>> rick: hello, everybody. well tom a brand-new hour inside america's news headquarters. i'm rick folbaum. >> arthel: i'm arthel neville. brand-new numbers out this week showing the nation's unemployment rate dropping to a three-year low in what some analysts are calling a, quote, virtual cycle of hiring and spending. will this welcome trend last? we'll ask a top financial expert. >> rick: the bizarre case of an american teen-ager mistakenly deported for being an illegal immigrant. how this happened and where the girl is now. we've got a live report. >> arthel: and penn state unveils its new coach today. can he fill the shoes of joe paterno, fired in the wake of one of the biggest scandals in college sports history? >> rick: first, it's game time in the granite state as gop

hopefuls gear up for their biggest contest yet. the new hampshire primary is the country's first and only a few days away. with mitt romney ahead by a wide margin, the battle for the live free or die state may be turning into a race for second place. chief political correspondent carl cameron live in manchester, new hampshire. good to see you. let's talk about rick santorum would who came in second in iowa by eight votes. what's he looking to do in new hampshire. >> he's looking to score big, but he's got some obstacles in his way. first of all, not least of which is ron paul, the texas congressman and libertarian is poll not guilty a strong second place. he's got a big, big base of support in new it's college stu which are always questionable to show up at the polls. but mr. paul has shown an ability to do that. santorum is definitely trying to translate his close second place in iowa into a surprise here in new hampshire. he lacks the organization and the money. adequate good turn out today, but if he had the organization

of other candidates that spent a tremendous amount of time here, it probably could have tripled. jon huntsman essentially bet it all on new hampshire. he didn't compete in iowa at all. yet he's in big trouble. he's been slip not guilty the polls -- slipping in the polls, and sometimes in second, fourth, and not getting the kind of crowds he hoped for this. it really is a battle for second. any one of those three could pull it off. it suggests the former massachusetts governor will come out of new hampshire the first candidate ever besides a sitting president to win back to back wins in the primaryies. >> rick: too we have a sense how have energized the supporters are? >> mr. romney had an event at a large city outside of manchester which is the state's largest city. it was a packed capacity crowd. it was probably one of the most energized crowds that he's had. that's partly because they're on the band wagon of who they think is a winner. but when you kind of push some

of his supporters as to how they feel about mitt romney, they're a little ambivalent. there sent the energy you would expect behind a front runner surging and that speaks to a lot of the misgivings that republicans have with his candidacy. six years ago he was considered a massachusetts moderate, he sometimes actually cast himself as to the left of ted kennedy. that gives the conservatives here in new hampshire even those who are supporting him, some degree of misgiving. they're behind him, they expect him to win, but it isn't as though they're charging ahead furiously. there's a sense of a ho-hum thing about the primary because the front runner is so far ahead and across the board, republicans aren't exactly crazed about this field. >> rick: what about the two in the back of the pack of this field right now, rick perry and newt gingrich, what are they up to this week and what are they hoping for on tuesday? >> rick perry essentially went back to austin after the iowa caucuses and said he would

reassess. but the next morning he said we're back on and run not guilty south carolina. he have has not been here to south carolina other than for the debate and there will be a second one tomorrow. immediately after that, he will again leave the granite state and go back to south carolina to campaign. so his performance tonight in the debate social security probably essentially a punt. as for mr. gingrich, quite the contrary. he's campaigning here hard and taking advantage of the opportunity to beat up on mitt romney. the last few days he's been promising attack ads and attack flyers and to really call out mitt romney on a lot of his moderate positions over the years. but today he said tonight he'd be positive and talk about the contrast, and talk about romney's record, but it wouldn't be in a negative context. newt gingrich is planning to go after mitt romney in south carolina and in response, the super pac that supports romney announced it will launch an attack ad blitz in response. it looks like it will get tough in south carolina, but gingrich and perry are eyeing that. not so much any type of a surprise performance here in new

hampshire. >> rick: carl cameron who knows new hampshire as well as anyone. thanks so much. rick santorum sits down with mike huckabee tonight on "huckabee" 8:00 p.m. eastern on fox news channel. and we'll have full coverage of the new hampshire primary, it all starts at 6:00 p.m. eastern time tuesday, january 10, bret baier and megyn kelly leading our coverage live from manchester. >> arthel: we have a fox news alert here looking at colorado, live pictures there right outside of denver. two people have been injured by a package that was left at a home, a private home. one of the packages exploded. two of the victims flown by helicopter to a burn unit. this started at 1:00 o'clock in the denver area where it's snowing now: a woman picked up two pack annuals left at her home, a private home, carried them to her car and one of the packages exploded. nearby neighbors were taken from their homes by deputy deputies

by taking them -- having them climb onto ladders to get over their fences. so you can imagine what a chaotic scene that must have been. scary. a bomb squad was called to the scene. we don't know who left those packages there and we'll keep you posted when we get all of the details. that's coming out of colorado near denver. moving on now, companies boosting their bottom lines through outsourcing caused countless american jobs. this week president obama is spotlighting the businesses that are doing the opposite. he's hosting a forum focusing on those reversing trend with in sourcing and returning jobs to the u.s. doug is live in washington now. doug, are you going to tell us more about this job forum, right? >> yeah. at least 12 different companies, large and small, will be offering a their perspectives why they're bringing jobs back, master lock, returning 100 jobs to milwaukee, lincolnton

furniture of north carolina, adding 130 jobs at a once vacant plant there. galaxy solution, a company that created the outsource to detroit program the white house has praised. and the big company dupont, which started up a new $500 million plant last year just outside of charleston, south carolina. most say returning to the u.s. makes abscess to communications and distribution much easier and some of the companies are saying employment costs in places like china are beginning to go up. >> arthel: tell us about the political advantage from all of this for the president. >> lots of advantages. it's coming less than a week since the latest job numbers came out, which show unemployment now is at 8.5% and has dropped for four straight months. for a president under constant attack from republican presidential rival force his lack of job creation, this is an opportunity to tout his record as he did yesterday at the consumer financial protection bureau. >> this morning we learned that

american businesses added another 212,000 jobs last month. all together, more private sector jobs were created in 2011 than any year since 2005. >> history shows that it's not so much the basic unemployment number that can win or lose elections for an incumbent p. it's the trend line. right now the administration believes that trend is looking very good indeed. >> arthel: we're going to be talking to an expert regarding that a little later as well. doug, thank you very much. >> rick: speak of job, one very prominent one being filled today, penn state university naming a new head football coach hiring the new england patriots offensive coordinator, bill o'brien. here is o'brien on his new job. >> i know there is going to be some ups and down, but we're going to try to smooth it out along the way by communication and being open, being transparent and making sure that people know our mission and putting a good football team out

there on the field every saturday. >> rick: he had big shoes to fill, replacing coach joe paterno. paterno was fired in november amid a child sex abuse scandal involving one of his former coaches, jerry sandusky. o'brien will be working double duty for a bit. he will remain on the patriots staff for their run during the nfl playoffs, which are going on right now. >> arthel: i know about the playoffs. saints are going to beat the lions tonight. a high surf advisory for san diego. showing you waves crashing over this pier. some reaching up to 15 feet and crashing and creating dangerous conditions at area beaches. the rough surf drawing crowds of spectators. some getting a little too close. life guards say the crashing waves are something to be admired from afar, guys. >> it's insane. like, they're so high and coming

constantly. >> in the past, we've seen people get swept off their feet and things can happen very quickly. you get swept off your feet into the water and it can become a very dangerous situation very quickly. >> when they're crashing on the pier and everything and you see the spray, it's pretty cool. >> arthel: cool, but from afar. the high surf expected to stick around for a few more days. what can we expect for the rest of us? meteorologist maria molina live in the fox weather center. high waves in san diego, snow in denver where it was just like 60 degrees two days ago. >> and lack of snow everywhere else, across parts of the upper midwest and the northeast. very mild temperatures. islip, new york, broke a record. 61 for a high temperature. ex creamily warm out there, very unusual. we want to focus on southern california where we're experiencing santa anna winds right now. we're expecting this to be an ongoing event, tonight into sunday with northeast winds between 25 and 40 miles per hour.

gusts up to 70 miles per hour. keep that in mind. very dangerous stuff out there, especially if you're driving high profile vehicles. part of the reason is we have high pressure out there, low pressure system over the rockies that's producing snow in denver. not a whole lot out there. just a couple of inches. denver, maybe two to four inches of snow. enough to produce dangerous driving conditions. when you have the high and low pressure system close together, you have the gusty santa anna winds across southern california, that's a whole other issue. it's going to linger out across parts of colorado and then move into portions of new mexico as we head into tomorrow, producing some snow out there. again, just a couple of inches, not a really big deal for them. otherwise across parts of the northeast, very quiet day. we had a lot of sunshine, very mild temperatures. a couple of isolated snow showers across portions of northern vermont, also across northern maine. but also not a big-time accumulation. just maybe an inch or two out there along some of those roadways. otherwise those high temperatures today were very

mild. up to 15 to 20 degrees above average across portions of the dakota, minnesota, and even across the mid atlantic and the northeast. we saw record highs across parts of new york city and for tomorrow, we're expecting a little bit of cool down across parts of the northeast, 40 will be your high in new york city. that's still above average, guys. typically this time of year, we should be seeing highs in the upper 30s. across parts of the midwest, 40 will be your high in minneapolis. still above average out there as well. we are going to see a bit of a cool down by midweek across parts of the upper midwest. but that's just going to bring you down to where you should be at for this time of the year. because we've had mild temperatures, we have not seen a lot of snow across the midwest or the northeast. take a look at some of these deficits. in buffalo, we received 5.2 inches of snow. on average, we should have already received about 41.7 inches of snow. that's a big deficit. something else we're dealing with is a lack of ice along some of the lakes. so something to keep in mind if you have activities and you're

headed out into the lake where you're expect to go see ice, make sure that there is enough ice thickness. generally for people to walk on, i would suggest about six inches of thickness so you can walk safely. >> arthel: that's very important. i know right now, you're reporting mild temperatures, not a lot of snow on the ground, but you never know what's going to happen. and later we'll have suggestions as to which snow blowers might work for you when you do have to deal with it. thanks. >> rick: growing questions this hour, in the case of an american teen-ager who was mistakenly deport to do colombia. the 15-year-old is now back in the u.s. investigators want to know how she could have been sent out of the country in the first place. julie banderas live in our new york city news room with more on this. hi. >> she told them she was an illegal immigrant. upon arriving in that country, the girl was even given colombian citizenship. u.s. and colombian officials pointing fingers over who was

exactly. her saga began when the teen ran away more than a year ago in november 2010. police say the girl was arrested for misdemeanor theft and claimed to be a colombian woman born in 1990. after being jailed, a sheriff's office employee then recommended an immigration detainer be put on her and immigration judge ultimately ordered her back to colombia where she says she was from, even though she wasn't even fluent in spanish and had no ties to colombia. after spending months in colombia, she was returned to the u.s. friday evening and reunited with her family at dallas-fort worth international airport. a family attorney says she's happy to be home and added the family would not be issuing other statements other than to say they're happy to have her back in texas and they plan to do what they can to make sure she gets back to a normal life. >> i hope and pray there is no one else have to go through what i went through. i think the system need to be

changed, along with more security and more protection. >> immigration experts say while a case of mistaken identity is rare, people can slip through the crack, especially if they don't have legal help or family members working on their behalf. but authorities have the responsibility to determine if a person indeed is a citizen or not. >> rick: julie banderas in the news room, thanks. >> arthel: an investigation underway after a hot air balloon plummets to earth, killing everyone on board. 30-foot flames leaping from the balloon in new zealand after it apparently hit power lines, then it just dropped. all 11 people on board were killed. making this one of the deadliest air disasters in that country in nearly 50 years. take a look now at what witnesses saw. >> i saw this balloon that looked as though it was on fire and i got closer and there was something holding it down and i

got real close and i noticed that the top power line was holding the basket down and the whole side of the basket was in flames. >> this is a huge significant event. it's a tragedy. as bad as tragedyies get. it will affect our community. >> arthel: the pilot was reportedly a safety officer for an annual ballooning event in town. >> rick: that's tough. an emotional weekend is underway for arizona congresswoman gabrielle giffords. tomorrow marks one year since the shooting in tucson that killed six people and wounded 13 more, including giffords, who survived being shot through the head. giffords and her husband, mark kelly, are back in tucson and last night, giffords participated in the ceremony honoring one of her slain staff members, gabe zimmerman. she'll also appear at a candlelight vigil tomorrow night. >> arthel: the economy appears to be on the mend i thank to the hiring and spending trend in

2011. what can we expect for the new year now that the holidays are over? jobs outlook for 2012, that's coming up. >> rick: plus, a texas community remembering the teen who police shot and killed at his school this week. we'll have that story coming up next when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's new glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and they have 6 grams of sugars. with 15 grams of protein to help manage hunger... look who's getting smart about her weight. [ male announcer ] new glucerna hunger smart.

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>> rick: quick check of the headlines. hundreds of mourners gather not guilty brownsville, texas for the tune of a of 15-year-old jamie gonzalez.

police shot and killed him at his middle school after he failed to drop a realistic looking pellet gun. the father of missing maine toddler ayla reynolds speaking out about how she broke her arm before her disappearance. he says he accidentally dropped her while he was carrying groceries. he reported her missing on december 17, saying she vanished from her crib. and police in georgia say 59-year-old james benson killed his wife and mother-in-law in a crowded hospital waiting room. they quoted him saying, they'd be sorry before he opened fire. he turned himself in to police after the shooting. >> arthel: new signs of improvement in the job market. the layest report showing the national unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% last month. that puts a nice bow on 2011, a year that saw steady growth across several sectors of the economy. but will it last?

patricia powell is here and well informed on these sorts of things. so hello, good to see you. >> thank you for having me today. >> arthel: let's start with the good news first. we're talking about 1.6 million more people working today as compared to a year ago. so to what can we attribute this boost? >> we are into the third year of the economic recovery. so that's actually good news, much better than 2010 where less than a million jobs were actually created. the problem is that we need to create 100,000 jobs each and every month just to deal with the net new people entering the work force. so 1.6 million, better than we've been. but not enough. >> arthel: again, what do we attribute that to? >> this has been a really lack luster recovery for the most part. as you look at the recovery, there is no great strength anywhere except maybe in corporate profits. i think one of the things people

have to realize when looking at the unemployment number, when you drill down, it's all about educational attainment. if you dropped out of high school, your unemployment rate is over 13%. college graduate, your unemployment is 4.1. >> arthel: yeah. then again, that's some good news. we'll go to the not so good news, which is the unemployment rate, 8.5%, which is a step in the right direction. but you're saying that it's not enough and then you have to factor in various things like the length of time that people have been out of work, part-time workers out, they're still looking for full time. >> over 8 million of them. >> arthel: then you have the underploat. >> absolutely. you have the people who have given up and aren't in the numbers anymore. you have this chronic, long-term, almost hard core unemployment that we have to deal with. the average job seeker takes 40 weeks to get a job. over 30% of the people who are unemployed are way beyond a year. this is a real big problem.

not just for us as an economy, but also for us as a society. it's very important that we get these people back to work. >> arthel: because consumer spending makes up 70% of the economy, so you've got to get people out there and comfortably spending money. >> that's why there is a little good news in here. the average hours were up in the most recent numbers. the average wages were up. so the average person has a little bit more money out there. but as i said before, it's like walking through slush. this is a lack luster recovery. >> arthel: another bit of good news is many companies are saying in 2012, i'm gog start hiring more people. in fact, you're doing that. >> i brought them on board on tuesday, the first working take of the year. i'm like many other businesses and the estimates are we're going to create over 2 million jobs this year. that's also good news. but it's not good enough. we need four, five, 600,000 jobs a month. we're hoping to get 200 a month on average. >> arthel: how do we get to that

4, 600,000 job has month. what will it take to get to those numbers and sustain it and what role does congress have? >> congress actually has a really big role. but it's not the one they think they have. what they have to do is get out of the way. they have to stop making employees more expensive. they have to stop putting impediments in for hiring people. they have to be really careful to make it easy for employers to hire, easy for them to keep and train them and what we have is the exact opposite. i think you saw what happened earlier this year with the boeing plant and the big to do over them trying to build one and staff it in south carolina. we need the government to say, everyone is entitled to a job. just not the people who belong to a union. if you want to work, you should be able to get a job. >> arthel: how many people did you employ? >> one. it's a start. we may be hiring another. >> arthel: i'm going to take the good news and run with it. thank you very much. >> thank you so much for having me. >> arthel: good to see you.

rick? >> rick: thanks. and quick alert now. update on a story we told you about at the top of the show. there were two people injured when a package bomb explode the. lafayette, colorado. the weather not great. the bolder county bomb squad is securing this vehicle that you see in the picture there. once it's secured, then they can start their investigation. police just talking to reporters a couple of minutes ago. they say that the explosion happened a few minutes before 1:00 p.m. local time. sorry for the jitteriness of this camera. we're not controlling it for you. two victims. they were transport to do a local hospital with burns. we don't know their condition, but a half dozen homes in that neighborhood have been evacuated. the bomb squad now trying to confirm that there is no secondary device inside that car. that's why they're being very careful as they search it. as get more information, we'll pass it along. other news and parents and educators fight ago judge's

ruling that an arizona school district's mexican american studies program violated state law. they say there is nothing wrong with the curriculum. at stake is millions of dollars in state money which will be withheld from the entire district if the program does not change. casey stegall has more from tucson. >> rick, a class that promotes racial resentment or activism against white people? those are the exact words from an arizona judge on how he characterized an ethics study program that's being offered to students here in tucson. the classes are intended to teach chicano history, literature and social awareness. but the state department of education says the mexican-american studies program actually violates state law because the curriculum textbooks and lesson plans do not have the school board's seal of approval. what's more, the investigation revealing erroneous facts were being taught. >> one of the founders of the

mexican-american studies class came in, while i was there with the students and portrayed benjamin franklin as a racist. and i thought, whoa. time out. benjamin franklin was the president of the abolitionist society in pennsylvania. if anything, he should be in the civil rights hall of fame. >> now the district school board must decide how to fix the problems to get the program back in compliance with arizona law. if they don't do something and fast, the state will begin withholding millions of dollars in funding to the entire tucson unified school district. the superintendent telling me the program is important and he wants to see it stay. >> the concept behind the course of study is to bring students a level of unity. what's difficult in this situation is that you have curriculum that's been developed over time, textbooks used in the program that are controversial, and if the district has failed in one area, it's oversight of that program. >> many parents, students and

even some teachers are steaming mad over this. they have been holding protests in this community. they say that there is nothing at all wrong with this program. in fact, a federal lawsuit has been filed, saying that the state law is actually unconstitutional. rick? >> rick: casey stegall for us in tucson. thanks. >> arthel: a murder mystery unfolding in pakistan. why former president musharraf could be arrested in connection with the assassination of an afternoon rival four years ago. >> rick: we'll tell i couldn't independent voters may be the ones to watch as the gop goes out in the great knit state. >> they're the biggest bloc of voters in the state of new hampshire. but often the most difficult for campaigns to target. i'll have a live report coming up. you're watching the fox news channel this new at&t 4g lte is fast. did you hear sam... ...got promoted to director? so 12 seconds ago. we should get him a present.

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>> rick: getting caught up on the headlines. the obama administration is going to try to make it a little easier for illegal immigrants seeking legal residency in the u.s. some with family in the country may wait years to get a visa right now from their home country before settling down in america. now the white house says it will tweak that rule. >> arthel: in pakistan, former president will be arrested if he makes good on a pledge to return

later this month. this according to a pakinstani prosecutor. the order stems from an alleged connection to the killing of ex prime minister bhutto four years ago. he denies any link to that attack. >> rick: in germany, a massive brawl at an indoor soccer game. hundreds of police using tear gas to separate fans from the two teams. almost 50 people injured, chug 11 police officers. >> arthel: fox is america's election headquarters. with just days until the new hampshire primary, one group of voters getting some extra attention. independents. they are the ones who can vote across party lines, even in a primary. with 40% expected to turn out tuesday, they could give the first snapshot of what the 2012 election might look like. steve brown is live in manchester, new hampshire. steve, independents are more likely to change their minds as

well. what else do we know about them? >> well, they don't often or tend not to go to campaign events, which is striking because there are so many of them in the state of new hampshire. for a year plus before we got to the primary. research indicates that as many as two-thirds of likely republican primary voters coming up on tuesday will not have attended at least in the course of the last six months, a campaign event. campaigns can't expect them to come to them. they'll have to track these folks down. >> arthel: so steve, if they're not going to the campaign events, even if it's right in their own backyard, where do they go for information? >> the wheel house seems to be debates. according to the same bloc of research from public policy polling, 77% have watched at least -- had watched a lot or at least some of the debates going forward. and a lot of their other searching is kind of self-

directed. >> reading direct mail piece, they're listening to and watching television. they're going to community centers. it may not be staged political event, but they're talking to their neighbors. >> so no campaign events, but debates, cable television, direct mail, friends makes it a little trickier for campaigns to find them. >> arthel: all right. steve brown, tell you what, it's exciting to say the least. thank you very much. >> definitely. >> rick: it turns out a lot of those independent voters sided with president obama back in 2008. in fact, they helped get him in the white house. with an overwhelming majority now saying the country is off track, a lot of folks are wondering which of the gop candidates has the best chance of winning the independents before tuesday's primary. on a other with a fair and balanced debate, former director for rural outreach with john mccain's presidential campaign, and david mercer is a former deputy finance director for the democratic national committee.

gentlemen, thanks for being here. both of you. we appreciate it. ford, if you can't win the white house without the independents, you can't win new hampshire without the independents. who among the gop field do you think has the independents, at least in new hampshire right now? >> i thinned persons in new hampshire looking at three candidates. ron paul, mitt romney and jon huntsman. let me say this, mitt romney is 98% guaranteed to win the new hampshire primary. if he loses, it will be the biggest last minute primary upset in presidential history. that said, what the independents are going to decide is how much mitt romney wins by and who finishes second, third and fourth. >> rick: as a democrat, you look at the gop field, do you see one of them as being sort of more appeal to go independent voters in new hampshire or around the country? >> i think the thing to look for will be as ford mentioned, is huntsman and paul, romney aside and who gets the independents and how much are they taking away the independent vote from romney? that will tell us the field that

is still unsettled and with the new economic numbers, the jobless or unemployment rate coming down, people feeling more optimistic, we'll see those independents probably coming into the general election for obama come 2012 in november. so that's the way i see it. i think that's the way it's going to unfold. >> david, to your point, one thing i'd like to say about the independents in there, a lot of them are sort of democratic leaning independent, and i think a lot of them are likely to cast a vote for ron paul, thinking it will benefit president obama for the longer primary that dragged out and we all know ron paul is not going to win the gop nomination. >> rick: i wanted to ask you about that, david, i'll come back to you. ford, if we do see a strong finish by ron paul, maybe second place finish in new hampshire on tuesday night, does that not help to elevate him a little bit in the minds of the republican establishment? maybe make him seem more legitimate as a possible nominee? >> absolutely not.

the reason is because ron paul's foreign policy is just out of whack with the republican party. yes, he's right to bring up the idea of questioning whether or not america should be the international policeman, but sop of the other things are too much for a loft republican primary voters. >> rick: david, let me ask you about jon huntsman because when he first announced his candidacy with the weird motorcycle ad campaign, i remember when he came out a few months back, he was the darling of the liberal media. i remember all of the "new york times" headline, time magazine headlines, saying that he was the biggest threat to president obama's chances of winning a second term. do you see huntsman, who campaigned really hasn't gone anywhere, do you see him breaking through? >> i think he'll register in new hampshire. i'm not sure if he can go on in the south carolina and florida and beyond. he does have a lot of money. going to the motorcycle ad in your reference to that, he's replaced that with his daughters who are very active on social

media. and do have a good presence, very articulate. so i think the key thing in looking at huntsman is the independent vote as we started this off with. regarding ford's comment regarding how long this primary goes, i think it's in the best interest -- we heard republicans say it, that best interest for this primary to test their candidates and if romney is going to be the punitive nominee, it's good that he go through the process so that he's ready for obama come the time he might gain the nomination. >> rick: ford, i want to talk to you, david mentioned the jobs numbers that came out yesterday. by all accounts, these are positive signs showing trends moving in the right direction. we've got the gop field with really two debates now over the course of the next 12 to 14 hours. they're going to debate twice before tuesday's primary. how do they respond to the inevitable questions about hey, things are looking good. the economy is starting to

recover and how do they respond in a way that doesn't make them look like grumpy old men? >> if the numbers are off, yes, we're all rooting for the economy to improve. but 8.5% is not the true unemployment number because so many people have given up hope looking for work. in reality we'll need a whole scale change to the tax code, entitlement code and regulatory reform if we want to promote long-term growth in the united states. >> rick: back to the independent s, dave, president obama we mentioned, he wouldn't have won the white house without them. he's not going to win a second term without them. how does he get them back into his camp? >> two ways. one, we know that one thing independents look to and that's a working government. and this president going to the numbers is starting to see the trend lines go in the favor of the american working family and american prosperity. we have to keep our focus on that. secondly, all we see from the republicans, whether it be a divided caucus in the house and senate, whether it be division

among ideology, whether it be a division as we're seeing and saw in iowa with 25% here for romney, 25% santorum, et cetera, that continued division does nothing in bringing the american prosperity that we need to the forefront, which obama is doing with the american people, with or without the republicans and it's their option to come in and help, but we're going to go forward. >> rick: ford, 20 seconds, give you the last word. >> i'm going to tell you, new hampshire is going to be very interesting because i think the eventual final finish is going to be romney one, paul two, santorum three, and huntsman four. the question is whether or not huntsman is able to break through and actually you want to the fact he has the best economic plan. if not, he should probably drop out of new hampshire. but i will say if he had his daughters front and center earlier, his numbers might look differently 'cause they're doing a great job campaigning for him. >> rick: i agree. as a father of three daughters myself, i can only pray that my daughters would come out and speak so highly of me the way that jon huntsman's daughters do

of him. thanks very much. good to see you both. >> thank you. >> arthel: i'm not sure where you are, but maybe 74 degrees or 50 or something, but really winter and it's going to get into high gear and despite the warm weather as you may be having at your place, that means snow is eventually going to start piling up. instead of shoveling, many folks are turning to their snow blowers. so what are the best ones for your hard earned money? "consumer reports" joins us with some tips, that's coming up next 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.

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battle trafficking with education. elizabeth prann is live in atlanta with more. elizabeth, hello. >> hi. good to see you. according to a study, the average age is between 12 and 14 to enter the now in the state of georgia, there is a huge push to stop that. wife and mother of three, keisha used to live a very different life. >> i knew my predator was a monster. i knew that these people were monsters. >> at only 16, she was bought and sold for sex. like millions of others, she was a prisoner, forced into prostitution and threatened if she ever tried to leave. >> this was a very traumatic situation and when i felt that my life was in danger or the life of my loved ones was in danger, i really lost myself because i knew i had to do

whatever i had to do to survive. >> now she's working with a grassroots group in atlanta, trying to rescue other victims of human trafficking. >> we have to stop demand. this is a lucrative business. >> the governor's office estimates that more than 400 girls are sold for sex in georgia every month. >> atlanta is one of 14 cities in the united states that is the highest in terms of child prostitution and sexual exploitation. it's a major transportation hub not just domestically, but internationally. >> federal authorities are working with local police to stop it. >> it's just an atrocity. it's modern day slavery is what's going on every single day. >> arthel, georgia passed tough legislation putting stricter penalties on offenders. back to you. >> arthel: it's disgusting, disturbing and i'm glad they're trying to do something about it. elizabeth, thank you very much.

right now, we go to rick. >> rick: arthel, it's like 50 something degrees out here. i'm telling you, 'tis the season for snow blowers. we're going to show you the best you can get for your money. come on out. we'll be right back [ sniffs ] i have a cold. [ sniffs ] i took dayquil but my nose is still runny. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't treat that. really? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus fights your worst cold symptoms, plus it relieves your runny nose. [ deep breath] awesome. [ male announcer ] yes, it is. that's the cold truth! ♪ that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm [ male announcer ] for half the calories -- plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

>> rick: we have folks here visiting from australia. they came for the snow. we don't have any of that. not here in new york, anyway. some parts of the country are already seeing their first major snowfall of the season and a lot of people dread shoving. >> that's okay. we've got something that's going to make this a little more comfortable for you. >> rick: that's right.

>> arthel: you need a snow blower? here is "consumer reports" expert here to tell us, bob is here to tell us which of these things is -- these contraptions that i will never use, that he might use, and many people who would like to use them. what's so good about this one? >> this is a toro power clear 621. ohm $500. you can spend less, but this is good performance beginning. this is a single stage unit. the auger there is a rubber tip in front. it actually helps pull it along and does all the work. it scoops it up, throws it out. this could clear up to about 12 inches. even the heavy snuff. >> arthel: i've got to do this. >> it's light. >> rick: how does it feel? >> arthel: it doesn't feel great. i'm not used to it. >> rick: you don't need to worry about it. this is $500. you're getting a pretty good amount for your money? >> you're getting a decent performance for the money.

you're talking about up to a foot. talking about throwing about 20 feet, which is excellent. this was top of the charts. this toro has similars by troybuilt and others. it's actually -- it's quite good. >> rick: you were saying for $150 more, you could have this baby right here. >> exactly. >> rick: this is some power. >> that's right. this craftsman, this is one of two that topped our test of mid-sized dual stage machines, auger. also an impeller and this guy should do 18 inches. it actually is really, really a giant step up. it's heavier. this is something you would lift to a deck. >> arthel: what about the one you sit on and drive? >> that would be great. that means you need a tractor and spend another couple of grand. >> rick: you know what happens, you go out and spend all this money on things and then it doesn't snow again. >> i think that's what's going on this year. but at least you're prepared for when it does. >> arthel: always be prepared.

>> rick: i feel like the prices are never higher for these things than they are right now. >> actually that's not true. typically the highest prices are before that snow. it's typically before the holidays because everyone is anticipating snow. these days, probably you'll get a pretty good deal because it hasn't snowed. gout a lot of snow blowers sitting around. >> arthel: you can't do this type of stuff off season. >> not fleece the big stores. but you'll find them at dealers. occasionally they've got leftovers and if you can in late, late winter, early spring, you might get a real bargain. >> rick: as nice as these two are, you could buy a snow blower for a couple thousand dollars? >> easy, 2600 we tested one from honda. top of our charts was 1600. this is 24 inches. that thing is 30 inches wide. that's heated grips. all sorts of things. >> rick: fancy. bob, good to he so you. thanks very much for coming out. wouldn't it be nice if we don't

need these at all? >> i'm kind of hoping on that one. >> arthel: thanks so much for joining us. we really appreciate having you. stick around because harris faulkner is coming up next. >> rick: wave, everybody. back then he had something more important to do. he wasn't focused on his future. but fortunately, somebody else was. at usaa we provide retirement planning for our military, veterans and their families. now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa.

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