>> gretchen: we're going to get more info on these artifacts in our after the show show. if you have some time, i'll be on "the five" today. >> steve: we'll be back here bill: we will see you then. thanks, guys. great show this morning. the wild sprint to the very first primary for the race to the white house five days away. newt gingrich and mitt romney holding town hall meetings in new hampshire. that is a look at sailed lemm, new hampshire with mitt romney. joan mccain, interesting couple. i'm bill hemmer, live from "america's newsroom." we're kind of an interesting couple. martha: we are. that is another story. good morning, bill. i'm martha maccallum. good to see you, everybody. four years ago -- weeks ago newt gingrich flown to the top of the pauls and rick santorum, ron paul, and

trying to lock in the front-runner status they enjoyed in iowa. you've got more than tens stops. they are all over the state of new hampshire. bill: no time to rest. no time to sleep. bob cusack, editor of "the hill." good morning, to you, robert. >> good morning, bill. bill: who has the most to lose in new hampshire? >> i think there are three people. mitt romney, jon huntsman and ron paul. i mean romney is expected to win. not only has to win he has got to win big. jon huntsman pit all his eggs in new hampshire. he has to have a very strong showing, trying to get more moderate votes away from romney. ron paul had somewhat of a disappointing performance in iowa based upon the expectations. so he has got to do well in new hampshire. it is all expectations game at this point because it is all about romney. bill: ron paul would argue his performance this year as opposed to four years ago was enormous compared to 2008.

>> that's right. bill: what does rick santorum need to do to get a spring to the next contest which is south carolina? >> i think the expectations for him are fairly low in new hampshire. he's been there not as many times he was in iowa. he has been there 30 times. he has to get no double digits. if he does that shows significant momentum. south carolina, that's where he has to come up big. bill: two debates this weekend. people like newt gingrich have attracted attention. what is your expectation? >> it will be very nasty, bill, no doubt about it. newt gingrich is very upset at mitt romney. he is vowed to form a partnership with santorum to go after romney. i think it will be a very spirited debate. bill: one we will be watching. i know you will too. thank you, bob cusack, leading our coverage this morning. >> thank you. bill: here is martha. martha: newt gingrich ratcheting up his attacks on his rival mitt romney. this got brewing in a big way in iowa. gingrich is accusing the former governor of massachusetts of lying.

you heard about that he blasted some attacked as from a pro-romney group and said this when he went on the record with greta. listen. >> the most we'll do is draw and direct and sharp contrast with governor romney who is a massachusetts moderate and contrast my fighting against tax increases and his tax increases or contrast, my very bold plan for jobs and economic growth which "the wall street journal" saturday said was the best and most aggressive job-producing plan with what they characterize has a plan by romney so timid it resembles obama. martha: well, those pass for pretty strong words i guess when you're talking about political philosophies and the difference between them. a pro-gingrich group also going on the offense. they're looking to undercut mccain's endorsement of romney by posting a 2008 ad mccain ran against romney. that was pretty interesting. the mccain ad has romney flip-flopping in it. you see them out there today

makes you realize how quickly things can change in politics, bill. bill: jon huntsman also putting all his chips on the table in the granite state at the moment. he is at a town hall meeting in goss international in durham, new hampshire. huntsman all but ignoring the iowa caucuses doing more events in new hampshire than any other candidate. watch him tuesday also. martha: off his big win in iowa, rick santorum hoping very much he can continue to build on the momentum on the ground in new hampshire. he has been there i think he said 30 times to new hampshire so he is no stranger to the state but he wants to build on the come from behind showing in new hampshire and can he do it? outside his new campaign office in new bedford, santorum said he is trying to do just that. >> i said iowa will provide the spark. new hampshire and south carolina there is tinder on the ground. we laid the groundwork. this is my 31st visit to new hampshire. i've done over 100 town hall

meetings. i don't know if we know the exact numb per but i know it is well over 100. i think the people of new hampshire will give us a very good look. martha: looks like they are. there are rumblings in the past couple days in the polls make folks think they are getting another look at rick santorum. his campaign is seeing a new surge in donations. reports of up to a million dollars coming into the santorum campaign. that is what keep this is fascinating. bill: karl rove is up in a moment addressing santorum's infrastructure with all the attention out of iowa. a few facts about new hampshire. it is the first-in-the-nation primary, a status set in state law, something they have to weigh every time this comes around. 10 counties in total, as opposed to the 99 in iowa. the state's population, 1.3 million making new hampshire a test of personal politics. so far republican candidates have made 159 visits over the last 296 days in the granite state. martha: we're going to be covering new hampshire of

course and the primary live starting at 6:00 p.m. eastern on tuesday, january the 10th. we'll be live from new hampshire. that is tuesday, january 10th, right here on the fox news channel. we've got it all covered for you of course, we know that. how about this? let's go over the economy for a moment because new claims for jobless benefits came in. they fell a bit more than expected last week so good news. the government reporting 372,000 americans sought jobless benefits last week. that's a drop of 15,000 and it is the fourth drop we have put together in five weeks. so looking like it is improving somewhat. let's bring in fox business network's stuart varney to douse water on that idea. >> no, no. martha: go ahead. >> give me a break. the trend is positive. that is correct. each week fewer and fewer people are lining up for their jobless benefits but the trend is improving very, very slowly. it is only a small drop week to week. at this stage in the so-called recovery it should be a much bigger drop and we

should have far fewer people lining up for unemployment benefits. it is really the same story with the big picture economy. there is a bit more growth. the trend is positive but one item of perspective for you, martha. as of today, there are still 1.8 million fewer jobs in america than when president obama took office. that is not a particularly robust recovery, now, is it? martha: that is not a number anybody can be too happy with. talk to me a little bit something that may be reflective of the big changes we've seen in the economy. kodak, an american staple. >> it is. it is an american icon. it is a titan of american business and "the wall street journal" says it may be about to file for bankruptcy in this month or maybe early next month just going out of business. it is in danger of being kicked off the new york stock exchange. kodak has fallen victim to a variety of problems. number one, didn't innovate in the face of the digital

revolution. number two, it has all the legacy costs including in particular very high pensions to its retired workers. you are about to see very probably the demise of an american icon. that is how fast america moves. it's extraordinary. martha: yeah, it is quite a story and, you know, classic tale of a corporation that did not keep up with the changes that were happening in technology around it. stuart, thank you very much. stuart varney coming up on fbn. bill: we have more breaking news right now. a deadly shooting in utah leaving a police officer dead. five other officers wounded. now a serious injuries. this is ogden, utah, northern part of the state. that shooting taking place late last night as an anti-narcotics squad tried to serve a search warrant at a home. listen here. >> we heard three pops. didn't know what they were at first. you know, two or three minutes later we heard multiple gunshots going off. sounded like ak-47s.

and ran out of the house, came down here to the corner and got escorted back to the house by uniformed officers. bill: hear is the worst news. the officer killed in the line of duty, a seven-year veteran, leave as wife and two young children behind. we're going live to the scene in a moment, get more on that ongoing investigation. we said it was a wild shootout. it must have been based on what we're hearing out of ogden from early this morning already. martha: so those are just a few of the stories we're getting started with here this morning in "america's newsroom." this coming up, cheating death. here from a family that got trapped in this car. what a story this one is, folks. they got out of there just in time. bill: that's right. also a serious warning about iran. how real is the latest threat against the united states? check in on that. martha: and the front-runner, mitt romney, the chances that he could go 2-0. karl rove weighs in whether he thinks that will happen coming up. >> my goodness, what a squeaker but sure nice to

have a win i'll tell you. the question i have for you, can we do better here in new hampshire. [cheers and applause] yeah. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables.

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martha: we want to get you to some brand new tape that has just come in. take a look what is going on the ground in winnie, texas. state highway 73, massive 40-car pileup.

life flight helicopters coming in to aid in the situation. we're told 10 ambulances are on the ground which looks to be a very awful situation on the ground in texas today. 40-car pileup. this video is just coming in. we're seeing it for the first time. ambulances on the ground in what looks to be a potentially a tragic situation as these cars pile up in texas. we'll keep an eye on the situation. we'll let you -- there is a wider shot shows cars that have spun out and crashed into each other. boy, that is a rough one this morning. bill: weather seems to be warm enough. however morning fog was in the area. that can be deadly. martha: all right. we'll keep an eye on that. bill: all right. now, a few weeks ago a mitt romney in win in iowa seemed nearly impossible. fast forward now, it appears romney could go two for two with a victory in new hampshire. if he does win iowa and new hampshire it would be the first time a republican has won back-to-back contests in both those states in an open

election year. karl rove, former senior advisor, deputy chief of staff to president george bush and fox news contributor. good morning to you, karl. great to be with you the past week. nice to see you back in washington. >> it was fun. they let you go home earlier tuesday night than they did me. bill: i'm grateful for that. kudos for you staying up to 5:00 a.m. "wall street journal", this is what you write about rick santorum. mr. santorum should not kid himself. he faces huge obstacles. he spent a year making iowa his second home. you have the whiteboard. what is the challenge for santorum? lay that out. >> he did a superb job and won an incredible second place finish. nearly took the top spot but he did so by focusing on one state. now he has got a lot of more states. he has 49 others to worry about. 50, 49 states and district of columbia. last night was the filing deadline to get on the d.c. republican primary ballot. 1,000 signatures required. rick santorum was only major candidate not to submit

signatures. friday, he has got to submit 3 to 5,000 signatures to get on the illinois ballot. that is just to get on the ballot. if he wants to have dell goots he has to turn in 600 qualified signatures in each one of the state's 18 congressional districts otherwise he gets votes but no delegates. monday he has to get 1,000 signatures in vermont in order to get on the ballot. by friday, next week has to turn in 500 signatures in mississippi with 100 from each of the state's four congressional districts. on 31st he has to turn until 1,000 signatures in rhode island. i bet you dime to doll lateral he doesn't have the organization in place to get virtually any delegates qualified for the illinois ballot. bill: you don't think any of that can happen in the short time he has? >> no, i don't. he didn't get a 1,000 signatures in the district of columbia. every other candidate, romney, gingrich, huntsman, paul, all got, perry, all got 1,000 signatures in the district of columbia.

look, these, you have to, there is time but the time that he's got will be quickly eaten up. i suspect we'll find there are four or five states that santorum even if he does well in new hampshire and is a real con tender by the time he gets to south carolina i bet there are four or five big states, potentially he is not on the ballot on and can't win delegates. bill: i know what you laid out. you said romney has a national plan and program he put together. that was so critical in 2008 for barack obama. >> right, absolutely. bill: santorum living off gas money in iowa. i want to ask you quickly about the image on our screen right now, john mccain, and mitt romney. what do you make of that? >> first of all i guess that is good for new hampshire. i'm not certain i would have come out of iowa, having won iowa which he was not expected to win. months ago, if you and i had dialogue months ago, and talked about him winning iowa which is very conservative and new hampshire which is sort of

quirky with a lot of contrarians in it we would have been laughing he had any chance to do it but now looks like he might. i'm not certain i would have mccain and endorsement. i've been down this road once before. we came into the 2000 new hampshire primary emphasizing process. endorsements, nice venues. not message. what is it that woe were going to do and we got walloped by a guy spent time not worrying about endorsements and worried about his message being maverick and outsider reforming washington that. is how mccain beat bush in 2000. if i were romney i would use whatever precious moment he has on thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, monday in new hampshire in order to drive home a message how he will restore the economy and change the course of the country. bill: there are others also in new hampshire. we're not here to ignore them. >> right. bill: for the purpose of this conversation, look at "real clear politics" average. where you put all the polling together. new hampshire specifically. romney at 40. ron paul 19. gingrich 11.

huntsman 10 and santorum at 4%. maybe those numbers change before tuesday. >> i think they do. bill: at the moment you believe romney will be a pinata saturday at this debate, right? >> sure. he is the front-runner. everybody will be fighting for second place of the most of them are going to think the way they get into second place is by beating up on romney. i'm not certain that is the most effective strategy. i think the way to get into second place maybe be the guy who talks about his vision and doesn't do as much attacking romney. attacks romney but spends more precious time talking about what it is they're going to do. i do think the numbers understate san francisco's support. i bet he has gone from four to about 10 because of the publicity from iowa. the question is, where is he getting that extra five or six points he is probably picking up now? is coming out of paul? is coming out of huntsman? is coming out of gingrich? and he is going to move up. the question is whether or not he will be in second place. we got this dynamic, romney in first, in iowa. santorum a close second.

the question is going to be, how big is romney's victory in new hampshire and who is in second place and if it is santorum, how close is it? bill: you're likely right about santorum. we'll see how it plays out in next 48 hours. huckabee 11% in the end coming off victory in iowa four years ago. karl, see you down the road. >> you bet. martha: sounding the alarm on iran's nuclear progress and he says one of his opponents is dangerously underestimating the threat from tehran which could become a big story in months to come. bill: a family dropped in a drowning car, freezing, nowhere to go and oxygen running out. how they lived to tell about it. >> for the first time in my life i had zero, zero control and i knew that whatever happened was in the hand of god. juice drink too watery? ♪

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bill: all right. twernlt two minutes past the hour now. police awaiting dna results own a young woman's body found the estates of queen elizabeth. the victim between the ages of 15 and 23 was likely murdered one to four months ago. what a mystery that is. a judge in california setting bail for the hollywood arson suspect. that man out of germany originally, later out of chechnya. accused of setting at least 52 fires to cars and homes in the l.a. year area. a new plan to boost summer job prospects. white house has commitments for nearly 180,000 employment opportunities. 23 past now. here is martha. martha: bill, thanks very much. presidential candidate newt gingrich live in plymouth, new hampshire. as we said they are all over the state today. so we'll bring them to you in these live shots. he is making several stops today, talking to the folks

in plymouth right now. we'll bring you those developments as they happen. last night the former speaker was "on the record" with greta saying the safety of america he believes with the iranian situation could be very much at stake. here is what he said. >> the fact is the iranians are headed by a dictatorship led by religious zealots. ask yourself a simple question, greta. if somebody puts on body bomb and walk in a bus or a grocery store or restaurants and blow themselves up in order to kill you, how happy would you think they would be to have a nuclear weapon so they could blow the whole city up? i think it is really dangerous to think that we can live in a world with iranian nuclear weapon and not run the risk of eventually losing an american city. that is how seriously i take this. martha: joined by a senior political and military analyst and author of, the secret war with iran. welcome. good to have you here today. >> thank you, martha. martha: is he right? do you believe iran is building the capability to

hit a u.s. city? >> iran has already the capability. it is almost there with the first nuclear device but also building missiles that can already hit europe. this the shahab 3 missile and building the 4 which will have the capacity to hit the united states. now, this is not talking about suicide bomber that can carry a dirty bomb or a warhead into your city. but i don't think they are likely to hit the u.s. but can israel or the united states take the risk? these are extremists. this is the only country in the world that calls for destruction of another country which is israel. moreover, if they have the bomb, if they have the capacity to hit the west, then they would be able to continue supporting jihad movements in the middle east and would not be able to or not be afraid of american or israeli retaliation. once a country hold as nuclear weapon, then it can say if you hit us we are going to us the a-bomb

against it. martha: keeping that leverage, there is no doubt. do you believe as others have said, this year, 2012 is a very big year in terms of iran's development of a nuclear weapon? and do you think if that's true, that a strike should happen and who should do that in your opinion? >> i think that the end of the day the current administration is not going to use military actions against iran if things progress. martha: do you think they should? >> i think israel can not take the risk. talking as an israeli. talking about a country that went through past drama. i don't think israel will take the risk. when a country calls for the publicly for the destruction of another country and tries to hold the means to deliver such annihilation, that means should be taken. if sanctions don't work. if they don't make the iranians rethink the whole project and maybe stop it because it jeopardizes the survival of ayatollah regime in iran, actions being taken

to sabotage iranian nuclear project, if all that doesn't work, at the end of the day the israeli prime minister would need to make a call, accept a nuclear extreme shiite country like iran or send bombers with a problematic outcome in the day after but can not accept, israel would not be able to accept a nuclear extremist iran. martha: we'll see if the new year brings us to that kind of decision. >> the time is very short and iranians are one year ahead. martha: thank you very much. great to have your insight on that. bill: important for the whole world to watch. martha, thank you. talk about a bad parking job, how in the world did this happen? my. karl rove told us mitt romney will be a pinata this week. senator john thune is a romney supporter. the senator is here live in only three minutes. >> he is somebody that electable and win this election in november 2012. it is an honor to be with you in iowa today to welcome

our nominee of the republican party and the next president of the united states, mitt romney. >> thank you. [ monica ] i'm away on a movie shoot

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bill: here we go on this breaking news and a fox news alert. police officer dead in utah after a crazy shootout there. five other officers injured, some of them seriously. we're now learning that an anti-drug police squad tried to serve a search warrant. heather childers watching this live in our newsroom. heather, what happened here? >> reporter: the officers were from the weber morgan strike force. that is made up of officers from multiple agencies apparently. they were trying to serve a search warrant last night in a neighborhood in ogden, utah but the suspect starts shooting. additional officers respond. police block off the area and a s.w.a.t. team takes position. police eventuallyly surround the suspect near a backyard sled. witnesses say the scene, kay at tick? >> -- chaotic. >> we heard the three pops. didn't know what they were

at first. two or three minutes later heard multiple gunshots go off. sounded like ak-47s. >> reporter: you heard him like ak-47s, bill. bill: what a scene that must have been. what do they say about the officer that was killed? >> we know his name. he is jared francom. he served seven years. he is survived by his wife and two young children. five officers remain hospitalized with serious to critical injuries. they are part of a special unit that investigates the making selling and using of controlled substance under local, state and federal laws. the residents were, the suspect's name has not been released at this time but remains at a local hospital under guard with nonlife-threatening injuries. police say there is no longer a threat to the community. that is the good news in all this. we expect to find out more at a news conference at 11:00 a.m. eastern. bill? bill: keep us updated, heather. our best to that man's

family, his wife and two children. heather childress. thanks. martha: back to the election now. republican presidential candidates stepping up their attacks against rival mitt romney days before the new hampshire primary. they have five days to go and it is getting ugly out there. newt gingrich hitting harm on the theme that romney is not a true conservative. listen to this. >> all i'm suggesting to you is a clear-cut choice in new hampshire, south carolina, florida, between a massachusetts moderate who raises the taxes, who puts tax paid abortions in romney-care, who puts plan parenthood in romney-care, who puts liberal judges on the bench, you take the list, compare it to a reagan conservative who is opposed to tax increases and helps pass tax cuts, who is for conservative judges and who is right to life, i think in republican primaries that clear, direct, principled

contrast can be very, very effective. martha: republican senator john thune disagrees with what newt gingrich just said. i will go out on a him for that he is a romney supporter. he campaigned with the former massachusetts governor you throughout iowa and this week. good to have you this morning. >> good morning, martha. martha: good to see you. it is very clear that is newt gingrich's way going at this. he got hit very hard with the super pac money in iowa. looks like he will try to prevent that from happening this time. what do you make how this is going for mitt romney now? >> i think it is a good sign everybody is ganging up on you and they are. it clearly points to the fact that governor romney is the person to beat in this process right now. and i think coming out of iowa with a win, although it wasn't a landslide win but i think that was a very big, very big outcome for governor romney. no one expected him to win in iowa. he came out of there with a victory. he goes into new hampshire now where he should perform well. i think, that i would expect

a lot of the other candidates will start shooting at him. that to me, as i said is a good sign. it suggests that he is the person to beat and that people are lining up now to try and become the alternative to governor romney. but i think he is going to be the guy to beat going down the stretch. martha: what do you make of the fact that some conservatives are still casting about, there is a meet in texas coming up in a couple days, james dobson and others. they want to bring all the supporters, all their like-minded associates to find consensus candidate for republicans. this is after the iowa race, still middle of new hampshire they're still looking for one. bears noting, john mccain came out supporting mitt romney, sarah palin says she hasn't been able to pick anybody she can give her endorsement yet. >> we're very diverse party. we're entrepreneur party. we have a lot of people with different points of view. that is final. there are other people that choose other candidates.

i would take issue with the fact by some of these folks that governor romney is not conservative enough, look at his record as governor, things i has done in his life, issues are right of center conservative positions. if you look at the issues most americans care about today which is economy and jobs he is the guy in my view with the best qualifications, the best experience, the best skill set, the best know how to solve that problem and i think he represents our best chance of winning in november against president obama. i think at some point the irrespective where you are on the political spectrum i think you will start seeing people coalesce around governor romney as the race goes on. martha: that may be true. michelle malkin who definitely falls into that camp as columnist somebody dissatisfied with this group basically hinted as such they will eventually come in line if it looks like romney will be the candidate. to the rick santorum for the moment. reports are that he built up a million dollars coming off his strong performance in

iowa. there is a feeling he is doing a better job connecting with folks on the ground. there is ground for him to pull in new hampshire doing that as well. what do you think about your guy, mitt romney, and his ability to sort of connect with the folks out there? >> well, i think that, rick santorum, to his credit worked very hard in iowa. he spent somewhere over 200 days there in iowa next door to south dakota. it is very retail political state and i would have expected that rick would have done well there and he has put himself in position now to try and move the ball down the field in some of these other states. but, again, at the end of the day, this is going to come down to one, who represents our best shot at defeating barack obama in the general election. and then, as president, who is best equipped to deal with the big challenges that we face. i think right now the most important challenge we face as a nation we've got a very sluggish economy. we have got chronic unemployment. we have massive amount of debts wracked up by this

administration and massive amount of spending of we have to reduce the spending at federal level, get the economy going again and create jobs. that really fits with governor romney's resume' and his experience and i think you will see people starting to rally around him. there will be other candidates that will stay in this race for a while. the romney campaign is prepared to run a long campaign. they have got the resources and the organization to do that. martha: senator john thune, thank you very much. good to have you here as always. >> thanks, martha. good to be with you. bill: herman cain, you know about his "9-9-9" plan. now he has a new plan. he is launching a national bus tour hoping to rally congressional support to replace the federal tax code with his own tax plan, calling it cain's solutions revolution. cain also talking about the republican race last night with sean hannity. >> i will support the event wall republican nominee yes. are there some i would prefer over others? yes. just like you.

but i could not, can not, will not, allow barack obama to have a cakewalk back into the white house. that is what this whole solutions revolution is about. bill: cain, we talked to about two weeks ago here on "america's newsroom." he said he will have a plan in early january. so now it is announced. i think we'll see the bus coming. i think it will say nine, nine, nine. martha: solutions revolution. when in doubt do a bus tour. we'll see how that goes for mr. cain. we wish him well. how about this coming up, iowa first casually, tea party favorite michele bachmann, you saw that 10:00 a.m. who will the tea party turn to right now? that is one of the big questions out there. how strong is the tea party right now? we will talk to the cofounder of the tea party express. bill: he has a lot to say. trapped in a snowdrift for days. this family talking for the first time about these terrifying moments. >> i rolled my window down and we looked out and we

looked at each other and we realized that there was no way out. i'm really glad we took this last minute trip me too. you booked our room right? not yet, thanks for reminding me. wait, what? fret not ma'lady. i have the hotels.com app so we can get a great deal even at the last minute. ah, well played sir. download the free hotels.com app and get exclusive mobile deals. hotels.com. be smart. book smart.

martha: boy, this is an incredible story. look at that picture. now a texas family is speaking out for the first time after they were trapped for two days under a massive snowdrift. they skidded off the road in new mexico just before christmas. their suv was buried.

soon they realized they were stuck and oxygen was running out. >> we shined our little flashlights. he rolled his window down and i rolled my window down. and we looked, oh. then we looked at each other and we realized that there was no way out. >> the temperature started dropping. our breathing became more labored. very short breaths but hard breaths. and we were struggling for that air. >> i started texting my family to give them our coordinates. >> it is possible we probably had minutes, maybe 30 minutes left, according to those rescuers. we were out of air. martha: wow! that is a frightening story, isn't it? just a little while ago, according to the rescuers, they got there just in time. everybody is fine, despite mrs. higgins spending a week in the hospital. that is one of those moments you hope to be able to not

panic. not panicking may have saved their lives. kudos for them. bill: that is amazing story. the family in the eyessy river last week. happened twice now. >> romney. >> the president has engaged and is engaging in crony capitalism. it is happening with the national labor relations board where he is paying back the big unions that helped his campaign. it is happening in government jobs where he pays back seiu and other unions that supported him in his campaign. happening with our money by giving money to solyndra, fiskar, tesla, people that happened to contribute to his campaign are finding they get government help starting their businesses. this is crony capitalism. bill: that from salem, new hampshire on the stump moments ago. mitt romney in that state. also one of the tea party's biggest champ yons in this race is no longer an option.

minnesota congresswoman michele bachmann ending her white house run. she finished a sixth. that is big disappointment to her. she heads the tea party caucus. she hopes her supporters will rally around the eventual republican nominee. >> i have no regrets, whatsoever. we never compromised our principles and we can leave this race knowing we ran it with it most integrity. we made a very important contribution to the race. bill: who does the tea party turn to now? we turn to sal russo, a chief strategist for the tea party express out of california. good morning to you. it has been several months since we spoke. >> good morning, bill. bill: how big of a disappointment to you? where do you turn? >> we're fond of michele bachmann. she is tea party leader. she did our state of the union response to the president's state of the union last year. star of the tea party house caucus. led the fight against obamacare.

she has been a fantastic representative of the tea party movement in the congress. so we're sad to see her out but as i pointed out many times, ronald reagan took his third time to win the presidency. he had run twice before. i don't think this is the end of michele bachmann but i think this is really the beginning of a new chapter. i think we'll see her back on the political stage. >> sorry for the interruption but who carries the torch for people like you? >> what we've said in our last national bus tour is that, we were looking for a candidate that believed as the tea party does, that we need to reduce the size, the cost and intrusiveness of the federal government and bring an end to the unsustainable national debt. to do that, not only do we need more austerity in washington but we really have to have pro-growth policies. can't do it with austerity alone. so that's the challenge we gave to the republican candidates. frankly while they have different plans, some have flat taxes, some have fair taxes. herman cain had a combination with his "9-9-9"

plan but i think all 10 of the candidates have actually come forward with good plans that the tea party could get behind. so i think we have a great bunch of candidates. so we're very much open and ready to get involved in the campaign but i think we have a lot of good good choices yet. bill: i'm not hearing a name specifically and i think a part of the reason is you would like a little piece of each one of them and put them together. we talked to jenny beth martin, she is the cofounder of the tea party patriots, a related group but not the same as yours, she told one person she wishes they could have a mr. poetae toe head and have different components of each candidate but we can't. is that a fair representation? if so, who would you choose from whom? >> i'm not sure i would quite accept that when ronald reagan ran against jimmy carter in 1980, i happen to have been a reagan person, there was a lot of

disappointment saying we didn't have very good candidates. look what happened. ronald reagan ended up being one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century. all the candidates have pluses and minuses no yo about it. out of those 10 candidates i think there will be a great nominee. we're committed at tea party express defeating barack obama. face it, he has been a disaster as far as we're concerned growing the government, growing the deficit, not getting our economy rebounding. so any of 10 candidates would be a marked improvement. bill: to that point, what we found at entrance polling in iowa, you're dead on. almost half said the economy was biggest concern. another third which accounted for 75% of the questioning talked about the national deficit or federal deficit i should say and that $15 trillion debt. on those two points the tea party still has their issues out there but i feel as if your organization, i'm just working to try to get this out of you, that you do not have a horse you can ride at

the moment and if so, what does that do to your movement, sal? >> well, like i said, i think really all 10 of the candidates are pretty darn good as far as the tea party is concerned because our focus is on the economic issues. but i think we're getting close to picking a horse and saying, look, okay, they have had their opportunity to make their story. and now we have to settle on a candidate. so i don't think it will be too much longer before we pick somebody. bill: all right. >> but frankly we have luxury of a lot of very good candidates. bill: we'll keep in touch with you. when you're ready to back him or her you come on back, all right? >> be glad to that for you. bill: sal russo. thanks. martha: take you back to texas. this pileup we told you about is now involving 50 cars and we've got brand new video coming in. look at this horrible situation. started about 5:45 this morning near winney, texas, about 80 miles from houston. look at that.

this is not bumper, bumper, bumper. these cars are jumbled up in the middle of the highway. 50 of them. four critical injuries lifted out of the situation. 10 ambulances were on hand. it is beliefed it was caused by marsh fires and fog. that combination made it smokey and foggy as folks started making a ride to work most likely in the morning and said at least 50 injuries of people. four critical injuries in this story. bill: such a shame. martha: an awful mess. bill: we'll take you live to the scene later on this morning here. martha: look at this video now. somebody needs to practice their parallel parking folks. take a look at this. i can't see it yet. oh, boy. look at that, bill. looks like on top of a church or home. bill: i don't know how you get there. martha: how on earth did that happen? bill: we'll find out. also an intruder storming into her home and this mother saved the day. what she did in a moment.

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bill: a teenage mother, alone with her baby, face-to-face with an intruder, a 911 tape reveals the drama. the terrifying moments when the 18-year-old called for help. this happened on new year's eve. have a listen. >> i'm here by myself with my infant baby. can i get someone out here. >> are your doors locked? >> yes, i have got two guns in my hand. is it okay to shoot him if he comes in the door? >> i can't tell you can do that you do what you have to do to protect your baby. bill: wow, what a moment. oklahoma prostores saying he will not face charges. state law allows the use of

deadly force against intruders. the dead suspect's aled accomplice facing first degree charges of murder. wow, in oklahoma. martha: in texas, they're battling a new wave of home intruders. get this, scam artists trying to basically steal homes right out from under the noses of their owners. they're using an existing law in sort of a twisted way. kris gutierrez live from dallas. what is the new crime wave? >> reporter: it is really crazy, martha, when you think about it. essentially the criminals are taking advantage of homes currently unoccupied. they literally break into the houses. they go down to the courthouse and file a document called an adverse possession document with the courthouse. then literally they try to convince homeowner and neighbors and police that they have a quarters claim to the house. take a look. you're looking at this house here. some of the cases are pretty outrageous. this is half million dollar home in arlington, texas. the homeowner was away for extended period of time. get this.

she was having chemotherapy. another home was broken into, a traveling nurse, was broken into. >> how anyone thinks they can take a home for $16 and live in it and give grief to homeowner after that, just amazes us. it is astonishing. >> reporter: for some reason tarrant county has seen a rash of cases. investigators are trying to figure out if there is some type of connection. these are some other homes involved. 60 adverse possession documents were filed in tarrant county lately and that is before cops caught on and clerks stopped accepting them. >> there was a one where dumpster was out front and loading stuff up. one of the things out of the ordinary and popped up in multiple places for no real apparent reason. >> reporter: these documents

were originally used to settle land disputes back when texas was a republic. just because you file one in the court, martha, for 16 bucks it does not entitle you to a home. martha: unbelievable. chris, what a story. kris gutierrez in dallas. bill: make-or-break time in the race for the white house. there is breaking news on new poll numbers give us a pretty good idea where we might be headed. live to new hampshire we're headed next. check in there with molly line and everybody else. stay tuned. >> the message i share with you tonight is not an iowa message or a iowa and south carolina message. it is a message that will resonate across this land. it will resonate -- [ male announcer ] cranberry juice? wake up! ♪

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martha: things that are moving fast now, we are five days away from the first in the nation primary in the 2012 presidential process. all eyes now on the live free or die state, that maybe the case for some of these folks in new hampshire. here is the latest "real clear politics" poll, this is an average of the polls from the granite state, romney in very good shape there 40%. he is almost 22 ae 22 ahead of his next closer competitor, which is ron paul. who could see a drop off. brand-new hour now of "america's newsroom." great to see you folks on this thursday, right. bill: i believe it's thursday. martha: it is. we are losing track. i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer.

good morning, it's been one of those weeks. martha: it has. bill: here is where the four of the remaining six will be today. missing from the map the two contenders out of texas will not be in new hampshire today, that being ron paul and rick perry. everybody else is there, though. martha: the rivals are using valuable time to cover lots of ground as they move around in the state. who else is moving around there, molly line. joining us now from new hampshire where we saw john mccain a little bit earlier today. full speed ahead, right, molly. >> reporter: absolutely, you're right. john mccain was at a governor mitt romney rally, one of the town halls held all over the state before about january 10th before the voters head to the polls, a new hampshire tradition, to give the voters a chance to ask questions directly to the candidates. whether they like the candidate or are considering the candidate or not they can have pretty tough questions, which is what we've seen at the town halls since coming back from iowa.

if when you look at the field. they are the men that are on the ground here individually talking with voters, having all of these events. as you mentioned rick perry and ron paul not here on the ground today. but let's start with mitt romney, he was at the boy's and girl's club in town taking some tough questions. later on today he'll be flying to south carolina where he's also holding a town hall with john mccain present, john mccain finishing here in new hampshire first as well as south carolina. the mitt romney and his camp believe this is a big endorsement for them and they want to take mccain out and the trail and work that a little bit, give him a chance to interact with the voters as well. newt gingrich here today holding a town hall as well. he slammed romney saying he failed to change boston when he was governor. newt gingrich believes he's the right leader who has the leadership qualities to successfully change things when he gets to washington. jon huntsman two hah town

halls. and rick santorum, he has big news he raised over a million dollars since his second-place finish. martha: thank you, molly line. bill: we are learning a lot more about new hampshire aren't we right now? we did a lot of this on the touch screen in iowa, we'll take you to new hampshire right now, give you a better sense historically, economically on the candidate tracker as to how the folks in new hampshire are feeling right now. the competent, despite so many states that are suffering with great job loss over the past three years look at where new hampshire is right now on the map when it comes to the state unemployment number, 5.2%. that is well below the national average. it's similar to iowa, which was right around 5.5%. still that entrance polling told us that the economy and the national debt and deficit were one and two priorities when it

came to issues in iowa. we'll see next tuesday night if new hampshire republican phra indicatereplicat serbgs that. historic rein 2008 john mccain up against barack obama red is republican, blue is democrat. look what happened, despite mccain's reputation in the began it state as being the maverick, woman on there, come on, let's see from 2008, it's not going to give it to me, is it. john mccain lost that year by nine points, barack obama beat him quite easily by nine points. four years prior to that john kerry was a one-point winner over john mccain. we're going to kick this thing martha and get it moving for us and try the again later. martha: it's behaving fairly well. bill: i think for the most part you're right about that. martha: let's take a look at some of the numbers coming out in new hampshire right now. everyone is wondering whether or

not rick santorum will pick up any steam off of his iowa performance. likely voters in the suffolk poll asked who they would support. mitt romney has a nice lead, 43%. the poll shows ron paul and jon huntsman taking a little bit of a hit in their support. huntsman had skipped iowa to focus 0 new hampshire. he dropped from 17% to 11. he's at 7 in the suffolk poll. clearly as bob cusack was saying earlier he may be the person with the most to lose in this. jon huntsman because he has clearly put awful his hopes in new hampshire. bill: operator error i believe over there. never going to blame that computer. martha: it wasn't bill -- the board i mean. bill: 6:00 tuesday night, that's when we start our coveragement all throughout the night you'll find it exclusively on the fox news channel, live from new hampshire and also out of new york. don't go anywhere tuesday night. we will have it for you.

the pentagon facing steep budget cuts. at this hour president obama and defense secretary leon panetta holding a news conference announcing big changes. they are expected to affect how america takes on enemies overseas but have an impact on service members here at home. this will be a big story and an important one. jennifer given at the pentagon, who is the new strategy all about, jennifer. >> reporter: the pentagon had what was known as a win-win strategy. essentially they planned as if they had to fight two ground wars at once. during the reagan era it was two and a half ground wars all at once. former secretaries gates said the pentagon has not been able to do that for some time. this i the first time publicly that the pentagon is announcing a new strategy in which it will not plan in order to fight two wars. the president will be here. it's the first time the president of the united states has ever addressed report ergs from the briefinreporters from

the briefing room here bill. bill: how is this exclusive to the u.s. army. >> reporter: it's not exclusive to the u.s. army. iraq and afghanistan were fought on the backs of ground forces. when 9/11 occurred there was not a large enough army to fight in afghanistan and iraq. during the surge they expanded the army to 570,000 groups. we learn the budget cuts are going to come on the backs of ground forces and the army in particular. the army will be the biggest losers. we are learning from leaks that the army will be reduced to about 490,000, that is a reduction of 80,000 traorpbgs the marines will be reduced by about 25,000. this defense budget cut is going to come on the backs of the army principle lee. bill: they are talking about cuts to military benefits. this is a hot button issue. if you think about the healthcare debate, what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: absolutely. in fact this is going to be the

most politically sensitive issue, retirement benefits, healthcare benefits. some critics and some experts are warning that if these issues aren't dealt with the military will go broke. >> if an ever increasing percentage of the defense budget goes to those person who are no longer serving and we are now paying people for 70 years to only serve for 20 years we will have a hollow military, there is no doubt about it. >> reporter: arnold pineras sits on panetta's defense board. he has warned and given figures such as the healthcare costs ten years ago the u.s. military paid $19 billion for healthcare for the military, now it's $52 million a decade later. there are 1.3 million active service members but they are paying retirement benefits for 2.3 million people and their families. again this is something they are going to have to tackle in the strategy review. bill: we'll see the president at

the pentagon and captain chuck tph-rb to reac nash to react to all this. jennifer given, great to see you. >> reporter: thank you. martha: a home is engulfed in flames and it does not stop there. bill: the camera rolling when a fight breaks out between fans of two big sport rivals. why police are now asking for your help. martha: president obama appoints a new consumer chief without senate approval and that has raised a lot of eyebrows across the country. fair & balanced debate on that moments away. >> when congress refuses to act, and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then i have an obligation as president to do what i can without them. [applause]

bill: 12 minutes past the hour now. an explosion leveling one hem and setting fire to two others happening near albany new york. a natural gas explosion perhaps to blame? the cause some witnesses say they thought a bomb went off when it happened. the flames reached three stories high. luckily no injuries reported. look at this fire roll out of there with the flames. some folks escaped the flames with just the clothes on their back in the cold weather. they are checking into that in new york. martha: republican lawmakers are furious at the decision by president obama to bypass

congress and "point richard cordray as director of the consumer financial protection bureau. they have called the move a power grab. john corpsman is among them. he thinks the moves are political. >> i think it was arrogant and irresponsible and i do think it will damage the likelihood that the president and congress could work together on other things that we need to work on, including nominations for the good of the country. but the president seems to have given up on that, and is now full-time campaigning and just appeared to be giving up on governing. we've got too many things we need to do, there is too much at stake between now and november to put all that on hold in favor of a campaign for his re-election. martha: not very veiled there in what is going on on capital hill with regard to all of this. joined by christopher hahn former aid to chuck schumer and a fox news contributor. gretchen ham ellis a former

spokeswoman, and executive director for public notice. basically he said this is a bad move because the president may have burned some bridges with this. and he's not going to get what he wants from republicans going forward because of it. chris, what say you? >> it's kind of like a school-yard bully getting upset because somebody hit him back. these guys have been holding up appointments that are completely noncontroversial. the president county get ahead of the printing office approved by the senate. these guys have blocked more nominees to the executive branch than ever. elections have consequences. the president is entitled to his appoint -plts. if the republicans have a problem with the consumer protection board aogt see they should try to change the law. they can't block the president's appointment. everybody seems to like this guy and say he's qualified they just don't like -- martha:s problem is more underlying with the agency itself, and tkpwrefper the development of thitkpwhrefp

gretchen, the development of this agency passed. >> he made the appointment when congress is in recess. he's circumventing the advice and consent process of congress. president obama has thrown out two decade of past precedent where clinton's department of justice said back in a briefing in 1993 an appointment cannot be made unless the senate is out for more than three days. the senate was not out for more than three days. he has introduced a new precedent for himself and other presidents that say if the senate can go on a weekend break or a coffee break that they can appoint anyone they want. martha: chris, comment quickly. >> chuck was talking about article 3 appointments which is to the judiciary which first

senate confirmation. president bush had put through 140 recess appointments. this president has done 29. let's be clear about that. >> can i make a point, wasn't khaoubg schumer's brother-in-law appointed to a fed cal courtship this past september. martha: hold on. it'i have that president bush appointed 34 and president obama 24. i know that part of the problem is the way it was done. the senate may have been in proforma, none recess, whatever the heck they call it. >> the house was in proforma. martha: i don't know that this issue legally will be pushed in terms of its constitutionality. we'll see. i want to talk about the national labor relations board. everybody knows what happened in south carolina with boeing. is this.

gretchen, you can take this on first, is this a gift to the unions to make sure that the national relations board can act, they need a quorum, they each need five members. now they've got them. what do you think. >> this one you can see on face value this was a payoff to the unions in the beginning of 2012 an election year. these appointments had just been introduced in december a few days before the senate went on recess. they didn't even have the time to block them if you want to say that or bring them up to capitol hill to have a proper hearing as they do with most appointments. martha: is it smart, chris, to push this board together in that fashion? >> let's be clear they would have blocked them, they've been block being everything that the president proposes. this president needs to use these appointments because this government isn't fully staffed. these boards can't operate. the national relations board cannot operate without a forum.

they want to hurt men and women in this country because they like them, they don't vote for them, they will block anything that helps them, even the payroll tax holiday if we could. martha: they believe it's hurting the growth of business. >> it is, and i think the american people believe that too. martha: we've got to go. we have much to talk about. good to see you both. bill: things about to get mean in south carolina. the state has a reputation for being tough on candidates. often campaigns go negative. who is best positioned to survive, mary katherine ham will weigh in on that. martha: i bet she'll survive the whole thing. bill: she shall. martha: what does not fit in this picture here? this is not the garage. how about wake up to this in the morning. >> stuff was smoking and stuff falling. they said, there is a car on the roof, go get somebody. so, this is delicious

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martha: we are going to solve this mystery for you folks. take a look the car evened up on top of the roof at an apartment complex in fresno, california. it happened in the middle of the night. people hoard a loupeople heard a loud boom in the middle of the night, came out and the car was on the roof. >> the car flew over and i don't know how it landed so perfect on the roof. it was a miracle i guess. >> the officers told me they thought santa was driving the car, but i realized that that was just a joke. i really don't know how the car got up there. martha: a mystery. doesn't look like a red sleigh to me, santa doesn't drive something like that. the car was stolen, the driver was speeding, he lost control and hit a tree stump. he broke the car onto the roof, if you can believe that. he broke his leg, but that was

the extent of his injuries. bill: ho, ho, ho. tightest finish ever in the history of iowa caucuses, kept the television networks on the air late into the nidus night/wednesday morning. it was about 2:30 in the morning eastern time before the state republican chair confirmed a winner. peter johnson jr. does the column for fox news.com and he's writing about that this week. >> the thing that strikes me about this whole race is some of the coverage that we are seeing. news and opinions seem to have blurred. i was watching msnbc the other night and i saw rachel madeax throwing to tom brokaw. and i said how does he feel when you have great anchors like david brinkley, frank mcgee, people of that ilk and say, we

are going to now have a person who even gauges in opinion, sometimes propaganda deliver the news, and are fair & balanced in terms of how we're going to cover exit polls and entrance polls and the like. in my mind it leads to a confidence gap for the american viewer and public to say, listen let's have news here, let's have opinion there, let's not mix the two. i don't think on fox news channel you see grover norquist hosting and anchoring the news coverage here at fox. when people say fox, you're not fair, you're not balanced, well i'm opinionated, i'm an analyst, i'm a commentator. i tell what my past has been in terms of politics, in terms of being in democratic politics, in being in republican pop particulars and doing both. at the time time where is the

coverage and fair disclosure across the country. bill: someone argued the lines have been blurred for some time and that trend is continuing. >> well, there is opinion that sometimes goes into news coverage, we see that in newspapers, we see that on the internet, we see people's viewpoint seeping through. but if you have an analyst, if you have a commentator, if you have a propagandist, if you have an activist in the past making comment, saying mitt romney is a weak candidate among weak candidates and it's pathetic that he can't win. or saying, president obama is inch vulnerable, that's where there are only weak candidates. or one it be wonderful if x, y, z ran for the republican presidential nomination, they'd have a shot but they are not in the race, it seems to me you come to the table with an

attitude and with an attorney that is going to color that news program, and so more and more we are seeing that. so i think we need to be calling, you know -- they say don't have the pot calling the kettle black, let's call it as we see it, but if we're going to have news coverage, then have bill hemmer do it and have. >> caller: do it and have megyn kelly do it and have bret baier, and have tom brokaw, a great news man do it, but let's know what we're seeing, let's know where opinion begins and news begins, where fantasy begins, where reality is, let's take a really hard look at it if we're going to take a really, really hard look eight. bill: looking forward to reading your column. peter johnson jr. thank you. martha: is it a tough road ahead for the candidates? the primary is just two weeks

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bill: you know the fight for new hampshire in full force five days before the primary. a bitter battle is already taking shape, and in the palmetto state of south carolina is where rick perry have his troops trained right now. mary katherine ham is a fox news contributor, here to talk about what could be a pretty nasty fight. how are you doing mk? how do you doing down there in washington. cayton is a perry adviser. she said, quote, this is a mean state. it's going to get personal. is carolina that mean. >> as a north carolin north

carolinan i like to pick on the south. you have to be careful how you couch your message, how your ads are playing. even though negative ads work in those states because they work everywhere the population likes to think of itself as very clean and sort of above the fray, and they don't want to be, you know, influenced by this sort of negative advertising. in south carolina i think there is less of that influence going on, so you can sort of take the gloves off, and by the time you hit south carolina, if it's still contentious, if no one has won both iowa and new hampshire extreming lee convincingly you've got a little bit of a boxing match on your hands. when we got there last time huckabee was in iowa but skipped new hampshire, like rick santorum he followed the tame path. it's not a guaranteed for the guy who gets the bump from iowa. bill: if you go back to iowa and new hampshire you're making the

argument today that mitt romney has been skating by, and that will change in south carolina, is that right? >> i think if you listen to newt gingrich it's pretty clear that will change. he says this he's earned 9 million in the fourth quarter, he's clearly upset with mitt romney, wants to go after him and he did skate by. the highest percentage i've heard of negative ads that hit romney in any way were 20%. the rest were fighting each other. frankly i don't think there was one ad that was run solely against mitt romney in the entire iowa fight. and i don't know why they decided that with us a good idea, but they went after each other, and when you come to south carolina you're going to have sort of the same issue where there are several nonromneys fighting each other but they may have made the decision by then to go after rom no a little bit harder than they go after each other which could change the nature of the night. and south carolina citizens are game for that. bill: as a tar heel you know that about the palmetto state. >> exactly. bill: all of these states have

pa clue hrart pea pecularities. and he could not name which candidate the tea party movement would get behind especially with bachmann dropping out yesterday. you've got a strong tea party presence in south carolina, and you've got an unemployment rate that is extraordinary. therthey are at 10% for three years. >> they've got the textile belt which has been decimated for years now and they are still coming back from that not to mention the most recent thin. this is what happens the tea party has been fractured the entire time which is why rom no has been able to skate by and get low phraour ralts o pluralties. proportional number of delegates

means they can hang on by their fingernails, the nonrom niece a little bit longer, romney is not going to be winner take it all in new hampshire and south carolina. they can gather a few and try to be the one nonromney at some future point but nobody seems to be able to agree on this person. bill: nikki haley, the republican governor has endorsed romney. rick perry tweeted yesterday, here we come south carolina. this is after a long silence out of his campaign. >> nikki haley is considered a very, very good conservative. rick perry, his attitude, sort of swagger could work in south carolina. he's good at retailing politicsing. you're going some have democrats and independents involves just like in iowa, they don't have to re-register as republicans, they

can walk in and vote. ron paul has $13 million in the third quarter. he'll probably take a larger chunk this time. bill: he could, thanks mary catherine. >> thank you very much. bill: mary katherine ham out of washington. make sure you tune into the fox news channel. we have a debate in south carolina copping up january 16th, lien days fro eleven days from now, 9:00 in the evening, east coast time prime-time. martha: very important timing. that will be the last chance for folks who want to contend there to kind of make their mark with the folks in south carolina and across the country. we will be watching that for sure. this morning a top government scientist is calling for more research on the health risks of fracking. this is a process of using liquid to break locks to find oil in this country. colorado passed stringent regulations. alicia a kuh a kuhn yeah ac

u.n. a is live to tell us about this. >> reporter: all sides came to the table after months of negotiation. it was recently announced by colorado governor john hickenlooper. >> everyone made great compromises. no one is really happy. >> reporter: the new rule calls for drillers to publicly disclose the chemicals and fluid they send into the ground in order to access oil and gas trapped in shale beneath the surface. the industry is pleased because it protects trade secrets. >> we can make sure it's sustainable in colorado in a good way. >> reporter: because it requires transparency, environmentalists like it. >> i would like to thank the governor, because this is his vision. >> reporter: it is pumped into shale rock, through which oil and natural gas can flow back out.

the recent technological breakthrough has made vast energy reserves available for exfraction for the first time ever. >> it's probably one of the most important energy elements that's occurred essentially since the first oil well was drilled. >> reporter: the hitch has been public fear over what is being pumped into the ground, and if it affects groundwater. >> the regulation, you know, is good from the standpoint of the population. the people understanding what is actually being done and having some confidence that the regulators also understand what is being done. >> reporter: right now about a dozen states are also working on similar rules and regulations, martha. martha: thank you very much. coming to us from colorado. bill: the only survivor of a deadly home invasion that made national headlines is now saying that he is engaged. dr. william petit lost his wife and two daughters. back in 2007 after a horrific invasion in the state of connecticut.

he reportedly met his future wife through the charitable foundation that was set up to commemorate his murdered family. the two men convicted of these brute physical crimes were sentenced to the death penalty just recently. martha: wow, he deserves a little happiness in life. he has been through so much. let's talk a little bit about the economy and we're getting some brand-new numbers on how the holidays really went for some of the big retailers. u.s. retailers posted mixed numbers during the peak of the holiday shopping frenzy. sales were up at macies. stores including the gap and kohl's and target came in lore than expected. they say the hol say season i holiday season is a crucial one for all of these stores and is a huge chunk of annual sales. bill: a bit low in the stock market today, off about a hundred points. giving back when we gained yesterday. that's the way it's been for years, about ten years for crying out loud. rick santorum down just eight

votes to mitt romney in iowa, so is the romney camp looking over its shoulder in new hampshire? a state leader supporting the former governor of massachusetts will react to that coming up. martha: casey anthony making headlines today and it is not in the courtroom this time. now what she is doing online. 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. why settle for a one-note cereal? ♪ more, more, more... get more with honey bunches of oats 4 nutritious grains come together for more taste, more healthy satisfaction. get more with honey bunches of oats. even if you think you can live with your old mattress... ask me how i've never slept better... why not talk to one of the 6 million people who've switched to the most highly recommended bed in america.

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bill: 19 minutes before the hour now. we are getting word this a familiar name might be interested in filling the

congressional seat of barney frank in massachusetts. joseph p. kennedy the third has launched an exploratory committee for that seat. if this allow him to raise money today, immediately. pepsico is considering cutting 4,000 jobs meant to cut down on pension contributions and boost the company's bottom line. casey anthony talking about her life while on probation in own online video diary. she claims it was recorded back in october. she shows off a new hairstyle and says things are starting to look up for her. she talks about adopting a dog. martha: great. super. then you've got this. on a totally different note. rick santorum's presidential campaign has taken off like a rocket after placing second to mitt romney in iowa. he is now fighting to turn the momentum that he got there into a successful showing in new hampshire. reports are he's got about a million dollars into the coffers since the win and that is

pleading th feeding the momentum. kelly joins us. good to have you here today. >> great to be with you. martha: you take a look at the blogs this morning and the newspapers and the big news is that mitt romney has rick santorum a new sort of conservative element in this campaign. he's got a head of steam coming into this. and newt gingrich who is fired up partly out of anger over what happened in iowa, he's hitting the ground there as well. what do you think? >> i think that mitt romney has a very strong grass roots campaign here, he's working very hard. we just came back from an event in salem, great enthusiasm for his candidacy, and you can see that true as um ou true as eupl out there. enthusiasm. he's not taking anything for granite. martha: it looks like he's doing fairly well there. mix as we move fward, because he's

got the big margin of 40% for romney, and the next closes is ron paul in the upper teens according to the numbers which is the "real clear politics" average that you look at there, does that beg the question, if he doesn't do as well as expected what happens then? the expectations are so high for them, could a person that comes in with a strong second end up being the story in new hampshire? >> i have to say a win is a win, and he has a national strategy. i think unlike many of these other candidates he's prepared to go the distance in each state. look at the state of virginia. he and ron paul are the only republicans registered there, and so i think that you also have to look at who has the ability to take on barack obama and beat him in november of 2012, and that is mitt romney. martha: we heard from karl rove some of the issues that rick santorum is having with filing and getting those petitions in and all of this goes to the argument of organization, which we have heard so much about and

we are starting to see the importance of that as these things play out. let's listen to a piece of sound we want to get your reaction to that we have now. >> there are a lot of undecided voters up here and a lot of the folks that are supporting governor romney are supporting him well, they think he's going to win, an and you're going to be with the winner. i think a lot of folks are not only looking for who is going to be the winner in new hampshire but long term. you'll see our numbers start to pop up in some of the early primary states. we feel really good, we have been able to raise almost a million dollars today. martha: rick santorum talking about the momentum that he's feeling. rush limbaugh on the radio today talking up rick santorum saying he is capturing something in his peach in iowa the other night that conservatives have been long looking for. what do you make of that and are you at all concerned that rick santorum is kind of capable of pulling off a big surprise in new hampshire as well? >> i'm not surprised that he got

a boost from iowa. he was in single digits in new hampshire before. in the beginning it was double digits. i don't think he's really had a one-state strategy and having that national campaign to be able to go the distance is so important. martha: i think he's been in new hampshire 31 times. i think he says it's not a one-state -- he spent a lot of time there. >> well i have to tell you, though, in the last couple of months really his focus has been iowa where mitt romney has been here much more than he has, and when you look at who is supporting governor romney, he really has that grass roots support from strong conservative support here. myself, many other strong conservatives that are supporting him here. i think it will be very helpful on january 10th. martha: when you look ahead at south carolina and florida, interesting that the real clear average right now has gingrich up pretty substantially in both south carolina and in florida, and you talk about rom no's national status as it goes forward in the campaign, how

about south carolina and florida for him? >> well, you know, i think that obviously south carolina and florida are going to be important, but the winner of new hampshire will get a big boost going into south carolina. we've seen it in the past. if you look at the election with john mccain, when he won new hampshire he then went into south carolina and got a big boost because romney was leading him before he won new hampshire and south carolina and he took him over. i think this is going to make a big difference as we go forward, and certainly governor romney is going to be campaigning with nikki hayley in south carolina, he's got her support. he's budding very strong support in south carolina as well. martha: indeed he has and he wants to see that not happen the way it happened last time. kelly ayotte, thank you so much senator. very good to see you today. >> great to see you too. martha: fair & balanced we reached out to the other presidential campaigns to come on the show today. we've been talking to them throughout the course of all of these primaries. we'll have them on when they become available. we had a couple of supporters from romney today. we are looking for gingrich

folks for tomorrow. bill: they are coming up. martha: ron paul folks and rick santorum folks and all the way down the line. bill: jenna lee standing by, "happening now" coming up in 12 short minutes. what is going on, good morning. jenna: a busy day ahead. we are awaiting comments from the president on what could be significant cuts to defend spending. we'll take you live to the pentagon, talk about what it really means for our national security. we will talk to senator bob corker about some controversial recess appointments by president obama. brand-new polling from scott rasmussen on the gop field, and larry sabato will be talking about the gop and the race ahe ahead. bill: that would be a whole new segment, what is jenna having for dinner. a brawl after a big game between two rival teams and a purple heart recipient and iraq war veteran caught in the middle of this. what caused this to happen, in moments. get him up.

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martha: here we go again, sports rivals fighting after a big game. it happened after the nhl winter classic in philadelphia and it was all caught on tape. the man hurt was an off-duty new jersey police officer, an iraq war veteran with a purple heart is the person that you see on the ground there surrounded by the folks in the red shirts. guys in fliers jerseys jumped new york ranger fans. he was knocked out cold. >> you've got issues at fliers games you're saying. >> you get harassed. it's like when you go to a met game in philly, you're going to get it. >> he has from what we understand a mild concussion. he required some -- a laceration to be suit aourd, he's i

sutured, he's in good condition. martha: the philadelphia police say they have a lead because of a facebook posting. interesting how social networking things can help out in these situations. no arrests so far. bill: that was a big game on monday, a lot of folks especially hockey fans all over the country getting in on that. we are learning how the pentagon now will deal with budget cuts out of congress and in moments we'll hear from the administration on how it plans to dole out the cuts. president obama and defense secretary leon panetta will make that announcement live at the pentagon there. that is a rare appearance for the president at the pentagon. next year's budget of 662 billion is 43 billion less than this year. the pentagon is bracing for nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts over the next ten years, a lot of this reflects the withdrawal in iraq and the drawdown in afghanistan, likely shifting the military focus to asia. a retired u.s. navy captain and fox news military analyst chuck nash with me now. good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: you knew the cuts were coming, right?

but your big concern is whether or not the cuts go to the strategy or whether it's just a top-line budget number, explain the difference there. >> okay if you go to a top-line budget number and they say okay you're allowance for the next year or two is x, and then you try to structure your forces to live within the allowance that is not as good as saying, okay here is what we want our military to do, and this is the amount of money that we node to do that. so it would be nice if the budget followed the strategy as opposed to just saying, here is your number, live within your means. bill: do you have any indication that it will go the way you want it? >> well they are talking strategy, by saying that we are not going to be doing the little wars, but we're going to focus more on china and asia, and more of a peer competitor that will drive the decisions more towards big systems as opposed to small units that do village stability and all those things that we've been told were going to be the

future, when we were dealing with afghanistan and iraq, because those are the kinds of things, and the kind of forces that you need and the skill sets and the people that you train to. so depending on what you're going to do depends on what kind of hardware you buy and what kind of training do you. bill: you also talk about balance too. you have to have the balance. >> absolutely. bill: and the force to maintain your capability. one of the keys in all this is the healthcare that our veterans get. there are cuts coming and they will be controversial too. in the end, will we be a weakened u.s. military force? >> we will certainly be a different one, we will be weaker in certain areas. in the parlance that is called accepting risk. so we will accept risk in certain areas. the key word that you used earlier was balance, and that is you have to make sure that you don't unbalance the teeter-totter too pre sip tuesday lee because there are certain skill sets and

capabilities that take a longtime to reconstitute. have you to be very careful. bill: in a word as a military man are you okay with this or not? >> i think it's inevitable and it's part of the constant change, because we have to get rid of the old stuff if we are going to bring in new technology, and new capabilities. you have to make those changes. bill: captain, thank you, chuck nash out of washington. >> my pleasure. bill: you bet. martha: fox news alert right now we are minutes away we're learning from the news conference out of utah. this after six police officers were shot during a drug bust. one of those officers, a long-time police officer was killed in this battle. so we hope to learn a little bit more about how it started and what happened, so we'll take you there to ogden, utah at the top of the hour. let's go become to the campaign thrill for a moment, let's take a look at the people who are assembling to hear rick santorum speak in northfield, new hampshire. he's come out of iowa with a head of steep. can he keep it up? we'll be right back. [ male annouer ] juice drink too watery?

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bill: all right now, this doesn't seem right does it? west virginia's darling's, the orange bowl mascot, in the end zone, took him down! it happened after the clemson touchdown, he ran it back 99 yards for a score and the takedown. hope he's okay. west virginia, still scoring touchdowns off that game last night, they