you'll get to experience some of that. if you can't make it here to new york city for some of the craziness. >> ainsley: rick will be live from the big ball in times square on "fox & friends" as well. so you'll have to watch this weekend. have a great day. >> clayton: happy new year. gregg: it is crunch time in iowa. republican presidential candidates in the hawkeye state are on a big campaign blitz today. it is their last chance to win over the hearts and minds of iowa voters just ahead of the nation's first test this election season. take a look at this. the latest poll though 20 3% of unsided voters leaning toward mitt romney. i'm gregg jarrett in for bill hemmer in "america's newsroom". >> i'm heather childers in for martha maccallum

gregg: mitt romney is hitting the campaign trail with new jersey governor chris christie. if romney downplayed his chances before he is not doing that today. >> sure i want to win iowa. everybody wants to win iowa. i want to make sure your vote backing me makes me the nominee. gregg:. steven mace hayes, joins us live. fox news contributor. with "the weekly standard.". is this strong organization here in iowa because he has remnants from the 2008 campaign there? >> that is one of real questions going into the voting next tuesday is how strong is he organizationally? has he kept up the network of people that helped him four years ago where he didn't win but had a second place finish that was reasonably strong. if he is able to keep that network going and the last minute people you pointed out, the undecideds who may sort of come home to mitt romney i they has a

decent chance to win in iowa. gregg: we hear he changed his schedule. he will spend tuesday night, the night of the caucus in iowa, not new hampshire. what about rick santorum? what is your question there. he has been rising enough quickly but with enough time left? >> can he rice quickly. rick santorum showing up 16, 17% in some iowa polling a week ago. you might wonder if he would really generate more support, show up in the 20s, have a real surprise coming out of iowa. the question, is he going to get that enthusiasm, generate that kind of support in such a short period of time? he may well be able to do it. he has worked hard trying to tap and exploit the same network of homeschoolers and christian conservatives that mike huckabee used in 2008 to propel him to a good victory. so santorum may well be able to do that. gregg: ron paul has been fending off criticism over a

bunch of newsletters from many, many years ago some characterized as racist, homophobic, anti-semetic tick, so forth, he disavows them. is his organization strong enough to trump all those newsletters? >> that's a really good question. it is hard to tell at this point. what you can say about ron paul supporters, they are loyal, they are intense and they are enthusiastic. how many will be there, how many they can get out to the polls that remains an open question. he had something starting on december 2th called christmas with ron paul. he brought in 500 volunteers around the country. the goal to knock on doors, make phone calls, man phone banks. get people enthusiastic to ron paul and get them to the polls on january 3rd. gregg: quickly, what happened to newt gingrich? he was on top with a commanding lead about a month ago. he is now gone from first place to in one poll out today, fifth place. >> yeah. gregg: what happened? >> it is pretty

extraordinary. this is what happens when you have half of the ad buys in iowa over period of three weeks focused on you and your record and some inconsistencies that he has had. he has been pummeled like nobody else. it was almost impossible to turn on a television set and watch for 20 minutes when i was in iowa couple weeks ago not see an ad beating up newt gingrich. gregg: he arguably didn't have the money to counter all the ads so it has been tough for him. >> right. gregg: stephen hayes, very good to see you. >> thanks, gregg. heather: carl cameron catching up with the candidate dropping to number five in the nbc mayorist poll, specifically newt gingrich. he asked the former speaker if he had what it takes to win the nomination if he finishes poorly in iowa? >> we'll be better in new hampshire. we'll be better in south carolina. >> reporter: is it safe to say south carolina your best chance to win? >> sure. it always was. because i'm a georgian.

we have real ties there. because a massachusetts candidate doesn't play very well there. there are lot of reasons why south carol will be different. >> reporter: must it be a win? is it your firewall? do you have win do-or-die? >> we are in much better shape if we do it. heather: his high numbers plunged following a avalanche of negative ads. gregg: michele bachmann dismissing some suggestions that her campaign is in complete disarray. after suddenly the iowa campaign chairman will back ron paul just hours after appearing with bachmann. she says the he was bribed to jumped ship. he admitted it to her. reporters grilling her for more information? >> when did that take place? >> that took place day before yesterday. >> did he call you. >> is he informed or making something up? >> the only conversation was between kent sorenson and myself. i know what i was told in

that conversation. clearly that reflected the nervousness on the part of the ron paul campaign they were losing steam in iowa. they were losing momentum in iowa, because iowans eyes were opening up. gregg: that state senator, kent sorenson says, money had nothing at all to do with leaving the bachmann campaign. bachmann's former political director is siding with him, not her. heather: coming up we will get an update on all the candidates. we will be talking with ron paul's senior campaign advisor, newt gingrich's daughter will also join us live and michele bachmann's communications director will talk to us about the latest shake-up as gregg just mentioned in her campaign. gregg: and remember fox news is america's election headquarters and your front row seat to politics. all you have to do is tune in for complete coverage of the iowa caucuses on january 3rd beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. you can also log on to foxnews.com/politics to get all the latest news on the

candidates and from the campaign trail. heather: we are awaiting the opening bell on wall street kicking off the last day of trading in 2011. it is so hard to believe it's over. markets closing with a boost yesterday. the dow up 136 points. so how are the markets doing overall at the close of another tough year in the economy? charles payne is an anchor at the fox business network and joins us now to talk a little bit more about that. so the year that has come and gone not good for the economy, charles. >> i got to tell you, heather, this is a real interesting year. if you were someone who slept in the whole year you would think it was noneventful, right? we entered today with the s&p 500 just frackly in the plus column. there are pros and cons. good news we didn't hit a double-dip recession. corporate profits were very

robust this year. here's the bad thing. why were we close to the double-dip recession? the fact is a lot of the great corporate profits were coming from overseas. we have a is serious issues heading into 2012. heather: you say this is the worst post-recession period in history. why? >> there are a whole lot of factors. this administration has been a anti-business for the most part. record amount of banks holding onto money. households holding onto money to pare down their debts. and businesses holding on a lot of money. a lot of dark clouds and question marks and very few people can operate under those sort of circumstances. i think we have the ability to spring out of this and live up to some of the past post-recession periods. it has been really a very, very big, disappointment. we have seen some traction of late. housing looks better. employment looks better and people in general feeling little better. heather: on the slightly

positive note, have to wrap-up. thank you very much, charles. happy new year. >> happy new year. gregg: we like to be positive. protesters heeding the call of syria's opposition. thousands of them marching in the streets following friday prayers one day after syrian security forces fired into tens of thousands of protesters outside a mosque. not with standing the presence of arab league monitors. leland vittert from jerusalem. what is the latest there? >> reporter: gregg, right now we're hearing at least two dozen of those protesters who you saw in the video from today have died in attacks by the syrian military on its own people and the violence, at least what we've been able to see from the videos is getting worse, not better since the government promised to end its crackdown on all of these people. and also to allow in arab league monitors to see what is actually happening on the ground. the crackdowns have been incredibly brutal, however, the kind of rallies that

happened today in this video from today hadn't been possible over the past couple weeks since the syrian government were using tanks. at least they have stopped on that. also protesters are learning from what happened over past nine months, they're using lookout and spotters to figure out where the government snipers are and keep the protesters out of the streets in syria where many towns have become shooting galleries. gregg: and, leland, can you give us a sense what it may be like on the ground there? >> for us we have no idea because we can't be on the ground. they don't allow in foreign journalists but from the video it is awfully scary. look on internet posted by a very brave videographer. this was shot in a tiny peephole out on the syrian street. you can imagine what would happen to the guy if he was caught. beaten other shot on the spot. first syrian soldiers shout allegiance to the president. run down the street opening fire on the other end with

no regard what they're going to hit in the process. one then we have seen, really come out of this is the absolute lack of disregard for human life that the syrian government seems to have as they are putting down this uprising. gregg? gregg: amazing pictures there. leland vittert in jerusalem. leland, thanks. heather: and those are just a few of the many stories that we're following for you this morning in "america's newsroom." coming up, a war of words between the u.s. and iran over tehran's threat to choke off part of the world's oil supply. we'll have the latest response from the state department and we'll find out if anyone is taking iran seriously. gregg: and we're going to show you a very dramatic rescue on the side of a cliff believe it or not. there it is. >> everybody loves the fact that you went after the dog. >> yeah, i do love my dog. they're like my best friend. >> would you go down there again knowing what you know now after? >> yeah, i would. >> what do you want to tell the rescuers?

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heather: welcome back. a major interstate closed in new orleans the day after a deadly 40-car pileup yesterday. two people were killed in all this. 22 others sent to the hospital with minor to critical injuries. police officers are investigating the cause of the crash, adding that it will take a few more hours to clear the area. >> i ask you for your support. i hope you come out on january 3rd but there's no reason to be depond dent how this country is going now if we do the right thing and i believe most people in this country know what the right thing is to do. the country has to live within our means. and therefore i propose in the first year to cut federal government spending by one trillion dollars. [applause] gregg: that was ron paul on the campaign trail in iowa

yesterday. polls showing he is popular there but the texas congressman responding to harsh words from his rivals mitt romney, michele bachmann among others saying paul will not be the nominee. newt gingrich says he wouldn't even vote for him. doug wead is a senior advisor to ron paul. he has been with him in iowa but happens to be in d.c. today. doug, thanks for being with us. >> gregg, good to see you. gregg: congressman paul is being criticized by his rivals and others among other things, claiming america to blame for 9/11, condemning killings of bin laden and al waa lucky and blaming the u.s. for provoking iran's nuclear program. are those views of mr. paul contrary to what most americans think? >> i think they would be if those were truly his sentiments. a lot of what he says and believes is misrepresented. he believes strongly in the constitution and that if we want to go to war, let's

grow to war. he voted in favor of going after osama bin laden and he supported israel in 1981. gregg: he opposed to assassination though. >> he opposed, he opposed way the assassination was conducted. he felt it should have been done immediately when we went in. our purpose --. gregg: are americans to blame for 9/11 because we had troops in saudi arabia. >> he hasn't said that? gregg: really?. >> he said that is what many --. gregg: that is what motivated. >> what many fundamentalists believe. he believes they believe that. yes, that's true. many observers including our own defense department wolfowitz and others say that. gregg: [inaudible] >> they may not. ron paul is incorruptable. he is a good example of our foreign policy now. in the last few weeks we have troops on the ground, boots on the ground in australia for purposes of defending us against china. gregg: sure. >> so we borrow money from china to have american troops in australia with to

defend us against china. he believes we need a little more sanity. gregg: that does seem to resonate with a lot of folks just anecdotally based on all the e-mails we get. here is what congressman paul's rivals are saying. i want to quote them. i will put it up on the screen. ron paul's views are totally outside the mainstream of virtually ever decent american. that is newt gingrich. ron paul is to the left of barack obama on national security. he's even to the left of dennis kucinich. don't laugh. that was rick santorum. this, ron paul would be dangerous as president. that is michele bachmann. your response to that, doug? >> there is nothing dangerous about the u.s. constitution. if blocking the straits of hormuz or some other action by iran was deemed as an act of war, we decided we needed to react, as a president he would take it to the u.s. constitution, to the u.s. congress. we would decide to declare war. we would win it and we would get out. that's what he believes.

the u.s. constitution is not dangerous. it's dangerous to take these risks of avoiding --. gregg: i'm trying to run through a bunch of subjectses. >> okay, gregg. gregg: here are some of the economic ideas. we heard some of them in the introduction. cutting one trillion in spending the first year alone. terminate five cabinet agencies. lower corporate tax rate to 15%. eliminate capital-gains taxs. narrow the new health care law. repeal sarbanes-oxley, the corporate financial reporting. doug, rick santorum, took a look at that and said you know what? ron paul couldn't get congress to cut or eliminate anything since he only passed one bill in 20 years in congress. i double-checked that with a library of congress. ron paul sponsored 620 bills. he passed one and it was fairly insignificant. doesn't congressman paul have a history of failure when it comes to getting his proposals passed? >> you know, the greatest contribution he has made, he doesn't get a lot of credit

for it because he doesn't put his name on everything, was pulling back the curtain on the federal reserve. four years, ago, gregg, 74% of this country didn't even know what the federal reserve. today 78% of the nation wants it audited. obama, romney, would audit a waitress to make sure she pays taxes on her tip money but won't audit the federal reserve. but thanks to ron paul we got a partial audit. it showed in 2008 that $16 trillion, the national debt was 14 trillion. $16 trillion was loaned out in interest-free money to major banks in this country. the people, we've always had corruption in washington but people are really angry because the corruption has reached a level that they're losing the value of their homes, the value of their ira's and ron paul is the only person with the guts to take this on. gregg: let me squeeze one more in. >> sorry, gregg.

gregg: we don't she's on the fact that he has a strong organization in the iowa. we said in the introduction. he is very popular. the polls demonstrate that he is at or near the top there is different poll i want to ask you about. it is a recent "washington post" poll of 25% of voters who view him favorably. nearly 2/3 do not identify themselves as republicans. among conservatives, only 8% view him favorably. doug, how do you win the gop nomination with numbers like that? >> well, i'll give you more numbers from that very same poll and from the recent poll last night that was released by nbc. they show the perception is that ron paul can't win a general election. they show in the nbc poll 8% of registered republicans don't think he can win. the abc poll which shows that 9% think he can't win. but the same poll asked them to choose between barack obama and ron paul and ron paul did better than newt

gingrich and was a statistical tie of newt romney. so we have a candidate who can win. the best evidence of that, gregg, you don't see any democrat pundits on tv puffing ron paul because they know he can win. gregg: all right. as we mentioned, yeah, he can win in iowa. very strong there. and he is pretty strong in some other states as well. you're a very eloquent spokesperson. >> thank you, gregg. gregg: doug, thank you for being with us. heather: speaking of iowa, as we always do, looking at a live event going on in des moines, iowa. mitt romney and his wife ann standing there. and governor chris christie who has thrown his support behind romney. we'll keep an eye on it and ear as well and bring you any news that develops. this event going on in des moines, iowa, live. coming up new threats from iran's region game

warning the u.s. should back down in the battle for a vital route for oil exports. we'll have a live report on that

when bp made a commitment to the gulf, we knew it would take time, but we were determined to see it through. today, while our work continues, i want to update you on the progress: bp has set aside 20 billion dollars to fund economic and environmental recovery. we're paying for all spill- related clean-up costs. and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp.

we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home.

gregg: once again on the left-hand side of your screen mitt romney campaigning with the very popular new jersey governor chris christie. we'll bring you any news from this and of course it is a family affair on the campaign trail. not only are the candidates wives hitting the stump their children are too. mitt romney's sons working the phones and talking to a small crowd of supporters at romney campaign headquarters in manchester, new hampshire. the men sharing personal memories of their dad with a small crowd and attempting to show a different side of mitt romney. >> what we can do for him here he can't do for himself, brag about him, talk about him as father and husband to our mom and talk about how

good after person he is. we have jobs, all of us. my dad wanted not a lot of husband to quit our jobs last campaign and wanted to stay on our jobs. we've been doing everything we can. >> do you think he will win iowa. >> we're competing in every state and trying hard to win every state. i have no predictions for iowa. gregg: they look and sound like their dad, don't they? heather: wow. gregg: he sounds like his dad george. they're making many stops in iowa starting with a campaign rally in des moines. heather: they have the romney hair. unmistakeable. disappointing news out of new york to tell you about. mayor michael bloomberg saying there is no chance that the 9/11 museum at ground zero will open on time to coincide with the 11th year anniversary, remembrance of the attacks. david lee miller live from the newsroom with details on this. david lee, why the delay? >> reporter: heather comes down to one word, money.

let's take a look at computer animation that shows the way the museum will hopefully one day look when it is completed while i elaborate on the problem. the national september 11th medical moral and museum foundation is fighting with the port of new york and new jersey. who is who? the port authority owns the trade center and building the museum. they claim the foundation owes them $300 million. the foundation claims the port authority owes it for delays. mayor michael bloomberg chairs the foundation and he explained the foundation's position. >> the memorial foundation believes that we have fulfilled all obligations. the port authority has to spend the money to do the infrastructure that they had agreed to and we think we have documentation to that. we also think that we have a legitimate claim against the port authority for delays of roughly $140 million which increased our costs. >> reporter: while michael

bloomberg chairs the foundation, the port authority of new york and new jersey is overseeing by new york mayor andrew qomt mow, -- cuomo, new york governor, andrew cuomo and new jersey governor chris christie. you seed need a scorecard. what really matters the construction has been halted. all the items that would be on display that were donated are in storage effectively in limbo until this project again picks up speed. heather: what does that phrase, too many cooks in the kitchen i think. we just marked the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. seems that work on the site was moving along well? >> reporter: there is some good news here. since september, since the 10th anniversary more than one million visitors have stopped by to take a look at the memorial. that's a rate of 10,000 a day. that is really an incredible figure when you think about

the fact that people have to plan ahead. they have to get tickets in advance. they also have to deal with considerable security. heather it is now on pace to exceed the number of visitors to take a look at the statue of liberty as well as the empire state building. heather: wow. >> there is extraordinary interest here. there is some agreement that the museum is going to get back on track. it is really a matter of when, not if. heather? heather: thank you very much, david lee miller reporting live from the newsroom for us, thank you. gregg: busted. a busload of teens heading to the slopes get to make a big decision. spend a weekend in jail or give up their stash of pot. heather: evangelical rift with four days to go in iowa could divided loyalties determine the winner of the caucuses? we'll have a fair and balanced debate up next. let me tell you about a very important phone call i made.

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morning. i'm feeling happy and upbeat. i love being with mitt and ann. but let me tell you. you people disappoint me on tuesday [laughter] you don't do what you're supposed to do on tuesday for mitt romney, i will be back jersey-style, people. i will be back. [laughter] but i would much rather come back to iowa this fall, much rather come back to this fall to campaign for mitt romney and to help you help him lead this country. all you need to know is this. i'm going to be there every minute that i can possibly be to help him pause i believe in our country just as much as you do. gregg: mitt romney is actually still talking and we're going to bring you any developments when they happen. heather: so he will head back to iowa jersey-style. chris christie said there. well the crucial evangelical vote, it may be split just four days before the critical iowa caucuses as pastors try to get their

coalition behind one presidential candidate. meanwhile a new nbc news-marist poll say less than 50% of the iowans consider themselves evangelical christians. we have the political editor at "the des moines register" and she joins us. thank you very much for joining us this morning. >> good morning, heather. heather: so this crucial evangelical vote, there's talk that it is going to be watered down because they can't coalesce between, behind one candidate. >> yeah. i would say that is probably accurate, heather. what we saw four years ago was evangelicals very united behind mike huckabee. it pushed him to the top of the pack. this time there's at least four candidates that are getting votes from this crucial religious conservative block. their leadership has been worried about that. they have been trying to get their flocks to unite around a single candidate but they're not agreeing on who that single candidate should be. that leaves an opening for a

candidate like mitt romney to push through and be the number one candidate on tuesday night. heather: you mentioned the four candidates. rick santorum right now, he's making a push forward. newt gingrich falling to fifth in the polls. they're on the ground. what's the feeling you get out of the four candidates that you just mentioned, who do you think will take at this point the evangelical vote? >> well, the latest polls suggest that rick santorum has momentum on his side. that is a really good thing to have going right into the caucuses. those polls themselves may actually benefit him by convincing folks that he is more electable than perhaps they thought earlier in the year. he has been hanging at the bottom of the polls most of the year. so i would give him an edge right now. rick perry has been drawing good crowds in iowa. michele bachmann i think is on the downswing. has had some unfortunate events in her campaign this

week and it will not help her on tuesday night. heather: is it negative ads plummeted newt gingrich and caused him to fall from grace so quickly? >> i can't attribute it to anything else. you know, he has had a barrage of negative advertising. he has been off message for at least two weeks. he has had to defend himself against attacks. even though he has been trying to argue he will not return those attacks in kind, he is getting more and more pointed about his fellow candidates as well. it is just not a good cycle for him. heather: i wanted to talk to you about another poll that came out, specifically regarding, you know, born-again christians and it said four out of 10 of iowa's born-again christians, they said leadership skills is what's most important to them. now if that's the case do you think mitt romney can win iowa as a result of that specifically? >> well, i think it is interesting generally speaking that it's not positions on issues that drive caucus-goers. it is their feeling about

the candidate. is the right person? is he like me? is he going to represent my interests and the religious conservatives are no different from that. they're still going to insist the candidates are with them on their core issues, on abortion, on gay marriage, on variety of other social conservative issues. but still when it comes down to it, there are other things that are more important to them. heather: all right. as we wrap up with you we were looking there on the screen. mitt romney speaking with his wife ann, shaking hand there in des moines at an event. you also may have heard before we came to you, chris christie there as well, throwing his support, very strongly behind mitt romney there in iowa. we'll see what happens on january 3rd. thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. cathy -- kathy. thank you. >> thanks, heather. heather: remember fox news is america's election headquarters and your front seat to politics. tune in for complete coverage of the iowa

caucuses on january 3rd, starting 6:00 p.m. eastern. you can log on to foxnews.com/politics to get all the latest news on the candidates and from the campaign trail. gregg? gregg: new fallout over iran's threat to block a significant part of the world's oil supply. the state department on thursday describing the threats as quote, irrational. earlier this week the united states warned iran that closing off the strait of hormuz to oil transport will not be tolerated. kitty logan is live in london with more. kitty, what's iran's response to the state department calling their threats irrational? >> reporter: no reaction yet from tehran today but the military exercise continues. day seven now of this 10-day operation in the strait. a real show of strength from iran. these pictures from iranian tv show iran putting all its weaponry on display, the submarines, naval vessels.

this is a real message from iran. it is saying we could do this, we could close the strait should we choose to do so. of course it is only about 30 miles across at its narrowest point, gregg. gregg: kitty, seems to be a bit of a military and diplomatic chess game. why do the iranians want to control or close this area? >> reporter: certainly they wanted to provoke a reaction which they have done so far but what analysts say they're anxious about is the proposition of sanctions, sanctions against their nuclear program which of course affect their oil exports. iran want as say we can also turn off the tap. straits of hormuz they have shipping going through there which is about a third of the world's oil shipments but some people say iran simply couldn't do this and the u.s. is also determined to not allow any kind of disruption to shipping in the area, gregg. gregg: kitty logan. thanks very much.

heather: so what are you doing for new year's eve? we want you to celebrate with us. in heather: i plan on being in the crowd somewhere. i will stand there. big and riff, trace atkins and the cast of the tony award nominated show "rock of ages", they will join us for the countdown to 2012. all the fun starts 11:00 p.m. eastern right here on

the fox news channel. send us your new year's greeting as well. you text, utext space, plus, then your greeting to 36288. that means type, utext, leave a space and type a brief message and send to 36288 and we will scroll those along the bottom of the screen. >> you will be out there, really? heather: i will be out there. gregg: why would you want to do that? why wouldn't you want to be home warm and cozy watching bill and megyn on tv. heather: you can watch them live in the square. gregg: good luck on that one. a lawsuit is being filed on newt gingrich's ba of to get him on the ballot in begin qachlt -- virginia. who is behind that? heather: newt gingrich dropping in the iowa polls. find out his plan to win the caucuses. an inside look at one of gingrich's biggest supporters. his daughter jackie [ male announcer ] you have dreams...

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heather: developing right now in "america's newsroom",

russia says that a fire on one of its nuclear submarines is now out. the sub catching fire on thursday during repairs but russia's defense minister says all the ballistic missiles were unloaded before the fire broke out. and some roads in idaho closed today after a dust storm brought 50 mile-per-hour winds to the state. the dust blew from a nearby field cutting visibility to nearly zero. the kilauea volcano in hawaii erupting and spewing host lava into the ocean. the la have is not threatening any homes but blasting steam to the point where it reaches the sea. gregg: newt gingrich hitting the campaign trail early in iowa today. he is holding several events with voters. former house speaker is not slowing down at all despite slipping in the latest poles. jackie cushman is newt

gingrich's daughter. thanks for being with us. wow, what a windy day. >> i'm thrilled to be with you. thanks for having me. gregg: a month ago your dad had this commanding lead in iowa. the latest "time" poll has him slipping to fourth place. nbc poll has him in fifth place. he has gone from 33% to 15%. jackie, what happened? >> look at all the polls. if you look at polls yesterday one insider advantage poll had him tied for first. 1a rg poll has him in second. what this really tells us this race in iowa is very, very fluid. gregg: yeah. but, you know, jackie, at one point your dad did say look, the negative attacks are having some effect and he decries that. he said this week i'm not going to go negative period. those are his words. but then he proceeded to call romney the second most dangerous man in america. then he called ron paul totally outside the mainstream of every decent american.

i mean in a way isn't your dad also engaging in negative attacks? >> well i think clearly what we've seen in the polls is some slippage due to all the tens of millions of dollars that have been spent here, much of that against dad in negative attacks. what he is doing he is drawing a clear distinction who he is as conservative who has been there before and done it. he balance the national budget. he cut taxes and cut spending. he reformed welfare. he is only candidate in the race including president obama who has done that on national level than the other republican candidates. he is drawing great crowds. i have to say he had a 7:00 a.m. rotary meeting. packed house. i thought i got easier job coming later. since i'm outside i'm not so sure. gregg: no kidding. hang in there. a few more questions for you, jackie. you just referred to your dad as a conservative. your father continues to tell iowans every day he is the conservative. that romney is the moderate.

but you know what? it wasn't that long ago, jackie he told a different group something completely different. and we'll put up on the screen and i will quote your dad. everywhere i've been i have argued in favor of electing the moderates. jackie, if he is a conservative, why would he say that? why would he push to elect moderates? >> i'm going to, not having heard that quote before and not having con tax, i know that quotes can often be taken out of context i will respond with my dad's credentials. he was speaker of the house and under his leadership, part of what happened is there was a lot change. he came in with the contract with america. in 100 days, voted on every single thing the contract of america laid out. successfully reached a balance budget when president clinton was in power. he has a track record of what we need today in a country really struggling with fiscal issues. gregg: right. >> my dad is the conservative candidate that can actually balance the

budget and reform major entitlement programs. gregg: and yet, jackie, i've got to ask you about this. he has taken some curious positions that are quite opposite of conservatives. for example, he supported at one point tarp. he support ad individual health mandate, cap-and-trade. he called paul ryan's medicare reform right-wing social engineering. i mean, jackie, aren't those positions that are in truth anathema to conservatism? >> i am so glad you brought all those up. a lot of those were historically, for instance, let me give you one for instance i like everyone go to newt.org. we have an answers page. you can see all the facts laid out. for instance you talk about the health care mandate. he was for that years ago ago when hillary was for hillary care. he said he is against obamacare and will do everything he can to repeal

it. it very important for people to go to newt.org for the answers. gregg: one more question, jackie. to let you out of the wind and cold. i want to ask about your dad's economic proposals. the nonpartisan tax center studied your dad's economic proposals they concluded that it will lower revenues to the government in 2015 by roughly 35% or $1.28 trillion which absolutely in their judgement explode the budget deficits and they called it mind boggling. what do you say? >> his program was just endorsed by art laffer working on supply side economics obviously. michael reagan said i would continue what his father, ronald reagan, in growing the economy. people should go to newt.org where dad stands. part of what you understand as we cut taxes as we cut regulation, as we empower

the american people to be active and productive that we will have more economic growth and that changes the whole equation. gregg: jackie cushman, you're very kind to come out on a cold, windy des moines day to speak with us. the daughter of newt gingrich. best of luck to you. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you so much for having me. gregg: and remember, fox news is america's election headquarters and your front row seat to politics. tune in for complete coverage of the iowa caucuses on scrap third beginning at 6:00 p.m. eastern. you can also log on to foxnews.com/politics to get all the latest news on candidates and from the campaign trail. heather: well he is the presidential candidate surging in iowa, just in time for the caucuses. >> that's what is at stake in this election. basic values of this country, freedom. do not settle for someone who the media says that can win. heather: rick san tore rum visiting all 99 counties in iowa but can he really win

in the crucial battleground state? gregg: plus a high school ski trip busted before the kids even got off the bus. we're going to tell you why and see that picture there might indicate some of that, if you can figure out are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years?

call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

gregg: all right, a group of california teenagers heading to the slopes in utah getting unexpected lesson. after their buses were stopped, some of them were smoking pot or at least spotted smoking pot. so the local police chief in nevada gave them a choice. spend your trip in jail or give up the stash? give it up they did. pipes bongs, rolling papers look at that what amounts to several pounds of pot. reaction from what kids who wanted to make it clear they didn't have any dope. >> down there if they found anything they would impound the bus right where we were and we would be stranded

there. but there was people around me that were freebing out because they didn't know if they should turn it in or not because if they didn't turn it in and got caught, everyone's would be ruined. >> a large number of kids are going off, freaking it, get rid of it. high school kids on a trip without their parents. things are going to happen. gregg: well the chief of police also lecturing the kids on dangers of smoking pot especially when they are sking. he admits his jail in nevada wouldn't have had room for all of the teens anyway. look at that. ♪ . heather: well, there's a new push to save the ocean's scariest species. the sunshine state about to become the first in the nation to ban the hunting and killing of certain sharks. phil keating is live in

miami beach. tough spot to be in. wow, it looks beautiful there. hi, phil. >> reporter: hi, happy new year. when you come to the beach it is all about the sand and sunshine and surf but who doesn't think just a little bit about, is there a shark out there? well there are sharks there and a new push by florida, the state, aims to keep more sharks out there. this hammerhead shark hooked just a couple of miles off the miami coastline. it grew to 15 feet, 300 pound and fought to its death for two hours. >> one of last people to do it. like anything else. if you go down in history, it is always good. >> reporter: historic, beginning in 2012 it is against the law to kill hammerhead and tiger sharks in florida. florida state waters extend three miles from shore. it will still be legal to catch the tiger and hammerhead. then you're faced with the

daunting challenge of removing the hook. florida's wildlife commission says as scary as they may seem these sharks need our help. their numbers are declining drastically. >> they're the top predator. they're important to have those out there. keeps everything in check. you don't have any one particular species exploding because they don't have a predator. >> reporter: mark the shark makes a living taking tourists out to catch what he calls, a monster. >> bait is going out, captain. >> reporter: he fears his business is getting bit. >> you shut the commercial industry down, sharks are fine forever and ever. simple mathematics. >> reporter: scientists say the population numbers of tiger sharks have fallen by 65% over the past few decades. 98% for certain species of hammerheads. that's why if you catch and kill one, you're looking two months in jail. back to you. heather: thank you very much, phil keating live in miami

beach. gregg: michele bachmann suffering some campaign set backs ahead of iowa caucuses but says she is determined to stay in the race so we'll be talking to bachmann's communications director straight ahead. heather: amazing rescue unfolds from the side of a cliff. see how this ends

heather: counting down to the big day in iowa, four candidates at the top of the republican pack in the hawk-eye state out in force looking for force. there is a lot of movement in the polls. and welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." i'm heather childress in for martha maccallum. gregg: i'm tkpwraeu gregg jarrett. heather: carl cameron live from

des moines. what do you look for at the campaign event? >> reporter: the intensity of the crowd and the side of the crowd. as chris christie just said, people who win election -r are ones who turn out the vote on election night. there were 500 and a thousand people who came out in 6-degree weather in a drizzle in order to root on and cheer mitt romney, who is once against the frontrunner, having watched ron paul and newt gingrich make a run at it in the past several we can. this is a year and a half long of essentially keeping iowa at arm's length. he's on his ninth swing. a big, big time for mitt romney. by contrast you see crowds for newt gingrich, a hundred or so, much smaller. it's clear that mitt romney has the momentum and wind in his sales as he heeds into all o

heads into all of this. he came in second here four years ago with about 25% of the vote. he's had about 25% of the polls all year long. if he holds onto his organization, that second-place showing against mike huckabee's organization four years ago which is superior and much larger than anything else gives him a head start, with ron paul losing his momentum. mr. paul has been criticized by everybody, particularly newt gingrich who said he not only disagrees with ron paul on issues like iran's search for nuclear weaponry, he wouldn't even vote for ron paul and couldn't support him as the nominee, unlike every other member of the candidates.

theee januarhalf of the actual turn out vote was unable to unify around any particular candidate. as a consequence a number of individual leaders of the christian conservative right here said they would personally support rick santorum. that started a grand swell. he is benefitting from it in a huge way and by some accounts has pulled into third place. heather: thank you very much. gregg: there is a new lawsuit aiming to get newt gingrich on virginia's primary ballot. just last week the former house speaker was shutout after failing to get the required signatures. peter doocy is live. >> reporter: it was filed by a lawyer who said since gingrich got 10,000 signatures he should be on the ballot in virginia. they say fraud disqualified over

a thousand signatures, the attorney says he signed and wants to make sure his signature was counted. even though the newt gingrich campaign has no connection to the suit right now, he hopes it will take it over, because it would care carry more weight. he wanted to file a similar suit on behalf of michelle bachmann, but he said it won't be successful because she didn't have enough signatures. >> the rules and requirements are so stringent. there was a hearing on rick perry's legal khal tony dung legal challenge to get on the ballot, what happened? >> reporter: they need to come back on january 14th. they need to reach out to all the other candidates who did not make the virginia ballot, everybody khe except romney and

paul. rick perry said they will do that. they said they have interest in voters in virginia. we would welcome other candidate involvement. the newt gingrich campaign says they are considering joining in lawsuit. speaker gingrich is pushing for the virginia state legislature to get together two days before the next hearing in the perry lawsuit on january 11th and change the state law so he can have a write in campaign for the primary. the perry campaign says they are going to think about going through the legislature if it would get governor perry on the ballot and give voters the option to vote for them. gregg: certain laws may work retroactively. this may be one of them. thank you very much. we will have more on awful this later oall of this on the fox news channel. newt gingrich living on "happening now." only on the fox news channel. heather: ron paul gaining momentum firing up crowds in eye wafrpblgts miowa.

>> reporter: it's wonderful to defend a system like that because it really does create the prosperity and the middle class becomes the don' dominant class. heather: he got an endorsement from michelle bachmann's campaign member who defected from her side. >> reporter: i'm a consistent conservative, i've always been pro-life, proceed traditional marriage, i have sr-ls been a physical conservative. i have never been for global warming. [laughter] [. [applause] gregg: fox news is your home base for the iowa caucuses. i think that was a swipe at newt gingrich. we will have special coverage this tuesday beginning at 6:00pm

eastern time right here on the fox news channel. heather: have you heard about this. a new fee for verizon wireless customers sparking a storm of outrage. let's get details from jerry wilis of the fox business network. >> reporter: they are calling it a convenience fee, believe it or not for on time payments. that is if you pay by telephone or if you pay online using a credit card. you'll get this charge each and every time you make payments in that manner. heather. heather: this has happened before, is that right? >> reporter: it's happened before, and let me just show you who is not going to be paying this new fee. if you use electronic check payments through my verizon online, automatic credit cards through verizon's autopay or the old fashioned check, you remember that, right, heather? you'll not be charged paying that way. if you pay otherwise it will be $2 each and every time you do

it. verizon communications tried to charge a $3.50 fee not too long ago to tv and internet customers for similar reasons for the way they paid, there was such a storm and outrage they had to back out of this. we are wondering if the company has to back off of this again. we've seen a lot of fees creeping up lately. consumers are getting more and more out spoken in their outrage. heather: we see them back off of the fees as a result. we'll see if this sticks. thank you very much. gregg: she is nearly nonexistent in the polls but michelle bachmann is not dropping out any time soon. with the loswhat the loss of two top advisers may mean for her campaign. gregg: he could be catching fire at exactly the right time. rick santorum gaining ground in iowa, why two key tkep demographics may be on board with the governor.

gregg: firing back at critics who want him gone. >> reporter: he has been a malignant cancer that must be removed from the body politics of the maricopa county sheriff's office. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. multi-policy discount.

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heather: welcome back. a new war of words in arizona. critics of sheriff joe arpaio demanding that he resign immediately. the sheriff firing back. take a listen. >> reporter: he has become a malignant cancer that must be removed from the body politics of the maricopa county sheriff's office fit is ever to become healthy and properly functioning again. >> one thing that is really interesting, is the fact they are all democrats. they are all democrats. is that interesting? heather: the sheriff has until next week to decide whether to work with the justice department after the feds accused his department of racial profiling.

gregg: nobody is going to force michelle bachmann out of the race for the white house. the minnesota congresswoman refusing to drop her bid for the gop nomination despite losing her top two political advisers, her political director and her iowa chairman both jumping ship less and week before the iowa caucuses. >> i have a lot of disaffected democrats telling me they are voting for me. and disaffected independents are voting for me. they want somebody to believe in and count on, somebody who is real and authentic, they want somebody who has actually been the real deal, and i've been that real deal, that is why i'm getting their support. gregg: alice stewart joins us, bachmann's communications director. thank you for being with us. while it's true there are significant undecideds, the two latest polls, time magazine and

nbc have bachmann in last place of those campaign in iowa. why so low in the polls. >> the polls have been going up and down for the past several months. we are not going to let that slow us down one bit. we wrapped up a 99-county tour across the state of iowa, michelle has taken time to meet with voters in small towns and large, and it's been a great opportunity to do what she does best, retail politics, meeting with the people and communicating with them. 45% of the election threa the electorate are undecided. we have solidified the support of people who supported michelle the moment they walked into the door. it's been a great experience in retail politics and solidifying support for michelle. gregg: she claims she is the tea

party candidate, and yet about half of all caucus goers she is in dead last place as far as the tea partiers. what happened to her core support? >> that will go up and down as the polls go. she is the leader of the house tea party caucus, she is a throng supporters for the tea party movement, she is for limited government and has been steadfast on those issues. what is important is the overall vote. she says she is the three-legged stool candidate. she has the tea party support, conservative support and independent support across the state of iowa. she plans to bring that all together on tuesday in order to finish strong here in iowa. it's not just tea party but it's fiscal and social conservatives as well as independents who are going our way. >> maybed rollins had the answer to that question. she said she ran out of money and ideas. i'll quote him on the screen. she is still saying the same

thing in the first debate, there is no substance. she says i'm going to repeal obamacare, but she's been saying that from day one. i told her that is your tea party speech, now you have to say what you're going to do next. does he have a point? >> well, i respectfully disagree with that. i think the world of him. while repealing obamacare is a cornerstone of michelle's campaign she has gone leaps and bounds from day one. she has rolled out a real jobs right now plan which is a framework for creating jobs and turning the economy around and most importantly restoring confidence in the economy with the american people. she has outlined her views and solutions with dealing with foreign policy, in supporting israel and dealing with iran. we've come a long way from day one. i respectfully disagree withed, she has grown as a candidate and as all of the candidates have unveiled their layers, voters have seen that she not only has the strong fiscal and social conservative views that they

want she has solutions and she has unveiled those solutions for what she plans to do in the first 100 days. i encourage everyone to go to washington times where we have an op-ed where she has said what she will do the first 100 days in the white house. gregg: i mentioned in our introduction to you, alice, that your campaign appears to some to be in disarray. a couple of days ago your iowa chairman, state senator kent sorenson quit and jumped ship to the ron paul campaign because he said bachmann couldn't win. michelle bachmann accused him of taking a large sum of money, he denies that. but your own political director said that bachmann's claim is untrue. now, was enos fired? what is the deal. >> he's no longer with the campaign. i can assure you that the statements that michelle has made, as well as our campaign chairman in iowa, as well as

susan gettos who is a former campaign manager for kent sorenson who said he was offered money to work for the ron paul campaign, those statements are 100 percent accurate. >> why would enos portray michelle bachmann as lying. >> you have to ask him that. i can assure you michelle is telling the truth and everyone who supports her in this case is 100% correct. we have a new state chair doing phenomenal work. gregg: you're not in disarray right now? absolutely not. we are moving full-speed ahead. anyone who can do a 99-city tour is not in disarray. we are a strong campaign, a strong team and we're not going to let something like that hold us back, because we have support of people across the state and it's growing every single day

and we continue to do that over the weekend and certainly on tuesday, because we know that the iowa voters wait until the very last minute to cast their vote in the caucuses, and we are going to continue to push michelle's message of strong social and fiscal conservatism. gregg: you're correct there are a great many undecided still in iowa. alice stewart thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you, gregg, have a great day. heather: the obama administration laying out big plans over the past year. have they followed through on everything? we'll take a look? say goodbye to this. new laws about to hit the books for the new year, what you need to be aware of. we'll tell you.

gregg: almost 22 minutes past the hour. the obama administration's melanie barnes leaving office. she understands why the public is dissatisfied. she reports she wants to spend more time with her familiar. british physicist steven hawk king looking for somebody to help run the computer on his wheelchair. he lost his voice more than two decades ago, a computer allows him to talk. preps underway for the world's largest fireworks show to ring in the new year. it will include, get this. 25,000 shooting comets. heather: 2011 the third year of

the obama presidency drawing to a close and good time to take stock of promises made by the administration and promises kept. the white house said that it would tackle many issues in 2011 but a whole bunch of items on the to do list remain unchecked. doug is joining us live from honolulu. how is the administration's checklist coming along? >> reporter: good morning. well we'll hear more in coming days with what the white house plans for 2012. looking back on 2011, kind of a mixed bag, some successes, some failures and some works in progress. let's start off talking first about gun control, something the president has spoken about before. just back in july, for instance white house spokesman jay carney said we would see something on that in the near future, so far, though, nothing. the next issue, immigration reform is something the president has talked about, something we'll hear more about heading into 2012 as the white house tries to court hispanic

voters. back earlier this year the president told u.n. i vision that he would put something forward. >> i'm going to go out there and again and introduce legislation -- and as i said to you before, the problem is i've got a rule in the senate that says i need 60 votes. so the challenge right now is i have 53 votes that are democrat, and i may not be able to get the majority of every single democrat but i can get the vast majority of democrats. i need some help from the republicans. >> reporter: still, though a lot of work to do. the white house will point to some successes of course for 2011, ending "don't ask don't tell" for the military, pulling u.s. droops out of iraq and of course killing osama bin laden. heather. heather: something else the president spoke about time and time again, tkpwraoe jobs green jobs, we all heard about that. how does the record look so far on that front? >> reporter: think the white house would tell you they've had some success, certainly not at the pace they expected.

at one point the president talked about creating 5 million jobs or so in this green energy sector. it's tough to nail down the numbers here. the bureau of labor statistics is trying to figure out how many green jobs there are out there. we will hear more about that next year when they release that number. the other thing we'll hear a lot more about that year is solyndra, the solar energy company that went bankrupt, taking with it millions of u.s. taxpayer dollars, that is something that is really going to be a tool used by republicans to hammer the president in 2012. heather: and 2012 just days away, if you can believe it. thank you so much for joining us, doug, live in honolulu, where it is beautiful. stpho: it's always beautiful there. amazing. he could be catching fire at precise hraoet righ precisely the right time. >> i'm not going to get an artificial surge, i'm not going to say something witty or glib

at a debate. i'm going to go out and earn it. gregg: rick santorum gaining ground in the state of iowa why two key factors could give him an edge. heather: turning the tables on man's best friend, the man who risked his life to save his dog. you want to save money on car insurance? no problem. you want to save money on rv insurance? no problem. you want to save money on motorcycle insurance? no problem. you want to find a place to park all these things? fuggedaboud it. this is new york. hey little guy, wake up! aw, come off it mate! geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance.

gregg: welcome back. four days until the first test of the 2012 election season.

it's anybody's game, really. iowa known to be conservative. that helped former arkansas governor mike huckabee take it in 2008. who will conservatives choose this time around? steve brown is live in des moines with more. steve, iowa citizens seem split among several republican candidates. is there not one that they can get behind? >> reporter: certainly. you just mentioned his name. mike huckabee. he was the guy in 08 who brought together the social community in iowa and rode that tied to victory in the iowa caucuses. there were a lot of folks heartbroken because he didn't run and are looking for somebody like him. many have made inroads into the evangelical community but not all of it like mike huckabee did

four years ago. gregg: is there a candidate that has an edge with social conservatives? >> reporter: it's coming late but rick santorum looks like he's picking up rather large swaths of huckabee's organization and has been able to tap into some of those networks. it's late bit late in the game but he is surging. some polling data may suggest to some folks, the reason he is surging is he is getting together bits and pieces of the huckabee organization. they are scattered around the landscape, in terms of candidates. it looks like with frequency rick santorum is picking up some of the pieces. gregg: if rick santorum wins maybe it will be known as pulling a huckabee. thank you very much. heather: he is catching fire at precisely the right time. rick santorum white hot right now in iowa.

rick perry, michelle bachmann fading, herman cain out of the picture entirely. rick santorum is picking up support from key conservatives and evangelical voters. >> we are going to do better than everyone thought we would do a week ago, much better. that is all i can say. i'm grateful to the people of iowa, we've had great crowds here and a lot of great response waoefpl feel like we'r we feel like we'll get that spark, how big i don't know. we keep working hard. we don't have the resources all of the other candidates have, that is changing too. heather: right now the undecided vote in iowa, a key par ge target for all candidates supporting mitt romney, but rick santorum gaining ground. we have the secretary for the national republican congressional committee and doug schoen a former pollster, and a

fox news contributor. happy new year in advance. looks like the new year is coming a bit early for rick santorum and it looks like it's working out for him. jonathan. >> good iif you go back to pay you'll find that rick santorum has had a lot of great debate performances. the reason has can dance se can cannot caught on is because he has not raised enough money. the millstone around his neck is that he lost his last bid for political office. compared to some of the other candidate out there, that is not all that heavy of a millstone. right now at this moment it's good to see that he's peeking, he's got a lot of energy and i think folks are really focusing on his strengthing right now.

strengths right now. he's a good debater, a huge pro-lifer, and there is need for a candidate like that. heather: has it been a problem of resources for rick santorum? what do you think is the central challenge to his campaign? >> there have been two challenges, first a number of frontrunners in iowa before him who have drawn his vote, whether they be michelle bachmann, rick perry, newt gingrich, has really been a key issue. the other issue is rick santorum is running heavily indeed almost total will he on social issues, and it's hard at a time when the economy is in recession to make the case that you should nominate someone because of their position on gay marriage, or abortion. i respect his views, but i'm not sure that that is enough to propel him into the first tier of candidates. heather: jonathan about that? the evangelical, the social

conservative vote is that enough? >> what you're seeing on the gospel centered conservative side i the very much you're seeing with ron paul on the fiscal side. there are a lot of voters who want to see a candidate speak his heart and mind and they see that in rick santorum in the same way that many people see that in ron paul. people are hungry for that. they want a candidate that will stick up for ha they believ up for what they believe in. right now they are seeing that in rick santorum. after iowa, after the caucuses on tuesday this field is going to thin out quite a bit. he really needs that first or second-place finish to really catapult him into the next couple of contests. heather: doug i want to get your take on that as we move forward from iowa into new hampshire. in terms of who comes in last place in iowa, will that really do him in? >> yes, the candidates who finish at the bottom of the pack will be done n. i agree that

rick santorum really needs to finance admonish the first two, or very, very close third to be a viable candidate and a strong viable candidate going forward. if he does there is a reservoir of social conservatives when he makes it to new hampshire and south carolina. you have mitt romney and newt gingrich who are leading the pack in every poll. if they win first and second by a big margin it will be impossible for rick santorum to remain a viable candidate. heather: do you think that newt gingrich can come back around and recover, jonathan? >> i think he can. this is a fella, as long as there are debates on the calendar newt gingrich will be able to drive. that is really his environment. he wants to be debating as much as possible. he's going to make a strong play

for south carolina. he's from georgia, he's going to make a strong play for the southern states. don't count newt gingrich out yet. i heard dick morris on fox news a couple of days ago saying that people count newt gingrich out for dead and he may come back, and i think that is the case. there could be a second rising of newt gingrich at some point. heather: they counted him out when his campaign staffers quit. they all came back around. >> the third rising. heather: the third rising is what it would be. as we wrap-up quickly from both of you, prediction, what do you think will happen, who is going to win iowa? >> i think -- >> go ahead. >> i'm sorry i was going to say ron paul has a more dedicated mobilized force of supporters and workers than mitt romney, i'm predicting a narrow, narrow ron paul victory. heather: ron paul, and jonathan you? >> i think it will likely be romney. ron paul has a lot of support there. romney is leading in most of the most recent polls.

rick santorum really coming on strong he could within this thing depending on his momentum going into the final days. heather: we'll see what happens. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. gregg. gregg: we are tapped right into the political pipeline. rick santorum is live next hour on "happening now" at 11:30 eastern time right here on fox news, so check it out. it is a tragic fact of life for veterans, high unemployment hitting those who have served very hard. now california's community colleges are doing their part to try to get vets back to work. anita vogel is live in los angeles with more. hi, anita. >> reporter: hi, there, gregg. imagine coming back from war to find a struggling economy and high unemployment. here in california the department of veteran's affairs is teaming up with the community college system to make sure that veterans don't get left behind especially when it comes to a good education. corporal aaron ariza served in

iraq for three and a half months before an ied attack cut short his tour in 2007. the next year the purple heart recipient was out of the marines and facing a problem thousands of vets know all too well. >> the biggest thing was the economy took a dump on me right when i was getting out of the service. >> reporter: california's veteran's affairs department is simplifying the transition from calm bath to the classroom. after signing up vets get an email list of colleges in their zip code along with financial aid information. much of their application is even filled out for them using data from irtheir military forms, making it easier to get the ball rolling. >> i was a little lost at first and afraid to do it. i wanted to go to school, but just did not know how to even make the first step even applying for a school. >> reporter: that is changing and california hopes it will become a model for other states to help vets with their first steps back into civilian life.

>> our veterans have made a sacrifice for our country and they deserve a helping hand when they come home. >> reporter: unfortunately aaron ariza returned home from combat before this program was put into place. he had a little difficulty getting into college, he eventually did. the hope is that for the next aaron ariza to come along he or she will have a much easier time. by the way, greg, this program is the first in the nation. california is the first state to do this. if it works well here we could see it popping up in other states. gregg: we wish him the best. a net ta vogel thank you very much. heather. heather: we'll tell you what laws are going into effect and what it means for you. gregg: a new video of a dramatic cliff rescue, wow, look at this. a machine and his doug stuck. dog stuck? how in the world did this happen. >> all the dogs ran down. you see all the dust and

everything, i just went down as fast as i can. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today.

heather: welcome back. one man's best friend getting him stuck on the side of a jagged cliff. look at this video in lake view terrace, outside of los angeles. a 19-year-old man was hiking with his pooch when the dog fell about 100 feet. and the guy climbs down the ledge to save his dog, of course, but he can't get back up, or down from the precarious perch. >> i thought i was going to die. i was slipping. i thought that is the end of my life. they put the harness on the dog and they took it right away. they put the harness on me and we walked towards the left and worked our way down. heather: scary stuff. firefighters lowered them both to safety. as you heard man and best friend expected to be just fine.

gregg: in 2012 a variety of new laws will be taking effect with a bearing on many parts of american life from immigration to abortion, to believe it or not tanning beds. trial attorney remi spencer joins us and criminal defense attorney rachel kogal. there are 40,000 roughly new laws about to take effect, so i really had to pare this down. remi let me start with you and we'll begin in california and put it up on the screen. in california the state there passed a law that now says the following, schools must teach students that lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender americans contributed to the development of the united states. what do you think of that? is there a growing trend to sort of regulate and legislate these social issues? >> i think it is not necessarily a growing trend. we see in this california waoerbgs don't see thiwe don't

see this in any other state. i think it is a novel and unique approach to early childhood education. it's not clear if this will be introduced at elementary school and high school level. i think we can expect to see a number of legal challenges to the change of these programs in california. gregg: rachel i want to go to new hampshire. i'm wondering here if there could be a legal challenge or not. we'll put it up on the screen. minoors in new hampshire may inform a parent before getting an abortion or seek a court order to avoid parental notification. >> this is the second coming of a law that was repealed in 2007 because it didn't withstand legal challenges. there is definitely going to be legal challenges to this. what they've done differently now is that they have put some exceptions. there was no exception for medical necessity, which the supreme court says is required. so the question is whether the new exceptions that they've put into this new incarnation of

that law will be enough to withhold it going forward. gregg: four states have decided to jump into the immigration issues. louisiana, tennessee, south carolina and georgia. businesses in those four states must enroll in the federal e-verify program to insure that workers are eligible to work in the united states, while california, meanwhile, prohibits it. remi, what do you think of that? >> this is an interesting trend we'll see in 2012. these e-verify laws are requiring that employers verify or confirm that the employees that they are hiring are in fact in this country legally. there are a number of different challenges and positions people are taking to this. but it's going to be interesting to see the affect that these employers verification -rs goi are going to have in the workplace. i think it's very unusual that california would make a law that would prohibit such a

regulation. and i don't think that is a law that is going to withstand a legal challenge. gregg: what is interesting is the supreme court is going to decide the issue as to whether states actually have rights over immigration matters or whether that is the sole province and authority of the federal government. that could impact perhaps these laws. let me go to california again, because they are banning certain things. they are prohibiting the production or sale of beer with caffeine. they are procee prohibiting dxm, cough syrup without a prescription and prohibiting tanning by minors. >> these are all things that have got even a lot of press in the last year. there has been a lot of cases.

i, myself, am a dwi lawyer, there have been a lot of cases involving the alcohol that contains caffeine. most of these laws relate to people being under 18. in that sense they will have the right to regulate around that. i believe it's the sale of the cough medicine to those under 18 without a prescription. and the tanning beds under 18 without parental involvement. gregg: i want to go to oregon as our last one, prohibits the sale of shark fins. requires ignition interlock devicess, the commuter eyese commuter interlock devices. >> i can say this interlock device is a very powerful tool that is in the state's arsenal to prevent drunk drivers. when somebody has been convicted

or pled guilty of a dwi summons, this interlock device will now have to be installed in their car. they will have to blow into the machine before they can start their car, so that this way we can regulate whether or not they've been drinking when they get into their car. it's a very big tool. gregg: some good laws, and maybe some other questionable ones, who knows, thank you both for being with us. >> thank you,. >> thank you. heather: "happening now" coming up at the top of the hour and jon scott is standing by with a preview. hi, jon. >> reporter: hi, heather there is so much news on this day for this last day of "happening now" for this year. newt gingrich and rick santorum join us live. we will have them how they are feeling about going into tuesday's iowa caucuses and ask them about brand-new polling out today. jennifer griffin reports today on surprising reports the u.s. is pushing hard for talks with the taliban, including possibly releasing a high-risk detainee

from gitmo. we'll also talk about the growing tensions with iran. some not such great news out of north korea and the bloody crackdown continues in syria. we'll have it all for you in just a few minutes. "happening now," heather. heather: busy day on this last "happening now" of this year. >> reporter: that's right. heather: thank you, jon. new information on a potential medical breakthrough, researchers finding a treatment for ovarian cancer. how promising it? our medical a team eris in with all the details. gregg: is cheetah the death really dead? is there some monkey business going on?

gregg: welcome back. the death of a hollywood legend might be a hoax? eight experts are now questioning a story we are being told about cheetah the chimp, the chimp that started in the tarzan movies. the owner of a primate sanctuary in florida claimed he passed away at the ripe old page of 80. doctors are saying chimps are considered old in their 40s. the oldest living one is 70. they say this is all a money-making scheme. the sanctuary has a donation link on its website right next to the cheetah memorial. the owner claims she got the cheetah from wis weismuller himself but the paperwork is lost. heather: they saye say avastin

can extend the period before the disease worsens by more than three and a half months. this is promising news. ovarian cancer, it is considered one of the deadliest of the gyn cancers, correct? >> reporter: this is big news, heather. this was a study that was published yesterday in the new england journal of medicine. ovarian cancer is very bad, aggressive, a deadly disease. the purpose of this medication was really to delay and add survival. we find out there is no survival benefit at this point but it's able to delay the progression of the disease getting worst by 3 months. there is one study in european one in u.s. they looked at many patients, and we have to be careful about this medication and the side

effects, and of course cost was another thing. for patients with ovarian cancer it's a step forward. its not approved by fda in this country. recently it was denied for breast cancer in november, which created a great controversy. most people with this disease are hoping this will come on the market. heather: 25,000 new cases every year, 15,000 deaths. why wasn't it approved for breast cancer? >> reporter: they looked at the risk and benefit, and i think when the risk outweigh the benefit they decided not to approve it. when it comes to ovarian cancer, it's a totally different disease than breast cancer. this is a disease that doesn't give you much of a chance. it's very hard to diagnose it. when you find it a lot of times it has spread to other organs. the main standard of care is the surgery, removing the bulk of the cancer and chemotherapy. avastin is interesting because it works in a different mode or track. what it does the cancer needs

some growth factors, and with growth factors you can create those vessels. avastin inhibits those factors so it has a different mode than chemotherapy. i spoke to some of my colleagues, one of them is dr. raymond from mt. sinai who was interested and dug into the studies a little deeper, the doze and duration of this was different in europe than over here. there are some flaws in this study. the other thing is for a selected group of patients, high-risk owe kwraeu ovarian cancer, ones who have insites, this medication may work. we need further studies in the future to give this guy a chance. at this point there is no major survival benefit as a result of this. heather: what about the cost? you mentioned that briefly about 50,000 to one hundred thousand dollars a year? >> reporter: yes, so that is the major problem. side effects and the cost is a big problem. in my own field of prostate cancer we had a vaccine, and

medicare approved it for $100,000 a year, which is a huge financial burden, but the claim was that it adds maybe two more months to the life of these patients. i think this is a big issue. as we look further into this perhaps we can lower the cost. that is certainly a major problem with this medication. my gut feeling is that fda is going to approve it for ovarian cancer because of the aggressiveness of the disease. heather: thank you for joining us. gregg. gregg: a dark horse in iowa, gaining some ground there, rick santorum moving up in the polls. he's good to be coming up live on "happening now" straight ahead. [ 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.

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and we've established a 500 million dollar fund so independent scientists can study the gulf's wildlife and environment for ten years. thousands of environmental samples from across the gulf have been analyzed by independent labs under the direction of the us coast guard. i'm glad to report all beaches and waters are open for everyone to enjoy. and the economy is showing progress with many areas on the gulf coast having their best tourism seasons in years. i was born here, i'm still here and so is bp. we're committed to the gulf for everyone who loves it, and everyone who calls it home. gregg: fox news channel, the place to be to celebrate as you ring in the new year. megyn kelly, bill hemmer, hosting the "all american new year". just ahead of the show send us you