. -- wide open races. one slip and one of these front runners might find themselves near the back of the pack, huh, chris? >> well, that's right, jon. and conversely, a really good statement, a real appeal to the voters here of iowa might catapult somebody. i agree with the first part of what you said about "the new york times." i think this race is wide open, and when they said five, i think you could maybe say six. i'm not sure who you would count out at this point except for jon huntsman who isn't competing here. and i think that raises the stakes for the debate tonight on fox because, obviously, everybody's got a lot to gain and a lot to lose. nobody's sitting on the lead here tonight. we've just been in a two-hour debate session where all of the four questioners, bret baier, megyn kelly, neil cavuto and myself have been going over questions and, basically, look,

one of the advantages is at this point every -- we know what they're saying about each other, and there are going to be a lot of cases where you basically say, jump ball. here's a question. we know you guys disagree about it, explain why you're right and the other guy's wrong. jon: you told neil cavuto that if ron paul is to win, it will discredit the iowa caucuses. now, ron paul's fans are legion, and they are very vocal. i'm sure your e-mail box has been overflowing with -- [laughter] with reaction to that comment. but let's say ron paul wins. what does that do to the race? >> well, it certainly makes it wide open. and it certainly means that gingrich and romney, particularly gingrich, because i think that he was really counting on a win here after his recent surge, will be hurt by it and diminished by it. i don't mean in any way to denigrate ron paul.

i've interviewed him a thurm of times, i think he's a very interesting guy, i fully understand why his thousands and thousands -- millions of supporters across the country, but thousands here in iowa are so supportive of him. but i think it is fair to say he is a long shot for the republican nomination. and to the degree that people look at these states and say are they picking a president, if they were to pick paul, i think a lot of the -- you know, and maybe we're not so smart, but a lot of the smart guys in the media and in the republican party would say, well, that's kind of an aberration. now, it may be that ron paul proves us wrong, and i'd be happy if he did, because it would be a very exciting race. jon: the romney folks are hoping if he doesn't win, i guess they are hoping that ron paul does because they would like to see something blunt newt gingrich's surge. >> absolutely. no, i mean, you know, i think for romney it's either he win or anybody but gingrich.

and, you know, the other people who really have a lot ride anything this race i would say are santorum and bachmann who have really put all of their eggs in iowa. santorum has been here for months, he has gone to all 99 counties, bachmann has been here, she lives in the neighboring state of minnesota, and she is an iowa girl. she was born and raised here. a poor showing by either of them would be very damaging to their career and i'm sure, would raise questions about their ability to go on. jon: i know you're going to be there tonight questioning all the candidates, and you've got mitt romney on fox news sunday this week, right? >> we do, indeed. his first interview on a sunday talk show in almost two years. jon: wow. >> his first interview of this campaign, so i'm on the one handwriting questions for the debate, on the other hand writing questions for mitt romney for this weekend wondering, of course, about what he's going to say in the debate which may change everything.

jon: and it's hard to write those questions when your hands are cold. [laughter] >> i've got any north face gloves on, i'm all set. jon: chris wallace, good talking to you. and a segment that i love as well, flying to outer space on the world's biggest airplane. we are talking monstrous, this thing. a new frontier for space travel and maybe tourism as well. we will talk to the aviation pioneer trying to get it off the jenna: i wish you could see john's impersonation of the jet. in the mean meantime, iran has an interesting way of doing this, through mexico. senator joe lieberman's going to weigh in the, and he's coming up next. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years?

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jon: well, less than an hour from now another hearing set to begin on the collapse of mf global, that investment firm run by former new jersey governor and senator jon corzine. as far as clients are concerned,

he still has a lot of explaining to do including what happened to more than a billion dollars of client money. james rosen is keeping an eye on that live in washington. >> reporter: good afternoon. mf global's 36,000 customers may never see a full return on the money they lost, but a top regulator says significant inroads have been made in determining how the $1.2 billion went missing. jill summers, a commissioner with the cftc which had partial oversight over mf global, told reuters last night her agency's auditors, quote, see where all the transactions went and are now trying to figure out which of the tens of thousands of deals that went down during mf global's chaotic final days were legitimate and which were not. as for jon corzine, lawmakers of the house financial services subcommittee today will grill him on, first, what did happen to the 1.2 billion in missing customer funds; second, whether corzine may have misled investors and legislators with

an ott mystic letter he released less than a week before mf global filed for bankruptcy; and, third, about a $175 million loan that was made to an mf global affiliate with those customer funds, a loan about which corzine is alleged to have been aware. >> our employee told us that they were on a phone conversation with this particular person at mf global, that mr. corzine was aware of the loans that were being made. >> did that employee indicate which mf global affiliates, mf global customers' segregated account funds were transferred to? >> not to my knowledge, i don't know that. >> reporter: that witness, terry duffy, will also be testifying again today as will officials from the securities and exchange commission and the federal reserve bank of new york, jon corzine, round three in the congressional witness chair less than an hour from now. jon? jon: that's going to be interesting to watch. james rosen, thank you. jenna: new information raising more questions about operation fast and furious.

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jenna: well, disturbing new evidence that iran may be plotting cyber attacks against the united states from inside mexico. iran's high-profile cyber targets are, reportedly, nuclear power plants, the cia, the fb, and i the white house. these are very serious allegations, obviously, they've been reported by univision network, a spanish-language television network, and it's raising some alarms in washington, certainly got our eye, so we wanted to talk about it with connecticut senator joe lieberman, chairman of the homeland security committee and, also, cybersecurity's something he focuses a lot on.

nice to have you with us. >> thanks, jenna. good to be back with you. jenna: a little more background for those of us who didn't see this documentary, it says the investigative unit says a digital bomb is being created that could be an attack worse than the world trade center according to them and that it's being developed inside mexico, and that the cyber threat to some of our main offices, obviously, inside this country. have you heard of anything like this? >> well, i've heard of the story, and i know the government, our government, is investigating it. i can't say much more than that about it, but i can tell you this. as the chairman of the homeland security committee, i know that there are other countries in the world and other non-state actors, terrorist groups, organized criminal gangs who are constantly, every day probing both our governmental web sites and private sector web sites. sometimes the private sector web sites are the purpose of

stealing industrial secrets or money. and it happens too much. so increasing the cyber defenses of the united states has been a major focus of our government and our committee. we have a big piece of legislation that the majority leader, senator reid, said he's going to -- came out of our committee that's going to go to the senate floor early next year when we get back, and i think that'll raise our defenses against possible attacks just like the one you're talking about. jenna: i'd like to talk to you more about that legislation in a moment. just seeing a report like this makes you wonder how vulnerable we really are. i know you can't get into the details of the investigation, but how can you -- can you give us some more information about just how vulnerable we are right now, today, to a cyber attack? >> yeah. i mean, let me make this statement. this is a classic case we've seen over history. a tremendous new capacity develops, you know, fire or steam engine or flight, and eventually it gets used for

miitary purposes. here we've got the glories of the internet, and now enemies are using it to contemplate attacks against us. and from a security point of view we have developed tremendous offensive cyber capacities. i think we're still catching up on our defenses, but we're doing a lot better. and here's part of the challenge. we're very good at defending government web sites; defense and nondefense. but a lot of the targets in cyberspace that an enemy of the united states might attack are actually owned by the private sector including some of those mentioned in this story; electric power facilities, the financial cyber infrastructure, the transportation infrastructure. and an enemy wanting to attack us, you can imagine, won't have to fly planes overhead and drop bombs on critical facilities.

they could attack from afar over cyberspace -- jenna: i think those examples are very, they're very pertinent, obviously, because electricity is something -- look, we're sitting under the lights right now, and a lot of us are doing online shopping and using web sites that aren't attached to utilities but, obviously, are to a broader network. you wanted to develop in part of your legislation is an office of cyber policy. and certainly, all americans want our security. we want to be safer. but we also don't want to create another level of bureaucracy. so why do you think that this is the key to making sure that we are secure when it comes to our cyber defenses? >> here's what's happening in the private sector that owns a lot of that cyber infrastructure in america. that is vulnerable to attack by our enemies. some of the companies are doing a lot to raise their defenses. some are not. and so i think we need an office, and it's not going to be a big one, that will set

standards, work with the national security agency, um, which is our premier electronic intelligence agency through the department of homeland security, to interface with the people who own private cyberspace. and in the most critical infrastructure cases, to actually impose requirements on them. you've got to in the national interest begin to invest more in defending your cyberspace because in doing so, you'll defend the country. so it's standards, it's requirements for the most critical covered cyber structure, and it's a lot of incentives otherwise for the private sector to do most of this because that's where most of the cyberspace is owned and operated. jenna: a big issue for the new year ahead, so we appreciate the preview on that, senator, and we look forward to talking to you more about it in the future as well. thank you as always. >> thank you, jenna. have a great day. jon: interesting that our pentagon developed the internet, and now it becomes a military

threat. jenna: this was a shocking report. we'll try to put more information on our web site as well, a lot of detail toss this documentary, the indiana yang threat. -- iranian threat. this next story is jon's story of the day. jon: my impersonation. [laughter] imagine a couple of 747s side by side, yeah w a rocket slung in the middle. we'll talking about to the aerospace pioneer who's behind this new venture. plus, more coverage of the big debate tonight. we welcome right back. what's this? it's progresso's new loaded potato with bacon. it's good. honey, i love you... oh my gosh, oh my gosh.. look at these big pieces of potato. ♪ what's that? big piece of potato. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

jon: a fox news alert and a small plane has just gone down in scottsdale, arizona. these are pictures from the chopper. here is some videotape of what the scene looks like right now. authorities are picking through the remnants of the sirr us air craft that is composite aircraft, basically built of fiber glass and it reportedly burned when it hit the street half a mile short of the scottsdale runway. there will not be a great deal left of the actual aircraft. it is a plane that actually has a whole air frame parachute in it. if the pilot gets into trouble and knows he or she is in trouble, pull a lever and the whole thing descends to earth on a parachute. apparently in this case for

whatever reason there was not time to do that. that cirrus has gone down. fatalities possibly one we're told you about that determination has not been absolutely made yet. jenna: looks like it was a residential area. jon: the plane burned but the houses did not. >> just lucky when it is not hitting anything else. we'll keep you posted on injuries and the state of the pilot. meantime we want to bring you new video just into your newsroom from the president. he was speaking moments ago on several issues on the possibility of a government shutdown and payroll tax extension and unemployment benefits? we have a sound bite, guys? we'll go ahead and play that? listen to the president. >> congress should not and can not go on vacation before they have made sure that working families are not seeing their taxes go up by a thousand dollars and those out there looking for work don't see their unemployment insurance expire. there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to extend these items.

the pal role tax cut. jon: uiui, before the holidays. there is no reason the government should shut down from this. jon: that is from the president. new documents are prompting serious new allegations in the investigation of operation "fast and furious". some lawmakers putting u.s. attorney general eric holder on the hot seat asking him whether that botched gun-running sting was intended to justify new gun control regulations? william la jeunesse live for us in los angeles with more on that. william? >> reporter: well, jon, gun owners have always been suspicious of the administration because of positions taken by candidate obama. "fast and furious" comes along as a law enforcement operation. new documents suggest that some in the administration saw it an opportunity to exploit for political purposes as well. >> when you screw up you ought to say you screw up. people involved ought to say they screwed up. and then don't allow your screw-up to be basis for trying to extend your legislative again today the.

>> think about implications of what you're saying is that the justice department came up with a flawed program in order it justify a regulation. >> reporter: that is what gun owners fear. that "fast and furious" was used to justify a new law requiring gun stores to report anyone buying multiple rifles or long guns over a one-week period. they point to these documents. in march 2010, holder's chief of staff wrote, long rifle, multiple sale and need regulation after attending a "fast and furious" briefing. later that year, atf assistant director, mark chait writes, can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same gun dealer and at one time. we're looking at anecdotal cases to demand a letter on long gun multiple sales. the issue was raised at "fast and furious" news conference. he replys, in request of our demand letter number three this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this

case. >> in other words, they were trying to use this tragedy to build a case for these demand letters. >> reporter: the attorney general disagrees. >> clearly an attempt to use "fast and furious" as a way to bolster the request for that long gun regulation would have been foolhardy. >> reporter: that demand letter really does go to the heart of what this regulation was. well, the justice department went forward in april, ordering 8,000 gun dealers in four border states to report multiple sales of semiautomatic rifles. nra among others filed a lawsuit to stop it. jon? jon: william la jeunesse, live for us from the west coast. thanks, william. there is a new entry into the private space race to tell you about. i love this story. microsoft cofounder, paul allen, the billionaire, is planning to build a supersized plane looking something like this. it will act as a flying launch pad called

stratolaunch. it would carry a rocket high into the atmosphere and launch the spaceship which is hung in the middle between the two fuselages into orbit. the plans call for the rocket to carry both cargo and people. joining you on the phone, a driving force behind the project, the diner of the thing, legendary aerospace designer burt rutan. good to of you to be with us. this thing would have six, 747 engines on it. have a wingspan longer than a football field. the biggest aircraft ever built, right? >> that's right. what's missing in that video, they should have put a 747 in there next to it because it looks quite small in terms of its wingspan. this has almost twice the wingspan of a 747. so it's a absolutely huge all composite airplane. jon: you need a runway 12,000 feet long or better to launch the thing. do those runways exist right now or do they have to be

built? >> oh, sure. the 12,000 foot runway is what it needs for its operational mission when carrying, when carrying the big booster. oh, yeah, many airports are that big, yes. jon: all right. so what's the idea here? you do the heavy lifting with the airplane. then drop the rocket pod for lack of a better term at about, what, 30, 40,000 feet? >> yeah. the rocket is actually a large rocket booster weighing as much as four or 500,000 pounds. so instead of launching it from the ground, let's say at cape kennedy, you can launch it anywhere you want to. so you can have a better position, in other words you can take your pick where you want the launch site to be and also when you want it to be. jon: and so you, i guess, could get away from some of those thunderstorm problems and other things that can

hold up launches at places like cape canaveral? >> thunderstorms, if you have a commercial launch or operation, operating out of either vandenberg or kennedy, which is the only places we can do it in america, you could be held up for months because of some other launch activities that are going on. you know, for example, if there's a military launch, you have to schedule it way, way in advance and you may get delays. but here you, you take off in a place where you could fuel the booster and your launch does not get in the way of other launch activity. jon: and this would be a private -- >> tremendous amount of flexibility. jon: this would be a private project. this is not something the government is building. >> yes. jon: this is something you have designed in conjunction with paul allen, the microsoft cofounder, at a time when the russians are charging what, $65 million a seat to fly any u.s. astronauts to the space station? is this a possibility?

>> that's what they charge u.s. astronauts, yes. they charged as little as 20 or 25 million when the russian program was starving and when some civilians wanted to buy it but, yeah that's what america is paying now in order to visit our space station. we have to pay that. i want to point out, you mentioned i designed it. i have worked on this for 20 years. 1991 laying out the first monster launcher for orbital access. and often, off and on for different customers, for research i've done a preliminary design work on it but, i'm retired now. i retired in april. jon: right. >> so while i got it started the new airplane and the detailed design being done is being done by the young

designers that scale composite. jon: well, it looks like a fascinating thing. we hope you get it built and flying. if you do i would love to come along for a ride. burt rutan. >> well, you need to show a graphic alongside a 747 to appreciate how big it is. jon: we'll try to get that done for tomorrow. >> we're purchasing two 747s now and we'll actually need a landing gear off of a third one. so there is a lot of parting being built to build this thing. jon: that sound great. good to talk to you, sir. >> you bet. jenna: to armed suspects in a high speed car chase with police. their get away coming to a sudden stop. we have got the amazing footage, next.

jenna: this is sort of stating the obvious. we could be in for a knock down, drag out fight for the republican presidential nomination but as the candidates take jabs at each other the real challenge awaits, the president. as we saw in 2008, president obama is a very skilled debater. so do republicans need to get tougher with each other for the nominee, the eventual nominee to stand a chance against the president next year? it is an interesting question. daniel henninger, penned a editorial in the djj. he is deputy he had are to of "the wall street journal." he get your stuff published. >> i'm lucky. jenna: newt gingrich might be the best thing that happens to mitt romney as far as getting him ready for the general election if that is indeed the case.

why is that? >> i was sitting here the past 10 days, jenna, watching newt gingrich go through one of the most extraordinary carpet bombings of a public figure i have ever seen. this guy is getting hit by people on the right, on the left. they want to drive him out of the campaign. they think he is a clear and present danger to the republican party because newt is somehow nuts or something. jenna: do you agree with that by the way? >> oh i think he is inconsistent and i think he has a brain that isn't particularly disciplined. it is a good brain but the thing is, for some reason newt gingrich has done well in these debates and the reason is that he is talking about issues that are on people's mind, and he is not talking in sound bites the way mitt romney has completely programmed campaign that he is running and he is going to stick to it. people are being drawn to the way newt gingrich is talking about the issues. and i don't think romney is ready to run against barack obama, i really don't. jenna: and why is that?

>> because i don't think he adequately come up with a way to explain or defend his mandate in massachusetts. that was shown in the debate saturday night when rick perry hit him with it and the disasterous $10,000 bet. you can not get up there and do that with the president of the united states. jenna: that would be tough. >> the second thing with his experience with bain capital, private sector and leveraged buyouts. i don't think he has come up with a full and persuasive defense. obama will unload on that subject and he is not ready. i think he needs to go into a six-month primary against someone like newt gingrich, which, who i am calling the best sparring partner in american politics. jenna: that is analogy you made. this is like a boxing match. this is main event. only as good as your sparring partner during practice. >> that is what bruce lee said. he should know. jenna: maybe he knew something about politics more than he did about mash sal arts. >> if newt backed out, and

said yes, i'm not right for the republican party, i quit. that would mean that mitt romney would walls through the following six months without any real challenger. and he would be so slack by the end of that time i think the president would just knock him. jenna: mitt romney has been out, doing interviews. he has a lot of interviews coming up including "fox news sunday". he has in the process of last week called newt gingrich zany. newt gingrich says we'll not go through aggressive attacks. it is bad for the party. how can mitt change the name-calling and dismissing him? what does he need to do in a debate like tonight with newt gingrich? >> he has to explain why he thinks newt gingrich zane any. there is something odd going on with the viewing public. the more you attack a candidate like that the more the public seems to, develop sympathy. happened with herman cain initially. and i think it would happen with gingrich too. but, you know, i think the two of them simply have got

to lean on one another because newt, you know, newt, could take romney down. and if he did, we would be stuck with him. and so romney --. jenna: you're not convinced of that? >> i'm not convinced of that but newt himself has to be a much stronger candidate to have any thought of runnng against barack obama. so, put them in a cage. let them fight it out. jenna: cage match. let's do it. really quick. i have only a minute. you wrote a lot about texas and governor rick perry. do you think he is out or do you think he has a chance? >> i think it is a real long shot unless he shows, performs very strongly in these debates. the one thing rick perry has that the other second-tier candidates don't is money. he has got a lot money. he can run ads in iowa. he better come in first or second or it is back to austin. jenna: see what happens. meantime cage match. >> let's have it. jenna: great editorial today. we appreciate the time. >> thanks, jenna. jenna: you will see the last sparring match before the iowa caucuses right here. the republican presidential debate, 9:00 p.m. eastern time live from sioux city,

only here on fox news channel. see what happens tonight. it could be really interesting. it will be. we'll be right back. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. w. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health.

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jon: folks news on the job hunt. now american manufacturers are dealing with a major shortage of skilled machinists. that the creates great opportunities for people willing to learn a very marketable skill. claudia cowan live in san francisco with more. >> reporter: jon, skilled machinists are in a dying breed yet they are in high demand. that's why hundreds of schools across the country are racing to train workers to fill scores of available jobs. america's economy was formed by machinists. but today as a quarter of the nation's welders, engineers and steelworkers

near retirement age, and with fewer young people entering the trade the result is a shortage of skilled workers to run the machines that run our lives. >> there's a huge demand for machinists both in manufacturing and in the industrial maintenance side which is repairing equipment, either pumps or valves, refineries, water companies, wastewater companies. >> reporter: the list goes on and on which is why machinist schools like this one at laney college in oakland are booming. >> i'm hoping to obtain a good-paying job. >> reporter: that is a virtual guarantee because from refineries to manufacturing plants companies are highering with starting pay as high as $30 an hour. but emerging workforce also face as tremendous challenge, keeping the nation's manufacturing industry competitive. >> if we fill the gap, we keep jobs here, we compete with the rest of the world and maintain, you know, a good level of manufacturing here in the u.s.. >> reporter: a study done by

the national association of manufacturers concluded the largest impediment to future growth is a skilled force. that is why training the next generation of machinists to insure america remains a nation of builders. back to you. jon: some of the current jobless could go back to school and learn that trade? >> reporter: and many are. jon: sound great. claudia cowan. thank you. jenna: remember tonight is a big night. we have a major debate happening here on fox news. the picture of the race, the latest polls are painting we'll find out what the candidates have the to say their final debate before the iowa caution us -- caucuses three weeks away. you don't want to miss that we have one more story left for you. we'll be back with more "happening now" so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow

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and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. >> reporter: all right, guys, want to show you a billboard on display in the town of auckland in new zealand. it's called mary is in the pink, and it's being paid for by a church there. there are no words on this ad, but church leaders say