bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. >> steve: we are going to do this again tomorrow. the three of us. >> alisyn: it's not possible. >> steve: okay, fine. >> alisyn: we'll be back. bill: good morning. everybody. 9:00 here on the east coast and the battle is on for south carolina. nine days before the next primary. the gloves are coming off from the republican candidates. they're ready for there big ol' slugfest. it will be a good ol' good one. i'm bill hemmer. martha: good morning, bill hemmer. good to see you. i'm martha maccallum. candidates are up and out early this morning as they are most days. they have at least a dozen events to make it too the next 24 hours. we're waiting for a event from governor rick perry. we'll speak to him later in the show. he will be in blythe wood

for a meet-and-greet with supporters. bill: they have their sights set on winning that nomination, six of them. >> don't wit on our country. don't quit on my campaign. bill: he. >> leading us to become a path on greece or italy. i'm convinced we'll be there at some point if we don't get this guy out of office. bill: tom, good morning to you. you say the others will make romney work for it. how so? >> well, i mean this is going to be a long nine days for mitt romney. the attacks are coming, they're coming on his experience with, his record with bain capital. gingrich is also launched an ad on romney's record on abortion. so he will, right now leading in the polls in south carolina, and he will have to defend himself and hold that lead. it will be a brutal nine days with a couple debates in between. this is the last stand for rick perry obviously. i think rick santorum and newt gingrich looking at this as their last real

chance to stop romney. bill: when you're talking there in chicago, we're watching mitt romney in greer, south carolina, is the field too divided with too many challengers to affect romney or not, tom? >> i think the field is too divided. if i look at the three, non-romney candidates, santorum, gingrich and rick perry, they're at 45% of the vote. mitt romney at 29.3, 30%. if two of the three non-romney candidates were not in the race, and coalesce behind one candidate, romney would be in some trouble. bill: despite what happens in south carolina do you believe ron paul has his own ticket? if that is the case, how strong is that ticket? >> ron paul is unique. his vote is his own vote. there are fervent support. he will organize for the caucus states coming down the line. no one thinks that ron paul is in danger of winning nomination. he doubled support from four years ago in iowa and new hampshire. he will be a factor.

the question is how big of a factor will he play throughout the race and come convention time. bill: that is great point. greer, south carolina, that is greenville, spartanburg. that place will be flooded next nine days with candidates. tom beavin from realclearpolitics.com. martha? martha: how about rick santorum. he is trying to regain the momentum that catapulted him to virtual tie in iowa. santorum holding a town hall last night. there he is in columbia, south carolina, telling voters despite romney's success the future of this election is to the people of south carolina. >> south carolina has a choice. they have choice whether we want to go with the establishment, whether you think that is what america needs, or whether we want someone who has got bold plans, a bold vision for this country, got a track record to back it up and someone who believes that we need to take it to barack obama every step of the way and has the ability to do

so? what do you think? martha: santorum went on to tell the voters he thinks the most important election they have ever been part of is what we are witnessing right now. bill: boy, after a last place finish in new hampshire, rick perry, the texas governor, banking on a good showing in south carolina to jump-start his campaign. we'll ask him about that live top of the next hour, 10:00 a.m. eastern time on "america's newsroom." that should be interesting. martha: looking for to that. a lot of attacks on romney, gingrich and bain capital. we'll get santorum's, perry's thoughts on that. next monday, january 16th. the next republican debate from myrtle beach with bret baier monitoring. you don't want to miss that. >> developing this morning now, a judge in mississippi temporarily blocking the release of 21 inmates pardoned by outgoing governor haley barbour. barbour signing more than

200 pardons before leaving office this week. the state attorney general believes barbour may have overstepped his power. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge on this in d.c. what is the judge's order mean for this? >> reporter: thank you, bill and good morning. judge's order effectively blocks the release of 21 inmates still serving their time when their pardons were announced by outgoing governor haley bash boir and outrage from some of the victims is palpable. >> i think the governor himself ought to have to look me and the family in the eye and say hey i'm going to let this guy go. there wasn't any of that. that is coward's way out if you ask me. >> reporter: four murderers who were allowed to work at governor's mansion doing odd jobs as reward for good behavior. the mississippi attorney general is challenging the pardons say some do not meet the legal requirements. >> we estimate there may be as many as 175 we'll have to look at. it appears from our preliminary review a vast majority of them will

probably be illegal pardons. >> reporter: according to hood there is constitutional requirement to publish notice of this request for clemency in the local papers where the crimes were committed, bill. bill: barbour is leaving office. has he responded to this since the story broke? >> yes, he has. in a statement from his office they say 90% of those who got clemency were already out and governor's idea was to give them a better chance at starting over. that statement reads in part, quote, the pardons were intended to allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses and hunt and vote. my decision about clemency was based on recommendation of the parole board in more than 90% of the those cases. they added the number released from prison is .1 of 1% of those incarcerated. clearly this controversy is just beginning, we'll watch that. we'll debate it next hour, what legal ground each side has. thank you, catherine herridge from washington. >> reporter: you're welcome. martha: a fox news alert

this morning. we just got the brand new unemployment numbers on this thursday morning. we're seeing a spike in the number of people applying for new benefits last week unfortunately. the number of americans filing for jobless benefits up by 24,000 in the last week to seasonally adjusted 399,000. that is about 6 1/2% higher than economists were expecting in this time period. bring in stuart varney, our good friend from the business channel and anchor of "varney & company" to break this number down for us. stuart, how does this look to you? >> these are disappointing numbers. you have to say this was not expected. this is a big jump in the number of new people arriving for jobless benefits, not expected and reversed a recent positive trend. we got other numbers today a few minutes ago. december retail sales only went up miniscule .1%. if you take auto sales out, retail sales in december actually came down. department store sales, in the christmas month,

december, again, actually went down. again, very disappointing. so if you add it all up, the big picture on the economy looks like this. the economy is still very sluggish. it is still a very weak job market. and the housing market, which is perhaps more important to most of our viewers than anything else, housing still flat on its back, martha. bill: when you look at those numbers though, wouldn't it be expected really, that folks who were laid off after the holiday period bauers because they were brought in for extra holiday help would be back on unemployment line in the following weeks? >> yes. but these numbers are seasonally adjusted. and that seasonal adjustment is supposed to take care of that kind of month to month, week to week movement. martha: we had been in a fairly decent trend. we'll see if this week is anomaly or start of something else. we hope not. stuart, thank you very much. bill: iowa. saw it in new hampshire. it is issue number one. arguably the number one issue on voters mind all across the country. this is the u.s. chamber of

commerce holding annual state of american business address. attendees are hearing from the chamber's president at the moment outlining how the business community can help americans get back to work. we're watching that. monitoring that event. we'll bring you important developments here. martha: an emergency shipment of snow shovels is on the way to alaska this morning. we've been telling you about this bee league gured snowed-in town of cordova. more than 15 feet of know in cordova. nag guard has been called in to help people shovel out. >> we still have not cleaned up everything from the last fall. we have a lot more to do. >> usually snows and it rains. snows and it rains. this winter is snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed. martha: and snowed and snowed. and snowed. and snowed some more. the guard is also using snow melting machines. get it, bill. they can liquify 80 tons of

snow an hour. where does all that water go? bill: if this story were happening in california, utah or colorado. it would be a big national story. the fact that it is happening in alaska still a lot of snow for folks up there, shows you how high the mound are. people on top of the roof taking snow off. martha: it is alaska. bill: in case the snow melts you could have issues here with your own homes. no way into that town by the way. martha: massive liquification of snow in cordova. bill: you can fly into the town. you can boat into the town. you can not drive in cordova, alaska. there is new concern over possible voter fraud. the in a moment we'll talk to the man launching a review the in the state of south carolina. that is critical, martha. martha: this man says he is ready to put his money where his mouth is. we'll tell you about his new challenge to republicans in the fight over taxes. bill: mystery illness at a high school. 10 are now school.

what has got? group of parents very concerned about their children? >> i'm talking about something that just comes on within a couple of weeks and these kids are just totally normal and then next thing you know they're going blah. their arms are swinging. they can't control themselves urney across america,

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martha: new reaction from the victims of extreme weather that is hammering parts of north carolina a possible tornado injured more than a dozen people. damaging at least 60 buildings including one grand other's -- grandmother's home. her family says she was buried under the rubble. >> he says he was lucky to see her hand. he said everything was on top of her. she couldn't holler for help. he said he believes she might have a broken arm. she lost her home back in february from fire damage. she just recently had this one put in. and it is just gone. martha: oh my. the national weather service

team is on the ground there trying to figure out if indeed the damage was indeed caused by a tornado. bill: rick perry's on the stump up and adam early this morning. he will be here live in 45 minutes in south carolina. there is a new law in that state that requires voters to show i.d. when voting, photo i.d. the justice department is challenging state republicans on the law. this could be important here. alan wilson is the attorney general. he is live in columbia, south carolina. sir, good morning to you. >> morning. bill: why is this an issue in the first place? >> well, first off, when the law was originally written it was written to protect citizens from fraudulent activity in the electoral process. it is important that the voters of our state have faith in the process by which we elect our leaders. that was the original intent. bill: but, there is reference that 900 dead people voted in

south carolina. is that part of your case? >> that's right. when we were going through the process of getting this law precleared with the department of justice, we provided numbers that showed that this would have a minimal effect on minority voters, the elderly and of course opponents of this bill said this is trying, this is in search of a problem that doesn't exist. well, subsequently, we found out that there were over 900 people who died and then subsequently voted. that number could be even higher than that, bill. this is just an example. one of many examples. in fact we also have data that suggests there are 91,000 people on our voter registration rolls who no longer live in south carolina and in fact registered as a resident in another state but they are still registered to vote here. bill: that could be issue. georgia has a law, right? indiana has the law. >> that's right. bill: they have not been challenged by the department of justice. what is different there as opposed to south carolina's law? >> well the

department of justice upheld or precleared georgia's law four or five years ago. the united states supreme court upheld indiana's law back in 2007. what you basically have. you have the department of justice denying the citizens of south carolina the protections of a bill that united states supreme court upheld for the citizens of indiana. it is a double-standard and it blows my mind that the department of justice sees that this could be potential suppression. only thing we want to suppress here in south carolina is fraud in our election system. bill: they, opponents, you mentioned this, they suggest you're keeping minorities from voting. they also suggest you're wasting time rand money. what do you say to them? >> well, it is convenient argument they fall back on. when you have 900 people, remember before they said there was no evidence of voter fraud. now you have over 900 people. that number could climb. you have over 900 people who were deceased and voting. so now, we're falling back on the argument it is suppression or discrimination.

this is the same standard we use to allow people into a federal building. show photo i.d. or get prescription medication. this is not an unreasonable request. and remember, everyone has to register to vote. why not put a photo on the registration card or have them show a photo i.d.? bill: you need a photo i.d. to buy sudafed here in new york city. that is not a prescription medication. >> that's right. bill: how would you make sure voters in south carolina could access a photo i.d. easily? what is the process? >> first off, there are five ways they can get a photo identification allowed by law. if you do not have a photo i.d. due to some reasonable i am paidment, due to age, infirmity. you can sign an affidavit there at poll when you go vote. it is boilerplate affidavit will be there. bill: go to the dmv, or go to the dmv ahead of time and get one for free. >> that's right. you could, even if you don't have a photo i.d. you can

still vote. most people don't recognize that. or understand that we still protect that right. if you sign an affidavit showing there was reason you couldn't get photo i.d. best election. bill: i'm sorry, is this relevant to the primary in nine days? >> well this is relevant to the electoral process from henceforth ever more. obviously we wanted to have it in place for the primary but we want it in place period for 20 years from now. bill: alan wilson, thank you for your time. >> thank you. bill: we'll see which side wins in the end. 19 past. martha? martha: billionaire investor warren buffett saying he wants to pay more tax tas and mitch mcconnell says, go right ahead. buffett is calling his bluff. bill: tebow time, saturday night, martha. i know where you will be. the denver broncos quarterback joining list of michael jordan and tiger woods. he is getting his own song, an '80s classic. ♪ when i grow up,

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bill: so you know smoking can be deadly, all right? but not like this. sheet of glass falling from a 24-story office building, smashing on the sidewalk on the spot where some workers were taking their cigarette break. martha: oops. bill: beware. the sound of that impact was tremendous. sacramento. >> i was walking across the street when i heard a crash and looked back. i thought it was a car wreck and it was window had fallen out of the building. >> that is where we stand at break time. it is a big concern. >> would you say the

building is unsafe? >> well we've had a number of issues over the years. this is the latest. we'll look into what occurred here. make assessments necessary to make sure nothing further occurs. bill: you never know when it is your time, right? that break coo have been 15 minutes earlier had she not answered her e-mail in her office before she went downstairs. you see how that works? not the first problem with the building. 2005 several glass panes fell out of their frames. at the time the architect said it was caused by heat wave in northern california. >> all right, billionaire businessman, warren buffett says rich people like him should just pay more in taxes and during the battle over president obama's millionaire tax, that proposal last fall, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell threw this jab at the legendary investor saying this. well, with with regard to the tax rate, if he is feeling guilty about it, why doesn't he just send in a check? mr. buffett says, that is okay. he wants republicans in congress match him dollar

for dollar on donations of his money back to the u.s. treasury. republican ron johnson is on the senate budget committee as well as senate appropriations committee. he joins me now. good morning, senator. good to have you here today. >> good morning, martha. thanks for having me on. martha: what do you think of warren buffett's proposal? >> i can only speak for myself, i like millions of other small to millions biz people report income through personal income tax and pay personal knack tax rates, when you add state and local government is 50%. when bush tax cuts expire, if we allow them to expire, with obamacare that marginal tax rate will be pushed up above 50%. people working hard to build a good life for their families, small to medium-sized business people, don't have luxury of people like warren buffett sitting back blaming capital against. i don't know how long it is been whether warren buffett whether he operated machinery, plant, take out garbage. i've done those types of

things. millions of business people do the type of thing. we don't want to crush their incentive to build good businesses and good lives for themselves and people that work with them. martha: understand. if he wants to, sounds like many way flatten out the tax rate because he pays as you point out, capital gains 15% rate on investments which is why his tax rate is lower than secretary. he clearly pays a lot more money than she does. why isn't he talking about flat tax rate and make it sound like would be supporting somebody like rick perry is really want to make taxes fair across the board? >> again, i respect warren buffett for his investment strategies. i'm not so sure i agree with him in terms of his tax strategies. what i know is what reprbl cans want to do is grow the economy. we want to enact pro-growth tax reform gets rid of 70,000 page tax code, 2 to $300 billion a year in compliance costs and incentivize people to realize their full human potential. and that is really, what i

would like to talk about america's choice agenda. it is not about dividing americans. it is about informing americans. about the very real differences between president obama's lack of solution, other than growing the government, increasing its intrusion into our lives, versus our approach about growing the private sector and allowing americans to, like i say, realize their full human potential. martha: understood. no doubt as we head into the election season we'll hear a lot more about president obama's belief the rich should pay more. no doubt warren buffett will be chiming in as he has in the past with that sentiment as well. ron johnson, thank you for sharing your thoughts on that today. good to see you senator. >> thanks for having me on. bill: 27 minutes past the hour now. he came to new york city to celebrate knew year's eve. what happened next is a mystery. this college student is missing. this morning a plea from his parents. martha: a political debate you won't want to miss, folks. mitt romney's rivals attacking the former governor his record as a

businessman at bain capital. mitt romney is fighting back on this, responding to statements like this. >> i understand the difference between venture capital and vulture capitalism. we need to have more venture capital i'm going on in nerc -- america and less vulture capitalism. 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: this is most interesting fight of the republican side right now as republican candidates are divided over the attacks aimed at mitt romney's business past as bain capital's ceo. rick perry and newt gingrich have not held back at all on this. we're going to show you some of what they're doing in this regard. they have been blasting mitt romney for his time at the financial firm. >> the idea that you come in and you destroy people's lives, the idea that you come in just to make a quick profit, tear these companies apart, i understand restructuring. i understand those types of things but the idea that we can't criticize someone for these get-rich-quick schemes is not appropriate from my perspective. >> first of all i'm not attacking bain capital. i'm questioning mitt romney's judgment. i'm questioning mitt romney's decisions. this is about one person who wants to be president of the united states. he owes the country an explanation.

martha: there you have it. we have former press secretary for the national republican congressional committee. he is also communications director at american crossroads. he jones me now. doug schoen, former pollster for president bill clinton it on the and fox news contributor. jonathan, we'll start with you. is this a fair fight? >> this is puzzling. what is happening this is center left argument coming from the liberal left ideology but messengers from candidates to the right of mitt romney and audience of these attacks are republican primary voters in south carolina and voters who already bought into free markets, capitalism, the idea that free markets lift all votes. it is a puzzling attack coming t would surprise me if it worked and it would not surprise me if we saw they lay off the attacks during the next week. martha: they are not laying off them. they both said in last 24 hours they are committed to pursuing this line of attack in mitt romney.

i want to show everybody at home, we have the 28-minute documentary, put out by the super pac that supports newt gingrich. the folks in south carolina will be extremely familiar with this next piece of video. take a look. >> the company was bain capital. its ceo and president? a privileged son after wealthy businessman and politician, mitt romney. he had a harvard pedigree and he was on a tear, making spectacular returns. stripping american businesses of assets. selling everything to the highest bidder. and often killing jobs for big financial rewards. martha: boy, doug, makes feel awfully sinister to be child of wealthy successful family and gone to harvard for starters. pretty evil stuff, huh? >> as harvard graduate myself --. martha: you're evil too, doug. >> i don't think so. hear is the crux of the

issue, martha, if you leverage up a company by taking out loans, take the money out as dividend and then fire staff and potentially, in his case at least four times, send businesses into bankruptcy, that is not only a valid political issue but in a state like south carolina where i think unemployment is 9.9%, twice what it was in iowa and new hampshire, i think it is a strong line of attack and certainly something the obama white house is planning actively as we speak to use in the polls. so this will be a road test to see if it works in a very conservative state as jonathan was suggesting. martha: the word that is out this morning, jonathan, is that the romney folks are about to come out with their own ads. we'll talk to one of those it supporters in a little while from now. they say basically person for person, we can find you several people whose jobs were saved and whose companies were grown and prosper ed by bain for every one person that lost a job.

there is 50% failure rate, we looked it up this morning, for all new businesses in this country. looks like bain was coming in by "the wall street journal"'s estimation was coming in at about 70% success raid. >> what is really interesting about this, kind of like what paul harvey used to say, the rest of the story. what doug said are true you will be able to point for layoffs. for every ad and piece of mail that the obama administration sends out about somebody laid off, romney and his campaign, assuming that he is the nominee will be able to push back with their own ads showing somebody saved by bain capital because the business was rescueded. the other thing not talked about here, obama and democratic national committee have taken more than $119,000 contributions from bain capital executives over the last two years. so if this is really a difficult, if they're really saying that bain is pad, i tend to think what you will end up is partisan rorschach test. voters will look at it, if

they're going to vote for obama his ads will resonate with him and if they believe in free markets, his ads will resonate with them. >> quick, doug. >> in 1994 mitt romney was ahead of ted kennedy in massachusetts. bain capital ads were run by ted kennedy and won a big victory. i think it can be more effective charge than we are saying today. >> we don't know if romney will push back. martha: republicans doing it right now. we'll talk to one of them coming up. doug schoen, thank you very much. jonathan, thanks. coming up rick perry has been very outspoken and is not backing down on this attack on mitt romney's business record and we'll speak with him. we'll ask him pointedly about that in a few minutes. bill: looking forward to that. meantime new reaction of allegations of election fraud that newt gingrich stopped him from getting on virginia's republican primary ballot. a worker turned in 1500

fakes that is raising alarm about fraud in presidential petitions. indiana is taking steps to safeguard this process. eric shawn live on the story here in our newsroom in new york. what are they doing in the hoosier state? >> reporter: there are forgerieses that put a presidential candidate on the ballot. there are efforts to try to stop election fraud in the 2012 race for the white house. officials attended a seminar in india nana to learn how to recognize possible election fraud on presidential petitions. they're collecting and turning in to local election boards to be certified. officials say even getting on the ballot can hang in the ballot. >> any election can come down to two votes. getting somebody on the ballot come down to couple names and it is difficult to get on the ballot, you know, but as republicans we have to make sure we're doing it right. >> reporter: warning is out and not just there but around the country look out

for possible fake signatures and names on these petitions and to try to prevent any possible election fraud this time. bill: what prompted this? this was a big deal in '08? >> they don't want repeat allegedly happened in indiana in 2008 during the presidential race four years ago. we've been reporting how prosecutors in south bend, indiana, are investigating allegations that signatures on democratic primary presidential petitions were faked back in 2008. so many names faked, they claim that president obama, may not have actually legally qualified for the primary ballot there four years ago. for the first time now, indiana's secretary of state is posting the scanned petitions on his website so voters see signatures and names for themselves. that is something the state's republican attorney general says will help. >> the technology that we currently have to make public documents more accessible to the public, bringing more eyes into the process, is one of the great ways of protecting so we

can't rely just on the media. >> reporter: in newt gingrich's case in virginia prosecutors there are not confirming in like in indiana there is a criminal investigation of the petitions there. if you suspect voter fraud where you live we want to know about it. we're on this beat. our address is voter frau fraud@foxnews.com. bill: go mind those e-mails. eric shawn live here in new york. martha: has nothing to do with politics. according to espn's sports poll, denver broncos quarterback tim tebow's is now america's favorite active pro athlete. give you idea how big this is, folks, only 11 athletes topped the list in the pole's 18-year history. among them, michael jordan who is still up there probably and tiger woods who may not be up there on some people's list. here is how things stand. we have patriots fans do not like the numbers we're seeing on the screen right now. bill: turn away slam --!.

martha: tim tebow, 3%. kobe bryant, aaron rogers, peyton manning and tom brady at 1.5%. they're playing each other on saturday. if that isn't enough, '80s rock singer john parr. do you remember him? bill: no. martha: he calls him inspiring. one to the tune in man in motion, what rest of us consider to be the theme from "st. elmo's fire". ♪ . bill: that's it? subtle. martha: john parr getting himself back on the map, folks. bill: that was cool in 1985. we'll see whether it brings him good luck on saturday night. martha: he is a appealing to a higher rock star i think. bill: that's right. tim tebow's fire. brand new polling numbers into us out of florida. scott rasmussen, who is up and who is now way down in

the sunshine state? this is going to matter here in a moment. that's right. that's up in three minutes. thank you john parr. ♪ ♪

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martha: here's some of what's developing right now in "america's newsroom." a show of u.s. military strength. the uss carl vinson aircraft carrier is anchored in hong kong this morning on its way to the arabian sea. a carrier strike group has already entered the arabian sea. another one is on the way. it is a shuffling of the u.s. fleet amid tensions rising with iran. retail sales inch muched a little bit higher in december enough to lift sales for a record level for 2011. it was the second straight month that consumers spent more than $400 billion, the

largest annual increase in more than a decade but we counted before, retail sales didn't come in that strong for december. so mixed picture. bill: the economy will be a big story in florida. that rolls our way up for south carolina. brand new polling numbers into america's newsroom. looking into that race in florida, rasmussen reports find mitt romney leading the back in florida. newt gingrich 19%. rick santorum and ron paul round out the top four. here you see some of the candidates making stops in florida today. that is two weeks ahead of the primary. that doesn't happen until the 31st of this month. here is scott rasmussen, independent pollster, president of rasmussen reports,.com. he is author of a new book, the people's money. nice to see you scott. good morning to you and congratulations on the book. romney, 41%. what's that tell you? >> the most significant thing i found in looking through the numbers that among very conservative voters, that group supposed

to be very resistant to mitt romney he is leading in florida. he has 20 9%. that puts him a few points ahead of santorum and gingrich. when you go to voters who are somewhat conservative, romney leads by 40 points. bill: that's interesting. he got the conservative vote in iowa to a degree. you saw a little bit trailing into new hampshire as well. you also asked, who would be the strongest against barack obama in a head-to-head match? this is what you find. romney at 55%? he is well above the field. what's that tell you? >> that's right. this has been a number growing for governor romney. it is the story that his campaign has been selling the whole time, this is the electable candidate. again, very conservative voters agree, 51% of the those who are the most conservative say we think the romney is the strongest candidate. that is propelling his victory. in new hampshire the exit polls said that even tea party members viewed electability, the ability to beat barack obama, as the

most important quality they're looking for. bill: that takes us to our next question, who is weakest against barack obama? you find ron paul, at 32%. >> that's right. there is a lot of talk about passionate support ron paul has. it is legitimate. republicans need to find a way to reach out to ron paul supporters but there is even larger group of people who are passionately opposed to ron paul because they don't think that he is electable. what is also interesting here, for newt gingrich and rick santorum, the number who see him weakest candidate, about the same as number see him the strongest. mitt romney, 55% say he is the strongest. only 7% see him as weakest candidate. bill: given all that i don't think this number will be surprising who do you think the will be the republican nominee. 79%, mitt romney. far right, 0 say rick perry. what is up with that? >> governor perry has been really struggling. been well-documented in all

sorts of polls and commentary. he came in as a frontrunner several month ago. hard to remember back that far. now seen as candidate who can't make any headway. what you're looking at here is this growing perception that governor romney will be the republican nominee. the only chance i think the that the other candidates have to stop it is going to be in south carolina. if governor romney does well in south carolina, these numbers suggest he will follow it up with a big day in florida. then there will be no stopping the romney train. bill: the issues in florida are big too. unemployment 10%. real estate market hasn't bounced back either. scott, thank you. we'll check in real soon, okay? scott rasmussen. >> thank you, bill. bill: go to foxnews.co foxnews.com/"america's newsroom", click on bya box and shoot me an e-mail. or on twitter @billhemmer. because you asked, bya. thank you, again, scott on that. martha: parents are very

concerned after a dozen students have come down with a mysterious and very serious illness. we'll tell you what we're learning about this. bill: there is snow and then there's this in cordova, alaska. so much is coming down they're calling in the national guard. good luck with that. martha: snowe, snow, snow, snow, as they said. remember you can take us everywhere with you basically. fox news, go to foxnews.com/mobile and you can download our apps and we'll be with you throughout the day. wake up! that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

bill: there are new concerns from parents after a dozen girls came down with a mysterious disease. apparently they lose control, shaking uncontrollably, and the girls are not part of

the same group of friends so parents are wondering where is the connection even if there is one? >> i'm talking about something that comes on within a couple weeks. these kids are just totally normal and then next thing you know they're going --, their arms are swinging and they can't control themselves. >> if my daughter had a diagnosis and knew about it and would as a parent i would tell you that. i'm not a doctor. i don't care about hippaa. i care about getting these kids better. >> this is not only type of issue that occurred in the nation. there have been other outbreaks of different behaviors. this is not unique to leroy, to western new york. >> i don't know that i necessarily believe that. and i think i would like to see the next step taken and have the cdc come in and do a little investigating. bill: that is crazy stuff. the health department contacted experts from the cdc and columbia university in new york. it says it has a diagnosis but because of federal health law it can't say what it is. clearly many parents not satisfied with the answers they have been given so far.

the mystery continues. martha: how about this? the parents of a virginia college student arriving in new york today searching for some answers. their son vanished on a trip to the city right around christmastime. anna couple man live in the new york city newsroom with the story. what is the latest? >> reporter: family of 22-year-old ian burnet is returning to new york city and searching for him and begging community for answers. his father and brother mark are handing out missing persons flyers and hanging signs. they say the last communication anyone had with the engine i can't commonwealth student was december 30th. ian was visiting new york with the intention of sightseeing and celebrating the new year. ian was staying with friends in a northern manhattan apartment. when the family arrived to gather clues, they found almost all of his belongings inside, even his cell phone. only thing missing license, subway pass and a credit card. that card apparently was lasted used at this burger king on december 31st.

the family said ian had no reason to run away. they tell foxnews.com they are mystified. martha: in virginia folks are very concerned about him of course as well. >> reporter: absolutely, martha. crowds gathered in ian's home in kent county in virginia for candlelight vigil. his female roommate at vcu said the last text message talked about sights he had seen and going to central park. he was making plans for when he returned back to school. a find ian burnet facebook page is created with more than 1700 members. he is eagle scout. described as 5'8" tall and weighs 130 pound and green eyes and dark brown curly hair. authorities are are working with new york police here and hundreds of volunteers from new york and new jersey are helping with the search too. we have calls into authorities and well give you more as we learn it. martha: anna, a strange

situation. thank you. bill: the state of mississippi is trying to block governor haley barbour's decision to pardon dozens of convicts. this sparked outrage from families. we'll analyze the legal aspects of this case. martha: rick perry, south carolina could make-or-break his campaign. he joins us live in two minutes they gave me this pantene called breakage to strength. [ female announcer ] the keratin protection pro-v system helps prevent then repair split ends. zero fear of breakage, 100% more strength. [ eva ] no regrets, just health. [ female announcer ] split end repair creme, winner, cosmo beauty award. pantene. hair so healthy it shines. pantene. like many chefs today, i feel the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. and that's what they do with great grains cereal. see the seam on the wheat grain? same as on the flake. because great grains steams and bakes the actual whole grain.

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martha: some are saying it could be do or die time for texas governor rick perry. the texas governor putting all his chips right now in south carolina where the next contest is, of course. the "real clear politics" average, which is a group of polls averaged together has him running in fifth place there. that's how we start a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." good to have you with us, everybody. good morning, bill. i'm martha maccallum in case you didn't notice. bill: i'm bill hemmer. good morning. martha: rick perry has serious ground to cover over the next

few days. we are very pleased to be joined by governor perry who is live in south carolina this morning. good morning, governor, welcome? >> how are you, mart that. things are greamartha. things are great here. martha: we have you in fifth place in the "real clear politics" average. how are you feeling about that and what are you doing to get those numbers up. >> we have been talking to a lot of people. they are interested in an outsider that will go to washington d.c. and overhaul it. two issues resonating down here is the support for a balanced budget amendment to the u.s. constitution and a part-time congress. people really get it that washington is the problem, they are not the savior of this country and. martha: they like the idea. >> they like it a lot. we said in the intro this is do

or die, south carolina. do you agree with that? how do you have to finish in south carolina to keep going. >> obviously we're here to win and think there is a real possibility for us to win this election in south carolina. about 60% of the people are either undecided or can be still swayed. as we go and do retail politicking in all of these small communities, and big cities like columbia, for instance, great crowds and big reception, they are very open to having an outsider come into washington d.c. they realize they won't have a change if you replace one insider with another insider. having an outside wer with a real track record. i've had the privilege for eleven years to oversee, job creations. martha: you've got a good argument. i want -- >> i've got a great argument. martha: the whole topic of the

vulture capital versus venture capital. you and newt gingrich have been going after mitt romney for his time at baena. some are saying why woul bain capital. some are saying why would you want to be left of a free market and free enterprise. >> i don't think job creation is to the left of anybody. venture capital does a great job, we are trying to lure more venture capitalists into my home state every day. the idea that you have private equity companies that come in and take companies apart so they can make quick profits, and then people lose their job, i don't think that is what americans are looking for, and i hope that's not what the republican party is about. we ought to be about putting policies in place that create jobs and create even environment so the companies can make it. martha: not all the companies

that they put money into are going to succeed. when you look at bain's report, and the "wall street journal" did that, they had about a 70% success rate. most new businesses have a 50% failure rate. the romney folks are red dining ads that you'll see in south carolina that have far more examples of people's whose jobs were saved or businesses were grown by bain capital. is this the best way to expend your own capital right now? are you barking up the right tree with this argument if you want to win? >> i think we are making point that the republican part see should always be about creating a climate where jobs can be created. there are a lot of private equity firms that so many in and they help build jobs. in those cases where they've come in and basically taken the profits out of these companies, and then sold them for a quick profit, i'm not for that, i don't think most people in south carolina are. martha: do you think that that

argument, do you think your argument is working with them there? do you think it's going to help you in south carolina, or is this vulture capital thing something we'll hear less of from you in the coming days and are you moving onto other topics? >> i talk about a lot of different issues, job creation is what i talk about mostly. if you go to a couple of cities in south carolina, a couple of cities where bain capital did come in and destrubgt those companiedistrict those companies that is a sensitive area in those cases. we oulgt to be talking about how you create the jobs and the environment. there's been so much confidence lost in washington and wall street. the idea that we bailed out all these wall street bankers and congress was in cahoots with them. that is very offensive to most team in this country. one of the things we have to face is republicans, if we're

going to tkpwa*eup back the confidence of america we need to be about creating jobs. that's what i've done in the state of texas. we are not distructing jobs, we are making job creation a real opportunity there. martha: as you know, just to stick with this for a second, some people like rush limb because, for example, have come to the support of mitt romney in this argument. they think it's a mistake for you and newt gingrich -- they think it makes you look like you're against the free market, that you're against entrepreneurship. >> it's hard to make the argument that the governor who has create more jobs than any other state is against the free market. martha: i don't think anybody disputes you on that. the question is whether or not attacking him in this way is doing the party any good. >> it's not a matter of doing the party any g it' good.

it's about vettin ng a candidate. i didn't hear anybody saying anything when they were doing that to me. it's about seeing if they are a flawed candidate. when you make a quick profit and kick people out of your jobs that is an issue that has to be addressed. martha: you think that is a flaw that will work in your favor in south carolina and i understand that that's the way you're pursuing this right now. we'll see. rick perry thank you very much for being with us today. good luck to you and everyone who is out ther out there campaigning in south carolina. be sure to tune in next week where we are live for the south carolina weapon debate. you can bet you'll hear more about that topic on that night. bret baier will be moderating. full coverage of the primary on the 21 of january. moving right along.

bill: it's all about money as you know. a big campaign haul for the white house. the president's campaign raising $68 million for his re-election and the democratic party during the final three months of 2011. last notice alone the president held three events in chicago. since april he's held 73 fundraisers in his re-election campaign, that is about one every four days. obama's campaign and the dnc raised more than $220 million. laying groundwork for peace talks with the taliban. a special u.s. envoy in afghanistan set to meet with hamid karzai seeking approval for a direct round of talks. will this make a difference. >> reporter: there are several things that might make a new negotiation with the taliban very difficult indeed. one of them is this brand-new release of a video tape purchase fo purporting to show four men,

allegedly u.s. marines, although that has not been confirmed urin urinating on the bodies of taliban people. the taliban says they will not impact any peace efforts. the u.s. has announced a combat withdrawal troop of 2014. some say that leaves very little leverage with the taliban. and everything has to have the blessing of hamid karzai. they will try to jump start these talks. here is the secretary of state speaking yesterday. >> we remain committed to the red lines that we have consistently laid out, namely that both the afghan government, and the international community must see the inch sur generals, renounce violence, break with al-qaida and support the laws and constitution of afghanistan,

including protecting the rights of women and minorities. >> reporter: whether the taliban is interested in protecting the rights of woman and minorities remains to be seen. but senior administration officials spoke to the "wall street journal" say it may work, it may not. it's the responsible, humane thing to do, to try. bill. bill: doug mcelway, thank you. martha. martha: a lot of debate out there over the controversial procedure known as fracking, extracting natural gas from deep inside the earth. there is a question of whether or not it could possible pwhraoepossibly be causing earthquakes. bill: we now know why the people looked all upset after the death of the north korean dictator. it's not because they loved him or missed him. martha: if anybody is going to stop mitt romney, south carolina is probably their last, best chance according to most of the

folks watching this race. can it be done? we will have one of those veteran gurud rollins. >> i'm for the opportunity of freedom and the protection of life, not temporary but permanent. i will get american strong again by restoring those principles. [applause] call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. prego?! but i've been buying ragu for years. [ thinking ] i wonder what other questionable choices i've made? [ '80s dance music plays ] [ sighs ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego.

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martha: this will provide unique inside into the story receipt scenes out of north korea following kim jong-il's death, mourners wailing uncontrollably raising a lot of questions about the sincerity of the emotions. it was a very strange display. people threw themselves on the ground. now we maybe getting some inkling as to judge. there are reports coming out of north carolina that the

communist nation is punishing those who did not show enough emotion for kim jong-il's death. they have been sending them to reeducation camp or ban irk th banish them to remote parts of the country. stpho: more kleenex, martha. four years ago mitt romney could only do as well as fourth place in south carolina. now he's getting hit from his republican colleagues from a line of attack that romney folks said they expected from the white house, not their fellow republicans. ed rollins former ronald reagan campaign manager, fox news contributor. how are you doing,ed? >> good morning. bill: what did you think of rick perry's argument. >> he ought to be talking about his record, the jobs that he has created. he doesn't need to put anybody else down, and i think at the end of the day here this is going to only hurt the frontrunner, and it hurts them to a certain extent we are all about free enterprise and i think these issues are come phra

indicat complicated, and most people don't understand it but we are feeding the democrats issues. bill: you can likely be effective if you want to score some points. why are they advising rick perry to go this way? >> i think gingrich started it. this was one of the points in the opposition research that i saw four years ago when i was doing huckabee's campaign, and everybody else had him. romney got out of the race before anybody attacked him. he's advocated that as one of his strengths. he he has -pbt talked muc hasn't talked much about his four years as governor. he said he created jobs. so they are trying to destroy that. bill: they say it's better to come out now instead of september or october. >> it's coming again. this kind of weakens him late bit, and he may get better prepared than he is in the fall. they are going to go full bore

again on the issue. bill: how do you think he's done? >> i think he has a lot to be proud of in his record. at the end of the day i wish our side was argument how they are going to create jobs and have an economic plan as opposed to tearing each other down. bill: isn't it the nature of the season. >> it's the nature of the season. romney started it when he beat up on newt. i think he has an enemy for life when he picked on newt. gingrich has a long memory. south carolina loves this kind of politics, iowa not so much. here it's a place where they expect negative commercials. it's wall to wall down there. it's millions and millions of dollars spent. bill: you would think on the 1994 campaign up against senator kennedy of massachusetts romney's team would be ready for that. >> you would certainly think so. bill: are they? >> i think they were in a victory lap early in this cycle. now they know they have to fight it out over the long term.

bill: rick santorum, rick perry -- ron paul, and gingrich do they fracture a vote here in south carolina. >> they do. this is what happened to huckabee last tphaoeupl. huckabe time. huckabee and fred thompson fractured the vote. huckabee won the contest and there may not have been a presidential candidate john mccain. nobodyee merged as the conservative alternative. gingrich won by 49 votes over santorum. santorum didn't get the boost that you normally get out of iowa. one of these guys is going to be survive and be the conservative alternative. if they all end up back in the back in south carolina the race is over. bill: then it's romneys, the race is over. there are values voters in south carolina, you have 10% unemployment. you would think that would play towards perhaps romney's favor?

>> there are enough voters there just as mccain found and as george h.w. bush found, south carolina was set up by the lately attwater who was my deputy to set the state up before super tuesday. moderate can win the state if conservatives split up the vote. bill: there are some raising questions about what happened in new hampshire and how it did not meet the stated expectations as far as turn out. >> iowa barely broke the park of four years ago. i don't find the intensity that i would like. bill: why? >> i don't know. the candidates are not turning on the voters yet. maybe south carolina, which takes its politics very seriously will, but i just don't sense the anger and the anticipation here that, let's get this thing over with so we can get on and get rid of president obama. bill: we'll see turn out in nine days. thank you,ed rollins. martha: this question this morning, could it be a new

develop access of evil? why iran can president ahmadinejad is back in south america and why his alliances there could be dangerous for the united states. bill: a judge blocking the release of convicts pardoned by governor haley barbour. >> there may be as much as 175 we'll have to look at. a vast majority of them will probably be illegal pardons.

bill: the earth is moving in ohio and there is a mystery as to why. some voicing concerns about a controversial thing called fracking. they blamed that process for a string of earthquakes near youngstown. they are trying to weigh in and

figure out this one. >> we don't know factually. we are evaluating data, including data that we just downloaded to evaluate if that correlation is direct. >> we started at 1.9, moves up to 2.7, then we ended up on new year's eve on a 4.3. will the next one be 5-point. lit devastate the area i represent? bill: is it caused by that or is it just coincidence. a total of 11 earthquakes reported in that same area about a year ago. martha: the president of iran working to build strong economic ties before new sanctions kick in against his country. mahmoud ahmadinejad on an interesting trip that is raising a lot of eyebrows to south america as he meets with the leaders of cuba and venezuela to have talks with them. taoef harrigan joins us. what is he hoping to accomplish there. >> reporter: he is looking for allies in america's back kwrafrpltd he has the leaders of

cuba, ecuador, and venezuela saying iran does not have nuclear weapons and they don't want them. it could be diplomatic cover for iran. it could help iran with raw materials and move money around in case sanctions get tighter. the major electric players in the region, brazil, mexico, argentina, none of these rolled out the red carpet for iran's president, martha. martha: that is good news in part. what about the po potential of those countries that he's talking to to be military allies. >> i think the real think that concerns us most it iran and srefpbltz you have economic agreements but undisclosed agreements about military training. this week ahmadinejad was standing next to a hillside, and they made a joke about building a bomb there, putting it on a hill, it's going to pop up

there. you have people who discuss hugo chavez as not a threat. there is concern that iran is mapping or mining uranium deposits inside venezuela, martha. martha: very troubling. steve, thank you, reporting from miami. bill: he has been a par ge a target from republican rivals taking a beating over his practices in the private sector. are those charges legitimate? he's going on the offensive, hitting back. >> i'm going to say, look, is this program so critical to america that it's worth borrowing money from china to pay for it? and on that basis we're going to get rid of some programs. ♪ you're singing with a broken string ♪

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martha: just about 10:30 on the east coast. let's take a lock at some of the stories tomorrowing our head lines at this hour. protestors marching outside the white house marking ten years of the opening of guantanamo bay. they demand that president obama makes good on his promise to close gitmo. and two oakland police officers are facing disciplinary action for covering up their name plates during the occupy protest. a photographer complained after spotting the two with black tape over their names. and a lawsuit is being filed against the transportation department over the use of unmanned drones here in the united states. a digital rights group believes that the dot is withholding information on this collection of data on american citizens.

bill: there are epic amounts of snow in parts of alaska. folks in cordova getting help digging out from 15 feet. the national guard is on the ground to help out there. the remember $20 shovel is just not getting the kwrob done. job done. the old aluminum job you have in your garage, forget it. you have to call in the big boys to get this thing out. there is more snow on the way. to help the local folks out they've taken specialized shovels in to clear some of that snow. martha: eight tons and hour, that is my favorite part of that story. a proromney group is firing back at attacks from supports of newt gingrich. the former house speaker repeatedly hammering mitt romney for his past as bain capital ceo. gingrich supporters launched a 28-minute video that blasted

mitt romney. >> he has more baggage and the airlines. newt was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. took 1.6 million from freddie mac and cosponsored a bill with nancy pelosi that would have given $60 million a year to a u.n. program supporting china's brutal one child policy. don't be fueled by newt's desperate attacks. martha: that is the old ad that got newt gingrich so angry at what was coming at him from the super pack in iowa. romney's campaign is running a counter attack with regard to the bain capital stuff which will be part of the things that folks will be watching on tv as we head into south carolina's primary. senator, good to have you here this morning. some folks might ask what took you so long in terms of something together that would really be more supportive his work at bain capital, in terms

of the testimonials and the things we are seeing in this very extensive 28-minute document rethat really rails on our candidate. >> it rails on free enter price. it did take us a little by surprise. we thought the anti-free enterprise candidate was going to be barack obama, not the republicans. he's had big start ups, sports authority, staples, created over 100,000 jobs. we are confident with that record and ready for this fight in the primary if necessary, but we hope in the general election against barack obama. martha: you're making a point that a lot of folks had made, they knew and continue to know that this attack will come if he's a general election candidate from the democrats and from president obama's campaign. it's a bit of a surprise that it's coming as early as it is. do you think it's good for him to sort of have to deal with this now, does it neutralize the

issue for him in some way? >> this is mitt romney's ground. he knows, appreciates, values and can defend the free enterprise system and his record. we're willing to take it on whenever it happens. he was attacked like this before when he ran successfully in a very blue state for governor of massachusetts. we'll point out the alternative to free enterprise is job creation, barack obama opens addiction to governor. an 800 bil billion dollars job bill failed on its own. it's called solyndra. we are looking forward to talking about that. martha: i watched most of this documentary this morning. when you hear the voices of these people who lost their jobs, who talk about how difficult it was for their families, who talk about the fact that they basically heard one day some company folks came in and told them, look we've been bought by this other

company, and you're all basically fired, and you can interview if you want to keep your job, and then it goes ton to explain saying how many of them went onto lose their jobs any way after that. do you think with the unemployment rate in south carolina this argument will resonate to some extent with some of those voters down there. >> i really don't. mitt romney, it breaks his heart the status of unemployment in the country under barack obama. it's like a doctor who is very good and tries to help very sick patients. i mean he was successful a lot of the times, created over one hundred thousand jobs just with those start ups i mentioned, not always successful. the candidates who are attacking him, they will be arguing with some employees at the sports authority and at staples and at some of the other companies where governor mitt romney's action resulted in people having opportunity and jobs with which they were able to support their families. martha: word is that we'll see some of those ads coming out in south carolina shortly. >> i expect that is true. martha: let me ask you about another top i be.

som topic. some people are looking at his tax return. elizabeth mcdonald is raising questions about when mitt romney will release his tax returns. she says every candidate since the nixon era has done so. do you think he should do that, and stphaopb. >> i thin soon? >> that is a judgment that he'll make and we'll make if and when he becomes the nominee. the disclosure requirements for campaigns is all very extensive. remake a point of complying with all the provisions of the law and done so. we've sweated the little things. i think he'll make a judgment at the appropriate time whether to do that. i think it's appropriate for him to say, while there are six, seven candidates in the race we are going to put this off until it's necessary. martha: that's what you recommend he do, to wait on it. >> to wait on it. that's what i think he's going to do. martha: jim talent, very nice to see you. >> thanks, martha. bill: folks are tpoeubgsing on the race ifocusing on the race

in florida, voting by absentee ballot. it could play a key role. phil keating is live in miami. he has a butterfly ballot. >> reporter: those are long gone. there is a lot of energy among florida republicans this year, as evidence the record number of absentee ballot requests. tallahassee has sent out more than 400,000 of them and more than 50,000 have already been filled out and returned, so as of right now florida voters are already voting in the january 31st primary. the campaigns we sreutse visited tam path. we stopped by the romney calm paper campaign, saw their offices. we stopped by the paul campaign, the gingrich campaign. >> they've organized in most of

the counties. some ads are running in key markets in the state. if you wait until the week before you're going to lose a lot of votes in florida. >> reporter: the old strategy when it came to primary campaigns, 72 hours of boots on the ground right before that state's primary or caucus simply outdated these days. voters are haoeur hyperinformed, wafpgt other debate watching the other debates. bill: they show mitt romney has a lead. >> reporter: the rasmussen poll shows double digit lead, that's three polls now that show romney with that double digit read. even the experts say he's the most organized. he launched a brand-new spanish language ad. >> i probably will vote a week before the actual ballots are due in. i'll make my decision before

that time. and as for who i'm going to vote for, i still don't know. i'm very undecided. >> reporter: that was christine smith up in tampa. she is one of the persons that has requested an absentee ballot and she is still on the fence. according to these polls half of florida republicans do remain undecided at this point. it's the biggest swing state. the number of absentee ballot requests being filled out prior to a primary day is more than the total number of voters who already cast their ballots at the new hampshire primary and the iowa caucuses. bill: phil keating in miami. thank you. martha: hayley barbour pard opening morpar donning over 200

convicts. a judge has blocked that move, is that legal? >> we have our law enforcement officers watching the ones we think are dangerous that have been released. i think they'll be fine, just be careful. to walk like one. when you walk 10,000 steps a day, it's the same as walking a professional golf course. humana. proud supporter of health and well-being.

bill: new developments this morning in mississippi where a judge is halting release of 21-inch mates pardoned by governor hayley barbour in one of his final acts of office. 200, some of them convicted killers and rapists triggered an uproar in the state. the state is trying to stop the move. does it have the power for can the governor do that. joey jackson, and dog burns. doug burns, good morning to both of you. this is his call. >> it exactly is. you have an executive pa rog georgipea prerogative.

it's important to keep in mind that there is a notice requirement here, what is it? it's requirement that the inmate seeking clemency or a pardon push for 30 days in a newspaper that indication in the jurisdiction where they were convicted. this gives the public notice, if they want to come forward and contest it they can. there is also a requirement that the department of corrections serve 48 hour notice so that victims' families know that there will be this pardon. bill: you laid it out based on state law, doug, if you meet those requirements can the state do anything? >> this judge issued this opinion for exactly the reason joey laid out. he issues the preliminary injunction. he's got to find that there is a likelihood that they will succeed on the merits. what that means in simple language is there's a serious dispute as to whether or not the 30-day notice was given in a number of these instances. bill: doug, if it was not given initially is it just of question of time? >> yeah, no -- no, no, no if the notice with us not given you have to hit the rewind button and start all over and have to

do it. bill: if that's the case, then, joey can these be revoked or does the judge's original decision stand? >> that is the critical issue. from my perspective i would argue it's a 30-day requirement to give the families notice. they are on notice that these prisoners will be released. you wait the 30 days and therefore they get released after this time. that is going to be the legal issue. apparently as doug talked about, the judge apparently felt that there is a likelihood of success on the merits to the argument being raised, and that's why the judge issued the stay. bill: meaning the judge sees some evidence there to back up -- it's the state attorney general, right who is the democrat who is challenging it, right, doug. >> yes, mr. hood i believe is his name, he's a democrat challenging him. haley barbour granted five pardons in eight years. now he grants more than 200 as he's walking out the door. not to morph into the political area. bill: that's all right. what is your hunch in.

>> first of all it's very, very puzzling. second of all, i mean is he trying to perhaps mask one particular pardon? i'm not accusing him of that. bill: if that were the case you just take one case. >> yeah you look at it through-and-through. by the way his immediate predecessor issued one pardon and the predecessor before that four. bill: barbour has been a little quiet this week. here is a statement that came out last week. the pardons were intended to allow them to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote. my decision about clemency was based upon the recommendation of the parole board in more than 90% of the cases. he's saying people came to him with evidence and he followed their lead. >> as joey and i know from day-to-day law practices there are collateral consequences of a criminal conviction. you can't get certain professional licenses or a license to carry a firearm.

the pardon process restores that. how do we come up with 200 when there were five in eight years. bill: as it stand right now are the pardons valid. >> it seems that way. doug's point is a fair one. it needs to be kept in mind by the vires, in 200 barred opbs he issued 189 had already completed their sentences. the department of probation, which generally is convicted the department of corrections, these pardons were in keeping with what the parole board recommended. the governor wasn't wandering too far off the rers sraeugs from what the parole board said he should do or may do in certain circumstances. bill: it started in mississippi and rippled across the country. doug, thank you, joey jackson thank you. martha: let's head down to the newsroom, shall we? jenna lee is cook up a good show for "happening now" now. what you got ahead. jenna: we'll start off with what is going on in iran. there is evidence that is

mounting that there is a covert war against iran, bombings, assassinations, cyberwar fares, the list goes ron and on. what is really going on there, who is behind it and how close are we to coming to a morro a more overt situation. martha, forget wishing on a star, there may be more planets out there than stars, which explains a lot. i don't know about it for you, but for me it explains a lot. we are going to talk to a scientist about that coming up. martha: i was told there were more stars in the sky than grains of sand on the beach, now i'm totally blown away. i'm going to be busy this afternoon figuring that out. natalee holloway's case is back, the teenager vanished in aruba mourn six years ago. now her case is in an american courtroom. bill: adam housley is playing

with gadgets in vegas at the consumer electronics show. what have you found, adam, good morning. >> reporter: more stuff that i don't need. we have stuff that our viewers might need. you'll see this, it's a transparent tv, or how about this. 79 bucks a camera for your iphone called gopano. you can pan all the way around while you hold your iphone up. we'll have all of this coming up next on fox. when i grow up, i want to fix up old houses. ♪ [ woman ] when i grow up, i want to take him on his first flight. i want to run a marathon. i'm going to own my own restaurant. when i grow up, i'm going to start a band. [ female announcer ] at aarp we believe you're ner done growing. thanks, mom. i just want to get my car back. [ female announcer ] discover what's next in your life. get this free travel bag when you join at aarp.org/jointoday.

martha: a judge in alabama is holding a hearing on whether to sign a court order that would declare natalee holloway officially deceased. as you remember there was no body in this case and the american teenager vanished more than six years ago in aruba. the judge ruled last year that

dave holloway had met the presumption of death in this case and it was up to someone else to prove she did not die on the graduation trip. the day ironically after the prime suspect in her disappearance pleaded guilty of killing another young girl on the same day and about the same age. bill: the latest must-have gadgets making their debut this week and this is quite a show. the consumer electronics show las vegas. adam housley is there to check it out. what have you found that peaked your interest. >> reporter: more stuff that i don't need. stuff you might want in new york. we have an acer computer paper lynn. you push one button and it pulls right up in the back it has the inputs and keeps the fan onto keep it cool. with one button it goes up and down to make it thin. this comes out second quarter. this is called the raspberry computer. as powerful as you had back in the early 2000's $25 that little thing plugs in.

you've got the go-pano which is the panoramic camera for the iphone which is about $79. we love this thing. these are called the underwater hd 3x cameras. they go on for eight hours, bill on one charge. they are 199, a couple of different versions of them. all sorts of cameras out there. we went around the show, found a couple of other things, check this out. you're now finding all sorts of cameras that you can afford for your active lifestyle. one of those is the contour, it's between 199 and 499 and you can control your camera from your ipod, iphone, android. it uses a view finder. again, they are affordable, come in all sorts ever mounts and they can be used just about anywhere. bill, you know, the sound bars have been around for a few years, they are becoming more affordable than ever. a lot of viewers at home don't want to have to wire their own house. look how thin this one is from

higher. it's tough to show you on tv. the last thing i want to show you, this is called a jet book. look at this thing. it's going to be used in a lot of schools. it's used all over russia. it translates, i can talk into it right now and start talking in spanish or you can talk to me in russia and it will actually print it out for you in english and show you how speak the language. we'll post more online if our viewers want to find out more. bill: we are going to drown in this technology, you know that, right. i'm already drowning. this is my 6th year year. every year i'm overwhelmed. bill: i have to take become that tv there. clearly you're beating me up with that screen become there. adam housley there.

martha: bill is coming up there this afternoon because he wants one of those now. it's the last and first thing that they tell you before the orchestra kicks in, right? turn off your cellphone folks. one iphone owner did not listen e. made about 3,000 enemie enemies in under a minute. ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8. 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.

jenna: you know of course that is the street sound of pheurl's 9th symphony. big exciting moment. smack-dab in the middle of the finale this happens. ♪ [music playing] jenna: yes, no joke. some knucklehead in the front row left his iphone ringer on. it was not bill hemmer. the annoying